Like many composers in the 19th century, Brahms made his reputation by playing his own and other composers pieces on the piano. From what I've read, he was not the most brilliant of pianists as far as technique, but he was very musical. In his later years he hated to practice and played the premiere of his 2nd Piano Concerto after hardly touching a piano in years. He admitted he had better things to do than practice the piano three hours a day.
He played his own compositions to Robert and Clara Schumann in their home when he was 20 years old. Robert Schumann was not only a composer, but was an influential critic and writer. Brahms had been on concert tour with a Hungarian violinist as an accompanist when Joseph Joachim heard him, introduced him to Liszt and gave him a letter of introduction to the Schumanns. Schumann wrote about him in an article titled 'New Paths' in a music journal and hailed him as a genius.
Brahms continued to compose and be involved in the musical life of Hamburg, Dusseldorf and Vienna. His compositions were met with mixed results, his first piano concerto was roundly criticized and hissed at the first performance. It wasn't until he composed his German Requiem in 1868 that Brahms got his European reputation as a great composer.
A contemporary of Brahms said that he played the piano like a composer. If his playing style is reflected in his music for solo piano, he was not a brilliant technician. his piano music is not full of scales running up and down the keyboard, but rather much of his music is dense with thick chords, with the melody embedded sometimes in an inner voice, sometimes an outer voice. This aspect of his music makes it difficult to play in its own way. Brahms piano music is not so much difficult because of technical glitter, but of musical substance and balance. Brahms had a tendency to write music in phrases made up of odd numbers of measures. Instead of 4-bar phrases Brahms many times writes 5-bar phrases. Couple this with the aforementioned thick chordal structure, and you've unlocked some of the reasons why Brahms music can sound not quite conventional, but not quite radical either. Brahms indeed found his own voice.
The Rhapsody For Piano in G minor is one of two that Brahms wrote in 1879 at the height of his popularity. It is in many ways typical Brahms. A lot going on, danger of the melody being swamped by all the inner workings, first theme threading through the accompaniment, the Brahmsian dilemma of keeping everything in balance. But Brahms leads the way for the pianist, as long as they remain alert and pay attention. Even the ritard at the end of the piece is worked out by Brahms, as the final six bars hold the melody in tied whole notes while the accompaniment is marked 'quasi ritard' and notated thus, with the eighth note accompaniment turning into quarter note triplets, and then to quarter notes thus creating Brahms' 'quasi ritard':
Before 1842, Robert Schumann had written only one piece for chamber ensemble, a piano quartet in 1829, but that all changed in the year that as been called his chamber music year. After studying the chamber works of the masters, he wrote three string quartets, a piano quartet, a piece for piano trio and a piano quintet.
Schumann wrote the quintet in a few weeks during the summer of 1842. He dedicated the work to his wife Clara and she was to play the piano part in a private performance of the work in December of 1842. Illness prevented her participation, but Felix Mendelssohn took her place and in a feat of pure musicianship sight-read the piano part. Mendelssohn had some helpful suggestions for the piece after the performance, and Schumann revised the work accordingly.
The Piano Quintet is one of Schumann's greatest works and was very influential in changing the way composers wrote for the combination of string quartet and piano. The work has music of chamber music intimacy along with music that is more symphonic. The quintet is in 4 movements:
Clara Schumann
I. Allegro brillante - All five instruments present the driving, robust first theme. The second theme is played by piano alone, and then taken up by the violin and cello. The exposition is repeated. The development section begins with section of transition for piano and cello. The first theme dominates the development section and the reappearance of it in its original form signals the start of the recapitulation. After the second theme the movement draws to a spirited close with parts of the first theme. II. In modo d'una marcia. Un poco largamente -Perhaps the most well known movement of the quintet is this funeral march in C minor. It begins with 2 bars of introduction from the solo piano, after which the first violin plays the lugubrious melody. The second violin takes up the next part of the theme, with the first violin resuming the melody until the viola takes it up. The second part of the march is repeated and ends quietly. A section of contrast begins in C major with the new theme played as a duet between cello and violin. As with the funeral march, this lyrical theme's second part is repeated. The funeral march is played through again, and after a short transition another section interrupts the march with highly agitated music in F minor that has the piano playing in staccato triplet eighth notes with biting notes in the strings. The second part of this section is also repeated. The funeral march theme returns in the viola with an increased agitation in the accompaniment. The lyrical theme returns, this time in F major. Once more the funeral march plays out, and the movement ends with the piano silent as the strings play a C major chord in harmonics.
