Piano Concerto (Busoni)
Encyclopedia
The Piano Concerto
in C major, Op. 39 (BV 247), by Ferruccio Busoni
, is one of the largest works ever written in this particular genre. The concerto (which lasts around 70 minutes) is in five movements, the last of which also utilizes a male chorus
singing words from the final scene of the verse drama Aladdin
by Adam Oehlenschläger.
The inclusion of a chorus in a piano concerto was unusual, although Daniel Steibelt
's Piano Concerto No. 8 (1st perf. March 16, 1820, in Saint Petersburg
) and the Piano Concerto No. 6, Op. 192 (1858) by Henri Herz
both have a choral finale. The 1808 Choral Fantasy Op. 80
by Beethoven
also includes a piano part.
The first performance of the concerto took place in the Beethoven-Saal, Berlin
, Germany
on November 10, 1904 at one of Busoni's own concerts of modern music. Busoni was the soloist, with Karl Muck
conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and the Choir of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church
(Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche). The reviews were decidedly mixed, some being filled with outright hostility or derision. The century following its premiere has seen relatively few performances, owing to the large orchestration, complex musical texture, the use of a male chorus, and the staggering demands put on the soloist.
Notable performers of the concerto have included Egon Petri
(a student of Busoni's), John Ogdon
, Garrick Ohlsson
, Marc-André Hamelin
and Carlo Grante. Other performances by Kun-Woo Paik
, Randall Hodgkinson
, Martin Jones, and Janos Solyom have also received some notice in the past few years.
Woodwinds
Brass
Percussion
Piano solo
Male Chorus
(5th movement only; invisible)
Strings
The first movement, marked "Prologo e introito" is a little over fifteen minutes long on average, and is a broad Allegro movement which features a clangorous piano part.
The second movement, a kind of Scherzo
, is mostly a light-fingered affair for the piano that makes use of "Italianate" rhythms and melodic material, even if the melodies are more evocative of Italian popular music
than actual quotations from indigenous Italian folk music
.
The third and longest movement is the "Pezzo serioso", a massive meditation and exploration in four parts in the key of D flat major which has a central climax that is once again pianistically challenging and brilliantly scored for both the piano
and the orchestra
.
The fourth movement "All' Italiana", is perhaps the most variegated in its use of the orchestra, with a terrifically virtuosic piano part, arguably more difficult than anything that has come before it in the work. There are also two cadenzas to this movement - one, included in the printed score; the other, an insert in the two-piano score that is an amplification of the one printed in the two-piano edition.
The final movement, "Cantico" with male chorus, brings full circle many themes that have been heard earlier in the work. The words sung by the chorus are from the final scene of Oehlenschläger's verse drama Aladdin.
, or the Magic Lamp was first published in Danish
in 1805. Afterward, in 1806, Oehlenschläger spent several months in Weimar
with Goethe
, who was in the process of completing the final version of Part I of Faust
. Subsequently Oehlenschläger decided to prepare a German
edition of Aladdin, translating and revising the work himself and adding an explanatory introduction for his intended German readers. This edition was published in 1808 in Amsterdam. The new version included a special dedicatory poem To Goethe and was split into two parts, intended to be given on two successive evenings. More especially, this version had a new finale differing considerably from the original Danish edition by having various magical scenic transformations.
Busoni was quite taken with this early German version of Aladdin and planned to adapt it as a one-evening work. In a letter to his wife, dated London, February 10, 1902, Busoni wrote:
However, Busoni never completed his adaptation of Aladdin, although he did compose music for the final chorus in the magic cave; this soon made its way into the Piano Concerto. As Busoni's biographer Edward J. Dent remarks:
The words appear at the very end of the final scene of Aladdin, sung by a distant Chorus; Busoni follows the text exactly, only omitting a few verses which were not appropriate. As Oehlenschläger stated in his introduction to the 1808 version of Aladdin, he was not a native speaker of German; he admitted to incorporating various Danish modes of expression (Danismen) into his translation. This may go some way towards explaining the somewhat obscure - if exalted - nature of the words that Busoni uses.
Oehlenschläger's "unidiomatic and erroneous" use of German had hindered the play's success. In preparing a later German edition (1820 at the latest), he made a large number of changes and minor improvements, also correcting his imperfect German: but he dropped the magical 1808 ending, reverting to the original Danish 1805 finale. The first complete English translation, by Theodore Martin, published in 1863, is also based on a later edition, thus the first editions in German are the only ones to incorporate the words which Busoni uses.
According to Dent:
Dent's assertion that "The actual meaning of the words hardly matters" should be balanced against Aladdin's subsequent speech (not set by Busoni in the concerto) as he looks around the magic cave for the last time:
Apart from the immense demands required of the soloist and the large forces needed, there is a further difficulty that can affect performances of this work: the role of the soloist.
As Busoni himself wrote, piano concertos tended to be modelled after either Mozart or Beethoven. In Mozart's case, the concerto centres around the spotlit virtuoso composer-performer, who appears to spontaneously create the work before us, on-stage. The orchestra mostly provides a background accompaniment. But with Beethoven, the work is conceived in symphonic terms; the piano takes the secondary role, reflecting on or responding to ideas that have already been introduced by the orchestra.
