Ferruccio Busoni – The Six Sonatinas: An Artist’s Journey 1909-1920 – his language and his world

Jeni Slotchiver

Part I of an in-depth appreciation of these greatly significant piano works The summer’s accomplishments also inc- lude several transcriptions of Bach’s he Six Sonatinas, written between 1910 ado Springs: “No year in my life has been Chorale Preludes and a musical comedy Tand 1921, are Busoni’s finest and most so full up as this one which is just over: libretto titled Frau Potiphar. In addition, compelling collection of composit ions. the richest in work, experiences and Busoni writes his explorative treatise, Although they are not programmatic in achieve ments – and I feel that I am still Attempt at an Organic Notation for the any aspect, the set tells a cohesive story going upwards. Everything good, my Pianoforte, and prepares new material for of an artist’s journey. These are deeply Gerda, is with us.” The date is 1 April, an anticipated second edition of his personal, quasi-autobiographical comp os- 1910, and the composer marks his 44th Outline of a New Aesthetic of Music. He itions: each Sonatina serves as chronicle, birthday surveying a year of fertile and begins orchestration on his important and marks a gathering and culmination of extravagant artistic discovery. opera, Die Brautwahl and in July, com- Busoni’s spiritual searchings and growth. In December 1908, Busoni composes pletes Act 1 part 1. Fluid and timeless, the Sonatinas also the sparkling miniature for piano, Nuit de The Berceuse élégiaque is inscribed in encompass Busoni’s temporal world. Noël, as a musical offering to the New memory of Anna Busoni, and Fantasia Beginnings and departures are marked. Year. He often acknowledges Christmases, nach Johann Sebastian Bach is comp- They are a diary of contentment, of agg- New Years, and other important dates osed for Ferdinando Busoni. Both parents ressive experimentation, of the war and with musical works. Nuit de Noël is a died a few months apart in 1909, and chaos, and peace and reconciliation. The masterpiece of colour and style, an ausp- these pieces are personal eulogies, Sonatinas are contemplative works, and icious beginning for the New Year. After musical gestures of bereavement and although all end softly, they are unres - completing his concert tours in 1909, mourning. The remaining compositions ervedly expressive, with abundant Busoni begins one of his most prolific and are dedicated to the young generation of contrasts and highly developed intense periods of artistic achievement. composers. instrumen tal writing. From June until October 1909, his Sonatina, 1910, is born from An die The Sonatinas are also efforts appear impossible: Jungen. The composer, Bernard van premonitory; they fore- Berceuse, for piano. June 1909 Dieren, offers to clarify the misleading title, tell Busoni’s orch- Fantasia nach Johann Sebastian An die Jugend. He writes, “Busoni inten - estral and operatic Bach, for piano. June 1909 ded them as visionary sketches of aspects language as it exp- Preludietto, Fughetta ed Esercizio which, in his belief, music was to assume ands, evolves, and Book 1 An die Jugend, for piano. and dedicated them to Youth which crystalizes. June 1909 would see the full Busoni writes to Preludio, Fuga e Fuga figurata growth. On Youth his wife, Gerda, Book 2 An die Jugend, for piano. July all his hopes from Color - 1909 centered.” Van Giga, Bolero e Variazione Book 3 An die Dieren Jugend, for piano. July 1909 adroitly Concertante transcription of con- Schoenberg’s Klavierstück, op. 11 no. cludes:

2. July 1909 ▼ Introduzione e Capriccio (Paganinesco) & Epilogo Book 4 An die Jugend, for piano. August 1909 Berceuse élégiaque, for orchestra. October 1909

MUSICAL OPINION QUARTERLY JULY-SEPTEMBER 2015 25 “He did not resist the Composing only Jugend has lighthearted Mozart’s peculiar rhythms and harmonies temptation to leave connotations, the mature further afield in a celebration of ‘free possibilities of confusion. It deserves the name composer is on consec - tonality’. points to a didactic strain rated ground, with Bach, In his essay, Value of the Transcription, in his mind which avoided when it busies itself Mozart, and Liszt stand- 1910, Busoni discusses the borrowing, the danger of pedantry by ing guard. quoting and passing on of musical themes. an impish sense of ever with new The four books are a He asks, “But where does the transcription humour, and by a rom- devotional collage of the begin?” Busoni examines two of Liszt’s antic delight in erudite, problems… composer’s love of form, compositions, Spanish Rhapsody, and poetic complex it ies.” Busoni and polyphonic explorat - Great Fantasy on Spanish Airs. They share explains the title to Schoen - ions, or ‘free polyphony’. The the same themes, and Busoni poses the berg in 1909, An die Jugend is intended volumes contain his original music, as well question, “Which of them is the trans- to signify that the publications are as transcribed material. Musical puzzle- cription? The one which was written later? conceived for the new generation,” and as games of dazzling complexity are But is not the first one already an with his Elegies, Busoni dedicates the interspersed with creative gest ures, arrangement of a Spanish folk-song? That pieces to promising young musicians: acknowledging the great masters. Spanish Fantasy commences with a Josef Turczinski, Louis Theodor Gruenberg, References to various compositions sugg- theme which tallies with the dance motive Leo Sirota, Louis Closson, and Emile R. est musical and philosophical subtexts. in Mozart’s Figaro and Mozart took this Blanchet. Busoni writes, in his forward to ‘Free polyphony’ reigns as unrelated and from someone else too. It is not his, it is An die Jugend: “My love belongs to the related themes combine contrapuntally transcribed. Moreover the same theme young and shall always belong to them. with breathtaking facility. Uncanny harm- appears again in Gluck’s ballet Don Juan.” Their impossible plans, their open-minded onies are an important side effect of these After more investigations, he reveals, “We questions, disarming criticisms, defiant explorations. have been able to bring the motive contradictions and fast-beating hearts … The pieces in An die Jugend have a material of both Spanish Fantasies by Liszt Very fine, but unf ortun ately optimistic. complex and cohesive relationship. For in conjunction with the names of Mozart, Youth is mostly con serv ative and its prom - instance, Book 2 is an exercise based on Gluck, Corelli, Glinka, Mahler. My humble ise is often deceptive … the ‘best’ stand the D major Prelude and Fugue from name too, is now added.” An die Jugend alone in every generation.” Busoni speaks Bach’s Well-Tempered Klavier, Book 1. is the realisation of Busoni’s ‘Eternal as both the eternal optimist and the worldly Busoni writes, in his edition of the 48 Calendar of Music’, and by extending the cynic. The opposing forces of Faust, the Preludes and Fugues: “The thematic relat- musical language of Bach and Mozart, he seeker of knowledge, and Mephistoph- ions between the Prelude and Fugue are furthers ‘free polyphony’ and ‘free tonality’. eles, the incessant doubter, become more closer than may generally be assumed; Antony Beaumont notes an entry in pron ounced as the composer matures. their common harmonic basis would Busoni’s diary, 5 October, 1909, “An die This duality forged opportunistic energy render it possible to superimpose the one Jugend! The source of the palimpsest.” and balance, giving shape to his operas piece on the other.” The Fuga figurata, a Busoni often references Thomas De and mature works. contrapuntal combination of both the Quincey’s Suspira de Profundis. An essay Busoni writes, “Composing only des- Prelude and Fugue, is proof of his con- from this collection, The Palimpsest of the erves the name when it busies itself ever cept. Although slight modifications occur, Human Brain, is a meditation on con- with new problems.” He hopes a new the work is not a technical prank, it is sciousness and memory. De Quincey generation will further explore and Busoni’s concrete demonstration in the explains the term Palimpsest: “Hence it develop the musical aspects he foresees underlying unity of Bach’s music. Another arose in the middle ages, as a consid - as significant in the development of 20th example is in Book 3, the ‘Mozart’ volume erable object for chemistry, to discharge century music. Busoni is forever Janus- of An die Jugend. Busoni freely transcribes the writing from the roll, and thus to make faced, and the gift for future generations Mozart’s Kleine Gigue, K574. The hist - it available for a new succession of is also homage and memorial to gen er- orian Alfred Einstein relates that Mozart thoughts. The Greek tragedy, the monkish ations past. Early on, Ferdinando Busoni was in Leipzig in 1789 and legend, the knightly romance, introduces his wonder child to Bach, and inscribed this brilliant 3-voice each has ruled its own during adolescence, Busoni completes a gigue in the Court Organist period.” Readings of ob- 15-month course of study with his only Engel’s notebook as a scured texts were made formal composition teacher, Wilhelm creative homage to Bach. Busoni is the time possible by chemists in Mayer-Rémy. This teacher fortifies an In the same volume, the early 1800s. De already marvellous gift of counterpoint, Busoni follows Gigue with traveller, unearthing Quincey comments, and instills the 14-year-old with a lifelong Bolero, drawn from Act lll “They are not dead, but dedication to Mozart. As Busoni grows, he of Mozart’s Le Nozze di past treasures, sleeping ... the Grecian initiates himself into the world of Liszt, Figaro. Busoni transposes, revealing hidden tragedy had seemed to gaining complete mastery over his transcribes, and re-visions be displaced, but was not technique. Ultimately, this discovery of Mozart’s fandango as a mysteries, and displaced, by the Liszt serves as a primary model for his piano compos ition. The monkish legend; and the piano writing. Although the title An die Variazione pushes teaching their value. monkish legend had

