Concerto for Cello and Orchestra No. 2 in A minor op. 4
Elegie op. 21 · Capriccio op. 40 · Serenade op. 35 · Gavotte op. 42 · Impromptu op. 43
Ave Maria op. 41 (version for cello and piano & version for cello and harmonium)
Dämonenfantasie op. 34
Jens Peter Maintz, cello · Paul Rivinius, piano
Münchner Rundfunkorchester · Peter Rundel, conductor
Wilhelm Fitzenhagen – a name that not even those familiar with the cello repertoire are necessarily familiar with. But when one hears his Second Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, one asks oneself why this work hasn’t managed to become part of the standard cello repertoire: it is colorful, virtuosic
and demonstrates the composer’s personal style throughout. Fitzenhagen is most often associated with Peter Tchaikovsky, whose Rokoko Variations he revised – a revision that was resisted in the beginning, but later supported even by Tchaikovsky himself. Tchaikovsky dedicated this work – as he did his Piano Trio op. 50 – to Fitzenhagen.
Born in 1848 in Seesen, Fitzenhagen – already a celebrated cello virtuoso – went to Moscow at the age of 22, founded the celebrated Russian cello school as professor at the conservatory there, and decisively shaped Russian musical life in the following years. He composed four cello concertos as well as chamber music and songs. Fitzenhagen died at the age of 42 in Moscow.
Wilhelm Karl Friedrich
Fitzenhagen
Even most music-lovers connect the
name of cellist and composer Wilhelm
Fitzenhagen – if at all – with the creation
and reception-history of the famous Rococo
Variations for Violoncello and Orchestra by
Peter Tchaikovsky. The composer dedicated
the work to Fitzenhagen, and it is uncontested
that the latter fundamentally altered
it, changing the order of the variations and
even omitting one. Tchaikovsky’s original
work has recently received increasing interest
due to several new recordings and a new
edition of the urtext, which is principally to
welcome, but I openly admit always having
had great sympathy for Fitzenhagen as the
arranger of the Rococo Variations. His version
reveals musical intelligence, a feeling
for form and a sense of the effectiveness of
the music. I would be rather unhappy, for example,
even to do without his repetitions in
the “Rococo Theme”… After initial uneasiness,
Tchaikovsky himself also “authorized”
his friend’s version – surely the strongest
argument for Fitzenhagen’s version.
Fitzenhagen also took part in premieres
of other well known works by Tchaikovsky,
e.g. the Piano Trio op. 50. But Fitzenhagen
is not only significant as a Tchaikovsky-interpreter
– he was one of the most important
cellists of his time: without him, the illustrious
development of the Russian cello
school would have been unthinkable, and
he also deserves notice as a composer.
This CD hopes to demonstrate that.
Biography
Fitzenhagen was born in 1848 as the son of
the city music director of Seesen, at that
time part of the duchy of Braunschweig. His
musical talent was recognized and encouraged
at an early age, and he performed publicly
as a cello soloist at the age of eleven.
After further studies with Theodor Müller,
Fitzenhagen went to Dresden to study with
the famous Friedrich Grützmacher. Even the
mention of Grützmacher’s name makes cello
students throughout the world shudder, primarily
due to his etudes, some of which present
horrendous technical difficulties. But Fitzenhagen
was a highly successful pupil, becoming
a member of the Saxon Hofkapelle at
age twenty. In addition, his extensive activities
as a soloist did not remain unnoticed for
long; at only twenty-two he was offered two
exceptionally attractive positions. Franz Liszt
wanted to engage him as solo cellist of the
grand-ducal Kapelle in Weimar and Nikolai
Rubinstein offered him the position of cello
professor at the newly founded Moscow
Conservatory. Fitzenhagen decided to go
to Moscow, becoming one of the founders
of the exceptional Russian cello school together
with Karl Davidoff in Petersburg. His
many outstanding students included Anatoli
Brandukov, to whom Sergei Rachmaninoff
dedicated his Cello Sonata op. 19.
After decisively shaping Russian musical
life for twenty years, Fitzenhagen died
in Moskow at only forty-two years of age. In
addition to four cello concertos and diverse
works for cello and piano, Fitzenhagen also
composed chamber music and songs.
The works on this CD
Fitzenhagen’s Concerto for Violoncello No. 2
was quite obviously written under the influence
of Robert Schuman’s cello concerto.
Fitzenhagen must certainly have known this
work very well; his teacher Grützmacher is
known to have been one of the first interpreters
of the Schumann concerto. Obvious parallels
between the two works are the choice
of key, A Minor, and its through-composed
form; a closer look reveals many other motivic
similarities. It is well known that Schumann’s
work was not well received at the time; contemporary
cellists criticized it for a seeming
lack of virtuosity and for the most part, an
absence of “rewarding” cantilenas in the last
movement. Fitzenhagen’s concerto, in contrast,
completely fulfils these needs: the cello
is allowed to revel in extensive cantilenas,
show off in virtuoso passage-work and profile
itself a number of times in cadenzas or – as
at the beginning – recitatives. Schumann had
also refused cellists this pleasure by giving
them only a very brief cadenza. Fitzenhagen’s
concerto is formally interesting due to the
fact that hardly any new thematic material is

presented in the final movement. After a short
introduction, it harks back to large sections
of the first movement, artistically woven together
in parts: at one point, for example, the
primary and secondary themes are heard simultaneously
in the solo cello and solo violin.
After the solo cadenza, which clearly shows
Grützmacher’s cellistic influence, the second
movement is briefly touched upon, after
which the work closes with a virtuosic coda.
Fitzenhagen’s shorter works for violoncello
and piano can best be compared to
the much less well known virtuoso works of
David Popper. While Popper’s miniatures,
however, sometimes threaten to become

music for the circus ring, Fitzenhagen – despite
all virtuosity – always remains serious.
His musical language shows similarities to
Tchaikovsky (Elegie op. 21) and sometimes
to Mendelssohn (Impromptu op. 43) as well.
The Capriccio op. 40 is dedicated to another
significant cellist of the late 19th century,
namely Robert Hausmann, cellist of the
Joachim Quartet and professor at the Berlin
Academy of Music. Hausmann was one
of Fitzenhagen’s childhood friends; just as
the latter, Hausmann had also studied cello
with Theodor Müller in Braunschweig.
The “Dämonfantasie” op. 34 is Fitzhagen’s
reverential gesture to Anton Rubinstein,
brother of his mentor Nikolai Rubinstein,
who had brought him to Moscow.
The opera “Der Dämon” was among Anton
Rubinstein’s most successful works. But
Fitzenhagen does not compose a simple
potpourri, but incorporates two variations
in which echoes of Tchaikovsky’ Rococo
Variations are easy to spot. In the Finale,
Fitzenhagen uses ballet music from the opera’s
second act, a wedding dance: at first,
the men dance exuberantly, followed in the
middle section by a woman who apparently
comes from the Orient…
In his “Ave Maria” op. 41, Fitzenhagen
gives the interpreter a choice between
piano and harmonium as accompanying instrument.
The harmonium underscores the
music’s spiritual character, which fits well:
Fitzenhagen participated regularly in church
concerts of the Lutheran community in Moscow
and wrote some works specially for
these occasions, including the “Ave Maria”.
This CD documents both versions, allowing
listeners to decide whether they wish the
music to transport them to a distinguished
soirée or to a reverent worship service.
Jens Peter Maintz
Translation: Elizabeth Gahbler