CAL PERFORMANCES PRESENTS PROGRAM

Sunday, November 3, 2013, 3pm (1811–1886) Schlaflos! Frage und Antwort, S. 203 (1883) Hertz Hall

Liszt Unstern! Sinistre, disastro, S. 208 (1881) Paul Lewis, piano Liszt R.W.—Venezia, S. 201 (1883)

PROGRAM (1839–1881) Pictures at an Exhibition (1874)

Promenade (1685–1750) Prelude, Nun komm’ der Heiden The Gnome Heiland, BWV 659 (arr. Busoni) Promenade — The Old Castle (no applause) Promenade — Tuileries Bydlo Promenade — Ballet of the Chicks in Their Shells (1770–1827) Piano Sonata No. 13 in E-flat major, Op.27, No. 1, “Quasi una fantasia” (1800–1801) Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle The Marketplace at Limoges Andante — Allegro — Tempo I Catacombs, Roman Tombs. Cum Mortuis in Allegro molto e vivace Lingua Mortua Adagio con espressione The Hut on Fowl’s Legs Allegro vivace — Adagio — Presto The Great Gate of Kiev Played without pause

Bach Chorale Prelude, Ich ruf’ zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, BWV 639 (arr. Busoni) Funded by the Koret Foundation, this performance is part of Cal Performances’ 2013–2014 Koret Recital Series, which brings world-class artists to our community. This performance (no applause) is made possible, in part, by Patron Sponsors Linda and Will Schieber.

Cal Performances’ 2013–2014 season is sponsored by Wells Fargo. Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op.27, No. 2, “Moonlight” (1801) Adagio sostenuto — Allegretto — Presto agitato

