Program Notes: Paris Notes on the Program by Patrick Castillo
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CONCERT PROGRAMS Program Notes: Paris Notes on the program by Patrick Castillo CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS very delicacy and lightness of touch that, over subsequent genera- (Born October 9, 1835, Paris; died December 16, 1921, Algiers, tions, would become so strongly associated with French music. Its Algeria) effervescent air lends credence to early biographers’ suggestions that Piano Trio no. 1 in F Major, op. 18 the trio was inspired by a holiday in the Pyrenees. The movement is dominated by the central theme and remains brisk and sunlit through- Composed: 1864 out. Published: 1867 The piano presents a double-dotted rhythmic ostinato in pallid Other works from this period: Suite in d minor for Cello and Piano, octaves to begin the Andante second movement. The violin accom- op. 16 (1862); Introduction et rondo capriccioso in a minor for Solo panies this solemn, folk-like tune with an eerie octave drone, redolent Violin and Orchestra, op. 28 (1863); Orchestral Suite in D Major, of the clavecin-vielle, a type of hurdy-gurdy common in the French op. 49 (1863); Romance in B-flat Major for Piano, Organ, and Violin, mountain regions. op. 27 (1866); Piano Concerto no. 2 in g minor, op. 22 (1868) Andante Vln. ° w ˙ ˙ w ˙ ˙ Approximate duration: 26 minutes &c ® w ˙ ˙ w ˙ ˙ sfz fp Vc. ? c ® ∑∑∑∑ With the defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 came a ¢ Andante marked shift in Europe’s balance of power. The Second French Empire rK ™™ ™™ rK ™™ ™™ œ œ œ œ œ™ ™™ ™™ œ ™™™ œ œ œ œ œ™ ™™ under the reign of Napoleon III collapsed. The war brought about a c œ™™ ™™ œ œ œ œ œ œ™™ œ œ œ œ™™ ™™ œ œ œ œ œ œ™™ œ ™™ œ œ™™™ & œ œ œ œ œ™ œ œ œ™™ œ œ™™™ œ œ œ œ œ™ œ œ #œ newly unified Germany, which would claim the French territory of Pno. R R fp pÔ sfp Ô œ™™ œ ™™ œ œ™™ œ ™™ œ ™™ ™™™ Alsace-Lorraine until the end of the First World War. This course of ? c œ œ #œ œ œ events inspired deep nationalist sentiments throughout France—a { Saint-Saëns steadily elevates these rustic strains to chamber spirit that would be reflected as much in the country’s musical activity music of the utmost elegance, as when refashioning the double- as in other cultural spheres. In 1871, one year after France’s military dotted vielle tune into a rhapsodic melody, floating atop an undulating defeat, composers Romain Bussine and Camille Saint-Saëns formed piano accompaniment. the Société Nationale de Musique; three years later, the French ° ™™ ™™ ™™ œ ™™ œ conductor and violinist Édouard Colonne founded the Concerts de & œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ l’Association Artistique. For several decades leading to this point, espressivo ? lyric opera had dominated France’s musical life; now, these fledgling ¢ ∑∑ organizations spurred a flurry of instrumental composition, laying the ≈≈ & œ œ œ œ ≈ œ œ ≈ œ œ ≈ œ œ ≈ œ œ ≈ œ œ ≈ œ œ ≈ œ œ œ œ œœbœ œœ œœ œ œœ œœ œ œœ œœ œ œœ œbœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ foundation for a strong tradition of French chamber music towards œ ? w w the turn of the twentieth century. This charge was led by some of { w w France’s most prominent composers, including Saint-Saëns, Ernest ° œ ˙ œ w Chausson, César Franck, and others. & B Saint-Saëns was one of his country’s most highly regarded ¢? ∑ ÓŒœ espressivo musical figures over the latter half of the nineteenth century. A child ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ & œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ prodigy who attracted considerable attention in his youth, he con- œbœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ tinued to be regarded in his maturity as an excellent technician in all ? w w parts of his craft. In addition to being a prolific composer in every { w prevalent genre of French music during his time, he was also a gifted A winsome scherzo follows. A playful repartee between string CONCERT PROGRAMS CONCERT pianist and organist and was often compared during his lifetime to pizzicati and offbeat piano chords turns into a blithe gallop that Mozart. propels the movement forward. The trio concludes with a cheerful By the time of the Société Nationale de Musique’s founding, Allegro finale. It begins in an unassuming fashion: violin and cello Saint-Saëns had already produced a respectable corpus of solo and trade plain, two-note utterances, accompanied by gently rippling six- chamber instrumental music. One of the finest among these is the teenth-note figurations in the piano. But