Ravinia 2023 Issue 6

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756–1791) Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major, K. 216 Scored for two oboes, two horns, strings, and solo violin The young Mozart traveled throughout Eu- rope—Italy, Vienna, Mannheim, and Paris— during the 1770s to absorb various national styles of composition. With this cosmopoli- tan background, he hoped to compete for an appointment at one of the important musical centers in Germany or Austria. Mozart’s sta- tus in his native Salzburg was tenuous at best, and his attempts to join the imperial court in Vienna proved unsuccessful. By the middle of the decade, Mozart developed a close associa- tion with Munich that he hoped would lead to a permanent position. He received an op- era commission ( La finta giardiniera ) for the 1774 Carnival season. Its first performance, scheduled for December 29, was postponed until January 13. Although the Munich audi- ence greeted the opera with enthusiasm, Mo- zart was offered no position at court and re- turned unhappily to Salzburg. Back home, his attention turned to new in- strumental combinations, perhaps hoping to draw fresh attention to his varied musical talents. Five violin concertos were completed between April and December of 1775, most likely for Antonio Brunetti, first violinist of the Salzburg court orchestra and a family friend of the Mozarts. It is also possible that the concertos were written to showcase Wolf- gang’s abilities as a violinist. As the son of Leopold Mozart, a famous violinist and au- thor of a treatise on the instrument, Wolfgang had studied the violin as youth, becoming al- most as proficient as he was on the keyboard. Leopold lavished praise on Wolfgang’s violin playing: “You yourself do not know how well you play the violin, if you will only do your- self credit and play with energy, with your whole heart and mind, yes, just as if you were the first violinist in Europe.” Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart by Barbara Krafft (1819) Violin Concerto No. 3, completed on Septem- ber 12, 1775, exhibits a breadth of form and maturity of expression that place it among the composer’s early masterworks. The Alle- gro follows Mozart’s typical design with two expositions of the themes, a development, and recapitulation. The lively first theme opens with a dramatic juxtaposition of loud and soft dynamics. Oboes and horns present a lyrical second theme, while the violins pro- vide a light accompaniment. The solo violin begins a second exposition with the first or- chestral theme. A new violin theme begins quietly with a rising arpeggiated chord. The orchestra’s lyrical theme returns with the solo violin added to the delicate scoring for oboes, horns, and violins. Development is based on a new theme and modulates through several keys. The recapitulation returns to the first orchestral theme, the solo theme, and the sec- ond orchestral theme. A solo violin cadenza follows, and the orchestra concludes. The Adagio is a sonata whose primary melodic interest is given to the solo violin. Muted first violins present the first theme over the accom- paniment of the muted second violins and vi- olas and pizzicato cellos and basses. The solo violin restates this first theme before playing a second melody, characterized by a wide open- ing leap. There is a development of the open- ing melody, and then both themes return. Mozart’s finale is a seven-part rondo, but with some unusual variations. Orchestral violins present the vigorous refrain theme. The solo violin introduces a second theme. The refrain returns in the solo violin before a develop- ment based on material from the contrasting theme. After a pause, the refrain again ap- pears in the solo violin. Instead of returning to the second theme, Mozart makes a com- plete change in tempo and mood. This epi- sode contains two ideas: a gavotte-like andan- te melody in minor played by the solo violin with a pizzicato accompaniment, and an actu- al Hungarian folk melody in major, known as the “Strasbourger.” The refrain is heard a final time, and a codetta concludes the concerto. JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685–1750) Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 in F major, BWV 1046 Scored for two corni da caccia, three oboes, bassoon, violino piccolo, strings, and basso continuo Appointment to the court of Prince Leopold in Köthen brought a new musical stimulus to Bach’s compositions. The requirements of the prince differed from those of Bach’s previous position with the Duke of Weimar and his Lutheran chapel. Leopold was Calvinist, and service music at the court chapel was rather simple and austere. Since there was little de- mand for new sacred music, Bach turned his attention to instrumental composition. The art-loving prince was an enthusiastic