I didn’t know anything about Johann Nepomuk Hummel until my Dentist mentioned him the other day. My dentist is a Classical Music buff and I’d given him a 2 volume CD Set titled: In the Dentist Chair:
(It was all the music I thought folks might like to hear midst the trauma of drilling and vacuuming spit!)
As a result I’ve been on a Hummel Hunt.
At first it was like listening to a student of Mozart (as he was!) – but the more I listened and researched, the more I realised he was an accomplished and important composer in his own right. He’s one of those who went out of fashion shortly after they died, and are making a “Comeback” as I type.
The Great composers he actually ‘hung out’ with, and/or influenced by teaching them is amazing. Then if you add the composers who taught or influenced him … you come up with a Who’s Who of the “Classical to Romantic Bridge Period.”
Beethoven, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Haydn, Czerny, Liszt, Schumann, Schubert and the list goes on.
Here’s to a Hummel comeback! Next time you hear of a Hummel concert in your area – GO!
Later – P.S. – just found this on a music site: Historians tell us that pianist and composer Johann Nepomuk Hummel was spoken of in the same breath as Mozart and Beethoven in 1820 — but not for long…
Hummel piano-concerto-no-2-allegro-moderato
Theme and variations introduction Allegro
Bassoon-concerto-romanza-andantino-e-cantbile