Paul Lewis, piano

MOZART+1

The pianoforte was at the center of Mozart’s creative life. Throughout his career, he produced a continuous volume of works for the instrument, either for it alone in sonatas, variations, serenades or rondos, or in concert with a body of strings or winds in chamber music or in the almost thirty concertos he wrote over the course of his short life. Because his instrument was the pianoforte and he had numerous tours all over Europe when he was required to play his own creations, his output for it was especially prodigious and demonstrated his special love for the keyboard. Not only did Mozart begin to compose sonatas when he was a teenager, but he used the genre as a vehicle for experimentation and innovation.    

Most Mozart authorities date the sonata cataloged as K. 330/300h and the two following sonatas (K. 331 and 332) to the summer of 1783, when Mozart visited Salzburg with his new wife, Constanze. Yet music scholars are not in agreement about whether Mozart really composed these sonatas in Salzburg. 

There is no question that the history of this work was at one time confused with another sonata in the same key, K. 309, which Mozart may have improvised in the course of an earlier tour and then wrote down intending publication in Paris. After Mozart moved to Vienna in 1781, one of his prime sources of income was teaching the piano to students with aristocratic backgrounds, and he probably composed this sonata, which has a sense of grandeur, with thoughts of those students. It was published in 1784, along with the famous Sonata “alla turca” (K 331) and the lyrical and quite challenging F-major sonata, K. 332.  

Alfred Einstein called K. 330 “one of the most lovable works Mozart ever wrote.” Its classical symmetry and charming style have always given pleasure to listeners. More recently Richard Wigmore wrote, “The Sonata in C major, K. 330, combines the refinement of J C Bach with a Mozartian subtlety and expressive warmth. Its leisurely first movement (Allegro moderato) is a virtually unbroken flow of limpid lyricism, with minimal contrasts between themes and bouts of brilliant figuration which flatter the amateur’s technique by sounding harder than they really are.” The first movement begins with a light touch; throughout, this movement’s sonata-allegro form displays rich melodies.  

The slow movement, Andante cantabile, is one of Mozart's lyrical masterpieces and the most remarkable movement in the sonata. Although it begins with a restrained expression of emotion, it later allows the emotions to rise to the surface. This ABA form movement is set in a richly contrapuntal texture. At the center of the movement is a hushed, mysterious section in a minor tonality, that begins with a repeated bass pedal. One of the movement’s most poignant moments comes in the last four bars, which musicologists have decided is apparently an afterthought that Mozart added just before publication, as it is missing from the original manuscript, but present in the first edition. The opening of the central B episode reappears in the ending resolved into a major key, in the tiny, four‑measure coda of great beauty, added as an inspired afterthought on Mozart’s part.  

The finale, a sprightly Allegretto, much like the first movement, feels relaxed; it is also written in sonata‑allegro form, light in both texture and spirit. Emphasizing the contrasts of ‘solo’ and ‘tutti’ passages, it has some of the initial movement’s lyrical abundance and includes a little section that is folk-song inspired.   

Mozart’s biographer, Robert Gutman, sums up the effect of this particularly fine sonata: “This ethereal sonata embodies a rococo both refined and serious, a design appropriate to the cultivated leisure of the Viennese drawing room.” 

The first edition has been called “editorially significant” because many details deviate so markedly from Mozart’s manuscript that they could only have come from their creator himself. 

© 2026 Susan Halpern

Improvisation No 7 in C major
Improvisation No 8 in A minor
Improvisation No 9 in D major
Improvisation No 10 in F major Éloge des gammes
Improvisation No 11 in G minor
Improvisation No 12 in E flat major Hommage à Schubert

Please note: Paul Lewis will perform all 15 of the Improvisations on this program: nos. 7-12 in the first half and nos. 1-6 and 13-15 after intermission.  

Francis Poulenc was a member of the famous Les Six group of composers, who also included Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud, Georges Auric, Louis Durey, and Germaine Tailleferre. Poulenc was a skilled pianist, and although he wrote several collections of pieces for piano, most of his works for the instrument were miniatures; in addition to the Improvisations, his piano works included Nocturnes,  Novellettes, and Mouvements perpetuels. In addition, throughout his career, he composed works for orchestra, chamber music, religious music, and even an opera, Dialogue of the Carmelites. 
 
