Erich J. Wolff - Violin concerto Op.20 (publ. 1909)

[mjkFendrich]

The German WDR3 will broadcast next Tuesday, 23.10.2012, 20:05
a forthcoming concert from Oct. 21th featuring a performance of
Erich J. Wolff's violin concerto Op.20 with soloist Sophia Jaffé
(together with Mahler's 7th symphony).

http://www.wdr3.de/musik/sinfonischemusikbeiwdr3/sechzigjahrewdrstaedtekonzertenrw102.html
http://www.neue-philharmonie-westfalen.de/monat-10-2012.php?showid=10961

I've never heard anything about or from Erich J. Wolff, but I hope it will be a bit like Waghalter's newly rediscovered concerto.

[Mark Thomas]

All the references which I have found (and there aren't many) refer to him as being a friend and colleague of Zemlinsky and Schoenberg, so maybe that gives us some stylistic clues....

[jerfilm]

I've set it up to record......we'll see

Jerry

[eschiss1]

all I've heard is of a recording of some of his lieder, along with Urspruch and Thuille (assuming this is the same Wolff). Look forward to hearing.

[Alan Howe]

Try this CD of songs by him to gauge the idiom:
http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/Erich-J-Wolff-1874-1913-Hafis-Ges%E4nge-op-posth/hnum/1701442

[Alan Howe]

I've set it up to record......we'll see
Jerry

Many thanks. I'll have a go too.

[eschiss1]

Erich Jaques Wolff (I assume the same fellow!), violin concerto op.20, manuscript copy (described as opus 19 - the RISM page even says, basically, rechte opus 20 and published 1909...), in E-flat major dedicated to Miss Kathleen Parlow in score, at Staatsbibliothek Berlin. (RISM ID no. 461006700, orchestration and other information available there. Can provide a link. It can be a useful site when information is available there. SBB sometimes has good stuff scanned in, will check later to see if the Wolff is one such item- he died early enough, alas, to be PD-EU/CA/US (for scores published early enough too), I think, so it's quite possible...) (a slight digression, apologies.)

[Alan Howe]

Thanks, Eric.
Toskey describes the style of the VC as "late romantic" and times the piece at 25 minutes. This music is apparently...
"of a dramatic nature, with lyrical tendencies in the slow movement and dance-like rhythms in portions of the final movement. The mood is somewhat sentimental...the tonalities are moderately chromatic and the music is melodious."
From this description we might perhaps expect something similar to Waghalter or Weingartner rather than Reger or Schillings.

[mikehopf]

More Erich for Eric

Another recommendation for my swashbuckling  buddy:

Ein solcher ist mein Freund

Muisc of Erich Wolff ( Thorofon label)
Rebecca Broberg, Ilona Weimer, Jerome Weiss, Ulrich Urban

Songs; melodramas; 4 hand piano works et al.

Resonances of Brahms, Wolf and early Schoenberg. Lovely stuff.. can't wait for the violin concerto

[mikehopf]

Sorry, I post-empted Mark's recommendation.

[Alan Howe]

...or even Alan's recommendation. 

[Mark Thomas]

Thanks to mkjFendrich for the fine recording of this, to me at least, totally unknown work. I don't know where Toskey got his 25 minutes duration from - this performance comes in at around 40 minutes. To my ear, at first hearing the overwhelming tenor of the work is rhapsodic although that doesn't mean that it is without drama. It is lyrical but without being memorably melodic - perhaps that'll come with repeated hearings. Overall, though, a very welcome late-romantic acquaintance.

[eschiss1]

Looking forward to downloading it very soon.

BTW I see that Wolff's songs were the subject of a commemorative article by Ernest Newman very soon after the composer died... (Musical Times and singing-class circular, May 1 1913, pp.302-303. Mentions the violin concerto at the beginning though only as something he hasn't heard as yet. Gives death date as Mar. 19 1913, in America while on tour with Elena Gerhardt.)

(Some of the songs are in score @ IMSLP.)

[eschiss1]

re biography, by the way, Baker 1919 p.1050 says that that final concert tour was with Julia (Bertha) Culp, not Elena Gerhardt (mezzo-sopranos).

[britishcomposer]

Thank you very much for recording and uploading the Wolff concerto, mjk!
I had problems with my stream and would have had to spend hours to cut the many pauses.
Much appreciated!