Happy Birthday, Franz!!!
Saturday, November 5th, 2011 at 8 pm
McNease Convention Center
Hector Guzman, Conductor
Michael Schneider, Pianist
Anton Nel, Pianist
2011 marks the 200th anniversary of Franz Liszt, the most famous pianist in history. Join the celebration in the performance of Liszt's amazing piano concertos No.1 and No. 2 as played by this teacher/pupil duo.
Critics have hailed San Angelo's own, Michael Schneider as "a pianist with exceptional insight" and a "performer with great panache" in performances across the states and overseas to Poland and France.
Anton Nel, praised by the New York Times as "An uncommonly elegant pianist", enjoys a remarkable and multifaceted career that has taken him throughout North and South America, Europe, Asia, and South Africa.
Brahms Hungarian Dance No. 5
Liszt Piano Concerto No.1
Liszt Piano Concerto No.2
Tchaikovsky Capriccio Italien
Notes on the Program
Johannes Brahms (Born Hamburg, Germany May 7, 1833; died Vienna, Austria April 3, 1897)
Hungarian Dance No. 5 (composed 1869)
Johannes Brahms is one of the towering figures of Classical Music, perhaps best acknowledged with his inclusion as one of the "Three B's" (Bach and Beethoven are the others). It is interesting to note, then, that he actually got his start in musical performance by playing piano in nightclubs, bars and even less reputable establishments. While his performing took him to the shadier sides of Hamburg, he also gained valuable experience arranging for his father's light orchestra. These experiences allowed him to work the folk music and dances of Germany and Hungary into his compositional style, a trait that was to continue throughout his career. He began to accompany traveling artists at the age of 20, and through these travels he was introduced to some of the most influential musicians of his day, including Franz Liszt, Robert and Clara Schumann, and the famous violinist Joseph Joachim. Joachim and Brahms began a friendship and musical alliance that would continue through their careers. He spent many years teaching and conducting, but his notoriety as composer was finally sealed with the premiere of his German Requiem in 1868. The success of that work led him to compose or complete many other works, including his symphonies, and the remainder of his career was spent composing works in virtually every genre, from symphonic to choral to solo piano. He died in 1897 and was buried in Vienna's central cemetery.
Brahms composed his Hungarian Dances for Piano duet, partly because he wanted to provide accessible pieces to the ever-increasing number of amateur pianists in the mid-1800s. The pieces were a rousing success, providing Brahms both admiration and a good salary. The Dances are all arrangements of Hungarian folk tunes, with little original material. This caused a slight problem shortly after their original publication, with some lesser-known performers of the day accusing Brahms of trying to take musical (and monetary) credit for pieces he had heard, not created. Brahms, however, along with his publisher, Simrock, maintained that he had never taken credit for composing the pieces, only their arrangement. He even noted that he had refused to allow Simrock to assign an opus number to the collection. The scandal went by the wayside, and the pieces continued to have a strong following, being arranged for a variety of ensembles throughout the following years. The orchestral arrangements of the pieces are from several different composers, from relative unknowns such as Martin Schmeling to the likes of Antonin Dvorak, who not only arranged the works of his friend Brahms, but also used them as inspiration for his own set of Slavonic Dances (based on original melodies and also published by Simrock.) Hungarian Dance No. 5 is probably the most well-known of the dances and is based on a czardas, a traditional dance (the rough translation is "tavern") beginning slowly and speeding up throughout, usually ending in a frantic pace.
Franz Liszt (born Doborjan, Hungary, October 22, 1811; died Bayreuth, Germany, July 31, 1886)
Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major, S. 124 (composed 1830-1849; premiered Weimer, February 17, 1855)
Piano Concerto No. 2 in A Major S. 125 (composed 1839-40; premiered Weimer, January 7, 1857)
Franz Liszt was born into a musical family, his father having been a musician for the same royal family that had hired Haydn and Hummel in previous eras. The young Liszt showed signs of being a prodigy, and was performing by the time he was nine. After studying with Carl Czerny and Antonio Salieri and producing his first published piece, he moved to Paris, funding his existence there by teaching both piano and composition. He was determined to marry one of his students, the daughter of the French Minister of Commerce, but the official would not allow it, resulting in the young composer falling into bouts of depression and illness. After overcoming those trials (he had been so ill that, at one point, an obituary appeared in a Paris newspaper,) and attending a concert by the violinist Niccolo Paganini, he decided to focus his energies on becoming as much a virtuoso on piano as Paganini was on violin. He mastered all of the techniques being perfected in the Paris musical society of the day, and transcribed many orchestral works for piano, utilizing those techniques fully. As he developed his performance persona, he would rely on his own pieces and transcriptions as the basis of his repertoire, leading audiences, publishers, and the public in general to look to him as the master of the piano, a reputation from which he did not shrink in any way.
