Coming Events
*Paul Stewart, piano
Sunday, November 18, 5:30 pm
Recital Hall
*Contemporary Chamber Players
Sunday, November 18, 7:30 pm
Recital Hall
*Eastwind Trio
Monday, November 19, 7:30 pm
Organ Recital Hall
Collegium Musicum
Monday, November 26, 5:30 pm
Organ Recital Hall
Student Composers Concert
Monday, November 26, 7:30 pm
Recital Hall
Gate City Quintet
Tuesday, November 27, 7:30 pm
Organ Recital Hall
Andrew Dancy, percussion
Saturday, December 8, 7:30 pm
Recital Hall
*Fee charged. Please contact the University Box Office at
(336) 334-4849 or visit our campus locations at either Aycock
Auditorium or the School of Music. The box office will be open
one hour before each event. Ticket prices are $8 for adults, $5 for
seniors, and $3 for students.
Elaine Peterson
bassoon and contrabassoon
Alaina Niemann, piano
assisted by
Travis Hodgdon, harpsichord
Jack Turner, violoncello
Virginia Keast, trumpet
Graduate Recital
Friday, November 16, 2001
5:30 pm
Organ Recital Hall, School of Music
Program
Sonata I Giovanni Antonio Bertoli
from Compositioni musicali (1645) (1598-1645)
Sonata for Bassoon and Violoncello, K. 292 (196c) W. A. Mozart
Allegro (1756-1791)
Andante
Rondo
Bass Nightingale Erwin Schulhoff
Three Recital Pieces for Unaccompanied Contrabassoon (1894-1942)
Reading of Schulhoff’s Postscript
Melancolia
Perpetuum Mobile
Fuga
intermission
Concerto for Trumpet, Bassoon and Strings Paul Hindemith
Allegro spiritoso; Agitato (1895-1963)
Molto adagio; Allegro pesante
Vivace
Sonata in F Major William Hurlstone
Vivace (1876-1906)
Ballade
Allegretto
Moderato; Animato
In partial fulfillment of the degree requirements for the
Doctor of Musical Arts
* * * * * * * * * *
The hall is equipped with a listening assistance system.
Patrons needing such assistance should please see one of the ushers in the lobby.
Paul Hindemith
Concerto for Trumpet, Bassoon and Strings
For the first three years of its existence, the Concerto for Trumpet,
Bassoon and Strings was comprised of only two movements. The
original two-movement concerto was written in 1949 for the
celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Connecticut Academy of
Arts and Sciences. When Hindemith was commissioned to write for
the concert, he asked Professor Keith L. Wilson, Director of the Yale
University Band, if he would perform a bass clarinet sonata. The
professor declined, but assured Hindemith that Robert Montesi (a
trumpet player) and William Skelton (a bassoonist) would be
available. Hindemith wrote the concerto for the available performers,
requesting Professor Wilson to direct.
In 1952, Hindemith added the delightful little Vivace movement, not
because he considered the original two-movement work unfinished,
but to give emotional balance and lighten the spirits of the performers
and audience after the heaviness of the core of the work. Hindemith
was very concerned with the emotional communication of his music
at this time, preferring to end works with hopeful, even happy,
moods.
William Hurlstone
Sonata in F Major
At the age of 18, William Hurlstone won a scholarship to attend
the Royal Conservatory of Music, in his hometown of London.
There he studied composition and piano, unhappily failing to go on
to a performing career due to his asthma. Nevertheless, his
reputation as a composer flourished, his music receiving strong
support from British conductors and colleges at the turn of the last
century.
His best works are his instrumental compositions, such as this
Sonata in F Major for bassoon. It contains moments of carefree
lightness as well as lush, Romantic, Brahmsian depth. In the final
movement, the major themes of the earlier movements are restated
and combined in surprising ways.
