Stock/Chicago - Reznicek: Donna Diana Overture

Frederick Stock (Friedrich August Stock) (November 11, 1872 October 20, 1942) was a German conductor and composer. Conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 1905 to 1942. My favorite conductor after Mengelberg and Stokowski.

Emil Nikolaus [Freiherr] von Reznicek (4 May 1860 in Vienna, died 2 August 1945 in Berlin) was an Austrian late Romantic composer of Czech ancestry.

Reznicek studied law and music simultaneously in Graz. He didn't finish his law degree, but continued to study music. Subsequently, he conducted at the theater in Graz, in Berlin and a few other places. From 1886 to 1894 he was Kapellmeister of the 88th Infantry of Prague, and it was here that he saw his greatest triumph with the premiere of Donna Diana (December 16, 1894). In the spring of 1902 he settled in Berlin, touring to Russia and England from time to time. When the Nazi party came to power in 1933, Reznicek tried not to become involved, but stayed in Berlin.

Reznicek was a personal friend of Richard Strauss. However, the relation between the two seems to have been an ambivalent one. Reznicek's symphonic poem Schlemihl (1912) can be seen as a direct parody of Strauss' Ein Heldenleben. The use of (often sarcastic) humor is a feature of much of Reznicek's music, from the jibbering Blaubart in the opera Ritter Blaubart through the sardonic Dance around the Golden Calf from Der Sieger (1913) to the expressionist Tarantella last movement of his Dance Symphony (#5, 1925). This Eulenspiegelei (a reference to the literary prankster Till Eulenspiegel) frequently got him into trouble in a world that was unaccustomed to the use of humour in music and art.

Today, Reznicek is remembered mainly for the overture to his opera Donna Diana, composed in 1894. The overture is a popular stand-alone piece at symphony concerts and also served as the theme for the American radio (1947-1955) series Challenge of the Yukon, which later migrated to the TV series (1955-1958) Sergeant Preston of the Yukon. It was also used in the 1950s on the BBC's Children's Hour by Stephen King-Hall for his talks on current affairs.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Frederick
• Stock
• Chicago
• Symphony
• Orchestra
• Reznicek
• Donna
• Diana
• Overture

[NelsonStJames]

Damn that's fast!



[2ndviolinist]

@NelsonStJames Also accurate and well played.

[presbyterosBassI]

For jueprivat and 2ndviolinist I'd say that Stock takes a cut in the score, not uncommon in that era. I didn't do an "A/B" comparison, though.

[2ndviolinist]

@presbyterosBassI Don't know, you may be right. We're just fortunate to have the recording in whatever form.

[jueprivat]

I'd say much too fast !!! normally this piece takes 6 minutes !!!

Please check the velocity of your recorder (player)

[2ndviolinist]

@jueprivat Pitch is correct. The Blech/Berlin Phil version is just over 4 min. Maybe a repeat not taken.

[MrCatneko]

Super! The tempi is similar to Karajan/VPO.

[NelsonStJames]

@analogyman I don't know, I've been listening to all these version, and it seems to me that the Challenge of the Yukon version had a kind of weird syncopation that these versions don't have. Also I don't think it was quite this fast, but of course they only ever played the first 30 to 45 seconds. Until I finally found the original piece I'd made up in my head how the rest would probably go. LOL. I still think it's one of the most heroic pieces of music I've ever heard,

[analogyman]

This tempo seems RIGHT to me - but then I grew up on the "Sgt. Preston of the Yukon" radio program, which had the same tempo. All others on YouTube seem to draaaaaaaaaaag out.

[7845lptape]

Splendid. Just splendid.

[plagalcadenze]

This has to be one of the most difficult overtures of the orchestral repertoire with the presto being placed in 3/16 - an absolute nightmare to read and must produce groans from any orchestra when told they are to play it. Shame on Reznicek for not putting it into 6/8. Superb overture, though.