Listening to Beethoven #36 – 14 Variations in E flat major Op.44

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Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf (left) and the young Ludwig van Beethoven

14 Variations in E flat major Op.44 for piano trio (1790-92, Beethoven aged 21)

Dedication not known
Duration 15′

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What’s the theme like?

Very simple – but Dittersdorf‘s theme has comic potential, as you might expect from a humorous stage work. In the right (or wrong!) hands this could be a bit po-faced.

Background and Critical Reception

Beethoven wrote a lot of chamber music for trio in his Bonn years – and a good deal in the key of E flat major too. This piece was not published until 1804, but is thought to have been completed in 1792 before he left for Vienna. Choosing a simple theme from a comic operetta by Dittersdorf, Das rote Käppchen (‘The little red cap’), he wrote 14 variations of varying character.

Writing to accompany the Florestan Trio recording of this piece on Hyperion, Richard Wigmore compliments Dittersdorf, whose ‘comically rudimentary tune is a vision of dry bones, as bare as the famous ‘Eroica’ theme which it faintly resembles.’ He also notes the glint in Beethoven’s eye and his predilection for mischief in several of these variations, most notably the ‘delicately tripping twelfth…’disrupted by an uncouth fortissimo outburst – Beethoven gleefully sticking out his tongue at rococo decorum’.

Thoughts

This set of variations is great fun, and you really get a sense of Beethoven flexing his compositional muscles and trying a few new things. From the first variation there are strong hints that he is going to have some fun with this theme – and so it proves. In the second variation the pianist enjoys the opportunity to flex the rhythms, bringing in the violin for a capricious third variation, before the baton passes to the cello for the benefit of its richer tone.

The ensemble passages have great energy, and for almost the first time we are getting a sense of the terrific forward drive in Beethoven’s music, especially in the propulsive movement of the sixth variation. A slow minor key deviation follows (variation 7), the cello and violin exchanging mournful thoughts, before the distant chugging of the violin and cello support a piano theme given in octaves. Variation 9 is lively and fun, while the syncopations of the tenth feel particularly advanced at this stage in Beethoven’s development.

As we approach the end, the second minor key variation (13) is even slower and more drawn out. This only makes the reappearance of the ‘home’ key all the happier, before a striking passage where the piano takes a sort of cadenza over the bare bones of the strings. Finally we return to the simplicity of the theme’s profile from the start, before a rush to the finish.

The variety and virtuosity of these variations is reminiscent of the earlier Venni Amore variations for piano, in their wide breadth of moods and techniques – and in their entertainment value, too.

Recordings used

Florestan Trio (Susan Tomes (piano), Anthony Marwood (violin), Richard Lester (cello) (Hyperion)
Wilhelm Kempff (piano), Henryk Szeryng (violin), Pierre Fournier (cello) (Deutsche Grammophon)
Daniel Barenboim (piano), Pinchas Zukerman (violin), Jacqueline du Pré (cello) (originally EMI Classics)

The superstar trio of Henryk Szeryng, Pierre Fournier and Wilhelm Kempff take their time with Dittersdorf’s theme in a very deliberate presentation, and Variation 2 finds Kempff in particularly airy mood – but it is really well judged. That said, they are still a good deal quicker than another superstar ensemble, including husband and wife team Daniel Barenboim and Jacqueline du Pré.

The best modern version of the variations comes from the Florestan Trio on Hyperion, which enjoys not just the sparkling pianism of Susan Tomes but also the closely-matched Anthony Marwood and Richard Lester. They all embody the first principles of chamber music by clearly listening to each other and responding in kind. As a result their recording is instinctive and fun.

Spotify links

Wilhelm Kempff (piano), Henryk Szeryng (violin), Pierre Fournier (cello) (Deutsche Grammophon)

https://open.spotify.com/track/2C1FUcjpsjZksRaaHoDfm4?si=QJYPb0DaRzqncTXuYd-itA

Daniel Barenboim, Pinchas Zukerman, Jacqueline du Pré

You can hear a clip from the Florestan trio version on the Hyperion website

Also written in 1792 Haydn Symphony no.73 in D major ‘La Chasse’

Next up An Minna

Listening to Beethoven #35 – An Laura

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Peanuts comic strip, drawn by Charles M. Schulz (c)PNTS

An Laura WoO 112 for voice and piano (1790-92, Beethoven aged 21)

Dedication not known
Text Friedrich von Matthisson
Duration 3’40”

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Background and Critical Reception

A note on this song from the Beethoven-Haus museum in Bonn tells us that Friedrich Matthisson first published this poem in 1785 in Hamburg, under the title An Serena. In 1787 however the poem appeared unchanged in the first edition of Matthisson’s poems, under the new title An Laura.

