Mozart - Rondo For Piano In A Minor K. 511

As if Mozart's documented abilities as a musician were not enough, there have been all manner of astounding attributes and feats concocted about him through the years. For example, there has been much made of Mozart's methods of composing, that he made no sketches but composed works in his head and when he put pen to paper wrote them out complete. Modern research has discovered that Mozart indeed make sketches of works in progress. There is also evidence that he composed with the assistance of a keyboard, contrary to what has been written for years.

But as myths continue to be perpetuated by some, the pendulum seldom stays exclusively on one side. Some now err on the opposite side by saying that Mozart was nothing but a slight musical talent, a hack that stole music from his contemporaries. There is enough existing proof to debunk such nonsense, but the opinion persists, specifically with an author that has written an article titled Exploding The Myth Of Mozart. I offer no link, nor do I deem it necessary to include the author's name. A quick Internet search will bring up the article, if anyone wants to see it for themselves. Evidently the same author has promised a book on the subject for quite a few years, but there is no sign it will ever be published.  Extreme views, whether on the side of turning Mozart into a God or a dunce, do nothing but create confusion, lies and nonsense.

And in the end, does it matter? Whether he used a keyboard to compose or not, whether he worked out his compositions on paper or not doesn't matter.  It is the legacy of his music that matters, and over 200 years after his death, Mozart's music is still being played and enjoyed.

Musicologists suggest that Mozart was most famous during his life as an improviser. The art of improvisation in Mozart's time was used as a measurement of the abilities of a musician. Many of the composers of the 18th and 19th centuries were also masters of improvising at the keyboard.  With Mozart's documented abilities in improvisation at the keyboard, it is no wonder that many of his compositions were for solo keyboard or included the keyboard in the ensemble. He was evidently a composer that thought musically through his fingers.

The Rondo In A Minor was the third and last Mozart wrote for solo piano. It was written in 1787, apparently not as a commissioned work.  Mozart wrote many short stand alone pieces for keyboard throughout his life, but this rondo is rather long (about ten minutes) compared to others he wrote. Mozart made more instruction to the performer in the way of dynamic and phrasing marks than usual, so perhaps this piece was written for a student. The rondo is in a melancholy mood that is lightened by the major mode in the episode sections, and Mozart varies the rondo theme slightly each time it returns.  It resembles the slower rondos of C.P.E. Bach in its ornamentation and style, and Mozart does not resolve minor key to major key in the ending, but ends the piece in the hushed home key of A minor. Mozart

Rachmaninoff - Symphonic Dances, Opus 45

 Sergei Rachmaninoff completed his last major work, the Symphonic Dances, in 1940. It had a good reception at the time of its premiere in 1941 with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra. But subsequent performances were received lukewarmly, and Ormandy showed no interest in recording the work. 

It was the time of the modernists like Schoenberg and Stravinsky, who each in their own style changed the world of classical music for composers and audiences. Rachmaninoff's music looked backwards instead of forwards. Indeed, his previous composition, the Third Symphony,  was akin to the Symphonic Dances as it reflected his past. Rachmaninoff himself knew this better than anyone else. Interviewed in 1939, he admitted:

I feel like a ghost wandering in a world grown alien. I cannot cast out the old way of writing and I cannot acquire the new. I have made an intense effort to feel the musical manner of today, but it will not come to me.

After leaving Russia at a time of great political and cultural upheaval in 1917, Rachmaninoff eventually made his way to the United States and relied on his incredible piano technique and conducting skills to make a living for himself and family. He grew to become financially well-off, so much so that he could afford another home in Lucerne, Switzerland, where he would spend time during the concert off season. It was there that he composed most of his later works. Symphonic Dances was the only major work that was composed in The United States.  

I. Non allegro - The music begins quietly with the ticking of strings and the commentary of solo woodwinds in turn. The music turns loud with drums punctuating a rhythmic drive that continues throughout the first section. A piano joins in as the rhythmic dance continues. instruments in turn enter and make their comments, almost like the music is a concerto for orchestra. The first section winds down as the oboe and clarinet herald the beginning of the middle section which is carried by a solo saxophone. The saxophone makes few appearances in the symphony orchestra, but Rachmaninoff's use of it makes a listener wonder why. The tone of the instrument blends nicely with the rest of the woodwinds. Rachmaninoff may have written in a less than modern style for the time, but there is no doubting his skill and talent for orchestration and melody. 

The first section returns with brilliance as Rachmaninoff continues to showcase the differing timbres of the orchestral instruments. As the movement begins to wind down, a new theme is played by the strings and accompanied by piano, glockenspiel, and harp. This theme is a reworking of a theme from his 1st Symphony, which was heard only once in 1897 in Russia. The work had a disastrous premiere, and Rachmaninoff abandoned it. After the reminiscence of the theme, the movement quietly ends with short snippets of the beginning. 

