Johann Rufinatscha

[Alan Howe]

One of the most original of 19th-century unsungs is Johann Rufinatscha...

Johann Rufinatscha (1 October 1812 – 25 May 1893) was an Austrian composer, theorist and music teacher.

Life

Rufinatscha was born in 1812 in Mals (Austria, now in the Italian province of South Tyrol). At the age of 14 he came to Innsbruck, where he studied the piano, violin, and musical study at the conservatory. After that he settled in Vienna, where he would remain for the rest of his life.
During his lifetime he was most prominent as a teacher of piano and harmony in Vienna. Rufinatscha seems to have spent most of his life teaching rather than composing actively, which would explain why he composed fairly few pieces. He knew Johannes Brahms and composed a number of works (including several symphonies) during the period in which Brahms refused to publish any symphonic works because of his fear not to live up to Beethoven's legacy. While predicted by contemporaries to become a major composer of his day, this did not turn out to be the case, and as such he is still relatively obscure. However, as a music teacher he was influential; among his pupils were composers such as Ignaz Brüll and Julius Epstein. He died in 1893 in Vienna.
Rufinatscha is recognised as one of the Tyrol's most important composers of the 19th century. His works can be said to form a connection between those of Franz Schubert and Anton Bruckner. Shortly before his death Rufinatscha decided to donate the manuscripts of his compositions to the Tyrolean provincial museum, where they remain to this day. In the past few years some of his works have been recorded on CD, and are for sale from the Museum's shop.

Rufinatscha appears to have composed 6 symphonies. The following is a list of his known compositions:

Orchestral works

Symphony No. 1 in D major (1834)
Symphony No. 2 in E-flat major (1840)
Symphony No. 3 in F major - lost
Symphony No. 4 in C minor (1846): only the piano four-hands adaptation in 3 extant movements survives
Symphony No. 5 in B minor (1846): versions exist for both piano four-hands and orchestra
Symphony No. 6 in D major (ca.1865): versions exist for both piano four-hands and orchestra
Piano Concerto (1850): scored for both orchestra and piano four-hands
Serenade for Strings (nd)

Chamber Music

String Quartet in E-flat major (1850)
String Quartet in G major (1870)
Piano Trio in A-flat major (1868): third movement seems to be a reworking of the 2nd movement of the Piano Concerto.
Piano Quartet in C minor (1836)
Piano Quartet in A-flat major (1870): the first and the last movements possibly are reworkings of earlier compositions.

Instrumental works

Sonata for Piano 4-hands in D minor (1850)
Piano Sonata No. 2 in C major, Op.7 (1855)
6 Character Pieces, Op.14 (by 1871)
Piano Sonata in D minor, Op.18 (1880)

Recordings

The Tyrolean State Museum has released multiple CDs with works by Rufinatscha. Among them are the extant symphonies (nos. 1, 2, 5 and 6), the Piano Trio, the String Quartets in E flat major and G major, and the four-hand reduction of the piano concerto. As of November 2009 the full orchestra version of the piano concerto became available, along with two concert overtures.
A series of CDs of Rufinatscha's orchestral music is now being planned by Chandos Records, of which the first - the 6th Symphony and the overture The Bride of Messina - has now (March 2011) been issued.

[Alan Howe]

Of course, the string parts of a further Symphony in C minor have now also been discovered; the work is being reconstructed by Tyrolean composer Michael Huber and is due to be given its first performance in Mals in the autumn of 2012.

[Mark Thomas]

There's also the three Overtures: in C, Innerer Kampf and The Bride of Messina

[Alan Howe]

Thanks, Mark, I'd forgotten those. In its scale and ambition The Bride of Messina is virtually a symphonic poem. It's a bracing piece of real power.

[britishcomposer]

You are doing a great job, Alan! Quite a fine thing for those who aren't much experienced yet in exploring the unsungs. I suppose you are going to continue the series, so maybe there's a Robert Volkmann thread coming soon? 

[eschiss1]

*is curious about Heinrich Esser, if I may push my luck*

[Peter1953]

Rufinatscha has become one of my unsung favourites too. I simply adore all of his recorded music, which I find very original. He is most certainly not an epigone of any contemporary fellow composer. I still think his Fifth is his most impressive work.

Alan, please start a thread on two other very fine composers, Dietrich and Kirchner.