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During the Richard-Strauss-Tage in Garmisch-Partenkirchen some more seldom heard pieces will be performed:

6.6.2026:
Hermann Goetz: Piano Quintet
Nymphenburger Streichersolisten
Julian Riem

https://www.richard-strauss-tage.de/event/kammerkonzert-i-3/

12.6.2026:
Richard Strauss: Canons and Fugues, Improvisations and Fugue on an Original Theme
Josef Gabriel Rheinberger: Piano Quintet
Ensemble SineQuaNon

https://www.richard-strauss-tage.de/event/kammerkonzert-iii-3/

Hans von Bülow's symphonic poem Nirvana will be played during the Richard-Strauss-Tage in Garmisch-Partenkirchen on 13 June. Rémy Ballot conducts the Stuttgarter Philharmoniker.

https://www.stuttgarter-philharmoniker.de/4522.html

On 15 March pianist Charlotte Steppes plays a recital in Naunhof (near Leipzig) which includes the Piano Sonata No. 4 in F sharp minor by Hermann Buchal (1884-1961).

https://charlottesteppes.com/konzerte/

Ms. Steppes will record a selection of Buchal's piano music in autumn 2026.

That- looks like it should be "Baillot Quartet"?...

It is this ensemble who, in slightly different cast, has made this fine recording of Bruckner's quartet and quintet:

https://www.gramola.at/products/9003643992412

Rémy Ballot, the conductor who recorded Bruckner's symphonies during the last decade in Sankt Florian, is active as a violinist, too, and selects musicians from the Klangkollektiv Wien for chamber music performances.

In November a concert took place in Erfurt to honour the 150th aniversary of the birth of Richard Wetz. The Ensemble Ad Astra, a very fine a cappella choir, conducted by Lukas Tobias Sommer, performed some pieces by Wetz, among them his "Vier geistliche Gesänge" op. 44, which is in reality a sort of Missa Brevis (consisting of Kyrie, Incarnatus, Crucifixus and Agnus Dei).

Now a CD recording with a selection of Wetz's a cappella music, sung by Ensemble Ad Astra, and the Passacaglia and Fuge op. 55 for organ, played by Kilian Homburg, was published by the label Querstand:

https://vkjk.de/cds/richard-wetz.html

Together with this project the publisher Klaus-Jürgen Kamprad has produced a documentary about Wetz that can be viewed on Youtube (in German):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95_Ew5DlEzs

At least in 2026, to celebrate the 40th aniversary of the International Draeseke Society, there will be one concert in Coburg:

The Ballot Quintett will play the String Quintet op. 77 (together with the Schubert Quintet) on 4 October, 11 AM, at the Kunstverein Coburg building.



 

Your ears are not wrong. It is in fact a symphony in G major: Both first and last movements end in this key. But Draeseke creates a kind of masquerade by using elements of E minor at prominent places. The first movement begins with an E minor chord that opens a subdominant cadence to the main theme in G major. The exposition ends in B major, the dominant of E minor. In the recapitulation the second group opens in E minor (turning to the dominant of G major). The opening of the main theme of the last movement is built in a very similar way to the introductory bars of the first movement: Dominant of E minor - subdomaninant cadence - G major. An argument that the last movement can not be in E minor could be made by looking at its second theme, which is in clear E major. If Draeseke had really thought of E as the main tonality he would not have written both themes of a sonata exposition in it. But it fits very well into the "masquerade" scheme of the whole work: first movement exposition G-B, last movement exposition G-E --> if you look at the keynotes you have an E minor triad...

Great to see this lively and passionate discussion here!

In general I think of Draeseke as a very rewarding composer for them who study his music well into the details, and I would advice everyone interested in his style to take his scores and follow the harmonic and the contrapuntal procedures closely. There are some pieces (e.g. the finale of the Violin Duo-Suite) that really punish the players if they are not fully aware what they have to do. What is challenging is the often high tempo of the events, regardless if the music is slow or fast. But if you know these events by heart and you succeed in bringing them together into coherence the music will lose much of its "difficult" character.

Because no existing recording of any of Draeseke's symphonies can be called really appropriate, it is the more on yourself to dive into the scores. Speaking of myself, I only came to understand the development section of the first movement of No. 1 after doing my own reading and playing sessions at the piano. Neither Hanson nor Weigle really make the music "go" here for my ears.

Because the Thuner See was mentioned: Draeseke Society member Manfred Eibl has created modern editions of several previously unpublished orchestral works. Next to the Thuner See there are: Der Traum ein Leben, Feenzauber, Academic Festival Overture, and Germania-Marsch. If you are interested in the scores, let me know, I will help you.

