2024 Festival Program Notes

June 21, 2024 - TERRA

Caroline Shaw – Limestone and Felt, for cello and viola

Caroline Shaw (b. Aug. 1, 1982) is a composer, violinist and singer who has a wide-ranging career.  She has academic degrees in violin performance and composition.  At age 30 she was the youngest- ever recipient of a Pulitzer Prize for her Partita for 8 voices, recorded by the vocal ensemble “Roomful of Teeth”, of which she is a member. Her works and collaborations include some popular music groups as well as classical.  Her music is contemporary without being offensive, and she is an astonishingly versatile performer.

From the composer: Limestone & Felt presents two kinds of surfaces – essentially hard and soft. These are materials that can suggest place (a cathedral apse, or the inside of a wool hat), stature, function, and – for me – sound (reverberant or muted). In limestone & felt, the hocketing pizzicato and pealing motivic canons are part of a whimsical, mystical, generous world of sounds echoing and colliding in the imagined eaves of a gothic chapel. These are contrasted with the delicate, meticulous, and almost reverent placing of chords that, to our ears today, sound ancient and precious, like an antique jewel box. Ultimately, felt and limestone may represent two opposing ways we experience history and design our own present.

Ludwig v. Beethoven – Duet mit zwei obligaten Augengläsern (Duet with two obligatory eyeglasses) 

Beethoven’s Duet for Viola and Cello in E-flat Major, WoO 32, with the unusual title of “With Two Eyeglasses Obbligato” is a two movement work found in his notebook and not published until long after his death (WoO 32 indicates “works without opus numbers”).  When Beethoven composed this duet he would often play the viola, and he performed this work with his cellist friend, Nikolaus Zmeskall.  Both of them wore glasses, thus the humorous title. In a letter to Zmeskall, he joked that two eyeglasses were needed to play the piece. Their friendship is evident in the composition, with lighthearted interplay between the instruments, often feeling like a conversation among friends. 

Reena Esmail – This is it 

Reena Esmail (b. 1983) is an Indian-American composer who works between the worlds of Indian and Western classical music, and brings communities together through the creation of equitable musical spaces. She holds degrees from Juilliard and Yale (DMA) and is the recipient of a Fulbright-Nehru grant to study Hindustani music. She resides in Los Angeles.  

From the composer: In John Kabat-Zinn’s seminal book on meditation Wherever You Go, There You Are, he speaks of how we are always encouraged to look forward, to think into the future — but what if this is it? What if we sat with each moment, savoring it as if it was that special, unique, pinnacle moment? 

This set of miniatures asks the musicians to explore being present with one another. Each miniature invites a different type of interaction — whether passing off a flexible and mellifluous melody seamlessly between one another, locking in with each other in a tight, shimmering holding pattern, or taking turns pushing one another off a musical cliff and then catching each other at the bottom. Each movement opens up a tiny, mutually created universe for just a few precious breaths. 

This Is It was commissioned by the Greenwood Music Camp, as the 2023 Deborah Sherr Commission. It was premiered on July 15, 2023 by Carina Bagdasarian, Coda Scheuer, violins; Eli Mayuma, viola; and Ari Freed, cello at Greenwood Music Camp in Cummington, MA. 

Ralph Vaughan Williams – Piano Quintet in C Minor

English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958) is best known for his art songs, chamber music, and symphonies. His works were frequently inspired by English folk tunes and musical customs, which helped to contribute to a unique national style in classical music of the 20th century.  Vaughan Williams’ Piano Quintet in C Minor was composed in 1903 and then revised in 1904 and 1905.  It was performed intermittently until 1918, when Vaughan Williams withdrew it from his catalog of works, as he felt it was written before he had found his signature sound as a composer. The quintet remained unpublished until the 50th anniversary of his death in 2008, when his widow Ursula allowed it to re-enter circulation.

