Pierre Rode: Violin Concerto No. 11 in D major op. 23 (1813)
Pierre Rode
born 16 Feb. 1774 in Bordeaux
died 25 Nov. 1830 in Château de Bourbon (Lot-et-Garonne)
Date of composition:
Printed in 1813
CD recommendation:
Friedmann Eichhorn 2015
Pierre Rode was a pupil of Giovanni Batista Viotti (1755 - 1824) in Paris and, together with the violinists Pierre Baillot (1771 - 1842) and Rodolphe Kreutzer(1766 -1831), belonged to the
modern French school of violin playing. He led the life of a travelling virtuoso, but was also active as a teacher at the newly founded Paris Conservatoire. The 24 caprices in etude form are
still part of a violinist's training today. Pierre Rode composed a total of 13 violin concertos, as well as sonatas, quartets and popular airs variés. In 1812 he played the premiere of Ludwig van
Beethoven's Violin Sonata op. 96 together with Archduke Rudolf. Around 1813 his 11th Violin Concerto in D major was printed, which in the opinion of the music historian Boris Schwarz is one of
the best of his violin concertos. Rode also seems to have been influenced in his concerto form by the theories of Anton Reicha, who was active in Paris.
Listen here!
1st movement
2nd movement
3rd movement
Listening companion:
I. Allegro ma non troppo
"Rossini-like", the orchestral tutti begins with a theme that soars to the heights, preparing a broad carpet of colour for the virtuoso. A second theme with dramatic 16th-note suggestions follows
on rhythmically bouncing basses. Once again the rossini-like main theme appears in the tutti orchestra. The violin then enters dramatically with wide leaps and with a melodiously gentle theme in
double stops. Wild figures and runs on the violin follow. After a short orchestral interlude, the violin takes over the main theme on the G side, sopra una corda, and transforms it into virtuoso
runs, dissolving the theme as it were. But more and more the violin begins to sing in the high register, everything seems light and melodious despite all the virtuoso passages, the theme presents
itself again several times in the highest registers and the violin plays with it in the ups and downs of virtuoso figures. Then a point of rest, and the violin brings the theme back in its
original simplicity. New virtuosity comes to life. Then an orchestral tutti intervenes fiercely and decisively, leading to a renewed appearance of the violin with its dramatically soaring opening
theme in great leaps and bounds. After renewed figurations, a kind of reprise of the "Rossini-like" theme follows in the orchestra, soon taken over again by the violin. In the further course of
this recapitulation, too, Rode's virtuosity does not seem strained anywhere; even the frenzied passages flow easily, transforming themselves from time to time into vocal sections and appearing
balanced even in the cadenza-like parts. Formally, Rode follows his own laws in this movement and cannot be strictly explained by the sonata movement scheme. Once again, the main theme appears
vocally in the violin, before the concerto ends with a solo cadenza and the concluding orchestral tutti.
II. Adagio
The middle movement, a kind of interlude, is much shorter but already romantic. With a threefold sostenuto call, the orchestra prepares for the violin's entry. And then one is tenderly taken along by a uniquely beautiful G major vocal melody of the violin. The violin sings itself out like an aria and repeats this melody on the low G string with increased sonority, before it transitions once again to a third enchanting appearance of this beautiful warm melody. Then the final bars of this fading song lead directly attacca into the rondo.
III. Rondo Allegretto con spirito
A bold theme in D minor opens this concertante round dance in the violin. The orchestra immediately joins in, alternating with the violin until the violin then takes its right to brilliant
self-expression and shows what it can do in a back-and-forth with the orchestra. Brilliantly, the violin leads to a B section of the rondo, a brief D major climax, until the new theme, but
similar to the rondo, is then led through different keys in the violin's various figurations. In a large arc, the violin leads back to the D minor rondo theme. This is followed by a new section
in B flat major, until the rondo theme raises its voice again and almost gives rise to some contemplation. Then, however, there is no limit to virtuosity, and in a liberated D major, the concert
comes to a brilliant conclusion.
"Sympathetically, Rode does not want to set any 'difficulty records' ... Rode's technical style is honest and always musically conceived ... Rode's concertos offer the violinist excellent
brilliant and melodic possibilities of expression. For all their difficulties, they are wonderfully violinistic and invite 'creative virtuosity'." So writes Friedemann Eichhorn in his booklet
text accompanying the CD recording "Zur Geigentechnik Rodes Violinkonzerten".