What is there in the unsung music collection that is written on the great events in history - and is there anything on American Independence (declaration or war)? Also especially interested in: Hannibal crossing the Alps; Alfred the Great; Battle of Hastings; Lady Jane Grey; Drake/Armada; Any scientists or writers; Declaration of Human Rights. Hope this isn't crazy!
well, just to start with, quite a bit written for the funerals etc. of certain major world leaders most of which is unsung (and some of which may be high quality, even, depending.) One of the less? least? known works by a well-known composer is Liszt's cantata for the unveiling of the Beethoven Monument (which may or may not qualify, here- and the one review of a recording of it I've read wasn't too convinced as to its quality either, but then it was his first choral-orchestral work.)
Eric
Charles Villiers Stanford wrote a song, very famous in its time, called "Drake's Drum."
The Russian/Czech composer Eduard Napravnik (Nápravník, 1839-1916) wrote an opera about the 1066 Norman Invasion called "Harold" - I don't know if it's been recorded (I have one aria from it), but would love to hear it.
there are also operas about that invasion by Atterberg and more recently by, I think, Judith Weir (all, I believe, about the Scandinavian leader who after somehow hearing of the battle, arrived and was squashed in the middle by both sides- something like that. It is an interesting tale...) I've only heard the Weir (on BBC). The Atterberg is his "Härvard Harpolekare", his opus 12 (apparently composed 1916-18, and premiered? Stockholm 1919.) (revised as Härvards Heimkehr, 1951.)
"King Harald's Saga" (1979) was actually Judith Weir's first great success. It was premiered by the great Jane Manning who had to sing all eight (!) roles. The work, a 3-act opera, lasts just over 10 minutes. No orchestra, just a solo soprano.
yep, that was the work I heard- may have been a new broadcast performance. Cadensa lists a couple of CD recordings in their collection and at least one broadcast performance (from 1991). Google finds at least one more recent one (2008)?.
Peter Benoit's Pacification of Ghent counts, I think; int he same vein there were quite a few pieces by late-19th C composers alluding to historical events, as one might expect from nationalists. Literary motives are of course much more popular - but also the combination of literary works about historical events in which the historical context is important to the composer: Wallenstein, Goetz von Berlichingen, Rob Roy, Gijsbrecht van Aemstel, Charlotte Corday, etc.
Paul B., you have opened a multiple topic.
Now I limit myself to scientists, admitting I have to recur to semi modern or moderrn composers.
Johannes Kepler: protagonist of the opera "Die Harmonie der Welt" by Paul Hindemith (as the opera is rather unsung, much less is the Symphony which is a by-product: I have heard in actual concert twice, there are recordings by Blomstedt, Mravinsky, Furtwangler....)
Nicolaus Copernicus: Symphony n.2 Copernicana by M.Gorecki, using Copernicus text s (Naxos recording).
as to Lady Jane Grey, she was the subject of a cantata, op.309 by Charles Oberthür (1819-1895), for solo voices (SMzA), chorus (SSA) and piano (with optional harp), published in vocal score by Hutchings around 1886. (Text by Edward Oxenford.) Also of one of Schoenberg's songs/ballads (opus 12 no.1) - not unsung, exactly.\
Also one of Luigi Bordese's (1815-1886) 6 Mélodies populaires, op.161 (pub. ca. 1864) and Christian Sinding's opus 109 no. 3 (his opus 109 set is a set of 4 Balladen und Lieder - see Here (http://imslp.org/wiki/4_Balladen_und_Lieder,_Op.109_(Sinding,_Christian)) for the lot, including a complete score of no.3. Same poet (Heinrich Ammann (1785-1849)) as for the Schoenberg.)
Writers:
Pacini: Dante Symphony
G.Bantock: Dante and Beatrice
One may also add: William Wallace The Passing of Beatrice
R.Leoncavallo: Chatterton (opera)
Louis Aubert (first performer of Valses Nobles and Sentimentales): Le Tombeau de Chateaubriand (French Naxos Record)
(I would consider sung Liszt Apres une lecture de Dante (surely), Dante Symphony (fairly). Also sung Liszt Three Petrarch's Sonnets in both versions, vocal or merely pianistic).
Most unsung: Angelo Tortone "The blind of Xios" (Homer), symphonic poem.
Toussaint-Louverture (the leader of the Haitian Revolution which led to the establishment of the independent black state of Haiti) is celebrated by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor in his Concert Overture, Toussaint L'Ouverture, Op.46 of 1901.
the no longer unsung (among classical fanatics, I mean...) composer (and work) , the Lament for piano or strings subtitled or dedicated? "Catherine, aged 9, 'Lusitania' 1915" (ok, looking at IMSLP I am very confused now and probably made a poor edit there also- hrm.)
