April 13, 2025: Quartetto Di Cremona Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) String Quartet in A minor, Op. 132 April 13, 2025: Quartetto Di Cremona When Prince Nicholas Galitzin ordered “one, two, or three new quartets” from Beethoven in November 1822, he could hardly have realized that he was instigating a series of works by which all later generations would judge profundity. Beethoven had not forgotten the quartet medium in the twelve years since the F minor Quartet, op. 95, but the commission gave him the impetus to turn sketches into finished works. Nevertheless, he could not concentrate on quartet writing until after completing the Missa solemnis , the Diabelli Variations, and the Ninth Symphony, so the project did not begin in earnest until mid-1824. Beethoven completed the E-flat major Quartet, op. 127, in early 1825; the present A minor, op. 132, that July; and the B-flat major, op. 130, in early 1826. The prince loved the Quartets, but was able to make only one payment before going bankrupt and joining the army. The floodgates had been loosed, however, and out of inner necessity Beethoven completed two more quartets in 1826, the C-sharp minor, op.131, and the F major, op. 135, to arrive at the five works known as the “late quartets.” It should be noted that, too late for Beethoven himself but in the proper spirit, a son of Galitzin paid with interest what was owed on his father’s three quartets into the Beethoven estate. While pestering Beethoven in 1823 and 1824 about when he would received his quartets, Galitzin was always quick to say he understood that genius couldn’t be rushed. Beethoven’s problem was not a lack of ideas, but his hectic life as a world-famous composer, as mentioned above. With the A minor Quartet, illness was a major impediment. Though he began work late in 1824, from mid-April to mid-May 1825 he suffered from such a serious intestinal inflamation that part of the time he was bedridden. Though considerably weakened, he managed to complete the A minor Quartet by July, his recovery having prompted one of the few genuinely autobiographical manifestations in his music: he included a slow third movement entitled “Heiliger Dankgesang eines Genesenen an die Gottheit, in der lydischen Tonart” (A Convalescent’s Holy Song of Thanksgiving to the Deity, in the Lydian Mode). The opening of the Quartet’s first movement has won special comment ever since the late quartets were considered as a group. Its signature four notes—an ascending half step then a descending half step—bears striking similarity to the main theme of the Grosse Fuge (the original finale of the B-flat Quartet) and the opening fugue subject of the C-sharp minor Quartet. Some have even traced it in all five quartets. Whether Beethoven intended the motive as a unifying feature or recognized instances where he or other composers had used it previously, it seems to have been associated with painful emotions, which fits with these profound, introspective late works and particularly with this Quartet’s underlying script of pain transcended. A remarkable aspect of the first movement is how Beethoven is able to relate this motive—of which he gives several permutations in the brief slow introduction—with the distinctive opening gesture of the fast main part. Another noteworthy feature of the movement is the “double recapitulation,” the first in the “wrong” key and the second capped by an especially key-confirming coda. For his second movement he wrote a new style of waltzlike scherzo with a pastoral musette (bagpipe piece) for a trio. In this slightly contemplative dance, pairs of half steps reappear, but with a third note added, which makes the lilting main theme so distinctive. Pronounced utterances of the half steps gruffly interrupt the end of the ethereal musette. Beethoven employs the Lydian church mode (like F major, but with B-naturals instead of B-flats) to give his convalescent’s hymn an archaic, reverent tone. This exquisitely calm music returns in two equally slow-moving variations, twice contrasted by livelier music with wide leaps and trills that he labeled “Feeling new strength.” At a very late stage Beethoven decided the “German dance” that had originally followed the Thanksgiving movement should be replaced by an almost fierce march. (The original movement wound up transposed as the Alla danza tedesca in his next quartet, the B-flat.) He often seemed to require something earthy after something heavenly, or a witticism after something poetic, which is just what the Alla marcia provides. Shortly, however, the first violin plunges into the dramatic recitative that introduces the finale. This rondo—Beethoven’s last except for the replacement finale of the B-flat Quartet—employs a main theme that he had originally sketched as a “Finale instrumentale” for his Ninth Symphony. He gives the lyrical, pensive melody a sense of unrest with his agitated rocking accompaniment. Toward the end Beethoven increases the speed to a dizzying Presto with the cello playing this theme in extremely high register. Having slipped into a scintillating A major, Beethoven decided at the last phase of composition to extend his coda significantly to provide the proper tonal balance in this key for the entire Quartet. —©Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

