LEÓ WEINER: Divertimento No. 3, Op. 25
Leó Weiner’s (1885–1960) composition, completed in 1938, was first performed on 7th March 1944 and was conducted by Vilmos Komor. A special feature of the concert was that legendary Hungarian cimbalom player Aladár Rácz performed Igor Stravinsky’s ‘Ragtime,’ dedicated to him, which also meant that that evening performance marked the Russian piece’s Hungarian premiere.
In the scope of the five-movement ‘Divertimento No. 3’, Weiner largely adapted his earlier works for full orchestra. The composition ‘Kesergő’ was the first adapted piece from the third set of ‘Hungarian Peasant Songs’ for piano (Op. 22), and was consequently titled ‘Bird Weeps on a Dry Branch’ (Moderto poco rubato). ‘The Shepherd’s Prank’, ‘Ballad’ and ‘Masquerade Song’ were adapted from the first and second sets of ‘Hungarian Peasant Songs’ (Op. 19 and Op. 19a).
ZOLTÁN KODÁLY: The Peacock – Variations
The so-called ‘peacock melody’ is a representative type of melody of old-style Hungarian folk songs: it is a four-line, fixed-syllable, descending, fifth-shifting pentatonic melody. Interestingly, collectors only managed to ‘note down’ this melody together with the ‘peacock’ lyrics relatively late, notably in 1935. Of course, Hungarian composers Kodály and Bartók had long been familiar with the melody type itself.
Kodály wrote the grand orchestral arrangement of the folk song entitled ‘The Peacock’ to mark the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra. Kodály’s composition was premiered in the Netherlands under the baton of Willem Mengelberg (on 23rd November 1939). As Hungarian music critic and historian Anna Dalos’ analysis pointed out, the work is very closely linked to Hungarian poet Ady’s verse of the same title, both in terms of form and ideology.
Kodály’s composition was not performed again for a long time after its Dutch premiere. In Hungary, it was first performed on 29th December 1941 as part of a studio concert by the Hungarian Radio. Hungarian daily paper Pesti Hírlap reported about the event as follows on 31st December 1941: “This work, born of a profound poetic experience, unfolds in a single grand lyrical arc, and this way expresses all the modern beauty and splendour of the orchestral sound. The surprise at the performance of the piece was that the composer himself conducted the premiere of the work leading the opera orchestra. ‘The Peacock’ was due to feature in one of Mengelberg’s concerts in Budapest this year, but this was cancelled due to the accident experienced by the famous Dutch conductor. It is likely that the work’s concert hall premiere will now also take place under Kodály’s personal direction.”
RICHARD STRAUSS: Der Rosenkavalier – Suite
“The music of ‘The Knight of the Rose’ is, in its own way, bold and powerful, but it is not a masterpiece even though the distinguished composer, who has strayed into Art Nouveau, is trying to pretend to strike a compromise with melody in this piece. It is true that he endeavours to provide expressive and characteristic music, and we acknowledge that the music accompanying the sombre, contemplative, highly emotional and intimate poetic passages is, for the most part, captivating, and that the composers is lulling the listener through the mood of the music and the timbre of the instruments; at such moments, the music is poetic; unfortunately, a certain degree of laziness characterises the audience as it was actually the cheerfulness typified by the waltzes that won their favour.” This is how the Hungarian weekly Vasárnapi újság described Richard Strauss’ opera on 28th May 1911, following the Budapest premiere of the work. The opera arrived in the Hungarian capital with exemplary speed: the premiere had taken place only a few months earlier in Dresden. The work was received with hysterical enthusiasm by audiences everywhere while the critics were unanimously derisive. Some critics went as far as to accuse the librettist (Hugo von Hofmannsthal), who had ‘concocted’ the work’s irrational and risqué love story, of a complete lack of humour. The waltzes – anachronistically associated with the tale set in the mid-18th century – were adored everywhere, just as they were in Budapest. To Strauss’ great surprise, nonetheless, the work nearly flopped in Milan, which constituted one of the strongholds of the genre.
Weiner, Kodály, Dubrovay and Strauss
12 NOV, 7:30 PM
Liszt Academy of Music
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