Respighi - The Birds

Respighi was a musicologist as well as a composer, and he used the music of the past as inspiration for some of his compositions. The Birds is a suite of pieces that are based on various 18th century composers.  It is an attempt to depict (somewhat stylized) bird songs of the Dove, Hen, Nightingale and Cuckoo.  The composer uses the woodwind section of the orchestra for the bird imitations to good effect.  Respighi conducted the premiere of the work in Brazil in 1928.

The Birds consists of 5 movements - 

I. Prelude -  This prelude acts as a mini-overture for the rest of the work. The first-heard melody in the prelude is based on an opera aria by the Italian composer Bernardo Pasquini (1637-1710) , who was not only a composer but a virtuoso keyboardist, perhaps the greatest keyboard player of his generation.  He wrote operas, cantatas, many works for voice, and music for keyboard. He was an outstanding teacher and may have taught Domenico Scarlatti. He may have been the first composer to write three-movement sonatas for keyboard.  After this melody, there is a medley of the bird songs that comprise the rest of the work, and the Pasquini melody returns again to finish the prelude.

II. The Dove -  This movement is based on the music of French composer and lutenist Jacques de Gallot (ca.1625-1700). A solo oboe plays gently with the accompaniment of harp and strings. Trills in the strings imitate the flutter of wings while the melody is given to clarinet, then the solo violin.

III. The Hen - This is based on the music of the French harpsichordist, composer and theorist  Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764).  Rameau's music is seldom heard in the concert hall, but he was one of the great musicians of the Baroque era and the history of music in general. It was Rameau who codified what had been going on for a hundred years in music,  basing music on harmony instead of counterpoint. He was the culmination of the Baroque era in France, much like J.S. Bach was in Germany. The music starts with the clucking of a hen and before it is over the entire hen house is a stir.

IV. The Nightingale - The only thing known about the next melody is that it originated in England in the 18th century. Respighi orchestrates the gentle melody with the appropriate winds, and even has the solo horn gently sing the melody.

V. The Cuckoo - Another melody from Pasquini, this one from a harpsichord piece. The woodwinds imitate the cuckoo, the melody from the prelude is heard once again to round off the piece and the work is finished.

Beethoven - Piano Concerto No. 5 'Emperor'

Composers have always been the leading force in music as far as innovation of techniques and improvements in instruments. That is not to discount the role that interpretive musicians play, but it seems to me that the innovations created by composers in the music they write forces in music notation, harmony, melody, rhythm, instrumental technique and even in the instruments themselves.  The piano is a good case in point.

The piano was invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori, an Italian master harpsichord builder, in about 1700.  The forerunner of the piano was the clavichord, an instrument that was capable of dynamic shading but wasn't sufficiently loud enough for concert use. The harpsichord was the instrument of choice in concert, and it could be made to play loud enough, but the variety of dynamics was also limited.  Enter Cristofori's pianoforte, (soft and loud), but this too was too delicate in tone for concert use. It took many improvements in the original before the birth of the massive concert grand piano we all know today.

The piano of Beethoven's time was closer to the original of Cristofori's than the modern piano. There were different makers and each one had their strengths and weaknesses, but they were all similar in that except for the strings and tuning pins, they were entirely made of wood. The wooden frames of Beethoven's pianos could not withstand the string tension of a modern grand, thus they did not have the sonority, volume,  or the durability. A strong player like Beethoven was forever breaking strings and hammers. That's not to say the instruments weren't expressive. Modern reproductions have shown how beautiful they could sound, but their voices were smaller. They could not be heard over a full orchestra, hence composition techniques resorted to a kind of 'call and answer' technique where the orchestra would state the main themes, then the piano would enter either solo or with a low volume accompaniment from the orchestra.

This compositional technique can be heard in Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 at the very beginning.  The first movement begins with a loud chord from the orchestra that is answered by a piano cadenza. This happens three times before the exposition of the movement actually begins, and parts of the cadenzas are heard throughout the movement.  Beethoven had already placed a cadenza for the solo piano at the beginning of the 4th Piano Concerto , but in the 5th piano concerto the cadenzas are of a more dramatic nature.  After the orchestral exposition the soloist has his say about them. The themes are explored further in the development section and when the traditional place for a cadenza appears during the recapitulation, Beethoven makes it clear that there is to be no extemporizing by the soloist by writing as much in the score.  The entire first movement is dramatic and Beethoven at his most majestic. Beethoven also has the piano and orchestra play at the same time more frequently.  The entire concerto is almost written for a piano that didn't exist in Beethoven's time, for the coming of the iron-framed piano and resultant higher string tension and brilliance (not to mention volume) was years in the future.

