Rossini - Introduction, Theme and Variations for Clarinet and Orchestra

Gioachino Rossini is more well known for his operas, some of which have remained in the repertoire since they were written early in the 19th century. By the time Rossini retired from composing for the stage in 1829 when he was thirty eight years old, he was the most well known and popular opera composer in Europe.

Rossini lived until 1868 and composed a few songs, sacred music and a set of pieces in 14 volumes calledSins of My Old Age. But when Rossini began his career as a composer he also wrote a piece for clarinet and orchestra that has been popular with clarinetists and audiences ever since. He wrote Introduction, Theme and Variations for Clarinet and Orchestra when he was 18 years old.

Introduction - Andante - The work begins with a loud call from the orchestra to get the listener's attention (an effect Rossini often used in his opera overtures). The volume recedes as the soloist enters. Rossini treats the clarinet as he would an operatic diva as the clarinet plays a sweet melody. A short crescendo from the orchestra is followed by more virtuosic music from the soloist.

Theme - Allegretto - Rossini's theme is a perky tune that challenges the articulation abilities of the soloist.

Variation I -  Piu mosso - The pace quickens slightly as the clarinet embellishes the theme. A short interlude by the orchestra leads to the next variation.

Variation II - Running sixteenth notes dominate the solo part as the brisk pace is continued. Another short interlude by the orchestra leads to the next variation.

Variation III -  Arpeggios, repeated notes and scales are played by the soloist in this variation as the strings play pizzicato. The interlude from the previous variation is repeated by the orchestra.

Variation IV - Largo minore - Piu mosso - A tempo - The tempo slows as the clarinet plays a soulful version of the theme.  The clarinet's range of expression and volume is showcased by Rossini in this variation. The tempo quickens in an orchestra lead up to the last variation.

Variation V -  There's a lot of notes for the soloist in this last variation as the clarinet plays at break neck speed. The orchestral interlude heard at the end of the 2nd and 3rd variation returns along with more fireworks for the clarinet. The orchestra turns silent as the clarinet plays a cadenza, after which a short coda rounds off  the work with a statement by the orchestra and a rapid scale that ascends to the clarinet's highest register.

There is some debate among musicologists whether Rossini actually composed this piece. Some contend that he wrote the theme and a student wrote the variations.  Whether we shall ever know for sure or not doesn't detract from the music itself.  Whomever composed the piece wrote a sparkling set of variations for the clarinet.

Wölfl - Piano Concerto No. 5 In C Major 'Grand Concerto Militaire'

 Joseph Wölfl studied music with Leopold Mozart and Michael Haydn in his hometown of Salzburg and gave his first public performance as a violin soloist when he was seven years old, but he took the piano as his main instrument and went on to become one of the most well-known virtuosos of his time.

He moved to Vienna in 1790 and he must have cut an impressive figure as he walked to the piano to perform as he was over six feet tall. He had massive hands, some contemporaries said he could span a thirteenth. The Vienna of the 1790's was a city bursting with pianists that wanted to make a name for themselves, and the way to do that was to earn a reputation by playing in the salons of  upper class citizens and royalty that lived in Vienna. These pianists were expected to play their own compositions, but an even greater distinction was how well the pianist could improvise. Pianists would create music on the spot from themes given to them by members of the audience or a theme of their own creation. This ability was a large part of the music scene for many years. Bach, Handel, and Mozart were masters of improvisation, but the pianist with the highest reputation in the skill of improvisation in late 18th century Vienna was Beethoven.

Piano improvisation became something of a spectator sport, for rival pianists would engage in competitions with each other, and the audience would determine the winner.  These competitions are the ancestors of the cutting competitions of jazz and blues pianists that began in the 1920's and are still done on occasion.

There are documented examples of Beethoven taking part in these competitions, and he always was determined to be the better improviser.  In 1799 Wölfl engaged in a competition of this sort with Beethoven, who created his usual furor with his skills. Wölfl's reputation (and probably his pride as well) was hurt by the loss and he soon left Vienna for Paris. He ended up in London where he remained until his death in 1812. The 5th concerto was written while he was in London. It is in three movements:

I. Allegro - In the highly competitive market of music in early 19th century Europe, many compositions had the words great, grand, or other such superlatives in their titles.  As Wölfl was nothing if not competitive as well as self-promoting this concerto followed suit. The military designation in the title refers to the trumpet solo that ushers in the first theme which also is in the spirit of a military march.  The secondary theme  changes the military march feeling to a slightly gentler one in feeling and rhythm.  The piano enters with the march theme and expands upon it as well as the second theme. There is added material for the piano that was not heard in the beginning section of the exposition. The march theme is developed fully until the orchestra quotes the march theme at the beginning of the recapitulation. The piano repeats themes with the obligatory key changes.  Wölfl doesn't leave the cadenza to the whim of the soloist as he writes it out in full. After the cadenza, the orchestra finishes the movement in the mood of the military march without the piano.

