Fantastic Intermezzo

Full title	Fantastic Intermezzo for orchestra op. 18 / Phantastisches Intermezzo für Orchester op. 18
Date composed	1921
Details	Composition completed 8 October 1921; originally titled Phantastisches Zwischenspiel. The work, inspired by Heinrich Heine's poem Frühlingsfeier (which is also the basis for Weigl's 1909 work of that name for women's chorus and orchestra), was conceived, and served, as the fourth movement of the original five-movement version of Symphony No. 2. Orchestration: 3(3rd alt. Picc.),3(3rd alt. E.H.),3(3rd alt. B.Cl.),3(3rd alt. C.Bn.)/4,3,3,1/Timp, Perc./Cel.,Hp./Str. Performance duration: ca. 15 min.
Manuscript sources	NYPL JOB 73-156, holograph full score (91 pages), here still titled Phantastisches Zwischenspiel, with composer's note at end: Wien, 8. X. 1921. See also NYPL JPB 99-7 no. 89, copyist's full score (129 pages) and copy of Heine poem.
Publication details	B. Schott's Söhne, 1924.
Availabiity	Score and parts available from FCP.
Recordings	Berlin Radio Symphonie Orchester, cond. Thomas Sanderling (CD: BIS CD-1077; 2001).
Listen	Fantastic Intermezzo Berlin Radio Symphonie Orchester, cond. Thomas Sanderling

Performances (click icon to expand or collapse list)

18 January 1925***	Krefeld: Krefeld Städtisches Orchester, cond. Rudolf Siegel; concert repeated on 19 January 1925.
15 January 1926	Königsberg: Königsberg Orchester, cond. Ernst Kunwald.
16 February 1930	Vienna, Großer Musikvereinssaal, Philharmonische Konzerte; Fantastic Intermezzo op. 18, with Wiener Philharmonisches Orchester, cond. Wilhelm Furtwängler. Also on program: Max Reger, Variations and Fugue for orchestra op. 132; Brahms, Symphony No. 2.
January 1931	Dortmund, Dortmund Städtisches Orchester; cond. Wilhelm Sieben.
12 July 1981	Aspen, Colorado: Aspen Festival Orchestra, cond. Luis Herrera de la Fuente.
15 June 2013	Noordwijk, Netherlands, the Oude Jeroenskerk: Fantastic Intermezzo, performed by the Symfonieorkest De Philharmonie, cond. Daan Admiraal. Also on the program: Zemlinsky, Sinfonietta op. 23; and Brahms, Symphonie No. 3.
16 June 2013	Amsterdam, Netherlands, Beurs van Berlage, Yakult Zaal: Fantastic Intermezzo, performed by the Symfonieorkest De Philharmonie, cond. Daan Admiraal. Also on the program: Zemlinsky, Sinfonietta op. 23; and Brahms, Symphonie No. 3 (see http://dephilharmonie.nl).