 2025 – 2026 Season Calendar |
2025 – 2026 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 8 Fishy Waters
Charles Martin LOEFFLER “L’étang” (“The Pond”) ▪ 1901 “L’étang” is one of Two Rhapsodies inspired by a poem of the French symbolist poet Maurice Rollinat. It conjures an eerie portrait of a murky, spectral reflecting pool inhabited by darting sprites, “aged fish struck with blindness…and consumptive toads,” all under the glow of the moon’s “ghostly face, with flattened nose and weirdly vacant jaw, like death’s head lit from within.” The Two Rhapsodies were originally written in 1898 as a set of Three Rhapsodies for Voice, Clarinet, Viola, and Piano. When the clarinetist for whom they were intended was tragically killed, Loeffler rescored the set for an oboist he had befriended. The Rhapsodies were influenced by contemporary French composers, including his friend Gabriel Fauré, and by Edgar Allen Poe, one of the authors whose writings he read in particular (revealing his love of the macabre). “L’étang” was dedicated to his friend Léon Pourtau, a painter and clarinetist who was lost at sea when his ship en route to France sank in a collision. Loeffler (1861–1935) was one of America’s greatest composers, whose work was distinguished by a poetic lyricism in an Impressionist style. Born to German parents, he studied violin and music theory in his youth in Berlin and Paris. His favorite classical master was Handel. The event that most influenced his life, however, was the imprisonment of his father “for having told the truth about certain things concerning the Prussian government.” Loeffler went to great lengths to distance himself from his Prussian origins and became a Francophile, asserting French nationality and acquiring French manners and tastes. After working as an orchestral violinist in Paris, he decided to emigrate to the United States and sailed for New York in 1881, with letters of recommendation from the violin virtuoso Joseph Joachim. In 1882 he joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra as Second Concertmaster. Although he resigned in 1903 to devote himself to composing and teaching, he maintained his relationship with the BSO, which premiered almost all of his symphonic works. In 1910 Loeffler “settled near Medford, where he had a house and studio and led a seigneurial existence, driving and riding thoroughbred horses and enjoying an epicurean cuisine. Sargeant, who did his portrait, was one of his close friends. At the same time Loeffler never ceased to be an assiduous student of music from plainsong and church modes to the contemporary impressionist school. He was also an avid reader.… He was not a prolific composer but everything he wrote was carefully thought through and fashioned with skill and sensitivity. Loeffler was an aristocrat, a perfectionist…and something of a mystic as well…. He was a cosmopolitan musician and his work contains French, Russian, medieval, Irish, Spanish and jazz elements. Basically he was an impressionist; the poetry and painting which he knew so well contributed to his musical inspiration…. [New Grove Dictionary].” Giaochino ROSSINI “La Pesca” from Soirée Musicales No. 10 ▪ pub. 1835 Rossini effectively stopped writing operas in 1829 at the age of 37, even though he lived another 40 years. Having composed 39 operas in 19 years, he had earned fame and fortune and was financially secure, but he suffered from urethritis and arthritis as well as bouts of depression, and was worn down by general exhaustion and changes in the artistic and political climate. In 1830 he moved to Paris and wrote vocal and instrumental pieces. These include Soirée Musicales—8 chamber arias and 4 duets that were elegant, witty, and charming in a range of moods. The songs were performed in the intimate setting of Rossini’s weekly salon evenings at his home, reflecting the musical tastes of the time. The pieces were published as a collection by Troupenas in 1835. Carl REINECKE Flute Sonata in E Major “Undine” Op. 167 ▪ pub. 1882 The duet was inspired by Friedrich de la Motte-Fouqué’s story about a water nymph Undine, who longs for an immortal soul which can only be obtained by earthly love with a mortal man. The tale perfectly suited the German Romantics’ fascination with the supernatural—a world of nymphs and demigods. The music conveys the concepts of water, love, and transformation through its melodic and harmonic language. The Sonata was dedicated to Wilhelm Barge, principal flutist of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra from 1867 to 1895. 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. SCHUBERT Piano Quintet in A Major “Trout” Op. 114 ▪ 1819 The “Trout”—arguably the most famous piece of chamber music—was written at age 22 in less than a week for Sylvester Paumgartner, a rich Austrian patron and amateur cellist, who had asked Schubert for a quintet that would include a movement based on a favorite song, Die Forelle “The Trout.” |
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September 15 Mozart’s Admirers
MOZART Piano Sonata No. 14 in C minor K. 457 ▪ 1784 Music historian Hermann Abert reasoned that Mozart created “a psychological portrait of a sombreness and passion found in no other sonata from his pen.” Apart from its emotional power and innovations such as his use of unexpected harmonies, the Sonata stands out for its influence on later composers. It is said to foreshadow Beethoven’s style. For instance, Mozart’s bold use of the key of C minor was rarely heard in chamber music in his day, but the key would define Beethoven’s repertoire. The stark dynamic contrasts were unusual as well, but were characteristic in Beethoven’s compositions. A theme in the slow movement resembles a theme in the Adagio cantabile of Beethoven’s “Pathétique” Sonata. There are others as well. Mozart wrote the Sonata during an active year composing and performing in Vienna. He entered it into his own catalog on 14 October 1784. Dedicated to Therese von Trattner, his gifted piano pupil and the wife of his landlord, the publisher and bookseller Johann von Trattner, the Sonata was published by Artaria. Alexander Uber was a German cello virtuoso, composer, and Kapellmeister. Ignace PLEYEL Nocturne No. 1 in C Major B. 215 ▪ 1787 Pleyel was not only famous in his day as a piano builder and music publisher, he was equally acclaimed and hugely popular as a composer. Mozart praised the Austrian-born French composer’s 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.” Dana Nagina, a Russian musicologist, sheds light on Pleyel’s influence on Mozart and conversely: “At least twice in his life he could instill a sense of rivalry in his eminent contemporaries—Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart…. When composing his works, Mozart made himself familiar with Pleyel’s Quartets Oр. 1 written according to the model of Haydn’s works…. Pleyel was instrumental in the very existence of certain works by Mozart and Haydn. However, both of them also influenced his style. This is especially true of Pleyel’s interpretation of the sonata form. In the first quartets he relied on Haydn’s model with the variant transformation of the main theme, then, however, he resorts to Mozart’s model with its thematic plurality…and thematic and structural parallels with the Italian opera arias. Pleyel’s symphonies concertante are the extreme of similarity to Mozart’s form [Contemporary Musicology Journal].” Pleyel (1757–1831) was the 8th of 16 children born to an impoverished schoolteacher. He was admitted to the class of the composer Johann Vanhal while very young, and in about 1772 he became Haydn’s pupil and lodger in Eisenstadt. As stated in the New Grove Dictionary, “his annual pension [was] being paid by Count Ladislaus Erdődy, whose family at Pressburg was related to Haydn’s patrons, the Esterházys. The count showed his pleasure at the progress of his protégé by offering Haydn a carriage and two horses, for which Prince Esterházy agreed to provide a coachman and fodder.” 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. Antonín DVOŘÁK Piano Quartet No. 2 in Eb Major Op. 87 ▪ 1889 The Piano Quartet was composed at the request of his publisher Simrock. In a letter to his friend Alois Göbl, Dvořák wrote, “The melodies just surged upon me.” In spite of his busy schedule, Dvořák somehow found time in July and August to compose two major works—the Symphony in G Major and this Piano Quartet—a work marked by melodic invention, structural mastery, harmonic richness, and irresistible high spirits. It was premiered at a concert funded by the Prague Artistic Circle on 23 November 1890. William Hertz explained why the year 1889 was one of the most fulfilling of Dvořák’s life. “After years of struggle, his music, with its infusion of Czech folk elements, was being played all over Europe, and performing groups vied for the premiere performances of his new works. Dvořák himself was conducting before enthusiastic audiences in England and Germany…. Still to come were his three years in the United States as director of a new conservatory in New York City and where he would compose his Symphony ‘From the New World.’ Thanks to the interest of his new friend Tchaikovsky, Dvořák was invited to conduct the following spring in Moscow and St. Petersburg…. Another friend, Brahms, kept up his efforts to persuade Dvořák to move to Vienna, the music capital of Europe and, Brahms argued, a more appropriate location for a composer of Dvořák’s international stature than the cultural hinterland of Bohemia. And finally, notwithstanding his nationalist loyalty to Czech culture, Dvořák was awarded the Austrian Order of the Iron Cross and a personal audience with Emperor Franz Joseph.” Although Dvořák was inspired by Bedřich Smetana’s nationalistic approach to incorporating Czech folk music, Brahms’s compositional style, and Wagner’s earlier romanticism, he was also influenced by Mozart whose works he admired, particularly his melodic language and mastery of form. To Dvořák, “Mozart is sweet sunshine.” |
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September 29 South American Swing
Manuel PONCE Petite suite dans le style ancien ▪ 1935 Ponce (1882–1948) was Mexico’s first composer of international importance. He revolutionized his country’s music by fusing indigenous music and sounds with European classical forms, and was also credited as the “creator of the modern Mexican song.” A child prodigy, he was made chief organist of the Church of San Diego in 1897 at age 15. He studied at the National Conservatory in Mexico City, traveled to Europe in 1904 to attend the School of Bologna, followed by the Stern Conservatory in Berlin, before returning to Mexico. In 1925 Ponce went to Paris to study composition with Paul Dukas. There he met Heitor Villa-Lobos, who encouraged his interest in native folk music. After overstaying his visa by 8 years, he came home to Mexico in 1933. He focused on orchestral genres, taught music and folklore, and was awarded the National Science and Arts Prize in 1947. He had also met Andrés Segovia. They became close friends and their collaboration resulted in significant contributions to the classical guitar repertoire. “At his death from uremic poisoning he was recognized as the one Mexican composer whose music appealed to all levels of society. Not only his sentimental songs but also the early piano pieces in the brilliant salon style of Moszkowski and Chaminade…were profusely published by the five leading houses of Mexico City. In later life he absorbed French impressionist methods and neoclassical counterpoint into a guitar literature that Segovia and his followers quickly established as part of the standard repertory [New Grove Dictionary].” Heitor VILLA-LOBOS String Quartet No. 1 ▪ 1915 The suite for string quartet boasts a lyrical and serene serenade, a lively Brazilian polka, a caricature of a Romantic aria, a muted cello solo in the Melancolia movement, and a fugal dance—Saltando como um Saci “Jumping Like a Saci” (a mischievous Brazilian mythical creature). Villa-Lobos (1887–1959) was one of the foremost Latin American composers of the 20th century, whose music combines native melodic and rhythmic elements with Western classical music. The Brazilian was born and died in Rio de Janeiro. Influenced by his father’s weekly musical gatherings, Heitor learned to play the cello (actually a modified viola) at age 6 and was inspired by Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier. He also became interested in Brazilian folk music which he heard during travels with his family to various regions in the country. After returning to Rio, Villa-Lobos learned to play the guitar secretly and began associating and performing with the city’s popular musicians. He left home at age 18 because his mother, widowed in 1899 when he was 12, opposed his “delinquent” friends and wanted him to become a doctor. Instead, he became a musical vagabond, playing the cello (it became his favorite instrument) and guitar to support himself while he embarked on adventurous travels around the Amazon, absorbing Brazilian folk music and composing his own pieces. By 1915, he acquired an intimate knowledge of the Afro-Brazilian music of the country’s northern and northeastern regions; studied the works of Bach, Wagner, and Puccini; and presented a concert of his compositions in Rio de Janeiro. The concert gave his career a vital boost as the firm of Artur Napoleão was impressed and began publishing his pieces, even though many critics initially attacked the dissonance and modernity of his music. In 1919 he met the pianist Artur Rubinstein, who played his compositions in concerts worldwide, which further helped to advance his reputation. Villa-Lobos composed ceaselessly (about 2,000 works), and by the time of his first trip to Europe in 1923, he had produced numerous pieces in every genre. He also made Paris his home base for the remainder of the 1920s. The year 1930 marked a significant pivot in his life. After he returned to Brazil he was made director of music education in Rio de Janeiro, he coordinated Brazilian musical education, promoted a national musical identity, arranged concerts around São Paulo, and he started to compose the well-received Bachianas Brasileiras. Between 1944 and 1949 he traveled widely in Europe and the United States, where he wrote music for several films, received many honors, and was in demand as a conductor. Although his health was in decline from bladder cancer in his last decade, he remained active until his death. Miguel del AGUILA Tango Trio ▪ 2002 In the words of del Aguila, the trio was written as an homage to Tango. “The work evokes Argentine-Uruguayan tango idioms, recalling especially the neo-romantic and sentimental style of the early tango period between 1910 and 1940. The musical language is intense, dramatic and direct, becoming at times melodramatic and humorous…. It…contains elements from a broader spectrum of Latin American dances such as Brazilian Samba, and Uruguayan Milonga and Candombe.” Tango Trio was written in New York and premiered at the Chautauqua Music Festival by the New Arts Trio. Born in Montevideo in 1957, del Aguila fled from Uruguay’s repressive military government to California in 1978. After lessons on the clarinet and violin, he studied piano with the intention of becoming a concert pianist. However, he made a shift to composing, driven by a deep artistic inclination and a desire to pursue his own unique musical voice. Today, he is a 3-time Grammy-nominated American composer creating distinctive, innovative modern classical music highly influenced by his Latin American roots. “A leading voice in 20th and 21st-century music, he is a vital force in contemporary concert music, with 140 compositions that bring vibrant new diversity into the modern chamber and orchestral music repertoire. His rhythm-driven, dramatic works blend tradition and modernity with nostalgic nods to his South American heritage.” The New York Times has praised him as “brilliant and witty” and Los Angeles Times as “sonically dazzling.” Among his many honors are a Kennedy Center Friedheim Award, New Music USA’s Music Alive and Magnum Opus Awards. Alberto GINASTERA Impresiones de la Puna ▪ 1934 One of his earliest significant pieces, the impressionistic work for flute and string quartet is infused with the spirit of his homeland and reflects the folk music of his native Argentina. Ginastera (1916–1983) is widely recognized as Argentina’s most important 20th-century composer and, after the death of Villa-Lobos in 1959, he became one of Latin America’s best known classical composers. His music is characterized by a unique synthesis of Argentinian folk music with modernist techniques, evolving from neoclassical to avant-garde styles. His distinct voice is marked by rhythmic vitality, reflecting the energy of Argentine culture and harmonic innovation. Ginastera was born in Buenos Aires, the son of Catalonian and Italian immigrants. He started piano lessons at the age of 7 and entered the Conservatorio Williams in Buenos Aires at age 12. From 1936 to 1938 he studied at the National Conservatory, graduating with the highest honors, and in 1941 became a professor of composition. With the rise of the dictator Juan Peron he moved to the United States (in 1945), where he was exposed to new musical trends. After his return to Argentina in 1955, with the fall of Peron, he and several colleagues founded the Composers’ League to foster music that merged indigenous materials with imported abstracted forms. He also founded the Latin American Center for Advanced Music Studies. Another sojourn to the United States in 1968 was followed by a move in 1970 to Geneva, Switzerland, where he lived out his life. Arturo MÁRQUEZ Danzón No. 2 ▪ 1994 Danzón No. 2, originally composed for orchestra, was inspired by a Cuban dance form that Márquez saw and heard in his travels to the town of Malinalco, Mexico in 1993. Representing his multicultural heritage, it became hugely popular and is dubbed Mexico’s “second national anthem.” Commissioned by the National Autonomous University of Mexico, Márquez wrote it in January and February of 1994 during the Zapatista uprising—the rebellion of the indigenous Mayan group against the implementation of NAFTA. Danzón No. 2 has been recorded many times and is also included in the Amazon Video streaming service series “Mozart in the Jungle” in season 2, episode 6. Arturo Márquez was born in Alamos, Sonora, Mexico in 1950. He began his musical training in La Puente, California in 1966, and later studied at the Conservatory of Music of Mexico, privately in Paris, and at the California Institute of the Arts. In 2006 Márquez received the “Medalla de Oro de Bellas Artes” (Gold Medal of Fine Arts), the highest honor given to artists by Mexico’s Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes. The event was celebrated by a concert that included 6 danzones—“El Danzón según Márquez” (The Danzón according to Márquez)—at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. Oscar Lorenzo FERNÂNDEZ Trio brasileiro ▪ 1924 The piano trio won 1st prize at the International Competition of the Rio de Janeiro Society of Musical Culture in 1925. In the words of Mário de Andrade, the Brazilian poet and musicologist, “this work marks a date in the evolution of Brazilian music and reveals an artist in full possession of his dynamic personality.” Fernândez—composer, conductor, musicologist, teacher, poet—was a key figure in the cultural life of Rio de Janeiro and a major exponent of the nationalist school in 20th century Brazil. Born in 1897 in Rio, Lorenzo was raised in a home that hosted musical gatherings. He learned to play the piano by ear when he was 15 and, shortly after, was taught by his sister, a pupil of Henrique Oswald. Although his parents were intent on his studying medicine, he was diagnosed with a nervous disorder and prescribed rest and relaxation through music. Following orders, he spent his days playing and composing, which set in stone his career path. In 1917, he enrolled in the National Institute of Music and made his debut as a performer and composer 3 years later. A significant influence on his composing was Alberto Nepomuceno, the patriarch of Brazilian musical nationalism. In 1925, at age 25, he succeeded one of his teachers as professor of harmony at the Institute. Fernândez gained international fame in 1930 for the primordial power of Batuque, the final dance movement of his Afro-Brazilian influenced Reisado do Pastoreio suite. In 1936, along with Francisco Mignone and other prominent musicians, he founded the Conservatório Brasileiro de Música, which he directed until his death. Together with his friend Villa-Lobos, he helped innovate the teaching of music in Brazil. He also founded the Rio de Janeiro Society of Musical Culture as well as other influential musical institutions, both journalistic and educational. He died of a heart attack in 1948 at age 50. Villa-Lobos described Fernândez as “a perfect man as an artist and an artist who has the right to live with relative perfection because he possesses a noble character, both moral and artistic, and a cultured and confident philosophical and musical intelligence, which certainly make him one of the solid foundations of Brazilian classical music.” |
