I’ve got dreams, dreams to remember I’ve got dreams, dreams to remember
Honey, I saw you there last night Another man’s arms holding you tight Nobody knows what I feel inside All I know, I walked away and cried
I’ve got dreams Dreams to remember Listen to me (I’ve got dreams) rough dreams (dreams to remember)
I know you said he was just a friend But I saw him kiss you again and again These eyes of mine, they don’t fool me Why did he hold you so tenderly?
I’ve got dreams Dreams to remember Listen, honey (I’ve got dreams) rough dreams (dreams to remember)
I still want you to stay I still love you anyway I don’t want you to ever leave Girl, you just satisfy me, ooh-wee
I know you said he was just a friend But I saw you kiss him again and again These eyes of mine, they don’t fool me Why did he hold you so tenderly?
I’ve got dreams Dreams to remember Listen to me, mama (I’ve got dreams) bad dreams, rough dreams, oh (dreams to remember) Don’t make me suffer, don’t let me (I’ve got dreams, dreams, dreams to remember) rough dreams, bad dreams, rough dreams
Based on a synopsis created byAdrian Piotrovsky(who first suggested the subject to Prokofiev)[1]and Sergey Radlov, the ballet was composed by Prokofiev in September 1935 to their scenario which followed the precepts of “drambalet” (dramatised ballet, officially promoted at theKirov Balletto replace works based primarily on choreographic display and innovation).[2]Following Radlov’s acrimonious resignation from the Kirov in June 1934, a new agreement was signed with theBolshoi Theatrein Moscow on the understanding that Piotrovsky would remain involved.[3]
However, the ballet’s original happy ending (contrary toShakespeare) provoked controversy among Soviet cultural officials.[4]The ballet’s production was then postponed indefinitely when the staff of the Bolshoi was overhauled at the behest of the chairman of the Committee on Arts Affairs,Platon Kerzhentsev.[5]The ballet’s failure to be produced withinSoviet Russiauntil 1940 may also have been due to the increased fear and caution in the musical and theatrical community in the aftermath of the two notoriousPravdaeditorials criticisingShostakovichand other “degenerate modernists” including Piotrovsky.[6]The conductorYuri Fayermet with Prokofiev frequently during the writing of the music, and he strongly urged the composer to revert to the traditional ending. Fayer went on to conduct the first performance of the ballet at the Bolshoi Theatre.
Suites of the ballet music were heard inMoscowand theUnited States, but the full ballet premiered in theMahen Theatre,Brno(then inCzechoslovakia, now in theCzech Republic), on 30 December 1938.[7]This version was a single-act production with music mainly from the first two suites. Prokofiev was not able to attend the premiere due to his status of outbound restriction.
It is better known today from the significantly revised version that was first presented at theKirov Theatre(now Mariinsky Theatre) inLeningradon 11 January 1940, with choreography byLeonid Lavrovskyand withGalina UlanovaandKonstantin Sergeyevin the leading roles. Despite the objections of Prokofiev, Lavrovsky significantly changed the score of the ballet. This production received international acclaim and was awarded theStalin Prize.
In 1955,Mosfilmmadethe film versionof this production with Galina Ulanova as Juliet and Yuri Zhdanov as Romeo. This film won the Best Lyrical Film and nominated as Palme d’Or in the1955 Cannes Film Festival.
In 1971,John Neumeier, partly inspired by John Cranko, created another version of the ballet in Frankfurt. In 1974, Neumeier’sRomeo and Julietpremiered in Hamburg as his first full-length ballet with the company.
In 1977,Rudolf Nureyevcreateda new version ofRomeo and Julietfor the London Festival Ballet, today’sEnglish National Ballet. He performed the lead role of Romeo with British ballerinaPatricia Ruannecreating the role of Juliet. As a partnership, they toured the production internationally, and it continues to be a popular ballet in the ENB repertoire, with its most recent revival in 2010 staged byPatricia Ruanneand Frederic Jahn of the original 1977 cast. This production was also staged byLa Scala Theater Balletin 1980 andParis Opera Balletin 1984 and has been a renowned performance in the POB repertoire.
In 1979,Yuri Grigorovichcreated a new version for the Bolshoi, “which did away with most of the stage properties and stylized the action into an all-danced text.” This was revived in 2010 and remains in the Bolshoi repertory.[8]
In 1996, choreographerJean-Christophe Maillotpremiered his version ofRoméo et JulietteatLes Ballets de Monte Carlo. Taking formal inspiration from the episodic character of Sergei Prokofiev’s classic score, Maillot structured the action in a manner akin to cinematic narrative. Rather than focusing on themes of political-social opposition between the two feuding clans, this Romeo and Juliet highlights the dualities and ambiguities of adolescence.
On July 4, 2008, with the approval of the Prokofiev family and permission from the Russian State Archive, the original Prokofiev score was given its world premiere. MusicologistSimon Morrison, author ofThe People’s Artist: Prokofiev’s Soviet Years, unearthed the original materials in the Moscow archives, obtained permissions, and reconstructed the entire score.Mark Morriscreated the choreography for the production. The Mark Morris Dance Group premiered the work at the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts atBard Collegein New York state. The production subsequently began a year-long tour to include Berkeley, Norfolk, London, New York, and Chicago.
In 2011, theNational Ballet of Canadapremiered a new choreography ofRomeo and JulietbyAlexei Ratmanskyin Toronto, with plans to take it on tour in Western Canada in early 2012.
In addition to a somewhat standard instrumentation, the ballet also requires the use of thetenor saxophone. This voice adds a unique sound to the orchestra as it is used both in solo and as part of the ensemble. Prokofiev also used thecornet,viola d’amoreandmandolinsin the ballet, adding an Italianate flavor to the music.
[Verse 1]
Walkin’ all day with my mouth on fire, tryin’ to get talkin’ to you
Walkin’ all day with my mouth on fire, that’s what I’ve gotta do
Tryin’ to get talkin’ to you
Walkin’ all day with my feet on fire, tryin’ to get closer to you
Walkin’ all day with my feet on fire, that’s what I’ve gotta do
Tryin’ to get closer to you
Walkin’ all day with my mind on fire, I can’t stop thinking of you
Walkin’ all day with my mind on fire, that’s what I’ve gotta do
I can’t stop thinkin’ of you
[Verse 2]
Walkin’ all day with my hands on fire, wanna get to touch you
Walkin’ all day with my hands on fire, that’s what I’ve gotta do
Wanna get to touch you
Walkin’ all day with my heart on fire, falling in love with you
Walkin’ all day with my heart on fire, that’s what I’ve gotta do
Falling in love with you
[Outro]
Murder me
Make me happy
Talk to me
It’s so crappy
Ignore me
I’m being sappy, over me
What’s this power?
Gonna tell you once more
Hello darkness, my old friend I’ve come to talk with you again Because a vision softly creeping Left its seeds while I was sleeping And the vision that was planted in my brain Still remains Within the sound of silence In restless dreams I walked alone Narrow streets of cobblestone ‘Neath the halo of a street lamp I turned my collar to the cold and damp When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light That split the night And touched the sound of silence
And in the naked light I saw Ten thousand people, maybe more People talking without speaking People hearing without listening People writing songs that voices never share And no one dare Disturb the sound of silence
“Fools” said I, “You do not know Silence like a cancer grows Hear my words that I might teach you Take my arms that I might reach you” But my words like silent raindrops fell And echoed In the wells of silence
And the people bowed and prayed To the neon god they made And the sign flashed out its warning In the words that it was forming And the sign said, “The words of the prophets
Are written on the subway walls And tenement halls” And whisper’d in the sounds of silence
Valentina Lisitsa (Ukrainian: Валенти́на Євге́нівна Лиси́ця, romanized: Valentýna Jevhénivna Lysýcja, IPA: [wɐlenˈtɪnɐ jeu̯ˈɦɛn⁽ʲ⁾iu̯nɐ lɪˈsɪtsʲɐ]; Russian: Валентина Евгеньевна Лисица, romanized: Valentina Evgen’evna Lisica, IPA: [vɐlʲɪnˈtʲinə jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪvnə lʲɪˈsʲitsə]; born 25 March 1973) is a Ukrainian-American[1] pianist. She previously resided in North Carolinabefore moving to Canada, and then to France.[2][3]
Valentina Lisitsa
Background informationBorn25 March 1973(age 46)
Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet UnionGenresClassicalOccupation(s)Classical pianistInstrumentsPianoYears active1977-presentWebsitevalentinalisitsa.com
Lisitsa is among the most frequently viewed pianists on YouTube – particularly her renderings of Romantic Era virtuoso piano composers, including Franz Liszt, Frédéric Chopin and Sergei Rachmaninoff.[4][5] Lisitsa independently launched her career on social media, without initially signing with a tour promoter or record company.[4][5]
Life and career
Lisitsa was born in Kiev, Ukraine, in 1973. Her mother, also named Valentina, is a seamstress and her father, Evgeny, was an engineer.[4] Her older brother Eugene died in 2009.[6][4]
She started playing the piano at the age of three, performing her first solo recital at the age of four.[7] She is of Russian and Polish descent.[8]
Despite her early aptitude for music, her dream at that point was to become a professional chess player.[9]Lisitsa attended the Lysenko music school and, later, the Kiev Conservatory,[10] where she and her future husband, Alexei Kuznetsoff, studied under Dr. Ludmilla Tsvierko.[11]When Lisitsa met Kuznetsoff, she began to take music more seriously.[12] In 1991, they won the first prize in The Murray Dranoff Two Piano Competition in Miami, Florida.[10][13]That same year, they moved to the United States to further their careers as concert pianists.[4] In 1992 the couple married.[4] Their New York debut was at the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center in 1995.[11]
Lisitsa posted her first YouTube video in 2007. Her set of Chopin etudes reached the number-one slot on Amazon’s list of classical video recordings, and became the most-viewed online collection of Chopin etudes on YouTube.[14][15]