II. Andante -  The piano begins he movement with a simply decorated melody. The orchestra takes up the tune until the piano reenters in a minor key episode that leads back to the mellow feeling of the beginning. The soloist plays florid, decorative figures as the movement winds down. The third movement begins without a break.

III. Finale: Allegro -  A catchy tune begins the finale. This tune is heard primarily in the piano. A second theme is played by the orchestra. The piano enters with another theme, a brief key change is followed by the second theme in the orchestra and piano. A short cadenza by the piano leads to the orchestra and piano playing the first theme one more time, after which the piano briefly expands on a theme. The tempo quickens and the orchestra ends the finale without the piano.

Wölfl's 5th Piano Concerto is not typical of one written by a virtuoso pianist in that it is not outwardly brilliant for effect. While the piano has plenty to do, the orchestra is almost an equal partner.  Wölfl's piano concertos (he wrote 7 of them) have been compared to Mozart's but he is a minor composer compared to Mozart or the man that shamed him in defeat to leave Vienna, but his music is well written and worth an occasional listen.

Wieniawski - Violin Concerto No. 2 In D Minor

In his lifetime Henryk Wieniawski was first and foremost thought of as one of the premiere violinists of his age, but he also began composing while still a child.  His life as a traveling virtuoso (and his death at 44) kept his opus numbers to a meager 24 with a few other works that were never published or published without opus numbers.

The premiere of Wieniawski's 1st Violin Concerto In F-sharp Minor  was a success that perhaps was due to
the composer's brilliant playing because the work has never became part of the repertoire. History has proven that while it is an interesting work that contains some beautiful music, the imbalance between the long first movement and the brevity of the other two movements (not to mention the very difficult solo part) makes it a difficult work to play and bring off musically. With the 2nd Concerto Wieniawski tightened up his writing and form. While the solo part is still very technically challenging, Wieniawski has technique serve the music instead of music serving technique. The 2nd Concerto is a standard in the repertoire. It is in three movements:

I. Allegro moderato -  The orchestra introduces the themes of the movement straight away. The first theme is an impassioned one in the home key of D minor. A secondary theme in F major that is mostly carried in the woodwinds and horns appears. The first theme returns and builds to a climax that ushers in the soloist who changes the mood to a lyrical one. Snatches of the first theme appear in the orchestra but the solo violin remains in its lyrical mood until it sputters out some virtuoso passages, but it soon returns to its lyrical side as it seems more interested in the second theme than the first.  Music for the soloist turns more virtuosic as the first theme is varied and expanded. This leads to a section for the full orchestra that plays a passionate version of the first theme and parts of the second until the music grows somewhat quiet, but the first theme is heard in full volume. The music grows quiet again with the clarinet playing a solo that leads directly to the second movement. Wieniawski avoids the problem of his top-heavy 1st Violin Concerto by truncating his first movement by removing the recapitulation section,  thus shortening the movement but also eliminating a cadenza. By the time of the premiere of this concerto in 1862 composers were slowly eliminating cadenzas in their works, probably because not every soloist could devise a cadenza that fit in with the rest of the first movement.

II. Romance: Andante non troppo -  The movement is in B-flat major and the violin sings one of the most beautiful melodies written for it. The music builds until a climax is reached shortly before the ending. The violin plays ascending scale and comes to rest on a high note as the orchestra plays a quiet accompaniment.

III. Allegro con fuoco – Allegro moderato à la Zingara -  A short solo for the violin prepares the way for a rondo movement in gypsy style.  The soloist brings back the second theme of the first movement in two of the episodes between the repeats of the rondo theme, bringing a formal unity to the work that was missing in his first concerto.

Vivaldi - Bassoon Concerto In E Minor RV 484

Antonio Vivaldi was one of the composers of the Baroque era that changed the form of the concerto from the Concerto Grosso to the Solo Concerto. The Concerto Grosso divided the instrumental group into two sections; the concertino, a small group of soloists and the ripieno, the rest of the orchestra. The concertino would take turns playing musical material as soloists and play together as a small group while the ripieno played between episodes of the concertino.

