Presents
Alberto Nepomuceno
Piano Trio in f sharp minor
Alberto Nepomuceno (1864-1920) was born in the Brazilian city of Fortaleza. His father, Vitor Augusto Nepomuceno was a violin professor and it was with him that Nepomuceno had his first music lessons. In 1888, he was able to leave for Europe to further his musical studies. In Rome he studied with Giovanni Sgambatti. In 1890, he moved to Berlin where he studied composition with Heinrich von Herzogenberg and continued his piano studies with the famous teacher Theodor Lechetitzky. In Lechetitzky’s class, he met a Norwegian student whom he married in 1893. She had been a student and friend of Edvard Grieg and Nepomuceno moved to Bergen after his wedding and lived in Grieg’s house. Grieg, of course, was a proponent of nationalism in composition. Nepomuceno’s friendship with Grieg was instrumental in convincing him to write music which reflected Brazilian culture. Before leaving Europe he visited Paris where he met such luminaries as Saint Saens and D’Indy. He subsequently returned to Brazil where he taught at the Institutio Nacional de Musica in Rio de Janiero. Later Mahler engaged him to conduct at the Vienna Opera but illness prevented this. He eventually returned to Europe in 1910 for a series of concerts in Brussels, Geneva and Paris. During this trip he became good friends with Debussy. Back in Brazil, he fought for the use of Portuguese in opera and song and remained the leading musical personality there until his death. Heitor Villa Lobos was among his many students.
Nepomuceno did not compose a great deal of chamber music. There are three string quartets which were composed between 1889 and 1891 while he was studing in Europe and his this Piano Trio in f sharp minor which was finished in 1916. It was dedicated to the Trio Barrezo, Milano & Gomes, one of the most prominent performing piano trios then active in Brazil. The three quartets to some extent reflected the influence and likes of his teachers. In them one hears echoes of Mendelssohn, Schumann and Brahms. The Piano Trio came nearly three decades later. By then Romanticism was nearly forgotten and the work shows the post Romantic style not only of Central European music but also of French Impressionism. It is a large work. The big opening movement begins with a somber Molto lento introduction given out by the piano alone. When the strings enter a sad, almost pleading, melody is given out but the mood remains the same. The strings separately and then together give out lyrical outbursts, while the piano remains in its lower registers. The second movement, Lentamento, is virtually a continuation in mood and thematic material of the first movement. In third place a very modern and nervous sounding Con spirito. It is a kind of post Impressionist scherzo. The finale, Largo assai e molto espressivo, begins with the stings alone presenting a sad plaint-like theme, while the piano remains in the background, again in its lower registers giving the music a dark, somewhat ominous hue. Eventually the tempo picks up and there is nervous, almost desperate atmosphere. Suddenly, the mood brightens as if storm clouds are suddenly dispersed. The two sections alternate throughout.
Parts: $34.95
