The Danse Macabre (French for Dance Of Death) became a cultural symbol in late Medieval Europe. Artists painted scenes of the dead escorting the living to the grave with a final dance of death. The reality of a sudden and painful death were all too vivid after the horrors of the bubonic plague, the 'Black Death' epidemics of the 14th century. It is estimated that 40 to 50 percent of the total population of Europe perished in a four-year period.
The notion that death was the fate of all, as stated in the Latin motto that accompanied many of the artworks depicting the Dance of Death, Momento Mori (remember you will die) expresses the sentiment that no matter a person's position in society or station in life, our fate is the same. While the notion of death has been romanticized to a certain degree over the years and even trivialized in cartoons and videos, the Dance of Death was very real to people of earlier times.
Many composers based compositions on the Dance Of Death, most notably Hector Berlioz in his Symphonie Fantastique and Franz Liszt in his Totentanz for piano and orchestra. Both of these composers used the 13th century Latin Hymn Dies Irae in their compositions as does Saint-Saëns. Saint-Saëns' inspiration for his setting was a poem written by Henri Cazalis, a French poet that got the idea for the poem from French folk legend:
Zig, zig, zig, Death in cadence, Striking with his heel a tomb, Death at midnight plays a dance-tune, Zig, zig, zig, on his violin. The winter wind blows and the night is dark; Moans are heard in the linden-trees. Through the gloom, white skeletons pass, Running and leaping in their shrouds. Zig, zig, zig, each one is frisking. The bones of the dancers are heard to crack- But hist! of a sudden they quit the round, They push forward, they fly; the cock has crowed.
Saint-Saëns wrote a version for voice and piano using Cazalis' poem in 1872, then wrote the orchestral version in 1874. It begins with the quiet tolling of midnight on the harp. Then Death is heard playing the Devil's Interval, the tritone dissonance of classical harmony, a diminished fifth, in this instance an A and an E-flat. Saint-Saëns instructs the solo violinist to tune his E string down to an E-flat to accomplish this. Saint-Saëns also uses the xylophone to depict the dancing skeletons. After much cavorting around, the oboe imitates the crowing of a rooster at dawn, the skeletons scurry back to their graves and Death ends his solo on the violin.
Mozart wrote many of his 20-plus piano concertos for his own use, but the 9th concerto in E-flat was an exception. Tradition says he wrote it for a traveling French virtuoso, a woman (a rare thing in those days?) whose surname was Jeunehomme. The concerto was written in 1777 when Mozart was 21 years old and was premiered in the early part of the same year by her. There is nothing else known about her, nothing about her career, or if her name was actually Jeunehomme. She must have been good, for Mozart wrote one of his finest piano concertos for her. Mozart himself played the concerto later in the same year, and came back to it in later years to add some minor ornamentation to it.
The concerto is unique for other reasons also, as will be told in the analysis below. It was composed for strings, two oboes, two horns and soloist, but Mozart's skill in using the forces at hand makes it sound much larger than that. It is in the customary three movements:
I. Allegro -Mozart begins the concerto with a flourish for the orchestra, which is immediately answered by the solo piano, a novel idea at the time for the soloist usually didn't enter until the orchestra played an exposition of the themes. This sets the tone as the piano has other surprising entrances at different times as well as its traditional statements of the themes of the movement.
II. Andantino -This movement is written in C minor, the relative minor of the home key of E flat major. Mozart wrote only five concertos that had middle movements in a minor key. Mozart has the piano sing a sad, melancholy song while the orchestra accompanies. It is like a scene from a tragic opera, one of Mozart's most heart-felt slow movements.
III. Rondo : Presto -The piano plays an extended solo at a brisk tempo, the orchestra replies. Mozart keeps up the pace, with piano and orchestra trading comments and taking turns accompanying and soloing. After a few episodes and return of the rondo theme, the piano plays a short cadenza that leads to a gentle minuet. The minuet is played and developed as a separate section until the piano plays another short cadenza that leads back to the theme of the rondo. The music runs helter-skelter to the conclusion.
A word about the performance in the video below. This was played on a copy of a piano like Mozart would have played on. To distinguish this kind of piano from the modern instrument it is sometimes referred to as a fortepiano. The piano of Mozart's time was markedly different from the modern instrument. The keyboard was smaller, five octaves compared to seven and a third, the frame was wood compared to iron, lighter hammers and action, different tone qualities in different parts of the keyboard, considerably less volume than a modern instrument. These qualities will be evident in the recording. It gives the listener an idea of why concertos were written as they were. With an orchestra that could drown out the soloist the problem of balance between the two is crucial.
Variation in music is perhaps as old as music itself. When the ancients played their tunes on flutes made of wood or the bone of animals (or even humans) I can't imagine those prehistoric musicians repeating their music the same way all the time. Why would they not use their imaginations any less than a modern day musician? Even a classically trained musician understands it is hardly possible to play a piece of music the same way twice. Sometimes the differences in playing are subtle, such as hanging onto a note a fraction longer or shorter than before, changing the volume or any of a myriad of ways to change a performance of a work.
Beethoven wrote 21 sets of variations for piano, but gave opus numbers to only 4 of them. The majority of the sets of variations were written on melodies from operas written by contemporary composers. The 32 Variations On An Original Theme does not have an opus number. It carries a WoO 80, number which is an abbreviation for 'without opus'. Why Beethoven never gave the work an opus number is anyone's guess. He only gave opus numbers to compositions he deemed worthy of being in his official catalog of compositions. Perhaps the piece didn't meet his standards, but the work was published in his lifetime, and has been popular with pianists and audiences ever since.
The work begins with the theme, an eight-bar, simple melody over a descending bass:
The variations are different in character, mood, and difficulty of execution. This is a work for an accomplished pianist with a good range of technique. The 32nd variation has some especially interesting rhythmic variation going on:
The right hand plays twenty two notes to the measure while the left hand alternates between twenty four and thirty notes to the measure. These compound rhythms give the impression of an improvisation, and lead to what some consider a 33rd variation in paired sixteenth note slurs that are played off the beat. A short coda finishes the work, which averages about eleven minutes to play. Beethoven packs a lot of imagination and artistry in those few minutes, so much that the work can seem longer than it really is.
