Friedrich Hegar's "Manasse"

[Reto Schärli]

ok ,thanks. I might consider sharing the scores at a later occasion, probably directly on IMSLP.

Just found out that in Basel they have a copy of the score with cuts made by the then rather well-known conductor Franz Wüllner, along with handwritten annotations. There is also a note claiming that the entrance of the first chorus was originally only for male choir (only the "priests"), but Hegar later on made up his mind. Wüllner seems to have restored that original part. Now I'm really curious about finding out in which ways they differ from each other, and particularly how the conductor cut the work...

[Reto Schärli]

@ matesic:

I just had a listen to the String Quartet you suggested (there is a version on Youtube). Very interesting and pretty modern, isn't it?! This is completely different from anything that I'd expect from him. Do you have the sheet music for this? (unfortunately, on IMSLP the page is blank...).

I find it particularly interesting in comparison to the "Festive Cantata" for the inauguration of the University, which can be found here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekWVJ9Qvo6U

That one was composed in 1914, considering it being op.42 it's about the same time as the String Quartet (or predates the later by only a few years).

Will give the Violin Sonata a go the other day

[matesic]

@Reto - I was able to download the parts OK. Maybe this will work better for you http://www.mediafire.com/folder/j8g1d9xng6o4e/Hegar.
The youtube performance is in fact the same - not a real performance I should say but just me multitracked and struggling a bit in places! I find it hard to believe no proper quartet seems to have taken this fine piece up. I agree it is very much at the modern end of "romantic" but the Festive Cantata seems to be by a different composer altogether! Is this more like the style of Manasse?

[Reto Schärli]

Thank you very much, matesic!
In the meantime I managed with the parts
I just found out they have sheet music for this (hopefully a full score) at ZB Zürich. So many things to check, once the whole situation gets better...

Yes, the "Cantata" is very much in the style of "Manasse" (which obviously must be much earlier). There is a piano reduction also at the library in Zurich.
That piece seems to be fairly conservative, isn't it?

An interesting piece now to compare could be the Cello Concerto, op.44 which he wrote for his son, a professor in Munich. There is a full score available on IMSLP... Will most probably play through this in the coming days

Concerning "Manasse" I found out that apparently there must be different versions! There is a note on the page of the Basel library claiming that Franz Wüllner restored the "original" beginning when he performed it in Cologne in 1892. And I read in a program booklet today that the "final version" of "Manasse" was first performed in Zurich in 1888. Some other sources claim 1885. The exact dating seems to be quite difficult...
Apparently it was performed in 1990 in Zurich and there was a broadcast. I don't really believe that there is much chance, but I'll try to write to Radio SRF if this survives and if there's any possibility of getting a copy...

Thanks for your efforts and best wishes,
Reto

[eschiss1]

Re the string quartet at IMSLP: try https://imslp.org/wiki/String_Quartet%2C_Op.46_(Hegar%2C_Friedrich) instead. I think I have a guess what the problem was.

[Reto Schärli]

 

Re the string quartet at IMSLP: try https://imslp.org/wiki/String_Quartet%2C_Op.46_(Hegar%2C_Friedrich) instead. I think I have a guess what the problem was.

Thanks! It worked in the meantime...
I hope to get a full score from Zurich in order to follow more closely than just from the parts.

[eschiss1]

... I wonder if BSB (Munich) could be convinced to digitize their copy of the Taschenpartitur of the work...

[Reto Schärli]

... I wonder if BSB (Munich) could be convinced to digitize their copy of the Taschenpartitur of the work...

hmmm... that sounds very interesting! I think it's worth giving a try!
Btw I'm very surprised to find out that no library even in Switzerland has any copy of the (printed) full score of "Manasse" (except for Basel which I assume is the autograph) and I happened to find it in the antiquarian bookshop some months ago!
It's strange and I really don't know how the (very few!) conductors who performed the work in the last 100 years have managed to get it...

[eschiss1]

I might have thought it was because they rented the score and parts from - well, I guess maybe whoever bought Hug - but - well, I suppose it becomes an interesting question- hrm.
(The Fleisher Collection of the Free Library of Philadelphia, which practically exists to have performance-ready scores and parts I think and is often another possible answer to that same question, has performance material (score & parts) for Hegar's violin Ballade Op.46 (1922 published material), Violin Concerto Op.3 (1873), Cello Concerto Op.46 (pub.1919) but not Manasse either.

Hrm. Musikverlagehug, as a sub-branch of something else now, does sell the -women's chorus choral score- (this) to Manasse. (Given that one could presumably extract from the published and available vocal score and that it's public domain everywhere, unlike works of some other composers who have come up lately, they should probably try to add value before charging, eg by selling the full score as noted...) But I would have failed economics class.

