May / June 2016

Alexander Boëly's Op.5 String Trios

Alexandre Pierre François Boëly (1785-1858) came from of a family of musicians. His father, Jean-François Boëly (1739-1814) was a composer, a professor of harp and a member of the Chapelle Royale in Versailles where Alexandre was born. Boëly began music lessons when he was five years old, first studying with various musicians in the king’s band. In 1796, at the age of eleven, he was sent to Paris to study at the Conservatory. He started on the violin with Henri Guérillot where he made only average progress, but he showed exceptional ability on the piano and the organ. His teacher was a Tyrolean, Ignaz Ladurner. It was Ladurner who introduced him to the music of Bach, Handel, Clementi, Haydn and Mozart, none of whom were held in particularly high regard at that time in France where musical taste ran almost exclusively to the Italian operas of Rossini and others like him. To put it mildly, Boëly became a huge fan of these composers. He regularly programmed their works on his concerts and they served as a model for his own compositions, which in no small part explains why he and his works were ignored within France. Some of his earliest works, including his Op.5 String Trios, were modeled on early Beethoven, whose music, what little was known of it in France, was considered cacophony. To their credit, and unlike the French musical public in general, composers then active in Paris, such as Cherubini, Rossini, Bellini, Meyerbeer and Paganini did come to appreciate Boëly’s music but this was not of much help to his reputation.

Within France, Boëly’s reputation came to rest almost entirely on his talent as an organist. In 1840, he was appointed to the prestigious position of organist at the church of Saint Germain-l'Auxerrois. Yet to the disgust of many, he continued to champion and perform the works of Bach. But even his programs of the music of the Frenchman Couperin met with little success amongst French concertgoers. The general dislike of these works was so strong that he was ultimately relieved of his post of organist at Saint Germain in 1851. He had been warned to stop playing Bach, but he refused. Still, his concerts had an important impact because composers such as Alkan, Franck, Saint-Saëns and Ambroise Thomas came to hear them and were introduced to the music of these composers and were, of course, influenced by what they heard. Saint-Saëns, in the preface to a new 1902 edition of Boëly’s works, which he edited, wrote, “An impeccable musical writer, a theoretician of the first order, Boëly possessed the bizarre originality of seeking to live in the past by going back to Bach and Scarlatti, who were still ignored by everyone in France. This applied to his organ works, which admittedly are the bulk of his compositions. In his chamber works, he returned to Mozart and Haydn, who were still largely distained in France, and also to Beethoven, whose very name provoked a sense of horror.”

Boëly wrote five string trios for violin, viola and cello. The first three were composed in 1808 and published in 1829 as his Op.5. (The last two, Opp.23 and 24 were composed in 1854 and 1857 toward the very end of his life and do not appear to have been published. The opus numbers assigned to Boëly’s works are totally meaningless. He wrote hundreds of works, many without opus numbers. It is hard to know why it was that Boëly chose to write string trios. It is unlikely that he had plans to play them himself, nor is it likely that he received a commission to write such works. With the exception of Hyacynthe Jadin’s string trios. composed and published in the late 1790’s, there appear to be no other instances of French composers writing trios. Jadin’s trios seem to indicate that he was familiar with the music of Haydn if not Mozart. And while it cannot be said that his music sounds anything like those composers, it does show the influence of C.P.E. Bach with whom he is said to have studied.

So what do Boëly’s string trios sound like? In a word—Beethoven. In fact, it is probably no exaggeration to say that in all probability Boëly had before him copies of Beethoven’s three Op.9 trios of 1799 and the Op.18 quartets of the following year at the time he sat down to write his three Op.5 trios.

Beginning with Op.5 No.1 in D Major, the first of the set, we find that the first movement is structured identically with Beethoven’s Op.9 No.1 although it is written on a much larger scale, so much so that it would not have been unfair to have styled the work as “Grande Trio”. Boëly begins the first movement, as does Beethoven, with an Adagio introduction. But here it must be said that the size and scope of this Adagio is truly extraordinary. Highly dramatic, it creates a sense of unease which is only dispelled in the main movement, an Allegro. The Allegro comes as a bit of surprise in that one is expecting some sort of storm but instead the music is light and gay. The Allegretto grazioso which follows begins inauspiciously There is no slow movement, and for the third movement, there is a first rate Scherzo allegro with a finely contrasting lyrical trio. The exciting finale, Allegro assai, with which Boëly tops off this trio, quotes a theme from Beethoven's Op.9 No.2, but he gives it an entirely different treatment. This is a rather good trio. It plays well and it makes a good impression with audiences.

In all liklihood, String Trio No.2 in C Major, Op.5 No.2 was composed immediately after the first, given that these were works were released as a set. And though it was still common practice to release sets of similar works in sets of three or six, given the references to Beethoven, it is clear that these were meant as a complimentary set. The opening bars of the first movement, Allegro, have a formal quality to them which brings the opening of Beethoven's Op.18 No.2 to mind, however, by the fourth bar, Boëly departs onto his own melodic path. The lovely second theme is lyrical while driven forward by the pulsing accompaniment in the cello. The slow movement, Adagio, which follows, is leisurely but has an air of mystery to it. Played quite slowly, its great breadth, but not its thematic material, brings the big slow movement to Beethoven’s Op.9 No.1 Trio to mind.  The theme of the third movement, Minuetto, Allegretto, depends more on rhythm than its melodic line and is presented in canonic form. Although there is not direct thematic quote from Beethoven, the music nonetheless is very Beethovian. In fact, it is hard to come away without the impression that Beethoven wrote it. The opening bars of the finale, a Presto, bring the finale movement of Beethoven's Op.18 No.3 to mind, but again Boëly gives the material a different treatment that is very well executed.

It interesting to note that while Boëly's first two trios of this set are in the major, the final trio of the set, Op.5 No.3, is in g minor. Though the keys are different (in Beethoven’s case G Major, D Major and c minor and in Boëly’s case D Major, C Major and g minor) the pattern of two trios in the major followed by a third in the minor does not, in view of the other similarities, seem like a coincidence. The opening movement, Allegro agitato, dispenses with any introduction and immediately dives into the downward-plunging turbulent theme much in the way Beethoven did in his Op.9 No.3 c minor trio. The second theme is more lyrical and has a serenade-like quality to it. The trio dispenses with a true slow movement and instead opts for an, Andante con moto The gorgeous main theme requires that a brisk pace be kept. The third movement, a Scherzo must also be played at great speed, really in one and not three, which again recalls Beethoven. The more one plays or hears these trios, the more one is struck by Boëly’s uncanny ability to produce music which surely sounds as if Beethoven had written it, and yet,  it is not a case of mere imitation. The lilting rhythm of the finale, Allegro ma non troppo, gives the music a vaguely Spanish effect. The violin begins with the main theme, which is reprised later. As before, the music is Beethovian, yet here, the thematic material seems less related to anything Beethoven wrote. Immediately after the violin, which has had a long stretch of singing theme alone, the cello takes it up, quite dramatically and for an almost equal length of time.

These are valuable additions to the string trio literature, fun to play and to hear. You can hear soundbites from each movement on our website and if you desire purchase the parts from Edition Silvertrust by clicking on the links above.