Nocturne for Piano, Violin & Violoncello – Program Notes

The second piece on our Musical Friendships Chamber Concert (3:00 pm, Sunday November 4, Zion Lutheran Church in Clinton) will be Nocturne for Piano, Violin & Violoncello by Franz Schubert. It will be performed by Nadia Wirchnianski, piano; Asa Church, violin; and Robert Whipple, violoncello.

Please enjoy the following program notes:

Franz Peter Schubert(1797-1828) is considered, like Beethoven, a transitional composer between the late Classical-ism of Mozart and Haydn and the early Romanticism of Mendelssohn and Schumann. He became the embodiment of the long-suffering artist who labors to produce great masterworks which are met with rejection, only to find acceptance just as his young life is cut short by cruel fate.

Born in Himmelpfortgrund, Austria, Schubert showed a predilection for music at an early age, and he was nurtured in these native tendencies by his father, a school master, and an older brother, Ignaz. In additional to his skills at playing the violin, piano, and organ, Schubert possessed an exceptional voice that earned him a position at the Stadtkonvikt, which trained young aspiring vocalists to one day sing at the Imperial Court. In due course in 1808, he received a scholarship to the Imperial Court’s chapel choir, where he impressed the court organist Wenzel Ruzicka, not only with his voice but with his skill as a violinist in the student orchestra. He was promoted to leader of the orchestra, and, in Ruzicka’s absence, young Schubert conducted as well. While there, Schubert studied with the eminent court composer Antonio Salieri, who pronounced the young man a musical genius.

When his voice broke in 1812, Schubert left the Court – although he continued to study with Salieri for another three years – and soon entered a teacher training college in Vienna, after which he took an assistant’s position at his father’s school.

Composing seemed to come naturally to Schubert, and he had an extraordinary ear for melody. While he worked as a schoolmaster, he composed several works including piano pieces, string quartets, symphonies, and an opera. Inspired by a great trove of Romantic poetry from German writers, Schubert began to put their words to music in the form of Lieds (Songs). Two such Lieds based on works by Johann Wolfgang Goethe took Vienna by storm and made Schubert a name among parlor composers: Gretchen am Spinnrade (Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel), and Erlkönig (Fairy King).

Having found an audience for his music, Schubert left teaching to seek his fortune with music full time. Soon the prolific composer produced a startling array of works in various genres, from operas to lieder. A piano work Sonata in B-flat Major was followed by an operetta Die Zwillingsbrüder (The Twin Brothers) was followed by incidental music for a play Die Zauberharfe (The Magic Harp) was followed by a string quartet movement Quartettsatz, and so on.

Despite its growing popularity, publishers were reluctant to offer Schubert’s music because they considered it so nontraditional that it would not sell. Yet, in Vienna, Schubert’s songs and dances were so popular that wealthy citizens gave concert parties called Schubertiaden to enliven their Viennese social life.

During the mid-1820s, Schubert’s fortunes waxed and waned, from a modicum of recognition to near abject poverty. So dire did his circumstances become that he ventured briefly back into teaching. To add misery to his uncertainty, he contracted a venereal disease, possibly syphilis, that was slowly but surely killing him.

Suffering terribly as he did, nevertheless, he continued to produce music at a phenomenal rate in both the chamber and orchestral realms. By 1826, after years of public and official neglect, Schubert had behind him an impressive body of work including eight symphonies, a major song cycle, notable operas, and numerous chamber pieces. This extraordinary output was instrumental in his growing popularity in Vienna and with his negotiations with several music publishing firms. However, the death of Ludwig van Beethoven hit Schubert hard, as it did most of Vienna.

As if sensing his own approaching death, Schubert continued to pour his soul into his compositions, completing the Great C Major Symphony and the last great string quartet, among other masterworks. It was in these last months of his life that the ailing composer turned to the piano trio as another means of expression. Aside from a single movement composed during the summer of 1812 (the so called Sonatensatzin B flat major, D. 28), two piano trios and a nocturne of 1828 are his only ventures in that format.

The Piano Trio in E-flat major (Nocturne) (Adagio only), D. 897 (Op. posth. 148) This substantial one-movement work is probably a discarded movement for the Piano Trio No 1 in B-flat major, D. 898. One scholar lauded the rich, melodic content of the movement:

Sensuous rather than emotionally probing, extravagant in both ornamentation and expression, the Notturno unfolds as a bewitching succession of instrumental and harmonic colors over a static rhythmic and tonal framework of startling simplicity.

