Program Notes - Mompou

8/10/2019 Program Notes - Mompou

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6/21/11 2:ROdigital Program Notes-Mompou

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PRO-5162:Federico Mompou: Music for Piano

Born into an old Catalan family with rich musical antecedents (for centuries one

the leading makers of church bells in medieval Europe) the composer Federico

Mompou Dencausse can be regarded as the leading composer of his native Cata

He himself described his musical style asprimitivistaand critics knew him as a

of the pianoforte" an appelation also bestowed on Chopin and Schumann. In tru

indeed his music does incorporate primitive elements, at the same time it achiev

subtle sophistication and modernity that retains its freshness and originality and

the end reveals an immortal composer.

Federico Mompou, born on April 16, 1893 in Barcelona, was to receive his first

musical contact with the piano imitating his brother Jos who was taking piano

lessons. This same brother was to become a painter; it was he who drew the sim

farmhouse sketch which was to grace the title pages of all of Federico's compos

(here reproduced above). Virtually self-taught at the piano, Mompou's composit

gifts grew naturally out of the inherently self-effacing introspection of his

personality. By the time he was ready to enter the Paris Conservatory as a piano

student he had already begun composing fragments which were later to be devel

into some of his most well-known works.

In the fall of 1911, at the age of 18, Mompou, having readied himself for seriou

study in Paris, went about gathering contacts and letters of introduction to prom

teachers and musicians in the French capital. Among the more interesting of the

was a letter from Enrique Granados, the great Spanish virtuoso pianist and comp

who was head of a conservatory in Barcelona, to Gabriel Faur, then director of

Paris Conservatory. According to Mompou's recollections of his interview with

great Spanish pianist and between the lines of the still-extant letter can be inferr

that Granados was under no illusions concerning the virtuosic potentialities of th

young pianist. But he did speak highly of his talent, especially with regards to h

sensitive touch and already apparent individuality, traits which were soon to ma

themselves in Mompou's compositions. Curiously, the letter was never recieved

Faur; although admitted to the Paris conservatory (with another Spaniard, Jos
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Iturbi) Mompou's natural shyness and reserve coupled with Faur's absence from

Paris at the time ultimately prevented the letter from arriving at its intended

destination. In later years, Mompou would relish the irony of this non-contact as

almost symbolic in character, quite in accordance with the reticence of his own

personality.

Two years of study in Paris were enough to convince Mompou that, rather than piano virtuoso, his greatest gifts lay in composition. Since childhood his persona

had reflected a powerful introspection and playing even his own compositions in

public was a torture that remained unconquered until much later in life. Compos

on the other hand, which in his own view consisted more in the discovery of

harmonies and melodies than in their invention, allowed his musical imagination

rein. Indeed, many of his most well-loved compositions, the Canciones y Danza

free renditions of traditional Catalan folk tunes. Nevertheless, the difficult econo

circumstances of the life of a composer were not to be completely surmounted umuch later.

Mompou's first success came in 1921. After two years of study in the French cap

he had returned to his beloved Barcelona where he had already written a numbe

his more important compositions. When his piano teacher, Ferdinand Motte-Lac

former student and disciple of the founder of the French school of piano playing

Isidore Philipp, began including compositions by Mompou in his programs in

France, the critical response was instantaneous. Mompou found himself the idol

artistic and musical Paris. Although initially surprising even to the artist himselfsuccess is easier to understand viewed in the context of the times. Debussy had

been dead for three years and the forces reacting against impressionism were alr

at work. Cubism (1909) and the Dadaists (1918) had made their appearances;

Schnberg had written his "Treatise on Harmony" (1911) and Stravinsky had tur

the musical world upside down with his "Rite of Spring" (1913). The instinctive

values pervading Mompou's music resonated profoundly in this environ. Based

Catalan and Spanish traditional music, the piquant harmonies "discovered" by th

composer, delicately pulsating rhythms, introspective themes; Mompou himselfwould write "I make music like this because art has reached its limits...my art is

return to the primitive...no, not even a return, it is to begin again (recomenzar)."

This recomenzarhelps us understand one of Mompou's primary objectives;

simplicity. As he himself would never tire of saying to students, "the maximum

expression with the minimum of means". Like Satie, Mompou searched within

himself seeking nothing less than the very origens of music: the clear and pure


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expression of human instinct faced with absolute solitude, in the process touchin

within himself the mysterious, the incomprehensible. After all, had not music, in

origens been a principal instrument of magic and religion?

