Jean Paul Ertel: Concerto for violin alone (1906)

[violinconcerto]

Jean Paul Ertel was born 22.01.1865 in Poznan. He had his first piano lessons with L. Brassin in Poznan and later became a pupil of Franz Liszt. He studied law in Berlin, but focussed totally on music after the completion of his studies. Paul Ertel taught music privately and as a lecturer at smaller conservatories, and worked as a music critic for different newspapers in Berlin. Beside that he composed orchestral and chamber music and his music was championed by such famous conductors as Arthur Nikisch, Gustav Mahler, Felix Weingartner, Ferdinand Loewe or Richard Strauß in the early 20th century. Especially his symphonic poems were often performed during the 1910s and 20s. Jean Paul Ertel died on 11.02.1933 in Berlin.

Also, the Concerto for violin alone op.17, was quite famous in Germany in the 1910s and 20s. The piece was famous, first because Paul Ertel was a distinguished composer, but second for being one of the most difficult violin pieces ever written up to that point in time. Furthermore, it contains a four-part fugue on the four strings and so is also a curiosity in the violin literature. So on the whole the Concerto for violin alone by Paul Ertel is a most interesting and unique composition.

The score to this composition can now be downloaded for free from my website as well as one can listen to a small snippet of the beginning of the piece (in a computer realisation). And there is a bit more to read about the history of the concerto:

www.tobias-broeker.de/rare-manuscripts/violin-concertos/jean-paul-ertel/

Enjoy and share!

Best,
Tobias