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October 13 Ties to Beethoven
BEETHOVEN Piano Quartet in C Major WoO 36 No. 3 ▪ 1785 Beethoven was a piano prodigy and performed in public at age 7. When he was 10 years old, he became the assistant to the new court organist in Bonn, Christian Gottlob Neefe, who introduced him to the art of the fugue and the study of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier. In 1783, Beethoven was described in Magazin der Musik as “a boy of eleven years and a most promising talent. He plays the piano very skillfully and with power, reads at sight very well…. [Neefe] is now training him in composition…. This youthful genius…would surely become a second Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart if he were to continue as he has begun.” The quartets were modeled after a set of Mozart violin sonatas published in 1781, while revealing his distinct musical style that anticipates his later work. He later used some of the themes in his Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor, which he wrote about 10 years later in 1795. It is also one of the earliest works for the innovative instrumental combination of piano, violin, viola and cello. The set of Quartets was published in 1828, the year after his death, when the Viennese publisher Artaria acquired the manuscripts. Anton REICHA Octet in Eb Major Op. 96 ▪ [1817] Alan Becker of the South Florida Classical Review observed that Reicha’s Octet “adheres mostly to the doctrines of Viennese classicism.... The melodic fecundity and folk-like themes he used with great skill give this music a lift and buoyancy that are hard to resist. Themes are tossed from one instrument to another, virtuosity is required for each player, and the rich palette of instrumental colors is fully exploited with nary a touch of Beethoven’s influence to be found.” The 8 instruments comprise 2 violins, viola, cello, flute, clarinet, horn, and bassoon. Reicha—a man of breadth and depth—was born in Prague in 1770, and later became a naturalized French composer. His father, a town piper, died when he was 10 months old, leaving him in the custody of a mother who had no interest in educating him. Young Anton ran away from home when only ten years old, and was subsequently adopted and educated in music by his uncle Josef Reicha. In 1785 they moved to Bonn, where he played the flute and violin in the court orchestra alongside young Beethoven on viola. He studied composition secretly, against his uncle’s wishes, and entered the University of Bonn in 1789 and met Haydn in the early 1790s. When Bonn was captured by the French in 1794 Reicha fled to Hamburg, where he made a living teaching the piano, harmony, and composition. He also composed and studied mathematics and philosophy. Hoping to gain recognition as an opera composer, he went Paris in 1799, but did not succeed. In 1801 he moved on to Vienna, where he visited Haydn, renewed his friendship with Beethoven, studied with Salieri and Albrechtsberger, and produced his first important works, while reading mathematics and philosophy, and reflecting seriously upon pedagogy. He was an accomplished theorist, and wrote several treatises on various aspects of composition. His treatises are known to have influenced Giacomo Meyerbeer, Schumann, and Smetana. (Schumann once noted, “his often peculiar ideas about fugue should not be ignored.”) His life was once again affected by war in 1808, prompting him to leave Vienna, which was occupied by the French under Napoleon, for Paris, where he spent the rest of his life teaching composition and, in 1818, was appointed professor of counterpoint and fugue at the Conservatoire. His pupils included Franck, Liszt, Berlioz, Gounod, and a number of lesser-known composers whose works have been performed by Jupiter. He died in 1836. César FRANCK Trio concertant in F# minor Op. 1 No. 1 ▪ 1840 Franck’s Op. 1 comprised a set of 3 trios composed over 3 years while a student at the Paris Conservatoire, and published in the spring of 1843. The trios were well received by his contemporaries. Mendelssohn praised them; Liszt offered constructive criticism and encouragement, and introduced them on the concert stages of Germany. Among other prominent admirers were Daniel Auber, Chopin, Gaetano Donizetti, Fromental Halévy, Giacomo Meyerbeer, and Ambroise Thomas. The first Trio was recorded by the great pianist Sviatoslav Richter, violinist Oleg Kagan, and cellist Natalia Gutman in 1983. Franck (1822–1890) was born in Liège, but did not become a naturalized French citizen until 1873. His family moved to Paris in 1835, and at age 15 he was sent to the Paris Conservatoire. After a promising start upon his graduation, he sank into obscurity. However, when he switched from piano to organ at age 30, he became the greatest improviser of his time; and after the 1880s he composed most of the music by which he is known. In the view of the esteemed critic Harold Schonberg, “Franck was the dominating musical force of the period in France, both as a composer and as teacher, and he gathered unto himself a group of pupils who did everything but put a halo over him and worship. There was something in the man that encouraged worship. …he was kind to the point of saintliness, serene, otherworldly. Never did a harsh word pass his lips, never a derogatory remark. He was not interested in honors or in money, and a stain-glass aura (reflected in his music) emanated from him. One of his greatest delights was to sit and improvise at the organ of Ste.-Clothilde in a religious ecstasy…. People compared him with Fra Angelico. It was to Franck that the younger generation turned.” His two most famous pupils were Chausson and Vincent d’Indy, who remarked, “Everything in Franck sings, and sings all the time.” |
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October 27 Colored by Brahms
Max REGER Serenade in D Major Op. 77a ▪ 1904 At the beginning of June 1904 Reger wrote, “It is absolutely clear to me that what our present age lacks is a Mozart,” and announced that the “first fruit of that realization” would be a Flute Serenade (Op. 77a). For Reger, Mozart was a completely Rococo musician and the epitome of compositional fluency and musicianly enthusiasm, and would be the antidote to the modernism of Reger’s time. While rooted in Romantic traditions, the Serenade flirts with its artful harmonic language. In his life of only 43 years, Reger achieved prominence as a pianist, organist, conductor, teacher, and composer noted for his organ works. Born in Bavaria in 1873, his father made sure that Max learned to play the piano and string instruments. Together, they also rebuilt a scrapped school organ for use at home, and this was the instrument on which Reger first explored harmonic effects. He studied with Adalbert Lindner, the town organist of Weiden; and from 1890 to 1893, with Hugo Riemann in Sondershausen and Wiesbaden. About this time he became friends with Busoni, Eugen d’Albert, and Karl Straube, who was a devoted interpreter of his organ music. By 1901, despite strong opposition to his traditional methods from the Neudeutsche Schule, he established himself in Munich as a composer and pianist. Before long, he got tired of the bickering in Munich and accepted, in 1907, a post as professor of composition and director of music at Leipzig University, which brought him international renown. In 1911, Duke George II of Saxe-Meiningen appointed him conductor of the court orchestra at Meiningen. After returning from a tour in the Netherlands, he died from a heart attack at the hotel Hentschef in Leipzig in 1916. Reger’s prodigious output from his complex creative mind, produced in 26 years, is unparalleled among leading contemporaries. At once Baroque and Romantic, he was influenced by Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms most strongly; and Chopin, Mendelssohn, Liszt, and Wagner impressed him as well. In turn, his music influenced Alban Berg, Paul Hindemith, Arthur Honegger, Franz Schmidt, and Arnold Schoenberg. Hans PFITZNER Sextet in G minor Op. 55 ▪ 1945 Music writer Scott Morrison views the Sextet by the avowed Romantic as “a little masterpiece, a jolly divertimento.... The first movement is a sonata-allegro with especially winsome themes.... The Quasi-Minuetto is almost a classical-era miniature.... The Rondoletto is an outdoor-piece that could almost have been written by Schubert except for its startlingly effective modulations and its creative changes of instrumental combinations. The fourth movement, Semplice misterioso, is in strophic songform, with varying intermezzi between stanzas. It leads without pause into the finale, Comodo, which alone among all the movements features a number of double bass solos...and it builds to a joyful conclusion.” Pfitzner, a man with a quick, penetrating mind and quizzical humor, was born in 1869 into a family of musicians in Moscow. When he was two, the family returned to his father’s hometown of Frankfurt. From 1886 to 1890 he studied at the Hoch Conservatory, where his piano teacher was James Kwast. He later married Mimi (Kwast’s daughter and a granddaughter of Ferdinand Hiller) against her parents’ wishes and after she had rejected the advances of Percy Grainger. He worked at some low-paying jobs before his appointment as opera director and head of the conservatory in Strasbourg in 1908. His most important work, the musical legend Palestrina, was completed in 1915. In 1925 he was made a knight of the Pour le Mérite and a senator of the German Academy in Munich, but his activities diminished after his wife died in 1926. “In 1934 Pfitzner, in poor health though still mentally active, was relieved of his ‘life’ post in Munich; he spent the years of Nazi rule, which he detested, as a conductor and accompanist. Though his sight grew weaker he continued to compose. When his home was destroyed in an air raid, he moved to...Vienna, then to Garmisch-Partenkirchen and finally, in 1946, to an old people’s home in...Munich. All of his possessions had been lost: Reger’s widow gave him a piano. He was buried with honor in the Vienna Zentralfriedhof [New Grove Dictionary].” His work was championed by Bruno Walter. Richard STRAUSS Piano Quartet in C minor Op. 13 ▪ 1884 Strauss began composing the Piano Quartet in the spring of 1884 and completed it later that year. It reveals the fusion of the gravity and grandeur of Brahms with the fire and impetuous virtuosity of Strauss at age 20. At its premiere in Weimar on 8 December 1885, Strauss was the pianist. The next year, it won first prize (among 24 entrants) in a piano quartet competition sponsored by the Tonkünstlerverein of Berlin. Almost 2 decades after its creation, following a performance with the Mannes Quartet in Mendelssohn Hall, a review in the New York Times appeared on 19 March 1904: “It is admirably written for the four instruments, which are treated with great independence…. The work is not without some foreshadowings of what was to come later; there are strains of ‘Till Eulenspiegel’ in the vivacious and tricky Scherzo, which is full of delightful touches and complex rhythms. The andante has a marked kinship with some of Dr. Strauss’s sustained and deeply felt songs, such as ‘Allerseeien.’ It is a work of uncommon interest and value…. Dr. Strauss showed himself to be an extremely skillful and resourceful pianist in his playing...not as a virtuoso and not through seeking the effects of a virtuoso, but with the truly musical insight of a composer. [The piece is] technically difficult...but his mastery of all the problems presented by his own music was unquestionable, and he put great fire and spirit into the performance…. There was an audience of considerable size that showed much interest and enthusiasm in the performance.” Strauss (1864–1949) came from a musical family (his father was principal horn of the Munich Court Orchestra for 49 years) and spent much time and effort on music in his early years, composing more than 140 pieces by the time he matriculated from the Ludwigsgymnasium at age 18. In August 1882, he entered the University of Munich, where he read philosophy, aesthetics, history, art, and literature; but in 1883, at the age of 19, he moved to Berlin to concentrate on music. He also discovered Brahms in Berlin and got hooked on playing cards, a lifelong addiction. |
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November 3 English Beauties
Sir Edward ELGAR Andante and Allegro ▪ circa 1878 The manuscript, held in the British Library, is undated but 1878 is considered a likely year of composition. The oboe part of the manuscript is curiously labeled “Xmas Music.” Arranged for oboe and piano from the original for solo oboe, violin, viola, and cello. Almost entirely self-taught, Elgar learned to play the piano, violin, and a variety of other instruments at a young age. (He and his 6 siblings were raised in a vibrant musical environment as they lived above his father’s music shop in Worcester.) He had hoped to study at the Leipzig Conservatory, but his father, an organist and music dealer, could not afford this luxury. After leaving school at age 15, he earned a living in Worcester teaching piano and violin. He also worked as a clerk for a local lawyer, a job he soon abandoned to accept a post conducting the Worcester and County Lunatic Asylum attendants’ band in Powick, just outside Worcester. He also composed dances for the gallimaufry of instruments in the band. In addition, since he was a member of the Worcester Glee Club (as was his father), he wrote and arranged works, played the violin, accompanied singers, and conducted for the first time. The Andante and Allegro may have been written for performance at the Worcester Glee Club, which met at the Crown Hotel. It was composed for Frank, his younger brother who played the oboe and bassoon, and was involved in various musical activities in Worcester, including performing with “Ted” (Edward) in a wind quintet. Frank took over the family music shop, Elgar Brothers, after their father’s death in 1906 and managed it until his own death in 1928. Elgar, the first English composer of international stature since Purcell, liberated England’s music from its insularity. He was born in the small village of Broadheath in 1857 and died in Worcester in 1934. After his marriage in 1889, the couple moved to London, but in 1891 they returned to Malvern, where he had met his wife, and he began to establish a reputation as a composer. Throughout the 1880s and 1890s his experience grew and his style matured as he conducted and composed for local musical organizations. When he died 1934, “He left to younger composers the rich harmonic resources of late Romanticism and stimulated the subsequent national school of English music. His own idiom was cosmopolitan, yet his interest in the oratorio is grounded in the English musical tradition. Especially in England, Elgar is esteemed both for his own music and for his role in heralding the 20th-century English musical renascence [Encyclopedia Britannica].” Elgar was knighted by King Edward VII in 1904, which pleased his wife, especially. Frederick DELIUS Violin Sonata No. 2 RT viii/9 ▪ 1923 The Sonata was recorded by Yehudi Menuhin and Eric Fenby on piano in 1978. Fenby, Delius’s amanuensis in his last 6 years, is credited with helping Delius, who was debilitated by syphilis, compose a number of works that would not otherwise have been realized. Delius was one of the most distinctive figures in the revival of English music at the end of the 19th century. Sir Thomas Beecham, a livelong devotee of his music and his finest interpreter, called him “the last great apostle in our time of beauty and romance in music.” Elgar described him as “a poet and a visionary.” Born in Bradford in 1862 into a large mercantile family headed by a stern father, Delius played the piano from an early age and had violin lessons (he became an excellent violinist). On leaving school he entered the family wool firm, yielding to his father’s wishes. In 1884 he managed to persuade his father to lend him enough money to set up as an orange grower in Florida. This gave him longed-for freedom and enabled him to start composing seriously. He settled at Solano Grove near Jacksonville, neglected the oranges, and found a friend and music teacher in Thomas Ward. The luxuriant natural environs was conducive to nurturing his musical vision. He particularly loved the songs of the African-Americans living in nearby plantations. At this time, it is alleged that he fathered a son with his lover, an African-American woman. It is said that he later returned to look for her and the son. Delius left Florida in 1886 for Leipzig, where he studied with Carl Reinecke at the Conservatory and befriended Edvard Grieg, who encouraged him to continue composing. Two years later he went to live in Paris. Although he led a bohemian life for a while, his Paris years were musically productive. From 1897 he made his home at Grez-sur-Loing, near Paris, with the painter Jelka Rosen, whom he married in 1903. After the Great War, he manifested symptoms of syphilis, which gradually developed into blindness and paralysis. In his final years, Delius continued composing, working with an amanuensis, Eric Fenby. He died in 1934 and was reburied a year later at St Peter’s Church in Limpsfield, Surrey, attended by “Sixty People Under Flickering Lamps.” In the opinion of musicologist Anthony Payne, “the strength of Delius’s character is too evident in a less purely musical way.