Chopin, Piano Concerto No 1

When Chopin settled in Paris in 1831, six years earlier the German-born pianist, teacher, and piano maker Friedrich Kalkbrenner had done the same. After a long period in London as a pianist and businessman, he had arrived in the City of Light, the center of European musical activity at the time, carrying the title of "the best pianist in Europe", made up by himself. Twenty-one-year-old Chopin, a newcomer, came to him for advice and contacts. Kalkbrenner offered to make him an accomplished virtuoso within three years if he would take lessons with him.

Chopin hesitates

It is true that Chopin had not had a piano teacher until then. Those who gave him the basic tools were his teachers in Warsaw, but one was a violinist and the other a composer. So it is not surprising that he wrote enthusiastically to his parents and sisters that he intended to stay in Paris for "about three years," precisely the time frame suggested by Kalkbrenner. But his enthusiasm for his potential teacher waned as, with the weapons he already possessed, he dazzled those attending the Parisian soirées where he was invited to play. Finally, Chopin resigned Kalkbrenner's support but he honored him with the dedication of his Concerto in E minor, when it was published in Paris in 1833.

A young Chopin, by Ary Scheffer

The second concerto

It was the second piano concerto Chopin wrote, but the first to be published. For this reason, the publisher assigned it No. 1. The first had been the Concerto in F minor, which would be published three years later, in 1836, and consequently designated as No. 2.

Both were composed in Warsaw, when Chopin was between 19 and 20 years old. They both had their premiere on the occasion of the numerous soirees organized to bid farewell to the young virtuoso who was leaving Warsaw with the idea of being away for "about three years", but who would never return.

Concerto No. 1 in E minor, opus 11

Then and now, there has been no shortage of opinions about the weakness, or the lack of ingenuity or brilliance of Chopin's orchestration. Uninteresting, is the most common imputation. It happens that the young composer does not have as models the Beethovenian or Mozartian concerto, but those of his contemporaries, less notable (Hummel, Hiller, or Kalkbrenner himself), in which the piano is openly the protagonist, with the orchestra on a secondary plane, in charge of the initial exposition of the themes and of underlining the moments of great expressiveness in support of the soloist. What they all agree on is that the piano writing is unparalleled.

Movements:

There are three, typical of the period:

00        Allegro maestoso

21:07  Romance. Larghetto

30:56  Rondo. Vivace

From the Philharmonic Hall, Warsaw, on 27 August 2010. Martha Argerich and the Sinfonia Varsovia Orchestra under the baton of Jacek Kaspszyk.

Mozart, Piano Concerto No 21

By the time he was seven years old, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had toured the European courts playing the piano with the keyboard hidden by a cloth, and before the age of eight he had composed his first symphony. Therefore, when he settled in Vienna in 1781, at the age of 25, he did so with the determination to make a living by cultivating both skills, that of pianist and that of composer, to the highest degree possible. So nothing could have made more sense than to compose his own concertos and conduct them from the piano, accompanied by an orchestra put together and hired for the occasion.

Leopold disagrees...

His father, Leopold, was not in favor of the idea. From Salzburg, he strongly reprimanded him in an epistolary argument in which he argued that his destiny lay in some glamorous European court and not in his turning into a free-lance musician, a concept that, of course, did not exist. The icing on the cake was put by Wolfgang the following year, when, without Leopold's consent, he married Konstance Weber.

The concerto production

By this time, Mozart had composed six piano concertos. And life as a couple only increased his output significantly. In the 1782-83 season, he composed three concertos, which were received enthusiastically by the Viennese public, prompting him to double the stakes with the creation of six more concertos in 1784. The subscription concertos with his own music proved to be an excellent vein, although in the following two years he slackened his pace slightly: he composed only three.

The good years

Leopold had to pull back. He was pleasantly surprised. His son was living in Vienna happily married and managing on his own.

These are, by the way, Konstance and Wolfgang's best years: they have a gracious one-year-old baby (i.e., he has survived so far), they live in a posh section of Vienna, they have hired servants, and Wolfgang is looking for an opportunity to confess to Konstance that he is about to purchase a billiard table.

