2010
Mimir Chamber Music Festival
13th Anniversary Concert Series
Program Notes
Mimir Chamber Music Festival
7:00 PM Saturday July 17, 2010
First United Methodist Church
Granbury, Texas
Program notes by Stephen Seleny
Modest Moussorgsky (1839-1881)
Songs and Dances of Death
Modest Moussorgsky was the most original of the nineteenth-century nationalist composers. His monumental operas (Boris Godounov and Khovantchina) left an enormous mark on the subsequent development of music, and overshadow certain other facts of his life. It is not well known that Moussorgsky started out as a pianist; that he performed very difficult compositions by Liszt at the age of seven for the nobility of Petersburg; that even at the end of his tragic, alcoholic, unkempt and debauched life, when he gave concerts with a singer, his contemporaries noted his extraordinary interpretive powers. To a large extent he was an auto-didact who never mastered some of the techniques of composing. Moussorgsky‘s genius absorbed the folk music and unique timbre of his beloved/hated Russia, and his creative intuition transformed them into a unique musical realism.
The first three songs in this cycle were composed in 1875; the last was written in 1877. This composition is contemporaneous with Moussorgsky’s most famous composition: Pictures at an Exhibition. The first song, a lullaby, depicts a mother with a sick child in her arms. As she sings, death steals the child away. In the following “Serenade”, death transforms itself into a wooing lover, singing to a dying woman. The third song, titled “Trepak” (a Russian dance), is about a drunken peasant who loses his way in a blizzard and dreams of fields of summer, full of flowers. The last song depicts death as the general of an army in a battle, fully imprinting his ego into the dying moments of his soldiers.
That this is a morbid set of songs is an understatement – but much of Russian music is morbid. That it is also a masterpiece has been proven by the interest of other great Russian composers: Glazunov and Rimsky-Korsakov orchestrated the piano score, and Shostakovich included these songs in the finale of his Fourteenth Symphony.
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
The Shepherd on the Rock, for Voice, Clarinet and Piano
Franz Schubert lived near Beethoven, constantly and childishly adoring him. The son of a poor schoolteacher, Schubert studied music either at home or in the choir of the court. Antonio Salieri (Mozart’s rival and a teacher of Beethoven and, later, Franz Liszt) offered to teach Schubert counterpoint and to compose operas, but to no avail. Systematic and intense teaching bounced off the young Schubert. More and more it became evident that his nature was intuitive, sensitive, and sensual, and that discipline and self-awareness did not govern his genius. Melodies flew from him naturally. Teaching was not for him – for four years he tried it as an assistant at his father’s school.
Where does Schubert belong? Nowhere, it seems, and to nobody. Despite the intense loneliness that remained the hallmark of his short life, by age eighteen he had composed several miracles: the great Goethe songs (including “Margaret at the Spinning Wheel” and the “Erlkonig”) and five symphonies, including the one we call the “Tragic”. Like an ill omen, Schubert matured dangerously quickly for his age, and it seems he knew that he had to hurry. Living in poverty (according to the ancient rule of bohemians, where three of them had one hat and five of them one purse), he created masterpieces. During his lifetime, most of his works were performed only at “Schubertiades”. These were soirées organized by friends at various welcoming homes. Throughout his short, tragic life, Schubert was satisfied with a minimum in the realm of reality, for he could dream about infinity.
Schubert composed more than eight hundred songs, and by any measure these are the most intimate expressions of his soul. “The Shepherd on the Rock” was composed in 1828, in the final months of his life. It was commissioned by one of his friends, a soprano. The text combines two poems by two different authors. It is almost an operatic aria, but also a chamber work. In the first song the shepherd sings from a high rock, listening to the echoes and admiring the distances of the valley below. The second song is a cry of sorrow and loneliness. The third is a song of hope and a dream of the coming spring. This song cycle will likely always will be in the repertoire of every great singer, for it is touching, masterful, and unforgettably beautiful.
Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Piano Trio in G Major, Hob XV: 25
1. Andante
2. Poco Adagio
3. Finale: Rondo Ongarese
A sonata is a multi movement composition built on contrasts and the development of motives. The first movement (almost always in “sonata form”, a technical term referring to the structure) contains an exposition section with two contrasting themes and a closing theme, followed by a development section (often much larger than the exposition) where only the taste and talent of the composer limits the development of the exposition’s themes. After the composer has explored the meaning of these themes, a recapitulation follows where the original themes reappear, more or less in their original form. The second movement is usually slow and lyrical, the optional third movement is dancelike, and the finale is fast and energetic.
It would be false to say that Franz Joseph Haydn invented all of this. But his creative practice brought together the many diverse ideas of his contemporaries into a unified arch, achieving equilibrium. Every composer who has written a sonata or symphony (formally, a “sonata” for orchestra), since this time, owes a measure of debt to “Papa Haydn”.
Haydn wrote 45 trios for piano, violin and cello. They are essentially piano sonatas with added contributions by the string instruments. The violin sometimes plays the melody; the cello almost always doubles the bass line of the piano. That the strings play a subordinate role does not in any way diminish the merits of the music. Indeed Haydn’s trios, especially the late ones, are inventive, rich and virtuosic works for the piano. It helps to remember that the “fortepiano”, a forerunner of the modern piano, was an instrument of very limited tone quality and a sound that very quickly decays. The ability of the violin and cello to sustain notes must have gratified Haydn.
In this G major trio, the string instruments play a more independent role. Composed around 1794, it is a mature work of exquisite charm. The expressive melody of the first movement inspired the composer to create a set of variations in which the violin plays an almost equal role to the piano. The song-like second movement is followed by a “gypsy czardas” -- a quick dance of two fast steps to the right, two fast steps to the left. In Haydn’s day, gypsy music was equated with Hungarian music – therefore, Haydn titled this movement “Rondo Ongarese”. It is brilliant, fast, foot-tapping music.
