The Music:
Franz Josef Haydn (1732-1809)
Piercing Eyes Hob.26a/35 English Canzonettas Book II
Recollection Hob.26a/26 English Canzonettas Book I
A Pastoral Song Hob.26/2 English Canzonettas Book I
She never told her Love Hob.26a/34 English Canzonettas Book II
The Spirits Song Hob.26a/41
O Tuneful Voice Hob.26a/42

Haydn wrote these art songs, known as the English Canzonettas, in 1794, when making his second visit to England. His collaborator on the project was a well known poet named the Lady Ann Hunter. Her husband was the renowned surgeon Sir John Hunter. Not only was it unusual for the poet to be a woman but the texts are quite unusual for their time in expressing feelings and perspectives from the feminine point of view. The songs are sensual and show life and emotion as perceived by a woman. Haydn is quite unfairly not normally considered as being that daring, but these songs must have been considered as most unusual at the time, and they are very inventive.

Compared to his symphonies, string quartets, piano sonatas, masses and oratorios, and operas, the songs are comparatively unknown. I first encountered them in Appleton, Wisconsin in 1992, when sung by Emmy Ameling, but I have not heard them other than on record since. The songs may not have the reputation of the best of Schubert, Schumann, Wolf, or Richard Strauss, but when performed with appreciation of their scale, and delicacy in the accompaniment, they are more than worthy of any lieder lover’s keen attention.

Piano Sonata in E Flat major, Hob.16/52
I Allegro
II Adagio
III Presto

This major piano sonata was written in 1794, and while dedicated to Madeleine von Kurzbeck, was written for an outstanding lady pianist in London, Therese Jansen, who was a protégé of Clementi. Haydn wanted to take advantage of her formidable technique and the exceptional sonority of the English pianos of the period.

This is the last of Haydn’s 52 piano sonatas and it is generally considered as the greatest. It is not only his longest, but the expansiveness covers unusual harmonies, intense development, and much invention. The opening is as if a French overture, but the drama is real ‘Sturm und Drang’ (again exampling the constant inventiveness of Haydn) and each time the opening theme appears so a variant takes the listener off in a very different and quite unexpected direction. The work is very rhythmic and full of marked contrast, but yet it is all contained within a formal sonata structure.

The opening Allegro is in E Flat major, but the Adagio is in E major, and E minor, half a step above the tonic and in a particular relationship then called ‘Neapolitan’. The Presto evidences two themes, each in the main key area.

But for the greatness of his fellow composers, Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, in this same genre, there is little doubt that Haydn would have been considered as even greater than he is, and this sonata would have been a pinnacle of achievement and art form. As it is, and 200 years after he died, and 215 years after he composed the sonata, the listener will hear tonight a wonderful work by an absolute master of his craft.

INTERVAL

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Un moto di gioia KV.579
Ridente la calma (a calm smile resides in my soul) KV.210
Das Veilchen (The Violet) KV.476
Dans un bois solitaire (in the solitary wood) KV.308
Als Luise die Briefe (In Louise’s letter) KV.520
Abendempfindung (Evening Nights)KV.523

Most of Mozart’s lied are not really art songs by the definition of poetry then deliberately set to music. Mozart’s songs are much more spontaneous and informal, and are about friendship, joy, romance, and feelings, even if the texts are borrowed from others.. The exception is Das Veilchen a poem by Goethe. It could be argued that the song Abendempfindung is aria like, and Un moto di goia also intended as an aria, but the invention is that of Mozart and not that of a poet then having his text put to music. Most of the songs are strophic and only seven were performed in Mozart’s lifetime. They really only became popular once his operas became staple fare, and thus after his death. That said they are very lovely, and atmospheric, and they are regularly included in recitals by many great sopranos. This particular group were a great favourite of the late Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, and she performed them in recital in both London and New York.

Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Impromptu in C minor D.899/1

This impromptu is the first in the Op.90 set of four. It was composed in 1827. There are four more impromptu in another set, Op 142. They are often performed and recorded together,

The first impromptu, in C minor, is the longest in the Op.90 set, and it resembles a tapestry of abstract imagery. It begins rather ambiguously before entering into a march like melody that then moves into an A Flat major song like melody that is accompanied by triplets in the bass. The second theme then moves to G major before transiting back to the main theme in C major, and then eventually tension is replaced by utter tranquillity. It is the perfect work to set up the performance of four of Schubert’s greatest lied.

Iphigenia D.573
AufloesungD.807
Ganymed D.544
Du bist die Ruh D.776

Iphigenia has a text produced by Schubert’s friend Johann Mayrhofer in 1817. It is the third of a set of four songs and poems. (Op.98/3) Mayrhofer was a well regarded poet, but also a renowned misogynist. Fortunately the latter quality is not on display here. The text is based on Greek classical myth where Iphigenia, the daughter of Agamemnon is exiled to Taurus. The song reflects feminine longing and it begins radiantly before moving to tumult, but then ending with great nobility.

Aufloesung is another Mayrhofer poem, and it was published posthumously in 1842, but was written in March 1824, the same month in which Schubert also composed his famous quartet, Death and the Maiden. It is a very unusual work with Schubert experimenting in the portrayal of transfiguration from the earthly world to the loftier heights of the ‘sweet heavenly clouds’. It is hushed, rapturous music albeit it is touched by the obsessive, as exampled by the insistence of sixteenth note octaves in the left hand, and a repetitive arpeggio in the right hand. The pianist is much challenged in this partnership.

Ganymed was written in 1817, and is based on a poem by Goethe., and again concerns Greek classical myth. Schubert dedicated the song to the poet, but did not ask his permission to use the text! Ganymed is the fabled Trojan youth who Zeus made into the God’s cup bearer on Olympus. The song has a serene opening leading to ecstatic moments and ending with an ethereal pianissimo.

Du bist die Ruh was composed in 1823 and is based on a poem by Freidrich Ruckert. (You are Rest and Peace). It is the third of a four song set, Op.59/3. The original poem by Ruckert was published in 1822, but was written a year or two earlier. It is a moving love poem. The lovely gentle theme, marked langsam (slowly) has a deft piano accompaniment, and this is one of Schubert’s most enduring and popular songs.

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The Music:
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847)
Sonata No 1 in F minor/F major
Allegro moderato e serioso
Adagio
Andante. Rezitativo
Allegro vivace assai

Mendelssohn wrote Six Organ Sonatas Op.65 in 1845, following on a commission in 1844 to write organ voluntaries. In fact no voluntaries were written, but instead the six musically significant multi movement organ sonatas emerged! The first sonata is in four movements and opens with fully scored homophony moving into a harmony of the chorale ‘Was mein Gott will gescheh’ allzeit’ where dignity on one manual combats a loud commentary on the other manual. The second movement is in A flat major, and the third movement that sets up an ‘attaca’ into the rich rolling finale in F major.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Schubler Chorales

Wachet auf, ruft uns die stimme, BWV 645
[From Cantata 140, composed in 1731]
Wake, awake, for night is passing

Wo soll ich fliehen hin, BWV 646
[From a lost Cantata, or from keyboard]
Whither shall I flee?

Wer nur den lieben Gott lasst walten, BWV 647
[From Cantata 93, composed in 1728]
Who allows God alone to rule him?

Meine Seele erhebt den Herren, BWV 648
[From Cantata 10, composed in 1736}
My soul doth magnify the Lord

Ach bleib bei uns, herr Jesu Christ, BWV 649
[From Cantata 6, composed in 1736]
Lord Jesus Christ, with us abide

Kommst du nun, Jesu, vom Himmel herunter?, BWV 650
[From Cantata 137, composed in 1732]
Come thou, Jesu, from heaven to earth


Georg Schubler published the Six Chorales in 1748. They are unique in Bach’s organ compositions in that five of the six compositions are transcriptions from his cantatas rather than being original compositions. In each chorale the melody is easily heard as it has its own keyboard. These works are a major challenge for any organist, mixing beauty with emotion in architecture that varies but is always linked to creation. Great organists of the past who were famed for their renditions include Karl Richter, Helmut Walcha, and Lionel Rogg.


