Karl Goldmark
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Karl Goldmark (born Károly Goldmark, Keszthely, 18 May 1830 – Vienna, 2 January 1915) was a Hungarian-born Viennese composer.[1]
Life and career
Goldmark came from a large
He continued his music studies there and two years later was sent by his father to Vienna, where he was able to study for some eighteen months with
To make ends meet, Goldmark also pursued a side career as a music journalist. "His writing is distinctive for his even-handed promotion of both Brahms and Wagner, at a time when audiences (and most critics) were solidly in one composer's camp or the other and viewed those on the opposing side with undisguised hostility." (Liebermann 1997) Johannes Brahms and Goldmark developed a friendship as Goldmark's prominence in Vienna grew. Goldmark, however, ultimately distanced himself because of Brahms' prickly personality.
Among the musical influences Goldmark absorbed was the inescapable one, for a musical colorist, of Richard Wagner, whose anti-semitism stood in the way of any genuine warmth between them; in 1872 Goldmark took a prominent role in the formation of the Vienna Wagner Society. He was made an honorary member of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, received an honorary doctorate from the University of Budapest and shared with Richard Strauss an honorary membership in the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Rome.
Goldmark's opera Die Königin von Saba ("The Queen of Sheba"), Op. 27 was celebrated during his lifetime and for some years thereafter. First performed in Vienna on 10 March 1875, the work proved so popular that it remained in the repertoire of the Vienna Staatsoper continuously until 1938. He wrote six other operas as well (see list).
The Rustic Wedding Symphony (Ländliche Hochzeit), Op. 26 (first performed in 1876), a work that was kept in the repertory by Sir Thomas Beecham, includes five movements, like a suite composed of coloristic tone poems: a wedding march with variations depicting the wedding guests, a nuptial song, a serenade, a dialogue between the bride and groom in a garden, and a dance movement.
His
He wrote a second violin concerto, but it was never published. A second symphony in E-flat, Op. 35, is much less well known. Goldmark also wrote an early symphony in C major, between roughly 1858 and 1860. That work was never given an opus number and only the scherzo seems to have ever been published.
Goldmark's chamber music, in which the influences of
Goldmark's nephew Rubin Goldmark (1872–1936), a pupil of Dvořák, was also a composer, who spent his career in New York.
Death
Goldmark died in Vienna and is buried in the
List of works
Operas
- Die Königin von Saba (The Queen of Sheba) (1875)
- Merlin (1886)
- Dickens's The Cricket on the Hearth.
- Der Fremdling (1897) (The Changeling)
- Die Kriegsgefangene (1899), (The Prisoner of War) a Trojan War story taking Achilles' captive Briseis as central figure.
- Götz von Berlichingen (1902), after Goethe's play about the historical figure
- Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale.
Symphonies
- Rustic Wedding Symphony, Op. 26
- Symphony No. 2 in E-flat, Op. 35
Works for Orchestra
- Sakuntala, Op. 13 (concert overture)
- Scherzo in E Minor, Op. 19
- Penthesilea, Op. 31 (concert overture)
- Im Frühling (In Springtime), Op. 36 (concert overture)
- Sappho, Op. 44 (concert overture)
- Scherzo in A Major, Op. 45
- Zrínyi, Op. 47 (symphonic poem)
- In Italien (In Italy), Op. 49 (concert overture)
- Aus Jugendtagen (From Youthful Days), Op. 53
(Note: All above works have been recorded by the
Concerti
Chamber music
- Ballad for Violin and Piano, Op. 54
- Piano Quintet in B-flat major, Op. 30
- Piano Quintet in C-sharp minor, Op. 54
- Romanze for Violin and Piano
- Sonata for Violin and Piano, Op. 25
- Sonata for Cello and Piano, Op. 39
- Piano Trio, Op. 33, No.2
- Piano Trio, Op. 4
- String Quartet in B-flat major, Op. 8
- Suite for Violin and Piano in D major, Op. 11
- Suite in A Major for Violin and Piano
- String Quintet in A minor, Op. 9
Piano works (solo unless indicated)
- Sturm und Drang, nine characteristic pieces, Op. 5
- Three Pieces for Piano Duet, Op. 12
- Hungarian Dances for Piano Duet, Op. 22 (later orchestrated by the composer)
- Zwei Novelletten, Op. 29
- Georginen, six pieces, Op. 52
Choral works
- Regenlied for unaccompanied chorus, Op. 10
- Two Pieces for unaccompanied men's chorus, Op. 14
- Frühlingsnetz for men's chorus, 4 horns, and piano, Op. 15
- Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt for men's chorus and horns, Op. 16
- Two Pieces for unaccompanied men's chorus, Op. 17
- Frühlingshymne for contralto, chorus, and orchestra, Op. 23
- Im Fuschertal, a set of six choral songs, Op. 24
- Psalm CXIII for solo voices, chorus, and orchestra, Op. 40
- Two Pieces for unaccompanied men's chorus, Op. 41
- Two Four-Part Songs with piano accompaniment, Op. 42
Lieder
- 12 Gesänge, Op. 18
- Beschwörung, Op. 20
- 4 Lieder, Op. 21
- 7 Lieder aus dem 'Wilden Jäger', Op. 32
- 4 Lieder, Op. 34
- 8 Lieder, Op. 37 (Leipzig, 1888 or 1889);
- Wer sich die Musik erkiest (for piano and four solo voices), Op. 42
- 6 Lieder, Op. 46
References
- ISBN 1-57181-403-5, p. 227; "During the late nineteenth century, Karl Goldmark was among the most internationally celebrated of Viennese composers."
Further reading
- Hofer, Johann: Carl Goldmark: Komponist der Ringstrassenzeit. Wien: Edition Steinbauer, 2015. ISBN 978-3-902494-72-6(in German)
External links
- Works by or about Karl Goldmark at Internet Archive
- Bernard Jacobson, notes on the Violin Concerto - Archive Copy at the Wayback Machine (archived September 27, 2007)
- Doblinger Musikverlag: Composers Find the "Carl Goldmark" entry with the "A - Z" link on the left.
- Carl Goldmark String Quintet, Op.9 and Piano Trio No.2, Op.33 Sound-bites and short bio
- Free scores by Karl Goldmark at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
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