Busoni combined both these precedents in the Piano Concerto, Op. 39, creating a huge work of symphonic proportions which was originally accused of having only a piano obbligato
. The work presents exceptional challenges for the soloist, who is often nevertheless required to incorporate a glittering cascade of notes into the overall orchestral sound. This self-abasement of the familiar 19th-century heroic soloist's role thus requires careful consideration of balance in performance. But as Dent comments:
Noncommercial recordings: A performance of the concerto by Pietro Scarpini with George Szell
and the Cleveland Orchestra
and Chorus was broadcast on New York's WQXR
on July 10, 1966. They had previously performed the concerto in Carnegie Hall
, New York, on February 7, 1966.
Video recording with fourth movement: It's All About the Music (Hyperion DVD
A68000) is a video documentary about the pianist Marc André Hamelin. The bonus features include a performance of the fourth movement ("All' Italiana: Tarantella") with Osmo Vänskä
conducting the Lahti
Symphony Orchestra. The entire performance was originally telecast on March 31, 2001 on the Finnish commercial television station MTV3
, and now can be found on Youtube.
Publications
Piano concerto
A piano concerto is a concerto written for piano and orchestra.See also harpsichord concerto; some of these works are occasionally played on piano...
in C major, Op. 39 (BV 247), by Ferruccio Busoni
Ferruccio Busoni
Ferruccio Busoni was an Italian composer, pianist, editor, writer, piano and composition teacher, and conductor.-Biography:...
, is one of the largest works ever written in this particular genre. The concerto (which lasts around 70 minutes) is in five movements, the last of which also utilizes a male chorus
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
singing words from the final scene of the verse drama Aladdin
Aladdin
Aladdin is a Middle Eastern folk tale. It is one of the tales in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights , and one of the most famous, although it was actually added to the collection by Antoine Galland ....
by Adam Oehlenschläger.
The inclusion of a chorus in a piano concerto was unusual, although Daniel Steibelt
Daniel Steibelt
Daniel Gottlieb Steibelt , was a German pianist and composer who died in Saint Petersburg, Russia.-Life and music:Daniel Steibelt was born in Berlin, and studied music with Johann Kirnberger before being forced by his father to join the Prussian army. Deserting, he began a nomadic career as a...
's Piano Concerto No. 8 (1st perf. March 16, 1820, in Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
) and the Piano Concerto No. 6, Op. 192 (1858) by Henri Herz
Henri Herz
Henri Herz was a pianist and composer, Austrian by birth, and French by domicile.Herz was born Heinrich Herz in Vienna...
both have a choral finale. The 1808 Choral Fantasy Op. 80
Choral Fantasy (Beethoven)
The Fantasy in C minor for Piano, Chorus, and Orchestra, Op. 80, was composed in 1808 by Ludwig van Beethoven.-Background, composition, and premiere:...
by Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
also includes a piano part.
The first performance of the concerto took place in the Beethoven-Saal, Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, 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...
on November 10, 1904 at one of Busoni's own concerts of modern music. Busoni was the soloist, with Karl Muck
Karl Muck
Karl Muck was a German-born conductor of classical music. He based his activities principally in Europe and mostly in opera. His American career comprised two stints at the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He endured a public outcry in 1917 that questioned whether his loyalties lay with Germany or the...
conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and the Choir of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church
Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church
The Protestant Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church is located in Berlin on the Kurfürstendamm in the centre of the Breitscheidplatz. The original church on the site was built in the 1890s. It was badly damaged in a bombing raid in 1943...
(Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche). The reviews were decidedly mixed, some being filled with outright hostility or derision. The century following its premiere has seen relatively few performances, owing to the large orchestration, complex musical texture, the use of a male chorus, and the staggering demands put on the soloist.
Notable performers of the concerto have included Egon Petri
Egon Petri
Egon Petri was a classical pianist.-Biography:Petri's family was Dutch and he was born a Dutch citizen, but he was born in Hanover in Germany and was brought up in Dresden. His father was a professional violinist who taught his son that instrument. Petri played in the Dresden Court Orchestra and...
(a student of Busoni's), John Ogdon
John Ogdon
John Andrew Howard Ogdon was an English pianist and composer.-Biography:Ogdon was born in Mansfield Woodhouse, Nottinghamshire, and attended Manchester Grammar School, before studying at the Royal Northern College of Music between 1953 and 1957, where his fellow students under Richard Hall...
, Garrick Ohlsson
Garrick Ohlsson
Garrick Ohlsson is an American classical pianist.Ohlsson was the first American to win first prize in the International Frédéric Chopin Piano Competition, in 1970. He also won first prize at the Busoni Competition in Italy and the Montreal Piano Competition in Canada...
, Marc-André Hamelin
Marc-André Hamelin
Marc-André Hamelin, OC, CQ, is a French Canadian virtuoso pianist and composer.Born in Montreal, Quebec, Marc-André Hamelin began his piano studies at the age of five. His father, a pharmacist by trade who was also a pianist, introduced him to the works of Alkan, Godowsky, and Sorabji when he was...
and Carlo Grante. Other performances by Kun-Woo Paik
Kun-Woo Paik
Kun-woo Paik is a South Korean pianist.-Early life:Kun Woo Paik was born in Seoul. he gave his first concert, aged 10, with the Korean National Orchestra . In the following years he performed many important works in Korea, including several premieres such as Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition...
, Randall Hodgkinson
Randall Hodgkinson
Randall Hodgkinson is an American pianist. He won the International American Music Competition which was sponsored by Carnegie Hall and the Rockefeller Foundation...
, Martin Jones, and Janos Solyom have also received some notice in the past few years.
Instrumentation
The concerto is scored for a large orchestra. (For the instrumentation in Italian see below.)Woodwinds
- 1 PiccoloPiccoloThe piccolo is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The piccolo has the same fingerings as its larger sibling, the standard transverse flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written...
