Vienna Nights 2
George Frideric Handel 1685-1759
George Frideric Handel
1685-1759
George Frideric Handel
Selections from the Water Music Suites No. 1 & 2

Despite their familiarity, the Water Music suites, particularly the first one, are fraught with musicological mysteries. The myths and legends surrounding these works are as well known as the music itself. Everyone “knows” that Handel’s employer, George, Elector of Hanover and heir to the British throne, was miffed with his Kapellmeister for both overstaying a leave of absence in England and for writing laudatory compositions for England’s Queen Anne, whose childlessness set him up to succeed her. We also “know” that when George became king of England, Handel arranged a suite to be played on a barge on the Thames as part of a royal regatta in order to get back into the good graces of the angry monarch.

Unfortunately, little of the story is substantiated. Handel did write his first Water Music Suite in 1715, a year after George’s accession to the British throne, and there is ample evidence that he wrote the Suite for the Royal River Festival. But there is no hard evidence that the composer had ever been out of favor with George, as evidenced by a Te Deum written for the king in 1714 and a Royal payment to Handel in 1715. Nevertheless, any convincing documentation pro or con the various stories of Handel’s relationship with his boss at this point in his career has yet to turn up.

Then there’s the problem with the musical content itself. The Water Music Suite No. 1 is traditionally played in ten sections, eight in F major, two in the relative D minor. Nevertheless, there is some question about whether these ten numbers were all actually played at the premiere or whether Handel later added two sections from an earlier concerto composed the same year. Since there is no manuscript of the full score and the earliest publication of the entire set was in 1788, it is impossible to know the original content and order of the suites. Handel’s frequent recycling often makes it difficult to determine the original date of many of his works.

The traditional Baroque suite consisted of four to six movements based on a standard menu of court dances. The Water Music Suites, however, incorporate non-dance movements, most of which bear only tempo marking and no title at all. The instrumentation varies from movement to movement, but usually employs oboes, bassoons and horns – typical instruments for outdoor performances – in addition to strings and continuo (which were probably later addition for indoor performances).

Many conductors arrange their own suite from Handel’s three. For this performance, the selections are as follows:
1. Allegro – from Suite No. 1 Example 1

2. Andante – from Suite No. 1 Example 2

3. Presto – from Suite No. 1 Example 3

4. Air – from Suite No. 1 Example 4

5. Minuet – from Suite No. 1 Example 5

6. Alla hornpipe – from Suite No. 2. This is unusual for the dance suites of the time, in that it was a popular English sailors’ dance Example 6

Enrique Diemecke b. 1955
Enrique Diemecke
b. 1955
Enrique Diemecke
Concerto otoñal for Marimba and Orchestra

New work. No information available at this time
Franz Joseph Haydn 1732-1809
Franz Joseph Haydn
1732-1809
Franz Joseph Haydn
Symphony No. 104 in D major, “London”

The long life of Franz Joseph Haydn spanned one of the great upheavals in the economics of the musical profession. It marked the demise of the aristocratic “ownership” of music and musicians and the rise of the middle class as patron, supporter and chief consumer of the arts. No one bridged this transition better than Haydn, who went from being the darling of the Austro-Hungarian aristocracy to that of London's merchants without offending either.

In 1791, Haydn made the first of two extended trips to London at the invitation of the impresario Johann Peter Salomon, actually considering settling there for good. He composed numerous works for performance in Salomon’s concerts, primarily his last twelve symphonies (known today as the “London: or “Salomon” symphonies). These concerts – like most performances of the time – went on for hours and were a mixed bag, including vocal, chamber and orchestral pieces. For the decade of the 1790s, their major drawing power lay in Haydn’s music.

Haydn was not only a hit with London’s middle class but also with royalty and the high nobility. Although they seem to have been a bit late in getting around to inviting the composer for a formal presentation before their majesties King George III and Queen Charlotte, he so captivated Their Majesties that they had him back for return performances and conversation throughout the month of February of 1794. The Queen actually attempted to lure Haydn to take up permanent residence in London, but he declined on the grounds of loyalty to his patrons, the Esterházy family.

It is sometimes difficult from the vantage point of the twenty-first century to realize how innovative a composer Haydn was. While retaining the harmonic palette of high classicism, he added new ideas, on both a large and small scale, to make his works always sound fresh and exciting to his audiences.

