Classical Music | Violin Music

Recorded on 06/03/1997, uploaded on 03/30/2009

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Born in Matanzas, Cuba to a French businessman and Afro-Cuban mother, José Silvestre de Los Dolores White y Lafitte (Joseph White) made his public debut at age 18 performing a fantasy on themes from Rossini's William Tell along with two pieces of his own. His accompanist was the most celebrated North American pianist and composer of the day, Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-1869). Gottschalk encouraged White to pursue further training in Paris and raised the money to send him there. Overcoming 60 rival applicants to the Paris Conservatoire, White won the opportunity to study with Jean-Delphin Alard, the pre-eminent master of the French school of violin playing, as well as Henri Reber and Ferdinand Taite. In 1856, he won the Prix de Rome in Violin and two years later began touring Europe, the Caribbean, South America, and Mexico. Gioacchino Rossini, living in France in retirement, wrote a letter of praise to the young virtuoso dated November 28, 1858: "The warmth of your execution, the feeling, the elegance, the brilliance of the school to which you belong, show qualities in you as an artist of which the French school may be proud."

While living in Madrid in 1863, White was awarded the Order of Isabella la Catòlica by the Spanish court. White taught at the Paris Conservatoire from 1864-65 as a temporary replacement for Alard, and his Six études pour violon, op. 13 were approved as standard teaching materials for the school. He made his U.S. debut during the 1875-76 season, performing two concerts with the Theodore Thomas orchestra in New York. A reviewer at a Boston recital that same year exclaimed, "His style is perfection itself, his bowing is superb, and his tone exquisite.... His execution is better than Ole Bull's, he possesses more feeling than Wieniawski, the volume of his tone is greater than that of Vieuxtemps." For about ten years, White worked for the Imperial Court in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but he resettled in Paris in 1891 where he spent the remainder of his life. Approximately thirty two of his works have survived in published and or manuscript form.

Composed in 1864, at the beginning of White's touring career, the Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in F-sharp Minor follows the standard three movement plan: Allegro, Adagio ma non troppo, and Allegro moderato. Although quite colorful and sonorous, the choice of F-sharp minor for a violin concerto is curious. F-sharp is a rare, but not unheard of, key for violin concertos. In fact, White's choice may signal a competitive stance toward two of his contemporaries, composer/virtuosi who also authored concerti in this key in the early 1850s: Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst (1814-1865) and Henryk Wieniawski (1835-1880). White himself performed the solo part for his concerto's 1867 premiere in Paris. A critic described the piece as "one of the best modern works of its kind... The fabric is excellent, the basic thematic ideas are carefully distinguished, the harmonies are elegant and clear, and the orchestration is written by a secure hand, free from error. One feels the presence of a strong and individual nature from the start. Not a single note exists for mere virtuosity, although the performance difficulties are enormous." The work's American premiere did not occur until 1974, when violinist Ruggiero Ricci performed the concerto with the Symphony of the New World, Kermit Moore conducting, in New York's Avery Fisher Hall.

Written after Niccolò Paganini (1782-1840) had redefined the standards of violin performance, White's concerto is by far the most virtuosic of the works on this recording: frequent double stops often in parallel octaves and rippling arpeggios that traverse the entire range of the violin in just a few beats characterize the work. The opening movement is in a straightforward sonata form. The first theme appears at the onset of the work in the orchestral violins' melody while the second theme is presented initially by the clarinet. White's treatment of the development section is rather ingenious as he imitates the sparse and free recitative texture of opera, resulting in a spontaneous and dramatic cadenza-like delivery. The coda's simple horn melody helps relax the aggressive virtuosity of the first movement and sets up the beginning of the second movement, which follows without a break. Cast in an ABA ternary form, the Adagio ma non troppo features a lyric violin melody characterized by wide leaps and angular rhythms that enliven the slow tempo. The central Animato section adds intensity and drama to the argument before the return of the A theme. The rolling grace of the cadenza's passagework belies its difficulty. An ethnically-flavored, almost Hungarian or gypsy-like theme for the rondo finale propels the listener on a journey through a series of enchanting dances, culminating in a bombardment of virtuosic cadential pyrotechnics.

"FROM COMMODITY TO CREATOR:
THE SEARCH FOR SOCIAL EQUALITY THROUGH CULTURAL VIRTUOSITY"
By Mark Clague

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