HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Piano Concerto in C minor is one of the early compositions by the English composer
Frederick Delius file:Fritz Delius (1907).jpg, Delius, photographed in 1907 Frederick Theodore Albert Delius ( 29 January 1862 – 10 June 1934), originally Fritz Delius, was an English composer. Born in Bradford in the north of England to a prosperous mercan ...
. The piece underwent repeated revisions that resulted in the existence of three major versions which significantly differ from one another. The first public performance of any version was played by
Julius Buths Julius Buths (7 May 185112 March 1920) was a German pianist, conductor and minor composer. He was particularly notable in his early championing of the works of Edward Elgar in Germany. He conducted the continental European premieres of both the ...
with the conductor
Hans Haym Hans Haym (29 November 1860 – 15 February 1921) was a German conductor of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. As musical director in the town of Elberfeld he championed the works of the then unknown English composer Frederick Deli ...
on 24 October 1904 in
Elberfeld Elberfeld is a municipal subdivision of the German city of Wuppertal; it was an independent town until 1929. History The first official mentioning of the geographic area on the banks of today's Wupper River as "''elverfelde''" was in a do ...
,
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...
.


Background

In 1887, Delius was in
Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...
, where he got to know
Edvard Grieg Edvard Hagerup Grieg ( , ; 15 June 18434 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the foremost Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwide. His use of ...
, who presented him with a copy of his
Piano Concerto A piano concerto is a type of concerto, a solo composition in the classical music genre which is composed for a piano player, which is typically accompanied by an orchestra or other large ensemble. Piano concertos are typically virtuoso showp ...
at Christmas of the same year. The next year, in London, Delius attended a concert in which Grieg played his concerto to great acclaim. The success of his senior contemporary's piano concerto apparently tempted him to create his own work of this genre. But, despite his starting on it shortly after that, and completing a number of sketches, it was not until 1897 that he finished the first version of the piece (Fantasy in C minor for Piano and Orchestra) which consisted of three continuously played parts including a middle section in D-flat major. Although Delius played a two-piano reduction of this first version with
Ferruccio Busoni Ferruccio Busoni (1 April 1866 – 27 July 1924) was an Italian composer, pianist, conductor, editor, writer, and teacher. His international career and reputation led him to work closely with many of the leading musicians, artists and literary ...
in 1898, it was never performed in public. For reasons that are unknown, Delius revised the Fantasy, which he extensively reconstructed into traditional concerto form with three movements. He set the D-flat part as an independent movement and wrote a finale with totally new material. This second version was premiered in 1904 and moderately praised, but Delius was not satisfied. Again, he began rewriting the concerto. The finale was removed and the D-flat part was placed in the centre of the first movement; the overall construction was similar to that of the first version. Additionally, his consultation with the Hungarian pianist
Theodor Szántó Theodor Szántó, also seen as Tivadar Szántó (3 June 18777 January 1934) was a Hungarian Jewish pianist and composer. Life and career Szántó was born in Vienna, then the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His family name was originally ...
, a pupil of Busoni, led to very substantial revisions in the solo part. The first performance of this version was played by Szántó, at a Prom Concert in London on 22 October 1907, under
Henry Wood Sir Henry Joseph Wood (3 March 186919 August 1944) was an English conductor best known for his association with London's annual series of promenade concerts, known as the Proms. He conducted them for nearly half a century, introducing hun ...
. Szántó received the dedication of the work. He also played the work at the Proms in 1912, 1913 and 1921. This final version has become the standard version, but Delius's original conception has been recorded. Possibly because of its complicated history and a solo part substantially rewritten by another hand, this concerto remains less recognised than the other mature concertos of the composer.


Instrumentation

Solo piano, 3 flutes, 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. ...
s,
English horn 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 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 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, 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 standar ...
s, 3
trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrat ...
s,
tuba The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece (brass), mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th&n ...
,
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 traditiona ...
,
percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...
and
string 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 ...
s


Total time

The time required for the performance is different between versions. * 1897 version: about 30 min. * 1904 version: about 28 min. * 1907 version:, 22 min.


