 2026 – 2027 Season Calendar |
2026 – 2027 Season Calendar |
20-concert series All performances, except where noted, are held at: Find out more about the Jupiter Players and our Guest Artists. Tickets $25, $17 ~ Reservations advised |
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September 14 Russian Tributes
Reinhold GLIÈRE Deux morceaux Op. 9 ▪ 1902 The 2 Pieces in contrasting styles—an expressive Intermezzo and dazzling Tarantella—were composed after Gliere’s graduation from the Moscow Conservatory, but before his conducting studies began in Berlin 3 years later. Glière and Koussevitsky both lived and worked closely together in Moscow at this time, and it is likely that Koussevitsky advised on the technical possibilities of the double bass. The Pieces push the technical boundaries of the double bass as a solo instrument. Koussevitzky (1874–1951) regularly championed Glière’s music. In January 1908, he made his conducting debut, leading the Berlin Philharmonic in the world premiere of Glière’s Symphony No. 2. He also frequently performed Glière’s chamber and double bass works on his international tours. Glière (1875–1956) is regarded as a great musical icon in his native Ukraine, and is considered the founder of Soviet ballet music. He was immensely versatile, and his prolific output made significant contributions in a wide range of genres. Born of Belgian Jewish descent in Kiev to a musical family who were master instrument makers, he studied at the Moscow Conservatory until 1900. His teachers included Arensky for harmony and Sergey Taneyev and Ippolitov-Ivanov for theory and composition. After teaching for a while in Moscow, he studied conducting in Berlin from 1905 to 1907, first appearing in Russia as a conductor in 1908. Glière then taught at the Kiev Conservatory and was appointed director in 1914. From 1920 to 1941 he taught composition at the Moscow Conservatory. Among his pupils were Khachaturian, Nikolai Myaskovsky, the 11-year-old Prokofiev, and Scriabin’s young son. His favorite instrument was the violin; his early commitment to writing chamber music continued for more than 50 years. Moreover, Glière survived the almost unparalleled political turmoil in both Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union. Eric Levi, writing for the BBC Music Magazine, explained that “Glière’s consciously old-fashioned and widely accessible musical style enabled him to maintain a relatively stable career in the Soviet Union. Above all, it was these qualities that endeared him to Soviet cultural bureaucrats who regarded Glière as an ideal exponent of Socialist Realism.” Glière remained a staunch conservative throughout his life. Anton ARENSKY String Quartet No. 2 in A minor Op. 35 ▪ 1894 The Quartet is scored less commonly for violin, viola, and two cellos to create a dark, somber timbre—a muted psalm theme from ancient Russian church music is followed by a set of variations on a song by Tchaikovsky (“The Crown of Roses” from Sixteen Children’s Songs), and ends with a Finale that includes a fugue based on a medieval Russian anthem, Slava Bogu na nebe, Slava (“Glory to the Sun”) A pupil of Rimsky-Korsakov at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, Arensky graduated with a gold medal, then became one of the youngest professors ever to teach at the Moscow Conservatory, where he was influenced by Tchaikovsky and Sergei Taneyev. Among his pupils were Rachmaninoff and Scriabin. He died at age 44 from tuberculosis, most likely exacerbated by his drinking. Sergei RACHMANINOFF Trio élégiaque No. 2 in D minor Op. 9 ▪ 1893 Dedicated “To the memory of a great artist,” the Trio is as worthy a memorial to Tchaikovsky, as much as Tchaikovsky’s A minor Piano Trio was to Nikolay Rubinstein in 1881. The connections between these memorial trios run deeper. Structurally, Rachmaninoff’s work is strongly based on Tchaikovsky’s—to the extent of having a set of variations as the second movement, and the thematic likeness of both variation themes implies that Rachmaninoff based his on Tchaikovsky’s. Completed in December 1893, just a month after Tchaikovsky’s death, it was first performed the following month in Moscow, with Rachmaninoff playing the piano part. Koussevitzky also had a meaningful relationship with Rachmaninoff. It was, in fact, profound and enduring, artistically and personally—from their early careers in Imperial Russia to their later years as exiles in the United States. For instance, Rachmaninoff played a vital role in launching Koussevitzky’s conducting career—he performed as the soloist for Koussevitzky’s high-profile conducting debut with the Berlin Philharmonic in 1908. And when Koussevitzky became the music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (serving from 1924 to 1949), he promoted Rachmaninoff’s works unfailingly. Following the 1917 Russian Revolution, after both men fled Russia and eventually settled in the United States, they remained close friends within the circle of Russian emigré musicians. Rachmaninoff even signed the Koussevitzky “friendship tablecloth” which the family brought with them to America. The signatures were later meticulously embroidered by various hands. |
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September 28 Swayed by Mozart
HAYDN String Duo in F Major Hob.VI:1 ▪ 1769 or early 1770s The sonatas were written to entertain his employer, Prince Nikolaus Esterházy, or for daily court events. Court musicians generally lived in Eisenstadt as they were not permitted to live at the Esterházy Palace. However, as Kapellmeister, Haydn’s special privileges included a house on the grounds of the country estate, where he was isolated but very productive. Mozart met Haydn in Vienna in December 1783. They admired each other and quickly developed a deep friendship. Mozart affectionately addressed Haydn as “Papa,” and they played impromptu quartets—Haydn on violin and Mozart playing viola. In 1785 Mozart sent his 6 string quartets to Haydn, influenced by and dedicated to Haydn: “I send my six sons to you, most celebrated and very dear friend…. During your last stay in this capital you yourself, my very dear friend, expressed to me your approval of these compositions…. Please then receive them kindly and be to them a father, guide and friend!” Haydn’s last day in Vienna was spent with Mozart. After they dined together Mozart said at their parting, “We are probably saying our last farewell in this life.” Tears welled from the eyes of both. Haydn was deeply moved, and it never occurred to him that Mozart’s life could end within a year. When Mozart died at age 35, Haydn was distraught: “I was for some time quite beside myself over his death. I cannot believe that Providence should so quickly have called an irreplaceable man into the next world.” He reiterated, “Posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years.” BEETHOVEN Gassenhauer Trio Op. 11 ▪ 1797 “No, this is not the punk band, but there is a rebelliously rude spirit imbedded in this early chamber work,” so stated the highly respected critic Fred Kirshnit. The genesis of the Trio from a Viennese alley is summarized by Kai Christiansen: “In October of 1797, a 26-year-old Beethoven was steadily gaining a reputation around Vienna as a fierce pianist with a gift for improvisation…. 1797 also witnessed the debut of Joseph Weigl’s comic opera L’Amor Marinaro (The Corsair) featuring a popular tune Pria ch’io l’impegno (Before beginning this awesome task, I need a snack) that would eventually inspire numerous variation sets by composers such as Hummel and Paganini. But Beethoven would be first. Apparently started in 1797 and published the following year, Beethoven’s Trio…offered a rather ‘genteel’ work…featuring a theme and variations finale on the jaunty tune frequently heard by night revelers about town, hence, the Trio’s…nickname, “Gassenhauer” (Street song)…. Apparently while composing the finale, Beethoven was unaware that Weigl was the original composer of the tune and became rather irritated upon discovering the fact. Thereafter, Beethoven intended to separate the variations from the trio as a standalone piece and compose an alternate finale, though he never followed through.” As Beethoven had written his major solo clarinet parts during the period 1796–1802 with Franz Josef Bähr in mind (he was impressed by his talent and tone), he probably thought the Austrian clarinetist would be suited for the Trio as well. Mozart had a big, lasting influence on Beethoven. Although his aspirations to study with him were never realized, Beethoven admired Mozart throughout his life, composing variations on several of his melodies. Max BRUCH String Quintet in Eb Major ▪ 1918 Michael Kube, the music scholar who edited the Quintet for Henle Verlag, commented that it “reflects virtually the entire tradition of nineteenth‐century chamber music, drawing stylistically on Mendelssohn (rather than Brahms) but transcending the limits of the genre with its sometimes brilliantly designed first violin part.” After Bruch’s death in 1920, the music vanished and was apparently never performed in public. The Quintet resurfaced in a private collection in 1991—it’s not Bruch’s autograph score but a copy by his daughter-in-law Gertrude (the wife of his eldest son Max Felix). Bruch’s own manuscript is still missing. In the 1930s Gertrude copied Bruch’s music manuscripts to help preserve his work, and to manage his estate and performing rights. The Quintet was eventually published in 2008 and premiered by the Henschel Quartet in London’s Wigmore Hall on 23 July 2008. Bruch, born in Cologne in 1838, some 50 years after Mozart’s death, was well aware of Mozart’s importance and was inspired by him. At age 14 he won the coveted Mozart-Stiftung Prize for a string quartet he had submitted. The award was recommended by the acclaimed composer and conductor Ferdinand Hiller, founder of the Cologne Conservatory. Hiller had heard a number of his works while visiting the Bruch home on occasion. It funded Bruch’s education to study with Hiller and Carl Reinecke, both of whom were deeply influenced by Mozart (they performed and taught his music). Bruch also wrote a symphony at age 14, and he later conducted orchestral and choral societies in Mannheim, Koblenz, Sondershausen, Berlin, Bonn, Liverpool, Breslau, and Wraclaw. His importance as a composer and to German musical life was finally acknowledged in 1890, when he was given a professorship and a master class in composition at the Hochschule für Musik (Berlin Academy). He held the post until his retirement in 1910, and died in Friedenau (now part of Berlin) in 1920. Bruch is best remembered for his Scottish Fantasy, Kol Nidrei, and 3 violin concerti. His music fell out of favor because he rebuffed the New German School, defending Romanticism instead, and carrying the banner for Mendelssohn and Schumann. Tovey on Bruch Sir Donald Francis Tovey enthused, “it is not easy to write as beautifully as Max Bruch…it is really easy for Bruch to write beautifully, it is in fact instinctive for him.… Further, it is impossible to find in Max Bruch any lapses from the standard of beauty which he thus instinctively sets himself.” Felix MENDELSSOHN Piano Quartet No. 3 in B minor Op. 3 ▪ 1825 Written at age 15, the Quartet was dedicated to Goethe, whom he had met in 1821 at age 12. The German philosopher was amazed by Felix’s musical talent, and they became very close friends despite their 60-year age difference. Abraham Mendelssohn, however, was doubtful of his son’s talent. In 1825, he took Felix and the manuscript of the Quartet to Paris to seek the opinion of Luigi Cherubini, one of Europe’s most respected composers. As recounted by George Marek, “Cherubini listened carefully—in spite, wrote Felix, of a very bad performance—smiled, got up, went over to Felix, and nodded his head. Then he said to the others present, ‘This boy is wealthy. He will do well, he has already done well. But he is spending too much money and he uses too much material for his clothes.’ This remark was obviously meant metaphorically. Whatever it meant, everybody was astonished. Cherubini approved: nothing like it had ever happened before.” Abraham was finally convinced that Felix had musical genius in him, not just youthful talent. The Quartet, in effect, launched Mendelssohn’s career. The rest, as they say, is history. Mendelssohn was greatly influenced by Mozart. He studied Mozart’s scores and integrated Mozart’s elegant form and graceful melodies with the expressive depth and emotional colors of Romanticism. Schumann called him the “Mozart of the 19th century.” |
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October 12 Bespoke Baroque
Georg Philipp TELEMANN Trio Sonata in F Major TWV 42:F1 ▪ 1716 or earlier In the art of the trio sonata, no composer surpassed Telemann in quantity or quality. He had the remarkable ability to draw on current international trends and inventively fashion them for nearly every instrumental combination. He famously stated in his 1718 autobiography, “In particular, people wished to persuade me that trios were my greatest strength, because I arranged them so that one voice would have as much to do as the other.” He credited this to his deliberate effort to balance the counterpoint, ensuring that each of the upper voices had equal importance and activity. “People even flattered me as having done my best work here.” If Vivaldi is brilliant and Bach profound, Telemann’s fecund imagination makes him unique among Baroque composers—his music is a bottomless pit of invention and delight. “A master of the principal styles of his time—German, Italian, and French—he could write with ease and fluency in any of them and often absorbed influences of Polish and English music. He composed equally as well for the church as for opera and concerts. His music was natural in melody, bold in harmonies, buoyant in rhythm, and beautifully orchestrated. Profound or witty, serious or light, it never lacked quality or variety” [Encyclopedia Brittanica].” Handel, his friend, would jokingly relate that Telemann “could write a church piece in eight parts with the same expedition another would write a letter.” Telemann (1681–1767) was largely self-taught in music. In 1701, at his mother’s insistence, he enrolled in the University of Leipzig as a law student, but soon realized that his passion was music. Within a year, he reorganized the collegium musicum (the student musical society) into an efficient amateur orchestra that gave public concerts, then a novelty. Telemann became not only the most prolific European composer of his time, he was also remarkably multi-talented. In addition to his long career as a composer, he was active as a music director of major courts and churches, and engraved and published his own music. And he traveled everywhere he could to learn about new music, even in his mid-80s—mostly in Germany, and a brief trip to France. He was also an avid gardener and exchanged bulbs and plants with the leading botanists of his time all across Europe. Telemann was the godfather of Bach’s son, Carl Philipp Emanuel. He influenced a younger generation of galantcomposers such as C.P.E Bach, who would set the stage for the Classical period. Carl Philipp Emanuel BACH Trio Sonata in D minor Wq. 145 ▪ 1731 The Trio Sonata for flute, oboe, and basso continuo is a revision of an earlier violin sonata, and was once mistakenly attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach and catalogued as BWV 1036. In the 1740s, after CPE became the keyboard player for Frederick the Great in Berlin, he revised many of his early works, including this Trio Sonata. It bears the stylistic characteristics of his early chamber works, bridging the late Baroque polyphonic rigor and his later Empfindsamer Stil of the early Classical period—the expressive, sensitive sensibilities. Peter Wollny, director of the Bach Archive Leipzig and editor of the complete works of CPE, wrote: “Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s trios for two treble instruments and basso continuo are among the most influential and artistically most demanding of the composer’s Berlin period. In these highly experimental works, Bach gradually achieved the transformation from the baroque trio sonata to the accompanied keyboard sonata and the classical keyboard trio.” Giuseppe TARTINI Sonata in G minor “Didone abbandonata” Op. 1 No. 1 ▪ circa 1731 The Baroque masterpiece, once forgotten, reached the peak of its popularity in the 19th century. The tragic story of Queen Dido of Carthage comes from Virgil’s epic poem, the Aeneid. Dido falls deeply in love with the hero Aeneas after the Trojan War. When Aeneas abruptly leaves her to fulfill his divine duty to found a new empire in Italy, a heartbroken Dido is left behind and ultimately stabs herself. The Sonata takes its inspiration from Pietro Metastasio’s dramatic libretto for the opera Dido and Aeneas by Domenico Sarro. Tartini laid the foundation of the modern school of bowing, promulgating a more singing manner. He also formulated principles of musical ornamentation and harmony. Born in 1692 in Pirano on the Istrian peninsula (now Slovenia), he “studied divinity and law at Padua and at the same time established a reputation as a fencer. Before the age of 20 he secretly married a protégée of the archbishop of Padua, resulting eventually in his arrest. Disguised as a monk, he fled from Padua and took refuge in a monastery at Assisi. There his violin playing attracted attention and ultimately influenced the archbishop to allow Tartini to return to his wife in Padua. In 1716 he went to Venice, later to Ancona, and eventually back to Padua, where he was appointed principal violinist at the Church of San Antonio in 1721. He directed the orchestra of the chancellor of Bohemia in Prague (1723–26), then returned once again to Padua, where he founded (1728) a school of violin playing and composition [Encyclopedia Britannica].” Tartini died in Padua in 1770. Among his numerous compositions are many sonatas and concertos for the violin, written in a style characterized as “a peculiar blend of lyricism, pathos and virtuosity, its violinistically conceived mannerisms, frequent echo effects, occasional cadence formulae are not mistakable for the work of any other composer [New Grove Dictionary].” Mozart’s father, Leopold, freely borrowed Tartini’s precepts of violin playing for his Violinschule of 1756. Tartini was also the first known owner of a Stradivarius violin. Johann Gottlieb GOLDBERG Trio Sonata in C Major DürG 13
