Un de Les Six

Toward the end of World War I, when many French theaters and concert venues were shuttered due to the ongoing global conflict, visionaries of the modern art movement began to put on small concerts in spaces that were readily available to them - their own art studios. One such event that took place in 1917 featured a space with walls decorated by paintings of Picasso, Matisse, Léger, Modigliani and others; the music presented was by Erik Satie, George Auric, Louis Durey and Arthur Honegger. Over the next few years a number of these composers banded together (somewhat by chance) to form Les Six; six composers whose common purpose was to write music reacting against the musical styles of both the Germanic Richard Wagner and the Impressionist Claude Debussy.

Les Six (from oldest to youngest) consisted of Louis Durey, Arthur Honegger, Germaine Tailleferre, Darius Milhaud, Francis Poulenc, and Georges Auric. All were French, except for Honegger, who was born in France to Swiss parents. From the moment their names were joined together, these disparate and unique composers forged paths all their own, some writing works that spoke not only to their own time, but that continue to speak to us over a century later.

One of Arthur Honegger's most famous works, Pacific 231, written in 1923,  depicts, through sound, the impressive machinations of a steam locomotive. An avid train enthusiast himself, he once mused: "I have always loved locomotives passionately. For me they are living creatures and I love them as others love women or horses." But it is not the machine age that we visit today, but a beautiful depiction of Honegger's beloved Swiss alps. Inspired by a vacation to Bern in 1920 he composed Pastorale d'été (Summer Pastorale). On the score itself is inscribed an epigraph by Arthur Rimbaud: J'ai embrassé l'aube d'été - I have embraced the summer dawn. The music speaks for itself . . . Enjoy!

Honegger: Pastorale d'ete - Argovia Philharmonic, Rune Bergmann (conductor)

Rocking in the Renaissance

One of my favorite composer from the past 450 years(!) is Anthony Holborne, who was born sometime around 1562 and died 29 November, 1602. Not much is actually known about his life. One detail is that he was one of the composers in the service of England's Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603). The music that has come down to us was written for lute, cittern (a guitar/mandolin like instrument), chittara (similar to the modern acoustic guitar) and instrumental consort. Holborne sometimes arranged his lute/chittara/cittern pieces for a consort of viola da gambas or strings and winds. And lastly, his works consist mainly of Pavans, Galliards, Almains, Airs, and Fantasias, the slower works exuding a melancholy that was highly prized in the English court of the time.

Here are some of my favorite Holborne works:

Muy Linda (Very Pretty) - performed by L'Achéron

. . . and the same piece performed by lutenist Michal Gondko

 

The Night Watch - performed by the Chelys Consort

Countess Of Pembrokes' Paradise - Noam Kanter (guitar)
. . . by the way, Holborne's patron was the Countess of Pembroke, Mary Sidney

The titles of some of Holborne's pieces seem to refer to literary works of the day. In Edmund Spenser's The Shepheardes Calendar (1579), the shepherds, Perigot and Willye meet and decide to have a singing match (a rustic game immortalized in the Idylls of Theocritus). Each shepherd sings a line, answered by the other. One begins 'As it fell on a holie eve', and the other replies 'Heigh Ho Holiday' and so their contest proceeds . . .

Heigh Ho Holiday - performed by ViolMedium

. . . and the same piece performed by lutenist Julian Bream

Two of the courtly dances of Holborne's time were the Pavane and the Gailliard. The word pavane most probably comes from  "padovana" (old Italian: "from Padua"), though it's origin might also derive from the Spanish word "pavón" meaning peacock. This courtly dance, almost certainly of Italian origin, is often associated with Spain, and the decorous sweep of the pavane very much suited the new more sober Spanish-influenced courtly manners of 16th-century Italy. The Pavane is often joined to a second, faster Gailliard. The galliard was a favorite dance of Queen Elizabeth I of England, and although it is a relatively vigorous dance, in 1589 when the Queen was in her mid-fifties, John Stanhope of the Privy Chamber reported, "the Queen is so well as I assure you, six or seven galliards in a morning, besides music and singing, is her ordinary exercise."