26 JULY-SEPTEMBER 2015 MUSICAL OPINION QUARTERLY seemed to be displac ed, but was not displaced, by the knightly romance.” He examines the phenomenon whereby unrelated texts inter mingle, invade and compete. He poses the paradox: “What would you think, fair reader, of a problem such as this — to write a book which should be sense for your own generation, nonsense for the next, should revive into sense for the next after that, but again become nonsense for the fourth; and so on by alternate successions, sinking into night or blazing into day...But really it is a problem not harder apparently than to bid a generation kill, but so that a subsequent generation may call back into life; bury, but so that posterity may command to rise again.” De Quincey links the palimpsest to human memory and consciousness: “What else than a natural and mighty palimpsest is the human brain …Ever- lasting layers of ideas, images, feelings, have fallen upon your brain softly as light. Each succession has seemed to bury all that went before. And yet, in reality, not one has been extinguished.” These texts align with Busoni’s aesthetics, and in 1916, Carl Jung will define his theory of the ‘Coll ective Unconscious’, evoking De Quincey’s writings, as well as Busoni’s ‘Eternal Calendar of Music’. Musical refer - ences in the An die Jugend volumes existed throughout the ages, simultan- eously credited or linked to composers from many different generations. Busoni is the time traveller, unearthing past treasures, revealing hidden mysteries, and Fluid and timeless, teaching their value. By extending the language, he becomes a beginner, adding the Sonatinas also another dimension to the parchment, and passing the torch forward. encompass Busoni’s In 1910, at the time Busoni posts the letter to Gerda, he is touring America. temporal world. Seeds for the Indian Fantasy and Red Indian Diary are planted, the Grosse Fuga is complete and the Fantasia Contra- puntistica will be finished within a few ing. The general assumption connotes would be a journeyman, an explorer and months. He lists tours of England, works of diminutive form; ‘Sonatina’ artist. In his unrelenting push for growth Switzerland and Austria along with his usually describes ‘studies’ for young and discovery, he questions as a way of American tour, where he performs 35 musicians, or small scale Sonatas. With life. Busoni has a personal horror of look- times. In August of that year, he reworks these youthful implications, it is easy to ing back and thrills to imagine himself a sections of An die Jugend to form his first comprehend the humorous, yet meaning - novice. A critic, writing for Musical America Sonatina. ful segue, from An die Jugend to in 1910, understands Busoni’s meaning: The Six Sonatinas are Busoni’s greatest Sonatina. “Certainly this description has not been series of compositions and contain his Busoni does not intend to confuse or selected without real justification, but very personnel and uniquely identifiable alienate amateurs and students with a probably also not without a slightly ironical voice. This title, however, creates con fus- misleading title; selling music is already undercurrent of thought. A ‘Sonatina’

ion and a predilection for misunderstand - challenging. Allegorically, a beginner means a piece for beginners, and in ▼

MUSICAL OPINION QUARTERLY JULY-SEPTEMBER 2015 27 this Sonatina, the comp- His refined chiselling treble, evokes a pulse: build upon your ancestral foundations. oser may have regarded two repeating tones The Allegretto elegante rises from the himself as the beginner or of the larger work follow in diminuendo, final, resonating C major chord of the founder of a new system while the left hand cadence. The right hand is in 4, the left of harmonies.” produces a keeps a gentle, flowing hand is quasi-Valse 3 metre. The right Busoni writes, “The pace with a two-note hand explores the whole-tone scale, the Sonatina is merely a re- sensational slur — the pulse of an left hand stays rooted to defined key working of the Preludietto, artist walking serenely centres, all the while transforming the Fughetta, Esercizio and concert piece. through his world, quietly colour and direction of the right hand. The Epilogo from An die Jugend, observing, commenting fughetta subject remains in the middle organically condensed. Perhaps and taking stock. A harmonic voice, rhythmically and harmonically freed the maturest of my piano pieces.” journey is undertaken. Many of Busoni’s from the outer voices. The Lisztian Throughout the composer’s life, he is interesting scale patterns are planted figurations are marvellously designed. The compelled to revisit and search particular beneath the theme and shimmer below Allegretto elegante is marked leggiero material until finally, its creative potential the surface. The simple melodic material throughout, even when forte, and is depleted. Sonatina is from Books 1 and and supple accompaniment are perfect presents an exhilarating invention of the 4 of An die Jugend and is all thematically foils for a calm but deliberate stroll off the waltz. This style of scherzo-waltz is one of related. Although Busoni never program - well-worn path. Secure ground begins to Busoni’s trademarks. The printed music mes all four Books, he performs Sonatina. shift. There is a restlessness beneath the appears sparse, yet these spectral waltzes His refined chiselling of the larger work heartbeat. After a climax incorporates and are never straightforward. Some examples produces a sensational concert piece. pre-states the fughetta subject, the pulse of his fantastical original waltzes are the Busoni gives the first performance at the sounds alone with pedal, suspending and fleeting Die Nächtlichen (the ghost waltz Musikhochschule, Basle, on 30 Sept - extending the contemplative atmosphere. from the Elegies) and the early op.20, ember, 1910. Dedicated to Rudolf Ganz, In the fughetta Più tranquillo, the sub- op.30a and op.33a. Other undiscovered Sonatina has striking economy of form ject is plainly stated, intimate and un- miniature jewels can be found among the and succinct use of thematic material. sentimental. As Busoni explores familiar short pieces of Busoni’s Klavierübung. Every note is vital. As with many Busoni territory, traditional harmony recedes The Allegretto elegante is homage to compositions, a listener experiences a when small chromatic scales in 4-note Chopin, but the debt to Liszt is un- journey; questions and solutions are groupings enter. Patterns of shifting questionable. Busoni’s waltzes are the worked out from the end backward. With whole-tone and half-tone combinations, children of Liszt’s Forgotten Waltzes as the final move in mind, the grand master extending to broken major and minor well as Mephisto. They are certainly the solves a chess game. Busoni masterfully thirds, crawl under and above the subject. predecessors of Ravel’s La Valse. secretes his methods of thematic trans - The music leaves sure-footed earth bound In the final section, the theme returns formation. Gestures lead in deceptively harmony with dizzying embroidery and briefly, followed by the Epilogo from An effortless fashion towards a transfigurat - certain flight. The fughetta theme remains die Jugend. Here the composer speaks ion. A stunning improvisatory language a cantus firmus, the voice of reason. entirely in his own language. The fughetta rises out of a carefully articulated journey. Foundation combines with flight, and the subject is present, lyrical and intact, even Busoni never subjugates form and lyrical two elements of earth and air are as Busoni opens the gate to his secret beauty; yet, he is not pouring ‘old wine magically blended. The section ends with subterranean world. Colours, pedalling into new bottles’. The Sonatina integrates a sumptuous small cadenza recalling the effects, and harmonies entice the listener a complex harmonic language, derived improvisatory finale of an ornamental into a realm of magic. The alchemist spins from Busoni’s ‘free polyphony’. This is his Baroque cadenza, passages Busoni cher- the whole-tone scale, spilling a trace of style being spun. It is not abstract ish ed. In an autobiographical moment, the liquid silver, trills float disembodied, and expressionism, impressionism, serialism, fughetta subject returns chorale-like, glistening modulations stretch and pull. futurism or post-Wagnerianism. sonorously chiming an unambiguous, With each statement of the theme, he Sonatina is in one-movement form, traditional cadence. shows a different path – wonders await. with five sections. The opening is marked This transitional cadence into the third Throughout, bell-tones echo C major. Semplice, commovente. A fughetta follows, section is Busoni’s prayerful acknowled- Born within this framework, Busoni Più tranquillo, and the third section is gment following intense explorations. He defines his creativity and imagination. In Allegretto elegante. The fourth section, respectfully nods to past Masters, tips his the closing moments of Sonatina, the marked Teneramente, come da principio, hat, and salutes the key of C major. The noble simplicity of a cadence acts as has a brief return and disintegration of the beginners’ key accentuates how far he reminder that past and future are one. opening theme. This leads to a mystical has traveled and serves to remind Busoni posts a letter to his wife from and unearthly section, the complete younger generations that much discovery Dayton, Ohio, on 3 March, 1910. He Epilogo from An die Jugend. remains. His first Elegy, Nach der Wend- encloses his essay, The Realm of Music, Although the initial melodic material is ung, symbolically begins in C and spins a intended as an epilogue to Outline of a marked semplice, the punctilious phrase mystical and spiritual harmonic journey New Aesthetic of Music. The essay is markings and ensuing harmonic improvis - outward. Similarly, the Sonatina returns to undoubtedly a companion piece for Son- ations are not easy. The theme, in the C major, his mantra for other explorers: atina. “Come, follow me into the realm of

