Wednesday 31 October 2012

Franz J. Haydn: Piano Sonata No.59 in E flat major, Hob. XVI/49

* A previous reading of the two posts of October 17 - namely, 'Annex 1: The Eighteenth Century Pedal Piano, also known as Fortepiano', and ' Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: The Sonata K448 in D major for two pianos' - is strongly recommended. The latter describes the main characteristics of the Classical Period and of the Classical Piano Sonata


Franz Joseph Haydn (1732 – 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical Era. Together with Mozart and Beethoven, he comprises what became known as the Viennese Trinity of Classical period composers, and is regarded one of  the most prolific and influencial composers of the  Western classical music.

Haydn spent most of his career as court  musician for the Eszterházy family. He was the brother of composer Michael Haydn and of tenor Johann Evangelist Haydn.

Haydn left a large legacy of great masterpieces – most frequently piano trios, string quartets, and symphonies.  He was also a genious of the sonata form[1]for keyboard (the keyboard instrument of his time being the fortepiano).

Haydn mastered the art of this particular form, and had a peculiar way of composing this type of piece. To start with, the composer was very fond of the technique of ‘recapitulation’. This was a device  used near the end of the development section of the sonata to 'fool' the listener into thinking the recapitulation itself has begun, when in fact it has not – for the sonata still finds itself in the harmonically unstable area of the development section.

Small wonder Haydn was an expert in surprising the listener, with his witty and humorous pieces. He would often do this by coming up with many twists and turns – ‘tricks’ such as sudden modulations, a phrase resolving itself in a way completely different from that in which it is expected to, and unexpected  harmonic and rhythmic shifs.

Other evidence of the composer’s eccentric ideas stems from his experimenting with yet other ways of surprising the listener. The latter is startled with unexpected rests or a fermata that suddenly breaks the action. Moreover, remote keys are juxtaposed – a feature known as unprepared modulation. In this – as well as in other respects – Haydn had a very unusual style of composing – contrasting with that of Mozart, which was rather conservative and ‘well-behaved’, rarely surprising the listener with sudden changes in rhythm or harmonics.

It is a renowned characteristic of Haydn’s style his using a single motif or theme for each movement – from which derived all the other musical ideas.

Haydn further surprised the listener by presenting his themes in recapitulation in a different order than they were presented in the exposition – and sometimes he did not present them verbatim in the recapitulation.     
  
The Piano Sonata No.59 in E flat major, Hob. XVI/49 is divided in the following movements: 1.Allegro ma non troppo; 2.Adagio cantabile; and 3.Minuet.


Observe  how Haydn closes many of his phrases in rather unexpected ways. Also notice the sudden fermata in the first movement. Still in the first movement, there is a key shift to  a remote B flat major.

The gracious Adagio cantabile follows as development section. Notice the melancholy hues due to the alternation between its original key (which follows the later B flat major of the first movement - i.e. the key in which it is written after the modulation) and the tonic minor.

The piece is finally closed with a large Minuet with two trio sections, modulating to E flat minor but closing in E flat major.

A lovely performance, by Brendo. Enjoy! 
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWF-48jIrSU&feature=related



[1] On the Classical Period sonata, see post on Mozart’s K448 in D major for two pianos, of October 17, 2012.  I would add as important information on this style of sonata the simplicity and stability of tone with which it begins, from which tension is worked up towards the middle section – where the structure is more complex, with far-ranging key changes and more agitated rhythmic patterns. Finally,  complexity and tension decrease in the last section.


Thursday 25 October 2012

Annex 2: Pitch Standards from Baroque to Contemporary and Modern music

How has the A above the middle C  as tuning reference (also named international standard pitch or concert pitch[1])  reached the standardized A 440 Hz (in the US and UK; in continental Europe the frequency is commonly 442 Hz or 443 Hz)  from  a state of no pitch standard at all -  in which a concert pitch’s frequency could vary in as much as five semitones across the  European continent (and very frequently in the same city)?
 
Actually, in the whole period prior to 1859, there had been no concerted effort to standardize  musical tuning.

In the Baroque Era, the note to which ensembles tuned varied widely in time and space. As a result, the pieces notated on a score might have sounded  much lower than how they would be performed today. In an effort to correct this discrepancy, many baroque ensembles adjust their tuning pattern according to the repertoire performed: a’ = 415 Hz for late Baroque music, a’= 392 for French music, a’=440Hz for early Italian music and a’ = 430Hz for early Classical repertoire.

