Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Ernest Schelling

Belvidere NJ A Victorian Town & Ernest Schelling

Along U.S. Highway 46, there is a sign trumpeting the charms of “Victorian Belvidere… New Jersey’s Best Kept Secret!” (exclamation point theirs).

I had some business in the Poconos this morning that took me right up Route 31 to 46 (with the turn-off, I kid you not, at Buttzville), and I recalled the composer and pianist Ernest Schelling happened to be born in Belvidere. I had never visited his house, and I wondered if it still stood.

So around 7:30, I did a quick Google search on my phone and decided to swing by 333 Water Street to take a photograph of his former residence. It was only afterward, when I was about half a mile away, that it occurred to me I should go back and look for an historical marker. Bingo! It’s right there, on the wall of the front porch. I wonder how many Belvidere residents remember Schelling or have looked up to see his plaque?

To be frank, Belvidere has seen better days. There are a few enticing hot dog joints down the road, and the gas is cheap; but beyond Country Gate Playhouse, which I espied, a cultural anomaly, on Greenwich Street, there never seems to be much to encourage a prolonged stay.

Admittedly, I only ever drive through en route to somewhere else, and passing judgment from the main drag of a locale isn’t always the fairest method of formulating an assessment; but from everything I saw today, even on the back streets (especially on the back streets), this is pretty hardcore flag-and-ammo country – and by this, I emphatically do NOT mean any disrespect to the flag!

It can still be read in the faded glory of some of the architecture that it hasn’t always been the case. Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis.

That said, and with apologies to anyone who read this post before I was reminded, and may have been offended by the omission, I am certain there are plenty of lovely people who live there!

And I’ve never been there for Victorian Day. Click through these photos for a feel.

https://www.facebook.com/belvidereheritage1845/

A book stand is a sure way to thaw my icy heart.

I’ve posted about Belvidere’s most famous musical son a few times over the years. You can learn more about him, with a few samples of his music, here:

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=901422934110104&set=bc.AbruLS8tjUOVE8o6M0nu0XN-amp7QoELOlc0-fS2H0KTk28CTsYLD7OtnSm_d-bzGj86XJa4Qt9freCznMpmpRKjkjIb5B3_ayaE_wouevm3-OzD6lU7BSFTdwZnGMd3dBXsBWA5pOnyA3EJJN1bfZd9NFHB2w6kvCM339YdCXXLKQ&opaqueCursor=AbqLeAeVbPXUib3OQF4cQVBOyoOMIP_HcoQEkWe22LMVr6zCyijR8weUeqEN0zSaPmXJXJqMmgo8h2__OtVI0Co-vz7nE34AT-qXqEOSArjbVE-rBSBdD17OZIMJRO-5tVJOz_uc0YUbWCCqQf5Hwcs-OFVz_1oYIe9nPaoIYsKpclry61_Mj6De7qxreMdDhAVHuKug1ueKdQ07oAxqDZoviiRkWUAbe8lCcD6uC_L9-3dYZbI2oShSUXF99Pfm2X-sjICWwXeKvejlAzf5ljaknbZO70lFBLj_ij5boZTpZgcG1EALIGcoRHbE6tDg8n-p6Xu8mE1GbM_vf-q5ySPpW7doEZ5KwLBCvgkfM_i9evUxqXUB6f0Wp4T74EwYqG86VosPw7wTKBzM1aNnrj6xT5mXJZ7GjlwEucnbDLGP-ncmRmhAwBmSpa-5MBGgfk4k3av5hn1tsBm-

September 17, 2024
Ernest Schelling: Jersey Boy and Granados’ Fate

You might say that Ernest Schelling was a Jersey boy who made good. He also happened to be responsible, in part, for the death of Enrique Granados.

Schelling, a celebrated pianist who for a period of three years became the exclusive pupil of Ignacy Paderewski, was born in Belvidere, NJ on this date in 1876.

A child prodigy, he made his debut at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music at the age of 4. At 7, he was admitted to the Paris Conservatory. Among the other notable musicians he worked with were Hans Huber, Moritz Moszkowski, and Theodor Leschetizky. Leschetizky was the pupil of Carl Czerny, who of course studied with Beethoven.

As a conductor, Schelling became music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, which he led from 1935 to 1937. Well before Bernstein, he conducted the New York Philharmonic Young People’s Concerts, beginning in 1924. They were such a success, he took them on tour, with stops in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, London, and Rotterdam.