To advance her career, in 2010 Lisitsa and her husband put their life savings into recording a CD of Rachmaninoff concertos with the London Symphony Orchestra.[4] In the spring of 2012, before her Royal Albert Hall debut, Lisitsa signed with Decca Records, who later released her Rachmaninoff CD set.[4] By mid-2012 she had logged nearly 50 million views of her YouTube videos.[5]
Lisitsa has performed in various venues around the world, including Carnegie Hall, David Geffen Hall, Benaroya Hall, Musikverein and the Royal Albert Hall. She is well known for her online recitals and practicing streams. She has also collaborated with violinist Hilary Hahn at various recital engagements.[10]
Controversy
Lisitsa has received criticism for her opposition to the Ukrainian government and support of pro-Russian separatists since the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine and the ensuing armed conflict.[16] In April 2015, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra cancelled concerts with Lisitsa, citing her “provocative” online remarks on her Twitter account; the orchestra initially did not specify which tweets or other commentary it believed crossed a line.[17][18] Later, on 8 April 2015, the CEO of Toronto Symphony, Jeff Melanson provided a PDF document of seven pages listing the most “offensive” tweets. Melanson alleged that the document would “help people understand why we made this decision, and understand as well how this is not a free speech issue, but rather an issue of someone practicing very intolerant and offensive expression through Twitter.”[19]
In response, the Toronto Star criticized the orchestra’s decision in an editorial, noting that, “Lisitsa was not invited to Toronto to discuss her provocative political views. She was scheduled to play the piano. And second, banning a musician for expressing “opinions that some believe to be offensive” shows an utter failure to grasp the concept of free speech.”[20] Lisitsa said that the orchestra threatened her if she spoke about the cancellation.[21]
According to Paul Grod, then president of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress: “Ms. Lisitsa has been engaged in a long campaign on social media belittling, insulting and disparaging the people of Ukraine as they face direct military aggression at the hands of the Russian Federation”. Grod elaborated that “Most disturbing are Ms. Lisitsa’s false allegations that the government of Ukraine is “Nazi”, and stating that the Government of Ukraine is setting up ‘filtration camps.'” The New Jersey-based Ukrainian Weekly has described her postings as “anti-Ukraine hate speech.”[8][17] In response she commented that “satire and hyperbole [are] the best literary tools to combat the lies”.[8][17]
DiscographyEdit
Lisitsa has recorded six CDs for Audiofon Records, including three solo CDs and two discs of duets with her husband Alexei Kuznetsoff; a Gold CD for CiscoMusic label with cellist DeRosa; a duet recital on VAI label with violinist Ida Haendel; and DVDs of Frédéric Chopin’s 24 Études and Schubert-Liszt Schwanengesang.[22]
Her recording of the four sonatas for violin and piano by composer Charles Ives, made with Hilary Hahn, was released in October 2011 on Deutsche Grammophon label. Her album Valentina Lisitsa Live at the Royal Albert Hall (based on her debut performance at that venue 19 June 2012) was released 2 July 2012.
Lisitsa has reproduced several compositions by various artists, including Sergei Rachmaninoff, Franz Liszt, Frédéric Chopin and Ludwig van Beethoven. Decca Records released her complete album of Rachmaninoff concertos in October 2012.[23] An album of Liszt works was released in October 2013 on Decca label in 2 formats – CD and 12″ LP which was cut unedited from analog tape. An even more recent album comprises a number of works of the composer and pianist Philip Glass.[24] As of July 2019, her latest release on Decca records is a 10CD set titled Tchaikovsky: The Complete Solo Piano Works.
ReferencesEdit
^ Everett-Green, Robert (7 December 2012). “Valentina Lisitsa: Playing the odds – by way of Rachmaninoff”. The Globe and Mail. Toronto. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
^ “Valentina Lisitsa and Alexei Kuznetsoff”. Southern Arts Federation. Retrieved 12 July2009.
A black and white reproduction ofIsle of the DeadbyArnold Böcklinwas the inspiration for the piece.
Isle of the Dead(Russian: Остров мёртвых),Op.29, is asymphonic poemcomposed bySergei Rachmaninoff, written in the key ofA minor. He concluded the composition while staying inDresdenin 1908.[1]It is considered a classic example of Russian late-Romanticismof the beginning of the 20th century.
The piece was inspired by a black and white reproduction ofArnold Böcklin‘s painting,Isle of the Dead, which Rachmaninoff saw inParisin 1907. Rachmaninoff was disappointed by the original painting when he later saw it, saying, “If I had seen first the original, I, probably, would have not written myIsle of the Dead. I like it in black and white.”[2]
The music begins by suggesting the sound of the oars as they meet the waters on the way to the Isle of the Dead. The slowly heaving and sinking music could also be interpreted as waves. Rachmaninoff uses a recurring figure in 5/8 time to depict what may be the rowing of the oarsman or the movement of the water, and as in several other of his works, quotes theDies Iraeplainchant, an allusion to death. In contrast to the theme of death, the 5/8 time also depicts breathing, creating a holistic reflection on how life and death are intertwined.
In 1929, Rachmaninoff conducted thePhiladelphia Orchestrain a recording of the music for theVictor Talking Machine Company, which was purchased byRCAthat same year and became known asRCA Victor. This recording was made in theAcademy of Musicin Philadelphia, using one microphone, and was later reissued on LP and CD by RCA Victor.
Posted onNovember 11, 2019|Comments Off on Watch “Immortal Music: Schubert Piano Quintet D667/The Trout/Jacqueline du Pré, Barenboim, Perlman, Pinchas” on YouTube
From WIKIMEDIA
Trout Quintet
TheTrout Quintet(Forellenquintett) is the popular name for thePiano QuintetinA major,D.667, byFranz Schubert. Thepiano quintetwas composed in 1819,[1]when he was 22 years old; it was not published, however, until 1829, a year after his death.[2]
Rather than the usual piano quintet lineup ofpianoandstring quartet, theTrout Quintetis written forpiano,violin,viola,celloanddouble bass. The composerJohann Nepomuk Hummelhad rearranged his own Septet for the same instrumentation,[3]and theTroutwas actually written for a group of musicians coming together to play Hummel’s work.
Nickname
The piece is known as theTroutbecause the fourth movement is a set ofvariationson Schubert’s earlierLied “Die Forelle” (“The Trout”). The quintet was written for Sylvester Paumgartner, ofSteyrin Upper Austria, a wealthy music patron and amateur cellist, who also suggested that Schubert include a set of variations on the Lied.[1]Sets of variations on melodies from his Lieder are found in four other works by Schubert: theDeath and the Maiden Quartet, the “Trockne Blumen” Variations for Flute and Piano (D. 802), theWanderer Fantasy, and theFantasia for Violin and Pianoin C major (D. 934, on “Sei mir gegrüßt”).
The risingsextupletfigure from the song’saccompanimentis used as a unifyingmotifthroughout the quintet, and related figures appear in four out of the five movements – all but theScherzo. As in the song, the figure is usually introduced by the piano, ascending.[1]
Thedevelopmentsection starts with a similar abrupt shift, from E major (at the end of the exposition) to C major. Harmonic movement is slow at first, but becomes quicker; towards the return of the first theme, the harmony modulates in ascending half tones.
Therecapitulationbegins in thesubdominant, making anymodulatorychanges in the transition to the secondthemeunnecessary, a frequent phenomenon in early sonata form movements written by Schubert.[1]It differs from the exposition only in omitting the opening bars and another short section, before the closing theme.
II. Andante
This movement is composed of two symmetrical sections, the second being a transposed version of the first, except for some differences of modulation which allow the movement to end in the same key in which it began. Tonal layout (with some intermediate keys of lower structural significance omitted) as follows:
III. Scherzo: Presto
This movement also contains mediant tonalities, such as the ending of the first section of the Scherzo proper, which is in C major, the flattened mediant, or therelative majorof theparallel minor(A minor).
IV. Andantino – Allegretto
The fourth movement is atheme and variationson Schubert’sLied“Die Forelle“. As typical of some other variation movements by Schubert (in contrast to Beethoven’s style),[4]the variations do not transform the original theme into new thematic material; rather, they concentrate on melodic decoration and changes of mood. In each of the first few variations, the main theme is played by a different instrument or group. In the fifth variation, Schubert begins in the flat submediant (B♭major), and creates a series of modulations eventually leading back to the movement’s main key, at the beginning of the final sixth variation.
The Finale is in two symmetrical sections, like the second movement. However, the movement differs from the second movement in the absence of unusualchromaticism, and in the second section being an exacttranspositionof the first (except for some changes of octave register). A repeat sign is written for the first section: if one adheres meticulously to the score, the movement consists of three lengthy, almost identical repeats of the same musical material. Performers sometimes choose to omit the repeat of the first section when playing.
Although this movement lacks the chromaticism of the second movement, its own harmonic design is also innovative: the first section ends inD major, the subdominant. This is contradictory to the aesthetics of the Classical musical style, in which the first major harmonic event in a musical piece or movement, is the shift from tonic to dominant (or, more rarely, to mediant or submediant – but never to the subdominant).[5][6]
Musical significance
Compared to other major chamber works by Schubert, such as the last threestring quartetsand thestring quintet, theTrout Quintetis a leisurely work, characterized by lowerstructuralcoherence, especially in its outer movements and the Andante. These movements contain unusually long repetitions of previously stated material, sometimes transposed, with little or no structural reworking, aimed at generating an overall unified dramatic design (“mechanical” in Martin Chusid’s words[1]).
