th SEASON PROGRAM NOTES 47 Week 5 August 11–17, 2019 Sunday, August 11, 6 p.m. FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797–1828) farewell. Making the connection even clearer Auf dem Strom (On the River), D. 943 (1828) is the fact that Rellstab had originally given WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756–91) this poem to Beethoven, who had intended Serenade in B-flat Major for Winds & Bass, Almost all of Schubert’s 600-plus songs are to set it to music but never did. (Schubert K. 361, “Gran Partita” (ca. 1781) for voice and piano, but in the final year of acquired the text from Beethoven’s estate.) his brief life he began to experiment with In addition, to make his act of homage clear, A little more than a decade ago, it was new instrumental combinations. In October Schubert quotes the opening theme of the still widely believed that Mozart began to 1828, just a few weeks before his death, he Funeral March of the “Eroica” Symphony write this indescribable miracle in sound in wrote Der Hirt auf dem Felsen (The Shepherd at the beginning of the second verse of his Munich in 1781, when he was getting ready on the Rock) for soprano, clarinet, and piano, song, where it sets the words “Und so trägt to premiere his opera Idomeneo. But the and seven months earlier he wrote Auf dem mich denn die Welle fort” (“And so the waves only known performance of K. 361 (often Strom (On the River) for soprano, Waldhorn bear me away”). It’s a very subtle quotation, referred to as the “Gran Partita”) seems to (the “natural” or valveless horn), and piano. but Schubert’s gesture toward Beethoven is have been on March 23, 1784, as a critic Schubert wrote Auf dem Strom specifically clear. later mentioned a performance that day of for the famous Schubertiad of March 26, Schubert’s setting of Rellstab’s five-stanza four movements from a Mozart work and 1828, a concert in Vienna that featured his poem is a substantial one; it stretches out cited a specific list of 13 instruments that songs and chamber music. This was the only to more than nine minutes. He conceived were employed. concert in Schubert’s life that was devoted the vocal part for a high tenor, and the horn Regardless of when it was written, the solely to his compositions, and it was a very part requires a first-class player. Schubert’s Serenade No. 10 has always stood as one of successful one: the venue was packed, and writing for the horn here doesn’t include those sublime and delightful compositions the audience was enthusiastic. Schubert hunting-horn fanfares or the like, but that defy easy description. With its full seven used part of his profits from theSchubertiad the horn player must sustain a beautiful, movements, it far exceeds the scope of the to attend a violin recital by Niccolò Paganini, singing sound throughout the range of the symphony in Mozart’s day, and the unique who was all the rage in Vienna. instrument, seamlessly melding the horn’s instrumentation is sheer sonic delectability, Auf dem Strom is based on a poem by line with the vocalist’s. with its pairs of clarinets and basset horns Ludwig Rellstab (1799–1860), whose works Auf dem Strom was premiered in Vienna (a forerunner of the clarinet that was dearly Schubert would draw on again later that on January 30, 1829, the day before what loved by Mozart), four horns, two each of same year for part of the collection that’s would have been Schubert’s 32nd birthday. oboes and bassoons, and a string bass. The come to be known as Schwanengesang On that occasion, the horn was replaced opening movement and the first of the (Swan Song). On the surface, Auf dem Strom by a cello, and that version is frequently Menuetto movements overflow with their is a poet’s farewell to his love, but it’s also performed today. This evening, Auf dem own delights, but the Adagio is the crowning a farewell to the shore and to daylight as Strom is heard in Schubert’s original setting glory of the work. (Recall the actor F. Murray a boat proceeds out to sea and into the for tenor, horn, and piano. Abraham, as Antonio Salieri in the Oscar- blackness of night. Many have seen this as —Eric Bromberger winning 1984 filmAmadeus , staring with a metaphorical passage from life to death, astonishment at the score and proclaiming: pointing out that Schubert, weak and ill “This was the very voice of God.”) throughout 1828, died only eight months The second Menuetto is much briefer, after writing this song. Did he have a though hardly less endearing, and the premonition of death even as he conceived ensuing Romanze is merely framed by the this song for what turned out to be his most traditional slow tempo, with the bulk of successful public concert? the faster central section scurrying away in Yet there’s a much deeper level of C minor. The Tema con variazioni includes meaning in this music. That Schubertiad took one last, tender Adagio, and the finale is all place on the first anniversary of Beethoven’s scampering high spirits. death. Schubert, who’d been overwhelmed —Greg Hettmansberger by the older composer’s achievements, served as a torchbearer in Beethoven’s funeral procession, and now, a year later, he wrote this song as an act of homage and

Program notes for Music at Noon concerts are sponsored by Barbara & Ronald Balser with thanks to the gifted Festival musicians who inspire us all. AUF DEM STROM ON THE RIVER JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833–97) Horn Trio in E-flat Major, Op. 40 (1865) Nimm die letzten Abschiedsküsse, Take the last parting kisses, Und die wehenden, die Grüsse, and the waving farewells Brahms liked to get away from Vienna Die ich noch ans Ufer sende, that I send back to the shore during the hot months, and he spent Eh’ Dein Fuss sich scheidend wende! before your feet turn away! the summer of 1864 in the little town Schon wird von des Stromes Wogen Already the surge of the river of Lichtenthal in the Black Forest near Rasch der Nachen fortgezogen, pulls the boat swiftly downstream, Baden-Baden. Lichtenthal was home to Doch den tränendunklen Blick yet a tear-darkened glance a flourishing artists’ colony during the Zieht die Sehnsucht stets zurück! draws desire endlessly back! summer, and there Brahms, surrounded by congenial friends, could indulge his Und so trägt mich denn die Welle And so the waves carry me passion for long walks through the woods. Fort mit unerflehter Schnelle. away with relentless speed. He returned the following summer, but this Ach, schon ist die Flur verschwunden, Ah, already the meadow has vanished time he had a special reason to seek the Wo ich selig Sie gefunden! where I blessedly found you! solitude of the forests: his mother had died Ewig hin, ihr Wonnetage! Gone forever, days of rapture! on January 31 of that year, and he was still Hoffnungsleer verhallt die Klage Hopeless, the lament dies away coming to terms with the loss. He composed Um das schöne Heimatland, by the beautiful homeland the Horn Trio that summer, and the music Wo ich ihre Liebe fand. where I found her love. was intended, at least in part, as a memorial to his mother. The beautiful slow movement Sieh, wie flieht der Strand vorüber, Look how the river’s edge flies past, contains a quotation from the Rhenish Und wie drängt es mich hinüber, and how it calls me back, folksong “In den Weiden steht ein Haus” (“In Zieht mit unnennbaren Banden, pulled by unnamable ties, the Willows Stands a House”), an evocation An der Hütte dort zu landen, to land by that cottage, of happy childhood memories. In der Laube dort zu weilen; to linger in that arbor; The lovely and peaceful forest setting Doch des Stromes Wellen eilen but the waves of the river hurry seems to have had a profound effect on Weiter ohne Rast und Ruh, onward, without rest or peace, the Horn Trio. Brahms said that the opening Führen mich dem Weltmeer zu! carrying me out to the ocean! theme came to him during a walk along “wooded heights among fir trees,” and Ach, vor jener dunklen Wüste, Ah, before that dark wasteland, many have noted the calm, almost pastoral Fern von jeder heitern Küste, far from every fair coast, nature of this music. The Horn Trio isn’t so Wo kein Eiland zu erschauen, where no island can be seen, much elegiac, though, as it is reflective and O, wie fasst mich zitternd Grauen! oh, how trembling horror seizes me! commemorative. Brahms observes the death Wehmutstränen sanft zu bringen, No song from the shore can reach me of his mother not by wearing his heart on Kann kein Lied vom Ufer dringen; to call forth tears of tender sorrow; his sleeve but by writing gentle and beautiful Nur der Sturm weht kalt daher only the storm blows cold music. Durch das grau gehobne Meer! across the high gray sea! The opening movement is remarkable for not being in sonata form. Aware that sonata Kann des Auges sehnend Schweifen If my eyes, wandering in longing, form brings a type of musical drama alien to Keine Ufer mehr ergreifen, can no longer catch the shore, the spirit of this trio, Brahms instead cast it Nun so schau’ ich zu den Sternen then I will look to the stars in rondo form: the opening Andante episode Auf in jenen heil’gen Fernen! up in that blessed distance! occurs three times, separated by a slightly Ach, bei ihrem milden Scheine Ah, in their gentle glow quicker section marked Poco più animato. Nannt’ ich sie zuerst die Meine; I first called her mine. The calm beginning—the section that Dort vielleicht, o tröstend Glück! Perhaps there, o merciful fortune, came to Brahms on his walk through the Dort begegn’ ich ihrem Blick. there, I will meet her gaze. woods—has drawn special praise. American —Ludwig Rellstab (1799–1860) —translation by Jennifer Rhodes composer Daniel Gregory Mason called it “a sort of symbol of all that is most romantic in music.” Brahms specifies that he wants this opening section played Dolce, espressivo, and it alternates with the violin’s surging, rising line of the Poco più animato before the movement comes to a quiet close. By contrast, the boisterous Scherzo flies along on resounding triplets. Its brief trio section, in the unusual key of A-flat minor, features a long duet for violin and horn. Brahms gave the third movement the unusual marking Adagio mesto (“Slow, sad”),