Always a solitary figure (he did not marry until age 64) Mompou found his artis

life disrupted for the ten years beginning in 1931. During this time no single

completed work found its way from his pen. These were chaotic years in Spain:Republic, civil war and the first dark years of World War II. Non-political,

nevertheless Mompou could only have agreed with Spanish poet Miguel de

Unamuno: "It is not a matter of ideology, there is none of that; and not even

barbarity, boorishness, or evil instincts. Rather only what, at least for me, is

worse...stupidity, stupidity, stupidity." In addition to the horrors swirling around

on the world stage, Mompou experienced during this time the death of his father

the serious illness of his brother, with whom he had always been close. His own

personal economic situation, exacerbated by the desperate economic conditionsfollowing the civil war, led him from art into various business ventures includin

attempt to revive the traditional family bell foundry.

Blessed with long life (he lived to the age of 94), Mompou in his later years was

showered with honors and recognition. The National Prize for Composition as w

as the prize "City of Barcelona", honorary doctorates, gold medals and countless

concerts organized in his honor bear witness to the high esteem in which the ma

his music came to be regarded.

Like Chopin, Mompou the composer never ceased to think in terms of the pianoEven his compositions for voice and piano, guitar and several large works for

orchestra, are thoroughly pianistic in concept and inspiration. None more than so

than his Variations on a Theme by Chopin. Dedicated to Mompou's "great friend

Pedro Masaveu", the banker who generously offered his house in which to comp

the work had been initiated in 1938 together with cellist Gaspar Casad who wa

to collaborate with Mompou on a work for violoncello and piano. The joint proj

got no further than the sketching out of the first three variations. But in 1957, w

asked to write another ballet to capitalize on the success of his first ballet, La Calos Pjaros, which had been premiered at theIV Festival de Msica y Danzaat

Granada, Mompou offered to complete the Variations. Although the ballet was n

produced, the music, including an orchestration by the composer, was eventuall

completed at this time.

Consisting of twelve variations (and an epilog) based on the Chopin"s Prelude N

the work draws on themes and forms used by that earlier "poet of the piano". Th


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variation No. V is a Mazurka, No. IX a Valse and No. VI a Recitative, while at t

heart of the work, the Evocation (Variation No. X) quotes directly from the slow

section of the Fantasy Impromptu and Variation No. VIII paraphrases the Prelud

No. 4 in e minor. The third variation is for the left hand alone (although the liste

might never be aware of it) and the concluding gallop is pure Mompou, sparklin

with audacious harmonic disonances (and consonances) and providing the perfesetting for the concluding epilog marked Lento.

The Quatro Quejas(Four Complaints) which form the first movements of Mom

Impresiones Intimas(Intimate Impressions) date from 1911 and thus represent o

the composer's earliest completed compositions. The exact nature of each comp

is best left to the listener, although it is known that No. 4 (Agitato) was entitled

miedo(Fear) in an early version. Pjaro Triste, (Sorrowful Bird) written in 1914

almost be seen as a premonition anticipating his ballet score of 1956,La Casa d

Pjaros(The House of the Birds) based on one of Grimm's Fairy Tales. Four mmovementsLa Barca(The Boat), Cuna(Cradle), Secreto(Secret) and Gitano

(Gypsy) date from 1912 and 1914. The work as a whole aptly illustrates his self

denominated style of "primitivism".

The first two movements of Paisajes(Landscapes) date from 1942 and are dedic

to Carmen Bravo, the young pianist whom Mompou had met in the fall of the

previous year and who, 16 years later would become his wife.La Fuente y la

Campana(The Fountain and the Bell) andEl Lago(The Lake) are descriptive p

drawn from Mompou's beloved Catalua. The third piece of the set Carros deGalicia(Oxcarts of Galicia) dates from 1962.

Mompou's Canciones y Danzaswere written at various times throughout his life

represent among the most charactaristic of his compositions. For the most part th

are based directly on traditional Catalan melodies and dances, some of which ar

believed to have been in existence at least three centuries before Christ. Althoug

faithful to the original versions, they are transformed and elevated by Mompou's

treatment. Never intended as a single opus, each one stands alone.

Interestingly, the song which forms the basis for the introduction of Cancin y DN. VIII, (El Testament d'Amlia) is one which has been found not only in Catal

Valencia and Mallorca but in the folkmusic of countries as far away as Sweden.

describes the tragic drama of death from a broken heart of a young woman who

her husband stolen from her by her own mother. The sadness and pathos of this

theme is strongly contrasted by the dance which follows. The lightheartedLa

Filadora(the knife sharpener) has been sung to countless children by countless


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mothers. Its protagonist is the nightingale, eternal delight of maidens, lovers and

heroes since the middle ages and before.

For Cancin y Danza N. VIIMompou uses the songMuntanyes Regalades. It is

that this song is so well-known in Catalua that there is no single person who ha

sung the melody; if in fact he does not also recall the words. The dance which

follows,L'hereu Rierais found in various regions of Catalua. In walz tempo, ittraditionally danced over and around a wooden cross placed on the ground. One

only two original Canciones y Danzasfully-composed by Mompou, Number VI

probably one of his most widely-known compositions. (PH)

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Program Notes - Mompou