The importance of the piece stems mainly from its use of an original and innovative harmonic language, rich inmediantsandchromaticism, and from itstimbralcharacteristics. TheTrout Quintethas a unique sonority among chamber works for piano and strings, due mainly to the piano part, which for substantial sections of the piece concentrates on the highest register of the instrument, with both hands playing the same melodic line an octave apart (having been freed to do so by the inclusion of both cello and bass in the ensemble). Such writing also occurs in other chamber works by Schubert, such as the piano trios, but to a much lesser extent,[1][3]and is characteristic of Schubert’s works forpiano four-hands,[3]one of his most personal musical genres. Such timbral writing may have influenced the works ofRomanticcomposers such asFrédéric Chopin, who admired Schubert’s music for piano four-hands.[7]
The song, inMIDIformat, is used on modernSamsungwashers and dryers to indicate that the wash or dry cycle is complete.[9]
References
^abcdefChusid, Martin (April 1997). “Schubert’s chamber music: before and after Beethoven”. In Christopher H. Gibbs (ed.).The Cambridge Companion to Schubert.Cambridge Companions to Music. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. pp. 174–192.ISBN978-0-521-48424-4.
^Gibbs, Christopher H. (April 1997). “German reception: Schubert’s ‘journey to immortality‘“. In Christopher H. Gibbs (ed.).The Cambridge Companion to Schubert. Cambridge Companions to Music. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. pp. 241–253.ISBN978-0-521-48424-4.
It’s four in the morning, the end of December I’m writing you now just to see if you’re better New York is cold, but I like where I’m living There’s music on Clinton Street all through the evening
I hear that you’re building your little house deep in the desert You’re living for nothing now, I hope you’re keeping some kind of record
Yes, and Jane came by with a lock of your hair She said that you gave it to her That night that you planned to go clear Did you ever go clear?
Ah, the last time we saw you you looked so much older Your famous blue raincoat was torn at the shoulder You’d been to the station to meet every train, and You came home without Lili Marlene
And you treated my woman to a flake of your life And when she came back she was nobody’s wife
Well I see you there with the rose in your teeth One more thin gypsy thief Well, I see Jane’s awake She sends her regards
And what can I tell you my brother, my killer What can I possibly say? I guess that I miss you, I guess I forgive you I’m glad you stood in my way
If you ever come by here, for Jane or for me Well, your enemy is sleeping, and his woman is free
Yes, and thanks, for the trouble you took from her eyes I thought it was there for good so I never tried
And Jane came by with a lock of your hair She said that you gave it to her That night that you planned to go clear
Goodbye Norma Jean Though I never knew you at all You had the grace to hold yourself While those around you crawled They crawled out of the woodwork And they whispered into your brain They set you on the treadmill And they made you change your name
And it seems to me you lived your life Like a candle in the wind Never knowing who to cling to When the rain set in And I would have liked to have known you But I was just a kid Your candle burned out long before Your legend ever did
Loneliness was tough The toughest role you ever played Hollywood created a superstar And pain was the price you paid Even when you died Oh the press still hounded you All the papers had to say Was that Marilyn was found in the nude
And it seems to me you lived your life Like a candle in the wind Never knowing who to cling to When the rain set in And I would have liked to have known you But I was just a kid Your candle burned out long before Your legend ever did
Goodbye Norma Jean Though I never knew you at all You had the grace to hold yourself While those around you crawled Goodbye Norma Jean From the young man in the twenty second row Who sees you as something more than sexual More than just our Marilyn Monroe
And it seems to me you lived your life Like a candle in the wind Never knowing who to cling to When the rain set in And I would have liked to have known you But I was just a kid Your candle burned out long before Your legend ever did Your candle burned out long before Your legend ever did
This article is about the first set of études-tableaux by Rachmaninoff, Op. 33. For the second set, see Études-Tableaux, Op. 39.
The Études-Tableaux (“study pictures”), Op. 33, is the first of two sets of piano études composed by Sergei Rachmaninoff.
They were intended to be “picture pieces”, essentially “musical
evocations of external visual stimuli”. But Rachmaninoff did not
disclose what inspired each one, stating: “I do not believe in the
artist that discloses too much of his images. Let [the listener] paint
for themselves what it most suggests.”[1] However, he willingly shared sources for a few of these études with the Italian composer Ottorino Respighi when Respighi orchestrated them in 1930.
Rachmaninoff composed the Op. 33 Études-Tableaux at his Ivanovka estate in Tambov, Russia between August and September 1911, the year after completing his second set of preludes, Op. 32. While the Op. 33 Études-Tableaux
share some stylistic points with the preludes, they are actually not
very similar. Rachmaninoff concentrates on establishing well-defined
moods and developing musical themes in the preludes. There is also an
academic facet to the preludes, as he wrote 24 of them, one in each of
the 24 major and minor keys.
Rachmaninoff biographer Max Harrison calls the Études-Tableaux
“studies in [musical] composition”; while they explore a variety of
themes, they “investigate the transformation of rather specific climates
of feeling via piano textures and sonorities. They are thus less
predictable than the preludes and compositionally mark an advance” in
technique.[2]
Rachmaninoff
initially wrote nine pieces for Op. 33 but published only six in 1914.
One étude, in A minor, was subsequently revised and used in the Op. 39 set;
the other two appeared posthumously and are now usually played with the
other six. Performing these eight études together could be considered
to run against the composer’s intent, as the six originally published
are unified through “melodic-cellular connections” in much the same way
as in Robert Schumann‘s Symphonic Studies.[3]
Differing
from the simplicity of the first four études, Nos. 5–8 are more
virtuosic in their approach to keyboard writing, calling for
unconventional hand positions, wide leaps for the fingers and
considerable technical strength from the performer. Also, “the
individual mood and passionate character of each piece” pose musical
problems that preclude performance by those lacking strong physical
technique.[3]
Rachmaninoff wrote nine études-tableaux at his Ivanovka estate in 1911. Six of them, the original Nos. 1–2 and 6–9, were published that year.[4] The original No. 4 is lost; the piece was revised and published as Op. 39, No. 6.[4] The original Nos. 3 and 5 were published posthumously within Op. 33.[4] Probably best identified by their tempo markings and keys, the 1911 pieces are numbered by the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP) as follows,[5] leaving aside the piece that is now part of Op. 39:
Allegro non troppo in F minor — No. 1
This study has a martial character. Rachmaninov adored the music of Frédéric Chopin, and there are often parallels between the music of the two composers. This study recalls the Étude Op. 25, No. 4 of Chopin.
Allegro in C major — No. 2
This study is characterized by a marked lyricism and a very expressive melody. Notice the similarity to Rachmaninoff’s Prelude op. 32 no. 12, which was composed the year before, in 1910.
Grave in C minor — No. 3 (published posthumously)
This study was re-used in the Largo of Rachmaninov’s Fourth Concerto, which was completed in 1926.
Moderato in D minor — No. 4 (published posthumously, originally No. 5)
This study is similar to the Prelude op. 23 No. 3 composed by Rachmaninoff in 1903, both in tone and character.
Non allegro—Presto in E-flat minor — No. 5 (published as No. 3, originally No. 6)
This
study ranks among the most difficult of the opus, to play. The right
hand runs constantly throughout the whole keyboard with numerous octave
leaps and chromatic scales. Note some similarity to the Prelude op. 28 No. 16 and the Op. Study 25 No. 6 by Chopin. In Russia, this piece is nicknamed The Snow Storm.
Allegro con fuoco in E-flat major — No. 6 (published as No. 4, originally No. 7)
This study has primarily a military aspect. The study concludes with a particularly virtuosic coda.
Moderato in G minor — No. 7 (published as No. 5, originally No. 8)
Grave in C-sharp minor — No. 8 (published as No. 6, originally No. 9)
This study was one of the three in this opus that were famously recorded in the Melodiya studios by Sviatoslav Richter, the other two being Moderato in D minor and Non allegro—Presto in E-flat minor.[6]
I was a little too tall Could’ve used a few pounds Tight pants points hardly reknown She was a black haired beauty with big dark eyes And points all her own sitting way up high Way up firm and high
Out past the cornfields where the woods got heavy Out in the back seat of my ’60 Chevy Workin’ on mysteries without any clues Workin’ on our night moves Trying’ to make some front page drive-in news Workin’ on our night moves in the summertime In the sweet summertime
We weren’t in love oh no far from it We weren’t searching for some pie in the sky summit We were just young and restless and bored Living by the sword And we’d steal away every chance we could To the backroom, the alley, the trusty woods I used her she used me But neither one cared We were getting our share
Workin’ on our night moves Trying to lose the awkward teenage blues Workin’ on out night moves In the summertime And oh the wonder Felt the lightning And we waited on the thunder Waited on the thunder
I woke last night to the sound of thunder How far off I sat and wondered Started humming a song from 1962 Ain’t it funny how the night moves When you just don’t seem to have as much to lose Strange how the night moves With autumn closing in
I can see her lyin’ back in her satin dress
In a room where ya do what ya don’t confess
Sundown you better take care
If I find you beenn creepin’ ’round my back stairs
Sundown ya better take care
If I find you been creepin’ ’round my back stairs
She’s been lookin’ like a queen in a sailor’s dream
And she don’t always say what she really means
Sometimes I think it’s a shame
When I get feelin’ better when I’m feelin’ no pain
Sometimes I think it’s a shame
When I get feelin’ better when I’m feelin’ no pain
I can picture every move that a man could make
Getting lost in her lovin’ is your first mistake
Sundown you better take care
If I find you been creepin’ ’round my back stairs
Sometimes I think it’s a sin
When I feel like I’m winnin’ when I’m losin’ again
I can see her lookin’ fast in her faded jeans
She’s a hard lovin’ woman, got me feelin’ mean
Sometimes I think it’s a shame
When I get feelin’ better when I’m feelin’ no pain
Sundown you better take care
If I find you been creepin’ ’round my back stairs
Sundown you better take care
If I find you been creepin’ ’round my back stairs
Sometimes I think it’s a sin
When I feel like I’m winnin’ when I’m losin’ again
I believe in miracles Where you from You sexy thing, sexy thing you I believe in miracles Since you came along You sexy thing
Where did you come from, baby? How did you know I needed you? How did you know I needed you so badly? How did you know I’d give my heart gladly? Yesterday I was one of the lonely people Now you’re lying close to me, making love to me
I believe in miracles Where you from, you sexy thing? (Sexy thing, you) I believe in miracles Since you came along, you sexy thing
Where did you come from, angel? How did you know I’d be the one? Did you know you’re everything I prayed for? Did you know, every night and day for? Every day, needing love and satisfaction Now you’re lying next to me, giving it to me
I believe in miracles Where you from, you sexy thing? (Sexy thing, you) I believe in miracles Since you came along, you sexy thing
Oh! Kiss me, you sexy thing Touch me baby, you sexy thing I love the way you touch me, darling, you sexy thing Oh! It’s ecstasy, you sexy thing
Yesterday I was one of the lonely people Now you’re lying close to me, giving it to me
I believe in miracles Where you from, you sexy thing? (Sexy thing, you) I believe in miracles Since you came along, you sexy thing
Oh, touch me Kiss me, darling I love the way you hold me, baby Oh, it’s ecstasy
Oh! It’s ecstasy (Sexy thing, you sexy thing, you) Kiss me, baby (Sexy thing, you sexy thing, you) I love the way you kiss me, darling (Sexy thing, you sexy thing, you) Oh, yeah (Sexy thing, you sexy thing, you) Love the way you hold me (Sexy thing, you sexy thing, you) Keep on lovin’ me, darling (Sexy thing, you sexy thing, you) Keep on lovin’ me, baby (Sexy thing, you sexy thing, you)
There is a glich: when you try to publish a new post… The YouTube linked video disappears and the post is published void of content, only with its generic title.
