Hermann Zilcher 1881-1948

[giles.enders]

Hermann Carl Joseph Zilcher  Born 18.8.1881 Frankfurt-on-Main  Died 1.1.1948 Wurzburg

Son of composer Paul Zilcher 1855-1943.  He studied at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt under Kwast,  Julius Knorr and Bernhard Scholz, he then pursued a career as a composer and pianist.  In 1908 he joined the staff of the Munich Academy of Music and later between 1920-1944 became principal of the Wurzburg Conservatory.

Orchestral

Symphony Op.1
Symphony Op.17
Symphony Op.27  Originally composed for two pianos
Symphony Op.84
Symphony Op.112
Suite in G major Op.4 - Frisch, Ballade, March, Serenade, Carneval.  1900
Lustspiel,suite for twelve instruments Op.54b
Suite Op.71
Suite Op.73a
Ramcan suite Op.76
Piano Concerto in B minor Op.20  1906
Piano Concerto Op.102
'Nacht und Morgan' for two pianos, timpani and strings Op.24  1917 
Violin Concerto in B minor  Op.11  1902
Violin Concerto  Op.92
Concerto for two violins and orchestra in D minor  Op.9  1902   pub. by Breitkopf & Hartel
Suite for two violins and orchestra Op.15  1903   pub. by Breitkopf & Hartel
Sketches from the Orient for violin and orchestra  Op.18  1904
Lament for violin and orchestra Op.22  1906
Variations on a theme by W A Mozart  for violin and orchestra Op.95  1942
Konzertstucke on a theme by W A Mozart for flute and orchestra in D Major Op.81  1936   pub. by Breitkopf & Hartel
Accordian Concerto Op.114

Chamber

Piano Quintet in C sharp minor Op.42  1918   pub. by Edition Silvertrust
Piano Trio in E minor Op.56   pub. by Breitkopf & Hartel
Clarinet Trio Op.90
Violin Sonata in D Op.16   pub. by Breitkopf & Hartel
Suite for two violins in G Op.15 - subsequently orchestrated   pub. by Breitkopf & Hartel
Suite for string Quartet in G Op.77
Wind Quintet  Op.91
Trio for clarinet, cello & piano
Symphony for two pianos Op.50
Eighteen etudes for flute  Op.41

Piano

Night Sounds Op.58
Winter Scenes  Op.57
Praludium in D minor for piano, left hand   pub. by P J Tonger

Song

Four songs - 'Early Response', 'Too Late', 'Bright Days' Happiness Enough'  Op.12
Dehmel-Zykhus for soprano, tenor and piano  Op.25
Duets das Volkslied-spiel  Op.32
Fifteen small songs after the Hey-Speckertschen fables Op.37
Song cycle - Aus dem Hohenlied Solomonis for alto, baritone, piano and string quartet Op.38   pub. by Breitkopk & Hartel
An mein deutschesland, prelude for choir and orchestra Op.48
Eleven Marienlieder for high voice and string quartet Op.52  pub. by Breitkopf & Hartel
Eichendorff Cycle - twelve songs Op.60

Oratorio 

Rheinhart Op.2
Die Liebesmesse, 'Mann und Weib', 'Gott', Die Eelt. Op.27  1913   pub. by Breitkopf & Hartel

Ballet

Tanzphantasie Op.71

Opera

Dr Eisenbart  1922


Incidental music for plays

As you like it  1917
A Winter's Tale 1919
The Taming of the Shrew  1926
Comedy of Errors  1934

Children's plays

Fritzbutze  1902
Die Golden Harte  1933

[petershott@btinternet.com]

For the work given as Op. 90 don't you mean, Giles, not 'Piano Trio', but the 'Clarinet Trio in the form of variations' in A minor?

That's the work given on a much valued Tacet disc 'In the Shadow of Brahms Vol. 2', which also contains the Wilhelm Berger Clarinet Trio Op. 94 - along with Zilcher another composer sadly locked into the unheard and near unknown category.

I'm not aware of another version of the work scored for, eg viola as an alternative to clarinet.

