HugH MacDonalD M this book is a close chronicle of an important year in the history of music. Why 1853? Because for many leading composers of the nineteenth century this year brought far- reaching changes to their lives, and whether or not these changes were connected, they u happened within a few months of each other. Brahms emerged from obscurity to celebrity, s schumann ceased to be an active composer, i and both Berlioz and Wagner became active g n composers again after long silences. gi c Ma By limiting the perspective to a single year, n i ki the narrative is able to follow the lives and k Ma i actions of these composers in much greater Dic n detail than a standard biography of any Music in Music in individual; and by extending it to a group of HugH MacDonalDis avis H. Blewett musicians, their constant interconnections Professor emeritus of Music at Washington 1 become the central motif of the historical With characteristic originality, Hugh Macdonald’s fertile imagination has seized university, st louis. He has authored books 1853 process. Brahms meets Berlioz and liszt as on a way of shedding fascinating new light on a crucial period in the history of on skryabin and Berlioz and has previously 8 well as schumann; liszt is a constant link in music, by telling the story of a year when great things were happening published Beethoven’s Century: Essays on every chain; Joachim is close to all of them; simultaneously in different parts of germany and the foundations of greater Composers and Themeswith Boydell/urP. Wagner is on everyone’s mind. no one things were being laid. We watch Wagner readying himself to begin composing 5 composer is at the centre of the story, but a The Ring, Berlioz on the verge of The Trojans, the career of the 20-year-old network of musicians, all of them friends or Brahms (still beardless), fanned by schumann and Joachim, about to take wing, at least acquaintances, spread across the map and schumann near his tragic end. We follow in vivid detail their lives – 3 of europe from london and Paris to leipzig liszt’s too – as they lived them: their day-to-day preoccupations, their journeys, and Zurich. their vital interaction, and all that came from it. Music in 1853shows how musicians were DaviD cairns, chief Music critic of the Sunday Times(1983–1992) and now more closely connected than ever before, Berlioz scholar and author through the constant exchange of letters and through the rapidly expanding railway 1853is something increasingly rare in music books: not only skilfully researched H network. the book links geography and and deftly written, but a great read. Macdonald paints a fascinating picture of a u pivotal year in the history of music –Wagner, liszt, Berlioz and Brahms are all g THE BIOGRAPHY OF A YEAR day-to-day events to show how international there. By the end, readers might almost believe they were there too. H the european musical scene had become. a larger picture emerges of a shift in musical kennetH HaMilton, concert pianist and author of After the Golden Age: Romantic M scenery, from the world of the innocent Pianism and Modern Performance a romanticism of Berlioz and schumann to c in Music in 1853: the Biography of a Year, Hugh Macdonald traces the travels of D the more potent musical politics of Wagner several key figures of european music over the span of just ten months: Brahms o and of his antidote (as many saw him) Brahms. and Joachim, Berlioz and spohr, Wagner and liszt as well as the schumanns n appear in a fascinating mobile sculpture, whose parts attract and repel each other, a allowing revealing glimpses behind the scene during a crucial year in music l Front cover illustrations D history. compellingly written ... a great read! liszt: photograph, ernst Burger collection, Munich; schumann: drawing by laurens, Musée de carpentras; JÜrgen tHYM, Professor emeritus of Musicology, eastman school of Music, Wagner: watercolour by clementine stockar-escher, university of rochester richard-Wagner-gedenkstätte der stadt Bayreuth; Joachim: lithograph after a charcoal drawing by e. Bendemann, kunstmuseum, Düsseldorf; Brahms: drawing by laurens, Bibliothèque