Throughout the Classical Period – when the relevance of instrumental, ensemble music became greater than that of vocal works -  the tuning reference continued to rise in pitch. This is due to the fact that instrumentalists started competing with each other, each attempting to produce a brighter sound than the others ( the higher string tension caused by a higher pitch tuning actually makes sounds brighter, for the amplitude of the harmonics is larger in higher string tensions). As a result, tuning reference was ‘inflated’ as high as to a’=451Hz.

However, in the XIX century, singers started complaining that the high pitch standard was putting too much strain on their voices, and string instrument performers complained about snapped strings. Due to these protests, the French government decided to pass a law in 1859 setting the A above middle C at 435 Hz, in an  attempt to standardize musical tuning. The A 435 Hz became also known as the diapason normal (or French pitch, or Continental pitch, or International pitch – the latter not to be confused with the term ‘international standard pitch’). 

Ultimately, in 1939, an international conference determined that the A above middle C be tuned to 440Hz. This A nowadays is also known as ‘concert pitch’. This was adopted as a technical standard by the International Organization for Standardization in 1955 and reaffirmed by them in 1975 as ISO 16. The concert pitch  and the diapason normal differ due to confusion over the temperature at which the French standard should be measured.

Finally, the A=440 Hz became the only official standard, being widely used around the world.. In the UK, many orchestras adhere to this standard as concert pitch. In the US, some orchestras use A=440Hz, while others use A=442Hz. The A=442Hz and the A=443 Hz are usually used as tuning frequency  throught the European continent..



[1] Since the purpose of this blog is to discuss topics on classical piano music, this post aims at musical tuning in non-transposing intruments – the group to which the piano belongs. In this context, the term ‘concert pitch’ refers to the general tuning standard of a non-transposing instrument. However, it is also employed to distinguish between the ‘written’ and ‘sounding’ notes of a transposing instrument. Transposing instruments are the instruments of the woodwind and brass section and some string section instruments. In transposing instruments, music is transposed into different keys from that of non-transposing instruments. Therefore,   a written C on a Bclarinet actually sounds a B. In this case, the Bis called ‘concert B’.
For further information on transposing instruments, see  Kennan, Kent Wheeler. The Technique of Orchestration, Second Edition. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1970, 1952.

Tuesday 23 October 2012

Scarlatti: Piano Sonata K 141


Before proceeding to an analysis of the personal compositional style of Scarlatti, I shall expound on the main characteristics of the Baroque Era.

The term ‘Baroque’ was derived from the Portuguese ‘barroco’ (meaning ‘oddly shaped pearl’). It has been used since the XIX century to describe the music produced between 1600 and 1750 in the Western world
.
The comparison to a ‘misshappen pearl’ was drawn by  XIX century critics to define the much ornamented music of composers such as Bach and Haendel.    

The main features of the Baroque Era music were:

1)      Contrast as a dramatic element:
The drama of compositions was largely due to contrast: piano and forte, solos and ensembles (as in concertos) and the use of contrasting instruments and timbres. 

2)      Monody, a less complicated polyphony and the advent of the basso continuo:
Previously, in eras prior to the Baroque period, music tended to consist of a single melody with an improvised accompaniment or a complex polyphony (two or more simultaneous melodic lines). Only in the Baroque Era were the concepts of melody and harmony clearly defined.  Composers started to focus more on either counterpoint (the relationship between voices that are harmonically interdependent - i.e. polyphony - but independent in rhythm and contour) or on a single voice with a simplified accompaniment (monody).  
In addition, with the Baroque Era came the pratice of  basso continuo (or thorough bass) – which, in musical notation, occurs in the form of a bass line written out along with the melody,together with a harmonic filler indicated in a type of shorthand. Due to the widespread pratice of the thorough bass during the Baroque period, the era is sometimes named the ‘age of thorough bass’.  

3)      Performance technique:
Baroque scores hardly ever contain any information about dynamics, ornamentation (usually left as an improvisation of the performer’s or ensemble’s choice) and articulation. Mechanical differences between the harpsichord (the keyboard instrument of that time, whose strings were plucked instead of struck) and the modern piano demanded an adjusting in technique. This also happened to other instruments and their modern corresponding instruments.  

The Baroque Sonata:
The Baroque Sonata was fundamentally different from the Classical Period Sonata (see post on Mozart’s K 448 in D major for two pianos, of October 17, 2012).  Among other forms (such as the sonatas da chiesa), the term sonata was also used to define the over 500 works for harpsichord, and sometimes other keyboard instruments (such as the virginal or the spinet, all created prior to the Classical Period fortepiano –see Annex 1, posted on October 17) by Domenico Scarlatti. Most of them had one single movement, written in binary form[1] . The parts are written in the same tempo, and have the same main theme. Many of them were composed in pairs, one in a major tone and the other in parallel minor. Modulations were more distant than those used for that time, and audacious dissonances were employed. They were usually virtuosistic works.  

Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757) was one of the most relevant composers of the Baroque Era.
Son of the great musician and composer Alessandro Scarlatti, his major contribution to music were his innovative single-movement sonatas for solo keyboard (although he has also written works for a variety of other forms). The Russian piano school has been a major supporter and has broadly divulged his sonatas.
Other features of Scarlatti’s compositional style (particularly in the case of his sonatas for keyboard) were:

a)  rhythmic characteristics: the use of syncopation and crossed rhythms were also very common in his music;

b) The use of the Phrygian mode[2] and other tonal inflexions unusual to European music, as well as of extremely dissonant chord groups,as a consequence of the influence of Spanish traditional folk music.

c) A formal feature which Scarlatti specialist Ralph Kirkpatrick called ‘the crux’ – which very frequently is signalled by a pause or fermata in the middle of the piece. Before ‘the crux’, the sonatas present their main thematic variations; after ‘the crux’, there is an increase in repetitive figurations as it modulates away from the home key (in the first half) or goes back to the home key (in the second half).
Notice, in the piece that follows (The Piano Sonata K141), the nice dissonances used by the composer,  the distant modulations and the innovative way the main theme variations are woven. Finally, observe the length of the piece – compared to that of a typical Classical Period sonata.

A fantastic performance by Scarlatti’s renowned specialist Tharaud. Enjoy!   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ca3WWyL6UE  





[1] A form comprised of two sections, usually repeated (AABB)
[2] ‘Mode’ comprises the concept  of diatonic scale (i.e. seven-note, octave-repeating musical scale formed of five whole steps and two half steps for each octave) and an element of melody type. ‘Mode’ can either have the meaning of ‘particularized scale’ or ‘generalized tune’. In modern western music (from the 18th century onward), the Phrygian mode corresponds to the modern natural minor musical musical mode, also known as Aolian mode; however, it differs from the Aolian in its second scale degree, which is a half step lower.  

Sunday 21 October 2012

Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Cipressi op.17



Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895-1968) was one of the most productive Italian Modern (or Avant-Garde) composers. His major works were for the guitar, but he also composed for many other genres – including piano music, chamber music, vocal and choir music, and symphonic music. After fleeing to the United States, in 1939, to escape Nazi persecution, he started writing scores and soundtracks for Hollywood’s major studios. He wrote over 250 film scores.

Castelnuovo-Tedesco got his degrees on piano and composition from the Florence Conservatory, having studied with Ildebrando Pizzetti and attracted the attention of composer,  pianist and conductor Alfredo Casella. 

 The composer’s works were influenced by a number of styles – comprising Impressionism, neo-Classicism (hence the melodic characteristic of his style,  in times when anything that was not  ‘progressive’ was considered ‘outdated’ or ‘reactionary’ ) and, briefly, Serialism[1]. However, he was reluctant towards aligning himself categorically with any of those trends (many times associating his own music to neo-Romantic influences), stating: 

'I have never believed in modernism, or in neoclassicism, or any other isms. I believe that music is a form of language capable of progress and renewal (and I myself believe that I have a feeling for the contemporary and, therefore, am sufficiently modern). Yet music should not discard what was contributed by preceding generations. Every means of expression can be useful and just, if it is used at the opportune moment (through inner necessity rather than through caprice or fashion). The simplest means are generally the best. I believe that my personality was formed to a decisive degree quite early, but what I have sought to do, during my artistic evolution, has been to express myself with means always simpler and more direct, in a language always clearer and more precise.'
 
In the following piece, notice the subtle influence of Serialism in the first systems of the piece, and all along towards its end, a clear tinge of neo-Romanticism, and Impressionist hues.

Performed by Hamelin. Enjoy!

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itL4WGzzGTs&feature=related


[1] ‘Serialism’ is a compositional method which emerged in the 1920’s, with the dodecaphonism or 12-tone music of Arnold Schönberg – which was one of the two types of serialism, namely Dodecaphonism and Total Serialism. In Dodecaphonism, only one element or aspect of music – i.e., pitch – is serialized (arranged according to a series of numerical patterns). In Total Serialism, all elements of music – i.e pitch, note length, volume and timbre – are serialized. However, this does not mean that the serial music composer would pick numbers randomly and try to make music with them; the great challenge was to make serial music that had some degree of sense (unlike ‘indeterminism’, or total randomness). Finally, as the listener is exposed to serial music, he can only perceive unrepeated and unpredictable music ‘events’, which follow one after the other in an apparently random way. The result is very complex, and if it is ever understood, this could only be after many listenings.