Carl Wilhelm Schmoelzl
Les Productions D’Oz: 12 pages
This is published under the heading of Neue Schriebart – 19th Century Guitar Music from Austria and Germany as revised by Daniel Marx, and one of several works in this ever growing collection. The ‘new Style of Writing ‘ dates back to Simon Molitor who, in the Preface to his Sonata Op7 , from 1806, demands a new approach to compositions, and their notation, and in this new series, Marx wants to introduce newly discovered, or little known works from this era.
This little known composer/ performer ( 1809 – 1845) has apparently written many works , up to Op99 which are stored in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich in his original handwriting and here we have a very beautiful set of theme and variations on a yodelling song that is still sung today.
It consists of an Introduzione, Theme, four variations and Finale, and is set in the friendly key of A Major .Yes, being from this period of guitar writing, there are many moments when you almost know what to expect, but a great deal of the writing is full of flow, memorably melodic and fitting beautifully under the fingers, even though you do have to be a very good player to do it full justice.
The Introduzione is Andantino and full of very small note values, and plenty of diving around the fingerboard, but it works really well. Then the Moderato theme with a few slides and small cadences of little notes at times shows off the beauty of the melody and the way Schmoelzl constructs the composition. Variation 1` is largely written in triplet quavers that leap around in a very show – y fashion, followed by Variation 2 which is in semi-quavers and marked Piu Mosso, so there is absolutely no hanging around here. After that, Variation 3, an Andantino con Molto espressione, almost takes us back in feel to the Introduzione, but with even more fast runs. Allegro Brillante is Variation 4 which is largely in semi – quavers again with the melody being provided by the crotchet beats .The Finale then takes over and immediately has that feel where you can see where the piece is going musically,, but still is lots of fun to actually play it, and it finishes with a very typical but exciting slam – bang set of notes, destined to bring a smile of delight to any audience.
As this is the first piece I have ever seen from this composer, I have no idea how typical it is of his music but it is fun, happy, quite difficult to play, but one which many players who enjoy this period will love trying out.
Chris Dumigan
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