Bruckner's sacred choral music output is considerable. As a devout Catholic, he took his works for the church very seriously and composed various settings of the Catholic Mass, a Requiem, many sacred Motets and settings of Psalms. One of his greatest sacred works is the Te Deum, begun in 1881 and worked on intermittently until its completion in 1884. The work is on a large scale, with chorus, 4 soloists, full orchestra and organ.
The first performance of the work was in 1885 when two pianos substituted for the orchestra. The first performance with full orchestra was in 1886, and it was performed over thirty times in Bruckner's lifetime. Bruckner died before he could finish the finale of his 9th symphony and it has been suggested (some scholars believe by Bruckner himself) that the Te Deum be used as the finale. All of Bruckner's music can be considered sacred in the sense that as a devout Catholic he composed for the glory of God. But the Te Deum is so different in character (not to mention in key) that it isn't a good fit at all. Better to leave the 9th an incomplete masterpiece and the Te Deum separate works.
The text for Te Deum has been attributed to various early Christians. such as Saint Ambrose and Saint Augustine. It was written in the 4th century and is a hymn of praise. There were selections from the Psalms added to the hymn at a later date. The hymn has been set by many composers and is still used in the Catholic church at various times.
The Te Deum is in 5 parts: I - Te Deum - The hymn of praise to God opens with rhythmic driving music, a rhythm that appears throughout the piece. The choral writing is mostly in unison, with simple harmonies otherwise. It was as if Bruckner wanted to use the sheer force of voices singing in unison in the key of C major to represent the conviction of his own faith.
II - Te ergo quaesumus - With the plea for God's help, the music turns to a gentle song for the tenor with comments by the soloists. Th e chorus is silent, the orchestra a chamber ensemble.
III - Aeterna fac cum - The orchestra returns to full force with the help of the choir.
IV - Salvum fac populum tuum - The music returns in mood and melody to the second section as the tenor pleads for mercy. The chorus and orchestra return to the driving rhythm of the opening, and alternate between calm and quiet, and agitated counterpoint.
V -In te, Domine, speravi - The music brightens and the soloists have a dialog. Bruckner now shows his gift for counterpoint as the chorus sings a fugue of two songs, a double fugue, where the melodies weave in and out like a finely made basket. The music changes to a tune that is similar to the main theme of the slow movement of the 7th symphony, a work Bruckner composed at about the same time as the Te Deum. The music ends on a positive note of jubilation.
Despite the Te Deum being a sacred work , it has always seemed to me to be a dramatic work also, the closest thing Bruckner ever wrote to opera. The rhythmic drive of the opening is one of the most powerful openings of any work I remember hearing. It is a classic in every sense of the word. The Latin text and English translation is included on the video:
Most countries or nationalities have their folk heroes. Many of them are based on historical figures, or are an amalgamation of more than one historical figure. One of Russia's most famous folk heroes is Ilya Muromets. As with England and Europe, Russia had a period of time where it was a feudal society, including the brave and heroic knight that fought the invader. These knights were called bogatyrs, and Ilya Muromets was one of the greatest. Glière used this folk tale of Russia as his inspiration for his symphony.
Reinhold Glière was born in 1875 in Kiev. He studied violin in Kiev, later studied composition and orchestration with students of Rimsky-Korsakov, Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov and Anton Arensky. He graduated from school in 1900 and began to teach as well as compose. One of his private students was Sergei Prokofiev. His third symphony was written in 1911 and premiered in 1912. After the Russian Revolution, Glière continued to teach and compose. While his third symphony was definitely a modern work in 1911, his style remained more traditional than avant-garde, so he avoided the accusations of formalism (definition of which was : Music that Stalin didn't like) that threatened Shostakovich, Prokofiev and other Soviet-era composers. He taught at the Moscow Conservatory until 1941, did etho-musicology work to help develop an Azerbaijani cultural opera, and continued to write cantatas and operas. He wrote no more symphonies after number three.
Glière was obviously a survivor. He created no waves, stayed pretty much within the musical confines that were officially approved of. He became a living classic, and was derided by some of the more modern composers of Russia. But in his Third Symphony, he created a massive, multi-movement tone poem that is one of the most expansive pieces of music ever composed. He used a huge orchestra, 4 of each woodwind, 4 trumpets, 8 horns, and a wide variety of percussion. His themes are expansive, their development even more so. The Third Symphony is not a piece of music to rush through. It must unfold as a great story book, and it is a story book, written in music. Glière himself marked the score with the appropriate happenings of what the music depicts. The symphony is in 4 Tableaux:
Tableaux I - Wandering Pilgrims ; Muromets and Svygator The first movement is in two sections. The first section begins with slow, ominous music that depicts Ilya, crippled and unable to walk since birth. There appears some wandering pilgrims that have the gift of healing. They tell Ilya to stand up and walk, to go out and do mighty deeds, for he is no longer crippled. The music moves ever so slowly through this section as it builds up to Ilya walking under his own power.
