Festival of Neglected Romantic Music
Encyclopedia
The Festival of Neglected Romantic Music was founded by musicologist Frank Cooper
at Butler University
in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1968.
Cooper directed the Festival for the next eleven years, during which time many seminal works of the Romantic era that had not been heard since the 19th century received their first modern performances, including
The New York Times' music critic Harold C. Schonberg
and other critics commented on the high professional level of the presentations, and certain specific performers became associated with the Festival, including violinist Aaron Rosand
, pianists Jorge Bolet
, Malcolm Frager
, Gunnar Johansen
and Raymond Lewenthal
, cellists James Kreger and Jascha Silberstein
, and conductors Victor Borge
, Igor Buketoff
, Jorge Mester
and Izler Solomon
– many of whom went on to record several of these works for commercial record labels. Schonberg wrote many articles crediting Cooper with almost single handedly jumpstarting the Romantic Revival
in music. The Festival continued after Cooper left.
Frank Cooper (musicologist)
Frank Cooper is currently Research Professor of Music at the Frost School of Music, University of Miami , and is internationally known as the founder of the Festival of Neglected Romantic Music....
at Butler University
Butler University
Butler University is a private university located in Indianapolis, Indiana. Founded in 1855 and named after founder Ovid Butler, the university offers 60 degree programs to 4,400 students through six colleges: business, communication, education, liberal Arts and sciences, pharmacy and health...
in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1968.
Cooper directed the Festival for the next eleven years, during which time many seminal works of the Romantic era that had not been heard since the 19th century received their first modern performances, including
- orchestral works by BruneauAlfred BruneauLouis-Charles-Bonaventure-Alfred Bruneau was a French composer who played a key role in the introduction of realism in French opera....
, DavidFélicien-César DavidFélicien-César David was a French composer.-Biography:Félicien David was born in Cadenet , France, and began to study music at five under his father, whose early death however left him an impoverished orphan...
, Duparc, GoedickeAlexander GoedickeAlexander Fyodorovich Goedicke was a Russian composer and pianist.Goedicke was a professor at Moscow Conservatory. With no formal training in composition, he studied piano at the Moscow Conservatory with Galli, Pavel Pabst and Vasily Safonov. Goedicke won the Anton Rubinstein Competition in 1900...
, GuiraudErnest GuiraudErnest Guiraud was a French composer and music teacher born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He is best known for writing the traditional orchestral recitatives used for Bizet's opera Carmen and for Offenbach's opera Les contes d'Hoffmann .- Biography :Guiraud began his schooling in Louisiana under the...
, HofmannJózef HofmannJosef Casimir Hofmann was a Polish-American virtuoso pianist, composer, music teacher, and inventor.-Biography:...
, MartucciGiuseppe MartucciGiuseppe Martucci was an Italian composer, conductor, pianist and teacher. As a composer and teacher he was influential in reviving Italian interest in non-operatic music. As a conductor he helped to introduce Richard Wagner's operas to Italy and also gave important early concerts of English music...
, RaffJoachim RaffJoseph Joachim Raff was a German-Swiss composer, teacher and pianist.-Biography:Raff was born in Lachen in Switzerland. His father, a teacher, had fled there from Württemberg in 1810 to escape forced recruitment into the military of that southwestern German state that had to fight for Napoleon in...
, Anton RubinsteinAnton RubinsteinAnton Grigorevich Rubinstein was a Russian-Jewish pianist, composer and conductor. As a pianist he was regarded as a rival of Franz Liszt, and he ranks amongst the great keyboard virtuosos...
, SchellingErnest SchellingErnest Henry Schelling was an American pianist, composer, and conductor.Born in Belvidere, New Jersey, Schelling was a child prodigy. His first teacher was his father. He entered the Academy of Music in Philadelphia at age 4. At age 7, Schelling traveled to Europe to study. He was admitted to the...
, SindingChristian SindingChristian August Sinding was a Norwegian composer.-Personal life:He was born in Kongsberg as a son of mine superindendent Matthias Wilhelm Sinding and Cecilie Marie Mejdell . He was a brother of the painter Otto Sinding and the sculptor Stephan Sinding...
, and SpohrLouis SpohrLouis Spohr was a German composer, violinist and conductor. Born Ludewig Spohr, he is usually known by the French form of his name. Described by Dorothy Mayer as "The Forgotten Master", Spohr was once as famous as Beethoven. As a violinist, his virtuoso playing was admired by Queen Victoria...
; - concertos by BoëllmannLéon BoëllmannLéon Boëllmann was a French composer of Alsatian origin, known for a small number of compositions for organ. His best-known composition is Suite Gothique , still very much a staple of the organ repertoire, especially its dramatic concluding Toccata.-Biography:The son of a pharmacist, Boëllmann was...
, BronsartHans Bronsart von SchellendorffHans Bronsart von Schellendorff was a classical musician and composer who studied under Franz Liszt....
, DreyschockAlexander DreyschockAlexander Dreyschock was a Czech pianist and composer.Born in Žáky in Bohemia, his musical talents were first noticed at age of eight, and at age fifteen he travelled to Prague to study piano and composition with Václav Tomášek...
