JACQUES aaa Ee EDRICH VON FLOTOW 3 Réveries * Chant du soir BEF Mig __ Les Larmes de Jacqueline * Harmonie du soir as £ ANDREA NOFERINI violoncello . STEVEN ROACH pianoforte ara iatBorn in Cologne in 1819 into a family of musicians, Jacob (Jacques) Offenbach stu- died violoncello in his native city before moving to Paris in 1833 with his brother Julius, a violinist. Here he began to make himself known in musical circles, and his activities included playing in the orchestra of the Opéra Comique. In this period he became close friends with the German composer Friedrich von Flotow, who i troduced him into Parisian salons. In 1839 he received his first commission for a vau- deville, Pascal et Chambord, while con- tinuing his career as a virtuoso celli pearing with such celebrated musicians Franz Liszt and Anton Rubinstein. In the 1850s the Offenbach achieved a pre- eminent place in the panorama of Pari theater: in 1855, on the occasion of the Ex- position, he founded the so-called Théa- tre des Bouffes Parisiens, situated first in the Théatre Marigny and later at the Théa- tre Comte. In this same year Offenbach en- joyed his first great success as an opera composer by creating Orphée aux enfers. This work would become the model for the so-called opéra bouffe, a model which would quickly spread throughout Europe, meeting with great approval especially in Vienna and London. The following deca- de gave rise to an important series of works which still today constitute a point of re- ference for the music of Offenbach: La bel- le Héléne (1864), Barbe-bleue (1866), La vie parisienne (1866), La Grande Duches- se de Gérolstein (1867), and La Péricho- Ie (1868). The events triggered by the fall of Napoleon III and the great revolt which followed in 1870-71 marked a rapid chan- ge in Parisian tastes, and consequently the works of Offenbach circulated almost ex- clusively abroad, for his fame was by now well-established in London and the Uni- ted States. Aside from the success in Pa- ris of La fille du tambour major (1879), Offenbach spent the last years of his life composing the opéra-comique which would be considered his theatrical master- piece, Les contes d’Hoffimann, based on a play by Barbier and Carré. The compo- ser unfortunately died (in October 1880) before completing this last work, which was later elaborated and completed by Er- nest Guiraud. Offenbach’s name is thus closely linked to his production of his opéras boufjes, writ- ten for the most part in collaboration with Halévy. Orphée aux enfers, La belle Hé- lene, La vie parisienne, and La Périchole are the most significant examples of a gen- re which testified to the tastes and beliefs of a society and an epoch - that of France during the Second Empire. This partly ex- plains the rapid decline of the composer’s.success in the aftermath of the fall of Na- poleon III, whose regime was to some ex- tent related to Offenbach’s music, in that it provided the inspiration for his biting sa- tire. It is, nonetheless, to Offenbach’s cre- dit that he created a genre which would lay the way for such felicitous future de- velopments as the Viennese operetta of Strauss and Lehar, the theatrical works of Gilbert and Sullivan, and, much later, the musical comedy. This satire of contempo- rary France finds its musical expression ina lively and conversational style, light and airy, characterized by a melodic in- ventiveness often inspired by French folk tradition, but not above parodying illu- strious classical examples such as Rossini and Wagner. Born in Germany but trained in Paris, Friedrich von Flotow (1812-1883) was as- sociated with the leading names of the Pa- risian musical world: Rossini, Auber, Meyerbeer, Gounod. Flotow who, as men- tioned above, was a close friend of Offen- bach and introduced him into Parisian mu- sical circles, was essentially a composer of operas. He is known primarily for Mar- tha, oder der Markt zu Richmond, which was first performed in Vienna in 1847 and has remained in the repertoire. Flotow’s musical style, rather than deriving from French opera, reveals instead the compo- set’s individuality as well as a profound knowledge of Italian and German opera. In this context may be placed the very he- terogeneous writing style of such operas as Alessandro Stradella, Zilda, Die Mu- sikanten and Sakuntala. The friendship which bound Offenbach and Flotow led to a series of works for vio- loncello and piano whose genesis was quite unique: Offenbach wrote the cello part while Flotow wrote the part for piano, These pieces were published in two col- lections of 6 works each in 1839: Réve- ries and Chants du soir. They are gene- rally tripartite, and exhibit close ties with the musique de salon popular at the time The density of the writing, as well as the type of themes employed, seem often to derive from the world of opera. Of the three pieces from Réveries recorded here, La harpe éolienne is a cantabile Andante in D major composed in the style of a bar- carole. The second, a Scherzo in A minor, anticipates the fantastical atmosphere which will again appear in parts of Les contes d’Hoffmann. The last piece, Les lar mes, is an Andante in F major, again tri- partite, which contrasts the cantabile ou- ter sections with the dramatic central sec- tion in F minor in which the piano part is strikingly autonomous. The collection of six Chants du soir opens with a lyricalAndante con moto in C major, suggesti- vely entitled Au bord de la mer. This pie- ce is of great harmonic interest, for its al- ternation between major and minor high- lights its exceedingly effective concertan- te writing. The second piece, Souvenir du bal, is formally more complex and echoes certain works of Berlioz (such as the sce- ne at the ball in Roméo et Juliette), or even Delibes’ ballet music. The next is La priére du soir, an Andante in Bb major of a calm, cantabile and pastoral character, contra- sting with the theatrical drama of the cen- tral section. The fourth work, La retrai- te, is a march (in the form ABCAB) re- miniscent of revolutionary marches: its first theme was taken up by Puccini in La Bohéme, while certain moments of anti- quated lyricism later find their way into the music of Bizet. The following piece, La ballade du patre, undoubtedly employs the most elaborate structure of the entire collection: it opens with an introductory recitative in Eb major, followed by a me- lancholy Andantino in D minor; a reprise of the introduction then leads to the Mou- vement de danse in ABA form; a reprise of the Andantino, repeatedly interrupted to great effect by echoes of the Mouvement de danse, finally culminates in the coda which is based on thematic material from the introduction. The entire collection of the Chants du soir ends with a Danse nor- vegienne featuring a dynamic alternation between 2/4 and 6/8, accompanied by re- markable variety in its harmonic treatment. The two works which conclude this CD are original compositions by Offenbach, despite many stylistic affinities to those written together with Flotow. The first of these, Les larmes de Jacqueline, is an An- dante in C minor the opening theme of which is typically operatic in nature; it is composed in ABAB form, with the second section in C major. The second piece, Har- monies du soir, is an Andante in C major whose simple style recalls the barcarole, albeit filtered through the tastes of the mu- sique de salon ANDREA ZACCARIA translation: Candace SmithJACQUES OFFENBACH / FRIEDRICH VON FLOTOW Cello miniatures Jacques Offenbach / Friedrich von Flotow ___ Réveries 1] La harpe éolienne [3°24"] 2} Scherzo [3°35""] 3} Les larmes (7'27"] Chant du soir (4) Au bord de la mer [4°51] 5| Souvenir de bal [417"] 8] La priére du soir [5°39""] 7) La retraite [5°19°"] {8} Ballade du patre [9°21""] \9] Danse norvegienne [3°51] Jacques Offenbach 110] Les larmes de Jacqueline (Elégie) [8’28”’] 11) Harmonie du soir [3°26"’] T. T. 59°42” ANDREA NOFERINI, violoncello STEVEN ROACH, pianoforte BONGIOVANNI - BOLOGNA - MADE IN ITALY _ GB 5569-2 8 | 0 7 0. 6 8"5 56922) 692 [b[D |p} OIGITAL AUDIO TOs os BONGIOVANNI