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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