Gustav Jenner Piano works

[Alan Howe]

...forthcoming from cpo:
https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/gustav-jenner-klavierwerke/hnum/9729859

[eschiss1]

A quick Worldcat search suggests that perhaps the E minor ballade on this recording, one of 3, wasn't even published until 2013 apparently (in editions by Uwe Henkhaus, b.1958) (perhaps a relative of the pianist??? ah. "die Tochter des Dirigenten des Maulbacher Chores, Uwe Henkhaus, ist.").  Wonder if that might be similarly the case for the other works too...

[Sharkkb8]

Have just rec'd this cd from the good folks at Presto.  As always, I add music to a digital cloud collection (107,000 tracks and going strong!) but I also try to accurately tag pieces and tracks, and this one presents a tiny but interesting challenge.

Thus I would like to ask the UC community with help re translation - the cd lists track 13, as "Unmilitärisches für Klavier".  And then the English (parenthesis translation) on the cd back label says "Unmilitary for Piano". 

I'm listening to this piece as I type, and "unmilitary" is probably as close as any English adjective could possibly be.  It's just gorgeous & simple & sweet and puts me in the mind of Schumann's Kinderschenen.

Point being....what is a perhaps more understandable translation of "Unmilitärisches" that I'm sure I must be missing here?   Thanks, all.

Gregory

[Alan Howe]

I'd probably translate it as 'Non-Military Piece for Piano' or 'Something Non-Military for Piano'. The title may also be satirical (running counter to the militarism of the time, perhaps?).

The basic adjective is 'unmilitärisch'; when the first letter is capitalised and an '-es' ending is added, the word becomes a noun with the meaning 'something......' - hence, 'Something Non-Military'.

Not very helpful, I know. Does cpo's sleevenote shed any further light?

[Sharkkb8]

From the "Department of Answering My Own Question".........there's an explanation in the booklet which I managed to entirely miss the first time around.  (helped along by the tiny size of the typeface - my electron microscope is in the shop right now, so (in my feeble defense) it was even easier to overlook ).  Anyway:

"Jenner dedicated his piano piece Unmilitärisches to his dear friend Richard Albert Fellinger during a Christmas festivity in 1892.  Fellinger's son Richard Jr., reports that his father could "play the piano with fundamental musicality, but without much technique".

The unusual title may relate to Austria's military music in the late 19th century, when middle class display played a far greater role in the Austrian army than military matters.  To be successful, the military bands in the country's social life had constantly to produce new repertoire.  The title may thus stand for high-quality music of deep and intimate feeling, as opposed to "sensational" light music.  A second copy, prepared by the same copyist presumably at the same time as the dedicatory manuscript, informs us that Unmilitärisches was not intended to be a self-contained piece, but was conceived, together with the E flat minor Ballad and an early version of the A minor piano sonata, to function as the third movement of a piano sonata, evidently later withdrawn."

[Alan Howe]

my electron microscope is in the shop right now

Alongside mine! cpo really must address this issue. I have to take my glasses off to read their sleevenotes and have to remember to be careful where I put them in case I can't find them again!

[Mark Thomas]

An alternative to ruining your eyes is to go to the Chandos website. Most of its cpo listings (and all the newer ones) have a pdf of the booklet (click the "Media" tab), which can be opened in your browser and then zoomed to make the type legible. For those digitising their collections, the pdfs can be downloaded too, avoiding the need to keep the CD booklet.

[eschiss1]

Well- some have the whole booklet, some just have the track listings, but very fortunately yes often the former. Agreed.