INTERVAL

Percy Whitlock (1903-1946)
From Five Short Pieces

Folk Tune
Andante Tranquillo
Scherzo

Whitlock was an organist and composer and a student of Vaughn Williams at the Royal College of Music. He had a lush harmonic style with echoes of Elgar and Delius, and even Gershwin! His themes sounded like folksongs but were original creations.

From 1921 to 1930 Whitlock was the assistant organist at Rochester Cathedral, and in 1929 he composed the Five Short Pieces. Whitlock’s gifts were exceptional in smaller forms, and as a miniaturist he stands high. From 1930 until his tragic death when only 42, he was much associated with the musical life of Bournemouth, and is today recognised as a refreshing and unique voice in English music.


Henri Mulet (1878-1967)
From Equisses Byzantines

Noel
Rosace

Henri Mulet was a French organist and composer, and is regarded as a post romantic expressionist, and Equisses Byzantines published in 1919 is his most performed work. The American organist Virgil Fox was a champion of Mulet.

In 1937 Mulet burned most of his manuscripts and left Paris for Provence, where he went into seclusion for the next 30 years, only emerging (until 1958) to be the organist at the cathedral in Draguignan. After that he retired to the Abbey there, in the care of the monks, until he died nine years later.


Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Fantasia in F minor, K608

Composed in 1791 this work was originally considered impossible to play as notated. Mozart entitled it as ‘an organ piece for a clock’. It is so virtuoso in style that it does indeed celebrate the wonders of a clock! In 1799 the work was described as one of the most perfect works in Mozart’s inexhaustible genius. The organ in Mozart’s day was a player organ, as electricity did not exist, hence the suggestion of the precision of a clock. It is a wonderful challenging end to this extraordinary recital.
 

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THE MUSIC:

“Duello amoroso”

Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725) was an Italian baroque composer who is considered to have founded the Neapolitan school of opera and he was famous for both his operas and chamber cantatas. He had two sons, one of whom, Domenico, had a reputation to rival that of his father. Scarlatti was born in Palermo in Sicily, and studied in Rome with Carissimi, and then became the master of music for Queen Christina of Sweden, before moving to Naples in 1684 to take the same position for the Viceroy of Naples.In 1702 Scarlatti left Naples for Florence where Cardinal Ottoboni became his patron there and in Rome.In 1707 Scarlatti went to Venice before returning to Naples, where he stayed until 1717 before again returning to Rome where he produced some of his finest operas, and some exceptional church music. Scarlatti died in Naples.

Scarlatti’s music forms an important link between the early baroque Italian vocal styles of the 17th century and the classical school of the 18th century, which culminated in Mozart. Beside the operas and oratorios Scarlatti composed over five hundred chamber sonatas for solo voice or duo voices. These were very intellectual and important as to the development of musical thought, but surprisingly most have remained in manuscript and are not as well known as they should be. In contrast Scarlatti’s instrumental music is rather antiquated when compared to the invention of his vocal works.

In 1721 Scarlatti wrote a great mass – the St Cecilia Mass - which was the first attempt at a style that strongly influenced Handel and reached its height with Bach, and then Beethoven. His legacy in terms of vocal history cannot be underestimated. It was immense.

(For the relationship between the composers whose works are being performed tonight also see the extract on Handel prefacing the second half of tonight’s concert.)
Douglas Gowan © 2009

Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725)
‘Clori e Mirtillo’

[Duet for Soprano and Alto]

Written in about 1702 this chamber cantata features the lovers Clori and Mirtillo who are unusually happy together, and tell us so in two arias and two duets bound together by recitative.

