Reinecke, Carl

Reinecke, Carl – Dame Kobold Ouvertüre op. 51

(b. Altona, 23. June 1824 — d. Leipzig, 10. March)

Preface
Carl Heinrich Carsten Reinecke was born in Altona, a borough of Hamburg, Germany, in June 1824. He was a successful performer, working as a court pianist in Copenhagen, and a renowned conductor, leading the Gewandhaus Orchestra. Reinecke dedicated much of his life to teaching decades of his life with the Leipzig Conservatoire, first as a teacher, and then as its director.

Among his other accolades, Reinecke was a celebrated composer. He approached his composition just as he had approached his leadership of the Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Leipzig Conservatoire: Conservatively. Reinecke appreciated the music of his Romantic predecessors and colleagues, admiring the likes of Johannes Brahms, Robert Schumann, and Felix Mendelssohn. This admiration is evident in his composition. Though he composed through the late nineteenth century, his music adheres to the conventions of Romantic style. While today Reinecke is best known for his works for the flute, he wrote a breadth of chamber, choral, and orchestral music.

Reinecke’s Dame Kobold Overture, Op 51 is an orchestral overture, based upon the play of the same name (La dama duende in its original Spanish) by Spanish Playwright Pedro Calderón de la Barca. The title means “The Phantom Lady.” The original drama is based on the myth of Cupid and Psyche, with the roles reversed. It follows the plot of Doña Ángela, a noblewoman who seeks to capture the heart of Don Manuel but must do so secretly to avoid detection by her two brothers, who serve as her guardians.

This play is a story of forbidden love, steeped in supernatural elements. This is reflected in Reinecke’s overture. It is amorous and triumphant and, after a brief introduction, we hear a joyous main theme in D major, with the main material mostly in the strings. After the exposition, the texture thins, and new lines take shape. The piece is speckled with woodwind solos. The most notable of these are in the flute part—the instrument most associated with the piece’s central theme of love. These moments are interspersed through a long development, which plays with the already established themes, bringing them to more distant, and occasionally more dissonant places. The recapitulation of the main theme is more thickly orchestrated, and the brass cuts through the texture. Though this final section is grander, and occasionally more sinister than its first statement, the finale is exuberant, perhaps representing the triumph of Doña Ángela’s love. …

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