The Symphony No.104 was Haydn’s last. It was probably premiered in London in May 1795 at an all-Haydn concert, the proceeds of which, in the English tradition of such “benefit” performances, went to the composer. Haydn himself remarked on the concert’s huge success, both artistically and financially.

Symphony 104 is notable for its persistently lively character. The somber introduction with its timpani and sighing violin motive belies the overall mood of the piece, Example 1 but then, Haydn was ever a proponent of the unexpected touch. Example 2 The second movement falls into the standard ABA pattern. A gentle theme in the A section Example 3 undergoes the same contrast of moods as the Introduction and Allegro. Example 4 The repeat of the A section includes variation-like embellishments of the main theme. Example 5 Example 6

Haydn's minuet movements were always less courtly and elegant than Mozarts. Here, however, the irregular phrasing and sudden pauses in the minuet which, in addition to its boisterous character, distances it, more than usual for Haydn, from its courtly dance origins. Example 7 Example 8 As if to emphasize the symphony’s “grass roots,” Haydn accompanies the main theme of the final movement with a drone, imitating the rural bagpipes of Croatian shepherds. Example 9Beethoven used the same effect in his "Pastoral" Symphony.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1756-1791
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
1756-1791
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Eine kleine Nachtmusik, K. 525 (Serenade in G major)

During the last four years of Mozart’s life, he was continually short of money. In spite of years of effort, he was unable to obtain a court appointment to the kind of prestigious musical position he considered appropriate for his talents. He was forced, therefore, to become one of the first of music history’s great freelancers. His operas, so revered after his death, saw indifferent success, and there was a steady decline in commissions, in part the result of a general economic downturn in Vienna, in part reflecting changing musical tastes.

The musical form known as the serenade underwent many transformations between the end of the sixteenth century and Mozart's time. The term was first applied to nocturnal “musical greetings” and certain Italian madrigals but evolved by the mid-eighteenth century into a multi-movement instrumental composition. The term was used interchangeably with “divertimento” and sometimes even as the title of a single movement. Usually performed outdoors as background music, serenades were often scored for winds – in Mozart’s Vienna, particularly the wind octet (or Harmoniemusik). The structure of the movements, however, was similar to that of other multi-movement chamber and orchestral pieces (the string quartet and the symphony), although generally lighter in mood and complexity. That being said, in one instance, Mozart transcribed note-for-note his Serenade in C minor for wind octet, K. 388 as the String Quintet, K. 406. This serenade and the Serenade in B-flat, K. 361 “Gran Partita” for thirteen wind instruments, are major works of great musical depth.

With his serenade Eine kleine Nachtmusik, Mozart brought the form back indoors, since it was scored for two violins, a viola, a cello and a double bass – or multiples thereof – and would be hard put to compete with outdoor noise. According to the autograph, Mozart composed it in Vienna in August 1787, at the same time that he was working on his opera Don Giovanni. In the personal catalogue of his compositions, Mozart listed it as Eine Kleine Nacht-Musick (although the surviving manuscript has no title). Originally it was a five-movement work, but the second movement, a minuet and trio, was either removed by the composer or was lost sometime before 1800. The occasion or commission for which he composed it is unknown, but one theory states that it was for one of his closest friends at the time, Gottfried von Jacquin, for whom he had already composed a number of other works. The four-movement version was first printed in 1826/27 with the title "Serenade."

Eine kleine Nachtmusik represents a marked contrast in mood and musical complexity in comparison to Mozart's other works written around this period such as the G minor Quintet, K. 516 or Don Giovanni. It harks back to the simpler style of the divertimenti and serenades of his Salzburg period.

The first movement is in paradigmatic sonata allegro form and is frequently used as a model for music appreciation classes. Starting off with a fanfare-like motive, the first theme is a composite of four distinct melodies, a common Mozart practice. Example 1 Mozart uses the supporting second theme, Example 2 however, for the most of the development. Example 3

The Romance is a song without words beginning with a refrain Example 4 that separates two verses. The refrain itself, however, is constructed like a da capo aria with a contrasting middle section Example 5 Each verse of the Romance is set to completely new music Example 6 & Example 7 The Minuet Example 8 and Trio contrast detached and legato articulation. Example 9

In the final Rondo, Mozart tinkers with the form so that a piece of the refrain Example 10 forms a part of the two episodes Example 11 & Example 12 and the coda that concludes the piece.
Copyright © Elizabeth and Joseph Kahn 2011