# Rott - Symphony No- 1 In E Major



## dismrwonderful (May 5, 2013)

"Composers Who Died Young" is a subject that has fascinated quite a few music lovers including me. It is always a humbling thought for me that when Mozart was my age he had been dead for 36 years. [sigh] The unanswerable questions about what some of these composers could have accomplished seems endless. One thing I do know for sure is that if Mozart HAD lived to be my age I still would not have been able to afford the complete CD collection of his works. [g]

Hans Rott was a late Romantic composer who died young [age 25] and had shown great promise. My interest in him is many faceted. His symphony is very good listening and I enjoyed it. I usually enjoy music in a major key and found this one satisfying. In his music the influence of Brahms and, especially, Wagner and Bruckner is clearly evident. Since I enjoy those composers I did not find their influence an impediment to enjoying the music, especially an early work. The disturbing thing I found in the symphony was how it foresees the music of Mahler who was a fellow student with Rott at the conservatory. Sometimes I think I'm listening to a Mahler symphony. Rott seemed to share the the same vision as Mahler. If Rott had had the same emotional constitution as Mahler he may have made a great mark on the world.

Biographical and analytical information is provided in the uploads including an excellent analysis by Paul Banks.


Dan






View attachment Hans_Rott.pdf
View attachment Hans Rott Symphony in E Minor.docx
View attachment Hans Rott Symphony in E Minor.docx
View attachment Hans_Rott.pdf


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Rott -- a lamentable loss at so early an age, for sure.


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

Rott studied under Bruckner at conservatory, thus the connection and influence. Mahler is said to have been influenced by his symphony. I liked his symphony when I discovered it but found it lacked lasting power for me. It's a good work but one more talked about than played, especially in concert.


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## dismrwonderful (May 5, 2013)

larold said:


> Rott studied under Bruckner at conservatory, thus the connection and influence. Mahler is said to have been influenced by his symphony. I liked his symphony when I discovered it but found it lacked lasting power for me. It's a good work but one more talked about than played, especially in concert.


True. I enjoyed the music, but enjoyed hearing the different influences and mulling over the Brahms/Wagner conflict back then. I also was saddened by what a terrific psychological toll trying to be a composer in Vienna back then, and life in general, could exact.

Dan


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

a musician of genius ... who died unrecognized and in want on the very threshold of his career. ... What music has lost in him cannot be estimated. Such is the height to which his genius soars in ... [his] Symphony [in E major], which he wrote as 20-year-old youth and makes him ... the Founder of the New Symphony as I see it. To be sure, what he wanted is not quite what he achieved. … But I know where he aims. Indeed, he is so near to my inmost self that he and I seem to me like two fruits from the same tree which the same soil has produced and the same air nourished. He could have meant infinitely much to me and perhaps the two of us would have well-nigh exhausted the content of new time which was breaking out for music.

Mahler's words on Hans Rott {Above, Lifted shamelessly and verbatim from Wikipedia, btw!}

It IS a good symphony, and it is indeed sad he died so young, and in such unpleasant surroundings. I am delighted to have discovered it for myself a few years back, and yes, the Mahler connections are quite remarkable, I just hope nobody starts thinking Mahler stole anything.....

But in the final analysis, I'd echo the feeling above that it lacks lasting power. Weird structure, each movement longer than the preceding one, doesn't carry it off, though. Some repetitive sections too. But I don't think any 20-year old would be able to do much better.


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## Tchaikov6 (Mar 30, 2016)

Robert Pickett said:


> a musician of genius ... who died unrecognized and in want on the very threshold of his career. ... What music has lost in him cannot be estimated. Such is the height to which his genius soars in ... [his] Symphony [in E major], which he wrote as 20-year-old youth and makes him ... the Founder of the New Symphony as I see it. To be sure, what he wanted is not quite what he achieved. … But I know where he aims. Indeed, he is so near to my inmost self that he and I seem to me like two fruits from the same tree which the same soil has produced and the same air nourished. He could have meant infinitely much to me and perhaps the two of us would have well-nigh exhausted the content of new time which was breaking out for music.
> 
> Mahler's words on Hans Rott {Above, Lifted shamelessly and verbatim from Wikipedia, btw!}
> 
> ...


Yes, exactly. The formal structure of Mahler's first symphony I think is weaker as well, but by his second he had begun writing masterpieces. It's so unfortunate Rott died young, I would have loved to see what he could have grown into like Mahler did.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Well, Mahler DID steal some ideas from Rott. Intentional or not, it's plain as day. Of course Rott also borrowed heavily from Wagner and Bruckner. The Rott has some great ideas, but his structural sense fails him in each movement. And his orchestration needed revision - the Samuels recording mercifully cuts out some of the unending triangle part. I recall the enormous excitement in the classical world when a performing edition was finally ready. Soon came at least five recordings - Jarvi's is my preferred one. Does anyone play it anymore? I know there are two upcoming performances: one in Tokyo, the other in Hong Kong. And why didn't it become better known in the US? Greed. The Banks' edition isn't cheap to rent, putting it out of reach of many low-budget groups. For a short time, there was an alternate, cheaper, version available made by someone else who used the Austrian National Library score. But then through some legal wrangling, it was withdrawn, unfortunately. But it is no undiscovered masterpiece - just an interesting tease of what could have been, and worth an occasional listen.


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

The Adagio-Sehr Langsam of the Rott symphony is remarkable with an opening fleshed-out theme that can stand with almost any symphony from the more well known composers of the 19th century. The magnificent repeat of the theme at 3:07 always sounds to me like it could be played at a coronation.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

DaveM said:


> The Adagio-Sehr Langsam of the Rott symphony is remarkable with an opening fleshed-out theme that can stand with almost any symphony from the more well known composers of the 19th century. The magnificent repeat of the theme at 3:07 always sounds to me like it could be played at a coronation.


Then there's that distinct bit of Mahler between 5:38 and about 7:25, and again at 8:20. There are many such moments, as well as a Mahlerian feel to much of the rest, and I strongly suspect the reason Mahler never conducted his friend's symphony is that these were things he didn't want people to know.


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

_"What hath Hans Rott?"-Samuel F.B. Morse_


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## Triplets (Sep 4, 2014)

SONNET CLV said:


> Rott -- a lamentable loss at so early an age, for sure.


He definitely had Rotten Luck


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