Sheet music in detail
Sonatina & Canonic Suite & "Irini"
About the composers
Bernhard HoelscherBernhard Hoelscher (1923-2015) was one of the first students after the Second World War, who studied piano, organ and composition in Cologne. He got inspiration from the atonal music which was forbidden in Germany until 1945.
In 1948 Bernhard Hoelscher won the first prize at a composition competition in Cologne with his Cello sonata, which was published in 2005 in Musikverlag Hauke Hack. More pieces of Mr. Hoelscher are published here. His personal style which is familiar with church modes is recognisable throughout his works.
Ruediger ClaussRuediger Clauss (*1968) is the principal cellist of the Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra.
About the composition
Bernhard Hoelscher wrote the Piano Sonatina for his wife Therese as a 24th birthday present. It was composed after his Cello Sonata of 1948 and the Canonic Suite, at a time when Hoelscher's personal style was already firmly established.
The movements Allegro vivace – Andante – Presto, in the classic alternation of fast, slow, fast, comprise the sonatina. Although the Allegro vivace and the Andante end in E major, and the Presto in E without a third, the score is notated without a tonic key, as the music moves within the modal and atonal realm.
The Allegro vivace begins with a dance-like ascending motif in the right hand in E minor, while the left hand plays descending triads in E major, D major, and C major. It is already clear here that rather than a tonal correspondence, the interplay of different keys plays a significant role. Motivic material is developed in the classical sense. The short Andante in 6/8 time with a lilting Siciliano rhythm has a small polyphonic middle section and is somewhat reminiscent of miniatures by Erik Satie.
Four descending eighth notes and an ascending seventh chord in quarter notes form the basic motivic material for the third movement (Presto) of the Sonatina, which is playfully developed, varied, and augmented.
The Canonic Suite from 1949 consists of five character movements. Hoelscher adheres very consistently to the imitative principle of the canon. As in the Sonatina, there is no defined key; the pieces are atonal. The strong compositional structure lends unity to the movements. The dynamic markings in the autograph end in the fifth movement (Very fast) at bar 36. From bar 37 onward, the dynamic markings have been added by the editor, which is not further indicated in the score. It is left to the performers to make other decisions.
Ruediger Clauss wrote the piano piece “Irini” in 2015 as part of a composition competition. The brief called for a piano piece of approximately five minutes in length that incorporated a Morse code. The word to be Morsed was the Greek word “Irini,” meaning peace.
The Morse rhythm for “Irini” is:
. . . _ . . . _ . . .
This results in a total of 13 eighth notes, which explains the constant shifts between 4/4 and 5/8 time signatures.
The piece is structured so that this code runs continuously, sometimes recognizable as an imitation of a Morse signal, sometimes embedded in elegiac passages.