Ralf von Saalfeld
Ralf Erich von Saalfeld was born on 28 March 1900 in Frankfurt am Main (Germany). He was the son of Ernst Prince of Saxe-Meiningen, who was not only a member and later head of the duchy Saxe-Meiningen but also an educated painter. Ralf von Saalfeld followed the artistic life of his father and studied music in Munich under Hermann Zilcher and Heinrich Kaminski. In 1929 he moved to Regensburg and became the main cantor of the city. He remained in this position until his passing. Ralf von Saalfeld was a champion and supporter of the compositions by Karl Marx. He premiered his motet op.12 and published a long article about his works in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik in 1931. Beside his work Ralf von Saalfeld also composed: often sacred music and modern arrangements of works by baroque composers like Heinrich Schütz, Michael Praetorius or J. S. Bach, but also secular works like songs and chamber music.
Ralf von Saalfeld died on 22 July 1947 in Weilheim (Germany).
In my possession is a larger part of the musical estate of Ralf von Saalfeld. A detailed listing would be too extensive for the website therefore I created a finding aid for the archive. This overview can be downloaded below:
Below I would like to present the scores of a few compositions by Ralf von Saalfeld:
1) Sonata for 2 violins, cello and piano
The Sonata consists of the three movements 1. Molto moderato, 2. Allegro moderato and 3. Grave. I have no information when the work was composed and if a premiere performance took place.
2) Fantasy for violin and organ
The "Fantasie über 'Nun bitten wir den heiligen Geist' für Violine und Orgel" is based on the melody by Dieterich Buxtehude. I have no information when the work was composed
3) Songs
I also would like to present three songs for voice and piano by Ralf von Saalfeld. The songs are
- Ach, wie sehn ich mich nach dir (text by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe) (composed 1924)
- Genug oft (text by Christian Morgenstern) (composed 1933)
- Unter Sternen (text by Gottfried Keller) (composed 1934)
