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Listen to a live concert broadcast of Karl Weigl's Zwei Geistliche Lieder / Two Religious Songs op. 14 on WDR 3

On 16 June 2023, in tthe St. Maria im Kapitol church in Cologne, Germany, Karl Weigl's Zwei Geistliche Lieder  / Two Religious Songs opl 14, composed in 1909, were performed by the combined Maulbronner Kammerchor and Kölner Ensemble Conson, cond. Harald Jers and Benjamin Hartmann. Also on the program: Andrea Tarrodi's "Lume"; Harald Banter's "Die Sterne"; and György Ligeti's Lux Aeterna. The concert was livestreamed and will now be available on the WDR website for the next 30 days: www1.wdr.de/radio/wdr3/nachhoeren/index.html. Weigl's "Hymne" (op. 14 no. 2) appears first on the program, then "Ode" (op. 14 no 1) about 40 miinutes later. 

Recent Vally Weigl and Karl Weigl CD recordings

Naxos 8.579111 (2022): The Bird of Life: Late Romantic Flute Treasures, with Birgit Ramsl and Karl-Heinz Schütz, flutes, and Gottlieb Wallisch, piano
     The CD takes its title from one of the works featured on it: Vally Weigl’s Oiseau de la vie (Bird of life), consisting of the four movements I. Oiseau doux de la nuit (Sweet bird of the night), II. Oiseau joyeux à l'aube (Joyful bird at dawn), III. Oiseau ravi du midi (Enchanted bird at noon), and IV. Chant d'adieu au soleil couchant (Bird's farewell to the setting sun). The CD also includes works by Egon Kornauth, Franz Mittler, Felix Petyrek, Tibor Harsányi, Sándor Jemnitz, Marcel Mihalovici, Bohuslav Martinu, and Karel Boleslav Jirák. Recorded June 2019 in Casino Baumgarten, Vienna. Listen to excerpts at https://naxos.lnk.to/8579111ID.

N/SR 1068 (2021): Old Meets New, with Max Lifchitz, piano
     In addition to works by Gilberto Mendes, Mikhail Johnson, Jorge Vidales, Harold Schiffman, William Toutant, Douglas Ovens, and Max Lifchitz, this CD presents Karl Weigl's 28 Variations for piano op. 15.

Capriccio C5318 (2019: Karl Weigl chamber music, with David Frühwirth, Benedict Kloeckner, and Florian Krumpöck
      This CD presents four mature chamber works of Karl Weigl: Violin Sonata No. 2 in G Major (1937); Two Pieces for violin and piano (1942); Two Pieces for cello and piano op. 33 (1940); and the Piano Trio (1938–1939). The first three works were recorded in Berlin December 2012 (in a coproduction with Deutschlandradio); the fourth in Semmering, Austria, July 2016.

CPO 8492 (2019): Karl Weigl complete music for solo cello, with Raphael Wallfisch, pianists John York and Edward Rushton, and the Konzerthaus Orchester Berlin, cond. Nicholas Milton
     Raphael Wallfisch and the Berlin Konzerthaus Orchestra recorded Karl Weigl’s Cello Concerto—composed in 1934 but never previously performed—in the Konzerthaus concert hall in April 2017. One year later, in April 2018, Raphael Wallfisch recorded all of Weigl's other works for solo cello: with John York the Two Pieces for cello and piano and the Menuetto for cello and piano; and with Edward Rushton the Cello Sonata; these chamber works were recorded with the engineer Adrian Farmer in the Wyastone Concert Hall at Nimbus Studios in Wyastone, Wales.

CPO 555 201-2 (2019: Karl Weigl String Quartets 7 and 8, with the Thomas Christian Ensemble
     Thomas Christian, Raimund Lissy, Robert Bauerstatter, and Bernhard Naoki Hedenborg recorded these two string quartets in the Hans Rosbaud Studio, Baden-Baden, in December 2017.

