American Fantasies—Arnold Schoenberg and American Music

"In the few months I have been here [in USA] I have totally altered my opinion of American music.  Certainly I find that skill and knowledge, the average level of general music education, is at times rather superficial and external; I often find people aiming in a wild and mannered way at a target imposed from outside and by its nature neither worth aiming at nor original; I cannot praise such willfulness; but on the other hand I have recognized an extraordinarily large amount of talent, inventive ability and originality, which in my opinion justify the highest hopes"

 - Arnold Schoenberg, 1934

Few people view Arnold Schoenberg as an “American” composer, and certainly the majority of his works were composed when he resided in Vienna and Berlin.  However, he immigrated to America in 1933 and lived in Los Angeles for almost twenty years.  In California, he continued to compose some of his greatest works; among those are the Fourth String Quartet, the Violin and Piano Concertos, and the String Trio.  Much is known about Schoenberg’s musical influence and teaching in Europe, where his development of the twelve-tone method of composing changed the course of music. Some of his students in Vienna became colleagues or close friends and established impressive careers of their own. Names such as Anton Webern and Alban Berg are almost always mentioned in the same breath as Schoenberg’s, completing the “Triumvirate” of the Second Viennese School.

Did Schoenberg change as a composer and teacher when he moved to the United States? As he gradually adapted to the American educational system—through his appointment to the University of Southern California and later to the University of California, Los Angeles—his teaching style appeared to change.  Where he had nurtured one of the most exceptional classes of young composers in Vienna, he was now left to teach undergraduate classes in theory and harmony.  He felt that the general knowledge of music among his students left a lot to be desired.  In realizing this, his teaching focused on the “classics,” such as Bach, Beethoven and Brahms, in order to provide his students with a proper foundation in music.  Schoenberg would rarely teach the subject of the twelve-tone method — not even to his most talented students.  He would help the personal development of his students and strongly encourage them to find their own distinct voice.  Maybe his reluctance to teach the twelve-tone method related to the traumatic events that forced him to leave Europe.  Possibly as well, whereas in the 1920s, the twelve-tone method had seemed to be the only logical way forward, it now appeared to be but one of several ways of dealing with the breakdown of tonality. 

Being one of Schoenberg’s last compositions, the Phantasy for Violin and Piano, Op. 47, is the ideal starting point for a chronological exploration of Schoenberg’s influence on American music.

                                                                                    Dr. Christian Meyer

                                                                                  Arnold Schönberg Center, Wien

 Program

• Arnold Schoenberg: Phantasy for Violin with piano Accompaniment, Op. 47

• John Cage: Six Melodies for Violin and Keyboard

• Gunther Schuller: Recitative and Rondo, Op. 21

• Donald Harris: Fantasie for Violin and Piano

• Leon Kirchner: For Violin Solo

• Leon Kirchner: Duo No. 2 for Violin and Piano

Hasse Borup - violin

Mary Kathleen Ernst - piano

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Complete Sonatas for Violin and Piano by Niels W. Gade

Niels Wilhelm Gade (February 22, 1817 - December 21, 1890) was a Danish composer, conductor, violinist, organist and teacher. He was considered the most important Danish musician of his day.  Gade began his career as a violinist with the Royal Orchestra in Copenhagen.  His first major orchestra work Efterklange af Ossian (1840) propelled him into the center of the Danish music stage.  In 1842 he sent his first symphony (which was turned down for performance in Copenhagen) to Felix Mendelssohn, who received the work with great enthusiasm, and conducted it in Leipzig. Mendelssohn invited Gade to Leipzig, teaching at the Conservatory, working as an assistant conductor of the Gewandhaus Orchestra, and befriending Mendelssohn, who had an important influence on his music. He also nurtured friendships with Robert and Clara Schumann.  Gade returned to Copenhagen in the late 1840s, becoming director of the Copenhagen Musical Society (a post he retained until his death) and establishing a new orchestra and chorus. He also worked as an organist and was joint director of the Copenhagen Conservatory with Johan Peter Emilius Hartmann (whose daughter Gade married in 1852) and Holger Simon Paulli.  Gade was an important influence on a number of later Scandinavian composers, including Edvard Grieg and Carl Nielsen. He died in Copenhagen.

The three sonatas on tonight’s program each mark a significant part of Gade’s career.  The Sonata No.1, Op. 6 (1842) belongs to the early period.  The piece is dedicated to Clara Schumann, one of the foremost virtuosic pianists of her time, and has a simple and almost innocent character.  Lacking grand endings and obvious bravura, the piece rather exposes the ethereal (feminine?) side of a romantic, virtuosic sonata with complicated and challenging passages in both piano and violin.  Certain harmonic progressions and passages invoke the memory of the great master, Franz Schubert.

Sonata No.2, Op. 21 (1849) is the most popular and probably the best balanced (form-wise) of the three sonatas.  It is written around the time Gade was forced to leave Germany due to the First Prussian War between Denmark and Germany.  The dark key of D minor reveals an almost Beethovian obsession with a seven-note motif, which recurs numerous time throughout the piece.  The stormy mood of the first movement is recalled in the slow opening of the finale, but soon a sunny and exuberant D major tonality takes the listener to an ecstatic finish.

Sonata No.3, Op. 67 (1885) was composed at the end of Gade’s active career.  This weighty four-movement work displays a composer comfortable with his accomplishments and in complete mastery of form.  The second movement has an elf-like character, setting up the gorgeous third movement, Romanza, maybe the central movement of this sonata.  Gade ends his compositions for violin with a virtuosic tour-de-force in the last movement, leaving both the performer and listener wishing for more. 

Among Gade's other works are eight symphonies, a violin concerto, string quartets, piano pieces and a number of large-scale cantatas, Comala (1846) and Elverskud (1853) amongst them, which he called "Koncertstykke", based on Danish folklore.

- Notes by Hasse Borup

Program

• Sonata No. 1 in A Major, Op. 6 (1842)
• Sonata No. 2 in D Minor, Op. 21 (1849)
• Sonata No. 3 in Bb Major, Op. 59 (1885)

Hasse Borup - violin

Heather Conner - piano