The second movement is a beautiful Adagio, in direct contrast to the heroic first movement. The second movement segues right into a  rondo finale that is full of energy.  The theme of the rondo is heard repeatedly and developed along the way until a short duet between piano and timpani leads to the ending flourishes of piano and orchestra.

Beethoven's music in general and this concerto in particular is a good example of how a composer's talent, insight, ingenuity and creativity can change their art in many ways. The piano was never the same after Beethoven. It couldn't be. Beethoven demanded so much from his instruments and players that they both had to evolve and learn new ways and methods to express the music that he wrote.

Schumann - Konzertstück For Four Horns And Orchestra

The modern orchestral horn had as its ancestor the valveless 'natural' horn that was used in the military and in hunting to signal the troops or hunters. The valveless horn has a limited range as changes in pitch can only be produced by lip pressure and inserting or removing the hand from the bell of the instrument. Inserting the hand in the bell of the instrument to change pitch was somewhat of a compromise as the tone quality of the instrument changed.  The first uses of the horn in the orchestra took into account its limitations and the parts written for them were fairly elementary - the notes of the triad chords, mostly the tonic.  The instrument could play in other keys, but that involved inserting or removing an extra length of tubing. These extra lengths of tubing were called 'crooks' and the composers that used the horn early on would write for the horn crooked in a specific key for an entire piece or movement, depending on the notes needed. Later on, composers would ask players to change the key of their horns within a movement, but this took time and had to be taken into consideration.

The valved horn was invented about 1815 and had advantages over the natural horn. It was a fully chromatic instrument, therefore crooks were no longer necessary and the hand in the bell technique was no longer used for pitch change. But as with all new things, it took time to be accepted. Despite the problems of the natural horn, some preferred its tone to the valved counterpart. Even in 1849 when Schumann wrote the Konzertstück For Four Horns And Orchestra it was not assured that orchestras used valved horns. Schumann himself wrote for a pair of valved horns and a pair of natural horns in the work, but four valved horns are usually used in a modern performance.

This work is seldom played, perhaps because it calls for four virtuoso horn players.

The work is in three movements with the 2nd and 3rd played without pause:
I. Lebhaft (Lively)  -  The orchestra begins with two loud chords, and the horn quartet comes in and plays a fanfare. The horns seldom have a rest as they have a spirited dialogue with the orchestra. Schumann was fond of the horn and utilizes all the qualities of expressivity of the instrument in this movement, from tenderness to forcefulness.

II. Romanze - The soft and gentle chords of the horns are the feature if this short movement, which leads directly to...

III. Sehr lebhaft (Very lively) - A return to the mood of the first movement as Schumann has the soloist imitate each other until they come together in a fine statement of horn harmony. The dialogue continues until the finale, when the orchestra and the horns join together and close the work.

Sweelinck - Variations on Est-ce Mars

Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621) was a Dutch organist and composer. His father was also an organist. The family moved to Amsterdam shortly after Jan's birth, and his father took the position of organist at the Oude Kirk (Old Church) there. Jan also was organist at the same church after the death of his father.  Sweelinck was one of the first major keyboard players in Europe, and he helped establish the Northern German school of organ playing as exemplified by J.S. Bach.

He was one of the first organists to play fugues by giving the subject first, and have the other voices follow in succession. He also extended the use of the organ pedals and was one of the first to use the pedals for the voice in a fugue. He was also a very good teacher as many of his keyboard works were written for his students. His influence was widespread, as his music was known in England. He had earned the nickname 'The Orpheus Of Amsterdam' and the city fathers would bring guests from the surrounding area to hear him play.

He evidently spent his entire life in Amsterdam, but his expertise on organs was in high demand so he traveled inspecting and testing organs and giving advice on their construction.  After the Calvinist Reformation of the church in Amsterdam, organ music was no longer allowed during church service. Sweelinck would give impromptu recitals on the organ an hour before and an hour after church services. These impromptu recitals were very popular, as Sweelinck would play the popular tunes of the day and then improvise variations on the tune.

Sweelinck left about 70 compositions for keyboard, and a glimpse of his powers as an improviser can be heard in these pieces. The Variations on Est-ce Mars is one such example. The tune is French and was well-known at the time. The first line of the song roughly translates to: "Is that Mars, the great god of battles, that I see?" The words may not mean much to modern ears, but Sweelinck shows his imagination and skill in the seven variations on the tune.