2 2019 Program Notes Week Five and the piano’s rolled chords at the very Monday, August 12, 6 p.m. There’s some question as to whether the beginning set the mood for this somber great harpsichordist Wanda Landowska—who and grieving music. Again, violin and horn FELIX MENDELSSOHN (1809–47) was reviving her instrument the way classical trade expressive melodic lines, and the music Konzertstück in F Minor for Clarinet, guitarist Andrés Segovia was reviving his— rises to a climax marked Passionata, where Bassoon & Piano, Op. 113 (1833) ever asked Falla for a new work. Certainly, violin and horn soar high above the piano there was never any formal commission, but accompaniment before the music drifts into Too often in the history of music, wonderful the initial background of the story is clear: In silence. works become somewhat diminished due 1919, Falla had been commissioned to write The Finale: Allegro con brio has struck to critics describing them as “light” or an opera for a renowned puppet theater. many as the most “horn-like” of the “minor”—the latter having nothing to do The resulting work not only showed Falla’s movements, as it’s built on a brilliant 6/8 with the key of the piece—as is the case with unique gift for neoclassicism, but it was also meter that inevitably evokes the calls of Mendelssohn’s Opus 113. The two works that the first 20th-century work to feature the hunting horns. Brahms has prepared the make up the Opus 113—written for clarinet, harpsichord, which Landowska played during way for this movement by quietly inserting basset horn, and piano—are short and sweet the work’s premiere in Paris in June 1923. (at a very slow tempo) the shape of its main and have an interesting history that involves Perhaps it was Falla’s pattern of missing theme into the slow movement. The Finale the father-son clarinet-basset horn duo of deadlines that annoyed Landowska long seems never to slow down, never to lose its Heinrich and Carl Baermann. before she saw the score for his Harpsichord energy, and the Horn Trio rushes to its close The Baermanns, who were easily the Concerto. (She was apparently expecting in a blaze of color and excitement. preeminent practitioners of their chosen a full-blown solo concerto and was Brahms originally wrote the trio for the winds at the time, were on one of their disappointed that the work was essentially Waldhorn (or natural horn). This was the European tours near the end of 1832 written for six equal partners.) When Falla precursor of the modern valved French when, supposedly, they struck a deal with told her that he did want to write for her, horn, and the player had to use his lips Mendelssohn: they asked him to write she planned to premiere the work in the or stop the bell with his hand to generate them a piece in exchange for a meal of 1923–24 season. When it became clear that each different pitch. It was an extremely dampfnudel und rahmstrudel. Apparently, that wasn’t going to happen, she asked difficult instrument to play accurately, and Mendelssohn had sampled this dish of conductor Leopold Stokowski to program virtually every performance today uses the steamed noodle and cream strudel when he it with The Philadelphia Orchestra the valved horn. Recognizing that the unusual was in Munich but couldn’t find it in Berlin. following season. Again, a swing and a miss. combination of horn, violin, and piano might Carl Baermann (who was a year younger But Landowska did eventually premiere the result in few performances, Brahms made than Mendelssohn) recounted this story in work, and the performance didn’t lack for arrangements of the trio that substituted amusing detail in his book Memoirs of an star power. It took place in Barcelona on either viola or cello for the horn, but these Old Musician (published 50 years later, in November 5, 1926, at a festival of Falla’s versions are almost never played. The 1882), but more than one musicologist has music, and Pablo Casals served as conductor. music may suit their range but not their suggested that some of the details don’t The concerto is cast in three movements, temperament, for the trio takes much of its quite add up. with the opening Allegro developed from character from the rich, noble sonority of One thing is clear, however: Mendelssohn the final notes of a Castilian folk song. the horn. wrote this work quickly in December 1832. The Lento, giubiloso ed energico inevitably —Eric Bromberger It’s an eight-minute piece that comprises draws the most attention with its medieval three connected sections (Allegro con fuoco/ sound. In the finalVivace , Falla takes the Andante/Presto), which are full of tuneful opportunity to pay homage to Domenico delights. For this evening’s performance, the Scarlatti, the great 18th-century composer bassoon replaces the basset horn, and it’s a who, during his years in Spain, delighted natural and well-matched timbral partner to in using Spanish rhythms and motifs in his the latter. keyboard sonatas. —Greg Hettmansberger Even though Falla lived for 20 more years after the premiere of his Harpsichord MANUEL DE FALLA (1876–1946) Concerto (he moved to Argentina in 1938 Concerto D Major for Harpsichord, Flute, to escape Franco), it was to be his last Oboe, Clarinet, Violin & Cello (1926) completed work of any substantial length. For many, it remains Falla’s masterpiece. There have been several memorable —Greg Hettmansberger occasions in the past few centuries where composers were either inspired by a virtuoso to write a work for them or were asked by the virtuoso to do so directly, only to find the soloist unhappy with the final product. To varying degrees, this happened to Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, and Barber, to name just a few. Well, it happened to Manuel de Falla, too. 3 2019 Program Notes Week Five ANTON BRUCKNER (1824–96) by the first violin. Within both these themes Tuesday, August 13, Noon String Quintet in F Major (1879) are brief rhythmic cells that will figure throughout the development. Particularly BÉLA BARTÓK (1881–1945) In 1861, Joseph Hellmesberger—violinist, striking are this movement’s textures. Several Three Burlesques, Sz. 47, BB 55 (1908–11) conductor, and, for many years, director times Bruckner offers a solo player an of the Vienna Conservatory—asked Anton extended passage, during which the other As he approached his 30th birthday in 1911, Bruckner to write a chamber music piece four players remain silent. He marks these Bartók’s life underwent several changes. He and suggested a string quartet. Bruckner solo passages Ad libitum, giving the solo developed a reputation as a virtuoso pianist had written a string quartet when he was players a great deal of rhythmic freedom, and needed pieces to perform on his recitals. a student, so he chose a viola quintet and these contrast with massed unisons in He became passionately interested in the instead. However, he waited 17 years—until which all five instruments play fortissimo folk music of eastern Europe, and the idiom the fall of 1878—to finally begin the work, octaves. The movement arrives at a full- of those folk melodies and rhythms began to and he completed it the following summer, throated climax and closes on its second enter his own music. Also, in the fall of 1909, in between composing his Fifth and Sixth subject. he married one of his piano students, Márta Symphonies. The Scherzo, the movement that Ziegler. All these events helped produce his The quintet, which was Bruckner’s only Hellmesberger found so peculiar, appeals Three Burlesques, a set of brief piano pieces major piece of chamber music, quickly to us precisely because of that “peculiarity.” that he published in 1912. ran into problems. Hellmesberger found It’s been called “grotesque,” but such a In music, the word burlesque refers not the music strange, and he particularly description doesn’t catch the charm of to a form but to an attitude. It suggests didn’t like the second movement, which its curiously hopping main theme or the music that can be funny, satiric, or mocking. he described as a “curious, elfin scherzo.” rhythmic and harmonic surprises along the Usually it involves a degree of edginess, and He asked Bruckner to provide a substitute way. The trio section combines a flowing Bartók’s biographer Halsey Stevens described movement, and Bruckner obediently main idea with chirping accompaniment, the Three Burlesques concisely: “All three... composed an Intermezzo in its place. The and Bruckner makes imaginative use of are somewhat spiteful, with sharp clashes of first performance, given on November 17, pizzicato here. dissonance, harsh and grotesque accents.” 1881, by the augmented Winkler Quartet, The radiant opening of the Adagio Yet all three also make clear Bartók’s nice featured the first three movements, and breathes an atmosphere of serenity and sense of humor, and they’re short: each one Hellmesberger’s own quartet premiered peace; Bruckner marks it simply Ausdruckvoll lasts about two minutes. the complete, four-movement version the (“Expressive”). Many have heard a kinship Quarrel, composed in November 1908 following year. Performers today recognize between this rapt beginning and the slow and dedicated to Márta, appears to that Bruckner’s original Scherzo is a better movements of the late Beethoven quartets, commemorate one of the fights the young movement than the substituted Intermezzo, though Bruckner claimed that he didn’t couple had before their marriage. His and the quintet is now usually performed know those works when he wrote this music. original manuscript includes such entries in Bruckner’s original version, as it is at this Curiously, the second subject, announced by as “Anger because of an interrupted concert. the first viola over steady accompaniment, visit,” “Vengeance is sweet,” and “Play it if Vienna had a long tradition of superb viola is built on the same rhythm as the opening you can.” Marked Presto, it opens with a quintets—Mozart wrote six (which include theme, though the effect of the two themes swirling rush that has the hands sometimes some of his finest music), Beethoven one, is entirely different. This is by far the longest answering each other, sometimes playing in and Brahms two—and Bruckner’s quintet is movement of the quintet, and over its span octaves. In the center section the music tries worthy of this tradition. He doesn’t attempt Bruckner builds steadily to a rich climax. to break into a waltz, but this is interrupted to write a symphony for five instruments Yet the primary mood remains one of calm by strident chords that may suggest the but instead creates music of an intimate acceptance, and the music falls away to couple’s fight; Bartók combines both themes cast that depends on the interplay of five end peacefully. This movement has proven at the close. A Bit Drunk proceeds tipsily separate voices. Beyond this, Bruckner’s especially attractive to audiences and along its way, alternating chords played on quintet is distinguished by some unusual performers, and it’s sometimes performed by black or white keys. (Bartók orchestrated harmonic relationships within movements itself. this piece 20 years later, in 1930, as one of and is crowned by a superb slow movement. The Finale, marked Lebhaft bewegt the movements of his Hungarian Sketches.) Bruckner marks the opening movement (“Lively”), gets off to a wispy start, and The final movement has no evocative title, both Gemäßigt (“Comfortable”) and Bruckner, in fact, chooses to build the but its performance marking tells the tale: Moderato. In 3/4 rather than the 4/4 movement around its second subject, an Molto vivo, capriccioso. This piece whips Bruckner preferred for the first movements amiable violin tune in