Julius Buths
Encyclopedia
Julius Buths was a German pianist, conductor and minor composer. He was particularly notable in his early championing of the works of Edward Elgar
in Germany
. He conducted the continental European premieres of both the Enigma Variations
and The Dream of Gerontius
. He also had notable associations with Frederick Delius
and Gustav Mahler
.
, the son of an oboist. He studied music at Cologne under Ferdinand Hiller
and others, in Berlin under Friedrich Kiel
, in Italy and in Paris. He worked as a conductor in Breslau from 1875 to 1879, then in Elberfeld
until 1890. That year he was appointed musical director for the city of Düsseldorf
, and he played an important role in the Lower Rhenish Music Festivals for a number of years. In 1890, he was co-director with Hans Richter
; in 1893 he was sole director; in 1896, he shared the role with Johannes Brahms
and Richard Strauss
; 1902 co-director with Strauss; and sole director in 1905.
In Düsseldorf he frequently played chamber music with Max Reger
and Joseph Joachim
.
at the premiere of Edward Elgar
's The Dream of Gerontius
in October 1900. He was very impressed with the oratorio, made the German translation of the work, and with support from August Jaeger
produced its German and European premiere on 19 December 1901 in Düsseldorf; Elgar was present and wrote "It completely bore out my idea of the work: the chorus was very fine". Buths produced it in Düsseldorf again on 19 May 1902 in conjunction with the Lower Rhenish Music Festival. The soloists included Muriel Foster
, and Elgar was again in the audience, being called to the stage 20 times to receive the audience's applause. This was the performance that finally convinced Elgar that he had written a truly satisfying work. Buths's festival co-director Richard Strauss
was impressed enough by what he heard that, at a post-concert banquet, he said: I drink to the success and welfare of the first English progressive musician, Meister Elgar. Both the 1901 and 1902 performances were sold out.
In the meantime, Buths had conducted the European and German premiere of the Enigma Variations
, in Düsseldorf in 7 February 1901.
He was also responsible for the German translation and German premiere of Elgar's The Apostles
, and the German translation of The Kingdom
. While in Germany to conduct his First Symphony
in Krefeld
in December 1910, Elgar took the trouble to visit Buths in Düsseldorf. Elgar also dedicated his piano piece Skizze to Buths.
. As a pianist, he was the soloist in the first performance of Delius's Piano Concerto in C minor, at Elberfeld in 1904, conducted by Hans Haym
(1860–1921). He also prepared a two-piano reduction of the score. He conducted the second performance of Appalachia, at the Lower Rhenish Music Festival, in June 1905.
's Resurrection Symphony
in Düsseldorf on 3 April 1903, in preparation for which he engaged in correspondence with the composer, who advised him to ensure a significant pause between the first and second movements. Buths nevertheless inserted the long pause (five minutes) between the fourth and fifth movements, for which Mahler congratulated him on his insight and sensitivity, and courage in daring to ignore the composer's wishes.
In 1906, along with Ossip Gabrilowitsch
, Alban Berg
and Oskar Fried
, he attended the rehearsals for the premiere of Mahler's Sixth Symphony
in Essen
and they all dined with the composer.
and the German premiere of Charles Villiers Stanford
's Requiem, Op. 63.
He composed a Piano Concerto in D minor, a cantata Rinaldo, a string quartet, a piano quintet, some songs and instrumental pieces.
In 1902 he became Director of the Düsseldorf Conservatory, in which post he remained until 1908. He died there in 1920, aged 68.
Edward Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...
in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. He conducted the continental European premieres of both the Enigma Variations
Enigma Variations
Variations on an Original Theme for orchestra , Op. 36, commonly referred to as the Enigma Variations, is a set of a theme and its fourteen variations written for orchestra by Edward Elgar in 1898–1899. It is Elgar's best-known large-scale composition, for both the music itself and the...
and The Dream of Gerontius
The Dream of Gerontius
The Dream of Gerontius, popularly called just Gerontius, is a work for voices and orchestra in two parts composed by Edward Elgar in 1900, to text from the poem by John Henry Newman. It relates the journey of a pious man's soul from his deathbed to his judgment before God and settling into Purgatory...
. He also had notable associations with Frederick Delius
Frederick Delius
Frederick Theodore Albert Delius, CH was an English composer. Born in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family of German extraction, he resisted attempts to recruit him to commerce...
and Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
.
Early career
Julius Emil Martin Buths was born in WiesbadenWiesbaden
Wiesbaden is a city in southwest Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. It has about 275,400 inhabitants, plus approximately 10,000 United States citizens...