III. Scherzo: Molto vivace - Scampering scales cavort in the scherzo until the first of two trios is reached. The trio is a duet in canon for violin and viola. The scherzo takes flight until the second trio is reached. This trio is full of nervous energy as the instruments play four-note motives throughout. The scherzo returns for one more repeat and a coda brings the scherzo to an end.
IV. Allegro ma non troppo -Schumann begins the finale in the key of G minor and gradually makes his way back to the home key of E-flat major. But Schumann goes even further afield with the second subject as it is in the key of E major. Towards the end of this movement Schumann brings unity to the work by a stroke of contrapuntal prestidigitation as he brings back the first theme of the first movement as the subject of a fugue that uses the first theme of the last movement as a counter subject, in essence a double fugue. All of this complexity gives the five instruments a very large, almost orchestral sound. The work ends in a brilliant fortissimo E-flat major chord.
Schubert's String Quintet In C Major adds a second cello to a standard string quartet setting instead of a second viola as Mozart and Beethoven did in their string quintets. No one knows why Schubert chose an extra cello for his quintet, but the result is music that uses the added depth and sonority of the second cello to good advantage.
Schubert composed the quintet in 1828, and wrote to a publisher offering it along with other works. In the letter Schubert says that rehearsals for the quintet were to begin in a few days, but it isn't certain if this ever happened. The music publisher refused the quintet, and it lay forgotten until it was rediscovered and had its first known public performance in 1850. It was published three years later in 1853, and came to be regarded by Schumann and a young Brahms to be one of the finest chamber music work ever written.
The quintet is like the other handful of masterpieces Schubert wrote in his last months of life that expanded the form and content of music. It is in 4 movements:
I. Allegro ma non troppo - This is an example of Schubert's expanded first movement settings as it takes roughly a third of the playing time of the entire work. With a wealth of thematic material and a rich harmonic language, this movement alone takes about 19 minutes to play. It starts with a dynamic swell that begins on the chord of C major but at the crest of the swell the chord changes to what can be defined as a C diminished seventh, a minor chord.
A short section leads to a different tonally ambiguous chord exchange, and now the music reveals that this is not an introduction, but a thematic group that continues in kaleidoscopic harmonies until a second theme in E-flat is stated by the cellos:
This theme moves to the higher strings and is repeated. A section in G major brings the music back to the second theme and the exposition is repeated. The development section alternates between the serene and the dramatic as the music spotlights sections of themes in a dizzying array of major and minor keys. Schubert manages to segue from one to the other effortlessly until the recapitulation brings the music back to the beginning chords. Key changes continue as Schubert blends themes and keys as a painter blends colors and shadows. The coda gives a sense of continuing the themes even farther as the opening chords are heard again along with a modulation, but it is actually a summing up as Schubert winds down the movement and the music ends firmly in C major.
II. Adagio -The second movement is in E major, and begins with a tender theme played by second violin and viola. The first violin plays an accompanying figure as the one cello adds harmonic depth to the theme while the second cello plays a pizzicato accompaniment:
The instruments blend together as the music gently and slowly flows on its way, getting even more quiet as it goes, until a crescendo of trills leads to an agitated middle section in F minor. A quiet section coaxes the tender theme back for a replaying, but this time with a varied accompaniment which adds a slight nervous edge to it. Near the end, the trilled crescendo that lead to the agitated middle section makes a brief appearance in the first violin, but as quickly as it came it retreats as the music comes to an end in E major.
