November 2, 2025 BENJAMIN APPL BENJAMIN APPL ON DIETRICH FISCHER-DIESKAU November 2, 2025 He let poetry resound and music speak‘ Franz Grillparzer's draft for Schubert's gravestone inscription An die Musik expresses my great gratitude to Dieter Fischer-Dieskau for the many hours we spent together: ‘Beloved art, for this I thank you!‘ I met Fischer-Dieskau for the first time in 2009 when I took part in a masterclass at the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg. Afterwards he offered me the opportunity to study with him privately. From that point on until just a few weeks before his death, I had the incredible fortune of working with him regularly at his homes in Berlin and Berg. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau was born in Berlin in 1925. His father was a schoolmaster who loved to compose, for example he wrote the Singspiel Sesenheim (Heidenröslein ). Dieter's mother was denied the opportunity to become a singer, so she ensured that great care was taken over the musical education of her three sons Klaus, Martin and Dietrich. The eldest brother, Klaus began composing at an early age and dedicated Nocturne to his mother, and Wehmut to his brother. It soon became clear that Dieter wanted to be a singer, and the first song he studied was Wie bist du, meine Königin . Shortly before his military service in 1944, he became engaged to Irmgard ‘Irmel’ Poppen, his future wife. Torn from his homeland, he wrote many love letters full of longing for and memories of (Andenken ) his distant beloved. In 1944, the Nazis murdered Dieter’s younger brother Martin. During the early years of the war and Dieter’s subsequent imprisonment in Italy, he learned countless pieces of music, regularly hearing of the atrocities at the hand the National Socialists. Reimann's Tenebrae deals with the suffering of Jewish victims during the Holocaust in a haunting way, and was written for Dieter. His singing gave strength to thousands of prisoners. Shortly after the end of the war, he sang songs from previously hostile countries for example Sinding's Sylvelin and Tchaikovsky's Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt . His repertoire also included operetta (Ich bin nur ein armer Wandergesell ). In 1947 he finally returned to Germany (Die Heimkehr ) and started his international career in Berlin where he began to receive major recognition (Vier ernste Gesänge ). Irmel gave birth to three sons, but tragically she died during the birth of her third child ( Süßes Begräbnis ). As is so often the case, Dieter saw music as the only path out of suffering (An mein Klavier ). Benjamin Britten dedicated his Songs and Proverbs of William Blake to him – ‘For Dieter: The past and the future‘ (Proverb III ) after this terrible loss. Another bitter moment of grief was the death of his beloved and mother Theodora (Mutters Hände ) to whom he was very close. His private life in the years to come was not very stable: his marriage to the actress Ruth Leuwerik (1965-1967), famous from the film Vater braucht eine Frau , only lasted a short time, as did his marriage to Kristina Pugell (1968-1975) (Liebhaber in allen Gestalten ). In 1977 he married the soprano Julia Varady (Liebst du um Schönheit ). Fischer-Dieskau received countless commissioned compositions during his lifetime, and took part in important premieres, such as the historically significant and emotionally stirring premiere of Britten's War Requiem in 1962 which he then translated into German. Additionally,Samuel Barber wrote his three songs op. 45 especially for him. Teaching played an important role in Dieter’s later decades. Often demanding, strict and with a great attention to detail, he shared his unfathomable knowledge with his students. I fondly recall him telling me that he liked my recording of Sterb' ich, so hüllen in Blumen meine Glieder so much, that he would like to mentor me. From the many hours we then spent together, I particularly remember the moments when he felt unobserved, sharing his mischievous sense of humour and dancing through the living room. When I visited Fischer-Dieskau for the final time, it was just a few weeks before his death in May 2012. Coming away that day, I somehow felt that could be the last time I would see Dieter. I wrote him a very long letter, thanking him for the experiences we had shared and expressing my gratitude for all I had learned from him. And then a few weeks later, I learnt that he’d passed away. This concert (and the accompanying CD recording) is both a personal and public dedication to this fine artist. I was and remain inspired by Dieter both from our private time together and his recordings, and this moment gives us all the chance to celebrate his enormous legacy on his 100th birthday. Return to Parlance Program Notes

