PINCHAS ZUKERMAN PERFORMS BACH
About the Concert
VIOLIN CONCERTO NO. 1 IN A MINOR
Johann Sebastian Bach
Born in Eisenach, Germany, March 31, 1685; died in Leipzig, Germany, July 28, 1750
In an era when musicians were mere servants of either the church or a princely court, Bach was an early example of a successful musical entrepreneur whose ambition and talent allowed him to jump rapidly from one post to another in the pursuit of higher earnings and greater artistic challenges. In 1717, he made a bold career move— so bold, in fact, that it landed him in jail. For nine years he had been music director at the Weimar ducal court, and during that time, had become one of the most admired organists and composers of organ music in central Europe. But the small princely court at Cöthen deeply attracted him. Prince Leopold was a cultivated ruler who sang well and played several instruments; as Bach described him, he“ not only loved but knew music.” He had an accomplished court orchestra of 17 players, and he was willing to pay considerably more than Weimar was for Bach’ s services. Since Bach had a rapidly growing family( he would eventually sire 20 children), the generous salary was a strong inducement. The downside was that Cöthen practiced the Calvinist faith, which reduced music for religious services largely to unaccompanied hymns; Bach would thus have little opportunity to continue his artistry at the organ. But he would have new challenges creating a rich secular repertoire for Cöthen’ s instrumentalists.
All things considered, Bach decided to accept the post at Cöthen. But he had not considered one important detail: the Duke of Weimar refused to release him from his post. When Bach persisted in making plans for his transfer to Cöthen, the Duke threw his stiff-necked employee in prison. But the jail term lasted only a month before the Duke finally relented and gave the composer a“ dishonorable discharge.”
Bach flourished at Cöthen. Inspired by the Italian masters Vivaldi, Corelli
The BSO
and Torelli, he created many concertos for solo instruments and combinations of instruments. Because these were considered to be one-performance pieces however, only a few remain. Their beauty and craft tantalize us— what other Bach musical treasures have vanished forever? The Violin Concerto in A Minor was written for the Cöthen orchestra sometime between 1718 and 1723. It follows the Vivaldian model of three movements: fast-slow-fast. In the first movement, he contrives a seamless flow of music by choosing not to linger at cadences or by avoiding them altogether. The slow movement is remarkable for its seriousness and introspection as well as its beauty. A weighty ostinato pattern in the bass provides wonderful contrast with the violinist’ s limpid triplet rhythms. The finale, in dancing gigue rhythm, opens with a dense web of fugal counterpoint. Toward the end, the soloist takes an obsessive repeated-note motive and stretches it to the breaking point, creating exciting tension against the orchestra.
Instrumentation: String orchestra and harpsichord continuo.
VERKLÄRTE NACHT( TRANSFIGURED NIGHT)
Arnold Schoenberg
Born in Vienna, Austria, September 13, 1874; died in Los Angeles, CA, July 13, 1951
When Arnold Schoenberg created his remarkable sextet Verklärte Nacht( Transfigured Night) in 1899, program music— or music inspired by extramusical stories or images— was dominating European music. In a culture obsessed with Wagner’ s music dramas and Richard Strauss’ flamboyant tone poems, chamber music had remained the last bastion in which composers could still concern themselves with purely musical issues without poetic or philosophical embellishment. Inspired by the poetry of his contemporary Richard Demel, the 25-year-old Schoenberg finally carried the spirit of program music into the world of chamber music, after first setting eight Demel poems as songs. When the poet wrote to Schoenberg to express his delight after hearing a performance of Transfigured Night, the composer responded:“ Your poems have had a decisive influence on my development as a composer. They were what first made me try to find a new tone in the lyrical mood. Or rather, I found it without even looking, simply by reflecting in music what your poems stirred up in me.”
The poem that stirred up Transfigured Night was“ Zwei Menschen” or“ Two People” from Demel’ s collection Weib und Welt( Woman and World) published in 1896. It detailed a shockingly unconventional love story for that period. Two lovers walk at night“ through the bare cold woods.” The woman soon confesses she is bearing a child, but it is not her companion’ s. In despair and longing for motherhood, she had given herself to a stranger.“ Now life has taken its revenge / Now I met you, you”— the man she truly loves. But the man surprises her with his compassionate response:“ The child that you have conceived / be to your soul no burden, / oh look, how clear the universe glitters! … It will transfigure the strange child.” At peace, they embrace, then continue to walk on through the now-transfigured“ high, bright night.” Transfigured Night was composed in just three weeks in September 1899 while Schoenberg was vacationing in the Austrian countryside with his composition teacher Alexander von Zemlinsky. Undoubtedly, further inspiration came from the presence of Zemlinsky’ s sister,
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