Morceaux de fantaisie (Rachmaninoff)
The Morceaux de fantaisie (Eng. Fantasiestücke) op. 3 are a collection of five solo pieces for piano composed in 1892 by Sergei Rachmaninoff . He dedicated it to Anton Arensky , his teacher at the Moscow Conservatory , who was known for his succinct lyrical miniatures.
The early work clearly shows his personal style in tonal language and the original piano setting - a characteristic, melancholy tonal language with dramatic accents and dynamic increases as well as the skillful use of the technical possibilities of the piano. The melancholy elegy, but above all the famous C sharp minor prelude, are part of the standard repertoire of many pianists and, because of their relatively easy playability, enjoy a certain popularity even with intermediate piano students.
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No. 1 - elegy
The meditative elegy in E flat minor ( Moderato , 4/4) , reminiscent of a nocturne by Chopin , surprises with an accompanying eighth figure that extends from the deep contra E flat to B flat and opens up a gloomy, wistful sound space into which the simple Melody enters and slowly sinks down. In the middle section ( Piu vivo ), Rachmaninoff reverses the movement relationship: the right plays a nervous accompanying figure, the left a simple melody, until there is an alternation of functions and a radiant crescendo episode that ends in A major. In the recapitulation, the melody is reinforced by a sixth .
No. 2 - Prelude
The Prelude ( Lento , 4/4) is the most famous work of his entire output. The falling sharply with his Russian Glockentimbre, the fateful rap, monomaniac repetitive Dreitonmotivs, the dramatic increase in the expression by the excited trio Lens tower of the middle part of a toccataartig flows down falling cascade, as well as the massive chordal multiplication of the subject to forte fortefortissimo four staves in the final part - with all these cleverly arranged means, it shows his feeling for new, but also effective and expressive sound effects. This made him one of the last romantics of an epoch that had left Romanticism behind in the more musically advanced works, so that he would later stand in strict opposition to the avant-garde around Arnold Schönberg and his school.
Logically, Theodor W. Adorno polemicized against the Prelude as well as against the composer's oeuvre and sought to interpret it critically . It is a superficial bravura piece with which dilettantes can simulate strength and virtuosity. The work recorded a "children's triumph for infantile adults". It sounds incredibly difficult, but it is comfortingly easy, so that a playing child can feel that the colossal spot cannot go wrong.
No. 3 - melody
With the third melody in E major ( Adagio sostenuto , 4/4), the composer demonstrates his preference for placing a cantilena with sometimes powerful chord accompaniment in the tenor or transferring it in octaves to both hands. The work, with its reserved expressiveness, in places reminiscent of the sentimental salon music of the turn of the century, seems in some places borrowed from upscale entertainment music.
No. 4 - Polichinelle
The Polichinelle in F sharp minor ( Allegro vivace , 4/4), a lively, powerful and dramatically well structured piece, leaves the perfumed salon atmosphere behind. The title refers to the pulcinella of the Commedia dell'arte . The three-part structure begins with a wild section that paints the bizarre appearance of a dwarf and is reminiscent of Mussorgski's portrait of a gnome from the pictures at an exhibition . A decidedly simple motif is played around by the banal jingling of broken chords, brilliant runs and powerful, restlessly rhythmic chord strokes, until a longing melody, the middle section of the work, interrupts the excited rumble like a brief glimmer of hope. The cantilena, played in unison by both hands, is accompanied by effective chord breaks until the final section takes up the wild passages of the beginning and abruptly destroys the misshapen being's hope with two hits.
No. 5 - Serenade
The collection ends with a short serenade in B flat minor ( Sostenuto , 3/8), a hesitant dance reminiscent of a waltz , which seems to float and refuses to adopt the harmonic keynote.
Background and reception
The influence of Liszt and Chopin can be felt in many of the composer's works, while his piano setting is usually more opulent than that of his influential role models. With the massive, sometimes overloaded chords, he was able to achieve dramatic effects depending on the dynamic and agogic use, without leaving the traditional framework of diatonic tonality . Rachmaninoff, who did not want to be considered an innovator, as a pianist composing from the piano exhausted the possibilities of his instrument and developed an easily recognizable personal style, a tonal language that was particularly influential in the United States.
Many of his works have a trait of fatalism that, in contrast to Tchaikovsky's, is less tragic than resigned and elegiac. It was criticized that his sonorous rebellion against fate was rhetorical and external and not a real expression of passion and that Weltschmerz seemed a little too elegant and refined. For Adorno it is precisely the affirmative moment of tonality that gives the amateur the opportunity to prove himself with a powerful gesture in the final cadence. The prelude allows the megalomania to let off steam, and the beginner soars into a daring daydream of music to become the ruler of the world, whose triumph is even greater when he plays the piece in the half-darkened hall.
Rachmaninoff played these works until the end of his life. He recorded all 5 pieces for Ampico piano roles in 1919, 1923 ( serenade ) and 1928 ( elegy ); also for shellac records ( RCA Victor ) three times the prelude (1919, 1921, 1928), twice the serenade (1922 and 1936), 1923 the Polichinelle and 1940 the melody . A version of the melody and the serenade was published in print in 1940, with a revised set, the melody more heavily revised than the serenade . In his 1923 role recording of the serenade, there are already elements of this revision, but also changes to the original version, which are resolved differently in the 1940 print version. In contrast, the melody in the roll recording is largely the original version from 1893. The electrical recordings from 1936 and 1940 largely correspond to the printed version from 1940.
Individual evidence
- ↑ The presentation is based on: Sergei Rachmaninow, Morceaux de fantaisie . In: Harenberg piano music guide, 600 works from the baroque to the present . Meyers, Mannheim 2004, p. 656
- ^ Theodor W. Adorno: Musikalische Schriften II, Quasi una fantasia, Musikalische Warenanalysen, Gesammelte Schriften , Volume 16. P. 285
- ↑ Sergej Wassiljewitsch Rachmaninow . In: The music in past and present , Volume 10. Bärenreiter-Verlag, Kassel 1986, p. 1843
- ↑ today on CD z. B. Telarc CD-80489
- ↑ on CD e.g. B. RCA - Sergei Rachmaninoff - The Complete Recordings