
Classical Chamber Concert
Pièce Romantique
Philippe Gaubert
Born in Cahors, France, in 1879, Philippe Gaubert was one of the greatest flautists of all time, as well as an acclaimed composer and conductor at the very center of French musical life in the late 19th century. He is representative of the musical movement of French Impressionistic artists such as Claude Monet and composers Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel and Gabriel Fauré.
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In 1926, Gaubert composed the Pièce Romantique for Flute, Cello, and Piano. The piece is a passionately written work typical for a French impressionistic artist. A beautifully sustained lyrical outpouring that contains emotive, lyrical phrases, and is elegant, free, and expressive.
The cello's broad, exploratory opening solo gently lures the flute to join in alternating rippling themes depicting romantic pleasure. The keyboard weaves the pulse of the piece forward towards a climax where clearly different themes are competing against one another in 2 against 3 rhythmic configurations. To close the work Gaubert combines the two, fortissimo, in an elegiac and particularly satisfying coda and by the end all is calm and we enjoy a satisfying and peaceful conclusion to all the impressionistic “romantique” upheaval.
Sonata Op. 5 No. 2, Rondo
Ludwig Beethoven
Prior to Beethoven’s first two cello sonatas published in 1797 when he was in his mid-twenties, sonatas for cello and keyboard were apt to be one of two types. The first, based on Baroque practices, was for cello and “accompaniment”, the latter specified in a shorthand known as “basso continuo” that provided a bass line with numeric symbols for the harmony which had to be extemporaneously “realized” by one or more players, in this case, a harpsichordist. The other type of sonata typical of the early or “proto” classical period was a keyboard sonata with “obbligato” cello whereby a cellist of modest ability might “play along” by duplicating the bass notes already in the left hand of the keyboard part that otherwise dominated the proceedings. In either case, either cello or keyboard would assume a prominent foreground position with the other party “filling in” the background.
Beethoven’s op. 5 sonatas established a new approach particularly for the cello sonata. The original published title page reads (translated into English), “Two Grand Sonatas for the Harpsichord or Pianoforte with a Violoncello obbligato). But unlike the proto-classical “obbligato” sonatas, the thoroughly composed cello part was far more than just reinforcement of the keyboard bass; it had its own voice. It would take Beethoven until his middle period sonata before the cello and piano would be treated as completely equal partners and while some might regard these first works as “piano sonatas with a cello part”, the cello is both integral and independent. Thus begins the modern cello sonata repertoire. It is worth noting that, while Beethoven’s first creative phase is often characterized as one of imitation and mastery of preexisting models, with these sonatas for piano and cello there is no preexisting model: here Beethoven is treading new and original ground.
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The two Op. 5 sonatas share a similar formal design that is both unusual and unique for Beethoven. Both sonatas comprise two movements. The first movements begin with a substantial adagio introduction leading, without pause, into a lively sonata-allegro form. The second movement finale is a fast-paced rondo where a recurring refrain alternates with contrasting episodes. There is no middle slow movement in these sonatas. Rather, the calm, lyrical character normally found at the center occurs at the beginning in a meditative and rhapsodic prelude to the main action of the first movement. For contrast and a kind of complementary whole, Beethoven cast the first sonata in a major key, the second in a minor key. This difference is most pronounced in the first movement where the introduction and the principal themes emphasize this chief emotional difference. By any reckoning, these are wonderfully fresh and inventive first-rate classical sonatas that predate any of Beethoven’s violin sonatas, string quartets or symphonies.
Prelude in G Major
Johann Sebastian Bach
Bach's six suites for unaccompanied cello occupy a special place in the repertoire for both player and listener. Cellists regard the suites as sacred touchstones for their instrumental art demanding the utmost in technique, interpretation and expression requiring years if not a lifetime to master. Listeners treasure a unique sound palette featuring the warm, deep and wooden sonority of the intimate solo cello so close to the natural human voice presenting a collection of musical short stories rich with elegant designs, wide-ranging emotions and transcendent reflections.
The miracle of these suites for solo cellist goes further. Bach is remembered as a supreme master of counterpoint and polyphony: music formed by more than one voice or part playing simultaneously. As with the magic of harmony implied overtime in a kind of time-lapse development, Bach similarly implies a polyphonic texture as if the single cellist were really multiple cellists, each playing within a certain range with call, response and imitation weaving the several parts into a multiplicity of voices. This astonishing effect is the product of the composer, the capable cellist and the keenly attentive listener all of whom participate in constructing the illusion.
The suite was a dominant form of instrumental chamber music in the late Renaissance and Baroque eras. A suite comprises a set of idealized dances (e.g. for listening, not dancing), which, by Bach's time, represents a broadly European amalgam including dance types from Italy, France, Germany, England and Spain. Each dance features a particular tempo, rhythm and character contributing a pleasing diversity of mood and expression to the composite suite. All six suites include four standard dances at their core:
Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, Gigue
Like many suites and sonatas of the era, Bach begins each suite with a Prelude, an introductory movement historically used to ensure the tuning of the instrument, warm up the fingers, establish the primary tonality of the piece and possibly display some spontaneous virtuosity. It has been said by many that the essential character of each suite is fully revealed in the opening of the prelude often with thematic linkages across the other dance movements.
