Chopin - Scherzo No. 2 In B-flat Minor

Frederic Chopin was a virtuoso of the instrument, and the vast majority of his compositions were for the piano. He brought the Mazurka, the national dance of Poland, into the concert hall and helped establish the form of the piano Nocturne.

Chopin has been called the poet of the piano, and many consider him to be the greatest of all the composers for the instrument.  He brought to his piano works a type of technical quality that is by no means easy, but at the same time it is not an empty display of rapid finger work. Everything in Chopin comes from the heart, from emotion, and serves musical expression.

Scherzo is an Italian word that means 'joke', but the Scherzo No. 2 In B-flat Minor is hardly a laughing matter.  There is something ominous from the very beginning of the piece. One of Chopin's students said of the opening of the Scherzo,  "For Chopin it was never questioning enough, never soft enough, never vaulted enough. It must be a charnel-house."  When the Scherzo comes to a thundering close in D flat Major some nine-odd minutes later,  (some say a triumphant close) in the same rhythm as the opening, the 'bad' joke has been transformed.

Chopin's Scherzo No. 2 in B flat minor, Opus 31:

Albert Ketèlby - Dance Of The Merry Mascots

Albert Ketèlby - (1875 - 1959) was an English composer, pianist and conductor. He attended the Trinity College Of Music in London and his early piano sonata was praised by Edward Elgar. He had a knack for being able to play all the instruments of the orchestra,  practical knowledge he used when he composed for orchestra.

He was musical director of London's Vaudeville Theater and wrote many vocal and instrumental pieces while there. He was also music editor to some publishing houses and was Musical director for the Columbia Gramophone company and conducted on more than 600 recordings issued by the company.

He is most well known for his light popular music that was used at dances and sometimes for silent movies. Some of his most well-known compositions are In A Persian Market, In A Monastery Garden,  and Dance Of The Merry Mascots. Many of these pieces had a short program attached to them. The program for Dance Of The Merry Mascots is as follows:

"The Mascots go to a Fancy-dress Ball dressed as Pierrots, Pierrettes, Japanese and Spanish dancers.  They start with a Waltz for the Pierrots and Pierrettes, (during which Weber's "Invitation to the dance" is played as a counter-melody), then follow two movements for the Japanese and Spanish dancers; the Waltz is now resumed, and towards the end some of the Mascots who have got a little bit too "merry", find it rather difficult to keep in time, but they manage to finish all together!  The chimes now indicate that it is near midnight and the Mascots are heard taking their departure."   

Dance Of The Merry Mascots by Ketèlby:

Beethoven - Choral Fantasia

Ludwig van Beethoven   first made his mark in the musical world as a virtuoso pianist. His skill as an improvisor was well known. The art of improvisation has had something of a rebirth, especially with jazz musicians. Of course, there was no sound recording in Beethoven's day, so how he actually sounded is a matter of conjecture. There are contemporary descriptions of his improvisations, but we will never know how great he really was.

Be that as it may, we do have a few instances of music that Beethoven improvised and later wrote down. Such is the piano solo beginning the Choral Fantasia. This work had its first hearing at a benefit concert in December of 1808.  It was the Finale of a concert that also had the premieres of Symphonies 5 and 6, the 4th Piano concerto, an Aria, and half of the Mass In C Major. The thought of such a long concert, at least 3 1/2 hours long in an unheated concert hall in Vienna, Austria in December boggles the mind.  Beethoven wrote the piece to be a culmination of the concert that integrated solo piano, orchestra and voice.

Beethoven was the soloist in the first performance. He was so hurried and busy in preparation for it (the ink was still wet at concert time on the vocal parts)  he had no time to write down the piano solo, so he improvised it at the concert.  After the 26 bars of virtuosic piano, a theme is introduced by the deep strings, the piano enters in a dialogue with the orchestra for a few measures, then the main theme of the piece is stated by the solo piano and a set of variations on the choral theme begins.  After the variations, the initial theme is restated by the deep strings that are punctuated by flourishes from the piano. Then the chorus enters with a piano accompaniment. The chorus continues with the next verse as the piano continues accompanying until the full orchestra and chorus join in together, until the piece ends with the full orchestra and piano alternating with chords and flourishes until all end together.

