Hans Franke (1882-1971)

[terry martyn]

The "Fundings" page of the Hans Franke Foundation mentions three, not two,CDs. And the Hans Franke Chamber Music Competition. I don't think that former Congressman George Santos has been a judge, but perhaps his own resume should merit a future invitation.

And I love the fact that a main purpose of the Foundation is the "reappraisal of Hans Franke's musical legacy"

[eschiss1]

In the case of the piano trios and string quartets, some of them are in the possession of Bayern library and still rented by Vogt & Fritz (so Worldcat lists three entries- Bayern and two versions of DNB), including his clarinet concertino op.842 and his 9-plus symphonies; also quartet no.4 is at Northwestern University and U. Toronto/Keep@Downsview, as is quartet no.5 which is also at Columbia University NYC ("Op.793 in A major"). Piano trio no.4 is at Penn State, Rice U. Library, Northwestern, SDSU, and Indiana Bloomington, if anyone is anywhere near there in the USA. (And trio 5 is at Baylor, which I -may- actually be able to interlibrary-loan from... in which case I might have a whole trio of his to do some tune-comparing from. Hrm. Worth a try, why don't I...)
Many but not all these publications are from the early 2000s (but the Catalog of Copyright Entries at LoC lists a Männerquartett (work for 4 men's voices, yes...) by Franke published in 1936, so at least one work by or "by" him was published during his lifetime.)

[Ilja]

I've been trying to identify whether the three recorded chamber works, a Piano Quintet in E sharp minor and piano trios in D major and D minor, were also penned by someone else. Audio samples are here for those without the CD. The Quintet is a poor thing, sounding like it was written in the first half of the 19th century with banal melodies strung together in an unimaginative way. The two trios seem to me to be of rather better quality and are altogether more substantial, still stylistically from the 1800s but maybe belonging to the third quarter. Perhaps the poverty of invention indicates that the Quintet is actually by Franke, whereas he exercised the same good judgement as he did in selecting Kauffmann's Symphony when choosing the trios to which he'd lay claim? Unless I've missed something, I've drawn a blank with works in the same keys at IMSLP but I wonder whether someone else with better knowledge of the repertoire than me can identify the trios in particular? 

I think I have identified the D major Trio - it seems that it's by Wilhelm Hill - more information here.

[Alan Howe]

Eric: could you expand on what you've found about the symphonies, please?

[terry martyn]

Ilja's discovery about the authorship of the Trio prompts me to wonder whether the Forum's work on "reappraisal" qualifies it for  funding from the Franke Foundation. We are,after all, starting to contribute significantly to its main purpose.

[eschiss1]

Not sure if this is what you meant, but judging from Worldcat which may have imperfect and incomplete information, at least the following symphonies by/"by" Franke were or are available for orchestral rental by Musikverlag Vogt Fritz, Ettlingen:
Sinfonie Nr. 4 E-Dur, op. 778 für Orchester (1924) = Frühling im Tal der Müglitz
Sinfonie Nr. 5 E-Dur, op. 785 für Orchester (1936) = Deutscher Wald
Sinfonie Nr. 6 a-moll, op. 790 für Orchester (1936)
Sinfonie Nr. 8 A-Dur, op. 797 für Orchester (1944)
Sinfonie Nr. 9 F-Dur, op. 798 für Orchester (1943).

I went ahead and put in an ILL request for the D major piano trio @ Baylor. Since it has been identified as being Hill's trio, I will cancel it. (Hill's music does interest me, and I hope a release of his music under his own name will ensue one-of-these-days, but!)

[Alan Howe]

I think I have identified the D major Trio - it seems that it's by Wilhelm Hill

I too can confirm - although I haven't listened to the whole thing - that Franke's Piano Trio No.5 in D major, Op.801, is in fact the Piano Trio in D major, Op.12 (1863) by Wilhelm Hill (1838-1902). I happen to have this Melisma CD: https://www.recordsinternational.com/cd.php?cd=01L006

So, I think we can expect more forgeries, if only we can identify them.

Well done, Ilja!

[eschiss1]

the Neue Zeitschrift does list a performance, in Teplitz-Schonau on 12 January 1942, of a symphony no.4 in E with that subtitle by or "by" Franke, fwiw.

