Felix Draeseke (1835-1913) - New German School conservative

[Scion7]

Born in Coburg. Lived in Dresden from 1876 until his death.  After hearing Wagner's Lohengrin, he aligned himself with the 'New German School.' He met Liszt in 1857, who liked a work of his and wanted to have it performed in Weimer - it met a hostile reception, unfortunately.  After meeting Wagner in 1859, he left for Switzerland in 1861.  He composed there and worked as a piano teacher in several towns.  Back in Germany, Liszt was praising his music.  Returning to Germany after a 15 year absence, he obtained a position at the Dresden conservatory.  His musical outlook began to change, and he became more conservative.  He found Richard Strauss not to his liking, for example. His individualistic harmonic style was distinctive.
Much later during the Nazi era, a party member tried to use his position to popularize the music of Draeseke with little success.

     chamber music
=============================
String quartet nr. 1 in c, op 27 (1880)
String quartet nr. 2 in e, op 35, (1886)
String quartet nr. 3 in c#, op 66 (1895)
Quintet in B-flat for piano, violin, viola, cello, and horn, op 48 (1888)
Quintet in A 'Stelzner-Quintett' for violins (2), viola, violotta, and cello (1897)
Quintet in F for violins (2), viola, and celli (2), op 77 (1901)
Ballade for Cello and Piano in b, op 7 (1867)
Barcarole for Cello and Piano in a, op 11 (1872)
Scene for Violin and Piano, op. 69 (1899)
Adagio for Horn and Piano, op 31 (1885)
Romanze for Horn and Piano, op 32 (1885)
Suite for Two Violins, op. 86 (1911)
Kleine Suite for English Horn (or Oboe) and Piano, op 87 (1911)
Viola Sonata No. 1 in c minor, WoO 21 (1892)
Viola Sonata No. 2 in F, WoO 26 (1902)
Clarinet Sonata in B-flat op. 38
Violin Sonata in B-flat op 38 (alternate version of the clarinet sonata)
Cello Sonata, op. 51 (1890)

     piano music
=============================
Sonata quasi fantasia, c, op.6
Valse Rhapsodie in E-flat minor, Op.4
Valse-Impromptu in D-flat major, Op. 4, No. 2
Valse-Scherzo in C# minor, Op.5
Fantasie on Themes from Boieldieus "Weisse Dame", op 8 (1866)
Petite Histoire, op 9 (ca. 1869)
Fata Morgana, op 13 (1877)
Dämmerungsräume: Five piano pieces, op 14 (1876-7)
Six Fugues, op 15 (1876)
Was die Schwalbe sang, Five lyric pieces, op 21 (1883)
Miniaturen, Six piano pieces, op 23 (1883)
Rückblicke. Five lyric piano pieces, op 43 (1888)
Scheidende Sonne, Nine piano pieces, op 44 (1888)
Neun Albumblätter, WoO 19 (1888)
March in C-major, WoO 40 (?)

     orchestral music
=============================
Serenade, D, op.49, 1888 (1889);
Piano Conc., op.36, 1885–6 (1887);
Violin Conc., 1881;
marches, incl. Germania-Marsch, 1861
Overture toJubelouvertüre, op.65 (1898);
Ouvertüre zum Namenstag des Fürsten Constantin, 1862,
Akademische Festouvertüre, 1890
Symphonies: ugendsinfonie (destroyed), C;
     G, op.12, 1868–72 (1873);
     F, op.25, 1870–76 (1880);
     Symphonia tragica, op.40, 1885–6 (1887);
     Symphonia comica, e/G, 1912 (1996)
Symphonic poems: Julius Caesar, 1860, rev. 1865;
     Frithjof, 1865;
     Thunersee, 1903
Symphonic preludes: Das Leben ein Traum (after Calderón), op.45, 1868–88 (1894),
Penthesilea (after Kleist), op.50, 1888 (1889),
Der Traum ein Leben (after Grillparzer), 1904

[Cato]

YouTube has a good number of his works:

Symphony #3 "Tragic"

https://www.youtube.com/v/07b-dCI5CyQ

[Scion7]

YouTube also has the  Sonata quasi fantasia,  posted by movements, which may be his most known work?

[kyjo]

Time to revive this pitifully short thread! I hadn't been overly impressed by anything I heard by Draeseke until I heard his impressive Piano Concerto in E-flat (1885-86):



Unlike the accompanying Jadassohn concerti on this disc, which are pleasant and thoroughly predictable, the Draeseke concerto is a big, bold, and quite individual work. As befits its key signature of E-flat major, it's quite heroic in demeanor. The highlight of the work for me was the really energetic and catchy (not a word I'd usually associate with this composer!) finale, which Pfitzner may or may not have had in mind when writing the second movement scherzo of his PC in the same key. The performance here does absolute justice to the work, bringing a tangible sense of thrilling dramatic interplay between soloist and orchestra. Despite the title of this thread, I wouldn't classify Draeseke as "conservative", at least not on the basis of this concerto!

[Symphonic Addict]

Time to revive this pitifully short thread! I hadn't been overly impressed by anything I heard by Draeseke until I heard his impressive Piano Concerto in E-flat (1885-86):



Unlike the accompanying Jadassohn concerti on this disc, which are pleasant and thoroughly predictable, the Draeseke concerto is a big, bold, and quite individual work. As befits its key signature of E-flat major, it's quite heroic in demeanor. The highlight of the work for me was the really energetic and catchy (not a word I'd usually associate with this composer!) finale, which Pfitzner may or may not have had in mind when writing the second movement scherzo of his PC in the same key. The performance here does absolute justice to the work, bringing a tangible sense of thrilling dramatic interplay between soloist and orchestra. Despite the title of this thread, I wouldn't classify Draeseke as "conservative", at least not on the basis of this concerto!

On another forum managed by pernickety administrators, he would have the number of discussion pages as in Havergal Brian's thread. 

I don't remember having listened to that concerto, so I'll do in due time.

Since you resurrected this thread, I want to mention this thoroughly enjoyable CPO disc of some of his chamber works...



... which includes:

- String Quintet in F major, op. 77
- Quintet for horn, piano, violin, viola and cello in B-flat major, op. 48
- Scene for violin and piano, op. 69

[Brian]

That quintet op 48 has a very interesting instrumentation - one clarinet shy of the sextets by Dohnanyi and Penderecki. Not many works of a similar type! I'll have to give it a try.

[San Antone]

I find the lieder fantastic! Draeseke's songs fit about half way between Schubert and Wolf, chronologically as well as stylistically.  The complete CPO series is a real service to classical music fans, but my favorites are the lieder and chamber records.

[kyjo]

On another forum managed by pernickety administrators, he would have the number of discussion pages as in Havergal Brian's thread. 

I don't remember having listened to that concerto, so I'll do in due time.

Since you resurrected this thread, I want to mention this thoroughly enjoyable CPO disc of some of his chamber works...



... which includes:

- String Quintet in F major, op. 77
- Quintet for horn, piano, violin, viola and cello in B-flat major, op. 48
- Scene for violin and piano, op. 69

HAH! I know exactly which forum you're referring to. I'm a great admirer of Raff's music, but even I think that their worship of him as a god-like deity is a bit excessive. To say nothing of their boundless enthusiasm for a thoroughly mediocre composer by the name of Johann Rufinatscha!

I've heard Draeseke's Op. 48 quintet with horn and thought it had some intriguing textures and development but lacked memorability. As far as his four symphonies go, I have pretty positive memories of his 4th (it lives up to its subtitle Symphonia Comica), but less so of his 3rd Symphonia tragia (I haven't heard the first two).