Eduard Lassen

[Alan Howe]

One composer who receives fleeting mentions in the biography of Raff by his daughter is Eduard Lassen (1830-1904). Toskey describes Lassen's 1st Violin Concerto in D, Op.87 (1891) as being "of dynamic, dramatic nature"; unfortunately, I can't find any recordings of his music.

Wikipedia has the following:

Eduard Lassen (13 April 1830 – 15 January 1904) was a Belgian composer and conductor of Danish birth who spent most of his career working as the music director at the court in Weimar. A moderately prolific composer, Lassen produced music in a variety of genres including operas, symphonic works, piano works, lieder, and choral works among others. His most successful pieces were his fine vocal art songs for solo voice and piano which often used elements of German and Belgian folk music.

He was born in Copenhagen, but was taken as a child to Brussels and educated at the Brussels Conservatory where he earned prizes for piano (1844) and composition (1847). He won the Prix de Rome in 1851, which provided him with the opportunity to make a long tour in Germany and Italy. While touring he met Louis Spohr and Franz Liszt and composed much of his first opera Le roi Edgard. After returning to Brussels in 1855, Lassen actively sought to get his opera performed but was unable to do so. Liszt, however, agreed to produce the opera at the Grossherzogliches Theater (now the Staatskapelle Weimar) and the work premiered in Weimar in 1857. The following year, Liszt recommended Lassen as his replacement as the court music director in Weimar, which involved conducting both the opera and the court orchestra. He happily took the job and remained in that role until his retirement in 1895. While there he conducted several world premieres including the first performance of Camille Saint-Saëns's Samson et Dalila in 1877. He also conducted the first performance in Weimar, and the first outside Munich, of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde (1874).

He remained in Weimar after his retirement and died there in 1904, shortly after receiving an honorary doctorate from the University of Jena.

A moderately prolific composer, Lassen produced three operas, a significant amount of instrumental music to stage plays, two symphonies (in D major, ca.1868 and C major, Op. 78, published 1884), a festival march for symphony orchestra, two overtures, and 11 Characterstücke for piano. He also produced a significant amount of choral music, lieder, and art songs for voice and piano.

Lassen's operas, Landgraf Ludwig's Brautfahrt (1857), Frauenlob (1861), and Le Captif (1868), did not have lasting success, though his music to Goethe's Faust (1876) gained popularity and was praised by Franz Liszt. His incidental music to Hebbel's Die Nibelungen (1873) was also well known. In 1878-79, Liszt combined excerpts from both these works in a single piano transcription, Aus der Musik zu Hebbels Nibelungen und Goethes Faust (S.496).

Lassen's solo songs and duets show a variety of treatment from the folklike Sei nur ruhig, lieber Robin or the songs with dance rhythms to the through-composed Abendlandschaft (with its more interesting modulations and accompaniment) to the rhapsodic and improvisatory Ich hab im Traum geweinet. Many of his songs, for instance Vöglein wohin so schnell, were translated into both English and French and were popular at the end of the 19th century.

[eschiss1]

re symphony no.1 in D major - "ca.1868" should be  "published 1868" (by Hainauer of Breslau). If there's a "ca." to be had, it's "ca.1867", since it was performed in that year; it may have been performed, composed earlier still. Will go fix the article...

[Mark Thomas]

Yes, Lassen's a potentially intriguing figure. As far as I know, though, all that has been recorded (by Hyperion and Naxos) are some of Liszt's piano transcriptions of his music

[eschiss1]

Some of the originals, too, on some song recitals. (And two recordings of 2 fantasy-pieces  for trombone on two different labels...? I don't know.)

But even to an eccentric lieder-fan like I sometimes am, your gist seems right.

[Alan Howe]

Apparently the D major Symphony was highly thought-of at the time. It might prove an interesting discovery...

[Alan Howe]

Three attractive songs of his are available to audition here:
http://theartsongproject.com/portfolio-item/eduard-lassen/

[Gareth Vaughan]

Scores and parts of both symphonies and the violin concerto,  together with a Festival Overture are in Fleisher

[Alan Howe]

Thanks, Gareth. Very useful to know that.

[eschiss1]

Score and parts of the first sym. are @IMSLP, too, iirc.

[Alan Howe]

Thanks, Eric.

[mikehopf]

I've got a recording of Lassen's Festival Overture Op.51 though downloading it may be a problem.

[Alan Howe]

If you were able to, it would be a great help in trying to get more of his music recorded.

[Jonathan]

Liszt transcribed several of Lassen's works, recorded on these discs (which are both excellent):

http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA66575

http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA67004

I'd like to hear some of his work untranscribed though!

[eschiss1]

There's a song or two of his and some solo piano works- untranscribed, though maybe that's not what you were looking for - on YouTube. (Then again, I find it easy to imagine that I might prefer his song output to his symphonic even if at some point I've heard both, as I do already with some rather well-known composers...)

And also: this (Allerseelen, from Op.83- possibly also transcribed; Rita Fornia, Victor Orchestra, conducted by composer-conductor Rosario Bourdon.)

[eschiss1]

oh, and here's a link to a (partial?) recording of some orchestral music by Lassen - an old (1910s?) recording of the Festival Overture (or part of it), St Louis Symphony, conducted by Rudolph Ganz.