Pre-order the New Vogler Album

I am pleased to announce that the new Vogler album is now available to preorder. The official release date of the album on CD and streaming platforms is 18 April 2025.

In connection with the Carl Theodor Jubilee Year in 2024, I am proud to announce a new project: an album of never-before-recorded solo keyboard music by the composer, Georg Joseph Vogler (1749–1814), an important Kapellmeister in Carl Theodor’s courts. A prominent figure within the Mannheim School, Georg Joseph Vogler stood out as an innovative composer, music theorist, influential teacher, and accomplished keyboard performer (organ, harpsichord, fortepiano, clavichord) in his era. Seemingly, Mozart was jealous of Vogler’s success, and due to Mozart’s disdain for him documented in his letters, Vogler's reputation suffered posthumously, hindering modern interest in Vogler's music. Consequently, modern interest in his compositions is limited, and few are performed or recorded nowadays. Nevertheless, this overlooked music deserves a revival, and this project offers audiences a unique chance to rediscover these forgotten pieces, adding a novel dimension to the recording. This project is supported by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and Forschungszentrum HOF | MUSIK | STADT.

This album, entitled “Georg Joseph Vogler: Travel Souvenirs for Keyboard,” is a premiere recording of keyboard works published by Vogler during his employment in Sweden (1788-99). Much of these works are inspired by musical “travel souvenirs” which Vogler “collected” from his extensive travels. He journeyed across Europe and beyond, with hsi reach extending from the Arctic Circle to North Africa, all the while seeking out new folk idioms to satiate his ambitions as an Enlightenment philosopher of music. The works in his Pièces de clavecin (Stockholm, 1798) show his penchant to arranging folk melodies, blending them with his own harmonic and structural innovations. Through these efforts, Vogler contributed to the growing appreciation of folk music in art music, influencing later composers who sought to integrate national elements into their works.

Instruments featured in this Recording

These instruments are similar to those available in Sweden during the 1790’s, where English-style instruments were prevalent.

  1. Square piano by Longman & Broderip c. 1788

  2. Grand piano by John Broadwood & Sons c. 1806

Track Listing

CD 1

  1. Pièces de Clavecin (1798) : 1. Pastorale

  2. Pièces de Clavecin (1798) : 2. Barcarolle de Venise

  3. Pièces de Clavecin (1798) : 3. Romance africaine

  4. Pièces de Clavecin (1798) : 4. Phantasie tracée sur Cheu Teu. Air chinois

  5. Pièces de Clavecin (1798) : 5. Min far han var en Vestgöthe han han. Chanson suedoise

  6. Variations sur l’Air de Marlborough (1791) : Tema (Semplice e variato). Larghetto

  7. Variations sur l’Air de Marlborough (1791) : Variation 1. Allegro

  8. Variations sur l’Air de Marlborough (1791) : Variation 2

  9. Variations sur l’Air de Marlborough (1791) : Variation 3. Menuetto grazioso

  10. Variations sur l’Air de Marlborough (1791) : Variation 4. Allegro

  11. Variations sur l’Air de Marlborough (1791) : Variation 5

  12. Variations sur l’Air de Marlborough (1791) : Variation 6. Larghetto

  13. Variations sur l’Air de Marlborough (1791) : Variation 7. Allegro

  14. Variations sur l’Air de Marlborough (1791) : Variation 8

  15. Variations sur l’Air de Marlborough (1791) : Variation 9. Minore. Larghetto

  16. Variations sur l’Air de Marlborough (1791) : Variation 10

  17. Variations sur l’Air de Marlborough (1791) : Variation 11. Allegro molto

  18. Variations sur l’Air de Marlborough (1791) : Fuga. Prestissimo - Larghetto - Allegro - Larghetto

CD 2

  1. Pièces de Clavecin (1798) : 6. Pente chordium

  2. Pièces de Clavecin (1798) : 7. Ak minan rakas linduisen. Air finois

  3. Pièces de Clavecin (1798) : 8. Höns gummans visa. Chanson suedoise

  4. Pièces de Clavecin (1798) : 9. Air barbaresque

  5. Pièces de Clavecin (1798) : 10. Polonaise

  6. Pièces de Clavecin (1798) : 11. Marche de Charles XII auprès du Narvae

  7. Pièces de Clavecin (1798) : 12. Air russe

  8. Pièces de Clavecin (1798) : 13. Marche des Chevaliers de l'Ordre des Seraphims en Suéde

  9. Pièces de Clavecin (1798) : 14. Quarndansen. Danse suedoise

Concept and Historical Background

No other musical figure of the late eighteenth century is as polarizing as Georg Joseph Vogler (1749–1814), whose mere mention divided the musical world into either bitter opponents or ardent admirers. Often called “Abbot” or “Abbé” Vogler, he was born in Würzburg, Germany in 1749. For Wolfgang Amadé Mozart, who met him during his visit to Mannheim in 1777–78, he was a man “who imagines quite a lot and cannot do much,” while for the poet and musician Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart, he was “an epoch maker in music.”

