C.P.E. Bach - Keyboard Concerto In D Minor Wq. 23

The influence of C.P.E. Bach on composers of his own era and of other generations is large. Mozart said about him that "He is the father, we are the children".  Haydn acknowledged that Bach was a major influence to his instrumental music. After Bach's death in 1788 his reputation slipped somewhat, although Beethoven admired his music greatly and recommended Bach's book An Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments as a teaching tool.  Bach was eclipsed further after Mendelssohn helped revive popular interest in the music of his father, Johann Sebastian Bach in the late 1820's, and Schumann commented that as a creative musician Carl was far behind his father. His music was not entirely forgotten, as Brahms admired his music and edited some of it, but it wasn't until the late 1950's that Carl's music became more well known through recordings of some of the symphonies and keyboard sonatas.

Bach wrote in many different genres including nearly one hundred concertos with roughly half of those for keyboard instrument. As this was a period of transition not only in musical form and expression but of the instruments themselves, Bach labeled his concertos for keyboard, harpsichord or piano.

The Concerto in D Minor Wq.23 (the Wq is an abbreviation for the name of the musicologist who in 1906 assembled the first catalog of Bach's music, Alfred Wotquenne) is written for keyboard, strings and continuo and is in 3 movements:

I. Allegro -  The 1st movement is in a type of sonata form, and begins with an angular, quirky theme. This theme and other secondary ones that are related to the main theme are played by the orchestra alone. The piano then jumps in with the first theme. The piano takes center stage and is answered by the orchestra. These beginning themes are developed slightly, and this section can be thought of as the exposition. There follows a development section that expands upon the themes at length. The main theme keeps bouncing back into the picture until what amounts to a type of recapitulation begins. After further exploring of the themes, the orchestra has the final word and brings the movement to a close.

II. Poco andante - Music that strolls gently from the instruments in splendid contrast to the drama of the first movement.

III. Allegro assai - Bach returns to the mood of the first movement with a theme that leaps and then pauses after the leap, like the instruments need to catch their breathe. This leaping followed by a pause appears throughout the movement, along with brilliant passage work for the soloist. The soloist joins in the leaping and taking of a breath later in the movement as the music remains energetic throughout. After a leap shared by strings and soloist, there is a short cadenza for the piano and the strings have the last word with a sigh of exhaustion.

Brahms - Piano Quartet No. 1

Johannes Brahms composed his first piano quartet while still in his 20's. By this time he had been on concert tour with the Hungarian violinist Ede Reményi, and had met Franz Liszt and Robert Schumann. By contemporary accounts, the meeting with Liszt didn't go so well as Brahms fell asleep while Liszt was playing the piano (due to exhaustion from the concert tour according to Brahms) but the meeting with Schumann went much better. Schumann recognized Brahms' genius, and Brahms became like a family member to Schumann and his wife Clara.

The first piano quartet was premiered in Hamburg in 1861 with Clara Schumann at the piano. Brahms himself was at the piano at the Vienna premiere. The piece wasn't a resounding success with the critics, probably due to the complexity of the music. The first piano quartet is written for the traditional instruments of piano, violin, viola and cello.

I. Allegro - This first movement no doubt caused some of the negativity towards the piece at the premiere, because of Brahms stretching and manipulation of sonata form. Some of his music contemporaries considered him conservative and traditional, but the structure of this movement disproves that. Brahms loads up the first movement with (depending on who is doing the counting) 4 or 5 themes, all of them based on the opening stated in octaves in the piano alone. The movement contains many key changes from the home key of G minor, some closely related, others (as D major) quite distant from the home key. After all the themes are heard, the initial theme is heard again and is briefly developed. The exposition is not repeated. All of the themes are heard in the development. Modulations of key and variations of the themes are done, and Brahms keeps the listener off-kilter when he signals the recapitulation not with the initial theme but one of the others. There is a short coda that leads the music back to the desolation of the home key of G minor.

II. Intermezzo: Allegro - This movement serves the function of a scherzo, but for the first time Brahms uses the designation Intermezzo. It is in the same form as a scherzo, and is in the key of C minor, a closely related key to G minor. The music is agitated and somewhat reserved while the trio (which is in A-flat major) is at a slightly quicker tempo and more extroverted.  The opening material is repeated and a coda in C major repeats part of the trio section.

III. Andante con moto - This movement is also in ternary form with a lyrical first section in E-flat major. Brahms' change to C major for the march-like middle section is abrupt. C minor also makes an appearance before the repeat of the first section. This movement ends quietly.

