A friend recently sent me a CD containing a performance by the Akron SO with Earl Kelly, piano of the Piano Concerto in e (1902) of William Becker (1873-1951). I've looked high and low for some information about this American composer with no success. Can anyone point me to some information about him?
A different subject: Is there somewhere that I can upload a performance like this that others could download? I don't see anything in this URL.
Jerry
Thanks for the upload offer. You could use one of the file sharing sites like rapidshare or hotfile and then post the url, maybe?
Grove has nothing on Becker I'm afraid.
Interesting - I remember a John Joseph Becker who was a friend of Ives. Louisville put out his symphonia brevis (No 3) on LP years ago - can't remember anything about it. This can't be the same Becker - John Joseph was considered a "modernist" - although he lived practically the same time period as William Becker.
However, I just found this link to the New Yorks Times review of the premier of William Becker's Piano concerto in e.
Try this link: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9A05E3D8133CE633A25750C1A9679D946396D6CF (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9A05E3D8133CE633A25750C1A9679D946396D6CF)
It gives a little biographical info along with the review.
His MusicSack entry (http://musicsack.com/PersonFMTDetail.cfm?PersonPK=100363113) doesn't have much more information but does record several appearances as a performer (piano, trombone) and notes a few different sources. Died in 1951 true but Variety obituary wasn't until February 1 1956. (!)
Eric
Well, ok, here's the downloads for the Concerto:
http://rapidshare.com/files/416531918/Becker_Piano_Concerto_in_e_1.mp3
http://rapidshare.com/files/416531920/Becker_Piano_Concerto_in_e_2.mp3
http://rapidshare.com/files/416531921/Becker_Piano_Concerto_in_e_3.mp3
I guess there is 10 free downloads. I tried to figure out how to get further into Rapidshare but frankly I guess I'm too old (or too stupid) to figure out what they're talking about.
The pianist is Earl Kelly, Akron SO under Louis Lane.
Very many thanks. Downloading now. If the download limit is exceeded, let me know and I'll try and put the files somewhere without a limit.
First impressions are that it's an attractive romantic work, without much individuality, but I've heard worse in the Hyperion RPC series. As you'd expect, the predominant influence is Grieg. I've not checked my dates, but there's also what sounds like some Rachmaninov in the long first movement and the very short finale. Becker isn't the world's greatest tunesmith, but it's a very pleasant way of passing half an hour. The recording pushes the orchestra into the background, but actually its more of an equal partnership than it first appears.
Recommended to anybody who's curious. Thanks, jerfilm.
Quote from: Mark Thomas on Tuesday 31 August 2010, 22:24
Thanks for the upload offer. You could use one of the file sharing sites like rapidshare or hotfile and then post the url, maybe?
Be careful you don't infringe copyright. Any kind of 'filesharing' (an unnecessarily polite word for PIRACY) is illegal if the recording is less than 50 years old.
I appreciate the warning, thanks. I'm sure this particular recording is from a radio broadcast. I've never seen any kind of commercial recording by this ensemble. Would the Akron SO be delighted if they knew that a number of folks around the world were enjoying their performance? Probably. Maybe someone could shed more light on this subject...... I have the Piano Concerto in f, opus 94 of Mary Carr Moore (1873-1957) done by the Maryland Women's SO for example. Or the Piano Concerto in Ab (1875) of Caryl Florio (The pseudonym of William James Robjohn) by the Asheville SO......as examples. If anyone has a problem with my posting stuff like this, I can always make CDs for those interested.
The laws concerning 'off air' performances vary from country to country. Forgive my 'pouncing', but, having been (and continuing to be) a manager of professional musicians for some 30 years now, I am increasingly sensitive regarding piracy - especially as many people today (not seasoned contributors here, but most of the 'younger generation' (what an old fart I sound!)) seem to think that music should be 'free' and indiscriminately 'shared' without a thought as to how musicians would be able to pay their bills if people just stole their music rather than buying it.
