Romantic Period

Brahms’ Serenade No. 2 in A Major: A Pathway to the Symphony

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As a musical form, the serenade implies light, entertaining music of the evening, set in a loose collection of movements which resembles a divertimento. The two youthful Serenades which Johannes Brahms wrote in his early twenties conform to this description. Yet they can also be heard as trial runs on the path to a symphony. It was Robert Schumann who heard “veiled symphonies” in Brahms’ early piano music, and who anticipated that …

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Dvořák’s Humoresque in G-flat Major: Ignaz Friedman and Art Tatum

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Antonín Dvořák was one of the greatest composers of melody. Perhaps the most catchy and popularly enduring example is the Humoresque No. 7 in G-flat Major (Poco lento e grazioso), originally written for solo piano. Propelled forward by an infectious, lilting rhythm, the melody develops in two-note steps which ascend gradually and explore a variety of motivic combinations before sinking into repose at the end of the phrase. As with much of …

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Dvořák’s String Quartet No. 14 in A-flat Major: The Cleveland Quartet

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In 1892, Antonin Dvořák left his beloved Bohemian homeland to accept an invitation to serve as director of New York’s National Conservatory of Music. In his words, Dvořák had been brought to the New World to “discover what young Americans had in them, and to help them express it.” During the nearly three year stay, Dvořák traveled as far west as Spillville, Iowa, and composed some of his most famous works, including …

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Galina Vishnevskaya Sings Tchaikovsky: “Iolanta’s Aria” and “Lullaby”

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Composed in 1891, Iolanta, Op. 69 was Tchaikovsky’s eleventh and last completed opera. On the evening of December 18, 1892, it shared a double premiere with the ballet, The Nutcracker, at Saint Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre. Mahler conducted the Vienna premiere in 1900. Then, the work fell into relative obscurity. Set in one act, Iolanta is based on a story by the Danish writer, Henrik Hertz (1798–1870). Iolanta is a fifteenth century French …

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Chopin’s Mazurka in A Minor Op. 17, No 4: Evgeny Kissin

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Frédéric Chopin’s Mazurka in A minor, Op. 17, No. 4 inhabits the ephemeral world of dreams. Emerging out of silence, the opening bars are hazy and harmonically ambiguous. They contain a rising three-note cell which searches for the “right” note and soon spins into a melody. It is music which seems to be composing itself in realtime. Traditionally, the mazurka is a lively Polish folk dance in triple meter, with strong accents …

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Wagner’s “Götterdämmerung”: Siegfried’s Rhine Journey

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Completed in 1874, Götterdämmerung (“Twilight of the Gods”) is the fourth and final opera in Richard Wagner’s epic Ring cycle. Wagner composed the Ring cycle, which is based on Norse mythology, over the course of 25 years. Its themes include the conflict between love and the pursuit of power, the violation of nature, self-sacrifice, annihilation, and rebirth. Dramatic orchestral sequences occur throughout Götterdämmerung. In these moments, we move beyond the literal meaning of the …

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Fauré’s Élégie: Jacqueline du Pré

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In 1880, immediately following the completion of his First Piano Quartet, Gabriel Fauré began work on a sonata for cello and piano. Often, when composing a new chamber work, Fauré began with the slow movement. Ultimately, the sonata failed to materialize, but the intended slow movement was published as a stand-alone piece—the solemn and lamenting Élégie, Op. 24. As with the First Piano Quartet, the Élégie is set in C minor. Its …

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