Schubert, Franz / orch. Lachner, Franz

Franz Schubert – Mirjam‘s Siegesgesang
Orchestrated by Franz Lachner (2 April 1803 – 22 January 1890)

(31 January 1797 – 19 November 1828)

Original: Franz Schubert
Instrumentation: SATB Chorus, Soprano Solo, Pianoforte (D 942)
Composed: March-May 1828
Premiere performance: 30 January 1829, Musikverein, Vienna
First published: c1839, A. Diabelli & Co. VN 6267
Download: textinformation: Ezust, Emily. http://www.lieder.net/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=6891.

Orchestration: Franz Lachner
Instrumentation: 2.2.2.2-2.2.3.0-timp-strings, SATB Chorus, Soprano Solo
Premiere performance: 28 March 1830 Redoutensaal, Vienna
First published: 1873 Senff
Rental: http://www.boosey.com/cr/music/Franz-Schubert-Mirjams-Siegesgesang/27468
Recent Performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAkK2DfKzrA
(American Symphony Orchestra, Leon Botstein, conductor, 2014)

An Orchestration Borne of a Historical Friendship
Franz Lachner’s orchestration of Schubert’s Mirjam’s Siegesgesang might easily be cast as a ‘labor of love’ to honor his professional colleague and good friend, whom he outlived by 62 years–and additionally, as a memorial gesture to their productive collegiality. Primary and anecdotal sources confirm the ripeness and busyness of the Schubert-Lachner liaison, which included score, manuscript and letter exchanges, public performances (notably the F minor Fantasie D 940 for piano 4-hands) and other types of collaborations, including many a night of ale-drinking at the local pub! Lachner himself stated “…Schubert and I[,] spent most of our time together sketching new compositions. We were the closest of friends, mornings performing for each other and discussing in depth every imaginable topic with the greatest of candor.” Short on the heels of the posthumous premiere of Mirjam’s Siegesgesang two months after Schubert’s untimely death in November 1828, Lachner began preparing an orchestrated version of the work, which had its premiere a little more than a year later. But–did the composer wish Mirjam’s Siegesgesang to manifest in orchestral form?

Read full preface > HERE