Theatre Tanglewood

SEVEN CONCERTS OF CHAMBER MUSIC

Tuesday Evening at 8:00

July 12

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BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ERICH LEINSDORF Music Director

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BERKSHIRE FESTIVAL 1966

BALDWIN PIANO RCA VICTOR RECORDS STRING QUARTET NO. 22, IN B FLAT, K. 589 By (1756-1791) The second of the quartets for the King of Prussia is even simpler than the first in its opening. The theme, the bass in repeated eighth notes, the light, descending short notes, all hark back to the very early days. Mozart never quite abandoned the musical tricks of his childhood. He ultimately used them more sparingly and more subtly. The cello, not forgotten, in- troduces the theme in the dominant, opens the Larghetto, and is most prominent in that movement. If the Larghetto does not reach the incan- descence of certain slow movements in the "Haydn" Quartets, it is superbly wrought, nevertheless. The Minuet, an elaboration of gallantry, is con- spicuous by its long and striking Trio, with a curious staccato accompani- ment. The Allegro assai is built on an elementary theme in six-eight, a theme entertainingly handled, decorated with rapid scales, taken through surprising keys, broken and juggled.

FIVE MOVEMENTS FOR STRING QUARTET, Op. 5 By Anton von Webern (1883-1945) The Five Movements for String Quartet, Op. 5, were written in 1909 and later transcribed for string orchestra in 1930. They are very brief, and actually a study in the art of variation. Repetition of material is very occasional. In the opening movement, the theme is exposed by the first violin, then taken up by the second violin, which transforms it rhythmically by shifting the accents, while the first violin plays a counterpoint derived from the theme. The second theme is played by the cello in its low register, with an accompaniment furnished by a tremolo in the viola. In the course of the development the theme is given to the viola in the middle of the quartet. The major thirds previously used in the accompaniment are now trans- formed into broken minor sixths, "cello pizzicato." A little later the second violin, also pizzicato, is added to the accompaniment pattern. A new ele- ment is the pedal-point on E in the first violin. The four other movements of Opus 5 clearly indicate the same inten- tion to avoid every literal repetition. Furthermore, the second and fourth movements display that tendency to extreme brevity which became one of the essential characteristics of the art of Webern.

STRING QUARTET NO. 12 IN E FLAT MAJOR, Op. 127 By (1770-1827) (Completed in 1824; probably first performed in March, 1825, in Vienna; published in March, 1826, dedicated to Prince Nicolaus von Galitzin).

The Quartet in E flat is a worthy portal of the incredible last five, which can be considered as on a technical level, having been composed almost without interruption through the last three years of Beethoven's life. Fourteen years had elapsed since the Quartet in F minor of 1810. It would be effrontery to attempt to convey by ambitious adjectives the inward nature of this Quartet. It moves for the most part lightly and delicately, aware of the medium which is unequaled in its possibilities for delicate detail. The first movement, Scherzo, and Finale in turn maintain a reiterative rhythm (only momentarily relieved), which serves to accentuate the abundant resource of development. The first movement opens with a six-bar introduction of broad chords, maestoso, in duple rhythm, which, SECOND CONCERT OF THE CHAMBER MUSIC SERIES

The Guarneri Quartet

ARNOLD STEINHARDT, Violin , Viola JOHN DALLEY, Violin , Cello

PROGRAM

MOZART String Quartet No. 22, in B flat, K. 589

I. Allegro

II. Larghetto

III. Menuetto; Trio

IV. Allegro assai

WEBERN Five Movements for String Quartet, Op. 5

I. Heftig beweget; etwas ruhriger

II. Sehr langsam

III. Sehr bewegt IV. Sehr langsam V. In zarter Bewegung

INTERMISSION

BEETHOVEN String Quartet No. 12, in E-flat major, Op. 127

I. Maestoso: Allegro

II. Adagio, ma non troppo e molto cantabile

III. Scherzando vivace IV. Finale: Allegro recurring at the beginning and near the end of the development, afford contrast and has the function, well-remembered from the composer's past, of boldly bringing in a new key. This is a movement of even unfoldment, in which what ought to be called the exposition, manipulating the main theme even in its setting forth, working in episodes by imitation, but never disclosing a second theme in a contrasted key, merges with the develop- ment proper. The much-worked theme remains subtly productive, and in the coda furnishes a mere three notes for a stroke of magic. There follows what is to be the last of the long slow movements, save for the "Song of Thanksgiving" in the A minor Quartet. Comparisons are of course quite futile, but it is possible, while under the mystic spell of this slow movement, to tell oneself that there can be no other. The theme bears a 12/8 signature, is in a regular rhythm, which the lower voices maintain in an "accompani- ment" which, to use classroom parlance, is both vertical and horizontal. The first of the five variations brings motion and fresh expressiveness in the independent treatment of the four voices. Never had polyphony been bent to greater eloquence. An andante con moto follows, the melody, now single, acquiring a new beauty in thirty-second notes, over (and later under) light pizzicato chords. The effect is a propulsive animation within gravity; a paradox only music could achieve—and in music, only Beethoven! The third variation is again a many-voiced Adagio (in E major) upon a trans- formation of the theme, the fourth, by contrast once more, an (almost) monodic form, over rising staccato triplets. There are a few bars developing four notes of this most plastic of themes before the final variation, wherein the first violin wanders high in sixteenth notes, touching altitudes sacred to Beethoven. A reminiscence of the staccato triplets brings the end. The Scherzo is likewise one of Beethoven's longest in that form. A few broken bits of themes—a four-note figure, an inversion of it, and the figure with a trill which accompanies it—these suffice as building materials for the lightest and airiest, the most scintillating of structures. The little galloping rhythm is incessant, sometimes gathering to pounding strength, twice pausing for the interpolation of a 2/4 phrase. The Trio, a surface- skimming presto, gives the variation of an even, triple beat. The rhythm of the Scherzo is the motto of the quartet. It is found in the introductory maestoso of the first movement; it is the rhythmic basis of the adagio theme of the second. It is necessarily absent from the Finale (after the insistence of the Scherzo any further use of it would have been impossible). The Finale (the tempo unspecified, but customarily played rapidly) is in com- mon time. At last the composer puts his theme into a 6/8 rhythm, presto, for a zephyr-like close.

CONCERTS TO FOLLOW: July 19 Roman Totenberg, Violin July 26 Boston Symphony Chamber Players Claude Frank, Piano August 2 Phyllis Curtin, Soprano August 9 Lenox Quartet August 16 Composers' Quartet (Part of a Festival of Contemporary American Music, in cooperation with the Fromm Music Foundation).

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