E major. The firm wildly along its 3/8 meter, and if the music of his symphonies, it’s based on two development features some polyphonic sometimes seems to be trying to waltz, any contrasted theme groups. The first violin treatment of this theme, and the opening notion of dancing is quickly shouldered aside immediately introduces the opening subject, idea doesn’t return until the coda. The by the brilliance of Bartók’s writing for the built on a variant of the famous “Bruckner ending is the only point where one feels this piano. rhythm” (two quarters followed by a triplet). music edging toward orchestral textures. The —Eric Bromberger Even on its first presentation, this theme is quintet concludes with wide-spanned chords so full of accidentals that the home key of F and a great rush of tremolo excitement. major is blurred. The second subject, marked —Eric Bromberger Sehr zart (“Very tender”), is also introduced 4 2019 Program Notes Week Five JÖRG WIDMANN (b. 1973) Humoreske, completed in February 1839. Tuesday, August 13, 6 p.m. Elf Humoresken (Eleven Humoresques) One should be careful of that title, however: (2008) it’s come to mean a spirited and capricious THE BEETHOVEN SONATAS FOR VIOLIN & piece of music, but Schumann’s use of it PIANO: CONCERT 1 OF 3 Jörg Widmann was born in Munich in 1973, is more elusive. Here it suggests music of and his early clarinet studies were soon sharply unpredictable character. Beethoven learned to play the violin as a expanded into composition studies, notably This piece is long (over 25 minutes) and boy, but the violin was never really “his” with Hans Werner Henze and Wolfgang made up of a collection of brief sections instrument. Beethoven was a pianist—and he Rihm. As a composer, chamber music has meant to fuse into one varied tapestry. The became one of the greatest in Europe—but been an important part of his output mood shifts in the Humoreske are especially in that era, it was expected that professional since 1997, although he’s also enjoyed striking: this is mercurial music, by turns musicians would play both a keyboard commissions of large-scale works for more playful, wistful, spirited, dark. Schumann’s and a stringed instrument. Haydn, Mozart, than a decade. The website Bachtrack performance markings suggest the range Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Dvorˇ ák, reported that, in 2018, Widmann was the of emotional content here. Among his and Richard Strauss all played both violin most-performed contemporary composer descriptions are “Very fast and light,” and piano, though several of them, including after Arvo Pärt and John Williams. “Simple and tender,” “Inward,” and “Very Beethoven, preferred the viola. This sort of Carnegie Hall commissioned Elf lively.” The Humoreske is also quite varied musical dexterity has pretty much vanished Humoresken, and Widmann composed from a technical standpoint, ranging from over the last century or so. the work for pianist Yefim Bronfman, who straightforward chordal lyricism to brilliant Beethoven may have been only a competent premiered it in New York City in May 2008. virtuoso passages. (One section is written in violinist, but his understanding of the Widmann wrote about the work: three staves.) instrument was profound, as his magnificent Aware of Schumann’s fondness for cryptic Violin Concerto, string quartets, and other The different forms of humour (or titles and musical games, scholars have chamber works make clear. At the center of his even its absence) have their different searched for a unifying concept behind chamber music for violin are his 10 sonatas. counterparts in the great variety of this multifaceted music, but that may be a Some of Beethoven’s works (his symphonies, the musical forms, from the miniature fruitless task. Rather than trying to impose a quartets, and piano sonatas) span his to the fully developed, complex piano unity that may not be there, it’s far better to career, and we can trace his development piece. I hope the performer will discover enjoy this music precisely for its wildly varied as a composer in those forms. But his violin the characteristic tone of each piece character. sonatas don’t span his career: he’d written and express this with a touch of —Eric Bromberger nine of the 10 before he composed the “Eroica” mockery here, a dry touch there, and a Symphony—the work that led the way to what touch of melancholy, yet always with we call his “heroic” style. When Beethoven humour and subtlety. completed the “Kreutzer” Sonata in the spring of 1803, he was only 32 years old. He’d live for —Greg Hettmansberger more than 20 years, and he’d write only one more violin sonata. ROBERT SCHUMANN (1810–56) One thing becomes clear instantly as we Humoreske in B-flat Major, Op. 20 (1838) listen to Beethoven’s violin sonatas: how well he wrote for both violin and piano. Like so many other young composers, These are duo sonatas in the best sense of Schumann felt the lure of Vienna, and he the term. They feature idiomatic writing moved there during the winter of 1838–39, for both instruments, they’re beautifully sizing up the city and the opportunities it balanced, and they show us Beethoven offered. But, unlike Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, beginning to experiment and expand Brahms, Bruckner, and Mahler, Schumann the form, just as he was doing with the wasn’t captivated by the charms of that symphony and the string quartet. fabled city. He was unhappy in Vienna, disliked This year’s Festival brings the welcome the people he met, and came to realize that and unusual opportunity to hear all 10 of he’d have to make his career elsewhere. His Beethoven’s violin sonatas, performed in months in the city weren’t wasted, however. chronological order over the course of three He visited Franz Schubert’s brother Ferdinand, evenings. The first program includes the and among that composer’s dusty papers three sonatas of Beethoven’s Opus 12, which, he found the manuscript for the “Great” at moments, still trail the 18th-century C-Major Symphony. He immediately sent conception of this music as primarily a the manuscript to Mendelssohn, who led the keyboard sonata with violin accompaniment. Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in the public The second program offers the two sharply premiere of the complete work in March 1839. contrasting sonatas of Opus 23 and Opus During his brief and lonely visit to Vienna, 24 and the first two of the three sonatas of Schumann composed a great deal of music Opus 30, written during the catastrophic for solo piano. Among these works was the summer of 1802 when Beethoven realized 5 2019 Program Notes Week Five he was going deaf. The final program brings Two centuries later, Beethoven’s first gentle eight-measure theme, which is the great leap forward with the “Kreutzer” violin sonatas don’t strike us as unusually then repeated by the violin. Four variations Sonata. Beethoven knew he was getting distinctive music. They sound like the work follow: the first is for piano accompanied by into deeper waters with this work: he of an immensely talented young composer violin, the second for violin with a complex warned violinists that it was “written in a gradually learning to make the form his piano accompaniment, the third moves very concertante style, quasi-concerto-like.” own. To his contemporaries, however, into A minor and turns tempestuous, and And then, after a pause lasting a decade, these sonatas seemed to have come from the fourth is built on quiet syncopations. Beethoven wrote his last, his strangest, and a different planet. An early reviewer was A delicate coda draws the movement to its perhaps his most wonderful violin sonata, flattened by them: close. the Tenth. The energetic finale, marked simply If only Beethoven had come back after After having arduously worked his Allegro, is a rondo in 6/8 whose central still another decade and written one more way through these quite peculiar theme is energized by off-the-beat accents. violin sonata! In his final period, Beethoven sonatas, overladen with strange This is buoyant music, full of subordinate transformed our conception of what the difficulties, he must admit that . . . episodes and piquant pauses. Beethoven piano sonata might be, and one late violin he felt like a man who had thought teases the audience nicely just before the sonata might have done the same thing for he was going to promenade with an end. that instrument. But it wasn’t to be, and ingenious friend through an inviting we’ll have to content ourselves with the 10 forest, was detained every moment Sonata in A Major for Violin & Piano, sonatas we do have. This year’s Festival lets by hostile entanglements, and finally Op. 12, No. 2 (1797–98) us hear those 10 sonatas in all their variety, emerged, weary, exhausted, and without their growth, their power, and their beauty. enjoyment. It is undeniable that Herr Too much has been made of the fact that van Beethoven goes his own way. But Beethoven referred to his first three violin LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827) what a bizarre, laborious way! Studied, sonatas as “sonatas for keyboard and violin,” Sonata in D Major for Violin & Piano, studied, and perpetually studied, and no as if the violin were an afterthought: a Op. 12, No. 1 (1797–98) nature, no song. Indeed . . . there is only subordinate voice in what are otherwise a mass of learning here, without good piano sonatas. From the very beginning, Beethoven arrived in Vienna in November method. There is obstinacy for which Beethoven conceived of this music—which 1792, when he was almost 22 years old, and we feel little interest, a striving for rare he dedicated to Salieri, who was instructing he remained there for the rest of his life. He modulations . . . a piling on of difficulty him in writing for the voice at the time—as quickly made his reputation for his piano- upon difficulty, so that one loses all an equal partnership between the violin and playing, but he wanted to be a composer. patience and enjoyment. piano. Mozart appears almost to have been The Sonata in A Major, the best-known born with an instinctive understanding It’s easy to smile at such a reaction, but of the set, opens with an Allegro vivace of sonata form, but it took Beethoven when listening to the very beginning of that presents its performers with several nearly a decade of hard work to master Beethoven’s Sonata in D major, one can challenges. From the first measure, the violin the Classical forms that Haydn and Mozart understand that reviewer’s concerns. Far plays a quiet but incessant “oom-pah-pah” had brought to a high level of expression. from offering us “nature” or a “song,” the figure that recurs (in both the violin and In his adopted city, Beethoven studied with opening of this sonata seems to explode piano) throughout the movement with Haydn, Albrechtsberger, and Salieri, and he in a shower of rockets going off in every almost metronomic