Beethoven, 9th Symphony - 4th mov

A symphony denouement unique in the history of music

Very few people do not know the tune of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy". Of the millions who know it, many will be aware that it belongs to the fourth movement and finale of his Ninth Symphony, also called Choral Symphony, since it incorporates solo voices and chorus in that movement.
But such a novel ending was not clear at first.
Recent research suggests that Beethoven had misgivings about undertaking such a grandiose project. While working on the symphony's finale, he considered the alternative of incorporating a purely instrumental finale, eliminating such an innovative closure. Doubts continued and he spoke of removing solo singing and chorus on more than one occasion.
In the end, he did not do so, which shows the immense ambition with which the maestro undertook the construction of such a portentous score.

Schiller's poem
From a very young age, Beethoven was captivated by the grandiose exaltation of the brotherhood of man present in the lines of Schiller's poem, An die Freude (To Joy). As early as 1793 he thought he had to incorporate it into his music, "verse by verse". And Schiller's ode became an obsession. Year after year, sketch after sketch, the celebrated melody of the Ninth Symphony was meticulously elaborated until it found its final form only in 1822, with selected texts from Schiller's works and some introductory words by Beethoven.

The Symphony
The symphony itself, whose full title is "Symphony, with a final chorus on Schiller's Ode to Joy", was written over six years, from 1817 to 1823. Its composition was commissioned by the Philharmonic Society of London.
Dedicated to none other than King Frederick William III of Prussia, it had a grand premiere on May 7, 1824, in Vienna. It was the maestro's first public appearance in twelve years.

That evening
By this time, Beethoven's progressive deafness had reached a stage that made it impossible for him to conduct. That evening, however, he did something similar, standing close to the conductor during the performance to indicate the correct tempi.

The fourth movement arrived, and the soloists and chorus intoned the ode. The music came to an end. The applause was thunderous, but Beethoven, with his back to the audience, continued to set the tempo until one of the soloists, the contralto, signaled him to turn in the direction of the audience. Only then did the maestro realize that the work was over and that the Viennese audience was applauding wildly.

Symphony No. 9 - Fourth movement and finale
Marked Presto; Allegro assai, the fourth movement is in the form of a theme and variations, with two themes plus an introduction.

Musical material from each of the previous three movements – though none is a literal quotation – is presented in turn. These give way to instrumental passages by the low strings. After this, the theme "Ode to Joy" is introduced by the cellos and double basses. After three instrumental variations on this theme, the human voice is introduced for the first time by the baritone, who sings words written by Beethoven himself: "O Freunde, nicht diese Töne!" Sondern laßt uns angenehmere anstimmen, und freudenvollere. '' ("O friends, not these sounds! Instead, let us look for more pleasant and more joyful ones!").

The ode is played, first by the orchestra, then by the choir. Cellos, flutes, and oboes set the mood, and male and female voices alternate declaiming the Ode to Joy, accompanied by the full orchestra.

The symphony advances and rises above itself, as the choruses reach thunderous levels. A double fugue provides the leisurely counterpoint that leads to the swift and prolonged final chant, a symphony denouement unique in the history of music.

The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra and the National US Choir, conducted by maestro Daniel Barenboim, give this magnificent performance.

Chopin, Waltz Op 34 No 1

Maria and Frédéric, getting closer 

After bidding farewell to the Wodzinsky family in Dresden, and already on his way to Paris, Chopin detoured to Leipzig to pay a brief visit to a couple of friends and colleagues: Schumann and Mendelssohn. This gave time for one more event of an emotional nature to occur, which ended up overflowing with joy that year of 1835. A letter from Maria Wodzinska had been waiting for him for a long time in Paris. It was a very affectionate, almost tender note:

"How we miss you!!!! My brothers are dejected... Mom only talks to me about you... Mom, my father and my brothers embrace you tenderly... You have forgotten the pencil here, we keep it respectfully, like an heirloom..... Goodbye!"

Marienbad and Dresden
The expressions of affection from Mother Wodzinska and Maria did not stop throughout the winter. Thus, in the summer of the following year, Frederic again found himself enjoying the summer season with the Wodzinskys. But this time it was not one week but almost two months that he shared with them, first in Marienbad and then in Dresden, so that the occasions to be together multiplied. Long walks in the surroundings brought Maria and Frédéric closer together definitively.

Maria says "Yes"
The day before his departure, Frederic received Maria's "yes" to his marriage proposal. The day before, another yes from Countess Wodzinska, who asked to keep the engagement a secret until she had the opportunity to inform her husband.
Three days after the departure, and along with sending him some slippers embroidered by her, Maria added a postscript to a brother's letter:

"...We cannot take comfort from your departure... Do you miss your friends a little? I answer for you: yes. ...I need to believe so... Farewell. See you soon. Ah! if that could be as soon as possible!"

Chopin takes a second helping... Another year, blissful, is about to come to fruition.

Brilliant waltz in A-flat
During the three weeks he spent in Karlsbad in the company of his parents the previous summer, Chopin composed a mazurka, a polonaise, and a delicious waltz: the Waltz in A Flat, opus 34 No. 1.

The version is by the Austrian-Swiss pianist Ingolf Wunder.

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.