th SEASON PROGRAM NOTES 47 Week 4 August 4–10, 2019 Sunday, August 4, 6 p.m. a series of quick detours along the way for A String Around Autumn. Takemitsu fills Monday, August 5, 6 p.m. some nicely contrasted episodes before the the solo part with double, triple, and even trio races to an emphatic close on a great quadruple stops and employs a technique JEAN FRANÇAIX (1912–97) pizzicato stroke. utilized earlier by Olivier Messiaen: String Trio (1933) —Eric Bromberger harmonics combined with glissandi. Aside from this specific link to the French Jean Françaix was born into a musical family. TO ¯ RU TAKEMITSU (1930–96) , Messiaen was, of course, widely His mother was a choral conductor and A Bird Came Down the Walk for & known for his fascination with, and use of, violinist, and his father, who gave him his Piano (1994) birdsong in many of his compositions. first composition lessons, was the director of While the “flock” of the earlier piece is the Le Mans Conservatory. Françaix studied The forces that shaped the creative powers now represented by a single bird, Takemitsu privately with Nadia Boulanger before of To¯ ru Takemitsu were certainly varied and described it this way: “The bird theme goes attending the Paris Conservatory, where he far less traditional than those associated walking through the motionless scroll studied composition and became a virtuoso with most . Even the great painting like a landscape, a garden hushed pianist. He began composing at age six, and 20th-century radicals such as Schoenberg, and bright with daylight.” his Eight Bagatelles were performed at the Stravinsky, and Bartók were all grounded in —Greg Hettmansberger 1932 International Society for Contemporary conservatory training before blazing their Music (ISCM) festival in Venice a few weeks individual paths. (1756–91) after his 20th birthday. Françaix composed Takemitsu graduated from Keika High String Quartet in A Major, K. 464 (1785) works in larger forms (operas, ballets, School in Tokyo in 1948, and while it’s symphonies, concertos, an oratorio) as well significant to note that he studied privately We too often think of Mozart as an utterly as for chamber ensembles and piano, and with Yasuji Kiyose, he was largely self- natural composer—someone who could his music shows virtues that are invariably taught. In 1951, he co-founded a Tokyo- conceive an entire piece in his head to the thought Gallic: it’s well-crafted, elegant, based composers’ group known as the point where writing it out was a purely witty, and sometimes ironic. Experimental Laboratory, whose purpose mechanical task. There may be some The String Trio for violin, viola and cello was to create new music that combined substance to that stereotype but it wasn’t dates from 1933, shortly after Françaix modern compositional techniques with invariably true, and on certain works Mozart had completed his studies at the Paris Japanese modalities. But almost at once he worked long and hard. In this category fall Conservatory; the Trio Pasquier premiered began writing for films, scoring the work of the six string quartets he began shortly the work on June 15, 1934. Jascha Heifetz directors such as Kurosawa and Shinoda. after moving to Vienna in 1781. He’d been was a great admirer of this work, and in It’s worth noting that the piece that astonished by Haydn’s string quartets and 1964 he recorded it with Joseph de Pasquale launched Takemitsu’s international by the possibilities the older composer had and Gergor Piatigorsky. reputation was the 1967 work November found in that form, and these six works— The trio is concise—its four movements Steps, scored for a Japanese lute (biwa) composed between 1782 and 1785—show span a total of barely 10 minutes—and and a traditional flute (the shakuhachi) Mozart taking command of this difficult something of its energetic character is accompanied by full orchestra. That same form and making it fully his own. Mozart suggested by the fact that three of its year saw the publication of New Sounds was honest enough, though, to acknowledge movements are marked Vivo (“Lively”). for Woodwinds, a compendium of timbral the example of a master, and he dedicated The opening Allegretto vivo is muted techniques compiled by the Italian composer these six quartets to Haydn when they were throughout, and that subdued sound makes Bruno Bartolozzi. Suddenly, Takemitsu saw published in 1785. the constant motion of this movement all new and vital links between modern Western Haydn, in turn, was blown away by these the more impressive. That same impression techniques and certain Japanese traditions works. He heard the final three (which of unending motion characterizes the that had been in place for centuries. included the A-Major Quartet heard on Scherzo, whose lilting outer sections frame Takemitsu based the short piece heard on tonight’s program) at a concert in Vienna a rhythmic trio. The Andante, again muted tonight’s program, A Bird Came Down the in February 1785, and he pulled Mozart’s throughout, is a variation-movement based Walk, on the opening of his 1977 orchestral father, Leopold, aside to offer one of the on its lullaby-like opening melody, while work A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal most generous compliments one composer the concluding Rondo vivo explodes to life Garden. He wrote it for violist Nobuko Imai, ever paid another: “Before God and as an on its saucy central tune. Françaix makes who, in 1989, had premiered his concerto honest man, I tell you that your son is the

Program notes for Music at Noon concerts are sponsored by Barbara & Ronald Balser with thanks to the gifted Festival musicians who inspire us all. greatest composer known to me either in idea has subtle thematic and rhythmic links The Andante is dominated by a single person or by name. He has taste and, what with the main theme of the first movement. theme that’s initially introduced in the upper is more, the most profound knowledge of Mozart makes this music sing beautifully, register of the cello and concludes in a composition.” and the ending is wonderful: the music duet of typical poignancy between the two Haydn wasn’t the only composer stunned grows quiet as fragments of this theme are stringed instruments. The Scherzo is bouncy by this music. A decade later, the young passed from instrument to instrument, and and playful, offset by a contrasting section Beethoven, embarking on his own first set suddenly the music, like smoke, vanishes that subtly harkens back to the previous of string quartets, copied out the entire before us. Beethoven and Haydn—and movement. Schubert titles the finaleRondo, last movement of the A-Major Quartet as everyone else who has heard this quartet— but where one would expect the returns of a way of studying it in detail. Beethoven’s were quite right to be astonished by it. the first theme to alternate with contrasting friend Carl Czerny reported that Beethoven —Eric Bromberger episodes, Schubert instead delivers a more once took up the score of this quartet and sonata-like structure with unexpected exclaimed in wonder: “That’s what I call a (1797–1828) changes to the principal theme each time it work! In it, Mozart was telling the world: Piano Trio in B-flat Major, D. 898 (1827) returns. Look what I could create if the time were —Greg Hettmansberger right!” Throughout the course of his unbelievably Yet at first glance there seems nothing creative career, Schubert showed he could remarkable, formally, about this quartet: a get things right from the very beginning (for sonata-form opening movement, a minuet, a example, composing the compelling song variation-form slow movement, and a quick- “Erlkönig” at the age of 17) and at the very paced finale. Such a description, though, end (writing the Quintet for Strings, doesn’t begin to define what’s distinctive D. 956, during the last weeks of his life). about this music, such as the evolution of In his final years, Schubert also revealed a its themes, the utter ease of the writing for seeming nonchalance about not just creating the four voices, or the emotional effect of memorable music but about elevating a the ending. The quartet is neither stormy nor form to greater heights of expression as well. melancholy, but by the time it reaches its He wrote both of his piano trios during his understated conclusion, Mozart has distilled final year, and while each one offers unique stunning emotional power into what had charms, either can be said to have set a new seemed very straightforward music. standard for this relatively new genre. The Allegro that opens the quartet seems More than most composers of his day, simplicity itself: a flowing and easy first idea Schubert forged a voice of true distinction. (its two opening pulses will