Strauss Blue Danube, step by step

The son far exceeded the father. We remember the father for the Radetzky March. We remember the son for the 500 and more dance pieces, including over one hundred waltzes and as many polkas and marches, composed between 1840 (at fifteen) and 1899, the year when death reached him while he was focused on the composition of a ballet.
Johann Strauss, Jr., is the promoter of the endeavour that took the waltz from its original condition of peasant dance until its conversion into a consensual dance piece, in the Habsburg court in Vienna in the mid-19th century.

His most famous dance piece is, of course, the waltz By the Beautiful Blue Danube, whose nome de guerre, "The Blue Danube", is not unknown to anyone. The work was composed on demand: a sung waltz for the Viennese to forget the recent defeat suffered at the hands of Prussia, during the war of picturesque name – the "seven-week war" – of the previous year, 1866. The work did not please many. Nor did Johann have much confidence in it: "It was not sticky enough," he said. However, shortly thereafter, being invited to conduct in Paris, Johann decided to include in the program this battered waltz, but without the choirs. It was a resounding success. To this day.

Johann Strauss Jr (1825 - 1899)

The famous waltz, of course, celebrates the incomparable beauty of the very long Danube river, flowing through five capitals of Europe and which at some time will have been blue, although almost certainly it was not in Strauss's time either. In the twentieth century, it was set up a joint venture between neither more nor less than Romania and the former Yugoslavia in order to build a dam, there, in the very same and "beautiful blue Danube." Work began in 1964 and at the end, in 1972, the second-largest hydroelectric power station in Europe stood next to the dam. It was not heard of demonstrations or social networks claiming for a "Danube without dams."

The rendition is by the Vienna Philharmonic, 2009. The waltz is made up of five small waltzes. Its linkage and development are detailed below. We have heard it thousands of times, it is worth knowing what it is made of.

00: Introduction, largo, delicately outlines the unmistakable main theme.
0:42  Forte passage, majestic, which quickly lowers its intensity and then returns to the calm of the first bars.
1:38  After a brief accelerando at 1:17, the rhythm slows down and three descending notes by the strings, in staccato, welcome the main melody.
1:45  Section 1A. The celebrated theme played by cellos and horns, accompanied by the harp, in D major.
2:27  Section 1B. In the same tone, a somewhat playful theme.
2:42  Section 2A. A new theme slides, calm, without pimps.
2:58  Section 2B. Sub-theme, melodious, by the violins. Goes back to 2A.
3:29  Section 3A. A new theme, a little more alive, in G major.
3:58  Section 3B. A melodic passage of eighth notes; after its repetition, it will lead to a spirited intrata (4:27) that leads to:
4:37  Section 4A. The most sensual or romantic passage. Its repetition leads to:
5:15  Section 4B. A livelier moment, in the same key.
5:41  Very brief intrata that will lead to:
5:51  Section 5A. A touching melody. Its repetition ends with another intrata that will lead to climax.
6:24  Section 5B. The climax, punctuated by a vibrant clash of cymbals (propitious moment to go through the lounge from end to end, in big jumps if possible).
6:52  The coda begins. The first sections (3A and 2A) are quoted, then furious chords give way to the recapitulation of the romantic fragment 4A (7:34).
8:08  A silence that lasts a full measure precedes the repetition of the initial tune, 1A, very slow. It will suffer an abrupt cut at 8:49, to give way to the final codetta, based on an ingenious variation of 1A.
9:25  Passage in accelerando. Fast eighth notes, loudly underlined by the snare-drum roll, rise and fall and then route resolutely to the three final chords.

Scriabin, three piano pieces

The year after finishing his studies at the Moscow Conservatory, the young Russian composer and pianist Alexander Scriabin, twenty years old, damaged his right hand forever, after forcing it to make a gigantic effort in his attempt to master a very difficult piece by the Hungarian master Franz Liszt. His ungratefully small hands, which barely reached more than an octave, could not stand the effort.

The son of a government official and of an outstanding pianist, the ten-year-old Alexander had started a military career in Moscow's Cadet School in 1882, which did not prevent him from simultaneously pursuing piano studies, in which he clearly stood out as to decide and secure his entrance to the Conservatory in 1888.

There he met another star pupil, Sergei Rachmaninov, with whom he shared the same tutor, although both musicians didn't forge a deep friendship, which is reflected in the different course their careers took. If at the end of their studies, the excellent pianist was Alexander, and Sergei a notable composer, in the maturity of life, Sergei will have become a piano virtuoso, and Alexander, due to of his hand injury, will find his place among the minor Russian composers of the post-romantic period.

Alexander Scriabin (1872 - 1915)

In his youth a great lover of Chopin, like this one Alexander Scriabin will compose music almost exclusively for solo piano ― not taking into account his five orchestral works and his piano concerto. He tried to innovate in the development of harmony, and his philosophy of music was marked by a great mystical sense, to the point of believing himself a messianic figure that would come to recompose everything.

At the end of his life, he flirted with dodecaphony, performing his own harmonic experiments, with independence from the Viennese masters but without reaching their height. Today, he is especially remembered for his early works, preludes and nocturnes, mainly the 24 Preludes of Opus 11, essential pieces in the piano repertoire of our day, full of lyricism that bring to mind Chopin's harmonies, by the way, but also the poetry of Schumann and the sensual romanticism of Wagner.

From the 2010 version of the Chamber Musical Festival of Santa Fe, New Mexico, we take this balanced and correct selection of three piano pieces by Alexander Scriabin, performed by the excellent Beijing-born pianist Yuja Wang.

The young musician, today 31, earned a fair place in the circuit of international career pianists, after making her debut in 2003 successfully replacing Radu Lupu at Beethoven's No. 4 concerto, and later, Martha Argerich, committed to concerto No 1 also by Beethoven which Miss Wang simply replaced by Tchaikovski's No. 1.
Petty souls, always present in every human activity, qualified her as a replacement pianist for sick colleagues. As for me, let everyone get sick.

The selection includes:
00:00  Prelude in B-major, Opus 11 No 11
04:50  Étude in G-sharp major, Op 8 No 9 (includes a slow section)
09:18  Poem, in F-sharp major, Op 32 No 1

Tchaikovsky, Italian Cappriccio

Piotr Ilich Tchaikovski was fifty years old when he received Mrs. von Meck's last letter. In the letter, she announced that as a result of financial problems she was forced to suspend the patronage with which she had supported him for thirteen years. But the sad truth is that Nadezhda von Meck had finally decided to face the facts: her epistolary friend of so many years was embracing a sexual option that denied forever the possibility of a loving relationship between her and Piotr. Not wanting to harm him, she alleged a fictitious and definitive economic bankruptcy to make any future contact with the musician impossible.

