- Programme notes from the conductor of a local orchestra Archived Message
Posted by Mary
on March 31, 2020, 9:43 am
|
whose concert was cancelled at the weekend. Rather long winded but it might pass the time for music lovers. I see the links I gave have been changed into YTs by the tech on here. Weber - Oberon Overture When Weber was asked what he thought of the success of his Opera Der Freischutz he answered that it had only taken him 20 years to become an overnight success. With its overtones of magic and mysticism many regarded that this work to the first in the tradition of German Romantic Opera which would culminate in the operas of Wagner and R. Strauss. However I believe that Weber was inspired in his quest for the perfect German Opera by Beethoven’s heroic and philosophic opera Fidelio which was first performed just three years before Weber started work on Der Freischutz. Five years after the first performance of Freischutz, Weber visited the theme of magic and mysticism in his opera Oberon which he conducted just weeks before his death in 1826. The opera starts with the sound of a magic hunting horn before Weber introduces a colourful scene of mischievous fairies. The main body of the overture is full of dynamism and merriment as well as some beautiful melodies portraying the lovers. Weber was only 39 when he died of tuberculosis in 1826 and Oberon was his last opera, written with an English libretto. He died only two months after its premiere at Covent Garden, which he conducted. This work could easily be be confused with Mendelssohn’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’; it has memorable tunes, warm colours and vibrant rhythms denoting forests and fairies. But it is an old story which appears in a collection of French romances under the title of "Huon de Bordeaux." It is substantially as follows: Oberon, the Elfin King, having quarrelled with his fairy partner, can never be reconciled until he finds two lovers constant to each other under all circumstances. Puck ranges the world in quest of them. the two lovers are Sir Huon, a young knight of Bordeaux, and Reiza, daughter of the Caliph of Bagdad. The story relates their trials and temptations, through all of which they remain constant, thereby securing the forgiveness of Oberon. The overture throughout contains music taken directly from the complete opera. It opens with an Adagio horn solo - fitting, as in the opera Oberon gives Huon a magic horn to protect him during his adventures. A few notes then lead to a short passage from a fairy chorus, on the flute and a march then follows, introducing the hero. A fortissimo chord in the full orchestra gives the theme of Sir Huon’s song, ‘From Boyhood Trained’, followed by a passage from Reiza ‘Ocean, thou mighty monster’, referencing Puck’s direction to the fairies to raise a storm which wrecks the lovers’ ship. Weber is regarded as the father of German Romantic opera and had a huge influence on Wagner’s work. Oberon is one example of this, though written when Beethoven was still alive and the direction of classical music changing. But it is considered to be, by many, a remarkable combination of fantasy and technical skill. The opera itself has fallen out of favour, possibly due to a ridiculous and over-complicated plot, but the Overture remains - Weber at his best. Famous events 1826 The Menai Suspension Bridge opens, London University is founded, HMS Beagle departs on its first voyage to survey Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. Famous births 1826 Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walter Bagehot, Gustave Moreau, Carl Bechstein. Famous deaths 1826 Carl Maria von Weber, Thomas Jefferson, John Quincy Adams, Gervais-Francois Couperin, Stamford Raffles. ___________ Mendelssohn - Nocturne In the same year, the teenage Mendelssohn was inspired by a performance of Oberon (and especially the overture) and set out to write a concert overture himself based on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The plot is similar in many ways to that of Oberon but is, of course, so much more subtle and multi-layered. Many of the ingredients of the play can be found in this overture which is not only one of his finest creations but a true example of his genius. Though the incidental music to the play was written nearly two decades later Mendelssohn still manages to capture the spirit of the play quite wonderfully – with the Nocturne being a beautiful oasis of peace and repose with shafts of moonlight filtering