Berlioz - Roman Carnival Overture

In many ways Hector Berlioz was unique among the 19th century classical composers. He was not a child prodigy and only began his musical studies at the age of 12. He was groomed by his father (who was a physician) for a career in medicine, so he was discouraged from learning the piano in his youth and never learned to play the instrument. He learned the guitar and flute on his own, and never had any formal training in harmony and trained himself with text books.

In the France of Berlioz's day there was a government scholarship for artists called the Prix de Rome. It was originally for painters and sculptors but was extended to include music composition in 1803. Many French composers vied for the scholarship as the winner traveled to study at the French Academy in Rome for two years with all expenses paid by the French government. The entrants had to compose a fugue and a cantata to a text supplied by the judges, a group of conservative French musicians. There was also a pension provided to the winner for the duration of their study, which was one of the reasons Berlioz applied for the prize. He tried four different times before he finally won in 1830. This was after he had composed and premiered the first version of the piece he is most well-known for, his Symphonie Fantastique. 

Bust of Benvenuto Cellini

While Berlioz composed very little music while in Rome (he detested the city and took every opportunity to travel elsewhere in the country), he came to love the surrounding countryside which served to inspire much of his later music such as Harold In Italy. An expectation for a returning Prix de Rome winner was the composition of an opera. Berlioz's first operatic effort was Benvenuto Cellini, with the libretto based on the autobiography of the 16th-century sculptor, poet and musician. Berlioz looked upon Cellini as a kindred spirit which acted as an inspiration to the composer. The opera was premiered in 1838 and received four performances before the rest of the scheduled ones were canceled, as the opera was a complete failure. Berlioz drastically revised the score for a revival of the opera under the direction of Franz Liszt, and made further revisions for another performance by Liszt in 1852 and the opera became a success.  

After the initial premiere of 1838 (and before the successful revival of 1852), not wanting to let some of good tunes go to waste that he had composed,  Berlioz composed a stand-alone overture from some of the themes of the opera in 18.  He called it Le Carnaval Romain  (The Roman Carnival). The second act of the opera does take place in a carnival in Rome. The opening of the overture is a fragment of a saltarello  from the original opera. Berlioz then uses music from a love duet of the opera played by the English horn. He then quotes some choral music, where upon the opening saltarello returns and combines in a dialogue with the love theme. The saltarello overpowers the love theme, and the music gets wilder and wilder until the brass and woodwind loudly trills out the final chord with the strings. 

The Roman Carnival Overture was a success for the composer, and it was used as a prelude to the second act of Benvenuto Cellini in its revival, but it did have its detractors. Berlioz's music could be wild in content and unique in orchestration. His knack for orchestral innovation was not always easy for listeners to comprehend, nor was it easily understood by some contemporary conductors and musicians. Indeed, Berlioz became a conductor initially because he was so dissatisfied with the way his music was performed. As with so many other aspects of this composer, he was self-taught as a conductor.  But through hard work and natural ability, he became one of the best conductors of his era as well as being one of the most important and influential composers of the Romantic era.  

Méhul - Symphony No.1 In G Minor

Étienne Méhul was a French composer at the time of the French Revolution and Napoleon. He was well-known in his time as an opera composer, and some have called him the first romantic composer. Méhul offered up his first symphony around 1809 in France. Critics were divided as to its worth, even the composer himself offered up an explanation:

"I understood all the dangers of my enterprise; I foresaw the cautious welcome that the music-lovers would give my symphonies. I plan to write new ones for next winter and shall try to write them... to accustom the public gradually to think that a Frenchman may follow Haydn and Mozart at a distance."

While audiences and critics of his time were mixed towards his symphonies, the audience and critics were impressed with Méhul's 1st Symphony in G minor when it was played by  the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra conducted by Felix Mendelssohn in 1838.  Robert Schumann was in the audience and was quite taken with the symphony.