CFR 9090 (2019): Stanley Drucker: Heritage Collection from the Vaults 6–7
     In addition to works by Carl Nielsen, Milton Babbitt, Mario Davidovsky, Artur Honnegger, Béla  Bartók, Claude Debussy, Louis Spohr, Gordon Jacobs, Arthur Bliss, and John Corigliano, this CD features two works by Vally Weigl: Nature Moods for clarinet, voice, and piano; and New England Suite for clarinet, cello, and piano; in the first work Stanley Drucker was joined by George Shirley, tenor, and Kenneth Gordon, violin; in the second by Kermit Moore, cello, and Ilse Sass, piano; both works were recorded in 1974.

CFR 5860 (2017): Jerome Bunke, The Vocal Clarinet: Weigl, Mimaroglu, Schubert
     The CD features two works by Vally Weigl:  Songs from Do Not Wake Me, with Jerome Bunke, clarinet; David Holloway, baritone; and , piano; and Echoes from Poems, with Jerome Bunke, clarinet; Marilyn Dubow, violin; Peter Gordon, French Horn; and ILse Sass, piano.

In progress:
     A complete set of Weigl symphonies, performed by the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, cond. Jürgen Brüns, and recorded in the Ludwigshafen Philharmonie; the first two CDs of the set are now available. 
Capriccio C5365 (2019): Symphony No. 1 in E Major op. 5 and Pictures and Tales for small orchestra op. 22; recorded October 2018.

Capriccio C5385
(2019): Symphonies Nos. 4 and 6; recorded May 2019. 

Coming live performances

Tuesday, 21 February 2023, at the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York, two works by Vally Weigl (No. 4 from Bird of Life for solo flute and “When the Vision Dies” for mezzo-soprano, flute, and piano) will be presented by Josipa Bainac, mezzo-soprano; Ulrike Anton, flute; David Hausknecht, piano; and Gerold Gruber, moderator. Also on the program: works by Walter Bricht, Julius Bürger, Robert Fürstenthal, and Wilhelm Grosz. The concert will be live-streamed on YouTube; a link will be posted here when available. For more information see https://exilarte.org/en/exilarte-concerts-in-new-york-i-february-21-february-23-2023 and https://acfny.org/event/treasures-from-the-exilarte-center-composers-forbidden-and-suppressed-by-the-nazi-regime/.

Thursday, 23 February 2023, at the Center for Jewish History in New York, a second concert will present works by Vally Weigl, Walter Arlen, Julius Bürger, Hans Gál, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Gustav Lewi, and André Singer; performed by the Kodak String Quartet (Edgar Donati, Martin Noh, Daniel Spink, and Blake Kitayama), Josipa Bainac, mezzo-soprano; Ulrike Anton, flute; and David Hausknecht, piano; Gerold Gruber and Michael Leavitt will moderate. For more information see https://yivo.org/More-Forbidden-Music and https://programs.cjh.org.

Thursday, 20 April 2023, in the Forchheimer Auditorium of the Center for Jewish History in New York, two works by Karl Weigl (Two Pieces for violin and piano and “Shouting Sun”) will be performed. Also on the program: Hugo Kauder, Ten Poems form James Joyce; Paul Pisk, Variation and Fugue on an American Theme op, 57; Egon Lustgaren, Die Geheimnisse; Rudolf Reti, Two Pieces for cello and piano; Paul Hindemith String Quartet No. 6, movement 3; Egon Wellesz, String Quartet No, 6; andWilhelm Grosz, Jazzband. Details to follow as information becomes available.

Friday, 21 April 2023, in New York (venue still TBD), movements 1 and 2 from Karl Weigl’s String Quartet No. 8 will appear on a program that also includes works by Hugo Kauder, Paul Pisk, Egon Lustgaren, Rudolf Reti, Paul Hindemith, Egon Wellesz, and Wilhelm Grosz. Details to follow as information becomes available.