December 16, 2018: Emerson Quartet SAMUEL BARBER (1910-1981) Adagio for Strings, op. 11 December 16, 2018: Emerson Quartet In an idyllic spot near Salzburg in the summer of 1936, Barber composed his String Quartet in B minor, op. 11. He arranged the slow movement for string orchestra in 1937 in the hopes that Toscanini would perform it during the next season with the NBC Symphony Orchestra. The great conductor did indeed perform it, on November 5, 1938. Titled simply Adagio for Strings , the work has since become Barber’s most popular and frequently performed piece. Often played at funerals, in restaurants, in commercials, and on soundtracks, the Adagio reached a wide audience in the 1986 movie Platoon , though many have suggested that Barber would have objected to its use as the backdrop to such violence. The movement’s soaring quality is enhanced by the fact that its key (B-flat minor) is never explicitly confirmed; the piece even closes on an open-ended note of resignation. The Adagio ’s single, beseeching theme is introduced by the first violin, taken up by each member of the quartet, and built to one of the most sublime climaxes in the repertoire. Following a pause the movement subsides pensively. Return to Parlance Program Notes

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STERLING ELLIOTT, CELLO Acclaimed for his stellar stage presence and joyous musicianship, cellist Sterling Elliott is a 2021 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient and the winner of the Senior Division of the 2019 National Sphinx Competition. Already in his young career, he has appeared with major orchestras such as the Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Detroit Symphony and the Dallas Symphony, with noted conductors Yannick Nezet-Seguin, Thomas Wilkins, Jeffrey Kahane, Mei Ann Chen and others. In the 2024/2025 season Sterling Elliott debuts with the Atlanta Symphony, Reno Philharmonic, Columbus Symphony, Ann Arbor Symphony, Des Moines Symphony, Winston-Salem Symphony, and returns to the Wilmington Symphony. He joins the Madison Symphony for the Beethoven Triple Concerto with Gil and Orli Shaham and returns to Carnegie Hall with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s led by Louis Langree. As the YCAT–Music Masters Robey Artist with the London-based Young Classical Artists Trust he will Tour New Zealand in addition to appearances at Wigmore Hall, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, Konzerthaus Berlin, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and others. This season he also begins his tenure as a BBC New Generation Artist, and a three-year residency in the Bowers Program of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center appearing with CMLSC at Alice Tully Hall and on tour throughout the U.S. Sterling has a long history with the Sphinx Organization where he won the 2014 Junior Division Competition, becoming the first alumnus from the Sphinx Performance Academy to win the Sphinx Competition. Last season, Sterling received the Sphinx Medal of Excellence, the highest honor bestowed by the Sphinx Organization. Sterling is pursuing an Artist Diploma at the Juilliard School under the tutelage of Joel Krosnick and Clara Kim, following completion of his Master of Music and undergraduate degrees at Juilliard. He is an ambassador of the Young Strings of America, a string sponsorship operated by Shar Music. He performs on a 1741 Gennaro Gagliano cello on loan through the Robert F. Smith Fine String Patron Program, in partnership with the Sphinx Organization.

May 15, 2016: James Morris, bass-baritone; Rafael Figueroa, cello; Ken Noda, piano GIUSEPPE VERDI (1813–1901) Come dal ciel precipita from Macbeth, Ella giammai m’amò from Don Carlo May 15, 2016: James Morris, bass-baritone; Rafael Figueroa, cello; Ken Noda, piano In 1846 Verdi was given free rein by the Teatro della Pergola to choose an opera subject and opted for Shakespeare’s Macbeth when he learned that the cast would include first-class singer-actor baritone Felice Varesi. Francesco Maria Piave wrote the libretto, bullied by Verdi into making certain changes, along with Andrea Maffei, whom Verdi hired to pen some additional material. Verdi closely supervised rehearsals, which resulted in a successful premiere on March 14, 1847, but Verdi was criticized, much to his outrage, for not knowing his Shakespeare. Verdi lavished great care on several revisions and personally oversaw many productions, but Macbeth met with relatively little success during his lifetime. He was especially baffled