(4th movement only) - 3 FluteFluteThe flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
s (3rd doublingDoublingDoubling may refer to:*in math:**multiplication by 2**doubling the cube, a geometric problem**doubling time, the period of time required for a quantity to double in size or value**doubling map**period-doubling bifurcation***in music:...
piccolo in 2nd and 4th movements) - 3 OboeOboeThe oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
s (3rd doubling cor anglaisCor anglaisThe cor anglais , or English horn , is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family....
in 2nd, 3rd and 5th movements) - 3 ClarinetClarinetThe clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
s (3rd doubling bass clarinetBass clarinetThe bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B , but it plays notes an octave below the soprano B clarinet...
in 2nd and 3rd movements) - 3 BassoonBassoonThe bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature...
s
Brass
Brass instrument
A brass instrument is a musical instrument whose sound is produced by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips...
- 4 HornsHorn (instrument)The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
- 3 TrumpetTrumpetThe trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
s - 3 TromboneTromboneThe trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
s - 1 TubaTubaThe tuba is the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the...
Percussion
- 3 TimpaniTimpaniTimpani, or kettledrums, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet...
- 3 additional percussion players:
- GlockenspielGlockenspielA glockenspiel is a percussion instrument composed of a set of tuned keys arranged in the fashion of the keyboard of a piano. In this way, it is similar to the xylophone; however, the xylophone's bars are made of wood, while the glockenspiel's are metal plates or tubes, and making it a metallophone...
(4th and 5th movements) - TriangleTriangle (instrument)The triangle is an idiophone type of musical instrument in the percussion family. It is a bar of metal, usually steel but sometimes other metals like beryllium copper, bent into a triangle shape. The instrument is usually held by a loop of some form of thread or wire at the top curve...
(2nd, 4th and 5th movemens) - TambourineTambourineThe tambourine or marine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head at all....
(2nd and 4th movements) - Military drum (4th movement only)
- Bass DrumBass drumBass drums are percussion instruments that can vary in size and are used in several musical genres. Three major types of bass drums can be distinguished. The type usually seen or heard in orchestral, ensemble or concert band music is the orchestral, or concert bass drum . It is the largest drum of...
(2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th movements) - CymbalCymbalCymbals are a common percussion instrument. Cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys; see cymbal making for a discussion of their manufacture. The greater majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sound a...
s (2nd, 4th and 5th movements) - Tam-tam (3rd movement only)
- Glockenspiel
Piano solo
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
Male Chorus
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
(5th movement only; invisible)
- 8 TenorTenorThe tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
s I - 8 Tenors II
- 8 BaritoneBaritoneBaritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
s I - 8 Baritones II
- 8 Basses I
- 8 Basses II
Strings
String section
The string section is the largest body of the standard orchestra and consists of bowed string instruments of the violin family.It normally comprises five sections: the first violins, the second violins, the violas, the cellos, and the double basses...
- 12 ViolinViolinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
s I - 10 Violins II
- 8 ViolaViolaThe viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
s - 8 Violoncellos
- 6 Double bassDouble bassThe double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
es (4-string) - 2 Double bassDouble bassThe double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
es (5-string)
Movements
Although the five movements are marked separately in the score, Busoni stated that the concerto should be played as a continuous whole, without breaks.- I. Prologo e Introito: Allegro, dolce e solenne
- II. Pezzo giocoso
- III. Pezzo serioso:
- Introductio: Andante sostenuto
- Prima pars: Andante, quasi adagio
- Altera pars: Sommessamente
- Ultima pars: a tempo
- IV. All'Italiana: Tarantella: Vivace; In un tempo
- V. Cantico: Largamente (with chorus)
The first movement, marked "Prologo e introito" is a little over fifteen minutes long on average, and is a broad Allegro movement which features a clangorous piano part.
The second movement, a kind of Scherzo
Scherzo
A scherzo is a piece of music, often a movement from a larger piece such as a symphony or a sonata. The scherzo's precise definition has varied over the years, but it often refers to a movement which replaces the minuet as the third movement in a four-movement work, such as a symphony, sonata, or...
, is mostly a light-fingered affair for the piano that makes use of "Italianate" rhythms and melodic material, even if the melodies are more evocative of Italian popular music
Italian popular music
The expression Italian Popular Music refers to the musical output which is not usually considered Academic or Classical Music but rather have its roots in the popular traditions, and it may be defined in two ways: it can either be defined in terms of the current geographical location of the Italian...
than actual quotations from indigenous Italian folk music
Italian folk music
Italian folk music has a deep and complex history. National unification came quite late to the Italian peninsula, so its many hundreds of separate cultures remained un-homogenized until quite recently compared to many other European countries...
.
The third and longest movement is the "Pezzo serioso", a massive meditation and exploration in four parts in the key of D flat major which has a central climax that is once again pianistically challenging and brilliantly scored for both the piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
and the orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
.
The fourth movement "All' Italiana", is perhaps the most variegated in its use of the orchestra, with a terrifically virtuosic piano part, arguably more difficult than anything that has come before it in the work. There are also two cadenzas to this movement - one, included in the printed score; the other, an insert in the two-piano score that is an amplification of the one printed in the two-piano edition.
The final movement, "Cantico" with male chorus, brings full circle many themes that have been heard earlier in the work. The words sung by the chorus are from the final scene of Oehlenschläger's verse drama Aladdin.
Busoni and Aladdin
Adam Oehlenschläger's verse drama AladdinAladdin
Aladdin is a Middle Eastern folk tale. It is one of the tales in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights , and one of the most famous, although it was actually added to the collection by Antoine Galland ....