In addition to giving him an allowance of 6,000 rubles a year – in monthly payments that he began to send to Piotr regularly since late 1877 –, Nadezhda had self-imposed the task of promoting Tchaikovski's music in the European capitals, encouraging his editors to publish his works and convince theater owners to perform them. A widow of an industrialist linked to the railways and heiress of a large fortune, Nadezhda had a number of farms and properties scattered throughout Russia, to which Piotr was invited year after year to compose at ease, in complete solitude, unless we count the service personnel left there by Nadezhda for her friend's attention. Then, Nadezhda would move to a nearby farm. Occasionally, their carriages crossed, and also their eyes through the curtains. At night, each one sat down to write to the other their respective letter telling the experience.

Nadezhda von Meck (1831 - 1894)

This unique relationship as unlikely as true proved to be an invaluable help when Piotr fell into a deep depression after leaving his wife Antonina Milyukova, with whom he hardly remained married for two months, in 1877. Nadezhda's letters became the emotional support the tormented musician urgently required. In the affectionate words of his protectress, Piotr found the energy needed to recover the physical and emotional balance that his creative activity demanded. In search of his inner peace, Piotr travelled to Switzerland, then visited Paris and later toured Italy: Florence, Venice, Milan, San Remo. At the end of 1880, he was in Rome, quite recovered.

In Italy, he had encountered an atmosphere completely different from Russia's, and the country had made a pleasant impression on him. He loved all the cities where he passed through, and some places would be a source of inspiration for some of his most beautiful pages. The symphonic poem Capriccio Italiano is one of them. Composed in Rome in that year, it is a bright and delightful work, which justifies until today its vast and lasting popularity. Tchaikovski, aware of the bright future of his creation, told Nadezhda on February 17, 1880:

"...I have already completed the sketches for an Italian fantasia on folk tunes for which I believe a good fortune may be predicted. It will be effective, thanks to the delightful tunes which I have succeeded in assembling partly from anthologies, partly from my own ears in the streets."

Capriccio Italiano, opus 45
The work is in a single movement, with three independent sections:
Andante un poco rubato.
Pochissimo più mosso (4:03)
Allegro moderato (10:45)

After a brief bugle call, inspired by a bugle call Tchaikovsky heard daily in his rooms at the Hotel Constanzi, next door to the barracks of the Royal Italian Cuirasseurs, a stoic, heroic, unsmiling melody is played by the strings. Eventually, this gives way to music sounding as if it could be played by an Italian street band, beginning in the winds and ending with the whole orchestra. Next, a lively march ensues, followed by a lively tarantella.

The rendition is by the Macau Youth Symphony Orchestra, seconded by members of the Prague Philharmonic. Recording of August 2010, in Prague.

Gershwin, Hancock, Dudamel: Rhapsody in blue

Before the crisis of 1929, all Americans were happy. The First World War had resulted in the transformation of the US into an influential military, industrial and financial power and the American dream was presented as an alternative to decrepit Europe, in all areas. In that of culture, the nascent art of 24 frames-per-second and a novel music called jazz – practised by people of color, usually black –, were attracting people's attention, of any color.

In this relaxed atmosphere, it was considered appropriate and quite fair to integrate these new rhythms into symphonic music, also cultivated by people of color, in this case, white. This is how it emerges a short, light and melodious piece called Rhapsody in blue, for solo piano and jazz band, by the composer George Gershwin, and released in February 1924.

There are at least four different versions of the work. The original, for jazz orchestra; a reduction for solo piano; a transcription for two pianos; finally, the one that is heard most frequently in the concert halls and that here we host, in full version, adding to it a humble listening guide:

The clarinet initiates the piece with a trill that is followed by a long glissando (a note that goes up, or goes down, continuously, like sliding your fingers through the bow of a violin, which in the clarinet is, clearly , much more difficult, because it works by covering and uncovering dimples), glissando, we said, which leads to the exposition of the first theme, which is repeated three times, accompanied by the orchestra, until the piano enters, responsible for providing the variations, occasion for the soloist to show off, mischief included.

The second theme, more festive, is taken on by the orchestra and then by the piano, which will soon perform a fairly extensive reexposure of the two themes to finally introduce the third and final, the best known and closest to the blues of the entire composition, in the 13:42 minute. Then the orchestra re-exposes it with greater vigor, then the piano comes up, and together, they promptly quote all the themes before the coda, which will quickly lead to a resounding finale, in a tutti, or what is the same, when nobody is left without playing.

The soloist, this time, is the prominent musician, jazz legend and pianist Herbie Hancock, author of dozens of highly celebrated albums and composer of the soundtrack of a good number of films. His performance here is quite a wise move.

The conductor is the young Venezuelan musician Gustavo Dudamel, leading the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, as his principal conductor. Dudamel is a brilliant musician born in Lara state, Venezuela, 41 years ago, captured by music thanks to the commendable task of the Foundation for Youth Orchestras of that country, a multi-voice invention led by maestro José Antonio Abreu, over forty years ago.
In 2004, Dudamel won first prize in the Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition, which takes place in Germany, every three years. Since that date, he has conducted countless first-world orchestras, including the Gothenburg Symphony, the Israel Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic, to name a handful of prominent orchestral groups that have been in his charge.

Luigi Boccherini, Minuetto

The enlightened despot Carlos III of Bourbon was king of Spain from 1759 until his death, in 1788. During his term, he reformulated the laws, created the National Lottery, made important changes in the layout of the big cities, and expelled the Jesuits.
Unfortunately, and in spite of how enlightened he was – his reign reveals an important resurgence of culture – the king was deaf. Because of this, the celebration of musical shows in court was scarce, being permitted by the monarch only in case of ceremonies of great solemnity, which he would attend, stoic, juggling so as not to fall asleep.

Boccherini, the cellist
Thus, it is surprising that the ambassador of Spain in Paris has convinced Italian cellist Luigi Boccherini to move to Madrid, where he was expected by, according to the intrepid ambassador, major successes and possibilities. Luigi, 24, originally from the Italian city of Lucca, after passing through Rome and Milan was by then installed in the French capital, enjoying some fame, mainly as an interpreter, along with his partner, the violinist Filippo Manfredi.

Shortly after arriving both in Madrid, in 1767, Filippo secured a position in the private orchestra of Infante Luis de Borbon, brother of the deaf and who, unlike him, used to cultivate some interest in music. Luigi didn't share the same luck and had to settle for occasional concerts that reported very little money. Fortunately, Filippo moved his influences and in November 1770 Luigi was accepted as a chamber cellist and composer of the infant's house. The salary was good and allowed Luigi to continue his activity as a chamber music composer, free from material concerns, even when the compositions became the property of Infante Luis as soon as they came from Boccherini's creative imagination.

