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Charles Martin Loeffler (1861-1935) was one of the most respected composers
in the United States at the time of his death. Born and educated in Europe,
Loeffler moved to the United States at age 20 (1881), eventually settling in
Boston. He was originally trained as a violinist and had a distinguished
career as an orchestral musician, serving as assistant concertmaster with
the Boston Symphony Orchestra for twenty-one seasons. Loeffler began
composing seriously in the mid-1880s, and after his retirement from the BSO
in 1903 divided his time between composition, teaching violin, and
overseeing his farm in Medfield, Massachusetts. His early music has strong
French Impressionistic qualities infused with Irish, Spanish and medieval
Russian elements, while his later works reveal the influence of indigenous
American styles including Jazz and Folk. His more famous compositions
include the Two Rhapsodies for oboe, viola and piano, and Evocations for
orchestra, commissioned by the Cleveland Orchestra.
The Ballade Carnavalesque, for flute, oboe, alto saxophone, bassoon and
piano is an expansive, 14 minute multi-section work played without pause.
Written in 1903 for Ms. Elise Hall (for whom Loeffler also wrote his
Divertissement Espagnol in 1901) the Ballade was given its first and perhaps
only performance on January 25, 1904 at the Longy Club in Boston. The work
is of considerable interest to saxophonists, for not only is the Ballade
related to the harmonic and melodic vocabulary of the Two Rhapsodies, it is
one of the earliest chamber works in which the saxophone is fully
incorporated into the texture of an ensemble. It is not clear what Loeffler
thought of the Ballade Carnavalesque. Although some themes were used years
later in Loeffler's orchestral work A Pagan Poem, the Ballade was never
published nor is there a record of a second performance. The manuscript was
lost for some 75 years until I discovered a copy of the holograph score in
the uncataloged stacks of the Library of Congress. Special permission was
granted by the Library, and I re-premiered the work in 1978. It has since
become a staple of my chamber music repertoire.
To the Fore Publishers is proud to offer this work as part of its
Historical Composers Series. In preparation for this edition, two extant
holographs of the work from the Library of Congress and the New England
Conservatory of Music were examined and compared. Inconsistencies, errors,
changes, overwritten manuscript and inserted music were compared and
evaluated resulting in a version that is true to Loeffler's intentions. I am
indebted to Prof. James Howsman, of the Oberlin College Conservatory for his
invaluable help in resolving many issues with the piano score. His unerring
eye and ear solved many questionable notes and ambiguities, and the clarity
and consisitency of the score are largely due to his input. I am also
grateful to members of the Ohio Chamber Orchestra, whose meticulous
preparation and invigorating performance helped shape the wind parts into
their current form.
Paul Cohen
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