Some Ferdinand Hiller piano works...

[eschiss1]

on a 2-CD set combined with works by better-known friends of his, played on old and new pianos by Lee Jingsang (see MDT.) Looks like it might be interesting - not much Hiller, but if the performances are good/reviewed well and the other repertoire interests too, could be good... at worst, Hiller's name and some of his music gets spread around and some more play on music stations and in homes from others who buy it, perhaps.

[Hilleries]

This interests me
thanks for info!

if only his symphony(ies? can't for the life of me find more info on the alledged other ones) would get some cd-lovin'...

[eschiss1]

I don't know how many survive in score/parts/what have you, but I think at least 5 ? by him are believed to have existed, some say 8. The E minor op.67 (symphony no.4?) was published, and an autograph score of it is in the Royal Library of Brussels besides (autographed "Offert à Monsieur Fétis / en souvenir de / Ferdinand Hiller / Cologne 20/4/60", but I think it was probably composed around 1848 or 1849 (1848, the year of revolutions implied by/referred to by the nickname of the score) despite that - just that, I think, when he gave the score to Fétis it was April 20 1860 (in any case, apparently it was not published until 1865, by Schott). According to Hyperion Records, a 2nd symphony in A minor was performed in the same concert, in 1831, as saw the premiere of his opus 5 piano concerto. There are notices in other places of a Hiller symphony in G performed in 1852 ("Im Freien") (symphony 5?) for a British society, and a couple of others also, if memory serves.) (See Geschichte der Gewandhausconcerte zu Leipzig vom 25. November 1781 bis 25. November 1881, page 28.)

It is possible though that only the symphony in E minor survives now. I don't know...

(There is also a Symphonic Prolog (Dramatic Fantasy) Op.166 for large orchestra, pub. 1874 (premiered 1872). See IMSLP.)

Morgenblatt für gebildete leser, volume 25, 24 December 1831 mentions this concert (I think it's the same one) with the op.5 concerto of Hiller and a symphony by him, though it doesn't give a key (maybe it's the F minor symphony I just found, not an A minor one ), and the concert was ca.11 December 1831, Paris.

[eschiss1]

Hrm. What may be his first symphony, in F minor, has been scanned in online, so I modify that statement.

[Mark Thomas]

Thank you Eric for that research. I had always assumed, for no good reason I now realise, that Hiller wrote only one symphony, his op.67 Es muss doch Frühling werden Symphony in E minor. The recent radio broadcast of its rather fine first movement is available for download here.

[eschiss1]

Well, the other ones (except for the ms. symphony in F minor at U Johann Senckenberg which I just re-uploaded to IMSLP, and while Worldcat claims it's an autograph manuscript, I'll take their word for it, I don't see his name on the scan anywhere) are known only by mentions, etc.- I'd call "only surviving symphony" = "only symphony" to be actually not a bad line of reasoning really...

[Hilleries]

Thanks so much, eschiss! I'll download the new score from IMSLP as soon as it becomes available (it's still in copyright review at the moment of this post). I'm very fond of his concertos and the symphony in e minor. I'm trying to get the second concerto under my fingers, it's not very hard, very doable indeed - some friends of mine would demand my head for saying this, but I rank it alongside Schumann's - so I spend most of my day humming the first movement. In regard to his symphonies, I hope his 'renaissance' doesn't take long to come.

[eschiss1]

Hrm. There were quite a few Hiller performances two years ago on the 200th anniversary of his birth. I assume a Hiller society/gesellschaft directed some of them. I wonder if they have a project to typeset the parts of this symphony in preparation. If not, I'm tempted to have a go myself- have started, anycase (yes, I know I already have projects in progress *sigh* Distractable me... maybe after I finish the flute I part I'll return to those, then return to this... Anyhow, back to this CD... or a new thread - or returning to another one- for more generally Hillery things (apologies for an often-used pun. I have a good friend with that name and have thought of it myself.)

[JimL]

If you can get that F minor Symphony finished I might be able to wangle a performance of it.  Is the score of the E minor Symphony readily available?