Luigi Boccherini (1743 - 1805)

Boccherini, to "exile"
But, since everything doesn't last forever, six years later, in 1776, the Infante Luis, almost 50 years old, found love where he should not. He fell in love with a commoner and got married after the king authorized the morganatic marriage. Fuck! And what is that? the Infante asked. My consent for you to get married to a non-royal person, replied the king.

This is how the Infante was separated from the court and sent, with his wife, to reside in Arenas de San Pedro, a small town one hundred and sixty kilometers from Madrid. Nevertheless, he did not abandon his musicians. Luigi and his friend Filippo left with him, then actively engaging in the musical evenings of the Infante and his wife, in exile. Luigi was able to continue composing, but in complete isolation from Madrid's musical circles, although the infant allowed him to send some compositions to be published in the rest of Europe. Upon the death of his protector, Boccherini was helpless again but Carlos III, the deaf one, came to his aid by granting him a pension as a sign of the affection he had had for his wayward brother.

Quintet for strings in E major - Minueto
Luigi Boccherini wrote neither more nor less than 124 quintets for string, in which –as was obvious being him a cellist–, he folded the cello instead of the viola, that is, they are pieces for two violins, viola and two cellos. The Quintet for strings in E major, opus 11, published in Paris in 1775, is one of the most applauded because it includes the minuet that still holds Boccherini on stage, the popularly known "Boccherini minuet".

Mariss Jansons conducts the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Brahms, an Intermezzo for Clara

Johannes Brahms was twenty years old when he met the Schumann's, visiting their home in Düsseldorf. Robert Schumann and his wife Clara welcome him with the affection they used to, they listened to his music and encouraged him to continue composing. Robert, who at that time was running a music magazine, praised Brahms by writing: "Here is a chosen one" in an October article of that year 1853, a very fortunate fact since the sense of reality was sadly about to abandon the composer Robert Schumann. In March of the following year, he was admitted to a mental hospital, from which he will not leave until his death, two years later.

Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897)

So the tradition which states that from that meeting Brahms began a long friendship with the Schumann's must be downplayed. If there was an extended friendship, it was with Clara Schumann, whom Brahms continued to see, support and to protect for many years.
Regarding Robert, the affection was not less great, but their encounters took place in the mental asylum, during Robert's few moments of lucidity. Later, Brahms would tell Clara in detail about these meetings since she could not see her husband because the doctors advised against her visit.

Clara Schumann (1819 - 1896)

Clara Schumann, a remarkable pianist, owner of a virtuosity in parallel to that of Liszt or Thalberg, and who, like them, was permanently on tour throughout Europe, was fourteen years older than Brahms. From 1854, the year of Robert's confinement, the young Brahms began to spend long time periods at Clara's house and, despite the age difference, they forged a relationship that until today is unknown if it went beyond friendship, an attachment that will last until Clara's death, a year before that of the enraptured Johannes.

In his last years, Brahms exacerbated his bad behaviour in front of women, whom, at least publicly, he pretended to look over his shoulder. But that was Brahms, the man. Brahms the artist was still the sensitive, tender and delicate boy that Clara met, in whose company, exclusively, the man and the musician could emerge simultaneously.

This is shown in the Six Pieces for Piano – four intermezzi, a ballad and a romanza –, composed in the final stage of his life, in 1892, and dedicated to Clara Schumann –as well a good part of his work. With a successful career accomplished as a pianist and composer, this is a period in which Brahms is offered to us in pieces of an intimate character, pieces for which "one listener is already too much", in his own words.

The Intermezzo No 2 oozes this look backwards, towards himself, in a simple piece without external displays of piano technique. Perhaps he only needed to recall the words he wrote to Clara, in a letter dated almost twenty years earlier, on March 19, 1874:

"Let my deep love comfort you, because I love you more than myself, more than anyone or anything in the world."

The rendition is by the Russian pianist Nikolai Luganski.

 

Händel: Sarabande, from Suite No 2

The family of the German composer Georg Friederich Händel had no musical tradition. Moreover, his father made a living as a hairdresser and barber, a job he skillfully combined with the practice of surgery, when, according to the customs of the age, his science was required.
However, this did not prevent the barber-surgeon from observing early the expressions of talent of his son, who, at age 17, became the organist of Halle, his hometown, after the organist Zachow passed him on everything he knew in the only lessons the composer attended in his entire life.

Händel, an entrepreneur
Against the usual practice of the age, George Friederich Händel was not a musician financially depending on a prince or a high ecclesiastical hierarchy. On the contrary, throughout his existence, he retained complete control over his artistic work by organizing his own musical activities. He was an enterprising person of the eighteenth century, a music entrepreneur, although he never refused the support – with allowances that sometimes had to be negotiated – of the monarchs he frequented.

George Friederich Händel (1685 - 1759)

After making a name for himself in Rome, Naples and Hannover, he traveled to England, where he settled, taking part in three musical societies, either as a musical director, or shareholder, or openly as the sole partner and manager, devoted to the composition and representation of operas and oratories, standing out Messiah, his masterpiece, among the latter.
He achieved success and experienced failures, more of the last than of the first, and yet, he forged a life of fruitful good passing, to the point that Bach tried to meet him, several times, to be told how he did it.

George Friederich never married, although he had the opportunity to do so when he was eighteen. The old Buxtehude left his position as organist in Hamburg and decided that his successor should also take care of his daughter, already quite old, by marrying her. Haendel declined the offer.
He lived his last years almost blind, like Bach. Both were treated by English medical eminences. Apparently, it would be a little while before barbers-surgeons began to dominate the eye chapter.

Suite in D minor – Sarabande
The harpsichord, was a privileged instrument in Haendel's time, along with other related instruments, such as the virginal or the clavichord. It was considered the most suitable for teaching, due to its technical possibilities and because, as a solo instrument, it did not require anyone else for its practice. Haendel, attentive to the needs of this embryonic market, wrote many pieces for the study of the harpsichord, which were published in two editions entitled as "Suites". The piece we hear, in an orchestral version, belongs to the Suite in D minor, its fourth movement, Sarabande, used prominently by Stanley Kubrik in his film "Barry Lyndon". The video is built with images taken from the movie.