through the wooded canopy. The music also features one the finest French Horn solos ever penned. Felix Mendelssohn completed his Overture inspired by Shakespeare’s play ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ in 1826. He was 17! He wrote the incidental music, Op 61, for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which includes the Nocturne, in 1842, 16 years after he wrote the Overture. The Nocturne was one of three purely instrumental movements, which are often played as a unified suite or, as here, independent pieces, at concert performance or on recording. Nurtured in a supportive, wealthy and cultured family, Mendelssohn developed a taste for Shakespeare’s plays at an early age (they had been translated into German 25 years earlier) and quickly became a fan. He was writing music of power and brilliance whilst still in his mid-teens - the First Symphony and the famous Octet being examples. He was inspired to write the Overture in the Spring of 1826 after hearing Weber’s Oberon Overture in Berlin. In July, he wrote to his sister, “Today or tomorrow, I am going to dream there (the family’s secluded garden) the Midsummer Night’s Dream. It is, however, an audacity.” It was a difficult birth - the opening was fine, but it required the intervention of a musical friend, A.B.Marx, who suggested including characteristic references to the action of the plot, before it became Mendelssohn’s first, and possibly best, success. The work at first depicts the delicacy and colour of the world of Oberon and Titania in the land of the fairies. It was premiered in Stettin, Prussia (now Szczecin, Poland) in 1827 and was received enthusiastically. Mendelssohn had just turned 18 and had to travel 80 miles through a raging snowstorm to get to the concert. He joined the first violins after the interval for a performance of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. Then, in 1842, Mendelssohn was commissioned by King Frederich Wilhelm of Prussia to compose a complete score, including the Nocturne, for a production of the play at The Royal Theatre in Berlin. The Nocturne is meant to occur at the end of the third act when sleep has come to all the characters, evoking the warmth and drowsiness of a midsummer’s night and is one of the most celebrated passages for the horn in all classical music. Mendelssohn lived with poor health most of his life and, after a series of strokes died, at the very early age of 38 only 5 years later. Famous events 1842 Charles Dickens visits America; 1st known sewing machine patented in US; Mendelssohn’s 3rd ’Scottish’ Symphony premieres; Verdi’s opera ’Nabucco’ premieres; The Illustrated London News published; Christian Doppler presents idea now known as Doppler Effect; assassination attempt on Queen Victoria; city of Hobart, Tasmania, founded; Great Britain and China sign Treaty of Nanking, ending the Opium War and establishing Hong Kong as British; New York Philharmonic’s 1st concert; Glinka’s opera ‘Russian and Ludmilla’ premieres; 1st Anglo-Afghan war; a Primary School system is established in Sweden; new Zealand government moves from Russell to Auckland. Famous births 1842 Jules Massenet, Arthur Sullivan, Ambose Bierce, Carl Jacobsen (Carlsberg brewer). Famous deaths 1842 Constanze Mozart (Mozart’s wife), Grace Darling. ______________ Lalo - Cello Concerto in D Minor Prelude: Lento - Allegro maestoso Intermezzo: Andantino con moto - Allegro presto Andante: Allegro vivace Though a number of composers in the baroque and classical periods wrote concertos for the cello it was a great shame that many of the early romantic composers did not follow suit. However, Lalo was inspired by the success of Saint-Saens cello Concerto and decided to write a concerto for the instrument himself. In many ways Lalo follows the episodic style and form of the Saint-Saens concerto – but in a much grander and lengthy style with the concerto lasting over thirty minutes. Certainly the opening movement is most declamatory and rhetorical – and this is followed by a most reflective 2nd movement which is punctuated by short sections of merriment. The final movement shows the range and emotional diversity of the cello with displays of technical brilliance and humour. A message from our soloist, Yoanna Prodanova: It was a pleasure to meet you all and play through the Lalo cello concerto with you a couple of weeks ago in Guildford. I am very sad that we won't be performing together tomorrow night due to the awful pandemic. I hope you are all keeping