Eduard Caudella (Romanian, 1841-1924)

[Christopher]

I've been discovering this composer's works on youtube.  He's hardly been mentioned on here before (only in passing) so I thought I would share.

Eduard Caudella (22 May (or 3 June) 1841 – 15 April 1924) was a Romanian opera composer, also a violin virtuoso, conductor, teacher and critic. He studied with Henri Vieuxtemps, and taught at the Iași Conservatory.

Works:

Harţă Răzeşul (opera, 1872)
Hatmanul Baltag (opera, 1884)
Beizadea Epaminonda (opera, 1885)
Fata răzeşului (opera, 1885)
Petru Rareş (opera, 1889)
Violin Concerto no. 1 (1915)
Dochia, orchestral ballad
Memories from the Carpathians

Eduard Caudella descended from a family of musicians. His father, Francisc Caudella (1812-1868), a self-taught musician, came from Vienna and settled in Iaşi in 1830, where he first worked as a violonceller alongside the French and German theater groups. After he became known to teach the music of some boyar children, he was appointed on October 1, 1860, as the first director of the newly established music school, which in 1864 became the Conservatory of Music and Declamation. His grandfather, Filip Caudella, published in 1822, in Sibiu, the first song of Romanian songs, [3] but also a series of motete composed by him (1830).

Eduard Caudella began his musical studies at Scheia and Iaşi (1850-1853) with Paul Hette (violin) and Francisc Caudella (theory-solfegium), then continued his studies in Berlin and Frankfurt (1853-1857) Hubert Ries (1802-1886), Henri Vieuxtemps (violin) and Adolphe Rieß (piano). He then went to Paris to study with Lambert Massart and Delphin Allard. Between 1861 and 1864 he returned to Iasi, where he was a violinist in the princely court of Alexandru Ioan Cuza. He was initiated in Freemasonry on 3 December 1866 in the Star of Romania Lodge in Iasi. Like his father, Eduard Caudella taught at the music school, and between 1892 and 1901 he was rector of the Conservatory. Among his students were Athanasie Theodorini, Mircea Barsan, Mircea Anghelescu and conductor Antonin Ciolan. He was also George Enescu's first music teacher, who later dedicated to Caudella his violin work "Impressions from Childhood".

Within the Conservatory of Iasi, Eduard Caudella founded the first symphonic orchestra, whose conductor was. He also directed the orchestras from the Romanian theater (1861-1875), from the German theater group (1868-1870) and from the Italian opera (1870-1874), where he directed a series of works by Giuseppe Verdi (Lombarzii, Rigoletto, Trubadur, Ernani), Gaetano Donizetti (Lucia di Lammermoor, Maria de Rohan), Gioachino Rossini (Barber of Sevilla), Vincenzo Bellini (Norma, Somnambula) and Charles Gounod (Faust, Sapho).

He also approached the national repertoire, conducting from Eduard Wachmann (Lipitorile satului), Alexandru Flechtenmacher (Baba Hârca, Cinel Cinel). He made a number of his own compositions, being the founder of the Romanian opera.  The tomb of musicologist Eduard Caudella, found in the Eternity Cemetery in Iaşi, is listed in the List of Historical Monuments 2004 - Iasi County under no. 1574 with the code IS-III-m-B-04307.

Some recordings on youtube are available:

Concerto No.1 for violin and orchestra, Op.61 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gh_d8FFeWO4

Eduard Caudella Prelude to the opera 'Petru Rares' - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIG7tlludGo

Darling blue eyes (song, sung by Angela Gheorghiu) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8ZmoAvaw1M

Memories from the Carpathian Mountains - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ae_tyjLV5c

Moldova overture - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwL6_R9zGA4

Serenade,Op.28 No.2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3U0b2riTl0

Fantasy-Capriccio,Op.25 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm1fDl0cL4g

'Dochia' - ballad for orchestra, Op.47 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6l58ych6OmA

Batrane, vino si povesteste - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6YFjU8gzeQ

Albumblatt, Op.28 No.1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lvq5Ucthh1g

[Alan Howe]

I have an Electrecord CD - details here:
https://www.discogs.com/Eduard-Caudella-Eduard-Caudella/release/7394947
The VC was apparently written in 1915, but could have been composed 50 years earlier. Nothing wrong with that, but the music isn't really very distinctive. Pleasant, but not a great deal more, I fear. Others may disagree, of course, but I can't get excited about Caudella.

[Mark Thomas]

Sorry Christopher, but I can't raise much enthusiasm either. I have the same CD, and by chance played it only a few weeks ago after several years when it gathered dust. It's all pleasant enough music but absolutely nothing remarkable and, as Alan says, very tame and old-fashioned for the era in which it was written.

[Gareth Vaughan]

The music is everything Mark and Alan say it is, BUT, listening again to those pieces (which I can only do on YouTube) I have to say that, if treated as light salon music, they are very tuneful and do make for pleasant listening without aspiring to great musical heights or depths. Taken as such I think they should not be written off altogether. They will undoubtedly give pleasure to many listeners, myself included, while not perhaps providing much in the way of protein in the musical diet.
Incidentally, is there a "Violin concerto No. 2"?

[Alan Howe]

That's probably fair enough, Gareth. Toskey lists a second VC (dated 1918), but gives no further details.

[violinconcerto]

Broeker gives the following information on the second violin concerto by Caudella: concertino for violin and orchestra, op.72, composed 1918

[Christopher]

Sorry Christopher, but I can't raise much enthusiasm either. I have the same CD, and by chance played it only a few weeks ago after several years when it gathered dust. It's all pleasant enough music but absolutely nothing remarkable and, as Alan says, very tame and old-fashioned for the era in which it was written.

Haha no need to apologise to me Mark, I didn't write the music.  I just thought I would draw attention to him as he's an unsung AND there are existing recordings AND he hasn't previously been covered on UC but might appeal to some.   I quite like the Moldova Overture, which is a recording of a live concert, not from an Electrecord disc (that's why I came across him - I was researching music written about Moldova, of which there is quite a lot, though not much from "our" era).

[JimL]

The YouTube post of the 1st Violin Concerto is singularly uninformative. Are there any sources where I can find the performers and movement tempos?

[Mark Thomas]

Simply Googling "Caudella Violin Concerto Electrocord" yields:

Allegro Energico - Andante - Finale "Alla Zingara": Allegro Non Troppo
Conductor – Ion Baciu
Orchestra – Iasi "Moldova" Philharmonic Orchestra
Violin – Daniel Podlovski

[JimL]

Thanks, Mark! Any info on the performers?

[Mark Thomas]

See above.

[JimL]

Thanks! Found it!