Albrecht presents recital program series
On October 20, 1983, Carol Padgham Albrecht presented a faculty recital at Park College in Kansas City, Missouri, entitled "The Romantic Oboe (and English Horn!). " The program included the Schumann Three Romances, Emile Paladilhe's Solo de Concert, the Donizetti Suonata in F Major, and what she thinks may have been the U.S. premiere of the Carlo Yvon English Horn Sonata. Response to this event was so enthusiastic that she recently undertook a similar venture "The Romantic Oboe, Part II: The Sequel They Said Could Never Be Done," on December 14, 1984. Assisted by Timothy Corrao, piano; Deborah Carlson, cello; and Shelley Marshall, horn, this program included the Saint-Saens Sonata, Henri Brod's "Fantasy on the Mad Scene from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, " three etudes from the Complete Method of A.M. R. Barret, and the Trio for Oboe, Horn and Piano by Heinrich von Herzogenberg.
Last spring she performed selections from both programs in "Romantic Music: The Wind Player's Terra Incognita?", a lecture recital for the Great Plains chapter of the College Music Society, April 8, 1984, at the University of Kansas.
Moving away from the Romantic period, Ms. Albrecht recently presented two recitals with organist John Schaefer: one on April 27, 1984, at St. Philip's Episcopal Church in Joplin, Missouri, and the other September 25, 1984, at Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral in Kansas City, Missouri. The program for both performances included a Ballade by Leo Sowerby and the Jan Koetsier Partita, both for English horn; the Fantasia for Oboe and Organ in G minor by Johann Ludwig Krebs; and J. S. Bach ' s Oboe Concerto in F Major after BWV 1053.
(Carol Albrecht has included these very informative notes on her October, 1983 recital. Editors.)
NOTES on the PROGRAM
Three Romances for Oboe and Piano, Op. 94 by Robert Schumann
Born June 8, 18 10, in Zwickau, Saxony;
died July 29, 1856, in Endenich, near Bonn.
Given the nineteenth-century oboe's prominence as a leading solo voice in the orchestra, the amount of literature for oboe and piano by major symphonic composers is conspicuous in its absence, especially in the century that saw the meteoric rise of the German lied. Camille Saint-Saens did write an oboe sonata, but not until 1921, and Carl Nielsen wrote his Fantasisokker (Fantasy Pieces) for oboe and piano in 1889.
The other exception to the rule is Robert Schumann, who wrote the Three Romances for Oboe and Piano on December 7, 1849, as carefully noted in his diary. just why he wrote a piece for oboe is unclear. One possibility is that this might have been an orchestration exercise, but Schumann had already written most of his orchestral works, including three of his four symphonies. Another possibility is that, like Francis Poulenc 100 years later, Schumann was beginning to see the voice- like expressive capabilities of the wind instruments. (1849 also saw the composition of an Adagio and Allegro, Op. 70, for horn and piano, as well as the Phantasiestucke, Op. 73, for clarinet and piano.)
Schumann's Three Romances are similar in texture to the accompanied song, with the melody predominant in the oboe, underscored by a texturally important but supportive piano part. With their lyrical lines and varied emotional content, these Romances are certainly the equivalent of lieder, but for the oboe.
Solo de Concert by Emile Paladilhe
Born June 3, 1844, near Montpellier;
died January 3, 1926, in Paris.
From its founding in 1795, the Conservatoire de Paris was the nineteenth century's premier musical institution, setting standards of excellence in woodwind playing, especially. For final exams every year a new piece was commissioned for each instrument, giving rise to an entire genre of technically challenging works written in the lighter French style. Emile Paladilhe, himself a graduate of the Paris Conservatoire, winning the first prize in piano in 1857 and then the Prix de Rome for composition in 1860 with his cantata Le Czar Ivan IV, later served on the Commission des Etudes of his alma mater.
The Solo de Concert for oboe and piano was the contest piece in 1898, 1906, and 1914. Georges Gillet was professor of oboe at that time; one of his students, Marcel Tabuteau, who won the first prize for oboe playing in 1904, came to the United States and began terrorizing the country's best oboe students at the famed Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. One of Tabuteau's students was Felix Kraus, and one of his students was - guess who?? So if you look hard enough there is some kind of natural logic in performing this graceful, spontaneous work on tonight's program.
Suonata in F Major for Oboe and Piano by Gaetano Donizetti
Born November 29, 1797, in Bergamo, Lombardy;
died April 8, 1848, in Bergamo.
