Vier Tondichtungen nach A. Böcklin
Vier Tondichtungen nach A. Böcklin | |
---|---|
Tone poems by Max Reger | |
![]() Reger in 1913 | |
English | Four tone poems after Arnold Böcklin |
Opus | 128 |
Based on | paintings by Arnold Böcklin |
Dedication | Julius Buths |
Performed | 12 October 1913 (1913-10-12): Essen |
Published | 1913 (1913) |
Vier Tondichtungen nach A. Böcklin (Four tone poems after Arnold Böcklin), Op. 128, is a composition in four parts for orchestra by Max Reger, based on four paintings by Arnold Böcklin, including Die Toteninsel (Isle of the Dead). He composed them in Meiningen in 1913.
Background and history
While tone poems were a common genre around 1900, including many works by Richard Strauss, Reger typically wrote more abstract music.[1] He described his Eine romantische Suite, Op. 125, and the tone poems after Böcklin as "Ausflug in das Gebiet der Programmusik" (Excursion in the realm of program music).[2]
Reger composed the four tone poems in Meiningen from end of May to July 1913, after planning it from October 1912. He dedicated the work to Julius Buths. The score and parts were published by Bote & Bock in September 1913. Reger conducted the first performance in Essen on 12 October that year, with the Städtisches Orchester (municipal orchestra).[3]
Structure and scoring
The four parts are in contrasting tempo, slow–fast–slow–fast. Both slow movements, 1 and 3, are marked Molto sostenuto (aber nie schleppend) (but never dragging), both fast movements Vivace.
No. | Title | Translation | Marking |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Der geigende Eremit | The hermit playing violin | Molto sostenuto |
2 | Im Spiel der Wellen | Playing in the waves | Vivace |
3 | Die Toteninsel | Isle of the Dead | Molto sostenuto |
4 | Bacchanal | Bacchanale | Vivace |
The work is scored for a symphonic orchestra of three flutes (including (piccolo), two oboes (including Cor Anglais), two clarinets, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, harp, three timpani and more percussion, solo-violin, strings (divisi in I).[3] The pieces can be played individually or as "a quasi-symphony".[4]
Der geigende Eremit
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/50/B%C3%B6cklin_Einsiedler.jpg/170px-B%C3%B6cklin_Einsiedler.jpg)
Der geigende Eremit (The Hermit Fiddler,[5] literally: The hermit playing violin) is based on a painting Der Einsiedler (The Hermit) that Böcklin made in Florence in 1884.[6] A solo violin is contrasted by a group of strings playing con sordino and another group playing not muted.[1] The "ethereal violin"[5] has been compared to Ralph Vaughan Williams' The Lark Ascending, composed in 1914.[5]
Klaus Uwe Ludwig wrote an arrangement of the movement for viola and organ, which was published by Breitkopf.[7]
Im Spiel der Wellen
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Arnold_Boecklin_Spiel_der_Wellen_1883.jpg/220px-Arnold_Boecklin_Spiel_der_Wellen_1883.jpg)
Im Spiel der Wellen (literally: In the play of the waves) is based on a painting Im Spiel der Wellen (Playing in the Waves) that Böcklin made in 1883. Like the painting, the music evokes the shimmering foam of surf in sunlight, and the play of naiads and Triton.[2] A reviewer compares the movement to Debussy's La mer written a few years earlier, noting that "Reger pursued the flamboyant realm of mythical creatures".[5] Both works have a similar "sparkling orchestral character".[4]
Die Toteninsel
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Arnold_B%C3%B6cklin_-_Die_Toteninsel_III_%28Alte_Nationalgalerie%2C_Berlin%29.jpg/220px-Arnold_B%C3%B6cklin_-_Die_Toteninsel_III_%28Alte_Nationalgalerie%2C_Berlin%29.jpg)
Die Toteninsel (Isle of the Dead) is based on a painting of the same name that Böcklin made in five different versions between 1880 and 1886.[8][9] The painting has been regarded Böcklin's most famous work, with a title not by Böcklin himself, but the art dealer Fritz Gurlitt.[9] Thomas Mann characterized the painting as expressing Sympathie mit dem Tode (sympathy with death), typical for the fin de siècle. A composition based on the painting by Andreas Hallén appeared in 1897, others followed, including a piece of the same title by Serge Rachmaninoff in 1909.[9] Reger writes "long-held but shifting sonorities", using the orchestra like an organ.[5]
Max Beckschäfer arranged Reger's movement for organ in 1984.[10] He played it first at the Marktkirche Wiesbaden in 1985, along with the organ part of his arrangement of Reger's Hebbel Requiem.[11]
Bacchanal
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6a/Arnold_B%C3%B6cklin_-_Bacchantenfest.jpg/170px-Arnold_B%C3%B6cklin_-_Bacchantenfest.jpg)
Bacchanal is based on a painting Bacchantenfest (Feast of the Bacchants), painted around 1856. It may recall the "folly of earlier orgiastic times", or the longing of an older person to still be part of them.[5] Reger, who called his own experience "Sturm und Trank" (storm and drink), as pun on "Sturm und Drang", used conterpoint, harmonic development and refined instrumentation to achieve a dazzling painting in sound.[2]
Later performance
The work was performed in the official opening concert of the Reger-Jahr (Reger year) 2016 in Leipzig, where Reger died in 1916, played by the orchestra of the Musikhochschule Leipzig.[12]
References
- ^ a b Hartmann 2005.