28 JULY-SEPTEMBER 2015 MUSICAL OPINION QUARTERLY music. Here is the iron fence which The music is written in a virtuosic style: has already begun to write about his separates the earthly from the eternal… demanding, volatile and liquid rich. The meta physical concept of the ‘omni- Here there is no end to the astonishment, visual score is splendid, the aural is revel- presence of Time’. In Sonatina seconda, and yet from the beginning we feel it is atory, and the markings, Lento occulto, Busoni’s supernatural obsessions find homelike … Unthought-of scales extend flebile and lamentoso, beckon from their truest expressions as an extension of like bands from one world to another… another dimension. his artistic quest for perfection and Now you realise how planets and hearts The first performance has Busoni as fulfillment. The forces of good and evil, are one, that nowhere can there be an soloist at the Verdi Conservatoire in Milan, Mozart’s Magic Flute and the ‘Trial by Fire end or an obstacle; that infinity lives on 12 May, 1913. His programme notes and Water’, better exemplify his marking completely and indivisibly in the spirit of describe the piece as ‘senza tonalità’. The occulto. He is searching for the ideal all beings.” opening is a single line stretching two mythical-mystical protagonist that will be Busoni writes to Gerda, March 1911, octaves, a free-tone row. Schoenberg, the his voice. This quest begins many years “I think with serious joy of the journey Futurist movement, and Busoni’s personal before Sonatina seconda. home and I have the feeling that my most conjuring of his ultimate autobiographical Busoni endlessly deliberates the choice important period is beginning and that it hero, are varying influences. Busoni’s of his protagonist before settling on Dr. is, I suppose, the definitive one. The joy is relationship with Schoenberg, who returns Faust. He is fascinated with puppet plays not less because it is serious; on the to Berlin in the autumn of 1911, is and loves the ambiguity of beings that contrary, it is deeper. It is deep and beaut- recorded in hundreds of letters. For a possess both human and superhuman iful, but it has lost all its youthfulness, like time, they share rule of the Berlin avant- characteristics. Early on, Aladdin is exp- Rembrandt’s later self-portraits.” garde and cautiously admire each other. lored, and he also considers the mythical Sonatina seconda, dedicated to the Their letters tell a captivating story of two magician Merlin as subject for a musical pianist Mark Hambourg, is composed in artistic giants. While attempting to work. When Busoni is a young man, Carl the summer of 1912, and heralds a understand each other, the relationship is Goldmark’s opera Merlin is premiered. period of energetic experimentation. For riddled with apprehension, mutual respect Busoni writes a piano fantasy on themes the 46-year-old composer, this signals the and a general philosophical agreement from the opera and is hired to produce end of a nearly two year compositional notwithstanding. The futurist movement is the vocal score. Busoni often incorporates silence. A period of rigorous concert tours also reaching a broad audience at this a variant on melodic material from Gold- allows him time to complete his opera time. Busoni shows mild interest, but mark’s opera as a motif. This motto Die Brautwahl. He debates a form for the remains wary of any movement pros- becomes a personal musical signature in Indian melodies, reads voraciously, and elytising an absolute manifesto. He writes, many of his compositions. The Magicians- anticipates his future path after the “Unfortunately I can see that these people Alchemists Leonhard and Manasse duel dynamic explorations of 1909 and 1910. are already becoming old-fashioned.” as opposing forces of good and evil in The first Sonatina is lyrical and trans- Sonatina seconda is published at a Busoni’s musical comedy opera, Die parent, sensual in its flowing lines. By time when séances are in fashion and Brautwahl. Leonardo and Dante are deb- com p arison, Sonatina seconda is a pow- occultism is a popular topic. Busoni is an ated in a search for a truly Italian opera. erful, kinetic work. The contrast of light to extremely charismatic, larger-than-life virt- Mephistopheles, the Wandering Jew, Don dark is also useful here. Sonatina seconda u oso, surrounded by an aura of mystery. Juan, and Don Giovanni appear, as he is a tour de force, decidedly experimental As with Paganini and Liszt, he attracts tries to grasp the essence of these beings. for its time. This composition contains fantastical tales. He is, in most ways, a His library holds beautiful rare books and much of what is new and rarely tried, in a practical man, although his artistic and prints depicting the superhuman myth- compelling form. Generations remain spiritual temperament leaves him sensit - ological beings. Who best embodies the captivated by its spell, and the piece is a ive to nightmares and emotionally sugg - opposing forces of good and evil, and is treasured masterwork for instrumentalists estive. The walking dead and gypsy-robed consumed with the struggle for their soul? and composers. Known commonly as ‘the conjurers are not the characters Busoni Who personifies the crusade for truth, occult’, the word appears for the first time gravitates towards. His creativity, and wisdom, while in in a Busoni score, the composer later letters, diaries and essays danger of dissolution, admits the piano piece is a Dr Faust study. are a truer measure of falsification and failure? These Sonatina seconda enters the senses as the man than the Generations remain are the supernatural forces tableau in contemplation of worlds myths built around that enter the arena with beyond our own. him. A list of his captivated by its Sonatina seconda. Ten years The printed page forcefully announces favorite authors will after publication, Busoni daring changes within the composer. include, Edgar Allen spell, and the piece acknowledges that this is his There is no key signature or time signat - Poe, H. G. Wells, E.T.A. first published study for Dr. ure. A postscript at the bottom of the first Hoffmann, Cervantes, is a treasured Faust. In 1912, with years of page instructs the interpreter that accid - and De Quincey. He masterwork for searching behind him, Son- entals apply only once, natural signs believes, under special atina seconda is conjuring (cancellations of sharps and flats) never circumstances, instrumentalists and the soul of his hero, and occur. Bar lines are used rarely and serve telepathy and clairvoy - serves as an incantation for

to mark the ends of phrases or sections. ance might occur, and composers. the process to begin. ▼