The second section concerns Ilya meeting the great bogatyr Svygator, a knight so big that his helmet parts the clouds as he rides on his giant horse. At first Ilya challenges him, but after talking together they become fast friends and Svygator give Ilya much advice and wisdom. The music depicts wild adventures until they come across a huge stone coffin. Svygator lays in the coffin and as he breathes on Ilya for the last time and gives him all his strength and wisdom, a lid is put on the coffin and he dies. The death of Svygator is heard in a slow descent to the very depths of the orchestra. The whole-tone scale is used to increase the horror and mystery of the episode. Ilya then rides off on his horse to Kiev. Tableaux II - Ilya And Nightingale The Robber
Ilya is on his way to capture the dreaded monster Nightingale who hides in the shelter of the mighty oaks within the threatening forest. Nightingale kills mortals who dare to enter his forest by whistling a loud, shrieking noise that kills them. The orchestra strings play near the bridge of their instruments (sul ponticello) to give a glassy, unreal sound to represent Ilya's entrance into the dangerous forest. Nightingale hears Ilya approach, and when he is near he lets loose with his screeching whistle, but to no affect. The orchestra depiction of Nightingale's whistle is some of the most creative orchestration Glière uses in a symphony noted for its imaginative orchestration. Nightingale now tries to lure Ilya by unleashing his three voluptuous daughters who are not only beautiful but use gold, silver and pearls to try and lure him into the trap. Glière begins a slow unwinding of a Wagner-like sensuality to represent the three daughters. The music builds until Ilya resists their spell by shooting an arrow into the eye of Nightingale. The shrieking whistle is heard once more, but still has no affect on Ilya as he ties Nightingale to his horse and rides to Kiev to the court of Prince Vladimir The Mighty Sun. The unearthly sound of the strings heard once again as Ilya rides out of the forest.
Tableaux III - The Court Of Vladimir The Mighty SunThe mood changes at the court of Prince Vladimir The Mighty Sun, the popular ruler of Kiev. There is a festival being held for the boyars (nobles) and bogatyrs of his realm, complete with dancing maidens, musicians, the finest in food and drink. Ilya appears with Nightingale still tied to his horse. He releases Nightingale to let loose with his horrible whistle and all the guests of the festival fall to their knees in fear. Ilya takes his sword and promptly beheads Nightingale, thus showing to Prince Vladimir and the rest that he is worthy to be a bogatyr. Prince Vladimir accepts him as such and the festival continues. The music reflects the story line and paints a vivid picture for this, the shortest movement of the symphony, which can be thought of as the scherzo if in name and purpose if not in form. This movement eases the tension of the past movements and prepares the listener for what is to come.
Tableaux IV - The Heroic Deeds and Petrification Of Ilya
This movement is in two sections, the first section depicts in music the battles fought by Ilya and the other Bogatyrs against invaders of all kinds, real and fictional. The eras of Russian history depicted in this music was a time of Christianity being adopted by Prince Vladimir with his baptism and the resultant battles against pagans trying to turn the country back to paganism. Glière constructs some of the wildest fugues ever written for orchestra to represent the battles. The orchestration bristles with sound and excitement as Ilya and the Bogatyrs defeat every enemy that challenges them.
The second section of the movement depicts the final defeat of the Bogatyrs and Ilya. After being victorious in so many battles, the Bogatyrs look to the heavens and ask if there is even a celestial army that can defeat them. The wandering pilgrims of the first movement that cured Ilya are in fact celestial beings themselves that have been watching the proceedings. The Bogatyrs have gone too far in their arrogance, and a celestial army comes down to earth and defeats the Bogatyrs. While the celestial army defeats the others, Ilya tries to escape but as he runs he is turned to stone. The orchestra reaches a shattering climax, a really grand racket at the moment Ilya turns to stone. Afterwards, the music turns slow and reflects about all that has happened. The chant that has been heard throughout the symphony in many guises is heard once more, this time in muted tones. The music reaches a minor climax, then slowly evaporates.
My first exposure to this symphony was in the early 1970's on a two long playing record set from the old Soviet Russia recording company Melodiya as distributed by Columbia records. I was smitten, literally wore the recording out with multiple plays. It was a recording that made cuts in the score and a few additions to the score instrumentation-wise from the conductor Nathan Rakhlin. It was a stunning recording despite the cuts and additions with a sound that was top-notch for the time. There are now a few more recordings of the work, the one in the accompanying video by the BBC Philharmonic and the conductor Edward Downes being my favorite.
Gustav Mahler, the great conductor/composer thought a symphony should be an entire world unto itself. Gliere's Symphony No. 3 Ilya Muromets is a symphony that meets Mahler's criterion. There are symphonies that are just as long or longer (it takes about eighty minutes) but there are few that are as expansive. It seems to last a lot longer than it actually does, and I mean that as a compliment. There is so much going on, the lines of music take time to develop and they draw you in with their expressiveness.
It is a masterpiece of illustrative music that is more than picture painting. Of course the story line adds to the enjoyment of the piece, but it can also stand alone as a symphony without the added story. It was as such that I first grew to love the work 40 years ago, and I return to it on occasion with no less wonder and appreciation of it. This is one of my all time favorites. I thought it was more than fitting for it to be the subject of my 200th posting on this blog.
Bruckner's fame as a composer rests solidly with his symphonies. As far as number of compositions, he composed more music for chorus and soloists, sacred and secular, than any other type. His piano compositions are few, most of them being teaching pieces. And despite being a world-renown organ virtuoso, he wrote very few pieces for the instrument. As for chamber music, he wrote a String Quartet in C Minor in 1862 and a String Quintet in F Major in 1879, plus an alternative movement for the quintet scherzo and a piece for piano and violin called Abendklänge (Evening Sounds).