▪ published 1860 or earlier Written in galant style for 2 violins and basso continuo (here adapted for flute and violin), the Sonata impresses with its contrapuntal vigor and harmonic adventure. Goldberg, born near Danzig in 1727, met Wilhelm Friedemann Bach in Dresden in 1737. The music patron Count von Keyserlingk, impressed with the boy’s musical skills, had taken him to Dresden to study with WFB. At the age of 10, Goldberg was already a virtuoso keyboard player with exceptional sight-reading facility. He then studied with Johann Sebastian Bach in Leipzig in 1746. The Bach variations were later composed for Goldberg to play for Keyserlingk, who suffered from insomnia. Goldberg died of tuberculosis at age 29 in 1756. In spite of his young age, he was described by a writer at the end of the 18th century as being on the same level as Bach and Handel. “Goldberg’s extant compositions show a musical style varying with genre and hypothetical chronology, from a style very close to J.S. Bach’s…to one far more galantand accessible to the Dresden audience (the polonaises…) and, perhaps finally, to an ambitious modern style calculated for Count Brühl’s orchestra and possibly influenced by the style of C.P.E. Bach…. It is not surprising that in approaching the works of this young and facile man it is difficult to find his ‘real’ musical style, though a love for syncopation, for wide-ranging melodies and especially for chromaticism runs through his works [New Grove Dictionary].” George Frideric HANDEL Oboe Sonata in C minor Op. 1 No. 8 ▪ 1711–1712 Written just after he moved to London following the success of his opera Rinaldo, the Sonata is one of a handful of works Handel composed for the oboe. The striking piece moves from a lyrical Largo with walking bass to an Allegro in imitative dialogue and a shadowy Adagio, and culminates in a lively Bourrée anglaise. Born in 1685, Handel grew up in a middle-class family in Halle, Germany. The son of a barber-surgeon, he showed exceptional talent from a young age. He received patronage and support from influential figures, which led him to Italy, where the music greatly influenced the development of his own musical style. As he gained recognition and composed numerous works, his fame spread throughout Italy, and his mastery of the Italian opera style made him an international figure. After his opera Rinaldo was greeted so enthusiastically in London, Handel sensed the possibility of continuing popularity and prosperity in England. In 1713 he gained royal favor by his Ode for the Queen’s Birthday and the Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate in celebration of the Peace of Utrecht, and was granted an annual allowance of £200 by Queen Anne. Except for a few visits to Europe, Handel spent the rest of his life in England. In 1727 he became a British subject, which enabled him to be appointed a composer of the Chapel Royal. Benedetto MARCELLO Sonata in F Major Op. 1 No. 1 / SF. 748 ▪ circa 1732 Marcello, born in Venice in 1686, juggled a dual career as a composer and magistrate. He was also a writer and theorist especially known for the satirical pamphlet Il teatro alla moda (1720)—it vented his opinions on the state of musical drama at the time, lampooning Vivaldi and other contemporaries under the guise of being a manual of instruction pertaining to opera. It was frequently reprinted and is an important document on the early history of opera. His father, at first, encouraged Benedetto’s interests in music and literature, but then directed him towards a legal career. In 1707 he was chosen to serve on the Grand Council of the Republic, which paved the way to a succession of important posts in pubic service, including membership of the Venetian Council of Forty in 1711, and in 1730 the governorship of the Istrian city of Pola. After 8 years he retired to Brescia as papal chamberlain, and died there of tuberculosis. Marcello’s compositions include operas, oratorios, cantatas, concerti, and sonatas; and notably, his Estro poeticoarmonico (1724–26)—settings in cantata style for voices and instruments of the first 50 psalms in an Italian paraphrase by G. Giustiniani. In the view of Michael Talbot, “Marcello’s music, varied in style, is always characterized by imagination, originality and a sparkling technique. His galant sensibilities are demonstrated in the later concertos and sinfonias, which are much influenced by Vivaldi, and some of the harpsichord sonatas; his more conservative contrapuntal leanings achieve appropriate expression in the church music. Both tendencies are…ingenious, dramatic, athletic and even humorous to a degree rarely matched by his Italian contemporaries [New Grove Dictionary].” Antonio VIVALDI Chamber Concerto in G minor RV 107 ▪ 1716 Although the title indicates a “Concerto,” the short work is chamber music written in his perfected concerto form, wherein the individual instruments move between roles, solo display, accompaniment, and the secondary melody. Venice in the 18th century was a musical mecca, and its magnet was Vivaldi (1678–1741). His innovations were influential (extending to Bach and beyond) and left a distinctive mark on the form of the concerto and on the late Baroque instrumental style. Trained for the priesthood and ordained in 1703, Vivaldi soon abandoned his priestly duties that year to teach at and compose for the Ospedale della Pietà, a home for foundling girls. Founded in 1336, the Ospedale accepted unwanted babies born in and out of wedlock to both the poor and rich, provided the infant was small enough to fit in the scaffetta, a sort of revolving drawer that could be accessed from both sides of the stone wall. To this day, a marble plaque set in the wall of Santa Maria della Pietà (the church affiliated with the Ospedale) invokes the warning of Pope Paul III in 1548 of dire consequences for parents abandoning children there if they could afford to raise them. The most talented were trained as singers and instrumentalists who became members of its celebrated choir and orchestra. One visitor recounted, “They sing like angels, play the violin, the recorder, the organ, the oboe, the cello, the bassoon; in fact, there is no instrument large enough to frighten them.” Visitors from near and afar flocked to the Pietà’s spectacular weekend concerts, drawn by the music’s energy, passion, lyricism, instrumental color, and simple dramatic effects. A prolific composer, Vivaldi wrote with incredible speed, week after week, producing more than 500 concertos for various solo instruments. The 1720s were the zenith of his career, which declined in the 1730s. In 1740 he traveled to Vienna, but he fell ill and died—the simplicity of his funeral on 28 July 1741 suggests he was in considerable poverty. His huge collection of musical manuscripts, comprising mainly autograph scores of his own works, was bound into 27 large volumes. They were acquired first by the Venetian bibliophile Jacopo Soranzo and later by Count Giacomo Durazzo, Christoph Gluck’s patron. The sensational discovery of the scores in Turin in 1926 eventually led to the Vivaldi Renaissance. In 1939 Alfredo Casella, the unwavering advocate of Italian New Music, organized a Vivaldi Week to “document all aspects of the towering musical figure dubbed “prete rosso” (he had red hair). 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October 26 Jens @ 95
BRAHMS Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel Op. 24 ▪ 1861 The regal Baroque theme was borrowed from the elegant aria in Handel’s Harpsichord Suite No. 1 HWV 434, written in 1733, and expanded by 25 diverse variations and a triumphant fugue. Brahms had told the violinist Joseph Joachim, his close friend, that it was important for the variation form to “be kept stricter, purer.” The old masters, Brahms observed, were rigorous in their use of ground bass and other variation techniques, whereas he and his contemporaries tended to “rummage around the theme. We keep anxiously to the melody, but we do not treat it freely, do not actually create anything new from it, but only load it down. Thus, the melody is barely recognizable.” In the words of musicologist Harry Haskell, the Variations culminate “in a long fugue of Bachian intricacy and splendor. The work constitutes an impressive catalogue of variation techniques and musical styles, from simple dances to finger-twisting etudes and wistful romances. But even more noteworthy, in light of the importance Brahms attached to the harmonic foundation of the theme, is the dazzling array of bass patterns he creates—crisply marching basses, smoothly descending chromatic lines, strummed chords, billowing arpeggios and scales, drumbeat-style repeating figures and even drones (in the tinkly ‘music box’ Variation 22). Small wonder that when Brahms played the Handel Variations for Richard Wagner in 1864, the prophet of the ‘Artwork of the Future’ remarked admiringly, ‘One sees what may still be done in the old forms when someone comes along who knows how to use them.’” HAYDN Scottish Songs ▪ 1791 Haydn arranged over 400 Scottish, Welsh, and Irish folk songs between 1791 and 1805. During the late 1700s and early 1800s, publishers commissioned Europe’s prominent composers to add piano and violin accompaniments to traditional folk tunes for a burgeoning market—the wealthy amateur musicians who played them at home. Haydn made arrangements of 100 Scottish songs during his first visit to London. He did this as a favor to help save the publisher William Napier, who had filed for bankruptcy, from debtor’s prison. This first collection, dedicated to the Duchess of York and published in 1792, sold quickly and Napier paid Haydn 60 guineas from the revenue. Haydn arranged an additional 150 songs for a doubled fee of 120 guineas during his second London visit; these were published in 1795 (most were Scottish, several were Welsh and Irish, as well as some English airs). Later, between 1799 and 1805, Haydn arranged 200 Scottish, Welsh, and Irish melodies for the folk song collector, George Thomson of Edinburgh. (His pupil Sigismund von Neukomm occasionally helped an aging Haydn with the work between 1803 and 1805.) Haydn’s sensitivity to the character of the tunes is remarkable, considering that all he had to work with was only the melody line of each song. The publisher would later attach the titles and texts. Fritz KREISLER Farewell to Cucullain ▪ 1922 The poignant melody pierces with lyrical depth, lush harmonies, and expressive phrasing, characteristic of Kreisler’s salon miniatures. In 1851, a woman named Jane Ross notated the tune after hearing a blind street fiddler play it in the town of Limavady in County Londonderry. She sent the tune to George Petrie, the antiquarian and collector of Irish folk music. Petrie published the melody as an anonymous work in his 1855 book, The Ancient Music of Ireland, crediting Jane Ross and the county as its source. The title refers to Cú Chulainn, a legendary warrior hero from Irish mythology. Kreisler (1875–1962) is regarded as one of the greatest violinists of all time. He was known for his sweet tone and expressive phrasing, and his style is reminiscent of the gemütlich lifestyle of prewar Vienna. Numerous colleagues have heaped praise on him; a sampling of 3 follows: Nathan Milstein “The influence of Fritz Kreisler will be a lasting one” ~ Pablo Casals “I salute to him the last crowned head of the Joachim-Sarasate-Ysaÿe dynasty” ~ Jascha Heifetz “At the beginning of my career I tried to imitate Kreisler.” Born in Vienna, Kreisler began to learn the violin at age 4 with his father, a doctor and enthusiastic amateur violinist. At age 7 he was the youngest ever to enter the Vienna Conservatory, where he studied violin for 3 years. He won a gold medal at age 10, an unprecedented distinction. He then studied composition and violin at the Paris Conservatoire. After a successful concert tour in the United States in 1888–1889, he returned to Vienna to study medicine. Then he studied art in Paris and Rome and served as an officer in the Austrian army. In 1899 he resumed concertizing and became one of the most successful virtuosos of his time. In 1910 Kreisler premiered Edward Elgar’s Violin Concerto (dedicated to him) with the London Symphony Orchestra and Elgar conducting; it was a triumph. After 1915 he lived mainly in the United States but continued to tour widely in Europe. In 1941 he was struck by a truck in New York City and nearly died from the injuries; although he recovered, his playing and hearing were never the same. He died in New York in 1962. Carl Maria von WEBER Schottische Lieder ▪ 1825 George Thomson, the folk song collector who engaged Haydn and Beethoven for his folk song projects, asked Weber to arrange Scottish national melodies, which he scored for voice and chamber quartet. The accompaniments are written sensitively, with a colorful expressive palette in an early German Romantic manner. Composed toward the end of his life, the songs were intended for the Scottish market, set to English and Scots lyrics. But these arrangements were also widely published with lyrics in German translation. Sir Hamilton HARTY Piano Quintet in F Major Op. 12 ▪ circa 1904 Andrew Clements of the Guardian proclaimedthe beautiful Quintet “a real discovery: a big, bold statement full of striking melodic ideas and intriguing harmonic shifts, which adds Brahms and Dvořák into Harty’s stylistic mix, together with Tchaikovsky in some passages.” There’s folk music charm as well, reminiscent of Percy Grainger—notably in the Scherzo with its folksy quirks and nonchalance, and the winding, pentatonic melody in the Lento. Born in County Down, Harty (1879–1941) was a remarkable, fascinating, mercurial, witty, and mostly self-taught musician. He moved to London in 1900 and soon gained a reputation as a promising composer and “the prince of accompanists.” In addition, he established himself as a conductor, and was noted as an interpreter of the music of Berlioz. During World War I he frequently appeared in Manchester with the Hallé Orchestra, becoming its permanent conductor in 1920, and making it probably the best orchestra in England. He introduced many new works and composers to his audiences, including the music of Bax, Sibelius, Berlioz, Walton, and Strauss. His tenure, however, ended in resignation and acrimony in 1933. Harty was also conductor with the London Symphony Orchestra from 1932 to 1935. He was knighted in 1925, and died in Brighton in 1941. We are grateful to Queen’s University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, for providing a copy of the autograph manuscript for our performances. |
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November 2 In Beethoven’s Steps
Marie Leopoldine BLAHETKA Nocturne No. 1 Op. 46 ▪ late 1840s Blahetka’s Nocturne is a departure from the traditional, calm nocturnes of Chopin and John Field in its use of grand concerto-like gestures—bold virtuosity, complex passage work, and pervasive polonaise rhythms. The technical demands equal those of ballades and etudes. It was possibly written as an homage to Chopin, her friend. Leopoldine created quite a stir in Vienna when she performed Beethoven’s 2nd Piano Concerto in 1819 at the age of 10. Born in 1809 into is musical family, her father Joseph Leopold was a close friend of Beethoven, who guided the piano prodigy’s musical education and kept an eye on her career. Joseph was a math teacher, amateur musician, and music journalist. Her mother played the glass harmonica and gave Leopoldine her first music lessons. She then studied with Friedrich Kalkbrenner and Ignaz Moscheles, and with Joseph Czerny, whom Beethoven recommended. Beethoven had recently engaged Joseph Czerny (no relation to Carl) to teach his nephew Karl. Joseph’s biographical sketch reveals that Beethoven advised Leopoldine to play only Mozart for an entire year, which she did by playing all of Mozart’s keyboard music. Beethoven also helped her develop improvisation skills. He continued to follow her career until his death in 1827. Joseph was a torchbearer at his funeral. In 1821, at the age of 12, Blahetka and her mother went on her first tour of Europe. In Frankfurt, a critic hailed her as “an extraordinary piano player” with a solid technique and “an excellent pearly touch.” Schumann, in a review, judged her playing as “truly feminine, delicate, thoughtful and well-crafted.” He was also very impressed by her compositions. In 1828, the year she turned 19, Blahetka appeared at a Viennese charity concert with Paganini. That same year, after Chopin’s concert in Vienna, he disclosed, “Blahetka’s daughter…is the first pianist of Vienna. She must like me (nota bene, she is not 20 yet; living at home; a clever and even pretty girl); she gave me her own compositions with an autograph inscription, for a keepsake, when I left.” Blahetka continued to concertize in Europe and in London, as well as compose and teach for 40 years. Her concertizing, however, ended in 1832 when her father became ill. She never married and died in 1885 in Boulogne-sur-Mer. Carl CZERNY Nonet in Eb Major ▪ 1850 Fanfare raved, “An explosion of concert fireworks! What a discovery!” Czerny (1791–1857)—the prolific Austrian composer, pianist, and teacher of Bohemian origin—studied with Beethoven for 3 years from the age of 10, and became his assistant and lifelong friend. Beethoven’s influence was immeasurable. Czerny was chosen to give the first Vienna performance of the “Emperor” Concerto in 1812. He also gave weekly concerts at his home, devoted exclusively to Beethoven’s piano music. Beethoven himself attended many of these concerts. Czerny later taught Liszt and Beethoven’s nephew Karl. As one of Beethoven’s most notable pupils, Czerny had to compete with his master’s shadow. He was anointed by the public as Beethoven’s disciple, and was expected to continue Beethoven’s legacy and musical genius. Instead, Czerny was arguably the greatest pianist who never performed, and the most successful composer to have been consigned to oblivion—his compositions of over 800 opus numbers and mounds of unpublished manuscripts remain largely untapped. He recalled, “I composed every free minute I had, especially in the evening.” He often worked on three to four pieces simultaneously—“it explains easily how my opus numbers soon rose to 100, 200, 300, etc., without counting my equally numerous arrangements, which always remained unnumbered.” He is today remembered mostly for the technical etudes that are still inflicted on piano students 170 years after his death. BEETHOVEN Violin Sonata No. 9 “Kreutzer” Op. 47 ▪ 1803 The Sonata was originally composed for the prodigy George Bridgetower, known as the “African Prince” in London. His father was West Indian or Barbadian and his mother, German. In 1803 Bridgetower met Beethoven in Vienna. Impressed with the virtuoso, Beethoven wrote the Sonata with Bridgetower’s artistry in mind. Both the composition and arrangements for the premiere on 24 May 1803 were done in great haste: Beethoven supposedly completed the piece at 4:30 AM, before the sun rose the morning of the premiere, but the copyist failed to complete the solo violin part in time for the most unusual early concert time of 8 AM. This meant that Bridgetower had to sightread most of the piece, and was forced to read the second movement of the score by looking over Beethoven’s shoulder at the piano! Nonetheless the premiere was a success, but their friendship soon ruptured when Beethoven was offended by an unflattering remark that Bridgetower made about a woman Beethoven respected. Hence the dedication was made to the French violinist Rodolphe Kreutzer shortly before its publication in 1805. Kreutzer abhorred Beethoven’s music, declared the Sonata “outrageously unintelligible,” and never performed it. Bridgetower, although embittered by the rededication, kept Beethoven’s gift of a tuning fork, now preserved in the British Library. |
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November 16 Freemasons
Jean SIBELIUS 5 Pieces for Violin and Piano Op. 81 ▪ 1915–1918 The “Mazurka” beguiles with a brooding melody, leaps and slides ▪ 1915 Although written during the tumultuous years of the First World War, the music shuns the war’s tragedies, each piece imbued with an abundance of charm and melodic freshness. Sibelius had begun violin studies at age 15, but gave up his dream of becoming a violin virtuoso at age 25, rationalizing that “I was at an age when one chases chimeras.” Nonetheless, his knowledge of the instrument served him well in his numerous chamber works, as in the 5 Pieces, and also in his own Violin Concerto. The War severely affected Sibelius’s finances. Because much of his music was published by German firms, his royalties dwindled to a trickle for 5 years. To make ends meet, he composed smaller pieces for Finnish publishers. Sibelius privately resented these miniatures, bitterly referring to them as “bread-canvases” written out of financial desperation. He had little choice but to remain in creative isolation at his beloved home, Ainola. During the first weeks of the war, some of his acquaintances were killed in the violence, and his brother, the psychiatrist Christian Sibelius, was arrested for refusing to reserve beds for Red soldiers who had suffered shell shock at the front. Under duress, Sibelius started drinking again in 1917. On 6 December 1917 (after the Russian Revolution), Finland declared its independence from Russia, only to have the Finnish Civil War erupt shortly after in January 1918. Communist Red Guards took control of the Järvenpää region and placed Sibelius under house arrest. His financial situation became so dire that he was forced to sell the family horse for food and fodder. His friends in Helsinki were now also worried for his safety. The composer Robert Kajanus negotiated with the Red Guard commander to escort Sibelius and his family to Helsinki, where they lived with Christian until German troops defeated the Red forces in mid-April, ending the conflict. His major work from these years was the Fifth Symphony. In the mid-18th century, Freemasonry existed in Finland when it was part of Sweden, but it was banned after Finland became part of Russia in 1809. After over a century, Sibelius was one of the pioneers who brought Freemasonry back to the country. “In early 1922, after Finland had established its independence, a new Masonic lodge was formed—Suomi Lodge No.1. Among its first members was Jean Sibelius, who initially served as the lodge’s organist. At lodge meetings, Sibelius would play the harmonium, performing music by Mozart, Beethoven and Handel as well as improvising—at times so enthusiastically that he would have to be called to order by the Grand Master. It was also suggested that Sibelius should compose ‘special, genuinely Finnish music for the lodge’, but this did not happen until some years later, when he received a proper commission—and a fee—for the task. His Masonic Ritual Music, or Musique religieuse, received its first complete performance on 12th January 1927, but Sibelius returned to the work some twenty years later, adding two movements—Ode to Fraternity and Hymn—which are believed to be his last original compositions [BIS Records].” His masonic works are some of his greatest compositions. BEETHOVEN Piano Trio No. 1 in Eb Major Op. 1 No. 1 ▪ 1795 The Trio reveals his assimilation of the high Classical style, but in his distinctive personal manner—from the first Mozartean movement in a