IV. Rondo alla Zingarese: Presto -  The saving grace of this composition at both the premieres in Hamburg and Vienna was probably this movement, written in 'Gypsy Style'. Brahms had learned the style while touring with Reményi. The initial theme's feeling is achieved by Brahms writing phrases in irregular numbers of bars. Instead of more common 4-bar phrases he throws phrases of 3-bars (or 6-bars, depending how you count them) with 4-bar phrases mixed in. Brahms did this throughout his composing career, and it is one of the reasons why his music can sound so different, even to someone who knows nothing about phrasing in music. It creates a subtle difference in his music that can be sensed by the sensitive listener. The movement is no less complex than the music in the rest of the composition, but the rondo form seems to make it more accessible to the listener, not to mention the fire and panache Brahms writes into the movement.

The above description is brief in the extreme for such a complex work. But while the inner working of the quartet are interesting and can add to the enjoyment of it, I don't think Brahms expected all of his listeners to be able to give a detailed analysis of it. His purpose was musical expression, and while his compositions can be highly complex there must be an understanding or enjoyment of his works on a 'gut' or emotional level to remain popular. As with all great artists, Brahms manages to touch the audience. That in the end is what counts.

Mehul - Le Jeune Henri Overture

The composer Étienne Méhul has been called the most important opera composer in Revolutionary-era France. He followed the reforms of opera as instituted by Christoph Willibald Gluck and is considered one of the first Romantic composers.  He used the leitmotif, music that associates itself with a character or idea in the opera, a device made more well known by Richard Wagner years later.  Berlioz was influenced by Mehul's complete music aesthetic and wrote:

"...In truly dramatic music, when the importance of the situation deserves the sacrifice, the composer should not hesitate as between a pretty musical effect that is foreign to the scenic or dramatic character, and a series of accents that are true but do not yield any surface pleasure. Méhul was convinced that musical expressiveness is a lovely flower, delicate and rare, of exquisite fragrance, which does not bloom without culture, and which a breath can wither; that it does not dwell in melody alone, but that everything concurs either to create or destroy it..."

Méhul had a great feel for orchestral color and changed his orchestration to help convey the action or mood. In the Le Jeune Henri (Young King Henri) Overture he expanded the usual pair of horns in the orchestra to four to depict the young king out in the field hunting with his barking dogs and hunting horns. The overture was written in 1797 is taken from the opera of the same name that was based on an incident in the life of King Henri IV of France. While the opera itself was a failure, the overture was received very well and had to be encored at the first performance. The music depicts the hunt from its beginning in the early morning to the signaling of the horns and the chase of the stag. The overture is also known as La chasse du jeune Henri, Young Henri's Hunt.

Méhul's influence began to wane in the early years of the 19th century, and after years of intrigues against him and the failure of his latest operas, his popularity in France was over. He continued to compose with some of his operas becoming popular in Germany. But his health declined and he died of tuberculosis in 1817.

Paganini - Le Streghe

One of the first musical superstars, Niccolò Paganini not only was influential in advancing the art and technique of playing the violin, his compositions inspired other composers as well. While most of Paganini's compositions were written to showcase his enormous technical abilities, they also showed his lyrical and dramatic side.  Composers from the progressive Liszt to the more traditional Brahms (and many others) took inspiration from his music that combined brilliant technique with flashes of expressive musicality.

Although news of his tremendous abilities spread, Paganini didn't begin touring outside of his native Italy until1828. He toured all of Europe and Britain until 1834 when he retired from the concert platform due to poor health. Paganini died in Nice, France in 1840 but his last request to be buried in his birthplace of Genoa, Italy was refused by the Catholic church because he had refused the last rites and was thought to have been in league with the devil because of his musical abilities. His body laid in the hospital at Nice for a time, was sent to Genoa but was not allowed to be buried.  The body was finally laid to rest in Parma in 1876.

The rumors of Paganini being in league with the devil began early on. One of Paganini's early compositions helped create the rumor, Le Streghe or in English, The Witches. The composition is for solo violin and orchestra and is based on a tune that Paganini heard in a performance of a ballet in Milan in 1813. The ballet, Le nozze di Benevento was a revision of an earlier ballet written in 1803 with music by Franz Xaver Süssmayr, a composer most well known for having finished Mozart's Requiem. The tune announces the entrance of the witches in the ballet, hence the name given the piece by Paganini.