- ^ a b c Köln 1994.
- ^ a b Max-Reger-Institute 2016.
- ^ a b Barfoot 2009.
- ^ a b c d e f Swed 2014.
- ^ Eremit 2016.
- ^ Breitkopf 2016.
- ^ Toteninsel 2016.
- ^ a b c Hoffmann 2013.
- ^ Beckschäfer 2016.
- ^ Wiesbaden 1985.
- ^ Leipzig 2016.
Cited sources
- Barfoot, Terry (2009). "Max Reger (1873–1916) / Four Tone Poems after Böcklin, Op. 128". musicweb-international.com. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
- Hartmann, Bernhard (6 June 2005). "Der geigende Eremit und die Zwitschermaschine". General-Anzeiger (in German). Retrieved 2 March 2016.
- Hoffmann, Stephan (1 February 2013). "SWR2 Musikstunde mit Stephan Hoffmann / 1873/74 (Reger / Rachmaninoff / Schönberg)" (PDF) (in German). Südwestrundfunk (SWR). Retrieved 13 July 2016.
- Swed, Mark (30 November 2014). "Max Reger a crowd pleaser at a full and festive Disney Hall". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
- "Werke / Bearbeitungen / für Orgel" (in German). Max Beckschäfer. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
- "The Hermit Playing the Violin from the 'Boecklin-Suite' Op. 128 / arranged by Klaus Uwe Ludwig (vl,org)". Breitkopf. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
- "Der Einsiedler / Der geigende Eremit". Deutsche digitale Bibliothek. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
- "Vier Tondichtungen nach A. Böcklin Op. 128" (in German). Max-Reger-Institute / Elsa-Reger-Stiftung. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
- "Kompositionen von Max Reger" (in German). koelnklavier.de. 1994. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
- "Offizielles Eröffnungskonzert des Reger-Jahres der Stadt Leipzig" (in German). reger-in-leipzig.de. 6 January 2016. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
- "Die Toteninsel". Deutsche digitale Bibliothek. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
- Werke von Max Reger. Internationale Orgelkonzerte Wiesbaden (in German). Marktkirche, Wiesbaden. 1985.
External links
- 4 Tone Poems after Arnold Böcklin, Op. 128: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
- Max Reger / 4 Tondichtungen nach Böcklin, Universal Edition
- Maureen Buja: Music and Art: Arnold Böcklin interlude.hk
- Max Reger Festjahr Thüringen 2016 ist das Max Reger Festjahr Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR)
- Max Reger: Vier Tondichtungen nach Arnold Böcklin, op. 128 (in German) Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landestheater
- Offizielles Eröffnungskonzert des Reger-Jahres der Stadt Leipzig reger-in-leipzig.de
- v
- t
- e
- Drei Chöre, Op. 6 (1892)
- Gesang der Verklärten (1903)
- Der 100. Psalm (1909)
- Die Nonnen (1909)
- Geistliche Gesänge, Op. 110 (1909–1912)
- Die Weihe der Nacht (1911)
- Responsories (1911)
- Lateinisches Requiem (1914, fragment)
- Der Mensch lebt und bestehet (1914)
- Nachtlied (1914)
- Unser lieben Frauen Traum (1914)
- Der Einsiedler (1915)
- Requiem (1915)
- Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Hiller (1904)
- Piano Concerto (1910)
- Eine romantische Suite (1912)
- Vier Tondichtungen nach A. Böcklin (1913)
- Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Mozart (1914)
- Cello Sonata No. 1 (1892)
- Sechs Lieder, Op. 4 (1890)
- Sechs Lieder, Op. 35 (1899)
- "An die Hoffnung" (1912)
- "Mariae Wiegenlied" (1912)
- Phantasie über den Choral "Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott" (1898)
- Zwei Choralphantasien, Op. 40 (1899)
- Drei Choralphantasien, Op. 52 (1900)
- Zwölf Stücke, Op. 65 (1902)
- Zwölf Stücke, Op. 80 (1902/1904)
- Introduction, Passacaglia and Fugue, Op, 127 (1913)
- Sieben Stücke, Op. 145 (1915/1916)