Max Reger's two string trios stand alongside Mozart's Divertimento in E-flat major (K. 563) and Beethoven's op. 9 trios at the pinnacle of the genre. In their style and technical demands Reger has clearly taken these admired classical forebears as his guide. Both trios are classicist in nature and delight the listener with their relaxed and occasionally even joyful character. No wonder that they proved highly successful at their premières in 1904 and 1915! For his edition, the Reger specialist Michael Kube has examined the autograph scores and the first editions of both works.
Content/Details
- String Trio a minor op. 77b
- String Trio d minor op. 141b
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Preface
Unlike his string quartets (e.g. op. 74 in d minor) with their advanced language and at times almost symphonic scope, Max Reger’s two string trios (published as opp. 77b and 141b) and the two flute serenades that immediately preceded them (opp. 77a and 141a) are among those works in his rich body of chamber music that convey the impression of a deliberately classicist bent. … more
Critical Commentary
About the composer
Max Reger
Late-Romantic composer who combines a chromatic tonal language with Baroque and Classical forms, thus anticipating 1920s neoclassicism.
| 1873 | Born in Brand (Upper Palatinate) on March 19, the son of a teacher. First piano lessons from his mother. |
| 1888 | After a visit to Bayreuth (for Meistersinger and Parsifal), decides on a career in music. |
| 1890–93 | Studies with Hugo Riemann at the conservatory in Wiesbaden, composes chamber works. Thereafter he endeavors to publish his own works as a freelance composer, albeit with multiple failures. |
| 1898 | Return to his parents’ home in Weiden. Composition of organ works: choral fantasies, “Fantasy and Fugue on B-A-C-H,” Op. 46 (1900); Symphonic Fantasy and Fugue (“Inferno”), Op. 57. |
| 1901–07 | Living in Munich. |
| 1903 | Publication of his “On the Theory of Modulation,” causing Riemann to feel attacked because Reger espouses a different understanding of the role of chromatics. “Variations and Fugue on an Original Theme,” Op. 73. |
| 1904 | Breakthrough with his first performance for the Allgemeine Deutsche Musikverein (General German Music Association). First volume of his “Simple Songs” for voice and piano, Op. 76; String Quartet in D minor, Op. 74, one of the most significant works in that genre at the beginning of the century. |
| From 1905 | Instructor at Munich’s Academy of Music. “Sinfonietta” in A major, Op. 90. |
| 1907–11 | Music director and professor of composition at the University of Leipzig. Orchestral work “Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Hiller,” Op. 100. |
| 1909 | “The 100th Psalm,” Op. 106, his most popular choral work. |
| 1911–14 | Director of the royal court orchestra of Saxe-Meiningen. |
| 1912 | “Concerto in the Old Style,” Op. 123. Orchestral song “An die Hoffnung” (“To Hope”), Op. 124. |
| 1913 | “Four Tone Poems after A. Böcklin” for large orchestra, Op. 128; “A Ballet Suite,” Op. 130. |
| 1914 | “Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Mozart,” Op. 132 |
| 1915 | He resides in Jena. Late compositions. |
| 1916 | Death in Leipzig on May 11. |
About the authors
Michael Kube (Editor)
Dr. Michael Kube, born in 1968 in Kiel, studied musicology (with Friedhelm Krummacher and Heinrich W. Schwab), the history of art and ethnology at the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel. Since 1998 he has been a research associate at the New Schubert Edition (Tübingen) and since autumn 2002 also a member of the editorial board.
Kube is on the panels of different juries and music prizes, and is also a member of the Committee for work evaluation (Werkprüfungsausschuss) of VG Music Edition. His research interests include music for keyboard instruments around 1700, 19th century chamber music, early 20th century music history, as well as Scandinavian music history.