All fifteen of Poulenc’s Improvisations will be performed in this concert. These piano works incorporate grace and glittering wit, with simplicity and color. At the time that he began to compose them in 1932, he was perhaps the least taken seriously of the Les Six group, as he was judged against such already sophisticated composers as Honegger and Milhaud. Today, by comparison, Poulenc’s originality is recognized and respected, and works like the Improvisations are appreciated not only for their originality, but also for their sophisticated techniques, their sparkling wit, color, and their seemingly effortless gracefulness. 
 
Poulenc completed the Improvisations between 1932 and 1959; they were divided into two groupings Nos. 1-10 and Nos.11-15. Despite the long gestation period, the complete set of 15 was probably planned out as one evolving and growing collection. All the pieces have in common their tonal orientation and their short length (the longest lasts a little more than three minutes in performance and the whole first group of ten Improvisations, together, takes only about 15 minutes to perform). Apparently, Poulenc used the title Improvisations to allow himself the freedom to follow no particular plan of form or structure. As a result, although they are all miniatures, they do not follow established formal conventions and are totally independent and contrasting.  
 
Poulenc was particularly fond of these works from the beginning, and he continued to favor them as time passed and the collection grew. He recorded at least four of them, Nos. 2, 5, 9, and 10, in Paris for Columbia Records. As he grew older, Poulenc continued to take pride in these miniatures, despite his own belittling of many of his other lengthier piano works.  
 
The Improvisations never received a formal premiere, though seven of them were performed at Poulenc’s sixth La Sérénade concert on February 4, 1933, several months before the seventh improvisation was formally completed. Poulenc toured around Europe and North Africa from 1933 to 1935 and performed these pieces relatively frequently in those years.  
 
The music of this group seems simply to roll off the pages, each sound following another in an honest and natural way, with the eloquence and unmistakable air of the French. The first six Improvisations were written in 1932 and the fifteenth in 1959, with all the others written at intervals in between. They vary from swift and balletic to slow with tender lyricism. The group includes an old-fashioned march, a perpetual motion piece, a waltz, and the most well-known and most beloved on its own, the fifteenth, an expressive and affecting musical portrait of the singer Edith Piaf.   

Since many of these little pieces were not initially expected to be published as a group, each one was given a dedicatee, sometimes to fellow composers. The first was dedicated to Marguerite Marie-Charlotte Long, a French pianist, pedagogue, lecturer, and an ambassador of French music. The second was dedicated to Louis Durey, who was among the Les Six group of composers. No. 3 was dedicated to Brigitte Manceaux, a French pianist and Poulenc’s eldest niece. No. 4 was dedicated to Claude Popelin, a French painter, enameller, poet, and translator; No. 5 to George Auric, another of the Les Six composers; No. 6 to Jacque Février, a French pianist and teacher; No. 7 to la Comtesse A. J. de Noaille, a socialite and literary pioneer, a bright star in the firmament of the Parisian Belle Époque; No. 8 to Nora Auric, who was born in Romania, spent her adult life in France, and was married to Georges Auric. She was a painter, known for her portraits, watercolor works, and stage designs; No. 9 to Thérèse Dorny, a French film and stage actress; No. 10 was dedicated to Jacques Lerolle, a music editor.    

In the final grouping (11-15), No. 11, composed in 1941, was dedicated to Claude Betaincourt, and No. 12, was dedicated to Edwige Feulliere, an actress, known as the “Queen of the [French] Cinema.”  Subtitled “Hommage à Schubert,” it was also composed in 1941. No. 13 is dedicated to Madame Auguste Lambiotte, whose husband was an avid correspondent and friend of Poulenc. Her husband exchanged more than 100 valuable letters with Poulenc from 1947-1959, relating to musical matters including Poulenc’s own works and performances and their performers, as well as other composers; No. 14 to Henri Hell, French writer, critic, and musicologist renowned for his contributions to music criticism and his close relationship with Poulenc. He wrote a biography of Poulenc in 1958; Poulenc completed the 15 Improvisations in 1959 with No. 15 in C minor, subtitled “L’hommage à Édith Piaf.” Although dedicated to Piaf, it is not known whether Poulenc and Piaf actually met, though they had friends in common, including Jean Cocteau. 
 
[Brief notes on many of the Improvisations, or at least an English translation of the tempo marking, are in performance order below:] 

• No. 7, in C Major, Modéré sans lenteur (moderate without slowness), composed in 1933, embraces a melodic sensibility. 

• No. 8 is in E minor, Presto (très sec et ironique) (fast (very dry and ironic)).  

• No. 9 in D Major, Presto possibile (très sec et très net) (As fast as possible (very dry and very crisp)) reflects the playfulness that is a hallmark of much of Poulenc’s chamber music.  

