# Obscure non-stage music of the operatic masters



## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Have you ever tried to dig it?

Here is my modest collection of those, each with short commentary:










A buch of instrumental works some of which are enjoyable. Donizetti was such a great melodist that even in such obscure works like these you may find some memorable themes. By no means masterpieces but I don't regret my time spend with this CD either.










Can't say I like it very much. Donizetti's quartets seem to be German in character, perhaps that's the reason. Or perhaps the selection for this CD didn't include his best?










It is quite enjoyable bunch of symphonies if you don't expect too much after hearing this word. These pieces are mostly two-movement (slow-fast), short works. Some may seem littely attractive when compared with Bellini's best stuff but it's all on decent (sometimes more) level, like his other early work - oboe concerto in E flat major (if I remember the key well).










I don't think Bellini's style fits sacred music well. I'm used to astonishing masses of Mozart and Haynd so I wasn't particularly impressed with much less masterful religious pieces that Bellini wrote. Not much more than curiosity, IMO.

There are also wonderful songs by Bellini but I can't find any collective recording, they're just possible to find at some recital recordings (Pavarotti, Bartoli).










Two piano sonatas from his earliest days are fine and remind me of Weber - quite fun to listen, even if a little bit too lenghty. The 3rd is mature, short work and I've even uploaded it on YouTube long ago:






I find this one to be great work, though it doesn't belong to greatest masterpieces of piano literature it still makes fine contribution to the genre. I especially love the stormy part in second half of first half.

There is also symphony by Wagner which I barely remember and it means I didn't enjoy it that much, just like his other orchestral works, including two or three overtures.


----------



## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

The Wagner symphony is not a bad piece at all, and nothing for a 19 year old composer to be ashamed of. Other orchestral works of his include the "Centennial " march, a piece of hack work he wrote on commission from America to celebrate the 1876 centennial ,
The Homage march for his wacko benefactor king Ludwig of Bavaria, the Faust overture,
the "Columbus" overture, written in honor of good old Chris Columbus, and a cantata called
"The Love Feast of the Apostles", and the "Polonia" overture, to commemorate the Polish rebellion. 
I used to have a cassette of the EMI recording of the Centennial march, the Homage march,plus the overtures to Wagner's first two operas "Die Feen" and Das "liebesverbot", with Marek Janowski conducting the L.S.O. But I seem to have lost it.
The Columbus overture and other Wagner juvenalia can be heard on another EMI recording with Jeffrey Tate and the Bavarian Radio symphony. It's probably very hard to find, but check arkivmusic.com, the best website for hard to find classical CDs.


----------



## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

I do find Bellini's sacred pieces interesting enough. For him this kind of work was his daily bread coming from a family of musicians employed by the Church.

Maybe his best known composition is this _Mass in A Minor_, written by a very young Bellini, from which we can listen to the "Qui sedes" in the voice of Juan Diego Flórez:






But arguably his best achievement is the _Mass in G Minor_, to celebrate the festivity of the Madonna del Carmine, in the little church of Gragnano, in the year 1825.

The Mass was considered lost until, in the 1950s, an autographed score by Bellini was found in Naples.

Those pieces exude a bright religiousness, joyful, mediterranean, very far from the somber metaphysical digressions that can be heard in the sacred music of colder and mistier countries.


----------



## AmericanGesamtkunstwerk (May 9, 2011)

I HAVE BEEN WANTING THE AFOREMENTIONED WAGNER CDS FOR SO LONG. i'm a bit too 21st century- i have trouble paying for music. and its never available from the shiver-me-timbers. I'll have to buy the cd's proper at some point. THANK YOU for uploading the pieces that you have.


----------



## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

schigolch said:


> from which we can listen to the "Qui sedes" in the voice of Juan Diego Flórez


Well, that's sort of cheat because anything that he sings automatically becomes interesting.


----------



## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Thank's to some nice fellow named Paolo Faggi we can listen to french horn stuff by bel canto masters on YouTube, as performed by mentioned fellow:


----------



## vasysm (Oct 27, 2011)

Verdi's String Quartet is quite enjoyable too.


----------



## itywltmt (May 29, 2011)

On my blog this week I discuss a recording I purchased of oboe concerti, which includes *Bellini's oboe concerto*.

Rossini's _sonatas a quatro_ are youthful works. I believe he wrote more sacred music later in life (some of which inspired Respighi's _Boutique Fantasque _and _Rossiniana_).

Puccini's _Crisantemi _is another fine example of non-opera by an operatic composer.

How can one ignore *Verdi's Requiem* - though some argue it is his best opera! And the scarcely heard "*Hymn of the Nations"* - there is a landmark recording of it on the web with the score "as edited" by Toscanini. The edit is notorious, because of the bits he added that US censors later removed in a propaganda release of the performance. Look it up on YouTube!


----------



## hutchscott (May 13, 2011)

Late in life, Rossini, pondering his mortality, wrote a chamber requiem accompanied by piano. I like it a lot. I guess someone went and orchestrated it.


----------



## hutchscott (May 13, 2011)

No, it wasn't a requiem. It was the "Petite Messe". I heard it with Pavarotti.


----------



## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Agreed about Puccini's Crisantemi, I remember hearing them some time ago and really enjoyed this charming miniature work. I may hear it live on 4th of following month.


----------

