CHAMBER MUSIC PROGRAM NOTES
​by Judith Eckelmeyer

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The Cleveland Museum of Art
The Mozartean Players

Wednesday, September 16, 1987
​Gartner Auditorium

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Program

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)​: Sonata in E minor, K. 304 (300C) for violin and fortepiano
     Allegro
     Tempo de menuetto
    

Ludwig van Beethoven  (1770-1827)​: Sonata in F major, Op. 5, No. 1 for violoncello and fortepiano
     Adagio sostenuto--Allegro
​     Rondo: Allegro vivace

Beethoven​: Trio in C minor, Op. 1, No. 3
     Allegro con brio
     Andante cantabile con variazioni
     Menuetto: Quasi allegro
     Finale: Prestissimo

Beethoven: Trio in B-flat major, Op. 11 for clarinet, violoncello, and fortepiano
     Allegro con brio
     Adagio
     Allegretto (Thema: Pria ch'io l'impegno)
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Program Notes by Judith Eckelmeyer

In late spring of 1778, Mozart, accompanied by his mother, began a journey that would have as its desired outcome a stable and well-paid position for the young composer, where his music would be sought after and rewarded with the income and stability that typically marked the success of a good craftsman and artist. By late spring and early summer, the travelers were in Paris, and Mozart was discovering the realities of an outsider's prospects among the entrenched musicians there. In addition, in the midst of their sojourn in the City of Lights, his mother, Anna Maria Mozart, suffered severe illness and died. The sonatas for piano and violin, K. 301-306, as well as the A-minor piano Sonata, K. 310, stem from this stressful time. The violin and piano Sonatas were dedicated to Princess Maria Elisabeth, wife of the Elector of the Palatinate, upon whom Mozart had begun to pin some hope of eventual employment.

That Mozart produced two minor-key works in this relatively narrow time frame--the E-minor Sonata for piano and violin,  K. 304, and the aforementioned piano sonata--is noteworthy. The force of the so-called Sturm und Drang period that swept through Haydn's symphonic works between 1768 and 1772 was ostensibly past; Mozart's own "little" G-minor Stymphone of 1773 and the recently discovered A-minor Symphony, "Odense," which preceded it, would not find another minor-key symphonic companion until 1788. Indeed, there is a general hiatus in minor-key works from Mozart's output until a spate of them appear about 1782-3 (and again in 1785, 1787-8, and 1791). The D-minor Offertorium, K. 222, of 1775, and the E-minor violin Sonata and the A-minor piano Sonata are the principal anomalies of this nine-year hiatus.

In the E-minor violin Sonata Mozart explores the worlds of drama and expressivity characteristic of the Sturm und Drang works of the early 1770s, yet there is subtlety here that marks this work as being well beyond the early essays into the minor key. Like four other sonatas of the set, this work has only two movements: the first is a typical sonata form; the second is marked "Tempo de menuetto." The first movement opens with an arpeggiated unison statement presented in three different octave ranges by both piano and violin, and at a piano volume; a sub-rosa, conspiratorial tension infuses the melody. A gruff counter statement follows, again in octaves by both instruments, and forte; it consists of scale-wise pitches almost barked out, moving quickly and turning back upon themselves. A descending-scale melody finishes the material in the tonic key. The relative major appears in the guise of a cheerful little dotted-rhythm melody, halting at first, because it is interrupted by short intrusions of the accented, sharp-tongued idea. The working-out of these materials, starting in the piano octaves along, is quite brief. When E minor returns, the violin begins the first theme as a real solo instrument, with the piano providing exciting, agitated German-sixth chords. The movement ends with a coda, the violin reiterating the first theme, again with much agitation in the piano accompaniment. Throughout one becomes aware of high drama, not only with the contrasting themes, but the variety of dynamics that pepper the movement.

