Chamber Orchestras of the Mariinsky Theatre

PROGRAMME:
Antonio Vivaldi
Concerti for Bassoon, Strings and Cembalo in A Minor, RV 497, D Minor, RV 481, and E Minor, RV 484

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Serenade for Winds in B Flat Major, KV 361 (Gran Partita)

Antonio Vivaldi composed thirty-seven concerti for bassoon, strings and harpsichord, with a further two that he never completed. The “red abbot” is thus among the instruments to which he dedicated his scores, the bassoon coming second after the violin as the indisputable leader among wind instruments. Moreover, it appears in various ensemble concerti and for several soloists with an orchestra.
The name of the virtuoso performer for whom such an abundance of music was composed remains shrouded in mystery. The Ospedale della Pietà was a convent, orphanage and music school. In Venice there was no tradition of solo bassoon concerti. In the 18^th century, unlike the Germans the Italians did not regard the bassoon as a solo instrument. All we know is that not one of Vivaldi’s thirty-seven concerti was an early opus, all of them being written by the composer in his mature or very late periods.
More than a third of the concerti are in C Major, though for today’s concert the performer has selected three works in minor key – A Minor RV 497, D Minor RV 481 and E Minor RV 484. In all three the first movements are in “relief” form where the soloist and the strings compete continuously. In the songful second movements we discover touching duets of the bassoon and the cello. All three concerti are virtuoso, though it is arguably the Concerto in E Minor that is the most original and expressive.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed his Serenade in B Flat Major K. 361 (370a) for two oboes, two clarinets, two basset-horns, four French horns, two bassoons and double bass. This was the first time that the composer made use of the clarinet’s “brother”, the basset-horn, and he subsequently made use of the instrument in Masonic works (these instruments are rarely used today, often being replaced by others). Sometimes the role of the double bass is taken by the cello or the contrabassoon.
The publisher Johann André who held the manuscript of the Serenade following Mozart’s death dated it “1780”. Most scholars, however, consider that the work was begun in 1781 in Munich and completed soon afterwards in Vienna. The sixth movement (Tema con variazioni) is an adaptation of the second movement of the Flute Quartet in C Major (K. 285b, 1778).
Serenades were performed on ceremonious occasions and, as a rule, out of doors. Generally they were more expansive than symphonies (the length of the music could be specially agreed with the person commissioning it). The Serenade in B Flat Major was possibly performed at the composer’s own wedding on 4 August 1782. There is also evidence that the clarinettist and Mozart’s friend Anton Paul Stadler included it in the programme of his concert in Vienna on 23 March 1784. Either way, the first clarinet frequently performs the main role. During Mozart’s life, the Serenade was popular and was arranged by now forgotten musicians for other ensembles: the first, second, third and seventh movements for string quintet and all movements for a standard ensemble of “harmonious music” (two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons and two French horns). At the core of the Serenade lies the triumphant and lofty third movement. It is bracketed by minuets in which we can recognise fragments as if “from the next century.” In the first minuet (second movement) the dreamy epilogue is reminiscent of Schubert. The second trio of the third minuet (fourth movement) is a typical Ländler, the direct predecessor of the waltz. In the slow (fifth) variation of the sixth movement when the oboe solo may be heard against the background of the unison of the French horns, bassoons and double bass and the arpeggio of the clarinets and basset-horns there emerges a magical and purely romantic flavour.
Lastly, in the middle of the Romance (fifth movement) and in the final rondo, constructed around images of ballroom music (as a chain of ten contredanses performed without interruption), there emerge at times Hungarian, Slavonic and Turkish features – something completely natural in multinational imperial Vienna.
Anna Bulycheva