Jean Paul Ertel Konzert für die Violine allein (1906)

[violinconcerto]

Jean Paul Ertel was born 22.01.1865 in Poznan. He had his first piano lessons with L. Brassin in Poznan and later became a pupil of Franz Liszt. He studied law in Berlin, but focussed totally on music after the completion of his studies. Paul Ertel taught music privately and as a lecturer at smaller conservatories, and worked as a music critic for different newspapers in Berlin. Beside that he composed orchestral and chamber music and his music was championed by such famous conductors as Arthur Nikisch, Gustav Mahler, Felix Weingartner, Ferdinand Loewe or Richard Strauß in the early 20th century. Especially his symphonic poems were often performed during the 1910s and 20s. Jean Paul Ertel died on 11.02.1933 in Berlin.

Also, the Concerto for violin alone op.17, was quite famous in Germany in the 1910s and 20s. The piece was famous, first because Paul Ertel was a distinguished composer, but second for being one of the most difficult violin pieces ever written up to that point in time. Furthermore, it contains a four-part fugue on the four strings and so is also a curiosity in the violin literature. So on the whole the Concerto for violin alone by Paul Ertel is a most interesting and unique composition.

The score to this composition can now be downloaded for free from my website as well as one can listen to a small snippet of the beginning of the piece (in a computer realisation). And there is a bit more to read about the history of the concerto:

www.tobias-broeker.de/rare-manuscripts/violin-concertos/jean-paul-ertel/

Enjoy and share!

Best,
Tobias

[Alan Howe]

As the original German title is "Konzert für die Violine allein", I would have thought "Concerto for Solo Violin" would be the most idiomatic translation.

[Double-A]

"für die Violine allein" isn't exactly idiomatic German either though, so maybe translating it literally is not so bad after all.  What is Ertel's original nationality, i.e. mother tongue, anyway?  German upper class in an area that is now Poland?  His French first name would have made me look for him in Alsace.

Edit:  On second thought:  "Violine allein" rather than "Solovioline" is probably intended to convey the fact that the violin is indeed "allein".  After all every VC is for "Solovioline"; this one uniquely lacks an orchestra.  Nobody would ever call a piece a "Sonata for piano alone", everybody knows the piano is alone, but violin alone (as opposed to "solo") is a rare constellation and concertos for this "combination" are rarer still (The closest I know of are 4 "concerti" for 4 unaccompanied violins by Telemann).  So I am all for the less idiomatic English.

[Alan Howe]

"Concerto for Solo Violin" is perfectly clear. Otherwise the title would be "Concerto for [Solo] Violin and Orchestra"!! I can see the case for a literal translation, but it does sound extremely odd in English, so I'll stick with my suggested version.

In support of this, note how Reger's similarly named sonatas, Op.91 are translated here:
https://www.amazon.com/Reger-Sieben-Sonaten-Violine-Sonatas/dp/B002G7TW90

[Double-A]

You are the native speaker of course, so you choose.  Yet I'd like to point out that "Concerto for solo violin" would mean what it says in a formal listing.  If it appeared in a newspaper article though most people would assume the orchestra was left out of the title because the orchestra is so obviously part of a concerto that there is no need to mention it.

And as I said "Violine allein" is not very good German either (maybe originating in Italian "per violino solo" which is perfectly ok as far as my Italian can be trusted), but I'd support the composer's (and Reger's) choice of it for us German speakers.  I was thinking about 'unaccompanied" but it does not strike me as a better substitute; also in baroque music it would mean "without basso continuo".

What I wonder though is why the composer insists on calling it a concerto when the defining element of a concerto--the cooperation / competition of a soloist with an orchestra--is not part of it.  Virtuosity?  Violinconcerto, what do you say about it?

[Alan Howe]

Actually, "Concerto for Unaccompanied Violin" would be a very good translation. I'll go with that.

[mjkFendrich]

As German, I would also prefer "Concerto for violin alone" because its more unambiguous, but "Concerto for Unaccompanied Violin" is also OK for me.

