''Vier Tondichtungen nach A. Böcklin'' (Four

tone poem A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term ''T ...

s after Arnold Böcklin), Op. 128, is a composition in four parts for orchestra by Max Reger, based on four paintings by Arnold Böcklin, including ''Die Toteninsel'' ('' ''Isle of the Dead''''). He composed them in Meiningen in 1913.

Background and history

While

s were a common genre around 1900, including many works by Richard Strauss, Reger typically wrote more abstract music. He described his '' Eine romantische Suite'', Op. 125, and the tone poems after Böcklin as "Ausflug in das Gebiet der Programmusik" (Excursion in the realm of program music). Reger composed the four tone poems in Meiningen from end of May to July 1913, after planning it from October 1912. He dedicated the work to

Julius Buths Julius Buths (7 May 185112 March 1920) was a German pianist, conductor and minor composer. He was particularly notable in his early championing of the works of Edward Elgar in Germany. He conducted the continental European premieres of both the ...

. The score and parts were published by

Bote & Bock Bote & Bock is a German publishing house founded in Berlin in 1838 by Eduard Bote and Gustav Bock (1813-1863). The first Gustav Bock was a musically gifted publisher with an eye for opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a f ...

in September 1913. Reger conducted the first performance in Essen on 12 October that year, with the Städtisches Orchester (municipal orchestra).

Structure and scoring

The four parts are in contrasting tempo, slow–fast–slow–fast. Both slow movements, 1 and 3, are marked ''Molto sostenuto (aber nie schleppend)'' (but never dragging), both fast movements ''Vivace''. The work is scored for a symphonic orchestra of three flutes (including (piccolo), two oboes (including Cor Anglais), two clarinets, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, harp, three timpani and more percussion, solo-violin, strings (

divisi In musical terminology, ''divisi'', or as typically printed ''“div.,”'' is an instruction to divide a single section of instruments into multiple subsections. This usually applies to the violins of the string section in an orchestra, although v ...

in I). The pieces can be played individually or as "a quasi-symphony".

Der geigende Eremit

' (''The Hermit Fiddler'', literally: The hermit playing violin) is based on a painting ''Der Einsiedler'' (''The Hermit'') that Böcklin made in Florence in 1884. A solo violin is contrasted by a group of strings playing ''

con sordino A mute is a device attached to a musical instrument which changes the instrument's tone quality (timbre) or lowers its volume. Mutes are commonly used on string and brass instruments, especially the trumpet and trombone, and are occasion ...

'' and another group playing not muted. The "ethereal violin" has been compared to Ralph Vaughan Williams' '' The Lark Ascending'', composed in 1914.

Klaus Uwe Ludwig Klaus Uwe Ludwig (16 September 1943 – 20 December 2019)Klaus Uwe Ludwig
vrm-trauer.de was a Germa ...

wrote an arrangement of the movement for viola and organ, which was published by Breitkopf.

Im Spiel der Wellen

' (literally: In the play of the waves) is based on a painting ''Im Spiel der Wellen'' (''Playing in the Waves'') that Böcklin made in 1883. Like the painting, the music evokes the shimmering foam of surf in sunlight, and the play of naiads and

Triton Triton commonly refers to: * Triton (mythology), a Greek god * Triton (moon), a satellite of Neptune Triton may also refer to: Biology * Triton cockatoo, a parrot * Triton (gastropod), a group of sea snails * ''Triton'', a synonym of ''Triturus' ...

. A reviewer compares the movement to Debussy's '' La mer'' written a few years earlier, noting that "Reger pursued the flamboyant realm of mythical creatures". Both works have a similar "sparkling orchestral character".

Die Toteninsel

' (''Isle of the Dead'') is based on a painting of the same name that Böcklin made in five different versions between 1880 and 1886. The painting has been regarded Böcklin's most famous work, with a title not by Böcklin himself, but the art dealer

Fritz Gurlitt Friedrich "Fritz" Gurlitt (3 October 1854 – 8 February 1893), originally from Vienna, was a Berlin based art dealer and collector, specialising, in particular, in contemporary art. After his early death the art gallery he had established in cent ...

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novell ...

characterized the painting as expressing ''Sympathie mit dem Tode'' (sympathy with death), typical for the ''

fin de siècle () is a French term meaning "end of century,” a phrase which typically encompasses both the meaning of the similar English idiom "turn of the century" and also makes reference to the closing of one era and onset of another. Without context, ...

''. A composition based on the painting by Andreas Hallén appeared in 1897, others followed, including a piece of the same title by

Serge Rachmaninoff Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of ...

in 1909. Reger writes "long-held but shifting sonorities", using the orchestra like an organ.

Max Beckschäfer Max Beckschäfer (born 23 February 1952 in Münster) is a German organist, composer and academic. Professional career Beckschäfer took classes at the Richard Strauss Conservatory in Munich in organ, piano, violin and choral conducting. He stu ...

arranged Reger's movement for organ in 1984. He played it first at the Marktkirche Wiesbaden in 1985, along with the organ part of his arrangement of Reger's '' Hebbel Requiem''.

Bacchanal

' is based on a painting ''Bacchantenfest'' (Feast of the Bacchants), painted around 1856. It may recall the "folly of earlier orgiastic times", or the longing of an older person to still be part of them. Reger, who called his own experience "Sturm und Trank" (storm and drink), as pun on "

Sturm und Drang ''Sturm und Drang'' (, ; usually translated as "storm and stress") was a proto- Romantic movement in German literature and music that occurred between the late 1760s and early 1780s. Within the movement, individual subjectivity and, in particul ...

", used conterpoint, harmonic development and refined instrumentation to achieve a dazzling painting in sound.

Later performance

The work was performed in the official opening concert of the ''Reger-Jahr'' (Reger year) 2016 in Leipzig, where Reger died in 1916, played by the orchestra of the Musikhochschule Leipzig.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

*
Max Reger / 4 Tondichtungen nach Böcklin
UE * Maureen Buja
Music and Art: Arnold Böcklin
interlude.hk

MDR
Max Reger: Vier Tondichtungen nach Arnold Böcklin, op. 128
(in German) Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landestheater

reger-in-leipzig.de {{italic title Symphonic poems Compositions by Max Reger 1913 compositions Music based on art