NOTES ON THE PROGRAM
By Dr. Jannie Burdeti |
copyright©2021 |
George Frideric Handel: Suite No. 5 in E Major, HWV 430
Präludium
Allemande
Courante
Air and
5 variations:
"The Harmonious Blacksmith"
In 1720, Handel’s eight suites for harpsichord (including Suite No. 5
in E major, HWV 430) were to be compiled and circulated, in an act of piracy perpetrated
by two publishers (Roger in Amsterdam and Walsh in London). While Handel had mostly
written these pieces a decade earlier, and while handwritten copies were already
in circulation, he was dissatisfied at the prospect of his works being widely distributed
in that fashion. In Handel’s own words, in the preface of the first volume of his
harpsichord suites, he felt that it was his
"duty"
to revise and publish them before others could take advantage of his work, and that
the other copies were
"surreptitious
and incorrect."
As
is typical of most Handel keyboard suites,
the Suite No. 5 in E major does not quite follow the formal blueprint of the Baroque
dance suite established by Johann Jakob
Froberger
(i.e., Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, and Gigue), which often served as the basis
of suites by German composers such as Bach. Instead, Handel’s suites tend to favor variety and unexpectedness by
including movements that are not based on dances. As such, his fifth suite comprises
four movements: Prelude, Allemande, Courante, and an Air and Five
Variations.
The prelude that begins the set establishes
the dialogic nature of the work. Handel weaves a conversation out of an ornamented
passage first presented in the bass and then repeated in the right hand, an octave
higher. What follows is a tapestry of motives, imitative entrances, and exchanges
between hands—where one hand rests, the other picks up. Embellishments serve to
add weight to an almost constant yet unhurried string of sixteenth notes. Over this
subtle and halcyon rhythmic backdrop Handel superimposes longer note values, creating
a textural landscape that complements the improvisational character of the piece
while setting the tone for subsequent movements. The conversational exchanges between
hands and the kaleidoscopic textures are reinforced in the graceful and lyrical
Allemande that follows the Prelude. In contrast, the subsequent triple-meter Courante
is permeated with a jaunty and an imitative style of writing.
The concluding movement of the suite
surprisingly consists of an air (another word for aria or song-like composition)
and five variations. The movement gained such wide popularity that legends about
its conception began spreading three-quarters of a century after the composer’s
death; it consequently was nicknamed
"The Harmonious Blacksmith." The title’s story suggests
Handel first hearing the air sung by a blacksmith while sheltering himself from
the rain.
The theme that begins the movement
is graceful in character and presented in two repeated phrases, with the second
phrase ending on a more satisfying cadence. The first variation retains the same
melodic shape while emphasizing the sustained harmony that accompanies the theme.
In the second variation, most of the activity is shifted into the left hand with
sixteenth notes and ornaments. This excitement is further heightened in the fast-paced
triplets of the third and fourth variations and
culminates
in the fifth variation’s
fireworks, composed of dazzling scalar passages, bringing the piece to a thrilling
close.
Frédéric
Chopin: Fantasy in F minor, Op. 49
At
the age of thirty-one, Frederic Chopin wrote to his friend Julian Fontana one autumn
day in October of 1841: "Today I finished the Fantasy—and the sky beautiful, my
heart sad—but that doesn’t matter at all. If it were otherwise, my existence would perhaps be of no
use to anyone." His Fantasy in F minor, Op. 49, is permeated with sorrow, patriotism,
soaring hope, and quiet contemplation. Ten years earlier was the Polish-Russian
War (also known as the November Uprising), which had left Poland thoroughly ravaged.
According to Mieczysław Tomaszewski, the Fantasy borrows motives from some of the most
popular Polish songs of insurrection, most specifically ‘Litwinka’ by Karol Kurpiński,
an important figure during Chopin’s childhood. This song was heard by the entirety
of Poland and even those who fled in exile after the November Uprising. Its popularity
spread even beyond Polish borders when Richard Wagner quoted the song in his work
Polonia.
Chopin’s
Fantasy in F minor belongs with his later hybrid-structured works, being
a combination of both sonata and fantasy. Written in 1841, the piece was dedicated
to one of Chopin’s students, princess Catherine de Souzo. The work opens with a
solemn introduction marked by a funereal rhythm, that while is never heard again,
prepares the listener for marches of various characters. The marches are contrasted
by the ‘fantasy’—improvisatory textures that spiral, growing in velocity, with centrifugal
force. A moment of peaceful stillness in B major is heard in the middle section,
paralleling the similar moment of repose in the later Polonaise-Fantasy. While
the piece begins in F minor, it ends in A-flat major, the key of his Polonaise-Fantasy
(another work with a hybrid form). Shortly before the last two
valiant
chords, there is a reappearance
of the otherworldly middle section, before it dissolves into a starry glitter. Despite
the modulation to a major key, the ending is a tragic, grief-ridden triumph.
Frédéric
Chopin: Polonaise-Fantasy in A-flat Major, Op. 61
Chopin’s Polonaise-Fantasy, Op. 61, written between the summers
of 1845 and 1846, belongs to a time in his life when he found it difficult to compose.
