CD 88
Church Sonatas
Silvio Lazzari with his First Wife, the Belgian Singer Bertha Herman, pastel by C. Léandre, 1894
As did many outstanding Tyrolean musicians, Silvio Lazzari came from South Tyrol. He was born in Bozen in 1857 and baptized Josef Fortunat Silvester. He changed his fi rst name to Silvio much later in Paris when he was already a famous musician. His fi rst claim to fame there was the premiere at the Société nationale of his piano trio composed in 1885. In 1894 Lazzari’s great violin sonata appeared, which was perhaps his most successful piece of chamber music. Like the famous sonata by his Parisian teacher César Franck, it was dedicated to the eminent violinist Eugène Ysaÿe. Ysaÿe was particularly partial to this work, which was in many respects very rewarding for a virtuoso of his caliber, and he played Lazzari’s sonata all over the world up until his last performances. Lazzari was a powerful creative personality. In his earlier compositions, such as the piano trio, the string quartet and the big violin sonata, the infl uence of German Romanticism is still very evident. Also formative for his style was of course the infl uence of French music, especially in the elegance of the supple melody that characterizes so much of Lazzari’s work. In fact, this combination of German and French stylistic elements is the leaven for Lazzari’s extremely personal musical idiom. Premonitions of the approaching Impressionism are marginal as yet, such as in the exoticism of the second parts of the exposition with the second subject in the fi nali of the piano trio and the violin sonata or in the other- worldly sensual sound of the mysterioso introduction of the trio. Lazzari’s preference is the grand gesture, full of pathos and almost operatic drama. This passionate expressiveness contrasts particularly in the slower movements featuring spiritualized pictures of moods with tonal colors full of sensual warmth.
Track 7, 1:25
Trio
Allegro apassionato