GEORGE ONSLOW Violin sonatas op.16 moderntimes_1800 Ilia Korol violin - Norbert Zeilberger fortepiano 1 GEORGE ONSLOW Violin sonatas op.16 moderntimes_1800 Ilia Korol violin - Norbert Zeilberger fortepiano ANDRE GEORGE LOUIS ONSLOW (1784 -1853) Sonata 1 in F, op. 16 (1819) [1] Allegro 8:24 [2] Andante 6:55 [3] Finale. Allegretto 6:19 Sonata 2 in c, op. 16 (1819) [4] Allegro espressivo 14:48 [5] Menuetto allegro 5:37 [6] Adagio cantabile 6:49 [7] Finale. Allegretto 5:56 Sonata 3 in A, op. 16 (1819) [8] Allegro vivace 8:07 [9] Adagio 3:16 On the instruments: [10] Finale. Agitato e molto espressivo 9:08 Violin, anonymous, North Italy c. 1730 Fortepiano by Albrecht Czernin 2006, using an original South German corpus (c. 1815) reconstructed and added to in the style of the time. total time 75:24 Zu den Instrumenten: Violine anonym, Norditalien um 1730 Hammerflügel von Albrecht Czernin 2006, unter Verwendung eines originalen süddeutschen Corpus (ca. 1815) im Stil der Zeit rekonstruiert und ergänzt. 4 5 A young man, the son of rich parents, Esterhaza he had only indirect contact Baptist Cramer and Johann Ladislav Nicolas Méhul. Méhul, in the 1780s studies with the foremost pianists of with the developments of his epoch; Dussek and others. At the time Dussek a member of the renowned Société his age and trains to be a virtuoso Onslow, too, lived more or less off the was celebrated as a pianist across the Académique des Enfants d’Apollon, pianist; because he is financially beaten track of the tone-setting trends whole of Europe; among those he at first fell out of political favour after independent, he doesn't need to bow of his era. appeared with in London was Haydn the Revolution; later he wrote patriotic down to the musical taste of his time and the composer acclaimed his songs and choruses on the glorious re- and is able to develop his talents in George Onslow was born in France musical ability and the integrity of his public. Stratonice was oriented above whatever direction he pleases. This as the son of an English aristocrat; his character. all on Gluck's operas. It is a highly dra- is a constellation similar to what we father Edward had left England in the matic work, full of contrasts, powerful, know of Glenn Gould's biography. early 1780s.* George was aged five The crucial auditory experience that with carefully composed music: "pure George Onslow enjoyed the when the French Revolution broke made Onslow (now back in France) expression” **, but as a work is not of privilege of economic and intellectual out; in its early years the family lived aware of his vocation as a composer the top rank. independence and throughout his mainly unmolested in the Auvergne, had less to do with the musical giants, life wrote without any consideration but in 1797 Edward, who happened to who were then the main forces behind After his first experiments in composi- of market and fashion. His chamber be a Freemason, was arrested by the a young composer when taking up pen tion – attempts which were probably music was in part a curiosity stylistically Jacobins as a suspected monarchist and manuscript paper. It wasn't the not to his complete satisfaction – On- speaking and way ahead of his French and counter-revolutionary and music of Haydn, Mozart or Beethoven slow took lessons in Paris from Anton contemporaries. There were hardly meanwhile expelled from France. He to which Onslow owed – in his own Reicha. Reicha had been in Paris since any composers of world rank in France went to Hamburg and later to England; words – the crucial impetus on the way 1808 and enjoyed an outstanding at that time and Vienna was far away. he took his son George with him and to a career as a composer, but a work reputation; later he was the teacher Haydn wrote of himself that he was arranged for him to have first-class that is unknown today: the overture of Berlioz and Liszt. From him Onslow able to be "original" because in piano lessons there, from Johann to the opera Stratonice by Etienne- received the basic theoretical structure * The biographical details are taken from Viviane Niaux, George Onslow. Gentleman Compositeur. Clermont- ** Patrick Taïeb, “Une Révélation pour George Onslow : Stratonice”. Bulletin de l’Association George Ons- Ferrand 2003. low, no. 2, 1995-96, p.8. 