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Beethoven: Sparks of Joy

Beethoven and the C-minor dialogue.

We return to Beethoven with two of his best-known sonatas in C-minor: the Pathétique and the Opus 111. Listen for the development of the theme that Bach put forward in his Musical Offering!

Sonata Pathétique (1st movement) played by Dubravka Tomsic:

Opus 111 (1st movement) played by Alfred Brendel:


Beethoven: Sparks of Joy

Beethoven, Mozart, Bach: A Musical Dialogue.

We continue the investigation of the C-minor dialogue with Bach’s Ricercar à 6 and Mozart’s sonata K.457. When the elderly J.S. Bach visited his son who was court musician for Frederick II, the king presented the elder Bach with a difficult theme, and challenged him to improvise a three-part and then a six-part fugue. Bach created the 3-part fugue on the spot, but declined the 6-part pending further study. Two months later, Bach sent the king the two-volume “Musical Offering” in which the theme is subjected to every possible permutation in the form of ten  different canons, two ricercars, and a trio sonata! 
After studying the Musical Offering, Mozart composed his C-minor sonata and later the Fantasy (which we heard yesterday) in which he demonstrated the principles used in composing the sonata. 
In the next days, we’ll see how this theme was developed by Beethoven and Schubert. [Notes by Margaret Scialdone.]

We hear the Ricercar a 6 played by Daniel Martyn Lewis.

The Mozart sonata is performed here by Micah McLaurin.


Beethoven: Sparks of Joy

Beethoven, Mozart, Bach: A musical dialogue.

Any discussion of musical masters in dialogue must acknowledge the towering figure of Johann Sebastian Bach. The C-minor series we are about to explore had as its genesis Bach’s  Musical Offering  – a set of pieces based on a theme proposed to him in 1747 by Frederick II, King of Prussia. Today we will hear the three-voice “Ricercar” from Bach’s Musical Offering, followed by Mozart’s Fantasy K.475, composed as a prelude to his Sonata K.457 (we will visit the Sonata tomorrow). [Notes by Margaret Scialdone.]

Here, Bach’s “Ricercar à 3” is beautifully performed by Ji-Hyang Gwak:

And now listen to Mozart’s treatment of the theme in the Fantasy K.475, performed here by Mitsuko Uchida:

Those who are interested can find an in-depth analysis of Mozart’s compositional breakthrough in this article by John Sigerson of the Schiller Institute: https://archive.schillerinstitute.com/fid_97-01/984_sub_moral_appen_PDFs/chapter-5.PDF


Beethoven: Sparks of Joy

Mozart, Beethoven: A musical dialogue.

Notes by Margaret Scialdone. Beethoven ‘s use of  thematic material from Mozart was not limited to opera. Note the development of the opening theme of Mozart’s C-minor Piano Concerto, K491, in Beethoven’s C-minor Piano Concerto, Opus 37. (We’ll be looking more at the C-minor key in the coming days.)

First, Mozart’s piano concerto #24, played by Rudolf Buchbinder with the Vienna Philharmonic:

Compare to Beethoven’s third piano concerto, played here by Seong-Jin Cho with the WDR Symphony Orchestra:


Beethoven: Sparks of Joy

Mozart, Beethoven: A musical dialogue

Notes by Margaret Scialdone, In 1798, Beethoven turned again to Mozart’s opera “The Magic Flute”, this time composing twelve variations on Papageno’s aria, “Ein Madchen oder Weibchen” in which the ridiculous bird-catcher expresses his desperation for a mate. The translation of the words to the Ein Madchen oder Weibchen are:


A maiden or a little wife Is what Papageno wants! Oh, such a sweet dove Would be bliss for me.
Then I’d eat and drink with relish, Then I’d feel like a prince, Enjoy life in my wisdom, And be as if in Elysium.
Ah, can I find no-one among the lovely girls who likes me? Let just one come to my aid, Or I’ll truly die of grief.
If none will offer me love, Then the fire must consume me! But just one kiss, And I’ll be better again.

Mozart’s “Ein Madchen” (performer unidentified)

Beethoven’s’ 12 variations, performed by Mstislav Rostropovich, Vasso Devetzi.


Beethoven: Sparks of Joy — Mozart, Beethoven dialogue continued

Mozart, Beethoven dialogue continued

Notes by Margaret Scialdone. We continue the Mozart-Beethoven dialogue with Beethoven’s 7 Variations on “Bei Männern, welche Liebe Fühlen” (‘A man who can feel love must have a good heart’), the beautiful duet sung by Pamina and Papageno in the first act of “The Magic Flute”.  Mozart’s opera employs fantastical characters and imagery to bring across the powerful message of the power of love over evil. In the duet, Pamina comforts the ridiculous bird-man Papageno, who is lamenting his lack of a soulmate. Beethoven’s variations,  composed 10 years after Mozart’s untimely death, treat Mozart’s theme with great charm and wit, developing a full palate of emotional expression.

The duet is sung here by Kiri Te Kanawa and Thomas Allen.

Beethoven’s variations are performed here by Miklós Perényi and András Schiff.


Beethoven: Sparks of Joy — Mozart-Beethoven, a musical dialogue

Mozart – Beethoven a musical dialogue over time.

