Lachner - String Quartet No. 1 In B Minor

In 1823 Franz Lachner won a music competition and was appointed organist in a Vienna church. It was then that he met Franz Schubert. The two became good friends:

"We two, Schubert and I, spent most of our time together sketching new compositions. We were the closest of friends, mornings performing for each other and discussing in depth every imaginable topic with the greatest of candor."

Lachner outlived his friend by 52 years, but Schubert remained a strong influence on him as a composer. Lachner resigned his position as organist in Vienna in 1834  and moved to Munich where he held the position of Conductor of the Royal Bavarian Orchestra as well as the professorship of composition at the Royal Conservatory.

Franz Schubert

Lachner's early string quartets were known by Mendelssohn and Schumann, who gave them high praises.The String Quartet No. 1 was written in the late 1830's and published in 1843. It is in 4 movements:

I. Allegro moderato -  The quartet opens with a melancholy theme. Lachner uses the same theme throughout the movement, but he adds a lyrical quality to it and uses counterpoint to enhance it. This variant of the first theme serves as the contrasting second theme of the movement. After the opening is repeated, the development section has the theme go through key changes and counterpoint is again used to expand the theme. Tension is built towards the end of the development by the violin playing a fragment of the theme over a chugging accompaniment. The recapitulation presents the two versions of the theme, this time with the variant leading to a short coda where the cello and violin alternate with statements until the final chords are heard and the movement slowly dies away.

II. Adagio quasi andante -  This movement begins with the violins and violas playing while the cello is silent. The main theme is traded between violin and viola in an extended section that leads to the music growing lighter in mood as it shifts into the major mode. The main theme returns as does the trading between violin and viola. The major mode brightness is repeated. The movement winds down with a short repeat of the main theme and ends in the major mode.

III. Scherzo - Allegro assai - The cello plays in a stead pulse as the scherzo begins. The music drives its way forward. The middle trio section is a major mode dance. The scherzo repeats and ends with two short, biting phrases.

IV. Finale: Allegro agitato - The urgent main theme is played by the violin, with outbursts by all four instruments. The next theme retains the urgency but changes in mood. The main theme repeats, followed by the second theme. A short development section is followed by a recapitulation of the two themes. A short coda brings this short sonata form finale to a close with two short chords.

Lachner - Symphonic Suite No. 7 In D Minor

The last major composition by Lachner was the Symphonic Suite No. 7, written in 1881. He was 79 years  old when he wrote it, and had fallen out of step with the current trends of music exemplified by Liszt and Wagner. Lachner especially recognized the value of Wagner's music, as he had given performances of it during his career as a conductor, but his aesthetic was not the same as Wagner's.  Lachner's music was considered old-fashioned by many in the late 19th century, but that doesn't diminish the quality of his music. He was a prolific composer (his opus numbers ran to 190) and remained a popular composer in his time, at least with listeners that weren't hard-core combatants in the 'War Of The Romantics', but shortly after his death in 1890 his music fell by the wayside.

The Suite No. 7 is in 4 movements:
I. Overture - The work opens with an overture in name and spirit, as the movement's themes are of a decidedly operatic nature.  It is a serious and dramatic movement balanced by contrasting lighter themes, but it never really shakes its somewhat tragic feeling. For the observant listener, the dramatic ending is a conscious or unconscious tribute to Lachner's good friend of so many years previous, Franz Schubert, as the orchestra repeats the main theme of the movement with the final statement sounding eerily similar to the triplet accompaniment of one of Schubert's most famous songs, Der Erlkönig.

II. Scherzo - A fine scherzo with a bouncing theme and a contrasting middle section.

III. Intermezzo - Finely written lyrical music, an example of Lachner's craft that was much admired by Schumann.

IV. Chaconne e Fuga - Some of the movements within Lachner's orchestral suites are romantic-era versions of the dances that made up the collections of Baroque era suites. The chaconne of this movement is an example. The origins of the chaconne can be traced back to Spain, but by the Baroque era the dance had become a type of instrumental piece where variations are played over a repeating bass. Lachner follows the short chaconne with a fugue. One of Lachner's music teachers was Simon Sechter, a teacher who lived long and taught many composers besides Lachner. Schubert took a few lessons from him before Schubert died in 1828, and Anton Bruckner was also his student.  Sechter was a task-master with his students and also himself as Sechter wrote around 5,000 fugues in his lifetime. Lachner learned his lessons well, as his skills in counterpoint are heard in this fugue .

 

Lachner - Variations And March From Suite No. 1

Born in 1803, drinking companion of Franz Schubert, conductor and organist, Franz Lachner was also a prolific composer whose career spanned most of the 19th century. His opus numbers ran to 190, with his first compositions written while Schubert and Beethoven were still alive (in the 1820's), and whose last piece was published in 1881.  He worked tirelessly with the orchestra in Munich and made it one of the best in Europe, and if all this wasn't enough he taught for many years also.

