Pianophilia

Mister wrote:Please can somebody tell me which is the author and name of the following piano piece?

http://kiwi6.com/file/rf917if4xw
Click on the "play' button under the "Listen to mp3:" at the bottom.


I hear it two times in the last days somewhere...

Schubert Moment Musicaux Op. 94, No. 3.

I was asked if I could identify the following piece, put down in a 1949 home gramophone recording (!), and transferred at my suggestion to the Soundcloud streaming service:
http://soundcloud.com/danhetherington/track-5/s-QwpKD

It seems to be a salon piece, but I cannot guess the composer. Any ideas?

Any ideas?

Timtin wrote:Any ideas?

Intermezzo.pdf

It looks rather like a piano arrangement of an orchestral interlude to a Victorian oratorio or cantata (looking at the print style, and also the rehearsal marks).

The print is definitely British, 19th Century.

It was 'smart' of you both to be in completely the right area!
The answer to the question is that this intermezzo is from Henry Smart's
magnificent secular cantata 'The Bride of Dunkerron'. Had the name
J. Brahms been on the cover, this work would be world famous.
Because the name H. Smart is on the cover, it has never been
recorded, and almost certainly never will be, despite the fact that
the music throughout its 130 pages is of the very highest quality.
It's a funny old world, as Alexei Sayle would say.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Smart

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgGJxboPZv0

This intermezzo even featured in the inaugural concert of Leeds Town Hall in 1864, and opened the 1895 Prom #16: http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/archive/sear ... nry-wood/1

Inaugural Concert 1864/65 Season
The inaugural concert took place on Wednesday, 9th November 1864 in the Victoria Hall and was the first of a series of 5 arranged for the 1864/65 season. The vocalists were Mlle Louisa Van Noorden and Mr. Santley, solo flute: Mr. De Jong, orchestra leader Mr. Haddock, conductor: Dr. Spark. The band consisted of 8 first violins, 8 second violins, 5 violin cellos, 5 double basses, 2 each of flutes, oboes, clarinets and bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, 1 ophicleide (a bass brass instrument similar to the key bugle and later superseded by the tuba) and timpani. 45 in total.

The concert consisted of : Beethoven Egmont Overture; Aria: Il Soave (La Nioke) Pacini, Soloist Mlle. Van Noorden; Aria: Se L'Arleesi sou regine (Mirella) Gounod, soloist Mr. Santley; Paggi: Fantasia Neopolitan, soloist Mons. De Jong; Mozart Grand symphony in E Flat. Interval 10 mins. Rossini Overture Il Barbiere; Boscowitch: Song 'Sweet Nightingale', soloist Mlle Van Noorden; Smart: Instrumental intermezzo from the Bride of Dunkerron; Arditi: song 'The Stirrup Cup', soloist Mr. Santley; Gounod: orchestral selection from Faust; Mozart: duet Bei Mannern (Zauberflote), soloists Mlle. Van Noorden and Mr. Santley; Mendelssohn: 'Athalie' March.

http://www.leodis.net/discovery/discove ... _681484402

Thank you for these very interesting links!
Talking of the Proms, will Beethoven's 9th. Symphony be played this year? Yep.
(Bizarrely, they played it twice in 2002!!!)
But will anything by Henry Smart be played? Nope.
Sometimes, I wish we 'Britch' were a bit more patriotic.
There are tons of very high quality Victorian compositions, almost
all of which get totally ignored by the Proms programmers nowadays.
I believe that the Proms should always be a showcase primarily for all
English/British composers (and not just the usual suspects, i.e. Elgar,
RVW, Walton, and Britten). What we get instead are lots of concerts
featuring music by whichever German or Austrian composer happened
to have been born (or who died) exactly 100 or 200 years ago, and
whose music is all available on CD anyway. What's the point in that?
How about giving us the chance to hear some of Holbrooke's symphonies
in one season? Now that WOULD be interesting. The bloke was a total
genius, but how will this ever be revealed, if his output is forever
hidden from us? If he'd been German, all his great orchestral and other
works would have been recorded years ago. Wake up England, and
let's show the world that we aren't second best at this game.
Here endeth the rant on behalf of Smart and Holbrooke, and indeed
all the other British composers who haven't yet been given a fair hearing
on the world stage.
(I expressed similar views last year in a letter printed in The Daily Telegraph.)

Albert Frenchel has been put on the unknown composer thread so I am putting another of his works on here.
His Transcription de Concert sur Le Grand Final de L'opera La Traviata (Verdi). Opus 40. (The music is slightly longer than the title)!!!

Peter.

Thank you!!