His newly ended relationship with George Sand (pseudonym of Amantine Lucile-Aurore
Dupin) and declining health were in part to blame, but Chopin was nonetheless at
the height of his compositional powers. The Polonaise-Fantasy was to be his last
large-scale composition for the piano. At the time of its writing, Chopin had not
yet found a suitable title for the piece and confessed,
"I’d like to finish something that I don’t yet know what to call."
Its ambiguity and search for identity
can be traced back to Chopin’s own destiny as an expatriate, and his knowledge that
he would never return to Poland. The work is first a fantasy, and then a polonaise,
in the sense that it is a contemplation on the polonaise. It is a synthesis of the
Polish national spirit and Chopin’s most personal thoughts and feelings.
Pianist Jeremy Denk calls the opening
an
"invocation,"
and the rising arpeggios an invitation to listen. Two chords open the work with
polonaise panache, followed by a rising, unmeasured arpeggio, a continuation of
the second chord's harmony. The sequence is heard four times, and different polonaise
rhythms are slowly born until the lyrical first theme arrives, heralded by repeated,
forte octaves in the left hand. Like in the Fantasy in F minor, Op. 49, there is
a slow,
central section in B major, reminiscent
of a dream or a stasis, where the search for answers
comes
to a momentary halt. In some sections, he strays so far from the polonaise that
he comes
dangerously close to the world of
the nocturne. The coda is an apotheosis of both the first theme and the introverted
middle section in
B major. Musicologist Arthur Hedley writes about
the
"spirit
that breathes" in Chopin's polonaises, describing them as
"pride in the past, lamentation for the present, [and]
hope for the future."
Robert Schumann: Arabeske in C Major, Op. 18
In 1838, Robert Schumann returned
to Leipzig after a failed attempt to move to Vienna. Heartbroken that Clara Wieck’s
father refused to allow him to have anything to do with his daughter, least of all
to have his daughter’s hand in marriage, Schumann had also been desiring a more
musically vibrant city. Although his venture to Vienna was by no means unfruitful,
he returned to his hometown of Zwickau in haste to see his dying brother, who unfortunately
passed the day before he arrived.
It was the following year, at the
age of twenty-nine, that Schumann wrote his charming Arabeske. While the term
arabesque is most frequently associated with the ornate and intricate patterns
inspired by Islamic architecture and art, Friedrich Schlegel (one of the important
figures in early Romanticism and the author of the quote that opens Schumann’s Fantasy,
Op. 17) understood the word as "a digression." Erika Reiman writes, "Through the
arabesque, a system of fragments can be perceived holistically….Thus Schumann, in
adopting the title Arabeske, implies that his work is fundamentally digressive
from something larger."
Schumann’s Arabeske opens with an
idyllic and innocent atmosphere. A contrasting minor section follows, filled with
longing. After a repeat of the opening, the second minor interlude contains marchlike
rhythms, an ever-present characteristic in Schumann’s writing. The charming work
comes to a conclusion by way of a dreamy and poetic coda. Schumann dedicated this
work to Majorin Friederike Serre auf Maxen, who greatly supported his engagement
to Clara.
Robert Schumann: Fantasie in C Major, Op. 17
Schumann’s Fantasy in C major, Op. 17, written in 1836, was originally entitled:
Obolen auf Beethovens Monument: Ruinen, Trophäen, Palmen: grosse Sonate für
das Pianoforte für Beethovens Denkmal, von Florestan und Eusebius, Op.12 (Small
Contribution to Beethoven’s Monument: Ruins, Trophies, Palms: Grand Sonata for the
Pianoforte for Beethoven’s Memorial, by Florestan and Eusebius). This project of
erecting a statue, with the monetary help of Franz Liszt, the dedicatee of this
piece, came to fruition in 1845. The work, in addition to being a tribute to Beethoven’s
life, was also a passionate declaration of love to Schumann’s fiancée, Clara Wieck.
He was forbidden to see Clara at this time by her father, and the work fittingly
uses a quote from Beethoven’s An die ferne Geliebte (To the Distant Beloved),
revealed at the end of the first movement.
Schumann wrote to Clara in March 1838: "The first movement [of the Fantasie] is
the most passionate I have ever composed; it is a profound lament on your account."
In the beginning of the piece is a quote by Friedrich Schlegel:
Through all the sounds that sound
In the colorful dream of earth
A soft sound comes forth
For the one who listens in secret.
Schumann had written to Clara, "Are you not the secret
tone that runs through the work? I almost think you are." Charles Rosen writes that
the "secret tone" is Schumann's quotation from the last song in Beethoven's An die
Ferne Geliebte (To the Distant Beloved). For pianist Murray Perahia, the "secret
tone" is G, the opening pitch of the work,
which remains a central tone throughout. However one may wish to interpret the
"secret tone," Schumann's quotation at the end of the first movement is heard as a culmination
— nearly hymn-like — after the movement’s impassioned turmoil. With regard to the
second movement, Clara had a visceral response: "It makes me hot and cold all over."
The music’s march-like quality, filled with unwaning energy is reminiscent of the
League of David fighting the Philistines. The sublime last movement is an extended
song without words.
Copyright © 1999-2021
中華表演藝術基金會
Foundation for Chinese Performing Arts,
Lincoln, Massachusetts |
查詢: 中華表演藝術基金會會長譚嘉陵, 電話: 781-259-8195