The opening movement (Allegro con fuoco) represents the late Romantic style with its expansive feel, passionate intensity, and rich harmonic vocabulary. The movement starts with four fiery descending chords that are quickly inverted and expanded into a flowing viola melody. This theme is transformed into a robust statement, supported by a sustained pedal point by the double bass. The harmonies are reminiscent of Brahms, but also include the modality that Vaughan Wiliams is known for.  The second movement (Andante) begins with a hymn-like atmosphere, featuring a melody that resembles his beloved art song “Silent Noon” (also composed in 1903). The intensity and energy build, coming to a passionate climax before resuming the movement’s initial prayerful mood. The finale (Fantasia) is a theme followed by a set of five variations which explore a range of textures and emotions. Vaughan Williams revisited this main theme in 1954, incorporating it into the final movement of his Violin Sonata. The movement comes to an end with a peaceful coda.

Notes by Lauren Servias and Ken Saul

June 25, 2024 - ARBOR

Caroline Shaw – Plan and Elevation

Caroline Shaw (b. Aug. 1, 1982) is a composer, violinist and singer who has a wide-ranging career.  She has academic degrees in violin performance and composition.  At age 30 she was the youngest- ever recipient of a Pulitzer Prize for her Partita for 8 voices, recorded by the vocal ensemble “Roomful of Teeth”, of which she is a member. Her works and collaborations include some popular music groups as well as classical.  Her music is contemporary without being offensive, and she is an astonishingly versatile performer.

Dumbarton Oaks, in Georgetown, Washington D.C.,  is a Harvard University research institution consisting of a library, a music room, extensive gardens, and a museum housing a collection of Byzantine and Pre-Columbian art from the collection of Robert and Mildred Bates, art collectors  and arts patrons.  The gardens were Mildred’s project. Robert was a diplomat in the Foreign Service, and Dumbarton Oaks hosted several diplomatic meetings in the 1940s, including one which paved the say for the U.N. charter, which was adopted in 1945.  

Plan & Elevation: The Ground of Dumbarton Oaks

I.              The Ellipse
II.             The Cutting Garden
III.           The Herbaceous Border
IV.          The Orangery
V.            The Beach Tree

Commissioned by Dumbarton Oaks, and premiered by the Dover Quartet in the music room of Dumbarton Oaks on November 1, 2015. 

(Program notes by the composer, February 2016)

I have always loved drawing the architecture around me when traveling, and some of my favorite lessons in musical composition have occurred by chance in my drawing practice over the years. While writing a string quartet to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Dumbarton Oaks, I returned to these essential ideas of space and proportion – to the challenges of trying to represent them on paper.  The title, “Plan & Elevation” refers to two standard ways of representing architecture – essentially an orthographic, or ‘bird’s eye’ perspective (plan), and a side view which features more ornamental detail (elevation). This binary is also a gentle metaphor for one’s path in any endeavor – often the actual journey and results are quite different (and perhaps more elevated) than the original plan.  

I was fortunate to have been the inaugural music fellow at Dumbarton Oaks in 2014-15.  Plan & Elevation examines different parts of the estate’s beautiful grounds and my personal experience in those particular spaces.  Each movement is based on a simple ground bass line which supports a different musical concept or character.  “The Ellipse” considers the notion of infinite repetition (I won’t deny a tiny Kirkegaard influence here). One can walk around and around the stone path, beneath the trimmed hornbeams, as I often did as a way to clear my mind while writing.  The second movement, “The Cutting Garden,” is a fun fragmentation of various string quartets (primarily Ravel, Mozart K. 387, and my own Entr’acte, Valencia and Punctum)  referencing the variety of flowers grown there before they meet their inevitable end as cuttings for display. “The Herbaceous Border” is spare and strict at first, like the cold geometry of French formal gardens with their clear orthogonals (when viewed from the highest point), before building to the opposite of order: chaos.  The fourth movement, “The Orangery,” evokes the slim, fractured shadows in that room as the light tries to peek through the leaves of the aging fig vine.  We end with my favorite spot in the garden, “The Beech Tree.” It is strong, simple, ancient, elegant and quiet: it needs no introduction.  

