NEW DIGITAL SHEET MUSIC APP "NKODA" SEEKING BETA TESTERS FOR ANDROID, iPHONE, MAC OS, WINDOWS 10

nkoda, Boosey & Hawkes

It is destined to become a hot commodity for both professional and amateur musicians, conductors, students and scholars alike: the recently launched digital sheet music subscription app, "nkoda," presently available for purchase via iTunes, offers instantly accessible scores to users along with a fully integrated search and sort platform, allowing subscribers to download music for offline use, create playlists and share annotated files with other members.

Music publishing powerhouse Boosey & Hawkes recently announced it's partnership with the revolutionizing app, adding some 7,000 scores to the nkoda catalogue, joining 49 other publishers (and counting) presently adding music to the database. Currently, the app, launched on iTunes June 8, 2018 boasts an impressive 70,000+ completed scores, in both conductor versions and performing parts. Founder Lorenzo Brewer, himself a musician, created the app with the global market in mind: soon, subscribers from around the world will be able to access the massive digital archive - presently available in English - in Chinese, Spanish, Russian, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Japanese and Korean.

Educational material is also featured on the helpful app, and will be present on future editions currently undergoing Beta testing on alternative formats. Those interested can apply now to test for Android (tablet), iPhone, Mac OS and Windows 10 here.
 
Boosey & Hawkes owns the copyrights to the music of many major players of 20th and 21st century classical music, including, to not limited to Stravinsky, Britten, Bernstein, Prokofiev and Richard Strauss. 

The late B&H music publisher Ernst Roth was instrumental in the 1950 production of the latter composer's Vier Letzte Lieder at Royal Albert Hall by publishing the four songs together as a single unit following the musician's death.

Listen to the performance below (Kirsten Flagstad performs with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Wilhelm Furtwängler:


-Rose.

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BLOG UPDATE: JUNE 21, 2018 / CELEBRATING 150 YEARS OF DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NÜRNBERG WITH A LITTLE COMIC RELIEF

Unraveling Musical Myths is excited to announce that the thirteenth installment of Trivia & Humor is currently underway and will be live soon!

The "spooky" numeric will not be glossed over - the forthcoming edition aims to present to the reader a litany of unspeakable debauchery from the annals of musical hell. This series has covered every lecherous pestilence known to infect and terrorize some of the greatest musical minds to have ever lived - from sexually transmitted disease and hysteria to mêlées and murder. Next, we look at what can arguably be deemed as man's greatest scourge of all: that pesky little thing called "love!"

In the interim, what better way to celebrate mayhem and music than with a little comical interlude? In honor of the 150th anniversary of the premiere of Herr Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the Königliches Hof- und National-Theater on this day in 1868, watch below a charming clip from the 1946 musical comedy "Two Sisters from Boston" starring the great heldentenor Lauritz Melchior as opera singer "Olstrom." In this cheeky scene, Olstrom can be seen singing the celebrated Prize Song (Morgenlich leuchtend im rosigen Schein) from Die Meistersinger into a phonograph as RCA-Victor mascot Nipper looks on -  hilariously striking the famous pose from the iconic "His Master's Voice" campaign.



Stay tuned!

Internal Links:

• Learn more about Nipper the dog and His Master's Voice here on Unraveling Musical Myths 

• Discover the history and operation of the phonograph on Unraveling Musical Myths

-Rose.

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WORLD PREMIERE RECORDING OF BERNSTEIN'S "A QUIET PLACE" (CHAMBER VERSION) TO BE RELEASED FRIDAY

Pre-order available: Decca

This Friday, June 22, fans of American conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein will be able to get their hands on the world premiere recording of Garth Edwin Sunderland's chamber adaptation of the late maestro's 1983 opera "A Quiet Place," recorded live last March at the Maison symphonique de Montréal with the OSM performing under the baton of director Kent Nagano.

Much like it's title, Bernstein's last work written for the stage has remained but a quiet murmur among the icon's compositional repertoire. Penned as a sequel to his only other opera* "Trouble in Tahiti," A Quiet Place was roundly panned at its 1983 Houston premiere. It would undergo several revisions by the composer and librettist Stephen Wadsworth before finally earning praise - under a 2010 production staged by revisionist director Christopher Alden.

"Interdisciplinary artist" Garth Edwin Sunderland's chamber adaption of the relatively obscure opera will prove to be the latest "revision." Sunderland had previously authored new editions and performing versions of Bernstein's music, including Songfest and West Side Story. Currently serving as Senior Music Editor for the Leonard Bernstein Office, his CV can be found here.

From the OSM Press Release (link to the full release in the footnotes):

"WORLD PREMIERE RECORDING OF THE CHAMBER VERSION FOR THE BERNSTEIN CENTENARY

Decca Classics and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal are proud to present the world premiere recording of the chamber version of Leonard Bernstein’s ‘A Quiet Place’, adapted by Garth Edwin Sunderland. It is conducted by Kent Nagano and will be released on 22nd June, ahead of the Bernstein centenary on 25th August 2018.

Premiered in 1983, Bernstein’s opera ‘A Quiet Place’ was the composer’s last work written for the stage and remains one of his lesser known large-scale compositions. The concert-version presented on the new album features a chamber orchestra and was recorded live at the Maison symphonique de Montréal in May 2017. Garth Edwin Sunderland’s adaptation offers a compact presentation of the three-act opera which places equal focus on librettist Stephen Wadsworth’s dramatic narrative and Bernstein’s complex and highly developed late musical style.

