Another "new" piece by Raff?

[Mark Thomas]

This is a possibility, no more at this stage, that another "new" (in the sense of previously unknown) piece by Raff may exist. Liszt scholars have been reviewing some late 1851 correspondence between Raff and Liszt in which the former mentions that he recently had to get the magazine Illustrirte Zeitung of Leipzig to reprint a Romance for piano of his on themes from "the Grand Duke's opera" because its original publication was so full of errors. The Grand Duke in question must be Ernst II of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the elder brother of Queen Victoria's husband Prince Albert. He was an amateur composer and wrote several operas, of which "Tony" is the most likely candidate for Raff's Romance, if that is what it is. Many years of the Illustrirte Zeitung have been scanned and are available online. I can't find a set for 1851 but the British Library hold a copy and so I'll pay them a visit and see if yet another "new" work by Raff has been unearthed. Don't hold your breath, though....