POTTER, Philip Cipriani Hambly (1792-1871) - Symphony No. 8 (1828)

Obra de Thomas Sidney Cooper (1803-1902), pintor anglès (1)

- Recordatori de Philip Cipriani Hambly Potter -

En el dia de la commemoració del seu 145è aniversari de decés

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Parlem de Pintura...

Thomas Sidney Cooper RA (Canterbury, 26 de setembre de 1803 - London, 7 de febrer de 1902) va ser un pintor anglès. Si bé de ben petit va mostrar interès per l'art, no va ser fins que el 1823 que va entrar a estudiar a la Reial Acadèmia d'Arts de Londres. Més tard es va traslladar a Brussel·les on va rebre un càrrec de professor el 1829. Allà va conèixer diversos pintors, entre ells, l'artista belga Verboeckhoven especialitzat en temàtica animal. A través d'ell va començar a pintar escenes amb animals i paisatges rebent la influència, també, de l'escola holandesa de pintura del segle XVII. El 1831 va tornar a Londres on hi va exhibir per primera vegada el 1833. Allà va rebre el suport dels pintors Abraham Cooper i de Sir Thomas Lawrence. A partir del 1870 va rebre nombrosos encàrrecs convertint-se en un dels artistes més destacats del període victorià. A partir del 1890 la seva fama va començar a declinar si bé aquells anys Sidney Cooper ja era un ancià de 90 anys, morint a Londres el febrer de 1902. 

Font: En català: No disponible - En castellano: No disponible - In english: Thomas Sidney Cooper (1803-1902) - Altres: Thomas Sidney Cooper (1803-1902)

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Parlem de Música...

Philip Cipriani Hambly Potter (London, 3 d'octubre de 1792 - London, 26 de setembre de 1871) va ser un pianista, professor i compositor anglès. Fill de Richard Huddleston Potter i nebot polític del pintor Giovanni Baptista Cipriani, bon amic de Johann Christian Bach i CF Abel, es va formar amb el seu pare, també pianista i compositor, i amb Thomas Attwood. Es va seguir formant amb William Crotch, amb qui també va treballar el 1808-09, i especialment amb Joseph Wölfl de qui va afirmar que havia estat el seu millor mestre. Un cop graduat es va convertir en membre de la Philharmonic Society el 1815. Va debutar precisament en aquella societat el 1816 amb el seu Sextet Op.11. Els seus primers anys, tot i la consolidada fama de pianista, van ser irregulars. El seu poc èxit com a compositor a Anglaterra el va motivar a viatjar a Europa entusiasmat per conèixer a Beethoven. Es va instal·lar a Viena el 1817 i mitjançant alguns contactes va poder contactar amb Beethoven. Aquest, en una carta a Ries del 5 de maig de 1818 afirmava el següent: "Botter [sic] m'ha visitat un parell de vegades, sembla ser un bon company i té talent per a la composició ". Precisament el geni alemany va promocionar Potter en el cercle d'Aloys Förster. El 1819 va tornar a Anglaterra animat pel nou coneixement adquirit. Ràpidament es va fer un nom a l'escena del seu país i va actuar com a solista en nombrosos concerts, especialment amb obres de Mozart i Beethoven. El seu virtuosisme amb el piano va ser motiu d'admiració i fins i tot anys més tard es va convertir en director de concerts de la Societat Filharmònica de Londres. El 1822 es va convertir en professor titular de piano de l'Acadèmia de Música. El 1827 va ser nomenat director de pràctiques d'orquestra i el 1832 va substituir a Crotch en el càrrec de director, lloc que va mantenir fins el 1859. Tota la seva vida va gaudir de fama i admiració i va ser molt estimat pel públic anglès. El seu perfeccionisme el van convertir en un imprescindible del repertori anglès. La seva etapa com a compositor va ser relativament curta en el temps, del 1816 al 1837. Obres orquestrals, entre elles 9 simfonies i 3 concerts de piano, obres de cambra i una poca mostra vocal són el testimoni de la seva producció. Va morir a Londres el setembre de 1871.

