I apologize if am introducing a kind of off-topic.
The topic about unsung instruments concertos has made me to remind the tuneful Concerto for accordion and orchestra by the French Jean Wiener (1896-1982; CD Arion 68186). Its first movement bears the very fanciful indication "brandebourgeoisement".
The third movement of Mario Pilati Concerto for Orchestra (CD Naxos) bears the full tempo indication "Rondò alla Tirolese. Allegro pesante e ben ritmato".
Can anyone suggest some unusual movement/tempo indications (NO Satie, who anyway, in my knowledge, didn't compose pieces divided in movements, and liked much jokes/mocking words. NO Rossini of the piano works - not divided in movements)?
actually, Satie composed quite a few pieces divided into movements- his Sonatine bureaucratique (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonatine_bureaucratique) was just one of them...
One of my favorites, for the unusual juxtaposition of tempi it suggests, is the second movement of Ginastera's Piano Sonata No. 1, op.22. It's marked "Presto misterioso".
And, though you're not looking for jokes, I can't resist sharing my favorite movement indication of all time: the finale of P.D.Q. Bach's "Howdy" Symphony: "Come un pipistrello fuori dall'inferno"
Which, if your Italian's as poor as mine is, I'll let you know translates to "Like a bat out of Hell".
-J
--
Jim Moskowitz
The Unknown Composers Page: http://kith.org/jimmosk/TOC.html
My latest list of unusual classical CDs for auction: http://tinyurl.com/jimsCDs
I thank you.
As for Satie, I own , between other records, Jean-Yves Thibaudet box of five CD survey of piano music (Decca 673 620-2).
In the booklet I see the Sonatine Bureaucratique divided in three "movements"
-allegro lasting 0' 56"
-andante lasting 1' 00"
-vivache (?) lasting 1' 20". But the word "vivache" doesn't exist in musical lexicon (it is "vivace"=lively).(Or is it a Decca misprint?)
Satie always has fun (with words).
Other Satie pieces are more little suites or short polyptichs. Not in "canonic" forms. Against the "academy" he titled "three pieces en forme de poire" for two pianos.
In two of his finales (1st Symphony and Scottish Fantasy), Max Bruch used the indication "Allegro guerriero", which I presume translates as "fast and warlike/fierce". Not particularly esoteric, perhaps, but who else has used it once, much less twice, that you can think of offhand?
Allegro guerriero makes me think immediately of Carl Nielsen. Orgoglioso...
Nielsen marks "Allegro espansivo" mov.1 of Third Symphony.
Most fanciful (and poetic) Medtner (author of a "Sonata minacciosa" op.53 n.2= threatening).He invents the word "abbandonamente", which should be "con abbandono": I think he would mean "rapturously".
Examples: Sonata-Skazka op. 25 n.1 "allegro abbandonamente". Skazka op.34 n.1 "tempo cangiando, abbandonamente".
Wilful Scriabin. Symphony 2, mov. 4 "tempestuoso" (should be "tempestoso", stormy).
Symphony 3. Mov. 1"divin, grandiose...mysterieux, tragique, sombre, haletant, precipité. Mov. 2 "sublime-divin essai". Mov. 3 " avec une joie eclatante". Piano sonata 4, mov. 2 "prestissimo volando"(=flying). Many other examples possible in his piano music.
Prokofiev is rich in using varied words.
Allegro "feroce" (Scythian Suite")
Allegro "eroico"
Moderato "brioso" (both Symphony 4).
Allegro "agitato" (Piano sonata 3)
Allegro "tranquillo" (Piano sonata 5)
Allegro "strepitoso" (Piano sonata 9)
Allegro "con brio, ma non leggiero" (Piano sonata 4)
Allegro "con brio, ma non troppo presto" (Piano sonata 9)
Allegro "inquieto" (Piano sonata 7)
Andante "caloroso" (Piano sonata 7)
Andante "dolce" (Piano sonata 8)
Andante "sognando" (dreaming, Piano sonata 8).
