Dora Pejačević & Amanda Maier: Piano Trios

Description

The obvious red thread of this Da Vinci Classics album is its focus on two Trios by two female composers who lived between nineteenth and twentieth century. Both composers were remarkable figures; both were virtuose of at least one instrument; and both lived in countries which were considered as “fringes” of the musical world of their times. Both are (as it often happens with female composers) much less known than they would deserve; and both wrote beautiful music, as this album abundantly demonstrates.
Dora Pejačević is comparatively well known because she was not only the first “female” composer of indubitable standing in her country: in many fields, she was an absolute pioneer, not to be outdone by her male counterparts. It is fully justified, therefore, that she is considered as almost a national hero in Croatia.
Whilst her family name is patently Croatian, the coordinates of her life amply show how society and culture were far from clear-cut at her time. She lived in the last years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which was experiencing a golden twilight. It was doomed to disappear soon – and its very inherent contradictions, about which Pejačević was very much alert, were showing clearly. In spite of this, those last years saw the presence of a number of artists, literates, geniuses, and creators who, through their art and thought, were able to lend a voice to the commonly felt discontent.
Dora was the daughter of an aristocratic family. Her father, Theodor, would later become a “Ban”, i.e. the governor in the Croatian political system; her mother was a Hungarian Countess, called Lilla Vay de Vaya. The child was born in Budapest, but grew up in her family’s manor in Slavonia, by Našice. She had an English governess, called Edith Davison, who provided her with an excellent education in a number of subjects; furthermore, the manor’s library was huge and diverse, and Dora could find there all that was needed for a thorough and complete formation.
As all children of aristocratic families, Dora was educated in music too; however, it soon became clear that her talent was far beyond what is expected of a young girl of the nobility. At 12, she had already written some music, under the tutelage of a Hungarian organist who taught her privately – his name was Károly Noseda. At 18, when the family had moved to Zagreb following Dora’s father’s career, she began studying at the Croatian Music Institute. A few years later, she was sent abroad to study music, particularly in Germany: in Dresden, she studied the violin with Henri Petri and composition with Percy Sherwood; another of her mentors would be Walter Courvoisier. She also met some of the greatest artists and thinkers of the time, including Rainer Maria Rilke (some of whose poems she would set to music), Karl Kraus, Maximilian Vanka. Along with poems by Rilke and Kraus, she would also employ Nietzsche’s poetry for her Lieder, and she even wanted a line from one of them to be inscribed on her grave.
One of her songs on lyrics by Kraus was shown to Arnold Schoenberg, who praised it unconditionally, even though he was perplexed about the success of a female composer. During the last years of the Empire, Pejačević started to compose at a high pace and with a constantly high quality in her artistry. Among her masterpieces are a Piano Quintet (op. 40), a Symphony (op. 41), and a Violin Sonata (op. 43, also known as Slavic Sonata). Her works were also performed by some of the greatest Croatian musicians of the day, but their reach went well beyond the borders of her country.
The years of the Great War were particularly intense for Pejačević. She courageously and generously served as a paramedic, feeling directly the tragedy of war and what it implied for all those involved. Her identification with her social class became increasingly problematic; she did not feel at ease in the aristocratic salons, and wished to abandon the privileges of her status. In spite of the difficult conditions of Europe during World War I, Pejačević obtained substantial success even on the international plane, with some premieres in Vienna (at the Tonkünstler Society, with its orchestra led by Oskar Nedbal) and Dresden.
At an age which, in her times, was considered as young no more, she married an Austrian officer, by the name of Ottomar von Lumbe. Their marriage, however, would last less than two years: a little more than one year after their wedding, Dora gave birth to her first and only son, Theodor; sadly, she would pass away in Munich within a few weeks, due to kidney failure following post-partum complications.
Her C-major Piano Trio, op. 29, completed in 1910, was not her earliest effort in this important genre. She had already written another work for Piano Trio in 1902, when she was not yet eighteen; the different degree of musical maturity of these two works is evident. Even though she was still in her twenties when she completed her Op. 29 Piano Trio, it is a fully perfected work of art, which completely represents its composer’s accomplishment. It opens with a traditional Sonata Allegro, whose two themes are both very engaging and poetical; the composer also shows her wit and her brilliant musical mind by creating a great rhythmic dynamism and interesting connecting sections. One of the most original movements of this Trio is the second, a Scherzo which draws abundantly from the well of the classical and Romantic tradition, but, at the same time, demonstrates great originality of thought. It is characterized by a thrilling rhythmic drive, with unexpected and unusual patterns whose effect is heightened by the use of pizzicatos. The Scherzo alternates with a dreamier and more poetic Trio (anticipating some effects which will be found in Richard Strauss’ Capriccio), whose more subdued atmosphere enhances, by contrast, the effect of the Scherzo’s return.
Pejačević’s gift as a poet of music is clearly demonstrated by the enchanting slow movement, a Lento in Rondo form, whose contemplative traits eschew the risk of dullness by proposing a series of changes of tempo and key. The concluding movement is an Allegro risoluto, whose breathtaking intensity, sustained by a reiterated dotted rhythm, builds up a series of consecutive expressive peaks, managing an alternation of tension and distension which does not fail to conquer the listener.
Pejačević’s talent is also revealed by her successful handling of the three instruments of the ensemble, which are handled expertly and whose combination is fully satisfactory. Pejačević contrasts the two bowed string instruments with the piano, creating an intense dialogue.
The other composer featured in this CD belongs in the generation preceding that of Pejačević, although both musicians died well before their 45th birthday.
Amanda Maier Röntgen (née Maier) was born in Landskrona, in the county of Scania in southern Sweden. Like Pejačević, she received her first musical education at home – in her case, not because of aristocratic privileges, but since her family was a very musical one. At 16, she was such a good musician that she was successfully admitted to the Royal Music Academy of Stockholm, graduating three years later as a music teacher and after one further year as a “director of music”. Her graduation concert included works by her own, performed by herself at the organ and violin.
Similar to Pejačević, Maier too went to Germany in order to complete her musical studies: in her case, the destination was Leipzig, where her teachers were Engelbert Röntgen, Carl Reinecke and Ernst Friedrich Richter. Her teacher Röntgen conducted some of her compositions performed by the legendary Gewandhaus orchestra. Maier would later marry Röntgen’s son, Julius, a composer himself; before her wedding, however, she toured extensively in Europe and Russia with other female musicians (soprano Louise Pyk and pianist Augusta Kjellander). After marrying, however, like many other female musicians, Maier quit the musical scene as a performer, and fully dedicated herself to the education of her two sons (Julius jr., who was to become a violinist, and Engelbert, who would be a successful cellist). Death took her at forty-one, due to tuberculosis; sadly, many of her works have not been preserved.
Her E-flat major Piano Trio is a masterful work which encompasses the artistry of both the Classical and the Romantic era. Typically classical is the four-movement articulation of the composition, but also Maier’s use of special compositional techniques in the juxtaposition and integration of the three instruments, with skillful polyphonic passages and expert handling of the dialogic element. Quintessentially her own are instead other traits, including the solid and well-built construction, the expressive tunes, the expert management of form and its fluency, as well as the brilliant harmonic and tonal organization. Furthermore, elements taken from Scandinavian folklore are also found, particularly in the Scherzo and Andante, demonstrating her interest in her country’s musical heritage.
Together, these two Trios show the importance of rediscovering this half-forgotten repertoire, and of bringing it to full light and to the recognition it deserves.
Chiara Bertoglio © 2024