Bach’s Suites for Unaccompanied Cello
There are few works of classical music that inspire the awe that cellists feel for the Bach Suites. They start to play them within a year or two of taking up the instrument and, if hands and minds hold out, they are still working on the same pieces 60 years later.
We know very little of the background to the Suites. They were written in about 1720 when Bach wasMore
Robert Schumann (1810-1856) Märchenerzählungen Op 132. (‘Fairy-tale tellings’) for clarinet, viola & piano (1853)
Lebhaft, nicht zu schnell
Lebhaft und sehr markirt
Ruhiges Tempo, mit zartem Ausdruck
Lebhaft, sehr markirt
In September 1853, the 20-year old Johannes Brahms arrived unannounced at Robert and Clara Schumann’s house bearing an introduction from their mutual friend the violinist Joseph Joachim. Robert Schumann’s mental health was deteriorating, but Brahms’ arrival stimulated Schumann to new compositions: a happy collaboration between Schumann, Brahms and Schumann’s close friend Albert Dietrich produced the triple-authored F-A-E violin sonata dedicated to Joachim, and then in three days from 9 – 11 October 1853 Schumann wrote Märchenerzählungen which he dedicated to Dietrich. ‘Predominantly cheerful pieces, written with a light heart’ he told his publisher. The tautological title ‘Fairy-tale tellings’ stands in contrast to his Märchenbilder (‘Fairy-tale pictures’) for viola and piano written four years earlier. More
All three of today’s works have a special relationship with semitones. For example, the Haydn opens with one that metamorphoses into its main theme; the Janáček opens with a harsh F#-G clash which sets the tone of this emotionally-charged piece; the Beethoven, famously, is built around the opening two embedded pairs of semitones. You can probably spot more examples.
Josef Haydn (1732-1809) String Quartet Op. 74 No.1 in C (1793)
Allegro
Andantino grazioso
Menuet & Trio
Finale: Vivace
Haydn’s six ‘Apponyi’ quartets (Op 71 and 74) were written in 1792 & 1793 between his two extended visits to London. Prince Nicholas Esterházy, Haydn’s patron to whom he was devoted, hadMore
Josef Haydn (1732-1809) String Quartet in G (minor) Op 74/3, ‘Rider’ (1793)
Allegro
Largo assai
Menuet and Trio
Finale: Allegro con brio
Haydn’s six ‘Apponyi‘ quartets (Ops 71 and 74) were written in 1792 & 1793 between his two extended visits to London. Prince Nicholas Esterházy, Haydn’s patron to whom he was devoted, had died in the autumn of 1790. His successor, Prince Anton, did not care for music and disbanded the Esterházy orchestra, for whom Haydn had composed for the previous 30 or so years. However, he did keep Haydn on, on full pay, with only nominal duties. Haydn was thus free to apply for leave to accept Johann Peter Salomon’s offer to spend a year in London (against Mozart’s advice, who thought the 58 year-old master too old for such jaunts). London’s crowded, vibrant musical scene challenged and exhilarated Haydn, and his six new ‘London‘ symphonies, written for a larger orchestra, hall and audience than at Esterházy, were a sensation. Haydn returned home in the summer of 1792, to a Vienna without Mozart, who had died in December just short of his 35th birthday.More
Franz Schubert (1797-1828) Piano Trio in B-flat, D.28 Sonatensatz (1812)
Allegro
At the age of eight, Schubert started to learn the violin from his father; six years laterMore
Allegretto
Largo ma non troppo. Cantabile e mesto
Menuetto. Allegro
Finale. Presto
In 1795 Haydn returned from his spectacularly successful visits to England to the relatively light duties prescribed by the new Esterházy Prince Nikolaus II. Nikolaus had abandonedMore