well, and staying inside with your loved ones, with plenty of wonderful music, books and things to do. I am staying positive and sure that we will perform together soon, and I am immensely looking forward to it. Until then I send you all my love and kindest wishes! Yoanna http://www.yoannaprodanova.com Edouard Lalo did not attract attention as a composer until he was middle-aged; after studying the violin and composition in Paris (much to the disapproval of his military father), Lalo stayed in the capital, quietly teaching the violin and playing chamber music with a quartet (The Armingaud Quartet) which he co-founded to promote the works of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, at a time when chamber music was unfashionable, despite being joined from to time to time by Clara Schumannn and Saint-Saëns. His efforts to establish himself as a composer during this period in his life came to nought. it wasn’t until the 1870s, when he was in his 50s, that Lalo achieved some success and popularity, with the Symphonie Espagnole and after meeting and writing for the virtuoso Spanish violinist, Pablo de Sarasate. In 1877 he composed this concerto for the Belgian cellist Adolphe Fischer. It was written only 5 years after Saint-Saëns’s first cello concerto and comparisons between the two are sometimes drawn.Both concertos have a middle movement that is part slow and part scherzo, but Lalo’s composition is more energetic throughout, in which both powerful and lyrical music constantly flows from the soloist. The orchestra is given the dramatic and somewhat pompous opening to the work, but soon gives way to the lyrical cello, which introduces the first impassioned theme of the Allegro Maestoso, decorating it with cadenza-like flourishes. The second movement opens as a dreamy, slow interlude. it surrenders to a lively, dancing Allegro presto before returning to the Andantino, then finally resuming the Allegro and fading to a close. The finale is prefaced by a slow introduction, reminiscent of the first movement. Spanish influences then dominate in a rondo, giving a distinctly Latin flavour and bravura conclusion. The work is longer than most concertos and requires great stamina from the soloist, who plays practically non-stop and is required to produce a big sound throughout to soar above the orchestra. Although Lalo is not one of the most recognised of French composers, his style is distinctive; he said himself, ”While I do not know exactly what I am, I do know what I am not, I am not a member of any school and I do not adhere to any system. I agree with the poet, Musset: ‘My glass is small, but I drink from my glass.’ " Famous Events 1877 Queen Victoria proclaimed Empress of India, Great Sioux War involving Crazy Horse and his warriors in their last battle with US Cavalry, Charles Gordon appointed Gouvenor-General of Sudan, Emilie Berliner invents microphone, Tchaikovsky’s ’Swan Lake’ premieres, 1st test match between England and Australia, Oxford-Cambridge boat race declared a ‘dead heat’ (the only time in its history), 1st human cannonball act performed by 14 year old Rossa Matilda Richter at London Royal Aquarium, Satsuma Rebellion, University of Tokyo established, Alexander Graham Bell installs world’s first commercial telephone service in Hamilton, Canada, serial publication of Tolstoy’s ‘Anna Karenina’ concluded, All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club begins 1st lawn tennis tournament at Wimbledon, Deimos and Phobos (the 2 moons of Mars) discovered by American Asaph Hall, Thomas Edison announces invention of phonograph, Bruckner’s 3rd Symphony premieres, disastrously, in Vienna, Brahms’s 2nd Symphony premieres in Vienna. Famous births 1877 Louis Renault, Consuelo Vanderbilt, Isadora Duncan, Charles Coburn, Hermann Hesse. Famous deaths 1877 Cornelius Vanderbilt, Walter Bagehot, Crazy Horse, Henry Fox Talbot, Saigo Takamori, Gustave Courbet. INTERVAL Brahms - Symphony No 4 in E Minor Allegro non troppo Andante moderato Allegro giocoso Allegro energico e passionato Brahms was over 40 and had taken twelve years to compose his first symphony – with the fourth movement being a self-confessed tribute to the finale of Beethoven’s Choral Symphony. However this seemed to release great symphonic creativity and within eight years he completed his fourth and final symphony believing that he had said all that he had to say in this form. In this final symphony I believe that Brahms pays homage to four composers that gave him great inspiration. Mendelssohn’s wonderful violin concerto was his last major orchestral work and its character and key are very evident in the first movement of this 4th Symphony. Mendelssohn was also prominent in performing and promoting Schubert’s magnificent 9th Symphony – even when it was derided and rejected by many orchestras as being too long and too difficult. Brahms revered Schubert’s ability as a creator of timeless melodies and, I suggest, references the 2nd movement of this 9th symphony in the 2nd movement of his own 4th Symphony. Brahms once said of Beethoven “You can't have any idea what it's like always to hear such a giant marching behind you!”