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SUNDAY, APRIL 3, 2016 AT 3 PM Sir James Galway and Friends BUY TICKETS TIMOTHY COBB, BASS Principal Bass New York Philharmonic SIR JAMES GALWAY, FLUTE “He has a technical mastery so complete that it makes everything look easy… No one in their right mind, or ear, could object to such committed, insightful and lovable performances.” – The Los Angeles Times PAOLO BORDIGNON, HARPSICHORD “Bordignon’s stylings were right on the mark as he amply showed us his fluid technique and mastery of the instrument.” — Salt Lake Tribune MARK HOLLOWAY, VIOLA “Warm and intimacy.” — Neue Zürcher Zeitung DANBI UM, VIOLIN “Danbi Um’s playing is utterly dazzling…a marvelous show of superb technique” — The Strad NICHOLAS CANELLAKIS, CELLO “Superb young soloist.” — The New Yorker BENJAMIN BEILMAN, VIOLIN 2015 “He brought dark chocolate sound and lyricism to his rhapsodic playing and compellingly dispatched the breathless, perpetual-motion finale.” — The New York Times LADY JEANNE GALWAY, FLUTE SEAN LEE, VIOLIN “Breathtakingly beautiful.” — The New York Times YING FANG, SOPRANO “A warm, agile, and appealing voice…a star in the making.” – Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times FEATURING ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE BUY TICKETS he living legend of the flute, Sir James Galway is regarded as both the supreme interpreter of the classical flute repertoire and a consummate entertainer whose appeal crosses all musical boundaries. Through his extensive touring, over 30 million albums sold, and his frequent international television appearances, Sir James has endeared himself to millions worldwide and is a tireless promoter of the arts. Sir James will share his great love of Bach in a special collaboration with nine brilliant young soloists. This concert promises to be unforgettable afternoon of music-making. PROGRAM Johann Sebastian Bach Sonata in E, BWV 1035 for flute and continuo Program Notes Johann Sebastian Bach Jesus soll mein erstes Wort from Cantata 171 for soprano, violin and continuo Program Notes Johann Sebastian Bach Sheep Safely Graze, from Cantata 208 for soprano, two flutes, and continuo Program Notes Johann Sebastian Bach Suite in B minor, BWV 1067 for flute, strings, and continuo Program Notes Johann Sebastian Bach I follow you with Joyful Steps from St. John Passion for soprano, two flutes, and continuo Program Notes Johann Sebastian Bach Adagio and Presto from Sonata in G minor, BWV 1001 for solo violin Program Notes Johann Sebastian Bach Air on the G String (from Suite in D, BWV 1068) for flute, strings, and continuo Program Notes Johann Sebastian Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 4, BWV 1049 for two flutes, solo violin, strings, and continuo Program Notes James Galway - Bach Sonata in E, BMV 1034, Mvt 1 James Galway - Reicha Sinfonia in D for 4 Flutes, Mvt 1 (PCC) James Galway - Bach Badinerie from Suite in B minor

ETTORE CAUSA, VIOLA Awarded both the “P. Schidlof Prize” and the “J. Barbirolli Prize” for “the most beautiful sound” at the prestigious Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition in 2000, Italian-born violist Ettore Causa has been praised for his exceptional artistry, passionate intelligence and complete musicianship. He has made solo and recital appearances in major venues around the world, and has performed at prestigious festivals. A devoted chamber musician, Causa has collaborated extensively with internationally renowned musicians. At the Yale School of Music, Causa teaches graduate-level viola students and coaches chamber ensembles. He has performed on the School’s Faculty Artist Series and Oneppo Chamber Music Series and at the Yale Summer School of Music/Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. Before Causa joined the faculty of the School of Music in 2009, he taught both viola and chamber music at the International Menuhin Music Academy. He attended the International Menuhin Music Academy, where he studied with Alberto Lysy and Johannes Eskar, and the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Michael Tree. Causa has published many highly regarded CDs on the Claves label. One notable recording is Romantic Transcriptions for Viola and Piano, on which he performshis own transcriptions, which was awarded a prestigious “5 Diapasons” by the French magazine Diapason. In 2015, he was one of the honored guests at the 43rd International Viola Congress, where he performed his own arrangement of the Schumann Cello Concerto. Causa is an honorary member of British Viola Society and he performs on a viola made for him by Frederic Chaudièrein 2003.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2021 AT 3 PM PAUL JACOBS, ORGAN WELCOME BACH, PAUL JACOBS! BUY TICKETS PAUL JACOBS, ORGAN FEATURING ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE BUY TICKETS It will be an honor to welcome back America’s foremost organist, Paul Jacobs. The inimitable virtuoso will introduce and perform a selection of towering masterpieces by Johann Sebastian Bach , composed and arranged especially for the King of Instruments. PROGRAM J.S. Bach Sinfonia from Cantata, BWV 29 (arr. Marcel Dupre) Program Notes J.S. Bach Trio Sonata in E Minor, BWV 528 Program Notes J.S. Bach Air on the G String , Suite No. 3, BWV 1068 Program Notes J.S. Bach Concerto in D Minor after Vivaldi, BWV 596 Program Notes J.S. Bach Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor, BWV 582 Program Notes J.S. Bach Arioso from Cantata, BWV 156 Program Notes J.S. Bach Prelude and Fugue in D Major, BWV 532 Program Notes Watch Paul Jacobs perform and introduce Bach’s organ music at NPR: Watch Paul Jacobs discuss and play Bach’s organ music at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in New York City:

