Sonata No. 1 In C Major, Op. 6: IV. Allegro
The second movement is a lively allegro. The material is derived from the first two bars and a half bar figure that occurs in sequences and responses. Although it displays some elements of classical sonata form, the movement's success is due more to the unpredictable interchanges between orchestra and soloists.
Sonata No. 1 in C Major, Op. 6: IV. Allegro
This four-movement concerto resembles a sonata da chiesa. From the original autograph, Handel initially intended the concerto to have two extra movements, a fugue in the minor key as second movement and a final gigue; these movements were later used elsewhere in the set.
The second movement is an allegro in D minor in a contrapuntal trio sonata style. The animated semiquaver figure of the opening bars is played in imitation or in parallel thirds as a kind of moto perpetuo.
The third movement is an allegro. Of all the Op. 6, it comes the closest to Vivaldi's concerto writing, with its stern opening unison ritornello; however, despite a clear difference in texture between the solo violin sections and the orchestral tuttis, Handel breaks from the model by sharing material between both groups.
The final short allegro, ma non troppo in 68 time brings the concerto back to E minor and a more serious mood, with chromaticism and unexpected key changes in the dialogue between concertino and ripieno.
The second allegro is an energetic fugue, the brief exchanges between concertino and ripieno strictly derived from the unusually long subject. The sombreness of the movement is underlined by the final cadence on the lowest strings of the violins and violas.
The largo e piano in F major is one of Handel's most sublime and simple slow movements, a sarabande in the Italian trio sonata style. Above a steady crotchet walking bass, the sustained theme is gently exchanged between the two violin parts, with imitations and suspensions; harmonic colour is added in the discreet viola part. In the closing bars the crotchet figure of the bass passes into the upper strings before the final cadence.
The last movement, an allegro in A minor, is a radical reworking of a soprano aria that Handel was preparing for his penultimate opera Imeneo. In the concerto, the material is more tightly argued, deriving from two fragmented highly rhythmic figures of 5 and 6 notes. Although there are unmistakable elements of wit in the imaginative development, the prevalent mood is serious: the sustained melodic interludes in the upper strings are tinged by unexpected flattened notes. In the coda, the first concertino violin restates the main theme, joined two bars later in thirds by the other solo violin and finally by repeated sustained pianissimo chords in the ripieno, modulating through unexpected keys. This is answered twice by two forte unison cadences, the second bringing the movement to a close.
The allegro, a vigorous and high-spirited fugue, differs very little from that in the Ode, except for three additional bars at the close. The composition, divided into easily discernible sections, relies more on harmony than counterpoint.
The delightful fifth allegro is written for full orchestra. The rollicking first subject is derived from the twenty third sonata in Domenico Scarlatti's Essercizi Gravicembalo of 1738. The subsequent repeated semiquaver passage-work over a walking bass recalls the style of Georg Philipp Telemann. Handel, however, treats the material in a wholly original way: the virtuoso movement is full of purpose with an unmistakable sense of direction, as the discords between the upper parts ineluctably resolve themselves.
The following allegro is an energetic Italianate movement in the style of Vivaldi, with ritornello passages alternating with the virtuoso violin solo. It departs from its model in freely intermingling the solo and tutti passages after a central orchestral episode in D minor.
The first movement is a largo, ten bars long, which like an overture leads into the allegro fugue on a single note, that only a composer of Handel's stature would have dared to attempt. The theme of the fugue consists of the same note for three bars (two minims, four crotchets, eight quavers) followed by a bar of quaver figures, which with slight variants are used as thematic material for the entire movement, a work relying primarily on rhythm.
The third andante allegro is original and experimental, taking a short four-note figure from Handel's opera Agrippina as a central motif. This phrase and a repeated quaver figure are passed freely between soloists and ripieno in a movement that relies on musical texture.
The final allegro is a sort of polonaise in binary form for full orchestra. Its transparency and crispness result partly from the amalgamation of the second violin and viola parts into a single independent voice.
The following two allegros are loosely based on the allemande and the courante. The scoring in the first allegro, in binary form, is similar in style to that of allemandes in baroque keyboard suites. The second allegro is a longer, ingeniously composed movement in the Italian concerto style. There is no ritornello; instead the rhythmic material in the opening bars and the first entry in the bass line is used in counterpoint throughout the piece to create a feeling of rhythmic direction, full of merriment and surprises.
The final allegro moderato in D major had originally been intended for the twelfth concerto, when Handel had experimented with the keys of D major and B minor. A cheerful gavotte-like movement, it is in binary form, with a variation (or double) featuring repeated semiquavers and quavers in the upper and lower strings.
The following highly inventive movement is a brilliant and animated allegro, a moto perpetuo. The busy semiquaver figure in the theme, passed constantly between different parts of the orchestra and the soloists, only adds to the overall sense of rhythmic and harmonic direction. Although superficially in concerto form, this movement's success is probably more a result of Handel's departure from convention.
The fourth movement is a brief largo, like an accompanied recitative, which leads into the final allegro fugue. Its gigue-like theme is derived from a fugue of Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow, Handel's boyhood teacher in Halle, to whom the movement is perhaps some form of homage.
The Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 6, by Alexander Scriabin, was the third of twelve piano sonatas that he composed. It was completed in 1892. The music is emotionally charged as much of the music was written after Scriabin had damaged his right hand through excessive piano playing.
Scriabin's very first sonata, one movement in G sharp minor (companion movements have not been found), was only published posthumously and the second, in E flat minor, was condensed and rewritten to be the single movement Allegro Appassionato Op. 4.
Scriabin was reportedly overpracticing Liszt's Réminiscences de Don Juan and Balakirev's Islamey when he damaged his right hand. He was informed by physicians that he would never play again. The first piano sonata was Scriabin's personal cry against God: the tragedy of the loss of a virtuoso pianist to whimsical fate, God's design.[1] During this period of disability, he wrote the Prelude and Nocturne, op. 9 for left hand alone; however, in due course his right hand recovered.
The first movement, "Allegro con fuoco", starts with a very dark and passionate opening theme. This grows into a slightly more optimistic climax, but descends again into a forlorn close to the theme. It continues with a melancholy second theme in A-flat major which builds up to the very majestic ending of the 1st movement's exposition. There is a turbulent development section, followed by a recapitulation of the two main themes, in slightly varied form and with the modulations altered to bring the second theme back in F major. The movement ends very quietly, vacillating uncertainly between F minor and major, before settling for F major in the last sustained chord.
The third movement, "Presto", in F minor again, is in a rather condensed and compact Rondo form. The movement is harsh and agitated, relieved briefly only by the more tender middle theme in A-flat major, and angrily hammers into an unresolved end, which is resolved in the final slow movement, the "Funèbre", again in F minor, and similar in mood to the funeral march of Chopin's second piano sonata.[1] The gloom is unrelieved right up to the bleak ending in F minor.
The Key Change series will feature UI distinguished piano faculty and their students, as well as guest artists from across Iowa. Over the course of the 7-concert series, artists will perform the complete set of Scriabin's 10 sonatas!
Bars 1-24: First subject in C major (tonic). The first subject consists of an eight-bar sentence ending in C major, followed by a four-bar sentence in G major, after which there is a varied and extended repetition of Bars 1-8. 041b061a72