Froberger - Suite No. 26 In B Minor

Johann Jakob Froberger (1616 - 1667) was a German composer, keyboard and organ virtuoso.  He helped to develop the keyboard suite of dances and influenced many composers, including J.S. Bach.

Froberger's father was Kapellmeister  of the court in Württemberg. He got his first instruction in music from his father who also had a large (for the time) library of music with over 100 pieces in it. Young Froberger had this music at his disposal growing up, as did three other brothers who all became musicians.

Froberger became court organist in Vienna, Austria in 1637. While there, he received leave to go to Rome to study with Frescobaldi. He stayed for three years in Italy, went back to Vienna and made several trips back and forth. He also traveled widely in Europe, visiting London, Paris, Brussels and other areas. Because of these travels, he was able to absorb different styles of music in different parts of Europe and incorporated them in his music.

Only two of his pieces were published in his lifetime, but he became famous because of hand written copies of his music that circulated  He not only wrote keyboard suites, but pieces for organ and highly personal programmatic pieces. He actually did not originate the keyboard Suite of dances, as dances had been organized into suites in France long before him. What he did do was develop this form and the standards for it.

The Suite #26 in B Minor consists of 4 dances. There is still some question as to the order of the dances, sbut in the recording attached the four dances in order are:

Allemande -  The allemande originated in the 16th century as a duple metre dance of moderate tempo, derived from dances supposed to be favored in Germany at the time. It was usually the first movement in the suite.
Gigue - A lively baroque dance originating from the British jig. Many times it is the final movement in the suite, but here it is placed 2nd.
Courante - n a Baroque dance suite, an Italian or French courante typically comes between the allemande and the sarabande, making it the second or third movement.
Sarabande - A dance in triple metre. The second and third beats of each measure are often tied, giving the dance a distinctive rhythm of quarter notes and eighth notes in alternation. The quarters are said to corresponded with dragging steps in the dance.

Froberger's Suite In B Minor : 

Jacob Gade - Tango 'Jalousie'

Jacob Gade (1879 - 1963) was a Danish violinist and composer of orchestral popular music. He's remembered for only one composition, Tango Jalousie, (or Jealousy ).  He was appointed the conductor of a large theater orchestra in 1921 that accompanied silent movies. He wrote the tango in 1925 to accompany a movie titled , "Don Q, Son Of Zorro".  It was a popular song, but it wasn't until  Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra made the first recording of it in 1935 when it became an international hit.  Gade was able to retire on the royalties and compose music as he chose, although Arthur Fieldler said that Gade showed him a symphony that he wrote and Fiedler said it was one of the worst pieces of music he ever saw.

Jalousie has been used in over 100 movies and is still a popular tango today. The piece earns a sizable amount of royalties which are used to fund the Jacob Gade prize awarded to the most promising young musician in Denmark.

Gade's Tango Jalousie:

Rossini - Overture To ' La Cenerentola' (Cinderella)

Gioachino Rossini (1792- 1868)  had his first big opera 'hit' with The Barber Of Seville in 1816.  It ended up being his most successful and popular opera of his career.  He followed up on this success with the writing of La Cenerentola (Cinderella) the following year. It was as big of a success as 'Barber' had been, and Rossini was an international star from then on.

Rossini met Beethoven in 1822 in Vienna. Beethoven by that time was deaf and somewhat of a recluse. Beethoven told Rossini, " Ah, Rossini. So you’re the composer of The Barber of Seville. I congratulate you. It will be played as long as Italian opera exists. Never try to write anything else but opera buffa; any other style would do violence to your nature.”

He wrote a total of 20 operas between the years 1815-1823 and he wrote his 38th and final opera , William Tell, in 1829 when he was 38 years old.  He was known to write very fast and was not above 'borrowing' music from his other operas to use in a new one.  He wrote the entire opera La Cenerentola in three weeks, he bragged he wrote The Barber Of Seville in twelve days. After his retirement from writing opera, he continued to compose sporadically and collected these odd compositions in volumes he called 'Sins Of My Old Age'.