… Delius’s music deals with the pristine romance of his formative experience—the sound of [African-American] songs over the still air of Solano Grove, his first knowledge of total love…. Such things are obsessively relived in his music; it may be that his style matured only when he recognized the impossibility of recapturing them in reality [New Grove Dictionary].” Sir Charles Villiers STANFORD Piano Trio No. 3 in A minor “Per aspera ad astra” Op. 158 ▪ 1918 The Trio was composed during the final months of the First World War and dedicated to the memory of the two sons of Alan Gray, Stanford’s successor as organist of Trinity College and conductor of the Cambridge University Music Society. The young men were killed in the war. The earliest recorded use of the Latin phrase is by the ancient Roman writer Seneca. Born to a musical family, Stanford left Dublin in 1870 at the age of 18 for Cambridge, where he distinguished himself as a choral scholar, organist, conductor, and classics student. He also studied in Leipzig (with Reinecke) and in Berlin (with Friedrich Kiel, at the urging of Joachim) between 1874 and 1876. An illustrious career then ensued; he composed prolifically, conducted, and taught at the Royal College of Music, which he cofounded. Among his pupils were Vaughan Williams, Gustav Holst, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, John Ireland, and Frank Bridge, to name a few. He also was director of the Leeds Festival and conducted the London Bach choir. Stanford loved music of the German-Austrian tradition; he especially admired Gluck and Schumann and often programmed the music of Brahms and Beethoven in concert. The New Grove Dictionary summarized his achievements and influences: “First, he swept away the empty conventions and complacencies which had debased English church music since Purcell.... Second, he set a new standard in choral music with his oratorios and cantatas.... Third, in his partsongs, and still more in his solo songs with piano he reached near perfection both in melodic invention and in capturing the mood of the poem.... [Fourth, he] exercised the most powerful influence on British music and musicians, that of the paramount teacher of composition....” Stanford was knighted in 1902; he died in 1924 and his ashes were buried in Westminster Abbey. Gerald FINZI Interlude Op. 21 ▪ 1933–1936 The haunting Interlude may have been intended as part of a larger work, possibly a concerto. It looms as an embodiment of his view of music as a confessional for his innermost thoughts and feelings. Melodically and harmonically, Finzi was influenced by Elgar and Vaughan Williams. Composed for Sylvia Spencer, the Interlude was first performed at Wigmore Hall in London on 24 March 1936. The oboist Léon Goossens (the dedicatee) played it with the Menges String Quartet. Goossens came from a celebrated musical family; all 5 children were virtuosi, and Léon became a household name worldwide. Spencer, a pupil of Goossens, was among England’s best oboists who worked tirelessly to promote new works. An agnostic and pacifist of Orthodox Jewish descent, Finzi composed unmistakably British music. Born in 1901 in London, he was the son of a successful shipbroker, who died when Gerald was 7 years old. He studied music with Ernest Farrar (Stanford’s pupil in composition) from 1914 till 1916, when Farrar joined the army, and then with Edward Barstow. Finzi was shocked when Farrar was killed on the Western Front in 1918. The deaths of his father, all 3 of his brothers before the age of 18, and Farrar, instilled in him an intense awareness of the fragility of life. This sense of transience became the most profound aspect of his artistry in his later works. In 1922 he moved to the Cotswolds and worked in tranquility and isolation. The countryside also deeply affected his life and music. When the isolation became oppressive, he returned to London in 1926 and began to study counterpoint with Reginald Owen Morris. He also became acquainted with Vaughan Williams, whose influence he was always to acknowledge and who, in 1928, conducted Finzi’s Violin Concerto. In 1930 Finzi obtained a teaching appointment at the Royal Academy of Music, but gave up the post in 1933 after he married the artist Joy Black and settled in the Wiltshire countryside. Some of his best song cycles were written during this period. Additionally, he devoted himself to growing apples, saving a number of rare English apple varieties from extinction. An avid reader of English prose and poetry, Finzi also amassed an extraordinary literary library of some 3000 volumes, and a fine collection of about 700 printed scores, manuscripts, and books of 18th-century English music (now in university libraries in Reading and St. Andrews). In 1939 the Finzis moved to Ashmansworth in Hampshire, where Gerald founded the Newbury String Players. The group revived 18th century string music and premiered works by his contemporaries. During World War II, he worked for the Ministry of War Transport and lodged German and Czech refugees in his home. After the war, he wrote his best known work in 1949, the Clarinet Concerto. In 1951, Finzi was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma and given less than10 years to live. He managed to continue composing in his quiet, conscientious manner. In 1956 he and Vaughan Williams went on a walking tour in Gloucester. They paused for tea at the local sexton’s cottage, where Finzi contracted chicken pox from the children. His immune system weakened, he died soon after of shingles, complicated by encephalitis, at age 55. Ralph VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Quintet in D Major ▪ 1898 The Ralph Vaughan Williams Society described the Quintet as “felicitous and fresh…. The piece fairly overflows with exuberance and confidence in its writing for all five players.” It was written in his mid-20s (the year after his marriage) for the chamber concerts of clarinetist George Clinton. After its premiere in the Queen’s (small) Hall on 5 June 1901, it was not performed again until 20 February 2001 (upon his widow’s acquiescence) at the British Library Conference Centre. In 1897 Vaughan Williams had married the gifted cellist and pianist Adeline Fisher, a first cousin of Virginia Woolf. His mother, Margaret, was one of three daughters born to Josiah Wedgwood III and Caroline Darwin. Thus, Charles Darwin was his great-uncle and Josiah Wedgwood was his great-great-grandfather, founder of the pottery at Stoke-on-Trent. Vaughan Williams (1872–1958) is one of the most important composers of the 20th century—an intuitive composer with a career that spanned more than 6 decades. A major accomplishment was his revival of English music, influenced by English folk song and Tudor polyphony. Vaughan Williams studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, and at the Royal College of Music under Charles Villiers Stanford and Hubert Parry. In 1897–1898 he studied in Berlin under Max Bruch, and in 1909 in Paris under Maurice Ravel. About 1903 he began to collect folk songs. “All assessments of Vaughan Williams have emphasized his Englishness. This is a matter of temperament and character no less than of musical style and may be felt to have permeated everything he did…. That he re-created an English musical vernacular, thereby enabling the next generation to take their nationality for granted, and did much to establish the symphony as a form of central significance for the English revival is historically important; but his illumination of the human condition, especially though not exclusively in his works commonly regarded as visionary, is a unique contribution” wrote Hugh Ottaway for the New Grove Dictionary. Vaughan Williams was offered and refused a knighthood, but the Order of Merit was conferred upon him in 1935. |
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November 17 Schumann Charms
Louis SPOHR Duo Op. 3 No. 3 ▪ 1802–1803 The set of 3 violin duets was composed during a trip to Russia with Franz Eck, his violin teacher, and the duets were among the earliest pieces he published—in 1805. In 1799, Duke Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand of Brunswick had given Spohr a position in his court orchestra. The Duke also paid for him to accompany Eck as a pupil on a tour to St. Petersburg in 1802–1803 to complete his training as a violinist. In 1804 Spohr made his first independent concert tour of Germany, gaining a reputation as one of the country’s leading violinists, and in 1805 he was invited to lead the court orchestra in Gotha. Spohr (1784–1859) was a dominant force in German music and was as famous as Mozart and 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. He 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. SCHUBERT 3 Lieder ▪ n.d. Baermann’s arrangements are notable for their fidelity to the original vocal lines and their exploration of the expressive possibilities of the clarinet. They appeared as Op. 88 in Baermann’s Collected Works. IV “Lob der Thränen” (In praise of tears) D.711 was Schubert’s setting of August Schlegel’s eulogy to the power of tears to bring renewal and redemption (1818–1821). V “Gretchen am Spinnrade” (Gretchen at the spinning wheel) D.118 is based on a text from Goethe’s Faust, depicting Gretchen’s emotions as she longs for Faust while spinning at her wheel (1814). II “Wohin” is the second song from the cycle Die schöne Müllerin D. 795, which tells of a young miller who falls in love with the miller’s daughter. The cycle follows his story of unrequited love and tragic fate. Schumann was a great admirer of Schubert’s music and played a crucial role in promoting Schubert’s music. Carl Baermann (1810–1885) was the son of the famous clarinet virtuoso Heinrich Baermann, for whom Weber composed his clarinet works. As a child he was taught the clarinet and the basset horn by his father. He played occasionally in the Munich court orchestra when he was 14 years old, and was appointed its second clarinetist in 1832. When his father retired in 1834, Carl succeeded him as principal clarinetist, holding that position until he retired in 1880. During a tour in Europe in 1833, he and his father premiered their friend Mendelssohn’s Concert Pieces Opp. 113 and 114 to great acclaim. The Pieces were composed in exchange for a culinary treat of sweet dumplings and cheese strudel. Apart from their musical prowess, the Baermanns were renowned for their cooking. Even the royal house of Saxony craved their dumpling specialty made from flour, yeast, sugar, butter, and eggs and cooked in a wine sauce. Carl also shaped clarinet history through his pedagogical writings, editorial articles, and compositions that were popular with clarinet virtuosos; and for his mechanical design of the clarinet—the Baermann-Ottensteiner key system, which he developed based on the widely-used Müller system in the late 19th century. Robert SCHUMANN Frauenliebe und Leben Op. 42 ▪ 1840 The text of “Woman’s Love and Life” is from a cycle of poems by the French-born German poet Adelbert von Chamisso, penned in 1830. It describes a woman’s love for her darling from her perspective—from their first meeting through marriage to his death, and after. The year 1840 was an artistic triumph for Schumann. Known as his “Year of the Song,” he composed in a single year this song cycle and at least 137 art songs (more than half his total output). The inspiration for this burst of creativity was his impending marriage to Clara Wieck. Her father had forbade the marriage, but the court finally granted them permission to marry one day shy of Clara’s 21st birthday. The deep adoration in Chamisso’s poetry and Schumann’s music mirrors the couple’s devotion to one another as newlyweds. It is his most personal work for voice. Reimann, the German composer and arranger, was born into a musical family in Berlin in 1936. He became a répétiteur at the Deustche Oper Berlin and a distinguished accompanist of lieder, most notably in performances with the great German lyric baritone, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, for whom many of his original works were written, including the opera King Lear. August KLUGHARDT Piano Quintet in G minor Op. 43 ▪ 1884 Influenced by Schumann in structure, the Quintet combines the prevalent symphonic style of the day with the finesse and intimacy of chamber music. It is notable for its dramatic and passionate opening movement, intricate thematic development, and contrasting moods. Born in 1847, August Klughardt was one of the great composers of the 19th century, alongside Brahms and Bruckner, who made significant contributions to music history. Beginning at age 10 he studied at Cöthen, Dessau, and Dresden; held theater positions in Posen, Neustrelitz, and Lubeck; and in 1869 became court music director at Weimar, where he became friends with Liszt. It was the beginning of his enthusiasm for the Neudeutsche Schule (New German School). At the same time, he was loyal to the classical practice, and was influenced by Schumann and Brahms as well—his work was a synthesis of these dissimilar tendencies. In 1873, at the premiere of Liszt’s Christus, he met Wagner, who influenced a great deal of his music. He dedicated his symphonic poem Lenore to Wagner; his Symphony in F minor was written under the impact of hearing the Ring at the first Bayreuth Festival in 1876; and in 1892 and 1893 he conducted Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen. Among his distinctions were an appointment to the Berlin Academy of Arts in 1898 and an honorary doctorate conferred by the University of Erlangen. When asked to direct the “Singakademie” in Berlin, he rejected this offer. Klughardt died suddenly in Roßlau at the age of 54. |
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December 1 Philly Specials
Samuel BARBER Summer Music Op. 31 ▪ 1953 The piece also showcases the individual qualities of each wind instrument. Written in 1953 as a commission by the Detroit Chamber Music Society, Barber’s fee was raised by donations from the audience, with the Society acting as a guarantor for a minimum of $2,000. The principal players of the Detroit Symphony gave the premiere in March 1956. Born in 1910 in West Chester, Pennsylvania, Barber is considered one of the most expressive representatives of the lyric and Romantic styles in the 20th century. At the age of 9, he determined to be a composer. He explained to his mother: “I have written this to tell you my worrying secret. Now don’t cry when you read it because it is neither yours nor my fault. I suppose I will have to tell it now without any nonsense. To begin with I was not meant to be an athlet [sic]. I was meant to be a composer, and will be I’m sure. I'll ask you one more thing Don’t ask me to try to forget this unpleasant thing and go play football. —Please— Sometimes I’ve been worrying about this so much that it makes me mad (not very).” Barber entered the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia in 1924, at age 14, and graduated in 1934, after which he devoted himself to composing in a polished style and with integrity. Every day of his life he played or studied the music of Bach, and he also loved Brahms. For those who withstood the barbs of his waspish tongue he was a loyal friend, a fantastic conversationalist, and an endlessly entertaining companion. Barber—cosmopolitan and highly cultivated—won a Pulitzer Prize for his opera Vanessa (1958) and Piano Concerto (1962). He felt most at home in Capricorn, a retreat in Mount Kisco, New York, which he purchased in 1943 with his partner Gian Carlo Menotti. He died in his New York City apartment in 1981. For a fascinating account of Barber, see Paul Wittke’s article: https://www.wisemusicclassical.com/composer/72/Samuel-Barber/ Amanda HARBERG “Urban Hootenanny”from Philadelphia Suite ▪ 2007 A native of Philadelphia, Harberg writes for a broad range of instruments that weaves classical Western tradition with contemporary influences to create a distinctively personal style. Her music has been widely commissioned and performed in major venues, such as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, in the United States and abroad. She has also scored several documentaries for PBS. Her awards include a Fulbright/Hays Fellowship to study with composer/pianist Frederic Rzewski, Juilliard’s Peter Mennin Prize for outstanding accomplishment, a MacDowell Colony summer residency, and multiple NFA Newly Published Music awards. As the in-house composer for Common Good Productions, Harberg composed scores for The Abominable Crime, an award-winning feature documentary, and Beyond Borders: Undocumented Mexican Americans which aired over 2,000 times on PBS stations across the country. Her recordings are on the Koch, Centaur, and Albany labels. Harberg is an Associate Professor at Berklee College of Music, and in the summers she is on the composition faculty at the Interlochen Arts Camp. Rosario SCALERO Violin Sonata in D minor Op. 12 ▪ published in 1910 The Sonata made such a huge impression on the American violinist and influential educator, David Mannes, that he invited Scalero to head the composition department of his conservatory in 1919. Scalero’s style has been described as Italo-Brahmsian in a rich harmonic language and with strong melodic appeal. Scalero (1870–1954) was born in Moncalieri (a suburb of Turin, Italy), noted for its medieval castle. By the age of 6, he studied violin at the Conservatorio St. Cecilia in Rome, then in Turin, after which he went to Genoa to study with Camillo Sivori (the only known pupil of Paganini) until 1889. He appeared with the Sivori Quartet as well. For the next few years he performed throughout Europe to critical acclaim, and met composers, including Gustav Mahler. He made his recital debut in Leipzig in 1891, and he also gave the first Italian performance of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. In moving to Vienna in the 1890s Scalero studied composition with Eusebius Mandyczewski, Brahms’s longtime