PREVIEW NOTES Lars Vogt, piano Wednesday, February 18, 2015 – 8:00 PM American Philosophical Society, 427 Chestnut Street Program Sonata in C Minor, D. 958 The first five pieces of Op. 19 were composed in a single Franz Schubert day, February 19, 1911; the sixth followed on June 17. Born: January 31, 1797 in Vienna, Austria The musical equivalent of aphorisms, the longest of the Died: November 19, 1828 in Vienna, Austria set, No. 1, encompasses 18 measures while the shortest, Composed: 1828 Nos. 2 and 3, are only nine each. Last PCMS performance: André Watts in 2014 Duration: 31 minutes Sonata in C Minor, Op. 111 Ludwig van Beethoven Schubert's final three piano sonatas were all finished in Born: December 16, 1770 in Bonn, Germany September 1828 and were dedicated to pianist Johann Died: March 26, 1827 in Vienna, Austria Hummel. Hummel had a year earlier been present at a Composed: 1821‐22 private evening of Schubert lieder and had expressed his Last PCMS performance: Richard Goode in 2013 admiration for the composer in the highest terms. This Duration: 26 minutes Sonata, however, was not published until 1839, a few years after Hummel's death, and the publisher unjustly This sonata's turbulent first movement and its ensuing struck Schubert's dedication from the piece and made a lengthy Arietta, take the listener into a sonic universe new one to Robert Schumann. The opening Allegro previously unexplored by other composers. The sonata begins as a grim, stone‐faced affair in punctuated begins with a grim introduction, typical of the chords; the first thought is soon given a new spin with composer's serious style, because it starts the narrative an Alberti‐bass style accompaniment. The second with a question, or dilemma, with dark, emphatic chords movement is set in A‐flat Major and has a melody that, followed by trills, which introduce an added element of in both shape and treatment, hearkens back to uncertainty. The main theme begins in a slow, sinister Beethoven's serene slow movements. The triplet‐ vein in the low end of the piano. After it is presented in ridden, unstable contrasting material is more typically full, the tempo slows, ushering in another idea, but this Schubertian. The minuet is full of metric witticisms, or at new idea is short‐lived, and the main theme soon least rhythmic quirks, the most immediately obvious of returns. In the development section the theme is which are the full‐measure rests that mark the return of twisted into a mysterious variation of the dark, somber the opening tune just before the easygoing A‐flat Major introduction. With no recapitulation the movement trio. The finale is immense; its constant horse‐gallop creeps to one final climax that slowly fades within itself. rhythm embraces a far‐flung tonal plan. After the last of The second movement opens in a playful manner; it several tuneful efforts has been wiped clean, nearly a strikes one as not the kind of melody that might yield hundred bars of the unrelenting horse‐gallop draws the variations of sundry character. This theme and the first movement to its terse final cadence. three variations form the first section of the movement, and it is the fourth variation that marks the second half Sechs Kleine Klavierstücke, Op. 19 of the movement. Arnold Schoenberg Born: September 13, 1874 in Vienna, Austria Died: July 13, 1951 in Los Angeles, CA Composed: 1911 Last PCMS performance: Ieva Jokubaviciute in 2013 Duration: 5 minutes .