His final report upon graduation in 1829 read: „Chopin, third year student, excep-
.... and leads into the Alla Polacca, which Chopin marks Allegro con spirito.
Fryderyk Chopin (1810 - 1849) Chopin Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 65 (1846-48) I. Allegro moderato (16 min.) George Sand II. Scherzo (Allegro con brio) (5 min.) III. Largo (3 1/2 min.) IV. Finale (Allegro) (6 min.)
F. Chopin
Though short, Chopin‟s life was filled with trying tumult for which he was ill suited. He grew up in Warsaw, Poland, just after Poland‟s partition by Russia and Hapsburg Austria. His father taught at the Warsaw Lyceum, a humanistic school for boys housed in the Saxon Palace, and thus he grew up among academics, and middle-class seekers of education and advancement. As a musical prodigy, his fame soon spread and he became connected with aristocratic Warsaw, where he was sought as a „second Mozart‟. While he studied with Józef Elsner, he was largely self-taught as pianist and performer. Nonetheless, these early years provided rigorous training in composition and the freedom to follow his own musical inclinations.
His final report upon graduation in 1829 read: „Chopin, third year student, exceptional talent, musical genius‟. Yet, he was depressed, in love with singer Konstancja Gładkowska, but too emotionally fragile and indecisive to let her know of his feelings. In 1830 he left provincial Warsaw for Vienna. Two weeks later, the PolishUprising to throw off Russian and Austrian domination began in Warsaw, stranding him in a city where Poles were no longer welcome. Further depressed at the uprising‟s defeat, he left for Paris in 1831 rather than return to Russian-ruled Warsaw.
In Paris he felt at home, as there was sympathy for the Polish cause, many Polish émigrés, and a rich cultural life. He largely avoided public concerts, preferring more intimate salons, where he was in strong demand. His nostalgia for Poland is evident in his letters, as well as his mazurkas, nocturnes and études of this early period.
After failing in his attempt to marry Marie Wodzińskis in 1836, he fell into a multiyear relationship with writer George Sand in 1838. Sand said her „maternal instinct‟ drew her to a frail and sickly Chopin, afflicted with tuberculosis (consumption). (‘I look after him like a child, and he loves me like his mother.’) They spent summers at her house in France (Nohant), where he would do most of his composing. His musical style was changing, having studied counterpoint and Bach (whom he revered). He was having great difficulty with his new compositional style, complaining: "I write a little and cross out a lot."
Today‟s cello sonata was the last of his works published during his lifetime (performed at his last concert in 1848), and is one of only nine that Chopin wrote for instruments other than piano. It was composed while in the midst of a difficult and traumatic separation from George Sand, brought about by familial tensions with her children. ‘I am miserable at heart, but I try to deaden my feelings’. Its opening phrase is reminiscent of Schubert‟s „Gute Nacht‟, a song of a disappointed lover leaving his sweetheart in despair, and seems to reflect both the tumult and quiet of that relationship, and the pain of its loss.
He died in Paris of tuberculosis in 1849.
Oh sacred world now wounded, we pledge to make you free, Of hate, war, hunger, and selfish cruelty. And here in our small corner, we plant a tiny seed, And it shall grow to beauty, to shame the face of greed.” - Pete Seeger ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Today’s Concert Piano-Cello Sonatas by Chopin & Beethoven performed by,
Charae Krueger, Cello Robert Henry, Piano —————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
Upcoming Concerts March 25 @ 3pm
Schubert - Piano Trio in B flat major Arensky - Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor
April 22 @ 3pm
Schnittke - String Quartet No. 3 Brahms - Clarinet Quintet B minor, Op. 115
Children are invited to sit on the front row to see better. To be on our e-mail list, send e-mail to:
[email protected]. ——————————————————————————————————————————-
Welcome to our chamber concert series, Music on the Hill, and to Northside Drive Baptist Church. Our chamber concerts are not about preserving the past, but celebrating the ways artists respond to their times in revolutionary ways, while nourishing a seed of beauty in the heart of Buckhead.
