Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Ravel: A Listener’s Guide
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE:
CITY: New York
STATE: NY
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
http://www.bloomsbury.com/author/victor-lederer * https://www.facebook.com/victor.lederer * http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/5131824/Bachs-St-Matthew-Passion-by-Victor-Lederer-Review.html
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: n 2004148128
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/n2004148128
HEADING: Lederer, Victor
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100 1_ |a Lederer, Victor
670 __ |a Lederer, Victor. College Point, c2004: |b t.p. (Victor Lederer)
670 __ |a Lederer, V. Chopin, 2006: |b t.p. (Victor Lederer) p. 4 of cover (Victor Lederer; New York-based critical writer on music and other cultural issues)
670 __ |a Books.MusicaBona.com, WWW site, March 7, 2007 |b (Victor Lederer; New York native and resident; compiled this volume [i.e. Williamsburg] with the cooperation of the Brooklyn Historical Society; author of College Point [and Chopin], he has also written about New York’s history for the Museum of the City of New York …)
953 __ |a lh03
PERSONAL
Male.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, music critic.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Victor Lederer is a New York-based writer on music and urban history. Among his published works are College Point, Chopin: A Listener’s Guide to the Master of the Piano, Debussy: The Quiet Revolutionary, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion: A Closer Look, and Ravel: A Listener’s Guide.
College Point
Lederer’s first book, College Point, created with the Poppenhusen Institute and published by Arcadia Publishing in 2004, offers a historical perspective on this working-class neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. Lederer takes readers back to its beginnings, developed on land sold by the Matinecock tribe to English and Dutch settlers. Its name derived from a seminary founded by an Episcopal minister, William Augustus Muhlenberg. Lederer blends a photographic selection of the area from the early days of settlement to the twentieth century. There are images of businesses, beer gardens, Cub Scouts, Fourth of July parades, the police at work, and a blacksmith at work, among a plethora of others. These are gathered in seven chapters: “The Early Days,” “Homes, Schools, and Churches,” “Factories and Businesses,” “Beer Gardens and Other Recreations,” “College Point Life,” “Serving the Community,” and “The Poppenhusen Institute.” That institute was named after Conrad Poppenhusen, industrialist and benefactor to the neighborhood where he lived and worked.
A Queen’s Gazette reviewer felt that College Point is “well researched and written in a style that makes the history it describes come alive.” The reviewer added: “Lederer has an unfortunate tendency toward editorializing in some of his captions, but with that minor caveat aside, readers, especially those interested in Queens history, will find College Point a valuable addition to their collections.” In an interview with TimesLedger.com contributor Cynthia Koons, Lederer remarked: “[College Point] was separate and it still is, it’s not easy to get there, it’s still isolated by the marshes and that old airport that’s there. … It’s one of the rare parts of New York where you can sense what it was. … I was very, very lucky. I didn’t realize when I started how interesting a project it would be.” Lederer has also written Williamsburg, a history and visual representation of that well-known Brooklyn neighborhood, written with the assistance of the Brooklyn Historical Society.
Chopin and Debussy
Lederer has gone on to write a number of musical appreciation books on the works of famous composers. In Chopin, he focuses on a man who many regards and the greatest keyboard composer. Though revered in his own time, Chopin has become famous for the difficult works little played in his own lifetime–the scherzos, polonaises, sonatas, and mazurkas. Lederer looks at Chopin’s life and works, noting how he managed to combine the folk music of his native Poland with the more complex melodic structures of Italian opera. The book also contains a CD with fifteen works. A California Bookwatch contributor felt that Lederer’s “descriptions of [Chopin’s] works, styles, and diversity … provide newcomers with a most accessible way of understanding Chopin’s music.” Writing in the American Music Teacher, Lisa Zdechlik also had praise, noting: “Lederer presents an imaginative, colorful and guided exploration into the piano works of Frédéric Chopin. The book is an easy read, directed more towards the avid amateur pianist and music lover than the professional or academic musician.” Zdechlik added: “In his discussions, Lederer creates an intricate contextual network that links Chopin’s style to those of other composers and compositions.”