The Nocturno, Op Posth. 148, as it is often observed, was found among Schubert’s papers after his death, without title, signature, or date. It was not published until two decades after the composer’s death by Anton Diabelli in 1845.

~program notes by William Driver

Chamber Concert – Trio Concertante

Musical Friendships is the Clinton Symphony’s annual chamber music performance, and will take place on Sunday, November 4, 3:00 p.m., in Zion Lutheran Church.  Leading off our concert will be the Trio Concertante for Two Violins & Viola by Guiseppi Maria Cambini.  Ann Duchow and Hana Velde, violins; and Becca Payne, viola, will be performing this work.

Please enjoy these program notes* :

Giuseppe Maria Gioacchino Cambini (1746 – 1825?), Italian-born composer and violinist, was one of the more prolific composers in an age when quantity was often superior to quality. He composed in all the musical genres of his day, specializing in sinfonias concertante and string quintets and quartets. Over his lifetime, he is credited with writing more than 700 compositions of various sorts.

Little validity can be given to accounts of his early life, but that he was born in Livorno, Italy, and that he possibly studied violin with Filippo Manfredi. One fanciful legend has it that following a failed concert appearance in Naples in 1766, he was kidnapped on his return to Livorno by pirates who treated him disgracefully until his release at the behest of a Viennese aristocrat. Tales such as this were often condoned and even elaborated upon by Cambini himself as a means of self-promotion.

Cambini seems to have been active in Naples before settling in Paris in 1770. In Paris, he published a continuous stream of compositions and performed as a violinist, although his instrumental skills were considered poorly in comparison to other violin soloists of the day. His musical pieces, however, found an eager audience. He remained in Paris until around 1800 working in various occupations as theater manager, newspaper columnist, editor, and composer. Apparently, he adapted well to the extreme conditions the French Revolution visited on the capital city, for nothing adverse is reported in the published accounts of the musical life of the city.

While in Paris, Cambini contributed a voluminous number of compositions to the life of the musical city. He composed chamber music, symphonies, oratorios, operas, and other concert pieces. He wrote more than 80 sinfonias concertante, thus inspiring a tale of conflict with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: In 1788, Mozart complained that Cambini tried to interfere with a performance of Mozart’s Sinfonia concertante KV297b, because he, Cambini, was “jealous of its perfection.” However, Cambini was considered by other composers with whom he had contact to be of good moral character and “and an honest man.”

Little is known for certain of Cambini’s life following his contract to write articles for periodicals and magazines, such as the German Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung and the French Tablettes de Polymne. Evidence of his work in these publications appear until 1811, after which he disappears without a trace. One author states that he died in Holland in 1818, while another attests that Cambini fell ill to a mental disease and died in a sanitarium in 1825.

Cambini’s Trio Concertante for Two Violins and Viola, No 1, Op 1, is just one of over 110 trios he wrote for various instrumental configurations.

* Program notes by William Driver.

Brahms – Symphony No. 2 Program Notes

The Clinton Symphony Orchestra will be performing tonight, September 22, at 7:30pm at Sterling High School.  See our website, https://ClintonSymphony.org for more information about the concert.   The CSO will be performing Brahms Symphony No. 2 as part of the concert; please enjoy the following program notes by William Driver.

Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 73

Brahms was a man of uncommonly sharp wit, but self-deprecating toward his own compositions relative to the works of those great German composers who preceded him—Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven. Since Robert Schumann had so lavishly praised him at the outset of his career, Brahms knew he was the designated heir-apparent of the classical tradition of German symphonic music embodied in the scores of Ludwig van Beethoven. But the idea of competing with a ghost was almost too much for the composer. He labored for two decades to produce a symphony worthy enough to compare favorably to those of the Master. As he himself said, “I’ll never get a symphony written. You’ve no conception of what it’s like to hear a giant’s footsteps marching behind you.”

     Brahms was 43 years old when he completed his first of four symphonies. The gestation period had been long, but the public received the result with great anticipation and applause. The Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 68, premiered in 1876; it was hailed by some as proof that Brahms had indeed arrived as the rightful successor to Beethoven. Conductor Hans von Bülow greeted the symphony as “Beethoven’s Tenth,” an assessment seconded by the noted Viennese music critic Eduard Hanslick, who went on to add that the work was “one of the most individual and magnificent works of the symphonic literature.” High praise indeed for a composer who had so feared the inevitable comparison to the Master himself.