ITAMAR ZORMAN, VIOLIN Itamar Zorman is one of the most soulful, evocative artists of his generation, distinguished by his emotionally gripping performances and gift for musical storytelling. Since his emergence with the top prize at the 2011 International Tchaikovsky Competition, he has wowed audiences all over the world with breathtaking style, causing one critic to declare him a “young badass who’s not afraid of anything.” His “youthful intensity” and “achingly beautiful” sound shine through in every performance, earning him the title of the “virtuoso of emotions. Awarded the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award for 2014, violinist Itamar Zorman is the winner of the 2013 Avery Fisher Career Grant, and the 2011 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Russia. Mr. Zorman has performed as a soloist with such orchestras as the Mariinsky Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, New World Symphony, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, KBS Symphony Seoul, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, German Radio Philharmonic, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Kremerata Baltica, RTE National Symphony Orchestra (Dublin) and American Symphony. In 2024 he performed with the RAI National Symphony Orchestra in their traditional televised Christmas concert, following the Pope’s blessing.He has worked with conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Michael Tilson-Thomas, David Robertson, Valery Gergiev, James DePreist, Karina Canellakis, Yuri Bashmet, and Nathalie Stuztmann. Mr. Zorman has performed around the world in halls such as Avery Fisher Hall, Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Zurich Tonhalle, Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow, and Teatro Massimo Palermo. As a recitalist he performed at Carnegie Hall's Distinctive Debut series, Wigmore Hall, People's Symphony Concerts, Merkin Hall, the Louvre Museum, Suntory Hall Laeiszhalle Hamburg and HR-Sendesaal Frankfurt. Mr. Zorman was invited to the Verbier, Marlboro, Rheingau, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brevard, Classical Tahoe, MITO SettembreMusica, and Radio France Festivals. He has also collaborated with a number of legendary artists such as Richard Goode (including performances at Carnegie Hall and Library of Congress), Mitsuko Uchida, Steven Isserlis and Jörg Widmann. Mr. Zorman’s latest CD, “Violin Odyssey”, a collection of works for violin from five continents, was released in 2022 by First Hand Records to critical acclaim. As part of an ongoing exploration of the music of Paul Ben-Haim, Mr. Zorman released a CD of the works for violin and orchestra with BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Philippe Bach for BIS Records, in April 2019, entitled “Evocation”. His first solo CD recording, entitled “Portrait”, features works by Messiaen, Schubert, Chausson, Hindemith, and Brahms and was released by Profil - Editions Günther Hänssler. Described as a “poet of the violin”, Itamar Zorman is also a committed chamber player. He is a founding member of the Israeli Chamber Project and a member of the Lysander Piano Trio, with which he won the 2012 Concert Artists Guild Competition, the Grand Prize in the 2011 Coleman Chamber Music Competition, 1st prize in the 2011 Arriaga Competition, and a bronze medal in the 2010 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. Born in Tel-Aviv in 1985 to a family of musicians, Itamar Zorman began his violin studies at the age of six with Saly Bockel at the Israeli Conservatory of Music in Tel-Aviv. He graduated in 2003 and continued his studies with Professor David Chen and Nava Milo. He received his Bachelor of Music from the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance as a student of Hagai Shaham, and his Master of Music from The Juilliard School in 2009, where he studied with Robert Mann and Sylvia Rosenberg. He then went on to receive an Artist Diploma from Manhattan School of Music in 2010 and an Artist Diploma from Julliard in 2012 under the tutelage of Sylvia Rosenberg, and he is an alumnus of the Kronberg Academy where he studied with Christian Tetzlaff and Mauricio Fuks. He is also the recipient of scholarships from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation and has taken part in numerous master classes around the world, working with Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Shlomo Mintz, Ida Haendel, and Ivry Gitlis. Mr. Zorman is an Associate Professor of Music (Violin) at Indiana University’s Jacob’s School of Music. He plays on a 1734 Guarneri del Gesù, from the collection of Yehuda Zisapel.

