Accomplished in 1891, Ernest Chausson’s Live performance for Violin, Piano, and String Quartet, Op. 21 is an excellent hybrid.
With the violin and piano functioning as solo protagonists set towards the bigger ensemble of the quartet, its musical dialogue resembles the Baroque concerto grosso. Brimming with daring virtuosity, it takes us on a dramatic journey that’s nearly distinctive within the chamber music repertoire. The weird title, suggesting a “harmonious ensemble,” remembers the Concert events royaux of French Baroque composer François Couperin.
A pupil of César Franck and Jules Massenet at Paris Conservatoire, Chausson (1855-1899) was born right into a rich household. His father was a civil engineering contractor who assisted Haussmann within the grand reconstruction of Paris within the 1850s. A polymath, Chausson studied regulation and excelled in literature and portray. He hosted salon gatherings which included Debussy, Monet, and Mallarmé. In his mid-twenties, Chausson fell below the spell of the music of Wagner, making frequent journeys to Munich and Bayreuth. Chausson left behind a small physique of labor which incorporates chamber music, songs, a symphony, and the well-known Poème for violin and orchestra. A tragic bicycle accident minimize his life quick on the age of 44.
The primary motion (Décidé – Calme – Animé) begins with a declamatory three-note motif which kinds the seed out of which the work develops. As with the music of Franck, the Live performance unfolds cyclically, with motifs recurring and evolving all through the 4 actions. With sweeping sonic waves within the piano, and stressed Wagnerian chromaticism, the motion soars to heroic heights. Solely on the ultimate cadence does the three-note motif discover serene repose.
French composer Vincent d’Indy described the second motion (Sicilienne: Pas vite) as “the gardens the place bloom the charming fancies of a Gabriel Fauré.” Set in 6/8 time, it’s a sleek, lilting dance. Within the Baroque interval, the siciliana, a sluggish jig, carried pastoral connotations. That is the music of majestic, sun-drenched landscapes and quiet, wistful nostalgia.
The third motion (Grave) begins with a mysterious snaking chromatic line within the piano. For a second, the music drifts with no tonal heart. The violin enters with a lamenting assertion, thematically associated to the previous Sicilienne, because the piano’s chromatic line continues to slither. Progressively, the music grows in depth, its terrifying voices shrieking in anguish. Within the ultimate haunting bars, time appears suspended. The snaking line strikes from the piano’s highest register to its ghostly depths.
Within the good, hovering ultimate motion (Finale. Très animé), themes from the earlier actions return in a motivic flood. The motion begins as a wild, exuberant dance full of irregular phrases, and grows with passionate, euphoric vitality. The three-note motif from the work’s opening returns triumphantly earlier than the sunny ultimate cadence.
The Live performance’s premiere passed off in Brussels on February 26, 1892 with Eugène Ysaÿe performing the solo violin half.
I. Décidé – Calme – Animé:
II. Sicilienne: Pas vite:
III. Grave:
IV. Finale. Très animé:
5 Nice Recordings
- Chausson: Live performance for Violin, Piano, and String Quartet, Op. 21, Gabriel Le Magadure, Frank Braley, Quatuor Agate Amazon
- Jennifer Pike, Tom Poster, Doric String Quartet
- Isabelle Faust, Alexander Melnikov, Salagon Quartet
- Pascal Rogé, Pierre Amoyal, Quatuor Ysaÿe
- Itzhak Perlman, Jorge Bolet, Robert Mann, Earl Carlyss, Samuel Rhodes, Joel Krosnick
Featured Picture: Nonetheless Life with a Curtain (1895), Paul Cézanne
