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Op.14 EMERGING FROM THE PAST

Content
Larsson's Adoption of Early Concerto Forms
Classical Influences
The Soloist
Thematic Metamorphosis
There is Virtue in Moderation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Larsson's Adoption of Early Concerto Forms.

 

 

As noted in the previous discussion of Larsson's compositional styles, it is obvious that Larsson was drawn as much to the past as he was to the present. In The Nordic Sound John Yoell makes an analogy between Larsson and the common Swedish praxis of always taking the middle course[1]. As the Swedish economy is featured as being a mixture of capitalism and socialism, and Sweden itself aspires to be neutral, Larsson appeared to act as the middle course of Swedish art music, in the first half of the twentieth century. Even though Larsson went through many contrasting styles of composition, he always approached them with modesty. Larsson's neo-classical style was always affected by atonal elements, and, on the contrary, Larsson's dodecaphonic writings, because of his own designed twelve tone techniques, are somewhat triadic and therefore more tonal sounding than Schänberg's twelve tone music.

 

First of all, I will clarify that I have never felt obligated to follow the strict rules of dodecaphonic procedures, but instead made a more liberal use of the resources available within such a system..... Again, I want to stress the fact that I wish not to be viewed as a follower of dodecaphonic writing......I have in my own way made use of all twelve pitches and tried to make as beautiful sonorities as possible. My highest goal has always been to have the music match the clarity, transparency, and sonorous beauty expected in conventional music.[2]

 

By referring to the biographical article "Hur jag bärjade" discussed in chapter I, Larsson seems to have had a mild interest towards expressing his musical ideas and inspiration verbally, in the form of program notes. On the contrary, Larsson, together with Hjalmar Gullberg and Pontus Boman, created a the new type of radio program, the "lyrical suite", consisting of poetry readings interspersed with musical interlude. In the article Den svenske tons”ttarens situation, discussed above, Larsson said that he had not been influenced by the new trends of expressing musical ideal nor by any new methods of creating sound,, such as electronic music. Meanwhile, Larsson himself was the first Swedish composer to write a solo concerto for a non-orchestral instrument such as the saxophone. In other words, he commonly presented himself as being conservatively traditional and a newly liberated thinker at the same time. His Saxophone Concerto also preceded such major concertos written for the instrument such as Alexander Glasonouv's Saxophone Concerto and the Concertino da Camera by Jacque Ibert. Therefore, Larsson had not any other concertos for the instrument, which he could apply as a model for his own composition. Considering his admiration for Mozart and his frequent return to neo-classical style throughout his career, it is obvious that Larsson was inspired by the past. Not only was he inspired by the classical period but also by the Baroque period, as heard in his Sinfonietta (1932), which made its debut in Florence, Italy in the year 1934.

 

In the middle of the 1930s, a row of pieces emerged, all with a new color, dominated by Mozart's mildness, light texture and with a entertaining and pleasing approach; The Saxophone concerto, so often performed, Divertimento, Serenade for strings and if not foremost, the first Sonatine for piano op.16, where eighteenth century and twentieth century melts together in the first movement, in an extremely elegant synthesis. In the third movement a new nuance emerges through the pastel of neo-classicism: A lyrical and controlled romantic expression - Larsson is not playing, nor bantering, he is singing.[3]

 

The purpose of the following is to determine how many of various influences from the history of the concerto genre came prevailed composing the Saxofon Konsert, op.14.

 

The concerto genre may be viewed as a counterpart of the opera. Its structure is similar to that of the dacapo aria, which is in ABA form with surrounding ritornello, and an embellished solo line in the recapitulation. Generally speaking, Larsson kept his form close to the ABA structure. As the sonata form is in a sense an ABA structure, it makes it easy to place all three movements of Larsson's Saxophone concerto under the ABA format. The fact that one solo part is the main focus of the composition makes the concerto genre even more similar to that of the aria. Along with the development of the concerto the virtuoso became a new phenomenon. Similar to Larsson's concerto, written in dedication to the virtuoso saxophonist Sigurd Rascher, earlier compositions of the concerto genre were already established as being a solo part with an embellished melody line and a cadenza, accompanied by an ensemble - all of which are features derived from the opera aria. As the concerto developed it came to be a common musical form in four different areas:

 

1) During the beginning of the eighteenth century the concerto became a public event performed by professional musicians. Paris was a major center for concertos and the Concert spirituel society was organizing concerts with sacred music. These concertos were later secularized and the publishers in Paris became the leading distributors of concerto music.

