Franz Berwald (1796-1868)
Septet in B flat major Serenade
Piano Quartet in E flat major
The Swedish composer Franz Berwald was
the most distinguished of a musical dynasty of German origin. Johann Daniel
Berwald, who died in 1691, served as a town musician in Neumarkt. His son
Johann Gottfried, born in 1679, was Kunstpfeifer in Königsberg, and his own
son, the flautist Johann Friedrich Berwaid, after appointments in Copenhagen
and Hohenaspe, joined in 1770 the Mecklenburg-Schwerin orchestra in Ludwigslust
and fathered a number of musicians among the twenty-five children from his four
marriages. One of his sons, Johann Gottfried, born in Copenhagen in 1737,
studied with Franz Benda and served as a violinist at Ludwigslust before moving
to St Petersburg, where he settled until his death in 1814. Another son,
Christian Friedrich Georg, born at Hohenaspe in 1740, also studied in Berlin
with Benda and in 1772 settled in Stockholm as a violinist and member of the
Court Orchestra from 1773 to 1806. A third brother Georg Johann Abraham, a
violinist and bassoonist, born in Schleswig in 1758, joined the Swedish Court
Orchestra in 1782 and continued there until 1798, when he left for a concert
tour, after which he settled in St Petersburg. His son Johan Fredrik, born in
Stockholm in 1787, won early distinction as a violinist and as a composer. He
accompanied his father to Russia and from 1808 to 1812 was soloist, in
succession to Rode, with the Russian imperial orchestra. In 1814 he returned to
Stockholm to serve in the court orchestra as a violinist and from 1823 to 1849
as Kapellmeister.
Franz Berwald was born in 1796 in
Stockholm, the son of Christian Friedrich Georg. His younger brother Christian
August served as a violinist in the court orchestra from 1815 and as its leader
from 1834 to 1861. Franz Berwald followed family tradition as a violinist, a
pupil of his father, and joined the court orchestra in 1812, continuing there
until 1828. He also appeared as a soloist and in 1819 toured Finland and Russia
with his brother Christian August. Meanwhile he was winning something of a
reputation as a composer, in particular with a symphony, now partly lost, and a
Violin Concerto in C sharp minor, written in 1819, following his earlier
Theme and Variations for violin and orchestra, composed in 1816, and a Double
Violin Concerto that he had performed with his brother. In 1827 he
completed his Konsertstycke for bassoon and orchestra and turned his
attention to an opera on the subject of Gustaf Wasa, a work that he
never finished, while other attempts at the form from this period were either
left incomplete or are now lost.
In 1829 Berwald was at last awarded a
scholarship for study abroad and moved to Berlin, where he took lessons in
counterpoint, but at the same time developed his interest in medicine. The
early 1830s found him occupied abortively with operatic composition, but in
1835 he opened his own orthopaedic institute, an enterprise that enjoyed some
success during the next six years, until he decided in 1841 to sell the
institute and move to Vienna. There he continued to pursue his medical
interests, while turning his attention to a new opera, his tenth attempt at the
form, Estrella de Soria. In 1842 there was a successful concert of his
music in Vienna, with new works, Minnen fran Norska Fjellen (Memories of
the Norwegian Mountains), Elfenlek (Elves' Play) and Ein
humoristisches Capriccio. He now returned to Stockholm, where he staged a
further concert of his music, including parts of his new opera, hoping
for similar success.
It was now, in Stockholm in the 1840s,
that Berwald turned his attention seriously to building his reputation as a
composer. This was the period of his four surviving symphonies, the first, the Sinfonie
serieuse, first performed with indifferent success in Stockholm in 1842
under the direction of his cousin Johan Fredrik, no better received than the
operetta Jag gar i kloster (I will enter a convent) or, in the following
year, the operetta Modehandlerskan (The Modiste). He returned to Vienna
in 1846 but his three years there led to nothing, although he was appointed an
honorary member of the Salzburg Mozarteum and won some occasional successes
with his compositions.
In Sweden again in 1849 Berwald failed in
his attempt to secure a position as director of music at the University of
Uppsala and was equally unsuccessful when he sought to succeed his cousin as
conductor of the court orchestra. 1850 brought a further change of direction,
when he became manager of a glass factory at Sando in the north of Sweden, a
position offered him by a friend. He later extended his business interests to
include a sawmill, but was able to spend some of his time in Stockholm, where
he could continue to pursue his musical interests, in particular by the
composition of chamber music, and, in 1855, a Piano Concerto for his
pupil Hilda Thegerstrom. In 1859 he gave up his work at the glass factory and
was now able to devote more time to music and to varied occasional writing on a
variety of subjects. As a composer he turned largely to chamber music. His
opera Estrella de Soria was in 1862 staged at the Royal Opera, where it
won modest success, and two years later he completed his last opera Drottningen
av Golconda (The Queen of Golconda). He died in Stockholm in 1868.
