César Frank, Sonata for violin and piano

Covering their heads with a Phrygian cap, César-Auguste-Jean-Guillaume-Hubert Franck and his fiancée and former student Eugénie Desmousseaux crossed the streets of Paris on February 22, 1848, to arrive safe and sound at the church where they would be married. The Phrygian cap was intended to successfully circumvent the barricades and bonfires that the rioters had installed throughout the city to force the downfall of Louis Philippe I, also called "the king of the barricades" because through them he came to the throne and because of them he had to abandon it.

The origins
Born in Liege, Belgium, in December 1822, César Franck, together with his brother Joseph, arrived in Paris in 1835 when he was only thirteen years old at the hand of his father, who aspired that his two offspring would be recognized there as great virtuosos in the way Liszt and Paganini already were. It was not too much to ask since at least César was coming from successful but brief tours in which he had given undeniable samples of his extraordinary ability with the piano.

The father's aspirations

Like many other fathers in the history of music (Leopold Mozart being the most conspicuous), Franck's father subjected his son to exhausting workdays. After entering the Paris Conservatory, he imposed upon him the composition of at least one work a year so that he could perform it in public, thus facilitating the recognition of his talent among Parisian musical circles. This ambition did not bear the fruits his father expected, and after ten years the composer decided to rebel, abandoning his father's tutelage and forming his own family by marrying the aforesaid Eugene amidst the liberal and workers' revolt of February 1848.

César Franck (1822 - 1890)

Church organist

The years to come were sullen. With little production and relegated to the role of piano accompanist, as well as organist of a couple of churches in Paris, Franck and his family led an obscure and lackluster life for ten years. Then, in 1858 he was offered to take charge of a modern and grandiose organ in the church of St. Clotilde, a post in which he performed with pleasure and commitment until the end of his days.

The rebirth

It was the beginning of the rebirth of his life as a musician, when he finally saw the doors of the concert halls open and the period in which his masterpieces came to light began. Among them, the Prelude, Chorale and Fugue of 1885, the Symphonic Variations of 1886, and the beautiful Sonata for violin and piano of 1887 stand out.

The maestro

In the twilight of his life, César Franck produced music as never before, perhaps trying to make up for the lost time. This time he did bear fruit, mainly as a maestro, becoming the musician who would initiate the incorporation of French music into the great European tradition. Through D'Indy, Chausson, Dukas, and many other disciples or followers, this would culminate at the end of the century or the beginning of the next with the appearance of the illustrious figures of Debussy and Ravel.

Sonata for violin and piano in A major

It was composed as a wedding present for his friend the Belgian violinist Eugene Ysaÿe, who played it during the wedding celebrations and later became its main disseminator. The piece is a superb synthesis of three features the composer cultivated with ardor in the last stage of his career: the Viennese classical tradition, the "cyclical form" (the main theme reappears, conveniently varied, in each movement, a form that some have postulated as his invention) and the composer's very rich, characteristic and very personal harmonic language.

Movements:

00        Allegretto ben moderato

06:11   Allegro

14:30  Recitativo - Fantasia. Ben moderato - molto lento

21:46  Allegretto poco mosso

The rendition is by Dutch violinist Frederieke Saeijs and Georgian pianist Nino Gvetadze.

Boccherini, "Musica notturna delle strade di Madrid"

Luigi Boccherini, born in Lucca, Italy, on February 19, 1743, traveled all over Europe before settling permanently in Spain shortly after his 25th birthday. From 1757 to 1765 he lived in Vienna, with sporadic getaways to his native Lucca. In 1767 he arrived in Paris, where despite his already widespread fame as a cellist, his stay did not last long. Thus, the following year he was already in Spain, where he lived, between Madrid and Ávila, until his death on May 28, 1805.

In Paris, he had formed a chamber group that included as violinist his friend Filippo Manfredi, a native of Lucca like him. It was with Filippo that he set off for Madrid, both encouraged by the fortunate panorama that the fanciful Spanish ambassador in France presented to them about musical life in Madrid, where the competition – it was true – was far inferior to what they had experienced in Paris, a city that had nevertheless given them a good welcome.

In Madrid

But Madrid's musical life only disappointed them. There was less competition, of course, but that was simply a reflection of the fact that the city was far from the usual circles of artists on the European continent. Nevertheless, and interestingly, Luigi Boccherini would live there for no less than 37 years, most of them in the service of his protector, the Infante Luis de Borbón, brother of Carlos III.