Pavan and Galliard - performed by Thomas C. Boysen (lute)

. . . and here's a demonstration of royalty dancing a Pavane and Galliard

And lastly (if you've made it this far!) one of my all-time favorites - The Fairie Round

The Fairie Round - John Bigelow (lute)

The Fairie Round - performed by The Voices of Music

The Fairie Round - performed by Hespèrion XXI , Jordi Savall director

A Brave New (Sound) World

We'll take a little leap today and find ourselves in some very unique and fascinating sound worlds, with three short pieces by John Cage, Delia Derbyshire, and Igor Stravinsky.

During the years 1946, 1947 and 1948 John Cage composed his Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano, a cycle of twenty pieces to be performed on a piano "prepared" with various alterations to the strings and soundboard. These alterations create a sound world far removed from the one we normally expect to hear from a standard grand piano. Cage composed these works shortly after his introduction to two of the major influences that would change his approach to musical composition - Indian philosophy and the teachings of art historian Ananda K. Coomaraswamy.

At the beginning of 1946, Cage met Gita Sarabhai, an Indian musician who came to the United States concerned about Western influence on the music of her country. She ended up studying with Cage, who offered to teach her for free if she taught him about Indian music in return. The purpose of music, according to Sarabhai's teacher in India, was "to sober and quiet the mind, thus rendering it susceptible to divine influences", and this definition became one of the cornerstones of Cage's view on music and art in general. And it is this that he began to explore in his Sonatas and Interludes.

Here's a fantastic video performance of the Sonata No. 5 performed by pianist Carlos Sanchis Aguirre.

I couldn't resist this equally amazing performance by David Greilsamm!

Delia Derbyshire was an inspired and innovative composer of electronic music. For a large part of her career - from 1960 to 1973 - she worked in the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop, experimenting and manipulating sound, magnetic tape and recording equipment. To the world at large she is best remembered for arranging and producing the theme music for the Doctor Who series. Her amazingly creative, experimental and groundbreaking work produced sound worlds that express a unique and forward looking vision, stretching the boundaries of what we consider music to be. Derbyshire's haunting and mesmerising Blue Veils and Golden Sands (1967) was composed for the film The World About Us, a documentary about the Tuareg people of the Sahara desert.

For those interested in finding out more about Delia Derbyshire, there's a fine documentary film called The Delian Mode. You can watch it here

And we'll end with the melancholy and meditative first movement of Igor Stravinsky's Three Pieces for Solo Clarinet (1918) performed by Dimitri Schenker.

 

. . . all Three Pieces (performed by Szymon Parulski)  here

The Confluence of Musical Styles and World Influences - Part 1

While musical styles from various parts of the world intermingled in the early twentieth century, Heitor Villa-Lobos sought to promote Brazilian music throughout the classical music world. Instead of presenting only Brazilian styles, Villa-Lobos, in an attempt to showcase the international adaptability of Brazil's musical culture, developed a style all his own, which was a combination of his classical training in the western tradition and his first-hand experience with both Brazilian popular and Native Brazilian music. Much of his music manifests these influences, but his music for solo guitar, Brazil's national instrument, also features new techniques and timbres  used in his Cinq Preludes for solo guitar.
 - Heather Joy, from her Villa-Lobos’s Cinq Preludes: An Analysis of Influences

Enjoy this beautiful performance of the Villa-Lobos Prelude No. 1 played by guitarist Marcin Dylla

 And from Hungary . . . Béla Bartók's Romanian Folk Dances for String Orchestra played by the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra (get out your dancing shoes!)

Reeds in the Wind

Double-reed wind instruments (where the instrument's sound is produced by two carved reeds vibrating against each other) have been around since antiquity; pictures of such instruments date back to 3,000 BC. They were the most highly regarded musical instruments in ancient Greece and Rome, with players receiving high social standing and enjoying great popularity and many privileges.

A wide variety of instruments using this sound production method derived from these ancient origins: bombards, crumhorns, dolcians and even bagpipes (all members of the shawm family). During the 17th century the treble shawm evolved into the hoboy or hautboy (or in French, the hautbois; and finally in English, the oboe), and by the late 1600s the oboe became a standard member of orchestras. From that point on the oboe flourished, its heyday lasting until the end of the 18th century.

