Pianist Edward Rothmel, from Pottstown, PA, began his piano studies at the age of five and gave his solo debut at the age twelve. He has performed professionally in numerous solo and chamber music contexts, giving recitals throughout the United States and in China, and has performed in master classes for Ann Schein, Martin Katz, Graham Johnson, Joshua Pifer, Lisa Kaplan, Samuel Ramey, Frederica von Stade, and Ruth Ann Swenson. A former student of Curtis faculty Kristin Ditlow, Mr. Rothmel holds a Bachelor's Degree in Piano Performance from the Florida State University as a student of Dr. Read Gainsford, and is currently pursuing his Master's Degree in Piano Performance at the Florida State University, as a student of Dr. Heidi Louise Williams. He holds a graduate assistantship in Opera Coaching with the Florida State Opera under the direction of Douglas Fisher. Edward was recently praised for his playing and was awarded first prize in the FSU Young Artist Concerto Competition. This prize afforded him the opportunity to perform Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with the FSU University Philharmonic Orchestra.Program Notes:Johann Sebastian Bach’s Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue (BWV 903) is one of his most well-known works for keyboard. This piece is believed to have been composed in the 1720s while Bach was in Weimar (Bach’s autograph was lost so publications of this piece are based on a copyist’s manuscript). This piece is separated into two parts by title, but three parts in structure. The first is a prelude in the truest sense of the word. Bach explores harmonic ideas in this prelude and eventually brings us into a recitative-like section. It is here that Bach continues to develop his harmonic ideas through the use of chromaticism until he finally brings us to a close in D major, using a Picardy third. The fugue starts with a single subject and a heavily chromatic melody that is then answered to form a three-voice fugue. This piece evokes a very dramatic, almost sorrowful mood throughout the whole piece. Overall, this is some of Bach’s most well-crafted, effective music. Haydn composed his Sonata in C Major Hob. XVI:50 between the years 1794 and 1795. It was during this time that Haydn was living mostly in London. He wrote this piece as well as several piano trios and other sonatas for Theresa Jansen Bartolozzi. She must have been a fine pianist because the pieces he composed for her require a great technical facility as well as musical awareness! Haydn was a genius of using musical humor in his music and this can be seen quite readily in this sonata. The first movement begins with a very basic theme outlining the tonic triad. Haydn immediately starts to vary the original idea and continues to develop this motive throughout the entire first movement. This movement contains moments of great joy as well technical brilliance. It is interesting to note that it is in the first movement of this sonata that we see Haydn’s first and only pedal markings. Here he marks to hold the pedal through the changing harmonies to create a “blurry” effect. The second movement of this sonata is a very expressive and beautiful movement. Haydn uses simple harmonies and melodies that soar through the registers creating beautiful effects. Here, he explores varying dynamics and articulations. In the third movement, Haydn composes a hilarious tale in which a pianist is trying to find the correct notes to play. Haydn sets up a dance in the opening but quickly the pianist gets “off the train tracks” and lands on a chord that is completely unrelated to the key of the piece. He continues to search for the right answers and finds them along the way while he dances to the music.In 1915, Claude Debussy finished his set of twelves etudes. Debussy described them as “a warning to pianists not to take up the musical profession unless they have remarkable hands.” Pour les arpèges composées is the eleventh etude in the set and is one of the most beautiful. During Debussy’s time, this piece was his most popular étude. The music has many water-like characteristics and creates a very flowing, quasi-lullaby. There are many changes of character that add interest to the music as it develops. Strong fingers, an acute ear, and sensitive musicianship are required to perform this piece with elegance and style.Claude Debussy composed his Preludes Book Two between 1912 and 1913. ...Ondine is said to be based on two paintings by Arthur Rackham. One depicts Ondine outside of a window with a net fence between her and the water; however, you can see images of the truly wicked Ondine in the swirls of the water. The second image shows the seemingly innocent Ondine seen through a crystal veil at the bottom of the ocean. An ondine is a water spirit who seeks to fall in love and marry a man in order to acquire her soul. While she is sweet and beautiful on the outside, she holds a dark, vixen-like interior which she uses as a means to her goal. Debussy does a masterful job at capturing the charm, seduction, and ferocity of the Ondine. He uses sudden changes of character and dynamics to display the hidden intentions of the Ondine while maintaining a sweet, caressing quality to the music of this piece. Sometimes considered one of the most musically expressive and technically demanding of his works, Chopin’s Ballade No. 4 Op. 52 in F Minor was composed when Chopin was living in Paris, France and Nohant, France. This piece was dedicated to Baron Nathaniel de Rothschild’s wife. John Ogdon, English pianist and composer, once said that the Fourth Ballade was “the most exalted, intense, and sublimely powerful of all Chopin’s compositions… It is unbelievable that it lasts only twelve minutes, for it contains the experience of a lifetime.” The Fourth Ballade begins with a very simple yet incredibly divine opening which never identifies the key of the piece and leaves the listener suspended. This piece unfolds a story of great passion. After the opening, a single soprano voice enters along with a steady, rocking accompaniment in the bass line. This melody seems to search for something and has weeping characteristics. Steadily, the melody grows with more voices entering and a build-up of dynamics. There is an explosion of vivacity which then calms down into a sweet pseudo boat song. This song is interrupted again, but this time with more flair. We finally return to the opening theme which gives us a sense of serenity and calm. After that, the single soprano voice enters again but this time more desolate because of the sparse texture. The rocking lullaby returns with a greater struggle in the left hand until we reach the climax. Five heavenly chords create a sense of security and divinity which is then interrupted by the tempestuous and virtuosic coda.