Nocturne No. 2 (Jean Vogt, 1853), mandolin quartet

[Martin Jonas]

Jean Vogt (1823-1888): Nachtgesang No. 2, Op. 10/2
Arranged for mandolin quartet by Paul Rink.

This is a very delicate little nocturne written by the German romantic composer and pianist Jean Vogt when he was working in St. Petersburg in 1853. The original version was written for violin and piano. This arrangement for mandolin quartet was published in Berlin in the early 1900s. The original composition was in Ab major, but Rink transposed it one semitone up to A major. I attach the arrangement, which I got from the Nakano site. The original violin/piano version and two organ versions are at IMSLP here.

I have played it on two vintage Italian bowlback mandolins, with mandola and tenor guitar.

1915 Luigi Embergher mandolin
1890s Umberto Ceccherini mandolin
Mid-Missouri M-111 octave mandolin
Ozark tenor guitar



Paintings by James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903).

Martin

[billhay4]

Nice Martin. Interesting selection of artwork, too.
Bill

[Bill Clements]

Bravo, Martin.
Thanks for sharing, as always.

[rebus]

You're always so pleasant to listen to

[Martin Jonas]

Thanks for the kind comments! I like trying out obscure pieces which look promising from the score -- this particular nocturne seems to have been quite popular in the 19th century (a fair number of archive hits on Google), but I haven't found any trace of previous sound recordings. It means I can approach the score unencumbered by performance history or preconceptions.

I find this one very charming, in particular the lightly plucked sixteenth-note passage. The paintings by Whistler are in a style he invented and titled "nocturnes", after the musical composition form. The fuzzy twilight-blurred outlines and washed out colours match the dreamy style of the music.

Martin