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Imogen Cooper – April 30, 2012
Piano Sonata in E-flat major, Hob.XVI:52
Franz Joseph Haydn
1732-1809
Franz Joseph Haydn’s keyboard sonatas span over 40 years of his creative life. The total is
still uncertain since new ones are periodically discovered while others, especially early ones,
are found to be misattributed or spurious; the number hovers around 60. Haydn composed his
first ones, up to the early 1770s, for the harpsichord, as evidenced by the absence of dynamic
markings. In 1773, Haydn published three sets of six sonatas for either piano or harpsichord
that were characterized by florid ornamentation, distinguishing them from those of Mozart.
The last three sonatas were composed during the composer’s second sojourn in London in
1794-95. He conceived them for the English Broadwood pianos with their resonant sound
that was later to make them a favorite with Beethoven. The range, extensive dynamics
markings and instructions for “open pedal” in these sonatas would not have been possible on
the continental pianos at the time.
Haydn composed the three sonatas for the noted pianist Therese Jansen Bertolozzi, whom he
had met during his first stay in London. He greatly admired her and was an official witness at
her wedding. When he published the sonatas in Vienna, however, he re-dedicated E-flat
major Sonata to a noted Viennese pianist and good friend, Magdalene von Kurzböck. There
may be an unknown back-story explaining the reason behind the change, but once at home
Haydn probably found it more expedient to honor a local performer.
This Sonata is a true forerunner of Beethoven’s early sonatas that were soon to follow. To
judge from the variety of pianistic textures and techniques in the piece, especially the rich
chords that open the work and introduce each of the themes in the first movement, Haydn
must have enjoyed the powerful sound of the Broadwood pianos. He took full advantage of
the instrument, exploring the extremes of the keyboard and continued his practice of
surprising modulations in the development.
In keeping with the extreme modulatory scheme of the first movement, Haydn chose the
distant key of E major for the Adagio (a leap from three flats to four sharps). After a darker
middle section, Haydn returns to the opening theme, this time elaborately decorated.
This sonata has been characterized as the most “symphonic” of Haydn’s keyboard works,
and nowhere more clearly than in the Presto finale. The repeated notes of the opening recall
the finale of Symphony No. 86, while the rapid passages scampering up and down the
keyboard illustrate the height of pianistic virtuosity of the time, as well as contrasting
sonorities and textures.
Drei Klavierstücke, D. 946
No. 1 in E-flat minor
No. 2 in E-flat major
No. 3 in C major
Franz Schubert
1797-1828
When Schubert died at age 31, the bulk of his compositions remained in manuscript form,
unpublished. During his lifetime, the majority of his compositions were performed at
“Schubertiads,” informal gathering of friends and colleagues. Only during the second half of
the nineteenth century were many of these works rediscovered and some performed in public
for the first time. Among the unpublished manuscripts were three piano pieces, dated May
1828. They are clearly not the composer’s final thoughts on the subject, two being in draft
form and the third only in a pencil sketch. In 1868, Johannes Brahms edited the pieces
anonymously and had them published under the title Drei Klavierstücke.
We do not know what Schubert intended to do with these three pieces; most likely he meant
them to be part of a larger set. In style they resemble the Moments musicaux and the
Impromptus, single-movement pieces designed for home music making, which became all
the rage in the early nineteenth century. All Schubert’s single-movement pieces resembled
the Lied and come across as songs without words, replete with all the emotional
expressiveness and subtle shading that the composer had perfected in his 600+ Lieder.
No. 1 adopts the form of a scherzo and trio – complete with the requisite repeats – consisting
of an agitated journey from E-flat minor to E-flat major. Schubert loved this kind modal
ambiguity and used the device increasingly in his final compositions. It comes as something
of a shock, therefore, as he transitions into a contemplative middle, or trio, section in a key
about as far away from E-flat as one can get: B major (six flats vs. five sharps). The first two
chords parallel the opening of the preceding section to establish a brief but definite
relationship that will serve as Schubert’s “return ticket” to the opening agitato section. The
piece is emotionally ambiguous, since we are unable even to establish the true key, whether
it is in E-flat major or E-flat minor.
No. 2 reverses the mood changes of No. 1. It begins as a gentle lullaby that serves as a rondo,
between two anxious episodes, once again exploring distant keys.
No. 3 opens as a spirited dance with syncopated rhythms – a foretaste of Dvorák’s Slavonic
dances. But the middle part (in the distant D-flat major) returns to the pensive atmosphere
that colors so many of Schubert’s late piano works.
Theme and Variations in D minor from
String Sextet in B-flat major, Op. 18
Piano arrangement by the composer
Johannes Brahms
1833-1897
According to his own words, Johannes Brahms composed many string quartets in his youth,
but destroyed them all. Apparently, he felt more comfortable with larger string ensembles,
since some of his earliest works for strings without piano that have survived are the Serenade
Op. 16 and the String Sextet Op. 18. He finished the Sextet in 1860, and it was premiered
that year by the augmented Joachim Quartet. Published two years later, it was Brahms’s first
published chamber work without piano. At the time, Brahms had discovered Schubert’s
chamber music, and especially the C major String Quintet with its two cellos, a factor that
strongly influenced his prominent use of the cellos, especially in the theme and six variations
that comprise the slow movement of the Sextet. The theme closely resembles the famous La
folia theme, which has bewitched composers since from before Arcangelo Corelli to the
present day.