The 1st Symphony is in 4 movements :

I. Allegro - The movement begins in G minor with an agitated theme that is reminiscent of Mozart's initial theme in his 40th Symphony. There is a downward movement that occupies this first theme. The theme proceeds and leads to the second theme which is of a calmer nature. The second theme features something of a reversal in feeling as well as direction as the music move upward.   The development section expounds on fragments of the initial theme. The recapitulation begins, followed by a summing up by a coda of the main theme and the music returns to its downward movement as the music ends.

II. Andante -  A set of variations, music that strolls in contrast to the proceeding dramatics of the first movement. Méhul's theme is a French Chants de Noël (Christmas Carol).

III. Menuet : Allegro moderato -  Pizzicato strings play the theme quietly. The trio is louder and has the strings play with the bow. This movement impressed Schumann considerably. After praising the symphony in general, Schumann writes:

"A remarkable feature too, was the similarity of the scherzo (to the scherzo of Beethoven's 5th Symphony), and in such a striking way that there must have been a remembrance on one side or the other; I am not able to determine on which, since I do not know the year of birth of the Méhul."

As both Beethoven's 5th Symphony and Méhul's 1st Symphony were being composed in 1808, there is no possibility that either composer heard each other's work.

IV. Final : Allegro agitato -  A final movement that again reminds Schumann of Beethoven's 5th, this time the first movement. Méhul builds the movement from a short rhythmic motive with a personalized sense of sonata form. The composer goes far afield with key changes in the development section, the symphony continues in its restless and intense manner until the final chord.

Paganini - Violin Concerto No. 3 In E Major

Paganini began making his reputation as early as 1813 before he toured Europe. His reputation was made in tours of his native country of Italy.  His First Violin Concerto was the only one of his own that he performed until he made serious plans to tour Europe in the 1820's.  He rapidly composed two more violin concertos for his planned tour, Number Two in B minor and Number Three in E Major.

Paganini began his European tour in Vienna in 1828 and performed these three concertos to great acclaim. Paganini would distribute the orchestral parts of the concertos only at the last minute and always played his solo part from memory. In those days before copyright, music was constantly being 'pirated' by music publishers with the composer getting nothing in return for their work. Paganini amassed a large fortune from his concert tours, not least of all because he was so secretive with his music.

All three of these concertos follow the same general plan of three movements, as do contemporary works of the genre.  These concertos are Italianate in style, like the music of Paganini's countrymen Rossini and Donizetti. The middle slow movements of the concertos are like short operatic scenes for violin and orchestra, while the first and last movements are more involved.  As Paganini was the violin virtuoso of his age, the solo violin parts ask for a brilliant technique that covers all aspects of violin playing. They are still demanding works to play nearly 200 years after their composition, so it's no wonder that Paganini caused such a furor with his playing of them. The music world had never seen or heard the likes of Paganini before.

Violin Concerto No. Three begins with an introduction for orchestra, as do the first two concertos.  The orchestra then proceeds with the exposition of the first movement. Paganini's orchestration is colorful, straightforward and competent, but with a difference in timbre perhaps caused by Paganini using the guitar as his preferred instrument for composing. Berlioz also played the guitar, and his orchestrations have a slightly different sound also. The violin enters and immediately takes center stage as the orchestra takes its role as accompaniment.  The solo violin expands on the themes earlier stated by the orchestra until a place for a cadenza is reached, after which the orchestra brings the movement to a close.

The 2nd movement is a sweet aria for violin and pizzicato strings with the woodwinds adding pastel colors.

The 3rd movement is a Rondo in the tempo of a polonaise, a Polish dance.  The violin dialogues with the orchestra in different episodes between repeats of the main theme. Paganini uses left-hand pizzicati, flying bow work, double stops, harmonics, the whole gamut of  pyrotechnics for the violin until the work comes to a close.

