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
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/
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 (https://catalog.freelibrary.org/Record/1758982) 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 :)
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
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
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!
QuoteI 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.
Might try, especially (?) since this is a more public part of the Free Library (can't hurt to ask , I suppose.)
I should say they sent the scans electronically - not in printed hard copy. So no postage costs were involved.
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
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.
Quote from: Richard Moss on Wednesday 16 November 2022, 18:58I'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.
QuoteBy 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.
It was worth the detour, Gareth.
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.
Op. 90 is the Legend of St Cecilia, not the 3rd PC as stated in the list by Giles Enders, according to several entries in the old card catalogue of the Berlin Staatsbibliothek.
Did Hyperion or anyone else record the 3rd concerto? Do we know where the material of the 3rd concerto is?
I did write earlier in this thread that I had looked for it for Hyperion back when they were recording the other concertos, but without success. Doesn't mean it isn't out there somewhere, of course.
Ah, sorry!!
Hopefully RAM or RCM will get in a big collection as they did only back in 2006 from WS Bennett's family...
One lives in hope.
I've done a great deal more work on Benedict since the last time I posted on this forum, and will be presenting a paper on his first three English-language operas (The Gipsy's Warning, The Brides of Venice, and The Crusaders) at the Music in Nineteenth Century Britain conference at the Open University next month. These three operas were considered lost but I have found scores and parts for all of them in various German archives, where Benedict's operas held the stage for nearly thirty years. I've also discovered a great deal more biographical information about him, some of it quite tragic (he lost his 12-year old son and his 37-year old first wife within a year under horrifying circumstances), and I've located his personal journals as well, which I will examine while I'm in Britain.
To giles.enders list of orchestral works may be added a Concertino for two pianos and orchestra (op. 29), which Benedict and Henry Christian Timm (1811-1892) performed with the New York Philharmonic conducted by George Loder (1816-1868, Edward J. Loder's cousin) on 9 September 1850. That piece is currently lost, as are several of Benedict's other orchestral works, but as things are turning up in unexpected places, who knows?
I know I have occasionally ruffled some feathers here with my championing of Benedict's G minor Symphony (op. 101), and I have to say I don't think his piano concertos are necessarily his best work, but my attention was drawn to a private recording on YouTube of the overture to The Crusaders (1846) which might also startle people on this forum, especially when placed alongside contemporary works like Balfe's The Bohemian Girl (1843; after Balfe conducted the premiere at Drury Lane on 27 November, Benedict handled most performances thereafter as the theatre's resident conductor) and Wallace's Maritana (1845). This was performed on 11 September 1975 at Castle Clinton in lower Manhattan; it was a concert celebrating the 125th anniversary of Jenny Lind's first American appearance at Castle Garden, New York's largest performing space at the time, to an audience of approximately 4500 people. Benedict (who toured with Lind as her accompanist and conductor for the astounding fee of $25,000) led The Crusaders overture at the beginning of the original concert's Part II. (The first piece on the programme was Weber's Oberon overture, possibly used to emphasize Benedict's relationship with Weber.) The orchestra here is the American Symphony under Ainslee Cox, and the parts used at this concert have also vanished; strangely I learned why and how first-hand forty years ago. If there's any question whether Benedict had skill and style at his best, this overture might answer it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQKcUYANDRY&list=RDnQKcUYANDRY&start_radio=1
And I'd still like to know his late violin sonata and string quartet. Nicholas Temperley rather liked them, and Cobbett is not always "right". ;)
Thanks for posting this important update. It's much appreciated. Oh, and continue to ruffle our feathers, please!
I am interested in the reference to the Concertino for 2 pianos and orchestra Op29 in pcc's post. I have an early Schott edition (plate no.4874) of a work with this same opus number - piano solo part and instrumental parts for a quartet accompaniment version. As is documented in Nicholas Temperley's notes for the Hyperion CDA67720 (Benedict/Macfarren), I can confirm that my edition consists of what was eventually used as the 1st movement of Benedict's Op89 concerto in E flat, albeit with some fairly minor alterations! I also presume that Giles' listing's reference to a Concertino Op19 is perhaps a mere typing error in respect of the opus number. Therefore it would seem that perhaps Benedict made an arrangement of what was published as his Op29 for TWO pianos and orchestra - presumably not published and at present to be considered lost! Unless, of course, there is yet ANOTHER work to be located, hopefully?
