ERIC HARRISON, HOST:
Good afternoon and thanks for tuning in to Little Rock Public Radio and Classical KLRE-FM, 90.5. I'm Eric Harrison, I write about arts and culture at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and I’ll be your host for the next two hours.
You're listening to ‘Major and Minor Masterpieces,’ where we will focus each week on a broad range of classical music, from chamber music to choral works to full symphonies and maybe even a touch or two of opera.
In today’s show we focus on pieces for small woodwind ensembles by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Charles Gounod, Darius Milhaud and Antonin Dvorak.
Mozart composed more than a dozen serenades — the most popular, probably, being the No. 13 for strings, best known as “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.”
Serenades belong to a class of works, also known as “divertimentos,” “cassations” and “notturnos,” intended for light entertainment and/or “background” music for court functions, including dinner music and outdoor occasions.
Mozart’s Serenade No. 10 for 13 winds, known as the “Gran Partita,” owes its existence to the predilection of Austrian Emperor Joseph II for the sound of wind instruments.
The origins of this seven-movement piece are in question, but mozart wrote it in or around 1784 for the unusual combination of 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 basset horns (a larger and lower-pitched cousin of the clarinet), 2 bassoons, 4 horns and the (non-wind) double bass. (One interesting side note: This is the piece in the movie “Amadeus” that Mozart is supposed to be conducting when we, and central character Antonio Salieri, first encounter him.)
The Orchestra of St. Luke’s and conductor Sir Charles Mackerras bring us this performance.
(WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART’S “GRAN PARTITA”)
You have heard the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras, perform the Serenade No. 10 for 13 winds, the “Gran Partita,” in B-flat major, K.361, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart on Major and Minor Masterpieces, here on Little Rock Public radio and classical KLRE-FM. 90.5.
Charles Gounod composed his "Little Symphony for Nine Winds” in 1885, modeling it after Mozart’s wind serenades but adding a flute to a wind octet (that’s pairs of oboes, bassoons, clarinets and horns) in honor of the friend who commissioned it, flutist Paul Taffanel.
Gounod opens his first movement with a slow introduction, similar to those of Haydn, followed by an Allegretto. The added flute part surfaces in the second movement. The third-movement scherzo — that’s an Italian word meaning “joke,” and this is a jolly one — is based on a hunting theme, with a lively fourth movement finale.
This performance is by the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Christopher Hogwood.
(CHARLES GOUNOD’S “PETITE SYMPHONY”)
The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and conductor Christopher Hogwood has performed Charles Gounod’s Petite Symphony for winds. You’re listening to Major and Minor Masterpieces on Little Rock Public Radio and classical KLRE-FM, 90.5. I’m your host, Eric Harrison of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
(SOUNDBITE OF WOJCIECH “BOITEG” CIESLINKSKI’S “FIRST VIOLIN”)
—PROGRAM BREAK—
[EDUCATIONAL SEGMENT]
SARAH BUFORD, PRODUCER:
Hey listeners, welcome back to Major and Minor Masterpieces. I’m your producer, Sarah Buford, and it's time for our show’s little educational session, in which we break down some of the terminology we use when describing classical music and its history.
Over the course of recording several of these shows, I noticed you, Eric, occasionally mention the tempo marking on the pieces of music or movements of larger works. "Tempo" is similar to the word for pace, yes? What words do we usually use to signify a slower pace or faster pace?
ERIC HARRISON, HOST:
Yes, Sarah, “tempo” is the Italian word for “time,” and it means the speed at which the composer indicates how the piece of music should be played. Like most musical terms, the most commonly used terms are in Italian — from very slow, “Largo,” “Lento” or “Grave” (the latter means heavy or, frankly, “grave”), through “Adagio” (slow, or tranquil), “Andante” (at a “walking” pace), “Allegro” (brisk or lively) and “Presto” (fast).
There are gradations in between so a composer can indicate more or less: for example,“Adagietto,” “Andantino,” “Allegretto” and, if you want the piece to really fly, “Prestissimo” (meaning pretty much as fast as possible).
Composers can also qualify tempo markings with descriptive words like “Assai” or “Molto” (both Italian for “very”) or “poco” (just a little bit); another example: “Allegro ma non troppo” (“allegro, but not too much”). A specific example: Beethoven famously marked the first movement of his Fifth Symphony, and that of several other pieces, “Allegro con brio” — fast with vivacity, fire or energy.