The 1890s saw several "phonograph waltzes" and similar works, some dedicated to Thomas Edison. Have also seen two works online (by William Dressler) dedicated to Amelia Bloomer, who besides having a style of clothing named after her was also a social reformer (and also, in the case of those works, to the women inspired by her.) (I notice also a Bloomer Polka by Alfred Mellon, etc.) (Going through the LoC American Memory collection of music and other material published in the US in the mid-19th century, and similar digital archives produced by libraries in other countries, can be an education of several kinds- not speaking sarcastically but happily and literally- about what was going on at the time... Alan Walker quotes Goethe, and I paraphrase, that a good specialist becomes a sort of generalist of necessity - at least, if I'm understanding the Goethe maxim right... and learn enough about music and unless you are determined not to, you are learning about many aspects of the musicians' lives and what mattered to them, these things certainly included. apologies for the too-general tangent.)
Quote from: alberto on Wednesday 29 June 2011, 17:07
Writers:
Pacini: Dante Symphony
G.Bantock: Dante and Beatrice
One may also add: William Wallace The Passing of Beatrice
R.Leoncavallo: Chatterton (opera)
Louis Aubert (first performer of Valses Nobles and Sentimentales): Le Tombeau de Chateaubriand (French Naxos Record)
(I would consider sung Liszt Apres une lecture de Dante (surely), Dante Symphony (fairly). Also sung Liszt Three Petrarch's Sonnets in both versions, vocal or merely pianistic).
Most unsung: Angelo Tortone "The blind of Xios" (Homer), symphonic poem.
Speaking of Pacini, I have a recording of Pacini's Dante Symphony (paired with the requiem) on Bongiovanni that is without a doubt the worst performance of a classical piece that I've ever heard - on a commercially available recording. Apart from the exceedingly uninspired (I'm being very kind here) performances, I believe half the musicians must have been suffering from influenza judging from all the coughing, sneezing, and snorting. Now, Pacini's Dante Symphony isn't a masterpiece by
any stretch of the imagination, but as a rariety (not a huge number of Italian symphonies written in the 19th century, you know) it certainly deserved better.
and many of those Italian symphonies that have been written, have been completely dropped, it seems (along with their composers- Scontrino, anyone? 4 and change quartets the one of which I've heard is very good) - except for Martucci and Sgambati whose fine symphonies (except for the latter's 2nd) are slowly sort of returning to the fringes of the repertoire, etc. - but I've already exceeded space for a tangent (19th century Italian non-operatic Romanticism seems a fine topic of its own though- Mascia, Pappalardo, Scontrino, Martucci, Ferdinando Giorgetti, gli altri (if I use that expression properly.))
Toss Antonio Bazzini onto that list. But we digress...
Morton Gould: Lincoln Legend
Ernst Bacon: Ford's Theatre - A Few Glimpses of East Week, 1865
Paul Turok: Variations on an American Song "Aspects of Lincoln and Liberty", Op. 20
Aaron Copland: Lincoln Portrait
Vincent Persichetti: A Lincoln Address, Op. 124
Roy Harris: Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight
Charles Ives: Lincoln the Great Commoner
George Frederick McKay: To a Liberator
(all on Naxos 8.559373-74)
Robert Russell Bennett: Abraham Lincoln / Sights and Sounds (Naxos 8.559004)
R Harris, Epilogue to Profiles in Courage (J.F.K.)
I Stravinsky: Elegy for J.F.K.
the Library of Congress has an "The Alfred Whital Stern Collection of Lincolniana (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/stern-lincoln/)" that may also prove interesting in this connection, with much music more contemporary with Lincoln's life and soon after it having to do with him (and very much that isn't music, of course.) Very little of it known at all though of course I suspect most of the music as usual and by definition mundane. (Still, I at least find enough pleasant surprises in these archives.) (going to subject --> music one finds 250 items listed, fwiw... some items by Joseph W Turner and Philip Wolsieffer, who I've already run into and think are interesting, among others. hrm. no, my mistake- William Wolsieffer- perhaps a relative to Philip :):) )
Writers:
Franz Liszt: Le triomphe funébre de Tasso (recorded, but unsung, while Tasso, lamento e Trionfo is also fairly performed).
Great Historical Events: Liszt The Battle of the Huns (recorded, but not performed.Inspired by a painting about the Catalaunian Fields-actual France- in 451).
M.Ohki: Hiroshima Symphony (Naxos) (The Penderecky Threnody is sung- anyway this "event" is such I have difficulty in mentioning, tragic as are others mentioned).
Don Gillis The Alamo (Albany record).
Charles Ives: Putnam's Camp and Colonel Shaw and his coloured regiment-the latter a subtitle-n.2 and 1 from "Three places in New England".
R.Harris Symphony 6 Gettysburg (Naxos)
W.Piston Symphony 6 Gettysburg (Naxos; also Brilliant by Gauk, if I remember)
W.Schuman Symphony n.9 "Le Fosse Ardeatine" (Naxos)
M.Arnold Peterloo Overture (at least old Emi).