Kent Nagano was introduced to Bernstein by Seiji Ozawa in 1984 and studied with him until his death in 1990. Nagano says, “For Bernstein music was life – the two were synonymous, inseparable. He never stopped exploring and pushing his own compositional language. The goal in this particular adaptation is to allow the spirited brilliance and poetic depth of the work to shine through – including dance rhythms and elements of American folklore. Our hope is that the timeless and universal quality of the piece and the genius of the composition are laid bare in this new recording.”

Joining Kent Nagano and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal on this new album is an outstanding group of young singers featuring soprano Claudia Boyle as Dede and tenor Joseph Kaiser as François. The cast also includes: baritones Gordon Bintner, Lucas Meachem and Daniel Belcher; tenors Rupert Charlesworth and John Tessier; mezzo-sopranos Annie Rosen and Maija Skille; and bass Steven Humes; as well as the OSM Chorus led by chorus master Andrew Megill.

‘A Quiet Place’ is an audacious musical-dramatic exploration of the changing face of American society. As Garth Edwin Sunderland, Senior Music Editor at the Leonard Bernstein Office, said of the composer’s late opera, “It’s such a brilliant work, the culmination of what he accomplished and the culmination of his gifts as a composer. Creating this adaptation was a deeply powerful experience for me, and it is my hope that it will provide audiences with a similar experience of this great American opera.”

Pre-ordering is currently available: A Quiet Place - Nagano

Listen below to the Prelude from "A Quiet Place," conducted by its composer:


Footnotes:

*not including Bernstein's 1953 operetta, Candide.

External links:

Press Release - OSM

 - Rose.

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PREVIOUSLY UNDISCOVERED YSAŸE SONATA GIVEN PREMIERE IN BRUSSELS, FILM/PERFORMANCE TO FOLLOW (MANUSCRIPT NOW AVAILABLE)

UK classical music magazine “the Strad” and insider website Slippedisc have reported the recent discovery of a previously unknown sonata by the late virtuoso violinist and composer Eugène Ysaÿe of Belgium.

According to the magazine, the exciting discovery was made by French violinist Philippe Graffin whilst researching papers at the library of the Brussels Conservatoire. Speaking with journalists, the musician explained how he believes the lost work wound up there:

"Josef Szigeti [the Hungarian violinist] once visited Ysaÿe in the Belgian resort town of Knokke...while there, he saw a green sketchbook of Ysaÿe’s that he described as “very precious” and containing many marvellous things. After Ysaÿe’s death, the sketchbook passed to Philip Newman, a British violinist, and then to French violinist Josette Lavergne, who left her collection to the Conservatoire here in Brussels."

Graffin further detailed his discovery, explaining his delight at stumbling across a “very elaborate first draft” containing a “very substantial” first movement, a second movement akin to a canzone, and a portion (two-thirds) of a third movement for a sonata, believed to have been composed by Ysaÿe sometime between the makings of the virtuoso’s fifth and sixth incredibly masterful sonatas, written in July 1923.

Ysaÿe's erudite Six sonatas for solo violin, Op. 27 were famously inspired by the composer having heard Szigeti perform J.S. Bach’s sonata for solo violin in G minor, which sparked in him a burning desire to incorporate into the instruments’ repertoire a sound representing the evolution of musical technique into the 20th century. Each of the six sonatas were dedicated to contemporary violinists admired by Eugène: Joseph Szigeti (No. 1), Jacques Thibaud (No. 2), George Enescu (No. 3), Fritz Kreisler (No. 4), Mathieu Crickboom (No. 5), and Manuel Quiroga (No. 6).

The latest discovery will be titled "Sonate posthume op.27 no.6bis." It is unknown if Ysaÿe intended a dedication for the piece.

A brief educational film, including a performance of the recent premiere in Brussels of the Sonata by Graffin is expected to be released later this year.

A manuscript for the Posthumous Sonata is now available on the Brussels Conservatoire website.

Listen below to the Sonata No. 3, D minor, "Georges Enescu" by Eugène Ysaÿe. Augustin Hadelich performs.



Maxim Vengerov's infallible 1997 performance of the sonata at the Cologne Philharmonic Hall is a must-see visual and aural experience. You do not want to miss this: watch the video directly on YouTube. 

- Rose.

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PROFESSOR STEPHEN HAWKING’S VOICE BEAMED FRIDAY INTO BLACK HOLE 1A 06200-00 TO ORIGINAL SCORE SET BY VANGELIS

The late theoretical physicist Professor Stephen Hawking was remembered Friday with a touching and historical tribute by the crossover composer Vangelis, who composed a moving orchestral score, overlaid with the voice of Hawking himself, professing thanks to loved ones and expressing – and encouraging – introspection, hope for the future of scientific research, and peace for both planet and fellow man.

The stunning recording, entitled “Seize the Moment,” was beamed into earth’s nearest black hole, 1A 06200-00 (some 3,457 light years away) during the scientist’s internment at Westminster Abbey, thanks to the efforts of the European Space Agency who agreed to broadcast Hawking’s eloquent message into space from it’s satellite dish at Ceberos (in Spain) as a mark of "respect and remembrance." The recording, which is presently traveling at the speed of light, is expected to reach its destination in the year 5475, and it will mark the first ever human interaction with a black hole.

Hawking, who was diagnosed at age 21 with the motor neuron disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), managed to defy the odds - living some 55 years following the diagnosis, shocking the physicians caring for him who had given him the grim prognosis of only two years. He would pass on March 14 of this year. The professor’s ashes were interred during the service – he now lay at rest in between mathematician and fellow physicist Sir Isaac Newton and evolutionist Charles Darwin.

