by Layne Anspach
Hello musicians! This month’s Chamber Music Corner features Zdeněk Fibich’s Quintet in D Major, Op. 42. Fibich is known as one of the “big three” Czech composers in the second half of the 19th century, Smetana and Dvořák being the other two. Fibich was born in 1850 in Všebořice, Bohemia. At the age of seven, he began piano lessons with his mother but went on to study music in Prague (1864-65), Leipzig (1865-67), and Mannheim (1869-70). Between 1875 and 1881, Fibich worked as conductor and choirmaster at the Provisional Theatre in Prague in addition to being choirmaster at the Russian Orthodox Church there. Starting in 1881, he focused only on composing and private teaching. His compositional output was mostly opera, with at least seven operas and seven melodramas in his oeuvre; his orchestral works include three symphonies and six symphonic poems; and he composed piano music as well. Fibich died of pneumonia in Prague in 1900.
While most of his chamber works were written early in his career, the Quintet in D Major, Op. 42 (1893) for piano, clarinet, horn, violin, and cello is considered his most important chamber piece. Fibich’s diary indicates that the work was inspired by his relationship with Anežka Schulzová, pupil turned collaborator and lover, who wrote the librettos for his final three operas. The work also exists in a version for the standard piano quintet which includes string quartet.
Following a typical sonata form, the first movement, Allegro non tanto, starts with the clarinet introducing the first melody, characterized by an initial upward leap. Within the first fifteen measures, each player has taken a turn presenting the A theme. After a tutti passage, the piano introduces the B theme, a slow reserved ascent contrasting the energetic opening. The development combines the key motivic elements from each melody, upward leap and stepwise ascent, building energetically towards a prominent peak by the piano which dissipates quickly into the recapitulation. The coda is signaled by a strong statement in the piano which brings the ensemble to the end of the movement. The piano takes the lead throughout the breathtakingly beautiful second movement, Largo. The unique sonorities of the ensemble come through as the differing timbres interweave. Sprinkled throughout are lovely cadenzas or little features for each instrument.
The Scherzo. Con fuoco e feroce starts “with wild humor,” as instructed by Fibich. The first of two trio sections features a prominent horn solo. The violin later joins, adding a continuous commentary to the horn melody. In the final ten measures of the first trio, the piano alone leads the ensemble back to the scherzo. The second trio, Allegretto vivace, features the cello and clarinet while the violin and horn rest. Fibich creates momentum with syncopation in the right hand of the piano. The movement ends with the return to the scherzo, outlining the rondo form. The final movement, Finale. Allegro con spirito, is jovial, alternating between light and lyrical sections. Fibich again writes so as to highlight the contrasting timbres of the instruments. The work ends with a Grandioso featuring the first theme with violin obbligato, followed by an energetic and familiar conclusion.
Hornist Vladimíra Klánská is heard on the reference recording: Fibich: Piano Quartet, Op. 11 & Quintet, Op. 42.