Monday, 24 April 2023, in New York (venue still TBD), several songs of Karl Weigl (“The Refugee”, “The Invisible Light”, “Das Rosenband”, “Zweifelnder Wunsch”, and “To Baby Chrstine”) will be performed on a Lieder recital that also includes works by Hugo Kauder, Paul Pisk, Egon Lustgaren, Paul Hindemith, Egon Wellesz, and Wilhelm Grosz. Details to follow as information becomes available.

Sunday>Sunday, 6 November 2022, at the Wellington County Museum and Archives, Canada, Vally Weigl’s Requiem for Allison will be performed by mezzo-soprano MacKenzie Sechi and the Cantabile Quartet (Paul MacNaughton and Jay Samuel, violin; Ron Dolynchuk, viola; and Murray Charters, cello). Also on the program: works by Mozart, Schubert, Elgar, Bolcom, and Haydn.

Friday and Saturday, 4 and 5 November 2022, at the South Pasadena Masonic Lodge, Los Angeles, Independent Opera Company will present an event titled There and Back Again that includes Karl Weigl’s Five Duets for soprano and baritone, performed by Britta Sterling and Jamie Sanderson. Also on the program will be works by Paul Hindemith, Sergey Prokofiev, and Dmitry Shostakovich.

Thursday, 3 November 2022, at the Austrian Cultural Forum New York, a concert titled Innovators in Exile: Celebrating 100 Years Iinternational Society of Contemporary Music, will present songs by Karl Weigl, Wilhelm Grosz, Paul Hindemith, Hugo Kauder, Egon Lustgarten, Paul Pisk, Rudolf Reti, and Egon Wellesz, performed by Alexis Rodda and Jeannie Im, sopranos; Bryan Murray, baritone; and Dan Franklin Smith, pianist.

Recent live performances

Friday, 16 June 2023, in the St. Maria im Kapitol church in Cologne, Germany, Karl Weigl's Zwei Geistliche Lieder / Two Religious Songs opl 14, composed in 1909, were performed by the combined Maulbronner Kammerchor and Kölner Ensemble Conson, cond. Harald Jers and Benjamin Hartmann. Also on the program: Andrea Tarrodi's "Lume"; Harald Banter's "Die Sterne"; and György Ligeti's Lux Aeterna. The concert was livestreamed and will now be available on the WDR website for the next 30 days: www1.wdr.de/radio/wdr3/nachhoeren/index.html. Weigl's "Hymne" (op. 14 no. 2) appears first on the program, then "Ode" (op. 14 no 1) about 40 miinutes later.

Friday 2 March 2023 and Saturday 4 March 2023, in Mainz, Germany, Karl Weigl’s Old Vienna / Tänze aus Wien was performed on the 4th season concert of the Philharmonisches Staats Orchester Mainz, cond. Patrick Lange. Also on the program: Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Violin Concerto; and Alexander Zemlinsky, Symphony No. 1 in D minor.

Friday, 3 June 2022, in the Sophie-Barat-Saal, Campus Sacré Coeur, Vienna, in a concert titled Feminam, part of the Wir Sind Wien Frestival, Chorus Viennensis performed Vally Weigl's chorus for male voices "Let Down the Bars, O Death." Also on the program: works by Hildegard von Bingen, Maria Theresia von Paradis, Fanny Hensel, Clara Schumann, Mathilde von Kralik, Amy Beach, Rebecca Clarke, Florence Price, Lili Boulanger, Eter Mägi, Ilse Loidolt, Theresa Hemedinger, Julia Purgina, and Margareta Ferek-Petric. See https://wirsindwien.com/bk-events/feminam-03-06-2022. This program was repeated on 5 November 2022 in Rabenstein an der Pielach, Lower Austria.

