# Scherzos and Minuets



## itywltmt (May 29, 2011)

En français 

_"S" for "September"_ continues with_ "S" for "Scherzo"_, as in the dance-like, musical joke that has come to replace the _minuet _in three or four-movement works. The transition from the minuet (espooused by *Haydn *in particular) to the scherzo is a key step in the evolution from the classical period to the early romantic.

I don't now if we can call this the _first _instance of a scherzo, but certainly the third movement of Beethoven's First symphony (deceptively marked _Menuetto. Allegro molto e vivace_) is really a scherzo:






The playlist I assembled proposes a set of scherzos (and minuets) for different combinations of instruments - going from the solo piano to the full orchestra - from *Bach *to the 1960 _Scherzo pour cordes_ by Canada's *André Prévost*. I grouped the scherzos into two groups, acting as bookends to a series of minuets.

Among these _YouTube _selections, I would like to single oiut the great performance by Rafael Kubelik of the *Dvorák *_Scherzo Capriccioso_, a truly capricious and mischievous piece, the vintage recording of the minuet from Haydn's _Lark _quartet and a young Yehudi Minuhin performing *Wieniawski*'s s_cherzo-Tarantella_.

Enjoy!

*PLAYLIST*

*Antonín DVORÁK (1841-1904)*
_Scherzo Capriccioso_ in D flat major, Op.66 (B.131)
Philharmonia Orchestra under Rafael Kubelik

*Pyotr Ilich TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893)*
_Scherzo à la Russe_, op. 1 No. 1 
Earl Wild, piano

*Igor STRAVINSKY (1882-1971)*
_Scherzo à la Russe_ (1945)
Orchestra of St. Luke's under Robert Craft

*Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)*
_Menuet 1 & 2_ and _Gigue _from Partita No.1 in B Flat Major, BWV 825 
Glenn Gould, piano

*Georg Friedrich HÄNDEL (1685-1759)*
Minuet from _Berenice, regina d'Egitto_, HWV 38 
(Uncredited)

*Franz Josef HAYDN (1732-1809)*
Third movement (_Menuet: Allegretto_) from String Quartet in D Major, Hob.III:63 (Op.64, No.5) 'Lark' 
Capet String Quartet

*Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)*
Thoird movement (_Menuetto 1_) from Divertimento No.17, K.334 
Jascha Heifetz, violin and Isidor Achron, piano

*Antonio SALIERI (1750-1825)*
Third movement (_Tempo di Menuetto_) from Concerto for fortepiano in B flat major(1773)
(Uncredited)

*Maurice RAVEL (1875 - 1937)*
Menuet antique, MR 7 (orchestrated, 1929)
Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal under Charles Dutoit

*Henryk WIENIAWSKI (1835 - 1880)*
Scherzo-Tarantelle, op. 16
Yehudi Menuhin, violin
(Uncredited pianist)

*Gustav MAHLER (1860-1911)*
Second Movement (_Kräftig bewegt, doch nicht zu schnell_) from Symphony No.1 in D Major 'Titan' (1884-88)
Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest under Mariss Jansons

*André PRÉVOST (1934 - 2001)*
_Scherzo pour orchestre à cordes_ (1960)
CBC Vancouver Symphony Orchestra under Mario Bernardi

*Frédéric CHOPIN (1810-1849)*
Scherzo No.3 in C-Sharp Minor, Op.39 
Martha Argerich, piano

_YouTube _URL: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?feature=edit_ok&list=PL6swnss9F7SFLNnOnrPeaMxMBlaT8tn23

*September 13 2013, "I Think You Will Love This Music Too" will feature a new podcast "Leopold Stokowski" at its Pod-O-Matic Channel . Read more September 13 on the ITYWLTMT Blogspot blog.*


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