II. Andante con moto (Tempo di valse) - It is indeed a waltz as Rachmaninoff designates, but it begins in 6/8 time rather than the usual 3/4 time of a waltz. Rachmaninoff visits the waltz form with ingenuity, a continuation of instrument spotlighting and nostalgia, with some eerie sounds thrown in, like the sounds of muted horns and trumpets. There is a solo for violin that leads the proceedings. There is an atmosphere of haunted dreaminess in the music. The pace quickens near the end, as the instruments (or dancers) scurry off the dance floor. 

III. Lento assai - Allegro vivace -  After the poor reception of his Third Symphony in 1936,  Rachmaninoff vowed to cease composing. His career of concert pianist and conductor were taking up most of his time, and felt underappreciated as a composer. But it wasn't the first time that he had tried to give up composing. After the disaster of his First Symphony, he stopped composing for three years. And like so many years ago, the inner drive for creative work returned to him in 1940 when he wrote the Symphonic Dances. The final movement has the same basic A-B-A form as the other two, and it shares the brilliance in orchestration as well. A section from his setting of the Russian Orthodox All Night Vigil is used, along with what was a somewhat ubiquitous theme for Rachmaninoff, the Latin hymn Dies irae. The Dies irae theme was referenced in many of his compositions. 

The movement begins with a reworking of snippets of the Dies irae, punctuated by bells and other percussion. The Dies irae continues with syncopations until a climax is reached. A different, more laid-back version of the theme is heard in low strings with the glissandos of harps. parts of the Russian Orthodox litany is also heard. The middle section is in contrast to the two turbulent outer sections, with parts of it vaguely similar to the Dies irae theme that are more tranquil. The final section brings back the Dies irae theme, but this time it is in competition with a Russian chant Blessed Is The Lord. The Russian chant wins out, and a new theme, Allilyua, taken from his 1915 work for chorus All-Night Vigil. The work ends in a blaze of rhythmic percussion and full orchestra.

Rachmaninoff was 67 years old when he wrote Symphonic Dances, and his many years of extensive traveling, piano playing (piano players are prone to bad backs and arthritis), and cigarette smoking took a toll on his health. The concert season of 1939 was especially tiring for him, and he himself said after writing the work, "It must have been my final spark". He was a deeply religious man, and at the end of the manuscript he wrote, "I thank thee, Lord." 

Liszt - A Faust Symphony

When Franz Liszt (1811 - 1886) gave up the life of a traveling piano virtuoso to devote himself to composition in 1847 it was with the encouragement of the woman in his life, Princess Carolyne zu Sayn-Wittgenstein.  He spent one winter with the Princess before he accepted a long-standing offer to go to Wiemar as Kapellmeister at the court there.  It was during his tenure there that he wrote many of his most well known compositions for orchestra.

While Liszt had a total command of the piano, he knew little about orchestration and instrumentation. He learned quickly, and became a master of the orchestra as well as the piano. He hired musicians that knew how to orchestrate and would have them orchestrate his piano versions of works. He would then use them as examples and then re-orchestrate the piece himself, using what he had learned.   A Faust Symphony was the first work the Liszt orchestrated without any help, and even felt well versed enough to write out the 'Gretchen' movement of the work straight out into full score without a piano sketch.  He completed the score in 1854.

The legend of Faust dealing with Mephistopheles for knowledge at the price of his soul, and of the love he had for Gretchen, attracted many Romantic era composers. Berlioz wrote a cantata/opera on the theme, Wagner an Overture, and the popular opera by Gounod .  Liszt had sketched some ideas for a piece of his own based on Goethe's story as early as 1840 while he was still a traveling virtuoso.

Liszt used a technique in this, as well as most of his other large works, called thematic transformation or metamorphosis.  Simply put, it is basing an entire work on a theme or themes that appear at various times in the composition and are changed for dramatic effect. It is essentially a type of theme variation as used by many composers earlier, but it is done with more freedom and the altered theme no longer has a connection with the original, but has a life of its own.

The complete title for this work is A Faust Symphony In Three Character Portraits (after Goethe) .  The three 'characters' Liszt portrays are Faust, Gretchen, and Mephistopheles.  In the opening movement  Liszt uses 4 primary themes to portray Faust. The very opening notes of the movement is the first Faust theme, stated in cellos and violas.  The theme itself is tonally ambiguous as it uses all 12 notes of the chromatic scale. This ambiguity lends a great amount of flexibility to this theme within the movement, within the Gretchen movement where the love and purity of Gretchen transforms the themes into warm and tender music, and also in the Mephistopheles movement where Liszt turns the themes into the sarcastic, sardonic themes of Mephistopheles himself.