, or the Magic Lamp was first published in Danish
Danish language
Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
in 1805. Afterward, in 1806, Oehlenschläger spent several months in Weimar
Weimar
Weimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899...
with Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long...
, who was in the process of completing the final version of Part I of Faust
Goethe's Faust
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust is a tragic play in two parts: and . Although written as a closet drama, it is the play with the largest audience numbers on German-language stages...
. Subsequently Oehlenschläger decided to prepare a German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
edition of Aladdin, translating and revising the work himself and adding an explanatory introduction for his intended German readers. This edition was published in 1808 in Amsterdam. The new version included a special dedicatory poem To Goethe and was split into two parts, intended to be given on two successive evenings. More especially, this version had a new finale differing considerably from the original Danish edition by having various magical scenic transformations.
Busoni was quite taken with this early German version of Aladdin and planned to adapt it as a one-evening work. In a letter to his wife, dated London, February 10, 1902, Busoni wrote:
I have thought it out and decided not to use Oehlenschläger's Aladdin for an opera, but to write a composition in which drama music, dancing and magic are combined – cut down for one evening's performance if possible. It is my old idea of a play with music where it is necessary, without hampering the dialogue. As a spectacle and as a deep symbolic work it might be something similar to the Magic Flute; at the same time it would have a better meaning and an indestructible subject [mit besserem Sinn und einem nicht tot zu machenden Sujet]. Besides this, I have planned 6 works for the summer, the principal one being the pianoforte Concerto. How beautiful!
However, Busoni never completed his adaptation of Aladdin, although he did compose music for the final chorus in the magic cave; this soon made its way into the Piano Concerto. As Busoni's biographer Edward J. Dent remarks:
One may indeed wonder why an essentially Italian work should end with verses in praise of Allah. The plain fact was that Busoni at the moment happened to be interested in Aladdin and had set the final chorus to music. When he planned the Concerto he saw that this chorus, which has something of the mystical character of the concluding stanzas of Goethe's Faust, was exactly the music to give the general sense of serenity that he required for his own finale. It was from the original Aladdin chorus that he took the theme which occurs in the first movement; when he came to write out the last movement he felt that he missed the words, and therefore directed that a chorus of men's voices should sing them.
- Hebt zu der ewigen Kraft eure Herzen;
- Fühlet euch Allah nah', schaut seine Tat!
- Wechseln im Erdenlicht Freuden und Schmerzen;
- Ruhig hier stehen die Pfeiler der Welt.
- Tausend und Tausend und abermals tausende
- Jahre so ruhig wie jetzt in der Kraft,
- Blitzen gediegen mit Glanz und mit Festigkeit,
- Die Unverwüstlichkeit stellen sie dar.
- Herzen erglüheten, Herzen erkalteten,
- Spielend umwechselten Leben und Tod.
- Aber in ruhigen Harren sie dehnten sich
- Herrlich, kräftiglich, früh so wie spät.
- Hebt zu der ewigen Kraft eure Herzen
- Fühlet euch Allah nah', schaut seine Tat!
- Vollends belebet ist jetzo die tote Welt.
- Preisend die Göttlichkeit, schweigt das Gedicht!
- Lift up your hearts to the power eternal,
- Feel Allah's presence, behold all his works!
- Joy and pain interweave in the light of the world;
- The world's (mighty) pillars stand peacefully here.
- Thousands and thousands and once again thousands
- Of years - serene in their power as now -
- Flash by purely with radiance and strength,
- They display the Indestructible.
- Hearts glowed (so brightly), hearts became colder.
- Playfully interchanged Life and Death.
- But in a peaceful awaiting they stretch out,
- Glorious, powerfully, early and late.
- Lift up your hearts to the power eternal,
- Feel Allah's presence, behold all his works!
- The inanimate world is now consummately animate.
- In praise of Divinity, the poem falls quiet!
The words appear at the very end of the final scene of Aladdin, sung by a distant Chorus; Busoni follows the text exactly, only omitting a few verses which were not appropriate. As Oehlenschläger stated in his introduction to the 1808 version of Aladdin, he was not a native speaker of German; he admitted to incorporating various Danish modes of expression (Danismen) into his translation. This may go some way towards explaining the somewhat obscure - if exalted - nature of the words that Busoni uses.
Oehlenschläger's "unidiomatic and erroneous" use of German had hindered the play's success. In preparing a later German edition (1820 at the latest), he made a large number of changes and minor improvements, also correcting his imperfect German: but he dropped the magical 1808 ending, reverting to the original Danish 1805 finale. The first complete English translation, by Theodore Martin, published in 1863, is also based on a later edition, thus the first editions in German are the only ones to incorporate the words which Busoni uses.
According to Dent:
"The actual meaning of the words hardly matters. The chorus is directed to be invisible; it sings in plain chords, like a body of soft trombones added to the orchestra. The effect which Busoni desired was stated by him once in a letter to a friend who had mistakenly suggested to him that it might be better to re-write the chorus for mixed voices; he replied that he had no desire to convert his Concerto into an oratorio; he insisted that the chorus should be invisible, and said that its function was 'to add a new register to the sonorities which precede it'."
Dent's assertion that "The actual meaning of the words hardly matters" should be balanced against Aladdin's subsequent speech (not set by Busoni in the concerto) as he looks around the magic cave for the last time:
- Hier ging ich als ein Knabe, da mir noch
- Selbst von den Innern nur die Außenseite
- Ins Auge fiel. Ein guter Geist beglückte
- Mein Leben, schenkte mir ein starkes Mittel,
- Um mich durch diese Endlichkeit zu kämpfen
- Zum ew'gen Gipfel. Ha, da steh' ich nun!
