SONATA IN B MINOR, HOB. XVI: 32Josef Haydn (1732-1809)Allegro moderatoMenuettoFinale: Presto

PIANO SONATA NO. 2 IN B-FLAT MINOR, OP. 35Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)Grave—Doppio movimentoScherzoMarche funèbre: LentoFinale: Presto—Sotto voce e legato

:: intermission ::

VARIATIONS ON A THEME BY CORELLISergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)

23june

Thurs

day

8 PM

George Li, piano

the program

35TH SEASON | ROCKPORT MUSIC :: 49

WE

EK

4

Theme: AndantePoco più mossoL’istesso tempoTempo di MinuettoAndanteAllegro ma non tantoL’istesso tempoVivaceAdagio misteriosoUn poco più mossoAllegro scherzandoAllegro vivace

L'istesso tempoAgitatoIntermezzoAndante (come prima)L’istesso tempoAllegro vivaceMeno mossoAllegro con brioPiu mosso—AgitatoPiu mossoCoda: Andante

The program continues on the next page

GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY MOLLIE AND JOHN BYRNES

Notes on the

programby

Sandra Hyslop

50 :: NOTES ON THE PROGRAM

SONATA IN B MINOR, HOB. XVI: 32Josef Haydn (b. Rohrau, Austria, March 31, 1732; d. Vienna, May 31, 1809)

Composed 1776 (?); 14 minutes

Haydn’s long professional life spanned two keyboard eras. As a young composer for thekeyboard in the 1750s, he played and wrote for harpsichord and clavichord; by the 1780s thefortepiano had become ubiquitous in European society, and Haydn was composing for it. In1794 he wrote his final keyboard sonatas, for a lifetime total of ca. sixty such compositions(because of doubts about the authenticity of some works attributed to Haydn, scholars debatethe exact number).

Using the more recent keyboard, the fortepiano, led Haydn to explore different stylistic territoryand to rethink the titles that he gave his later compositions. Divertimenti for harpsichord

gave way to sonatas for piano. The B-minor Sonata stems from the transition period.Haydn composed it around 1776, probably for his own use in Esterháza concerts, andpublished it in a manuscript edition along with five other sonatas for harpsichord.When it was eventually made available to the public, his publisher included it in acollection of sonatas for piano. It is effective on both instruments.

Beginning in the 1760s, Haydn had begun to move away from the dance suite as hismodel for solo keyboard compositions and to emulate instead such larger forms asstring quartets and concertos. The B-minor Sonata retains features typical ofharpsichord writing (the melodic ornamentation, for instance), even as its form andweight look forward to Haydn’s true piano sonatas.

The crisp texture of the harpsichord sound informs the character of the work. Sparklingtrills and turns, and fleet scale passages, support the impression of a harpsichord timbre.Haydn added no dynamic indications to the score, leaving all questions of loud and soft tothe educated taste of the performer, as was typical of pre-fortepiano notation. The harpsichord’stwo manuals, particularly in the Presto final movement, made possible a rapid change indynamics.

Despite the sparkling trills and turns, and the fleet scale passages, this is a weighty, austeresonata. The opening Allegro makes instantly clear that this is a piece in B minor, a mode thatdrives its serious intent from beginning to end. Even the B-major Minuet, a sweet interlude,hardly dispels this mood, as the Trio section is set in a pounding B minor. The sonata ends ina B-minor fury, with a coda in octaves that hammer Haydn’s intentions home.

The harpsichord purchasedby Josef Haydn from thebuilders, Burkat Shudi &John Broadwood, London,1775, is now in the museumcollection of the Gesellschaftder Musikfreunde in Vienna.

CONSOLATION NO. 3 IN D-FLAT MAJORFranz Liszt (1811-1886)Lento, quasi recitativo

HUNGARIAN RHAPSODY NO. 2 IN C-SHARP MINORFranz Liszt

35TH SEASON | ROCKPORT MUSIC :: 51

PIANO SONATA NO. 2 IN B-FLAT MINOR, OP. 35Frédéric Chopin (b. Z̊elazowa Wola, Poland, March 1, 1810; d. Paris, October 17, 1849)Composed 1837 (third movement), 1839 (first, second, and fourth movements); 25 minutes

Frédéric Chopin, a phenomenally gifted pianist from his early childhood, was raised in afamily that, by today’s standards, might be called “middle class,” despite his parents’somewhat humble beginnings. His father, a teacher who understood the importance ofsocial connections, and his mother, a former lady’s companion and governess, raised theirfour children with discipline and a commitment to learning. Their second child, Frédéric,received a good general education, along with some training in music theory and compositionfrom Josef Elsner, at the Warsaw Conservatory. As a pianist he was largely self-taught, andElsner supported his idiosyncratic approaches to composition.

The second of Chopin’s three piano sonatas was composed during his first year at the ruralestate of his long-time companion George Sand (nom de plume of the woman novelistAmantine Lucile Aurore Dupin). During the years that he spent at Nohant, in the Frenchcountryside, Chopin composed some of his most significant works—mature polonaises,ballades, the Berceuse, and the Op. 54 Scherzo, as well as the second and third piano sonatas.

Chopin had already composed the B-flat Minor Sonata’s most famous section, the FuneralMarch, probably in 1837. When he turned to the sonata’s completion, at Nohant, he had acore around which to wrap the other three movements.

