Modern and Contemporary Works for Horn and Piano

Bernhard Heiden (1910 - 2000)
was a German-American composer and music teacher, who studied and was heavily influenced by Paul Hindemith. Born Bernhard Levi, he changed his name in response to antisemitism. He entered the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin in 1929 studying composition with Paul Hindemith, conducting with Julius Prüwer, piano with Max Trapp, and score reading with George Szell and Alexander Zemlinsky. While at Berlin he eventually won the Mendelssohn  Prize in Composition. Bernhard and his wife emigrated to Detroit in the United States in 1935 to leave Nazi Germany. From 1946 until his retirement in 1981, Heiden taught as a professor at the Indiana University School of Music.
The sonata for horn and piano is dedicated to Theodore Snyder, who played principal horn in the Detroit Symphony when the work was composed. The first movement is in sonata form and the opening theme uses all 12 pitches, the second is a dance like movement while the third is written in rondo form.

David Fontanesi (1969)
David Fontanesi holds a master’s degree in History of Medieval Philosophy at the University of Padova. He  studied composition with Azio Corghi at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena and with Mauro Bonifacio at the Accademia Romanini in Brescia. His chamber and symphonic works are published by Casa Musicale Sonzogno (Milan) and Da Vinci Publishing (Osaka). In year 2014 he published the CD “Chamber Music with Flute”, in 2015 the CD “Intimate Chamber Music” and in 2017 “Orchestral Works” for the label Bongiovanni (Bologna - Italy). David Fontanesi published several books: “Preludi ad una metafisica della musica contemporanea” (2018), “Studi e intermezzi sulla musica del ‘900 ” (2020), “Note sigillate” (2022) and “L’Armonia offesa” for Zecchini Editore (2025). For the label Da Vinci Classics he published the CD’s “The Third Way - Chamber Music & amp; Sonatas for Winds” (2018), “Four Concertos” (2020), “Four Brass Concertos” (2022), “Four Organ Sonatas” (2023), “Four String Quartets” (2024), “Erotic Songs” (2024).
The Sonata in F for horn and piano composed in 2023 is dedicated to Nilo Caracristi. The first movement “Tema con variazioni (Allegro)” opens with a simple and clear theme, exposed by the horn and supported by the piano. This theme is then transformed into a series of variations: sometimes slower and more lyrical, others brighter and more lively. It’ s like looking at the same landscape with different lights: the melody remains recognizable, but changes color, rhythm and intensity. The second movement “Scherzo (vivo)” brings a playful and light atmosphere. The “tempo” is quick, full of rhythmic contrasts and small witty points, which put into close dialogue horn and piano. The music almost feels like a carefree dance, with moments of surprise that keeps the listener’s attention alive. In the third movement “Quasi Adagio” the atmosphere changes radically. The horn sings a slow, intense melody, almost meditative, while the piano weaves a soft and enveloping accompaniment. It is the lyrical heart of the sonata, a moment of recollection and breath that contrasts with the energy of the previous movements. In the last movement Rondò (Allegro moderato) a main theme returns several times, alternating different episodes. It is a brilliant and lively movement, with an almost festive character and blues harmonies. Horn and piano dialogue in a lively and enthralling way, bringing the work at an energetic and luminous closing.

Matteo D’Agostino (1973)
graduated in trumpet from the “Luisa D’Annunzio” Conservatory in Pescara and continued his musical training partecipating at orchestral workshops of the Marrucino Theatre in Chieti. He holds a master’ s degree in Law from the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Piacenza. After joining the Carabinieri Corps, he conducted the Fanfara of the third Carabinieri Battalion “Lombardia” from 2004 to 2008. As a composer, he received the following awards: First Prize at the second “Angelo Inglese” Wind Band Composition Competition - City of Molfetta, with the military march “Libera Uscita” (2019); two First Prizes at the second Wind Band Composition Competition organized by the Sicilian Band Federation, in the categories of symphonic marches with “Romance for Band”, and “Parade marches with Break” (2020); the Noax Prize in Corno di Rosazzo (UD) for the best composition for horn and wind orchestra with Bacchus (2022); Special Mention at the seventh International Composition Competition “City of Allumiere” with the “Parade March Color Hill” (2023); finalist at the “Banda Larga Conversano” Competition with the symphonic march “Le sirene di Ulisse” (2024); and Second Prize (no first prize awarded) at the Vienna New Year’s Concert International Music Competition (chamber music category), with “Concerto for Two Trumpets and Piano” (2024).
Bacchus was originally composed in 2022 for horn and band. The piece was later adapted for horn and piano by Federico Donadoni. Bacchus tells one of the oldest and most fascinating rituals of man: cultivation and collection of grapes intended for winemaking, a gesture that the ancients attributed to Bacchus, god of desire and intoxication. The incipit, in which the horn exposes all the sounds of the Raga Todi, an Indian scalar system on which the entire composition is founded, introduces the listener to an evocative sound universe, suspended between myth and nature. Two sections follow: the first, entitled Creation, has a mystical character and describes the sowing and growth of vineyards; the slow progression of the horn, supported by a stubborn underlying rhythm, leads progressively to a first climax that dissolves gently: “the grapes are ripe; it is time for the harvest!”. The second section is named “Dance”: an energetic and increasingly pressing movement, represents the dance of the Bacchantes, overwhelmed by the mystical delirium inspired by the god. Such frenzy is made from the obsessive and random percussion of the horn. The composition closes with an ascending glissando up to high C (the original note of Raga Todi) symbolizing the cyclicality of time and the perpetual return of life.

Paul Hindemith (1895-1963) was a German-born composer whose practical approach to music informed his work as a composer, performer and teacher. After a period in Switzerland, he emigrated to the United States and began teaching composition at Yale University in 1940. In his Sonata for Horn and Piano, Hindemith employs a tonal but non-diatonic language, particularly evident in his use of non-functional harmony. All twelve notes are freely available to melodies that combine chromatic movement with wide intervals rather than relying solely on triadic outlines. Persistent rhythmic patterns, often involving a quaver followed by two semiquavers, help drive the harmonic discourse. Hindemith wrote sonatas for many orchestral instruments during this period; the dark character of some of their melodic and harmonic writing can also be heard against the historical background of events in Germany. The tempo markings at the beginning of each movement deserve careful attention: the contrasts are already embedded in the compositional material. This does not preclude expressive breathing, but encourages performers to let Hindemith’s language speak clearly, without imposing exaggerated changes of tempo.