Concerts at the National Gallery ofArt

March and April 2002

March

17 Amsterdam Loeki

Stardust Quartet

24 Alicia de Larrocha,

pianist

Presented in honor of

the exhibition Goya:

Images of Women

31 No concert

April

7 Elena Martin and Jose

Meliton, duo pianists

Presented in honor of

the exhibition Goya:

Images of Women

14

Music for recorders by Merula,

Locke, Sammartini, Pachelbel, and

other composers

Granados: Goyescas, Part II

Works by Soler, Albeniz and

Montsalvatge

Works for two pianos four hands

by Granados, Albeniz,

de Falla, and Soler

National Gallery Orchestra Sibelius: Karelia Suite, Op. 11

George Manos, conductor Borodin: In the Steppes ofCentral

Asia

Grieg: Lyric Suite, Op. 54

Beethoven: Symphony No. 8

The use ofcameras or recording equipment during

the performance is not allowed. Please be sure that cell

phones, pagers, and other devices are turned off.

The Sixtieth Season of

THE WILLIAM NELSON CROMWELL and

F. LAMMOT BELIN CONCERTS

National Gallery of Art

2413th Concert

EARL WILD, pianist

Sunday Evening, 10 March 2002

Seven O'clock

West Building, West Garden Court

Admission free
PROGRAM

Alessandro Marcello Adagio from Concerto No. 2 in D Minor

(1686-1739) for Oboe and Strings (c. 1717)

(Arr. Earl Wild)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Sonata in F Major

(1756-1791) K. 332 (1781-1783)

Allegro 

Adagio 

Allegro assai

Ludwig van Beethoven Thirty-two Variations on an Original Theme

in C Minor 

WoO 80 (1806)

Felix Mendelssohn Rondo capriccioso

(1809-1847) Op. 14(1824)

INTERMISSION

Frederic Chopin Nocturne in F-sharp Major

(1810-1849) Op. 15, No. 2 (1830-1831)

Ballade No. 1 in G Minor

Op. 23 (1831-1835)

Fantaisie-impromptu 

Op. 66 (1835)

Andante Spianato and Grand Polonaise

Op. 22 (1834)

Scherzo No. 2 in B-flat Major 

Op. 31 (1837)

Considered by many “the last ofthe great Romantic pianists,” Earl Wild

is often heralded as a “super virtuoso.” One of only a handful of living

pianists to merit an entry in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and

Musicians, he is therein described as a pianist whose technique “is able

to encompass even the most difficult virtuoso works with apparent

ease.... Wild’s success is based on the popular appeal ofthe image ofthe

‘Romantic giant.’” Recently included in the Philips Records series, The

100 Great Pianists of the Twentieth Century, Wild is a legendary figure,

performing throughout the world for more than seven decades. He has

been featured on two occasions in Time magazine, the more recent of

which honored his eighty-fifth birthday.

Wild showed outstanding musical ability at an early age in Pittsburgh,

Pennsylvania, where he was born 26 November 1915. At age three, he

was discovered to have absolute pitch; at six, he had a fluent keyboard

technique and could read music easily. Before his twelfth birthday, he

was accepted as a pupil of the famous teacher Selmar Janson, who had

studied with Eugen d’Albert (1864—1932) and Xaver Scharwenka

(1850-1924), both students of the great Franz Lizst (181 1-1886). He

was placed into a program for artistically gifted young people at

Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Institute of Technology, now known as Carnegie

Mellon University. In his early teens, he played piano and celeste with

the Pittsburgh Symphony under Otto Klemperer and stepped in at the last

minute to play Liszt’s First Piano Concerto with the Minneapolis

Symphony when it was on tour in Pittsburgh. Throughout his teenage

years, the young pianist transcribed and arranged many orchestral works

for piano and played them on radio broadcasts. By age nineteen, he was

a concert hall veteran.

Wild’s other teachers included the eminent German pianist and

pedagogue of Dutch descent, Egon Petri (1881-1962), who was a

student of Ferruccio Busoni (1866—1924); the distinguished French

pianist Paul Doguereau (1908—2000), who was a pupil of Paderewski

and Ravel; and Madame Helene Barere, the wife of the great Russian

pianist Simon Barere (1896-1951).
Earl Wild has been a pioneer in the world of television broadcasting 

since 1939, when NBC began transmitting the first live musical telecasts.

He continued to appear regularly on radio and television as a contracted 

performer for NBC until 1944 and for ABC until 1968. At ABC he

conducted and performed many of his own compositions, including an

oratorio for chorus, orchestra, soloists, and dancers, entitled Revelations.

In 1986 his artistry was the subject of a TV documentary entitled Wild

about Liszt, which received the British Petroleum Award for best

musical documentary.

During World War II, Wild served in the United States Navy as a

musician, playing flute in the Navy Band as well as solo piano recitals

and concertos. One ofthose recitals was the second concert performed at

the National Gallery. It took place on 3 January 1943 and included

works by Bach, Medtner, Kreisler, Ravel, Dohnanyi and Liszt. During

the ensuing five months, Wild appeared five times at the Gallery, either 

as soloist or in collaboration with violinist Oscar Shumsky and violist 

Emanuel Vardi. While he was in the Navy, Wild was frequently 

requested to accompany First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt on her speaking

engagements, at which he performed the national anthem as a prelude to

her speeches. He has the singular honor of having played at the invitation

ofsix consecutive presidents, beginning with Herbert Hoover.

