Did You Know?: A Music Lover’S Guide to Nicknames, Titles, and Whimsy

© Copyright 2013 Seymour L. Benstock, PhD.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

isbn: 978-1-4669-7292-6 (sc)

isbn: 978-1-4669-7294-0 (hc)

isbn: 978-1-4669-7293-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012924105

Trafford rev. 05/30/2013

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Contents

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X-Y

Z

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

SOURCES

OVERTURE

Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.

—Samuel Johnson, 1775

Beethoven wrote the Moonlight Sonata! Who named it? When and why? These questions had nagged me for some time and were the starting point for this book. The answer in standard music dictionaries was uniformly cold and stark: Moonlight Sonata Op. 27, no. 2, a popular name for the piano sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven.

After a lifetime spent in music as a performer, teacher, conductor, and even a writer, I felt there had to be a warmer, more human and informative approach about the subject. The profusion of anecdotal, spurious, speculative, and apocryphal material made me realize that much of it, too often, has nothing to do with the music and was unauthorized by the composer, yet it is applied by publishers, critics, and so-called connoisseurs, all impressed with their own opinions and writings, which achieved a legitimacy over a period of time and, in the long run, often leading the listener astray. The esteemed music critic Eduard Hanslick (1825-1904) best summed it up when he said, The beauty of a musical composition lies wholly and specifically in the music itself… It is immanent in the relations of the tones without any reference whatever to extraneous [nonmusical] ideas. The profusion of nicknames and bogus titles attached to a work is often a hindrance to the listener. This book is my attempt to rectify past traditions, which are part of a sea of unwarranted and unfounded arbitrary appellations, not to mention personalized, prejudiced, and romanticized concepts. It is not my intent to scoff at the past but to present the material objectively. The book is designed to be reader and user-friendly, and I have tried as much as possible not to allow my personal feelings to intrude, resisting subjective comments, and always allowing the authors of source materials to speak for themselves, even when they are at variance.

As for the format, each entry is constructed so as to be self-contained. Cross-references are designated in bold, the same bold capitals as the main entries which are alphabetized. Entries are alphabetized. Indefinite articles are placed after the entry, even when a foreign term is involved. I have tried to use normal or usual English terms or common definitions. To use arcane, obscure, or exotic titles and definitions is to proceed down a slippery slope. The choice of entries is, of course, mine, but I attempted to include those entries that are familiar to the average concertgoer or listener. Too many sources reek of nationalism or personal prejudices formed by the writer’s musical background and experiences. I should confess to inserting a few whimsical entries designed to catch the attention of the browser of this book and, hopefully, to elicit a chuckle or two. I used bold type to mark supposition, hearsay, and similar apocryphal information. The seeming profusion of dates, opus numbers, and the like (e.g., K., BWV, WoO) are included to give readers some sense of the chronology or the historical place of a composer or composition and even provide tools should they wish to carry their curiosity further. My intention is to make this book informative and usable and to clear away, if possible, the mists of accumulated nonsense and inaccuracies. Standard, easily available sources are the backbone of the entries, yet I do not claim that this book is encyclopedic in nature or scope. In researching the book, I was often led down pathways leading to unexpected hidden treasures. After all, I too am a curious and interested reader.

And now for the customary, but to me very pleasant, task of thanking my relatives and friends for enduring my prattling these past many years. First and foremost to Susan Barell for her forbearance deciphering my rambling scrawls. Many thanks to the kind ladies of the East Meadow Public Library for their Googling and tolerance with my endless questions. To Burke Smith, MD, and the research librarians at the Library of Congress as well as the Hungarian Cultural Institute, many thanks for solving several knotty problems. My deepest gratitude to Donald Marsden for his expert editing and his stylistic suggestions. For my sons, Joseph and John (listed chronologically), deep appreciation, especially of general concerns and lastly Brad Singer of the Center Moriches Public Library for his indulgence in answering my numerous inquiries. I apologize if I have unintentionally overlooked anyone. And finally, for my dearest Emmy, whose saintly patience and strength made this book possible; no amount of gratitude is possible.

PS: To the panjandrums of the musical world: Guard against erroneous, poetical interpretation (Franz Liszt).

PPS: To the reader: Opinion, criticism, and taste are often a projection of a writer’s concept, imagination, or sympathy with a favored or unfavored creative work or subject.

Seymour L. Benstock, PhD, 2008

East Meadow, New York

A

A / A Korean bamboo percussion tube.

A to W / In the eighteenth century, one of Haydn’s English publishers William Forster (1739-1808) compiled a catalogue of 23 Haydn symphonies, identifying them by letter names. Thus: A (No. 71); B (No. 45: FAREWELL); E (No. 44: TRAUER); L (No. 47); Q (No. 92: OXFORD); R (No. 90); T (No. 91); V (No. 88); W (No. 89). The Royal Philharmonic Society of England continued this practice in its catalog of the nineteenth century. In some English-speaking countries, No. 88 is still referred to as the Letter V Symphony. (Not to be confused with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 [Op. 67] nicknamed the VICTORY SYMPHONY.)