III. Scherzo: Presto – Trio: Andante sostenuto - Schubert returns to the home key of C major as he increases the loudness and sonority of the five instruments by playing 9-note chords at fortissimo in this boisterous scherzo:
The trio section generally is in contrast to the scherzo itself, but Schubert makes an extreme contrast, first of all with the key change from C major to D-flat major, a key that is quite remote from the home key. The tempo also slows as the mysterious music of the trio quietly hesitates its way to a repeat of the scherzo.
IV. Allegretto -Schubert's first theme of this movement is reminiscent of the dance music he was fond of. The movement is in the form of a rondo with elements of sonata form as well, a hybrid of the two forms. The key has returned to C major (although the theme begins in shadows of C minor), and the violin plays the theme as the other instruments give an accompaniment:
The second theme is a graceful tune in G major played by the first violin and first cello:
Schubert's melodic gifts were second to none, so along with these two themes there are other tunes and parts of tunes that appear. After Schubert has ran his course with these themes, he builds up excitement by increasing the tempo in the coda. With a triple forte passage, Schubert leads to the final notes, a D-flat grace note before the final unison C, thus ends a work that constantly moves from profound beauty to despair and back again with an intensity that was the beginning of the Romantic era in music.
William Shakespeare's plays have inspired many composers, especially in the Romantic era. Over 20 operas
have been written based on the play, some ballets (most notably by Prokofiev), a dramatic symphony by Berlioz and the modern adaptation West Side Story with music by Leonard Bernstein. Perhaps the most
well-known work based on a Shakespeare play is the Romeo And Juliet Overture-Fantasy by Tchaikovsky.
The piece was written by Tchaikovsky when he was 28 years old in 1869 while he was a professor at the Moscow Conservatory. It was written at the suggestion of Mily Balakirev, the leader of the group of Russian nationalistic composers called The Five. Tchaikovsky had already written his first symphony and a symphonic poem and complained that he was already burned out, but Balakirev pestered him until he began work on it. Balakirev gave him some advice on technical matters of form and critiqued the first version of the work.
Balakirev
The second version of the work was not an immediate success. It was even hissed the first time it was played in Vienna. But The Five composers embraced the work, even though Tchaikovsky was not considered in their group. About ten years after the premiere of the second version Tchaikovsky revised it again, changed the ending and added Overture - Fantasy to the title. It is this third version that is played in concerts.
Shakespeare based Romeo And Juliet on a story from Italy written in the middle of the 16th century, but the theme of tragic romance goes back way before the 16th century. Shakespeare fleshed out the story by adding characters and expanding the plot. A short synopsis:
The story is set in Verona, and revolves around the conflicts between two families that are sworn enemies, the Montagues and Capulets. Romeo is the son of the patriarch of the Montagues, and he attends a ball given by the Capulets to try and meet a woman that he is attracted to, but he meets Juliet instead at the ball and falls in love with her. They meet after the ball (the famous balcony scene) and agree to marry despite their families' mutual hatred. With the help of Friar Laurence they are married the next day. Trouble brews and lives are taken after a fight between supporters of the families. Romeo is banished from Verona, and as Romeo and Juliet's marriage is a secret, Juliet is betrothed to another. Romeo steals away and spends the night with Juliet. Juliet's family tries to force her to marry another, and Juliet goes to Friar Laurence for help. He gives her a potion that will make it appear as if she is dead and promises to send word to Romeo about the plan. Romeo returns to Juliet's chamber but he wasn't informed of the potion and thinks her dead. He gets poison and goes to the crypt where Juliet lays. The other to whom Juliet was betrothed is in the crypt mourning her death, Romeo kills him and drinks the poison. After Romeo dies Juliet awakens from her potion-induced sleep, sees that Romeo has killed himself, so she kills herself with Romeo's dagger. Members from the two families find all three of them dead in the crypt, and realizing the tragedy their family feud has caused, reconcile with one another.
The play itself has many side plots and Shakespeare combines some comic scenes with the dramatic and
Shakespeare
tragic to keep a steady build-up to the climax of the play. Tchaikovsky uses dramatic and tragic elements of the play to construct his Romeo And Juliet Overture-Fantasy.
