CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS WELTE-MIGNON PIANO ROLLS CDR

 

CHARLES-CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS (OCTOBER 9, 1835, PARIS, FRANCE — DECEMBER 16, 1921, ALGIERS)

 

 

 

 

A child prodigy on the piano, Saint-Saëns gave his first recital in 1846. He studied organ and composition at the Paris Conservatory, and in 1855 his Symphony No. 1 was performed. He became organist at the famed Church of the Madeleine in Paris in 1857, an association that lasted for 20 years. Liszt, whom he met about this time and with whom he formed an enduring friendship, described him as the finest organist in the world. From 1861 to 1865 he was professor of piano at the Niedermeyer School, where his pupils included Gabriel Fauré and André Messager. In 1871 after the Franco-Prussian War, he helped found the National Society of Music, which promoted performances of the most significant French orchestral works of the succeeding generation. In the same year, he produced his first symphonic poem, Le Rouet d’Omphale (Omphale’s Spinning Wheel), which, with Danse macabre, is the most frequently performed of his four such works. His opera Samson et Dalila, rejected in Paris because of the prejudice against portraying biblical characters on the stage, was given in German at Weimar in 1877, on the recommendation of Liszt. It was finally staged in Paris in 1890 at the Théâtre Eden and later became his most popular opera. In 1878 Saint-Saëns lost both of his sons, and three years later he separated from his wife. Over the following years, he undertook extensive tours throughout Europe, the United States, South America, the Middle East, and East Asia, performing his five piano concerti and other keyboard works and conducting his symphonic compositions. As a pianist, he was admired by Richard Wagner for his brilliant technique and was the subject of a study by Marcel Proust. From roughly 1880 until the end of his life, his immense production covered all fields of dramatic and instrumental music. His Symphony No. 3 (1886), dedicated to the memory of Liszt, made skilled use of the organ and two pianos. In the same year, he wrote Le Carnaval des animaux (The Carnival of Animals) for small orchestra, a humorous fantasy not performed during his lifetime that has since won considerable popularity as a work for young people’s concerts. Among the best of his later works are the Piano Concerto No. 5 (1895) and the Cello Concerto No. 2 (1902). Though he lived through the period of Wagner’s influence, Saint-Saëns remained unaffected by it and adhered to the classical models, upholding a conservative ideal of French music that emphasized polished craftsmanship and a sense of form. In his essays and memoirs, he described the contemporary musical scene in a shrewd and often ironic manner.

 

 

TRACKLIST

 

  

796 WELTE-MIGNON SAINT-SAËNS – Valse nonchalante, Op. 110, Db

797 WELTE-MIGNON SAINT-SAËNS – Printemps qui commence from “Samson et Dalila”

799 WELTE-MIGNON SAINT-SAËNS – Mazurka No. 3, Op. 66, b

800 WELTE-MIGNON SAINT-SAËNS – Rhapsodie d’Auvergne, Op. 73, C

801 WELTE-MIGNON SAINT-SAËNS – “Suite Algérienne”, Op. 60, No. 3:  Réverie à Blidah

802 WELTE-MIGNON SAINT-SAËNS – Gavotte, Op. 90, F

804 WELTE-MIGNON BEETHOVEN – Piano Sonata, Op. 31, No. 1, G  2nd mvt.

807 WELTE-MIGNON CHOPIN – Nocturne, Op. 15, No. 2, F#

ARTHUR NIKISCH THE COMPLETE WELTE-MIGNON PIANO ROLLS CDR

 

ARTHUR NIKISCH (OCT. 12, 1855, LÉBÉNYI SZENTMIKLÓS, HUNG. — JAN. 23, 1922, LEIPZIG, GER.)

 

 

 

 

He was one of the finest conductors of the late 19th century. After study in Vienna, in 1878 Nikisch was appointed choral coach at the Leipzig Opera, becoming principal conductor in 1879. From 1889 to 1893 he was conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, then conducted the Gewandhaus Orchestra at Leipzig from 1895 until his death. From 1897 he also led the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, with which he toured widely. He succeeded Hans von Bülow as conductor of the Philharmonic Concerts at Hamburg in 1897, toured the United States with the London Symphony Orchestra in 1912, and conducted Richard Wagner’s Ring cycle of operas at Covent Garden in 1913. Although he excelled in performances of Wagner, he was a conductor of broad musical tastes. His style was marked by intensity of Romantic expression and his technique by precision and economy of gesture. As an accompanist at the piano, he appeared in recitals with his pupil Elena Gerhardt, a lieder singer.