Lederer provides a similar service for French impressionist composer Claude Debussy in his 2007 work, Debussy. The author provides the inspiration for Debussy’s music, examines it styles and refinements, focuses on its expressive nature, and also offers an overview of the composer’s life, all accompanied by a full-length CD of Debussy’s music. “Concertgoers with little or no classical music background will appreciate his journalistic style,” commented Library Journal reviewer Brad Eden. Similarly, a California Bookwatch reviewer observed: “[Lederer’s] approach is perfect for any newcomer to Debussy and is especially recommended for middle to high school students receiving a strong introduction on Debussy’s art and achievement.” Writing in Fanfare: The Magazine for Serious Record Collectors, Steven Ritter had a more varied review of Debussy, noting: “Suffice it to say that this book is more helpful for those coming to Debussy for the first time, not the advanced listener. Despite the plethora of excellent commentary, and unless you happen to enjoy writing that describes music in great detail, I fear this book will have limited appeal for most Fanfare readers.”
Bach's St. Matthew Passion and Ravel
Lederer provides a narrower musical focus in his 2008 work, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, which is drawn from the Gospel of St Matthew. First performed in 1727, this monumental work was composed while Bach was the cantor at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig and fully engaged in other composition and teaching duties. Lederer notes how the complexity of the this piece can offer difficulties for the listener, and offers insights to the music, including the inspiration Back took from opera as well as explication of the major personae involved in this musical drama, including the Evangelist, Peter, Judas, and Jesus. Lederer also provides a performance history of the work in this “this extremely readable book ,” according to Musical Opinion reviewer Denby Richards, who further commented: “I thoroughly recommend anybody to whom the St. Matthew Passion is a problem to [buy] this beautifully common sense book.” A London Telegraph Online reviewer also had a high assessment of the book, noting that it “not only puts the music in historical and theological context; it also draws your attention to crucial but easy-to-miss details in the score.” The reviewer added: “One of this book’s many virtues is that it unfolds at roughly the same pace as the St Matthew Passion itself. I read it in tandem with Paul McCreesh’s superlative recording with the Gabrieli players. It was as if I was hearing the music for the first time.”
Lederer unpacks the music of Maurice Ravel in his 2015 book, Ravel, an overview of both the composers life and work. Lederer examines the complex number of influences on the work, from Spanish melodies to Javanese and Malaysian inspirations. The accompanying CD contains nine tracks of the composer’s music. Writing in her blog, Christina Schreil praised “Lederer’s eloquent, sharp, and thorough analysis,” in this study.
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
American Music Teacher, June-July, 2007, Lisa Zdechlik, review of Chopin: A Listeners’s Guide to the Master of the Piano, p. 89.
California Bookwatch, February, 2007, review of Chopin; August, 2007, review of Debussy: The Quiet Revolutionary.
Fanfare: The Magazine for Serious Record Collectors, May-June, 2008, Steven Ritter, review of Debussy.
Library Journal, March 15, 2007, Brad Eden, review of Debussy, p. 75.
Musical Opinion, March-April, 2009, Denby Richards, review of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion.
ONLINE
Christina Schreil Blog, http://www.cristinaschreil.com/ (January 11, 2016), Christina Schreil, review of Ravel: A Listener’s Guide.
Queen’s Gazette, http://www.qgazette.com/ (September 16, 2004), review of College Point.
Telegraph Online, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ (April 10, 2009), review of Bach’s St Matthew Passion.
TimesLedger.com, http://www.timesledger.com/ (July 15, 2004), Cynthia Koons, review of College Point.*
Victor Lederer is a New York-based critical writer on music and other cultural issues. He is the author of Chopin: A Listener's Guide to the Master of the Piano in the Unlocking the Masters series from Amadeus Press. He has also published books on Debussy and Williamsburg.
Writes: Classical Music
Author of : Bach's St. Matthew Passion
QUOTE:
Concertgoers with little or no classical music background will appreciate his journalistic style,"
Lederer, Victor. Debussy: The Quiet
Revolutionary
Brad Eden
Library Journal.
132.5 (Mar. 15, 2007): p75.
COPYRIGHT 2007 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution
permitted.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
Lederer, Victor. Debussy: The Quiet Revolutionary. Amadeus: Hal Leonard. (Unlocking the Masters, No. 13). Apr.
2007. c.224p, bibliog. ISBN 978-157467-153-7. pap. $22.95 with audio CD. MUSIC
Lederer here offers another entry in the "Unlocking the Masters" series (see also his Chopin: A Listener's Guide to the
Master of the Piano), this time guiding listeners through the music of Claude Debussy (1862-1918). Debussy is
considered the father of the impressionist movement, and his style can be characterized by the use of woodwinds,
parallel sixths, and the concept of providing the listener with a "feeling" more than anything. Lederer provides a short
biography of the composer, followed by listener's notes for select Debussy songs, chamber works, and orchestral and
opera compositions. The author explains Debussy's significance to early 20th-century music in the last chapter.
