The use of cameras or recording equipment during the 

performance is not allowed. Please be sure that cell phone

pagers, and other electronic devices are turned off.

Please note that late entry or reentry ofthe 

West Building after 6:30 pm is not permitted.

For the convenience of concertgoers, 

the Garden Cafe remains open for light refreshments

until 6:00 pm on Sundays.

Music Department

National Gallery ofArt

Sixth Street and Constitution Avenue nw

Washington, DC

www.nga.gov

The Seventieth Season of

The William Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot Belin

Concerts

National Gallery ofArt

2,879th Concert

Cyrus Forough, violinist

Stephen Ackert, pianist

March 18, 2012

Sunday, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

Admissionfree
Program

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

Sonata in A Majorfor Violin and Piano, op. 30, no. 1 (1801-1802)

Allegro

Adagio molto espressivo

Allegretto con variazioni

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Ciacconafrom Partita no. 2 for Solo Violin, BWV 1004 (1717-1723)

INTERMISSION

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)

Sonata in D Major, op. 1, no. 13 (c. 1750)

Affettuoso

Allegro

Larghetto

Allegro

Ernest Bloch (1880-1959)

“Nigun” (Improvisation) from Throe Pictures ofHasidic Life (1934)

Manuel de Falla (1876-1946)

Danza espanola no. 1 from La Vida breve (1904-1905)

Transcribed for violin and piano by Fritz Kreisler

The Musicians

CYRUS FOROUGH

A former pupil ofArthur Grumiaux, David Oistrakh, and Josef Gingold,

violinist Cyrus Forough is a laureate ofthe Tchaikovsky International

Competition, first-prize winner ofthe Milwaukee Symphony Violin Competition, and with his wife, pianist Carolyn McCracken, winner ofthe United

States Information Agency’s National Violin and Piano Duo Competition.

He also holds the World Academy ofArts, Literature, and Media Award in

recognition of his contributions to classical music and education. Forough’s

recital and orchestra appearances throughout eastern and western Europe,

Russia, and the Middle East have been praised by audiences and critics alike:

“Warsaw’s audience especially loved violinist Cyrus Forough. His instrumental

ability and beautiful cantilenas won enthusiastic and prolonged applause”

(Warsaw News)', “Deep interpretive insight and technical mastery” (Pravda);

“A deeply poetic vision ofmystic quality... he gives the music his essence and

then the miracle happens” {La Libre Belgique). He has performed with the

Alabama Symphony Orchestra, the Belgian National Radio Orchestra, the

Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and the National Gallery ofArt Orchestra.

His live and recorded performances have been broadcast on radio and

television on four continents.

Formerly a professor ofviolin at Roosevelt University’s College of

Performing Arts, Forough is currently professor ofviolin at Carnegie Mellon 

University in Pittsburgh and artist-in-residence at the Music Institute of

Chicago. Much in demand as a teacher, his students include prizewinners

in many national and international competitions, as well as members of

the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the New World 

Symphony Orchestra, and the symphony orchestras ofCalgary, Houston, and

Milwaukee. Forough serves on the faculties of a number ofsummer academies, including the Academic Internationale de Musique de Montpellier in

France, the Beverly Hills International Chamber Music Festival in California,

and the Bowdoin International Music Festival in Maine.

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STEPHEN ACKERT

Now in his eighth year as head ofthe music department at the National

Gallery ofArt, Stephen Ackert studied the organ at Oberlin College; Northwestern University; the Hochschule fur Music in Frankfurt am Main,

Germany; and the University ofWisconsin in Madison, where he completed 

his doctoral studies in organ in 1974. A resident ofthe Washington area

since 1979, he has performed at many ofits premier venues, including the 

Kennedy Center, the National Cathedral, and the National Shrine ofthe

Immaculate Conception. In 2008 he undertook his ninth recital tour of

historic concert halls and churches in Germany, and in 2010 he played for

the national convention ofthe American Liszt Society.

In addition to his administrative duties at the Gallery, Ackert presents

lectures and preconcert talks on the interrelationships between music and 

art. His lectures and recitals on organ, piano, and harpsichord have also

been heard at the Amalfi Coast Music and Art Festival in Italy; the Austrian, 

German, and Italian embassies in Washington; the Kennedy Center; and the 

Walters Art Museum in Baltimore.