recur in various Accordingly, no matter how much he forms throughout the movement), followed likely admired Beethoven’s final trio (the by a second subject in the unexpected key “Archduke”), for example, neither of his of C major. The Menuetto opens with a firm piano trios hint in the least at being unison that quickly gives way to a dancing derivative of that masterpiece. Schumann’s counterstatement from the violins, and famous comment about the trio heard on the trio is also in an unexpected key (this tonight’s program could well have captured time E major). The Andante is the longest the reality of the composition’s creation. movement in this set of six quartets—and “One glance at Schubert’s B-flat Trio,” one of the greatest. It’s a set of variations he said, “and the troubles of our human on the first violin’s opening idea, and that existence disappear, and all the world is fresh melody—grave, graceful, and elegant at the and bright again.” same time—evolves sharply across the six Schubert probably began writing this work variations. Mozart syncopates it, decorates within a month of his visit to Beethoven’s it with dotted rhythms and swirling runs, deathbed, around the same time he was and passes the melodic line between the writing the monumental, protean, and four instruments. At the fifth variation, the gloomy song cycle Die Winterreise (which cello accompanies with a drum-like tattoo the Festival presented on July 31)—and that beats quietly to the very end of the while he was dealing with his own ill health. movement. (In some European countries, Perhaps this trio was pure antidote, as the this quartet has acquired the nickname “The Allegro moderato is nothing but sunshine Drum” because of this figure.) from the opening bars. Aside from the sheer The work’s finale, marked Allegro non loveliness of its two principal themes, much troppo, grows entirely out of its (seemingly) of this movement’s lasting effect derives simple opening theme. This may be a from its large number of unexpected key monothematic movement, but it’s a mark changes (at least a dozen in all). of the subtlety of Mozart’s writing that this

2 2019 Program Notes Week Four Tuesday, August 6, Noon FELIX MENDELSSOHN (1809–47) Over the first several variations, Variations sérieuses in D Minor, Op. 54 Mendelssohn’s theme remains clearly JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685–1750) (1841) discernible, but as the variations speed Three Contrapuncti from The Art of Fugue, ahead and involve chordal, staccato, and BWV 1080 (ca. 1742–49): The Variations sérieuses are the work of a syncopated writing, that theme becomes Contrapunctus I composer creating under severe stress. In harder to trace, and one becomes more Contrapunctus IX 1840, the newly crowned King of Prussia, aware of the theme’s bass line as the Canon alla ottava Friedrich Wilhelm IV, proposed a plan to organizing principle in this music. The tempo revitalize the arts in the German-speaking relaxes at the 10th variation, a brief fugato, Bach not only was—and is—the unequivocal world. He opened a New Academy of the and then races ahead brilliantly at the 12th; master of the most complex musical form, Arts in Berlin and named Mendelssohn this variation is marked Tempo di Tema but the fugue, but in due course he wrote what head of its music school. Mendelssohn was is written entirely in 32nd notes, so the pulse is arguably the ultimate “textbook” on fugal anxious to satisfy the king but loath to is quite fast. writing, The Art of Fugue. leave Leipzig and the excellent orchestra The 14th variation is a lovely Adagio, and Clearly, Bach died before he could finish he’d created there. He accepted the Mendelssohn brings the set to its conclusion this work. The most complete manuscript position reluctantly and then found himself with several fast variations. The last of these included 12 fugues and two canons, and frustrated when his proposals came to is extended, and within it Mendelssohn the first published edition (which came out nothing due to governmental bureaucracy. quotes his original theme and briefly recalls less than a year after Bach’s death) included Mendelssohn would stick it out for five the shape of several of his variations. The two more of each. But the real puzzle is years in Berlin, but at the conclusion of his music drives to what promises to be a what instrument is (or what instruments first year he was already unhappy with the grand conclusion, but at the last moment are) meant to perform these pieces. Or is The situation. From this moment of frustration Mendelssohn reins in this energy, and the Art of Fugue perhaps “just” an intellectual came two of his finest works, however: Variations sérieuses fade into silence on exercise? This debate has its roots in the fact he completed the Variations sérieuses somber D-minor chords. that Bach composed The Art of Fugue in on June 4, 1841, and then immediately —Eric Bromberger “open score”—where each part has its own pressed on to compose his “Scottish” staff—and no instrumentation is specified. Symphony. Some biographers have been DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH (1906–75) But it almost seems silly to assert that quick to attribute these superb pieces to Prelude and Fugue in A Major, Op. 87, No. 7 Bach intended this solely as “music of the Mendelssohn’s unhappiness in Berlin, but (1950–51) mind”—and, indeed, posterity quickly voted that must remain conjecture. What’s clear against that idea. Whether these pieces are is the quality of the music itself. The piano In 1722, Bach wrote a set of 24 preludes and performed on any kind of keyboard or by pedagogue Ernest Hutcheson has called fugues for keyboard that he called The Well- a string quartet or brass ensemble, they’ve the Variations sérieuses “certainly one of tempered Clavier. Bach’s own description of shown over the centuries that they’re pieces Mendelssohn’s best piano compositions, this music suggests his intention: “Preludes that need to be played. perhaps the best of all.” and Fugues through all the tones and So, what is it that we hear? Bach takes a It’s been suggested that Mendelssohn semitones . . . for the use and profit of young relatively simple D-minor figure—first the chose the name Variations sérieuses to musicians anxious to learn as well as for the triad and then a few linear notes—and whips distinguish these variations from the sets amusement of those already skilled in this up increasingly sophisticated contrapuntal of frivolous ones on popular tunes that art.” treatments. In Contrapunctus I, we get were appearing by the middle of the 19th Full of wonderful, ingenious, and “merely” a four-voice fugue based on the century. This is deeply serious music, and it’s expressive music, The Well-tempered Clavier principal subject. By Contrapunctus IX, also quite concentrated: the theme and 17 has moved and haunted composers ever we have a double fugue (two dependent variations span only 11 minutes, and some of since. One of those haunted was Bach subjects). But wait, there’s more! Later, the variations pass by in a matter of seconds. himself: 20 years after completing the set, Bach adds in invertible counterpoint at the The theme—Mendelssohn’s own—is quite he wrote a second one. The “48,” as the two interval of a 12th (an octave and fifth above interesting. Of a chorale-like simplicity, books of The Well-tempered Clavier are the original first pitch). By comparison, the it’s stated quietly at the very beginning; sometimes called, have been a part of every Canon alla ottava is a relatively tame (but Mendelssohn marks it both Andante sostenuto pianist’s repertoire since—from the humblest nevertheless stirring) affair that’s a strict and Piano on its first appearance. But even amateur to the greatest virtuoso—and imitation with the answering voice one on its first statement, that (seemingly) simple pianist-composers of very different character octave lower. little tune is full of harmonic tension; the have felt the pull of Bach’s achievement. Fortunately, you don’t have to be able to music may nominally be in D minor, but there The pianist-composer most haunted by follow any of these intricacies to be dazzled are so many accidentals here that the sense of Bach’s achievement in The Well-tempered by the sonic results. The Art of Fugue is a home key is shaken. Mendelssohn’s theme Clavier seems, at first, an unlikely one. In possibly the most monumental concluding may come across as wistful and gentle, but 1950, on the 200th anniversary of Bach’s work of any artist’s life, and it rewards any listeners should be particularly alert to the death, Dmitri Shostakovich was one of listener who dives in regardless of how deep bass line that underpins that theme. That line the judges at the First International Bach they dare to explore. will provide the foundation for many of the Competition in Leipzig, where he was —Greg Hettmansberger variations. astonished by a performance of the “48” by

