Sir Julius Benedict 1802 - 1885

[giles.enders]

Sir Julius Benedict  Born 27,11,1802 Stuttgart  - Died 5,5,1885 London

Julius was the son of a banker..His earliest music lessons were with Johann Abeille in Stuttgart and later with Johann Hummel in Weimar. where he was introduced to Carl Maria von Weber with whom he had private lessons.
Aged 19 he was appointed conductor at a Vienna theatre then onto Naples where he composed his first opera. Following a short stay in Paris, he moved to London in 1836 which became his home for the rest of his life. He combined conducting with composing.

Orchestral

Symphony No.1 in G minor  Op.101  1873
Symphony  No.2 in C  Op. ?  1876
Festival overture  Op.42
The Octoroon – overture  1862
Le Menestral – overture  Op.76
'The Tempest', overture - Op.77 1868 –
La Selvain cantata, overture for the Philharmonic Society, London, 6 July 1868
Incidental music for Romeo & Juliet  1882
Alfred and Marie, grand march celebrating the marriage of the Duke of Edinburgh & Grand Duchess Marie  1874
Mary Stuart's Farewell,  - scena for contralto and orchestra 1883
Concert variations on Carnival of Venice
Piano Concerto No,1 in C minor Op.45  1850
Piano Concerto No.2  in E flat  Op.89  1867
Piano Concerto No.3  in A flat  Op.90  1867
Piano Concertino  Op.18  1827 pub. by Chez Frederic Hofmeister  (later incorporated into piano concerto No.3)
Piano Concertino  Op.19  1833  (later incorporated into piano concerto No,2)

Chamber

Violin Sonata Op.1
Violin Sonata in E  Op.88  pub. by Kister
Romanze in D for violin and piano  Op.105
An Evening Thought for cello and piano
Andantino for Concertina and Fortepiano  1858
String quartet in C minor  Op.87  pub. by Schlesinger

Piano

Piano Sonata, Op.2
Piano Sonata  Op.4
Allegro Marziale
Atalanta - impromptu
Andante and Rondo Brillante in A flat
Andantino
Caprice en forme de gallop in D  Op.15
Cloudland
Douce Confidence  - andante
A Dream of the Past – nocturne
Evening Thoughts  Op.49
Galop brillant, Op.41/1
Idylle, Op.41/2
La Festa
Fleur des Champs  Op.58
La Lutine  Op.47/1
Marche des Templers  Op.56
Moeceau de Salon
Nocturne de Salon op.52/2
Polacca brillante  1872
P' oo Tean Loh – Chinese national air
Belgravia-Polka, Op.42  pub. by Cramer, Beale & Co.
Rêverie, Op.39
Rondo in A  Op.3
Rondo brillante in A flat  Op.5
Salon-Stuck  Op.54
Scherzo
Sea Breezes – waltz
Winter Blossoms – waltz
Un Rayon d'Esperance - nocturne
Etude for the left hand only
Etude in A-flat major
'America'  grand fantasia
Fantasia brillante on themes of Rossini  Op.24
'Isolma', brillante fantasia on themes from Maid of Artois  Op.25
Fantasia brillante on themes from Balfe's The Daughter of St Mark
Fantasia brillante on airs from Anna Bolena
Variations brillante on Masini's Le Page Inconsistant  Op.23
Bouquet musicale sur motifs de l'opera 'I Puritani;  Op.27
'Elvira' fantasia from Balfe's Rose of Castille
'Erin' fantasia on Irish melodies
Reminiscences of Rosamund  Op.28
Remembrance of Scotland – fantasia  Op.34
Duo concertant sur des Motifs favoris écossais
Grand Duo brillant sur des Motifs du Postillon de Lonjumeau
Andantino, arranged by the composer for four performers on two pianofortes  1876

Song

Absence  words by Goethe  1864
Alma adorata
Alone ! Alone !  words by Miss Padre
L'Amante dell' Esule alla luna
Ange adore
As the Moons Soft Splendour
Come to our fairy bower  words by C J Rowe
The Bird that came in spring  pub. by F Enoch,Ashdown & Pary
The Wren
Bocchina  words by Mrs Norton
The Cherries are Ripe – harvest hymn
La Cloche de la Priere
Come where the willows bending weep  words by W Fraser
Comrades
The Constant Heart
La Constanza
The Cottage Door
I am there
Ill-gifted ring
The Dark Lady
The Daughter's Gift
Do not wound the heart that loves thee
Dreamy Eyes
The Echo Song
England yet
The Erlking's kiss
Face it
The Forging of the Anchor
Hans und Verene
Happy are we
How many
The Hunting song
I hold the black shawl
I know a song
I murmer not
The Maiden's Dream
I Montanieri – on Styrian melodies  Op.48
Sandringham
The Skylark
Sleep on, sad heart
Six four part songs  Op.79
Six Choral songs:-
1.    Old May-day
2.    Invocation to sleep
3.    A Night Song
4.    Dirge for the faithful lover
5.    Drinking Song
6.    Sylvan Pleasures



