Ravinia 2022, Issue 6

ANDREA FELVÉGI (EÖTVÖS) CARL PHILIPP EMANUEL BACH (1714–1788) Rondos, Fantasies, and Sonata Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, the second son of Johann Sebastian to survive into adulthood, was born in Weimar. Civic baptismal records list one of the godfathers as Georg Philipp Te- lemann, who was employed in Frankfurt at the time. Emanuel received training in com- position and keyboard instruments exclu- sively from his father. He became an unri- valed authority on the harpsichord, cataloguing its technique in an exhaustive and influential treatise entitled Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen (Essay on the True Art of Keyboard Playing; 1753). While he acknowledged a few admirable expressive qualities of the new fortepiano, his later reputation as a performer derived from his highly personal, emotional style ( empfindsamer Stil ) of playing the clavichord, a small, delicate-sounding relative of the harpsichord. In the Versuch , he wrote, “The Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach new fortepianos, if they are built to last, have many fine qualities, although special and painstaking study is required to master the touch. They are effective as solo instruments and in chamber music, but I still consider a good clavichord, apart from its weaker tone, to possess all the advantages of the former.” Emanuel capitalized on the growing demand for printed music among middle-class dilet- tantes, as the titles of his popular collections reveal: Six Easy Sonatas (1766), Short and Easy Keyboard Sonatas … for Beginners (1766), and Six Sonatas … for Use by Ladies (1770). The largest anthology was a six-volume set of sonatas, rondos, and fantasies published be- tween 1779 and 1787 “für Kenner und Lieb- haber” (for connoisseurs and amateurs). The Rondo in C minor, H. 283, appeared in the Clavier-Sonaten und freye Fantasien nebst einigen Rondos … für Kenner und Liebhaber (composed 1779–84; published in Leipzig, 1785). At times graceful, at others florid, this rondo incorporates a cadenza near the end. Bach’s earlier publication, the Clavier-Sonat- en nebst einigen Rondos … für Kenner und Liebhaber (composed 1763–80; published in Leipzig, 1781) contains six compositions— rondos and sonatas in alternation, including the Rondo in Gmajor, H. 271. Despite shifts in key and mode, this work essentially develops a single theme. The Sonata in D major, H. 286, originates in the final volume of the “connoisseurs and amateurs” series: Clavier-Sonaten und freye Fantasien nebst einigen Rondos … für Kenner und Liebhaber (composed 1785–86; published in Leipzig, 1787). A three-movement compo- sition of miniature dimensions, this sonata illustrates Bach’s adoption of light classical forms and styles, from the sonata-allegro opening movement to the congenial sonatina and spirited finale. The final two compositions of the Cla- vier-Sonaten und freye Fantasien nebst einigen Rondos … für Kenner und Liebhaber (com- posed 1779–82; published in Leipzig, 1783) are keyboard fantasies, including the E-flat-ma- jor H. 277. Both follow a similar plan: free unmeasured music to begin and end with slower, metrical material in the middle. Bach’s concluded the entire “connoisseurs and ama- teurs” with the Fantasy in Dmajor, H. 291. The work is, in actuality, a rondo whose themes employ different tempos and personalities yet are unified by a repeated-note motif. JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685–1750) Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue in D minor, BWV 903 The notion that Bach’s music faded into ob- scurity after his death only to be “rescued” by Felix Mendelssohn and other historically minded German musicians during the 19th century has undergone serious reexamination in recent decades. His keyboard works, in particular, circulated widely for decades. Few compositions intrigued later artists more than the Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue, which sur- vives in 17 manuscript copies and seems to foreshadow Romanticism with its tonal irra- tionality and freedom of expression. Despite a common fixation with chromatic (half-step) motion, these paired movements appear to originate at different points in Bach’s career. Several manuscripts, in fact, transmit the fantasy alone. Stylistic charac- teristics of this opening movement,—out- rageously unpredictable broken chords, the subsequent unmeasured “recitative,” and a very low bass range—suggest a relatively early dating, possibly before his departure from the Weimar court in 1717. Bach devised a chro- matic subject (not without precedent in his music) for the chronologically later fugue, although half-step activity more strikingly influences the nomadic harmonic motion. Anonymous “Volbach portrait” of Johann Sebastian Bach toward the end of his life, formerly owned by Fritz Volbach PÉTER EÖTVÖS (b.1944) Dances of the Brush-Footed Butterfly Childhood for Péter Eötvös centered on the musical instruction and opportunities pro- vided by his mother—piano, violin, flute, per- cussion, composition, and concerts—in the Hungarian cities of Miskolc and Budapest. His inquisitive personality and prodigious musical talents attracted the attention of György Ligeti, 21 years his elder and the lead- ing light of contemporary Hungarian music. Another iconic Hungarian musician, Zoltán Kodály, accepted 14-year-old Eötvös into the School of Exceptional Young Talents at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. At the same time, live film and theater ac- companiments on the piano and Hammond organ expanded his improvisational abilities and sonic vocabulary. A Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) scholarship supported Eötvös’s sub- sequent education at the Hochschule für Musik Köln in 1970, where he studied com- position with Bernd Alois Zimmermann, as- sisted electronic/electro-acoustic composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, and refined his con- ducting skills. His rising position within the musical avant-garde further elevated when Pierre Boulez invited Eötvös to conduct the opening concert of his newly established In- stitute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music (IRCAM). For the next 13 years, Eötvös served as artistic director of IR- CAM’s resident performing ensemble, the Ensemble Intercontemporain. Meanwhile, Eötvös expanded his activities as a conductor, educator, and composer. He has served as guest conductor and contemporary music advisor for numerous organizations, including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Modern, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orches- tra, Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, and Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. Eötvös has taught at the Hochschule für Musik Karl- sruhe, Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln, Peter Eötvös (2010) German clavichord (c.1700–1777) RAVINIA MAGAZINE • AUGUST 29 – SEPTEMBER 18, 2022 46 I