 

2) Private concerts among the educated class exploited the concerto media.

 

3) The concerto was used as an intermission entertainment in the theater.

 

4) The concerto was used in church to separate different portions of the service.

 

Early on, especially with Italian composers the exposure of a soloist started to emerge. Two major composers, Corelli (1653-1713) and Torelli (1658-1709), became models for the concerto. Specific influences from these composers is not evident in the Saxophone Concerto itself, but both Corelli and Torelli are responsible for the standard format of each movement and the overall ritornello form for the concerto genre. Larsson's awareness of these composers contributions to the concerto genre is most obviously determined by his concertino series (1953-7), consisting of twelve concertinos. Larsson's idea of a concertino series most likely found its origin in Corelli's op.6, which consist of twelve concerti grossi and Torelli's op.8, also a series of twelve concertos. Being that Larsson's series was clearly designed for intermediate musicians, it resembles Hindemith's Kammermusik series as well, even though this series includes a variation in solistic texture more closely resembling that of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos. Not only did Larsson depend strongly on the tradition of the past when composing, but also when teaching. He was always concerned with his studentsí awareness of traditional forms. Larsson's student Jan Carlstedt recalls:

 

Larsson always managed to capture the quality of each student's personal characteristics, still integrating it with an awareness and dedication to the past.[4]

 

Corelliís Concerti grossi (Op.6) contains works in both concerto da chiesa style and concerto da camera style. They follow the style developed in his sonatas, and consist, therefore, of four movements. The concertino and ripieno usually deal with the same styles and themes. Often the ripieno only doubles the parts of the concertino. As in his sonatas, the dance suite stands as a basic element for his concerti grossi. Larsson followed up on this dance influenced finale in the Saxophone Concerto.

 

The finale is a playful rondo, a dialogue between two themes, both with a graceful dance character. The first one consist of an energetic forte-phrase in the strings, followed by a contrasting smooth, floating phrase in the solo part. The second theme is more jocular in its character. Larsson was during those years especially fond of this second thematic idea, which he subsequently used, in a modified format, for his Serenade fär strÅkorkester.[5]

 

Torelli, on the other hand became the model for the three movement concerto which also developed into a basic form for Vivaldi. The way in which Torelli used ritornello form, by having the first and last ritornello in the tonic and internal ritornellos in related keys, also became a standard for Vivaldiís works. There is also a clear difference in the motivic material between the solo part and the accompaniment in Torelli's concertos. Typical examples, bearing the above described features, are found in Torelli's op.8.

 

The last movement in Larsson's concerto is the movement in which the ritornello structure is most applicable. The thematic material in the first tutti theme is to a certain extent differentiated from the motivic material in the solo episode, therefore reflecting the Torelli model. However, as the movement progresses the motivic relation between soloist and accompaniment becomes more united. In bar 33 the motive of the second tutti theme is passed to the soloist, which leads to a unison statement between soloist and first violin. In the B, or development section, the thematic unification between soloist and accompaniment is complete and thus resembles the idea of united thematic material - as established by the Corelli model, though by itself this section does not belong to the true ritornello form. Harmonically, there are difficulties associated with the determination of the relation between Larsson's finale and the Torelli model. Since Larsson did not use a clearly established ritornello form, but instead made use of two different tutti themes, there is harmonically not an arch shaped presentation of the tuttis, as in the Torelli model. On a smaller level however, the second tutti theme is presented in G-D-G, giving a sense of Torelli's tonal scheme. In Viewing the two tutti themes as one unit of the ritornello form, the presentation of the first which is in D and the second tutti theme in G, the movement is given, harmonically, a rounded form, which is amplified by the shift to triple meter for the second tutti theme area. Thus, the finale can be associated with the Torelli model.

