Schumann Quartett

Candlelight Concert Society Presents SCHUMANN QUARTETT ERIK SCHUMANN, violin KEN SCHUMANN, violin LIISA RANDALU, viola MARK SCHUMANN, cello Saturday, February 22, 2020, 7:30 pm Smith Theatre–Horowitz Visual & Performing Arts Center Howard Community College This performance is sponsored by Rosalie Lijinsky Chadwick in memory of William Lijinsky WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756–1791) Quartet in D major, K. 499, “Hoffmeister” Allegretto Menuetto: Allegretto Adagio Allegro DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH (1906–1975) Quartet no. 9 in E-flat Major, op. 117 Moderato con moto Adagio Allegretto Adagio Allegro Intermission BEDŘICH SMETANA (1824–1884) Quartet no. 1 in E minor, “From my Life” Allegro vivo appassionato Allegro moderato alla Polka Largo sostenuto Vivace Discography: BERLIN CLASSICS Management: ARTS MANAGEMENT GROUP, INC., https://www.artsmg.com/ deepening plot. Some of Mozart’s densest coun- Program Notes terpoint appears in the Menuetto, which is at the same time intense and elegant. Following traditional Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) minuet and trio form, the robust initial repeated sec- QUARTET IN D MAJOR, K. 499, “HOFFMEISTER” tions give over to a trio, which in this case introduces a tentative element. The trio ends one beat too The publisher and skilled am- early, as if the composer were tripping over him- ateur violinist Franz Anton self in his eagerness to get back to the confidence Hoffmeister (1754-1812) of the minuet. A slow movement, marked Adagio, was a friend, colleague, and brings repose in the form of a homophonic texture, benefactor of Mozart. In but there is a hint of melancholy in the chromatic 1785, Hoffmeister agreed ornamentation and chord progressions. As the finale to take a risk on behalf of (Allegro) begins, the listener can welcome back the his friend and publish the good-natured jokester Wolfgang, but as the move- first of Mozart’s piano quar- ment, a rondo, presents its contrasting sections, it tets (K. 478, in G minor), becomes clear that the composer is not just playing but it sold poorly, leaving around. Each new motif adds a note of seriousness Hoffmeister in the red. (It was judged too difficult by to the conversation and serves as the catalyst for most of his regular customers.) Nevertheless, when some exhilarating counterpoint. Mozart came back to him the next year with a string quartet in D major–the one on tonight’s program– Notes by Stephen Ackert Hoffmeister agreed to publish it. Indeed, it can be seen from his advertisement for the work that he did so with relish: “[The quartet] is written with that fire Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975) of the imagination and that correctness which has QUARTET NO. 9 IN E-FLAT MAJOR, OP. 117 long since won for Herr M[ozart] the reputation as By the mid-1960s, Dmitri one of the best composers in Germany. [The Minuet] Shostakovich had settled is composed with an ingenuity (being interwoven uncomfortably into his with canonic imitations) that one not infrequently role as the leading Soviet finds wanting in other such compositions.” composer and an impor- Hoffmeister’s enthusiasm was no doubt a response tant member of the Soviet to Mozart’s combination in this quartet of a light, music establishment. His divertimento-like atmosphere, which the composer official status imposed du- had learned from the early quartets of Haydn, and ties but also gave him some serious counterpoint. The latter became a feature latitude to take creative of Mozart’s work after he had the opportunity to risks. Symphony No. 13, peruse manuscripts of J. S. Bach in the library of Babi Yar, a choral setting of Yevgeny Yevtushenko’s one of the friends he made upon moving to Vienna, poetry implicitly condemning government anti-Sem- Baron von Swieten. In this quartet, melodies are sup- itism, was premiered in 1962 despite considerable ported not just by harmony, but by accompanying interference by the cultural authorities. Shostakovich motifs that have their own role to play in the musical suffered no adverse consequences other than criti- conversation. cism and suppression of the symphony after several performances. The opening movement (Allegretto) begins with a light introductory phrase that becomes a core motif His private life was also more settled, happily so and develops from a galant gesture to a truly grave despite a growing list of chronic health problems. statement. The movement may be characterized His third marriage, to Irina Antonova, a music editor as a story full of sharp dramatic contrasts with a and kindred spirit, was a source of great satisfaction to Shostakovich. Intelligent, industrious, and highly appreciative of his music, she brought stability and Alban Berg’s Wozzeck, a favorite of the composer. order back into his life after the unhappy years fol- The centerpiece third movement scherzo opens lowing his disastrous second