The Choral Fantasia has been likened to an experiment that was the precursor of the 9th Symphony. And there is similarity in the main choral tune and the Ode To Joy of the 9th, as well as some of the structure of the two being similar. But the Choral Fantasia is a masterpiece in its own right, one of those pieces of music that Beethoven wrote that needs to be judged on its own merits.

Beethoven's Choral Fantasia and  English translation of the chorus:

With grace, charm and sweet sounds The harmonies of our life, And the sense of beauty engenders The flowers which eternally bloom. Peace and joy advancing in perfect accord, Like the alternating play of the waves; All harsh and hostile elements Render to a sublime sentiment. When the magic sounds reign And the sacred word is spoken, That strongly engender the wonderful, The night and the tempest divert light, Calm without, profound joy within, Awaiting the great hour. Meanwhile, the spring sun and art Bathe in the light. Something great, into the heart Blooms anew when in all its beauty, Which spirit taken flight, And all a choir of spirits resounds in response. Accept then, oh you beautiful spirits Joyously of the gifts of art. When love and strength are united, The favor of God rewards Man.

Bizet - Symphony in C Major

Georges Bizet had an outstanding career as a student at the Paris Conservatoire, and was known to be a brilliant pianist, but he seldom played in public. He graduated with honors and won the Prix de Rome.  After spending three years in Italy, Bizet returned to France and found very little interest in his compositions. He earned his living by arranging other composers music until he began to have moderate success writing operas.  His last composition was his masterpiece, the opera Carmen, which he (and some critics) considered a failure.

The Symphony in C Major was written apparently as an assignment from his teacher Charles Gounod. Bizet had just turned 17 four days before he began the work in 1855. The symphony follows Gounod's Symphony No. 1 in style if not exactly in content, although there are hints of actual music quotes from Gounod's symphony used by Bizet.  Bizet evidently was not keen on having the symphony performed or published, perhaps because the musical life of France at the time was centered around opera with very little instrumental music being performed. After being considered lost for many years, a copy of the symphony was found and first performed in 1935. The symphony is in four movements and is in the style of the classical symphonies of Mozart and Haydn:

I. Allegro vivo -  The movement begins with a fortissimo C major chord and then the strings take up the first theme, a simple tune that is extended and developed as it goes. The first theme plays for a considerable time until the second theme in the solo oboe appears. The first theme returns and leads to the repeat of the exposition. The development begins with a short variant of the first theme followed by the second theme. This pattern of alternating themes lasts throughout the development until the recapitulation arrives. The first theme again dominates, the second theme is played by the flute, and a beginning fragment of the first theme brings about the end of the movement.

II. Adagio - An introduction leads up to the exotic first theme played by the oboe.  A second lyrical theme is played by the violins as the pizzicato accompaniment from the lower strings continues. A fragment from the first theme spins into a subject for a fugue in the middle section until the introduction reappears as a lead in for the exotic theme once again played by the oboe. The second theme appears again briefly before the movement slowly ends with a partial repeat of the oboe solo.

III. Scherzo- Allegro vivace - The theme of the scherzo is a variant of the first theme that began the symphony. The trio also contains references to the first theme of the first movement.

IV. Allegro vivace - The finale begins with the first  theme that runs through the violins. A second theme is played by the woodwinds. The first theme makes another appearance, and then a third theme is played primarily in the strings with comments from the woodwinds. Transition material leads to the repeat of the exposition. The development section bounces from theme to theme until it arrives at the recapitulation. The same general pattern of themes is followed from the exposition until Bizet winds things up neatly in C major.

Bach - Harpsichord Concerto No.1 in D Minor

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750) wrote some of the first concertos for keyboard and strings. He wrote seven for solo keyboard and strings and wrote others for 2, 3 and 4 harpsichords. All of the solo concertos are transcriptions of Bach's own concertos for solo melody instrument such as violin. In many cases it is only the harpsichord transcription that survives complete.

Bach was the director of the Collegium musicum in Leipzig, a student musical society that gave concerts.  He led this group from 1729 to 1741, and it is believed Bach wrote these concertos for performance at these concerts.The D minor concerto sees Bach use the same music for strings as in the original violin concerto while the solo part is filled out harmonically from the solo violin part of the original. Bach obviously strove to make the keyboard version as virtuosic as the violin version. Bach was familiar with his contemporary Vivaldi's concertos and they exerted a large influence on Bach's concerto style.

