Theodor Fröhlich

[Double-A]

A name so far missing on this forum.
Full name:  Friedrich Theodor Fröhlich
1803 Born in Brugg, Switzerland
1822 / 23 Law student at the university in Basel; abandoned out of health concerns (?).  Started studying composition with local teachers.
1823 / 24 and again 1826 - 30 Studies in Berlin with Carl Friedrich Zelter (Mendelssohn's teacher and Goethe's friend) and Bernhard Klein.  For these studies he received a stipend from the cantonal government in Aarau.
Returned to Aarau and had jobs as music teacher, choir director and conductor of an amateur orchestra to make ends meet.  Died by suicide (drowning in the river Aare) in October 1836 at least in part from feeling artistically isolated in very provincial Aarau (even Fröhlich's compatriot Schnyder von Wartensee failed to mention him in his autobiography).
Fröhlich's brother Abraham Emmanuel was a well known preacher, writer and politician and supplied the texts for many of the songs.

Interesting parallels to Schubert's life:  Father wanted him to study a "serious" profession and resisted music; inability to earn enough money; left a large body of songs.

Works (summary):   

Vocal:  Numerous songs for voice(s) and piano as well as for choir with or without instruments.
One mass (the other mass is actually by J. G. Naumann [1741 - 1801] which Fröhlich appears to have copied for unknown reasons) and other sacred music.
Orchestral:  One fragment of a "sinfonia in A" (finale missing); several overtures.
Chamber:  4 String quartets, 1 string quintet, 2 piano quartets plus a quintet for piano, 2 horns, 2 celli.
Several works for violin and piano, one cello sonata.
Piano music:  Sonata op. 11 in A-Major; 6 "Elegien" op. 15 and smaller works.

Reception:  The critics have strangely mixed judgements (source: German Wikipedia):  He gets designated the most compelling romantic composer in Switzerland, credited for "simple, yet effective melodies" and "surprising turns in harmony" and at the same time criticized for "schematicism" and "vielfache Satzfehler"--I don't know the English word for "Satzfehler".  Note that "vielfache" may mean either "many" or "all kinds of".  (I don't have the kind of eye that notices parallel 5ths on first sight, but they can be found occasionally in his scores.  I do wonder if he may have suffered from dyslexia based on other aspects in his manuscripts.)  Personally I love what I know of his music, specially recommended: the "6 Elegien" for piano.  Also: "Wem Gott will rechte Gunst erweisen" has become a folk song (i.e. people sing it without knowing the author) and is really good (you find it on IMSLP).

Fröhlich's estate is at the university library in Basel, its musical part contains the autographs (as well as copies by other people) of the surviving works; there were no printed editions at the time as far as I know.  Some (few) of the autographs have been digitized and may be downloaded from the library's web site.  (You may also pay them to digitize the document you need.)

Available sheet music (not including the mass by Naumann):

String quartet E-major; Cello sonata f-minor; both by Amadeus Verlag, Winterthur, Switzerland; Pastorale and Rondo for Oboe and Piano; Kunzelmann GM143; various songs for choir from several publishers.  IMSLP: very slim pickings as of today.

Discography (again not including the mass by Naumann):

String quartets c-minor, E-Major, g-minor; Beethoven Quartet; MGB DDD 2015
Miserere for 12 voices and piano (plus 4 motets for choir); Basler Vocalsolisten etc.; MGB DDD 2006
Sonata for cello and piano; 6 Elegien for piano; Pastorale and Rondo for oboe and piano; MGB ADD 92; 1999
Romantische Chormusik (both sacred and worldly); Vocalensemble pro musica, Winterthur; Pierre Sarbach; Jecklin; 1998

[eschiss1]

There is also a sonata (his cello sonata?) on the CD "16 Zugaben aus dem Aargau : 200 Jahre Aargauer Komponisten" (Wettingen : Wettinger Kammerkonzerte, c 2003.)
The Jecklin disc was recorded and initially released in 1988, so that's off by 10 years.
I think you missed a 1996(?) Jecklin disc of orchestral music by Fröhlich - description from Worldcat: "Passion music ouverture in F minor (1835) for orchestra Christmas Mass "Missa I" (1828) ; Fantasie "Andante und Menuett" (1832), for violin and piano ; Concert ouverture (1832), for large orchestra in B flat major" - though.
Another orchestral disc from 2002 ("Ouverture E-Dur; Sinfonia A-Dur ; Ouverture zu Dhyrns "Konradin"").
Also, a disc that seems to be entirely? of Fröhlich lieder, ca. 2009, "Mettmann : Stephan Reh Musikproduktion". (See Worldcat e.g.)

