Written when Mendelssohn was fifteen years old, the Rondo

capriccioso 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 of the

fairy tale.

- Program notes by Elmer Booze

Concerts at the National Gallery ofArt

Under the Direction of George Manos

December 1998

20 Washington Men’s Camerata

Thomas Beveridge, conductor

Christmas concert

27 The Leonardo Trio 

Cameron Grant, piano

Erica Kiesewetter, violin

Jonathan Spitz, cello

Beethoven:

Rihm:

Schumann:

Trio in G Major,;

Op. 1, No. 2

Fremde Szene III

Trio in D Minor

January 1999

3 Brett Polegato, baritone

Iain Burnside, pianist

Schumann: Five Songs, Op. 40

Kilpinen: Songs ofDeath

Selected songs by Beethoven,

Finzi, Ives, and Copland

10 National Gallery Orchestra

George Manos, conductor

Gala Viennese

New Year Concert

17 Gregory Sioles, pianist Works by Debussy, J. S. Bach,

John Corigliano, Chopin, and

Liszt

The use ofcameras or recording equipment

during theperformance is not allowed.

Forthe convenience ofconcertgoers

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

The Fifty-seventh Season of

THE WILLIAM NELSON CROMWELL and 

E LAMMOT BELIN CONCERTS

National Gallery of Art

2289th Concert

MIA CHUNG, pianist

Sunday Evening, December 13, 1998

Seven O’clock

West Building, West Garden Court

Admissionfree
PROGRAM

Robert Schumann (Arr. Franz Liszt) Widmung

(1840)

Ludwig van Beethoven Seven Bagatelles, Opus 33

(1770-1827) (1801-1802)

Andante grazioso, quasi allegretto

Scherzo allegro

Allegretto

Andante

Allegro, ma non troppo

Allegretto quasi andante: Con una certa

espressione parlante

Presto

INTERMISSION

Ludwig van Beethoven Sonata No. 31 in A-flat Major

(1770-1827) Opus 110 (1821)

Moderato cantabile molto espressivo;

Allegro molto

Adagio ma non troppo; Fuga: Allegro ma non

troppo

Felix Mendelssohn Rondo capriccioso in E Minor

(1809-1847) Opus 14 (1824)

MIA CHUNG was born in Madison, Wisconsin, and grew

up in the Washington, D.G., area. She has quickly ascended to

the top ranks ofAmerican’s young pianists, earning wide praise

for her incisive interpretations in performance and on recordings. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard College, a

master’s degree from Yale University, and a doctorate from the

Juilliard School of Music. Her teachers have included Peter

Serkin, Boris Berman, Raymond Hanson, Anne Koscielny, and

George Manos. She was first prize winner ofthe Concert Artists

Guild Competition in 1993, in addition to receiving the United

States Trust Award and the Channel Classics Prize. Chosen as

an artistic ambassador by the United States Information Agency

in 1993, Mia Chung became the first American pianist to perform in Kazakhstan, the Kirghiz Republic, and the Turkmen

Republic. She also toured the former Soviet Union, Thailand,

Singapore, and the South Pacific Island of Tonga. In 1997 she

was awarded an Avery Fisher career grant. Mia Chung is currently artist-in-residence and assistant professor of music at

Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts. A resident tutor at

Harvard College, she appears at the National Gallery by arrangement with the Concert Artists Guild of New York.

Widmung is the first of four songs in Schumann’s Opus 25, to

which he gave the collective title Myrthen (Wreaths). It is a sensuous and highly lyrical song, a masterpiece in its genre. Liszt’s

transcription of it as a solo piano piece is equally captivating,

showing his genius as a transcriber with a remarkable imagination.

Translated literally, bagatelles means trifles or frivolities. For 

Beethoven, however, the title appears to refer to the fact that

the pieces so named follow no established forms and present

many shifts of mood. His Bagatelles, Opus 22 are technically less

difficult than most of his other piano works and are very popular

with students and amateurs. However, as the noted Austrian

pianist Alfred Brendel remarked: “One should never forget that

Beethoven played them himself and probably did so with the art

that conceals art. If one treats them as trifles, trifles they remain. Ifone plays them for all they are worth, they are a true delight.”

The Sonata, Opus 110 is the only work Beethoven completed

during the year 1821 and is one of his most personal compositions. The sonata’s songlike expression is its virtue, yet there is

no disposition or temperament evident until the arrival of the

second movement. Here, Beethoven’s genius excels in portraying the human soul’s despondency. Moreover, it is the same

Beethoven who convincingly elevates the soul moments later to

a meaningful celestial ascendency. The sonata was greeted with

much success after its first public performance in 1824. The

German music magazine, AllgemeineMusikalischeZeitung, reported:

“It is a work in every respect wholly excellent, extremely melodious throughout, and rich in harmonic beauties.”