Concerto No. 21 in C major, K. 467

No sooner had Mozart finished Concerto No. 20 in D minor than he set about composing the next concerto, which was to become the most popular of them all. In just four weeks, while teaching and attending to his visiting father, Mozart began and completed the Concerto in C major, premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna, with Wolfgang at the piano, on March 10, 1785, one day after adding it to his catalog.

The widespread reputation it enjoys today is due, malgré tout, to the inclusion of its second movement, Andante, in the soundtrack that accompanied the romantic story told in the 1967 Swedish film Elvira Madigan. Neil Diamond, for his part, added to the piece's popularity with his 1972 song Song Sung Blue, although he didn't tell anyone about it.

Movements:

The typical three of the classical period: fast - slow - fast.

00         Allegro maestoso

14:23   Andante

20:55   Allegro vivace assai

Maestro Vladimir Ashkenazy at the piano conduces The Philharmonia Orchestra.

Rimski-Korsakov, "Capriccio Espagnol"

That morning, the girl in charge of the store was surprised to see a tall, lanky sailor enter the store in her direction, slightly raising his Russian naval officer's cap. The officer wandered among the shelves filled with books of all kinds and stopped in front of what appeared to be the section reserved for music. The girl watched him complacently and was even more pleased when she saw him approaching with a volume in his hand. They spoke in French, the officer fluently, the girl rather hardly. After leaving the tent, the officer looked happy. He was carrying in his hands the compilation "Cantos y Bailes Populares de España", by the Spanish composer José Inzenga y Castellanos.

The officer's name was Nikolai Rimski-Korsakov and he was serving on the frigate Almas, which two days ago had made port in Cadiz, on its way back to St. Petersburg after almost two years of cruising around the world.

Rimski, who, as you may have guessed, was also a musician, was 21 years old at the time. He had already composed his first symphony, greeted an enthusiastic audience on its premiere, and was a member of The Five, a group of Russian composers who advocated the creation of a specifically "Russian" music, as opposed to one that simply imitated the style on which European music had been based until then.

Rimsky-Korsakov (1844 - 1908)
1864 picture 

Folklore from other lands
But just as Russian themes were promoted, the group was not opposed to using folk motifs from other lands. Therefore, it is not surprising that the visionary Rimsky got hold of Inzenga's songbooks twenty years in advance of their orchestral treatment in a symphonic work. The result of such a profitable acquisition was the composition of one of his most popular works, Capriccio Espagnol, composed based on the themes that he met in Cadiz that morning in 1865.

Capriccio Espagnol, op. 34
With the original title of Capriccio on Spanish Themes for orchestra, it had its premiere on October 31, 1887, in St. Petersburg, conducted by the composer. The themes, mainly Asturian, are approached in the "Russian manner" with an orchestral treatment that highlights Rimsky-Korsakov's genius as an orchestrator. The work, applauded by the instrumentalists during rehearsals, was dedicated to all of them. Its premiere was enough for its immediate incorporation into the standard repertoire, and it remains there to this day.

The rendition is by Joven Orquesta Nacional de España, conducted by Lutz Köhler.

Movements:

   00  Alborada   Festive dance, typical of Asturian music.

1:20  Variations   The theme is introduced by the horns, followed by four variations. 

6:14  Alborada   Recreation of the first movement theme, with different instrumentation and in a different key.

7:25  Gypsy scene and song   Series of dances. The last dance links without pause with the last movement (atacca):

12:40  Asturian Fandango.

The work ends with a new exposition of the Alborada theme, somewhat more spirited.

Johannes Brahms, Wiegenlied ("Lullaby")

For millennia, mothers around the world have sung lullabies to their babies to induce sleep or stillness. But it has not always been tenderness or love that drives them. Some contain a scolding to the child for crying, or a serious threat if he continues to make noise. The oldest documented song recently discovered in what was once Babylonian dates back four thousand years. It warns the baby – in cuneiform writing – that his crying will awaken the devil, and that if he does not shut up immediately, the devil will have no choice but to eat him.

Fortunately, the English lullabies, French berceuses, or German Wiegenlied of the much later and romantic 19th century show other moods, where tenderness and affection are lavished – the construction of attachment, we would say today, modernly. Usually in 6/8 rhythm and with scarcely another chord beyond tonic and dominant, a good part of the romantic composers worked the "form", because it was in demand of a nascent middle class. But there was one that greatly distanced itself from its peers, to this day. It is the work of Johannes Brahms.

