Unsung extracts

[Mark Thomas]

It's really fascinating to hear this proto-Les Preludes. Thanks so much for the opportunity.

[Reverie]

Thanks for this. Great stuff.

Composition year 1848 !!

It's inspired me to revisit some of Liszt's huge opus.

[tpaloj]

A short extract from the Norwegian composer Gerhard Schjelderup's prelude to "Die scharlachrote Blume". Following the footsteps of Wagner, he composed around 10 large-scale operas but apparently was never very successful. "Die scharlachrote Blume", an opera in three acts from 1913 is based on Orczy's famous novel Scarlet Pimpernel. Schjelderup's autograph full score looks thick and fierce. This is just a few pages from the beginning but it was a lot of fun. Viva la France!

https://youtu.be/Hkt3lNt6v38
Typeset score: https://www.dropbox.com/s/2zju8u5qz710n96/Schjelderup%20-%20Die%20scharlachrote%20Blume%2C%20Vorspiel%20%28intro%29.pdf?dl=0

[Alan Howe]

Fierce, yes. But perhaps rather dour too?

[tpaloj]

Oh, very dour. Schjelderup seems to have reveled in conjuring the cataclysmic end-of-the-world in his music every chance he had (his stage work "Uveirsnat og Morgenröde" has as blunt of an opening as one might ever find). Unfortunately not much of his music has been recorded for us to give a better summary of it (for better or for the worse). Well, in this work the following first scene after this introduction promises lighter fare atleast, judging from the tone of the text. The libretto is digitized (in German), should you like to take a look:

https://www.nb.no/items/URN:NBN:no-nb_digimanus_245295

[eschiss1]

I remember a review of the cpo CD of Schjelderup's symphonic poem Brand (based on one of Ibsen's more serious plays) and symphony no.2 and dour was a word that came up there too, iirc...

[tpaloj]

You can listen to Gerhard Schjelderup's short and sweet Music to August Strindberg's "Easter" for string trio on youtube. As per Strindberg's instructions in the play, the music is based on Haydn's Seven Words on the Cross and therefore it is not strictly unsung music, but nevertheless – Happy Easter to everyone on the forum.

I'm still learning how to add scores to IMSLP, but if everything went well you'll find the score and parts there: https://imslp.org/wiki/Music_to_Strindberg's_%22Easter%22_(Schjelderup%2C_Gerhard_Rosenkrone)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVhXZ_0Y9d0

[tpaloj]

Some more Schjelderup. At first I didn't think much of the Vorspiel to his opera Ein Volk in Not based on the gloomy opening sections, but I changed my mind after looking at some later passages which are quite beautiful – for one, divided strings led by a solo violin at 2:43 and the following blissful passages for full orchestra and harp starting at 3:37.

Overall, stylistically quasi-wagnerian writing with Schjelderup's love for bass register instruments and morbid thematic material. There is incredible sinister energy to the restatement of a theme first heard on trombones (1:15) at 5:08. The whole opera was never staged but there exists a copyist's score and parts of this Overture which suggests it was performed on its own at some point. The copyist's score of the Overture is titled Nach der Niederlage (After the defeat) suggesting it was perhaps programmed under this alternate title.

Typeset score on IMSLP: https://imslp.org/wiki/Ein_Volk_in_Not_(Schjelderup,_Gerhard_Rosenkrone)
Youtube (noteperformer): https://youtu.be/YKvmEUjj4YA

[tpaloj]

I was asked to re-upload an old, computer-created recreation of Ernst Mielck's Piano Concerto (this is not the better-known Koncertstück in E!). Mielck presented this 1895 work to his teacher Max Bruch in Berlin, yet it's somewhat uncertain if Mielck ever completely finished it – the only surviving, pencil-drafted score stops abruptly during a repeated section of the trio portion of its second movement (Intermezzo). I don't recall if I uploaded what survives of the second movement earlier, but here we are. The sound quality can be worse than even Noteperformer, so my apologies in advance!

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/t6jbpqx5qocodlk/AACy6lVO5nl3pwUQdw_C38ila?dl=0

[Gareth Vaughan]

I like "dour".
Thank you very much for the Schelderup fragments.

[tpaloj]

Gerhard Schjelderup composed a one-act opera titled Frühlingsnacht (Vårnatt) in 1905. He revised it further in 1921, composing two additional one-act operas "Herbstnacht" and "Winternacht" to form a complete, three-act opera. Each of the three acts were designed to be performable on their own, as well.

I find the Vorspiel to Frühlingsnacht very beautiful with its seductive atmosphere and entrancing woodwind writing. It builds up to a quasi-wagnerian climax, and as the curtain is raised and the opera proper begins, the music has died down to mere quiet whisperings of motives introduced back in the opening section.

"Vårnatt" was released on LP in 1982 (Discogs), but so far I've not been able to find it...

Youtube

[tpaloj]

Now that the Köln Hochschule für Musik und Tanz has digitized a bulk of interesting autographs in their collection some time back, there is an easy opportunity to study the full scores of many of Friedrich Schneider's early romantic Oratorios. I took this Easter season as a proper opportunity to set a few of their introductions in Dorico/Noteperformer. I believe only two of Schneider's oratorios: Das Weltgericht and Christus das Kind, have been recorded. I haven't had a chance to listen to Christus das Kind, but at least I thought Das Weltgericht is a worthwhile work in this genre.

Das verlorene Paradies: Einleitung
Youtube

Die Sündfluth: Einleitung & Nr. 1
Youtube

Christus der Erlöser, Schneider's last oratorio: Einleitung
Youtube

Between these three introductions, the most accomplished I find the last one: Christus der Erlöser's. The themes are treated as a fugato and the choral melody "Herzliebster Jesu, was hast du verbrochen" is also quoted, according to Schneider's (/copyist's) comment on page 3.