Sunday, 25 September 2022, in Linz, Brucknerhaus Grosser Saal, as part of the International Bruckner Festival Linz, Constantin Trinks conducted the Tonkünstler Orchester in Karl Weigl’s Tänze aus Wien / Old Vienna. Also on the program: Erich W. Korngold’s Baby-Serenade for orchestra op. 24; Viktor Ullmann's Piano Concerto op. 25; and Egon Wellesz's Symphony No. 4 in G Minor, op. 70. See www.brucknerhaus.at/en/programme/events/trinks-the-tonkuenstlerorchester-25.9.2022-11-00.

Wednesday, 16 March 2022, the Austrian Cultural Forum New York presented a reading and concert “Campaigning for Women's Rights: Fighting Against Facism: Remembering Social Scientist and Union Organizer Käthe Leichter 80 Years After Her Murder by the Nazis.” Alexis Rodda, soprano, accompanied by Dan Franklin Smith, piano, performed songs by Karl Weigl (“The Invisible Light”; “The Refugee”; and Five Songs for contralto or mezzo-soprano and piano op. 10, no. 4, “Fremd geh' ich unter den Fremden”) and Vally Weigl (“The Fairies Have Never a Penny to Spend”; “Erinnerung aus Tirol”; and “When the Vision Dies”). Also on the program: Gregorij von Leitis's readings of selections from the diary of Otto Leichter and Jeannie Im's readings of memoirs and letters by Käthe Leichter.

Sunday, 5 July 2020, in the Brucknerhaus, Linz, Austria, the Divertimento Viennese orchestra, cond. Vinzenz Praxmarer, presented Karl Weigl's Tänze aus Wien / Old Vienna, a work never previously performed in the country of his birth. Listen to the performance at www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rdm8QgNnFl8.

12 June 2020, in Colbun Hall, Los Angeles, as part of SongFest 2019 Alexandra Flood performed Karl Weigl's Ein Stelldichein with Luanne Homzy and Hana Kim, violin; Carrie Dennis and Phillip Triggs, viola; and Evgeny Tonkha and Benjamin Lash, cello. Listen to the performance at www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKI5TY9twxE.

Sunday, 2 June 2019, in Trieste, Italy, as part of this year's Viktor Ullman Festival, Davide Casali and the combined Orchestra "Abimà" and Civica Orchestra di Fiati "G. Verdi" gave the world premiere performance of Karl Weigl's Symphony No. 4 in F Minor (1936).

Tuesday, 27 August 2019, in the Klimt Villa, Vienna, on the occasion of this year's Kammermusikfestival Klimt Villa, Anna-Marie Pamme and the Aron Quartet (Ludwig Müller, Barna Kobori, Georg Hamann and Christophe Pantillon) performed Karl Weigl's Five Songs for soprano and string quartet. The Aron Quartet also performed Vally Weigl's Adagietto for Strings, "To Emily." Also on the program: Arnold Schoenberg, String Quartet No. 2; and Antonin Dvorak, String Quartet in F Major op. 96, the "American."

Sunday, 1 September 2019, also during this year's Kammermusikfestival Klimt Villa, the Aron Quartet performed the string quartet version of Vally Weigl's Andante for Strings (1945). Also on the program: Bruno Walter, String Quartet; and Dmitri Shostakovich, String Quartet No. 3 (1946).

Wednesday, 25 September 2019
, in the Großer Sendesaal of Funkhaus Halberg, Saarbrücken, Germany, the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie in the program of its 1. Ensemblekonzert Saarbrücken: An der Schwelle der Moderne presented Karl Weigl’s Three Intermezzi for string quartet and Stelldichein / Rendezvous for soprano and string quartet, performed by Johanna Winkel, soprano; Gisela Arnold and Helmut Winkel, violin; Benjamin Rivinius and Jessica Sommer, viola; and Mario Blaumer and Min-Jung Suh-Neubert, cello. Also on the program: Johann Sebastian Bach, Ricercare à 6 voci from the Musical Offering BMV 1079; and Erwin Schulhoff, String Sextet. Introductory remarks were by Roland Kunz. The full concert program may be downloaded at https://www.drp-orchester.de/drp/service/programmhefte/20190925_1Ensemble-SB-programm100.pdf; the full concert was simultaneously broadcast on SR2 KulturRadio and available for several weeks following the concert.

