Revert to Eggert

By Avishai Kallai

On "Toccata", the interesting website with a focus on Nordic music and performers, P. G. Bergfors wrote about the Swedish music life at the turn of the nineteenth century. "There was hardly an indigenous symphonic tradition to speak of in Sweden. A few rather modest works bearing the title 'sinfonia' had been composed during the eighteenth century. The foremost classical symphonist in Sweden at the time is hardly known even to musicologists: Joachim Nikolas Eggert."

After another Internet Odyssey, I have discovered that this unknown Swedish composer and conductor of German birth unwittingly scored a coup against one of the most renowned composers in the music world, Ludwig van Beethoven. Apparently, Eggert introduced a concert symphony with a section of trombones 18 months before Beethoven!

Joachim Nikolas Eggert's Symphony in E flat major
Joachim Nikolas Eggert's Symphony in E flat major
Reproduced by permission of Statens Musikbibliotek,
The Music Library of Sweden (formerly Musikaliska Akademiens Bibliotek)

Second Trombone Trek

The wake-up call came from Dr. Allan Badley, managing director and co-founder of Artaria Editions, New Zealand. He surprised me with a nonchalant comment in a letter late in May 2000. "By the way, Eggert used trombones in a couple of symphonies around the time of Beethoven's Fifth. I am not sure his use of the instruments predates that of Beethoven, but it must be fairly close." At that time, I had just submitted my article The Sackbut Rebut to the website of the British Trombone Society. In it I refuted the claim that Franz Ignaz Beck included three trombones in a concert symphony ten years before Beethoven was born. Now there was a new challenger.

Dr. Badley continued, "Eggert was active in the early nineteenth century. Among the orchestral works are five symphonies and a swag of 'official' music. Bertil van Boer, our Kraus man, sent me a rather fine symphony in E flat (circa 1807): double wind, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, and strings. I hope this whets the appetite." It was Dr. Badley who exposed Beck's trombone insertion as a spurious act of an editor 100 years after Beethoven died. The fact that Dr. Badley was negotiating a contract to publish and record Eggert's E flat Symphony was strong evidence of a very serious challenger.

My second Trombone Trek commenced!

The Contender

Who was Joachim Nikolas Eggert, the contender to the trombone title of the concert symphony? Eggert was born on February 22, 1779 in Gingst, Ruegen (Germany), and was the youngest son of a manual labourer. He was educated in Germany. His music instructors included Johann Friedrich Dammas in Gingst (violin, piano, and harp in 1791-1794), Friedrich Gregor Kuhlow in Stralsund (violin and composition until 1800), and Ferdinand Fischer in Braunschweig (theory until 1802). For a very short period in 1802, Eggert was Kapellmeister of the Court Theatre for the Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Due to poor health, he declined a lucrative position in St. Petersburg. In 1803 he arrived in Stockholm and was appointed as a violinist to the Swedish Royal Orchestra. Later, Eggert was commissioned to compose music for special occasions. In 1807, he was elected to the Swedish Royal Academy of Music and made his first appearance as a conductor. During 1808-1810, Eggert was Kapellmeister of the Swedish Royal Orchestra, conducting one or two concerts per week. During 1811-1812, he taught and his pupils included the Swedish composers Erik Drake, Ludwig Passy, and Martin de Ron. In 1812, Eggert lived in Follingso (Ostergotland, Sweden) where he remained until his untimely death from tuberculosis on April 14, 1813 in Thomestorp, Sweden.

Eggert's music career was short-lived, but it was a decade of intense effort to advance the Swedish musical life. He brought Viennese Classicism to Sweden and was the first to put Beethoven's major works on a Swedish concert program (in 1808). Eggert conducted the Swedish premières of Haydn's Die Jahreszeiten (The Seasons) (in 1810) and Mozart's Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) (in 1812). He collected Swedish folksongs and became interested in a project using native folk instruments in a Swedish national opera.

Eggert was a most important composer of orchestral and chamber music. Stylistically, his compositions follow Viennese classical tradition, but formalistically, melodically, and harmonically, they show a marked influence of early German romanticism. His works include seven cantatas, five symphonies (one of which was unfinished), nine string quartets, a fugue for string quartet, a piano quartet, a string sextet, a wind sextet, scene music, and songs.

In his book, Svensk Musikhistoria (Music History of Sweden) of 1901, Tobias Norlind shed some light on the symphony in question. "In the E flat Symphony, Eggert used material from the Funeral Cantata for Duke Fredrik Adolf, and therefore it has a 'Trauermarsch' and a Double Fugue after the well-formed first movement." The trombones were not mentioned and no date was given for the first performance.