As was his habit throughout his life, Brahms probably sent a copy of the manuscript to Clara
Schumann – his life-long and unattainable love – for her comments and approval. She, in
turn, asked him to transcribe the second movement for piano, which he did immediately,
sending it to her as a birthday gift. A year later for her next birthday present he sent her the
set of 25 Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel.
Piano Sonata No. 17 in D minor, Op. 31, No. 2
“Tempest”
Ludwig van Beethoven
1770-1827
The first years of the nineteenth century were extremely difficult for Beethoven. His deafness
was reaching the point where conversation was becoming nearly impossible, forcing him to
face the reality of his isolation and inability to lead a normal life. He lamented his blighted
hopes for a cure and a normal future in the famous Heiligenstadt Testament, the will/letter he
wrote – but never sent – to his siblings and other family members. In the Testament,
however, he states, “It seems to me impossible to leave the world until I have brought forth
all that I felt was within me…With joy I hasten to meet death – if it comes before I have had
the chance to develop my artistic capabilities, it will be coming too soon…” Scholars have
interpreted this statement to mean that Beethoven already had a “career plan” mapped out,
one that included ever more adventurous forays into the musical avant-garde.
Beethoven composed the three piano sonatas Op. 31 in 1801-02, offering them to publishers
in the spring of that year. They were published in Zurich by Nägeli, known for his beautiful
engraving artwork and sloppy copying, with the result that the edition was full of errors:
“The edition is so beautiful that it is most unfortunate that it should have been launched into
the world with that extreme slovenliness and lack of care...,” Beethoven wrote. Such
inattention to detail on the part of his printers plagued him all his life.
Most of the anecdotal claims by Anton Schindler, Beethoven’s friend and first biographer –
and a notorious fabricator – have been proven false, including his claim that the stormy first
movement of the Sonata Opus 31, No. 2 was inspired by Beethoven’s reading of
Shakespeare’s play The Tempest. The movement opens slowly pianissimo with an
arpeggiated chord reminiscent of the introduction to an operatic recitative. The storm breaks
without warning, setting up a movement of violent contrasts in tempo and dynamics. The
tempo is repeatedly broken by a recurrence of the arpeggios from the slow introduction.
The second movement also opens with an arpeggiated chord, but in this instance it is one of
Beethoven’s most serene utterances, especially the second theme, introduced after a gently
rising scale. Yet, despite the lyricism of the themes, there is a periodic ominous rumbling
accompaniment in the bass, which Beethoven at times echoes high in the piano’s range.
The Finale brings back the restless mood in a dramatic rondo, but without the violent mood
swings of the opening. Here the arpeggios serve as the main accompanying figure
throughout. The end of the movement simply fades “into the distance.”
Nocturne in D-flat major, Op. 27, No. 2
Frédéric Chopin
1810-1849
In the 1840s the nocturne was a relatively new musical genre, “invented” around 1812 by
Irish composer John Field. His 18 nocturnes are usually gentle and meditative in character,
transferring to the piano the broad cantilena style of the bel canto Italian operas of Vincenzo
Bellini. The association with the night reflects the dreaminess of Field’s works; music
specified for nocturnal entertainment, as in Mozart’s Serenata notturna, is a different animal
entirely.
Chopin was familiar with Field’s nocturnes and used them in his teaching. The customary
legato style of the pieces corresponded with developments in the piano itself, particularly the
sustaining pedal and the increased resonance of the soundboard. Chopin’s nocturnes expand
the emotive scope so that they became vehicles for both delicate and subtle poetic
expression, as well as a more dramatic intensity than would be suggested by the title. As in
all his other forms, Chopin used the nocturne to extend the expressive powers of the piano
without the constraints of a fixed structure.
“He has such a pretty new nocturne,” wrote Felix Mendelssohn to his family in October
1835, referring to Chopin’s new Nocturne in D-flat major. It opens with a gentle, limpid
theme and this mood continued throughout, without the contrasting, more restless middle
sections that occur in most of his other piece in this genre.
Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23
Fréderic Chopin
1810-1849
Among the most important of Chopin’s compositions are his four Ballades. Composed
mostly in Paris between 1831 and 1843, they were not written as a set, nor do they follow
any common formal structure. The title “ballade” was Chopin’s invention, and there is some
disagreement about exactly what the term relates to. Generally described as narrative in
character, the ballades are thought to be based on the German literary ballade. Some scholars
believe that they may have been inspired by the ballad poetry of the Polish poet Adam
Mickiewicz. Certainly, there is no overt literary reference in any of the four.
Chopin started composition of the G-minor Ballade in Vienna in 1831 and completed it in
Paris in 1835. He dedicated it to Baron Stockhausen, the Hanoverian Ambassador to France.
The introduction opens ponderously, but rises hesitantly, as if posing a question, before the
light, arch-shaped main theme appears. The theme is developed through a vast range of
moods, but mostly gentle and hesitant, erupting unexpectedly in a triumphal, almost violent
denouement. A snippet of the introduction appears at the end of the coda as a reminder of the
somber beginning.
Program notes by:
Joseph & Elizabeth Kahn
[email protected]
www.wordprosmusic.com