Alkan - Symphony For Piano Solo

Alkan's Douze études dans tous les tons mineurs (Twelve Studies in all the minor keys), Op. 39 for solo piano were published in 1857. But  due to a combination of the difficulties and eccentricities of the works themselves and Alkan's lack of self promotion, only a few of the etudes were heard during his lifetime in the 1870's. None of them were to be heard again until  Eron Petri played the Symphony in 1938.

Alkan was a virtuoso pianist that rivaled Liszt in technique, and while not all of his piano works bristle with intense technical difficulties, the minor key etudes are certainly some of the most challenging  piano music ever composed.

Etudes number 4 - 7 constitute the symphony for piano solo, and it remains one of the few compositions by any composer designated as a symphony. It is in 4 movements.

I. Allegro -  The first movement of the symphony is in C minor and is in sonata form.

The opening theme in the left hand octaves is the basis of most of the other themes in the movement. The first theme shifts into the right hand and after transition material another motif  in E-flat major is heard. The exposition is repeated. The development section makes the most of the first theme by shifting key changes. The recapitulation brings back the first theme in the key of C minor and leads to a coda where the theme trades off between hands until a two-bar chromatic downward run in the right hand begins in single notes:

The run is repeated, this time with the third of the C minor chord added at the beginning and every 1st note of the 4-note sixteenth note groups in the run as well as a third added to every 5th note of the sixteenth note group. This gives the effect of the run being in thirds. Also, it adds an accent in such a way as to break up the 12 sixteenth notes of 2 groups of 6  to 3 groups of 4 time in the right hand:

The run is repeated for a third time, this time with the fifth added to complete the C minor chord and ther 5th added to the a-flat major chord, thus giving the effect of the run in triads. It also gives the illusion of being in 3/4 time:

The coda moves towards a C major chord, but the chord changes to C minor to end the movement. Alkan stayed true to the form of the first movement of a symphony, almost classical in proportion, but included passion and changes of mood along the way.

II. Marche Funèbre - Andantino - The first edition of the etudes had the following on the title page: Marcia funebre sulla morte d’un Uomo da bene (Funeral march on the death of a good man). No one knows to whom Alkan was referring to. Some think it might have been his father who had died two years before.

The theme is played legato over a staccato accompaniment. The movement is in F minor following the key scheme of the set of 12 as it is in a perfect 4th from the preceding movement. the middle section is more lyrical for contrast, and the march resumes. Before the end, a drum roll deep in the bass interrupts the march. A short coda reaches a climax before the music dies away and ends in F major.

III. Menuet - Hardly a menuet as known by Haydn and Mozart, this is a hectic scherzo in B-flat minor.

The energy of the scherzo dissolves into a lyrical trio that is in contrast. The scherzo returns and leads up to a short return of the trio until it ends in B-flat major.

IV. Finale - Presto -  The most technically challenging movements of the symphony. It is in E-flat minor, but modulates in and out of the home key.

The pace does not let up, even if the minor mood of the music changes to major. Breathlessly, it continues to run (with a few delicious dissonances on the way) until it finally runs itself out and ends with E-flat octaves in each hand.

Rossini - Bassoon Concerto

 From the years 1812 to 1822 Gioachino Rossini wrote thirty operas, or the average of three every year for ten years. These works were his most popular, and he wrote nine more up to the year of 1829 when his last famous opera, 'William Tell' was written. It was the last opera Rossini was to write, as he went into a forty year retirement. He wrote some music during these last forty years, including in the last ten years of his life a collection of 150 pieces in various forms that he called Péchés de vieillesse, or Sins Of Old Age.  There had been rumors that Rossini had written a bassoon concerto, but it wasn't until the 1990's that a manuscript score was found in a library in Italy of a bassoon concerto which on the front piece states that it was by Rossini.

