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Liberty University School of Music presents String Chamber Ensembles Recital Dr. Luca Trombetta, director April 10, 2021 Choral Classroom MUSIC 180 3:00 PM String Chamber Ensembles Recital Dr. Luca Trombetta, director Program String Quintet in E Major, Op. 11, No. 5, G. 275 Luigi Boccherini I. Andantino amoroso (1743-1805) III. Minuetto molto moderato Johanna Vogt, Samuel Smith, violin Ariana Leggett, viola Lauren Dymmel, Kellan Mozzone, cello Variations in G Major on Wenzel Muller’s Ludwig van Beethoven Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu, Op. 121a for Piano Trio (1770-1827) Johanna Vogt, violin Lauren Dymmel, cello Joshua McKinnis, piano Two Rhapsoides for Oboe, Viola and Piano Charles Marin Loeffler I. L'étang (1861-1935) Talitha Armbrust, viola Mai’ya Jackson, oboe Caitlin Yeaton, piano String Quintet in C Major, D. 956, Op. posth. 163. Franz Schubert IV. Allegretto (1797-1828) Timothy Oliver, Hannah O’Berry, violin Talitha Armbrust, viola Sara Phelps, Max Foster, cello - PROGRAM NOTES - String Quintet in E major Op.11, No.5, G275 In 1771, Boccherini had composed the String Quintet in E major op.11 no.5 (G275) in Madrid. Its third movement is that very minuet mentioned above, now so celebrated and almost unsurpassable in its bewitching elegance, which presents the Baroque courtly dance in stylised form, as if through a veil. If the image of Boccherini as a master of galant dance music has been bound up with this musical gem for generations now, it must be said that this is an unwarranted construct on the part of posterity. For such a notion underestimates the significance that is his rightful due in music history, especially as far as the development of chamber music is concerned. For example, the string quintet as a musical genre seems to have been created in Madrid in 1771 by Boccherini and his colleague Gaetano Brunetti. And the former was further to leave his mark on the new genre with his works for the combination of two violins, a viola and two cellos. A typical feature of his quintets is the often extremely testing writing for the first cello in concertante solo passages, a fact explained by Boccherini’s eminence as a virtuoso cellist. Program note by Christian Speck; translation by Charles Johnson Variations Op.121a for Piano Trio The high opus number for this set of variations is deceptive. It is explained by the fact that the work was first published only in May 1824. However, it was certainly composed considerably earlier. Although the precise date is unknown, a phrase of Beethoven’s in his letter of 19 July 1816 to Gottfried Härtel suggests that he already regarded it as an old composition at that time: ‘. variations with an introduction . on a theme by Müller. among my earlier works, but not the reprehensible ones’. The date of 1802/03 suggested by certain Beethoven scholars would seem to be pretty accurate, and is not contradicted by the music itself. Once again an excerpt from a popular stage work serves as the theme, in this case the song ‘Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu’ from Wenzel Müller’s singspiel Die Schwester von Prag, first performed at the Leopoldstädter Theater in Vienna in 1794. The joke here is that the first edition of the trio did not reveal where the theme came from. And Beethoven leads the listener astray with another ruse: instead of beginning with the theme, he launches the work with a grave and extended ‘Introduzione’ in G minor (it makes up around a quarter of the total length of the piece) which does not give the slightest hint of Müller’s tune. When the amusing theme (in G major) suddenly appears after forty-seven bars, it is as if it has only been ‘discovered’ in the course of the introduction after a long and arduous struggle. A grotesque moment, when one thinks how well known the melody must have been to the public. The ten variations that follow do not stray too far from the theme, whose melodic and harmonic characteristics are scarcely altered. Beethoven wholly complies with the conventions of variation form by making the penultimate variation an expressive Adagio in a minor key (here G minor) and the last a guaranteed crowd-pleaser of a Presto. This long drawn-out concluding section leads to a fugato based on the first four notes of the theme, and finally to its last appearance. A brief epilogue ends this enjoyable piece. Program note by Andreas Friesenhagen; translation by Charles Johnson Two Rhapsodies for Oboe, Viola and Piano, I. “L’Étang” Charles Martin Loeffler (1861-1935) was born into a German family on January 30, 1861 in Mulhouse, Alsace. Loeffler began studying violin at the age of eight after his family moved to the small Russian town of Smjela in the province of Kiev. His family then moved to Debrezin, Hungary and soon after to Switzerland. At the age of fourteen, Loeffler