Beethovenian voice, generous with musical ideas, to his expansionist tendencies in the coda. Beethoven made an imposing statement when his three Op. 1 piano trios were performed at one of the soirées of his early and loyal patron Prince Karl von Lichnowsky. Haydn, one of the invited guests, remarked on their bold originality: “You give me the impression of a man with more than one head, more than one heart and more than one soul!” His first great patron in Bonn, Count Ferdinand Waldstein, recorded in his personal album, “You will receive the spirit of Mozart from the hands of Haydn.” More than a decade after publication, Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung proclaimed the trios “Strong, powerful, and moving.” He had labored over the extensive revisions before Artaria printed them, secretly subsidized by Prince Lichnowsky. Music writer Thomas May explained, “Beethoven’s first official declaration in print as a composer was a stunning success, both critically and commercially.... Even more, Beethoven’s successful assessment of the public demand for new pianoforte-centered chamber music allowed him to establish a formidable identity with Vienna’s leading publishers. The biographer Lewis Lockwood points out that, as a result, ‘he thought about composition and publication from early on as a single large-scale enterprise.’” Although there is no Lodge record for Beethoven, there is evidence that he was a Freemason. Many of his friends and colleagues were Masons and there are several references to Masonry in his voluminous correspondence, Tagebuch (diary), and compositions. In addition, his presence at concerts given with full masonic rites is documented; presumably, a requirement for attendance would have been a Brotherhood membership. Beethoven scholar Maynard Solomon asserts that “there are substantial indications that Beethoven was favorably disposed toward Freemasonry, was familiar with its language, shared some of its main intellectual interests, and, on occasion, seemed to have identified himself as a Masonic sympathizer. Certainly many of his closest friends, teachers, patrons, and associates were connected with the Masonic movement, and many had formerly been actual members of Masonic organizations and especially of the Order of Illuminati…. In addition…there are a variety of linguistic expressions in Beethoven’s letters or notations on leaves of sketches that may have Masonic overtones. Foremost among these are numerous references to ‘fraternity’ and its cognates…. Thus, it may be meaningful that Beethoven used the salutation ‘Dear Brother’ or some variant of it in letters to Franz Anton Hoffmeister…. Viennese censors were expert in spotting potentially subversive ideas, yet they chose to allow the expression of Masonic or quasi-Masonic viewpoints—such as those that may be found in The Creation, Fidelio, and the Ninth Symphony—and to permit countless performances of [Mozart’s] Die Zauberflote despite its frankly Masonic text, imagery, and social perspectives. What this may suggest is that…they were often tolerant of the expression of rationalist ideas and Masonic symbols, for these could serve as an escape valve for a discontented populace…. In all likelihood, then, Freemasonry was an important stimulus to Beethoven’s way of thinking about universal issues of being and morality; aspects of its doctrines and ritual procedures contributed to the mental framework within which, in his fifth decade, he strove to reformulate his understanding of the self, the deity, and the world.… Freemasonry offered a vocabulary for the formulations of ideas of service, purification, and transcendence…. Taken as a whole, the Tagebuch gives evidence of a sea change in Beethoven’s way of experiencing the world.” Louis SPOHR Septet in A minor Op. 147 ▪ 1853 Although George Bernard Shaw wrote off the Septet as “a shining river of commonplaces, plagiarisms, and reminiscences,” it is one of Spohr’s most admired chamber masterworks. Inspired after a trip to England, Spohr, in his 70th year, composed this bewitching piece of astonishing freshness and vitality, his lifelong love of Mozart still omnipresent. His pupil Jean Joseph Bott played the demanding piano part from manuscript at a subscription concert in Kassel, after performing as soloist Spohr’s 15th Violin Concerto earlier in the evening! Spohr (1784–1859) was a dominant force in German music; he was as famous as Mozart and regarded as the equal of Beethoven. Sometimes called “The Forgotten Master,” he is considered the greatest classical violinist of his time, and one of the most admired and respected composers in his day. Contemporaries thought he was even superior to Schubert, Weber, Mendelssohn, and Berlioz. Spohr served in a number of court positions, he was the celebrated leading violin virtuoso, he was one of the most sought-after and prolific composers of the first half of the 19th century, and is considered a forerunner of early Romanticism. He also was an ideas man—he invented the chin rest, introduced the use of the baton and rehearsal numbers, developed the double quartet after Andreas Romberg first proposed the idea, revived the music of Bach and Handel, and he was the author of an influential violin method, as well as a wonderful autobiography that included details his many travels throughout Europe. In addition to his musical activities, he was a family man who enjoyed a happy social life and varied pursuits like swimming, ice skating, hiking, gardening, and painting. Spohr stood at 6 foot 6 inches, which he himself described as “my imposing height” and “my Herculean frame.” In 1805, Spohr was appointed concertmaster for the court of Gotha. The next year, the Lodge in Gotha named “Ernst zum Kompass” (Ernest of the Compasses) was revived under the rule of Emil Leopold August, an enthusiast for cultural and intellectual pursuits. (The Lodge had been disbanded in 1793 when all Masonic lodges were suppressed throughout Germany.) Spohr’s interest in liberal politics led to his membership of the Gotha Lodge on 12 October 1807, and he became an active Freemason. As explained by his biographer Clive Brown, “Spohr’s independent character found a fertile soil for its development, his beliefs in essential human dignity, and in the supremacy of merit over privilege, of which the foundations had been laid in his parents’ house, were confirmed and strengthened during his time in Gotha. Spohr will have come into contact with the ideas of the Illuminati, who were certainly active again in Gotha between 1807 and 1812…and among his acquaintances in the Gotha Lodge was Rudolf Zacharias Becker…some of whose radical political views were later to be reflected in Spohr’s own political opinions.” Furthermore, Philippe Autexier’s research based on previously unknown letters and Masonic documents discovered “details about Spohr’s encounters with prominent Masons in the Gotha and Frankfurt lodges and on his travels, establishes the correct dates of his Masonic ceremonies, identifies the poet of the text for the hymn Der Kompass (WoO 89), and presents six Masonic texts Spohr is likely to have set, but for which no music seems to have survived.” |
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November 30 Swiss Bliss
BEETHOVEN 6 Variations on a Swiss Song WoO 64 ▪ 1790 Music editor Willard Palmer explained, “…the melody and the words may be found in almost any late eighteenth-century or early nineteenth-century collection of old Swiss or German folk tunes. Among the most famous collections that include it are those of Reichardt, Herder and Müller. These sources date between 1781 and 1789. While some nineteenth-century sources present the text of this song with as many as eleven verses, and with some changes in the words to the original stanzas, only seven verses were known when Beethoven wrote his variations, and the song was very popular. Goethe was said to be very fond of this song, which he describes as ‘a charming story of peasant love.’ The poet Herder wrote, ‘The melody is light and soaring like a lark, and the dialect swings the words along in a way that can scarcely be appreciated when one simply sees them on paper.’ Perhaps the most amusing aspect of this work is Beethoven’s use of the staccato notes to imitate the clipped Swiss-German dialect. This piece provides an excellent example of the composer’s use of three kinds of articulation marks, namely the wedge which indicated a normal staccato (not necessarily accented); the dot which was held a bit longer, and the dot under the slur, which was held still longer. It will be noted by those who have even a slight knowledge of the German language that the dialect used in the poem has staccato characteristics.’” The piece was first published in Bonn by Simrock in 1798. Joachim RAFF La fée d’amour “The Love Fairy” Op. 67 ▪ 1854 The dashing and lyrical Romantic work, influenced by Mendelssohn and Liszt, transfixes with fast string-crossing, delicate ornamentation, and melodies in the high register. It was dedicated to his friend and pupil Edmund Singer, concertmaster of Liszt’s Weimar Orchestra, who premiered it. Sarasate played La fée d’amour in nearly every concert he performed, either with full orchestra or in Raff’s reduction for violin and piano. Mark Thomas, the leading authority on Raff, sheds light on the events in 1854, in particular, Raff’s rift with Liszt and its connection as it pertains to La fée: “As 1854 began Raff was still assimilating the effect on him of Wagner’s music. He spent the Winter working on his book Die Wagnerfrage (The Wagner Question), which was a critical review of Lohengrin. When it was published in the Summer it caused a storm. Liszt took offence straight away because Raff hadn’t shown him the manuscript before publication. He hastily distanced himself from the book, saying that Raff was on ‘shaky ground.’ Liszt was always very tolerant of Raff’s idiosyncrasies, however, so more serious for Raff’s position in Weimar was the adverse reaction of his friends amongst Liszt’s circle…. Raff’s need to assert his independence had led him to begin the process of distancing himself from the smothering embrace of Liszt’s circle and their unquestioning adherence to Liszt and Wagner’s Zukunftsmusik. No doubt his later abhorrence of musical factions and attempt to steer a middle course between the opposing musical camps represented by Brahms and Wagner dated from this painful experience. Whilst he was enduring the self-inflicted problems brought on by Die Wagnerfrage, he still found time to compose…. Already rather divorced from Liszt’s circle, it was inevitable that Raff’s membership of the Neu-Weimarverein was a short one. He resigned in March 1855 after a series of disagreements. His relationship with the magnanimous Liszt didn’t seem to be affected though…. Liszt also assisted him in staging a concert which would at last showcase his recent compositions. At Weimar’s Grand Ducal Theatre on 20 April 1855 he conducted the première of four large scale orchestral works…[including La fée]. Liszt was particularly impressed with it: ‘Raff can go a long time without anything else, now that he’s done this,’ but despite much local acclaim nothing came of the concert. No publishers wanted to take up the works.” Raff was born in Lachen, on Lake Zurich in 1822. The first half of his life was afflicted by poverty and obscurity. Entirely self taught, his early pieces won praise from Schumann. After he met Liszt in 1845, he benefited from Liszt’s legendary generosity. From 1850, for almost 7 years, he slaved away for Liszt as his assistant and secretary, while developing his own musical style. After he freed himself from Liszt’s overbearance in 1856, the second half of Raff’s life was blessed with growing fame and public and critical recognition. His symphonies were received with great acclaim and he was regarded by his contemporaries as the peer of Brahms and Wagner. He was also as progressive an educator as he was a composer. Appointed founding director of the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt in 1877, he quickly persuaded Clara Schumann to teach piano, the only woman on the faculty. He even oversaw the creation of a class for women composers—the first of its kind in Germany. Raff died of a heart attack in 1882. August WALTER Octet in Bb Major Op. 7 ▪ 1849 / revised 1863 Born in Stuttgart to the confectioner August Nikolaus, Walter (1821–1896) was an apprentice as a pastry chef before turning to music. He studied the violin and composition with Bernhard Molique, followed by further studies with Simon Sechter in Vienna. In 1846 he assumed the post of music director in Basel. After a rocky start because of dissatisfaction with the string section of the local orchestra, Walter developed a deep connection with the musicians and spent most of the subsequent 50 years of his life in Basel. As a teacher, he instilled a sense of professionalism. His concert programs spanned the Renaissance, Baroque, and German Romantic periods; and they included his own compositions as well as those of his Swiss colleagues, Hans Huber and Friedrich Hegar. Walter met Brahms in 1865 and corresponded with him and with many other contemporary composers, including Louis Spohr, the dedicatee of 3 of his string quartets written in 1845. His biggest success as a composer was his Symphony in Eb Major, which was widely performed, and by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra as well. Together with his colleagues Ernst Reiter and Alfred Volkland, Walter played a significant role in establishing Basel as a flourishing city of music. In 1884, his adopted city made him a citizen of both Basel and of Switzerland “in recognition of his achievements in the field of music.” His two wives, Josephine Walter-Fastlinger and especially Anna Walter-Strauß, were in demand as concert singers. Hermann GOETZ Piano Quintet in C minor Op. 16 ▪ 1874 The manuscript of this deeply moving, gorgeous work bears an anguished quote of suffering from Goethe, in awareness of his rapidly deteriorating health from tuberculosis. He died in 1876, four days before his 36th birthday. Goetz’s life, in a nutshell, is told by Christopher Fifield: “Hermann Goetz was born in 1840 at Königsberg...the son of a brewer. He fulfilled his long-standing desire to become a musician at the age of twenty when he went to Berlin’s Stern Conservatoire in 1860. Of his teachers there, the most significant was the pianist and conductor Hans von Bülow, Liszt’s son-in-law. Three years later Goetz moved to Winterthur in Switzerland to work as a church organist and attempt to cure the tuberculosis he had contracted in childhood. Brahms visited in 1865, and they became uneasy friends (not uncommon in relationships with the greater man), but two years later Goetz enjoyed an annus mirabilis when he married, resumed contact with von Bülow and met [Joachim] Raff, who recommended him to the music publishers Breitkopf und Härtel.” His opera Der Widerspenstigen Zähmung was presented in Vienna, and his great admirers included the conductor Felix Weingartner and George Bernard Shaw. The New Grove Dictionary assessed Goetz’s music as “the expression of a sensitive and refined artistic personality, averse to any hint of vulgarity, yet the cordial judgments of generations of critics have not succeeded in establishing his works in their deserved permanent place in the standard repertory.” Jens Nygaard performed his Piano Concerto No. 2 in Bb Major in 1999 at Good Shepherd Church. |
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December 7 Brahms’s Wide Web
Theodor KIRCHNER Nur Tropfen: Ganz kleine Stücke Op. 66 ▪ 1880s A skilled miniaturist and undisputed master of the character piece—a short free-form work—the suite was likely written in the 1880s, though not published till shortly before his death in 1903. Superbly crafted, the charming pieces are little gems, little masterpieces. Kirchner wrote hundreds of such pieces, often several at a time, and published them together, each with a different mood and feel and each perfect in its own way. His oeuvre of more than 1,000 compositions are mostly short and for the piano, although he also wrote some very appealing chamber music as well. He was especially influenced by Schumann’s music. Essentially forgotten, Kirchner (1823–1903) was Brahms’s close friend, from their first meeting in 1865 until Brahms’s death in 1897. He was also Schumann’s protégé, Mendelssohn’s pupil at the Leipzig Conservatory on a royal scholarship, Wagner’s accompanist, Dvořák’s arranger, dedicatee of Reger’s second Violin Sonata, Clara Schumann’s lover (a brief, discreet, unhappy liaison in the early 1860s), and the would-be lover of the poet and writer Mathilde Wesendonck, immortalized by Wagner’s “Wesendonck Songs.” Kirchner was universally admired as a marvelous musician—a celebrated pianist, organist, and composer in his own right—but he could not maintain a job or marriage, and his gambling addiction and spendthrift ways led to destitution in his later years, so much so that his publisher and friends, including Brahms, bailed him out of debt, as did Clara Schumann. The scholar Julia Nauhaus discovered that “Clara…tried to argue Kirchner out of his passion for gambling. She paid his debts and gave him money which, however, he gambled away again despite his promises to the contrary. Kirchner was one of the few people whom Clara Schumann allowed to address her on first-name terms. After Clara realized that she would not be able to change Kirchner and have any real influence on him, it was no longer possible for her to have a familiar relationship with him. In July 1864, she therefore wrote a letter to him in which she restored the distance and returned to formal addressing. After that, it seems she did not see him ever again. She was deeply disappointed by his behavior and one year later she called Kirchner a ‘big rascal.’” Anton RUBINSTEIN Romance in Eb Major Op. 44 No. 1 ▪ 1859 Romance is the first piece from his piano cycle Soirées à Saint-Pétersbourg, an album of miniatures for solo piano. When Rubinstein played the salon piece, audiences were said to swoon; it didn’t take long for amateurs to play it in dimly-lit European salons. Rubinstein was fond of the melody and later used it in the art song, “A Dream” Op. 83, No. 10. Frank Sinatra liked the melody, too. After was transformed into the song “If You Are But a Dream” by the songwriting trio of Moe Jaffe, Jack Fulton, and Nat Bond in 1941, Sinatra recorded his iconic version in late 1944. It became a huge commercial hit. Rubinstein was founder of the St. Petersburg Conservatory and Russia’s first great pianist, whose virtuosity rivaled that of Liszt. Grützmacher was a German cellist and composer who shaped 19th-century cello playing. He served as principal cellist in Leipzig and Dresden and wrote rigorous etudes for developing cello technique, still in use today. Anton Rubinstein and Brahms were not close friends; and Rubinstein was critical of Brahms’s early complex style, remarking that he could “not see anything in” Brahms’s music. Nonetheless, they had some good times together in their 20s. Although Catherine Drinker Bowen’s lively biography of Rubinstein (1939) is not entirely reliable, she disclosed that Rubinstein met Brahms in Hanover in 1856. “Rubinstein, for instance, remained bitterly anti-Wagner all his life, but he never became pro-Brahms. Slavic inheritance and a Mendelssohnian education made Rubinstein a melodist pure and simple, for whom Brahms’ music proved turgid, over-rich harmonically….. Whatever he may have thought of their music, Rubinstein enjoyed the company of these men [Brahms, Julius Grimm, and Joachim] who looked upon their art with such deep seriousness…. Brahms was by nature what Rubinstein longed to be—a composer-pianist. Rubinstein was a pianist-composer…. Rubinstein was jealous of Brahms and said so now and again, roaring his distress quite frankly, like a child…. Liszt and Brahms were often in Vienna that winter [1871–1872]; Anton was personally very fond of them both, but their creative musical aims remained very wide of his…. Once, when Liszt, Brahms and Rubinstein were in the room together, a finger was pointed, a voice called, ‘The Triumvirate!’ There was silence until, pointing at Liszt, Anton said aloud, ‘Caesar!’ Then, pointing to himself, ‘Brutus!’ and at Brahms, ‘Lepidus!’