Elegies (Busoni)
Encyclopedia
Elegies (BV 249) by the Italian composer Ferruccio Busoni
Ferruccio Busoni
Ferruccio Busoni was an Italian composer, pianist, editor, writer, piano and composition teacher, and conductor.-Biography:...

 is a set of solo piano pieces which can be played as a cycle or separately. Initially published in 1908 with six pieces, it was subsequently expanded to seven by the addition of the Berceuse (BV 252). The set of seven takes just over 40 minutes to play.

Sections of the work

The seven pieces are titled as follows:
1. Nach der Wendung (Recueillement) ["After the Turning" (Contemplation)]
2. All' Italia! (In modo napolitano) ["To Italy!" (In a Neapolitan Mode)]
3. Meine Seele bangt und hofft zu Dir (Choralvorspiel) ["My soul trembles and hopes of thee" (Chorale Prelude)]
4. Turandots Frauengemach (Intermezzo) ["Turandot's Zenana
Zenana
Zenana , refers to the part of a house belonging to a Muslim family in the Middle East and South Asia reserved for the women of the household. The Zenana are the inner apartments of a house in which the women of the family live...

" (Intermezzo)]
5. Die Nächtlichen (Walzer) ["The Nocturnal" (Waltz)]
6. Erscheinung (Notturno) ["Visitation" (Nocturne)]
7. Berceuse ["Lullaby
Lullaby
A lullaby is a soothing song, usually sung to young children before they go to sleep, with the intention of speeding that process. As a result they are often simple and repetitive. Lullabies can be found in every culture and since the ancient period....

"]


Although labelled as "Neue Klavierstücke" [New Piano Pieces] by the publisher Breitkopf & Härtel
Breitkopf & Härtel
Breitkopf & Härtel is the world's oldest music publishing house. The firm was founded in 1719 in Leipzig by Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf . The catalogue currently contains over 1000 composers, 8000 works and 15,000 music editions or books on music. The name "Härtel" was added when Gottfried...

, that is not a totally accurate description, since three of the pieces are based on other, older compositions by the composer. No. 2 is based on the All' Italiana (4th movement) of the Piano Concerto
Piano Concerto (Busoni)
The Piano Concerto in C major, Op. 39 , by Ferruccio Busoni, is one of the largest works ever written in this particular genre. The concerto is in five movements, the last of which also utilizes a male chorus singing words from the final scene of the verse drama Aladdin by Adam Oehlenschläger.The...

 (BV 247), although the music itself is not entirely from that movement. A particularly effective moment is based on a section of the second movement marked "in modo napolitano." Nos. 4 and 5 come from the Turandot Suite
Turandot Suite
The Turandot Suite, Op. 41 is an orchestral work by Ferruccio Busoni written in 1904-5, based on Carlo Gozzi's play Turandot. The music – in one form or another – occupied Busoni at various times between the years 1904-1917. Busoni arranged the suite from incidental music which he was...

 (BV 248), and were later used in the opera Turandot
Turandot (Busoni)
Turandot is a 1917 opera with spoken dialogue and in two acts by Ferruccio Busoni. Busoni prepared his own libretto, in German, based on the play by Count Carlo Gozzi. The music for Busoni's opera is based on incidental music, and the associated Turandot Suite , which Busoni had written in 1905...

 (BV 273). Interestingly, a further three pieces were also used again: No. 3 became the introductory "Preludio corale" of the Fantasia contrappuntistica
Fantasia Contrappuntistica
Fantasia contrappuntistica is a solo piano piece composed by Ferruccio Busoni in 1910. Busoni created several versions of the work including several for solo piano, and one for two pianos. It has been arranged for organ and for orchestra since the composer's death.The work is in large part a...

(BV 256), No. 6 was used for Act I part 1 of the opera Die Brautwahl
Die Brautwahl
Die Brautwahl is a "comic-fantastic" opera in three acts and an epilogue by Ferruccio Busoni. The German libretto, by Busoni himself, is based on a short story by E.T.A. Hoffmann. Busoni began work on this, his first completed opera, in 1905.Die Brautwahl was first performed at the Stadttheater,...

