The American composer, arranger, and humorist Peter Schickele (b. 1935) fittingly kicks off the laughter for this weekend’s holiday concert. In his own notes to The Brass Calendar, a quintet commissioned by the Chestnut Brass Company and composed in 1993, Schickele says that the calendar portion of the title refers to holidays that occur each month. This is very much in the spirit of many of Schickele’s works, often commemorating special days, especially those of friends and relatives on their birthdays. In particular, Schickele writes that The Brass Calendar refers to “a specific holiday or otherwise significant day or period in each month . . . [and] research for this work was conducted in my pocket datebook.” January’s movement is thus appropriately named “New Year's Day,” and February’s movement is “Valentine's Day.” March’s “St. Patrick's Day” dedication includes a “spiced-up jig,” and April’s music calls to attention the questionably celebratory “Income Tax Day,” anticipating April 15th “with juxtaposed ascending scale passages in increasingly dissonant harmonic and rhythmic patterns,” perhaps suggesting the haphazard, last-minute white heat that can sometimes characterize the preparation of income taxes. A notable summer feature is the unofficial “Vacation Day” of August, featuring the “Dude Ranch Vacation” with a tempo indication of “Easy-going.” Whereas Schickele commemorates the current month’s “Thanksgiving” with a chorale-style melody, he foregoes the traditional holiday cheer of December in favor of a melancholy movement, “Alone on New Year's Eve.” For continued laughs after the concert, listeners might enjoy a recording of this work that appears in Hornsmoke: Music of Peter Schickele (Newport Classic NCD 85638, 1998), a CD that also includes Schickele narrating his 1975 Hornsmoke (A Horse Opera).

Lowell Liebermann (b. 1961), an American composer trained at Julliard, composed Appalachian Liebeslieder, Op. 54, (with poetry by Lauren Stover) in 1996. Like Schickele, Liebermann wrote the seven-movement work in response to a commission from the New York Festival of Song. At the age of sixteen, Liebermann played the Carnegie Hall premiere of his own first piano sonata. One observer describes Liebermann’s style as a type of “latter-day Romanticism inherited from Barber and Prokofiev.” Another type of Romanticism at work in Liebermann’s piece is his use of a song cycle, typically composed of a selected group of poems that the composer unites through thematic and motivic techniques in the music. Rather than use the traditional intimate scoring of voice and piano, though, Liebermann expands the orchestration to include a chamber accompaniment for each song, featuring piano with four hands, soprano, and baritone. Moreover, his evocation of the Lieder tradition is done in the spirit of parody rather than solemn deference. The first performance of the piece took place on Monday, 15 January 1997, in Weill Recital Hall in New York City. Reviewing the premiere, the Washington Post noted that in addition to humorous, laugh-out-loud wit, Liebermann’s music evoked an array of other emotions, too, ranging from anger and bewilderment to “soaring, ecstatic lyricism—not to mention a parody of the German Lieder tradition,” hence the choice of movement titles including “Nice eyes,” “Frau Turbosupercharger,” or “Schwarzen Hosen Woes.”

Compared to Liebermann and Schickele, Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) incorporated a subtler brand of humor into his Op. 16 Quintet in E flat major for piano, oboe, bassoon, clarinet, and horn, composed in Berlin in 1796. A chamber group organized by the violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh premiered the work at the palace of Prince Joseph Johann von Schwarzenberg in Vienna on 6 April 1797. Beethoven chose emulation of the German tradition rather than Liebermann’s choice of parody and modeled the quintet upon Mozart’s work written for the same set of instruments and in the same key, K. 452 of 1784 (recently played by the International Chamber Artists in the 2006–07 season). Beethoven first heard Mozart’s quintet in Prague in the spring of 1796 and wasted little time in preparing his own Op. 16 quintet. Like Mozart, Beethoven interweaves songlike and melodic ideas into the formal fabric of the quintet, set up with a slow introduction featuring the stately, dotted rhythms that recall French overture style, followed by an allegro, an andante slow movement, and a finale in rondo form. Whereas Mozart frequently blends the winds and piano, Beethoven often sets the piano apart from the winds in the manner of a concerto, reinforced by the piano’s frequent role in introducing thematic material. The Op. 16 finale features a hunting rondo in 6/8 time with brooding Beethovenian characteristics, such as the relatively dark harmonic turn in the middle portion of the rondo to E flat minor. Beethoven balances the harmonic surprise with a playful treatment of the thematic material in the coda, much in the style of Haydn, possibly referring to Haydn’s Op. 33, no. 2 “Joke” string quartet in E flat major (1781–1782) that also features a similarly extensive manipulation of thematic material in the coda. In addition to the mix of seriousness and levity, the general buffo characteristics of much of the rest of the movement invite the delight of listeners and players alike.

