Third Suite for Cello Op.87 (1971)

Canto: con moto -

Barcarola: lento -

Dialogo: allegretto -

Fuga: andante espressivo -

Recitativo: fantastico -

Moto perpetuo: presto -

Passacaglia: lento solenne -

The immediate inspiration for Britten’s three Cello Suites was the playing of Mstislav Rostropovich, to whom the whole series is dedicated. The composer first met Rostropovich in 1960 when he gave an early performance of Shostakovich’s First Cello Concerto in the Royal Festival Hall. By the time Britten got to work on the first Cello Suite Op.72 in 1964, having in the meantime written the Cello Sonata Op.65 and the Cello Symphony Op.68 for the same soloist, he knew the Rostropovich technique and personality exceptionally well - which must have been a reassuring support for a composer engaged on music that, texturally, leaves him nowhere to hide.

The other inspiration, obviously, was the Cello Suites and solo Violin Sonatas and Partitas of J.S.Bach. But it is only in the Second Suite of 1967, with its ingenious Fuga and its extended Ciaccona, that Britten directly accepts the implied challenge and invites comparison with those great models of their kind. The Third Suite, which was written in four years later, is addressed not so much to Rostropovich the Bach player as Rostropovich the “great Russian musician and patriot” (as Britten has described him). It is actually based on four Russian themes - “Under the little apple tree,” “Autumn” and “The Grey Eagle” (all taken from Tchaikovsky’s volumes of folk-song arrangements) and the Orthodox “Kontakion”(or Hymn of the Departed). Strangely, however, these basic sources of the melodic material of the Suite are presented not at the beginning but at the end in a kind of anthology appended to the Passacaglia. The structural idea is that the thematic threads dispersed through the preceding nine movements are finally drawn together into distinct shapes, clarifying outlines only partially perceived before.

The most important of the four theme is the “Kontakon” which is featured in one way or another in at last four movement, including the opening Lento, the central Allegretto and the final Lento solenne, which takes the Kontakion as its ground bass while incorporating allusions to the other themes. Any remaining obscurity is clarified in the closing presentation of the four themes in their traditional form.

Canto: con moto -

Barcarola: lento -

Dialogo: allegretto -

Fuga: andante espressivo -

Recitativo: fantastico -

Moto perpetuo: presto -

Passacaglia: lento solenne -

The immediate inspiration for Britten’s three Cello Suites was the playing of Mstislav Rostropovich, to whom the whole series is dedicated. The other inspiration, obviously, was the Cello Suites and solo Violin Sonatas and Partitas of J.S.Bach. But it is only in the Second Suite of 1967, with its ingenious Fuga and its extended Ciaccona, that Britten directly accepts the implied challenge. The Third Suite, which was written in four years later, is addressed not so much to Rostropovich the Bach player as Rostropovich the “great Russian musician and patriot” (as Britten has described him).

It is actually based on four Russian themes - “Under the little apple tree,” “Autumn” and “The Grey Eagle” (all taken from Tchaikovsky’s volumes of folk-song arrangements) and the Orthodox “Kontakion”(or Hymn of the Departed). Strangely, however, these basic sources of the melodic material of the Suite are presented not at the beginning but at the end in a kind of anthology appended to the Passacaglia. The structural idea is that the thematic threads dispersed through the preceding nine movements are finally drawn together into distinct shapes, clarifying outlines only partially perceived before.

The most important of the four themes is the “Kontakion” which is featured in one way or another in at least four movements. In the muted first movement it supplies the repeated notes eloquently chanted over left-hand pizzicatos at the very bottom of the cello range. The following Allegro march alludes to all three of the folk songs, beginning with “The grey eagle,” turning in the middle section to a lightly bowed variant of the rising thirds of “Autumn,” and mingling quiet hints of “Under the little apple tree” with a brief recapitulation of earlier ideas in the closing section. “Under the apple tree” is more consistently developed in the expressive Con moto, which leads directly into another Lento and an arpeggiated treatment of “Autumn,” sounding a little like Bach here but actually taking the undulating shape of a barcarolle.