regularity; it’s the job of began, however tentatively, to compose. He direction. The first movement is marked the performers to breathe vitality into what, published a set of three piano trios in 1795, Allegro con brio, with the emphasis on in a careless performance, might become and he followed those with piano sonatas con brio. This is spirited music, full of repetitive and dull. In addition, the sonata- and cello sonatas and began a set of six busy energy and explosive chords. A form movement is built on a wealth of string quartets. In 1797–98, he composed flowing second subject seems to promise ideas: the two-note figure that accompanies three violin sonatas, which Artaria published relief, but the principal impression here the “oom-pah-pah” rhythm, a graceful in 1799 as Beethoven’s Opus 12. is of energy boiling up off the page and 6/8 theme that blossoms out as a blast of Beethoven’s models for these first efforts unexpected modulations; Beethoven sets 16th notes, and, in somber contrast, a slow were inevitably the violin sonatas of Mozart, the development in F major and changes melody that foreshadows later Beethoven. who, like Beethoven, was a pianist and the key signature to be sure we don’t miss The movement taps itself out with a comic violinist and wrote beautifully for both that. After a busy development full of rapid dialogue between piano and violin on the instruments. Mozart’s sonatas—which he exchanges between the instruments, the two-note figure. sometimes titled “keyboard sonatas with the movement returns to D major and rushes to In complete contrast, the Andante, accompaniment of violin”—were very much a its conclusion on the same massive chord più tosto Allegretto wears its heart on its part of Vienna’s musical life, and Beethoven with which it began. sleeve. Lacking the intensity of Beethoven’s adopted the general form of Mozart’s The second movement, marked Andante later slow movements, this one strikes an late violin sonatas: a sonata-form first con moto and set in A major, is in variation almost self-consciously serious pose with movement, a slow movement that might be form, and after the hyperactive first the heavily dotted theme of the opening in variation form, and a fast finale that was movement it brings a measure of calm—at setting its tone. The final movement,Allegro often a rondo. least at first. The piano introduces the piacevole, skips along happily on its opening

6 2019 Program Notes Week Five melody. (Piacevole means “agreeable.”) A opera, Susanna informs her fiancé, Figaro, recapitulation, but most of the show in this lyric episode in D major is in much the same that Count Almaviva has designs on her and first movement belongs to the piano. spirit as the opening, and the movement has consciously placed the couple’s bedroom The quiet second movement, Adagio con concludes with an energetic shower of close to his own. Outraged, Figaro begins to molt’ espressione, has justly been praised A-major arpeggios from the piano. plot a counteroffensive, and the first line of as one of the finest slow movements from “Se vuol ballare,” addressed to the absent Beethoven’s early period. Here the long, Variations in F Major for Violin & Piano on count, translates to: “If you want to dance, singing main theme is shared in turn by both “Se vuol ballare” from Mozart’s Le nozze di I’ll play the tune.” voices. Particularly effective is the middle Figaro, WoO 40 (1792–93) In the opera, the melody of that aria section, where the violin sings gracefully is accompanied by pizzicato strings, and above murmuring piano accompaniment. Shortly after he arrived in Vienna, Beethoven Beethoven preserves that as he presents The final movement Allegro( molto) is a began studying with Haydn, but he was Mozart’s theme: the violin plucks out that rondo. The piano announces the theme, the anxious to establish himself in his own theme pizzicato. Beethoven then offers 12 violin repeats it, and the two instruments right in his adopted city, and he did so by brief melodic variations on Mozart’s famous sail through the movement, gracefully improvising at the keyboard before small theme, with his entire piece lasting only taking turns as each has the theme and then audiences in private homes. Beethoven was a about 11 minutes. All the variations remain accompanies the other. fabulous improviser, and he quickly attracted firmly in F major except for the sixth and —Eric Bromberger admirers, but he also attracted rivals—and seventh, which move into F minor and are few composers in history have been so marked Espressivo. The ninth is a brilliant anxious to annihilate their rivals. It was that variation for piano alone, and Beethoven competitiveness that helped produce this rounds off the set with a coda that bids a gentle set of variations. quiet farewell to Mozart’s theme. Beethoven had begun a set of variations Who could guess, listening to this gentle for violin and piano on Mozart’s “Se vuol music, that Beethoven was using it to chase ballare” while he was still living in Bonn, and his rivals off the field? he completed it in early 1793, a few months after he arrived in Vienna. He published Sonata in E-flat Major for Violin & Piano, the work very quickly, in July 1793, and he Op. 12, No. 3 (1797–98) explained his motives in a letter to Elizabeth von Breuning, the work’s dedicatee: When Beethoven published his first three violin sonatas in 1798, he’d already written I should never have written down this 10 other sonatas: eight for piano and two kind of piece, had I not already noticed for cello. The title page of Opus 12 bears a fairly often how people in Vienna after specific description of the sonatas by the hearing me extemporize one evening composer—“For harpsichord or piano, with would next day note down several violin”—which reads as if the violin were peculiarities of my style and palm them an afterthought: an optional participant in off with pride as their own. Well, as I what are essentially keyboard sonatas. foresaw that their pieces would soon be Beethoven’s description needs to be taken published, I resolved to forestall those with a grain of salt. The sonatas clearly people. But there was another reason, require a piano rather than a harpsichord, too; my desire to embarrass those for no harpsichord could meet Beethoven’s Viennese pianists, some of whom are quite specific dynamic requirements in these my sworn enemies. I wanted to revenge works. And the apparent relegation of the myself on them in this way, because I violin to a subordinate role is misleading as knew beforehand that my variations well, as these are true duo sonatas—sonatas would here and there be put before the in which both instruments share the musical said gentlemen and that they would cut and harmonic interest. a sorry figure with them. That said, it must be admitted that the Allegro con spirito first movement of the Beethoven may have rushed this work into Sonata in E-flat Major is one of those places print, but he waited two further years before where the piano gets the lion’s share of the he published the music that he considered music. From the very beginning, the piano his official Opus 1, a set of piano trios. has a near-virtuoso role—introducing the Mozart’s opera Le nozze di Figaro (The main idea and hurtling up and down the Marriage of Figaro) premiered in 1786, keyboard—with the violin often providing only six years before Beethoven’s arrival no more than unobtrusive chordal in Vienna. It was one of Mozart’s greatest accompaniment. The violin introduces the successes, and audiences would have surely gentle second theme of this sonata-form recognized “Se vuol ballare.” In act 1 of the movement and has a lovely passage at the 7 2019 Program Notes Week Five Wednesday, August 14, Noon movements as tone poems. LUDWIG THUILLE (1861–1907) Janáček may have seven players on the Sextet in B-flat Major for Piano & Winds, LEOŠ JANÁČEK (1854–1928) stage, but in the opening Moderato he Op. 6 (1886–88) Concertino for Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn, uses only two of them: the piano and the Two Violins, Viola & Piano (1925) horn. Janáček said that this movement was Ludwig Thuille’s works have almost vanished inspired by a youthful memory of blocking from contemporary concert life, but the Three different events came together to a hedgehog from getting into its lair, and composer—who was also a distinguished inspire Janáček to compose his Concertino, he said that the horn’s “grumpy” response teacher and conductor—was a promising and all three happened around his 70th to the piano’s firm opening line depicts talent at the end of the 19th century. birthday in July 1924. That month, Janáček the animal’s frustration. The piano has a Orphaned at age 11, Thuille was raised composed Mládí (Youth), a work for wind second subject, marked both Pianissimo by a step-uncle and eventually adopted sextet that got him thinking not only about and Dolcissimo, and this alternates with the by a wealthy widow who recognized his being young but about how much he piano’s opening statement. gifts and supported his studies. Like his enjoyed composing for that kind of large The second movement, marked Più mosso, boyhood friend Richard Strauss (their chamber ensemble. Next, in November 1924, is scored only for piano and E-flat clarinet. lengthy correspondence has been published), his opera The Cunning Little Vixen premiered Janáček commented: “The squirrel was Thuille began as a musical conservative in Brno. That opera, which celebrated the chatty (while jumping) from tree to tree but was soon drawn to Wagner and to the natural world and embraced the larger cycles among the branches. But once in the cage, more expressive musical language that was of life, took Janáček into the world of wild she screeched like my clarinet . . .” This evolving over the final decades of the 19th animals. Finally, later that same month, he movement is full of rhythmic energy, and the century. In 1888, at the age of 27, Thuille heard Jan Herˇman play a piano arrangement clarinet’s saucy tune seems to have its origin became a music professor in Munich (which of his song cycle The Diary of One Who in folk music. The center section is built on was also home to the Strauss family), and Vanished, and he liked the performance trills and swirls, and the opening material he eventually emerged as a powerful figure so much that he resolved on the spot to returns to round out the movement. At the in the musical life of that city. (Ernest Bloch compose something for Herˇman. He wrote end comes a surprise: the entire ensemble was among his students.) Thuille died at to him, saying: “You played my Diary as I joins in for the last five measures. age 45, leaving behind three operas (all on have never yet heard it played. . . . Under the Of the third movement, marked Con fantastical topics), vocal music, orchestral wonderful impression . . . the main themes moto, Janáček said that the “bulging eyes pieces, and a large