Program Notes

by Martin Pearlman

Corelli, Concerto grosso, Op. 6, No. 7

            The concerto that we play this evening is from a collection of twelve concerti grossi published in 1714, the year after Corelli's death.  The collection became immediately famous throughout Europe, and its popularity has never waned.  The story is told that when this music was first performed in England, the audience was so enraptured that the musicians had to play all twelve concertos over again.  Years later, the music was still so popular that Handel's publisher commissioned him to write twelve concertos of his own modeled on those of Corelli, in order to publish a "best seller."  His work was studied also by Bach and other composers of his time and has continued to be loved for its lively character, the wonderful clarity of its harmony, its beautiful sonority and its polished elegance.

             Much of Corelli's career was spent in Rome, where he directed an orchestra that was renowned for its beautiful sound and discipline.  One of his students wrote about the precision he demanded of his players, especially in having them all bow together with the same bow stroke: "He would immediately stop the band if he discovered one irregular bow." One of the great violinists of his time, Corelli was also a famous teacher of the instrument.  He produced some of the finest violinists of the next generation and, through them, he enormously influenced violin technique for generations to come.

             Like all of the concerti grossi in his Opus 6, this seventh concerto is built around the contrast between two groups of instruments:  a trio of soloists (two violins and a cello) which alternates with the larger ensemble. The piece begins with a very brief introduction followed by an imitation of trumpet calls between the two solo violins.  That opening movement is followed by an Allegro with a running bass line, a slow movement, and an Allegro fugue.  The work then ends with a quick minuet-like dance.

Telemann, Concerto for Four Violins

             During his lifetime, Telemann was held in high esteem in the musical world, including by composers such as Handel and Bach. His output of compositions, more vast than that of any other major composer, included thousands of chamber and orchestral works, as well as thousands of vocal works, among them many operas, passions, cantatas and other large compositions that are little known by the public today. It is so extensive that his music has not yet been fully catalogued.

              Within this wealth of music we find four small gems: four concertos for four violins "without bass," that is, concertos without any other instruments supporting the soloists. The Concerto in G Major, which we hear tonight, begins with three of the violins entering one at a time, piling up dissonant notes of the scale, until a beautiful melody is heard floating above them. The whole work has a wonderful rhythmic energy, as well as surprisingly full harmony for a piece that has only four soprano instruments.

              Telemann was born in Magdeburg, Germany in 1681. Largely self- taught as a musician, he composed music regularly for the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig while enrolled in the university there as a law student. He eventually gave up law to devote himself full-time to music, writing cantatas for the churches and operas for the theater in Leipzig, as well as orchestral suites for his Leipzig Collegium Musicum, an ensemble that he founded and which Bach was to direct years later.

              After leaving Leipzig in 1705, he found employment at various small courts before settling in Hamburg, where he was to remain for the rest of his life. The number and range of his activities in Hamburg is staggering. In addition to being the director of music for the Hamburg churches, he composed frequently for the Hamburg opera, became director of that company, and wrote for many other musical functions, as well.

             In 1722, in what was probably an attempt to pressure his employers in Hamburg for a raise, he applied for the post of cantor at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. He was offered the position but turned it down after Hamburg agreed to give him a better contract. The job in Leipzig eventually went to the council's third choice, J. S. Bach.

Handel, Sonata in G

              This sonata by Handel has had an interesting and complicated life. It was written in London in 1738, at a time when the revered composer was still busy writing Italian operas but was beginning to turn toward English oratorios. His publisher, meanwhile, was asking for more instrumental music, which he felt would give him good sales. Handel obliged by providing a set of twelve concerti grossi and a set of trio sonatas that he grouped together as his Opus 5.

               This sonata, one of that set, thus began life as a trio sonata, that is, as a work for two violins with the bass line played by a cello and a harpsichord. Then at some point a bit later, an unknown musician added a viola part, so that the piece could be played by a full four-part string group. We are using that viola part.

               But why are we also adding multiple violins and a double bass to this "trio sonata" -- in other words, why are we playing it as an orchestral piece? The reason is that here Handel has done something that he often did in other compositions. He has "borrowed" and adapted music from some of his earlier operas and oratorios, where it would have originally been played by an orchestra, and used it in this sonata. It seems interesting, therefore, to hear this music played by our full ensemble, as it would have been in its original form.

               The bright introductory Allegro that begins the sonata is followed by a French overture with its solemn opening section in dotted rhythms and then a lighter fast section. Then comes a beautiful Passacaille, in which Handel spins out variations over a hypnotically repeating bass line. He concludes with two lighter dances, a quick Gigue and, to end the work, a gentle Menuett.

Vivaldi, The Four Seasons

               The Four Seasons, a collection of four violin concertos depicting the four seasons of the year, is among the most famous works of classical music today, and it circulated widely in Vivaldi's time, as well. But along with the rest of Vivaldi's output, The Four Seasons fell out of the repertoire for over a century before being "rediscovered" in the first part of the twentieth century. The gradual revival of Vivaldi's music first began because of his connection to Bach. Like many of his contemporaries, Bach was fascinated with Vivaldi's development of the solo concerto, and he transcribed a number of Vivaldi's concertos for harpsichord. Although The Seasons were not among the concertos that Bach transcribed, they soon came to public attention as the Vivaldi revival continued. The first complete recording of them dates from 1942, but it was only after the second World War that they achieved the broad popularity that they enjoy today.

               The Four Seasons were first published in Amsterdam in 1725 as four of a set of twelve concertos with the overall title Il cimento dell' armonia e dell' inventione (The contest between harmony and invention), opus 8. Along with the music, the original publication included four sonnets (quite possibly written by Vivaldi himself) which give a detailed description of what each concerto is depicting -- a barking dog, thunder storms, the ice of winter, etc. Capital letters next to lines in the sonnets and in the score show us exactly where the effects in the poems are taking place in the music. No other concertos by Vivaldi contain such detailed programs. Translations of the sonnets are printed below with Roman numerals to indicate where in the poem each of the three movements of a concerto begins.

Notes

The famous bird calls among the violins in the first movement and the legato music of "the flowing streams" are interrupted by angry tremolos designated as "thunder" in the score. As the sky clears, we once again hear the bird calls. In the second movement, the solo violin line bears the heading "the sleeping goatherd," while the gentle dotted rhythms in the accompanying violins are marked "the murmuring of the fronds and plants." The viola, however, depicts an effect that is not mentioned in the poem; it is marked "the barking dog" and viola is told to play forcefully. (How the goatherd sleeps through the barking is not explained.) The closing movement, a "Pastoral dance," unfolds over the sound of bagpipes, imitated by sustained open fifths in the lower instruments.