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About Bongiovanni records: generally to be avoided...and generally without alternatives.
I think I have Arnold's own recording of his Peterloo overture, at that.
Re Liszt's Hunnenschlacht (symphonic poem no.11) - some evidence that it's rarely performed might be that Leon Botstein seems to have believed there was a need to program it in 2006 (while at Bard College, during a Liszt festival admittedly.)
apologies for responding again, but a bit of surprise here- Piston's 6th symphony (recorded several times on LP etc- the Naxos is a reissue, sort of, of a Delos CD, and it had, as 20th century works go, a good LP history; the Gauk is a reissue of a Melodiya LP with a very interesting history) has a historical subtitle/subtext/?... this is entirely news to me, and I think not so... supposedly it was composed to mark the 75th anniversary of the Boston Symphony. (There are now Wikipedia articles on all of Piston's symphonies, most of Sessions' - I had something to do with some of those - and similar. There are Dutch Wikipedia articles on 2 of Bendix' symphonies. And lots of them in the German Wikipedia, including well-filled out ones on Myaskovsky's symphonies- by the way, should I mention Myaskovsky's symphony 16 which is either about the Air Force or about an air disaster, sort of?... a favorite of mine among his anycase...
anyway. Er-hrm. a sort-of digression... but not wholly so.)
Unsung history:
Magnard: Hymne à la Justice op.14 (1902) , prompted by the "affaire Dreyfus" and dedicated to Captain Dreyfus.
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(Reply 13: Eschiss1 is right when he writes "gli altri" = the others (like Nicole Kidman's movie).
*really should start signing his posts ;^) :) * eschiss1 - Eric (e) (yes, that's so very obvious, I know. long story, sorry) + part of surname (classified...er..ok, not that hard probably.) + 1. ...
And thanks!
Also, there are of course many examples from JL Dussek's work including some from his own experience (an elegy-sonata / elegie-harmonique opus 61 written after he had laid by the deathbed of his employer, a day or two after they had played a piano duet ? 2 piano version of one of his concertos and Dussek had had one of his recently completed opus 60 string quartets (his only chamber music without piano, and fine works) performed for him also...) Not denying that that period has much to offer for this as Romantic was (in the opinion of one acquaintance of mine, but I will say that he makes sense) less about expression and common chords and tonality than it was about connections between the various arts and the Romantic movement in the arts - a distinction, like many, lost with time.
Declaration: Howard Hanson wrote a "Song of human rights" op.49 (1963). There seem to be a couple of other works related, also.
Also Grofe's Lincoln's Gettysburg Address... Anyone know if there's a recording of it? ???
Speaking of Lincoln... there's Jaromir Weinberger's "Lincoln" Symphony (1941).
Quote from: alberto on Wednesday 29 June 2011, 14:23
Paul B., you have opened a multiple topic.
Now I limit myself to scientists, admitting I have to recur to semi modern or moderrn composers.
Johannes Kepler: protagonist of the opera "Die Harmonie der Welt" by Paul Hindemith (as the opera is rather unsung, much less is the Symphony which is a by-product: I have heard in actual concert twice, there are recordings by Blomstedt, Mravinsky, Furtwangler....)
Nicolaus Copernicus: Symphony n.2 Copernicana by M.Gorecki, using Copernicus text s (Naxos recording).
The first complete recording of
Die Harmonie der Welt, led by Marek Jankowski (Wergo), blew me away; I have always been a Hindemith fan, but even I wasn't prepared for the singular greatness of this opera. Highly recommended for anyone who hasn't heard it.
BTW there is also the opera "Kepler" by Philip Glass , premiered in 2009.
Alan Bush's operas are all, to some extent, historical, as are George Lloyd's.
I think we could write down an almost limitless list of historical or semi historical opera by unsung composers (or of unsung operas by -more or less prolific- some composers).
I limit myself to one title, going back to the topics at the beginning of the thread: "Annibale in Torino" by Giovanni Paisiello (1771: a teenage W.A.Mozart is reported to have attended the first performance).
I've just found out from another forum that J P Sousa wrote a march to mark the Transit of Venus in 1872.
The IMSLP worklist gives the Transit of Venus march date as 1883, but that could be publication date and should probably be corrected... (Bierley in John Philip Sousa: American Phenomenon (appendix) also gives 1883 for its date actually. Hrm.)
A quick search at books.google.com , restricting dates to 1870 to 1888 and being careful about search terms, suggests that the march was premiered April 19, 1883. If it was composed in 1872 (when the transit of Venus occurred, I gather) then the composition was kept in desk drawer for 11 years - quite possible! It seems Sousa may have also written a novel with that title, even later on...
Several Venus venues played the march this last transit as our sister planet began her slow crawl across the face of the sun.