friend. He then went to London in 1895 (or 1900) to study and assist violinist August Wilhelmj (concertmaster of the world premiere of Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelungs in Bayreuth). In 1907 he went to Rome, where he joined, in 1913, the Società del Quartetto and became its musical director and first violinist. Upon the invitation to succeed Ernest Bloch and teach composition at the David Mannes Music School, Scalero set sail for the United States in August 1919. In 1924 he began teaching at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, becoming the head of theory and composition three years later. His inaugural class included the 14-year-old Samuel Barber, who would evolve as a composer through many years of work directly with Scalero. Among his other pupils were Gian Carlo Menotti (his favorite), Nino Rota, George Walker, Ned Rorem (counterpoint, 1943), and Lukas Foss. In 1946 Scalero returned to his home, the Montestrutto Castle near Ivrea, where he died on Christmas Eve 1954. Today, there is a Rosario Scalero Festival to explore the arts and Canavese area in the Piedmont. As a teacher of composition, Scalero emphasized the study of counterpoint as well as a deep understanding of all musical forms and genres. His approach was both “rigorous” and “traditional.” The American composer Constant Vauclain attested to the demanding and disciplined nature of his methods, and described his unique approach to teaching counterpoint: “It was supposed to be done without touching the piano so that we developed the ability to objectify the many voices in our heads without having to have an instrument to try things out. The only other composers in the twentieth century who had a course of study like this were other Scalero pupils and people like Bartók, who studied the same way in Budapest, and Hindemith. It produces a kind of technique which is recognizable…a kind of mastery over the way voices should be put together.” Vincent PERSICHETTI Pastoral Op. 21 ▪ 1943 Persichetti’s fondness for wind instruments dates back to his teens—his Serenade for Ten Winds Op. 1 was written at the age of 14. Pastoral is one of 2 pieces he composed for wind quintet. “Written during his late twenties, while still a doctoral student, many scholars feel Pastoral reflects a composer who was yet on the cusp of finding his own compositional voice, possessing a technique still much influenced by Stravinsky, Bartók, Hindemith, and Copland. Flavored as it is with a Coplandesque folk song sensibility and angular harmonies reminiscent of early 20th century composers, the voice of Persichetti’s influences is fairly obvious; but so too is his unique character — full of surprises, twists, and turns [Jason McKinney of Manitou Winds].” Persichetti, a lifelong Philadelphian, was noted for his succinct polyphonic style (based on interwoven melodic lines), forceful rhythms, and generally diatonic melodies (moving stepwise; not atonal or highly chromatic). Born to an Italian father and a German mother in 1915, he was a piano and organ prodigy who supported himself at age 11. He began piano lessons at the age of 5, composed his first two works at 14, and earned money as a church organist during his adolescence. At age 20, he was simultaneously the head of the music department at Combs College, a conducting major under Fritz Reiner at the Curtis Institute, and a piano and composition student at the Philadelphia Conservatory. Seven years later, in 1942, he himself was teaching at the Conservatory, and from 1947 he taught at Juilliard the rest of life (while living in Philadelphia). He also was music editor of the publisher, Elkan Vogel (later acquired by Theodore Presser). When Persichetti died in 1987, he left some 120 works notable for its extraordinarily broad stylistic range from extreme diatonic simplicity to complex, contrapuntal atonality. His work developed “during a period when American composition was deeply divided among rival stylistic factions, each seeking to invalidate the work of its opponents. In the face of this partisan antagonism, Persichetti advocated, through his lectures and writings, as well as through his music, the notion of a broad working vocabulary, or ‘common practice,’ based on a fluent assimilation of all the materials and techniques which had appeared during the 20th century [Philadelphia Chamber Music Society].” Vittorio GIANNINI Piano Quintet ▪ 1931 The irrepressibly Romantic quintet is an embodiment of his musical creed and advocacy of melody as an inspirational genesis of music. He once declared that he was driven by “an unrelenting quest for the beautiful, with the humble hope that I may be privileged to achieve this goal, if only for one precious moment and share this moment with my listeners.” His whole output is, in fact, a display of prolific melodic content. Giannini (1903–1966) was an Italian-American Neoromantic composer born in Philadelphia to a musical family. His father, Feruccio, was a tenor at the Metropolitan Opera and the first to record on a flat phonograph disc in the 1890s; his mother, Antonietta, was a concert violinist. Both emigrated from Italy in the 1880s. His sister, Dusolina, was a leading operatic soprano in Europe during the 1930s and 1940s; another sister, Euphemia, was a member of the vocal faculty of the Curtis Institute for many years. Vittorio, at age 5, was first taught by his mother. At age 9, he was awarded a scholarship to study at the Verdi Conservatory in Milan. When World War I escalated, he returned to the United States and studied composition at Juilliard under Rubin Goldmark (teacher of George Gershwin and Aaron Copland). In 1932 he won the Prix de Rome, granting him 4 years of further study at the American Academy in Rome. Giannini himself became a distinguished teacher of composition and music theory at Juilliard, the Manhattan School of Music, and the Curtis Institute (among his pupils were John Corigliano and David Amram). And he was the founder and president of the North Carolina School of the Arts. His niece, Maura Giannini, a violinist, divulged that “he loved life, music, fast cars and cigars and believed passionately in the future of the arts through young students.” His substantial oeuvre included more than a dozen operas, 7 symphonies, scores of songs, and a variety of concertos and choral, band, and chamber works. His most famous opera, Taming of the Shrew, was produced on color television by NBC Opera Theater in 1954; it won the Music Critics Circle Award. The critic Howard Taubman wrote, “the score is instinct with the spirit of Italian lyricism.” |
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December 15 Loving Bach
Johann Sebastian BACH Chaconne BWV 1004 ▪ 1718–1720 The Chaconne is thought to have been composed in mourning after the death of his wife Barbara Maria. He wrote it while employed at the court in Cöthen, during a period of great freedom and creativity. When Brahms stumbled on the stunning piece in 1877, he told Clara Schumann in a letter, “On one stave, for a small instrument, the man writes a whole world of the deepest thoughts and most powerful feelings. If I imagined that I could have created, even conceived the piece, I am quite certain that the excess of excitement and earth-shattering experience would have driven me out of my mind.” Brahms also transcribed it for piano left-hand. After Bach’s death, the Chaconne lay dormant until 14 February 1840, when the virtuoso violinist Ferdinand David gave its first public performance in Leipzig, with Mendelssohn improvising a piano accompaniment. A review of the event in the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung described Mendelssohn’s part as a free realization of the harmony, contrapuntal in design. Schumann, who was present at the 1840 concert, wrote his own piano accompaniment for the Chaconne and for all 6 of the Bach sonatas and partitas (published in 1854). Brahms’s arrangement of the Chaconne was preceded by at least 3 other solo piano arrangements, including one by Joachim Raff. These accompaniments and arrangements shed light on how 19th century composers viewed Bach (i.e. through the lens of Mendelssohn, Schumann, and others) and showed that they approached him with reverence. This contributed to Bach’s revival as well. Johann Christian BACH Sinfonia No. 6 in Bb Major W.Blnc12 ▪ published 1782 From his set of 6 little symphonies for 2 clarinets, 2 horns, and 2 bassoons, the Sinfonia is closer in form to a notturno or serenade. They are among JC’s finest wind music and last published works, and are considered a turning point in the history of early wind literature. “His style, which was largely derived from Italian opera, was the most important single influence on Mozart, and rested on a foundation of excellent craftsmanship, graceful melody and a fine sense of form, texture and colour [New Grove Dictionary].” Born in Leipzig in 1735, JC was the youngest son and the 10th of 12 children born to Johann Sebastian and Anna Magdalena Bach. He was taught by his father and his brother Carl Philipp Emanuel. In 1754 he went to Italy and studied with Padre Martini in Bologna, converted to Catholicism, and became one of two organists at the Cathedral of Milan in 1760. In 1762 he became composer to the King’s Theatre in London and wrote a number of successful Italian operas for it. He also composed much orchestral, chamber, and keyboard pieces, and a few cantatas. By March 1763 he enjoyed royal favor and patronage as well—he was appointed Music Master to Queen Charlotte. In 1764 he, together with the celebrated viola da gamba virtuoso Carl Friedrich Abel, organized the prestigious “Bach–Abel Concerts” which were important to the development of London’s musical life. The public series of concerts for high society were England’s first subscription concerts and lasted for over two decades. The programs featured a diverse range of works, including those by Bach, Abel, and other composers like Haydn. Among his many commissions, JC was invited to write an opera for the German elector at Mannheim in 1772, and another for the Académie Royale de Musique in Paris in 1778. By 1781, the Bach–Abel concerts had declined in popularity, his music was no longer in demand, and he was in serious financial straits as his housekeeper had forged receipts for over £1000 and absconded with the money. When he died, JC’s debts amounted to £4000. The Queen helped to meet immediate expenses and enable his wife Cecilia Bach to return to her native Italy in the summer of 1782. His death on 1 January 1782 at age 46 was noted by Mozart as “a loss to the musical world.” JC is sometimes referred to as the “London Bach” or the “English Bach” for his time spent living in London, where he came to be known as John Bach. BEETHOVEN Wind Sextet in Eb Major Op 71 ▪ circa 1796 Its first performance garnered a glowing review that appeared in the 15 May 1805 issue of Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung, Europe’s music journal of record during Beethoven’s day. The critic reported, “Great pleasure was given by a beautiful Sextet in E flat by Beethoven, a composition which shines magnificently by reason of its high-spirited melodies, original harmonies and an abundance of new and surprising ideas.” Beethoven claimed to have written it in a single night; however, the sketches suggest a longer period. The first two movements were probably written before 1796, and the Sextet was published by Breitkopf and Härtel in 1810. In his Beethoven Compendium, Barry Cooper provided some clarification: “Already by 1809 Beethoven could write rather apologetically to Breitkopf & Härtel that ‘the sextet…is one of my early works and, what is more, was composed in one night — All that one can really say about it is that it was written by a composer who has produced at any rate a few better works — Yet some people think that works of that type are the best.’ The work was certainly not written in such a short time but Beethoven’s attempt to belittle it in this way is significant…. Admittedly, the chamber works for winds do not represent Beethoven’s finest or most important music; but…these chamber works provided a safe forum for the development of Beethoven’s personal style.” What Bach meant to Beethoven Beethoven revered Bach and studied his music. To him, Bach was “the immortal god of harmony.” His childhood teacher, Christian Gottlob Neefe, recognized Beethoven’s prodigious talent and introduced him to the works of Bach (particularly the Well-Tempered Clavier), CPE Bach, and Mozart. In a prophetic notice in the March 1783 issue of Cramer’s Magazin der Muzik, Neefe described Beethoven as “a boy of eleven years and of most promising talent. He plays the clavier very skillfully and with power, reads at sight very well, and—to put it in a nutshell—he plays chiefly The Well-Tempered Clavier of Sebastian Bach, which Herr Neefe put into his hands. Whoever knows this collection of preludes and fugues in all the keys—which might almost be called the non plus ultra of our art—will know what this means…. He would surely become the second Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart were he to continue as he has begun [The Beethoven Companion].” Shortly after Beethoven arrived in Vienna in 1792, he was invited to Baron Gottfried van Swieten’s musical gatherings, where he perused his host’s library of early music. It wasn’t long before he began acquiring manuscript copies of Bach’s works and purchased published editions. Bach’s influence is also evident in Beethoven’s compositions—he incorporated fugues and contrapuntal elements in his later sonatas and string quartets, and his Diabelli Variations drew inspiration from Bach’s variations. As his hearing declined, he admitted in his diary that he reflected on the “portraits of Handel, Bach, Gluck, Mozart, and Haydn in my room—they can promote my capacity for endurance.” Robert SCHUMANN Adagio and Allegro in Ab Major Op. 70 ▪ 1849 Originally written for horn and piano and entitled Romanze, the duet was also issued with an alternative part for cello. Delighted with what he heard at a rehearsal, Schumann admitted enthusiastically that he “had had fun with it.” His wife Clara’s response was euphoric: “The piece is splendid, fresh and passionate, just as I like it!” Clara premiered it with Julius Schlitterlau, first horn in the Dresden Orchestra. What Bach meant to Schumann Bach exerted a profound influence on Schumann throughout his life. He once stated, “What art owes to Bach is to the musical world hardly less than what a religion owes to its founder.” He considered Bach his teacher. In his student days while studying law in Leipzig, he discussed Bach with his friends. He admired Bach’s mastery of counterpoint (the fugues, in particular) and studied his works to improve his own compositional technique. Clara recorded that 9 days after their marriage, they studied together the fugues from Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier. They also jointly studied Beethoven, Mozart, and Hadyn. Among Schumann’s compositions that reveal Bach’s influence are his 6 organ fugues on the B-A-C-H motif and Piano Quintet in Eb Major in its fugal finale. His Album for the Young also reflects Bach’s Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach in its teaching of musical fundamentals. Felix MENDELSSOHN Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor Op. 49 ▪ 1839 Schumann, after hearing the Piano Trio, declared it the “master trio of our time,” stating that “Mendelssohn is the Mozart of the nineteenth century, the most illuminating of musicians.” It premiered on 1 February 1840 at the Leipzig Gewandhaus with violinist Ferdinand David, cellist Franz Karl Witmann, and Mendelssohn at the piano. Program annotator James Keller deemed the Trio “as great a masterpiece as Schumann proclaimed it to be. It offers abundant, arching melodies of Italianate, bel canto inspiration, proclaimed with luxuriant sonorities, often introduced in the tenorial tones of the cello. The minor mode provides a sense of depth that can be useful reigning in Mendelssohn’s native exuberance.… As one might expect, the piano part is brilliant.… After the premiere, Mendelssohn revised the piano part somewhat, incorporating certain new keyboard tricks associated with Chopin and Liszt.” What Bach meant to Mendelssohn Among the composers that influenced Felix Mendelssohn was Bach. His love of counterpoint came from Bach and is evident in his disposition toward thick, contrapuntal textures and his inclination to write fugues and canons. The Mendelssohn household’s deep appreciation for Bach’s music was fostered by Sara Levy—Felix’s great-aunt, who was a salonnière, harpsichord virtuoso, and patron of Bach’s sons (she studied with Wilhelm Friedemann and commissioned music from Friedemann and Carl Philipp Emmanuel). Levy was the catalyst in reviving Bach’s music, led by Felix. On 11 March 1829, at the Singakademie in Berlin, Mendelssohn conducted the first performance since Bach’s death of the St. Matthew Passion, which inaugurated the Bach revival of the 19th century. |
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January 5 Out of Russia
