Chamber music

The Takash Quartet, coming to Pittsburgh on the 28th of September, Monday evening at 7.30 to open the season.

This is the 11th time the quartet has been in Pittsburgh for Chamber Music Pittsburgh.

We have Richard O'Neill, violist, and Mihaly Marika, cellist, with us.

Welcome, you two.

piece, this specific piece, he has a very strong voice of his own, which is always important when we bring new music to the audience and he writes spectacularly well for the string quartet in terms of expressivity but in a way that's very hard to describe in words he uses the four instruments in ways that you wouldn't expect to hear sound out so in that regard it's been a wonderful challenge for us to figure out how to do that in rehearsal and we're very excited to bring it to you

Brahms to close the program.

Another masterpiece of the chamber music repertoire, his C minor quartet, Op.

51.

His colleagues were men like the theorist Hauptmann, the violinist Ferdinand David, Moscheles, Pledy, Richter, Klingel, and others of distinguished standing.

but it does not appear that schumann's actual teaching can have amounted to much for he was growing more and more uncommunicative and the fitness as a pedagogue of such a silent teacher may be doubted in eighteen forty four his duties at the conservatory were interrupted for four months when he accompanied clara on a concert tour to russia and finally ceased in the autumn when he suffered a severe nervous breakdown which led to his removal to dresden some months earlier he had renounced the editorship of the zeitschrift to his friend verhulst he wrote in june 1844 i have given up the paper for this year and hardly think i shall ever resume it i should like to live entirely for composition shortly afterwards the zeitschrift passed into the hands of liszt's friend franz brendel schumann was now definitely a sick man clara wrote in her diary that she feared he would not survive the journey to the hartz mountains and to dresden which they had planned in the hope of restoring him robert did not sleep a single night his imagination painted the most terrible pictures in the early morning i generally found him bathed in tears he gave himself up completely the change of scene and society helped him however and they resolved to settle permanently in dresden whither they moved in the last days of eighteen forty four a period of fertile productivity lay behind him If 1840 was Robert's song year, 1841 was his symphony year, and 1842 his chamber music year, though this should not be taken as meaning that his creations at this time were limited to a few works in these genres exclusively.

First of all came the B-flat symphony, the Spring Symphony, which Schumann wrote down with a steel pen he had found in Vienna in the Währinger Cemetery on Beethoven's grave.

the spring symphony though it had its detractors put schumann on the map so to speak more almost than anything else he had written heretofore immediately after the symphony came two other large-scale works the so-called overture scherzo and finale which modern conductors have singularly neglected and a fantaisie in a minor for orchestra and piano which was to become the first movement of the glorious piano concerto for not a few musicians the greatest of its kind in existence on the heels of this soaring masterpiece schumann embarked on another symphony as yet i have heard nothing about it wrote clara in her diary but from robert's way of going on and the d minor sounding wildly in the distance i know that another work is being created in the depth of his soul less than four months later robert handed his wife as a birthday gift the score of the d minor symphony it was not to see the light of publicity for some time however before schumann had put the finishing touches on it his thoughts began to be occupied with the subject of paradise and the peri from thomas moore's la la and he opined that perhaps something fine can be made out of it for music he was right though the beautiful oratorio one of the finest yet in america least familiar of schumann's major works was not completed for nearly two years more when it finally appeared the composer described it as an oratorio for cheerful people not for the place of prayer In the spring of 1842, Robert and Clara had been occupied with the study of the string quartets of Haydn and Mozart.

41.

For one thing, they contain some of the most unusual effects of syncopated rhythm to be found in the entire range of Schumann's compositions.

On the heels of the quartets came the most popular sample of Schumann's chamber music, the E-flat piano quintet, Op.

44, the first movement of which is perhaps as fine a thing as its creator ever achieved.

Even in 1709, during the whole of Handel's sojourn in Italy, there was not a single representation of opera at Rome.