Allegro agitato is fairly often used. I believe the finale of the Henselt PC has that tempo indication. Also, I've often wondered what is the difference between using different adjectives in Italian, to say the same thing. That is what is the difference between "con brio" and "brioso"? I believe there is a Haydn symphony where he does this (#103?) The main body of the first movement is "Allegro con spirito" while the finale is "Allegro spiritoso"? What's the grammatical or semantic difference?
Quote from: JimL on Saturday 14 May 2011, 00:36
In two of his finales (1st Symphony and Scottish Fantasy), Max Bruch used the indication "Allegro guerriero", which I presume translates as "fast and warlike/fierce". Not particularly esoteric, perhaps, but who else has used it once, much less twice, that you can think of offhand?
I'm sure I recall reading that Mendelssohn originally marked the finale of the Scotch Symphony "Allegro guerriero" but later altered it to the "Allegro vivacissimo" with which we are now familiar. I stand ready to be corrected!
About reply 7, one matter is to use an adjective or a preposition plus substantive: two ways to say the same thing.
So "Allegro con spirito" (= "with wit") is identical to "allegro spiritoso" (="witty").
Another matter is/would be using different adjectives in Italian "to say the same thing".
But that doesn't happen in the examples concerning the very accurate Prokofiev (or the slightly over-the-top Scriabin, using sometimes Italian, sometimes French).
For instance, about Prokofiev, "Andante dolce" ("sweet") is not the same as "Andante sognante" (= "dreaming" or "dreamy") or "Andante caloroso" (I would translate "hearty").
Actually, "feroce" is a rather common indication. A few I came up with are:
Atterberg: Symphony No. 7 op.45 'Romantica': III. Feroce. Allegro
Bax: Symphony No. 1 in E-flat Major: I. Allegro moderato e feroce
Dvorak: Symphony No. 4 in D minor, op. 13: III. Scherzo - Allegro feroce
Hanson: Piano Concerto in G Major, Op. 36 [1948]: II. Allegro feroce, molto ritmico
Rozsa: String Quartet No. 1: IV. Allegro feroce
Rautavaara: Symphony No. 8 "The Journey": II. Feroce
Tubin: Symphony No. 1 in C minor: I. Adagio. Allegro feroce
Poulenc: Aubade, Concerto Choréographique: V. Allegro feroce
-J
Molto allegretto, though (e.g. Rossini) is sometimes used but is a bit confusing. Presto misterioso at least I think I understand- rumbling fast quiet mosquito toccata...
Another group of unusuals.
Maverick Rued Langgaard, Symph. 7, mov. 3 "Fiorito" ( "adorned", "flowery"?).
Alberto Ginastera in Quartet 1 "Allegro violento e agitato"-"Allegramente rustico"
In Quartet 2 "Allegro rustico" "Adagio angoscioso" "Presto magico"
Myaskovsky: String quartet 1, mov.2 "Allegro tenebroso"
D.Milhaud very fanciful, a lot of words
Just for example, Symph. 8 mov. 1 "Avec mistére et violence" , mov. 2 "Avec serenité et nonchalance".
T.Rangstroem, Simph. 4, mov. 3 "Allegro arrabbiato" (=angry)
M.Gorecki in Symph. 3 distinguishes "cantabile" "cantabile semplice" and "cantabilissimo"
Mov.2 is marked "tranquillissimo cantabilissimo dolcissimo legatissimo"
"Dolcissimo" is also the second piece in Peteris Vasks Cello book.
Less unusual "Religioso" (Bartok P.C. 3, Suk Quintet op.8)
Much varied in words Walter Piston
Symph. 5, "Allegro lieto" ("allegro is the tempo; lieto=gay, merry is the mood)
Symph. 7 "Allegro festevole" (the word "festevole" doesn't exist; it should be "festoso"=joyful).
erm... hold up. (by way of example dolcissimo we have at least as early as Monteverdi and I'm not sure I would characterize it as rare... the same with a lot of the examples here - and another word that doesn't exist in any language outside of music is menuetto, which hasn't prevented it from becoming quite common in music anyway.)
