Dr. Sanna Pederson, University of Oklahoma
While paging through Cobbett’s Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music yesterday, my eye caught an unexpected entry (between “Anzoletti, Marco” and “Apponyi, Count”): Waiting to applaud until the end of the work is called an innovation of late–and this book was published in 1929! Mr. Cobbett prefers clapping and even encores of individual movements of a … Read more
Did Johann Kruse really stand out that much among the other violinists Joachim taught, making him the obvious choice for preferential treatment?While he was giving in concerts in London, a number of other Joachim students were also making a living in the biggest city in the world. Several were exactly his age and had been … Read more
Johann Kruse and the London Popular Concerts It is a challenge to define the parameters of this venerable and beloved fixture of nineteenth-century London concert life. Its name alone seems designed to create maximum confusion. First, “popular” is hard to define. One explanation is when they began, they were meant to be popular in content, … Read more
Johann Kruse (1859-1927) was one of Joachim’s more important students: he taught at the Hochschule and was a member of the Joachim Quartet for five years. My preparation for writing up a short profile has stretched out into months, and this post has grown tentacles that need to be hacked off. These are the role … Read more
Chamber Works by Beethoven in performances that included Georg Hausmann Cello Sonatas (unspecified) (Vienna, 1858) Trio (unspecified) (London, April 1839, Bath, 1850) Op. 1 #3 C minor Piano Trio (London, 1843; 1856 with Ludwig Ries; 1856, Leeds with Blagrove) Op. 18 #1 (Bath, 1850) Op. 18 #3 (1853) Op. 18 #4 (December 1841, Brighton Quartet … Read more
Besides the day when both Strauss and Mahler took part in a concert of their own works, there were other special and unusual concert offerings in February of 1907 (to be discussed later). However, the biggest story of the month concerned the fate of “the German Opera Company,” which had been put together by the … Read more
Although the quartet concerts in 19th-century Berlin have similarities to our own today, of course there were differences. Quartets with Names Terminology, for instance: today all quartets have a name by which they are known, but back then most quartet groups lacked a name to identify them. In the Berlin papers, many of the local … Read more