6 7 of his profession, training in composi- published his youthful works, his later Structurally Onslow follows the classic a rhapsodic melody of long notes tion, logic, mathematics and philoso- compositions were brought out among sonata form in the duos – the paragon transcending the world and the rhythm, phy. Through him he gained exact others by Breitkopf & Härtel. The high Beethoven is constantly present. He too; while the piano beats out the time knowledge of the works of Haydn and standard of Onslow's music stands out loves to play with effects and con- almost stubbornly, then in the middle Beethoven; Onslow adulated them starkly from the nascent mass produc- trasts, so that we gain the impression of the movement seems to blow its top both throughout his life. He also took tion of chamber music that was target- we are journeying through a musi- and with a few violent chords release up the cello in order to be able to play ing the flourishing market of bourgeois cal landscape of great diversity. He the emotional pressure. This move- chamber music with his friends. music-making and appreciation. His hastens through brilliant runs, only to ment ends with a question mark and is second passion was for opera and be- slow down or pause in a fermata, or resolved in a sparkling final movement In the course of his life, Onslow pri- tween 1824 and 1837 three operas by the melody apparently loses itself in interspersed with tongue-in-cheek marily wrote chamber music, string him were given their world premiere; ever-decelerating, slow-motion trills as humour. Onslow never seems to worry quintets and quartets and piano quin- however, he was not really successful in the first movement of the Duo in F about the effect of his musical idiom. tets, duos and trios, furthermore a few in this field. major; yet all these effects never lose He fears neither lyrical or dramatic symphonies. This brought him fame in their firm basis of clear form. Onslow overabundance, an abrupt contrast, a Europe, above all in Germany, Austria The Duos op. 16 were written in 1819 loves chromatics and the subtle, lyrical potential slide into sentiment, nor a and England. He was awarded many and published a year later in Vienna. melodic line; the second movement in melodic line of Haydnesque simplicity. honours, including his nomination The string instrument printed on the the Duo in F major could be mistaken He shares the enthusiasm of his age for as honorary member of the London score is designated as "violin, viola or at first hearing for an adaptation of instrumental virtuosity without losing Philharmonic Society and his enrol- violoncello". Ilia Korol opted for the a Chopin waltz. In contrast, the first himself in empty self-indulgence; he ment in the Académie des Beaux-Arts. violin because of the tessitura; this movement of the Duo in C minor is a is entirely derisive of this superficial, In contrast to some contemporary would have been less beautiful on a kaleidoscope of dramatic and meticu- fashionable tone. When exploring fellow composers, Onslow was not lower-pitched instrument, whereas lously interwoven ideas, while the third virtuosity he never does violence to dependent on the economic success the violin provides a brilliant contrast movement begins as the epitome of instrument or player; the piano part of of his production but had no prob- to the partially dense structure of the sensibility. In the second movement the duos is "just made to be played", lem finding publishers; Pleyel even piano part. of the Duo in A major, the violin plays as Norbert Zeilberger says. 8 9 Thus Onslow's music combines the moderntimes_1800 chamber orchestra particular age – and, as such, all music fruits of his virtuoso training in the on authentic instruments can claim to have been “modern” in leading cities of Europe, his – one its own time. The inclusion of the date could say critical – approach to con- As something external and strange, “1800” in the name of the orchestra temporary influences and his solicitous everything new appears poetic – refers to one of the most turbulent reception of classical models, with a As something internal and of the self, epochs in European history in which constantly contemporary, intellectual everything old also appears romantic – society, politics and culture all under- independence, all of which merge into For both contrast with the went fundamental change, heralding a musical gesture unconventional in commonplace – or with each other. the advent of European Modernity. impression and of chamber-music char- The newness of the old – The transition from the 18th to the 19th acter: an eclectic method giving rise the oldness of the new. century marked the beginning of the to his quite specific interpretation of Novalis collapse of an epoch, characterised by Romantic chamber music, a personal upheaval and reorientation in the most style of great individuality and extraor- moderntimes_1800 is a young Austrian diverse spheres. dinary quality. chamber orchestra based in Tyrol comprising international specialists. It Availing itself of the instruments and Veronika Zimmermann was founded in 2003 by Ilia Korol and the playing styles of the time in which a Julia Moretti who set out to form an work was created, moderntimes_ 1800 ensemble from a new generation of is of the firm conviction that the musi- ∗∗∗ musicians, proficient both in historical cal language of an epoch can find most performance and in the music of the vivid expression when articulated using 20th century.