     In the Beethoven manner, Brahms quickly followed the dark, tumultuous First Symphony with a companion, a contrasting symphony of a brighter hue. The Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 73, was composed in 1877 at a sunny summer retreat in the Austrian Alps. The locale obviously served Brahms’ spirit well, for he produced an uncommonly optimistic work. However, the sardonic Brahms could not forego a joke to his publisher. “The new symphony is so melancholy that you won’t be able to stand it. I have never before written anything so sad and mournful. The score will have to be published with a black border.” To the contrary, “This [symphony] is as happy as Brahms gets,” in the words of one conductor. It is a bright, joyfully bucolic work, dubbed by Hanslick as Brahms’ “Pastorale” symphony.

     The Symphony No. 2 in D major premiered in Vienna on December 30, 1877, with Hans Richter conducting. One of the most renowned conductors of the day, Richter would also premiere Brahms’ Third Symphony six years later. Viennese audiences were pleased with the new symphony, which quickly assumed a place of prominence among Brahms’ works. The composer, ever caustic, alleged that the Viennese liked the work so much because two of the symphony’s four movements were written in waltz-time.

Brahms Hungarian Dances 5 & 6 – Program Notes

The Clinton Symphony will be performing the Brahms Hungarian Dances 5 and 6 side by side with students from Sterling High School on their Autumn Concert, Unbridled Brilliance, on September 22.  The following are program notes from William Driver about the Dances.

 

Johannes Brahms

Hungarian Dances 5 and 6

Hungarian Dances is a set of 21 dances arranged by Johannes Brahms from Hungarian folk sources and originally scored for piano four hands (two pianists, one piano) and later orchestrated by Brahms and a few friends, including Antonin Dvorak. No opus number is assigned to the work because Brahms considered himself the arranger rather than the composer, and thus would take no credit for the pieces. However, three of the compositions are believed to be original with Brahms – numbers 11, 14, and 16.

The inspiration for Dances grew out of Brahms study of folk music and encouraged by his early relationship with Hungarian-born violinist Ede Reményi. Brahms had met Reményi when he was 17 and three years later he served as piano accompanist to Reményi during an extensive tour of European cities. After the publication of the Dances, Reményi accused Brahms of adapting tunes of his for use in the Dances.

Brahms actually claimed only to have arranged pre-existing melodies when he finally came around to publishing them…Friends remembered his flashing eyes when Brahms played his dances, the rhythm darting and halting, his hands all over the keyboard at once.

The Dances were published in four sets, two in 1869 and two in 1880. They were an immediate success and were widely performed in public recitals and home entertainment. Immediate also was the demand for orchestral versions of the individual pieces, which were dutifully forthcoming from Brahms and his composer friends.

Interestingly, one of the better-known Hungarian Dances includes No. 5, based on the Csárdás Bártfai emlék(Memories of Bártfa) by Hungarian composer Béla Kéler, which Brahms mistakenly thought was a traditional folksong.

The earliest known recording of any movement of Hungarian Dances is a version of Hungarian Dances No. 1, from 1890, played by Brahms himself, and, recorded by Theo Wangemann, an assistant to Thomas Edison.

The following dialogue can be heard in the recording as an introduction:

Theo Wangemann: “Dezember 1889.” (December 1889)

Johannes Brahms: “Im Haus von Herrn Doktor Fellinger bei Herrn Doktor Brahms, Johannes Brahms.” (In the house of Dr. Fellinger with Dr. Brahms, Johannes Brahms)

Unbridled Brilliance – CSO Concert on September 22

Featured on our first concert of the 2018-19 season are violinist Julieta Mihai and cellist Moises Molina, both faculty members at Western Illinois University.  The concert will take place on Saturday, September 22, at 7:30pm at Sterling High School.  See our Tickets page for information, including our new Student Sponsorship program.  There will be a bus running from Clinton/Fulton/Morrison to Sterling, call 563-219-8084 to make reservations.

Our guest soloists will be performing the Brahm’s Double Concerto with the Clinton Symphony.  Please enjoy these program notes written by William Driver about this piece.

Concerto for Violin and Cello

The Concerto for Violin and Cello in A minor, Op. 102, (Double Concerto) was the last orchestral work Brahms completed, and it followed his Symphony No. 4 in E minor by two years. The concerto displays the same warm, autumnal qualities that characterized much of Brahms’ late music output. What it lacks in pure dynamic flair, however, it more than atones for with its long-lined Romantic lyricism, particularly evident in the andante second movement.

The Double Concerto began life as a potential fifth symphony, but Brahms, to fulfill a promise to his friend the noted German cellist, Robert Hausmann, turned his notes into a cello concerto. Hausmann was a member of the Joachim Quartet, founded by the same Joseph Joachim who had premiered the Brahms Violin Concerto and who was a fervent champion of the composer’s music. The question arises, however, how did a cello concerto turn into a concerto for violin and cello? As with other Brahms works, there is a story of interest behind the concerto’s composition.

