JOSEPH BOLOGNE, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745 – 1799)
SYMPHONY NO. 2, op. 11, no. 2, D major
COMPOSED: 1779
DURATION: c. 11 minutes
French musician Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges was born to the plantation owner George Bologne de Saint-Georges and his African slave, Nanon. Saint-Georges was considered to be the finest swordsman in Europe, adept in horseback riding, and is arguably one of the most colorful and versatile figures of the Classical Era. His physical speed, flexibility, and grace gained through swordsmanship contributed to his abundant skill as a violinist. Saint-Georges was charismatic, dazzling Parisian society with his charm and incomparable wit. As his musical reputation spread and his skill was honed, he not only had multiple violin concertos written for him but also held multiple prestigious posts including the concertmaster and conductor positions for Le Concert des Amateurs in France.
However, Saint-Georges lived in a society that would not completely accept him, a fact of which he was acutely aware. Many of the advantages he had been granted were due solely to the goodwill of his father. Despite the title and fame he achieved, as a mixed-race man, he would be forever denied the privileges of his white male peers.
Saint Georges composed in a wide range of styles, including several string quartets, songs and other chamber works, two symphonies, twelve violin concertos, eight symphony-concertantes (concertos for two instruments), and six comic operas. Saint-Georges composed only two symphonies, both in the standard three-movement scheme typical of the Pre-Classical Period.
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN ( 1770-1827)
PIANO CONCERTO NO. 1, op. 15, C major
COMPOSED: 1795
DURATION: c. 39 minutes
Oddly, Ludwig van Beethoven wrote Piano Concerto No. 2 earlier than No. 1. Many of his musical works were presented out of sequence. As a consummate reviser and polisher, Beethoven spent years working on sketches, starting as a teenager living in the city of Bonn, and later completing the work to satisfaction years later.
Much of the time, it is fairly clear to which period in Beethoven’s career works belong (early, mid, or late). The Piano Concerto no 1 is no exception to this rule. The work draws inspiration from Mozart and Haydn with intense attention to melody and structure. The work is full of youth and vigor but adheres to the standard musical form of a concerto. Still, his abrupt harmonic shifts signature to his style feature throughout, making it impossible to mistake Beethoven’s work for another.
The first movement, the Allegro con brio, plays a tonal game with the listener, introducing the main theme in different instruments and different keys before arriving in the “true” key of G major. This playful game would have caught the interest of fellow composers and music lovers at the time, as it expanded the expected form of the movement.
The second movement, the Largo, stays within the expected boundaries of the concerto form for this time. The surprise in this movement is the orchestration. Many of the instruments step aside, leaving an orchestra of strings, bassoons, horns, and clarinets. Because of this, we get the chance to enjoy moments that highlight the clarinets, who have the melody as often as the violins.
The final movement, the Rondo, is a fast-paced and playful finale to the concerto. The pianist’s speed and agility are highlighted in the themes first played by the piano and then echoed by the orchestra.
HOWARD SWANSON (1907 -1978)
NIGHT MUSIC
COMPOSED: 1950
DURATION: c. 10 minutes
Howard Swanson was born in Atlanta in 1907, and he is sometimes called the American Faure. Swanson began studying piano at the age of twelve. In 1927, Swanson entered the Cleveland Institute of Music full-time. Swanson received his baccalaureate degree in music theory in 1927, studying under Hubert Elwell. Following that, Swanson studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris on a Rosenwald Fellowship in 1939, but then had to return to the United States due to the outbreak of WWII. However, in 1952, he returned to Paris with the Guggenheim Fellowship and a grant from the National Academy of Arts and Letters. Best known for his art songs, drawing and utilizing classical music forms with his style grounded in African American traditions. Swanson’s other most popular works include “The Cuckoo” Scherzo for Piano (1948); Suite for Cello and Piano (1949); “Music for Strings” (1952); Concerto for Orchestra (1957); and Symphony no. 3 (1969).
When reviewing three songs of Swanson, critic William Flanagan said, “They are authentic and in the best tradition of the song-writing art–sensitive, intimate, and evocative.” Virgil Thomson said, “Howard Swanson is a composer whose work singers (and pianists, too) should look into. It is refined, sophisticated of line and harmony in a way, not at all common among American music writers. His songs have an acute elaboration of thought and an intensity for feeling that recall Fauré.”
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN ( 1770-1827)
SYMPHONY NO. 4, op. 60, B-flat Major
COMPOSED: 1806
DURATION: c. 35 minutes
Called “a slender Greek maiden between two Norse giants” by Robert Schumann in On Music and Musicians (c. 1840), Ludwig van Beethoven’s fourth symphony is often overlooked by historians, forgotten for the weightier compositions of Symphony No. 3 and the Symphony No. 5. However, excluding this composition will rob listeners of a beautiful piece of pleasing and gentle emotion, resting between the monoliths of catharsis and extra-musical effects of its chronological neighbors. While lovers of Beethoven’s Symphonies nos. 3 and 5 might see this piece as a regression in style, it is more a reflection on a joyful side of Beethoven. The work is often cheerful with light melodies, almost reminiscent of Joseph Hayden, but has a heaviness that is more typical of Beethoven’s works.
The first movement opens mysteriously, hovering and creeping along, played with soft, but intensely plucked strings. The suspense created by Beethoven’s choice to keep the instruments hovering around the tonic is broken by a fortissimo (very loud) F chord, introducing us to the joyful sonata form part of the movement.
The second movement plays with an ostinato (a continually repeated musical phrase or rhythm) and a beautiful cantabile (style of playing designed to imitate the human voice) to create an air of remembrance and nostalgia, returning the listener to familiar themes.
At this time (1806) it was common for composers to include a scherzo third movement. While Beethoven wrote in the classical style for this movement, he did further expand the movement by stretching the form. It contains a call-and-response between the woodwinds and the strings, complimenting the playful and lively character of the movement.
The final movement takes us sprinting to the end. Surprising the listener, Beethoven writes a solo bassoon parallel to the timpani solos. This is sometimes called “the great bassoon joke” by some, and “24 notes to glory” by many other bassoonists. The perpetual motion is interrupted three times by fermatas, before launching into a final descending-scale close.