Overview of Works by Bach, Haydn, Faure and Prokofieff

to be performed on senior recital December 12, 2000

by Anna DeFoe When programming piano literature, the performer may select works of one composer or of one period, or may select pieces reflecting contrasting styles and/or periods. The keyboard works of Bach, Haydn, Faure and Prokofieff are all of contrasting nature, and offer the audience three centuries of music for their enjoyment.

The Harvard Dictionary of Music defines "toccata" as "a keyboard composition in free, idiomatic keyboard style, employing full chords and running passages, with or without the inclusion of sections in imitative style (fugues)". Claudio Merulo (1533-1604) was the first composer to organize the toccata into alternating free and fugal sections, a method which Bach employed. Among his myriad keyboard compositions, wrote at least seven toccatas for harpsichord, including the (BWV 913) which answers to the description above. Most scholars agree that these were written while Bach was at Cöthen from

1717 to 1723 as music director for a Calvinist prince, where he had neither choir nor adequate organ at his disposal. The piece is organized into five sections: an improvisatory introduction, a sustained slow section, a fugue, an adagio, and a final fugue.

In their book, Music For The Piano, Friskin and Freundlich claim that the introduction to the D Minor Toccata suggests organ style. Indeed, the entire piece may be played on the organ, but the piano is also a fine vehicle for the performance of the toccatas and other keyboard works of Bach, and has become the accepted instrument of choice for many contemporary artists. The introduction consists of 15 measures of primarily scale passages in moderate tempo, beginning in

D minor and transitioning to the dominant. After a fermata, the second section begins, and quickly assumes the feel of tonic. It is slower (Bischoff edition marks it as "Piu lento e sempre con gran espressione"), and is remarkable for a repeated pattern of eighth note followed by; two sixteenths and a quarter note, in descending stepwise fashion, the quarter note almost always repeating the latter sixteenth. This pattern begins in the alto voice and is heard in the upper three voices intermittently, and the bass has the same descending stepwise pattern, with the sixteenths replaced by an eighth note. The persistent suspensions in this section allow a good deal of expressiveness on the part of the performer.

The fugue which follows begins and ends in D minor, and is built on a basic five-finger pattern, ascending from and descending to the tonic and containing, in its descending portion, the same stepwise pattern demonstrated in the bass of section two. The descending part of the motive is followed by an octave jump. It is a delightful fugue, with the motivic material repeated almost constantly throughout, in all voices, offering challenge for the performer to keep the material

'fresh".

The fourth section is an adagio, described by Friskin and Freundlich as "the most striking part of the piece, of moving character, developing short themes in rising and falling thirds with remarkable expressive power". Additionally, each (heard in each voice intermittently) ends with a quarter note repeating the previous sixteenth, a technique used in section two in the three upper voices. It begins in B fiat major, but almost immediately begins to move through various keys and concludes in , the dominant for the following fugue. It is truly a remarkable section, creating an introspection between the two fugues.

The final section of this toccata, another fugue, uses for its theme a fascinating compositional device. The second half of the theme used in the first fugue, the descending scale pattern with the octave jump, is repeated, but "speeded up"; as it were, the first two eighth notes of the first fugue being replaced by sixteenth notes in the second1 creating a light and energetic feel. The fugue, again, is challenging for the performer, as the subject is repeated almost constantly. The final nine measures include a special challenge for the left hand, several measures of non-stop sixteenths (built on the same stepwise pattern of the motive), which diminuendo and crescendo rather quickly as the piece ends on V-I with the Picardy third. The Classic period gave composers the ancestor of our modern piano, an instrument notable for its sustaining pedal (in contrast to the harpsichord), improved key action, and possibilities for nuance which the Baroque keyboards could not give. Along with other composers of the day, Franz (1732-1809) wrote for this instrument, amassing more than fifty sonatas and several short piano pieces. Attempts to discover an authoritative, definitive edition of Haydn's works lead to a certain confusion, but the chronological catalogue of Anthony van Hoboken is accepted as an authority, and lists fifty-two sonatas, several of which are of doubtful authenticity. Hoboken lists Sonata No.60 in C Major as XVII5O, and it is one of

Haydn's final three sonatas, written in London for Therese Jansen (Mme. Bartolozzi), around

1794 or 1795.