With his newfound popularity and reputation as a virtuoso, Liszt traveled throughout Europe, a ritual he would continue for the rest of his life. He was noted as a showman (every musician since can thank, or curse, him for the tradition of memorizing music rather than performing from a score,) and his performances often took on the atmosphere of a rock concert from our time, with women rioting in order to catch a handkerchief as he threw them from the stage and patrons fighting for seats in the halls where concerts took place. It is estimated that, during the 1840s, he presented more than 1,000 public performances. During that same time, he also took on the role of benefactor for numerous humanitarian causes and for fellow composers. He had transcribed Hector Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique not only to show his own technical prowess, but also to showcase that work for the struggling composer. When he heard of a monument to Beethoven being canceled due to lack of funding, he performed a series of concerts benefiting the project. During his career, he also served as mentor or benefactor to Richard Wagner, Alexander Borodin, Camille Saint-Saens, and Edvard Grieg.
In his later years, Liszt confined his performances primarily to his "three homes," Rome, Weimar, and Budapest. Even with only these three locations, he was still heard in recital regularly. After a fall in a hotel in Weimar in July, 1881, his health deteriorated, and he eventually contracted pneumonia. He died in Beyreuth in July, 1886, after attending the Beyreuth Festival hosted by his daughter, Cosima. His legacy as virtuoso has never been challenged and his compositions, while initially held by some critics to be self-serving and blatantly technical without much depth, have more recently come to be understood as masterworks of the Romantic repertoire, filled with the passion, strength, and brilliance of that era.
The First Piano Concerto in E-flat Major appears to have been conceived in sketchbooks as early as 1830, but was not completed until 1849. In many ways it more closely resembles a Symphonic Poem (a form Liszt is credited with creating and championing) than a concerto. While a traditional concerto would include three separate movements, Liszt uses four movements in his concerto, but connects each, so the entire piece is performed without a pause. The short melodic sections are repeated and varied throughout the piece, making the pause between movements unnecessary. The piece opens with a powerful motive (one to which Liszt and his son-in-law, Hans von Bulow, supposedly added the words "Das versteht ihr alle nicht, haha!"-None of you understands this, Ha ha, both a statement of the compositional techniques and the physical ability required to perform the piece.) The movement continues with a virtuosic solo section and a move to the quiet, calm adagio section announced by the cellos and basses, an allegro which serves as the scherzo and including significant use of the triangle from the percussion section (after its premiere in Vienna, a prominent critic mockingly dubbed this the "Triangle Concerto.") The concluding section, marked Allegro marziale, serves as a recapitulation of all the primary themes, bringing the work together and, at the same time, completing it in a wonderful, elegant way.
The Second Concerto, in A Major, was first sketched in 1849-50 and completed in 1861. Similar to the first concerto in its structure resembling a Symphonic Poem, the Second Concerto is in six sections, again performed without pause. The opening Adagio begins with the main musical theme, which will be heard throughout the piece. The opening section is followed by a light and bouncy allegro and a more lyrical moderato section, which also serves as a quasi-cadenza. Returning to a faster tempo, the music moves to a more forceful, militaristic rendering of the main theme, another variation of the slow motive and a final, energetic flurry to a triumphant climax.
Pietor I. Tchaikovsky (born Votkinsk, Russia, May 7, 1840; died St. Petersburg, Russia November 6, 1893)
Capriccio Italien, op. 45 (composed 1880; premiered Moscow, December 18, 1880)
Pietor Tchaikovsky was born into the family of a Russian civil servant and, even though he showed an amazing aptitude for music at an early age, he was sent to a boarding school specializing in the preparation of civil servants at the age of ten. While music was not a priority at the school, he still managed to continue his musical training by attending operas and other performances. His musical tastes ran to Mozart, Rossini, and Verdi. After graduating from school in 1859, he completed a three-year term as a member of the civil service. His musical genius, however, could not be denied, and he soon found himself as a student at the St. Petersburg Conservatory.
Tchaikovsky spent many years teaching, composing, and traveling throughout Russia and Europe. In fact, many Russian leaders were suspicious of the composer's talents and output, often accusing him of being "too influenced by the West." However, as Russia, and particularly the leaders in St. Petersburg, began to open trade and travel to Paris and other European centers, Tchaikovsky regained favor and was eventually looked to as an innovator for his countrymen to emulate. Throughout this time, he continued to travel throughout Europe and held teaching and composing positions in both Moscow and St. Petersburg. While his compositions were regularly commissioned, well-regarded, and performed soon after they were completed, he struggled with teaching others the craft of composition, moving in and out of conservatory and other positions that required him to interact with students.
He went on to compose some of the most well known pieces in a variety of genres, including ballet, symphonic repertoire, and concerti. His career saw him garner awards from governments throughout the world. He died of cholera shortly after the premiere of his Sixth Symphony in November, 1893 and was interred in Tikhvin Cemetery, along with other influential Russian composers, including Mussorgsky, Borodin, Glinka, and Rimsky-Korsakov.
By the time Tchaikovsky had reached his late-30s, he was both well-known and financially comfortable enough to travel extensively. On one of his extended trips through Europe, he spent a good deal of time in Rome, where he was inspired by everything from a street carnival, to an Italian Cavalry bugler calling the troops to order, to a variety of folk music performed in taverns and on the streets. To these memories, he added a desire to produce music "similar to the Spanish Fantasias of Glinka." The result is the wonderful Capriccio Italien, which weaves five different melodic elements into a warm, rich and exciting fantasy, all while showing the composer's mastery of orchestration and ability to produce tone colors that are unique to his style.