RUDORFF – Song Op22 No.4 (‘The Shepherd’) – THREE CELLOS or THREE DOUBLE BASSES

Other Identification:
Born in Berlin, Rudorff studied piano under Woldemar Bargiel from 1852 to 1857 before enrolling at the Leipzig Conservatory in 1859, where he studied under Ignaz Moscheles, Louis Plaidy, and Julius Rietz. He was also a private pupil of Moritz Hauptmann and Carl Reinecke.
In 1865 he became a piano teacher at the Cologne Conservatory, and he founded the Bach-Verein Köln in 1867. He moved to Berlin in 1869, and for four decades, to his retirement in 1910, was the head piano teacher at the Berlin Hochschule. In the summer of 1880, on Max Bruch’s appointment as director of the Liverpool Philharmonic Society, Rudorff succeeded him as conductor of the Stern Singing-Societ (Stern Gesangverein) in Berlin until 1890.
His musical style is founded throughout upon the influence of the romantic school of Chopin, Mendelssohn and Schumann, and also notably of Weber. His favourite work of mine is (so far!) the wonderful “Variations on an Original Theme” (in D Minor) for full orchestra; a absolute masterwork! Also, very few people realize that he wrote an early work for solo cello and orchestra….
His part-songs are always interesting for their elegance and coherence, and this is true also of his other compositions. Like Robert Kahn (an unofficial Brahms disciple), he had a horror of anything rough-edged or common; indeed, his compositions may sometimes appear overstrained or extravagant. This may be due to his vivid and passionate personality. His melodies are certainly intricate, and often treated as to specifically avoid natural development. At the same time, they are so ingeniously and perfectly harmonized that every voice contributes fully on every bar! This makes his songs ideal, in my opinion, for string chamber ensembles performances.