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Invitation to a Salon Concert
Kegelstatt Trio, KV 498
III Rondeaux Allegretto
Märchenerzählungen, Op. 132
I Lebhaft, nicht zu schnell
II Lebhaft und sehr markiert
III Ruhiges Tempo, mit zartem Ausdruck
IV Lebhaft, sehr markiert
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
First movement of “Moonlight” Sonata
arranged for Trio (as Pub. 1800’s)
Ludwig Beethoven (1770 – 1827)
Geistliches Wiegenlied, Op. 91, No. 2
Johannes Brahms (1833 – 1897)
Trio Pathetique in D minor
I Allegro moderato
II Scherzo: vivacissimo
III Largo
IV Allegro con spirit
Mikhail Glinka (1804 – 1857)
Originating in Italy in the sixteenth-century, flourishing in the seventeenth and eighteenth
century France, and continuing, particularly in Italy, until really very recently, the salon
gathering “to please and educate” as described by the poet Horace, was a pinnacle event
of society. These gatherings provided a place to both enjoy oneself, and also to refine taste
and increase knowledge through the exploration and exchange of ideas in various art
forms, including music and literature, and not without a certain element of competition
between the participating artists and salons of the day!
Mozart wrote the Kegelstatt Trio in August 1786, dedicating it to Franziska Jacquin, a
student of his who was the pianist at the premiere when Mozart played the viola and
Anton Stadler the clarinet, in Jacquin’s house – a piece written for precisely one of these
salon gatherings. The clarinet was a relatively unknown instrument until Mozart began
writing for it, in particular for Anton Stadler and bringing it to the foreground of wind
instruments, and the position it occupies today. The first composer to write for this
combination, it was Mozart who lay the path of inspiration for the wonderful trio’s that
followed in Romantic music. The word Kegelstatt, meaning skittles, refers to a skittle alley
where the previous week in 1786 Mozart had written 12 basset horn duos, but there is no
evidence that this trio was written there, and in fact it was the publishers who added this
title to aid the selling popularity of the work. The final movement of the Kegelstatt Trio is
the Rondeaux, a 7-part rondo – one of few examples within Mozart’s output, and it
creatively explores a whole range of ideas. The not insignificant viola part is full of
Mozart’s character and a delightful playfulness is found between that and the clarinet and
piano.
The end of Robert Schumann’s life is a sorrowful tale as his bouts of depression, suicide
attempts and mental insanity increased, causing him to end up in an asylum. In 1853 a
new friendship with the young Johannes Brahms and Albert Dictrich gave Schumann one
last release and outburst of creation in which he composed his very last works, including
this Märchenerzählungen Op. 132, which is dedicated to Dictrich. Schumann was a
quintessential romantic, equally passionate about literature as he was music, and leading
him to write many fanciful miniatures such as these Märchenerzählungen, which roughly
translates as “Fairy Tales”. Specific references in literature for these four miniatures are
unknown, but colourful moods and characters are expressed through a lively introduction,
a march, a tender slow movement and an animated finale, all subtly linked with thematic
references and light-hearted, but with an underlying hint of disturbed agitation.
A salon gathering at the start of the nineteenth century would have often been filled with
the music of Beethoven, and his “moonlight” sonata arranged for trio is just one of many
combinations that it was performed in – with the hosts and upper classes themselves
taking on the role of performers, and the publishers utilizing all possible combinations of
instruments around. The first movement, so well-known, was dedicated by Beethoven in
1802 to his pupil Countess Giulietta Guicciardi, who undoubtedly performed it in such a
context. The name “moonlight” actually coming later from the poet and critic Ludwig
Rellstab, and its appropriateness has since been much debated, for a movement that has
origins in a funereal theme. This first movement was very popular in Beethoven's day, to
the point of exasperating the composer himself, who remarked to Czerny, "Surely I've
written better things."
"In due course I shall send you a wonderful old Catholic song for singing at home; you
will never discover a more beautiful lullaby," wrote Brahms to violinist Joseph Joachim in
1863. The two men had been good friends for a decade, and now Brahms was promising a
gift for a special occasion: Joachim had married the singer Amalie Weiss, and the couple
was expecting their first child. So personal an expression was this song that Brahms did
not originally publish it, but kept it as a private possession. This is the first of two songs,
the second written 20 years later on, in sorrow, when Brahms and Jocahim’s relationship
had deteriorated, and the songs were then published in 1884. The lullaby to which
Brahms’ refers is “Joseph, lieber Joseph mein”, Mary singing to the baby Jesus, and Brahms
sets it in a gentle rocking 6/8 metre. The viola, thought to have been one of his favourite
instruments, opens the song with the soothing lullaby, and interestingly writes the words
into the viola part to indicate the shaping of the phrasing, also with the direction dolce
espressivo in no fewer than ten places. The clarinet, an instrument often thought to be
closest to the human voice, and the instrument that inspired Brahms’ last compositional
masterpieces takes the beautiful vocal line in this arrangement, floating over the piano and
viola parts. The lullaby forms the centre of this song, with a darker f minor section in the
centre as Mary reflects the pains ahead for the baby Jesus, before returning to a peaceful
rest at the end with the viola’s calming song.
Glinka, often thought of as the “Father of Russian Music” was a great inspiration to many
Russian composers that followed him, such as Tchaikovsky, Borodin and RimskyKorsakov. Interestingly, although he learnt the piano from an early age, he did not start
out life with aspirations to a career in music – he studied at the Higher Pedagogical
Institute in Moscow and from 1824 worked as a secretary in the transport ministry until ill
health inspired him to travel to Italy. In Italy he was thrilled to discover the music of
Bellini and Donizetti, inspiring him to begin composing on themes from their music, until
a musical home-sickness took hold and “gradually inspired in him the wish to compose in
a Russian way”. This Trio, written in 1832 in Milan, was written before Glinka had actual
taken any composition lessons, and as a result derives from his exemplary piano playing
and his natural compositional skills. The autograph score reads:
“Trio Pathetique pour Pianoforte, Clarinette/Violine and Bassoon/Viola/Violoncello par
M. J. Glinka, “Je n’ai connu l’amour que par les peines qu’il cause!”
It was premiered with Glinka at the piano, clarinetist Tassistro and bassoonist Cantú, but
there are records of performances in all the possible combinations, as was most common
in such salon contexts. Glinka was ailed with various illnesses throughout his life, this
period being no different, and combined with a love affair at this time, this led to a
composition which Cantú described as “a thing of desperation”. This perhaps explains the
Pathetique nature of the trio, rich in romantic pathos, and the motto “All I know of love
is the pain it causes!” which Glinka writes on the autograph.
The instrumental parts showcase Glinka’s lyrical bel canto qualities around which the
technical virtuosity of the piano part is written. Russian folk melodies are apparent
throughout, but they are expressed in a classical Viennese idiom. The opening Allegro
moderato is classical in structure with some impassioned writing, in contrast to the
sparkling Scherzo which follows. The centre of this Pathetiqúe can be found in the Largo
with its extended melodies reaching far beyond the page, before breaking into a spirited
finale rushing towards the end where a final sigh of relief is found.