3 2019 Program Notes Week Four a young Soviet pianist, Tatiana Nikolayeva. JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685–1750) work—and exactly how important that work Shostakovich had known the Bach works Prelude in C Major, BWV 846 (1722) was to him: since he was a child, but, under the spell of Nikolayeva’s performance, he resolved to As is so often the case with Bach, from The use of all 24 keys and the equal compose his own set of preludes and fugues great simplicity something encyclopedic prominence given to each was most in each of the 24 keys. He worked very emerges. In this case, the relatively simple unusual at that time, despite the efforts quickly: his 24 Preludes and Fugues, Prelude in C Major is the doorway through of a few musicians in this direction. Op. 87 (which lasts two-and-a-quarter which Bach’s contemporaries, and future As late as 1728, J. D. Heinichen wrote hours), were composed between October generations, would enter the world of that B major and A-flat major were 1950 and March 1951. Nikolayeva was the “even temperament.” That term refers to a keys seldom employed, F-sharp major soloist at the premiere in St. Petersburg on particular approach to tuning the clavier (or and C-sharp major not at all. Bach, December 23, 1952. keyboard)—one that Bach famously called however, applied himself energetically This all took place during the most “well-tempered.” to furthering the employment of intense period of artistic repression in During Bach’s lifetime, composers and all keys, and the adoption of equal Soviet history. In the aftermath of Andrei musicians debated the best way to tune the temperament. According to Kirnberger, Zhdanov’s denunciation of leading clavier in order to avoid intonation issues. among others, he instructed his pupils composers in February 1948, Shostakovich Bach decided to advocate for his own system always to tune instruments according had gone underground artistically. For public (which he believed would best accommodate to the principles of equal temperament. consumption he composed “safe” music— all 24 keys), and in 1722 he wrote a set of The importance which Bach attached to film scores and patriotic cantatas—that kept 24 preludes and fugues in every major and The Well-tempered Clavier is indicated him protected from government intrusion. minor key called The Well-tempered Clavier. by the fact that he himself wrote the Privately, he wrote the music he wanted to Twenty years later he wrote another set, and work out several times. but kept it hidden in his desk, waiting for today the complete work is often referred to more liberal times. as the “48.” Just as the opening C-Major Prelude One might think that a composition The prelude heard on this afternoon’s found new fame (if an entirely different modeled on Bach’s elemental work would program is the first piece in the first set. context) thanks to Gounod’s clever use of be “safe,” even in the grim final years of the Bach wrote this piece in C major, which is the work in his “Ave Maria,” so, too, did Stalin regime, but exactly the opposite was sometimes called “the people’s key” and the C-Minor Prelude enjoy a heightened true. In his biography of Shostakovich, Eric can be played using only the white keys popularity a generation or two after Bach’s Roseberry quotes the attack by Yuri Keldysh on the piano. (Bach, of course, played the death. On this occasion, however, it wasn’t on Soviet composers who turned to the harpsichord and clavichord, not the piano, because of a repurposing but rather because West for their models: “The neo-classical and there’s some debate as to his preferred of Carl Czerny’s deep affection for the piece tendencies we find in some of our composers keyboard for The Well-tempered Clavier.) (and for its accompanying fugue). Not only are derived from the West, and are a form of There’s a good chance that, out of all 48 was Czerny a pupil of Beethoven’s—and escapism. We cannot express Soviet reality works, this first prelude would have been a composer of numbing exercises that and the feelings of Soviet Man in terms of the most popular and most familiar on its have tortured centuries of young piano Bach-like stylisations . . . ” Writing these own merits, with its basic but inexorable students—he was popular most of his life as preludes and fugues was for Shostakovich harmonic progression and its firm roots in a performer and frequently programmed this not simply an act of homage but an act of the left-hand bass notes. But in 1853, the prelude on its own. courage as well. French composer Charles Gounod increased As usual, Bach’s economy is astounding: in The prelude heard on today’s program the audience for and perhaps the appeal of a mere 38 bars, he mesmerizes listeners with inevitably invites comparison to the this piece with his setting of the “Ave Maria,” most of those measures fully populated by keyboard music of Bach, particularly his which featured his own melody on top of 16th-note figures in both hands. In bar 34, two-part inventions. The active line leaps this prelude. Save that contemplation for however, there’s an abrupt Adagio marking between the two hands here, its progress another time, however; for now, just savor and two bars of ornamentation that, given enlivened by some very chromatic writing the brilliant simplicity of this wonderfully the chance, might have broken out into a along the way. The prelude reaches a enduring work. full-fledged cadenza. Instead, we quickly moment of repose on high, silvery chords, —Greg Hettmansberger return to a single line of scampering 16ths and then Shostakovich combines these with that land us on a final picardy third. This the busy main theme to bring the prelude JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685–1750) was the device employed almost without to its close. The three-part fugue is built on Prelude in C Minor, BWV 847 (1722) exception for a century or so, wherein a a subject that sounds like a distant, delicate minor-key piece put a smile on its face by bugle call; this theme is built entirely on the To elaborate a bit on what’s mentioned in raising the pitch of the third note of the notes of an A-major triad. Textures grow the above note for the Prelude in C Major, tonic scale (E-flat, in the case of a C-minor complex as the fugue proceeds, but this BWV 846, Wilhelm Stauder, in his booklet work, to E natural). One simply wasn’t music retains its sparkling, spirited energy notes for the great harpsichordist Ralph allowed to end on a gloomy note—not even right through its pianissimo conclusion on a Kirkpatrick’s 1959 recording of The Well- the great Bach! very widely spaced A-major chord. tempered Clavier, reinforces the context of —Greg Hettmansberger —Eric Bromberger the time in which Bach began to write that

4 2019 Program Notes Week Four (1770–1827) The second movement is an unusual Wednesday, August 7, Noon Piano Sonata in C Minor, Op. 111 (1822) theme with five variations followed by a coda. The turning point comes in the GUSTAV MAHLER (1860–1911) Even in his so-called early period, Beethoven fourth variation, where Beethoven manages Rückert Lieder (1901–02) didn’t hesitate to stretch the mold of to construct a sense of timelessness in the sonata form, and by the middle of the music crowned by a long trill. From Say the name “Mahler,” and the initial his creative life he’d essentially shown here to the conclusion of this final association is most likely “symphony”— posterity how it could be expanded both Beethoven sonata, an indescribable sense and an enormous one at that. (Who else musically and emotionally without losing of transcendence completely overtakes the could write a work that’s nicknamed the its inherent structure. In his final works, music. “Symphony of a Thousand?”) It’s intriguing, however, Beethoven used the form as simply —Greg Hettmansberger then, to learn that the post-Romantic a reference point for what, nearly 200 Austrian composer was a master of writing years later, are still the most personal and songs—miniatures in comparison to his indefinable expressions ever composed. sprawling orchestral canvases. There are In The Lives of the Great Composers, critic many direct musical connections between and musicologist Harold Schonberg says of the two genres, however, particularly the Beethoven’s late works: first four symphonies and the early songs taken from the folk poetry known at Des Here we are on a rarified plane of Knaben Wunderhorn (The Boy’s Magic ). music. Nothing like it has ever been Another interesting aspect of Mahler’s