Alfred Jaell rarity

[ronde_des_sylphes]

The Rapsody sur un motif de La Traviata. The sort of charming "morceau de salon" which is now sadly very much a bygone relic. Comments welcome!

https://soundcloud.com/andrew-wright-35/alfred-jaell-rapsody-sur-la-traviata

[michael_sayers]

Very well done.  Keep them coming!

[ronde_des_sylphes]

Very well done.  Keep them coming!

Thanks - I love looking around for little forgotten gems like this. It's very freshly learned, so by no means a definitive performance and I will certainly revisit it at a later date.

[emill]

From the point of view of a non-pianist it was indeed a well played & NICE composition, but your "Rossini-Thalberg" was really NICEST! and the "Verdi-Lizst" was emphatic! and the "La Traviata" ... beautiful ...

Perhaps a short intro-info of the composer &/or circumstances leading to the composition would be most informative for lazy, classical-piano "dumbs" like me!

[rachfan]

Hi ronde,

This was my first hearing of this piece, but your playing was very convincing.  Enjoyed hearing it.

Yes, the salons.  Probably one of the most famous in its day was the salon in the mansion of the Princesse Edmond de Polignac in Paris.  She was heir to the Singer sowing machine legacy.  She invited musicians, authors, artists, and philosophers, and her events were always well attended.  Artur Rubinstein and Vladimir Horowitz both played in that salon.  In the U.S. Gottchalk was often heard playing at the 19th century American salons.  I'm not really sure why these gatherings and performances slowly disappeared.  Perhaps WWI and WWII caused a lot of damage in many European cities affecting the salons.  And there was the appearance of the radio and later television.  Money might also have had a role too, that is, if a well-known pianists could collect a share of "the gate" at a music hall or theatre by performing there, that probably took priority over the honor of playing for a prominent patroness of the arts. 

David   

[ronde_des_sylphes]

From the point of view of a non-pianist it was indeed a well played & NICE composition, but your "Rossini-Thalberg" was really NICEST! and the "Verdi-Lizst" was emphatic! and the "La Traviata" ... beautiful ...

Perhaps a short intro-info of the composer &/or circumstances leading to the composition would be most informative for lazy, classical-piano "dumbs" like me!

Thanks, and I'm glad you enjoyed other recordings on my soundcloud!

Probably a good idea to give a little additional info, especially when the composer is so obscure, so here's what I said on Piano Society:

"Alfred Jaell is probably one of the few composers whose wife (Marie Trautmann/Jaell) is more famous than him! He was an Austrian pianist-composer associated with the Liszt/Weimar circle but to what extent he studied with Liszt seems unclear. Certainly the shadow of Liszt's virtuoso composition style hangs heavily over his paraphrases. This particular one falls perhaps more into the "morceau de salon" style than a full-blooded virtuoso piece."

[ronde_des_sylphes]

Hi David, I had heard of the Princesse de Polignac, but didn't know about the Singer connection. Perhaps the music business becoming more "professionalised" had something to do with the demise of the salon? It was my understanding that, by playing for free at such events, fine musicians would in effect be self-advertising and be more likely to be invited to play at bigger concerts. After all, probably only Liszt and a handful of others would have had the wherewithal to do things like hiring the Paris Opera for a concert! In any case, I think this piece is, in places, virtuosic while still retaining a certain intimacy about it. I doubt there are any recordings of it anywhere (Katsaris has recorded a different Jaell La Traviata paraphrase, but that's about it), so I'm pleased you found mine convincing.

[michael_sayers]

Thanks - I love looking around for little forgotten gems like this. It's very freshly learned, so by no means a definitive performance and I will certainly revisit it at a later date.

I know the music from the 19th century extremely well, including material in the public domain but not yet at I.M.S.L.P., and would like to communicate some suggestions to you - some of which you may know of, others possibly not.  If any of these public domain scores are not at I.M.S.L.P. then I can email a scan or scans for your files.  Just give me the green light and I'll fire away by P.M. or email!

[8_octaves]

Hi rachfan and ronde,

in connection to this

 In the U.S. Gottchalk was often heard [...]

and this

Alfred Jaell

let me, please, add the snippet that Jaell, as a "protege", i.e. under the management of Max Maretzek ( corrected: Max Maretzek, not the Strakosch brothers. )played at his debut concert in New York Moreau's "Le Bananier", amongst other pieces.

cordially, 8_octaves.

[ronde_des_sylphes]

I know the music from the 19th century extremely well, including material in the public domain but not yet at I.M.S.L.P., and would like to communicate some suggestions to you - some of which you may know of, others possibly not.  If any of these public domain scores are not at I.M.S.L.P. then I can email a scan or scans for your files.  Just give me the green light and I'll fire away by P.M. or email!

