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Theobald Boehm (1794-1881) – Grande Polonaise, Op. 16 (1831)
The Grande Polonaise was dedicated to Paul Hippolyte Camus, Boehm’s
great promoter and business representative in France. Camus furthermore
compiled the first flute method (1839) for Boehm’s ‘neu construierte
Flöte'(1832), the instrument that Boehm presented to the French Académie
des Beaux Arts of the Institut de France in May 1837. While others
talked of ‘the new flute’ (‘la nouvelle flûte’), Camus called it a
‘flûte Boehm’. And the instrument was indeed known as this. No maker of
oboes, clarinets or bassoons had been honoured in this way.
That Boehm dedicated the Grande Polonaise to ‘his friend’ Camus
reflects the bond of friendship that had been formed through various
meetings in Paris, but equally reflects Camus’ great capacities as a
player. After being taught by Wunderlich at the Paris Conservatory, from
1819 he was first flutist at the Théâtre de la Port Saint-Martin and,
after having graced various other positions, in 1836 he became first
flutist at the Théâtre Italien. In the adaptation of Devienne’s flute
method that he published with Meissonnier around 1829 he was referred to
as ‘Camus de la Chapelle du Roi et de l’Académie rle. de Musique’. W.N.
James wrote about him in A Word or Two on the Flute, “M. Camus is a
very popular player of the flute in Paris […] his style is decidedly
elegant.”A critic in London wrote after a concert there, “[Camus] caused
some sensation by performing Boehm’s music on a Godfroy flute with a
Dorus G-# key.”
There are two versions of the Grande Polonaise in existence. Opus
16[a] appeared in 1831, published by Falter in Munich, Opus 16[b] with
Aulangnier in Paris around 1842. Op. 16[a] encompasses 408 bars, Op.
16[b] 314. The introduction is almost identical in the two versions. In
Op. 16[b] a number of interludes by the orchestra/piano have been
somewhat curtailed. Additionally, the Presto covers around a dozen bars
less (from b. 371 to b. 381 in Op. 16[a]) and the conclusion in Op.
16[b] is to some extent altered. There are also differences between the
two versions with regard to articulations. Raymond Meylan mentioned that
the alterations and the new modulations in Op. 16[b] are well
accomplished and are probably by Boehm himself.
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Theobald Boehm (1794-1881) – Variations on the German Air ‘Du, du liegst mir im Herzen’, Op. 22 (1838)
The cycle of variations ‘Du, du liegst mir im Herzen’ was written for
Ludwig Stettmeyer, one of Boehm’s countless students. Stettmeyer was
originally a flutist in Hechingen, and was to become a member of the
court orchestra (Hoforchester) in Munich, a position he held from 1847
to 1877. Theobald Boehm also performed this work himself in 1843 in
Munich at a charity concert for the poor. A critic wrote, “Einen wahren
Jubel rief Böhms Zauberflöte hervor. Wie sich das liebe, gemüthliche
‘Du, du liegst mir im Herzen’ in solcher sinnigen und doch wieder
Bravour-kühnen Behandlung in jede lauschende Menschenseele
hineinschmiegte.” (“Real jubilation was raised by Böhm’s magic flute.
The charming, cosy, ‘Du, du liegst mir im Herzen’ nestled in each
listening human soul”). The German national anthem ‘Liebe und Sehnsucht’
forms the basis of this introduction, theme and variations. It is
probably the most played and most successful of Boehm’s eight variation
works. It can on occasion be interesting to look at some differences
between Franz Schubert’s variations on ‘Ihr Blümlein alle’ from 1824 and
Boehm’s Op. 22. The introductions are already different in character,
due partly, of course, to the lyrics, but also because of the virtuoso
traditions with which Boehm had in the meantime become acquainted. In
Munich he had played during three performances by Paganini in 1829 and
from all his cultural tours, which included Austria, Northern Italy,
England and France, he became familiar with the ingredients to be used
for a successful performance. While Boehm’s variations radiate
especially his enthusiasm for virtuosity and brilliance, we encounter
another concept in Schubert’s variations: “[they] emanate a totally new
tonal force; they display the atmospheric individual quality of the
separate variations….” The application of the concept of variation in
character, a term used especially by Beethoven, can already be detected
in Schubert’s work. In Boehm’s variations the piano always has an
accompanying role; in a few variations Schubert allows the flute to
accompany the piano. Countless other differences teach us more about
both works. In this respect, Gustav Scheck’s analysis of ‘Ihr Blümlein
alle…’ in Die Flöte und Ihre Musik is an informative source.
