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Musical references in Duet for One
Throughout the play there are
numerous references to composers,
players and musical styles.
8
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750), a
German composer and organist whose
sacred and secular works for choir,
orchestra, and solo instruments drew
together the strands of the Baroque
period and brought it to its ultimate
maturity. While Bach’s fame as an
organist was great during his lifetime,
he was not particularly well-known as a
composer. A revival of interest and
performances of his music began early
in the 19th century, and he is now
widely considered to be one of the
greatest composers in the Western
tradition, his works revered for their
intellectual depth, technical command
and artistic beauty. The Sonatas and
Partitas for solo violin heard during the
course of this production were
composed in 1720.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827), a
German composer and pianist. He was
a crucial figure in the transitional
period between the Classical and
Romantic eras in Western classical
music, and remains one of the most
respected and influential composers of
all time. Born in Bonn, he moved to
Vienna in his early twenties and settled
there, studying with Joseph Haydn and
quickly gaining a reputation as a
virtuoso pianist. Beethoven’s hearing
gradually deteriorated beginning in his
twenties, yet he continued to compose,
and to conduct and perform, even after
he was completely deaf. The recorded
cadenza which Feldmann puts on in
Act Two is from the Third Movement of
Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, op. 61.
Niccolò Paganini (1782 – 1840), an
Italian violinist, violist, guitarist, and
composer. He was one of the most
celebrated violin virtuosi of his time,
and left his mark as one of the pillars of
modern violin technique.
Felix Mendelssohn (1809 –1847), a
German composer, pianist and
conductor of the early Romantic period.
The grandson of the philosopher
Moses Mendelssohn, he was born to a
notable Jewish family which later
converted to Christianity. His work
includes symphonies, concerti,
oratorios, piano and chamber music.
After a long period of relative
denigration due to changing musical
tastes and antisemitism in the late 19th
and early 20th centuries, his creative
originality is now being recognized and
re-evaluated.
Jascha Heifetz (1901 – 1987), a Jewish
violin virtuoso born in Lithuania; the
son of a violin teacher and
concertmaster he was a child prodigy
who took up the violin when he was
three years old, made his public debut
at seven, and entered the St Petersburg
Conservatory to study under Leopold
Auer when he was nine. Heifetz soon
gained fame in Europe and in his teens
became a sensation in America, later
settling there and obtaining citizenship
in 1925. He has been hailed as the
greatest violinist of the 20th century.
Isaac Stern (1920 – 2001), a Jewish
violin virtuoso born in the Ukraine.
His family moved to San Francisco
when he was an infant, and he
completed much of his training at the
San Francisco Academy of Music.
Within musical circles, Stern became
renowned both for his recordings and
for championing promising younger
players. Among his discoveries were
cellists Yo-Yo Ma and Jian Wang, and
violinists Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas
Zukerman. He also played a major
role in saving New York City’s
Carnegie Hall from demolition in
1960, which later had its main
auditorium named in his honour.
Itzhak Perlman (1945 —) is an Israeli-
American violin virtuoso, conductor,
and teacher. Born in Tel Aviv, he
studied there before moving to the
United States to study at the Juilliard
School. He made his debut at
Carnegie Hall in 1963 and won the
prestigious Leventritt Competition in
1964. While primarily a solo artist,
Perlman has toured with the Israel
Philharmonic Orchestra, and
collaborated with a number of notable
musicians. In recent years, Perlman
has also begun to conduct, and in
2007 was appointed Artistic Director
and Principal Conductor of
Westchester Philharmonic. Perlman
also teaches, having held several
faculty posts and chairs, and founding
the Perlman Music Program in New
York for gifted young string players
in 1995.
Photo by John Godfrey