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Julius Reinhard Oppel (1878 in Grünberg, Hesse – 1941 in Leipzig) was a German composer.^[1]

He studied at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt 1903–1909, was briefly an organist in Bonn, then from 1911 professor of composition at the Kiel Conservatory of Music,^[2] and from 1928 professor of music theory at the Leipzig Conservatory.

Oppel was a student, correspondent,^[3] and friend of Heinrich Schenker, the famous Viennese Jewish music theorist,^[4] and made efforts to disseminate Schenkerian theory while a professor at Leipzig.

Oppel was an outspoken critic of the Nazis. Until 1938, Oppel often played the organ not only in Protestant and Catholic churches, but also in synagogues in Leipzig.

Works

For a complete list of works, see the University of Hamburg link given below.

Piano pieces: 5 Stücke op. 21, Suite op. 26 and 4 Preludes op. 27.
String Quartet No.4 in F minor Op.33 (published 1928 by Edition Peters)^[5] (nos.2 and 3 are in manuscript at the Oppel Memorial Collection.)
Sonata in D minor for Solo Violin, op. 12 (self-published 1910).^[6]
Suite in E minor for Solo Violin, op. 19 (self-published 1913).^[7]
Books and articles on Johann Sebastian Bach, Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (mostly or wholly articles published in journals and collections) and others
- (e.g.) "Tschaikowsky als Liederkomponist."^[8]
- Jacob Meiland (1542-1577). Ein Beitrag zur Musikgeschichte des Ansbacher Hofes, Diss[ertation]. München, 1911, Pfungstadt, 1911.
- Über Orgelstücke und Orgelspiel (Part 1: Betrachtungen und Ratschläge über Studium und Vortrag von Tonwerken für Orgel (mit Notenbeispielen)) (no Part 2?) (Hecht, 1898)

Only a small number of the opp. no. from 1-33 seem to have been used for published works (another included a set Op.6- Liturgy Op.6 no.3 and other works), the others reserved for works that remained in manuscript at least during his lifetime, e.g. his string trio in C minor op.10. Other works in manuscript received no opus number at all (e.g. the second and third string quartets and the two string quintets. However, the first string quartet, though in manuscript, was given op. 18, in E♭ major.)^[9]

Recordings

The Korean pianist Heejung Kang^[10] has revived music by Schenker and his students Reinhard Oppel, Paul Kletzki and Arnold Mendelssohn, in concert and on record:

Rediscovered Lieder and Piano Pieces by Kletzki, Oppel, and Schenker, College of Music at UNT. 2002
Piano Music Vol.1. Heejung Kang. Toccata Classics 2011

A Japanese String Quartet Starhill Quartet recorded Quartet No.4 F minor op.33 in 2018. The detail can be found in the webpage (Japanese only). https://auroraakeru2000.wixsite.com/oppel

Notes

^ Hollfelder, Peter. Geschichte der Klaviermusik: Western continental Europe: 1989 "Reinhard OPPEL (1878-1941), geboren in Grünberg (Hessen), ist nach dem Musikstudium am Hochschen Konservatorium in Frankfurt von 1903 bis 1909 Organist in Bonn, ab 1911 Kompositionslehrer am Konservatorium in Kiel und ab 1928 Lehrer für Musiktheorie am Landeskonservatorium in Leipzig. Er stirbt in Leipzig."
^ "Correspondence between (Julius) Reinhard Oppel and Heinrich Schenker". Schenker Documents Online. Retrieved June 23, 2014. - also, of course, another reference/citation is to translate into English the German snippet in the first paragraph of the article by Mr. Peter Hollfelder
^ Ayotte, Benjamin McKay (2004). Heinrich Schenker: a guide to research (New York: Routledge); also "Heinrich Schenker as Composition Teacher: The Schenker-Oppel Exchange." Music Analysis 20/1: 1-1 15. Examines in detail Oppel's arrangements of three of Handel's solo cantatas (HWV 108, 102, and 115) in the context of his correspondence with Heinrich Schenker."
^ Paul Kletzki and Reinhard Oppel: two forgotten composers by Timothy D. Jackson in Jewish Music Institute Newsletter No. 6, January 2004 Archived 2006-02-27 at the Wayback Machine
^ See e.g. this link for a report of receipt of 1928 publication. See also OCLC 4790782, OCLC 702354094 - two of three WorldCat entries listing libraries that have the 4th string quartet in score and/or instrumental parts in their collection; other library catalog-aggregators besides Worldcat - KVK, SBN-Italy, etc. - may have more still.
^ OCLC 165338589
^ OCLC 165338591
^ Published in Neue Zeitschrift für Musik. Jg. 76/1909. S. 528 - 531.
^ See the worklist at Hamburg. Other works listed with opus number but not published include for example a violin concerto in violin-piano reduction, op. 20, in G minor; a sonatine for violin and piano ("Lille, 1918"), op. 24; the 2nd piano sonata, op. 25; Messe für vierstimmigen Chor op. 32, 1926 (premiered 2000); "Stimmungsbilder, für Klavier op. 37, Januar 1939" - etc.
^ Heejung Kang