 

 

TRACKLIST

 

1085 BRAHMS – Hungarian Dance No. l, g

1086 BRAHMS – Hungarian Dance No. 4, f#

1087 BRAHMS – Hungarian Dance No. 5, f#

1088 BRAHMS – Hungarian Dance No. 6, Db

1089 DELIBES – Valse from the ballet “Coppélia”

ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK WILHELM KIENZL FELIX WEINGARTNER WELTE-MIGNON PIANO ROLLS CDR

 

ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK (SEPTEMBER 1, 1854, SIEGBURG, PRUSSIA [GERMANY] — SEPTEMBER 27, 1921, NEUSTRELITZ, GERMANY)

 

 

 

 

Engelbert Humperdinck was a German composer. Humperdinck studied at Cologne and at Munich. In 1879 a Mendelssohn scholarship enabled him to go to Italy, where he met Richard Wagner, who invited him to assist in the production of Parsifal at Bayreuth. He taught at the Barcelona Conservatory (1885–87) and at Frankfurt am Main (1890–96), where he was also music critic of the Frankfurter Zeitung. Early works were the choral ballads Die Wallfahrt nach Kevlaar (1878; The Pilgrimage to Kevlaar), Das Glück von Edenhall (1884; “The Luck of Edenhall”), and the Humoreske (1879) for orchestra. Hänsel und Gretel, conducted by Richard Strauss, was produced at Weimar on December 23, 1893. The libretto, by the composer’s sister Adelheid Wette, was based on the folktale made familiar by the Brothers Grimm. In this work Humperdinck showed an understanding of a child’s mind and a sense of poetry, notably in the atmosphere of the woodland scene at twilight and in the realistic effects in the episode of the broken milk jug. The Wagnerian harmonies, the simple tunes, and the resourceful orchestration maintain the musical interest on a high level. Between 1895 and 1919 Humperdinck produced six more operas, including Dornröschen (1902; “Sleeping Beauty”) and Königskinder (1910; “Royal Children”), but neither they nor the spectacle Das Mirakel (1911; “The Miracle”) enhanced his prestige. He also wrote incidental music for plays by Aristophanes, William Shakespeare, and Maurice Maeterlinck; Maurische Rhapsodie (1898; “Moorish Rhapsody”) for orchestra; a string quartet; works for piano; and songs.

 

 

 

WILHELM KIENZL (JANUARY 17, 1857, WAIZENKIRCHEN, AUSTRIA – OCTOBER 3, 1941, VIENNA, AUSTRIA)

 

 

 

 

Wilhelm Kienzl was an Austrian composer. He studied in Graz with Johann Buwart and Mortier de Fontaine (piano) and with Ignaz Uhi (violin); also with Mayer-Rémy (composition) at the Univ. there, and then with Krejci at the Univ. of Prague (1876), at the Univ. of Leipzig (1877), with Rheinberger in Munich, with Liszt in Weimar, and at the Univ. of Vienna (Ph.D., 1879, with the diss. Die musikalische Deklamation; publ. in Leipzig, 1880). He was director of Amsterdam’s German Opera (1883); conducted in Krefeld before returning to Graz (1884); then was director of the Steiermärkischer Musikverein there until 1886. He held the post of 1st conductor of the Hamburg Opera (1890–92), then was court conductor in Munich (1892–94). His most successful work was the opera Der Evangelimann (Berlin, May 4, 1895). After World War I, he wrote the new national anthem of Austria (1918), replacing Haydn’s; it was adopted on June 6, 1920, but was dropped on Dec. 13, 1929, in favor of Haydn’s melody. He also completed Adolf Jensen’s opera Turandot. He publ. several books, including an autobiography (1926).

