Carl Tausig's non-piano work

[Gareth Vaughan]

What is of interest to me and perhaps others in this forum would be contemporary accounts of performance of 'lost' works.

Here I agree entirely. It would be very interesting indeed to read a contemporary account of a performance of Tausig's PC or "Das Geisterschiff"(orchestral version) - or any of his works not for solo piano.

[FBerwald]

Again, out of context here... but Gareth, Who is Hartknoch? I cant seem to find anything about this person.

[Gareth Vaughan]

Carl Eduard Hartknoch (1796-1834), born in Riga, which (I think) was then part of Russia. Pupil of Hummel. Wrote, among other things, 2 PCs (first lost -?) and a Grand Rondeau Russe for pfte (Pub. St Petersburg, 1830). The "Second grand concerto pour le pianoforte avec accompagnement de grand orchestre" was published by Hofmeister in Leipzig, also in 1830. British Library has the piano solo part (and also the Grand Rondeau). The orchestral parts of the 2nd PC were known to have existed in the Staatsbibliothek, Berlin, before the outbreak of WW II, and it is thought they were taken to Poland by the Russians. Parcels of music which disappeared during the occupation of Berlin by the allies are still coming to light and (sometimes) being returned to the Staatsbibliothek. I hope Hartknoch's PC will turn up eventually. It is an accomplished work in the early Romantic style. Hyperion wanted to record it.

[eschiss1]

3 works of his (Hartknoch's) have been (re)published (solo piano works I think, or solo piano parts of larger works) - sonata op.1, grand rondeau russe op.6, Trois nocturnes caractéristiques - by Van Sambeek of Amsterdam, in 2011. So this is not a belated April Fools' pun on college of Hartknoch's, or at least it seems not limited to this forum, anyway. (Maybe Robert Layton at work, again. Er- sorry. Suspicious fellow, me. Just joking!)

Also, there is some information about him available...

the standard database Musicsack gives this: MusicSack (which lists 7 reference sources that mention him, and an alternate transliteration for a surname that was probably originally in Cyrillic - Gartknokh) and also see VIAF. (MusicSack notes that some sources have 1775 or 1795 for bdate.)

[eschiss1]

erm, also,  here is a bio page about him in Russian. There y'are. (apologies for passing off the translation to Google. Maybe a new thread?)

[markniew]

in 1980 Polish label Wifon issued a cassette with solo piano music by Tausig played by Michael Ponti (recorded on 31 May 1980 at the Warsaw Philharmonics). In the sleeve notes Mr. Dybowski mentioned: "unfortunatelly, not all of his compositions have been found yet, the most regrettable loss being his Piano Concerto whose last movement is reputedly a magnificent polonaise".

It is worth mentioning that Wifon company in 1989 issued on LP Tausig's Ungarische Zigeunerweisen in version for piano and orchestra done by Albert Eibenschutz. This performance was later reissued on CD by Le chant du monde  (coupled with the Chopin's PC no. 2 in version by Cortot and Allegro de Concert in version by Nicode). Pianist was Setrak playing with Polish Chamber Philharmonic under Wojciech Rajski

[tpaloj]

I really don't like digging up ages old threads, but this concerns a long-regarded "lost" work which should be addressed. In regards to Tausig's "Das Geisterschiff", a large amount of literature and sources list the orchestral version as lost... however, in truth I just noticed the manuscript full score is safe and sound at Goethe- und Schiller Archiv at Weimar. Tausig seems to have given the score to Liszt who had kept it in his possessions, which is why it can be found under miscellaneous scores attributed to Liszt.

The score has been digitized by the GSA. Immediately one will notice the unusually broad instrumentation which is for a "very large orchestra" and Tausig even cheekily writes in the margin of the manuscript: 156 players in total. Such fun! Note the eclectic parts for 'contrabass trombone in B' and 'contrabass tuba in E' among other things...

[Alan Howe]

I'm glad you resurrected this thread - such an interesting update! Thanks!

[Jonathan]

That is superb news - perceived wisdom was that the score was destroyed by bombing in the second world war. I'm glad to hear that is wrong! Now all we need to do is get someone to record it 😊

[Gareth Vaughan]

Yes, indeed. Very well done - a marvellous find. Now if only the PC would turn up! I'm sure that would be something quite exceptional.

[tpaloj]

Sadly the PC is not sharing company with the Geisterschiff, believe me I would have been shouting it from the rooftops if I saw that!

There's a few other curious handwritten scores in this collection too (under Liszt Noten, Nachlass > Sammlungsstücke). It is mostly printed early editions, but a few handwritten scores as well. These include a String Quintet by Emilie Mayer; a Fantasie for Violin and Orchestra and an Orchestralstück by Leopold Damrosch and a full score to Franz Doppler's opera "Benyovsky"...

[eschiss1]

... I find those of interest too, I wonder if cpo has already grabbed the quintet?

[Gareth Vaughan]

I agree. Very much of interest.

[eschiss1]

I apologize for the tangent, but is the Mayer one of the two quintets listed @ Wikipedia (in D major & minor respectively) do you know? (Has it been digitized? I guess I should just go check, sorry. It's a really good website.)

[tpaloj]

Its signature is GSA 60/Z 65, and it's been digitized. No explicit key has been stated on the Quintet's title page, but it seems to be the d-minor one (begins in minor mode, anyway). It's scored for two violins, two violas and a cello.