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Beethoven's contemporaries - languishing in the shade?

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Neil McGowan
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« on: November 09, 2011, 10:53:11 am »

It takes nothing away from the genius of Beethoven to mention that many another great composer shared the earth's surface with him as a contemporary.

Yet we hear far too little of these gentlemen!  And in fact Beethoven himself held them in high esteem - he even left a request in his Will that Hummel be asked to compose the music for his funeral. (In fact I believe Beethoven's own music was played - including his funeral Equali for three trombones?). Who do board members rate highly amongst the contemporaries of Beethoven?

I have a personal interest in "Mr Bee" (Hummel).  His Trumpet Concerto is widely played - primarily because of a dire lack of other pre-C20th concertos for the instrument  - but I find the music in his piano concertos (which Hummel performed himself) to be greatly superior. There's a generosity of spirit in that enormous orchestral exegesis, which other pianist-composers might not have permitted themselves? :)

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autoharp
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« Reply #1 on: November 09, 2011, 03:08:45 pm »

Not an area I know much about, but Dussek piano sonatas and Reicha's keyboard fugues are certainly worth consideration.
And Reicha's wind quintets are excellently written (much better than Danzi too) if one finds the sound of the wind quintet palatable - which I'm afraid I don't particularly.
Beethoven's Equali are exceedingly duff, are they not?
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Neil McGowan
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« Reply #2 on: November 09, 2011, 03:36:02 pm »

Beethoven's Equali are exceedingly duff, are they not?

Oh, I dunno... to me they have a kind of spare elegance and nobility as funereal music, although you'd barely guess whose work they were :) Trombonists are almost always glad to have something actually written for their instrument by a serious composer (ie not Glazunov).

I don't know Dussek's music well, probably because I'm a weak pianist - but I like what I've heard. Spohr, Cherubini, Marschner and Mayr are other names worth exploring in the opera field. I suppose we should properly include the omnipresent Salieri, too :)
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Neil McGowan
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« Reply #3 on: November 09, 2011, 06:14:09 pm »

Here's a taste of Spohr's ZEMIRE ET AZOR

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« Reply #4 on: April 30, 2012, 06:22:40 pm »

Cherubini is COTW starting 30 April. I don't know his music at all.
Beethoven thought highly  of his music.

Here is Cherubini's string quartet.

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Neil McGowan
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« Reply #5 on: April 30, 2012, 08:07:06 pm »

Cherubini is COTW starting 30 April. I don't know his music at all.

Cherubini's operas were enormously popular in his own time.  He excelled at the sphere of the 'Escape Opera" - one example would be LODOISKA.  But oddly his memory survives on the basis of a rather unusual and beautiful opera with a plot based in classical mythology - MEDEA.  It survived right up to the Callas era - Callas enjoyed the main role and sang it several times.  It even clings on in the repertoire today :)
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