Tchaikovsky, Piano Concerto No 1

The first version of Concerto No. 1 for piano and orchestra by Piotr Ilich Tchaikovski dates from 1874. At that point in his life, 34 years, and despite his nervous breakdowns, Piotr had already established himself as a composer. So he didn't like the comments he received from keyboard virtuoso Nikolai Rubinstein when he played his first piano concerto before him. Nikolai was his friend, he was the one who had accompanied the provincial Piotr Ilich in his early years in Moscow, showing him the city and opening to him, later, many non-easy doors to cross.

It was Christmas of 1874, and Piotr and Nikolai had been invited to welcome the Russian Santa in the house of a common friend. Nikolai asked Piotr to take his new score so that, on his way to the friend's house, they would go to the Conservatory to examine the just-ended concerto. Piotr agreed with pleasure because he wanted to hear the opinion of a virtuoso, and learn his technical thinking about the many arduous passages the concerto had at that time, and still has. (Interestingly enough, Tchaikovsky was not a piano virtuoso).

When he finished playing the initial movement, Nikolai remained mute, without saying a word. Piotr was not daunted and continued with the other movements.
–Well...? –He asked at the end of the full concerto.
Nikolai spared no irreverence. He said that the concerto was worthless, that it was unenforceable, that the themes were unfortunate, in short, he treated Piotr as an inexperienced and incapable beginner. This, at least, was what Piotr Ilich understood. Three years later Tchaikovsky shared what happened with his patroness, Nadezhda von Meck:

"I was not only astounded but outraged by the whole scene. I am no longer a boy trying his hand at composition, and I no longer need lessons from anyone, especially when they are delivered so harshly and unfriendlily."

But all this was not easy for Nikolai. Piotr had planned to dedicate the concerto to this virtuoso of his time but, having cooled the relations as a result of the rude incident, he finally dedicated it to the pianist and director Hans von Büllow, a great admirer of the Russian composer, and who premiered the concerto with him as a soloist in Boston, USA, in 1875, and then conducted it everywhere to great success. Nevertheless, Nikolai's suggestions didn't fall on deaf ears because fifteen years later Tchaikovski redrafted completely the piano part, making the concerto, since then, a favorite piece of piano virtuosos, Nikolai Rubinstein included.

Movements:
I. Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso - Allegro con spirito
The movement, unusually long (20 min), is opened by the entire orchestra, then enters the main theme carried by the strings accompanied by the magnificent piano chords that have made the entire concerto famous. The movement, a kind of duel between the piano and the orchestra, presents a number of major challenges for the soloist.
II. Andantino semplice - Prestissimo (20:45)
It begins with a theme of great delicacy that first exposes the flute being picked up later by the piano. A central part – prestissimo – serves as a contrast for its lightness and its three-four time.
III. Allegro con fuoco (27:19)
It is built on themes based on Russian dances or folk rhythms. The first theme, rhythmically, shows a strong Russian character. In the final coda, the first theme is heard again, to lead to a thunderous and enormously vigorous ending, which requires the pianist to perform the famous "octave passage" that only some virtuosos manage to address successfully. Anna Fedorova is one of them.

The Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie led by Yves Abel.

Antonin Dvorak, Four Romantic Pieces

Antonin Leopold Dvorak was born in a village near Prague on September 8, 1841, and at the age of eight he would show already the skills of a notable musician, accompanying the church choir with his little violin in the afternoons when he would take a rest from his uncommon inclination, the pigeon fancy. He was the eldest of a butcher and innkeeper's children, who did not glimpse for his son another future business than dismembering animals, a craft for which it was essential to know the German language.

In order to learn the language, the butcher sent him to a neighboring city where, fortunately, the young Antonin met a music teacher who after a long and sustained effort finally managed to convince the musician's father to send him to Prague, to study the violin.

Conductor and composer

Antonin Dvorak (1841 - 1904)

It was a wise decision, as Antonin would show an unbeatable musical talent. Although he did not stand out as a great performer, he nevertheless became a great conductor and composer claimed by the big orchestral groups from all over Europe and even from the USA, being invited in 1891 to take over the New York National Conservatory of Music, where he stayed for two years. From that time dates his most famous composition, the New World Symphony.

A quiet and affable musician
Antonin was a simple musician. He felt upset when, on the top of his fame, the audience applauded more than enough, to the point of leaving the stage even if the theater collapsed clapping. His maxim, according to some scholars, indicated that art should stimulate the desire to enjoy existence. Following this line of thought, he spent his last years teaching at the Prague Conservatory, enjoying a small farm nearby, wherein the summer he used to work in the garden and took care of his beloved pigeons.

"Four romantic pieces"
This group of four small pieces were originally written as a trio for viola and two violins, in January 1887. Dvorak called them "Miniatures." Shortly after, he rewrote them for violin and piano, renaming them "Four Romantic Pieces." Today is a custom replace the violin for a cello, which, in my modest opinion, adds solemnity to these four simple pieces, mainly to the last movement, slow, larghetto, the most beautiful of all (beginning in the minute 9:10). There is speculation that Dvorak was planning to add a fifth movement, since ending a composition with a slow movement was, and remains, unusual.
(A curious note: A video game released in 2010, Civilization 5, contains part of the Larguetto in its soundtrack).

At the piano: Viacheslav Poprugin. Cello: Natalia Gutman.

Domenico Scarlatti, sonata in D minor

The same year that JS Bach and GF Haendel came to the world, in 1685, the Italian composer Domenico Scarlatti was born in Naples, a son of the opera composer Antonio Scarlatti, and the most prominent of ten brothers, all of them musicians. As expected, it was his father who guided his first steps in music and by 1701, still a teenager, he would be named organist at the royal chapel in Naples.

As an adult, while serving as a teacher of the Julia Chapel, in the Vatican, he does sporadic work for the Portuguese embassy, ​​a job that is not quite clear to us but we suppose related to "events" the embassy carried out, which required the participation of musicians – an extra income.

As a result of this sort of "casual works", Domenico and the Portuguese ambassador forged a close union that led Scarlatti to settle in Lisbon, as the cathedral's chapel master, in the court of Juan V of Portugal. He also had a role as the music teacher of Juan's children, including the charming María Bárbara de Braganza, aged tender eight years, who will show remarkable talent for music and stand out in her maturity as patroness of the arts.

Domenico Scarlatti (1685 - 1757)

In Spain
Ten years later, at eighteen, Maria Barbara will marry the prince of Asturias, who will later become Ferdinand VI, and thus, María Bárbara will become queen consort of Spain.
The close ties forged between Maria and Domenico prevented the future queen from abandoning her harpsichord teacher and for that reason she took him to Spain, first to Seville and later to Madrid, after her husband was crowned. For long years, Domenico Scarlatti will continue to be the harpsichord teacher of Queen Maria Barbara.

