Couperin’s Trio Sonata, “La Superbe”: Florence Malgoire and Les Dominos

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The trio sonata, which consists typically of two violins (or flutes, recorders, or oboes) and basso continuo, originated in Italy in the late sixteenth century. At first an instrumental adaptation of three-part vocal music, the form was refined and developed by Arcangelo Corelli. It is François Couperin (1668-1733), harpsichordist and court composer for Louis XIV, who is credited with introducing the trio sonata to the insular music world of France in the …

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Remembering Renata Scotto

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Renata Scotto, the eminent Italian soprano, passed away last Wednesday, August 16 in her native city of Savona. She was 89. Scotto made her operatic debut in 1952, performing the role of Violetta in Verdi’s La Traviata in Savona. The next day, she performed the same role at Milan’s Teatro Nuovo. Her La Scala debut came in 1957, when she appeared in the title role of Catalani’s La Wally in a production …

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Henry Cowell’s Hymn and Fuguing Tune No. 10: Early American Strains

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Among the twentieth century’s boldest and most innovate musical mavericks was the American composer, Henry Cowell (1897-1965). Cowell’s occasionally riot-inducing experiments included tone clusters (approaching the piano keyboard with arms and fists), graphic notation, polytonality, non-Western modes, and “a complex pitch-rhythm system that correlated the mathematical ratios of the pitches of the overtone series with rhythmic proportions.” (Richard Teitelbaum) Cowell treated the piano as a percussion instrument. Through “prepared piano” techniques, and …

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Barber’s Cello Concerto: Music Which Stands on Its Own Terms

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Lushly Romantic, nostalgic, and autumnal, Samuel Barber’s Cello Concerto, Op. 22 has, in recent years, begun to emerge from the shadows of obscurity. Completed in November of 1945, around the time of Barber’s discharge from wartime service in the United States Air Force, it is the second of the composer’s three concerti, bookended by the Violin Concerto (1939) and Piano Concerto (1962). The work’s neglect has been attributed to its extreme technical …

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“Wouldn’t It Be Loverly”: Julie Andrews in “My Fair Lady” in 1961

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The 20- year-old Julie Andrews was experienced as a British Vaudeville actress, but “young and green” on the Broadway stage, when, in 1955, she was cast in the role of Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady. After a rocky start during rehearsals, where she interacted with the temperamental Rex Harrison (Henry Higgins), Andrews remembers the experience as “the great learning period” of her life. She recalls an intense, uninterrupted 48-hour period during rehearsals when …

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“Solar”: Keith Jarrett and Miles Davis

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Jazz is there and gone. It happens. You have to be present for it. That simple. -Keith Jarrett Originally attributed to Miles Davis, the tune Solar was written by the jazz guitarist Chuck Wayne. It was first heard at an intimate 1946 jam session in Oklahoma City. Later, Davis included it on his 1954 album, Walkin’. Here is an ecstatic improvisation on Solar by the American pianist, Keith Jarrett. The athletic performance took place in Japan in …

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Vivaldi’s Concerto for Four Violins in B Minor, RV 580: Dramatic Innovations

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The world of Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) was marked by dramatic innovation. In the Italian city of Cremona, just over a hundred miles from Vivaldi’s native Venice, instrument builders such as Antonio Stradivari and Giuseppe Guarneri were elevating the violin, tonally, to previously unimaginable heights. At the same time, Vivaldi, perhaps the world’s first rock star, captivated listeners with such blazing violinistic virtuosity that one witness described his playing as “terrifying.” Through techniques …

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