composed, nothing like it can ever songwriting is that, unlike so many of his again be. It is the music of a man who predecessors (and even contemporaries, has seen all and experienced all, a man such as and Hugo Wolf), drawn into his silent, suffering world, Mahler wasn’t drawn to setting verse by no longer writing to please anyone else famous poets. For the work heard on today’s but writing to justify his artistic and program, he turned to text by Friedrich intellectual existence. Faced with this Rückert, described by Henry-Louis de La music, the temptation is to read things Grange in his epic biography of Mahler as into it in some sort of metaphysical “a minor Romantic poet.” La Grange goes exegesis. The music is not pretty or even on to say that “[Mahler] was too receptive attractive. It is merely sublime. to poetry not to understand that the most beautiful, the most perfect poems Beethoven completed his Opus 111—his are complete in themselves and that, in last piano sonata—very quickly by his own consequence, the greatest poets are always standards. He apparently began the first betrayed by composers.” sketches in December 1821 and finished Rückert’s poems can be delightfully naïve the autograph score by the end of February and unconsciously simple, and they’re 1822. The work was dedicated to the often filled with puns and word play, which Archduke Rudolph, one of Beethoven’s most Mahler adored. While Mahler grouped five loyal patrons. of Rückert songs as a set, the collection is As far as the sonata’s structure is by no means a song cycle. In fact, there’s no concerned, there are only two movements— official order for these songs, although the most sonatas have three or even four—and last two usually close the group. they seem almost diametrically opposed, Most of Mahler’s career was a hectic with some commentators describing the first juggling of highly successful conducting one as a struggle in and of the world and the posts—including transformative turns at the second one as anything from purely spiritual Vienna Court Opera, Metropolitan Opera, to otherworldly. The sonata is in the key of and New York Philharmonic—and summers C minor—which is a key made most famous filled with as much composing as he could by Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 and one cram into three months. Like so many of his that Beethoven turned to again and again great works, he composed his Rückert Lieder when he had something dramatic to say. in a lakeside house in Maiernigg, in southern A slow introduction leads to an Allegro, Austria. The summer of 1901 was indeed a but neither tempo presents an overriding fruitful one, with Mahler composing seven sense of heroic struggle with a possibility lieder in all and the first two movements of of victory; instead, a restless introspection his towering Symphony No. 5. gives a sense of torment and despair by “Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder” (“Do Not the ambiguous and far-ranging harmonic Gaze into My Songs”): When Mahler’s scheme. lifelong friend and confidante Natalie Bauer-Lechner saw the self-effacing text 5 2019 Program Notes Week Four of this song’s poem, she wrote that it was HECTOR BERLIOZ (1803–69) here, and in the other songs as well, but “so typical of [Mahler] that he could have Les Nuits d’été (Summer Nights), Berlioz’s orchestration of this set adds a new written it himself.” Mahler’s response was Op. 7 (1840–41) dimension to these expressions.) that, since he considered it the least of his “Sur les lagunes” (“On the Lagoons”) opens summer output, it was destined to be “the Berlioz could have been the poster boy for with a rising three-note figure that becomes most successful.” It is indeed the simplest Romanticism with a capital “R.” His life and the anchor (pardon the metaphor) for of the five songs, and it has the most in career were full of roller-coaster twists and depicting a boat floating across the lagoon. common with the earlier Wunderhorn turns, climbs and precipitous drops—and Most listeners agree that this is the darkest folk songs, but it also looks forward to the all of it seemingly taking place with the of the set. (“My beautiful friend is dead, I Chinese influences that later appear inDas accelerator pressed all the way down to the shall weep always; under the tomb she has Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth). floor. taken my soul and my love…”) “Ich atmet’ einen linden Duft” (“I Breathed The composer’s path to a musical career “Absence” immediately establishes a a Gentle Fragrance”): The second song on was anything but a straight line. He was hymn-like feeling. The Berlioz biographer this afternoon’s program features Mahler’s expected to follow in his father’s footsteps W. J. Turner went so far as to describe it as play on the words lind (“gentle”) and linde as a doctor and all but scandalized his family one of “the most expressive love songs in the (“linden tree”); the continuous motion in the when he abandoned his studies to pursue history of music.” Certainly, few short works piano part can be said to evoke the wafting music. It wasn’t as if he were a prodigy or have ever demanded more restraint and of the tree’s lime scent. Mahler described this even able to significantly advance his own sensitivity from singer and player alike. song to Bauer-Lechner as “the way one feels cause as a composer (his best instrument In the penultimate song of the set, “Au in the presence of a beloved being of whom may have been the guitar). However, he cimetière: Clair de lune” (“In the Cemetery: one is completely sure without a single word somehow managed to win the highest honor Moonlight”), listeners are drawn into the needing to be spoken.” from the Paris Conservatory—the Prix de dark world of the departed through the “Liebst du um Schönheit” (“If You Love Rome—although it can safely be said that he speaker’s lament at the grave of his lost love. for the Sake of Beauty”): This is the only gleaned little from his studies. He certainly (“An air morbidly tender, at once charming true love song Mahler ever wrote, and he wasted no time in dividing opinion among and deadly, that hurts you….The belle de composed it for his future wife, the soprano his professors and peers. One side held that nuit flowers, half closed, cast their weak Alma Schindler. Musically, the verses are he was an original genius and the other held and sweet scent around you….”) The slowly subtle variations on each other (each verse is that he lacked form and discipline. slithering downward and chromatic descent but two lines), and the fourth and final one Some of Berlioz’s most famous works— of the melody is inescapable. stresses the words love and always. notably the Symphonie fantastique—are But, at last, there is a tangible ray of hope, “Um Mitternacht” (“At Midnight”): This quasi-autobiographical, and he did pen his no matter how ephemeral, in “L’Île inconnue” song cried out for orchestration (which memoirs later in life. Yet Les Nuits d’été has (“The Unknown Island”). The response to Mahler provided). Even in its original version remained one of his most private creations. the question “Where do you wish to go?” for piano, there’s no mistaking its religious He selected six poems from the collection is “To the faithful shore where people love fervor and sense of visionary exaltation. La Comédie de la mort by his friend forever.” Although we’re reminded that that The one true climax in the whole set comes Théophile Gautier, “and with his permission, shore “is almost unknown in the country during this song’s final submission with the changed some of the titles.” Gautier was no of love,” Berlioz’s music is as lilting as the cry: “I gave my power into your hands, Lord! musician, but composers mined his work breeze, which the text tells us at the end is Over life and death.” Bauer-Lechner said again and again. (The text in the opening beginning to blow. she heard echoes of the finale of Mahler’s song of Les Nuits d’été, “Villanelle,” was set —Greg Hettmansberger “Resurrection” Symphony (the Symphony no fewer than 23 times.) No. 2) in this song. While the six songs of Les Nuits d’été “Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen” aren’t connected in any obvious way, they (“I Am Lost to the World”): One of the longer do share, to one degree or another, a sense songs in this set, it’s also perhaps the most of lost love. (Berlioz’s first marriage, to the personal, as Mahler had experienced years of actress Harriet Smithson, was on the rocks frustration as a composer and was beginning when he began to set the songs.) “Villanelle” to think that his music might only be fully is bouncy and decidedly not dour on its recognized by future generations. La Grange surface, but there are hints of a darker recounts Mahler’s identification with this mood, particularly in certain chords or the song: brief shift to the minor mode before the third verse. ‘It’s I myself,’ [Mahler] said to Natalie as In “Le Spectre de la rose” (“The Ghost of he stressed its intimate and personal the Rose”), Berlioz—scholars have noted— nature and tried to define its mood of transforms a maudlin poem—whose text complete but restrained fulfillment, ‘the includes lines like “Oh you who caused my feeling that fills one and rises to the tip death without being able to chase it away, of one’s tongue but goes no further.’ every night my rose-colored ghost will dance by your bedside”—into something —Greg Hettmansberger far weightier. (This effect is very subtle 6 2019 Program Notes Week Four Wednesday, August 7, 6 p.m. JOHN DOWLAND (1563–1626) Come and possess my tired thoughts, worn “Come, Heavy Sleep” for Tenor & Guitar soul, BENJAMIN BRITTEN (1913–76) (1597) That living dies, till thou on me be stole. Nocturnal after John Dowland for Guitar, Come, shadow of my end, and shape of rest, Op. 70 (1963) John Dowland didn’t have to wait for Allied to Death, child to his black-fac’d posterity to declare him the greatest and Night: It was the matchless Andrés Segovia who most important composer of songs, but, like Come thou and charm these rebels in my brought the classical guitar to the forefront a prophet without honor in his own country, breast, of 20th-century performance, thanks he attained high-profile positions virtually Whose waking fancies do my mind affright. to a combination of his superb artistry everywhere except his native England. (This O come, sweet Sleep; come or I die forever: and his commissioning of new works by was despite the fact that the first of his four Come ere my last sleep comes, or come contemporary composers. The guitarists who songbooks to be published, in 1597, was never. gratefully carried on Segovia’s legacy learned reprinted no fewer than four times between —Anonymous from his example and continued to seek new 1600 and 1613.) Certainly, his education repertoire from composers of their time. was solid: he received his bachelor of music BENJAMIN BRITTEN (1913–76) Julian Bream was no exception, and, degree from Oxford in 1588. He also had Serenade for Tenor, Horn & Strings, happily, he enjoyed a vital partnership the opportunity, in 1592, to play before Op. 31 (1943) with the tenor Peter Pears. On their recital Queen Elizabeth I, but he failed to gain an programs, the songs of John Dowland appointment as one of her court musicians. A number of specific people and events (1563–1626) made regular appearances. Not The variety of Dowland’s songs and came together to produce the Serenade only were both musicians fans of the early arrangements attest to both his sustained for Tenor, Horn & Strings, one of Britten’s English master, but so was the composer popularity and a pragmatism rooted in finest works. A pacifist, Britten left England Benjamin Britten, who was a central figure the belief that in versatility lay more sales. in 1939, at the start of World War II, and in Pears’s life, both artistically and personally. Note the explanatory title of his first book: planned to make his life in the United States, Bream asked Britten if he’d write him a work The First Booke of Songes or Ayres of foure but after three years in this country, he for solo guitar. Britten said yes, but before he partes with Tableture for the Lute: So made realized his home and his identity were in wrote it, he composed, among other works, that all the partes together, or either of England. When America entered the war, two sets of songs for voice and guitar. them severally may be sung to the Lute, his presence here became morally moot, so When he finally turned to Bream’s piece, Orpherian, or Viol de gamba. Alongside he returned to England in April 1942. One Britten selected Dowland’s “Come, Heavy this attitude of mix and match comes the of the sources of his growing homesickness Sleep” as his starting point, and then familiar practice of recycling one’s own had been his chance discovery of a volume he composed the work in a theme-and- material: Dowland frequently wrote dance of work by the English poet George Crabbe variations form. There was an interesting tunes to which he later added words and (1754–1832). Britten would use Crabbe’s twist, however: he didn’t state the theme which he often adapted into ballads. The Borough as the basis for his 1945 opera until the final movement of the work. “Come, Heavy Sleep,” which is from Peter Grimes, and he began to read widely in Cast in nine sections, the first eight are The First Book, is one of Dowland’s English poetry. dominated by titles that one might associate most celebrated songs. While its intense Then, in the summer of 1942, only a few with sleep (either a good night’s sleep or melancholy and all-but-despairing lyrics months after he returned home, Britten otherwise): “Musingly,” “Agitated,” “Restless,” reinforce the stereotype of the composer met the young English horn virtuoso Dennis “Dreaming,” etc. We’re also treated, unlike in and his music as predominantly gloomy, we Brain and was astonished by his playing. Dowland’s original melancholy masterpiece, should be quick to point out that there are Britten said that he was most often moved to overtly dramatic sections that have lighter colors and expressions in his oeuvre. to write music for specific occasions or markings like “March-like” and “Uneasy.” More to the point for tonight’s concert, performers, and now he resolved to write The eighth section is a passacaglia, a “Come, Heavy Sleep” has inspired singers something for Brain and for his own life- much lengthier section with a recurring throughout the centuries, including pop and companion, the tenor Peter Pears. During pattern (as indicated by its title) of six jazz artists in the last several decades. And, the winter of 1943, Britten was hospitalized descending bass notes that accompany the of course, it’s proven a potent inspiration for with influenza, and while he recovered, he first two notes of the song. (Astute Britten at least one 20th-century composer, whose drafted a setting—for tenor, solo French fans will be reminded of the passacaglia work is also on today’s program. horn, and string orchestra—of six English that comes just before act 2, scene 2, of —Greg Hettmansberger poems. In April 1943, he wrote to a friend: his operatic masterpiece Peter Grimes.) The “I’ve practically completed a new work (6 final sequence of the passacaglia makes the COME, HEAVY SLEEP Nocturnes) for Peter and a lovely young horn greatest technical demands on the soloist, player Dennis Brain, & Strings. . . . It is not and the gradual emotional settling takes Come, heavy Sleep, the image of true Death; important stuff, but quite pleasant, I think.” us into the “Slow and Quiet” final section, And close up these my weary weeping eyes: Despite Britten’s self-deprecation, the in which Dowland’s original song is given a Whose spring of tears doth stop my vital Serenade for Tenor, Horn & Strings is a hushed treatment that fades to stillness. breath, masterpiece. His description of it as “6 —Greg Hettmansberger And tears my heart with Sorrow’s sigh- Nocturnes” catches the essence of this swoll’n cries: music, for all six of the poems he sets are in some way about the night: as physical 7 2019 Program Notes Week Four fact, as metaphor, or as setting. The tenor imminence of damnation. One may be in the The splendour falls on castle walls sings with the accompaniment of string quiet night one second and searing in the And snowy summits old in story: orchestra, but the horn plays a central role flames of hell the next. Britten structures The long light shakes across the lakes, in this cycle: by itself, it frames the six songs the song as a long crescendo followed by a And the wild cataract leaps in glory: with a Prologue and an Epilogue, and it long decrescendo. Initially, the tenor almost Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying, weaves its way into the vocal line of each “speaks” the text, which remains within Bugle blow; answer, echoes, answer, dying, song or stands outside the text and offers a narrow compass at first. Strings then dying, dying. a different perspective on the “meaning” of accompany him with a complex, athletic each poem. For Brain, Britten wrote music of fugue, and at the climax of this fugue the O hark, O hear how thin and clear, extraordinary virtuosity and beauty; the solo horn makes its brilliant entrance—a terrifying And thinner, clearer, farther going! part in the Serenade is one of the greatest shriek in a very frightening song. The fugue O sweet and far from cliff and scar ever written for French horn. winds its way