[Double-A]

Thanks for the additions to the discography.
Just a very quick (re-)clarification:  "Missa 1" is the mass that is by Naumann (there is a copy in Fröhlich's handwriting--with some minor modifications--in his estate, where, according to RISM a different person added the remark "composed by T. Fröhlich" in pencil).  If this is a case of plagiarism or just carelessness (there is no mention of the actual composer in the manuscript) is a question that probably can't be resolved.  But the copy was presumably made at first for study or for use with one of his choirs.  Again the possibility of dyslexia is crossing my mind.

[eschiss1]

There's many such misattributions/likely-or-very-probably- misattributions mentioned in RISM/known to musicology, though- not that unusual (the best-known that comes to mind is "Bach's" (probably Kellner's?) toccata and fugue in D minor (BWV 565). But - anyway.)

[Double-A]

True--but for how many of those do we have a score in the handwriting of the composer who did not compose the music?  With no hint anywhere in the manuscript that it is someone else's work?  Interestingly Naumann died in 1801 (or thereabouts):  The mass is from a different era.  How it could happen that for decades the mass was considered Fröhlich's work in spite of the stylistic mismatch with the time as well as with Fröhlich's personal style I can't quite figure (maybe because church music is often conservative in style?  Yet his second mass is reported to be quite different).  It seems the work is very good.  I have never heard or seen it, but people seem to agree on that.  This, combined with the fact that it is suitable for amateur choirs (with an organ if no orchestra is available) and the fact that there is precious little Swiss music around may have motivated many to perform it, but I still don't think it is enough of an explanation.  Especially for the existence of recordings of it--where it isn't the conductor of the church choir in Hinterfultigen who makes the decisions.

[eschiss1]

Ah. Missed those points, and interesting ones.

[mikehopf]

Maybe it was another Frohlich? There were at least three notable Frohlichs  living in the same period:

Friedrich Theodore. (1803-1838)
Johannes Friedrich (1806-1860)
Franz Joseph ( 1780-1862)

Besides, most composers change their styles as they get older.

[Double-A]

I have finally re-identified the article about this mass:  Meyer Thomas, Schweizer Musikzeitung 5/9 (September 2002)  pp 9 - 10 (behind a paywall; a few years ago it was accessible easily on line when I read it).
There is no doubt about which Fröhlich is involved.  And there is no doubt that the work is by Naumann--he died 1801 and any copy of the score that is too old for Fröhlich to be the author will prove that it is not his.  The question is if this i a case of plagiarism.  One can think of numerous scenarios from sloppiness to active cheating.

[Double-A]

Having started this thread I could not get away from the statement of the "vielfache Satzfehler" (sorry, still need someone to tell me the English word for "Satzfehler").  I decided to investigate a little and looked at the score of his g-minor quartet from 1826, i.e. early in his career.  I focused on parallel fifths and octaves as the most egregious errors and counted them up, not counting them if they were in passages with more than 4 voices (double stops).  If the same error was repeated it was counted twice.
Results: 1. movement (them and variations): 5 parallel fifths and 20 parallel octaves or primes.
2. movement (Scherzo):  3 parallel octaves
3. movement (Adagio):  7 parallel fifths, 10 parallel octaves
4. movement (Vivace):  4 parallel fifths, 8 parallel octaves
This is rather a lot I believe, especially as I certainly missed a few.  Interestingly the work sounds inspired and original, though sometimes a little clumsily put together, in spite of these many errors.
I wondered if he got over this problem as he matured and looked at his piano quartet from 1835 though not as quantitatively as above.  It seems that he improved from 1826 in this regard (the work makes a much more mature impression overall anyhow), but not to perfection.  Since a piano quartet has almost at all times more than 4 voices an direct comparison is not possible; however in passages with only four voices (melody in the piano in octaves plus the 3 strings) there are still several parallel octaves (no fifths though).