Beethoven, Piano Concerto No 3

With the enormous output of 27 piano concertos, Mozart undoubtedly contributed to the nineteenth-century concerto for piano and orchestra becoming a highly widespread form in Viennese musical practice. Therefore, it seems odd that composers established in the Austrian capital who followed him greatly diminished the production of concertos, such as Beethoven or, at the other extreme, omitted it altogether, as was the case with Schubert who, by the way, only lived 31 years.

The new character
But it should not be thought that the musical form known as a concerto for solo instrument and orchestra has lost prestige, or was considered outdated. Quite the opposite, that scarce production is a consequence of the composers' greater dedication and focus in the creation of concertistics pieces, which for this reason were acquiring the character of extensive, large-scale work, to which the composers will turn their attention intensively.

The "performer", a new figure
The changes that the concerto will experience in the 19th century are due to the nascent appreciation of "the artistry", the discovery of the individual hand in hand with romanticism, and with it the emergence of the figure of the "performer", who become aware of themselves as exceptional beings, capable of technical feats that astonish an astonished audience at the perfection of increasingly difficult performances, unattainable by the ordinary folk. Which means, in passing, the end of the author-performer, so close at hand in the previous century. This process, gradual like all processes, had its beginning in the early years of the century and its first promoter was, without a doubt, Ludwig van Beethoven.

Beethoven's concertos production, compared to the nine symphonies, or the sixteen quartets for string or the 32 sonatas for piano, is quite reduced: five concertos for piano and orchestra plus a juvenile one composed at age 14 and which It is never performed, a violin concerto, and a triple concerto for violin, cello and piano.

Of the five piano concertos, the first two (where the one with the number two is chronologically the first) are a transition between a world that is being left behind and the new one that comes from the hand of the French Revolution. They clearly do not respond to the Mozartian style, revealing a more ambitious attitude than any of Mozart's, although they are still limited in their conception.

Piano Concerto No 3 in C minor
The real change of style will come with the Concerto No. 3 in C minor, opus 37, completed in 1800, premiered in April 1803 and published in 1804. The music has ceased to be fresh and light to acquire epic and turbulent features, showing the hallmark of a second stage in the maestro's life since the deafness has definitely begun. In the autumn of 1802, Ludwig would confess his grief in the Heiligenstadt Testament (which will only be known after his death, twenty-five years later), where he bitterly regrets that it has been precisely him, a musician, who lost his sense of hearing.

Concerto No. 3 is the only one written in a minor mode and reflects a clear evolution in his piano literature. Not for nothing, at this point, has Beethoven composed eighteen of his 32 piano sonatas.

Movements:
– Allegro con brio. In sonata form, with two main themes (a second theme, lyrical, is presented in 5:16).

– Largo (17:01). A calm subject, conducive to meditation.

– Rondo - allegro (28:40). Funny and cheerful, perfect for closing the work.

The rendition is by Krystian Zimerman, accompanied by the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Bernstein. 

Rachmaninoff, Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini

 
Born into a wealthy family, Sergei Rachmaninoff did not look sympathetically at the revolutionary outbreaks of the early century that would later lead to the outbreak of the Bolshevik revolution of 1917. So as soon as the historical change began, he went on a tour of the Scandinavian countries. Once the tour was over, he decided to go to North America with his wife Natalia in a fragile boat that set them down on Long Island in the first days of November 1918. It was not his first visit to America, but this time he would stay there forever.

Between the US and Europe
The successes of the previous visit allowed him to get convenient access the American musical circuits.  He toured the country extensively in exhausting tours as a virtuoso piano player, although this forced him to neglect his career as a composer. But at the same time, the economic well-being achieved in North America provided him to divide his life and his time between the United States and Europe. Between the years 1932 and 1939, he was able to travel every summer to the small village he had built in Switzerland, near Lake Lucerne, in the company of Natalia.

