Where would you go now
To escape your cares and woes?
If you could go now?
Would it be some isle,
Warm, sunny, a sandy beach,
An azure ocean?
A forest clearing
Overarched with leafy trees
And dappled sunlight?
A remote cabin,
Soft rainfall gently tapping
The windows and roof?
A cityscape with
Humming traffic and lively
Nightlife, full of fun?
A snowy mountain,
Glistening in the moonlight,
Silent and peaceful.
You can see it now,
Can’t you? It’s in your mind’s eye.
Or maybe you’re there.
I hope you find peace
Wherever you may be now
On your joyous isle.
In 1904, Claude Debussy vacationed on the island of Jersey with his mistress (and later, second wife) Emma Bardac. It was there that he put the finishing touches on the composition L’isle joyeuse. Debussy deliberately used the English isle instead of the French ile to allude to Jersey.
Flashing fingers fly
And dance across the keyboard
Weaving their magic.
Feet too join the dance
Executing bass figures,
Sliding as on ice.
The word toccata
Means to touch—fingers, yes, and
Heart and soul and mind.
The toccata is by nature a flashy piece of music. It typically includes fast runs of notes, and can sound like an improvisation. It is a showcase for a musician’s skills. Toccatas are typically written for a keyboard instrument, but that’s not a requirement—toccatas have been written for string instruments, and even for orchestra (the prelude to Monteverdi’s opera L’Orfeo is a toccata). While the form had its heyday in the Baroque period, with Bach, master improviser, at the summit (Toccata in D Minor, the toccata everyone knows), the form never entirely went away.
Khachaturian wrote a toccata that became very popular (the suite it came from is nearly forgotten). The link features pianist Lev Oborin, who was the first to perform it.
This morning, April 13, 2018 at 10:45 AM (GMT -4) The Detroit Symphony Orchestra will offer a free live webcast (see it here) with the following program:
Debussy: Printemps
Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No 1 with violinist Ray Chen
Schumann: Symphony No 1, “Spring”
Hannu Lintu will conduct.
Tomorrow, April 14, 2018, OperaVision will present a live stream of events from Den Norske Opera in Oslo to celebrate the opera house’s 10th anniversary. You can see it on the OperaVision YouTube channel. Highlights of the broadcast will be an attempt at a world record (at 8:15AM ET, GMT-4) for the largest number of people singing Verdi’s aria Va Pensiero from the roof of the opera house (which can also be seen on OperaVision’s Facebook page), and a live performance of Verdi’s La Traviata at 3:00PM ET (GMT-4).
Nocturne – Blue and Silver – Chelsea, by James McNeill Whistler
Clouds, no two alike,
Slowly drift across the sky,
A painting that moves.
Debussy drew clouds
In the darkening sky with
Subtly shifting sounds.
He painted his scenes
In harmonies, in music,
As none had before.
‘Nuages’ renders the immutable aspect of the sky and the slow, solemn motion of the clouds, fading away in grey tones lightly tinged with white.1
–Claude Debussy
When Claude Debussy premiered his set of three nocturnes, the first of which is Nuages [Clouds], critics were perplexed. They tried to explain its structure using traditional forms, but the explanations didn’t quite fit. One can imagine that Debussy might have responded, “Precisely.” He was moving away from traditional musical notions and toward something that had not yet been defined, or perhaps could not be defined.
Both artists sought to reinterpret the word “nocturne”:
Whistler: “By using the word ‘nocturne’ I wished to indicate an artistic interest alone, divesting the picture of any outside anecdotal interest which might have been otherwise attached to it. A nocturne is an arrangement of line, form and colour first.”3
Debussy: “The title Nocturnes is to be interpreted here in a general and, more particularly, in a decorative sense. Therefore, it is not meant to designate the usual form of the Nocturne, but rather all the various impressions and the special effects of light that the word suggests.”4
Debussy’s music combines elements that are changing, evolving, with elements that remain the same—moving clouds against a static sky, with colors changing slowly as night falls.
Brook, Donald. Five great French composers: Berlioz, César Franck, Saint-Saëns, Debussy, Ravel: Their Lives and Works. Ayer Publishing. p. 168 via https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nocturnes_(Debussy)
Ice has turned the trees
Into a fine filigree:
A shawl of white lace,
Tracery beaded
With berries, ‘til cardinals
And jays replace them.
Water droplets cling
To the tips of icicles,
Forming pearl-edged fringe.
Winter’s shawl remains
Until spring smiles and dons her
New leafy green dress.
Snowy winters have been a great source of inspiration to countless composers. I thought I’d present a few and give you some resources to find more if you would like a playlist that provides the sonic image of a snowy day (whether you’re in the midst of one looking out at the falling snow with a cup of hot cocoa, or sipping a cool drink while looking for a little relief from sweltering heat).
Want more? Check out WQXR’s page “10 Pieces That Sound Like a Winter Wonderland”, as well as Classic fm’s “Winter Music.” If you subscribe to a music streaming service, I’m sure you can find more classical winter playlists for your listening pleasure.
Undeterred, I searched the internet for a replacement.
I have found you hours and hours of opera. And I don’t mean The Ring cycle.
The Vienna State Opera is currently offering for free Wagner’s Parsifal and Götterdämmerung (ok, some of The Ring; click here for details). The opera company typically offers livestreams by subscription (single, monthly, by season). You can watch at the time of event, or slightly time shifted to accommodate your time zone.