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André Caplet (1878-1925) – Suite Persane for Double Wind Quintet (1900)
André Caplet wrote his Suite Persane at the request of the French
oboist Georges Longy, who, together with a number of colleagues from the
Boston Symphony Orchestra, had founded a wind ensemble. It is assumed
that the inspiration for this work was the World Exhibition held in 1900
in Paris, at which cultures from around the world had a pavilion.
Numerous composers felt attracted to the exotic sounds presented there
by musicians from the Middle and Far East. Nihavend, the second movement
of the Suite Persane, describes a Persian town. In Iskia Samaïsi,
ecstatic fakirs dance for us. The Societé moderne d’instruments à vent,
which encompassed all prominent French wind players of that era, played
the piece’s première in 1901. The musical journal Le Ménestral praised
especially its richness of colour. Caplet had already, in 1900, been
honoured by the Société de compositeurs de musique for writing another
work for wind instruments, his Quintet for Winds and Piano.
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J.M. Coenen (1824-1899) – La Serenata for Flute and Piano (or Orchestra) (ca. 1863)
Johannes Meinardus Coenen was one of the most important Dutch
musicians of the second half of the nineteenth century. He made his
debut as bassoonist in the Hofkapel in The Hague, later to become the
conductor of the Orchestra of the Paleis voor Volksvlijt on the
Frederiksplein in Amsterdam. This huge cultural palace, that burned down
in 1929 and made way for the present Dutch Bank (DNB), was for a long
time, along with Felix Meritus, Amsterdam’s most significant centre of
music, despite its infamously poor acoustics. The short Romantic work,
La Serenata, for flute and piano (or orchestra), enjoyed great
popularity in the nineteenth century. It was first performed by the
well-known flutist Herman van Boom, to whom the piece was dedicated.
That première for flute and orchestra, with the Netherlands’ best-known
orchestra, that of Felix Meritus, would soon be followed by various
other flutists. George Schoeman, for instance, performed it with the
Orchestra of the Paleis voor Volksvlijt, under the composer’s baton. As
is the case with Rossini’s Wilhelm Tell overture, the work begins with a
solo for four cellos. The work was so popular that Coenen created
various arrangements of it, including those for cello and piano and
violin, cello and piano. In the Paleis voor Volksvlijt it was also
performed with flute and organ. The piano part is also eminently
suitable for the harp.
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The orchestral material may be rented from Broekmans & Van Poppel.
Alphons Diepenbrock (1862-1921) – ‘Wenn ich ihn nur habe’ for
Soprano, Wind Quintet and Double Bass (1898/1915) and ‘Come raggio di
sol’ for Soprano and Wind Quintet (1917)
In 1898 Alphons Diepenbrock used Novalis’ text ‘Wenn ich ihn nur
habe’ for an eponymous song that he dedicated to the well-known soprano
Aaltje Noorderwier. At the request of the Concertgebouw Sextet there
followed in 1915 an arrangement for wind instruments, an obvious
instrumentation considering the fact that the original version had been
conceived for soprano and organ. Due to the various timbres of the wind
instruments, the melodic pattern is more easily followed than in the
original. By adding the double bass, Diepenbrock also added more
profundity. The use of the oboe d’amore is in this context by no means
coincidental.