Dear Draeseke friends!

The International Draeseke Society is proud to announce that the edition of Felix Draeseke's complete songs for voice and piano is now available in print. The edition consists of three volumes and is published by Musikproduktion Höflich in Ziethen, Germany. The volumes contain all of Draeseke's 86 extant songs, together with his only melodrama Der Mönch von Bonifazio.

A large number of the pieces had not been printed again since Draeseke's death, and, until now, was accessible only via archives and libraries. So the Society decided to bring Draeseke's songs in total back in reach for the musical public. A few of the pieces appear in print for the first time.

The songs are presented in critical editions following the composer's manuscripts and the first printings. The volumes were edited by Wolfgang Müller-Steinbach (vols. 1 and 2) and Norbert Florian Schuck (vol. 3). Here are the links to the publisher:

Vol. 1

https://repertoire-explorer.musikmph.de/de/produkt/draeseke-felix-31/

Vol. 2

https://repertoire-explorer.musikmph.de/de/produkt/draeseke-felix-32/

Vol. 3

https://repertoire-explorer.musikmph.de/de/produkt/draeseke-felix-33/

In the context of the 39th annual meeting of the International Draeseke Society the edition will be presented to the public on 21 June in the Aula of the Gymnasium Casimirianum in Coburg.

Two concerts will follow in Bad Rodach (22 June, Jagdschloss) and Leipzig (29 June, Grieg-Begegnungsstätte) with Julia Oesch, mezzo-soprano, and former Thomaskantor Gotthold Schwarz, bass, as singers, and editor Wolfgang Müller-Steinbach as pianist. The program contains songs from all phases of Draeseke's career.

More information about the edition and the concerts can be found here (in German):

http://www.the-new-listener.de/index.php/2025/06/11/die-gesamtausgabe-der-lieder-felix-draesekes-praesentation-und-konzerttermine/

Everyone interested in Draeseke's art will be welcomed cordially!

With best regards

Yours

Norbert Florian Schuck, 1st chairman of the International Draeseke Society

[Felix Draeseke song concerts]

Felix Draeseke song concerts
Following the presentation of the new 3-volume edition of Felix Draeseke's songs during the annual conference of the International Draeseke Society in Coburg, two concerts will take place in Bad Rodach and Leipzig where a selection of the songs can be heard. They will be sung by Julia Oesch, mezzo-soprano, and Gotthold Schwarz, bass (the former Thomaskantor of Leipzig). The pianist is Wolfgang Müller-Steinbach, editor of two volumes of the edition.

Saturday, 21 June 2025, 17:00, Coburg, Gymnasium Casimirianum: Presentation of the edition.

Sunday, 22 June 2025, 11:00, Bad Rodach, Jagdschloss: Concert, date 1.

Sunday, 29 June 2025, 14:00, Leipzig, Grieg-Begegnungsstätte: Concert, date 2.


http://www.the-new-listener.de/index.php/2025/06/11/die-gesamtausgabe-der-lieder-felix-draesekes-praesentation-und-konzerttermine/

[Piano Sonata]

The British Library has printed scores of Puchat's Piano Sonata and 4 Pieces In Dance Form:
https://bll01.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,max%20puchat&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=Not_BL_Suppress&vid=44BL_INST:BLL01

[In den Alpen. Symphonische Tonbilder.]

It's a pleasure for me to read about your interest in Puchat. As the author of the preface I must say: it was not easy to collect information about this composer. And until today I am not able to give you a more or less complete list of his works. As you see, there are many gaps in his opus numbers, and many pieces without an opus number. Nothing by him was printed in the last 20 years of his life, and it is unclear if he still composed during this period.

Another orchestral work has survived in manuscript: In den Alpen. Symphonische Tonbilder.
You can find the score at the University Library of Chicago:
https://catalog.lib.uchicago.edu/vufind/Record/3847669

What happened to Puchat's other unprinted works (among them several tone poems and piano concertos) can not be said, yet. I was not able to trace the record of his wife Marie to a date later than 1924. Did she remain in Breslau after her retirement, or did she move to another place and took his scores with her? If Puchat's manuscripts remained in Breslau until 1945 it is possible that they were destroyed or got lost. If you have any hint for me in this case, please let me know!

For me Puchat is a major find. And it would be very nice to listen to good performances of his music in the future!

