At long last, Schubert! For some reason, we’ve neglected Franz over our 16 Community Music Mondays thus far, but no more. We promise to pay more attention to this incredibly prolific composer of memorable works.
Schubert’s name is often a non-alliterative suffix for the “Three B’s” – Bach, Beethoven Brahms and Schubert – but during his lifetime, Schubert’s work was not so widely appreciated as it is today. Indeed, he was frustrated by the necessity of holding down a day job – teaching – which prevented him from giving himself entirely to the composition of music.
Yet in his spare time, over a spare lifespan of three decades, Schubert managed to write 600 songs, nine symphonies, 15 string quartets, 21 piano sonatas, a thick stack of music for piano four hands, plus a wealth of operas, liturgical music, and chamber music for various combinations of instruments. My own first 30 years or so were not quite so productive – yours?
The String Quartet in A minor, Opus 29, was written in the late winter of 1824, and premiered on March 14 of that year by a string quartet led by Ignaz Schuppanzigh, the first violinist of Count Razumovsky’s private string quartet, the ensemble that also premiered the late Beethoven quartets. It is nicknamed the Rosamunde quartet by dint of the main theme of the second movement, which also appears in Schubert’s earlier incidental music for the play Rosamunde by Helmina von Chézy. In contrast with such a short and industrious life, for me much of Schubert’s music gives the impression that time is of no concern (we’re here in the slow movement now, it really doesn’t matter if it never ends, and we’re quite content with that notion). That's especially true of his String Quintet in C Major, which I promise we will read later this spring.
Schubert was quite ill with syphilis during the last six years of his life, and his music languished for a time after his death at age 31 in 1828. His brother, Ferdinand, worked to get Franz’s music published, and in 1835 the young music critic and composer Robert Schumann came to Ferdinand’s house to see the score of what was not yet known as “The Great” ninth symphony. Schumann was duly impressed, and arranged for the symphony to be premiered on two concerts (two movements on the first occasion, and the final two movements on a later concert). Schumann and other champions of Shubert’s music introduced him to a wider audience and cemented his reputation as one of the greatest of the early romantic composers.
Next, we invite our Community Musicians to join us in a reading of the Capriole Suite of Peter Warlock, written in 1926. Peter Warlock was a pseudonym of Philip Heseltine; Welshman, composer, music critic, author and bon vivant. Warlock was primarily a composer of songs and an aficionado of Renaissance music. His Capriole Suite is based loosely on tunes from tunes Thoinot Arbeau's Orchésographie, a catalog of Renaissance dances and dance steps from the mid-16th century (Igor Stravinsky’s 1957 ballet Agon draws from the same source).
Warlock and his friends apparently got into a good deal of mischief; he was given to carousing and apparently he was arrested more than once in Kent for riding his motorcycle naked. He suffered depression toward the end of his life, and died at age 36 from an accident, or suicide, or he was murdered – depending upon your source – in any case it all had to do with an opened gas valve. Despite any opinions of his life and the circumstances of his early demise, Warlock wrote very engaging music.
Our last piece is the popular quartet in B-flat Major by Mozart, commonly call The Hunt. Apparently Mozart never called it that, nor did his publisher, but at some juncture somebody uttered those two words in the vicinity of the quartet and they stuck. It is the fourth of six quartets Mozart wrote after a ten-year absence from the medium. Apparently Mozart was impressed by Haydn’s Opus 33 string quartets published in 1781, so Mozart wrote his six quartets both in homage to Haydn and in response to the musical challenges Haydn embraced in his Opus 33.
Haydn was effusive in his praise upon hearing Mozart’s quartets in 1785, writing to Mozart’s father, “Before God and as an honest man, I tell you that your son is the greatest composer known to me in person or by name. He has taste, and, what is more, the profound knowledge of composition.” Haydn’s later quartets were influenced by Mozart’s quartets, and Mozart’s later works by Haydn, in a musical virtuous spiral.
As usual, Monday will be an evening of delectable musical treats. Bring your ears, bring your instrument, and join us as we explore these great and enjoyable works.