Vogler could be aptly described as a lifelong traveler. In the age of horse-drawn stagecoaches, he covered considerable distances at great speeds that would command the respect of even today’s ardent air travelers. His travels extended from the Arctic Circle to North Africa, and from the British Isles to Russia. He never really settled down, for he was constantly driven by the missionary zeal to disseminate his ideas and put them into practice. He not only worked as a composer and Kapellmeister, but also as a pedagogue, organ virtuoso, music theorist, organ builder and priest.

The musically gifted son of a violin maker, Vogler first studied ecclesiastical and secular law at the University of Würzburg. The decision to pursue music was not taken until Vogler arrived in the spring of 1771 at Mannheim, the capital of the Electoral Palatinate (Kurpfalz) and at the time, one of the foremost centers for music in all of Europe. Recognizing his talent, the reigning monarch Elector Carl Theodor granted Vogler a scholarship for a study trip to Italy (1773–75). It was probably during this time that Vogler was ordained to the priesthood. After returning from Italy, he was appointed second Kapellmeister in Mannheim after Ignaz Holzbauer. As well, he devoted himself—certainly in the spirit of the Age of Enlightenment—to furthering public education. In 1776, he opened his Tonschule: the first musical training institute in Mannheim, which men and women could attend regardless of their religion. As material for his teaching, he published a whole series of books on music theory, including his main work, the Kuhrpfälzische Tonschule.

Restlessly seeking recognition, Vogler departed Mannheim in 1780, settling in Paris to establish himself as a theorist and composer, facing mixed success (the music written around the time of this journey was the subject of the last album I recorded with AFA funding, mentioned above). His journey continued to London, where his theory of harmony gained approval from the Royal Society. Briefly serving as Kapellmeister in Munich (1784-86), he then shifted his focus to Sweden, finding an ideal environment for teaching, composing, and performing under a ten-year contract at King Gustave III’s court. Resuming pedagogical pursuits, Vogler published manuals, traveled extensively, and earned an international reputation for improvisation. Intrigued by national character, he integrated themes of ethnic music into his works, including the “Pièces de Clavecin” (1798) proposed in this album. Following Gustav III’s death in 1792, Vogler embarked on an extensive journey from the edges of Europe to Africa, exploring sacred-music traditions, yielding a treatise on modes and chorale harmonization. After the expiration of his Swedish contract, he resumed European travels, making notable contributions in Prague, Vienna (encountering Haydn and Beethoven), and Munich.

The “Pièces de Clavecin”

Published in Stockholm in 1798 near the end of his Swedish contract, Vogler’s collection of character pieces, titled “Pieces de clavecin,” may appear quaint, recalling an old French genre of keyboard music reflecting the French influence at the Swedish royal court. However, beneath this facade lies a modern pianistic idiom, clearly intended for the emerging fortepiano rather than harpsihcord. Full of stylistic diversity, these pieces also are ordered for pedagogical guidance, as the collection accompanies Vogler’s Swedish-language keyboard tutor, the Clavér-schola. The pieces increase in complexity, introducing various styles, genres,  expressive devices, pianistic textures, and later on, extendecd keyboard techniques like tremolos and double and triple trills. Vogler's aim to unite technical, theoretical, and aesthetic aspects of musical training is evident in the carefully selected pieces. The diverse contents share a common thread of national character, in a cosmopolitan collection celebrating music from around the world, presumably collected by Vogler during his extensive travels, including many variations on folk songs and marches from Scandinavia.  Foreign influences, which Vogler came into contact with during his extensive travels, such as a Moroccan song (from his time in North Africa) and a Chinese melody (reportedly recorded by a British diplomat who had been to China), are Westernized in syntax and harmonic vocabulary.

Vogler's collection of musical pieces from around the world stands in the context of the Enlightenment world view, which is characterized by a scientific interest in and great curiosity about foreign countries and cultures. The reception of a Moroccan song or a Chinese melody testifies to Vogler's aesthetic appreciation and recognition of various non-European musical traditions. The flip side of such a reception is, of course, a certain exoticism and ethnocentrism inherent in the European gaze on such a repertoire, based on the colonial world view of the eighteenth century. Such a Eurocentric perspective also means that a certain degree of distortion in Vogler's rendition and representation cannot be ruled out. However, Vogler's documentation of these melodies provides us today with valuable insights into historical musical traditions that might otherwise have been lost or overlooked. In reviving this repertoire, it is important to see and understand Vogler's efforts within the constraints of his time, and to celebrate above all the great artistic curiosity and experimentation in his exploration of national themes – while acknowledging the problematic historical context of the colonial period.

Vogler and Variations

Vogler was well-regarded for his intricate, complex variation sets for keyboard, which he often improvised in dazzling public concerts on organ and fortepiano. Vogler himself wrote in 1793 that variations are “a type of musical rhetoric, where the given meaning appears in different guises, with the distinction that the boundary lines are much more rigorously determined in music than in oratory.’

Vogler’s Variations on “Malbrough s’en va-t-en guerre” were published in Speyer in 1791 and were also based on a popular French folk song, which is known by its English title “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow.” This folk song has a long history and has been adapted and transformed in various ways by different composers since the early 18th century. Vogler’s complex variations are masterworks, showcasing a degree of ingenuity, technical proficiency, and complexity that rivals some of Mozart and even Beethoven’s most lauded variation sets.


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