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Messages - jim43

#1
Composers & Music / Re: Saint-Saëns 2021
Monday 19 October 2020, 23:01
Let's hope the virus doesn't completely wreck any celebration of the anniversary of his death.  By the way, check out the piano pieces he wrote for left hand alone, quite different from a lot of left hand alone repertoire, somewhat spare and elegant.  And I doubt that unless it is discovered that Samson et Dalilah was secretly written by someone else he will ever really disappear from view quite as completely as some people seem to fear. And the Organ Symphony still seems to find a place in the repertoire when the is some big organ to show off (and sometimes, alas, when there isn't--I heard a performance once with an electronic organ).
#2
By the way, M. Henrikssen, there is what would seem to be a complete list of Selmer's works in Selmer biography mentioned in one of the posts above;the list not only includes opus numbers but also titles of individual pieces within each opus. There are songs in French, Norwegian, German, and Danish (I'm mostly interested in vocal rep). There are even some Petrarch settings listed, although it appears from the list they are set in German translation. While most Norwegian classical composers' international orientation was toward German music, it was not unheard of for them to set French texts--Kjerulf set a few, a couple of them quite wonderful, Berlioz turned into a miniaturist, if you can imagine such a thing. Selmer's friend Svendsen had some songs published in Norwegian and French, including some Norwegian texts translated into French, and a few of them are lovely, too, and sing quite well in French.
#3
Mange takk tpaloj; for some reason I was having trouble finding the proper access to the catalogue of the Nasjonalbiblioteket the other day and gave up for the time being.  I'm pretty sure the xerox copy of the title page (only) of a printed edition of the Fortunio piece (w piano reduction) comes from the Nasjonalbiblioteket, because that's where some of my other copies of Selmer pieces come from. I own a few originals and also have some copies from the St. Olaf library in Minnesota. (Selmer visited Minnesota once by the way, and one of these days, when these things are easier again, I'll have to trek over to the History Center in St. Paul and see if they can help me find some traces of that visit). The Fortunio reduction was published by Petter Håkonsen (represented by Durand in France).  I may ask a friend in Oslo to go and see if the whole published thing is in the library there or not.  Otherwise, with my bad eyes, I may be forced to deal with the digital copy of the manuscript.  If I went to Oslo myself to get it (now wouldn't that be nice, even if I've missed the good season) I'd have to quarantine for 14 days right now; they're doing, of course, much better with the virus they we are here in the U.S. But I'm indebted to you for your help.
#4
Hi M. Henrikssen

Have you ever seen a score or vocal reduction of Selmer's Chanson de Fortunio? I have a xerox copy (somehow) of a title page but that's it.  And you're correct about the Shelley. Ha det bra!
#5
Recordings & Broadcasts / Re: Enna: Kleopatra
Sunday 18 October 2020, 01:03
Danish being a notoriously difficult language to sing in, I'd rather forgive some of the Danish (I can only judge it to a certain extent, being more comfortable with Norwegian) than have to forgive the singing. I too have not been impressed with the Enna I've seen (only scores, not performances) so I'm curious. I'll have to take a look at the vocal score on IMSLP.