Beethoven’s setting followed soon after – maybe as little as three years – and only the first and third verses were written out under the music in the autograph score. This is taken as an indication that the first part was to be repeated for the second verse.

Thoughts

The message from this song is positive to begin with, joyful even – and the soprano line carries nicely above flowing piano accompaniment. Beethoven gets quite chromatic with the melody towards the end of the first two verses, before a change of mood in the central section heightens the drama.

After that brief aside we return to the music of the opening, if not the mood – a scene at the grave casting a shadow over proceedings. It is as though Schubert and Mahler are waiting in the wings at this point.

Recordings used

Pamela Coburn (soprano), Leonard Hokanson (piano) (Capriccio)

Peter Schreier (tenor), Gisela Franke (piano) (Brilliant Classics)

Pamela Coburn brings a relatively rich soprano line to this song. Peter Schreier is a fair bit quicker, pushing the melody along.

Spotify links

Pamela Coburn, Leonard Hokanson

Peter Schreier, Gisela Franke

Also written in 1792 Sterkel 3 Violin Sonatas, StWV 198

Next up 14 Variations in E flat major Op.44

Listening to Beethoven #34 – Punschlied

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Peanuts comic strip, drawn by Charles M. Schulz (c)PNTS

Punschlied WoO 110 for voice, choir and piano (1790-92, Beethoven aged 21)

Dedication not known
Text Anonymous
Duration ’50”

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Background and Critical Reception

This is another example of Beethoven setting a ‘Gesellschaftslied’ – a public form of the song, but in this case thought to be for private consumption. It is another drinking song, setting its anonymous text with a similar structure to the previous Trinklied.

A florid piano introduction brings in the singer, who encourages each of his friends to drink the punch as it goes round the room. The choral response is emphatic: ‘Wir trinken alle hocherfreut, so lang uns Punsch die Kumme beut’ (‘We’ll surely stay a merry bunch, as long as our cups stay full of punch!’)

Thoughts

This is a good complement to the Trinklied – and is pretty much the next gulp from the flagon, with high spirits and good cheer! For a second time Beethoven reads his room well, leading the festivities with music of celebration.

Recordings used

Hermann Prey (baritone), Heinrich Schütz-Kreis Berlin, Leonard Hokanson (piano)

Peter Schreier (tenor), Gisela Franke (piano)

Once again Hermann Prey is on fine form, with sprightly piano playing from Leonard Hokanson and a fulsome choir. They eclipse Peter Schreier’s slightly higher version, which lacks a choir and cuts out the piano introduction.

Spotify links

Hermann Prey, Heinrich Schütz-Kreis Berlin, Leonard Hokanson

Peter Schreier, Gisela Franke

Also written in 1792 Méhul Stratonice

Next up An Laura WoO 112

Listening to Beethoven #33 – Trinklied

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Peanuts comic strip, drawn by Charles M. Schulz (c)PNTS

Trinklied WoO 109 for voice, choir and piano (1790-92, Beethoven aged 21)

Dedication not known
Text Anonymous
Duration 1’30”

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Background and Critical Reception

In her essay on Beethoven as a song composer for Deutsche Grammophon’s Beethoven: The New Complete Edition, Helga Lühning notes how ‘there was no period during his creative life where he did not explore the field of vocal music and write for the human voice’.

She writes how Lieder was the prime form of expression, but that Beethoven also turned to the ‘Gesellschaftslied’, the public form of the song. A typical example of the form would be for a soloist to sing the verse and a choir to respond with a chorus.

