Reviews of Raff scores in The Monthly Musical Record, 1874.

five movements - a "preludio" in G minor, a "minuetto" in G major, a "corrente" in the same key, an "aria" in C minor, and a finale, "Il Moto Perpetuo," in G major. Of these movements, the minuet strikes us, from reading the score, as the best. It is one of the stately old-fashioned three-in-a-bar dances which we find in Bach and Scarlatti, rather than a predecessor of the modern scherzo, like Beethoven's earlier minuets. The subjects are very pleasing, and the treatment excellent. The prelude is also a capital movement, somewhat in Bach's style; but the other three sections of the work are more noticeable for clever construction than for interesting ideas. The workmanship of the whole suite is excellent, the solo part very showy and brilliant, and the orchestration effective and not overloaded; but, on the whole, we have seen many works of Raff's which we prefer to this one.
In the "Six Songs for Three Female Voices," however, "Richard's himself again." While the construction of these pieces is no less finished than that of the suite just noticed, the ideas are of an infinitely higher value. Some of the numbers, especially "Sind die Sterne fromme Lämmer," "Frühling auf dem Lande," and "Wo still ein Herz von Liege Glüht," are really charming, the last-named being particularly beautiful. It is to be regretted that the publishers did not follow the custom now rapidly becoming popular in some of the leading German firms, of giving an English version in addition to the original text.
Pianists who procure the "Erinnerungen an Venedig" will, we believe, thank us for introducing them to their notice. Though not all of equal merit (the first and last numbers being, we think, inferior to the others), they are, one the whole, in Raff's happiest vein. While affording sufficient opportunity for display, they are by no means too difficult for good average players; and those who wish for something which without being exactly "classical," is yet thoroughly good, will find these little pieces well suited to them. We recommend them warmly.

March 1 1874		page 41


Suite en Mi mineur, pour Pianoforte. Par JOACHIM RAFF. op.72. Stanley Lucas, Weber, & Co. Romance and Minuet from op.72. Augener & Co. From what we have yet seen of the compositions of Joachim RAFF, we should be disposed to call him one of the most unequal of writers. Some of his works appear to us dry to the last degree, while others are so exceptionally good as to fully justify the position he holds as one of the most distinguished of living German composers. To the latter category undoubtedly belongs the present suite. The publishers could hardly have made a happier selection for their first English reprint; this being, so far as we are aware, the only work of Raff's of which an edition has as yet been published in this country. The present suite consists of five movements. It commences with a "Preludio," allegro agitato, in E minor, constructed on an interesting subject, and excellently treated. To this succeeds a "Toccata" in A minor, on the		whole perhaps scarcely equal to the foregoing, yet by nomeans without merit, a capital point being the introduction in the bass (as "second subject") of the theme of the prelude. The third movement"Minuetto" in E major, is simply charming - full of piquancy and grace, and with a certain old-fashioned stateliness about it which will render it a universal favourite. The following "Romanza" in G, though melodious and original, is less to our taste, the middle portion being somewhat vague and discursive; but the final "Fugue" in E minor is the best portion of the whole work. The subject is taken from the prelude - unity thus being given to the entire suite - and it is treated with an amount of cleverness and a mastery of contrapuntal devices that are most admirable. The whole work, though not easy to play well, makes far less demand on the resources of the pianist than much of the music of the new school, and we can most cordially recommend it to the notice of our readers.

June 1 1874		page 87


Suite für Solo Violine und Orchester, von JOACHIM RAFF. Op.180 Sechs Gesänge für Drei Frauenstimmen mit Begleitung des Pianoforte (Six Songs for Three Female Voices with Piano), von JOACHIM RAFF. Op.184 Erinnerungen an Venedig: Sechs Stücke für Pianoforte (Recollections of Venice: Six Pieces for Pianoforte) von JOACHIM RAFF. Op.187 Leipzig: C.W.F. Siegel Of all the prominent German composers of the present day, Joachim Raff is probably the most voluminous; and the versatility of his talent is hardly less remarkable than the quantity which he produces. From the grand symphony to the veriest bagatelle for the piano, from the grand opera to the simple "Lied," he seems equally at home in every style. And if the quality of his work be taken into consideration, as well as its amount, there can be no difficulty in awarding him a very high - in some respects the highest - place among living German musicians. The only composer of the "New German" School whom on the whole we should rank above him, is Johannes Brahms - we leave Wagner, as an almost exclusively dramatic composer, out of the question. And Brahms is in one respect a complete contrast to Raff, for though not quite eleven years his junior, the published compositions of the former are not one-third as numerous as those of the latter. If a conjecture may be hazarded from the music itself, we should think that Brahms elaborates his works with the care of a Beethoven, while Raff throws off his with the spontaneity of a Schubert. It is hardly to be expected that all the works of one who writes so much should be equal in excellence; and the first of the pieces standing at the head of this article cannot be pronounced one of its composer's happiest efforts. The suite for solo violin and orchestra consists of		five movements - a "preludio" in G minor, a "minuetto" in G major, a "corrente" in the same key, an "aria" in C minor, and a finale, "Il Moto Perpetuo," in G major. Of these movements, the minuet strikes us, from reading the score, as the best. It is one of the stately old-fashioned three-in-a-bar dances which we find in Bach and Scarlatti, rather than a predecessor of the modern scherzo, like Beethoven's earlier minuets. The subjects are very pleasing, and the treatment excellent. The prelude is also a capital movement, somewhat in Bach's style; but the other three sections of the work are more noticeable for clever construction than for interesting ideas. The workmanship of the whole suite is excellent, the solo part very showy and brilliant, and the orchestration effective and not overloaded; but, on the whole, we have seen many works of Raff's which we prefer to this one. In the "Six Songs for Three Female Voices," however, "Richard's himself again." While the construction of these pieces is no less finished than that of the suite just noticed, the ideas are of an infinitely higher value. Some of the numbers, especially "Sind die Sterne fromme Lämmer," "Frühling auf dem Lande," and "Wo still ein Herz von Liege Glüht," are really charming, the last-named being particularly beautiful. It is to be regretted that the publishers did not follow the custom now rapidly becoming popular in some of the leading German firms, of giving an English version in addition to the original text. Pianists who procure the "Erinnerungen an Venedig" will, we believe, thank us for introducing them to their notice. Though not all of equal merit (the first and last numbers being, we think, inferior to the others), they are, one the whole, in Raff's happiest vein. While affording sufficient opportunity for display, they are by no means too difficult for good average players; and those who wish for something which without being exactly "classical," is yet thoroughly good, will find these little pieces well suited to them. We recommend them warmly.

NOTE:
1. Editions of the scores reviewed (click on the picture to see a larger version):

Piano Suite in E minor op.72: Title page of the Augener edition, published in England and reviewed in these extracts.	Suite for Violin & Orchestra op.180: Title page of a later edition of the score, with bowing and fingering added by its dedicatee, Hugo Heermann.