Opera

Giaciinta ed Ernesto  1827
I Portoghasi  in Goa  1830
Un anno ed un giorno 1836
The  Gypsy's Warning  1838
Brides of Venice  1844
The Crusaders  1846
The Lake of Glenaston  1862
The Bride of Song  (operetta)1864
The Lily of Killarney 1862

Cantata

L'amortimido, cantata  premiered. Stuttgart, August 1822
Undine  1860
Richard Coeur de Lion  1863
The Legend of Saint Cecilia  1866
Graziella  1882

Oratorio

St Peter  1870
     

[britishcomposer]

Here is Damian Thompson, writing in The Spectator:

Our new monarch, by contrast, adores the Piano Concerto in E flat major by Julius Benedict (1804-85). He recommended it in an interview a couple of years ago. I'd never heard of the piece, which existed only in manuscript until Howard Shelley and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra recorded it for Hyperion in 2008. So I have our new king to thank for alerting me to this gorgeous confection – not quite a masterpiece, but full of pretty tunes connected by glittering filigree passagework that wears the poor pianist's fingers to the bone.

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/king-charles-iiis-love-of-classical-music/

[eschiss1]

I tried to get the parts, to scan for IMSLP, of the string quartet in C minor (out of sound-unheard curiosity) but it was, I assume, too restricted/too fragile for that branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia to interlibrary loan. I hope someone, probably a library rather than me , is able to do so instead...

Note: FLP makes the common mistake of identifying the publisher as Schlesinger. Anything published by "Schlesinger" after about mid-1865 or so is actually a Robert Lienau publication using the Schlesinger imprint, so far as I know, since the one company bought the other. This is a small matter, but it does matter

[Richard Moss]

I've thoroughly enjoyedf his 1st symphony (UC or Youtube?) and the Hyperion CD of his 1st two piano concertos but can finds no other orchestral works to listen to.   From Gilesd' list there are qH

[Richard Moss]

sorry for the incomplete post - keyboard(or Windows!) gremlins.  I was going to say that for Giles' list there are quite a few other orchestral works probably of equal merit and yet no sign of any other (orchestral) works I can find to listen to.  Have I missed them or are the mss missing or have they joined the 'waiting for someone to record them' list? 

Best wishes

Richard

[Gareth Vaughan]

I remember, at the time when Hyperion wanted to record the Benedict concertos, looking for the 3rd PC - but I failed to locate a copy of it. The MS of one of the concertinos is (IIRC) in Milan!

[Gareth Vaughan]

I tried to get the parts, to scan for IMSLP, of the string quartet in C minor

Eric, Fleisher were once kind enough to scan their very fragile copy of the VC by Brull and send me the individual pages for next to nothing. Mind you, this was about 20 years ago and I was dealing with Kile.
Might be worth asking if they would do the same for the String Quartet.

[eschiss1]

Might try, especially (?) since this is a more public part of the Free Library (can't hurt to ask , I suppose.)

[Gareth Vaughan]

I should say they sent the scans electronically - not in printed hard copy. So no postage costs were involved.

[Richard Moss]

Gareth,

Tks for the update - I guess we should be pleased at what HAS survived rather than mourn that which hasn't.

By the way, your work with Cameo on the Brull/Jadassohn works was really appreciated by me - tks again

Richard

[giles.enders]

eschiss1 - It is probably not worth looking for the string quartet. Cobbett's reviewer is not very enthusiastic about it. They are usually fairly accurate.

[semloh]

I've thoroughly enjoyedf his 1st symphony (UC or Youtube?) and the Hyperion CD of his 1st two piano concertos but can finds no other orchestral works to listen to

Yes, the symphony was uploaded to UC by Justin back in February 2021. Now archived.

[Gareth Vaughan]

By the way, your work with Cameo on the Brull/Jadassohn works was really appreciated by me - tks again

Thank you very much, Richard. I am glad you appreciate those recordings. Quite a lot of work went into them. A new edition of the Brull VC had to be produced as the Fleisher score differed somewhat from the published Violin/Piano score, and both differed from the autograph ms in the library of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, Vienna, which Dr Otto Biba kindly provided! Not major differences, I hasten to add, but not insignificant either.

Anyway, this is an aside. So (as Alan would say) back to Benedict.

[Alan Howe]

It was worth the detour, Gareth.

[Gareth Vaughan]

It is worth noting that WorldCat gives the location of the ms of a Concertino in A flat (so possibly the one that was later incorporated into the 3rd PC in A flat) as the Royal Academy of Music. Also the published score and parts of a Concertino (no key or opus no. given on the Library Record) appears to be held by the British Library. The publication date on the record is  "1831?", Plate no.1570 on the parts; Hofmeister, Leipzig is given as the publisher (as one would expect from Giles' list) - however, without actually seeing the score one does not know from the inadequate catalogue information what key this piece is in. If it is the A flat concertino and matches the ms in the RAM, then the 3rd PC is not entirely lost.