when the production at Paris’s Théâtre Lyrique, for which he had made substantial revisions in 1864, was largely unsuccessful. Verdi’s annoyance at the opera’s reception, however, did nothing to alter its status in his eyes as the favorite of his early operas, and time has proved its merit. In Act II Macbeth has murdered King Duncan and become king, but plots the murder of Banco and his son Fleance to thwart the prophecy that Banco’s children will rule Scotland. As the assassins lie in wait for Banco outside the castle, Banco sings his famous recitative and aria—unchanged in Verdi’s many revisions—“Studia il passo . . . Come dal ciel precipita” (Watch your step . . . How from the heaven falls), in which he warns his son about his feeling of foreboding. The aria’s noble, rich unfolding comes to an impassioned peak just before the coda, when the assassins strike him down but fail to halt his escaping son. * * * * * In 1865, when Verdi was planning a grand opera for the Paris Opéra, he returned to the idea of Don Carlos, a subject he had rejected in the 1850s, but now fit his conception of a “magnificent drama,” offering the perfect potential for both spectacle and sympathy for the lovers. He closely supervised the preparation of the libretto, which François Joseph Méry loosely adapted from Schiller’s play, and which Camille de Locle completed after Méry’s death. Verdi had completed most of the opera in 1866 before arriving in Paris that July to supervise the long rehearsal period, but found his five-act opera far too long and made substantial cuts. Despite his careful attention to all aspects of the production, the premiere on March 11, 1867, met with only modest success. Verdi made numerous revisions for Italian revivals over twenty years, ending with a four-act version for La Scala in 1884 that cut the entire first act. Since then companies have juggled versions, cuts, and restoration of certain portions, but the opera, typically performed in Italian and called Don Carlo, has now emerged from the filter of history as one of Verdi’s most respected and beloved. Verdi’s unsurpassed dramatic and musical mastery culminates in his depiction of the power struggles, private loves, and tragic consequences of these historic personages. The story is based on the son of Spanish King Philip II, Don Carlos, who plots with Marquis Posa against the tyrannical king. Carlos is betrothed to Elisabeth of Valois, but she instead marries his father, Philip II, as part of a peace treaty. The heartbreak of the two lovers lies at the heart of the opera, but equally tragic is Philip II’s role. Verdi gives him one of the best bass arias in the repertoire, “Ella giammai m’amò” (She never loved me), in which he poignantly laments that his wife has never loved him. A moving cello obbligato interlaces his heartbreaking expression of his loneliness and the powerlessness of his crown to see into others’ hearts. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

NATHAN HUGHES, OBOE Nathan Hughes is Principal Oboe of the Metropolitan Opera and a member of the faculty at The Juilliard School. He previously served as Principal Oboe of the Seattle Symphony and has recorded, toured, and made guest appearances as Principal Oboe with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, and San Francisco Symphony. An avid chamber musician, Hughes has performed with the Philadelphia, La Jolla, Seattle, and Brooklyn Chamber Music Societies, as well as at ChamberFest Cleveland, and Chamber Music Pittsburgh. In addition, he has made appearances at the festivals of Aspen, Bridgehampton, Lucerne, Marlboro, Pacific, Salzburg, Santa Fe, Sarasota, Spoleto, and Tanglewood. He has received critical acclaim for his performances as soloist with the MET Chamber Ensemble at Carnegie Hall, Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Seattle Symphony, La Jolla SummerFest Chamber Orchestra, and Verbier Festival Orchestra. A dedicated teacher, his students have earned significant positions in numerous major symphony orchestras throughout the country. Hughes earned degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music and The Juilliard School, and has lectured and presented masterclasses at institutions around the world including at the New World Symphony, Cleveland Institute, Eastman, Oberlin, Indiana University, as well as at the Munich Hochschule in Germany, National University in Korea, Stockholm Royal College of Music in Sweden, Royal Conservatory in Canada, and Pacific Music Festival in Japan. He regularly works with young musicians in the summer at the Marlboro Festival in Vermont and at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland.

