Waghalter's Violin Music Released by Naxos

[Morris Herzog]

During the past weekend, the Deutsche Oper in Berlin celebrated its 100th birthday. Manuel Brug, the well-known music critic of Die Welt, a major German daily newspaper, opened his review of the celebration with a warm tribute to Ignatz Waghalter and the new Naxos CD of his music. He wrote on October 22:

"Let us begin with Ignatz Waghalter (1881-1949). This composer of full-blooded but not uninteresting romantic music seems to have fallen out of historical time. His anniversary has not been celebrated, and he must count among the most unjustly forgotten composers of the interwar period. But Naxos has just released a CD of his various compositions for violin that will have connoisseurs licking their lips with delight.

"For what they will hear is truly breathtaking music. Moreover, it was the Polish Jew Waghalter -- Pay Attention, Centenary Celebrators -- who conducted the very first performance of Fidelio, upon the opening of the Deutschen Opernhaus Berlin (which we now know as the Deutsche Oper) on November 7, 1912. Not only that: For 11 years this now totally forgotten musician -- who composed four operas and who secured a place for Puccini's music in Germany -- was the music director of an opera house that was established by wealthy citizens of Charlottenburg-Berlin as a corporation. This was certainly not in conformity with the saber-rattling nationalism of the Wilhelmine epoch."

This is a just tribute to a man who was, quite clearly, an extraordinary musician and, as it may turn out, a great composer. It appears that the Waghalter CD is really having an impact. And, frankly, it is hard to resist the emotional pull of Waghalter's music.

I am eagerly awaiting the November 14 concert at Cadogan Hall. I hope that readers of this site will do everything to get the word around.

[C R Lim]

I was at the Cadogan Hall concert which was very well done. The attendance however was a little disappointing - the hall was about half-full at best.

It was good to hear the concerto and the Rhapsodie performed live by Irina Trynkos. She has clearly has the temperament to really bring these pieces to life, as of course has the conductor. Please tell us of your future projects Mr. Walker!

Waghalter's grandson David Green and his wife flew over specially from the USA to attend the performance. Mr. Green has been responsible for the almost singlehanded revival of his grandfather's music - he started the Waghalter website www.waghalter.com and in addition to the normal printed programme last night he put out a 4-page leaflet documenting how he re-discovered the music which was lying in an attic in the family's former London home.

I look forward with great interest to further recordings, especially the operas.

[Mark Thomas]

I was there too and it's difficult to imagine a more persuasive or committed performance of the two Waghalter works, which were very well received by an enthusiastic audience.

[Alan Howe]

I too was at the concert - at which I also had the privilege of meeting David Green. David has since been in contact and clearly has further plans up his sleeve. Let's hope that the Naxos CD will spark a revival of interest in Waghalter's lovely music.

[museslave]

I was fortunate to have a small part in this project.  I played in an amateur string quartet, and was hunting for late romantic quartets which were with in our playing ability.  I stumbled on Waghalter's Op. 3 string quartet, and printed it off.  It was wonderful.  So I started hunting for more info.  I e-mailed the website Waghalter.com, and received a reply from Mr. Green.  In chatting back and forth, I discovered that he lived in the Detroit area--not that far from me.  So I arranged a meeting with the conductor of the university orchestra I play in, with Mr. Green and myself.  He brought us a copy of the chamber music CD he had produced (I already had a copy, our conductor took it...).  He also had copies of the violin parts of the concerto and rhapsody, and was eager to see if our orchestra might play them. 

I also showed him some of my transcriptions of orchestral music (the opera "Cleopatra's Night") by Henry Hadley.  He asked how much I charged.  I said, I'd do it free of charge if it would be useful to the revival of Waghalter's music.  He said he'd be in touch.  Some time later he contacted me and told me about the recording project with the Royal Philharmonic.  He had parts for the concerto, nut none for the Rhapsodie, and asked if I'd be willing to produce a set.

In our previous meeting he'd told me about the large body of unpublished manuscripts which Waghalter had produced after his flight to the United States, including an orchestral song.  I was really eager to see this.  So, I told Mr. Green that I would make a set of parts for the Rhapsodie in exchange for a copy of the manuscript of that orchestral song.  He agreed.  So I set about work, and eventually finished the parts and sent them to him.  I was very excited to have a part in the project, and that my work would be performed by the Royal Philharmonic.  I'm hoping, Maestro Walker, that there weren't TOO many mistakes... ; )

My only disappointment was that Mr. Green then sent me only the manuscript of a song with piano accompaniment.  Which was nice, but not was I was hoping for or what I had asked for.  I mentioned it later, and he said he'd see what he could do, but I haven't yet gotten my promised payment!  I'd love to transcribe any of Waghalter's unpublished works, and hope to convince Mr. Green to permit me in to do so in the future.