And yes, I suspect the Akron SO WOULD be pleased to know someone was appreciating their efforts.
Rant over ;)
QuoteI have the Piano Concerto in f, opus 94 of Mary Carr Moore (1873-1957) done by the Maryland Women's SO for example. Or the Piano Concerto in Ab (1875) of Caryl Florio (The pseudonym of William James Robjohn) by the Asheville SO......as examples.
I would greatly appreciate hearing the Piano Concerto by Mary Carr Moore. The Asheville SO made a commercial recording of Florio's PC, and it is available here http://www.vcisinc.com/saxophonecds.htm (http://www.vcisinc.com/saxophonecds.htm) so I would be wary of making that available online.
That's good to know, Gareth, thanks. If you send me your address, I'd be happy to mail you a copy of the Moore. It apears to have been digitized from tape and does sound just a touch wobbly but is certainly listenable.
Jerry
There were - and are - a LOT of Beckers in the musical world starting with a violinist named Dirk Becker in the Baroque era and then there was a cellist named Hugo Becker in the 19th Century. Alas, I'm not related to a single one of them. For me, this is like having the name "Bach" and not being so much as a twig from that distinguished tree. BTW - was J J Becker's being friends with Charles Ives anything to really brag about??? Better for music, had he (Ives) stayed exclusively in the insurance racket......
:P
Whilst preparing a copy of the William Becker Piano Concerto recording to send to a friend I tried digging around for more details on his life. I came up with a big fat blank, but did find that there's a copy of the score in the Fleischer Collection in Philadelphia. From their online catalogue the movements of Becker's concerto are:
I. Allegro appassionato II. Andante sostenuto III. Presto.
the MusicSack entry does refer to several written sources that may provide some additional information (e.g. Osburn's "Ohio composers and musical authors" of 1942).
Thanks Eric. I followed that up, but it isn't available online as far as I can see and I'm not really interested enough to go to any bother.... :)
Quote...there's a copy of the score in the Fleischer Collection
True, Mark, but it's only a 2-piano score. Where is the full score? That's what I want to know.
Thanks for that, Gareth. The full score has probably followed poor Becker into the musical limbo where he seems to remain.
Very minor detail to add - a waltz, Wenn die Rose welkt, opus 101 (Valse élégiaque pour piano), was published by Arpa-Verlag of Berlin in 1910 according to Hofmeisters Monatsberichte (December 1910, page 316). (Assuming it's the same fellow.) Haven't seemed to run into his name much elsewhere I think..
Opus 101? Good heavens, that's an awfully big bushel!
I haven't yet exactly scoured the ONB scans of Hofmeister issues 1901-1947 for his name- alas the searchable transcripts of Hofmeister only go from 1829 to 1900 or so, the rest of the scans have not (yet?) been transcribed by the fine people at the Hofmeister-site at rhul.ac.uk and have to be read at onb.ac.at (Austrian Nat. Library) manually. (And one still has to learn the ins and outs of the search site more over time, too- anyway. Nothing by him seems to be in the 1829-1900 part, but he may have had nothing published yet in 1900, or nothing that the people at Hofmeister had caught in their net, anyway!)
-Eric proud dork with too much time on his hands today (and ignoring some things he has to do - well, erm... right. And alas if there was a pun in your reply, Mark, I quite missed it!)
Hiding one's light under a bushel, Eric. No pun. :)
William Becker 1873-1951 was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He visited London in 1904 and performed a solo recital at Beckstein Hall (now Wigmore) on 19th January 1904. I have recently had correspondence with a former pupil of a pupil of Beckers. He is planning a live performance in Cleveland later in the year.
Thanks Giles.
A little more about William Becker. He was married twice, there were no children by either. His estate went to his second wife's sister who had no interest in Becker or his music. There was something in his will that required a public performance of his works and reluctantly she acceded to this and which resulted in the recording referred to. There is also a recording of the rehearsal of Kelly and his pupil playing the two piano score.
The problem my contact has is that he cannot find out who now owns the copyright.