Composers often also use qualifying terms like “maestoso” (Italian for majestic), “con moto” (with movement), “vivace” (lively) and “cantabile” (“song-like”).
German composers in the mid- to late 19th century started putting their tempo markings in German. Gustav Mahler, for example, designated the tempo for the first movement of his First Symphony as “Langsam. Schleppend” (“Slow. Dragging”), the second as “Kraft bewegt, doch nicht zu schnell” (“With powerful movement, but not too fast”) and the turbulent finale as “Sturmisch bewegt” (“with violent movement”).
Beethoven was probably the first composer to specify just how fast he wanted his music played with metronome markings — a metronome is like a clock, originally based on the principle of the pendulum, which measures the equal beats of a piece of music as a guide to players. A metronome marking of 60 indicates one beat per second, 120 twice as fast and 240 twice as fast as that. Beethoven contemporary and collaborator Count Maelzel is generally considered the inventor (and Beethoven paid a slightly mocking tribute by making the second movement of his Eighth Symphony sound like a metronome). Before that, and even to a certain degree today, interpreting tempos is still the province of the player or, in the case of an orchestra, the conductor.
SARAH: So what I'm hearing is that the tempo written is usually a suggestion, the original form of the work but if that tempo is intentionally changed by a different conductor. It is accepted.. accepted as that conductor's own interpretation?
ERIC: Yes!
SARAH: Excellent. How "timely", Eric! (or other vocab joke here). Now back to more Major and Minor Masterpieces.
[END OF EDUCATIONAL SEGMENT]
(SOUNDBITE OF WOJCIECH “BOITEG” CIESLINKSKI’S “FIRST VIOLIN”)
ERIC: From the 11th to the 15th centuries, when the Troubadours flourished in Southern France, one of the most famous of the ‘Cours d’amour’ was that of King Rene of Provence (1409-1480).
Living in Aix-en-Provence, he was so beloved by his subjects that even today, many centuries after his death, his name remains so popular, and the memory of his art so existent, that the people of the town feel that he could simply step down from the pedestal of the statue erected to his memory and speak to them.
There was a place, very sunny and windless in winter, where he was accustomed to go every day. This place, now a sort of a main boulevard, is still known as ‘the chimney of King Rene.’
This performance by the Philadelphia Orchestra Wind Quintet is from a Columbia recording from approximately 1960, recently re-released by Sony Classical. The orchestra’s principal woodwind players at the time were John DeLancie, oboe; Robert F. Cole, flute; Anthony Giglioti, clarinet; Sol Schoenbach, bassoon; Mason Jones, horn.
(DARIUS MILHAUD’S “LA CHEMINEE DU ROI RENE”)
You have heard the Philadelphia Orchestra Wind Quintet perform Darius Milhaud’s “La Cheminee du Roi Rene” on a Columbia recording, circa 1960, recently released as part of a 12-disc set by Sony Classical.
Czech composer Antonin Dvorak wrote two serenades, of which the opus 22 for strings is by far the most popular and most frequently played.
As Mozart did, Dvorak supplemented the lineup for his op.44 wind serenade in d minor — two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, contrabassoon and three horns — with low strings (cello and double bass). It, too, is reminiscent of the serenades Mozart wrote a century earlier.
Dvorak composed it in two weeks, the first movement in one day, in 1878, about the same time he was writing his first set of “Slavonic Dances.” He opens with a stately march that he brings back in the finale and, as with many of his chamber works, employs Czech folk-dance rhythms throughout.
Let’s hear the conductorless Orpheus Chamber Orchestra play Dvorak’s Serenade for Winds in a 2008 recording on Deutsche Gramophone.
(ANTONIN DVORAK’S “SERENADE FOR WINDS”)
You’ve heard the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra perform Antonin Dvorak’s Serenade for Winds in d minor, op.44 on Major and Minor Masterpieces here on Little Rock Public Radio and classical KLRE-FM, 90.5.
(SOUNDBITE OF WOJCIECH “BOITEG” CIESLINKSKI’S “FIRST VIOLIN”)
Thanks for tuning in this week to Major and Minor Masterpieces. I've been your host, Eric Harrison, of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Our producer is Sarah Buford. And a big thank you to our friend Wojciech Chiselinski for our transition and credit music.
Tune in again next week for more Major and Minor Masterpieces on Little Rock Public Radio and classical KLRE-FM, 90.5.