In Villa Senar
The Swiss refuge was called Villa Senar, a name formed by the first two letters of his name, Natalia's own, and the initial of her surname. In this house, Russian was spoken, Russian food was cooked by Russian servants and immigrants and friends from Russia were welcome – the pianist Vladimir Horowitz among them. If there was enough peace, Sergei would try to compose.

It was in the comfort of this home, between July and August 1934, that Sergei Rachmaninoff composed one of his most acclaimed works, Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini, premiered to great success by the Philadelphia Orchestra in Baltimore, on November 7 of that year, with the author at the piano under the leadership of Leopold Stokowski.

"Creme de Menthe" Variations

The work comprises twenty-four variations on Caprice N° 24 for solo violin by Niccolo Paganini. It is clear that Sergei was not the inventor of the idea, as the Caprice composed by the violinist who had a pact with the devil has inspired a wide and diverse number of composers including not only Brahms, Liszt or Lutoslawski but also Benny Goodman.

Although the work is executed in one go, it can be divided into three sections corresponding to the three movements of a concert: up to variation 10 they make up a first movement; from 11 to 18, a second slow movement; and the rest the final movement. Due to great technical difficulties, the piece forced Rachmaninoff to drink a glass of creme de menthe prior to going on stage on opening day in order to calm his nerves, a protocol he followed every time he had to perform the piece that he himself later dubbed "creme de menthe variations".

Variation 18 (14:50) is by far the best known. Slow and surprisingly romantic in character, it is often featured as a standalone piece in various compilations of classical music. Its use in Hollywood movies and various popular songs has also contributed to the popularity of the piece and the subsequent fame of Sergei Rachmaninoff.

The rendition is by the Russian pianist born in 1991 Daniil Trifonov, accompanied by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Zubin Mehta.

Scarlatti, Sonata in A major

 

The Neapolitan composer Domenico Scarlatti met Handel during a trip the former made to Venice in 1708 when they were both twenty-three years old; both had been born the same year, 1685 (as Bach, in passing). Enthusiastic about Handel's abilities, Domenico followed him to Rome to listen to his improvisations. After a while, both musicians would consolidate a great friendship.

The contest
According to a Scarlatti biographer, Cardinal Ottoboni – Handel's patron at the time and patron of art – organized a healthy competition in Rome between the two musicians to liven up the evenings of his modest court. It was about knowing who was the best organist and harpsichord player, or Scarlatti, or Handel. At the end of the contest, and for the participants remained to be friends, the noble audience declared both artists tied: the best organist was Handel, and the best harpsichordist, Scarlatti.

D. Scarlatti (1685 - 1757)

555 "Exercises"
This exalted public was right. In 1733, installed in Madrid for the rest of his days as a music teacher to his student and former princess Maria Barbara, now Queen of Spain, he will compose his gigantic work for harpsichord: 555 short pieces of a single movement that he modestly called "exercises", however highly innovative compositions that herald the future sonata form of the coming decades.

A friendly welcome
The first edition of Domenico's modest "exercises" is headed by a singular and precious warning that for the understanding of his art and his personality provides us with more information than a complete encyclopedia: 

"Reader, do not expect, whether you are a dilettante or a professor, to find in these compositions any profound intention, but rather an ingenious banter in the art to exercise you in rigorous play of the harpsichord.

No point of view or ambition guided me, but obedience brought me to publish it. 

Perhaps they will be agreeable to you, and I will more willingly then obey your other orders to please you with an easier and more varied style. 

Therefore do not show yourself more judge than critic, and you will thereby grow your own pleasure.

To specify hand position I have used the letter D to indicate the right hand, and the letter M the left hand. 

Live happily."

Happy and less judge than critic, then, one must listen to the rendition of the sonata in A major K. 322, by the 16-year-old pianist born in Hong-Kong, Tiffany Poon, during a recital in Montreal in January 2013.