It is important to view every post by checking out the content of your posts, as one cannot expect everything to be taken care of by some force in the universe, virtual or real…
Solution: copy the link to your video on the clipboard before pressing the linking of the video you are uploading to WordPress. When you check your post see that your video exists…and if it doesn’t: paste the copied link in the content of your post, then view the post to make sure that the video is there and functional.
Note: If in the process the applicaton fails report it, don’t just OK it…because it really isn’t okay for these things to happen! No sir it is not!
Thank you for your attention!
No Sir, it is not okay!
And bring back “CAPTION” to images and allow larger size pics to be installed: Allow full width pics….PLEASE!
Does it seem to you that the world has gone mad? Wars, bombings, killings, hate….
I can offer but a little remedy, an escape rather. Music equivalent of “slow TV”, something created not to excite our over-driven nerves, but to soothe, to lull, to put in ultimate trance, to make the time stand still and the troubles of outside world fade away, if only for a few minutes.
Nobody has done it better than my beloved Franz Schubert.
There is a famous quip about two musicians arguing over the merits ( or weaknesses) of Schubert late piano sonatas, one describing the unusual time span of the pieces as “the heavenly lengths”, another – replying “they aren’t that heavenly, they are just plain LENGTHS”.
Yes, Schubert is unique in a sense that he’s dispensed not only with customary time restrains established by the need to keep the listener “interested”, but also with the medley of rather theatrical “action heroes” prerequisite for a virtuoso performer to feel adequate 🙂 His music is not about heroes and villains, gods and devils.
His music is about you and I, about regular people living their lives, loving, longing, suffering, dying….all without the world taking notice and without the headlines.That’s the real charm and beguiling spell of his music – this is about us, the regular human beings, whom he understood better than any other composer.
You might not be able to fully enjoy this piece from the first try, or if you have your thoughts wondering around, thinking of million little things, looking for easy gratification of virtuoso finger-work and thunderous chords.
You will enjoy it if you allow yourself to surrender to this music, to its flow, as slow, smooth and spellbinding neurasthenia waters of mythical river Lethe, the river of forgetfulness and oblivion.
“J’ai trop vu, trop senti, trop aimé dans ma vie; Je viens chercher vivant le calme du Léthé.”
“I have seen too much, felt too much, loved too much in my life;
I come to seek, still living, the calm of Lethe.”
A.de Lamartine
00:00 1. Allegro 17:17 2. Andantino 26:14 3. Scherzo: Allegro vivace – Trio: Un poco più lento 31:20 4. Rondo: Allegretto – Presto.
Filmed live May 20, 2012, Freiburg im Breisgau ,Germany Cadenzas by Mozart’s favorite student – and billiards pal, Jan Nepomuk Hummel 🙂 **********************************************************************
The Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466, was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1785. The first performance took place at the Mehlgrube Casino in Vienna on February 11, 1785, with the composer as the soloist.[1]
Background
A few days after the first performance, the composer’s father, Leopold, visiting in Vienna, wrote to his daughter Nannerl about her brother’s recent success: “[I heard] an excellent new piano concerto by Wolfgang, on which the copyist was still at work when we got there, and your brother didn’t even have time to play through the rondo because he had to oversee the copying operation.”[1]
The first movement starts off the concerto in the dark tonic key of D minor with the strings restlessly but quietly building up to a full forte. The theme is quickly taken up by the piano soloist and developed throughout the long movement. A slightly brighter mood exists in the second theme, but it never becomes jubilant. The timpani further heighten the tension in the coda before the cadenza. The movement ends on a quiet note.
The ‘Romanze’ second movement is a five-part rondo (ABACA)[3] with a coda. The beginning features a solo piano playing the flamboyant and charming main B-flat major melody without accompaniment. This lyrical, passionate, tender and romantic melody, played at a relatively dainty tempo, paints a picture of peace and a sense of harmony between the piano and the orchestra, and has also inspired its title ‘Romanze’. Halfway through, the piece moves on to the second episode (part C), where the beautiful melody is replaced with a turbulent, agitated and ominous theme in the relative minor key of G minor, which greatly contrasts the peaceful mood at the starting of the movement. Finally, we are greeted once again with the aforeheard melody which returns as the movement is nearing the end. The piece ends with an ascending arpeggio that is light and delicate, gradually until it becomes a faint whisper.
The final movement, a rondo, begins with the solo piano rippling upward in the home key before the full orchestra replies with a furious section. (This piano “rippling” is known as the Mannheim Rocket and is a string of eighth notes (d-f-a-d-f) followed by a quarter note (a). A second melody is touched upon by the piano where the mood is still dark but strangely restless. A contrasting cheerful melody in F major ushers in not soon after, introduced by the orchestra before the solo piano rounds off the lively theme. A series of sharp piano chords snaps the bright melody and then begin passages in D minor on solo piano again, taken up by full orchestra. Several modulations of the second theme (in A minor and G minor) follow. Thereafter follows the same format as above, with a momentary pause for introducing the customary cadenza. After the cadenza, the mood clears considerably and the bright happy melody is taken up this time by the winds. The solo piano repeats the theme before a full orchestral passage develops the passage, thereby rounding up the concerto with a jubilant D major finish.
In other media
The second movement (minus the more tumultuous C part of the rondo) plays in the final scene and during the end credits of the 1984 movie Amadeus. The melody begins right before Antonio Salieri tells the priest sent to hear his confession that he is the patron saint of mediocrities. In the final shot of the film, Salieri announces, “Mediocrities everywhere, I absolve you.” Right before the screen fades to black, Mozart’s laugh is heard. At this point, the piano concerto picks up in volume, continuing through the end of the credits.
The first movement was also played in the ballet scene in Series 1 Episode 8 of the television series Mr. Robot.
Beethoven : Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 37 : Daniel Barenboim / Dresden Staatskapelle 2007
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Piano Concerto No. 3 (Beethoven)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Title page, first edition
The Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37, was composed by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1800 and was first performed on 5 April 1803, with the composer as soloist. The year for which the concerto was composed (1800) has however been questioned by contemporary musicologists.[1] It was published in 1804. During that same performance, the Second Symphony and the oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives were also premiered.[2] The composition was dedicated to Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia. The first primary theme is reminiscent of that of Mozart’s 24th Piano Concerto.
This movement is known to make forceful use of the theme (direct and indirect) throughout.
Orchestral exposition: In the orchestral exposition, the theme is introduced by the strings, and used throughout the movement. It is developed several times. In the third section (second subject), the clarinet and violin 1 introduce the second main theme, which is in the relativemajor key, E-flat major.
Second exposition: The piano enters with an ascending scale motif. The structure of the exposition in the piano solo is similar to that of the orchestral exposition.
Development: The piano enters, playing similar scales used in the beginning of the second exposition, this time in D major rather than C minor. The music is generally quiet.
Recapitulation: The orchestra restates the theme in fortissimo, with the wind instruments responding by building up a minor ninth chord as in the exposition. For the return of the second subject, Beethoven modulates to the tonic major, C major. A dark transition to the cadenza occurs, immediately switching from C major to C minor.
Cadenza: Beethoven wrote one cadenza for this movement. The cadenza Beethoven wrote is at times stormy and ends on a series of trills that calm down to pianissimo. Many other composers and pianists have written alternative cadenzas.
Coda: Beethoven subverts the expectation of a return to the tonic at the end of the cadenza by prolonging the final trill and eventually arriving on a dominant seventh. The piano plays a series of arpeggios before the music settles into the home key of C minor. Then the music intensifies before a full tutti occurs, followed by the piano playing descending arpeggios, the ascending scale from the second exposition, and finally a resolute ending on C.
The second movement is in the key of E major, in this context a key relatively remote from the concerto’s opening key of C minor (another example being Brahms’s first symphony.). If the movement adhered to traditional form, its key would be E-flat major (the relative key) or A-flat major (the submediant key). The movement opens with the solo piano and the opening is marked with detailed pedalling instructions.
III. Rondo – Allegro
The finale is in sonata rondo form. The movement begins in C minor with an agitated theme played only by the piano. The movement ends with a C major coda marked presto.