MUSICAL OPINION QUARTERLY JULY-SEPTEMBER 2015 29 By 1912, this His father sits beside him and scrutinises every finger and note for hours; the only powerful artist break is an explosive temper, which Bus- oni describes as, “violent in the extreme. dominates the A box on the ears would be followed by copious tears, accompanied by reproaches, Berlin avant-garde threats and terrifying prophesies.” Anton Rubenstein’s testimonial for Ferruccio is a and his circle of blunt letter of advice to Ferdinando, students written in 1878 while the family was in Vienna: “The young Ferruccio Busoni has surrounds him. a very remarkable talent both for perf orm- ance and for composition. In my opinion he ought to work seriously at music and not be forced to play in public to earn a living.” Busoni’s unfinished autobiography of 1909 relates how debt follows them everywhere: “The state of the exchequer was then, and always was, the weak point of my father’s administration… All through my childhood and all through my youth I had to suffer… and as far as my father was concerned it never ended.” As to Ferdinando’s insistence that the boy study Busoni’s music is not programmatic, Klagenfurt! It brings back all my child- Bach in great detail, Busoni recalls that at however, his writing is atmospherically hood!” Busoni explains, “I was there with the time of his youth in Italy, Bach is rated suggestive and produces unforgettable my parents; I was twelve years old; I was little higher than Carl Czerny: “How did feeling states. Sonatina seconda must be a wonder-child, and everything turned on such a man in his ambition for his son’s considered separate from Dr Faust. Only me. We were in a hotel there and had to career come to hit on the very thing that hindsight reveals that musical material for stay for three months, because we had no was right?” the opera is developed here. That being money and could not pay the bill.” In Vorspiel I of Dr Faust, the students said, the autobiographical references, Busoni is haunted by memories of an from Krakow enter Faust’s study, wel - attached to certain musical passages that unhappy childhood. The sensitive and comed with warmth and generosity. This make their way into the opera, are haunt- gifted prodigy long understood his fiduc- is a common posture for the recognisable ing. It is a vision of both past and future. iary responsibility to his parents. Busoni’s figure of Busoni. Ernst Krenek recalls, Some material explored in the Sonatina father is an abusive pedant with a furious “Music ians were in a minority and painters, seconda is later used in the opera as the temper and cruel demands. The child is writers, poets, architects, scientists, and a ‘Students’ Theme’. In the opera, the exploited as a Tom Thumb of the piano, large number of miscellaneous intellect - students from Krakow enter Faust’s study, and exhaustive concert tours negated any uals were all attracted by the fireworks of accompanied by the ‘Students’ Theme’. serious course of education. Ferdinando his fascinating soliloquy which would go Faust speaks, “Ah Krakow, memories of Busoni incurs egregious debt and makes on for an hour or more, before he retired my youth!” Edward J. Dent, Busoni’s enemies wherever he goes, precipitating ceremoniously … to attend to his creative biographer (published 1933), relates an many disappointments in the young work proper.” From his book, Music incident in 1912 that mirrors these words. artist’s life. History and Ideas, 1932, Hugo Leichten- Busoni is at Hamburg for rehearsals of his As a child, he longs for a future, free of tritt writes, “In Berlin, Ferruccio Busoni was opera Die Brautwahl. According to Dent, his parents. From his first professional for twenty years the advocate of all ideas Busoni and some friends are dining in a concerts, at the age of seven-and-a-half, that aimed seriously at creating something restaurant following a rehearsal. Busoni is until the death of both parents 35 years vitally new. As an incomparable master of sitting with his head in his hands, lost in later, he is their sole means of support. the piano, as a composer, conductor, meditation. One guest begins speaking His mother, Anna Wiess, is an exceptional teacher, essayist, and philosopher of art, about Klagenfurt and Busoni looks up as pianist, and his father, Ferdinando, is a Busoni was an outstanding personality of if stricken. Trance-like, he shocks his traveling clarinet virtuoso of natural, but the highest artistic and intellectual type … companions, exclaiming, “Klagenfurt! unrefined gifts. Anna Busoni is in charge Almost every night there was a gathering Klagenfurt! Who spoke of Klagenfurt?” of her son’s education until Ferdinando of young artists from many countries at Everyone falls silent and later they report Busoni, after lengthy absences, gives up his hospitable residence … there were that Busoni painfully enunciated the word work when he sees that the boy has heated controversies on the artistic several times and said — “The ford of enough talent to support them all. He problems of the day in which everyone wailing.” When asked if he ever played knows little about the piano, and Busoni spoke freely and which were given great there, he replies, “Did I ever play there? describes him as being erratic in rhythm. distinction by Busoni’s own esprit and wit,

