The Ph.D./D.M.A.

Programs in Music
April 20, 2023 6:00 p.m.
Baisley Powell Elebash Recital Hall

Abigail Hong, violin

Po-Wei Ger, piano

Violin Sonata (1922) Leoš Janáček

Con moto (1854–1928)
Ballada
Allegretto
Adagio

After Bach (2022) Marco A. Jimenez

Andante Cantabile (b. 2003)

INTERMISSION

Sonata No. 1 in A major for Violin and Piano, Op. 13 (1876) Gabriel Fauré
Allegro molto (1845–1924)
Andante
Allegro vivo
Allegro quasi presto

Deux Morceaux for Violin and Piano (1911) Lili Boulanger

Nocturne - Assez lent (1893–1918)
Cortège - Pas vite

This recital is given in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the D.M.A. degree.
Please switch off your cell phones and refrain from taking flash pictures.
Notes on the Program

LEOŠ JANÁCEK
(Born July 3, 1854, Hukvaldy, Moravia; died August 12, 1928, Moravská Ostrava)
Violin Sonata (1914-15)
First performance: František Kudlaček and Jaroslav Kvapil, Brno (1922)
Other works from this period: The Cunning Little Vixen (1921-1923); Moravian Folk Songs (1922); In the
Mists (1912); Taras Bulba (1915-1918)
Approximate duration: 20 minutes

Leoš Janáček composed one violin sonata in his late sixties and took seven years to complete
it from his first sketch in 1914. Each movement was revised at least three times before the premiere
finally took place in a hundred years ago in 1922.

“The whole life of man is in folk music,” the Czech composer once said. Janáček developed a system
for his melodic language, which had deep roots in his study of folksong he called “speech melody.”
Janáček’s musical writing is filled with agogic pulls (the lengthening of certain notes to bring attention
to it) that reflect speech patterns and rhythms of spoken words in the Czech language.

The first movement, Con moto, begins with a violin cadenza that overflows into a rhapsodic melody
joined by the piano with a trembling figure that sounds similar to a cimbalom, a percussive stringed
instrument often found in folk groups in Hungary, Moravia, and Romania. The second movement,
Ballada, is the centerpiece of the sonata and was the first movement of four to be completed in 1914.
After the warm sonorities in the Ballada, the third movement, marked Allegretto, never feels urgent but
constantly driven with angst. The sudden changes in tempo and mood are used to bring back melodic
motifs from the previous two movements. The last movement is impassioned and relentless, ending
the sonata with the piano and violin joining together to find rest in a mysterious and unresolved way.

MARCO A. JIMENEZ (b. 2003)

After Bach (February 2022)
First Performance: Abigail Hong, March 18, 2022 in collaboration with The Juilliard School, Chelsea
Factory, and Jennifer Koh
Approximate duration: 10 minutes

After Bach was written after the Chaconne by Johann Sebastian Bach for
unaccompanied violin—the final movement of his Partita No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004.
The melodic and harmonic material, structure, and contour of After Bach takes its inspiration
from the Chaconne: the piece interweaves folk-like melodies, appearing in the outer sections
of the piece, with Baroque-style counterpoint and figuration, interpreted through a modern
lens. After Bach is a loving tribute to both Bach and the Baroque tradition, as well as to the
heterogenous traditions of folk music that continue to inspire me.
- Marco Jimenez 2023

Marco A. Jimenez is a composer, organist, pianist, and violinist. He is in his second year at Juilliard,
studying composition under John Corigliano and organ under Paul Jacobs. In 2022, Marco received
the Charles Ives Scholarship for Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; Marco has
won numerous awards for his compositions and has had his work premiered by The Juilliard School,
Hypercube Ensemble, and the Bergamot Quartet, among others. Marco’s music has been performed
along the East Coast of the United States, and in Paris, France. In 2021, he was named a Junior Fellow
for the Music at the Anthology (MATA). His composition prizes include First Place in the Florida
Federation of Music Clubs Junior Composer’s Contest, the John and Margaret Pierson Award for the
National Federation of Music Clubs, a two-time Honorable Mention for the ASCAP Foundation
Morton Gould Young Composer Award, and a 2022 Composition winner for the National YoungArts
Competition. TrevCo Music Publishing has published three of his compositions: Suite No. 1 in E
minor for unaccompanied bassoon (2017), A Russian Fantasy (for woodwind quintet) (2017), and A
Child’s Memories for oboe and piano (2020).

GABRIEL FAURÉ
(Born May 12, 1845, Pamiers, Ariège; died November 4, 1924, Paris)
Sonata No. 1 in A Major for Violin and Piano, Op. 13 (1875-6)
Dedication: Paul Viardot
First performance: Paul Viardot, violin Gabriel Fauré, piano (Paris 1877)
Other works from this period: Piano Quartet No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 15 (1876–1879); Berceuse in D
Major for Violin and Piano, op. 16 (1879)
Approximate duration: 26 minutes

“Formal novelty, quest, refinement, curious sonorities, use of the most unexpected rhythms
and touches of boldness” is how Camille Saint-Saëns praised Gabriel Fauré’s first Violin and Piano
Sonata. Both Saint-Saëns and Fauré were leaders in a search for new French musical idioms to replace
the longstanding German-centric European style following France’s defeat in the Franco-Prussian
War in 1871. Tonal beauty, nuance, and delicacy became the focus of Fauré’s unique musical style
during this period of his life, filled with unorthodox sequences of keys and constant rhythmic layering.