moved to Berlin, Germany to train as a professional violinist. He then moved to France to study with Massart in Paris and perform with a private orchestra in Nice. Loeffler emigrated to the United States in 1881 at the age of twenty and became a naturalized citizen in 1887. He served as the associate concertmaster for the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1882-1903. He frequently composed orchestral works for the orchestras to which he belonged. However, after getting married and settling on a farm in Medfield, Massachusetts in 1900, composition became his primary focus. Though Loeffler is primarily associated with French Impressionism in America, his compositions were inspired by his varied experiences. He was a supporter of American nationalism in music and American popular music, and he loved jazz. In addition to orchestral works, Loeffler enjoyed writing choral works, solo vocal music, and chamber music. His contributions to chamber repertoire are notable for their unique instrumentation. In addition to writing for standard chamber groups, he composed for unusual instrument combinations and also incorporated older and newer instruments, such as viola d’amore (Norske Land, 1929) and saxophone (Ballade Carnavalesque, 1902). Loeffler completed Two Rhapsodies for Oboe, Viola and Piano in 1901, based on previous versions composed in 1898 for low voice, clarinet, viola, and piano. He published the set in 1905. The rhapsodies are titled “L’Étang” (The Pond) and “La Cornemuse” (The Bagpipe) and are examples of Loeffler’s affinity for programmatic inspiration. Both were inspired by poems by Maurice Rollinat (1846-1903). Charles Hopkins’ 2005 English translation of Rollinat’s “L’Étang” (The Pool) is provided below: Full of aged fish struck with blindness, The pool, beneath a lowering sky rolling with muted thunder, Disperses between its centuries old rushes The lapping horror of its murky depths. Down there, water-sprites act as lighting For a swamp blacker than black, sinister and fearsome; Nothing emerges from this desolate place But the hideous din of its consumptive toads. Whereas the moon[,] which rises just at this moment Appears to regard herself so eerily, One might say, as she catches sight of her ghostly form there. Her flat nose and the strange ripple of her teeth, A death’s head illuminated from within That would come to be reflected in a mirror of darkness. - PROGRAM NOTES - Two Rhapsodies for Oboe, Viola and Piano, I. “L’Étang” (cont…) Loeffler’s “L’Étang” is comprised of an introduction, three main sections, and a brief coda. The opening of the movement is tonally ambiguous, as a low whole-tone scale in the piano cues a melodic motive in the viola before the piano quickly settles into C Minor. It has been suggested Loeffler intended this opening to represent Rollinat’s “aged fish” swimming between “centuries’ old rushes.” The opening motive presented by the viola recurs throughout each section in various forms, tying the movement together. The first two main sections are highly lyrical and unstable in mood. The first main section begins with the viola modifying the main motive above rolling gestures in the piano. The second section begins in G-flat Major, and the oboe modifies the main motive even further. Loeffler makes use of various rippling effects in the piano throughout the rhapsody, as the oboe and viola imitate one another, as well as the piano, frequently echoing one another and playing in unison. The third section, based in E-flat Major and marked Allegro, is surprisingly lighthearted and more rhythmic in character. However, a passing reference to death can be heard in the brief Dies irae motive in the viola’s harmonics. The closing coda is reminiscent of the mournful opening. Program note by Caitlin Yeaton String Quintet in C major, D.956 Between August and October 1828, just before his tragically early death in November, Schubert completed an amazing number of pieces, widely varying in character and containing some of his most beautiful music—the three late piano sonatas, the song collection Schwanengesang, the incredible C major String Quintet, and Der Hirt auf dem Felsen (The Shepherd on the Rock). The great quantity and quality may have been an act of defiance by one who knew he had little time left, but they could just as easily have been the product of one confident in his creative powers who had no thoughts of dying, since he had always recovered from previous illnesses. No sketches nor autograph manuscript of the miraculous String Quintet survive to give clues about its gestation. It is entirely possible that the work’s total creation took place within two weeks that September. We know only that the Quintet had been recently completed from a letter to publisher Probst on October 2 offering the work for publication along with the three piano sonatas and some Heine songs.