The Allegretto fifth movement is a dramatic dialogue between a grotesquely characterised fragment of “Under the little apple tree” and a quietly plucked chordal version of the “Kontakion.” The wrath of the first voice is eventually turned away by its solemn companion, so clearing the air for a seriously thoughtful, fugal treatment of “Under the little apple tree” and its inversion in the following Andante espressivo. The response of the other two folk songs is to join in a Fantastico recitative, an entertainingly resourceful little piece coloured by as many devices of fingering and bowing as the rest of the work put together. The two remaining movements are based on the “Kontakion” - the brilliant Presto in the form of a moto perpetuo and the masterfully sustained Lento solenne, which takes the “Kontakion” as its ground bass and incorporates allusions to the other themes in the variations that go with it. Any remaining obscurity is clarified in the closing presentation of the four themes - “Under the little apple tree,” “Autumn,” “The Grey Eagle” and the “Kontakion” - in their traditional form.

Canto: con moto -

Barcarola: lento -

Dialogo: allegretto -

Fuga: andante espressivo -

Recitativo: fantastico -

Moto perpetuo: presto -

Passacaglia: lento solenne -

The immediate inspiration for Britten’s three Cello Suites was the playing of Mstislav Rostropovich, to whom the whole series is dedicated. The composer first met Rostropovich in 1960 when he gave an early performance of Shostakovich’s First Cello Concerto in the Royal Festival Hall. By the time Britten got to work on the first Cello Suite Op.72 in 1964, having in the meantime written the Cello Sonata Op.65 and the Cello Symphony Op.68 for the same soloist, he knew the Rostropovich technique and personality exceptionally well - which must have been a reassuring support for a composer engaged on music that, texturally, leaves him nowhere to hide.

The other inspiration, obviously, was the Cello Suites and solo Violin Sonatas and Partitas of J.S.Bach. But it is only in the Second Suite of 1967, with its ingenious Fuga and its extended Ciaccona, that Britten directly accepts the implied challenge and invites comparison with those great models of their kind. The Third Suite, which was written in four years later, is addressed not so much to Rostropovich the Bach player as Rostropovich the “great Russian musician and patriot” (as Britten has described him). It is actually based on four Russian themes - “Under the little apple tree,” “Autumn” and “The Grey Eagle” (all taken from Tchaikovsky’s volumes of folk-song arrangements) and the Orthodox “Kontakion”(or Hymn of the Departed). Strangely, however, these basic sources of the melodic material of the Suite are presented not at the beginning but at the end in a kind of anthology appended to the Passacaglia. The structural idea is that the thematic threads dispersed through the preceding nine movements are finally drawn together into distinct shapes, clarifying outlines only partially perceived before. Britten had constructed his Lachrymae and Nocturnal on similar lines but they are shorter works and based on one theme each rather than four.

The most important of the four themes is the “Kontakion” which is featured in one way or another in at least four movements, including the opening Lento, the central Allegretto and the final Lento solenne. In the muted first movement it supplies the repeated notes eloquently chanted over left-hand pizzicatos at the very bottom of the cello range. The following Allegro (in Britten’s favourite march form) alludes to all three of the folk songs, beginning with “The grey eagle,” turning in the middle section to a lightly bowed variant of the rising thirds of “Autumn,” and mingling quiet hints of “Under the little apple tree” with a brief recapitulation of earlier ideas in the closing section. “Under the apple tree” is more consistently developed in the expressive Con moto, which leads directly into another Lento and an arpeggiated treatment of “Autumn,” sounding a little like Bach here but actually taking the undulating shape of a barcarolle.

The Allegretto fifth movement is a dramatic dialogue between a grotesquely characterised fragment of “Under the little apple tree” and a quietly plucked chordal version of the “Kontakion.” The wrath of the first voice is eventually turned away by its solemn companion, so clearing the air for a seriously thoughtful, fugal treatment of “Under the little apple tree” and its inversion in the following Andante espressivo. The response of the other two folk songs is to join in a Fantastico recitative, an entertainingly resourceful little piece coloured by as many devices of fingering and bowing as the rest of the work put together. The two remaining movements are based on the “Kontakion” - the brilliant Presto in the form of a moto perpetuo and the masterfully sustained Lento solenne, which takes the “Kontakion” as its ground bass and incorporates allusions to the other themes in the variations that go with it. Any remaining obscurity is clarified in the closing presentation of the four themes - “Under the little apple tree,” “Autumn,” “The Grey Eagle” and the “Kontakion” - in their traditional form.

Although the Third Cello Suite was written (in a mere nine days) in February and March 1971 and presented by the composer on a visit to Russia later in the same year, it had to wait for its first performance until the cellist was free to play it at the Snape Maltings in 1974.