Program Notes by Becky Ball Well chosen, well performed, and well received, this terrifically varied chamber music season that was. And any diverse series worth its bragging rights deserves to end it with a twist. Don’t you just love the title this group has given itself? While “The Triple Helix Piano Trio” conjures up a delicious image of notes winding, whirling, twisting, and even meandering in our heads, the program’s composers assure us that the notes will be tamed and disciplined in a convolution of great sound. The light bulb that went off in somebody’s head was surely one of the coiled energy-saving ones, but please do take a look at this program. We doubt that any physical energy is going to be spared on stage. BEETHOVEN’S TRIO IN D MAJOR, OP. 70 NO.1 (“GHOST”) However you look at it, Beethoven’s middle period was definitely “heroic.” Consider the large-scale instrumental works such as the Eroica Symphony and symphonies five and six. Consider the opera “Fidelio” and his Razumousky string quartets. These noble biggies spell heroic with a capital H. His two most popular Opus 70 piano trios were also written during this time. Clearly, it was a productive and artistic period. But now let us consider another type of heroism. While those masterpieces were flowing from his pen, he was facing insurmountable health problems, personal hardships, and stone deafness. He surely must have known he was racing with time. Suicide was considered, but talent and determination won out and the world benefited by a proliferation of music from a troubled but illustrious mind. Is that heroic or what? While Beethoven was churning out compositions, he was also enjoying his esteemed reputation as an active and formidable concert pianist His last public appearance as a pianist was in 1813, five years after he wrote the trio on tonight’s program. BONUS FACT: TURNING PAGES FOR BEETHOVEN TURNED OUT TO BE A STOMACH-TURNING NIGHTMARE FOR ONE IGNAZ SEYFRIEND, AN EMPLOYEE AT THE WIEN THEATER. IT SEEMS THAT BEETHOVEN HAD NO TIME TO PUT ALL HIS 3RD PIANO CONCERTO DOWN ON PAPER, SO IT WAS ONE EMPTY PAGE AFTER ANOTHER. WHERE THE PAGES WERE NOT BLANK HE HAD SCRIBBLED EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHS TO SERVE AS CLUES. WHEN IT WAS TIME TO TURN A PAGE, BEETHOVEN GAVE THE STRESSED OUT PAGE TURNER SECRET GLANCES. AT A SUPPER AFTER THE CONCERT THAT RASCAL BEETHOVEN LAUGHED AND LAUGHED ABOUT WATCHING SEYFRIEND SQUIRM AND FRET MIGHTILY ABOUT THE TREACHEROUS CONSEQUENCES OF MISSING THAT CRUCIAL GLANCE.” The trio begins with a foot-tapping unison. Keep that tune in your head even as the cello tries to distract you with its sustained F natural, and even as the exposition lays it all open. Then after a scrumptiously mysterious modulation, sit back and enjoy the logical drive of this concise movement. If we listen analytically, we should discover just how much is derived from that initial unison theme. Boo! Here comes the famous Largo that earned the quartet its “Ghost” nickname. The forlorn ghost theme in D minor was originally written for the witches’ scene in Beethoven’s aborted Macbeth project. There will be atmospheric side effects created by string tremolos and measured trills in the piano. If the sound is not exactly spooky, it’s eerily original. Beethoven puts a happy face on the finale and goes back to the home key of D major. If we know Beethoven, we won’t get too comfortable with the clear sailing of this movement. We know somewhere down the road he is going to leave us hanging. It might be a suspended sense of pulse or it might be a mere halt. The fun is in anticipating when and what is going to happen. Knowing Beethoven, we will also expect some key changes before we get home to D major. Listen for them. If you count two, you are correct. Which change goes to the key of E-Flat and which the B-Flat? A trick question? Maybe. ARLENE ZALLMAN’S TRIQUETRA Zallman was a gifted composer and long-time professor of music theory and composition at Wellesley College. She died of breast cancer in 2006 at age 72. She was a graduate of both Juilliard and the University of Pennsylvania, and her principal teachers were Vincent Persichetti and George Crumb. She received the Marion S. Freschl Award for Vocal Composition for her setting of Shakespeare’s Sonnet XVIII While on a Fulbright, she studied with Luigi Dallapiccola in Florence, Italy. Before Wellesley, she taught at Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and Yale University. Her numerous awards included a Fellowship from the Radcliff Institute for Advanced Study and a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship. In 1982 she received awards from the National Endowment for the Arts for her “Three Songs from Quasimo,” and in 2003 for her song cycle “Vox feminae,” with