Salomon Jadassohn was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 and a renowned teacher of piano and composition at the Leipzig Conservatory.

Life

Jadassohn was born to a Jewish family living in Breslau, the capital of the Prussia

Prussia

Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...

n province of Silesia

Province of Silesia

The Province of Silesia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1815 to 1919.-Geography:The territory comprised the bulk of the former Bohemian crown land of Silesia and the County of Kladsko, which King Frederick the Great had conquered from the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy in the 18th...

. This was a generation after the emancipation of the Jews

Jewish Emancipation

Jewish emancipation was the external and internal process of freeing the Jewish people of Europe, including recognition of their rights as equal citizens, and the formal granting of citizenship as individuals; it occurred gradually between the late 18th century and the early 20th century...

 in Central European German-speaking lands and during a time of relative tolerance. First educated locally, Jadassohn enrolled at the Leipzig Conservatory

Felix Mendelssohn College of Music and Theatre

The University of Music and Theatre "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig is a public university in Leipzig . Founded in 1843 by Felix Mendelssohn as the Conservatory of Music, it is the oldest university school of music in Germany....

 in 1848, just a few years after it had been founded by Felix Mendelssohn

Felix Mendelssohn

Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...

. There he studied composition

Musical composition

Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...

 with Moritz Hauptmann

Moritz Hauptmann

Moritz Hauptmann , was a German music theorist, teacher and composer.Hauptmann was born in Dresden, and studied violin under Scholz, piano under Franz Lanska, composition under Grosse and Francesco Morlacchi,...

, Ernst Richter and Julius Rietz

Julius Rietz

August Wilhelm Julius Rietz was a German composer, conductor and cellist. He was a teacher among whose students were Woldemar Bargiel, Salomon Jadassohn and Arthur Sullivan. He also edited many works by Felix Mendelssohn for publication.-Biography:He studied the cello under Schmidt, Bernhard...

, as well as piano

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

 with Ignaz Moscheles

Ignaz Moscheles

Ignaz Moscheles was a Bohemian composer and piano virtuoso, whose career after his early years was based initially in London, and later at Leipzig, where he succeeded his friend and sometime pupil Felix Mendelssohn as head of the Conservatoire.-Sources:Much of what we know about Moscheles's life...

. At the same time, he studied privately with Franz Liszt

Franz Liszt

Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...

 in Weimar

Weimar

Weimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899...

.

Because he was Jewish, Jadassohn could not qualify for the many church jobs as music directors or organists which were usually available to Christian graduates of a conservatory such as Leipzig, as they required deep knowledge of Christian liturgy and practice. Instead he worked for a Leipzig synagogue

Synagogue

A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...

 and a few local choral societies as well as teaching privately. Eventually, he was able to qualify for a position at the Leipzig Conservatory, teaching piano and composition.

Over the years, he became a renowned teacher, and Edvard Grieg

Edvard Grieg

Edvard Hagerup Grieg was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is best known for his Piano Concerto in A minor, for his incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt , and for his collection of piano miniatures Lyric Pieces.-Biography:Edvard Hagerup Grieg was born in...

, Ferruccio Busoni

Ferruccio Busoni

Ferruccio Busoni was an Italian composer, pianist, editor, writer, piano and composition teacher, and conductor.-Biography:...

, Frederick Delius

Frederick Delius

Frederick Theodore Albert Delius, CH was an English composer. Born in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family of German extraction, he resisted attempts to recruit him to commerce...

, Paul Homeyer

Paul Homeyer

Paul Homeyer was a German organist who had an active international concert career during the late 19th century and early 20th century. His repertoire encompassed works from a variety of musical periods from ancient to contemporary works...

, Richard Franck

Richard Franck

Richard Franck was a German pianist, composer and teacher. He was born in Cologne and was the son of the German composer, pianist and teacher Eduard Franck...