[eschiss1]

The score of the E minor is at IMSLP here; I don't know about the parts. The score of the F minor has been uploaded and cleared, but my version of the parts, if it ever goes anywhere (I'm promising a lot for a project I've only just started), is barely begun- still, I like what I see of the work so far, which encourages continuing, as does the idea of a conceivable performance should I manage to finish.

[Gareth Vaughan]

Gentlemen - (and especially Eric because he's a hero),
The main Hiller Archive is at the University of Frankfurt where they have most of his MSS. In addition to the E minor Symphony they hold the F minor symphony and two symphonies in C major (1830 and 1831 respectively) which are different works. You can download scans of these and other MSS by Hiller from the website: http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/22680 - including also a Symphonic Fantaisie Op. 127. They have the MS of the Dramatic Phantasy, Op. 166 but have not scanned it yet so it can't be downloaded. Parts do not seem to be available for any of these, unfortunately; though one may find that Berlin has printed parts of the E minor symphony because that was published. Frankfurt don't have parts for the 1st PC (but these are in Berlin); parts for the Op. 69 PC and Op. 113 Konzertstuck are in Fleisher; Hyperion made a set of parts from the Frankfurt MS of the 3rd PC (Op. 170) when Shelley recorded it for the RPC.

[eschiss1]

That's the site from which I downloaded the F minor symphony (and some symphonies and works by Neukomm and others, also an early Romantic quartet by Crémont...), yes - also known as Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main, (in the case of the F minor symphony) "Online-Ausg. der autographen Notenhs. von Ferdinand Hiller (Signatur: Mus Hs 14) der Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg Frankfurt am Main Einheitssachtitel: Sinfonien, f-Moll". Anyhow, thanks- and I had no idea had quite so much Hiller (but hadn't thought to look). Neat. The Dramatic Fantasy Op.166 IMSLP has from another (published, not manuscript), source (the Dutch Library "Omroep"), but one likes having multiple sources/versions, once they scan it... Yep, ... neat!

... (erm... *blush* really, you do me entirely too much honor... erm.)

[Hilleries]

Gentlemen - (and especially Eric because he's a hero),
The main Hiller Archive is at the University of Frankfurt where they have most of his MSS. In addition to the E minor Symphony they hold the F minor symphony and two symphonies in C major (1830 and 1831 respectively) which are different works. You can download scans of these and other MSS by Hiller from the website: http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/22680 - including also a Symphonic Fantaisie Op. 127. They have the MS of the Dramatic Phantasy, Op. 166 but have not scanned it yet so it can't be downloaded. Parts do not seem to be available for any of these, unfortunately; though one may find that Berlin has printed parts of the E minor symphony because that was published. Frankfurt don't have parts for the 1st PC (but these are in Berlin); parts for the Op. 69 PC and Op. 113 Konzertstuck are in Fleisher; Hyperion made a set of parts from the Frankfurt MS of the 3rd PC (Op. 130) when Shelley recorded it for the RPC.

Thanks so much for the link!! I've downloaded the symphony of your link and am currently downloading other pieces. As they download, I've given a quick glance on that symphony, and C major is wrong. It starts clearly in e minor and ends in E major. The date (1831) is easily readable on with his signature.
(edit: reading it again, it's very faint, but readable in the first page: "in mi mineur")

[eschiss1]

actually, this suggests that if Hiller wrote an A minor symphony that was performed in 1831, as mentioned in the program notes to the Hyperion recording of his piano concertos, it wouldn't have been his 2nd symphony necessarily. (I've found a notice dated late 1831 of this concert and so far as I can read the German (and Gothic German, at that) - ah right, as I mentioned earlier - Morgenblatt für gebildete leser, volume 25, 24 December 1831 mentions this concert (I think it's the same one) with the op.5 concerto of Hiller and a symphony by him, though it doesn't give a key (maybe it's the F minor symphony I just found, not an A minor one -maybe it's that E minor symphony of 1831...), and the concert was ca.11 December 1831, Paris.

[Gareth Vaughan]

I've given a quick glance on that symphony, and C major is wrong. It starts clearly in e minor and ends in E major. The date (1831) is easily readable on with his signature.
(edit: reading it again, it's very faint, but readable in the first page: "in mi mineur")

You are absolutely right. I have just downloaded the work myself, and have sent a message to the library pointing out this catalogue error.