Besides all this, Kreisler himself provided a strong clue to the correct authorship in the frontispiece of his published transcriptions. It read: “The original manuscripts used for these transcriptions are the private property of Mr. Fritz Kreisler and are now published for the first time; they are, moreover, so freely treated that they constitute, in fact, original works.”
The furor and commotion caused by the uncovering of this fraud has long since died down. It has had no visible effect on Kreisler’s immense popularity either as a violinist or composer. Since then, all this music has been published and performed as Kreisler’s without losing any of its worldwide appeal.
Among the compositions by Kreisler which he originally ascribed to other masters in imitation of their styles were: Andantino (Martini); Aubade provençale (Couperin); Chanson Louis XIII et Pavane (Couperin); Minuet (Porpora); Praeludium and Allegro (Pugnani); La Précieuse (Couperin); Scherzo (Dittersdorf), Sicilienne et Rigaudon (Francoeur); Tempo di minuetto (Pugnani).
Perhaps the best loved pieces by Kreisler are those in the style of Viennese folk songs and dances in which are caught all the grace and Gemuetlichkeit of Viennese life and backgrounds. Some he originally tried to pass off as the works of other composers, as was the case with the already-mentioned Liebesfreud, Liebesleid, and Schoen Rosmarin, attributed to Lanner. Some were outright transcriptions. The Old Refrain is an adaptation of a song “Du alter Stefanturm” by Joseph Brandl taken from his operetta, Der liebe Augustin, produced in Vienna in 1887. Still others were always offered as Kreisler’s own compositions and are completely original with him: Caprice Viennois, for example, and the Marche miniature viennoise.
Among other original Kreisler compositions which he always presented as his own are the following: La Gitana, which simulates an Arabian-Spanish song; Polichinelle, a serenade; Rondino, based on a theme of Beethoven; Shepherd’s Madrigal; Slavonic Fantasia, based on melodies of Dvořák; Tambourin Chinois; and Toy Soldiers’ March.
Édouard Lalo
Édouard Lalo was born in Lille, France, on January 27, 1823. After receiving his musical training at Conservatories in Lille and Paris, he became a member of the Armingaud-Jacquard Quartet, a renowned French chamber-music ensemble. In 1848-1849 he published some songs; in 1867 he received third prize in a national contest for his opera, Fiesque; and in 1872 he was acclaimed for his Divertimento, for orchestra, introduced in Paris. Two major works written for the noted Spanish violinist, Pablo de Sarasate, added considerably to his reputation: a violin concerto in 1872, and the celebrated Symphonic espagnole, for violin and orchestra, two years after that. One of his last major works was the opera, Le Roi d’Ys, introduced at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on May 7, 1888. In that same year he was made Officer of the Legion of Honor and sometime later he received the Prix Monbinne from the Académie des Beaux-Arts. In the last years of his life he was a victim of paralysis. He died in Paris on April 22, 1892.
A composer of the highest principles and aristocratic style, Lalo is essentially a composer for cultivated tastes. One of his works, however, makes for easy listening. It is the Norwegian Rhapsody (Rapsodie norvégienne), for orchestra (1875). There are two sections. The first begins slowly and sedately, its main melody appearing in the strings. Here the tempo soon quickens and a sprightly passage ensues. The second part of the rhapsody, ushered in by a stout theme for trumpets, is vigorous music throughout.
Josef Lanner
Josef Lanner, the first of the great waltz kings of Vienna, was born in the Austrian capital on April 12, 1801. When he was twelve he played the violin in the band of Michael Pamer, a popular Viennese composer of that day. In 1818 Lanner formed a trio which played in smaller cafés and at the Prater. In 1819 the trio grew into a quartet with the addition of the older Johann Strauss (father of the composer of The Blue Danube), then only fifteen years old. Soon afterwards, the quartet was expanded into a quintet. By 1824, Lanner’s ensemble was a full-sized orchestra popular throughout Vienna, heard in such famous café houses as the Goldenen Rebbuhn, and the Gruenen Jager, as well as at leading balls and other gala social events in Vienna. The call for Lanner’s music was so insistent that to meet the demand it soon became necessary to create two orchestras; one led by Lanner, and the other by the elder Strauss. Lanner remained an idol of Vienna until his death, which took place in Oberdoebling, near Vienna, on April 14, 1843.