On the other hand, religious music and chamber music were enjoying a great vogue.

handel during the first months listened and studied the religious music at rome and tried his hand on similar works from this period dated his latin psalms thanks to the letters of recommendation he had from the medici he had also been introduced into the roman salons he became famous there more on account of his virtuoso powers on the keyboard than of those of composer he remained at rome until the autumn of seventeen o seven doubtless he returned to florence in the month of october and it appears that he then produced rodrigo for the first time handel had then been nearly a year in italy he set about writing an opera in italian his boldness was justified rodrigo was successful handel gained through it the favor of the grand duke and the love of the prima donna vittoria fortified by his first victory he went on to try his luck at venice venice was then the musical metropolis of italy it was in a way the real kingdom of opera the first public opera house had been already open there for half a century and after it fifteen other opera houses had sprung into being during the carnival no less than seven opera houses were open each evening there every night also a musical union was held at the academy of music and occasionally twice or even three times in one evening every day in the churches musical solemnities and concerts which lasted for many hours with several orchestras many organs and numerous full and echo choirs and on saturday and sunday the famous vespers of the hospitals those conservatoires for women where they taught music to orphans and foundlings or more frequently to the girls who had fine voices they gave orchestral and vocal concerts over which all venice raved venice indeed was bathed in music the entire life was threaded with it life was a perpetual round of pleasure when handel arrived the greatest of the italian musicians alessandro scarlatti was about to produce at st john chrysostom's theatre his chief work miturdate eupatora one of the rare italian operas of which the dramatic beauty is on a par with the musical value was alessandro scarlatti still in venice when handel met him we do not know but in any case he encountered him in rome some months later and it appears that at that time handel was tied by bonds of friendship to the son of alessandro domenico he also made many other encounters in venice which were destined to change his life the prince of hanover ernest augustus and the duke of manchester the english ambassador extraordinary at venice were both passionate music lovers and interested themselves in handel the first invitations which handel received to go to hanover and to london dated doubtless from that time but if the visit to venice was not fruitless to the future of handel it brought him very little at the time handel could produce nothing at any of the seven opera houses he was much happier at rome where he returned at the beginning of march seventeen o eight the renown of his rodrigo had preceded him all the italian merchants strove to receive him with honor he was the guest of the marquis rispoli whose gardens on the espolino formed the bond of reunion for the academy of the arcadians handel found himself agreeably placed amongst the most illustrious men which italy boasted in literature the arts and in the aristocracy arcadia which united the nobility and the artists in a spiritual brotherhood counted amongst its members alessandro scarlatti arcangelo corelli bernardo paschini and benedetto marcello a similar elite society was found at the soires of the cardinal ottoboni every monday in the palace of ottoboni as at the meetings of the arcadia concerts and poetical recitations were given the cardinal prince superintendent of the pontifical chapel had in his service the finest orchestra in italy and the singers of the sistine chapel at the arcadia there was also to be heard a numerous orchestra under the direction of corelli of paschini or of scarlatti musical and poetical improvisation was also given there it was that which provoked the artistic jousts between poets and musicians it was for the concerts at the palace of ottoboni that handel wrote his two roman oratorios the resurrection and the triumph of time and truth which were really but disguised operas one finds traces of the arcadia coterie in the compositions which are perhaps the most characteristic of this period in the life of handel the italian cantatas of which the reputation spread itself very wide for j s bach made a