. Having already paid homage to Beethoven in his 1st Symphony I believe that Brahms pays tribute to Beethoven in the third movement of his 4th Symphony with a powerful evocation of the jovial character of Beethoven’s 8th Symphony. Beethoven sometimes referred to this work as his favourite symphony (!) and certainly its character is evident in the 3rd movement. It is interesting note that Brahms uses the motif of three triplets followed by a crotchet figure that is so evident in Beethoven’s 5th and 8th symphonies. Brahms then does something totally unexpected with his final movement. I imagine audiences of the time might be expecting something bold and heroic – but instead he presents them with musical equivalent of a majestic gothic cathedral. If the other three composers were inspiration points Bach was his lodestone. For Brahms, Bach was the perfect musical architect and in this final movement Brahms uses a choral like figure as the basis of a Passacaglia with variations. It seems as if this choral melody comes from the 7th movement of Bach’s Cantata no 150. However, I would like to add that I believe that Brahms also pays homage to the beginning of St Matthew’s Passion in both key, character and grandeur of vision. In many ways I believe that this final movement was a very definite full stop to his symphonic ambitions – he had said that there was all he had to say - and that was that! Programme Notes: “I shall never write a symphony!” Johannes Brahms declared in 1872. “You can’t have any idea what it’s like to hear such a giant marching behind you.” The giant was Beethoven and although a huge inspiration for Brahms, Beethoven’s music was equally a terrifying barrier to the young composer, which made him doubt his own abilities. It was four more years before Brahms wrote his first symphony, but once he had overcome the composing demons, he accelerated, the second and third symphonies following in 1877 and 1882/3. The fourth came in 1884/5. Brahms was considered to be a conservative composer during his lifetime and for some years after, writing within accepted forms and harmonic structures of the past. To Wagner, any composer who continued to do this, particularly in the symphonic form, was to be cosigned to musical history, particularly as, in his eyes, Beethoven had perfected the symphony and no-one had anything more to offer. Wagner saw composition as something to be undertaken by fearless pioneers who rejected the musical establishment and embarked on innovative genres. Brahms’s work, however, far from being unoriginal, pays respect to composers of the past, particularly in the 4th Symphony. It fulfils his own aim to bring the symphonic from out of the hole of mediocracy into which he considered it had been falling since Beethoven, bringing both heart and intellectual skill to his music. This, the last of his symphonies, was composed during two summer holidays at Mürzzuschlag in the Styrian Alps, South East of Vienna, a village which still celebrates his stays. Brahms had always considered that he composed best in the summer. He wrote to the conductor Hans von Bülow that the process of the symphony “tastes of the climate here; the cherries are hardly sweet here - you wouldn’t eat them!” Later he described the work as "another set of polkas and waltzes.” Brahms frequently disparaged his own work, but in this case maybe he captured the contradictions in its character: melancholy and joy, solemnity and exhilaration, agitation and serenity. Clara Schumann recognised this when she wrote, “It is as though one lay in Springtime among the blossoming flowers and joy and sorrow filled one’s soul in turn.” Allegro non troppo Maybe paying homage to Mendelssohn’s violin concerto, the first movement begins with the strings sighing languidly in the glorious opening melody and straightaway a feeling of deep yearning or regret