[petershott@btinternet.com]

And I forgot to add my thanks to you for reminding us of Zilcher! Other than the Op. 90 work the only other Zilcher works I know are the Op. 42 Piano Quintet and Op. 56 Piano Trio - both deeply treasurable works.

I think I also recall about a year ago Alan expressing enthusiasm for a disc of songs by Zilcher? But I never investigated that disc.

[eschiss1]

I've been very curious about his music and haven't heard it yet (actually, there is that 2nd violin concerto (A major, Op.92) broadcast, but I need to and want to go listen to that. Will do so... )

[jerfilm]

As nearly as I can tell, the Piano Quintet CD is out of print.  Amazon shows some used copies at USD$50 and change.  The Piano Trio is still available - Classical archives has a download where you don't have to buy the Dvorak too.

His Piano Concerto in b from 1918 has beeb performed in the last 40 or 50 years as i have a cassette of that performance back home.  It may have originally come from Mike Herman's collection.

there's a Musical Heritage Society recording of accordion music that includes something by Zilcher but I can't tell from the photo of the copy what it is..

Jerry

[Mark Thomas]

Zilcher's Violin Concerto No.2 is available for download from our Downloads Archive board here.

[Gareth Vaughan]

Fleisher has a fair bit of Zilcher (no parts for any of the symphonies, alas), including the Op. 20 PC. But I can't locate the Op. 102 PC at present.

[eschiss1]

US Library of Congress has something that says Zilcher, symphony no.2 in F minor, 114 p. fol. Not sure if it's score or parts. (Also his sym. 1 in A in some form...)
They also have the score of the op.20 concerto but I see no sign of op.102 offhand either.
There is also a tape of a performance of his Rokoko-Suite op.65 (1960-12-02 music division concert.) LoC also lists an LP with an accordion work of his, variations on a Franconian folksong.
hrm. didn't know his piano trio op.56 was recorded on Audite...

[petershott@btinternet.com]

The Largo CD containing the Op. 56 Piano Trio and Op. 42 Piano Quintet is indeed deleted since the label no longer exists, but friends may like to know that Amazon UK are advertising both new and used copies at very reasonable prices (about half of what I paid for my copy!). Snap them up quick!

[Amphissa]

I have the recording of the Piano Quintet and the Piano Trio. The Quintet is in C sharp minor.

[Amphissa]

There was a very nice orchestral recording of the Marienlieder featuring Antonie Fahberg and the Münchener Radio-orchester conducted by Kurt Eichhorn.

There was also a recording of the piano concerto featuring Gatti Pirner with this same orchestra and conductor.

But I'm not finding a CD anywhere. I have only mp3 files.

[eschiss1]

Zilcher concerto op20, score copyright 1925 - Free Library says the movement scheme is

Ziemlich bewegt, frei im Zeitmass -- Langsam, ausdrucksvoll und frei im Zeitmass.

[eschiss1]

Hrm, besides Wikipedia there's also an interesting brief biography here meant to accompany an Oehms Classics recording of his vocal music (a recording I wasn't aware of...)" (And of course there's the Hermann Zilcher Gesellschaft page http://hermann-zilcher.de).

Google (and VIAF) say her name is "Gitti Pirner" (which is what it says on the mp3 info)- not Gatti; are you sure, Amphissa?...

[Amphissa]

Yes, Gitti is correct. My typo. The movements of the PC look correct. My mp3 version is two files. The second is slow, melodic, quite beautiful. Not the fireworks we commonly get as a finale in most piano concertos.

However, the online references I find to the score indicates a playing time of @26 minutes. My mp3 recording clocks in at around 35 minutes. So, I'm not sure if the recorded performance is unusually slow, or if the score estimated playing time is unusually optimistic.

I seem to remember this concerto being discussed on the old-older UC. I know I am not the only person with this concerto, but I find no evidence of a commercial CD for either of these recordings. There is no applause or spoken introduction, so I'm assuming these are not from live performance.

[eschiss1]

still, could be from a studio recording made for radio broadcast, too.

German Wikipedia attaches 1906 to the A major symphony, and 1912/13 to the B minor concerto. (3 recordings of the piano trio op.56 are mentioned there - the Largo and Audite and also a 2008 recording on Keferstein. In the event I have not yet heard them.)