Ô doux printemps d’autrefois: Soprano, Baritone and Mezzosoprano Arias with Clarinet and Piano

Composer(s)

Franz Paul Lachner (b Rain am Lech, 2 April 1803; d Munich, 20 Jan 1890). Composer and conductor, brother of (1) Theodor Lachner. He was the most celebrated member of the family. He received his first lessons in the piano and organ from his father, Anton Lachner, the city’s organist. On his father’s death in 1822, he went to Munich, where he scraped a living as an organist, music teacher and instrumentalist in the Isartor theatre orchestra. In 1823 he competed successfully for the post of organist at the Lutheran church in Vienna, where he was able to complete his musical education with Simon Sechter and the Abbé Stadler. He moved in the circle that included Schubert and Moritz von Schwind, and also came to know Beethoven. In 1827 he became assistant conductor at the Kärntnertortheater, and in 1829 was appointed its chief conductor. After an unsuccessful attempt to establish himself in Berlin, Lachner returned to Munich in 1836, where he quickly won a position of prominence in musical life. He was appointed conductor of the Munich Hofoper, directed the concerts of the Musikalische Akademie and also conducted the Königliche Vokalkapelle. He directed the music festivals of Munich in 1855 and 1863, and shared in directing the Salzburg Festival in 1855 and the Aachen festivals in 1861 and 1870. In 1852 he was appointed Generalmusikdirektor and in 1862 was awarded an honorary PhD at the University of Munich. His manifold activities came to an abrupt end in 1864 with Wagner’s arrival in the city. His retirement, for which he applied in 1865, was accepted at first in the form of a holiday and became effective only in 1868, when Wagner’s immediate influence in Munich had long since declined; the grateful city made Lachner an honorary citizen in 1883.

Lachner was prominent in the intellectual life of his time, being a friend of David L. Strauss, Eduard Mörike and Felix Dahn. Among his most important pupils were Joseph Rheinberger and Franz Wüllner. A prolific composer, he took Beethoven and Schubert as his models but was also influenced by Spohr, Mendelssohn and Meyerbeer. He wrote many craftsmanlike works, of which the opera Catarina Cornaro (1841), the seventh orchestral suite op.190 and the Requiem op.146 (revised 1872) in particular had great and lasting success. His other contributions to the musical life in Munich were as conductor of the Munich Opera orchestra, which he successfully prepared for the technical demands of Wagner’s operas, and in raising the standards of the public’s musical taste. His performances of opera and of works by Beethoven were considered exemplary. It was impossible for Lachner to warm to Wagner’s music, and personal confrontations with Wagner and his circle did not improve the relationship between the two men. Despite this antagonism, which finally deprived him of the fruits of his work in Munich, Lachner showed his magnanimity in 1873 by repeating a suggestion he had made nine years earlier, that Wagner be awarded the Royal Maximilian Order – this time successfully.

Gaetano Braga (b Giulianova, nr Teramo, 9 June 1829; d Milan, 21 Nov 1907). Italian cellist and composer. He entered the Naples Conservatory in 1841 to study the cello with Ciandelli and composition with Mercadante, indicating talent in both disciplines. He left in 1852 with the title ‘Maestrino di violoncello’ and made many concert tours of Europe and the USA. In Vienna he was briefly a member of the Mayseder Quartet.

In 1853 his first opera, Alina, was produced at Naples. Over the next 20 years, during which he made Paris and London his principal homes, he composed another eight; though some were staged in Vienna, Paris and Lisbon as well as in Italy, they scarcely fulfilled his early promise, and none remained in the repertory. In 1868 La Scala turned down his Ruy Blas in favour of Marchetti’s version; it remained unperformed and unpublished, colouring his decision to remain abroad for some 30 years, continuing a successful solo playing career besides composing. As a voice teacher Braga was much sought after; he coached Erminia Frezzolini, towards the end of her career, and Adelaide Borghi-Mamo, for whom he also wrote salon works. Braga’s other compositions include orchestral, chamber and vocal music, fantasias on well-known operatic themes, two cello concertos and a method (1878), and salon pieces that enjoyed popularity during his lifetime. Still known is his Leggenda valacca, under the name ‘La Serenata’ or ‘The Angel’s Serenade’, originally a song with cello or violin obbligato; despite describing it themselves as a ‘cloying melody’, in 1914 HMV listed no fewer than four recordings of it made by such prominent artists as Gluck and Zimbalist, and McCormack and Kreisler.

