Monthly Playlist: November 2023
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Every year, we gather with family, chosen loved ones, friends, and others express our appreciation for one-another in-person. Thanksgiving is one of the few times in American culture we are explicitly asked to acknowledge others in this way, and give thanks for what we have and those in our lives. In that spirit, here is a playlist of composers Giving Thanks: to friends, to health, and even to a beloved instrument.
Happy Thanksgiving!
-SP
1. Rachmaninoff // Piano Concerto No. 2, I. Moderato
The premiere of Rachmaninoff’s first symphony was an absolute professional and personal disaster, causing him to go into a deep depression for three years. Rachmaninoff wrote almost no music and in his own words was “lying on the couch and sighing over my ruined life.” He grew more and more isolated during this period and missed an important deadline for finishing his second concerto. At the recommendation of his aunt, he started having daily sessions with a hypnotherapist and internist named Dr. Nicolai Dahl to cure his depression and writer’s block.
Dr. Dahl would repeat the same hypnotherapy mantra to Rachmaninoff for hours “You will begin to write your concerto. You will work with great facility. The concerto will be of excellent quality.” He provided therapy too, all while making Rachmaninoff change his life habits - making sure he was healthy, getting sleep, and getting exercise.
As Rachmaninoff came out of this third year of depression, he had an explosion of creativity finishing the concerto and few other of his most celebrated works. Rachmaninoff was so moved by the help that he dedicated this concerto, a labor of many years of depression and personal failure, to Dahl. So enjoy him playing his own composition: A haunting work overcoming depression tinged with gratefulness to hypnotherapist who helped him.
2. Elgar // Enigma Variations, IX “Nimrod”
Elgar dedicated each variation in this work to a different a friend. This one is dedicated to Augustus Jaeger. According to Elgar’s friend Dora Penny (dedicatee of the 10th variation), Elgar was depressed and having trouble composing. His friend came by and cheered him out of his depression through the discussion of slow movements of Beethoven (including the last work on this list). As a thank you, Elgar composed this movement, a memorial of that conversation and joy of his friend.
3. C.P.E. Bach // Farewell to My Clavier Built by Silbermann
This is the sweetest goodbye one could give to a favorite instrument. CPE Bach knew he was near the end of his life and wanted to make sure that his most prized clavichord of 35 years ended up in good hands before he died to be enjoyed by future generations. So he sold it and wrote this piece for it, telling the buyer that the work could only performed on this instrument. You can hear Bach’s yearning, gratefulness, and sweet memories.
4. R. Schumann // Fantasy, II Mäßig. Durchaus energisch
The Fantasy is a not-so-secret declaration of love for Clara Wieck, who Schumann would later marry. This march was Clara’s favorite movement – she played it through her entire life and was her favorite reminder of Robert.
5. Beethoven // String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, III “Song of Thanksgiving Offered to the Divine from Someone Recovering from an Illness, in the Lydian mode”
This is Beethoven’s poignant meditation on his own gratefulness for being alive while recovering from serious illness. After months of agony due to an intestinal issue that prevent him from working/thinking, Beethoven wrote Op. 132. This movement is the heart of the work, and musically represents his own joys/sorrows/life changing perspective that comes from recovering from an illness. Death is never too far away, but we are grateful for what we have.