W. A. Mozart -- Clarinet Quintet, K. 581 

Mozart wrote his clarinet quintet, K. 581, in 1789, two years before his death in 1791. His inspiration was the arrival in Vienna of two brothers – Anton and Joseph Stadler. Both played multiple instruments, but specialized in the clarinet, which at the time was not a widely-used instrument. Mozart was impressed by the playing of the brothers, especially Anton, and wrote this piece for string quartet and clarinet for him, calling it the “Stadler Quintet.” Mozart’s A-Major clarinet concerto and the trio for clarinet, viola and piano (Kegelstatt Trio) also resulted from his association with the brothers, especially Anton. Clarinetists even today gratefully regard these pieces as staples of their repertoire. 

The quintet is in four movements, which at the time was the standard form for symphonies and large chamber works and sonatas. The first movement, Allegro, is in the key of A-Major, and sets the cheerful tone for the whole piece. The second movement, Larghetto, in D-Major, is absolutely beautiful and utterly serene, a balm for any listener with jangled nerves needing calming! The following Menuetto is again cheerful and jaunty, in A-Major. The first Trio, in A-Minor, is for strings alone, followed by the reprise of the Menuetto. Unusually for the time, there is another Trio in A-Major, finishing up with the Menuetto. The last movement, Allegretto con variazione, is a set of variations, in the home key of A-Major, except for the third variation in A- minor. There is a dramatic pause after the four variations, followed by a lyrical adagio before the quintet ends with a fast coda. The quintet was premiered on December 22, 1789, at a concert in Vienna. The proceeds were to benefit widows and orphans of deceased musicians. 

In its first performance, Anton Stadler played the bassett clarinet, which could play about four notes lower than the standard clarinet in A which is usually heard today. A violinist named Joseph Zistler played first violin, and Mozart himself played the viola. The names of the other players are not known. 

Antonin Dvořák -- Cypresses 

Antonin Dvořák wrote twelve songs for soprano and piano in 1865.  The poems by Gustav Pleger Moravsky were mostly about unrequited love, from which the young composer was suffering at the time. Dvořák had given some piano lessons to a young woman named Josefina Cermáková and fell in love with her.  She did not return the sentiment, later marrying another man while Dvořák married Josefina’s younger sister, Anna in 1873. The lovelorn young composer expressed his feelings in his settings of the poems, which were titled “Cypresses”.  Many years later Dvořák explained “Just imagine a young man in love – that’s what they’re all about.”  

Dvořák was very attached to the songs, and used parts of them for several other works before making his arrangements of twelve of the songs for string quartet in 1887.  The quartet versions adhere very closely to the harmonies and rhythms of the songs, retaining the original titles of the poems as well as the group title “Cypresses”.  They are mostly gentle and somewhat sad.

Unrelated to music, but interesting, is the fact that Dvořák was a trainspotter, obsessively recording his train trips from Prague to Vienna.  He was fascinated by technological advances and reportedly stated “I’d give all my symphonies if I could have invented the locomotive!”   

Notes by Angela Carlson

June 28, 2024 - AQUA

Herbert Howells: Phantasy Quartet, Op. 25

English composer Herbert Howells (1892-1983) is known primarily for his Anglican church music, but his oeuvre includes significant contributions to chamber music and orchestral repertoire as well. Born into humble beginnings in Gloucestershire, Howells was able to take private music lessons through the generosity of a wealthy patron who recognized his talent and put him on the path to study at the Royal College of Music, where he was under the tutelage of renowned composers Charles Villiers Stanford, Hubert Parry and Charles Wood.

The Phantasy Quartet, Op. 25, written in 1924, exemplifies the twentieth-century genre known as a "fantasy": a single, through-composed movement of vividly contrasting emotions and tempi.  Howells drew upon folk elements while developing a single melodic theme, a compositional technique reminiscent of the thematic transformation/ metamorphosis that Franz Liszt and Hector Berlioz were known for. The quartet opens with a recitative-like passage by the first violin played over an emotionally ambiguous chord. This simple beginning evolves, with the help of modal harmonies and pentatonic scales, shifting between calm and sprightly, static and active, lyrical and spiky, then coming to a vibrant climax before returning to a peaceful state.  Howells leads the audience to think the work has come to a close, but after a moment of silence, the quartet resumes playing and concludes with one last murmur.

