I hope this hasn't been posted already (I searched and didn't find anything, but I'm new to this forum):
Fans of Eugene d'Albert know that he has two published piano concerti, the first of which (in b minor) is listed as Op. 2. If you look on his Wikipedia page, you'll note that there's another concerto he wrote in A major which is marked as lost. Well, it appears that this "lost" concerto was found last year in the Library of Congress:
https://blogs.loc.gov/music/2017/05/re-discovery-the-two-opus-2s-of-eugen-dalbert/
Even though this is a piece of juvenalia (it was written when he was 16), I'd still love to hear it. There is allegedly an "almost complete" fourth concerto in g minor - if anyone has information on this please let me know. Thank you.
This is amazing news. Like the rediscovery of the Moszkowski Piano Concerto in B minor.
Might Hyperion be interested in this? Martin E? Gareth?
I am sure they would. However, I am a little confused here as the concerto found in MS at the Library of Congress is clearly in A minor, not major. So what is this A major concerto?
From what I can see of the article, the concerto begins in a minor, but by the end is in A major. Wikipedia lists it as A major, but doesn't list a source. If you read the article, it appears the author (David Plylar - I assume a library archivist) thinks that the piece is, overall, in A major.
If there is an introduction of some kind in the first movement that is in the minor, but the movement proper is in the major mode then A Major would be an appropriate description. However - remember the error on the premiere LP recording of Anton Rubinstein's Piano Concerto No. 1. That was said by the writer of the liner note to be in E Major, which it most decidedly is NOT (any more than Chopin's 1st Piano Concerto is.) This error was then promulgated in the subsequent recording (I particularly love the Marco Polo/Naxos CD by Banowetz, where it says it's in E minor in one place, E Major in another, and just plain E in another - talk about covering all your bases!) So the d'Albert concerto may have been mistakenly listed as being in A Major from the get-go. We'd have to give it a good examination to make sure.
I agree. We'd have to look at the whole score to make a call about a minor or A major. Hopefully the whole score will be available for inspection soon. Regardless, as a fan or d'Albert, I'm happy to hear about the discovery.
Very exciting news. I'd love to hear it though it's obviously a substantial work and finding a pianist prepared to learn it may not be easy. Most concertos which start in the minor end in the major, of course, ( Mozart's K491 is an exception) so confusion can arise over the music's mode especially if a description relies on aural memory.
Ok. Well, key apart, as soon as the score becomes available I will show it to Hyperion. Meanwhile I will drop Simon Perry a line to alert him to its discovery.
The Bronsart is also an exception (although the 1st movement does indeed end in the major.) So are the Moscheles 3rd and 7th piano concertos, and the 2nd and 5th Concertos Symphoniques of Litolff. All have finales in the minor key, and don't brighten up at the end. Now that I think of it, the 1st and 3rd Scharwenka concertos are the same; in fact, the 3rd has a finale that starts in the major key, and ends up with a cyclic return of the opening movement's material in its initial guise, finishing up in the minor (with an almost verbatim reprise of the end of the first movement.) There are probably a number of additional Romantic piano concertos that end in the minor key, but I can't recall them at the moment.
You mean after their finales begin in the major, or just in general? (If the latter: Does Ries count as Romantic in this connection, or Classical? Concerto no.3's finale briefly hints at C-sharp major, but only briefly... still, definitely ends in minor. Saint-Saëns 2 counts - finale begins and ends in the minor. Likewise Martucci 2. Looks like Dupont's F minor concerto does too, btw...)
Virtually all the popular "sung" Romantic/Classical concertos which start in the minor end in the major. Beethoven 3, Tchaikovsky 1, Brahms 1, all Rachmaninov's, both Chopin's, both Mendelssohn's, Schumann's, Grieg's, Dvorak, Scriabin....Exceptions: Mozart 24, Saint-Saens 2. Unsung composers take note!
And so, back to d'Albert...