The cazonetta ‘Come raggio di sol’ (poet unknown) seems to strike a
lighter tone, but soon enough it becomes apparent that those rays of
sunshine and happiness, too, can have a darker lining. The suffering
expressed in the last sentence may reflect Diepenbrock’s sorrow at the
relationship his wife had with the composer Matthijs Vermeulen. “As a
mild ray of sun can rest on calm waves while in the depths of the sea a
storm is brewing, so can a smile of happiness and contentment reflect on
a face while secretly the wounded heart is suffering fear and pain.”
Both lyrics have mystical characteristics. Novalis was searching for
more vitality, intimacy and mysticism in the ecclesiastical way of
thinking: values shared by Diepenbrock, who throughout his life was in
search of profundity. Although we would not do justice to Diepenbrock by
calling him a disciple of Mahler, there indeed exists a great affinity
between these two befriended composers.
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Ernest von Dohnányi (1877- 1960), Passacaglia for flute solo
The Passacaglia, Op. 48, No. 2, Dohnányi’s last work, is dedicated to Ellie Baker, later Eleanor Lawrence, the flutist and conductor. It is one of the few late Romantic pieces for solo flute, despite its being composed in 1959 and despite its eighteenth-century form (a phenomenon not uncommon to Dohnányi). It is pointed out in the literature that, although the first half of the passacaglia theme comprises a dodecaphonic series, the piece ends completely tonally. Some believe that this is intended ironically. This capricious, highly virtuoso variation piece includes a number of passages that rather have the violin and piano in mind. This reflects Dohnányi’s skills as a pianist, devoid of any technical impediments.
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Gaetano Donizetti (Bergamo, 1797-1848, Bergamo) – Sonata per Flauto e Pianoforte (1819)
Gaetano Donizetti (Bergamo, 1797-1848, Bergamo) is above all known as an
operatic composer. Along with the five years older Rossini and the four
years younger Bellini, he gained great acclaim as one of the masters of
the ‘bel canto’. Beside his natural talent for writing attractive
melodies, he received his musical education from Johann Simon Mayr,
maestro di cappella in his native Bergamo, and from Padre Stanislao
Mattei, also Rossini’s teacher, at the Liceo Filharmonico in Bologna
1815-1817. While Mayr kept the heritage of the classical Viennese
composers alive, Padre Mattei was known to be a great teacher of
counterpoint. Returning to Bergamo late 1817, Donizetti wrote pieces for
piano as well as instrumental chamber music. His nineteen string
quartets, in which he could develop his skills in four-part writing, and
his other chamber-music pieces were soon being played in musical
salons. This facilitated contact with various wealthy families. So it
came about that Marianna Pezzoli-Grattaroli, a well-to-do lady of the
Bergamo high social circles, became Donizetti’s benefactor around 1818.
To her Donizetti dedicated several chamber-music works, e.g. the Sonata
in fa minore per Violino e Pianoforte as well as the Sonata per Flauto e
Pianoforte presented here. She also helped Donizetti to avoid military
service. Opera, however, became his most important musical domain for
the remaining three decades of his life. Works like Lucia di Lammermoor,
Don Pasquale and L’Elisir d’Amore are the best known among his seventy
or so operas. Incessant travels, mainly between the opera houses of
Naples, Rome and Milan, were followed in 1838 by a sojourn of some years
in Paris and by his appointment, in 1842, as Kapellmeister to the
Viennese court. During the last decade of his life his health slowly
deteriorated, influenced by syphilis, the composers’ disease par
excellence.
The one-movement Sonata per Flauto e Pianoforte is dated 1819 by
Donizetti, then 22 years old. Since there are abundant mistakes in the
part writing (octave parallels etc.) of the autograph, the possibility
cannot be excluded that the work itself stems from a younger and less
experienced Donizetti, who just added the dedication and the date on the
title page when 22 years old. It is one of his few chamber-music works
for a wind instrument. The piece, along with his string quartets, still
reflects Donizetti’s studies of the classical composers. With its
theatrical introduction, its frequent dialogues, as well as its buffo
character, the sonata has, despite the limited thematic material and the
simple form, assumed its own modest place in the flute literature.
