One of the gems in the Brilliant Box 'The Golden Age of the RPC' is the F sharp minor concerto by Hans Bronsart von Schellendorff. We come across his name (in fact: a part of his name) in several other topics.
Such a beautiful concerto, but it seems that this is all there is. Is there a member who has heard anything else, e.g. his Piano Trio in G minor, op. 1? Is it recorded?
His double surname is difficult for Brilliant Classics. They write on the sleeve 'Hans Von Bronsart', and in the Booklet Notes 'Hans von Bronsart' or 'Bronsart' only. Actually that is incorrect and sloppy.
Isn't he generally known as (von) Bronsart, though?
I think so. However, actually it is not correct. I'm in the same situation, because I have also a double surname. This is how people write my family-name: Storm, van Storm, Van Leeuwen, Van Leeuwen Storm, but it is Storm van Leeuwen. Comparable with Bronsart von Schellendorff. However, it's just a detail and not that important.
Bronsart's Piano Trio is his op.1 and dates from 1856, so it's early. It's also very impressive. In four movements, it's probably as close to a trio by Liszt as you're going to get and lasts around half an hour. Fiery, passionate, lyrical, it's just what you'd expect from the composer of the Piano Concerto. It's only been recorded once, in the LP era by The Canadian Trio. He didn't write much, mores the pity, but his oeuvre included a couple of programme symphonies which have been lost apparently. In the old Forum I posted a partial work list for Bronsart, but unfortunately I can't locate it now.
Quote from: Mark Thomas on Friday 03 September 2010, 08:17
Bronsart's Piano Trio is his op.1 and dates from 1856, so it's early. It's also very impressive. In four movements, it's probably as close to a trio by Liszt as you're going to get and lasts around half an hour. Fiery, passionate, lyrical, it's just what you'd expect from the composer of the Piano Concerto. It's only been recorded once, in the LP era by The Canadian Trio. He didn't write much, mores the pity, but his oeuvre included a couple of programme symphonies which have been lost apparently. In the old Forum I posted a partial work list for Bronsart, but unfortunately I can't locate it now.
If you go to http://www.hofmeister.rhul.ac.uk/2008/content/database/search/do-basic (http://www.hofmeister.rhul.ac.uk/2008/content/database/search/do-basic) and do a search for Bronsart, you'll find about 12 works of his- it's a start on reconstituting it, anyway :)
Eric
IMSLP presents also a list, see http://imslp.org/wiki/List_of_compositions_by_Hans_Bronsart_von_Schellendorff (http://imslp.org/wiki/List_of_compositions_by_Hans_Bronsart_von_Schellendorff)
Is the key of his Piano Trio op. 1 C minor (IMSLP) or G minor (Wikipedia)?
BTW, there is also a photo of the composer, and it looks like his signature is Hans von Bronsart....
See http://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Bronsart_von_Schellendorff,_Hans (http://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Bronsart_von_Schellendorff,_Hans)
Fleisher has the score and parts for the Fruhlings-Phantaisie (as well as the Piano Concerto). The Trio Op. 1, incidentally, is most definitely in G minor.
I do not know the whereabouts of Bronsart's surviving MSS. If anyone does, I'd be grateful if he or she could let me know.
Hans von Bronsart Born 11.2.1830 Berlin died 3.11.1913 Munich
His correct full name is Hans Bronsart von Schellendorf. He was one of ten children. He was initially educated in Danzig and subsequently at Berlin University. He studied piano under Theodor Kullack, and for harmony under Siegfried Wilhelm Dehn and later in Weimar with Franz Lizst. He had a career as a concert pianist , a conductor and a theatre manager.