The Joachims, husband and wife, were both good friends with Brahms, and he cared dearly for each of them. After two decades of marriage, the Joachims came to a parting of the ways. Joseph became convinced his wife, the well-known soprano Amalie Weiss Joachim, was having an affair with music publisher Fritz Simrock. During the divorce proceedings, Amalie produced a letter to her from Brahms in which he took her side in the dispute. Joseph did not take kindly to what he considered the composer’s betrayal of their friendship. Once the Joachims’ divorce became final in 1883, Joseph refused to socialize or communicate with Brahms; but he did continue to premiere and advocate for Brahms’ music.

In the course of the composing process, Brahms came to fear that Joachim might take further offense if he wrote a concerto for the cellist of Joachim’s quartet instead of a new violin concerto for Joachim himself. As a peace offering to Joachim, Brahms added the violin—several critics suspect by simply taking some of the cello parts and reworking them for the violin—to come to the form we have today. Brahms’ ploy worked, for the two men resumed their friendship, though not with the intensity it once had.

A concerto for more than one solo instrument was unusual for the late nineteenth century Romantic school of composition. But it was not without precedent. The Baroque period was the age of the concerto grosso and works with various and sundry instrumentation. The Classical era saw a decline in this kind of concerto, but even here Haydn and Mozart had each composed a Sinfonia Concertante, and the master Beethoven himself had written a Triple Concerto for Violin, Cello and Piano in C major. Even Felix Mendelssohn, a classicist among early Romantic composers, had penned a concerto for piano and violin. Of his contemporaries, Max Bruch, a friend of both Brahms and Joachim, had composed a double concerto for the unusual combination of clarinet and viola. Still Brahms had ventured onto a little traveled path.

Brahms expended a great deal of effort on the concerto, before the three men, Hausmann, Joachim, and Brahms, met in Baden-Baden at the home of Clara Schumann in September 1887 to play through the score. A run-through was scheduled with the local orchestra, and the premiere took place under the direction of the composer in November the same year in Cologne. The response to the work was cool at best. One of Brahms’ friends referenced the piece as “a really senile production,” while the conductor of its American premiere in 1889 could say only it was “not the most catchy thing imaginable.” Few admired the work with the sincerity of Joseph Joachim, to whom Brahms, in appreciation, gave the manuscript score with the notation “to him for whom it was written.”

The Double Concerto is truly symphonic, the score dominated by the orchestra with distinct sections for the solo instruments. In many respects, the interplay between the orchestra and the soloists is a contrast in Brahmsian styles with the orchestral fullness of his last symphony playing off against the more intimate nature of his late chamber pieces—in a sense two genres colliding and meshing to form a new whole. The cello is the lead solo, but the writing for both instruments is quite extraordinary and difficult, but with fewer of the fireworks that one finds in Brahms’ other three concertos. In fact, the solos are so closely related in tonal values that Brahms himself jokingly referred to the work as a Concerto for Giant Fiddle.

Stay tuned for further program notes for our fall concert, Unbridled Brilliance.

Welcome to our 65th Season!

Welcome to the 2018-19 concert season of the Clinton Symphony Orchestra. As I prepare for my thirteenth season as the Music Director & Conductor of this marvelous group of musicians, I have an air of anxious excitement for our coming year.

Repertoire is always a wonderful aspect of music making, and bringing new and exciting pieces to our audience is something I pride myself in, but this season we will also be showcasing fantastic talent at all levels!

In September, I am pleased to announce a Side-by-Side performance of Brahms’ famous Hungarian Dances Nos. 5 & 6 with students from the Sterling High School orchestra. They will get the opportunity to experience our fantastic guest artists Moises Molina and Julieta Mihai on Brahms’ Double Concerto for violin and cello.

For our winter performance, we are tying the young artist competition with a work by Jean Sibelius that will surprise you. Sibelius’ Symphony No. 3 in C major brings a new, pared down sound that is also new and revolutionary. It is a wondrous work created out of simplicity and culminating an astounding juxtaposing and blending of motifs that continue to grow with increased intensity to the end of the work.

And finally our April performance will feature internationally recognized pianist Lorrain Min. Ms. Min will be performing Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto No. 4 in C minor. Her artistry, technique, and musicality will delight us all.

As you can see, an amazing season in store for the Clinton Symphony Orchestra and YOU!

 

Brian Dollinger

Music Director and Conductor

Clinton Symphony Orchestra Iowa