Ravinia 2024 Issue 5

and recital tours with Menter. When the Roy- al National Hungarian Academy of Music in Budapest added a cello class in 1886, Liszt ap- pointed Popper its first professor, a position he retained until his death. As a pedagogue, Popper exerted tremendous influence over the following generation of cellists, not only through his private instruc- tion but, as importantly, as the author of the four-volume Hohe Schule des Violoncellospiels , op. 73 (1901–5), which contained 40 etudes for cello. Two additional pedagogical treatis- es followed: a volume of 10 medium-difficulty etudes ( Zehn mittelschwere große Etüden , 1906) and 15 easy etudes accompanied by a second cello ( Fünfzehn leichte, melodisch-rhythmische Etüden mit Begleitung eines zweiten Violoncel- los [ad libitum], 1908). Popper published more than 70 original compo- sitions, the majority of which included cello. His Sechs Characterstücke , op. 3, for cello and piano date from 1864, during his time as a chamber musician in Löwenberg. Popper dedicated the score—quite likely intended as a depiction of life at court—to Prince von Hohenzollern-Hechin- gen. The collection appeared in two volumes, each including three “character pieces.” Both volumes begin with a Maskenball-Scene (Scene from a Masked Ball): the first is a lightheart- ed piece subtitled Arlequin (Harlequin), and the latter is a fluttery movement appropriately called Papillon (Butterfly). The remaining four movements offer snapshots of social interac- tions at the masked ball, from an initial con- versation ( Warum? —Why?) and story sharing ( Erzählung —Tale) to flirtation ( Begegnung — Encounter) and romance ( Lied —Song). JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685–1750) Suite No. 4 for Solo Cello in E-flat major, BWV 1010 Anna MagdalenaWilcke, the daughter of a court trumpeter in Weißenfels, was a talented singer and chamber musician in Köthen when she met Johann Sebastian Bach, a man 16 years her elder. The two married on December 3, 1721, and from that point onward Anna Magdalena fulfilled many roles in her famous husband’s life: step- mother to the four surviving children of his first marriage, the mother of 13 more children (six of whom lived beyond infancy), keyboard stu- dent, and personal copyist. Her beautiful, clear handwriting style preserved many of Bach’s later compositions, among them cantatas, the Kyrie and Gloria of the B-minor Mass, portions of The Well-Tempered Clavier , the six organ Trio Sona- tas, the six Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin, and the six Suites for Solo Cello. The earliest manuscript of the cello suites, a copy prepared by Anna Magdalena, dates from ap- proximately 1727–31 and was likely commissioned by one of Bach’s former pupils living in Wolfenbüttel. In all, four contemporary manu- script sources have survived, each varying signifi- cantly from the others. Bach conceived the suites as companions to his six Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin ( Sei Solo à Violino senza Basso accom- pagnato, Libro primo ); presumably, he considered the cello works his Sei Solo … Libro secondo . Although gathered into a single collection, the suites might reflect two different periods of compositional activity during his years in Köthen (1717–23), where his patron was the mu- sic-loving Leopold, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen, and his court colleagues included the cello vir- tuoso Christian Ferdinand Abel. The first four suites are well suited to a standard cello; the fifth requires unconventional tuning of the strings ( scordatura ). By contrast, the sixth suite requires an unusual five-string instrument. Some large- scale compositional planning is evident in this set. All six suites contain a prelude, the four standard Baroque dances (allemande, courante, sarabande, and gigue), and one pair of dances of the “modern” type: minuet (Suites Nos. 1 and 2), bourrée (Suites Nos. 3 and 4), and gavotte (Suites Nos. 5 and 6). SERGEI PROKOFIEV (1891–1953) Ballade in C minor, op. 15 Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was born in vil- lage of Sontsovka, Russia (now Sontsivka, in the Donetsk Oblast of eastern Ukraine), where his father managed the estate of Dmitry Sontsov, a wealthy horse-breeder and a former classmate at the Petrovsko-Razumovskaya Ag- riculture Academy. Prokofiev’s well-educated parents provided a modest and intellectually stimulating upbringing: father Sergei Alexe- yevich took charge of his son’s general educa- tion, mother Mariya Grigoryevna supervised his musical training and Old and New Tes- tament studies, and governesses (one French and the others German) taught him foreign languages. At age 13, young Sergei moved to Saint Petersburg with his mother to pursue composition and general high-school studies Johann Sebastian Bach by Johann Jakob Ihle (c.1720) at the conservatory, which became the center of his artistic development for the next decade. Following the Russian Revolution of 1905, he added a second major in piano performance. Prokofiev’s faculty mentors were among the most respected musicians of the era, though he viewed them all, at times, through a critical teenager’s lens. The esteemed composer Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov drew large crowds to his or- chestration class, but Prokofiev confessed that “I didn’t get much out of those lessons.” Alexander Glazunov, the director of the conservatory, left a different impression: “When he walked through the hallways … he would leave the light aroma of a fine cigar behind him.” The talented but ap- athetic composer Anatoly Lyadov, who taught harmony and counterpoint, received the great- est condemnation as “a rather lazy man” who “regarded teaching … a burdensome duty and showed no interest in his students.” Prokofiev described his piano teacher, Alexander Winkler, as “a pleasant, tactful man who composed music himself, though he had no exceptional talent.” Even the revered conducting teacher, Nikolay Tcherepnin, received harsh judgment. “Only af- ter I graduated from the conservatory and Tch- erepnin was no longer behind my back,” wrote Prokofiev in his youthful autobiography, “did I attain freedom of movement with an orchestra.” Following his examinations in the spring of 1909, Prokofiev received his diploma in com- position, earning the title “free artist.” All fu- ture works received opus numbers, indicating their “mature” status, despite the fact that many drew material from earlier works. The next five years at the conservatory were focused on per- formance, both as a pianist and a conductor. Reaching the end of his final semester, Prokof- iev determined to triumph in the competition for the Anton Rubinstein Prize. His unconven- tional choice as soloist—his own Piano Con- certo No. 1 in D-flat major, op. 10—infuriated the old guard at the conservatory, including Glazunov. The rest of the piano jury felt other- wise and awarded the brash composer-pianist first prize. Prokofiev reprised his concerto at Sergei Prokofiev (c.1918) RAVINIAMAGAZINE • AUGUST 19 – SEPTEMBER 1, 2024 78