…. [In the winter of 1872 in New York, as] composer, the name of Rubinstein was classed with Brahms and Raff—music not quite so disagreeable as Brahms’ and not quite so pleasing a Raff’s.” Ferruccio BUSONI Suite in G minor ▪ circa 1881 Born near Florence in 1866, Busoni composed the Suite for his father to perform on tour. Fernando Busoni was a virtuoso clarinetist who commissioned his teenage son to provide a steady supply of works for his concerts. Born in 1866, the Italian prodigy met Brahms and Anton Rubinstein at age 9. Upon the urging of Brahms in 1886, Busoni moved to the cultural center of Leipzig, where he met Tchaikovsky, who took a keen interest in him. When he won the first Rubinstein competition, Tchaikovsky described the 24-year old laureate as “remarkably interesting” and with a “brilliant mind,” who “will soon be talked about….” Jenő HUBAY Scènes de la Csárda No. 4—“Hejre Kati” (Pretty Katie)—Op. 32 ▪ published 1890 The first melody is from The Yellow Stallion (1877), which remains a staple of many gypsy bands. The next theme appears in The Love of a Young Baron (1875) composed by Lujza Oláh. The third tune, which ends the piece, was also used by Brahms in his Hungarian Dance No. 21. Brahms and Hubay were good friends and shared a close professional and musical relationship. As a highly regarded Hungarian violinist and composer, Hubay frequently collaborated with Brahms in chamber music performances. Most notably, Brahms entrusted Hubay to play the violin in the 1886 premiere of his Piano Trio No. 3 in C minor, alongside the composer on piano and cellist David Popper. Hubay also gave the first Hungarian performances of several of Brahms’s other masterworks, including the Sonata for Violin and Piano in D minor, Op. 108, and the revised Piano Trio in B Major, Op. 8. Hubay and Brahms regularly performed together in Budapest. Hubay led the Budapest Quartet (founded with David Popper), which performed with Brahms in private and public concerts. Hubay greatly revered Brahms’s music and brought the core of the 19th-century German Romantic and Brahmsian style to Hungary when he became the head of the Liszt Academy in 1886. Hubay (1888–1937) was an influential and towering Hungarian violinist, composer, and teacher known as the father of modern Hungarian violin playing, blending German precision with French-Belgian flair. “He studied as a child with his father, a professor of violin at the Budapest Conservatory, and gave his first concert at the age of 11. After studying with Joseph Joachim in Berlin from 1871 to 1876 he went to Paris, where he impressed Henry Vieuxtemps, who later became a close friend. He succeeded Vieuxtemps as professor at the Brussels Conservatory in 1882, but returned to Budapest to take up his father’s old position in 1886. He was director of the Conservatory from 1919 to 1934.… He performed in most European countries; his playing had a rich, romantic quality. His numerous works include operas (some in Hungarian) and orchestral works as well as concertos and other works for the violin [Encyclopedia Britannica].” Robert SCHUMANN Three Romanzen Op. 94 ▪ 1849 His only work for oboe accompanied by the piano, the solo part has also been played by the violin and other instruments. It is celebrated for its melodic elegance and balanced dialogue between soloist and accompanist, influencing later Romantic chamber music and remaining a staple in recitals despite Schumann’s deteriorating mental health. Shortly afterward, he moved to Düsseldorf, where he was admitted to and eventually died in an asylum in 1856. Written in Dresden in December 1849, this period was remarkably productive, during which he wrote several chamber works, intimate in character rather than for virtuosic display. The Romanzen was first heard on 27 December 1849 in a private performance by the violinist Franz (François) Schubert and Clara at the piano. Its public premiere took place on 24 January 1863 at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig with violinist Emilius Lund and pianist Carl Reinecke. The Schumanns were close friends with Brahms. BRAHMS Piano Trio No. 2 in C Major Op. 87 ▪ 1880 Brahms himself was pleased with the Trio and wrote to his publisher, uncharacteristically, expressing his satisfaction: “You have not yet had such a beautiful trio from me and very likely have not published its equal in the last ten years.” It is a mature work written at age 49. |
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December 21 Drawn to Leipzig
Felix MENDELSSOHN Violin Concerto in D minor ▪ 1822 Written for himself and his beloved friend and violin teacher Eduard Rietz to play at the family’s Sunday concerts, the Concerto was first performed privately on 25 May 1823. The public premiere followed on 3 June at Berlin’s Schauspielhaus. Mendelssohn made 2 further versions: the first with added strings, and the second with additional winds. The score, which disappeared, surfaced in the Berlin State Library in 1952, and the modern premiere was performed by Yehudi Menuhin. Mendelssohn’s close friend, the clarinetist Heinrich Baermann, for whom both Weber and Mendelssohn wrote several pieces, transcribed the Concerto for clarinet quintet. The music for the arrangement, however, could not be found so Jupiter clarinetist Vadim Lando made a transcription from a recording, with alterations. In a review of Vadim’s performance of his transcription in 2006, Fred Kirshnit of the New York Sun wrote, “The challenge here is that Mendelssohn’s original violinist didn’t need to stop playing to breathe, whereas Mr. Lando, at least theoretically, had to take a breath sometime. He must be a very good underwater swimmer, however, as he was able to fashion long and extended runs and otherwise lyrical passages seamlessly. The piece is more than just juvenilia, sporting a solid sense of melodic development. After all, Felix composed it only three years before he penned ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream.’ The final Allegro was one of those movements that express the German notion of authentic Gypsy music.” Christian August SINDING Serenade No. 1 in G Major Op. 5 ▪ 1902 Born in Königsberg in 1856, Sinding is the most important Norwegian Romantic composer (after Grieg), who enjoyed wide fame throughout his life. He began playing the violin when he was quite young. In 1874 he went to the Leipzig Conservatory to study violin, music theory, and composition, but soon gave up the violin to concentrate on composing. His output was prolific. According to the New Grove Dictionary, “He was most strongly influenced by Wagner, Liszt and Strauss; from them he quickly built an individual style which altered little with the years…. The independence and originality of his style are associated with an aggressive freshness and virility, which can at times seem bombastic, but in his best works, is supported by the impetus of a fertile musical ability; most of his finest works are among his earlier.” Sinding’s critical success included an appointment at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, for the 1920–1921 academic year; and a number of grants from the Norwegian government to finance his work, even though he spent a considerable part of his life in Germany. He died in Oslo in 1941. SCHUMANN Arabesque Op. 18 ▪ 1839 In the fall of 1839 Schumann was visiting Vienna, where he had hoped to make a home with Clara Wieck. Her father, however, strongly disapproved of their relationship as he was opposed to anything that might interfere with Clara’s career as a pianist. Nevertheless, Schumann was able to communicate with her through letters and his own music. In one letter, he expressed hope for Arabesque to help him “rise up and become the favorite composer of all the ladies of Vienna…and I am quite blameless that the stems and fronds are so frail and delicate.” It was written in a state of limbo between hope and despair—reflected in the passages of wistful longing and assertive episodes. The piece, in the form of a rondo, is “ornamented” through an interlacing of shifting harmonies and delicate melodic variations. It was dedicated to Frau Majorin Friederike Serre auf Maxen, a patron of the arts in Maxen near Dresden. Carl REINECKE Piano Quintet in A Major Op. 83 ▪ 1866 Reinecke and Schumann helped each other considerably, which strengthened their close relationship. Not later than the 1840s, Reinecke promoted the distribution of Schumann’s works through his concerts and chamber music ensembles, and later, in his position as conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Reinecke presented the premieres of many of Schumann’s works. Schumann found in Reinecke a pianist who understood him musically, and interpreted and comprehended his works in the way Schumann had probably conceived them—he told him, in 1848, “this is because you understand me, like few others.” Schumann also appreciated Reinecke’s own compositions. After Schumann’s death, Reinecke produced arrangements of Schumann’s works, and recorded two piano works by Schumann on piano rolls in 1907. Reinecke truly was an ardent advocate of Schumann’s music, and his efforts ensured the preservation of Schumann’s legacy. Mendelssohn helped both Reinecke and Schumann. Mendelssohn arranged for Reinecke to make his debut at the Leipzig Gewandhaus on 16 November 1843—as the pianist performing with the orchestra in Mendelssohn’s Serenade und Allegro giojoso. Mendelssohn helped Schumann by conducting his premiere performances, including his “Spring Symphony” at the Gewandhaus; hiring him as professor of piano and composition at the Leipzig Conservatory; and providing vital professional support. His endorsement and encouragement gave the self-doubting Schumann confidence in composing large-scale works. Reinecke (1824–1910) was among the most influential and versatile musicians of the 19th century. He was born near Hamburg in the town of Altona, then under the jurisdiction of Denmark (until 1864). Taught by his father Rudolf, a widely respected teacher and music theorist, he started composing at age 7, and at 11 he made his first public appearance as a pianist. He was also a top-notch orchestral violinist; and at age 18 he toured Sweden and Denmark as a pianist, being especially successful in Copenhagen. In 1846 he was appointed court pianist to the King of Denmark in Copenhagen, where he accompanied the violin virtuoso Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst and gave solo recitals. As a teacher of composition and piano he had few equals; and as the director of the Leipzig Conservatory, he transformed it into one of the most renowned in Europe. Among his many students were Grieg, Bruch, Janáček, Weingartner, Albeníz, Delius, Arthur Sullivan, and George Chadwick. As conductor of the Gewandhaus Orchestra he achieved a high level of virtuosity from his players. And not least, “As a composer Reinecke was best known for his numerous piano compositions, representing virtually every musical form of the time and stylistically nearer to Schumann than to Mendelssohn.... His chamber music is distinguished [New Grove Dictionary].” In 1871 the Musical Times expressed its preference of composers on a Mr Cohen’s Concerts of Modern Music at the Hanover Square Rooms in London: “Brahms and Reinecke are creative artists of whom we have a right to be proud, although the clear and musicianlike writing of the latter is in our judgement infinitely superior to the somewhat forced and exaggerated style of the former.” In addition, he was a gifted painter and poet. Reinecke’s oeuvre comprised 288 opus numbers; and some of his 42 cadenzas for 19 piano concertos by Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, and Weber continue to be played (Bruno Walter chose Reinecke’s cadenza for his 1937 recording of Mozart’s D minor concerto K. 466). Reinecke is also the earliest-born musician ever to have made a recording of any kind. Between 1904 and 1907 he made some 27 piano rolls for Hupfeld (on their Triphonola label) and Welte-Mignon, 12 of which were of his own music. Two of these were piano pieces by Schumann, and 3 were duets with his wife. He subsequently made a further 14 rolls for Aeolian. |
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January 11 Great Dames
Clémence de GRANDVAL Deux Pièces ▪ circa 1881 A calm and reflective Invocation is followed by the “Slavic Air”—a bouncy, slinky dance. The Pieces were dedicated to the French clarinetist Léon Grisez, who premiered them in Paris on 7 May 1883. Marie Félicie Clémence de Grandval, also known as the Vicomtesse de Grandval, was born into a wealthy family in 1828 at the Château de la Cour du Bois in Saint-Rémy-des-Monts. As a young girl, she was given composition lessons by Friedrich Flotow, a family friend and composer; and from the age of 6 she studied privately with Chopin. Soon, she played her own pieces in public and caught the attention of young Saint-Saëns with a performance of her song “La Source.” He was captivated by her “calm, flowing, pure playing without unnecessary nuances.” She quickly established herself on the Parisian music scene, and both her interpretations and compositions were highly praised. In 1851 Hector Berlioz included new works by Clémence on a program of the Grande Société Philharmonique de Paris, conducted by Berlioz (Pauline Viardot sang several arias as well at the concert). That same year she married the Vicomte de Grandval. Shortly after her marriage she studied composition with Saint-Saëns, and they became lifelong friends. Between 1860 and 1892 she wrote a varied and extensive number of works, many of which were published under pseudonyms. They were quite popular during the last decades of the 19th century, and admired by many critics. Her greatest success was the Stabat mater of 1871. In 1881 she was awarded the Prix Rossini. During the 1870s Clémence played a major role in the Société Nationale de Musique, and was the most played composer in the Société. She died in Paris in 1907. Dora PEJAČEVIĆ Slavic Sonata in Bb minor Op. 43 ▪ 1917 Written while serving as a volunteer nurse in her hometown of Našice during World War I, the late Romantic violin sonata reflects the dark, turbulent realities of the war with its driven, angry energy, and offering some respite in the moody Adagio. Dedicated to the noted Croatian violinist Zlatko Baloković, it was first performed on 5 April 1918 in Zagreb. Baloković briefly lived in Britain from 1920 to 1923 before settling permanently in the United States. Pejačević’s music, including the “Slavic Sonata,” was particularly popular in Germany. Pejačević (1885–1923) was a composer, violinist, pianist, actress, and patron of the arts. Born in Budapest, she descended paternally from a distinguished noble family. Her father was a “ban” (viceroy) and her mother, the Hungarian Countess Lilla Vay de Vaya, was her first piano teacher. Growing up in her parents’ castle in Našice, she received a comprehensive education through private lessons and was fluent in 6 languages, but was largely self-taught in music. She traveled to Germany, Bohemia, and other European countries, and met the leading artists and intellectuals of the day, including Rainer Maria Rilke whose poems she later set. Early in her years, armed with a strong will, she rebelled against the constraints of aristocratic life, and nursed soldiers as a volunteer during World War I. The horrors of war reinforced her determination to live more simply, more selflessly. She married a military officer in 1921, and died in 1923 at age 38 after giving birth to her son. True to her beliefs, she asked that others remember her after her death by making donations to musicians in need. She also refused to be buried in the family crypt and requested that her tombstone bear only her name “Dora” and the words “Rest now.” The film Countess Dora(1993), directed by Zvonimir Berković, is a fictionalized biopic. As to her thoughts on composing, Dora wrote: “When I’m floating off into this invisible world of my most personal and inner thoughts, only then do I become my real self. And then, in that heavenly, distant seclusion of the feelings, which is in itself some kind of ecstasy, comes a sense of liberation of a type that is realised when a composition is created. And that is how I should answer people who ask me: ‘What are you really doing when you are composing?’ But who would understand such an answer? It always seems to me that I betray my own soul when I reply to this pointless question like some average, realistic person should do. Sometimes I just say, ‘It’s hard to explain,’ which is perhaps the best answer.” Dame Ethel SMYTH String Quintet in E Major Op. 1 ▪ published 1884 Bountifully expressive, the Quintet is laced with her own distinctive charm. Dedicated to the suffragist Rhoda Garrett, it premiered at the Leipzig Gewandhaus. The Quintet is her first published work. Smyth (1858–1944) was a trailblazing, vital, and fearless British composer whose bold, eclectic music bridged conventional and experimental styles. She was also a women’s rights activist, famous for the 1906 opera The Wreckers—the most-admired English opera of its time, and considered by some critics to be “the most important English opera composed between Purcell and Britten.” Her “March of the Women” (1911) was the official battle hymn for the British woman suffrage movement, reflecting her strong involvement in the cause. From a military family, Smyth grew up in strict Victorian times, when society thought women should not have careers. Smyth rebelled. She left home in 1877 to study at the Leipzig Conservatory, where she was encouraged by Brahms, Dvořák, and Tchaikovsky. Brahms jokingly called her “the oboe” because of her determination and musical intensity. She first gained notice with her sweeping Mass in D (1893), which impressed the Empress Eugénie and Queen Victoria. Der Wald, staged with great success at Covent Garden in 1902, was the first opera by a woman performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. And in 1922 she became the first woman composer to receive a damehood. She also regularly conducted her own works and was much in demand as a broadcaster. Smyth’s life as a suffragette was zealous, impetuous, and eccentric. She was passionate in her pursuits for what she believed in. In 1910 she joined the Women’s Social and Political Union, which fought for women’s suffrage. In an act of protest, she threw a brick through a politician’s window and was sentenced to Holloway Prison for 6 weeks. While in jail, she famously conducted her “March of the Women” from her cell window using a toothbrush as a baton. She also advocated for the rights of women to play in orchestras and to compose. Smyth was known for wearing tweed suits, smoking, and breeding sheepdogs; and she golfed and climbed mountains. She wrote 10 volumes of memoirs about her life and her romantic relationships with other women. When she became deaf in 1934, the modernist author Virginia Woolf, with whom she had an intense friendship, helped her to keep writing words and music. Her music was championed by such luminaries as Thomas Beecham and Bruno Walter, who extolled Smyth as “a composer of great significance.” Amy BEACH Piano Quintet in F# minor Op. 67 ▪ 1907 The review was of its premiere performance at Potter Hall in Boston on 27 February 1908 with the Hoffmann Quartet and Beach at the piano. “The audience was unusually large, drawn by interest in Beach’s later work,” and the critics, “in an instance of unanimity, greeted the work as an important contribution to the literature.” Today, the Quintet is regarded as an impressive successor to the great 19th-century models, notably the Brahms Piano Quintet which Beach had performed in 1900. After her husband’s death in 1910, she frequently performed her Quintet, including on tour with the Kneisel Quartet in 1916–1917. Amy Beach (1867–1944) was the first successful woman composer in America, the first woman American composer to write a symphony, and the most performed composer of her generation. Born in Henniker, New Hampshire, her name was registered as Amy Marcy Cheney. She studied with well-known piano teachers, but was self-taught in composition as her music education was curtailed. Her early feats included improvising duets before the age of 2, playing by ear in full harmony at 4, and giving public recitals at 7. Her parents allowed her to make her debut at age 16 and to solo with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at age 18, but they opposed a professional career. That same year, in 1885, she married Henry Harris Aubrey Beach, a prominent physician 24 years her senior, and was known as Mrs. H.H.A. Beach, as it was the custom in her day to take on her husband’s name. He limited her performances to one a year but encouraged her to compose. After Dr. Beach’s death, she toured in Europe as Amy Beach to revive her concert career and promote her compositions. Returning triumphantly to Boston in 1914, she devoted herself to concert tours, composing, and championing women composers. She gathered numerous honors and was twice received at the White House. When Beach died in 1944 in New York City, almost all of her 300-plus works in all genres had been published and performed. Her song Ecstasy sold so well that she bought the grounds for her summer house on Cape Cod with the royalties. |
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January 25 Snipped at the Bud
