Four Centuries of Great Music January 15, 2023 Chamber Music That Must Be Programmed Episode 2

Lets begin today’s Four Centuries of Great Music with American composer Julia Frances Smith.  Texan born and raised, pianist, conductor, composer and musicologist Julia Frances Smith is best known for her operas and orchestral music.  Her opera Daisy, based upon the life of  Juliette Gordon Low, the founder of the Girl Scouts which should endear her to Savannah audiences.   Smith was highly active in helping to promote the cause of women composers in the US and organized concerts of works composed by her colleagues.  But she also composed a considerable amount of chamber music and we are opening today’s Four Centuries of Great Music with her “Trio Cornwall”


The Trio Cornwall dates from 1966 and is named for Cornwall on the Hudson in New York State where the composer heard bird calls which she used as thematic material for the work, especially in the first movement.  It is in three movements, the opening Allegro giusto is a bouncy melodic piece that is quite appealing. It has the feel of the New England School of composers, such as Beach, Foote, Chadwick and others.   A Theme and Variations comes next and has an early American children’s melody as its theme. The variations are ingenious with a blues-like episode and rumba interlude of particular note. The boisterous and playful finale, Allegro quasi rondo, resembles the first movement in spirit although it is punctuated by an occasional moody interlude before concluding with a catchy hoe-down coda.


John Knowles Paine is known as the founder of the Boston Six set of composers and for the  First Symphony in 1876 and the Second in 1880 are often seen as marking the effective beginning of the American symphonic tradition.    Paine was born in Portland Maine and received his musical education primarily in Germany.  When he returned from Germany he moved to Boston and began  conversations with Harvard's president, Charles Eliot Norton, of the importance of musical studies in a university, and in 1873 Paine was named assistant professor of music. Immediately after his Harvard appointment, he entered a particularly prolific period, turning out in quick succession the Symphony No. 1 and the Violin Sonata in B minor (1875), an overture to As You Like It and a symphonic poem on The Tempest (1876), the Duo Concertante for violin, cello, and orchestra (1877), and the Symphony No. 2 (1879).  And it was in this role as a Harvard professor, he was able to assemble the group of composers known as the Boston Six.  And we will be having music by each of these composers in future shows

John Knowles Paine’s Violin Sonata in B minor, OP. 24 is in 3 movements: I. Allegro appassionata; II. Larghetto teneramente and III. Allegro vivace.

Since he was trained in Germany, he was heavily influenced by the music of the early Romantics such as Schumann and Mendelssohn. His music followed that style, at least at the time when he composed this very attractive and solidly conceived sonata.


Today on Four Centuries of Great Music we are continuing our series on Chamber Music Works That Need to Be Programmed.  

Back in 2021 I chatted with Karla Donehew Perez, violinist in the Catalyst Quartet on my show Evening Eclectic about the Catalyst Quartet’s first album of a series of albums entitled “Uncovered” which features music by black composers.  One of the pieces on that album was Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Quintet in F sharp minor for Clarinet and Strings, Op. 10.  It is in 4 movements I. Allegro energico;  II. Larghetto affettuoso;  III. Scherzo  and  IV. Finale.   The composition of Coleridge-Taylor’s Clarinet Quintet was inspired by his hearing Johannes Brahms’ Clarinet Quintet, composed in 1891 and premiered late that year in Berlin. Coleridge-Taylor promptly composed his own Clarinet Quintet.  Although inspired by Brahms, it is clear that musically Antonin Dvořák is the inspiration.   Melodic turns are of a folkish bent—the opening themes of the first, second, and fourth movements, for example—and harmonies that can veer modal. We often think of Dvořák as an inspiration for African-American composers at the turn of the twentieth century, but here we are reminded of his similar influence on a remarkable Anglo-African composer.  If Dvorak had written a clarinet quintet, it might not have been far different from this. The opening highly rhythmic, upbeat Allegro energico at first begins in a dark vein but its energy prevents the music from brooding. One especially hears Dvořák's influence in the lovely second movement, Larghetto affectuoso, which recalls the slow movement of the New World Symphony. A scherzo, Allegro leggiero, follows. The first theme is optimistic and characterized by its rhythm, while a dreamy second theme provides a fine contrast. Again in the exciting finale Allegro agitato, we hear the influence of Dvořák—this is created by the choice of rhythm and not so much by the melody which is not Slavic.