The arrangement of the four movements emulates Classic sonata form—a brief, slowintroduction leading to a fast first movement, a Scherzo, a slow movement, and a presto finale. Within its structure Chopin used dramatic harmonic and melodic elements recognizablefrom his ballades, nocturnes, etudes, and preludes. Robert Schumann wrote that in thisSonata Chopin “bound together four of his maddest children.”

Certainly, the work is driven and torrential. Chopin provides lyrical relief and harmonic reposeonly occasionally, notably the second theme of the first movement, and the center of theFuneral March. Even the Scherzo is a joke that dances on the abyss. The final movement,Presto, has been likened to a wind sweeping over a graveyard—a dramatic thought, surely,that is supported by the chromaticism of the movement that loses its connection to the tonickey until the final, fortissimo B-flat minor chord.

VARIATIONS ON A THEME BY CORELLI, OP. 42Sergei Rachmaninoff (b. Veliky Novgorod, Russia, April 1, 1873; d. Beverly Hills, California, March 18, 1943)Composed 1931; 18 minutes

After Sergei Rachmaninoff’s departure from Russia—a permanent exile occasioned by the1917 Revolution and the seizure of his property—he turned his attention to earning a livingas a concert pianist. He and his wife and their two daughters immigrated at first to Oslo, andfrom there they departed in November 1918 for New York. His phenomenal success on theconcert stages of the West and the demanding touring schedules left him little time and energyfor further creative work. The few compositions that he managed during his exile years,however, included some of his most important works: the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini,the Symphony No. 3, and the Symphonic Dances for orchestra, which he also published in atwo-piano version (he performed it, happily, with Vladimir Horowitz).

The country home of GeorgeSand, near the village ofNohant in central France,where Chopin composedmany important piano works

For the entire period ofSergei Rachmaninoff’s exilefrom his homeland, 1917until his death in 1943, hisconcert schedule as a pianistwas nearly all-consuming,leaving him little room forcomposing.

Notes on the

programby

Sandra Hyslop

52 :: NOTES ON THE PROGRAM

Despite his interrupted composing schedule in the 1930s, Rachmaninoff was able to create thestunning Corelli Variations, which shows the growth in his confidence and clarity as a composer.Dedicating the work to the esteemed violinist Fritz Kreisler, Rachmaninoff mistakenlyattributed its main theme, “La Folia,” to the Italian composer Archangelo Corelli (1653-1713).It is, in fact, an ancient Portuguese melody that dozens of composers have used in theirmusic. No matter. Rachmaninoff’s setting of the theme, and his twenty variations, elevate itto memorable heights. From the simple introduction of “La Folia,” Rachmaninoff takes thepianist and the audience on a rewarding exploration of the piano’s full breadth and depth. Likemost of Rachmaninoff’s writing, it demands the utmost in pianistic bravura and sensitivity.

CONSOLATION NO. 3 IN D-FLAT MAJORFranz Liszt (b. Raiding, Kingdom of Hungary, October 22, 1811; d. Bayreuth, Germany, July 31, 1886)Composed 1849-50; 4 minutes

For a pianist approaching Franz Liszt’s compositions, the purely technical requirementshave tended to overshadow the musical challenges that must be met. Such matters asphrasing, balance, dynamic control, and lyrical expression demand the utmost from aperformer on an instrument, the piano, that is essentially percussive. Liszt composed manyexcellent songs—on German, Italian, and French texts—and he carried that lyrical gift overinto much of his piano writing.

Certainly, the six “Consolations” that Liszt composed in the 1840s illustrate his extremesensitivity to the piano’s capacity for the legato melodic line. As was his habit with many ofhis compositions, Liszt composed a first version of the Consolations (1844-48) and within afew years he had amended it for a second and final version, published in 1850. It is from thatversion that the Consolation No. 3 is usually performed. Marked “Lento placido,” this lovelycantilena is justifiably numbered among Liszt’s most beautiful lyric pieces for piano.

HUNGARIAN RHAPSODY NO. 2 IN C-SHARP MINORFranz LisztComposed 1851; 10 minutes

Over a period of several years, Liszt turned his attention to adapting what he believed wereHungarian Roma (Gypsy) tunes as the basis of showpieces for the piano. Some of the tuneswere actually composed by his contemporaries, but he turned them to good use for hisadaptations, setting the tunes into the typical Hungarian dance structure of the verbunkos.Alternating fast and slow sections gave the Roma violinists opportunities for improvisation,which Liszt translated into bravura piano flourishes. Completely notated, the Rhapsodiescreate the illusion of improvised mayhem, of wild abandon all across the keyboard.

Liszt composed the first fifteen of his Hungarian Rhapsodies in 1846-53. Subsequently herevised them, sometimes even arranging them for different instrumental complements.In 1882 and 1886 he added four more Hungarian Rhapsodies, for a total of nineteen. TheRhapsody No. 2 was composed and published in 1851 and has remained a favorite ofperformers and listeners.

Rhapsody Rabbit was a1946 cartoon featuringBugs Bunny at the piano in a performance of FranzLiszt’s Hungarian RhapsodyNo. 2, in C-sharp minor.The actual pianist whorecorded the sound trackwas Jakob Gimpel (1907-89), an outstanding concertpianist with a major careerin Europe, who in 1938immigrated to Los Angeles,where he appeared occasionally on Hollywoodsound tracks. He received$250 for “being” BugsBunny. He retired as theDistinguished Professor of Piano in Residence at Cal State Northridge.

FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2 PMMASTERCLASS: Gilles Vonsattel, piano

COMING NEXT