[eschiss1]

US Library of Congress may have the 299 pp full score (but the fact that the catalog number has a "unk" prefix is not promising- unk for "unk"nown status, as was explained to me, iirc, by a librarian there. It also says "request in Reading Room"; the Bern library may have better access conditions. Still, between Bern, Sondershausen, and Washington DC and yourself at least there's more than 1 copy of the full score at large in the world- not joking, for some things there's only one of the score and/or parts anywhere and even its status is listed as "private collection" which is not reassuring...)

[Reto Schärli]

Thanks, eschiss1 for the valuable input! I'm sure as well that there must be full scores somewhere even in Swiss libraries. Either they are not in the catalogue yet or I just have to continue browsing ...
I just find it surprising that some of the other pieces seem to be easier to get, though "Manasse" was his "opus magnum" and frequently performed.

A research at the Schweizerische Nationalphonografie just came up with a recording (most probably a broadcast) of the Cello Concerto from 1981 in Basel. But nowhere do I find anything about "Manasse"...

I really feel this all could easily lead to a doctorate But as a musician myself I'm certainly the wrong person for that...
Fascinating what one can find, once you take the time to do research...

[Reto Schärli]

Concerning "Hug Musikverlage" I really don't understand at all! That seems to be a very strange thing...

On the one hand, the choral score is available - as you mentioned, on the other hand I don't find anything about "Hug Musikverlag". I know Hug as one of our country's biggest music store agent, but not as an editor on its own. Many of the "big" pieces of Swiss music at around 1900 was printed with Hug in Zurich (like Suter's d minor Symphony as well as the Huber Symphonies), but the company certainly does not exist anymore. Just strange enough that the choir parts for "Manasse" seem to still be at sale.

I have no idea whether anyone has taken over the company or not. I assume the firm just doesn't exist anymore and the "Manasse" parts are kind of archive copies...
Does that make sense?
Maybe I can find out about this specific issue later on, I have some good contacts with Hug, the music store ...

[mahesi]

In 1995 I heard Manasse live in the Zurich Tonhalle. Later that year there was a broadcast of this performance in Swiss radio. I recorded it, of course not in very good sound quality. Perhaps a friend will upload this performance for the forum.
In part 3 some seconds are missing. Being not a specialist in computers I can't upload it myself.
I also have recordings from Swiss radio of the cello concerto and Hymne an die Musik op.2. If uploading Manasse works, my friend will perhaps upload the other works too.

[Alan Howe]

That's great. Thank you!

[adriano]

eschiss1, as very often in here, seems to know better... :-)
Hug Musikverlage does still exist - and they charge tremendous hire fees for orchestral scores and parts in case of public performances and recordings. For the three Brun Symphonies I've recorded they wanted more than 4000 CHF each, but through the intervention of Brun's son (who died in the meantime, before he could hear my recording project in complete that he financed privately) we could get a reduction...

I am in contact with Hug about "Manasse" and will digitize the full score for them during the next weeks; but I am not sure whether they will allow to have it on IMSLP... In this case I may offer it on a private download. I have already digitized the 3 mentioned Brun Symphonies (including all orchestral parts).
But one must be careful and not make a big fuss about all this... Even though Hegar is no more copyrighted, Hug may claim some editor's rights.. Music Publishers today are all in financially rather bad conditions, so they try to make money with rental fees.
One must also consider that in the past cheaper paper was often used by Hug (and others) for economical reasons - and many scores have become really damaged in the meantime. Full scores from the 19th century (the Jadassohn, Moskowski and Bourgault I own) have much better and stronger paper than many from the first half of the 20th! In Italy, Ricordi (as well as some book publishers) printed their scores during wartime on dreadfully fragile paper; on the title page they mentioned "special wartime edition".

Some instrumental parts of the Brun Symphonies were literally crumbling whilst turning its pages. It's about high time for digitizing scores from that period before it's too late - and Hug never considered this aspect, so they are quite happy with my (idealistic) offer(s). Incidentally, I have a professional scanner including A3 format.

@ Reto: Franz Wüllner, incidentally, was Fritz Brun's and Volkmar Andreae's composition teacher at the Cologne Conservatory. He composed, among others, a beautiful "Te Deum":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxA3yhcAbIM

Wüller was a famous teacher and conductor. He also wrote some important "training" manuals for chorus masters. Among his earlier pupils figured Peter Fassbaender and Willem Mengelberg (both young Brun's piano teachers in Lucerne), and also composer Jan van Gilse, violinist/composer Adolf Busch and the pianist Elly Ney (who, at that time, got apparently involved in a scandal for having an affair with one of the older teachers). Wüllner was a great conductor; he would premiere Wagner's "Rheingold" and "Die Walküre" He was also a champion of Richard Strauss. Wüllner's predecessor in Cologne was Ferdinand Hiller, but it was thanks to Wüllner that the Gürzenich Orchestra became the stable city ensemble which it is still today. He conducted it for 20 years.