This is not the first time Vangelis has been involved in creating music for the heavens – the Greek composer also provided the official music for NASA’s 2001 Mars Odyssey on the 23rd October that year, which marked the entry into orbit of it’s spacecraft of the same name. A portion of the live recording from the Temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens can be heard here on Unraveling Musical Myths.

That monumental recording, entitled “Mythodea” was inspired by NASA's mission to Mars, as the composer known only as Vangelis explained to reporters in 2001:

"I made up the name Mythodea from the words myth and ode. And I felt in it a kind of shared or common path with NASA's current exploration of the planet [Mars]. Whatever we use as a key — music, mythology, science, mathematics, astronomy — we are all working to decode the mystery of creation, searching for our deepest roots."

As for what inspired this latest stellar tribute, Vangelis states:

 “Through sound and music, the language that I know best, I pay tribute and express my high esteem and respect to this extraordinary man.

I imagine he will continue to travel with the same devotion, wherever he may be, in the known unknown. ...”

A CD featuring the historic tribute to Hawking was given to guests and attendees, which included some 1000 members of the public who won seats to the service via ballot.

Speaking to reporters, Hawking’s daughter Lucy expressed her deep gratitude, calling the composition a

"beautiful and symbolic gesture that creates a link between our father's presence on this planet, his wish to go into space and his explorations of the universe in his mind."

Indeed.


Listen to the audio below (transcript provided).

“I am very aware of the preciousness of time. Seize the moment. Act now. I have spent my life traveling across the universe inside my mind. Through theoretical physics I have sought to answer some of the great questions but there are other challenges, other big questions which must be answered, and these will also need a new generation who are interested, engaged and with an understanding of science.

How will we feed an ever-growing population, provide clean water, generate renewable energy, prevent and cure disease and slow down global climate change? I hope that science and technology will provide the answers to these questions, but it will take people, human beings with knowledge and understanding to implement the solution. One of the great revelations of the space age has been a perspective that has given humanity on ourselves.

When we see the earth from space we see ourselves as a whole; we see the unity and not the divisions. It is such a simple image, with a compelling message: one planet, one human race.

We are here together, and we need to live together with tolerance and respect.
We must become global citizens.

I have been enormously privileged through my work to be able to contribute to our understanding of the universe. But it would be an empty universe indeed, if it were not for the people I love and who love me. We are all time travelers journeying together into the future. But let us work together to make that future a place we want to visit. Be brave, be determined, overcome the odds.

It can be done. It can be done.”

- Professor Stephen Hawking

External links:

• BBC - release 
• CD/internment information for Stephen Hawking 
• Internment of Professor Stephen Hawking - video

- Rose.

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A UNIVERSAL COMING OF AGE: MARIAN ANDERSON DIGITAL ARCHIVE UNDERWAY IN PENNSYLVANIA, WAGNER AT BAYREUTH

*CLICK TO ENLARGE* Earliest surviving program of Marian Anderson - The People's Choral 
 Society concert for a production of Handel's Messiah, Philadelphia, PA, April 6, 1916. 
Marginalia: "$55.00 Tickets sold..."  Mini-biography on Anderson reads: “Marion [sic] E. 
Anderson, of Philadelphia, Contralto, is a young singer of great promise and has a rich 
contralto voice of large range and volume. She is a pupil of one of the best teachers in the 
city, and has made remarkable strides in a short time.” UPenn Archive

It’s one of the more gratifying signs of the times: the collective digitization of archive material pertaining to major composers and performers, each representing the best of Western classical music and opera.

In early 2018, it was announced Chopin (who was Polish but thrived in France) would lead the way for artists to come across the globe - becoming a pioneer of the effort to bring together scores, dust off old archival manuscripts and regalia and enter them into the universal database of the future – and not just selected material – entire oeuvres.

Now, both the United States and Germany are attempting to follow suit, with the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) digitizing their archive of one of the institute's most prized donors, the African-American contralto Marian Anderson (who first donated materials to university in 1977 (Almanac April 12, 1977), continuing until her death in 1993 (Almanac April 13, 1993); and, in Germany, a historic effort is underway to make formerly semi-private accessibility of Wagner material available to the public at large by digitizing material related to the composer presently holed up at the Wagner National Archive at Wahnfried House – currently the largest collection of Wagner regalia in the world. Previously, one seeking to view scores, documents or other related material had to “fill out application forms proving that they were doing professional research. In addition, visitors had to travel to the Richard Wagner Museum in Bayreuth themselves to view the documents.” (Deutsche Welle). Soon, even the private the correspondence and personal journals of the Romantic era icon will be added to the estimated 16,000 pieces in the institute's private holdings slated to join this exciting wave of the future.
 

Listen below to Philadelphia native Marian Anderson perform J.S. Bach's "Erbarme dich, mein Gott" (Matthäus-Passion BWV 244):



Whilst not quite as inclusive as the effort underway in Poland with the Fryderyk Chopin Institute (NIFC)'s commendable full-oeuvre undertaking, the decision to digitize the archives of Anderson - a woman of color who shattered barriers in the segregated operatic world of the early 1900’s - and that of Wagner, whose material, astonishingly, remained censored from the greater public well into the 21st century, will prove a great boon to the integration and inclusivity movements and doctrines so highly valued in the West.

As for UPenn, the existing digital archive of Anderson will be greatly added to, with focus aimed at personal documentation – diaries, programs, scrapbooks, interviews and home studio performances formerly belonging to the late singer and activist, including rare, never-before publicly viewed or heard interviews transferred from fragile cassette and reel-to-reel.

