Johann Kaspar Mertz-Fantasie Hongroise

Johann Kaspar Mertz-Standchen

Johann Kaspar Mertz was born in Pozsony. He was active in Vienna (c.1840~1856), which had been home to various prominent figures of the guitar, including Anton Diabelli, Mauro Giuliani, Wenceslaus Matiegka and Simon Franz Molitor. A virtuoso, he established a solid reputation as a performer. He toured Moravia, Poland, and Russia, and gave performances in Berlin and Dresden. In 1846 Mertz nearly died of an overdose of strychnine that had been prescribed to him as a treatment for neuralgia. Over the following year he was nursed back to health in the presence his wife, a concert pianist, Josephine Plantin whom he married in 1842. Some speculation may lead one to the conclusion that listening to his wife performing the Romantic piano pieces of the day during his period of recovery may have had an influence on the sound and unusual right hand technique he adopted for the Bardenklange (Bardic Sounds) Op.13.
Mertz's guitar music, unlike that of most of his contemporaries, followed the pianistic models of Chopin, Mendelssohn,Schubert and Schumann, rather than the classical models of Mozart and Haydn (as did Sor and Aguado), or the bel canto style of Rossini (as did Giuliani).
The Bardenklänge (1847) are probably Mertz's most important contribution to the guitar repertoire—a series of deceptively easy character pieces in the mould of Schumann.

Guitarist: Nicola Hall

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Guitar
• Romantic
• Mertz

[Nietopyrz360]

Thanks for posting this! I think Nicola Hall interprets this piece in a very distinctive, and quite brave, way. While I might prefer (or at least be used to) other interpretations it's always very entertaining to hear a piece played in a different yet still appealing way.

[NylonSixString]

i agree at first  I didn't like it but then I grew to love it...great interpetation and a favorite guitar piece of mine!

[Nietopyrz360]

The piece is one of Mertz's best surely, my personal favourite is his Elegy though. Still, both of these virtuosic pieces are very dramatic and remain the reason why I believe Mertz to be the finest guitar or at least romantic guitar composer.