, ErnstHeinrich Wilhelm ErnstHeinrich Wilhelm Ernst was a Moravian-Jewish violinist, violist and composer. Ernst was widely seen as the outstanding violinist of his time and one of Paganini's greatest successors....
, GodardBenjamin GodardBenjamin Louis Paul Godard was a French violinist and Romantic composer.-Biography:Born in Paris, Godard was a student of Henri Vieuxtemps. He entered the Conservatoire de Paris in 1863 where he studied under Vieuxtemps and Napoléon Henri Reber and accompanied Vieuxtemps twice to Germany...
, GoltermannGeorg GoltermannGeorg Goltermann was a German cellist and composer.-Life:Goltermann's father was an organist, and therefore he got an early introduction to music...
, HenseltAdolf von HenseltAdolf von Henselt was a German composer and pianist.-Life:Henselt was born at Schwabach, in Bavaria. At the age of three he began to learn the violin, and at five the piano under Frau von Fladt...
, HerzHenri HerzHenri Herz was a pianist and composer, Austrian by birth, and French by domicile.Herz was born Heinrich Herz in Vienna...
, HummelJohann Nepomuk HummelJohann Nepomuk Hummel or Jan Nepomuk Hummel was an Austrian composer and virtuoso pianist. His music reflects the transition from the Classical to the Romantic musical era.- Life :...
, JoachimJoseph JoachimJoseph Joachim was a Hungarian violinist, conductor, composer and teacher. A close collaborator of Johannes Brahms, he is widely regarded as one of the most significant violinists of the 19th century.-Origins:...
, MoszkowskiMoritz MoszkowskiMoritz Moszkowski was a German Jewish composer, pianist, and teacher of Polish descent. Ignacy Paderewski said, "After Chopin, Moszkowski best understands how to write for the piano"...
, PalmgrenSelim PalmgrenSelim Gustaf Adolf Palmgren , dubbed "The Finnish Chopin", was a Finnish composer, pianist, and conductor. Palmgren was born in Pori, Finland, February 16, 1878. He studied at the Conservatory in Helsinki from 1895 to 1899, then continued his piano studies in Berlin with Ansorge, Berger and Busoni...
, RheinbergerJosef RheinbergerJosef Gabriel Rheinberger was a German organist and composer, born in Liechtenstein.-Short biography:...
, Rimsky-KorsakovNikolai Rimsky-KorsakovNikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five.The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty Coterie, refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev , César...
and Anton RubinsteinAnton RubinsteinAnton Grigorevich Rubinstein was a Russian-Jewish pianist, composer and conductor. As a pianist he was regarded as a rival of Franz Liszt, and he ranks amongst the great keyboard virtuosos...
; - choral works by Gade, PierneGabriel PiernéHenri Constant Gabriel Pierné was a French composer, conductor, and organist.-Biography:Gabriel Pierné was born in Metz in 1863. His family moved to Paris to escape the Franco-Prussian War. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire, gaining first prizes for solfège, piano, organ, counterpoint and fugue...
, RaffJoachim RaffJoseph Joachim Raff was a German-Swiss composer, teacher and pianist.-Biography:Raff was born in Lachen in Switzerland. His father, a teacher, had fled there from Württemberg in 1810 to escape forced recruitment into the military of that southwestern German state that had to fight for Napoleon in...
, RegerMax RegerJohann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger was a German composer, conductor, pianist, organist, and academic teacher.-Life:...
, SgambatiGiovanni SgambatiGiovanni Sgambati was an Italian composer.Born to an Italian father and an English mother, Sgambati, who lost his father early, received his early education at Trevi, in Umbria, where he wrote some church music and obtained experience as a singer and conductor...
and WeberCarl Maria von WeberCarl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber was a German composer, conductor, pianist, guitarist and critic, one of the first significant composers of the Romantic school....
, - fully staged ballets by BurgmüllerJohann Friedrich Franz BurgmüllerJohann Friedrich Franz Burgmüller, generally known as Friedrich Burgmüller was a German pianist and composer.-Biography:...
, DrigoRiccardo DrigoRiccardo Eugenio Drigo , a.k.a. Richard Drigo was an Italian composer of ballet music and Italian Opera, a theatrical conductor, and a pianist....
, GlazunovAlexander GlazunovAlexander Konstantinovich Glazunov was a Russian composer of the late Russian Romantic period, music teacher and conductor...
, HertelJohann Wilhelm HertelJohann Wilhelm Hertel was a German composer, harpsichord and violin player.He was born in Eisenach, into a family of musicians. His father, Johann Christian Hertel was Konzertmeister and director of music at the Eisenach court, while his grandfather, Jakob Christian Hertel Johann Wilhelm Hertel...
, OffenbachJacques OffenbachJacques Offenbach was a Prussian-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s–1870s and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann. He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Johann Strauss, Jr....
and ThomasAmbroise ThomasCharles Louis Ambroise Thomas was a French composer, best known for his operas Mignon and Hamlet and as Director of the Conservatoire de Paris from 1871 till his death.-Biography:"There is good music, there is bad music, and then there is Ambroise Thomas."- Emmanuel Chabrier-Early life...