INTERMISSION

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Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) arrangements,’ rarely requires the highest skill student, and the sessions soon ended, though and he began the titanic struggle that became Two Chorale Preludes of the player, except for the art of piano touch, the two maintained a respectful, if cool, rela- one of the gravitational poles of his life. Within Arranged by (1866–1924) which must certainly be at the player’s com- tionship until Haydn’s death in 1809. two years, driven from the social contact on mand in performing these chorale preludes.” In a world still largely accustomed to the re- which he had flourished by the fear of discov- The “chorale prelude,” as its title suggests, is an In addition to his keyboard setting of Ich served, genteel musical style of pre-Revolution- ery of his malady, he penned the “Heiligenstadt instrumental introduction to a Lutheran hymn. ruf’ zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ (“I cry to Thee, ary Classicism, Beethoven burst upon the scene Testament,” his cri de cœur against this wicked In its essential form, it originated (and contin- Lord Jesus Christ”), Bach also incorporated the like a fiery meteor. The Viennese aristocracy trick of the gods. These Sonatas stand on the ues) as a simple play-through of a chorale melody melody into his No. 177, composed in took this young lion to its bosom. Beethoven brink of that great crisis in Beethoven’s life. by the organist to familiarize the congregation Leipzig in 1732. expected as much. Unlike his predecessors, he The Sonata, Op. 27, No. 1, was completed by with the tune and set the mood for its words. The choraleNun komm, der Heiden Heiland would not assume the servant’s position tradi- the end of 1801 and published by the Viennese Such a practice allowed for a certain amount of (“Now come, the Gentiles’ Savior”), which also tionally accorded to a musician, refusing, for house of Cappi on March 3, 1802. The work improvisation in figuration, harmonization, and served as the basis for two Advent that example, not only to eat in the kitchen, but be- was dedicated to Princess Josephine Sophie texture, however, and gave rise to a whole spec- Bach composed in 1714 and 1724, is a venerable coming outspokenly hostile if he was not seated von Liechtenstein, née von Fürstenberg, wife trum of independent organ compositions based hymn in whose creation Martin Luther himself next to the master of the house at table. The of General Field Marshal Prince Joseph Johann on chorale melodies: in addition to the chorale played a part. more enlightened nobility, to its credit, recog- von Liechtenstein; she was one of Beethoven’s prelude, such forms as the chorale fugue, chorale nized the genius of this gruff Rhinelander, and pupils and most important patrons at the time. fantasia, chorale motet, and chorale variation are encouraged his work. Shortly after Beethoven’s The composer remained on friendly terms with well represented in the catalogs of many 17th- Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) arrival, Prince Lichnowsky provided him with her at least until 1805, when he asked her to as- and 18th-century German Lutheran composers. Piano Sonata No. 13 in E-flat major, Op. 27, living quarters, treating him more like a son sist his student Ferdinand Ries, who had been As proven sublimely by his incomparable church No. 1, “Quasi una fantasia” than a guest. Lichnowsky even instructed the conscripted into the army and was about to leave cantatas, Johann Sebastian Bach was the greatest servants to answer the musician’s call before his Vienna penniless. aggrandizer of chorale tunes who ever lived, and Composed in 1800–1801. own should both ring at the same time. In large In noting the experimental nature of the he made significant contributions to the reper- part, such gestures provided for Beethoven’s form of the Op. 27 Sonatas, Beethoven speci- tory of the chorale prelude, most notably in Das “He was short, about 5 feet, 4 inches, thickset support during his early Viennese years. For fied that they were written “in the manner of Orgel-Büchlein (“The Little Organ Book”), Part and broad, with a massive head, a wildly luxu- most of the first decade after he