February 18, 2024: Anthony McGill, clarinet; Stefan Jackiw, violin; Nicholas Canellakis, cello; Michael Stephen Brown, piano Olivier Messiaen Quartet for the End of Time February 18, 2024: Anthony McGill, clarinet; Stefan Jackiw, violin; Nicholas Canellakis, cello; Michael Stephen Brown, piano The outbreak of the Second World War occurred one week after Messiaen had finished his organ work Les corps glorieux on August 25, 1939. Messiaen was called into service but was found unfit for active duty because of his poor eyesight. When the Germans invaded in May 1940 Messiaen was serving as a medical auxiliary at Verdun. He and three other musicians made it on foot to Nancy, but there they were captured. Messiaen was taken to a prison camp at Görlitz, Silesia (now Poland), where he remained until the spring of 1941, staunchly guarding “a haversack containing all my treasures, i.e., a little library of scores . . . going from the Brandenburg Concertos of Bach to the Lyric Suite of Berg [also including scores by Beethoven, Ravel, and Stravinsky].” Messiaen composed in order to help himself survive “the cruelties and horrors of the camp”—first a short trio for a violinist, clarinetist, and cellist whom he met in the camp, which they performed in the washrooms. (The former two had their instruments with them; the Germans supplied the cellist with a cello with only three strings.) He then embarked on a full-scale chamber work for these musicians with himself as pianist, the Quatuor pour la fin du temps, which included the trio as the fourth movement. For the first performance of the Quartet on the savagely cold night of January 15, 1941, a rickety, out-of-tune old upright piano with many non-functional keys was brought into the Stalag, and the piece was played in the unheated Barrack 27 before an audience of 5,000 inmates. “Never,” said Messiaen later, “have I been heard with as much attention and understanding.” The title Quartet for the End of Time, asserted Messiaen, was not to be interpreted as a response to his imprisonment; rather he wished to pay homage to “the Angel of the Apocalypse, who raises his hand heavenward saying: ‘There will be no more Time’” (Revelation of St. John). The composer also pointed out that the title has another meaning: his wish for an end of musical time based on the equal durational divisions of traditional music. The Quartet for the End of Time exhibits the polyrhythmic structures that he employed to achieve this aim, and which became very important in his later works. Messiaen also wanted the rhythmic structure to be independent of the harmony and melody, “in the manner of Guillaume de Machaut [c.1300–1377] whose work I did not know at the time.” The first movement, Liturgy of crystal, serves to illustrate Messiaen’s complex musical language. Two independent rhythmic ostinatos, one for the piano and a non-retrogradable (palindromic) one for the cello, are colored by the repeating patterns of twenty-nine different chords (showing Messiaen’s fondness of prime numbers). The melodic and harmonic patterns are not congruent with the rhythmic patterns, bringing to mind medieval isorhythmic motets, such as those by Machaut. Messiaen’s pitches are derived from his own system of modes. These combined structures are superimposed on two independent bird songs, played by the violin and clarinet. Here in a nutshell can be found some of the most important features in Messiaen’s development as a composer: complex polyrhythms, harmonic modes, his “banishment of temporalities,” and above all, the introduction of bird song. It is important to note, however, that Messiaen’s manufactured structures do not dictate the form of the movement or its duration—they are cut off abruptly; it is the bird song that shapes the movement. Otherwise Messiaen would have been exchanging one kind of tyranny for another. Interesting relationships exist between the movements of the Quartet. The second shows thematic links with the seventh, both the third and sixth movements are monodies (clarinet alone, and all four instruments in octaves, respectively), and the fourth movement (the former trio) is related thematically to both the third and the sixth. The fifth and eighth movements are related in style, slow tempo, E major tonality, solo stringed instrument with piano, and theological basis. The Quartet for the End of Time remains one of the most important chamber music compositions of the twentieth century, in part because of Messiaen’s techniques, but also because it speaks to those who are totally unaware of them, as it did to the inmates that cold winter. In the preface to the score, Messiaen provided the following description, which is worth quoting in full: “Conceived and written in the course of my captivity, the Quartet for the End of Time was performed for the first time in Stalag 8-A on January 15, 1941, by Jean Le Boulaire, violinist; Henri Akoka, clarinetist; Etienne Pasquier, cellist; and myself at the piano. It is directly inspired by this excerpt from ‘The Revelation of St. John.’ Its musical language is essentially transcendental, spiritual, catholic. Certain modes, realizing melodically and harmonically a kind of tonal ubiquity, draw the listener into a sense of the eternity of space or time. Particular rhythms existing outside the measure contribute importantly toward the banishment of temporalities. (All this is mere striving and childish stammering if one compares it to the overwhelming grandeur of the subject!) “This Quartet contains eight movements. Why? Seven is the perfect number, the creation of six days made holy by the divine Sabbath; the seventh in its repose prolongs itself into eternity and becomes the eighth, of unfailing light, of immutable peace. “I. Liturgy of crystal. Between the morning hour of three and four, the awakening of the birds: a thrush or a nightingale soloist improvises, amid notes of shining sound and a halo of trills that lose themselves high in the trees. Transpose this to the religious plane: you will have the harmonious silence of heaven. “II. Vocalise, for the angel who announces the end of Time. The first and third parts (very short) evoke the power of that mighty angel, his hair a rainbow and his clothing mist, who places one foot on the sea and one foot on the earth. Between these sections are the ineffable harmonies of Heaven. From the piano, soft cascades of blue-orange chords, encircling with their distant carillon the plainchant-like recitativo of the violin and cello. “III. Abyss of the birds. Clarinet solo. The abyss is Time, with its sadness and tediums. The birds are the opposite of Time; they are our desire for light, for stars, for rainbows, and for jubilant outpourings of song! “IV. Interlude. Scherzo. Of a more outgoing character than the other movements but related to them, nonetheless, by various melodic references. “V. Praise to the eternity of Jesus. Jesus is here considered as one with the Word. A long phrase, infinitely slow, by the cello expatiates with love and reverence the everlastingness of the Word, mighty and dulcet, ‘which the years can in no way exhaust.’ Majestically the melody unfolds itself at a distance both intimate and awesome. ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.’ “VI. Dance of fury, for the seven trumpets. Rhythmically the most idiosyncratic movement of the set. The four instruments in unison give the effect of gongs and trumpets (the first six trumpets of the Apocalypse attend various catastrophes, the trumpet of the seventh angel announces the consummation of the mystery of God). Use of extended note values, augmented or diminished rhythmic patterns, non-retrogradable rhythms—a systematic use of values which, read from left to right or from right to left, remain the same. Music of stone, formidable sonority; movement as irresistible as steel, as huge blocks of livid fury or ice-like frenzy. Listen particularly to the terrifying fortissimo of the theme in augmentation and with change of register of its different notes, toward the end of the piece. “VII. Cluster of rainbows, for the angel who announces the end of Time. Here certain passages from the second movement return. The mighty angel appears, and in particular the rainbow that envelops him (the rainbow, symbol of peace, of wisdom, of every quiver of luminosity and sound). In my dreamings I hear and see ordered melodies and chords, familiar hues and forms; then, following this transitory stage I pass into the unreal and submit ecstatically to a vortex, a dizzying interpenetration of super-human sounds and colors. These fiery swords, these rivers of blue-orange lava, these sudden stars: Behold the cluster, behold the rainbows! “VIII. Praise to the immortality of Jesus. Expansive violin solo balancing the cello solo of the fifth movement. Why this second glorification? It addresses itself more specifically to the second aspect of Jesus—to Jesus the man, to the Word made flesh, raised up immortal from the dead so as to communicate His life to us. It is total love. Its slow rising to a supreme point is the ascension of man toward his God, of the son of God toward his Father, of the mortal newly made divine toward paradise. “And I repeat anew what I said above: All this is mere striving and childish stammering if one compares it to the overwhelming grandeur of the subject!” —historical background ©Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