30 JULY-SEPTEMBER 2015 MUSICAL OPINION QUARTERLY superior understanding, mature judge- The texture becomes ruthless. Falling enters the water world of a long descend - ment, and illuminating criticism.” sevenths recall a motif from Goldmark’s ing chromatic line. Marked flebile, this By 1912, this powerful artist dominates opera Merlin, announcing the arrival of the haunted wail is texturally and rhythmically the Berlin avant-garde and his circle of magician. A fire spout funnels upward to reminiscent of a Neapolitan song. It is students surrounds him. He is a towering a full statement of the ‘Students’ Theme’. actually an extension of the original mel- virtuoso, welcomed onto stages as a living The spell is cast. Marked Opaco, thick od ic material. The canonic texture liquefies, legend. Guests and students fill his home. ominous chords enter as severe contrast returning seamlessly into a recapitulation In this Dr. Faust scene, Busoni is both to texture and color. The Merlin motif of the opening harmony. Here, the parl - grand seigneur and young student. He is echoes in the falling sevenths of the ando theme is marked Sostenuto quasi the present and the past, the disillusioned ‘Students’ Theme’. The theme repeats, Violoncello and calando. The accompani- and optimistic youth, the dissolute and marked triste, accompanied by lamenting ment figure bleeds into waves of A flat fulfilled adult. murmurs. The two-note ‘incantation’ motif minor and F major. These keys recall the Sonatina seconda’s popularity rests on is always present. Conjuring a ghost from composer’s Berceuse. The A flat minor free-fantasy bravura, overtly emotional another past, a Neapolitan-like song enters, and F major chords are repeated again writing, and Busoni’s intoxicating lyricism. marked pallido, a chilling, subconscious and again, an insistent echo, until the There are confounding harmonic explor- quote from Busoni’s Elegy, ‘All’ Italia!’ In material begins to break off. Long lines ations, contrapuntal writing, and economy modo napolitano. The harmonic under- shift to short fragments. The spell weakens. of material. Small cells are hidden within pinning is slightly broken and stuttering, The contrasting Calmissimo follows, Busoni’s long Italianate cantilena style. The assisting the vocal line. This undulating and has the Mozart Masonic chords laced canons are complex, in reverence to Bach, harmony, drawn from the opening of the bell-like in canon, in Mozart’s original E flat and the sparse perfect form confides a piece, is an uneasy terra firma. The texture key center. The theme is in the middle; devotion to Mozart, all characteristics of transforms as aural deja vu, a faded chords float throughout the 3-stave pass- Busoni’s mature style. From Lisztian background of a half-remembered song, age. The atmosphere is transcendental. bravado, to the disquieting beginnings of from a world long past. Dent relates that Die Zauberflöte was one Dr Faust, the dreamscape stream-of- A cadenza pours into the Con fuoco, of Busoni’s most treasured scores. Writing conscious style of the Elegies implodes in energicissimo, where the ‘Students’ about the Overture of the opera, the full concentrated perfection. No other Theme’ and the Merlin fragment entwine historian Alfred Einstein states: “[Mozart] Busoni piano work will sound so adven - in Mephistophelean fury. The texture compressed the struggle and victory of turous. recalls Liszt’s Dante Sonata, with metric mankind, using the symbolic means of Robert Freund, the composer and opposition of duple and triple rhythms. polyphony: working out, laborious working pianist, writes to Busoni: “The Sonatina The music is driven with frenzied, erratic out in the development section; struggle took me captive at once. The very unusual pacing, to a crashing silence. Lento occulto and triumph.” Busoni’s inclusions of the harmony just suits the fantastic, mystic heads a chord passage cloaked in low Masonic elements symbolise his appeal character of the piece, and gives the imp- bass tones, derived from the opening two- to the higher ideals of humanity, and ression of a natural, spontaneous intuitive- note motif of the ‘incantation’ tone row. subtly foretell the eventual triumph of ness. I ask myself why it is I cannot get in These chords pivot to and from E flat Faust over the devil. touch with Schoenberg whilst even the major. Busoni’s sketches for this passage The canon returns truncated and in- most daring things you do seem quite are marked ‘3-mal. Akkord’. This is the verted, falling into the descending chrom- natural to me.” description Mozart uses for his Masonic atic line. Reverberations of the lowest The incantation begins: Il tutto vivace, music in Die Zauberflöte, and Mozart’s strings prompt the descent. The treble fantastico, con energia, capriccio e senti - opera begins and ends in the key of E flat climbs slightly upward, exhausted, to a full mento. Sostenuto, a mezza voce major, the Masonic key. There follows a solemn restatement of the ‘Students’ parlando. Under this sign post and low in three-voice canon of remarkable harm- Theme’, un poco marziale. As the tableau the bass, glowing coals and a smoldering onic effect, formed from the top three disintegrates, the theme marches into of elements rise in a single melodic notes of the undulating broken-chord shadow, fading behind the curtain. The strand, leaving a trail of molten gold across accompaniment. Mirror image inversions revenants return to their world. The Past two octaves: The alchemist speaks. The twist through strettos and severely stress or the Future. The last instruction of the pianist’s hands weave underneath and on the contrast between lyricism and diss- piano piece is estinto, extinguished. The top of each other, crossing from treble onance. The music is calm, yet the overall falling sevenths, reminiscent of the Merlin and bass on three staves, mixing ethers, effect is unnerving. A canon follows with fragment, are now a personal motif for tossing and blending elements of fire, air a regular dotted-rhythm pattern, and this Busoni, a musical nom de plume. The and water. A two-note motif is drawn from quasi-ostinato is momentarily grounding, sevenths fall to C and the C repeats twice, the opening incantation. The mysterious even though the complex inclusion of hushed and extinguished. The candlewick undulating broken-chord accompaniment theme, mirror image, and melodic ext ens- sizzles, and all is black. Busoni ends on C, is now more pronounced, and serves as ions are never harmonically at rest. The a muffled heartbeat, a profound pulse. ■ a primary source for melodic material. outer voices cross through the middle Nervously, the flames begin to erupt. dotted-rhythm voice with exquisite serp- A fragment of the ‘Students’ Theme’ app- entine style. ears in a scornful unison octave passage. In striking contrast, the next section Concluded in the next issue

MUSICAL OPINION QUARTERLY JULY-SEPTEMBER 2015 31 Ferruccio Busoni – The Six Sonatinas: An Artist’s Journey 1909-1920 – his language and his world

Jeni Slotchiver

This is the concluding second Part of the author’s in-depth appreciation of these greatly significant piano works. Part I was published in our issue No 1504 July- September 2015.

t summer’s end, 1914, Busoni asks for artists in exile from Europe. Audiences are A a year’s leave of absence from his in thin supply. He writes to Edith Andreae, position as director of the Liceo Musicale June 1915, “I didn’t dare set to work on in Bologna. He signs a contract for his the opera… for fear that a false start American tour and remains in Berlin over would destroy my last moral foothold.” Christmas, playing a Bach concert to Busoni begins an orchestral comp- benefit charities. This is the first all-Bach osition as a warm-up for Arlecchino, the piano recital for the Berlin public, and Rondò Arlecchinesco. He sets down ideas, Dent writes that it is received with hoping they might be a useful study, if all “discourteous ingratitude.” Busoni outlines else fails, and writes, “If the humour in the his plan for Dr. Faust, recording in his Rondò manifests itself at all, it will have a diary, “Everything came together like a heartrending effect.” With bold harmonic vision.” By Christmastime, the text is language, Busoni clearly defines this complete. With the outbreak of war in composition as his last experimental work. 1914 and an uncertain future, Busoni sails The years give way to compassionate to New York with his family on 5 January, reflection. The war will change him. shoulder. Mature Busoni compositions 1915. He writes to Egon Petri: “When shall In America, Busoni completes Sona - mirror the composer’s ontological state, as we ever meet again? This state of tina ad usum infantis Madeline M.* well as his temporal environment. There uncertainty (Planlosigkeit), after ten years Americanae, pro Clavicimbalo comp- are no dated sketches or surviving of deliberate constructive work, at the osita, Red Indian Diary, the Rondò manuscripts. The piece is published in climax of my vital strength, is the hardest Arlecchinesco, his editions of Bach’s Well- 1916 and performed by Busoni on 6 of all blows to bear!” He is battling Tempered Klavier Book 2, and Goldberg November, 1917, at Tonhalle in Zurich. disillusionment, yet hopes to proceed with Variations. Sonatina ad usum infantis is probably his opera Arlecchino. Modelled on 16th Each Sonatina has a Latin title and completed shortly before the composer’s century puppet plays, the composition is bears a dedication. With Sonatina ad Red Indian Diary, dated 20 June, 1915. an organic link to Dr. Faust. Busoni takes usum infantis Madeline M.* America - Busoni references Sonatina ad usum the two librettos with him. His letters nae, pro Clavicimbalo composita, infantis as, “A sonatina for a child which describe a growing isolation: “When one Busoni obscures the dedicatee, omitting itself has the air of a child.” Considering is no longer master of one’s own freedom her full name. A photograph of Madeline the catastrophic times, it is a rite of of movement, life has no further value.” Manheim, dated 1918, was found among purification, a cleansing of self-doubt and He abhors the provincial limitations of his papers in Berlin. She was a friend of uncertainty. He introduces a composition American audiences, and expresses fear Busoni’s eldest son, Benvenuto. He had with clear and simple melodies, gentle that the war in Europe will cause cultural American citizenship, born during one of harmony and transparent beauty. This destruction. He is consumed by a his father’s extended teaching and concert Sonatina is not for a child, but graciously paralysing anxiety about the future, and tours. Busoni composes Sonatina ad warm, and disarmingly uninhibited. Busoni this precipitates a desperate emotional usum infantis in America and perhaps writes to Edith Andreae in 1916: “My state. Busoni writes, “I shall never over - meets her then. The portrait of Madeline heart… is in a state of adolescence again; come this criminal amputation on my life.” Manheim shows a beautiful young shy and full of longing and lacking practical At a time when the composer’s attention woman with a thoughtful expression. The impact.” is tightly focused on the realisation of a title hints at the Sonatina’s encapsulated The subtitle is pro Clavicimbalo comp- masterwork, Busoni is obliged to proceed innocence, and offers an insider’s view of osita (harpsichord). Busoni plays the with the scheduled tour, and in so doing; the composer’s ability to regenerate his piece on piano and the long silky legatos, he nervously anticipates a creative youthful enthusiasm. Now, he sees the with sustained pedal harmonies, con trad- drought. Compounding these difficulties, world as a wide-eyed child, without the ict a harpsichord touch. The writing style Mephistophelean cynic looking over his points towards the rich warm tone of