- Wohlan, so will ich auf die Ewigkeit
- Auch ferner einzig und allein vertrauen.
- I came here as a boy, when as yet
- Only the exterior of my inward being
- Caught my eye. A good spirit charmed
- My life, bestowed upon me a powerful means
- By which to struggle through this finitude
- Towards the eternal peak. Ha, there I stand now!
- Well then, in Eternity I will furthermore
- Exclusively and solely place my trust.
Problems of performance
As Busoni himself wrote, piano concertos tended to be modelled after either Mozart or Beethoven. In Mozart's case, the concerto centres around the spotlit virtuoso composer-performer, who appears to spontaneously create the work before us, on-stage. The orchestra mostly provides a background accompaniment. But with Beethoven, the work is conceived in symphonic terms; the piano takes the secondary role, reflecting on or responding to ideas that have already been introduced by the orchestra.
Busoni combined both these precedents in the Piano Concerto, Op. 39, creating a huge work of symphonic proportions which was originally accused of having only a piano obbligato
Obbligato
In classical music obbligato usually describes a musical line that is in some way indispensable in performance. Its opposite is the marking ad libitum. It can also be used, more specifically, to indicate that a passage of music was to be played exactly as written, or only by the specified...
. The work presents exceptional challenges for the soloist, who is often nevertheless required to incorporate a glittering cascade of notes into the overall orchestral sound. This self-abasement of the familiar 19th-century heroic soloist's role thus requires careful consideration of balance in performance. But as Dent comments:
Despite the incredible difficulty of the solo part, Busoni's concerto at no point offers a display of virtuosity. Even its cadenzas are subsidiary episodes. At the same time the pianoforte hardly ever presents a single theme in its most immediate and commanding shape. It is nearly always the orchestra which seems to be possessed of the composer's most prophetic inspiration. Busoni sits at the pianoforte, listens, comments, decorates, and dreams.
Recordings
| Recording Date | Pianist | Conductor | Orchestra | Label & Cat. No. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 1948 | Noel Mewton-Wood Noel Mewton-Wood Noel Mewton-Wood was an Australian-born concert pianist who achieved some fame during his short life.-Life and career:... |
Sir Thomas Beecham Thomas Beecham Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet CH was an English conductor and impresario best known for his association with the London Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic orchestras. He was also closely associated with the Liverpool Philharmonic and Hallé orchestras... |
BBC Symphony Orchestra BBC Symphony Orchestra The BBC Symphony Orchestra is the principal broadcast orchestra of the British Broadcasting Corporation and one of the leading orchestras in Britain.-History:... |
Somm-Beecham 15 |
| January 15–16, 1956 | 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... |
Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt was a German conductor and composer.-Early life:Born in Berlin, he studied music in Heidelberg and Münster. He was also a composition student with Franz Schreker at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik, and received a doctorate in 1923.-Career:He was a repetiteur at the... |
NDR Symphony Orchestra | Music & Arts CD-1163 |
| 1967 | John Ogdon John Ogdon John Andrew Howard Ogdon was an English pianist and composer.-Biography:Ogdon was born in Mansfield Woodhouse, Nottinghamshire, and attended Manchester Grammar School, before studying at the Royal Northern College of Music between 1953 and 1957, where his fellow students under Richard Hall... |
Daniell Revenaugh Daniell Revenaugh Daniell Revenaugh is an American classical pianist and conductor. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, he made his debut at the age of 14 playing Beethoven's First Piano Concerto with the Louisville Orchestra.... |
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Royal Philharmonic Orchestra The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It tours widely, and is sometimes referred to as "Britain's national orchestra"... |
EMI Classics 94637246726 |
| February 28, 1985 | Boris Bloch | Christoph Eschenbach Christoph Eschenbach Christoph Eschenbach , born February 20, 1940, Breslau, Germany is a German-born pianist and conductor. He currently holds positions in Washington, D.C. as music director of the National Symphony Orchestra and music director of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.-Early... |
Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra | Aperto APO 86106 |
| October 1986 | Volker Banfield Volker Banfield Volker Banfield is a German pianist.He studied at the Nordwestdeutsche Musikakademie in Detmold, beginning at age 14. Afterward he moved to the United States and studied at the Juilliard School and at the University of Texas . He then returned to live in Germany and toured extensively... |
Lutz Herbig | Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, in German Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks is the internationally renowned orchestra of the Bayerischer Rundfunk , based in Munich, Germany. It is one of the three principal orchestras in the city of Munich, along with the Munich Philharmonic... |
CPO 999 017-2 |
| August 5, 1988 | Peter Donohoe | Mark Elder Mark Elder Sir Mark Philip Elder, CBE is a British conductor. He is the music director of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, England.-Biography:Elder was born in Hexham, Northumberland, England, the son of a dentist... |
BBC Symphony Orchestra BBC Symphony Orchestra The BBC Symphony Orchestra is the principal broadcast orchestra of the British Broadcasting Corporation and one of the leading orchestras in Britain.-History:... |
EMI CDC 7 49996 2 |
| February 1989 | Viktoria Postnikova Viktoria Postnikova Viktoria Valentinovna Postnikova is a Russian pianist.-Biography:Postnikova was born in Moscow into a family of musicians. She entered the Central Music School of the Moscow Conservatory at age six, studying with E.B. Musaelian. She graduated in 1967, having studied there and in postgraduate... |