Let’s Play!
Jim
Schubert’s name is often a non-alliterative suffix for the “Three B’s” – Bach, Beethoven Brahms and Schubert – but during his lifetime, Schubert’s work was not so widely appreciated as it is today. Indeed, he was frustrated by the necessity of holding down a day job – teaching – which prevented him from giving himself entirely to the composition of music.
Yet in his spare time, over a spare lifespan of three decades, Schubert managed to write 600 songs, nine symphonies, 15 string quartets, 21 piano sonatas, a thick stack of music for piano four hands, plus a wealth of operas, liturgical music, and chamber music for various combinations of instruments. My own first 30 years or so were not quite so productive – yours?
The String Quartet in A minor, Opus 29, was written in the late winter of 1824, and premiered on March 14 of that year by a string quartet led by Ignaz Schuppanzigh, the first violinist of Count Razumovsky’s private string quartet, the ensemble that also premiered the late Beethoven quartets. It is nicknamed the Rosamunde quartet by dint of the main theme of the second movement, which also appears in Schubert’s earlier incidental music for the play Rosamunde by Helmina von Chézy. In contrast with such a short and industrious life, for me much of Schubert’s music gives the impression that time is of no concern (we’re here in the slow movement now, it really doesn’t matter if it never ends, and we’re quite content with that notion). That's especially true of his String Quintet in C Major, which I promise we will read later this spring.
Schubert was quite ill with syphilis during the last six years of his life, and his music languished for a time after his death at age 31 in 1828. His brother, Ferdinand, worked to get Franz’s music published, and in 1835 the young music critic and composer Robert Schumann came to Ferdinand’s house to see the score of what was not yet known as “The Great” ninth symphony. Schumann was duly impressed, and arranged for the symphony to be premiered on two concerts (two movements on the first occasion, and the final two movements on a later concert). Schumann and other champions of Shubert’s music introduced him to a wider audience and cemented his reputation as one of the greatest of the early romantic composers.
Next, we invite our Community Musicians to join us in a reading of the Capriole Suite of Peter Warlock, written in 1926. Peter Warlock was a pseudonym of Philip Heseltine; Welshman, composer, music critic, author and bon vivant. Warlock was primarily a composer of songs and an aficionado of Renaissance music. His Capriole Suite is based loosely on tunes from tunes Thoinot Arbeau's Orchésographie, a catalog of Renaissance dances and dance steps from the mid-16th century (Igor Stravinsky’s 1957 ballet Agon draws from the same source).
Warlock and his friends apparently got into a good deal of mischief; he was given to carousing and apparently he was arrested more than once in Kent for riding his motorcycle naked. He suffered depression toward the end of his life, and died at age 36 from an accident, or suicide, or he was murdered – depending upon your source – in any case it all had to do with an opened gas valve. Despite any opinions of his life and the circumstances of his early demise, Warlock wrote very engaging music.
Our last piece is the popular quartet in B-flat Major by Mozart, commonly call The Hunt. Apparently Mozart never called it that, nor did his publisher, but at some juncture somebody uttered those two words in the vicinity of the quartet and they stuck. It is the fourth of six quartets Mozart wrote after a ten-year absence from the medium. Apparently Mozart was impressed by Haydn’s Opus 33 string quartets published in 1781, so Mozart wrote his six quartets both in homage to Haydn and in response to the musical challenges Haydn embraced in his Opus 33.
Haydn was effusive in his praise upon hearing Mozart’s quartets in 1785, writing to Mozart’s father, “Before God and as an honest man, I tell you that your son is the greatest composer known to me in person or by name. He has taste, and, what is more, the profound knowledge of composition.” Haydn’s later quartets were influenced by Mozart’s quartets, and Mozart’s later works by Haydn, in a musical virtuous spiral.
As usual, Monday will be an evening of delectable musical treats. Bring your ears, bring your instrument, and join us as we explore these great and enjoyable works.
Let’s Play!
Jim
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