Antonio Lauro, "Natalia" waltz

 
The waltz, traditional European dance by nature, arrived in Venezuela in the mid-nineteenth century to acquire there its own personality, mostly from a rhythmic standpoint. Its rhythm would radically differ from the European one. Since then it was called the Venezuelan waltz, although it would keep the harmonic and formal structure inherited from the norms of the European tradition. Over the years, its popular character was losing strength while gaining ground as a concert piece. In that status, it will later show an important development in the field of classical guitar.

The maestro Antonio Lauro
It is at this point when one of the most internationally recognized Venezuelan musicians get involved. This is Antonio Lauro, whom the Australian guitarist John Williams graciously called "the Strauss of the guitar", and whose creations are today a mandatory repertoire in the music conservatories over the world. Born in Ciudad Bolívar to Italian immigrant parents, Maestro Lauro made a brilliant career as a composer and performer in Venezuela, being regarded today as one of the main Latin American masters of classical guitar.

Antonio Lauro (1917 - 1986)

Waltz No 3, "Natalia"
His famous waltz "Natalia" – a short piece of fewer than three minutes (three sections that are repeated in full) but highly demanding  – is one of the sixteen Venezuelan waltzes he wrote throughout his life and one of those pieces that cannot be missing from the repertoire of the instrument. The work dates from 1940 and for twenty-five years it was simply called Waltz N° 3, but thanks to a father's affection in the right circumstances it took the name of his daughter Natalia, who has been kind enough to let us refer to the story here in full detail:

“When dad composed the waltz, he still hadn't married my mom and it was about 10 years before I was born. The piece was part of a booklet that had three waltzes and that was number three. When I was 15 years old there was already an orchestral version. Dad asked me to dance it – it was played by the Daniel Milano orchestra. While dancing he dedicated the waltz to me and told me that from that day on the song would bear my name ... ".

 (Correo del Orinoco, digital, August 6, 2010)

The brilliant rendition is by the Greek-born guitarist, Nicholas Petrou.

JS Bach, Concerto for three harpsichords

 
On the afternoon of December 15, 1832, three young pianists of no more than twenty-two years took the stage at the Paris Conservatory. They were the Hungarian Franz Liszt, his friend Frédérik Chopin, who had just arrived from Warsaw, and the German pianist Ferdinand Hiller. The program included, along with music by various composers, the Concerto in D minor for strings and three harpsichords, composed nearly a hundred years ago by Johann Sebastian Bach. After his death in 1750, Bach had fallen into near oblivion and his reputation as a composer openly declined, before the emergence of a new style, classicism. The homage of the three pianists thus joined the admiration previously professed by Mozart and later Beethoven who had no doubt to point out Bach as "the true father of harmony".

The new times - the mismatch
The fact is that in the last two decades of the Baroque master's life, tastes had gradually begun to change, and Johann Sebastian, true to himself, had not known how to suited to or had not wanted to. According to Anna Magdalena Bach, his second wife, once heard him say that "since I write for my own pleasure, I cannot get angry because my art does not appeal to everyone". But this attitude caused him some troubles. Around the same period of composition of the concerto for three harpsichords, a close relative – his cousin and also a musician – dedicated only 39 lines to him in a monumental dictionary of music that he was making at that time.

"Old Bach"
None of his contemporaries could have been unaware that Bach was a genius, but in his later years the general judgment was that he was a bit "old fashioned". He was a genius but from the past. A question that was not difficult for him to verify by observing how the public began to prefer the works of his musical sons over his own.

In 1747, three years before his death, the maestro was invited to Berlin by Frederick of Prussia. The sovereign informed his courtiers of the arrival of the master with the following phrase: "Gentlemen, extraordinary news: old Bach has just arrived in Berlin." The singular announcement clearly shows what, enthusiasm aside, Bach was in those years even for a great admirer like Frederick the Great: old Bach.

That is why, almost a hundred years later, Liszt, Chopin and Hiller rush to pay homage to him.

