A.B. Marx: Mose

Description

Neither Felix nor Robert Schumann could make sense of "Mose". "It doesn't work, it's not music at all," Mendelssohn is reported to have said to Marx's face. Schumann was merciless in his criticism: "Not even in terms of form is it a well-made, truly rounded piece of music. and then, what declamation, as if abandoned by nature! Nothing has so repelled us as this music for a long time." Is "Mose" an opera in disguise? Richard Wagner knew the score of the "Mose"; he studied it carefully and adopted not only musical quotations but also the through-composed form in his operas. This is a historical fact that is hushed up to this day. Wagner's music wish list from 1855 shows that, in addition to works by Bach, Beethoven and Mozart, he asked only for "Mose", "everything else can just be thrown away".