Programme Notes

Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757)

Keyboard Sonatas, Sonata in B flat Major (K.544), Sonata in B flat

Major (K.545)

Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti was born in Naples, Italy on October

26th, 1685. His
musical gifts developed with an almost prodigious rapidity. At the age
of sixteen he became a musician at the royal chapel, and two years
later settled with his father in Rome, where Domenico became the
pupil of the most eminent musicians in Italy. Soon, Domenico Scarlatti
became famous in his country principally as a harpsichordist. During
his last years, he transferred his keyboard skill to paper in the form of
some two hundred suites which he called sonatas. They combine pure
joyous harpsichord sounds with the taut rhythms of Spanish dance and
the harmonic brilliance of his Italian heritage. Both K. 544 and K. 545
are in binary form, where sequential passages and repetition are
particularly prominent, allowing space for different musical expression.
K.544 is a lyrical, highly polyphonic piece embellished with ornaments
whereas K.545 is lively, mainly contrapuntal.

Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

Impromptu Op. 142 No. 3 in B flat major

The period of Schubert's active composing spanned barely seventeen

years and he was known in Viennese musical circles for not much more
than ten of them. Although he passed away at an early age, Schumann
was incredibly prolific and is admired today as one of the leading
exponents of the early Romantic era and remains as one of the most
frequently performed composers. The word “impromptu” first entered
the musical vocabulary to denote an improvised piece, improvisational
in character, loosely assembled and free in form. It seems to have
originated with the Bohemian pianist Jan Vorisek, who was prominent
in Viennese musical life and with whom Schubert had become
acquainted through mutual friends. The charming Impromptu No. 3 in
B-flat Major consists of a theme, five superbly inventive variations as
well as a brief coda. The theme, said to be one of Schubert’s favorites,
came from the second entr’acte of the ballet, Rosamunde of 1823; he
also used it in his Quartet in A minor, D. 804. The five variations use
syncopations, 16th notes and triplets while elaborating on the basic
melody. This piece resonates with expressiveness and lyrical qualities;
they also express Schubert’s personal feelings and mirror the
composer’s sensitive nature.

Robert Schumann (1810-1856)

Papillons, Op. 2

Robert Schumann was regarded as one of the greatest and most

representative composers of the Romantic era. Written in 1831, few of
Schumann’s compositions have enjoyed greater celebrity in the past
century than Papillons. The Papillons are Schumann’s second published
work as he awakened to the life of a composer of music and
abandoned his study of the Law. Yet it already contains one essential
characteristic of his later work, and of the work of Romantic composers
generally, namely, its programmatic element - the crossing of barriers,
from one art form to another, from Music to Literature, and thus from
the realm of the perceived to that of the implied. Meaning
'butterflies', Papillons is meant to represent a masked ball . At the end
of his teens, Schumann was rushing to embrace music without being
quite willing to abandon his first love: literature. Papillons testifies to
this moment of ambiguity, being a piece of music directly inspired by a
work of literature – Flageljahre (The Awkward Age) by Jean Paul. Aware
of its enigmatic nature, Schumann took the unusual step of attempting
to explain Papillons to friends, family and influential music critics.

In a letter to his friend, the critic Ludwig Rellstab, Schumann describes

the "program" as follows:
“I feel I must add a few words about the origin of the Papillons, for the
thread that is meant to bind them together is scarcely visible. You will
remember the final scene of Jean Paul’s Flegeljahre: fancy dress ball –
Walt – Vult – masks – Vina – Vult’s dancing – exchange of masks –
confessions – rage – revelations – hurry away – concluding scene, then
the departing brother. Again and again I turned over the last page, for
the end seemed to me but a new beginning. . . . Almost without
knowing, I found myself sitting at the piano, and one Papillon after
another came into being.” (Schumann,Letter to Ludwig Rellstab, 1831)

The suite begins with a six-measure introduction before launching into

a variety of dance-like movements, each movement unlike the
preceding ones. In the finale however, the theme of the first
movement returns. Music tells the story in different ways - in changes
of tempo, key, and texture, in motivic cross-references, in dialogs
between the hands and prevarications of mood, all within a dance
medley suggesting Schumann’s recent study of Schubert waltzes (and
of Weber’s Invitation to the Dance). Schumann’s ending to Papillons is
to me, perfect. It is like a novel whose ending makes it a great work of
art.

Ginastera (1916-1983)

Danzas Argentinas

Inspired by nationalistic trends and his native Argentine folklore,

Alberto Ginastera is arguably one of the true great nationalistic
composers. The Danzas Argentinas composed in 1937 effectively
communicates this. The three dances, Danza del viejo boyero,
Danza de la moza donosa and Danza del gaucho matrero depict
the spirit of three pastoral characters: an oxen herder, a
melancholy country maiden and a renegade cowboy,
respectively. The first piece immediately comes across as
strange, the simple reason being the left hand plays only black
notes whereas the right hand only plays white notes. The piece
ends with a chord (E-A-D-G-B-E), the notes of the
open guitar strings in standard tuning. Perhaps as a result of
his Spanish background, this was one of Ginastera’s favourite
chords. The second piece is a gentle dance in 6/8 time. The third
piece like many of Ginastera's toccata like dances, is based on
the Malambo, a rapid, energetic gaucho dance in compound-
duple time. It is quick, furious, energetic and perhaps the most
fun of the Danzas Argentinas with its complicated rhythms and
flamboyant dissonance. The extreme and sudden dynamics
firmly imprint in the listener's mind the truly renegade spirit that
Ginastera wishes to portray.
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