Here you have a copy of the worklist, printed in the Höflich Score

Catalogue of works by Max Puchat

This catalogue of works makes no claim to completeness and is expressly to be understood as provisional. The
gaps in the opus count reveal that not all works with opus numbers were printed. In two cases, compositions
without numbers appeared in print. For the time being, it must remain open whether numbers that remained
free were reserved for some of the works listed here that never made it into print. Since, due to the sources available, it was hardly possible to provide information on the dates of origin of the compositions, the date of publication, including the publisher, was given in the list for printed works. The unprinted works were given the date of the earliest verifiable performance or the earliest mention.

Music for orchestra

-Symphony (awarded with the Mendelssohn Prize in 1884)
-Euphorion, symphonic poem after Goethe's Faust, op. 14 (Siegel, Leipzig 1888)
-Ouvertüre on a Nordic Theme, op. 22 (Siegel, Leipzig 1890)
-Leben und Ideal, symphonic poem after Schiller, op. 24 (Siegel, Leipzig 1892)
-Tragödie eines Künstlers, symphonic poem (performed in Berlin in 1894)
-In den Alpen, symphonic tone pictures (performed in Munich in 1906)
-Piano Concerto in E flat major (performed in Berlin in 1890)
-Piano Concerto in C minor (performed in Berlin in 1895)
-Piano Concerto in E minor (performed in Milwaukee in 1905)
-Fuga solemnis, tone poem for orchestra and organ (performed in Berlin in 1891)

Chamber music

-String Quartet in D minor (performed in Berlin in 1888)
-String Quartet in F major, op. 25 (Bote & Bock, Berlin 1892)
-Canzonetta for violin, viola and piano (performed in Paderborn in 1900)
-Sonata for violine and piano in D major (Klemm, Leipzig 1898)
-Romance for violin and piano (performed in Berlin in 1894)
-3 Fantasy Pieces for violoncello and piano, op. 4 (Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig 1886)

Music for piano

-3 Piano Pieces (Alla Marcia, Scherzo, Preludio e Fugato), op. 1 (Praeger & Meier, Bremen 1883)
-Sonata in B flat minor, op. 3 (Bote & Bock, Berlin 1886)
-4 Pieces in Form of Dances (Böhmische Polka, Tyrolerweise, Tarantelle, Walzer-Phantasie) for piano
four hands, op. 5 (Bote & Bock, Berlin 1887)
-Rhapsody, op. 11 (Bisping, Münster 1888)
-2 Piano Pieces (Polnischer Tanz, Abendstimmung), op. 12 (Bisping, Münster 1888)
-Am Gardasee. Serenata italiana, op. 13 (Bisping, Münster 1888)
-Valse, op. 18 (Bisping, Münster 1890)

Songs (with piano accompaniment unless otherwise stated)
-4 Songs (Hientzsch, Breslau 1885)
-4 Songs, op. 8 (Bisping, Münster 1888)
-Ganz oder gar nicht, op. 9 (Bisping, Münster 1888)
-Du wunderschöne Schlanke, op. 10 (Bisping, Münster 1888)
-Aus den Bergen, 2 duets for soprano and alto, op. 19 (Bisping, Münster 1889)
-Gretchen vor der Mater Dolorosa, with orchestra (performed in Munich in 1906)

If you want to explore Keußler's oratorios, you now can find the vocal scores of two of them on Imslp.

Jesus aus Nazareth:

https://imslp.org/wiki/Jesus_aus_Nazareth_(Keussler%2C_Gerhard_von)

Die Mutter. Ein Marien-Oratorium (The Mother. A Marian Oratorio):

https://imslp.org/wiki/Die_Mutter_(Keussler%2C_Gerhard_von)

[XVII International Conference "Traditions of Silesian Musical Culture"]

From 25 to 27 March 2025 the XVII International Conference "Traditions of Silesian Musical Culture" will take place in Wroclaw, Poland. One part of the event is a piano recital of works by unsung Silesian composers. Charlotte Steppes plays music by Eduard Franck, Arnold Mendelssohn, Hermann Buchal and Günter Bialas.

[Felix Woyrsch]

Felix Woyrsch (1860-1944): Da Jesus auf Erden ging. Mysterium op. 61 (1916)
[When Jesus Walked on Earth. A Mystery] for soloists, choir and orchestra

Mechthild Söffler, soprano
Bernhard Gärtner, tenor
Hanno Müller-Brachmann, bariton
Monteverdichor Würzburg
Jenaer Philharmonie
Matthias Beckert, conductor

Recorded on 8 December 2024 at the Neubaukirche in Würzburg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1T-t25rDPE