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George Enescu (1881- 1955) – Cantabile et Presto for flute and piano (1904)
Cantabile et Presto for flute and piano by the Rumanian composer George
Enescu may make just claim to being French music. Enescu’s style was
largely formed in his studies with Massenet and Fauré, despite the
folkloristic influences of his native Rumania. Having left his homeland
at seven to study the violin and piano in Vienna, Enescu went to Paris
in 1894 to continue his musical education. There he took also lessons in
composition. Enescu was exceptionally successful in Paris as a
violinist, composer and conductor. In 1908 his Dixtuor for wind
instruments inspired Jean Huré to the greatest praise. Huré went so far
as to even remark that Debussy seemed to be running twenty-five years
behind the composer of this music. Cantabile et Presto was written as
the 1904 examination piece (and was also set in 1921 and 1940) at the
Conservatoire National. Enescu choose a form for this work that had not
only been used by his teacher Gabriel Fauré in a piece commissioned for
the same purpose, but was also selected by many composers before and
after him (among them Tulou, Gaubert and Casella): a slow introduction
leading to a virtuoso second movement. The obvious aim of such is that
the performer is given the opportunity of demonstrating the
expressiveness of tone in the first movement and in the second his
finger dexterity and articulation. A traditional form, its effect is
enhanced by Enescu with unusual features. For instance, the Cantabile
begins with an expressive melody in the flute’s lowest register, an
extraordinary idea in flute music of that time. Alfred Cortot, who
accompanied Taffanel’s flute class, was quick to point out the allure of
this innovation: “What is more moving than the low notes of the flute?”
The Presto presents the interchanging of scalic and chordal
double-staccato passages, cascades and flourishes and short,
expressively laden phrases, thus finely demonstrating the wealth of
Taffanel’s new instrumental style.
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Frank Martin (1890–1974) – Deuxième Ballade for flute and piano or orchestra
Frank Martin wrote a number of Ballades, namely for saxophone (1938), flute (1939), piano (1939), trombone (1940), cello (1949) with orchestra or piano. There followed much later (1972) another Ballade for viola. According to Martin: “The title Ballade permits an element of poetry within a completely free musical form, and, more precisely, epic poetry, but then without any pretence of an allusion to a literary theme. It is the transposition into the domain of pure music of something which in poetry would count as a tale or a dramatic narrative.” The Deuxième Ballade pour Flûte et Piano ou Flûte, Orchestre à cordes, Piano et Batterie, discovered by Maria Martin in 2008, is an adaptation by the composer himself of the Ballade für Alt-Saxophon, Streichorchester, Klavier, Pauken und Schlagzeug. Making frequent use of the instrument’s extreme registers, it is (according to the composer) marked ‘sometimes elegiac, then again ecstatic’.
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Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) -Le merle noir
For Olivier Messiaen the doctrines of Catholic faith and ornithology were the two most important sources of inspiration for his music. The new compositional system he conceived and developed, outlined in his book Technique de mon langage musical (1942) arose from the anti-symphonic thinking espoused by Debussy in Mr. Croche. The symphonic genre owed its existence to the inherent tension and release of tonal harmony. Messiaen’s harmony however is decorative rather than functional to the structural development of his music. His system of ‘modes of limited transposition’ is more static as it does not group harmonies to generate complexes of tension and release. In these modes the octave is divided in two, three or four identical intervals; each interval is in turn subdivided in identical whole or half-toner relationships. The third mode, for example, employed by Messiaen in Le Merle Noir, divides the octave in three equal groups of one whole and two half tones (c – d – e flat – e – f sharp – g – a flat – b flat – b – c).Regarding rhythm, Messiaen was strongly influenced by ancient Indian writings. The most singular characteristic of his rhythmic usage is the a-metrical character arising from the ‘added value’ (valeur ajoutée) principle; i.e. prolonging the duration of a given note or rest by adding to it a shorter note or rest. Rhythm is thus freed from the tyranny of regular metre. Messiaen’s highly in dividual musical language is immediately recognizable in his larger works (such as L’ascension, Couleurs de la cité céleste, Oiseaux exotiques and Catalogue d’Oiseaux) and chamber pieces (such as Quatuor pour la Fin du Temps and Le Merle Noir).Le Merle Noir was composed in 1951 for the Conservatoire National examination. It was by no means the first bird music to enter in the flute repertoire: Messiaen was proceeded by Couperin and Vivaldi, for example with Le Rossignol en amour and Il Gardellino, respectively.Le Merle Noir is simple in form: A (flute solo – style oiseau), B (homophonic song), transition, A1 (flute solo), B1 (song, flute and piano in canon), transition, Coda (bird chorus). The tone material of a part of the B1 section is identical to that used by Jolivet in his fourth Incantation (1936). Was this coincidence or could it have been Messiaen’s tribute to his Jeune France companion?
