Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 4.djvu/496

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480
WOELFL.

brated 'Non Plus Ultra' sonata always met with a rebuff, and were not allowed to go on to the variations till they had mastered the opening allegro. The ease with which he threw off trifles to catch the popular ear did not blind him to their trivial character or impair his respect for his art. Consequently, much of his work, sonatas, quartets, concertos, and symphonies, is thoroughly solid, showing great instrumental effect and, especially, contrapuntal artifice.[1] His works, therefore, continued to appear in programmes for several years.[2] A strongly marked rhythm and a predilection for sweeping arpeggios, continued, on the pianoforte, from one hand to the other were regarded by his contemporaries as his chief mannerisms.[3] He also had a knack of writing minuets with variations, a habit that diverges somewhat from the beaten track. His facility in composition was remarkable. When, on taking some string quartets to a publisher, he found that worthy disinclined to undertake the publication of classical music, he forthwith, by way of sweetening the pill, composed a set of waltzes in the shop.[4]

In extempore performance, few attained such proficiency. At Vienna he rivalled Beethoven, and was even said to surpass him. At Mayence a military band came playing down the street in which the concert-room was situated, in the middle of an extempore performance. Most performers would have been disconcerted by such an interruption. Woelfl, however, catching the rhythm of the drums, worked his themes into a march, and using this as a middle movement for his Fantasia so long as the drums could be heard, proceeded without a break to his finale.[5] He had so complete a mastery of the technique of the pianoforte that he could play a concerto in C major with equal ease in C♯ major, transposing it as he went.[6] He belonged to the school that aims at breadth of effect rather than minute accuracy of rendering, and his enormous hands placed almost two-thirds of the keyboard under his immediate control, and enabled him to produce with ease effects that to ordinary players were absolutely impossible. Two passages may be quoted to exemplify the size of his hands, the first a favourite phrase for winding up a cadenza, the second a passage for the left hand that few could execute, as he did, clearly and neatly:—

{ \relative f''' { \key f \major \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \time 12/4 \mark \markup \small "1." \override Score.Rest #'style = #'classical f16[ c f a, f' f, f' c, f' a,, f'' f,, f''] r4 \bar "||" } }


{ \new Staff << \new Voice \relative f' { \override Score.Rest #'style = #'classical \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \clef bass \stemUp \mark \markup \small "2." r4 f2.\startTrillSpan | \grace { e16 f\stopTrillSpan } <e c>2 \bar "||" } \new Voice \relative g { \stemDown s4 gis2. | <a c,>2 } \new Voice \relative b { \stemUp s2 b } \new Voice { \stemDown s4 r r d } >> }


The only pupil of Woelfl who attained much eminence was Mr. Cipriani Potter, but, as he was Principal of the Royal Academy of Music for more than a quarter of a century, and professor of the pianoforte there for ten years before that, it is probable that Woelfl influenced musical development in this country more than has been generally suspected. In opera his importance is nil. It is as a composer for and a performer on the pianoforte that he claims attention. His performance could scarcely be equalled in his own time, and his pianoforte compositions have not yet lost all their interest.