According to the University’s website,

“An estimated 5,000 individual items, spanning most of Ms. Anderson’s life as a singer and social justice advocate, will be included in the project. The collection has 1,200 recital and performance programs, 146 notebooks and diaries, 34 scrapbooks, 34 interview transcriptions and 277 hours of recordings.”

The massive undertaking, which is expected to wrap up in May 2019, will provide both scholar and student greater access to material related to the singer than ever before possible.

The Wagner Archive at Bayreuth will prove even more resourceful – for the first time enabling worldwide access to both scholar and layman alike to the massive archive housed there. High-resolution color scans will be included in the digital archive, which as of posting, has no estimated date of completion.

Listen below to the great Wagnerian dramatic soprano Birgit Nilsson perform "Allmächtige Jungfrau" from Wagner's Tannhäuser:


Footnotes:

^[1]Deutsches Radio SWR2: Wagner bald online (Nachrichtenartikel auf Deutsch)

External links:

• Bayreuth digitizes Richard Wagner Archive – Deutsche Welle (in English)
• Penn Library to Digitize Thousands of Items in Marian Anderson Collection (Almanac, UPenn) 

- Rose.

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NEW BOOK DEVOTES CHAPTER TO BEETHOVEN’S “SPANISH ROOTS,” GRANDMOTHER MARÍA JOSEFA POLL, POSSIBLE MOTIVATIONS BEHIND THE SETTING OF FIDELIO

Beethoven, once coined "the Spaniard" by his peers (meant
as a pejorative) due to the darkness of his complexion,
inherited his pigment from a line of Spanish ancestors, new
book alleges in chapter dedicated to Ludwig and maternal
grandmother María Josefa Poll

A new book on Spanish musicians aims to seek out the possible motivating factors behind the setting of 18th/19th century classical composer Ludwig van Beethoven’s 1805 opera Fidelio, set in Seville – a theory which begins and ends with one María Josefa Poll, the musicians maternal grandmother, said to be of Latin descent.

According to musicologist Andrés Ruiz Tarazona, author of the new compilation España en los grandes músicos, Poll descended from either south of the Pyrenees or was descended from a “Spanish family who undertook the journey north during the War of Spanish Succession.”

It’s a controversial statement among leading Beethoven scholars, who until now, have not given the subject much credence – citing lack of surviving historical data and much speculation. 

Tarazona draws his conclusion based on the findings of American music scholars David Jacobs and professor at Harvard, Elliot Forbes, who had concluded that Poll had originated from eastern Spain – those findings, Tarazona states, will be given special precedence in a chapter devoted to Ludwig.

Of what little evidence survives of Poll, incidentally, also comes from the research backed by Forbes: in the critically acclaimed three-volume Thayer’s Life of Beethoven (Alexander Wheelock, 1866-1879), later revised and edited by the Professor in 1991, there can be found one mention of María Josefa, in a church registry.

According to the register of the parish of St. Regimus at Bonn, Germany, Poll, then aged 19, wed Beethoven’s grandfather of the same name, aged 20, on 7 September 1733.^[1] No record of ancestry is present in the surviving documents, however there is a record of baptism that would follow shortly after – consecrating the birth from the union of one Maria Bernadina Ludovica, Ludwig’s late aunt, Christened on 28th of August, 1734. (Bernadina would survive for only a year, expiring in infancy on 17 October 1735. Her Baptismal Sponsors, Maria Bernadina Mengal and Michael van Beethoven likely contributed to the child’s Latinised Christian name.)

Of the broad bibliographical works on Beethoven, from Thayer to 21st century biographer and music historian Jan Swafford, there are only two other incidences in which Poll is given any veritable mention – in the latter’s 2014 Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph, now considered a standard (her origins are not mentioned) and in Lewis Lockwood's 1992 Beethoven: The Music and the Life, in which the author likewise makes no reference to Poll's genealogy, but does reference her placement by Beethoven's grandfather into a "sheltered cloister" (nunnery) due to her alleged struggle with alcoholism.

Ludwig van Beethoven - the composers' grandfather who
shared the same name, wed María Josefa Poll at Bonn in
1733. The elder Beethoven was himself a musician,
serving as bass singer and later Kapellmeister of the
Kölner Kammerchor.

In España en los grandes músicos, Tarazona continues to make his case, citing a perceivable “Spanish influence” in the life and works of the 19th century icon – specifically, in Beethoven’s decision to set his only opera, Fidelio (1805) in Seville.

The musicologist further posits that the decision to enroll Ludwig’s nephew Karl (of whom Beethoven had obtained custody following the premature death of his brother, Kaspar Karl, on Nov 15 1815) into a Viennese boarding School founded by Cayetano Anastasio del Río, a local aristocratic tutor, the following year was based almost solely on paying homage to Karl’s “Spanish roots.” The del Río family is believed to have offered Beethoven moral support during the contentious battle for custody of the young boy, and it is to their school, presently run by one Giannattasio del Río that a 9 year old Karl was immediately placed following Ludwig’s upsetting win over Johanna, the child’s biological mother, in 1816.

However, as surviving documents detail, Karl’s enrollment in the boarding school was to be short lived: he remained in the Viennese institution only until 24 January 1818 before becoming privately home schooled under a tutor appointed by Ludwig.

