The People United Will Never Be Defeated!
The People United Will Never Be Defeated! is the title of an extensive set of variations for piano by the American composer and pianist Frederic Rzewski (* 1938) on the Chilean protest song El pueblo unido .
Emergence
The trigger for composing The People United Will Never Be Defeated! in 1975 the pianist Ursula Oppens , who was a friend of Frederic Rzewski, asked her to write a work for a concert in 1976 on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the United States . At this time Oppens was also studying Beethoven's Diabelli Variations , possibly a stimulus for Rzewski to also tackle a large-scale work of variations. His theme was based on the protest song El pueblo unido, jamás será vencido (“The united people will never be defeated”) by the Chilean composer Sergio Ortega , which was written a few years earlier during the military coup of Augusto Pinochet and became a musical symbol of resistance had become.
premiere
The world premiere of The People United Will Never Be Defeated! by Ursula Oppens took place on February 7, 1976 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC , with which the composer made an unequivocal statement on the politics of his country, which was instrumental in the Pinochet coup, through musical means for the 200th anniversary celebrations. The New York Times critic , Harold C. Schonberg , described the work after its premiere as "a landmark in the history of piano music".
characterization
The very extensive work - the playing time is around 55 minutes - and demanding pianistic demands includes 36 variations as well as the recurring theme at the end as well as an optional cadenza to be improvised by the pianist , so that the following structure results:
- Subject With determination
- Variation 1 Weaving: delicate but firm
- Variation 2 With firmness
- Variation 3 Slightly slower, with expressive nuances
- Variation 4 Marcato
- Variation 5 Dreamlike, frozen
- Variation 6 Same tempo as beginning
- Variation 7 Lightly, impatiently
- Variation 8 With agility; not too much pedal; crisp
- Variation 9 Evenly
- Variation 10 Comodo, recklessly
- Variation 11 Tempo I, like fragments of an absent melody - in strict time
- Variation 12
- Variation 13
- Variation 14 A bit faster, optimistically
- Variation 15 Flexible, like an improvisation
- Variation 16 Same tempo as preceding, with fluctuations; much pedal / expansive, with a victorious feeling
- Variation 17 LH strictly: RH freely, roughly in space
- Variation 18
- Variation 19 With energy
- Variation 20 Crisp, precise
- Variation 21 Relentless, uncompromising
- Variation 22 Very expressionate
- Variation 23 As fast as possible, with some rubato
- Variation 24
- Variation 25
- Variation 26 In a militant manner
- Variation 27 Tenderly, with a hopeful expression: cadenza
- Variation 28
- Variation 29
- Variation 30
- Variation 31
- Variation 32
- Variation 33
- Variation 34
- Variation 35
- Variation 36
- Cadenza (optional improvisation)
- Theme (recapitulation)
The structure is based on a concept based on serial processes . In each case 6 variations (which always comprise 24 bars) are combined into a group, whereby the sixth variation (i.e. no. 6, 12 etc.) always recapitulates the five preceding ones in abbreviated form. In a further concentration, the variations 31 to 36 bundle the numbers 1 to 30 in order to finally concentrate in variation 36 the material of all previous variations. In addition, the cycle comprises a three-division in the sense of Sonatensatz shape , whereby varying from 1 to 18 of the exposure , Variation 19 to 30 of the implementation and the variations 31 to 36 of the recapitulation correspond.
The work is characterized by a great stylistic plurality, which often changes abruptly from one variation to the next. Tonal structures in the style of 19th century music (Variations 25 to 36 move through all minor keys , each a fifth up) stand alongside atonal (Variation 10) or elements of jazz (Variation 13), folk or minimalism . In many cases, contrapuntal methods are used (e.g. canons in Variations 4 and 8). Ostinati have an increasing effect in the last variations. Musical quotes from other political chants appear in two variations: in variation 13 the Italian revolutionary song Bandiera rossa , in variation 26 the solidarity song by Hanns Eisler . In some places extra-musical effects are also used (whistling, falling piano lid).
Recordings
There are several recordings of the work, in addition to the composer himself and the pianist of the world premiere Ursula Oppens ("Record of the Year" and Grammy-nominated in 1979) by Marc-André Hamelin , Ole Kiilerich , Kai Schumacher , Stephen Drury , Christopher Hinterhuber , Jerome Lowenthal and Igor Levit .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Quoted from Maurice Hinson, Wesley Roberts: Guide to the Pianist's Repertoire , 4th ed., Indiana University Press, 2013, p. 838.
- ↑ Frederic Rzewski: The People United Will Never Be Defeated interpreted by Kai Schumacher on kulturempfänger.de ( Memento from August 31, 2015 in the web archive archive.today )
literature
- Christopher Hinterhuber: CD-Beitext, paladino music, pmr 0037, 2012 (Rzewski: The People United Will Never Be Defeated!, JS Bach: Aria Variata alla Maniera Italiana BWV 989; Christopher Hinterhuber, piano)
- The People United Will Never Be Defeated! Bernhard Wambach in conversation with the pianist Kai Schumacher. In: New magazine for music . No. 2010/01 , p. 40 ( musikderzeit.de ).
- Robert W. Wason: Tonality and Atonality in Frederic Rzewski's Variations on "The People United Will Never Be Defeated!" . Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 26, No. 1 (Winter, 1988), pp. 108-143.