{"id":2334,"date":"2020-02-06T20:54:50","date_gmt":"2020-02-06T20:54:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/?p=2334"},"modified":"2020-02-06T20:55:58","modified_gmt":"2020-02-06T20:55:58","slug":"arachnophonia-amanda-maier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/2020\/02\/arachnophonia-amanda-maier\/","title":{"rendered":"Arachnophonia: Amanda Maier"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s note:<\/strong> Arachnophonia<\/a> is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library<\/a>\u2018s collection.<\/p>\n

All links included in these posts will take you to either the library catalog record(s)<\/a> for the item(s) in question<\/a> or to additional relevant<\/a> information from<\/a> around the web<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s installment of Arachnophonia<\/a> is by Music Librarian Dr. Linda Fairtile <\/a>and features Amanda Maier<\/a>, an overlooked woman composer who lived from 1853-1894. Thanks, Dr. Fairtile!<\/em><\/p>\n

Amanda Maier<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Amanda

Amanda R\u00f6ntgen-Maier portrait
Bergen Public Library Norway from Bergen, Norway<\/p><\/div>\n

If you look up Amanda Maier in Grove Music Online<\/a>, the self-styled \u201cworld\u2019s premier online music encyclopedia,\u201d you\u2019ll find that she was the first wife of composer Julius R\u00f6ntgen<\/a>, as well as a violinist who studied at the Stockholm Conservatory. But Maier (1853-1894) wasn\u2019t \u201conly\u201d a wife and a violinist; she was also a gifted composer whose music was praised by both Brahms and Grieg. After hearing a recording of Maier\u2019s violin concerto on the radio, I resolved to add the works of this unjustly neglected composer to Parsons Music Library<\/a>\u2019s collection.<\/p>\n

Jennifer Martyn<\/a>, herself a violinist, has filled in some of Maier\u2019s background<\/a>. Maier\u2019s performing career essentially ended when she married Julius R\u00f6ntgen, her violin teacher\u2019s son, but she continued to compose until a few years prior to her tragically early death, from a lung ailment, at the age of forty-one.<\/p>\n

Two CDs recently acquired by Parsons Music Library are simply titled Amanda Maier,<\/a> volumes 1<\/a> and 2<\/a> (call numbers RM3.1 .M36 2016<\/a> and RM3.1 .M36 2017<\/a>) They are the brainchild of Swedish producer Erik Nilsson, who plans to record all of Maier\u2019s works. Volume 1<\/a> contains the first movement of her Violin Concerto in D Minor, performed by violinist Gregory Maytan and the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Andreas Stoehr (unfortunately, the second and third movements have been lost). Maier\u2019s final work, her Piano Quartet in E Minor, is played by Maytan with Bernt Lysell (viola), Sara Wijk (cello), and Ann-Sofi Klingberg (piano). The Quartet is a profound work, with a dramatic first movement, a lyrical second movement reminiscent of Brahms, a dancelike third movement, and an exuberant finale. Klingberg also accompanies Maytan on the Swedish Tunes and Dances that Maier and her husband composed together.<\/p>\n

\"Amanda<\/p>\n

Volume 2<\/a> of Amanda Maier contains her best known work, the passionate Sonata in B Minor for Violin and Piano, here performed by violinist Cecilia Zilliacus and pianist Bengt Forsberg. This duo also plays her Nine Pieces for Violin and Piano, only six of which have ever been published. Maier\u2019s vocal music is represented on this recording by four unpublished songs setting texts by the now-forgotten poet Carl-David af Wirs\u00e9n. Soprano Sabina Bisholt and pianist Bengt Forsberg perform these rather melancholy pieces.<\/p>\n

\"Amanda<\/p>\n

Parsons Music Library will soon have three other CDs of Amanda Maier\u2019s music (Amanda Maier, vol. 3<\/em>, Amanda & Julius<\/em>, and Amanda Maier Meets Johannes Brahms<\/em><\/a>), as well scores of her Piano Quartet<\/a> and her Sonata for Violin and Piano (arranged for flute)<\/a>. Most of Maier\u2019s music remains unpublished or exists only in rare 19th-century editions, many of which have been uploaded to<\/a> IMSLP<\/a>. We will continue to collect the music of this undeservedly forgotten composer as it becomes available.<\/p>\n

Leah Broad devotes an episode of her podcast \u201cNotes on Notes\u201d to Amanda Maier, which includes video performances of Maier\u2019s music:
\nhttps:\/\/notesonnotespodcast.com\/2019\/04\/19\/5-short-notes-on-amanda-maier\/<\/a><\/p>\n

And here is a fascinating video about the rediscovery of Maier\u2019s Piano Trio in E flat:
\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=dF7-AtKhZds<\/a><\/p>\n