The Trombone Trek continues.

The Swedish e-mail list

Did the first performance of Eggert's E flat Major Symphony predate December 22, 1808, which was the date of the inaugural performance of Beethoven's Fifth and Sixth Symphonies? Dr. Per F. Broman, Professor of Music Theory at Butler University, recommended that I enquire at the Swedish Musicological Society e-mail List. Since I have absolutely no understanding of any Scandinavian language, I had serious doubts about this recommendation. Nonetheless, I posed the question for discussion on June 4, 2000.

All previous doubts vanished in the flurry of e-mail exchanges that followed in English. The two chief respondents were Dr. Bertil H. van Boer, whom we briefly met in Dr. Badley's letter, and Anna Lena Holm. Dr. van Boer is Professor of Musicology and Theory as well as the Dean of the College of Fine and Performing Arts at Western Washington University. Dr. van Boer has catalogued the works of Joseph Martin Kraus (those VB numbers). Ms. Holm is Senior Librarian of Rare Collections at the Music Library of Sweden (Statens Musikbibliotek).

On June 5, 2000 Dr. van Boer responded, "The Eggert symphony in question was written in April 1807 and finished with a dedication to the Royal Academy of Music in May." Ms. Holm continued, "The first performance of Eggert's E flat Symphony is not established, but we have in our library a full score of the work, given to the Royal Academy of Music [in] Stockholm May 4, 1807."

On June 6, 2000 Dr. van Boer added, "According to Lennart Hedwall, the Eggert symphony was performed in May 1807. See Hedwall, Den Svenska Symfonin (The Swedish Symphony) [of 1983]." Ms. Holm countered, "Actually Lennart Hedwall writes that in the concert [in] 1807, two symphonies by Eggert were performed and one of them 'ought' to be the one in E flat. To my knowledge, there is not any exact documentation (programs, letters, reviews) of the first performance, unfortunately." Dr. van Boer followed by quoting Hedwall: "Further, the C minor Symphony should be one of the two symphonies that Eggert presented at the concert in 1807. The other, which according to the program contained a March and Fugue from the same funeral music, was likely the Symphony in E flat, which was dedicated to the Music Academy the same year." Dr. van Boer closed by saying, "Not exactly ringing proof, but the E flat [Symphony] is the only work by Eggert that would fit this description."

In summary, Eggart wrote his E flat Symphony in April 1807, and he dedicated it to the Royal Academy of Music. He gave the manuscript to the Royal Academy of Music on May 4, 1807. During the subsequent course of 1807, perhaps as early as May 1807, the E flat Symphony was performed along with the C minor Symphony.

As for the trombones, Ms. Holm assured me in a second letter on June 6, 2000, "The trombones are there." I was able to validate this statement on July 17, 2000 when I received a copy of the score sent by Dr. van Boer, including a reproduction of the first page of the Eggert manuscript. Yes, there are three trombones in the manuscript!

Norwegian Assistance

At this point, two Norwegians came to my assistance. My good friend, Finn Lovfold, translated the various materials I gathered from German, Swedish, and Norwegian sources. He introduced me to his longtime friend, Oyvind Norheim, who works in the National Music Collection of the National Library of Norway.

On June 7, 2000 Mr. Norheim wrote that he had information about the possible performance of the Eggert E flat Symphony that he found in a Swedish dissertation. This article was published in Svensk Tidskrift for Musikforskning (Swedish Journal for Music Research) in 1925. It was the combined efforts of Tobias Norlind, Carl-Allan Moberg, Birgit Guston, and Sten Broman. Mr. Norheim continued, "In the article we are told that Eggert had his debut as conductor at a concert on May 14, 1807. On the program were two symphonies, the second one 'dedicated to the Royal Academy of Music.' In this symphony, the program especially mentions two of the movements: a march and a double fugue. The only symphony by Eggert which contains a march and a fugue is the one in E flat major."

Mr. Norheim then concluded, "Of course this evidence is only circumstantial, but until another symphony of Eggert is discovered-a symphony with a march and a fugue as two of its movements-I think we can consider this evidence as conclusive."

