Producer and host Thijs Bonger continues his search through the life and works of Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778-1837). Today Part XV.
Ten thousand wealthy foreign big shots are still put up in Vienna at the start of 1815 because of the Congress. Their presence creates a lot of extra work for composers. Hummel too is up to his eyes in work. He composes polonaises and music for some sort of fairy tale opera: ‘Die Eselshaut’. Because of a minor scandal in the theatre world, that production suddenly finds itself in the limelight. That means Hummel’s music becomes insanely popular. He immediately turned that success into three piano arrangements. Ka-ching! Today we will play one of them. Other composers also hitch a ride on his wagon and arrange his score. We hear a version for harmony orchestra. At the insistence of his wife, Hummel performs increasingly more often as an unequalled pianist and improviser. We play his variations on a big hit from an opera by Gluck.
All music by Hummel unless otherwise specified:
1. Two polonaises for piano from op. 70
Mikio Tao, sequencer
2. Ouverture ‘Die Eselshaut’
Mikio Tao, sequencer
3. Potpourri no. 1 from ‘Die Eselshaut’
Madoka Inui, piano
4. ‘Die Eselshaut’ (arr. Wenzel Sedlak)
The Albion Ensemble
5. Gluck: Musette from opera ‘Armide’
Les Musiciens du Louvre conducted by Marc Minkowski
6. Variations on a theme from Gluck’s opera ‘Armide’, op. 57
Howard Shelley, piano.
Cathérine Deneuve in ‘Peau d’âne’