back down, and the tenor The horns of Elfland faintly blowing! Britten had read widely—the six poems chants his unsettling text into silence. Blow, let us hear the purple glens replying: he set here span five centuries (the 15th Relief comes in “Hymn” (“Hymn to Diana” Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, answer, dying, through the 19th). All six texts in some way by Ben Jonson, 1572–1637)—which evokes dying, dying. touch on night, but there’s no progression Diana, goddess of the hunt—and here the across the sequence of these texts, nor are horn takes up its ancient identity as hunting O love, they die in yon rich sky, the six poems connected thematically. The horn. The interplay of tenor and horn in this They faint on hill or field or river: first two may be set at sundown and the song is particularly brilliant. Our echoes roll from soul to soul, remainder in darkness, but these six songs At the end of “Hymn,” the horn player And grow for ever and for ever. should be regarded as six separate reflections steps offstage and is silent during “Sonnet” Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying, on the meaning of night rather than a (“To Sleep” by John Keats, 1795–1821). That And answer, echoes, answer, dying, dying, narrative with a theme. text, a beautiful call for sleep as protector, is dying. Britten frames these songs with a lengthy accompanied only by strings, and finally it call for solo horn, exactly the same each fades into silence. The horn now repeats its ELEGY time, though the horn player moves offstage call from the Prologue, but this time from (“The Sick Rose” by William Blake, to play the Epilogue. Britten specifies that offstage, as if coming from some unknown 1757–1827) this call is to be played entirely in natural place in the darkness. And it’s on that harmonics—an effect that makes it sound faraway sound that the Serenade slips into O Rose, thou art sick! slightly out of tune at certain spots. Such the silent night. The invisible worm a tuning seems to lead us into a “natural” —Eric Bromberger That flies in the night world, one unsweetened by tempered In the howling storm, intonation. To emphasize this point, some PASTORAL horn players choose to play these calls on (“The Evening Quatrains” by Charles Cotton, Has found out thy bed the Waldhorn or “natural” (valveless) horn. 1630–87) Of crimson joy: The opening song, “Pastoral” (“The Evening And his dark secret love Quatrains” by Charles Cotton, 1630–87), The day’s grown old; the fainting sun Does thy life destroy. pictures the sun going down in the cooling Has but a little way to run, air of evening; the song’s falling thematic And yet his steeds, with all his skill, DIRGE lines mirror the descent of the sun. Scarce lug the chariot down the hill. (Anonymous, 15th century) “Nocturne” (“Blow, Bugle, Blow” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 1809–92) offers echoes of The shadows now so long do grow, This ae nighte, this ae nighte, a distant bugle in the gathering dark, and That brambles like tall cedars show; Every nighte and alle, Britten wrote brilliant music here for the Molehills seem mountains, and the ant Fire and fleet and candle lighte, horn, which must sound both present and Appears a monstrous elephant. And Christe receive thy saule. very far away. The tone changes completely with “Elegy” A very little, little flock When thou from hence away art past, (“The Sick Rose” by William Blake, 1757– Shades thrice the ground that it would Every nighte and alle, 1827). It’s now deepest night, and in the stock; To Whinnymuir thou com’st at last; course of the “howling storm,” an awareness Whilst the small stripling following them And Christe receive thy saule. of secret sin creeps in. This song has an Appears a mighty Polypheme. unusual structure. The opening is a long If ever thou gav’st hos’n and shoon, solo for horn with string accompaniment, And now on benches all are sat, Every nighte and alle, and, at the center, Blake’s text is almost In the cool air to sit and chat, Sit thee down and put them on; chanted rather than sung. (Britten marks it Till Phoebus, dipping in the West, And Christe receive thy saule. Recitativo.) The tenor then drops out as the Shall lead the world the way to rest. horn and strings lead this tense song to its If hos’n and shoon thou ne’er gav’st nane, quiet close. NOCTURNE Every nighte and alle, “Dirge,” based on an anonymous 15th- (“Blow, Bugle, Blow” by Alfred, Lord The whinnes shall prick thee to the bare century text, is a terrifying poem about the Tennyson, 1809–92) bane; 8 2019 Program Notes Week Four And Christe receive thy saule. O soothest Sleep! if so it please thee, close quarter of an hour, comes to a quiet close In midst of this thine hymn my willing eyes, with the triplet sounding faintly in the From Whinnymuir when thou may’st pass, Or wait the “Amen” ere thy poppy throws distance. Every nighte and alle, Around my bed its lulling charities. The Andante con moto is deceptively To Brig o’ Dread thou com’st at last; Then save me, or the passèd day will shine simple. From the song “Der Tod und das And Christe receive thy saule. Upon my pillow, breeding many woes, Mädchen” Schubert uses only Death’s music, Save me from curious Conscience, that still an almost static progression of chords. The From Brig o’ Dread when thou may’st pass, lords melody moves quietly within the chords. Every nighte and alle, Its strength for darkness, burrowing like a But from that simple progression, Schubert To Purgatory fire thou com’st at last; mole; writes five variations that are themselves And Christe receive thy saule. Turn the key deftly in the oilèd wards, quite varied—by turns soaring, achingly And seal the hushèd casket of my Soul. lyric, fierce, and calm. The wonder is that so If ever thou gav’st meat or drink, simple a chordal progression can yield music Every nighte and alle, FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797–1828) of such expressiveness and variety. The fire shall never make thee shrink; String Quartet in D Minor, D. 810, After two such overpowering movements, And Christe receive thy saule. “Death and the Maiden” (1824) the Scherzo: Allegro molto might seem almost lightweight, for it’s extremely short. If meat or drink thou ne’er gav’st name, In the fall of 1822, Schubert contracted But it returns to the slashing mood of the Every nighte and alle, syphilis. The effects, physical and emotional, opening movement and takes up that same The fire will burn thee to the bare bane; were devastating. He was extremely ill strength. The trio sings easily in the lower And Christe receive thy saule. throughout 1823—so seriously in May that voices as the violin flutters and decorates he had to be hospitalized. His health had, their melodic line. An unusual feature of the This ae nighte, this ae nighte, in fact, been shattered permanently, and he trio is that it has no repeat; Schubert instead Every nighte and alle, would never be fully well again. The cause of writes an extension of the trio, almost a Fire and fleet and candle lighte, his death five years later at 31 was officially form of variation itself. And Christe receive thy saule. listed as typhoid but was probably a direct The final movement, Presto, races ahead result of syphilis. Emotionally, the illness was on its 6/8 rhythm. Many have felt that this HYMN so destructive that he never went back to movement is death-haunted. They note (“Hymn to Diana” by Ben Jonson, complete the symphony he’d been working that the main theme is a tarantella, the 1572–1637) on when he contracted the disease; it would old dance of death, and that Schubert also come to be known as the “Unfinished.” quotes quietly from his own song “Erlkönig.” Queen and huntress, chaste and fair, By early 1824, Schubert had regained Significantly, the phrase he quotes is set, Now the sun is laid to sleep, some of his strength. He turned to chamber in that song, to Death’s words “Mein liebes Seated in thy silver chair, music and composed two string quartets, the Kind, komm geh mit mir” (“My dear child, State in wonted manner keep: second of them in D minor. That quartet’s come go with me”), which is exactly the idea Hesperus entreats thy light, nickname, “Der Tod und das Mädchen” of the song “Der Tod und das Mädchen.” Goddess excellently bright. (“Death and the Maiden”), comes from What this movement is “about” must be left Schubert’s use of a theme from his song by to each listener to decide, but it’s hard to Earth, let not thy envious shade that name as the basis for a set of variations believe that this music is death-haunted. Dare itself to interpose; in the second movement. In the song, which The principal impression is of overwhelming Cynthia’s shining orb was made sets a poem by