, - solo and chamber works by AlkanCharles-Valentin AlkanCharles-Valentin Alkan was a French composer and one of the greatest virtuoso pianists of his day. His attachment to his Jewish origins is displayed both in his life and his work. He entered the Paris Conservatoire at the age of six, earning many awards, and as an adult became a famous virtuoso...
, BlumenfeldFelix BlumenfeldFelix Mikhailovich Blumenfeld was a Russian composer, conductor, pianist and teacher.He was born in Kovalevka, Kherson Governorate, Russian Empire , the son of Austrian Mikhail Frantsevich Blumenfeld and the Polish Marie Szymanowska, and studied composition at the St...
, BronsartHans Bronsart von SchellendorffHans Bronsart von Schellendorff was a classical musician and composer who studied under Franz Liszt....
, DohnanyiErno DohnányiErnő Dohnányi was a Hungarian conductor, composer, and pianist. He used the German form of his name Ernst von Dohnányi for most of his published compositions....
, GodowskyLeopold GodowskyLeopold Godowsky was a famed Polish American pianist, composer, and teacher. One of the most highly regarded performers of his time, he became known for his theories concerning the application of relaxed weight and economy of motion in piano playing, principles later propagated by Godowsky's...
, NápravníkEduard NápravníkEduard Francevič Nápravník was a Czech conductor and composer, who settled in Russia and is best known for his leading role in Russian musical life as the principal conductor of the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg for many decades...
, Xaver ScharwenkaXaver ScharwenkaFranz Xaver Scharwenka was a German pianist, composer and teacher. He was the brother of Philipp Scharwenka , who was also a composer and teacher of music.- Life and career :...
, and ThalbergSigismond ThalbergSigismond Thalberg was a composer and one of the most distinguished virtuoso pianists of the 19th century.- Descent and family background :...
.
The New York Times' music critic Harold C. Schonberg
Harold C. Schonberg
Harold Charles Schonberg was an American music critic and journalist, most notably for The New York Times. He was the first music critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism...
and other critics commented on the high professional level of the presentations, and certain specific performers became associated with the Festival, including violinist Aaron Rosand
Aaron Rosand
Aaron Rosand is an American violinist.Born in Hammond, Indiana, he studied with Leon Sametini at the Chicago Musical College and with Efrem Zimbalist at the Curtis Institute of Music, where he has taught since 1981...
, pianists Jorge Bolet
Jorge Bolet
Jorge Bolet was a Cuban-born but mostly American-resident pianist and teacher.-Life:Bolet was born in Havana, and studied at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where he himself taught from 1939 to 1942...
, Malcolm Frager
Malcolm Frager
-Life and career:Frager was born in St. Louis, Missouri and studied with Carl Friedberg in New York City from 1949 until Friedberg's death in 1955. In 1957 he graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Columbia University with a major in Russian...
, Gunnar Johansen
Gunnar Johansen
Gunnar Johansen was a Danish-born pianist and composer. He studied in his native Denmark with the pianist and conductor Victor Schiøler, then in Berlin with Egon Petri, the disciple of Ferruccio Busoni. He also worked with Edwin Fischer and the Liszt pupil Frederic Lamond...
and Raymond Lewenthal
Raymond Lewenthal
Raymond Lewenthal was an American pianist.-Biography:Lewenthal was born in San Antonio, Texas to Russian-French parents. His birth date is often given as 1926, but he was actually born three years earlier in 1923...
, cellists James Kreger and Jascha Silberstein
Jascha Silberstein
Jascha Silberstein was a German-born American musician. He was for thirty years first cellist of the orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City....
, and conductors Victor Borge
Victor Borge
Victor Borge ,born Børge Rosenbaum, was a Danish comedian, conductor and pianist, affectionately known as The Clown Prince of Denmark,The Unmelancholy Dane,and The Great Dane.-Early life and career:...
, Igor Buketoff
Igor Buketoff
Igor Buketoff was an American conductor, arranger and teacher. He had a special affinity with Russian music and with Sergei Rachmaninoff in particular. He also strongly promoted British contemporary music, and new music in general.- Biography :Buketoff was born in Hartford, Connecticut, the son...
, Jorge Mester
Jorge Mester
Jorge Mester is a Mexican conductor of Hungarian ancestry.-Biography:He studied conducting with Jean Morel at the Juilliard School in New York, and worked with Leonard Bernstein at the Berkshire Music Center and with Albert Wolff...
and Izler Solomon
Izler Solomon
Izler Solomon was an American orchestra conductor, active mostly in the Midwest....
– many of whom went on to record several of these works for commercial record labels. Schonberg wrote many articles crediting Cooper with almost single handedly jumpstarting the Romantic Revival
Romantic Revival
The Romantic revival in serious music arose in the 1960s after decades of relatively conservative and traditional offerings by the world’s concert presenting organizations and record companies....
in music. The Festival continued after Cooper left.