, Sigfrid Karg-Elert

Sigfrid Karg-Elert

Sigfrid Karg-Elert was a German composer of considerable fame in the early twentieth century, best known for his compositions for organ and harmonium.-Biography:...

, Ruben Liljefors

Ruben Liljefors

Ruben Mattias Liljefors was a Swedish composer and conductor.Liljefors studied in Uppsala with Ivar Eggert Hedenblad until 1895, and subsequently in Leipzig with Salomon Jadassohn until 1899. Later he attended the Stockholm Conservatory. He completed his education with Felix Draeseke, Max Reger,...

, Emil Reznicek and Felix Weingartner

Felix Weingartner

Paul Felix von Weingartner, Edler von Münzberg was an Austrian conductor, composer and pianist.-Biography:...

 were among his many students. Americans also studied with him, including the song composer Jean Paul Kürsteiner

Jean Paul Kürsteiner

Jean Paul Kürsteiner was an American pianist, pedagogue, music publisher, and composer of piano pieces and art songs.-Life and musical career:...

 and George Strong, a composer of the late 19th and early 20th century.

Work

Jadassohn composed more than 140 works in virtually every genre, including four symphonies

Symphony

A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...

, two piano concerto

Piano concerto

A piano concerto is a concerto written for piano and orchestra.See also harpsichord concerto; some of these works are occasionally played on piano...

s, lied

Lied

is a German word literally meaning "song", usually used to describe romantic songs setting German poems of reasonably high literary aspirations, especially during the nineteenth century, beginning with Carl Loewe, Heinrich Marschner, and Franz Schubert and culminating with Hugo Wolf...

er, sonata

Sonata

Sonata , in music, literally means a piece played as opposed to a cantata , a piece sung. The term, being vague, naturally evolved through the history of music, designating a variety of forms prior to the Classical era...

s, opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 and a considerable amount of chamber music

Chamber music

Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...

, including a string quartet

String quartet

A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...

, four piano trio

Piano trio

A piano trio is a group of piano and two other instruments, usually a violin and a cello, or a piece of music written for such a group. It is one of the most common forms found in classical chamber music...

s, three piano quartet

Piano quartet

In European classical music, piano quartet denotes a chamber music composition for piano and three other instruments, or a musical ensemble comprising such instruments...

s, three piano quintet

Piano quintet

In European classical music, a piano quintet is a work of chamber music written for piano and four other instruments, most commonly piano, two violins, viola, and cello . Among the most frequently performed piano quintets are those by Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, César Franck, Antonín Dvořák...

s and a serenade

Serenade

In music, a serenade is a musical composition, and/or performance, in someone's honor. Serenades are typically calm, light music.The word Serenade is derived from the Italian word sereno, which means calm....

 for flute

Flute

The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...

 and string quintet

String quintet

A string quintet is a musical composition for a standard string quartet supplemented by a fifth string instrument, usually a second viola or a second cello , but occasionally a double bass. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who favoured addition of a viola, is considered a pioneer of the form...

. These chamber works rank among his finest compositions. Considered a master of counterpoint

Counterpoint

In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent . It has been most commonly identified in classical music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period,...

 and harmony

Harmony

In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...

, he was also a gifted melodist

Melody

A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...

, following in the tradition of Mendelssohn. His works also show the influence of Wagner

Richard Wagner

Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...

 and Liszt, whose music deeply impressed him. In addition, he wrote several important books on composition and music theory

Music theory

Music theory is the study of how music works. It examines the language and notation of music. It seeks to identify patterns and structures in composers' techniques across or within genres, styles, or historical periods...

.

Reputation

The general consensus is that Jadassohn and his music were not better known for two reasons: the first is the pre-eminence of his contemporary Carl Reinecke

Carl Reinecke

Carl Heinrich Carsten Reinecke was a German composer, conductor, and pianist.-Biography:Reinecke was born in Altona, Hamburg, Germany; until 1864 the town was under Danish rule. He studied with his father, Johann Peter Rudolph Reinecke, a music teacher...