• In No. 10 in F Major, which has a subtitle, Éloge des gammes (In praise of scales.), Modéré, sans trainer (moderate, without lingering), a recurring chromatic scale dominates the opening section. Immediately after, the work becomes entrancingly textured, with a flowing sixteenth-note accompaniment to the dominating lyrical melodies. 

• No. 11 is in G minor, Assez animé, (quite lively). 

• No. 12, in E-flat Major, has the subtitle Hommage à Schubert (Homage to Schubert). Poulenc creates the sense of a Viennese waltz, embellished with his own sensibility. This waltz honors Schubert’s keyboard miniatures and songs, as opposed to his symphonies. 

 
The following set will be performed after intermission: 

The first six Improvisations were written in 1932. The first, in B minor, begins impishly, Presto ritmico (very fast and rhythmic) with volatile sixteenth-note figures played très sec (very dryly). In fact, the set as a whole unapologetically avoids lush Romantic textures.  
 
The second Improvisation in A-flat Major, Assez animé (quite lively), features disarming tenderness, displaying another side of Poulenc, although as one critic put it, “The devil on his left shoulder has the last word, ending the piece with a non sequitur in C major. Such sly harmonic winks recur throughout the set.”  

• The third Improvisation is in B minor, Presto très sec (fast and very dryly).

• The fourth is in A-flat Major, Presto con fuoco (fast and fiery).

• The fifth, in A minor, Modéré mais sans lenteur (moderate, but without sluggishness), has richly colored, twisting, chromatic lines.

• The sixth is written in B-flat Major, A toute vitesse (at full speed). 

• No. 13 in A minor, Allegretto comodo (comfortable tempo), was composed in 1958. It features much use of the pedal and foreshadows the final Improvisation by not only being seductive, but also having a dark, enigmatic melody and sultry harmony. 

• No. 14, also composed in 1958, is in D-flat Major.

• No. 15, in C minor, the final Improvisation, written in 1959, subtitled L'hommage à Édith Piaf (Homage to Édith Piaf), is dedicated to the legendary French singer, Édith Piaf. It is particularly famous as it poignantly reflects Piaf’s cabaret style. It is reminiscent of the chanteuse’s persona and sound, with its dusky and sultry quality. The predominant sense conveyed of smoky Parisian cabaret bars gives intimations of the distinctive voice of Piaf, known as the “little sparrow.” Poulenc knew Piaf’s music from hearing her “La vie en rose” on American radio, after which he remarked on its sensuality. In this final Improvisation, Poulenc joins classical elements with Piaf’s distinctive spirit that had defined the chanson, her signature style. The Improvisation begins with a melody that immediately evokes her world of nostalgia and emotion with its passionate intensity and emotional resonance. The music seems not only an homage to Piaf but also to the captivating, romanticized spirit of Paris in the mid-twentieth century. 
  

 © 2026 Susan Halpern

In 1890, Debussy published five piano pieces, but he had composed at least five more. One of those, not published until 1904, was the brilliantly colored L’isle joyeuse (“The Joyous Island”) originally entitled L’île joyeuse. This work has often been associated with the island of Jersey, where Debussy secretly spent the summer of 1904 with Emma Bardac, with whom he was in love. He made some changes in the work during this time, but it was composed at an earlier date. 

Actually, Debussy originally intended to compose a trilogy, including Masques, L’isle joyeuse, and a third piece, probably D’un cahier d’esquisses, all grouped under the title Suite bergamasque. In summer 1903, he played parts of this new suite, in three movements, which he concluded with L'île joyeuse, for his friend Ricardo Viñes. The suite, however, never appeared as such; the final Suite bergamasque did not include these three pieces, but others, all inspired by Verlaine’s poetry. The publisher, Fromont, printed this totally different work, finally entitled Suite bergamasque in 1905, while in the fall of 1904, Masques and L'isle joyeuse appeared as two separate pieces published by Durand. 
 
The “joyous isle” or “island of pleasure” of this piece was Cythera, now known as Carigo, off the southern coast of Greece. This island was one of the earliest seats of the cult of Aphrodite, goddess of beauty and love, who was thought to have sprung from the sea nearby. Debussy’s direct inspiration was a 1717 painting by Watteau, now in the Louvre, L’embarquement pour Cythère, showing lovers making their way down the mountainside to the shore.  
 
