Heinrich von Herzogenberg

Heinrich Picot de Peccaduc, Freiherr von Herzogenberg (10 June 1843 – 9 October 1900) was an Austrian composer and conductor descended from a French aristocratic family.

He was born in Graz and was educated at a Jesuit school in Feldkirch and also in Munich, Dresden and Graz before studying law, philosophy and political science at the university of Vienna. He soon turned his energies to music, however, and attended the composition classes of Felix Otto Dessoff until 1864. He was early attracted to the music of Wagner, but through the study of J. S. Bach he was led to a strong attachment to the classical tradition and became an ardent admirer of Brahms. In 1866 he married Elisabet von Stockhausen, who had been a piano pupil of Brahms; Brahms's letters to and from both Herzogenbergs form one of the most delightful sections of his correspondence. They lived in Graz until 1872, when they moved to Leipzig: in 1874, with the Bach scholar Philipp Spitta, Herzogenberg founded the Leipzig Bach-Verein, which concerned itself with the revival of Bach’s cantatas. Herzogenberg was its artistic director for ten years, during which time Ethel Smyth was one of his composition pupils. From 1885 he was Professor of Composition at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin: it was in this capacity that he advised the young Ralph Vaughan Williams to study with Max Bruch. He died suddenly in Wiesbaden , aged 57; in his last years he was confined to a wheelchair due to necrosis of the joints.

Herzogenberg was a learned composer of definite gifts, and was the first to write a set of "Variations on a theme of Brahms" (his op.23, for four hands at one piano, composed in 1876 on the Brahms song, "Die Trauernde", op.7 no.5), but despite Elisabet’s cajoling Brahms almost never expressed approval of his works. It has been theorized that he was piqued that Herzogenberg had married Elisabet, of whom he was himself extremely fond. Toward the end of his life, Brahms grudgingly relented somewhat writing, “Herzogenberg is able to do more than any of the others.”

While Herzogenberg has tended to be characterized as a mere of Brahms, many of his compositions show little or no overt Brahmsian influence, for example his two string trios Op.27 Nos. 1 & 2, while some early compositions pre-dating his acquaintance with Brahms have features in common with the older composer.

Towards the end of his life he concentrated on providing music for communal worship in the Lutheran Evangelical Church in Strasbourg, under the influence of Friedrich Spitta, brother of Philipp Spitta, who was professor of theology there, though Herzogenberg himself remained a Roman Catholic. His models in these pieces were the Bach oratorios and passions, with chorales designed to be sung by the congregation and only a small instrumental ensemble. He also wrote a large-scale Mass in memory of Philipp Spitta, for which Friedrich Spitta selected the text. Several of Herzogenberg’s major works were thought to have been destroyed during World War II but resurfaced during the 1990s.

