Download PROGRAM NOTES by Dr. Richard E. Rodda

PROGRAM NOTES
by Dr. Richard E. Rodda
Jeux d’eau for Piano
Maurice Ravel
Born March 3, 1875 in Ciboure, France
Died December 28, 1937 in Paris
Composed in 1901
Premiered on April 5, 1902 in Paris by Ricardo Viñes
Duration: 6 minutes
Henri de Régnier was among France’s leading poets at the dawn of the
20th century. Born to an old Norman family in Honćeur in 186 and
trained for a career in law, Régnier came under the inćuence of Mallarmé
and other of the Symbolists and began publishing his own poems in 1885
to considerable acclaim. When he met the young composer and pianist
Maurice Ravel sometime around 1900, Régnier was compiling a set of
poems titled /D&LW«GHVHDX[ inspired by the fountains of Versailles. An
early entry into that collection (which was not published until 1903) was
a verse called )¬WHGèHDX that took as its subject the %DVVLQGH/DWRQH, the
magniĆcent êbasinë dedicated to /atona (/eto in /atin), a Titan in classical
mythology, the daughter of Coeus and Phoebe, and the mother of the god
Apollo and the goddess Artemis. It was at that time Versailles’ only fully
operational fountain. Ravel seems to have taken Régnier’s )¬WHGèHDX as
the point of creative departure for his piano piece -HX[GèHDX()RXQWDLQV),
composed in the autumn of 1901 and inscribed with a line that the
composer asked the poet to afĆ[ to the manuscript in his own hand: êThe
river god laughs at the water as it tickles him.ë
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Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp
Sonata for Cello and Piano
Claude Debussy
Born August 2, 1862 in St. Germain-en-Laye, near Paris
Died March 25, 1918 in Paris
Composed in 1915
6RQDWDIRU)OXWH9LRODDQG+DUS duration: 18 minutes
6RQDWDIRU&HOORDQG3LDQRduration: 12 minutes
When the êGuns of Augustë thundered across the European continent in
1914 to plunge the world into êthe war to end all wars,ë Claude Debussy
was already showing signs of the colon cancer that was to end his life four
years later. Apprehensive about his health and tormented by the military
conćict, his creative production came to a virtual halt. E[cept for %HUFHXVH
+«UR±TXH written êas a tribute of homage to His Majesty .ing Albert I of
Belgium and his soldiers,ë Debussy wrote no new music in 1914. At the
end of the year, he undertook (with little enthusiasm) the preparation
of a new edition of Chopin’s works to help compensate Durand for the
regular advances the publisher had been sending. The death of Debussy’s
mother in March 1915 further deepened his depression. That same month,
however, he appeared in a recital in the Salle Gaveau with the soprano
Ninon Vallin, and his mood brightened somewhat during the following
months. êI have a few ideas at the moment,ë he wrote to Durand in -une,
êand, although they are not worth making a fuss about, I should like to
cultivate them.ë That summer he completed (Q%ODQFHW1RLUIRU7ZR3LDQRV
and the ‹WXGHVIRU3LDQR, and projected a series of si[ sonatas for various
instrumental combinations inspired by the old Baroque school of French
clavecinists. The Ćrst, 6RQDWDIRU&HOORDQG3LDQR, was completed quickly
in -uly and August 1915 during a holiday at Pourville, near Dieppe. The
second, 6RQDWDIRU)OXWH9LROD (originally oboe), DQG+DUS, was also written
at Pourville before Debussy returned to Paris on October 12th. Surgery
in December prevented him from further work until October 1916, when
he began the 6RQDWDIRU9LROLQDQG3LDQR. A sonata for oboe, horn, and
harpsichord never went beyond the planning stage; the remainder of the
projected set did not get that far. The 9LROLQ6RQDWD, completed in 1917, was
his last important work; he premiered the piece on May 5, 1917 in Paris
with violinist Gaston Poulet, and played it again in September at St.--eande-Lu], where he was summering. It was his Ćnal public appearance.
For the inspiration, style, and temperament of the sonatas, Debussy
looked back far beyond the Impressionism of his earlier works to the
elegance, emotional reserve, and te[tural clarity of the music of the
French Baroque. The ethereal opening 3DVWRUDOH of the 6RQDWDIRU)OXWH
9LRODDQG+DUS unfolds as a series of episodes based on themes that at
Ćrst encounter seem like little more than wispy arabesques. There are,
however, Ćve fragmentary but distinct thematic entities here, which are
later recapitulated in a different order to round out the movement’s form
are here: 1) and 2) are two melancholy strains that introduce the ćute and
the viola; 3) an open-interval, drone-like motive for viola and harp; 4) a
lyrical melody in the ćute’s lower register supported by arching arpeggios
in the viola; and 5) an animated ensemble passage in an uneven meter. The
motives are heard at the end of the movement in this order: 2–4–5–3–1. A
quicker dance-like section occupies the middle of the movement.
