Gyula Major (1858-1925)

[eschiss1]

in the USA the Library of Congress, and U North Carolina Chapel Hill, have microfilms of the 2nd sonata for piano as published by Mery in 1909.

[Gareth Vaughan]

Thanks, Eric. I knew that

[Wheesht]

The (old) catalogue of filmed cards at the Musikabteilung of the Staatsbibliothek Berlin has works by Julius Jacques Major, among which Op.12: Concert Symphonique p. le Piano av. accomp. de grand Orch. Partie de Piano av. accomp. D'un 2. Piano. Leipzig, F. E. C. Leuckart. This may have contributed to the concerto for two pianos idea.

I have not had time to go through all the cards, this is quite time consuming, but Op. 49 is not among them.

[Gareth Vaughan]

I think it much more likely that whoever was asked to do the article on Major for Grove was not very interested and did it in a slapdash manner. It happens all the time. They get people who are experts on a period or country in music, but the chap doesn't necessarily know everything about everybody in the particular period or country so he flicks through a few reference books and duplicates the earlier mistakes of other authors. I wonder where Op. 49 is. Somewhere in Hungary, I guess. Pazdirek doesn't give a publisher. The Op. 12 was published in Leipzig by Leuckhart (though Pazdirek does not say so), so perhaps they published Op. 49 too.

[semloh]

I see that several scores, including a couple of free ones, are available at: http://www.musicaneo.com/search.html?q=gyula+major

[Alan Howe]

The scores of the 5th Symphony Op.79 and the Concerto Symphonique Op.12 can be downloaded here:
https://urresearch.rochester.edu/viewContributorPage.action;jsessionid=7C6AF45C747648BFAB80785359CDFE47?personNameId=2204

[Gareth Vaughan]

They are also available on IMSLP (from the same source - i.e. the Sibley Music Library, Univ. of Rochester) - and have been for some little while, I think. Unfortunately, the 5th symphony is an arrangement of the score for piano with the vocal parts added.

[Alan Howe]

Thanks, Gareth.

He's an interesting composer, as I think his compatriots Beliczay and Mihalovich are too. Wonder if there is a series of missing links here between, say, Liszt and Dohnanyi?

[Alan Howe]

Has anyone any up to date information on possible performances or recordings of Major's music?

[eschiss1]

I'd be interested to know more along those lines (and hear some of his music) too, even though I've only seen those two works of his, so far (I'd like to see/read/skim/... more too- I'll see if I can find libraries with loanable scores of his piano trios etc. (etc. etc. etc. etc.) but haven't had much luck so far as I recall.)

NYPL Research Library (offsite-request-in-advance-no-copying-etc ) has an _incomplete_ (last pages missing) score of his piano trio no.2 op.20. Sigh... British Library has a few works of his though (eg the Symphonie hongroise). I am fairly sure that the National Széchényi Library has quite, quite a few works of his- did last I checked, I'm about positive - of course my local library doesn't interloan anywhere outside the US and they don't, afaik, loan out , but at least it means the works still exist, and that would be the main stopping point for orchestras and others looking to perform works of his. (Though the Fleisher Collection has a few things too and they should probably stop there first?)

[eschiss1]

btw two works I think are available from MPH Münich: his concerto symphonique (which IMSLP has in score though that's only convenient for online reading unless you have a fair amount of printer paper) and his Balaton symphonic poem Op.55.

[Gareth Vaughan]

Fleisher has the Cello Concerto (photocopy of a MS), score only, plus (as Eric has observed) Full Score & Parts of the Op. 12 Concerto Symphonique. Also Score & Parts of the Serenade for String Orchestra, Op. 24.
National Széchényi Library has most of his manuscripts, including full scores of all the symphonies and all the concertante piano works, which include a 2nd PC in E major (Woo) and 3 Fantasias for piano & orchestra. These last are:
1. Nordische Konzertfantasie (op. 63)
2. Mazurka-Fantasie (op. 55)
3. Ungarische Konzertfantasie (Woo)
I would like to get Hyperion interested in recording these.

[Alan Howe]

Here's an excerpt from the MPH preface to the score of Concerto symphonique, Op.12:

The exact date of composition of the Concerto symphonique (op. 12) has eluded discovery; The New Grove assigns it to the year 1888 with a question mark. A printed edition for two pianos, the second being a reduction of the orchestral part, was published in 1895, followed by the full score in 1897 with the title Concert symphonique pour le piano avec accompagnement de grand orchestre. The term "concerto symphonique" already points to an expanded dialogue between soloist and orchestra. Unlike the standard solo concerto, which showcases the virtuosity of the soloist, the symphonic concerto – a genre already cultivated by Brahms – assigns signal importance to the orchestra, to a hybrid between concerto and symphony. This was indeed Major's point of departure. Once the themes are stated by the piano, their manipulation is frequently entrusts to the orchestra, the vehicle of the development. Another indication of the symphonic principle is the absence of a first-movement cadenza, which is de rigueur in a solo concerto. Major's op. 12 adopts the standard three-movement concerto form, but without the customary slow second movement: the opening Allegro is followed by an Allegretto and a concluding Allegro. The scoring adheres to the usage of the day: double woodwind, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, and strings.
A rare reference to Major's concerto is found in Hans Engels's concert guide, Das Instrumentalkonzert (Leipzig, 1932): "One of the earliest Hungarian piano concertos is the Concert Symphonique, op. 12, by J. J. Major (1858-1925), dedicated to the memory of his teacher R. Volkmann. This romantic work, nourished on Schumann and Brahms, is more akin to a symphony than a concerto, since for large stretches at a time the piano, after stating the themes, merely accompanies the orchestra, the vehicle of the development, or plays with it in unison. This does not always stand the work in good stead."
Like Brahms in his First Piano Concerto, Major has the first movement open with a timpani roll. An introduction from the full orchestral is then followed by a general pause, after which the motif is repeated and enlarged upon. The piano takes up the motif some sixty bars later, but quickly turns to new themes with allusions to Hungarian folk music, which are then developed as the movement progresses.
Surprisingly, the second movement is not the slow movement we might expect, but a lively G-major scherzo that would have raised fewer eyebrows if it had been the third movement of a symphony. It opens with the piano playing a relaxed, feathery motif consisting of an ornamented high-register 5th with contrasting pizzicato interjections from the strings. The piano plays almost constantly throughout the movement, frequently together with the full orchestra or groups of instruments, which mutually complement, support or interact with each other. A few years later, in 1894, Major published this movement separately as Allegretto scherzando for solo piano.   
The finale, an Allegro in the form of a rondo or set of variations, opens with a sort of fanfare in the horns to announce the first theme in the piano.

[Alan Howe]

It all sounds rather interesting to me, Gareth...

Has anyone actually clapped eyes on the scores?

[Gareth Vaughan]

I am familiar with the Op. 12 work. I consider it to be well worth performing and recording. I am trying to get hold of a photocopy of the 2nd PC (which is in E major, according to the library) as well.
I notice the work list at IMSLP assigns Op. 63 to all 3 Fantasias - interesting. The Op. numbers I gave in the post above came from the Hungarian State Library.