Philippe Gaubert (1879-1941) was among the most prominent French musicians of the period between the two world wars and had a distinguished career after graduating from the Paris Conservatoire; he eventually received appointments as professor of flute at the Conservatoire and as principal conductor of the Paris Opéra and the Société des Concerts. Gaubert’s style calls to mind many contemporaneous French composers, including Franck, Ravel and Debussy. In addition to Gaubert’s flute music, his output includes opera, ballet, orchestral music and songs.

The Nocturne and Allegro Scherzando (1906) was an examination piece for the Conservatoire and features a lyrical introduction and virtuosic conclusion, a requisite contrast of musical styles used to test the abilities of the flautist. The harmonic qualities of the slow introduction, particularly the non-directional chord motion, evoke Debussy’s musical language. Gaubert’s tendency toward colorful harmonies blended with “brilliant and rhapsodic passagework” brings to mind music of contemporaries such as César Franck.

Moreover, the Scherzando represents an important aspect of modern European history following the Industrial Revolution, because as sheet music it represented a commodity. During the mid-nineteenth century, there was an increasing middle-class demand in Europe for music to play at home. While the piano was the instrument of choice for the parlor, the increasing interest in music publishing and printing translated to an eager audience and performers ready for new and previously unheard music on all sorts of instruments. In particular, Theobald Boehm, a German flute maker, flautist, composer, and inventor, introduced many technical changes to the flute during this period that enabled flute virtuosi to enjoy a newfound popularity on the concert stage.

J.S. Bach (1685-1750) most likely wrote his Concerto in A minor BWV 1044 (the so-called "Triple Concerto") for flute, violin and keyboard in Leipzig in the 1730s or 1740s, although the piece is difficult to date in the summary catalogue of his works compiled by son Carl Philipp Emanuel and pupil J.F. Agricola. Because there are only two extant copies of the work put together by two of Bach’s students after his death in 1750, there is no verifiable date of composition. Given the maturity of style of the piece, most scholars estimate that Bach wrote the piece later in his life; the 1730s in particular was a fruitful decade for Bach’s chamber music output. The musical style of the concerto calls to mind the instrumentation of J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major (1721), also scored for flute, violin, and keyboard soloists, in addition to basso continuo and strings.

The Triple Concerto, however, has a more somber and mournful character than the Brandenburg Concerto it resembles. Like the other concertos with obbligato keyboard, the Triple Concerto is partly based on earlier work, in this case a reworking of pieces for solo harpsichord or organ. The first movement is based on a prelude and fugue (BWV 894, ca. 1714), and the second movement is an arrangement of the second movement of the organ Trio Sonata, BWV 527 (1730). Bach uses an atypical chamber arrangement in the Triple Concerto in that he composes new material that the accompanying instruments introduce, rather than using the solo instruments exclusively to introduce solo music. He adapts the prelude and fugue material for the harpsichord and adds new material for the violin and harpsichord. Bach continues this practice into the middle movement, which features frequent exchange of solo material.

César Franck’s (1822-1890) Piano Quintet premiered in 1880, featuring the prominent French composer Camille Saint-Saëns as the organist. Franck’s career began early. A musical prodigy, he enrolled in the Liège Conservatory at the age of eight in 1830. Just three years later, he led a virtuoso piano tour throughout Belgium. Franck then enrolled for advanced study at the Conservatoire in 1835. In addition to his career as a performer and composer, he was also a professor of composition at the Conservatoire beginning in 1872. Franck inspired a group of composers, including Vincent d’Indy (1851-1931), Henri Duparc (1848-1933), and Paul Dukas (1865-1935), with his “highly individual post-Romantic style” and his compositional preference for symphonic and chamber works rather than turning to the old stronghold of French opera.

Much like Gaubert, Franck preferred rich harmonies that did not necessarily resolve but that rather contributed to the sonorous color of the work. Furthermore, Franck’s works often feature a stark contrast of musical styles, leading many to describe his music as full of passion. The Quintet is no exception. Even within the first measures of the expansive first movement, the sustained-note string material alternates with the lyrical piano material, often featuring melodies that chromatically wander and explore the lower ranges of the piano.