Berwald's position in Sweden as a
composer was never in his life-time secure. He failed to win appointment to the
positions he desired in the musical establishment of his time. His four
surviving symphonies, one of them realised from an existing short score, occupy
an important place in the history of the symphony in the nineteenth century,
works that, while essentially classical in outlook, nevertheless look forward,
through their harmonic originality, to a new world. His symphonic achievement
is echoed in his later chamber music, notably in the two Piano Quintets of
the 1850s. His life spanned a period of remarkable change. Born a year before
Schubert, he died a year before Berlioz, 21 years after the death of
Mendelssohn, whom he had met and failed to impress in Berlin in 1830.
Berwald's Septet in B flat
major, scored for clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin, viola, cello and double
bass, was first performed in Stockholm on 10th January 1818, provoking one
hostile review. It was repeated on 7th December 1819, after which nothing was
heard of the work. A supposedly new Septet was performed on 6th December
1828 and this may be presumed to be a revision of the earlier work. Dedicated
to Ernst Leonard Schlegel, this work and the Serenade are mentioned by
Berwald in a letter to his sisters in 1829, urging that no composition of his
left behind in Sweden should be performed, except the Septet and the Serenade.
The composer's approval of his Septet was justified, since it is a
work of great charm, clear in its textures and melodically appealing. The first
movement starts with a slow introduction followed by a classical Allegro
molto in which the clarinet has the second subject. The A flat major Poco
adagio continues in the established style, suggesting comparison with Spohr
or Hummel. Its course is interrupted by a lively Prestissimo scherzo in
E flat major, with a fu gal episode by way of contrast. The Adagio returns
and is followed by a final Allegro con spirito, an opera buffa ensemble,
with moments of drama that vary the generally ebullient and cheerful mood of
the movement.
The Serenade in F major, scored
for tenor with clarinet, horn, viola, cello, double bass and piano, has been
compared to a miniature opera buffa scene. It was written in 1825. A plucked
string accompaniment is heard with a horn solo, after which the clarinet leads
forward into a passage of dramatic accompanied recitative, mounting in
excitement. The singer embarks on his serenade, the first verse of which is
followed by an instrumental interlude, in which the clarinet has some
prominence, echoing the contemporary idiom of Spohr. The second verse is
followed by a postlude and a viola passage, the counterpart of the earlier
clarinet interlude, before the piano, in writing of some brilliance, together with
the other instruments, provides a prelude to the last verse, in which
prominence is given to the final declaration of the victory of love.
Berwald's Piano Quartet in E flat
major, scored for piano, clarinet, horn and bassoon, was written in 1819
and first performed at a concert on 3rd March 1821, together with the Symphony
in A major and Violin Concerto. As with his contemporary Spohr,
there is an operatic element in what contemporary critics saw as an untutored
search for originality. There is a first movement that moves into a histrionic
central passage, before a measure of cheerful serenity is restored. The slow
movement is introduced by the piano, soon joined by the wind instruments in a
sustained cantabile that has suggestions of Beethoven, a composer whose
earlier works, at least, had a perceptible influence on Berwald's writing.
There is a lively and colourful final Allegro in broadly classical
style.
Arion Wind Quintet and Schein String
Quartet
The Arion Wind Quintet and the Schein
String Quartet are two of the permanent chamber music ensembles of Musik i
vast, the state-funded music organization of Western Sweden, with Boras and
Skövde respectively as their home towns. The two ensembles often perform
together under the name of the Musik i vasts Kammarensemble, of which the
double-bass player Mikael Bjork is also a member. They perform in
concert-halls, schools, day nurseries, offices and factories, wherever there is
a forum for live music. The members of the two ensembles on the present recording
are.
Members of the Arion Wind Quintet:
Lars Hjelm, Clarinet; Philip Foster,
Horn; Rolf Hallstrom, Bassoon.
Members of the Schein Quartet:
Staffan Schein, Violin; Joel Sundin,
Viola; Anders Modigh, Cello.
Joakim Kallhed, Piano
The pianist Joakim Kallhed studied at the
Music College in Göteborg and has also studied abroad under Royal Music Academy
sponsorship. His career involves appearances as a soloist, chamber musician and
accompanist and he has made extensive concert-tours of Europe, as well as the
Americas. In addition to a number of recordings, he is a frequent guest on
television, at one time as a partner to Victor Borge.
Thomas Annmo, Tenor
Thomas Annmo was trained as a teacher of
singing, cello and choral conducting at the Music Colleges of Göteborg and
Stockholm. For some ten years he was a member of the Swedish Radio Chorus under
Eric Ericsson, but gradually established himself in the opera-house, appearing
at the Drottningholm Court Theatre and the Royal Swedish Opera and subsequently
at the Malmo Music Theatre. He has appeared as a concert soloist both at home
and abroad, notably as the Evangelist in the Bach Passions and in works
such as the Verdi Requiem.