Concerto for three harpsichord, strings and continuo, in D minor, BWV 1063
Old Bach would compose concertos for one, two, three and four keyboards. Scholars agree in dating the composition of this one, one of the two concertos for three harpsichords, before 1733. The work is supposed to be written for the exercise of Bach's many children to assist their formation, and of course, thus receiving their cooperation at frequent family evenings. It is also not excluded that the oldest sons, Wilhelm Friedrich or Carl Philipp Emanuel, have even taken part in its composition.

The work is in three movements:

- Allegro

- Alla Siciliana (4:57)

- Allegro (8:51 atacca)

Netherlands Bach Society with the soloists Lars Ulrik Mortensen, Siebe Henstra, and Menno van Delft,

Beethoven and Count Waldstein

Despite having sponsored the young Beethoven's first trip to Vienna to meet Mozart, the Prince-Elector of Bonn — named Maximilian Francis, patron of Ludwig at the time — did not show, on Beethoven's return, any particular favouritism for the musician, who at his seventeen wanted to acquire a greater technical base by studying with the old masters who at that time were standing out in Vienna.

Back to Bonn - court organist
According to tradition, Mozart would have listened to him and prophesied that Beethoven would "make people talk". But the trip lasted just two months because upon learning of the death of his mother, Ludwig had to return to Bonn where he will remain for the next five years, waiting for the elector prince offered his support again, in a hypothetical second trip. Until this happens, Maximilian Francis will assign Ludwig a salary of 170 florins for his performance as the second organist of the court.

The Breuning
During this extended period, Ludwig succeeded in forging valuable friendships, including that of an intelligent and distinguished widow, Mrs. von Breuning. She welcomed him into her home as a music teacher to two of her four children. Thus, Ludwig will find a second home, more welcoming even than his own, not counting the interest his student Eleonora aroused in him.

Count von Waldstein
Through the circle of friends of the refined lady, young Beethoven will easily find well-off students. But his most beneficial contact came in 1778, when Count Ferdinand von Waldstein, a member of the Viennese aristocracy and music lover, settled in Bonn. The count readily joins Mme Breuning's circle, hears Beethoven and becomes his devoted admirer, the first aristocrat of a long future list.

Count Waldstein (1762 - 1823)

To Vienna, for good
On the death of Emperor Joseph II, in 1790, Count Waldstein invited Beethoven to compose a funerary ode, which is not finally represented due to the difficulties it entailed for the musicians. That same year, passing through Bonn on his way to London, Haydn listened to Beethoven and invited him to Vienna to take him as a pupil on his return. After Count Waldstein spoke to the precise people, on November 2, 1792, at six in the morning, Beethoven left for Vienna, from where he will never return.

His travel notebook — in the style of Chopin when he left Warsaw — received fourteen greetings and beatitudes, including one from Eleonora and one from a single aristocrat, Count Waldstein, who wrote:

"Dear Beethoven! You go to realise a long-desired wish: the genius of Mozart is still in mourning and weeps for the death of its disciple. (...) By incessant application, receive Mozart's spirit from Haydn's hands. Bonn, October 29, 1792. Your sincere friend, Waldstein"

Unfortunately, sincere friend Waldstein had a wretched life. Obsessed with creating his own army to fight the Napoleonic forces, he squandered his fortune and his wife's in such an undertaking. Aware of this, Beethoven dedicated to him the Sonata for piano opus 53, composed in 1804. The count, dismissed as a servant of the Empire, would die twenty years later in a home for the destitute, on the outskirts of Vienna. On the day of his death, a letter arrived informing him of the death of his elder brother — and that he was now to inherit the family fortune.

"Waldstein" Sonata, or "Aurora" Sonata, opus 53

Sonata No. 21 in C major, called "Waldstein" and also known as "Aurora", is performed here by Chilean maestro Claudio Arrau, on the occasion of the 1977 Beethovenfest, which is held in Bonn every year. At the time, maestro Arrau was 74 years old.