MOZART Fantasia in C minor K. 475 ▪ 1785 Music scholar Hermann Abert opined that in the Fantasia, “Bach’s formal world is completely permeated by Mozart’s fiery spirit, and the result is a work that is the finest example of its kind in the whole of the Classical period.” To John Burk, although the “Fantasy has been described as an ‘improvisation’…exploratory, unconfined by formal procedure…. This Fantasy, unlike the others he composed, is heavily charged, explosive, compact with accumulated emotion.” Completed in Vienna on 20 May 1785, the Fantasia was dedicated to Therese von Trattner. She was a talented musician and the wife of Johann Thomas von Trattner, who was a wealthy Viennese publisher and Mozart’s landlord. Über (1783–1824), a native of Breslau, Germany, was a virtuoso cellist, composer, and Kapellmeister. After Mozart had quit his job as a court musician in Salzburg in 1781, he moved to Vienna in March and freelanced as an independent musician. In the spring of 1785, he was at the peak of his fame and creativity. He became a Master Mason in the Vienna Lodge in April; he had just published 6 string quartets dedicated to his friend Haydn, who told Mozart’s father that his son was the greatest composer he had ever known; and he was paid well for his concerts and publishing rights. However, he was also burning out and spending extravagantly—rent for a large apartment as well as expenses for a new pool table and hired servants made it hard to save money. Mozart died destitute in 1791 at the age of 35. Lili BOULANGER Nocturne ▪ 1911 Marie-Juliette “Lili” Boulanger was the sister of the famous teacher Nadia Boulanger. She performed on the piano, violin, cello, harp, and organ; and she composed prodigiously during the last 10 of her mere 24 years. Her music was influenced by Fauré and tinged with Debussy’s Impressionism—beautiful, delicately colored, and touching. From a musical family in Paris, her mother was a Russian princess and an opera singer, and her father was a conductor, composer, and voice teacher (he was 77 years old at her birth). Her parents knew virtually every famous musician in Paris. Gabriel Fauré, for one, was a regular visitor to their home. Her elder sister Nadia supervised her music education (Lili’s perfect pitch and ability to sing in tune was recognized at age 2). She also studied at the Paris Conservatoire and was the first woman to win the Prix de Rome at age 20—the same age as her father when he won this award. While in Rome, she completed several compositions, but her study in Rome was cut short by the outbreak of World War I. Upon her return to Paris, she founded an organization that supported musicians fighting in the war. In declining health the last 2 years of her life, she used all her energy to finish the compositions she had begun in Rome. She had to dictate her last work, Pie Jesu, to Nadia because she was too weak to write. Her many beautiful and complex pieces, which were praised by Fauré and Debussy, included an unfinished opera. Norbert BURGMÜLLER Duo in Eb Major Op. 15 ▪ 1834 The German composer and pianist, whose life ended at age 26 in 1826, was born in Düsseldorf in 1810. “As a child he achieved a remarkable facility at the piano and his father had no hesitation in preparing him for a musical career, sending him to study composition with Hauptmann and Spohr in Kassel. Norbert was unable or unwilling to obtain a permanent post as Kapellmeister, or to establish himself as a concert pianist and teacher. A comparison with Schubert suggests itself, for both men lived in almost continual poverty, unknown to the public at large and yet admired within a close circle of poets, painters and musicians including, in Burgmüller’s case, Mendelssohn, who was sufficiently moved by his sudden death to compose a march (op. 103) for his funeral.… Burgmüller’s life was too short to allow an individual style to emerge: his early works naturally reflect the formal procedures and preoccupation with chromaticism characteristic of his teacher Spohr, but toward the end of his life he began to develop a vein of lyricism similar to that of Schubert…. [New Grove Dictionary].” Music reviewer Glyn Pursglove adds that his unconventional life included “doomed love affairs; epilepsy and other illness; a bohemian life-style; excessive drinking; a personality prone to melancholy; neglect during his lifetime; an early death in doubtful circumstances (he drowned, but it is unclear whether he committed suicide or suffered some kind of seizure).…” After his death many critics dismissed his work with words like “bizarre” and called his compositions mere “curiosities.” But he was praised by Mendelssohn, Brahms, and Robert Schumann, who wrote, “After Franz Schubert’s untimely death, none has moved us more painfully than that of Burgmüller. Instead of decimating the ranks of mediocrity around us, destiny has taken our most commanding talent.” Schumann lauded Burgmüller’s first symphony, written in 1831–1833, as “one of the most significant and noble symphonies of recent times.” Jules DEMERSSEMAN Grande fantaisie de concert sur “Oberon” Op. 52 ▪ 1866 Demersseman, the most famous virtuoso flutist in Paris in his day, was called “The Paganini of the Flute” and “The Sarasate of the Flute.” Born in Honschoote near the Belgian border, he lived a short life of 33 years (1833–1866). He entered the Paris Conservatory at age 11. The following year he won first prize for flute in the class of his teacher Jean Louis Tulou, as well as for solfège, fugue, and counterpoint. After two failed attempts to obtain the Grand Prix de Rome for composition, he decided to pursue a career as a flutist. His reputation as a virtuoso developed from his performances at the Concerts Musard in 1856, and at concerts conducted by Jean-Baptiste Arban at the Paris Casino and Champs Elysées. The press was impressed. Reichert stated, “We know nothing more refined, complete or who can sing more on his instrument than Demersseman.” The musicologist François-Joseph Fétis opined, “his talent alternated between highly refined, extremely brilliant and very distinguished.” Demersseman’s natural ability to spin delightful melodies was matched by a mastery of compositional techniques. Predictably, he wrote mostly for the flute, but he also wrote for the saxophone, trombone, clarinet, oboe, euphonium, and ophicleide. Requests for compositions for the Paris Conservatory solos de concours were numerous and made his works one of the most played for the slide and valve trombone (20 times between 1863 and 1896). He died possibly from tuberculosis. Weber was born in 1765 and was found dead 39 years later, on 4/5 June 1826; the cause was tuberculosis. He had recently conducted the premiere of his last opera, Oberon, on 12 April at Covent Garden in London. Set in English with spoken dialogue, it was touted as “one of the most remarkable combinations of fantasy and technical skill in modern music.” The fairy tale follows a brave knight tasked with rescuing a princess, a quest aided by a magical, life-saving horn. The opera is distinctive for its brilliant and mystical overture. Weber was a first cousin of Mozart’s wife Constanze. (Her father Franz Fridolin was the half-brother of Weber’s father, Franz Anton, whose wife Genovefa Brenner was a Viennese soprano who was briefly engaged for Goethe’s theatre in Weimar). The venerable critic Harold Schonberg called Weber “an authentic genius whose greatest tragedy was that he was born about thirty years ahead of his time.” SCHUBERT Sonata in C Major “Grand Duo” Op. 140 / D.812 ▪ 1824 The Sonata is so grand and orchestral that it has been thought of as a hidden symphony arranged for a piano. Schumann himself stated, “I cannot but think that it was composed for the orchestra. You can hear the strings, the woodwinds, the tutti, some solos, the drum roll; the symphonic form in all its breadth and depth.” In the spring of 1824 Schubert composed the Sonata during his second extended stay at Zseliz Castle on the Esterházy estates in Slovakia. Written for performance by the Castle’s residents, including the Esterházy daughters, it was published (after Schubert’s death at age 31) in 1837 by the Vienna publisher Diabelli as Op. posth. 140. The subtitle Grand Duo was added by the editors. The autograph manuscript, now held at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, reveals that Schubert himself titled it simply a sonata. Schumann, in his 1838 review for the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, praised the work effusively, describing it as “too rich for the piano” and suggesting its symphonic qualities warranted orchestration, a comment that ignited debates about the boundaries between chamber and orchestral music in Romantic composition. Robert Wittman was a German cellist, composer, and music arranger who was born in 1804 in Dresden, and lived past 1891. Working primarily in Leipzig, he taught piano and composition from about 1839. He arranged scores for composers like Beethoven and Schubert, and he also composed original music, including a concerto for two trumpets and orchestra. The arrangement of the “Grand Duo” was published by Friedrich Hoffmeister. |
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February 8 Bizarre Endings
Mieczysław KARLOWICZ Impromptu ▪ 1895 An early work, the lovely Impromptu displays an expressive harmonic palette characteristic of the Young Poland movement before Karłowicz turned to composing massive symphonic tone poems. It was dedicated to the pianist and composer Sally Liebling, a master pupil of Liszt. Karłowicz was a Polish composer, conductor, writer, photographer, and mountain climber. Born in 1876 on his family estate in Wiszniewo (now Vishnyeva, Belarus), he lost his life in 1909 while on a solo skiing and photography excursion in the Tatra Mountains—struck and buried by an avalanche. His body was recovered a few days later. In his youth, Karłowicz spent time in Heidelberg, Prague, and Dresden and in 1887 settled in Warsaw, where he studied violin and performed in chamber music concerts. After a few years, he gave up his career as a violinist because of poor health and began studying composition in Warsaw in 1894, and later with Heinrich Urban in Berlin. After completing his studies, Karłowicz returned to Warsaw, where he was a board member and later director of the Polish Music Society. He formed its string orchestra, which he led until the end of 1903; set up a reading room of music publications, organized numerous concerts, and in 1903 edited a collection of Chopin’s letters. He also supported the society financially and bequeathed to it his entire estate. In 1907 he settled in Zakopane at the foot of the Tatras, as he was an enthusiastic mountain climber. As his health began to improve, he completed his greatest orchestral works. “Karłowicz was the composer most representative of ‘Young Poland,’ an artistic movement based on the union of modernistic tendencies with national tradition…. Although he himself did not belong to the group, he strongly supported it. His settings of words by Kazimierz Tetmajer, one of the most eminent poets of Young Poland, are characterized by the melancholy and yearning lyricism typical of Polish art of the period. The programmes of the symphonic poems also reflect the ideology of the group: pantheism, sorrow and Wagnerian ideas of love and death…. Karłowicz was undoubtedly close to the philosophy of Nietzsche and Schopenhauer and was fascinated by Wagner’s music…. His excellent orchestration is derived from Wagner and Richard Strauss…and from Tchaikovsky…. Nevertheless, his music has an individual character…. He brought the newest advancers of compositional technique to Polish orchestral music, and the orchestral works and songs have remained in the repertory [New Grove Dictionary].” František KOCŽWARA The Battle of Prague ▪ circa 1788 Inspired by an episode in the Seven Years War, the musical depiction of the military skirmishes and attacks is replete with cannons, artillery, trumpet calls, galloping horses, reveille, cries of the wounded, and even the anthem God Save the Queen and a Turkish march—for piano with violin, cello, and drum to heighten the effect. The Battle of Prague, as stated in Grove, “had a phenomenal success and was widely reprinted in London, the U.S. and on the Continent. Nearly 40 issues can be found. First published with accompaniments, it also became a standard parlor piece for solo piano. In Boston it was ‘indispensable to climax every concert.’ Appearing shortly before widespread political upheaval in Europe, it provided the model for a host of imitations.” Jane Austen is known to have had a copy of the piano version. In addition to composing, Kocžwara played the viola and the double bass. The influential 19th century Belgian critic, François-Joseph Fétis, stated that he also played the piano, violin, cello, oboe, flute, bassoon, and cittern. Kocžwara became infamous for the manner of his death. “He was reputed to have had unusual vices, and was accidentally hanged while conducting an experiment in a house of ill repute. [Grove].” Erotic asphyxiation is the modern term for the means of his demise. For details pertaining to Kocžwara’s death See https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/morbid-monday-death-of-frantisek-kotzwara Enrique GRANADOS Spanish Dance No. 5 “Andaluza” ▪ 1890 Granados claimed he originally wrote many of the dances around 1883 when he was 16 years old. He polished them in the late 1880s while studying in Paris. At the time, 19th-century Spanish musical nationalism was at its height, and the dances were shaped by the nationalist ideals of his teacher Felipe Pedrell, who encouraged Spanish composers to draw upon indigenous folk idioms. Each dance is a vivid vignette depicting courtly elegance, rustic revelry, Moorish mystique, and Andalusian passion. Dedicated to Alfredo Garcia Faria, a close friend and colleague, “Andaluza” captures the heart-wrenching duende of Andalusian flamenco—deep soulful longing and dark melancholy. Granados premiered some of the Spanish dances on 20 April 1890 at Barcelona’s Teatre Líric. Granados (1867–1916) was first and foremost a pianist, trained in the Classical discipline. He studied piano in Barcelona and, from 1883, composition in Madrid with Felipe Pedrell. In 1887 he went to Paris to study piano privately with Charles de Bériot, then returned to Barcelona in 1889. His first major success came with the zarzuela Maria del Carmen, produced in Madrid in 1898; it won him a decoration from the king. The triumph of Goyescas in 1911 encouraged Granados to turn the piano suite into an opera in 1915, creating the first ever operatic arrangement of a piano work. He also became the first major composer from Spain to visit the United States when he attended the premiere of Goyescas, his final opera, at the New York Metropolitan Opera on 26 January 1916. This was followed by a recital at the White House and an audience with Woodrow Wilson, which caused him to miss a boat sailing directly back to Spain. Instead, he took a ship headed for England, and in Liverpool boarded the Sussex for Dieppe. The Sussex was torpedoed by a German U-boat in the English Channel on 24 March. Granados was rescued by a lifeboat, but when he saw his wife Amparo struggling in the sea, he dove in to save her. Both were drowned. The English critic Ernest Newman lamented, “The death of Granados was the greatest loss the artistic world of Europe has sustained by reason of the War.” Kovács (1937–2021) has been hailed as the finest Hungarian clarinetist of his time. After studies at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, he became a member of the Hungarian State Opera Orchestra at age 19, and later, its principal clarinetist. He was also principal clarinetist of the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra from 1956 until he retired in 1981. The Liszt Prize was awarded to him in 1961. As a teacher, he served on the faculties of the Liszt Academy, University of Music and Dramatic Arts in Graz, Austria, and the Conservatorio Statale di Musica in Udine, Italy. Henry PURCELL Chacony in G minor ▪ 1678 The Chacony “is a magnificent example of the baroque mastery of...ostinato variations, which grow in power and magic with each repetition of the same eight-measure phrase [Phillip Huscher, program annotator for the Chicago Symphony].” Britten enriched the textures of the music and added expressive dynamics and articulation in his arrangement of the Chacony. He once stated, “One of my chief aims is to try to restore to the musical setting of the English Language a brilliance, freedom and vitality that have been curiously rare since the death of Purcell.” It was also Britten who resurrected, through Purcell, such archaic forms as the chaconne and passacaglia. In his short life of 36 years, Purcell (1659‒1695) composed in virtually every genre and left a uniquely English form of Baroque music as his legacy. His sharp mind and inventiveness marked him as the most original composer particularly of England. Purcell received his earliest education as a chorister at the Chapel Royal, where his father was trained for the royal service. He wrote his first composition for Charles II in 1670 when he was 12 years old. When his voice broke in 1673, he was appointed assistant keeper of the king’s instruments (he became keeper in 1683). On his 18th birthday he became composer for Charles II’s court string orchestra known as the Twenty-Four Violins. In 1679, at age 20, he was appointed organist at Westminster Abbey (from 1674 to 1678 he had tuned the organ and was employed for a year to copy organ parts of anthems). A further appointment as one of the three organists of the Chapel Royal followed in 1682. When he played at the coronation of William III and Mary in 1689, spectators in the organ loft were so impressed that they gave him cash directly—a breach of protocol that caused a kerfuffle with the Dean. Purcell seems to have spent all his life in Westminster, and is buried next to the organ. His compositions number over 400, including his pioneering tragic opera Dido and Aeneas. He married in 1680 or 1681 and had at least 6 children, 3 of whom died in infancy. Although the exact cause of Purcell’s death on 21 November 1695 remains unknown, historians attribute it to tuberculosis or a severe chill. A popular contemporary rumor claimed he caught a fatal chill when he was locked out of his home by his wife Frances after a late night of carousing at the inn, leaving him outdoors in the elements. A 17th-century anecdote suggested he died from eating tainted or excessive chocolate. If true, Purcell might be the first and only composer to succumb to death by chocolate. Guillaume LEKEU Mèditation in G minor ▪ 1887 One day after his 24th birthday—21 January 1894—Lekeu died from typhoid fever at his parents’ home in Angers, France. He had become ill after eating a contaminated sorbet at a restaurant in Paris the previous October. The Belgian composer was born in Heusy, a village near Verviers. He first studied piano and music theory at the local conservatory. In 1879, at age 9, he moved to Poitiers, France, with his parents and continued his studies there. He composed his first piece at age 15. In 1888 the family settled down in Paris, and in the spring of 1889 Lekeu took lessons in harmony and composed his first orchestral work. He traveled to Bayreuth to see Wagner’s opera in August; and in September he met César Franck, who taught him the fundamentals of composition and advised him on his early pieces. After Franck’s death in the fall of 1890, he studied with Vincent d’Indy, who taught him orchestration and encouraged him to compete for the Belgian Prix de Rome. In 1891 he won second prize for his cantata Andromède. Eugène Ysaÿe, upon hearing parts of the work in Brussels, was so impressed that he commissioned Lekeu to write the Sonata in G Major. Premiered in March 1892, it became Lekeu’s most celebrated work. He spent the remaining 3 years of his life in Paris, composing prolifically. As per Grove, “Lekeu was greatly affected by the perfervid emotional temperature of the Franck circle, and the two great influences on his work…were late Beethoven and Wagner…. His credo is best summed up in his own words: ‘Je me tue à mettre dans ma musique toute mon âme.’ [I'm killing myself trying to put my whole soul into my music.] The Piano Sonata and the Violin Sonata are among those works suffused with a kind of feverish, almost preternatural intensity…. However, signs of an individual intelligence in the making are detectable on almost every page.” Ernest CHAUSSON Piano Trio in G minor Op. 3 ▪ 1881 The Trio from Chausson’s early period is influenced by the elegance of his teacher Jules Massenet, the mystical chromaticism of his musical hero César Franck, and the bold harmonies of Wagner, whom he idolized. Chausson (1855–1899) was one of the founders of the modern symphonic school in French music. He earned a law degree upon his father’s insistence before he studied at the Paris Conservatoire, where his teachers were Jules Massenet and Cèsar Franck. Massenet found him to be “an exceptional person and a true artist.” He also made several trips to Germany to hear Wagner’s operas. “Although he absorbed traditional harmony as taught at the Conservatoire, Chausson was clearly influenced by Wagner and ‘Franckism’.... Indeed, Chausson was to become...one of the most prominent and influential members of the Franck circle...[and a] Wagnerian [Grove].” He later developed his own sumptuous late Romantic style, which influenced Claude Debussy and Gabriel Fauré, among others. Born in Paris into an affluent bourgeois family, Chausson led a quiet life in the company of his wife and five children, writing music for himself and the guests of his famous salon in Paris. The artists who came to 22 Boulevard de Courcelles were of the caliber of Debussy, Mallarmé, Fantin-Latour, Manet, Régnier, Albéniz, Cortot, and Ysaÿe. Chausson died tragically at the age of 44 from injuries sustained in a bicycle accident while staying at one of his country retreats in Limay. His ride down a hill ended in a brick wall. Just as they attended his salons, the artists of the day came to his funeral service, including Debussy, with whom he had a falling out over Debussy’s love life. Chausson was buried at Père Lachaise Cemetery. |
