5 An die ferne Geliebte (to the distant beloved), opus 98
Beethoven’s emotional life was unfulfilled. Although he became infatuated with women, they were generally out of his class or otherwise committed and he was left nursing his frustration. His emotions burst forth in this song cycle, dated 1816, which provides the template for the future love cycles of Schubert, Schumann and Wolf. By dint of human failure, Beethoven yet again invented an entirely new musical genre.
It is not known how he came by the texts. The author was a Jewish medical student from Brno, Alois Isidor Jeitteles. He was about half Beethoven’s age and received a nice letter of thanks, which he took home to Brno where he founded a medical practice and edited a Jewish newspaper. Jeitteles made no further musical contribution, other than an ode on Beethoven’s funeral.
The texts are simple, unadorned by romantic agony. Beethoven gave them melodies of equivalent directness, intended for a trained tenor voice but singable by amateurs and, indeed, women. Four tenors dominate the recorded field – Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Fritz Wunderlich, Peter Schreier and Hermann Prey. Among four Fischer-Dieskau sets, I prefer the first, with Gerald Moore at the piano.
Wunderlich, a life cut short in strange circumstances at 35, is partnered in 1963 by Heinrich Schmidt. He takes the songs more slowly than others, without undue emphasis, as if wondering to himself what went so wrong with his love life. Emotionally, he seems closest to the source.
Other interpreters include Thomas Hampson, Ben Heppner, the excellent Christian Gerhaher and Julien Prégardien. For curiosity value, listen to Lotte Lehmann, idiomatic yey anachronistic.
Would you believe there are academics out there who want to get rid of Beethoven?
This is Conrad Tao at work.
Impussible.
Message received:
Today, the American Federation of Musicians and Employers’ Pension Fund informed participants that the Plan has applied to the U.S. Treasury Department to reduce earned benefits under the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act (MPRA). The Plan is currently in “critical and declining” status, which means it is projected to run out of money to pay benefits (or become “insolvent”) within 20 years. Under MPRA, if a Plan is in “critical and declining” status, the Trustees can apply to Treasury for approval to reduce participants’ benefits by an amount sufficient for the Plan to avoid insolvency. If approved, the benefit reductions would go into effect on January 1, 2021.
Here‘s what the Plan’s participants have been sent.
About 53% of participants would have no reduction. About 45% of participants would have their benefits reduced between 0% and 19%. Less than 2% of participants would have their benefits reduced between 20% and 40%.
He’s conducting in Amsterdam this week.
They asked him the question.
Here’s what he said: ‘This fantastic orchestra in this great hall? Who would not seriously consider that! But I shall concentrate on my scores and not on what I don’t have.’
He went on to point out that the orchestra lacks not only a chief conductor but a chief executive, an artistic director and a board chairman. All four would have to ‘point their noses’ in the same direction (at least that’s what he said in Google Translate).
There’s some controversy in Toulouse about the local orchestra flying out with the Mayor on a marketing tour to Saudi Arabia, which has any number of human rights issues that it refuses to address.
Lio Kuokman conducted, with soloists Renaud Capuçon, Edgar Moreau and Kit Armstrong.
The Diocese of Westminster has issued the following statement:
‘It is with regret that we announce the resignation of Martin Baker as Master of Music at Westminster Cathedral with effect from 31 December 2019. We take the opportunity to thank him for his dedication and service over the past two decades and wish him the very best in his future career’.
A second statement added: ‘Today the Diocese will start to address these new circumstances created by Mr Baker’s resignation. A further announcement will be made in the coming weeks.’
You can almost smell the shock and incense.
It is believed that Baker’s resignation is related to a recent controversy reported by Slipped Disc in which a group of choir school parents opposed changes to the boarding arragments, which would have meant the boys being collected on Fridays and returned on Sunday morning. The Diocese rejected their complaints.
The late Colin Mawby reported that Baker implored Cardinal Vincent Nichols not to proceed with the changes.
UPDATE: We understand that Baker had not been seen at the Cathedral since mid-October. He wmissed all the Choir’s liturgies, as well as joint Evensong at Westminster Abbey and a Christmas Concert at Cadogan Hall. No reason was given. Now we know.
The German magazine Der Opernfreund has compiled a list of tax-funded radio orchestras, supposedly 30 (though some think only 15). The apparent aim of his memo is to generate debate on the function and purpose of broadcast orchestras in a post-radio, internet-dominated environment.
The function is fairly obvious. Germany has 80 music conservatories. It needs a glut of orchestras to absorb the flood of graduates.
Here’s the Opernfreund radio list:
NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester
NDR Radiophilharmonie
NDR Bigband
MDR Sinfonieorchester
hr-Sinfonieorchester
hr-Bigband
Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken
Radio-Sinfonieorchesters Stuttgart
SWR Big Band
WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln
WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln
WDR Big Band Köln
Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
Münchner Rundfunkorchester
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin
Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg
RIAS Jugendorchester
RIAS Big Band Berlin
Rundfunk-Tanzorchester Ehrenfeld
RIAS Tanzorchester
Sinfonieorchester des Süddeutschen Rundfunks
SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg
SWR Rundfunkorchester Kaiserslautern
Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern
The Italian pianist Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli was born in Brescia on January 5, 1920.
Ferociously meticulous, he generated unmatched electricity on the concert stage. Those of us who heard him live will not forget him.
He died quarter of a century ago, in June 1995.
Hannover’s NDR has cancelled guest artists and conductors for the next few weeks because building work has not yet finished on the concert hall.
The renovated performance space was due to have reopened with a Martha Argerich recital this Friday, but she has been moved to an alternative venue. Other artists have been cancelled in the coming weeks. Not all of them are delighted with the late disruption to their tour diaries.
Hannover says it’s due to the late installation of a pollution control mechanism, but it’s always something.
Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie was years late and seven times over budget. Bonn has missed the Beethoven year with its hall refurbishment. Mariss Jansons died before Munich broke ground on the hall it promised him.
Face it, the Germans are not very good at building concert halls.
I think the time has come to reflect on my roots. I always wanted to return to Ithaca, like Odysseus. Even if my Penelope Christina was mostly with me. Now is the time to think about me. I bought some land below Castel del Monte, the famous castle of Frederick II, nothing special, rather poor, with olive trees and a few trulli that I had restored. And now I finally want to experience the harvest there. These are my dreams before I go into the dark. I hope I get purgatory, nothing in the ice …
Leif Segerstam (see yesterday’s olives) appends this wonderful obscurity for chorus and orchestra to his version of Christ on the Mount of Olives. It feels like a missing fragment of Fidelio, wondrously executed. Credible alternatives are available on Idagio from the LSO and Michael Tilson Thomas (1975), Richard Hickox and Collegium Musicum 90 (2002), and Jerzy Semkow in St Louis (2017).