Concertgoers with little or no classical music background will appreciate his journalistic style; more learned listeners
will be left wanting more meat. Recommended for larger classical music collections in public libraries. (CD not
available for review.)--Brad Eden, Univ. of California Lib., Santa Barbara
Eden, Brad
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Eden, Brad. "Lederer, Victor. Debussy: The Quiet Revolutionary." Library Journal, 15 Mar. 2007, p. 75. General
OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA161395564&it=r&asid=8ab588b6d3d5cef951731101ccf7b070.
Accessed 5 Aug. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A161395564
---
"[Lederer's] approach is perfect for any
newcomer to Debussy and is especially recommended for middle to high school students receiving a strong introduction on Debussy's art and achievement
8/5/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
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Debussy: The Quiet Revolutionary
California Bookwatch.
(Aug. 2007):
COPYRIGHT 2007 Midwest Book Review
http://www.midwestbookreview.com
Full Text:
Debussy: The Quiet Revolutionary
Victor Lederer
Amadeus Press/Limelight Editions
c/o Hal Leonard Corporation
777 West Bluemound Road, Milwaukee, WI 53213
1574671537, $22.95 www.amadeuspress.com www.halleonard.com 1-800-637-2852
Debussy's music ranks among the most challenging: his influence on other composers makes it essential to understand
his approach, but typically music students find such analysis a daunting proposition. Not so Debussy: The Quiet
Revolutionary, which pairs a cd of music with an analysis of the subtleties of his works and analyzing Debussy's
approach and contributions. The author is a New York critic on music and culture: his approach is perfect for any
newcomer to Debussy and is especially recommended for middle to high school students receiving a strong
introduction on Debussy's art and achievement.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Debussy: The Quiet Revolutionary." California Bookwatch, Aug. 2007. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA167431801&it=r&asid=0d737281f4568ddd0947efc8df6763fc.
Accessed 5 Aug. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A167431801
---
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Chopin: A Listener's Guide to The Master of the
Piano
California Bookwatch.
(Feb. 2007):
COPYRIGHT 2007 Midwest Book Review
http://www.midwestbookreview.com
Full Text:
Chopin: A Listener's Guide to The Master of the Piano
Victor Lederer
Amadeus Press
c/o Limelight Editions
512 Newark Pompton Turnpike, Pompton Plains, NJ 07444
1574671480 $22.95 www.amadeuspress.com
Pair a full-length classical cd from the classical music publisher Naxos with a book surveying Chopin's biography and
influences and you have the perfect introduction to Chopin--and a pick recommended not just for public library
holdings, but for schools seeking to introduce students to Chopin. Descriptions of his works, styles, and diversity come
from a New York-based critical music writer whose addition to the 'Unlocking the Masters' series provides newcomers
with a most accessible way of understanding Chopin's music.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Chopin: A Listener's Guide to The Master of the Piano." California Bookwatch, Feb. 2007. General OneFile,
go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA159331342&it=r&asid=449c681d6fa62b56dfebb3c82d31b675.
Accessed 5 Aug. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A159331342
QUOTE:
I thoroughly recommend anybody to whom the St. Matthew Passion is a problem to [buy] this beautifully common sense book
Musical Opinion
March/April 2009
p39
MAGNUM OPUS SERIES
Bach’s St. Matthew Passion
By: Victor Lederer
The Continuum International Publishing
Group Ltd
ISBN: 9780826429407 144pp £9.99
I
must admit to delighting in the 129 pages of
this extremely readable book whose title
could all too easily prepare the reader for a
learned tone.
Early in my career as a music critic, in the
late 1940’s, I was sent to the Royal Albert Hall
to sit through Bach’s seemingly interminable
St Matthew Passion. I had been told it was his
masterpiece and that it had been virtually lost
after Bach’s death in 1750 and re-discovered in
a tale of musical detection followed by its
resurrection under Mendelssohn in Berlin in
1829. I was certainly eagerly looking forward
to hearing this mighty work which in those
days began in the morning and finished later
in the day. But I was bored without knowing
why.
Over the years I have continued to try to
understand what was the matter with me and
it is only recently that a performance on Radio
3 brought me into close contact with what I
am happy to declare a true Meisterwerk.
Now this book tells me exactly what was
wrong and how both Bach and I were conned
by the all too many so called experts who
failed to open the right doors and take the
music away from the erudition.