As an orchestra member, oboes were initially used mainly to double the violins, although by the Classical period they had asserted themselves and were performing functions of their own. In the opera orchestra they were given their first solo roles (obligatos) in arias. The instrument’s repertoire expanded in the beginning of the 18th century with countless solo sonatas, suites, trios and concertos. And the oboe has held its place through the 19th and 20th centuries as an integral and prominent voice in orchestral music.

All is bringing us to our music selections for today . . .

The year 1849 was one of the most productive years for composer Robert Schumann. In addition to works for solo piano, chorus, and solo voice, Schumann turned his attention to three wind instruments in chamber music settings: the Three Fantasy Pieces for clarinet and piano, the Adagio and Allegro for horn and piano, and the Three Romances for oboe and piano. The Three Romances for oboe were given to his wife, Clara Schumann-Wieck as a Christmas present that year. Though these beautiful pieces do not require a high degree of overt virtuosity, they do demand expert breath-control to bring across their long, lyrical melodies and convey Schumann’s feel for the emotional tone of the oboe.

Here's the first of Schumann's Three Romances performed by Céline Moinet (oboe) and Florian Uhlig (piano)

And if you have time to sit back for 20 minutes, the same lyricism and melancholy that imbues the Schumann Romances is also found in the Oboe Concerto by Bohuslav Martinů, a work written in 1955. The slow movement is an especial favorite of mine.

Bohuslav Martinů: Oboe Concerto (1955)
Diana Danielian (oboe), St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra, Alexander Titov (conductor)

 

Looking ahead to when we can play together again

According to Merriam-Webster: "Sturm und Drang comes from German, where it literally means "storm and stress." Although it’s now a generic synonym of "turmoil," the term was originally used in English to identify a late 18th-century German literary movement whose works were filled with rousing action and high emotionalism, and often dealt with an individual rebelling against the injustices of society. The movement took its name from the 1776 play Sturm und Drang, a work by one of its proponents, dramatist and novelist Friedrich von Klinger. Although the literary movement was well known in Germany in the late 1700s, the term Sturm und Drang didn’t appear in English prose until the mid-1800s."

Franz Joseph Haydn was influenced by this German literary movement, especially in the symphonies he composed during the late 1760s and early 1770s. His Symphony No. 49 in F minor dates from 1768, and it is one of the high points of his symphonic writing during this time period. The form he chooses for the work is somewhat archaic, following the layout of the baroque church sonata, with four movements in slow-fast-slow-fast ordering. This produces a wonderfully ominous effect, with the intense and dark first slow movement lasting some 8 minutes, before the outburst of the Allegro second movement. The work is scored for 2 oboes, bassoon, 2 horns, and strings.

The symphony's nickname - La passione (not originating from Haydn) - derived from a performance of the work given during Holy Week in the Northern German city of Schwerin in 1790. The nickname has stuck with the work for good reason.

Here's a performance of the second movement of the Symphony No. 49 by l'Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France, with Barbara Hannigan conducting.

Tentative steps towards normalcy

Well here we are. Three hundred and sixty four days since the nation-wide lock down. Fifty two weeks since our last PCO indoor rehearsal. Mid-winter 2021.

Yet the light at the end of the tunnel has grown a little brighter since yesterday. Hopefully some of you may have been able to get vaccinated. And it looks like many, if not all, of us will be vaccinated by the beginning of the summer.  If we hang on a little longer we can begin to see more of our family and friends in person, and, tentatively, to go back to those things that bring pleasure and joy into our lives. My fingers are crossed very tightly!

I also figured that the only way for me to consistently share some beautiful music and ease the PCO back into existence is to lay down a schedule and stick to it. Easier said than done, but I'll give it a try.

So here we go.

At least once a week - if not more than that, if I am lucky enough - I'll share with you all some short little musical gem that we can savor and help bring on the spring that is not too far away. An attempt to ever so gently exit our long hibernation.

Let's begin with what most people call the Largo from Xerxes by George Frederic Handel. I first played this piece as a flute student back in 8th grade in an arrangement for flute and piano which I found in a collection of famous melodies. I have never forgotten it.