As with all music that is so old, there are performance practices of the time that we know little about, if anything at all. Without knowing how these pieces were actually performed, especially in a time where improvisation was much more prevalent, any modern performance may be but an approximation. Be that as it may, the music of Sweelinck and other composers of so long ago can still be listened to and appreciated, especially if a sensitive musician is playing the music.  Music can be a powerful form of expression and can bridge the centuries.

Rossini - Overture To Semiramide

Rossini wrote the opera Semiramide in 1823.  The libretto was based on a tragedy by Voltaire which in turn was based on a Babylonian myth.  It was the final Italian opera that Rossini wrote. After its completion he moved to Paris and his last operas were in French.  Rossini was one of the fastest composers at that time, and composed the entire opera in a matter of 33 days.  The opera's plot is a gruesome retelling of the Oedipus legend that is set in Babylon.

By the late 1800's the opera was almost unknown. There have been various revivals of it, but it is not performed very often. That can't be said for the overture to the opera, as it remains a popular selection for the concert hall. Unlike many other opera overtures of the time (including Rossini's) the overture uses tunes that are in the opera itself and therefore couldn't be used for a different opera. Strange as it may seem to us, the recycling of music happened a lot in the break-neck world of popular opera of the time. Works were written rapidly and many composers not only recycled their own music, but music of other composers as well.  The goal was to keep feeding the opera-hungry audiences new operas and keep the money rolling in at the box office.

The overture begins with a small crescendo that leads to three chords in the full orchestra.  A  hymn-like melody played by the horns is next, which is one of the most imaginative aspects of this overture.  The orchestra bursts in again, the hymn tune is taken up by the woodwinds with pizzicato accompaniment by the strings, and the horns join the woodwinds.  A few booming chords that alternate with the woodwinds that lead to a tune that is played in the strings and winds. Another tune from the opera is heard in the winds, which leads to a 'Rossini' crescendo that morphs into a repeated figure in the violins that reaches the apex of the crescendo.  Tunes are heard again, with the obligatory key changes and the orchestra slowly begins to build to another crescendo.  A short coda, and the overture comes to a close.

Rossini was one of the most popular, if not the most popular opera composers of his day. Many of his operas may no longer be in the main stream repertoire, but the overtures to the operas remain crowd-pleasers. The visceral excitement of a Rossini crescendo, and his gift for melody assure Rossini a place in the concert hall of the future.

Strauss - Til Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks

Richard Strauss was born into a very musical family. His father Franz Strauss was a virtuoso horn player and the principle horn of the Munich Court Opera.  Franz Strauss personally gave his son a thorough musical education and Richard was talented enough to have written his first composition when he was six years old.  He was also given private instruction by the assistant conductor of the Munich Court Orchestra and attended rehearsals of the orchestra on a regular basis.

Although Strauss heard his first Wagner opera when he was about ten years old, the elder Strauss was a musical conservative that detested 'modern' music.  Richard was not allowed to study any new music, as his father's strictly classical tastes ran to Mozart, Beethoven and Haydn.   A side note about the elder Strauss, as principle horn in the Munich Opera Orchestra, he played in many premiers of Wagner's works. Although he hated Wagner's music, he was the consummate professional and studied the horn parts of the operas and played them to Wagner's satisfaction and praise.

Richard Strauss's early compositions were chamber works, and it was during this same time that he began his orchestra conductor apprenticeship with Hans von Bulow who was very fond of him and recommended Richard to take over the head conductor job of the orchestra when von Bulow resigned.

Strauss was introduced to much of Wagner's music by Alexander Ritter, who was a composer and violinist,  whom he met in 1885.  Strauss came under the influence of Wagner's music and began a series of tone poems that showed Strauss a master of orchestration and effects.. His first successful tone poem was Don Juan,  written in 1888.  Strauss made up for lost time and wrote many tone poems, all of them brilliantly orchestrated for a virtuoso orchestra. Most of Strauss' tone poems were written before 1900, as he concentrated on opera after that.

Til Eulenspiegel is a mythical man of German and North country folklore. There have been attempts to link the legend with a real person, but there has been no conclusive evidence to date. Til Eulenspiegel is a prankster, practical joker and all-around trouble maker of medieval northern Europe. There were books written about Til's exploits, and it appears no one was immune to the jokester's pranks. From craftsmen to officials of the church and state, Til fooled them all.  The literal translation of his name means 'owl mirror', and he is sometimes portrayed with both an owl and a mirror.  But there is also an unexpurgated version of the legend, where the name is translated from a different dialect in German that means 'wipe the backside'.  Tales of this Til are scatological and more for the adult reader than children.

