tomaschek goethe lieder ildikó raimondi leopold hager johann wenzel tomaschek goethe lieder 3 Johann Wenzel Tomaschek (1774–1850) Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) 1 2:06 An Linna 2 2:02 Wanderers Nachtlied 3 3:27 An den Mond 4 1:35 Auf dem See 5 3:05 Erlkönig 6 2:51 Der König von Thule 7 2:54 Der Fischer 8 2:29 Heidenröslein 9 1:31 An die Entfernte 10 2:57 Nähe des Geliebten 11 1:54 Die Spröde 12 2:12 Die Bekehrte 13 1:31 Vorschlag zur Güte 14 2:52 Die Spinnerin 15 2:31 Das Veilchen 16 2:11 Erster Verlust 17 4:08 Schäfers Klagelied 18 1:12 Sorge 19 2:23 Frühzeitiger Frühling 20 4:00 Mignons Sehnsucht 21 2:18 Das Geheimnis 22 0:53 Rastlose Liebe 4 Ildikó Raimondi, soprano Leopold Hager, piano 5 “You have understood the poem […] in gratitude Because there was no piano at the „Goldene Sonne“, and to remember enjoyable hours” (Johann Wolfgang where Goethe was residing, a time was arranged to von Goethe to Johann Wenzel Tomaschek in Cheb, meet at the flat of the advocate Frank. Goethe’s and on 6 August 1822) Tomaschek’s notes now do not match, as Tomaschek says 41 of Tomaschek’s 63 Lieder are based on poems by that this concert took place on the following day, whereas Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832), the rest are Goethe claims that everything took place on one day. poems by Heinrich Heine, Friedrich von Schiller and some However, the composer accompanied himself from mem- Bohemian poets. This alone shows the composer’s ory while singing the words from a printed edition of the admiration for Goethe. poems. Both the composer and Goethe write about the In the Bohemian town of Cheb (called “Eger” at the order of the programme, and Goethe interrupted the time), he met the poet. In his diary, he noted about the concert after Mignon’s Sehnsucht, exclaiming you have memorable day that he had been “afraid of his pride and understood the poem“, and alledgedly also said that he unfriendliness because of the countless anecdotes on could “not understand how both Beethoven and Spohr Goethe”. And yet the encounter of the 73 year-old poet could so entirely misinterpret the poem […] I believed and the younger composer went positively well. Goethe to indicate enough to the composer that I was expecting had had the barber with him in the morning before a Lied and not an aria.” meeting Tomaschek for the first time and encouraged him This singular, but well documented meeting of Johann to come back some hours later. It was then that he Wolfgang von Goethe and Johann Wenzel Tomaschek remarked: „Dear Tomaschek, you have to sit on the sofa, in Cheb as well as the poet’s benevolent words on the as you are our archbishop today!“ Goethe noted in his Lieder of the composer make this CD (which contains diary that a servant brought „a large bottle of sweet numerous songs as first recordings as well as others in Hungarian wine and a plate of biscuits from Bratislava“. their original key for the first time) a more than overdue Besides interesting talks on music and Goethe’s poems, redescovery of Johann Wenzel Tomaschek. His Lieder do another topic of conversations were minerals (Goethe’s not have to fear competition of other Goethe settings by visits to Cheb also meant expanding his collection, and far more famous composers. a small part of what was once a vast collection can today be seen at the castle in Loket). It was on this morning that Goethe encouraged Tomaschek to perform his Lieder to him. 6 Johann Wenzel Tomaschek was born on 17 April It was together with Dreyschock that Tomaschek estab- 1774 in Skutec (Bohemia), being the youngest son of a lished the feat of left-hand concertizing in the concert depleted weaver. Thanks to his two elder brothers, a pub- halls of Prague. Another pupil of his was Eduard Hanslick, lic servant and a priest, he received singing and violin later much feared as a critic in Vienna. lessons in addition to his school education. He was ad- Tomaschek’s fame started to decline when, at the end mitted as a chorister to the church choir in Jihlava of the 1830s, Joseph Proksch, a self-confessing Roman- (“Iglau” at the time), where he also received secondary tic musician appeared in Prague. After Tomaschek’s death education until his voice broke. In 1790, he moved to on 3 April 1850, his name disappeared from concert pro- Prague to study law, philosophy and medicine as well as grammes within a few years, even if most of his works composition. It was in this very year that he had his first had been published during his lifetime. Towards the end major encounter with Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the court of the 20th century, his name started to become more theatre of Count Nostiz (today: Tylovo divadlo), the place familiar again, much of this owed to Ildikó Raimondi and where it had been premiered three years earlier. the Austrian and Weimar Goethe Societies. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn and Ignaz Johann Wenzel Tomaschek’s compositions include – Pleyel were to become his idols, whose traditions he besides his opera Seraphine – around 100 attributed wanted to continue years later. works, amongst which symphonies, piano concertos, Besides his first compositions (Hungarian Dances, piano sonatas, chamber music, masses, requiems, Menuets and Waltzes), Tomaschek started to teach the cantatas and 63 Lieder can be found. piano at an early age. At the beginning of the 19th century, Count Georg Buqouy employed him in Prague, which solved all his financial problems and brought him – besides enough time to compose – a large number of aristocratic pupils due to the excellent reputation of the musical tradition of the Buquoy household. After leaving Buquoy in 1824, Tomaschek founded his own music school, which was then to become one of the musical centres of Prague for more than a decade. His pupils included Jan Václav Voríšek as well as the two virtuoso pianists Johann Friedrich Kittl and Alexander Dreyschock. 7 Ildikó Raimondi is not only a celebrated opera Her special love, however, is the Lied repertoire, and singer, but also a much sought-after Lieder and concert she regularly performs at venues such as the Bruckner- singer. She has been a member of the Vienna State Opera haus Linz, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Liszt festival since 1991, where she has performed more than forty (Raiding), the Carinthian summer, the Beethovenfest different opera roles. Recently, she sang the Dame Bonn, at the Luxemburg Philharmonie and the Ludwigs- (Cadillac), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Rosalinde burger Festspiele. (Die Fledermaus), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) and Alice In 2003, Ms Raimondi edited the 41 Goethe Lieder (Falstaff). Ms Raimoni is equally busy giving inter- of the Czech composer Johann Wenzel Tomaschek, and national performances of operas and recitals, also at this recording is based on the edition (LIT Verlag, the most renowned festivals and venues, such as the Münster). Dresden Staatskapelle, the Berlin State Opera, the Cuvillies Theatre in Munich, the Bavarian State Opera, the Zurich Opera, the Salzburg festival, the national theatres of Helsinki and Prague, Budapest and Amster- dam, the Carnegie Hall (New York), in Tokyo, Singapore, Shanghai, Seoul etc. 8 Leopold Hager was born in Salzburg and studied He has worked extensively with the world’s most conducting, composition, piano, organ and harpsichord renowned orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic, at the “Mozarteum“. He first worked in Mainz, Linz and the Vienna Symphony, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Cologne before becoming Music Director in Freiburg Bamberg Symphony, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, (Germany) and subsequently Principal Conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orkest, the Accademia di Santa the Mozarteum Orchestra (Salzburg, Austria), the RTL Cecilia (Rome) and the Czech Philharmonic. Mr Hager Symphony Orchestra (Luxemburg) and the Vienna Volks- is also a much sought-after Lieder accompanist, working oper. He has toured Europe and America extensively and with singers such as Edda Moser, Reri Grist and Margaret is a regular guest conductor of important opera houses Price. His first concert with the English Chamber such as the Bavarian State Opera (Munich), the Semper- Orchestra at the Würzburg Mozart Festival marked oper (Dresden), the Metropolitan Opera (New York), the the beginning of a special relationship that has resulted Lyric Opera Chicago, the Royal Opera House Covent in a number of CD recordings, mainly with works by Garden (London), the Teatro Colon (Buenos Aires) and the Mozart and Mendelssohn. Amongst his numerous Opèra Bastille (Paris). Mr Hager is a frequent performer recordings are the complete concert arias and early at the Vienna State Opera and the Salzburg Festival. operas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. 10 „Sie haben das Gedicht verstanden [...] dankbar In Ermangelung eines Pianofortes in der „Goldenen zu freundlichem Erinnern genußreicher Stunden“ Sonne“, wo Goethe abgestiegen war, verabredete man (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe zu Johann Wenzel sich in der Wohnung des Advokaten Frank. Hier diver- Tomaschek in Cheb, 6. August 1822) gieren erstmals die Aufzeichnungen Tomaschek mit Von den 63 Liedern Johann Wenzel Tomascheks basie- jenen Goethes, denn Tomaschek spricht davon, dass das ren 41 auf Gedichten von Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Konzert erst am folgenden Tag, also dem 7. August 1822 (1749–1832), den übrigen liegen Texte von Heinrich stattgefunden hätte, Goethe berichtet aber, dass alles an Heine, Friedrich Schiller und einigen böhmischen Autoren ein und dem selben Tag stattfand. Der Komponist be- zu Grunde. Schon dieses Verhältnis zeigt die große Ver- gleitete sich dabei selbst aus dem Gedächtnis, den Text ehrung des Komponisten für den dichtenden Geheimrat.