He helped make his contemporary composers music better known, even when he didn't like it. He was a promoter of the young Wagner's music and was rewarded for his efforts by having his conducting duties of the Munich orchestra handed to Wagner's protege Hans von Bulow, with Wagner himself playing a key role in the treachery.

Lachner's music was dismissed by Wagner and other followers of the New Music as being old-fashioned, and the stigma has carried over to the modern era. It is true that Lachner's music was not considered modern in the sense that Liszt and Wagner's music was, but it is solidly written and shows that Lachner was not without gifts of melody, structure and orchestration.

The writer Eduard von Bauerfeld, Schubert
and Lachner drinking in Vienna, a drawing
by the artist Moiritz Schwind 

Lachner's Suite No. 1 For orchestra was written in 1861, after he had written his Eighth Symphony, his last work in the form,  in 1851.  He composed a total of 7 orchestral suites, his main form of orchestral composition later in his life. Why he no longer wrote symphonies isn't known. Perhaps the shadow of Beethoven's 9th Symphony was too large for him to go further. Whatever his reasons, his suites are indeed suites in the sense that they are modeled after the Baroque suite in that they contain individual pieces in dance form.

His first suite is in 4 movements, of which the third movement, Variations and March, is discussed here.

The movement begins with a solemn theme in D minor stated by the strings in unison.  The set of variations Lachner writes on this theme show him at his most versatile and creative. Going from minor key to major, from emphatic to gentle, there is plenty of contrapuntal, textural and orchestral diversity to keep the listener's interest. The music drifts from one style into another seamlessly. The movement ends with a rousing march.

Lachner - Symphony No. 8 In G Minor

Franz Lachner's life spanned almost  the entire 19th century. He was born in 1803 in Bavaria and early in his career he was introduced to Beethoven and was a close personal friend to Franz Schubert.  Besides being a composer he was also an organist, teacher and a highly respected orchestral and operatic conductor.

After many different conducting posts he became the music director in Munich and raised the quality of the orchestra to a very high level.  He unselfishly used his power and influence to promote the music of contemporary composers. He especially made sure that he gave Wagner's operas exposure, even though he personally didn't like it. He understood the importance of Wagner and his music and drilled his orchestra to even higher levels so that the premiere of Tristan and Isolde could be held in Munich.

King Ludwig II

Wagner's fanatical patron, King Ludwig II, ascended to the throne of Bavaria in 1864. With typical 'gratitude' that Wagner showed to everyone that helped him, Wagner saw to it that  Lachner was unceremoniously dumped as Munich's music director. After Lachner had worked very hard with the orchestra to make Wagner's opera a success in Munich, he was replaced by Wagner's crony Hans Von Bülow (who later in his career would also pay the price for promoting Wagner's music). Lachner lost all of the positions in Munich that he held under the directorship of the orchestra and did not conduct the premiere of the opera.  He was on extended leave until his contract expired in 1868 and was given a generous retirement sum. He evidently never turned bitter about it all, and remained a respected elder statesman of music until he died in 1890.

He composed operas, chamber music, string quartets, pieces for organ and eight symphonies. The  Symphony No. 8 In G Minor was written in 1851. It is in the traditional 4 movements:

I.  Andante - Allegro Maestoso -  The first movement begins with a long, somewhat brooding introduction. The main theme then slowly unfolds with a subdued heroism that turns more dramatic. This theme segues into a second them that is more serene. Outbursts from the orchestra heighten the drama. After the exposition and recapitulation, a plaintive song by the solo bassoon is interrupted by an exuberant coda.
II. Andante - A flowing movement with a gentle theme that has a sense of continual development.
II. Scherzo - A rapid, jig-like scherzo with a few thumps and bumps for good measure. After the initial statements of the theme, it turns into a subject for fugal treatment.  The trio is lightly played by flutes with string accompaniment.
IV. Finale - Allegro Vivace -  A chattering theme begins the movement, other themes are heard with parts of the 'chattering' punctuating them. The main them is heard near the end along the secondary theme in a kind of sonata form recapitulation. The music ends in a dramatic cadence after a short coda.

The music of Lachner and other so-called minor composers can help us to remember that the great composers did not create their music in a vacuum. They were part of a continuum of their time that included musicians like Lachner who were rock-solid musicians and craftsmen composers. Lachner's music is well-written, and shows inspiration and profundity in places.  He was an important musician of his time, and as such created his own music and helped to create the music of others by teaching and promoting.  I personally enjoy listening to this symphony and look forward to exploring more of his works.