Week 7 : Concerto

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Beethoven's other concertos

The Triple concerto in C major op. 56 1803 à For violin, cello and piano and orchestra. A fusion of the concerto with the popular chamber music, the piano trio. He wrote it for Archduke Rudolph. From oneof his most productive and highly experimental periods. In 1803 he completed the “Kreutzer” Sonata op. 47 (a different fusion of concerto and chamber music elelments. Like a double concerto for piano and violin without orchestra). The “Waldstein” sonata was also composed during this time.

The triple concerto is very long and is a drawback as he shares the material between instruments rather than develops it in his usual manner. Themes not interesting to be stated and restated. The slow movement is short and linked to the finale.

 

Choral Fantasy

Chorus, orchestra and solo piano. Precursor to Sym. 9 choral finale. One movement piece. Chorus used as the climax (like in the ninth).Begins with the solo piano in an improvisatory fantasia of three to four minutes long. He improvised this at the first performance.

 

Schumann's other concertos

The cello concerto a minor 1850

•  His is the first cello concerto by a major composer since haydn's D major concerto of 1781.

•  The first two movements emphasizes the cello's songful quality. The orchestra rarely plays without the soloist. Lyricism is the focus rather than virtuosity. The cello's main theme is accompanied thinly with strings. Chamber like textures.

•  All three movements are joined without pause. The slow movement is short but the most attractive and in ternary form.

•  The finale repeats a small rhythmic idea which at first is attractive and then grows dull.

•  The only cadenza is located in the final movement and is accompanied. The cello is in its lower to middle register.

 

Schumann's Concertstück for Four Horns F major, op. 86 1849

•  In the same year he composed Fantasiestück for Clarinet and piano and three Romances for oboe and piano. In three different works he favored the horn; Adagio and Allegro for horn and piano, op. 70; Five hunting songs for male voices and four optional horns, op. 137, and the concertstück for four horns and large orchestra in F major.

•  The orchestra is expanded to include piccolo and three trombones. Woodwinds often double the solo horn parts to add color and texture.

•  Striking contrast between the horn sonority and the orchestra. Solo passages demanding.

•  Three connected movements with a brief pause between the first and second movements.

•  Unified by Thematic recollection. The long theme from the middle of the second movement appears in the finale.

 

Dvorak's Cello Concerto in b minor op. 104 1894-95

Brahms “ Had I known that such a violoncello concerto as that could be written, I could have tried to compose it myself.”

•  Considered the greatest works in the cello concerto literature. Composed at the end of his three year visit to the United states . The other symphonic work was the New World Symphony op. 95 1893 with its spirituals, songs of Stephen Foster and songs of native Americans. The cello concerto is drawn more from European models.

•  Inspired by Victor Herbert and his playing of his own Cello Concerto no. 2 which emphasized the cello's upper range. Herbert scored the trombones with the solo cello which probably influenced Dvorak to use low brass in his concerto.

•  Powerful yet still intimate overall.

•  Used traditional forms unlike in his violin concerto.

•  A strong dark mood and two important contrasting motives are established in the concerto's opening. The darkness is due to key, chromatic inflections and effective use of orchestra. Unison clarinets in their low register gives the initial motive accompanied by soft low strings. Unison bassoons enter an octave below clarinets and the timpani softly rolls adding to the texture at the end of the phrase.

•  Rhythm is based on folk like structure.

•  The opening idea undergoes Thematic transformation à solo cellist rhythmic diminution and spiccato bowing giving a folk spirit. In the development an unexpected shift to A flat minor gives a meditative treatment to the main theme. Solo flute joins solo cello.

•  Drum motive unites the work and appears In the second and third movements at important moments.

•  II. Adagio à G major triple meter and in ternary form. New thematic ideas are subtly added to give the impression of one long lyrical statement. He uses the woodwinds to establish a strong pastoral atmosphere. The sigh motive, initially heard in the first movement is elaborated by the soloist and orchestra. There is a stormy middle section in g minor and then calms down for the Cellos transformation fo the “Leave me Alone” song theme with clarinet obbligato part. The storm returns and repeats the song theme in b minor and the clarinets and bassoons play the theme in thirds while the cello plays an arpeggiated accompaniment in its high register.

•  The finale is a rondo possessing many melodic ideas. The main theme is a march tuen in b minor. Three episodic sections separate the rondo theme statements. The first being short, the second uses cantabile style ideas in an aba structure, and the third is in G major and moderate tempo using a new Slavic styled theme in the solo instrument. Slavic à repeated ascending fourths.

•  The andante coda uses themes from all three movements. Muted trumpet gives an nostalgic air to the rondo theme. Clarinets recall the opening of the first movement and the solo violin plays the “Leave me Alone” song.

 

Weber's Clarinet and Bassoon concertos

Concertino for Clarinet and orchestra in E flat major

•  He wrote the Concertino for Clarinet and orchestra in E flat major in Munich and was so successful that the King commissioned two full concertos for his virtuoso clarinetist, Heinrich Baermann.

•  The concertino is the most spontaneous of all three clarinet works possibly because he doesn't employ the sonata allegro form. This is his most successful.

•  He uses the clarinet in its different registers.

•  Slow introduction in C minor followed by a theme in E flat major with three variations separated by orchestral interludes.

•  The fast final section begins as if another variation but uses new material and is rhapsodic in structure.

 

Weber's 2Clarinet Concertos

The first movements begin with orchestral ritornellos. The slow movements and finales are the best.

Concerto No. 2 finale has some of the most demanding clarinet passages in the literature.

Makes use of the lower registers of the Clarinet

Accompaniment has striking features—slower passages where violas divided in thirds and accompany the low register clarinet.

Both in the Clarinet concerto and the Bassoon, he pits the solo against a soft chorale like chords in the horns.

Weber's Bassoon concerto 1811

High register used in effective ways

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