Friedrich Hegar's "Manasse"

[matesic]

Oops yes, I should test my own link, shouldn't I? I forgot that always seems to happen, and I also forgot how to fix it. Eschiss1 usually does know better!

[Reto Schärli]

@ mahesi:

Thank you so much! This is absolutely fantastic, I would love to hear the recording!
Was not aware of the 1995 performance in Zurich. Can you please give us more details about performers?

[Reto Schärli]

I've just been in contact with the journalist who wrote about the 1990 and 2018 performances of "Manasse" in Zurich.
he sent me a lot of background information, most notably a rather complete overview over Hegar's works.
I will copy the information and publish this here soon.

Concerning "Manasse" there is one piece of important and very interesting information:

There are two versions, definitely!
So far it has been difficult for me to exactly date the work, but in the article from an encyclopedia it clearly says:

25.10.1885 First Performance of the First Version (the one that Wüllner seems to have restored in 1892 for the Cologne concert, see above!)
10.1.1888 First Performance of the Revised Edition (the one all printed scores and the piano reduction are based upon)

All performances have taken place in Zurich, I strongly presume conducted by the master himself. I'm sure that in the archives of the newspapers there will be some contemporary articles on the issue...

[Wheesht]

Reading about newspaper archives has awakened my sleuthing instincts, and I have a done a quick check. The Neue Zürcher Zeitung NZZ of 18 May 1877 (!) has a review of the first part of Manasse being performed in a benefit concert with Hegar himself and his wife supporting him. Only the first part was completed at the time, Hegar was still working on the other parts. Not sure if I can upload a file of the newspaper article, but I could send it in a private message of course. Some more research has revealed that Hegar wrote the first version for male choir only, then rewrote it for mixed choir.

[britishcomposer]

Dear members,

a couple of years ago our member mahesi kindly sent me two CDs containing the "Hymne an die Musik", the oratorio "Manasse", and the cello concerto by Friedrich Hegar.
I have now converted these to mp3 files and uploaded two zip files to mediafire. The first file includes also a text file with information about the performers.
The oratorio is divided into several tracks, some of which consist just of audience noise. I just want to mention this in case you should wonder about it.

Thanks again, mahesi!

[Mark Thomas]

Thanks so much for uploading these, it'll be good to hear what people have been writing about.

[matesic]

Seconded. To digress a bit, what a difference between the cello concerto of 1919 and the string quartet of 1920! Did Hegar suddenly realise there'd been a war and the world was a different place? And what a fine cellist is Walter Grimmer who must now be almost in his 80's. One of those retiring artists who are virtually unknown outside their own country?

[eschiss1]

I think there's a full score of the cello concerto freely available but will have to double check...

[Reto Schärli]

I think there's a full score of the cello concerto freely available but will have to double check...

Yes, the full score (as well as a piano reduction) can be found here:

https://imslp.org/wiki/Cello_Concerto,_Op.44_(Hegar,_Friedrich)

[mahesi]

Sorry, I have to correct a detail. I found the "Programmheft" (I don't know how to translate in english) from 1995 and a short text from a radio magazine of 1991 and saw that the broadcast was 1991 for the 150th birthday of the composer. So the broadcast was of course the performance of 1990. I remembered that I heard Manasse first live and then in the radio. But it was the opposite. It is more than 20 years ago and so memory can  be wrong. 

[Reto Schärli]

Just found a rather detailed analysis of "Manasse" in the "Führer durch den Konzertsaal" by Kretzschmar
(in German) pp.393-407:

https://archive.org/details/fhrerdurchdenko03kretgoog/page/n415/mode/2up

It's suprising and great to see that even he (apart from the contemporary newspaper journalists) is praising the work in highest tones!
Let's hope there can be a revival of this fantastic and very valuable work!

[adriano]

Isn't it great having history of Swiss music coming up with three fabulous Romantic oratorios like Raff's "Welt-Ende", Hegar's "Manasse" and Suter's "Le Laudi"?

[eschiss1]

Though I have no biographical connection I must strongly agree both on the specific point and that Swiss music (older, Romantic, even more recently) has a wonderful oratorio tradition (and chamber, symphony and elsewhere, of course). (I am glad that Basel seems, according to RISM, to have so many manuscripts of (eg) Hans Huber and other composers- many not yet recorded works - to expand our knowledge.)

[Reto Schärli]

Isn't it great having history of Swiss music coming up with three fabouous Romantic oratorios like Raff's "Welt-Ende", Hegar's "Manasse" and Suter's "Le Laudi"?

Absolutely! There is so much to discover and I'm happy to have found this forum here (thanks to eschiss1 ).
"Le Laudi" is an incredible masterpiece, extremely diverse in style and it was a profoundly groundbreaking experience for me when I had the chance to prepare the orchestra for a colleague's performance! I'm totally in love with the piece!

Concerning "Manasse" it's fascinating how much information can be found, there are many traces which can help further investigation. I will need much more time, but consider putting this together into a folder on the topic some day. Yesterday I got acquainted with the "Festouvertüre" which Hegar composed for the opening of the Tonhalle building in Zurich. Though it certainly isn't a masterpiece of the quality of "Manasse", it looks nice and I'm thinking of programming it myself as a concert-opener. We'll see...

Thanks Adriano for the Raff! I didn't know about this piece... Is there any complete recording of the "Welt-Ende"? I just found excerpts on Youtube with the Göteborgs Opera Orchestra...

[Reto Schärli]

I think in general the "problems" in programming are the following with Swiss composers - a couple of points for discussion:

1) Reception is very selective, not always reflecting the quality of the pieces. Even if composers like Schoeck, Martin or Honegger are better-known today, it's only by a very small part of their oeuvre.

2) Many composers are chiefly remembered for their work as conductors, as is the case with Suter, Hegar and Volkmar Andreae. The people in charge at the orchestra's managing boards very often don't even know that these people wrote music!

3) Most scores are very difficult to get, as there is no governmental support for new editions, let alone the many manuscripts that have never even been printed!

4) Hardly anyone takes risks! Solo Concertos by little-known composers are unattractive for soloists, they don't consider it worth learning a piece they'd not play as often as the Brahms Violin Concerto... Symphonies seem to "not sell" with the big orchestras, choral works need a lot of preparation...

5) The particular case with symphonies: The pieces by Suter and Huber always need a very large orchestra with triple-woodwinds and (in the case of Suter's d minor Symphony) additional brass. So that's an expensive matter, very few orchestras can afford this.
That being said: A big argument pro the Symphonies by Brun! I'm now diving deeper into this (thanks Adriano!!!). They have moderately-sized orchestras, though heavy and profound (as far as I can judge by now).

It's really a pitty, but there should be done something about it! After all, the pieces have connections with orchestras, places and it's part of our cultural heritage...
I just don't know how this all can be changed, it's politics...