In 1861 the composer and pianist Ingeborg Starck 1840-1913 They has two children1
Orchestral
Fruhlings - Fantasia Op.11 1857
'Manfred' dramatic tone poem
Programme symphony for choir and orchestra 'In die Alpen' believed lost
Programme symphony in C minor 'Schicksalsgewalten' believed lost
Piano Concerto in F sharp minor Op.10 1873 pub. by E W Fritzsch
Chamber
Piano Quintet 1897
Piano Trio in Gminor Op.1 1856 pub. by Jos. Albi
Piano Trio in C
Septet 1884
Sextet for strings
Piano
Nachklange aus der jugendzeit; Book 1. Feeneigen, Siciliano, Polonaise, Trauermarsch. Book 2. Elegie, Bergesquell, Feldblumenstrauss, Vision. Op.2 pub. by Breitkopf & Hartel
Three mazurkas: in F minor, E minor & D major Op.4 pub. by J. Albi
Ballade in E flat major Op.5
Fantasie in C sharp minor Op.6 pub. by Breitkopf & Hartel
'Melusine' fairytale for piano Op.9
Polonaise in C minor
Song
Thirty lieder: Dubist wie eine Blume No.4, Was will die einsame Trane No.8, Gedicht von Heine No.13.
Three Gediche von Peter Cornelius: Zur Drossel Sprach der Fink, Eh'ich dich sah, Durft ich zeigen durft'ich. pub. by Thuringer Musichaus
Choral
'Christnacht' cantata for double choir and orchestra
Hymnus 'An die Konigin' for female chorus and orchestra
'Bella Napoli' suite for soloist and chorus. lost
Opera
'Der Corsair'
Organ
Fantasiestuck for violin and organ Op.3
I haven't been able to attribute the following Opus numbers: 7 & 8
1
Klara Wilhelma von Bronsart 1864-1937
Fritz George Heinrich Konstanz von Bronsart 1868-1918
Judging by his Piano Concerto and Piano Trio op.1, he was no mean composer. It's a huge shame that the two programme symphonies are lost, but it would be a treat to hear the two surviving orchestral works and the other five chamber works. However, if we don't know where the scores of anything but the Spring Fantasy are..
Is his Piano concerto in the pipeline for Hyperions RPC?
Did Hans or Ingeborg write Manfred? Or did one contribute the libretto (based on Byron, one guesses) and the other the music? (I'm guessing it's for voices and orchestra.) I see it attributed to either in different library catalogs listing the 1901 publication (Druck von R. Wagner Sohn). (The program symphonies may be missing, but Manfred isn't, according to Worldcat - there are copies- in vocal or in some sort of reduced score only? (hrm... )... hrm... 60 pages-- at Landesbibliothek Mecklenburg-Vorpommern im Landesamt für Kultur und Denkmalpflege , at the Anna Amalia Bibliothek Weimar, at the US Library of Congress, and at the University of Virginia. (Libretto project- maybe this is just the libretto for a now-missing vocal work after all, not a score. Hrm. My mistake. Not glad to be mistaken, either. Ah, wait. Here we are. Ah!
RISM (http://opac.rism.info/search?documentid=280000886) --- Manfred, incidental music, short score and orchestral (non-vocal parts) by Hans von Bronsart, premiered 1901, at Weimar (Liszt Hochschule).
Well done, Eric. Hmm! It's not underscored, is it?!!
Bronsart's Spring Fantasy is available as a study score from Musikproduktion Höflich. It is a tantalising prospect: a substantial five movement programmatic orchestral work, described in the foreword to the MpH score here (http://www.musikmph.de/musical_scores/vorworte/1147.html).
Actually, i think the RISM description says that the incidental music to Manfred is not quite exactly the 5-part symphonic work "Manfred" published in 1901, but my German is not good and I am guessing...
I wonder if we would ever have heard any Hans Bronsart if it were not for that old Vox recording of the Piano Concerto. It was certainly my only recording of his music. When you think about it, those 'Vox boxes' and Turnabout LPs included a remarkable selection of neglected music and little-known composers.
It is indeed too bad that when Hyperion came out with their RPC series we discovered how many of those old Vox Turnabout and Candide LPs were from editions that had huge bits of the concertos hacked out, usually tutti passages, but sometimes more than that (c.f. Goetz PC, final movement).
I have always looked upon these Vox/Turnabout records as something to encourage further exploration. I collected many of them and the frustration was that there were few other recordings of the composers they recorded. They were released on the LP format where space was a premium.