After an introduction by the orchestra, a tune is played by the soloist with a light accompaniment, a short cadenza for the soloist leads to Süssmayr's theme which is followed by three variations. The first variation has double and triple stops, the second variation pizzacatos, harmonics and wide leaps, a section in a minor key in octaves, and the third variation played on the G-string combined with double stopped harmonics.  The coda of the piece has Paganini round off the piece with yet more fireworks for the violin.


 

Schumann - String Quartet No. 1 In A Minor

After a long  (and often times clandestine) courtship,  Robert Schumann and Clara Wieck were married in 1840, very much against her father's wishes. Clara's father immediately filed legal charges against the marriage but after a long (and nasty) legal battle the court ruled in favor of the newlyweds. The end of all the stress of the legal battles caused by Clara's father brought forth a burst of creative energy from Schumann. Up until then, all of his compositions were for the piano alone, but now with Clara's urging he began to branch out into works for voice, orchestra, and chamber music.

In 1842 Schumann wrote his first chamber pieces, a piano quartet and piano quintet, and began serious study of the string quartets of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, along with counterpoint and fugue. He also had the opportunity to hear string quartets of these composers played. His labor paid off, as Schumann wrote the three quartets of his opus 41 in two months. In a span of but six months in 1842, Schumann had written these quartets plus three other chamber works.

Schumann's first string quartet is in 4 movements:
I. Introduzione: Andante espressivo - Allegro - The first movement begins with a short introduction with the 4 instruments entering one after another until the first theme of the movement proper begins in the 1st violin, in of all things, the key of F Major. This theme is treated fugally, after which what at first appear to be snippets of other themes appear, but in actuality they are but fragments of the main theme. Schumann makes good use of his counterpoint study as the theme is developed this way throughout the movement. As this movement is in sonata form, there is a recapitulation of the opening material.

II. Scherzo: Presto - Intermezzo -  The music of this movement (in A minor) at first seems Mendelssohnian, but Schumann gives his own 'bite' to the music as the strings spit out the notes of the dominant rhythm of the scherzo. The trio section of most scherzos remains 3-in-a-bar like the scherzo itself, but Schumann changes it to an alla breve two-in-a-bar.

III. Adagio - A short introduction leads to the main theme played by the violin. The main theme is then taken up by the cello. A central section adds contrast before the opening theme returns.

IV. Presto - The finale begins with an energetic first theme. The second theme also bristles with energy. Themes are developed, after which a contrasting section slow in tempo and consisting of chords accompanying a different theme. The energy of the opening returns in a short coda.

Couperin - Passacaille

The music of the Frenchman François Couperin was well-known and appreciated by many composers of his era, the most notable being J.S. Bach. He came from a very musical family and was called Couperin The Grand by his contemporaries to differentiate him from the rest of the family.  Couperin's influence spanned the centuries as Brahms and R. Strauss were also influenced by his music.

Couperin is best known for his works for solo harpsichord, published in Paris between 1713 -1730. There are over 200 pieces in four volumes, with pieces arranged similar to the Baroque dance suite, but Couperin called his sets of pieces ordres. The first and last pieces of these ordres were in the same key with the middle pieces in closely related keys. There are a total of 27 ordres in the four volumes of harpsichord pieces.

Couperin was a virtuoso keyboard performer and wrote a treatise called 'The Art Of Harpsichord Playing'  that remains a valuable source of information about performance practices of his time. Couperin delighted in giving some of his pieces descriptive titles that suited his music. He could be bold with his harmony for his time, and was fond of peppering his pieces with passing dissonances. Couperin was born in Paris and died there in 1733.

The Passacaille (French for passacaglia) was published in his second book of piano pieces, and was included with nine other pieces in the 8th ordre.  It is labeled a passaglia by the composer, the piece is also labeled rondeau in the music:

The first four bars of the piece are played and repeated. After these eight bars, there is an episode of different material, and the beginning eight bars return. The piece follows this pattern throughout. So is this piece really a passacaglia? In its simplest form, a  passacaglia  is a set of continuous variations played with a ground bass accompaniment throughout. This piece by Couperin is actually in a type of rondo form, as the variations are not accompanied by a ground bass, and Couperin says as much right before the music starts. But Couperin didn't use a musical form as a rigid form to pour their notes into, but as a tool to help express themselves, and they gave no thought to changing the form to fit the music. Perhaps the name is used because of the character of the piece, as passaglias are usually slow and serious. The repeating eight measures are certainly slow and serious. They return after each interlude (of varying moods themselves) with a plodding inevitability, as if there is no escaping whatever fate they represent .