Certainly. I've sent you my email via PM. I'm very busy at the moment with ten or so paraphrases I'm working on in detail, but it won't hurt to consider suggestions which might be of future relevance (I'm very much biased towards operatic transcriptions in the Liszt/Thalberg vein, less so towards the post-classical ones of Herz and others).

let me, please, add the snippet that Jaell, as a "protege", i.e. under the management of Max Maretzek ( corrected: Max Maretzek, not the Strakosch brothers. )played at his debut concert in New York Moreau's "Le Bananier", amongst other pieces.

Thanks - detailed info on Jaell seems quite hard to find.

[8_octaves]

Thanks - detailed info on Jaell seems quite hard to find.

Hi Ronde,

yes. So, let's make a journey back into the past, please fasten your seat belt... . Everything comfortable? OK! ...whoooosh! - And there we are!

In the Archives of the New York Times we find the following (parts of) reviews:
I quote from the NYT archives:

1. )  from November 25th., 1851:

Musical Matters. The second concert of the new pianist, Alfred Jaell, took place at Tripler Hall on Saturday evening. We were glad to see a fuller house than on the first night. The entertainment was choice and very satisfactory, the new artist being handsomely supported by the stars of the Opera Company.

The programme included a fantasia from Inicia[?], and a portion of the Carnival of Venice, with two or three other pieces by Mr. Jaell, which were rendered with marvellous taste and delicacy. The piano-forte is a new instrument under his finished touch. Nor should the other musical wonder, the child Adelina Patti, be forgotten. A very successful imitation of the Echo Song of Jenny Lind was vehemently encored. Signor Marini was indisposed, and did not appear, as announced; the other artists did, and were very cordially received. The primadonna Steffanone was in excellent voice, and sang effectively; and the performances of Miska Hauser called forth unbounded plaudits. Altogether, this concert was a decided hit, and Mr. Jaell may safely count upon a favorable and lasting impression in New-York.

The performance of Ernani at the Opera House last evening was a [...]  

2.) from November 17th., 1852:

[...] Boston, Monday, Nov. 14th., 1852
Sontag has given three concerts with great ap[p-]lause, and her attendant artists, Pozzolin(i), Rocco, Jaell and Paul Julien, the little crowd[?] have pursued the triumph and partaken the ga[?]. [...]

3.) from November 17th, 1851:

Musical Matters.

The opening concert of Mr. Alfred Jaell, at Tripler Hall, was only moderately attended on Saturday evening, in consequence of the severe storm during the day. The audience was of the very best description, however ; precisely of that order the musician cares to appear before: appreciative, discriminating and sympathetic ; and Mr. Jaell has no ground of dissatisfaction with his reception. It was cordial in the extreme, and deservedly so.

The debutant is certainly a pianist of the highest rank. We have never heard Thalberg or Listz [sic] ; but in rating Mr. Jaell in a much more elevated category than De Meyer or Herz, we have no hesitation whatever. His command of the instrument is complete. His execution is brilliant and forcible, without being violent. The labored effects and startling descents upon the keys, which grated the sensitive ear of the listener to De Meyer , are much avoided as the tameness and torpidity of Henri Herz. The fingering was elegant, and easy as it was eloquent. The purest of taste seems to rule in everything; and no conception of the composer's spirit could be more thorough than the artist's in giving the fantasia upon "Sonnambula" of Thalberg. We predict that the second evening of Mr. Jaell will crowd Tripler to the root. By all admission the operatic corps of Mr. Maretzek, who assisted at the concert, exceeded themselves. [...]

__________

Whooosh - and back in the present time we are!

I mentioned the "Bananier", which Jaell would have played on his debut concert: It was announced as "A Negro Song". My book, Bamboula!, by Starr, from which I took the info, specifically refers in this point, as footnote, to Schonberg, "The Great Pianists", pp. 187-188, and also Vera Brodsky Lawrence, "Reverberations: 1850-1856" (Ms), vol 2 of "Strong on Music", p. 353 (which must have to do imho with George Templeton Strong).

For a short review, Starr additionally quotes a New York Times-article  from "Nov 16th, 1851", but maybe it's a typo-error and should be the 17th , which means the article I found - (it's classified by the NYT as being from the 17th) - , since Starr doesn't quote it in full, but exactly the quoted comparison of Jaell's playing to De Meyer's.

But however:  Jaell seems to be an interesting area for further research!

Thank you, again, Ronde!

And greetings from 8_octaves!

[ronde_des_sylphes]

Thanks, these comments are very interesting as they give a small indication of his performance style. In the pieces of his which I've been looking at I had noticed liberal usage of una corda and due pedali indications; the comments about his delicacy support my feeling that the pieces shouldn't be approached in a cliched full-on quasi-Lisztian bravura manner, but with real care to contrast such flamboyance against pianissimo delicacy.