There is a reason musical works endure. Music evolves, and what is current now is rooted in what has been done before. If you were to write a musical timeline horizontally across a long sheet of paper, starting with the Middle Ages to now, you would have over a thousand years of collected works. Imagine accordioning that paper tightly, then randomly opening a section, bowing the open pleats out of the way, and touching the two end points together. You will have just collapsed two eras of music onto each other and very probably connected music that shares foundational elements passed down through the ages. We recognize this continuity unconsciously. Music defies time.
While many of our concerts contrast music of different periods, this concert is a narrow slice of the Classical era. It features music of composers we recognize as masters, not only for the beauty of their work, but also for the influence they exerted over what was to come.
Mozart’s Trio in C Major, K 548 was finished in July 1788 in the midst of a horrific year for the composer. Due to the conflict between Austria and the Ottoman Empire most of the Viennese aristocracy found themselves tightening their belts. This meant no commissions for new works. Mozart’s wife Constanza was ill and needed very expensive treatments. In the late spring the couple’s fourth child died. When they could no longer cover their rent, they were forced to move from their central Vienna location to the suburbs.
And yet, in the thick of all this strife, Mozart composed some 37 new works in that year alone. In an astonishing burst during July and August, he finished his Violin Sonata No. 36 in F (für Anfänger – for beginners), Five Variations in F for Piano, Piano Trio No. 5 in C, Canzonetta for two Sopranos and Bass (Piu non si trovano), Symphony No. 40 in G minor (the Great), and Symphony No. 41 in C (Jupiter). Even more amazingly, all this anguish and crisis seems to not overwhelm his writing. There is as much cheerful and upbeat music as tragic within these works.
The first movement of the C Major piano trio begins with a strong melody presented in octaves. A second theme of flamboyant melodic runs leads to the second part, in which these contrasting melodies are given new twists—a turn to the minor key and chromatic shifts. A bit of a battle ensues between a simple sighing gesture and explosive arpeggios in the piano. When the music returns to the comfort of its cheerful beginning, Mozart surprises us by sprinkling in some features of the tumultuous middle section.
The second movement has a darker color. The serene opening melody gets interrupted with sudden accents. A second wistful melody in the cello leads to a third new melody darkened by chromatic harmonies. By the middle of the movement the music has grown in intensity. The instruments take turns sharing melodies, expressing a building angst before Mozart returns to his opening melodies.
The third movement has an innocent charm. Bits of chromaticism are tossed into the melodic mix but, unlike in the first two movements where they add tension, here they create a playful twist. By the end of the movement no trace of doubt or darkness remains.
Luigi Boccherini was born in 1743 in Lucca, Italy. His father was a double bass player who knew enough about the cello to begin teaching his son to play. At 13 Luigi was sent to Rome to study cello and composition. Father and son then moved to Vienna where, at age 16, Luigi became a solo cellist of the Imperial Theater. In 1764 he performed a concert there of his solo cello works and his accompanied sonatas (the second cello part played by his father), which placed him among the “Virtuosi of the Music-Akademia.”
Boccherini’s career, both as performer and composer, was truly international. By 1757 he was living in Madrid. In 1770 he secured the patronage of Don Luis, brother of King Charles III of Spain. When Don Luis died in 1785 Boccherini received some income from commissions. He also received support from Lucien Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon, but never had the financial security he enjoyed under Don Luis. He died in near poverty in 1805.
Owing to Haydn’s innovations elevating the grouping to new prominence, today we think of the late 18th century string chamber music as being all about the string quartet. The prevalent popular string ensemble before this was, in fact, the string trio. Today we think of this as a combination of violin, viola and cello, but prior to 1785 an ensemble of two violins and one cello was more common, perhaps growing directly out of the standard grouping for the Baroque trio sonata (two treble instruments and a bass voice).
There are six, three-movement trios included in Boccherini’s collection comprising opus 6. In all of them he does not consign the cello to a mere supporting role but balances the melodic writing among all three voices. This innovation makes sense since the music is written by a virtuoso cellist. The result is a rich texture that often seems like the product of a larger ensemble.
The F Major trio we present tonight is in three movements: fast-slow-fast. A wonderful quirk is ending the piece with a Minuet and Trio. This rollicking music has all the drive of the more usual final Rondo. The gentle Trio serves as a breather before the movement hurtles to its end.
We recognize the music of Beethoven as having been created in three different phases of his life. A summary of the music of these ‘periods’ would be: early: learning the craft by studying and emulating Haydn and Mozart; middle: adapting the processes of classical musical structures to serve a heroic expressive vision; and late: writing music for smaller forces in more freely organized structures seeking a deeper inward spiritual journey.
Our program ends with an absolute masterpiece of Beethoven’s middle period, the Sonata in A Major, opus 47 “Kreutzer” from 1803. The impetus for the completion of this piece was a meeting between the composer and the virtuoso violinist George Augustus Polgreen Bridgetower (1778 -1860). Bridgetower’s father, John Frederick, was from the West Indies and claimed to be the son of an African prince. His mother, Maria Anna Ursula Schmidt, was from the noble Polish house of Schmidt. The couple both served in the household of Prince Hieronim Wincenty Radziwiłł around 1775.
Around 1788 Bridegtower moved with his father to London where, at age 10, he began life as a violin soloist. In 1789 he appeared to great acclaim in Paris, where Thomas Jefferson and his family attended one of his concerts. In 1791 the future English king, George IV, saw to it that the young artist got a first-rate musical education and employed him to perform in his orchestra.
In 1802 Bridgetower travelled to Dresden to visit his mother. While there he gave performances which led to him receiving letters of introduction to members of Viennese musical circles, among them Beethoven’s patron Prince Lichnowsky. Bridgetower arrived in Vienna in 1803 and was introduced to Beethoven by the prince. The two musicians hit it off immediately and decided to schedule a performance together in May of that year. Beethoven had already completed a final movement for a violin sonata, so he set about completing the piece, working with uncharacteristic speed. At the premier, because there had not been enough time to copy out the part, Bridgetower was said to have performed the second movement from the composer’s manuscript while looking over Beethoven’s shoulder.
Beethoven’s high regard for Bridgetower resulted in him dedicating the work to him, writing on the title page, “mixed-race sonata composed for the mixed-race Bridgetower, madman and mixed-race composer.” This sonata was unlike anything he had written before, a fact which Beethoven also noted on the title page writing, “Sonata for the piano forte and violin obbligato, written in a very concertato style, almost like a concerto.”
The first movement begins with a slow introduction that leads to a driven presto. The dialogue between the instruments is intense and often interrupted over the course of the movement. The second movement is a theme, four variations, and a coda. The Finale is the only movement in the stated key of A Major, and Beethoven uses a structural form expected of a first movement. There is a first section with two main themes (exposition), a second section that uses those themes in modified ways (development), and a final section that returns to the original melodies to conclude the piece (recapitulation).
Soon after the premier, Bridgetower and Beethoven had a falling out (many years later Bridgetower claimed it was over a woman) and Beethoven rescinded his dedication. He instead dedicated the sonata to the French violinist Rodolphe Kreutzer, who found the music incomprehensible and never played it.