, the son of an oboist. He studied music at Cologne under Ferdinand Hiller
Ferdinand Hiller
Ferdinand Hiller was a German composer, conductor, writer and music-director.-Biography:Ferdinand Hiller was born to a wealthy Jewish family in Frankfurt am Main, where his father Justus was a merchant in English textiles – a business eventually continued by Ferdinand’s brother Joseph...
and others, in Berlin under Friedrich Kiel
Friedrich Kiel
Friedrich Kiel was a German composer and music teacher.Writing of the chamber music of Friedrich Kiel, the famous scholar and critic Wilhelm Altmann notes that it was Kiel’s extreme modesty which kept him and his exceptional works from receiving the consideration they deserved...
, in Italy and in Paris. He worked as a conductor in Breslau from 1875 to 1879, then in Elberfeld
Elberfeld
Elberfeld is a municipal subdivision of the German city of Wuppertal; it was an independent town until 1929.-History:The first official mentioning of the geographic area on the banks of today's Wupper River as "elverfelde" was in a document of 1161...
until 1890. That year he was appointed musical director for the city of Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
, and he played an important role in the Lower Rhenish Music Festivals for a number of years. In 1890, he was co-director with Hans Richter
Hans Richter (conductor)
Hans Richter was an Austrian orchestral and operatic conductor.-Biography:Richter was born in Raab , Kingdom of Hungary, Austro-Hungarian Empire. His mother was opera-singer Jozsefa Csazenszky. He studied at the Vienna Conservatory...
; in 1893 he was sole director; in 1896, he shared the role with Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
and Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
; 1902 co-director with Strauss; and sole director in 1905.
In Düsseldorf he frequently played chamber music with Max Reger
Max Reger
Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger was a German composer, conductor, pianist, organist, and academic teacher.-Life:...
and Joseph Joachim
Joseph Joachim
Joseph 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:...
.
Elgar
Buths was present in BirminghamBirmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
at the premiere of Edward Elgar
Edward Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...
's The Dream of Gerontius
The Dream of Gerontius
The Dream of Gerontius, popularly called just Gerontius, is a work for voices and orchestra in two parts composed by Edward Elgar in 1900, to text from the poem by John Henry Newman. It relates the journey of a pious man's soul from his deathbed to his judgment before God and settling into Purgatory...
in October 1900. He was very impressed with the oratorio, made the German translation of the work, and with support from August Jaeger
August Jaeger
August Jaeger was an Anglo-German music publisher, who developed a close friendship with the English composer Edward Elgar.Born in Düsseldorf, Germany, Jaeger met Elgar through his employment at the London music publisher Novello...
produced its German and European premiere on 19 December 1901 in Düsseldorf; Elgar was present and wrote "It completely bore out my idea of the work: the chorus was very fine". Buths produced it in Düsseldorf again on 19 May 1902 in conjunction with the Lower Rhenish Music Festival. The soloists included Muriel Foster
Muriel Foster
Muriel Foster was an English contralto, excelling in oratorio. Grove's Dictionary describes her voice as "one of the most beautiful voices of her time"....
, and Elgar was again in the audience, being called to the stage 20 times to receive the audience's applause. This was the performance that finally convinced Elgar that he had written a truly satisfying work. Buths's festival co-director Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
was impressed enough by what he heard that, at a post-concert banquet, he said: I drink to the success and welfare of the first English progressive musician, Meister Elgar. Both the 1901 and 1902 performances were sold out.
In the meantime, Buths had conducted the European and German premiere of the Enigma Variations
Enigma Variations
Variations on an Original Theme for orchestra , Op. 36, commonly referred to as the Enigma Variations, is a set of a theme and its fourteen variations written for orchestra by Edward Elgar in 1898–1899. It is Elgar's best-known large-scale composition, for both the music itself and the...
, in Düsseldorf in 7 February 1901.
He was also responsible for the German translation and German premiere of Elgar's The Apostles
The Apostles (Elgar)
The Apostles, Op. 49, is an oratorio for soloists, chorus and orchestra composed by Edward Elgar. It was first performed on 14 October 1903.-Overview:...
, and the German translation of The Kingdom
The Kingdom (Elgar)
The Kingdom, Op. 51, is an oratorio for soloists, chorus and orchestra composed by Edward Elgar.It was first performed at the Birmingham Music Festival on 3 October 1906, with the orchestra conducted by the composer, and soloists Agnes Nicholls, Muriel Foster, John Coates and William Higley. The...