The String quintet for two violins, two violas and cello was written at the suggestion of the contemporary Viennese violinist Joseph Hellmesberger. Bruckner had already written five symphonies (seven if his two early efforts are counted) by the time he wrote the quintet. The premiere of the work was given in 1881 and was received very well. It was one of Bruckner's most performed works during his lifetime. The work is in 4 movements: I. Gemäßigt (Moderato) - Some commentators have called the quintet a symphony for five strings. While Bruckner doesn't deviate far from his usual style of composition and use of sonata form, it is in the character of the themes that he uses which assures the listener that he understood the medium more than some would give him credit for. The first movement is a good example of this, for the themes he uses are more lyrical and have less of the rhythmic drive than some of the themes used in his symphonies. As is often the case with Bruckner's first movements, he uses three themes or groups of themes. The first theme is broad, expressive music that lends itself to much development later. The second theme is lyrical, and the third theme has some of the rhythmic drive Bruckner was known for. The themes are treated to free modulation into many keys and are contrapuntally treated in the development. The movement ends with a coda that is one of the two places in the work where Bruckner lapses into symphonic composition, but not to the point that the five stringed instruments can't manage. II. Scherzo: Schnell (Fast) -Trio: Langsamer (Slower)- The character of the theme of the scherzo is quirky and rhythmically alive, different enough from Bruckner's symphonic scherzo themes but still identifiable as Bruckner music. This is the movement that gave Hellmesberger the most trouble technically, so Bruckner wrote an Intermezzo to replace it. Evidently the Intermezzo pleased Hellmesberger even less than the original scherzo, because when he finally got around to performing the work in 1885 it was with the original scherzo movement. III. Adagio - This movement was the most popular of the quintet, and has been performed in transcription for string orchestra. There is no problem with Bruckner writing for five strings instead of an orchestra when it came to this kind of music. He was known for his slow movements in the symphonies. He had the depth of feeling that it takes to write slow movements, regardless of the number of instruments within the ensemble. IV. Finale: Lebhaft bewegt (Very animated) - The finale is in Brucknerian sonata form. The themes are stated and
developed in true Bruckner fashion. It is in the final few bars that sees the
music attempt symphonic sonority. Considering Bruckner's main interest was in
the composition of symphonies, it is interesting that the quintet is written as
well as it is. Most if it is in a true chamber music mood, and although the
final bars are a little much, that shouldn't distract from the composition as a
whole.
The Spanish violinist Pablo de Sarasate was one of the premiere virtuosos of his day, known for his purity of tone and elegance of performance. Many middle and late 19th century composers dedicated works to him, such as Camille Saint-Saëns' Violin Concerto No. 3 and his Introduction and Rondo capriccioso. He was also a talented composer and wrote many pieces for violin and orchestra, mainly virtuosic pieces that utilized themes from popular operas of the time, such as the Carmen Fantasy.
There is something about Spain and its music that has attracted and inspired many French composers. As Spain and France are next to each other, perhaps it is the close proximity and inevitable mingling of cultures and languages that accounts for this. Whatever the reasons, Bizet is in a long line of French composers that wrote music on Spanish themes. Georges Bizet's opera Carmen opened in Paris in 1874 and was a failure. Critics panned it and the audience, while initially receptive, grew colder as the opera progressed. During its initial run, the composer Bizet died suddenly of a heart attack at age 36. The opera played a total of 48 performances in its first production, then was not heard again in Paris until 1883. The failure of the opera in its initial run has been attributed to the realism of it and the loose morals of some of the characters in it. Tchaikovsky saw the opera in a performance during its initial run and thought it a work of genius.
The following year there was a production in Vienna and it met with more success. Brahms and Wagner saw it in Vienna and they both agreed with Tchaikovsky's assessment. After the Vienna production, the opera slowly began to gain momentum and performances until it became a world-wide success at the turn of the century and remains a staple of the opera repertoire.
Sarasate wrote his Carmen Fantasy in 1883, just as the opera was beginning to gain in popularity. It is in five sections, four dances and an interlude: Aragonaise -A Spanish dance from the Aragon region, in triple time. Habanera-Originally a dance from Cuba, it was brought to pain by sailors. Interlude Seguidilla - An old Castillian folk song and dance form in triple time. Gypsy Dance
The Carmen Fantasy is a very technically demanding. It asks much of the violinist in the way of pure technique, but also it is a test of the soloists musicianship. It also exists in a version for piano and violin and is often played in violin competitions.
There are generally two kinds of concertos for violin. Those that are written by violin virtuosos themselves such as ones by Paganini, and that are showcases for their own abilities, and concertos that are written by non-virtuosos. Those written by composers who were not also violin virtuosos saw the composer relying on a violinist for at least some technical advice.
Although Beethoven played the violin in the court opera orchestra in Bonn for four years in his youth and understood the complexities of writing for the instrument, he was far from a virtuoso. Historians think the violinist Franz Clement, the concertmaster and leader of the orchestra that played the first performances of Beethoven's opera Leonora (and also gave Beethoven some advice on) was Beethoven's go-to man for any technical help. How much (if any) assistance Beethoven needed is not known, but Clement was the soloist at the 1806 premiere of the concerto.
Tradition has it that the solo part wasn't finished in time for the performance and Clement had to sight-read parts of it at the performance itself. The concert was a benefit concert for Clement, and Beethoven himself conducted the concerto with Clement as soloist. The concerto was not a success, and wasn't heard again until 1844 when the 12 year-old violin prodigy Joseph Joachim revived it and played it with Felix Mendelssohn conducting the orchestra. Since then it has been a staple of the repertoire.
The concerto begins with a very long orchestral introduction, one of the longest orchestral beginnings of any concerto. A solo timpani taps five times in a rhythm which in typical Beethoven fashion returns in many guises throughout the movement. The violin finally enters, and remains in the spotlight for the rest of the movement. This first movement is one of the most expansive ones Beethoven ever wrote, and the lyrical violin writing may be a nod to the first soloist, because Clement was known for his lyrical style of performing. Beethoven left no cadenza, there have been many written by composer/violinists. The cadenza used in the present recording is by Fritz Kreisler.
The second movement remains lyrical in tone and consists of a gentle melody with some simple variations. The orchestra carries the melody while the violin day-dreams and carries on a running commentary. It is music of great peace, music that moves very gracefully and calmly. Time itself seems to slow down until the orchestra makes an outburst, and the solo violin escorts the finale's dance-like rondo tune. The violin part increases in difficulty and brilliance with each episode, until the cadenza and final statement of the theme.
In Beethoven's day, most music was taught by private instruction. Beethoven had the good fortune to be taught by some of the finest teachers of his era. The first of his teachers that we know about besides his father is Christian Gottlieb Neefe, who thought much of his young student and instilled in him a love for Bach by having Beethoven learn how to play Bach's set of preludes and fugues in The Well Tempered Clavier. Beethoven also studied with Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, an acknowledged master of counterpoint. Joseph Haydn taught Beethoven for two years and their relationship was strained. Haydn called Beethoven 'The Great Mogul' and Beethoven refused to be acknowledged as a Haydn pupil. Antonio Salieri also taught Beethoven about vocal composition, especially for opera.