(as to festevole, I see... (http://www.eudict.com/?lang=itaeng&word=festevole))
...and then there's the second movement of Walton's 1st Symphony - "Presto, con malizia"; towards whom or what I'm not entirely sure.
And (in Walton Sym. 1) after "presto con malizia" (mov.2) there is "andante con malinconia" (mov.3).
Odd is Walton indication in Viola Concerto, mov. 2 "vivo, con molto preciso". I think he meant "con molta precisione" ("with great, much precision").
Odd is the indication in Reznicek Violin Concerto, mov. 2, "Allegretto con commodo, capriccioso". I think he would mean "allegretto comodo, capriccioso".
Myaskovsky uses, and uses it very properly, a rich Italian vocabulary. Other Myaskovsky examples : Piano sonatina op.57, mov. 2, "Narrante e lugubre". Sinfonietta op.68, mov. 1, "Largo pesante e severo"; mov.3 "Andante elevato".
The word "festevole" exists as an archaism (used for instance by Giovanni Boccaccio in the XIV century).
Of course, the finale of Beethoven's string quartet op 18 no 6 is entitled "La Malinconia" but among the unsung fraternity, the opening of Guillaume Lekeu's Sonata for Cello and Piano is marked "Adagio malinconico" and the slow movement is marked "Lento assai e con molto di malinconia". It lives up to these directions, being one of the heart-wrenchingly saddest pieces of music I know - even if you can ignore Lekeu's tragically early death.
I've always warmed to Percy Grainger's preference for his own idiosyncratic English-language indications -
Easy going, but richly
Louden lots bit by bit
Hammeringly
and, best of all
Clumsy and wildly
;D
if Satie is out of court, though, there is Sorabji (influenced in part, perhaps, by Scriabin when it comes to this...) (and for all that he sometimes misremembered the languages he used for expressive indications on his scores, the results _were_ indicative, communicative and poetic, I say. And no argument from me about Scriabin- very, very varied, even ecstatic in its colloquial sense, use of language, there! Fier et belliqueux indeed!)
Quote from: Lionel Harrsion on Sunday 15 May 2011, 16:07
...and then there's the second movement of Walton's 1st Symphony - "Presto, con malizia"; towards whom or what I'm not entirely sure.
The first three movements, including the Scherzo reflect Walton's turbulent relationship with Baroness Imma Doernberg (the symphony's dedicatee): their traumatic break-up in 1933, when she left him for a Hungarian doctor, is more than likely mirrored in the music (Walton later described his feelings at the time as "jealousy and hatred all mixed up with love") - the emotional stress brought Walton close to a nervous breakdown and resulted in the creative block which temporarily prevented him from completing the Finale.
I thank Albion for his explanation about Walton, new to me.
I rate Walton First Symphony a great masterwork (even if the Finale appears to me below the first three movements).
I have attended four actual performances (one in London, three in Torino) and own eleven recordings.
The concert program lines or the recording booklets (at least the ones I read) are always reticent about the time gap between the first three movements and the Finale (".......the notoriously slow-working Wiliam Walton.....").
A group more, picking here and there, with no method.
Mac Dowell Piano Concerto 2, mov.1, "Larghetto calmato"
Amy Beach Piano Concerto op.45, mov.4, "allegro con scioltezza"
J.N.Hummel Piano Concerto op.110, mov.1, "allegro pomposo e spirituoso"
H.Litolff Concerto (for piano) op.45, mov.4, "Furioso"
J.Field Piano Concerto n.2, mov.3, "Allegro moderato innocente"
Again Myaskovsky:
-Symph. 3
mov. 2 , "Deciso e sdegnoso" ("deciso" is almost identical to, let' say, "risoluto" , but "sdegnoso" (disdainful) is really a new indication)
-Symph. 5
Mov.1, "Allegro amabile"
Mov. 5, "Allegro burlando"(=joking)
-String Quartet n.10
Mov.3, "Andante con moto lacrimabile" (archaic, "lamentable")
-Lyric Concertino op. op.32
Mov.2, "Andante monotono"
Again the masterful Scriabin (not a bit of irony; on the contrary, the words become music)
-Poéme op.32 n.2
"Con eleganza. Con fiducia"
-Poéme tragique op. 34
"Festivamente-fastoso, irato-fiero"
-Reverie op.49 n.3
"Con finezza"
-Preludes op.48 n.1 "Impetuoso fiero"
op.48 n.2 "Poetico con delizia"
op.48 n.3 "Capricciosamente affanato"
-Preludes op.74 n.1 "Douloureux, déchirant"
op.74 n.2 "Contemplatif"
op.74 n.4 "Lent, vague, indecis"
Lutoslawsky Symph.2, mov.1 "Hesitant" (similar to "indecis"?)
