Variations on "Rule Britannia" and Other Piano Music from Early 19th Century England

Early 19th century London attracted a host of stellar pianist composers from the Continent -- Clementi, Dussek, Cramer, Hummel, Moscheles, Ries, Kalkbrenner -- many of whom remained as residents. Today these names turn up more frequently in history books than on concert programs. By a quirk of fate their life spans coincided with the decline of the sonata and a shift in musical fashions, as result of the electrifying bravura of Paganini, to more exhibitionistic forms, paraphrases, potpourris, variations, and operatic fantasies. Hummel's music, in fact, was already becoming passé in his lifetime. La Revue Musicale in l831 observed "The concerts of Monsieur Hummel were not at all productive this year, all attention was fixed on Pağanini." The music of these preromantics, slowly making its way back into the active repertoire, is currently being rediscovered and appreciated as much more than just the "missing link" between the classical and romantic periods.

The catchy Varitions on "Rule Britannia." a composite work by Moscheles. Cramer, Hummel, and Kalkbrenner, was probably composed in 1830 during Hummel's April-August tour in Egland. Using the well-known theme written by Thomas Arne in 1740, each of the composers contributed a variation, such joint ventures being not uncommon in that era. (The Hexameron by Liszt, Thalberg, Pixis, Herz. Czerny, and Chopin is another example.) The result was a set of alternately spirited, expressive, and glittering variations, very characteristic of their individual composers: Moscheles' "Maestoso" reminiscent of Beethoven, Cramer’s "Marziale" sparkling though fussy, Hummel's distinguished by its arching melodic line and expressive passagework, and Kalkbrenner's the showiest and most extroverted of all.