GOLDMARK – Frühlingsnetz (‘Spring Awakening’) – for 12 SOLO CELLOS

Other Identification:
FRÜHLINGSNETZ (‘Spring Awakening’).
Given the number Op.15.
composed in about 1869.


Composer notes:
Karl Goldmark (born May 18th, 1830, Keszthely, Hungary — and died 1915, Vienna) was a most interesting Austro-Hungarian composer. The son of a poor Jewish cantor, Goldmark studied violin in Vienna under Georg Böhm and theory under Gottfried Preyer; in composition he was self-taught. During his long career in Vienna, he became a leading musical figure of the city, directing the Eintracht Choral Society, being a music critic, and rallying support for the faction of Richard Wagner – rather in opposition to Johannes Brahms and Eduard Hanslick.

He composed in all the standard genres, sometimes in a kind of Hungarian idiom but often showing a dependence upon Wagner, and yet also subconsciously with many touches of Brahms present! His most successful works are the overture Sakuntala (1860) and the opera Die Königin von Saba (“The Queen of Sheba”) of 1875 which was highly popular in the late 19th century. His Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 28, was once his most frequently played piece; the concerto had its première in Bremen in 1877, initially enjoyed great popularity and then slid into obscurity, though it is being happily revived of late by a few important present day violin soloists.

Among his other works are five more operas, notably in 1896 ‘Das Heimchen am Herd’ (“The Cricket on the Hearth”); two symphonies (the first was a young student work); and chamber works, including a Cello-Piano sonata (available on the IMSLP site).