John S. Zamecnik: Thru the Fog @PSearPianist

Updated September 2026, 1 week ago

$Harvey Löhr: Snow-white (Schneewittchen), Op.23 No.21 #21 from Grimm Fairy Tales (Silhouettes), Op.23 (1904) Phillip Sear plays a piece from a set of 25 by the English composer of German descent (Richard) Harvey Löhr (1856–1927). Born in Leicester, Löhr was the youngest son of the German-born organist and conductor George Augustus Löhr (1821–1897), who had settled in England and became a significant figure in the musical life of the East Midlands. The family background provided a distinctly German orientation to Harvey Löhrs early musical formation. He received his advanced training at the Royal Academy of Music, studying under William Henry Holmes, Ebenezer Prout, and Sir Arthur Sullivan. He twice won the prestigious Charles Lucas Medal, in 1877 and 1878, attesting to early distinction as a student composer. He subsequently held the post of organist at St Jamess Church, Marylebone, a position that sustained his connection to Londons musical life throughout his professional career. Löhr died in Hastings, and his manuscripts are preserved at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Löhrs piano music occupies a modest but characteristic corner of the late-Victorian keyboard repertoire, oriented towards the lyric miniature and the genre piece rather than the large-scale sonata. A Shakespeare Cycle, Op.19 (1898), a set of twelve pieces published by Schott & Co., represents his most ambitious contribution to the genre, drawing on literary imagery in a manner consistent with the characteristic piece tradition of the period. Other collections include Garden Idylls, Op.25 (1910), an album of twelve lyric pieces, and When We Were Children, Op.26 (1913), six character pieces also issued by Schott, suggesting a secondary market in pedagogical and domestic salon repertoire. Lighter pieces such as Ariel (1889) and Scenes from Fairyland, Op.21 (1901) reinforce an imaginative, illustrative approach to keyboard writing. The piano music forms only a fraction of Löhrs considerable catalogue, which includes five symphonies, two piano concertos, two string quartets, a piano quintet, a piano quartet (Op.15), and a piano trio (Op.22), alongside the operas A Border Raid (1883) and Kenilworth (1906). His choral output embraces the oratorio The Queen of Sheba, Op.20 (1900) and several anthems and part-songs, complemented by a large body of solo song. Though Löhr attracted little sustained critical attention in the twentieth century, his enduring legacy is institutional: a scholarship bearing his name was established at the Royal Academy of Music for British-born composers between the ages of fourteen and twenty-four, a fund that has supported subsequent generations of student composers, among them Craig Armstrong.” (Perplexity AI, 21 June 2026). Snow White (Schneewittchen, KHM 53) is one of the most famous tales in the Brothers Grimm collection, first published in 1812 and revised through to the final 1857 edition. A queen, sewing at a window with an ebony frame during a winter snowfall, pricks her finger and wishes for a child as white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as ebony; soon afterwards she gives birth to a daughter named Snow White and dies. The king remarries a beautiful but proud woman who possesses a magic mirror; when the mirror declares that the seven-year-old Snow White is now “a thousand times fairer” than the queen, the jealous stepmother orders a huntsman to kill the child and bring back her lungs and liver as proof. The huntsman spares Snow White, who flees into the forest and finds refuge with seven dwarfs, but the queen, learning from the mirror that her stepdaughter still lives, disguises herself three times and tries to kill Snow White with a poisoned bodice, a poisoned comb, and finally a poisoned apple. The apple casts Snow White into a deathlike sleep; she is placed in a glass coffin until a prince, struck by her beauty, takes her away, and when the coffin is jolted the apple piece dislodges from her throat and she revives. The tale ends with Snow White’s marriage to the prince and the wicked queen’s punishment, often interpreted as a story of innocence threatened by envy but ultimately preserved through kindness and loyalty. (Perplexity AI, 26 August 2026). Thumbnail image created with Reve AI. #britishmusic #brothersgrimm #snowwhiteandthesevendwarfs Played by Phillip Sear http://www.psear.co.uk (Email: piano4@psear.33mail.com WhatsApp: http://wa.me/441444483794 ) TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@pianogems ****See all my latest videos here: https://tinyurl.com/phillip210 ****$

