Hello all,

This week’s music is Mozart’s famous Eine kleine Nachtmusik (“a little night music”).

We may know Mozart best for his piano compositions (or even this piece), but at the peak of his popularity he was primarily an opera composer. In fact, at the time he wrote the Nachtmusik, he was simultaneously composing his famous opera Don Giovanni (which, to be honest, also could have been featured on this list). He considered the Nachtmusik as an insignificant side project that was not worth publishing. In fact, the Nachtmusik was never performed in Mozart’s lifetime. It was discovered after his death by a German researcher who convinced Mozart’s widow to sell it for publication. It is therefore ironic that it has become one of his most well-known compositions.

Everything about the Nachtmusik is quintessentially Mozartian: the lightness of the bow strokes, the sense of barely-contained excitement, the operatic solo lines, etc. Notice the similarities between this piece and the format of an opera. For instance, each movement uses the 1^st violin line to introduce a solo theme (essentially an aria) that returns at the end to wrap everything together.

Enjoy!

T

It’s a few days late, but I thought we could use this week’s music to celebrate American music in honor of July 4th. Today, we will hear Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man, performed by the National Symphony Orchestra.

Aaron Copland, often referred to as the “Dean of American Music,” did more to capture the essence of the American spirit in music than any other composer. His works include the ballet Appalachian Spring (which won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1945), the ballet Billy the Kid, the orchestral work Lincoln Portrait, and the score for the film adaptation of John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men.

Copland wrote Fanfare for the Common Man in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor. “I sort of remember how I got the idea of writing Fanfare for the Common Man,” he wrote. “It was the common man, after all, who was doing all the dirty work in the war and the army. He deserved a fanfare.” Although the work is only three minutes long, Fanfare for the Common Man packs a serious punch. It starts with percussive drums, then features the trumpets, the French horns, trombones, and tuba in a stirring melody resembling a call to arms. You can also hear a version of the Fanfare for the Common Man in the opening bars of Copland’s famous Third Symphony (1946).

Happy 4^th!

T

Hello all,

This week, let’s have some more music about springtime! We will hear Appalachian Spring by Aaron Copland. This is arguably the most well-known and widely-loved piece of music ever written by an American composer.

Two years after the premier of his amazingly popular ballet Rodeo, Copland wrote the ballet score of Appalachian Spring. He commissioned the work to be performed by dancer Martha Graham. A year later, after the ballet was met with widespread success (including winning a Pulitzer Prize for best musical score), Copland created the orchestral suite you will hear today.

Appalachian Spring evokes images of rolling Blue Ridge mountains, open prairie-lands, soaring northern peaks, and youthful exploration. It captures much of the adventurousness inherent in the American ideal. Ironically, Copland wasn’t even thinking about the Appalachians when he wrote the piece. As he said, “I gave voice to that region without knowing I was giving voice to it.”

While all of the melodies in Appalachian Spring are memorable and evocative, the highlight is the unmistakable “Simple Gifts” theme that begins at 23:27. Based on the Shaker hymn by the same name, this melody was Copland’s attempt to pay homage to the Shaker influence on American culture. Since they were writing for a ballet, Copland and Graham initially chose “Simple Gifts” because of its references to dancing:

When true simplicity is gained
To bow and to bend we shan’t be asham’d
To turn, turn will be our delight
’Till by turning, turning we come round right.

Enjoy!

T

Hello all,

Spring has sprung (at least in my neck of the woods), so I thought Beethoven’s “Spring” Sonata would be the perfect piece for this week’s music. We will be hearing a performance by the Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos and the Italian pianist Enrico Pace.

This four-movement sonata was not originally nicknamed “Spring”—that name was given to it later, by audiences who thought the opening bars of the first movement were reminiscent of a blossoming spring-time meadow—but it was designed to be light-hearted and lyrical. None of the movements feature the dark, powerful motifs so often associated with Beethoven. On the contrary, they are all remarkable cheerful, perhaps even Mozartian.

In the first movement, listen for the way the violin and piano trade the opening line and recycle it through multiple tonalities. Beethoven is a genius at fragmenting a melody, then bringing it back in unexpected ways. The second movement is written in song form, leading some scholars to wonder if it was originally a lullaby. You’ll hear a dance-like trio in the third movement, evidence of Beethoven’s tutelage under the great Franz Joseph Haydn, and the characteristic Rondo that finishes so many sonatas of the Classical era.

Enjoy!

T

I know Easter was last week, but I recently discovered Frank Martin’s Golgotha Mass and had to share it with you. This is a fantastic piece written by an underrated composer, a piece full of emotional depth that mixes elements of modernism, impressionism, the German romantic tradition, and more. We will be hearing the first movement of the Mass today.

Frank Martin was a Swiss composer who lived from 1890 to 1974. He lived most of his life in the Netherlands, but established the now-famous Chamber Music Society of Geneva before he left Switzerland. His compositions range from chamber music to symphonies and everything in between (including a stunning violin concerto), but the primary inspiration for his music was his Christian faith. Like his hero J.S. Bach, Martin’s faith was the sole motivation and aim of his efforts as a composer.

Martin wrote the Golgotha Mass after viewing a series of etchings by Rembrandt at an art museum. The etchings depicted the three crosses on Calvary. Light pours down on the central cross, on which the crucified Christ hangs in agony. Martin was so affected by the etchings that he went home and immediately began working on a Mass.

Martin described the Mass this way: “My idea was for us to relive the sacred drama, and especially to evoke the divine person of Christ; to show him first of all in action, condemning the hypocritical Pharisees with the same vigor as when he drove the traders out of the temple; subsequently to show him during the Last Supper, preparing his disciples for his parting; then in his anguish at Gethsemane. Finally, in the second part, to show him replying to the High Priest and to Pilate with divine peace and authority.” In a break from tradition, Martin did not use the texts of the Gospels for the Mass. Rather, he used texts written by St. Augustine, which he called “long mediations on the mystery of the Passion.”

This is a truly masterful work, one that is vastly under-appreciated in the contemporary canon. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

T