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SEQUENZA21/
340 W. 57th Street, 12B, New York, NY 10019

Zookeeper:   
Jerry Bowles
(212) 582-3791

Managing Editor:
David Salvage

Contributing Editors:

Galen H. Brown
Evan Johnson
Ian Moss
Lanier Sammons
Deborah Kravetz
(Philadelphia)
Eric C. Reda
(Chicago)
Christian Hertzog
(San Diego)
Jerry Zinser
(Los Angeles)

Web & Wiki Master:
Jeff Harrington


Latest Posts

Last Night in L.A. - Stockhausen's Mantra
Shall I Compare Thee?
It Had a Good Beat and Was Easy to Dance to
If It�s Good Enough for Kronos, It�s Good Enough for Me
Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch
Atomic Scorecard
�Watching Ligeti Move� at Miller Theater
Live From the Fallout Shelter
The Fire Next Time
Doctor Atomic tonic


 

Record companies, artists and publicists are invited to submit CDs to be considered for review. Send to: Jerry Bowles, Editor, Sequenza 21, 340 W. 57th Street, 12B, New York, NY 10019


Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Thirty forgotten 20th century composers

What do Max Trapp, Gerhart von Westerman, Alfredo Casella, Kurt Hessenberg, Walter Braunfels, Philipp Jarnach and twenty-four other 20th century composers have in common?

First, their compositions were all programmed (and in some cases commissioned) by Wilhelm Furtw�ngler and the Berlin Philharmonic between the years 1922 and 1954. And second their work is not performed with any regularity today, and in many cases they have disappeared into complete obscurity.

Furtw�ngler and the forgotten new music exclusively publishes the results of a research project which analysed every one of the four hundred and seventy-three concerts Furtw�ngler conducted with the Berlin Philharmonic. This identified forty-five 20th century works, from thirty composers who have subsequently slipped into varying degrees of obscurity.

The research lists all these works, gives links to online resources for many of them, and provides biographical information for several composers. These include the now forgotten Max Trapp who was the most performed of this now forgotten generation of composers, and had three of his compositions premiered by Furtw�ngler.

And there are some important questions. What was this music like? Furtw�ngler was a brilliant musician who had a track record in new music including the first performance of Schoenberg's Variations for Orchestra, op. 31 (2nd version). Surely these forty-five works had some merit for him to champion them? Or were many of them politically convenient commissions? Is the comparative obscurity of these composers today simply typical of the casualty rate among new works?

Furtw�ngler and the forgotten new music paints a fascinating picture of new music in pre-war Berlin, and identifies a substantial body of forgotten compositions that may just deserve reassessment.

 



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