The work is a tone poem written in sonata form. The opening of the work is an introduction based on the character Friar Laurence. Friar Laurence is a man of the church, in Verona no doubt it is the Catholic church, but Tchaikovsky, a Russian, gives the introduction the solemn tones of a Russian orthodox chant! The next theme is one of agitation and drama as it represents the warring Montague and Capulet families, with cymbal clashes symbolizing the clanking together of swords. The next theme is one of soaring passion and beauty, the love theme of Romeo and Juliet. These three themes make up the exposition of the piece.
In the next section of the piece only the themes are developed. After the development, the themes return and move towards a representation by cymbal clashes of the suicides of the lovers. An epilogue with a steady pattern of timpani taps underscores a beautiful reminiscence of the lovers by the woodwinds, the love theme enters one last time and the work ends with a loud climax by the orchestra.
César Franck's first acknowledged compositions were 4 piano trios, written while he was still a student in 1840. Originally, his opus 1 was three piano trios, but he was advised by Liszt to remove the final movement of the third one because of its length and make it a separate composition. This he did, and claimed the work as Piano Trio No. 4, Opus 2.
Liszt had given the composer encouragement as the result of these trios, with Liszt participating in performances of them. Franck showed much promise with these first works, but some other works were met with indifference by the public. He concentrated on his organ playing and became one of the most famous organ improvisers of his time, and worked directly with the French organ builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, an innovator of the instrument. Franck demonstrated the organs of the maker and showed how they went beyond the traditional organ and were more orchestral.
Franck taught many composers and organists in his classes for many years, and it was later in his life when he composed the works he is more well known for.
Allegro - Since this was originally the final movement of the Third trio, it is in but one movement. Violin and cello begin the movement with a slithering theme that covers over an octave and is quite chromatic. The two play an octave apart:
This theme recurs all through the movement in various guises. After the strings announce the theme, they immediately repeat it as the piano contributes a B minor chord in the right hand, and a G-sharp diminished chord in the left. These chords combine with the chromatic theme in the strings and creates even more ambiguity and feeling of menace. The volume of the theme increases until a forte is reached and the music modulates. The music goes back to piano, and the pattern of the opening is repeated, only now the music has shifted to E minor. The piano enters for a repeat of the modulated theme with an E minor chord in the right hand, and a C-sharp diminished chord in the left, so the tension hasn't eased, only shifted to a different key. The 4th bar is again repeated, the theme modulates. The strings are silent as the piano repeats the partial theme three times. A change in tempo and mood begins:
Più lento -This section lasts but 12 bars. The violin is silent as the cello begins by stating a variant of the first bar of the theme, which in essence is the second theme of the exposition:
The cello reaches the D above the bass clef and holds it for half of the 6 measure section as the piano plays slow arpeggios in each hand and simple two-note chords. The music moves from G major to D major in a mood decidedly sweeter than the opening. But it immediately segues into a:
Più presto - This section is but 5 measures long, forte throughout, as the right hand holds an E minor chord as the left hand skitters along in a chromatic triplet pattern. The violin remains silent as the cello holds a B for the entire 5 bars plus 5 more in the next section that is marked più lento. The piano now plays E major arpeggios and simple chords and shifts to B major. Yet another modulation brings about the key of D-sharp minor, as the tempo changes to piu presto for two bars as the left hand plays triplets and the right hand holds a D-sharp minor diminished chord. Another section marked più lento has the violin join with the cello in a held F-sharp as the piano plays arpeggios and chords in F-sharp minor. The music segues into a return of the opening tempo:
Tempo I - The music gradually shifts tonality to B major as the first theme is heard in the piano, then the strings take it up in a section that repeats the theme as well as the secondary theme. What has gone on before can be considered as an introduction, or the first playing of the exposition that is in loose sonata form. This section can be considered as the actual beginning of the exposition, or a varied repeat of the exposition. The two themes and parts of them are used in either case until it leads to the next section, still in tempo 1, but the key has shifted back to B minor:
