Leander Schlegel (1844-1913)

[Peter1953]

Leander Schlegel, a Dutch pianist and composer, third son of a German professor of ornithology who came in 1825 to the Netherlands and worked in Leiden (Netherlands). Schlegel had the opportunity to study abroad and went to Leipzig to become a student of Jadassohn and Reinecke.

Writing about Leander (or: Léandre) Schlegel is not possible without the information the Dutch pianist Frans van Ruth (b. 1951) has given us in his informative website about this composer (in Dutch), see http://www.leander-schlegel.nl/
Particularly of interest is the link to Schlegel's detailed list of works. Please click on Composities. Quite a lot of the 35 opus numbers have German titles. We see not only piano pieces, chamber music and songs, but also a Symphony in B major, op. 25, a Piano Concerto in F Sharp minor, op. 16 and a Violin Concerto in B minor, op. 33. Non of these 3 major works are printed. The first performance was in 1911: the symphony in Dortmund, the PC in Haarlem (Netherlands) and the VC in Berlin. How would these major works sound? I suppose the idiom is rather conservative and German.

Other information (in English) can be read  here.

Unfortunately only a few works are available on CD. His Piano Quartet in C major, op. 14 (1886), is coupled with Schäfer's Piano Quintet (1901). Of these two pieces Schlegel's work is definitely more conservative (but it is written 15 years earlier), less exciting and more predictable. Nevertheless absolutely worth listening to. Another NM Classics disc features 3 Sonatas for Violin and Piano, one of them being Schlegel's op. 34 in G major (1910). Pleasant late romantic chamber music, with a most lovely 2nd movement. On a Koch disc filled with piano music of the Netherlands Schlegel's short character piece of 'Der arme Peter' [the poor Peter, after Heine], op. 5 No. 6 is selected.
On the Attaca label songs are selected (opp. 20, 21 No. 2, 24, 28). I don't have that disc, but it's still easy to find.

We can only hope that a label (like cpo) is willing to release something of Schlegel, in particular the symphony and both concertos, don't you agree?

[eschiss1]

The Leander Schlegel Archive at the Netherlands Music Institute (while it still exists) looks very interesting too. (24-page PDF inventory in Dutch, a table of 74 manuscripts available if one visits the archive- hopefully some might be scanned online sometime if legally and financially possible... etc.)

[Gareth Vaughan]

We can only hope that a label (like cpo) is willing to release something of Schlegel, in particular the symphony and both concertos, don't you agree?

Your hope is more likely to be translated into reality if you take the trouble to write to CPO and acquaint Herr Schmilgun with the music.

[Ilja]

Agreed. cpo have shown themselves very interested in Dutch music over the past years (Van Gilse, Badings, Röntgen), so a well-put case might not fall on deaf ears. Might take them a while to actually release the recordings, though.

[eschiss1]

While cpo's accompanying notes could use showing more evidence of that time spent, I think otherwise their actual sound recordings often do, so the wait can be worth it, I do think. And for once - in Schlegel's case -- many of the manuscripts are in a known location rather than spread out or even lost (which doesn't mean performing editions are already available, but still, that's one problem solved ).