Paul Juon - Silhouettes, Series II, Op 43 (score-video)

~~~~~Details/Timestamps~~~~~
Paul Juon - Silhouettes, Series II, Op. 43 (1909)
​0:11 - 1. Prelude - Allegro
​2:35 - 2. Chant d'amour (“Love song”) - Andante cantabile
​7:45 - 3a. Intermezzo I - Allegretto (alla Menuetto)
​8:24 - 3b. Intermezzo II - Tranquillo
​10:01 - 3c. Intermezzo III - Allegretto
​11:14 - 4. Melancolie (“Melancholy”) - Lento assai
​14:38 - 5. Danse grotesque (“Grotesque Dance”) - Presto
Rebekka Hartmann & Malwina Sosnowski, violins
Benyamin Nuss, piano
~~~~~Support the artists~~~~~
Buy the recording here:
www.arkivmusic.... (this is just one option, there are many other websites where you can purchase this CD, probably for a cheaper price)
Artists’ websites:
Rebekka Hartmann: www.rebekka-ha...
Malwina Sosnowski: malwinasosnows...
Benyamin Nuss: www.benyaminnus...
~~~~~ Sources~~~~~
Portrait of Juon:
play-images.pr...
Score:
imslp.org/wiki...)
Original audio:
• Juon: Silhouettes, Opp... (tracks 7-13)
Program note sources:
1. Biography, Catalog of Works - International Juon Society:
www.juon.org/0....
2. CD Label for a recording of some symphonic works by Juon:
www.eclassical...
3. Preface to “Violin Concerto No. 2 in A Op. 49” - Musikproduktion Höflich:
repertoire-exp...
4. Program Notes from the Sierra Chamber Society’s 2008-2009 season:
www.sierrachamb...
~~~~~Contact~~~~~
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If you’d like to support us/our channel or request a world premiere, you can do so at ko-fi.com/opus43
~~~~~ Disclaimer ~~~~~
We do not own the recording or sheet music used in this video. In uploading this video, we claim that it qualifies as “fair use” for “comment” and (music) education according to Section 107 of the Copyright Act of the US Constitution. If you own the copyright to any materials used in this video and disagree with our claim, please contact us directly and we will take this video down. Please do not report it through RUclips’s built-in system, as that would give our channel a strike.

[@violin1jd]

These are delightful!

[@opus-43]

~~~~~Composer Biography~~~~~
Paul Juon (1872-1940), né Pavel Fyodorovich Yuon, was a Russian-born Swiss composer who wrote in a primarily tonal late Romantic idiom. Juon’s total output numbers nearly 100 opuses, including 2 symphonies, 3 violin concertos, numerous piano suites, and a diverse range of chamber music.
Juon grew up in Moscow, where his musical talent (especially on the violin) became apparent at an early age. Though he penned his first composition at age 13, when Juon entered the Moscow Conservatory at age 17, he intended to focus on his violin studies with Jan Hřímalý (as his father wished), with composition as a supplement. But Juon soon found himself enjoying composition and music theory classes with Sergei Taneyev and Anton Arensky much more than his violin lessons, and it was in composition that he would eventually find his calling. During this period of self-discovery, Juon’s classmates included luminaries such as Alexander Scriabin and Sergei Rachmaninoff, the latter of whom supposedly dubbed Juon “the Russian Brahms.” After 5 years in Moscow, Juon moved to Berlin to complete his composition studies with Woldemar Bargiel, which he finished in 1895.
By the next year, Juon had secured performances of two major works: Symphony in F-sharp Minor, Op. 10 and Aleko, an opera. He also landed a brief stint as a violin and music theory professor in Baku, Azerbaijan, though he moved back to Berlin 2 years later. This time, it would be a much more permanent residence.
Upon his return to Germany in 1898, Juon met the publisher Robert Lienau, who took a liking to Juon’s works. Not only did Lienau’s company publish Juon’s early works, it would also end up publishing most of Juon’s works throughout his lifetime. Perhaps thanks to this mutually beneficial partnership, Juon started finding an audience for his music, with his Symphony No. 2 in A Major, Op. 23 in particular receiving multiple performances throughout Europe in the early 1900s. And while his music was taking off, Juon was busy as a pedagogue, first translating harmony textbooks by Arensky (his former teacher) and then coming out with his own treatise in 1901. It was likely the popularity of these textbooks that helped him secure Joseph Joachim’s nomination for a job as a teaching assistant for music theory classes at the Berlin Conservatory in 1905. That position became a full-time job a year later and eventually led to his promotion to a composition professor in 1911.
