Bach’s Cantata, BWV 140, “Wachet auf”: Boundless Imagination

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J.S. Bach’s Cantata, BWV 140, Wachet auf (“Sleepers Awake”) has been called “a cantata without weakness, without a dull bar, technically, emotionally and spiritually of the highest order, its sheer perfection and boundless imagination rouse one’s wonder time and time again.” (William G. Whittaker) German musicologist Alfred Dürr described it as an expression of Christian mysticism in art, with the uniting of “earthly happiness in love and heavenly bliss.” Bach composed this …

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Fauré’s Dolly Suite: Charming Portraits of Childhood

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The French singer, Emma Bardac (1862-1934), was the love interest, first of Gabriel Fauré, and later Claude Debussy. Between 1893 and 1896, Fauré composed a set of six whimsically titled piano duets to mark birthdays and other events in the life of Bardac’s young daughter, Régina-Hélène, who was know as “Dolly.” In 1906, conductor Henri Rabaud orchestrated the “Dolly” Suite, and used it to accompany “an ingenious ballet” at Paris’ Théâtre des …

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Remembering Stoyka Milanova

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Stoika Milanova, the renowned Bulgarian violinist and teacher, passed away on September 29 in Madrid following a long illness. She was 79. Milanova began playing the violin at age three, under the guidance of her father. She went on to study with David Oistrakh at the Moscow Conservatory. After placing second in the 1967 Queen Elisabeth Competition, Milanova won first prize at the 1970 Carl Flesch International Violin Competition. Between 2005 and …

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Sibelius’ “The Bard”: Aftertones of the Skald

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Jean Sibelius’ 1913 tone poem, The Bard, Op. 64, inhabits a mysterious, desolate, and austere landscape which is reminiscent of the Fourth Symphony, composed two years earlier. In contrast with Sibelius’ other tone poems, which often relate to the Finnish folklore of the Kalevala, the brief, enigmatic work does not outline a narrative or scene. Instead, with its prominent use of the solo harp, the music evokes the poetry of the Skald, bards …

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Rachmaninov’s Prelude in B Minor, Op. 32, No. 10: Longing for the Return

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The 1887 painting, Die Heimkehr (“The Homecoming” or “The Return”), by Swiss Symbolist Arnold Böcklin (1827–1901), shows a solitary figure seated with his back to a square reflecting pool. His attention is focused on a shadowy house with a single lit window. The late autumnal landscape suggests the falling veil of mortality, greeted with a blend of quiet anxiety, detachment, and inevitability. It was this painting which inspired Sergei Rachmaninov to write the …

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Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony: The Majesty of Melody

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Sergei Rachmaninov’s First Symphony was nearly his last. During the work’s disastrous premiere in Saint Petersburg on March 28, 1897, the 23-year-old composer hid in a backstage fire escape with his ears plugged as an under-rehearsed orchestra, led by an inebriated and disinterested Alexander Glazunov, desecrated the score. Catcalls erupted throughout the hall, and César Cui colorfully derided the new Symphony as music that would “delight the inhabitants of Hell.” The confidence-shattering …

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Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 14 in E-flat Major, K. 449: Magically Peculiar

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In May of 1784, while reflecting on his three most recently completed piano concerti (Nos. 14, 15, and 16), Mozart insisted that he “could not choose between them,” but that “the one in E-flat [No. 14] does not belong at all to the same category. It is one of a quite peculiar kind…” Piano Concerto No. 14 in E-flat Major, K. 499 is intimate chamber music. Unlike Mozart’s later concerti, the wind …

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