Gennady Rozhdestvensky Gennady Rozhdestvensky Gennady Nikolayevich Rozhdestvensky is a Russian conductor.-Biography:Rozhdestvensky was born in Moscow. His parents were the noted conductor and pedagogue Nikolai Anosov and soprano Natalya Rozhdestvenskaya... |
Orchestre National de France Orchestre National de France The Orchestre national de France is a symphony orchestra run by Radio France. It has also been known as the Orchestre national de la Radiodiffusion française and Orchestre national de l'Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française .Since 1944, the orchestra has been based in the Théâtre... |
Apex 2564 64390-2 |
| February 4, 1989 | Garrick Ohlsson Garrick Ohlsson Garrick Ohlsson is an American classical pianist.Ohlsson was the first American to win first prize in the International Frédéric Chopin Piano Competition, in 1970. He also won first prize at the Busoni Competition in Italy and the Montreal Piano Competition in Canada... |
Christoph von Dohnányi Christoph von Dohnányi Christoph von Dohnányi is a German conductor of Hungarian ancestry.- Youth and World War II :Dohnányi was born in Berlin, Germany to jurist Hans von Dohnányi and Christine Bonhoeffer. His uncle on his mother's side was Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran pastor and theologian/ethicist... |
The Cleveland Orchestra | Telarc 80207 |
| September 1989 | Giovanni Battel | Silvano Frontalini | Warmia Warmia Warmia or Ermland is a region between Pomerelia and Masuria in northeastern Poland. Together with Masuria, it forms the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship.... National Orchestra |
Bongiovanni GB5509/10-2 |
| February 8–13, 1990 | David Lively | Michael Gielen Michael Gielen -Professional career:Gielen was born in Dresden, Germany, to opera director Josef Gielen. Through his mother, Rose, he is the nephew of Eduard Steuermann and Salka Steuermann Viertel. He began his career as a pianist in Buenos Aires, where he studied with Erwin Leuchter and gave an early... |
Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra The Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra is a radio orchestra located in the German cities of Baden-Baden and Freiburg... |
Koch International CD 311 160 H1 |
| May 1990 | François-Joël Thiollier | Michael Schønwandt Michael Schønwandt Michael Schønwandt is a Danish conductor. In Denmark, he studied piano, theory, and composition, and later continued musical studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London.... |
Nice Nice Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of... Philharmonic Orchestra |
Kontrapunkt 32057 |
| June 20–21, 1999 | Marc-André Hamelin Marc-André Hamelin Marc-André Hamelin, OC, CQ, is a French Canadian virtuoso pianist and composer.Born in Montreal, Quebec, Marc-André Hamelin began his piano studies at the age of five. His father, a pharmacist by trade who was also a pianist, introduced him to the works of Alkan, Godowsky, and Sorabji when he was... |
Mark Elder Mark Elder Sir Mark Philip Elder, CBE is a British conductor. He is the music director of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, England.-Biography:Elder was born in Hexham, Northumberland, England, the son of a dentist... |
The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra is a British orchestra based in Birmingham, England. The Orchestra's current chief executive, appointed in 1999, is Stephen Maddock... |
Hyperion CDA67143 |
| February 19, 2008 | Pietro Massa | Stefan Malzew | Neubrandenburg Neubrandenburg Neubrandenburg is a city in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is located in the southeastern part of the state, on the shore of a lake called the Tollensesee .... Philharmonic |
GENUIN 88122 |
Noncommercial recordings: A performance of the concerto by Pietro Scarpini with George Szell
George Szell
George Szell , originally György Széll, György Endre Szél, or Georg Szell, was a Hungarian-born American conductor and composer...
and the Cleveland Orchestra
Cleveland Orchestra
The Cleveland Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Cleveland, Ohio. It is one of the five American orchestras informally referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1918, the orchestra plays most of its concerts at Severance Hall...
and Chorus was broadcast on New York's WQXR
WQEW
WQEW is a Radio Disney affiliate licensed to New York City. Its transmitter is located in Maspeth, Queens. WQEW has a transmitter power of 50,000 watts and is listed as a Clear-channel station...
on July 10, 1966. They had previously performed the concerto in Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
, New York, on February 7, 1966.
- The amateur pianist, industrialist, and philanthropist Sir Ernest Hall (a contemporary of John Ogdon at the Royal Manchester College of MusicRoyal Manchester College of MusicThe Royal Manchester College of Music was founded in 1893 by Sir Charles Hallé who assumed the role as Principal. For a long period of time Hallé had argued for Manchester's need for a conservatoire to properly train the local talent. The Ducie Street building, just off Oxford Road, was purchased...
) performed the concerto in 2000 with the Sheffield Symphony Orchestra and the Halifax Choral Society conducted by John Longstaff. A recording is available through the SSO website http://www.sheffieldsymphony.org.uk/cds.php Accessed 11 September 2009.
Video recording with fourth movement: It's All About the Music (Hyperion DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
A68000) is a video documentary about the pianist Marc André Hamelin. The bonus features include a performance of the fourth movement ("All' Italiana: Tarantella") with Osmo Vänskä
Osmo Vänskä
Osmo Antero Vänskä is a Finnish conductor, clarinetist and composer.He started his musical career as an orchestral clarinetist with the Turku Philharmonic . He then became the principal clarinet of the Helsinki Philharmonic from 1977 to 1982...
conducting the Lahti
Lahti
Lahti is a city and municipality in Finland.Lahti is the capital of the Päijänne Tavastia region. It is situated on a bay at the southern end of lake Vesijärvi about north-east of the capital Helsinki...