copy of one of them before seventeen fifteen handel passed three or four months at rome he was friendly with corelli and with the two scarlattis especially with the son domenico who made many trials of virtuosity with him perhaps he also played with bernardo paschini whom he doubtless heard more than once on his organ at great st mary's he was interested in the life of the vatican and they tried to convert him to catholicism but he refused such was the friendly tolerance which prevailed then at the court of rome that notwithstanding the war between the pope and emperor this refusal did not alter the friendly relationships between the young german lutheran and the cardinals his patrons he became so attached to rome that it was difficult for him to leave it until the war which approached the city obliged him to take his way in the month of may or june seventeen o eight to naples one of the italian cantatas entitled partenza shows his grief at leaving the lovely banks the dear walls and the beautiful waters of the tiber soon after his arrival at naples alessandro scarlatti returned to settle there after seven years of absence thanks to this friendship and his membership of the arcadia handel was received into the best circles of neapolitan society he remained at naples for nearly a year from june seventeen o eight to the spring of seventeen o nine enjoying princely hospitality which placed at his disposal says mainwaring a palace a well-supplied table and a coach if the softness of the italian life enervated him he appears to have wasted no time not only did he assimilate the style of his friend corelli he conceived in italy a passionate love of pictures but he attempted with a carefully cultivated dilettantism the most diverse styles with which the cosmopolitan society of naples amused its careless curiosity spanish and french influence fought for the honors of this city handel as indifferent as scarlatti to the victory of either of these parties tried to write in the style of both he interested himself also in the italian popular songs and noted down the rustic melodies of the calabrian pifferari for the arcadians of naples he wrote his beautiful serenata axis and galatea finally had the good fortune to please the viceroy of naples the cardinal grimani he was a venetian and his family owned the theatre of san grisostomo at venice grimani wrote for handel the libretto of the opera agrippina of which handel probably composed part of the music at naples a similar collaboration assured it of being produced at venice without trouble he left naples in the spring-time and returned to rome where he met at the palace of the cardinal ottoboni bishop agostino stefani who by a curious combination of attributes was at the same time kapellmeister at the court of hanover and charged with secret missions by different german princes stephani was one of the most finished musicians of his time he established a firm friendship with handel possibly when travelling together to venice where handel's agrippina was playing at the opening of the carnival season seventeen o nine ten at the theatre of san giovanni grisostomo the success exceeded all anticipations mainwary says that he took all his hearers by storm there were great acclamations and cries of viva il caro sassone and extravagances impossible to record the grandeur of the style struck them all like thunder the italians had good reason to rejoice for they found in handel a most brilliant exponent and agrippina is the most melodious of his italian operas venice then made and unmade reputations the enthusiasm aroused by the representations at san giovanni grisostomo's spread itself out over the whole of musical europe handel remained the whole of the winter at venice he seemed undecided as to what course to follow it was quite on the cards that he should pass through paris handel had familiarized himself with the french language he showed as it happened a singular attraction for the most beautiful subjects of our french tragedy with his prodigious adaptability and his latin qualities the clarity of his lines his eloquence logic and his passionate love for form he would have rejoiced exceedingly in assimilating the tradition of our art and taking it up with an irresistible vigor but at venice whilst he was still hesitating what to do he encountered the hanoverian nobles amongst whom was the baron kielmannsegg who invited him to follow them stephanie himself had offered him with a charming grace his post as kapellmeister at the court of hanover handel went then to hanover