G.F. Handel (1685-1759)
Pastorella, vagha bella

[Solo cantata for Soprano]

This delicate solo cantata was written in Handel’s Italian period around 1706-1710, and has become a favourite among lyric sopranos. Two arias are split by a short recitative.

Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725)
Mi ha diviso il cor

[Solo cantata for Alto]

This one of a set of three solo cantatas for ‘medium voice’.


Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725)

Sonata in C major No 3 for Violoncello und Basso Continuo

[Markus Stein, Harpsichord and Felix Koch, Cello]

The three animated cello sonatas, of which this is the last, are well crafted with the allegros both spirited and engaging. They are seemingly influenced by Corelli. The sonatas, while not offering great insights, deserve to be better known.


INTERVAL


Georg Frideric Handel (1685-1759) was born in Halle in Saxony in 1685. This was a momentous year in which Bach was also born, as was Domenico Scarlatti, the to be famous son of tonight’s other composer, Alessandro Scarlatti.

Handel was a German-English baroque composer who became famous for his operas, oratorios, and concerti grossi. He was also truly a cosmopolitan person, born in Germany, trained in Italy (where he encountered the works of Alessandro Scarlatti) and then he spent most of his life in England. Handel was strongly influenced by the techniques of the great composers of the Italian baroque.

Handel was a prodigy but his father wished him to study law. However when he was 12 his father died and a few years later Handel moved to Hamburg and he began to both play violin and harpsichord, and also compose.

From 1706 to 1710 Handel travelled in Italy and composed sacred music such as the famous Dixit Dominus. He also wrote many cantatas, and had to be aware of those written by Alessandro Scarlatti. Handel eventually wrote over 120 cantatas which as with Scarlatti had an important effect on his composition of operas. His patron at this time was the same Cardinal Ottoboni who just a few years earlier had been the patron of Scarlatti. Handel also worked and visited Venice, Florence, and Rome, and wrote chamber cantatas.

In 1710 Handel was invited to become the Kapellmeister to the future George 1 of Great Britain, and in 1712 he moved to London. He became a British subject in 1727. He died in 1759, his last attended performance being his own Messiah.
He is buried in Westminster Abbey, and since the 1970’s the revival of interest in early music, and emergence of countertenors able to replicate castrato roles has led not just to the operas being performed regularly, but to the oratorios and cantatas being revived. Handel’s reputation as one of the greatest of all musical dramatists is therefore still growing. This should not be a surprise as in 1797 Beethoven said” he was the master of us all……go to him to learn how to achieve great effects by simple means”. Douglas Gowan © 2009


G.F. Handel (1685-1759)
Vedendo Amor, HWV 175

[Cantata for Alto]

Handel took Italy by storm and probably crafted this work in 1707. He earned the accolade ‘the beloved Saxon’. The singer tells of how he escaped cupid’s attempts to ensnare him, but he then laments his eventual capture and bondage, and he in despair seeks rage as well as unrequited love.


Il duello amoroso, HWV 82
Daliso ed Amarilli: Amarilli vezzosa

[Cantata for Soprano and Alto]

This extraordinary work was only published in 1994, but according to the Vatican archives the work was first performed in October 1708.The cantata depicts the shepherd Daliso’s amorous pursuit of the spiteful and bitchy Amarilli. The work opens with an ‘overture’ depicting the chase and then each character has three arias; Amarilli goads Daliso to use force to possess her, and when he baulks she tells him that he is not man enough for her. The final duet has Daliso calling Amarilli an ingrate and desperately seeking the return of his love, and Amarilli telling him to go away and find peace as he is just not her type, and will never light her torch!. The world has very plainly not changed, and these basic human relationships and emotions are as evident today as then. This dramatic and rather cruel story, told in music some 300 years ago, could just as well be a current novella or a segment of East Enders!

Note: The fine Italian single manual harpsichord being used tonight has been provided by Alan Gotto, and we are most grateful. It is tuned by Valotti at a pitch a=415 Hz.