Symphony Orchestra. The entire performance was originally telecast on March 31, 2001 on the Finnish commercial television station MTV3
MTV3
MTV3 is a Finnish commercial television station owned by Bonnier. It had the biggest audience share of all Finnish TV channels until Finnish Broadcasting Company’s YLE1 took the lead. The letters MTV stand for Mainos-TV , due to the channel getting its revenue from running commercials...
, and now can be found on Youtube.
Manuscript and publication details
Manuscripts- Busoni Archive No. 231 (sketch)
- Title: Concerto per un Pianoforte
obligatoprincipale e diversi strumenti, ad arco a fiato ed a percussione; aggiuntovi un Coro finale per voci d'uomini a 4 parti. Le parole alemanne del poeta Oehlenschlaeger, danese. la Musica di Ferruccio Busoni, da Empoli. - [Concerto for
obbligatoprincipal piano and diverse bowed, wind, and percussion instruments; additional final chorus for men's voices in 4 parts. The German words by the poet Oehlenschläger, Dane. Music by Ferruccio Busoni, from EmpoliObbligatoIn classical music obbligato usually describes a musical line that is in some way indispensable in performance. Its opposite is the marking ad libitum. It can also be used, more specifically, to indicate that a passage of music was to be played exactly as written, or only by the specified...EmpoliEmpoli is a town and comune in Tuscany, Italy, about 20 km southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno in a plain formed by the latter river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Roman times. The commune's territory becomes a hilly one as it departs from the river...
.] - Description: 48 loose sheets, partly written on one side, and partly on two; partly folio, partly not.
- Note: Also contains material relating to the ending without chorus (BV 247a).
- Busoni Archive No. 232 (sketch)
- Title 1: Busoni Concerto
- Title 2: Concerto per un Pianoforte principale e diversi Strumenti, ad arco, a fiato ed a percussione; aggiuntovi un Coro finale per voci d'uomini a quattro parti. Le parole alemanne del poeta Oehlenschlaeger, danese; la Musica di Ferruccio Busoni, da Empoli. (Secondo abbozzo, in esteso.)
- [Concerto for principal piano and diverse bowed, wind, and percussion instruments; additional final Chorus for men's voices in four parts. The German words by the poet Oehlenschläger, Dane; Music by Ferruccio Busoni, from Empoli. (Second full sketch.)]
- Date: 18. Agosto 1903. (at the end of the composition)
- Description: 2 title sheets; 81 leaves, written on both sides, numbered by Busoni from 1 to 41, on every second leaf (recto), corresponding to the number of quires.
- Note: The sketches comprise partly piano extracts, partly short score (particell).
- Busoni Archive No. 233 (score)
- Title: Conzert für Klavier u. Orch. Op. 39
- On the edge: Partyt. Ms. Autogr. Busoni-Nachlaß Nr 233
- Note: Lost in 1945. Now at the Jagiellonian UniversityJagiellonian UniversityThe Jagiellonian University was established in 1364 by Casimir III the Great in Kazimierz . It is the oldest university in Poland, the second oldest university in Central Europe and one of the oldest universities in the world....
in Cracow.
Publications
- Score (Partitur)
- Title: Concerto per un Pianoforte principale e diversi strumenti ad arco a fiato ed a percussione. Aggiuntovi un Coro finale per voci d'uomini a sei parti. Le parole alemanne del poeta Oehlenschlaeger danese. La Musica di Ferruccio Busoni da Empoli Anno MCMIV. opera XXXIX
- [Concerto for principal piano and diverse bowed, wind, and percussion instruments. Additional final Chorus for men's voices in six parts. The German words by the Danish poet Oehlenschläger. Music by Ferruccio Busoni from Empoli in the year 1904. opus XXXIX.]
- Date: Finis. il 3.d'Agosto 1904. (at the end of the composition)
- Instrumentation: Un pianoforte principale, 2 Flauti piccoli, 3 Flauti, 3 Oboi, 1 Corno inglese, 3 Clarinetti, 1 Clarinetto basso, 3 Fagotti, 4 Corni, 3 Trombe, 3 Tromboni, 1 Tuba, 3 Timpani, Tamburo militare, Gran Cassa, Tamburino, Triangolo, Piatti, un giuoco di Campanelli a tastiera (Glockenspiel), un Gong chinese (Tamtam), 12 Violini primi, 10 Violini secondo, 8 Viole, 8 Violoncelli, 6 Contrabassi a 4 Corde, 2 Contrabassi che discendono al Do di 16 piedi, un Coro di voci d'uomini composto di 48 cantori.
- Published: Breitkopf & HärtelBreitkopf & HärtelBreitkopf & Härtel is the world's oldest music publishing house. The firm was founded in 1719 in Leipzig by Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf . The catalogue currently contains over 1000 composers, 8000 works and 15,000 music editions or books on music. The name "Härtel" was added when Gottfried...
, 1906, cat. no. Part B. 1949; (328 pages); cat. no. Ch. B. 1844; (men's chorus)
- Arrangement for 2 pianos; revised extended cadenza
- Published: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1909. EB 2861, ed. Egon PetriEgon PetriEgon Petri was a classical pianist.-Biography:Petri's family was Dutch and he was born a Dutch citizen, but he was born in Hanover in Germany and was brought up in Dresden. His father was a professional violinist who taught his son that instrument. Petri played in the Dresden Court Orchestra and...
; score (178 pages); extended cadenza rev. by Busoni, 1909 (5 pages).
