Monday, January 25, 2021
Haydn - Keyboard Concerto No. 11 In D Major
Sunday, January 24, 2021
Vivaldi - Violin Concerto In E Minor RV 278
His set of 12 solo violin concertos, Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione (The Contest Between Harmony and Invention) the first four of which are the celebrated Four Seasons, was printed in 1725 and added to his contemporary renown. What made his music popular then and continues to make it popular now are his melodic and harmonic invention, his use of musical representation of non-musical things and moods, and the drama of some of the music. Vivaldi was essentially a dramatic composer, and wrote over 46 operas in his lifetime. Vivaldi's style annoyed some of the conservative leaders in the operatic hierarchy, so some of the operas were never staged.
Vivaldi's opus numbers only reached to his opus 12 set of 5 violin concertos, so most of his compositions were not published in his lifetime. It wasn't until the 1970's that the RV numbering catalog of his works was implemented, which has helped identify many of the works. RV stands for Ryom-Verzeichnis catalog named after Peter Ryom, the Danish musicologist who created the system from previous catalogs and findings of manuscripts.
Fame can be a fickle thing, even in Vivaldi's time, for his music began to lose favor in Venice and thus his livelihood was threatened. He made trips to Vienna and Prague around 1730 to stage some of his operas to earn some money. The Violin Concerto In E Minor RV 278 is not in any collection published during Vivaldi's lifetime, and musicologists believe the concerto was written on one of those money making excursions. The concert is in 3 movements:
I. Allegro molto - Largo - Allegro molto - Andante - The key of E minor seems to have been a dramatic and passionate key for Vivaldi. The Bassoon Concerto In E Minor RV 484 is but one more example besides this concerto. This was written late in Vivaldi's career, and there is a dark atmosphere to it. The concerto begins with an outburst from the strings that doesn't last very long before there is a contrasting section of slow, melancholy music. This lasts but a short while as well as another outburst from the strings appears and leads to the entrance of the violin soloist. The soloist comments on some of the material already given, and is interrupted by another outburst from the tutti. It is interesting to notice that whenever the soloist appears, the basso continuo instruments are silent as the violins and violas give a simple accompaniment to the soloist. The outbursts get weight and depth when the bass instruments join in. The soloist never quite makes it to a climatic moment, as it either fades away or is interrupted by the tutti. And that is how the movement ends, with one more outburst.
II. Largo - The next movement begins with long notes in the violins and violas that are accompanied by a dotted rhythm in the basso continuo. The dotted rhythm switches to the treble instruments as the bass takes up the long notes, and the soloist enters. As the soloist plays the sad tune, the dotted rhythm persists in the viols. This movement is an enigma, is short, and ends in E minor.
III. Allegro - The movement begins with the 1 violins playing the tune, 2nd violins playing the notes of the E minor chord, and the violas and bass play alternate sixteenth note - quarter note accompaniment. The soloist enters and is accompanied by the bass only for a section, then the other strings accompany while the bass is silent. As the soloist plays, it makes a statement and then changes the harmony for the next statement, but the accompaniment doesn't. This leads to a slight dissonance that spices up the music even more so. The tutti takes over again, with leaps in the violins. The soloist returns and its part gets slightly more complex with double stops. One of the strange things about this concerto is that the soloist never really has a grand moment as in some of Vivaldi's other concertos. There's no big finish to the first or third movements. The moods and passions of Vivaldi are personified in this unique concerto.
Saturday, January 23, 2021
Liszt - Malédiction For Piano and Strings
Thursday, January 21, 2021
Vivaldi - Concerto For 2 Mandolins And Strings RV 532
His duties at the Ospedale della pietà, the home for abandoned children, included working with the female children to teach them music and instruct them on ensemble playing as the girls made up the music ensemble of the home. Many of concertos were written to showcase the ensemble to visitors and guests, so there must have been all manner of musical instruments to learn from for the girls besides the usual strings.
Traditional bowl back mandolin |
The instrument that is usually now regarded as the mandolin is an instrument with 4 sets of pairs of strings, with each pair tuned to the same pitch. Modern tuning for the mandolin is the same as the violin.
Modern style mandolin |
II. Andante - The volume goes down and the tempo slows as the mandolins play a tune in E minor that echoes back and forth between them. To insure that the mandolins are the center attraction, Vivaldi instructs only the violins and violas to play a pizzicato accompaniment in unison.
III. Allegro - The final movement changes the meter 3/8 time and ends this concerto. This concerto has been transcribed for two guitars and it's interesting to note that many performances of the concerto with guitars is slower in tempo. Rapid tempos seem to benefit the original version for mandolins that Vivaldi wrote, but his skill and knowledge in writing for the instrument (especially in the middle movement) shows it's more versatile than usually thought.
Tuesday, January 19, 2021
Bach - Fugue In G Minor (Little) BWV 578
The Little G Minor Fugue is based on this subject:
Sunday, January 17, 2021
Mahler - Symphony No.1 In D Major
Composing for Mahler remained a part-time activity for most of his life, undertaken during the opera and concert off-season. Later in life he would do his composing in a small hut that he had built by the lake and away from his main house.
The 1st Symphony was completed in 1888. He originally called it a two-part tone poem but after the premiere he made extensive revisions and called it his first symphony. One of the decisions he made was to reduce it to a more traditional 4 movement symphony when he eliminated one of the middle movements. The symphony calls for a very large orchestra, over 100 players.
Hunter's Funeral Procession by Moritz von Schwind |
Bruckner - Symphony No. 2 In C Minor
This rhythm is as important as any theme in the first movement, as it is heard throughout the movement in many different tonal forms. The second theme group starts in the strings and the key shifts to E-flat major. The third theme group is also in E-flat major, and begins with a persistent rhythm in the low strings of a quarter note - two eighth notes.