singer and player of the violin, viola da gamba, and harpsichord. Frequently he took his court musicians with him on journeys beyond Köthen. It is likely that Bach met Margrave Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg during one of the trips to Carlsbad or Meiningen. Bach lost his first wife, Maria Barbara, in July 1720, an event that caused him to consider a change of position. He had recently complet- ed a set of six concertos, composed according to the unique instrumental resources of the Köthen court, which he sent to the Margrave of Brandenburg in 1721. While it is not known how Bach was compensated, it is certain that he was not recognized with an appointment. Two years later, Bach left Köthen for Leipzig. These concertos were ill-suited to the musical resources of the Brandenburg court. Though the Margrave received the scores, they went unperformed, yet were still part of his collec- tion of music when he died in 1734. The con- certos appeared to represent a miscellany of compositions. However, as scholar Michael Marrison has demonstrated, Bach’s formal plan was anything but arbitrary. The arrange- ment of keys (F major, F major, G major, G major, D major and B-flat major) may be jus- tified in terms of Baroque tonal theory. Bach’s instrumentation also reflects an intentional emphasis on the dichotomy between old-fashioned and modern ensembles. Bach chose the instruments in Concerto No. 1 in F major, BWV 1046, with the unique musical riches of the Köthen orchestra in mind: the solo violin undoubtedly was per- formed by the prince himself, and the two horn parts were taken by a pair of traveling musicians who visited the court on numer- ous occasions. The regularly employed mu- sicians performed the remaining parts. There is little extended alternation between solo in- strument and full orchestra in this concerto. Instead, Bach uses the six wind instruments in various imaginative combinations to cre- ate contrasts in instrumental color. Some as- pects of hunting-horn calls are incorporated Johann Sebastian Bach by Elias Gottlob Haussmann (1748) in the opening movement. This opening music originated as the Sinfonia in F major, BWV 1046a (formerly 1071), a work that in expanded form may have functioned as the opening to the “Hunting Cantata” (No. 208: Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd ), written for birthday celebrations of the junior Duke Christian of Saxe-Weissenfels. While assembling the six so-called Branden- burg Concertos in 1721, Bach greatly revised his earlier work according to the performing environment at the Köthen court of Prince Leopold. First, he inserted an Allegro move- ment—containing a violino piccolo solo pre- sumably for the prince himself—before the dance finale. Furthermore, Bach expanded the minuet through the addition of a Polac- ca section between two trios. The resulting four-movement structure remains an anom- aly among the otherwise three-movement concertos in the collection. JOSEPH HAYDN (1732–1809) Symphony No. 102 in B-flat major, H. I:102 Scored for two flutes, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, and strings For nearly 30 years, Haydn served Prince Nikolaus Esterházy as court and chapel com- poser. Haydn’s musical activities centered on the operatic, symphonic, and chamber per- formances at the prince’s palatial estate Ester- háza. When the prince died on September 28, 1790, his son Anton was left as heir. Unlike his highly cultured father, Anton held no interest for music and dismissed the court musicians. Haydn retained the post of Kapellmeister but was free to pursue opportunities elsewhere. He immediately returned to his beloved Vienna. Soon after his arrival, he was contacted by the German-born violinist, conductor, and impresario Johann Peter Salomon, who of- fered Haydn a substantial amount of money to compose and conduct for his concerts— among other works, six new symphonies for the seasons of 1791 and 1792. Haydn accepted the proposition, and the two set out for En- gland, arriving on New Year’s Day 1791. An in- credible excitement greeted Haydn’s presence in London: “My arrival caused a great sensa- tion throughout the whole city,” he wrote in a letter to Maria Anna von Genzinger on Jan- uary 8, 1791, “and I went the round of all the newspapers for 3 successive days. Everyone wants to know me, I had to dine out 6 times up to now, and if I wanted, I could dine out every day; but first I must consider my health, and 2nd my work.” Newspaper announce- ments and broadside poems hailed his arrival: Welcome, great Master! to our favour’d Isle. Already partial to thy name and style; Long may thy fountain of invention run In streams as rapid as first begun; While skill for each fantastic whim provides, And certain science ev’ry current guides! RAVINIA MAGAZINE • AUGUST 28 – SEPTEMBER 10, 2023 34