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Programme note Duo Sonata No.1 in E minor by Widerkehr, Jacques Widerkehr (also Wiederkehr or Vider-kehr), Jacques (-Christian-Michel), Isatian composer and cellist. He was born in Strasbourg in April 18,1759. He studied with E.X. Richard and Dumonchau in Strasbourg, then in about 1783 he settled down in Paris, where he was actively as a cellist. He began his musical career as a freelance cellist in Paris and focusing on his compositional skills in the following decade.1 Widerkehr’s most noteworthy contribution was his fifteen symphonie concertantes, six of which are extant. These works celebrated an even greater popularity on French concert programs in the late eighteenth century than the symphony. 2 Widerkehr’s Duo Sonata No.1 were composed around 1794, the first published edition appears in 1817 by Erard. Sadly, Widerkehr’s activities after 1817 are not documented, but his death is recorded in 1824 at the age of 65. In Charles-David Lehrer’s article “The Repertory of the Oboe Soloist in the 19th Century: The Hidden Structure”3 from the Double Reed includes Widerkehr’s E minor sonata in his list of nineteeth-century solo oboe repertory. This work was conservatively written in the classical style, Lehrer perhaps includes this sonata his list of Romantic period solos since the work was not published but until 1817. The original is included in a bound set of the three sonatas and currently located in the Boston Public Library along with the E minor sonata, The F major sonata, however, is missing.4 Widerkehr’s sonatas were published during a period in which instrument makers are experiencing with the design of the oboe. Changes in instrumental design during the classical period were a result of the increasing technical demands of new music and the cultural shift from the domestic to public performance platform. According Bruce Haynes’s article, “The Oboe,” addresses the changes in the design of the baroque oboe, or hautbois, to the classical oboe. These changes include a more narrow bore, thinner walls, smaller tone holes, and the addition of keys for smoother facility and improved intonation as equal temperament replaced earlier tuning systems.5 In fact, the classical oboe also produced a more focused and defined tone in contrast to the softer blending quality of the baroque oboe. However, it was not until the 1770s, or the high classical period, that it began to gain acceptance. The original title of the set is labeled as Trois Duos pour Piano et Violin ou Haubois. According to Mark Weiger in The New Grove the reissued scores of the Eminor and C major sonatas are titled “Duo Sonata” and the term ‘duo’ further explained the importance of the two instruments in melodic presentation in which the solo instrument performs the melody while the continuo serves as relatively important supporting role. The term ‘sonata’ was perhaps added to the title to define the work more specifically, distinguishing its characteristic from the basso continuo sonatas of the baroque period. Therefore, Wiederkehr’s duo sonatas are unusual since they represent a true duo for oboe and piano in the classical period. In the classical period the three-movement design featuring two fast outer movements and one slow middle movement was most common for sonatas. Widerkehr’s Sonata in E minor, however, consists of four movements which is I. Allegro II. Menuetto - Trio I and Trio II III. Adagio sans lenteur IV. Allegro 1 "Widerkehr (also Wiederkehr or Vider-kehr), Jacques (-Christian-Michel)." Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians. Encyclopedia.com. 26 Mar. 2019 <https://www.encyclopedia.com>. 2 Barry S.Brook and Barbara S Kafka, ibid. 3 Charles-David Lehrer, “The Repertory of the Oboe Soloist in the 19th 4 Mark Weiter, “A New Edition of a Past Master,” Double Reed (2000),42. 5 Bruce Haynes, ibid. A menuetto and adagio are framed by outer movements in sonata form. Overall, the E minor sonata reflects stylistic characteristics of a classical period sonata, although it also includes some unusual elements. Quartorze pieces pour hautbois, hautbois d’amour, cor anglais et piano op.179 by Charles Koechlin Charles Louis Eugène Koechlin was born in Paris in November of 1867 to a rich and influential family of Alsatian heritage. Biographer Robert Orledge describes Koechlin’s personality as one inherited as one inherited from his ancestors: “an energy, naivety, and an absolute and simple sincerity that lie at the heart of his music and character. 