That Vox CD (they were redone on CDs) is available here:
http://www.amazon.com/Vol-4-Romantic-Piano-Concerto/dp/B000001K3F/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1373046862&sr=1-1&keywords=Bronsart (http://www.amazon.com/Vol-4-Romantic-Piano-Concerto/dp/B000001K3F/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1373046862&sr=1-1&keywords=Bronsart)
Jerry
Interesting that the concerto seems not to have been published until 1873. I'm guessing it was composed sometime earlier (like the Fruhlingsphantasie, which was published in 1880 but composed in 1859, or at least that's the date on the autograph short score...)
Does any one know where I might find the score of Bronsart's Piano Quintet ?
I didn't realise that he'd written one. It's not listed in his remarkably brief Hofmeister entry, or on WorldCat, so presumably it's only in manuscript. Are you sure that it still exists, Giles? The two symphonies are unfortunately lost.
I believe it was written in 1897 that is all I know.
Pazdirek, lists Op.1 to Op.11 with Op.3, 7 & 8 missing, so it might be one of those or perhaps never published.
Thal
IMSLP listed an Op.3 but I don't know on what grounds (it seems to be given without opus number in available-to-me sources; I moved it into that category instead.)
Any idea where most of Bronsart's manuscripts might be? RISM gives the location of the autograph of his Spring Fantasy, but...
Quote from: semloh on Tuesday 02 July 2013, 05:31
When you think about it, those 'Vox boxes' and Turnabout LPs included a remarkable selection of neglected music and little-known composers.
And thanks, in many cases, to Michael Ponti, a pianist whose playing I have always admired greatly.
Oddly, the Amazon.com description of the Ponti Liszt/Bronsart/d'Albert 1991 VoxBox is a bit confuzzled- and so is the Worldcat (here (http://www.worldcat.org/title/franz-liszt-school-vol-i/oclc/34495072)) - both in some way mixed up with a Christmas album, for some reason. No clue why!...
Despite searching, I have been unable to attribute the following opus numbers; 2, 7, 8, 10, & 14-20
Any ideas ?
(Assuming 10 was included by mistake there!)
Op.2 is already listed above (Nachklänge book 2). Could Op.21 be a mistake of some kind- maybe it's Ingeborg's work rather than Hans'?
Yep, definitely (http://cornell.worldcat.org/title/phantasie-fur-violine-mit-clavierbegleitung-op-21/oclc/916199640). So the reason you can't attribute Opp.14-20 is because there's -no need to-; you're assuming a gap - an op.21 and a hole to fill between op.13 and 21...- but the op.21 in that list _isn't_ actually by Hans Bronsart, it's by his wife, and that should be fixed.
That just leaves Opp.7 and 8.
BTW:
Melusine Op.9 is not, afaik, a "march". Where do you get that? It's a "märchen" (or singular thereof?), which is a folktale. That "märchen" looks like "march" is called a "false cognate" by linguists, but is not the fault of German or English.
Re Op.21 there is a "Fantasiestück f. Violine u. Orgel oder pfte." (published 1858, 1873) by Hans von Bülow but I don't think it has an opus number, and it is, I'm sure, rather different from his wife's Op.21 fantasie for violin and piano (in E-flat I think and published in 1891, but I don't know more about it?)
It's 'Märchen', please. Nouns in German begin with a capital letter. The meaning is indeed 'fairy-tale' or 'fable'. The plural is the same as the singular. 'March' in German is 'Marsch' (plural: 'Märsche').
All those Vox LP's were my delight in the 1970s and later - and the frustration about inferior orchestras and several cuts could be compensated by those brilliant renderings by Michael Ponti and others.
I think the complete reissue by Brilliant Classics should also be considered as a very valuable enterprise - and this not only for its budget price!
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2016/Nov/Romantic_PCs_95300.htm
Absolutely right!
Those who are ok with downloads should note that Amazon & Vox have offered almost the same Romantic piano concertos for $2 ($1 for a download of the earlier Romantic concertos, and $1 for the later Romantic concertos and some early-20th century concertos/modernish ones (Barber's admittedly rather poundy/jazzy(?) one (ok, I like it, but.), Hanson, Françaix, Tailleferre iirc ... their 1880-1962 volume) that you can always delete individually if you really don't want to ever, ever hear them...) in the same performances.
I believe eschiss1 (28th May) is correct. I have removed the Op.21 designation for the Fantasie from 1858. Now the question is was it given an opus number ?