New York is deluged with celebrated ▼

MUSICAL OPINION QUARTERLY JANUARY-MARCH 2016 7 the piano, yet the elegant ornamentation (un poco cerimonioso). of four compositions written in Zurich, is reminiscent of a remote past. By using The Molto tranquillo and the Andant - with Dr Faust material. the term ‘harpsichord’ the composer ino melancolico pair as prelude and The Sonatina in diem nativitatis Christi designates a youthful piano, constructing fughetta. The Vivace (alla Marcia) has two MCMXVII is a profound work. The manu- a symbolic recapitulation to an earlier variations with a brief coda. The fourth script, a modest eight pages, has enor- period of time, recalling Gregorian chant, movement restates the Molto tranquillo mously condensed emotional material. and the pure lines of Palestrina. This is theme, ascending towards the lumines - The entire composition maintains a Busoni’s Gothic harmony, and the lang - cent transfiguration of a chorale motif, serene beauty. Fortes are rare, emerging uage of Arlecchino as well as Sonatina in drawn from the first movement. This brief from Busoni’s characteristic long lyrical diem nativitatis Christi MCMXVII. passage serves as unifying bridge to the lines, blended arpeggiated strands, and The third Sonatina’s visionary aspects elegant and enchanting Polonaise. sonorous chorale reverberations. The are significant. After 1900, Busoni begins The third Sonatina is born at a time melody is marked dolce. In a gently to use a pure form of polyphony (‘free when Busoni attempts to toss off his rocking three meter, the bass is slightly off polyphony’). He often combines this brooding spirits and re-enter his creative centre, entering with the melody on the technique with the development of mel - journey with Dr Faust. Despite his opera’s third beat of each measure. Although odic and constructive materials, forming quasi-autobiographical elements, the lyrically dolce, the music is not reassuring. motifs of usually two or three notes. In his composer believes personal hardships An oscillating broken-chord strand rises definitive study of Busoni’s piano music, could poison an objective perspective. from the quasi-berceuse accompaniment the composer-scholar Larry Sitsky traces After nine torturous months in America, and begins to sound quietly subversive, all musical material used in Sonatina ad Busoni returns to Europe and settles in implying an underlying menace. A usum infantis to the opening few bars of Zurich, where he completes Arlecchino, structurally inverted motif from the Pezzo the composition. An exceptionally integ- classifying the composition as a “Marion- serioso of the Piano Concerto smoothly rated work, motifs are treated to rhythmic etten Tragödie.” Dent writes that the punctuates the end of this oscillating variation, augmentation, inversion and composer feels it is his “most individual figure. First impressions of calm stability other techniques used by great masters. and personal work,” and describes it as a give way. Characteristic of a medieval folk Busoni is cognisant and hopeful for the satire on war and human failings. Reality song, a contrasting theme enters in path of new music, when he writes his and illusion fuse. Grim humour combines intervals of fourths, articulated above un treatise on ‘Absolute Melody’, 1913. with fantasy and philosophical paradox, poco vivace triplets. This melody reaches Prophetically, this very style becomes resulting in a labyrinth of meanings and a crescendo with four chiming F major widely popular after the Second World finely interwoven themes. chords, adamant and painful. This stag - War. Busoni describes ‘Absolute Melody’: This is the era of Stravinsky’s Petrushka, nant chord passage, mirroring Busoni’s “A row of repeated ascending and Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire, and the toy death motif, fades to a restatement of the descending intervals, which are organised boxes of Debussy and Fauré. ‘Commedia opening thematic material. The next and move rhythmically. It contains in itself dell’ Arte’ returns to the stage in the 20th passage remembers the veiled world of a latent harmony, reflects a mood of century. Despite the popular tide, Busoni the Elegies. The right hand weaves a feeling.” He further explains that express- has a long attraction to 16th century Lisztian figured accompaniment, falling ion does not depend on a text or puppet plays; he is enthralled with the and rising above lyrical, sotto voce bass accompanying voices and declares, “It marionettes’ contra-human characteristics. octaves. These low melodic lines are must be maintained here that melody has Contrasting the outward gentle beauty prayerful and questioning, while shifting expanded continuously, that it has grown of Sonatina ad usum infantis, the fourth harmonies glaze the transparent atmos- in line and capacity for expression and that Sonatina retreats inward. Busoni dedicates phere. The music seems to be moving in the end it must succeed in becoming Sonatina in diem nativitatis Christi towards a resolution. The singing octaves the most powerful thing in composition.” MCMXVII (1917) to his son Benvenuto. crescendo to the opening theme, Busoni’s discourse on ‘Young Classicism’, The composer gives the premier in Zurich augmented and passionately restrained. contained in a letter to Paul Bekker, 1920, on 24 January, 1920. A critical review The theme eventually subsides, dissolving gives further insights into his crusade for reads: “Ringing of bells and Christmas into the opening lullaby. the future of music. Busoni calls for “The atmosphere seen with the eyes and felt A single line rises out of the lowest definite departure from what is thematic with the heart of an artist shaken by the tones of the broken-chord accompani- and the return to melody again as the griefs of the world.” Busoni is isolated, ment, floating plaintively, a memorial to ruler of all voices and all emotions … and broken hearted from his exile and wearied the Sonatina seconda. This melodic as the bearer of the idea and the begetter by the mounting ravages of war. He is also strand is transformed, as if Busoni views it of harmony, in short, the most highly concerned for Benvenuto, who is called to from a great distance, while always developed (not the most complicated) military service in America. The fourth carrying it with him. The apparition imparts polyphony.” Sonatina, titled and dated ‘Christmas a feeling of rest and security. A chorale There are five numbered and conn - 1917’, is not a Holiday tribute, it is the unfolds as an ancient investigation, still ected movements: 1. Molto tranquillo composer’s plea for peace. Busoni turns and meditative. Low bells toll, accompany 2. Andantino melancolico 3. Vivace (alla away from the world and embarks on an the chorale, and contain a latent rhythm, Marcia) 4. Molto tranquillo 5. Polonaise intense period of creativity. This is the first while sounding timeless. A rustic medieval

8 JANUARY-MARCH 2016 MUSICAL OPINION QUARTERLY dance, harmonically monotonous, enters. The dance dissipates into rhythmically augmented basses, marked ritenendo and suspended by continuous pedals. The chorale returns in a questioning dialogue with muffled bell tones. The closing section combines the theme in 4-part fugue, and disintegrates within a triplet accompaniment. In the final section, marked quasi transfigurato, the theme is resplendent, augmented and stated three times in rapturous bell-like clarity. Treble – tenor –- treble, ending on A with ancient open fifths. Bleakness and apprehension give way to hope and firm foundation. The Sonatina in diem nativitatis Christi, reminiscent of late Liszt, illustrates Busoni’s ability to convey vastly profound feeling states, with very few gestures. The composer is at his peak, with a magnif - icently refined technique and crystallised thought process. He creates music of weightlessness, and communicates emotions of unfathomable density. Sonatina brevis in Signo Joannis Sebastiani Magni (in freier Nachdich- tung von Bach’s Kleiner Fantasie und Fuge d-moll) is found at the end of the seven-volume Bach-Busoni edition, a testament to the singular importance the composition holds for the composer. The Bach editions occupy all of Busoni’s adult life and range from visionary recastings of The Sonatina in diem the great original works, to the imm - easurable wisdom recorded in his edition nativitatis Christi, reminiscent of the Well-Tempered Klavier Book 2. There are two separate collections of of late Liszt, illustrates Busoni’s Bach editions. In 25 Volumes, the Klavierwerke (1894-1923) presents Busoni’s ability to convey Bach’s complete keyboard works. The vastly profound feeling other collection is a six-volume publication from 1916, and holds Busoni’s trans- states, with very few gestures criptions and arrangements. A seventh volume is added to the six-volume set and these are published in 1920. A post - humous eighth (1925) is the second Tempered Klavier. There are, eighteen Fugue in E flat major BWV 552, the edition of Busoni’s Klavierübung. short Preludes and a Fughetta BWV 924- Toccatas and Fugues in D minor BWV The 1916 and 1920 editions differ only 42, a revised version of the Two-part and 565, and C major BWV 564, and ten in the addition of the seventh volume, Three-part Inventions from the 1892 Choral Preludes. The Chaconne for solo which has all new material. The comp - publication, Four Duets BWV 802-5, and violin is also found in this edition. The ositions in Volume 1 and 2, Bearbeit - Prelude, Fugue and Allegro in E flat major transcriptions in Volume 3 date from the ungen, are arrangements. Volume I, BWV 998. Volume 2 has, the Chromatic 1880s through 1909. Lehrstücke, are study pieces, and Volume Fantasia and Fugue, Concerto for piano The works in Volume 4 are Nachdich - 2, Meisterstücke, contains compositions and strings in D minor, and the Goldberg tungen, original compositions based on for concert use. Volume 1 opens with a Variations. Volume 3 holds the virtuoso motifs or themes from Bach. These are, dedication, Widmung. This miniature transcriptions of organ works. These are, Fantasia nach Johann Sebastian Bach combines the tones B.A.C.H. with the C the Prelude and Fugue in D major BWV (Alla Memoria di mio Padre Ferdinando major Fugue from Book I of the Well- 532, the ‘St. Anne’ Prelude and Triple Busoni † il 12 Maggio 1909 †), and ▼