In Liszt's musical telling of the tale, Faust is a combination of the other two characters. He has a warm loving side and a dark, satanic side that is willing to do anything for knowledge, including selling his soul to the devil.  In some ways, the piece can be looked at as autobiographical. Liszt himself was a very complex personality. A great artist not above showboating for the crowd to please them, a pious and deeply religious man that lived the bohemian life, a man who late in life took minor orders in the Catholic church that also enjoyed the luxuries of good food, drink and cigars, an exceedingly generous man with so many others that could also be selfish and self-serving.  The complexity of Liszt's personality mixed with his rare talent and genius make him one of the most interesting and original of the Romantic era composers.

Liszt's A Faust Symphony:  

Alkan - Piano Trio In G Minor Opus 30

Paris in 1837 attracted artists of all persuasions, not least of all some of the most well known names in classical music. Franz Liszt and Frédéric Chopin lived in the city, along with Charles Alkan. Alkan was a personal friend and neighbor of Chopin and the two composer/pianists spent much time together.

The majority of both composer's compositions are for piano solo or include the piano in ensemble.  Each wrote a handful of chamber music pieces early on in their careers which included a piano trio each. Chopin's Piano Trio In G Minor Opus 8 was published in 1829, Alkan's Piano Trio In G Minor Opus 30 was published in 1841 but may have been written earlier.  Both are written for the same combination of violin, cello and piano.

Alkan's Piano Trio is in 4 movements:

I.  Assez largement (Rather widely) - There is no doubt which instrument is the dominant one in Chopin's piano trio. Alkan also has the piano play a large role, but the two stringed instruments are closer to being active partners in music making. The first movement is in sonata form, but Alkan segues the sections almost imperceptibly. The piano begins the movement with a terse motive that the strings mimic after a few bars:

This plays out rather rapidly and leads to a short section of piano solo that leads into the second theme in B-flat major that is played by the violin with piano accompaniment:

This second theme is also taken up by the cello and the two stringed instruments have a short dialogue while the the piano plays a counter melody in the bass and continues to accompany in the right hand.  Then piano and violin join in a staccato flurry of sixteenth notes as the cello plays a fragment of the first theme:

This short section concludes the exposition of the movement and leads seamlessly to the development section. The two themes are played against each other until the development section and recapitulation merge into a type of hybrid with no clear delineation. A short coda has all three instruments pound out the note of G in triple forte.

II. Très vite (Very quickly) - A Beethovenian scherzo in G minor, the three instruments enter one at a time, all of them playing the note D, the piano in short staccatos, strings in pizzicato. The violin and piano join in a short motive while the cello plunks out an accompaniment:

Another eight bar phrase completes the section, which is repeated. The second part of the scherzo begins with the cello repeating the bare octave D's of the beginning while the piano plays running eighth notes. The violin takes turns with the cello playing octaves as the piano continues. The opening of the scherzo returns and is finished up by a short section with alternating octaves in the piano before the scherzo ends in a flurry. The trio section begins with the piano playing a short fugal section until the violin changes the mood with a melody in E-flat. The key changes to a short section in C minor until the scherzo is repeated. A short coda brings back the opening of the trio until a brilliant triple forte section is cut short by the quiet hint of a G minor chord.

III.  Lentement (Slowly) - Written in G major, the movement begins with the violin playing in double stops along with the cello. The theme is introspective, and continues until the piano interrupts with a section in G minor that is more agitated.  The piano goes silent again as the strings bring back the calm of the opening. The piano interrupts again, but not for as long. Slowly the three instruments start to blend together. The dialogue increases until the piano relents and joins in a chorale in tremolos with the strings.  The transfiguration is complete, the piano grows calm and then quiet as the movement ends in a whisper in the strings.

IV. Vite (Quickly) -  The piano part is as a perpetuum mobile as flurries of sixteenth notes spill out from the keyboard through most of the movement. The strings carry motives through the thicket of the piano until the key shifts to G major and the strings join in the scurry of sixteenth notes.

Beethoven - String Trio In C Minor, Opus 9, No. 3

String trios for violin, viola and cello came about as a form roughly in the last half of the 18th century.  They came from the earlier form of trio sonata for two or three solo instruments plus basso continuo. There were three parts to the earlier trio sonata, even if there were in actuality 3 soloists and continuo, as the continuo played the bass and harmonies and was always included. The continuo was most often a keyboard instrument, but the bass line itself was often doubled by a bass instrument such as the cello. The trio sonata designation came from there being three parts to the work, regardless if there were three, four or sometimes five performers. J.S. Bach and other Baroque composers wrote trio sonatas for organ where the right hand, left hand and pedals each have their own part.

