Hyperion Records

Jacob Rosenhain (1813–1894) began his career in Frankfurt, and then moved to Paris in 1837 by way of London. In Paris (where he remained for over thirty years), he became a prominent figure in the musical scene, particularly through his chamber-music evenings, attended by Cherubini, Rossini and Berlioz.

During his over eighty-year life, Rosenhain composed in many genres, including four operas, an oratorio and three symphonies. He also wrote many other orchestral and chamber pieces, and a plethora of works for solo piano, including variations based on famous contemporary operas tunes. He was friends with Felix Mendelssohn, and Ignaz Moscheles. Early essays in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik reveal Robert Schumann’s enthusiasm for Rosenhain’s Piano Trio No 1 Op 2 (1836) and the Douze études caractéristiques Op 17 (1839).

Rosenhain wrote two concerted for works for piano and orchestra, including the A minor Concertino Op 30 (reviewed rather tersely by Schumann in the Neue Zeitschrift in July 1843), and the Piano Concerto in D minor Op 73 (probably composed in the 1840s and published later).

from notes by Stephan D Lindemann © 2010