Notes by Margaret Scialdone. Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni, the story of a dissolute lecher who is finally dragged to Hell, provided a rich source of material for Beethoven. In the opening scene, Don Giovanni kills the Commendatore, who has rushed to avenge the rape of his daughter, Donna Anna. The dying Commendatore, Don Giovanni, and his servant Leporello sing a trio which closes with the famous theme from Beethoven’s “Moonlight” sonata at the moment of the Commendatore’s death.

Below we have three demonstrations: first, a five-minute video by Daniel Barenboim in which he demonstrates the connection; second, the relevant portion of the opera (from a 1954 performance conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler); and third,  the first movement of the Moonlight Sonata (Opus 14 number 2) played by Claudio Arrau.


Beethoven: Sparks of Joy — Mozart’s birthday; Beethoven’s regard for him

Mozart’s birthday; Beethoven’s regard for him.

Notes by Margaret Scialdone. ~ As January 27th is the 265th birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,  we’ll step away from the sonatas for a few days and allow Beethoven to pay homage to his great predecessor. The teenaged Beethoven first went to Vienna in 1787, and it’s believed that he met with Mozart who agreed to take him on as a pupil. However, Beethoven immediately received news that his mother was critically ill, so he returned to Bonn after five days. When he finally came back to Vienna in 1792, Mozart had already died, at the age of 35. Beethoven then took up lessons from Haydn, which were unsatisfactory because Haydn was busy with concert tours, so he ended up studying counterpoint with Albrechtsburger and composition with Saliieri.

Beethoven had obviously studied every note Mozart had ever written, and his sketchbooks and compositions are full of Mozartean references. However, we’ll concentrate right now on one of Beethoven’s favorite genres – variations – composed on themes from Mozart’s operas.
In “The Marriage of Figaro”, the Figaro, who’s about to get married, learns that the count whom he serves intends to exercise the “Lord’s right” – to sleep with the bride on her wedding night. Furious, he announces in the aria “Se vuol ballare” his determination to thwart the Count’s plan.

Here you will find Mozart’s aria is sung by Erwin Schrott, and Beethoven’s variations, WoO 40, are performed by Jiyoung Park and Hue-am Park.


Lift Every Voice: Towards a Renaissance of Classical Culture

On Friday, January 25, the Schiller Institute Houston Community Chorus invited members of the community to celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at an event in southwest Houston.

Texas Schiller Institute spokesman Brian Lantz opened the event highlighting the shifts occurring globally towards greater cooperation, and that Dr. King knew the only way to create a durable peace was through the reconciliation of differences and non-violent cooperation, even if some attempt to stifle it. He described how King saw cooperation through the idea of agapic, unconditional love for humanity, as expressed in the first Corinthians. Dr. King was an avid lover of classical music and opera, as was his wife, Coretta Scott King, a trained pianist and classical singer.

bl-opening

Texas Schiller Institute head Brian Lantz’s opening remarks on Dr. King.

The chorus opened the concert with a four part polyphony of the anthem “Lift Every Voice and Sing”, followed by a collage of short audio speeches by Dr. King. The program continued with four selections from the Mozart Vespers, Mozart’s “Ave Verum Corpus”, a traditional Chinese folk song, “Jasmine flower” (Mo Li Hua), and a number of spiritual selections, one of which was led by tenor Brian Lantz.  Among the highlights of the evening were the solo spiritual performances of  “Go Down Moses” sung by Maestro Dorceal Duckens, and “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” sung by Kesha Rogers.

Maestro Dorceal Duckens singing 'Go Down Moses'.

Maestro Dorceal Duckens singing ‘Go Down Moses’.

The audience was truly transformed by the power of the music and the selection of clips from Dr. King intertwined. At the end of the event the audience was asked to stand and cross arms and join in in singing “We Shall Overcome.”

The Houston Schiller Institute Community Chorus.

The Houston Schiller Institute Community Chorus.

Newer members to the chorus expressed how happy they were to sing with the chorus.  Everyone was overjoyed by the experience and you had a sense that the concert had a transforming quality on everyone. It was not just entertainment, and no one left the room as the same person they were when they entered.


A Celebration: Robert Burns – Friend of Freedom

Robert Burns – Friend of Freedom
Join us for a birthday celebration.
Sunday, January 24th, 6:00 pm EST

As the story goes, in 1793, at a private dinner in England, when the host proposed the health of William Pitt [first prime minister of Great Britain], the poet said, sharply, “Let us drink the health of a greater and better man – George Washington.” As the Schiller Institute Chorus takes its name from the Poet of Freedom, Friedrich Schiller, let us celebrate another friend of the human freedom, Robert Burns, born on January 25, 1759. 

English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, in his essay, “A Defense of Poetry,” established  that, in fact, it is the poets, who are the unacknowledged legislators of the world. In a moment as tumultuous as our present time, it is ever more important that we understand and develop in ourselves that poetic power capable of changing the course of human history for the better. 

Join us in a celebration of the immortal life of Robert Burns through his own works and those of others; to help demonstrate that power of poetry and culture in strengthening the human spirit, to not only face adversity, but to overcome it with a greater good.


We plan to demonstrate how Burns fulfilled the great German poet, Friedrich Schiller’s demand, that a poet be both a patriot of his nation and citizen of the world.  Please join us for an evening of song, poetry, and history, to advance the cause and the joy of true human freedom.

“A great poet is the most precious jewel of a nation.
Ludwig van Beethoven


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