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$Harvey Löhr: The House in the Wood (Das Waldhaus), Op.23 No.12 #12 from Grimm Fairy Tales (Silhouettes), Op.23 (1904) Phillip Sear plays a piece from a set of 25 by the English composer of German descent (Richard) Harvey Löhr (1856–1927). Born in Leicester, Löhr was the youngest son of the German-born organist and conductor George Augustus Löhr (1821–1897), who had settled in England and became a significant figure in the musical life of the East Midlands. The family background provided a distinctly German orientation to Harvey Löhrs early musical formation. He received his advanced training at the Royal Academy of Music, studying under William Henry Holmes, Ebenezer Prout, and Sir Arthur Sullivan. He twice won the prestigious Charles Lucas Medal, in 1877 and 1878, attesting to early distinction as a student composer. He subsequently held the post of organist at St Jamess Church, Marylebone, a position that sustained his connection to Londons musical life throughout his professional career. Löhr died in Hastings, and his manuscripts are preserved at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Löhrs piano music occupies a modest but characteristic corner of the late-Victorian keyboard repertoire, oriented towards the lyric miniature and the genre piece rather than the large-scale sonata. A Shakespeare Cycle, Op.19 (1898), a set of twelve pieces published by Schott & Co., represents his most ambitious contribution to the genre, drawing on literary imagery in a manner consistent with the characteristic piece tradition of the period. Other collections include Garden Idylls, Op.25 (1910), an album of twelve lyric pieces, and When We Were Children, Op.26 (1913), six character pieces also issued by Schott, suggesting a secondary market in pedagogical and domestic salon repertoire. Lighter pieces such as Ariel (1889) and Scenes from Fairyland, Op.21 (1901) reinforce an imaginative, illustrative approach to keyboard writing. The piano music forms only a fraction of Löhrs considerable catalogue, which includes five symphonies, two piano concertos, two string quartets, a piano quintet, a piano quartet (Op.15), and a piano trio (Op.22), alongside the operas A Border Raid (1883) and Kenilworth (1906). His choral output embraces the oratorio The Queen of Sheba, Op.20 (1900) and several anthems and part-songs, complemented by a large body of solo song. Though Löhr attracted little sustained critical attention in the twentieth century, his enduring legacy is institutional: a scholarship bearing his name was established at the Royal Academy of Music for British-born composers between the ages of fourteen and twenty-four, a fund that has supported subsequent generations of student composers, among them Craig Armstrong.” (Perplexity AI, 21 June 2026). Das Waldhaus (The House in the Wood, KHM 169) is a Grimm fairy tale classified as ATU 431, The House in the Forest. A poor woodcutter sends each of his three daughters into the forest with his dinner, but the elder two lose their way and come upon a hut inhabited by an old man, a hen, a cock, and a brindled cow. Although the man offers them shelter, the sisters behave selfishly, preparing food only for themselves and ignoring the hungry animals; during the night the old man opens a trapdoor and sends each of them down into the cellar. The youngest daughter, by contrast, speaks kindly to the animals and feeds them as well as the old man, and so earns a safe night’s rest; when she wakes, she finds that the hut has become a splendid palace. The old man is revealed to be an enchanted king’s son, condemned by an evil fairy to remain in the form of an old man until a woman appeared who was genuinely kind to both people and animals. He marries the youngest daughter, summons her parents to the wedding, and makes her selfish sisters serve a charcoal-burner until they learn compassion. Like many Grimm tales, the story presents kindness not as mere politeness but as a decisive moral test, with generosity bringing transformation and selfishness leading to humiliation and hard-earned reform. (Perplexity AI, 15 August 2026). Thumbnail image created with Picsart ( https://tinyl.co/4WqE ). #britishmusic #brothersgrimm #woodland Played by Phillip Sear http://www.psear.co.uk (Email: piano4@psear.33mail.com WhatsApp: http://wa.me/441444483794 ) TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@pianogems ****See all my latest videos here: https://tinyurl.com/phillip210 ****$