Brahms - Symphony No. 3 In F Major

Johannes Brahms is often held up as an example of a composer who wrote absolute music, music that does not represent anything or is not about anything,  music purely for the sake of music. There was an ongoing debate about the idea of absolute music that began in the late 17th century and continues to this day.  In Brahms' time the debate was especially strong, as Wagner and Liszt (leaders of the new music movement) were proponents of program music; with Wagner's operas and Liszt's symphonic poems, while Brahms was used as the figurehead for absolute music by the Viennese critic Eduard Hanslick who wrote:

Music has no subject beyond the combinations of notes we hear, for music speaks not only by means of sounds, it speaks nothing but sound.

 Whether a particular piece of music can be considered absolute or programmatic is not so easy to determine.  Is there such a thing as music that is purely absolute, with no reference within it to anything more than sound? When Beethoven referred to the theme that began his 5th Symphony as 'fate knocking at the door', the composer himself put a non-musical meaning to the theme and perhaps the entire symphony. This doesn't make it a work with a program like a Liszt symphonic poem,  but then again it is not a piece of absolute music in the strict sense.  The argument between absolute versus program music is an attempt to pigeon-hole works into one or the other, and at least in the late 19th century, a way to try and make one kind of music superior to the other. In that regard the whole discussion (and historical arguments) about absolute music are moot points.

Brahms was a highly private man and very rarely gave a clue to any outside meanings in his music, but that doesn't mean there weren't any.  Some of his close friends were able to determine what the meaning of certain pieces may have been,  and so it was with his friend Clara Schumann, widow of the composer Robert Schumann. Brahms was a devoted friend to her after her husband died, some think to the point that his friendship went beyond the platonic. Brahms valued her musical opinion very much and would send his new compositions to her. Clara noticed that the notes F-Aflat -F were the top notes of the three chords that open the 3rd Symphony. These three notes are the first letters of Brahms'  motto, in German Frei aber froh which translates to Free but happy.  Brahms had adopted the motto in response to the motto of his friend Joseph Joachim Frei aber einsam which translates to Free but lonely. Brahms used his three note motto in all four movements in different guises.

Symphony No. 3 In F Major is in 4 movements:
I. Allegro con brio - The three note motto begins the movement and is found throughout, sometimes in the treble, sometimes as a bass line. This motto is full of conflict from the start as the A-flat sandwiched between the two F's shifts the music off of F major (A is natural, not flat), to F minor,  where the A is flat. This conflict occurs on and off through the movement. The second theme is in A-flat major, and is of a more gentle nature.  The music works its way through different material to the repeat of the exposition. The development section continues the interplay between major and minor, especially when the gentle second theme is changed to minor mode with increased tension and drama. The recapitulation plays through the themes and in the coda it gradually winds down and the music ends with a gentle repeat of the opening motto.

II. Andante -  Within the theme of this movement in C major is the three note motto. After the initial theme is played through, a second more passionate theme emerges.  The motto keeps appearing throughout the movement, but the gentle nature of the music doesn't allow it any of the drama that the listener already knows it is capable of.  The movement ends with the initial theme played very quietly.

III. Poco allegretto - In C minor, the music is in scherzo form, but is not a scherzo in mood. The melody is a sad, gentle dance. The three note motto is to be found in the accompaniment.  There is a brief middle section in A-flat major that is lighter in mood. The dance begins again and progresses to a short coda. The movement ends quietly with string chords played pizzicato over woodwind accompaniment.

 IV. Allegro -  The last movement renews the passion and drama of the first as the shifting between major and minor mode resumes.  Brahms uses his own style of sonata form to present and develop themes that lead to the coda that contains some of the most beautiful music Brahms ever wrote.  With muted strings in the background, woodwinds and brass gently move the music to a final unwinding as the three note motto is played one last time.

Handel - Concerto Grosso In A Major, Opus 6, No. 11

George Handel's set of 12 Concerti Grosso, Opus 6 were first published by subscription in 1739, revised and printed as Opus 6 in 1741.  All 12 of the concertos are instrumented the same; for three-piece concertino group of two violins and cello, 4-part strings and continuo. They were originally written to be played during intermissions of his oratorios and other larger works.

Unlike Bach who favored the Vivaldi style of three movement concertos, Handel used the older forms of  concertos used by Corelli, which had four movements. Handel was primarily a composer of opera (42 of them), and after the decline of his popularity he concentrated on writing oratorios (29 of them). But he did compose in most forms of the Baroque era.

