From Venice to Vienna – April 3 & 5, 2022
From Venice to Vienna
April 3 & 5, 2022
Our program for this concert explores the exciting development of the Classical string trio, from its roots in the highly popular Baroque trio sonata to its expression at the height of the Classical period in Vienna. The Terzetto Op. 9, No. 2 by Beethoven, which concludes our program, counts among only a handful of string trios celebrated by today’s performers and audiences. And yet the string trio, at its compositional peak (c. 1760–1770), outpublished the string quartet by a ratio of more than five to one! Among these largely forgotten works—more than 2,000 by many of the 18th century’s most prolific and eminent composers—we find such gems as the trios of virtuoso violinist Maddalena Sirmen (composed the year Beethoven was born) and those of Beethoven’s esteemed Viennese colleague Paul Wranitzky.
The Baroque trio sonata is a trio in the sense that it is written for two melodic instruments (often two violins) and basso continuo, improvised harmonies above an independent bass line. But while the continuo counts as one voice of the trio, the number of instruments used to produce it can vary considerably: keyboard and/or the plucked lute, theorbo or guitar, and/or a variety of bowed bass instruments. The Classical string trio, on the other hand, specifies three players, eliminating the role of the chordal basso continuo in favor of a more homophonic, integrated bass line. Of course the basso continuo tradition did not suddenly one day cease to exist, and neither was the absence of a chordal realization unheard of among Baroque sonatas. We see this in the first work on our program from Antonio Vivaldi‘s set of twelve Op. 1 trio sonatas scored for due violini e violone o cembalo. The option for the bass line to be played by cello “or” harpsichord was also offered by Corelli, Tartini, and many other Baroque composers. It is rare to hear these works performed today without the texture of the improvised keyboard part but doing so reminds us of the flexibility and fluidity between genres and the way their accompanying aesthetic changes are wrought over time. The Sonata no. 5 in F major is a joyful, conversational work. It reveals the infectious zest, enthusiasm, and virtuosity that Vivaldi brought to his trio sonatas, all the hallmarks of both his playing and compositional output—a wealth of solo sonatas, concertos, sinfonias, masses, psalms and vespers music, oratorios, solo cantatas, and operas (at least 50 of them and possibly 94 if we are to believe Vivaldi’s own boasts).
Classical string trios written by female composers are scant in number, in part at least because the violin and cello were generally considered indecorous instruments for the “fairer sex” to play. Such was not a concern among the charitable Venetian ospedali, which, perpetually short of funds, sought to cultivate the musical talent of the orphaned or abandoned girls in order to present all-female choral and instrumental performances, whose increasing fame drew ever larger crowds. The ospedali became the first music schools for women, and the best teachers (like Vivaldi at the Ospedale della Pietà) were brought in to oversee the musical education of these figlie. By 1753, seven-year-old Maddalena Lombardini would undergo a rigorous audition in order to enter the Ospedale dei Mendicanti, where she would remain until she was granted permission to leave and marry violinist and composer Lodovico Sirmen in 1767. Maddalena Sirmen (acknowledged primarily as a favored student of the great Tartini) was counted among the best virtuosi of her day as both a singer and a violinist. Her surviving compositions, all of them instrumental (concertos, duets, trios, and quartets), were widely published and reprinted during her lifetime. Very few Classical string trios were written in minor keys, so it is especially pleasing to have Sirmen’s Trio Op. 1, No. 6 (the last in the set), which makes full use of F minor’s dark and rich timbre. Sirmen’s style of varying textures and rhythmic pacing with sharp dynamic contrasts features throughout. The second movement, essentially a minuet in rondo form, begins and ends in a cheerful F major, but not without succumbing once again to the allure of F minor.
Born in the Czech-Moravian Highlands, Paul Wranitzky (Pavel Vranický) would play an important role as a violinist, composer, and conductor in the musical life of Vienna at the height of the Classical period. Both Haydn and Beethoven preferred Wranitzky as the conductor of their works. Wranitsky’s operas and ballets were also well received, his singspiel Oberon serving as an inspiration for Mozart’s Magic Flute. His significant chamber music output includes some 25 string quintets, 56 string quartets, and at least 24 string trios. Wranitzky was often a peacemaker among the members of the Viennese musical society, including one instance involving Haydn, and acted as mediator for Mozart’s widow, Constanze, in her dealings with music publishers. Wranitsky died suddenly from what was likely typhoid fever, and his popularity (and with it his music) fell quickly into relative obscurity. The Trio Concertant No. 3 is a grand work that exploits to great advantage the warmth and openness of string instruments playing in G major. Begun by the viola, the Allegro moderato features rich, expansive melodies, followed by a C major Adagio given over primarily to eloquent solo passages exploring the upper reaches of the cello’s register. Back in G major, an amiable Menuetto and Trio leads to a rollicking Allegro in rondo form.
All five of Ludwig van Beethoven’s string trios—the Op. 3 trio in Eb, the Op. 8 Serenade in D major, and the three Op. 9 trios—were written and published before his first set of six string quartets, Op. 18. Did Beethoven consider these trios as preparatory compositions before turning to the increasingly favored quartet? Or did he look upon the string trio as an important genre in its own right, a popular and expressive musical form engaged in by his respected colleagues and appreciated by Viennese audiences? The first question, one often answered in the affirmative (particularly with regard to the two earliest trios), would, on the face of things, seem plausible. Beethoven had already begun sketches for the Op. 18 quartets before finishing the Op. 9 trios, and indeed, would never again return to the genre. But few deny the mastery of these last three trios or contradict Beethoven’s own acknowledgment of them at the time as “the best of my work.” This he states in their dedication to Count Johann Browne, an eccentric supporter of Beethoven’s (who famously gave him a horse in exchange for the piano variations on a Russian theme by Wranitzky, WoO71). Beethoven had his most brilliant colleagues in mind in writing the Op. 9 trios. The violinist Schuppanzigh, likely violist Franz Weiss, and cellist Niklaus Kraft or his father, Anton, gave the first performance in Vienna. The Allegretto of Op. 9 No. 2 begins somewhat elusively, with a question asked in pianissimo and answered with increasing intensity and imagination. The Andante quasi allegretto, begun in utter simplicity, soon gives way to a rhapsodic melody, the three voices taking turns as soloist and with the pizzicato and arpeggiated accompaniment. The scherzo-like Menuetto, full of dynamic contrasts, is followed by a pastoral Rondo with all the youthful exuberance so often encountered in Beethoven’s early works. And note that the opening rondo theme is given not to the violin (as is so often the case) but to the cello!
—PROGRAM NOTES BY STEPHANIE VIAL