The Overture To La Cenerentola  follows Rossini's usual practice and of course includes his trademark crescendo for full orchestra. Rossini used this so often in his overtures that contemporaries gave him the nickname 'Signor Crescendo'.

Rossini's Overture To La Cenerentola (Cinderella)

Cziffra Plays Liszt

Georges Cziffra (1921 - 1994) was a Hungarian virtuoso pianist.  His father was a cimbalom player that played in cafes and cabarets in the Paris area. He was a child prodigy and first learned to play the piano by watching his sister take lessons.  He would learn songs by ear after his parents would whistle or sing the music to him.

By the time he was five he had attracted the attention of a traveling circus which hired him to improvise and play tunes suggested by the audience. He did this for only a few weeks, but this association with the circus caused some critics to question his musical upbringing.  But Cziffra had a well-rounded musical education as he was admitted to the Franz Liszt Academy at the age of nine, the youngest student ever admitted in the history of the institution. He was also allowed to take part in master classes that were usually reserved for older students.

In 1942 he was called up to fight in the Second World War. His unit was sent to the Russian Front under orders of the Nazis and he was captured by Russian partisans and held captive for two years. He eventually escaped, was brought back into the military on the side of the Nazis and became a tank commander.  He was went through denazification and began to play piano in cafes.

Cziffra attempted an escape from Soviet-controlled Hungary and was a prisoner doing forced labor and undergoing torture from 1950-1953.  He finally left the country for a concert in Vienna on the eve of the Hungarian Revolt in 1956 and never went back to Hungary.  He wore a heavy leather wristband on his right forearm to help support ligaments in his right arm that had been injured under torture during his imprisonment.

Cziffra was one of the top virtuoso pianists of the 20th century who was known for his interpretations of Liszt's music. He was not only Hungarian like Liszt, but he was also of Gypsy extraction. There was evidently no technical problems for him at the keyboard. He throws off the most difficult music with ease. Case in point is the following video of his performance of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody #6.  In the world of the Hungarian Rhapsodies that is full of technical difficulties, Number 6 stands out for the repeating octaves in the final section of the work which makes keeping tempo increasingly difficult the longer the piece goes.  Cziffra throws the octaves off as easily as if he were playing single notes and seems to actually increase the tempo without losing clarity:



Next Cziffra plays Etude #3 'la Campanella' of Liszt's Paganini Etudes.  This etude was inspired by the third movement theme of Paganini's  Violin Concerto #2

Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 24 in C Minor K. 491

Whenever Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote a piece in a minor key, he always had something profound to say. The two symphonies in G minor (No. 25 and No.40), the Piano Quartet in G minor, and the two piano concertos in D minor and C minor are all dramatic works.   The Concerto No. 24 in C minor is one of Mozart's masterpieces. It was admired, studied and possibly performed by Beethoven. Indeed, Beethoven's own 3rd Piano Concerto not only uses the same key, but the opening theme in the first movement resembles Mozart's initial theme.  There is a story that while Beethoven and the pianist J.B. Cramer were listening to this concerto being performed in Vienna, Beethoven said, "We shall never be able to do anything like this!"

Mozart used an orchestra larger than for any of his other piano concertos to that time. The autograph score shows many erasers and corrections, quite uncharacteristic of Mozart as many of his autograph scores were fairly pristine. This concerto was written at the same time Mozart was writing his opera The Marriage Of Figaro. He was the soloist in the first performance of the concerto in 1786, two weeks after he completed it.  The concerto is in 3 movements:

I. Allegro - The first movement opens with a quiet, sinister theme that is developed into a roar carried by the rest of the orchestra and piano. Although the theme is in C minor, Mozart uses all the tones in the chromatic scale in it:

TThere are two secondary themes that help to give some relief to the tension, but the movement is dominated by the opening theme. The drama and tension of most of the movement may lead the listener to be prepared for a stormy end to the movement but the music quietly and abruptly ends.