Gravement -The term means seriously. This section can be thought of as the development section, and does indeed begin in a quite serious mood stated by the piano and cello. The cello offers up a soaring motif in E minor as the piano plays large E minor chords as the music builds to the next section marked fortissimo. The strings play long held notes while the piano returns to rapid triplets in both hands. The volume level reaches triple forte until it slows down and another section is reached:
Avec la plus grande expression -With the greatest of expression. This section is short, and leads to a gradual slowing of the tempo and increase in volume. The music returns to tempo 1 as the strings make commentary over a restless piano accompaniment. The music shifts tonality and continues in drama that ebbs and flows in volume. The restlessness of the piano carries on as references to the first theme are heard in it and the strings. The theme returns with a complex figure in the piano and continues to build until it reaches a full and sudden stop. The next section begins with the strings playing pizzicato with the piano silent. It is a mysterious sounding section as it increases in volume slightly, but always falls back to quiet. This leads to the next section:
Triple piano - Very softly the piano plays a D-flat low in the bass. This builds into a 2 bar motive akin to the opening theme. The D-flat motive transforms into a C-sharp, and a long and slow section of repeated motives in C-sharp minor are heard in the three instruments. The music shifts tonality to B major, and this section comes to a halt in G-sharp minor after high double stops are played in the strings and tremelos in the piano.
A tempo -This section begins with a short fantasia-like piano solo on the theme that leads to an emphatic modulation to the key of B major that represents the recapitulation. The themes are repeated and expanded again until a short coda that increases in tempo and volume ends the work with a part of the theme played in half notes and a solid end to the movement in B major.
This trio may be labeled by some as repetitious and episodic, but the imagination and creativity Franck uses in the choice of theme and how he uses it shows an already highly developed dramatic sense for a student of 18 years. The use of two themes based on a single theme was not new in music. Josef Haydn wrote examples of monothematic movements before in his works, but it is a foretaste of what Franck was to become as a mature composer later on in his use of cyclical form.
Sergei Bortkiewicz was born in the town of Karkhov, Ukraine in 1877, and died in Vienna, his adopted home, in 1952. His music is an amalgamation of the compositional styles of Russian and German composers. He was no advocate of the tremendous changes going on in music of the first half of the 20th century, as he continued to compose in the musical traditions he grew up with. His music has been disparagingly compared to Rachmaninoff's as something akin, but inferior. But Bortkiewicz was no imitator. He developed his own style which showed his imagination as well as a strong lyrical side to his music that sometimes also looked back with nostalgia on a musical world whose style was no longer on the cutting edge of modernity.
He faced many depravations in his life, and combined with a meticulous method of composing resulted in but 74 opus numbers, with the vast majority of his compositions being for piano solo. He did write 3 piano concertos, a concerto for violin, and one for cello, two symphonies and a symphonic poem, lieder, and a handful of chamber works.
He wrote 3 works for violin and piano, with the Sonata In G Minor being his only violin sonata. He composed it in Vienna, and premiered it at the Hague with himself on the piano and his countryman Frank Smit on the violin in 1923.
I. Sostenuto - Allegro dramatico - The sonata begins with wistful music played by the solo piano.
The violin enters gently, and continues in the same mood with the piano in an extended introduction, until the violin changes to allegro dramatico with a theme that emerges from the introduction.
The music proceeds in dramatic fashion until it reaches another theme that is marked Un poco meno mosso, which means a little less movement, a slight slowing of the tempo. After this theme, the music becomes more powerful with another section that brings the exposition to an end. The violin tremolos segue to the first theme being developed as the tremolos move to the piano. The third section of the exposition contributes to the music leading back to the first theme and the recapitulation. The coda slowly begins after a climax by the piano, and the music winds down as the piano plays softly as the violin holds a low G, the lowest note of the violin.
II. Andante - The second movement is in C minor and begins with a short, slow introduction by the piano. When the violin enters, it is accompanied by arpeggiated chords in the piano.