YOOBIN SON, FLUTE Flutist Yoobin Son was the first Korean to join the New York Philharmonic’s wind section when she became a member of the Orchestra in November 2012. She has served as the principal flute of the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra and principal flute of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Son has performed as a soloist with ensembles including the New Haven, New Jersey, Florida, William Paterson University, and Korean symphony orchestras, and the Prime and Seoul Philharmonic orchestras. She has appeared in recital throughout the United States, among them the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts in Chicago, as well as on the Young Artist Series of the Kumho Asiana Cultural Foundation in Seoul, South Korea. A dedicated chamber musician, Ms. Son has participated at festivals including the Marlboro Music Festival and Music from Angel Fire. She is an alumna of Carnegie Hall’s The Academy, where she was an active performer in the acclaimed Ensemble ACJW. As part of the Academy’s fellowship program, Ms. Son was a teaching artist at P.S. 207K in Brooklyn. She has received honors including the Grand Prize at the Florida Orchestra Young Artist Competition, First Prize at the National Flute Association Soloist Competition, Second Prize at the Koussevitzky International Winds Competition, and the Conductor’s Award at the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra Young Artist Auditions. Yoobin Son received her bachelor of music degree from The Curtis Institute of Music, master’s degree from Yale University, and professional studies and artist diploma from the Manhattan School of Music. Her principal teachers have included Robert Langevin, Ransom Wilson, Jeffrey Khaner, and Bradley Garner.

November 4, 2018: Yoobin Son, solo flute; Sheryl Staples, violin; Qian-Qian Li, violin; Cynthia Phelps, viola; Eileen Moon, cello; Tim Cobb, bass; Alessio Bax, harpsichord ANTONIO VIVALDI (1678-1741) Flute Concerto in D, RV428, (The Goldfinch) November 4, 2018: Yoobin Son, solo flute; Sheryl Staples, violin; Qian-Qian Li, violin; Cynthia Phelps, viola; Eileen Moon, cello; Tim Cobb, bass; Alessio Bax, harpsichord If one were to compose a concerto a month every year for thirty-five years, one would still not match Vivaldi’s feat. He composed close to 500 concertos, including numerous solo concertos and many for different numbers of soloists in a variety of combinations. Of these, twelve complete concertos survive for solo flute—many reworked from other versions—and ten as chamber concertos that include flute. In addition he managed to compose solo and trio sonatas, operas, oratorios, masses, motets, and cantatas, all the while maintaining a heavy schedule of performing, teaching, and traveling. Vivaldi’s extraordinary mastery of instrumental forms and orchestration influenced generations of composers. To him goes the credit for establishing the three-movement norm for concertos. He typically cast his first and last movements in ritornello form, in which periodic returns of thematic material alternate with contrasting episodes. Dating proves difficult with many of Vivaldi’s compositions, but most of his concertos were written for the Ospedale della Pietà, the famous orphanage and music school for girls in Venice. He served as maestro di violino there beginning in 1703 and remained associated with the institution in some capacity for the rest of his life. The present Flute Concerto was published in 1728 in a set of six as Opus 10—the first collection of flute concertos published in Italy. As with most of its companions, Vivaldi adapted it from an earlier version. At several times in his career Vivaldi showed great interest in pictorial composing, most famously in the four Violin Concertos known as “The Four Seasons.” In the present Flute Concerto, which he reworked from an earlier version for chamber ensemble, he focused on the depiction of bird song—not in the type of exact rendering Messiaen would later employ, but in a charming, stylized manner. The Concerto is nicknamed “Il gardinello”—alternately translated as goldfinch, green finch, or bull finch—for its depiction of the finch in raucous and more lyrical moods, with abundant trills, repeated notes, and arpeggios. After the opening ritornello, striking for its forceful unison pattern, the solo flute gives a wonderful free bird-song impression. In other solo passages the flute is joined by solo violin, which also takes an avian role. Certain conventional musical patterns may be superimposed, but the overall effect is delightfully picturesque. The lovely slow movement avoids birdlike representations in favor of a general pastoral atmosphere, with the flute lilting a tender melody in Siciliano style. In contrast to the outer movements, the accompaniment is reduced to continuo alone (keyboard with supporting bass instruments). In between the decisive descending scales in the third-movement ritornello, beguiling pairings of flute and violin again suggest our feathered friends. The solo passages offer more twitterings, some again pairing flute with violin—or two violins—and some pitting the flute alone against the entire ensemble. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