Originally, the sonata was in three movements but following comments suggesting that the sonata was too long, Beethoven eliminated the second movement, replacing it with a short introduction (12:20) at the final movement (15:55). The movement removed became later the famous Andante Favori, much sought after by the audience in the evenings of the time (and hence its name, suggested by Karl Czerny).

Handel, Messiah - Halleluyah Chorus

After collecting selected texts from the Bible and concocting a few psalms here and there, the English landlord Charles Jennens sent a libretto of his own in July 1741 to the London-based German opera composer, Georg Friedrich Handel. Based on it, he had to compose an oratorio in English: a song and a reflection on the relationship between man and God. Also, it would address the mystery of Redemption.

It was not the first time that the wealthy landowner had been a contributor to Handel, but this time he was quite confident in the success of the venture. And so he lets a friend know: "I hope [Handel] will lay out his whole Genius & Skill upon it, that the Composition may excell all his former Compositions, as the Subject excells every other subject. The Subject is Messiah".

The oratorio - A new niche
Four years earlier, Handel had faced the failure of his third venture as a composer-entrepreneur. He still would write some Italian operas, but on the advice of friends and acquaintances, he had already been putting some distance from the Italian lyric genre, entering the field of the oratorio in English. Therefore, the libretto he received from Jennens fell into his lap.

G.F. Handel (1685 - 1759)

Premiere in a charity function
According to his own notes, the composer began work on The Messíah oratorio on August 22, 1741, and had it completed 24 days later. However, Handel's most famous oratorio could not be premiered in London with its original title and had to wait for the composer to travel to Ireland to be premiered in 1742 at the New Music Hall in Dublin as a charity performance in favour of convicts and sick people of all kinds.

On his return to London, to alleviate the criticism arising from the use of a sacred theme in an environment that had little or nothing to do with the liturgy, the title had to be changed to Sacred Drama. Its reception, while warm, was far from awakening the fervour that it will reach years later.

The Hallelujah Chorus
The oratorio is made up of three sections, in which choirs, recitatives and arias alternate. The famous Hallelujah chorus, which the author had already used in less elaborate versions in two previous compositions, is sung at the end of the second part.

Although the oratorio is not properly a sacred story, it is customary to represent it for Easter, or Christmas. This is not the case in the video presented here, in which the Canadian choral group Niagara Chorus bursts into a food center on any given day in November – thanks to a flashmob – to surprise the dozens of carefree customers with eighteenth-century music while they enjoy their contemporary burgers and fries.

Saint-Saëns, Danse Macabre

The multi-faceted and gifted intellectual and musician Camille Saint-Saëns composed his first piano piece when he was just over four years old. But that did not make that he lay to rest on his laurels. At seven he was already delighting a wide audience in family concerts. Such a promising beginning prompted him to momentarily abandon his studies of Latin, Greek, literature and other sciences to devote himself exclusively to music —a very wise decision that led him to give his first public concert at the Salle Pleyel, in Paris, at the age of ten.

An amazing recital
On the occasion, accompanied on a second piano by an Italian maestro, both a Mozart concerto and a Beethoven concerto were performed, as well as pieces by Hummel, Handel and Bach. At the end, he offered the audience to give an encore with any of the thirty-two Beethoven sonatas that, by the way, he knew by heart. The audience almost threw the room down with applause and the news of this incredible concert spread through the newspapers throughout Europe, even reaching an echo in the press in the United States. Three years later, he entered the Paris Conservatory to study organ and composition. There was no other choice.

Camille Saint-Saëns
(1835 - 1921)

Maturity and Danse Macabre 
Before the age of twenty, with two symphonies to his credit, Camille will have earned the admiration and support of Liszt, Berlioz,
Gounod and Rossini, among others.
By 1875, at the age of forty, his intense creative rhythm had paid off enormously, covering all fields of music and all possible instrumental and vocal combinations.
This is the year that marks the great triumph of his third tone poem, Dansa Macabre, which will earn him even more notoriety, making him the most internationally recognized French composer of his time.