The beginning movement of Handel's Concerto Grosso in A Major takes the form of a French overture, characterized by dotted rhythms and interplay between the string orchestra and the two solo violins. After a few slow chords from the strings, the French overture continues with a short four-part fugue.  Another short transition section links the fugue with the next movement which is in ritornello form. A theme is played by the string orchestra that alternates with virtuosic material played by the soloists. Each time the theme returns, it undergoes a change but  retains its basic characteristics.  The last movement continues in ritornello form with soloists answering the orchestra in quick paced music. There is a short section in F-sharp minor, but the music returns to the tonic with a final call and answer section between the soloists and the orchestra as the music makes its way to the end. 

While the majority of Handel's works suffered from neglect for many years, a few pieces remained in the repertoire, namely his oratorio Messiah, and some opera arias. But even these few exceptions to general neglect were usually recast in more modern guise for contemporary performance. But with the practices of Handel's time when he thought nothing of using bits of other composer's music in his compositions or arranging his own music for different ensembles, it may not have upset Handel too much. 

Mozart was not known to have been very kind to other musicians, especially composers. Handel was a composer that Mozart understood  (even though he fell into the group of musicians that rearranged Handel's music, notably Messiah) and who allegedly said:

Handel understands effect better than any of us -- when he chooses, he strikes like a thunderbolt.

While Mozart may not have said those words, with the modern revival of performances of Handel's music as he originally wrote it, the sentiment is true enough.

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Schulhoff - Symphony No. 5

Erwin Schulhoff began his 5th Symphony in 1938 and finished it in 1939.  Schulhoff's works had been blacklisted in Germany since early in the 1930's due to his Jewish heritage and radical communist politics, which caused him much personal and professional difficulty not only in Germany but Czechoslovakia as well. He had to take a job as a pianist for a radio station orchestra in Prague to make ends meet.

Schulhoff increasingly turned to Stalin's model of social realism in his art and dedicated his 3rd and 4th symphonies to the communist cause.  He was still in Czechoslovakia when the Nazis invaded and had petitioned the Soviet Union for citizenship, but before he could escape the country he was captured by the Nazis and put into prison. In 1941 he was deported to the Wülzburg concentration camp in Bavaria and died there in 1942.

It took many years for Schulhoff's music to be rediscovered, and the 5th Symphony wasn't given its first performance until 1965. The symphony is in 4 movements:

I. Andante - The entire short first movement is built from a short rhythmic figure that is repeated throughout the movement. The result of the rhythmic figure is that while the movement is played at a relatively slow tempo, the rhythmic repetition gives the music power and tension, perhaps reflecting the political climate in Europe of 1938-1939

II. Adagio - The second movement begins with a fanfare for brass that leads to a movement that turns bleak with dissonance. The fanfare theme is swallowed up by loud music devoid of hope and beauty. This leads to a section for brass that repeats the fanfare. This leads to quieter music with a restless accompaniment to clarinets playing last notes of hopelessness.

III. Allegro con brio - A scherzo in all but name, there are elements of the furiant, a Czech dance. Dvořák and Smetana composed furiants. Schulhoff's version is full of rhythmic drive, aggression, and in places turns ugly in its violence. A xylophone helps turn this furiant into a dance of death.  The movement doesn't really have an ending; it just stops after excessively loud thumps from the orchestra.

IV. Allegro con brio - Allegro moderato -  The first part of the finale are a set of variations on a march. The music is at a constant loud dynamic until a section begins that uses material reminiscent of the rhythmic motive of the first movement.  A theme in the major mode emerges in the woodwinds, the first sign of hope in an otherwise dark musical work. The rhythmic motive is quoted directly in the major mode and elaborated upon and the march theme reappears as the music increases in volume as it gets a fugal treatment. The rasping first movement motive appears in the brass with agitated accompaniment from the strings. The music builds until an explosive ending brings it to a close.

Spohr - Clarinet Concerto No. 3 In F minor

Louis Spohr was a violinist, conductor and composer who was well regarded in his lifetime, but shortly after his death in 1859 his music fell into neglect. His compositional style fell into the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras.  Spohr was also a practical musician and is credited with inventing the chin rest for the violin, rehearsal numbers for orchestral scores and was an early proponent of using a baton when conducting.

He was a very prolific composer and wrote in all the genres of the time.  Spohr made a name for himself after he performed one of his compositions on the violin at a concert in Leipzig in 1804 to critical acclaim. He was also active in Vienna and worked on Beethoven's Piano Trio Opus 70, No. 1 "Ghost" with the composer. He remained on cordial terms with Beethoven and worked as a conductor in Vienna from 1813-1815. He also wrote a treatise on violin playing, Violinschule, which not only gave solid instruction on the basics but the latest advances in violin technique. It was a standard for violin education for many years.