arrived, he made a fantasy” (“quasi una Fantasia”). The Classical III of the Clavier-Übung (“Keyboard Practice riant crop of hair, protruding teeth, a small some effort to follow the prevailing fashion in model for the instrumental sonata comprised Book”), the so-called Eighteen that he rounded nose, and a habit of spitting when- the sophisticated city, but, though he outfitted three independent movements: a fast movement composed during his tenure as organist and ever the notion took him. He was clumsy, and himself with good boots, a proper coat, and the in sonata form; an Adagio or Andante usually chamber musician to Duke Wilhelm Ernst of anything he touched was liable to be upset or necessary accouterments, and enjoyed the soci- arranged as a set of variations or a three-part Weimar (1708–1717) and collected and revised broken. Badly coordinated, he could never learn ety of Vienna’s best houses, there never ceased structure; and a closing rondo in galloping me- in the 1740s, and the six magnificent Schübler to dance, and more often than not managed to to roil within him the untamed energy of cre- ter. In the Op. 27 Sonatas, Beethoven altered Chorales that he wrote at the end of his life. cut himself while shaving. He was sullen and ativity. It was inevitably only a matter of time the traditional fast–slow–fast sequence in favor A number of Bach’s instrumental works suspicious, touchy as a misanthropic cobra, be- before the fancy clothes were discarded, as a bear of an innovative organization that shifts the ex- were rendered into arrangements for modern lieved that everybody was out to cheat him, had would shred a paper bag. pressive weight from the beginning to the end piano by the celebrated Italian-German pianist- none of the social graces, was forgetful, and was The period of the two Op. 27 Sonatas— of the work, and he made the cumulative ef- composer-philosopher Ferruccio Busoni, who prone to insensate rages.” Thus the late New York 1800–1801—was an important time in fect evident by instructing that the movements not only regularly played Bach’s music on his Times critic Harold C. Schonberg, in his book Beethoven’s personal and artistic development. be played without pause. (Harold Truscott recitals but also edited two complete editions about The Lives of the Great Composers, described He had achieved a success good enough to write pointed out, however, that “the Romantic ele- of that master’s keyboard music for publication. Ludwig van Beethoven, the burly peasant with to his old friend Franz Wegeler in Bonn, “My ment in Beethoven’s Op. 27 does not lie in “That which induced the editor to arrange a the unquenchable fire of genius who descended, compositions bring me in a good deal, and may the movement order but rather in the passion selection of Bach’s chorale preludes for the pi- aged 22, upon Vienna in 1792. Beethoven had I say that I am offered more commissions than and use of sudden mood changes behind the anoforte,” Busoni explained, “was not so much been charged by his benefactor in his hometown it is possible for me to carry out. Moreover, for movement shapes.”) Maynard Solomon wrote to furnish a sample of his capabilities as an ar- of Bonn, Count Ferdinand von Waldstein, to every composition I can count on six or seven that, by 1801, “Beethoven had gained the high ranger as the desire to interest a larger section of go to the Austrian capital and “receive the spirit publishers and even more, if I want them. People ground of the Viennese tradition; he was now the public in these compositions, which are so of Mozart from the hands of Haydn.” He did no longer come to an arrangement with me. I faced with the choice of endless repetition of his rich in art, feeling, and fantasy.... This style of study for a short time with Haydn, then univer- state my price, and they pay.” At the time of this conquests or casting out in an uncharted direc- arrangement, which we take leave to describe as sally regarded as the greatest living composer, gratifying recognition of his talent, however, tion.... One of these [new paths] lay in the direc- ‘in chamber-music style’ in contrast to ‘concert but young Ludwig proved to be a recalcitrant the first signs of his fateful deafness appeared, tion of , toward the loosening and

