SKU: IS.VLP4069EM

ISBN 9790365040698.

Lodewijk Mortelmans was born in Antwerp on February 5, 1868, as second son of printer Karel Mortelmans. He died on June 24, 1952. He was an outstanding, universal Belgian musician and composer. His unique and poetic classical songs, his intimate and delicate piano music and his imaginative orchestral pieces rank among the European masterworks of the end of the 19th and the early 20th century.

SKU: HL.14030038

ISBN 9788759850138. UPC: 884088517359. 8.25x11.75x0.071 inches.

Work for Violin and Orchestra dating from 1917, revised in 1939. Here reduced for Violin and Piano.

SKU: HL.49045822

ISBN 9781540024749. UPC: 888680737764. 9.25x12.0x0.29 inches.

The Kreutzer Sonata was originally dedicated not to Rudolphe Kreutzer (who never performed it) but to George Bridgetower, a famed 18th-century Afro-European concert violinist. In an early draft, Beethoven jokingly labeled the piece in starkly racialized terms: Sonata Mulattica composed for the mulatto Brischdauer, big wild mulatto composer.Beethoven and Bridgetower performed the premiere, which was by all accounts a success, and even featuring some improvised embellishment by the violinist. While celebrating afterwards, the two quarreled about what Beethoven construed as Bridgetower's insult of a female acquaintance; the composer then revoked the original dedication, adding Kreutzer's name instead. The work gained acclaim, while Bridgetower's career languished; he eventually died in poverty.Bridgetower has been the subject of considerable research and speculation, most notably in poet Rita Dove's book, Sonata Mulattica. From our 21st-century vantage, considering Bridgetower's unique circumstance, we can only see him as an ambiguous figure who, in embodying difference, provoked inspiration, fantasy, desire, anger and, finally, erasure.My piece is a collection of imaginings about George Bridgetower. It is not programmatic, but it takes on an episodic character, assembled from contrasting fragments. The dance rhythms, recurring figures and gestural contours are intended to feature the embodied expertise and expressivity of the performers, who at times must access liminal sounds and execute complex synchronies. I am grateful to Jenny Koh and Shai Wosner for involving me in their beautiful, virtuosic music-making.

SKU: IS.VLP4402EM

ISBN 9790365044023.

Lodewijk Mortelmans was born in Antwerp on February 5, 1868, as second son of printer Karel Mortelmans. He died on June 24, 1952. He was an outstanding, universal Belgian musician and composer. His unique and poetic classical songs, his intimate and delicate piano music and his imaginative orchestral pieces rank among the European masterworks of the end of the 19th and the early 20th century.