Regarding the opera in which this aria is found, Serse (Xerxes is the English translation), as writer Raymond Tuttle puts it . . . "is the typical Baroque tale of misplaced affections. Serse (Xerxes), the King of Persia, is engaged to Amastre, but he really loves Romilda, the daughter of Ariodate, the commander of Serse's army. Romilda is in love with Arsamene, Serse's brother. Arsamene returns her love, but he in turn is loved Atalanta, Romilda's sister. Serse's and Atalanta's jealousy is the wheel on which the plot revolves. Elviro, Arsamene's tippling manservant, provides comic relief. Confused?" You are not alone!

This most famous aria from Serse, and perhaps Handel's most famous - or at least most beautiful - tune is the one that opens the opera, Ombra mai fu. Within the context of the story, King Serse sings about the admiration and love he has for the shade of his beloved plane tree.

Hanako Yamaguchi sums it up beautifully: "It is incredible how this simple plaintive melody that begins with a note materializing out of nothing, suspended in space, never fails to affect me profoundly. Whenever I hear Ombra mai fu, I am transformed. The work exemplifies the enormous power music has to lift and move one’s spirit. It is a moment of fathomless grace, and a nearly 300-year-old example of how being mindful can reveal the extraordinary within the ordinary."

The recitative that precedes the aria sets the mood:

Frondi tenere e belle / Tender and beautiful fronds
del mio platano amato / of my beloved plane tree,
per voi risplenda il fato. / let Fate smile upon you.
Tuoni, lampi, e procelle / May thunder, lightning, and storms
non v'oltraggino mai la cara pace, / never disturb your dear peace,
né giunga a profanarvi austro rapace. / nor may you by blowing winds be profaned.

And the simple text of the aria itself . . .

Ombra mai fu / Never was a shade
di vegetabile / of any plant
cara ed amabile / dearer and more lovely
soave più. / or more sweet.

First is an orchestral arrangement with George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra

 And now how it was originally heard, in an amazing performance by counter tenor Andreas Scholl

After the Twelve Day of Christmas

Here we are. The Twelve Days of Christmas (both before and after!) are over, and we have  arrived at January 6th. For Christians, it is Epiphany, also called Theophany, or Three Kings' Day. Epiphany (from the Greek epiphaneia, meaning  “manifestation”) is the holiday commemorating the first manifestation of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, represented by the Magi, the three wise men who, the Bible says, brought the Infant Jesus gifts and proclaimed him the Son of God. Matthew, in the Bible, tells of the kings who followed a star in the East to find the baby in the manger. Those three kings, Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar, brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

A number of hymns and carols deal specifically with this event, and the most popular and well known of those is, of course, We Three Kings of Orient Are. This carol was written by American John Henry Hopkins Jr. in 1857, while he served as the rector of Christ Episcopal Church in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. And he wrote the carol for a Christmas pageant in New York City!

We Three Kings of Orient are,
Bearing gifts we traverse afar,
Field and fountain,
Moor and mountain,
Following yonder Star.

O Star of Wonder, Star of Night,
Star with Royal Beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to Thy perfect Light.

We Three Kings of Orient Are - Chris Brunelle (voice & guitar)

We Three Kings of Orient Are - Alice Giles (harp) arr. by Carlos Salzedo

We Three Kings of Orient Are - Alexey Ryazanov (recorders)

In 1642 German hymnist Georg Weissel wrote the Epiphany hymn Nun liebe Seel, nun ist es Zeit (Well dear soul, now it's time). His words were set to music in a six-part motet by Johannes Eccard. It's a beautiful work; soothing on a day like today . . .

Nun, liebe Seel, nun ist es Zeit,
wach auf, erweg mit Lust und Freud,
was Gott an uns gewendet,
seinn lieben Sohn
vons Himmel-Thron
ins Jammerthal er sendet.

Well dear soul, now it's time
wake up, ponder with pleasure and joy,
what God turned to us,
his' dear Son
from the heavenly throne
in the valley of tears he sends.

O Jesu, unser Heyl und Licht:
halt über uns dein Angesicht,
mit deinen Strahlen walte,
und mein Gemüth
durch deine Güt
bey deinem Licht erhalte.

O Jesus, our salvation and light,
hold your face above us
rule with Your rays
and my mind
by Your kindness
receive by Your light.