MUSICAL OPINION QUARTERLY JANUARY-MARCH 2016 9 Pianos on ‘Wie wohl ist mir’, and new versions of the puzzle canons from Musical Offering. The final work is Sonatina in Signo Joannis Sebastiani Magni, a Nachdichtung of the little Fantasy and Fugue BWV 905, found earlier in this same volume in its original form. Just as Widmung dedicates the seven volumes, the fifth Sonatina is Busoni’s signature on his completed effort. Throughout his life, Busoni returns to Bach’s works for inspiration and re - discovery, believing the music is both essential and potential. As a child, Bach is his favourite composer, and this is where he learns the art of structure and counterpoint. From earliest youth, Busoni was a natural, intuitive contrapuntist; he would joyfully combine unrelated themes to a victorious solution. By age ten, he had already developed prodigious skill imp- rovising polyphonically. The prophetic original compositions based on Bach themes and fragments, known as Nachdichtungen, stand as monument to a lifetime of study. Nach- dichtungen expose the thinking process and colossal imagination behind many of Busoni’s compositions, and confirm his creative perspective as intuitive, rather than intellectual. These structural master - pieces embody a free, visionary aesthetic, grounded in the composer’s artistic ideals and his philosophical concept of the ‘omnipresence of Time’. For Busoni, the past and future are one, and in the Nachdichtungen, they are inseparable. Busoni looks back for structure and counterpoint. He looks to the future, and frees polyphony from strict control, elevating it, both melodically and con- structively, above harmony. The freed polyphony and the constructive adven - tures produce a new, fluid harmony. The Fantasia, Fugue, Andante and Scherzo, in Busoni’s seventh volume of Preludio, Fuga e Fuga figurata, from An composers: my testament.” the 1920 Bach editions, constitutes a die Jugend. A realization of the Capriccio Volume 7 is compiled in 1920 and has, synthetic grouping of Bach’s compos- on the Departure of a beloved Brother three Toccatas BWV 914-916, and a itions. Busoni feels they are related by BWV 992 bears a dedication to Arthur critical edition of the Fantasie and Fugue thematic material and key structures, and Schnabel. Fantasia, Adagio and Fuga in C in A minor BWV 904, dedicated to Hugo encourages their unity as an effective minor, and Fantasia Contrapuntistica Leichtentritt in appreciation for his 1916 concert piece. In this presentation, Busoni (Versio minore and Versio definitivo) Busoni biography. Here is Busoni’s comments on the Fugue: “The counter- round off this heroic collection. Volume 5, creative grouping of three separate Bach subject appears as a fragment of an originally published in 1894, is the Well- pieces; Fantasia and Fugue BWV 905, obvious canonical leading which has not Tempered Klavier Book 1, while Volume Andante BWV 969, and Scherzo BWV been developed.” He suggests an app- 6 is devoted to the Well-Tempered Klavier 844. There follows, a transcription for cello ropriate realization, and in the Sonatina Book 2. Busoni notes: “Bach’s ‘well- and piano of the Chromatic Fantasia and brevis, the Fantasia and Fugue are tempered’, Part 1 for pianists, Part 2 for Fugue (1917), Improvisation for two eloquently combined with unrestricted

10 JANUARY-MARCH 2016 MUSICAL OPINION QUARTERLY use of his proposed solution. falling sevenths. The Fugue subject freedom. He observes that Parisians do Sonatina brevis in Signo Joannis becomes a cantus firmus, disguised not judge a person according to their Sebastiani Magni, composed in August among 16th-note accompanying figures. dress, personal wealth, or private compan - 1918, is dedicated to Philipp Jarnach. A In the closing section, the falling ionship. Nine solo and orchestral concerts series of musical signatures are combined seventh motif inverts, rising purposefully. are sold out: “I shall never forget it. Not as in a short, ‘brevis’, composition. The score In this form, the motto releases its a virtuoso but as a human being, I sensed consists of five printed pages. The music darkness, and speculates the reversal of this tremendous devotion from a public is rich in material, colour, texture and fortune. As with Sonatina in diem that scarcely knew me, in a spoilt and design, and there is a transparency in the Nativitatis, a coda announces a benev- hardened capital city, as something quite natural improvisatory character of the olent transfiguration. These final bars are phenomenal...the applause continued all piece. One thought flows, and binds into closely tied to Vorspiel II, Dr. Faust (Adagio evening.” On 25 March, He describes the another, a continuous organic improvis- Theme). Expectations of a tranquil ending audience for his compositions’ concert as, ation. The Sonatina brevis is a meditation fail, when a cadence breaks off without “very concentrated then increasingly on the future of 20th century polyphony. resolution. The sevenths fall, and Sonatina enthusiastic...with the finest understanding Marked Andante, espressivo e brevis ends ambiguously, in an unstable and greatest warmth…one of the most Sostenuto, a canonic chain of sustained A major. wonderful evenings of my life…the end falling sevenths opens the Sonatina The final conclusions of peace are of the concert was indescribable, people brevis. A common Bach figure (melody made in the spring of 1919, and Busoni stood up and shouted…the orchestra extracted from a series of diminished is able to travel once more. The Zurich performed miracles.” seventh chords), these sevenths are also years allow the composer an intense While in Paris, Busoni finds many ways one of Busoni’s signatures, his Merlin period of productivity, and although to occupy himself, including composition. motif. The sevenths serve as structural comfortably settled, he cannot plan for the He writes to Phillip Jarnach, 10 March, “As material for the ‘Students’ Theme’, and future. Dent speaks of Busoni’s growing a gesture of thanks to my host I am trying announce the arrival of Megaeros, the fifth isolation and oppressive loneliness. He is to construct a brief Carmen fantasy, an spirit of hell, in Dr. Faust. In Sonatina cut off from his great cosmopolitan world. interesting pastime.” The overwhelming brevis, the sevenths are wrapped around He misses his friends and students, he is response of the Parisians leaves him “very a three-note motif. This three-note motif lost without his beloved library, and he inspired and full of ideas.” With the city at is found in many Busoni compositions, longs for provocative artistic stimulation. his feet, Busoni completes his sixth and it is one of Bach’s signatures as well. Concerned that the majority of life is Sonatina on 22 March, 1920. He writes, These notes are a transposition of the first already behind him, Busoni experiences a “The little Carmen fantasy is finished – It three notes of the second Kyrie from mounting anxiety, his depression deep- is 12 pages long, with five themes and Bach’s B Minor Mass, a work recognised ens. He writes to Isidor Phillip, “For four four short sections.” for its dualistic nature. Another provocative years I have lived in a state of inward The dedication to Kammer-Fantasie characteristic of the Mass, as it relates to hostility towards this remote world, from über Bizet’s Carmen (Sonatina super Sonatina brevis, is the transcription- which I have shut myself off. While judging Carmen) reads En souvenir d’estime et transformation aspect. Albert Schweitzer it to have become uncivilised, I have de reconnaissance, à Monsieur Tauber, lists six sections of the B minor Mass as perhaps become uncivilised myself. On Paris, Mars 1920. Busoni met Leonhard ‘rearrangements’, and describes them as, the other hand I think that my art has Tauber in Klagenfurt. Tauber was owner of “Not mere transfers…it is more correct to become more subtle, and that it an inn and frequently heard the young speak of their being suggested by the expresses all that remains ‘good’ within Busoni play. He becomes a successful original than borrowed from it.” Sch- me.” He begins to think of his future, hotelier, has many musician friends, and weitzer’s observation applies to Busoni’s “Zurich is exhausted, and now that peace owns the luxurious Hotel Foyôt in Paris Nachdichtungen as well. The sevenths is concluded...I see that it is time for me where the Busonis often stay. Their letters and the three-note motif serve as to make an end of its limitations.” He gives are evidence of their close friendship, and structurally unifying elements in various a series of five concerts in Zurich and on the composer’s final visit to Paris, in sections of Sonatina brevis. They makes plans for appearances in 1923, he dedicates his ‘study for symbolically join the musical souls of Bach Paris and London. the Steinway piano with the and Busoni. Busoni writes to Phillip third pedal’ to Tauber. The Fugue subject enters in the second Jarnach from Paris, 10 Sonatina super Carmen is section of the composition, Poco più March, 1920, “After the …On the other hand written while Busoni is mosso, ma tranquillo. Natural extensions sanatorium existence of staying at Tauber’s home, of the subject’s melodic material produce Zurich, Paris has a I think that my art during his series of adventurous harmony, the result of the liberating effect. It is like orchestral and solo recitals. vertical realisation of polyphonic develop- a homecoming for me to has become more Busoni gives the first ment. The falling sevenths return and find life on the grand subtle, and that it performance at Wigmore bridge the third section, Tema dell’ scale again.” He is Hall in London, on 22 Andante. Highly developed counterpoint renewed in this vibrant expresses all that June, 1920. blends all elements: the Fugue subject, city, where he has Busoni plans Carmen the three-note motif of the Andante, the always enjoyed a certain remains ‘good as early as 1917. He ▼