amount of chamber for my future concerto came to me while of the screech-owl, tawny-owl and other music. walking. From here to the full working out of critical night-birds stare into the strings of The Sextet in B-flat Major for Piano & them is a long way. Much thinking!” the piano.” This movement, too, is in ternary Winds is Thuille’s best-known composition. The “future concerto” Janáček envisioned form, and its great chords might seem to He worked on it over a period of two years for Herˇman would turn out to be the echo the squawks of owls. At the center and completed it in 1888, the same year Concertino, which he composed in the comes an extended cadenza for the piano. Strauss wrote his tone poem Don Juan. spring of 1925, as he approached his 71st Janáček noted that the final movement The Sextet comes from the “classical” side birthday. The Concertino has been described represented a meeting of all these animals, of Thuille’s training: it’s in four classically as “a chamber piano concerto”; it’s scored and he said of the piano here: “Someone shaped movements and features graceful for piano plus clarinet, bassoon, horn, two has to be the organiser.” This Allegro has and idiomatic writing for all six musicians, violins, and viola. That ensemble is, in effect, been described as a variation-movement, who are treated as equals. Mozart himself a tiny orchestra (it has woodwind, brass, but it takes a while for the central theme would have been quite comfortable with the and string sections), but Janáček uses this to be announced by the piano. This is the form of this sextet. It opens with a lengthy ensemble in such unexpected ways that the movement that uses all seven instruments sonata-form movement and continues with Concertino remains, despite its central piano most fully, and finally we hear something an expressive Larghetto in ternary form. part, a piece of chamber music. that approaches an orchestral sonority. Thuille varies the classical form slightly in There’s more to this music than being a The ending is as quick and unexpected as the third movement, replacing the expected virtuoso chamber composition, however. everything else in this surprising music. minuet with a charming Gavotte. The sextet Janáček felt that, in some way, it was an heir Audiences may approach the Concertino concludes with a high-spirited Finale that to Mládí, and the youthful spirits of that in many ways: as a miniature piano goes at a blistering pace. work made their way into the Concertino. concerto, as an evocation of the natural —Eric Bromberger (The composer considered calling the work world that was so important to Janáček, or Spring at one point.) The natural world of as an example of his late style, in which tiny The Cunning Little Vixen appears here as bits of theme are extended, contracted, and well, as Janáček said that each of the four developed in imaginative ways. And through movements was in some way inspired by his all of it shines the youthful energy of its own youthful encounter with a wild animal, 70-year-old creator. and he was specific about what each of —Eric Bromberger those animals was doing in its respective movement. One need not know any of this to engage with the Concertino, however, and listeners shouldn’t regard the four 8 2019 Program Notes Week Five Wednesday, August 14, 6 p.m. steady opening idea, while the violin’s line sound “wrong”—the violin appears to be one is simplicity itself, built of repeated notes. beat late—and the real fun of this movement THE BEETHOVEN SONATAS FOR VIOLIN & Some of the imitation-and-answer of the comes at the very end, where “wrong” music PIANO: CONCERT 2 OF 3 middle movement recurs in the finale, and resolves so gracefully that listeners suddenly there are soaring lyric episodes here, too. become aware just how “right” it’s been all For a general introduction to Beethoven’s 10 But the principal impression this movement along. Sonatas for Violin & Piano, please see the makes is of a barely restrained energy, The concluding Rondo returns to the program note for Tuesday, August 13, 6 p.m. and at the close the violin comes soaring mood of the opening movement, for it, suddenly downward and the music is over too, is built on what seems to be a never- LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827) almost before one knows it, some of its ending flow of melody, on music that spins Sonata in A Minor for Violin & Piano, energy still hovering in the air even after the on effortlessly. Full of good-spirited energy, Op. 23 (1800–01) instruments have stopped playing. this movement offers several varied episodes along the way, but the chief impression is In 1800–01, shortly after completing his Sonata in F Major for Violin & Piano, the graceful ease of what is some of the First Symphony, Beethoven composed two Op. 24, “Spring” (1800–01) sunniest music Beethoven ever wrote. violin sonatas, and evidence suggests that he intended them as a set. Not only did he The nickname for this sonata—“Spring”— Sonata in A Major for Violin & Piano, compose and publish them together, but he didn’t originate with Beethoven, but this is Op. 30, No. 1 (1801–02) apparently wanted them to be performed one of those rare instances where someone together, as they are at tonight’s concert. else’s nickname for a piece is exactly right. In the spring of 1802, Beethoven left Vienna One of the sonatas, in F major, acquired the No matter how often one has heard this for the small town of Heiligenstadt in the nickname “Spring” and went on to well- music, it always sounds fresh. Austrian countryside. It was his custom to deserved fame. Its companion work, a spicy Beethoven wrote this sonata in 1800–01, spend the summer in the country, but this and explosive (and comic) sonata in A minor, at the same time he wrote the Violin Sonata visit was unusual, as it lasted half a year. has languished somewhat in its shade— in A Minor, Op. 23. What a study in contrasts This was an extremely difficult time for which is too bad, as it’s a terrific piece of these two sonatas make! The Sonata in A the composer, who was coming to terms music. Minor is sharp, pithy, almost violent; the with his growing deafness. In October, One of the most striking characteristics “Spring” is flowing, long-lined, and relaxed. just before he returned to Vienna, he of this work is the power of its outer The “Spring” Sonata opens with a long wrote what’s known as the “Heiligenstadt movements. Where the gentle “Spring” arc of seamless melody—one of the loveliest Testament,” the extraordinary letter, Sonata spins long melodies, the Sonata melodies Beethoven ever wrote. He first has addressed to his two brothers, in which he in A minor spits out and develops short the violin play it, and then, as if reluctant acknowledges his deafness and uses it to phrases full of energy. Yet, curiously, all three to abandon something so beautiful, he justify his rude behavior. He also clearly hints movements of this animated sonata end gives it to the piano, extending the double that the prospect of becoming deaf had quietly. It’s a shame these two sonatas aren’t statement of the opening theme over 25 driven him to consider suicide. performed together more often, since they measures. Beethoven’s despair during that summer make such a piquant contrast. If spring is said to go out like a lamb, didn’t make itself felt in his music. In fact, The Presto explodes into being on the there’s a darker side to this music that the stay in Heiligenstadt produced some very motto-like opening subject, with the piano reminds us that it can also come in like a sunny music: his Second Symphony, two lashing the music forward. Beethoven makes lion, and one of the particular pleasures piano sonatas, and the set of three violin sharp dynamic contrasts here, and the 6/8 of the opening movement is the contrast sonatas that make up his Opus 30. The first meter, which gallops so furiously at the between the sunny opening melody and the of these three sonatas, in A major, is the opening, also yields the graceful second darker secondary material. After an extended least familiar of the set. It isn’t stormy and theme. There are repeats of both exposition development, the movement ends on a dramatic like the second, nor is it brilliant and development, and the end of the fragment of the opening idea. like the third. This is music of neither flash movement comes suddenly: massed chords The Adagio molto espressivo is of nor dazzle, and, in fact, understatement is collapse into a pianissimo close. extremely simple structure: first the piano the key to its powerful appeal. The Sonata By contrast, the Andante scherzoso, piu and then the violin plays the song-like in A Major is music of quiet nobility. It’s also Allegretto sings playfully, as if Beethoven main idea, which develops not through a apparently the sonata that gave Beethoven is content to have fun with the listener rise in tension but by increasingly complex the most trouble: he’d originally written a (and the performers) after the fury of the ornamentation. An effective touch here is dramatic finale but discarded it and wrote opening. The instruments comment, answer, the steady flow of murmuring 16th notes; a new final movement. (The discarded and imitate each other, and an ornate little that rippling, murmuring sound, present movement would later become the Finale of theme, which Beethoven treats fugally, runs throughout almost the entire movement, the “Kreutzer” Sonata.) throughout the movement. After much complements the music’s serenity. The Allegro grows smoothly out of the pleasant interchange, the movement closes The Scherzo is brilliant. One of Beethoven’s piano’s quiet opening figure, the violin very quietly. most original movements, it lasts barely a entering as part of the same noble rising That quiet extends to the beginning of minute; the ear has only begun to adjust to phrase. The second theme, announced the Allegro molto, but here the music surges the dazzling asymmetry of its rhythms when first by the piano and quickly repeated ahead continuously. The piano has the it ends. Beethoven intentionally makes it by the violin, is flowing and melodic. This 9 2019 Program Notes Week Five movement defies easy description. Graceful massive chording by both instruments and Thursday, August 15, Noon and elegant it certainly is, and, despite some drives to a huge climax. effective contrast of loud and soft passages, By contrast, the Adagio cantabile opens ANTON WEBERN (1883–1945) it remains gentle throughout. Yet even with a melody of disarming gentleness, Langsamer Satz (Slow Movement) for this description doesn’t begin to convey once again announced by the piano, and String Quartet (1905) the grandeur of this music, which is all the much of this movement sings gracefully. As more effective because it refuses to become it develops, however, the accompaniment Webern entered the University of Vienna brilliant or go to dramatic extremes. grows more