Friedrich von Flotow- Piano Concerto No.1 in C minor/ Piano Concerto No. 2 in A minor (1831)

Friedrich von Flotow

(27 April 1812 – 24 January 1883)

was a German composer. He is chiefly remembered for his opera Martha, which was popular

in the 19th century and the early part of the 20th.

 Piano Concerto No.1 in C minor

First Piano Concerto runs to only 14 minutes. It has a chivalric Allegro, a bejewelled Adagio recalling Chopin and Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto and a bobbing and gallant Rondeau with heroic cross-currents. Schumann and Bellini can be discerned among these pages.”(review by Rob Barnett)

Carl Petersson (piano), Pilsen Philharmonic Orchestra, Hans Peter Wiesheu (conductor)
1. Allegro risoluto – Animato – 00:00
2. Adagio – 06:07

3. Rondeau: Allegretto grazioso - con fuoco – 11:04

 Piano Concerto No. 2 in A minor (1831)

Pianist : Carl Petersson
Dir : Hans Peter Wieshev
Pilsen Philharmonic

1- Andantino -- Allegro -- Marziale più mosso (5.32)
2- Scherzo -- Vivace e leggieramente (2.52)
3- Adagio (5.56)
4- Rondo -- Allegretto -- Scherzando -- Maestoso -- Tempo I (3.36)

Life

Born in Teutendorf, in Mecklenburg, into an aristocratic family, Flotow was French-trained. He studied at the Conservatoire de Paris and during this time came under the influence of Auber, Rossini, Meyerbeer, Donizetti, Halévy, and later Gounod and Offenbach. These influences are reflected in his operas, where a distinctive French opéra comique flavour exists.

He completed his first opera in 1835, Pierre et Cathérine, but his breakthrough came with Le naufrage de la Méduse (1839), based on the wreck of the warship Méduse. The three-act romantic opera Alessandro Stradella of 1844 is recognized as one of Flotow's finer works. Martha was first staged in Vienna at the Theater am Kärntnertor on 25 November 1847, and soon became one of the best-loved of all operas.

Between 1856 and 1863 Flotow served as Intendant of the court theatre at Schwerin. For most of his last years he lived in either Paris or Vienna,^[1] and he had the satisfaction of seeing his operas mounted as far away as Saint Petersburg and Turin. He died in Darmstadt

.

Grave of Friedrich von Flotow in the "Alter Friedhof" (old cemetery) in Darmstadt, Germany.

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