Notes for: July 13, 2010
Jean Francaix was one of the large international group of 20th century composers who learned their trade from the French teacher Nadia Boulanger and then won world recognition for the craftsmanship and elegance of their compositions. (The American members included Aaron Copland, Elliott Carter, Roy Harris, Walter Piston, Virgil Thomson and Marc Blitzstein.) Françaix’s music was particularly favored by choreographers, including George Balanchine (for the ballet A la Françaix) and Roland Petit (for Les Desmoiselles de La Nuit).
Like his French predecessors Erik Satie and Francis Poulenc, there were two sides to Francaix’s musical personality. On the one hand, he could be deadly serious, even devoutly religious; for example, his oratorio L’apocalypse de St. Jean pictures the ecstasy of heaven and the despondency of hell. On the other hand, his music could be witty, even ironic; the ballet Les Desmoiselles de la Nuit is a mischievous fantasy featuring caterwauling alley cats.
The String Trio is on the second side of Francaix’s personality. Composed in 1933 for the Pasquier Trio, a leading family ensemble in France, the trio is a concise work – four movements totaling twelve minutes – but still with demanding technical skills. It reflects the neoclassical movement in vogue at the time, that is, it is a deliberate effort to echo the charm and clarity of French Baroque music.
The opening movement (Allegretto vivo) is an animated yet intimate conversation among the three instruments, all played with mutes. The viola presents a motif spelling the name “Bach” in reverse -- the notes B, C, A, B-flat corresponding to HCAB in German notation.
The second movement, while captioned “Scherzo,” is a whirling waltz. It is played without mutes, and is seasoned with syncopations and spiccato bowing.
The mutes return for the song-like slow movement in a minor mode. It features a tender modal theme with a rocking lullaby-like accompaniment.
The mutes again disappear for the finale, a rondo, with a returning refrain and two contrasting episodes. The refrain has an effervescent drive – it has been described as a chamber-music cancan. The episodes, while slower in tempo, are still tongue-in-cheek. After the refrain’s final return, Francaix surprises us with a brief rollicking march, and the trio ends softly with a pizzicato.
Notes for: July 20, 2021
Jean Françaix’s jaunty Trio à cordes is bursting with charm and humor – not a surprise for a composer for whom there was no border between “serious” and “entertaining.” Music could be both, as he demonstrated again and again throughout a long and prolific career devoted to producing what he called “Music for Pleasure.” The music of this quintessentially Gallic composer summons up early 20th-century Paris and all the composers Françaix admired, from Chabrier’s elegance, to Poulenc’s irreverence, to Ravel’s formal mastery, to Stravinsky’s neoclassicism.
Françaix’s gifts were evident early. He began writing music at six, and within a few years he was studying with Nadia Boulanger, who soon wrote to his mother, “I don’t see why we should waste our time teaching him harmony. He already knows harmony. I don’t know how he knows, but he knows; He was born knowing harmony. Let’s try counterpoint.” By his early twenties, he was solidly established as a brilliant pianist and a composer whose works were much in demand. Throughout his life he wrote effortlessly and composed steadily, producing more than 200 works, including ballets, operas, and many concerto and chamber compositions for virtually every instrument in the orchestra. Through all the avant-garde trends of the 20th century, he stayed true to his own vision, remaining a neoclassicist whose tonal works are distinguished by rhythmic verve, melodic elegance, fastidious craftsmanship, and an ever-present sense of fun.
All of these traits are in evidence in his early String Trio, a witty, graceful, and utterly delightful work. The perpetual-motion Allegretto vivo sets the tone: it is brief and playful, with muted strings scurrying around snatches of melody, and with occasional pizzicati adding to the chatter. The rhythmic drive continues in a boisterous, harmonically rich Scherzo. Here the wit is more satiric, especially in the lurching trio, which suggests the movements of a drunken boulevardier. The third-movement Andante is an island of calm that shows Françaix’s gift for cantabile melody, as violin, cello, and viola take turns playing a tender song. With the concluding Rondo the Trio returns to its rambunctious ways. The music bounces, swoops, and skitters to a pizzicato beat before ending with a final humorous surprise. Lighthearted doesn’t mean lightweight, though: Like all Françaix’s works, the Trio à cordes is tightly and intricately constructed. As he once said, “I am always told that my works are easy. Whoever says that has probably not played them.”