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THE MUSIC:

Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Cello Sonata No.1 in B Flat major, Op 45.

Allegro Vivace
Andante
Allegro assai

The Cello Sonata was composed in Leipzig in 1838. Mendelssohn was born in Hamburg to a Jewish family which had converted to Christianity in 1816, after they had relocated to Berlin in 1811. Mendelssohn was the son of a banker but a natural musical prodigy at age 6 with an affinity for the piano. The work was intended for a private performance by the composer’s brother Paul, who was a wealthy financier and able amateur cellist. It has some affinity with the Beethoven A major Sonata, Op 69, in its heroic theme and broad melodic appeal and dignified sentiment. Schumann considered it as worthy of Goethe and Byron. The Sonata may not display the mastery of form that Mendelssohn achieved later, but it is a most compelling work.


Bohuslav Martinu (1890-1959)
Cello Sonata No.2, H.286

Allegro
Largo
Allegro commodo

This fine, and sometimes romantic work, was written in 1941 and had its premier on Long Island, New York. Martinu was born in Bohemia, and attended the Prague Conservatory, where he was considered an idle and negligent student. He then became self taught, but was sufficiently able as a violinist to join the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, and he began to compose. In 1923 he went to Paris and became a pupil of Roussel, although all his compositions reflect a Bohemian and Czech idiom, albeit influenced by Debussy and others.

Martinu then moved away from romantic composition, moving towards both expressionism and jazz, but still maintaining the use of folk melodies. He fled to the USA in 1941, barely escaping the Nazi invasion of France. Although successful in the USA, he was very homesick for Czechoslovakia, but sadly he never returned to his homeland due to the communist regime, and he died in Switzerland.
Martinu had some interesting students, who included Alan Hovhaness, Jan Novak, and Burt Bacharach. He was a prolific composer writing over 400 published pieces, including six symphonies.

Martinu said that “the artist is always searching for the meaning of life, his own and that of mankind, searching for truth. A system of uncertainty has entered our daily life. The pressures of mechanisation and uniformity to which it is subject call for protest and the artist has only one means of expressing this, by music”. These sentiments of the 1950’s are as relevant today as they were then, and this neo classical composer, whose work is becoming increasingly appreciated today, was indeed a man for our times.


INTERVAL


Anton Rubinstein (1829-1894)
Cello Sonata No.2 in G major, Op 39.

Allegro
Allegretto
Andante
Moderato

Rubinstein is remembered today as a great piano virtuoso, who was compared with Liszt who was his pupil-master. However he was equally celebrated as a composer. The free flowing Sonata presented here tonight is easily the equivalent of major compositions by Chopin, Mendelssohn, and Rachmaninov. The Sonata was composed in 1857, and then revised. There are Brahmsian themes, and a fantasia like aspect beyond the formal sonata form, and this is an underestimated and important work.

Anton Rubinstein’s professional concert career as a piano virtuoso began in 1854, when he toured Europe. Previously he had met Mendelssohn, and like Mendelssohn he had converted from the Jewish faith to Christianity. He was of German-Polish origin, but grew up in Moscow. He knew Meyerbeer, Brahms, Schumann, and Chopin. His recital partner was the famed violinist and composer Wieniawski. Later in his life he became a notable conductor, and too a degree it is his extraordinary reputation as a musician that has prevented a fuller recognition of his compositions.

The opening theme in the Sonata is long spanned, but it is the piano with dotted rhythms that dominates the elemental power of the music. The Allegretto is in G minor and is more minuet than scherzo with some sentimentality of expression. The Andante is very romantic with a memorable melody and tune. The piano is a true partner in this work, and especially so in this movement. There are almost Bach like moments, and it should be noted that Rubinstein was an admired champion of Bach’s keyboard works. The finale is a display piece both passionate and witty, and becomes increasingly grand. The work as a piece is a magnificent chamber work that should be heard often.

Notes by Douglas Gowan © 2009.

