Julius Weismann

[Santo Neuenwelt]

Surely this is a difficult thing. One thinks of the case of Wagner, a terrible man, nasty selfish and an virulent antisemite who claimed Jews, Mendelssohn included, could not write anything of value. Yet, up until the Nazis came, Jews throughout Germany and Austria were some of the greatest fans OF HIS MUSIC not of him.

Of course, after WWII this was an entirely different thing. When Barenboim insisted on performing Wagner in Israel, it led to riots. Ultimately, what one must face is that terrible people can produced wonderful art. In such cases, one can either divorce the man from his art or not. Not so easy to do and probably impossible if one personally experienced the tragedy of the Holocaust...

[Double-A]

I don't think we should judge works of art by the moral stature of their creators; there would be a lot of difficulty if we applied such a principle consistently (Wagner has been mentioned, Picasso and Bertolt Brecht both have been attacked strongly (and justifiably) from a feminist perspective for example).  I just believe that the Second World War is still enormously important and must not be forgotten.

Having said that:  On the recommendation of Alan Howe I listened on youtube to the first violin concerto and found it not to my taste:  not boring, far from incompetently composed.  But imposing, loud, aggressive.  The soloist is forced to force the tone almost throughout (probably by design; and this particular soloist keeps forcing it when does not need to, even in the cadenza).  Maybe it is my penchant for chamber music that makes me dislike (not disrespect) a piece of "anti-chamber music" like this one.

[Alan Howe]

Let's stick to the music, please, otherwise this thread's in danger of being prematurely curtailed.

Weismann's VC1 is a masterpiece in my view: a glorious outpouring of the late-romantic spirit and wonderfully written for the violin.

[minacciosa]

Just listened to Weismann's VC No 1. Twice. It is excellent, even moving. This is a real composer at work.

[Alan Howe]

100% correct! Much as I love the Reger VC, there are now sufficient recordings of it on the market; so let's have a commercial release of the roughly contemporary Weismann VC1 - I imagine the broadcast is in a vault somewhere. How about it, cpo?

[minacciosa]

It's difficult to imagine this work not being a huge success with audiences. The problem here is the high bars one must jump to place such a work. Orchestra administration generally don't want to schedule much time to rehearse concertos, spend money on performance material if they can avoid it, and remain convinced that only hoary, overexposed (master)works make anyone come to concerts. Such works as Weismann need a soloist who will take it everywhere for a couple of years and convince other fiddlers to play it. This is what was done in the past, and what is done now with modern works like Adams and Glass, though in the latter two cases they still haven't really caught on, and I don't think they ever will. I certainly don't need to hear them ever again. (For a positive example, Dutilleux's is a work that will stand the test of time.) So for poor Weismann, likely the most we can hope for is further recordings and an occasional resuscitation.

Meanwhile, it will be good to locate all of the materials we can. One never knows when opportunity presents.

[Gareth Vaughan]

I agree. Weismann was clearly a talented composer. I like his music very much, from the recordings posted on YouTube. It seems to me he is an ideal candidate for resurrection by record companies as I feel sure there are many who would enjoy his compositions. The VC is indeed glorious, as are the PCs I have so far heard. I have not yet listened to any of his symphonies, but look forward to doing so.

[minacciosa]

I just heard the 2nd Symphony, and think it is likely a much better work than the performance suggests. Everything that is good about Weismann is there, but the performance seems severely underpowered and unsure of what points to make. The old performance needs pitch correction too.

[matesic]

Weismann's string quartets listed in the New Grove are as follows:

   in F, Op.14, 1905
   in c, Op.24, 1907
   in d, Op.42, 1910
   Fantastischer (sic) Reigen, Op.50, 1913
   in Eb, Op.66, 1914
   Op.84, 1922
   in a, Op.85, 1918-22
   in e, Op.102, 1929
   in b, Fugue, 1931
   1932
   in a, Op.133, 1940
   in G, Op.147, 1943-5
   in a, Op.154, 1947

which in total makes 13. I expect the count of 11 quoted elsewhere excludes the WOO of 1931 and 1932. Cobbett in 1929, however lists only the first quartet in F and the Phantastische (sic) Reigen, with the comment that other chamber works are in manuscript.

I'm very tempted to inquire with the Julius-Weismann-Archiv whether they have scans of the unpublished pieces that they're prepared to release to the masses, but maybe I'll see how the Phantastischer Reigen play first. While I can't quite share the enthusiasm of some others for the VC and symphonies, Weismann was clearly a highly competent composer with some original ideas who doesn't deserve to be shunned on account of his political affiliations.