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Though the ,QWHUOXGH—a reminiscence in pastels of the durable old form
of the 0LQXHWæis Debussy’s most obvious tribute here to the music of
the Baroque, its whole-tone theme, parallel chord streams, and modal
harmonies plainly mark this as a product of the 20th century. The form
proceeds by twice interpolating a vaguely Oriental duple-meter episode
(B) into the delicate triple-meter 0LQXHW (A): A–B–A–B–A.
The )LQDOH brilliantly grounds its apparent evanescence of e[pression in a
carefully crafted development of its themes. Most of the movement grows
from mutations of the three motives that are presented in quick succession
at the outset: snapping viola pizzicatos, quicksilver falling arpeggios from
the ćute, and a longer viola melody an[iously ju[taposing duple and triple
rhythms. As the movement nears its end, the tempo slows to admit a brief
recall of the ćute theme that opened the Ćrst movement before a short,
animated coda closes the sonata.
***
The 3URORJXHthat opens Debussy’s 6RQDWDIRU&HOORDQG3LDQRnot only
provides a gateway to the work but also a thematic source for its later
movements. Debussy said that he tried in this work to evoke the spirit of
the old Italian FRPPHGLD GHOOèDUWH, and he achieved this quality most fully in
the insouciant 6«U«QDGH that occupies the middle movement. The )LQDOH, a
sectional structure, not only refers to the theme of the 3URORJXH, but also
hints at Debussy’s early song )DQWRFKHV, to a te[t by Verlaine. For all of its
determined reactionary tendencies, however, the &HOOR6RQDWD is still so
essentially imbued with the rich and misty harmonies marking Debussy’s
most characteristic works that Ernest Newman said it consists êmostly
of a fog opening now and then, and giving us a momentary glimpse of
ravishingly beautiful countryside.ë
Serenade for Flute, Violin, Viola, Cello, and Harp, Op. 30
Albert Roussel
Born April 5, 1869 in Tourcoing, France
Died August 23, 1937 in Royan
Composed in 1925
Premiered on October 15, 1925 in Paris
Duration: 16 minutes
Albert Roussel, born in 1869 in Tourcoing, at the Belgian border 30 miles
from the North Sea, showed musical promise as a boy but decided on a
naval career and was admitted to the École Navale as a cadet in 1887. The
duty and travels of military life did nothing to diminish his interest in music,
however, and in 1894 he resigned his naval commission to devote himself
to the study of composition. After several years of private tuition and some
tentative creative undertakings, he enrolled in 1898 in Vincent d’Indy’s
Schola Cantorum to begin a demanding ten-year curriculum, which he saw
to completion. Roussel was appointed to teach the counterpoint class at
the Schola beginning in 1902, and he remained in that post for the ne[t
dozen years; Eric Satie and Edgar Varèse were among his pupils. By the
time he Ćnally completed his studies at the Schola, in 1908, Roussel had
already written several large works, including his )LUVW6\PSKRQ\. In 1909,
he went on an e[tended tour of India and Southeast Asia, an e[perience
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that deeply affected his creativity. With the outbreak of World War I,
he rejoined the armed forces, and after a period as an ambulance driver
he was taken into the artillery corps. Following the war, he lived on the
coast in Brittany and later in Normandy, where, despite persistent health
problems, he produced a succession of major scores. Roussel’s lifelong
interest in music education was rećected in the composition that he left
unĆnished at his death, in 1937: a large theatrical piece involving workers’
choral groups.
