Heraclius Djabadary (also spelled Erekle Dzabadari) is a very interesting Georgian composer. His Piano Concerto (no. 3) in A minor has been recorded on a now OOP CD with his Rhapsodie Georgienne, Le Melopee du Serpent, and Tiflisiana (the latter are like mini symphonic poems). There is only one copy left on Amazon US, and it's $40 >:(! Fortunately, his PC is 'on JCHBONNET's YouTube channel (but not the other works). Here's Mike Herman's brief bio of him:
"Born in Tblisi. He studied in Brussels with Arthur de Greef and also studied in Vienna. Most of his compositions are for solo piano."
Wikipedia's List of Compositions for Viola lists that he wrote a "Preludio for violin (or viola, or cello) solo, op. 17" (published 1953). Does anyone know anyone know about this elusive late romantic composer, who supposedly wrote at least 3 PCs ????
I guess no one's interested in Djabadary :(!
It happens...
I remember participating in a thread about him back "in usenet days" I think but have not yet heard a note of his. Someone to look into, though...
Thanks for replying, anyway, even if you don't have any info on Djabadary. He truly is elusive ::).
I heard his 'Tiflisiana' in the radio, in the 1970s, and bought the Quantum cd with the Rhapsodie Georgienne, Piano concerto No. 3, Melopee du serpent, and Tiflisiana long ago, for almost nothing. :o
Will give it a spin now, triggered by your enthusiasm. :)
I don't want to spoil your enthusiasm and I haven't listened to his music yet but I did remember that I read one of those notorious Hurwitz reviews recently.
You can think about his writings what you want but it's fun anyway. ;D
http://www.classicstoday.com/?s=Heraclius+Djabadary&submit.x=0&submit.y=0 (http://www.classicstoday.com/?s=Heraclius+Djabadary&submit.x=0&submit.y=0)
Edit: You will have noticed that Djabadary's dates in the review are wrong: he died in 1937, not 1934. I wonder whether it was just a slip on the authors side or some kind of wicked intention...
Well, there's nothing wrong with a good helping of kitsch - provided one doesn't take it seriously.
Alan, I don't meant 'Djabadary is fun' but 'Hurwitz is fun.' Perhaps you misunderstood me. As I said, I haven't listened to any Djabadary so far.
Worry not, BritishComposer. I read your post in the way you say you intended it - and a very broad smirk spread across the face. And I can't recall ever having had that reaction to Hurwitz before. He is on good form here!
I didn't misunderstand you: I simply read what Hurwitz wrote about the music. If he's right, then the music is pure kitsch - and there's nothing wrong with that, provided one doesn't take it too seriously. The same's true of the Kohsaku/Kayama PC mentioned elsewhere: great fun, but hardly serious music.
Hrm...Michael Herman lists his death year as being 1937, but the back of the Quantum CD lists it as being 1934 ::) . But the back of the CD cover is probably correct. And we shouldn't always believe everything Hurwitz says ;D!
Quote from: kyjo on Friday 10 August 2012, 02:35
Hrm...Michael Herman lists his death year as being 1937, but the back of the Quantum CD lists it as being 1934 ::) . But the back of the CD cover is probably correct. And we shouldn't always believe everything Hurwitz says ;D!
The text inside the Quantum CD's booklet states twice that he died in 1937. The earlier Voxigrave LP issue also says 1937.
That's strange! But unless the Amazon picture is wrong, the back cover surely says 1934. Oh well, death dates don't matter that much to me, especially if the two candidates for accuracy are pretty close together :).
I own the CD and I think the Piano Concerto is very enjoyable. Everyone I have played it for has tried to purchase the CD.
Aaargh, I am so jealous of you, fr8nks ;D! I can't find a reasonably priced copy anywhere >:(! But then again, the PC is on Youtube...
I've got a couple of LPs by Djabadary which contain fairly comprehensive biographies both of which state his death in Nice as on 18 August 1937.
I'd love to hear his opera: Goulnara!
I don't think that the LP of his piano & cello works has yet been transfered to CD.
If not, and if there is a demand for them, I'll be pleased to upload it
Mikehopf, any uploads of Djabadary would be greatly appreciated, if you have the time, of course :)! I love cello and piano works (especially from the late romantic period) and no doubt I would enjoy the contents of that LP. I'm drawing the conclusion that Djabadary's death year is 1937; after all, Mike Herman is never wrong ;D! I'm glad I posted the comment that no one appeared interested in Djabadary: it's become a two-pager in less than 24 hours ;D!
MusicSack cites Feofanov and Ho (A biographical dictionary of Russian and Soviet composers, 1989) as their source for a 1937 death year.
mikehopf- the Nougarol/Strauch LP produced by the Djabadary association in the 1970s? Sounds interesting- sure :)
The requested Djabadary Piano & Cello works has now been uploaded to the Russian & Soviet files.. Enjoy!
Thank you very much, Mike :)!