I thoroughly recommend anybody to
whom the St. Matthew Passion is a problem to
spend £9.99 on this beautifully common sense
book.
Incidentally, the latest issue in Continuum
International Publishing Group Ltd Magnum
Opus Series is devoted to Beethoven’s Fifth and
Seventh Symphonies, Handel’s Messiah, and Brahms’
Symphonies. DENBY RICHARDS
QUOTE:
Suffice it to say that this book is more helpful for those coming to Debussy for the first time, not the advanced listener. Despite the plethora of excellent commentary, and unless you happen to enjoy writing that describes music in great detail, I fear this book will have limited appeal for most Fanfare readers.
Ritter, Steven. Fanfare: The Magazine for Serious Record Collectors. May/Jun2008, Vol. 31 Issue 5, p402-403. 2p
DEBUSSY: The Quiet Revolutionary. By Victor Lederer. New York, NY: Amadeus Press, 2007. 148
pp. Paperback. 1 CD. $22.95
This book is part of the series “Unlocking the Masters,” and is my first exposure to this collection,
though Alan Swanson recently reviewed Tchaikovsky: A Listener’s Guide in Fanfare 31:1.
Victor Lederer is a fine writer, whose descriptions are concise and colorful, though I must admit that
after finishing this work I am a little confused as to who the audience is.
In fairness, I must admit to my own prejudices in music writing, and one of those is that in my
view it is always a waste of time to “describe” music at all, except by way of analogy, at least for
seasoned listeners. If we say that “his work features powerful, block-choral brass sections that bring
to mind Bruckner’s Symphony 4,” we get an idea of what the music might be about. If we say “the
brass enters in a solemn manner, marching drum-like in its harmonic chordal passages, while the
upper strings skate along the top with a melody that alternately jigs and jags its way through the
chaotic musical battlefield,” well what exactly does that mean? For every individual mind reading
the second passage, you will get as many mental images of the music. Granted, saying that the music
sounds like Bruckner doesn’t give one a play-by-play of the work in question, but it certainly gives
an analogy that will be understood by anyone that knows Bruckner’s music.
Having said all of this, my reasoning is such because most of this book indulges in exactly this
kind of descriptive rhetoric. As I said, much of it is colorful and engaging as far as the language itself
goes, but I am not sure how much good it will do others wishing to acquaint themselves with
Debussy. Some people respond to this sort of writing, and others do not, and for those already well
familiar with the music, some of the descriptions are superfluous. For those works that are present
on the accompanying CD, which has very good excerpts from the DG catalog by Abbado, Boulez,
Michelangeli, et al., Lederer is kind enough to give track cues along with his descriptions, but for
the most part—and he covers a lot of Debussy’s music in this manner, even going through all of the
piano preludes one by one—we are given these kinds of blurbs without any tie-ins to the actual
music. After a while I felt as though I was reading a succession of CD liner notes, one after the other,
and it became quite tiresome.
If this is for the novice Debussian, I would suggest simply putting on the music and listening,
402 Fanfare May/June 2008
MayJun08 31.5 3/13/08 6:40 PM Page 402
then hearkening back to this book if one wishes to get another verbal viewpoint, though I cannot
imagine that it would help much, unless one is a school student looking for good reference material
for a report. For the established listener, this book does little to unlock the “Quiet Revolutionary” that
the title suggests, never venturing into the deeper terrain that is needed to examine the “why” of such
a claim. There are no musical examples or analyses present in the book, which leads me to conclude
that the intended audience is a novice one. And there are very few recommended recordings given,
though many of the ones that are mentioned are older (albeit great) readings in mono. For a first-time
listener, I would be more inclined to recommend great sounding readings first, and delve into the subtleties
of interpretation later, as Debussy is best heard in superior sound for a listener new to his music.
Lederer is best when he talks about the historical circumstances surrounding much of the music,
and Debussy’s own influences according to the time and cultural period he lived in. He is also quite
right to speak of the various influences and stories behind many of these works, along with the public
and critical comments made at the time. He has his prejudices also, as we all do; Pelléas et
Mélisande garners rapturous attention and praise, one of the best chapters in the book, and one of
the best descriptions of the opera I have ever read, though I cannot concur that this opera is one of
the truly great as he seems to suggest. He also tends to favor the piano works over the orchestral
ones, and is certainly not alone, as many others have said similar things, but I feel that the orchestral
music gets short shrift, and La mer in particular, for though it is acknowledged as the greatest
orchestral piece, we are not given excerpts from it, but only from the Faune instead.