Johann Simon Hermstedt

Spohr wrote four clarinet concertos, with the first being commissioned in 1808 for the virtuoso clarinetist Johann Simon Hermstedt by the clarinettist's royal employer. This was followed by the second concerto in 1810 and the third concerto in 1821. This was a time when the clarinet was still going through modifications and Spohr's concertos added to the genesis of the modern clarinet, and as such Spohr's works for the clarinet did not meet with the neglect after his death that much of his other music suffered.

The third concerto is considered by many to be the weakest musically of the four Spohr wrote for the instrument. But it is a success as a virtuoso showpiece for the clarinetist that can handle its difficulties. The work is in three movements:

I. Allegro moderato -  The concerto begins with a dramatic opening from the orchestra. This first theme is short, and leads to another theme in F major. After this theme is played through, the theme is repeated in F minor. After some other material the soloist enters with its own version of the themes.  The soloist goes far afield with material that is more for displaying the skill of the soloist than any progression of themes. The spotlight is on the soloist with a few orchestral interruptions, kind of like an orchestral seasoning to a dish that is dominated by the clarinet. There is no cadenza, as the clarinet makes its way to the final high note with the accompaniment of the orchestra.

II. Adagio - The orchestra introduces the movement, and the clarinet soon enters with music that is in the style of an operatic aria.  At the middle point the orchestra introduces new material that the clarinet comments on in turn. The aria returns and the movement ends quietly.

III. Vivace non troppo -  The soloist plays the main theme. The orchestra interjects new material, and the clarinet repeats the main theme with variations. This is the basic scheme of the movement. As the music nears the end, it takes on a more dance like character until the last high note of the soloist.

Sibelius - Malinconia For Cello And Piano, Opus 20

The last years of the 19th century saw the Finnish composer and conductor Jean Sibelius' works heard more and more in Finland and outside of Finland as well. Sibelius was part of the artistic renaissance in Finland and  his reputation went beyond just a Finnish composer of Finnish music. He became a symbol of the struggles of Finland to free itself from Russia who had annexed the country and ruled over it for over 100 years. The turn of the century was keeping up with the trend as Sibelius took every opportunity to write Finnish inspired music.

Sibelius and his wife were separated over the New Year's celebration of 1900 because his wife was away at her brother's house, as his daughter had just died in a typhus epidemic.  A few weeks later the epidemic had reached the town of Kerava where Sibelius and his family lived, and on the 13th of February their 15-month old daughter Kirsti died. Aino took the other children away from Kerava and away from the epidemic. Kirsti was the youngest daughter and Sibelius was very attached to her. In March, Sibelius wrote to his wife:

I think very often of you, joy of my heart. If only you could get over it. I don't know what I ought to do. My dearest, don't look back on the past but forward. It is the only way to survive (or better; don't look forward, live in the present). The countryside is so beautiful and besides that you have the children and - I dare scarcely even to say - me.

Magnus Enckell

The death of his youngest daughter affected Sibelius profoundly. His drinking, a recurring problem for Sibelius, got worse after his daugher's death, His grief was such that he never spoke of Kristi again for the rest of his life. It was in the aftermath of this personal tragedy that Sibelius composed Malinconia For Cello And Piano.  The title likely reflects Sibelius' frame of mind at the time but Sibelius was also familiar with a painting he had seen at an art exhibition in 1895 by Magnus Enckell, a Finnish symbolist painter, titled Malinconia. Some writers  find a connection between the painting and the musical work, others do not. Perhaps it was a subconscious influence that helped shape Sibelius' piece.
It has been alleged by some that Sibelius wrote the complete piece in three hours. It was originally titled Fantasia and given its first performance on March 12, 1900.

Malinconia by Magnus Enckell

The work is in one continuous movement. A cello solo begins the work with an expressive outpouring that sets the tone for the short work. The work is tragic in the extreme with little in the way of themes. The brilliance of the piece is not for the sake of virtuosity, but for the sake of expression.  Arpeggios, broken chords, waterfalls of notes played by the piano all help to convey the emptiness of sorrow. There are rays of light in the piece, but they are few. The overwhelming mood of the music is sorrow laced with frustration and regret. The piece ends with the cello reaching into the depths of its range with tense trills while the piano rumbles in deep tones of its own.

Prokofiev - Overture On Hebrew Themes

Sergei Prokofiev was 25 yeas old when the February Revolution of 1917 occurred in Russia. He was already an accomplished concert pianist and composer, and wrote about those times:

The February Revolution found me in Petrograd. I and those I associated with welcomed it with open arms. I was in the streets of Petrograd while the fighting was going on, hiding behind house corners when the shooting came too close.