The Prelude to Bach’s first Suite, in G Major, is arguably the most well-known cello piece today. It springs to life with a leaping upward triad. This simple motivic cell unleashes a playful, dancing musical line which opens the door to torrents of sparkling and boldly-spirited virtuosity; filled with an infectious sense of joy and exuberance.
Two Songs
(Zwei Gesänge),
Op. 91
Johannes Brahms
In 1863 violinist Joseph Joachim married the distinguished mezzo-soprano Amalie Schneeweiss. Both were important musical partners for Brahms, as well as close personal friends. They later had a son, named Johannes in honor of Brahms. The composer wrote an enchanted cradle song (“Geistliches Wiegenlied,” Sacred Lullaby) for his namesake, which Amalie could sing with Joseph playing the viola, Brahms’ favorite string instrument.
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But the marriage became troubled by Joachim’s paranoid delusions about an affair he imagined Amalie had with Fritz August Simrock, Brahms’ publisher. Hoping to bring them together, Brahms reworked the lullaby and wrote a new song, “Gestillte Sehnsucht” (Stilled Longing). Blissfully domestic as the song was, it failed to repair the rift, and when Brahms testified on Amalie’s side in the subsequent divorce proceedings brought by Joseph, the violinist extended the broken relationship to include Brahms as well.
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Brahms published these songs in 1884 as his Op. 91. Images of wind in trees – calming in “Gestillte Sehnsucht,” alarming in “Geistliches Wiegenlied” – unite the two songs. Musicologist and Brahms biographer Karl Geiringer suggests that Brahms might have been influenced by Bach here, if only in the use of an obbligato instrument.
Friedrich Rückert’s “Gestillte Sehnsucht” was the kind of nature poem to which Brahms was very partial, with woods and birds and winds summoned to whisper the world – and yearning desires – to sleep. Brahms gives the viola an independent tune, which the voice then uses as a refrain, with rustling broken chords in the piano supporting the whole. Desires, always stirring “sonder Rast und Ruh” (without rest and peace), are presented in the urgent minor-key middle section, then quelled by nature in the return to the initial material.
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Despite its spontaneous feeling, “Geistliches Wiegenlied” is quite cleverly constructed. It begins with the viola alone offering the melody of the well-known medieval Christmas carol “Joseph, lieber Joseph mein.” (Brahms wrote the words under the tune, probably as a hopeful nudge to Joseph Joachim’s familial instincts.) The voice comes in with an entirely different melody (other than the initial outline of the tonic triad) and a different text than the one the viola had clearly suggested. (It is from a poem by Lope de Vega in a German translation by Emanuel Geibel.) As with the first song, the middle section of this three-part song shifts to agitated minor mode for suffering and pain, and here even changes meter. Mary’s pleading remains consistent, however, and peace returns, with the viola giving the old carol again as a final benediction.
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Below are the translations from German (Deutsch) to English.
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No. 1: Gestillte Sehnsucht (Stilled Longing)
lyrics originally written by German poet and translator, Friedrich Rückert
English translation by Richard Stokes
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Bathed in golden evening light,
How solemnly the forests stand!
The evening winds mingle softly
With the soft voices of the birds.
What do the winds, the birds whisper?
They whisper the world to sleep.
But you, my desires, ever stirring
In my heart without respite!
You, my longing, that agitates my breast –
When will you rest, when will you sleep?
The winds and the birds whisper,
But when will you, yearning desires, slumber?
Ah! when my spirit no longer hastens
On wings of dreams into golden distances,
When my eyes no longer dwell yearningly
On eternally remote stars;
Then shall the winds, the birds whisper
My life – and my longing – to sleep.​
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No. 2: Geistliches Wiegenlied (Sacred Lullaby)
lyrics originally written by German poet and playwright Emanuel von Geibel
English translation by Richard Stokes
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You who hover
Around these palms
In night and wind,
You holy angels,
Silence the tree-tops!
My child is sleeping.
You palms of Bethlehem
In the raging wind,
Why do you bluster
So angrily today!
O roar not so!
Be still, lean
Calmly and gently over us;
Silence the tree-tops!
My child is sleeping.
The heavenly babe
Suffers distress,
Oh, how weary He has grown
With the sorrows of this world.
Ah, now that in sleep
His pains
Are gently eased,
Silence the treetops!
My child is sleeping.
Fierce cold
Blows down on us,
With what shall I cover
My little child’s limbs?
O all you angels,
Who wing your way
On the winds,
Silence the tree-tops!
My child is sleeping.