Anton Eberl (1765-1807): another Mozart?

[Peter1953]

I happened to hear a broadcast of Eberl's Symphony in E flat major, op. 33. What a surprise!  A sparkling work, which I've never heard before. In fact, I've never heard anything else by this, in his days admired Austrian composer. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Eberl
I found a copy of the Teldec disc featuring his 3 symphonies (opp. 33, 34 and WoO 7), performed by the Concerto Köln, and ordered it. To get an impression of his work I listened to most audio samples at jpc (unfortunately his fine piano sonatas are performed on a hammerklavier, I'm not so enthusiastic about the sound of that instrument). I'm very impressed by what I've heard, especially his Trio for Piano, Clarinet and Cello in E flat major, op. 36. Excerpts of his Piano Concerto in C major, op. 32, give the idea that it is an unknown Mozart PC, but the CD is difficult to find at a reasonable price. Click on Listen to samples: http://www.amazon.com/Eberl-Piano-Concerto-Sonata-No/dp/B0000517F1/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1275110771&sr=1-12

What do members think of Eberl's music?

[chill319]

I know two keyboard sonatas only: one in c minor, published by Pleyel around 1796 (with added vln and vc parts) as a work of Mozart's, and one in C major, dated 1796. Mozart's star was on the rise at this time, but most contemporaneous  instrumental composers in my ken had Haydn as their subtext. Eberl is certainly an exception. Mozart was his main man, and pretty good Mozart, too -- sounding natural rather than mannered.

[thalbergmad]

The doom laden opening to the C minor sonata can turn the hardest of men into a gibbering wreck.

So far, I have only played that one and the grand sonata caracteristique Op.12, but they are sufficient for me to consider him as a genius.

I have not looked at the PC's yet, but i anticipate some more of the same.

Thal

[Peter1953]

Thanks, chill319 and Thal. I read somewhere (triovanhengel.nl) that in his days Eberl's first piano sonata op. 1 was published as Mozart's "last great piano sonata". He must have been a very well-respected composer.

[thalbergmad]

http://rapidshare.com/files/393261494/Eberl_op1_Sonate_c.pdf                                                                                             

Indeed sir, that appears to be the case.

Thal

[chill319]

In fact, Eberl was not so well known and if memory serves had to go to a great deal of trouble to get people to believe that he had actually written the work.

[CrazyCello]

Sorry for resurrecting an old thread but Eberl is one of my favourite UCs.

I have the disc the OP mentioned - a fantastic CD not just in terms of the performance which is wonderfully energetic on period instruments. The brass blaze and the woodwind sparkle, while the clarities of the string textures are unrivalled. Aside from that, the music is also first rate, the crowning jewel is definitely the Op.33 E-flat symphony.

This is the work which premiered alongside Beethoven's Eroica in it's first public performance. In fact Eberl's symphony was played to universal acclaim while Eroica received a more mixed reception. When reading that statement it's easy to think "people didn't appreciate Beethoven's genuis" but on hearing the music and examining the historical context a different picture emerges.

We have to remember that the symphony in Vienna 1805 was not the beast it was in 1795 or the years before when Haydn and Wranitzky were churning them out by the dozen. The war led to the demise of subscription concerts and the symphony all but died out. Musical taste was already changing as styles shifted and politics had become bound up in art as Napoleon and the spirit of revolution spread across Europe. Beethoven's symphony is certainly revolutionary and more than enough has already been written about it. What Eberl offers is something which is still new and imbibed with this spirit of heroism, but which represents the evolution from the High Classical into the Romantic. It's remarkable listening to both works side by side how similar they are in some respects (other than the obvious key relation). The sheer scale and seriousness of concept Eberl's work is unprecendented in Classical symphonies of the preceding decades. The first movement begins with a brief slow introduction where silence plays as big a role as the notes themselves, there's a beautiful moment where a solo clarinet enters and floats serenely above the strings, this mood soon passes and the movement proper begins which is feverish and full of syncopation and interjections from the brass and woodwind. It finishes with a coda almost as exciting as the one Beethoven finishes his whole symphony with. The second movement bears such similarities to Beethoven's that I'm almost convinced Eberl must have seen Beethoven's score in advance.

It's an incredibly well constructed work. In almost every instance that Beethoven takes an aspect of music and distorts it into something new and revolutionary, Eberl takes the same aspect it and molds it into something which is sounds like the natural evolution and this is where he exceeds Mozart rather than just being "another Mozart" as the OP suggests. This also, to me, explains why Eberl's symphony was so well received compared to Beethoven's in Vienna. This was music that the Viennese understood, it was new, bold, heroic, but it was also theirs. Things would have been very different had the two works premiered in Paris...

