Friedrich (Frederick) Brandeis (1835-99)

[eschiss1]

One student of Rufinatscha's and Czerny's who has been occupying some of my time of late is Friedrich (Frederick once he emigrated to the US) Brandeis (1835-99), who wrote a number of piano and vocal works (at least that's mostly what I have seen by him at the Library of Congress- the largest work they have by him that I've seen so far is a 40-odd page Ballad after Uhland for chorus and keyboard, the Sunken Cathedral, his opus 63), - anycase, more to the point, I like what I've seen... but haven't heard anything so far.

(The LoC does also have an - embryonic - audio equivalent - early recordings -  section (something Jukebox? if one doesn't know of it, have a look-see-hear...) to go along with all the scores and such they are scanning - and some of the recordings are of now very little-known composers, I think- so I might find something by him in that section... )

There are brief biographies of him in Baker's and the Jewish Encyclopedia among other places and I'll add something more substantial soon- apologies!...

[JimL]

Any relation to Louis?

[eschiss1]

Been wondering that myself! I think his name turns up on some genealogy sites (interesting things, those...), so will check if anything suggestive shows up in his extended family tree...

(I think the father or grandfather, and namesake, of a well-known 20th-century US diplomat or ambassador...? (Morgenthau, I believe- have to check again) helped commission a piece of music I came across while trawling/trolling/searching through the LoC music scans, so- well, briefly I am really enjoying all this (looking through these sites, researching, listening, the whole deal)... it's sometimes a lot of fun being a dork/nerd/whatever... of course...)

Also re Brandeis, not that he's the only composer scanned at LoC who stands out (to me) among the thousands there (I could mention a few by now... and maybe should- people like Reinecke's student Oscar Weil (a very fine-looking ballade for piano there), maybe Charles Wels' best works ?, etc. and several others, but - will think about that ...)- and it's fun finding works by unsung composers one had heard of elsewhere, too, - but he does seem to have a good touch for word-setting (his a capella Moore setting "Echoes" maybe?)... and piano writing, and melody also- anyhow, so far so good, not to overvalue his talent, but like I said, so far seems so good.