Fanny Mendelssohn (1805-1847), Three Pieces for Piano, Four Hands

Like her younger brother, Fanny Mendelssohn had prodigious talent and received a thorough musical grounding, but the rigid mores of the day dictated that Felix got the opportunity and support of his family, while Fanny got to marry and raise a family.  Yet she managed to establish her place as a significant composer of the early 19th century, writing a piano trio, a piano quartet, over 250 lieder, an orchestral overture, four cantatas and more than 125 pieces for piano.  Not bad for a busy housewife.  She published six songs under Felix’s name and later some under her own, but much of her work remained unpublished at the time of her death.  Felix wrote, “She regulates her house, and neither thinks of the public nor of the musical world, nor even of music at all, until her first duties are fulfilled.  Publishing would only disturb her in these, and I cannot say that I approve of it.” He would later soften after she had published some of her pieces, writing to her, “I send you my professional blessing on becoming a member of the craft.  May you have much happiness in giving pleasure to others.” Fanny died of complications from a stroke at age 42.  Less than six months later, Felix died from the same cause.  

Among the more than 460 pieces Fanny wrote are her “Three Pieces for Piano, Four Hands,” which demonstrate her talent for short form and, in particular, melody in the enchanting lyrical lines above the Schumannesque arpeggios.  Also evident is her skilled craftsmanship. These pieces were most likely written for her to perform with her brother at some of the soirees she hosted in her home. 

Miguel del Aguila (b. 1957), Silence for Clarinet and Piano

Uruguayan-American composer Miguel del Aguila was born in Montevideo but emigrated to California to escape the repressive military government of the 1970s.  He graduated from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and then studied in Vienna at the prestigious Hochschule fur Musik and Konservatorium.  Music by the three-time Grammy-nominated composer has been performed by over 60 orchestras.  Fanfare described his work as “vibrant, colorful music pulsating with a tremendous rhythmic vitality,” and the New York Times referred to his “elegant and affectionate music.”  The New Yorker calls him “dependably brilliant.” The composer says, “I strive to write music that is sincere and that stirs intense emotions in the performer and the listener.  

Loss was the inspiration for “Silence for Clarinet and Piano.” The highly expressive piece “is a slow, nostalgic and introspective work,” says Aguila. “Its simple structure is dominated by a recurring lyrical theme which contains elements from 1940s Latin Jazz/Tango.”  It was written in 2013 following the sudden death of the composer’s beloved brother. The title “Silence,” he says, “refers to the void or emptiness left by a person who is absent. A voice who is no longer heard.”

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971), Suite from “L’Histoire du soldat” for Violin, Clarinet and Piano 

Russian composer Igor Stravinsky was one of the most influential composers of the 20th century.  He demonstrated musical talent from an early age and received thorough training but, as his family expected, he studied the law.  While at university he met the son of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, then a professor at Saint Petersburg Conservatory and considered the leading Russian composer.  Stravinsky spent a summer with the Rimsky-Korsakov family in the country and, when the university was temporarily closed following the 1905 revolution, he decided to abandon the study of law and pursue a career in music.  

Stravinsky wrote “L’Histoire du soldat” (The Soldier’s Tale) in 1918, a theatrical work which he later arranged as a concert suite.  The piece was based on a Russian folk tale called “The Runaway Soldier and the Devil.”  The composer acknowledged the influence of American jazz on the work.  It is now regarded as one of the most important chamber works of the early twentieth century.    

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), Quartet for Piano and Strings in C minor, Op. 60 

Brahms began his C minor piano quartet in his early 20s, when the young German composer was falling hopelessly in love with Clara Schumann, the wife of his friend and mentor, Robert Schumann.  Sometimes called the Werther Quartet, the piece was set aside and reworked before it was finally published two decades later, in 1875.  Writing for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Dennis Bade observed that, “the work overflows with passionate outpourings of frustrated love and emotional turmoil,” which Brahms likened to Goethe’s Sorrows of Young Werther, in which the title character commits suicide because of his love for the wife of a friend.

Program notes by Sara Grossman