The second movement, in 3/4, has the general configuration and grace of a true minuet, as its title would suggest, but as the movement progresses, it becomes clear that Mozart did not structure this like other minuet movements. There are two sections which on the surface function like the typical "minuet-and-trio," but the final result is quite other. The first section, in E minor, offers the first statement of the first theme to the piano and the second statement to the violin with piano accompanying. The "theme" is actually two-layered, with one melody on top, the other--a repeated descending scale like a baroque chaconne (for Paris!--shades of Rameau)--in the bass. After a secondary theme in A major, the E-minor theme is reintroduced by an enormous flourish ad libitum in the piano--definitely not danceable! A little codetta forms a transition to the "trio"--a beguiling, innocent rounded binary in E major. After a brief transition gesture, the E-minor idea returns, but strays from the literal repeat expected of a true "minuet" movement. Instead, the theme is amplified, taken beyond the gentility of the original, extended and inflamed with the drama of the Sturm und Drang to recapture the essence of the first movement.

​The early works of Beethoven on this program come from his early Viennese years, which were a time of ripening and self-definition as a composer. Already acknowledged as a consummate pianist and virtuosic improviser, Beethoven was aware that he stood, in the minds of some (Count Waldstein, among them), as the likely heir to the mantle of Mozart and Haydn as a composer. Indeed, he had made contacts with both of these giants--in 1787 and July 1792 , respectively--to open the possibility of studying with them. Mozart's death in 1791 and Beethoven's proximity to Haydn, when he finally settled in Vienna in November 1792, brought him under the tutorship of perhaps the most widely-revered composer of the time. That Haydn was temperamentally the opposite of Beethoven and artistically the product of a quickly dying court patronage system created circumstances that would impinge considerably on the younger man's musical career for some years.

Beethoven's compositional output for instruments in this early period focused on chamber works involving from one to three performers (The quartets and earliest symphonies and complete concertos in final form appear by 1799 and 1800.). Among these early products are a large number of works for piano alone, or piano and string or woodwind combination. Undoubtedly, one of the aspects of Beethoven's study with Haydn might well have been orchestration, except that by the time Haydn left on his second London journey in January 1794, it appears that the principal matter of Beethoven's work with Haydn was a series of counterpoint lessons in which Beethoven felt Haydn had withheld corrections and guidance. In Haydn's absence, he began extensive systematic counterpoint studies with Albrechtsberger, and also had published the three string trios of Opus 1, which he dedicated to Prince Carl Lichnowsky rather than to Haydn, his teacher. The third of these trios, in C minor, became the bone of contention between Beethoven and Haydn, who heard the work performed upon his return from London. Joseph Kerman summarized the situation in his New Grove article on Beethoven:  

​​...when Haydn heard the Op. 1 trios he praised them but thought the public would not understand or accept the third, in C minor. One suspects that Haydn himself may have been put off by the extremes of tempo, dynamics, texture and local chromatic action in this piece, and still more by the resulting emotional aura. He would not have been the last listener to find something callow and stagey which is to say essentially impersonal, in these insistent gestures of pathos and high drama. Beethoven of course paid no attention to his advice and published increasingly sophisticated C minor items in nearly every one of his composite sets of works over the next eight years...

Without question, Beethoven was forging his career on two fronts in these years--as an increasingly daring composer and as a concert artist. Often the two spheres served each other admirably. His concert tour of spring 1786, for instance, brought him to Berlin, where he appeared a number of times before Friedrich Wilhelm II, King of Prussia, as improviser-entertainer and as a performer of his own works. Among the latter was the pair of cello sonatas, Opus 5, written for the court appearance and dedicated to the king. Beethoven himself played the piano with the king's first cellist, Jean Pierre Duport, as soloist. It is impossible to determine whether the King's reward for the performance, a gold snuff box filled with gold coins, was given on the basis of the composition or the performance; however, a second tour at the end of 1786 suggests that compositional aspects of these sonatas had not overshadowed Beethoven's reputation as a performer.

