SKU: BT.DMP114123
SKU: PR.11641139S
UPC: 680160682119.
Barcarolles for a Sinking City was inspired by the city of Venice, a place that has long held the fascination of artists, writers and composers, and which I have been lucky enough to visit on several occasions. Sadly it seems that future generations may not be so lucky: in addition to the city's slow sinking and recently discovered tilting, studies predict that if global warming and the resultant rise of ocean levels is unabated, the entire city (as well as many other coastal cities around the globe) will be under water by 2100. I. Funeral Gondola The late, cryptic piano works of Franz Liszt made a profound impression on me as a young composer, among them two works he entitled La Lugubre Gondola (usually translated as The Funeral Gondola ) which were said to be a premonition of Wagner's death in Venice, his coffin transported through the canals in a black gondola. These late pieces of Liszt acquired even greater significance to me after I spent two summers in Bayreuth under the patronage of Friedelind Wagner, the granddaughter of Wagner and great-granddaughter of Liszt. This movement is a meditation on Wagner, Liszt, Venice and its own evanescence. II. Barcarolle/Quodlibet The Quodlibet (Latin for what pleases) is a musical form dating back to the 15th century where many disparate melodies are juxtaposed. Popular in the Renaissance, sacred and secular melodies were combined, often to comical effect due to the resultant incongruity of the words. The form was considered the ultimate test of a composer's mastery of counterpoint. The most famous Quodlibet is without doubt the final Variation of Bach's Goldberg Variations. As a form the Quodlibet is less common in more recent music, although examples can be found in the works of Kurt Weill and David Del Tredici. My own Barcarolle/Quodlibet was inspired by the (perhaps apocryphal) story of the funeral where musicians were asked to play a Bach Choral, but due to miscommunication played instead the Bacarolle from The Tales of Hoffmann. Here, the Bach Choral Allen Menschen mussen sterben (All Men Must Die) is heard in the strings pizzicato, with a tempo indication In slow motion. The alto line of the Bach suggests a phrase from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (Alle Menchen werden Bruder) heard in the muted trombone. Before long, the famous tune from Offenbach's opera is heard, followed by quotations from iconic Barcarolles by Chopin, Mendelssohn and Faure, as well as two Venetian popular songs and more Beethoven. III. Barcarola/Ostinato/Carillon An ostinato is a repeated musical figure, and carillon is Italian for music box. This movement references the obsolete genre of salon pieces that imitated music boxes: such works by composers like Liadov and Gretchaninov used to be a mainstay of pianists' encore repertoire. This movement is however much darker in conception than those pleasant trifles. Utilizing the full battery of percussion, the carefully notated temporal slowing of the ostinato becomes overwhelmed by a poignant chorale melody before this box is snapped shut. IV. Barcarolle Oubliee (Forgotten Barcarolle) Marked limpido (still) the final movement begins with the sound of rain produced by a percussion instrument called (appropriately) a rain stick. Halting phrases in the harp coalesce into the accompaniment for a plangent melody heard in the clarinet. The central Adagio of this movement leads to a shattering climax, before the opening phrases return and dissipate into nothingness.
SKU: PR.11641139L
UPC: 680160682126.
SKU: BR.CHB-5234-02
ISBN 9790004411537. 7.5 x 10.5 inches. German.
Madame Hensel, Mendelssohn's sister, whose eyes speak intelligence and profundity''. This diary entry made by Robert Schumann in June 1843 succinctly but fittingly characterizes Fanny Hensel, without a doubt the most significant woman composer of the 19th century. Born in Hamburg on 14 November 1805, she was the eldest sister of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and the granddaughter of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn. In 1829 she married the Prussian court painter and occasional poet Wilhelm Hensel (1794-1861). After her sudden death in Berlin on 14 May 1847 as a result of a stroke, the music journalist Ludwig Rellstab poignantly wrote that she shared the brotherhood ef talent with her famous sibling.Fanny Hensel was given the same excellent and comprehensive musical training as her precocious brother, including composition lessons with Goethe's friend Carl Friedrich Zelter. Felix and Fanny not only loved each other tenderly, but they also maintained an intensive, life-long exchange of ideas which proved musically profitable to both of them. However, it was only in 1846 that Mendelssohn gave up his resistance to Fanny's publication plans. And so, just shortly before her death, she was able to publish a carefully selected sample of her songs and piano pieces.Not only these pieces, but also a few orchestral and chamber-music works (e.g. the String Quartet in E flat major, KM 2255) and, in particular, choral music occupy an important position in her oeuvre. Most of her choral works were written in 1846, and she was able to rehearse them with the chorus she conducted at the famous Sunday Concerts in the Mendelssohn home. She had six of these choral songs published in a revised version under the title Gartenlieder Op. 3 by the Berlin music publisher Bote & Bock. The title of the Gartenlieder brings to mind Mendelssohn's well-known Lieder im Freien zu singen (Opera 41, 48, 59; ChB 4763-4780), published before 1846. But, as far as the quality of their melodic writing, the compositional technique, and the choice of texts are concerned, as well as the perfect balance between folk-like simplicity and polished design, they are as outstanding as the works of her brother.Fanny Hensel's choral works not only stand up to comparison with any of the rich and varied choral works of the Romantic era - they also rank among the best. Very likely to become hits! (Musica).
SKU: DM.DMP-114123
ISBN 9790365320974.