This recital highlights several “firsts” for the bassoon and
contrabassoon repertoire. Bertoli’s Sonata I is from the first set of
sonatas ever published for bassoon, a collection that opened the
gateway to the bassoon repertoire. The Sonata for Bassoon and
Violoncello was Mozart’s first and only composition for this
instrumentation. Bass Nightingale, written in 1922, introduced the
concept of contrabassoon as a solo instrument--a noble beast
whose repertoire has only recently begun to flourish. Hindemith’s
Concerto for Trumpet, Bassoon and Strings, performed this
evening with piano reduction, was the first and remains the only
concerto to employ this unusual combination of solo instruments.
Hurlstone’s Sonata in F was the Englishman’s first and only
attempt to write for solo bassoon.
Giovanni Antonio Bertoli
Sonata I from Compositioni musicali (1645)
Bertoli, an Italian composer and bassoonist, was known primarily
for his virtuoso technique. The claim that he possessed great
technical facility may be evidenced by the difficulty of his
Compositioni musicali from which Sonata I is taken. The
elaborate structure of the sonata is derived from improvisational
practices of the period. The simple opening theme is restated in a
series of variations, each section increasing in ornateness and
rhythmic complexity.
The Compositioni musicali is a milestone not only for bassoon
literature, but solo literature, in general. Published in Venice in
1645, this set is the earliest known printed collection devoted
entirely to solo sonatas, for any wind instrument.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Sonata for Bassoon and Violoncello, K. 292 (196c)
This sonata was most likely written in Munich towards the
beginning of 1775 on commission for the amateur bassoonist baron
Thaddäus von Dürnitz, Chamberlain to the Prince Elektor, and
Major in the Army, for whom Mozart also composed the Bassoon
Concerto in B-flat major K. 191. Mozart, who constantly
struggled with his finances, was never paid for this commission.
The unusual scoring of the Sonata can only be ascertained on the
basis of extant printed editions; the autograph of this work has
been lost. The blueprint of the Sonata follows the familiar
classical pattern of two fast corner movements, framing a middle
movement of slower pace. The cello, throughout the entire work,
is not relegated to the function of mere accompaniment.
Sometimes it follows, and may even share the motivic lead.
Occasionally, the cello joins the bassoon with doubling of thirds
and sixths, providing contrapuntal contrast and complementary
rhythm.
Erwin Schulhoff
Bass Nightingale
Erwin Schulhoff was born in Prague and studied piano and
composition in Vienna, Leipzig and Cologne. His works were
internationally recognized during his lifetime for their wit and use
of such avant-garde techniques as atonality, jazz and the quarter-tone
piano. The composer perished in a Nazi concentration camp
in 1942, persecuted for being both a communist and a Jew.
This work, Bassnachtigall: Drei Vortragsstücke für Kontrafaggott-
Solo, was written in Berlin in 1922. It was the first, and for 60
years the only, composition written expressly for unaccompanied
contrabassoon. Despite being neglected for many years, the work
is a very substantial and serious selection in the contrabassoon solo
repertoire, which is growing exponentially each year.
Following the soulful Melancolia movement, the famous B A C H
motive starts the Perpetuum Mobile. The two “voices” of the Fuga
contrast in tessitura and dynamics, which are interwoven in quasi-counterpoint,
employing such techniques as inversion and stretto.
This recital highlights several “firsts” for the bassoon and
contrabassoon repertoire. Bertoli’s Sonata I is from the first set of
sonatas ever published for bassoon, a collection that opened the
gateway to the bassoon repertoire. The Sonata for Bassoon and
Violoncello was Mozart’s first and only composition for this
instrumentation. Bass Nightingale, written in 1922, introduced the
concept of contrabassoon as a solo instrument--a noble beast
whose repertoire has only recently begun to flourish. Hindemith’s
Concerto for Trumpet, Bassoon and Strings, performed this
evening with piano reduction, was the first and remains the only
concerto to employ this unusual combination of solo instruments.
Hurlstone’s Sonata in F was the Englishman’s first and only
attempt to write for solo bassoon.