marriage. She was with a driving dance that is interrupted at its height an indispensible companion as his health gradu- by a high, melodic second theme. After the dance ally deteriorated during their years together and was resumes, the second theme returns above it as a widely credited for prolonging his life. ghostly whisper with hints of atonality. In the Adagio His principal creative challenge at this time was in fourth movement, passages of forceful solo pizzicato chamber music. He had taken the use of his personal and recitative come unexpectedly after pauses in the four-note DSCH “signature” and self-quotation to a oscillating main theme. The symphonic final move- radical extreme in the Eighth Quartet (1960), and ment, twice as long as any of the earlier four, opens he struggled to find a path forward. Dissatisfied with re-workings of themes from the first and fourth with a first attempt to compose his Ninth Quartet, movements, and it closes with restatements and he wrote that he “burnt it in the stove.” A second transformations of all the quartet’s major themes in version, which he publicly described as “a children’s reverse order. In between these two sections, after a piece, about toys and going out to play,” was also dis- harsh tremolo, is a return of recitative and pizzicato, carded. A completely different Ninth Quartet finally first in the cello and then in all instruments together. appeared in May 1964, four years after the Eighth The quartet ends with an exciting prolonged cre- Quartet. Two months later, he completed his Tenth scendo. The Ninth Quartet was dedicated to the Quartet. composer’s wife Irina Antonova. The ambitious, experimental Ninth Quartet displays Notes by Robert Strong many stylistic elements from the musical landscape of the earlier quartets, but it also stands apart from Bedřich Smetana (1824–1884) its predecessors by using new stylistic elements that QUARTET NO. 1 IN E MINOR, “FROM MY LIFE” Shostakovich would carry forward into in his last five quartets: clusters and oscillating lines of repeated Bedřich Smetana was close note intervals, large note intervals in a widely the first major national- spaced musical texture, and sudden passages of rec- ist composer of Bohemia itative and solo pizzicato. These combine to produce (now part of the Czech a fragmentation and heightened emotional distance. Republic). He started playing in string quartets at The Ninth Quartet is played without pause and age 5, gave his first piano has many unifying links across its movements. The recital at 6, and launched restless oscillating eighth note pulse with which his career as a composer the first movement opens, an apparent allusion to at 8. His homeland was Mussorgsky’s opera Boris Godunov, runs as an under- ruled from Vienna as part current throughout the entire movement. It returns of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, so he grew up in as the main theme in the fourth movement, and an atmosphere of restless rebellion. He sympathized appears again, much faster, in the last movement’s with the desire of his compatriots to establish a na- opening theme. A harmonic element introduced in tional identity and promote pride in Czech culture. the first movement also reappears throughout the He expressed those ideals through his music and has quartet: the note A natural, which acts, in Judith since been recognized as the founder of the Czech Kuhn’s term, as a harmonic “sore” to disrupt or block classical music tradition. harmonic resolution. The movements are stitched together by their closing notes, which become the Smetana was an indifferent student who was in- opening notes of the following movement. clined to neglect his studies to attend concerts or to write string quartets for the amusement of his The second movement, one of two Adagios in the friends. In 1843, when he was 19, Smetana settled quartet’s arched structure, alludes to music from in Prague, where he earned a precarious living as a teacher, pianist, and conductor. During these years, in my ears of the high-pitched tones which in he was able to hear Franz Liszt in concert and was 1874 announced the beginning of my deaf- greatly impressed by the older musician’s accom- ness. I permitted myself this little joke because plishments as a performing artist and as a composer. it was so disastrous to me. The second move- They eventually met and became friends. Smetana ment, a quasi-polka, brings to mind the joyful was especially interested in Liszt’s concept of the days of youth, when I composed dance tunes symphonic poem, an orchestral form that describes and was known everywhere as a passionate in music some poetic or dramatic idea. Liszt com- lover of dancing. The third movement reminds posed a dozen such works in the mid-19th century, me of the happiness of my first love, the girl and Smetana saw in them an ideal vehicle to express who later became my wife.

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