Sonata No.60 is written in classic sonata-allegro form, a three-movement work constructed on the formal principles of the day. The first movement, the Allegro, in C major, is divided into the three customary sections of exposition, development, and recapitulation. Haydn employs the exposition to develop the four-measure theme by means of multiple scale passages and modulation to the dominant. The development section begins in G minor and transitions to F major, and then E flat major which leads to an interesting passage in A flat major marked "open

Pedal". According to Christa Land on, editor for the Wiener Urtext Edition, "Haydn's pedal marking ("open Pedal") can only have meant that there was to be no change of pedal at the passage marked

The effect that was presumably intended cannot be achieved on modern pianos, since their resonance is much too great. To approximate the effect, an absolute legato is recommended, all tones belonging to the remaining depressed until the harmony changes, with common tones tied over. In bars 73 f. on account of the greater resonance of the lower register, 'una corda' is recommended; in bars 120 ff. the strict legato should be supported by repeated half-pedalling". On modern pianos, this creates a dreamy quality in contrast to the clarity of the preceding and following passages. Of further interest is the fact that Haydn uses this technique in measure 73 at the change of key (A flat), with a clear-cut restatement of the theme. After modulating through several keys, Haydn ends the development at measure 101 with the dominant seventh, and the recapitulation begins in the tonic. The second time the "open

Pedal" is observed is at measure 120, with the four-measure theme in C major. The movement's final 20 measures are almost identical to those in the exposition save for the fact that they are in the tonic instead of the dominant, as expected with the sonata-allegro form.

The second movement, marked Adagio, is basically a song form, ABA, and requires a certain amount of sensitivity on the performer's part to achieve a balance of lyricism with

Haydn's tongue-in-cheek wit. It begins in F major, but is full of surprises as manifested by measures 6 and 7, when Haydn chooses a melodic leap from A down to C sharp (the listener is expecting the C natural he heard in the statement of the theme).

This device is employed again at measure 39, in the second A section. The short B section begins, in measure 24, with a C minor feel, but quickly transitions through several keys, modulating to end with the dominant seventh in F, which begins the second A section. The last few bars of this movement are notable in that, in measures 57 and 58, Haydn uses chromaticism to confuse the listener before ending measure 58 with a fully diminished B , setting up the F major tonality in the following measure to the end.

The third movement, Allegro molto, is in Rondo form and is of sprightly character. While the second movement only hinted of humor, the third contains a joke that Haydn repeats several times. The movement begins in C major, but in measure 10, with no warning, Haydn abruptly introduces a B , then places a fermata over the first beat of the subsequent measure, which begins again with the theme. The result, with the fast tempo, sudden stop, and restatement of the theme, is a feeling of "Oops! - what was that? Oh, well, I'll start again". Haydn employs this very clever technique no less than eight times in this fairly short piece, and compounds the issue nicely in some sections (measures 92 and 160, for example), where only a part of the theme is stated before the feel of "wrong chord" occurs, then the sudden stop. In addition, in both

"halves" of this movement, there are two measures of a "laugh" - the right hand has a descending

C, B, B flat, A and G passage, with an appoggiatura (the corresponding octave below) attached to each note. The entire movement is always light, sometimes apologetic (after the oops!), but always immensely entertaining.

Among the Post-Romantic generation of composers, Gabriel Faure (1845-1924) figures prominently for his Requiem, his hundreds of songs for voice, various chamber works, and , bacarolles, and similar pieces for piano. Faure's style exemplifies what he called

"the eminently French qualities of taste, clarity, and sense of proportion". At a time when his fellow countrymen 'were seduced by the grandiloquence of Wagner, Faure hoped for a restoration of 'our common sense, that is to say, the taste for clear thought, purity of form, and sobriety". He achieves this goal in his No.6, Op. 63, in D flat Major.