There is another piece of this type by the Russian / German / Austrian / Canadian composer Sophie-Carmen (Sonia) Eckhardt-Gramatté
née Fridman-Kochevskaya from 1925. Looking up the title in her worklist on http://egre.mb.ca/sc/, there it is called Concerto for Solo Violin.
To make matters a little bit more complicated, however, there are at least some parts of that work scored for violin and orchestra.

Likewise, there are several examples featuring the piano instead of the violin - first of all Alkan's well known Concerto for Solo Piano (Concerto pour piano seul)
from his 12 Etudes Op.39, and Sorabji's Concerto per suonare da me solo.

[eschiss1]

Don't let Alkan hear you call his example the "first" of its kind- the Kalkbrenner symphony-sonata, the Schumann and a rather better-known Baroque work were probably familiar to him

[Double-A]

I do think we need to distinguish the violin from the piano.  There are tons of music for Klavier allein but very little for Violine allein.  A piano can give a credible impression of an orchestra (semi-credible anyway), a violin can't.

BTW the famous baroque work is called a concerto because it follows (at least more or less) the pattern of Italian violin concertos of the time.  This is what I am still asking:  Is Ertel's work doing something comparable or else why not call it a sonata?  The fact that a fugue is in it would make "sonata" even more appropriate IMO (again because of famous baroque works).

[Alan Howe]

It'd be good to hear the whole piece...

[matesic]

My first impression of the score and of Tobias's realization is that it's oddly unviolinistic, utilizing none of the bowing and fingering tricks that became so universal in the 19th century. Presumably the hand-breaking succession of 10ths in bar 46 is to be slithered rather than fingered! One of the highly critical early reviews ("..the rewards of which are inversely proportional to the immense difficulties.." ouch!) continues to make the valid point that Ertel over-emphasises the weakest aspect of the violin, namely its ability to deliver proper harmony. This clearly comes across in the realization, where the succession of 4-note chords on the very first line are heard as if all four strings could be equally and simultaneously sounded, which of course is far from the case. Could Ertel actually play the violin, I wonder?!

[Gareth Vaughan]

I can't say I was very impressed with the realization extract. This is a work I do not particularly long to hear.

[Alan Howe]

Nor do I.

[Double-A]

It seems this is an effort to take it up where Bach left it.  Hence the absence of "normal" virtuosity à la 19th century, hence also the (short) fugal section in the middle.  And you'd have to admit that a critic in Bach's time might also have made the crack about using the violin emphasizing is weakest feature (harmony may be that weakest point, but counterpoint is certainly not a core strength of the instrument either).  If you look at the third movement of the g-minor sonata for example:  There is beautiful melody (the violins main virtue don't you think?) in this siciliano type music, but with all the double stops and chords it is very hard to make it come through--even in some recordings by very good people.  And it is far from the hardest movement in the set.  At any rate to a contemporary listener Bach's (or Vivaldis) VCs would probably have sounded an awful lot more violinistic than the solo works.

If Bach's works were the inspiration one would have to ask why Ertel didn't incorporate Bach's other techniques, most notably the use of passage work to suggest two (or three) voices, like in the last movement of the C-Major sonata or in the E-Major Prelude or the suggestion of harmony by using a minimal number of double stops (Gavotte in the E-Major partita) or even in a single voice melody (Prelude of the d-minor partita).

I still would want to hear a live performance/recording by a human on a violin before judging the piece.  The special attraction of this genre is the emergence (in performance) of music that is just barely possible (both for a composer and a player), it is "minimalist" in a different sense from minimalist music in the 20th century.  Listening to Bach's works (and others) is a little like looking at the plans of an architect and seeing the building that will be constructed.  One hears the skeleton of the music, no muscles, no skin (this pile up of metaphors tells you I am struggling to express my feelings about this...).

And maybe this effect--completely absent in a computer realization--might "rescue" it though I certainly would not blame anybody for being skeptical.  And if I had the skill I doubt I would use my time practicing and performing this piece.

What still remains to be explained is the title "concerto".

[Alan Howe]

Of course, the word "Konzert" in German is ambiguous anyway...