The "exercises"
Nowadays, Domenico Scarlatti is remembered mostly for his short sonatas written for harpsichord, intended for the recreation of the royal family. Around 550 sonatas, single movement, also called "exercises", wrote Domenico throughout his life. An Italian style predominates in some of them, although the Portuguese air and others remembering a Spanish-style are also recognized.

Sonata in D minor, K 141
The brevity of these compositions forces them to be executed only as "encores" by the musicians of our time. The pianist Martha Argerich offers us such a possibility by playing the Sonata in D minor at the end of a concert, in 2008, in Turin.
Two of Scarlatti's main innovations on the keyboard are clearly recognizable here: rapid repetitions of notes and hand crossover.
(Scarlatti's work was compiled by American harpsichordist Ralph Kirkpatrick, hence the letter K in the catalog).

Agustín Barrios, Alms for the love of God

Despite having been the greatest guitarist-composer of the last century's first half, after his death in 1944, Agustín Barrios-Mangoré and his music went practically forgotten and for at least two decades the composer and his work were ignored. His purpose perhaps was overshadowed by the omnipresence of two great facilitators of the time's repertoire for classical guitar: Andrés Segovia in Spain with his transcriptions from the Renaissance vihuela and the baroque lute, and Villa-Lobos in Brazil, with his novel compositions of ethnic roots.

All this was happening despite the widespread academic opinion that indicated the undeniable superiority in emotionality, virtuosity and technical quality that Barrios' work entails in comparison with the contributions of the other two great contemporary masters already named – understood Villa-Lobos in his contribution to guitar.
In the 70s, great guitarists such as John Williams or David Russell began incorporating him into their repertoire, making him known for the second time to the world, if that can be said.

Agustín Barrios-Mangoré (1885 - 1944)

The famous tremolo known by its numerous names (The last tremolo, The last song, etc.), among them the highly sentimental Una limosna por amor de Dios (Alms for the love of God), was composed at the end of his life and, in all likelihood, is his last written work. In this piece, as beautiful as it is brief, Barrios shows his great mastery in tremolo technique, the melody entrusted to the soprano voice while a rhythmic motif in ostinato in charge of the middle voice does not rest throughout the piece (hence his name, ostinato).

The impeccable rendition is by the Scottish guitarist, David Russell.

Chopin in Marseille, Scherzo No 3

Severe and prolonged was the nosebleed Chopin suffered on his return trip from Mallorca. In the company of George Sand and her two children, they were returning from a frustrated vacation started in November 1838, scheduled to escape the French winter. But the holliday lasted only three months because the weather, extremely favorable at the beginning ("the sky is like turquoise, sea like azure, mountains like emerald, air like heaven") changed dramatically in January causing a substantial deterioration in Frédérick's fragile health.

The homecoming
In a modest boat that also carried as passengers – in the cargo compartment, of course – a herd of pigs that growled day and night, they set off on their return to Barcelona in February 1839. Chopin is still bleeding from the nose, and Sand is on the verge of despair. Eight days after his arrival in the city, George sighs a French warship in the harbor and decides to talk with the captain, getting the doctor on board to see Frédérick and, good news, taking them all to Marseille. After 36 hours of stoic rocking, the four passengers arrived at the French port on February 25, 1839, the hemorrhage stopped thanks to the solicitous doctor, "and the endless care of my angel", Chopin notes – alluding George, we want to believe.

"Marseille is ugly" says Chopin. "All the literary mob chases George and the musical mob follows me. It's an old city though not ancient, and we are a little bored." As for Sand, she does not seem very happy in "this city of merchants and shopkeepers ...":

"We moved from one inn to another. Apart from the mistral we have a pretty good time. Chopin must not breathe cold air. The windy mistral days we stay at home and work each in his own ... Our existence is highly innocent and simple, almost primitive... "

On May 22 they return, not to Paris but to Nohant where the cozy summer house of Sand is located. Finally at home! exclaims Chopin, with some ease.

Chopin's Scherzos
Chopin had already managed to unlink the prelude from the fugue. He would soon separate the scherzo from the symphony and the sonata, particularly that of his closest model, the beethovenian, a playful or graceful scherzo, existing at least in the symphonies prior to the fifth, and whose purpose was to separate the allegro from the adagio or this one from the end of the work. Chopin would build with its metric four individual pieces, of a ternary nature, that is, first theme, second theme and return to the first theme, or structure A-B-A. The rhythm is in 3/4 and its speed is presto.

Scherzo No. 3 op 39 in C sharp minor
The Scherzo No 3 was composed or completed in 1839, in Mallorca, and published in 1840. It is dedicated to one of his closest pupils, Adolphe Gutmann.
Of stormy beginning, it then links up with a cantabile theme that is accompanied by descending arpeggios; finally a coda will lead to the high brilliant conclusion, with a "Picardy third", that is, a major chord when the piece is in a minor key, as it's the case.

The rendition is by the Russian pianist Yulianna Avdeeva, awarded with the first prize at the 2010 International Chopin Contest, in Warsaw.

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Bizet, "Habanera", from Carmen

To cover the expenses of his innumerable wars and his lavish palaces, Louis XIV increased taxes on peasants in the middle of the second half of the 17th century. It seems perverse but it was the only way to relieve state finances because the nobility and clergy did not pay taxes. But not for that reason we are going to label the Sun King an infamous monarch. Lover of the arts, the Prix de Rome was created under his reign, in 1663. The award would distinguish young artists with a four-year stay at the Academy of France, in Rome, an internship liberally covered by the king or, rather, covered by the French servants.

Prix ​​de Rome for musicians 
A century and a half later, in 1803, Napoleon Bonaparte expanded the universe of beneficiaries to include musicians. The French musician Georges Bizet, an outstanding student of the Paris Conservatoire who had entered at age ten not without difficulties because he was under the age to be admitted, applied in 1857 to the coveted Prix de Rome. He won it on second vote. The award involved a five-year scholarship (usually 4), and the only requirement was to submit an original work each year to the Academy of Fine Arts in Paris.

Surviving in Paris
Georges, whose mother was a pianist, became, in turn, an exceptional pianist, but his musical vocation was oriented to drama. It was not a good choice, because he had to get used to accepting scarcely encouraging criticism. The year his mother died, he returned definitively to Paris and delivered a comic opera to the Academy, his last commitment to the Prix de Rome.
From that moment on, the struggle to survive in the French musical world began. He composes operettas that later destroys, gives lessons and publishes small pieces for piano and songs, also makes transcriptions of famous operas for the piano.