The article arrived by post a week letter. The following is the account of that concert:

"The concert on May 14, 1807 was his first as a conductor, and he was concerned with introducing some of his own creations for this occasion. The program included:

Part 1

  1. A symphony by Eggert, including an Adagio with four French horns obbligato, originally from the Funeral Music for Duke Fredrik Adolf.
  2. An aria by Kraus, sung by Mrs. Waesselius.
  3. A string quartet by Eggert, performed by Messrs. Westerdahl, Chiewitz, Reddewigh, and Megelin.

Part 2

  1. A symphony by Eggert, dedicated to the Royal Academy of Music, wherein at the end appears the March and the Double Fugue from the earlier mentioned Funeral Music.
  2. "God save the King" with variations for three bassoons, performed by Messrs. Preumayr.
  3. A sextet by Eggert for violin, clarinet, French horn, viola, cello, and bass, performed by Messrs. Mueller, Crusell, Hirschfeld, Askergren, Salge, and Wirthe.
  4. Finale from a symphony by Eggert with a Fantasy on a Swedish folksong.

("God save the King" and the sextet were not performed due to illnesses of some of the musicians). The program seems quite ambitious, but we must keep in mind that in those days a concert was usually made up of many heavy compositions. It seems clear that we are talking about two different Eggert symphonies that were performed, wholly or partly. Both symphonies used some thematic material from the Funeral Cantata of 1804."

Was this the end of my Trombone Trek?

The Curators

I was excited. Five Swedish music scholars concurred that the first performance of the Eggert E flat Symphony took place in May 1807, and four of them specifically stated May 14, 1807 as the exact date. I was also bewildered. Why was no pride taken within the Swedish music community in the fact that Eggert was the real trombone champion of symphonic music? Apparently, there was more to this than I thought.

"The F Bass Trombone Page" by Nicholas Eastop was one of the many trombone oriented websites I visited while researching the history of the trombone. Not only is Mr. Eastop a bass trombonist in the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, he is Curator of the Stockholm Music Museum (Musikmuseet). On August 23, 2000 I outlined the information I had and contacted him in hope that a Swedish trombonist would find interest in Eggert.

Mr. Eastop replied the very next day, "By the way, I am English. I just happen to live in Sweden. I am really most fascinated by this information, and will set about trying to dig up more straight away." On August 25, 2000 he continued, "I mentioned our correspondence to a colleague at the Museum (Archive curator Hans Riben) who said the matter had been discussed on a musicology e-mail list recently. He mentioned that the discussion was inconclusive due to difficulties [in] dating the Eggert performance." Mr. Riben was referring to the same discussion I had initiated in early June 2000.

I forwarded to Mr. Eastop the material I received from Norway. On August 27, 2000 he responded, "Amazing! Thank you so much for getting in touch and telling me all this." The following day he wrote again, "I only had time for a brief conversation with Hans Riben, whom I should add, is also taking a great interest in your research. According to Mr. Riben, it seems that the main problem concerning the dating of the performance is that there is no corroborating evidence for Norlind's journal." Now I understood why the Swedish musicologists were not cheering. The date of May 14, 1807 lacked verification.

I suggested that the Royal Palace Archives might be an excellent place to cross-reference the Eggert debut. Perhaps the Royal Family was invited to the concert. On September 19, 2000 Mr. Eastop jotted a short note, "I am working on a contact at the Royal Palace. I will let you know as soon as I get anything." In the second week of October he visited the Royal Palace Archives and immediately realized that he would not find anything useful there. He did, however, come away with the idea of trying the Royal Library.

On November 13, 2000 the two curators spent the whole morning in the Royal Library. That afternoon they e-mailed a message with a warning: "Please sit down!" Obediently, I took a seat and read their report:

"I have just returned from the Royal Library with Hans, and we are both rather excited about what we have found. The newspaper, Dagligt Allehanda, carries two announcements about the concert, one on the 11th of May and [the] second on the 14th of May. The texts are more or less identical, and they both say that the second half of the concert will start with a symphony by Eggert, dedicated to the Royal Academy that includes a funeral march and a fugue. We also found a very interesting notice in the same paper by Eggert himself, dated the 20th of May where he explains that the sextet that should have been performed in the same concert was cancelled due to sickness. We assume, therefore, that the rest of the concert was performed as planned. I believe we have the evidence required!"

Daily Potpourri

According to a website "Information and Communication in the Past and Present" by Margarete Rehm, the first Swedish daily newspaper, Dagligt Allehanda (Daily Potpourri), appeared in Stockholm from 1769 until 1944. So at the time of the concert in question, it was an established gazette of 50 years.

