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Brahms’ American Sextet at Marlboro

Brahms, the American composer?

Brahms’ String Sextet No. 2 in G major was given its first performance in Boston in 1866. Actually, Brahms composed most of the work in the bucolic setting of Lichtental, near Baden-Baden, in 1864-65. This transatlantic sextet will be my featured work on this week’s “Music from Marlboro.”

Brahms, ever in love, concealed the name of his most recent crush, Agathe von Siebold, in the first movement. She’s represented by the notes A-G-A-H-E. (In German, “H” is B-flat.) The move may have been a little tacky, since at the time he happened to be staying with his other crush, Clara Schumann. But he was, after all, 33 years-old. Brahms being Brahms, nothing came of either infatuation – at least that we know of.

Brahms’ Sextet received its European premiere the next month in Zurich, but I’m claiming it as American music.

We’ll hear it performed at the 1967 Marlboro Music Festival by violinists Pina Carmirelli and John Toth, violists Philipp Naegele and Caroline Levine, and cellists Fortunato Arico and Dorothy Reichenberger.

Brahms puts the “sex” in “sextet,” on this week’s “Music from Marlboro,” this Wednesday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

Marlboro School of Music and Festival: Official Page

PHOTO: Brahms, rocking a widow’s peak, in 1866

March 11, 2020
Bach Barber & Aho on WWFM

We’ll enjoy a nice stack of Barber, Bach, and Kalevi Aho today.

Representatives of The Dryden Ensemble will stop by to talk about the group’s upcoming performances of Bach’s “St. John Passion,” which will take place this weekend, at All Saints’ Church in Princeton (Friday & Saturday at 7:30 p.m.) and Trinity Episcopal Church in Solebury, PA (Sunday at 3).
The interview and musical illustrations will be heard this afternoon at 5:00. I’ll be with you from 4 to 7 p.m EDT.

Good chat. Good music. No corn syrup, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

March 9, 2020
March Music Madness on The Classical Network

Is it too much to hope for a brisk March?

We’ll put the early spring into our step, this afternoon on The Classical Network, and enliven your Friday with a program in 4/4 time.

An all-march afternoon? That’s the fact, Jack!

Marches for band. Symphonic marches. Light music marches. Marches for piano. Marches for string quartet. Funeral marches. Coronation marches. Circus marches.

Fear not, it won’t be all march-or-die, an incessant barrage of three-minute quick marches in 4/4 time. Some of the marches will be embedded in larger works. Some of the works will merely suggest marches.

There will be plenty of time for you to do your warm-ups, during today’s Noontime Concert, as Lenape Chamber Ensemble will perform works by Beethoven (the String Quartet, Op. 18, No. 4), Charles Ives (the Violin Sonata No. 2), and Camille Saint-Saëns (the Piano Trio No. 2).

The next Lenape program will take place this weekend, presented on two concerts, tonight at 8:15 p.m. at Upper Tinicum Lutheran Church in Upper Black Eddy, PA, and Sunday at 3 p.m. at Delaware Valley University in Doylestown. Lenape musicians will perform Franz Schubert’s “Rosamunde” Quartet, Carl Reinecke’s “Undine” Sonata,” and Gabriel Fauré’s Piano Quartet in C minor. For more information, look online at http://www.lenapechamberensemble.org.

Then join me for Beethoven, Ives, and Saint-Saëns, followed by an afternoon of March madness, this Friday from 12 to 6 p.m. EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

March 6, 2020
Vivaldi Bach & More Classical Music Today

It’s Antonio Vivaldi’s birthday! I hope you’ll join me today in celebrating “The Red Priest,” alongside Bernard Haitink, Carlos Surinach, and Alexander Goedicke.

We’ll also enjoy chamber music by Felix Mendelssohn and Leoš Janáček, on this week’s “Music from Marlboro” tonight at 6.

Of course, we’re celebrating Bach all month long. Tune in this afternoon to hear Bach’s reimagining of a Vivaldi concerto, and some of his own music transcribed most ingeniously by Johannes Brahms.

Have you become one of the Bach 500 yet? Call us now, and help us cancel fundraising on March 21st, Bach’s birthday. The number is 1-888-232-1212. Or join us online at wwfm.org. 500 donations in any amount will result in our being able to listen to just Bach’s music on his birthday.

Do it now! Then enjoy the programming you’ve made possible, from 4 to 7 p.m. EST. Thank you for your support of WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

March 4, 2020
Bach 500 Drive Celebrate Bach Month!

Drivers, start your engines!

If you haven’t heard yet, the Bach 500 is underway.

March is “Bach Month” on The Classical Network. In celebration of the anniversary of the birth of Johann Sebastian Bach (on March 21st, 1685), we’re looking for 500 listeners to step up and make a donation IN ANY AMOUNT. You set the level. When we reach 500 donations, we’ll tally in the funds from our Bach Pot – contributions solicited in advance from some especially ardent supporters – and, best of all, we’ll be able to cancel fundraising on Bach’s birthday and enjoy just his music.

You can do your part to make that happen by calling us during business hours at 1-888-232-1212, or by donating online anytime at wwfm.org. While you’re over there, at the website, you can monitor our progress by consulting our Bach 500 membership thermometer. You don’t have to worry about blowing our engines. Your donation is like a blast of nitrous oxide, but we’re definitely built for speed.

PLEASE NOTE: This year, the Big Day actually falls on a Saturday, so we will celebrate with a full day of Bach on Friday, March 20.

To keep us mindful, this afternoon I’ll be offering hourly reminders, harnessed to a short work of Bach; then another work in some way related – for example, one of the Preludes and Fugues of Dmitri Shostakovich (influenced by the “Well-Tempered Klavier”) – followed by something related to the related material, which ideally will have nothing at all to do with Bach, like a Glazunov symphony (Glazunov was a Shostakovich mentor). That will keep it varied, while still getting the message out there.

First, it’s another Noontime Concert, today featuring Tableau Vivant. The ensemble will present a program titled “Telemann in Paris.” Two of Georg Philipp Telemann’s “Paris” Quartets will flank a sonata by Michel Blavet.

The concert is another brought to us by Gotham Early Music Scene, or GEMS. GEMS is a non-profit corporation that supports and promotes artists and organizations in New York City devoted to Early Music. Free lunchtime concerts are held at the chapel of St. Bartholomew’s Church, 325 Park Avenue, in Midtown Manhattan, every Thursday at 1:15 p.m. To learn more about these and other GEMS events, look online at gemsny.org.

It’s music by Bach, from the time of Bach, inspired by Bach, and totally unrelated to Bach.

Please support it, and help us to cancel fundraising on March 20, by joining the Bach 500. We’re looking for your contribution in any amount at 1-888-232-1212 or wwfm.org.

Then enjoy the music. It’s Bach’s world; we just live in it, from 12 to 4 p.m. EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network.

March 3, 2020

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