As for Satie, with no disrespect to the maverick "velvet gentlemen" I leave his "Parade" of oddities and jokes to anibody wants.
Excuse me.
Another maverick, George Antheil (the "bad boy of music", according to himself).
Symphony n. 1 "Zingareska" (1923, Antheil aged 23)
1- Innocente
2-Vivo, alla zingaresca, poi ragtime
3-Doloroso elevato
4- Ragtime
If I'm reading the manuscript right, the quartet (no.6 in C minor, op.45, 1856) by Salvatore Pappalardo I've been typesetting from a copy of the manuscript lately - has thrown a couple of new ones at me - and some I just can't really read - but one that I like, which recurs a few times just in the 157-bar repeated exposition alone, is "marcato e dispetto" (marked and scornful). (and as to Myaskovsky sym 3/II, thumbs up on the indication- and on the movement, with that wondrous funeral march, too.) (Also in the Pappalardo: Allegro selvaggio, for the scherzo's main movement tempo.)
I had to point this one out... In a flute quintet by Bernardo Porta, his opus 3 no.1 in D minor (ca. 1801): Andantino Smorfioso. (... I am reading that right?) (scanned in by the good people at Sibley Library.)
"Smorfioso" is right (logical or clear, I don't know). It means "affected", "mincing".
By the way much later Satie himself composed some "Grimaces" for piano.
Another unusual. Erwin Schulhoff in his concerto for piano and small orchestra marks "molto sostenuto e astrattamente" and later "allegro alla jazz".
Lionel's contribution somehow prompts me to ask in relation to Lekeu's untimely death: was he warned to stay off the lemon sorbet?
[I don't quite have the complete Ricecar set which is very good and though he seems to have a chamber music reputation, I like Lekeu's orchestral style best. Whilst he was a great Wagner fan – so overwhelmed he even fainted at Bayreuth – Chant de triomphale deliverance seems influenced by Bruckner, which may in turn explain why I detected something somewhere in Lekeu's music that resembled Rott. For all his youthful but great potential talent, the literature on Lekeu, at least in English, seems rather thin beyond 'Cesar Frank and his Circle,' Laurence Davies, 1970 and a 50-page chapter in 'Miscellaneous Studies in the History of Music,' OGT Sonneck, 1921. Does anyone know any other sources?]
there's a 2006 book by Gilles Thiéblot on Lekeu with "Guillaume Lekeu" as title, mentioned at books.google.com but not in big preview in the US. Bleu nuit, of Paris, is the publisher. Will see if I can find more for a different thread perhaps? :D
Try this: the finale of Mozart's Flute Quartet in A major, K 298 is marked (obviously with tongue firmly in cheek):
Rondieaoux: Allegretto grazioso, ma non troppo presto, pero non troppo adagio, cosi- cosi - molto garbo ed espressione.
(A jokey rondo - allegretto grazioso, but not too fast, but not too slow either - just like this, like this, with plenty of fire and expression)
Alfred Einstein at one point conjectured that that one was satire possibly deliberately aimed at the then popular Cambini; what consensus opinion is now I have no idea. He had a few jokes like that - writing odd things on the manuscript of some of the horn concertos, if memory serves, while the dedicatee was still practicing from them?...? - but not actually all that many.
Mozart was one of music's original jokesters. He HATED the flute, or so he said. I find it entirely likely that he was ribbing Cambini, just as he put all those joking asides to Leutgeb into the finales of his horn concertos.