18 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 19 PROGRAM NOTES PROGRAM NOTES imaginative extension of Classic designs and the reportedly something of a vixen. She seems to Franz Liszt (1811–1886) 1860, Liszt made out his last will and testament, consolidation of an internal, probing, transcen- have been flattered by the attentions of the fa- Schlaflos! Frage und Antwort, S. 203 and the next year he went with the Princess to dent style.” The Op. 27 Sonatas are among the mous musician, but probably never seriously Rome, where they hoped she would be granted earliest manifestations of Beethoven’s soaring considered his intimations of marriage; her so- Composed in 1883. a divorce by Pope Pius IX so that they could heroic manner that was to change forever the cial station would have made wedlock difficult marry on the composer’s 50th birthday, October course of Western music. with a commoner such as Beethoven. For his Liszt composed Schlaflos! Frage und Antwort 22nd. Their petition was denied, and they never The E-flat Sonata, Op. 27, No. 1, opens with part, Beethoven was apparently thoroughly un- (“Sleepless! Question and Answer”) in March spoke of marriage again, even after her husband an episode of child-like simplicity in moderate der her spell at the time, and he mentioned his 1883, just two months after the death of his son- died in 1864. Liszt spent much of 1863 cloistered tempo that some later musicians (notably Hans love for her to a friend as late as 1823, though in-law and musical soul-mate, . in the monastery of the Madonna del Rosario von Bülow) thought unworthy of Beethoven; by then she had been married to Count Wenzel Liszt called the piece a “nocturne” on the title at Monte Mario receiving the religious instruc- Sir Donald Tovey noted that the bass motive Robert Gallenberg, a prolific composer of ballet page, and indicated that it was inspired by a tion that led to him being granted “minor or- here moves “like a kitten in pursuit of its tail.” music, for two decades. A medallion portrait of poem, now lost, by Antonia Raab, one of his ders,” which allowed him to perform a few small Beethoven knew very well what he was about, her was found among Beethoven’s effects after most gifted pupils of the mid–1870s. Though priestly duties but not to officiate at Mass or to however, since the deliberate shifting of emo- his death. The C-sharp minor Sonata was con- the poetic impetus of this music has vanished, hear confession. tional and formal weight from the beginning to temporary with the love affair with Giulietta and the work’s expressive import is still clear: the The change in Liszt’s attitude toward his life the end of the Sonata requires just such a low dedicated to her upon its publication in 1802, opening “question,” agitated in manner and mi- was paralleled by a reconsideration of his musi- level of tension as the platform upon which to but the precise relationship of the music’s nature nor in mode, receives its comforting “answer” cal speech, and a number of piano works from build the successive movements. (The slow, and the state of Beethoven’s heart must remain in the quiet, attenuated, major-key lines that his last years are marked by a sobriety, auster- dreamy music that begins the “Moonlight” unknown; he never indicated that the piece had follow. “Its subject is redemption,” wrote Alan ity, introspection, and harmonic daring that Sonata accomplishes the same formal purpose any programmatic intent. It was not until five Walker in his study of the composer. “The piece leave far behind the virtuoso pyrotechnics of his in that work.) A sudden Allegro outburst erupts years after his death that the work’s passion and might be described as a musical equivalent of touring years and look ahead to the atonal mod- in the middle of the movement, but the calm emotional intensity inspired the German poet the biblical text, ‘Come unto me all ye who are ernisms of the early 20th century. This strain of Unstern! of the opening soon returns. The second move- and music critic Ludwig Rellstab (whose verses heavy laden, and I will give ye rest.’” Liszt’s creative personality is distilled in Sinistre, Disastro (“unlucky star” or “misfor- ment, which follows almost without pause, is Schubert set in 1828 as the first seven numbers tune” in German, with its approximate Italian an attenuated, C minor scherzo whose haunted of his Schwanengesang) to describe the Sonata in Liszt equivalents). The thin thread of tone with which mood presages that of the scherzo of the Fifth terms of “a vision of a boat on Lake Lucerne by Unstern! Sinistre, disastro, S. 208 it begins, not even a melody, tries to find some . An abbreviated slow movement moonlight,” a sobriquet that has since inextrica- rootedness as to its key, but when the harmonies (Adagio con espressione) of great stillness and in- bly attached itself to the music. Composed in 1881. begin to assemble they are also lost to conven- trospection leads by means of sweeping cadenza- Instead of opening with a large symphonic- tion and grow in mounting frustration to a ter- like figures to the brilliant finale, whose vibrant style, sonata-form movement, the “Moonlight” In the early 1860s, after four decades of the most rifying climax that sounded to Liszt’s German impetuosity is interrupted on the Sonata’s pen- initially falls upon the listener with a somber, flamboyantly sensational career ever granted to biographer Peter Rabbe “as if a prisoner were Adagio ultimate page by a recall of the quiet music of minor-mode of the greatest introspec- a musician, Franz Liszt sought a more contem- hammering on the walls of his cell, well know- the Adagio before the closing dash to the end. tion. Next comes a subdued scherzo and trio plative life. Though he was still acclaimed as a ing that nobody would hear him.” There sound whose delicacy is undermined by its offbeat syn- peerless pianist, excellent conductor, and in- some ecclesiastical harmonies, perhaps the pris- copations. The expressive goal of the Sonata is fluential figure in European musical life, Liszt oner seeking consolation in prayer, but these Beethoven achieved with its closing movement, a powerful experienced some serious reverses in the years bear neither energy nor direction, and are soon Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, essay in full sonata form filled with tempestu- surrounding his 50th birthday, in 1861: he re- silenced by a few curdled dissonances. Descent, Op. 27, No. 2, “Moonlight” ous feeling and dramatic gesture about which signed his post as music director at Weimar be- uncertainty, solitude follow. “Anyone who had John N. Burk wrote, “It is the first of the tu- cause of opposition to his artistic policies as well mounted the concert platform in the late 1880s Composed in 1801. multuous outbursts of stormy passion which as the growing local animosity toward his long- in order to play this music in public would have Beethoven was to let loose through the piano so- time, and still unwed, relationship with Princess been considered insane,” wrote Alan Walker in Beethoven fell in love many times, but never natas. It is music in which agitation and urgency Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein; his recent orches- his three-volume study of the composer’s life. married. (The thought of Beethoven as a hus- never cease.” tral compositions were receiving scant attention; “Small wonder that Liszt himself went out of band threatens the moorings of one’s presence Brahms, Joachim, and other leading musicians his way to discourage it [Unstern was not pub- of mind!) The source of his infatuation in 1801, published a manifesto attacking the alleged ex- lished during his lifetime]; he knew that his pu- when he was 30 and still in hope of finding a cesses of his music as well as that of Wagner and pils might harm their careers by doing so. As for wife, was the Countess Giulietta Guicciardi, other “New German” composers; his son Daniel him, he was now used to the hail of criticism who was 13 years his junior, rather spoiled and died in 1859, his daughter Blandine in 1862. In that regularly descended on his music, and his

