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Scan 199
Grove's dictionary of music and musicians;, 1904
110 lines. Read by computer on 7 September 2026. Printed page 191. See the scan on archive.org.
1RUDORFF
3ments. There is also a set of Variations on a theme of Rossini's, corrected by Beethoven in MS. He was for many years the 'protector' of the great Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde at Vienna, and bequeathed to it his very valuable musical library. An oil portrait in the possession of his son, shows a rather intellectual face, of the Hapsburg type, but its peculiarities so softened as to be more than ordinarily pleasing, and even handsome.1
5The Archduke's published works are the two alluded to above: Theme by L. van Beethoven, with Forty Variations—for PF. solo (Haslinger); Sonata for PF. and clarinet, op. 2, in A (Haslinger).
7A. W. T.
9RUDORFF, ERNEST, was born in Berlin, Jan. 18, 1840; his family was of Hanoverian extraction. At the age of five he received his first musical instruction from a god-daughter of C. M. von Weber, an excellent pianist and of a thoroughly poetical nature. From his twelfth to his seventeenth year he was a pupil of Bargiel in PF. playing and composition. A song and a PF. piece composed at this period he afterwards thought worthy of publication (op. 2, No. 1; op. 10, No. 4). For a short time in 1858 he had the advantage of PF. lessons from Mme. Schumann, and from his twelfth to his fourteenth year learned the violin under Louis Ries. In 1857 he entered the Friedrichs Gymnasium, whence in 1859 he passed to the Berlin university. During the whole of this time his thoughts were bent on the musical profession. When Joachim visited Berlin in 1852 Rudorff had played before him, and had made such a favourable impression that Joachim advised his being allowed to follow the profession of music. His father at length consented that he should go at Michaelmas, 1859, and attend the Conservatorium and the University at Leipzig. After two terms of theology and history he devoted himself exclusively to music, and on leaving the Conservatorium in 1861, continued his musical studies for a year under Hauptmann and Reinecke. Rudorff went to Stockhausen early in 1864, conducted those of the Choral Society's concerts in which Stockhausen himself sang, and finally made concert tours with him. In 1865 he became professor at the Cologne Conservatorium, and there in 1867 he founded the Bach Society, whose performance at their first concert in 1869 gave such satisfaction to Rudorff that he at first refused an appointment as professor in the new Hochschule at Berlin under Joachim's direction. He afterwards changed his mind, and since October 1869 has been first professor of PF.-playing and director of the piano classes in that institution, besides conducting part of the orchestral practices, and in Joachim's absence directing the public performances. In the summer of 1880, on Max Bruch's appointment as director of the Liverpool Philharmonic Society,
111 For a more detailed notice see the Musical World, April 2, 1881.
13Rudorff succeeded him as conductor of the Stern Singing-Society in Berlin, but without resigning his post at the Hochschule. [He retained the direction of this Society till 1890.]
15He has much talent for piano-playing, though an unfortunate nervousness prevents him from exercising it much in public. His tone is beautiful, his conception poetical, and he possesses considerable power of execution, never degenerating into mere display. He is an excellent teacher; but his greatest gifts are shown in composition. His musical style is founded throughout upon the romantic school of Chopin, Mendelssohn, and Schumann, and especially of Weber. His part-songs interest by their elegance and thoughtfulness, but few, if any, leave a pleasant impression on the mind. This is true also of his solo songs. He has an almost feminine horror of anything rough or common, and often carries this to such a pitch as seriously to interfere with simplicity and naturalness. He has deeply imbibed the romantic charm of Weber's music, but the bold easy mirth which at times does not shrink from trivialities is unfortunately utterly strange to him. His early songs opp. 1 and 2 follow, it is true, closely in Schumann's steps, but they are among the most beautiful that have been written in his style.
17Rudorff's works are for the most part of great technical difficulty, and many of them are over-elaborated, a fact which has kept his works from being as well known as they deserve. The following is a list of his published works:—
19<table>
20 <tr>
21 <th>Op.</th>
22 <th>1. Variations for two PFs.</th>
23 <th>18. 'Der Aufzug der Romanze,' from Tieck, for solos, chorus, and orchestra.</th>
24 </tr>
25 <tr>
26 <td>2.</td>
27 <td>Six songs.</td>
28 <td>20. Serenade for orchestra.</td>
29 </tr>
30 <tr>
31 <td>3.</td>
32 <td>Six songs from Eichendorff.</td>
33 <td>22. Six three-part songs for female voices.</td>
34 </tr>
35 <tr>
36 <td>4.</td>
37 <td>Six duets for PF.</td>
38 <td>24. Variations on an original theme for orchestra.</td>
39 </tr>
40 <tr>
41 <td>5.</td>
42 <td>Sextet for strings (played at the Popular Concerts in April 1900 and January 1903).</td>
43 <td>25. Four six-part songs.</td>
44 </tr>
45 <tr>
46 <td>6.</td>
47 <td>Four part-songs for mixed voices.</td>
48 <td>26. 'Gesang an die Sterne,' by Rückert, for six-part chorus and orchestra.</td>
49 </tr>
50 <tr>
51 <td>7.</td>
52 <td>Romance for violoncello and orchestra.</td>
53 <td>27. Six four-part songs.</td>
54 </tr>
55 <tr>
56 <td>8.</td>
57 <td>Overture to 'Der blonde Eckbert' for orchestra.</td>
58 <td>28. Three songs.</td>
59 </tr>
60 <tr>
61 <td>9.</td>
62 <td>Six part-songs for female voices.</td>
63 <td>29. Two études for PF.</td>
64 </tr>
65 <tr>
66 <td>10.</td>
67 <td>Eight Fantasiestücke for PF.</td>
68 <td>30. Four part-songs for mixed choir.</td>
69 </tr>
70 <tr>
71 <td>11.</td>
72 <td>Four part-songs for mixed voices.</td>
73 <td>31. Symphony in B flat.</td>
74 </tr>
75 <tr>
76 <td>12.</td>
77 <td>Overture to 'Otto der Schütz' for orchestra.</td>
78 <td>38. Kinderwalzer for PF. duet.</td>
79 </tr>
80 <tr>
81 <td>13.</td>
82 <td>Four part-songs for mixed voices.</td>
83 <td>A second symphony in G minor (1891).</td>
84 </tr>
85 <tr>
86 <td>14.</td>
87 <td>Fantaisie for PF.</td>
88 <td>Symphonic variations for orchestra.</td>
89 </tr>
90 <tr>
91 <td>15.</td>
92 <td>Ballade for full orchestra.</td>
93 <td>Scherzo capriccioso for orchestra.</td>
94 </tr>
95 <tr>
96 <td>16.</td>
97 <td>Four songs.</td>
98 <td></td>
99 </tr>
100 <tr>
101 <td>17.</td>
102 <td>Four songs.</td>
103 <td></td>
104 </tr>
105</table>
107He has also arranged Schubert's 4-hand fantasia in F minor (op. 103) for orchestra. P. s.
109RÜBEZAHL. An opera in two acts; words by J. G. Rhode, music composed by C. M. von Weber, at Breslau, between October 1804 and May 1806. Weber's autograph list shows that the first act contained fifteen scenes, the second twelve. Of these pieces of music, however, only three have survived (in MS.)—a Chorus of Spirits, a Recitative and Arietta, and a Quintet. Of the overture (in D minor) only the last eleven bars of the first violin part exist; it was recast into the overture called 'The Ruler of the Spirits.'
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