It's an interesting predicament with this piece. Benedict's piano concertos and their opus numbers are something of a muddle: the 2nd concerto op. 89, as you note, begins with much earlier-written material than its "completion" date of 1867, as does his 3rd concerto. The Concertino he played in New York with Timm and the New York Philharmonic would have to be a tremendous reworking of any previous material to give enough "meat" for two pianos, and he would have had to write it in Britain to bring with him - the arrangements for his NYP appearance were undoubtedly made months before, because he had enough to do without him supposing he'd have an opportunity "crop up" to play the piece. He did bring other works to conduct in the US which are seemingly now lost, notably his Festival Overture op. 42, but who knows? That last may have also been published in Germany but hasn't turned up yet. His Crusaders overture was either published or circulated in handwritten parts as I've found notices of it in several German concert programmes into the 1860s, so the Festival Overture may have gone the same path. (I don't even know what occasion made it a "Festival" overture, though op. 42 puts its composition date around the time of the 1st piano concerto, which is op. 45). I keep finding holes and filling them in with unexpected finds in odd places. I just found out there's a small cache of his letters at Cornell University, about 2 hours from where I live, so I hope to go and see them next week.
Interesting, didn't know that- I wonder if one of his family went to or lived near the University, just as one of Raff's brothers briefly lived fairly near here (here being Ithaca...) at one point too?
Benedict's letters and other materials are scattered all over archives with only minimal rhyme and reason, which makes research tricky but not impossible - for instance, Berlin holds a large collection of his letters and writings, including the manuscript of his Weber biography. Another American archive holding a fair number of letters is the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C., which may seem odd except that Benedict wrote incidental music for Henry Irving's production of Romeo and Juliet in 1882 (some of the letters are addressed to Bram Stoker, Irving's manager) and he also composed an overture to The Tempest (op. 77) which was performed at the Exeter Hall on 11 March 1856 and published by Enoch & Sons in full score in 1875. He had contacts all over Europe and the United States, so it makes sense that people who came into possession of his materials (and valued them enough to keep them) gave them to institutions they lived near. The contents of Cornell's particular packet of letters in French were all sent to the same addressee, whose address is not listed in the Olin Library's catalogue. In my paper I quote from an 1844 letter to Ludwig Rellstab requesting help in securing German performances of his recently produced opera The Brides of Venice, which is not in an archive but in a German autograph dealer's list which quotes the passage. As most autograph collectors want the object but not necessarily its contents, I've written the dealer several times offering to pay for a transcript of the whole letter, which he has evidently already made, but have had no response. So it seems I'd have to pay 500 euros to get the letter to make a translation myself, which I cannot really justify or do, but at least I have the reference to the dealer's catalogue.
My biggest discovery was finding out that his journals from 1840 to 1885 (lacking 1882) are at the RCM. It's really surprising that he was such an assiduous diarist - when did he have the time? - though his journals may mostly consist of business matters. I'm making a start at examining them when I come to the UK next month.
He must have had enormous commitment and energy to do as much as he did from when he arrived in Britain in 1836 plus attending to what seems to have been a loving family of a wife and five (!) children. Losing his wife and young son in 1851-52 must have been a shattering blow, and it's a sign of the strength of his character that he emerged in 1854 from a long period of near-total seclusion and threw himself back into his work with the same energy as before, leading up to composing The Lily of Killarney in 1862, his symphony in 1873, organizing and conducting the Norwich Festivals and his monster annual concerts as before, and conducting the Liverpool Philharmonic from 1867 to 1880. His remarriage in 1879 caused some comment, as he was 75 and his bride, Mary Comber Fortey (who had been a student of his for some years and was evidently an excellent pianist), was 23. They even had a son in 1881.
Benedict often appeared in caricatures as he was such an omnipresent musical figure, but occasionally some of them seem, to me at least, a little nasty. This 1873 image by "Spy" (Leslie Ward) seems to refer to Benedict's Jewish background in its pose and the hair "tails" (which he never wore), although he had converted to Catholicism (his first wife was a French Catholic) in 1833. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but I'd be glad of others' opinions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Benedict#/media/File:Sir_Julius_Benedict_Vanity_Fair_27_September_1873.jpg