First performance
The score was incomplete at its first performance. Beethoven’s friend, Ignaz von Seyfried, who turned the pages of the music for him that night, later wrote:[2]
“I saw almost nothing but empty pages; at the most, on one page or another a few Egyptian hieroglyphs wholly unintelligible to me were scribbled down to serve as clues for him; for he played nearly all the solo part from memory since, as was so often the case, he had not had time to set it all down on paper.”
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Horn Concerto No. 2 in E-flat major, K. 417 was completed in 1783.
The work is in three movements: I. Allegro maestoso II. Andante III. Rondo Più allegro 6/8
Mozart’s good-natured ribbing of his friend is evident in the manuscript inscription “W. A. Mozart took pity on Leitgeb, ass, ox and fool in Vienna on 27 May 1783.” This is one of two horn concerti of Mozart to omit bassoons. It is also one of Mozart’s two horn concerti to have ripieno horns (horns included in the orchestra besides the soloist), though in contrast to K. 495, the solo horn in this one does not duplicate the first ripieno horn’s part in the tutti passages. —————————————-————————————- FREE .mp3 and .wav files of all Mozart’s music at: http://www.mozart-archiv.de/ FREE sheet music scores of any Mozart piece at: http://dme.mozarteum.at/DME/nma/start… ALSO check out these cool sites: http://musopen.org/ and http://imslp.org/wiki/
Rudolf Koeckert (1. Violine) Willi Buchner (2. Violine) Oskar Riedl (Viola) Josef Merz (Violoncello)
rec. date unknown, appr. 1953. The label and cover date from the earliest after-war DG releases (No. 16001 LP).
I don’t stop to hope, that DG will awake from anaesthesia and re-release the Koeckerts’ unique symphonic-folkloric interpretations, on contemporary media. In my transfer I tried to keep the typical superior golden-red monaural High Fidelity of that remarkable period.
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String Quartet No. 12 (Dvořák)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The last page of the autograph score with Dvořák’s inscription: “Finished on 10 June 1893 in Spillville. Thanks God. I’m satisfied. It went quickly”
The String Quartet in F major Op. 96, nicknamed American Quartet, is the 12th string quartet composed by Antonín Dvořák. It was written in 1893, during Dvořák’s time in the United States. The quartet is one of the most popular in the chamber music repertoire.
Composition
Performance of the quartet by the Seraphina quartet (Caeli Smith and Sabrina Tabby, violins; Madeline Smith, viola; Genevieve Tabby, cello)
Dvořák composed the Quartet in 1893 during a summer vacation from his position as Director (1892-1895) of the National Conservatory in New York. He spent his vacation in the town of Spillville, Iowa, which was home to a Czech immigrant community. Dvořák had come to Spillville through Josef Jan Kovařík who had finished violin studies at the Prague Conservatory and was about to return to Spillville, his home in the United States, when Dvořák offered him a position as secretary, which Josef Jan accepted, so he came to live with the Dvořák family in New York.[1] He told Dvořák about Spillville, where his father Jan Josef was a schoolmaster, which led to Dvořák deciding to spend the summer of 1893 there.[2]
In that environment, and surrounded by beautiful nature, Dvořák felt very much at ease.[3] Writing to a friend he described his state of mind, away from hectic New York: “I have been on vacation since 3 June here in the Czech village of Spillville and I won’t be returning to New York until the latter half of September. The children arrived safely from Europe and we’re all happy together. We like it very much here and, thank God, I am working hard and I’m healthy and in good spirits.”[4] He composed the quartet shortly after the New World Symphony, before that work had been performed.[5]
Dvořák sketched the quartet in three days and completed it in thirteen more days, finishing the score with the comment “Thank God! I am content. It was fast.”[3] It was his second attempt to write a quartet in F major: his first effort, 12 years earlier, produced only one movement.[6] The American Quartet proved a turning point in Dvořák’s chamber music output: for decades he had toiled unsuccessfully to find a balance between his overflowing melodic invention and a clear structure. In the American Quartet it finally came together.[3] Dvořák defended the apparent simplicity of the piece: “When I wrote this quartet in the Czech community of Spillville in 1893, I wanted to write something for once that was very melodious and straightforward, and dear Papa Haydn kept appearing before my eyes, and that is why it all turned out so simply. And it’s good that it did.”[7]
For his symphony Dvořák gave the subtitle himself: “From the New World“. To the Quartet he gave no subtitle himself, but there is the comment “The second composition written in America.”[8]
Negro, American or other influences?
For the London premiere of his New World symphony, Dvořák wrote: “As to my opinion I think that the influence of this country (it means the folk songs as are Negro, Indian, Irish etc.) is to be seen, and that this and all other works (written in America) differ very much from my other works as well as in couleur as in character,…”[9][10]
Dvořák’s appreciation of African-American music is documented: Harry T. Burleigh, a baritone and later a composer, who knew Dvořák while a student at the National Conservatory, said, “I sang our Negro songs for him very often, and before he wrote his own themes, he filled himself with the spirit of the old Spirituals.”[11] Dvořák said: “In the Negro melodies of America I discover all that is needed for a great and noble school of music.”[12] For its presumed association with African-American music, the quartet was referred to with nicknames such as Negro and Nigger, before being called the American Quartet.[13][14] Such older nicknames, without negative connotations at the time, were used until the 1950s.[15][16]
Dvořák wrote (in a letter he sent from America shortly after composing the quartet): “As for my new Symphony, the F major String Quartet and the Quintet (composed here in Spillville) – I should never have written these works ‘just so’ if I hadn’t seen America.”[17] Listeners have tried to identify specific American motifs in the quartet. Some have claimed that the theme of the second movement is based on a Negro spiritual, or perhaps on a Kickapoo Indian tune, which Dvořák heard during his sojourn at Spillville.[18]
A characteristic, unifying element throughout the quartet is the use of the pentatonic scale. This scale gives the whole quartet its open, simple character, a character that is frequently identified with American folk music. However, the pentatonic scale is common in many ethnic musics worldwide, and Dvořák had composed pentatonic music, being familiar with such Slavonic folk music examples, before coming to America.[19]
On the whole, specific American influences are doubted: “In fact the only American thing about the work is that it was written there,” writes Paul Griffiths.[20] “The specific American qualities of the so-called “American” Quartet are not easily identifiable, writes Lucy Miller, “…Better to look upon the subtitle as simply one assigned because of its composition during Dvořák’s American tour.”[21]
Dvořák’s transcription of the song of the scarlet tanager (top) and the appearance of the song in the third movement of the quartet.
Some have heard suggestions of a locomotive in the last movement, recalling Dvořák’s love of railroads.[22]
The one confirmed musical reference in the quartet is to the song of the scarlet tanager, an American songbird. Dvořák was annoyed by this bird’s insistent chattering, and transcribed its song in his notebook. The song appears as a high, interrupting strain in the first violin part in the third movement.[23]
Structure
The Quartet is scored for the usual complement of two violins, viola, and cello, and comprises four movements:[24] A typical performance lasts around 30 minutes.
I. Allegro ma non troppo
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First theme of the first movement, played by the Seraphina Quartet.
The opening theme of the quartet is purely pentatonic, played by the viola, with a rippling F major chord in the accompanying instruments. This same F major chord continues without harmonic change throughout the first 12 measures of the piece. The movement then goes into a bridge, developing harmonically, but still with the open, triadic sense of openness and simplicity.
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Second theme of the first movement.
The second theme, in A major, is also primarily pentatonic, but ornamented with melismatic elements reminiscent of Gypsy or Czech music. The movement moves to a development section that is much denser harmonically and much more dramatic in tempo and color.
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Fugato at end of development
The development ends with a fugato section that leads into the recapitulation.
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Cello bridge in recapitulation
After the first theme is restated in the recapitulation, there is a cello solo that bridges to the second theme.
II. Lento
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Theme of the second movement
The theme of the second movement is the one that interpreters have most tried to associate with a Negro spiritual or with an American Indian tune. The simple melody, with the pulsing accompaniment in second violin and viola, does indeed recall spirituals or Indian ritual music. It is written using the same pentatonic scale as the first movement, but in the minor (D minor) rather than the major. The theme is introduced in the first violin, and repeated in the cello. Dvořák develops this thematic material in an extended middle section, then repeats the theme in the cello with an even thinner accompaniment that is alternately bowed and pizzicato.
III. Molto vivace
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First section of the Scherzo movement. Listen for the song of the scarlet tanager high in the first violin
The third movement is a variant of the traditional scherzo. It has the form ABABA: the A section is a sprightly, somewhat quirky tune, full of off-beats and cross-rhythms. The song of the scarlet tanager appears high in the first violin.
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Second section of the scherzo
The B section is actually a variation of the main scherzo theme, played in minor, at half tempo, and more lyrical. In its first appearance it is a legato line, while in the second appearance the lyrical theme is played in triplets, giving it a more pulsing character.
IV. Finale: vivace ma non troppo
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Main theme of the last movement
The final movement is in a traditional rondo form, ABACABA. Again, the main melody is pentatonic.
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“B” section of the rondo
The B section is more lyrical, but continues in the spirit of the first theme.
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“C” section of the rondo
The C section is a chorale theme.
