GMG Classical Music Forum

The Music Room => Composer Discussion => Topic started by: Lethevich on August 18, 2010, 09:30:18 AM

Title: Karl Goldmark's Wedding
Post by: Lethevich on August 18, 2010, 09:30:18 AM
Karl Goldmark (1830–1915), Hungary.

Quote from: Mirror Image on August 18, 2010, 08:56:38 AM
Quote(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61bWmRYIiaL._SL500_AA300_.jpg)
I would like to hear more Goldmark's music. I only have recording of any of his music and it's a Joshua Bell recording (coupled with Sibelius). I might have to pick this one up myself. I like Conlon.

I figure this is as good an opportunity as any for us to have a thread on the fellow. His Rustic Wedding Symphony apparently used to be quite popular - in a Smetana just on the edge of the repertoire kind of way - but it's rarely discussed nowadays.

The first Violin Concerto retains its popularity, well-justified as it's an enjoyable piece and quite of its time. It's an appealing alternative to Bruch. I have not heard the second, due to its under-recorded status. The same fate has befallen his second symphony.

I've had my eye on this disc for a while, can anyone comment?

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Title: Re: Karl Goldmark's Wedding (1830-1915)
Post by: Scion7 on November 27, 2015, 10:41:26 PM
Goldmark was born into a large Jewish family (one of twenty children!) in Galicia.  His family moved to Deutschkreutz (now in Austria), near Ödenburg (Sopron, now Hungary), in 1834.
He went to Ödenburg music school in 1842, and in 1844 joined his elder brother Josef in Vienna where he began violin studies. In 1847 he enrolled at the Vienna Conservatory where he studied with Joseph Böhm and Gottfried Preyer. During the revolution of 1848 he returned to Deutschkreutz where he was involved in the Hungarian uprisings. He played the violin in the theatres of Ödenburg and Buda; in 1851 he returned to Vienna where he took similar posts at the orchestras of the Josefstadt Theatre and the Carltheatre.
In 1858 he lived in Pest, and studied the compositional books of Richter and Marx.
He returned to Vienna in 1860. His music began to receive positive attention.  He was a supporter of Wagner.
In 1865, Goldmark formed friendships with Brüll, Rubinstein and Brahms, and was made an honorary member of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in 1866.
The music critic Eduard Hanslick condemned his work, but he continued to be successful - Mahler approached him for his endorsement for his application to the Hofoperntheater in 1897.  Became a good friend of Brahms, with whom he made a couple of trips to Italy.
His fame during his lifetime was based on his operas - however, he composed a respectable body of instrumental music.
He did not take sides in the "Brahms vs. Wagner" debacle, being a staunch supporter of Wagner's music (in spite of Wagner's violent anti-Semitism) and a personal friend of Brahms (despite the latter's prickly personality.)  His music reflects Brahms, Liszt and Wagner's influences.

CHAMBER                                                                            ORCHESTRAL
============                                                              ===============
unpublished piano trio, string quartet, piano quartet               Scherzo from a symphony in C  ~1858
Piano Trio in Bb, Op.4   (1859)                                              Sakuntala (overture), Op.13  (1854)
String Quartet in Bb, Op.8  (1860)                                        Penthesilea, Op.31  (1879)
Piano Trio in e, Op.33  (1880)                                               Symphony No.1 'Rustic Wedding'  (1877)
Suite for Violin & Piano in E, Op.11  (1869)                           Scherzo in e, Op.19  (1865)
String Quintet in a, Op.9  (1862)                                           Concerto for Violin in a, Op.28  (1877)
Piano Quintet in Bb, Op.30  (1913)                                       Symphony No.2 in E, Op.35  (1887)
Romanze in a (for Violin & Piano), Op.51  (1913)                   Im Frühling, Op.36  (1889) 
Cello Sonata in F, Op.39  (1892)                                           Der gefesselte Prometheus, Op.38  (1889)
Piano Quintet in c#, Op.54 (1916)                                        In Italien, Op.49 (1904)
Violin Sonata in D, Op.25  (1874)                                         Zrínyi, symphonic poem, Op.47  (1903)
Ballade in G, for Violin & Piano  (1913)                                 Aus Jugendtagen, Op.53  (1913)
Suite in E for Violin & Piano, Op.43  (1893)                           Scherzo in A, Op.45   (1894)
                                                                                         Ein Wintermärchen - Ouverture  (1908)

PIANO
===============================================
Sturm und Drang, 9 charakteristische Stücke, op.5, 1858–9 (Leipzig, 1865);
2 Novelletten, Praeludium und Fuge, op.29 (Mainz, ?1879);
Magyar Ábránd (in Magyar zenekölt?k kiállítási albuma, Budapest, 1885);
Georginen (6 pieces), op.52 (Vienna, 1913)
4 hands: 3 Stücke, op.12 (Budapest, n.d.);
Ungarische Tänze, op.22 (Mainz, 1876)

OPERA
======================
Die Königin von Saba  (1871)
Merlin  (1886)
Das Heimchen am Herd
Die Kriegsgefangene  (1899)
Ein Wintermärchen  (1908)