OBRA:

Vocal secular:

When evening draws her curtain round, 1v, pf (c1817);
No More, canzonet, 1v, pf, in Harmonicon, iii (1825), 21;
Medora e Corrado (G. Rossetti), cant., solo vv, chorus, orch, 1830, Lam;
Wer unter eines Mädchens Hand, B, small orch, 1847, lost except for pp.1–3

Instrumental:

Orch.:
9 syms.:
no.1, g, 1819, rev. 1826;
B , 1821, rev. 1839, Lam;
no.6, c, 1826;
no.7, F, 1826;
no.8, E , 1828, rev. 1846, Lam;
no.10, g, 1832, ed. in Musica Britannica, ?lxxvii (forthcoming), arr. fl, 2 vn, 2 va, vc, db (1836), arr. pf 4 hands (1832, Lam);
no.2, D, 1833; c, 1834;
no.4, D, 1834, arr. pf 4 hands as op.29 (c1851)

For pf, orch:
Introduction and Rondo, ‘alla militaire’, 1827;
Bravura Variations, on a theme by Rossini, 1829;
Ricercata, ‘on a favorite French theme’, 1830, op.24 (1835);
at least 3 concs., d (no.2), 1832, E , 1833, E, 1835

Others:
Ov., e, 1815, rev. 1848;
Duo concertant, pf, vn, orch, op.14 (Bonn, ?1827);
Concertante, on ‘Les folies d'Espagne’, vn, vc, db, pf, orch, 1829;
Ov. ‘Antony and Cleopatra’, 1835;
Ov. ‘Cymbeline’, 1836;
Ov. ‘The Tempest’, 1837;
March, 1854, Lsm

Chbr.:
3 Grand Trios, no.1 E , cl, bn, pf, arr. pf trio;
nos.2 and 3, D, B;
pf trio, op.12 (Bonn, c1824);
Sonata di bravura, hn, pf, arr. bn, vc, pf, op.13 (Bonn, c1824);
Sextet, fl, str qt, pf, op.11 (Bonn, ?1827);
Sextet, E , fl, cl, va, vc, db, pf, 1836;
Str Qt, G, Lam

Piano:
3 Waltzes in German Style (1816);
Recueil de valzers (1816);
Trio, pf 5 hands (?1816);
Andante ‘La placidità’ (Bonn, 1817);
Sonata, C, op.1 (1818);
Variations, on Mozart's ‘Fin ch'han dal vino’, op.2 (Leipzig, 1818) [pubd without op.no. (1816)];
Sonata, D, op.3 (Leipzig, 1818);
Sonata, e, op.4 (Leipzig, 1818);
Polonaise (Vienna, 1818);
Rondeau (Leipzig, 1818);
Thirteen Variations, on ‘Bekränzt mit Laub’ (Bonn, c1818);
Rondeau brillant [no.1] (Vienna, ?1818);
Fantasia, March and Trio (Vienna, ?1820);
Grand duo, pf 4 hands, op.6 (Vienna, ?1821);
Fantasia, on ‘Chi dice mal d'amore’ (c1822);
Mes rêveries (c1823);
Le départ de Vienne, in Harmonicon, ii (1824), 81;
Pezzi di bravura, op.15 (Bonn, c1824);
Andante and Allegretto ‘Il compiacente’, op.16 (?c1824);
The Parade, military divertimento, op.17 (?c1824);
Impromptu, on the Scottish air ‘Auld Robin Gray’, op.8 (1825);
‘Enigma’ Variations, op.5 (c1825);
3 Toccatas, op.9 (Leipzig, ?1825) [no.1 pubd without op.no. (?1816);
no.2 pubd without op.no. (Leipzig, 1818)];
Studies in All the Major and Minor Keys, op.19 (1826);
Introduction and Rondo giocoso, op.20 (?1826);
Introduction and Variations, with coda and cadenza (Leipzig, ?1826);
Allegro di bravura ‘Il vispo e la fuggita’ (before 1827);
Rondeau brillant no.2, op.21 (1827);
Fugue, E, 3 pf, 1827, Lam;
Fantasia and Fugue, 2 pf, c, 1818, op.27, Lam (?Bonn, c1830);
54 Impromptus, op.22 (1832);
Celebrated Octave Lesson (1834–48);
Introduction and Variations, on ‘Alice Gray’ (before 1837);
Impromptu, B , 1841;
Trois amusements, op.28 (?1848–51);
Impromptu, D, in J. Benedict:Select Practice for the Piano Forte (?1850);
Introduction and Rondoletto, op.23 (?1851);
Impromptu, G/g, ?1852, Lam;
Eine Grille, 1868, Lam, facs. in RAM Club Magazine, no.1 (1900);
Rondo scherzando ‘Il sollievo’ (n.d.)
Transcrs., arrs. and edns of works by Mozart, Dragonetti, Beethoven and others

Literatura:

- ‘Companion to the Orchestra’, Musical World, iii (1836), 97–101; iv (1836–7), 1, 177–81; v (1837), 129–33
- ‘Recollections of Beethoven, with Remarks on his Style’, Musical World, i (1836), 101–6; repr. in MT, x (1861), 150–57

Font: En català: No disponible - En castellano: No disponible - In english: Philip Cipriani Hambly Potter (1792-1871) - Altres: Philip Cipriani Hambly Potter (1792-1871) 

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Parlem en veu pròpia o en veu d'altri...

