A new music treasure trove

Henriëtte Bosmans in 1917,
Photo: Jacob Merkelbach

Concert halls, in which no music by female composers is heard, are no longer imaginable, though still not a given, for inertia forces in classical music are not to be underestimated. Many believe that music history has miraculously and automatically made, unbiased, a purely qualitative selection in terms of what dominates concert programmes worldwide. Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms – they were simply the best, and if no woman has managed to produce similarly great art, that fact cannot be altered. In comparison, a different insight is finally gaining ground: If music by female composers has often fallen below the so-called threshold of perception, this situation says nothing about the music itself, but only the more about the (often male) designers of this so-called perception threshold.

How about an example? The Sonata for Violoncello and Piano by Dutch composer and pianist Henriëtte Bosmans (1895–1952), is now being published for the first time as an Urtext edition, hot off the press, by our Henle publishing house: HN 1667. This sonata is a musical force of nature, a lyrical work of magic, a virtuoso challenge for the solo part, an opulent display of full-fisted piano writing, a masterpiece straddling the border between late romanticism and modernism – and yet it has remained largely unknown until now. Bosmans was only 23 years old when she wrote this cello sonata in 1919, performed it with the Belgian cellist Marix Loevensohn, then principal cellist of the Concertgebouw Orchestra, and published it with the Broekmans & Van Poppel publishing house.

The lavish musical notation presented me, as editor, with quite a few challenges. When she composed it, Bosmans was neither particularly experienced in accurately writing down such complex music, nor did the publisher at the time apparently devote any especially careful attention to detail when printing this newcomer’s work. For example, the piano part in the first edition is notated in many places with downright abstruse ottava notation, making its range on the keyboard hardly discernible and greatly complicating orientation when playing it.

A historical full-score copy by an unidentified hand, preserved together with the autograph of the cello part, is full of serious errors, accidentally, perhaps, pointing in the right direction in some cases of editorial doubt, but misleading much more often than not. Coming to grips with the sonata philologically, based on these sources, was an enthralling task.

Musically, Bosmans’ cello sonata is a fascinating contemporary document of an era when tonal thinking and its transcendence were in competition. On top of that, the sonata stands as a historical, biographical document and snapshot of the proficiency of an aspiring young composer who, though still undergoing professional training, had already begun to develop her own personal style. And despite all this, the sonata is in its compositional characteristics timelessly brilliant music, never losing its suspensive tension for a second throughout its entire 25-minute performance, whilst filled to bursting with expressive power. Discretion is not inherent in this work. That is certainly true of the first movement, with its highly expressive main theme on the cello layered over the piano’s large chords and lowest possible bass, but also for the impressionistic second movement, characterised by a playful dialogue between the instruments, the lyrically fragile third movement, and the rhythmically energetic fourth movement in 5/4-time – before the opening theme returns one last time at the very end with even greater force (Fortissimo, Maestoso), providing both a final climax and musical closure.

Return of the main theme at the end of the 4th movement. The piano part – Fortissimo, Maestoso – extends over keyboard’s seven octaves, Henle-Urtext

The final movement’s rhythmically powerful gesture, notated in 5/4-time, Henle-Urtext

Heard in this youthful, compositional tour de force, still hinting at Bosmans’ role models, may be echoes of Fauré, Grieg or Brahms. One might also think of Richard Strauss’s cello sonata, composed at a similar age, not exactly characterised in both versions by compositional restraint. Above all, however, Bosmans’ sonata is an expression of a strong and independent artistic personality.

The Bosmans researcher Helen H. Metzelaar has traced the composer’s fascinating biography for our edition’s preface. Bosmans was one of the outstanding pianists of her time, refining her compositional language over many years and writing instrumental music for small and large ensembles – often with a preference for the cello and her own instrument, the piano. In the 1920s, she was intermittently in a relationship with the cellist Frieda Belinfante, living a modern life with her. She later had to cope with the early death from cancer of her fiancé, the violinist Francis Koene. As the daughter of a Jewish mother, she braved the professional harassment and physical dangers of Nazi Germany’s occupation of the Netherlands – and returning to music after the war, she concentrated primarily on lied composition and discovered writing about music as a new field of activity.

Julian Riem and Raphaela Gromes,
Photo: Gregor Hohenberg

Such an artist and her art deserve the spotlight. Since their chart-topping CD ‘Femmes’ (Sony Classical, 2023), cellist Raphaela Gromes and pianist Julian Riem have been a celebrated investigative duo for rediscovering the works of female composers. Not only did they originally come up with the idea of an Urtext edition of the Bosmans sonata, but as advisors they also supported my editorial work with their practical musical expertise, enriching the edition with their individual fingerings and solo-part markings. They recorded the sonata for their latest CD, “Fortissima” (Sony Classical, 2025); Raphaela Gromes also turned her attention to Henriëtte Bosmans in her book also titled Fortissima! (Goldmann Verlag) about female composers, written in collaboration with Susanne Wosnitzka. This resulted in a wonderful collaboration that, it is to be hoped, will contribute to the further emancipation of such female composers’ works as this magnificent cello sonata. This is a win-win situation for everyone. For when concerns are occasionally expressed that the paths of classical music have become rather well-trodden, this applies only to the masculine side of music history. The feminine side has so far often only been told in isolated short stories, whilst a treasure trove of wonderful music lying dormant in the archives is only beginning to be accessible to the general public.