TCHAIKOVSKY Valse–Scherzo Op. 34 ▪ 1877 Originally for violin and orchestra, the Valse–Scherzo was composed for and dedicated to violinist Yosif Kotek, whom Tchaikovsky had taught at the Moscow Conservatory and with whom he had an intimate relationship. Kotek noted that “this shall be a piece to impress everybody.” It has, and continues to do so. France hosted its first performance in conjunction with the Paris World Exposition on 20 September 1878 at a Russian Symphony Concert in Trocadero Hall, with the Polish violinist Stanisław Barcewicz as soloist and conductor Nikolai Rubinstein. The arrangement for violin and piano is by Tchaikovsky. Aram KHACHATURIAN Trio ▪ 1932 An early work, the Trio was written at age 29 while at the Moscow Conservatory studying with Nikolai Myaskovsky. As it so happened, Prokofiev heard it in Myaskovsky’s composition class. He had rented an apartment in Moscow while still living in Paris, and was in the city to look for promising new compositions in the Soviet Union. In the interest of fostering cultural exchange between the Soviet Union and France, Prokofiev was given the task of promoting recent work of young Soviet composers abroad. Thus, through Prokofiev’s recommendation, the first performance of the Trio took place at the Société Triton in Paris. The Triton, dedicated to performances of new chamber music, was founded by the composer Pierre-Octave Ferroud in 1932. Prokofiev was one of the executive committee members, and the European premiere of his own Sonata for Two Violins was presented by Triton as well. Khachaturian was one of the 3 top composers of the Soviet Union, and won 4 Stalin prizes, one Lenin prize, a USSR State Prize, and the title of “Hero of Socialist Labor.” Born in 1903 in Tbilisi, Georgia to an Armenian family, his first musical experiences were the folk songs of his mother and of his hometown—“I was brought up surrounded by rich folklore. This is how my way of thinking was born.” A late starter, his music education began at the age of 22 at the Gnessin State Musical and Pedagogical Institute and continued at the Moscow Conservatory, where he excelled in his studies (from 1951 he became a professor at both schools). As a young composer, he was influenced by Ravel, and later by the folk traditions of Armenia, Georgia, Russia, Turkey, and Azerbaijan. In 1948, along with Prokofiev and Shostakovich, Khachaturian was denounced under the Zhdanov Doctrine for bourgeois tendencies in his music. Forced to apologize publicly, his guilt was merely by association as his nationally-tinged musical idiom was a far cry from any modernistic excess. After Stalin’s death in 1953, he was the first among prominent musicians to appeal for fewer bureaucratic restraints and greater creative freedom. In 1954 he was named People’s Artist of the USSR. He composed in almost all genres and forms: ballets, concertos, symphonies, orchestral works, songs, film and incidental music, and pedagogical works. His most popular hit is the “Sabre Dance” from the ballet Gayane—recognizable worldwide. The New Grove Dictionary states that “Khachaturian’s successful career represents the fulfillment of a basic Soviet arts policy: the interpenetration of regional folklorism and the great Russian tradition. His native Armenian (and, in a wider sense, trans-Caucasian) heritage is reflected in his languid melodies, stirring rhythms and the pulsating vitality of his musical idiom; but his imagination was disciplined by an academicism based on Rimsky-Korsakov…. Whenever he used folklore he reshaped it in a personal way…. He represented socialist realism at its best.” Khachaturian died in Moscow in 1978, but is buried in Yerevan, Armenia. Sergei PROKOFIEV Sonata in C Major for Two Violins Op. 56 ▪ 1932 Upon hearing a poorly written work for two violins, Prokofiev produced his own Sonata as a commission piece to conclude the inaugural concert of Triton, a society in Paris dedicated to presenting new chamber music. The Sonata, in four movements of two-part counterpoint, is a mercurial mix of lyricism and sharp-edged rhythmic and harmonic piquancy, less dissonant than most of his works of the 1920s. Sergey TANEYEV Piano Quintet in G minor Op. 30 ▪ 1911 The resplendent Quintet, as described by Cobbett’s Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music, is “The crowning glory of Taneyev’s chamber works with piano, permeated with profound thought and inward pathos.” Dark and densely textured, there is an abundance of soaring melodies and impassioned lyricism. 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, Medtner, and Grechaninov. 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). |
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January 19 Magyar Émigrés
The 4 exceptional Hungarian composers on this program were immigrants to the United States. Sigmund Romberg immigrated to New York in 1909 to pursue musical aspirations; within 8 years he achieved his first hit musical on Broadway. Béla Bartók left Hungary in 1940, fearing the rise of Nazism, the Hungarian government’s antisemitic policies, and the growing political instability in Europe. He settled in New York City, where he worked at Columbia University and continued to compose; he became a citizen in 1945, shortly before his death. Miklós Rózsa also came to America in 1940 to work on The Thief of Baghdad for Alexander Korda’s London Film Productions. He stayed on in Hollywood and became a citizen in 1946. Ernst von Dohnányi fled Europe in 1948, initially going to Argentina, and then settling in Florida in 1949; he became a citizen in 1955. A political smear campaign in Hungary had accused him of harboring fascist sympathies, despite his having actively protected Jewish musicians during World War II. Miklós RÓZSA Northern Hungarian Peasant Songs and Dances Op. 5 ▪1929–1931 The 4 different tunes, one for each of the movements in a slow-fast-slow-fast configuration, came from his “Little Black Book”—a small black notebook he used to document Hungarian folk music he heard in his youth. His biography recounted that he used it to jot down the melodies. Although the Suite was composed just after his graduation from the Leipzig Conservatory, Rózsa was already considered so proficient that he would take over the classes of his teacher Hermann Grabner in the latter’s frequent absences. He later wrote an orchestral accompaniment for the Little Suite. Rózsa was born in Budapest in 1907 and raised on his father’s country estate. Immersed in music from a young age, he was influenced by his musical family as well as Hungarian folk traditions—“The music was all around me; I would hear it in the fields when the people were at work, in the village as I lay awake at night; and the time came when I felt I had to try to put it down on paper and perpetuate it.” By age 7 Rózsa was composing. In 1925 he studied chemistry at the University of Leipzig, before dedicating himself to composition a year later at the Leipzig Conservatory. In 1931 he left for Paris, where he met Arthur Honneger, who introduced him to the idea of writing for film as a way to earn a living. Thus, although he achieved success with his orchestral works early in his career, he became a prominent film score composer after his move to Hollywood in 1940. His most famous scores are for Spellbound (first use of the theremin), Ben-Hur, and A Double Life. His luscious music is reflected in the rhythms and colors of folk music, and he played a key role in turning Hollywood film music into a more sophisticated art form. He composed nearly 100 film scores between 1937 and 1982, winning 3 Academy Awards and 17 nominations. Despite deteriorating health, Rózsa composed into the late 1980s. He died in 1995, leaving a rich body of work that bridges concert music and film scoring. “The most distinctive feature of his music is its lyricism, which is either pentatonic or modal and, like its harmony, full of the characteristic intervals of Hungarian folk music [New Grove Dictionary].” Sigmund ROMBERG Serenade from The Student Prince ▪ 1924 The song is a romantic ballad, expressing the Prince’s deep feelings for Kathie and his desire for her to be with him. The Student Prince, probably the most popular of all his works, is a romantic operetta based on Wilhelm Meyer-Förster’s play Old Heidelberg, first performed in 1901. The melodramatic tale is about a young prince who falls for a commoner, a tavern keeper’s niece, while attending university. It was the longest running show on Broadway in the 1920s and 1930s. The lyrics were written by Dorothy Donnelly. Originally for voice and piano, the arrangement is made by Joseph Wood, the American composer who taught at Oberlin College for 35 years. Romberg was once the king of Broadway and his music was ubiquitous in touring productions. His songs—a blend of Austrian, Hungarian, gypsy, and Jewish influences—were very popular for 40 years. Born in 1887 in Nagykanizsa, his father was director of a sawmill and his mother wrote poems and short stories. He studied piano and violin in Vienna, but became an engineer to please his parents. Emigrating to the United States in 1909, when he was 22, Romberg became a pianist at musical cafes and then a dance-band leader at the Bustanovy Restaurant at 39th Street and Sixth Avenue (dance bands in restaurants were rare at the time). His first dances were published in 1912. Two years later he became the staff composer for revue-extravaganzas produced by the Shubert brothers, notably the Passing Show series. During World War I, having become an American citizen, he served in the army military intelligence. After the war, he began writing romantic operettas with richly melodic songs; among his best known are The Student Prince, The New Moon, and The Desert Song. In one 3-year period before he reached his peak, he wrote no less than 17 different productions. In the early 1930s Romberg moved to Hollywood to write scores and adapt his works for films. From 1942 until his death he toured the United States with his own orchestra. After his death in 1951, he faded into near obscurity.. Ernő (Ernst von) DOHNÁNYI Serenade in C Major Op. 10 ▪ 1902 The Serenade was written during a concert tour to London and Vienna and premiered in Vienna two years later. It is an exemplar of the form, a 5-movement suite packed with musical riches. Jascha Heifetz, William Primrose, and Emanuel Feuermann recorded it in the early 1940s—a stunning performance, which probably has not been matched. 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....” Born in Pozsony (now Bratislava) in 1877, he 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 Hans von Koessler (a devotee of Brahms). Both Liszt and Brahms swayed his piano playing and compositions, respectively. Further, Howard Posner defines the context of the Serenade and summarizes the relationship between and Dohnányi and Bartók: “Dohnányi wrote his Serenade…the year Dvořák died. Dohnányi was 26, and already an international star pianist and a major figure at home in Hungary, where his influence was powerful. As early as 1895, he had drawn attention as a composer, when Brahms praised the 18-year-old’s Op. 1 Piano Quintet and arranged its Vienna premiere. Because he acquired international stature even as a teenager, Dohnányi’s decision to study at the Budapest Academy of Music instead of going to Vienna or Berlin lent prestige to that young institution, and led younger musicians such as Bartók and Kodály to study there as well.… When Bartók, only three years younger than Dohnányi, gave a recital at the Academy in October 1901, a Budapest critic wrote ‘Bartók thunders around on the piano like a little Jupiter. No piano student at the Academy today has a greater chance of following in Dohnányi’s footsteps.’ Two years later Bartók was a student in Dohnányi’s master class. In later years Dohnányi would dominate the Hungarian musical scene to an extent scarcely imaginable. In the 1920s he was so active as a teacher, pianist, and conductor that Bartók said Dohnányi was providing the nation’s entire musical life. Dohnányi’s resume pretty much bears Bartók out: by the 1930s he was director of the Budapest Academy, music director of Hungarian Radio, and chief conductor of the Budapest Philharmonic.” Béla BARTÓK Piano Quintet in C Major ▪ 1903–1904 / revised 1920 The masterful Quintet was written when Bartók was 23. His composing had taken a pause as he was discouraged from expressing his creativity while at the Liszt Academy in Budapest. Then he heard the premiere of Also sprach Zarathustra, met Strauss, and was inspired: “I was aroused as by a flash of lightning by the first Budapest performance of Also Sprach Zarathustra. It contained the seeds for a new life. I started composing again.” Refreshed, he composed the Quintet, a work that shows his early attempts to break from the traditional compositional standards of his contemporaries and to use folk elements. He performed its premiere with the Prill Quartet in Vienna. |
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February 2 Remarkable Gems
Wilhelm Friedrich VOIGT Notturno Op. 75 ▪ 1886 Voigt (1833–1894), a Prussian military musician and composer, was born in the German city of Coblenz. His first teacher was his father, an oboist and military band director. After attending schools in Coblenz and Trier, he studied music in Cologne, and piano at the Leipzig and Berlin conservatories. Among his teachers was Ferdinand Hiller. In 1857 Voigt became a staff oboist in the 1st Foot Guards of the Royal Prussian Army, and led the music corps stationed in Potsdam. He became a military band conductor and eventually rose to the highest musical military rank in the Prussian Royal Army. In 1866 he participated in the Austro-Prussian War, and in 1870–1871 he served in the Franco-Prussian War. After the end of the campaign, he received an Iron Cross 2nd Class. The medal was awarded to soldiers for acts of bravery during the War, which led to the unification of Germany under Prussian leadership. Voigt was also a professor at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik. Most of his compositions are for military band, although he wrote chamber music as well. SCHUMANN Piano Trio No. 2 in F Major Op. 80 ▪ 1847 After its premiere, Clara Schumann wrote in her diary, “I love it passionately and want to play it again and again.” The music writer Donald G. Gíslason recognized “shadows” of Bach, Beethoven, and Schubert in the Trio: “From Schubert he admired the flights of fancy and ‘logical discontinuities’ that drove the Viennese composer’s music to such ‘heavenly length.’ In Beethoven he found a compelling motivic logic hidden beneath a determined harmonic drive. And in Bach, well, in Bach he found everything: contrapuntal logic, harmonic drive, and what he most admired—poetry.” After the Trio was rehearsed in Düsseldorf in mid-November 1851, it made is premiere in Leipzig in 1852. The dedicatee was the composer Niels Gade. Schumann and Gade had a close friendship and mutual admiration for each other’s music; they spent time together, and even went on excursions and trips. Schumann spent much of his life in Leipzig, a stimulating cultural city that influenced his work. He studied law at the University of Leipzig, and piano with his future father-in-law Friedrich Wieck, whose daughter Clara he met when she was just 9 years old. They married in 1840 when she turned 21. In 1843, the Leipzig Conservatory was established with Mendelssohn as director and Schumann as professor of “piano playing, composition, and playing from the score.” He was, however, unsuited to the work and left Leipzig for Dresden, where he lived with Clara from late 1844 to 1850. SCHUBERT String Quintet in C Major D. 956 ▪ 1828 Written in August and September 1828, Schubert sent the Quintet upon its completion on 2 October to his Leipzig publisher, Heinrich Albert Probst. His accompanying letter informed that “the quintet will only be tried out in the coming days.” It is not certain if Schubert lived to hear it. Probst, however, ignored the work. Six weeks later, Schubert was dead at the age of 31, and the Quintet lay forgotten for over 2 decades. Finally in 1850 the Hellmesberger Quartet—founded by violinist Josef Hellmesberger who had been born 2 weeks before Schubert’s death—premiered the Quintet on 17 November 1850 at the Musikverein in Vienna. It was not published until 1853 or 1854, and then by Spina as Op. 163. Schubert held Beethoven in high esteem; the respect was mutual. While on his deathbed in 1827, Beethoven, upon seeing several of Schubert’s songs, exclaimed, “Truly in Schubert there is the divine spark.” During these dark days, on one of his visits to Beethoven, accompanied by Anselm Hüttenbrenner, the dying man remarked, “You, Anselm, have my mind, but Franz has my soul.” Schubert was a torchbearer at Beethoven’s funeral. |
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February 16 Beethoven’s Sway
Fritz KREISLER Rondino on a Theme by Beethoven ▪ circa 1905 Kreisler himself explained for the Victor Record Catalog, “This theme consists of only eight measures, which occurs in a very early and unimportant composition by Beethoven, now quite forgotten. The little theme itself is of indescribable charm and its rhythm is of such alluring piquancy that it grows by every repetition. In order to set this peculiarity off to advantage, I conceived the idea of writing a rondo around it, the rondo being a form of composition where a short tune returns obstinately in more or less regular intervals. Rondino means ‘little rondo.’ I have tried to keep the old classic style throughout the little piece, and I hope I have succeeded.” The Rondino was dedicated to his colleague, Mischa Elman, the Ukrainian-born Jewish-American violinist. Kreisler’s deep respect for Beethoven is evident in his dedicated performances and interpretation of his works for the violin. He wrote 3 cadenzas for the Violin Concerto (one for each movement), and he edited and published the complete violin and piano sonatas of Beethoven, adding his own editorial markings. His interpretations of the Violin Concerto and Sonatas are recognized for their unique expressiveness and distinct style; his recordings of these are also notable. Kreisler (1875–1962) is regarded as one of the greatest violinists of all time. He was unique in playing with a tone of indescribable sweetness and expressiveness, and his style is reminiscent of the gemütlich lifestyle of prewar Vienna. 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 with Joseph Hellmesberger and theory with Anton Bruckner. 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. Archduke RUDLOPH of Austria Septet in E minor ▪ 1830 The Septet is attributed to Erzherzog Rudolph von Österreich (Archduke Rudolph). Passionate about music, he was an amateur composer whose works were frequently performed in his day, an important patron (and the only composition pupil) of Beethoven, and a collector. Scholars are divided on the authorship, and some sources cite the later date noted on the manuscript (1850). German musicologist Michael Kube, for one, attributes the Septet to Rudolph and dates it to 1830, according to Grove Music Online; American musicologist Susan Kagan calls this attribution into question. The manuscript copy is located at the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek in Vienna. Archduke Rudolph was Beethoven’s greatest patron. Born in the Pitti Palace in Florence in 1788, he was the youngest son of Emperor Leopold II and youngest brother of Emperor Franz II. “As brother of the Emperor, Rudolph was able to gain access for Beethoven to the highest salons in Vienna. Rudolph was himself a first-class musician. He was an excellent pianist and competent composer. He was the only pupil Beethoven ever took on as student of composition…. In 1809, when Beethoven accepted an invitation from King Jerome of Westphalia (brother of Napoleon Bonaparte) to become Kapellmeister at the court in Kassel, Archduke Rudolph persuaded Prince Lobkowitz and Prince Kinsky that they should pay Beethoven a guaranteed annual salary of 4000 florins—Rudolph contributing 1500 fl., Lobkowitz 700 fl., Kinsky 1800 fl.