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PROGRAM
ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-SIXTH SEASON
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Riccardo Muti Zell Music Director
Yo-Yo Ma Judson and Joyce Green Creative Consultant
Sunday, November 13, 2016, at 3:00
South Shore Cultural Center
All-Access Chamber Music Series
CHICAGO PRO MUSICA
Matous Michal Violin
Simon Michal Violin
Sunghee Choi Viola
Daniel Katz Cello
Daniel Armstrong Bass
John Bruce Yeh Clarinet
Dvořák
String Quintet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 77
Allegro con fuoco
Scherzo: Allegro vivace
Poco andante
Finale: Allegro assai
MATOUS MICHAL
SIMON MICHAL
SUNGHEE CHOI
DANIEL KATZ
DANIEL ARMSTRONG
INTERMISSION
Brahms
Clarinet Quintet in B Minor, Op. 115
Allegro
Adagio
Andantino
Con moto
JOHN BRUCE YEH
MATOUS MICHAL
SIMON MICHAL
SUNGHEE CHOI
DANIEL KATZ
The All-Access Chamber Music Series is generously underwritten by an anonymous donor.
All-Access Chamber Music concerts at South Shore Cultural Center are presented in partnership with the
Advisory Council of South Shore Cultural Center and the Chicago Park District.
COMMENTS by Laura Sauer
Although his reverence for Beethoven and Handel was wellknown, Brahms rarely commented on the work of his composer
colleagues. His reserve even drove some, such as Hugo Wolf,
to bitter resentment. Brahms did speak up, however, in 1874,
after reluctantly agreeing to sit on the jury of the Austrian
State Stipendium, a composition competition. The then thirtythree-year-old and unknown Czech composer Antonín Dvořák
had submitted fifteen pieces for consideration. Impressed by
the young Dvořák, Brahms eagerly awarded him the prize, initiating what became a meaningful friendship. From then until
Brahms’s death in 1897, the two men corresponded regularly,
forming a rare and historic bond.
D vořák often drew inspiration from the
folk music of his Bohemian upbringing, and his Second String Quintet
is no exception. He possessed a fondness for
chamber music, writing over thirty works for
small ensembles. While many composers wrote
chamber pieces as the result of commissions
or at the request of specific musicians, Dvořák
wrote chamber music simply because he loved
it. Yet, writing for small groups did not always
come naturally. He struggled at first to fully
express himself within
the confines of conventional forms. It didn’t
take long for him to find
his true voice, however,
and he was soon known
throughout Europe with
Brahms’s guidance.
Dvořák’s Second String
Quintet opens with his
rustic interpretation of
sonata form that explores two main themes.
With the inclusion of double bass, the cello is
free to contribute further to melodic phrases,
creating an expansive sound among just five
instruments. The first movement, rhythmically
charged with accented notes—staccatos and
sforzandos—sets the tone for the entire piece.
At times, the melody is cleverly hidden within a
rhythmic accompaniment. With off beats, triplet
2
rhythms, and a bass line that almost sounds
improvised, Dvořák’s scherzo is unmistakably
his own. The Andante’s stepwise melody pays
homage to Bohemian folk music. The quintet’s
closing movement, a rondo of two themes punctuated with turns and grace notes, never loses its
playful rhythmic drive. Within the work’s formal
structure can be heard not only the music of
mature Dvořák but also that of his rural childhood spent surrounded by folk music.
Brahms felt so strongly about Dvořák’s music
that he introduced him to his own publisher
Fritz Simrock, who printed many of Dvořák’s
works, including his Second String Quintet. He
implored of his publisher: “. . . for several years I
have enjoyed works sent in by Antonín Dvořák
of Prague. Play [them] through and you will like
them as much as I do. He’s a very talented man.
Moreover, he is poor!”
In a letter from 1890, Brahms declared to
a friend, “I have worked enough; now let the
young folks take over,” suggesting he would
retire. Brahms had recently begun spending his
summers in the spa town of Bad Ischl where, as
he put it, he could remain “blissfully idle.” Even
an invitation to travel to the North Sea with
friends wasn’t enough to convince Brahms to
leave, as he confessed to another friend, “. . . my
laziness will probably keep me at Ischl.” In 1891,
that supposed laziness quickly fell away after he
heard clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld on a visit to
Meiningen. He wrote to
Clara Schumann, “You
have never heard such
a clarinet player as they
have there in Mühlfeld.
He is absolutely the best
I know.” Mühlfeld not
only inspired Brahms
to include clarinet in a
chamber work for the first
time, but he also brought him out of retirement.
Brahms quickly wrote a clarinet trio and quintet,
and Mühlfeld premiered both works. The two
also often performed Brahms’s clarinet sonatas.
The Clarinet Quintet, hardly ever leaving
its home key of B minor, showcases Brahms’s
incomparable gift for melody. The piece requires
the highest level of musicianship to communicate its emotional range. Within the first few
bars, there is a sort of rhythmic ease, starkly
different than the beginning of Dvořák’s Second
String Quintet. He treats the clarinet almost as
another string instrument by matching it with
the quartet’s melancholy timbre. Following a
seamless transition into the Adagio, the movement’s folk-inspired clarinet solo is indicative
of Brahms’s love of Hungarian musical traditions. The Andantino begins with a trio among
clarinet, viola, and cello, the clarinet’s warm tone
© 2016 Chicago Symphony Orchestra
blending effortlessly with the strings. Its melody
resembles a winding road, wandering freely and
traveling through a variety of dynamics and
rhythmic passages. With a brilliant mind for
thematic composition and expansion, Brahms
brings the piece full circle and returns to the first
movement’s melody in the closing Con moto.
Clara Schumann described Brahms’s Clarinet
Quintet as a “heavenly work . . . the wailing clarinet takes hold of one . . . and what interesting
music, deep and full of meaning!” At its London
premiere, a reviewer referred to the piece as one
of “incontestable genius.”
Perhaps Dvořák and Brahms bonded over
their shared gift for melodic writing or the fact
that they often utilized folk music influences
in their works. It may be that Brahms saw a bit
of himself in Dvořák. Whatever the reason for
their friendship, Brahms’s support helped propel
Dvořák to international fame. The same year he
wrote the Clarinet Quintet, Brahms also drew
up his will while on holiday in Ischl, offering his
Vienna estate to Dvořák, who, as sensible friends
do, politely refused. Laura Sauer is a regular preconcert lecturer and marketing associate for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
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