The post mortem success

Georges Bizet (1838 - 1875)

After composing in 1872 another work poorly received by the public, he decided to stage the opera Carmen, mainly for overcoming depression than for another motive. The work dated from 1845 but had never been released for fear that his subjects of treason and murder could irritate the audience. The heroine, to make matters worse, was a licentious seducer and not a virtuous woman. As expected, its premiere in March 1875 was a failure. However, seven months later it was performed in Vienna to great acclaim of both public and critics. But Bizet had already died, in June of that year, shortly before his 37th birthday. Carmen is considered today a work of universal category, but Bizet never got to know.

All the above notwithstanding, Georges Bizet definitely transformed the genre of the French Opera Comique (somewhat light and with musical numbers separated by dialogue) and accelerated the cult of realism helping to forge the Italian post-Romantic operatic tradition that will later be known as verismo (Leoncavallo, Puccini).

Carmen
It is an opera in four acts, based on a novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. Set in Seville, it is starring Carmen, a beautiful and fiery gipsy woman ("if you do not love me, I love you; if you love me, be careful", are words from the Habanera) who seduces an inexperienced soldier in matters of the heart who out of love for her rejects his former beloved. Regrettably, Carmen will later choose another male as the object of her love, a bullfighter. In jealousy, the soldier will be going to kill Carmencita.

In act I, Carmen shares her philosophy of love by singing the famous Habanera, at the exit of the tobacco factory, right next to the soldiers' barracks.

The rendition is by the Latvian-born mezzo-soprano, Elina Garança, in a performance at the New York Met.

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JS Bach: Partita No 2 in C minor

At the beginning of his stay at the court of Köthen, the Bach's relations with his employer Prince Leopold were particularly good, since he was, in turn, a talented musician who held Bach in high esteem. But relations came to be sharpy deteriorating after the prince married a cousin, Princess Friederica, a lady who never showed the slightest interest in music and, generally, in any form of culture. His dire influence on Leopold, a prince and submissive husband at a time, ended up taking him away from the concerts that were held in court and therefore from his own musicians, including his kapellmeister, Johann Sebastian Bach.

Kantor at the Thomaskirche
Therefore, when the position of Kantor in the St. Thomas Church (Thomaskirche) became vacant in Leipzig due to the death of its owner, Johann Sebastian did not think twice and applied for the position even when the post also entailed responsibilities in the children's school that the Church housed, the Thomasschule. The application was very challenging (Bach competed with other musicians) but finally, the twenty-seven present councilors of the City Council gave its vote to Bach, unanimously.

Among the conditions imposed by the Council, besides those relating to teaching school students, and his obligation to compose and conduct the music in another important church in Leipzig, was the teacher's commitment to "arrange, to maintain the good order in the church, that the music to be played does not last too long and, in addition, ensure that it is not theatrical, but encourages listeners to devotion."

After many formalities, including a theology exam, Bach took the position of Kantor of the Saint Thomas Church on May 15, 1723. Thus began the most glorious period of Bach's life and as a composer, a successful stage in the company of his second wife, Anna Magdalena, and his numerous offspring. He would remain in Leipzig until his death, in 1750.

Partitas by Bach
The group of pieces known as "Partitas by Bach" are a set of six keyboard suites, published separately between 1726 and 1730 and finally assembled by Bach in a volume entitled Clavierübung I (Exercises for keyboard) in 1731. The partitas, such as the French and English suites, and overtures, are made up of several pieces that follow an order and receive a name established by the musical tradition of their time.

Partita No. 2 in C minor
Its sections are six:
00:00  Symphony,
04:45  Allemande
07:33  Courante
08:54  Sarabande
10:52  Rondeau
12:09  Capriccio

The rendition is by the brilliant Ukranian pianist Valentina Lisitsa.

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Beethoven: The Emperor Concerto - Claudio Arrau

"Song of triumph for combat. Victory!" These are words that Beethoven wrote in the margins of some notes for the composition of the Piano Concerto No. 5, popularly known as the "Emperor Concerto." At the time the exhortation helped to sustain the idea that its grandiose character responded to the author's intention to greet an epic event, some military feat led by a relevant actor, for example, an emperor.

The occupied Vienna
Four years earlier, on November 1805, Napoleonic troops had occupied Vienna for the first time. Emperor Francis I of Austria, the same who did not hesitate on banning the performances of the Figaro by Mozart, must have left running out, but his exile was short-lived and he entered Vienna, triumphantly, in March 1806.

The peace, however, did not last long. In May 1809 Napoleon's armies were once again encamped on the outskirts of Vienna, and the emperor was forced to undertake a second escape. Peace returned, as always, but this time with humiliating conditions for the empire. To the pitiful armistice, Napoleon added a secret clause: the commitment of his marriage to Maria Luisa of Habsburg-Lorraine, daughter of the monarch.

A great work
We know that in 1809 Beethoven had long since removed from the Eroica Symphony the dedication to the revolutionary general who forgot the ideals of freedom and equality when he became emperor. About Francis I, we have said it all. So, to date, there is no character in sight that tradition or custom identifies with a war hero who would have inspired Beethoven to compose a great work. In fact, almost the opposite. Tradition and custom came to call "Emperor" the concerto No. 5 not for anything other than the great proportions and majesty of the work itself.

Piano Concerto No. 5 "Emperor" in E♭, Op 73
The concerto is dedicated to Archduke Rudolf, patron and brilliant Beethoven's pupil, one of the three members of the so-called "pact of the three princes" that assured the maestro an annual income, from precisely the year of the work's composition. It is the last that Beethoven composed for piano and, definitely, the one with the greatest virtuosity and character. Its premiere took place in the Gewandhaus Hall in Leipzig, on November 28, 1811.

Movements
Three movements make up the concerto: Allegro - Adagio un poco mosso - Rondo, allegro ma non tropo. As Beethoven used to do, the first movement is the longest. The second, intensely lyric, stands as one of the most beautiful pages written for piano and orchestra. It links with the third movement with no pause. The last movement cadenza, before the final tutti, ends with an untold ritardando, in which piano and timpani play twinned, till silence. Then, a furious scale by the piano will lead to a great and resounding orchestral ending.

Claudio Arrau, 85
On November 3, 1988, the London Symphony Orchestra scheduled a concert entirely dedicated to Beethoven that somehow also constituted a tribute to Chilean pianist Claudio Arrau, who would participate in the first part of the evening with the performance of the Emperor Concerto. The Chilean maestro had turned 85, and at the beginning of the video we can see the director Sir Colin Davis holding Arrau by the arm while he comes to the piano. I beg you to excuse a couple of jumps and overexposures of the audio in minutes 3-6, but seeing and listening to Arrau, almost an old man, playing like a boy, makes this record a real jewel, despite the failures mentioned.

