UMS Concert Program, October 14, 1978: The Chamber Music Society Of Lincoln Center -- Charles Wadsworth

Concert: Twelfth
Complete Series: Sixteenth Annual Chamber
Rackham Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan

THE UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIG
The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
CHARLES WADSWORTH, Artistic Director
Gervase de Peyer, Clarinetist Walter Trampler, Violist
Loren Glickman, Bassoonist Leslie Parnas, Cellist
James Buswell, Violinist Charles Wadsworth, Pianist
Saturday Evening, October 14, 1978, at 8:30 Rackham Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan
PROGRAM
L'Histoire du soldat (trio version)........Stravinsky
The Soldier's March The Soldier's Violin A Little Concert Tango; Waltz; Ragtime The Devil's Dance
James Buswell, Gervase de Peyer, Charles Wadsworth
String Trio in C minor, Op. 9, No. 3........Beethoven
Allegro con spirito
Adagio con espressione
Scherzo: allegro molto e vivace Finale: presto
James Buswell, Walter Trampler, Leslie Parnas
Trio "Pathetique" in D minor..........Glinka
Allegro moderato Scherzo: vivacissimo Largo
Allegro con spirito; alia breva ma moderato
Gervase de Peyer, Loren Glickman, Charles Wadsworth
intermission
Quartet in Eflat major, Op. 47.........Schumann
Sostenuto assai; allegro ma non troppo Scherzo: molto vivace Andante cantabile Finale: vivace Charles Wadsworth, James Buswell, Walter Trampler, Leslie Parnas
Classics Record Library (BookojtheMonth Club) Records. Centennial Season -Twelfth Concert Sixteenth Annual Chamber Arts Series
PROGRAM NOTES
L'Histoire du soldat for Violin, Clarinet, and Piano . . . Igor Stravinsky
Residing during World War I in Switzerland and aware of the impoverishment of Europe, Stravinsky realized that the creation of a new work in a sumptuous instrumental style in the manner of his three ballets would be selfdefeating. He discussed with his friends, conductor Ernest Ansermet, poet Charles Ramuz, and painter Rence Auberjonois, the idea of a stage play which was to be presented to the Swiss public by a small traveling company. The realization of this project became an economic necessity for Stravinsky when, after the Russian revolution and the peace treaty with Russia, the transfer of money from Russia to him became impossible. Ramuz was to provide the libretto for the new work, Auberjonois the decor and costumes, and Ansermet the musical direction. The subject matter of the stage play was taken from a Russian folk tale. It was a story of a soldier, a deserter who sold his violin (which symbolizes his soul) to the devil. Stravinsky completed "L'Histoire du soldat" in 1918 and it premiered on September 28, 1918 in Lausanne with Ansermet conducting. The first American performance, directed by Pierre Monteux, took place in New York on March 25, 1928. The Soldier's Tale was "to be read, played, and danced." It requires a narrator, three characters and an orchestra of seven: clarinet, bassoon, cornet, trombone, violin, double bass, and a percussion battery of eight instruments, including five drums. The score contains thirteen numbers of which Stravinsky retained only five for the trio version which was published in 1920. About half of the musical content was channeled into the suite for which only the original violin and clarinet parts are kept, while those of the other instruments were assigned to the piano which provides the thematic manipulation and percussive effects. "L'Histoire du Soldat" reflected Stravinsky's interest in American jazz and also underscored the importance of rhythm.
--Joseph Braunstein
Trio for Violin, Viola, and Cello in C minor, Op. 9, No. 3 . Ludwig Van Beethoven
The Triptych for String Trio which appeared July 1978 in Vienna was probably sketched and worked out in 179697. Exact information on the time of composition is lacking. We recognize in the String Trio in Eflat, Op. 3, Beethoven's first attempt in the field of chamber music for string ensembles. Mozart's great Divertimento for Strings in Eflat, K. 563, of 1788, was Beethoven's model for his Op. 3, which, commenced and perhaps composed in Bonn, was revised in Vienna. His experiences at the revision benefited Op. 9, and he declared these Trios as his best works.
Beethoven applied much care to the work on the string trios whose craftmanship foreshadows that of the String Quartets, Op. 16 (1800). Here we find a remarkable parallelism to the Piano Trio, Op. 1. As the Cminor Piano Trio is the most characteristic one in the set so is the Trio in C minor the most significant piece in the series for strings. There is the pathetic and passionate musical language typical of Beethoven's compositions in C minor. There is a hard struggle in the opening Allegro which is cast in 68, a meter usually applied to final movements. Note the harsh beginning of the development section, and the dramatic entry of the coda, and the persistently held C in the concluding measures. Calm and peace are the key notes in the Adagio in which all instruments share in the rich figuration work. Violence returns in the Scherzo, mitigated a bit in the trio section in C major. Note the metrical conformity in the first Allegro and the softly ending Scherzo. The mood of the finale is akin to the emotional quality of the concluding Prestissimo of the C minor Piano Trio of Op. 1. The soft ending of the exposition is paralleled in the coda. The storm which had raged throughout the movement abates and the passion yields to mild resignation.