There are a few rather strange sentences and comments found in this book that I am not sure
the author intended, and should have been caught. For instance, when speaking of the change of contrast
in the preludes with the appearance of “Girl with the Flaxen Hair,” he says, “In their place, he
offers calm lyricism and genuine warmth that is rare in music of this quality.” (Page 98.) Surely he
doesn’t mean to suggest that music of “quality” lacks lyricism and warmth!
Suffice it to say that this book is more helpful for those coming to Debussy for the first time,
not the advanced listener. Despite the plethora of excellent commentary, and unless you happen to
enjoy writing that describes music in great detail, I fear this book will have limited appeal for most
Fanfare readers. Steven Ritter
Zdechlik, Lisa. American Music Teacher. Jun/Jul2007, Vol. 56 Issue 6, p89-93. 2p. 1 Color Photograph.
Chopin, a Listener’s Guide to the
Master of the Piano, w/2 CDs, by
Victor Lederer. Amadeus Press,
(www.amadeuspress.com; 1(800) 637-
2852), 2006. 146 pp. $22.95.
In Chopin, a Listener’s Guide to the
Master of the Piano, Victor Lederer
presents an imaginative, colorful and
guided exploration into the piano
works of Frédéric Chopin. The book is
an easy read, directed more towards
the avid amateur pianist and music
lover than the professional or academic
musician.
The first chapter provides a synopsis
of Chopin’s life and the historical,
social and political backdrop against
which he developed as a pianist and
composer. The final chapter relates to
Chopin’s significance as a composer.
Intervening chapters are each devoted
to a genre in which Chopin
composed—the mazurka,
polonaise, nocturne
and ballade, to name a
few. In these chapters,
Lederer first sets the
stage by discussing the
genre’s essence and then
provides detailed analyses
of individual pieces to
enhance the reader’s
understanding of
Chopin’s pianistic writing
and compositional
style. A CD of selected
pieces by Chopin is
included from Idel Biret’s recordings of
the complete piano music of Chopin
on the Naxos label. For each selection,
Lederer provides an in-depth analysis
that includes the time code from the
CD so that the reader is able to reference
the analysis while listening. This
added touch makes for an enjoyable
interactive reading and listening experience
of Chopin’s piano works.
In his discussions, Lederer creates an
intricate contextual network that links
Chopin’s style to those of other composers
and compositions. For example:
in the author’s discussion
of Chopin’s waltzes, the
reader learns of the
Polish, Parisian and
Viennese elements as
well as the influence of
Carl Maria von Weber’s
Invitation to the Dance.
Lederer flows with ease
from one topic to the
next, always linking his
discussion back to the
music itself and what to
listen for.
Teachers and pianists
at many levels can benefit from
Lederer’s imaginative depictions of
Chopin’s music. These descriptions
provide teachers with ideas to help students
develop an interpretation and a
dramatic sense of Chopin’s piano
works. Lederer, himself a pianist,
acknowledges that through his own
study of music he has “learned the
wide gulf between listening passively—
no matter how closely and lovingly—
and hearing music as a practicing
musician.” By providing an active listening
experience of Chopin’s piano
works, Lederer’s book is definitely successful
in helping the reader bridge this
gap. ––Reviewed by Lisa Zdechlik,
Tucson, Arizona
QUOTE:
not only puts the music in historical and theological context; it also draws your attention to crucial but easy-to-miss details in the score
One of this book’s many virtues is that it unfolds at roughly the same pace as the St Matthew Passion itself. I read it in tandem with Paul McCreesh’s superlative recording with the Gabrieli players. It was as if I was hearing the music for the first time.
Bach’s St Matthew Passion by Victor Lederer: Review
JS Bach’s St Matthew Passion is a three-hour musical portrayal of Christ’s suffering that can be an ordeal but, with guidance, a magnificent one says Damian Thompson
Damian Thompson6:00AM BST 10 Apr 2009
Bach’s St Matthew Passion is the ultimate depiction of the torture and (attempted) murder of Jesus Christ: the most beautiful, the most harrowing and the most innovative. And, if you are unlucky enough to get trapped in a bad performance, the most boring. Unlike Handel’s Messiah, it doesn’t provide amateur singers with bouncy tunes suited to wobbly voices. Even Bach’s earlier St John Passion is action-packed compared to the St Matthew, in which the Gospel narrative is constantly interrupted by soloists meditating on Jesus’s suffering, often at extraordinary length.