II. Andante - Music that is in contrast to the turbulence of the previous movement. Mozart was one of the great composers for wind instruments and it shows in this movement as there are extended passages for wind ensemble. There is a feeling to this music akin to what Mozart wrote in some of his serenades, as the piano and winds take turns with the gentle thematic material. The music reverts back to the beginning of the movement and gently winds down to a restful conclusion.

III. Allegro - Presto - Instead of ending the concerto with a movement in the usual rondo form in a lighter mood and a major key, the third movement begins with a theme in C minor that is the basis for a masterful set of variations:

The eight variations contrast one another in mood until the last variation shifts to 6/8 time with an ominous rhythmic lilt that leads to the resounding final chord.

The great French writer André Gide said about Mozart that he speaks in whispers while the public tends to hear only shouts.  Comparing Mozart to Beethoven, that is perhaps true. But the 'whispers' in this concerto are dramatic, prophetic of things to come from other composers.

Beethoven - Symphony No. 4

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770- 1827) composed the 4th Symphony in the summer of 1806 and it premiered in 1807 at the home of  Prince Franz Joseph von Lobkowitz.  The work is more in the style of Beethoven's first two symphonies, especially when compared to the third (Eroica) written just before it. Beethoven seemed to have to keep variety in his writing, as many times a complex, major work like the Eroica would be followed by something in a different style. The fourth is such a work, and as the 8th symphony stands between the two giant 7th and 9th symphonies, so too the 4th symphony stands between the two giant 3rd and 5th symphonies.

Beethoven begins the 4th symphony with a dark  and mysterious slow introduction that is in marked contrast to the music of the rest of the first movement.  The second movement is taken at an andante pace, with sweet tunes being punctuated by rather rough burst from the orchestra. The third movement has the qualities of both a scherzo and minuet. The last movement is taken at a quick pace, rather like the types of fast finales preferred by Haydn.

To the listener of Beethoven's time, even this symphony that is perhaps 'tamer' than what he wrote in the 3rd symphony, was still something unique. As a critic of the time wrote, 

"That the composer follows an individual path in his works can be seen again in this work; just how far this path is the correct one, and not a deviation, may be decided by others. To me the great master seems here, as in several of his recent works, now and then excessively bizarre, and thus, even for knowledgeable friends of art, easily incomprehensible and forbidding."

It seems as though Beethoven was ever baffling his listeners, so unalike were his works. Now that we have so much time since they have been written, and so many opportunities to hear the works much more often than anyone did in Beethoven's time,  our ears have no doubt had a chance to 'get used' to Beethoven's uniqueness. And it is not so much that familiarity breeds contempt, but that it breeds complacency. The uniqueness and power of Beethoven's music is still there, if we can manage to actively listen to it, learn from it, and question what we think we know about it.  The music certainly deserves and warrants it.  There is really nothing like a Beethoven Symphony.  Even another Beethoven symphony, for they all are worlds unto themselves. That certainly includes the 4th.

Frescobaldi - Variations 'la Frescobalda'

Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583 - 1643) was an Italian organist, keyboardist and composer whose compositions exerted a great deal of influence on musicians like J.S. Bach. He was the organist at St. Peter's Basilica for over thirty years.

He was one of the first composers of his time to specialize in composing for the keyboard. He did write some music for voice, but the vast majority of his output was for keyboard.  In Frescobaldi's time,  keyboard music could be played on organ, harpsichord, or clavichord.  Unlike many composers of the time, Frescobaldi published many of his works which lead them to be well-known in the musical world of the time. He was an innovator in his composing, his playing and even in the ways he notated his music (which lead to the modern method of notation) and was so acknowledged by his contemporaries.

One of the compositions he printed was also the very first known instance of a set of variations on an original theme, the 'la Frescobalda' variations.  Any variations previously were on folk songs or popular melodies.  Frescobaldi states his theme (or 'aria' ) at the beginning, and there are four variations on it. In the recording below, the performer follows the practice sometimes done in Frescobaldi's time, of playing a reprise of the original theme after the last variation.

Frescobaldi's Variations On An Original Theme 'la Frescobalda' :