The mood of the music suggests an enchanted landscape, both real and imaginary, Jersey and Cythera. Debussy said in a letter to his publisher that his work was at once powerful and pretty. Airy, light, and graceful are characteristics this work shares with the depiction in Watteau’s painting. He might have added that it is an exuberant and ecstatic virtuoso piece, strongly rhythmic and highly varied in color.

© 2026 Susan Halpern

Improvisation No 1 in B minor
Improvisation No 2 in A flat Major
Improvisation No 3 in B minor
Improvisation No 4 in A-flat Major
Improvisation No 5 in A minor
Improvisation No 6 in B-flat Major
Improvisation No 13 in A minor
Improvisation No 14 in D-flat Major
Improvisation No 15 in C minor, Hommage à Edith Piaf

Please see the previous Poulenc note above for an overview on the work. Following are brief notes and translations of tempo markings for those to be performed after intermission: - Ed.

The first six Improvisations were written in 1932. The first, in B minor, begins impishly, Presto ritmico (very fast and rhythmic) with volatile sixteenth-note figures played très sec (very dryly). In fact, the set as a whole unapologetically avoids lush Romantic textures.  
 
The second Improvisation in A-flat Major, Assez animé (quite lively), features disarming tenderness, displaying another side of Poulenc, although as one critic put it, “The devil on his left shoulder has the last word, ending the piece with a non sequitur in C major. Such sly harmonic winks recur throughout the set.”  

• The third Improvisation is in B minor, Presto très sec (fast and very dryly).

• The fourth is in A-flat Major, Presto con fuoco (fast and fiery).

• The fifth, in A minor, Modéré mais sans lenteur (moderate, but without sluggishness), has richly colored, twisting, chromatic lines.

• The sixth is written in B-flat Major, A toute vitesse (at full speed). 

• No. 13 in A minor, Allegretto comodo (comfortable tempo), was composed in 1958. It features much use of the pedal and foreshadows the final Improvisation by not only being seductive, but also having a dark, enigmatic melody and sultry harmony. 

• No. 14, also composed in 1958, is in D-flat Major.

• No. 15, in C minor, the final Improvisation, written in 1959, subtitled L'hommage à Édith Piaf (Homage to Édith Piaf), is dedicated to the legendary French singer, Édith Piaf. It is particularly famous as it poignantly reflects Piaf’s cabaret style. It is reminiscent of the chanteuse’s persona and sound, with its dusky and sultry quality. The predominant sense conveyed of smoky Parisian cabaret bars gives intimations of the distinctive voice of Piaf, known as the “little sparrow.” Poulenc knew Piaf’s music from hearing her “La vie en rose” on American radio, after which he remarked on its sensuality. In this final Improvisation, Poulenc joins classical elements with Piaf’s distinctive spirit that had defined the chanson, her signature style. The Improvisation begins with a melody that immediately evokes her world of nostalgia and emotion with its passionate intensity and emotional resonance. The music seems not only an homage to Piaf but also to the captivating, romanticized spirit of Paris in the mid-twentieth century. 
  

 © 2026 Susan Halpern

I. Molto allegro
II. Adagio
III. Allegro assai

The music of this Mozart sonata evokes what Robert Levin calls “the emotional world that the key of C minor represents for Mozart, one in which anger, brooding, and solemn severity have central places.” Each of the sonata’s three movements includes sections in major tonalities that, in similar works, would provide contrast and relief. In this work, even the lyrical passages are not exempt from hints at the minor occasioned by the use of what were then unusual chromatic harmonies.  
 
In the first movement, Allegro, Mozart begins with a rhythmically angular theme in octaves, which is complemented by a loud, agitated figuration and progresses to a stormy development section before reaching a very quiet ending, a fading-away that seems sad and resigned and completely without anger. The slow movement, Adagio, has cantabile features and elaborations on repeated thematic material, which includes many scalar passages and arpeggios that feel like cadenzas. Here, the sweeps of small notes have been heard as a novelty that anticipates Chopin. Many music historians see the whole sonata, but particularly the crossed-hands middle theme of the slow movement, as a model Beethoven would use for his Pathétique sonata. The finale, an irregular rondo, has a pathétique feel and a passage that has been characterized as a recitative.  Mozart closes the work with an atypical feeling of defiance. 
 
He dedicated the K. 457 sonata to Therese von Trattner (1758–1793), the wife of the Viennese printer and bookseller, Johann Thomas von Trattner (1717–1798), who was probably one of Mozart’s first piano students in Vienna. 

©Susan Halpern, 2026