Eric

[ewk]

Hi all,

After Waghalter's Music was so intensively recommended here, I just had to buy a copy as well – and as far as I can judge after listening twice, the piece is really great. I hope his further music will be published on cd on day!

ewk

[Alan Howe]

I thought forum members might like to read David Green's entry on Waghalter in Grove (online):

Waghalter, Ignatz

(b Warsaw, 15 March 1881; d New York, 7 April 1949). Polish-German conductor and composer. Having completed his apprenticeship at the Berlin Komische Oper (1907–11) and the Stadttheater in Essen (1911–12), he rose to prominence in Berlin as a conductor at the Deutsche Oper (1912–23) and opera composer. His three major operas, all composed in a richly melodic vein, received their premières at the Deutsche Oper: Mandragola (1914), inspired by the Renaissance comedy by Machiavelli; Jugend (1917), adapted from the realist tragic drama by Max Halbe; and Santaniel (1923), based on a Polish fantasy tale. In 1925 Waghalter succeeded Josef Stransky as principal conductor of the New York State SO. Despite his favourable critical reception, Waghalter returned to Germany where he was active as a guest conductor and composer. He fled from Germany in 1934, first to Czechoslovakia and then to Austria, where he composed his last opera, Ahasaverus und Esther (1937). Emigrating to the USA in 1938, Waghalter established an orchestra of black musicians, but the enterprise found little support in the prevailing social climate. He died in obscurity at the age of 68. But the centenary of his birth was commemorated by the Deutsche Oper, which also, in 1989, offered a public performance of Jugend. Other works by Waghalter include a String Quartet in D op.3; a Sonata for Violin and Piano op.5; a Violin Concerto in A op.15; and several operettas (including Der später Gast, Wem gehört Helena, Bārbel), lieder and pieces for the piano. He left behind an autobiography, Aus dem Ghetto in die Freiheit (Marienbad, 1936).

David W. Green

[petershott@btinternet.com]

Fascinating! And a man quite out of place in the times and conditions in which he lived. Hopefully the present revival will make some amends for his long neglect, although nothing can entirely compensate fot it.

[Mark Thomas]

Well, he joins a very big club there, as all of us here know.

[petershott@btinternet.com]

Yes....alas, once again you are entirely right, Mark! The comment was made with a serious and sincere intention, but of course it doesn't imply any disregard for all the many distinguished members of this very big club.

[Alan Howe]

Of course, it's a much bigger club than its sung equivalent. Makes you think a bit...

[petershott@btinternet.com]

Indeed! Must be an unexplained bit of mental telepathy going on here, for that was precisely the thought I'd been mulling over.

I'd been reading this morning an earlyish Peter Singer work (OK - not embarrased at all for he is one of my heroes!) where he talks of the 'moral club'. The latter, of course, is that small sub-set of animals which our traditional prejudices inform us are deserving of moral consideration, viz. human animals. Singer is at pains to argue that this elevation to a special sphere is nothing but a prejudice and is akin to placing others in a separate category on account of gender or race or whatever.

Ha, just the same with composers I thought. There have been, and hopefully will always be, thankfully countless of them. But some get placed in a special category where their compositions are picked out, performed, recorded, downloaded, written and talked about, and celebrated. But in terms of actual musical worth there is often very little difference between the sung and unsung. In the past (and well before I ever encountered this forum) I've had ferocious squabbles with people who have the stupidity to argue that X can't be any good because he is never performed, left to gather dust, and not worth recording. What a stupid argument!

But I can hear Alan shouting: Fair enough, but enough of your warbles, and Waghalter.....?

[Alan Howe]

Nope, I think what you have said is eminently worth saying. It's what drives us all on. Now back to Waghalter!

[DavidWGreen]

Every month, the prestigious European music journal Pizzicato reviews hundreds of newly-released CDs. Of these, only a handful receives its coveted Supersonic designation, which it reserves for those it considers "An Extraordinary and Masterly Achievement [Aussergewöhnliche Spitzenleistung.] A Must-Buy!" The December 2012 issue of Pizzicato has awarded this designation to the new Naxos CD of the Ignatz Waghalter's Violin Concerto and other music for Violin, which features the brilliant Polish-born soloist Irmina Trynkos.

Review by Remy Franck, Editor in Chief
December 2012

"What a discovery: The Violin Concerto of composer Ignatz Waghalter (1881-1949) was, with its romantic characteristics, somewhat 'out of fashion' at the time of its composition in 1911 – but the wealth of ideas in this composition [Einfallsreichtum der Komposition] is fascinating. And that goes as well for the other works in this CD.

"Ignatz Waghalter was born into a Jewish family in Warsaw as the fifteenth of twenty children. Already as a child he was a virtuoso violinist and pianist. At the age of 17 he went to Berlin to seek his fortune there as a musician. He came to the attention of the famous violinist Joseph Joachim, who managed Waghalter's admission into Berlin's Academy of the Arts. He quickly made a name for himself and became principal conductor of the Berlin Opera House and New York Symphony. Aside from his activity as a conductor he composed symphonic works, operas and chamber music.

"An example of the latter is also represented in the Waghalter Project of Violinist Irmina Trynkos. The passionately formulated Violin Sonata is an enrapturing [hinreissendes] piece of music which was with good reason distinguished in 1902 with the Mendelssohn Prize.

"The engaged interpretations of the British violinist Irmina Trynkos, who is of Greek-Polish ancestry, is an eloquent testimony on behalf of unjustly forgotten music."

[Translated from the original German]

The review as posted on the Naxos website may be accessed at: http://www.naxos.com/SharedFiles/Reviews/8.572809_Pizzicato_122012_gr.pdf

[Alan Howe]

Great contribution, David. Thank you!