Hugo Wolf César Franck Robert Schumann

CONCERT #3 - Released JULY 22, 2021 HUGO WOLF Italian Serenade for String Quartet in G Major Tessa Lark violin / Augustin Hadelich violin / Jonathan Vinocour viola / Ani Aznavoorian cello CÉSAR FRANCK Sonata for Violin and Piano in A Major Allegretto ben moderato Allegro Ben moderato: Recitative—Fantasia Allegretto poco mosso Augustin Hadelich violin / Alessio Bax piano ROBERT SCHUMANN String Quartet in A minor, Op. 41 No. 1 Introduzione. Andante espressivo – Allegro Scherzo. Presto—Intermezzo Adagio Presto Arnaud Sussmann violin / Tessa Lark violin / Jonathan Vinocour viola / Ani Aznavoorian cello HUGO WOLF Wolf’s father died in 1887, the very year that signaled (1860–1903) a change in his fortunes vis à vis acceptance as a Italian Serenade for String Quartet composer. Perhaps that previously unattainable in G Major (1887) recognition helps explain the prevailing light mood Most recent SCMS performance: Summer 2013 of the Serenade. Presumably inspired by a novella by Joseph Eichendorff, From the Life of a Ne’er Do Well, Hugo Wolf shared a curse with a number of artists the music conveys the ardent wooing of young man whose innate talent was compromised by chronic who leaves home in search of success in life and love. mental illness and its frequently attendant paranoia A buoyant theme opens the brief work, animated by and anti-social behavior. In Wolf’s case tertiary a lively rhythmic underpinning. The music progresses syphilis exacerbated his psychiatric problems. He in a series of subtly varied episodes in the manner spent his final years in an institution, dying in his of a rondo, all of which are united by the composer’s forty-third year. Early admiration for Brahms led to a uncharacteristic amiability. A sardonic middle meeting with the established master, who, perusing section suggests the kind of ironic overstatement some of the young man’s compositions, urged one encounters in, say, Mahler scherzos. A beguiling Wolf to immerse himself in a thorough study of secondary tune emerges and sets up a brief climax counterpoint. Hurt to the quick, the pathologically before the return of the main theme. sensitive Wolf immediately added Brahms to his list of imagined and real enemies, throwing himself headlong into the distinctly anti-Brahmsian, ardently CÉSAR FRANCK pro-Wagner camp. (1822–1890) Sonata for Violin and Piano Success as a composer did not readily come to in A Major (1886) him; like Schumann before him—also afflicted with Most recent SCMS performance: Summer 2017 devastating mental health issues—Wolf for a time functioned as a music critic and teacher, losing most Stories abound of composers whose musical of his students through venomous intolerance with ambitions were thwarted by well-meaning parents their lack of talent. In A Lexicon of Musical Inventive who tried to dissuade their offspring from the risky, (a “must” read) the late centenarian Nicholas often impecunious life of a musician. From Handel to Slonimsky quoted a letter from Wolf after one of his Berlioz and beyond, many gifted children were forced pieces received a scathing review: “I am sitting in the to study law or medicine, only to ultimately rebel and smallest room in my house. Your review is in front of devote themselves to the craft of musical creation. me; shortly it shall be behind me!” In the case of César Franck, the situation is similar, but with a twist. Franck’s father, with a long family Known mainly for his intensely expressive songs, background in the supervision of mines, realized Wolf occasionally took up the challenge of writing early that his sons César and Joseph, (a violinist) chamber music. Of his scant number of instrumental showed great musical talent, and moved the family works, his Italian Serenade remains the best- to Paris where better musical training and lucrative known. He originally wrote it for string quartet. Five opportunities awaited. years later, in 1892, he produced an orchestral version, intending but failing to write two additional Though the two brothers toured together in 1842- movements in hopes of producing a large-scale 43, resentment toward their dominating father suite. Like Schubert’s miraculous Quartetsatz, the steadily mounted, and in 1846 César unpardonably Italian Serenade stands alone as a magnificent self- became engaged to a young woman—daughter of an contained movement. actress, yet—strongly disapproved of in the Franck household. The couple married in 1848, and from that point on César left the field of concert-giving in SUMMER FestIval // favor of teaching. He essentially rejected the piano Robert SCHUMANN in favor of the organ, further distancing himself from (1810–1856) the possibility of a public career as a virtuoso pianist. String Quartet in A minor, He was, in essence, a very private and self-effacing Op. 41 No. 1 (1842) person, preferring the quiet world of teaching, organ SCMS premiere playing, and composition. Among his peers he was considered one of the greatest organists of his day, In September 1840, Robert Schumann married and was highly respected as a composer