“if you asked me why we need the arts, I would answer first and foremost because we
constantly need to be reminded of what it is to feel, fully and humanly... Appreciating art isn’t just about looking or listening with the clever brain, spotting surface connections, influences, iconography, and so on... It is about feeling, about a deep resonance and consonance....whether a Beethoven sonata...a poem by Hopkins or Lorca...or a self-portrait by Rembrandt, it can only resonate in the right receptive chamber.” (Harry Eyres, Financial Times 1/7/12)) ——————————————————————————————————-
Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Beethoven's 12 Variations on a theme from Handel's "Judas Maccabaeus" (1796)
The piano-cello combination is a difficult one, because the low notes of the cello tend to get covered up by the piano‟s bass, so the balance of the instruments is always precarious. No doubt this is a key reason the combination was largely avoided by Haydn, and Mozart. In 1796 at age 26, Beethoven‟s first major tour took him to Berlin to perform at the palace for King Friedrich Wilhelm II (an amateur cellist and nephew of Frederick the Great). Wilhelm‟s cello instructor was the French cellist JeanPierre Duport, one of the finest cellists in Europe. Perhaps it was youthful brown-nosing, but for these Berlin concerts, Beethoven composed three works for cello and piano (a set of three variations on themes by Handel and Mozart, and his Opus 5 cello Sonatas No. 1 and 2). Beethoven boasted that Wilhelm was so pleased he rewarded him with a snuffbox “fit for an ambassador”.
Beethoven‟s first set of variations on Handel‟s chorus melody from „Judas Macabeus’, "See the ConqueringIntermission Hero Comes", may have been chosen to pay respect for Wilhelm and the throne. Judas Maccabeus tells the story of the courageous Israelite leader (175B.C.) who fought off the militant advances of the King of Syria (Antiochus), which is celebrated at Channukah. Handel had chosen this story fifty years earlier to reflect political events of his day, namely, the 1746 defeat at the Battle of Culloden by Hanoverian forces of Prince Charles Stuart, ending Bonnie Prince Charles‟ and the Jacobites‟ attempt to seize the throne of England.
Three Works for Piano Prokofiev
Performed by Robert Henry
1. Sergei Prokofiev (1891 - 1953) Prelude in C Major, Opus 12, No. 7 („Harp‟)
2. Maurice Ravel (1875 - 1937) Jeux d‟eau
3. Sergei Prokofiev (1891 - 1953) Scherzo and March from
“The Love for Three Oranges”
Ravel
Fryderyk Chopin (1810 - 1849) Polonaise Brillante, Op. 3 (1829)
The keyboard polonaise reigned supreme in the salons of early 19th-century Poland, and it was usual for young composers to cut their teeth on it. Chopin‟s earliest compositions, especially his polonaises, reflect this „brilliant style‟ of public pianism associated with composers such as Hummel, Weber, and others. These „early‟ works of Chopin have little in common with his later Paris compositions (see notes on his life on next page). Instead, these are studies in virtuoso figuration and right-hand ornamentation, with hand crossings, leaps, trills and arpeggio-based passage-work. The poignant sound associated with the mature Chopin was not yet formed. In 1829 (age 19), Chopin‟s father arranged for him to stay at the estate of Prince Radziwill, who was also a cellist and composer. Radziwill‟s daughter, Wanda, was a pianist. Chopin composed today‟s polonaise for them to play together. Chopin wrote: “It is nothing more than a glittering trifle for the salon, for ladies. I wanted Princess Wanda … to learn it. She is still very young–perhaps seventeen–and beautiful.” Chopin wrote a slow introduction for it the following year; published in 1831 as Introduction and Polonaise Brillante.
The Polonaise is of Polish origin, originally in triple time at a moderate tempo, to be sung or danced as part of ceremonial processions. By the eighteenth century it had become a dance form. Chopin transforms it into a brilliant and fast dance with intense national feelings (perhaps responding to Russia‟s occupation of Warsaw). A lengthy introduction, full of long runs for the piano, eventually grows quite animated and leads into the Alla Polacca, which Chopin marks Allegro con spirito. Chopin may mark the piano part elegantamente near the start, but soon he is reminding the duo to play con forza and brillante. This is exciting music, and it drives to a grand close.
–————–Intermission (10 Minutes)——————— Today’s Concert Benefits ArtReach Foundation Since 1999, The ArtReach Foundation‟s mission has been to influence and assist, through creative expressive arts therapies, the growth and development of children and adults who have experienced the traumatic effects of war, violence, and/or natural disaster. Research has shown that expressive art is an enormously effective means of helping traumatized children and adults cope with their traumas. It also gives them the tools necessary to lead productive lives. Providing art expression in a safe, therapeutic, and educational setting allows those effected to express residual anger, loss, pain and resentment, work through emotions related to trauma, and discover renewed hope. Please give as generously as you can. (www. artreachfoundation.org) Many thanks….
Suggested Donation (per person): Adults: $15-$25; Seniors: $10-$15; College Students: $5-$10 Under 18 or Seeking Employment: Please give what you can…. Make Checks Payable to: ArtReach Foundation or, Northside Drive Baptist Church