If you are now or have ever been a piano student, or attended a student recital, you know Muzio Clementi.1 His Op. 36 piano sonatinas are no strangers to the fingers of piano students all over the world.
The sad thing is, that’s all most people know about him.
Clementi was born in Rome in 1752, and his family encouraged his musical studies. He was already a composer and parish organist at age 14 when he came to the attention of a visiting Sir Peter Beckford. Beckford made an agreement with Clementi’s father, according to which Muzio would live on Beckford’s estate and receive music lessons to age 21, in exchange for musical entertainment. This agreement lasted until 1774.
It was during Clementi’s subsequent three-year European tour that the famous musical duel with Mozart occurred (on 24 December 1781). At the time, he was promoting Broadwood pianos—making him one of the first Broadwood artists, just as we have Steinway artists today.
He also had his own publishing firm, and acquired directly from Beethoven the right to publish his music in England.5
Beethoven was a great admirer of Clementi. In fact before they met formally, Clementi wrote to a business partner that he saw Beethoven grinning at him when he saw Clementi in public.6 Grinning. Hard to imagine, given the stern image we traditionally have of Beethoven.
Clementi is well known to piano students for his piano sonatas and sonatinas, but also for his Gradus Ad Parnassum, a set of instructional pieces, which may be the basis for Debussy’sDoctor Gradus ad Parnassum (although some say it is Czerny’s set by the same name that Debussy is referring to in his somewhat satirical piece).7Here is a list of Clementi’s compositions.
Speaking of Carl Czerny, he was one of Clementi’s students, as were Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Ignaz Moscheles, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Ludwig Berger (teacher to Felix Mendelssohn) and John Field (who influenced Chopin).
For each of the composers in the illustration I have selected a piece of music or two for your listening pleasure. I deliberately tried not to pick the pieces the composers are best known for, so there will be no Carnival of the Animals here. The exception is Widor’s Toccata, because, well, it’s a cool piece of music, and that’s the instrument I started on (and no, I never got that far—not even close. But one can dream).
While I was researching Maurice Ravel for last week’s Haiku Wednesday, I kept seeing connections between various French composers, more so than I had seen with other composers (or maybe I haven’t looked hard enough yet). So I started reading about them to learn more, and found the connections fascinating.
Of course we know now about Ravel (1875-1937). Ravel studied with Émile Decombes, a student of Chopin’s, as did Alfred Cortot, whom I mentioned in a previous post. Later Ravel studied with Gabriel Fauré. Ravel’s father introduced him to Erik Satie (1866-1925). Satie at some point turned his back on Ravel, and Satie’s student Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) said (after Satie had also turned against Poulenc) “I admire him as ever, but breathe a sigh of relief at finally not having to listen to his eternal ramblings on the subject of Ravel.”1
Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) studied organ under the tutelage of Camille Saint-Saëns, and the two remained close friends. In 1871 he took the post of choirmaster at a church where the organist was Charles-Marie Widor. The two frequently improvised organ duets. Fauré was a charter member of the Société National de Musique founded by Saint-Saëns. Also members were Georges Bizet (1838-1875), Emmanuel Chabrier (1841-1894), Jules Massenet (1842-1912), and César Franck (1822-1890). 2 One of Franck’s students at the Paris Conservatory was Claude Debussy (1862-1918)3
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) studied organ at the Paris Conservatory (organ was emphasized over piano because of the greater career opportunities for organists). As an organist he came to the attention of Hector Berlioz. After the collapse of his marriage, Saint-Saëns became attached to Gabriel Fauré’s family.4
Charles-Marie Widor received his first organist post with the support of Saint-Saëns and Charles Gounod. When César Franck died, Widor took his post as professor at the Paris Conservatory. Widor was a staunch proponent of Bach’s organ music and one of his students was Albert Schweitzer. Widor founded the American Conservatory of Fontainebleau and served as its director until 1934, at which time Maurice Ravel succeeded him.5
Charles Gounod (1818-1893) was introduced to Bach’s music by Fanny Mendelssohn. One of Gounod’s students was Georges Bizet. When Gounod died, the music for the service was conducted by Fauré with Saint-Saëns at the organ.6
Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) became friends with Franz Liszt, when both attended a performance of Shakespeare’s The Tempest with an overture composed by Berlioz. Liszt was a witness at Berlioz’s marriage to Harriet Smithson.7 Liszt was also in attendance at a mass where organ improvisations were performed by César Franck. Liszt highly praised Franck’s work and began including Franck’s work in concerts in Germany.8 Liszt is said to have called his friend Camille Saint-Saëns “the greatest organist in the world.” Saint-Saëns dedicated his third symphony to Liszt.9
Tune in tomorrow for more on the music behind these French connections.
Resources
Kelly, Barbara L, Music and Ultra-modernism in France: A Fragile Consensus, 1913-1939. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell Press, 2013, p 57, Wikipedia entry on Maurice Ravel.
Vallas, Leon, Cesar Franck, Trans. Hubert J. Foss. New York: Oxford Universty Press, 1951, p 127. Trans. of La veritable histoire de Cesar Franck, 1949, via Wikipedia article on Cesar Franck.
Catapulting into Classical 