Liszt - Mephisto Waltz No. 2

Franz Liszt was quite taken with the Faust legend, as were many artists of the Romantic era. He composed a Faust Symphony based on Goethe's version of the legend, but the 4 Mephisto Waltzes were inspired by Nikolaus Lenau, an Austrian poet that also wrote a version of the Faust legend.

Liszt wrote two works for orchestra that were inspired by Lenau, collectively called Episodes From Lenau’s “Faust.” One of these pieces is the famous The Dance in the Village Inn, also known as Mephisto Waltz No. 1.  Liszt also wrote a version of the first waltz for piano four hands and a version for solo piano which has enough changes in it from the other versions that it is considered an independent work.

It took Liszt twenty years to revisit Lenau's version of the legend and he wrote the Mephisto Waltz No. 2 between 1880 and 1881. The original version was for orchestra, and like the first waltz Liszt made versions for piano four hands and solo piano, with the solo version being substantially different from the other ones.

The work was dedicated to the French composer Camille Saint-Saëns, a composer that Liszt knew very well. Liszt had transcribed Saint-Saëns' tone poem Danse Macabre for piano a few years earlier which perhaps had inspired Liszt to write another Mephisto Waltz. Liszt was 70 years old and was in his last productive period as a composer.

Nickolaus Lenau

The beginning of Liszt's waltz uses the interval of the tritone, which since medieval times has been considered a dissonance and was avoided by composers. It grated on the ears of earlier composers so much that it was called diabolus in musica, or the devil in music. Late in the Romantic era, the tritone was used by composers to represent evil and, in Liszt's case, Mephistopheles. Saint-Saëns had used the interval of the tritone in his tone poem also by instructing the concertmaster to tune his violin so that the open strings would play a tritone. Modern music has pretty much removed the stigma from the interval and it no longer has the same strong effect it had on earlier audiences. But it is still a restless interval that if used too much can grow tiresome on the ear.

Liszt loosely follows the program he used in his first waltz as the opening can be thought of as Mephisto tuning his violin. After the introduction, the music turns into an intense dance that is sprinkled with dissonance. The character of this waltz is more aggressive and more violent than the first waltz.  There is new material introduced roughly half way through the piece that is more quiet and reflective, but still there remains an underlying tension. Passion builds until the dance of the beginning returns. The dance grows more hectic until the entire piece collapses into the interval of the tritone as in the beginning. The ending of the piece is written in E-flat major, but builds to an unresolved ending on the interval of the tritone B-F. The piece actually doesn't end so much as stops on bare B natural octaves.

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Stravinsky - Symphony In Three Movements

A composer's creative process while undertaking a new work can take a different course than originally planned. Igor Stravinsky's Symphony In Three Movements is a good example. Shortly after Stravinsky's immigration to the U.S., he received a commission for a new work from the New York Philharmonic in 1942.  Stravinsky used material originally conceived as a sound track for a motion picture, as well as material from an incomplete piano concerto. He rewrote and added new music to create his symphony, which was not completed until 1945. It is the first major work Stravinsky completed after his cane to the U.S.

Stravinsky was also working on a re-scoring of his ballet The Rite Of Spring during this time. While he eventually abandoned the re-scoring, the rhythmic and harmonic style of the new symphony was influenced by the earlier work.  The symphony was premiered in 1946 by the New York Philharmonic conducted by the composer.

I. Overture; Allegro -  Stravinsky referred to this work as his War Symphony and in the book Dialogues And A Diary gave his explanation of the events that gave inspiration for the first movement:

The first movement was likewise inspired by a war film, this time a documentary of scorched-earth tactics in China. The middle part of the movement, the music for clarinet, piano, and strings, which mounts in intensity and volume until the explosion of the three chords was conceived as a series of instrumental conversations to accompany a cinematographic scene showing the Chinese people scratching and digging in their fields.

The first movement begins with loud and strident chords and octaves. As this movement was derived from music that was originally for a piano concerto, the piano plays a prominent part in the movement. Among the booming of timpani, the dynamics of the music gradually subsides and the movement comes to a middle section that has the woodwinds play duets in pairs with the piano and strings. The nervous and edgy music from the beginning returns and rumbles its way to the end of the movement, a mysterious chord quietly played by the orchestra over the chattering of the bass clarinet.

II. Andante; Interlude: L'istesso tempo - The relative quiet of this movement is in contrast to what has preceded, although the harmonies are still somewhat nervous. The harp plays a prominent role in this movement and lends a feeling of tenuous calm to the movement. There is no break between this movement and the last.

III. Con moto -  Harsh, swelling chords erupt into the beginning of the last movement. Stravinsky flits from motive to motive until a fugue is heard that is scored for piano, trombone and harp. Again, Stravinsky describes what inspired the music:

The third movement actually contains the genesis of a war plot, though I recognized it as such only after completing the composition. The beginning of that movement is partly, and in some to me wholly inexplicable way, a musical reaction to the newsreels and documentaries that I had seen of goose-stepping soldiers. The square march-beat, the brass band instrumentation, the grotesque crescendo in the tuba these are all related to those repellent pictures.

