Leopold Rosenfeld (1849-1909) – Lyric Fantasy Pieces

Leopold Rosenfeld (1849-1909)
Lyric Fantasy Pieces
John Kersey, piano
RDR CD37

Audio sample:  Hilsen, op 47 no 13

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Total time: 71 mins 54 secs

Characteerstykker (Character Pieces), op 3:
1) Allegro moderato e agitato (4’18”) 2) Fra Gammel Tid (3’43”) 3) Slot I Skoven (4’32”) 4) Allegro agitato (2’24”) 5) Latter (3’26”)

Lyriske fantasistykker (Lyric Fantasy Pieces), op 47:
Book 1:
6) Humoreske (1’53”) 7) Legende (3’36”) 8) Cracovienne (1’14”) 9) Bondedans (1’58”) 10) Sylfelet (2’29”) 11) Valse érotique (3’12”) 12) Scherzino (1’07”)

Book 2:
13) Hilsen (1’22”) 14) Stille Tider (1’53”) 15) Alene (2’22”) 16) Foraarsmorgen (1’02”) 17) Af et Digt (2’29”) 18) Vekselsang (2’53”)  19) I Dag (2’24”) 20) Hilsen (1’37”) 21) Til Afsked (1’12”) 22) Hvorfor? (3’27”) 23) Forsilde (2’03”) 24) Øde (2’00”) 25) Farvel (2’40”) 26) Langfredag (1’24”) 27) Et Gravmæle (4’43”) 28) Epilog (1’43”)

We are grateful to Robert Commagere for the supply of scores for use in this project.

Danish composer Leopold Rosenfeld was born in Copenhagen on 21 July 1849, and at first was compelled by his father to enter commercial employment. However, his love of music caused a change of heart, and he then spent the years 1872-75 studying composition at the Copenhagen Conservatoire of Music. He won a travelling scholarship in 1881 and the title of professor was conferred on him in 1889. He was mainly active as a teacher of singing at the Royal Conservatoire and an author of a noted pedagogical work on voice-training, and also as critic of the newspaper Dannebrog among other periodicals.

Rosenfeld’s output is principally in the areas of piano music and song, but significant orchestral works include the once-popular Henrik og Else (1885). The early set of Characteerstykker show a clear influence of Schumann and his fellow Scandinavians Grieg and Ludvig Schytte within a particular strain of Nordic pessimism that was to make itself felt constantly within Rosenfeld’s work. The set of Lyriske fantasistykker op 47 takes us further into this world, in particular through Book 2 whose dark, reflective nature at times foreshadows Sibelius. The piano writing is sometimes orchestral in character, but throughout the emphasis is on melodic invention, creating a memorable impression. The theme of the final Epilog somehow manages to anticipate Bart Howard’s popular song Fly Me To The Moon by half a century.

Each of the Lyriske fantasistykker is preceded by a romantic vignette or short verse by Baroness Gudrun Reedz-Thott (1873-1917), who also provided the text for one of Rosenfeld’s op 46 songs. The subject matter is often melancholy, dealing with parting and death, so that the whole set forms a unified cycle travelling from the more energetic opening to the elegiac music of its conclusion.

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