Published on Apr 15, 2012 by PianoBlond
Etude No 4 in E major "Ave Maria" from the Douze Etudes de salon Op. 5
(1838)
Henselt's Protestantism did not preclude his gentle
incursions into the fringes of the Catholic Church. The seraphic peace,
after the fury of the 'Hexentanz', is achieved in No 4 ('Ave Maria') by a
flowing four-part chorale, artfully spaced. Henselt would no doubt have
played without using the sustaining pedal. The descending augmented sixths
towards the end are characteristic of Henselt's idiom. It is quite likely
that the study was suggested by No 71 and others of Cramer's set of 84
studies. (Weak echoes, originating in Cramer or Henselt, or both, exist in
certain studies by Theodore Döhler, 1814--1856.)
Piers Lane (piano)
Nicknamed the "Northern Chopin"
by Schumann, Adolf von Henselt (1814-1889) was a stellar 19th-century piano
virtuoso and composer once as famous as Chopin. In his early virtuoso
career, he was respected by many of the early Romantics, and his two sets of
etudes received ebullient praise from Schumann, who said they were some of
the best piano music being written in the 1830s.
In 1838, Henselt moved to St. Petersburg and was one of the first great
pedagogues to teach music in Russia before any conservatories existed. His
presence and his compositions arguably established the foundation of the
Russian piano school and influenced many Russian composers from Balakirev to
Rachmaninov.
Henselt's performing career had a short lifespan. He was notoriously shy and
suffered from severe stage fright that eventually terminated his ability to
perform in concert. Although his earliest compositions, namely the two sets
of etudes and the monumental Piano Concerto in F minor were successful, he
composed a relatively small output compared to other pianist-composers of
the time. Out of his 45 published works, the two sets of etudes (Op. 2 and
5) must rank as the greatest of their kind, sitting comfortably alongside
Chopin's, Liszt's, and Alkan's.
Henselt Adolf von distinguished pianist and
comp b Schwabach Bavaria May 12 1814 d Warmbrunn Silesia Oct 10 18S9 First
st pf and harm with Geheimrathin von Fladt at Munich In 1831 an allowance
from King Ludwig I enabled him to continue pf study with Hummel at Weimar
whence he went to Vienna and learned theory for 2 years under Sechter
Assiduous study and practice injured his health and in 1836 he was ordered
to Carlsbad In 1837 he made a short tour through Germany and aroused the
greatest enthusiasm Me married atlireslau the same year and went to St
Petersburg in 1838 Me was appointed chamber pianist to the Kmpress and mus
teacher to the princes Later he was app inspector of mus instruction of the
Imperial educational institutions for girls and received the Order of
Vladimir Mis playing was of the most poetically inspired character and
highly individualized his technical specialty being the legato execution of
widely extended
chords and arpeggios for the practice of which he composed
extremclydifficult extension studies His principal works are The celebrated
F min pf concerto Etudes op 2 and op 13 Poeme d Amour op 3 Fruhlingslied op
15 Impromptu op 17 Ballade op 31 Paraphrases de Concert 39 works with opus
no and 15 without a pf trio a 2nd pf part to a selection from J Ii Cramer's
Etudes etc A very sympathetic character sketch is that by von Lenz in
Diegrossen Pf VirtuosenunsrerZeit Engl ed NY 1899
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