Dein Glantz all Finsterniß verzehrt,
die trübe Nacht in Licht verkehrt,
leit uns auf deinen Wegen,
daß dein Gesicht
und herrlichs Licht
wir ewig schauen mögen.

Your splendor consumes all darkness,
the cloudy night in light traffic
guide us on Your way,
that Your face
and wonderful light
we like to look forever.

. . . And one last carol for Epiphany - Peter Cornelius' The Three Kings

The Three Kings - Florian Störtz & Continuum Choir

Three Kings from Persian lands afar
To Jordan follow the pointing star:
And this the quest of the travellers three,
Where the new-born King of the Jews may be.
Full royal gifts they bear for the King;
Gold, incense, myrrh are their offering.

The star shines out with a steadfast ray
The kings to Bethlehem make their way,
And there in worship they bend the knee,
As Mary's child in her lap they see;
Their royal gifts they show to the King;
Gold, incense, myrrh are their offering.

Thou Child of man, lo, to Bethlehem
The Kings are travelling, travel with them!
The star of mercy, the star of grace,
Shall lead thy heart to its resting place.
Gold, incense, myrrh thou canst not bring;
Offer thy heart to the infant King.

The Twelve Day of Christmas

Day 12 - For our final day of The Twelve Days of Christmas, Susan Lewis brings us the story behind the classic Christmas carol Silent Night . . .

"It's a song about a calm, bright and silent night, and the wonder of a tender and mild newborn child; words written in 1816 by a young Austrian priest, Joseph Mohr, not long after the Napoleonic wars had taken their toll.

As the story goes, that young priest went for a walk and looked out over a very quiet, snow-laden town. That town at peace inspired him to write his verses. On Christmas Eve 1818, the now-famous carol was performed for the first time as Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht. And performing it were guitarist Joseph Mohr, the young priest who wrote the words, accompanying singer Franz Xaver Gruber, the choir director who had written the melody.

Some time later, an organ builder and repair man working at Mohr and Gruber's church (St. Nicholas in Oberndorf) took a copy of the six-verse song to his home village. There, it was picked up and spread by two families of traveling folk singers, who performed throughout northern Europe. In 1834, the Strasser family performed it for the King of Prussia. In 1839, the Rainer family of singers debuted the carol outside Trinity Church in New York City. The composition evolved, was translated into over 300 languages, and arranged for a wide variety of vocal and instrumental ensembles. It was sung in churches, town squares, and even on the battlefield during World War I. During a temporary truce in the war on Christmas Eve, soldiers sang carols from home. Silent Night (by 1914 now known round the world) was sung simultaneously in French, German and English.

Over the years, the carol's mystique grew with its popularity. After the original manuscript was lost, some speculated that the music had actually been written by Haydn, Mozart or even Beethoven. But in 1994, an original manuscript was found in Mohr's handwriting, with Gruber named as composer. Today, the Franz Xaver Gruber Museum in Hallein and the Joseph Mohr School in Wagrain, Austria honor the creators of this classic carol. The Stille Nacht Gesellschaft (The Silent Night Society) hosts a virtual Silent Night museum, tracks events, and promotes the use of all six verses, which in the words of the Silent Night Society president encourage peace and demand responsibility around the globe.

Silent night, holy night, 

All is calm all is bright, 

'Round yon virgin Mother and Child, 

Holy infant so tender and mild, 

Sleep in heavenly peace. 

Sleep in heavenly peace.

Silent night, holy night, 

Son of God, love's pure light. 

Radiant beams from Thy holy face, 

With the dawn of redeeming grace, 

Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth; 

Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth.

Silent night, holy night, 

Here at last, healing light, 

From the heavenly kingdom sent, 

Abundant grace for our intent. 

Jesus, salvation for all. 

Jesus, salvation for all.

Silent night, holy night, 

Sleeps the world in peace tonight. 

God sends his Son to earth below, 

A Child from whom all blessings flow. 

Jesus embraces mankind. 

Jesus embraces mankind.

Silent night, holy night, 

Mindful of mankind's plight, 

The Lord in Heav'n on high decreed, 

From earthly woes we would be freed. 

Jesus, God's promise for peace. 

Jesus, God's promise for peace.

Silent night, holy night, 

Shepherds quake at the sight. 