MICHAEL BROWN, PIANO Michael Brown has been described as “one of the most refined of all pianist-composers” (International Piano) and “one of the leading figures in the current renaissance of performer-composers” (The New York Times). His unique artistry is reflected in his creative approach to programming, which often interweaves the classics with contemporary works and his own compositions. Winner of a 2018 Emerging Artist Award from Lincoln Center and a 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Mr. Brown is an artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, performing regularly at Alice Tully Hall and on tour. His engagements have taken him across four continents, with regular appearances with orchestras such as the National Philharmonic, the Seattle, Grand Rapids, North Carolina, Maryland and Albany Symphonies and recitals at Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, and the Louvre. He was also selected by pianist Sir András Schiff to perform on an international solo recital tour, making debuts in Zurich’s Tonhalle,and New York’s 92nd Street Y. Mr. Brown has appeared at the Tanglewood, Marlboro, Music@Menlo, Gilmore, Ravinia and Bard music festivals and performs regularly with his longtime duo partner, cellist Nicholas Canellakis. As the Composer and Artist-in-Residence at the New Haven Symphony for the 2017-19 seasons, Mr. Brown will make multiple soloist appearances with the orchestra, as well as compose a newly commissioned symphony in 2019. Other commissions have come from the Maryland Symphony Orchestra, Bargemusic, Concert Artists Guild, Shriver Hall, and Norton Building Concerts; for Osmo Vänskä and Erin Keefe, pianists Adam Golka, Roman Rabinovich and Orion Weiss; and a consortium of gardens including Wave Hill, Longwood, and Desert Botanical. A prolific recording artist, Mr. Brown’s most recent releases include performances as a soloist with the Seattle Symphony, Brandenburg State Symphony and a solo album of works by Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Bernstein and Brown. Mr. Brown was First Prize winner of the Concert Artists Guild Competition and a recipient of the Juilliard Petschek Award, and is a Steinway Artist. He earned dual bachelor’s and master’s degrees in piano and composition from The Juilliard School, where he studied with pianists Jerome Lowenthal and Robert McDonald and composers Samuel Adler and Robert Beaser. His mentors also include pianists Richard Goode and Sir András Schiff. A native New Yorker, he lives there with his two 19th century Steinway D’s, Octavia and Daria.

COLEMAN ITZKOFF, BAROQUE CELLO Coleman Itzkoff Baroque cello Prizewinner at the 2019 Houston Symphony's Ima Hogg Competition, cellist Coleman Itzkoff is a founding member of the innovative American Modern Opera Company (AMOC), where his work extends beyond performance into dance and theater. He studied at Rice University and the University of Southern California and earned a Juilliard Artist Diploma, studying with Timothy Eddy, Richard Aaron, and baroque cellist Phoebe Carrai.

April 23, 2017: Isabel Leonard, mezzo-soprano; Warren Jones, piano FREDERIC CHOPIN (1810-1849) Four Mazurkas, op. 67 April 23, 2017: Isabel Leonard, mezzo-soprano; Warren Jones, piano Chopin’s elaboration of dance forms raised them to a high art, and he brought special prominence to the dances related to his native Poland—the mazurka and the polonaise. The mazurka , named for the Mazur people of Mazovia, is one of several turning dances for couples, typically in triple meter like the waltz. Three types of folk dances share the designation: the masur or masurek of lively, sometimes fiery character; the obertas or oberek of faster tempo and merrier character; and the kujawiak , a slow dance from the Kujawy region often in the minor mode and melancholy in expression. All share a basic rhythm that shifts the accent unsystematically to the second or third beat of the measure. Chopin composed over fifty mazurkas, typically in simple ternary form and sometimes adopting the traditional phrase structure of two or four sections of six or eight measures, each repeated. The Four Mazurkas, op. 67, were published posthumously in 1855, bringing together four pieces written at different times in the composer’s life. No. 1 in G major he is said to have copied into an album of Anna Młokosiewicz in 1835, when she and her father were “taking the waters” in Karlovy Vary, but he may have written it much earlier, possibly in Vienna or even Warsaw. It merrily unfolds in a simple ternary form with bounding dance characteristics point that seem to suggest an earlier time. The Mazurka in G minor, placed second in the posthumous collection, is the last mazurka Chopin wrote. (Jeffrey Kallberg has shown that the unfinished F minor Mazurka, op. 68, no. 4, was not his last, as previously thought.) He likely composed it after his return to Paris from Scotland, in the winter of 1848 or the spring of 1849, a time of great loneliness and rapidly sinking health. A wistful melody marks the outer sections, contrasted by a