ABEGG VARIATIONS / Robert Schumann (1810-1856) \ This piano work (Op. 1) is the first published composition by Schumann and is dedicated to this friend Meta Abegg. The theme of the piece is based on the pitches A B flat (B in German) E-G-G.

ACADEMIC FESTIVAL OVERTURE / Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) \ This concert overture (Op. 80) was written in recognition of the conferring of an honorary doctorate upon Brahms by the University of Breslau in 1880. The works contains four student songs:

1. We Have Built a Stately House

2.   The Sovereign

3.   What Comes from Afar

4.   Gaudeamus Igitur (Wherefore Let Us Rejoice)

ACTUS TRAGICUS / Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) \ The church cantata (BWV 106) is known by the name Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit and was possibly written for the funeral of his mother’s uncle in 1707-1708 (?). It was one of the first cantatas to be published (1830) after Bach’s death.

ADELAIDE CONCERTO / Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) Mario Casadesus (1892-1981) \ The Violin Concerto in D Major was long attributed to the ten-year-old Mozart, and a two-stave sketch exists. Its authenticity is doubtful. Casadesus claimed the concerto was in a private collection in Paris and even the eminent Mozart authority 40837.png Einstein was refused permission to view the manuscript. It was supposedly dedicated by Mozart to Princess Adelaide, the daughter of Louis XIV of France. The concerto discovered and completed by Casadesus was first performed in 1931. In 1977, during the course of litigation for his copyright, he admitted that the entire piece was a fabrication of his own. He is also credited with the discovery, realization, and orchestration of a viola concerto by Handel (no HWV) performed in 1925. This too is considered spurious.

40839.png    Einstein, Alfred (1880-1952). He edited the third edition of the Köchel catalogue, today’s standard for classifying and numbering Mozart’s compositions.

ADIEUX, LES / Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) \ The Piano Sonata in E flat (Op. 81a) was given its nickname by the publisher Breitkopf and Härtel. Beethoven originally called it Das Lebewohl (The Farewell), referring to the departure from Vienna of 40841.png Archduke Rudolph when the city was under siege by the French in 1809. Beethoven’s sketches for the sonata are inscribed, Written from the heart and dedicated to his Royal Highness. In the second and third movements, labeled Absence and Return, Beethoven uses German tempo markings for the first time along with those in Italian. The absence occurred on May 4, 1809, and the return on January 30, 1810.

40843.png    Archduke Rudolph of Austria (1788-1832). He was a close friend and a generous patron of Beethoven. Among the many works that Beethoven dedicated to Rudolph (in addition to the sonata) are:

1.   Two piano concertos: (Op. 58 and Op. 73, [THE EMPEROR])

2.   The ARCHDUKE TRIO (Op. 97)

3.   The Missa Solemnis (Op. 123)

4.   The GROSSE FUGE (Op. 133)

Rudolph himself was a competent pianist and a student of Beethoven in composition. He composed piano music, chamber music, orchestral and instrumental works, and songs. His variations on the Czech folk song To Jou Kone even show pencil marks by Beethoven. The composition O Hoffnung (WoO 200) is a four-measure theme given to Rudolph by Beethoven in 1818 as a task (lesson) to which he responded with forty variations (published in 1819). Beethoven called them masterly.

ADIEUX Á GUILLAUME KOLBERG / Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) \ The Polonaise in B flat minor (B. 13) was written in 1826 when Chopin and a friend Wilhelm Kolberg, after graduating from the Lyceum, attended a performance of Rossini’s La Gazza Ladra. As they parted, Chopin presented his friend with the Polonaise-inscribed Adieux á Guillaume Kolberg. Another work written in 1829, the Waltz B minor [Op. 69, no. 2], is also dedicated to Kolberg.

ADIEUX WALTZ / Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) \ The Waltz in A flat (Op. 69, no. 1 / B. 95) was written in 1835 when Chopin, falling in love with Maria—the daughter of Count Wodzínski—proposing to her and being rejected presented her with an autograph of the waltz and added the words L’Adieux.

AGATHA SEXTET / Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) \ The String Sextet (Op. 36) was written by Brahms as the aftermath of a love affair with Agathe von Siebald. Max Kalbeck, a biographer of Brahms, reads meaning into this title by finding in measures 162-164 the pitches A-G-A-B (H in German) E in the first violin part, which gives the work its nickname.

AIR ON THE G STRING / Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) and August Wilhelmj (1845-1908) \ The title was given to this work by the noted violinist 40845.png Wilhelmj, who based it on the second movement (Air) of Bach’s 3rd Orchestral Suite (BWV 1068). Wilhelmj transposed the piece down a whole step from the original in D major to the key of C, enabling it to be played entirely on the lowest string (G) of the violin.