 

In an interview by Hebert Connor, Larsson himself expressed the value of autodidact composing by copying old masters:

 

........van Gohg copied old masters, Bach copied Vivaldi's, Buxtehude's and other master's works. They learned the craft by imitation.[6]

 

 

Vivaldi (1678-1741) composed his concertos according to the Torelli model. However, Vivaldi himself is very flexible within his own style. Even so, in Vivaldiís concertos the three movement form, fast-slow-fast, are clearly established. As in Larsson's concerto, Vivaldi's middle movements often appear in a texture resembling that of chamber music. For Vivaldi, the ritornello form is used in the outer movements. Each ritornello appears in a different key, and the solo line contains motives independent from the tutti. The number of tutti is normally four. Even though Larsson's finale is in the form of a sonata form with two different tutti themes, the exposition remains within Vivaldi's standardization by having four tutti sections. After the opening ritornello in the tonic, Vivaldi generally places the entrance of the first solo section in the dominant. More than an analogy of the relationship between primary and secondary theme of the sonata form, this stands as a predecessor to the type of double exposition, discussed in the analysis of the first movement's exposition, in chapter III of this document.

 

As previously noted, Larsson's tutti statement of the opening theme in the first movement begins on the fourth scale degree, and therefore creates a contrast in tonal area, resembling common praxis in the Vivaldi concertos. In Vivaldi's music, the following harmonic progression may progress to such closely related key as relative minor, subdominant, or mediant by means of any route. In the finale of Larsson's concerto a modulation of the tutti is located in the exposition and is limited to the subdominant of which is G. In both Vivaldi and Larsson ritornello sections are clearly harmonically stable and clear melody lines. The solo part is longer and modulating. In Vivaldi both tutti and solo sections are normally harmonically open-ended and cannot stand by themselves. In Larsson this applies only to the tutti sections, which are open ended. The solo episodes, on the other hand, are by Larsson brought to a close by a resolving cadence. As the finales of Vivaldi's concertos often borrow their character from the dance suite - the gigue - and are often in binary form, the same features are to be found in Larsson's finale.

 

For the purpose of providing a concrete example of a typical Vivaldi concerto, the Concerto for two violins in A minor Op.3 no.8 has been examined. As one would expect, the opening allegro is in the typical ritornello form with four tutti sections. the tutti and solo themes of this movement are harmonically independent. Also illustrated is Vivaldi's flexibility beyond a theoretically strict ritornello form. In the first solo section the tutti closing theme is inserted and in the second tutti and solo section more interaction between the two appears. The key scheme is simple and modulates to the relative major and the minor subdominant. The finale begins with a tutti in unison. The same unison texture is found in the very first beats of the tutti in Larsson's finale. Furthermore, the Vivaldi's tutti has a rhythmic character which reflects seriousness and dignity, while the solo progresses through sections of cantabile melody. A similar relationship between tutti and solo appears in Larssonís finale, even though Larsson's solo part is highly virtuoso and figurated.

 

Vivaldi later became a model for the future composers, Locatelli and Tartini. In Locatelliís (1695-1764) Concerto for Violin op. 3 no 1 one may find features, standardized by his predecessor. For example, there are four tutti in the first movement and three tutti in the second movement. The solo part borrows material from the tutti and develops it. The tutti and solo sections both become shorter and shorter as the movement goes along. Before the final tutti there is a long cadenza that can be viewed as an inserted capriccio, which remains in the dominant. Tartiniís (1692-1770) Violin Concerto in A minor D.115 has a simple key scheme. The first movement is divided into solo parts that are rhythmically free with cantabile melody and tutti sections that are rhythmically unified. The middle movement is similar to chamber music with a more refined conversation between the instruments. The solo part has an aria like melody in binary form. The third movement resembles the first in the way the tutti and solo alternate with more or less rhythmically unified sections.

 

It is, therefore, possible to determine that Larsson has not traveled extensively from the Italian creators of the ritornello form in the concerto genre. Even though his ritornello format is transformed into a sonata form, the finale presents the above described features of early Italian ritornello writing.

 

By the overall influences of Italian composers throughout Europe at the turn of the century (1700), the Italian style of concerto writing was naturally exported. Not even Bach could resist the format of the Italian concerto. Similar, Larsson states his respect for Bach.

 

One always returns to Bach - it is the need of formal clarity and concentration that force both me and my contemporary colleagues to do so.[7]

 

Bach went further than Vivaldi in terms of a more varied texture of the accompaniment and a closer motivic relationship between solo and tutti. In Concerto for Violin in E major, BWV 1042, both of these features are obvious. Even though there are no literary sources that mention Vivaldi or other contemporary Italian composers as being an influence on Bach's concerto writing, the characteristics of his style point towards the Italian traditions of concerto writing. Bach's interest for Vivaldi and his contemporaries was probably due to the wide range of the Italian repertoire which became available to the Weimar court orchestra in 1712-1713. From Vivaldi, Bach adapted the clear melodic contours, the distinct outlines of the outer parts, the motorious rhythm, and the clear modulation scheme[8]. Bach, perhaps encouraged by Johann Gottfried Walter ( a keen student of Italian music in concertante style), transcribed six concertos to organ and sixteen concertos to keyboard, from various Italian composers. Nine of these twenty-two concertos were originally written by Vivaldi[9].