[Alan Howe]

Sinfonie Nr. 4 E-Dur, op. 778 für Orchester (1924) = Frühling im Tal der Müglitz
Sinfonie Nr. 5 E-Dur, op. 785 für Orchester (1936) = Deutscher Wald
Sinfonie Nr. 6 a-moll, op. 790 für Orchester (1936)
Sinfonie Nr. 8 A-Dur, op. 797 für Orchester (1944)
Sinfonie Nr. 9 F-Dur, op. 798 für Orchester (1943)

Thanks, Eric. So, we have....

(a) two apparently nature-related symphonies in E major (Franke nos. 4 and 5)
(b) the Symphony in A minor (a-moll) (Franke no.6), now identified as by Fritz Kauffmann
(c) a Symphony in A major (Franke number eight)
(d) a Symphony in F major (Franke no.9)

Possible candidates, anyone? - see below:
List of symphonies in...
A major:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_symphonies_in_A_major
E major:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_symphonies_in_E_major
F major:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_symphonies_in_F_major

[Ilja]

The D minor Trio may be more difficult to trace. The tempo indication "Andante elegioso" is not one I can find anywhere else and it would stand out as somewhat doubtful Italian to my knowledge ("Andante elegiaco" would be correct).

Thinking about this case, it may be the most flagrant example of musical plagiarism (in its own way worse than the Hatto case) I've come across, and one that would probably have gone unnoticed had it not been for the explosion of recordings of hitherto unplayed music, the easy access to them via the internet, and our community of erudites.

Perhaps we shouldn't be too self-congratulatory, though. The early contributions to this thread make for slightly uncomfortable reading now that the whole sordid picture is becoming clear. There were some definite red flags all along, most of all the total lack of musical consistency and individuality in Franke's "work". I remember experiencing the combination of symphony and piano concerto as decidedly odd, for instance, but I have to confess also that it didn't cause me to question their authorship. Compare that to Thomas Stamm-Kuhlmann, to take an example of a backward-looking composer many of us will be familiar with. His works share an individual style and are also identifiable as 20th-century music despite their romantic roots.

[eschiss1]

Note: while the gavotte for violin and piano that's on YouTube could have had its key changed and will be harder to identify, if there's anyone here who doesn't know this, it's harder to just change the key of an orchestral work (careless transposition breaks things like instrumental ranges, open-string effects, for starters.) So I agree with the unspoken premise that the original works probably have the same key.

[eschiss1]

elegioso- also, maybe, religioso painfully misspelled?
Don't know..

[Ilja]

Thanks, Eric. So, we have....
(a) two apparently nature-related symphonies in E major (Franke nos. 4 and 5)
(b) the Symphony in A minor (a-moll) (Franke no.6), now identified as by Fritz Kauffmann
(c) a Symphony in A major (Franke number eight)
(d) a Symphony in F major (Franke no.9)
Possible candidates, anyone? - see below:
List of symphonies in...
A major:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_symphonies_in_A_major
E major:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_symphonies_in_E_major
F major:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_symphonies_in_F_major

It seems to me that there are certain rules for "a Franke":

1. Access - The work has to be accessible in German libraries or from German publishers. That limits it to mostly German music, although not exclusively.
2. Obscurity - The work has to be from a mostly forgotten composer. Even Fuchs would probably be too risky. Kauffmann was ideal: a regional musician with few students, who wrote only a single symphony.
3. Conservatism - Franke appears to have avoided more forward-looking fare. Preferably solidly German-sounding music, too (remember we're mostly operating in the Nazi years)

For the E major symphonies, that would exclude Raff (!), Fuchs, or Weigl for various reasons. Remaining candidates would be people like Mayer, Lachner, or Rott (!). A possible candidate for me is Bischoff's first symphony, which exudes the proper "forest" sphere, written by a somewhat unknown composer who died in 1936.

[Alan Howe]

I'd probably rule our Bischoff as being too late - and too long (65 mins):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE9cVXbmwhM

The opening's virtually a crib of Richard Strauss' style. But who knows?

[Mark Thomas]

I think I have identified the D major Trio - it seems that it's by Wilhelm Hill - more information here.

Oh, well done Ilja! I too have the Wilhelm Hill CD, but clearly my musical memory isn't in same league as yours and for some reason Hill's trios don't show up when one searches IMSLP.