Later, Beethoven would seek out German schooling for Karl – first at the institute of Johann Baptist Kudlich^[2] (where the boy would temporarily become a boarder), and, after a failed attempt at tutorship under Johann Michael Sailer,^[3] a German Jesuit professor of theology and residing Bishop of Regensburg, Ludwig would have his nephew enrolled at the school of one Joseph Blöchlinger von Bannholz,^[4] officially becoming a boarder there on 22 June 1819.

Wherever the truth may reside for the family Beethoven, España en los grandes músicos^[5] should make for an interesting read.

Listen below to Jon Vickers perform the famous tenor aria "Gott! Welch' Dunkel hier" from Beethoven's Fidelio:


Footnotes:

^[1] Thayer’s Life of Beethoven, Wheelock pp. 45, 46
^[2,3,4]Beethoven and His World: A Biographical Dictionary, By H. P. Clive, Professor of French Peter Clive, Oxford University Press, 2001 pp. 17, 18
^[5] ISBN: 9788417308810

External links: 

• News Article - El País (English)

- Rose.

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SALZBURG'S MOZARTEUM RECEIVES NEW ACQUISITION IN LONG LOST LETTER FROM WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART TO CONFIDANTE ANTON STOLL: CHARACTERISTIC COARSE HUMOR, SCATOLOGICAL REFERENCES ON FULL DISPLAY AS COMPOSER "FORGES" THE HAND OF SÜßMAYR IN CHEEKY EFFORT FOR THE RETURN OF MANUSCRIPTS

The Mozart-Hickel portrait, probably by Austrian Imperial
court artist Joseph Hickel, was authenticated in 2008 by
music scholar Prof. Cliff Eisen of King's College London.
It is one of only four of the so-called "Vienna portraits"
to hold this distinction. This 1783 likeness shows
Mozart as he may have appeared during his last years in
the Austrian capital.

Salzburg’s famed Mozarteum has announced the recent acquisition of a “long-lost” letter from Wolfgang Amadé Mozart to confidante and choirmaster at Baden, Anton Stoll, by way of a generous donation from manuscript collector Maria-Elisabeth Schaeffler-Thumann (whose location is left undisclosed in the Museum’s Press Release).

The letter, dated 12 July 1791, was written by Mozart whilst in the fleeting, and precious few final moments of virility: penned some six months prior to iconic composers untimely death (of still unsubstantiated causes), and just two months shy of contracting whilst in Prague, the mysterious final illness which would rob him of his life and send shock waves through musical Vienna (Wolfgang’s last place of residence, and from where the letter to Stoll was written).

The choirmaster Stoll, who Mozart would on occasion visit whilst wife Constanze took to the famously healing spas synonymous with Baden, is known to have been in the possession of several of the musician’s autographs, including portions of the composers late mass “Krönungsmesse,” (K 317; later acquired by Constanze) and the K. 275 (the “Messe…ex B”) ^[1] mentioned in the letter of July 12 – a direct result of Mozart having taken the opportunity whilst visiting Anton to perform works from his sacred repertoire at the local Baden church.

In the two-part exchange with Stoll (formatted into “two letters” written back to back: one, from Mozart himself, and the other, a purposely conspicuous “forgery,” also penned by Wolfgang as Franz Xaver Süßmayr) Wolfgang’s characteristic wordplay - complete with the sort of scatological humor that made Peter Shaffer’s fictional “biopic” Amadeus a mainstream sensation – is once more on full display as Mozart cheekily pokes fun at Stoll’s less-than-cutting figure, and is most notably present in the "second^" letters’ sign-off, in which Mozart places his present location at the “Scheishäusel” (literally, "Shit house") - all whilst assuming the role of young protégé (and future Requiem co-author) Süßmayr (2nd letter).

*CLICK TO ENLARGE*

The ‘letters’ read in full:

liebster Stoll!
bester knoll!
grosster Schroll!
bist Sternvoll! –
gelt, das Moll
thut dir Wohl? –

Ich habe eine bitte an Sie, und die ist, Sie möchten die güte haben mir gleich mit dem ersten Wagen morgen die Messe von mir ex B, welche wir verflossenen Sonntag gemacht haben, sammt dem Graduale ex B vom Michael Haydn Pax vobis – so wir auch gemacht haben, herein schicken – versteht sich, nicht die Partitur, sondern die Stimmen – weil ich gebeten worden bin in einer kirche eine Messe zu dirigiren; – glauben sie nur nicht dass es so eine Ausflucht seye die Messe wieder zu haben – wenn ich Sie nicht gerne in ihren Händen wüsste, würde ich sie ihnen nie gegeben haben. – im gegentheile mache ich mir ein vergnügen, wenn ich ihnen eine Gefälligkeit erweisen kann. – ich verlasse mich ganz auf Sie, denn ich habe mein Wort gegeben.

Mozart

On the reverse, Mozart tries his hand – quite intentionally unsuccessfully - as Süßmayr, in whom he has donned the role of a “delicate” white knight, and who lays the pressure on Stoll to return the aforementioned items by means of a well placed threat: you shall hear no more of the opera on which Herr Mozart is composing – not until the music is returned! (A "demand" is also made here on "behalf" of Mozart for the return of the music of the “Graduale” of Michael Haydn (Alleluia: In die resurrectionis meae MH 362):

Bester Herr v Schroll!

Setzen Sie uns nicht an sonst sitzen wir in dreck meine herzlich zärtliche Handschrift giebt Zeuge ab, der Wahrheit, was Sie H:r v Mozart ersuchte, folglich – die Meß und das graduale v Mich Haydn oder keine Nachricht von seiner opera. Wir werden Ihnen selbes alsogleich zurücksenden. Apropo erweisen Sie mir eine gefalligkeit meiner lieben Theres einen Handkuß auszurichten, wo nicht – ewige Feindschaft – Davon muß Ihre Handschrift Zeuge sein, so wie die meinige gegenwärtig. Alsdann sollen Sie richtig die Michl Haydnsche Meß bekommen um welche ich meinem Vater schon geschrieben habe. Also ein Mann hält sein Wort.


