Bürger VENEDIG (E minor)

Julius Bürger

VENEDIG

for Medium Voice and Orchestra (transposed to E minor)

text by Friedrich Nietzsche

Full Score

Julius Bürger

VENEDIG

for Medium Voice and Orchestra (transposed to E minor)

text by Friedrich Nietzsche

duration circa 2 minutes 30 seconds

About the Exilarte Edition

Schirmer/Wise Music’s Exilarte Edition exclusively publishes works by composers who were persecuted, forced into exile or murdered by the Nazi regime. Nearly all original manuscripts of these works are archived in the Exilarte Center at the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna in Austria.

Über die Exilarte Edition

Die Exilarte Edition von Schirmer/Wise Music veröffentlicht ausschließlich Werke von Komponist:innen, die vom NS-Regime verfolgt, ins Exil gezwungen oder ermordet wurden. Fast alle Originalmanuskripte dieser Werke befinden sich im Archiv des Exilarte Zentrum der mdw – Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien in Österreich.

About the Composer

Julius Bürger began his studies with Franz Schreker at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna in 1919 and followed his teacher to Berlin in 1920. On the recommendation of Bruno Walter, Bürger became Artur Bodanzky’s assistant at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. In 1929, he moved to the Kroll Opera in Berlin as Otto Klemperer’s assistant.

In 1933, when Hitler became Chancellor of the Reich, he had to return to Vienna. He continued to work as an arranger and conductor in Vienna, Brussels, Paris and London, including as a song accompanist and arranger. His ‘Radio Potpourris’ for the BBC became popular. A few weeks before the annexation of Austria to the Nazi state, Bürger stopped off in Paris on a journey home from London to Vienna in February 1938 to await further political developments. He and his wife initially settled in the French capital before emigrating to the USA in 1939. Bürger returned to the Metropolitan Opera in 1949, and a close artistic friendship developed with Dimitri Mitropoulos. Although he hardly composed any more, he won a composition prize at the University of Indiana in 1984 with a work he had composed 39 years earlier, Variations on a Theme by C. Ph. E. Bach.

A large part of Bürger’s family, including his mother and five of his brothers, were deported to Auschwitz in the Holocaust, his mother shot on the way and his brothers murdered in the camp.

Bürger died in 1995 in New York City aged 98. Julius Bürger’s musical estate was entrusted to the Exilarte Center at the mdw — University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna — in 2016 by attorney Ronald S. Pohl, Esq., whose continued efforts are supporting the promotion of Bürger’s music around the globe.

Über den Komponisten

Julius Bürger begann sein Studium bei Franz Schreker an der Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien im Jahr 1919 und folgte 1920 seinem Lehrer nach Berlin. Aufgrund einer Empfehlung Bruno Walters wurde Bürger Assistent von Artur Bodanzky an der Metropolitan Opera in New York. 1929 wechselte er als Otto Klemperers Assistent an die Krolloper in Berlin.

1933, als Hitler Reichskanzler wurde, musste er nach Wien zurückkehren. Er war weiterhin als Arrangeur und Dirigent in Wien, Brüssel, Paris und London tätig, u. a. als Liedbegleiter und Arrangeur. Beliebt wurden seine „Radio Potpourris“ für die BBC. Ein ge Wochen vor dem Anschluss Österreichs an den NS-Staat machte Bürger bei einer Heimreise von London nach Wien im Februar 1938 in Paris halt, um die weiteren politischen Entwicklungen abzuwarten. Mit seiner Frau ließ er sich zunächst in der französischen Hauptstadt nieder, ehe sie 1939 in die USA emigrierten. Hier war Bürger ab 1949 wieder an der Metropolitan O era tätig, und es entstand eine enge künstlerische Freundschaft mit Dimitri Mitropoulos. Obwohl er kaum noch komponierte, gewann er 1984 einen Kompositionspreis an der University of Indiana mit einem Werk, das er schon 39 Jahre zuvor komponiert hatte Variationen über ein Thema von C. Ph. E. Bach

Ein großer Teil von Bürgers Familie, darunter seine Mutter und fünf seiner Brüder wurden im Holocaust nach Auschwitz deportiert, seine Mutter unterwegs erschossen, die Brüder im Lager ermordet.

Bürger starb 1995 im Alter von 98 Jahren in New York City. Julius Bürgers musikalischer Nachlass wurde 2016 von Rechtsanwalt Ronald S. Pohl, Esq. dem Exilarte Zentrum der mdw - Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien - anvertraut, das sich weiterhin für die Förderung von Bürgers Musik in aller Welt einsetzt.

About the Work

In 1985, Julius Bürger orchestrated four songs, three of these originally written for voice and piano: Schlummerlied (undated, text by A. Mombert), So tanze meine Seele (1968, text by A. von Hatzfeld), Venedig (1970, text by F. Nietzsche), and Verborgenheit (arranged after 1940, text by E. Mörike, music by Hugo Wolf).

For his vocal works, Bürger drew almost exclusively from German-language poetry, selecting texts by major Germanic authors. Most of these settings remain entirely in German, preserving the language’s natural musicality and depth.

Stylistically, these lieder are deeply rooted in the traditions of late Romanticism, reflecting the rich, expressive musical language characteristic of fin-de-siècle Vienna. With these rescored versions, Bürger brings a new dimension of orchestral color and nuance to his interpretations, offering a fresh perspective on this timeless repertoire.