Roussel’s 6HUHQDGHIRU)OXWH+DUSDQG6WULQJ7ULR, composed in 1925 for
the noted ćutist and Paris Conservatoire faculty member René Le Roy,
draws a luminous and widely varied range of instrumental colors from its
modest ensemble. The opening movement is an ingenious construction
loosely modeled on traditional sonata form: the Ćrst half of the movement
comprises three themes and their brief developments—a lyrical, arching
ćute strain; a jaunty tune in quick notes, also begun by the ćute; and a
march-like, snapping-rhythm viola melody played staccato—each given
at a progressively faster tempo ($OOHJURæ3RFRSL»PRVVR[a little more
motion]æ$OOHJURPROWR). The sequence, modiĆed in its details, is reiterated
as a recapitulation before the movement comes to an e[cited close (3UHVWR)
with a coda based on the march-like motive. The $QGDQWH, suspended upon
a long winding melody for the ćute in its outer sections and another one
for the cello at its center, is languid, sensuous, and a little mysterious—a
reminiscence of the Orientalisms that Roussel was fond of evoking in his
works of the 1920s. The Ćnale is a vibrant and tensely rhythmic dance
for which the viola’s poignant and e[pansive theme at the center of the
movement provides formal contrast and e[pressive balance.
Quintet No. 1 for Flute, Violin, Viola, Cello, and Harp
-ean Fran©ai[
Born May 23, 1912 in Le Mans
Died September 25, 1997 in Paris
Composed in 1934
Premiered on May 24, 1935 in Paris by the Quintette Instrumental de Paris
Duration: 9 minutes
-ean Fran©ai[, the French composer, pianist, and advocate of Debussy’s
artistic philosophy of êIDLUHSODLVLUë (giving pleasure), was born into a musical
family in Le Mans in May 1912. His father was a pianist and composer and
director of the Le Mans Conservatory; his mother taught voice and founded
a local chorus. Fran©ai[ received his earliest training from his parents, but
showed such precocious talent that he was regularly commuting to Paris
for private lessons at the Conservatoire by the time he was nine. He was
much upset by news of the death of Camille Saint-Saëns in that year (1921),
and vowed to his father that he would êtake his placeë as a PXVLFLHQ IUDQ©DLV;
Fran©ai[’s earliest published work, a suite for piano, appeared the ne[t year.
He settled in Paris a few years later for regular study at the Conservatoire
and won Ćrst prize in piano when he was just 18; two years later he gained
recognition as a composer with a symphony that was premiered in Paris
by Pierre Monteu[ in November 1932. He played the Ćrst performance
of his own &RQFHUWLQRIRU3LDQRDQG2UFKHVWUD with much success in 1934,
and came to international prominence when he presented the work at
a festival of contemporary music in Baden-Baden, Germany, two years
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later. He subsequently made numerous tours throughout Europe and the
United States as composer and pianist. The 1933 ballet 6FXROD GL ballo,
choreographed by Léonide Massine for the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo,
marked Fran©ai[’s entry into the genres of musical theater, for which he
produced Ćve operas and a total of 16 ballets as well as many Ćlm scores
before his death in Paris on September 25, 1997.
Pierre -amet (1893-1991) was one of the foremost harpists of his
generation, prize-winning graduate and later professor at the Paris
Conservatoire, principal harpist of the Paris Opéra and Concerts Colonne,
founder of the Association Internationale des Harpistes et Amis de la
Harpe, OfĆcier of the Légion d’Honneur, and Chevalier de l’Ordre des
Arts et Lettres. He had already established his reputation as a soloist and
chamber musician by the time he participated in the premiere of Debussy’s
6oQaWaIoU)lXWH9LolaaQG+aUS in April 1917, after which he ardently
sought to e[pand the repertory for his instrument. In 1922, -amet founded
the Quintette Instrumental de Paris with ćutist René Le Roy, violinist
René Bas, violist Pierre Grout, and cellist Roger Boulmé, and the ensemble
quickly gained prominence not only for its e[emplary performances of
music by Beethoven, Mozart, Rameau, and other classical masters but
also for inspiring new works from such noted contemporary composers as
Roussel, -ongen, .oechlin, Schmitt, Tailleferre, and -olivet.
In 1934, Fran©ai[ composed his 4XLQWHWIoU)lXWH9LolLQ9Lola&HlloaQG
Harp for the ensemble, which premiered in Paris on May 24, 1935. The Ćrst
movement ($QGaQWHWraQTXLllo) is a wistful song for the ćute given above a
suave, undulating accompaniment. The Scherzo is delicate and playful, with
a lilting, legato central episode for strings providing formal and stylistic
balance. The $QGaQWe, slow and subdued throughout, has the quality of a
tender melody recollected in memory. The genial closing 5oQGo is based on
the traditional French children’s SaYezYoXVplaQWerleVchoX["(Do you know
how to plant cabbage?).