Here are a few for the game.
Sorabji Desir Eperdu - Moderament Lent - Comme un Tormente d'une desir insatiable
Shchedrin - Sonata No.2 Mov 3 - Presto Possibile (try to play it like a midi ?)
Shenshin - Piano Sonata Op.10 - Con Slancio - Tragicamente
Pouishnoff - Musical Box - Automaticamente (i am not sure how)
Feinberg - Sonata No.2 - Allegro Volando y Cantabile (flying and singing at the same time is not so easy)
(as to Mozart, I think the guess that he hated being commissioned at a time when he was courting may have been closer to the mark :)- but it is no more than a guess, for all of that.)
Nielsen's probably already been mentioned - Sorabji (I do not try to deprecate his music, of which I am a great fan, in saying this) I consider partially, partially, a "descendant" of Scriabin when it comes to movement headings- but I may be mistaken there.
Trying to remember whose work had the paradoxical "Allegretto moderato" (as in erm- ok- in which direction?.. as discussed on newsgroups back when I was in college) - not Rossini's Stabat Mater, the closest it seems to come that I can tell ( on a skim, I may have missed it just now) is Andantino moderato at the opening. Though a search reveals an Allegretto moderato (for string trio, in D, ca.1864, first published 1967) by Tchaikovsky and similarly titled works by others. Still seems to raise the same question.
Another Rued Langgaard? Here is his 3rd String Quartet of 1924:
1. Poco allegro rapinoso [robbing]
2. Presto scherzoso artifizioso [artificial or affected?]
3. Tranquillo – Scherzoso schernevole [mocking] – Tranquillo – Mosso frenetico [frantic] - Maestoso
Ernesto Toch used curious tempo indications in his symphonies, for example, the first movement of the second symphony is "allegro fanatico".
Alban Berg's final movements of his "Lyrische Suite" for string quartet are marked "Presto Delirando" and "Largo Desolato".
More recent, Györgi Ligeti's second string quartet has one movement marked "Come un meccanismo di precisione".
(I think since posting about the Pappalardo example with the "Dispetto" etc. I've encountered a few cases like that- "that" meaning actually here,
composers using their native language in a more fluent fashion (e.g. Italian-speakers sometimes using more Italian vocabulary (etc.) than other composers who mostly restrict themselves to the "basic" Italian lingua franca (italia? :D ... since Lingua franca means "Frankish language"...) Will try to fill in with something more specific soon.)
Toch in the four piece inspired in Rilke's poems, usted the indication: Allegro incalzato
Toch in his first etage wrote late Romantic, his first violin & piano sonate was named Fifth Brahms's symphony! The piece that I indicated above is of 1932, it is very interesting And turbulent, until I say that is very intense And romantic!
No-one has mentioned Charles Ives's Violin Sonata (I can't remember which of them, possibly the third), which has the indication for the 2nd movement "Andante con slugarocko".
Third movement of Ives's fourth violin sonata. Actual indication is "Allegro (con slugarocko)".
Re the Langgaard, schernevole I hadn't seen, but frenetico is not that unusual (though Worldcat.org doesn't list a musical score with "Frenetico" somewhere attached earlier-published than Ernest Bloch's first string quartet, a little before the Langgaard work.) (BTW the Toch is (the finale of) his Musik für Orchester, Op.60 (1932) - see brief checklist of Toch's compositions (https://books.google.com/books?id=ROqWfo3RK7IC&pg=PA245) from this later edition of his "The Shaping Forces of Music".)
BTW Rapinoso occurs also as the indication for the third of Dallapiccola's "Cinque canti : per baritone e alcuni strumenti" (pub.1957).
Quote from: jdperdrix on Thursday 08 January 2015, 08:24
Third movement of Ives's fourth violin sonata. Actual indication is "Allegro (con slugarocko)".
Problems of citing from memory!
Liszt used Allegro intrepido in his Carrousel de Madame P-N (S214a)
Ludolf Nielsen's third symphony includes a movement marked Allegretto agevole.