Violin Concerto (Wetz)
The Violin Concerto in B minor, Op. 57, is the only orchestral concertante work by Richard Wetz and, at the same time, his last major composition to have been completed.
History of origin
At the end of December 1931, Wetz, whose creative energies had been inhibited by writer's block for 15 months, complained in a letter: " The year 1931 was the most stupid of my life; but I think the sources will sprout again in 1932. " He should be right because ten years after the completion of his Third Symphony (1922) he began again to compose a large orchestral work. The violin concerto was finished in September 1932. The first performance of the work took place on May 29, 1933 under the direction of the composer in his hometown Erfurt . The soloist was the violinist Robert Reitz , to whom the concert is also dedicated.
The work
The structure of the one-movement, approx. 30-minute violin concerto differs fundamentally from Wetz's earlier instrumental works. While in his symphonies composed between 1915 and 1922 he tried as much as possible to conform to the traditional canon of forms, op. 57 is no longer bound to a prefabricated scheme. Apparently the composer was inspired in this point by the piano sonata of Franz Liszt , whom he admired , and with which his concerto shares the key. Of the late Romantic violin concertos , Wetz's work is closest to Hans Pfitzner's violin concerto, composed a decade earlier , also a B minor work in one movement. Compared to the Pfitzner concerto, however, the Wetz concerto has much more rhapsodic features. Wetz sees the solo violin more as primus inter pares. Similar to the concerts of Beethoven and Brahms , the purely musical element takes on a higher rank than the virtuoso.
Wetz 'Op. 57 is designed as a free form of development. There are no clearly demarcated sections of the exposition, just as there are no reprises in the sense of the sonata main movement . Terms such as "developing variation" or "permanent implementation" are probably the best way to describe the formal structure.
The work begins ( slightly held , predominantly 4/4 time) with a kind of prelude that begins with an upbeat, falling fifth in the timpani. It forms, later mainly in its reversal as a rising fourth , together with the immediately following, likewise upbeat third motif of the horns, the motivic core of the whole concert. The solo violin begins with improvisational passages. Only gradually do more concise thematic contours emerge. An almost inconspicuous woodwind theme and a vocal string melody in E major ( calm and expressive , 4/8 time) prove to be particularly important for the further progress . After a section reminiscent of the entrance passage of the solo instrument, there is an increase marked by strongly dotted rhythms at the climax of which the woodwind theme now appears as a splendid brass chorale. This is followed by a part that is mainly based on the vocal theme. It leads to a new theme ( moderately agitated , B minor), which is formed from the combination of the chorale with the E major melody and is now processed in place of the latter. From here on, 3/4 time dominates for the rest of the work. In the next part there is a lively dance theme in D major ( taut and decisive ), a variation on the chorale. Soon, however, the new topic of the previous section is added and the music takes on a more thoughtful character. At the end the chorale also appears again, but now assimilated to the triple measure. An extensive final section ( in the first time measure , B minor, partly in B major) draws on the previous sections and puts their elements in new relationships. After the dance theme reappears, the action calms down and leads seamlessly to a cadenza of the solo instrument written out by the composer and accompanied by the orchestra. This is followed by the 3/4 time singing theme. A short, pushing coda, based primarily on material from the concert introduction and the dance theme, ends the concert in a violent B minor.
literature
- H. Polack: Richard Wetz , Leipzig 1935.