Hubert Ries

[FBerwald]

I came across Hubert Ries while reading about his brother Ferdinand. Apparently he wrote two violin concertos and quite a bit of chamber music. Can anyone share more info in this composer?

[eschiss1]

Aside from the fact that I think he also did some editing and arranging (including- I think?- arranging his brother's D minor symphony for chamber ensemble, other editions also...) not much at present known to me...

[jerfilm]

Violin Concerto #1 in a was floating around years ago.  Don't know the details as it's on a R2R tape 2000 miles away.....

Jerry

[eschiss1]

The complete orchestral parts and solo for the violin concerto no.1 (pub.1838) are I think freely available (from Dresden Library , mirrored by IMSLP) - likewise a violin/piano reduction (from Sibley Library, and likewise) - so I assume you mean a broadcast recording (which I shouldn't mind hearing either.) (Someone could typeset a study orchestral score to add to that parts/reduction pair. I could try, with my limited abilities.)

[eschiss1]

The autograph of a 1842-dated Romance no.3 by him for violin and piano is at the Brussels Conservatory Library; fragmentary manuscripts of some of his quartets are at various libraries (I think most of them were published, and admit to curiosity about the ones I've seen, though that from me does not always say much), RISM also lists many manuscript-copy portions of incidental music to a play called Ich bleibe ledig (I'm guessing that they're incidental music- the description does seem to say as much, though) for orchestra, mostly from the same manuscript "bundle" at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin. ... Anyway.

[eschiss1]

... my mistake, the 1838-published concerto is in D major, not A minor. I assume another work was meant!  Op.16 (concerto no.2, pub.1839) is in A minor (IMSLP only has the violin/piano reduced score to that, hopefully someone has the orchestral parts.)

[John H White]

I note that Hubert Ries was born in 1802  but his eldest brother Ferdinand first came into the world in 1784. I wonder if any other members of Franz Anton Ries's family in between became prominent musicians. I'd also be interested to know if Ferdinand and Hubert had the same mother or if Ries Snr, like J S Bach and Anton Lachner, suffered the loss of a first wife and married a second time. By the way, Hubert Ries's  two easy string quartets Op 70 are available as sets of parts from Merton Music.(www.ourtext.co.uk)

[semloh]

John, the Ries family line is as follows, inc. the answer to the mother question:

Johann (b.1723-1786/87)

Franz Anton (son of Johann, 1755-1846) On 27.12.1783 he married Anna Horst (1761-1805) – they had 11 children, the last being Hubert.

Ferdinand (oldest son of Franz Anton, 1784-1838 ) - what a remarkable life he led!

Hubert (youngest son of Franz Anton, 1802-1886)

Louis (son of Hubert, 1830-?) violinist and teacher based in London

Adolph (son of Hubert, 1837-1899) pianist

Franz (son of Hubert, 1846-1932) violinist, composer and music publisher based in Dresden

[Gareth Vaughan]

Score and parts of Viollin Concerto No. 1 are in  Fleisher, which is probably why that one was broadcast and not No. 2, which might prove more problematical - but, when in doubt, try Berlin.

[eschiss1]

Gareth:
No.1 (Op.13) is in D major (as already noted above ("the 1838-published work is in D major, not A minor! ..."). See the parts and violin/piano score, which are also at IMSLP.
The one that was broadcast was described as being in A minor (though still called no.1), which would however make it Ries' concerto No.2 (Op.16). (Published about the same time, though.)
That does not solve the mystery, unless Fleisher uses a different numbering for his concertos, in which case it merely multiplies it. (Ah. No, the Fleisher score is indeed the D major, not the A minor work that was broadcast. Unless Jerfilm's "Violin concerto #1 in a" is a typo, that is.)

[jerfilm]

Well, it's only a typo if the person who originally sent it to me was mistaken.  It's a R2R tape from probably 25 years or more ago and I have no idea where it came from

Jerry

[eschiss1]

erm... do you remember the opening well enough to know if it was in major or minor? Both are in one big movement (in sections); op.13 in D begins (D D, (octave lower) F#' F#,  A' a, d f# a... 

(see solo violin part , etc., at IMSLP);

op.19 in A m. begins (Allegro non troppo)

A A' G# A. A B. B C. C D. D E E- D - C- B- A (half-A minor scale up and down in the second part of that in the violin part, followed by virtuosity...)

IMSLP again.

Even if the detail is forgotten (not by me, I've never heard it), hopefully the mode (Major/minor) not so much (though both of them _end_ in major...)

[jerfilm]

Sorry Eric, I haven't heard it in at least 20 years......

[John H White]

Many thanks, Semloh, for that bit of family tree. I should imagine that Ferdinand must have seemed more like an uncle than a brother to young Hubert!

[Gareth Vaughan]

Thanks, Eric. Well that's a bit of puzzle now. I suspect that the A minor may have been wrongly described as No. 1. At least, we know that the score and parts exist somewhere if the R2R recording referred to really is the A minor.