Guillermo Uribe Holguín was a Colombian composer and violinist and one of the most important Colombian cultural figures of his generation. He composed prolifically in many genres and founded the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia.  He was trained in Columbia and France, the latter studying with Vincent D’Indy.  His music before 1930 is heavily influenced by this time in France.  Today we will be listening to his Sonata for viola and piano, Op. 24 written in 1924.  It is in 3 movements I. Tranquilo;  II. Vivo assai and  III. Allegro non troppo
 

We are going to close today’s Four Centuries of Great Music - which is the second episode of the series Chamber Music Works That Need to Be Programmed with two works by William Grant Still, his Suite for Violin & Piano and his Lyric Quartet

William Grant Still Jr. (May 11, 1895 – December 3, 1978) was an American composer of nearly two hundred works, including five symphonies, four ballets, nine operas, over thirty choral works, plus art songs, chamber music and works for solo instruments. Born in Mississippi, he grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas where his family and the family of Florence Price were neighbors. He attended Wilberforce University and Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and was a student of George Chadwick (of the New England School of composers & Boston 6) and later, Edgard Varèse.  Because of his close association and collaboration with prominent African-American literary and cultural figures, Still is considered to have been part of the Harlem Renaissance.  Still was often referred to as the "Dean of Afro-American Composers,” a term that he dislike saying that Copland is never referred to as the dean of Jewish American composers.


William Grant Still: Suite for Violin & Piano: I. African Dancer
II. Mother and Child
III. Garmin
The Violin Suite, dedicated to Louis and Annette Kaufman, is a musical impression of three works of art. African Dancer is a stunning bronze statue by Richmond Barthé displayed at the Whitney Museum in
New York. Mother and Child is a poignant colored lithograph by Sargent Johnson housed at San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art. Gamin is a sassy bronze bust by Augusta Savage at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. These works were featured in The Negro in Art, a book published in 1940 by Alain Locke, philosopher and leader of the Harlem Renaissance, who was Still’s friend and champion. This book so impressed Edith Halpert, a Russian-Jewish refugee, visionary, and art promoter, that she contacted Locke, proposing to host an exhibit in her Downtown Gallery in New York. On December 8, 1941, the day after the Japanese bombing
of Pearl Harbor, the exhibit opened, the first major commercial showing of African American art in New York, which included works of Barthé, Johnson, and Savage.  Halpert’s keen eyes, enthusiasm, and negotiating skills led to the purchase and presence of these works in prestigious collections and museums. Inspired by the artwork of his contemporaries, Still translated them into music with verve, tenderness, and charm.


Lyric Quartet was composed in 1960, and was dedicated to Still’s friend, Joachim Chassman. Set into three movements subtitled “Musical Portraits of Three Friends”, the quartet takes the listener on a personal journey.

In the first movement Subtitled ‘The Sentimental One’, the opening unison creates a warmth between the quartet’s timbres. Throughout much of this movement the ensemble plays as a unit of sound, which creates ripples of music. The style in which this movement is written showcases Still’s more sensitive style of writing, which is highlighted through the textures and rhythms of the music. The lack of big dramatic changes and the familiarity and warmth of the style accentuates the nostalgia and tenderness of this sentimental friend and the effect they had on the composer. The music resolves on the final chord to, ending this sentimental movement quietly.
 
The second Movement subtitled The Quiet One again opens with the string quartet in unison paves the road ahead for The Quiet One. Throughout this movement the sweetness of the upper strings sits neatly on top of the warm lower strings, creating perfect harmony between the ensemble. Still uses pizzicato sparingly in this movement to experiment with the timbre, however the movement largely consists of unison arco playing and is Deeply reflective and personal,
 
The last movement, dedicated to ‘The Jovial One’ opens with a playful melody. The most energetic and driven of the three movements, the jovial character is established straight away. Exciting whirling from the upper strings in the central section builds tension as the driving force of the lower strings keeps the music moving along at quite a pace. The bouncy melody, led by the violin at the end, comes to its epic finale.