40847.png    Wilhelmj, August Daniel Ferdinand (1845-1908). This distinguished virtuoso composed a cadenza to Beethoven’s violin concerto (Op. 61) and a Theme and Variations on two of Paganini’s Caprices. As a pedagogue he authored A Modern School for the Violin in six volumes.

ALLA BREVE FUGUE / Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) \ This Fugue for Organ (BWV 589) is marked by Bach alla breve pro organo pleno, meaning alla breve for full organ. Alla breve here means that the half note should be taken as the unit of the beat thus making the tempo twice as fast.

ALLELUIA SYMPHONY / Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) \ The Symphony No. 30 is given this nickname because Haydn quoted a portion of a Gregorian chant Easter plainsong in the first movement and because it may have been written for Easter Sunday 1765. Haydn also quotes himself by using the same Alleluia in the first movement of a baryton trio (Hob. XI: 63). Mozart also used the Alleluia melody in a Canon in C (K. 553).

AMERICAN QUARTET / Antonin Dvořák (1841-1904) \ Written during Dvořák’s 1892-1895 stay in America, the String Quartet in F Major (Op. 96) is said to have been inspired by his interest in American Indian and Negro music, as was his NEW WORLD SYMPHONY (Op. 95).

ANDANTE CANTABILE / Peter Ilyich Tchaikowsky (1840-1893) \ The slow movement of the String Quartet No. 1 (Op. 11) was marked by the composer Andante cantabile, indicating that it was to be played in a singing manner. It is said that Tchaikowsky heard the melody in a village carpenter shop or heard it sung by a carpenter working outside his window. 40849.png Tolstoy, hearing it for the first time, broke into tears. An alternate nickname for the quartet is The Accordion Quartet because to some listeners the rise and fall of the opening chords seem to suggest those played by an accordion.

40851.png    Tolstoy, Leo (1828-1910). He is the author of the story KREUTZER SONATA, which was the inspiration for the String Quartet No. 1 by Leoš Janáček.

ANDANTE FAVORI / Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) \ This nickname is applied to the Andante in F (WoO 57). It was originally planned as the slow movement of the WALDSTEIN SONATA (Op. 53), but because of its length it was published separately. Beethoven himself performed this work frequently, as it was one of his favorites. The title Andante favori was applied by the publishers Kunst and Industrie-Comptoir.

ANDANTE SPIANATO / Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) \ Spianato is a musical term meaning smoothly or evenly. This composition is the introduction to the Grande Polonaise for piano and orchestra (Op. 22).

ANDRETTER SERENADE / Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) \ This Serenade (K. 185) was written for the wedding of the oldest son of Johann Ernst von Andretter, the military councilor to the court at Salzburg. Since the music was written for a wedding, there are erotic allusions in the melodic contours, which were appreciated by the audience. This serenade is one of a group of four (K. 185, 203, 204, 250), which have extended, almost concerto-like passages for solo violin. Presumably Mozart himself played these as the court concertmaster, and he often performed as a violinist in Salzburg, Munich, Augsburg, and Vienna. After a performance of the Divertimento in B Flat (K. 287) in 1777, he wrote in a letter to his father, Leopold, I played as though I was the greatest fiddler in all of Europe.

ANNA MAGDALENA’S NOTEBOOKS / Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) \ These are two volumes of keyboard works in the CLAVIER-BÜCHLEIN (BWV 994), which Bach presented to his second wife, 40853.png Anna Magdalena, in 1722 and 1725. They include the FRENCH SUITES (BWV 812-817) and the Partitas (BWV 827 and 830).

40855.png    Anna Magdalena (1701-1760). She was the mother of thirteen of Bach’s twenty children, yet she died in a poorhouse and was buried in a pauper’s grave.

ANTARCTIC SYMPHONY / Ralph Vaughn Williams (1872-1958) \ This Symphony No. 7 was named by the composer, who based it on music he had written in 1948 for a movie Scott of the Antarctic. He used many unusual sound effects in the score, including a wind machine, a hidden woman’s choir, a vibraphone, a xylophone, a celeste, a piano, and a glockenspiel.

APOCALYPTIC SYMPHONY / Anton Bruckner (1824-1896) \ Bruckner himself assigned this name to his Symphony No. 8. The title is derived from his inscription to the last movement, which reads, An Apocalyptic Vision of the Cosmos at the last Day. In the final movement, the themes of all four movements enter simultaneously, and the autograph bears the word Halleluja.

APPASIONATA SONATA / Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) \ The title to this Piano Sonata No. 23 (Op. 57) was given to the work by the publisher Cranz in 1838, eleven years after Beethoven’s death, when it was published in a four-hand version. Cranz justified the nickname by the eminently tragic tone of the whole piece. It was considered his favorite sonata until he wrote the HAMMERKLAVIER SONATA (Op. 106).

APPLAUSUS CANTATA / Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) \ The tradition of applausus musicus, a custom that flourished in Austrian monasteries in Haydn’s time, usually consisted of a Latin congratulatory cantata. Haydn had received a commission from the Cistercian priests