Any updates re. this rediscovered manuscript? Can we expect a recording... I have been listening to the Piano Concerto No. 1 in B minor and cant get over the vast beauty. Sure, it's over indulgent at times but on the whole it's such a lush and beautiful work.
Has there been any development the the recording plans for this concerto? The lost A minor with the unrecorded G Major would make a nice RPC volume.
The G major was apparently written by him at age 10. It's not listed as lost, so the fact that everyone ignored it may say something about its quality?
The G major exists in complete manuscript as far as I can deduct from the articles on the net. The fact that something is ignored for so long doesn't always translate into its quality.
In 2012 I met with a descendant of Eugene d'Albert. It was they who told me about the early concerto in G major which is in Dresden. In their opinion it was of curiosity value only. For completists it might be worth recording but otherwise is best left to scholars.
Quote from: giles.enders on Monday 12 September 2022, 10:58Despite numerous requests for its return he has held on to it.
Trying to be positive, could that signal an intention to work on it?
Now if it is possible to get a photocopy from Library of Congress, this work could be realized digitally......
Quote from: tuatara442442 on Thursday 10 July 2025, 15:45Now if it is possible to get a photocopy from Library of Congress, this work could be realized digitally......
At least, I am actually requesting for it a month ago. So maybe I or Darrel will start a fundraising to accumulate the costs for acquisition of the score, estimated at about $1.5 * 400 = 600, plus $60 research cost, totaling at $660. If anyone interested...
Do we know anyone here in or near Berlin? (Or was it Dresden? Wherever this library is.) It might be a lot cheaper to have someone visit the library in person and take a bunch of scans with a phone camera. I don't need it to be pristine ultra-high res archival quality as long as it's generally readable.
Quote from: Darrel Hoffman on Wednesday 16 July 2025, 15:50Do we know anyone here in or near Berlin? (Or was it Dresden? Wherever this library is.) It might be a lot cheaper to have someone visit the library in person and take a bunch of scans with a phone camera. I don't need it to be pristine ultra-high res archival quality as long as it's generally readable.
This is in Library of Congress, Washington D.C.
Oh, I must be thinking of something else we were looking for that was in Germany somewhere. Well is there anyone near D.C. then? Because $660 is kind of a tall order for 1 manuscript especially when we don't even know if it's any good, I feel like there must be a way to bring that down a bit. I think a round trip ticket from where I am (Florida) plus a night in a hotel would actually cost less (not that I'm volunteering for that). I'm just hoping there might be someone closer who might be willing to do us a favor.
No. I'm occasionally near NYC and more often near Cornell U Library, though my scanning ability is nominal.
The early G major concerto is in Dresden (according to Giles); the A major concerto is in L.ofC.
Can you tell me where in Dresden? It's not in the Deutsche Komponistenarchiv.
When I hear Dresden in this connection, my own first thought is @ SLUB Dresden (https://www.slub-dresden.de/), which is a huge library (which fortunately was apparently not badly damaged in the Allied bombing- there are works there, including contemporary copies of Bach and Vivaldi works, that do not, I think, exist in other copies or in originals, and in general SLUB is a trove. With huge footprint of digitized works.)
Concertos, fragments, Op.9, G minor. (https://katalog.slub-dresden.de/id/0-1655651994) (1874) - there: yes, it's at SLUB. (Not G major!) Note the downloadable link (https://digital.slub-dresden.de/werkansicht/dlf/193589/1) on the right. If that's not what was looked for, will try again.
Also Fragments, Op.104, F major (https://katalog.slub-dresden.de/id/0-1655651447) this too.
Hmm, the word "fragments" has me concerned a bit. I took a look, and it's 1.) Just the piano part, no orchestra, and 2.) the middle movement is clearly unfinished, just a few bars at the beginning and end, nothing in between. I don't know if this piece was ever completed, but there's not really enough there for me to use.