--Joseph Braunstein
Trio "Pathetique" in D minor for Clarinet, Bassoon, and Piano . Mikhail Glinka
Glinka is the progenitorfigure of Russian music. Before his day, virtually all the Russians were either amateurs or so heavily influenced by foreign sources that their music was virtually without any distinction or identity of its own. But don't expect to find any strong nationalistic tendencies in his unusually scored trio. All of Glinka's chamber music--not much at any rate, the present work being joined by a sextet and a solitary string quartet--are products of the composer's apprentice years and are thus without the stylistic distinguishing marks of his justly famous later oeuvre. At the time of the Trio Pathetique's completion, e.g. 182627, Glinka was still at the Ministry of Communications, collecting birds, reacting to schmaltzy romantic poetry, and inhabiting fashionable drawing rooms. The piece may not be particularly nationalistic, but it is masterfully created within its prescribed dimensions. The influences it shows are discernably those of German Classical and early Romantic music. The opening movement, Allegro moderate might well have come from the pen of Weber or Schubert, and the whole piece follows in like vein. It is succinct, cogently formalistic, and aesthetically most agreeable. Some have professed to hear traces of Gallic material in this music. Such an incursion would not have been surprising, since the Russian aristocracy always did show an affinity for things French, even to the point of speaking that language almost exclusively.
The work's original instrumentation is for clarinet, bassoon, and piano (as heard tonight), though it is most often heard in the arrangement for violin, cello, and piano by the 19th century violinistpedagogue, Johann Hfimaly.
--Harris Goldsmith
Quartet for Piano and Strings in Eflat major, Op. 47 . . Robert Schumann
The year 1842 was Schumann's "chamber music year." In fact, the composition of the three string quartets, the piano quintet, and the piano quartet occupied his creative mind during the five months from June through October. These remarkable works came into being after a time of emotional crisis, brought about by the long absence of his wife Clara, due to her concert tour to Denmark and by the rumors spread by Friedrich VVieck, his hostile fatherinlaw, that the couple had separated. Clara's return and a short holiday spent in the Bohemian spas of Carlsbad and Marienbad made Schumann happier and stimulated his creative energies. He composed the Piano Quartet in the wake of the completion of the Piano Quintet in the same key in October 1842.
Schumann began the composition of the Quartet on October 25 and worked on the piece despite "constant fearful, sleepless nights." It was played for the first time in Schumann's home on April S, 1843, the day on which he commenced his activities as a teacher of composition and piano at the newly opened Leipzig Conservatory founded by Mendelssohn. The Quartet received its first public presentation at a matinee for an invited audience on December 8, 1844, in the Gcwandhaus, with Clara, as usual, taking the piano part. This was a farewell concert, for the Schumanns were about to move to Dresden.
The slow prefatory passage of the first movement exposes the germ of the principal theme of the Allegro. This passage recurs in the development section and, somewhat modified, as a transition to the coda. The rapidly moving Scherzo in G minor betrays the influence of Mendelssohn. There are two trios, the scherzo being integrated into the second of these. The melodic contour of the principal theme of the Andante cantabile is shaped by the use of the interval of the seventh, rising and falling, which plays a great role in the music of other romantic composers (Liszt, Wagner). There are three sections with a melodically, harmonically (Gflat), and metrically (44) contrasting middle part. The restatement of the main idea in the viola demands the retuning of the C string of the cello in order to produce the Bflat below the staff. As in the Piano Quintet, "learned music" is called into play in the finale, first in the fugally treated beginning, then in the development section, and finally, in the recapitulation and coda. There is a multitude of imitation and much contrapuntal
technique throughout.
--Joseph Braunstein
About the Artists
The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center is the official performing organization of New York's Alice Tully Hall and continues to sell out season after season for its regular subscription concerts. Since 1972, it has also performed annual subscription concerts in Washington's Kennedy Center, and through its tours and recordings has garnered an enthusiastic audience throughout the nation. Under the imaginative direction of Charles Wadsworth, the ensemble blends wellknown masterpieces with surprising rarities from the past and challenging contemporary compositions in a wide variety of instrumental groupings. The Society maintains a permanent personnel of eleven distinguished virtuosi from all parts of the world, each with special reputation in the chamber repertoire. Of these, six are chosen for each of the Society's crosscountry tours. Tonight's concert marks the Ann Arbor debut of this gifted group of musicians.
Chamber Arts "Bonus" Concert Barbara Strzelecka, Harpsichordist
Tuesday, November 14, at 8:30, in Rackham Auditorium
As part of the Musical Society's centennial celebration, series subscribers to the ten concerts of the Chamber Arts Series are invited to attend this extra concert (free tickets upon request) next month. Remaining tickets will be available to other concertgoers beginning November 7 and at the door the evening of the performance, $4 general admission.
Barbara Strzelecka studied piano and harpsichord in the cities of Warsaw and Lodz, and since 1960 has been active in Europe as a performer, musicologist, and recording artist. In her native country she has regularly performed for Polish Radio and Television, at concerts organized by the Polish National Philharmonic and the Warsaw Musical Society, and as soloist with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. Specializing in music of the 16th and 17th centuries, Miss Strzelecka has participated as performer and musicologist in festivals of ancient music in Poland and Italy, and contributes articles to various publications on the harpsichord and its music.
This concert is made possible through the generosity of Mr. and Mrs. Peter N. Heydon.
COMING EVENTS
Bugaku, Japan.............October IS
Eugene Fodor, Violinist...........October 17
Julian Bream and John Williams, Guitarists.....October 21
Martha Graham Dance Company......October 23, 24, 25
Belgrade Chamber OrchestraLynn Harrell.....October 26
Viennese Gala.............October 27
Murray Perahia, Pianist...........October 30
Dimitri, ClownMime...........November 1
Nathan Milstein, Violinist..........November 5
Karyo Yamahiko, Japan..........November 6
II Divertimento.............November 7
Fred Waring Show............November 9
English Chamber OrchestraVladimir Ashkenazy . . . November 10
Barbara Strzelecka, Harpsichordist.......November 14
New Irish Chamber OrchestraPrieur, Gal way .... November 21
Handel's Messiah...........December 1, 2, 3
Isaac Stern, Violinist...........December 7
Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Ballet.....December 14, 15, 16, 17
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
Burton Memorial Tower, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 Phones: 66S3717, 7642538