Mozart, Piano Sonata No 2, in F major

The second trip to Vienna of Leopold Mozart and his son Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was as fruitless as the first one. Accompanying their patron Prince-Archbishop Colloredo they arrived there in the summer of 1773 and visited professors and musicians of the court. Even the empress was kind enough to receive them, but getting a place at the imperial court was not possible.
The meager fruits were already beginning to become habitual for the Mozart family. This is how Leopold describes it in a letter to his wife: "... Her Majesty the Empress was very kind to us, but that was all."

Back in Salzburg
Despite all this, Leopold and Wolfgang resumed life in Salzburg as if nothing had happened. Better yet, they made some important decisions: they moved to a larger, more comfortable house in the new part of town. As a consequence, their friendships rose in rank; after all, they had just completed a visit to the court in Vienna, where they had been greeted by the empress.

In Munich

These months of familiar peace in the region resulted in an essential series of compositions. Among them stand out the five piano sonatas, K. 279 to K. 283, although some scholars date these compositions to the following year, 1775, during the three months that the young 19-year-old maestro stayed in Munich, on the occasion of the premiere of his opera buffa La Finta Giardiniera, a work composed at the request of the court, obtaining with it, by the way, a formidable success.

At this point, the master had a wealth of creative experience. Nevertheless, this first group of piano pieces is the first major attempt that the young Mozart undertook in the genre of piano sonatas, for which he would compose a total of twenty-five works.

Sonata No. 2 in F major, K. 280 - Movements

Haydn's influence is clear, especially in the outer movements. The second movement is the most Mozartian, a tender and melancholic melody in F minor, stretching for almost ten minutes. As a curious note, of all Mozart's sonatas, it is the only slow movement written in a minor key.

The movements are three, organized in the typical Italian manner: fast-slow-fast.
00        Allegro assai

07:09  Adagio

16:50  Presto

The performance is by the French artist Mathilde Handelsman.

Villa-Lobos, Bachiana brasileira No 5

The mother of the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos was a skilled pianist but did not agree with the idea that her little child should devote himself to music as a professional. And his father, also a talented amateur, died before Heitor was ten years old. So it had to be an aunt, Zizinha Monteiro, who exerted the decisive influence on the future composer's youthful training.

Family evenings
Zizinha, also a pianist and fervent admirer of Bach and a passionate enthusiast of the Well-Tempered Clavier, used to organize in her house every Saturday real family concerts, greeted with enthusiasm by neighbors and friends. It was in this atmosphere that the child Villa-Lobos met JS Bach, whom he would later call "the universal folkloric spring", and to whom, as a mature man, he would pay homage with his famous Bachianas Brasileiras.

Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887 - 1959)

The nine Bachianas Brasileiras

As the title suggests, the nine Bachianas, composed between 1930 and 1945, are inspired by Johann Sebastian Bach in a novel blend with the composer's Brazilian heritage.

It is a set of uniquely varied works, both in their formal aspect and in their instrumental arrangement.

Thus, there are works for eight cellos (No. 1, dedicated to Pau Casals), chamber orchestra (No. 2), and flute and bassoon (No. 6), among other ensembles.

Bachiana No 5

The most famous of them is the Bachiana No. 5, composed for voice and eight cellos, and whose origin is dated between 1938 and 1945. The piece consists of two movements, the Aria (Cantilena) and the Dance (O Martelo). The singer Victoria de Los Angeles in the 1960s recorded a performance of the Cantilena which is legendary today and has made the piece undeniably popular to this day.

Following, a rendition by the Puerto Rican soprano Ana Maria Martínez, accompanied by soloists of the Berlin Philharmonic, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel.

In the theme's repetition, the soloist must sing "a bocca chiusa", that is, with her mouth closed, as if she were mumbling or humming. The hard part will be, forced to do so, to do that with the last note.

Beethoven, Overture to "Egmont" – The Incident at Teplice

Bettina von Arnim, née Brentano, was a somewhat fanciful writer who had the good fortune to meet Beethoven and Goethe, as well as many other artists of the time. As she told – twenty years after the facts – she was the one who conceived the encounter of both universal artists in the small thermal city of Teplice, in July of 1812, when Beethoven spent the summer there to follow the treatments prescribed by his doctors. She also is who narrates the famous incident, when Beethoven and Goethe met the archduke Rodolfo and the empress, during a walk.

The incident
According to Bettina, Beethoven, who was twenty years younger than the elder Goethe, whispered in Goethe's ear as they passed the imperial princes: keep walking, take my arm, they are the ones who have to give us the step, not the other way around. But the poet respectfully stepped aside and took off his hat. Beethoven, on the other hand, continued his march unperturbed, without answering the greeting of the imperial family. After a while, he stopped to wait for Goethe. When he had him at his side, he said: "I have waited for you because I have great respect for you, and I admire your work, but it seems to me that you show too much esteem for these people". Bettina does not say what Goethe would have replied.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
(1749 - 1832)

Goethe's impression
Nothing was said at the time, we suppose, but Goethe did have an impression of the encounter, though not a very encouraging one.
In a later letter to his "musical assistant", Carl Zelter, he described Beethoven as "a surly and hostile personality who, although he is not wrong in saying that the world is detestable, does not make the slightest effort to make it more livable or bearable...".
However, in a letter to his wife around the same time, he expresses that Beethoven's talent had impressed him, for he had never before seen "a more concentrated, more energetic, and more profound artist." 

"Egmont", incidental music
In contrast to other opportunities, musical assistant Zelter had no objections when Goethe decided to send Beethoven his tragedy "Egmont" in 1809 for the Bonn master to write the incidental music. Beethoven saw in it one more opportunity for glory and applied himself to the work with zeal. Very respectful, almost flattering, he thus wrote to Goethe announcing that he had already completed the commission.