pervades. Yet it is broken by a staccato stamping refusal to succumb and by the end of the movement there is a new resolve to overcome, as the music gathers momentum and energy. It is, perhaps, difficult for us, in the 21st century, and being so familiar with Brahms, to appreciate the impact that this opening movement had on audiences; when Brahms first performed it in a four-hand piano arrangement for some friends, there was an uncomfortable silence at the conclusion, before one of the friends, craic Eduard Hanslik, declared, “I feel like I’ve been beaten up by two intelligent people.” This was innovative, highly intellectual music which required - indeed, requires - time and repeated listenings to understand and appreciate fully. Andante moderato The gentle, but plaintive sound of the horns opens the second movement. Their melody is taken up and played with by the wind and changes of key between E minor and E major occur. We are tossed between warmth in the high strings and passion, particularly when the cellos pour out their melody, reminding us maybe, of Schubert’s 9th Symphony. Bursts of staccato try to kill both, but their energy is quashed and calm prevails. Hope is still alive. Allegro giocoso What follows, in the third movement, is an aggressively and boisterously upbeat scherzo granting us some relief from the seriousness of the first two movements. It pays homage to the energy and humour of Beethoven. Brahms’s friend, Max Kalbeck, had suggested, on first hearing, that it was out of keeping and should be removed from the symphony before it was performed for the public. However, at the premiere, the audience were delighted and called for an encore, which although pleasing to Brahms, was declined by him. After the public had left the hall the Duke of Meiningen, along with foreign guests, remained behind to hear the first and third movements again. Allegro energico e passionato The woodwind and brass proclaim the beginning of the finale and Brahms releases a gigantic passacaglia, a neo-Baroque homage to Bach, in which the opening eight-measure progression, inspired by Bach’s Cantata No. 150, is rigorously examined in 32 variations of widely varying character. Eduard Hanslik described it as “an astonishing harmonic and contrapuntal art”. Max Kalbeck suggested that it should be released as a free-standing piece. Emotionally, it is a movement of tremendous power and resignation - concluding an agitated journey with bleakness. Brahms had experienced huge doubts about this composition and was anxious that the public would not respond well to his ’neue traurige Symphonie’ (new tragic Symphony), especially after close friends had expressed misgivings as to its content and structure. He need not have feared; every movement was applauded at the premiere, especially the Scherzo. Brahms was pleased, relieved and uplifted at the success of the work and the audience’s enthusiasm, which only increased in subsequent performances. It is some of the darkest and deepest music in the 19th century, uncompromisingly intellectual and reversing the ‘darkness to light’ progression of many symphonies of the time. Yet it is a work that attracts people still. Maybe we recognise the duality present in all our souls and we respond to its complexity and sense of ultimate end. Brahms had nothing more to say in the Symphonic form. Famous events 1885 Rodin’s sculpture ’The Burghers of Calais’ commissioned; news of the fall of Khartoum reaches London; Belgium annexes the Congo; Mark Twain published ’The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’; the Washington Monument is dedicated; Britain annexes Nigeria; Gilbert and Sullivan’s ‘Mikado’ premieres in London; Boston Pops Orchestra formed; ‘Good Housekeeping magazine first published; first mass production of shoes after Jan Matzeliger patents his lasting machine; Statue of Liberty arrives in new York; Loius Pasteur successfully tests an anti-rabies vaccine; Gottlieb Daimler patents the motorcycle; first photo of a meteor taken by Ladislaus Weinek in Prague; Millwall F.C. founded; ‘Glasgow Boys’ painters exhibit collectively. Famous births 1885 Alice Paul (suffragist), Jerome Kern, Malcolm Campbell, Clementine Churchill, Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen), Hedda Hopper, Otto Klemperer, Emil Bloch, D.H.Laurence, Erich von Stroheim, Niels Bohr, Lawren Harris, Ezra Pound, George S. Patton. Famous deaths 1885 Eduard Davy, Victor Hugo, Ulysses S. Grant, Jumbo (P.T. Barnum’s circus elephant). |
| Message Thread:
|