Juliusz Wertheim Mélodies vol 1 Bobrzecki Mikolon - AP0461 - Acte Préalable

Issu d’une famille aisée et cultivée, compositeur, chef d’orchestre et pédagogue recherché, Juliusz Wertheim a deux particularités : être mort en dirigeant, les Maîtres Chanteurs en l’occurrence, et avoir été l’ami des plus grands pianistes de son temps, dont un certain Arthur Rubinstein. Il lui suggéra de mettre à son répertoire un compositeur peu joué à l’époque, Frédéric Chopin, on connaît la suite. Acte Préalable nous propose l’intégrale des mélodies de Wertheim, en deux volumes, le premier consacré au versant polonais, le second au versant germanique. Le compositeur puise à des sources d’inspiration très diverses (Schubert, Richard Strauss, et Tchaikovski entre autres) et délivre des œuvres de belle facture, sans jamais démontrer de véritable originalité. Reste un ensemble agréable à entendre, auquel le baryton léger Krysztof Bobrzecki prête le velours de son timbre et l’élégance de son phrasé. Il a Don Juan à son répertoire et cela s’entend. Coup de chapeau à l’éditeur qui fait œuvre patrimoniale. Une belle découverte. (Olivier Gutierrez)

Juliusz Wertheim was born in Warsaw and was a composer, pianist, conductor, teacher and music critic. He received a sound musical education: he was taught by R. Strobel , M. Moszkowski, H. Barth and H. Urban. From 1897 he then studied with Zygmunt Noskowski, receiving his diploma with a golden medal. As a pianist he performed in numerous concerts across Europe and in America. He learned to play the piano at the Music Institute in Warsaw. He was also part of Warsaw’s Philharmonic Orchestra and during the 1915–1916 season, was its conductor. Between 1919 and 1921 he worked at the Music Conservatory in Warsaw. Juliusz Wertheim was liked and valued around the artistic circles of Warsaw. He possessed his own residence where he often invited befriended musicians from Poland and Germany to perform in concerts. He died of a heart attack on May 6th 1928 while conducting a concert in Warsaw’s Philharmonic. During his short life, Wertheim led a very intense, yet diverse, musical activity. Unfortunately, he did not have the time to take care of his own works and seek to have them published, and a large number of his manuscripts were burnt in Warsaw during the 2nd World War. He probably wrote 59 songs, of which we managed to find 49. And these 49 songs were recorded on two albums AP0461 and AP0462.