As a result of a recent UC mention I have discovered Djabadary on YouTube, to my utter delight. I see that the link to mikehopf's download of more Djabadary works on UC is inactive. Could someone revitalise the link or add a new download please?
This Quantum CD is a re-iussue of a Voxigrave LP, released in 1981 and recorded in 1980. As far as I remember, the composer's daughter Adeline had financed it. The only dispappointing piece of this recording is, in my opinion, "La Mélopée du Serpent".
I am listening to my folder of music by Djabadary, and couldn't resist expressing my liking for it - especially the Piano Concerto (1921) - principally because, as noted earlier in this old thread, Hurwitz called it "The World's cheesiest piano concerto" on the "CD from hell".
Slushy, romantic, kitsch - and thoroughly enjoyable for a confirmed cheese lover! ;D
There seems to be no wiki entry for this composer.
Not on English Wikipedia, but on Russian Wikipedia and on Georgian-language (ka.wikipedia) Wiki. Russian language link is Heraclius Djabadary (Джабадари, Ираклий) (https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%94%D0%B6%D0%B0%D0%B1%D0%B0%D0%B4%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B8,_%D0%98%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BA%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%B9). Georgian language Wikipedia gives birth year as 1892, btw (though Russian agrees with us re 1891.)
Musicsack (http://musicsack.com/PersonFMTDetail.cfm?PersonPK=100003173) gives only 1891 for birthyear but does give Erekle as a alternate transliteration of his first name (from the - Georgian or Russian? - original.) However, mistakenly gives that he was born in Georgia, USA...
Full of eastern promise...
Quote from: eschiss1 on Wednesday 10 May 2017, 11:43
Musicsack (http://musicsack.com/PersonFMTDetail.cfm?PersonPK=100003173) gives only 1891 for birthyear but does give Erekle as an alternate transliteration of his first name (from the - Georgian or Russian? - original.) However, mistakenly gives that he was born in Georgia, USA...
Irakli (sometimes transliterated as Erekle) is the Georgian equivalent of Heraclius or Hercules. It's one of the most popular boy's names in Georgia.
(https://images.khinsider.com/Kingdom%20Hearts%20II/Renders/Olympus%20Coliseum/Character01%20-%20Hercules.png)
Saint-Saëns, the youth of Heraclius :)
Alkan, Héraclite et Démocrite (ok, derived names...)
To answer the first question posed in this thread 5 years ago,
Worldcat does list, besides the piano solo works, as available somewhere, his Rhapsodie géorgienne for piano and orchestra (in a 2-piano reduction by Chotha Djabadary, though, so this may still not count. Chotha Djabadary also published the work, in Paris in 1947.)
The 3rd piano concerto Op.10 in A major (again in reduction, same publisher, 1976) is at libraries in Osnabrück and Bremen.
The prelude for cello or violin alone mentioned above was published by Durand of Paris in 1953. A fair number of libraries to stock it (http://www.worldcat.org/title/preludio-pour-violoncelle-seul-et-violon-seul/oclc/17705580).
Other works:
the manuscript (full score?) of the 3rd concerto @ the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.
variations for cello and piano on a Hungarian song, Op.23 (1930, published 1942, by Djabadary and also by Gallet and other French publishers too)- again, quite a few libraries really...
Orchestral works Les Dindons Op.20 (ca.1919) and Boléro ("H. Djabadary Paris le 7 février 1935." (so is signed a piano reduction...)), Concerto no.2 "Hongrois" in F minor Op.9, and other works, in manuscript (sometimes in the composer's hand, sometimes his brother Chotha's) at BNF too.
BNF also has a cello concerto (No.2, D minor, Op.15, autograph solo part dated 1924 exists) by him in manuscript piano reduction- will have to see if they also have a score of that... didn't know he -wrote- cello concertos. Apparently concerto 1 Op.11 in C Souvenir de Hongrie "On n'a gardé qu'une partie pour chaque pupitre de cordes (sur 6 parties de 1er viol., 6 de 2° viol., 4 d'alto, 3 de violoncelle, 3 de cbasse)." - don't know if that says anything about whether the accompaniment was _only_ for strings besides only one part being kept for each string part (thank goodness for photocopy, nowdays.) Costallat published this concerto in some form in 1944, and the concerto seems to date from 1920 if not earlier- (Full score in Chotha's hand but signed and dated by the composer, manuscript 1920, Vienna (http://www.worldcat.org/title/dedie-a-mon-frere-chotha-op-11-concerto-en-ut-majeur-pour-violoncelle-souvenir-de-hongrie-n-1-h-djabadary/oclc/842185651).) Re the 2nd concerto, the full score manuscript has a notation "A réorchestrer. Ce concerto avait été orchestrer [sic] par moi [=Chotha, his brother] en 1938. Il y a des choses à prendre et aussi pas mal de passages à changer."
