Leonidas Kavakos, Violin Enrico Pace, Piano
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CAL PERFORMANCES PRESENTS PROGRAM NOTES Sunday, February 17, 2013, 3pm Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) he bested in competition Daniel Steibelt and Hertz Hall Sonata No. 1 in D major, Op. 12, No. 1 Joseph Wölffl, two of the town’s keyboard lumi- naries, he became all the rage among the gentry, Composed in 1798. who exhibited him in performance at the soirées in their elegant city palaces. In catering to the Leonidas Kavakos, violin In November 1792, the 22-year-old Ludwig van aristocratic audience, Beethoven took on the air Beethoven, bursting with talent and promise, of a dandy for a while, dressing in smart clothes, Enrico Pace, piano arrived in Vienna. So undeniable was the genius learning to dance (badly), buying a horse, and he had already demonstrated in a sizable amount even sporting a powdered wig. This phase of his of piano music, numerous chamber works, can- life did not outlast the 1790s, but in his biog- tatas on the death of Emperor Joseph II and raphy of the composer, Peter Latham described PROGRAM the accession of Leopold II, and the score for Beethoven at the time as “a young giant exult- a ballet, that Maximilian Franz, the Elector of ing in his strength and his success, and youthful Bonn, his hometown, underwrote the trip to the confidence gave him a buoyancy that was both Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) Sonata No. 1 in D major, Op. 12, No. 1 (1798) Habsburg Imperial city, then the musical capi- attractive and infectious.” tal of Europe, to help further the young musi- Beethoven took some care during his first Allegro con brio cian’s career (and the Elector’s prestige). Despite years in Vienna to present himself as a compos- Theme and Variations: Andante con moto the Elector’s patronage, however, Beethoven’s er in the day’s more fashionable genres, one of Rondo: Allegro professional ambitions quickly consumed any which was the sonata for piano nominally ac- thoughts of returning to the provincial city of companied, according to the taste of the time, his birth, and, when his alcoholic father died by violin. Mozart had addressed the form in 42 Beethoven Sonata No. 5 in F major, Op. 24, “Spring” in December, he severed for good his ties with works, some of which moved beyond the con- (1800–1801) Bonn in favor of the stimulating artistic atmo- vention that expected the keyboard to dominate Allegro sphere of Vienna. the string instrument toward a greater equality Adagio molto espressivo During his first years in Vienna, Beethoven between the partners. Beethoven continued on Scherzo: Allegro molto was busy on several fronts. Initial encourage- this tack so decisively that, despite their conser- Rondo: Allegro ma non troppo ment for the Viennese junket had come from vative structure and idiom, his first three string the venerable Joseph Haydn, who had heard one sonatas, Op. 12 of 1798, presage the full par- of Beethoven’s cantatas on a visit to Bonn ear- ity that marks the 19th-century duo sonata. INTERMISSION lier in the year and promised to take the young The Op. 12 Sonatas are products of Beethoven’s composer as a student if he came to see him. own practical experience as both pianist and Beethoven therefore became a counterpoint violinist, an instrument he had learned while Beethoven Sonata No. 9 in A major, Op. 47, “Kreutzer” pupil of Haydn immediately upon his arrival still in Bonn and on which he took lessons (1803) late in 1792, but the two had difficulty getting shortly after settling in Vienna with the noted along—Haydn was too busy, Beethoven was performer (and, later, great champion of his Adagio sostenuto — Presto too bullish—and their association soon broke chamber music) Ignaz Schuppanzigh. In view Andante con variazioni off. Several other teachers followed in short or- of their gestating friendship, it was fitting that Finale: Presto der—Schenk, Albrechtsberger, Förster, Salieri. Schuppanzigh and the composer presented one While he was busy completing fugal exercises of the Op. 12 Sonatas at a public concert ben- and practicing setting Italian texts for his tutors, efiting the singer Josefa Duschek on March 29, Beethoven continued to compose, producing 1798. The works were published by Artaria early works for solo piano, chamber ensembles, and the following year with a dedication to Antonio Funded by the Koret Foundation, this performance is part of Cal Performances’ 2012–2013 wind groups. It was as a pianist, however, that Salieri, Kapellmeister to the Habsburg Court, Koret Recital Series, which brings world-class artists to our community. he gained his first fame among the Viennese. with whom Beethoven was then studying op- The untamed, passionate, original quality of his era and Italian text setting. Though the Sonatas Cal Performances’ 2012–2013 season is sponsored by Wells Fargo. playing