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Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Sonata No 9 in A major for Violin and Piano, Op. 47

Adagio sostenuto – Presto – Adagio
Andante con variazioni
Presto

The Sonata is best known by its name, the Kreutzer Sonata. It is known for a highly demanding violin part, with significant emotional range and impact. The piano part also demands a true partner, and not just an accompanist. The first movement is mainly furious; the second meditative; and the third joyous, even exuberant

The Sonata was originally dedicated to the violinist George Bridgetower, who performed the premiere in 1803 together with Beethoven. However, after the concert, and under the influence of drink, the two quarrelled over a certain lady, whereupon Beethoven tore up the dedication and re-dedicated it to the finest violinist of the day, Rodolphe Kreutzer. The irony is that Kreutzer never performed the work, considering it unplayable.

The sonata begins with a slow chordal introduction, moving into a tumultuous Presto in A minor. Towards the end of the movement the opening Adagio returns before a close in an anguished coda. The second movement is in great contrast, a quiet tune with five variations. The last of these is dramatic, and the movement closes in F major. This calm is then shattered by an A major chord in the piano, leading to a virtuoso and exuberant final movement, basically a 6/8 tarantella in rondo form. The work ends in a jubilant rush of A major.

There is evidence that the finale was originally composed for another earlier sonata, also in A major, but to the modern listener it is impossible to think of the Kreutzer ever having anything but this finale. It is also beyond doubt one of the greatest Violin and Piano sonatas in the entire repertoire, full of passion and the deepest feelings. There is a marvellous 1901 painting entitled the Kreutzer Sonata by the French artist Rene Francois Xavier Prinet that shows two musicians (a lady pianist and male violinist) in headlong embrace fuelled by the deep passions of the work. We may not see quite that response tonight, but the Sonata can leave the audience breathless.


Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Kinderszenen, Op 15 (Scenes from Childhood)

In complete contrast, the thirteen pieces that make up the Kinderszenen(1838) describe an adult’s remembrance of childhood scenes in music of glorious poetry. The pieces set a model that Debussy followed decades later in his Preludes.

Robert Schumann was a German composer and a Romantic. He had intended to become a pianist, but a self-inflicted injury to his hand caused him to concentrate on composition. Schumann’s published compositions through 1840 were all for the piano. His later works included songs, symphonies, an opera, choral, orchestral and chamber works.

Schumann was confined to a mental asylum for the last two years of his short life and he likely died of a combination of syphilis and mercury poisoning, the mercury being used as treatment for the condition.
He was survived by his wife, Clara, who spent most of her own remaining life in promoting her husband’s musical legacy. In this she was supported by Brahms, a protégé of Schumann.

The Kinderszenen is a fusion of literary ideas, remembrances, and musical ideas. The music is playful, and innocent. The most well known piece is Traumerei, a favourite throughout the years, and the plum encore of Horowitz. The piece appears simple but it is not, being complex in its harmonic structure, and requiring an exquisite touch. Clara Haskil was one of the most famous exponents of Kinderszenen and, like our pianist tonight, she too was famous for collaborations with string players (such as Grumiaux) where her contribution was that of an equal partner and not as a mere accompanist. Haskil was also a wonderful player of Mozart as is Connie Shih, and although she is far too self effacing to begin to enjoy such a comparison there are similarities, and we are very fortunate to hear her tonight.


INTERVAL


Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)
Suite for Violin and Piano, Op 6


Britten was an English composer, conductor, violinist and pianist, and arguably the most important British musician of his generation. Born in Lowestoft he attended Gresham’s in Holt, and began to compose prolifically while still a child. He took lessons from Frank Bridge when he was just 14 years old. The Suite for Violin and Piano was probably published in 1934 when Britten was only 21 years old. It was first publicly performed in London in June 1936. It is edge of the seat music, rather splintered as whole work, but certainly highly virtuoso and a great test of a violinist.