 

 

 

PAUL FELIX WEINGARTNER, EDLER (LORD) VON MUNZBERG (JUNE 2, 1863, ZARA, DALMATIA, AUSTRIAN EMPIRE [NOW ZADAR, CROATIA] — MAY 7, 1942, WINTERTHUR, SWITZERLAND)

 

 

 

 

Austrian symphonic and operatic conductor and composer, best-known for his interpretations of the works of Ludwig van Beethoven and Richard Wagner. Weingartner first studied composition at Graz. Beginning as a student of philosophy at the University of Leipzig, he turned to the conservatory, on the recommendation of Johannes Brahms. In 1883 he became a student of Franz Liszt’s at Weimar, and in 1884 his opera Sakuntala was produced there. He was appointed court conductor of the Berlin Royal Opera in 1891 and led its symphony concerts until 1897. Moving to Munich in 1898, he conducted the Kaim concerts until 1905. In 1907 he succeeded Gustav Mahler as conductor of the Court Opera in Vienna and was conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic from 1908 to 1927. He directed the Vienna State Opera from late 1934 to 1936. In 1937 he became a Swiss citizen. He conducted in London beginning in 1898 with the Royal Philharmonic Society, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the Scottish Orchestra. He toured with the New York Philharmonic Society Orchestra in 1906 and conducted opera in Boston (1912–13). His conducting style, exemplified in his performances of Beethoven and Wagner, represented a reaction against the eccentric aspects of Romantic conducting and a move toward an ideal of craftsmanship.

 

 

TRACKLIST

 

 

646 ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK HUMPERDINCK – Dream Scene from Opera “Hänsel und Gretel”

647 ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK HUMPERDINCK- Menuet from the Opera “The Forced Marriage”

650 ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK HUMPERDINCK – Rosenringel from the Opera “Königskinder”

652 FELIX WEINGARTNER BEETHOVEN – Piano Sonata, Op. 109, E 1st and 2nd mvts.

750 WILHELM KIENZL KIENZL – Kinderreigen from the Opera “Der Evangelimann” Op. 45

751 WILHELM KIENZL KIENZL – Blessed are the Martyrs from the Opera “Der Evangelimann”

HUGO POPPER HERMANN MÖHLE WELTE-MIGNON PIANO ROLLS CDR

 

HUGO LOUIS POPPER (BOHEMIA, APRIL 21, 1857 – LEIPZIG, NOVEMBER 14, 1910)

 

 

 

 

He come from an Austrian family of officers and grew up in Prague. A preference for military bands was evident early on. However, he broke off his military career and became a merchant. In 1890 he came to Leipzig and founded his own company in 1891. In 1910 he died in the arms of Hermann Möhle and his friend Hermann Feurich as a result of “sudden heart failure”. He left behind a wife and six minor children.

 

 

 

HERMANN MÖHLE (? – ? FEBRUARY 15, 1925)

 

 

 

 

He was brother-in-law of Hugo Popper and worked after his apprenticeship in Magedeburg as an authorized signatory and director from 1900 until his death at Popper & Co. For 15 years he was chairman of the Association of German Music Works Manufacturers.

 

 

TRACKLIST

 

 

HUGO POPPER WELTE-MIGNON 214 ROSENZWEIG – Sei mir gut, Walzerlied a.d. Operette (Waltz-Song)

HUGO POPPER WELTE-MIGNON 229 EYSLER – Bruder Straubinger Küssen is ka Sünd, Walzer a. d. Operette

HUGO POPPER WELTE-MIGNON 1053 FOLKSONG O du fröhliche, o du selige. Weihnachtslied (Oh Thou Joyous, Oh Thou Blessed, German Christmas Carol)

HUGO POPPER WELTE-MIGNON 1055 FOLKSONG O Tannenbaum, Weihnachtslied

HERMANN MÖHLE WELTE-MIGNON 213 GRIEG – Jeg elsker Dig (I Love but Thee) Op. 41, No. 3

HERMANN MÖHLE WELTE-MIGNON 231 MENDELSSOHN – Morning Song, Op. 62, No. 4, G (Songs Without Words)

RUGGERO LEONCAVALLO THE COMPLETE WELTE-MIGNON PIANO ROLLS CDR

 

RUGGERO LEONCAVALLO (MARCH 8, 1857/58, NAPLES — AUG. 9, 1919, MONTECATINI TERME, NEAR FLORENCE)

 

 

 

 

Neapolitan opera composer whose fame rests on the opera Pagliacci, which, with Pietro Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana (1890), represented a reaction against Richard Wagner and against Romantic Italian opera; both works substituted for the quasi-historical plot a sensational story from everyday life. Leoncavallo studied at the Naples Conservatory and subsequently supported himself by giving café concerts and piano and singing lessons. His first operas, Chatterton (after Alfred de Vigny) and I Medici (first part of a projected trilogy inspired by the Italian Renaissance), failed to attract attention. He followed them with Pagliacci, composed in the verismo, or realistic, style of Mascagni. Produced in Milan in 1892, it was an immediate success. His La Bohème (1897) suffered from comparison with Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème. Zazà (1900) was more successful, but Der Roland (1904), commissioned by Wilhelm II to glorify the Hohenzollerns, was a failure. A number of later works achieved passing success. For most of his operas Leoncavallo was his own librettist and showed a distinct literary ability and a flair for theatrical effect.