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Velasquez's Christ on the Cross, c1630
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Soloists dread this piece. In some arias, the vocal line shoots up and down like a heart monitor. The role of the Evangelist requires a tenor who can slide and twist his voice around sadistic ornaments while still being able to float boyishly to the top of his register. No wonder world-class Evangelists are as rare as Wagnerian Heldentenors.
The St Matthew Passion is gory, too: even more than the Gospel itself. The non-biblical sections of the libretto, by Christian Friedrich Henrici, writing under the nom de plume Picander, are gruesome and guilt-ridden. There are references to blood, tears, weeping, distress or mourning on every page. Until Mel Gibson’s terrible film, this was the most graphic reconstruction of the Passion.
“Oh head, bloody and wounded, full of pain and scorn,” begins the famous Passion chorale, set to the most desolate of all hymn tunes, “Herzlich tut mich verlangen”. When Jesus is scourged, Bach writes a lashing figure for the violins and violas that depicts the blows of the whips. In other places, the patter of quavers represents drops of blood and tears.
At today’s brisk tempos, the St Matthew Passion runs for two and three-quarter hours; under the baton of an old-school German maestro, it stretched to well over three. In 1736, when the congregation of St Thomas’s, Leipzig, heard the full version for the first time, the sermon in between the two halves and the prayers afterwards would have stretched the service to around four hours. Tough going, even in an era of long attention spans. One thing we will never know about Bach’s choir and orchestra is how good they were: he certainly bitched and moaned about them often enough. Given the limited rehearsal time, it’s possible that the experience of weekly Bach premieres wasn’t quite as thrilling as it sounds.
Despite its indisputable greatness, this immense musical diptych of Jesus’s ordeal can be an ordeal in itself – even when the performance is a fine one. It’s a bit like a Wagner opera: you’ve got to be in the mood and you have to do some work. Yes, you can stick the Passion on the CD player and let it wash over you, but the chances are that you won’t stay the course. The same goes for that other Good Friday masterpiece, Parsifal. These vast music dramas don’t unlock themselves: you need help. But, while there are plenty of short introductions to Wagner’s operas, no one has written a truly outstanding short book on the St Matthew Passion. Until now.
Victor Lederer’s 132-page guide, the first in Continuum’s Magnum Opus series, not only puts the music in historical and theological context; it also draws your attention to crucial but easy-to-miss details in the score.
One of the first things the book does is explain Pietism. This largely forgotten theological movement lies at the heart of Bach’s cantatas and Passions. Lederer compares it to the ecstatic Hasidic style of worship that swept the East European Jewish communities in the 18th century. The Protestant theology of Pietism was relatively orthodox but it drove the individual believer into self-absorbed, morbid reveries on the suffering of Christ that some Lutherans found distasteful.
Bach was far from being a prude: we know that he liked a glass, but it was news to me that he enjoyed dropping obscene lyrics into popular tunes at “well-lubricated family gatherings”. He was, however, a fervent Pietist: perhaps the hangovers added an extra twinge of guilt to his meditations.
Victor Lederer is also the author of a book on Debussy, which is oddly appropriate. Bach was in some ways the first musical impressionist. The score of the St Matthew Passion is covered in tiny sound paintings, some lasting no more than a bar or two. They are as essential to a proper appreciation of the work as leitmotifs are to the Ring cycle. The string whiplashes are one example; others include the rising violin figure we hear as Jesus lifts his arm to wake the disciples, and a silvery violin solo suggesting the jingle of Judas’s coins.
Like a true impressionist, Bach is an expert manipulator of atmosphere and mood. In the opening chorus of the Passion, the disconsolate E minor trudge of the faithful to Golgotha is transformed by a G major chorale melody for boy sopranos, which cuts through the dark, pulsing texture like a beam of light. The juxtaposition is a masterstroke – and, incredibly, an afterthought: Bach wove in the hymn tune only in a later version of the Passion.
Shortly before the final chorus, Henrici’s text conveys what Lederer calls “a changed world on the evening after the crucifixion”, tying Jesus’s sacrifice to the fall of Adam and the cleansing of the world by the Flood, signified by the dove with an olive branch. This is Pietism at its most convoluted, but Bach’s setting, writes Lederer, “is a masterpiece of smoky, almost cinematic atmosphere”. The first violins keep up a steady pattern of even notes, while the second violins move at half their speed; the continuo hardly moves at all. The overall effect is “grand, like a camera pulling back after a close-up”.