The concerto is in three movements:

1. Allegro - Written in ritornello form, which simply put, has the orchestra play a recurring passage after which the solo instrument develops fragments of the passage. This dialogue between orchestra and soloist continues, with each repetition of the original passage whole or in part being in a different key and the soloist expanding the passage  until the piece ends with orchestra and soloist playing the original passage in the home key.
2. Adagio - A very expressive movement, the right hand of the soloist plays the melody of the original violin version that Bach has masterfully transformed to the full harmony and texture of the harpsichord while the left hand plays with the string accompaniment.
3. Allegro - This movement is also in ritornello form and is thematically related to the first movement. 

Bach's Harpsichord Concerto #1 in D Minor:

Liszt - Symphonic Poem 'Mazeppa'

Franz Liszt (1811 - 1886) was the originator of the Symphonic Poem, a piece of music inspired by literature, art or other non- musical source.  He wrote thirteen of these pieces using various subjects as inspiration.

Liszt's Symphonic Poem No. 6 was inspired by the legend of Ivan Mazeppa, who was born in Lithuania in 1639.  He was of noble birth, and as the legend goes he had a love affair with a Polish princess who was married to a much older man. When the husband found out about the affair as punishment he had Mazeppa stripped of his clothes and tied to a horse and set free to run in the wilderness.  The horse ended up in Ukraine, Mazeppa survived the ordeal, and was found by Cossasks, who eventually made him their Hetman, the person of highest military rank in the country.

Although just a legend, it inspired many Romantic era writers, painters and musicians. Lord Byron, Alexander Pushkin and Victor Hugo wrote poems about it,  Liszt and Tchaikovsky wrote music based on it, and there are many paintings inspired by it.

Liszt first wrote a piano piece based on the legend, part of his set of Transcendental Etudes , first published in 1837 then revised with the revisions printed in 1852.  Mazeppa is the 4th Etude in the set and remains one of the most technically difficult pieces in the repertoire for piano.  Liszt's orchestral version differs from the piano version as it is longer and  expands on some of the musical ideas of the original.

The poem has musical representations of the ride through the wilderness, the beating of the horses hoofs, the terror of the rider and after Mazeppa is found by the Cossacks a triumphant military march.

Mazeppa by Franz Liszt, followed by a performance of the original piano piece:

Sibelius - Symphony No. 5 In E-flat Major Opus 82

Jean Sibelius (1865 - 1957)  was a Finnish composer most known for his symphonies. He wrote seven symphonies all together, and after his 7th Symphony, Sibelius composed very little for the rest of his life. There were rumors and hints from the composer himself about an 8th symphony, but it was never composed.

Sibelius' first love was the violin, and he worked towards being a virtuoso, but relented when he decided he had started too late. He became a conductor as well as composer. His first great compositional influence was Wagner, but with time Sibelius rejected much of Wagner's esthetic and was then influenced by Anton Bruckner and Pyotr Tchaikovsky.  He was a master of orchestration, and despite composing his symphonies in a time of great experimentation with atonality, Sibelius continued to write tonal music. But he developed a highly refined and unique style of orchestration and composition that give his music a certain kind of  sound that is like no other. No doubt his love of nature and the terrain of his native Finland inspired much of his music, whether directly with the tone poems or indirectly with the symphonies.

Sibelius received a commission from the Finnish government in honor of his 50th birthday. He filled the commission with the 5th Symphony. He finished the score and led the premiere in 1915.  It was revised in 1916 and also in 1919, and it is the 1919 version that is usually performed.  The symphony is in three movements:

1. Tempo molto moderato - Allegro moderato (ma poco a poco stretto) - Vivace molto - Presto - Più Presto.  This movement is actually a combination of the original 1st movement and 2nd movement from the first version of the symphony .
2. Andante mosso, quasi allegretto - Poco a poco stretto - Tranquillo - Poco a poco stretto - Ritenuto al tempo I.  This movement is a set of variations.
3. Allegro molto - Misterioso - Un pochettino largamente - Largamente assai - Un pochettino stretto.  The tune for horns shortly after the beginning of this movement is thought to be the sound of swan calls, as well as a representation of 16 swans taking off all at once, an event witnessed by Sibelius.

The structure of the symphony is unique. There is much debate among musicologists about the first movement especially. Add the structural uniqueness to the many tempo designations and modulations within the music, and we have one of the most original symphonies composed by Sibelius.