Juon would go on to hold his professorship until his retirement. After serving as a translator in WWI, Juon returned to Berlin, where he continued to compose, teach, and write/edit guides to music theory. Juon’s works continued to receive performances throughout Europe, and he was even awarded the inaugural Prussian Academy of Sciences Beethoven Prize for Composition in 1929 (alongside Josef Haas).
Juon retired in 1934 officially due to old age and health issues, but it’s likely the rapidly radicalizing political climate of Germany also influenced his decision. No matter the case, Juon moved to Vevey, Switzerland, where he died 6 years later. Over the next few decades, his music was forgotten, as shifting sentiments in the academic community started to look down upon "backwards-looking" composers.
Today, his music unfortunately remains little-known and little-played outside of Switzerland. And I must admit that I find many of his melodies to be borderline banal, but the well-refined compositional technique employed makes up for it. In posting this video and more pieces of his in the future, I hope to help people rediscover his music. I’m sure that there are many gems in his oeuvre like this one, just waiting to be rediscovered and performed.
~~~~~Program Notes~~~~~
Silhouettes, Series II, Op.43 (1909) dates to the beginning of the stable period of Juon’s life, when he had finally settled down. It is scored for 2 violins and a piano, an unusual combination that Juon had used once before in his first set of Silhouettes, Op. 9 from a decade earlier. (He would also use it again in his 7 Little Tone Poems, Op. 81). Like the first series, this one is a varied collection of miniatures, but the overall tone is darker and the colors are more subtle.
Below is a short description of each movement:
- Prelude (0:11): A restless piece featuring extensive use of modulation and the whole-tone scale, which creates a mysterious and unsettled atmosphere. After nearly two and a half minutes of trading off between the incessant triplets of the A section and fugue-like B section, we are rewarded with a triumphant resolution to A minor, the only true tonic chord in the piece.
- Chant d’amour (2:35): A love song, at times tranquil, at times very passionate. The piano provides a harmonic foundation throughout, with arpeggiated chords in the A section and running 8ths in the faster B section. The violins trade off solos and duet on top of the piano texture, at first wistfully in the D major A section, but then opening up with more passion in the constantly modulating B section. However, after reaching harmonically vague territory, the duet putters out, and the pianist eventually wanders back to D major. From there the A section is essentially repeated, and a calm and quiet coda resolves the piece.
- Intermezzi (07:45): The 3 short pieces that make up this set are not musically connected with each other, but are intended to be heard together. The first Intermezzo is a charming waltz in A major that lasts all of 40 seconds. Then we get to my personal favorite, Intermezzo 3b, a miniature masterpiece reminiscent of a Dvořák Dumka, except even more enchanted and magical. A lively, folk dance-like third Intermezzo rounds out the set.
- Melancolie (11:14): As its name suggests, a melancholic piece that evokes Brahms. We return to the wistfulness of the 2nd piece, but without the unrestrained passion. Instead, after a somber, contemplative A section in B minor, we are transported to the parallel major, where the violins play out a heartfelt duet before fading into the A section again and resolving.
- Danse grotesque (14:38): A highly energetic finale. Like in the Prelude, there is extensive use of the whole-tone scale, which gives the piece a “grotesque” feel. Free use of hemiolas (written-out) and alternating meters helps make the dance unpredictable and exciting. After a brief B section in the style of a folk dance, the A section is repeated in its entirety to end the piece.
*Note: These program notes are the result of many hours of reading, listening, writing, and editing. Please do not reproduce them without crediting me. I’ve credited all the resources I used in the sources section.
Sources (see description for links):
1. Biography, Catalog of Works - International Juon Society
2. CD Label for a recording of some symphonic works by Juon
3. Preface to “Violin Concerto No. 2 in A Op. 49” - Musikproduktion Höflich
4. Program Notes from the Sierra Chamber Society’s 2008-2009 season