Glories stream from heaven afar, 

Heav'nly hosts sing Alleluia; 

Christ the Savior is born. 

Christ the Savior is born.

Silent Night - Winchester Cathedral Choir

Silent Night - Per-Olov Kindgren (guitar)

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Day 11 - As with Gladness Men of Old is an Epiphany hymn, written by William Chatterton Dix on the 6th of January 1859 (Epiphany) while he was ill in bed. Though considered by many as a Christmas carol, it is found in the Epiphany section of many hymnals and still used by many churches. The music was adapted in 1861 by William Henry Monk from a tune written by Conrad Kocher in 1838. The hymn focuses on the visit of the Biblical magi to the Nativity of Jesus.

As with gladness men of old
Did the guiding star behold
As with joy they hailed its light
Leading onward, beaming bright
So, most gracious God, may we
Evermore be led to Thee

As with joyful steps they sped
To that lowly manger bed
There to bend the knee before
Thee whom heaven and earth adore
So may we with willing feet
Ever seek Thy mercy-seat

As they offered gifts most rare
At that manger rude and bare
So may we with holy joy
Pure, and free from sin's alloy
All our costliest treasures bring
Christ, to Thee, our heavenly King

Holy Jesus, every day
Keep us in the narrow way
And, when earthly things are past
Bring our ransomed souls at last
Where they need no star to guide
Where no clouds Thy glory hide.

In the heavenly country bright
Need they no created light
Thou its light, its joy, its crown
Thou its sun, which goes not down.
There forever may we sing
Hallelujahs to our King.

First, a straightforward version . . .

As with Gladness Men of Old - Emajekral (multi-vocal)

. . . and a wide range of performances.

As with Gladness Men of Old -  Peter Edvinsson (ukulele)

As with Gladness Men of Old -  Edmund Jacobs (violin)

As with Gladness Men of Old - Hannah Hawken (multi-brass)

As with Gladness Men of Old - Joanna Johnson (pocket violin)

As with Gladness Men of Old -  Shannon Söderlund (multi-vocal)

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Day 10 - Here's an insightful look at the hymn Watchman, tell us of the night by Richard Niell Donovan . . .

"John Bowring wrote the words of this hymn. Bowring was a brilliant man who had a special gift for languages. He is reputed to have learned a hundred different languages during his lifetime, and translated poetry into English from a number of languages.

Watchman, Tell Us of the Night was probably inspired by a rather obscure oracle in Isaiah 21:11-12, which says:

One calls to me out of Seir,

‘Watchman, what of the night?

Watchman, what of the night?’

The watchman said,

‘The morning comes, and also the night.

If you will inquire, inquire. Come back again.

The darkness of night presents many dangers, so a watchman would need to be especially alert during the hours of darkness. The dark of night is also when gremlins and goblins run through our consciousness and disturb our sleep. Darkness inspires both fear and depression. In this hymn, each verse is composed of two short speeches by a traveler. The watchman answers each of these short speeches with a short response. The traveler asks the watchman for “signs of promise”—and asks whether a beautiful star promises joy and hope.  The watchman assures the traveler that it does. The traveler asks further about the star, and the watchman says that the star promises blessedness and light - peace and truth."

Watchman, tell us of the night,
what its signs of promise are.
Traveler, what a wondrous sight:
see that glory-beaming star.
Watchman, does its beauteous ray
news of joy or hope foretell?
Traveler, yes; it brings the day,
promised day of Israel.

Watchman, tell us of the night;
higher yet that star ascends.
Traveler, blessedness and light,
peace and truth its course portends.
Watchman, will its beams alone
gild the spot that gave them birth?
Traveler, ages are its own;
see, it bursts o’er all the earth.

Watchman, tell us of the night,
for the morning seems to dawn.
Traveler, shadows take their flight;
doubt and terror are withdrawn.
Watchman, you may go your way;
hasten to your quiet home.
Traveler, we rejoice today,
for Emmanuel has come!

Watchmen, Tell Us of the Night - William Appling Singers

Watch the video here

Watchmen, Tell Us of the Night - Sabrina George (piano)

. . . and as used by Charles Ives in the first movement of his otherworldly Symphony No. 4