#ClassicsaDay #Divertimento Week 2

 The Classics a Day team decided to lighten up a little. Webster's Dictionary defines a divertimento as "an instrumental chamber work in several movements usually light in character." 

For October, the challenge is to post videos of divertimentos written by classical composers. 

I quickly discovered that every composer had a different idea of what "light in character" meant. The only thing any of these selections have in common is the title: divertimento. Here are my selections for the second week of the #ClassicsaDay challenge, #Divertimento.

10/07/24 Michael Haydn: Divertimento in D major for Horn, Viola, and Contrabass

Michael was Franz Joseph's younger brother and an accomplished composer in his own right. He wrote over 20 divertimenti for various instruments.

 

10/08/24 Niccolo Paganini: Divertimenti Carnevaleschi, Op. 4: Perigordino No. 1

Paganini's divertimenti for string trio are among his earliest published works. These date from 1804.

 

10/09/24 Edward Burlingame Hill: Divertimento for Piano and Orchestra

As a composition teacher at Harvard, Hill was a major influence. His students include Leonard Bernstein, Walter Piston, Virgil Thomson, Roger Sessions, and Elliott Carter.

 

10/10/24 Anna Bon: Divertimento in D minor, Op. 3, No. 3

Bon was a harpsichordist working at Esterhazy, where Franz Joseph Haydn was music master. She published three collections of music in the late 1700s. Shortly after, she vanished from the historical record.

 

10/11/24 Franz Liszt: Divertimento sur une cavatine de Pacini

Liszt used the melody "I tuoi frequenti palpiti" from Pacini's opera "Niobe" for this work. There's no question this piece is performed far more often than the original opera.

 

#ClassicsaDay #Divertimento Week 1

The Classics a Day team decided to lighten up a little. Webster's Dictionary defines a divertimento as "an instrumental chamber work in several movements usually light in character." 

For October, the challenge is to post videos of divertimentos written by classical composers. 

Seems straightforward enough. However I quickly discovered that every composer had a different idea of what "light in character" meant. The only thing any of these selections have in common is the title: divertimento. Here are my selections for the first week of the #ClassicsaDay challenge, #Divertimento.

10/01/24 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Divertimento No. 1 in E-flat major, K. 113

Mozart's first divertimento was composed during his second visit to Italy in 1771. It was created for a subscription concert.

 

10/02/24 Franz Schubert: Divertimento all'ungherese op.54 D818

This Divertimento by Schubert is atypical of the genre. It only has three movements, instead of five or more. The first is extremely long, and the melodies are more involved than most divertimenti. But it's Schubert, so who's complaining?

 

10/03/24 Vincent Persichetti: Divertimento for Band, Op. 42

This work was supposed to be for orchestral. But as Persichetti describes it, at some point during the writing, he realized the strings were never going to enter. And at that point, it became officially a work for band.

 

10/04/24 Anna Amalia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel: Divertimento in B-Dur

Princess Anna Amalia was a patron of the arts. And she was also an accomplished composer. Her residence, Wittum Palace, was described as the "court of the muses."

 

#ClassicsaDay #AltBaroque Week 4

The Classics a Day team offers a unique challenge for September. Participants are to share music from the Baroque Era on their social media posts. What makes this a challenge is to avoid the big names. So no Bach, Handel, or Vivaldi. (And no Pachelbel's Canon). 

 The Baroque Era ushered a sea change in musical styles from the Renaissance. Church modes gave way to major and minor keys (still in use today). Linear polyphony was replaced by a melody with chordal harmony. Viols were traded in for violins. New forms of music were developed: operas, oratorios, cantatas, and sonatas. 

 Many composers contributed to that development -- many more than the Big Three. Here are my posts for this #AltClassical challenge. For the fourth and final week, I picked some unusual composers.

09/23/24 Maria Teresa Agnesi Pinottini (1720-1795): Concerto per il cembalo

Little is known of Agnesi's life. While her music is well documented in historical records, much is now lost. Only fragments of her 6 operas and 5 concertos survive.

 

09/24/24 Ivan Lukačić (1587=1648): Quam pulchra es

Croatian composer and monk Ivan Lukacic studied in Rome before returning to Croatia. He was music master at the cathedral in Split and published several collections of motets in the 1620s.