6 Koechlin influenced other composers mainly with his contributions to the theoretical and pedagogical repertoire. He was also active in several French musical societies and the composer’s opinions on musical cultural and composition were seen in several French journals. Early in life, Koechlin did not intend to become a composer, even though music had been a part of his life. But, while attending the Ecolé polytechnique with the intention of serving in the military, Koechlin did not intend to become a composer, even though music had been a part of his life. Koechlin became ill with tuberculosis and had to be sent away for recovery twice. During his second period abroad, Koechlin began to study music, mainly through a harmonic treatise by Francois Bazin, and felt an urge to be a composer. After a few months of tutelage, Koechlin entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1890.7 While attending the Conservatoire, Koechlin studied different aspects of musical compositions under some influential teachers: composition with Jules Massenet, harmony with Antoine Taudou, counterpoint with André Gedalge, and history with Louis-Albert Bourgault-Docoudray. Koechlin was also inspired by his colleagues at the Conservatoire which included Florent Schmitt, Max d’Ollone and later, Maurice Ravel. After Massenet resigned from his post in 1896, Koechlin continued his compositional method and style. Koechlin experimented with the techniques of polytonality (the use of two or more key simultaneously) and of atonality and serialism, both of which abandon traditional tonality. Much of his music has strong flavour of music written in the medieval modes. “Throguhout his life, Koechlin strove to recapture the classic simplicity and nobility of Faure’s style with its balance of liberty and discipline. In fact, Koechlin later assisted with the orchestration of Faure’s Pelleas et Melisande. Koechlin often treating the oboe like a purely pastoral instrument, many of these works appear to have the same characteristics, however, each of his works provide the performer and listener with different aspects of the instrument’s capabilities, all while exploiting the instrument’s ability to play extremely long phrases and flowing melodies. Quatorze pieces pour hautbois, hautbois d’amour, cor anglais et piano was composed in 1942, op. 179 reflects Koechlin’s evolution to a simpler style in comparison to the complex writing of the solo sonatas in his earlier period. As mentioned above, after Koechlin’s extensive research on all the instruments, the composer began to write more works for wind instruments and in a more idiomatic style than previously written. Around this time, Koechlin wrote several collections similar to op.1799 including Fourteen Pieces for Clarinet and Piano (op.178), Fifteen Pieces for Horn and Piano (op.180) and Fifteen Pieces for Alto Saxophone and Piano (op.188). 8 Some of the movements are written in the style of Baroque dances such as the gigue whereas some are slow and lyrical. In the accompaniment, the piano usually provides relatively simple support with the right hand imitating the solo line. In terms of form, most of the movements are 6 Robert Orledge, “Koechlin, Charles,” Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press, accessed November 2, 2014, http://www.oxfordmusicconline.com/subscriber/ article/grove/music/15248. 7 Robert Orledge, Charles Koechlin (1867-1950) His life and Works (London: Harwood Academic Publishers, , 1989), 3-5. 8 Orledge, Charles Koechlin, 207. through-composed. The main motive or theme introduced within the first couple of measures is usually expanded upon or developed throughout the rest of the movement. The same can be said for the accompaniment; the harmony often expands and moves through several different tonal areas along with the solo line. Since many of the movements contain similar characteristic, and due to the overall length of op.179, there is not sufficient space in this document to discuss each piece individually. Below is a chart of each of the movements, its instrumentation, main tonal area (if applicable), formal characteristics and overall characteristics of each piece in terms of meter, solo and accompaniment qualities, and overall general musical qualities of the movement. Le Tombeau de Mireille, Henri Tomasi Henri Tomasi, is the French composer and conductor. He was born in Marseille, and died at Avignon in mid January when he was 69. His father and mother were originally from La Casinca in COrsica. Despite being pressured into musical studies by his parents, Tomasi dreamed of becoming a sailor, and during the summer, he stayed with his Grandmother in Corsica where he learnt traditional Corsican songs. However, in 1921, he began his studies at the Paris Conservatoire and went on to become a high profile composer and conductor. At the age of 26, he won the Grand Prix de Rome with his Coriolon cantata. Director of the French radio between the wars, from 1946 to 1950 when he was in charge of the Monte Carlo opera. From 1955, he devoted himself to composition, producing a number of operas, in particular Don Juan de Manara, staged by the Bavarian State Opera in 1956. He had recently written a symphony and a Hymn to Vietnam, in which he set words by Jean-Paul Sartrel.9 Tomasi did not forget his Corsican routes, he often incorporating themes of the songs he had learnt during the summers with his Grandmother in ro his compositions.

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