Apologies for the mercurial and long preceding post. It does seem that his brother was responsible for some of his orchestrations, but if Chotha was better at some things than Heraclius, then given that they would appear(???? I'm assuming, anyways) to have largely worked together (when possible; the 2nd cello concerto in D minor of 1924 (see above) was largely orchestrated a year after Heraclius' death, for instance), a collaboration for the listener's benefit is a good thing.
If you didn't know Heraclius wrote 2 cello concertos and only knew of the 3 piano concertos, yep, definitely see above...
(The insistence that composers preferably do everything themselves is fairly new historically and seems, with musical theatre and its division of labor (I've gotten used to the fact that even my favorites, eg Sondheim, don't generally do their own orchestrations; still favorite...) to be coming to something of a close- but anyway...)
Off topic, but apropos Irakli: I had a holiday in Soviet Georgia in 1987. One vivid memory is the plethora of statues there to King Irakli II, a national hero I was told. Never realised that the name was derived from Hercules, though it's obvious once it's pointed out. Now, back to Djabadary of that ilk...
Quote from: Mark Thomas on Wednesday 10 May 2017, 20:06King Irakli II
He was the penultimate king of (Eastern) Georgia (Bagrationi dynasty): he unified the two separate kingdoms of Kartli and Kakheti in 1762 and reduced and then ended Persian overlordship. He also negotiated a treaty of protection with Russia, although the Russians stood by when the Persians re-invaded in 1795, intervening in 1796 only after the country was almost totally destroyed. His son and heir George XII (reigned 1798-1800) never stood much of a chance, and soon after his death the Russians annexed the country (1801). The perils of asking for Russian "protection" - they never leave....
The Bagrationi family were exiled into Russia and across Europe.
Thanks, Christopher, but we really should get back to the music.
You do always say that. But I think a SMALL bit of historical context is both useful and interesting. I certainly like it when others do the same. I suspect that all that there is to be said about Djabadary has now been said.
It's just a bit of an unnecessary put-down, that's what I am basically saying. It is certainly taken as such, even if not written as such; but as is always said, writers must be aware of how things written might be read. Had I, or anyone, gone off into ancient history, then the reprimand would have been called for. But I wrote 6 lines.
I know you appreciate feedback from members.
No put down intended, and none need have been inferred. My thanks were genuine and, after all, it was I who created the diversion. Moderation really can be a thankless task!
"all that... Djabadary has now been said."
Whether I personally agree with this statement waits on my hearing such of his music as has been recorded (and there seems to be a large amount of larger works of his that maybe haven't- symphonic poems for example and other works as above, etc. ...? if my guess is right that basically the only orchestral works that have been recorded of his are 3 of his concertos, more or less and give or take) - but ok! :)
Quote from: Mark Thomas on Thursday 11 May 2017, 19:31
No put down intended, and none need have been inferred. My thanks were genuine and, after all, it was I who created the diversion. Moderation really can be a thankless task!
For the record - I am very grateful to the moderators for running this website. I love it and have learnt so much.
(By the way, don't diversions have a musical equivalent? Divertimenti? Or is that twisting translation too far? :D)
Quote from: Alan Howe on Wednesday 10 May 2017, 17:11
(https://images.khinsider.com/Kingdom%20Hearts%20II/Renders/Olympus%20Coliseum/Character01%20-%20Hercules.png)
Impressive moderator selfie!
I wish. This is more like a moderator's lot:
(http://cliparts.co/cliparts/pT5/oM6/pT5oM6Aec.jpg)
;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;)
I own the CD (2 copies) and the LP from the same label. Good stuff... worthy of adding to the collection.
Our friend David having fun again. Here is the link for folk who have not seen it yet.
https://youtu.be/66aIdmhXnQs
Interesting comments from David Hurwitz. I think his works need to be viewed in the context of the time period.
I strongly disagree with Mr. Hurwitz about this one. I find the first movement completely charming, it occupies this egyptian-orient sound world which to me sounds original and refreshing when not taken too seriously. I can agree the later movements would be better forgotten than heard. There are much better contenders for the title of worst Piano Concerto out there – personally I find Ernest Pingoud's 1st PC handily occupying the first place on that list but that's another story.
Many (if not all?) Heraclius' compositions were "revised" by his brother Chotha after Heraclius' death. Whether Chotha was a better composer, who improved Heraclius' work, or whether it was the opposite, we can only guess. Some years ago I tried obtaining some copies of Heraclius' manuscripts from the BNF, but denied: in their view his compositions were still under copyright – thanks to Chotha, who BNF saw as the intellectual author of Heraclius' works. We can forget about getting to know Heraclius' music a little better, then, considering I would have had to track down one of their heirs who happened to own the rights – no thanks to that!
I also disagree with Mr. Hurwitz. I think it is an exciting work, especially the first movement. It has a rhythmic 'catch' to it which is delightful.
I'm refraining from all temptation to pronounce on this estimable piece of music.
Hmmm!
My lips are tightly sealed and my typing fingers duly restrained.
I suppose mine had better be too then.