But perhaps the best teacher Beethoven had was experience. At age 14 he was named organist for the Choir of Maximillian Franz, and he also played the violin well enough to be in t he orchestra for the Bonn Opera house for four seasons. His time as an orchestral musician was no doubt of the utmost usefulness to the budding composer as he rehearsed and played through the operas of Mozart and many others.
Beethoven used that experience to good effect in his first symphony, written in 1799 and first performed in 1800 at a concert that also saw the premiere of his 2nd Piano Concerto and Septet. This was Beethoven's initial concert of works in Vienna. His Second Symphony followed closely behind, as he began writing it in 1800 and finished it in 1802.
He wrote much of the symphony while staying in Heiligenstadt, where he came to terms with his increasing hearing difficulties. The prospects of his growing totally deaf were a hard blow to overcome for Beethoven. He was at the point of taking his own life. But he came to terms with it and went on to take a different path in his compositions. In some ways, the second symphony was the very beginning of this new path, and considering the state of his mind during some of his stay in Heiligenstadt, the work is remarkable for its confidence and playfulness.
The symphony is in 4 movements:
1) Adagio molto : Allegro con brio - The symphony begins with an Introduction that makes its way to the opening theme, with an outburst in D minor thrown in for good measure. The first theme is full of energy and spirit with a rapid connecting piece to the second theme. The connecting music that leads to the recapitulation has some of the syncopated off-beat accents that Beethoven was fond of. The development sees Beethoven modulating and varying both the main themes and their accompaniments. The recapitulation is condensed considerably and has a coda added to it.
2) Larghetto -The second movement is in sonata form, and contains some of Beethoven's most lyrical writing for the orchestra. It is also rather long for a 'slow' movement, but the sheer beauty of the music and the way it is presented makes it seem shorter than it is.
3) Scherzo : Allegro - Beethoven's first use of the term 'scherzo' in his symphonies. This movement is a foreshadowing of the originality and rhythmic vitality of the Beethoven that is to come in the later symphonies. The contrast between loud and soft 'makes' the joke in the scherzo and plays a part in the trio also, along with the chattering bassoons and other woodwinds. The scherzo moves briskly along, and seems like it just got started before it is over. 4) Allegro molto - This is the movement that gave Beethoven's contemporary audiences the most problem. The orchestra begins the movement with a huge 'dip' from G down 12 notes to C.
This was looked upon at the time as bizarre at best and downright crude at worst. There has been all kinds of interpretations concerning this re-occurring rondo theme, even to a modern-day idea that Beethoven was depicting the noises he made due to his poor digestion, that it is a hiccup, belch, or (heaven forbid in a piece of 'serious' music) a fart. Or it could just have been an attention-getter to make the listeners of the day sit up and take notice. Kind of like a jab in the side to get one's attention. Be that as it may, the entire movement was something of a novelty of the time.
Beethoven was a composer that was always growing, always evolving. The second symphony is not a revolutionary symphony as was the third, but it was markedly different in tone and expression if not in form. Indeed, the second symphony is as far as Beethoven could go within the confines of the form as known by Haydn and Mozart. To go further, he had to add and expand on the form and technique of the symphony until he made it his own.
A word about the recording in the video. The Academy Of Ancient Music was one of the first organizations that began playing period music on instruments and with methods of the period. They made a name first by exploring medieval and renaissance music, instruments and performing practices. Under their director Christopher Hogwood, they branched out into the Classical era and have given new insight on how the music of Beethoven and other composers sounded in their time. In this recording, all the strings are strung with gut strings instead of wire, the horns are natural horns (valveless), the woodwinds have fewer keys, tympani have real hide drum heads, the music is played at the standard pitch of the time (lower than modern pitch). As there was no baton-wielding conductor at the time of Beethoven's Second Symphony, either the concertmaster (leader of the first violins), or a leader at the piano or harpsichord lead the orchestra, sometimes both of them shared the duties. So if you can hear a piano in some places of the symphony, it is Mr. Hogwood leading the orchestra per early 19th century performance practice.
Max Bruch's music aesthetics put him squarely in the camp of Brahms and other so-called conservative composers. But the fact that a composer is or isn't conservative only refers to their style and content of their compositions. Like many other labels, it groups people into a readily identified unit that by its very nature is broad and somewhat prejudicial.
It's not that the conservative label doesn't fit Bruch, for it certainly does. But the conservative label doesn't mean that Bruch was a mediocre composer. On the contrary, he had a wonderful melodic gift and he was a master of orchestration, as his popular Violin Concerto No. 1 and Scottish Fantasy For Violin and Orchestra readily attest. So it's good to try and go further than just the labels that are put on people. This is pretty good advice for all facets of life, not just music. When we acquiesce to a label given to someone, we cease to think, discover and explore about that person for ourselves. We are in essence taking someone else's opinion without question or examination, an opinion arrived at through their own particular frames of reference, knowledge, taste, and yes, prejudice.
Bruch's Symphony No. 1 in E -flat was composed in 1867 and dedicated to Johannes Brahms. It is in the traditional 4 movements: 1) Allegro maestoso - Bruch was a master of sonata form and used it in his own way to express himself musically. The first movement is in sonata form and opens with a grand theme stated by bassoons and horn:
This is not the initial theme of the exposition proper. It is a type of introduction to the initial theme which follows shortly after. After the initial theme is heard, the introductory theme is restated, and the second theme is played. At the end of the second theme, parts of the introduction appear again and the exposition continues with the repeating of the initial and secondary themes. The introduction also plays a large part in the development section as it plays off and against the other themes until the theme itself is varied and leads directly into the recapitulation of the other two themes of the first movement. Bruch's personalized use of sonata form shows why the form was so prevalent for so long in classical music. It is a way to give form and direction to a piece of music while still maintaining a semblance of allowable variation in the use of the form itself to suit the music and the composer.