—on the sole condition that he abandon plans to move to Kassel and remain resident in Vienna for the rest of his life. Beethoven agreed. Then, after the Austrian currency was devalued fivefold in 1811, Kinsky was thrown from his horse and died in 1812, and Lobkowitz went bankrupt and was forced to flee from Vienna in 1813. Archduke Rudolph increased his payment at each stage to ensure Beethoven did not suffer financially. In gratitude, Beethoven dedicated far more compositions to Rudolph than to anyone else [14 in all]—including the Fourth and Fifth (Emperor) Piano Concertos, the Piano Sonatas ‘Les Adieux,’ Hammerklavier and opus III, the Violin Sonata opus 96, the Archduke Piano Trio (named for Rudolph), the Missa Solemnis and the Grosse Fuge. ‘Les Adieux’ was specifically composed for Rudolph when he and the Imperial royal family were forced to leave Vienna in the face of the advancing French army in 1809. The first movement—Das Lebewohl [the Farewell]—was composed before Rudolph left; the second—Die Abwesenheit [the Absence]—was composed during his exile. Beethoven told him he would not compose the third and final movement—Das Wiedersehen, [the Welcome Home]—until the Archduke returned to Vienna, which he duly did in 1810. Archduke Rudolph asked Beethoven in March 1819 to compose a piece to be played at his enthronement as Archbishop of Olmütz a year later. Beethoven embarked on the mighty sacred work, Missa Solemnis, which he didn’t complete until 1823—three years after Rudolph’s enthronement! Archduke Rudolph was an epileptic [like many of the Hapsburgs] and sickly man; original plans for him to join the army were abandoned in favour of a less strenuous career in the church. He died at the early age of 43 [in 1831], only four years after his great idol, Beethoven. He ordered that his heart should be removed from his body and placed in a niche of the cathedral at Olmütz [today’s Olomouc], and that his body should be buried in the Imperial vault at St Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna [Classicfm].” As Beethoven’s only composition pupil Rudolf wrote, over a period of 2 decades of study, a number of respectable compositions—for piano, chamber ensemble, and voice. They were composed within the forms and harmonic language of the period, but with impressive lyricism. His earliest dated work is from 1810; and several of the autograph manuscripts bear corrections, suggestions, and emendations in Beethoven’s hand. Kagan asserts that “A notable feature of his style is a strong lyrical bent, a predilection for arching melodic lines and decorative filigree, especially in the slow movements, that foreshadow the music of Romantic composers of the following generation…. That Beethoven left an imprint on Rudolph’s music is not surprising, considering the powerful nature of Beethoven’s personality and the absolute veneration Rudolph felt for his teacher. However, the actual manifestations of Beethoven’s teaching, seen in those manuscripts in which he made corrections, indicate that for the most part, he allowed the Archduke to develop his compositional ideas quite independently.” Rudolph was one of 50 composers Anton Diabelli invited to write a variation on a waltz tune by Diabelli for a publication entitled Vaterländischer Künstlerverein. Rudolph’s variation, while not as widely celebrated as Beethoven’s, is notable as it was included in the anthology alongside Beethoven’s monumental Diabelli Variations Op. 120. In fact, Rudolph’s variation was published anonymously and identified as “S.R.D.” (Serenissimus Rudolfus Dux). Rudolph’s enthusiasm for music also inspired him to amass a vast library of music, which he made available to Beethoven early in their acquaintance. He began collecting music scores and books about music at age 13. Today, his collection of 18,000 works from 2400 composers is housed at the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde (Society of Friends of Music) in Vienna, as are the letters written by Beethoven to Rudolph. The Archduke’s talent as a pianist manifested itself in his teens, when he was performing in aristocratic salons at age 15. Under Beethoven’s tutelage, he improved noticeably. When Beethoven’s Violin Sonata Op. 96 was premiered on 29 December 1812 by the renowned French virtuoso violinist Pierre Rode, accompanied by Rudolph, a critical observer wrote, “the performance as a whole was good, but we must mention that the piano part was played far better, more in accordance with the spirit of the piece, and with more feeling than that of the violin.” Beethoven also was not satisfied. Apparently, even before Rode’s arrival in Vienna, a deterioration in his playing had been noticed. Furthermore, Rode did not study the violin part of the Sonata and treated the occasion too casually. BEETHOVEN Piano Trio No. 7 in Bb Major “Archduke” Op. 97 ▪ 1811 “Arguably the finest trio for violin, cello, and piano ever written, it begins marvelously and expansively with an unforgettable, glorious melody that immediately establishes its nobility. This broad stroke sets the tone for the entire piece, a monumental work of larger-than-life architecture in which thoughts develop organically and unhurriedly,” explained the astute critic Fred Kirshnit. It was dedicated to his pupil, the Archduke Rudolph of Austria, hence its moniker. The premiere, which was part of a charity concert, took place on 11 April 1814 at a hotel in Vienna. Beethoven played with violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh and cellist Joseph Linke. It was one of Beethoven’s final concert appearances as a performer, as his increasing deafness made it impossible for him to continue playing. Schuppanzigh, Beethoven’s lifelong friend and the leader of Prince Lichnowsky’s private String Quartet, premiered many of Beethoven’s string quartets and is regarded as the pioneer of public string quartet concerts. Linke was a member of the Schuppanzigh Quartet. |
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March 2 Greatest Wunderkinder
The 4 greatest musical prodigies in history were Mozart, Mendelssohn, Saint-Saëns, and Korngold. Mozart was the most gifted prodigy in the Classical era. The genius began playing the harpsichord around the age of 4 and was composing music by 5. When he died at age 35 he had composed over 600 pieces. Mendelssohn is regarded as the greatest composing prodigy, whose command at age 16 surpassed that of Mozart; he composed works at age 15, 16, and 17 that are considered masterpieces. The bourgeois genius was also a Renaissance man, being a linguist, literary connoisseur, and artist. The esteemed critic Harold Schonberg opined that “It is not generally realized that Saint-Saëns was probably the most awesome child prodigy in the history of music. His I.Q. must have soared far beyond any means of measurement. Consider: at 2 1/2 he was picking out tunes on the piano. Naturally he had absolute pitch. He also could read and write before he was three. At three he composed his first piece…. At five he was deep in analysis of Don Giovanni, using not the piano reduction but the full score. At that age he also gave a few public performances as a pianist. At seven he was reading Latin…. he made his official debut at ten. As an encore at his debut recital he offered to play any of Beethoven’s thirty-two sonatas from memory…. Saint-Saëns had total recall. If he read a book or heard a piece of music it was forever in his memory.” (Read Schonberg’s The Lives of the Great Composers to discover more about this amazing composer.) Korngold, likewise, had exceptional musical talent and early achievements as a composer (see his brief biography below). MOZART Oboe Quartet in F Major K. 370 ▪ 1781 The excellent Quartet was composed early in the year for Friedrich Ramm, a friend and renowned virtuoso oboist of the Electoral Court Orchestra in Munich, where Mozart had gone to complete his opera Idomeneo for its premiere. The Quartet was not only a showpiece for Ramm, but it also revealed the improvements that had been made to the oboe at that time. In John Burk’s view, Mozart “obviously put his best efforts into it, for he both expected a first-rate performance and valued Ramm’s regard for his own abilities. The score puts the soloist through his paces…. The string writing shows that Mozart had not forgotten how to write string quartets although he had long left them untouched. The string trio has no mere accompanying function…—it is a concertante partner throughout….” Erich Wolfgang KORNGOLD Suite from the Incidental Music for Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing Op. 11 ▪ 1919 “The Maiden in the Bridal Chamber” depicts Hero, the bride-to-be, on her wedding morning, happily unaware that Claudio was tricked into doubting her fidelity. “Dogberry and Verges—March of the Watch”—is a mock serious march for Dogberry (the pompous constable), his crony Verges, and the other men of the watch. The Romantic waltz for “Scene in the Garden” unfolds as Beatrice and Benedick fall in love and another couple in the bushes confess their love for one another. The “Masquerade and Hornpipe” portray a lively banter in a masked ball and a lively dance. Written when Korngold was 23, the Incidental Music was performed regularly all over Europe. It was composed for a production of the play in German under the title Viel Lärmen um Nichts, and staged at the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna on 20 May 1920. Scored originally for chamber orchestra, Korngold arranged Much Ado for violin and piano when the run of performances was extended but no orchestra was available. He himself played the piano part. Korngold was born to a Jewish family in 1897 in Brünn, Austria-Hungary (today’s Brno, Czechia). Strongly influenced by his music-critic father, Julius Korngold, the phenomenal prodigy composer was playing 4-hand piano arrangements with his father at age 5. He could apparently reproduce any melody he heard and began composing at the age of 7, but seriously around 10 years of age. “In 1907 he played his cantata Gold to Mahler, who pronounced him a genius and recommended that he be sent to Zemlinsky for tuition. At the age of 11 he composed the ballet Der Schneemann, which caused a sensation when it was first performed at the Vienna Court Opera (1910), and he followed this with a Piano Trio and a remarkable Piano Sonata in E that so impressed Schnabel that he championed the work all over Europe. Of his first orchestral work, the Schauspiel Ouvertüre and the Sinfonietta (1912), Strauss remarked: ‘…it is really amazing’, while Puccini was similarly impressed by his opera Violanta (1916). His early fame reached its height with the appearance of his operatic masterpiece, Die tote Stadt, composed when he was 20 and acclaimed the world over after its dual premiere in Hamburg and Cologne (1920) [New Grove Dictionary].” In 1928 a poll by the Neue Wiener Tagblatt determined that Korngold and Arnold Schoenberg were the greatest living composers. In 1934 Korngold went to Hollywood to write music for films and to escape the growing threat of the Nazi regime. (During the war, his house in Vienna was confiscated by the Nazis.) He became one of the preeminent composers of Hollywood’s “golden age”—two of his 16 symphonic scores won Oscars: Robin Hood and Anthony Adverse. After the war, Korngold’s compositions for the concert hall included a Violin Concerto premiered by Jascha Heifetz and a Symphonic Serenade premiered by the Vienna Philharmonic and conductor Wilhelm Fürtwangler. Toward the end of his life, his popularity waned with changing trends. The critic Karl Schumann saw Korngold as a weary man “who had been through emigration and the mill of the film studio…. In the end, he died [in 1957]…more so of a broken heart. He never reconciled himself to the fact of his expulsion from Vienna, from the good old days, from the fin-de siècle atmosphere, art nouveau, symbolism, the cult of music, worship of the opera, and the coffeehouse.” He was buried in Forever Hollywood Cemetery. MENDELSSOHN Clarinet Sonata in Eb Major MWV Q ▪ 1824 The Sonata was written on commission by a family friend, the Dresden banker and patron Baron Karl von Kaskel, who was also friends with Giacomo Meyerbeer and Richard Wagner. This is documented by Mendelssohn’s letter dated 6 May 1824: “I beg your pardon, my dear Kaskel, for being so late at keeping my promise. I have a great deal to do this winter and a sonata for piano and clarinet is not the easiest of all tasks. I know only too well that I have solved the problem very badly, but it would still be worse if I had written it without sufficient thought, and I must apologize again for the long delay and for the mediocrity of the sonata, but I know that you will not judge it too harshly for if you had wanted a really good sonata you would not have come to me. As I am not barren of poetic ideas I say this complainingly and not to excuse myself….” One may assume that Kaskel was an amateur clarinetist of modest ability as the clarinet part is not written for a virtuoso. A manuscript copy which bears the date “d. 17 April” is owned by the Deutsche Staatsbibliothek Berlin; and the first page shows part of Mendelssohn’s fervent prayer, “L. e. g. G.” (Lass es gelingen, Gott! – Let it be successful, Lord!). The autograph copy is owned by the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York. The date suggests that the Sonata was written just before Mendelssohn’s Sextet Op. 110, which was composed between April 28 and May 10. Both works were not published in Mendelssohn’s lifetime (the Sonata was eventually published in 1987). Around this time, Mendelssohn was also working on Act 1 of a comic opera, Die Hochzeit des Camacho. Before writing the Sonata, Mendelssohn had already written 13 string symphonies and a number of chamber works, and in March of 1824, he completed his first symphony for full orchestra. His musical education included the study of works by Haydn and Mozart, the counterpoint of Bach and Handel, as well as the music of his contemporaries, most notably Beethoven and Carl Maria von Weber. Camille SAINT-SAËNS Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor Op. 92 ▪ 1892 Written in the spring of 1892, the Second Piano Trio reveals Saint-Saëns’s mastery of the genre. Its dazzling ride through 5 movements lives up to his remark that he lives in music “like a fish in water.” Robert Philip, writing for Hyperion Records, described the remarkable work: “The opening is one of Saint-Saëns’s most telling inspirations. The piano plays a pattern of repeated chords, rising and falling in a wave, and marked ‘very lightly’ (extremely difficult to achieve on the modern concert grand). Over this pattern, alternating violin and cello float a sombre melody…only Saint-Saëns could have combined such a broad and intense melody with such delicate and airy piano-writing. [The 2nd movement, an] irregular minuet…demonstrates how to write a movement in five-time that sounds entirely natural…. The slow movement is brief, simple and heartfelt…. The fourth movement, like the second, is a…fast waltz…the finale returns to the grand scale of the first…highly contrapuntal, almost ecclesiastical in feel …. We could almost be back in the organ loft of La Madeleine, with a virtuoso pedal solo, and as the tension mounts Saint-Saëns brings the work to an end in a mood of powerful determination.” Saint-Saëns was born in Paris in 1835. Although he was frail and tubercular as a child, he lived till the age of 86, when he died in Algiers. The child prodigy was first taught the piano at the age of two and a half years old by his mother’s aunt. Following studies with other teachers, he entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1848. After attending organ classes and winning a second prix in 1849 and a brilliant premier prix in 1851, he began formal composition studies with Fromental Halévy, a protégé of Cherubini. In 1857 he became organist at the Madeleine, a post he held for 20 years. Liszt, whom he met about this time and with whom he formed an enduring friendship, called him the greatest organist in the world. From 1861 to 1865 he was professor of piano at the Niedermeyer School, where his pupils included Gabriel Fauré. During his heyday, Saint-Saëns was a progressive force and founded, with Romain Bussine, the Société Nationale de Musique in 1871. Its purpose was to give new music by French composers a hearing, which it did, for many years until about 1900. In 1888, Saint-Saëns suffered a crushing blow with the death of his mother, whom he loved with a passion. From then on, with no family left in Paris, he became a nomad, traveling ceaselessly and widely, either on long concert tours or on holiday. Among his favorite resorts was Algeria, where he composed the Second Piano Trio. |
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March 16 Russian Milestones