Performance and influence
In a first “private” performance of the quartet, in Spillville, June 1893, Dvořák himself played first violin, Jan Josef Kovařík second violin, daughter Cecilie Kovaříková viola, and son Josef Jan Kovařík the cello.[8]
The first public performance of the quartet was by the Kneisel quartet in Boston in January 1894.[25] Burghauser mentions press notices in New York as well as Boston, the first New York Herald, 18 December 1893.[8]
While the influence of American folk song is not explicit in the quartet, the impact of Dvořák’s quartet on later American compositions is clear. Following Dvořák, a number of American composers turned their hands to the string quartet genre, including John Knowles Paine, Horatio Parker, George Whitefield Chadwick, and Arthur Foote. “The extensive use of folk-songs in 20th century American music and the ‘wide-open-spaces’ atmosphere of ‘Western’ film scores may have at least some of their origins” in Dvořák’s new American style, writes Butterworth.[26]
It was first established in 1939 under the name Sudetendeutsches Quartet, later renamed the Prague String Quartet. It consisted of members of the German Philharmonic in Prague (1939-1945), who on the orders of Joseph Goebbels was founded. 1947 took the name Koeckert Quartet, after its first violinist Rudolf Koeckert (1913-2005). Since 1949 the quartet resided in Munich, and the members were soloists of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. It coined in the 1950s and 1960s, among other ensembles, the musical life of the city of Munich, from where it concert tours to North America, South Africa [2] undertook and all major European cities. It was thus one of Germany’s leading string quartets of international standing. The quartet was under the name Koeckert quartet until 1982. successors the Joachim-Koeckert Quartet was; whose first violinist, Rudolf Joachim Koeckert, is the son of Rudolf Koeckert; the place of the 2nd violin was occupied by Antonio Spiller. Since 1982, this ensemble brought the most important chamber music works of Karl Höller premiered, also works by Günter Bialas,Alberto Ginastera,Paul Hindemith,Ernst Krenek and Winfried Zillig. The Joachim-Koeckert quartet existed until 1992nd
Ludwig van Beethoven String Quartet No 4 Op 18 No 4 in C minor Alban Berg Quartet: – Günter Pichler 1 violin,
– Gerhard Schulz 2 violin,
– Thomas Kakuska viola,
– Valentin Erben cello
Live in Seoul. Encore #4 Please come to London on June 19th of 2012 if you want to hear this piece live ! I am making my debut at Royal Albert Hall 🙂 Валентина Лисица
Valentina Lisitsa Live at the Royal Albert Hall US iTunes – http://bit.ly/iTunesUSVal US Amazon – http://bit.ly/ValRAH *******************************************************************
The score was not published until 1867, 40 years after the composer’s death in 1827. The discoverer of the piece, Ludwig Nohl, affirmed that the original autographed manuscript, now lost, was dated 27 April 1810.[4]
The version of “Für Elise” heard today is an earlier version that was transcribed by Ludwig Nohl. There is a later version, with drastic changes to the accompaniment which was transcribed from a later manuscript by Barry Cooper. The most notable difference is in the first theme, the left-hand arpeggios are delayed by a 16th note beat. There are a few extra bars in the transitional section into the B section; and finally, the rising A minor arpeggio figure is moved later into the piece. The tempo marking Poco moto is believed to have been on the manuscript that Ludwig Nohl transcribed (now lost). The later version includes the marking Molto grazioso. It is believed that Beethoven intended to add the piece to a cycle of bagatelles.[citation needed]
Therese Malfatti, widely believed to be the dedicatee of “Für Elise”
The pianist and musicologist Luca Chiantore (es) argued in his thesis and his 2010 book Beethoven al piano that Beethoven might not have been the person who gave the piece the form that we know today. Chiantore suggested that the original signed manuscript, upon which Ludwig Nohl claimed to base his transcription, may never have existed.[5] On the other hand, the musicologist Barry Cooper stated, in a 1984 essay in The Musical Times, that one of two surviving sketches closely resembles the published version.[6]
Identity of “Elise”
It is not certain who “Elise” was. Max Unger suggested that Ludwig Nohl may have transcribed the title incorrectly and the original work may have been named “Für Therese”,[7] a reference to Therese Malfatti von Rohrenbach zu Dezza (1792–1851). She was a friend and student of Beethoven’s to whom he supposedly proposed in 1810, though she turned him down to marry the Austrian nobleman and state official Wilhelm von Droßdik in 1816.[8] Note that the piano sonata no.24, dedicated to Countess Thérèse von Brunswick, is also referred to sometimes as “für Therese”.
According to a 2010 study by Klaus Martin Kopitz (de), there is evidence that the piece was written for the German soprano singer Elisabeth Röckel (1793–1883), later the wife of Johann Nepomuk Hummel. “Elise”, as she was called by a parish priest (she called herself “Betty” too), had been a friend of Beethoven’s since 1808.[9] In the meantime, the Austrian musicologist Michael Lorenz[10] has shown that Rudolf Schachner, who in 1851 inherited Therese von Droßdik’s musical scores, was the son of Babette Bredl, born out of wedlock. Babette in 1865 let Nohl copy the autograph in her possession. Thus the autograph must have come to Babette Bredl from Therese von Droßdik’s estate and Kopitz’s hypothesis is refuted.
In 2012, the Canadian musicologist Rita Steblin suggested that Juliane Katharine Elisabet Barensfeld (de), who used “Elise” as a variant first name, might be the dedicatee. Born in Regensburg and treated for a while as child prodigy, she first travelled on concert tours with Beethoven’s friend Johann Nepomuk Mälzel, also from Regensburg, and then lived with him for some time in Vienna, where she received singing lessons from Antonio Salieri. Steblin argues that Beethoven dedicated this work to the 13-year-old Elise Barensfeld as a favour to Therese Malfatti who lived opposite Mälzel’s and Barensfeld’s residence and who might have given her piano lessons.[11] Steblin admits that question marks remain for her hypothesis.[12]
The piece is in A minor and is set in 3/8 time. It begins with an A minor theme marked Poco moto (little movement), with the left hand playing arpeggios alternating between A minor and E major. It then moves into a brief section based around C major and G major, before returning to the original theme. It then enters a lighter section in the subdominant key of the relative major of A minor (C major), F major. It consists of a similar texture to the A section, where the right hand plays a melody over left hand arpeggios. It then enters a 32nd note C major figure before returning to the A section. The piece then moves to an agitated theme in D minor[citation needed] with an A pedal point, as the right hand plays diminished chords. This section then concludes with an ascending A minor arpeggio before beginning a chromatic descent over two octaves, and then returning to the A section. The piece ends in its starting key of A minor with an authentic cadence. Despite being called a bagatelle, the piece is in rondo form. The structure is A–B–A–C–A. The first theme is not technically difficult and is often taught alone as it provides a good basic exercise for piano pedalling technique. However, much greater technique is required for the B section as well as the rapid rising A minor figure in the C section.
Kopitz presents the finding by the German organ scholar Johannes Quack that the letters that spell Elise can be decoded as the first three notes of the piece. Because an E♭ is called an Es in German and is pronounced as “S”, that makes E–(L)–(I)–S–E: E–(L)–(I)–E♭–E, which by enharmonic equivalents sounds the same as the written notes E–(L)–(I)–D♯–E.[10][13]
“La campanella” (Italian for “The little bell”) is the nickname given to the third of Franz Liszt‘s six Grandes études de Paganini (“Grand Paganini Études”), S. 141 (1851). It is in the key of G-sharp minor. This piece is a revision of an earlier version from 1838, the Études d’exécution transcendente d’après Paganini, S. 140. Its melody comes from the final movement of Niccolò Paganini‘s Violin Concerto No. 2 in B minor, where the tune was reinforced by a little handbell.[1][2][3]
The étude is played at a brisk allegretto tempo and studies right hand jumping between intervals larger than one octave, sometimes even stretching for two whole octaves within the time of a sixteenth note. As a whole, the étude can be practiced to increase dexterity and accuracy at large jumps on the piano, along with agility of the weaker fingers of the hand. The largest intervals reached by the right hand are fifteenths (two octaves) and sixteenths (two octaves and a second). Sixteenth notes are played between the two notes, and the same note is played two octaves or two octaves and a second higher with no rest. Little time is provided for the pianist to move the hand, thus forcing the pianist to avoid tension within the muscles. Fifteenth intervals are quite common in the beginning of the étude, while the sixteenth intervals appear twice, at the thirtieth and thirty-second measures.
The two red notes are 35 half-steps apart, which is about 46cm apart on a piano.
However, the left hand studies about four extremely large intervals, larger than those in the right hand. For example, in bar 101, the left hand makes a sixteenth-note jump of just a half-step below three octaves. The étude also involves other technical difficulties, e.g. trills with the fourth and fifth fingers.
The work has been arranged by other composers and pianists, most notably Ferruccio Busoni and Marc-André Hamelin. *******************************************************************
Published on Jan 27, 2014
Valentina Lisitsa performed Liszt La Campanella from Paganini Etude No 3 at Concert hall, Seoul Art Center, 25th November, 2013 under Masters Series which Composer Jeajoon Ryu present.(Encore after 3 hours recital.)
Valentina Lisitsa – Liszt La Campanella – from Paganini Etude No. 3
“Piano Concerto in A minor” redirects here. For the concerto by Schumann, see Piano Concerto (Schumann).
The famous flourishing introduction to the concerto.
The Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16, composed by Edvard Grieg in 1868, was the only concerto Grieg completed. It is one of his most popular works[1] and among the most popular of all piano concerti.
Allegro moderato molto e marcato – Quasi presto – Andante maestoso (A minor → F major → A minor → A major)
The first movement is noted for the timpani roll in the first bar that leads to a dramatic piano flourish. The movement is in the Sonata form. The movement finishes with a virtuosic cadenza and a similar flourish as in the beginning.
The second movement is a lyrical movement in D-flat major, which leads directly into the third movement.
The third movement opens in A minor 4/4 time with an energetic theme (Theme 1), which is followed by a lyrical theme in F major (Theme 2). The movement returns to Theme 1. Following this recapitulation is the 3/4 A major Quasi presto section, which consists of a variation of Theme 1. The movement concludes with the Andante maestoso in A major, which consists of a dramatic rendition of Theme 2 (as opposed to the lyrical fashion with which Theme 2 is introduced).