livelier central section with chromatic sequencing, leaping grace notes, and a recitative-like passage leading back to the opening. The piece shows the “new simplicity” of many of his late works. The manuscript of No. 3, in C major, belonged to a Mme. Hoffmann, possibly the writer Kelmentyna (née Tańska), but there was also an Adelina Hoffman who owned a ladies’ fashion shop in Warsaw who could have been its recipient. Composed in 1835, the piece features an easily swinging nostalgia in its outer sections surrounding a brief interlude of hesitating chordal phrases. The Opus 67 set closes with the Mazurka in A minor, for which three versions exist. The earliest manuscript, dated 1846, once belonged to Brahms. Chopin clearly favored the key of A minor for melancholic or contemplative expression in his Mazurkas, for he composed seven in that key. Again in A-B-A form, this mazurka’s outer sections feature delicately ornamented melodic lines that often end in a descent or in seeming resignation. By contrast the middle section provides sunnier tunefulness, if still touched by moments of yearning. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2016 AT 3 PM Jonathan Biss, piano, and the Principal strings of the NY Philharmonic BUY TICKETS CARTER BREY, CELLO JONATHAN BISS, PIANO “…unerring sophistication…close to perfection.” – Alex Ross, The New Yorker CYNTHIA PHELPS, VIOLA Principal Viola New York Philharmonic SHERYL STAPLES, VIOLIN Principal Associate Concertmaster New York Philharmonic FRANK HUANG, VIOLIN Principal Bassoon Orpheus FEATURING ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE BUY TICKETS On November 20 , the internationally celebrated pianist Jonathan Biss will partner with the incomparable principal string players of the New York Philharmonic : concertmaster Frank Huang , principal associate concertmaster Sheryl Staples , principal violist Cynthia Phelps , and principal cellist Carter Brey . Their “English-speaking” program will include Dvořák ‘s luminous American Quartet , Gershwin ’s charming Lullaby , and Elgar ’s lushly romantic quintet for piano and strings. PROGRAM Antonin Dvořàk Quartet No. 12 in F, Op. 96 (American) Program Notes George Gershwin Lullaby for string quartet Program Notes Sir Edward Elgar Quintet in A minor, Op. 84 for piano and strings Program Notes Jonathan Biss performs Schumann’s Fantasiestücke, Op. 12: Meet Frank Huang, the New York Philharmonic’s new concertmaster:

April 2, 2023: ETTORE CAUSA, VIOLA; BORIS BERMAN, PIANO JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833-1897) Sonata in E-flat for viola and piano, Op. 120, No. 2 April 2, 2023: ETTORE CAUSA, VIOLA; BORIS BERMAN, PIANO This rich, warm product of Brahms’s later years was originally conceived for the clarinet. While writing his G major String Quintet in the summer of 1890 at Ischl, his holiday haunt, Brahms decided he would retire from composing. Yet the following spring he became so enamored of the playing of Richard Mühlfeld, principal clarinetist of the Meiningen orchestra, that in the next few years he wrote four works all featuring the instrument: the Clarinet Trio and the Clarinet Quintet, both composed mostly in the summer of 1891, and the two Clarinet Sonatas, op. 120, written in the summer of 1894. In order to reach a wider audience Brahms also produced alternate versions of all these works, substituting the viola for the clarinet. He even made violin versions of the Trio and of the two Sonatas. Brahms was drawn to Mühlfeld as a musician, not for his flash and technical brilliance, but for his warm tone, sophistication, and sensitivity—qualities Brahms emphasized in the four late clarinet works. The composer accompanied Mühlfeld in the first private performance of the Sonatas in November 1894 and also in the first public performances in January 1895. In arranging the Sonatas for viola Brahms transposed certain passages an octave lower and introduced some double stops, but the works were already well suited for the deep, mellifluous tone of the viola; the piano part was left unchanged. With these Sonatas Brahms broke new ground in the repertoire for both the clarinet and the viola. The Sonatas follow Brahms’s tendency to compose in pairs—usually contrasting in character. The F minor Sonata displays storminess in its first movement and ebullience in its last, framing more intimate inner movements in a fairly traditional four-movement framework. The E-flat major Sonata projects a more relaxed feeling in its outer movements, which surround an impassioned scherzo—a less orthodox three-movement sequence. The E-flat major first movement, Brahms’s last in sonata form, shows just how pliable the form could be in his hands. The songful, amabile (amiable) main theme is immediately varied, leading succinctly to his second theme, which as in many of his works is a theme group. Brahms delights in obscuring the outlines of the form so that the end of the exposition and beginning of the development flow seamlessly together. Similarly the end of the development and beginning of the recapitulation are