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Goffredo Petrassi (1904-2003) – Souffle
The solo piece for flute, alto flute and piccolo (one player),
Souffle, was written in 1969. Severino Gazzelloni, the dedicatee,
premièred the piece during the International Festival of Contemporary
Music in Royan in March 1969. Composers such as Luigi Nono (1952),
Luciano Berio (1957, 1958), Niccolò Castiglioni (1960) and Bruno Maderna
(1961) changed the conventional language of the flute, creating a whole
new universe of sounds, and Severino Gazzelloni became their prophet.
The new music for flute, often premièred in Darmstadt and gradually
coming to be called mainly Gazzelloni-Musik, introduced a completely new
concept of virtuosity for the instrument, consisting of large leaps,
extreme dynamics, rhythmic novelties and the use of effects such as
flutter tongue, key clicks, harmonics, simultaneous playing/singing, and
so forth.
Souffle introduces the sound of blown air as a new element in a piece
for flute. Neutral air, air at a prescribed pitch, flutter tongue which
becomes air and air that becomes normal sound are among the different
possibilities. Petrassi’s atonal language (interrupted regularly by the
‘forbidden material’ of the chromatic scale) forms gestures rather than
phrases. There seems to be no unifying element, either in the tone
material or in rhythmic structures. This form of athematicism would be
characteristic of Petrassi’s musical language from ca. 1958 onwards. In
Souffle, ‘soffio’ is the unifying element. Indications as ‘esitante’,
‘scherzando’ impose a rhetorical character on some passages. Petrassi
just uses the three instruments to enlarge the overall compass of the
piece; he doesn’t prescribe different characters to piccolo, flute or
alto flute.
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Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) – Sonata for flute and piano (1956/57)
The première of Poulenc’s Sonata for Flute and Piano, dedicated to the
memory of Elisabeth Sprague Coolidge, was played by Jean-Pierre Rampal
accompanied by the composer in 1957 in Strasbourg. Poulenc began working
on the piece shortly after completing his large opera Le Dialogue des
Carmélites and there is a clear harmonic and melodic relationship
between the two. The first movement -in three sections- opens in e minor
but closes with a Schubertesque major-minor dilemma. Here the piano
part, richly laden with Alberti basses, serves principally as
accompaniment. It maintains this status in the second movement., which
after a two bar canonic introduction begins with a subtle yet
exceedingly rhythmically simple melody that bears a close resemblance to
the aria of soeur Constance in Le Dialogue des Carmélites. The third
movement abounds in sudden shifts between biting staccato and warm
legato passages, characterized by such terms as très mordant and
mélancolique. Interwoven is a reference to the first movement – a
technique Poulenc also incorporated in the sonatas for clarinet and for
oboe. Unlike the first two movements, in the third movement the flute
and the piano engage in an incisive dialogue.
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Max Reger (1873–1916) – Burlesque, Minuet, Gigue from the Suite, Op. 103a
Max Reger was largely indebted to Hugo Riemann for his training. Riemann was an extremely systematic teacher. It was from him that Reger drew his belief in tradition and professionalism as opposed to the then fashionable, romantic concept of inspiration. For Reger, who even as a small boy had been improvising on the organ, harmony and counterpoint were virtually inextricably bound together. This led to his being called ‘the second Bach’. His musical style is marked by chromatic harmony often cast in forms from the Baroque and Classical periods (fugues and variations, for example). Living in the Late Romantic period, Reger was not aspiring to a break with tradition but rather to an extension of the musical boundaries. It is significant that composers such as Hindemith, Schönberg and Berg studied his works with admiration. In November 1908 Henri Marteau played the première of Reger’s Suite (or the Sechs Stücke) in A minor with the composer at the piano. The same violinist had played Reger’s violin concerto a month earlier with the Gewandhaus Orchestra under Nikisch. Reger had his publisher transpose the Burlesque, the Minuet and the Gigue from his Suite, Op. 103a, to render these pieces suitable for the flute. In October 1908 he corrected this transposed version, in the process altering almost all the original slurs.
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Rhené-Baton (1879-1940) – Passacaille (1924)
Rhené-Baton – actually, René Baton – was both a conductor (of for
example the Concerts Lamoureux, the Concerts Pasdeloup, and the Opéra
Comique in Paris) and a composer. As a composer he left behind a varied
oeuvre that is distinguished by its inventive harmonic colouring and the
touches of rhythmic and structural innovation. His Passacaille pour
Flûte et Orchestra (ou Piano) op. 35 is one of the many compositions
dedicated to Louis Fleury. With the Passacaille Rhené-Baton took his
place amongst many twentieth-century composers who showed an interest in
the old dance forms; among them Franck, Ravel and Reger. The
passacaille is generally grouped together with the chaconne, both being
in ternary meters and bearing strong similarities in form and character.
The passacaille, however, is only a dance while the chaconne is
simultaneously sung and danced. The most important distinction between
the two, however, is that the chaconne is composed on a continuously
repeated bass theme of usually four or eight bars; in the passacaille
only the rhythm of this (often a minim followed by a crotchet) is
retained. Furthermore, the passacaille is less often animated then the
chaconne and is usually composed in a minor key – f minor in
Rhené-Baton’s composition.
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Albert Roussel (1869-1937) – Joueurs de Flûte pour flûte et piano
In August 1922 Albert Roussel wrote the French flutist Louis Fleury: rest assured, I have not forgotten the piece for flute but am merely taking time to reflect on and fashion what it is I should like to do. Two years later, Fleury (1878-1928) an undefatigable champion of the new repertoire for his instrument, was well rewarded for his patience with an original cycle of four portraits of flautists: Joueurs de Flûte, op. 27. Accompanied by the pianist Janine Weill, Fleury gave the première on 17 January 1925 at the Théâtre du Vieux Colombier. The cycle is opened by Pan, a god of Greek mythology who is enamored of the nymph Syrinx. She tries to escape him and transforms herself into a bundle of reed. Seeking to vent his sorrow pan cuts into the reed, making a flute of it. The movement is characterized by its use of the old modes (Dorian, among others), streotypical pan-flute flourishes, and the fast broken chords in the brief middle section, which depict the ‘panic’ caused by the deity. Tityre (Tityrus) is a peaceful flute-playing shepherd mentioned for example in the verse of the latin poet Virgil. In a conversation with the less fortunate Meliboeus he praises the god that allowshim to freely graze his herd, thus permitting him to play his flute at will. The flute-playing Indian god Krishna enchanted all with the beauty of his music. Like the Arcadian Pan who sought warmth among the nymphs, Krishna shared his love with the gopid (shepherdesses) in Brindaban. Roussel’s Krishna employs a scale that is identical to the Shri raga (a -b flat – c sharp- d sharp- e – f – g sharp) and abandons the typically Western regularity of pulse with a 7/8 metre.Mr. de la Péjaudie, the eighteenth-century bon vivant of Henri de Régnier’s novel La Pécheresse, is admired for his flute playing and savoir-vivre but in the end reviled for his overly colourful lifestyle. After the sad end that comes to one of his many romances he is condemned to the galleys where he later dies by drowning.Roussel dedicated these four pieces to respectively Marcel Moyse, Gaston Blanquart, Louis Fleury and Philippe Gaubert.
