Fritz Kauffmann: A Question

[Alan Howe]

Now that we have a Symphony, the Cello and Piano Concertos (albeit in computer realisations) and two Piano Trios, are we in a position to hazard a guess at his overall standing as a composer?

[terry martyn]

I'd rate him ahead of Klughardt on the strength of what we have heard so far.  And I happen to like Klughardt's works. But Kauffmann's Symphony (in the YouTube rendition of the original Franke CD) is,to me, a class above.

[Mark Thomas]

The Symphony is certainly a fine piece, as is the Cello Concerto (although I do think that the finale is a misjudgement). I'm on the fence as regards the Piano Concerto, and surely we have yet to hear the two piano trios? So, I'm not rushing to judgement.

[eschiss1]

btw one work of his never quite disappeared (his wind quintet). It does seem I was wrong about the trios being available on Youtube already- ah well.

[Ilja]

Kauffmann's symphony has been in my favorites list for a while now, and I think it's particularly well put together. But I may be slightly prejudiced because of the Franke connection. Regarding the Cello Concerto I have to disagree with Mark; I think the contrast between the drawn out, intimate and moody movement 2 and the more exhilarating movment 3 works very well. It is repeated, in a way, halfway through the final movement with a brief but lyrical solo passage leading up to the final development section before the coda.

Regarding the piano concerto, my feeling is that it needs a "real" performance more than the cello concerto in order to show its true potential, mostly because of the orchestra; cellos and woodwinds in particular can get a bit lost.

[Alan Howe]

Kauffmann seems to me to be fundamentally a classicist born late enough to show some evidence of influence from more progressive composers. Comparisons with contemporaries such as the Scharwenka brothers, Klughardt, Taneyev, Huber, Fibich, Chadwick, Martucci, Parry, Stanford, etc. may therefore be appropriate,

[tpaloj]

All the music of his I've browsed through displays a high standard of quality and solid technique and imagination. He also seems to have been very industrious with composing songs and lieder. It would be nice to find some more scores of them to evaluate that side of his craftsmanship.

Lately, I've gone through the old Hofmeister publication data and put together a worklist of Kauffmann's published works on a google sites website. Since I don't know anything about Kauffmann's musical estate or where his manuscripts might be located at, only printed sources are listed for now. Please bear in mind this list may be, and in certain respects is very much work in progress. For me, this was a learning experience in how to perhaps create such sites for similar purposes in the future.

You can access different work categories via the upper right menubar. On the opening page, I've attempted to list the recorded Kauffmann discography that I'm aware of. Perhaps you all will enjoy browsing this catalogue of Kauffmann's works 

https://sites.google.com/view/fritzkauffmann-research/about

[Ilja]

Oh wow, this is quite useful.

I seem to remember that the Konservatorium Georg Philipp Telemann in Magdeburg possesses Kauffmann's Nachlaß, but their archive does not have an online presence. I'll send them an email.

[Wheesht]

Musicologist Ralph-Jürgen Reipsch, who can be seen in the WDR piece on the recording of the piano trios, may be the best person to contact.

By the way, Erich Müller's Deutsches Musikerlexikon, Dresden 1929, has op. 51 as Violin Concerto – that would appear to be an error, unless the same opus number was used twice?

[Ilja]

Yes, that's a mistake. Op. 51 is the Abendmusik for string quartet.

[tpaloj]

Oh wow, this is quite useful.

I seem to remember that the Konservatorium Georg Philipp Telemann in Magdeburg possesses Kauffmann's Nachlaß, but their archive does not have an online presence. I'll send them an email.

That's really useful info. Do keep us posted if you get to learn more. I appreciate it!

The worklist page, by the way, is best browsed on desktop. It might be somewhat wonky when viewed on mobile, since it's not optimized for it at all.