The work
In a waltz rhythm and scarcely seven minutes long, the work is
based on a poem by Henri Cazalis, which describes Death playing the violin before the graves, and at whose call the skeletons come to dance for him. Twelve bells announce the beginning of the work. Death then bursts in with a violin somewhat distorted in pitch to create a ghostly atmosphere. At minute 2:47, the xylophones enter to mimic the beating of the bones when dancing and at the end (7:02), the oboe announces the new day with the crowing of the rooster, calling the dancing skeletons back to their graves.

The excellent animation belongs to a Mr Henderson who in the credits, unfortunately, assigns the work to Liszt, perhaps mistaken for a piece by the Hungarian author with a similar name: Totentanz. Camille's piece ends at minute 7:45, with two chords of little enhancement, dominant and tonic (like tangos). What you hear next is the song Destroying Angel, by the English band Sneaker Pimps.

And as there is room for everyone in the vineyard of the Lord, the video has received various and opposing comments on Youtube, from the most enthusiastic greeting to the label of gross stupidity, including the claim that the dancing skeletons seem to be gay. As for me, I loved it.

Ottorino Respighi, "Notturno"

Ottorino Respighi is one of those musicians who in his time gave a huge boost to music without having been monumental figures themselves like the great masters. Born in Bologna, Italy, in 1879, he took his first steps in the art of music at the hands of his father, a piano teacher. Then he will enter the Liceo Musicale in his hometown, where he will study violin, viola and composition. A year after receiving his diploma in 1899, he traveled to Russia to perform as a principal violist at the Imperial Russian Theater in Saint Petersburg, where he met Rimsky-Kórsakov, of whom he was also a student.

First violin and composer
During the first decade of the twentieth century, Ottorino stood out primarily as a performer, forming part of a famous quintet in which he took the position of the first violin. In the second decade of the century, he added composing to his activity as a performer. 

Florence
In 1913, when his compositions began to attract attention, he was appointed professor of composition at the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia, in Florence, a position he held for a short time, although he will remain in the city for the rest of his days.

Ottorino Respighi (1879 - 1936)

The stigma
For a long time, Respighi's work was considered music of little value, even vulgar, strident and indebted to other minds. Furthermore, his most recognized work, the trilogy of "Roman" symphonic poems – which stands out as I Pini di Roma (Pines of Rome), a remarkable composition for its surprising orchestral effects – was associated with Mussolini's fascism, accusing Ottorino, in passing, of support the fascist regime.
The truth is that the composer, in addition to being shy, was not interested in politics at all. His world was simply made up of music alone. However, the celebrations for the centenary of his birth, in 1979, faced strong political opposition. It has only been since 1986, for the commemoration of the 50 years of his birth, that things have begun to change, leading the composer and his music to an honored place.

An early work - Six pieces for violin and piano
Ottorino Respighi was also a musicologist. In this vein, he studied in depth Italian musicians from the 16th to the 18th centuries, rescuing compositions by authors such as Marcello, Vivaldi, Monteverdi, and publishing their works, as well. For this reason, some of his early compositions are strongly influenced by baroque authors, or are perhaps tinged with a late romanticism. This is the case, in our opinion, of the Notturno, from his Six Pieces for Violin and Piano, published between 1901 and 1906, later transcribed for solo piano.

Notturne, for piano solo, in the rendition (audio only) of the Armenian pianist Sergei Babayan.

Richard Strauss, "Also sprach Zarathustra"

"Also Sprach Zarathustra" (Thus Spoke Zarathustra) is one of the seven tone poems composed by the musician born in Munich in 1864, Richard Strauss. Written between the years 1895-1896, it is the freest and more fantastic, and according to some, the most elaborate and difficult, perhaps due to its association with the complex work of the same name by the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, on which it is freely based.