imguimbertine, carpentras; Berlioz: lithograph by charles Baugniet BOYDELL & BREWERLtd Back cover illustration PO Box 9, Woodbridge IP12 3DF (GB) and inauguration of the nancy railway line, 1852, 668 Mt Hope Ave, Rochester NY 14620-2731 (US) Histoire populaire contemporaine de la France, Paris, 1864, www.boydellandbrewer.com Part iii, p. 339. music in 1853 the biography of a year MUSIC IN 1853.indb 1 12/04/2012 16:11 MUSIC IN 1853.indb 2 12/04/2012 16:11 mu sic in 1853 the biography of a year Hugh Macdonald ◆ the boydell press MUSIC IN 1853.indb 3 12/04/2012 16:11 © Hugh Macdonald 2012 All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system, published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast, transmitted, recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means, without the prior permission of the copyright owner The right of Hugh Macdonald to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 First published 2012 The Boydell Press, Woodbridge ISBN 978 1 84383 718 3 The Boydell Press is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk, ip12 3df, UK and of Boydell & Brewer Inc. 668 Mount Hope Ave, Rochester, ny 14620-2731, USA website: www.boydellandbrewer.com A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library The publisher has no responsibility for the continued existence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate Papers used by Boydell & Brewer Ltd are natural, recyclable products made from wood grown in sustainable forests Designed and typeset in Bodoni Twelve ITC Std by David Roberts, Pershore, Worcestershire Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, cr0 4yy MUSIC IN 1853.indb 4 12/04/2012 16:11 Contents List of Illustrations vi Preface xi 1 Brahms Leaves Home April – May 1 2 Berlioz and Spohr in London May – July 15 3 Brahms and Liszt in Weimar June 33 4 Wagner and Liszt in Zurich May – July 42 5 Berlioz in Baden-Baden and Frankfurt July – August 58 6 Joachim and Brahms in Göttingen and Bonn July – September 71 7 Liszt in Frankfurt, Weimar, and Carlsbad July – September 84 8 Wagner in St Moritz and La Spezia July – September 95 9 Liszt in Karlsruhe September – October 106 10 Schumann and Brahms in Düsseldorf September – October 120 11 Liszt, Wagner and Berlioz in Paris October 133 12 Berlioz, Joachim and Brahms in Hanover October – November 147 13 Brahms, Berlioz and Liszt in Leipzig November – December 157 14 The Schumanns in Holland and Hanover November – February 172 Epilogue 184 Bibliography 189 Index 199 MUSIC IN 1853.indb 5 12/04/2012 16:11 Illustrations 1 Brahms and Reményi in 1853. Photograph © Brahms-Institut an der Musikhochschule Lübeck. 2 2 Hotel Arrivals in Hanover. Hannoversche Anzeiger, 21 April 1853. 5 3 Joseph Joachim in 1853. Lithograph after a charcoal drawing by E. Bendemann, Kunstmuseum, Düsseldorf. 6 4 Robert and Clara Schumann in 1850. Steel engraving after a daguerrotype. 10 5 Hector Berlioz in 1851. Lithograph by Charles Baugniet, 1851. 16 6 Frederick Gye. Photograph © Victoria and Albert Museum, London. 21 7 Musicians in London in 1853. Lithograph by Charles Baugniet, 1853. 25 8 Cheque for ten guineas paid to Berlioz, 22 June 1853. Hopkinson Collection, National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh. 26 9 The King and Queen of Hanover. The Illustrated London News, 25 June 1853. 28 10 Franz Liszt in 1854. Photograph by Ghemar, Brussels, Ernst Burger Collection, Munich. 34 11 The Altenburg, Weimar. From a lost watercolour by C. Hoffmann, 1859, painted for the American musician James M. Tracy. 36 12 William Mason. Daguerrotype, 1847. 38 13 Richard Wagner in 1853. Watercolour by Clementine Stockar-Escher, Richard-Wagner-Gedenkstätte der Stadt Bayreuth. 43 14 (a) Otto Wesendonck. Lithograph, c. 1850; (b) Mathilde Wesendonck. Oil painting by Carl Sohn, Stadtmuseum, Bonn. 45 15 The Aktien Theatre, Zurich. Nationalarchiv der Richard-Wagner-Stiftung, Bayreuth. 49 16 Wagner’s concert, 18 May 1853. Tagblatt der Stadt Zürich, 18 May 1853. 51 17 The Hotel Baur au Lac, Zurich. Watercolour, Zentral-Bibliothek Zürich, Graphische Sammlung. 54 18 The Chapel of William Tell, Lake Lucerne. Engraving after J. M. W. Turner, watercolour, 1830. 