Despite his enthusiasm for the revolution, Prokofiev felt that there was little need for his music in Russia at this time so he made arrangements in 1918 with the People's Commissar For Education of the new government for a travel visa to the United States. He arrived in San Francisco in August of 1918 and was soon on his way to New York where he had his debut solo concert in September of 1918. But Prokofiev's stay in the United States turned out to not be a successful artistic or financial time. He stayed until 1920, when he left for France.

While he was still in New york in 1919 he was approached by a Russian musical group, the Zimbro Ensemble, with a commission to write a composition for their combination of clarinet, string quartet and piano. The group had just arrived in the United States on a world tour that had been sponsored by a Russian Zionist organization to try and raise money for a conservatory in Jerusalem.  The leader of the group, the clarinetist  Simeon Bellison, requested that the work have a Jewish style to it, so he gave Prokofiev a notebook that had Jewish folk songs in it for possible inclusion in the work.

Simeon Bellison

Initially, Prokofiev showed little interest in the project, but he played through the Jewish folksong notebook one day at the piano and his interest increased. He finished the work and was the pianist at the premiere in 1920.

The overture is in one continuous movement and Prokofiev used two melodies from the notebook given to him, although neither melody has been identified as being authentic Jewish folksong. The clarinet plays the first theme in a style of Jewish Klezmer Music of Eastern Europe.  The second theme is more lyrical and has the quality of melancholy about it as well.  All through the development section a feeling of improvisation is kept as the themes wend their way in and out amid other material. The themes return in what amounts to a recapitulation, after which the first theme returns in a short coda that builds in speed and volume until the piece ends.

Prokofiev didn't think too highly of his composition, perhaps because he had vowed earlier in his career to use only original themes in his work and he may have written this work mainly for money. Despite the composer's own opinion, the piece has remained popular and is one of the few instances where a non-Jewish musician captured the spirit and sound of Jewish music.

Grieg - Cello Sonata In A Minor, Opus 36

Edvard Grieg was by all accounts a bad student. He had no interest in academia, quit school when he was 15 and never went back.  Luckily for him, his musical talent was noticed by the great Norwegian violin virtuoso Ole Bull, who convinced Grieg's parents to allow him to study at  the Leipzig Conservatory.  True to his nature, he didn't much care for his teachers or the conservative curriculum, but he was exposed to music of the masters and was determined to make his way as a professional musician.

In 1860 Grieg suffered from tuberculosis and other lung ailments that left him with only one functioning lung. For the rest of his life he was beset with respiratory infections plus he had a spinal deformity. He eventually developed heart disease later in life. He finished his studies in Leipzig in 1862 and began to give piano recitals.

Grieg composed his only Cello Sonata in 1882 after an extended period when illness and his conducting duties prevented him from composing. He dedicated the work to his brother John, a gifted amateur cellist, perhaps as a peace offering for the brothers were not on good terms. The premiere of the work was given by a different cellist and Grieg at the piano in 1883.

The Cello Sonata is in 3 movements:
I. Allegro agitato - One of the few pieces Grieg wrote in sonata form, this movement begins with a highly agitated theme that literally wallows in romantic emotion. The theme quickens its pace until a serene second theme begins, which slowly unwinds until it reaches a mild climax, after which other material leads to the development section. The second theme goes through key changes and flirts with the passion of the first theme until the first theme reappears for a short reprise which is followed by a brief cadenza for the cello. The recapitulation begins with the first theme and quickly segues into the second theme. A short coda brings the first theme back at a quicker pace until the final chords signal the end of the movement.

II. Andante molto tranquillo - A lyrical theme begins the movement and slowly winds its way to a more agitated middle section. The lyrical theme returns, builds to a climax, and then recedes back to calmness. The end of the movement has the cello playing high in its register, and finally playing a very soft arpeggiated pizzicato chord.

III. Allegro molto e marcato - A short introduction for solo cello begins the movement. The piano interrupts with a spirited accompaniment and the cello joins it in a rustic Norwegian dance. The dance is interrupted by episodes that range from passionate to lyrical, and each time the dance appears, Grieg develops it in some way. The movement continues in this fashion until the last utterance of the dance brings it full circle. A short coda increases the tempo and passion until the cello soars into the top of its register with a passionate, long held note while the piano plays scales that lead to the final chords.

Grieg is more well known for his short, lyrical pieces for piano, the Piano Concerto in A minor and the Peer Gynt music, but his handful of chamber music pieces are some of the most passionate and dramatic music he ever wrote.