The Periodical Overtures in 8 Parts

… is a remarkable series of sixty-one orchestral symphonies published in London by Robert Bremner between 1763 and 1783. In essence, it was a “symphony-of-the-month” publication over this twenty-year period, capturing the musical tastes of London during the era’s “rage for music.” Bremner was inspired to undertake the series after witnessing the success on the Continent of similar French periodical prints. In England, however, Bremner’s series went unrivaled for a decade, and no other later British publisher came close to matching his success with this periodical format.

From the start, Bremner promised to issue works that had never been printed in Britain and that were composed by “the most celebrated Authors.” He honored both of those commitments, and by 1783, the Periodical Overtures represented some twenty-eight well-regarded composers from across Europe. To accommodate smaller orchestras, the symphonies usually were limited to eight parts, representing first and second violins, viola, bass, a pair of oboes, and a pair of horns, although a few additional instruments began appearing in various issues as British ensembles grew more ambitious. Bremner also catered to a generally conservative British taste by adding figured bass if it were not already present and sometimes reducing the number of movements to three. The works were widely performed, appearing in the records of concert organizations in England, Scotland, and even in the American colonies. Late in the century, several of the most popular issues were arranged for keyboard, reflecting not only the increasing number of pianos in private homes, but also the Periodical Overtures’ staying power.

The objective of these Periodical Overtures Editions in the “Repertoire Explorer” series is to make this unique collection of orchestral works easily accessible and affordable. The music has been edited with a light touch, preserving the authenticity of Bremner’s original prints. Copyist errors have been corrected and notation has been standardized to meet modern conventions, along with the addition of bar numbers, rehearsal letters, and instrumental cues to facilitate performance. Horn parts in F are provided, along with parts in the symphony’s original key. Each score includes a short background and analytical essay along with a summary of the editorial approaches and changes. The Periodical Overtures Editions enrich the repertoire available to chamber orchestras, professional and amateur alike, providing them with valuable historical and musical insights as well as much delightful music-making, a great deal of which is unknown to contemporary audiences and performers.

> Historical Background & Catalogue

Orchestra

Busch, Adolf
Symphony in E minor op. 39 for large orchestra

(b. Siegen, August 8, 1891 – d. Guilford, Vermont, USA, June 9, 1952)

 … Adolf Busch was born in Siegen in 1891, the second of seven surviving children of a carpenter who, through much practice, had become a violin maker, and the daughter of a locksmith who ran her own handicrafts shop. Adolf received his first violin lessons from his father at the age of two and a half, he performed in public for the first time at the age of four, and the “child prodigy” label was not long in coming. From 1902 to 1909 he studied at the Cologne Conservatory with Willy Hess, Bram Eldering and Fritz Steinbach. Adolf’s brother, the conductor Fritz Busch, describes his brother’s composition lessons with Steinbach as “rarely given[…] but all the more excellent for it[…]”. Large and small forms were explored, and Steinbach also provided his pupil with poems on song composition. On 26 January 1909, Adolf Busch met Max Reger and he played the composer’s Violin Concerto in A major by heart, accompanied by his brother Fritz. Reger was enthusiastic about his playing, and the two subsequently gave many concerts together. Busch’s compositional development owes much to their friendship, even though other composers, such as Ferruccio Busoni, later left their mark on Busch’s oeuvre, which was nevertheless quite unique….

Bach, Johann Christian
NEW SPECIAL EDITION(!)The Periodical Overture in 8 Parts No. 1, Gli uccellatori (edited by Barnaby Priest and Alyson McLamore / first print)

Published by Robert Bremner at the Harp and Hautboy, opposite Somerset-House, in the Strand
Issued: 30 June 1763; price 2 shillings
Source: Henry Watson Music Library – Courtesy of Manchester Libraries,
Information and Archives, Manchester City Council: BR580Ba75
Editors: Barnaby Priest & Alyson McLamore

Introduction, Historical Background and catalogue > HERE

COMMENTARY

Robert Bremner (c.1713–1789) launched his new series of Periodical Overtures by featuring the work of a rising star in London: the twenty-seven-year old Johann Christian Bach (1735–1782). Bach’s career took a circuitous path before he met the Scottish publisher. The youngest son of the great Lutheran musician Johann Sebastian Bach, Johann Christian had been only fifteen when his father died in 1750, so he moved from Leipzig to Berlin to live with his half-brother Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, who oversaw Johann Christian’s music instruction for the next five years. Before he had turned twenty, however, Johann Christian took a step that no member of the Bach family had ever taken: he went to Italy. There, he was surrounded by opera—a genre never produced by either his father or his half-brother. In fact, Charles Burney later published his regret that neither of the older Bachs “had been fortunately employed to compose for the stage and the public of great capitals” since he believed that that would have led them to write “in a style more popular, and generally intelligible and pleasing.” …

Saint-Saëns, Camille
Africa, Fantaisie pour piano avec accompagnement d’Orchestre, Op. 89

(b. Paris, 9 October 1835 – d. Algiers, 16 December 1921)

(Images in the online preface are not available!)

