Program Notes: Pictures at a Exhibition
Simone Dinnerstein, piano soloist for our March 23 concert
Notes on our March 23 program by Ken Meltzer
Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major, Opus 83 (1881)
Johannes Brahms was born in Hamburg, Germany, on May 7, 1833, and died in Vienna, Austria, on April 3, 1897. The first performance of the Piano Concerto No. 2 took place at the Redoutensaal in Budapest, Hungary, on November 9, 1881, with the composer as soloist and Sándor Erkel conducting the Budapest Philharmonic. Approximate performance time is forty-six minutes.
Johannes Brahms completed his First Piano Concerto (D minor, Opus 15) in 1858. The premiere took place the following year. The epic, stormy, and complex work did not easily win public acceptance. Brahms himself was philosophical: “It will please, once I have improved its anatomy, and a second one will sound quite different.” Brahms was correct on both counts, although twenty years would elapse before that Second Concerto materialized.
Brahms first sketched thematic material for his B-flat Concerto in the spring of 1878, following a trip to Italy with his friend, Viennese surgeon, Theodor Billroth. It appears that Brahms did no further work on the Concerto for three years. At the conclusion of another journey to Italy, Brahms resumed composition. Two months later, on July 7, 1881, he completed the score.
In a letter to a friend, Brahms announced, with typically self-deprecating humor, the creation of the epic four-movement Concerto: “I don’t mind telling you that I have written a tiny, tiny, pianoforte concerto with a tiny, tiny, wisp of a scherzo.” A similar letter to the superb pianist, Clara Schumann—widow of composer Robert Schumann—elicited the following response: “I don’t really trust your word ‘little.’ However, I wouldn’t mind a bit (if it were little) because in that case I might even be able to play it myself.”
Brahms forwarded the score of the B-flat Concerto to Billroth on July 11 with the following explanation: “I am sending you enclosed a couple of little pieces for the piano(!)” Billroth replied that very day, comparing the Second Piano Concerto to the First as “that of the grown man to the youth; unmistakably the same, yet in every way sturdier, more mature.”
Brahms was the soloist for the premiere, which took place on November 9, 1881, at the Redoutensaal in Budapest. A few weeks later, Brahms again performed the work at Meiningen, with his friend, Hans von Bülow, conducting. Unlike the D-minor, Brahms’s Second Piano Concerto was an instant success with the critics and public.
Billroth’s comparison of the B-flat Concerto to its predecessor as “that of the grown man to the youth” is quite apt. The D-minor, especially its epic opening movement, is filled with storm and stress. The Second Concerto’s autumnal glow and keen sense of inevitability are hallmarks of the mature Brahms.
Despite their differences of style, the two Brahms Piano Concertos do share a symphonic conception that places them in a special category among 19th-century works. The First Piano Concerto was created from sketches for what Brahms initially planned to be his first symphony. Brahms had no similar aspirations for the B-flat Concerto. Still, the close partnership of soloist and orchestra, as well as the use of four movements (as opposed to the traditional three) prompted critic Eduard Hanslick to term the work “a symphony with piano obbligato.” That, however, is a characterization made by someone who did not have to overcome the supreme technical and interpretive demands placed upon the soloist.
The Concerto’s first movement (Allegro non troppo) opens with a dialogue between the horns and piano, finally leading to the introduction of the principal thematic material. The second movement (Allegro appassionato) is a vigorous scherzo, with a brilliant major-key “trio” section. The slow-tempo third movement (Andante) is based upon a poignant and beautiful melody introduced by the solo cello. Brahms returned to that melody five years later in his melancholy song, Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer (“My Sleep Becomes Ever Lighter”), Opus 105, No. 2. The rondo finale (Allegretto grazioso) offers a deft touch and high spirits virtually throughout, culminating in a grand final statement.
Pictures at an Exhibition (1874) (Orchestrated by Maurice Ravel—1923)
Modest Mussorgsky was born in Karevo, district of Pskov, Russia, on March 21, 1839, and died in St. Petersburg, Russia, on March 28, 1881. The first performance of the Maurice Ravel orchestration of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition (originally composed for piano solo) took place in Paris, France, on May 3, 1923, Serge Koussevitsky conducting. Approximate performance time is thirty-five minutes.
In 1873, the Russian artist Viktor Hartmann died at the age of 39. After Hartmann’s death, the St. Petersburg Society of Architects presented an exhibition of Hartmann’s works. Among the attendees was Hartmann’s dear friend, the Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky.
Mussorgsky was as profoundly impressed with the quality of Hartmann’s works as he was saddened by the sudden loss of a dear friend. Mussorgsky decided to offer a tribute to Hartmann in the form of a musical representation of several of the pieces of art featured at the St. Petersburg exhibit. In 1874, Modest Mussorgsky completed his work for solo piano, Pictures at an Exhibition, published after the composer’s death in 1881.
