Jenoe Jando (Part 2) and the Odescalchi

Today I listened to Six Variations in F major, Op. 34.

This piece is found on the same 1992 Naxos CD with the pissy sister on the cover and Jenoe Jando playing beautifully, humming and groaning in the background, like the lonely guy one bathroom stall over. Towards the end of his scant but impressive bio, wikipedia briefly states, "He is known for singing while playing, and to stop this, he puts an unlit cigarette in his mouth."

And it all ties together again! Bernstein and his magic floating unlit cigarette; Jenoe Jando puckering around an unlit cigarette for the sake of his Naxos contract.

Wikipedia also told me Jenoe Jando was born in Hungary in 1952, which is where two roads that seem parallel, when followed far enough, in fact, dovetail into each other.

Beethoven dedicated the Six Variations in F Major (among other works) to "Princess Odeschalchi, who before her marriage to the Pressburg nobleman Prince innocenzo d'Erba-Odescalchi, had been, as Countess Babette Keglevich, a pupil of Beethoven." Picking up that strand, I followed both the Princess's families: the one she was born into and the one she married into. Her maiden family, Keglevich's were Croatian by origin, whereas the d'Erba-Odescalchi were Italian nobles. And yet, through the forces of business, war and exile, certain branches of both families ended up in Hungary. Why does this matter? Because by the time we reach the mid-twentieth century on her Erba-Odescalchi side, we have Prince Kodaly Odescalchi and his son, Paul, who were members of the Hungarian Resistance to the Nazis and then later to Communism. That means that the family of the woman to whom these variations are dedicated, two hundred years later, were involved in trying to topple the regime that Jenoe Jando was born into and spent his whole life working under.  Her family directly affected his life: musically, politically and, no doubt, personally.

I found that exciting.

Then again, I am committed to listening to all of Beethoven, so my excitement threshold might be slightly lower than your average person.

A final note, these variations were written in 1802, coincidentally the year Beethoven penned the previous entry's "Heiligenstadt Testament".  The liner notes about the variations, which I suppose were used as a teaching tool, state ""The fifth variation is a March in C minor and the final variation starts as a compound rhythm Allegretto, leading to an Adagio that the composer's pupil Ries claims he was compelled to play through seventeen times, before the cadenza satisfied his teacher, who displayed, in these lessons, an unusual degree of patience."

I wonder how many of those repetitions were due to Ries's playing and how many of them were Beethoven, straining through frustration, anguish and love of his pupil, just to hear.

This is Glenn Gould playing the variations. Enjoy his playing, his left hand and his face: