Leopoldine Blahetka 1811-1887

[giles.enders]

Leopoldine Anne Marie Blahetka  Born 16.11.1811 Guntramsdorf, Nr. Vienna, Austria - Died 17.1.1887 Boulogne, France
Her maternal grandfather was the Austrian composer Andreas Traeg.
Her first music lessons were with her mother and then for piano with Mrs Cibbini Kozeluch.  She made her piano playing debut at an hotel in Vienna in 1818. Later she studied with Czerny, Payer, von Lannoy, Hoffmann, Kalkbrenner and Moscheles.  From 1821 she began touring Europe , including a visit to England accompanied by her mother.  She continued to tour for the next twenty years.  She later studied composition with Simon Sechter which proved to be a major influence on her career as a composer.

Orchestral

Piano concerto  Op.25  1835
Variations brillant for piano and orchestra  Op.4  pub. by Hofmeister  (piano solo version pub. by Cranz)
Variations brillant on 'God save Franz The Emperor'  for piano and orchestra  Op.28  pub. by Kahnt
Variations on a Hungarian Theme for piano and orchestra (also version for piano quartet) Op.18  pub. by Halsinger
Variations on a theme by de Gallenberg for piano and orchestra (also version for piano quartet)  Op.29 pub. by Simrock
Variations for piano and orchestra  1823
'Souvenir d'Angleterre' for piano and orchestra (alternative version for piano quartet) Op.38  pub. by Hofmeister

Chamber

Piano quartet in A major  Op.43  pub. by Chez Fr. Hofmeister
Piano quartet in E flat Op.44  pub. by Chez Fr. Hofmeister
Concertstuck for piano and string quartet ad lib  Op.25 (also for solo piano)
'Souvenir d'Angleterre' piano quartet pub. by Chez Fr. Hofmeister
Piano trio Op.5
Piano solo with strings (variations sur le Seige de Corinthe)  Op.20
Piano solo with strings  Op.29
Variations for string quartet and piano  Op.2
Variations for string quartet and piano  Op.26 (also for solo piano)  pub. by Toby Haslinger
Variations concertante for violin and piano  Op.10
Violin Sonata Op.15
Grand polonaise for cello and piano Op.9   pub by Toby Haslinger
Variations for cello and piano Op.11
Variations for flute and piano in D Op.39  pub. by Chez Fr. Hofmeister
Fantaisie for flute and piano  Op.40  pub. by Lemoine

Piano

Variations sur la cavatina favorite 'Cara deh attendini'  Op.1
Variations et Rondeau brillante Polonaise sur la cavatina favorite 'A come Nascondere'  Op.2  pub. by Haslinger
Variations sur un theme concertamtes du Ballet Oberon  Op.3
Variations Op.6
Twelve German dances  Op.8
Variations Brillante  Op.14
Concertstuck for solo piano (also with string quartet ad lib)  Op.25
Variations on The Fisherman's chorus from Auber's opera Masaniello  Op.26
Variations sur un theme Tyrolien  Op.27  pub. by Cranz
Fantasie and variations on Dutch folk songs  Op.33 pub. by B Schott
Polonaise in D major  Op.19  pub. by Cranz
Variations  Op.20
Fantasy  Op.30
Six Viennese waltzes  Op.35 pub. by Joubert
Three elegant rondeaux  Op.37 pub. by Chez Fr. Hofmeister
Fantasie sur des motifs du Chalet favorits  Op.40
Six Valses a la Viennoise  Op.42
Two Nocturnes  Op.46 1840 pub. by Chez B Latte
Grand Duo  in F sharp minor Op.47  1839  pub. by Chez Fr. Hofmeister
Caprice  Op.48
Quadrille  Op.50
Fantasie sur les Hugenots  Op.54
Skaters Quadrille - from 'Le Prophet'  Op.56
Caprice Elegante  Op.59  1850  pub. by Chez H Lemoine & Fils
Fantasie sur la Romances de la Reine Hortense  Op.61
Four Nocturnes  Op.62  pub. by H Lemoine
Nocturne  Op.63
Three Variations Brillante
Ecossaise
Melodie
Minuet
Three waltzes

Song

Six German songs Op.16;
16/1  Die Nebelbilder
16/2  Der Getrostete
16/3  Die Totenklage
16/4  Die Fernen Berge
16/5  Sehnsucht
16/6  Matrosenlied
'Daughter of Galconda' for voice and piano  words by J.Mery
Fragment from Tennyson's 'Maud' for voice and piano  Op.64 1855  pub. by Jullien & Co.
'How oft in the Moonshine'  words by Von Mathisson  (English by L Wray)
'Restless Love'  words by Goethe Op.32  pub. by Wessel & Co.

Sacred

'Ave Maria' for voice and piano or organ  Op.57  pub. by Lemoine
'Pater Noster' for four voices and piano or organ Op.58  pub. by Lemoine

Operetta

'Die Raeuber und die Saenger' (The Robber and the Singer) 1830

[Dundonnell]

Austrian or French, would you say?

[giles.enders]

As far as I am aware, she always retained her Austrian nationality.

[Gareth Vaughan]

I notice that the scores of Op. 25 (presumably - though it is not clear - 2-piano scores) in BL and the BSB are catalogued as "Concert-Stück".

[thalbergmad]

The BL score of the Op.25 is indeed titled Concertstuck and is for piano solo.

[giles.enders]

Thank you for that. I have amended the list accordingly

[eschiss1]

according to HMB (ok, I'm replying 2 years late, but have just been looking at this myself)- Op.25 is listed as being for piano with ad lib quartet or orchestra, while the Op.44 2nd piano quartet is listed as being in E-flat (though HMB is "erm, fallible, to be kind"), not B-flat (did you really mean B as in what the Germans call H-dur?...)

The Grand Duo, in F-sharp minor and dedicated to Clara Wieck (published in 1839, so a year before Clara and Robert married, btw), can now, I see, be downloaded from Munich/BSB.

[thalbergmad]

There is a rather impressive performance of the Op.19 Polonaise on youtube. It has been described as Chopin on steroids. I had this in my feeble repertoire, but dropped it as it was on the far edge of my abilities.

The Op.25 has orchestral "hints" and can be played as a solo. Fine piece again.

Thal

[giles.enders]

I wonder if anyone can fill in the missing opus numbers which are:
7, 12, 13, 17, 21-24, 31, 34, 36, 41, 45, 51-3, 55, and 60.

[Wheesht]

According to the book by Eva Marx and Gerlinde Haas «210 österreichische Komponistinnen vom 16. Jahrhundert bis zur Gegenwart» (2001), op. 7 is Nachtgesang (Kosegarten) for voice and piano; 13 = Variations sur un thème favorit (de Moise) for piano (publ. by Gombart & Comp., Stuttgart in 1844.
The same book says that the following op. numbers are lost: 17, 21, 24, 31, 36, 41, 45, 53, 60.

[eschiss1]

Turner's "Leopoldine Blahetka (1811-1887) : pianist and composer" (dissertation) may contain useful information too. (According to Worldcat this is in fact a thematic catalog of her music.)

[Gareth Vaughan]

I wonder where the orchestral scores are.

[eschiss1]

Not scores, but 16 parts, to Op.4 @ ÖNB, which is a natural place to look BTW given that she is an Austrian composer. They give her birthyear as 1809, btw.

This may describe parts (or maybe just the piano part, but it does say "15 St."?) for her Op.14 variations.

BTW re Werkverzeich., there's not only the one I mentioned before, but also Rössl (1986): "Leopoldine Blahetka : eine Pianistin und Komponistin der Biedermeierzeit ; Biographie und Werkverzeichnis".

(According to Worldcat Op.63 is also "Thême original avec variations".) The Op.7, Nachtgesang ("Tiefe Feier Schauert um die Welt") to words by Kosegarten, about which many pixels have been spilled ;^) can be viewed here.

[semloh]

There's a couple of enjoyable performances of her charming Variations for Flute & Piano, Op.39 on YT.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kuJFSnfJQE
and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jE1L4RZWUmQ

[Wheesht]

Her Variations for Cello and Piano op. 11 can be listened to on the website of the Archiv des Wiener Musikvereins in a performance from May 2019.