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.