The continuo was slowly done away with when music moved from counterpoint towards a melody with accompaniment. The first string trios were for two violins and cello, with a further development beginning with Haydn of violin, viola and cello.

Beethoven wrote a total of five string trios, all of them early in his career. The first two, Opus 3 and 8, are more in the style of the serenades of Mozart as they are in six and seven movements respectively. It is with the three trios of Opus 9 that Beethoven takes the form with more seriousness. The content of the works themselves and the fact they were written in 4 movements each show that Beethoven did not mean for them to be considered light entertainment as a serenade.

Beethoven wrote the trios of Opus 9 in 1797-1798 at a time when he was the toast of Vienna, mostly for his performances as a virtuoso pianist and improviser. He had been composing since he was still a child with a steady progression quality and artistry in his work. Most of his previous opus numbers involved the piano either as a solo instrument or with string soloists. There were a few other works for strings alone, but it was with the opus 9 trios that saw his ability to write for strings take on the qualities of a master. That they are seldom played anymore has nothing to do with the quality of the writing. Perhaps Beethoven himself considered these trios as a warm up to writing string quartets, a form that was viewed at the time (and still is) as the pinnacle of compositional artistry. After Beethoven wrote the six string quartets of opus 18, he never returned to the string trio.

While all three trios are worthy of listening, it is the third one in C minor that shows flashes of the Beethoven to come. The key of C minor is an important one in Beethoven's oeuvre, as some of his most dramatic and innovative music is written in that key.

I. Allegro con spirito - The first movement is in sonata form and Beethoven begins straight away with the three instruments playing a short motive in unison. The 1st theme is in C minor, and is repeated after the first hearing as the cello takes over the theme as the violin plays running 16th notes. The theme is cut short as the violin plays some syncopated chords that lead to the next theme. This 2nd theme is in E-flat major and is simply stated by the violin and cello, while the viola gives a feeling of tension with running staccato 16th notes. Roles are reversed in the repeating of the 2nd theme. There are other fragmentary themes played before the movement closes in the key of E-flat major. The movement is repeated. The development section begins with treatment of one of the lesser themes heard at the end of the exposition. Where the development section ends and the recapitulation begins is blurred by Beethoven's technique of bringing back the main themes of the movement in different instruments amid a bustle of activity. A coda ties up all the ends that Beethoven cares to, and the movement ends in C minor.

II. Andante con espressione- As impassioned as the first movement is, so is the second movement soft and sweet. Beethoven writes in 4 parts in C major in many places in this movement, which gives the music a fullness that belies that there are but three instruments playing. The music sings throughout, and ends quietly in C major.

III. Scherzo: Allegro molto e vivace- Beethoven returns to the home key for this tart and  brisk scherzo. With sudden accents and bursts of sound, there is no trace of a minuet. A calm middle section in C major gives contrast. The scherzo returns and ends pianissimo.

IV. Finale: Presto - The tone of the scherzo and 1st movement continues with the finale written in sonata form. Scales, accents and extremes in dynamics give a hectic feel to the music. The trio ends quietly in the key of C major.

Litolff - Concerto Symphonique No. 2 In B Minor

 Henry Litolff was born in London, but by the time he was 17 he began to make his way around Europe as a pianist, conductor and composer. He composed and taught most of his life, and became friends with an assortment of who's-who of 19th century composers and musicians, among them Liszt and Berlioz. His was a busy life, as he composed much, ran a music publishing firm until 1858 (his adopted son continued to run the business after Litolff divorced his mother), traveled Europe as a soloist, and married four times!

His contribution to the piano concerto literature were 5 Concerto Symphonique, a hybrid of concerto and symphony in the writing for piano as well as orchestra. Neither entity is the sole star of these works, as the orchestra is an equal partner to the soloist. That takes nothing away from the brilliance of his writing for the piano; there is much flash and brilliance in these works for the soloist and orchestra, and Litolff must have been a virtuoso pianist, for most concertos were written by the composer to perform themselves. There are but 4 of these works in existence as the 1st is considered lost. The 2nd Concerto Symphonique was written in 1844.