Composed: started 1889 Cadiz, completed March-April 1891 Cairo, orchestrated June 1891 in Algiers
Premiere: 25 October 1891, conducted by Édouard Colonne (1838-1910) at the Théâtre du Châtelet Concerts Colonne
Dedicated to: Mademoiselle Marie-Aimée Roger-Miclos (1860-1951), premiering pianist.
First Publication: October 1891, Two pianos: Durand & Schoenewerk, Plate D. & S. 4394
November 1891 Orchestral parts: Durand & Cie., Plate D. & F. 4476
December 1891 Solo piano: Plate D. & S. 4440
February 1892 Orchestral score: Durand & Cie., Plate D. & F. 4476
Orchestration: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns (F), 2 cornets (B-flat), 3 trombones, timpani, triangle, cymbals, strings

The Composer
Camille Saint-Saëns was a short, witty, sarcastic French composer remembered mainly for his opera Samson and Delilah and the orchestral showpieces Danse macabre and Carnival of the Animals. One of the most prolific French romantic composers, he published nearly 300 compositions in his eighty-six years, describing himself as “an apple tree producing apples”. He composed the first film score in 1908. …

Opera

Weill, Kurt
Der Protagonist Op. 15 (1925) (complete opera score in one act with German libretto by Georg Kaiser)

(b. Dessau, 2 March 1900 – d. New York, 3 April 1950)

Preface
“Only when I felt that my music contained the tension of scenic processes did I turn to the stage.” With these words, Kurt Weill explains in his essay and memorandum Bekenntnis zur Oper (1926, Blätter der Staatsoper Dresden) how and why he made the decision to devote himself to music theatre. It was precisely this inclination towards musical drama – as Heinrich Strobel states in his authoritative study Kurt Weill, 1920-27 – that characterised the Dessau composer’s lifelong work. Even the instrumental pieces, such as the String Quartet op. 8 and the Violin Concerto op. 12, which precede the theatrical attempts of the young Kurt Weill, do indeed exhibit a distinctly dramatic character.

In the Berlin of the 1920s, which was characterised by the Expressionist movement, Weill reflected on the aesthetic and sociological state of the opera genre. Wagner and his “epigones” – Engelbert Humperdinck, Hans Pfitzner and even Richard Strauss – had initiated a ground-breaking development in music theatre form. However, the aesthetic development of the avant-garde took an opposite path, “which temporarily led away from opera” (K. Weill, Die neue Oper): the path to “absolute music”, purified of any literary-narrative imaginary world. Nevertheless, Kurt Weill believed that the cross-generational reaction on programme …

Chamber Music

Hvoslef, Ketil
Quartetto per Archi nr. V (2021) (first print / score & parts)

(b. Bergen, July 19th 1939)

First performance: December 6th 2023, Gunnar Sævigsal, Bergen
Ricardo Odriozola and Terézia Mušutová, violins
Sara Evensen, viola
Johanna Saaek, cello

Ketil Hvoslef was born in Bergen on July 19th 1939. He is the youngest son of Harald Sæverud and Marie Hvoslef. He arrived at a propitious time, since his birth coincided with the completion of Siljustøl, the great mansion in the outskirts of Bergen where the Sæverud family settled and where his father lived until his passing in 1992. It also proved to be a haven during the Nazi invasion of Norway in the Second World War.
Being the son of a great composer, music was naturally very present during his upbringing. He learned to play the piano and the viola and, in his teens, he became heavily involved in Bergen’s jazz and pop music environment, becoming a member of what was, reportedly, Bergen’s first rock band. Hvoslef (who retained the Sæverud surname until his 40th birthday, when he decided to adopt that of his mother) had, however, plans to become a painter and took serious steps in that direction. It was in the Bergen Art Academy that he met the painter Inger Bergitte Flatebø (1938 – 2008), who would become his wife and adopt the Sæverud …surname.