2) Scherzo. Presto -This scherzo scurries along somewhat like the music of Mendelssohn, a composer that Bruch emulated in his popular Violin Concerto.
3) Quasi fantasia. Grave - A heart-felt slow movement, somber in orchestration.
4) Finale. Allegro guerriero - The Finale begins without pause and is marked 'guerriero' - war-like or militarily. Not so much as a struggle as between two enemies in war, but as a swaggering, self-confident military unit passing by on galloping horses
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Friedrich Rust was a German composer that was a contemporary of Haydn. By his own admission he could play the first part of J.S. Bach's Well Tempered Clavier by the time he was sixteen. He studied music with two of Bach's sons, Wilhelm Friedrich and Carl Philip Emmanuel and finished his studies in Italy.
He settled in Dessau and was the focal point of the musical life there. He organized concerts, was instrumental in starting a theater there and was honored for his work within the community when he was appointed court musical director. He was well-known in his day as a composer as well as a performer. He composed in most forms except the symphony. He was also a very influential teacher. He was the subject of a minor scandal years after his death when his grandson Wilhelm Rust, a noted and respected musician and music editor (he was the editor of 26 volumes of the collected works of J.S. Bach, the Bach-Gesellschaft) brought out an edition of his grandfather's piano sonatas. He credited his grandfather with writing music that was well ahead of his time that was very influential in bringing about the Romantic era. Wilhelm Rust was the editor of this edition of his grandfather's works, and after creating quite a stir in the music world it was found that Wilhelm had made numerous additions of his own to his grandfather's works to make them look like they really were ahead of their time.
Whatever the reasons for the grandson to play footloose and fancy free with his grandfather's music, it was unnecessary. Friedrich Rust was a good composer and craftsman and did carry a certain amount of influence in the music he wrote. On occasion he wrote music for instruments out of fashion such as the clavichord, viola d'amore, harp, lute and even the nail violin. He also wrote for the usual instruments but in odd groupings. The Viola Sonata is a case in point. Sonatas written for violas are scarce enough, but one written for the viola accompanied by a cello and two horns is quite unique.
The sonata is in three movements, with the first being in the traditional sonata form. The second movement is a classical andante, with a refined theme. The finale is a rondo with Rust showing good contrast within the episodes between the restatements of the rondo theme.
Although this sonata is far from earth-shattering in its originality, it is well written and the unique sonority of the viola, cello and two horns make it an interesting piece.
Say the name Paganini to a modern music lover and the first impression would most likely be of a virtuoso violinist dazzling the the early 19th century audiences with his 'tricks of the trade'. To be sure, Paganini was a great showman who did barnyard imitations on his violin and other things to please the crowd. But he was much more than a showman. He was also consummate musician in the best sense of the term. With no technical barriers to hinder his musical expression, he could give wing to his musical imagination and touch the hearts of such outstanding musicians as Schumann, Chopin and Schubert. The slow movements of his violin concertos were less about the fireworks and more about the passionate musician Paganini could be. His tone could be heart-rending, and he could play as if he were an angel.
Many composers used the piano as an aid to composition in one way or the other. Paganini was not proficient on the piano. The instrument he used as a compositional aid was the guitar. This no doubt shows in his handling of the orchestra. And after all, his primary motive was to showcase the violin with a accompaniment that was as non-instrusive as possible.
The 5th Violin Concerto was written towards the end of his career, and only the solo part exists. The orchestral parts have been reconstructed from the solo part and are a very fair representation of how the concerto could have sounded. The reconstruction was done in 1959 by Frederico Mompellio and follows Paganini's style very well.
Like most of Paganini's concertos, the 5th is very operatic in nature. The first movement is the longest of all three, and it is written in the sonata form mold so prevalent in first movements of the era. After a drum roll and a few chords to get our attention, the movement begins with a long orchestral introduction of the primary themes, with the first being borrowed from some of his other compositions. The oboe is entrusted with a theme of its own later in the introduction and the orchestra repeats it which leads to the repeating of the primary theme. There is a rousing cadence and the theme is taken over by the violin. The music shifts back and for the from major to minor keys, and of course the violin is the 'star' of the concerto. The violin plays with a simpler passion in the second movement as it decorates the music while subduing the technical fireworks. The finale is a Paganini rondo as much as any he ever wrote as the tune keeps returning, is decorated, is spattered out with remarkable virtuosity in places and is gently stated in others. It is the perfect vehicle to show a violinist's technique and musicality. That is exactly what Paganini wrote it to do.
During the Soviet reign of Russia, many composers and other artists got into trouble with the authorities because they refused to kow-tow to 'official' Soviet ideals about art. These Soviet 'ideals' didn't reflect an actual aesthetic of art as much as what the big shots in charge liked or didn't like. Sometimes it had nothing to do with the art of the accused, but everything to do with how well the powers that be thought they could control the person in question. Especially if, for whatever reason, the artist was disliked, it was likely to spell their doom.
After the Russian revolution of 1917, some notable artists did leave the country. In music, the names of Rachmaninoff the composer/pianist, Horowitz the pianist and Chaliapin, the Bass singer come to mind. Others chose to stay, some were done away with, some like Shostaskovich lived the rest of their lives in fear. But there were those who didn't get into trouble, mostly by not making waves. Russian's a big country, and if a composer chose to remain somewhat anonymous, or didn't cause official displeasure at any rate. Alexander Goedicke appears to have been a survivor, for he lived until 1957, the year he turned 80 years old. He was much better known in Eastern Europe as a composer and performer on the piano and organ. He was well regarded for his interpretations of J.S. Bach's organ works.
Although Goedicke was a professor at the Moscow Conservatory, he had no formal training as a composer. He studied piano performance at the conservatory, but managed to win the Anton Rubinstein prize in composition in 1900 when he was 23 years old. He wrote 3 symphonies, concertos, many piano pieces, operas and other pieces, nearly a hundred opus numbers worth. He is mostly remembered for his Concert Etude for Trumpet.