Apparently there's 30 pages, including a second movement and a hint of a third. Better link: here (https://digital.slub-dresden.de/werkansicht?tx_dlf%5Bid%5D=193589&tx_dlf%5Bpage%5D=1) There's a lot of blank pages after that few bars of 2nd movement, skip to page 15 or 16 for the rest?
It's described as a particell rather than a solo piano part, fwiw: "Written in pencil throughout. {{brk}}f.6v, 7r-7v, 14v, and 15r = blank; a sketch for the last movement is notated on f.15v.
Notated throughout on two staves in piano notation, differentiated into "tutti" and "solo"; occasional indications of instrumentation. The draft appears to be largely complete;
Pages with original pagination: after p.9 there is a double page, the first page of which is numbered p.10, but on which only two bars are notated. After this double page, the numbering continues again with p.10.
Metronome markings at the beginning of the first two movements: "M. M. [quarter note] = 132"; "M. M. [eighth note] = 60";
From the estate of Teresita Goebel, then in the possession of D. Gräfingholt, R. Goebel, and M. Goebel; Acquired in 2010 from the Saxon State and University Library Dresden (D-Dl)
D-Dl, Mus.9069-O-501, 30000042"
But yes, still, your basic assessment seems correct beyond that.
How's the (what's left of the) concerto in F "Op.104"? Only 24 pages, but. (https://digital.slub-dresden.de/werkansicht?tx_dlf%5Bid%5D=193588&tx_dlf%5Bpage%5D=1) (of 2-piano reduction, this time.) (From 1877, and I wonder about "104", given that. Ah. "Concerto "No.10" crossed out, "Op.104" crossed out... one movement in 2-piano reduction, concluded May 23? 1877.)
Seems to me like there is an explicitly marked, seemingly complete 3rd movement, from pages 19-27. That little sketch on page 30 is separate and probably not usable for much. As for the 2nd movement, I'm not sure how well it would flow over that gap of several blank pages - I wonder why they even bother scanning those? I guess any page with samples of the composer's handwriting might be valuable to somebody, but in this case it's literally just page numbers. I assumed he intended to fill those in later, else why number them?
The 104 appears to have the start of a 2nd movement, but definitely incomplete. In any case, both are missing the orchestra parts (assuming they were ever written). A full reconstruction from these might be a bit beyond me, and would at best be a lot of guesswork. Even just leaving them as reductions would be a challenge given the sloppy handwriting. (Though I've admittedly seen worse - at least the scans are of decent quality; I've dealt with some that were nearly illegible.)
Quote from: Darrel Hoffman on Sunday 20 July 2025, 17:42I'm not sure how well it would flow over that gap of several blank pages - I wonder why they even bother scanning those? I guess any page with samples of the composer's handwriting might be valuable to somebody, but in this case it's literally just page numbers.
It's standard archival practice to scan all pages of such documents even with seemingly empty pages within. After all, we'd be guessing what the pages contained, had the pages been left out of the scan, wouldn't we?
It doesn't feel worthwhile in my view to go to the the trouble of orchestrating these sketches, as you seem to agree. Some things are just better left undone.
SLUB's (or RISM's?) interpretation of the G minor is a 1st and 2nd movement basically complete (with the 2nd movement split by several blank pages) and a sketch of a 3rd movement on page 30, actually.
To update: I have already got photos of this concerto, kindly taken by a friend living in Maryland. It's really massive as the 1st movement is already 150 pages, however, there are some parts where the page numbers don't follow sequence.
But what about the A minor Piano Concerto. Hope someone will get round to that. Hyperion was my hope, but now that's sunk!
I assumed he meant the A minor concerto, as the G minor seems to be only fragmentary?...
Quote from: FBerwald on Monday 02 February 2026, 15:23But what about the A minor Piano Concerto. Hope someone will get round to that. Hyperion was my hope, but now that's sunk!
I meant the piano concerto I have is featured in this post:
https://blogs.loc.gov/music/2017/05/re-discovery-the-two-opus-2s-of-eugen-dalbert/