Ruperto Chapi

[mbhaub]

Did anyone catch this on Classicstoday.com? From the review of a Naxos disk of Ruperto Chapi:

"The Symphony in D minor, Chapí's only work in the form, is also typical in its somewhat formulaic approach to form and its conservative scoring. It's really a telling example of everything that went wrong with German symphonic music in the second half of the 19th century (Brahms and Bruckner excepted, of course). "

So can I assume that Raff, Reinecke, Draeseke, Spohr, Goetz, Bruch, Volkman, and quite a few other favorites on this site "went wrong"? It's not that the comment offended or anything, just that it seems to have instantly condemned so many interesting and worth composers to the dust bin, except the two mentioned. Kind of breathtaking, really. Come to think of it though, there aren't a lot of Germanic symphonies from that period that are heard in concert halls.

[eschiss1]

erm, Spohr's 9th symphony is from 1850. not quite 2nd half. his 10th symphony- not sure of the date. so I guess he sort of counts - no.
But Tchaikovsky's symphonism is more influenced by Volkmann (whose first symphony, iirc, he heard and valued) and others than critics want to hear, I think. Not a lot of Russian Nationalism going on there. It's Germanic symphonism, just not from Germany. And Liszt's Faust and Dante symphonies are half-exceptions, in their way... quarter-exceptions?... recorded by major conductors, definitely symphonies (not tone-poems) and getting more exposure.

Some of the fault I'd lay at the composers' feet, as during the period in question, as toward the end of the 18th century, despite the exceptions we've been fortunate (happy in both senses) to find, flexible treatment of symphonic argument did - I think if I began that argument I'd fall in both out of my depth and out of my knowledge-range, come to think of it... (in fact it becomes part of a whole can of worms about music history in that period.)

[TerraEpon]

Odd they are reviewing that disc now, seeing as it's over four years old...

And it's a nice disc too. Checking out my rips of it, the finale of said symphony is a wonderfully tuneful jaunt, something of a 19th century Haydn if you would. Maybe it's not Beethoven but it's very pleasurable.

[petershott@btinternet.com]

Maybe it has taken Mr Hurwitz 4 years to devote himself to the task of identifying all the many instances of where German symphonic music "went wrong" in the 2nd half of the 19th century (apart from Brahms and Bruckner)? The magnitude of that task would preclude listening to such as Ruperto Chapi.

He's a curious fellow! Used to make my blood boil, but not any more since I've got accustomed to his eccentric judgments.

[Alan Howe]

Hurwitz is a Brahms devotee - and he's written superbly about him. But his judgment on the rest of German symphonism is way off. Just one of his prejudices one has to swallow, I'm afraid.

[semloh]

I assume it's on stylistic grounds that he's citing a Spanish composer as an example of everything that went wrong with German symphonic music. Surely, the German influence on Chapi's symphony is from an early , pre-Brahmsian, period? That is certainly the view of another reviewer (of a different recording), who notes Beethovenian and Schubertian influences, along with Méhul and Weber (Rob Barnett at MusicWeb).

However,I must admit that although Chapi's music is often inventive, engaging and skilfully orchestrated (his early Escenas de Capa y Espada a case in point), I find the symphony to be among his weakest works. He soon realised where his real talent lay, and thereafter devoted himself exclusively to the zarzuela/opera. Hurrah! 

[Alan Howe]

Chapi's Symphony is a pretty insubstantial piece. There's so much more worthwhile stuff waiting to be recorded.