TCCP :: Music

Program Notes

Sept. 11 & 13, 2009 (Notes by Ashley Hassebroek Wegner)
Franz Joseph Haydn: Divertimento a tre for horn, violin and cello
Edwin York Bowen: Quintet in C minor for Horn and String Quartet
Antonin Dvorak: Piano Quintet in A Major, op. 81

Franz Joseph Haydn: Divertimento a tre in E-flat Major, Hob. IV:V (1767)

Chances are, you haven’t heard of this early horn trio unless you’re a horn player. And even then, it might be a long shot.

Haydn’s Divertimento a tre in E-flat Major has been around for a while. It dates back to 1767, around the time when divertimenti were a popular genre among classical composers. However, it wasn’t published until 1957, almost 200 years later. Despite its years of evading the chamber music radar, this horn trio is definitely worthy of our attention today.

The trio is scored for a horn, violin and cello and is comprised of a short theme and variations. It is believed that it was originally written for one of the horn players in the Esterhazy orchestra, for which Haydn composed for nearly 30 years. However, the original manuscript was recently sold at auction, and the catalogue note from Sotheby’s indicates the piece may have been composed for Thaddeus Steinmüller, the orchestra’s principal horn player, or Johann Prinster, another horn player to whom Haydn was closely connected. In any event, whomever it was written for was a skilled player, based on the virtuosity required.
As the name implies, divertimenti are diversions. They were generally light-hearted works intended to be performed at social functions as entertainment pieces.

What makes this particular piece so entertaining is the horn part. As in many of Haydn’s symphonic works, the horn part in this trio is strenuous. The work’s entire duration is essentially eight minutes of unforgiving horn demands, technical acrobatics and furious passagework. In addition, the score calls for notes ranging nearly four octaves from a low B-flat to a high E-flat, and the cadenza includes a high F, a remarkable request of even the most versatile players. This work was definitely written for a player with stamina, with its soaring high range and flexibility in the bass clef. The advent of valves—a luxury horn players did not have when this work was conceived—makes it possible to hear the technical passages with a bit more clarity today. However, the valves themselves do not help the performer through this work’s extreme range. As we shall hear tonight, it’s not the instrument that transforms this obscure gem into a jaw-dropping treat, but the player himself.

Edwin York Bowen: Quintet in C minor for Horn and String Quartet, op. 85 (1927)

By most measures, Edwin York Bowen would be considered a musician’s musician. He loved not only performing but also composing music.

And by most measures, he was very good at both. The English composer, born in 1884 in north London, had a career that lasted more than 50 years and yielded more than 160 compositions. He had great success during the early years of composing before World War I; however, by the late 1920s, his romantic style lost its luster in many music circles and was considered outdated. Yet, despite losing favor, Bowen never lost his love for performing and writing music.

Ironically, many music lovers today do not know much about this English-born musician’s musician, not because he wasn’t good but because many of his manuscripts were never published. Not getting published generally means not getting performed.

Tonight, we are fortunate to hear a quintet that was in fact published. His Horn Quintet in C minor, op. 85, was written in 1927, near the end of Bowen’s “popular” period. The work was first performed on February 16, 1927, by horn player Aubrey Brain and the Virtuoso Quintet at the Kensington Music Club at Kensington Town Hall. This three-movement work is characteristic of Bowen’s romantic style, influenced by the likes of Chopin, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff. The piece is big, with grand romantic flourishes and atmospheric moments, and also remarkably original and inventive.

As is true with most of Bowen’s compositions, this colorful, showy quintet features the horn—an instrument Bowen played—in the limelight. The four strings essentially play an accompanying role. Bowen was known throughout his career for bringing a “player’s perspective” to compositions for instruments he knew how to play—the piano, the viola, the organ and the horn. For example, many of his piano works incorporate difficult technical feats aimed at improving the pianist’s technique. This quintet reflects his fondness for the horn, which he studied as a secondary instrument at the Royal Academy. It also reflects his tendency to write for artists of whom he knew and admired—in this case, his friend and horn player Aubrey Brain. Bowen was good friends with the Brain family—Aubrey and his son Dennis Brain—and wrote a number of compositions for these two men throughout his career.

The horn part presents a significant challenge for the soloist, as it written to complement Aubrey Brain’s greatest strengths. The horn player is called to execute a wide range of notes, some quick fingers and facile techniques. The piece also offers a lyrical, almost vocal approach, a technique for which Brain was greatly esteemed.

Because Bowen was known throughout his career for staying true to a specific style, this particular piece offers great insight into his entire repertoire and his place in music history as a notable early 20th-century composer. Thankfully, this piece was also published, making it possible to enjoy it more than 80 years after its first performance.

Antonin Dvorak: Piano Quintet No. 2 in A Major, op. 81 (1887)

If chamber music was ranked like pop music is today, Dvorak’s Piano Quintet No. 2 in A Major would probably be a “Top 40 Hit.”

The quintet, composed in 1887, is grandiose. It’s virtuosic. It combines the composer’s personal form of expressive lyricism with elements of Czech folk music. Besides that, the 40-minute work is tremendously well regarded, so well that it is considered by many to be one of three masterpieces of the piano quintet form (the other two are quintets by Schumann and Brahms). All three works offer lush string quartet orchestration coupled with the mighty sounds of a grand piano. The scale is great, the melodies are catchy and the virtuosity is magnificent. And although the other two quintets are equally significant, Dvorak’s work is considered by many to be the best of the three.

Whether it lives up to its reputation is, of course, up to the listener.

The opening Allegro, ma non tanto, is lyrical, forceful and memorable. The cello introduces the first melody, one that is heard again and again throughout the piece. Later on, the viola introduces another more complicated motif that is repeated and developed by the violins until the movement finishes in a flourish.
The second movement, Dumka: Andante con moto, has what many believe are the finest colors in the entire quintet. The form, Dumka, was originally used in Dvorak’s Dumky piano trio. It offers a slow, somber theme that is interrupted by quick, lively interludes, reminiscent of a folk dance. Every time the melancholy theme returns, its texture and colors are enhanced and enriched.

This rich movement is followed by an invigorating Scherzo. A quick Bohemian folk dance, featuring furious cello and viola pizzicato underneath a violin solo, gets our attention at the beginning. This fury is paused temporarily for a slower, lighter trio section. The movement ends with the return of the boisterous folk dance, which prepares us for the conclusion.

This epic work’s Finale is full of energy and brimming with spirit. Besides that, it has a bit of everything that makes Dvorak so masterful. We hear a polka, a chorale, as well as Dvorak’s signature Czech-infused style. The movement’s variety and technical requirements make it a workout for the musicians, and a smorgasbord for the listener. As the movement ends in a rambunctious accelerando, you might agree with the scholars that this work is, indeed, not only one of Dvorak’s greatest feats, but also a “Top 40 Hit” of the form.