complex, and soon these to study musicology in the fall of 1902, The Adagio molto espressivo is built on murmuring runs begin to take over the when he was 19, and two years later he the violin’s lovely opening melody. This music. Beethoven makes sharp dynamic began taking private composition lessons movement sounds very much like Mozart’s contrasts before bringing the movement to a with Schoenberg, which he would continue cantabile slow movements: a long slow quiet close. to do until 1908. In 1905, Webern wrote melody turns into a graceful arc of music. The brief Scherzo: Allegro is full of a movement for string quartet as a Beethoven gives the piano a quietly rocking stinging accents and rhythmic surprises. composition exercise, and today that work accompaniment, which later becomes quiet Its trio section is a subtle variation of the is simply called Langsamer Satz (Slow triplets. The last movement, Allegretto con movement’s opening theme, here treated in Movement). variazioni, is also very much in the manner canon. Listeners who might not feel warmly of Mozart, who used theme-and-variation The Finale: Allegro returns to the mood toward the music of Webern may be form for the last movement of several of his of the opening movement. Again, there’s surprised by this piece. Composed before violin sonatas. a quiet but ominous opening full of Webern had abandoned tonality, Langsamer Beethoven was right to reject his original suppressed energy that will later explode to Satz makes clear just how deeply rooted finale; it would have overpowered the first life. This Finale is in modified sonata-rondo he was in the music of late-19th-century two movements, and it now forms a proper form, and, despite an occasional air of play Vienna. In fact, hearing this music without conclusion to the massive “Kreutzer” Sonata. and some appealing lyric moments, the knowing its composer, one might well guess The present finale is a perfect close for this movement partakes of the same atmosphere it was written by either Brahms or Mahler. piece. The opening theme undergoes six of suppressed tension that’s marked the The influence of Brahms (dead only eight variations, all easily followed, as this graceful entire sonata. Beethoven brings it to a years when Langsamer Satz was written) can music moves to its poised conclusion. suitably dramatic close with a blazing coda be felt in the lush sound and the Romantic marked Presto that remains resolutely in theme shapes; the influence of Mahler (then Sonata in C Minor for Violin & Piano, C minor. director of the Vienna Court Opera and Op. 30, No. 2 (1801–02) —Eric Bromberger composing his Seventh Symphony) appears in the scrupulous attention to sound and the The choice of key for this sonata is important, intensity of the development. The harmonic as C minor was the key Beethoven employed language is quite traditional—this music for works of unusual intensity. The recently begins in C minor and progresses to the completed “Pathétique” Sonata, Fourth relative major, E flat—as is the form. The 11 String Quartet, and Third Piano Concerto minute movement is based on two themes; were in C minor, and in the next several years both develop, and the music moves to a Beethoven would use that key for the Funeral climax, resolving quietly on fragments of the March of the “Eroica” Symphony, the Fifth opening idea. Symphony, and the Coriolan Overture. The Particularly striking is this music’s musical conflict that fires those works is also expressiveness. We’ve so come to think of evident in this sonata, which is, along with Webern as the supremely intelligent and the “Kreutzer” Sonata, the most dramatic of detached manipulator of tone rows and Beethoven’s 10 violin sonatas. complex canons that it may be a surprise to The opening movement is marked Allegro hear the Romantic arc of these themes and con brio—the same indication Beethoven to sense the intensity of feeling in the music. would later use for the opening movements The score is littered with such performance of the Third and Fifth Symphonies—and markings as “Very warm,” “With deep the sonata’s first movement has a dramatic feeling,” “Expressive,” and “Very calm.” scope similar to those symphonies. It opens Webern probably never heard this music quietly with a recurrent brooding figure that performed. He wrote it as an exercise, and ends with a sudden turn, like the quick flick doubtless he and Schoenberg went over it of a dragon’s tail. The violin soon picks this in some detail, revising and refining. But up and also has the second subject, which Langsamer Satz remained unpublished. Its marches along clipped dotted rhythms. manuscript was discovered in the Webern There’s no exposition repeat, and Beethoven archives that musicologist Hans Moldenhauer slips into the development quietly, but soon established at the University of Washington, the energy pent up in these simple figures and the first known performance took place is unleashed. This dramatic music features in Seattle on May 27, 1962, more than half a 10 2019 Program Notes Week Five century after the music was written and dedicated his so-called “Eyeglass” Duo, BENJAMIN BRITTEN (1913–76) 17 years after the composer’s death. WoO 32. The quartet opens with a String Quartet No. 1 in D Major, —Eric Bromberger movement that, at five minutes long, is the Op. 25 (1941) shortest Beethoven ever wrote. Immediately, LUDGWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827) the listener is hooked by the five-note turn Benjamin Britten, a pacifist, left England in String Quartet No. 11 in F Minor, Op. 95, that dominates the material; the movement 1939 at the outbreak of World War II and “Serioso” (1810) also stands out for its lack of a repeat of the set out to establish himself as a composer in exposition. And in the midst of this brevity, this country. Within the next two years, the Many analysts of Beethoven’s work hold that Beethoven’s unerring gift for the use of New York Philharmonic premiered his Violin one gains the greatest appreciation for the silence is masterfully revealed. Concerto (in 1940) and Sinfonia da Requiem composer’s stylistic development by studying The second movement is marked Allegretto (in 1941). his string quartets. They certainly group ma non troppo, but, like the corresponding In the spring of 1941, Britten and his themselves rather neatly into three time movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. companion, the tenor Peter Pears, drove an periods, which are functionally referred to 7, it feels like a slow movement. It begins aging Model A across the United States to as “early,” “middle,” and “late.” Beethoven’s quietly before launching into an extended Escondido, California, where they spent the first half dozen quartets, published in a fugato section in the middle, where the summer as guests of the duo pianists Ethel single set as his Opus 18, announced him players imitate and overlap each other as in Bartlett and Rae Robertson. While there, as the leading composer of his generation. a fugue. Without pause, the third movement Britten received a visit from the distinguished They revealed him to be a pioneer who begins with a rhythm/octave motif but American patron of the arts Elizabeth could build upon the Classical models of quickly takes off with urgency and an almost Sprague Coolidge, who commissioned Haydn and Mozart and who could point sinister quality. The finale begins with a a string quartet from the 27-year-old out the future of 19th-century music to his slow introduction, but if the main Allegretto composer. Britten would receive $400 for the contemporaries. agitato seems to maintain the somber quartet, but there was a time constraint: the The next group of string quartets is emotional landscape, the listener is in for a premiere was scheduled for the end of the the Opus 59, which comprises the three wonderful surprise with a late modulation summer. To a friend, Britten wrote: “Short “Razumovsky” quartets, followed by two to the major mode and a finish of great notice & a bit of a sweat, but I’ll do it as the individual works: the Opus 74, dubbed the affirmation. cash will be useful!” The Coolidge Quartet “Harp” Quartet, and this afternoon’s offering, —Greg Hettmansberger premiered the String Quartet in D Major in the “Serioso” Quartet, Op. 95, which is the Los Angeles, with Britten in attendance, on only one of Beethoven’s Quartets that bears September 21, 1941. the composer’s own nickname. (Beethoven’s This quartet seems to look both backward remaining quartets are the Opuses 127, and forward. The work is in four movements, 130–133—which includes his Grosse Fuge— and these appear to conform to the shape and 135. ) of the classical string quartet: a sonata- The “Serioso” lies closer chronologically form first movement, a scherzo, a slow to the other middle quartets, but, in many movement, and a fast finale. But to describe ways, it looks forward to the more abstract Britten’s First String Quartet as traditional expressions of the late quartets, which are is to miss the originality of the music. The the last major works Beethoven completed. quartet is remarkable for the sound world The “Serioso” is also, by far, the most Britten creates, for the structure of its compact of virtually any major Beethoven movements, for the way themes reappear in work (although no one would dare think of it different guises, and for its unexpected key as “miniature”). At times, it’s as if every note relationships. of the sonata bears the expressive weight of The unusual sound world is evident from two (or more!) notes. the first instant of theAndante sostenuto, There’s no single obvious reason as where the two violins and viola, set very high to why Beethoven gave this work its in their range, play a pulsing pattern that nickname, although few would argue that Britten specifies must be both triple piano the appellation is inappropriate. Just a few and molto vibrato; far below, the pizzicato months before completing the quartet in cello has completely different material. These October 1810, Beethoven wrote to an old two opening ideas, sounded simultaneously friend, Dr. Franz Wegeler, and said: “If I had but so unlike each other, will return in not read somewhere that no one should different forms later in the quartet. The long quit life voluntarily while he could still do opening section gives way to a rhythmic, something worthwhile, I would have been angular Allegro vivo derived from the very dead long ago and certainly by my own beginning, and Britten shifts back and forth hand.” between these two themes at quite different Beethoven dedicated this quartet to Baron tempos before the movement winks out on Nikolaus Zmeskall von Domanowecz, the barely audible pizzicatos. friend and amateur cellist to whom he’d also The briefest of the movements, the 11 2019 Program Notes Week Five Allegretto con slancio (“Fairly quick with Thursday, August 15, 6 p.m. natured finale. A second theme tries to