Brahms’s Dance Partners

It was the very last minute of winter. That’s how I billed it at 9:45 last Friday, March 20, during Classic Mornings. 

I hadn’t really planned that. I did hope that one of my breaks came close to 9:46am CDT, which was the official beginning of spring.  So, when I noticed that it was 9:45, I suddenly realized we had but a minute to say farewell to winter. I don’t know how many were saddened by the occasion. And we certainly didn’t count down the seconds to spring.

It felt somewhat strange, but interesting. Suddenly, we stepped out of one season and into another in a matter of seconds. That was a lot quicker than the sudden shifts in weather conditions over the past weeks. 

I welcomed the new season with two of the most famous of the 21 Hungarian Dances by Johannes Brahms: Nos. 4 & 5. The dances were written for piano 4-hands. Brahms orchestrated only three of them: Nos. 1, 3, & 10. The rest of the orchestrations are credited to several composers/arrangers. The most famous of them was Antonín Dvořák. Others included Albert Parlow, Andreas Hallén, Hans Gál, and Paul Juon. That much I had known and mentioned over the years. But I always wondered how that handful of orchestrators came to be selected. 

According to the website of the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP), the publisher of the Hungarian Dances commissioned them to orchestrate the dances. And there have been additional arrangements of the dances. But the first performance of Brahms Hungarian Dances for orchestra included only the three which Brahms had orchestrated. He conducted the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra on February 5, 1874. 

I found the answer to another burning question as well. Do you know the origin of the 6-note fanfare that precedes the famous “charge” call at sporting events? Many of the sources attribute it to Tommy Walker, a drum major and place kicker for the University of Southern California Trojans back in the late 1940s. But there have been other “composers” who have claimed they wrote it.  And the fanfare has been the subject of lawsuits.

I hadn’t known about all that. But I have known ever since I first heard the second movement of the Sonata in A major D. 574 for violin and piano by Franz Schubert, that the opening, played by the pianist, sounds a lot like the “charge fanfare.”  I’ve featured it on Classic Mornings over the years. But last week, I shared my observation with listeners for the first time.  And I suggested that they refrain from shouting the famous cheer after hearing the opening notes, since Schubert went far beyond those opening notes with his music. 

It was well worth a shout-out for the late British trumpeter Philip Jones on March 12. It would have been his 98th birthday. He was the founder and namesake of the famous Philip Jones Brass Ensemble. This year marks the 75th anniversary of its founding. Philip Jones, who died in 2000, retired from the group in 1986, when it turned 35. The remaining players performed under the name London Brass. But the PJBE, as it’s often abbreviated, isn’t forgotten, thanks to the PJIBEC: the Philip Jones International Brass Ensemble Competition. The 3rd Competition is coming up in July. It’s held every three years and aims to attract young brass quintets. 

Another British-based group attracted my attention. It’s known as The Society of Strange and Ancient Instruments. Though based in the UK, it’s not a Monty Python-inspired organization. It’s one that explores early music and early music instruments. For example, that drone-sounding string instrument known as the “trumpet marine,” which Vivaldi simulated with violins in one of his concertos, is of interest to the Society. You can hear quartets featuring 4 trumpets marine at their website. One of the members of the Society is the Scottish cellist and viola da gamba player Alison McGillivray. I’d been led to the Society’s website via her bio. For years, I’ve played her recording of a Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach cello concerto with the English Concert, conducted by Andrew Manze.

Oh, and we had fun on March 17 with a variety of stories to go along with some Irish music selections. One I like to tell is that Antonín Dvořák not only made his mark on American music, but on Irish music as well. Because of the success of his Symphony No. 9 “From the New World,” which he wrote while in this country, a contest was established in Dublin to encourage an Irish-inspired symphony. The 1904 winner was Hamilton Harty’s An Irish Symphony

I hope all of this inspires you to join us for Classic Mornings. Tune in Monday through Friday from 9-noon on Illinois Classical 90.9 FM or online at will.illinois.edu.