elected works

*Choral works
**Lieder for mixed chorus, op. 10 cite web|title=Bayern Library OPAC|url=http://bvba2.bib-bvb.de/V|accessdate=2007-08-11]
**"Columbus": op. 11, Cantata (published Leipzig, 1872). cite web|title=British Library OPAC|url=http://catalogue.bl.uk|accessdate=2007-11-18]
**Psalm 116: op. 34 (printed by Hänssler Musik Verlag, 1990)
**"Nanna's Klage" for soprano, alto, small chorus and orchestra, op. 59 (Leipzig: Rieter-Biedermann, 1887)
**Requiem, op. 72 (published Leipzig, 1891)
**Cantata "Todtenfeier" op. 80 (1893) (libretto by Philipp Spitta's brother, Friedrich)
**Mass in E minor for soloists, chorus and orchestra, op. 87 (published by Carus-Verlag in Stuttgart, 2002)
**Oratorio "Die Geburt Christi", op. 90 (1894)
**"Die Passion", op. 93 (1896)
**"Die Erntefeier", op. 104 (published by Leipzig : Rieter-Biedermann, 1899)
*Vocal works
**Five songs for high voice and piano, op. 29 (published Leipzig and Winterthur, 1881)
**Five songs for high voice and piano, op. 30 (published Leipzig and Winterthur, 1881)
**Geistliche Gesänge for high voice, violin and organ, opus 89
*Orchestral works
**Eight symphonies
***"Odysseus", op. 16 (published Leipzig, 1873) cite web|title=GBV Search|url=http://gso.gbv.de|accessdate=2007-09-17]
***Symphony no. 1 in C minor op. 50
***Symphony no. 2 in B-flat major op. 70
***Symphony in F WoO 25 [cite web|title=Page on Symphony in F major|publisher=Klassika|url=http://www.klassika.info/Komponisten/Herzogenberg/Symphonie/WoO_025/index.html|accessdate=2007-11-17|month=December | year=2006]
**Violin Concerto in A major "Joseph Joachim gewidmet", WoO4 [cite web|title=Announcement of Planned Premiere, May 1 2008, of Herzogenberg Violin Concerto|url=http://www.bodenseefestival.de/prog_2008.html|accessdate=2007-11-17]
*Chamber music
**Piano quintet in C major opus 17 (1875) [cite web|title=Announcement of EDA Recording of Quintet|url=http://www.recordsinternational.com/cd.php?cd=11J065|month=November | year=2007|publisher=Records International|accessdate=2007-11-17] (Leipzig:Breitkopf & Härtel, 1876)
**String quintet in C minor (2 Violins, 2 Violas, Cello) op. 77 (Leipzig: Rieter-Biedermann, 1892- date of composition and publication)
**Piano trios in C minor op. 24 (1875-6, first published 1877 by Rieter-Biedermann) and in D minor op. 36 (1882, first published 1884 by Rieter-Biedermann) (both republished by Carus-Verlag, 2001)
**String trios op. 27 nos. 1 in A (1879) and 2 in F (from the cpo recordings)
**Five string quartets opp. 18 in D minor , 42 nos. 1-3 ( no. 1 in G minor, no. 2 in D minor, no. 3 in G major), dedicated to Johannes Brahms (published Leipzig: Rieter-Biedermann, 1884) cite web|title=Library of Congress OPAC|url=http://catalog.loc.gov|accessdate=2007-08-10] , 63 in F minor dedicated to Joseph Joachim cite web|title=Internationales Bodenseefestival 2007|url=http://www.bodenseefestival.de/prog_2007.html|accessdate=2007-11-17]
**Quintet for winds and piano op. 43 in E-flat major cite web|title=MIRLYN OPAC|url=http://mirlyn.lib.umich.edu|accessdate=2007-08-10]
**Trio for piano, oboe and horn op. 61
**2 piano quartets opp. 75 and 95 (dedicated to Brahms)
**Legends for viola and piano, op. 62
**Sonatas including
***Violin sonata op. 32 in A "Joseph Joachim gewidmet" [cite web|title=Page on First Violin Sonata|url=http://www.klassika.info/Komponisten/Herzogenberg/Violinsonate/032/index.html|publisher=Klassika|accessdate=2007-11-17|month=September | year=2003] [cite web|title=Description of First Sonata with Key|url=http://www.st-ingbert.de/3343.htm|accessdate=2007-11-18] (Leipzig: Rieter-Biedermann, 1882)
***Violin sonata op. 54 in E♭ (published in Leipzig, 1887)
***Violin sonata op. 78 in D minor (Leipzig: Rieter-Biedermann, 1892)
***Cello sonata no. 1 in A minor, op. 52 (around 1886) cite web|title=Announcement of cpo Recording of Cello Sonatas|publisher=Records International|url=http://www.recordsinternational.com/archive/RICatalogJul01.html|month=July | year=2001|accessdate=2007-11-17]
***Cello sonata no. 2 in D, op. 64 (1890)
***Cello sonata no. 3 in E♭ major, op. 94 (around 1895) (Leipzig: J. Rieter-Biedermann, 1897)
**Eight variations, op. 3
**Four fantasy pieces, op. 4 (published in Leipzig about 1866)
**Fantastic dances, op. 9 (published around 1870 in Vienna)
**Theme and variations, op. 13 for 2 pianos (Wien: Gotthard, 1872)
**Variations on a theme by Johannes Brahms: for four hands, op. 23 (Gräfeling: W. Wollenweber, 1998)
**"Allotria" for piano duet, op. 33
**Five piano pieces, op. 37 (published about 1879 in Leipzig)
**Waltzes for piano duet, op. 53
**Variations on the Minuet from 'Don Juan', op. 58
**"Capriccio", op.107
*Organ works
** Orgel-Phantasie Nun komm der Heiden Heiland, op. 39 cite web|title=Princeton OPAC|url=http://catalog.princeton.edu|accessdate=2007-08-10]
** Orgel-Phantasie Nun danket alle Gott : op. 46 cite web|title=WorldCat OPAC|url=http://www.worldcat.org|accessdate=2007-09-17]
*Piano music
**Six choral preludes for the organ, op. 67

References

*"Johannes Brahms. The Herzogenberg Correspondence" edited by Max Kalbeck, translated by Hannah Bryant (London, 1909)
*"Cobbett Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music", 2nd Edition, Oxford University Press 1963

External links

* [http://www.editionsilvertrust.com/music-books-h-to-m.htm Heinrich von Herzogenberg Sound-bites from several chamber music works and short biography.]
*IckingArchive|idx=Herzogenberg|name=Heinrich von Herzogenberg