Über das Werk

1985 orchestrierte Julius Bürger vier Lieder, von denen drei ursprünglich für Gesang und Klavier geschrieben waren: Schlummerlied (undatiert, Text von A. Mombert), So tanze meine Seele (1968, Text von A. von Hatzfeld), Venedig (1970, Text von F. Nietzsche) und Verborgenheit (bearbeitet nach 1940, Text von E. Mörike, Musik von Hugo Wolf).

Für seine Vokalwerke griff Bürger fast ausschließlich auf deutschsprachige Lyrik zurück. Die meisten dieser Vertonungen sind vollständig in deutscher Sprache gehalten, wodurch die natürliche Musikalität und Tiefe der Sprache erhalten bleibt.

Stilistisch sind diese Lieder tief in den Traditionen der Spätromantik verwurzelt und spiegeln die reiche, ausdrucksstarke Musiksprache des Wiener Fin-de-Siècle wider. Mit diesen neu bearbeiteten Fassungen verleiht Bürger seinen Interpretationen eine neue Dimension an orchestralen Farben und Nuancen und bietet eine neue Perspektive auf dieses zeitlose Repertoire.

Julius Bürger – VENEDIG

Description of the sources and editorial notes (of the original version - this version has been transposed for medium voice)

Source A: fair copy [file: Venedig_Orchestral_Score_MS_1.pdf] in the composer’s hand, comprises 14 pages (64 bars) and is considered the main source.

It was written on lined music paper (24 lines), the instrumental divisions were handwritten. Bar lines through all staves.

14 pages of music, no bar numbers, 5 rehearsal numbers (from figure 3 onwards erroneously assigned twice), title at the top of the first page of music: VENEDIG (FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE), with author’s inscription Julius Burger at top right

Source B: Handwritten preliminary draft [file: Venedig_Orchestral_Score_MS_2.pdf]) in the composer’s hand, comprises 12 pages (65 bars) with incorrect pagination (sequence: no No., 2, 5, 2, 5, 6-12).

It was written on one-sided lined music paper (24 lines, G.Schirmer - Imperial Brand No. 26 - 24 staves) pre-printed for orchestration.

12 pages of music, no bar numbers, no rehearsal numbers. Title at the bottom of the first page: VENEDIG (Friedrich NIETZSCHE), with author’s inscription Julius Burger at bottom right

Editorial notes: Neither source uses key signatures in the celesta part. These have been added according to today’s standard notation.

All other editorial additions and deviations have been placed in square brackets [ ]. This mainly concerns the complete dynamics of the vocal part.

From bar 13 onwards, the clearer 3/4 time was often used in the MS for whole bar notes in 9/8 time. Following the correct notation of the 9/8 time signature, a dotted crotchet was added at the end of each bar.

The main difference between source A and B is bar 28 of source B (page 7). This bar is an exact repetition of bar 27 with the exception of the viola part, which contains 9 decrescendo quavers. This bar was omitted in source A.

From bar 38 (3/4 time), all instruments are now notated in the correct 3/4 time. As a result, many quavers in Violin II, Viola and Violoncello have been changed to triplets.

Special notes:

Bar 1, Hn. 1+2: mute added, is only notated in source B bar 5, Voc.: mp added by copyist bar 13, Cb.: “arco” added by copyist bar 16, Bsn. 1+2: dotted crotchet at end of bar added by copyist bar 17, voc: mf added by copyist bar 19, Vc: last quaver changed to “a” after source B

bar 20, Cb: dotted crotchet at end of bar added by copyist bars 21-23, voc: Dynamic added by copyist bar 28, Mand.: p added by copyist bar 28, Voc.: mp added by copyist bar 32: rehearsal number 2 corrected to 3 by copyist bar 34: Voc.: mf added by copyist bar 35: Voc.: “cresc.” added by copyist bar 37, Hp.: 6th quaver changed according to source B bar 38: rehearsal number 3 corrected to 4 by the copyist bar 38: Voc.: mp added by the copyist bar 39, Mand.: tacet “al Fine” added by the copyist bars 38-43, Vl. II: triplet figures added by the copyist bars 38-45, Vc: triplet figures added by copyist bars 44-45, Vla: triplet figures added by copyist bar 46, Cl. 1+2: p added by copyist bar 47, Voc.: “cresc.” added by copyist bar 48: rehearsal number 3 corrected to 5 by copyist bar 50, Hn. 1+2: “To Hn. in Eb” added by copyist bars 50-54, Hp.: triplet figures added by copyist bars 51-55, Cel.: triplet figures added by copyist bar 59, Vc.: “arco” added by copyist

Harp

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)

Tempo di Barcarola

Flute 1

Flute 2

Clarinet 1 [in A]

Clarinet 2 [in A]

Bassoon 1

Bassoon 2

Horn 1 in F

Horn 2 in F Celesta

Tempo di Barcarola

Venedig

Julius

Bürger

(1897–1995)

AufderBrücke stand

Fl. 1

Fl. 2

Cl. 1 [A]

Cl. 2 [A]

Bsn. 1

Bsn. 2

Hn. 1 [F]

Hn. 2 [F]

Hp. Voice

Fl. 1 Fl. 2

Cl. 1 [A]

Cl. 2 [A]

Bsn. 1

Bsn. 2

Hn. 1 [F]

Hn. 2 [F] Mand. Hp. Voice

ner Tropfen quoll’s

über diezit tern de Flä che weg.

[A]

2 [A]

Bsn. 1

Bsn. 2

Hn. 1 [F] Hn. 2 [F] Mand.

Hn. 1 [F]

2 [F]

Gondel lied dazu, zitternd vorbunter

Se lig keit.

Hörte Jemand ihrzu?

Fl. 2

Cl. 1 [A]

2 [A]

Bsn. 1

Hn. 1 [F]

2 [F]