Richard Wetz (again)

[Richergar]

I have gone through the archives on this composer - I am certainly a Johnny-Come-Lately here - including a very helpful list of symphonic compositions and lots of comments, but there didn't seem to be any single thread that jumped out at me as more likely to revive so I have just made this comment free-standing, although I'd welcome responses.

He's a fascinating guy to me in terms of what I've heard so far (the First Symphony and the smaller pieces) that are on you tube, and equally fascinating because of his history (at least according to Wiki - caveat lector). He's very closely associated with the town of Erfurt in Thuringia (which is otherwise known as the capital of the annual 'blond asparagus' festival, and where I've also participated in my humble way <g>), and I have my own associations (not so close, yet) with the town, which is unusually rich in opera performances of rare repertoire - I just heard a Wolf Corregidor (granted, with piano) and last year also with piano, but stage, Lady Magnesia, and they remain, in hard times, one of the most adventurous of the German theatres (doing I Medici later this season fully staged, which I am going to try to get to, and there's always a few things on the back burner). I'm surprised when I go at how vital the small music scene is as well, and there's a good specialized museum (the Anger Museum - a proper noun, not an adjective); each summer in front of the very impressive Dom there's a relative rarity of an opera performed out-of-doors for much of the summer. Last year it was Attila, though I didn't get to it.

He himself, if not an alte kampfer, apparently threw in his lot with the Nazis very early after 33, and Wiki speculates that this old-fashioined nationalism - epitomized in part by his choosing to stay in Erfurt - is in part responsible for this lack of popularity, but I'm not so sure that's so.  The connections with Bruckner seem to unmistakable that I wonder if, for a lot of folks, he is able to make a case in his own right (not that Bruckner - whom I adore far more than Mahler, still is able to do so for the general public). He seems to think in rather slowly moving melodic units (for lack of a better phrase - although if you sit with it, the First Symphony has got a scherzo which lumbers along like a Bruckner) and I think that he requires an audience, like Bruckner (and like Furt's symphonic works), which is willing to be IMMERSED in the pieces. That's not the Wagner style (and its offshoots) and it's not even the Brahms style, but it is a feature of late German romanticism which most audiences can't grapple with today.

I'd be curious to hear excerpts from the operas, although I don't kid myself that anyone is going to undertake THAT excavation.

Anyway, I seem to have more tolerance for the immersion-requirement than many (I'm a big fan of Wellesz) and I am going to try to explore this more on cd as well as what's available on you tube.

[petershott@btinternet.com]

You surely mean Richard Wetz - yes?

Duly amended, Peter: thanks!
Alan Howe

[BerlinExpat]

(the Anger Museum - a proper noun, not an adjective)

Just a note to say the pronunciation isn't as in English - it's 'Ang-er' and is an old German word for a village green.

Furthermore, Lady Magnesia was performed with a small orchestra as was it's sister piece Wir gratulieren! in Berlin in September this year. I have copies of both radio transmissions if anyone is interested.

Berlin Expat

[Richergar]

Thanks for the help on the pronunciation, which is always helpful. I didn't remember the small orchestra with this  - I think I was mostly transfixed by the staging <g>.  All best

[eschiss1]

... Lady Magnesia? Oh, that opera, by _that_ W composer (of whom I'm quite a fan, but not usually considered a Romantic-era composer. I suppose Wellesz is, stylistically speaking, for part of his output - not the very earliest works (those first two quartets are outright expressionistic) but a bit later to around symphony 4, yes... and for some later works (Mass in F minor, e.g.))

[eschiss1]

As to Wetz, you can hear at least one larger work of his (well, in duration, it's not that brief), his first string quartet, over on IMSLP. I do recommend the other two symphonies and the violin concerto (the latter- cpo recording- can perhaps be heard over at Concertzender Netherlands online in their archives streaming for the cost of your internet connection, perhaps not, one would have to check...) and I think another big work of his, in a concert broadcast- maybe his requiem- may be circulating.