"You will soon receive my music for Egmont, this wonderful drama which I read and felt and set to music with you warmly in mind. I am anxious to know what you think of it. Even censure will be beneficial to me and to my art, and will be as welcome as unreserved praise."

It is clear that Beethoven admired "unreservedly" the "greatest German poet", in his own words.

The drama
Goethe's work is about freedom. And it was this that excited Beethoven, who had already ventured into the subject with his opera Fidelio. The story of Egmont (a real character) takes place during the Spanish Inquisition's persecution of the Flemish people in the mid-16th century. Egmont is a Catholic count who is eventually killed even though the rebellion ends successfully.

Overture and nine scenes
The first performance of Goethe's drama with music by Beethoven took place on June 15, 1810. The complete work consists of nine scenes plus the overture, which opens in a somber mood, sostenuto ma non-troppo, depicting darkness and oppression. The subsequent allegro brings to mind the heroism of the struggle. Finally, the piece concludes in a triumphant and celebratory mood.

The rendition is by the Gewandhaus Orchestra, led by the German conductor Kurt Masur.

György Ligeti, Poème Symphonique for 100 Metronomes

The Dutchman Dietrich Nikolaus Winkel invented the metronome in 1814 but forgot to patent it. His compatriot Johann Maelzel, more astute, took some ideas from him and in 1816 patented the device that since then musicians have used to keep a regular tempo while practicing. The same year, the shrewd entrepreneur began to manufacture it under the name of "Maelzel Metronome".
Soon after, Beethoven learned of the existence of the new gadget, and raised a ruckus. He claimed that for the new, free and untethered music of romanticism, the device was an aberration. Nevertheless, he was one of the first to use it, and to publish works with metronomic indication.

Ligeti's idea

Neither Winkel, Maelzel, nor Beethoven imagined that one hundred and fifty years later, a composer would use the device as a musical instrument. But there was no lack of precedents. Ravel, for example, used three metronomes at different speeds, at the beginning of his opera "The Spanish Hour". But the use of it as the sole instrument in charge of the complete work only occurred to the Hungarian composer György Ligeti, who in 1963 premiered before an astonished audience the work composed the previous year, Poème Symphonique for 100 Metronomes, 10 performers, and a conductor... the author.

György Ligeti (1923 - 2006)

The reception

The singular performance took place in Holland, in a very circumspect ceremony intended to conclude a series of concerts and conferences on new music that had taken place in the city of Hilversum, in whose municipality Ligeti's symphonic poem was heard for the first time, before the astonished ears (if ears could be astonished) of politicians and local dignitaries.

In due time, the one hundred metronomes were arranged at the established speeds, and the ten performers started them up at Ligeti's precise indication. Then, the performers and conductor left the stage, to return for receiving the applause about thirty minutes later. Naturally, the applause was sparse. It had been arranged for the ceremony to be televised, and so it was, but its broadcast had to be canceled by order of the City Council.

Rhythm, Ligeti's fascination

Celebrated as one of the greatest composers of contemporary music, György Ligeti had always shown a special attraction for the combination of musical lines resting on different rhythms and tempi. This work is based on that approach, and the metronomes – an arbitrary "instrument", it could have been any other –, fully serve that purpose.

Although the concept is odd, the work is still interesting from a rhythmic perspective. In the beginning, it is absolute chaos, but little by little distinguishable rhythmic patterns emerge (perhaps randomly, I think). As some devices are "muted", the silence begins to compete for the limelight. Finally, there is only one "operative" metronome left. Then, only silence.

The "symphonic poem" begins at minute 1:35. Before, two girls, speaking French, introduce the work.
The version, of course, reduced, is by French "metronomists".

Verdi: La Traviata - Overture - Premiére

From Giuseppe Verdi's epistolary, perhaps the best-known letter is the one he sent to a friend the day after the premiere of La Traviata, on March 6, 1853. In it, he expressed his surprise at the ungrateful reception. At the same time, he was confident – he was forty and famous and was living comfortably – that time would resolve the doubts: "La Traviata, last night, a failure. Will the fault be mine or the singers'? Time will tell". Time gave its verdict and proved Verdi right: throughout the twentieth century and so far in the twenty-first, the work has remained at the top of the most performed operas in the world.

The initial rejection
It is true that the prima donna chosen, or rather, the prima donna that the Teatro La Fenice of Venice imposed for the role of Violetta, was somewhat overweight to play a young woman suffering from a disease that visibly weakens her.

Fanny Salvino-Donatelli,
the first Violeta

As if that were not enough, the soprano, Fanny Salvino-Donatelli, was no longer so young, around 38 years old. But, apparently, the audience's rejection was not directed exclusively or preferentially to her but to the tenor and the baritone on which the second act rest (too little rehearsal perhaps), because it was only then that the boos and laughter began.

Indeed, during the overture and the entire first act, the audience listened respectfully, attentively and with pleasure. And since Violeta's involvement in Act I is outstanding, it must be concluded that history has been unfair to the excellent singer who was the soprano Salvino-Donatelli, even if the opportunity caught her somewhat stout and she were no longer so young.

Overture, or Prelude to Act I

As is known, the work is based on a theatrical adaptation of the novel by Alexandre Dumas junior, La Dame aux Camélias.

In the prelude or overture, Verdi made use of Dumas' narrative resources by musically telling the story from the end, as Dumas does in his novel. Thus, the overture begins with the theme of Violetta's agony, sad and melancholic, which, however, gives rise to a surprising link with the festive and joyful theme that will accompany the party held at Violetta's house, the revelry portrayed in the image at the head of this article.

The performance is by the Milan Symphony Orchestra "Giuseppe Verdi", led by the Chinese-American conductor Xian Zhang.