Richard Stöhr Symphonies Nos. 2-7

[Gareth Vaughan]

I believe most of his manuscripts are in an archive at St Michael's College, Vermont, where he taught.

[Alan Howe]

Symphonies 2-7 date from 1942 onwards. Chances are that they're in quite a different idiom from No.1. Or maybe an extension of his earlier idiom - could be interesting.

[eschiss1]

The two-piano scores of nos. 2 (Op.81 in D minor, 1942) and 3 (Op.93 in C major, 1943) are at IMSLP, so guesswork may not be involved (though as Stöhr died in 1967, they'll be public domain in the EU only in 2038, and so one may need to be in Canada or the US to read them).

(Edit: the 7th symphony in C minor is from 1952, from around the time of his last two violin sonatas- these two works are also on IMSLP; the first page of the latter is viewable as a front-page even in Europe, I think- in and out of B-flat major, minor, ... but looking more 1915 than 1950, chromatically-speaking.)

[Alan Howe]

So the issue is whether any of the later symphonies exist as full orchestral scores. If not, it's a rather pointless discussion. At richardstoehr.com all it says is 'Ms' next to Nos. 2 to 7 - so does that mean anything more than 2-piano versions in the composer's hand that were never orchestrated or performed?

[eschiss1]

There's a contact form at the website. I think I asked a similar question myself but am not sure and can't track down the  answer. Or perhaps I asked the person who's been uploading from the large university archive that is now partly mirrored at imslp...

[cypressdome]

The links to the Stöhr collection at St. Michael's College and the pdf inventory don't seem to be working.  The pdf can be accessed via the Internet Archive here.  It appears they have a number of the symphonies in full score.  The Austrian National Library also has about 150 manuscript scores by Stöhr.

[eschiss1]

I tried connecting by searching for Stöhr at the University library catalog but will have to be more specific...

[Wheesht]

Box 8
Folder 1: Symphonie in A minor, opus 18 Score and orchestral parts.

Box 9
Folder 1: Symphony No. II in D minor, Opus 81. June--July 1942. Printed title on spine. Bound score.
Folder 2: Symphony No. III in C major, Opus 93. Composed 1943. Copied 1944. Dedicated to Mrs. Alice Carter--Foy. Printed label on cover. Bound Score
Folder 3: Symphony No. IV, "An Artist's Life", Symphonic poem in four movements, Opus 101. 1944. Bound score.
Folder 4: Symphony No. V in E minor, Opus 106. 1944--45. Printed label on cover. Bound score.
Folder 5: Symphony No. VI, Symphonie in B flat major, opus 129. Spring 1949. Printed label on cover. Bound score.

Box 10
Folder 1: Symphony No. VII in C minor, Opus 136, 1951. Printed label on cover. Bound score.
Folder 2: Vom Leben, Symphonische Dichtung für Grosses Orchester, Opus 51, Leipzig. No printed label on cover. Bound score.

[eschiss1]

Hopefully score means orchestral and not reduced. If the reduction is in another box / section entirely, that would be suggestive.

[Wheesht]

It doesn't look as though more information can be gleaned by looking at the online inventories – one would have to write to them I suppose.

[Alan Howe]

Having seen the same information, I'm hopeful that these are full scores, although I imagine they're all unpublished.

[eschiss1]

Almost certainly.
Note that some of Stöhr's music from 1942 has already been recorded for comparison, btw, to suggest whether his 2nd symphony, if available in full score (or even if they have to be recorded as 2-piano works) would be suitable for this forum- the 2nd string quartet Op.86 and suite Op.76 (and a movement from the 3rd quartet Op.92) are from that year, both on the disc Stöhr chamber music volume 4 (2020). If anyone's heard that disc it may give a notion what to expect stylistically from the 2nd symphony (Op.81) (and maybe from the 3rd symphony op.93).

According to http://www.richardstoehr.com/performances-of-richard-stohrs-works-since-2009/ the suite (for flute, piano, violin and cello) was performed in Michigan this past April.

[Alan Howe]

Personally, I wouldn't be interested in recordings of the arrangements.

The next question would be whether parts were ever made from any of the full scores for performance purposes...

[eschiss1]

by the way, similarly, there are not just 1 but 5 piano trios by Stöhr, the other 4 also dating from 1942 to (in this case, at least from the probably incomplete worklist) 1952 (Op.137 in G minor). Nos.2-4 are also in manuscript (score and parts, I think) at IMSLP, so I hold out some hope for, maybe, recordings at Toccata if that series continues. Also, I presume that if the later works in one medium are at least in the Romantic orbit, then the later symphonies contemporaneous with them probably will be too, but that's not always necessarily so, I know.