String Quartet No. 1, “From my Life”
Bedřich Smetana (1824–1884)
1. Allegro vivo appassionato
2. Allegro moderato a la Polka
3. Largo sostenuto
4. Vivace
Because he often incorporated elements of the Czech folk idiom in hiopsitions, Bedřich Smetana is considered a Czech “nationalist” composer. As a young man in his native Bohemia, Smetana was very involved in the 1848 revolution that swept over Europe, in which minorities attempted to gain more freedom from the Hapsburg rulers of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. After this uprising was crushed, Smetana was even more ostracized than before, and went into self-imposed exile in Sweden. In Goteborg he taught, conducted and composed, yearning for his homeland. When the political climate mellowed after 1862, he returned, became the conductor of the National Theater, and wrote his most famous opera, The Bartered Bride. It is not well known that at age fifty, Smetana became deaf. Not even the best doctors could help. The treatments applied were very painful and ineffective. In this period he composed his famous tone poem, The Moldau, and the String Quartet “From my Life”. Shortly after, he went insane and died in an asylum -- a tragic life by any measure!
Smetana always described himself as a composer of “program music”, depicting scenes, describing natural phenomena, or just telling a story. However, one of the strengths of his music is that it can stand by itself as “absolute” music. Smetana’s own words about this Quartet, written in 1876, might enable the listener to have a glimpse into the tortured soul of the composer:
“As regards to my quartet, I gladly leave others to judge its style, and I shall not be the least bit angry if this style does not find favor or is considered contrary to what was hitherto regarded as the ‘quartet style’…My intention was to paint a tone picture of my life.
“The first movement depicts my youthful leanings toward art, the Romantic Atmosphere, the inexpressible yearning for something I could neither express or define, and also a kind of warning of my future misfortune (i.e. deafness).
The second movement, writes Smetana, is a “quasi Polka which brings to my mind the joyful days of youth, when I wrote dance tunes and was known everywhere as a passionate lover of dancing.
“The third movement, reminds me of the happiness of my first love, the girl who later became my wife.
“The last movement describes the discovery that I could treat national elements in music and my joy in following this path, until it was checked by the catastrophe of the onset of my deafness; the outlook into the sad future, the tiny rays of hope of recovery; but remembering all the promise of my early career, a feeling of painful regret…The long insistent note in this finale owes its origin to this (i.e. deafness). It is the fateful ringing in my ears of the high-pitched tones that, in 1874, announced the beginning of my deafness. I permitted myself this little joke because it was so disastrous for me.”
The magic of this quartet lies not only in its highly-charged emotional, colorful texture, but also in the technical mastery of the composer. He was able not only to express his personal feelings but to frame them masterfully within standard classical forms, such as the sonata, song and rondo.
Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897-1955)
Suite for 2 violins, cello, piano left hand, Op.23
1. Praeludium and Fugue: Kraftig and bestimmt (forcefully and decisively)
2. Walzer: Nicht schnell, anmutig (not fast, with charm)
3. Groteske: Moglichst rasch (as fast as possible).
4. Lied: Schlicht und innig (plainly and heartfelt) – nicht langsam (not slowly)
5. Rondo – Finale: Variationen
Korngold was one of the most prolific composers of film music. He wrote scores for many swashbuckling Errol Flynn movies and lush orchestral scores for countless Romantic tear-jerkers. Korngold was a child prodigy who, by the tender age of ten, caught the attention of such giants as Richard Strauss and Gustav Mahler. Before his twentieth birthday, he wrote two operas. One of these, Die Tote Stadt (The Dead City) was well received at its 1929 premiere. At about the same time, he became enamored with the work of the innovative film director Max Reinhardt, and wrote scores to some of his most daringly original movies. Inevitably, through Max Reinhardt, Korngold became known in Hollywood.
By 1934, Korngold had moved to California and become an American citizen. While his promising career on the European Continent came to a screeching halt with the rise of Adolph Hitler, Korngold soon became one of the star composers of Hollywood. While creating an enormous quantity of excellent music for the film industry, he did not abandon classical music and also wrote many fine piano works, chamber music, and opera. Although they are not often performed today, the quality and craftsmanship of these works is evident to connoisseurs and professionals alike.
The suite on today’s program is unusual. The piano part is written for the left hand alone. The famous pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who lost his right hand in the First World War, commissioned the piece. Previously Wittgenstein had commissioned Piano Concertos not only from Korngold, but also from Ravel and Prokofiev. He obviously loved Korngold’s concerto well enough to request that he write another work for him to perform. Wittgenstein was the pianist for the Suite’s world premiere in Vienna in 1930, and for the American premiere in 1934.
The Suite’s first movement, “Preludium and Fugue”, starts with a piano cadenza, making it clear to the audience that the piano is going to be the star of the work. The “Fugue” is clear proof that Korngold worshipped the spirit of J. S. Bach, and his stark chromatic transitions demonstrate his mastery of fugue-writing techniques. Those listeners who have had the good fortune to enjoy a Viennese Koffee mit Schlag” (coffee with whipped cream), will find the second movement “Waltz” to be immediately and deliciously familiar. The “Grotesque”, the suite’s longest movement, is a scherzo that waddles forward, sometimes like an inebriated duck, other times like an elfin goblin, while alternating double and triple meters. The slow movement is based on one of Korngold’s own songs, “Was du mir bist?” from his Op. 22 cycle. After all of the previous commotion, this intimate song becomes a quiet cornerstone of the entire Suite. Although the main theme is introduced by the cello, the piano again dominates the concluding set of variations.
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