The Koncertstück is a Romantic piece, steeped in the same harmonies and musical world as the music of Rachmaninoff and Glazunov. It opens with a gentle horn call, which is taken up by the soloist. The piano part is highly decorative. The main theme is finally heard in the piano, a melody that is big and strong, very Russian in character in my opinion. Another theme is stated by the orchestra, very similar to the preceding one. This is expanded by soloist and orchestra, snatches of preceding motifs are played. The piano decorates the orchestral renditions until the recapitulation of the first theme appears. Bits and pieces of the second theme (and others) are heard, and after a short cadenza, themes combine and play against each other until the finale begins with thundering chords in the piano and a noble theme heard in the brass. The piano writing is brilliant, the orchestra states its business with the piano grandly summing up and the piece comes to a close.
This piece is more than enough to whet my appetite to hear more of Goedicke's music. Sadly, not much of it has been recorded and some that has been recorded is out of print.
The full title of Liszt's work is A Symphony to Dante's Divine Comedy. Liszt began sketching themes for this work as early as 1840. He worked on fragments of it until he laid it aside. In 1855 he took up the work again and completed almost all of it by the end of 1856. Liszt played the piano version of the work to Wagner, who praised it but suggested some changes.
Liszt had originally conceived the work in three movements, Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise. Wagner talked Liszt out of writing a symphonic work that portrayed paradise, as he thought no composer could do paradise justice. Liszt agreed, and retained the first two movements and added a Magnificat in place of the Paradise movement. The first performance was held in Dresden in 1857 with Liszt conducting, and it was a disaster. Lack of rehearsal was the cause, but Liszt didn't give up on the work and conducted it again in 1858.
The work has not been one of Liszt's most popular. It is an innovative work, as most of Liszt's compositions, and makes use of different forms, musical scales and harmonies. Along with his Faust Symphony(finished in 1854) these two works are more like groups of related tone poems than symphonies, at least in structure. The Faust Symphony to me is a more balanced work, the three sections having much more in common with each other in material and length. The Dante Symphony's strongest movement to me is the first one, Inferno. The second movement is also very good, but the very short Magnificat that follows it tends to throw the last two thirds of the work out of balance to my ear. That doesn't mean the Magnificat isn't good, it most certainly is and is very innovative in Liszt's use of the whole tone scale. Perhaps if Liszt had kept to his original plan for a Paradise movement the work many have been even better.
Inferno begins with a depiction of the gates of hell itself with a slow introduction for brass. Liszt repeats the motif 4 times, each time slightly varied and the first three lines and the ninth line written on the gates of hell are written over the notes in the score:
Through me is the way to the sorrowful city, Through me is the way to eternal sorrow, Through me is the way among the lost people. Abandon all hope you who enter here.
There is a chant recited by the trumpets and horns, the tempo quickens and the music makes a rapid descent that depicts Dante and Virgil descending into hell. As Dante goes through the circles of hell, the music evolves into waves of noise, violence and borderline hysteria, probably one reason why this work is none too popular; Liszt's depiction of hell gets pretty noisy in places. After the second circle of hell, Liszt takers part of a previously heard motif and relates the story of Francesca da Rimini and Paolo, two lovers that were contemporaries of Dante, who wrote their story into his Divine Comedy. The pair were murdered by Francesca's husband (who was also Paolo's brother) before they could repent of their sin, thus they are doomed to hell for eternity, clutching each other in their misery. Francesca tells Dante the tale before they are swept along the torrents of hell with the other lost souls, and Dante faints. Liszt's music depicts the heartache and passion of the story in music that is in vivid contrast to what has gone before.
After what amounts to the lengthy interlude of the telling of the story of Francesca da Rimini, Dante and Virgil resume their journey and the music returns to the inquietude of the beginning. Snatches of music that has been heard before return, in a twisted recapitulation of the beginning. It isn't until these are heard that we realize Liszt has used his own version of sonata form for this movement. The music picks up momentum as it hurtles through the circles of hell until the final horrible vision of Satan himself is seen chewing on the bodies of the damned. The music builds into a loud, shrill climax, then with five chords the bottom falls out and the music ends.
I first hear this symphony more than thirty years ago, and Inferno has been one of my favorite pieces ever since, and it made me a ‘fan’ of Liszt. It was my introduction to Liszt besides the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 I heard Bugs Bunny play in the old cartoons. The power of the piece, the sheer visceral reaction from the loudness of the beginning and end coupled with the tenderness of the middle Francesca da Rimini section still sends chills up the back of my neck. And I do admit that it is the Inferno movement I listen to the most. The other two movements seem anti-climatic to me. I do better to listen to them without the first part
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Respighi was a musicologist as well as a composer, and he used the music of the past as inspiration for some of his compositions. The Birds is a suite of pieces that are based on various 18th century composers. It is an attempt to depict (somewhat stylized) bird songs of the Dove, Hen, Nightingale and Cuckoo. The composer uses the woodwind section of the orchestra for the bird imitations to good effect. Respighi conducted the premiere of the work in Brazil in 1928.
The Birds consists of 5 movements -
I. Prelude - This prelude acts as a mini-overture for the rest of the work. The first-heard melody in the prelude is based on an opera aria by the Italian composer Bernardo Pasquini (1637-1710) , who was not only a composer but a virtuoso keyboardist, perhaps the greatest keyboard player of his generation. He wrote operas, cantatas, many works for voice, and music for keyboard. He was an outstanding teacher and may have taught Domenico Scarlatti. He may have been the first composer to write three-movement sonatas for keyboard. After this melody, there is a medley of the bird songs that comprise the rest of the work, and the Pasquini melody returns again to finish the prelude.
II. The Dove -This movement is based on the music of French composer and lutenist Jacques de Gallot (ca.1625-1700). A solo oboe plays gently with the accompaniment of harp and strings. Trills in the strings imitate the flutter of wings while the melody is given to clarinet, then the solo violin.