dovetailed. The E-flat minor second movement, Brahms’s last scherzo, takes an intense stand as the Sonata’s centerpiece. Yet it, too, relaxes in a lovely oasis, a trio in B major, rich in the parallel thirds and sixths and the octave doublings of which Brahms was so fond. Brahms turned to his beloved variation form one last time in the closing movement. The first three variations return to the Classic technique of employing increasingly faster note values so that the basic subdivisions change from predominantly eighth notes, to sixteenths, to thirty-second notes. Far from becoming cluttered, Brahms’s texture retains a miraculous clarity. The fourth variation relaxes with quiet, syncopated chords to set up the only fiery variation, the fifth, which also shifts to the minor mode. Amiability returns with the Più tranquillo coda, but Brahms allows the two instrumentalists their virtuosic say in the final bars of the piece. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

November 15, 2015 – Jeremy Denk, piano; Stefan Jackiw, violin CÉSAR FRANCK (1822-1890) Violin Sonata in A major, M. 8 November 15, 2015 – Jeremy Denk, piano; Stefan Jackiw, violin César Franck, organist at St. Clothilde and professor of organ at the Paris Conservatory, influenced a generation of composers including d’Indy, Chausson, Duparc, and Vierne, yet was not prolific himself as a composer. He was a late achiever par excellence: he completed his only Symphony when he was sixty-six, and he composed his memorable chamber works, the Piano Quintet and Violin Sonata, just several years before, with the String Quartet closely following the Symphony. There is no telling what he might have achieved had he not died in 1890 at age sixty-seven. Franck’s concern for thematic unity led to the use of what his disciple and enthusiastic champion Vincent d’Indy called the “cyclic” principle—the use of similar thematic material in two or more movements in the same work. D’Indy related Franck’s cyclic procedures to Beethoven, who may have been his inspiration, but Franck’s structural ideas have much more in common with those of Liszt and his practice of deriving an entire work from one musical idea. The opening theme begins with a three-note “generating cell,” as d’Indy called it, that permeates the work. Almost immediately Franck shows his penchant for changing keys. As a teacher of organ, with composition mixed in, Franck grew uneasy when any student remained too long in one key—“Modulate, modulate!” he would urge, which was known to exasperate Debussy, who studied briefly in his class. Formally the first movement is based on this and another main theme that occurs only in piano interludes; the subjects alternate while passing through myriad keys. The presentation of the thematic material in this fashion and the lack of development give the movement the feel either of a prologue or of an inner movement. Originally Franck had conceived the movement in a slow tempo, but changed it to Allegretto after hearing it played by violin virtuoso Eugène Ysaÿe, to whom the work is dedicated. Full-fledged sonata form is saved for the second movement, which employs a bit of the generating cell and also introduces another theme that will return in the finale. The brilliance of this Allegro movement contrasts nicely with the poetic first movement and with the rhapsodic third movement. This Recitativo-Fantasia sounds improvisatory at the outset as Franck ruminates upon the generating cell. The final Fantasia section is dominated by another theme that will reappear in the finale and ends with an unexpected harmonic turn. The finale is remarkable for the exact imitation between the violin and piano—one of the famous examples of canonic writing in the literature—which appears four times like a rondo refrain. The intervening episodes are based on the materials of the previous movements. The Sonata was apparently given as a wedding present to Ysaÿe, who first performed it with pianist Léontine Bordes-Pène as the last work on an all-Franck concert at the Musée Moderne de Peinture in Brussels on December 16, 1886. D’Indy described that memorable late afternoon performance: It was already growing dark as the Sonata began. After the first Allegretto, the players could hardly read their music. Unfortunately, museum regulations forbade any artificial light whatever in rooms containing paintings; the mere striking of a match would have been an offense. The audience was about to be asked to leave, but, brimful with enthusiasm, they refused to budge. At this point, Ysaÿe struck his music stand with his bow, demanding, “Let’s go on!” Then, wonder of wonders, amid darkness that now rendered them virtually invisible, the two artists played the last three movements from memory with a fire and passion the more astonishing in that there was a total lack of the usual visible externals that enhance a concert performance. Music, wondrous and alone, held sovereign sway in the blackness of night. The miracle will never be forgotten by those present. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes