Notes for: July 24, 2012
Hummel was an Austrian composer and piano virtuoso who lived and worked during the transition from the Classical to the Romantic musical periods. For many years, however, Hummel was better known among musicians and music lovers for his connections with the leading composers of the day than for his own music. Hummel’s biography, in fact, reads like a “who’s who” of the great and famous.
Mozart: Hummel’s father was the music director of Vienna’s Theater auf der Wieden and thus a friend of Mozart. As a boy piano prodigy, Hummel became a student of Mozart and was housed by Mozart for two years free of charge. He then made his first public appearance at the age of nine at one of Mozart’s concerts.
Haydn: When Hummel was 13, at Mozart’s suggestion, his father took his son on a successful concert tour of Europe, including London. Haydn, then also in London, was so impressed with the young man that he composed a piano sonata for him, and Hummel played its premiere at a public concert in Haydn’s presence. On his return to Vienna, Hummel was taught composition by Haydn and Salieri, Mozart’s rival. Then on Haydn’s recommendation, Hummel succeeded Haydn on the latter’s retirement as kapellmeister to the Hungarian Ezterhazy family.
Beethoven: On Hummel’s return to Vienna as a conductor, teacher, composer and concert organizer, he and Beethoven became close friends but rivals for public attention. Hummel organized the premiere performance of Beethoven’s celebratory “Wellington’s Victory” symphony; Beethoven conducted and Hummel beat the prominent bass drum. As Beethoven’s hearing deteriorated and he became a recluse, Hummel visited Beethoven and exchanged views with him in the latter’s conversation books.
Schubert: After Beethoven’s death, Hummel improvised at his memorial concert. At that concert, Hummel became a good friend of Schubert, who was so impressed with Hummel’s keyboard skills that he intended to dedicate his final three piano sonatas to him. However, both composers died before the sonatas’ publication, and the publishers changed the dedication to Schumann.
Chopin and Schumann: In 1828, Hummel published his A Complete Theoretical and Practical Course of Instruction on the Art of Playing the Piano Forte, which sold thousands of copies and introduced a new style of fingering and playing ornaments. The book was a basic text in the training of Chopin and Schuman as pianists, and they used Hummel’s music as models for their own piano works.
Liszt: Carl Czerny, a student of Hummel, was Liszt’s teacher – Liszt’s father would have preferred Hummel for his son, but he could not afford Hummel’s fee.
Mendelssohn: Late in his career, Hummel became kapellmeister at Weimar where he formed a close friendship with Goethe, a musician as well as a poet-dramatist. The Mendelssohn family was also on close terms with Goethe, and at Goethe’s home Hummel met the boy Felix and offered him piano lessons.
Such an active life notwithstanding, Hummel was a highly productive composer, particularly for, but not limited to his instrument, the piano. The catalog of his music totals some 220 numbers, including eight piano concertos, ten piano sonatas, a piano quartet, a piano quintet, a wind octet, sonata for cello and piano, two piano septets, a mandolin concerto, a mandolin sonata, a trumpet concerto, a quartet for clarinet, violin, viola and cello, 22 operas and operettas, masses, and a large bundle of pieces for piano alone and piano four-hands, but, for some unexplained reason, no symphony.
During his lifetime Hummel’s music was unusually popular. After his death, however, it was considered old-fashioned because of Hummel’s adherence to 18th century forms and the popularity of the new Romantic music of composers such as Schubert, Schumann, Chopin and Mendelssohn. But in recent years, there has been a revival of interest in Hummel, spearheaded by a Hummel Society organized to promote the performance and republication of his works.
Composed in 1819, the work we hear this evening was originally titled Adagio, Variations and Rondo. Because of a similar title on another Hummel composition, it was republished after his death as the Trio for Flute, Cello and Piano, Op. 78, and it is known today under both titles.
A more accurate title would be “Variations on a Familiar Folk Song.” After a dramatic introduction with a highly ornamented piano part, the piano states the theme, a simple tune that you may find familiar. It’s a well known Yiddish/Russian/Ukrainian folksong, “Beautiful Minka,” and is frequently heard in a variety of settings for voice, chorus and instrumental groups. In fact, it was set by Beethoven (twice), Weber and other less famous composers, and is often heard today sung by children’s choruses and played by accordionists.
In this treatment, the tune is followed by seven variations with the piano in a dominant role. The first variation is mainly a lightly contrapuntal treatment of the tune by the piano alone with three instruments in a concluding section. No. 2 involves rhythmic variations of the theme. In No. 3, strings of octaves become repetitive figures. No. 4 features imitative overlapping of the cello and flute parts.
No. 5 challenges the pianist with virtuoso figure work. No. 6 is slowed to an adagio and features pianissimo piano trills supported by the cello and flute in alternating roles. No. 7 is a rondo with a repeated refrain with contrasting episodes.