Jean Cras: String Trio

Jean Cras (1879-1932) was a unique figure in early 20th-century music, balancing a distinguished career in the French Navy with his passionate devotion to composition. Born in Brest into a family with a strong naval tradition, Cras entered the Naval Academy at the age of seventeen, while studying orchestration, counterpoint and composition on his own. Eventually, Cras felt he could no longer progress without a teacher and began his studies with French composer Henri Duparc, who was greatly impressed by Cras' musical talent. The influence of Cras’ experiences, his native Brittany, and the exotic locales he visited can be heard in his works, including his String Trio, composed in 1926.

The first movement (which has no tempo description, only a metronome indication) begins with a charming duo played over pulsing eighth notes in the cello.  Energetic and filled with jazz-inflected rhythms, the first movement eventually transitions into a contemplative dialogue between the three instruments before returning to its initial buoyancy and then coming to a gentle end.  The second movement (Lent) opens with a hymn-like texture that evokes a meditative church setting.  This tranquility is followed by a starkly contrasting exotic violin solo played against a stately viola and cello accompaniment.   The viola sings hauntingly, and then the cello enters with a longing melody before ending with a slightly questioning air.  The third movement (Animé) bursts forth with lively strummed lower strings mimicking a guitar. This sets the stage for a sunny melody that is passed between the instruments. As the development unfolds, the music gains momentum, incorporating exotic elements and accelerating towards a feverish climax. The fourth movement (Très animé) takes flight with a vigorous, Bach-like etude for the cello, which gradually transforms into a spirited Gaelic dance, reflecting Cras' Breton heritage. Over the cello's energetic groundwork, a lyrical second theme emerges, its soaring lines accompanied by the soft ponticello of the other strings. The three parts race toward the finish line, gaining momentum and excitement before ending exuberantly.

Ernő Dohnányi: Piano Quintet No.2 in E-flat minor, Op. 26

Ernő Dohnányi (1877-1960) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and conductor known for his contributions to early 20th-century music. His works are a unique blend of German Romanticism with Hungarian influences, thanks to his training at the National Hungarian Royal Academy (which at the time reflected a strong German musical influence) and Dohnányi’s Hungarian roots.  Dohnányi received artist diplomas in both piano and composition from the National Hungarian Royal Academy of Music where he studied with Hans Koessler and was classmates – and friends - with Béla Bartók.

Dohnányi's Piano Quintet No. 2 was written in 1914, during the onset of World War I and also while Dohnányi was desperately trying to leave an unhappy marriage to be with his mistress. It is easy to imagine the effect of this global and personal turmoil on Dohnányi when listening to this composition, as darkness and deep emotion are ever-present. The first movement (Allegro non troppo) is in sonata form, and is filled with gravitas but also moments of startling beauty. Dramatic and emotional, this stirring moment ends hopefully, in E-flat major.  The second movement (Intermezzo. Allegretto – Presto) opens with a lilting, Brahmsian scherzo theme that undergoes variations, balancing the somber tone with a playful character. The final movement (Moderato) begins with a fugue, starting with the cello, then passing the theme to the viola and then the violins, forming a plaintive string quartet before giving way to a prayerful piano solo. The fugue theme returns again and again as the drama ebbs and flows, until after reaching a stormy climax, the anguish begins to fade until the movement comes to a close, having found peace. 

Notes by Lauren Servias

June 30, 2024 - NOVA

Johann Sebastian Bach – Two-Part Inventions

Bach wrote his two-part inventions for his eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann. They are still considered to be a benchmark achievement in the career of young pianists.  Bach’s subtitle lays out his intentions:

“Forthright instruction wherewith lovers of the clavier, especially those desirous of learning to play two voices clearly, and how to achieve a cantabile style of playing and thereby acquiring a strong foretaste of composition.” [At the time, clavier or Klavier indicated any keyboard instrument, which would have been harpsichord, clavichord or organ.] 