4

Program Notes

Ludwig van Beethoven composed most of his opus 30 violin sonatas between 

March and May of 1802, after having relocated from Bonn to Heiligenstadt

in hopes ofimproving his hearing. During this desperate period, as the

composer struggled with and finally began to accept his impending deafness, the sonatas came to life, along with the opus 31 piano sonatas and the

Second Symphony. Dedicated to Tsar Alexander 1 of Russia, the Sonata in A

Major opens with a movement in standard sonata form but with two eccentricities— Beethoven extends and varies the main theme as he repeats it, and 

modulates to the dominant key after only sixteen measures. The second 

movement is a haunting, expressive episode in rondo form. Choosing to

write a theme and six variations for the final movement, Beethoven provides

an opening theme with strong ties to the primary themes ofthe first two

movements, and the variations allow for a versatile and virtuosic conclusion 

to the sonata. Still unusual for Beethoven in 1802, the practice of composing

a final movement in variation form became a common device in many of his

later compositions.

Johann Sebastian Bach’s partitas for solo violin represent the apex of polyphonic writing for non-keyboard instruments, and they played an important

role in advancing violin technique. The final movement of Partita no. 2 in D

Minor—“Ciaccona” (sometimes identified by its French title, “Chaconne”) — 

is a series of variations based on a repeated harmonic pattern that stands

alone as the most intellectually powerful and musically complex work ever

written for an unaccompanied string instrument. The “Ciaccona” consists of

sixty-four variations across three sections (first D minor, then D major, and

again D minor) and lasts roughly fifteen minutes, longer than the partita’s

first four movements combined. Johannes Brahms wrote ofthe movement,

“IfI... could have created, even conceived the piece, I am quite certain that

the excess of excitement and earth-shattering experience would have driven

me out ofmy mind.” Even today it is considered one ofthe most technically

demanding pieces in the violin repertoire.

In 1724 George Frideric Handel’s publisher, John Walsh (c. 1666-1736) 

released a collection offifteen sonatas composed for undetermined solo

5
instruments and basso continuo accompaniment. Although it is traditional 

to play these sonatas on flute, oboe, or violin, six ofthe fifteen are generally

treated as violin sonatas. When Walsh’s successor reissued the set in 1750,

he inserted two new sonatas, including the Sonata in D Major, no. 13. The

form follows that of a standard baroque church sonata, alternating slow and 

fast movements. The first movement resembles Handel’s lyrical operatic 

arias. The second is brilliant and virtuosic, imitating the agile singing style

of his more energetic arias. The third movement mirrors the first in expressive power but adds a sense oftragedy previously unrealized, and the fourth

concludes the piece in a lively, dancelike finale in triple meter.

Swiss composer Ernest Bloch completed his studies in Brussels and

Frankfurt-am-Main and subsequently immigrated to the United States in

1916. Bloch’s early works exhibit the influence ofthe titanic turn-of-thetwentieth-century composers Claude Debussy and Richard Strauss. By 1934,

when Bloch transcribed Three Pictures ofHasidic Life for violin from the 

original cello and piano version, he was turning increasingly to his Jewish

heritage for inspiration. The middle movement, “Nigun,” is an extroverted

piece evoking the deep religious feelings associated with the atonement for

sin. This movement is often performed separately from the suite’s melancholy outer movements, as in tonight’s program.

In Manuel de Falla’s opera, La Vida breve, a young man named Paco,

makes plans to marry the wealthy Carmela, having promised his love to a

gypsy girl, Salud, only the day before. Salud confronts Paco before his

wedding guests, and when he refuses to acknowledge their love, she collapses in death. Amid the tempestuous events ofthe second act, a Spanish

dance emerges, featuring the stomping, clapping, and bustling activity of an 

extravagant wedding reception. The energetic and catchy dance melody

alternates in major and minor modes, thus juxtaposing the joyful chaos of a

wedding celebration with the melancholy ofthe impending tragedy. The

orchestral music that accompanies the dance in the opera was transcribed

for solo violin and piano by Fritz Kreisler.

Program notes by Michael Jacko, concert aide, National Gallery ofArt

6

Upcoming concerts at the National Gallery ofArt

Jessica Jones, soprano

Danielle Hahn, pianist

Music by Nadia and Lili Boulanger,

Copland, and Robert and Clara Schumann

March 25, 2012

Sunday, 6:30 pm

East Building Auditorium

Taikoza

Japanese traditional music

for drums and flute

First concert in the 

National Gallery ofArt

Cherry Blossom Music Festival

March 31, 2012

Saturday, 4:00 pm

West Building, Mall Entrance 

(Outdoor performance, weather permitting)