Some people think you shouldn’t read while listening to a piece of music: I used to know a critic who would sneer if you so much as glanced at the programme during a concert. What nonsense. One of this book’s many virtues is that it unfolds at roughly the same pace as the St Matthew Passion itself. I read it in tandem with Paul McCreesh’s superlative recording with the Gabrieli players. It was as if I was hearing the music for the first time.
Bach’s St Matthew Passion: a Closer Look
by Victor Lederer
132pp, Continuum, £9.99
T £9.99 (plus 99p p&p) 0844 871 1515 or go to Telegraph Books
Unraveling Ravel, one gorgeous work at a time
by Cristina Schreil. Originally published in Strings Magazine, Monday, January 11, 2016
Author Victor Lederer notes that the music of Maurice Ravel, while relatively small in number, is “wildly popular,” evoking grand waves of emotion in listeners. In Ravel: A Listener’s Guide, part of Amadeus Press’ “Unlocking the Masters” series, Lederer elucidates the complexity of Ravel’s influences. He shows the sprinkling of Javanese flavors, smoky Spanish melodies and inspiration from Malaysian poems. It’s an incisive read, suited for those who have heard the “Boléro” or the “Daphnis et Chloé”in passing, but have yet to probe deeper.
Chapters hover on key categories—Ravel’s piano music, concertos, chamber music, orchestral works, operas, and works for voice. Thus some works, such as the “Pavane pour une infante défunte,” explored in its initial composition for piano and when orchestrated, are surveyed more than once. This shows progression, but may confuse readers completely fresh to Ravel and wanting chronological guidance. At times, Lederer unfolds information as if readers have a working knowledge of the big names and movements of the time, but still defines such basic terms as cadenzas and chamber music.
Readers craving the deepest exploration may want to assemble their own playlist to further investigate what Lederer details. For instance, string players in particular may itch for the entire String Quartet in F major while savoring Lederer’s analysis, and it is a shame the accompanying nine-track CD only contains the second movement, while telling of Ravel’s sparkling and evocative language.
But grounding everything is Lederer’s eloquent, sharp, and thorough analysis. This suits the composer well.
QUOTE:
well researched and written in a style that makes the history it describes come alive
Lederer has an unfortunate tendency toward editorializing in some of his captions, but with that minor caveat aside, readers, especially those interested in Queens history, will find College Point a valuable addition to their collections
‘College Point’ Shows People Behind Neighborhood History
College Point , by Victor Lederer with the Poppenhusen Institute, Images of America series, Arcadia Publishing, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, $19.99.
The neighborhood known as College Point had its beginnings when the Matinecock tribe sold land to early Dutch and English settlers and acquired its name when in 1835 Rev. William Augustus Muhlenberg, an Episcopal minister from Flushing, founded a seminary on what is today MacNeil Park. The seminary was a short-lived phenomenon, disappearing by 1850, but the area, a peninsula cut off from the rest of the borough of Queens by marshland and with few access roads for most of the 19th century, still retains the name of College Point and keeps much of the feeling of a small town despite its proximity to the rest of New York City.
Victor Lederer, a freelance writer specializing in history and architecture for the Museum of the City of New York and for other publications, has, in collaboration with the Poppenhusen Institute, compiled a collection of photographs that show College Point from its early days to the mid 20th century. College Point , a recent addition to the Arcadia Publishing Images of America series, documents College Point’s history though vintage images of, as its chapter titles indicate, homes, schools and churches, factories and businesses and beer gardens and other recreational activities. “College Point Life” shows the high and low points of any year—Fourth of July celebrations, train stations where passengers stand waiting, Cub Scouts assembled for a group portrait before forming ranks for a parade and the aftermath of blizzards and hurricanes. The mundane is shown as well, in photos such as that of a blacksmith about to start work on a four-legged customer, and in a shot of a group of people whose costumes indicate their picture dates from the early 1900s, standing and seated on a porch engaged in conversation.
Lederer notes in “Serving the Community” that College Pointers have a longstanding drive to serve the community they call home—the town had three Medal of Honor winners who served in the Civil War, and six of the nine residents of College Point who died at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 were members of the New York City Fire Department. This chapter holds many a photograph of police, volunteer fire companies and soldiers about to march off to war as well as several of the College Point Volunteer Lifeguards, who made the waters off the area’s beautiful beaches safe for recreational swimmers—a great service to the community when one considers that tourism was one of the area’s most lucrative industries well into the 20th century.