[eschiss1]

I'll have to hear the symphonies; I've heard some of his string quintets on the radio and been favorably impressed.
Eric

[giles.enders]

I am in a muddle with Eberl's piano concertos.  I believe he wrote four.  Op32 Op40 Op45, other not known.  There is one in C minor, one in B flat for two pianos & orchestra, one for four hands published in 1809 key unknown, another in E major.  HELP!
Giles Enders

[Peter1953]

I cannot find any detailed information. According to booklet notes Eberl wrote four piano concertos and five symphonies (Koch Classics, PC op. 32 coupled with PS op. 1). The notes from the CPO disc with chamber music talks about a Piano Concerto in E flat major, op. 40 and a Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra in B flat major, op. 45.
I also have the Teldec CD with 3 Symphonies, but the notes don't give any information on the number of Piano Concertos.

Eberl surely wrote pleasant music, but after repeated listening I must confess that his music sounds to my ears fully classical and not even early romantic. His fresh, sparkling Piano Concerto op. 32 has in the first movement a brilliant cadenza in the style of Hummel.

[JimL]

I am in a muddle with with Eberl's piano concertos.  I believe he wrote four.  Op32 Op40 Op45, other not known.  There is one in C minor, one in Bflat for two pianos & orchestra, one for four hands published in 1809 key unknown, another in E major.  HELP!
Giles Enders

I don't know about one in C minor, but the one in C Major is Op. 32, and it is definitely in C, not C minor.  If there is one in E-flat, Op. 40, one can assume that the concertos for multiple pianos (or 4 hands) would be the Op. 45 in B-flat and the 4-hands Concerto is the one in E, opus unknown.

[thalbergmad]

I have copies of 3 Eberl Concertos that indicate the following:

Op.32 - Grand Concerto in C Major
Op.40 - Grand Concerto in E flat
Op.45 - Grand Concerto pour deux Pianos in B flat

There is a concerto da camera in the BL, so perhaps this is the 4th.

I have not yet got around to ordering a copy.

Thal

[joachim]

For those who are interested, I tried to find a catalog of works Eberl. If anyone has any other more complete information, you can complete ...

op 1 : Sonate pour piano en ut mineur (1792)
op 4 : Sechs deutsche Lieder pour soprano et piano (1796)
op 5 : Sonatine pour piano en ut majeur (1796)
op 5 : Variations en mi bémol sur l'aria Zu Steffen sprach im Traume d'Umlauf (1788)
op 6 : Variations en ré majeur sur un andantino : Freudin saufter Herzenstriebe de Dittersdorf (1798)
op 7 : 2 Sonatines pour piano à 4 mains : ut majeur et fa majeur (1797)
op 8 : 3 Trios pour piano, violon, violoncelle : 1 en mi bémol majeur, 2 en si bémol majeur, 3 en ut mineur (1797)
op 9 : Thème et 11 variations en la mineur sur la chanson "Ascouta Jeannette" de la comédie "Les deux petits savoyards" de Nicolas Dalayrac (1799)
op 10 : 2 Sonates en Trio pour piano, violon ou clarinette, et violoncelle ad libitum en la mineur et si b majeur (1799)
op 11 : La gloria d'Imeneo, cantate pour solistes, choeur et orchestre (1799)
op 12 : Grande sonate caractéristique pour piano en fa mineur (1801)
op 13 : 3 Quatuors à cordes, en mi bémol, ré majeur et sol mineur (1801)
op 14 : Sonate pour piano et violon en ré mineur (1801)
op 15 : Fantaisie et rondeau pour piano en si bémol majeur (1802)
op 16 : Grande sonate en ut majeur (1802)
op 17 : Variations sur un thème russe pour violoncelle et piano en ut mineur (1802)
op 18 : Quatuor pour piano, violon, alto et violoncelle en ut majeur (1802)
op 19 : Polonaise pour piano à quatre mains en si bémol majeur (1803)
op 20 : Sonate pour piano et violon en ré majeur (1803)
op 21 : Caprice et rondeau en mi bémol majeur (1803)
op 23 : Sech gesänge pour soprano et piano (1804)
op 24 : Polonaise en ré majeur pour piano à 4 mains (1804)
op 25 : Quatuor pour violon, alto, violoncelle et piano en sol mineur (1809)
op 26 : Grand duo pour piano et violoncelle (ou violon) en la majeur (1804)
op 27 : Grande Sonate en sol mineur (1805)
op 28 : Fantaisie pour piano en ré mineur (1805)
op 29 : Sonate pour flûte et piano en sol mineur (1804)
op 30 : Amusement en mi bémol majeur (1805)
op 31 : Prélude suivi de VIII variations pour 2 pianos en sol majeur (1804)
op 32 : Concerto pour piano et orchestre en ut majeur (1803)
op 33 : Symphonie en mi bémol majeur (1803)
op 34 : Symphonie en ré mineur (1804)
op 35 : Sonate pour piano et violon en si bémol majeur (1805)
op 36 : Grand Trio pour clarinette, violoncelle et piano en mi bémol majeur (1806)
op 37 : Serenade pour choeur à 4 voix, clarinette, alto et violoncelle (1807)
op 38 : Caprice et rondeau (idem que op 21) (1803)
op 39 : Grande sonate en sol mineur (1806)
op 40 : Concerto pour piano et orchestre en mi bémol majeur (v. 1803)
op 41 : Quintette pour clarinette, violon, 2 altos et piano en sol mineur (1801)
op 42 : Caprice et rondeau pour piano à 4 mains en ré majeur (1803)
op 43 : Grande sonate en ut majeur (1806)
op 44 : Pot-Pourri en Trio pour piano, clarinette et violoncelle (1803)
op 45 : Concerto pour 2 pianos et orchestre en si bémol majeur (v. 1803)
op 46 : Toccata pour piano en ut mineur (1806)
op 47 : Sextett pour piano, violon, alto, cor et clarinette en mi bémol majeur (1796)
op 48 : Quintette pour piano, hautbois, violon, alto et violoncelle en ut majeur (1805)
op 49 : Sonate pour piano et violon en fa majeur (1792)
op 50 : Sonate pour piano et violon en si bémol majeur (1795)