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Erik Satie, Gnossienne No 1

The first irreverence with which Erik Satie greeted the French academy was to label Opus 62 as the first work he composed, when he was 19 years old. Six years ago he had entered the Paris Conservatoire, standing out as an excellent student, in theory, harmony and piano; however, he will leave the institution at 21, a bit annoyed with the aesthetic trends of the epoch, whether they were academic or avant-garde.

A Cabaret Pianist
But, after all, his eight years of studies at the Conservatory provided him with a solid foundation, especially as a pianist. With this instrument, he would make a living and for it, he would compose most of his music. The same year he abandoned the academy, 1887, he began working as a pianist in the Le Chat Noir Cabaret, but soon after he was fired, and violently. However, it did not take long to find work as a pianist in a similar establishment. This time it was the turn of the cabaret L'auberge du clou, where he stayed for several years and where he was lucky to meet Claude Debussy, with whom he began a friendship with ups and downs.

Erik Satie (1866 - 1925)

It was precisely Debussy who reproached him on a couple of times that his music seemed at times careless in regard to musical forms. In response to this claim, Satie replied with the composition of a small work entitled "Three pieces in the shape of a pear", for four-hand piano, which are neither three nor, of course, are pear-shaped.

Exotic music
The 1900 Paris Exposition opened the way for many musicians to come into contact with other and more exotic musical universes. There was born, for example, Debussy's taste for Javanese music. Satie didn't fall behind and was enthusiastic about Romanian music, a footprint that scholars swear to observe in the enigmatic Gnossiennes, composed a year later. These are the years when Satie proves to have a special preference for number three. Hence the three Gnossiennes, which culminates a stage begun with the three Sarabandes (1887) and the three Gymnopédies (1888).

"Furniture music"
Beyond his commitment to the production of fun compositions, full of fantasy and humour, Satie always continued to be a hipster, an experimental musician. That was how in 1920, in the company of other composers, the production of what they called "furniture music" was focused, a music that is not an object in itself, but a kind of musical decoration, whose purpose is purely utilitarian, as with furniture.

Although in principle the exotic Gnossienne No. 1 does not belong to the category just described, it is undeniable that it acquires another meaning, another dimension, "a new beauty" if it is heard as background music (!), or piped music? in this simple video illustrating the routine of its author on his daily trip from home to work.
At the piano, the Frenchman Jean-Yves Thibaudet.

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Wagner, Tristan and Isolde, Prelude

Mathilde Wesendonk (1828 - 1902)

After finishing the reading of Schopenhauer´s work The World as Will and Representation, the German composer Richard Wagner began to write the first verses of his musical drama Tristan und Isolde, close to the thought of the Danzig philosopher, whom he took from then on as his inspirational guide and teacher. The work was based on an ancient German legend, whose leitmotiv were love, destiny, betrayal and death, which fit perfectly with the spirit of the romantic period.

Shortly after, on April 1857, his patron and advisor, the banker Otto Wesendonk, rented a simple house to Wagner, in Zurich, on the land he had prepared to build the mansion planned to inhabit in the company of his beautiful young woman Mathilde, thirteen years younger than him and a poet in addition.

In September of that year, Richard welcomed, as guests, the orchestra conductor Hans von Büllow and his wife Cosima, daughter of Franz Liszt. The Wesendonks, already moved to their splendid love nest, were frequent guests, especially Mathilde, who did spend a long time alone because Otto had to travel frequently. Thus, the evenings that used to take place in the little house, curiously called Assyl, counted on the presence – if we talk about the ladies – of Minna, Richard's wife, Cosima and Mathilde.

Richard Wagner (1813 - 1883)

One warm summer afternoon in 1858, Richard read the poems, already quite advanced, that would make up the musical drama script in three acts Tristan and Isolde, before the three ladies. While as sketches, Minna already knew them; Cosima was not indifferent to Richard's words but decided to procrastinate on it (she will marry Richard in 1866); Mathilde, on the other hand, was shuddered from head to toe by the musician's verses, causing instant crush on her. The story of Isolde and Tristan seemed to recall theirs.

Mystical and subjugating was the passion born between them. Mathilde's visits to Assyl became more frequent and also the exchange of letters in veiled language. But it all went to hell when Minna intercepted a letter from Mathilde, a letter in which language had already lost the veil. As a result, the Wesendonks set out on a trip to Italy, and Minna abandonned Wagner, who was forced to continue working in Tristan. Months later, he left Assyl and left for Venice, then to Lucerne, where he finished the work in August 1859. Tristan had died, also Isolde. Richard had not, he was alive, but alone.

Prelude and Liebestod ... and Melancholia 
"Melancholia", the film by Danish director Lars von Trier, was presented at the 2011 Cannes festival. It's a drama containing a curious mix of elements of science fiction and reflections on life and the destiny of human beings, which ends with the total destruction of the Earth by the collision with another planet.
The film begins with a kind of overture, about ten minutes, filmed in slow motion, without dialogues or ambient sound, in which, along with scenes of space and the impending collision, the themes and characters are presented in a dream sequence that von Trier will explore later. The complete sequence is accompanied by a reduced orchestral version that links the prelude to the third act and the final aria of Wagner's work.

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Agustín Barrios - Mangoré: "La Catedral"

Although much of his life was spent in the twentieth century, the music of the Paraguayan guitarist and composer Agustín Pío Barrios (1885 - 1944) is identified with the musical period known as "late romanticism". Fairly "late", in my opinion. But, romantic indeed, an important part of his work shows a great influence from the folk music of South and Central America.

Born in Misiones, Paraguay, Agustín Pío Barrios took his first steps on music from his mother, who served as a teacher at the local girls' school. His seven brothers used to play some instrument and together formed the so-called Orquesta Barrios, of which he was part until the age of 13 when a compatriot, a renowned musician, introduced him to the repertoire of the classical guitar. Thus he came to know the work of Tárrega and Fernando Sor, among others.

In 1907 he made his first solo performance and the following year he was already known throughout Paraguay. Then the tours of South America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile and others) would come and, as a reward, the composer will be known as "the guitar magician". In the 1930s he will travel to Europe, thus achieving universal recognition as an excellent composer and guitarist. In 1932 he appeared in Brazil as Nitsuga (Agustin upside down) Mangoré (the name of a Guarani chieftain), the guitar Paganini, which led to him later being known worldwide as Agustín Barrios - Mangoré.

The work La Catedral is considered to be his pinnacle work. Composed around 1912, and according to some inspired by the religious music of Bach, it is made up of three movements, despite its brief extension: Prelude Saudade, Andante Religioso (1:26), and Allegro Solemne (3:17), the latter demanding a great technique. The work has become an unavoidable component of the universal repertoire for classical guitar.