and his personality first intrigued and seem conventional in view of Beethoven’s then captivated those who heard him. When later achievements, they caused considerable 16 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 17 PROGRAM NOTES PROGRAM NOTES consternation when they were new for their im- Beethoven bankruptcy in 1825 following the Napoleonic Beethoven puted daring originality and restless expressive- Sonata No. 5 in F major, Op. 24, “Spring” upheavals; the Seventh Symphony of 1813 was Sonata No. 9 in A major, Op. 47, “Kreutzer” ness. The review in theAllgemeine Musikalische dedicated to Fries. Zeitung of Leipzig displayed the mixture of baf- Composed in 1800–1801. The two Sonatas for Violin and Piano Composed in 1803. Premiered on May 24, 1803, flement and admiration with which Beethoven’s that Beethoven composed for Count Fries in in Vienna by violinist George Bridgetower and the contemporaries often greeted his works: “The In a world still largely accustomed to the re- 1800–1801—the passionate A minor (Op. 23) composer. three Violin Sonatas, Op. 12, are overladen with served, genteel musical climate of pre-Revolu- and the pastoral F major (Op. 24, appropri- difficulties. Herr Beethoven goes at his own gait, tionary Classicism, Ludwig van Beethoven burst ately subtitled “Spring”)—were apparently George Augustus Polgreen Bridgetower was but what a bizarre and singular gait it is! To be upon the Viennese cultural scene like a fiery conceived as a contrasting but complementary born in Biala, Poland on February 29, 1780; his accurate, there is only a mass of learning here, meteor. The most perceptive of the local nobil- pair, perhaps intended to be performed together. mother was of Polish or German extraction, his without good method, obstinacy which fails ity, to their credit, recognized the genius of this (Beethoven headed the manuscript of the F ma- father was Abyssinian. (Almost incredibly, his to interest us, a striving after strange modula- gruff Rhinelander, and encouraged his work. jor piece “Sonata II,” and originally instructed life ended in London exactly 80 years later, on tions, a heaping up of difficulties on difficul- Shortly after his arrival, for example, Prince the Viennese publisher T. Mollo to issue the two February 29, 1860.) The mulatto Bridgetower ties until one loses all patience or enjoyment.... Karl Lichnowsky provided Beethoven with liv- works under the single opus number 23. An ap- proved to be a remarkable prodigy of the violin, [However,] the critic, after he has tried more and ing quarters, treating him more like a son than a parent engraver’s error, however, caused the two and he was accepted into the musical establish- more to accustom himself to Herr Beethoven’s guest. Lichnowsky even instructed the servants violin parts to be printed in different formats— ment of the Prince of Wales at Brighton when manner, has learned to admire him more than to answer the musician’s call before his own, one upright, one oblong—making printing in a he was just ten. The following year, he played in he did at first.” should both ring at the same time. Another of single volume awkward, so the Sonatas were re- the violin section for the Haydn–Salomon con- An abundance of themes shared with con- the composer’s staunchest patrons was Count issued separately with individual opus numbers.) certs in London, and thereafter billed himself as versational equality by the participants opens Moritz von Fries, proprietor of the prosper- The F major Sonata, Op. 24, one of Beethoven’s “a student of Haydn.” In 1803, Bridgetower was the D major Sonata: a heroic unison motive; ous Viennese banking firm of Fries & Co. and most limpidly beautiful creations, is well char- granted a leave of absence to visit his mother in quietly flowing scales in the piano support- treasurer to the imperial court. Fries, seven acterized by its vernal sobriquet. The opening Dresden, take the waters at Teplitz and Carlsbad, ing a striding phrase in the violin; and several years Beethoven’s junior, was a man of excel- movement’s sonata form is initiated by a gently and play some concerts en route. His public related ideas in quicker rhythms cobbled from lent breeding and culture. A true disciple of the meandering melody first chanted by the violin. and private performances in Dresden created conventional scale and chord patterns. Tension Enlightenment, Fries traveled widely (Goethe The grace-note-embellished subsidiary subject is a sensation, and his arrival in Vienna in early accumulates in the transition, and is relaxed mentioned meeting him in Italy), and lived for somewhat more vigorous in rhythm and chro- May was awaited by the local music lovers there for the second theme, a scalar melody gently a period in Paris, where he had himself painted matic in harmony, but maintains the music’s with a heady mixture of excitement and curios- urged on by syncopations.