The Trinklied is the first of one of these settings, a drinking song with an anonymous text encouraging ‘Erhebt das Glas mit froher Hand und trinkt euch heitren Mut’ (‘Raise your glass with a glad hand and drink your hearty courage’)

Thoughts

A playful piano introduction trips down the stairs before a lusty bellow from the bass encourages everyone in the room to raise their glasses. Beethoven has the measure of the crowd, with everyone included in the enthusiastic response! Then it’s no doubt straight on to the next song…and drink…

Recordings used

Hermann Prey (baritone), Heinrich Schütz-Kreis Berlin, Leonard Hokanson (piano)

Peter Schreier (tenor), Gisela Franke (piano)

Hermann Prey is in very good voice here, and the choir respond with full bodied tones. Peter Schreier’s tenor version, set a good deal higher in pitch, is a little more chaste, and there is no choir to back him up. That said, his brighter tone rings out clearly.

Spotify links

Hermann Prey, Heinrich Schütz-Kreis Berlin, Leonard Hokanson

Peter Schreier, Gisela Franke

Also written in 1792 Haydn 150 Scottish Songs, Hob.XXXIa:1–150

Next up Punschlied WoO 110

On record – Alexander Tcherepnin: My Flowering Staff (Toccata Classics)

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Alexander Tcherepnin My Flowering Staff (1912-13)

Inna Dukach (soprano), Tatyana Kebuladze (piano), with Paul Whelan (bass) Acmeist Male Choir

Toccata Classics TOCC0537 [57’55”] Russian (Cyrillic) text and translation included

Producer/Engineer Jeremy Gerard

Recorded 21-23 June 2017, 29 December 2018 and 4 January 2019 at the Gurari Studios, National Opera Center, New York City

Written by Richard Whitehouse

What’s the story?

Toccata Classics comes up with another first in My Flowering Staff, a song-cycle of almost an hour’s length by Alexander Tcherepnin (1899-1977), most of whose content was divided across three separate collections and has only now been returned to its original conception.

What’s the music like?

His reputation established initially through his piano music (a representative selection from which, including several archival recordings by the composer, can be found on TOCC0079), Tcherepnin worked intensively on setting this volume of lyrics by Sergei Gorodetsky (1884-1967) during 1920-21, before he summarily abandoned the project with three texts awaiting music. Instead, he published 24 of these songs – albeit to French translation – as his Opp. 15, 16 and 17, then never returned to the song format on such a scale. The other songs remained unheard until 2018, by which time the original Russian texts of the published items had been restored and the undeniable ambition of Tcherepnin’s vision could be more readily adduced.

Not that adducing such a vision is therefore straightforward. Gorodetsky may have reined-in his more abstruse symbolism when he penned these 38 lyrics during 1912-13, but a tendency towards inward communing is seldom far away and it could be precisely this obscurity which attracted Tcherepnin in the first instance; enabling him to align his own preoccupations with the passage from youth to maturity, and from innocence to experience, with the poet’s own ruminations. Anyone expecting a continuity of narrative akin to the song-cycles of Schubert will only be disappointed, yet the fervency of Tcherepnin’s approach is its own justification.

Stylistically, too, these songs exude those attributes of inward ecstasy and ominous anxiety as Tcherepnin’s older contemporaries had previously found in this poet. Vocal lines tend toward the declamatory and have recourse to a wide compass, while the piano writing is harmonically questing without becoming congested or unidiomatic (hence the imposing solo that precedes the 22nd poem) – a consequence of his mastery over this instrument whether as composer or performer. The expressive ambit is opened-out with a setting of the 16th poem for bass and (optional) male chorus, while the overall cycle is framed by an Epigraph and Epilogue which distil those qualities of yearning and fulfilment that dominate the cycle as a whole. Whether Tcherepnin thought its execution to have fallen short of its ambition cannot now be answered.

Does it all work?

Almost, though it is not always easy to perceive the formal trajectory Tcherepnin was intent on pursuing or to what expressive end it was directed. That said, the omitted songs are quite the equal of those he did publish and to hear them all in sequence affords its own fascination. It helps when Inna Dukach renders the overall cycle with just the right alternation of plangent rhetoric or confiding intimacy and receives astute accompaniment from Tatyana Kebuladze. Nor are Paul Whelan and Acmeist Male Choir found wanting in their solitary contribution.

Is it recommended?

Yes, given the conviction of this performance and excellence of recorded sound. Benjamin Folkman’s detailed annotations go a long way to elucidating Tcherepnin’s conception, while Dina Dukach’s English translation similarly clarifies many aspects of Gorodetsky’s musings.

Listen

Buy

You can discover more about this release at the Toccata Classics website, where you can also purchase the recording.