Written in 1864, Nocturne No.6 is one of the earlier of 13 nocturnes in all. Unlike the last few which are brooding in quality, the earlier nocturnes, including No.6, exhibit romantic and nostalgic themes. There are four distinct sections in this work. The opening section, marked

Adagio, begins and ends in D flat, although, as is the case throughout the piece, the constantly change, one key sliding into the next with such facility that the listener is unaware of the transition. Indeed, the piece is not easy to memorize due to this characteristic. Faure uses chromaticism and enharmonic means to modulate with a grace that complements his beautiful melodies. It is interesting to note that the piece begins with an anacrusis, although the listener is not aware of it. The opening melodic theme is only a little more than three measures long, but this section is in 312, each beat is arpeggiated in triplets, and the melody is in dotted quarter note, eighth note fashion throughout. The right hand melody is accompanied by half notes in the left hand, primarily in octaves. The result is a full, rich sound, although this section is marked piano. Immediately after the first three-measure theme is a variation on the theme with the same rhythmic pattern and similar harmonic structure. Enharmonic devices are often employed in this first section, D flat becoming C sharp, B double flat becoming A, for example. This creates a seamless transition which is notable throughout this section. In measure 11, a theme variation is given in octaves and repeated three times, each time higher and with greater crescendo, generating intensity and excitement culminating in measure 17 with the dominant A flat, and marked by four very important melodic quarter notes heard in the tenor: F descending a fourth to

C, down a major second to B flat, and down another major second to A flat. The section resolves to the tonic in measure 18.

The second section is marked Allegretto molto moderato, and begins in the enharmonic C sharp minor. One is aware instantly of a change not only from major to minor but also of the changing meter to 3/4 which speeds the right hand melody along as the left hand accompaniment is given in eighth notes on off-beats. The theme is eight measures long and is subsequently repeated in octaves with the same left hand accompaniment during which time the listener is aware of a modulation to E major. The composer then places the melody in the left hand for one measure, then back in the right hand for a measure, and so on, overlapping the melodic line with crescendo and decrescendo, rendering a sighing effect. Beginning in measure 49 is a beautiful technique of rise and fall of right hand three-quarter-note melody accompanied by crescendo to a piano dotted half note. This produces a yearning effect which we will hear later in the piece.

This occurs twice and, then at measure 53, excitement is again generated by the three-quarter- note melody occurring every measure, always with crescendo, and rising ever higher through measure 57. This is accompanied in the left hand, beginning at measure 49, by ascending melodic major sevenths followed by descending augmented fifths. The intensity again increases at measure 53 where the left hand has only ascending major sevenths, accompanying the rising melodic line in the soprano. Measure 57 is again in 3/2 meter and, along with measure 58, is identical to measures 15 and 16. Measures 59, 60 and 61 emphasize the four important quarter notes heard in the first section, each measure containing the exact intervallic relationship or a variation thereof, and always descending, but each time the pattern is repeated it is higher, again suggesting the importance of these notes. Measure 62 ends this section, again in D flat major.

Section three, in 4/2 meter, marked Allegro moderato, begins in D flat major, but after two measures the key of A major is established. This section is remarkable for a constantly flowing accompaniment of rapid sixteenth notes to a soaring melody in the soprano voice. The melody is the inversion of the four-quarter-note melody used in the previous two sections. This is technically perhaps the most challenging portion of the nocturne, in that the melody stays quite high in range and must soar over the accompaniment which, for the most part, is in the resonant mid range of the piano. In addition, the right hand has the melodic line, but also has part of the accompaniment as well, with the running sixteenth figure. Again, Faure uses chromaticism to enrich the harmony and suggest different keys, although he always returns to A and stays there until measure 80 when the key signature changes to four sharps (although a definite feel of E major or C minor is not established until many measures later). The next four measures alternate the theme of section two with the flowing sixteenth notes created in section three, causing an

"interruption" in the flow of sixteenths and producing a nostalgia for the yearning passages of section two. The composer finally yields to the yearning in measure 88 and for the next 11 measures produces a lovely section of rise and fall, sighing and yearning with the same compositional techniques as in section two. In measure 100, however, the listener is expecting the culmination of the previous passage, or a crescendo into the melodic dotted quarter, eighth note pattern heard at the end of section one.

Instead, in measure 100, Tempo I is marked (referring back to the Allegro moderato beginning the section), and the same rapid sixteenth note passages accompany the soaring four-note melodic line. At measure 106 Faure combines the descending four-note melody in the bass, the ascending four-note melody in the soprano, and the running sixteenth notes in the inner voices to create a beautiful, haunting effect which crescendos to an arrival point at measure 111. Also of interest, in measure 106 the bass notes are marked marcato, and are closer in intervallic relationship than the four-note pattern previously. For example, in measure 106 the notes are (in descending order) E, D sharp, C sharp, and C natural, half step, whole step and half step, whereas in the original four-note melody the intervals were perfect fourth, major second, and major second, and at the beginning of section three the intervals were major third, major second, and half step. This creates an urgency which is enhanced by the addition of octaves in the soprano. Measure 111 is marked fortissimo, and the melody (the original theme of dotted quarter note, eighth note) is in octaves in the bass, while the right hand outlines the harmony in descending and ascending . In measure 113 the left hand has a low octave E while the right hand accomplishes a scale pattern in E with an added B sharp. It is interesting to note that

Faure indicates dim. sans rall. as the scale pattern is ascending. When the final E major chord is sounded in measure 114 it should be played pianissimo, and this passage is immediately followed (in the middle of the measure) by a long fermata and a rest. Also of interest is that

Faure indicates a pedal at the beginning of measure 113, not to be released until the end of 114, after the fermata and rest have been observed. After the hold, the original theme enters again in almost the same manner as in the beginning of section one, with the exception that the harmony begins in A major, and then transitions through the next two measures to D flat major. There is also a displacement of the left hand octave accompaniment in this passage that creates, with the harmonic transitions, a feeling of slight unrest until we again hear V-I in measure

117.

The final section begins in measure 114, after the fermata, and is very similar to section one. Measures 125 through 128 are remarkable in that the bass notes are accented and are variations on the four-note melody Faure has used throughout. The right hand, in octaves, rises higher and higher from measure 126 through 128, while the bass notes descend, creating a beautiful resonance on the final D flat chord at the beginning of measure 129. Measures 129 through 133, the end of the piece, are basically a coda wherein Faure uses the minor, then augmented V chord before resolving to the tonic in measure 132. It is truly a beautiful, satisfying ending to an exquisite piece. Concerning the Nocturne No.6, Friskin and Freundlich state:

"Perhaps the finest of the nocturnes; a very powerful piece, with a masterly development - a real test of the player's musicianship."

Serge Prokofieff (1891-1953) began his third piano Sonata in , Opus 28, in 1907, completing it in 1917. Its one movement combines the steely brilliance of the opening section of

Allegro tempestoso with a tender lyricism of the Moderato sections. The work was begun in

1907 and germinated from some sketches Prokofieff made while studying composition at the St.

Petersburg Conservatory. Indeed, the finished work actually bears the subtitle "From Old

Notebooks". However "scholastic" its origins, it is a work which has proved to be a steady favorite with both pianists and audiences ever since Prokofieff introduced it on April 15,

1918, at a recital in Petrograd. Friskin and Freundlich remark that it is "The most popular of the sonatas. Brilliant, driving bravura. Demands agility, power, and vitality."

For the pianist, the technical requirements of the piece are manifold. In the allegro sections, a driving, triplet eighth note pattern accompanies a dotted eighth note sixteenth melody (three against four). Sudden dynamic changes occur very frequently, lending to the energy and excitement. In addition to the clarity which must be achieved overall, Prokofieff has marked a few sections secco where an even drier effect must be elicited, and then intersperses melodies marked legato at other times. Here again, the contrast of the detached and legato passages generates excitement.

In true sonata form, there is a second theme which comprises the first true lyric section of the piece, a Moderato, wherein Prokofieff drops the driving triplets and uses an eighth note accompaniment for a lovely melodic line. Additionally, this section is marked legato and tranquillo, with the melody marked semplice e dolce. The slower tempo makes this section somewhat less difficult, although there are certainly challenges here as well. The melody begins in the soprano voice, but then after being repeated, is heard in the tenor. There are also many opportunities for expressiveness in this beautiful section, requiring a certain amount of technical agility.

The excitement returns in the third section, once again marked Allegro tempestoso, and a passage in contrary motion of a succession of detached thirds in the left hand and running sixteenth notes in the right offers one of the most technically challenging sections of this piece. Another Moderato section follows, where the second theme is heard once again, very similar to the original. This time, however, the accompaniment is in triplets, but serenity is achieved due to the slower tempo and the marking of dolce and, a few measures later, dolcissimo. In addition, there is a syncopation occasioned by the last note of each triplet being tied to the first note of the next triplet. This presents a technical challenge to keep this section sustained without being over-pedaled. Immediately following this is a Piu animato section marked pianissimo in which the pianist must negotiate eight measures of two against three, the melody being in the left hand in octaves. This is followed by six measures of growing intensity, with the melody entering on 2 and 4 of each measure, the entire harmonic structure rising higher and higher, and crescendoing to a difficult six-measure passage marked con elevazione, a breathtaking section wherein the melodic line, in octaves, is approached by an beginning every measure, the alto voice is in repeated sixteenth notes, and the left hand negotiates ascending inverted chords for two measures, descending inverted chromatic chords for two measures1 and then repeats the ascending chord pattern for a final two measures. This entire section culminates in a crashing E , over which a fermata is placed, but the soprano E is tied over the bar and becomes the starting point for the next section marked pianissisimo.

This section has a six-measure introduction, triplets similar to the original Allegro section, and marked poco a poco accelerando followed by a section marked Allegro I which is a variation on the original theme, and which requires the same technical facility of the original.

Within this section, however, is the most technically challenging portion of the entire work, eight measures of three against four with the melody occurring in the alto voice, in the top note of inverted and root position chords, played with the left hand. In addition the left hand must be detached, the right hand legato interspersed with staccato1 and the entire passage is marked pianissimo. This daunting passage is followed by a transition into a section marked Poco piu mosso, again, pianissimo and staccato which leads to the very exciting last few measures of the piece. The melody is in the right hand again, played in thirds, and the passage crescendos, and then is marked subito pianissimo which leads to another crescendo, this time to fortissimo with accented chords in the right hand and arpeggiated octaves in the left. There is a molto crescendo to fortissisimo, followed immediately by subito pianissimo, and then subito fortissimo, all of this for the most part in triplets. The piece ends in A minor, heavily accented, and with fortissimo octaves, a brilliant ending to a compelling, enthusiastic piece. Bibliography

Apel, Willi. Harvard Dictionary of Music. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1964.

Burge, David. Twentieth Century Piano Music. New York: Schirmer Books, 1990.

Friskin, James and Irwin Freudlich. Music For The Piano. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston of Canada, 1954.

Gillespie, John. Five Centuries of Keyboard Music. New York: Wadsworth Publishing Company, Inc., 1965.

Grout, Donald Jay, and Claude V. Palisca. A History of Western Music. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1988.

Machlis, Joseph. Introduction to Contemporary Music. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1979.