There are different ways of approaching the work. Some play the ‘March’ in a wry manner, and the ‘Lullaby’ very delicately, and the ‘Waltz’ with panache and variety. Equally others see the Suite as only extrovert, but then others find playfulness and varied expression. It will be interesting to hear how our artists tonight see the work. Of one thing we may be sure. It will not be dull!



George Gershwin (1898-1937)
Three Preludes for Piano and Violin
arranged by
Jascha Heifetz (1901-1987)

Allegro ben rimato e deciso
Andante con moto e poco rubato
Allegro ben rimato e deciso


Night after night Jascha Heifetz, one of the three or four greatest violinists of the 20th Century, would announce his encores and they always included one or all of the three Gershwin Preludes that he had transcribed from piano to violin and piano in 1942.

Gershwin originally wrote the pieces in 1926, as solo piano works. They show how American classical music of the time was influenced by jazz. The first Prelude includes blues motifs, as well as Brazilian baiao rhythms, and has a strong jazz feel. The second Prelude is a sort of blues lullaby and contains a sad melody. The third Prelude is complex, and was called ‘Spanish’ in its style, but the dialogue is between the two instruments, and syncopation may be the best description.

George Gershwin was a friend of Heifetz and had talked about writing a concerto for him but he died before that came about. So Heifetz transcribed not just the Preludes, but other music from Gershwin’s oeuvre, some of which he played in public and some only privately.

The music calls for a recognition of the jazz and blues idiom, but also of mood and temperament, and in a sense of the period. It is brilliant but there is much in the music beyond the notes.


Jeno Hubay (1858-1937)
‘Pregheira’ from the Six Pieces, Op 121.


Hubay was a Hungarian violinist, composer, and pedagogue, whose family had German origins. He wqas a pupil of the great violinist Joachim and his own pupils included Joszef Szigeti, Andre Gertler, and Eugene Ormandy. Hubay became a friend of Vieuxtemps, Brahms, and the cellist David Popper, with whom he founded the celebrated Budapest Quartet. The ‘Pregheira’ is quite literally a prayer in music. It was composed in 1925, and was published in 1926.


Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
Mephisto Waltz, No 1, S.514


The Mephisto Waltz No 1 is the best known and musically successful of the four waltzes composed by Liszt between 1859 and 1885. Nos 1-2 were composed for orchestra, and later arranged for piano, whereas Nos 3-4 were written for piano only. The Waltz is program music based on an episode taken from Nikolaus Lenau’s Faust. (1802-1850)

There is a wedding feast with music and carousing. Faust is induced by Mephistopheles to join in the festivities. Mephistopheles plays seductive music, and Faust dances in ever more intoxication with a village beauty. They waltz in mad abandon out of the Inn and vanish into the woods. The music becomes softer and a nightingale sings a love laden song to the night sky.

Liszt was a Hungarian composer, teacher, and pianist; perhaps the greatest pianist of all time. He influenced Wagner, Berlioz, Grieg, and Borodin, amongst many. In addition to his many composing skills, he had a mastery when depicting drama in music, particularly in tone poems.

The Waltz has a drama and passion that rises to a level of voluptuous import, and is entitled Der Tanz in der Dorfshenke, or the ‘Dance in the Village Inn’. That prosaic title does not begin to describe the emotional quality of the music. The Waltz was composed as both an orchestral and a piano work, the latter for piano solo or piano duet, with the last being a straight transcription of the orchestral score. However, the piano solo is an independent composition, and Liszt dedicated it to Carl Tausig, his favourite pupil. The solo piano version probably dates from 1862.

The work is intense and technically formidable, and is marked at various points as quasi presto but the term prestissimo is never used, and speeds should reflect the title ‘waltz’. The tempo caution is particularly true of the passages where seduction is in progress. Liszt wrote two endings to the Waltz. One has a rousing ending, reflecting the dash to the woods, and the other –written later – is softer, reflecting the nightingale. Whichever ending is chosen the work is a wonderful example of Liszt’s ability to paint pictures in music and to his pianistic inventiveness.

Notes by Douglas Gowan © 2009.

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