Matthias Claudius (1740– power: propulsive rhythms, huge blocks of Heav’n to clear when day did close: 1815), Death beckons a young girl. She begs sound, and sharp dynamic contrasts. The Bless us then with wishèd sight, him to pass her over, but he insists, saying ending, a dazzling rush marked Prestissimo, Goddess excellently bright. that his embrace is soothing, like sleep. It’s blazes with life. easy to believe, under the circumstances, —Eric Bromberger Lay thy bow of pearl apart, that the thought of soothing death may And thy crystal shining quiver; have held some attraction for the composer. Give unto the flying hart The quartet itself is extremely dramatic. Space to breathe, how short so-ever: The Allegro rips to life with a five-note Thou that mak’st a day of night, figure spit out by all four instruments. One Goddess excellently bright. can easily imagine this figure stamped out furiously by an orchestra of Mahlerian SONNET proportions, and the dramatic scope of the (“To Sleep” by John Keats, 1795–1821) movement marks it as nearly symphonic. A gently swung second theme brings some O soft embalmer of the still midnight, relief, but the hammering triplet of the Shutting with careful fingers and benign, opening figure is never far away; it can Our gloom pleas’d eyes, embower’d from the be heard quietly in the accompaniment as light, part of the main theme and as part of the Enshaded in forgetfulness divine: development. The Allegro, which lasts a full 9 2019 Program Notes Week Four Thursday, August 8, Noon power to steer his precocious son, Richard, elements. The second piece, Romanza, is a away from the radical modernisms of melodic serenade, more contemplative and RICHARD STRAUSS (1864–1949) Wagner and Liszt, but that’s another story.) inward than outwardly singing. And the last Andante for Horn & Piano, Op. posth. (1888) Franz Strauss spent much of his life piece, Toccata, is a perpetual motion in two playing in the Bavarian court orchestra, sections. Richard Strauss could hardly have had and his boss, King Ludwig II (a.k.a. the —Marc Neikrug a better environment to grow up in and “Mad King”), was more than enamored nurture his quickly emerging talents as a with Wagner’s cutting-edge music dramas. FRITZ KREISLER (1875–1962) composer. His father, Franz, wasn’t just an Wagner’s music was anathema to Strauss’s String Quartet in A Minor (1919) accomplished musician; he was generally sensibilities, but his operas did give horn considered the finest horn player of his time. players a certain prominence in addition We think of Fritz Kreisler as one of the Given that Franz was a principal player in to new challenges—all of which Strauss greatest violinists who ever lived and as the the court orchestra in , both he and conquered. composer of a series of short and charming Richard were exposed to the most cutting- Even though Wagner was likewise no fan pieces for his own instrument, but there’s a edge 19th-century music: the early operas of Strauss, there was no arguing about his side of Kreisler that’s almost been forgotten: and later music dramas of . playing. Conductor Hans von Bülow, who his love of chamber music. Kreisler may As far as his personal tastes were concerned, was an early advocate of Wagner’s music, have made his reputation (and fortune) as a Franz all but detested Wagner and his like- once called Strauss “the Joachim of the solo player, but in his free time he enjoyed minded contemporaries, but he played the horn” (referring to the greatest violinist of playing string quartets. In the years before challenging parts of his music to the hilt. the second half of the 19th century, Joseph World War I, he’d play quartets informally Franz did everything he could, though, to Joachim). He also said that Strauss was a with Eugène Ysaÿe, Jacques Thibaud, and influence his prodigiously talented son in the difficult man but that it was impossible to be Pablo Casals, and during those sessions direction of the great classicists like Mozart angry with him when he played. Kreisler, Ysaÿe, and Thibaud would take turns et al. Strauss’s own music was modest in playing viola. That quartet never played in Richard was a dutiful son while growing total output, but it was essential to the public, and probably some of the greatest up, and he composed three short but development of the horn repertoire. His quartet performances ever given took place suitable works for his father before he Nocturno is almost like a Schubert lied late at night by four tremendous musicians turned 14. By 1883, he’d completed his or something from Mendelssohn’s Songs playing without an audience and just for Opus 11, the Concerto No. 1 for Horn. Five without Words. There’s no denying its fun. years later, Richard planned to write a full beautiful theme and Strauss’s skill in Perhaps it was for this group of musicians sonata for horn and piano in honor of his judging the climaxes and contrasts. The that Kreisler, in 1921, wrote his only parents’ 25th wedding anniversary, but it gentle closing bars after one last assertive string quartet. This is music of mercurial was a hectic time, as he was busy writing statement leave not only horn players but character. Much of it has a sort of Viennese his breakthrough tone poem audiences as well sharing in a genuine voluptuousness about it, with its dance and becoming increasingly in demand as a “Danke, Herr Strauss!” rhythms and creamy sound; but there are conductor. —Greg Hettmansberger darker sides to this music as well—moments Nevertheless, he did complete the slow of a more somber cast—and Kreisler’s movement of that sonata, although it MARC NEIKRUG performance markings often suggest content remained unpublished until after his death. Three Pieces for Guitar (2015) far different from the surface opulence of It may be just a morsel, but if it whets your this music. The Fantasie opens with a firm appetite for Strauss’s more expansive horn The following is a program note written by cello recitative (marked “Chivalrous”), which works, seek out not only the aforementioned the composer of Three Pieces for Guitar, draws a “simple and tender” response from Concerto No. 1 but also the Concerto No. 2, Marc Neikrug. For more information about the upper strings. The music surges ahead at a late piece in which the aged composer Mr. Neikrug, please see the Festival Artists the Allegro moderato with the violins’ waltz- pays homage to his father’s precepts in an section of the Festival’s program book.—Ed. like main idea. Kreisler, by turns, asks that expressive stylistic throwback. the playing be “passionate,” “dreamy and —Greg Hettmansberger The Three Pieces for Guitar were written inward,” “painful,” and “tender and inward.” in 2015 and were premiered by Łukasz The end of the movement recalls the cello FRANZ STRAUSS (1822–1905) Kuropaczewski in Baltimore, Maryland. recitative from the beginning and then Nocturno for Horn & Piano, Op. 7 (1864) They are dedicated to Jonathan and Faye closes with fragments of the waltz-tune, Kellerman, who were instrumental in now to be played “like a painful memory.” The history of music is rife with infamous encouraging me to compose for the guitar Though it’s in 2/4 rather than the more imbroglios that always seem petty when and who previously commissioned my guitar traditional 3/4, Kreisler calls the second viewed with the clarity of hindsight. But quintet, Acequias. movement a Scherzo, and its outer sections Franz Strauss is a rare example of a man and The pieces each have titles, which are sail along on some impressive ricochet an artist who had intractable beliefs about perfectly descriptive of what they are. bowing marked “Cheerful.” The mood what was good music and what wasn’t— The first,Quasi una Cadenza, is actually a changes in the trio section—whose sinuous although he never let those principles virtuoso cadenza written for a nonexistent theme winds chromatically and soon turns interfere with the execution of his duties as concerto movement. It is a free, expanding Agitato—before the bouncing opening a horn player. (He did try everything in his fantasy of both lyrical and agitated material returns and the music vanishes in a 10 2019 Program Notes Week Four quick cascade of quiet pizzicatos. Saturday, August 10, 5 p.m. from this too-neglected composer. Kreisler called the third movement —Greg Hettmansberger Einleitung und Romanze (“Prelude and ANTONIO SOLER (1729–83) Romance”), and its slow introduction Quintet No. 1 in C Major for Harpsichord & ANTONIO SOLER (1729–83) gradually accelerates to a singing Andante Strings (1776) Fandango for Harpsichord, R. 146 (ca. 1796) con moto. This movement offers a wide range of music—sometimes sweet, It seems that the musical world, particularly One writer has described Soler as “a sometimes