(BV 258), and No. 7 was extended into the orchestral masterpiece Berceuse élégiaque
Berceuse élégiaque
Berceuse élégiaque is an orchestral work composed by Ferruccio Busoni in 1909. Originally written for solo piano, to be added as the seventh piece in his 1907 collection Elegies, Busoni adapted it for orchestra later the same year. This orchestral version was sub-titled 'Des Mannes Wiegenlied am...

(BV 252a).

New musical style

The Elegies mark a significant change in Busoni's compositional approach. Up to this point he had composed in the Romantic
Romantic music
Romantic music or music in the Romantic Period is a musicological and artistic term referring to a particular period, theory, compositional practice, and canon in Western music history, from 1810 to 1900....

 style, reaching a level of full mastery, as exemplified by the Violin Concerto (BV 243) and the Piano Concerto
Piano Concerto (Busoni)
The Piano Concerto in C major, Op. 39 , by Ferruccio Busoni, is one of the largest works ever written in this particular genre. The concerto is in five movements, the last of which also utilizes a male chorus singing words from the final scene of the verse drama Aladdin by Adam Oehlenschläger.The...

 (BV 247). The harmonic language
Harmony
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...

 of the Elegies is extended, with the pedal
Piano pedals
Piano pedals are foot-operated levers at the base of a piano which change the instrument's sound in various ways. Modern pianos usually have three pedals, from left to right, the soft pedal , the sostenuto pedal , and the sustaining pedal...

 used audaciously to blend disparate tones
Pitch (music)
Pitch is an auditory perceptual property that allows the ordering of sounds on a frequency-related scale.Pitches are compared as "higher" and "lower" in the sense associated with musical melodies,...

: unrelated triads
Triad (music)
In music and music theory, a triad is a three-note chord that can be stacked in thirds. Its members, when actually stacked in thirds, from lowest pitched tone to highest, are called:* the Root...

 are overlapped and juxtaposed; chords
Chord (music)
A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...

 are constructed from intervals
Interval (music)
In music theory, an interval is a combination of two notes, or the ratio between their frequencies. Two-note combinations are also called dyads...

 other than thirds
Third (music)
In music and music theory third may refer to:*major third*minor third*augmented third/perfect fourth*diminished third/major second*Third , chord member a third above the root*Mediant, third degree of the diatonic scale...

; unusual and highly chromatic
Chromatic scale
The chromatic scale is a musical scale with twelve pitches, each a semitone apart. On a modern piano or other equal-tempered instrument, all the half steps are the same size...

 scales and runs, often differing from the surrounding harmonies, are extensively employed and varied; melodies, and solitary "sighs," moving by whole
Major second
In Western music theory, a major second is a musical interval spanning two semitones, and encompassing two adjacent staff positions . For example, the interval from C to D is a major second, as the note D lies two semitones above C, and the two notes are notated on adjacent staff postions...

 and half
Semitone
A semitone, also called a half step or a half tone, is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically....

 steps, magnify these disorienting effects.

Busoni recognized the change: "My entire personal vision I put down at last and for the first time in the Elegies" and "the Elegies signify a milestone in my development. Almost a transformation. Hence the title, 'nach der Wendung'." Even the backward-looking pieces based on previously published works (the tarantella and neapolitan song from the Piano Concerto, and Frauengemach and Die Nächtlichen from the Turandot Suite) have been changed to reflect his new outlook. Tonality is weakened by the use of bitonality. Introductory measures, bridge passages, and transpositions have been added which incorporate this new style.

First performance and critical reaction

With his publication of the Sketch of a New Aesthetic of Music in 1907 Busoni had become identified as one of the leaders of the musical avant-garde
Avant-garde music
Avant-garde music is a term used to characterize music which is thought to be ahead of its time, i.e. containing innovative elements or fusing different genres....

. With this, of course, came both new friends and opponents, many with rather strong feelings and opinions. "Every new composition would be avidly awaited, on the one hand by the blood-lusty opponents of the new, on the other by those eager to show themselves up-to-date." Nevertheless, Busoni plunged ahead with a performance of all six pieces on 12 March 1909 at the Beethovensaal in Berlin.