enthusiasm”) proceeds along its steady 3/4 establish itself but is quickly swept aside pulse, but soon it’s bristling with energy THE BEETHOVEN SONATAS FOR VIOLIN & by the opening theme, which powers its (sharp attacks, trills, whistling runs). After PIANO: CONCERT 3 OF 3 way cheerfully forward. There are some the violent conclusion of this movement, nice touches along the way: at one point the third brings a world of calm. (It is, in For a general introduction to Beethoven’s 10 the music comes to a screeching stop, and fact, marked Andante calmo.) The 5/4 meter Sonatas for Violin & Piano, please see the then over the piano’s “oom-pah” rhythm of this movement at first masks the fact program note for Tuesday, August 13, 6 p.m. Beethoven launches into the “wrong” key that its opening is a subtle variation of the of E-flat, only to make his way back to a beginning of the first movement. The music LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827) brilliant close in the home key of G major. grows more animated in its central episode, Sonata in G Major for Violin & Piano, which is in turn derived from the pizzicato Op. 30, No. 3 (1801–02) Sonata in A Major for Violin & Piano, cello of the very beginning. Op. 47, “Kreutzer” (1802–03) The finale, markedMolto vivace, demands This sonata, the last of the set of three virtuoso performers. It begins with what Beethoven wrote in Heiligenstadt during By the beginning of the 19th century, seems to be an isolated fragment—a quick the summer of 1802, has deservedly become Beethoven was starting to get restless. The two-measure phrase for the first violin—but one of his most popular. If the first of the young man who’d arrived in Vienna in 1792 then the other instruments pick it up and three is characterized by quiet nobility and was a tremendous pianist. As a composer, treat it to some blistering contrapuntal the second by turbulent drama, the last is however, he still had much to learn, and he extension. The energy never lets up in this marked by high spirits and energy. Of all of spent the next decade slowly mastering the movement, which races to its resounding Beethoven’s violin sonatas, this one looks High Classical form of Haydn and Mozart. close on a firm D-major chord. the most “black” on the page, for its outer By 1802, he’d composed two symphonies, —Eric Bromberger movements are built on an almost incessant three piano concertos, a set of six string pulse of 16th notes. But for all its energy, quartets, and numerous sonatas for piano, this sonata never sounds forced or hurried. for violin, and for cello. These works had all Throughout, it remains one of Beethoven’s been acclaimed in Vienna, but in that same freshest and most graceful scores. year Beethoven wrote to his friend Werner The very beginning of the Allegro assai Krumpholz: “I’m not satisfied with what sets the mood: quietly but suddenly I’ve composed up to now. From now on I the music winds up and leaps upward intend to embark on a new path.” That “new across nearly three octaves. It’s a brilliant path” would become clear late in 1803 with beginning, and Beethoven will make full use the composition of the “Eroica” Symphony, of the energy compressed into those three which revolutionized music. It engaged quick octaves. Almost instantly, the flowing the most serious issues, and in music of second theme is heard, and these two ideas— unparalleled drama and scope it resolved one turbulent, the other lyric—alternate them. throughout the movement before the music But even before the “Eroica,” there were comes to a close made all the more effective indications of Beethoven’s “new path.” by its sudden silence. Early in 1803, the composer met George Beethoven marks the second movement Polgreen Bridgetower (1778–1860). The Tempo di minuetto but specifiesma molto 25-year-old violinist, who was the son of a moderato e grazioso (“but very moderate West Indian father and a European mother, and graceful”). This isn’t the sort of minuet had played in the orchestra for Haydn’s one might dance to, and the key signal concerts in London a decade earlier and is grazioso, for this is unusually graceful was now establishing himself as a touring music. The beginning of this movement virtuoso on the continent. Bridgetower is wonderful. The piano has the haunting and Beethoven quickly became friends, and main theme while the violin accompanies, when the violinist proposed a joint concert but the violin accompaniment has such at which they would perform a new sonata, a distinct character that it’s almost as if the composer agreed. But, as was often Beethoven is offering two quite different the case, Beethoven found himself pressed themes simultaneously. Both ideas are part for time. He made the process easier by of the development, interrupted at times by retrieving a final movement he’d written for other episodes before the quiet close. The a violin sonata the previous year and then main theme breaks down into fragments and discarded. Now, in effect working backwards, vanishes in a wisp of sound. he rushed to get the first two movements The concluding Allegro vivace is a done in time for the scheduled concert on perpetual-motion movement: the piano May 22. He didn’t make it. The concert had launches things on their way, and both to be postponed two days, and even then instruments hurtle through the good- Beethoven barely got it done. He called on 12 2019 Program Notes Week Five his copyist at 4:30 that morning to begin dances with a furious energy that makes it a and symphonies do. Only the Sonata in G copying a part for him, and at the concert worthy counterpart to the first movement. Major comes from outside that six-year he and Bridgetower had to perform some of At several points, Beethoven moves out span, and there are no violin sonatas from the music from Beethoven’s manuscript. The of the driving 6/8 tarantella meter and the final 15 years of the composer’s life. But piano part for the first movement was still offers brief interludes in 2/4. These stately, this final sonata—so different from the first in such fragmentary form that Beethoven reserved moments bring the only relief in nine—gives us some sense of what a late was probably playing some of it just from a movement that overflows with seething violin sonata might have been like, as many sketches. energy—a movement that here becomes of the characteristics of Beethoven’s late As soon as he completed this sonata, the perfect conclusion to one of the most style are already present here: a heartfelt Beethoven set to work on the “Eroica,” which powerful pieces of chamber music ever slow movement derived from the simplest would occupy him for the next six months. written. materials, a sharply focused and almost While the sonata doesn’t engage the Beethoven was so taken with Bridgetower’s brusque scherzo, and a theme-and-variation heroic issues of the first movement of that playing that he intended to dedicate the finale of unusual structure and complexity. symphony, it has something of the work’s sonata to him, and so we might know this Even the restrained first movement, music of slashing power and vast scope. Beethoven work as the “Bridgetower” Sonata had the understatement and “inwardness,” looks ahead was well aware of this and warned composer and the violinist not quarreled, to the works Beethoven would write during performers that the sonata was “written in a apparently over a remark Bridgetower made the extraordinary final six years of his life. very concertante style, quasi-concerto-like.” about a woman Beethoven knew. The two The Allegro moderato opens as simply From the first instant, one senses that eventually made up, but, in the meantime, as possible. The violin’s quiet four-note this is music conceived on a grand scale. Beethoven had dedicated the sonata to figure is immediately answered by the The sonata opens with a slow introduction the French violinist Rodolphe Kreutzer, piano, and that easy dialogue between the (the only one in Beethoven’s 10 violin who, apparently, wound up not liking the instruments characterizes this restrained, sonatas), which is a cadenza-like entrance music. Berlioz reported that “the celebrated almost rhapsodic movement. The dancing for the violin alone. The piano makes a violinist could never bring himself to play this second theme is presented first by the similarly dramatic entrance, and gradually outrageously incomprehensible composition.” piano with violin accompaniment, and the two instruments outline the interval of then the instruments trade roles. The brief a rising second (E to F sharp). At the Presto, Sonata in G Major for Violin & Piano, development section—more a discussion that interval collapses into a half step, the Op. 96 (1812) of the material than a dramatic evolution movement jumps into A minor, and the of it—leads to a full recapitulation of the music whips ahead. Beethoven provides a Beethoven wrote the Sonata in G Major at opening. Throughout, Beethoven repeatedly chorale-like second subject marked Dolce, the end of 1812, shortly after he completed reminds the performers: Dolce, sempre piano but this island of calm makes only the his Seventh and Eighth Symphonies. French (“Sweet, always quiet”). briefest of returns in the course of this violinist Pierre Rode—solo violinist to The Adagio espressivo is built on a theme furious movement. The burning energy of Napoleon and, later, Czar Alexander I in of moving simplicity, much like the slow that Presto opening is never far off: the St. Petersburg—was visiting Vienna, and movements of the late quartets. The piano music rips along an almost machine-gun- Beethoven wrote this sonata for that lays out this long main idea, and the violin like patter of eighth notes, and after a occasion, claiming that he’d tried to cast soon joins it. This movement breathes an air hyperactive development, the movement the last movement in the somewhat less of serenity that’s all the more remarkable drives to its abrupt cadence. dramatic style that Rode preferred. Rode did when one sees the printed page: it’s Relief comes in the Andante con give the work’s first performance in Vienna almost black with Beethoven’s elaborate Variazioni. The piano introduces the melody on December 29, 1812, and on that occasion ornamentation, much of it in 64th notes (amiable but already fairly complex), the the pianist was Beethoven’s pupil and that he’s carefully written out. violin repeats it, and the two instruments patron, the Archduke Rudolph. Beethoven’s The Scherzo follows this movement briefly extend it. There follow four lengthy hearing had deteriorated so badly by this without pause. Propulsive and quite brief, and highly elaborated variations; and while time that he could no longer take part in it rides along off-the-beat accents in its the gentle mood of the fundamental theme ensemble performances—although it hadn’t outer sections and a flowing trio in E-flat is never violated, these variations call for deteriorated