Downloadable scores
- The score of the two-piano reduction by Egon PetriEgon PetriEgon Petri was a classical pianist.-Biography:Petri's family was Dutch and he was born a Dutch citizen, but he was born in Hanover in Germany and was brought up in Dresden. His father was a professional violinist who taught his son that instrument. Petri played in the Dresden Court Orchestra and...
is available as a downloadable PDF file: - The study score and the score for Busoni's revised, extended cadenza for the 4th movement are available at IMSLP
Sources
| Beaumont, Antony Antony Beaumont Antony Beaumont is an English and German musicologist, writer, conductor and violinist. As a conductor, he has specialized in German music from the first half of the 20th century, including works by Zemlinsky, Weill, and Gurlitt... (1985). Busoni the Composer. London: Faber and Faber Faber and Faber Faber and Faber Limited, often abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in the UK, notable in particular for publishing a great deal of poetry and for its former editor T. S. Eliot. Faber has a rich tradition of publishing a wide range of fiction, non fiction, drama, film and music... . ISBN 0571131492 |
| Beaumont, Antony, ed. (1987). Busoni: Selected Letters. New York: Columbia University Press Columbia University Press Columbia University Press is a university press based in New York City, and affiliated with Columbia University. It is currently directed by James D. Jordan and publishes titles in the humanities and sciences, including the fields of literary and cultural studies, history, social work, sociology,... . ISBN 0231064608 |
| Betteridge, Harold T. (1958). The New Cassell's German Dictionary. New York: Funk & Wagnalls Co. |
| Busoni, Ferruccio (ca. 1950). Concerto für Klavier und Orchester mit Männerchor. Study Score, cat. no. PB 5104 (reissue of the original 1906 score). Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel Breitkopf & Härtel Breitkopf & Härtel is the world's oldest music publishing house. The firm was founded in 1719 in Leipzig by Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf . The catalogue currently contains over 1000 composers, 8000 works and 15,000 music editions or books on music. The name "Härtel" was added when Gottfried... . See this work page of the International Music Score Library Project International Music Score Library Project The International Music Score Library Project , also known as the Petrucci Music Library after publisher Ottaviano Petrucci, is a project for the creation of a virtual library of public domain music scores, based on the wiki principle... . Accessed 3 September 2009. |
| Dent, Edward J. Edward Joseph Dent Edward Joseph Dent, generally known by his initials as E. J. Dent was a British writer on music.... (1933). Ferruccio Busoni: A Biography, London: Oxford University Press Oxford University Press Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as... . (Reprint: London: Ernst Eulenburg Ernst Eulenburg (musical editions) Ernst Eulenburg the music publisher was established by Ernst Eulenburg in Leipzig in 1874. The firm started by publishing a series of studies by a Dresden piano teacher, and then expanded into light music and works for men's chorus, at first all non-copyright works.-Origins of the miniature... , 1974) ISBN 0903873028 |
| Kindermann, Jürgen (1980). Thematisch-chronologisches Verzeichnis der Werke von Ferruccio B. Busoni. Studien zur Musikgeschichte des 19. Jahrhunderts, vol. 19. Regensburg: Gustav Bosse Verlag. ISBN 3764920335 |
| Ley, Rosamond, translator (1938). Ferruccio Busoni: Letters to His Wife, London: Edward Arnold & Co. |
| Oehlenschläger, Adam Gottlob Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger was a Danish poet and playwright. He introduced romanticism into Danish literature.-Biography:He was born in Vesterbro, then a suburb of Copenhagen, on 14 November 1779... (1805). Aladdin, eller Den forunderlige Lampe. Et Lystspil (in Poetiske Skrifter, Vol. II). Copenhagen: J.H Schubothe. Facsimile pages Accessed 5 September 2009 ; Online text Accessed 5 September 2009 |
| Oehlenschläger, Adam Gottlob (1808). Aladdin oder die Wunderlampe. Dramatisches Gedicht in zwei Spielen. Amsterdam: Kunst und Industrie-Comptoir. Google Books full preview Accessed 3 September 2009. |
| Oehlenschläger, Adam Gottlob (1820). Aladdin, oder: die Wunderlampe. Ein dramatisches Gedicht. Leipzig: F. A. Brockhaus. Google Books Part 1; Part 2. Accessed 3 September 2009. |
| Oehlenschläger, Adam Gottlob (1863), tr. Theodore Martin. Aladdin; or, The Wonderful Lamp. A dramatic poem – in two parts. Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons. Google Books full preview Accessed 3 September 2009. |
| Roberge, Marc-André (1991). Ferruccio Busoni: a bio-bibliography. New York: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0313255873 |
| Schonberg, Harold. C. 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... (1963). The Great Pianists. New York: Simon and Schuster. (1987 edition: ISBN 0671638378) |
| Sitsky, Larry Larry Sitsky Lazar Sitsky AM, usually referred to as Larry Sitsky, born 10 September 1934, is an Australian composer, pianist, and music educator and scholar... (2008). Busoni and the Piano. The Works, the Writings, and the Recordings. (2nd ed.) Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press. ISBN 9781576471586> [First edition, Westport: Greenwood Press,1986. ISBN 0313236712] |
External links
- Roberge, Marc-André (1981). "Le Concerto pour piano, orchestre et chœur d’hommes, op. 39 (1904), de Ferruccio Busoni: étude historique et analytique" (M.A. thesis, McGill University, 1981), ix, 254 pp.; Microcard copy available at the National Library of Canada . Accessed 3 November 2009.
- Article on Piano Concerto Accessed 17 May 2011.