Conductor Serge Koussevitsky commissioned Maurice Ravel’s orchestration of the Mussorgsky piano composition for the annual Paris Concerts Koussevitsky, where it premiered, to great acclaim, on May 3, 1923. Since that time, the Mussorgsky/Ravel Pictures at an Exhibition has been celebrated as a quintessential showpiece for orchestras and conductors alike. It is one of the most performed and recorded works in the concert repertoire.
Promenade. Allegro giusto, nel modo russico; senza allegrezza, ma poco sostenuto—The Promenade serves as a connecting motif between musical portrayals of the various pictures. Russian music critic Vladimir Stassov described the promenade as depicting the composer “moving now to the left, now to the right, now wandering about aimlessly, now eagerly making for one of the pictures...”
Some of Hartmann’s original artwork on which this piece is based
I. Gnomus. Vivo—Many of Hartmann’s works disappeared during the period between the 1874 St. Petersburg exhibition and Ravel’s 1923 orchestration of Mussorgsky’s composition. And so, there is disagreement as to the exact nature of the picture that inspired this music. In the original piano edition, Stassov describes Hartmann’s work: “A dwarf walks about awkwardly on crooked little legs.” However, Alfred Frankenstein, longtime Music and Art Editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, engaged in a detailed search and study of the original Hartmann pictures. Frankenstein stated: “(t)he picture was a design for a nutcracker in the form of a gnome with huge jaws.”
Promenade—A more introspective statement of the Promenade theme serves as a bridge to the following picture.
II. Il vecchio castello. Andante—The painting depicts an old Italian castle, before which a lute-bearing troubadour stands.
Promenade. Moderato non tanto, pesamente—A brief, weighty restatement of the Promenade leads to:
III. Tuileries. Allegretto non troppo, capriccioso—Mussorgsky’s own subtitle for this section is “Children Quarreling After Play.” The painting depicts the Parisian Tuileries gardens, where children play under the watchful eye of their nurses.
IV. Bydlo. Sempre moderato pesante—“Bydlo” is the Polish word for “cattle.” Hartmann’s watercolor depicts an ox-drawn cart with massive wooden wheels.
Promenade. Tranquillo—A short reprise of the Promenade serves as a bridge to:
V. Ballet of the Chicks in Their Shells. Scherzino. Vivo leggiero—The sketch that inspired this delightful miniature scherzo was made by Hartmann for the ballet, Trilby. It features costumed children impersonating chicks newly emerging from their shells.
VI. Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle. Andante—The title of this section is the creation of Stassov—Mussorgsky’s original reads: “Two Polish Jews; one rich, the other poor.” This episode appears to be based upon a Hartmann drawing of the Sandomir ghetto.
Here, Ravel omits Mussorgsky’s repetition of the Promenade and proceeds to:
VII. The Market Place in Limoges. Allegretto vivo, sempre scherzando—Hartmann’s watercolor portrays the façade of the Limoges Cathedral. Mussorgsky focused on a small portion of the watercolor that shows market women engaged in lively conversation. The quicksilver musical portrayal of their gossip is interrupted by:
VIII. Catacombae, Sepulchrum Romanum. Largo—The painting depicts Hartmann and a friend standing in a Paris catacomb, observing a pile of skulls illuminated by a guide’s lantern. Brass pronouncements alternating loud and soft dynamics lead directly to:
Con mortuis in lingua mortua. Andante non troppo, con lamento—Mussorgsky’s own footnote to this section’s title reads: “A Latin text: ‘With the Dead in a Dead Language.’ Well may it be in Latin! The creative spirit of the departed Hartmann leads me to the skulls, calls out to them, and the skulls begin to glow dimly from within.”
A moment of silence is shattered by:
IX. The Hut on Hen’s Legs (Baba-Yaga). Allegro con brio, féroce—Andante mosso—Allegro molto—Baba-Yaga is a mythical Russian witch who lured victims into her hut. There, Baba-Yaga ground her prey’s bones with a giant mortar that she also used to transport herself through the air. Hartmann’s drawing is a representation of a huge clock in the shape of the witch’s hut that, according to legend, stood on four chicken feet, thereby allowing the quick capture of each new victim. Mussorgsky’s musical portrayal of the witch’s grotesque hut and her flight leads without pause to:
X. The Great Gate of Kiev. Allegro alla breve. Maestoso. Con grandezza—The final picture represented Hartmann’s entry in a competition to erect a gateway in Kiev. The gateway was intended to serve as a memorial to Tsar Alexander II’s escape from assassination. Hartmann envisioned a massive and ornate structure, featuring a cupola in the form of a Slavonic war helmet. Mussorgsky’s music, enhanced by Ravel’s orchestration, evokes the epic grandeur of Hartmann’s design, as well as images of ceremonial processions through the extraordinary gate.