One of the most astonishing youthful prodigies in the history of composition, Erich Wolfgang Korngold was already a veteran theater composer at age 20, when the Vienna Burgtheater invited him in 1918 to write incidental music to Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing. Showing the genius for quick characterization by means of ready melody, imaginative tone color, and harmonic lushness that would later make him Hollywood's leading film soundtrack composer, Korngold wrote 14 individual numbers to go with the play. The music was originally written for a small pit orchestra.

Korngold expanded the music's orchestration to make a chamber music suite of five movements, and this sparkling and upbeat music was soon heard in concert halls. Korngold's music was again used when the Shakespeare production was revived at the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna in 1920. This production was so popular that the run of the play was extended. Unfortunately, the orchestra members were not available to perform during the extended run, so Korngold quickly adapted the music for violin and piano and played the piano part himself at the later performances. He drew a four-movement suite for violin and piano from this version. The orchestral suite takes about 17 minutes to play, while the violin suite lasts 12 or 13.

The first movement of the suite is the Overture (in the orchestral version only). This is a swift and nimble piece whose brevity does not prevent it from having all the elements of a standard sonata-allegro form, including a development section. In 6/8 time, it might even be compared with the Marriage of Figaro overture in its combination of rushing and joyful expression with concise logic.

"The Maiden in the Bridal Chamber," the next movement in both versions, is a nostalgic tone painting. "Dogberry and Verges" (Holzapfel und Schlehwein) (also in both versions) is a grotesque and farcical funeral march that seems to parody Mahler's Wunderhorn songs.

The Scene in the Garden (violin suite only) is an idyllic slow waltz. The Intermezzo (orchestral version only) preserves a magical moment in Korngold's original theater orchestra scoring. It uses only two horns, harp, harmonium, piano, and strings.

The finale of both suites is a lively "Masquerade: Hornpipe." In the orchestral version, the two horns are given a blaring workout, and in the other version the violinist has a chance to demonstrate considerable virtuosity.

© All Music Guide

Much Ado About Nothing, suite from the incidental music for violin and piano, Op.11 (arr. orchestra)

At the age of 20, Korngold (one of music history's most amazing child prodigies) had already been a famous name to Viennese concertgoers for years when he produced his incidental music for a production of Shakespeare's play at the Burgtheater in Vienna. Although it was scored for a chamber orchestra, due to the space requirements of the theater, Korngold simultaneously prepared a five-movement suite for a somewhat larger orchestra, which immediately became popular in the concert halls.

Korngold's style is late Romantic, but firmly tonal, with an exceptional skill and imagination at orchestration. One of the unusual features of this score is its use of the harmonium (the reed pump organ). It also sports virtuoso horn writing in the raucous "hornpipe" that concludes it. The longest movement (at only a little over five minutes) is the overture, a fast piece that could serve as a model for its use of the classical sonata form and its superb development section. The remaining movements are delightful brief character pieces.

© Joseph Stevenson, Rovi