Scheishäusel den 12 Juli

ächter Freund 
franz Süssmayer Scheisdreck.

Wax seal and addressee: Mozart-Stoll

Although the Mozartuem’s press release indicates the superscript poem

"liebster Stoll!
bester knoll!
grosster Schroll!
bist Sternvoll! –
gelt, das Moll
thut dir Wohl? –"

is a rather crude series of epithets then common in bawdy 18th century German discourse, translator Robert Spaethling offers a rather more tame, less literal translation from the muttersprache into English in his 2000 release, “Mozart’s Letters, Mozart’s Life.” The letter(s) appear in the tome (a carefully curated treasure trove of Mozart exchanges) on pp.438:

“Dearest Stoll!
Good old troll!
you sit in your hole

drunk as a Mole! –

But you’re touched in your soul
by music’s sweet flow.

I have a favor to ask of you, and that is would you be so kind as to send me tomorrow with the very first mail coach my Mass in B♭ (the one we did last Sunday), together with the Gradual in B, pax vobis by Michael Haydn, which we performed also.-Please understand, I do not need the scores, just the voice parts[sic];-it is because I have been asked to conduct a Mass in church here.-Don’t think for a moment that this is an excuse to get my mass back-if I weren’t happy to see it in your hands, I would not have given it to you in the first place.-On the contrary, it is a pleasure for me to be able to do you a favor.-I have to absolutely rely on you in this matter, for I have given my word.

Mozart

Reverse:

Dearest Herr von Schroll!

Don’t let us down or we shall be sitting in muck; my sensitive and delicate handwriting will attest to the truth of Herr von Mozart’s request – therefore-either he gets the Mass and the Gradual by Mich Hadyn, or there will be no more news about his opera.

We shall return everything immediately. Please do be so kind and kiss the hand of my dear Theresa for me, if not-we’ll be enemies forever!-Your handwriting must be witness thereof, just as mine serves as such now. So, you shall definitely have Michl Hadyn’s Mass, which I have already requested from my father. And remember, a Man keeps his word!

I remain your

true friend

Franz Süssmayer,
Shithead.

From the Outhouse, July 12

The letter to Stoll, once held in the possession of the 19th century Romantic composer Johannes Brahms, is now housed at the famous Mozarteum at Salzburg and will become part of the museum’s annual exhibition which will be open to the public via guided tour during the yearly Mozart Week Festival.

To view and/or download the Stoll document in high resolution, visit the Biblioteca Mozartiana Digital url linked in the footnotes.

Listen below to Herr Mozart's "Messe von mir ex B," his Missa Brevis in B-flat major (K.275). Rinaldo Alessandrini conducts the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and the Radio France Choir:
Footnotes:

^[1] The only "Messe..ex B" authored by Mozart and marked in the Köchel catalogue is the Mass (Missa Brevis) in B-flat major, K. 275, making it very likely to be the mass Wolfgang is referencing.

External links:

• Press Release - Mozarteum
• Biblioteca Mozartiana Digital (download letter, read transcript, view inventory)

-Rose.

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WAGNER’S HAND-WRITTEN DEFENSE OF ANTISEMITIC “JUDAISM IN MUSIC” LAMBASTS “JEWISH INFILTRATED” PARISIAN SOCIETY, GERMAN PRESS SOLD AT ISRAELI AUCTION TO PRIVATE, JEWISH COLLECTOR

Israeli auction house Kedem, headquartered in Jerusalem, has sold a rare private correspondence from infamous 19th century composer and noted anti-Semite Richard Wagner to French confidante, philosopher and musicologist Édouard Schuré for $41, 820 on the 24th of April – some $29,820 above it’s top estimated selling price.

The double-sided, 2 page, handwritten letter to Schuré, a one-time Wagner aficionado and zealot-turned-biographer (and later dissenter), reads like a confessional from the Romantic giant to analyst, in which Wagner vehemently defends his 1850 diatribe Das Judenthum in der Musik, his famous pamphlet which became notorious for the composers' unapologetic polemic against what he viewed as a "Jewish influence" in contemporaneous classical music (with extra vitriol reserved for composers Felix Mendelssohn and Giacomo Meyerbeer). The character-defining diatribe was deemed so scandalous upon it’s publication that Wagner, sensing a potential backlash, opted to first introduce it into the public sphere under the pseudonym K. Freigedank ("K. Freethought") before republishing it under his own moniker nearly 2 decades later.

*CLICK TO ENLARGE* Wagner's letter to Schuré, assigned Lot. 112, is dated "25 April 1869", from "Luzern". It's starting bid was $5000, and was estimated to for somewhere between $8000 - $12,000. The auction house far exceeded it's goal.

In the Schuré exchange, penned from the Swiss medieval city of Lucerne in 1869, the egocentric composer compares himself to German literary giant Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, himself an "Aryan," and lambasts an uncultured and ‘Jewish-infiltrated’ Parisian society^[1] – along with the “Jewish-controlled” German press - for “confusing” the abilities of the public at large from discerning the difference between a “true” German and those of Jewish descent, protesting

"To lump together Heine, Goethe, Meyerbeer, and perhaps myself, that ends in the kind of confusion suffered by the French conception of the German character…"^[2]

The letter goes on to further echo his famous essay of 1850, referring to the “Jewish spirit" as a “corroding influence…on modern culture.”