Luigi Boccherini (1743 - 1805)

In Avila

Removed from the court because of his morganatic marriage, Prince Luis left for Avila with his chamber musicians, including Boccherini. The maestro complained daily of his isolation from Madrid's musical circles and had no choice but to devote much of his time to composing chamber music, the only genre for which he had performers. From those years are some of his most interesting quintets, the most popular being Quintet in C major, where he, captivatingly, pours out his longing for the sounds of the streets of Madrid's nightlife.

"Musica notturna delle strade di Madrid" — Quintet for two violins, viola and two violoncellos, in C major

The work doubles the violoncellos and not the violas, in accordance with the maestro's favorite formation... of course, if he was a cellist.

The piece, written in the key of C major, has five movements. Two short interlude-like passages separate the first movement from the second, and the fourth from the last. Each movement represents a different scene, but they all share a structure that is not very "classical" or traditional, which makes the piece quite unusual, even for Boccherini himself, who initially refused to publish it because he believed that no one who was not from Madrid could understand it.

Movements
I     00 Le campane dell'Ave Maria (call to the faithful to pray the Ave Maria)

II   01:20 Minuetto dei Ciechi (Minuet of the Blind, contains the author's indication for the cellists to place the instrument on their knees and "strum" them as if they were guitars).

III  03:21 Il Rosario

IV  07:55 Passacalle (piece also known as "Los Manolos", in allusion to popular pedestrians)

V   10:16 Ritirata (the soldiers retire to their barracks, having finished their night vigil).

The audio-only version, but with period instruments, is by the chamber ensemble Le Concert des Nations, conducted by Jordi Savall.

Haydn, Symphony No 101, "The Clock"

Since the death of the "Bach of London", Johann Christian Bach, in 1782, the music of Franz Joseph Haydn in that city had been progressively increasing to the point where "it was difficult to find a concert that did not include a piece by him", according to a historian of the time.

Therefore, numerous efforts had been made to arrange a visit of the illustrious composer, which always met with Haydn's refusal. The maestro did not want for anything in the world to bother his patron Nikolaus Esterhazy, whom he served for more than thirty years, as kapellmeister, even if it was in the court of a remote palace isolated in the Hungarian countryside.

A new patron
But with Nikolaus's death in 1790, the master's responsibilities were relieved. Nikolaus was succeeded by his son Anton, a prince with little interest in the arts. Anton got rid of most of the musicians, although he kept Haydn in his post, even increasing his pension, without asking for anything special in return. Faced with the new scenario, Haydn took the opportunity to leave for Vienna as soon as he could. Soon after, the Bonn-born violinist Johann Peter Solomon, who was making a career in London as a concert organizer and clamored for Haydn's competition, came to his house in Vienna. The maestro could not refuse: the conditions were magnificent. Thus, at age 58, Haydn left his native country for the first time. On January 1, 1791, he crossed the Channel and saw the ocean for the first time.

Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809),
painting from 1792

In London
The stay in London resulted in a series of resounding successes, from the professional and financial points of view. The visit had to be repeated two years later. Fruit of those two stays are the so-called "London Symphonies", twelve in all, which represent the pinnacle of the maestro's symphonic creation. Among them are several of the most popular ones born from his pen. For example, the symphony "The Surprise" (No. 94), the "Military" (No. 100), and the so-called "The Clock" (No. 101), the latter two belonging to the second London series, that is, the fruit of the second trip, in the years 1794-95.

Symphony No 101, in D major, Hob 1:101, "The Clock"
(Hob, after Antony van Hoboken, the author of the catalog).
The popular title comes from the quavers of the slow movement, Andante, which follow one after the other with the regularity of a clock. Its premiere took place in London on March 3, 1794, as part of a series of concerts of Haydn's works organized, of course, by his colleague and friend Solomon. The work was applauded with the usual enthusiasm reserved for the works of the "tireless, marvelous and sublime Haydn", as a London newspaper called him on the occasion.

Its movements are four, as usual for a symphony:

00        Adagio - Presto

08:42  Andante

16:23  Minuetto - Allegretto

23:53  Vivace

The performance is by the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, conducted by Richard Egarr.

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.