Mr. Eastop's package arrived by post on November 21, 2000. It contained the photocopies of the three concert announcements. They were printed in Gothic script, but Mr. Eastop provided me with a text in a more conventional script for easy reference.

On May 11, 1807 in issue 106, Dagligt Allehanda announced, "the honoured Royal Court Kapellmeister Eggert is planning a concert for next Thursday May 14th at the Grand Knights' Hall featuring the Royal Court Orchestra, under Concertmaster Mueller, and soloists." The concert announcement in the newspaper continued with the listing of the seven works that would be performed. Word for word, this listing was identical to Norlind's listing from the Swedish Journal for Music Research. There were only minute differences due to the newspaper's use of rather old-fashioned Swedish, as compared to the Journal's use of contemporary 1925 Swedish. The concert announcement closed by saying festivities would commence at 6:00 PM and tickets would cost 32 shillings each.

On May 14, 1807 in issue 109, Dagligt Allehanda repeated the concert announcement of May 11th with several minor changes. The phrase "next Thursday May 14th" was adjusted to "today Thursday May 14th" for the obvious reasons. Item 2 of the concert, the aria by Kraus, was dropped. In its stead, Mrs. Waesselius would sing an aria by Maijer. In item 6 of the program, the Sextet, Mr. Preumayr would replace Mr. Hirschfeld. Everything else remained the same.

On May 20, 1807 in issue 113, Dagligt Allehanda published the following notice by Eggert:

"The Sextet and the English folk tune that I promised to perform in my most recent concert at the Grand Knights' Hall were withdrawn because of the illnesses of Messrs. Crusell, Hirschfeld, and Preumayr. [Signed] J. Eggert"

After reviewing the three announcements, I asked Messrs. Eastop, Riben, and Norheim for their assessment of the evidence. Mr. Norheim answered, "I think you have to be satisfied with this. As I mentioned before, the evidence is only circumstantial. Until 100% waterproof evidence emerges, I am willing to regard this as conclusive for the time being." Mr. Eastop responded, "I have spoken with Hans and we both feel that the cumulative weight of the evidence presented by the [newspaper] articles is very compelling. We feel that one can be 99% certain that the [E flat] symphony was performed."

My Cadenza

The notices published in the Dagligt Allehanda are not just corroborating evidence for Norlind's claim. They are Norlind's original source. He quoted from this newspaper elsewhere in his 1925 Journal article. Word for word, he copied the concert program from the May 11, 1807 edition. As a matter of fact, Norlind erred in his account of the program, since he obviously had overlooked the announcement with the program changes published by the Swedish daily on May 14, 1807.

The different notices of May 11th and May 14th are significant as Curators Eastop and Riben wrote on November 23, 2000. "The fact that the [first] two announcements are not identical (the item 2 aria and the item 6 soloists) show that Eggert was most particular to detail and wanted the readers of Dagligt Allehanda to know exactly what was going to be performed."

The notice of May 20th, as short as it may be, is paramount. Finn Lovfold, my translator, studied the three texts and adjudged, "The third text was written six days later, and it appears that the concert really had taken place as announced, except for the Sextet and the English folk tune. The symphony must have been performed on Thursday May 14, 1807. Otherwise, Eggert would have mentioned it as missing from the program as well." This echoed the opinion of Curators Eastop and Riben as they reported November 13, 2000. They also felt that Eggert was keen on informing what was actually performed.

In the Journal article, Norlind mentions a concert program from December 10, 1806. Eggert had scheduled to introduce his G minor Symphony, but he withdrew the work because three trumpets were not available as stipulated in the score. This incident provides yet more testimony to the accuracy of Eggert's reporting and performing practices. If he did not have the personnel, he would not perform the piece, as demonstrated with the Sextet and the English folk song on May 14, 1807 and the G minor Symphony on December 10, 1806.

In Norlind's account of the May 14, 1807 program, he wrote, "Two different symphonies by Eggert were performed, wholly or partly." In the program, Eggert closed the concert with a Finale from a symphony. If Eggert intended to perform only parts of his C minor or E flat major Symphonies, he would have reported as such in the program. Therefore, these two symphonies must have been performed in their entirety.

The Finale

So, we do not return to that bitterly cold evening of December 22, 1808 at the unheated Theater an der Wien where Ludwig van Beethoven mounted his marathon Akademie. We revert to an earlier equally nasty, cold, and snowy evening of May 14, 1807 at the Grand Knights' Hall in Stockholm, Sweden where Joachim Nikolas Eggert conducted his E flat Symphony that marked the symphonic birth of the trombones.

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