Friedrich Gernsheim

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Friedrich Gernsheim (Worms, July 17, 1839–Berlin, September 10, 1916) was a composer, conductor and pianist of German birth. He was given his musical training starting from the age of seven from Worms' musical director Louis Liebe, a Spohr pupil. His family soon moved to Mainz because of the 1848 year of revolutions, and then to Leipzig where he studied piano with Moscheles from 1852. He spent the years from 1855–1860 in Paris, meeting Gioacchino Rossini, Édouard Lalo and Camille Saint-Saëns.

His travels afterwards took him to Saarbrücken, where in 1861 he took the conductor post vacated by Hermann Levi; to Cologne, where in 1865 Ferdinand Hiller appointed him to the staff of the Conservatory (one of his pupils was Engelbert Humperdinck); then musical director in Rotterdam 1874-1890. In the latter year he became a teacher at the Stern Conservatorium in Berlin, and in 1897 moved to teach at the Academy of Arts there.

Gernsheim was a prolific composer, especially of orchestral, chamber and instrumental music, and songs. Some of his works tend to Jewish subject-matter, notably the Third Symphony on the legend of the Song of Miriam. His earlier works show the influence of Schumann, and from 1868, when he first became friendly with Brahms, a Brahmsian influence is very palpable. Gernsheim's four symphonies, though hardly the equal of Brahms's four, are an interesting example of the reception of Brahmsian style by a sympathetic and talented contemporary.

[edit] Selected works (excerpted from worklist)

  • Orchestral works
    • Symphonies
      • Symphony no. 1 in G minor, op. 32, 1875
      • Symphony no. 2 in E♭ major, op. 46, 1882
      • Symphony no. 3 in C minor ('Miriam' or 'Mirjam'), op. 54, 1887
      • Symphony no. 4 in B♭ major, op. 62, 1895 ([1])
    • Piano Concertos
      • Piano Concerto in C minor, op. 16
    • Violin Concertos
      • Violin Concerto no. 1 in D major, op. 42
      • Violin Concerto no. 2 in F, op. 86
      • Fantasy Piece for violin with orchestra, op. 33
    • Cello Concertos
      • Cello Concerto in E minor, op. 78 (fairly popular in the early 20th century with many mentions in the Neue Zeitschrift as evidence, and played on SWR2 radio on January 31 2005 by cellist Alexander Hülshoff, the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, directed by Ari Rasilaïnen)
    • Zu einem drama, op. 82 (given a radio recording by Klaus Arp and the SWR Radio Orch. [2])
    • Divertimento, op. 53
  • Chamber music
    • String Quartets
      • String Quartet no. 1 in C minor, op. 25
      • String Quartet no. 2 in A minor, op. 31, 1875 (recorded on Audite)
      • String Quartet no. 3 in F major, op. 51, 1886
      • String Quartet no. 4 in E minor, op. 66
      • String Quartet no. 5 in A major, op. 83 (Republished recently by Walter Wollenweber-Verlag, pub. originally ca 1911.)
    • Piano Quartets
      • Piano Quartet no. 1 in E♭, op. 6
      • Piano Quartet no. 2 in C minor, op. 20 (performed in 2003. [3] Pub. ca. 1870.)
      • Piano Quartet no. 3 in F major, op. 47, 1883
    • Piano Quintets
      • Piano Quintet no. 1 in D minor, op. 35
      • Piano Quintet no. 2 in B minor, op. 63, pub. ca. 1897
    • String Quintets
      • String Quintet no. 1 in D major, op. 9
      • String Quintet no. 2 in E♭ major, op. 89 (premiered in Feb. 1916 and mentioned in the Neue Zeitschrift that year. Two-cello quintet. Given its modern premiere in 2003 along with his string trio op. 74. [4])
    • Violin sonatas
      • Violin sonata no. 1 in C minor, op. 4, pub. ca. 1864
      • Violin sonata no. 2 in C, op. 50, pub. ca. 1885
      • Violin sonata no. 3 in F, op. 64, pub. ca. 1898
      • Violin sonata no. 4 in G, op. 85
    • Piano trios
      • Piano trio no. 1 in F, op. 28
      • Piano trio no. 2 in B, op. 37
      • Two other piano trios, in manuscript (search at the Altenberg Trio site. #2 in B is in their repertoire.)
    • Cello sonatas
      • Cello sonata no. 1 in D minor, op. 12
      • Cello sonata no. 2 in E minor, op. 87*
    • Piano sonata
      • Piano sonata in F minor, op. 1
  • Choral works and orchestral works
    • Nibelungen wiederfahrt, op. 73
    • Nornen wiegenlied, op. 65
    • Agrippina, op. 77

Of these works the symphonies, the cello concerto, the first cello sonata and second string quartet at least have to date been recorded.

* This opus number differs from that under Gernsheim on List of compositions for cello and piano, which bases its information on Muller-Reuter's Lexicon , not the discography referred to in the external link (also on this concert-series description from 2003 in which that work among others was played. However, ultimately a score of the work should be sought to resolve the issue.)

[edit] External links

[edit] Literature

  • Koch, Dr. Hans-Oskar. Notes to the recording on Arte-Nova of the Complete Symphonies of Friedrich Gernsheim.
  • Ringer, Alexander. Friedrich Gernsheim (1839-1916) and the Lost Generation, Music Judaica, Volume III, Number 1, 5741/1980-1. pp. 1-13.
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