Mother Goose, Symphonic Dances and More

Come enjoy a pre-concert talk covering highlights and backstories of this program, one hour before concert-time.

Guest speaker for this weekend: Karen Koner, SDSU Associate Professor of Music Education.

Composer Béla Bartók

BÉLA BARTÓK: VIOLIN CONCERTO NO. 2

Composed: 1937-38
Length: c.36 minutes
Orchestration: two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, percussion, harp, celesta, strings, and solo violin

In the summer of 1936 – just as he was finishing his Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta – Bartók had a visit from his old friend and frequent recital partner, the violinist Zoltán Székely, who asked the composer to write a violin concerto for him. Bartók countered with a different suggestion: instead of a concerto, would Székely accept a set of variations for violin and orchestra? Székely said no – he wanted a concerto, and Bartók finally agreed to write one for him. But it took a long time. Normally a fast worker, Bartók spent over two years on this concerto. He did not complete the concerto until the final day of 1938, barely in time for Székely to learn it and to have the orchestral parts copied – the premiere took place in Amsterdam only twelve weeks later, on March 23, 1939.

The Allegro non troppo grows out of a wealth of thematic ideas – even before the soloist enters, the harp’s opening B-Major triads and the strings’ deep pizzicatos lay a harmonic and thematic basis for much of what follows.

The second subject, marked Calmo, sings sinuously, and this brings a most intriguing moment, because this is a twelve-tone theme. Bartók wrote it consciously, and he was very proud of it – he told Yehudi Menuhin that he had written it because he “wanted to show Schoenberg that one can use all twelve tones and still remain tonal.” Bartók, however, treats this theme not as a tone-row to be manipulated but as a discrete theme capable of development and change.

Bartók himself wrote the cadenza. This gets off to a striking start on the sound of quarter-tones: the violin rocks back and forth across its open D-string, upward to a flattened E-flat and downward to a sharpened C-sharp. The wonderful cadenza ruminates on themes, then grows more animated and rushes into the coda. The movement concludes on a resounding B from every person on the stage.

After that fiery finish, the Andante tranquillo arrives with the greatest delicacy as the solo violin sings the wistful little eight-bar tune that will serve as the basis for six variations. The six variations are easily followed, and the fun lies in hearing that little tune – so gentle on its first appearance – sing in so many ways. Particularly striking are the third variation, which begins with the violinist’s gruff double-stopping at the frog of the bow; the fourth, which trills and swirls before concluding with a particularly beautiful re-imagining of the main theme; and the sixth, full of buzzing trills and repeated notes (do we hear an echo here of the insect sounds Bartók loved throughout his life?).

Manuscript evidence shows that the idea of making the finale a variation of the first movement occurred to Bartók while he was at work on the opening movement. As we hear this movement, there is the fun sense of revisiting familiar things in strange new ways, as if we are looking into a carnival mirror that distorts even as its re-presents. In the process, the character of the music is transformed: what had been noble, soaring, even heroic in the first movement becomes tart, “dancy,” even a little sassy in the finale.

The Concerto in C minor is remarkable for the kaleidoscopic variety of its moods. The music can be brilliant or somber, percussive or lyric, gentle or harsh, charming or sneering, changing almost by the instant.

- Excerpt of program notes by Eric Bromberger

For this classical music concert, purchased drinks should only be enjoyed in the lobbies pre-concert or during intermission, and should not be brought inside the concert hall.

For Jacobs Masterworks concerts, only children ages five years and older will be allowed into the concert hall. These children must have a ticket and be able to sit in an un-accompanied seat.

Ace Parking has provided a DEDICATED JACOBS MUSIC CENTER PARKING PRE-PURCHASE PAGE for upcoming events at JMC.