Mikhail GLINKA Viola Sonata in D minor ▪ 1825/1828 The Sonata is the first large, original work for the viola in Russian music, albeit an unfinished one. Usefovich, a well-known Soviet writer on the viola, perceived that “The music sprung from the same lyrical and romanze elements as represented in Glinka’s songs.” In 1825 Glinka (at age 21) began writing a viola sonata while living in St Petersburg. He considered it a major breakthrough, marking a transition from his early, academic pieces to his unique Russian masterpieces. In late April and early May 1828, while visiting Moscow, he wrote the Sonata’s second movement, which he thought had “some quite clever counterpoint.” He began a third movement in rondo form…but never finished it—“the Rondo, whose folksy and Russian overtones I can still recall, I never did write down.” He revised the 2 movements in the early 1850s. Vadim Borisovsky completed the 2nd movement in 1931 and performed the Sonata for the first time on 1 May 1931 in the Small Hall of the Moscow Conservatory with pianist Elena Beckmann-Scerbina. Borisovsky was a giant figure in bringing the art of viola playing to prominence in Russia, and was a founder of the Beethoven Quartet. Glinka (1804–1857) was the father of the Russian nationalist school and the first Russian composer to win international recognition. Born an aristocrat, he was raised in landed gentry. During his first 6 years, while in the care of his paternal grandmother, he was cut off “from all music except for the folksongs sung in abundance by his nurse, the chant he heard in the village church, and the strident church bells [tuned to a dissonant chord]…. The importance of this initial and exclusive musical diet was fundamental: the folksongs sank deep into Glinka’s mind so that later he could effortlessly incorporate their shapes into his own melodic invention…. On his grandmother’s death in 1810, Glinka passed into the care of his parents, and at last began to hear other music…. [In 1817] he was sent to school in St Petersburg. There he excelled at languages, adoring also the natural sciences and any subject that elicited an imaginative response. In general, though, his musical education was thoroughly unsystematic…. On leaving school in 1822 he…settled into the life of a musical dilettante in the world of the St Petersburg drawing rooms to which his sociability and skill, both as singer and pianist, readily gained him access…. During the 1820s he composed a fair amount of music, even though he had had no formal musical grounding…. But the rich cultural life of St Petersburg…provided him with models upon which he could base his early works…. [In] the late 1820s his attention was focusing increasingly upon the styles and techniques of Italian opera [New Grove Dictionary].” From 1830 Glinka traveled in Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Spain, Vienna, and Paris (residing there for 2 years); studied in Milan and with Siegfried Dehn in Berlin, where he died after catching a cold. His compositions were an important influence on future Russian composers, notably the members of the Mighty Five, who took Glinka’s lead and produced a distinctive Russian style of music. He is best known for the operas A Life for the Tsar and Ruslan and Ludmila. His orchestral composition Kamarinskaya (1848) was said by Tchaikovsky to be the acorn from which the oak of later Russian symphonic music grew. Glinka is often called the “Father of Russian Music and the “Father of Russian Opera.” Sergei PROKOFIEV Flute Sonata Op. 94 ▪ 1943 While working on the massive, sprawling film score for Sergei Eisenstein’s Ivan the Terrible in Central Asia,Prokofiev wrote the Sonata in the summer of 1943 “in a gentle, flowing classical style” for the USSR’s Committee on Artistic Affairs. He had been evacuated to Alma-Ata in Kazakhstan, away from the war-torn Eastern Front, to avoid capture by the German regime. His biographer Israel Nestyev noted that its themes were sketched before the war and were inspired by the French flutist Georges Barrère. The demanding Sonata for both the flute and piano is in his neoclassical style. It pushes the boundaries of the flute in its stunning chromaticism and tone colors, which utilize a wide range of dynamics and rhythms to create a rich, nuanced, and expressive soundscape. Later, at the suggestion and with the assistance of David Oistrakh, Prokofiev made a transcription—the Violin Sonata No. 2 in D Major Op. 94a.The Flute Sonata (his only work for the flute) premiered in Moscow on 7 December 1943 by Nicolai Kharkovsky and pianist Sviatoslav Richter. The violin version was first performed by Oistrakh and pianist Lev Oborin on 17 June 1944. Glazunov was open about being a musical conservative, and demonstrated this by walking out of a performance of an early work by his pupil Sergei Prokofiev. Despite his distaste for Prokofiev’s spiky dissonances, he encouraged the young composer and secured a performance of his original First Symphony (later destroyed). Alexander GLAZUNOV String Quintet in A Major Op. 39 ▪ 1891–1892 Roderic Dunnett in a review for Strad magazine commented, “The Quintet is a work of real substance and weight, cogently argued and ingenious in its effects...the bustling, folksy finale makes a splendid conclusion following the...Andante. But the masterpiece is the Scherzo, which features some really effective pizzicato.... It is all profoundly rewarding.” Of immense stature, Glazunov was the major Russian symphonic composer of the generation that followed Tchaikovsky. Born in 1865 in St Petersburg, he lived comfortably as the son of a successful book publisher who played the violin, and a mother who was a good pianist. In 1880 his music teacher Mily Balakirev suggested that he study composition with Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov. Glazunov became Rimsky-Korsakov’s favorite pupil, who in his teacher’s words improved “not from day to day but from hour to hour.” Two years later Balakirev conducted Glazunov’s First Symphony, written at age 16. The public was astounded. He continued composing, and by the time he completed his Second Symphony in 1886, he earned the nickname “The Little Glinka” and was the recognized heir of the nationalist group and composed according to their principles. He was also influenced by Franz Liszt, whom he visited in Weimar in 1884. Other influences were Wagner and Tchaikovsky. Most of Glazunov’s best works date from the 1890s and into the turn of the century. In 1905 he became director of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, where he had taught since 1899. “During his long tenure he worked ceaselessly to improve the curriculum, raise the standards of staff and students, and defend the dignity and autonomy of the conservatory [New Grove Dictionary]. After the Revolution of 1917 he remained at his post until 1928, when, feeling isolated, he left the Soviet Union. After an unsuccessful tour of the United State in 1929–30 he lived in Paris, where he died in 1936; his remains were reinterred in an honored grave in the cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in St Petersburg. Regarding his significance, “Within Russian music Glazunov…succeeded in reconciling Russianism and Europeanism. He was the direct heir of Balakirev’s nationalism but tended more toward Borodin’s epic grandeur. At the same time he absorbed Rimsky-Korsakov’s orchestral virtuosity, the lyricism of Tchaikovsky and the contrapuntal skill of Taneyev…. The younger composers (Prokofiev, Shostakovich) abandoned him as old-fashioned. But he remains a composer of imposing stature and a stabilizing influence in a time of transition and turmoil [Grove].” |
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March 23 Paris Dazzles
Luigi CHERUBINI String Quartet No. 2 in C Major ▪ 1829 The early Romantic String Quartet is a transformation and reworking of his one and only symphony from 1815, with a new slow movement. A dazzling Allegro is followed by the new, effective Lento of contrasting moods and tempos, an energetic Scherzo, and powerful Finale. Cherubini was regarded as one of France’s leading musicians. Beethoven, for one, told the English composer Cipriano Potter while on a walk in the woods in 1817 that he considered Cherubini the greatest living composer. He reinforced his opinion in a letter to Cherubini in 1923, writing, “I am enraptured whenever I hear a new work of yours and feel as great an interest in it as in my own works—in brief, I honor and love you.” Beethoven proclaimed Cherubini “Europe’s foremost dramatic composer.” He admired Cherubini’s Requiem in C minor to such extent that he ordered it performed at his own funeral. Another admirer, Schumann, said that Cherubini was “to this day, at his advanced age, superior as a harmonist to all his contemporaries; the refined, scholarly, interesting Italian whose severe reserve and strength of character sometimes leads me to compare him with Dante.” Cherubini (1760–1842), born in Florence, studied at the conservatories in Bologna and Milan. He remained in Italy until 1788 when he moved to Paris, where he lived for the rest of his life. He gained notoriety as an opera composer, but by 1805 Parisian tastes had changed, leading to the demise of interest in his operas. He then turned to composing religious and instrumental music. Cherubini served as director of the Paris Conservatory from 1822 until his death. He was buried at Père Lachaise Cemetery, 13 feet from his friend Chopin; his tomb is adorned by a bas-relief by Augustin Dumont, the brother of Louise Farrenc. Henri BÜSSER Appassionato Op. 34 ▪ 1910 The Romantic miniature was dedicated to Théophile Laforge, who became the first professor of viola at the Paris Conservatoire in 1894. Laforge encouraged composers to write solo works for the viola, and regularly included these in the syllabus requirements for his Conservatoire class. Büsser was born in Toulouse in 1872 and died in Paris in 1973, just 2 weeks shy of his 101st birthday. His distinguished career began as a choirboy at the Toulouse Cathedral. Following studies at the École Niedermeyer, and then at the Paris Conservatoire with César Franck and Charles-Marie Widor in organ and Charles Gounod and Jules Massenet in composition, he won the Prix de Rome in 1893. With the backing of Gounod, he attained the post of organist of Saint-Cloud. He was appointed to the staff of the Paris Conservatoire in 1904, and became one of the composition professors in 1931. As a composer, Büsser remained faithful to the French 19th-century tradition and is best known for his dramatic works, influenced by Wagner, but his sophisticated orchestration and harmony were influenced by his colleague Debussy. Büsser conducted 10 performances of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande in 1902, and orchestrated his Petite Suite and Printemps. Jules Auguste Edouard DEMERSSEMEN Morceau de Concert Op. 31 ▪ circa 1860s A solo de concours serves as a showcase for the performer’s technical skills, musicianship, and artistic expression. It was often used as a final performance for graduation or entrance into a specific program. 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. Ernst CHAUSSON Piano Quartet in A Major Op. 30 ▪ 1897 The late Romantic Quartet premiered on 2 April 1898 at the National Society of Music in Paris. The British music writer Ian Lace has described it as “a charismatic work…with a charming opening movement denoting a mood of searching yearning and uncertainty. It can be dreamily melodic. The piano part…has a beguiling, pellucid beauty…. The second movement is beautifully, intensely romantic with the mood suggesting devotion. The brief third movement has its roots in a folksong with its tune in the Phrygian mode…. The strongly rhythmic and rather turbulent Finale is energetic before a waltz section calms the atmosphere and romantic yearning is recalled.” 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. 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 [New Grove Dictionary].” 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 died tragically at the age of 44 from injuries sustained in a bicycle accident while staying at one of his country retreats in Limay. He was buried at Père Lachaise Cemetery. |
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April 6 Military Veterans
César CUI 5 Pièces Op. 56 ▪ 1897 Although Cui made his living as a military engineer specializing in fortification, he adored music, composed prolifically, and wrote music criticism as well. He contributed almost 800 articles between 1864 and 1918 to various newspapers and other publications in Russia and Europe. As a critic, he sought to promote the music of contemporary Russian composers, especially the works of “The Five,” of which he was one of the group. He was also the spokesman for this New Russian School. Although Cui went blind in 1918, he continued to compose small pieces by dictation. Cui died on 26 March 1918 from cerebral apoplexy and was buried at the Smolensk Lutheran Cemetery in Saint Petersburg. In 1939 his body was reinterred in Tikhvin Cemetery at the Alexander Nevsky Monastery in Saint Petersburg, reuniting him with the other members of “The Five.” Cui, born in Vilnius in 1835 to a Roman Catholic family, was the youngest of 5 children. His father, a French officer, was taken prisoner during Napoleon’s campaign of 1812, but remained in Russia after the war and married a Lithuanian woman. César grew up learning French, Russian, Polish, and Lithuanian. He began to compose while a boy, imitating the style of Chopin, and received lessons in composition. Before finishing his schooling at the gymnasium, Cui was sent to Saint Petersburg in 1850 to prepare to enter the Chief Engineering School, which he did the following year at age 16. After his graduation in 1855, he furthered his studies at the Nikolaevsky Engineering Academy, then became a lecturer there in fortifications. His students over the decades included General Mikhail Skobelev, a hero of the Russo–Turkish war, and several members of the Imperial family, most notably Tsar Nicholas II. Cui eventually taught at 3 of the military academies in Saint Petersburg. His knowledge of fortifications, which he gained from the frontlines during the Russo–Turkish War of 1877–1878, was beneficial in advancing his career. With his expertise proven, Cui attained a professorship in 1880 and the military rank of general in 1906. His writings on fortifications included textbooks that were widely used, in several editions. Francis POULENC Clarinet Sonata Op. 184 ▪ 1962 Poulenc died suddenly in 1963 at the age of 64. The Clarinet Sonata was his last completed work, commissioned by Benny Goodman and dedicated to Arthur Honegger, one of the original members of Les Six. The Sonata received its debut at Carnegie Hall, played by Goodman and Leonard Bernstein at the piano in 1963. Poulenc served in the military in both World Wars. From 1918 to 1921, he was a conscript in the French army in the last months of World War I and the immediate postwar period. “From the start, Poulenc was at odds with military life. He was wealthy, pampered, and flippant, and within a few months, overstaying a leave in Paris, he pulled a ten-day term in a military prison. He wrote to influential friends, hoping for help, but maintained some sense of humor, asking one friend to spread the word about his incarceration because it was so funny [Wisconsin Public Radio].” Between July and October 1918 he did serve on the Franco-German front, after which he held auxiliary posts and worked as a typist at the Ministry of Aviation. His duties allowed for time to compose pieces such as Trois mouvements perpétuels and Le bestiaire. During World War II Poulenc was briefly a soldier again. He was called up by the French army on 2 June 1940, and served in an anti-aircraft unit in Bordeaux. After France surrendered, he was demobilized on 18 July 1940. He lived Noizay (in German-occupied France) and Paris, and continued to compose, expressing resistance through his music. He wrote works with anti-Nazi undertones, including settings of poems by Resistance writers. He was a founder-member of the Front National (pour musique) and was viewed with suspicion by the Nazis for its association with banned musicians such as Darius Milhaud and Paul Hindemith. Maurice RAVEL La Valse Op. 56 ▪ 1919–1920 La Valse, a complex work evolved from the Viennese waltz, is often described as dark, menacing, and unsettling, with an undercurrent of irony. The music begins in hushed tones depicting waltzing couples in a giant hall, becomes progressively distorted and infused with dissonance towards the end, and builds to a climax of hallucinatory frenzy, culminating in a cataclysmic, yet triumphant finish. Many listeners and critics perceive it as a symbol reflecting the breakdown of social order and the horrors of war. Ravel, however, resisted interpretations that the war, in which he served, influenced the composition. He asserted, “But one should only see in it what the music expresses: an ascending progression of sonority, to which the stage comes along to add light and movement.” He added, in 1922, that “It doesn’t have anything to do with the present situation in Vienna, and it also doesn’t have any symbolic meaning in that regard. In the course of La Valse, I did not envision a dance of death or a struggle between life and death.” Ravel described La Valse as “a kind of apotheosis of the Viennese waltz.” He had initially conceived the piece as a tribute to the Viennese waltzes of Johann Strauss II, made sketches dating back to 1906, and even considered “Wien” (Vienna) as the title. Other compositions and the Great War intervened, putting the piece on the back burner until Sergei Diaghilev commissioned Ravel for a ballet for the Ballets Russes in 1919. However, after hearing a 2-piano reduction, Diaghilev said it was a “masterpiece” but rejected Ravel’s work as “not a ballet. It’s a portrait of ballet.” Offended, Ravel ended the relationship, and when the two men met again in 1925, Ravel refused to shake Diaghilev’s hand. Diaghilev challenged Ravel to a duel, but friends persuaded the choreographer to withdraw the dare. The men never met again. Subsequently, La Valsebecame a popular concert work. Ravel had been exempted from military service in 1895 on grounds of “frailty.” At the start of World War I, he sought to enlist as he was eager to serve his country. He made numerous attempts to join the army, but was rejected because he was underweight by two kilograms and had a minor heart defect. He then made every effort to join the Air Force. Finally, in March 1915, Ravel entered the auxiliary service as a truck driver in the 13th Artillery Regiment’s supply corps, which managed transport and logistics for the regiments. He hauled gasoline on terrible roads, and some of his duties put him in mortal danger, driving munitions at night under heavy German artillery fire at Verdun: “For a whole week I have been driving days and nights—without lights—on unbelievable roads, often with a load double what my truck should carry. And even so I had to hurry because all this was within range of the guns.” In letters to his mother, “Chauffeur Ravel” (his own moniker) tells of the adventures he endured with his famously nicknamed truck “Adélaïde.” Once, his truck lost a wheel and he had to hide in the forest, waiting 10 days before someone rescued him. His service, however, was cut short—he contracted dysentery (followed by peritonitis), was taken to hospital, then transferred back to Paris from October 1916 to January 1917 and declared unfit for service on 1 June 1917, at first temporarily then permanently. Ravel’s wartime compositions include the Tombeau de Couperin (each movement is dedicated to one of his friends who died at the front), the Piano Trio, Trois chansons for mixed choir (dedicated to people who might help him enlist), and Frontispice for two pianos. Nikolai RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Piano Trio in C minor ▪ 1897 Work on the Piano Trio began in the summer of 1897 in Senytchkovo, during an extremely creative phase. However, he was dissatisfied with the result as was his publisher, especially, even though his wife played it frequently. In his autobiography, My Musical Life, he explained, “I composed a string quartet in G major and a trio for violin, cello and piano in C minor. The latter composition remained unfinished, and both of these compositions proved to me that chamber music was not my forte; I therefore resolved not to publish them.” He had tried out parts of it with friends at home, but remained unhappy with the results. Steinberg completed the Trio in 1939, and it was published in the Steinberg edition in 1970. The David Oistrakh Trio with cellist Sviatoslav Knushevitsky and pianist Lev Oborin recorded it in 1952 on the Brilliant label. Rimsky-Korsakov was a member of “The Mighty Handful” aka“The Five,” a group whose mission was to create a national school of Russian music, free of the stifling influences of Italian opera, German lieder, and other European forms. For much of his life, Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908) combined his composing and teaching with a career in the Russian armed forces—first as an officer in the Imperial Russian Navy, then as a civilian Inspector of Naval Bands. These decisions were influenced by his distinguished naval and military family (his uncle was an admiral in the Russian navy and his brother, older by 22 years, was a marine officer). Although he was musically inclined before the age of 2 and had piano lessons from age 6, his heart was set on a career in the navy. Thus, in 1856 his father took him to St Petersburg, where he entered the College of Naval Cadets at age 12. Concurrently, he continued his piano lessons and went to the opera and concerts. In 1861 he met the composer Mily Balakirev, fell under his spell, and began to write his Symphony No. 1. The composition, however, was put on pause in 1862, when he graduated 6th in his naval class with honors. Soon after, he sailed on the clipper Almaz on a two and a half year voyage, the vessel anchoring in New York, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. at the height of the American Civil War. Subsequent ports of call were Rio de Janeiro (where he was promoted to the rank of midshipman), and the Mediterranean. Upon returning to Russia in May 1865, Rimsky-Korsakov had become, in his own words, “an officer-dilettante who sometimes enjoyed playing or listening to music.” With naval duties now occupying only 2 or 3 hours a day, he had ample time for composing. In 1873 he was allowed to resign his commission, but the Minister of Marine created for him a special civil post of Inspector of Naval Bands, which he undertook with zeal—inspecting naval bands, studying the various instruments, and writing for military bands. |