"Turandots Frauengemach" was well received, and to this day remains the most popular of the six. Otherwise, the critics reactions were generally negative, and sometimes downright hostile. August Spamuth's review in Signale für die musikalische Welt is representative:

[Busoni] conducts, composes, agitates etc. He is one of those restless spirits who are never satisfied with what has been achieved, who can never call a halt.... He is something of a born opposer of the Establishment
The Establishment
The Establishment is a term used to refer to a visible dominant group or elite that holds power or authority in a nation. The term suggests a closed social group which selects its own members...

 and when that for which he strives with all his power, a new aesthetic of music, is established and recognized, Busoni will become its irreconcilable opponent....

Busoni's six elegies were a veritable source of dismay, with the exception of the fourth, which bears the title "Turandots Frauengemach." He who knew something of Busoni's strivings for a new harmonic system and of his belief that he has already achieved new tonalities through curiously built scales, could certainly perceive a structural logic and an aesthetically ordered system of sound deployment in these pieces; but novelty seekers will have found as little "music" here as the normal, naïve listener ... No, no and no again, these were not the inspirations of a man ahead of his time, these were simply calculations.... What a weird creature, for instance, is the "waltz" entitled "Die Nächtlichen." I trust they aren't "All-Nächtlichen."


Later, after more public performances, Busoni was well aware of the negative public reaction, but still clearly believed he had chosen the correct path. In a letter to Egon Petri
Egon Petri
Egon Petri was a classical pianist.-Biography:Petri's family was Dutch and he was born a Dutch citizen, but he was born in Hanover in Germany and was brought up in Dresden. His father was a professional violinist who taught his son that instrument. Petri played in the Dresden Court Orchestra and...

 he wrote, "Thank you for your kind words about the Elegies. On several occasions I have now found that they appear infinitely simpler to the reader than to the listener. In these pieces I am particularly proud of the form and clarity. For instance, the structure and proportions of the "Erscheinung" seem exemplary."

Manuscript and publication details

Manuscripts:
1) Busoni Archive No. 237 (some as sketches)
Title: "Nach der Wendung" 5 neue Clavierstücke von Ferruccio Busoni
Date: 15. "September 1907 bis 20. November"
Note: Die Nächtlichen is included as a sketch, although it was not included in the count of 5, and remained unnamed.
2) Busoni Archive No. 238
Title page: 6 Elegien 1907-1908
Section titles and dedications:
1) Nach der Wendung. Recueillement. Dedication: Gottfried Galston
2) All' Italia! in modo napolitana. Dedication: Egon Petri
Egon Petri
Egon Petri was a classical pianist.-Biography:Petri's family was Dutch and he was born a Dutch citizen, but he was born in Hanover in Germany and was brought up in Dresden. His father was a professional violinist who taught his son that instrument. Petri played in the Dresden Court Orchestra and...

3) "Meine Seele bangt und hofft zu Dir".Choralvorspiel. Dedication: Gregor Beklemischeff
4) Turandot's Frauengemach. Intermezzo. Dedication: Michael von Zadora
5) Die Nächtlichen. Walzer. Dedication: O'Neill Philipps
6) Erscheinung. (Notturno.) Dedication: Leo Kestenberg
3) Staatsarchiv, Leipzig
Title: Berceuse
Dedication: Johan Wijsman
Date: 5. Juni 1909.
4 pages, unpaginated, unattached

Publications:
1) Nos. 1-6: Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel
Breitkopf & Härtel
Breitkopf & Härtel is the world's oldest music publishing house. The firm was founded in 1719 in Leipzig by Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf . The catalogue currently contains over 1000 composers, 8000 works and 15,000 music editions or books on music. The name "Härtel" was added when Gottfried...

, Copyright 1908, cat. nos. EB 26042-46, 26052, plate nos. Klav. Bibl. 26042-26046 (nos.1-5); Klav. Bibl. 26052 (no.6), (57 pages)
Title: Elegien. 6 neue Klavierstücke
Notes:
a) Section titles and dedications are the same as for manuscript no. 238.
b) The 6 piano pieces may be performed as a cycle or separately. When performed as a cycle, the last piece (Erscheinung) ends with a motive from the beginning of the first (Nach der Wendung). When not played as part of a cycle, the last piece has a different ending.