The story goes that Rossini had written the work for Nazareno Gatti, a bassoon student, for his final examination.  Rossini was an advisor at the music school in Bologna where Gatti attended, but scholars aren't sure how much Rossini was involved with writing the concerto. He may have sketched it out for someone else to finish, as he did with many of his compositions during his retirement. Some say Gatti finished it, or Gatti may have wrote the entire work and put Rossini's name to it. In any event, scholars agree it was written in the 1840's and in the style of Rossini. If it truly was written by Rossini, it would represent his final work for orchestra, as the aforementioned Péchés de vieillesse were chamber works or solo piano.

I. Allegro - The work opens in the key of B-flat major with the orchestra stating the themes of the movement as per usual in a concerto, especially this movement that is built more in Classical era form and techniques than Romantic.  The bassoon enters and plays  the first theme along with punctuations of the low registers of the instrument. The orchestra begins the second theme with light pizzicato violins. The clarinets play along with the soloist and the music goes into the development section.  The soloist gets a chance to show off the instrument and after the recapitulation a short coda allows the bassoon to reach the heights and depths of its range as the music comes to a close.

II. Largo - The music shifts from B-flat major to C minor, a key quite distant from B-flat major.  In this lyrical movement the bassoon sings as if it is a soloist in a scene from an opera. The tonal range of the movement showcases the bassoons unique timbre changes in its registers. The movement ends with dramatic tremoloes in the strings as the music fades away.

III. Rondo - The plethora of notes for the soloist doesn't let up in the finale, nor their extreme ranges. The music is in the key of F major, something different than many concertos of this time as it isn't in the same key of the first movement. The title page of the manuscript states that it is a Concerto da Esperimento , or an Examination Concerto. The music truly is a test for the soloists technical and musical abilities. The question of its authorship not withstanding, this concerto is a fine representation of what the bassoon can do in the hands of a virtuoso, and is a valuable addition to the repertoire. 

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Woods - Slippery Elm Rag

Ragtime music still has a following and popularity after over 100 years. It was a bona fide sensation after the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago that celebrated the 400th anniversary of the founding of the New World by Columbus. While Ragtime and its earlier forms had been around for a number of years before then, it was around the fair at many venues (not actually inside the fair) that ragtime was first heard by those who never heard it before. Scott Joplin and other pioneers of the form made the trip to Chicago to perform in taverns, restaurants, and bordellos in the area.

The affinity for ragtime grew until Scott Joplin had his biggest hit of all, his 1897 Maple Leaf Rag. It was Joplin who insisted that despite the roots of ragtime, it had become a classical form and should be treated and played as such. This lead to Joplin admonishing potential players right on the sheet music - "Don't play this piece fast. It is never right to play ragtime fast." This was also part of the rehabilitation of ragtime, as black ragtime piano players would have competitions against one another to see who could come up with the best ideas, and who could play the fastest.  Of course tempo is a relative thing, and the tempo of a ragtime piece can be pushed to a certain extent, if the character of the piece calls for it. But the slap-dash, break neck speed that ragtime's been subjected to by some is what Joplin was against. 

Clarence Woods was born in 1888, raised in Eastern Kansas, and Carthage, Missouri right in the middleof Ragtime country when he was learning how to play the piano. He left home early on, and began traveling with vaudeville shows and stock companies as an accompanist. He also started working as a silent movie accompanist as well. In 1907 he was performing in the Fort Worth, Texas area and wrote some of his early ragtime pieces there. His first folk rag was Slippery Elm, written in 1912.  He continued to write ragtime as well as early blues pieces. He was married and divorced, continued to work as a professional musician. During the Depression, his livelihood was hit hard like many musicians, and when he lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma, he was an organist at a local skating rink.

Opportunities increased after WW II, as he lead an orchestra, became a local radio personality, and began composing more. His last compositions were never published, and much of his compositions and arrangements were for concert band. He also worked for a time as a composer/arranger for Ringling Bros. Barnum And Bailey Circus, as well as performing on the organ and steam calliope. He passed away in 1956 while visiting his son in Davenport, Iowa. 