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February 22 Out of Budapest
Franz DOPPLER Andante and Rondo Op. 25 ▪ 1874 Born in Lemberg, Poland, Franz and his brother Karl were taught by their father, Joseph, who was a composer and oboist. Franz made his debut in Vienna at the age of 13 and became famous as a virtuoso flutist touring Europe with Karl, giving duo recitals before both became prominent members of Hungarian orchestras. Franz first joined the German Theatre from 1838, then the Hungarian National Theatre from 1841. He composed a German opera and several Hungarian operas that were produced at the Theatre, all with appreciable success. In 1853, together with Karl and others, they founded the Hungarian Philharmonic Orchestra, and the brothers also resumed their concert tours throughout Europe. Franz von VECSEY Valse Triste “Sad Waltz” ▪ 1913 Originally written to feature his own virtuoso violin style, the Waltz quickly became his most famous work and the favorite was programmed on the recitals of well-known violinists. It was dedicated to Princess Elena Lante della Rovere from the noble Italian dynasty, whose lineage dates back to the Renaissance. Vecsey (1893–1935) was born into a musical family in Budapest. At the age of 4 he began violin lessons with his father, and at age 8 he entered the studio of Jenő Hubay. He also studied composition with Hans von Koessler at the Budapest Academy between 1900 and 1904. At age 10, he played for Joseph Joachim in Berlin, after which he was invited to make his solo debut in 1903. Hailed by the press as a “stellar child prodigy” and a “wonder of nature,” he became one of the most sought-after violinists in Europe, touring extensively. Among the prominent musicians he met and befriended was Jean Sibelius, who wrote his Violin Concerto for him. Vecsey premiered the revised version on 19 October 1905 in Berlin, with Richard Strauss conducting. The performance was a success, and the Concerto became one of his signature pieces. He played it more than 200 times, and recorded it twice, in 1926 and 1931—the first violinist to record the Concerto. His interpretation was praised by Sibelius himself, who said, “He plays it splendidly. Everything is as I wanted it to be.” Vecsey’s career reached its apex in the 1910s and 1920s. Admired for his flawless technique, rich tone, and expressive phrasing, he also captivated with his charisma and charm. His lavish lifestyle included a home in a palace in Venice, and owning a Stradivarius violin and a Rolls Royce. As a composer, he wrote pieces for the violin, such as caprices, preludes, and transcriptions. In the 1930s, his career and life took a tragic turn. World World I disrupted his touring schedule, and he later became seriously ill with a pulmonary embolism, from which he died in 1935 at age 42, and was largely forgotten. In recent years, however, appreciation for his artistry has been rekindled, and he has been acknowledged as one of the greatest violinists of the 20th century, and a pioneer of the modern violin technique and style. His last name is pronounced VAY-chay Ernő DOHNÁNYI Sextet in C Major Op. 37 ▪ 1935 Born in Pozsony (now Bratislava) in 1877, Dohnányi was first taught by his father. At age 17, he studied at the Royal National Hungarian Academy of Music in Budapest—piano with István Thomán (Liszt’s favorite pupil) and composition with Koessler (a devotee of Brahms). Both Liszt and Brahms swayed his piano playing and compositions, respectively. According to the New Grove Dictionary, “Next to Liszt he ranks as the most versatile Hungarian musician, whose influence reached generations in all spheres of musical life. He is considered one of the chief architects of Hungary’s musical culture in the 20th century.... As a pianist Dohnányi ranked among the greatest of all time.... As a master of chamber music he had few equals after Brahms.... As a conductor Dohnányi’s chief merit was the recognition of Bartók’s genius decades before others....” Hans von KOESSLER String Sextet in F minor ▪ 1902 The New York Times reported on 17 September 1905 that the outstanding late Romantic work was performed by the Boston Symphony Quartet, led by Professor Willy Hess (a pupil of Joseph Joachim), who had just procured some “new music” during his summer in Europe. Wilhelm Altmann, the esteemed chamber music critic, described it in his Chamber Music Handbook as “multi-faceted and highly original throughout, beautiful sounding and…packed full of lovely melodies. …The Finale, Allegro con brio, is no ordinary finale. It makes incredibly clever use of counterpoint in presenting its high-spirited…themes.” Koessler (1853–1926) was a German composer, organist, and teacher; and he was a second cousin to Max Reger (their grandfathers were brothers). Born in the town of Waldbeck in upper Bavaria, he studied organ and composition with Joseph Rheinberger in Munich. He held a number of positions in Germany before becoming Professor of organ and choral music at the Music Academy of Budapest in 1882. The next year he succeeded Friedrich Robert Volkmann as Professor of composition and took charge of the composition department until his retirement in 1908. After remaining in Budapest for a short while he went on extensive travels and settled in Ansbach in 1918. Between 1920 and 1925 he was back in Budapest in charge of the master school in composition at the Academy, which in 1923 gave a concert of his works. Koessler’s compositions, in the view of Grove, “ are valuable…for their highly accomplished technique. He was committed to the formal ideals of the classics, particularly of Brahms’s music, and he had a rare feeling for the virtuoso treatment of the voice, so that his choral works are specially worthy of attention. His thorough technical knowledge and highly developed critical sense made him an outstanding teacher, and his contribution in this role to Hungarian music is indicated by the list of his pupils, which includes Bartók, Dohnányi, Kodály, [Leo] Weiner and many other composers, choirmasters and writers on music.” Koessler was, in fact, widely regarded as the finest teacher of composition in Austria-Hungary during the 1890s and the first part of the 20th century. |
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March 8 Richly Russian
Sergei TANEYEV String Trio in D Major Op. 21 ▪ 1907 Taneyev (1856–1915) came from a cultured family with aristocratic connections. He was given his first piano lessons at age 5, and from the age of 9 to 18, he studied at the Moscow Conservatory. Among his teachers were Tchaikovsky (in composition) and Nikolai Rubinstein (in piano). He became a brilliant pianist, graduating in 1875 with a gold medal in composition and performance—the first in the history of the Conservatory to achieve this honor. Taneyev became close friends with Tchaikovsky and was held in such high regard that Tchaikovsky sought and appreciated his opinions and musical suggestions. He was trusted with giving the first Russian performance of Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto as well as performing as soloist for the Russian premieres of Tchaikovsky’s other works for piano and orchestra. In 1878, upon Tchaikovsky’s resignation, Taneyev was persuaded to take his teacher’s place, but he consented only to teach the harmony and orchestration classes. In 1885 he reluctantly became the Conservatory’s director. Among his pupils were Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, Glière, and Medtner. At his death from a heart attack in 1915, he left a large body of work including 4 symphonies, keyboard and choral works, and many chamber pieces. Taneyev has been called the “Russian Brahms” and he may also be a “Russian Bruckner.” Tchaikovsky had even dubbed him the “Russian Bach” (Bach was one of his early inspirations). TCHAIKOVSKY Variations on a Rococo Theme Op. 33 ▪ 1876 Inspired by Mozart, his favorite composer and role model, Tchaikovsky used one of his devices—a theme and variations—to fashion a work of ornate beauty in the style of Rococo architecture. The variations are light, virtuosic, and lyrical, and include a heartbreakingly sad melody (usually a hit with audiences). It was dedicated to his colleague Wilhelm Fitzenhagen, the German cellist who modified it for the premiere in Moscow the following year. You’ll hear the crowd pleaser in an arrangement for cello and wind quintet by the German cellist DavidStromberg—Gaeun Kim will be the featured cellist. Mikhail IPPOLOTOV-IVANOV “An Evening in Georgia” Op. 71 ▪ pub. 1935 Ippolitov-Ivanov (1859–1935), born in Gatchina near Saint Petersburg, studied composition with Rimsky-Korsakov at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. After he graduated in 1882, he became director of the Tiflis (Tbilisi) Music Academy. During his 7 years in the Georgian capital, he was also conductor of the city’s orchestra and developed a lifelong interest in Georgian folk music, as reflected in his compositions such as Caucasian Sketches (his most famous) and “An Evening in Georgia” (a forgotten gem). In 1893, he became professor of composition at the Moscow Conservatory and later served as its director for two decades; his star pupil was Reinhold Glière. He also served as conductor of the Russian Choral Society and the Mamontova Opera in Moscow; he reorganized the Georgian State Conservatory (formerly the Tbilisi School); and he was the principal conductor at the Bolshoi Theater, where he oversaw the premieres of Rimsky-Korsakov’s operas and an important revival of Modest Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov. Nikolai MEDTNER Piano Quintet in C Major Op. posth. ▪ 1903–1949 The complex, deeply emotional Quintet—the culmination of his life’s work—took more than 40 years to write, beginning with sketches in 1903 and finishing it in 1949, less than two years before his death. There is freshness of inspiration, expert contrapuntal craftsmanship, and melodies influenced by his unwavering Eastern Orthodox faith in the incorporation of themes resembling sacred hymns. The Finale has been thought of as a battlefield of polyphony that eventually resolves in a radiant conclusion—a metaphor for spiritual homecoming. The public premiere was performed on 6 November 1950 by Colin Horsley and the Aeolian Quartet. Medtner—composer, great pianist, and outstanding musical thinker—was born in Moscow in 1880 to parents of German descent. He received his earliest piano lessons from his mother. At the age of 12 he entered the Moscow Conservatory; Arensky was one of his teachers. He also studied with Taneyev privately, but as a composer he was largely self-taught. When he graduated with a gold medal for piano playing, he soon decided, with Taneyev’s encouragement, to devote himself mainly to composing. Nevertheless, he continued to perform in public and was deemed one of the finest pianists of his generation. In 1909 Medtner taught piano at the Conservatory for a year, and then again in 1914 to 1921, when he felt compelled to follow Rachmaninoff and other compatriots into exile, disgruntled with the Bolshevik regime. Apart from one successful concert tour in Russia in 1927, he did not see his motherland again. After living in Germany and Paris, and touring in Europe and the United States, Medtner settled in England in 1935. For 15 years, he struggled financially, virtually unknown to the general public. He died in London in 1951. In 1946, the Medtner Society was formed with financial support from the Maharajah of Mysore and the cooperation of the Gramophone Co. This “allowed him to make recordings of a substantial number of solo piano works, as well as the three concertos and several songs. Though he was by this time past his best as a pianist and already ill with thrombosis, these recordings bear eloquent testimony to his outstanding keyboard technique and are invaluable for their authoritative interpretations” [New Grove Dictionary].” His contemporaries who deeply respected his work include Nikisch, Furtwängler, Koussevitsky, Glazunov, and Prokofiev. Pianists admired Medtner as well: Sviatoslav Richter, Emil Gilels, Sergei Rachmaninoff (he considered Medtner the greatest living composer of his time), and Vladimir Horowitz (he advocated for and performed Medtner’s music in the first half of the 20th century). |
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March 15 Mendelssohn Links
Greet 3 composers who had different depths of relationships with Mendelssohn—warm, warmer, warmest. Although Mendelssohn and Ignace Pleyel were generations apart, he was closely acquainted with Camille Pleyel (the son of Ignace who succeeded his father at the piano manufacturing firm of Pleyel & Cie) and he frequented the salon, Salle Pleyel, a vital hub of musical life in Paris. He also praised the piano virtuoso Marie Pleyel (Camille’s wife) when she performed in Leipzig. Mendelssohn wasn’t chummy with Woldemar Bargiel, but he sponsored the budding composer with a recommendation that resulted in Bargiel’s acceptance to the Leipzig Conservatory, and he influenced his compositions. As to Heinrich Baermann, they enjoyed a warm personal friendship and professional collaboration. They not only had a mutual love of music but were also foodies—leading to a lighthearted “trade” in 1832 where Mendelssohn wrote 2 witty Konzertstücke for Baermann in exchange for homemade dumplings and sweet cheese strudel. Ignaz (or Ignace) PLEYEL Trio No. 2 in Eb Major B. 385 ▪ 1789 The Trio was first published as a quartet for flute, violin, viola, and cello. The music editor Horst Henke explained that Pleyel’s works for winds “clearly reflect the instrumental virtuosity displayed in the composer’s day. Setting aside the occasional technical obstacles, these works combine Haydn’s thématique with Mozartean charm.” Pleyel was, in fact, equally acclaimed as a composer, piano builder, and music publisher. Even Mozart, at one time, appears to have recognized in Pleyel a rival of sorts, but he also praised his merits in a letter to his father: “If you are not yet acquainted with Pleyel’s new quartets, it’s worth the effort. They are very well written and very pleasant. Perhaps one day Pleyel will be able to fill the place of our dear Haydn.” Initially a rival of Haydn’s, Pleyel made his peace with the older composer and for several years they enjoyed a close and fruitful relationship as teacher and prized pupil. In his heyday, Pleyel was all the rage in Europe, and there was even a Pleyel Society in Nantucket. The year of the Trio’s composition, 1789, was a pivotal one for Pleyel. His music had become so immensely popular across Europe that the foremost music historian of the 18th century, Charles Burney, noted that the “ingenious and engaging” composer was greatly in demand. He was also appointed Kapellmeister of the Strasbourg Cathedral in France that year. By securing this prestigious, permanent position, Pleyel obtained the right of “Bourgeoisie,” enabling him to become a French citizen. Subsequently, he officially began using the French version of his name—Ignace. In addition, Pleyel spent 1789 adjusting to life as a new husband and father. His first son, Camille, who was born in December 1788 would later assume ownership of Pleyel & Cie, the renowned piano maker. The Pleyel piano was Chopin’s choice of instrument, but Mendelssohn preferred the Erard. Heinrich BAERMANN Clarinet Quintet No. 3 in Eb Major Op. 23 ▪ 1821 The Adagio’s history is told by John Newhill in Music & Letters: “This piece was discovered in manuscript by Michael Balling in Würzburg in 1922. The story repeated to Balling by the owner of the manuscript was that the work had been commissioned by the clarinettist Christian Rummel from Wagner when the latter was in Wiesbaden in 1833–4. The Adagio was published [as a separate work] under Wagner’s name in 1926 by Breitkopf & Härtel…. Right from the date of its publication, many musicians felt that the work could not have been written by Wagner, as stylistically it belongs to an earlier period, but in the absence of further information, it has always been referred to as ‘Wagner’s Adagio for Clarinet and Strings.’ …It is, in fact, the second movement of the third clarinet quintet, Op. 23, by Heinrich Baermann. The correct source of the Adagio was first revealed in a short paragraph by Hans-Georg Bach in the Neue Zeitung für Musik (1964).” Baermann (1784–1847) was sent by his soldier father to the School of Military Music in Potsdam, then became a bandsman in the Prussian Life Guards. He fought in the battles of Saalfeld and Jena and was captured, but escaped and found his way to Munich, where he obtained a court appointment, which he held until his retirement in 1834. He toured extensively in Switzerland and France in 1808. In 1811, after successful performances in Munich of Weber’s newly composed Concertino and concertos, Baermann and Weber toured together through Austria and Germany. In Berlin, it was Baermann’s artistry that helped to convince the musical public of Weber’s worth. Paris gave him a phenomenal reception in 1817 and 1838, as did Russia in 1822–1823 and 1832. In 1819 Baermann was invited to England, where he played for the prince regent in Brighton; and during 6 months of concerts in London, he performed his own compositions on two occasions for the Philharmonic Society. “Baermann was sometimes called the Rubini of the clarinet on account of his expressive playing and his luxurious, velvety tone…. Weber referred in his diary to the ‘welcome homogeneity of tone from top to bottom’, and gave great credit to Baermann for the success of his clarinet works…. His liveliness of mind and his companionable nature made him widely popular, and he became a close friend of these composers, who made frequent reference to him in their correspondence [New Grove Dictionary].” In addition to Weber, numerous composers wrote for Baermann, including Mendelssohn and Giacomo Meyerbeer. Woldemar BARGIEL String Quartet No. 1 in E Major ▪ 1848 Bargiel (1828–1897) is remembered as a half-brother of Clara Schumann, his mother having married Clara’s father, Friedrich Wieck, before marrying Adolph Bargiel, a respected piano and voice teacher in Berlin. Peter Avis, for Hyperion Records, clarified the connections in the Bargiel-Schumann family and its circle: “Although nine years younger than his half-sister Clara, Woldemar was to develop a close and life-long relationship with her and subsequently with her husband…. In his early years the young Woldemar studied music at home with his parents…. Later he studied…with Siegfried Wilhelm Dehn…an editor of the works of Bach. When he was eighteen, on the recommendation of Felix Mendelssohn and with the support of Clara and Robert Schumann, Bargiel enrolled at the Leipzig Conservatory…. Among his teachers there were Ignaz Moscheles, with whom he studied the piano, and Niels Gade and Julius Rietz, who taught him composition.” Returning to Berlin in 1850, he developed his reputation as a teacher and composer. “He was helped in this latter endeavour by the Schumanns, who arranged for some of his early works to be published, including his first piano trio, a piece which was to become very popular during his lifetime. In his famous article Neue Bahnen (‘New paths’), written in 1853, Robert Schumann spoke of many new and significant talents.… Schumann included among these ‘aspiring artists’ his half-brother-in-law Woldemar Bargiel. In time Schumann came to treasure his friendship with Bargiel and commissioned him to make piano-duet versions of some of his orchestral works.” In 1859 Bargiel became professor of theory at the Cologne Conservatory, and took a similar post in Rotterdam from 1865 to 1874, when Joseph Joachim appointed him professor of composition at the prestigious Berlin Hochschule für Musik. Among his pupils were Paul Juon and Leopold Godowsky. “In addition to his teaching and composing, Bargiel…worked with Johannes Brahms on the complete editions of the works of both Robert Schumann and Frédéric Chopin. [And his edition of Bach’s chorales was used well into the 20th century.] It was Brahms whom Schumann had singled out in his Neue Bahnen article as the only young musician who could ‘give expression to the times in the highest and most ideal manner’ and was, indeed, the chosen one, the man of destiny. Brahms and Bargiel would go on to become great friends, not least because of their mutual concern for Robert and Clara Schumann, and they very much enjoyed discussing, and sometimes criticizing, each other’s music.” Bargiel’s works were frequently performed during his lifetime. Felix MENDELSSOHN String Octet in Eb Major Op. 20 ▪ 1825 When Mendelssohn wrote his sublime Octet, Beethoven and Schubert were still alive and active—Schubert had just composed his own Octet for winds and strings the year before, while Beethoven completed his 9th Symphony and was working on his late quartets. Spohr himself, in his autobiography, distinguished Mendelssohn’s Octet as “belong[ing] to quite another kind of art, in which the two quartets do not concert and interchange in double choir with each other, but all eight instruments work together.” He presented the score to the dedicatee, his violin teacher Eduard Rietz, as a present for his 23rd birthday. The private premiere was likely played at one of the family’s Sunday afternoon musicales in Berlin in late 1825 or early 1826. The public premiere took place on 30 January 1836 at the Leipzig Gewandhaus. In two of the known Octet performances given by Mendelssohn, he played one of the viola parts. |