Gaetano Donizetti: (b Bergamo, 6 Nov 1788; d Constantinople, 12 Feb 1856). Italian teacher and composer. He was the elder brother of Gaetano Donizetti, and studied the flute with an uncle. From 1806, after being turned away from the Lezioni Caritatevoli di Musica for being too old, he took lessons from Mayr. In 1809 he enrolled in the Italian army as a musician, and subsequently played in battalions on the island of Elba and in the Sardinian army. He was highly regarded as a bandmaster, and when Sultan Mahmud II asked for a musician to reorganize his imperial band, Donizetti’s name was put forward by the Italian ambassador in Constantinople. He arrived there in 1828, and was made General Instructor of Imperial Ottoman Music with a generous stipend of 8,000 francs a year.

Donizetti coached the players, acquired Italian instruments and taught Western notation. The band was immediately successful, and Donizetti took charge of the other army bands. Through his influence the first school of Western music in Turkey was opened in 1831. In addition to conducting band music on ceremonial occasions, and orchestral programmes at the court theatre (in the harem), he mounted productions of short Italian operas.

Donizetti’s importance lies above all in his work as a teacher and organizer. His compositions, mostly occasional pieces (marches and anthems) for Mahmud II and Abdul Medjid, rarely depart from a consciously conventional and celebratory style. Nevertheless, at least one of the imperial marches found some contemporary popularity: Liszt wrote a Grande paraphrase de la marche de Donizetti composée pour Sa majesté le sultan Abdoul-Medij-Khan (Berlin, 1848). He was made an honorary general in the Turkish army in recognition of his services, and in 1842 the French government made him a knight of the Légion d’Honneur.

Jules Massenet (b Montaud, St Etienne, 12 May 1842; d Paris, 13 Aug 1912). French composer. He was the most prolific and successful composer of opera in France at the end of the 19th century and into the beginning of the 20th.

Mariano Obiols (b Barcelona, 26 Nov 1809; d Barcelona, 10 Dec 1888). Spanish composer. He began his studies in Spain but went abroad in 1831, becoming a protégé of Mercadante, with whom he toured Europe. His first opera, Odio e amore (two acts, libretto by F. Romani), had a successful run at La Scala beginning on 5 September 1837. In the same year Obiols returned to Barcelona to teach at the recently formed Conservatory, becoming its director in 1847, and during the next two decades dedicated himself mostly to teaching, administration and conducting. Not until 1874 did he produce another opera, Editta di Belcourt (four acts, libretto by F. Fors de Casamayor), first performed at the Gran Teatro del Liceo on 28 January. Though its italianate features were in harmony with the conservative repertory of the major Spanish theatres, Editta represented a compositional path abandoned by many of Obiols’s younger contemporaries, such as Bretón and Pedrell. Pedrell’s El último Abencerraje, in which Moorish and Spanish musical elements are prominent, was produced at the Liceo just a few months after the première of Editta. Obiols also wrote works for choir, orchestra and chamber ensemble, as well as a Método de solfeo and Ejercicios para canto.

Theodor Lachner (b Rain am Lech, Upper Bavaria, 1788; d Munich, 23 May 1877). Composer and organist. He was court organist in Munich, a position he held until his death. He enjoyed a reputation as a composer of lieder and choral works, his quartets for men’s voices being especially popular.