Strauss represents Til in the very opening of the work with a quirky melody for horn that reaches the very bottom of the register of the instrument.  The work is in essence a rondo, and the horn tune is heard throughout the work. The clarinet also has a prominent part, but more for expressing the giggles of Til as he thinks up new ways to torment his victims. Much has been made of what the 'pranks' actually are that the orchestra relates,  but there can be too much made of trying to define the actual events and actions. It is more a question of what kind of mood the orchestra is conveying, in my opinion.  Whether teasing the pretty girls, tricking the local priest, mayor or blacksmith, the orchestra chuckles and chortles away as Til does his dirty work.

Towards the end of the piece, the tone painting becomes more distinct.  Right in the middle of Til's most boisterous shenanigans the orchestra turns stern and foreboding as drum beat out a rhythm and the brass blare out accusations- Til has been caught and must pay the price for his tom foolery.  The clarinet whimpers in between outbursts of the brass, and the clarinet finally shrieks its innocence as judgment comes down on Til's head, or rather his neck. A chord is heard in the brass, the music sweeps down low and the clarinet screams one last scream as Til is executed by the powers that be.  The music fades away, Til's tune is softly heard once again before the orchestra rouses to full force and blares out the ending of the piece, as if to say Til may be dead, but his spirit lives on.

Brahms - Variations and Fugue On A Theme Of Handel

Variations on a theme are a standard form for many classical works, and most composers have used the form and all composers have used the variation technique within other works. The very core of sonata form is variation, as in the development section and the recapitulation when the themes are transposed into the home key of the piece.

The first examples of theme and variations can be traced back to the 14th century and the form was popular in the Baroque era of music. The chaconne, passacaglia and groundbass are all forms of the variation and theme format. They can even be called variations on the format themselves.

Some of the masterpieces of the form of theme and variations have been written for keyboard from a theme that is far from complicated. The Diabelli variations of Beethoven derive from a simple march, the famous set of variations that comprise Paganini's 24th Caprice for Solo Violin also uses a fairly simple tune that has the distinction of not only inspiring the composer of the tune to vary it, but many other composers as well. And of course the famous Goldberg Variations by Bach that inspired many to write their own set of variations.

Brahms wrote his Variations And Fugue On A Theme Of Handel  in 1861 when he was 28 years old and dedicated the work to his dear friend Clara Schumann, the widow of Robert Schumann. Brahms was not only a composer, but he was a scholar, particularly of older music. He had written other sets of variations before, but the Handel Variations came after his study of Baroque forms.  It is this duality of Brahms, the scholar of older music that was none the less a product of the Romantic era he lived, that makes his music so interesting. Some have called him ultra conservative, but the ultra modern composer Schoenberg always considered Brahms a progressive. So there is much more to Brahms than appears to the ear. Some of his progressiveness is of a technical nature, such as his odd number of bars in his phrases for example. These technical devices are hard to explain to non-musicians, but they can certainly be heard as something different by the attentive listener.

The basis of the variations is an aria from Handel's Harpsichord Suite No. 1 in B-flat Major, a tune that is varied by Handel himself in the suite. It is a two-part tune that Brahms composed 25 variations for. Brahms used some Baroque forms for some of the variations in accordance with his study of the era but he didn't restrict himself to these forms at all. There are some free form variations also, and Brahms manages to keep things together as a structure by having sub-divisions within the whole where some of the variations are 'related' to one another, while also managing to keep the intensity level moving forward to the crown of the work, the fugue.  It is a testament to Brahms' skill as a composer that the fugue is never played without the variations. The fugue is a complicated, contrapuntal masterpiece in its own right, but it is an organic growth of what has preceded it. To divorce it from its parent variations would make the fugue, despite all of its wonders, unintelligible.

The 28-year old Brahms was still perfecting has mastery of the piano when he wrote this piece. He played them in public on occasion and it was the piece that he played for his first meeting with Richard Wagner. Evidently Wagner was impressed enough to tell Brahms that it was a good example of what could still be done with the old forms with someone who knew how to use them.

It wasn't the last time Brahms wrote a set of variations. He continued to use the form, it expand and deepen his expression of his musical ideas.  Ahead lay the Paganini Variations and the chaconne of the 4th symphony, but the Handel Variations marked an important period in the development of Brahms.