Construction

The following description is mainly based on the final version. ;
Moderato Moderato may refer to: * ''Moderato'', an Italian musical term; see Glossary of music terminology#M * Moderato Wisintainer Moderato Wisintainer, also Visintainer, in line-ups generally Moderato, (14 July 1902 in Alegrete ( RS) – 31 January ...
C minor 4/4 This part is written in
sonata form Sonata form (also ''sonata-allegro form'' or ''first movement form'') is a musical structure generally consisting of three main sections: an exposition, a development, and a recapitulation. It has been used widely since the middle of the 18th c ...
. A six-bar orchestral introduction is followed by a solo piano. This opening remained unchanged in all three versions. In the tempo
molto 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 ...
tranquillo ''Drogas Light'' (stylized as ''DROGAS Light'') is the sixth studio album by American rapper Lupe Fiasco, released by 1st and 15th Productions on February 10, 2017. This is also his first album under Thirty Tigers following his departure from Atla ...
, the soloist plays the lyric second subject with the accompaniment of strings and horn. Recent study shows that these two themes reflect the influence of
spiritual music Spirituals (also known as Negro spirituals, African American spirituals, Black spirituals, or spiritual music) is a genre of Christian music that is associated with Black Americans, which merged sub-Saharan African cultural heritage with the e ...
which the composer heard in his period in
Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...
. The development, which starts
in tempo Intempo is a 47-floor, 202-metre-high skyscraper building in Benidorm, Spain. The design of the building was officially presented on 19 January 2006 and work began in 2007. Originally scheduled for completion in 2009, work was significantly hamp ...
quietly, expands by changing its atmosphere with demanding passages for the solo piano. This part does not appear in the final version, where the climax of the second subject is directly connected to the next section. ;
Largo Largo may refer to: Music * ''Largo'' (Italian for 'wide', 'broad'), a very slow tempo, or a musical piece or movement in such a tempo * "Largo" from ''Xerxes'' arranged from "Ombra mai fu", the opening aria from Handel's opera ''Serse'' * Hugo L ...
D-flat 4/4 The section starts with a calm monologue by solo piano. After an echo of the first theme from the earlier section, the subject is played by the orchestra in romantic vein, with ornamentation by the piano. The music gradually accelerates, to the dignified presentation of the main theme by horns. A calm piano solo comes back subsequently and the dialogue between piano and cello diminishes to ''ppp''. Finally, a technically demanding piano passage bridges this section to the final part. ;
Maestoso ''Maestoso'' () is an Italian musical term and is used to direct performers to play a certain passage (music), passage of music in a stately, dignified and majestic fashion (sometimes march-like) or, it is used to describe music as such. ''Maest ...
C minor 4/4 The solo piano marks the beginning of the final section by decisively repeating the first subject of the concerto. In this section, numerous
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 ...
s are played by the soloist. Shortly after the recapitulation of the second theme, the tempo changes into
Vivace In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...
and the soloist plays arpeggio against a timpani rhythm echoed from the first section. The tempo immediately returns to Maestoso; the
coda Coda or CODA may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * Movie coda, a post-credits scene * ''Coda'' (1987 film), an Australian horror film about a serial killer, made for television *''Coda'', a 2017 American experimental film from Na ...
using both subjects. Finally, the concerto ends in C major where the piano soloist has a triumphant
scale Scale or scales may refer to: Mathematics * Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points * Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original * Scale factor, a number ...
while the timpani beats the previous rhythm. The first version of 1897 is a three-in-one structure of "Allegro non troppo"—"Largo"—"Tempo primo". The 1904 version comprises three movements of "Allegro ma non troppo", "Largo", and "Maestoso con moto moderato".


Selected recordings

*1904 version:
Howard Shelley Howard Gordon Shelley (born 9 March 1950) is a British pianist and conductor. He was educated at Highgate School and the Royal College of Music. He was married to fellow pianist Hilary Macnamara (her death), with whom he has performed and recor ...
,
Sir Andrew Davis Sir Andrew Frank Davis (born 2 February 1944) is an English conductor. He is conductor laureate of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Early life and education Born in Ashridge, t ...
,
Royal Scottish National Orchestra The Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) ( gd, Orcastra Nàiseanta Rìoghail na h-Alba) is a British orchestra, based in Glasgow, Scotland. It is one of the five national performing arts companies of Scotland. Throughout its history, the Or ...
( Chandos CHAN10742) *1904 version:
Piers Lane Piers Lane (born 8 January 1958) is an Australian classical pianist. His performance career has taken him to more than 40 countries. His concerto repertoire exceeds 75 works. Early life Lane's English father and Australian mother met while a ...
, David Lloyd-Jones,
Ulster Orchestra The Ulster Orchestra, based in Belfast, is the only full-time professional orchestra in Northern Ireland. The orchestra plays the majority of its concerts in Belfast's Ulster Hall and Waterfront Hall. It also gives concerts across the United Ki ...
(
Hyperion Records Hyperion Records is an independent British classical record label. History Hyperion is an independent British classical label that was established in 1980 with the goal of showcasing recordings of music in all genres and from all time period ...
CDA67296) *1904 version:
Clifford Curzon Sir Clifford Michael Curzon CBE (né Siegenberg; 18 May 19071 September 1982) was an English classical pianist. Curzon studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and subsequently with Artur Schnabel in Berlin and Wanda Landowska and N ...
, John Pritchard,
BBC Symphony Orchestra The BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) is a British orchestra based in London. Founded in 1930, it was the first permanent salaried orchestra in London, and is the only one of the city's five major symphony orchestras not to be self-governing. T ...
, (BBC Legends BBCL4181-2, recording of concert given 3 September 1981)


Notes


References

* Booklet from Hyperion record CDA67296 * Score of two-piano reduction by Otto Singer II, Universal Edition, Harmonie Verlag


External links

* {{Frederick Delius
Piano Concerto A piano concerto is a type of concerto, a solo composition in the classical music genre which is composed for a piano player, which is typically accompanied by an orchestra or other large ensemble. Piano concertos are typically virtuoso showp ...
Delius Delius, photographed in 1907 Frederick Theodore Albert Delius ( 29 January 1862 – 10 June 1934), originally Fritz Delius, was an English composer. Born in Bradford in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family, he resisted atte ...
Compositions in C minor 1904 compositions 1907 compositions