57 19 Edouard Bénazet. Photograph after a painting, c. 1860, Stadtmuseum, Baden-Baden. 61 20 The Salle de la Conversation, Baden-Baden. From Joseph Wechsberg, The Lost World of the Great Spas (New York, 1979). 62 21 Berlioz’s Concert on 11 August 1853. Badeblatt, 1853, p. 655. 65 vi MUSIC IN 1853.indb 6 12/04/2012 16:11 list of illustrations 22 Report of Berlioz’s arrival in Frankfurt. Didaskalia [Frankfurt], 18 August 1853. 67 23 The Krüger Garden House, Göttingen. Watercolour after a drawing by Friederike Vogel, c. 1895, Städtisches Museum, Göttingen. 72 24 Joachim in 1853. Photograph © Brahms-Institut an der Musikhochschule Lübeck. 74 25 Rheinstein castle. Karl Baedeker, The Rhine and Northern Germany (Koblenz, 1870). 79 26 Liszt in 1858. Photograph, Ernst Burger Collection, Munich. 85 27 Grand Duke Carl Alexander of Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach. Lithograph by Leon Noël after Richard Lauchert, Klassik-Stiftung-Weimar, Herzogin Anna-Amalia-Bibliothek, Weimar. 86 28 The Sprudel, Carlsbad. Joseph Wechsberg, The Lost World of the Great Spas (New York, 1979). 89 29 Princess Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein. Photograph, c. 1856, Ernst Burger Collection, Munich. 90 30 Georg Herwegh. Portrait, Thüringer Museum, Eisenach. 98 31 Prince Regent Friedrich of Baden-Baden. Oil painting by Rudolf Epp, Stadt-Museum, Karlsruhe. 107 32 The Hoftheater, Karlsruhe. Die Stadt Karlsruhe, ed. Goldschmidt (Karlsruhe, 1915), p. 402. 111 33 The Karlsruhe Festival, 3-6 October 1853. Generallandesarchiv, Karlsruhe, 57, no. 573. 112 34 Karlsruhe Station. Die Stadt Karlsruhe, ed. Goldschmidt (Karlsruhe, 1915), p. 474. 114 35 The Schumanns’ house on Bilkerstrasse, Düsseldorf. Photograph, Stadtarchiv, Düsseldorf. 121 36 Drawings by J.-J.-B. Laurens: (a) Schumann. Musée de Carpentras; (b) Brahms. Bibliothèque Inguimbertine, Carpentras; (c) Hiller. Musée Duplessis, Carpentras; (d) self-portrait. Bibliothèque Inguimbertine, Carpentras. 124 37 Schumann’s article ‘Neue Bahnen’. Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, 28 October 1853. 130 38 Strasbourg Cathedral. Histoire populaire contemporaine de la France (Paris, 1864), p. 340. 134 39 Wagner, by Eugène Sayn-Wittgenstein. Lost medallion, reproduced in Allgemeine Musikgesellschaft [Zurich], 1902. 141 40 The Maurin-Chevillard Quartet. Photograph, Gunther Braam Collection, Munich. 144 vii MUSIC IN 1853.indb 7 12/04/2012 16:11 music in 1853 41 Das Rheingold, first page of sketches, 1 November 1853. Nationalarchiv der Richard-Wagner-Stiftung, Bayreuth, A III a 1. 146 42 Robert Griepenkerl. Landesmuseum, Brunswick, VM 2273. 148 43 Baron von Donop. Pencil drawing by Julius Geißler, 1845, Lippische Landesbibliothek, Detmold. 149 44 Berlioz’s concert, 25 October 1853. Stadtarchiv, Brunswick. 150 45 Ferdinand David. Photograph, c. 1860, Robert-Schumann-Haus, Zwickau. 158 46 The Gewandhaus, Leipzig. Steel engraving, Stadtgeschichtliches Museum, Leipzig. 160 47 Peter Cornelius. Pencil drawing, Peter Cornelius, Gedichte (Leipzig, 1905), frontispiece. 164 48 Brahms in Leipzig, 1853. Calotype by Bertha Wehnert, Robert-Schumann- Haus, Zwickau. 166 49 The Bazaar, The Hague. Lithograph, 1854, Robert-Schumann-Haus, Zwickau. 176 50 Clara Schumann, by Carl Sohn. Photograph from a painting destroyed in World War II, Robert-Schumann-Haus, Zwickau. 179 51 The Schiffsbrücke, Düsseldorf. Photograph, c. 1870, Robert-Schumann- Forschungsstelle, Düsseldorf. 183 maps 1 Germany, showing principal rail connections in 1853 xiv 2 Brahms’s hike down the Rhine 77 3 Switzerland and Northern Italy 96 4 The Schumanns’ tour of Holland 173 The author and publishers are grateful to all the institutions and individuals listed for permission to reproduce the materials in which they hold copyright. Every effort has been made to trace the copyright holders; apologies are offered for any omission, and the publishers will be pleased to add any necessary acknowledgement in subsequent editions. viii MUSIC IN 1853.indb 8 12/04/2012 16:11 S To all my students and friends at Washington University in St Louis founded in 1853 S MUSIC IN 1853.indb 9 12/04/2012 16:11