 

The first allegro of the Violin Concerto in E Major, BWV 1042 is in dacapo form with the middle section modulating to the relative minor, the subdominant's relative minor and the dominant relative minor. The A section only touches the dominant. It is unclear as to whether or not this movement has clear solo episodes and tutti sections. In the A section the intense interaction between solo and orchestra, the use of the same thematic material, and the shift between solistic embellishment over the tutti theme and sections with soloist and orchestra in homophonic texture, suggest that the ritornello design has been taken under consideration but is strongly modified into a more elaborate texture.

 

In the accompanying chart three tutti sections have been determined (in the A section) at bar 1-12, 25-31 and 43-49. In other words, the sequential second phrase of the opening theme becomes the returning ritornello for the A section. Harmonically, this distinction can be verified by the turn to the dominant at 25 and the establishment of the same thematic material presented in the tonic again at 43 (the actual return to the tonic key area appears already in bar 35). By considering the return of the very first opening triad in E major, at 12 and 35, it might be appropriate to divide this section into a statement of the theme(s), followed by two variations of it; thus, main statement 1-12, first variation 12-34 and second variation 35-52. The nature of the variation is created by a continuous presentation of the main idea, alternated back and forth between soloist and orchestra. In combination to this texture the soloist inserts elaborate figurative passages, altered with homophonic statements of the thematic material. Even though the A section is developmental by its texture and the continuously partial return of the thematic material in varied form, it could in the context of a sonata form be defined as the exposition. However, due to the lack of a second theme area it is by no means equal to the sonata form as we know it in the classic period despite the modulation to the dominant. Still, this movement brings along association with the sonata form and thereby the finale of Larsson's concerto. In contrast to Bach, the two different tutti themes in Larsson's finale can be representative of two different theme groups. Although the second tutti theme appears in the subdominant it still suggests the design of the sonata form. The elaboration of the ritornello form found in Larsson harkens back to Bach's adoption of the same elements.

 

The B section in Bach, on the other hand, is clearly developmental. Supported by the second violin and viola in contrapuntal texture, the new lyrical melody introduced by the first violin in bar 57 strengthens the definition of this as a development. This element of a new theme is lacking in the development of Larsson's finale, which makes it less similar to a standard development. As the association with the sonata form was represented by two different themes in Larsson's exposition, Bach presents more elements of a standard development by the introduction of a new theme. In addition, the harmonic progression in the Bach from c# minor through A major and f# minor to g# minor, and the progression g minor, A major and B major, strongly illustrate a development section. Both composers have approached the standard way of writing, in their own time, with modification; Bach being less conservative than his contemporaries, while Larsson emerges to be less progressive than even his predecessors. Larsson confirms that:

 

The one who is serious with his writing always returns to Bach.[10]


 

BWV 1042, 1st movement:

Sec.

A

 

 

 

 

 

B

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exp.

 

 

 

 

 

Dev.

 

 

 

 

Cad.

Rit.

T1

S1

T2

S2

 

T3

S3

T4

 

S4

 

 

Solo

 

P

 

 

 

 

N

 

 

 

 

 

Tut.

P

 

 

 

P

(N)

 

 

 

 

Key

I

 

V

 

I

 

vi

 

IV

ii

iii

 

Bar

1

12

25

31

35

43

53

70

76

95

108

121

Var.

 

 

1

 

2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Larsson, Finale.

Exp.

A. B.

Solo

 

1Sa

 

1Sb

 

2Sa

(2T)

2Sb

Tutti

1T

 

1T

 

2T

 

2T

 

Key

G

 

 

G-D

G

 

D

 

Bar

1

4

12

15

26

30

36

39

 


Dev.

A. B.

Solo

 

2Sc

 

(1Sb)

 

(1Sb)

 

 

Tutti

2T

 

(1S2T)

 

(1S2T)

 

 

(2T)

Key

G

 

Gm

 

A

B

D