Music Chamber

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 –1827): Violin Sonata No. 5 in F Major Op 24 'Spring'

Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) Chants de Terre et de Ciel song cycle I/19

I Bail avec Mi II Antienne du silence III Danse du bébé-Pilule IV Arc-en-ciel d’innocence V Minuit pile et face VI Résurrection

 

‘Spring’, Beethoven's fifth violin sonata, was the first to break away from the Classical three-movement sonata format. It was a tentative breach, though; the new Scherzo is barely more than a minute long. The work breaks with the eighteenth century in other ways, particularly in the relaxed lyricism that suffuses each movement. The opening Allegro begins with one of those generously lyrical themes, sung by the violin over delicate keyboard accompaniment. A second theme group is busier and more clouded, but the soft sunlight soon returns in the curvaceous opening melody. In the development section, Beethoven uncharacteristically gives equal attention to all his themes, but he casts the opening tune in a minor key, maintaining an unsettled (though never violent) feeling throughout the section. The slow movement, Adagio molto espressivo, shifts to the key of B flat and a deeply pensive mood. The piano first presents the nostalgic melody, upon which the violin then meditates for a while. The two instruments then engage in a gentle dialogue based on this theme. The witty third movement, Scherzo & Trio, Allegro molto, begins and ends with a brief stop-and-start tune, with the violin deliberately out of sync with the piano. In the middle comes a very brief, skittering passage for both instruments. The final movement is far more substantial. A rondo marked Allegro ma non troppo, it begins in a pleasant, rather courtly Mozartean style. This refrain returns in various guises, though never significantly altered; in between are minor mode passages of some agitation and modest drama, although the sunny disposition of the main theme wins out in the end.

 

Messiaen is widely regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century. Rhythmically his music is very complex, having been influenced by Ancient Greek and from Hindu sources. The songs of this cycle themselves have no time signatures. Harmonically and melodically his music is based on the seven modes of limited transposition (as opposed to major and minor tonalities), which he abstracted from his early compositions and improvisations. Many of his works depict what he termed "the marvelous aspects of the faith", and drew on his deeply held Roman Catholicism. Messiaen found birdsong fascinating, believing birds to be the greatest musicians, and considered himself as much an ornithologist as a composer. He notated bird songs worldwide and incorporated birdsong transcriptions into most of his music. His innovative use of colour, his conception of the relationship between time and music, his use of birdsong and his desire to express religious ideas are among features that make Messiaen's music distinctive.

 

Like all of Olivier Messiaen's solo vocal works with piano, the Chants de Terre et de Ciel (Songs of Earth and Sky) are intensely personal. With texts by the composer, they are suffused with his deep love for his wife, nicknamed "Mi" (for whom he had earlier written the Poèmes pour Mi), and for their infant son, Pascal. As usual, they are shaped as well by his profound Catholic convictions. They are also highly dramatic and intensely lyrical, combining his mastery of harmonic and timbral coloration with irregular rhythmic figurations to produce a cycle of songs for high voice and piano that virtually overpower the conventions of the genre. Notwithstanding the personal texts of the songs, the cycle is grand, almost monumental in scope, without the introspective, intimate atmosphere usually associated with the song cycle. A joyous mood is maintained throughout most of the cycle, which at times becomes ecstatic. And the cycle's large-scale conception places it squarely within the realm of repertoire for the concert hall, rather than for the salon. The first work is a paean to the composer's wife, with melodic sequences built on descending semitones that later find an echo in "Danse du bébé-Pilule" at the words "était un lac tranquille." The rhythms are extremely irregular and in no way correspond to any syntactical considerations. "Antienne du silence," like "Résurrection," is highly melismatic; the former exists on a plane where time is elongated, almost arrested, while the robust exultation of the latter is a straightforward outburst of joy. The two songs dedicated to "my little Pascal" are testaments to a young father's delight in his offspring, somehow reminiscent of Coleridge's haunting coda to "Frost at Midnight": "A child, a little limber elf/ Singing, dancing to itself." The "sport" in this collection of otherwise happy expressions of domestic warmth and solid faith is number five, "Minuit pile et face." A kind of Witches' Sabbath, it evokes in its grotesque dance figures an anguished cry to all members of the Trinity; the dance rhythms die down finally into a strange lullaby in which the speaker wishes he were sleeping outside like a child, head cradled on his hands, wearing a little nightshirt. The ecstatic song of resurrection that follows this troubled nightmare dispels the atmosphere of insecurity with a great shout of conviction.