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March 8, 2026: Jonathan Biss, piano Robert Schumann (1810-1856) Fantasy in C, Op. 17 March 8, 2026: Jonathan Biss, piano Rarely does a work so thoroughly combine life and art. Schumann composed the first movement of his Fantasy in June 1836 during the depths of despair at being separated from his beloved Clara Wieck. He later wrote her, “You can understand the Fantasy only if you think back to the unhappy summer of 1836, when I had to renounce you,” and in another letter he called the first movement “a deep lament for you.” Originally Schumann considered the first movement an independent piece, which he titled Ruines . Then in September of 1836 he hit upon the idea of adding two movements and donating a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the work toward the public fund for erecting a Beethoven monument in Bonn. Titled “Ruins. Trophies. Palms. Grand Sonata for the Pianoforte for Beethoven’s Monument,” the novel work failed to interest two publishers, so in May 1837 Schumann offered the work to Breitkopf & Härtel under the title “Fantasies,” with no mention of the Beethoven project. By the time it appeared in print in the spring of 1839, Schumann had considered a number of titles—Fantasy Pieces, Fata Morgana (referring to the optical illusions of the sorceress), Fantasy in Three Movements, and Poems: Ruins, Triumphal Arch, and Constellation—before finally settling on Fantasy. The publication carried the following motto from a poem by Friedrich Schlegel: “Through all the tones there sounds / in this colorful earthly dream / a gentle tone, sustained / for the one who secretly hears.” Robert wrote to Clara in 1839: “Write and tell me what you think to yourself in the first movement of the Fantasy. Does it also conjure up many pictures for you? Are not you really the ‘tone’ in the motto?” Though adding Schlegel’s motto was something of an afterthought, it still brings up the important idea of allusion. Of the many references Schumann made in the work, one in particular stands out to many listeners: in his first-movement coda he alludes to the final song of Beethoven’s cycle An die ferne Geliebte (To the distant beloved), in particular the phrase “take them then, these songs.” In Beethoven’s setting the poet means that these songs will lessen the distance between the separated lovers, which would have held so much meaning for Robert and Clara that the reference can hardly have been accidental. This and other allusions attest to the personal biographical significance of the work, but what of Schumann’s aesthetic desire, often expressed in his critical writings, to create something new out of old forms? His own indecision about what to call the piece and the widely divergent analyses with elements that “don’t fit” old forms lend weight to the idea that Schumann really created a unique form here. The first movement relies in part on sonata form but brings other elements into play. Most listeners hear three basic sections in the first movement, of which the second is an introspective character piece, “Im Legendenton” (In the style of a legend). But is this self-sufficient section the development section? Its main theme does, in fact, employ a transformed version of a motive from the first section, but this stable section does not behave like a development. Does it interrupt a development section already in progress? Does it interrupt a recapitulation? Cases have been presented for all these views. It bears remembering that this movement was originally conceived as a one-movement fantasy, which in historic terms—the fantasies of Mozart and Haydn, for example—meant a piece with a number of connected sections that exhibited novel features. By adding two more movements, with various hidden connections among them, Schumann also incorporates the idea of a multimovement fantasy as in Beethoven’s Opus 27 Piano Sonatas, which are both labeled “Quasi una fantasia.” Thus with Schumann we have a fantasy within a fantasy. Novel structure, however, would be nothing without great thematic ideas, such as the memorable opening, which begins as if one has just then “tuned in.” Liszt, to whom Schumann dedicated the Fantasy and who played it for the composer several times, warned that this theme should not be played too vigorously, but somewhat “dreamily.” Equally inspired is the second movement’s march theme. Clara particularly adored the second movement, which she learned to play first, saying she reveled in it and that “it makes me hot and cold all over.” This movement presents an original march-trio-march form in which the frequent returns of the march theme also lend the suggestion of a rondo. The thrilling coda strikes terror even into a virtuoso’s heart—each hand must execute extremely wide leaps simultaneously in opposite directions at full speed. The final movement also offers an innovative form that might best be described as a kind of parallel structure: two similar sections followed by a contrasting episode, then a transposed return that is first shortened by omitting the first of the two similar sections and then lengthened by the addition of a coda. The most striking thing about the movement, however, is its poetic, improvisatory atmosphere—highly unusual in a closing movement. Thus Schumann boldly reversed the typical sequence of events by placing his virtuoso showpiece as the work’s centerpiece and a spacious, radiant meditation as its conclusion. —©Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

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