How interesting.
Isn't it odd the alleyways down which we sometimes find ourselves wandering? I spent several fruitless days on genealogy sites contacting people who had Raff's brother Joseph Kaspar in their family tree to see if any of them had a photo. None replied and I got no reply either from my email to Binghamton NY library. It was only mild curiosity, but it kept me happy for days...
Jumping from Becker to Raff's brother is a big leap. I have a hunch that if a photo is anywhere, it will be in Wiesbaden. What are his dates and what was his profession?
Oh, I was just getting diverted into musing on how I get diverted. There is no link with Becker.
Raff's brother Kaspar (1831-1893) emigrated to the US in 1855 and from 1858 lived in Owego NY. He set himself up as "Professor Joseph C Raff", a music teacher and leader of local cornet bands. He wrote an amount of light piano music (confusingly for posterity published as being by J. Raff or Joseph Raff) and retired in 1888, moving to nearby Binghamton where he died. As far as I can tell, he made one trip back to Germany in 1890, by which time big brother Joseph Joachim had been in his grave for eight years. If you want to hear a couple of his piano pieces go here (http://www.raff.org/life/family/family.htm). Of course, there is a chance that the family back in Germany had a photo of him, but the Raff wasn't close to his own family and in any event it would be amongst the Raff papers which are all in Munich. I thought it worth an email or two to the US, but really I was only idly interested to see what Joachim's brother looked like.
that actually brings up something.
I want to create a category on IMSLP for Joachim's brother (composers, editors, etc. have categories rather than pages there, for those yet unfamiliar with the site...) to preserve copies of the LOC scans of Kaspar's music, with attribution- standard practice of mine and something I believe the site is for - but the evidence and reasoning that in my opinion strongly establishes that "Joseph Raff", LOC-style, is not Joachim Raff but rather his brother (except for a work or so that's definitely by Joachim- one needs a language in which to talk about this in which this makes sense...)
the evidence, the reasoning is not mine, but that of a few people on this forum in varying proportions, and I should probably resurrect the earlier thread to do this but do feel a need to ask a certain intellectual-property-permission before going forward. And so I do.
My apologies to Alan for this thread going off piste, the responsibility is entirely mine.
Eric, you have my permission, blessing, enthusiastic encouragement and anything else you need, to use whatever I have come up with to establish at IMSLP Joseph C(aspar) Raff as the composer of the LOC works which we have identified. All I know is on this site and is summarised on the Raff web site here (http://www.raff.org/life/family/family.htm). If I can find out any more then I'll be sure to let you now.
Thank you. I did ask someone at LoC , if I remember my probably characteristically muddled query, to consider modifying LoC Authorities (http://authorities.loc.gov) or something at viaf.org (http://viaf.org) (OCLC's Linked Authority Files (http://www.oclc.org)) to reflect this, too, but so far, no dice, no joy, etc. Will do soon, then!
Actually, soon is now (http://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Raff,_Joseph_Kaspar), though have only uploaded one item so far... (ok, six.)
I just happened across your query. Earl Kelly, the soloist in the concerto, was one of two or three top piano teachers in Akron, Ohio. I took piano and private theory lessons with him in high school. He was a longtime piano student of William Becker and went to Cleveland for lessons with him and with Becker's teaching assistant, a woman named Hazel Hart. I can't tell you anything about Becker as composer but Kelly told me that Becker was a celebrated piano student of Xaver Scharwenka and that Scharwenka treated him to a champagne supper after Becker's European debut recital. Legends, legends ...
Welcome to the forum, David.
Much of the information I have logged about Becker was from a pupil of Becker, this man also has memories of Kelly.
Are we any nearer discovering the whereabouts of the Full Score of Becker's PC or, indeed, the rest of his musical output?
If David Knapp would like to email me, I might be able to put him in touch with possibly Beckers last pupil who is resident in Cleveland, Ohio.
There must be a full score and parts of the piano concerto in Cleveland as earlier in the year I was informed of a performance this Autumn.