Saturday, May 26, 2018 • 4:00 p.m. ​

Matthew Hannau

Graduate Recital

DePaul Recital Hall 804 West Belden Avenue • Chicago

Saturday, May 26, 2018 • 4:00 p.m. ​ DePaul Recital Hall

Matthew Hannau, violin Graduate Recital Beilin Han, piano

PROGRAM

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) Sonata No. 2 in A Major, Op. 100 (1886) Allegro amabile Andante tranquillo Allegretto grazioso

Beilin Han, piano

Eugène Ysaÿe (1858-1931) Sonata for Violin Solo in G Major (“Pastorale”), Op. 27/5 (1923) ​ ​ L’Aurore Danse rustique

Efrem Zimbalist (1889-1985) Concert Phantasy on Rimsky Korsakov’s Le Coq d’or (1921) ​ ​

Beilin Han, piano

Matthew Hannau is from the studio of Ilya Kaler. This recital is presented in partial fulfillment of the degree Master of Music.

As a courtesy to those around you, please silence all cell phones and other electronic devices. Flash photography is not permitted. Thank you.

Matthew Hannau • May 26, 2018

PROGRAM NOTES

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) Sonata No. 2 in A Major, Op. 100 (1886) Duration: 21 minutes Johannes Brahms was born on May 7, 1833 in Hamburg, Germany. His mother was a seamstress and his father was a musician in the local theater . Brahms’s first musical influence came from his father, who played the horn and contrabass. He was a solitary child who kept his feelings to himself, preferring to play the piano or with his toy soldiers. Brahms remained reserved throughout his adulthood, often times feeling lonely and misunderstood. He was a kind man, but having different moods, he could sometimes be rude. Although described as an egoist by his close friend, violinist Joseph Joachim, Brahms did not care much for fame. He was a traveler and loved the outdoors. Travel guides were found in his library, especially those of Italy and Switzerland.

The violin sonata in A major, Op. 100 was written in the summer of 1886. Brahms rented a villa in Lake Thun, located in the Bernese Oberland in Switzerland. There, he completed two other works, the Cello Sonata No. 2, Op. 99, and the Piano Trio no. 3 in C minor, Op. 101. While writing Op. 100, Brahms had a particular person in mind, Hermine Spies. He was waiting for her visit that summer. Hermine Spies was a young, contralto singer who Brahms was very fond of. She premiered many of his songs, and her interpretations at the time were the closest to his intentions. One could hear how she influenced the sonata through its lyrical and songlike melodies. In the first movement, the piano and violin converse with each other. It is possible that the piano could represent Brahms’s voice and his feelings towards Hermine, while the violin represents Hermine’s. To further demonstrate this work’s lyrical qualities, Brahms used melodies from his Lieders, Opus 97 and 105. “Komm Bald” from Op. 97 is similar to the first ​ ​ theme of the first movement in Op. 100 and the opening melody of “Wie Melodien zieht es mir” from Op. 105 strongly resembles the second theme of the first movement. The second movement has two contrasting themes, a slow and a fast one. The Andante starts in F major and is very sensitive

Matthew Hannau • May 26, 2018 Program Notes

and lyrical. The Vivace is in 3/4 time and consists of two melodies. It is folk-like and the rhythm is dance-like, mostly being short-long.

Eugène Ysaÿe (1858-1931) Sonata for Violin Solo in G Major (“Pastorale”), Op. 27/5 ​ ​ (1923) Duration: 13 minutes Eugène Ysaÿe was one of the bridges between the 19th and 20th centuries in terms of violin technique. He was a master interpreter of music for violin written before his time and by his contemporaries. In his own compositions, Ysaÿe began expanding violin technique by experimenting with new techniques, exploring every aspect of the violin including register, texture, timbre, and other sound effects. Abandoning the old style of Wieniawski and Sarasate, he combined rigorous technique and forceful sound with creative freedom as an interpreter. The Six Sonatas for Solo Violin, Op. 27 and Sonata for Violoncello Solo, Op. 28, written after his return from the United States, bear witness to Ysaÿe’s art.

Ysaÿe was inspired to write Six Sonatas for Solo Violin, Op. 27 in 1923 after hearing violinist Joseph Szigeti playing a concert of music by Bach. For these sonatas, Ysaÿe had two purposes in mind. First, he wished to complete a cycle of six works for unaccompanied violin in the manner of Bach’s music for solo violin. Secondly, he wanted to tailor each sonata to a different virtuoso, capturing something of each performer’s style in the piece for whom it was written. The dedicatees included extremely distinguished names: Szigeti, Kreisler, Enesco, Thibaud, Manuel Quiroga, and Matthew Crickboom, to which Sonata No. 5 was dedicated.

Ysaÿe marks the first section of this work Mesure trés libre (“very freely ​ ​ measured”). As L’Aurore literally means “daybreak” or “sunrise,” the performer can take time to fully express each stage of the process. The

Matthew Hannau • May 26, 2018 Program Notes

naturalistic mood in the first movement of this sonata, and the folk dance melodies in the second movement suggest a tribute to Ysaÿe and Crickboom’s shared Belgian homeland. According to some, the second movement carries some memories from picnics that Ysaÿe spent with his students. Apparently, some of the violin exercises that students practiced under the trees are included in this Sonata.

Efrem Zimbalist (1889-1985) Concert Phantasy on Rimsky Korsakov’s Le Coq d’or (1921) ​ ​ Duration 10 minutes Efrem Zimbalist, along with Jascha Heifetz, Mischa Elman and Nathan Milstein, was one of the distinguished alumni of 's legendary violin classes in Czarist St. Petersburg. From his first American appearance in 1911 - when he played the United States premiere of Alexander Glazunov's ''Concerto in A minor'' with the Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Zimbalist was acclaimed by colleagues, critics and the general public as one of the most respected musical figures of his time.

Transcriptions in the form of a “concert phantasy” form an integral part of the violinistic concert repertoire. A list of several hundred titles would only partly cover the many compositions either directly transcribed or re-adapted from original works. The violin virtuoso Efrem Zimbalist was in the ​ audience when Rimsky-Korsakov's "" premiered in New York in 1918, and was inspired to arrange some of its music as a violin showpiece. It became a standard repertory piece for him and he played it in his final recital at the Curtis Institute in 1964.

Notes by Matthew Hannau.

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