Concerto for Two Pianos (Poulenc): Difference between revisions
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'''1. Allegro ma non troppo'''. Poulenc intentionally dispenses with sonata form in his opening Allegro ma non troppo, opting instead for a brisk tripartite movement with a slower middle section. If Mozart was his model in this first movement, it is the Mozart of the Divertimenti and Serenades. The overriding atmosphere is “gay and direct,” words Poulenc used to describe his own music. The concerto features simple ABA form in the first and second movements, but suggests a more complex rondo form with intervening episodes in the finale. |
'''1. Allegro ma non troppo'''. Poulenc intentionally dispenses with sonata form in his opening Allegro ma non troppo, opting instead for a brisk tripartite movement with a slower middle section. If Mozart was his model in this first movement, it is the Mozart of the Divertimenti and Serenades. The overriding atmosphere is “gay and direct,” words Poulenc used to describe his own music. The concerto features simple ABA form in the first and second movements, but suggests a more complex rondo form with intervening episodes in the finale. |
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'''2. Larghetto'''. In the gently rocking, consciously naive Larghetto, Poulenc evokes the famous Andante from Mozart’s C Major Concerto, K. 467 (known as the "Elvira Madigan" movement). The solemn middle section echoes the spirit of Camille Saint-Saëns, who, though French, is also among the most Mozartean of 19th-century composers. Poulenc commented, "In the Larghetto of this Concerto I permitted myself, for the first theme, to return to Mozart, because I |
'''2. Larghetto'''. In the gently rocking, consciously naive Larghetto, Poulenc evokes the famous Andante from Mozart’s C Major Concerto, K. 467 (known as the "Elvira Madigan" movement). The solemn middle section echoes the spirit of Camille Saint-Saëns, who, though French, is also among the most Mozartean of 19th-century composers. Poulenc commented, "In the Larghetto of this Concerto I permitted myself, for the first theme, to return to Mozart, because I have a fondness for the melodic line and I prefer Mozart to all other musicians. If the movement begins ''alla'' Mozart, it quickly diverges at the entrance of the second piano, toward a style that was familiar to me at the time." <ref> Poulenc 1954, p. 83 and Marchart, 84 for links to Mozart’s Piano Concertos K. 467 and 503</ref> |
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'''3. Allegro molto'''. Poulenc’s finale |
'''3. Allegro molto'''. Poulenc’s finale is a syncretic Rondo that merges the insouciance of a Parisian music hall and the mesmerizing sonorities of a gamelan orchestra. Its scintillating patter and energetic rhythms produce a vivacious, effervescent effect. As did his idol Mozart, Poulenc favors us with profligate melodious invention, featuring a new theme for nearly every succeeding section. His biographer Henri Hell has observed, "the finale flirts with one of those deliberately vulgar themes never far from the composer’s heart." <ref> Henri Hell, Francis Poulenc (trans. from the French and introduced by Edward Lockspeiser, 1959)</ref> |
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As brilliant as it sounds, the Poulenc Concerto for Two Pianos demands of its piano soloists more skills of ensemble than of technique. Although the pianos intersperse conversational interludes, conventional cadenzas are absent. Throughout the concerto, the pianists play nearly continuously, sometimes unaccompanied by the orchestra. Poulenc creates a dramatic yet charming dialogue between the two keyboards and the supporting orchestra ensemble. Unusually, his orchestration foregrounds the woodwinds, brass and percussion, relegating the strings to an unfamiliar secondary role. |
As brilliant as it sounds, the Poulenc Concerto for Two Pianos demands of its piano soloists more skills of ensemble than of technique. Although the pianos intersperse conversational interludes, conventional cadenzas are absent. Throughout the concerto, the pianists play nearly continuously, sometimes unaccompanied by the orchestra. Poulenc creates a dramatic yet charming dialogue between the two keyboards and the supporting orchestra ensemble. Unusually, his orchestration foregrounds the woodwinds, brass and percussion, relegating the strings to an unfamiliar secondary role. |
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Revision as of 20:25, 31 July 2010
Francis Poulenc's Concerto in D minor for 2 pianos FP 61, commissioned by and dedicated to the Princess Edmonde de Polignac, was composed over the period of three months in the summer of 1932. The work has three movements: Allegro ma non troppo, Larghetto, and Allegro molto. It was premiered on September 5, 1932, at the International Society for Contemporary Music in Venice. Poulenc and his childhood friend Jacques Février were the soloists, with Désiré Defauw conducting the La Scala Orchestra. Poulenc was gratified by the warm acclaim his work received, and he later performed the concerto in England in 1945 with Benjamin Britten. The Concerto for Two Pianos is usually cited as marking the end of Poulenc’s early period. The composer himself wrote to the Belgian musicologist Paul Collaer: "You will see for yourself what an enormous step forward it is from my previous work and that I am really entering my great period." [1]
The concerto's recurring moto perpetuo, modally inflected figurations are clearly inspired by Poulenc's encounter with a Balinese gamelan at the 1931 Exposition Coloniale de Paris. Additionally, the work's instrumentation and "jazzy" effects are reminiscent of Ravel's G major Concerto, which was premiered at Paris in January 1932. Inevitably, comparisons have been drawn with Mozart’s Concerto in E-flat for two pianos, K. 365, but the slow movement Larghetto's graceful, naive melody and murmuring accompaniment have reminded some writers of the slow movement of Mozart's C major Piano Concerto, K. 467. Poulenc wrote in a letter to the Russian emigré composer Igor Markevitch, "Would you like to know what I had on my piano during the two months gestation of the Concerto? The concertos of Mozart, those of Liszt, that of Ravel, and your Partita". [2]
Instrumentation
The orchestra for this concerto is made up of the following instruments: violins, violas, violoncellos, [[double bass[[, flute, piccolo, two oboes (second doubling English horn), two clarinets, two bassoons, two French horns, two trumpets, two trombones, tuba, shallow snare drum, snare drum, bass drum, castanets, triangle, military drum, suspended cymbal, and two solo pianos.
