Ernst Rudorff (1840-1916) Symphony 3 etc. from cpo

[Alan Howe]

This is a really intriguing forthcoming release:
https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/ernst-rudorff-symphonie-nr-3-h-moll-op-50/hnum/4886665

[Mark Thomas]

Now that's really exciting news, Alan. I have very poor quality radio recordings of the first two symphonies, which seem to be muscular works, but have never heard a note of the Third.

[jerfilm]

I have the Symphony in g, opus 40.  Which one is that?

J

[eschiss1]

no.2, published in 1890 by Schlesinger.
His symphony in B-flat major, Op.31 was published in 1883 by Bote & Bock of Berlin.  Worldcat lists "Symphonie No. 3 für grosses Orchester, op. 50" published by Simrock in 1910.  The 3rd is in B minor and -well, see IMSLP as extracted from Sibley Library. The opening- quickviewed using the "view" button @IMSLP - is promising enough, I think... it will be nice to associate that Allegro con brio string unison with a sound sample, soon.
I don't know that these're definitely his only symphonies, or that this is also the order of composition (but "no.2" and "no.3" are attached to the scores, not, as with some other composers, a posthumous accretion.)

[Alan Howe]

From my earlier researches, Rudorff wrote three symphonies.

[Simon]

I was very curious about Rudorff's music after hearing the piano pieces recorded by John Kersey. For those of you curious about the Third Symphony (if you really can't wait to hear the actual excerpts on jpc.de), I (humbly) made a few months ago a little MIDI two-piano reduction of the first 16 bars of the first movement. Don't know if I can post it here without uploading it on an other website though...

[Alan Howe]

It's up to you...

[Alan Howe]

To give us some idea of Rudorff and his music, here's link to the MPH study score of his 2nd Symphony:
http://www.musikmph.de/musical_scores/vorworte/1343.html
Fascinatingly, the article concludes by saying:
<<This symphony is a worthwhile introduction to Rudorff's music, and to a repertoire of Austro-German Romantic symphonies that occur at the edge rather than the fringe of nineteenth-century symphonic writing. In this symphony, Rudorff emerges as a staunch representative of those in the European tradition who were prepared to imbue the symphonic language of the most prominent contemporary masters with a level of individuality that probed the boundaries of form to a new degree and even (despite Rudorff's possible disinclination to take Liszt and Wagner as models) paved the way for the reappraisal of tonality by such as Mahler, Berg and Schoenberg.>>

[Alan Howe]

From jpc's website:

A photograph from around 1896 depicts the musical senate of the Royal Academy of the Arts in Berlin. Ten professors in distinguished academic attire are posing for the camera. It is a who's who of the contemporary German compositional scene including Max Bruch, Joseph Joachim, Heinrich von Herzogenberg, Friedrich Gernsheim, and ... Ernst Rudorff. Today, we regret to say, the last-mentioned composer is the most forgotten among them. Born in Berlin in 1840, Rudorff grew up in a well-to-do, culturally connected household. His mother was Ludwig Tieck's grandniece and a close friend of the Mendelssohn siblings, and the Brothers Grimm and Karl Friedrich Schinkel were friends of the family. Rudorff's later friend Philipp Spitta (also Heinrich von Herzogenberg's close friend) wrote as follows: »The artistic views of these minds were marked by the tendencies of the romantic school. These were the ideas with which Rudorff completely filled himself from his childhood on.« As a composer Rudorff remained a romanticist through and through – also in his love of nature. He believed that industrialization posed an increasing threat to nature and decided to take action. He became an important precursor of conservation practices by groups organized in societies. His former teacher Carl Reinecke wrote of his pupils Sullivan, Grieg, and Rudorff, »I regard Rudorff as the most important musician of the then triumvirate, even though his name is less famous than that of his two fellow students.«

[semloh]

A recording of the 3rd symphony is an excellent prospect.

Just a word on Rudorff... The entry in Grove concludes that: His fondness for detail resulted sometimes in a very convoluted melodic line, harmonic obscuration, abrupt transitions and chains of sound, and complicated rhythms.

This echoes the 1900 entry, a strange mixture of high praise and strong disparagement:
Rudorff's works are for the most part of great technical difficulty. This is principally because the composer, we will not say over-loads them with detail, but over-elaborates them. This has kept his works from being as well known as they deserve. But he is sure to make a name in the future ....

How far into the future, I wonder!

[Alan Howe]

I'm even more intrigued...

[Aramiarz]

Excellents releases of CPO!! Anyone know about other important works by Rudorff?

[eschiss1]

Offhand among major - or extended - works, I'm only aware offhand of an early string sextet (Op.5), serenade op.20 (the latter at IMSLP), but I may be mistaken...

hrm, from Worldcat, major-looking works besides the symphonies, serenade op.20 and string sextet include

"Otto der Schütz. Ouverture", Op.12 (manuscript instrumental parts at Danish Royal Library, I think; they also have the published score, Seitz/Ries&Erler)

"Ouvertüre zu Ludwig Tieck's Märchen Der blonde Ekbert für Orchester : Op. 8" (also at DKB);

"Variationen über ein eigenes Thema für Orchester : Op. 24" (also at DKB, also at Indiana University Library and at the Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg Carl von Ossietzky)

Romance for violin and orchestral accompaniment, Op. 41

Romance for cello and orchestral accompaniment, Op. 7 (listed as Op.71 in one library catalog (Fleisher Collection, I think- Juilliard gets it right, though) which nicely combines the opus numbers of the violin and cello romances, doesn't it? But no, Op.7 for the cello romance, Op.41 for the violin, according to sources from the time of publication. (1870, 1897).

