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Karl Goldmark

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Karl Goldmark
The native form of thispersonal nameisGoldmark Károly.This article usesWestern name orderwhen mentioning individuals.

Karl Goldmark(bornKároly Goldmark,Keszthely,18 May 1830 –Vienna,2 January 1915) was a Hungarian-born Viennesecomposer.[1]

Life and career[edit]

Goldmark came from a largeJewishfamily. His father, Ruben Goldmark, was achazan(cantor) to the Jewish congregation atKeszthely,Hungary, where Karl was born. Karl Goldmark's older brotherJosephbecame a physician and was later involved in theRevolution of 1848,and forced to emigrate to the United States. Karl Goldmark's early training as a violinist was at the musical academy ofSopron(1842–44).

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 withLeopold Jansabefore his money ran out. He prepared himself for entry first to the ViennaTechnische Hochschuleand then to theVienna Conservatoryto study the violin withJoseph BöhmandharmonywithGottfried Preyer. Until he became a member of Vienna's Carl Theatre in 1850, Goldmark was impoverished, surviving on menial odd jobs and handouts. [Douglas Townsend, liner notes to Columbia Records MS7261, Rustic Wedding (Leonard Berstein, NY Philharmonic)] TheRevolution of 1848forced the Conservatory to close down. Goldmark was largely self-taught as a composer, and he supported himself in Vienna playing theviolinin theatre orchestras, at the Carlstheater and the privately supported Viennese institution, theTheater in der Josefstadt.This gave him practical experience withorchestration,an art he more than mastered. He also gave lessons:Jean Sibeliusstudied with him briefly. Goldmark's first concert in Vienna (1858) met with hostility, and he returned to Budapest, returning to Vienna in 1860.

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 Brahmsand 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, ofRichard 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 theGesellschaft der Musikfreunde,received an honorary doctorate from theUniversity of Budapestand shared withRichard Straussan honorary membership in theAccademia di Santa Cecilia,Rome.

Goldmark'soperaDie 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 theVienna Staatsopercontinuously until 1938. He wrote six other operas as well (see list).

TheRustic Wedding Symphony(Ländliche Hochzeit), Op. 26 (first performed in 1876), a work that was kept in the repertory bySir 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.

HisViolin Concerto No. 1in A minor, Op. 28, was once his most frequently played piece. The concerto had its première inBremenin 1877, initially enjoyed great popularity and then slid into obscurity. A very romantic work, it has aMagyarmarch in the first movement and passages reminiscent ofDvořákandMendelssohnin the second and third movements. The concerto has started to re-enter the repertoire with recordings by such prominent violin soloists asItzhak PerlmanandJoshua Bell.Nathan Milsteinalso championed the work. Milstein's recording of the Concerto (1957) is widely considered the definitive one.

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.

Memorial for Goldmark inVienna

Goldmark's chamber music, in which the influences ofSchumannandMendelssohnare paramount, although critically well received in his lifetime, is now rarely heard. It includes theString Quintetin A minor Op. 9 that made his first reputation in Vienna, theViolin Sonatain D major Op. 25, twoPiano Quintetsin B-flat major, Op. 30 and C-sharp minor, Op. 54, theCello SonataOp. 39, and the work that first brought Goldmark's name into prominence in the Viennese musical world, theString Quartetin B-flat Op. 8 (his only work in that genre). He also composed choral music, two Suites for Violin and Piano (in D major, Op. 11, and in E-flat major, Op. 43), and numerousconcert overtures,such as theSakuntalaOverture Op. 13 (a work which cemented his fame after his String Quartet), thePenthesileaOverture Op. 31, theIn the SpringOverture Op. 36, thePrometheus BoundOverture Op. 38, theSapphoOverture Op. 44, theIn ItalyOverture Op. 49, and theAus JugendtagenOverture, Op. 53. Other orchestral works include thesymphonic poemZrínyi,Op. 47, and two orchestral scherzos, in E minor, Op. 19, and in A major, Op. 45.

Goldmark's nephewRubin Goldmark(1872–1936), a pupil ofDvořák,was also a composer, who spent his career in New York.

Death[edit]

Goldmark died in Vienna and is buried in theZentralfriedhof(Central Cemetery), along with many other notable composers. Many of his autograph manuscripts are in the collection of theNational Széchényi Library,with "G" catalogue numbers attached to various works (including those without opus number.)

List of works[edit]

Operas[edit]

Symphonies[edit]

Works for Orchestra[edit]

  • 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 theBamberg Symphony OrchestraunderFabrice Bollonforcpolabel: Vol. 1 555 160-2 and Vol. 2 555 251–2.)

Concerti[edit]

Chamber music[edit]

  • 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)[edit]

  • 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[edit]

  • Regenliedfor unaccompanied chorus, Op. 10
  • Two Pieces for unaccompanied men's chorus, Op. 14
  • Frühlingsnetzfor men's chorus, 4 horns, and piano, Op. 15
  • Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrtfor men's chorus and horns, Op. 16
  • Two Pieces for unaccompanied men's chorus, Op. 17
  • Frühlingshymnefor 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[edit]

  • 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[edit]

  1. ^Peter Revers,Michael Cherlin, Halina Filipowicz, Richard L. Rudolph The Great Tradition and Its Legacy 2004;ISBN1-57181-403-5,p. 227; "During the late nineteenth century, Karl Goldmark was among the most internationally celebrated of Viennese composers."

Further reading[edit]

  • Hofer, Johann:Carl Goldmark: Komponist der Ringstrassenzeit.Wien: Edition Steinbauer, 2015.ISBN978-3-902494-72-6(in German)

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toKároly Goldmark.
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