Form
1. Allegro ma non troppo. Poulenc intentionally dispenses with sonata form in his opening Allegro ma non troppo, opting instead for a brisk tripartite movement with a slower middle section. If Mozart was his model in this first movement, it is the Mozart of the Divertimenti and Serenades. The overriding atmosphere is “gay and direct,” words Poulenc used to describe his own music. The concerto features simple ABA form in the first and second movements, but suggests a more complex rondo form with intervening episodes in the finale.
2. Larghetto. In the gently rocking, consciously naive Larghetto, Poulenc evokes the famous Andante from Mozart’s C Major Concerto, K. 467 (known as the "Elvira Madigan" movement). The solemn middle section echoes the spirit of Camille Saint-Saëns, who, though French, is also among the most Mozartean of 19th-century composers. Poulenc commented, "In the Larghetto of this Concerto I permitted myself, for the first theme, to return to Mozart, because I have a fondness for the melodic line and I prefer Mozart to all other musicians. If the movement begins alla Mozart, it quickly diverges at the entrance of the second piano, toward a style that was familiar to me at the time." [3]
3. Allegro molto. Poulenc’s finale is a syncretic Rondo that merges the insouciance of a Parisian music hall and the mesmerizing sonorities of a gamelan orchestra. Its scintillating patter and energetic rhythms produce a vivacious, effervescent effect. As did his idol Mozart, Poulenc favors us with profligate melodious invention, featuring a new theme for nearly every succeeding section. His biographer Henri Hell has observed, "the finale flirts with one of those deliberately vulgar themes never far from the composer’s heart." [4]
As brilliant as it sounds, the Poulenc Concerto for Two Pianos demands of its piano soloists more skills of ensemble than of technique. Although the pianos intersperse conversational interludes, conventional cadenzas are absent. Throughout the concerto, the pianists play nearly continuously, sometimes unaccompanied by the orchestra. Poulenc creates a dramatic yet charming dialogue between the two keyboards and the supporting orchestra ensemble. Unusually, his orchestration foregrounds the woodwinds, brass and percussion, relegating the strings to an unfamiliar secondary role.
Quotes
Poulenc’s generally light style is marked by a range of traits: simple, tuneful melodic ideas of narrow range and short duration; lively rhythmic content often using ostinatos and a fluidity of changing meters; clear, transparent textures with little contrapuntal writing; an essentially diatonic tonal language spiced by some dissonance; and clear forms, occasionally involving cyclical recall of thematic material.
— Musicologist Michael Thomas Roeder [5]
The opening has a sonata-form exposition and recapitulation along with bits of once-popular chansons (like croutons in salad) that complement the composer's own jaunty first and second subjects. The slow, sighing central section replaces a development group before Poulenc returns to the boulevards and boites.
The Larghetto pays homage to Mozart throughout... at one Piano I leads in effect a musette, as if on a toy piano. The middle section becomes more impassioned, building to a sonorous climax before calm is restored.
Returning to the mood of the first movement, the finale begins with percussive flourishes before it takes off like an Alfa-Romeo in a Grand prix through the avenues and allées of day-and-night Paris, past marching bands and music halls. There is, however, an interlude lyrique et romantique when the Alfa stops for a bedroom tryst, where perfume and perspiration mix with the smoke from Gauloises, after which the race resumes, even more racily.
— Roger Dettmer, [6]
References
- ^ 1 Oct. (1832) letter in Poulenc 1994, 32-19 (Poulenc 1991, no. 121)
- ^ Fragment of Poulenc’s (Sept. 1932) letter to Markevitch in Poulenc, 1994, p. 368, note 1.
- ^ Poulenc 1954, p. 83 and Marchart, 84 for links to Mozart’s Piano Concertos K. 467 and 503
- ^ Henri Hell, Francis Poulenc (trans. from the French and introduced by Edward Lockspeiser, 1959)
- ^ Michael Thomas Roeder. A History of the Concerto. Amadeus Press (March 1, 2003), p. 362
- ^ Chris Woodstra, Gerald Brennan, Allen Schrott. All music guide to classical music: the definitive guide to classical music. Backbeat Books (September 1, 2005), p. 1020.