Ravinia 2024 Issue 6

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685–1750) Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major, BWV 1068 Scored for two oboes, three trumpets, timpani, strings, and basso continuo The four orchestral suites by Johann Sebastian Bach survive in performance manuscripts partly notated by the composer himself, but otherwise prepared by his regular copyists. The orchestral suite enjoyed considerable populari- ty in Germany during the early 18th century: Johann Friedrich Fasch, Christoph Förster, Christoph Graupner, Johann Adolf Hasse, Jo- hann David Heinichen, Georg Philipp Tele- mann, Johann Dismas Zelenka, and others composed them by the hundreds. Following a tradition established in French suites, German musicians generally titled these works “Ouver- ture,” a designation taken from the enormous first (literally “opening”) movement. A varying number of popular dances followed. For many years scholars hypothesized that Bach composed his orchestral suites in Köthen during his years as court musician to Prince Leopold (1717–23). The prince—an amateur singer and player of the violin, viola da gamba, and harpsi- chord—maintained a group of 18 musicians for his own entertainment. Bach availed himself of this opportunity to experiment with instrumen- tal ensembles by composing several sonatas, partitas, and concertos. Recent studies, however, indicate that the surviv- ing suite manuscripts were prepared in Leipzig, where Bach held dual positions of Kantor at the St. Thomas School and director musices for the town (1723–50). There remains little doubt that he prepared the instrumental parts for perfor- mances by the local Collegium Musicum, a soci- ety of amateur musicians and university students founded by Telemann in 1702 that presented weekly concerts of instrumental music. Bach became director of the Collegium Musicum in The portrait fragment of Johann Sebastian Bach owned by the Weydenhammer family (c.1733) March 1729 and remained its guiding force (ex- cluding the period 1737–39) until the 1740s. Bach composed the Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major, BWV 1068, in the spring of 1731. The Ouverture conforms to typical three-part French overture form: a slow section marked by dotted rhythms, a contrasting quick segment in duple meter, and a shortened return of the slow music. The familiar Air , a simple two-part piece, provides a change of mood to serenity and lyr- icism. Expressive string harmonies support the sustained violin melody. The dance movements that follow are not all standard members of the Baroque suite, but reflect Bach’s taste for more modern French dances. Paired Gavottes and a Bourrée lead to the lively final Gigue , a dance in 6/8 time (and a Baroque suite standard) that originated in the British Isles. WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756–1791) Clarinet Concerto in A major, K. 622 Scored for pairs of flutes, bassoons, and horns, strings, and solo clarinet (basset clarinet) Mozart became enamored of the clarinet during a youthful encounter in Milan or London. In the hands of a skilled performer, the 18th-century clarinet frolicked with the agility of the oboe but without the strident, nasal tone quality. Its into- nation and clarity of sound remained more con- sistent throughout its wide range than the flute (an instrument Mozart generally disliked). The clarinet’s warm timbre blended effortlessly with both strings and voices. The clarinet only slowly made inroads into the Viennese musical scene, at one time prompting Mozart to lament, “If only we, too, had clari- nets; you would not believe the glorious effect of a symphony with flutes, oboes, and clari- nets.” How fortunate that two Austrian broth- ers, Anton and Paul Stadler, having mastered Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart by Joseph Lange (1789) the clarinet, took up residence in Vienna. After freelancing for a decade, the Stadlers received appointments to the Imperial Wind Band. In 1787, their names were added to the Imperial Orchestra roster as the first resident clarinetists. Anton Stadler (1753–1812), the more accom- plished of the brothers, played the second clar- inet part because of his remarkable mastery of the lower register. Stadler’s downward expan- sion of the range led to the development of a new instrument, the Bass-Klarinett (basset clari- net), which played a third lower than the normal clarinet. Not only were Mozart and Stadler close friends, but they also belonged to the same Ma- sonic lodge. All of Mozart’s late clarinet and bas- set clarinet parts, including the solo concerto, were tailor-made for Stadler. It is no coincidence that many, but not all, of these same works con- vey strong Masonic associations. On October 7, 1791, Mozart wrote to his wife, Constanze, that he had “orchestrated almost the whole of Stadler’s rondo,” the final movement of the concerto, and the premiere was offered shortly thereafter. The score remained unpub- lished until 1801, when three separate editions were released—two in France and one in Ger- many. Uniformly, the title pages describe this as a “concerto for clarinet.” However, a contempo- rary reviewer (1802) provided a critical bit of evidence by asserting that “Mozart composed this concerto for a clarinet going down to the C” and that certain parts had been transposed by the editors. Based on this report, it is now be- lieved that Mozart originally wrote the concerto for Stadler’s basset clarinet. A cool, lyrical theme unfolds immediately in the Allegro . Mozart indicates that the clarinet doubles the first violins for this thematic ex- position, although some performers delay the clarinet entrance until the second exposition, where the solo breaks free of the accompani- ment. The clarinet weaves long cantabile phras- es in the Adagio with a gentle, vocal ease. The Silhouette of Anton Stadler (c.1790–1800) RAVINIA.ORG  • RAVINIAMAGAZINE 69