texts from “Carmina burana,” which was premiered at the Goethe-Institut, Boston. BONUS FACT: ZALLMAN’S YOUNGEST DAUGHTER REMEMBERS WITH POIGNANCY “THE TINKLING OF THE KEYBOARDS, THE SOUND OF MUSIC BEING WRITTEN . . . THE PLAYING OF A FEW BARS, THEN SILENCE, THEN A FEW MORE BARS.” HER MEMORY IS SHARPER BECAUSE HER 12-YEAR OLD SON JUST BEGAN TO COMPOSE. FOR MANY OF HER MOTHER’S FRIENDS IT TOOK AWHILE BEFORE THEY COULD TALK ABOUT ZALLMAN IN THE PAST TENSE. The beauty of composing is that her music will always be in the present tense. The Triquetra Trio has a special meaning for tonight’s Triple Helix trio because it was written for them (1999). In her own program notes, Zallman said her music was “classically structured and was inspired by the way the Triple Helix played Haydn and Beethoven.” She explained that “the elements of classical that she tried to adapt were harmonically governed textures, sudden shifts of character, strong sectional delineation, and above all, repetition and recapitulation.” “Triquetra” is an architectural ornament: a symmetrical intertwining of three arches. Another picturesque image might be a shamrock with three separate petals, all about the same size. The composer has written separate parts for each petal, and while they go together doing their own thing, they are not mixed blender-style. For instance, the violin often plays a melody in the upper range while a full-throated cello “sings” against piano chords or arpeggios. The Largo features a mournful cello solo, bell-like piano notes, and a very soft violin melody. Listen for the high string tessitura and playful repetitious figures. DVORAK’S PIANO TRIO IN E MINOR, OP. 90 (“DUMKY”) Antonin (New World Symphony) Dvorak and Brahms were champions in carrying over the classic tradition of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven into the 19th century romantic era. But there are those who believe that Dvorak owes his fame to the Slavonic Dances, originated as four-hand piano pieces. When he transcribed them for orchestra, they sold like hotcakes. Critics said these breezy new tunes and dance rhythms from Bohemia brought new life into the sedate concert halls. In his second set of dances, he based his melodies on Yugoslav and Little Russian rhythms and melodies. His proud use of native tunes and styles earned him a high place on the growing list of nationalist composers. The Slavonic dances had two things in common: infectious rhythms and alternate moods, both sad and happy. During his long stay in America, Dvorak’s music was inspired by Negro spirituals and the folk music of the American Indian. It strikes us that Dvorak loved village atmosphere. He sounds like someone who might have lingered for hours talking with natives, soaking up their culture, and listening to their songs, which is a great way to learn what makes people tick. He didn’t copy their ticks, tunes, or tales, he simply copied their style. And that combined with his original musical poetry and heart earns him a “Granny” award from yours truly – “The Most Original Imitator of Native Tunes.” BONUS FACT: ABOUT DVORAK’S CELLO CONCERTO BRAHMS HAD THIS TO SAY: “WHY ON EARTH DIDN’T I KNOW THAT ONE COULD WRITE A CELLO CONCERTO LIKE DVORAK’S? IF I HAD ONLY KNOWN, I WOULD HAVE WRITTEN ONE LONG AGO?” AND ABOUT DVORK’S MUSIC IN GENERAL, LEOS JANACEK HAD THIS TO SAY: “YOU KNOW THE FEELING WHEN SOMEBODY TAKES THE WORD OUT OF YOUR MOUTH BEFORE YOU HAVE TIME TO FORM IT? THIS WAS THE CASE WITH ME AND DVORAK. HIS MELODIES WERE AS IF HE HAD TAKEN THEM FROM MY HEART.” Are these quotes ultimate compliments or heights of conceit? If you can define the following words you may skip the next paragraph: Skocna, Dumka, and Dumky. The Internet (bless it) tells us a skocna is a Czech leaping dance. We are likely to hear several throughout the “Dumky” Trio. The Oxford Dictionary of Music tells us that a dumka is a type of Slavonic folk-ballad (Ukranian in origin) in which elegiac and fast tempi alternate. Dumky is the plural of Dumka. In this trio tonight there is one little, two little, three little dumky, four little, five little six little dumky - one dumka for each movement. Dvorak translates the dumka as a melancholy song which incorporates bright dance rhythms. In other words, we might suddenly leap from intense sadness to jolly hoe downs. This last and best known trio was written in 1891 at the age of 50. It was proof read by Dvorak’s good friend Johann Brahms and premiered in Prague in1891 with Dvorak at the piano. Few audiences show a keener appetite for great performances and diverse combos than does this audience. We have been well fed during this enlightening chamber music season. Out thanks to ORCMA, and especially to Joe McGrory, our chief super delegate and talent scout.