Notes for: August 10, 2010
In the second half of the 19th century, two schools of composition emerged in Russia. One group, known as “The Five”, consisted of Balakirev, Cui, Borodin, Mussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov. It was nationalist in outlook, deriving much of its inspiration from Russian folk elements, history and literature. The other group, led by Anton Rubinstein and exemplified by Tchaikovsky, was more cosmopolitan, seeking to temper Russian cultural influences with musical ideas imported from elsewhere in Europe.
Reflecting his varied career, Arensky had a foot in both camps. He started out in the former group as a student of Rimsky-Korsakov at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. On graduation, however, he joined the faculty of the Moscow Conservatory where Tchaikovsky and Rubinstein were older and highly influential colleagues. While in Moscow, moreover, he became conductor of the Russian Choral Society and a member of the council of the Synodal School of Church Music, strengthening his commitment to Russian musical tradition.
Finally, in 1894 he was named director of the Imperial chapel back in St. Petersburg. He retired six years later with a generous pension and planned to devote his time to concertizing and composing. Unfortunately, Arensky had struggled with alcoholism and a gambling addiction his entire adult life; his habits now became more dissolute, and he died of tuberculosis at the age of 45.
Arensky’s musical output reflected his experience in both schools of composition. On the one hand, he wrote three operas and a number of songs and choral works in the nationalist mold, making considerable use of folk melodies and idioms. On the other hand, he modeled his instrumental music mainly after that of Tchaikovsky, using the non-Russian musical forms developed by Haydn and Mozart and continued by Western Europe’s romantic composers, particularly Chopin and Mendelssohn.
Composed in 1900, this four-movement quintet opens with a brief commanding figure proclaimed by the piano. This figure not only becomes the basic building block of the first movement but also returns in the fourth movement. The strings join in to continue this dramatic first theme. The second theme, presented by the strings is a further expansion of the opening figure but is less assertive and more flowing in its contour. Arensky then uses both strains in the formal development, with virtuoso demands on the pianist.
The second movement is a theme with four variations. The theme is a melancholy minor-key strain with a Russian flavor presented first by the muted strings and then repeated with the piano. The four variations are diverse in mood – strong and demanding, eloquent, in waltz tempo, and animated culminating in heavy piano chords. The opening melancholy strain then returns to end the movement.
The third movement is a scherzo – fast and capricious like a Mendelssohn scherzo. The contrasting trio is relaxed and peaceful. In a departure from convention, the trio returns for a final appearance before the spirited conclusion.
Surprisingly, the fourth movement is a fugue with the two subjects drawn from the opening figure of the first movement and the mournful theme of the second. The quintet then concludes with a triumphant re-statement of the first movement’s main theme.