Ethelbert Nevin: In Dreamland, Op.30/2

I stumbled upon this piece randomly today. It was a nice coincidence, since it was one of the (hundreds) of pieces I kinda studied at some point, but postponed because of difficulty or other reasons. It's a pretty nice piece, very delicate and atmospheric. Maybe some transitions are a bit rough, but it shines with some virtuosic elements here and there.
Ethelbert Woodbridge Nevin (1862 - 1901) was an American pianist and composer.
From a young age, Nevin was musically inclined. He began playing the piano by the age of four, although he needed cushions piled on the pedals to enable him to reach them. Nevin's father provided for his son both vocal and instrumental instruction. He also took him abroad for two years of travel and music study in Dresden under Von Böhme. In 1878, he attended Western University, now known as the University of Pittsburgh, but left at the end of his freshman year in 1879. Later he studied the piano for two years at Boston, under Benjamin Johnson Lang, and composition under Stephen A. Emery.
After two years studying in Boston, in 1882 Nevin moved back to Pittsburgh, where he gave lessons, and saved money enough to take him to Berlin. There he spent the years 1884, 1885, and 1886, placing himself in the hands of Karl Klindworth. Of him Nevin says: "To Herr Klindworth I owe everything that has come to me in my musical life. He was a devoted teacher, and his patience was tireless. His endeavor was not only to develop the student from a musical standpoint, but to enlarge his soul in every way. To do this, he tried to teach one to appreciate and to feel the influence of such great minds of literature as Goethe, Schiller, and Shakespeare. He used to insist that a man does not become a musician by practising so many hours a day at the piano, but by absorbing an influence from all the arts and all the interests of life, from architecture, painting, and even politics."
In 1885, Hans von Bülow incorporated the best four pupils of his friend, Klindworth, into an artist class, which he drilled personally. Nevin was one of the honored four, and appeared at the unique public Zuhören of that year, devoted exclusively to the works of Johannes Brahms, Franz Liszt, and Joachim Raff. Among the forty or fifty studious listeners at these recitals, Frau Cosima Wagner, the violinist Joseph Joachim, and many other celebrities were frequently present.
Nevin returned to America in 1887, and took up his residence in Boston, where he taught and played at occasional concerts.
In 1892 he went to Paris, where he taught singing, and he coached many American and French artists for the operatic stage. In 1893 he moved on to Berlin, where he worked so hard at composition that his health collapsed, and he spent a year in Algiers. The early months of 1895 he spent in concert tours through this country. As Klindworth said of him, "he has a touch that brings tears," and it is in interpretation rather than in bravura that he excels.
Seeking solitude and the right atmosphere for composition, he went to live in Florence, where he composed his suite May in Tuscany (Op. 21). After a year in Venice Nevin made Paris his home for a year, then returned to America, where he remained until his death.
Nevin was married to Anne Paul Nevin, with whom he had two children. The Nevin summer home, 'Arcady', in Blue Hill, Maine is still owned by his descendants.
Despite being a prominent composer, Nevin had recurring debt towards the end of his life. This situation plagued Nevin with ongoing depression, accompanied by heavy drinking. He overworked himself at times, steadily deteriorating his health. On the night of February 15, 1901, while in New Haven, Connecticut, Nevin had attended a recital given by Harold Bauer. After returning home, however, his health worsened. He had shown symptoms of numbness in his hands, altering his ability to play the piano. On the morning of February 17, he was confined to his bed as his health was becoming more unpredictable. He died later that day on February 17, 1901[6] in New Haven, Connecticut, aged just 38.
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Thanks for listening :-)

[@olga_piano]

What a nice piece! 2:35 it took my breath away, it was so beautiful and fascinating! Thank you for the Sunday surprise, Maestro Gamma!

[@haticegulcimen4704]

I explore wonderful song that, l haven t heard before Master Julian💐

[@christophfaulkner7295]

Beautiful ❤️

[@alexandercarroll9707]

This is so cool!

[@Remi-B-Goode]

Superbe !

[@eldiev2996]

как красиво и грустно.

[@DragosDomnara]

3:58 is such a beautiful ending

[@MooPotPie]

I sent you this one in an email last year. Thanks so much for playing & posting it. Except for a couple of pieces, Nevin is undeservedly forgotten nowadays. Your performance marks the KZbin premier of "In Dreamland" - and maybe even the first recording of it ever. Beautifully done, as always! This made my day!

[@PianoScoreVids]

Ah yes, you were it. As I said, I laid on my couch searching for pieces, and for some random reason, the Nevin imslp page was open. I randomly clicked on the op.30 (really thinking nothing!) and checked the first piece, not that interesting, then second: this. watching the score i slowllly started to remind myself on an email.

[@MooPotPie]

​@@PianoScoreVids Op. 30 is the suite "En Passant", published in 1899. "A Fontainebleau" : op. 30, no. 1, is indeed not that interesting. It's essentially a paraphrase of Handel's "Harmonious Blacksmith". It and No. 3, a tarantella titled "Napoli", can be found on KZbin. I've heard No 4, "At Home", performed on a radio program. But the real gem of the four, "In Dreamland" has, to my knowledge, never been posted on the internet (or recorded at all) until today. Thanks again!

[@tonimikael]

😍

[@RichardOdom]

Very nice. Will you be posting the other 3, particularly no 4?

[@AbandonedMines11]

The audio sounded exceptionally crystal clear in this particular video. Your audio always sounds good, but it really sounded extremely good in this video. What kind of piano do you record on? On an acoustic one or a digital one? Really has a nice tone and overall sound. I liked the brighter, upbeat waltz that comprised the “B” section in this piece. Some of the figures in the “B” section reminded me of the 1950s hit by the Platters called “Twilight Time.” I wonder if the Platters copied this particular piano piece when they wrote that song?

[@PianoScoreVids]

Thanks for your feedback on the technical stuff, it's very valuable. Always makes me happy to see you hear. It's just the Garritan CFX on the contemporary perspective, nothing else. Since it's a bit slower piece i could choose a slightly fuller and longer reverb here, giving more breath to each note. In quick pieces it might blur all together. I read that Nevin died very young and had problems with alcohol, maybe depression too. I think some of that can be heard here, the start is really melancholic. The B section is happier yes, it's important to me to have both sections in a melancholic piece, because that captures the mood better. That's why I love Schumann so much, he was a master at that

[@MooPotPie]

It is not the Platters version of "Twilight Time" you're thinking of . . . but their version of "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" - specifically the bridge which begins: "So I chaffed them and I gaily laughed ..." It is indeed similar. That song was composed by Jerome Kern for the 1933 Broadway musical "ROBERTA". The Platters made it a hit again in 1959.

[@MooPotPie]

"In Dreamland" was published in 1899, and while it's a very obscure piece by a mostly forgotten composer today, Nevin's music was still immensely popular in Kern's time - so it's not entirely impossible that he may have lifted Nevin's musical phrase - consciously or subconsciously.

[@mckernan603]

Nevin's "Nocturne" was played at the White House Jan 23, 1903. Not sure if this is it.