an evening of classical music

8/6/2019 An Evening of Classical Music

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An Evening of

Classical MusicBy

Rebecca Mills

Quaker Meeting House, Birmingham, 6pm.


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Biography

Rebeccas musical interests were inspired by her father Paul, a guitarist and singer. He often

encouraged her to listen to a huge range of music from Blues and popular music to celtic and

folk music. However, at the age of seven, she took piano lessons from a local piano teacher

Robert Walker, and studied with him for twelve years, where she achieved her grade 8. It was

during this time that she acquired a love of classical music and performing.

At the age of ten, she joined her local church choir and began vocal lessons with Dr. Elaine

Sprosten, her choir mistress. She began taking both choral and ABRSM graded examinations

under her guidance.

She attended the University of Wolverhampton between the years of 2004 and 2007 and

achieved a BA honours degree in Music, with a 2:1. During this time, she went to Malaysia to

sing as part of Realtanna, a folk accapella group. She has also performed at many charity

events.

She began studying for her Masters degree part time in 2008. During this time, she has

studied piano with concert pianist Michael Pettersson. In addition, she has given piano and

vocal lessons and continues to teach several students. She also enjoys performing whenever

possible, and has performed in Fusion, a celtic rock band with her father and was thekeyboard player for a UB40 tribute band.


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Programme Notes

Sonata in C minor (Pathtique), Op. 13 Beethoven (17701827)

Grave; Allegro di molto e con brioAdagio cantabile

Rondo: Allegro

Beethovens Pathtique sonata was published in 1799 during what is referred to as

his early period. At this time Beethoven was living in Vienna, supported by many

generous patrons including Prince Karl Linchnowsky, to whom this sonata isdedicated.

Beethovens early sonatas were written not only for artistic but also for pragmatic

reasons. As a performing pianist, Beethoven sought to push the boundaries of the

forte piano which was, at the time, still undergoing rapid development, having only

been in popular use for around sixty years. Many of Beethovens sonatas worked to

the extremes of the tonal range of the instruments of the day, and made full use of the

dynamic range available, characteristically adjoining loud and soft sections to further

accentuate the contrast.

It has been suggested that the form for the Pathtique sonata was inspired by a piano

sonata published two years earlier by Dussek (opus 35, number 3). Both pieces are

written in C minor, and the slow movement of Dussek's piece is marked 'patetico',

perhaps giving an insight into Beethovens naming of the piece. The Pathtique is

one of only two piano sonatas that Beethoven named himself; the other being the

sonata of opus 26 Les Adieux or, as Beethoven preferred, Das Lebewohl.

The first movement of the sonata is prefaced with a Grave section, a feature

commonly found in symphonic works but never before used in a piano sonata.

Sixteen bars later it makes way for the main section, in sonata form; it returns twice,

albeit briefly, poignantly punctuating the movement.

The second movement, in rondo form, provides relief from the mental anguish of the

first. The opening cantabile section, in a major key, is twice displaced by themes setin minor keys; both times it prevails, bringing the music back to its original, tranquil,

mood.

The Rondo returns to the home key of C minor. Despite this, it presents a playful

atmosphere, totally unlike that of the first movement; it isn't until the final moments

that the mood of the opening returns.

Satie Gnossienne No 1

Eric Satie (1877-1925) composed his first three Gnossiennes around 1890, without any

time signatures or bar lines (often referred to as absolute time). Saties peculiar scores

could be read as musical poetry and his tempo markings were devised from phrases


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such as lightly with intimacy, with radidance and make demands on yourself,

leaving the pianist to use their own musical interpretation in order to realise the

composers intensions.

The word Gnossienne describes several pieces of music composed by Satie that did not

fit into any of the existing styles of classical music like a piano prelude or a sonata.Therefore, Satie solved this dilemma by simply titling the pieces with Gnossienne, a

word that Satie had created. Satie's gnossiennes are often viewed as a musical continuation of

his popular Trois Gymnopedies, though some musicologists believe they are more closely related

to his Sarabandes. Either way, it's apparent that music like this has never been composed before,

making it easy to understand why such an enigmatic title was given to them.

