Schubert, Fantasia for piano four hands

Little Franz in love, in his early twenty

In just over eighteen years, Franz Schubert could write almost a thousand works. In this almost miraculous abundance that his catalog presents, about fifty pieces written to be performed by two musicians at the piano stand out: they are his pieces for piano four hands.

From the Fantasia in G minor of 1810 (when he was thirteen years old) to the Sonatina D 968 composed the same year of his death, Franz Schubert did not cease to compose works in this format and in very diverse genres, ranging from transcriptions of his own orchestral works to those written for the nascent salon music that was beginning to enchant an incipient middle class that also wanted to make music in their own homes.

In the years 1818 and 1819, Schubert, in his twenties, spent the summer in the castle of Szeliz, about 150 km from Vienna, hired as musical preceptor of the daughters of Count Johann Esterházy, cousin of Haydn's protector.

The girls were two: Carolina, 13, and Maria, 15. With Maria, the lessons were more interesting because she showed a more advanced level than her sister. Still, in the second summer, little Schubert began to be sentimentally interested in Carolina, who, of course, was now fourteen.

Countess Caroline Esterhazy

But his proverbial shyness worked against him, not allowing the little master to make much progress in the field of seduction. However, ten years later, Franz will remember his former pupil and dedicate to her, Carolina Esterházy, now a twenty-four-year-old countess, his masterpiece for piano four hands.

Fantasia for piano four hands, Op 103, in F minor
It was composed between January and April 1828 and performed for the first time on May 9 of that year, on the occasion of one of the last "schubertiades" held with his friends, among them the composer Franz Lachner, who played his part on the piano, accompanying Schubert.

It was published posthumously the following year.
We will never know whether Countess Caroline ever acceded to Franz's solicitations, but today more than a few performers have noted that it is not at all whimsical to hear in the yearning love duet of the central section "the idealized expression of a relationship that social differences alone made impossible."

Considered his best work, among many, for piano four hands, the work is structured in four movements that are played without pause, connected by a lyrical melody.

Movements:
I     Allegro molto moderato
II   Largo
III  Scherzo. Allegro vivace
IV  Finale. Allegro molto moderato

The performance is by the brothers Lucas and Arthur Jussen, Dutch pianists.

Beethoven, Missa Solemnis in D major (Sanctus and Benedictus)

Discounting his participation as a viola player in the court orchestra of the Elector of Cologne, in 1783, when he was thirteen, Ludwig van Beethoven never worked full-time for a ruler, or under the wing of a nobleman, or a religious institution. Hence, then, his output of sacred music is relatively sparse. Apart from an oratorio in German, Christ on the Mount of Olives, of 1803, only two complete masses make up his religious production: the Mass in C major, of 1807, and the Missa Solemnis in D major of 1824, written at the same time as the Ninth Symphony.

With the help of his friends
Although he did not rely on a particular patronage, Beethoven did not lack noble friends. And although he never asked for it, in 1809, three of them undertook to grant Beethoven an annual stipend of 4,000 guilders, with the sole requirement that he remain in Vienna, dedicated to composing. Some of these enviable relationships had begun at the level of master and pupil. This is the case of Emperor Franz I's brother, Archduke Rudolph Johann Joseph Rainer, who, after behaving as a diligent pupil, later became Beethoven's greatest benefactor, making the master the first independent artist and composer in history.

Archduke Rudolph (1788 - 1831)

A great mass
In 1819, the archduke above was distinguished as the next archbishop of Olmütz, a city in Moravia, a position he was to assume in March of the following year. The master had one year to write the work of homage to his generous benefactor and admirer. A mass, a great mass, seemed to him the appropriate offering for such a solemn occasion.

Hummel enters
By this time, Beethoven was fifty years old. He was alone, deaf, and living in supplication for the affection of his nephew Karl, whose tutor he was. To make matters worse, he was engaged by the London Philharmonic Society to compose a new symphony (the Ninth). So the Great Mass was not completed for the occasion. The archbishop had to be satisfied with a mass written by Hummel.

