Description
Johann Dubez Elégie op. 49 for harp
The Dubez musical family of Vienna occupies a unique position in the harp world. This family of 4 siblings who made a name for themselves on harp, guitar and zither, the three instruments still used in plucked string folk trios in South Germany and Austria. Johann’s siblings Anna, Joseph and Peter had freelance careers that took them places, locally and further away. Peter was the one who worked with Liszt in Weimar. He transcribed various pieces by him, most notably Two Ave Maria (previously published by Harpiana and available here under Liszt).
Elégie
Elégie (this is the old spelling, as printed on the original cover) is gripping in its subject matter and for the tragedy that elicited its creation. In Dubez’s time, local musicians had to excel at more than one instrument to make ends meet, so Dubez had his own string quartet in Vienna. His second violinist was a merely 18-year-old young man named Henri Clerc, who was also a virtuoso harpist. Upon his passing, Dubez disbanded his quartet and left this poignant work in Ab Minor behind in his memory. One could consider the dotted rhythm that appears on the “& of 1” in the first three lines the call of fate summoning the young soul to the beyond.
At the top of page 2, the repeated phrase in the left hand expresses the cry of the bereaved, while the music attempts to build momentum, to eventually move into heavenly arpeggios in Ab Major on p. 3, with harmonics in the left hand echoing the syncopated melody notes. Eventually, the main theme from the beginning returns on p. 5, but instead of dying out, it ascends fierily toward the top of the harp, in a kind of apotheosis.