. While in Germany to conduct his First Symphony
Symphony No. 1 (Elgar)
Sir Edward Elgar's Symphony No. 1 in A-flat major, Op. 55 is one of his two completed symphonies. The first performance was given by the Hallé Orchestra conducted by Hans Richter in Manchester, England, on 3 December 1908. It was widely known that Elgar had been planning a symphony for more than...
in Krefeld
Krefeld
Krefeld , also known as Crefeld until 1929, is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, its centre lying just a few kilometres to the west of the River Rhine; the borough of Uerdingen is situated directly on the Rhine...
in December 1910, Elgar took the trouble to visit Buths in Düsseldorf. Elgar also dedicated his piano piece Skizze to Buths.
Delius
Buths' enthusiasm for English music also extended to the works of Frederick DeliusFrederick Delius
Frederick Theodore Albert Delius, CH was an English composer. Born in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family of German extraction, he resisted attempts to recruit him to commerce...
. As a pianist, he was the soloist in the first performance of Delius's Piano Concerto in C minor, at Elberfeld in 1904, conducted by Hans Haym
Hans Haym
Hans Haym was a German conductor of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. As musical director in the town of Elberfeld he championed the works of the then unknown English composer Frederick Delius before that composer's works were heard in his native country.-Biography:Haym was born...
(1860–1921). He also prepared a two-piano reduction of the score. He conducted the second performance of Appalachia, at the Lower Rhenish Music Festival, in June 1905.
Mahler
He conducted Gustav MahlerGustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
's Resurrection Symphony
Symphony No. 2 (Mahler)
The Symphony No. 2 by Gustav Mahler, known as the Resurrection, was written between 1888 and 1894, and first performed in 1895. Apart from the Eighth Symphony, this symphony was Mahler's most popular and successful work during his lifetime. It is his first major work that would eventually mark his...
in Düsseldorf on 3 April 1903, in preparation for which he engaged in correspondence with the composer, who advised him to ensure a significant pause between the first and second movements. Buths nevertheless inserted the long pause (five minutes) between the fourth and fifth movements, for which Mahler congratulated him on his insight and sensitivity, and courage in daring to ignore the composer's wishes.
In 1906, along with Ossip Gabrilowitsch
Ossip Gabrilowitsch
Ossip Gabrilowitsch was a Russian-born American pianist, conductor and composer.- Biography :...
, Alban Berg
Alban Berg
Alban Maria Johannes Berg was an Austrian composer. He was a member of the Second Viennese School with Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, and produced compositions that combined Mahlerian Romanticism with a personal adaptation of Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique.-Early life:Berg was born in...
and Oskar Fried
Oskar Fried
Oskar Fried was a German conductor and composer. An admirer of Gustav Mahler, Fried was the first conductor to record a Mahler symphony...
, he attended the rehearsals for the premiere of Mahler's Sixth Symphony
Symphony No. 6 (Mahler)
The Symphony No. 6 in A minor by Gustav Mahler, sometimes referred to as the Tragische , was composed between 1903 and 1904 . The work's first performance was in Essen, on May 27, 1906, conducted by the composer.The tragic, even nihilistic ending of No...
in Essen
Essen
- Origin of the name :In German-speaking countries, the name of the city Essen often causes confusion as to its origins, because it is commonly known as the German infinitive of the verb for the act of eating, and/or the German noun for food. Although scholars still dispute the interpretation of...
and they all dined with the composer.
First performances
Julius Buths' other first performances as a conductor included the Düsseldorf premieres of- Johann Sebastian BachJohann Sebastian BachJohann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
's Mass in B minor - Hector BerliozHector BerliozHector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a...
's La damnation de Faust and Grande Messe des MortsRequiem (Berlioz)The Grande Messe des morts, Op. 5 by Hector Berlioz was composed in 1837. The Grande Messe des Morts is one of Berlioz's best-known works, with a tremendous orchestration of woodwind and brass instruments, including four antiphonal offstage brass ensembles placed at the corners of the concert stage... - Giuseppe VerdiGiuseppe VerdiGiuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
's RequiemRequiem (Verdi)The Messa da Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi is a musical setting of the Roman Catholic funeral mass for four soloists, double choir and orchestra. It was composed in memory of Alessandro Manzoni, an Italian poet and novelist much admired by Verdi. The first performance in San Marco in Milan on 22 May...
and the German premiere of Charles Villiers Stanford
Charles Villiers Stanford
Sir Charles Villiers Stanford was an Irish composer who was particularly notable for his choral music. He was professor at the Royal College of Music and University of Cambridge.- Life :...
's Requiem, Op. 63.
He composed a Piano Concerto in D minor, a cantata Rinaldo, a string quartet, a piano quintet, some songs and instrumental pieces.
In 1902 he became Director of the Düsseldorf Conservatory, in which post he remained until 1908. He died there in 1920, aged 68.