Slippery Elm is an instance where a composer took Joplin's advice about playing fast seriously. Woods tempo indication is 'Very Slow', and when it is heeded, the piece can remind the listener of a Chopin Nocturne. Slow and easy, a little bit of drama with a touch of melancholy. Good ragtime is indeed classical in nature, and shows that it graduated from its roots of bordello and tavern hectic qualities to bitter sweet music. And in many ways, when ragtime is played slowly, it has a whole other set of difficulties in performing it. A steady, clear underlying beat that will naturally accentuate the syncopations, and a rounding off of the edges into a smooth, meditative style of music. 

The name Slippery Elm also fits the music quite well. The inner bark (sometimes leaves) of the Slippery Elm was used by Native Americans and in folk medicine for the treatment of skin rashes, upset stomach, colon issues, sore throats, and other uses. The inner bark releases a gelatinous substance that is used for many kinds of inflammation. There is scant evidence as to the efficacy of its use, but some people still use it. It was said to soothe and comfort inflamed tissues, as the music of this rag gives soothing comfort to the ear.

Haydn - Symphony No. 88 In G Major Hob. I/88

 Joseph Haydn's name as a composer was known even before he was semi-retired and living in Vienna.With his six symphonies written for the Concert de la Loge Olympique orchestra of Paris in 1786, and his two sets of six symphonies written for Johann Peter Salomon of London in 1791-1795, his reputation as the most famous composer of western music of  the era was secured. 

He worked as Kappellmeister for the Esterházy family of Hungary, and all of the music Haydn composed up until 1779 was the property of his employer. But with the renegotiation of his contract in 1779, he was allowed to take outside commissions and sell to publishers. 

Symphony No. 88 was the first written after his Paris Symphonies in 1787, and has become one of his favorites, despite not having a nickname or being included in a set. Haydn did allow a violinist that played in the Esterházy orchestra, Johann Tost, to take it along with Symphony No. 89 to Paris to try and sell them, which he did.   

 The Symphony is in four movements:

1. Adagio-Allegro  -  The symphony begins with a short introduction, that haltingly leads to the more animated beginning of the movement proper.

The rest of the movement consists of the traditional repeats and alterations of this single theme. Haydn wrote many works in sonata form that deviated from the normal of the time of two or more themes, usually contrasting. But Haydn's creativity does not make this, a mono thematic movement, monotonous by any means. At the beginning of the recapitulation, a flute is added, and Haydn finishes the movement with a short dialogue between woodwinds and strings.

 

 

 

 

 2. Largo -   The slow movement manages to bring a feeling of melancholy with an underlying nobility as well. It is a set of variations on the opening theme which played by the oboe and cello an octave apart with a light accompaniment from bassoon, horn, viola, and contrabass.  Johannes Brahms after hearing this movement said "I want my 9th Symphony to sound like this." , which says a lot about the depth of feeling Haydn reached in this short set of variations. The flow of the music is interrupted by the trumpet and timpani. It is only the second instance of Haydn using trumpet and timpani in a slow movement up to that time.

3. Menuetto - Allegro  - The Menuetto reflects the changing character of the symphonic minuet that would lead to it being replaced by the Scherzo, if not in name, but by character. The minuet has a heavy downbeat, more like a peasant stomp than a graceful minuet. The trio of the Minuetto has a melody in oboes and violins with a drone accompaniment in cellos and bassoons.

 

 

4. Finale: Allegro con spirito  This finale is a com- bination of rondo and sonata form, a hybrid that was perhaps used by Mozart. While the origins, as in who first used it, my be sketchy, there's no doubt that it was a product of the Classic era of music, when composers such as Haydn, Beeth-oven, and Mozart were experimenting in different forms. Rondo-sonata form went on to be used in not only the Classical era but in the Romantic era as well by Schubert, Mendelssohn, and Brahms. The movement has been described as a perpetual motion piece, and it does zip along at a fast pace. The bassoons and horns have a particularly delightful section of accompaniment that has them chugging away at staccato thirds in the tonic and dominant.