Piano Concerto in G minor (Dussek)
The Piano Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in G minor op. 49/50 is the 10th piano concerto by the Bohemian composer Jan Ladislav Dussek . It is Dussek's only piano concerto in a minor key and, although it is practically unknown today, is considered to be one of the most important contributions to the genre in the transition from musical classical to romantic . Many people compare its importance to Beethoven's piano concertos .
History
Dussek began composing the concert probably around 1799 when he left London , and completed it in Germany in 1801 at the latest . In 1801 the work was first published in Paris by Érard, in 1803 in London by Clementi & Co as op. 49, and shortly afterwards, in a revised form, in Leipzig by Breitkopf & Härtel as op. 50. In 1794 an old friend and colleague was already out London, the composer and violinist Giovanni Battista Viotti , composed a piano concerto in G minor ; 1801 was the first time in C minor - Concerto KV 491 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart published by André in the publishing catalog. Possibly these two compositions were motivation enough to try yourself in and in a minor key. In this work he was also able to process the difficult events of that time musically: the separation of his family and the escape from justice in London.
To the music
The sentences of the concert are:
- Allegro con fuoco ed anima ; G minor, 3/4
- Adagio ; E flat major, 2/4
- Rondo: Allegro non troppo ; G minor, 2/4
1. Allegro con fuoco ed anima
The first movement is an extended (626 bars), in expression and melancholy extremely deeply pressing (corresponding to the genre) movement in sonata form. The orchestra's introduction seems truly “ symphonic ”: the themes of the exposition are presented for 113 bars, until bar 114 the piano starts with a wild, virtuoso, passionate solo (14 bars), after which it joins the orchestra again to add calm melancholy, which is processed into dark, wild expression in the course of the work up to a “pseudo climax” in measure 431 and a short breakdown to the end.
2. Adagio
The second movement is a dreamy, in love movement in E flat major in three-part song form . With the exception of the 17 introductory bars and a few transitional passages, the piano dominates the entire movement, whereby it can completely indulge in feeling and "playing", accompanied by the orchestra at the most softly. In the middle section, the expression reaches its climax in the outbreak of wild passion, only to quietly pick up the first theme again, this time without the orchestra leading the way, and end in pianissimo with the soft accompaniment of pizzicato strings floating in the room.
3. Rondo: Allegro non troppo
A defiant-seeming, folksong-like gesture pervades the third movement almost completely. The movement begins with a 4-bar solo, in which the piano already seems to present the entire expressive, yet excited, dancing gesture of the entire movement, initially only accompanied by pizzicatos of the strings, before they take up and continue the theme in a somewhat more relaxed pianissimo . The piano seems to “play” in the first 30 bars with the main idea and slight modifications, the orchestra does not allow it to play; After a virtuoso solo, the orchestra takes up the main musical idea again and this time manages to keep it longer and process it, while the piano seems to play along wildly in sixteenth-note passages. The piece finally ends, in wild fortissimo and extremely heightened passion, in a chord by the orchestra.
What makes the work so forward-looking are, in addition to the great formal work that creates expressive self-containedness and passionate pathos, above all two profound innovations in the solo concerto genre: The first is the renunciation of cadenzas (first Beethoven's piano concerto in E flat major, op . 73 refrains from doing so almost seven years later), the second that the work ends as it began: in melancholy, passionate G minor . With this, the tradition of having a work end in major , if it was written in a minor key at all (Mozart did it in his C minor Concerto), seems to have finally broken here.
Today the concert is completely unjustifiably forgotten and needs to be rediscovered by a broader audience. But just as the composer's popularity seems to be increasing slowly, if at all, it will be some time before the value of this important concert is properly recognized.