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Working on notes for this CD project I realized that the dates given in IMSLP for B. Ed. Müller can’t possibly be correct. Their Müller lived from 1824-1883 and was a music director and composer in Meiningen. But the works I recorded were published well after his death and don’t fit with what I would think of being from the pen of someone of his generation, not to mention the very specific dedications as well. I have recorded the following of his works:
- Melancholie, Op. 68, dedicated to “Herrn B. Hoyer, Königl. Bayr. Kammervirtuos, Professor am Konservatorium in München.” Copyright 1906
- Wiegenlied, Op. 69, No. 1, dedicated to “Seinem lieben Freunde und Collegen Herrn Arno Rudolph, erster Hornist der Theater und Gewandhauskapelle in Leipzig.” Copyright 1906
- Am Abend, Op. 71, dedicated to “Seinem lieben Freunde F. Rost, Kammermusiker und Lehrer am Großherzoglichen Conservatorium in Weimar.” Copyright 1910
- Nocturno, Op. 73. Copyright 1910
I highly recommend these pieces, by the way, and they all are on IMSLP. If you are at all familiar with his etudes, Op. 64, these works are nothing at all like them. The brief Nocturno is haunting and dark, Am Abend is like a miniature tone poem, very tuneful, I love these pieces. They will be featured on the CD.
What is especially striking is they are totally idiomatic for the F horn and for a second horn player in particular; this fits perfectly with the scant biographical data I did find on the real B. Ed. Müller. In Pizka, Hornisten-Lexikon there is a listing for Bernhard Eduard Müller, born on June 2, 1842, and listed as being second hornist in the Gewandhaus Orchestra. There is no death date given, but we can presume he was still alive in the early years of the 20th century when these works were published.
The cover of Melancholie offers this info as well, that he was a member of the “Theater – und Gewandhaus – Capelle in Leipzig.” If any readers have leads on more information, especially his death dates, I would love to hear from you.
Looping back to his etudes briefly, the old Sansone edition (taken over by Southern) gives his name as B. Eduard Müller, and the probably more familiar International/Chambers edition gives his name as B. E. Mueller. I am trying to practice them a bit now and while good, challenging etudes, again his works for horn and piano are nothing at all like the etudes! These are very attractive pieces of music and I look forward to presenting them to the horn world in their first recorded versions soon.
Very soon I will be in the studio editing the takes, more on the project as it progresses forward further.
UPDATE: See the comments, he was second hornist of the Gewandhaus orchestra from 1876-1920 according to the bio at http://www.french-horn.net/index.php/biographien/90-bernhard-eduard-mueller.html. And, thanks to this article getting the ball rolling, the dates for the horn playing Müller have been updated on IMSLP.
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