Wiegenlied, opus 49 N° 4
Perhaps the most popular and world-renowned lullaby, it was published in 1868 and is dedicated to a lady friend of Brahms on the occasion of the birth of his second child, a lady with whom he is said to have been in love in his youth. With verses from German folklore, it was first performed in public on December 22, 1869, in Vienna. It was sung by the German soprano Louise Dustmann accompanied on piano by Clara Schumann.

In a version for cello and piano, it is presented here by the Hungarian cellist Lászlo Fenyó and the Russian pianist Kirill Krotov. As is obvious, it lasts less than two minutes.

Beethoven, Piano Sonata No 30, Op 109

 
In addition to his total and irreversible deafness, the last ten years of Ludwig van Beethoven's life were marked by family problems derived from the dispute over the guardianship of his nephew Karl, son of his brother Kaspar, who died in 1815. His temper became irritable to an extreme degree, making it even more difficult for him to interact with his peers. These were the years of the conversation notebooks, when his interlocutor had to write down what he wanted to say to Beethoven and the latter, depending on his mood, would respond with a verbal reply or write in the same notebook.

Domestic life

Of course, his domestic life also became complicated. Although they may seem slightly comical today, the letters he sent in 1817 to the landlady who provided him with some services are a reflection of a real tragedy:

"I thank you for your interest in me. Matters are already better — meanwhile I have endured much today from N., but have thrown half a dozen books at her head as a New Year's gift. 

"...N. has quite changed since I threw half a dozen books at her head. Probably something of it has settled in her brain or bad heart; at any rate, we have a buxom deceiver.

"Yesterday the infernal tricks recommenced. I made short work of it, and threw at her my heavy chair which stands by the bed; for that I was at peace the whole day. "

Beethoven (1770 - 1827)
Painting by K.J. Stieler, 1820

A diminished and intimate oeuvre
During those years, his creative capacity became considerably diminished. Between 1815 and 1820, that is, when Beethoven's life was between 45 and 50 years old – a stage of life that today we would consider highly productive – he only wrote six works: two sonatas for cello and piano, the songs To the distant beloved, and the piano sonatas opus 101, 106 (Hammerklavier) and 109. 

It is a period in which his music shows little connection with worldly events, producing an intimate work in which grief and despondency are the predominant feelings. However, he is getting ready to compose the Ninth Symphony, in which he will sing, in spite of everything, of human joy and fellowship, in 1823.

Sonata No. 30, opus 109

Composed in 1820, published in 1821, and dedicated to Maximiliane Brentano, an advantaged disciple daughter of a friend, it is the first of the epic trilogy of his last piano sonatas. Due to the untraditional arrangement and length of its movements, to this day scholars disagree on the number of them, whether two or three. Assuming there are three, let us say that the first lasts just over four minutes, the second (where the slow movement would traditionally be) is marked prestissimo and lasts less than three, and the last is a theme with variations of sublime beauty that surpasses in length the previous two movements taken together.

The performance is by the Chilean maestro Claudio Arrau.

[Listening guide, following the video] 

Brief listening guide:

00  Vivace ma non troppo - Adagio espressivo   Written in sonata form, after the first theme's exposition in a scant eight bars, it immediately takes on the character of adagio, which it will sustain for no more than seven bars before returning to tempo primo.

4:26  Prestissimo   It is linked to the first by sustaining its last chord with the pedal. Hence, perhaps, the controversy over the number of movements. Its scant two-odd minutes suffice, however, to sustain the allegro sonata structure typical of the first movement but not of the second. It's Beethoven.

6:55  Andante molto cantabile ed espressivo   The tempo indication (which Beethoven took care to point out also in German) is prescribed for the theme, whose melodic beauty announces the proximity of Romanticism, which rehearses its first steps. It is followed by six variations: 

Var I: 9:28 / Var II: 11:41 / Var III: 13:18 / Var IV: 13:46 / Var V: 16:55 / Var VI: 17:55. 

The piece concludes with the original theme, taken up softly and serenely.