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Home , Arpeggione Sonata, Joseph Haydn

VIRTUAL FESTIVAL #10 - Released August 3, 2020

Franz Josef String in , Op. 76 No. 5 Allegretto Largo. Cantabile e mesto Menuetto. Allegro Finale. Presto

Augustin Hadelich / Benjamin Beilman violin / Jonathan Vinocour / Robert deMaine

Franz Schubert for Cello and in A minor, D. 821 “” Allegro moderato Adagio Allegretto Bion Tsang cello / Anton Nel piano

Antonín Dvořák Trio for Violin, Cello, and Piano in F minor, Op. 65 Allegro ma non troppo Allegretto grazioso Poco adagio Allegro con brio

James Ehnes violin / Ani Aznavoorian cello / Orion Weiss piano

Concert was originally scheduled for July 27, 2020 Franz Josef Haydn energetic coda wherein he develops both the minor (1732–1809) and major versions of the theme. in D Major, Op. 76 No. 5 (1797) The ensuing Largo helps us understand why Schubert, SCMS premiere Schumann, and even Brahms viewed Haydn as an early Romantic . The longest of the work’s Franz Joseph Haydn did not actually invent the four movements, it draws the listener into an intimate string quartet, but he could claim pride of place and pensive world of deep, if subtle, feeling mixed in singlehandedly transforming it from a simple, with a bit of mystery stemming from its explorative outdoorsy entertainment idiom into the dominant wanderings through different keys and, in fact, its chamber format of the past two-plus centuries. unusual choice of F-sharp Major as its home key. Haydn began writing in a simple, lyrical, and distinctly non-contrapuntal style that echoed The following Menuetto is a gracious gesture that contemporary aversion to the complexity of Baroque departs from the internal musings of the previous polyphony. Having been weaned on Baroque movement, though its primary theme is actually a music—remember: Haydn was 27 when Handel restatement of the Largo’s main theme. A highly died in 1759—the rich , or “learned contrapuntal D-minor Trio introduces a bit of angst style” was still in his psyche, and would remain a and serves as a counterpoint to the surrounding guiding compositional force throughout his long serenity. and incredibly productive life. By the late , his quartets increasingly wedded Baroque-derived The Presto concluding movement begins with counterpoint to the newer melodic style of early three short upward cadences (essentially dominant , initially evident in his Op. 9 quartets of chords moving to the tonic, i.e., to an A-major 1768. Over the next several decades more and more chords resolving to a D-major chord) with brief ever-evolving quartets flowed from Haydn’s deep silences between them. This imaginative and comic wellspring. touch is, of course, what we expect from Haydn— one of the great masters of musical humor. A bit In 1796, Count Joseph Erdody, an important patron later, the movement’s principal theme makes its of the Viennese classicists, asked Haydn for a set of somewhat delayed appearance and is treated in an string quartets; the composer responded with the appropriately lively fashion. To maintain the smiling six works that comprise his widely acclaimed Op. 76 countenance Haydn injects the opening cadences to collection. With Mozart dead for half a decade and interrupt the otherwise ongoing flow of the music. He Beethoven still carving a reputation as a composer, playfully ends the movement with a restatement of Haydn was universally acknowledged as the greatest the opening moments. living composer of instrumental music.

Somewhat unusually, Haydn opens the Quartet in D Major, Op. 76, No. 5, not with the expected (1797-1828) sonata-allegro movement, but with a full-blown set Sonata for Cello and Piano in A minor, D. 821 of variations on a delectably lyrical theme. Gently “Arpeggione” (1824) rocking in the manner of the centuries-old Italian Most recent SCMS performance: Summer 2007 dance, the siciliano, Haydn inventively alters and expands the theme, even casting it into the darker The Industrial Revolution of the 19th century brought and anxious tones of . Near the end of the about changes in all areas of human endeavor in movement he presents another variant on the Europe and the United States. Beyond the steam tune, this time back in D Major. Before bringing the engine and its countless applications, inventions both movement to a close, he adds a substantial and wonderful and wacky came—in some cases—and

summer festival // went—in many more situations. The field of music Antonín Dvořák was not immune from advances in technology and (1841–1904) the new paradigm of progress. Among the dramatic Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano in F minor, successes was, of course, the rapid evolution of the Op. 65 (1883) modern grand piano from the clumsy, dynamically Most recent SCMS performance: Winter 2016 limited of Mozart’s time, an instrument whose feeble mechanism drew passionate criticism Dvořák set his name to six piano trios including at from Beethoven. In distinct contrast to the fate least two early attempts that he—figuratively, at of the piano was that accorded the arpeggione, a least—cast into the wood stove. The Op. 21 and sterile hybrid of the and the viola da gamba 26 trios, written respectively in 1875 and 1876 that was taken up by one Vincenz Schuster, who are works of his relative youth, or perhaps we prevailed upon his friend Franz Schubert to compose should say “maturation,” since the process was something for him to perform. Quickly falling into still evolving. The year 1883 saw of oblivion, the arpeggione essentially became a his F-minor , Op. 65, written when the footnote in music history, but it did engender a work composer had truly established his mastery. More by Schubert for that hapless instrument—the Sonata than the earlier published trios as well as the Op. 90 in A minor, D. 821. Despite the shortcomings of the “Dumky” Trio, the F-minor work bears the imposing arpeggione, the delightful duo has proved more presence of Brahms in its solid technique and durable in an alternate version for cello and piano. impressive craftsmanship, but the Bohemian soul of Dvořák’s inner being weaves through the textures in the 1820s was swept up in the contagion nonetheless. The Op. 65 Trio has strong dramatic of Italian opera, which is evident in the vocal and elegiac aspects, no doubt reflecting the death orientation of many of the themes in the Sonata. The of the composer’s mother shortly before he began composer had been encouraged by his erstwhile composing it. teacher —yes, that Antonio Salieri— to compose in the Italian style, and Schubert’s The spirit and sound-world of Brahms, early advocate great unfulfilled wish was to become a successful and lifelong friend of Dvořák, infuses the opening composer of opera. Allegro ma non troppo. The two-part main theme begins quietly in unison strings before the piano Drawing inspiration from the passion for Italian opera, forcefully introduces the powerful second part. The the opening Allegro moderato can be described music is filled with ardor, galvanized by a surging quality. as an extended for the viola-as-singer, deftly Eventually, the cello presents the entire expressive accompanied by the piano’s harmonic underpinning and flowing theme, accompanied by the piano. The and jesting asides. relatively brief development section begins with the reappearance of the first part of the main theme on The second movement, marked Adagio, achieves a cello followed by the violin. Shortly thereafter, the fine balance between dark emotion and Viennese second element moves canonically in the strings and Gemütlichkeit. Schubert had, by 1824 (the year of then emerges in a broad and spacious version on the composition for the Arpeggione sonata), already cello. In contrast, ominous passages on the piano come close to death from syphilis and its toxic interrupt the recapitulation, offset by questioning mercury treatment, and the potentially fatal phrases in the strings. Both parts of the theme unite encounter resonates in the occasional shards of pain and lead to a powerful coda. heard in this movement. Marked Allegretto grazioso, the second movement After a -like introduction, the concluding quickly establishes Dvořák’s “voice” and functions as rondo marked Allegretto abounds in virtuosic a melancholic featuring a folk-like tune that gestures and high spirits. suggests a sad Slavonic dance. The piano states the

August 3, 2020 // program notes theme against a persistent staccato in the strings. Dvořák—creates a scherzo-like atmosphere, but on a The meno mosso Trio provides an appropriately grand scale. Yet structurally it is a strictly worked-out contrasting mood, essentially sung by the strings in a sonata-rondo form that again recalls Brahms. Dvořák smooth, relaxed style. Here, too, his model is Brahms. dismantles the theme, using its composite fragments as a bonding agent to unify the entire movement. The cello opens the ensuing Poco adagio supported A second waltz-like subject is introduced before by sparse chords from the piano. The violin and cello the main theme returns and leads directly into the restate the initial sad, sighing theme. Soon, however, development. The music builds to an imposing climax the violin introduces a tender, lyrical tune that briefly followed by a well-calculated pause; again the music lightens the overall mood. As the movement unfolds, surges up tsunami-like from a pianissimo to another the music becomes increasingly agitated during a hortatory blast that ends on a second silence. Then, lengthy crescendo leading to a powerful climax. At as the tension accumulates in a statement of the length, the opening tune from the first movement opening furiant, the composer deftly moves to F reappears. In a coda Dvořák juxtaposes other Major and brings back the main theme from the first previously heard tunes as well. movement. But he is not finished: the waltz returns briefly before reprising the opening furiant; it is a The dramatic finale employs a furiant as its main final spirited dash resolutely in the major. subject. This Bohemian dance—often used by

Program Notes by Steven Lowe

summer festival //