2) No. 7: Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, Copyright 1909, cat. no. V.A. 3053, (7 pages)
Title: Berceuse pour le piano
Dedication: Johan Wijsman

3) Nos. 1-7: Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, (1908/09), cat. no. EB 5214, plate nos. 26042-26046 (nos.1-5), 26052 (no.6), 26282 (no.7), (52 pages)
Title: Elegien. Sieben neue Klavierstücke
Note: includes Berceuse (BV 252) as no.7, dedicated to Johan Wysman
Reprints: Leipzig: VEB Breitkopf & Härtel, [1949 ff.]; Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel, [1966]

4) No. 2: Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1908, Cat. no. V.A. 2907, (15 pages)
Title: Zwei Klavierstücke aus den Elegien. All' Italia! In modo napolitano
Note: According to the Breitkopf & Härtel catalog this publication appeared in 1909.

5) No. 4: Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1908, Cat. no. V.A. 2908, (7 pages)
Title: Zwei Klavierstücke aus den Elegien. Turandots Frauengemach. Intermezzo
Note: According to the Breitkopf & Härtel catalog this publication appeared in 1909.

6) Nos. 2 & 4: Moscow: Muzyka, 1969 (ed. Grigorii Kogan)

7) No. 4: New York and London: G. Schirmer
G. Schirmer
G. Schirmer Inc. is an American classical music publishing company based in New York City, founded in 1861. It publishes sheet music for sale and rental, and represents some well-known European music publishers in North America, such as the Italian Ricordi, Music Sales Affiliates ChesterNovello,...

, 1975 (in Encores of Great Pianists, ed. Raymond Lewenthal
Raymond Lewenthal
Raymond Lewenthal was an American pianist.-Biography:Lewenthal was born in San Antonio, Texas to Russian-French parents. His birth date is often given as 1926, but he was actually born three years earlier in 1923...

)

8) Nos. 1-7: Miami Lanes, FL: Masters Music Publications, [1989?], cat. no. M1074

9) Nos. 1-7: Mineola, NY: Dover Publications
Dover Publications
Dover Publications is an American book publisher founded in 1941 by Hayward Cirker and his wife, Blanche. It publishes primarily reissues, books no longer published by their original publishers. These are often, but not always, books in the public domain. The original published editions may be...

, 1996, in The Complete Elegies, the Six Sonatinas, and Other Original Works for Solo Piano, Ferruccio Busoni, pp. 35-86. ISBN 0486293866

Recordings

Note: Select the catalog number link for additional recording details.
  • Martin Jones (Argo ZRG 741; LP
    LP album
    The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...

     with limited availability)
  • Geoffrey Douglas Madge
    Geoffrey Douglas Madge
    Geoffrey Douglas Madge is an Australian classical pianist and composer.Madge performed long and arduous works, he has twice recorded Sorabji's Opus clavicembalisticum, one of the longest and most difficult works ever written for the piano...

     (Philips 420 740-2)
  • Roland Pöntinen
    Roland Pöntinen
    Roland Peter Pöntinen is a Swedish pianist and composer.He is the son of a Finnish-speaking father, a native of the Russian district of Ingria who emigrated from the Soviet Union to Sweden in 1945...

     (CPO 999 853-2)
  • Jeni Slotchiver (Centaur CRC 2438)
  • Geoffrey Tozer
    Geoffrey Tozer
    Geoffrey Tozer was an Australian classical pianist and composer. As a child prodigy, he composed an opera at the age of eight, and became the youngest recipient of a Churchill Fellowship award at 13...

    , "All'Italia!" and "Turandots Frauengemach" (Chandos 9394)
  • Alfred Brendel
    Alfred Brendel
    Alfred Brendel KBE is an Austrian pianist, born in Czechoslovakia and a resident of the United Kingdom. He is also a poet and author.-Biography:...

    , "Meine Seele bangt und hofft zu Dir" and "Erscheinung" (see Alfred Brendel – Unpublished Live and Radio Performances 1968–2001
    Alfred Brendel – Unpublished Live and Radio Performances 1968–2001
    Alfred Brendel – Unpublished Live and Radio Performances 1968–2001 is a 2-CD compilation album of solo piano music selected by the performer Alfred Brendel. The album was released in 2007 and features music by the composers Ludwig van Beethoven, Frédéric Chopin, Felix Mendelssohn, and Ferruccio...

    )
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