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reply had long been at hand: ‘I calmly persist in interest in art, music, and theater dates only The ease with which Mussorgsky found music to enormous eggshells, with only their arms, legs, staying stubbornly in my corner, and just work from the time of Peter the Great (1672–1725), memorialize his friend’s pictures was in part the and heads protruding. at becoming more and more misunderstood.’” the powerful monarch who coaxed his country result of his writing in a style perfectly suited to Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle. The title into the modern world by importing ideas, tech- his talents. Since Pictures was written as a suite of was given to the music by Stassov. Mussorgsky nology, and skilled practitioners from western brief sketches for piano, he did not have to con- originally called this movement, “Two Jews: Liszt Europe. To fuel the nation’s musical life, Peter, cern himself with the troublesome problems of one rich, the other poor.” It was inspired by R.W.—Venezia, S. 201 Catherine, and their successors depended on a orchestration, nor with the business of thematic two pictures Hartmann presented to the com- steady stream of well-compensated German, development and large formal structure. These poser showing a pair of residents of the Warsaw Composed in 1883. French, and Italian artists who brought their lat- last two techniques were particularly difficult ghetto, one wealthy and pompous, the other est tonal wares to the magnificent capital city of for the Russian composers, who had almost no poor and complaining. Mussorgsky based both Richard Wagner, his heart already failing, was St. Petersburg. This tradition of imported music training in the German symphonic traditions. themes on incantations he heard on visits to nearly exhausted by the taxing work of bringing continued well into the 19th century. Berlioz, for Each of the Pictures is direct and immediately Jewish synagogues. Parsifal to the stage for its premiere at Bayreuth example, enjoyed greater success in Russia than affective, with a clearly etched melodic and har- The Marketplace at Limoges. A lively sketch in July 1882. He and his wife, Cosima, elected he did in his native France, and Verdi composed monic personality. For the most part, the move- of a bustling market, with animated conversa- to escape the rigors of another German win- La Forza del Destino on a commission from ments depict sketches, watercolors, and architec- tions flying among the female vendors. ter by returning to Venice that fall, staying St. Petersburg, where it was first performed. tural designs shown publicly at the Hartmann Catacombs, Roman Tombs. Cum Mortuis in the sumptuous Palazzo Vendramin on the In the years around 1850, with the spirit of exhibit, though Mussorgsky based two or three in Lingua Mortua. Hartmann’s drawing shows Grand Canal. On November 19th, Franz Liszt, nationalism sweeping through Europe, several sections on canvases that he had been shown him being led by a guide with a lantern through Cosima’s father and Wagner’s musical ally, ar- young Russian artists banded together to rid privately by the artist before his death. The com- cavernous underground tombs. The movement’s rived for a visit. Liszt was struck by Wagner’s their art of foreign influences in order to es- poser linked his sketches together with a musical second section, bearing the title “With the Dead rapidly deteriorating health, and he came to tablish a distinctive character for their works. Promenade in which he depicted his own rotund in a Dead Language,” is a mysterious transfor- associate his son-in-law’s apparently imminent At the front of this movement was a group of self shuffling—in an uneven meter—from one mation of the Promenade theme. death with the black funeral gondolas that composers known as “The Five,” whose mem- picture to the next. The Hut on Fowl’s Legs. Hartmann’s sketch passed frequently below his window. He cap- bers included Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Promenade. According to Stassov, this re- is a design for an elaborate clock suggested by tured his impressions in two elegies, both titled Borodin, César Cui, and Mily Balakirev. Among curring section depicts Mussorgsky “roving Baba Yaga, the fearsome witch of Russian folk- La Lugubre Gondola, before he left Venice and the allies that The Five found in other fields through the exhibition, now leisurely, now lore who eats human bones she has ground into Wagner on January 13, 1883. Just a month later, was the artist and architect Victor Hartmann, briskly in order to come close to a picture that paste with her mortar and pestle. She also can Liszt, in Budapest, learned of Wagner’s death with whom Mussorgsky became close personal had attracted his attention, and, at times sadly, fly through the air on her fantastic mortar, and on February 13th, and he added a third elegy to friends. Hartmann’s premature death at 39 thinking of his friend.” Mussorgsky’s music suggests a wild, midnight the ones he had composed in Venice; he titled it, stunned the composer and the entire Russian The Gnome. Hartmann’s drawing is for a fan- ride. simply, R.W.—Venezia (“R.W.—Venice”). The artistic community. Vladimir Stassov, noted tastic wooden nutcracker representing a gnome The Great Gate of Kiev. Mussorgsky’s two sections of the piece distill Liszt’s grief, first critic and journalistic champion of the Russian who gives off savage shrieks while he waddles grand conclusion to his suite was inspired by in a private manner with somber music of uncer- arts movement, organized a memorial exhibit of about on short, bandy legs. Hartmann’s plan for a gateway in the massive tain key, attenuated texture, enervated motion, Hartmann’s work in February 1874, and it was Promenade—The Old Castle. A troubadour old Russian style crowned with a cupola in the and dark sonority, and then in a public way with under the inspiration of this showing of his late sings a doleful lament before a foreboding, ru- shape of a Slavic warrior’s helmet, for the city of the striding measures of a funeral cortege. A fi- friend’s works that Mussorgsky conceived his ined ancient fortress. Kiev. The majestic music suggests both the im- nal, dying reminiscence of the opening strains Pictures at an Exhibition. Promenade—Tuileries. Mussorgsky’s sub- posing bulk of the edifice (never built, inciden- brings Liszt’s threnody to its insecure close. At the time of the exhibit, Mussorgsky was title is “Dispute of the Children After Play.” tally) and a brilliant procession passing through engaged in preparations for the first public per- Hartmann’s picture shows a corner of the fa- its arches. The work ends with a heroic statement formance of his opera Boris Godunov, and he mous Parisian garden filled with nursemaids of the Promenade theme and a jubilant pealing Modest Mussorgsky (1839–1881) was unable to devote any time to his Pictures and their youthful charges. of the great bells of the city. Pictures at an Exhibition until summer. When he took up the piece in Bydlo. Hartmann’s picture depicts a rugged early June, he worked with unaccustomed speed. wagon drawn by oxen. The peasant driver sings a Composed in 1874. “‘Hartmann’ is bubbling over, just as Boris did,” plaintive melody heard first from afar, then close- © 2013 Dr. Richard E. Rodda he wrote. “Ideas, melodies come to me of their by, before the cart passes away into the distance. Though the history of the Russian nation ex- own accord, like a banquet of music—I gorge Promenade—Ballet of the Chicks in Their tends far back into the mists of time, its cul- and gorge and overeat myself. I can hardly man- Shells. Hartmann’s costume design for the 1871 tural life is of relatively recent origin. Russian age to put them down on paper fast enough.” fantasy ballet Trilby shows dancers enclosed in

