The Sixty-second Season of

THE WILLIAM NELSON CROMWELL and

F. LAMMOT BELIN CONCERTS

National Gallery of Art

2482d Concert

INGRID FLITER, pianist

Sunday Evening, 25 January 2004

Seven O'clock

West Building, West Garden Court

Admission free
Program

Ludwig van Beethoven Sonata No. 18 in E-flat Major

(1770-1827) op. 31, no. 3 (1802)

Allegro

Scherzo: Allegro vivace

Menuetto: Moderato e grazioso 

Presto con fuoco

Sonata No. 7 in D Major

op. 10, no. 3 (1797-1798)

Presto

Largo e mesto

Menuetto: Allegro

Rondo: Allegro

Intermission

Frederic Chopin

(1810-1849)

Six Preludes from op. 28

(1836-1839)

1. No. 13 in B Major

2. No. 14 in G-sharp Minor

3. No. 15 in F-sharp Major

4. No. 16 in E Major

5. No. 17 in D-flat Major

6. No. 18 in B-flat Minor

Nocturne in C-sharp Minor

op. 27, no. 1 (1835)

Chopin Four Waltzes

op. 64, no. 1, in D-flat Major (“Minute”) (1846-1847)

op. 64, no. 2, in A-flat Major (1846-1847)

op. 70, no. 1, in G-flat Major (1833)

op. 42 in A-flat Major (1840)

Scherzo No. 2 in B-flat Major

(1837)

The Musician

Born in Buenos Aires in 1973, pianist Ingrid Fliter was a pupil of

Elizabeth Westerkamp. In 1991 she participated in the Aspen Summer 

Festival, where she studied with Aube Tcherko. The following year she

continued her studies with Vitalj Margulis in the Hochschule fur Musik

in Freiburg, Germany. Further studies took place in 1994 in Rome with

Carlo Bruno and in 1996 in the academy Incontri col Maestro in Imola,

Italy, under the leadership of Franco Scala and Boris Petrushansky.

Fliter’s flourishing career has not diminished her desire to continue her

studies. She is currently pursuing a course in the art of fortepiano playing

with the Italian master Stefano Fiuzzi.

Ingrid Fliter is the recipient of numerous competition awards,

among them the first prize in the Argentinean National Competition for

Piano and Orchestra, which gave her the opportunity to debut at the age

of sixteen in Buenos Aires’ Colon Theatre. In 1994 she won first prize in

two categories (classic and romantic) and the special prize in the

international competition Citta di Cantu. In 1998 she was a prizewinner 

in the Ferruccio Busoni Competition in Bolzano, Italy. International

recognition came her way in October 2000 when she won second prize in

the Frederic Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw, Poland.
Program Notes

Acknowledged as the most classically aligned of the three sonatas in op.

31, Beethoven’s Sonata No. 18 in E-flat Major began its existence at the

beginning of Beethoven’s middle period (1802-1812). The classical

connection manifests itself in the sonata’s opening movement (Allegro).

As pianist and Beethoven scholar Alfred Brendel points out, there is a

Mozartian first theme with a question-and-answer phrase, and

pronounced rhythmic contours are followed by a second, more melodious

theme that ends in the dominant key. Both devices are typical of Mozart,

Haydn, and the other great masters of the classical period. The second

movement (Scherzo) is unusual in that its name suggests an ABA format

but it instead features a fully developed sonata-allegro form. The tempo

is ebullient and frisky, with the rhythm in duple rather than the

customary triple time. For the third movement (Menuetto), Beethoven

eschewed the customary slow movement in favor of a minuet. The trio of

this movement provided Camille Saint-Saens (1835-1921) with the basis

for his Variations on a Theme ofBeethoven for Two Pianos, op. 35. The

fourth movement (Presto con fuoco) was commonly referred to in the

nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as “La chasse.” It is also in the

sonata-allegro format and explodes into a kind of moto perpetuo, which

appears to be a prognostication of the last movement of Beethoven’s

Symphony No. 3 (“Eroica”), which he composed the following year.

The three sonatas in Beethoven’s op. 10 came into existence 

during the latter part of his first, “Viennese” period (1793-1802). The

Sonata in D Major, op. 10, no. 3, was dedicated to the wife of a Russian

nobleman, Countess von Braun, in whose house Beethoven was warmly

welcomed. The opening movement (Presto) follows the sonata-allegro

format. The main theme is introduced by the first four descending notes

of the first measure. According to the preeminent English writer on

music, Eric Blom (1888-1959), these notes are not a melody per se, but

function in the manner of a Wagnerian Leitmotiv. The second theme is

also derived from these core notes. Beethoven uses the minor form of the

tonic (D minor) to move to the key of B-flat major for the development 

section, the principal interest of which lies in the foreign key ranges it

explores before returning to the tonic (D major) for the recapitulation.

Here the material from the exposition is reintroduced with the necessary

key changes and brought to an end with a lengthy coda that is centered

on a tonic (D) pedal point.

