Le Tombeau de Couperin was composed between 1914 and 1917, a particularly tumultuous time in Maurice Ravel’s life. During these years, Ravel served as an ambulance driver in the war (after his repeated attempts to enlist in the air force were refused on the grounds of his age and poor health), suffered a bout of dysentery which left him hospitalized, and endured the death of his mother. It is one of the few pieces completed during this trying period of the composer’s life, and one of his most popular. Originally a six movement suite for solo piano, each movement bears a dedication to one of Ravel’s friends lost in the war. While undoubtedly an innovative composer, Ravel placed great importance on studying and incorporating the music of his predecessors into his own compositions. In preparation for composing the present suite, he transcribed a forlane from Francois Couperin’s Concerts royaux. Ravel’s Tombeau borrows the forms, cadences, and ornamentation of the conventional 18th century French keyboard suite employed by its namesake, but the harmonic language, containing an abundance of major 7ths and parallel chords, is clearly impressionistic in nature. The Prelude features a relentless yet fluid texture, and in its present guitar arrangement could almost be a study in cross string ornamentation, while the Fugue is a meticulously constructed gem in which the subject and countersubject (though sometimes fragmented or inverted) are nearly always present. The Minuet is in compound ternary form and presents ample opportunity to utilize guitaristic effects such as artificial harmonics and tone colour contrasts.
Like Ravel, Johann Sebastian Bach placed great importance on the study of music of other composers, both past and present, and the Italian Concerto (Concerto nach italienischen Gusto) is one of the fruits of this labour. Published in 1735 along with a French Ouverture (Ouvertüre nach franzosicher Art), the piece shows Bach’s mastery of the more melodic, less contrapuntal style employed by Italian composers of the time such as Vivaldi and Corelli. The lively outer movements, in ritornello form, frame a beautiful slow movement aria in which ornamentation and embellishment are meticulously notated (as was often Bach’s practice). The piece opens with a majestic statement which is immediately repeated in the dominant key. During the episodes the first guitar displays some virtuosic passage work and sustained cross string trills, as the second guitar accompanies with occasional interjections of counterpoint, scalar passages, and an extended sequential passage of continuous sixteenth notes. In the middle movement the second guitar’s rhythmic ostinato lays the framework over which the first guitar’s improvisational melody freely unfolds. The final movement features a vivacious exchange between the two guitars during the episodes, resulting in a momentum that never lets up. The composer’s specification of dual manual harpsichord allows for the performer to better simulate the dialogue between soloist and orchestra that is so integral to the concerto genre, and we feel that this transcription for two guitars accomplishes the same objective. The piece has also been transposed from the key of F major to A major, a key much more suitable to the guitar.
The Italian pianist and composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco was born in Florence in 1895. The increasingly anti-Semitic climate of his homeland forced him to emigrate to the United States in 1939, where he settled in California and found work as a film composer. Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s compositions for the guitar were instigated by a meeting with Andres Segovia in 1932, but it was the French duo of Ida Presti and Alexandre Lagoya who inspired Castelnuovo-Tedesco to compose for two guitars, and his Well Tempered Guitars Op. 199 is dedicated to them. Written in 1962, this set of 24 Preludes and Fugues overtly shows the influence of Bach, but Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s compositional style is also characterized by a very personal brand of neo-classicism: colourful, witty, highly expressive, and sometimes programmatic in its evocativeness. In the Prelude in A minor a somber melody unfolds over a restless accompaniment figure. This gives way to a more playful middle section featuring a repeated note triplet motive until a cascading passage in thirds brings back the initial melody. The subject of the Fugue is based on the interval of a fourth, referring back to the first two notes of the melody from the Prelude. At the climax, this interval is reinforced in a descending arpeggio passage of parallel stacked fourths marked furioso, which is accompanied by the final statement of the subject. The Prelude in B minor juxtaposes agitated passages of dialogue between the two guitars with sections in the style of a funeral march, while the Fugue once again takes its subject from the Prelude, this time more recognizably, and is marked Calmo, dolce – semplice e tranquillo (sweet, simple and tranquil). The Prelude in E major combines contrasting arpeggio patterns between the two guitars, creating a lush texture over which the melody floats. The Fugue transforms the mood of tranquility into levity with its sprightly subject, spirited exchanges between the guitars, and almost comical gestures.
Antoine de Lhoyer (1768-1852) was born in Clermont-Ferrand, but is known to have traveled extensively throughout Europe, finding employment as both a soldier in counter-revolutionary forces and as a guitarist and teacher. Trois Duos Concertants Composés et Dédiés à Monsier le Compte de Rochechouart, Op 34, was published in 1819, five years after another set of three duos, seemingly crafted from the same mold. As the concertante of the title suggests, each guitar is treated almost equally, sharing statements of thematic material and engaging in virtuosic dialogue throughout. Lhoyer employs a wide variety of textures, utilizing the effect of two guitars to a great degree, a characteristic that sets these compositions apart from much of the guitar duo repertoire of the 19th century. No. 2 in D minor begins with an Allegro in sonata form in which the first theme is given in turn to both guitars. The second theme is also shared, this time with frequent “interruptions” as the melody bounces back and forth between the two parts. The dialogue between the guitars intensifies during the brief development section before the recapitulation and a short coda conclude the movement. A playful Minuet in the relative major key comprises the second movement, and features passages in unisons, octaves and thirds that lend contrast to the recurring theme. The third movement is a tender Adagio cantabile in the tonic major key in which each guitar is given beautiful melodies and passage work. The peaceful mood is broken with the return of D minor and a lively Rondo finale. The theme borrows its melodic construction from the first theme of the opening movement, and is once again restated by the second guitar in each of its appearances but the last. The first guitar finally gains prominence, albeit slightly, during the episodes, displaying legato runs and nimble scales. The piece concludes with overlapping statements of the theme to achieve a dramatic close.
- Michael Kolk
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