Deux pièces en trio for Flute, Cello, and Harp, Op. 80
-oseph -ongen
Born December 14, 1873 in Liège, Belgium
Died -uly 12, 1953 in Sart-lez-Spa, Belgium
Composed in 1925
Premiered in -une 1926 in Paris by ćutist René Le Roy, cellist Roger
Boulmé, and harpist Pierre -amet
Duration: 15 minutes
Composer, organist, and teacher -oseph -ongen was among the leading
Ćgures of Belgian music during the early 20th century. He was born in
1873 in Liège (César Franck’s hometown), and began music study at the
conservatory in that city at age seven. He continued at the school for his
professional training, and began teaching harmony and counterpoint there
in 1891. In 1897 -ongen won the Belgian Pri[ de Rome, which enabled
him to study in Germany, Italy, and France for the ne[t four years; he
also received advice and instruction from Richard Strauss in Berlin and
Vincent d’Indy and Gabriel Fauré in Paris. -ongen returned to Liège in
1902, resuming his duties on the conservatory faculty as professor of
composition. During World War I, he lived in England, where he appeared
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in recital as pianist and organist, conducted, and toured with the Belgian
Piano Quartet, which he founded. He returned to Belgium in 1919, and
the following year joined the faculty of the Brussels Conservatory, which
he directed from 1925 to 1939. -ongen was also the conductor during
those years of the Concerts Spirituels, a Brussels music society devoted
to the performance of sacred compositions. He ćed to France in 1939, but
returned after World War II to his country estate at Sart-lez-Spa, where he
carried on his creative work until his death on -uly 12, 1953.
-ongen composed his &oQcerW ¢ cLQT for the Quintette Instrumental de
Paris in 1923, and two years later wrote the 'eX[ pLªceV eQ WrLo Ior )lXWe
&ello aQG Harp for the ensemble. The wistful Ćrst 3Lªce is an Impressionistic
analogue to classical rondo, with the gently undulating duet for ćute and
cello of uncertain tonality presented at the outset returning in subtle
transformations as a unifying device throughout the movement. Passages
of complementary rather than contrasting character are elided to the
reprises of this motto to balance both form and mood. The e[troverted
second 3Lªce is divided into three large formal paragraphs: a strongly
rhythmic opening section (the cello is instructed to play its repeated
Ćgures at the beginning êin the manner of a drumë) in which the melodic
interest is shared in turn among the participants; an e[pansive lyrical
passage largely entrusted to the cello; and a brilliant coda for the close.
Suite for Flute, Violin, Viola, Cello, and Harp, Op. 34
Marcel Tournier
Born -anuary 5, 1879 in Paris
Died May 12, 1951 in Paris
Composed in 1928
Premiered on May 21, 1928 in Paris by the
Quintette Instrumental de Paris
Duration: 14 minutes
Acclaimed French harpist and composer Marcel Tournier, born in
Paris on -une 5, 1879, was a pupil of Alphonse Hasselmans at the Paris
Conservatoire, where he received the coveted First Prize in Harp in
1899. He subsequently studied composition with Charles Lenepveu and
Georges Caussade and won the 3rL[ Ge 5oPe in 1909 for his cantata La
5oXVValNa, based on the story of a water sprite (Rusalka) who falls in love
with a Prince and enlists the aid of a witch to transform her into a beautiful
woman. That same year he received the Rossini Prize from the Institut de
France for his êlyric scene in four episodesë for violin and orchestra after
the old tale of LaXre eW 3«WrarTXe. In 1912, Tournier succeeded his teacher
Hasselmans as Professor of Harp at the Conservatoire, a post he occupied
until 1948 while performing widely as a soloist and with the orchestras of
the Concerts Lamoureu[, Société des Concerts, and Paris Opéra. He died
in Paris on May 12, 1951. In addition to writing a treatise on his instrument
(published posthumously, in 1959), Tournier composed two ballets, songs,
piano pieces, and many chamber and solo works for harp.
Tournier composed his SXLWe Ior )lXWe Harp aQG SWrLQJV 2p in 1928 for
the Quintette Instrumental de Paris, who premiered the work in Paris on
May 21, 1928. The suite opens with an evocation of Soir (Evening) that
begins in an appropriately crepuscular mood but turns more animated for
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its central passage. Had the satyr in Debussy’s 3relXGe Wo Whe $IWerQooQ oI a
)aXQ been successful in his pursuit of the nymphs who gamboled across his
hillock, the musical offspring might well resemble the 'aQVe in its bantering
character, luscious sonorities, and prominence accorded to the ćute. LieG
(Song) provides a languid interlude. The closing )¬We (Festival) is playful and
thoughtful by turns.
©2014 Dr. Richard E. Rodda
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