Shostakovich - Symphony No. 15

Dmitri Shostakovich has been called one of the most influential composers, especially of symphonies, of the 20th century.  His 15 symphonies were composed from 1924 when he was seventeen, to 1971 when he was 65, covering most of his career and life as a composer.  His last symphony was written a few years before his death, and since its premiere there has been much written about it, good and bad.  The symphony is in 4 movements:

I. Allegretto -  This movement was originally labeled by Shostakovich as 'The Toyshop'. It begins with the tinkling of the glockenspiel, and the music unrolls in the type of nervous humor that Shostakovich was known for.  Shostakovich was also known for his quoting of other composers music (and in this symphony even his own) and the most obvious quote in this movement is the familiar one from The William Tell Overture by Rossini, which Shostakovich uses four times in the movement. The music twists and turns into more than 'toyshop' music as the nervous humor changes to something tinged with sinister sounds. With punctuation provided by castanets, and two sections of quite complex polyrhythms (one for strings, one for woodwinds) the movement stumbles its way to the end.

II.Adagio - Largo - Adagio - Allegretto - In contrast to the goings-on of the previous movement, the second movement begins with the solemn playing of the brass section. A solo cello plays a mournful theme that utilizes a very large part of the range of the instrument. The brass section enters once again, the solo cello continues where it left off with its lament, but is twice interrupted by a harsh, dissonant chord by the woodwinds (these chords will appear again later in the symphony). Flutes play a new theme, a solo trombone plays its version of the lament. After more from the flutes, solo trombone and solo violin, the dissonant woodwind chords lead to a tremendous outburst from the entire orchestra. After the outburst, combinations of instruments play quiet snippets of themes heard before, with a wood block clopping in the background. A solo vibraphone plays with a solo double bass. The opening music for brass reappears and the movement quietly draws to a close with the timpani and strings.

III. Allegretto - The third movement begins without pause with music of nervous humor like the opening of the first movement. Trombone glissandos are added as the music gads about and around a solo violin. It ends abruptly with the clacking of percussion.

IV. Adagio - Allegretto - Adagio - Allegretto -  The movement begins with another quote, this time from Wagner's Fate leitmotif from Der Ring des Nibelungen. This theme is heard sporadically in the first section of the movement. The music drifts to a theme that sounds similar to the theme from the first movement of his Seventh Symphony 'Leningrad'.  There is a tremendous crescendo, and the seventh symphony theme is heard again. The music winds down with a dissonant chord in the orchestra. Violins play another Wagner quote, the grief  leitmotif from Tristan And Isolde.  The dissonant woodwind chords of the second movement reappear, after which Shostakovich has the strings play a long pedal point chord while the celesta, glockenspiel, side drum, and castanets take turns clacking out soft rhythms reminiscent of the end of the third movement while the timpani plays the seventh symphony theme. This final section is similar to the ending of his 4th Symphony (which was withdrawn by the composer from the premiere in 1936, just after Shostakovich was denounced the first time, and not premiered until 1961) The dialog of the percussion instruments (and the symphony) ends with the glockenspiel and celesta together sounding a note over the evaporating pedal point of the strings.

The 15th Symphony is a work of complexity, both musical and emotional. Outside of the percussion section, the orchestra is large but not as large as some of Shostakovich's other symphonies.  Instruments are used frequently in smaller groupings that are seasoned with the salt-and-pepper of the percussion section. The symphony has an almost chamber music sound to it.  A friend of the composer, Isaak Glikman, quoted what the composer told him about the many quotes from other composers in the work:

"I don't myself quite know why the quotations are there, but I could not, could not, not include them."

Dmitri Shostakovich has been dead for almost 40 years, and in death as in life his music is still creating controversy.  He was a complex man, capable of writing deep, soulful music and also capable of writing loud, boisterous clap-trap, sometimes within the same composition. In essence, his music will always carry a sense of mystery, of literal or perceived extra-musical meaning, which can be said of many composers.

Call Shostakovich's music what you will, like it or hate it, it's hard to ignore either way. While he most certainly can be morose in the extreme,  his best compositions are written from the heart. He is a composer that I admit I have to be in a certain mood to hear. It just doesn't sit well in my ear sometimes, which says as much about me as his music. But at other times, Shostakovich's music is what I need to hear.