III. The Hen - This is based on the music of the French harpsichordist, composer and theorist Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764). Rameau's music is seldom heard in the concert hall, but he was one of the great musicians of the Baroque era and the history of music in general. It was Rameau who codified what had been going on for a hundred years in music, basing music on harmony instead of counterpoint. He was the culmination of the Baroque era in France, much like J.S. Bach was in Germany. The music starts with the clucking of a hen and before it is over the entire hen house is a stir.
IV. The Nightingale -The only thing known about the next melody is that it originated in England in the 18th century. Respighi orchestrates the gentle melody with the appropriate winds, and even has the solo horn gently sing the melody.
V. The Cuckoo -Another melody from Pasquini, this one from a harpsichord piece. The woodwinds imitate the cuckoo, the melody from the prelude is heard once again to round off the piece and the work is finished.
Composers have always been the leading force in music as far as innovation of techniques and improvements in instruments. That is not to discount the role that interpretive musicians play, but it seems to me that the innovations created by composers in the music they write forces in music notation, harmony, melody, rhythm, instrumental technique and even in the instruments themselves. The piano is a good case in point.
The piano was invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori, an Italian master harpsichord builder, in about 1700. The forerunner of the piano was the clavichord, an instrument that was capable of dynamic shading but wasn't sufficiently loud enough for concert use. The harpsichord was the instrument of choice in concert, and it could be made to play loud enough, but the variety of dynamics was also limited. Enter Cristofori's pianoforte, (soft and loud), but this too was too delicate in tone for concert use. It took many improvements in the original before the birth of the massive concert grand piano we all know today.
The piano of Beethoven's time was closer to the original of Cristofori's than the modern piano. There were different makers and each one had their strengths and weaknesses, but they were all similar in that except for the strings and tuning pins, they were entirely made of wood. The wooden frames of Beethoven's pianos could not withstand the string tension of a modern grand, thus they did not have the sonority, volume, or the durability. A strong player like Beethoven was forever breaking strings and hammers. That's not to say the instruments weren't expressive. Modern reproductions have shown how beautiful they could sound, but their voices were smaller. They could not be heard over a full orchestra, hence composition techniques resorted to a kind of 'call and answer' technique where the orchestra would state the main themes, then the piano would enter either solo or with a low volume accompaniment from the orchestra.
This compositional technique can be heard in Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 at the very beginning. The first movement begins with a loud chord from the orchestra that is answered by a piano cadenza. This happens three times before the exposition of the movement actually begins, and parts of the cadenzas are heard throughout the movement. Beethoven had already placed a cadenza for the solo piano at the beginning of the 4th Piano Concerto , but in the 5th piano concerto the cadenzas are of a more dramatic nature. After the orchestral exposition the soloist has his say about them. The themes are explored further in the development section and when the traditional place for a cadenza appears during the recapitulation, Beethoven makes it clear that there is to be no extemporizing by the soloist by writing as much in the score. The entire first movement is dramatic and Beethoven at his most majestic. Beethoven also has the piano and orchestra play at the same time more frequently. The entire concerto is almost written for a piano that didn't exist in Beethoven's time, for the coming of the iron-framed piano and resultant higher string tension and brilliance (not to mention volume) was years in the future.
The second movement is a beautiful Adagio, in direct contrast to the heroic first movement. The second movement segues right into a rondo finale that is full of energy. The theme of the rondo is heard repeatedly and developed along the way until a short duet between piano and timpani leads to the ending flourishes of piano and orchestra.
Beethoven's music in general and this concerto in particular is a good example of how a composer's talent, insight, ingenuity and creativity can change their art in many ways. The piano was never the same after Beethoven. It couldn't be. Beethoven demanded so much from his instruments and players that they both had to evolve and learn new ways and methods to express the music that he wrote.
The modern orchestral horn had as its ancestor the valveless 'natural' horn that was used in the military and in hunting to signal the troops or hunters. The valveless horn has a limited range as changes in pitch can only be produced by lip pressure and inserting or removing the hand from the bell of the instrument. Inserting the hand in the bell of the instrument to change pitch was somewhat of a compromise as the tone quality of the instrument changed. The first uses of the horn in the orchestra took into account its limitations and the parts written for them were fairly elementary - the notes of the triad chords, mostly the tonic. The instrument could play in other keys, but that involved inserting or removing an extra length of tubing. These extra lengths of tubing were called 'crooks' and the composers that used the horn early on would write for the horn crooked in a specific key for an entire piece or movement, depending on the notes needed. Later on, composers would ask players to change the key of their horns within a movement, but this took time and had to be taken into consideration.
The valved horn was invented about 1815 and had advantages over the natural horn. It was a fully chromatic instrument, therefore crooks were no longer necessary and the hand in the bell technique was no longer used for pitch change. But as with all new things, it took time to be accepted. Despite the problems of the natural horn, some preferred its tone to the valved counterpart. Even in 1849 when Schumann wrote the Konzertstück For Four Horns And Orchestra it was not assured that orchestras used valved horns. Schumann himself wrote for a pair of valved horns and a pair of natural horns in the work, but four valved horns are usually used in a modern performance.
This work is seldom played, perhaps because it calls for four virtuoso horn players.
The work is in three movements with the 2nd and 3rd played without pause: I. Lebhaft (Lively) - The orchestra begins with two loud chords, and the horn quartet comes in and plays a fanfare. The horns seldom have a rest as they have a spirited dialogue with the orchestra. Schumann was fond of the horn and utilizes all the qualities of expressivity of the instrument in this movement, from tenderness to forcefulness.
II. Romanze -The soft and gentle chords of the horns are the feature if this short movement, which leads directly to...
III. Sehr lebhaft (Very lively) -A return to the mood of the first movement as Schumann has the soloist imitate each other until they come together in a fine statement of horn harmony. The dialogue continues until the finale, when the orchestra and the horns join together and close the work.
