My examination of Dmitri Shostakovich‘s passacaglias of the 1940s, a conference paper from two years ago, has now been published in Vol. 13 of Shostakovich Studies, edited by Bernd Feuchtner. Included are discussions of the passacaglia movements from the Eighth Symphony, Op. 65, Second Piano Trio, Op. 67, Third String Quartet, Op. 73, and First Violin Concerto, Op. 77. See this link for more information on the volume.
Happy to perform with Vokalsystem Berlin, Johannes David Wolff and Lidia Kalendareva again this weekend! In two concerts celebrating the decennial of the choir, we will present a versatile programme with music by Johannes Brahms, Max Reger, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Ēriks Ešenvalds, as well as a new work by Yannick Wittmann, Lidia’s own Vocalise, and the impressive cycle The Passing of the Year by Jonathan Dove. If you are around, please join us at Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche in Berlin-Kreuzberg!
» Friday, 14 July 2023, 8 pm
» Saturday, 15 July 2023, 6 pm
» Tickets available at €12 / €8
The probably most popular composition of female authorship, even though this fact evades the attention of many classical musicians, is the song Bésame mucho by the Mexican composer-pianist Consuelo Velázquez (c. 1916–2005), written in the mid-1930s, and subsequently becoming a worldwide success through all musical styles and genres. The initial melody is presumably based on the 1911 piece Quejas, ó la maja y el ruiseñor, part of the Goyescas piano cycle by Catalan composer Enrique Granados, which he adopted as an aria for the opera of the same name a few years later. Consuelito, as she was called by her friends and family, provided the tune with soulful lyrics and a relaxed bolero rhythm, and transformed it into a regular periodical theme, while maintaining its melancholic mood and Phrygian-inflected harmony.
Just wanted to share some insights from my Amy Beach analysis class, along with a number of listening recommendations. More to experience in my forthcoming lecture at this year’s conference of the Gesellschaft für Musiktheorie, 22–24 September 2023, in Freiburg!
A core feature of Amy Beach’s creative approach is the re-working or re-cycling of vocal music in her instrumental works, such as passages or fragments from her own earlier songs, or by implementation of folk melodies. This goes well beyond similar tendencies in the oeuvres of Schubert, Mendelssohn, Brahms, or Mahler—I tend to say that a significant portion of Beach’s instrumental cantilenas are derived from vocal music, being instances of »the song writ large«, as Adrienne Fried Block put it. Take a look, for example, at the slow movements from the Piano Concerto, Op. 45 (a transformation of the song Twilight, Op. 2 No. 1) and the Piano Trio, Op. 150 (which is based on the Heine setting Allein, Op. 35 No. 2); or check out how she integrates vernacular themes in her Gaelic Symphony, Op. 32 (which three of its four movements being based on Irish songs), the Variations on Balkan Themes, Op. 60 (which make use of Serbian and Macedonian melodies), or the single-movement String Quartet, Op. 89 (which is based on Inuit tunes), in order to create a pristine atmosphere and modally-coloured harmony. These are but the most striking examples of a fascinating compositional technique that I intend to further explore in the following weeks.
I am excited to co-organise a panel discussion, jointly hosted by the Gesellschaft für Musiktheorie and Society for Music Analysis, which will be entitled »Essentials or Preliminaries? Perspectives on Pre-University Music Theory«. This will be the first collaboration of the SMA Zoom Colloquium and the GMTH International Music Theory Lectures, featuring Rebekka Albrecht, Esther Cavett, Laura Krämer, James Olsen, Mark Richards, and Kenneth Smith, who will contribute their views as lecturers at secondary schools, music schools, and universities. Really looking forward to this exchange of thoughts—if you are interested as well, please join the session on Thursday, 1 June, 19:30 CEST (18:30 BST). Further information on the speakers and the Zoom details can be found on this website and also on this website.
