On the last day of September 1853, Brahms met the Schumanns for the first time. “Here is one of those who comes as if sent straight from God,” Clara recorded in her diary. Brahms was introduced around town, and among those he befriended was the young composer and conductor Albert Dietrich, a favorite student of Schumann and a frequent visitor to his home. Joachim was scheduled for an appearance in Düsseldorf at the end of October to give the premiere of Schumann’s Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra (Op. 131) as part of the Music Festival of the Lower Rhine, with the composer conducting. As a surprise for the violinist, Schumann, Dietrich and Brahms each agreed to write a movement of a sonata for violin and piano and then challenge Joachim to guess the respective authors. Dietrich was assigned the opening movement, Schumann volunteered an intermezzo and finale, and Brahms offered to supply the scherzo. They dubbed the project the “F.A.E.” Sonata, after the phrase that Joachim had taken as his motto: Frei aber einsam (“Free but alone”). The music was finished quickly, assembled into a performing edition and inscribed with a reversedinitial dedication: “In Expectation of the Arrival of an honored and beloved Friend.” Joachim was delighted with the gift, played the entire Sonata through immediately with Clara at the keyboard, and correctly announced each movement’s composer without a moment of hesitation. He kept the score for the rest of his life, and only in 1906, just a year before his death, did he finally allow Brahms’ Scherzo to be published. The Scherzo is Brahms’s earliest extant piece for violin and piano, though he had already composed at least one full sonata for that instrumental combination that either he or Schumann lost on its way to the publisher. The piece (“good fun—and harmless,” according to William Murdoch) follows the traditional three-part scherzo form, with a rather stormy C minor paragraph at the beginning and end surrounding a more lyrical central trio. Brahms’ Scherzo was not only a charming memento of an important friendship, but was also further proof to Schumann that he had met a genius. On October 23, 1853, Schumann’s article New Paths appeared in the widely read journal that he edited, Neue Zeitschrift für Musik (“New Journal for Music”). “I thought that sooner or later,” Schumann wrote, “someone would and must appear, destined to give ideal expression to the spirit of the times... And he has come, a young blood at whose cradle Graces and Heroes kept watch. His name is Johannes Brahms.” Brahms was famous from that day forward.
hilary hahn, violin
and he arranged a joint recital to raise enough money to finance the trip. Along with the proceeds of the gate, Joachim gave Brahms as a parting gift several letters of introduction, including one to Robert and Clara Schumann in Düsseldorf.
In 27 Pieces: The Hilary Hahn Encores At age 31, two-time Grammy Award-winning violinist Hilary Hahn has already made a lasting impact upon the violin repertoire, premiering two concertos written for her by American composers and championing both well- and lesser-known works in performance and recording. Hahn now delves deeper into the world of contemporary classical music, commissioning more than two dozen composers to write short-form pieces for acoustic violin and piano. She will tour these new works over the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons and then record them. The project is called In 27 Pieces: The Hilary Hahn Encores. This idea began to take shape nearly a decade ago, when Hahn noticed that new encore pieces were not being showcased as much as other types of contemporary works. Shorter pieces remain a crucial part of every violinist’s education and repertoire, and Hahn believed potential new favorites should be encouraged and performed as well. Of the project, she writes, “My initial goal was to expand the encore genre to embrace works of different styles. Because I was planning to play the commissioned pieces myself, it was important that the composers’ writing spoke to me in some way. I listened to a lot of contemporary classical music, for hours on end, often late into the night. I loved hearing things I had never heard before. I made nerve-wracking ‘cold calls’ to composers to ask them to participate in my project. I wasn’t sure what the reactions would be, but to my surprise, so many people were receptive that the project gained exhilarating momentum. “It has been thrilling and an honor to get to know these composers as artists and to work with such different personalities and styles. Going into this project, I had no idea how much I would learn from it. Each composer brings his or her own musical language to the table. As a performer, the process of exploring these pieces is both challenging and exciting. The structure may be concise, but each work contains a wealth of expression. “When composers put ideas down on paper, the aural world takes on a greater dimension. My hope is that these particular contributions will showcase the range of music being written today, while bringing enjoyment to listeners and performers alike.”
—Dr. Richard E. Rodda
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MONDAVI CENTER PROGRAM Issue 2: Oct-Nov 2011 |
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