Our notions of what an early romantic symphony ought to be are so strongly coloured by Beethoven that one is tempted to criticize Cipriani Potter simply because he is different. It is, I fear, broadly true that the symphonic tradition, as we have come to know it, has its roots in the practices of Beethoven, and Haydn before him, so historically there is a certain correctness in regarding music like Potter's as a mere tributary. But it is on the evidence of this record, a rich and exciting one. Potter (1792–1871), born into a family of musicians, studied under Attwood, Woelfl Forster and others, met Beethoven (who acknowledged his ''talent for composition''), was a virtuoso pianist reputed for his playing of Mozart and Beethoven, was admired as a conductor, and taught at the Royal Academy of Music, where he was Principal for 27 years. He wrote much piano I music, a handful of chamber works, and some ten symphonies; but he more or less gave up composing in 1837, partly because of professional pressures but also because he was, it seems, so aware of the superior gifts of others that he lost confidence in his own. That is sad, because his abilities, on the evidence of this record (and of some of the piano and chamber works I have looked at in the past but never heard played), are quite out of the ordinary. Potter had a keen and sensitive ear for orchestral colour and an ingenious and poetic feeling for harmony. Looked at from a strictly Beethovenian perspective, one might say that these were his undoing. He does not, as it were, keep his eye on the symphonic ball, and see it carefully through rather he lets himself be drawn off into fanciful realms, as regards both tone colour and key. Several movements here begin with the same kind of pattern: an idea announced by one group (strings or woodwind), a response quite different in character from the other, then a return to the first group and a speedy, perhaps quite distant modulation. I find this appealing, very often, as both fresh and delightful, but his disinclination to consolidate his key structure is also a shade disorientating, and it results in a less purposeful handling of sonata form than any of the Viennese symphonists, not excepting Schubert.

The answer, of course, is to sit back and enjoy it. I am sure most readers will relish much that Potter has to offer. In the E flat Symphony, there is the handling of the fanfare-like figure that runs through the work, the subtle key shifts in its first movement, which has a highly original and luxuriant climax, the imaginative chromaticisms of this symphony's Andante con moto, music of much tenderness and warmth; and the rhetorical force of its finale (whose interesting second subject begins in quite a classical manner, then embarks on an excursion through a variety of keys). The G minor work has many sombre and sturdy ideas notably a powerful ending to the first movement, a very beguiling trio (predominantly for strings) to the scherzo (which has much crisply playful woodwind writing) and the slightly folksy second subject of the finale, which also has an uncommonly ingenious development. There is a lot of contrapuntal writing, with fugal and canonic passages; and there is also some graceful solo writing for cello and violin in the slow movement of the G minor work. This symphony dates from 1832 Wagner conducted it when he was in London in 1855. The E flat work is from 1828 but the slow movement here comes from Potter's 1846 revision. I warmly recommend this disc to anyone with a dash of musical curiosity about them. It may not be great music, but it is very attractive and rewarding, and the playing of the Milton Keynes Chamber Orchestra, an ensemble I have not come across before, is admirable—they respond splendidly to the rhythmic vitality and the sharp ear for colour, and the command of the music's often unexpected shapes, shown by the conductor, Hilary Davan Wetton. The recorded balance possibly slightly favours the wind, but so does Potter's orchestration; and the trombones, which lend a characteristic rasp to his orchestration in the tuttis, come through splendidly.'

Stanley Sadie (source/font: aquí)

Gaudiu i compartiu! 

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Informació addicional... 

INTERPRETS: Milton Keynes Chamber Orchestra; Hilary Davan Wetton (conductor)
AMAZON: POTTER, C. - Symphonies

IMSLP: Philip Cipriani Hambly Potter (1792-1871)

CPDL: No disponible

SPOTIFY: POTTER, C. - Symphonies



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