Concerts at the National Gallery ofArt

March and April 2002

March

3 The Jerusalem Trio

10 Earl Wild, pianist

17 Amsterdam Loecki

Stardust Quartet

24 Alicia de Laroccha,

pianist

Presented in honor of

the exhibition: Goya,

Images of Women

31

April

7 Elena Martin and Jose

Meliton, duo pianists

Presented in honor of

the exhibition Goya:

Images of Women

Ben-Haim: Variations on a Hebrew

Melody

Mendelssohn: Piano Trio, Op. 49

Shostakovich: Trio, Op. 67, No. 2

Mozart: Sonata in F, KV. 332

Beethoven: Variations in C Minor

Mendelssohn: Rondo capriccioso

Chopin: Various works

Music for recorders by Merula,

Locke, Sammartini, Pachelbel, and

other composers

Chopin: Nocturne, Op. 32, No. I,

Barcarolle, Op. 60, Berceuse,

Op. 57

Turina: Danzasfantasticas, Op. 22

Albeniz: Selections from Iberia

No concert

Works for two pianos four hands

by Granados, Albeniz,

de Falla, and Soler

The Sixtieth Season of

THE WILLIAM NELSON CROMWELL and

F. LAMMOT BELIN CONCERTS

National Gallery of Art

mmrnmrn

2411th Concert

BABETTE HIERHOLZER, pianist

Sunday Evening, 24 February 2002

Seven O'clock

West Building, West Garden Court

Admission free
PROGRAM

Muzio Clementi

(1752-1832)

Sonata in F-sharp Minor

Op. 26, No. 2 (1788)

Piuttosto allegro con espressione

Lento e patetico

Presto

Clara Schumann

(1819-1896)

Quatre polonaises pour le pianoforte 

Op. 1 (1828—c. 1830)

No. 1 in E-flat Major

No. 2 in C Major

No. 3 in D Major

No. 4 in C Major

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Rondo capriccioso, Op. 14

(1809-1856) (1824)

Robert Schumann

(1810-1856)

INTERMISSION

Variations on a Theme ofClara Wieck in F Minor

Op. 14 (1835-1836)

Sonata No. 2 in G Minor

Op. 22 (1833-1838)

So rasch wie moglich

Andantino

Scherzo

Rondo: Presto

A veteran of the concert stage who has also made her mark in the world

of film, Babette Hierholzer has garnered an impressive array of

accolades. From her many successful concert tours around the world, the

critical reviews have been unanimous in their praise: “Closer to Mozart

than many a world star. This Berlin artist fulfills highest expectations”

{Berliner Zeitung); “The kind of virtuosity with which only top

international stars are blessed” {Der Tagesspiegel)\ “The pianist’s

melding of classical temperament and virtuoso technique cast a spell.

Hierholzer’s assets were clearly apparent, with a superbly articulate right

hand and a sure sense of style, she made the music come alive”

{Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). Hierholzer, who now lives in New York

State, was bom in Freiburg, Germany, and raised in Berlin, where she

had her first piano lessons at the age of five with Elizabeth DouniasSindermann and Wolfgang Saschow. Subsequently she studied with

Herbert Stessin, Paul Badura-Skoda, Maria Tipo, and Bruno Leonardo

Gelber. Hierholzer has made a number of recordings for MARUS/EMI

Electrola, playing works by Schumann (including the recently

discovered Exercises and Variations on a Theme by Beethoven),

Couperin, Debussy, Mozart, and Scarlatti. She performed the sound track

and the role of Clara Wieck as a double/stand-in for Nastassia Kinski in

Peter Schamoni’s film Spring Symphony, about the life of Robert

Schumann. Babette Hierholzer appears at the Gallery by arrangement 

with Del Rosenfield Associates, Inc., of Riverdale, New York.

dementi’s Sonata in F-sharp Minor, Op. 26, No. 2, was written during

his stay in London between 1785 and 1802, which came to be known as

his “middle London period.” This sonata is purported to have been a

favorite of Ludwig van Beethoven, dementi’s writing style for the

pianoforte propelled him far ahead of his contemporaries, with a

technique and tonal result that outshone the limited ability of the

declining harpsichord. His expansive and vigorous manipulation of the

keyboard and intermittent interjection of bold musical ideas appealed to

Beethoven, who carried these musical extravaganzas to newer and

grander heights.
Clara Wieck was a young girl between the ages of ten and twelve when

she composed her Four Polonaises, Op. 1. Less than three minutes each

in length, they are laid out in the ABA format, with simple melodies and

uncomplicated rhythmic patterns. They are remarkable as the

compositions of a young person whose fellow students were just being

introduced to genre pieces for the piano. The authentic polonaise quality

of each indicates precocity and knowledge of musical style on the part of

the composer, and their charm and appeal is generated through the

innocence of a youthful mind.

A twelve-year-old Clara Wieck writing music that is authentic to a

musical genre is rare, but a fifteen-year-old boy writing music that earns

a place in the permanent repertoire is unique. Such was the case with

Felix Mendelssohn, who was already an accomplished composer before

the age of fifteen, when he wrote the Rondo capriccioso, Op. 14. The

work begins with an Andante that is melodious and of sublime

tenderness, followed by a Rondo, marked prestissimo. In this segment,

Mendelssohn displays his extraordinary gift for writing lighthearted 

music.

Robert Schumann’s Variations on a Theme by Clara Wieck also

appears as the third movement of his F-minor Sonata, Op. 14, which he

called a Concerto without Orchestra. The theme is a twelve-measure 

melody entitled Andantino that Clara Wieck wrote before she met

Schumann. The melody is full of imaginative pensiveness that the late

music critic Edward Downes (1911—2001) referred to as “the wistful,

serious character of the child Clara, who, at thirteen, had fallen in love

with her twenty-one-year-old friend, ‘Herr Schumann.”’ Schumann

provided the theme with four variations.

Schumann’s Sonata No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 22, is a work with musical

demands that are as intriguing as its technical requirements. One of only

three in this genre by Schumann (four, if his Fantasy in C Major, Op. 17,

is counted as a sonata, given its formalized structure and inherent musical

characteristics), it took five years to complete. The first movement (So

rasch wie m^glich) can be seen to express Schumann’s depression over

the long delay that preceded his marriage to Clara Wieck. The

speed changes twice after the first burst of energy (prestissimo), with

directions to play faster (pC mosso) and even faster (pCmosso ancora)

toward the end of the movement. The second movement (Andante)

boasts a melody from Schumann’s youthful song-writing period, entitled

Im Flerbste. It is one of his most endearing inspirations, revealing the

composer’s emotional sensitivity. The third movement (Scherzo: Allegro

molto) with its “snap, crackle, and pop” rhythmic drive, provides a sharp

contrast to the fourth movement (Rondo: Presto). Here, the rhythm is

ebullient and impetuous, not unlike that of the first movement. The

contrasting first and second themes ofthe movement appear to reflect the

opposite personalities of Florestan and Eusebius, two characters from

Schumann’s stories and essays. According to writer Fred Ritzel: “The

range of expression [of Op. 22] is great, sometimes dangerously so; it is

not a piece that plays itself, as a good deal of classical and romantic

music does. Only an interpretative artist to whom its technical

difficulties pose no problems...is capable of presenting this work as one

of the most masterly achievements in the realm of romantic piano

music.”

Program notes by Elmer Booze

During the months ofJanuary and February,

recent performances by the National Gallery Orchestra

Can be heard Wednesday evenings at 9:00 p.m. on WETA, 90.9 FM.

The use ofcameras or recording equipment during

the performance is not allowed. Please be sure that all

electronic devices are turned offduring the performance.