Ravinia 2021 - Issue 2

he was associated with the Leopoldstadt for almost half a century. His total theatrical output—comic operas, Singspiels, incidental music, farces, ballets, pantomimes, melodra- mas, and other comic forms—numbers in the hundreds. Die Schwestern von Prag ( The Sis- ters from Prague ) opened on March 11, 1794. Although the theme “Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu” (“I Am the Tailor’s Cockatoo”) had retained its popularity for almost a decade when Beethoven composed 10 variations for piano trio in 1803, he was unable to find a publisher. He revised the score in 1816–17, perhaps as a second attempt to see the work into print. Finally, publishers in Vienna and London issued these attractive and technical- ly demanding variations in 1824. WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756–91) Violin Sonata in E minor, K. 304 (300c) Mozart composed a set of six sonatas for “pia- no with violin accompaniment” during his 1778 journey to Mannheim and Paris. A doz- en years had passed since the last of his 16 youthful violin sonatas was completed. The 1778 collection demonstrates a more mature handling of the instruments, as Mozart dis- tributes the thematic material between the piano and violin more equitably. Equally dis- tinct is the dramatic imprint of the Mannheim style, despite the fact that he completed two of the six sonatas (K. 301–306) somewhat later in Paris. The Parisian publisher Sieber issued this set as op. 1 with a dedication to Maria Elizabeth, the electress of the Palatinate. Mozart most likely wrote the Sonata in E minor, K. 304 (300c), in Paris during the summer months. This piece contains only two movements, like four of its companion pieces. The E-minor Allegro is a darkly col- ored sonata movement. Nothing better ex- emplifies Mozart’s interest in an equal part- nership between the instruments than the unison opening theme in minor. The violin Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as a Knight of the Golden Spur (1777) comes center stage in the repetition of these phrases; as it sustains a single phrase-ending pitch, thematic focus shifts to the keyboard. The musical temperament changes consid- erably in the piano’s animated major-key theme, which the violin accompanies with a running countermelody. The unison texture returns at the end of the exposition. Piano and violin trade cascading melodic phrases during the development section, which con- cludes with another unison passage. Mozart varies the main themes considerably in the recapitulation, dramatically reharmonizing the opening melody. A coda presents one fi- nal statement of the E-minor theme. The minor mode continues into the Tempo di Menuetto . This dance presents an almost Baroque rhythmic profile resulting from gen- tle hemiolas and syncopations. A solo-piano flourish leads to a repetition of the minuet. The brief major-key trio matches chordal writing with an unpretentious melodic line. Mozart employs triplet rhythms in the pia- no accompaniment to energize the minuet theme’s varied return. GABRIEL FAURÉ (1845–1924) Élégie , op. 24 In his mid-30s, Fauré divided time profes- sionally between his position of choirmaster at the Église Saint-Sulpice, freelance compo- sition, and pilgrimages to Germany and En- gland to attend performances of Richard Wagner’s music dramas. He carved out an unexpected niche as a composer of chamber compositions with a string of popular scores published in Paris by Julien Hamelle: the Vio- lin Sonata in A major, op. 13; Piano Quartet No. 1 in C minor, op. 15; Berceuse in D major, op. 16, for violin (or cello) and piano; and a transcription of the Trois romances sans pa- roles , op. 17, for violin (or cello) and piano. Sometime in early 1880, Fauré began drafting a sonata for cello and piano, starting with the slow movement—his typical compositional Gabriel Fauré procedure. This Molto adagio was heard at his former teacher Camille Saint-Saëns’s salon on June 21. Three days later, Fauré reported to Hamelle: “I was very sorry you could not be at Saint-Saëns’s on Monday. My cello piece was excellently received, which greatly encour- ages me to go on and do the whole sonata.” Months passed, then years, with no measur- able progress on the cello sonata. Finally, in 1883, Hamelle issued this single movement as the Élégie , op. 24. This music’s instant popularity is easily un- derstood. Its initial cello melody in C minor (a key shared with Fauré’s recent piano quar- tet and Saint-Saëns’s Cello Sonata, op. 32) spins a long lament over a steady pulsation of chords. Melodic interest shifts to the piano’s right hand in the lyrical second theme, which the cello embellishes in a dramatic build-up to the return of the lament, played one octave higher. This anguished outburst almost im- mediately subsides as the music quiets and, eventually, slows to a conclusion. Fauré and cellist Jules Loëb, to whom the score is dedicated, gave the premiere of the Élégie at a concert of the Société Nationale de Musique on December 15, 1883. Some years later, an orchestrated version received its first performance at another Société concert, on April 26, 1901. Fauré conducted, and Pablo Casals appeared as soloist. JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833–97) Scherzo in C minor, WoO 2 ( Sonatensatz ) For his birthday of in 1853, three of violinist Joseph Joachim’s musical friends collaborat- ed on a sonata for violin and piano, a project initiated by Robert Schumann. Each move- ment was based on Joachim’s musical motto: F-A-E (“Frei aber einsam”— free but alone ). The first movement of this composite sonata in A minor was written by Albert Dietrich, a German conductor who had studied with Schumann and Ignaz Moscheles. Schumann composed music for two movements on Oc- tober 22 and 23: the slow second movement in F major, entitled Intermezzo , and the Fina- le , which begins in A minor before turning to A major. The third movement, a scherzo in C minor, was created by Johannes Brahms. His inclusion in this project reflects the swift recognition the young pianist-composer had gained since meeting Schumann only one month earlier. Joachim received the sonata on October 27, 1853, after his arrival in Düsseldorf for a solo performance. The following day, Joachim and Clara Schumann gave the work a reading be- fore a few friends. This musical present was well received, but it was never published as a complete work. Schumann set out the next morning to revise his music, and he added two more movements to form his Sonata No. 3 for violin and piano. It is not known whether Dietrich’s movement ever appeared in print. Brahms’s Scherzo —his first work for violin and piano—was published as the Sonatensatz (Sonata Movement) in 1906 by Joachim. Brahms’s Scherzo falls into the typical three-section scherzo–trio–scherzo design. The C-minor scherzo is in a fast, lilting 6/8 meter. Characteristics of Brahms’s Romantic expression and rhythmic energy can be found even in this early work. The trio introduces a more lyrical theme in major; reminiscences of the scherzo’s triplet motion can be heard. The scherzo returns in C minor, and a grandi- ose coda closes the movement in major. Piano Trio No. 2 in C major, op. 87 Brahms passed the summer months of 1882 in Bad Ischl, where he retreated from inter- ruptions in Vienna. Unfortunately, many na- tive Viennese also vacationed there, includ- ing a number of his friends and admirers. Near-constant rain that summer helped iso- late Brahms from his well-intentioned sup- porters. He wrote to his friend, the surgeon Theodor Billroth, “But I must give high praise to Ischl, and though I am only threatened with one thing—the fact that half of Vienna is here—I can be quiet here, and on the whole I do not dislike it.” The first of several compo- sitions completed in Bad Ischl was his Piano Trio No. 2 in C major, a work begun two years earlier. After several private readings, the trio received its first public performance in Frankfurt on December 29, 1882, by violinist Hugo Heermann and cellist Valentin Müller with Brahms as pianist. The combination of violin, cello, and piano created numerous problems for Brahms. Dif- ficulty in balancing the widely varying ranges and tonal weights of these three instruments may account for the nearly 30-year interval since his Piano Trio No. 1 in B major, op. 8. The later work handles these differences through a symphonic variety of textures and distribution of thematic materials. Piano Trio A youthful Johannes Brahms by Johann Reiner RAVINIA MAGAZINE • JULY 24 – AUGUST 15, 2021 40