Faure Dolly Suite

1. Berceuse

2. Le Jardin de Dolly

The Dolly Suite, Op 56, is a collection of six duet pieces for piano. Faure composed them

between 1894 and 1897, in honour of Helene, nicknamed Dolly, who was the daughter

of his mistress at the time. The suite became famous for its enchanting and lyrical

melodies. The Berceuse was composed for Helenes first birthday, and the remaining

pieces also appeared in time for the childs subsequent birthdays and other family

occasions. The suites popularity grew when it became the closing music for the BBC

Home Service radio programme, Listen with Mother, which was broadcast from 1950 to

1982.

Sonata in C minor (Pathtique), Op. 13 Beethoven (17701827)

Grave; Allegro di molto e con brio

Adagio cantabileRondo: AllegroBeethovens Pathtique sonata was published in 1799 during what is referred to as

his early period. At this time Beethoven was living in Vienna, supported by manygenerous patrons including Prince Karl Linchnowsky, to whom this sonata is

dedicated.

Beethovens early sonatas were written not only for artistic but also for pragmatic

reasons. As a performing pianist, Beethoven sought to push the boundaries of the

forte piano which was, at the time, still undergoing rapid development, having only

been in popular use for around sixty years. Many of Beethovens sonatas worked to

the extremes of the tonal range of the instruments of the day, and made full use of the

dynamic range available, characteristically adjoining loud and soft sections to further

accentuate the contrast.

It has been suggested that the form for the Pathtique sonata was inspired by a piano

sonata published two years earlier by Dussek (opus 35, number 3). Both pieces are

written in C minor, and the slow movement of Dussek's piece is marked 'patetico',


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perhaps giving an insight into Beethovens naming of the piece. The Pathtique is

one of only two piano sonatas that Beethoven named himself; the other being the

sonata of opus 26 Les Adieux or, as Beethoven preferred, Das Lebewohl.

The first movement of the sonata is prefaced with a Grave section, a feature

commonly found in symphonic works but never before used in a piano sonata.

- 3 -Sixteen bars later it makes way for the main section, in sonata form; it returns twice,

albeit briefly, poignantly punctuating the movement.

The second movement, in rondo form, provides relief from the mental anguish of the

first. The opening cantabile section, in a major key, is twice displaced by themes set

in minor keys; both times it prevails, bringing the music back to its original, tranquil,

mood.

The Rondo returns to the home key of C minor. Despite this, it presents a playful

atmosphere, totally unlike that of the first movement; it isn't until the final moments

that the mood of the opening returns.

Etude in B-flat minor, Op. 4 No. 3 Szymanowski (18821937)

Mozart Piano Sonata in Bflat Major K333

1. Allegro2. Andante cantabile

3. Allegretto grazioso

Mozarts piano sonata in B flat major, number 13, K333, was composed between

1779 and 1783 during his early phase whilst living in Vienna. The sonata is fullof agility and complexity and also reflects Mozarts admiration of and influence
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempo#Italian_tempo_markingshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempo#Italian_tempo_markings


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by Johann Christian Bach, a contemporary of Mozarts who died in 1782. Musical

scholars familiar with both composers agree that the opening motif of K333 is

very similar to Bachs Op.5 no.3 and Op.17 no 4 piano sonatas. Another overall

source of influence is the style of the concertos of the time, which was heavily

ornamented, expressive and highly spirited. The first movement contains

numerous concerto-esque flourishes that stray from the standard sonatas,

thereby adding an element of boldness to the piece.

The Allegro first movement is playful and lively. Its simple melody is

accompanied by arpeggiated style chords played in the left hand. The theme is

repeated and is then varied followed by a climax that builds slowly and ends with

an arpeggio of F major. The recapitulation section begins by varying the main

theme to a minor key. Finish

There are eighteen surviving sonatas for solo piano by Mozart; a further four

have been lost. The reason for the performers considerably few piano works, is

due to Mozart being such an excellent improviser, a skill that was a prerequistite

amongst keyboard players at the time. Mozart would often improvise new

sonatas during performances, but only officially recorded the sonatas that he

deemed fit for teaching and publishing purposes.

The first Movement

The first movement of the Mozart is playful and lively. Its simple melody is

accompanied by appegiated chords. The development section of the movement,

begins in a minor key, which Mozart resolves after passing through both related

and unrelated keys until the recapitulation of the first theme.

The second movement

The second movement is extremely lyrical and expressive. It is also much slower

in comparison with the other movements.

The third movement

The third movement shows much similarity to the first movement in terms of

chord structure and character.

an evening of classical music

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