Schelling gave the U.S. premiere of Granados’ piano cycle “Goyescas.” In fact it was he who encouraged the composer to craft the music into an opera. Granados liked the idea, and “Goyescas” was given its first performance at the Metropolitan Opera in 1916.

It created such a sensation that Woodrow Wilson – former president of Princeton University and former governor of New Jersey – invited the composer to the White House, an offer Granados could hardly refuse. Granados postponed his homeward journey. A few weeks later, he was drowned in the English Channel, after his ship, the S.S. Sussex, was torpedoed by a German submarine.

Thanks a lot, Ernest Schelling – and by the way, happy birthday.

Schelling plays Liszt’s Sonata in B minor:

Willem Mengelberg conducts Schelling’s “A Victory Ball:”

A selection from Schelling’s “Suite Fantastique:”

PHOTO: Shipboard with Ernest Schelling and friend

July 26, 2022
Ernest Schelling A Jersey Boy’s Dark Legacy

You might say that Ernest Schelling was a Jersey boy made good. He also happened to be responsible, in part, for the death of Enrique Granados.

Schelling, a celebrated pianist who for a period of three years became the exclusive pupil of Ignacy Paderewski, was born in Belvidere on this date in 1876. A child prodigy, he made his debut at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music at the age of 4. At 7, he was admitted to the Paris Conservatory. Among the other notable musicians he worked with were Hans Huber, Moritz Moszkowski, and Theodor Leschetizky. Leschetizky was the pupil of Carl Czerny, who of course studied with Beethoven.

As a conductor, Schelling became music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, which he led from 1935 to 1937. Well before Bernstein, he conducted the New York Philharmonic Young People’s Concerts, beginning in 1924. They were such a success, he took them on tour, with stops in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, London and Rotterdam.

Schelling gave the U.S. premiere of Granados’ piano cycle “Goyescas.” In fact it was he who encouraged the composer to craft the music into an opera. Granados liked the idea, and “Goyescas” was given its first performance at the Metropolitan Opera in 1916. It created such a sensation that Woodrow Wilson invited the composer to the White House, an offer Granados could hardly refuse. He postponed the date of his journey home, and was killed a few weeks later, after his ship, the S.S. Sussex, was torpedoed by a German submarine.

Thanks a lot, Ernest Schelling – and by the way, happy birthday.

Schelling plays Liszt’s Sonata in B minor:

Willem Mengelberg conducts Schelling’s “A Victory Ball:”

A selection from Schelling’s “Suite Fantastique:”

PHOTO: Ernest Schelling (right) with friend. His ship didn’t sink.

July 26, 2018
Did New Jersey Doom Composer Granados?

Is it just my guilty conscience, or did New Jersey kill Enrique Granados?

The great Spanish composer was persuaded to work his masterful set of piano miniatures, titled “Goyescas,” into an opera by none other than Ernest Schelling (whose birthday, by coincidence, is today). Schelling, born in Belvidere, NJ, was the barnstorming pianist who gave the U.S. premiere of “Goyescas” in its piano guise. He would later become music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

Granados honored Schelling’s suggestion, with the idea of unveiling his new work at the Paris Opera. However, the outbreak of war caused him to shift his focus to New York’s Metropolitan Opera, where “Goyescas” received its world premiere on January 28, 1916, opening to enthusiastic reviews.

It was Woodrow Wilson, former president of Princeton University and former governor of New Jersey – then President of the United States – that really did Granados in. The positive reception of “Goyescas” led Wilson to extend an invitation to the composer to come play at the White House, an offer Granados could hardly refuse. As a result, Granados delayed the date of his departure, and a few weeks later, he and his wife were drowned in the English Channel, after their ship, the S.S. Essex, was torpedoed by a German u-boat.

I think New Jersey, and in particular Princeton, owes him something. Therefore, I hope you’ll join me tomorrow morning on WPRB, as we honor Granados on the 150th anniversary of his birth, with a full morning of his music, including an assortment of his rarely-heard orchestral, choral and chamber works, and, yes, his opera “Goyescas.”

We genuflect before one of music’s great moustaches, this Thursday morning from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. It will take plenty of caffeine before I can properly enunciate “sesquicentennial,” on Classic Ross Amico.

July 26, 2017

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