The inventions were probably written in 1723, early in Bach’s career when he was employed as a court musician at the court of Koethen. Each invention is quite short, only a page or two in a printed edition and each has a distinct character. The two independent voices are thematically related, but are not in canon or round form. Hearing them played on two instruments with differing tone quality highlights Bach’s contrapuntal genius. Counterpoint means voices of equal value but independent in contour and rhythm. The performers today will be reading from a regular keyboard score.  

1. C Major  
2. D minor   
3. B-flat Major  
5.  E-flat Major  
8.  F Major  
11.  G minor  
13.  A minor  
14.  B-flat Major

Richard Strauss – Metamorphosen

By 1944 Richard Strauss’s health was declining; he hoped to visit a spa in Switzerland but the Nazi government would not give him permission to travel.  That problem was solved when Paul Sacher, a Swiss conductor and billionaire (at that time reputed to be the richest man in the world) commissioned Strauss to write a composition which would be premiered in Zurich under Strauss’s direction.   Strauss began revising an earlier septet on March 13,1945, the day after the bombing of he Vienna State Opera House.  He finished “Metamorphosen for 23 Solo Strings” a month later.  He never commented on the title of the piece. The version for seven players heard on this concert was made by Rudolf Leopold in 1996.

The themes Strauss uses in Metamorphosen continuously develop but don’t really change character.  The mood of the piece is overwhelmingly sad, and it was widely believed that the piece was Strauss’s expression of his deep distress over the destruction of many opera houses and theaters in Germany, especially in Munich, where he was born and raised.  At the end of the score, Strauss quoted a bit of the Funeral March from Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’ Symphony and wrote “In memoriam” at the bottom of the page. He finished the score three weeks before the end of the war in Germany, which was officially May 18, 1945.  He conducted the final rehearsal in Zurich on January 25, 1946, which made a deep impression on the players and those who heard it.  Willi Schuh, a musicologist who wrote several books on Strauss, wrote about Strauss’s handling of “developmental lines and intensification of dynamics and tempos, even though it was also clear that his hearing was failing.”  After finishing Metamorphosen, Strauss wrote in his diary, “The most terrible period of human history is at an end, the thirteen years of bestiality, ignorance and anti-culture under the greatest criminals, during which Germany’s 2,000 years of cultural evolution met its doom.” 

Johannes Brahms – Sextet no. 2 in G Major, Op. 36 

Johannes Brahms was in his early 30s and a seasoned composer in 1864 when he began work on his second string sextet for two violins, two violas, and two cellos.  He had already published several important works, including two orchestral serenades, his first piano concerto and several chamber works with piano. The lush textures of his second sextet show his considerably advanced skills, especially in his use of counterpoint.  

The first movement, Allegro non troppo, in G Major, uses some musical material from the past, as well as a musical reference from an episode of six years previously.  Brahms had been invited to visit Julius Grimm, a composer/teacher friend who was working in Göttingen.  There Brahms met one of Grimm’s students, a young singer named Agathe von Siebold. To make a long story shorter, the two fell in love and became (at first secretly) engaged.  Two years later Brahms premiered his first piano concerto in Leipzig and the audience hissed instead of applauding. This caused a crisis of confidence for Brahms, as well as fear of commitment, and he wrote to Agathe declaring his affection but not really committing to the relationship. Agathe broke off the engagement and Brahms remained a bachelor the rest of his life.  Agathe was not forgotten, however, because Brahms used a musical signature of her name in the first movement of this sextet:  A G A H (B-natural in German) E.   

The second movement, Scherzo-Allegro non troppo-Presto Giocoso, starts with an amiable scherzo, even though in a minor key, followed by a faster section which is reminiscent of some of Brahms’ Hungarian Dances. The movement ends with a faster section. The third movement, Adagio, is an eloquent set of variations in E-minor.  The variation form was one of Brahms’ favorites; by the time of his writing this sextet he had already written his two famous sets of piano variations, one on a theme by Handel and the Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini. The fourth and last movement is in G Major again, marked Poco Allegro.  It is richly inventive, ending with a rousing fugal section. The sextet was finished in 1864, premiered in Boston in October of 1866 and in Europe a month later.  The practice in writing beautiful string music surely served Brahms well when he finally finished his first symphony in 1876.  

Notes by Angela Carlson