Performance time of the whole concerto is usually just under 30 minutes.[3]
The work is among Grieg’s earliest important works, written by the 24-year-old composer in 1868 in Søllerød, Denmark, during one of his visits there to benefit from the climate.
Grieg’s concerto is often compared to the Piano Concerto of Robert Schumann — it is in the same key, the opening descending flourish on the piano is similar, and the overall style is considered to be closer to Schumann than any other single composer. Incidentally, both wrote only one concerto for piano. Grieg had heard Schumann’s concerto played by Clara Schumann in Leipzig in 1858 (1859 is given by alternative sources), and was greatly influenced by Schumann’s style generally, having been taught the piano by Schumann’s friend, Ernst Ferdinand Wenzel.
Additionally, Grieg’s work provides evidence of his interest in Norwegian folk music; the opening flourish is based on the motif of a falling minor second (see interval) followed by a falling major third, which is typical of the folk music of Grieg’s native country. This specific motif occurs in other works by Grieg, including the String Quartet No. 1. In the last movement of the concerto, similarities to the halling[5] (a Norwegian folk dance) and imitations of the Hardanger fiddle (the Norwegian folk fiddle) have been detected.
The theme of the third movement of the concerto, which is influenced by the Norwegian Halling dance.
The work was premiered by Edmund Neupert on April 3, 1869 in Copenhagen, with Holger Simon Paulli conducting. Some sources say that Grieg himself, an excellent pianist, was the intended soloist, but he was unable to attend the premiere owing to commitments with an orchestra in Christiania (now Oslo). Among those who did attend the premiere were the Danish composer Niels Gade and the Russian pianist Anton Rubinstein, who provided his own piano for the occasion.[6] Neupert was also the dedicatee of the second edition of the concerto (Rikard Nordraak was the original dedicatee), and James Huneker said that he himself composed the first movement cadenza.[7]
The Norwegian premiere in Christiania followed on August 7, 1869, and the piece was later heard in Germany in 1872 and England in 1874. At Grieg’s visit to Franz Liszt in Rome in 1870, Liszt played the notes a prima vista before an audience of musicians and gave very good comments on Grieg’s work, which influenced him later. The work was first published in Leipzig in 1872, but only after Johan Svendsen intervened on Grieg’s behalf.[8]
The concerto is the first piano concerto ever recorded — by pianist Wilhelm Backhaus in 1909.[9] Due to the technology of the time, it was heavily abridged at only six minutes.[9]
Grieg revised the work at least seven times, usually in subtle ways, but amounting to over 300 differences from the original orchestration. In one of these revisions, he undid Franz Liszt‘s suggestion to give the second theme of the first movement (as well as the first theme of the second) to the trumpet rather than to the cello. The final version of the concerto was completed only a few weeks before Grieg’s death, and it is this version that has achieved worldwide popularity. The original 1868 version has been recorded, by Love Derwinger, with the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra under Jun’ichi Hirokami.[10]
Grieg worked on a transcription of the concerto for two solo pianos, which was completed by Károly Thern.[11] The premiere recording of this version was by the British two-piano team of Anthony Goldstone and Caroline Clemmow.[12]
On April 2, 1951, Russian-born American pianist Simon Barere collapsed while playing the first few bars of the concerto, in a performance with conductor Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in New York. He died backstage shortly afterwards.[13] It was to have been Barere’s first performance of the work.[14]
In 1882–83 Grieg worked on a second piano concerto in B minor, but it was never completed. The sketches for the concerto have been recorded by pianist Einar Steen-Nøkleberg. In 1997, the Belgian composer Laurent Beeckmans elaborated a full piano concerto from these sketches, which was first performed in London on 3 May 2003.[15]
In popular culture
The enduring popularity of Grieg’s Piano Concerto has ensured its use in a wide variety of contexts.
The Concerto was featured in the film The Seventh Veil (1945) as the piece played by the young concert pianist (Ann Todd; the uncredited pianist was Eileen Joyce).
The opening theme of the first movement was used in the song “Asia Minor“, a top-ten pop hit from 1961. The title of the song was also based on the key of the concerto, A minor.[16]
The concerto was used in a sketch by the British comedians Morecambe and Wise in their 1971 Christmas show. Conducted by André Previn, with Eric Morecambe as soloist, Morecambe claims he is playing “all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order”. In fact, he was playing a simplified version of the correct music, but in a completely inappropriate style.
The comedian Bill Bailey is a skilled musician, and has used Grieg’s piano concerto for comic effect; in the TV Series Black Books it is played by his character Manny Bianco, and it is cited as an example in his solo mock-scholarly sketch on cockney music.
The introductory motif opens “Make the Most of Your Music”, in the 1987 revised version of Follies.
Recordings
The following performance is by the University of Washington Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Peter Eros. The piano soloist is Neal O’Doan.
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN: Piano Trio No.7 in B-flat major, Op.97 “Archduke” (1811) 0:10/ I. Allegro moderato [12’36”] 12:46/ II. Scherzo. Allegro [11’35”] 24:22 / III. Andante cantabile ma però con moto [12’06”] 36:28 / IV. Allegro moderato [6’56”] Emil Gilels, piano Leonid Kogan, violin Mstislav Rostropovich, cello (rec: Moscow, 1956) 5CDs: Doremi DHR-7921-5 – ℗2007 _______________ 5CDs set: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=… _______________
Sini Simonen, Benjamin Bowman, Steven Dann, Richard Lester at the 15th Esbjerg International Chamber Music Festival 2013. 25th August at South Denmark’s Music Academy, SMKS, Esbjerg http://www.eicmf.dk EICMF is unique in Denmark as it invites artists to collaborate in new constellations, form new relationships, establish a foundation for exchange and annually act as a host for an international community of artists. **********************************************************************
String Quartet No. 13 (Schubert)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
“Rosamunde Quartet” redirects here. For the German musical quartet, see Rosamunde Quartett.
The String Quartet No. 13 in A minor (the Rosamunde Quartet), D 804, Op. 29, was written by Franz Schubert between February and March 1824. It dates roughly to the same time as his monumental Death and the Maiden Quartet, emerging around three years after his previous attempt to write for the string quartet genre, the Quartettsatz, D 703, that he never finished.
History
Starting in 1824, Schubert largely turned away from the composition of songs to concentrate on instrumental chamber music. In addition to the A-minor String Quartet, the Quartet in D minor, the Octet, the Grand Duo and Divertissement a la Hongroise (both for piano duet), and the Sonata for Arpeggione and Piano all date from that year. With the exception of the Grand Duo, all of these works display cyclic elements—that is, two or more movements in each work are deliberately related in some way to enhance the sense of unity. In the case of the A-minor Quartet, a motive from the third-movement Minuet becomes the most important melodic figure for the following finale (Chusid 1964, 37).
The quartet consists of four movements which last around 30 minutes in total.
Allegro ma non troppo
Andante
Menuetto: Allegretto – Trio
Allegro moderato
Analysis
The first movement opens with a texture reminiscent of the melancholic theme from one of Schubert’s earliest songs, Gretchen am Spinnrade and also quotes “Schöne Welt, wo bist du?” The reference to Gretchen am Spinnrade is not a direct quotation, but rather is a similarity in the second violin’s restless accompanimental figuration, hovering around the mediant and underpinned by a repeated figure in cello and viola, which precedes the first thematic entrance. This also recalls the accompaniment to the first subject of the “Unfinished” Symphony (Westrup 1969, 31; Taylor 2014, 49). It is the second movement, however, which has lent the Quartet its nickname, being based on a theme from the incidental music for Rosamunde (a similar theme appears in the Impromptu in B-flat written three years later). The dactyl–spondee rhythm pervading this movement unmistakably shows the influence of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony (Temperley 1981, 149). The form of this slow movement uses the same modified exposition-recapitulation form found in the slow movement of Schubert’s “Great” C-major Symphony, where an ambiguity of formal definition is created by the introduction of a developmental passage shortly after the return of the primary theme in the recapitulation (Shamgar 2001, 154). The minuet quotes the melody of another song by Schubert, Die Götter Griechenlands, D. 677, from November 1819, a connection only first noticed more than a century after the work’s composition by Willi Kahl (1930, 2:358). The opening of this melody recurs in inversion at the beginning of the trio, and is later echoed in the opening of the finale (Wollenberg 2011, 201–202, n11).
Filmed live May 20, 2012, Freiburg im Breisgau ,Germany Cadenzas by Mozart’s favorite student – and billiards pal, Jan Nepomuk Hummel **********************************************************************
The Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466, was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1785. The first performance took place at the Mehlgrube Casino in Vienna on February 11, 1785, with the composer as the soloist.[1]
Background
A few days after the first performance, the composer’s father, Leopold, visiting in Vienna, wrote to his daughter Nannerl about her brother’s recent success: “[I heard] an excellent new piano concerto by Wolfgang, on which the copyist was still at work when we got there, and your brother didn’t even have time to play through the rondo because he had to oversee the copying operation.”[1]
The first movement starts off the concerto in the dark tonic key of D minor with the strings restlessly but quietly building up to a full forte. The theme is quickly taken up by the piano soloist and developed throughout the long movement. A slightly brighter mood exists in the second theme, but it never becomes jubilant. The timpani further heighten the tension in the coda before the cadenza. The movement ends on a quiet note.
The ‘Romanze’ second movement is a five-part rondo (ABACA)[3] with a coda. The beginning features a solo piano playing the flamboyant and charming main B-flat major melody without accompaniment. This lyrical, passionate, tender and romantic melody, played at a relatively dainty tempo, paints a picture of peace and a sense of harmony between the piano and the orchestra, and has also inspired its title ‘Romanze’. Halfway through, the piece moves on to the second episode (part C), where the beautiful melody is replaced with a turbulent, agitated and ominous theme in the relative minor key of G minor, which greatly contrasts the peaceful mood at the starting of the movement. Finally, we are greeted once again with the aforeheard melody which returns as the movement is nearing the end. The piece ends with an ascending arpeggio that is light and delicate, gradually until it becomes a faint whisper.
