Hans Rott

Mahler wrote of Rott a musician of genius... who died unrecognized and in want on the very threshold of his career.... What music has lost in him cannot be estimated. Such is the height to which his genius soars in... [his] Symphony [in E major], which he wrote as 20-year-old youth and makes him... the Founder of the New Symphony as I see it. To be sure, what he wanted is not quite what he achieved. … But I know where he aims. Indeed, he is so near to my inmost self that he and I seem to me like two fruits from the same tree which the same soil has produced and the same air nourished. He could have meant infinitely much to me and perhaps the two of us would have well-nigh exhausted the content of new time which was breaking out for music. Thanks to Rott's friends, some of his music manuscripts have survived in the music collection of Vienna's national library. This includes Rott's Symphony in E major, and sketches for a second Symphony that was never finished. The completed symphony is remarkable in the way it anticipates some of Mahler's musical characteristics. In particular, the third movement prefigures the second movement of Mahler's First Symphony, as well as Mahler's Second Symphony. The Finale includes references to Brahms's First Symphony. Mahler also spoke well of Rott's Lieder, of which all eight surviving complete songs have been performed in concert since 2002 and four sung by Dominik Wörner were recorded in 2009 on the Ars label. We also know of a Sextet, which Mahler never heard and has also been lost. In his last years, Rott wrote a lot of music, only to destroy what he wrote soon after writing it, saying it was worthless. Bruckner and Mahler were the first to recognise Rott's talent. Mahler himself included references to Rott's work in his own music. Rott's music was largely forgotten after his death. His Symphony No. 1 in E major was not premiered until 1989; it was played by the Cincinnati Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Gerhard Samuel, in a performing edition prepared by Paul Banks. A CD recording followed. Other recordings of the symphony have since been issued, and other Rott works have been occasionally revived, including his Julius Caesar Overture, Pastoral Overture and Prelude for Orchestra. He figures in the murder mystery Requiem in Vienna by J. Sydney Jones.

1989: Hans Rott – Symphonie E-Dur, Cincinnati Philharmonia Orchestra, Gerhard Samuel, Hyperion CDA 66366; reissued in that company's Helios series as CDH55140 1992: Hans Rott – Symphonie E-Dur, Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, Leif Segerstam, BIS CD-563 1997: Hans Rott - Symfonie in E, Radio Filharmonisch Orkest, Jac van Steen, ZOC9702 2002: Hans Rott – Symphonie E-Dur / Pastorales Vorspiel, Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, Dennis Russell Davies, cpo 999 854-2 2002: Hans Rott – Symphonie in E-Dur, Philharmonia Hungarica, Christoph Campestrini 2003: Hans Rott – Symphonie E-Dur, Orchestre National de Montpellier, Friedemann Layer, AT 2001 2004: Hans Rott – Symphonie Nr. 1 E-Dur / Orchestervorspiel E-Dur / Ein Vorspiel zu "Julius Cäsar", Münchner Rundfunkorchester, Sebastian Weigle, ARTE NOVA Classics 82876 57748 2 2004: Hans Rott – Symphonie Nr. 1 E-Dur, Philharmonisches Orchester des Staatstheaters Mainz, Catherine Rückwardt, acousence ACO-CD20104 2005: Hans Rott – Suite in E-Dur / Gustav Mahler – »Titan«, Philharmonisches Orchester Hagen, Antony Hermus, acousence ACO-CD 20305 2005: Hans Rott – Symphonie für Streichorchester / Streichquartett c-Moll, Philharmonisches Orchester des Staatstheaters Mainz, Enrico Delamboye, Mainzer Streichquartett, acousence ACO-CD 20205 2012: Hans Rott – Sinfonie Nr. 1 in E-Dur, Suite für Orchester in B-Dur, hr-Sinfonieorchester, Paavo Järvi, RCA Red Seal (Sony Music) 2014: Hans Rott – Balde ruhest du auch! (orchestral version by Enjott Schneider), Sinfonie in E-Dur, Münchner Symphoniker, Hansjörg Albrecht, Oehms Classics (OC 1803) 2016: Hans Rott - Sinfonie Nr. 1 E-Dur, [Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, Constantin Trinks (Profil Edition Hänssler, PH15051) 2020: Hans Rott - Orchestral Works, Vol. 1; Hamlet Overture, Prelude to ‘Julius Caesar’, Suite in E major, Suite in B-flat major, Pastoral Prelude in F major, Orchestral Prelude in E major, Gürzenich Orchester Köln, Christopher Ward (conductor), Capriccio 2021: Hans Rott: Symphony No. 1, Bamberger Symphoniker, Jakub Hrůša (conductor), Deutsche Grammophon