Thursday, 17 January 2019, in the Zunftsaal im Schmiedenhof, Basel, Switzerland, in the second concert of this year’s Mizmorim Festival, Wien um 1900, two of Karl Weigl’s Three Songs for mezzo-soprano (“Der Einsamste” and “Der Tag klingt ab”) will be performed by Anna Maria Pammer and Holger Groschopp. Also on the program: songs by Johannes Brahms, Karl Goldmark, Alexander Zemlinsky, Erich Zeisl, Egon Wellesz, and Arnold Schönberg

Monday, 21 January 2019, in in the Chapelle Royale, Brussels, in a concert dedicated to Alma Rosé, Raphael Wallfisch and Edward Rushton will perform Karl Weigl's Cello Sonata. Also on the program: Edward Rushton accompanying violinist Philippe Graffin and baritone Simon Wallfisch in the following works: Ernest Bloch, Nigun; Viktor Ullmann, Liederbuch des Hafis op. 30; Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Much Ado about Nothing; Pavel Haas, Four Songs on Chinese Poems; Hans Gál, Five Songs op. 33; and Fritz Kreisler, Miniature Viennese March.

Saturday, 26 January 2019, in the Mittlerer Saal, Brucknerhaus Linz, Linz, Austria, an all-Weigl concert will present his String Quartet No. 4, Toteninsel for solo piano, String Quartet No. 6, and the first movement, Revelation, from Three Intermezzi for string quartet. Performers are the pianist Michael Korstick and the Serenus Quartett (Alexander Knaak, Michael Mayer-Freyholdt, Dorotha Funk, and Dita Lammerse). For more information see https://www.brucknerhaus.at/veranstaltungen/veranstaltungen/detail/karl-weigl-1177.html.

Sunday, 27 January 2019, in the Grosser Saal, Brucknerhaus Linz, Linz, Austria, a concert commemorating International Holocaust Remembrance Day brings a performance of Karl Weigl's Symphony No. 5, the Apocalyptic, with Thomas Sanderling and the Bruckner Orchester Linz; also on the program: shorter works by Arnold Schoenberg, Nathaniel Shilkret, Alexandre Tansman, Darius Milhaud, Mario Castelnuevo-Tedesco, Ernst Toch, and Igor Stravinsky. 

Sunday, 27 January 2019, at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, in a concert dedicated to Varian Fry, mezzo-soprano Clotilde Van Diern, Philippe Graffin, Justus Grimm, and students of the Royal Conservatory perform Karl Weigl’s Ein Stelldichein; Philippe Graffin then leads students in Karl Weigl’s Rhapsody for string orchestra. Also on the program: Gustav Mahler’s Adagietto from Symphony No. 5; and Maurice Ravel’s Two Hebrew Melodies and Tzigane.

May 2019, in Trieste, Italy, Davide Casali, director of the annual Viktor Ullmann Festival, has scheduled the world premiere performance of of Karl Weigl's Symphony No. 4 as part of the festival. Further details as they become available.

Sunday, 2 December 2018, in the Kleine Zaal, Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, the Alba Rosa Viva! Festival presented a performance of Karl Weigl’s Five Songs for soprano and string quartet with Sarah Wegener, soprano, and the Ruysdael Kwartet (Joris van Rijn, Emi Ohi Resnick, Gijs Kramers, and Jeroen den Herder). Also on the program: songs by Alma Mahler, Rosy Wertheim, Willem Jeths, Davies, and Gabriel Fauré. For more information see https://www.concertgebouw.nl/en/concerts/alba-rosa-viva-festival-grande-finale/02-12-2018.
To listen to the concert visit www.nporadio4.nl/avondconcert/uitzendingen/623155:2018-12-02-avondconcert (for the Weigl Five Songs move the slider to ca. :38).