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April 20 In Mahler’s World
Robert FUCHS 2 Phantasiestücke Op. 74 ▪ 1904 Fuchs taught Mahler harmony and composition at the Vienna Conservatory, and is credited with influencing Mahler’s early musical development. Although his music was not widely known (he did little to promote it), Fuchs had many admirers, including Brahms, who loved and respected him. Brahms, who rarely praised anyone, said, “Fuchs is a splendid musician, everything is so fine and so skillful, so charmingly invented, that one is always pleased.” The noted conductors Arthur Nikisch, Felix Weingartner, and Hans Richter championed his works when they had the opportunity; and many considered his chamber music his finest work. Fuchs (1847–1927) was born in Frauental in southern Austria, the youngest of 13 children. He studied at the Vienna Conservatory with Felix Otto Dessoff and Joseph Hellmesberger. By 1875, he himself was teaching at the Conservatory, eventually rising to the rank of Professor of Composition. He was one of the most famous and revered teachers of his time, retaining his position until 1912. Among his pupils were Mahler, Sibelius, Hugo Wolf, George Enescu, Alexander von Zemlinsky, Erich Korngold, Franz Schmidt, Erkki Melartin, and Rubin Goldmark. He died in Vienna at the age of 80. Peter CORNELIUS Lieder Op. 1 ▪ 1853–1854 Cornelius thought of himself as a “Poet-Musician.” Refined by nuanced melodies and harmonies, the lovely songs possess a personal quality. The colorful piano accompaniments further enhance the emotionally resonant music. Cornelius (1824–1874) was the son of actors in Mainz. His father trained him as an actor and also arranged for him to have music lessons. He made attempts at composing, mostly chamber music, as early as 1837; by 1840 he was playing the violin in the Mainz theater orchestra. He acted as well in his youth in Mainz and Wiesbaden. From 1844 to 1846 Cornelius studied with Siegfried Dehn in Berlin, and from 1853 to 1858 he lived in Weimar and mingled in the circle of Franz Liszt. He translated articles by Liszt and Hector Berlioz for the Neue Zeitschrift für Musikand became an advocate of the New German School. Berlioz held him in high regard both as a musician and as a skillful translator of the librettos of his own works. In 1857 he began composing the comic opera Der Barbier von Bagdad to his own libretto, based on The Thousand and One Nights. The premiere in 1858, conducted by Liszt at the Hoftheater in Weimar, was a fiasco because Liszt was embroiled in a bitter feud with the manager of the theater over the future direction of the house. Liszt resigned and Cornelius left Weimar. From 1859 to 1864 Cornelius lived in Vienna, where he became a friend of Richard Wagner. In 1865 he accompanied Wagner, whom he greatly admired, to Munich and was a reader to King Ludwig II of Bavaria and a professor at the Royal School of Music. Cornelius also was a gifted lyric poet, setting to music many of his own poems as well as poems of other writers. Der Barbier von Bagdad, reorchestrated by Felix Mottl,was successfully revived in 1884, 10 years after Cornelius died. Mahler conducted it in Prague in 1888. Hans ROTT String Quartet in C minor ▪ 1876 Rott (1858–1884) and Mahler were close friends and roomed together briefly at the Vienna Conservatory, where he was excused from paying tuition as he was destitute after his father’s death. He studied organ with Bruckner, starting in 1874, and graduated with honors from Bruckner’s organ class in 1877. For some years up to 1878 he was organist at the Piarist church in Vienna. Bruckner said that Rott (his favorite pupil) played Bach very well, and improvised wonderfully (a high compliment coming from Bruckner who was renowned for his improvisational skills). Rott was also influenced by the works of Wagner, and attended the first Bayreuth Festival in 1876. In 1878, his senior year, Rott submitted the first movement of his Symphony in E Major to a composition contest. The jury derided the work; Bruckner was incensed, predicting,“you will hear great things yet from this young man.” After completing the Symphony in 1880, Rott showed the work to both Brahms and Hans Richter in an attempt to get it performed, but was rebuffed. Brahms did not like Bruckner exerting his influence on the Conservatory students, and even told Rott that he had no talent and should give up music. Within a month Rott’s mind snapped while on a train, and he became insane. Debilitated by mental illness, he died at age 25 of tuberculosis. Mahler and Bruckner attended his funeral at the Central Cemetery in Vienna. His importance as a composer lies in his influence on his close friend Mahler. In particular, his Symphony in E anticipates those of Mahler in its thematic material and compositional techniques. Mahler praised Rott, calling him “a musician of genius...who died unrecognized and in want on the very threshold of his career.... What music has lost in him cannot be estimated. Such is the height to which his genius soars…. To be sure, what he wanted is not quite what he achieved. … But I know where he aims. Indeed, he is so near to my inmost self that he and I seem to me like two fruits from the same tree which the same soil has produced and the same air nourished. He could have meant infinitely much to me and perhaps the two of us would have well-nigh exhausted the content of new time which was breaking out for music.” For more on Rott, see https://mahlerfoundation.org/mahler/contemporaries/hans-rott/ Gustav MAHLER Das Himmlische Leben “The Heavenly Light” ▪ 1892 The beautiful song is the zenith of the “Wunderhorn” (4th) Symphony. Mahler called it the “tapering spire of the edifice.” The text—adapted from an old Bavarian folk song, “Der himmel hängt voll Geigen” (“Heaven is hung with violins”)—depicts heavenly pleasures, peace, a feast of delicious and plentiful food being prepared for all the saints, dancing, and singing. Mahler’s instruction to the soprano was “With childlike, cheerful expression; entirely without parody!” The song came from Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Youths Magic Horn)—a 3-volume collection of German folk poems, songs, and aphorisms compiled by Achim von Arnim and Clemens Brentano. Published between 1805 and 1808, the collection had a profound influence on Mahler, providing him with a rich source of poetic texts for his early symphonies and song cycles. Wilhelm KIENZL Piano Trio in F minor Op. 13 ▪ published 1880 The attractive Trio was written at age 23 just after he graduated with a doctorate degree. In the view of Edition Silvertrust, the exuberance, punctuated by episodes of longing, recalls the music of Schumann. “The opening movement, Allegro moderato, begins with a highly romantic, lyrical melody first introduced by the cello. A very Schumannesque energetic Scherzo follows. The lovely contrasting trio is fresh and flowing. A quiet, reflective and calm but very lyrical, singing Adagio is placed third. The unmistakable ghost of Schumann hovers over the closing Allegro vivace.” Kienzl and Mahler were neither friends nor colleagues, but they knew each other. Documents and letters provide evidence of the interaction between them. When Kienzl was dismissed in 1891 as director of the Hamburg Opera, halfway through his debut season because of poor reviews, Mahler was his replacement. Kienzel and Mahler corresponded in 1897, and during a visit to Budapest in 1889 he was introduced to Mahler. Kienzel also he met Mahler at the Hotel Kaiserin Elisabeth in Vienna in 1904. In 1905 Mahler attended a performance of Kienzl’s opera Don Quixote in Graz. However, he left the theater in the middle of the performance, which deeply offended Kienzl. Kienzl (1857–1941) was born in the picturesque Austrian town of Waizenkirchen. When he was 3 his family moved to the Styrian capital of Graz, where he began lessons on the piano and violin. At age 15 he entered Graz University and added composition to his studies and discussed the works of Schumann and Wagner. He then continued his education at Prague University in 1874. There, his teacher Josef Krejči took him to Bayreuth to attend the first performance of Wagner’s Ring. It made a lasting impression on Kienzl. The next year he studied at Leipzig University, then briefly with Liszt in Weimar, and completed his dissertation and formal education in Vienna in 1879. “In the same year he went again to Bayreuth where he spent a considerable time as a member of the close circle around Wagner. His disagreements with some of the group on musical matters soon terminated his stay, but he remained an admirer of Wagner and his music. He attended nearly every Bayreuth Festival during his lifetime as well as lecturing and writing on Wagner [New Grove Dictionary].” Kienzl’s career developed in the opera sphere. Several of his operas became famous and were widely performed, such as Der Evangelimann. He was one of the first composers outside of Italy to make use of the verismo style, with its greater realism and naturalism.“With Humperdinck, Kienzl was responsible for the revival of Romanticism in opera, continuing the tradition of Weber, Lortzing and early Wagner. Returning to the naive elements of folk opera, he was able to develop them with music often strongly influenced by Wagner.” He was also considered, along with Hugo Wolf, one of the finest composers of Lieder since Schubert. |
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April 27 Mighty Windy
Josef TRIEBENSEE Concertino in Eb Major ▪ 1805 The scoring is for piano (originally cembalo) and harmonie—an 8-piece wind band comprising pairs of oboes, clarinets, horns, and bassoons Triebensee (1772–1846) studied composition with Johann Georg Albrechtsberger and oboe with his father, a distinguished oboist. In 1791 he played as the second oboist in the premiere of Die Zauberflote under Mozart’s direction. He led a Harmonie (wind band) for Prince Alois of Liechtenstein and other princes before succeeding Weber as director of the Prague Opera in 1816, holding that post until he retired in 1836. While prolific as a composer, Triebensee’s sole claim to fame today rests on his arrangement of Don Giovanni for wind ensemble. His compositions include 12 operas in German and Czech. MOZART Serenade No. 10 in Bb Major “Gran Partita” K. 361 ▪ 1784 The largest work of the Classical period for solo instruments, the Serenade made a powerful impression on Mozart’s contemporaries. For one, the critic and writer Johann Friedrich Schink confided in his memoirs, Litterarische Fragmente, “I heard music for wind instruments today…by Herr Mozart…oh, what an effect it made—glorious and grand, excellent and sublime. It consisted of thirteen instruments…and at each instrument sat a master.” His remarks were written after hearing a performance of the Serenade at a benefit concert at the Burgtheater on 23 March 1784, organized for his friend, the clarinetist Anton Stadler. The instruments comprised 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 basset-horns, 4 horns, 2 bassoons, and a double bass. |
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May 11 Grand Finale
Robert KAHN Trio in G minor Op. 45 ▪ 1906 Robert Meyn, in an article for the Royal College of Music in London, explained that “Clara Schumann…noted Kahn’s remarkable talent, and the growing popularity of Kahn’s Lieder, chamber music and choral compositions confirmed her judgment.” Kahn was born in 1865, the son of one of the wealthiest Jewish families in Mannheim. After attending the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin directed by Joseph Joachim, Kahn studied with Joseph Rheinberger at the Musikhochschulein Munich, where he met Brahms in 1887. Brahms was so impressed with Kahn he offered to give him composition lessons. The young man, however, was too overawed to accept. As Kahn explained in 1947, “From my early youth I felt a deep love and veneration for Brahms the musician. To that was added, now that he welcomed me so warmly in Vienna, a deep, even rapturous love for Brahms the man. It filled my entire heart, but I kept it carefully hidden from him in shyness and restraint.” Kahn was also given support by Joachim, Clara Schumann, and the conductor Hans von Bülow (the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by von Bülow premiered Kahn’s one orchestral work). Kahn composed mostly Lieder, chamber, vocal, and choral music which were widely performed and published by major publishers. As a pianist he worked extensively with singers, and was much sought-after as a collaborative pianist with prominent artists, including Josef Szigeti and Adolf Busch. In 1897 Kahn was appointed full professor at the Prussian Academy of the Arts in Berlin, where he taught composition and piano for 36 years. Among his pupils were Arthur Rubinstein and Wilhelm Kempff. He was removed from his position at the Academy in 1934 by the Nazis, who vilified him and suppressed his work. In 1938 Kempff persuaded him to flee to England, where he lived in obscurity in Biddenden, Kent. His creativity unfettered, Kahn continued to write over 1100 piano pieces in his Tagebuch in Tönen (Diary in Sounds) until 1949. He died in 1951. From a distinguished family of bankers and merchants, his seven siblings included Otto Kahn, the financier and chairman of the board of the Metropolitan Opera; and Felix Kahn, a banker, director of Paramount Pictures, and noted violin collector. BEETHOVEN Duo in Eb Major mit zwei obbligaten Augengläsern “with two obligato eyeglasses” WoO 32 ▪ 1796 In a letter to his longtime friend, the amateur cellist Baron Nikolaus Zmeskall von Domanovecz, arranging a reading of the new piece, Beethoven alluded to their short-sightedness: “I am obliged to you for the weakness of your eyes.” Some personal reminiscences of Beethoven described him as wearing glasses as a result of “weak eyes” from childhood smallpox; it was a necessity “even in his early youth to resort to concave, very strong (highly magnifying) spectacles.” The Duo, discovered and published in 1912, was presumably played by Beethoven on viola and Zmeskall on cello, and implied that both men needed to wear glasses to read the music. When Beethoven moved to Vienna in 1796, he was introduced to Prince Lichnowsky who became one of his most generous patrons. Among the influential men and women at Lichnowsky’s Friday chamber music concerts, Beethoven met the talented amateur cellist Baron Nikolaus Zmeskall and they became lifelong friends. Numerous notes and letters between them reveal the depth of their friendship. Zmeskall was an official in the Hungarian Chancellery in Vienna. He provided Mozart with quills and other supplies for composition, helped him find accommodations, corrected the proofs of his editions, and gave advice on practical and financial matters. Their correspondence also discussed arrangements to meet at the tavern for wine, their jokes and bantering, especially about their poor vision. Beethoven later rewarded Zmeskall with the dedication of the F minor String Quartet Op. 95. SCHUBERT “Erlkönig” D. 328 ▪ 1815 The duet, originally for soprano and piano, is one of the greatest ballads ever written. Based on a 1782 poem of the same name by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the art song “packs a remarkable amount of tension and drama into a mere four minutes. Its effectiveness is doubly impressive because Schubert was only 18 years old when he composed it [Encyclopedia Britannica].” The year 1815 stands out as one of Franz Schubert’s most productive years. In fact, it has been called Schubert’s “miracle year.” The eighteen-year-old composer wrote more than 20,000 bars of music, completing two symphonies (Nos. 2 and 3), two Masses, a string quartet, two piano sonatas, and 145 songs (including the ghostly Erlkönig), among other works. On one October day, alone, Schubert completed eight songs. BRAHMS Piano Quintet in F minor Op. 34 ▪ 1864 “The Quintet is beautiful beyond words...a masterpiece of chamber music,” gushed Hermann Levi, the German conductor and an admirer and friend of Brahms. The Piano Quintet was initially conceived in 1861 as a string quintet with 2 cellos. That year Brahms moved out of his family’s cramped house in Hamburg and into his own rooms in the suburb of Hamm. After a number of performances, feedback was sought from his close friends, the pianist Clara Schumann and violinist Joseph Joachim. Clara approved of the piece, but Joachim claimed that the string parts were too difficult. Discouraged, Brahms rescored the piece as a sonata for two pianos and destroyed the original. Although the 2-piano version performed by Clara and Hermann Levi was well received, Clara thought the piece sounded too much like an arrangement and suggested an alternate scoring. Brahms then settled on the present version for piano quintet which he completed in October 1864 at age 31 and published in 1865. Joachim would declare that it was the finest new chamber music work published since Schubert. The 2-piano version was published 6 years after the piano quintet as Op. 34bis. |
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| Summer Season 2026 | ||||||
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 18, 2 pm & 7:30 pm |
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Monday June 1, 2 pm & 7:30 pm |
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Monday June 15, 2 pm & 7:30 pm |
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*All programs are subject to change.
Copyright © 1999-2025 Jupiter Symphony. All rights reserved.
Last updated 7/26/25