The following is a tolerably complete list of his works:—

INSTRUMENTAL WORKS

Op. 1. 2 Sonatas, PF.; F, G (1795).
Op. 2. 3 Sonatas, PF. and Violin (1796).
Op. 3. 3 Sonatas, PF. (1797).
Op. 3. Sonata, PF. with Flute obbllgato (1801).
Op. 3. 3 Quartets for Strings (1805?).[7]
Op. 4. 3 Quartets for Strings; C, F, minor (1798).
Op. 5. 3 Trios. PF. Violin, and Cello; C, E♭, C (1798).
Op. 6. Grand Sonata ('Le diable a quatre'), PF.; E. Also 'Op. 50.'
Op. 6. 3 Sonatas (dedicated to Beethoven), PF.; A♭, D, A (1798).[8]
Op. 6. Trios for PF. Violin, and Cello.
Op. 7. 3 Sonatas, PF. (1799).
Op. 7. 3 Sonatas, PF. and Violin; E♭, D, A (1800).
Op. 8.
Op. 9. Fantasia and Fugue, PF.
Op. 9. 3 Sonatas, PF. and Violin (or Flute); E♭, E minor. C (1800).
Op. 10. 6 Quartets for Strings, in two Books; Bk. i. C, E, A (1799), Bk. ii. G, D minor, F (1800).
Op. 11. 3 Sonatas, PF. and Flute (1800).
Op. 12.
Op. 13. Sonata, PF. and Flute; D (1801).
Op. 14. 3 Sonates sur des Idées prises de la Creation de Haydn, PF. and Violin; A, D. (1801).
Op. 15. 3 Sonatas, PF. (1801).
Op. 16. 3 Sonatas, for PF. Violin obbligato, and Cello ad lib.; B♭, D, C.
Op. 17. Sonata (4 hands), PF.; (1804). Also 'Op. 69.'
Op. 18. 2 Sonatas, PF. and Violin, and Fantasia for PF. solo.
Op. 19. Sonata (or Sonatas), PF.
Op. 19. 3 Sonatas, PF. and Violin; D minor, C, E♭ (1804).
Op. 20. Concerto (No. 1. in G). PF. and Orchestra (1802).
Op. 21.
Op. 22. 3 Sonatas (4 hands), PF.[9]
Op. 22. 3 Sonatas, PF.; G, A, D minor.
Op. 23. 3 Grand Trios, PF. Violin, and Cello; D, E, C minor.
Op. 24. 3 Progressive Sonatas, PF. and Violin; G, A minor, C (1804).
Op. 25. 3 Sonatas, PF. Violin, and Cello; C, A, E minor (1803).[10]
Op. 25. Grand Sonata (preceded by an 'Introduzione,' consisting of an Adagio and Fugue in C minor), PF.; C minor.[11]
Op. 25. A Grand Trio. PF. Violin, and Cello.
Op. 26. Concerto (No. 2, in E), PF. and Orchestra (1804).
Op. 26. 3 Sonatas, PF. (1808).
Op. 27. 3 Sonatas, Nos. 1 and 2 for PF. solo; No. 3 for PF. and Violin (or Flute) obbligato; D minor, F, D (1804?).[12]
Op. 28. Fantasia and Fugue, PF.; D minor (1805?).
Op. 28. Grand Sonata, PF.[13]
Op. 28. Grand Sonata, PF., with accompaniment for Violin (1806?)

Op. 28. 3 Sonatas, PF. (1809?).[14]
  1. ↑ See e.g. the Minuet of the G minor Symphony.
  2. ↑ E.g. a Symphony or Overture by Woelfl appears in the Philharmonic programmes of May 31, 1813, Feb. 13, 1815, May 1, 1815, May 24, 1819, and Mar. 25, 1822. 'The Calm' was played at Leipzig in 1819 by Schneider (A. M. Z. vol. xxii. p. 44).
  3. ↑ A movement marked Martiale. and replete with chords thus spread out, is the piece that represents Woelfl in that curious series of parodies, 'Latour's 26 Imitative Variations.'
  4. ↑ A. M. Z. vol. vii. p. 423.
  5. ↑ Ibid. vol. iv. p. 157.
  6. ↑ Comp. Beethoven, vol. i. p. 169a.
  7. ↑ Advertised in Intell. Blatt. of A. M. Z., May. 1805, No. xi.
  8. ↑ The Andante from the second of these Sonatas was arranged as a Song (A. M. Z. vol. iv. p. 564; Beylage iv. 1801).
  9. ↑ The two titles given under Op. 22 are perhaps only different descriptions of the same work.
  10. ↑ 3 Sonatas for PF. Violin, and Cello, in C, G, and E minor, were published in London as Op. 25. Probably the second Sonata had been transposed.
  11. ↑ This Sonata appears to have been printed as No. 12 of a Répertoire des Clavecinistes, by Nägeli of (1805), and the Introduction and Fugue have been published separately by Diabelll of Vienna.
  12. ↑ No. 1, Nos. 1–2, and No. 3, also appear as Op. 27. We also find Op. 27 described as 3 Sonatas. PF. solo; probably an accidental misdescription. Sonata No. 3 was also published as Op. 28.
  13. ↑ This may possibly be identical with the work next mentioned.
  14. ↑ A. M. Z. vol. xi.; Intell. Blatt. xii.
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