The timing of Wagner’s letter to Schuré is significant – the formerly anonymous essay Das Judenthum.. would be republished, for reasons known only to Wagner himself, under his full name during this year. It is possible this exchange in particular, and the eponymous re-release of the composer’s famous essay were timed in direct response to the growing furore surrounding the ever-expanding movement to withdraw the civic rights extended to Jews during the present century -  with brazen spirits fully ignited by the dawn of the Unification of Germany (which would soon present itself in 1870).

Edouard Schuré, the recipient of Wagner's letter,
alongside fellow philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche,
both venerated and fancied themselves experts on
all things Wagner. The brainy duo were known to
correspond with some frequency, both with each
other and with Herr Wagner, expressing their
steadfast support and idolization of their 'meister.'
Eventually, the same Wagnerian fanaticism that
drew both men to Richard would become the catalyst
for their desertion from their former idol. Schulé's
essay on his one-time hero Le drame musical
et l'oeuvre de M. Richard Wagner was published just
two weeks before he received this exchange.

Wagner was known to have been approached during this period for assistance in the bi-partisan battle - rallyists perhaps spurned on by the bold composer's famous ex-fugitive status: at the time Wagner penned the letter in question, he was residing at his sojourn at Tribschen in Switzerland, the country famous for having played former host to the composer during his lengthy self-imposed exile after officials issued a warrant for his arrest following his alleged involvement in the May Uprising in Dresden in 1849.  By now, word had spread back in the Wagner’s home state that the composer had recently been cleared of a lengthy political ban formerly imposed on him by his own government, a result of having been accused of being an active participant in the riots.

Also significant – and well worth the private buyer’s (said to be an Israeli) bid – is the historical component represented by the letter as it pertains to Jewish/European relations of days past. Wagner’s perspective on what he called the “corruption” of Jewish influence in the arts - while reprehensible to us today - was not an uncommon belief of many who lived and thrived during the era in which the letter was written. Vast and varied are the men in the upper echelon of both art and politics of the 18th and 19th century who were unabashedly, defiantly, vocally anti-Semitic. 

According to author and Israeli scholar Avner Falk, in his work “Anti-Semitism: A History and Psychoanalysis of Contemporary Hatred,” King Frederick II of Prussia is said to have expelled Voltaire from his court, only to later have the famous philospher arrested for "a Christian's lawsuit with a lowly jew" after Voltaire had fallen victim to the con in a Jewish jeweler by the name of Adam Hirschl. This in turn, prompted the humiliated and banished Voltaire to pen a series of scathing, robustly anti-Semitical writings, referring to the Jewish peoples as a “stubborn,” “superstitious” race who practiced “hollowed usury.”  Avner references further quotes by Voltaire, originally re-published under the writer Chaim Potok:

  “They are, all of them, born with raging fanaticism in their hearts…I would not be in the least bit surprised if these people would not some day become deadly to the human race,”

and

 “You have surpassed all nations in impertinent fables, in bad conduct, and in barbarism. You deserve to be punished, for this is your destiny.” (Potok 1978, pp. 365-366, quoting Voltaire 1764).

Even the world famous “Aryan” author and literarist of which Wagner holds himself in comparison, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, was not immune to criticism. His 1773 play Das Jahrmarktsfest zu Plundersweilern (Lumberville Fair) famously contains the line

"Und dieses schlaue Volk sieht einen Weg nur offen:
Solang die Ordnung steht, so lang hat's nichts zu hoffen.
Es nährt drum insgeheim den fast getüschten Brand,Und eh wir's uns versehn, so flammt das ganze Land"

which, loosely translated, reads,

 "and this clever race only knows one truth: As long as there is order, there is nothing to gain. It secretly nourishes the kindling fire, and before we know it, the whole country is set ablaze."

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Although conceived as a Schönbartspiel (a farcical play), many critics of Lumberville Fair would later cite such dialogue as evidence of an anti-Semitic streak in the celebrated author. 

Goethe was also a vocal supporter of the Heidelberg Professor appointed at Jena, Herr Jacob Friedrich Fries, an anti-emancipation advocate who penned a series of vitriolic essays himself, referring to Jews as both “ruinous for our people” and “petty thieves,” and warned his fellow countrymen that extending full civil rights to them would force Christian families into the yoke of serfdom.

Although publicly denouncing any previous anti-Semitic rhetoric in his autobiography Aus meinem Leben: Dichtung und Wahrheit, private exchanges between Goethe and the German art historian Boisserée reveal on the part of the literary icon a devout admiration for the stance held by Fries, as he remarks on the current climate in Thuringia surrounding the professor's imminent arrival:

“All of Jewry is trembling because their vicious opponent...of who I have made acquaintance...[Fries] is coming to Thuringia. According to ancient laws, Jews are not allowed to spend the night in Jena. This praiseworthy ordinance will probably be enforced better in the future than it has now." (Briefwechsel [of J. S. M. D. Boisserée] mit Goethe, 1862, pg. 119)

The famed writer further made his stance on Jewish emancipation clear when he wrote to confidante and Austrian actress Marianne von Willemer and her husband in Frankfurt:

"I am refraining from taking the side of any Jews or their friends."

Noted Hungarian composer and pianist, and father-in-law to Wagner, Franz Liszt came under fire  when anti-Semitic commentary on "the Israelites" appeared in his 19th century treatise "Des Bohémiens et de leur musique en Hongrie." Although the offending material was later attributed to Liszt's longtime romantic partner, Princess Carolyne zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, the damage to Franz' reputation had already begun to gain foothold, prompting the apologetic musician to later declare himself "no anti-Semite." 