MUSICAL OPINION QUARTERLY JANUARY-MARCH 2016 11 loves Bizet’s French opera more than any significant. The final sust - My heart is bursting, while somber deep contemporaneous Italian opera. In his ained tones of Sonatina bells toll the spectral essay titled, ‘Mozart’s Don Giovanni and brevis melt into silence, I leave my sons fragments of a diss - Liszt’s Don Juan Fantasy’, he proposes: “If easily embracing the ipated dance rhythm. it were a question of the paraphrase of opening pizzicato thirds of behind, I am going Carmen and Busoni Carmen, the transcriber, following Liszt’s Sonatina super Carmen. exemplify Jung’s ‘shad- example, would begin with the suggestive Fate motifs play a major role – at 54 – into the ow’ to the object of scene in the marketplace in Act IV, and in in both compositions, and society. Both are liber - the introduction as contrast to this, would the two Sonatinas also pair for unknown. ated outsiders. Carmen’s join the pathetic Carmen theme built on their interchangeable duality, both uninhibited nature and the gypsy scale. The middle section would internal to themselves, and in relation to unrestrained sensuality have portentous be composed of the Habañera (followed each other. The Sonatina brevis is Bach, implications, making the character a by variations), the finale, the bull-ring encapsulating many of Busoni’s strong symbolic companion to artists and music.” The final version is larger than the Germanic traits, yet it is lyrically flowing, philosophers in their pursuit of an anti- one imagined in his essay. Busoni under- light, and flexible. The Sonatina super pragmatic ideal. stands that the Opera Paraphrase in Liszt’s Carmen, with Liszt as creative source, In 1947 Kaikhosru Sorabji comments hands is more than a presentation of celebrates Busoni’s Mediterranean on Busoni’s Sonatina super Carmen: selected melodies for virtuoso display. The lyricism. At the same time, the sixth “I feel the metapsychic element to be visionary aspects of Liszt’s skills transform Sonatina is dark, with clearly ordered present to a degree and intensity unpar - the Opera Paraph rase. Liszt’s paraphrases sections. Busoni said, “Truly Bach is the all eled in music… The gay and occas- are dramas in condensed settings, they Alpha of pianoforte composition and Liszt ionally rather trivial Bizet tunes become project the emotions of the actual staged the Omega.” indescribably ‘charged’ and even sinister, event, and bring a story to life. Busoni did not intend Carmen for undergoing a sort of dissolution and Busoni often composes lighter ‘anti- virtuoso exhibitionism, although the transformation that is… fascinating and dotes’ to serious works in an effort to writing is extravagantly demanding. haunt ing to the mind of the suitably achieve a creative equilibrium. In 1920, Edward J. Dent emphasises that, Busoni ‘attuned listener,’ so that at the end of the he wrote the orchestral Tanzwalzer would never draw attention to difficult, process one almost says to oneself – such (inspired by Johann Strauss) ‘for fun’, as extraneous passages in order to display is the impression of the ineluctable and an antidote to the powerful Toccata for his colossal technique. He was a master immense power behind the whole piano. Music from both the Toccata and of melody, subjugating surrounding voices business – this is a psychical invasion in the Tanzwalzer contain potent Dr Faust to an endless spectrum of imaginative musical terms.” material and appear in the opera. Although colors. With Sonatina super Carmen, Busoni inspired by other composers’ ideas, The bright opening material, Allegro demonstrates his characteristic ability to Carmen and Tanzwalzer are completely deciso, comes from the chorus of Act IV. rejuvenate his spirits. He shakes off the original in Busoni’s formats: These ‘light’ Staccato octaves and double-thirds flutter horror of war years and the desolation of compositions are shadowed, sometimes in canonic variations. The second section, exile, he momentarily releases himself obliquely, other times intrinsically. The Andantino con amore, is a free from the intense journey with his master music’s sinister whispers escape the arrangement of José’s Flower Song from work, Dr. Faust, and he sets aside his most casual listener. Act II scene 2. The melody is in the tenor pressing concern: For over a year, Busoni Kammer-Fantasie über Bizet’s Carmen voice, while the right and left hands spin is unable to decide where the next (Sonatina super Carmen) opens in A darkly glittering ornamental arpeggios. The chapter of life will take him. He ends his major, inextricably linking itself to Sonatina Carmen theme enters at the end of this letter to Phillip Jarnach, “ ‘Home’? - the brevis. For Busoni, the keys of A and C are section with a subtle, gloomy presence, a word invokes all the problems awaiting fateful premonition. This leads to the third me; and this time I shall ignore them.” section, where the Habanera from Act I is Busoni is inundated with offers, and there treated to a series of variations. Any are many cities he loves. His torturous expectation of a light operatic fantasy ends indecision ends when he accepts an here. The variations, one marked appointment from the Prussian Ministry of fantastico, flicker with malice, and what Education. He will return to Berlin and appears in the opera as a lusty celebration direct a class for advanced composition at of life, here, has the essence of a gleeful the State Academy of Arts and Sciences. dance of death. The material of the fourth He writes to Isidor Phillip from Zurich, section is taken from the Prelude to Act 1. 7 September, 1920, “My heart is bursting, The familiar tune becomes mocking and I leave my sons behind, I am going - at increasingly malignant. The fifth section is 54 – into the unknown.” ■ marked Andante visionario. The fate theme, from the end of the second section, now levitates above the des - cending chromatic scale of the Habanera, © 2015 by Jeni Slotchiver

12 JANUARY-MARCH 2016 MUSICAL OPINION QUARTERLY