Arcangelo Corelli brought the form of Concerto Grosso to its peak early in the 18th century, and many composers continued to use the form.  While Corelli usually used two violins and cello as the concertino and a string orchestra as the ripieno (as did Handel),  the six Brandenburg Concertos of J.S. Bach saw many different combinations of both concertino and ripieno.

As composers are as much evolutionary as revolutionary, the concerto grosso began to go out of fashion and something new was beginning. The newest form of concerto was the Solo Concerto in which a single solo instrument played musical material to the accompaniment of the orchestra. Antonio Vivaldi was a composer that became famous for his solo concertos (although he continued to write concerto grossi for various combinations).  His music influenced Bach, Handel and other composers to write in the form. Vivaldi wrote over 500 solo concertos, with about half of them for his instrument, the violin. But he wrote for most instruments in the orchestra.  No one knows who the bassoonist was that he wrote his 39 bassoon concertos for, but whoever it was must have been very good for Vivaldi does not spare the soloist difficulties.

The Bassoon Concerto In E Minor RV 484 is one of Vivaldi's most recognizable. It is in the usual three movements:
I. Allegro poco - A serious mood is set immediately by the string orchestra as they begin the movement. The bassoon enters and gives its take on the theme. The orchestra and soloist alternate as was the usual practice of the ritornello form Vivaldi used, and the theme is developed and changed in the dialogue between soloist and orchestra. Vivaldi has the soloist play rapid arpeggios that are similar to what a solo violin would do in a violin concerto.

II. Andante - A serious introduction is given by the strings. When the bassoon enters the mood is softened as the bassoon sings mellow music. The short movement ends with the strings.

III. Allegro - Vivaldi returns to the quick music style of the first movement. The string orchestra part leads the bassoon to some rapid music and difficult figurations.

The bassoon has the reputation of being the clown of the orchestra, or at the very least of being an awkward, slow to speak member of the bass section, but Vivaldi's writing for the instrument shows that it is capable of much more.

Weber - Konzertstück In F Minor For Piano And Orchestra

Carl Maria von Weber's works for the stage are considered to be the first German nationalist operas and as such they influenced composers of the next generation, especially in Germany. His early development of the lietmotif influenced Wagner to use the technique also. His orchestrations were studied by Berlioz and used them for examples in his Treatise On Instrumentation .   Liszt, Mendelssohn and Chopin were influenced by his works for piano and orchestra, and 20th century composer Igor Stravinsky admitted that Weber was a model for his Cappriccio For Piano And Orchestra, written over 100 years after Weber's death.

The Konzertstück In F Minor was especially influential, not only for Weber's use of the orchestra, musical content and form (it is in 4 sections played without break), but for its extra-musical content. Weber had composed two piano concertos and when he had begun writing his third he wrote the following in a letter to music critic Johann Rochlitz:

I have an F minor piano concerto planned. But as concertos in the minor without definite, evocative ideas seldom work with the public, I have instinctively inserted into the whole thing a kind of story whose thread will connect and define its character - moreover, one so detailed and at the same time dramatic that I found myself obliged to give it the following headings: Allegro, Parting. Adagio, Lament. Finale, Profoundest misery, consolation, reunion, jubilation.

 Weber was taken up with work on other compositions and didn't get back to the third concerto, which he had renamed Konzertstück, until 1821. In fact, on the morning of the premiere of his opera Der Freischütz he finished the  Konzertstück. It was premiered a week later to (in Weber's words) "monstrous acclaim", and the work has been a popular concert piece ever since.

Weber himself played the piece for his wife and Julius Benedict, a German composer and conductor. According to Benedict the composer gave a running commentary as he played the piece, which shall be quoted below:

Larghetto affetuoso -  Beginning in F minor, the sad and reflective music has a story Weber described as he played :
A lady sits alone on her balcony, gazing off in the distance. Her knight has gone on a Crusade to the Holy Land. Years have passed, battles have been fought; is he still alive? Will she ever see him again?

Allegro passionato -  In a state of panic (and still in the key of F minor), Weber described her state of mind:
Her excited imagination summons a vision of her noble husband lying wounded and forsaken on the battlefield. Could she not fly to his side and die with him? She falls back, unconscious. Then from the distance comes the sound of a trumpet (represented by a solo bassoon). There in the forest something flashes in the sunlight as it comes nearer and nearer.

