Nachtmusik (“night time music”), a light-weight serenade meant for night leisure, was the social gathering music of the 18th century. Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik is probably the most well-known instance.
Along with his Serenade in A for solo piano, composed in Vienna in September of 1925, Igor Stravinsky introduced the shape into the twentieth century. Stravinsky commented that the work was conceived “in imitation of the Nachtmusik of the 18th century, which was normally commissioned by patron princes for varied festive events, and included, as did the suites, an indeterminate variety of items.”
Stravinsky wrote the Serenade to meet his first gramophone recording contract for Brunswick Data. The contract stipulated that every of the 4 actions needed to match on one facet of a 78 rpm report. The piece was devoted to Stravinsky’s spouse, Yekaterina.
The Serenade unfolds with witty and spirited neoclassical traces. Commentator Eric White observes that “A” features as a “tonic pole” fairly than a key space. There are pleasant moments during which, with cartoonish comedy, the music flirts with a modulation falling a half step, solely to slip again into the “appropriate” key.
The primary motion, Hymne, features as an invite to the night’s friends. Its opening proclamation is strikingly just like the opening of Francis Poulenc’s Gloria, accomplished in 1960. A canonic dialogue unfolds between the celebratory increased voices and the rumbling bass register.
The Romanza which follows represents a “solo of ceremonial homage paid by the artist to the friends.” A strolling bass line trudges ahead, after which skips and dances with joyful exuberance.
The Rondoletto is a virtuosic toccata, with an never-ending torrent of operating notes and imitative counterpoint.
The Serenade concludes with the quiet, reflective Cadenza finala (Remaining cadence). Its easy traces glide with the grace and freedom of birds circling within the sky.
Here’s a efficiency by Leon Fleisher:
Recordings
- Stravinsky: Serenade in A, Leon Fleisher Amazon
Featured Picture: “Nonetheless-life with Door, Guitar and Bottles” (1916), Pablo Picasso