We do not know if the maestro apologized. What is certain is that he continued to work, unperturbed, on the Ninth, the last three sonatas, and the last quartets, along with the mass.
The work was not completed until early 1823. Finally, the première took place on May 7, 1824, in St. Petersburg.

Mass for Soloists, Chorus, and Orchestra in D Major, Missa Solemnis, Op. 123
Intended to arouse and instill religious feelings in the performers and the audience, Beethoven combined the Catholic liturgy with great dramatic expressiveness, making it "the greatest production ever to come out of my mind," in Beethoven's own words.

The complete Mass with the usual sections of the Catholic liturgy: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus dei, lasts about an hour and a half. Presented here are the Sanctus and Benedictus pieces, the latter, being its most moving moment, according to scholars.

The performance is by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Chorus with tenor, bass, soprano, and alto soloists, all conducted by Sir Gilbert Levine.

Puccini: La Boheme - "O soave fanciulla"

A memorable lesson of singing

It took less than fifteen minutes for Rodolfo to fall in love with Mimi, and for Mimi to fall in love with Rodolfo. This is the magic of opera, the magic act that closes with the beautiful duet that ends Act I of La Boheme, an opera in four acts with music by Giacomo Puccini, premiered in Turin on February 1, 1896, conducted by Arturo Toscanini.

At that time, the author was 38 years old, and three years earlier he had premiered with great success Manon Lescaut (1893). Later came Tosca (1900), Mme Butterfly (1904), and Turandot (unfinished, 1926), among others.

La Boheme portrays a group of artists who survive in the Latin Quarter of Paris, around 1830, sacrificing their lives for art.
Much of the work is original, but the basic idea originates in the serialized novel (or collection of vignettes, rather) "Scenes of Bohemian Life" by French writer Henry Murger, published in a newspaper over five years in the middle of the century.

Four artists make up the group of bohemians, each with his intellectual restlessness: Rodolfo is a poet; Marcello is a painter; Colline studies philosophy; Schaunard is a musician. They live in a garret in a building in the Latin Quarter. They are joined by the singer Musetta, and a fragile and naive seamstress named Mimi, who lives in the same building.

Giacomo Puccini (1858 - 1924)

It is a cold winter. After futilely trying to warm up, the friends decide to go out for a drink. But Rodolfo, the poet, has to work. He will join them later. A knock at the door interrupts him. It is a young woman, who asks for help to relight her candle, which has gone out. As she leaves, she forgets her key. He goes back to get it. Both candles go out, and here the magic begins. They must search for the key in the dark. Their hands meet, and in a couple of minutes they tell each other their whole life story. Rodolfo sings Che gelida manina (What a cold little hand). Mimi introduces herself, singing Si, mi chiamano Mimi (They call me Mimi). 

They have found love. Both sing the duet that Rodolfo begins with the words O soave fanciulla (Oh, sweet girl), confessing their newfound love to each other. Thus, in love, they will join the group of friends. They leave the room. The last bars are sung offstage, magnificently.

The rendition is by Renata Scotto and Luciano Pavaroti. Met, 1977.

Franz Liszt, Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6

Franz Liszt, inventor of the piano recital

According to a few intrepid scholars, Franz Liszt's Hungarian rhapsodies represent "the less respectable side" of the composer. Their charm would lie not in their musical invention but in the dazzling expansion of the spectrum of expression possible on the piano, or put less elegantly, in "the variety of noises that can be made with a piano." Tough words.

In any case, in 1840, Franz Liszt invented the piano recital as we know it today: the concert of a single instrumentalist who makes music with his own or other people's works, at the piano. Between that year and 1847 (when he met Princess Carolyne of Sayn-Wittgenstein, who urged him to give priority to composition at home) he made many extensive tours throughout Europe, visiting cities as far away as Seville and Moscow. In all of them he received "the affection of his public", as we would say today. Liszt made an effort to please that audience, playing three or four times a week, for the special enjoyment of the ladies, who would faint in the middle of the recital, or would make a trifecta to take possession of the artist's handkerchief, when he retired, after offering an encore with a couple of Hungarian rhapsodies.

