Sheet music
Composer(s):
Publisher(s):
Publishernumber:
BPA2714
Overige informatie:
Yvonne Morgan
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Friedrich Theodor Fröhlich is seen as the most eminent Swiss composer of early Romanticism. His oeuvre, still only partly accessible, is at last enjoying a well-deserved renaissance. The son of a Latin teacher, he was born on 20 February 1803 in Brugg, and raised there. Following high school in Zurich, he began law studies in Basel, then in Berlin. But he soon made “musical” contact with Karl Friedrich Zelter, Bernhard Klein and Ludwig Berger. These encounters led him to devote himself entirely to music. For health reasons he returned to Brugg for two years. In 1826, with a grant from the canton of Aargau, he returned to his studies in Berlin. A very creative phase followed, producing numerous songs, choral music and a symphony in A major. But he was unable to make a living as a musician, and returned to Switzerland in 1830. In Aarau he was given a post as music teacher at the Kantonsschule. He also conducted choirs and an amateur orchestra. But soon he felt “tied to the yoke of a pitiful working life from morning at seven to evening at six, often even seven.” This “pitiful existence” notwithstanding, important masterpieces were composed, to critical acclaim: “His large-scale pieces flow unceasingly, led to a triumphant close with consummate skill. The wealth of instrumentation is surprising; the composer has an unusual gift for inventing characteristic instrumental figures.” Artistic loneliness, increasing despondency and hopelessness, lack of interest from publishers and audiences gradually paralyzed his creative ability. Additional financial worries and personal problems led him to take his own life by throwing himself into the river Aare on 16 October 1836. The uniquely scored piano quintet dates from the end of 1833. In a letter dated 5th November 1833, Fröhlich wrote to his friend Wilhelm Wackernagel : “... and now a piano quintet is rumbling away in my head. May the coming December days show whether and when I shall ever write it down.” Its inventiveness, the harmonious structure’s suspenseful chord sequences and balanced part-writing are evocative of Mendelssohn and Schumann “in its highly romantic melodic expressiveness, in the delicacy, depth and subtle differences of mood”. Perhaps this music can indeed claim to be the “miracle proclaiming a genius”, as connoisseurs describe Fröhlichs’ chamber music. The strikingly beautifully written autograph score of the Quintet is held in the University Library in Basel under shelfmark “kr XI 53”. The title page reads: “Quintetto / Adagio und Rondo / für / das Pianoforte, 2 Violoncell, und zwei Hörner / componiert / von / Theodor Fröhlich compon. Im Novbr. 1833. / aufgeführt am 17. Januar 1834 / im ersten Winter Concert”. Beside the score are two autograph horn parts showing marks of articulation and dynamics missing in the score. We have also consulted a copy by Edgar Refardt of the score and the second violoncello part, as well as a copy of the first violoncello part done by Ernst Vogel (Basel), who in 1940 first made the work “available on loan” to the public.
Composer(s):
Publisher(s):
Publishernumber:
BPA2714
ISBN:
Number:
903955
Theme(s):
Overige informatie:
Yvonne Morgan
