Show 12, Part A : Dowland, Byrd, Handel, Bach, Mozart
Show 12, Part B : Mozart, Purcell, Britten
Show 12, Part C : Mozart, Chopin, Bach
Show 12, Part D : Brahms, Dowland
This post is, once again, in advance of the broadcast, which will be (October 11, 2014). The links to the podcast were added on 2014-10-12.
The big challenge in classical music is to write major works, worthy of standing beside a novel. The novel began to appear in the 1700s, after the Renaissance, when artists began to see their creativity as their own, and not something in the service of some nobleman, or some religion.
The early attempts at creating large-scale works focused on multi-movement works. Even today, most major compositions are in multiple movements. Concertos, for instance, are multi-movement works focusing on a soloist, or several soloists. Suites are works consisting of several movements tied by some theme: either a set of dances written for an occasion, or a set of items intended to go with a theater production, or a set of movements for a ballet.
The idea of a set of variations is along the same lines: a number of different movements that elaborate on a single (musical) theme. There are several of these we shall listen to (today), and I'm not going to play all the variations in every set, but you might enjoy being introduced to these sets of variations, some of which are well known, and others which are interesting for various reasons.
William Byrd was a great composer of the 1500s in England, and John Dowland was another composer of about the same time. Dowland wrote a tune called Lachrimae Pavan, which he himself arranged in different ways a dozen or more times, and William Byrd borrowed the tune, and wrote this setting, which is an arrangement of the tune in increasingly elaborate ornamentation, which is a little like an air and variations, but is not quite the same. So this is a way of acquainting you with a tune of John Dowland, and the keyboard music of William Byrd at the same time. The recording we will play was performed by Sophie Yates.
Georg Friderik Handel, the man who composed Messiah, The Watermusic, and the Music for the Royal Fireworks, also wrote a set of variations on a simple tune, which was well known at that time. Here's the whole thing; it is quite short. It is called the Harmonious Blacksmith. This recording was by Igor Kipnis, who won a Grammy Award for it. (In fact, he played the piece live at the Awards, and brought the house down.)
A few years ago, light classical music fans were absolutely crazy about this set of variations. Bach had been invited over to visit a certain noble house in Berlin in which his son was employed as court musician, because they had bought a grand new keyboard instrument. It was either a really awesome harpsichord, or an early experimental piano. The nobleman himself sat down at the keyboard, and gave Bach a theme, on which to base an improvisation. Bach improvised, but was dissatisfied with his own performance, so he sent a fantastic set of variations to the gentleman, and additionally, some really incredible canons, which are together called The Musical Offering. Anyway, here is the theme and some variations from the Goldberg Variations. The harpsichord recording is by Gustav Leonhardt, a well-known Bach specialist from the Netherlands, who died recently.
If you prefer the sound of a piano, here is a recording of Glenn Gould, in MONO, from 1955, playing the Goldberg variations. This is a rare recording; the stereo recording from 1981 is more commonly available,
This is a well-known piece, which is the third movement from a Mozart Sonata. Less well-known is the first movement, which is a theme and variations. Here is the better-know third (last movement), called the Alla Turca. (It was supposed to be inspired by Turkish music, which was all the rage at the time of Mozart.)
This single movement from a Mozart sonata, Sonata No. 11, is a theme and variations all by itself. Mozart wrote better known sets of variations, such as one on the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, but this one, I think, is more suitable for our program. The Theme and Variations from Sonata No. 11, in A. Both the above movements were by Walter Klien.
The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. Benjamin Britten, the brilliant British musician, wrote an introduction to the orchestra, in which the various groups of instruments are spotlighted in turn, in the form of a set of variations on a theme of Henry Purcell, another famous British composer of the 18th century. There's stories to tell about Henry Purcell, but mainly Purcell was crazy about the Theater, and hung out in the theater with actors and the various hangers-on at theaters; in short he was a fan. He wrote incidental music for various plays, and one of them was Abdelazar, about a Moorish man (which means, a man from Morocco, or actually any Arabic-speaking country). This recording is by Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic, and narrated by a young person chosen by Bernstein. These are Themes A - F.
Next come the variations, one for each instrument, after which there is a fugue (on an original theme by Britten), at the climax of which the theme from Abdelazar is heard, played contrapuntally.
The aria "La ci darem la mano" from Don Giovanni, the tragicomic opera by Mozart, was taken as a subject for a set of variations by Frederik Chopin. The set of variations was a very early work, Opus No. 2. Here is the original duet from the Mozart opera (sung by Bryn Terfel and Cecilia Bartoli)
Here is the Introduction, the Theme, and 5 variations, by Chopin, ending with a big finale (alla Polacca). The pianist is Eldar Nabolsin.
An interesting sort of piece of Bach's time and earlier, is the Passacaglia. A theme is repeated in the Bass part, over and over again, and different harmonies are played over it. Here is one of the most famous, by J. S. Bach, the Passacaglia in C minor for organ, BWV 582. E. Power Biggs.
Johannes Brahms wrote a set of variations for piano, based on a tune that appeared in a work by Joseph Haydn. The tune is called the Saint Anthony Chorale, and the Brahms variations are sometimes called Variations on a Theme by Haydn, and at other times the St Anthony Chorale variations. St Anthony is the patron saint of fisherfolk, as well as those who are looking for something they have lost. This recording is by Marek Janowski and Pittsburgh Symphony.
We heard earlier this evening William Byrd's setting of John Dowland's Lachrimae Pavan. Unfortunately—according to the style of the times—the melody was so heavily ornamented that it was hard to hear clearly. Here is the original Dowland tune, as it would have been played by a Consort of Music of the time, which was a small chamber orchestra of violins, viols and Lutes of various sizes (Opharions, Bass vils, Citherns, Mandores, Theorbos, etc). This is played by the Extempore String Ensemble.
Here's the same group playing another piece by John Dowland, a jolly dance in 4-4 time, just to prove that Dowland could write more energetic music if he had to. It is called Sir Henry Guildford's Almaine.
Afterword: I must confess that in each set of variations, only a few of the variations are really interesting. I like almost all of the Bach Goldberg Variations, most of the St. Anthony Chorale variations, most of the Harmonious Blacksmith, which is a showpiece from beginning to end, but unfortunately almost none of the Chopin variations. I love the later Chopin orchestral works, including the two piano concertos, but this set of variations leaves me cold.
Arch
No comments:
Post a Comment