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March 29 Mozart’s Devotees
Antonín DVOŘÁK Sonatina Op. 100 ▪ 1893 In the book New Worlds of Dvořák, the Dvořák scholar Michael Beckerman depicted a curiosity—an illustration of a poem by Anne Reeve Aldrich, “Music of Hungary,” dedicated to Dvořák. It showed that the composer crossed out every instance of the word “Hungary” and wrote in “Bohemia.” (He was likely objecting to the poet’s conflation of his homeland with Hungary, whereas he would have strongly identified with Bohemia and would never have considered his homeland to be Hungary.) The poem appears in Aldrich’s book, Songs about Life, Love and Death, published by Charles Scribner’s Sons in 1892. Prague’s love of Mozart continued long after his death. Dvořák, like many Czech musicians before him, adored and was influenced by Mozart’s music, particularly his melodic language and mastery of form. To Dvořák, Mozart was the greatest of all composers, and he expressed that “Mozart is sweet sunshine.” His own early compositions included 2 works that bear the Mozartian title of Serenade; and even in his most obviously nationalistic works that emerged in later life, the influence of Mozart is evident. Frédéric CHOPIN Étude in C# minor Op. 25 No. 7 ▪ 1834 The Étude is known as “The Cello” for the prominent melody played in the left hand, or the “The Sarabande” on account of its regal three-four meter, or “The Duet” because of its two-voice texture. Mozart was a lifelong idol for Chopin. His teachers, Wojciech Żywny and Józef Elsner, had introduced him to Mozart from young. At age 17, he composed his Variations on “Là ci darem la mano” from Don Giovanni—one of his first major works for piano and orchestra. Mozart’s music inspired Chopin’s own melodies and Chopin requested that Mozart’s Requiem be performed at his funeral. As director of the St. Petersburg Conservatory from 1905 to 1928, Glazunov elevated academic standards. He believed in preserving classical foundations, teaching counterpoint and form based on the works of Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart. As a conductor, Glazunov routinely programmed Mozart’s overtures and symphonies alongside his own works and pieces by his Russian contemporaries. TCHAIKOVSKY Andante cantabile from String Quartet No. 1 Op. 11 ▪ 1871 At the suggestion of his colleague Nikolai Rubinstein, Tchaikovsky wrote the String Quartet to fill out a benefit concert of his own music in order to raise funds to ease his straitened circumstances. Composed in just a few weeks, it was hit, especially due to the fetching Andante cantabile based on the folksong “Sidel Vanya,” which he had heard two years earlier at his brother-in-law’s family estate at Kamenka in the Ukraine. In 1876, Tchaikovsky wrote in his diary, “Perhaps I was never so flattered in my life nor was my pride as a composer so stirred as when Lev Tolstoy, sitting beside me listening to the Andante of my First Quartet, dissolved in tears.” Tchaikovsky held Mozart in the highest regard, referring to him as his “musical god” and the “incarnation of the ideal of a great artist.” He wrote his Mozartiana (a suite of orchestrations of 4 Mozart pieces) as a tribute to Mozart—“to provide a new occasion for the more frequent performance of these pearls of musical art, unpretentious in form, but filled with unrivaled beauties.” SCHUBERT Violin Sonata in A Major “Grand Duo” D. 574 ▪ 1817 As Michael Parloff put it, “The entire work is an unbroken stream of graceful, beautifully crafted melody, reflecting his quintessential genius for song” with “a final Allegro vivace...as a whirling Viennese waltz.” Schubert idolized Mozart, and he emulated Mozart’s graceful, song-like melodies and clear textures. He famously wrote in his diary, “O Mozart! Immortal Mozart! What countless impressions of a brighter, better life hast thou stamped upon our souls!” MOZART Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major K. 488 ▪ 1786 Jens Nygaard said that in Mozart’s music, the key of A Major is “the most intense of all the keys.” The concerto is one of three he wrote in Vienna during the spring of 1786. It would appear that Mozart intended these pieces solely for his own performance, and they remained unpublished at the time of his death in 1791. Music critic Herbert Glass commented, “K. 488 has all the characteristics of the work of a wise old master, giving the impression of having seen and heard everything and having no regrets. And in a sense Mozart was old, at the age of 30.” The concerto will be performed in an arrangement for piano, 2 violins, viola, cello, and double bass by Ignaz Lachner (1807–1895). The second of three famous brothers, the German composer and conductor was a contemporary and associate of Schubert. He served as organist at the Reformed Church in Vienna and as a music director in Stuttgart and Munich, and Kapellmeister in Hamburg and Frankfurt. When he became conductor in Frankfurt am Main, he led operas there by primarily Mozart and Verdi. In 1875 he celebrated his 50th anniversary as conductor with a performance of Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro. He died in Hanover. |
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April 12 Czechelicious
Oskar NEDBAL Romantisches Stück (Romantic Piece) Op. 18 ▪ 1910 Nedbal, born in 1874 to a music-loving family in south Bohemia, was one of Dvořák’s most successful pupils, along with Josef Suk, his best friend and classmate. He was the violist of the Czech Quartet, which raised the standards of Czech chamber playing to an international level and appeared throughout Europe. He was also a successful conductor, leading the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in 1896–1906, then directing the Tonkünstlerorchester in Vienna from 1906 to 1918, when he returned to Prague. But he was not well received in the newly-formed Czech Republic, so he left for Bratislava, where he became a beacon in the musical life of Slovakia and was head of opera at the Slovak National Theatre. Nedbal died by suicide in 1930; he leaped from a window of the Zagreb Opera House on Christmas eve. He was haunted by mounting debts of the Theatre and was also struggling with declining health and long-term mental health issues. “As a composer Nedbal achieved world renown for his operettas, written…in the fashion of Vienna and Berlin. He enlivened his skilled technique with an almost Dvořákian invention and made use also of the fresh rhythms of Czech, Polish and Yugoslavian folk dance…. In style he developed from the Dvořák-dominated atmosphere of late Czech Romanticism. His inclination towards salon-music sentimentality…had close parallels with Suk’s style…he did create works of lasting value in ballet and pantomime, works that continue to display the taste and liveliness of his operettas [New Grove Dictionary].” Zdeněk FIBICH Quintet in D Major Op. 42 ▪ 1893 Edith Eisler, a violinist and critic, described the entrancing Quintet as “steeped in the Romantic German tradition” with a slow movement for its centerpiece—“a truly beautiful, long-breathing melody, stated first by the piano in solid and arpeggiated chords, then repeated with a florid violin obbligato. The work’s most pervasive characteristics are its democratic distribution of the solos, its unabashed romanticism, and its surging, soaring melodies; but the heart-on-sleeve quality of the music is so genuine that sentiment never lapses into sentimentality.” In 1881 Fibich began an affair with one of his students, the singer Anežka Schulzová, and the deep passion that developed fueled his compositions. When it became apparent to his wife that she was not the woman who inspired the Quintet, she reportedly stormed off upon hearing it. Fibich (1850–1900) was the third most prominent Czech nationalist composer in the second half of the 19th century, after Smetana and Dvořák. Today, he is virtually forgotten outside of Czechia. His music, which was cosmopolitan—largely a Western-European Romantic style influenced by German traditions—was not favored in a Bohemia that embraced nationalism. Fibich had a bicultural upbringing and education that shaped his outlook and approach to composition. His father was a Czech forestry official and his mother was German Viennese. He was educated in Prague, Vienna, Leipzig (piano with Ignaz Moscheles and composition with Salamon Jadassohn at the Conservatory), Paris, and Mannheim (finishing studies with Vincenz Lachner). Thus, he stood at a crossroads between German Romanticism and Czech national identity. He never took up the cause for Czech independence and culture. “In his instrumental works, Fibich generally wrote in the vein of the German romantics, first falling under the influence of Weber, Mendelssohn and Schumann and later Wagner. It seems, that…Fibich did not wish to write music that merely sounded nationalistic…. And therein lies the reason that Fibich has never been held in the same regard by his countrymen as either Dvořák and Smetana or even Janáček [Edition Silvertrust].” František ONDŘIČEK Scherzo capriccioso Op. 18 ▪ 1901 Anchored in late Romantic nationalism, the dramatic contrasts of the piece juxtapose exciting fireworks with deeply lyrical, expressive interludes. The piece is characteristic of turn-of-the-century Czech classical music, and defines his legacy as a performer. It was dedicated to his close friend, Joseph Ort. Ondřiček (1857–1922) grew up in Prague and played, from early childhood, with his brothers in his father’s ensemble. He was one of 5 siblings (out of 15) who lived into adulthood. He studied violin at the Prague Conservatory, where his accomplishments caught the ear of Henryk Wieniawski, who supported him for 2 years of further study at the Paris Conservatory. He graduated in 1879 with a premier prix. Ondřiček was soon admired as a virtuoso violinist and toured throughout Europe, the United States, and Russia. In 1888 he was appointed Kammer-virtuos and settled in Vienna, where taught at the New Vienna Conservatory. The quartet that he formed participated in the Haydn celebrations in Vienna, playing 20 of Haydn’s quartets in 5 concerts. After the First World War, he returned to Prague and directed the violin master class at the Conservatory until his death. As there was a “lack of original Czech works for the violin, he wrote…paraphrases, fantasias and arrangements on themes from Slavonic composers including Smetana, Dvořák, Suk and Glinka. His contemporaries praised his brilliant and flawless technique, the richness of his tone, and the sensitivity and spontaneity of his expression [New Grove Dictionary].” The Ondřiček family and Dvořák had a close musical and personal relationship. Dvořák dedicated his Romance in F minor to František in 1873. On 14 October 1883 František gave the premieres of Dvořák’s Violin Concerto in Prague, and in Vienna on 2 December. He frequently performed the piece on his international concert tours, making it known globally. He also participated in the premiere performances of several major chamber works by Dvořák, including the String Quintet in G Major and the Piano Trio in Bb. As friends, Dvořák was a legal witness to František’s first wedding in 1885. During the “Dvořák Affair,” František published an article in the press in 1912 defending the composer’s musical legacy. Antonín DVOŘÁK String Sextet in A Major Op. 48 ▪ 1878 Written in 14 days during his Slavic period, Dvořák introduced Slavic folk elements into his music. For the first time in his oeuvre, there is a Dumka (a musical form derived from epic poems sung by Cossack bards in Ukraine) and the third movement is entitled Furiant (a fast and furious Bohemian men’s dance). The Sextet was first performed at a memorable soirée, attended by distinguished guests at the home of Joseph Joachim in Berlin, in honor of Dvořák. The same musicians performed the public premiere in Berlin on 9 November 1879. Joachim introduced the work to English audiences in London soon afterwards. Within a few months of its premiere, the Sextet was also presented by various ensembles in Dresden, Cologne, Prague, Wiesbaden, and New York, becoming his first international hit. The conductor Václav Talich declared: “Oh my word! This is so beautiful! Beautiful musical ideas, a beautiful structure and a beautiful sound! God himself must have been walking the Czech Lands when his humble servant Dvořák bequeathed to us a work of such excellence and sanctity….” |
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April 19 Celebrité, Sublimité, Eternité
Maurice RAVEL Berceuse sur le nom de Gabriel Fauré Op. 16 ▪ 1922 When the musicologist-journalist Henry Prunières was planning a special edition in homage to Fauré for his La Revue Musicale (to be issued in October 1922), seven of the master’s pupils chose to compose pieces based on a musical transliteration of his name—GABDBEE FAGDE. Ravel’s Berceuse premiered on 28 October 1922 in Milan with violinist Remy Prìncipe and the composer at the piano. Charles GOUNOD String Quartet No. 3 in A minor Op. posth. ▪ pub. 1895 While best known for his one immortal opera, Faust, Gounod (1818–1893) wrote in all musical genres, including 5 string quartets. The Quartet in A minor was composed in the last years of his life and premiered at the end of February or early March 1890 by either the Nadaud or Laforgue Quartet at the Société des Compositeurs in Paris. Published after his death, it was mistakenly numbered “3” by Choudens, the publisher, as the firm was confused about the order of the 5 string quartets. The work was dedicated to Gounod’s 2-year-old grandson, who had suggested the theme in the last movement. The printed score pinpoints its exact location: “Thême donné par Charles de Lassus à deux ans.” At least two of Gounod’s contemporaries note his contributions. Ravel held the opinion that the musical renaissance of his day began with Gounod; and for Claude Debussy, “Gounod…is necessary. His art represents a moment in French sensibility. Whether one wants to or not, that kind of thing is not forgotten.” Camille SAINT-SAËNS “Romance” Op. 37 ▪ 1871 BBC music editor Edward Blakeman hears it as “bewitchingly atmospheric. It spins an expressive line with the direct, unsentimental appeal of a lyrical mélodie.” Saint-Saëns wrote “Romance” while living in exile in London. Fearing for his safety, he had fled during the violent Paris Commune uprising because of his affiliations with the French royal family. In the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian war (1870–1871), Saint-Saëns cofounded the Société Nationale de Musique to revive French classical music and promote the work of French composers in order to restore hope and patriotism in France. Because of the political upheaval, “Romance” was premiered in Baden-Baden, Germany, in mid-1871 by flutist Amédée de Vroye (the dedicatee) and Saint-Saëns at the piano. The Paris premiere was given by Paul Taffanel and Saint-Saëns at a Société concert at the Salle Pleyel on 6 April 1872. Saint-Saëns was a close friend of Taffanel and godfather to his daughter. Taffanel (founder of the French Flute School) would become the champion of “Romance,” performing it numerous times over the years. Henri DUPARC 3 Songs “L’invitation au voyage” (Invitation to a Journey, 1870)—tenderly passionate and full of lyricism—is set to Charles Baudelaire’s Fleur du mal. The song was written while Duparc was serving in the garrison during the Prussian siege in the winter of 1870–1871. “Extase” (Rapture, 1874) is one of his most atmospheric songs set to Jean Lahor’s poem, with Wagnerian flavor. “Phidylé,” (1882)—considered his best song—is a lush, sensuous setting to a pastoral poem of relaxation and erotic anticipation by Charles-Marie-René Leconte de Lisle, the music influenced by Wagner. Duparc (1848–1933) was celebrated for his highly refined mélodies (art songs)—defined as “imperfect…but works of genius” by Ravel and “perfect” by Debussy. Although his output of 17 songs was small, his masterful synthesis of poetry, chromatic harmony, and symphonic expression established him as an iconic figure in French vocal music. His settings to poems by Baudelaire, Théophile Gautier, and other French poets were chosen with sensitivity to prosody and meaning. And his musical structure, harmony, and texture arose organically from the text. The son of aristocratic Parisian parents, Duparc, like Fauré, studied with César Franck and they became friends. His wealthy social status allowed him to complete his music education by traveling often to Germany. He was first exposed to Wagner’s music in 1869 when he went to Munich. There he met Liszt, who introduced him to Wagner at the Bayreuth Festival. Over the next several decades, he made numerous trips to Bayreuth, often with friends like Emmanuel Chabrier. Wagner became a hero to Duparc and greatly influenced his music. In the first half of his life, Duparc composed the songs, which won the admiration of audiences and the respect of colleagues and critics. In 1870, symptoms of neurasthenia appeared and worsened over the years. He first suffered from agoraphobia and later somnambulism and imbalance, an acute sense of pain and other physical discomforts. In 1885 he abruptly stopped composing, resigned as a member of the Société Nationale de Musique, which he had cofounded, and withdrew from public life. In the early 1900s, his vision worsened and progressed to blindness. Toward the end of his life he suffered from paralysis, and died in 1933. Martin Cooper’s entry in the New Grove Dictionary affirms that “He was unique in giving the French mélodie a musical substance, an emotional intensity and a unity of poems and music that were not to be equalled until the songs of Fauré’s maturity.” Jules MASSENET Elégie ▪ 1866 Originally written for the piano cycle Pièces de Genre, Elégie evolved into an achingly sorrowful song for soprano, cello, and piano, becoming famous as a heart-wrenching vocal song about lost love. In 1872, he incorporated the piece into Les Erinnyes (The Furies), a play by Leconte de Lisle. Massenet (1842–1912) was a leading French opera composer most remembered for Manon and Thaïs. His music is admired for its lyricism, sensuality, occasional sentimentality, and theatrical aptness. Gabriel FAURÉ Piano Quintet No. 2 in C minor Op. 115 ▪ 1919–1921 In the twilight of his years, between September 1919 and March 1921, Fauré composed his Second Piano Quintet in secret—no one knew, except his wife. At the time, he was suffering from hearing loss—at first it was a distortion of pitch that progressed to deafness by 1920, when he resigned as director of the Paris Conservatoire, a post he had held since 1905. With his newfound freedom, came a final creative surge. Dedicated to Paul Dukas, the Quintet’s premiere was a surprise to the audience, given on 21 May 1921 at a concert of the Société Nationale de Musique. It was a triumphant success. The critic Émile Vuillermoz, writing in Le Temps, was full of praise: “The Quintet in C has the paradoxical merit of bringing together two generally incompatible virtues: youth and serenity. It has the youthful privilege of freshness, ardour, generosity and persuasive tenderness; it also possesses the sober gifts of wisdom, idealised passion, fine and delectable balance, and tranquil reason.” The violinist Timothy Judd viewed it as “filled with the subtle and inexplicable sense of mystery and revelation…. There is a magical sense of weightlessness…. It floats along with buoyancy, grace and harmonic fluidity, evoking the ephemeral quality of a dream.” Particularly remarkable is the quicksilver Scherzo. The esteemed critic Harold Schonberg described music by the “Master of Charms” (so named sardonically by Debussy) as having “the essence of everything Gallic—form, grace, wit, logic, individuality, urbanity…those who love the music of Fauré love it as a private, cherished gift from one of the gentlest and most subtle of composers..” |
