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drplaceboIt's Forgotten Masterpiece Friday!
Two weeks ago, we heard a composer who fell into obscurity in part because of his refusal to take sides in the War of the Romantics. Not all of the neutrals suffered, though -- Richard Hol (1825-1904) got his big break because he didn't take sides. Though obscure outside the Netherlands, he was one of the nation's most prominent conductors and composers by the end of his life.
The son of an Amsterdam milkman, Hol studied piano at the Royal Conservatory of Amsterdam and had a rather undistinguished career as a piano accompanist until he was almost 40. Though conservatory-trained as a pianst and organist, he was largely a self-taught composer, composed little before 1860, and was arguably not a mature composer until the middle of the 1860s. Nonetheless, some of his early choral compositions gained notice, which led to his appointment as organist and director of the cathedral choir in Utrecht from 1862 onward. Once settled in one place, he began to compose prolifically, but his compositions remained relatively obscure.
What got Hol national attention was someone else's militant stance in the War of the Romantics. Johannes Verhulst was the unquestioned giant among Dutch conductors at the time. Having studied conducting under Felix Mendelssohn, Verhulst had by 1864 become music director of all of the four most prominent orchestras in the Netherlands: both of the Amsterdam orchestras as well as the orchestras of Rotterdam and Den Haag. Verhulst strongly favored Brahms and the "absolute music" faction; he refused to conduct any program music, and from the late 1850s onward he categorically banished all music by Berlioz, Liszt, and Wagner from his concerts. He faced intense criticism for this stance from the public and from the orchestras' financial backers, but never wavered -- and this is where Richard Hol came in. Hol also personally favored the Brahms camp, but had no reservations about conducting anyone's music. During the 1870s and 1880s, the boards of Verhulst's orchestras forced him to accept guest conductors for music from the Wagner/Liszt faction. Hol, seemingly the only person in the Netherlands willing to conduct Wagner, suddenly found himself highly in demand as a guest conductor, which led to the delayed publication of many of his own compositions.
Hol's 3rd Symphony is one of those compositions that saw a long-delayed publication. He completed it in 1867, but it was first published in 1884 when Hol was known as the leading Wagner conductor in the Netherlands. By that point, audiences might well have expected something Wagnerian to come from his pen. They would have been surprised by this symphony. The form is purely classical, and the symphony expressly pays tribute to Mendelssohn, both in a scherzo subtitled "Erinnerung am Mendelssohn 4. Nov. 1847" ("in memory of Mendelssohn") and in a scherzo-like middle section to its slow movement. At the same time, the outer movements seem to look ahead to Tchaikovsky in texture and orchestration, placing Hol's work as a link between the early and late Romantic periods. Unfortunately, by the time this symphony was published, it might have been considered rather conservative -- Tchaikovsky had already completed his 4th symphony -- and as a result Hol himself was perhaps unfairly viewed as a throwback to an earlier era.
Movements:
I. Einleitung und Allegro: Langsam - Lebhaft
II. Scherzo: Zeimlich rasch (Erinnerung am Mendelssohn 4. Nov. 1847) (11:41)
III. Nachtmusik: Langsam doch bewegt (15:34)
IV. Finale: Rasch und kräftig (24:34)
Two weeks ago, we heard a composer who fell into obscurity in part because of his refusal to take sides in the War of the Romantics. Not all of the neutrals suffered, though -- Richard Hol (1825-1904) got his big break because he didn't take sides. Though obscure outside the Netherlands, he was one of the nation's most prominent conductors and composers by the end of his life.
The son of an Amsterdam milkman, Hol studied piano at the Royal Conservatory of Amsterdam and had a rather undistinguished career as a piano accompanist until he was almost 40. Though conservatory-trained as a pianst and organist, he was largely a self-taught composer, composed little before 1860, and was arguably not a mature composer until the middle of the 1860s. Nonetheless, some of his early choral compositions gained notice, which led to his appointment as organist and director of the cathedral choir in Utrecht from 1862 onward. Once settled in one place, he began to compose prolifically, but his compositions remained relatively obscure.
What got Hol national attention was someone else's militant stance in the War of the Romantics. Johannes Verhulst was the unquestioned giant among Dutch conductors at the time. Having studied conducting under Felix Mendelssohn, Verhulst had by 1864 become music director of all of the four most prominent orchestras in the Netherlands: both of the Amsterdam orchestras as well as the orchestras of Rotterdam and Den Haag. Verhulst strongly favored Brahms and the "absolute music" faction; he refused to conduct any program music, and from the late 1850s onward he categorically banished all music by Berlioz, Liszt, and Wagner from his concerts. He faced intense criticism for this stance from the public and from the orchestras' financial backers, but never wavered -- and this is where Richard Hol came in. Hol also personally favored the Brahms camp, but had no reservations about conducting anyone's music. During the 1870s and 1880s, the boards of Verhulst's orchestras forced him to accept guest conductors for music from the Wagner/Liszt faction. Hol, seemingly the only person in the Netherlands willing to conduct Wagner, suddenly found himself highly in demand as a guest conductor, which led to the delayed publication of many of his own compositions.
Hol's 3rd Symphony is one of those compositions that saw a long-delayed publication. He completed it in 1867, but it was first published in 1884 when Hol was known as the leading Wagner conductor in the Netherlands. By that point, audiences might well have expected something Wagnerian to come from his pen. They would have been surprised by this symphony. The form is purely classical, and the symphony expressly pays tribute to Mendelssohn, both in a scherzo subtitled "Erinnerung am Mendelssohn 4. Nov. 1847" ("in memory of Mendelssohn") and in a scherzo-like middle section to its slow movement. At the same time, the outer movements seem to look ahead to Tchaikovsky in texture and orchestration, placing Hol's work as a link between the early and late Romantic periods. Unfortunately, by the time this symphony was published, it might have been considered rather conservative -- Tchaikovsky had already completed his 4th symphony -- and as a result Hol himself was perhaps unfairly viewed as a throwback to an earlier era.
Movements:
I. Einleitung und Allegro: Langsam - Lebhaft
II. Scherzo: Zeimlich rasch (Erinnerung am Mendelssohn 4. Nov. 1847) (11:41)
III. Nachtmusik: Langsam doch bewegt (15:34)
IV. Finale: Rasch und kräftig (24:34)