Theme, variations et Rondo pastorale pour harpe sur l'allegro du Divertimento K 563 de Mozart
12 Variations sur Bei Mannern, welche Liebe fühlen de la Flûte enchantée, pour piano (Won 3)
10 Variations sur Zu Steffen sprach im Träume (Won 2)
10 Variations sur Freudin sanfter Herzenstriebe (Won 4)
Trio pour piano, violon, violoncelle en ut majeur (a été attribué à Mozart) (1797)
Concerto pour flûte à bec et orchestre en sol majeur
Concerto pour piano et orchestre en si bémol majeur (Won 9 1793)
Symphonies en ré majeur (Won 5), en sol majeur (Won 6) en ut majeur Won 7) (1783/85)
Quatuor pour piano et cordes en sol mineur (1804)
Bey Mozart's Grabe, cantate pour solistes, choeur et orchestre (Won 8, 1791)
In questa tomba oscura, arietta pour voix et piano (WoO 10, 1807)
12 deutsche Tänze, 12 Menuetten pour clavier (1805)
March (1807)


opéras

Les Bohémiens (Die Zigeuner), Komische Oper in drei Akten w.o.n. 22 (1781), verloren
Graf Balduin, Komische Oper in zwei Akten w.o.n. 20 (1785), verloren
Die Marchande des Modes, Singspiel in drei Akten w.o.n. 19 (spätestens 1787), Libretto erhalten
Die Hexe Megäre, w.o.n. 21 (1790), verloren
Pyramus und Thisbe, Melodram in einem Akt w.o.n. 23 (1794), Libretto erhalten
Der Tempel der Unsterblichkeit, Allegorischer Prolog w.o.n. 24 (1799), verloren
Die Königin der schwarzen Inseln, Zauberoper in zwei Akten w.o.n. 1 (1801)
Erwine von Steinheim, Parodie in drei Akten w.o.n. 25 (1801); Libretto erhalten

[eschiss1]

Thanks. I've heard a few works of his, and at least look forward to hearing more and knowing more about his music.

[chill319]

That's quite a list, Joachim. The few things I've read by Eberl sound remarkably like rather good Mozart. Regarding the dates, I find particularly intriguing "Bey Mozart's Grabe, cantate pour solistes, choeur et orchestre (Won 8, 1791)." Mozart was alive until 5 December of that year.  To compose a work for those substantial forces before the end of the month is clearly a statement of the importance Mozart held for Eberl.