Archive: Schumann & Dietrich

Linz Brucknerhaus Großer Saal Brucknerhaus - Großer Saal

Instrumentation

  • Isabelle Faust, violin
  • Eugene Tzigane, conductor

Programmes

«FAE» would make a fitting title for this programme. It stands for «frei, aber einsam», which means «free but lonely», and it perfectly characterises a certain group of major 19th-century Romantic artists! It was the motto with which three musician friends composed a collaborative violin sonata to celebrate the visit of the young wonder-violinist Joseph Joachim. Their names were Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms and Albert Dietrich – all highly esteemed musical celebrities of their day, whose works were widely performed. Joseph Joachim was a tireless exponent of Schumann’s music, both in the composer’s lifetime and afterwards. Just a few months before his death in July 1856, Schumann had managed to premiere his «Hamlet» overture in Düsseldorf. It was a musical prelude to Shakespeare’s stage classic but was not intended for the theatre. Instead, it was conceived right from the start as a symphonic poem. In today’s concert life it is almost entirely overlooked, as is the work of the Schumann student Albert Dietrich, who went on to become musical director at the court of Oldenburg, north Germany. Premiered in 1869, his D minor symphony, which is dedicated to Brahms, is entirely compelling in form. The fate of Robert Schumann’s Violin Concerto could be the plot of a pulp novel. The work remained unpublished until 1933, when two women claimed that their late uncle, the violinist Joseph Joachim, and the composer himself had asked them from the next world to publish the concerto. Previously kept under lock and key, the score finally came to light. Isabelle Faust, one of the most sensitive and revered violin soloists today, has been championing this work tirelessly for many years.

 

Because of the continuing enforcement of strict quarantine rules in Japan, Music Director Yutaka Sado is, unfortunately, unable to conduct this concert programme. We are grateful to Eugene Tzigane for agreeing to stand in for him. The performance that Yutaka Sado originally intended to conduct – Anton Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony – will be rearranged for a later date.

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Joseph Joachim

«Hamlet» Overture op. 4

Movements

  • Moderato assai - Allegro agitato

Duration

17 Min.

Creation

1853
Robert Schumann

Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in d minor WoO 1

Movements

  • In kräftigem, nicht zu schnellem Tempo

  • Langsam -

  • Lebhaft, doch nicht schnell

Duration

30 Min.

Creation

1853
Albert Dietrich

Symphony in D minor op. 20

Movements

  • Allegro

  • Andante con molto di moto, quasi Allegretto

  • Scherzo. Allegro energico - Trio I - Trio II. Un poco tranquillo

  • Finale. Allegro

Duration

45 Min.

Creation

1853-54 (rev. 1868-69)