Nigun: Nostalgia and Exuberance at 1901 Arts Club, London on Wednesday 9th October 2024

Please note: This concert is in the past and has already taken place.

Nigun: Nostalgia and Exuberance

Add to my Calendar 09-10-2024 19:30 09-10-2024 21:30 36 Nigun: Nostalgia and Exuberance The earliest of Mendelssohn’s sonatas for violin and piano, in F major was written in 1820 when he was just 11 years old.  Mendelssohn wrote this piece as a compositional exercise for his teacher Carl Friedrich Zelter but, like the third sonata (also in F major) it was left undiscovered for over a century, being published for the first time in the second half of the 20th Century.  Although it is quite conservative in its structure and heavily influenced by the Classical period (mainly Haydn and CPE Bach) there are recognisable moments of Mendelssohn’s compositional style that was already beginning to develop, especially in his distinctive way of writing for the violin.The Swiss composer, Ernest Bloch, wrote a large number of works celebrating his Jewish heritage.  Among the best is the set of three pieces for violin and piano, Baal Shem, composed in 1923, named after a Jewish miracle worker, Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer (Baal Shem Tov) and subtitled ‘Three Scenes from Hasidic Jewish Life’.  ‘Vidui’ is part of the atonement and confession liturgy spoken on the holiest day of the Jewish year, Yom Kippur.  ‘Nigun’ has become the most famous piece of the set, the meaning of the word in Yiddish is ‘song’ and in Jewish custom it has acquired an additional depth of meaning, referring to Hassidic melodies sung to elevate the soul.  The third piece, ‘Simchas Torah’, is the most exuberant.  This depicts the festival that marks the end of the yearly cycle of public Torah readings, celebrated by dancing with the Torah for several hours.While studying at the Curtis Institute of Music, Leonard Bernstein wrote this short Sonata for Violin and Piano.  It is a rare example of his chamber music and is one of his earliest works, written in 1940, aged only 22.  In that same year, he gave the first public performance in Cambridge, Massachusetts alongside violinist, Raphael Hillyer.  Despite his young age, it is a mature work that to him deserved not to be forgotten.  Ten years later, he reused material from this sonata in The Age of Anxiety (his second Symphony).Old Viennese Dance-Melodies is a set of three pieces by the Austrian-Jewish violin virtuoso, Fritz Kreisler.  The three pieces - published in 1905 - are entitled ‘Love’s Joy’, ‘Love’s Sorrow’ and ‘Lovely Rosemary’.  Kreisler wrote them as encores for his own concerts, and they are often heard separately.  But they cohere well as a set, magically conjuring up the elegant sound world of pre-First-World-War Vienna.  They are pervaded by a sense of nostalgia and loss, which is particularly poignant when one remembers had to flee his homeland for exile in the United States after the Anschluss in 1938. 1901 Arts Club, London DD/MM/YYYY

Details

1901 Arts Club
7 Exton Street
Waterloo
London
SE1 8UE
England

Wednesday 9th October 2024
7:30 PM

Programme

Felix Mendelssohn – Violin Sonata in F major, MWV Q 7 (1820)
Ernest Bloch – Baal Shem (3 Pictures of Chassidic Life)
Leonard Bernstein – Sonata for Violin and Piano
Fritz Kreisler – Alt-Wiener Tanzweisen

Performers

Leora Cohen – violin
Parvis Hejazi – piano

Programme Note

The earliest of Mendelssohn’s sonatas for violin and piano, in F major was written in 1820 when he was just 11 years old. Mendelssohn wrote this piece as a compositional exercise for his teacher Carl Friedrich Zelter but, like the third sonata (also in F major) it was left undiscovered for over a century, being published for the first time in the second half of the 20th Century. Although it is quite conservative in its structure and heavily influenced by the Classical period (mainly Haydn and CPE Bach) there are recognisable moments of Mendelssohn’s compositional style that was already beginning to develop, especially in his distinctive way of writing for the violin.

The Swiss composer, Ernest Bloch, wrote a large number of works celebrating his Jewish heritage. Among the best is the set of three pieces for violin and piano, Baal Shem, composed in 1923, named after a Jewish miracle worker, Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer (Baal Shem Tov) and subtitled ‘Three Scenes from Hasidic Jewish Life’. ‘Vidui’ is part of the atonement and confession liturgy spoken on the holiest day of the Jewish year, Yom Kippur. ‘Nigun’ has become the most famous piece of the set, the meaning of the word in Yiddish is ‘song’ and in Jewish custom it has acquired an additional depth of meaning, referring to Hassidic melodies sung to elevate the soul. The third piece, ‘Simchas Torah’, is the most exuberant. This depicts the festival that marks the end of the yearly cycle of public Torah readings, celebrated by dancing with the Torah for several hours.

While studying at the Curtis Institute of Music, Leonard Bernstein wrote this short Sonata for Violin and Piano. It is a rare example of his chamber music and is one of his earliest works, written in 1940, aged only 22. In that same year, he gave the first public performance in Cambridge, Massachusetts alongside violinist, Raphael Hillyer. Despite his young age, it is a mature work that to him deserved not to be forgotten. Ten years later, he reused material from this sonata in The Age of Anxiety (his second Symphony).

Old Viennese Dance-Melodies is a set of three pieces by the Austrian-Jewish violin virtuoso, Fritz Kreisler. The three pieces - published in 1905 - are entitled ‘Love’s Joy’, ‘Love’s Sorrow’ and ‘Lovely Rosemary’. Kreisler wrote them as encores for his own concerts, and they are often heard separately. But they cohere well as a set, magically conjuring up the elegant sound world of pre-First-World-War Vienna. They are pervaded by a sense of nostalgia and loss, which is particularly poignant when one remembers had to flee his homeland for exile in the United States after the Anschluss in 1938.

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