The second movement (Largo e mesto) is a haunting evocation of

inner despair set in the lugubrious key of D minor. Such emotional

profundity prompted pianist Wilhelm Kempff to remark: “The doors

leading into the light-filled palaces of Vienna are locked and barred.

Beethoven is ‘alone and cut off from all joy.’ We are profoundly moved

by this self-revelation of a man in the depths of despair.” The shortest of

the four movements, the Menuetto, lasts a little longer than two and a

half minutes. It is a model of simplicity, with a tuneful theme that is light

and affable. The fourth movement (Rondo: Allegro) arises from an

upward-moving three-note triplet figure in the opening measure. This

figure is treated with jocularity and inventiveness, giving the Rondo a

splendid disposition. However, the movement closes with an imposing

coda in which the final measures present “muttering allusions in the

bass” (Blom).

Frederic Chopin found complete satisfaction in composing works

for solo piano, excelling in the shorter musical forms (preludes, etudes,

waltzes, scherzos, and ballades). Modeled after the Well-Tempered

Clavier of Johann Sebastian Bach, whom Chopin idolized, the Preludes,

op. 28, cover all major and minor keys. They are, as John Gillespie says

in Five Centuries ofKeyboard Music, “very much like Bach’s preludes,

not in technical style but in attitude and basic concept. The

Preludes...faithfully reflect the soul of the romantic musician....Before

displaying his collection, a jeweler will polish his stones to perfection.

The musical jeweler Chopin polished his Preludes to the highest state of

flawlessness that is humanly possible. Again quoting Gillespie: “[when]

played as a set, [the Preludes] provide a tonal mosaic, a prism of

different hues. Heard singly, each emerges as a delectable inspiration

born of concentrated emotion.”

Some of Chopin’s compositions garnered poetic or literary

nicknames, such as the “Raindrop” Prelude, the “Revolutionary” Etude,

and the “Winter Wind” Etude. None of his nocturnes bear such
inscriptions, yet they are every bit as effective and impressive as the

preludes and etudes. A perfect example is the Nocturne No. 1 in C-sharp

Minor, op. 27. Dedicated to the Countess d’Apponyi, it is a work of

sublime lyricism. James Huneker (1857-1921), the perspicacious 

American writer on music, wrote in his prefatory notes to the Joseffy

edition of Chopin’s Complete Works for the Pianoforte: “Nocturne, op.

27, no. 1, brings us to a masterpiece....In the somber key of C-sharp

minor, it is a great essay in the form.” Henry T. Finck (1854-1926), an

eminent American music critic and editor, maintained that “it [op. 27, no.

1] embodies a greater variety of emotion and more genuine dramatic

spirit on four pages than many operas on four hundred.”

Although they do not represent the “big guns” in his arsenal of

works, Chopin’s waltzes embody the charm and sophistication inherent

in his musical expression. About the waltzes, Huneker says: “They [run]

the gamut [from] the Warsaw Chopin to the Chopin of Paris. And they

all dance. They are a veritable ‘Dance of the Nerves.’” The waltzes take

the ABA format that is common to Chopin’s mazurkas, etudes,

nocturnes, and polonaises. In addition, they exemplify his total mastery

of a quintessential miniature form.

The famous Minute Waltz, op. 64, no. 1, is reputed to have been

inspired by a comment of George Sand (1804-1876). One day when her

dog was chasing its tail, she allegedly asked Chopin to “set the tail to

music.” Chopin acquiesced by completing this waltz, which he

introduced to a Parisian audience in 1848. That recital, one of his most

daring, was also his last.

The Waltz in C-sharp Minor, op. 64, is dedicated to Mme.

Nathaniel de Rothschild and “is the most poetic of all...a species of

veiled melancholy,” according to Huneker. The Waltz, op. 70, no. 1, in

G-flat Major was made famous by its inclusion in the one-act ballet Les

Sylphides, by Michel Fokine. The final waltz, op. 42 in A-flat major, is

considered one of Chopin’s finest and is sometimes referred to as the

“two-four waltz” because a melody in double time is played against the

basic waltz rhythm of three-four time.

The Scherzo No. 2 in B-flat Minor, op. 31, is one of six that

Chopin wrote. Two are included in his piano sonatas, and four were

published separately. Heard frequently in concerts, Scherzo No. 2 has

been passed from generation to generation by teachers, students, and the

general public. Written by Chopin at age thirty-one, it is a work of

enduring grandeur. Schumann spoke of it as “so tender, so bold, [and] as

full of love as of scorn.” The opening segment (A) features an

extravagant array of thematic material, brimming with ideas of striking

originality. Particularly noteworthy is the use of silence as a dramatic

device. The trio section (B) unveils a song of unsurpassed beauty, one of

Chopin’s most sensuous melodies. The opening material (A) returns and

leads to a dynamic coda of resounding brilliance.

Program notes by Elmer Booze

The use of cameras or recording equipment during

the performance is not allowed. Please he sure that cell

phones, pagers, and other electronic devices are turned off.

For the convenience ofconcertgoers

the Garden Cafe remains open until 6:30 p.m.