Ravinia 2019, Issue 1, Week 2

JOSEPH HAYDN (1732–1809) Keyboard Trio in G minor, H. XV:1 Haydn struggled to make a living as a freelance musician in Vienna during the 1750s, earning a pittance giving private music lessons to the children of wealthy Viennese. “Many geniuses are ruined by this miserable daily bread because they lack time to study,” Haydn later recollect- ed. “I would never have achieved what little I have done, had I not carried on with my zeal for composition during the night.” His career began to flourish between 1753 and 1755, and Haydn obtained his first musical appointment at the court of Count Morzin from approximately 1757 until late 1760/early 1761, when the financially strapped count disbanded the orchestra. This period witnessed the creation of Haydn’s first 20 symphonies and other instrumental works, in- cluding keyboard sonatas and trios, string trios, wind-band music, and his first string quartets. The autograph manuscript of Haydn’s Trio in G minor, H. XV:1, has disappeared, though a copy survives in the archive of Kroměříž Castle, a repository of music manuscripts from Czech lands. Scholars tentatively date this trio to the Morzin years, when harpsichord was the prin- cipal keyboard instrument. The G-minor key of all three movements suggests a divertimento, its minor mode imparting a degree of seriousness throughout. Haydn’s Moderato molto combines the Baroque trio sonata’s melodic dialogue with the early-Classical sonata form. The sweep- ing arpeggio that begins the Menuetto recalls a fashionable melodic gesture associated with the Mannheim school. A trio in B-flat major evokes a more galant musical idiom before an abbreviated return of the minor-key Menuetto . Conversational exchange between melody and accompaniment characterizes the Presto finale. LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827) Piano Trio in G major, op. 1, no. 2 The pianistic phenomenon from Bonn—Lud- wig van Beethoven—swept through Viennese musical society like a storm in 1792. Though his primary reason for visiting Vienna was private study with Joseph Haydn, as a performer, Bee- thoven became an immediate star. Prince Karl von Lichnowsky and his wife welcomed him into their home and generally supported his developing career. Beethoven expressed grati- tude by dedicating several works to Lichnows- ky, including the three op. 1 piano trios. One 20th-century writer, Marion M. Scott, rather appropriately described these trios in terms of a stylistic lineage, from Mozart (No. 1 in E-flat major) to Haydn (No. 2 in G major) to “unmis- takably Beethoven” (No. 3 in C minor). Beethoven paid homage to his aged mentor most directly in the Piano Trio in G major by adopting movement structures typical of Haydn’s later large-scale pieces. One such hall- mark was a slow introduction to the first move- ment, an organizational idea employed only in this central work of op. 1. This prefatory segment also hints at the textural liberation of the three instruments, shifting gracefully between melod- ic foreground and accompanimental support, which Beethoven consciously explored. Al- though the piano introduces principal melodies in the sonata-form first movement and the en- suing Largo con espressione , the violin promptly repeats these phrases and then submits its own secondary themes. Beethoven writes lyrical cello lines throughout this work, but only in the Scherzo does this traditionally accompani- mental instrument initiate the opening melodic idea. In the Finale , the rapid-fire repeated notes of the first theme migrate effortlessly among the instruments, later adding unusual flair to the de- velopment and the conclusion. PATRICK ZIMMERLI (b. 1968) Piano Trio No. 3 ( Views of Chicago ) The compositions of saxophonist Patrick Zim- merli fluidly cross the lines between jazz and classical styles. His jazz prowess earned ear- ly recognition: as a high-school junior, Zim- merli was named DownBeat magazine’s “Best Young Soloist” in the jazz category, repeating that honor his senior year while capturing the same award in pop/rock. At the same time, Zimmerli felt drawn to classical music, and he continued to feed his appetite for both jazz and classical styles as a student at Columbia Univer- sity. During those years, he performed as a jazz saxophonist in the Jeff Williams Quartet while immersing himself in the complex music of An- ton Webern, Milton Babbitt, Elliott Carter, and Pierre Boulez as well as studying analysis and composition with Fred Lerdahl and George Ed- wards. A sophisticated jazz/classical hybrid style began to emerge in the late 1990s, and Zimmerli perceived a common thread weaving through his creations. “If there’s one thing I want to ac- complish as both a composer and player, it’s that old cliché of ‘tell a story,’ ” he explained in an in- terview with All About Jazz . “I want all my music to engage listeners, to take them on a journey. Even my most avant-garde-sounding music has that quality.” Reflecting on his Piano Trio No. 3, a new com- position conceived for one of the most tradi- tional classical ensembles in his entire output, Zimmerli provided the following thoughts: “My first two piano trios were extended, four-move- ment works. The Trio No. 3, by contrast, is more compact, cast in one single movement. But it shares with its two predecessors an interest in combining classical structures with a distinctly 21st-century expression. The piece begins with a series of stentorian unison chords, followed by a theme in octaves in the piano that feels like a Gregorian chant, set over a skittering minimalist ostinato in the strings. The contrasting theme, first heard in the solo piano, is more lyrical, with jazz overtones. These two themes and their accompaniments combine and vary in a ‘devel- opment’ section, and after a ‘recapitulation,’ the opening chords return as the piece builds to its climactic close. “This piece thus dialogues not only with its two predecessors but with the classical tradi- tion more generally. In addition to this his- torical dimension, the piece is the first in my Views of Chicago project, which I am calling a ‘multi-composition.’ This multi-composition will explore the vast musical landscape of Chi- cago through a series of works for many of its resident ensembles across the chamber music, choral music, jazz/creative music, and new mu- sic worlds. Though this multi-composition will traverse a great deal of stylistic ground, I find it very fitting that it open with a sonata structure, as if to lay a strong foundation which will pro- vide the basis for future experimentations. The same musical ideas that form the core of the Trio No. 3 will reappear later in the multi-work, but in quite different guises.” Views of Chicago is made possible by Music in the Loft and is dedicated to the memory of Fredda Hyman. –Program notes © 2019 Todd E. Sullivan Joseph Haydn (c. 1770) by Guttenbrun Patrick Zimmerli RAVINIA MAGAZINE | JUNE 10 – JUNE 16, 2019 94