Then there is a section where the right hand in the piano plays a theme while the left hand and violin accompany. The violin and piano trade off playing a lyric theme. The violin builds the tension by playing octaves until a section marked agitato is played. The music slowly becomes quiet, and a solo for the violin appears. this leads to the first theme reappearing in a section that leads to a tempo designation of andante lacrimoso, which means tearful. The music slowly makes sits way to the end of the movement. And as in the ending of the 1st movement, the violin utters the low G while the piano ends the movement.
III. Allegro vivace e con brio - The final movement is in G major. The piano plays the opening as the violin has a pizzicato accompaniment.
The movement alternates from 5/4 to 4/4 for a few bars. There are other changes in meter as the music takes on the characteristics of folk music. The drama is pretty much gone as the music dances its way to the ending in G major. Sergei Bortkiewicz
The String Quartet No. 8, Opus 110 was the only major work that Shostakovich composed outside of Russia. He was in the East German town of Görlitz. It was shortly after he was forced to join the Communist Party in 1960, and he was there to ostensibly work on music for a film to be made jointly by East German film makers about the bombing of Dresden in World War II. Shostakovich was not inspired to write any film music, but he did write this quartet in three days. Shostakovich wrote a letter to a friend about the quartet:
"While there I was provided with ideal working conditions...The good working conditions were fruitful; while there I composed my Eighth Quartet. There was really no point in racking my brains trying to write film music. At the time I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Instead, I wrote this quartet which is ideologically suspect and of no use to anyone. I figured that no one would think of composing a work honoring me after I'm dead, so I'd better do it myself. The title page might read "Dedicated to the composer himself'".
The quartet is written in 5 movements without pause:
I. Largo -Shostakovich went on in the letter to describe the opening theme of the movement:
"The quartet's main theme is taken from my initials - D, S [E-flat in German notation], C, H [B-flat in German notation].
The movement begins with the solo cello, and in turn all the instruments play the theme, giving it a canonic treatment. The instruments continue to play slowly, and in the next few bars all twelve tones in the chromatic scale are played. The harmonic ambiguity is brought to a stop when the home key of C minor finally arrives, and a quote from his first symphony is played. This entire quartet is full of quotations of his own music, something Shostakovich did often in his later works. The movement suddenly shifts to the next:
II. Allegro molto - The start of this movement is in G-sharp minor, a key that sounds odd in relation to the first movement's delvings in C minor. G major, the dominant of C minor would be the classical progression, but Shostakovich opts for an increase in tension and insecurity.
The 4-note theme makes its appearance in altered form as the music skids, skitters, and screeches, sometimes quite violently. The movement comes to seamless screeching halt as the music shifts tempo and key, and leads to:
III. Allegretto -This movement is in G minor and repurposes the initial 4-note theme into a grotesque dance. Tension is somewhat relieved, but it's still not music of calmness. The music winds down with a violin solo that leads to:
IV. Largo - One instrument plays a drone as the others play 3 sharply articulated notes in rapid succession. The music then enters into the key of C-sharp minor, with the drone and three notes repeated. The music settles into an uneasy calmness as the volume level is brought down, and the momentum slows to a drag. The feeling is of resigned calmness, a marked contrast to the previous three movements. The drone and 3 note motif reappears, and leads seamlessly to the final movement:
V. Largo - Shostakovich has peppered this quartet with many self-quotations, but there are none in this movement save for the 4-note theme that is now given a contrapuntal treatment as the music remains slow, mournful, and quietly ends in C minor.
Surprisingly, this quartet is one of Shostakovich's most popular. It has been said that all 5 movements are in different shades of darkness and ambiguity. It was a very emotional work for the composer, as he went on in the letter quoted earlier:
The pseudo-tragedy of this quartet is such that, while I was composing it, the tears just kept streaming down like urine after a half-dozen beers. When I got back home, I tried playing it once or twice on the piano, and each time I started weeping all over again. But this time, not so much from my pseudo-tragedy, but in amazement of its splendid formal structure. Of course, the self satisfaction implicit in that will no doubt soon be followed by my intoxication on feelings of self-criticism.