Chamber music is the essence of Fauré’s musical language. He wrote two violin sonatas, two cello
sonatas, two piano quartets, a piano trio, two piano quintets, and over a hundred songs for voice and
piano. Fauré’s first Violin Sonata is one of his most played and one of his longest works.

The four movement work begins with longing heartfelt surges from the piano first and then the violin
alternating who pushes the wave and who floats behind. It is both songful and strident, at times
combining the two to create what Saint-Saëns called “magic…floating above everything.” The second
movement is a barcarolle transforming from D minor to D major, offering both a sigh of relief and
comfort. On the other side of the movement is the scherzo, both witty and wistful, shifting meters
and keys with a spontaneity that brings Robert Schumann to mind. Just like Schumann, Fauré explores,
with subtlety and abandon, the depth of human emotion: the innig and verklempt to optimism and
passionate triumph in the finale.

LILI BOULANGER
(Born August 21, 1893, Paris, France; died March 15, 1918, Mézy, France)
Deux Morceaux for Violin and Piano: Nocturne (1911) and Cortège (1914)
Dedication: Marie Danielle Parenteau (Nocturne), Yvonne Astruc (Cortège)
Other works from this period: Deux Préludes for Piano (1911); Faust et Hélène (1913)
Approximate duration: 6 minutes
Gabriel Fauré was one of the first musicians to recognize Lili Boulanger’s musical gift and
became her first composition teacher. Lili poured herself into composition for the last ten years of
her life. One of her most well-known and performed works is Faust et Hèléne (based on Goethe), a
cantata for mezzo, tenor, baritone, and orchestra, which eventually wins her the Prix de Rome in 1913
as the first woman to do so.

All of Lili’s compositions date from 1910-1918 including these two short pieces published in 1911 and
1914. Deux Morceaux for violin or flute and piano, named Nocturne and Cortège, convey the stillness of
night and the joyous outburst of celebration. The Nocturne displays tone colors of French
Impressionism that influenced Lili through her predecessors: Fauré, Massenet, and Debussy. One may
notice a quotation near the end of the Nocturne from a certain Faun…

Lili wrote in a letter while deeply ill with bronchitis, “I feel discouraged not because of the suffering,
not because of boredom, but because I understand that I would never be able to have in me the feeling
that I have done what I would like to do…” Cortège, meaning a solemn procession, instead transports
us to a world filled with life’s blissful moments, some that make your heart race and some that make
you want to skip down the street without a care in the world. Perhaps, this jubilant and celebratory
view of a cortège was a world Lili yearned for but could never have due to constant physical illness,
eventually leading to her early death at age 24.

I would like to thank my teacher, Mark Steinberg, for bringing lightness, warmth, and sincerity
as I navigated my first year of doctoral studies. I am grateful for our shared love and deep curiosity in
music, the intricacies of coffee, and discovering…pastries.

Thank you to my pianist and dear friend, Po-Wei, for sharing his music and time with me the past few
months, and laughter with me the past few years. Preparing this recital with you has been a joy.
About the Artists

Born in Cherry Hill, NJ, violinist Abigail Hong is in her first year of doctoral studies at the
CUNY Grad Center with Mark Steinberg. She graduated with her Master’s degree at The Juilliard
School and was awarded a Benzaquen Career Grant and graduated as the Presser Foundation Scholar
of her undergraduate class at The New England Conservatory. A passionate chamber musician,
Abigail won top prizes at the Fischoff and Plowman Chamber Music Competitions. Abigail taught at
City College Academy of the Arts in the Bronx, Harvard University’s Quad Chamber Music Program,
and the Music Advancement Program at Juilliard for the past three years. Abigail’s recent
performances include world premieres by Thomas Ades and Rebecca Saunders as Concertmaster of
the Verbier, Lucerne, and Spoleto Festival Orchestras. Most of Abigail’s summer season is spent in
Europe where she has performed in the Berlin Philharmonie, Musikverein, Concertgebouw,
Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, KKL Luzern, Rudolfinum, Kölner Philharmonie, and many others.
Abigail has performed at festivals including Norfolk, Yellow Barn, Taos, Music@Menlo, and Pablo
Casals, and will perform this season with the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, Sarasota Opera
Orchestra as Assistant Concertmaster, Gstaad Festival Orchestra, Verbier Festival Orchestra, and
Baltimore Symphony. Her teachers include Amy J. Lee and Soovin Kim, and most recent studies are
with Catherine Cho. Abigail plays a Mario Miralles violin and Benoit Rolland bow on generous loan
through the Maestro Foundation.

Pianist Po-Wei Ger is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Manhattan
School of Music with Dr. Solomon Mikowsky. Po-Wei began studying piano with Ms. Jia-li Shu at the
age of seven. At the age of ten, he further continues his study with Dr. Ming-Hui Lin, piano faculty
of the National Taiwan Normal University. He performed in the prizewinner concert of the
Mozarteum University Summer Academy in 2012, as part of the program of Salzburg Festival. During
his Bachelor of Music degree study with Dr. Solomon Mikowsky in Manhattan School of Music, Po-
Wei collaborated with the Cuban National Symphony Orchestra in both 2015 and 2016. He won the
2nd Prize, Chamber Music Prize, and the Audience Award in the Premio Jaén International Piano
Competition, 2021. An avid chamber musician, Po-Wei has performed in festivals such as Norfolk
Chamber Music Festival, 2019, 2022 and Taos School of Music, summer 2021.