Rachel Barton Violin Patrick Sinozich, Piano DDD Absolutely Digital™ CDR 90000 041 INSTRUMENT of the DEVIL 1 Saint-Saëns: Danse Macabre, Op
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Cedille Records CDR 90000 041 Rachel Barton violin Patrick Sinozich, piano DDD Absolutely Digital™ CDR 90000 041 INSTRUMENT OF THE DEVIL 1 Saint-Saëns: Danse Macabre, Op. 40 (7:07) Tartini: Sonata in G minor, “The Devil’s Trill”* (15:57) 2 I. Larghetto Affectuoso (5:16) 3 II. Tempo guisto della Scuola Tartinista (5:12) 4 III. Sogni dellautore: Andante (5:25) 5 Liszt/Milstein: Mephisto Waltz (7:21) 6 Bazzini: Round of the Goblins, Op. 25 (5:05) 7 Berlioz/Barton-Sinozich: Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath from Symphonie Fantastique, Op. 14 (10:51) 8 De Falla/Kochanski: Dance of Terror from El Amor Brujo (2:11) 9 Ernst: Grand Caprice on Schubert’s Der Erlkönig, Op. 26 (4:11) 10 Paganini: The Witches, Op. 8 (10:02) 1 1 Stravinsky: The Devil’s Dance from L’Histoire du Soldat (trio version)** (1:21) 12 Sarasate: Faust Fantasy (13:30) Rachel Barton, violin Patrick Sinozich, piano *David Schrader, harpsichord; John Mark Rozendaal, cello **with John Bruce Yeh, clarinet TT: (78:30) Cedille Records is a trademark of The Chicago Classical Recording Foundation, a not-for-profit foun- dation devoted to promoting the finest musicians and ensembles in the Chicago area. The Chicago Classical Recording Foundation’s activities are supported in part by grants from the WPWR-TV Chan- nel 50 Foundation and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency. Zig and zig and zig, Death in cadence Knocking on a tomb with his heel, Death at midnight plays a dance tune Zig and zig and zig, on his violin. — from a poem by Henry Cazalis, alias Jean Lahor Associations between the violin and death and folk lore, the sound of pipes frequent- or the devil reside deep in the modern ly accompanied Death on his gruesome Western consciousness. Traditional, pop- rounds. During the Middle Ages, string ular, and classical music cultures have instruments enjoyed quite different affili- reinforced this viewpoint many times over. ations. Ecclesiastical artists commonly The identity of the “Devil as fiddler” has selected the soft-toned vielle, rebec, or lira evolved in stages over the past two millen- for symbolic representations of goodness nia or longer as numerous religious beliefs, and the divine. Saintly figures, angels, and folk legends, and literary tales merged to cherubim often held these mellow-sound- produce a central myth. ing instruments in hand. Thus, the ancient Roots of this myth trace back to ancient Apollonian stereotype was retained for Greek religious cults. Instruments were centuries in Western Europe. commonly associated with specific dei- The mid-sixteenth-century emergence of a ties and their ethical attributes. The reed- new family of strings, including the violin, pipe aulos, for instance, belonged to the changed everything. The violin’s popular- decadent cult of Dionysius (Bacchus in ity grew with enormous swiftness, primar- Roman mythology). Aristotle pronounced ily because of its loud tone and secure the aulos “not an instrument that express- tuning. It soon became the preferred es moral character; it is too exciting.” The accompaniment for dances, weddings, and lyre and kithara were connected with other outdoor entertainments. Philibert Apollo, the god of music, healing, archery, Jambe de Fer added in his Epitome Musi- and the sun. Accordingly, string instru- cal (1556) that the violin “is also easier to ments were thought to possess enormous carry, a very necessary thing while lead- restorative powers. ing wedding processions or mummeries This correlation between musical instru- [comic entertainments by masked actors ments and moral states appealed to early or musicians].” Christians. Medieval society invoked music The earliest artistic renderings of the vio- to rationalize the constant intrusions of lin date from the 1570s. In these, peasant warfare, plague, and death. In literature performers accompany group dancing, an activity denounced in the afterglow of ing the nineteenth century, fueled by the the Protestant Reformation and Catho- immensely popular story of the scholar lic Counter-Reformation. Many writers Faust and his calamitous pact with Mephis- blamed the Devil for the very existence of topheles. Many people believed the only dance. The Devil, as the agent of Death explanation for Nicolò Paganini’s unparal- and creator of dance, became inextricably leled violin technique was a Faustian alli- linked to the violin during the Renaissance ance with the Devil. The Italian violinist period. According to musicologist Rita Ste- parlayed this demonic mystique into a phe- blin, the visual and literary arts differed nomenally lucrative concert career. Fur- in their portrayals of this fiendish music- thermore, the superhuman virtuoso image maker. Paintings such as Pieter Brueghel’s — long hair, angular features, sly grin, and “The Triumph of Death” (c.1562) and slender