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Post by Uncle Henry on Nov 1, 2015 7:39:04 GMT -5
The Gurre-Lieder (Songs of Gurre), composed by the well-known Bohemian Arnold Schönberg, constitute a vast and beautiful cantata employing several soloists and a huge chorus and orchestra. They were for the most part written by 1901, but orchestration was not completed, and final strangenesses not included, until 1912, well after the collapse of western civilization in mid-1908. The work depicts the relationship between King Waldemar and a woman named Tove; Waldemar’s blasphemous defiance of God after Tove’s expiry; the nightly ride at the head of a ghostly retinue to which the King’s restless spirit is subsequently condemned; and its dismissal by the "summer wind" at the approach of day. The composer encompassed all this in a series of extraordinarily magnificent tableaux. Wikipedia page:Complete informationSample images:What a wonderfully confident approach the sadly always blurred young cellist here has has he not! The duration of the video is two hours and four minutes, and it is provided with subtitles in the French language. Forum members may download it HERE. |
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Post by ahinton on Nov 1, 2015 12:24:03 GMT -5
The Gurre-Lieder (Songs of Gurre), composed by the well-known Bohemian Arnold SchönbergThe well-known what?... constitute a vast and beautiful cantata employing several soloists and a huge chorus and orchestra. They were for the most part written by 1901, but orchestration was not completed, and final strangenesses not included, until 1912, well after the collapse of western civilization in mid-1908. No strangenesses nor collapse of Western civilisation in 1908 (how would Schönberg have completed work on this piece thereafter otherwise?) but it is ineed a most extraordinary achievement; the composer's skill at handling immense orchestral forces, albeit often in a kind of amplified chamber music manner, is enough to put even Strauss and Mahler in the shade... cThe work depicts the relationship between King Waldemar and a woman named Tove; Waldemar’s blasphemous defiance of God after Tove’s expiry; the nightly ride at the head of a ghostly retinue to which the King’s restless spirit is subsequently condemned; and its dismissal by the "summer wind" at the approach of day. The composer encompassed all this in a series of extraordinarily magnificent tableaux./quote] Indeed - but to think that his original intention was a handful of songs for voice and piano for a songwriting competition! Quite how he developmed so brilliant a way with the orchestra is quite beyond me; his earlier symphonic poem Pelleas und Melisande gives some clues, being already a remarkable work, but this is on another level altogether! Anyway, a phenomenal accomplishment, first encounters with which catalpulted at least two people I know into the desire to be a composer. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 2, 2015 2:11:24 GMT -5
. . . the well-known Bohemian Arnold SchönbergThe well-known what?... Your enquiry is something of a poser Mr. H. According to Grove Schönberg's father was born in Szécsény (which is - just - in Hungary), and his mother in Prague. Schönberg himself entered the old world in Vienna. "Schoenberg [ sic]," Grove goes on, "accordingly inherited Hungarian nationality, which was converted to Czech on the formation of the state of Czechoslovakia in 1918." That "accordingly" appears to indicate that at that time "nationality" derived from the father's (or perhaps from the father's birthplace) rather than from one's own birthplace. Still, both the "accordingly" and the "converted to Czech" seem in a certain light odd. Other sources such as Malcolm Macdonald differ from Grove and give Pressburg (it too it seems then in Hungary, and definitely now renamed as Bratislava in Slovakia) as the father's birthplace. All that seems certain is that soon after 1918 our Schönberg was travelling with a Czecho-Slovakian passport, which is where all this began. But Bohemian only loosely in that sense; perhaps Hungarian it may have been. What we know from a 1902 encyclopædia is that: "Bohemia, a kingdom and crownland of Austria, has an area two-thirds the size of Scotland, and has the form of an irregular rhomb. Its name comes from the Boii, an ancient Celtic tribe." Here as in ten thousand thousand other cases it would have helped did there exist no "states" or "nations" at all. But we can for now ask: which is the most musically gifted of all nations, the Czechs, the Hungarians, or the Austrians? Personally I plump for the Czechs. It is true as you say that this cantata - as few others do - does have the wonderful quality of pressing others to be themselves creative. |
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Post by ahinton on Nov 2, 2015 5:10:32 GMT -5
Your enquiry is something of a poser Mr. H. According to Grove Schönberg's father was born in Szécsény (which is - just - in Hungary), and his mother in Prague. Schönberg himself entered the old world in Vienna. "Schoenberg [ sic]," Grove goes on, "accordingly inherited Hungarian nationality, which was converted to Czech on the formation of the state of Czechoslovakia in 1918." That "accordingly" appears to indicate that at that time "nationality" derived from the father's (or perhaps from the father's birthplace) rather than from one's own birthplace. Still, both the "accordingly" and the "converted to Czech" seem in a certain light odd. Other sources such as Malcolm Macdonald differ from Grove and give Pressburg (it too it seems then in Hungary, and definitely now renamed as Bratislava in Slovakia) as the father's birthplace. The late and much missed Malcolm MacDonald (whom I knew) having been one of the world's leading authoritie on Schönberg, I'd be more inclined to trust him than Grove. The question is whether "Bohemia" actually covered the area from which Schönberg's parents originated and the movement of borders from time to time certainly obscures the significance of this. That Schönberg himself was raised in and around Vienna and much maligned by the Viennese in the early part of the last century gave rise to considable ambivalence on his part towards that city, as no doubt you now, although his adoption of the American spelling Schoenberg more or less coincided with his move there, even though it seems that he never really "settled" there as such. That his archive has mostly now returned to the splendid Schönberg Center in Vienna seems to suggest the poetic justice of his work having somehow come full circle. All that said, whilst in his early years he was one of the most important Austrian composers along with his friend Mahler (14 years his senior) and contemporaries Schrecker, Schmidt and Zemlinsky, Mahler spent a considerable amount of his short life in America and, with the advent of the 1930s, the political climate in the "home country" became impossible for those still alive to remain there and some Austrian composers of the next generation, notably Korngold and Křenek, did the same as Schönberg and emigrated to America (as of course also did Bartók and numerous other non-Austrian composers). But we can for now ask: which is the most musically gifted of all nations, the Czechs, the Hungarians, or the Austrians? Personally I plump for the Czechs. I neither know who "we" are (yet again!) nor would have the temerity to hazard a guess; the question "can" be asked, but that doesn't mean to say eith erht at it should be asked or indeed answered! It is true as you say that this cantata - as few others do - does have the wonderful quality of pressing others to be themselves creative. Indeed; curiously, the very different Le Sacre du Printemps, premièred just 96 days after Gurrelieder's first performance, has had a similar impact... |
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PaxAm
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Post by PaxAm on Mar 25, 2016 4:39:38 GMT -5
Who are the conductor, orchestra, and soloists?
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Post by Uncle Henry on Mar 25, 2016 6:19:50 GMT -5
Greetings Mr. Sneffels!
The people concerned in this 2014 performance were:
- The Philharmonic Orchestra of Radio France
- Conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen
- The choirs of Radio France and Radio Leipzig
- Barbara Sukowa (speakerine)
- Katarina Dalayman (soprano)
- Michelle De Young (mezzo-soprano)
- Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke (tenor)
- Robert Dean Smith (tenor)
- Gábor Bretz (bass)
Quite recently another video of the work has appeared at the Bergen orchestra site, conducted by Edward Gardner.
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