The final movement, a rondo, begins with the solo piano rippling upward in the home key before the full orchestra replies with a furious section. (This piano “rippling” is known as the Mannheim Rocket and is a string of eighth notes (d-f-a-d-f) followed by a quarter note (a). A second melody is touched upon by the piano where the mood is still dark but strangely restless. A contrasting cheerful melody in F major ushers in not soon after, introduced by the orchestra before the solo piano rounds off the lively theme. A series of sharp piano chords snaps the bright melody and then begin passages in D minor on solo piano again, taken up by full orchestra. Several modulations of the second theme (in A minor and G minor) follow. Thereafter follows the same format as above, with a momentary pause for introducing the customary cadenza. After the cadenza, the mood clears considerably and the bright happy melody is taken up this time by the winds. The solo piano repeats the theme before a full orchestral passage develops the passage, thereby rounding up the concerto with a jubilant D major finish.
In other media
The second movement (minus the more tumultuous C part of the rondo) plays in the final scene and during the end credits of the 1984 movie Amadeus. The melody begins right before Antonio Salieri tells the priest sent to hear his confession that he is the patron saint of mediocrities. In the final shot of the film, Salieri announces, “Mediocrities everywhere, I absolve you.” Right before the screen fades to black, Mozart’s laugh is heard. At this point, the piano concerto picks up in volume, continuing through the end of the credits.
The first movement was also played in the ballet scene in Series 1 Episode 8 of the television series Mr. Robot.
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Watch at your own risk – I warned you 🙂 Live from Paris, Salle Gaveau , May 21, 2014. Sonata No. 17, Op 31 No.2 D Minor
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The Piano Sonata No. 17 in D minor, Op. 31, No. 2, was composed in 1801/02 by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is usually referred to as “The Tempest” (or Der Sturm in his native German), but the sonata was not given this title by Beethoven, or indeed referred to as such during his lifetime. The name comes from a claim by his associate Anton Schindler that the sonata was inspired by the Shakespeare play. However, much of Schindler’s information is distrusted by classical music scholars. The British music scholar Donald Francis Tovey says in A Companion to Beethoven’s Pianoforte Sonatas:
With all the tragic power of its first movement the D minor Sonata is, like Prospero, almost as far beyond tragedy as it is beyond mere foul weather. It will do you no harm to think of Miranda at bars 31–38 of the slow movement… but people who want to identify Ariel and Caliban and the castaways, good and villainous, may as well confine their attention to the exploits of Scarlet Pimpernel when the Eroica or the C minor Symphony is being played (pg. 121).
Structure
The piece consists of three movements and takes approximately twenty-five minutes to perform:
Largo – Allegro
Adagio
Allegretto
Each of the movements is in sonata form, though the second lacks a substantial development section.
First movement
The first movement alternates brief moments of seeming peacefulness with extensive passages of turmoil, after some time expanding into a haunting “storm” in which the peacefulness is lost. This musical form is unusual among Beethoven sonatas to that date. Concerning the time period and style, it was thought of as an odd thing to write; a pianist’s skills were demonstrated in many ways, and showing changes in tone, technique and speed efficiently many times in one movement was one of them. The development begins with rolled, long chords, quickly ending to the tremolo theme of the exposition. There is a long recitative section at the beginning of this movement’s recapitulation, again ending with fast and suspenseful passages.
Second movement
The second movement in B-flat major is slower and more dignified. The rising melodic ideas in the opening six measures are reminiscent of the first movement’s recitative. Other ideas in this movement mirror the first, for instance, a figure in the eighth measure and parallel passages of the second movement are similar to a figure in the sixth measure of the first.
Third movement
The third movement is a sonata-rondo hybrid in the key of D minor. It is at first flowing with emotion and then reaching a climax, before moving into an extended development section which mainly focuses on the opening figure of the movement, reaching a climax at measures 169–173. The recapitulation, which is preceded by an extensive cadenza-like passage of sixteenth notes for the right hand, is followed by another transition and then another statement of the primary theme. The refrain undergoes phrase expansion to build tension for the climax of the movement at measure 381, a fortissimo falling chromatic scale.
Symphony No.25 in G minor, K.183: I. Allegro con brio – 00:00 II. Andante – 08:10 III. Menuetto – Trio – 12:22 IV. Allegro – 16:12 Symphony No.29 in A major, K.201: I. Allegro moderato – 22:14 II. Andante – 30:23 III. Menuetto – Trio – 37:16 IV. Allegro con spirito – 40:42 Symphony No.35 in D major, K.385 “Haffner”: I. Allegro con spirito – 45:56 II. Andante – 51:44 III. Menuetto – Trio – 58:53 IV. Presto – 01:02:10 Symphony No.36 in C major, K.425 “Linz”: I. Adagio – Allegro spirito – 01:05:53 II. Andante – 01:17:03 III. Menuetto – Trio – 01:25:01 IV. Presto – 01:28:47 Symphony No.38 in D major, K.504 “Prague”: I. Adagio – Allegro – 01:36:16 II. Andante – 01:49:47 III. Presto – 01:58:58 Symphony No.39 in E flat major, K.543: I. Adagio – Allegro – 02:07:39 II. Andante con moto – 02:19:02 III. Menuetto. Allegretto – Trio – 02:28:23 IV. Finale. Allegro – 02:32:29 Symphony No.40 in G minor, K.550: I. Molto allegro – 02:40:35 II. Andante – 02:49:08 III. Menuetto. Allegretto – Trio – 02:57:26 IV. Allegro assai – 03:02:19 Symphony No.41 in C major, K.551 “Jupiter”: I. Allegro vivace – 03:11:35 II. Andante cantabile – 03:23:34 III. Menuetto. Allegretto – 03:32:47 IV. Molto allegro – 03:38:03
Performers: Wiener Philharmoniker Leonard Bernstein
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote his Symphony No. 40 in G minor, KV. 550, in 1788. It is sometimes referred to as the “Great G minor symphony,” to distinguish it from the “Little G minor symphony,” No. 25. The two are the only extant minor keysymphonies Mozart wrote.[1]
Composition
The 40th Symphony was completed on 25 July 1788. The composition occupied an exceptionally productive period of just a few weeks in 1788, during which time he also completed the 39th and 41st symphonies (26 June and 10 August, respectively).[2]Nikolaus Harnoncourt argues that Mozart composed the three symphonies as a unified work, pointing, among other things, to the fact that the Symphony No. 40, as the middle work, has no introduction (unlike No. 39) and does not have a finale of the scale of No. 41’s.[3]
Premiere
As Neal Zaslaw has pointed out, writers on Mozart have often suggested – or even asserted – that Mozart never heard his 40th Symphony performed. Some commentators go further, suggesting that Mozart wrote the symphony (and its companions, #39 and #41) without even intending it to be performed, but rather for posterity; as (to use Alfred Einstein‘s words), an “appeal to eternity”.[4]
Modern scholarship suggests that these conjectures are not correct. First, in a recently discovered 10 July 1802 letter by the musician Johann Wenzel (1762-1831) to the publisher Ambrosius Kühnel in Leipzig, Wenzel refers to a performance of the symphony at the home of Baron Gottfried van Swieten with Mozart present, but the execution was so poor that the composer had to leave the room.[5]
There is strong circumstantial evidence for other, probably better, performances. On several occasions between the composition of the symphony and the composer’s death, symphony concerts were given featuring Mozart’s music for which copies of the program have survived, announcing a symphony unidentified by date or key. These include:[6]
Copies survive of a poster for a concert given by the Tonkünstlersocietät (Society of Musicians) 17 April 1791 in the Burgtheater in Vienna, conducted by Mozart’s colleague Antonio Salieri. The first item on the program was billed as “A Grand Symphony composed by Herr Mozart”.[7]
Most important is the fact that Mozart revised his symphony (the manuscripts of both versions still exist).[8] As Zaslaw says, this “demonstrates that [the symphony] was performed, for Mozart would hardly have gone to the trouble of adding the clarinets and rewriting the flutes and oboes to accommodate them, had he not had a specific performance in view.”[9] The orchestra for the 1791 Vienna concert included the clarinetist brothers Anton and Johann Nepomuk Stadler; which, as Zaslaw points out, limits the possibilities to just the 39th and 40th symphonies.[9]
Zaslaw adds: “The version without clarinets must also have been performed, for the reorchestrated version of two passages in the slow movement, which exists in Mozart’s hand, must have resulted from his having heard the work and discovered an aspect needing improvement.”[10][11]
Regarding the concerts for which the Symphony was originally intended when it was composed in 1788, Otto Erich Deutsch suggests that Mozart was preparing to hold a series of three “Concerts in the Casino”, in a new casino in the Spiegelgasse owned by Philipp Otto. Mozart even sent a pair of tickets for this series to his friend Michael Puchberg. But it seems impossible to determine whether the concert series was held, or was cancelled for lack of interest.[2] Zaslaw suggests that only the first of the three concerts was actually held.
The second movement is a lyrical work in 6/8 time, in E flat major, the submediant major of the overall G minor key of the symphony. The contrapuntal opening bars of this movement appear thus in keyboard reduction:
The minuet begins with an angry, cross-accented hemiola rhythm and a pair of three-bar phrases; various commentators have asserted that while the music is labeled “minuet,” it would hardly be suitable for dancing. The contrasting gentle trio section, in G major, alternates the playing of the string section with that of the winds.
The fourth movement opens with a series of rapidly ascending notes outlining the tonic triad illustrating what is commonly referred to as the Mannheim rocket.
The movement is written largely in eight-bar phrases, following the general tendency toward rhythmic squareness in the finales of classical-era symphonies. A remarkable m
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