I. Maestoso -  Litolff begins the concerto with the typical double exposition of the time; the orchestra makes an extended statement of material before the soloist enters with their version. Low strings make the initial quiet statement of the first theme. The full orchestra and strings expands on the theme. The second theme is more lyrical in  nature. After some ominous rumblings, the first theme returns with full orchestra in the major mode. A short transition ushers in the piano with a solo rendition of the first theme with an arpeggiated accompaniment in the left hand. The theme continues to be commented upon by the piano with a light accompaniment. The second theme enters with a solo cello accompanying the piano. Both themes are elaborated upon and the music moves effortlessly into the development section of the movement as the orchestra extends the themes until the piano returns with commentary over short motifs of the first theme. Orchestra and piano take turns until the piano begins the recapitulation with the first theme. The piano and cello return to their short duet as the second theme enters. Themes are restated and worked through, until the piano and orchestra have a dialogue in a short coda that shifts the first theme to the major mode again and the movement ends. 

II. Scherzo - While the first movement is traditional in form, if not in the method of writing for the orchestra and piano as equals, it is in the second movement where Litolff makes the innovation of adding a scherzo to a piano concerto. In Liszt's 1st Piano Concerto, which is played without pause, there are 4 distinct sections with one of them being a scherzo. Liszt may have been inspired by Litolff's Concerto Symphoniques to do the same. Bassoons and timpani begin the movement, with the piano playing off their utterances with brilliance. The trio is in a jocular mood, and very short. The scherzo is repeated, and ends with a flourish. 

III. Andante - The third movement begins with muted strings, and has an improvisatory feel.  The piano enters and plays a theme that takes its time unwinding amid the strings and horns punctuating the harmony. A middle section grows more agitated, but soon resumes a more quiet demeanor. Orchestra and piano slowly lead to a held chord that instead of resolving, leads directly to the final movement.

IV. Rondo: Allegretto - Low strings play quietly, the piano responds with flourishes up the keyboard. After a few exchanges, the movement proper begins with the rondo theme. The soloist plays flashy runs and chromatic octaves between repeats of the rondo theme. One of the episodes has the piano play a theme, and the orchestra takes it up as the soloist changes from playing the theme to accompanying the orchestra. The brilliance of the piano gradually builds until a coda has thundering octaves in the piano while the orchestra takes the music to the end.

Wagner - Overture to 'The Flying Dutchman'

 In 1839, the young Richard Wagner was the conductor of the Court Theater in Riga, Latvia. In what turned out to be a recurring problem as a result of his extravagant lifestyle, he racked up huge debts. He hatched a plan to escape from his debts by taking his completed opera Rienzi to Paris for its premiere and make his fortune. This plan was initially halted when his passport was taken by the authorities on direction from his many creditors in Riga. 

He and his wife illegally crossed the Prussian border, and they found a captain of a ship that would take them to London. The trip should have taken about a week, but due to high winds and rough seas, the trip took over two weeks. His arrival in Paris turned out to be a disaster as well. His opera wasn't performed at the Paris Opera, and he had to rely on hand outs and the meager money he made writing articles for periodicals of the time. 

It was while he was in Paris that he had the idea to write a one act opera based on the Flying Dutchman legend. Wagner wrote in his Autobiographical Sketch  of 1842:

The voyage through the Norwegian reefs made a wonderful impression on my imagination; the legend of the Flying Dutchman, which the sailors verified, took on a distinctive, strange colouring that only my sea adventures could have given it.

It was his hope that the short opera would be accepted by the Paris Opera for performance. His experience of the sea journey, especially when the ship had to take shelter in a Norwegian fjord from the rough seas, that inspired him. He based the libretto on a story written by the German author Heinrich Heine that was based on the story. Heine's story was written as a satire, but Wagner made the story a serious tale of redemption through the love of a woman.

The legend of The Flying Dutchman went through many versions, with the first version in print being in 1790. In brief, the legend said that a ship that was trying to round the African continent couldn't find a pilot to guide it into port, and was thus lost, with it appearing in bad weather. The legend eventually took on the story of a sea captain that swore at the wind and said he would round the Cape even if it took until judgement day. Later writers introduced the theme that the ghost ship would try to offer letters addressed to long dead people to another ship, with the result that if they took the letters disaster followed. 

Wagner's entire opera takes around 2 hours to perform, rather economical for a work of his. Some of his later operas can take upwards of 4 hours or more to perform. The Overture to The Flying Dutchman takes about 11 minute to perform, and like many overtures to grand opera, it is a snapshot of the work. The overture begins with the turbulent sea. There is a momentary calmness afterwards, when a motif from the opera is played, after which the music gains in passion once more. all of the motifs and snippets of melody heard in the overture are taken from the opera. 

It can be a challenge for all but the staunchest opera lovers to be able to enjoy the entire work, but the overture gives the more casual listener a chance to hear the passion and the beauty that Wagner put into it.