22 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 23 ABOUT THE ARTIST Josep Molina/Harmonia Mundi Molina/Harmonia Josep

aul lewis is internationally regarded as Mr. Lewis studied with Joan Havill at the Pone of the leading pianists of his generation, Guildhall School of Music and Drama before with a busy international schedule of engage- going on to study privately with . ments at the world’s most prestigious venues Along with his wife, the Norwegian cellist Bjørg and festivals. His numerous awards include the Lewis, he is artistic director of Midsummer Royal Philharmonic Society’s Instrumentalist of Music, an annual chamber music festival held in the Year, the South Bank Show Classical Music Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom. Award, and three Gramophone Awards. Paul Lewis is represented internationally by His complete cycles of core works by Ingpen & Williams. For more information, visit Beethoven and Schubert have earned him unan- www.paullewispiano.com. imous critical acclaim from all over the world. Mr. Lewis works regularly with many of the world’s great , while his recital career takes him to such venues as London’s Royal Festival Hall, Carnegie and Alice Tully halls in New York, the Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Tonhalle in Zurich, the Palau de la Música in Barcelona, Oji Hall in Tokyo, and Sydney Opera House. Mr. Lewis is a frequent guest at the many of the world’s most prestigious festivals, in- cluding Lucerne, Mostly Mozart in New York, Tanglewood, Schubertiade, Salzburg, Edinburgh, La Roque d’Antheron, Rheingau, Klavier Festival Ruhr, and London’s BBC Proms, where in 2010 he became the first pianist to perform a complete Beethoven piano concerto cycle in one season. His multi–award-winning discography for Harmonia Mundi includes the complete Beethoven piano sonatas, concertos, and “Diabelli” Variations; Liszt’s Sonata in B minor and other works; all the major piano works from the last six years of Schubert’s life; and the three Schubert song cycles with tenor Mark Padmore.

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