Tempo di marcia -  The music has now changed to C major in a wave of celebration:
Knights and squires, with the Crusaders' cross and banners waving, are acclaimed by the crowd. And there her husband is among them! She sinks into his arms (represented by an octave glissando on the keyboard)

Presto giocoso - The solo piano erupts in rapid scales and figures, the music modulates to F major as the soloist plays brilliant passages, including two more grand glissandos as Weber concluded his story:
Happiness without end! The woods and waves sing a song of love, while a thousand voices proclaim its victory.

Weber's  Konzertstück is the quintessential early Romantic work for piano and orchestra. It is no surprise that Liszt played it many times in his career and even wrote his own version of the piano part. Liszt (as well as other composers) used the connected movement form of it for their own works for piano with and without orchestra.

Haydn - Trumpet Concerto In E-flat Major

The trumpet was probably first used as a method to convey signals and directions to armies in battle, with its loudness helping it to be heard over the din of war. The metal trumpet was known at least as early as 1500 BC and examples have been found in many different locations in the world.  The trumpet was also used for religious and civic ceremonies, such as heralding the arrival of important people such as kings.

These ancient metal trumpets were usually in one long straight section. it wasn't until around the 13th century that the tubing was folded back on itself one or more times to make the instrument compact. These natural instruments (as they had no valves) were limited in the notes they could play, as the length of tubing determined the key of the instrument. Different notes within the harmonic series were sounded by the

Natural trumpet

player using lip tension and breath pressure. The range of notes in the lower range of the instrument were further limited to a major chord, thus when the trumpet became part of the symphony orchestra they were restricted to the notes of the home key. Different lengths of tubing were devised that could be exchanged on the instrument to lengthen or shorten the tube so that other keys could be played.

In the upper register of the instrument more notes are available and a scale of the home key can be played. Some players became so skilled in these difficult high notes that they could play melodies of great complexity on the natural trumpet, which led composers of the Baroque era such as Vivaldi and Bach to write highly decorated and florid solo parts for these trumpet virtuosos.

Keyed trumpet

Haydn used the trumpet in the orchestra as most composers did in his time, mainly as a support for the home key and for fanfares. When he was approached by Anton Weidinger, a trumpeter in the Vienna Court Orchestra, for a trumpet concerto, the offer tweaked Haydn's curiosity and he accepted. But Haydn was not commissioned to write a concerto for a natural trumpet, but for a keyed trumpet of Weidinger's design.  This trumpet was capable of playing the notes of the scale throughout its range and made the trumpet a melody instrument which led Weidinger to tour Europe and play his keyed trumpet to much acclaim.

Haydn was a very prolific composer, as his known compositions number about 1,000 with probably many more unknown and lost works, but he wrote only 17 concertos. Haydn was a very competent pianist and violinist, but he didn't begin his career in music as a virtuoso performer. Mozart and Beethoven wrote concertos mostly for their own use before the public, especially Mozart who wrote 26 piano concertos alone.  Haydn's reputation as a musician was based on his composition abilities as well as his handling of his musical duties while he was Kappelmeister to the Esterházy family, which is one reason for the low number of concertos he wrote.  Haydn wrote the work in 1795 or 1796, and the concerto was performed by Weidinger in 1800. It is in 3 movements:

I. Allegro - The concerto begins with the presentation of motives by the orchestra. Haydn doesn't always have markedly different themes in his sonata movements, and this section is dominated by a martial theme that is punctuated by timpani and trumpets. When the solo trumpet enters it repeats the opening motive, and Haydn exploits the expanded compass of Weidinger's keyed trumpet with notes that would not be possible on a natural trumpet. The soloist expands upon the opening motives and enters into a dialogue with the orchestra in the development section, but the soloist remains in the spotlight. The recapitulation repeats the opening motive by the soloist until Haydn gives a fermata rest for the orchestra while the soloist plays a cadenza.  The orchestra returns and brings the movement to a close.

II. Andante -  Again Haydn exploits the keyed trumpet by giving it a gentle melody to play with the orchestra in this short movement.

III. Allegro -  Haydn writes an energetic rondo as the final movement. The soloist plays rapid repeated notes, trills, and other dazzling figurations throughout the rondo. The entire compass of the trumpet from the bottom to the top is used to good effect throughout.

While Weidinger's  trumpet allowed the player to hit notes not possible on the natural trumpet, his  keyed system proved to be very difficult to learn and play. The keyed trumpet was eventually replaced by the valved trumpet in the 19th century, an instrument more versatile than the keyed version.

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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