The rendition is by the beautiful and superb Croatian guitarist Ana Vidovic.

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Chopin as a child / "Barcarolle"

Nicolas Chopin, Frédéric's father, left France to try his luck in Poland when he was sixteen. After working for a while in a small tobacco factory run by a countryman, he managed to establish himself, by then an adult, as a teacher or tutor at the home of aristocratic Polish families. This is how he got to work for the Skarbek family, settled in the village of Zelasowa Wola, 60 km from Warsaw.

The mother, Justine
Mrs Skarbek, by those years a widow, was assisted in the house maintenance by a poor relative, an unaffected and charming twenty-year-old girl, with blond hair and blue eyes who wore a certain aura of distinction, despite her aquiline nose, which she will bequeath to one of her children. Yes indeed, she will be Frédéric's mother, because after four years, Justina and Nicolas, who saw each other every day during dinner and ran into each other through the halls and corners of the whole house, finally got married.

Ludwika and Izabella Chopin
Four children will be born from the marriage. Frédéric, the only male, is the second. His older sister, Ludwika, will be a kind of preceptor of little Chopin, in addition to being the one who started him on the path of music. Soon they will play four hands to their parents' delight. Ludwika is his affectionate advisor, almost his friend; long after, she will visit him in Paris and will be with his brother at the time of the final farewell.
The second sister, Izabella, is also a good musician but does not exceed Ludwika's brightness. Both, and also Frédéric, of course, have developed their piano skills guided by Justina, the mother, a talented amateur.

Emilia Chopin
The younger sister, Emilia, has decided to be a poet. At eleven, along with his brother, she writes a comedy in verse to celebrate the father's birthday. Later, Frédéric will join Ludwika to write children's books as a duo. Musicians, talkative, cheerful, friendly, adorable, with a talent for almost everything. So are the Chopin children. The one who shows the greatest talents is, no doubt, little Frédéric. Interestingly, he has an amazing facility for drawing and caricatures, and an unmatched gift for imitating characters. With these extra-musical skills, years later he will wow and impress those attending the artistic evenings in the Paris salons, where he has been invited, at first, to play the piano.

Barcarolle opus 60
The folk songs that Venetian gondoliers sing while they walk their passengers through the city canals are known as barcarolles. The tradition is ancient and it is said that the gondoliers did it so as not to listen to what their distinguished passengers, all noble people, would talk during the small journey.

A good number of classic authors approached the composition of barcarolles, after making a rigorous visit to Italy, and certainly Venice. Apart from the very popular one by Jacques Offenbach, from The Tales of Hoffmann (from which even Elvis Presley released his own version, a "rock" one, in the movie GI Blues), the most famous "classic" barcarolle is that of Frédéric Chopin, composed in 1845, during summer in Nohant, the summer residence of his companion of that time, the writer Georges Sand.

In a brief analysis that Maurice Ravel did on this little masterpiece, he said: "Chopin did in it everything that, by negligence, his masters only expressed imperfectly."

The impeccable rendition is by the Taiwanese pianist Ching-Yun Hu.

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Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto, op 64

On the whole, it can be said that Felix Mendelssohn did quite well in his life, a very unusual issue among his romantic colleagues. The bad news is that it was very short. He only lived until age 38.
Born in Hamburg in 1809, a year before Chopin and two before Liszt, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy came from a family of bankers. His father was involved until 1811 in the banking business, running one of the most prestigious credit institutions in Europe. His mother, likewise, was the daughter of a prominent Berlin banker.

Mendelssohn: musician and painter
Felix was given his first piano lessons from his mother and soon showed great musical talent. When he turned eleven, his father Abraham ended up convincing himself of his son's extraordinary dispositions for music and, against all odds, coming from a person linked to business, he wrote the following sentence in a family letter: "Music will be for him perhaps a trade. "
And, so that the artistic formation of the son was complete, Abraham made Felix take lessons at the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin. Throughout his life, Felix would paint extraordinarily well, showing in his watercolours a prodigious technique.

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809 - 1847)

The sabbatical years
Parallel to music and painting lessons, Mendelssohn pursues studies of aesthetics, geography and history of the French Revolution at the University of Berlin. When he was 20 years old (four years ago he had already composed the overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream) his father gave him a sort of a sabbatical year but multiplied by three. Indeed, for three years, Mendelssohn was able to travel all over Europe, with no other purpose than to compose and getting acquainted with the music of other countries.
In addition, if he wanted to be back in Berlin, he could stay in the family's palace, in whose gardens stood a pavilion that could accommodate about one hundred attendees, and where the young Felix premiered several of his works, and where at one time he received a visit by Chopin, or by the poet Heine. (Despite having met in Paris, it is unlikely that Liszt had been one of the frequent guests at the Mendelssohn house, as Felix did not like him, to the point of asserting that Liszt had "many fingers but little brain").

Marriage

Cécile Jeanrenaud (1817 - 1853)

In full enjoyment of this generous life, the summer of 1836 Felix was fortunate to meet the beautiful Cécile Jeanrenaud, aged tender 17 years. It was love at first sight for both of them, without crises or setbacks of any kind, unlike their contemporaries Liszt, Chopin, Wagner or Berlioz, and, needless to say, poor Schumann. They got married the following year and, by all accounts, they were very happy. They had five children.

But as happiness does not last forever, in May 1847 his sister Fanny died suddenly from a stroke. This pain caused in turn a stroke in Felix, from which he partially recovered although the sequels led him to death six months later. The beautiful Cécile did not endure the pain. She outlived him for only six years.

Violin Concerto in E minor, Op 64
The idea of ​​this concerto arose during the summer of 1838. He wrote to his friend the violinist Ferdinand David: "I should like to write a violin concerto for you next winter. One in E minor runs through my head, the beginning of which gives me no peace." But the project did not get off the ground until 1844, during family vacations in an idyllic place near Frankfurt when, in Felix's words, he only intended "... to eat and sleep, without tails, without a piano, without business cards, without carriages or jobs, but with donkeys, field flowers, ruled paper, sketchbook, Cécile and children."
But the concerto running through his head was mightier.
The premiere took place on March 13, 1845, at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, conducted by a Mendelssohn's fellow as the composer was too weak to do so.

Movements
The piece is in three movements, which follow on from each other without a pause:
00:00  Allegro molto appassionato (the movement that has made it famous)
13:30  Andante
20:52  Allegreto non troppo - allegro molto vivace...

The rendition is by the American violinist Hilary Hahn, accompanied by the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the Estonian-born director Paavo Järvi.

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