Franz Liszt

For many, this apology was enough - but others could only find themselves in a quandary as to why Franz would surround himself with such vocal opponents of Jews. His favorite student, conductor Hans von Bülow, and even his daughter (and future wife of Wagner) Cosima were both famously unapologetic in their beliefs. Further compounding crtics' theory of a shared ideology was the reality that it was in fact Franz himself who aided in smuggling Wagner across the Western border into France from Weimar (where the fugitive composer escaped into Zurich) following the latter's alleged involvement with radicals at Dresden and the issuing of the Steckbrief.^[3]

Thus, the document recently sold at Kedem is ripe with spectacle. 

However, owning such a piece of history, controversial though it may be - ironic, even, for said piece of history to be sold in Israel and purchased by an Israeli - remains quite the coup. The Schuré letter is a treasure to behold: a single, curated leaf that in sentiment reads like a tome on the socio-political and racial adversities (and triumphs) in the West from the not-so glorious past to the present day.

Indeed, the greatest indication of the zeitgeist of present theocratic / racial issues we all face today lay in yet another of the many ironies offered by the presence of this letter at Kedem: speaking with German news organization Deutsche Welle, a museum spokeswoman delivered what is arguably the most surprising aspect of the lot, when she informed the reporter that

“We have not been confronted by controversy regarding this item.”

Considering the un-official ban on Wagner’s oeuvre in Israel that persists to this day, perhaps - from a purely progressive perspective - that is the greatest gift of all.


Listen below to a modern revival of Wagner’s Tannhauser – 1861 French edition. It is widely believed the disastrous reception by the Parisian public to this particular version is what instilled in Wagner a life-long hatred of all things French – particularly the taste, or perceived lack thereof – of it’s high society (see footnotes). Nathalie Stutzmann conducts:


Footnotes:

^[1]Another possible guiding force behind Wagner re-publishing Das Judentham..in 1869, in addition to penning the letter to Schulé, may lay in the composer’s failure to make a success of himself in Paris. Just 10 years prior, Richard had relocated, not for the first time, to the French capital in order to oversee a new staging of Tannhäuser. He had fully expected to be received with much fanfare, having been in the professional and private circle of the of Princess Pauline von Metternich, whose husband was the Austrian Ambassador in Paris. However, such a destiny was not so for Wagner: the opera was a resounding critical and political flop – one which garnered a not insignificant amount of jeering from the audience in attendance at the 1961 performance with the Paris Opéra. Wagner never forgot this, and an intense hatred for all things French lit up like a raging bonfire in the composer’s breast – one which would burn for a lifetime.

^[2]Heine was of Jewish descent. Although later baptized into the Protestant faith in hopes of obtaining greater employment potential, he refused to be known as a Protestant convert, declaring he was "merely baptized, not converted,” and, furthermore, that "from my way of thinking you can well imagine that baptism is an indifferent affair. I do not regard it as important even symbolically, and I shall devote myself all the more to the emancipation of the unhappy members of our race. Still I hold it as a disgrace and a stain upon my honor that in order to obtain an office in Prussia—in beloved Prussia—I should allow myself to be baptized."

Goethe was a German “Aryan,” as detailed above, and Meyerbeer - one of the targets in Wagner’s 1850 polemic, was Jewish.

^[3]Public Notice, re: warrant of arrest for Richard Wagner. Learn more about the Steckbrief here on Unraveling Musical Myths.

External links:

• Kedem Auction House - listing
• Deutsche Welle - post sale (news)

-Rose.

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IN THE NEWS: FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN SLATED TO BECOME THE “FIRST GREAT COMPOSER” TO HAVE ALL MUSICAL SCORES DIGITISED BY 2O2O

Poland’s Fryderyk Chopin Institute (NIFC) recently announced a move into the future for it’s 19th century homegrown hero - the composer and pianist for whom the Institute is so named.

Speaking to reporters in Warsaw, NIFC deputy director Maciej Janicki announced the two-year plan to have Chopin’s entire oeuvre digitised by 2020 – making the late composer the first of the “greats” to have all of his musical scores made readily accessible to the public via this “new”, open-source medium – which Janicki adds will include some 40,000 related items from the UNESCO world heritage collection in addition to the scores online - including both photographs (daguerreotypes) and paintings of the composer alongside scholarly articles (in both English and Polish) as well as original manuscripts.

Users to the website will be able to run interactive analyses on downloadable scores – searching for patterns in rhythm, harmony and melody – a far cry from what the Institute considers the dated, “simple PDF” scans currently available for public viewing.

The massive project, co-financed by the European Union, is a major boon for the country and for the citizens of Warsaw, a city which itself recently made headlines in the United States early this year when a team of forensic specialists announced the manner and cause of death – complications arising from Tuberculosis - for Chopin after “examining”  what is perhaps the city’s greatest musical treasure (a heart preserved in Cognac which lay at rest at the Polish Capital’s Holy Cross Church, said to be that of the composer himself - smuggled into the country from Paris by the musicians sister, Ludwika Jędrzejewicz shortly after his death). The findings from the visual inspection of the 170 year old organ was published in the February 2018 issue of the American Journal of Medicine.

Enjoy below a fine recording of Chopin's Nocturne Op. 48, no I in C minor (Arthur Rubinstein performs):


Read more (external link):

• The Citizen

-Rose.

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