By 1798 that reputation was still intact, and Beethoven was still performing widely in the same vein as formerly; that is, offering a liberal sprinkling of his own more structured, formal works among the immensely popular virtuosic displays of improvisations (and variations) on known tunes. That variations should have been among the movements of the formal sonatas and trios was, of course, to be expected. In the case of the Trio for piano, clarinet, and cello, Op. 11, this phenomenon is significant, as the last movement is a set of variations on "Pria ch'io l'impegno." Sir George Grove's entry on Beethoven in the revised first edition of the Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1902) provides (from Beethoven's biographers Ries and Thayer) the following:

The Trio for Piano, Clarinet and Cello (op.11), dedicated to the mother of Princess Lichnowsky [that is Countess Maria Wilhelmine von Thun], was published on Oct. 3 [1798]. This is the composition which brought [pianist-composer rival Daniel] Steibelt and Beethoven into collision, to the sad discomfiture of the former. Steibelt had shown him studied neglect until they met at Count Fries's, at the first performance of this Trio, and he then treated him quite de haut en bas. A week later they met again, when Steibelt produced a new Quintet and extemporized on the theme of Beethoven's Finale--an air from Wiegl's Amor marinaro. Beethoven's blood was now fairly up; taking the cello part of Steibelt's quintet he placed it upside down before him, and making a theme out of it played with such effect as to drive Steibelt from the room. Possibly this fracas may account for Beethoven's known dissatisfaction with the Finale.

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​The Sonata in F major for cello and piano, Op. 5, No. 1, is in two movements. The first is essentially a sonata-form with an adagio introduction--but with a return of the Adagio as part of the extended and surprise-laden coda. In this sonata Beethoven was already displaying many of the tendencies that would develop more strongly in future masterpieces: abrupt resolutions to unexpected chords and keys; modulations to and through keys at the third; extended passages of some suspensefulness awaiting resolutions or arrivals at a cadence; rhythmic irregularities and syncopations; and rhythmic and dynamic contrasts and special effects. These traits are markedly present in the first movement, but in somewhat less degree in the merry 6/8 Rondo finale. On the other hand, Beethoven's inexperience with the cello as soloist, the dominance of the piano part, and the almost totally homophonic style of the work are also evident here.


The C-minor Trio, Op. 1, No. 3, is also dominated by the piano and ostensibly follows the tradition of a four-movement plan as well: the first movement is a sonata form; the second, in E-flat major, a rounded-binary theme and five variations; the third, in C minor, a minuet and trio; and the fourth, a sonata form. Beyond these "norms," however, Beethoven has combined an impressive, impassioned, and often curious variety of details by which even today we can sense Haydn's conservative discomfort and Beethoven's own delight in the work. The first movement's sardonic near-waltz is peppered with instances of chromatic progressions; dramatic, sweeping, and overlapping melodic and rhythmic currents; unexpected chords; and plenty of drive. The second and third movements seem stable and innocent enough, but the last movement at lightning speed gives the impression of a mad whirlwind. It opens with a real "rocket" theme, forte, then settles into a breathless theme with a distracting--perhaps deliberately awkward--length of phrase. From there the surprises continue: a built-in cadenza for the piano, dynamic syncopations, highlighted common-tone modulation out of the usual range of related keys, alternations of major and minor progressions in the home key, and a coda that ends, pianissimo, in C major! The piano part also contains a few harbingers of piano sonatas to come, particularly in the closing moments of the last movement.


The Trio for piano, clarinet, and cello, Op. 11, has little in the way of anomaly to consider. However, in that Beethoven wrote the work for B-flat clarinet and then revised the clarinet part for violin, the work is in itself a distinctive member of the early Viennese output. Both versions are virtually identical, with two exceptions at internal cadences in the first movement, where the clarinets chalumeau (lowest) register is briefly exposed. Otherwise, the line lies relatively high throughout the three movements. Structurally the work offers little problem, the first movement being a sonata form; the Adagio second movement a lovely lyrical expression in song form; and the last, as noted above, a set of variations. It is worth noting, however, that in the ninth variation Beethoven presents a canonic treatment of the theme in the longest passage of closed counterpoint to be found in the works on this evening's program.

Judith Eckelmeyer © 1987

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As The Mozartean Player's performance is not available on YouTube, please enjoy these performances:

Mozart's Sonata in E minor, K. 304, (300c)
Henryk Szeryng, violin and Ingrid Haebler, piano

Beethoven's Sonata in F major, Op. 5, No. 1
Katia Michel, Piano and Peter Schmidt, Cello

Beethoven's Trio in C minor, Op. 1, No. 3
ATOS Trio

Beethoven's Trio in B-flat major, Op. 11 for clarinet, violoncello, and fortepiano
Camerata Pacifica

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