Mixolydian mode
Mixolydian mode may refer to one of three things: the name applied to one of the ancient Greek ''harmoniai'' or ''tonoi'', based on a particular octave species or scale; one of the medieval church modes; or a modern musical mode or diatonic scal ...
) is a
concerto
A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The typi ...
for piano and orchestra, composed by the Italian composer
Ottorino Respighi
Ottorino Respighi ( , , ; 9 July 187918 April 1936) was an Italian composer, violinist, teacher, and musicologist and one of the leading Italian composers of the early 20th century. List of compositions by Ottorino Respighi, His compositions r ...
gregorian chant
Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed mainly in western and central Europe durin ...
. This made Respighi attracted by the mystic of the
gradual
The gradual ( la, graduale or ) is a chant or hymn in the Mass, the liturgical celebration of the Eucharist in the Catholic Church, and among some other Christians. It gets its name from the Latin (meaning "step") because it was once chanted ...
. Quickly recognising the potential of melodies of this music, he tried to remodel them into the contemporary style for understanding of wider audience. He wrote the work in an incredibly short time during the summer in 1925, then immediately handed it over to the publisher. As the consequence of composer's almost superstitious abhorrence of past activities, the work was never revised thereafter. He highly prized the concerto, believing that it would live on when all his other works had been forgotten.Siepmann, Jeremy. Booklet for Respghi Piano Concerto in A minor, Concerto in modo misolidio. CHAN9285.
The concerto was premiered at
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...
,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, by Respighi himself playing piano with
New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic, officially the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc., globally known as New York Philharmonic Orchestra (NYPO) or New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, is a symphony orchestra based in New York City. It is ...
conducted by
Willem Mengelberg
Joseph Wilhelm Mengelberg (28 March 1871 – 21 March 1951) was a Dutch conductor, famous for his performances of Beethoven, Brahms, Mahler and Strauss with the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest s ...
on 31 December 1925. He made his debut in the United States on this occasion. Though warmly applauded by the audience, music critic
Olin Downes
Edwin Olin Downes, better known as Olin Downes (January 27, 1886 – August 22, 1955), was an American music critic, known as "Sibelius's Apostle" for his championship of the music of Jean Sibelius. As critic of ''The New York Times'', he ex ...
expressed his concern about the quality of the composition. The work was performed unsuccessfully at the
Concertgebouw
The Royal Concertgebouw ( nl, Koninklijk Concertgebouw, ) is a concert hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Dutch term "concertgebouw" translates into English as "concert building". Its superb acoustics place it among the finest concert halls i ...
in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
and in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
(on 11 November 1926) by composer on piano under the baton of Heinz Huger, and in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
with pianist
Carlo Zecchi
Carlo Zecchi (8 July 190331 August 1984) was an Italian pianist, music teacher and conductor.
Zecchi was born in Rome. A pupil of F. Baiardi for piano and of L. Refice and A. Bustini for composition, he began his career as a concert pianist at o ...
, conducted by
Bernardino Molinari Bernardino Molinari (11 April 1880 – 25 December 1952) was an Italian conductor.
Molinari studied under Renzi and Falchi at the Accademia (then "Liceo Musicale") of Santa Cecilia in his home town of Rome.
In 1912, he was appointed artist ...
(on 10 April 1927). Contrary to the composer's confidence, the work remained unknown for the next few decades.
Respighi declared he had written ''Concerto in modo misolidio'' for his nonprofessional pianism which he mostly learned himself. Some pianists today shudder at the technical difficulty of the piece, deeming it unpianistic.
The score of the work bears the motto "O clap your hands",
Psalm 47
Psalm 47 is the 47th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "O clap your hands". The Book of Psalms is the third section of the Hebrew Bible, and a book of the Christian Old Testament. In the slightly diff ...
.
Structure
The concerto is written in three movements. It is scored for
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
solo, 2
flute
The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...
s,
piccolo
The piccolo ( ; Italian for 'small') is a half-size flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" the modern piccolo has similar fingerings as the standard transverse flute, but the so ...
, 2
oboe
The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range.
A ...
s,
cor anglais
The cor anglais (, or original ; plural: ''cors anglais''), or English horn in North America, is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family. It is approximately one and a half times the length of an oboe, making it essentially an alto ...
, 2
clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound.
Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...
s (in B and A), 4
horn
Horn most often refers to:
*Horn (acoustic), a conical or bell shaped aperture used to guide sound
** Horn (instrument), collective name for tube-shaped wind musical instruments
*Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various ...
s (in F), 2
trumpet
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...
s (in B), 3
trombone
The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...
s,
tuba
The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th century, making it one of the ne ...
,
timpani
Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionall ...
,
harp
The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orche ...
and
strings
String or strings may refer to:
*String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...
. Average performance of the work lasts for about 39 minutes.
I. Moderato
The movement opens with quotation of ''Viri Galilaei''. A brief E note by the orchestra in the opening bar is followed by the piano solo playing a Gregorian chant (exerpt 1).
:''Excerpt 1''
:
\relative c''
The material of excerpt 1 is developed by relatively lengthy piano solo and the following section by the orchestra. After the exposition of a new melody (excerpt 2), the music proceeds around this theme.
:''Excerpt 2''
:
\relative c' \new Staff \with
The orchestra recites excerpt 1 before piano enters the rapid
arpeggio
A broken chord is a chord broken into a sequence of notes. A broken chord may repeat some of the notes from the chord and span one or more octaves.
An arpeggio () is a type of broken chord, in which the notes that compose a chord are played ...
passage. A
canon
Canon or Canons may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base
* Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture
** Western ca ...
-like motif is regarded as the third theme. The music returns to excerpt 1, preceding a piano
cadenza
In music, a cadenza (from it, cadenza, link=no , meaning cadence; plural, ''cadenze'' ) is, generically, an improvisation, improvised or written-out ornament (music), ornamental passage (music), passage played or sung by a solo (music), sol ...
. The cadenza that starts quietly gradually culminates from a recapitulation of excerpt 2 to the climax. The movement calmly ends with excerpt 1 echoed by orchestra accompanied with the sound of bells rung on piano.
II. Lento
The second movement is written in
ternary form
Ternary form, sometimes called song form, is a three-part musical form consisting of an opening section (A), a following section (B) and then a repetition of the first section (A). It is usually schematized as A–B–A. Prominent examples includ ...
, quoting the hym ''Alléluia''. The orchestra states excerpt 3 over modest piano chords.
:''Excerpt 3''
:
\relative c \new Staff
New melodic material is introduced after repetition of excerpt 3, followed by an orchestral
chorale
Chorale is the name of several related musical forms originating in the music genre of the Lutheran chorale:
* Hymn tune of a Lutheran hymn (e.g. the melody of "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme"), or a tune in a similar format (e.g. one of the t ...
that develops into rapid piano movement. This sequence takes place once again before the part played by solo piano. The movement's climax comes after a recapitulation of excerpt 3. Lastly, a piano solo bridges to the finale by
attacca
A variety of musical terms are likely to be encountered in printed scores, music reviews, and program notes. Most of the terms are Italian, in accordance with the Italian origins of many European musical conventions. Sometimes, the special mus ...
.
III. Allegro energico
The third movement is formed as a
passacaglia
The passacaglia (; ) is a musical form that originated in early seventeenth-century Spain and is still used today by composers. It is usually of a serious character and is often based on a bass-ostinato and written in triple metre.
Origin
The ter ...
consisting of a theme and 18 variations. The hymn ''Kyrie'' is quoted for this movement. The theme is passionately exposed by piano (excerpt 4).
:''Excerpt 4''
:
\relative c
The energy of the music is maintained until the variation characterized by
glissando
In music, a glissando (; plural: ''glissandi'', abbreviated ''gliss.'') is a glide from one pitch to another (). It is an Italianized musical term derived from the French ''glisser'', "to glide". In some contexts, it is distinguished from the co ...
in the high register of the piano. Shortly after, the mood turns bright, and lively variations take over. Skilful piano writing brings the cheerful atmosphere back, leading to the triumphal conclusion after the brilliantly affirmative final restatement of the theme.
References
Sources
* Booklet for CD, RESPIGHI: Piano Concerto in A minor, Concerto in modo misolidio,
Chandos Records
Chandos Records is a British independent classical music recording company based in Colchester. It was founded in 1979 by Brian Couzens.Naxos (company), NAXOS, 8.220176
* Score, Respighi: Concerto in modo misolidio, Bote & Bock,
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...