 

 

TRACKLIST

 

 

1020 LEONCAVALLO – Intermezzo from the Opera “I Pagliacci”

1022 LEONCAVALLO – Prelude to the Opera “I Medici”

1023 LEONCAVALLO – Musetta’s Waltz Song fr Opera “La Boheme”

1024 LEONCAVALLO – Romance, a

1025 LEONCAVALLO – Au bord du lac (On the Lake Shore)

1026 LEONCAVALLO – Flirt Waltz

RUDOLF SERKIN WELTE-MIGNON PIANO ROLLS CDR

 

RUDOLF SERKIN (MARCH 28, 1903, EGER, BOHEMIA, AUSTRIA-HUNGARY [NOW CHEB, CZECH REPUBLIC] — MAY 8, 1991, GUILFORD, VERMONT, U.S.)

 

 

 

 

Austrian-born American pianist and teacher who concentrated on the music of J.S. Bach, W.A. Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, and Johannes Brahms. A student of Richard Robert (piano) and of Joseph Marx and Arnold Schoenberg (composition), Serkin made his debut with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra at the age of 12. Following important performances in Berlin with the Busch Chamber Orchestra, he settled in Basel in 1926. In 1933 he gave his first American performance, and he moved to the United States permanently in 1939. He became known for his chamber music performances, which began during his association with Adolf Busch in the 1920s. His playing was characterized by faithfulness to the text and classical clarity. Serkin served on the piano faculty of the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia from 1939 to 1975, and in 1949 he helped found the Marlboro Festival in Vermont. Serkin’s son Peter also became a successful concert pianist.

 

 

TRACKLIST

  

4182 SCHUBERT – Piano Sonata, D. 958, c (Posthumous) 1st mvt.

4182 SCHUBERT – Piano Sonata, D. 958, c (Posthumous) 2nd mvt.

4183 SCHUBERT – Piano Sonata, D. 958, c (Posthumous) 3rd mvt.

4183 SCHUBERT – Piano Sonata, D. 958, c (Posthumous) 4th mvs.

4184 BACH – “Goldberg” Variations (Aria with 30 Variations), S. 988 Part One

4185 BACH – “Goldberg” Variations (Aria with 30 Variations), S. 988 Part Two

4186 BACH – “Goldberg” Variations (Aria with 30 Variations), S. 988 Aria da capo

4186 BACH – “Goldberg” Variations (Aria with 30 Variations), S. 988 Part Three

4187 BEETHOVEN – Piano Sonata, Op. 10, No. 2, F

4188 CHOPIN – Etude, Op. 25, No. 11, a “Winter Wind”

4188 CHOPIN – Etude, Op. 10, No. 4, c#

4188 CHOPIN – Etude, Op. 25, No. 2, f;

4190 JOS. STRAUSS-GRUNFELD – “Delirien” Waltzes

RICHARD STRAUSS THE COMPLETE WELTE-MIGNON PIANO ROLLS CDR

 

TRACKLIST

 

 

 

1182 R. STRAUSS – Fragments from the Opera “Salomé”

1183 R. STRAUSS – Dance of the Seven Veils from the Opera “Salomé”

1184 R. STRAUSS – “Ein Heldenleben” (A Hero’s Life), Op. 40 Love Scene

1185 R. STRAUSS – Love Scene from the Opera “Feuersnot” Op. 50

1186 R. STRAUSS – On the Silent Woodland Path, Op. 9, No. 1

1187 R. STRAUSS – By a Lonely Spring, Op. 9, No. 2

1188 R. STRAUSS – Intermezzo, Op. 9, No. 3, A

1189 R. STRAUSS – Reverie, Op. 9, No. 4

1190 R. STRAUSS – Cäcilie, Op. 27, No. 2, C

1191 R. STRAUSS – Heimliche Aufforderung, Op. 27, No. 3, B