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At the pinnacle of virtuosity

Charles -Valentin Alkan, ca. 1865 (photo of unknown origin, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris)

“Alkan? Lots of notes!” – That’s what you hear when mentioning that you’ve edited the Symphonie for piano by French composer Charles Valentin Alkan (1813–1888) for Henle: HN 1657. And “lots of notes”, coupled with the expert French pronunciation of “Alkan”, is all that many music professionals know about this composer, myself included until recently. This is not surprising, considering how much Alkan shunned publicity, though in no way does it reflect the increasing importance (documented in a growing number of recordings) that his music is accorded by those studying 19th-century piano virtuosity or even capable of playing the works. Beyond question, this requires pianistically masterful hands. Three are ideal. The great pianist Marc-André Hamelin is, for example, one of those terrific Alkan interpreters who have three hands. Continue reading

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Summer Break

As summer has begun, our blog is taking a short break until September. But what is Maurice Ravel, this year’s big anniversary celebrant, up to? Continue reading

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Between distance and admiration – Satie and Ravel

Whilst this year the classical music world is undoubtedly focussed on Maurice Ravel’s 150th birthday, another French composer’s anniversary should not be completely forgotten: Erik Satie’s 100th anniversary of death on 1 July 2025. And what could be more natural than to take a closer look at the relationship between the two? For although Satie was a complete musical outsider in his day, he had many contacts with important musicians and composers in fin-de-siècle and Belle Époque Paris, including, amongst others, not only Ravel, but also Claude Debussy, Albert Roussel, Igor Stravinsky and Ricardo Viñes.

left: Erik Satie (1866–1925), right: Maurice Ravel (1875–1937)

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Rostropovich and Atovmyan – the two midwives of Prokofiev’s Cello Sonata op. 119

Mstislav Rostropovich is considered one of the greatest cellists of the 20th century. His art has inspired numerous composers around the world to write works for the cello – including Prokofiev for his Cello Sonata op. 119. When preparing our new Urtext edition of this sonata, I was therefore all the more surprised to discover that, alongside Rostropovich, another musician played a very important role in the genesis and dissemination of this work – albeit in a completely different way: Levon Atovmyan, who is also the sonata’s dedicatee. Reason enough to take a closer look at this man in the background!

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A minor sensation: Chopin’s recently discovered a-minor waltz. Interview with Jeffrey Kallberg

In spring 2024, a new work by Frédéric Chopin was discovered in the Morgan Library & Museum, though shared with the world only in the fall – quite a little sensation for the music world! In a unique collaboration with the Morgan Library and its curator Robinson McClellan, the Chopin specialist Jeffrey Kallberg and the world-renowned pianist Lang Lang (who acoustically brought the piece to life), this a-minor waltz has now been published for the first time by the G. Henle Verlag in Urtext, including a facsimile of the autograph. Jeffrey Kallberg was involved from the start in the exciting discovery story, and so I conducted the following interview with him. Continue reading

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Debussy and Ravel – Aspects of a difficult relationship

As Henle’s Ravel year is being organised under the heading “Ravel and Friends”, Claude Debussy is no doubt one of the most important composers with whom Maurice Ravel maintained personal contact, though their relationship was not unclouded.  So, we’ve asked the French musicologist Denis Herlin, one of the world’s top Debussy specialists, about some aspects of this interesting, yet also complex association.

left: Claude Debussy, right: Maurice Ravel

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Schubert’s “Serenade” on its way through Europe

Anniversaries of great composers cast long shadows. This applies not only to the recording industry, when some ensembles labour for decades to perfectly capture recordings of the complete symphonies or cantatas for a Haydn or Bach anniversary, but also to music publishers. So, it’s no coincidence that for the Ravel Year 2025 we recently celebrated in this blog, we largely completed our catalogue of the French composer’s works, or that all Beethoven’s symphonies were available in the Henle Urtext in time for his 250th birthday in 2020. But that doesn’t happen overnight. And thus, the Schubert year 2028, only slowly appearing now on the horizon, has been on our minds for quite some time. Continue reading

Posted in arrangement, first edition, Liszt, Franz, Monday Postings, piano solo, reprint, revision, Schubert, Franz, variant reading | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

“It ended up being quite substantial” – on Sergei Prokofiev’s 2nd violin sonata op. 94a

Last year the Henle catalogue very much welcomed the addition of Sergei Prokofiev, with the number of our editions of his works growing steadily ever since (see here). The latest new release is sure to make all violinists’ hearts beat faster: The 2nd Violin Sonata in D major op. 94a, an integral part of the violin repertoire, is now available for the first time in a reliable Urtext edition (HN 1624). Continue reading

Posted in Augustin Hadelich, autograph, Charles Owen, David Oistrakh, first edition, Monday Postings, piano + flute, piano + violin, Prokofiev, Sergei, versions | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

“Naturally artificing” – Maurice Ravel on his 150th birthday

Maurice Ravel (1875–1937)

Like last year, 2025 will also see a wealth of composer commemorations, ranging from Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (500th birthday) to Georges Bizet (150th anniversary of his death) or from Erik Satie (100th anniversary of his death) to Pierre Boulez (100th birthday), to name just a few of the anniversaries. The spotlight will undoubtedly be, however, on the milestone birthday of Maurice Ravel, born on 7 March 1875 in the French-Basque commune Ciboure to a Spanish-Basque mother and a Swiss-engineer father with French roots. The family moved to Paris just three months later, though Ravel never lost his connection to the Basque region where he often spent the summer months in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, a neighbouring commune to Ciboure. Continue reading

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