In spite of contrasting episodes, such as the canon for bassoons, the march music is predominant until the fugue, which is the stasis and the turning point. The immobility at the beginning of the fugue is comic, I think and so, to me, was the over- turned arrogance of the Germans when their machine failed. The exposition of the fugue and the end of the Symphony are associated in my plot with the rise of the Allies, and perhaps the final, albeit rather too commercial, D-flat sixth chord. 

Stravinsky was a composer that usually had nothing to say about the inspiration for his music, so after he uncharacteristically said so much about the symphony (more than quoted here), it is consistent with his personality that he would add the following disclaimer:

But enough of this. In spite of what I have said, the Symphony is not programmatic. Composers combine notes. That is all. How and in what form the things of this world are impressed upon their music is not for them to say.

Dvořák - Piano Trio No. 3 In F Minor, Op. 65

The year 1882 was full of emotional and professional turmoil for Antonín Dvořák.  He was being pulled in two directions in his career as a composer. He was a passionate ethnic Czech that imbued his music with the spirit of dances and folksong of his native land as a way to show his solidarity with his fellow countryman in their struggle to win independence from the Austrian Empire. But he was also being encouraged by his friend and benefactor Johannes Brahms to move to Vienna and write music more in tune with the Austrian/German tradition.  Brahms also informed him that if Dvořák was willing to write operas to German language librettos he would most assuredly be offered well paid commissions for such work.

Added to that was the death of his adored mother in late December of 1882.  Adding to his stress level was the birth of a son in early 1883 that despite the joy the child brought, also served as a reminder of his desire to provide for his family.  He took a break from composing for a short time after the death of his mother, and began anew in February of 1883 with the Piano Trio No. 3 In F Minor.

Contrary to Dvořák's usual time of two to three weeks for a chamber music composition to be completed, he took nearly two months with the 3rd piano trio. The music of the trio is a mixture of passion, sorrow, frustration with a few instances of brightness.  The work is symphonically dense in places and threatens to split the seams of a work for three instruments.

The 3rd Piano Trio is in 4 movements:
I. Allegro ma non troppo - The first theme begins straight away in the strings. Although it begins quietly, a certain tension is brought to the theme with its F minor tonality and dotted rhythm. The piano joins in after a few measures and the theme is replayed and developed over some 50 bars. After a few bars of transition, a second theme is introduced by the cello in A-flat major. This theme gives an initial impression of being more gentle, but chromatic alterations continue a feeling of unrest. After the second theme plays itself out there is a short episode in the major mode that brings back the dotted rhythm in material of a more confident and defiant nature. This episode leads directly to the development, there is no repeat of the exposition. The development brings the working out of the two main themes in tremendous shifts of mood and tonality. The two main themes are intensified in the recapitulation.  When the second theme returns, its tonality has shifted to F major, but the feeling of unrest continues. The short section of defiance is repeated, also in F major. A few bars of transition brings the first theme back in F minor where it undergoes another short development until the tempo suddenly speeds up. The tension builds until there is a short ritard where the piano is silent as the strings play. A sudden resumption of tempo leads to the final bar in F minor.

II. Allegretto grazioso -  The movement is in C-sharp minor. Dvořák uses music in the style of a Czech dance for the scherzo movement. A rhythmic trick is played by Dvořák as the strings begin the movement playing in triplets, a feeling of three beats in a bar, but when the piano enters it plays in two beats in the bar as the 2/4 time signature designates. To further confuse the listener, accents in the piano part are given on the offbeat. This gives a momentary shock to the ear:

 After a few bars of this cross rhythm, the listener's ear adjusts enough to feel the actual 2 in a bar meter, but the cross rhythm and off beat accents continue to give a restless feel. The tune of the dance goes through harmonic changes that add to the restlessness.  The trio begins in D-flat major, but goes through harmonic changes and rhythmic diversities. The dance returns and is repeated exactly as the first time.

III. Poco adagio - A plaintive theme in A-flat major that successfully bridges the gap between sorrow and love, perhaps in memory of his departed mother. This movement's few rays of light get but little chance to peek through the darkness. It is the emotional center of the trio, and adds to the despondency of work.

IV. Allegro con brio - The music returns to F minor in the final movement that is in a hybrid sonata/rondo form,  Dvořák's main theme, a type of Czech dance called the furiant keeps turning up through the movement. The second theme is a variant of the main theme in the form of a waltz.  The music continues on its way until the first theme of the first movement appears in a short episode, after which the main theme of the last movement goes through one more variation which leads to a ritard and key change to F major as the music speeds up and ends in F major.

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.