A serenade no.2 for orchestra in G, Op.21 (ded. to Philipp Spitta) (@ St Pancras, British Lib. & the Bayerisches Staatsbibliothek. Listed in the German National Library, so perhaps still sold.)

"Ballade : Introduction, Scherzo und Finale : Opus 15" for orchestra (also DKB... )

(ok, I don't enjoy quitting my browser by accident- who knew? saving...)

The terrific Fleisher Collection has a fair number of scores and parts of Rudorff works for interested performing groups &c, I see. The 2 serenades, all 3 symphonies, the overture Op.8, the 2 romances are there (not the Variations, the other overture or the Ballade, but can't have everything. )

[Alan Howe]

Here's the Grove entry:

Orch and chbr: 3 syms., opp.31, 40, 50; 3 ovs., Der blonde Ekbert, op.8, Otto der Schütz, op.12, Romantische Ouvertüre, op.45; 2 serenades, opp.20, 21; Variations on an Original Theme, op.24; Ballade, Introduction, Scherzo and Finale, op. 15; Romance, vn, orch, op.41; Romance, vc, orch, op.7; Sextet, 3 vn, va, 2 vc, op.5; Intermezzo, orch, unpubd
Pf 4 hands: Variations, 2 pf, op.1; Klavierstücke op.4; Kinderwalzer op.38; Klavierstücke op.54
Pf solo: Fantasiestücke, op.10, Fantasie, op.14; 2 Konzertetüden, op.29, 3 Romanzen, op.48, Capriccio appassionato, op.49; Impromptu, op.51; Klavierstücke, op.52; Variazioni capricciose, op. 55; 2 Balladen, unpubd
Vocal: songs, duets and choral works, incl. Aufzug der Romanze (Tieck), solo vv, chorus, orch, op.18; 2 Gesänge, S, female vv, orch, op.19; Gesang an die Sterne (Rückert), 6vv, orch, op.26; Herbstlied, 6vv, orch, op.43; Ave Maria am Rhein, S, female vv, orch unpubd; 10 songs, female vv, pf, unpubd; 4 songs, v, pf, unpubd


(b Berlin, 18 Jan 1840; d Berlin, 31 Dec 1916). German conductor, composer, pianist and teacher. He grew up in an intellectual and artistic environment: his mother, Betty Pistor, had been a friend of Mendelssohn and a pupil of Zelter, while his father was a professor of law in Berlin and a pupil of Friedrich Carl von Savigny. His parents' house was frequented by representatives of the Romantic school, and Johann Friedrich Reichardt and Ludwig Tieck were among his ancestors. He studied piano and composition with Woldemar Bargiel (1850–57), violin with Louis Ries (1852–4) and piano for a short time with Clara Schumann in 1858, with whom from then on he shared a life-long friendship. He studied theology and history at the universities of Berlin and Leipzig (1859–60) and music at the conservatory in Leipzig (1859–61), mainly with Moscheles (piano) and Julius Rietz (composition) and then in private lessons with Reinecke and Hauptmann (1861–2).

He worked as conductor and assistant of Julius Stockhausen in Hamburg, then taught and conducted at the conservatory in Cologne (1865–9), where he founded a Bach society in 1867. On the invitation of Joachim he was made professor at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik (1869–1910), where, from 1882, he headed the piano and organ class. He succeeded Bruch as conductor of the Stern Choral Society (1880–90). He conducted many concerts with the Berlin PO and also in Lisbon in 1887, and was a member of the senate of the Royal Academy of the Arts. He was also a founder of the environmental protection movement.

Rudorff's style as a composer was based on that of Schumann, Mendelssohn, Chopin, and above all Weber. The influence of Schumann is particularly clear in his early piano works and songs, although he soon developed a personal style. In his orchestral works, early piano compositions and songs he uses traditional forms but incorporates moments of Romantic unpredictability. His late piano pieces, such as op.52, display more continuous thematic development. He rigorously rejected hollow virtuosity and superficial smoothness. His fondness for detail resulted sometimes in a very convoluted melodic line, harmonic obscuration, abrupt transitions and chains of sound, and complicated rhythms. Many pieces, such as the orchestral Variations on an Original Theme op.24, met with wide appreciation during his lifetime.

A distinguished editor, Rudorff was a member of the editorial committee of Denkmäler Deutscher Tonkunst. Among other works he edited the score of Weber's Euryanthe (1866), parts of the Breitkopf & Härtel collected editions of Mozart and Chopin, and the letters of Weber to Hinrich Lichtenstein (Berlin, 1900).

[Aramiarz]

Thank dear friend for the research! It's interesting Rudorff's legacy, I have the impression that he And Bargiel had been forgotten many years until today! I followed the link to JPC, but don't yet samplers , of course this release is very interesting And I will get it!