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May 3 Paganiniana
Niccolò PAGANINI Viola Quartet No. 15 in A minor▪ circa 1810–1820 The Quartet’s sizzling virtuosity and intimate operatic lyricism was inspired by the staggering vocal acrobatics and intensely expressive lyricism of 18th-century Italian opera. The Recitativo (middle movement) mimics the dramatic speech-like recitative in Italian opera, giving it a vocal quality. Paganini’s famous collection of 24 prized string instruments included a Stradivarius viola known as the “Mendelssohn,” made in 1731. This very rare instrument inspired him to commission Hector Berlioz to compose the opera Harold in Italy. Before he studied the violin, Paganini was taught the mandolin at the age of 5 by his father, Antonio Paganini, a docker who owned a shipping business, and who was also an amateur mandolin and violin player. Paganini’s guitar quartets were composed in the early 19th century when the guitar was gaining popularity as a solo instrument. They are considered challenging works for the guitar, characterized by their virtuosic solo passages, as well as intricate dialogue between the guitar and the string trio. These works reveal his mastery of counterpoint, harmony, and melody. Paganini composed over 200 works for the guitar—an instrument he regarded as his close friend. He told his biographer Julius Schottky that “he very much enjoyed playing the guitar” and also said,“The violin is my mistress, but the guitar is my master.” “I love the guitar for its harmony; it is my constant companion on all my travels.” Paganini played the guitar alongside the violin, often as a soloist or with his duo partner, the Italian guitarist Luigi Legnani. They met in Genoa in 1835 and performed a number of concerts together. Legnani was called the “Paganini of the Guitar,” and Paganini’s compositions dedicated to him feature brilliant guitar parts discreetly accompanied by simple violin passages. It has been suggested that “this feature allowed Paganini and Legnani to swap their instruments in concert in order to perform these works: as an adequate violinist, Legnani could easily accompany his friend playing the guitar.” Paganini owned a number of guitars throughout his life. During a period of greatest financial stress, he even refused to sell a desirable instrument by Gennaro Fabricatore; “it was still among his possessions at the time of his death.” The violin virtuoso’s life, in a flash, is compressed by David Schoenbaum in a New York Times article in 2007: “The 19th century, a golden age of the violin, produced…the eminently Italian Niccolò Paganini, who died in 1840.… Paganini’s heavy-metal persona, inspired self-promotion and terrifying virtuosity made women weep and strong men faint. Lecherous, litigious and a cheapskate; equally devastated by syphilis, tuberculosis and his doctors, he died without sacraments or an official funeral.” Franz LISZT Hungarian Rhapsody No. 9 “Carnival in Pest” ▪ 1848 The Hungarian Rhapsodies were drawn from Liszt’s native folk music, although many were tunes written by members of the Hungarian upper middle class, often played by Roma (gypsy) bands. The 9th Rhapsody was based on themes from No. 22 of Magyar rapszódiák. It was dedicated to Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst, the Moravian-Jewish violinist and composer who was Paganini’s greatest successor. Liszt himself was known as the “Paganini of the Piano.” The virtuoso superstars of the mid-1800s were Liszt and Paganini, although the latter sold his soul to the devil (one audience member swore she saw the Devil sitting on Paganini’s shoulder as he performed). Liszt first encountered Paganini at a benefit concert in Paris in the spring of 1832; it was a life-changing event. Liszt was so mesmerized by his demonic stage presence and supernatural violin technique that he resolved to become the Paganini of the piano. Vowing to match Paganini’s level of mastery, Liszt drastically increased his daily practice regimen, pushing his physical limits. However, Liszt went beyond Paganini’s technical prowess; he redefined piano playing, had charismatic stage presence, and became an innovative composer. Saint-Saëns declared that Liszt’s influence as a pianist was so great that he knew of nothing comparable to it except the revolution in the French language brought about by Victor Hugo. Schumann wrote in the Neue Zeitschrift fürMusik: “Liszt played. The demon began to flex his muscles. He first played along with the audience, as if to feel them out, and then give them a taste of something more substantial until, with his magic, he had ensnared each and every one and could move them this way or that as he chose. It is unlikely that any other artist has the power to lift, carry, and deposit an audience to such a high degree. In listening to Liszt we are overwhelmed by an onslaught of sounds and sensations; in a matter of seconds we have been exposed to tenderness, daring, fragrance, and madness. The instrument glows and sparkles under the hands of its master. This has all been described a hundred times, but it has to be heard and seen to be believed.” Béla KOVÁCS “Paganiniana” ▪ late 1970s The etude was written brilliantly during his summer breaks from teaching, spent on Lake Balaton. It was later revised and published as “Homage à Niccolò Paganini” around 1978 or 1979, and published in 1994 as part of his essential collection of solo clarinet etudes. One of 9 Hommages, it was designed to help his students at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music master technique. In the preface to the collection, Kovacs explained: “Writing Hommages was inspired by my pedagogical work. I intended them to be studies that, as a supplement to the usual ‘dry,’ mechanical—although indispensable—exercises, represent a more diverse task for the student. Performed with impressive technical preparation, appropriate tone and knowledge of style, as well as some imagination, they will—hopefully—take their place on the podium as well.” Later, he added, “I offer Hommages to all my old, current and future students, as well as to all those who consider it worthy to deal with it in depth.” Kovács (1937–2021) has been hailed as the finest Hungarian clarinetist of his time. After studies at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, he became a member of the Hungarian State Opera Orchestra at age 19, and later, its principal clarinetist. He was also principal clarinetist of the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra from 1956 until he retired in 1981. The Liszt Prize was awarded to him in 1961. As a teacher, he served on the faculties of the Liszt Academy, University of Music and Dramatic Arts in Graz, Austria, and the Conservatorio Statale di Musica in Udine, Italy. Friedrich KUHLAU La clochette: Rondeau brillant Op. 121 ▪ 1832 The movement earned the moniker “La campanella” or “La clochette” because of the small handbell which Paganini used to presage each recurrence of the rondo theme. True to the Rondeau brillant style popular in the Biedermeier era, the piece showcases sparkling ornamentation, rapid scale runs, arpeggios, and leaping hand movements to replicate the crystalline ring of a bell. The perky, staccato “bell” melody alternates with increasingly elaborate, technically demanding passages. La clochette remains an elegant, historically significant example of early Romantic virtuosity, and validates Kuhlau as a master of the piano. It is one of his final works; he died the same year the piece was published. Kuhlau was the foremost composer of the late Classical and early Romantic periods in Denmark. He was born near Hanover in Germany in 1786 to a family of military bandsmen. At the age of 7, he lost his right eye when he slipped on ice and fell. Even though the family was poor, his parents managed to pay for piano and composition lessons in Hamburg. In 1804, Kuhlau made his debut and began giving piano recitals and composing songs and chamber music. When Hamburg was invaded by Napoleon’s troops in 1810, he fled to Copenhagen to avoid conscription and began earning a living there as a successful pianist and composer. He overcame poverty and had a thriving career in the Royal Theatre of Copenhagen as a musician and composer. Kuhlau became a Danish citizen in 1813. He admired Mozart and Beethoven, with whom he became friends after they met in Vienna in 1825. They exchanged impromptu canons, and spent a lively evening in each other’s company. The last year of his life was embittered by a fire that swept through his house and destroyed all his unpublished manuscripts in 1831. He also suffered a chest ailment from which he never recovered, and died in 1832. As a composer, Kuhlau wrote over 200 published works. His greatest achievement is his opera Elverhøj (Elves’ Hill), a tribute to the Danish monarchy. He is also known as the “Beethoven of the Flute” for the several pieces he wrote for the flute, even though he did not play the instrument. Hector BERLIOZ Rêverie et caprice ▪ 1841 The cavatina was withdrawn before its 1838 Paris premiere because the soprano, Julie Dorus-Gras, intensely disliked the piece and found it too difficult to sing. Berlioz salvaged the melody, rescoring it for solo violin and orchestra as well as for violin and piano. Rewritten for the Belgian violinist, Alexandre Artôt, the piece was often programmed by Berlioz when touring abroad. Although Artôt never played the romance, leading violinists including Ferdinand David, Joseph Joachim, and Henryk Wieniawski performed it throughout Europe. Berlioz also frequently programmed it on his concert tours abroad. It was dedicated to his friend Jean-Désiré Artôt, and premiered at the Salle Vivienne in Paris on 1 February 1842. In 1834, Paganini wanted a showpiece for his newly acquired Stradivarius viola and asked Berlioz to write a virtuosic viola solo. Berlioz wrote Harold in Italy, which was not a flashy concerto, but a symphony with a prominent viola solo. Paganini saw long rests in his part and initially declined to play it, as it lacked flamboyance. Paganini later attended a performance of the work in December 1838. Overwhelmed by the music, he knelt before Berlioz in public and kissed his hand in deep gratitude. Days later, Berlioz received gift of 20,000 francs from Paganini. This money rescued Berlioz from severe financial distress, cleared his wife’s debts, and gave him the freedom to compose Roméo et Juliette. Eugène YSAŸE Variations on a Theme by Paganini Op. 12bis ▪ circa 1883/1994 Written for his own touring repertoire during his early touring days, the late Romantic showpiece is influenced by his teachers Vieuxtemps and Wieniawsk. The variations call for daredevil expertise to tackle the arpeggios, spiccato, double stops, harmonics, and pizzicato. The piece is one of the few surviving works from Ysaÿe’s earliest years. Ysaÿe (1858–1931) was one of the foremost violinists of his day. Born in Liège, Belgium, he studied with Henri Vieuxtemps and Henryk Wieniawski. He was also a conductor of the Bilse Orchestra in Berlin for a year and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in 1918–1922. Ysaÿe toured with Anton Rubinstein in 1882; he was an ardent interpreter of the violin music of French composers; he was professor of violin at the Brussel Conservatory for 12 years from 1886 to 1897; he introduced much new music in Brussels through the orchestral Ysaÿe Concerts in 1894; he founded the Ysaÿe Quartet the same year; and he composed with expertise in a post-Romantic style. As a violinist, Ysaÿe was known for his virtuosity, expressiveness, and varied use of vibrato. “There was something titanic in his approach to music—full-blooded, intense and magisterial—though it could also be poetic and graceful. His technique was superb but not exhibitionist. He perfected Wieniawski’s intensified type of vibrato and had a unique sonority [New Grove Dictionary].” Virtuosos such as Joseph Szigeti, Pablo Casals, Lionel Tertis, and Fritz Kreisler would gather at his house when they were all free to have chamber music parties. Mauro GIULIANI Variations for Violin and Guitar Op. 24 ▪ circa 1812 Written during his successful Viennese period, the late Classical–early Romantic piece enchants with the bel canto expressive melodic lines of the violin and singing arpeggios and dense textures of the guitar. The rhythmic Polonaise, which follows the Theme and Variations, adds a noble dance-like character, in vogue in Viennese salons at the time. Vienna was a magnet for the most eminent virtuosi of the violin and guitar—Paganini and Giuliani—both of whom sought their fortunes in a city that anointed them as great virtuosos and founders of the Italian violin and guitar schools. Unsurprisingly, Giuliani was nicknamed the “Paganini of the Guitar,” which sealed their mutual admiration. Beyond Vienna, they teamed up in Rome. Around 1820–1821 Giuliani was back in Italy, staying as a guest at the home of Gioachino Rossini, along with Paganini. The biographer Gian Carlo Conestabile documented in Vita di Niccolo Paganini (1851) that Paganini and Giuliani “were always in the company of the great Pesarese [Rossini], the one playing guitar, the other the violin—the two sublime geniuses of Italian art.” He called them the “triumvirato musicale” (musical triumvirate). While under the same roof, this convergence yielded at least 2 outcomes. When the scheduled conductor suffered a sudden stroke before the premiere of Rossini’s opera Matilde di Shabran on 24 February 1821, his friends came to the rescue. Paganini stepped in to conduct the orchestra, and Giuliani played the cello to reinforce the string section (the local orchestra at the Teatro Apollo was notoriously underprepared and struggling with Rossini’s complex score). The performance led to brawling in the streets between Rossini’s fiercely devoted fans and jealous critics—not an uncommon extension of concerts in Rome. To celebrate the end of the Rome Carnival of 1821, the threesome pulled off a masquerade. Dressed up in costumes as female beggars and a blind street musician, they wandered through the crowds, clowning around and singing a satirically mournful nursery rhyme composed by Rossini himself. While some resources make no mention of Giuliani, others imply the goliardic “triumvirato” was still fully intact. Giuliani (1781–1829) was an Italian virtuoso guitarist and composer who sought to elevate the 6-string guitar to prominence in a music world steeped in ever-louder operas and symphonies. As there were many fine instrumentalists in Italy at the beginning of the 19th century, Giuliani, born poor near Bari, moved north to make a living. He settled in Vienna in 1806 and quickly became a star against all odds. His dazzling performances made him the darling of that city, whose press and public hailed him as the greatest living guitarist. On 27 March 1807 he attended a massive celebration for Haydn’s 76th birthday, along with Hummel, Salieri, Beethoven, and Kreutzer. The public excitement was so intense that police intervention was required to control the enormous crowd. After his 1st Guitar Concerto premiered in 1808 to great acclaim, Giuliani led the classical guitar movement in Vienna, teaching, performing, and composing a rich repertory for the guitar. His works were published by the foremost Viennese publishers and were widely acclaimed. On 8 December 1813 “Giuliani played the cello in the première of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony…in the company of Vienna’s most famous artists, including Hummel…and Spohr, with whom he appeared publicly on many subsequent occasions. He became a ‘virtuoso onorario di camera’ to Empress Marie-Louise, Napoleon’s second wife, in about 1814. He returned to Italy in 1819, heavily in debt, living first in Rome…and finally in Naples…patronized by the nobility at the court of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies until his death. Towards the end of his life he was renowned for performances on the lyre-guitar [New Grove Dictionary].” |
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May 10 Geniuses
BEETHOVEN Quintet in Eb Major Op. 4 ▪ 1795 In the view of Hermann Dieters in Life of Beethoven, “Everything is greater, also more artistic.” In working to establish himself in Vienna with fresh and marketable chamber music, Beethoven rescored the material for strings. Dedicated to his patron and friend, Count Moritz von Fries, the String Quintet was printed by Artaria in Vienna in 1796. Mordechai Rechtman adapted it further for wind quintet, returning the piece to its colorful wind timbres. Fanny HENSEL Piano Trio in D minor Op. 11 ▪ 1846–1847 The Piano Trio was written as a birthday present for her younger sister, Rebecka Lejeune Dirichlet, amid great political unrest and food riots. It premiered privately on 11 April 1847 during one of Fanny’s celebrated Sunday Salons (Sonntagsmusiken) held at her family home in Berlin. Fanny died a month later at age 41 after suffering a stroke while rehearsing Felix’s oratorio Die erste Walpurgisnacht for a musicale. Felix’s death followed 6 months later from the same cause, which had also claimed both of their parents and their grandfather Moses Mendelssohn. The Trio was published in 1850, three years after her death. The 11 February 1852 issue of Neue Berliner Musikzeitungmentioned a public performance given by pianist and composer [Wilhelm] Taubert, Ganz, and Zimmermann. Fanny was, arguably, every bit as talented as Felix, but her entire family opposed her dreams of a career as a concert pianist or even as a composer, except for Felix. Ironically, Felix, as well as many others, considered her an even better pianist than he. Any aspirations she once had to pursue a career as a performer and composer like that of her brother were dashed as unacceptable for women. Her father Abraham’s letter of 1820 had even stated, “for you it can and must only be an ornament, never the basis of your being and doing.” In 1829, after a courtship of several years, Fanny married the painter Wilhelm Hensel who, unlike her parents, encouraged her to compose. A few of her songs and small piano pieces began to receive public performances. Out of over 450 compositions, only 7 opus numbers of her own music (comprising multiple individual songs and piano pieces) plus six songs issued under her brother’s name were published during her lifetime. Nonetheless, having a handful of her works published fulfilled her lifelong dream of being considered a serious composer. The entry for 7 February 1847 in her Tagebücher (diary) reveals much satisfaction: “I cannot deny that my pleasure I take in the publication of my music, also adds to my high spirits…and it is enticing to have this manner of success begin at an age when such pleasures, for women who experience them at all, are usually at an end.” Robert SCHUMANN Piano Quintet in Eb Major Op. 44 ▪ 1842 Schumann composed the Quintet in less than 3 weeks during a creative spurt, with the piano part for Clara in mind. However, she was unwell when it was first performed at a private party in December 1842, so Felix Mendelssohn was called upon to play the demanding part, which he sight-read. At the Quintet’s first public performance on 8 January 1843 at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Clara was the soloist. It was an immediate success. She wrote in her diary that it was “Magnificent—a work filled with energy and freshness.” The Quintet was published on her birthday—13 September 1843. The composer Hector Berlioz, also a leading critic at that time, was visiting from Paris, and his praise for the work did more than anything else to establish Schumann’s reputation throughout Europe. The 20th century musicologist Homer Ulrich viewed the Quintet as “noble, exuberant, and vital.” |
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| Summer Season 2027 | |||||||||
3 Mondays at 2 PM& 7:30 PM The summer concerts will be held
at: Tickets $25, $17 • Reservations advised |
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Monday May 24, 2 pm & 7:30 pm tba
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Monday June 7, 2 pm & 7:30 pm tba
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Monday June 14, 2 pm & 7:30 pm tba
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*All programs are subject to change.
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Last updated 8/12/26
