Description

ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK (SEPTEMBER 1, 1854, SIEGBURG, PRUSSIA [GERMANY] — SEPTEMBER 27, 1921, NEUSTRELITZ, GERMANY)

 

 

 

 

Engelbert Humperdinck was a German composer. Humperdinck studied at Cologne and at Munich. In 1879 a Mendelssohn scholarship enabled him to go to Italy, where he met Richard Wagner, who invited him to assist in the production of Parsifal at Bayreuth. He taught at the Barcelona Conservatory (1885–87) and at Frankfurt am Main (1890–96), where he was also music critic of the Frankfurter Zeitung. Early works were the choral ballads Die Wallfahrt nach Kevlaar (1878; The Pilgrimage to Kevlaar), Das Glück von Edenhall (1884; “The Luck of Edenhall”), and the Humoreske (1879) for orchestra. Hänsel und Gretel, conducted by Richard Strauss, was produced at Weimar on December 23, 1893. The libretto, by the composer’s sister Adelheid Wette, was based on the folktale made familiar by the Brothers Grimm. In this work Humperdinck showed an understanding of a child’s mind and a sense of poetry, notably in the atmosphere of the woodland scene at twilight and in the realistic effects in the episode of the broken milk jug. The Wagnerian harmonies, the simple tunes, and the resourceful orchestration maintain the musical interest on a high level. Between 1895 and 1919 Humperdinck produced six more operas, including Dornröschen (1902; “Sleeping Beauty”) and Königskinder (1910; “Royal Children”), but neither they nor the spectacle Das Mirakel (1911; “The Miracle”) enhanced his prestige. He also wrote incidental music for plays by Aristophanes, William Shakespeare, and Maurice Maeterlinck; Maurische Rhapsodie (1898; “Moorish Rhapsody”) for orchestra; a string quartet; works for piano; and songs.

 

 

 

WILHELM KIENZL (JANUARY 17, 1857, WAIZENKIRCHEN, AUSTRIA – OCTOBER 3, 1941, VIENNA, AUSTRIA)

 

 

 

 

Wilhelm Kienzl was an Austrian composer. He studied in Graz with Johann Buwart and Mortier de Fontaine (piano) and with Ignaz Uhi (violin); also with Mayer-Rémy (composition) at the Univ. there, and then with Krejci at the Univ. of Prague (1876), at the Univ. of Leipzig (1877), with Rheinberger in Munich, with Liszt in Weimar, and at the Univ. of Vienna (Ph.D., 1879, with the diss. Die musikalische Deklamation; publ. in Leipzig, 1880). He was director of Amsterdam’s German Opera (1883); conducted in Krefeld before returning to Graz (1884); then was director of the Steiermärkischer Musikverein there until 1886. He held the post of 1st conductor of the Hamburg Opera (1890–92), then was court conductor in Munich (1892–94). His most successful work was the opera Der Evangelimann (Berlin, May 4, 1895). After World War I, he wrote the new national anthem of Austria (1918), replacing Haydn’s; it was adopted on June 6, 1920, but was dropped on Dec. 13, 1929, in favor of Haydn’s melody. He also completed Adolf Jensen’s opera Turandot. He publ. several books, including an autobiography (1926).

 

 

 

PAUL FELIX WEINGARTNER, EDLER (LORD) VON MUNZBERG (JUNE 2, 1863, ZARA, DALMATIA, AUSTRIAN EMPIRE [NOW ZADAR, CROATIA] — MAY 7, 1942, WINTERTHUR, SWITZERLAND)

 

 

 

 

Austrian symphonic and operatic conductor and composer, best-known for his interpretations of the works of Ludwig van Beethoven and Richard Wagner. Weingartner first studied composition at Graz. Beginning as a student of philosophy at the University of Leipzig, he turned to the conservatory, on the recommendation of Johannes Brahms. In 1883 he became a student of Franz Liszt’s at Weimar, and in 1884 his opera Sakuntala was produced there. He was appointed court conductor of the Berlin Royal Opera in 1891 and led its symphony concerts until 1897. Moving to Munich in 1898, he conducted the Kaim concerts until 1905. In 1907 he succeeded Gustav Mahler as conductor of the Court Opera in Vienna and was conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic from 1908 to 1927. He directed the Vienna State Opera from late 1934 to 1936. In 1937 he became a Swiss citizen. He conducted in London beginning in 1898 with the Royal Philharmonic Society, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the Scottish Orchestra. He toured with the New York Philharmonic Society Orchestra in 1906 and conducted opera in Boston (1912–13). His conducting style, exemplified in his performances of Beethoven and Wagner, represented a reaction against the eccentric aspects of Romantic conducting and a move toward an ideal of craftsmanship.

 

 

TRACKLIST

 

 

646 ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK HUMPERDINCK – Dream Scene from Opera “Hänsel und Gretel”

647 ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK HUMPERDINCK- Menuet from the Opera “The Forced Marriage”

650 ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK HUMPERDINCK – Rosenringel from the Opera “Königskinder”

652 FELIX WEINGARTNER BEETHOVEN – Piano Sonata, Op. 109, E 1st and 2nd mvts.

750 WILHELM KIENZL KIENZL – Kinderreigen from the Opera “Der Evangelimann” Op. 45

751 WILHELM KIENZL KIENZL – Blessed are the Martyrs from the Opera “Der Evangelimann”