Ten Classical Pieces You Don't Care About (Yet): #3

   

      Our next composer, born near Berlin in 1861, wrote an ode to the first American aviator to be killed in WWI. But the music of Charles Martin Loeffler isn’t really ‘All-American,’ or German—or any one thing. His father’s dissenting political ideas relocated the Loefflers to central Europe and Russia, where young Charles absorbed folk music; his formal training as a violinist-composer in Berlin, then in Paris, taught him more ‘studied’ approaches to harmony and form. Emigrating to the United States to play, conduct, and compose for the fledgling Boston Symphony Orchestra, Loeffler decided (in 1903) to focus solely on unraveling and re-weaving these aural influences and cultural proclivities—that is, to compose. In 1917, Music for Four Stringed Instruments arose from Loeffler’s loom, held together by a robust New England attitude and hope/despair over the Great War that many Americans felt. The piece is not only dedicated to, but woven out of, the memory of aviator Victor Chapman.
      Music for Four Stringed Instruments begins with a statement in the cello of what sounds like a dark lullaby—but it’s actually a traditional chant from the Catholic Mass, the Resurrexi from the Introit (entrance chant) for Easter Day. This chant, from Psalm 139, appears in every movement, and translates “I am risen, and I am always with you, alleluia.” In this first sample, you’ll notice the Resurrexi move to an elegant, stately theme which soon becomes declamatory in a folksy way. Textures are utilized to make a statement:

        In the second movement, we’re given a new flavor—savory, lyrical, yet recognizable. Loeffler is expressing his deep love of America…or is it France, or eastern Europe? Modal and contrapuntal writing, with a dash of French Impressionism, make for really special listening (also keep an ear out for the Ressurexi):

A sample from the final movement:

       Meditative dissonances generate lively folk themes; pious heads turn to blithe hearts. By the closing chords of Music for Four Stringed Instruments, we’re glad to have dedicated time to a fallen pilot, glad to have made the acquaintance of a peculiar, fresh composer.