Wednesday, 18 October 2018, at the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York, the soprano Jeannie Im performed Karl Weigl's Five Songs for soprano and string quartet.

Thursday, 4 October 2018, at the Musikclub des Konzerthauses am Gendarmenmarkt, Berlin, musica reanimata in its Gesprächskonzert series Verfolgung und Wiederentdeckung presented a prgram titled "Neubeginn nach dem "Anschluss"? Das Musikerpaar Vally und Karl Weigl." The following works by the Weigls was performed and discussed by the cellist Friedemann Ludwig, the pianist Russell Ryan, the flutist Ulrike Anton, and the moderator Bettina Brand: Vally Weigl’s New England Suite for flute, cello, and piano; her Bird Song of Life for solo flute; and Karl Weigl’s Cello Sonata as well as Pictures from Childhood for flute and piano. For more information see www.konzerthaus.de/de/programm/musica-reanimata-gesprachskonzert/3301. To hear the event, which was recorded by Deutschlandfunk, visit https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/musikszene.1721.de.html
and click on the Deutschlandfunk “Musikszene” program of 8 January 2019. 

Wednesday, 11 August 2018, in the Poselli Hall in Rauma, Finland, as concluding event of the Rauma Festivo 2018, Karl Weigl's Five Songs for soprano and string quartet were performed by Kajsa Dahlbäck and the Kamus Quartet (Terhi Paldanius, Jukka Untamala, Jussi Tuhkanen, and Petja Kainlainen). Also on the program: Luigi Boccherini, Guitar Quintet ”Fandango”; Leoš Janáček, Fairy Tale for cello and piano; Mozart, Duo for violin and viola No. 2, K. 424; Olli Mustonen, Guitar Sonata No. 2; Ralph Vaughan Williams, Along the Fields; and Richard Strauss, Prelude to Capriccio. For more information see http://raumafestivo.fi/tapahtuma/?event_id=184.

Sunday>Friday, 27 July 2018, at the Caroga Lake Music Festival, New York, Jeanne Im performed Karl Weigl's Five Songs for soprano and string quartet. See https://composers.com/event/karl-weigls-five-songs-soprano-and-string-quartet-soprano-jeannie-im-caroga-lake-ny-july-27.

Sunday>, 11 February 2018, and Sunday, 18 February 2018, in the Kammermusiksaal of the Berlin Philharmonie, Berlin, Germany, a program titled “Auf den Spuren von Lou Andreas-Salomé” presented a performance by Anna Maria Pammer and Cordelia Höfer of Karl Weigl’s “Der Einsamste” and “Der Tag klingt ab,” both on texts by Friedrich Nietzsche, from the Seven Songs op. 1. For more information see https://www.berliner-philharmoniker.de/konzerte/kalender/details/51131/.

Friday, 26 January 2018, at the Royal Scottish Academy in Glasgow, Scotland, Raphael Wallfisch and John York performed  Weigl’s Two Pieces for cello and Menuetto for cello. Also on the program: Brahms, Sonata op. 78 and Sonatensatz (both originally written for violin); and Kenneth Leighton, Alleia Pascha Nostrum for cello and piano op. 85.
 

New reprint edition

The American Composers Alliance (ACA) has issued a newly engraved edition (score and parts) of Karl Weigl’s Five Songs for soprano and string quartet. Performances of this work, which was premiered in March 1937 in Vienna, with Zoë Prasch-Formacher and the Kolbe Quartet, have always garnered glowing reviews. Elisabeth Schumann, too, performed the work to high acclaim, first with the Rosé Quartet (in Vienna) and then with the Brosa Quartet (in London).

If you have news of a coming event, or would like to share something relating to Karl Weigl or Vally Weigl, we would gladly post your comments here. Please send your message to julie@karlweigl.org.