# Mystery Work A: Can You Guess The Composer and Work?



## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

Can you guess the composer and possibly the work itself? (This is only the first 90 seconds and is not from a recording on sale anywhere that I can find.)

If not, what is the approximate time period this would have been composed and does it remind you of any well known composer?

Does this sound like the work of a Tier1, Tier2 or Tier3 composer (use your own judgment as to which composers fall into those groups)?

If you don't know the work, do you consider it the sort of music you would like to hear more of?

View attachment 102703


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

John Field? Sounds about 1840-1860 to me. Not much to go on with that short clip, but I feel it is Tier 3 offhand.


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

Phil loves classical said:


> John Field? Sounds about 1840-1860 to me. Not much to go on with that short clip, but I feel it is Tier 3 offhand.


It's not John Field. I won't give away anymore yet to give others a chance.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Sounds like Rachmaninov to me - 1st tier.


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## Guest (Apr 7, 2018)

DaveM said:


> If you don't know the work, do you consider it the sort of music you would like to hear more of?
> 
> View attachment 102703


I don't recognise it. I might tolerate it if it were film music, but otherwise, no...I'd only like to hear more so I could have a better chance of identifying it!


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Mid 19th century, not one of the big names, but someone like Raff. At least in this excerpt, the piano part is imo not brilliant enough for the composer to be someone like Scharwenka, Rubinstein or Sauer.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

I'll go for late 19th Century. As for its value, I don't think it is possible to assess this with such a short clip from what is obviously a longer work. But not 1st tier and probably not 2nd.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

1830-50 I think, attractive, what there is of it. Can't place it or guess the composer!


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## LezLee (Feb 21, 2014)

British 20th century, a bit pedestrian but not unpleasant. 
Or 1940s film music, ‘Gone With The Wind’ sort of thing.

Tier 3


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

Some of the guesses are fairly accurate. TC people know their classical music.  The date of composition is 1848. And yet, the melody has characteristics that would not have been out of place in the latter 19th century. And I've heard romantic piano themes for films not unlike it (genre not similar melody) such as in the opening of The Notebook. 

Will leave this open for guesses a little longer. Thought this sort of thing would be a little fun for a change.


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## Genoveva (Nov 9, 2010)

Is it Løvenskiold: Sylph Scene (La Sylphide)


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Genoveva said:


> Is it Løvenskiold: Sylph Scene (La Sylphide)


Apparently not (composed in 1836).


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## Genoveva (Nov 9, 2010)

Art Rock said:


> Apparently not (composed in 1836).


I did hesitate but it sounds like it.


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## Genoveva (Nov 9, 2010)

try this;


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

The composer may have been influenced by it, given the time line. Also, the Løvenskiold work does not contain a piano, right?

Given the year, I think it might be a work I don't know by a composer I had never heard of from Norway. Spoiler link here.


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## Genoveva (Nov 9, 2010)

Art Rock said:


> The composer may have been influenced by it, given the time line. Also, the Løvenskiold work does not contain a piano, right?
> 
> Given the year, I think it might be a work I don't know by a composer I had never heard of from Norway. Spoiler link here.


Correct, there's no piano in the Løvenskiold work. It's purely orchestral, but the theme/melody is similar but not identical to the "mystery" work. I thought perhaps it might be a piano transcription version written later.

I have no works by Tellefsen.


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## Genoveva (Nov 9, 2010)

Another guess is a work by August Wilhelm Julius Rietz: _Konzertstuck in F minor, Op 33.
_
The problems here are: (i) it doesn't sound quite the same but is similar, (ii) the above work is for oboe and orchestra! But again there might have been some piano version. I'm not sure of the exact date of this work but circa 1850 is about right.

See below a piano/oboe duet of this work:


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

Art Rock said:


> The composer may have been influenced by it, given the time line. Also, the Løvenskiold work does not contain a piano, right?
> 
> Given the year, I think it might be a work I don't know by a composer I had never heard of from Norway. Spoiler link here.


That's actually a pretty good suggestion although not correct. The Adagio from Tellefsen's Piano Concerto #2 is from the same time period and has a similar 'feel':


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

Genoveva said:


> Another guess is a work by August Wilhelm Julius Rietz: _Konzertstuck in F minor, Op 33.
> _
> The problems here are: (i) it doesn't sound quite the same but is similar, (ii) the above work is for oboe and orchestra! But again there might have been some piano version. I'm not sure of the exact date of this work but circa 1850 is about right.
> 
> See below a piano/oboe duet of this work:


Some good ideas there.


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## Genoveva (Nov 9, 2010)

The theme reminds me of Clara Schumann's _Concerto Movement for piano & orchestra in F minor,_ that she wrote in 1847.

There are traces of the same theme in Robert Schumann's _Overture to Manfred _(1848), and in several parts of his opera _Genoveva _ (1848).

I'm beginning to think that a number of composers around this time latched onto the same theme and used it in slighly different versions.


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

Okay, the work is the Adagio of the little known Carl Reinecke Konzertstuck for piano & orchestra Op. 33 (1848). He would have been about 24 (he lived 1824-1910!). I hear influences of Chopin, Mendelssohn & maybe Schumann, their music being particularly influential at that time.

Anyway, I think the Adagio is a bit of a gem -quite a pretty melody and the quality of the development is arguably comparable to that of his peers. IMO, Reinecke rises occasionally to Tier 2 status, particularly with a work such as the Piano Concerto #3 (1877).

There are relatively few recordings of the Konzerstuck. There is one with pianist Joshua Pierce at Presto Classical (includes a number of other Konzertstucks by Hummel, Weber, Czerny, Mendelssohn). There are two on YouTube; I prefer the following live performance (the conductor is a bit of a show himself ) The Adagio starts at 6:30:


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