and teacher. the love of his life, Clara Wieck, after a decade of harassment from Clara’s father Friedrich (Schumann’s If his lone symphony in D minor remains his best- erstwhile piano teacher) that included failed attempts known orchestral work, his A-major Sonata for Violin to legally prevent the union. Happily, the worried and Piano lays similar claim in the chamber or duet father eventually reconciled with his daughter and repertoire. Non-violinists have had their way with son-in-law, and for several years the newlyweds this ingratiating piece as well. Both the late cellist enjoyed extended moments of bliss interrupted by Jacqueline du Pré and the flutist James Galway the composer’s increasing cycles of mental illness. (among others) have performed the original violin During the 1830s, Schumann’s compositional efforts part on their respective instruments. had centered on piano music, understandable given his early prowess as a pianist before an injury to his The Sonata is in four movements, all of which right hand ended a prospective career as a virtuoso. share melodic material or variants thereof from In the year of his marriage he devoted himself to the opening Allegretto ben moderato, a typically Lieder, i.e., German art songs, and proved to be a Franckian version of cyclic composition. The worthy successor to the incomparable Schubert in expansive opening movement is a sonatina form that area. Perhaps because of his passion for Clara, (i.e., a sonata lacking a development section) that his songs show a keen sympathy and understanding enchants through serene and reflective calm. of a woman’s perspective, as in the cycle, Frauenliebe und-Leben. The following year he expanded his The following Allegro, by contrast, exerts itself horizons to initiate a series of orchestral works, with vigor and conflict, but withdraws to a kind of including his Symphony No. 1, “Spring.” smoldering calm. The year 1842 marked yet another change of Marked Ben moderato: Recitative—Fantasia, the third course—chamber music. In that year alone he movement draws together much of the thematic composed his widely played Piano Quartet and Piano material from the two preceding movements in a Quintet, preceded by his three Op. 41 string quartets, passionate declamatory statement. his only chamber works without piano. He felt challenged by the task, preparing himself through The rightly famous Finale opens with a tension- concentrated study of quartets by his Viennese thawing tune that Franck subjects to the rigorous antecedents, Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. In a form of a canon, where the two instruments follow gesture of respect and warmth, Schumann dedicated each other in perfect imitation. An age-old construct, his quartets to Felix Mendelssohn, a close friend and canons are considered the epitome of austerity, yet in generously supportive colleague. Franck’s hands the music flows with melodic fluency and effortless poise. Schumann’s quartets receive far fewer performances than the abovementioned Piano Quartet and Quintet, and the first of the string quartets, in A minor, Op. 41, No. 1, is not infrequently dismissed as “impersonal.” Why this should be is, frankly, a mystery to the writer of this program note. In addition JULY 22, 2021 // ProGraM notes to demonstrating mastery of contrapuntal writing rhythmic surge of Beethoven-inspired power. The (generally acknowledged even by naysayers), the movement’s Trio, sweet and even a bit “salon-like,” music combines lyricism, warmth of expression, and a contrasts with both aspects of the Scherzo proper. buoyancy one might not typically expect from a work cast in the minor. The emotional core of the quartet is the Adagio third movement, which uses a motif that sounds The opening movement gets under way with a like nothing less than a fond recollection of the contrapuntal introduction that reflects Schumann’s searching/aspiring theme from the third movement knowledge of and love for the music of Bach. of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. A declamatory Interestingly, he wrote that prefatory section after middle section heightens the emotional temperature he completed the movement proper. If the opening before ending quietly. section is rigorously polyphonic in it many-voiced journey, the rest of the movement alternates An emphatic theme launches the Finale. Here, too, between contrasting homophonic passages a bit of Mendelssohnian scurrying about can be interrupted by returns to independent melodic lines. sensed in the deft and speedy pacing. Some clever Two related tunes provide the material for the lyrical and effective counterpoint accentuates busy-ness movement, which ends on a note of serene quiet. and energy. The music evolves in the development Though cast in A minor, the movement’s unexpected section in a manner that suggests rich orchestral sunny warmth comes via the choice of F major as sonorities, another manifestation of the multiple the home key of the theme that dominates after the strands that propel the music forward.

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