News:

BEFORE POSTING read our Guidelines.

Main Menu

Louis Niedermeyer (1802-1861)

Started by Wheesht, Saturday 23 December 2023, 16:47

Previous topic - Next topic

Wheesht

Swiss composer Louis Niedermeyer has been mentioned just twice here, unless I missed something, the last time was ten years ago.
Turns out there's a Niedermeyer Association with biographical information (in French), some scores and recordings, e.g. of his Chant des Grecs.

Alan Howe

Apparently he was naturalised French.

Wheesht

French Wikipedia has this:
Quote...est un compositeur et pédagogue suisse. La révolution de 1848 le contraint à demander la citoyenneté française, ce qui lui permet d'exercer ses droits d'électeur au début de la IIe République.

Alan Howe


semloh

There's a smattering of short pieces by Louis Niedermeyer on YT, including his Overture in C major, and numerous performances of his Pietà, Signore. Wiki mentions five operas - inc. Mary Stuart, Stradella and Robert Bruce - all of which have quickly, and perhaps deservedly, disappeared into obscurity.

eschiss1

Is the "perhaps deservedly" related to the quality of the existing/known-to-us material or simply padding, like "also, 1+1=2", but with a nasty tinge?...

semloh

Well, his last opera is described as a failure, and as far as I can tell none has a history of live performance, and none have been recorded. He eventually abandoned composing operas and turned to teaching. So it seems likely that their neglect is "perhaps" deserved. Our chances of knowing either way are very slim!  :D

Wheesht

There was a concert in Switzerland on 8 December with the first Swiss performance of his

Messe solennelle en si min
for soloists, choir and orchestra

but I only saw the poster after that date and do not know if the concert was a success.