The Cambridge Companion to the Cello by Stowell Robin

Author:Stowell, Robin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Genre pieces for cello and orchestra

The nineteenth-century explosion in the composition of short genre (or ‘character’) pieces for violin and orchestra or keyboard, including romances, elegies, legends or national dances as well as abstract pieces with serious artistic intent, was only partially matched in the cello repertory. However, the appearance of such works increased in the twentieth century, a concertante orchestral setting often serving as a less formal substitute for the traditional concerto concept.

Russia

Apart from pieces such as Davidoff’s Allegro de concert Op. 11 (1862) and Ballade Op. 25 (1875), much of the Russian repertory has a melancholy character often belied by its title, as in Tchaikovky’s Pezzo capriccioso Op. 62 (1887). This latter begins as a melancholy Andante con moto in B minor with expansive melodies and largely subdued accompaniment. The piece’s capriciousness is evident in the alternation of this opening character with a lighter, scherzando vein, which wins through in the end. Glazunov absorbed Tchaikovsky’s lyricism, evident in his Two Pieces Op. 20 (1887–8) and particularly in his Chant du ménestrel Op. 71 (1900), but Tcherepnin’s quasi-nomadic existence prior to taking American citizenship contributed to a cosmopolitan musical language which could embrace equally well evocative works such as Mystère Op. 37 No. 2 (vc, ch orch, 1926) and pieces based on Georgian folklore such as his Rhapsodie Géorgienne Op. 25 (1922). The melancholic vein is continued in Grechaninov’s Syuita Op. 86 (1929), Mosolov’s Elegiac Poem (1961), Despic’s Recitative and Passacaglia funèbre Op. 52a, Sil’vestrov’s Meditatsiya (1972), Gubaydulina’s Seven Words (vc, bayan(accordion), strgs, 1982) and to a certain extent in Gubaydulina’s Detto II (1972) and Schnittke’s Dialog (vc, ch ens, 1965) and Four Hymns (1974–7).

France

Neither D’Indy’s Lied Op. 19 (1885) nor Saint-Saëns’s Allegro appassionato Op. 43 (1875) lay claim to being profound, but both works are melodious and imaginatively scored. Fauré’s orchestral writing has often provoked criticism, but most commentators agree that his popular, moving Elégie Op. 24 (1880, orchd 1901) works best in its orchestral guise. Massenet’s rhapsodic, three-movement Fantaisie (1897) is somewhat short on inspiration, but André Caplet’s Epiphanie d’après une légende Ethiopienne (1923) is much underrated, exploiting a wide range of technical resource (e.g. pizzicato glissandos, harmonics and double-stopping) in its lyrical cadenza and including some original touches, not least in the final ‘Danse des petits nègres’. Florent Schmitt, a pupil of Massenet and Fauré, was inspired by the latter’s Elégie to compose a Chant élégiaque Op. 24 (1899–1903, orchd 1911), but the jazz-influenced Final Op. 77 (1926) and especially the through-composed Introit, Récit et Congé Op. 113 (1951–2), in which the ‘Congé’ section develops motifs sketched earlier in the ‘Introit’, have created a more lasting impression. Ropartz abandoned his conservatoire studies with Massenet in order to study composition with Franck, an association which is evident in his Adagio and Rapsodie (1928). Another Franck pupil, Georges-Adolphe Hüe (Andante et Scherzo) was most prolific in vocal music, a genre in which Koechlin made a late start to his composing career, inspiring his twenty Chansons bretonnes sur d’anciennes chansons populaires Op.

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