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.
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.
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:
00Vivace 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.
4:26Prestissimo 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.
6:55Andante 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.
A visionary guy according to some, or an exquisitely maniacal according to others, the mystical Russian composer Alexandr Scriabin undertook at a mature stage of his life the task of creating a monumental multimedia work, "a grandiose religious synthesis of all the arts that would herald the birth of a new world." With this in mind, he wrote in his diary at some point in 1914, that he needed to live "as long as possible". Unfortunately, the ambitious project, called "Mystery", never came to fruition as Scriabin died the following year from septicemia caused by the bite of a miserable mosquito.
Alexandr Scriabin (1872 - 1915)
A composer with no diploma Twenty years earlier, in 1892, after finishing his studies at the Moscow Conservatory, Alexander Nicolaievich Scriabin had shown signs of rebelliousness and independence by leaving the Conservatory without receiving his diploma due to a disagreement with his tutor, Anton Arenski, despite having obtained a gold medal at the graduation recital for his interpretation of Beethoven's sonata opus 109, an undeniable feat considering that the young pianist experienced difficulties in reaching more than an octave at the keyboard due to his small hands.
The Twelve Etudes of Opus 8 Not much later, in 1898, the Conservatory offered him a position as a piano teacher, a position Scriabin held until 1903. In the meantime, he decided to pursue a career as a concert pianist. To this end, he devoted himself to the creation of his own repertoire, and in a very short time, he produced the two impromptus of opus 7, from 1892, and the twelve Etudes of opus 8, from 1894. Although in the vein of similar works by Chopin and Liszt, the Etudes of Opus 8 show a high sophistication, foreshadowing the individual genius that the composer would later display in his later compositions.
In the rendition by the great Russian master Vladimir Horowitz, we present here the last and most popular of the series, Etude No. 12, which despite its short duration does not lag behind the most demanding of the aforementioned romantics.
The Ballets Russes, the famous ballet company created by the Russian impresario Sergéi Diaghilev in 1907, celebrated its first official season in Paris from May to June 1909, with music by Chopin and by the Russians Borodin, Tcherepnin, and Arenski. The company made a sensation with its vitality and lavish set, which far surpassed the ballet being produced in France in those years. They would have to return year after year. Diaghilev, who was not lacking in instinct, thought it convenient to leave the Russian composers at home for the time being, and the same year of his irruption on the French scene he commissioned Maurice Ravel to compose a ballet.
The ballet The work, Daphnis et Chloé, described by Ravel as a "choreographic symphony", about an hour-long, suffered numerous production problems, to which were added modest trifles between egos, to which Ravel, who did not share at all Diaghilev's opinion that the choreography should have prominence over the music, was no stranger.
Because of all this, it was not premiered until 1912, though with a lukewarm reception. But it was fully reversed in its re-release the following year. Today it is considered one of Ravel's most brilliant works, if not his masterpiece.
Ravel (1875 - 1937) at the piano, in 1912
The work, in one act divided into three scenes, is based on a Greek poem of the second century and tells the eventful love story between two children: a goatherd, Daphnis, and a shepherdess, Chloé, which ends happily for both of them.
The suites The work requires a huge orchestra including about fifteen percussion instruments and a "mute" (wordless) choir on and off stage. The complexity of this production led Ravel, a year before its premiere, to extract from the scores an orchestral suite with the first scenes. The same year of the premiere, Ravel extracted a second part, Suite N° 2, taken from the three final scenes and which has become the most demanded on the world's stages, and with it, the most popular.
The rendition is by the Radio Frankfurt Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Australian maestro Daniel Smith.
