by Jarrett Hoffman
IN TODAY’S EDITION:
•Itzhak Perlman and Daniel Barenboim: matters of health in the news, and a performance of Brahms’ First Violin Sonata
•The death of César Franck, and his “musical last will and testament”
ALMANAC & INTERESTING READS:
We begin today with Brahms’ Violin Sonata No. 1 in G — also known as the “Rain Sonata” or Regensonate — which was first performed by the husband-and-wife duo of violinist Robert Heckmann and pianist Marie Heckmann-Hertig on this date in 1879 in Bonn.
That nickname, Regensonate, is thanks to the motivic and thematic material it borrows from Brahms’ “Regenlied,” as well as from “Nachklang” — both from his Op. 59 set of Lieder.
Here are some decent performers to start off your day with: listen to soprano Edith Wiens in “Regenlied” and baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in “Nachklang” (with the pianists Roger Vignoles and Jörg Demus) — then see what material you can pick out when Itzhak Perlman teams with Daniel Barenboim for the Sonata.
Speaking of Daniel Barenboim (pictured above), while a much younger version of that musical titan appears in the video, a New York Times article published today details the current state of his schedule, which has been greatly diminished by a neurological problem as he nears his 80th birthday. Sadly, celebrations that have been planned for years have become cancellations.
Itzhak Perlman was also in the news lately discussing a disease that is nothing new to him: polio, which he contracted in 1949. This fall, he wrote an article for Newsweek about his early experiences with the disease and his feelings about vaccine skepticism.
Health issues unfortunately continue in today’s almanac as we touch on composer and organist César Franck, who died on this date in 1890. It’s not known whether his well-chronicled head injury — sustained in a crash between a cab and a horse-drawn trolley — was connected to the pleurisy and pericarditis from which he suffered a few months later, and which brought about his demise. Some say that his massive workload couldn’t have helped.
Shortly before his death, while on vacation to help recuperate, he completed the Trois Chorals, a gem of the organ repertoire, and a piece which musicologist Léon Vallas has described as “a kind of musical last will and testament.” Click here to watch French organist Vincent Dubois — who visited St. John’s Cathedral in Cleveland in 2015 — play the Choral No. 3 in a minor at Soissons Cathedral.
Barenboim photo by Jean-Marc Ferré