Liszt visited Hungary in 1839, after thirteen years settled in Paris. A new visit the following year led to the production, between 1840 and 1847 (precisely his "piano star" years), of ten volumes of piano pieces based on Hungarian themes. Between 1851 and 1853 he published fifteen of them under the title Hungarian Rhapsodies. In 1882-1886 he published four more.

Photograph of Liszt, in 1843
(1811 - 1886)

While in Hungary, the master transcribed numerous melodies heard from native gypsy bands. By using these "old" melodies in his Hungarian rhapsodies, Liszt believed he was immortalizing the soul of the Hungarian people. The truth is that many of these pieces had been written by contemporary composers, achieving popularity in rural areas. But Liszt didn't care. As long as the ladies kept swooning, it was all right.

Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies derive from an 18th century style and dance called verbunkos, used in Hungary during the recruitment of troops (for the purpose of enthusiasm, we imagine). It features at least two contrasting sections: a slow one, or lassan, and a fast one, or friska.

Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6, in D flat major
Discounting the overwhelming popular presence of Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 (in C sharp minor), No. 6 is one of the best known, incorporating in less than seven minutes the pomp and playfulness, the exotic and the ostentatious, at once. It has five sections, marked Tempo giusto, Presto, Andante, Allegro and Presto.

The piece is highly demanding. The final Presto illustrates the extraordinary virtuosity that the maestro relied on to provoke swooning and brawls across Europe.

In opposition, the work responds exactly to the kind of piece that for a time allowed Liszt to be mistakenly labeled as just a virtuoso pianist.

The performance is by Ukrainian pianist Anna Fedorova.

Benjamin Britten: Violin Concerto

Rendering service to his country as a musician in the midst of a war

British composer Benjamin Britten was not yet twenty years old when European politics entered a complex phase. On September 3, 1939, in response to the German army's invasion of Poland, Great Britain declared war on Germany. Four months earlier, in the company of tenor Peter Pears, his sentimental partner, Britten had left England for the United States. He would remain there until April 1942. An avowed pacifist, Britten understood perfectly well that his humanitarian stance would not be well received in an England in the midst of war, especially coming from an artist who was gay.

Back in England, 1942
When he returned to England, a judge had to decide his future as a potential combatant. He could have been incorporated into the rearguard, in non-combat duties, but the judge made a very wise decision: the best service Britten could render to England was to continue writing music. And that is precisely what he did. He would soon earn a reputation as the greatest British composer since Henry Purcell, two and a half centuries earlier. 

The Spanish Civil War
Even before the Second War, Britten's anti-war sentiments had been strengthened by the tragedy of the Spanish Civil War. In 1936 he had traveled to Barcelona to participate in a festival of contemporary music with his suite opus 6, with himself at the piano and his friend Antonio Brosa on violin. There he had the opportunity to listen to Alban Berg's Violin Concerto, a "requiem-like" concerto of which he was captivated. That was his inspiration to write his own work for violin with a similar commemorative character. According to Brosa, the third movement was conceived as a tribute to the British volunteers who had fallen fighting the fascist forces in Spain.

Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976)

Violin Concerto, Opus 15
Dedicated to his former teacher at the Royal College of Music, the work was premiered in New York in March 1940 and was warmly received by critics. A contributor to the New York World Telegram, pleased, made a very personal comment: "Mr. Britten, a lanky 26-year-old boy came on stage after the concert and greeted the audience somewhat shyly and awkwardly. To be frank, he did not seem to be the author of this concerto. But, in music, you never know."

Movements:
There are three, in unusual slow-fast-slow sequence. They are played without interruption.

I Moderato con moto - Agitato - Tempo primo

II Vivace - Animando - Largamente - Cadenza

III Passacaglia. Andante Lento

The Dutch violinist Janine Jansen is accompanied by the Orchestre de Paris conducted by the Russian conductor Paavo Järvi.