Giovanni Antonio Bertoli
Sonata I from Compositioni musicali (1645)
Bertoli, an Italian composer and bassoonist, was known primarily
for his virtuoso technique. The claim that he possessed great
technical facility may be evidenced by the difficulty of his
Compositioni musicali from which Sonata I is taken. The
elaborate structure of the sonata is derived from improvisational
practices of the period. The simple opening theme is restated in a
series of variations, each section increasing in ornateness and
rhythmic complexity.
The Compositioni musicali is a milestone not only for bassoon
literature, but solo literature, in general. Published in Venice in
1645, this set is the earliest known printed collection devoted
entirely to solo sonatas, for any wind instrument.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Sonata for Bassoon and Violoncello, K. 292 (196c)
This sonata was most likely written in Munich towards the
beginning of 1775 on commission for the amateur bassoonist baron
Thaddäus von Dürnitz, Chamberlain to the Prince Elektor, and
Major in the Army, for whom Mozart also composed the Bassoon
Concerto in B-flat major KV 191. Mozart, who constantly
struggled with his finances, was never paid for this commission.
The unusual scoring of the Sonata can only be ascertained on the
basis of extant printed editions; the autograph of this work has
been lost. The blueprint of the Sonata follows the familiar
classical pattern of two fast corner movements, framing a middle
movement of slower pace. The cello, throughout the entire work,
is not relegated to the function of mere accompaniment.
Sometimes it follows, and may even share the motivic lead.
Occasionally, the cello joins the bassoon with doubling of thirds
and sixths, providing contrapuntal contrast and complementary
rhythm.
Erwin Schulhoff
Bass Nightingale
Erwin Schulhoff was born in Prague and studied piano and
composition in Vienna, Leipzig and Cologne. His works were
internationally recognized during his lifetime for their wit and use
of such avant-garde techniques as atonality, jazz and the quarter-tone
piano. The composer perished in a Nazi concentration camp
in 1942, persecuted for being both a communist and a Jew.
This work, Bassnachtigall: Drei Vortragsstücke für Kontrafaggott-
Solo, was written in Berlin in 1922. It was the first, and for 60
years the only, composition written expressly for unaccompanied
contrabassoon. Despite being neglected for many years, the work
is a very substantial and serious selection in the contrabassoon solo
repertoire, which is growing exponentially each year.
Following the soulful Melancolia movement, the famous B A C H
motive starts the Perpetuum Mobile. The two “voices” of the Fuga
contrast in tessitura and dynamics, which are interwoven in quasi-counterpoint,
employing such techniques as inversion and stretto.
Elaine Peterson
bassoon and contrabassoon
Alaina Niemann, piano
assisted by
Travis Hodgdon, harpsichord
Jack Turner, violoncello
Virginia Keast, trumpet
Graduate Recital
Friday, November 16, 2001
5:30 pm
Organ Recital Hall, School of Music
Program
Sonata I Giovanni Antonio Bertoli
from Compositioni musicali (1645) (1598-1645)
Sonata for Bassoon and Violoncello, K. 292 (196c) W. A. Mozart
Allegro (1756-1791)
Andante
Rondo
Bass Nightingale Erwin Schulhoff
Three Recital Pieces for Unaccompanied Contrabassoon (1894-1942)
Reading of Schulhoff’s Postscript
Melancolia
Perpetuum Mobile
Fuga
intermission
Concerto for Trumpet, Bassoon and Strings Paul Hindemith
Allegro spiritoso; Agitato (1895-1963)
Molto adagio; Allegro pesante
Vivace
Sonata in F Major William Hurlstone
Vivace (1876-1906)
Ballade
Allegretto
Moderato; Animato
In partial fulfillment of the degree requirements for the
Doctor of Musical Arts
* * * * * * * * * *
The hall is equipped with a listening assistance system.
Patrons needing such assistance should please see one of the ushers in the lobby.