 

09/25/24 Caterina Assandra (ca.1590 - after 1618) O Dulcis Amor Jesu (Op. 2, No. 11)

Assanda was a Benedictine nun. She was also an organist and published two collections of music in the early 1600s. Her Opus 1 is lost, but Opus 2 survives.

 

09/26/24 John Baston (fl. 1708–1739): Recorder Concerto No. 2

Baston was an English recorder virtuoso. His concertos, performed during play intermissions, were so popular he published them in 1729.

 

09/27/24 Julie Pinel (fl. 1710–1737): Printems

Pinel was a French harpsichordist. Few details of her life are known, save for her collection of songs, published in 1737, Nouveau receuil d'airs sérioux et à boire.

 

Next month:

Bruckner From the Archives, Vol. 4 Offers Stylistic Contrasts

The fourth volume of this extraordinary series presents Burckner's Fifth Symphony. It also includes two works for string quintet. Every recording receives its first release here. 

As with the previous volumes, the source recordings come from John F. Berky. Berky is the Executive Secretary for the Anton Bruckner Society of America. Over 12,000 Bruckner recordings are in their archives. The selections here aren't just rare recordings.  They're recordings that provide insight in the Bruckner and his interpreters. 

Christoph von Dohnanyi conducts the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra in a 1963 aircheck. Dohnanyi was only 34 years old, and already creating a sensation. He also was of the generation immediately after the Romantics. 

His approach to Bruckner is straightforward and business-like. His goal was to be a transparent conduit between the composer and the audience. It's an exciting performance. And it's one I think most current listeners would be comfortable with.  

The string quintet performances, on the other hand, are purely Romantic. The Vienna Konzerthouse Quartett (and violist Ferdinand Stangler), were members of the Vienna Philharmonic. These artists were the last generation to play under the Romantic Era conductors. 

This is old-school string technique -- overripe portmantos, full-bodied dynamics, and emotive phrasing.  All harkening back to the glories of Old Vienna. This was the performance style Bruckner most likely imagined for these works. And they are gorgeous.

Lani Spahr's superb restorations do much service to the music. He brings out the inherent qualities of these recordings. And he does so without unnaturally "enhancing the sound."

Another fine addition to this series.  

Anton Bruckner: From the Archives, Volume 4
Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major
Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra; Christoph von Dohnanyi, conductor
String Quintet in F major; Intermezzo for String Quintet
Vienna Konzerthaous Quartet with Ferdinand Stangler, second viola
SOMM Recordings, Ariadne 5031-2
2 CD Set

#ClassicsaDay #AltBaroque Week 3

The Classics a Day team offers a unique challenge for September. Participants are to share music from the Baroque Era on their social media posts. What makes this a challenge is to avoid the big names. So no Bach, Handel, or Vivaldi. (And no Pachelbel's Canon). 

 The Baroque Era ushered a sea change in musical styles from the Renaissance. Church modes gave way to major and minor keys (still in use today). Linear polyphony was replaced by a melody with chordal harmony. Viols were traded in for violins. New forms of music were developed: operas, oratorios, cantatas, and sonatas. 

 Many composers contributed to that development -- many more than the Big Three. Here are my posts for this #AltClassical challenge. For the third week, I focused on composers of the Middle Baroque, running from about 1680 to 1705.

 

09/16/24 Giovanni Zamboni (later 17th century–after 1718): Sonata VII

Zamboni was a virtuoso of several instruments, including the guitar, lute, mandolin, and theorbo. He's credited with being one of the last composers to write for the lute in 1718.

 

09/17/24 Mrs. Philarmonica (fl. 1715): Sonata for 2 violins

"Mrs. Philharmonica" was an alias of an unknown 18th-century Englishwoman. She published a set of six divertimenti, or sonatas, for two violins and continuo.

 

09/18/25 Maria Margherita Grimani (b. before 1700; fl. 1713–1718): Sinfonia to "Pallade e Marte"

Grimani was the first female composer to have an opera performed in Vienna. She was also known for her oratorios.

 

09/19/24 Henry Madin (1698–1748): Te Deum

Madin entered King Louis VXV's service in 1736. At Versailles he became "Sous-maître de la Musique de la Chapelle du Roi."

 

09/20/24 Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel (1690–1749): Concerto grosso a quattro Chori

Stölzel served the Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. He wrote a vast amount of music, including an estimated 1,300 cantatas. Less than half survive intact.