Earl Wild is one of the world’s most recorded pianists, having made

his first disc in 1937 for RCA. Since then he has recorded for more than

twenty different record labels, among them EMI, CBS, RCA/BMG,

Vanguard, Nonesuch, and Reader’s Digest. Since 1998 he has recorded 

exclusively for the Ivory Classics label. In 1986 the People’s Republic of

Hungary awarded the Liszt Medal to Wild in recognition of his long and

devoted association with the music of Franz Liszt. He presently holds the

title of Distinguished Visiting Artist at his alma mater, Carnegie Mellon

University. In 1996 Carnegie Mellon accorded Wild the Alumni Merit

Award and in 2000 further honored him with the prestigious 

Distinguished Achievement Award. Earl Wild appears at the National 

Gallery by arrangement with Mayfair Artist Representatives of New

York City.

The second movement from Alessandro Marcello’s Oboe Concerto in D

Minor is the high point of a work that has been described as conceivably 

the most melodic and significant oboe concerto of the baroque period.

The Adagio, with its stately melody accompanied by a steadfast rhythmic

pattern in eighth notes, makes an impression of elevated deportment and

grandeur that is equaled only by some passages in baroque operas.

Written and published in Vienna, Mozart’s Sonata in F Major, K. 332,

reflects none of the tragedy and sorrow he experienced during his stay

there between 1781 and 1784: money problems, the loss of his first child

(a son), and friction over his hasty marriage to Constanza Weber that

arose between him and his father. On the contrary, the sonata radiates

zeal and craftsmanship, belying the fact that it was written within a few

months. The opening movement {Allegro) is in sonata allegro form and

abounds with seemingly unrelated melodies that have been judiciously

juxtaposed by Mozart. The fact that he was able to create a logical

solution that renders these melodies compatible is remarkable.

Moreover, the music is bright and jaunty, attesting to his unique genius.

The second movement {Adagio), in binary form, is pure melodic poetry

in ascension, while the third movement {Allegro assai), like the first

movement, contains a series of themes. After a delightful display of

scales and cheerful hunting-calls, it ends with a brief coda, played

pianissimo.

Thirty-two Variations on an Original Theme in C Minor, WoO 80, is

one of the twenty themes with variations that Beethoven wrote for solo

piano. Of this number, however, only five are based on original themes;

the rest are constructed on themes by other composers. The opening

theme in this case is eight bars long and lends itself well to the ensuing

variations, which offer a daring display of virtuosity calculated to

impress the listener. But, as stated by pianist Alfred Brendel: “[The

virtuosity] is no longer aimed only at elegance, rather it is one more

difficulty to be overcome in a grandiose combat.”

Mendelssohn wrote the Rondo capriccioso, Op. 14, when he was just

fifteen years old. It is a delicate and delightful example of his gift for

writing lighthearted music that has, among its many virtues, a

diaphanous texture inherent in the enchanted world ofthe fairy tale.
Of the three nocturnes in Chopin’s Op. 15 (dedicated to the German

pianist, composer, and conductor Ferdinand Hiller, who lived from

181 1-1885), Nocturne No. 2 in F-sharp Major is the most popular and

most often played. Its melody line is highly vocal and well ornamented,

and seems to stem directly from melodies in Bellini’s operas, which

Chopin adored. Within its sixty-two measures, Chopin managed to pen

one of his most exquisite keyboard miniatures in a tripartite (ABA)

format. The opening melody (A), marked larghetto, ends with an

ornamental lacework of the most frangible weave that is followed by an

interlude of a broader tonal palette. The middle section (B) is marked

doppio movimento (twice as fast). Here the music is less colorful than

before, although it is quite dramatic and presents a brief but ferocious

climax. The returning larghetto melody (A), while shorter in length than

its initial appearance, is no less enchanting. The work ends with a

rapturous coda that exudes imagination as well as serenity.

The Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23, according to many Chopin

experts, alludes to the poem Konrad Wallenrod, by Chopin’s compatriot 

Adam Mickiewicz. It tells of a young Lithuanian prince who is captured 

and then adopted by a knight of the Red Cross in the late fourteenth

century. The boy subsequently escapes to his native land, only to find

himself sent back among the enemy knights as a spy. In the end, he dies

a traitor’s death. James Huneker writes that Chopin’s Ballade is written

in “true narrative tone,” but concedes, “With such a composition, any

program could be sworn to.”

The Fantaisie-impromptu in C-sharp Minor, Op. 66, was published 

after Chopin’s death. The melodic beauty of the work, the opening

pianistic dialogue, and the gorgeous middle section marked moderato

cantabile provide a perfect balance. In 1918, the team of Harry Carroll

and Joseph McCarthy borrowed Chopin’s masterpiece for their popular 

song hit, I’m Always Chasing Rainbows.

The polonaise is a Polish processional dance in 3A time and moderate 

tempo. According to Grove’s Dictionary, the French name dates from

the seventeenth century. In its numerous forms, the polonaise served

both as a peasant dance and in ceremonies for the court. To the Grande

polonaise brillante, Op. 22, with orchestral accompaniment, Chopin

added an introductory unaccompanied piece, which he entitled Andante

spianato. The composite work can be performed with an orchestral

accompaniment or as a piano solo, spinning out its dazzling effects with

the utmost showmanship.

The Scherzo No. 2 in B-flat Minor, Op. 31, is one of Chopin’s

unquestioned masterpieces. The Italian word scherzo refers to a joke or a

bit of whimsy. Chopin departed entirely from the idea of humor and

made his four scherzos into larger pictures of human struggle and repose.

In Op. 31 Chopin allows complete abandon to prevail amidst the never

ceasing fast % rhythm, almost as though his creative thought had led him

to a bizarre and dramatic waltz. The work ends with one of the most

unrelenting climaxes in piano literature.

Program notes up to and including the first Chopin work by

Elmer Booze

Notes on the remaining Chopin works by Michael R. Davis,

adapted and edited by Elmer Booze