so much as to prevent him major. There are no exposition repeats in this some complex and demanding playing. from being disappointed in Rode’s playing. concise movement, which concludes with a For all its complexities, this is a lovely He kept the sonata in manuscript for several very short G-major coda. movement, and Beethoven and Bridgetower years, revised it in 1814–15, and finally The concluding Poco Allegretto is one of had to repeat it at the premiere. published it in 1816. the most extraordinary movements in all The final movement opens with a bang—a Of Beethoven’s 10 violin sonatas, nine were 10 of Beethoven’s violin sonatas. It opens stark A-major chord—and off the music goes. written in the comparatively short span of with a tune that sings simply and agreeably, Beethoven had composed this movement, a six years: 1797 to 1803. Of course, Beethoven but instead of the expected rondo-finale, tarantella, a year earlier, intending it to be experienced tremendous growth during that Beethoven writes a series of variations the finale of his Violin Sonata in A Major, time—think of the difference between the on this opening tune. Just as the ear has Op. 30, No. 1. But he pulled it out and wrote Mozartean early sonatas and the “Kreutzer” adapted to variation form—and just as the a new finale for the earlier sonata, which Sonata—but it’s also true that Beethoven’s music has grown increasingly animated— was a wise decision, as this fiery finale would violin sonatas don’t span his career in the Beethoven throws one of his wildest curves: have overpowered that gentle work. Here, it way that his piano sonatas, string quartets, the tempo becomes Adagio espressivo, 13 2019 Program Notes Week Five and the mood returns to that of the slow Saturday, August 17, 6 p.m. CARL PHILIPP EMANUEL BACH (1714–88) movement: heartfelt and intense. Beethoven Concerto in A Major for Flute, Strings & writes out ornamentation here that’s so ALESSANDRO MARCELLO (1684–1750) Continuo, H. 438 (1753) elaborate the instruments almost seem to Concerto in C Minor for Oboe, Strings & have individual cadenzas. The very end of Continuo (ca. 1716) Johann Sebastian Bach intended that his the movement is as unusual as the rest; the third son, Carl Philipp Emanuel, should opening tempo returns, but now it breaks The son of a wealthy Venetian senator, attend university and make a career in law, down into a series of individual sequences Alessandro Marcello grew up in a cultivated but the lure of music proved too strong. In at different speeds and in quite different household. As a boy he learned to sing and 1738, at the age of 24, Emanuel was named moods. Finally, at the point when we’ve lost play the violin, and his passion for the arts harpsichordist to the Prussian crown prince, any sense of motion or direction, Beethoven and the life of the mind shaped his career. who two years later was crowned Frederick whips matters to a sudden close, the piano Marcello was a dilettante in the best sense of the Great. Frederick was an accomplished flashing upward to strike the final chord. that word: a gentleman of ease and learning, flutist, and Emanuel spent 29 years in his —Eric Bromberger he painted, wrote poetry in Latin and Italian, service, composing and accompanying and studied philosophy and mathematics. the king in flute sonatas. These were not His home in Venice was the scene of weekly entirely happy years for the composer: the concerts, at which his own music was king had extremely conservative musical sometimes performed. tastes, and doubtless Emanuel wished for a Marcello wrote very little music, wider and more challenging world. Such an however—perhaps because music was only opportunity came in 1767, when Telemann one part of his very active artistic life. He died and Emanuel was (reluctantly) given composed cantatas, violin sonatas, and a leave by Frederick to take his place as music small amount of orchestral music, of which director for the city of Hamburg, a position the Oboe Concerto in C Minor has become he filled happily for the remaining two the most famous example. For many years, decades of his life. this concerto was attributed to Marcello’s The Flute Concerto in A Major dates from younger brother Benedetto, who was also about 1753 and was apparently written in a composer in Venice (and a wicked satirist Potsdam. Virtually all of Emanuel’s concertos as well), but it’s clear that this concerto is were originally composed for harpsichord the work of Alessandro. It was published and later arranged for other instruments; the under his name in Amsterdam in about 1716, present concerto exists in an arrangement although manuscript copies of the concerto for cello as well as flute. It’s not known had circulated for several years before whether Frederick ever played this concerto, that. Those copies included versions of the but its technical demands and expressive concerto in both C minor and D minor; at emotional content may have kept it beyond tonight’s concert, the concerto is performed his reach. in C minor. Emanuel’s concertos are in the Baroque This Oboe Concerto—scored for a soloist pattern that his father had borrowed from with an orchestra of strings and continuo—is Italian composers, complete with orchestral in three brief movements, and the sequence ritornelli, though Emanuel develops musical of those movements is somewhat unusual. motifs in ways that would never have A moderately paced opening movement is occurred to those older masters. The Allegro followed by a slow central movement; only bursts to life with an active ritornello, and the finale of this concerto is fast. Marcello the flute makes its sprightly entrance on a specifies that the first movement should fragment of this theme. The flute’s entry, be not just Andante but also spiccato, and in fact, seems a conscious reminiscence of the accompaniment is almost pointillistic as the Badinerie of Johann Sebastian Bach’s the soloist sustains the melodic line above famous Suite No. 2 in B Minor. it. The central Adagio belongs to the oboist, The real glory of this concerto is its who has a long and complex line above a extraordinary slow movement, marked steady chordal accompaniment. The binary- specificallyLargo con sordini, mesto. All form finale, markedPresto , engages all the those markings are important, as the forces more fully. The orchestra is an active music is slow, the strings are muted, and participant at last, and Marcello demands the atmosphere is indeed sad. The violins, some very agile playing indeed from the kept in their low registers to reinforce the oboist here. dark mood of this music, have the somber, —Eric Bromberger surging introduction. Against this subdued backdrop, the bright sound of the flute brings a ray of hope, but it’s the brooding sonority of the muted strings that stays to 14 2019 Program Notes Week Five haunt the memory when this music has on its own and is often performed by ended. The finale returns to the manner of itself. Marcello’s original concerto version ERIC BROMBERGER earned his doctorate the opening movement, though with an translates very easily to the keyboard: the in American literature at UCLA and taught even higher energy level. Emanuel specifies left hand maintains the steady eighth-note for 10 years before quitting to devote that it should be Allegro assai (“Very fast”), accompaniment while the right hand spins himself to his first love, music. A violinist, and this movement offers a particularly out the long, lovely melodic line. The finale Mr. Bromberger writes program notes for athletic part for the soloist. becomes a tour de force for the pianist; the Minnesota Orchestra, Washington —Eric Bromberger those passages that leapt between orchestral Performing Arts at The Kennedy Center, sections in Marcello’s concerto now leap San Francisco Performances, University of JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685–1750) between the pianist’s two hands. Chicago Presents, the La Jolla Music Society, Concerto in D Minor for Keyboard Solo after —Eric Bromberger the San Diego Symphony, and many other Marcello, BWV 974 (ca. 1716) organizations. He’s been a pre-concert lecturer for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Bach spent most of his early career in small since 1999. towns, far from the major music centers of Europe, but he remained keenly aware of GREG HETTMANSBERGER has contributed larger currents in music throughout Europe. criticism and features to the Los Angeles He made an effort to meet other composers Times, L.A. Weekly, the Los Angeles Daily and listened to what they were doing, and News, Performing Arts, and the Santa he ordered a great deal of new music as it Barbara News-Press, and he was a staff was being published. While still in his 20s writer for the Los Angeles Opera, for which and serving as organist in Weimar, Bach he’s written two yearbooks. This is his 24th made several transcriptions for harpsichord season writing program notes for the Santa of concertos for various instruments Fe Chamber Music Festival. He currently by contemporary composers, including contributes articles to Madison Magazine Vivaldi, Telemann, and both Benedetto and and writes the blog WhatGregSays at Alessandro Marcello, as well as Duke Johann whatgregsays.com. Ernst of Saxe-Weimar, his employer in Weimar. Bach made these transcriptions for JENNIFER RHODES holds a PhD in Italian two reasons: he wanted to be able to play and comparative literature. Her research this music himself, and—more important— focuses on sites of interchange between making these transcriptions was the best literature, music, and the visual arts. Her possible method of studying this music and current book project explores the influence understanding what Vivaldi and the others of Richard Wagner on the modern European had achieved in it. novel. Ms. Rhodes teaches literature at The present Concerto in D Minor is Columbia University and has been a member Bach’s transcription of the Oboe Concerto of The Santa Fe Opera Titles Department of Alessandro Marcello that opened this since 2000. concert. This music was brand new when Bach made his transcription, as the Oboe Concerto was published in 1716 and his transcription appears to date from the same year. Bach may have known Marcello’s concerto from one of the handwritten copies that circulated in the years before it was published. Those copies included versions in D minor and C minor; this concert opened with the orchestral version in C minor, but Bach created his keyboard version from a copy of the concerto in D minor. Bach would have intended this music for the harpsichord or organ, though at this concert it’s performed on the piano, as it usually is today. In his keyboard transcription of Marcello’s opening movement, Bach deftly weaves the oboe’s athletic line into the spiky textures of the accompaniment. Bach’s transcription of the central Adagio has become popular

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