figure — originated with Paganini. Hendrik Goltzius’s “Couple Playing, with Condemnation of the violin as an instru- Death Behind” (17th century) perpetuated ment of the Devil spread during the nine- the skeletal image of Death. Written docu- teenth century to other parts of Europe and ments tended to characterize Death as the North America. Churches in Sweden and Devil himself. Norway outlawed the violin and created a Tales of demonically endowed fiddle play- substitute string instrument, the psalmo- ers first emerged during the seventeenth dikon, to accompany hymn singing. Scan- century. The Englishman Anthony Wood dinavian settlers transported this “bowed described in his diary (July 24, 1658) an zither” to the Upper Midwest region of the awe-inspiring performance by German vio- United States. Calvinist adherents in the lin virtuoso Thomas Baltzar. A respected British Isles denounced the violin because of music professor in attendance “did after his its evil associations with dance. Such preju- humoursome way, stoop downe to Baltzar’s dices also traveled with some Scots-Irish feet to see whether he had a huff [hoof] on, immigrants to the U.S. Numerous British that is to say, to see whether he was a devil folk ballads and fiddle tunes, transplanted or not, because he acted beyond the parts to Appalachia and other parts of the coun- of Man.” The eighteenth-century Italian try, make reference to the Devil. violinist Giuseppe Tartini raised the degree The relationship between the Devil and of diabolical intervention with his claims of string music has resurfaced in recent pop- a dreamy pact with the Devil. ular music. Bluesmen believed that if a gui- Tales of supernatural contracts between tarist reached the crossroads at midnight, musicians and the Devil proliferated dur- he would receive supernatural virtuosic abilities in exchange for his soul. Early ing hour. Saint-Saëns completed his Danse blues-inspired rock artists — among them macabre in 1875 and published the score a the Rolling Stones, Cream, and Led Zep- year later. He also made several arrange- pelin — perpetuated this mystical aspect. ments, including for violin and piano and Heavy metal artists consciously adopted for two pianos. Paganini’s nineteenth-century virtuoso Some orchestral players rebelled against image in their powerful stage presence, the literal representation in Danse macabre styles of hair and clothing, and musical and only reluctantly participated in the pyrotechnics. The electric guitar provides premiere at a February 3, 1875 program a modern high-voltage equivalent to the of the Concert National under Edouard violin. No contemporary song better illus- Colonne. The critic Adolphe Julien com- trates the persistence of the “Devil as fid- plained that the piece “has everything but dler” than the 1979 country-rock hit “The a musical idea, good or bad.” He contin- Devil Went Down to Georgia” by the Char- ued by describing it as either “an aberra- lie Daniels Band. The Devil encounters a tion or a hoax.” Audiences, on the other young man “who plays the fiddle hot” and hand, took enormous glee in the fiendish challenges him to a musical duel, the out- orchestral score. The bells toll midnight come of which is unexpected: After centu- on All Hallow’s Eve. Death, playing an ries of bargaining, humankind has finally oddly mistuned violin, summons skeletons produced a musician whose natural skills (depicted in the orchestral version by the surpass the Devil’s. rattling “bones” of a xylophone) from their graves to dance a macabre waltz — an Four symphonic poems lie buried with- ominous parody of the Dies irae chant in the enormous orchestral catalogue of from the Mass for the Dead. These spec- French composer, organist, and pianist tral figures dance until the rooster crows Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921). The dawn, then they return to their tombs until first, second, and fourth drew their inspi- the next year. ration from the mythological accounts Giuseppe Tartini (1692-1770) was born in of Omphale, Phaeton, and Hercules. The Pirano, Istria (then part of the republic of third, however, corresponded to a contem- Venice, now located in Slovenia). His fam- porary poem by Henri Cazalis (alias Jean ily encouraged him to enter the priesthood, Lahor). These verses, quoted above, tell of but Tartini opted for a career in law and a frenzied demonic dance that takes place an avocation as a fencer. His marriage in after the stroke of midnight — the witch- 1710 resulted in further conflict with church authorities, and he fled to a monastery at that he would be able to remember Assisi where he resolved to become a pro- at least part of what he heard, but fessional violinist. Tartini spent the majority in vain. The piece that Tartini com- of his career as principal violinist and lead- posed then is indeed the best of all er of the orchestra at St. Anthony’s Basilica that he has ever done, and he calls it in Padua, except for short periods in Venice The Devil’s Sonata. But the former one and Prague.