Ludwig Thuille

[edurban]

A search of the forum turned up a few comments and recommendations, but I'm interested in exploring the music of Herr Thuille in more depth after hearing the Romantic Overture played last Sunday.  I wondered what recorded pieces and performances people recommend.  If I don't reply immediately, it's not lack of interest...I'll be out of the country through Sunday.

Gee, maybe this belongs in the main forum...

David

[thalbergmad]

I have only heard the concerto and whilst that was a while ago, I can remember asking myself why this was not part of the regular repetoire.

Must give it another hearing this week.

Thal

[Peter1953]

Our Spanish friend Fernando (with his creative nickname Alexander_Glazraffstein) mentioned Thuille in the thread on Johann Rufinatscha: unjustly unsung (Reply #6). Because of his enthusiasm I bought the cpo CD which couples Thuille's PC and Symphony. Pleasant music, although I don't listen to it so often.

Two questions: (1) what happened to Fernando (he has suddenly disappeared from our Forum) and (2) any idea how to pronounce Thuille?

[thalbergmad]

A "How to pronounce" thread would be of use to me.

I once embarrased myself with a badly pronounced Moscheles and a pretty awful Faure.

Thal

[Jonathan]

I have his Sextet and Piano Quintet on Naxos 8.570790 and it's charming stuff (i've got the symphony & piano concerto disc as well on CPO).

Will have a listen again later as I'm off sick from work today.

[Alan Howe]

Thuille is pronounced "twiller".

[JimL]

I'm no expert on German, Alan, but I rather thought it would be pronounced "tweelah".

[Alan Howe]

I speak German, Jim. If it were to be pronounced "tweelah", the name would have to be spelt "Thuile" - in other words, a single 'l' lengthens the vowel sound.   

[wunderkind]

I speak German, Jim. If it were to be pronounced "tweelah", the name would have to be spelt "Thuile" - in other words, a single 'l' lengthens the vowel sound.

Any German speaker would know that there is no "er" sound when the word ends in an "e."  In German, the final "e" always is pronounced.

"Twiller" einfach tut nicht.

Therefore, correctly it is Twill-eh.

[thalbergmad]

How often it happens on music forums, that the pronounciation of the composers name generates more discussion than his works

Thal

[wunderkind]

How often it happens on music forums, that the pronounciation of the composers name generates more discussion than his works

Thal

Ha!  True.  However, in the case of Herr Thuille, the pronunciation may be of more interest than his music...nice, it is, but nothing to write home about.  No?   

[Mark Thomas]

That's certainly true of his orchestral music. His chamber music has more substance to it IMHO.

[Alan Howe]

"Twill-eh" is not very helpful as a guide to pronunciation for English speakers. "Eh?" (pronounced "ay") is the sound made in English when a person fails to hear what somebody else has said. Thus, anybody following this guide would be led to pronounce the name "Twill-ay". "Twiller", rhyming with "miller", is far closer for English-speakers - and I base my opinion on over 30 years of teaching English teenagers to pronounce German properly.

Please note: I am not trying to tell a native German-speaker how to pronounce his own language, but rather what the closest approximation would be for an English-speaker who doesn't speak German and doesn't know the phonetic alphabet. Equally, though, I do not expect a native German-speaker to tell me how best to render a German word so that it can be pronounced reasonably correctly by an English-speaker!

[thalbergmad]

and I base my opinion on over 30 years of teaching English teenagers to pronounce German properly.

This must be even more difficult than teaching English teenagers how to pronounce English properly.

Thuille ryhmes with miller is an excellent way of remembering, but can i use the same theorum with the Belguim composer Chevreuille??

Regards

Thal

[Alan Howe]

No! the final sound "euille" equates roughly to "er-ee".