Minor composers?

I am keen to bring to light lesser-known philosophers or even those hardly known at all. So similarly, I am interested in lesser-known and lesser-performed composers¹, especially from the classical and romantic periods. I search 2^nd hand shops and sometimes discover a gem or two of these so-called lesser-known composers. I’ve recently learnt about and listened to Raff², Rejcha³, Onslow⁴, Hummel⁵ and really liked all of them. Rejcha’s cello concerto in D major⁶ sounded very Boccherini-like so I’d love to learn that one. My favourite though was Raff’s Cello Concerto no 1 in D minor op. 193⁷. I was interested that Raff set up special classes for women composers! He also employed Clara Schumannn as a teacher at the Hoch Conservatory. Hummel was Slovak and there’s a museum⁸ in his birth place Bratislava dedicated to him.

To be honest, I’m not sure I see these minor composers as minor or their music as not great. I think it’s exciting to discover forgotten music! There’s something special in bringing forgotten/lesser- known philosophers or composers back to life again so they can be appreciated once more! Often when scanning a programme I check for new cello sonatas, or concertos that I might wish to learn or have learnt but don’t feature on concert programmes very much. I learnt Breval’s Sonata no 1 in C but don’t remember ever hearing it live at a concert. I was about 8 yrs old when I learnt it and I always loved playing the opening chords to it with gusto!

One needs to give an unheard piece a little more thought when interpreting it because it will influence the audience’s attitude towards it and the composer. The last thing a performer wants to do is put people off a newly discovered composer. I know I’m influenced by a performance. If it’s tedious I may not bother to learn the piece which is stupid but it happens. However, one of the ways to learn to love a piece one doesn’t connect with immediately is to research the background to it, the era, the composer, listen to it, study the score closely, feel your way into the emotions in the piece and if you know other musicians who are keen to learn new stuff or even know the piece talk to them about it, perform it to friends etc really try to get ‘into it’. You never know, you might love it in the end!

¹ Steven Isserlis ‘In praise of those who need it’ (03/04/2017) facebook, available at:

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1322121787836113&id=191956057519364

²for more information about Raff, see: http://raff.org/intro.htm

³for more information about Rejcha, see:

 http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/Name/Anton-Reicha/Composer/9990-1

⁴for more information about Onslow, see:

http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/acc/onslow.php

Onslow’s cello sonata in C-minor No.2, Op.16 (1819), available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PuRh4-CCUs

⁵for more information about Hummel, see:

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/Name/Johann-Nepomuk-Hummel/Composer/5667-1  

Hummel’s Variazioni alla Monferrina, Op. 54, for cello and piano available at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEuGHBt6U4k (part 1 of 2)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3U0gOJNf4Y (part 2 of 2)

⁶Rejcha, Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in D major available to listen to at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aPpyG6GYdM

⁷ Raff’s cello concerto no1, available to listen to at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X_XtUs_E6Q

⁸For a video about the Hummel museum and to listen to Hummel’s Trio for 2 Violas and Cello in G major, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfdhW8UYqdw