this music quickly escalates Piano Trio no. 1 in F Major, op. 18, composed in 1864 and published to a more vigorous ado, accented by an occasional melodic zoom, three years later. Though the piano-trio literature was a rich one like a car speeding by. indeed, spanning works by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, et ° b j ‰ ™ j ‰ j ‰ ™ j ‰ al., Saint-Saëns had virtually no French models in the genre. While the & œ œ #œ œ œ™ œ #œ œ œ œ #œ œ œ™ œ #œ œ Opus 18 Trio might betray the influence of Mendelssohn’s two piano sf sf œ œ™ ™ œ œ œ™ ™ œ trios, the work more so reveals Saint-Saëns to possess a distinct—and ¢?b J ‰ #œ œ œ œ #œ J ‰ J ‰ #œ œ œ œ #œ J ‰ distinctly French—voice. The trio, composed in Saint-Saëns’s thirtieth sf sf year, attests to French music historian Henry Prunières’s appraisal of j œj &b∑œ ‰Œ œ ‰Œ ∑ the composer: “His style, precise, nervous, and clear-cut, is absolutely œ œ sfœ characteristic and also essentially French; it recalls that of eighteenth- ? j ‰Œ ∑∑j‰ Œ century French writers, particularly of Voltaire—nothing is superfluous, { b œ œ everything has its place. Order and clarity are supreme.” œ œ Following a four-measure curtain-raiser, the Allegro vivace Saint-Saëns soon displays a cunning sleight of melodic invention. presents the theme that flows through much of the movement: a What had previously seemed to be ornamental filigree—the piano’s jaunty ascending figure, answered by gleeful staccato eighth notes. opening sixteenth notes—is revealed to be the movement’s primary This theme, offered in turn by cello, violin, and piano, illustrates the theme. The music quiets to a pianissimo and the melody emerges, unadulterated, in a prayerful whisper. The speeding car persists, but *Bolded terms are defined in the glossary, which begins on page 94. now in hushed tones. 18 Music@Menlo 2018 ° of Ravel,” Poulenc noted. “I wanted music to be clear, healthy, and &b∑ ∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑Œ ™ œ œ œ robust—music as frankly French in spirit as Stravinsky’s Pétrouchka is pizz. pp Russian.” Poulenc’s musical ideal was one that integrated the élan of ? Œ ™ j ‰Œ ™ j ‰ ∑ ∑∑∑∑ ¢ b œ œ œ ™ œ œ œ œ bœ œ ™bœbœ œ bœ Œ jazz, cabaret, and other popular styles into the Western classical tradi- œ dim. œ tion. His lighthearted sextet testifies to this ideal and remains one of bœ bœ bœ bœ b˙ &b∑Œ œ Œ ∑ b˙ œ Œ œ bœ b˙ ˙ œ œ b ˙ œ bœ bb˙ ˙ the composer’s most popular works. œ dim.œ pp sostenuto ed espressivo bœ The sextet’s instrumentation—a standard wind quintet of flute, ? bœ bœ b œ Œ ∑∑Œ Œ b˙ ˙ oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and horn plus piano—gives perfect voice to bœ b˙ ˙ b˙ ˙ { œ bœ b˙ ˙ Poulenc’s compositional language. The ensemble affords the vivacity ° &b j‰ ∑∑∑∑∑ ∑ Œ ™ j ‰ ∑ and variety of color necessary to allow Poulenc’s sharp and, at times, ™ œbœ bœ œ œ ™ œ œbœ bœ œ pp œ biting humor to come through. His deployment of wind instruments ? ¢ b ∑∑bœ ∑∑∑∑ ∑∑œ in the Allegro vivace presents a Technicolor palette of timbres to pp bœ pp bœ match Poulenc’s impish melodic and harmonic language. This ebul- < > bœ bœ ˙ ˙ lient opening movement betrays as much a debt to vaudeville or even b b˙ ∑ b˙ œ bœ bœ bbœ ˙ b ∑ & <b> ˙ bb ˙ œ Œ bœ œ b˙ ˙ ˙ circus music as to Stravinsky's neoclassical style, in its textural clarity <b>˙ bpp˙ œ ˙ ˙ ˙ b˙ bœ œ bœ ? <b>˙ ∑∑Œ b˙ ˙ b˙ and melodic immediacy. Each voice excitedly emerges to the fore and b < > b˙ ˙ { b ˙ b˙ ˙ b˙ ˙ b˙ then, just as quickly, recedes to background, as in a game of Whac- The piano reverts to rippling sixteenth notes, with the strings a-Mole. now clarifying the previously concealed melody. The clarity and bril- Poulenc was moreover his generation’s leading composer of liance of this music, representative of Saint-Saëns at his finest, sustain mélodie (a Romantic French song), and throughout the sextet, the the finale to its radiant conclusion. winds issue cantabile lines in pseudo-vocal expressive fashion. A thoughtful bassoon monologue leads to a slow middle section, featuring noirish solo lines supported by a pulsating piano accompa- niment, before a reprise of the mischievous opening music. FRANCIS POULENC A honeyed oboe melody, très doux et expressif, begins the (Born January 7, 1899, Paris; died January 30, 1963, Paris) sextet’s second movement, a divertissement rife with piquant chro- Sextet for Wind Quintet and Piano, op. 100 maticism. As in the preceding movement, each voice soon comes Composed: 1932–1939 to the fore for its melodic turn, whether in solo passages or various Published: 1945 duo combinations.