Contemporary Classics October 30, 2018 - Foreign Composers in Paris in the 1920s: Chamber Music

Paris in the 1920s was a place that composers from other countries flocked to so that they could study with composing instructors such as Nadia Boulanger.  So tonight we will be celebrating the music of composers who came to Paris in the 1920s and music they composed there or was inspired by their time in Paris with a focus on chamber music.

The first work this evening is Igor Stravinsky’s Octet for Wind Instruments.  Stravinsky was in Paris escaping first Czarist Russia and then the Russian Revolution.  Written in 1922 and premiered in 1923, the Octet had a more complicated origin than writings by Stravinsky would suggest. According to Stravinsky, he composed the Octet fairly rapidly in 1922. After completing the first movement, he composed the waltz that would become the fourth variation of the middle movement. Only after composing this waltz did the idea come to him that it might be a good subject for a variation movement. The seventh variation, a fugato, especially pleased Stravinsky, and the following third movement grew out of this final variation.   However other evidence would suggest that the waltz was actually composed at least in part back in 1919 and the fugato was composed in January of 1921.  The Octet is for an unusual combination of flute, 2 clarinets in B♭ and A, two bassoons, 2 trumpets in C & A, tenor trombone, and bass trombone. The Octet is in three movements: Sinfonia (Lento—Allegro moderato); Tema con variazioni (Andantino) and Finale (Tempo giusto).    The thematic and rhythmic materials of the three movements are interrelated, and the second movement a theme and variation connects to the third without a break with the fugato- the final variation.

The Movement for String Quartet of Aaron Copland lay forgotten for many years until it was found among the composer's manuscripts at the Library of Congress by his biographer, Vivian Perlis. It was written and probably performed, according to Perlis, between 1921 and 1924 while Copland was studying with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. The single movement was approved for performance and publication by the composer after its rediscovery in the early 1980's. It was finally published in 1988 and carries a dedication to Vivian Perlis.   The Movement sheds important light on the development of Copland's mature style, and in its own right it is a very successful work. One has to marvel at the suavity of the piece, its compelling at how easily and well the sections (slow-fast-slower) fit together, and its general compositional precocity.     

Heitor Villa-Lobos’ The Quinteto (em forma de chôros) is a chamber-music composition by the Brazilian was written in 1928 and it premiered on March 14,1930 at the Salle Chopin in Paris.  It was written at the same time he was working on his set of 14 choros some of which we will hear later in this show. The Quintet consists of a loose succession of five large sections played continuously, each of which can be parsed into smaller subsections. The change from one large section to the next is marked by a decided change of texture and tempo.  A free rhythmic organization, reflected by frequent changes of metre and tempo and reinforced by a deliberate tonal freedom, produces a quality of spontaneity.            

Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Quatuor for Grande Flute, Oboe, Clarinet & Bassoon     The quartet was also written in 1928 when Villa Lobos was in Paris.  The quartet has some of the most arresting writing for music he composed in France. The opening motifs, so powerful and also teasing embrace Bachian tints and a popular dance rhythm – all fused with adroit logic and warmth. It is in 3 movements: Allegro Non Troppo, Lento  and Allegro Molto Vivace.  And there’s plenty of "space" in the finale which, though marked Allegro molto Vivace, has room to breathe and to phrase freely rather than being overly rushed.  

Heitor Villa-Lobos composed the Chôros bis for violin and cello in Paris in 1928–29, and they were first given a private performance on June 29, 1929 before the public premiere on 14 March 1930 at the Salle Chopin, Paris, as part of the Festival de Musique Moderne, in a concert that also included the world premiere of the Quinteto (em forma de chôros) heard earlier in this program.  These two short movements Moderé & Lent – animé were not originally intended as part of the series of fourteen Chôros but, as their characteristics are similar to most of those compositions. Villa-Lobos proposed them as an "encore", in case such a thing might be required following a complete performance of the entire series of 14 choros.   

Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Chôros No. 2 is a duet for flute and clarinet written in 1924. It is part of a series of fourteen numbered compositions collectively titled Chôros, ranging from solos for guitar and for piano up to works scored for soloist or chorus with orchestra or multiple orchestras. Chôros No. 2 is the shortest in the series. The work is in a single, short movement without a definite key centre. Changing tempos articulate the movement into four sections: Pouco movido, Muito vagaroso, Pouco movido – Pouco meno and Tempo Primo – Animando.

Bella Bartok also spent time in Paris in the 1920s.  In 1928 he wrote his two Rhapsodies for violin and piano.  Both of which were later transcribed for cello and piano and violin and orchestra. Both rhapsodies exemplify a mode of composition using peasant-music sources, described by Bartók as taking an existing melody and adding an accompaniment together with some introductory or ending material, in such a way that the newly composed matter is strictly secondary—never competing with the folk material for prominence. This was acknowledged in the scores of the early editions, which bore the subtitle "Folk Dances".  Bartók's objective was to transplant the entire style of Eastern-European fiddle playing into the Western concert context. In order to further this project, he insisted that those performers who premiered his works listen to the original field recordings from which the melodies were transcribed.

Aaron Copland’s Music for the Theatre was composed 1925 following his return home to America after years studying in France with the famous composition teacher Nadia Boulanger. Music for the Theatre is a five-movement suite I. Prologue   II. Dance   III. Interlude  IV. Burlesque & V. Epilogue.  Each movement explores several different moods while trying very consciously to create a new American sound. Copland stated that “I was anxious to write a work that would immediately be recognized as American in character.”   While no particular story or plot was involved, Copland said that he chose the title because “the music seemed to suggest a certain theatrical atmosphere.”   It was premiered on November 20, 1925, Boston Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Sergei Koussevitzky.