impassioned—and it closes with in the United States, is just beginning to workaholic Catalan monk,” and we must give the first violin’s sustained harmonic far discover the considerable riches produced by him high marks for brevity and accuracy. above the lower voices. the 18th-century composer Antonio Soler, In the end, Soler left us 81 works set to The Finale gets off to a spirited start who’s long been overshadowed by the likes Latin texts, 127 pieces in the vernacular, and marked both “Roguish” and “Capriccioso.” of Scarlatti and Boccherini. His catalogue is many cantatas and villancicos (works that This is the most “Viennese” of the large and varied and, despite Soler having combined singing, instruments, dancing, and movements (at times almost reminiscent taken holy orders at a young age, certainly theater). He also composed 22 theater works of Richard Strauss’s ), not confined to liturgical pieces. and a substantial number of fine chamber and it grows quite animated as it proceeds. When the future Padre Soler was six pieces, including the celebrated Six Quintets Kreisler closes by recalling music from the years old, he was sent to the monastery for Harpsichord & Strings. very beginning of the opening movement. in Montserrat (about 30 miles northwest Sad to say, then, that what’s become We hear both the cello recitative and a flash of Barcelona), whose music school was perhaps his most popular keyboard work, of the waltz-tune (“like a distant memory”) enjoying the height of its considerable the Fandango, is considered spurious in its before the music proceeds (“with painful reputation. While there, Soler excelled at attribution to him. Even though Samuel accents”) to its very quiet close. organ and composition. He later took a Rubio, one of the principal cataloguers of —Eric Bromberger position at the cathedral in Seo de Urgel, but Soler’s canon, assigned it the number R. 146, as he approached the age of 30, he accepted he wrote, “We doubt seriously the paternity a position as chapel master at El Escorial of Soler,” principally due to “a substantially Monastery, not far from Madrid. identical ostinato” by an obscure composer Soler thought that his taking of orders “in a Fandango with variations for the and his duties at El Escorial might allow him fortepiano.” No one seems to lose sleep to retreat from the world, but the opposite over the issue, however—and if listeners are proved true. In the mid-1760s, he became excited by this work and feel compelled to the music master for the Infante Don Gabriel seek out more of Soler’s music, all the better! de Borbon. The Infante (who was born in The fandango as a form began to emerge 1752) must have been an apt and talented in the early 18th century, along with other student, as Soler composed six keyboard forms that bore the name of the regions quintets for the youth. where they were conceived, such as the Soler spent most of his time in the Casita malaguena. Unlike some of these forms, de Arriba, a summer house that the Infante’s though, the fandango had its roots in father, Carlos III, built near the monastery flamenco, since dance and song were critical and had recently restored. During musical to its style. The bass line that Soler employs performances, the musicians sat in an upper in his example may have been borrowed room that opened onto a lower room where or adapted from one he heard; some have a select audience sat. The first (of probably even suggested its similarity to the song “La many) performances of Soler’s quintets Folia,” which inspired numerous composers, almost certainly took place there. (Ah, to including Corelli and Rachmaninoff. It’s have enjoyed a summer evening in that what Soler does with the right hand, setting!) however, that’s remarkable, even if some The quintets are substantial works. The scholars quibble over whether this is a type Quintet No. 1 in C Major is cast in five of theme and variations or a fantasia. By movements and lasts a little more than any definition, the writing is ever more 20 minutes. Much of Soler’s solo keyboard challenging and spine-tingling, with the music reveals the influence of Scarlatti work closing and opening in D minor, with (with whom Soler had studied briefly), an F-major section for contrast at its center. but the quintets owe more to Boccherini —Greg Hettmansberger (who had also spent time in Spain during Soler’s lifetime). In both the fast and slower movements, including a fourth-movement Minuetto, Soler applies a concerto-like treatment to the keyboard versus the string ensemble. As the Allegro movement concludes, we’re left wanting to hear more 11 2019 Program Notes Week Four LUIGI BOCCHERINI (1743–1805) marquee event: a fiery Fandango that also Quintet No. 4 in D Major for Guitar & calls for castanets, which are played by ERIC BROMBERGER earned his doctorate Strings, G. 448, “Fandango” (1798) the cellist. While not lacking in contrasting in American literature at UCLA and taught sections of eloquence, the work concludes for 10 years before quitting to devote Luigi Boccherini—the best-known with a breathless drive to the final bars. himself to his first love, music. A violinist, instrumental composer produced by Italy —Greg Hettmansberger Mr. Bromberger writes program notes for in the second half of the 18th century— the Minnesota Orchestra, Washington had one of the most colorful lives of any Performing Arts at The Kennedy Center, composer and, for most of it, had the fame San Francisco Performances, University of and adulation to match. In a 1798 anthology Chicago Presents, the La Jolla Music Society, called L’Art du Violon, Jean-Baptiste Cartier the San Diego Symphony, and many other wrote, “If God wanted to speak to Man organizations. He’s been a pre-concert through music, He would do so through the lecturer for the Los Angeles Philharmonic works of Haydn; if He wished to listen to since 1999. music Himself, He would choose Boccherini.” Born into a musical and artistic family in GREG HETTMANSBERGER has contributed Lucca, Boccherini became a cellist at a young criticism and features to the Los Angeles age, and by his 14th year he was a member Times, L.A. Weekly, the Los Angeles Daily of the orchestra at the Court Theater in News, Performing Arts, and the Santa Vienna. A decade later, he toured with the Barbara News-Press, and he was a staff violinist Filippo Manfredi, and he eventually writer for the Los Angeles Opera, for which gained fame at the Parisian concert series he’s written two yearbooks. This is his 24th known as the Concert Spirituel. The major season writing program notes for the Santa defining circumstance of his creative life, Fe Chamber Music Festival. He currently however, turned out to be his move, most contributes articles to Madison Magazine likely around 1769, to Spain, where he and writes the blog WhatGregSays at served the royal family of Madrid. A stint as whatgregsays.com. court composer to Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia from 1786 to 1797 was followed by a JENNIFER RHODES (supertitle translations) return to Madrid. It was during those Iberian holds a PhD in Italian and comparative years that he wrote the majority of his best- literature. Her research focuses on sites of known works, his 125 string quintets. interchange between literature, music, and The evidence for Boccherini’s authorship the visual arts. Her current book project of at least six quintets for guitar and strings explores the influence of Richard Wagner comes from a letter dated December 27, on the modern European novel. Ms. Rhodes 1798. Writing to his publisher, Pleyel, teaches literature at Columbia University and Boccherini mentions the recent completion has been a member of The Santa Fe Opera of these half dozen works. He likely dedicated Titles Department since 2000. them to the Marchese Pedro Benavente- Osuna, as Boccherini occasionally conducted the orchestra of the Duchess Benavente- Osuna in Madrid. Yet in Boccherini’s own catalog of his works, there’s no record of any guitar quintets. To his way of thinking, these pieces were simply arrangements of earlier works. In fact, it was Benavente, an avid and apparently gifted guitarist, who asked for the arrangements. Indeed, the quintet heard on this evening’s program is something of a “hybrid” arrangement. The first two movements are taken from the Quintet in D Major, Op. 10, No. 6, and the final two are from the Quintet in D Major, Op. 40, No. 2. In this “Fandango” Quintet, Boccherini indulges in the lyrical aspects of the guitar, which dominate in the soothing Pastorale. The ensuing Allegro maestoso originally contained a heaping dose of virtuosity for Boccherini’s own instrument, the cello. A short Grave assai introduction leads to the 12 2019 Program Notes Week Four