Presents
Carl Reinecke
Serenade in g minor, Op.242
For 4 Violins, 2 Violas, 2 Cellos & Bass
At the age of 74, Carl Reinecke (1824-1910) wrote what is arguably the finest of his nine serenades.The Serenade for Strings Op. 242 was completed by the early autumn of 1898 and published shortly thereafter. Upon its premiere it was received warmly by both the public and local critics. It consists of six movements: Marcia, Arioso, Scherzo, Cavatina, Fughetta giojosa and Finale. Each of the six movements is quite individualistic. The fourth movement, Cavatina in is in 5/4 time. In the second movement, Arioso, we hear echoes of his first hero, Schuman. The subject of the Fughetta giojosa is presented in four parts and then inverted before morphing into a genial waltz. The Finale has for its main subject an appealing Russian folk melody. This was perhaps due to its dedicatee Duke Georg Alexander von Mecklenburg-Strelitz,who spent most of his life living in Russia, a talented cellist and music lover who maintained his own chamber orchestra. It also probably explains why there is a cello solo in the Cavatina.
Nowadays, Reinecke has been all but forgotten, an unjust fate for a man who excelled in virtually every musical field with which he was involved. As a performer, Reinecke was, during the mid-19th century, reckoned for three decades as one of the finest concert pianists before the public. As a composer, he produced widely respected and often performed works in every genre running the gamut from opera, to orchestral to chamber music. As a conductor, he helped turn the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra into a group with few if any peers. As its director, he helped the Leipzig Conservatory become what was widely regarded as the finest in the world. As a teacher of composition and of piano, he was considered to have few if any equals. Among his many students were Grieg, Bruch, Janacek, Albeniz, Sinding, Svendsen, Reznicek, Delius, Arthur Sullivan, George Chadwick, Ethel Smyth, Felix Weingartner, Karl Muck and Hugo Riemann. In his time, Reinecke and his music were unquestionably regarded as first rate. Reinecke was born near Hamburg in the town of Altona, then in the possession of Denmark. Most of his musical training was obtained from his father, who was a widely respected teacher and author. Starting in 1845 at the age 21, he began concertizing across Europe, in the course of which he was appointed court pianist to the King of Denmark. Mendelssohn, Schumann and Liszt all were favorably impressed by him and helped him gain an appointment at the Cologne Conservatory. By 1860, Reinecke’s reputation was such that he obtained a teaching position at the prestigious Leipzig Conservatory, which had been founded by Mendelssohn, and eventually rose to become its director. His reputation and excellence as a teacher can be attested to by the aforementioned list of famous students.
Parts: $49.95
Parts & Score: $59.95