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Erwin Schulhoff (1894-1942) – Concertino for flute, viola and double bass
Schulhoff’s own description of this piece is worth reading: “The
accompaniment (of viola and double bass) in the beginning of the first
movement (8/4-metre) is borrowed from Russian-Orthodox litany. Over this
(as often in old Slavonic song) lies a floating melody in the flute.
The second movement (as a Scherzo) is in the form of a ‘beseda’, a
national Czech dance, which as its main element uses a ‘furiant’ tempo.
The theme of the slow movement (4/4 + 3/4), after a Carpathian-Russian
love song, played unchanged – after each other – by each instrument,
always appears in an ornamented frame of two voices. The last movement
is a Rondino after a song of a Carpathian-Russian bear driver, of which
the second part consists of a Slovakian shepherd theme in the flute
accompanied by an ostinato figuration of the viola and the double bass.
The whole piece is just a piece of popular music as is in use in the
eastern part of the Czech Republic, where it is usual for people to sing
in gay minor tonalities and dance to these. In the Concertino you find
most of all gaiety, with a harmonic construction in Phrygian, Lydian and
Mixolydian church modes. The origin of this piece lays in a peasant
gathering of dancing/singing Czechs, Hanachs, Slovaks, Magyars and
Carpathian-Russians which I [Schulhoff] attended in the city of Brno.”
From: Erwin Schulhoff, Schriften, pp. 86-88. (English by Rien de Reede, corrected by G. Matham)
Joseph Hartmann Stuntz (1793-1859) – Adagio from the Concerto
per il flauto di nuova costruzione (1834/36) also published as Th.
Boehm – Élégie
This minor work by Boehm’s instrumentation teacher was for a long
time regarded as an original composition by Theobald Boehm. It saw the
light of day in 1880 entitled ‘Élégie’ with an inexplicable opus number,
47. Boehm was to some extent responsible for the confusion because he
had noted on the material that he had offered to the Schott publishing
house, “Adagio, Componirt für Flöte von Th. Boehm; mit Begleitung des
großen Orchesters von Kapellmeister H. Stuntz. Mit pianoforte
Begleitung.” However, the material actually comprises the slow movement
of Stuntz’s ‘Concerto per il flauto di nuova costruzione’, i.e. the
conical ring-key flute that Boehm had designed in 1832. Joseph Hartmann
Stuntz (1793-1859) had been a student of Peter von Winter and Antonio
Salieri and therefore had benefited from a solid education in
composition. He was Kapelmeister to the Munich Court from 1823 to 1837.
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Theodoor Verhey (1848-1929) – Concerto for Flute and Orchestra in D Minor (ca. 1898)
The (first) Concerto for Flute and Orchestra in D Minor by Theodoor
Verhey, composed around 1898, is a concerto that still graces the
repertoire of many flutists, including Jacques Zoon and Patrick Gallois.
The piece was dedicated to Ary van Leeuwen, undoubtedly the best-known
Dutch flutist of that era. He played, for instance, in the Berlin
Philharmonic and later in the Vienna Hofoper under Gustav Mahler. The
concerto was premièred around 1899 by the then 18-year-old Jacques van
Lier and the Rotterdam orchestra Symphonia. Just as his teacher, Ary van
Leeuwen, Jacques van Lier would later be appointed to the Vienna
Hofoper and the Vienna Philharmonic. The piece gained immediate
popularity in the first half of the last century. To name just a few
performances: Karel Willeke, the former solo flutist of the
Concertgebouw Orchestra, played it, as did Albert Fransella, who
introduced the work in London in the version with piano as well as in
that with orchestra. Koos Verheul also performed it with the Residentie
Orchestra (The Hague). The concerto comprises three movements which
merge into each other. The influence of Robert Schumann and Johannes
Brahms can clearly be heard. Brahms’ imprint is especially recognizable
in the last movement, which is influenced by his Hungarian Dances.
(c) copyright Rien de Reede
The work is published in the Flute Series of Broekmans & Van
Poppel. The orchestral material may be rented from Broekmans.