A chapter is devoted to Conrad Poppenhusen, industrialist and benefactor to the neighborhood where both his mansion and factory stood. Poppenhusen saw the workers in his Enterprise Rubber Works as allies, not enemies, and besides paying them decently, built adequate, airy comfortable adequate housing for them, established a savings and loan company for their use and in 1876, chartered a train to take them to the Philadelphia Exposition celebrating America’s centennial. His most lasting contribution to the area, however, was the institute that bears his name and which still serves the College Point community. Visitors to the Institute have a penchant for posing in the two jail cells in the basement. Less notorious, but of greater importance is the fact that the Institute was the site of the first free kindergarten in the United States. Many of the Institute’s activities are depicted in the photographs, most of which come from the Institute’s collection, including early English language classes for the German- and Italian-speaking immigrants and a machine shop class for boys dating from the 1960s. Programs today focus on youth activities, drug education, music and theater performances, self-improvement workshops and local history.
The photograph on the front cover of College Point shows the group known as “Die Borse” (“the exchange”), owners and managers of College Point businesses at one of their regular Tuesday afternoon meetings in the conservatory at the home of Adolph Erbsloh, at which “the affairs of the village, the country and the world” were discussed. Like many of the photographs in the book, the listing of the names of the men in attendance is not complete, indicating how much of the area’s history has been unavoidably lost over time. However, College Point still provides a fascinating glimpse into a past that can seem very close and at the same time distant and radically different from the present day. Like all volumes in the Images of America series, it is well researched and written in a style that makes the history it describes come alive. Lederer has an unfortunate tendency toward editorializing in some of his captions, but with that minor caveat aside, readers, especially those interested in Queens history, will find College Point a valuable addition to their collections.
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"[College Point] was separate and it still is, it's not easy to get there, it's still isolated by the marshes and that old airport that's there. ... It's one of the rare parts of New York where you can sense what it was. ... I was very, very lucky. I didn't realize when I started how interesting a project it would be
Photo essay book features history of College Pt. nabe
By Cynthia Koons
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In this sepia photograph, the men are relics of the College Point of years gone by, a storied past that dates back to the time before the Matinecock tribe sold its property to European settlers.
Released last week, the trademark Images of America series, known for historic photo essay books of prominent neighborhoods throughout America, launched a book on Queens' very own College Point.
Author Victor Lederer, with the assistance of the Poppenhusen Institute and local historians, said he pieced together the story of College Point through photos that illustrate how much it has changed in the past 100 years.
"It was separate and it still is, it's not easy to get there, it's still isolated by the marshes and that old airport that's there," he said, when asked what he most admired about College Point. "It's got its own feeling and identity even though growth has begun to exert pressure."
The book begins with views of College Point's once unfettered coast. The neighborhood sits on a peninsula that runs along the East River and Flushing Bay.
At one time, it was a resort town where families came to visit their sons who lived in military academies there.
"It became home to a number of beer garden resorts and apparently around the turn of the 20th century, when people only had Sundays off ... Sundays in the summer in College Point the population doubled and even more with visitors," Lederer said. "They went there because it had this beautiful setting on the East River, they went there to drink beer, play baseball, play cards."
That development came after Conrad Poppenhusen brought his rubber factory to College Point in the mid-1800s. Poppenhusen was known for developing housing, banks, a train and the still-standing Poppenhusen Institute to College Point while he lived there.
During that time, College Point, a largely German immigrant community, had its own newspaper, the Freie Presse.
The resort attractions in College Point included places such as Max Zehden's Casino and Reisenburger's Cozy Corner Hotel on the ferry dock and loading terminal at the end of 14th Avenue.
Other forms of transportation in and around College Point included a railroad station at the eastern end of 18th Avenue that no longer exists.
Prohibition, which took effect in 1920, caused College Point's resort community to dissolve.
But there were still impressive houses that stood after the neighborhood passed its prime, including the Boker Mansion, where actors who worked in a Flushing film studio stayed in the 1920s.
Demolition on that house began earlier this year.
Susan Brustmann, director of the Poppenhusen Institute, said it was the destruction of houses like these that made Lederer's book that much more important for the community.
Lederer said it took him eight or nine months of work to write the text and compile the images for the book.
"I was very, very lucky. I didn't realize when I started how interesting a project it would be," Lederer said.
He credited much of his success to Brustmann.
"I've always been interested in history and New York history and I'm also very, very interested in urban photography," he said. "I think cities look good in black and white."
College Point in particular was a fitting neighborhood for a book of this sort, he said, because much of its history is still visible today.
"It's one of the rare parts of New York where you can sense what it was."
Reach reporter Cynthia Koons by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 141.
Posted 7:08 pm, October 10, 2011