. Reinecke was a world-famous piano virtuoso and composer, but also an important professor at the Leipzig Conservatory, where Jadassohn taught. Reinecke later served as its director and, at the same time, held the post of conductor of the renowned Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra

Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra

The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra is one of the the oldest symphony orchestras in the world...

.

Secondly was the influence of the rising tide of antisemitism in late 19th century Wilhelmine

Wilhelmine

Wilhelmine is a term for the period of German history, also known as the German Empire. The term Wilhelmine Germany refers to the period running from the proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Kaiser at Versailles in 1871 to the abdication of his grandson Wilhelm II in 1918.Although the father of...

 Germany. In the wake of Wagner, many music critics attacked Jadassohn's works, labeling it academic and dry, epithets which have stuck with it since. Since his death, his music has been seldom performed, but in the 21st century, a reevaluation of it has begun with new performances and recordings. His Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 1 Op. 89 in C minor was performed to acclaim at a public premiere (since his death) by soloist Valentina Seferinova and the Karelia State Philharmonic Orchestra (Musical Director: Marius Stravinsky; Conductor: Denis Vlasenko) in Petrozavodsk, Russia on 20 December 2008. A CD recording of this live performance was issued by Cameo Classics in January 2009. Hyperion Records

Hyperion Records

Hyperion Records is an independent British classical record label.-History:The company was named after Hyperion, one of the Titans of Greek mythology. It was founded by George Edward Perry, widely known as "Ted", in 1980. Early LP releases included rarely recorded 20th century British music by...

 released a recording of Jadassohn's two piano concertos.

The record label cpo

Classic Produktion Osnabrück

Classic Produktion Osnabrück is a record label founded in 1986 by Georg Ortmann and several others. Its declared mission is to fill niches in the recorded classical repertory, with an emphasis on romantic, late romantic and 20th-century music...

 has announced they will be recording and releasing all four of Jadassohn’s symphonies with Israel Yinon and the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie

Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie

The Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie is a German symphony orchestra based in Herford. It was founded in 1950 and, along with Philharmonie Südwestfalen and Landesjugendorchester NRW, is one of the 'official' orchestras of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia...

. Some of these recordings have already been made and broadcast on local radio stations.

Symphonies

• Symphony 1 in C major, Op.24 (1861)
• Symphony 2 in A major, Op.28 (1865)
• Symphony 3 in D minor, Op.50 (1876)
• Symphony 4 in C minor, Op.101 (1889)

Concertante works with orchestra

• Piano Concerto 1 in C minor, Op.89 (1887)
• Piano Concerto 2 in F minor, Op.90 (1888)

Chamber music

• Cavatina for Cello and Orchestra, Op.120
• Sextet for piano 4 hands, 2 violins, viola, cello, Op.100 (1888)
• Piano Quintet 1 in C minor, Op.70 (1883)
• Piano Quintet 2 in F major, Op.76 (1884)
• Piano Quintet 3 in G minor, Op.126 (1895)
• Piano Quartet 1 in C minor, Op.77 (1884)
• Piano Quartet 2 in G major, Op.86 (1887)
• Piano Quartet 3 in A minor, Op. 109 (1890)
• String Quartet 1 in C minor, Op.10 (1858)
• Piano Trio 1 in F major, Op.16 (1858)
• Piano Trio 2 in E major, Op.20 (1860)
• Piano Trio 3 in C minor, Op.59 (1880)
• Piano Trio 4 in C minor, Op.85 (1887)
• Violin Sonata in G minor, Op.5 (1857)

External links

• Salomon Jadassohn Piano Trio No.4, Op.85 & Piano Quartet No.1, Op.77, Piano Quintet No.3, Op.126, sound-bites(recorded on Real Sound CD # RS 051-0036, 2002)
• 2008 performance of the Op.89 Piano Concerto, Part 1, YouTube
• 2008 Performance of the Op.89 Piano Concerto, Part 2, YouTube