Although famous along with Bellini and Verdi as one of the Big Three of early nineteenth-century Italian opera, Donizetti wrote a surprising quantity of instrumental music, including "suonatas" (from the Italian suonare, "to sound") for flute, violin, cello, and oboe, all with piano accompaniment. After having completed what was then the best musical education available in Italy, Donizetti was faced in the summer of 1817 with a problem we all confront at one time or another: finding a job. It would not be until January of 1822 that his operatic career would begin in earnest with the production of Zoraide di Granata, so he did what most unemployed composers do: he wrote constantly - cantatas, religious music, miscellaneous songs and arias, piano pieces, and various instrumental works.
The Oboe Suonata, most likely written sometime between 1817 and 1819, was dedicated to Donizetti's friend Severino degli Antoni. (We can only assume that Severino was an oboist, but his sister Clementine, a singer, would perform Rossini's Stabat Mater under Donizetti's direction in 1847.) That Donizetti was headed for fame in the bel canto world is evident already in this early work, with its lyrical opening Andante, liberally sprinkled with mellifluous parallel thirds and sixths, leading directly into a brisk Allegro of the "Let's rescue Mom from the stake" variety.
Sonata in F minor for English Horn and Piano by Carlo Yvon
Born April 29, 1798, in Milan;
died December 23, 1854, in Milan.
There is not exactly an embarrassment of riches when it comes to recital literature from the nineteenth century for English horn, so when I found a recording several years ago of this particular sonata, my heart skipped a beat. As is so often the case, however, the music was nowhere to be found. After extended correspondence with the work's latter-day discoverer, Georg Meerwein (principal oboist and English hornist with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra), who has just issued a modern edition, Felix Kraus, who had recently been appointed solo English hornist of the Cleveland Orchestra, located one solitary copy of an original edition of Yvon's opus - and, thanks to a printing technique which shall forever remain nameless, then there were two. (Meerwein's excellent new edition is now available through Hanssler Verlag.)
Carlo Yvon was appointed principal oboist at Milan's La Scala opera house in the spring of 1818, and ten years later became "Maestro d'Oboe " at the Milan Conservatory. He must have gotten tired of the inevitable routine of rehearsals, teaching, and reedmaking, for at several times he turned his talents to composition, issuing solo works and studies for oboe and, in 1840, a spectacular English horn sonata. This work is highly unusual in that, to the best of our knowledge, it is the only English horn sonata written during the entire nineteenth century, in Italy or anywhere else.
Yvon's sonata is gratifying for both English hornist and pianist, wedding the bel canto style he knew so well from his seat in the orchestra pit with the latest Romantic piano techniques and formal development. The opening movement, after an orchestral- style curtain raiser, launches into a modified sonata-allegro movement with a sophisticated development section. Who said the Italians couldn't write instrumental music?
The second movement, however, comes straight from the opera stage, with its passionate English horn aria. But the pianist gets his licks in, too, with bravura writing straight from Chopin. Yvon's status as an English hornist of no mean talent is evident in the final Rondo, and for those of us used to playing slow, mournful solos in the orchestra it is a real treat to get to play fast in this movement of "rondo brillante" verve and wit.
C. P. A.
Midwest Double Reed Societycelebrates first birthday
The Midwest Double Reed Society, in its first year of existence, has offered several interesting activities to its members, According to MDRS publicist Judi Dietz, the organization has sponsored master classes with Kathryn Greenbank and Charles Ullery, principal oboist and bassoonist of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra (October 24, 1983); a double reed choir reading session and potluck picnic (May 5, 1984, with Alan Hawkins conducting the 11 choir"); a seminar on instrument maintenance and repair by oboist Frank Malewski and bassoonist Judi Dietz, preceded by a performance by the Central Missouri State University Double Reed Ensemble (October 21, 1984); and master classes with oboist Allan Vogel and bassoonist Kenneth Munday of The Musical Offering, sponsored jointly with the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas (November 18, 1984).
Bert Lucarelli in Kansas City
Oboist Humbert Lucarelli gave a concert in Kansas City's Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral on November 9, 1984, with flutist Renee Siebert and harpsichordist Judith Norell. The program, anticipating the 300th anniversaries of the births of Bach, Handel, and Scarlatti, included Handel's Trio Sonata No. 6 in D Major; the Bach A minor Flute Partita; the Handel G Minor Oboe Sonata; two sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti and the Bach Toccata in D Major, both for solo harpsichord; and the Trio from Bach's Musical Offering.
Mr. Lucarelli also gave a master class at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.