A "programmatic" support
After its premiere in Frankfurt under the author's conducting, a heated debate arose that yet was less due to the music than to the complicated program that Strauss developed as a support for the understanding of a programmatic nature work. In this case, a piece of music created under the suggestion of the moods caused by reading a literary text.

On that occasion, Strauss asked to include the following text in the concert hand program:

"First movement: Dawn. Man feels the power of God. Religious wandering. But he continues to yearn. He plunges into passion (second movement) and does not find peace. He turns to science and tries in vain to solve the problems of life with a fugue (third movement). Pleasant melodies sound and he becomes an individual. His soul rises, while the world sinks beneath him. "

Richard Strauss (1864 - 1949)

To be frank, it seems like a joke. But the work became part of the universal repertoire since its premiere, until today. The complete work typically lasts about 40 minutes and is divided into nine sections, which Strauss named in consonance with certain chapters of the philosopher's book.

A very brief fanfare... and a "funky version"
The first section, Introduction, or Sunrise, a fanfare less than two minutes long, was featured in Kubrick's 2001 film, A Space Odyssey, which favored its awareness by a wide audience.

On a pianissimo ostinato entrusted to the double basses, the theme is exposed by the trumpet. After traversing between major and minor modes, the piece ends with a spirited and spectacular tutti in C major, which then shuts down to leave the organ alone for a couple of seconds.

The rendition is by the BBC Philharmonic conducted by the Spanish director Juan José Mena.
(Below. a "funky" version).

A "funky" version
Eumir Deodato, Brazilian musician and arranger born in 1943 in Rio de Janeiro who lives in the United States since the mid-seventies, surprised the American audience in 1974 with a great "funky" arrangement of the Introduction to Richard Strauss' work, which earned him that year the Grammy Award for Best Pop / Instrumental Performance.

Some recognition is needed to be made, as well, to the author of the video presented here. Some images from space brilliantly accompany these spectacular ten minutes of music created by Deodato from a piece of classical music, in which jazz, blues, gospel, elements of African tradition coexist... that is, "funky" music.

Dvorak, Romance for violin and orchestra

 
Following the amorous path traced eighty years earlier by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the Czech composer Antonin Dvorak was forced to set his eyes on the younger sister of Josefina Cermakova, his first love, after she did not respond to his requests despite the great effort Antonin put into it. The younger sister was named Anna and, although she was always aware of her status as a consolation prize, she ended up marrying Antonin, enchanted about her life, in 1873.

The couple conceived nine children and were immensely happy, despite the fact that during the years 1876-77 they had to face an ordeal. In the span of two years, the couple lost three of their children: one before birth, another in an accident and a third from smallpox.

A special movement
Three years earlier, Dvorak had composed an F minor string quartet that was never released. Shortly after, he published a version for violin and piano that did not obtain the recognition of the general public. In spite of everything, Antonin recognized in the quartet's second movement a great intrinsic value. Therefore, in the midst of the pain imposed by the loss of his children, he devoted himself in those same years to rebuilding the movement, endowing it with individuality and unique personality. for he was firmly convinced that he had written a major work, which should be preserved. It is the origin of the Romance.

Romance for violin and orchestra in F minor, opus 11
The work is built on two main ideas. The first, a simple melody, a song, presented at first by the violins and then freely elaborated by the soloist (1:45). The second motif is a romantic melody, somewhat less elaborate than the first (3:40). Then comes a short, more dramatic midsection that allows the soloist to show his virtuosity (4:50). But soon he returns to the serenity of the first motive. The piece takes the major mode when the second motif reappears, after which a brief coda will lead to the serene closure.

The rendition is by the Slovenian violinist Tanja Sonc, accompanied by the Slovenian Philharmonics conducted by the Canadian director Kery-Lynn Wilson.