Altogether these pieces represent a unique combination of innovative sonorities and instrumental combinations. Although Bach wrote his Triple Concerto nearly two centuries before the works by Franck and Gaubert that comprise today’s program, all three composers reveal their fondness not only for the gauzy melodic character of the solo flute but also in their preference for equality of voices and frequent exchange of thematic material.

An English composer of American descent, Sir Arthur Bliss (1891-1975) composed his Ceremonial Prelude in 1965. In the 1920s Bliss’s career skyrocketed and he became one of the most important British composers of his time. Fellow composers and critics considered him an enfant terrible, a phrase literally translating from the French to “terrible child” and one often used in the early twentieth century as a tongue-in-cheek compliment to describe avant-garde, cutting edge, and strikingly unorthodox composers.

Bliss’s military service in World War I profoundly impacted the music he wrote. His brother Kennard died in service in World War I. As director of music at the BBC in the 1940s, Bliss became a prominent figure and was knighted in 1950. He was appointed “Master of the Queen’s Musick,” and much of his music, including the Ceremonial Prelude, heralds royal occasions. This piece was written to commemorate the 900th anniversary of Westminster Abbey. Bliss first recorded the work at Westminster Abbey in London on December 28, 1965.

Born in 1951 in Edinburgh, Scotland, John Glenesk Mortimer first tried his hand at composition at the age of nine. He quickly advanced in his skills and won a prize for his opera rendition of Crime and Punishment in 1967. In addition to his compositional merits, he worked as a professional violist throughout the late 1960s and 1970s. His teaching career followed in the next decade and he continues to work as a freelance musician. His Prelude and Dance is an apt accompaniment to the fanfare of the first piece on today’s program by Sir Arthur Bliss.

Meanwhile, Dominick Argento (b. 1927) found his motivation in setting music to famous poets or lyricists composing words specifically for songs in his cyclic Six Elizabethan Songs (1957). Argento grew up in Pennsylvania but found his greatest source of support to be in the Midwest, specifically in teaching theory and composition at the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis. In one article, Newsweek even referred to the city—specifically the Twin Cities—as “Argento’s town.” Indeed, he received commissions for performances “from nearly every type of performing organization in Minneapolis and St. Paul.”

Six Elizabethan Songs uses a traditional verse structure and celebrates different poets and subjects, such as the timely welcoming of spring as “the year’s pleasant king: Then blooms each thing,” taken from the poem by Thomas Nash. The seasonal topics such as “Winter” and celebratory “Spring” provide a balanced poetic contrast to the charming care of "Sleep," in which Samuel Daniel’s subject does not want to arise to “feel the day’s disdain.” Six Elizabethan Songs has achieved remarkable popularity, particularly in Canada, where it is required vocal repertoire for every Canadian music school graduate.

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) wrote his Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor in 1944. Like his seventh and eighth symphonies and his eighth string quartet, this piece emerged in the context of the Second World War, and many listeners, historians, and commentators speak of the undisguised anguish throughout the piece. At the time of its publication in 1944 many of the truths about what happened in the Nazi death camps began to emerge. Shostakovich, already devastated by the events of the war, was further grieved by the news of the Holocaust. He expressed his grief through composition and in particular through this Trio, a remembrance for the victims of the Holocaust. As if this were not enough to bear, Shostakovich had also at the same time lost a dear friend, Ivan Sollertinsky, a Russian musicologist and critic. Shostakovich dedicated his piano trio to the memory of Sollertinsky. In a letter to a friend, Shostakovich described Sollertinsky’s passing as a “bitter blow.” The poignant effects of all of these circumstances were not lost on the audience. At the first performance with Shostakovich at the piano, audience members openly wept.

The opening material of the traditional four-movement work features the violin and cello—high and low-range members of the string family—exchanging pitches that are extreme in range. The cello, for instance, plays harmonics, a technique where the finger depresses the string lightly but not all the way down to the fingerboard creating high notes in the overtone series. Also, both instruments are muted, effectively eliminating some of their notes in the overtone series. The combination of these two techniques creates a hauntingly tragic effect that some commentators described as mournfully “elegiac,” given the historical circumstances of the piece. In the third movement, the weighty piano chords reinforce the funereal cast. The movement is a passacaglia that, as the biographer D. Rabinovich points out, ultimately gives way to the “sphere of tragedy” in the fourth movement, full of the “impudent, cynical Saturnalia of death.” From war to regal ceremony, the extra-musical sources for today’s program are diverse, and the musical results reveal just how motivating a compositional inspiration can be.