and of section

Translated by Arthur Eaglefield Hall.

This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.

His Technique and Works, Part 2. handel's instrumental music deserves very close notice for it is nearly always wrongly assessed by historians and badly understood by artists who treat it for the most part as a merely formal art its chief characteristic is that of a perpetual improvisation if it was published it was more in spite of handel than at his instigation it was not made to be played and judged coldly but to be produced at white heat to the public they were free sketches in which the form was never completely tightened up but remained always moving and living modifying itself at the concert as the two sensibilities the artist and the public came into touch with one another it is necessary then to preserve in this music a certain measure of the character of living improvisation what we too often do on the contrary is to petrify them one cannot say that they are a caricature of the work of handel they are rather a negation of it when one studies with a minute care every detail of the work when one has attained from the orchestra a precision of attack an ensemble a justness an irreproachable finish we have yet done nothing more than raise up the mere figure of this genial improvisator further there is with his instrumental music as with his vocal music nearly always an intimate and picturesque expression for handel as with his friend the aim of instrumental music is not only to please the ear but to express the sentiments the emotions to paint the feelings it reflects not only the interior world but it also turns to the actual spectacle of things it is a precise poetry and if one cannot define the sources of his inspiration one can often find in certain of his instrumental works the souvenir of days and journeys and of scenes visited and experienced by handel it was here that he was visibly inspired by nature others have a relationship with vocal and dramatic works certain of the heroic fugues in the fourth book of the clavier pieces published in seventeen thirty five were taken up again by handel in his israel and egypt enclosed with words which agree precisely with their hidden feeling the first allegro from the fourth organ concerto the first book appeared in seventeen thirty eight soon became shortly afterwards one of the prettiest of the choruses in alcina the second and monumental concerto for two horns in f major is a reincarnation of some of the finest pages from esther it was quite evident to the public of his time that the instrumental works had an expressive meaning or that as gemignani wrote all good music ought to be an imitation of a fine discourse thus the publisher walsh was justified in issuing his six volumes of favorite airs from handel's operas and oratorios arranged as sonatas for the flute violin and harpsichord and handel himself or his pupil w babel arranged excellently for the clavier some suites of airs from the operas binding them together with preludes interludes and variations it is necessary always to keep in view this intimate relation of the instrumental works of handel with the rest of his music it ought to draw our attention more and more to the expressive contents of these works the instrumental music of handel divides itself into three classes firstly music for the clavier the clavecin and organ secondly chamber music sonatas and trios thirdly orchestral music the compositions for clavier are the most popular works of any that handel wrote and these have achieved the greatest number of european editions although they comprise three volumes yet there is only one the first which represents him properly for it is the only one which he prepared himself and supervised the others more or less fraudulently published misrepresent him this first volume published in november seventeen twenty under the french title suites etc affords us the means of appreciating the two most striking of handel's traits his precocious maturity which hardly developed at all in the course of time and the european universality of character which distinguished his art even at an epoch when the great artists were less national than they are to-day for the first trait one would remark in fine that these clavier pieces published in seventeen twenty had already been written some time certainly before seventeen hundred one discovers a part of them in the jugenbuch of the lennard collection others come from a seventeen o five naturally handel enlarged and revised and carefully grouped all these pieces in his edition of seventeen twenty the interest of the jugenbuch is chiefly that it shows us the first sketches of the pieces and how handel perfected them side by side with the oldest pieces there are others more recent composed it may be in italy or in england one can trace in these pages the course of the different influences seyffert and fleischer have noted some of them german influences french and italian in england even sometimes italian elements sometimes german predominated with him the order of the dances varies in each suite and also the central point the kernel of the work the introductory pieces are sometimes preludes sometimes fugues overtures c the dances and the airs are sometimes related to one another and sometimes independent and nevertheless the prevailing impression of the work so varied in its texture is its complete unity the personality of handel holds it all together and welds the most diverse elements polyphony and richness of german harmony italian homophony and scarlatian technique the french rhythm and ornamentation with english directness and practicability thus the work made its impression on the times before this time there had perhaps been more original volumes of pieces for the clavier but their inspiration was nearly always very much circumscribed by the limits of their national art handel was the first of the great german classics of the eighteenth century he did for music what the french writers and philosophers of the eighteenth century did for literature he wrote for all and sundry and his volume took the place on the day of its publication which it has held since that of a european classic the following volumes are less interesting for the reasons i have given the second volume published in seventeen thirty three by walsh unknown to handel and in a very faulty manner gives us little pieces which we find in the junckenbuch and which date from the time of hamburg and hall they lacked the setting which handel had certainly planned for them preludes and fugues this arrangement was ready and handel frustrated by this publisher resigned himself to publishing them later on as an appendix to the preceding work six fugues or voluntaries for the organ or harpsichord seventeen thirty five opus three these fugues date from the time when handel was at canons before seventeen twenty the second in g major was from the period of his first sojourn in england they became celebrated at once and were much circulated in manuscript even in germany handel had trained himself in fugue in the school of cunha and especially with johann krieger like them he gave his

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I'm Jim Cunningham.

Martha Banta is here, the executive director of Chamber Music Pittsburgh.

A new season is about to begin.

We're gonna run it down.

Thank you so much for having us.

You had a terrific year last year, and I think things are on the rise as far as I can tell.

More people are subscribing to Chamber Music Pittsburgh events.

Absolutely.