Good Things Come in Threes – Community Music Monday, May 2, 2011

Dear Musicians and Music Lovers:

One of our Trinity Chamber Players regulars, Amy, will be diverted by work obligations, so it seems a propitious time to explore a bit of the string trio literature. Thus, on Monday evening, we will read Mozart’s Divertimento in E-Flat Major, K 563 for String Trio, then an early and seminal work of Beethoven, his String Trio Opus 3, also in E-Flat Major, and we invite our community musicians to join us in a communal reading of the Lento assai movement of Beethoven’s String Quartet in F Major, Opus 135. If we have time left, we’ll get into even more trouble!

Mozart’s Divertimento was written in Vienna in the fall of 1788, when Mozart was 32, and it was premiered in Dresden on April 13, 1789. Mozart himself played the viola part at the premiere, so the bar has been set pretty high for me. Have mercy!

String trios were not common fare at the time; indeed, only a handful of trios for this instrumentation had been written previously: several by Haydn in 1784, and in 1783 by Vaclav Pichl, who was the concertmaster of the Vienna court theater in the early 1770’s (P.D.Q. Bach is reputed to have written the only other pickle music of which I am aware The Little Pickle Book, S. 6. But I digress.)

The absence of the second violin dictated that quite a bit of extra work had to be handed to the viola and cello when composing a string trio, which complicated composing to a degree that most composers just dug up another violinist. Mozart’s trio demands a lot from each performer, but the rewards for their efforts are bountiful.

The Divertimento was written after Mozart completed his three final symphonies, which he wrote in the summer of 1788. It was a stressful time in Mozart’s life; his young daughter had died, he was borrowing heavily to pay his living expenses, and in fact the Divertimento was dedicated to Michael Puchberg, a fellow Freemason and one of Mozart’s creditors. The Divertimento’s premiere in Dresden was part of a concert tour from which Mozart hoped not only to earn some money, but to attract commissions.

Although the title Divertimento suggests a light serenade, sort of 18^th Century elevator music (although at the time I guess they would have had to play it on the stairs), Mozart’s Divertimento is by no means lightweight. It has the musical heft of his string quartets and quintets.

I find the theme-and-variations Andante movement in particular to be positively operatic in its scope, perhaps due to Mozart giving us a foretaste of the Finale of Act 2 of The Magic Flute. In the opera scene in question, Tamino is led onstage by two armored men as he prepares to have his worthiness tested – I believe it is in Number 21 in the score, and the duet is “Der, welcher wandert.”  In the opera, the armored men (a tenor and a bass) sing this duet octaves, which is in fact the chorale tune “Ach Gott, vom Himmel sei darien,” an homage by Mozart to Bach.

In the Divertimento, the viola also plays a chorale tune at the end of the Andante, but it is not a Bach chorale as far as I know. I doubt it is a random ditty, however; Mozart must be quoting something here, perhaps a tune of his own or by someone else. If you recognize it, please let me know!

Following the Divertimento, we will take up an early work of Beethoven, the String Trio in E-Flat Major, Opus 3. Determining how early a work this is has provided work for musicologists; some sources claim Beethoven wrote it as early as 16 years of age, but the preponderance of evidence points to the trio having been written in 1794, when he was 24.

It’s a lively work and very much Beethoven, but I find it remarkable because of the musical ideas Beethoven used here and continued to employ or expand upon throughout his career. Two in particular stand out: the Andante presages the Scherzos in the String Quartets Opus 18 No. 5, Opus 59 No. 1, the Andante of Opus 130, and the Scherzo of the eighth symphony; and the Finale uses offbeat accents that are heard again in the last movement of the seventh symphony.

Following the Opus 3 trio, we invite our Community Musicians to join us in reading the Lento assai movement of Beethoven’s String Quartet in F Major, Opus 135. It’s a beautiful and moving piece from the final substantial work completed by Beethoven. The conductor Arturo Toscanini packaged the Scherzo and Lento assai movements of Opus 135 as a showpiece for his NBC Orchestra string section, reversing the order so he could end with the livelier of the two movements.

It’s gonna be a feast for the ears, so bring both of them, and your instrument if you have one, and join us for an evening of great music and great fun!

Let’s Play!

Jim (the violist)