Concert V Program Notesby Robert Hurwitz
David
Crumb
(b 1962) On occasion, while traveling to regions where ancient civilizations once stood, I have felt haunted by vestigial spirits from distant times. While exploring such places as old city Jerusalem, or strolling among ancient Mayan ruins, this nebulous feeling of being surrounded by the ghosts of antiquity, whether real or imagined, inspired me to compose the tone poem Vestiges of a Distant Time. Conceptually, the piece evolves out of a simple yet evocative three-chord modal progression introduced near the beginning. To me, this pseudo-Renaissance progression feels ancient and nostalgic; the special sound of the Oboe d'amore is used to enhance this character. The three-chord progression continues to serve as the primary thread of the piece, propelling the music forward through strings of sequences that ultimately lead to an effusive dance-like music. Just as this music reaches an exhilarating point of climax, there is an abrupt interruption, marking a return to the melancholy descending line of the opening bars. Originally commissioned by the Cumberland Valley Chamber Players, a chamber orchestra based in rural Pennsylvania at Wilson College, Vestiges of a Distant Time was premiered in April 1996. In fall 2003, I decided to substantially re-orchestrate the work, releasing it in a version for full symphony orchestra. -- Notes on Vestiges of a Distant Time by the composer
Franz
Joseph Haydn
(1732-1809) Haydn's Cello Concerto in C Major was probably written for Joseph Weigl, first cellist of the Esterhazy orchestra between 1761 and 1769. Haydn composed this concerto sometime between 1761 and 1765, during his early years of employment with the Esterhazy family. It thus dates from the time of his earliest symphonies, including the famous works nicknamed "Le Matin, Le Midi and Le Soir". The concerto was listed in a catalog Haydn had made of his works, but it remained unknown for nearly two centuries until it was discovered in 1961 at the National Museum in Prague by Oldrich Pulkert, a Czech musicologist and a librarian at the museum. Only one set of orchestral parts, copied in what is probably Weigl's hand, survived, but there is no doubt concerning the work's authenticity. It has in recent years become Haydn's most popular concerto, and one of the most performed works in the cello repertoire. The concerto is written in the traditional fast-slow-fast style, beginning with a moderato movement in which the main theme is slightly varied each time it appears. The lovely central adagio is scored for the soloist and the strings only. The final allegro molto requires a cellist with abundant virtuosic powers. Filled with melodic invention, the movement provides an energetic conclusion to this delightful work.
Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart (
1756-1791) The Sinfonia Concertante in E Flat for Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon and Horn dates from Mozart's visit to Paris in 1778. It was written in the same period as the Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola and the Concerto for Two Pianos, both also in the key of E flat, as well as the Concerto for Flute and Harp. As is the case with a number of other of Mozart's works, the Sinfonia Concertante for winds has a curious history. It was originally written for four specific soloists, whom Mozart named in a letter to his father, but the instruments he mentioned were flute, oboe, horn and bassoon. What became of the work in this form is unknown. Due probably to the numerous musical intrigues permeating Paris at this time, the composition, written to be presented at the Concerts Spirituels, was never performed. Mozart likely sold the solo parts to Le Gros, the director of the Concerts Spirituels, an assumption supported by the following excerpt from another letter to Mozart's father: "He [Le Gros] thinks that he alone has them [the parts] but he is wrong, for they are still fresh in my mind, and, as soon as I get home, I shall write them down again." Did Mozart actually write down the Sinfonia Concertante once he reached home? This is doubtful, for nothing was heard of the work for the following hundred years. Finally, the score of a piece for oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon was discovered by the Mozart biographer Otto Jahn in 1886. Was this version a revision of the Paris original, penned by Mozart at some later date, or was it an arrangement (or even a wholly new composition) by someone else? The copy Jahn obtained was not authenticated, but following its publication in 1886 many Mozart scholars accepted it as genuine. The true facts may never be known. Although the work is in many ways highly characteristic of Mozart's Parisian style, questions were continually asked. By the 1960s, many experts had downgraded the Concertante to the status of an "attributed work." In the 1980s, the musicologist, fortepianist and Mozart scholar Robert Levin, having become convinced that the solo parts were indeed genuine Mozart, undertook a scholarly restoration, assuming that someone other than Mozart had transcribed the solo parts for the new instrumentation and had created the missing orchestral score. It is Mr. Levin's version of the Concertante that OMP will be performing today. After bringing out his edition of the flute-oboe-horn-bassoon version, Levin wrote a 500-page book on the still uncertain background of this work: Who Wrote the Mozart Four-Wind Concertante? (Pendragon Press, 1988).
The music of the Concertante is forthright and tuneful from first
bar to last, and a marvelously effective vehicle for the four soloists.
The first movement, following a somewhat pompous opening, is alive with
fine melodies. The second is a spacious Adagio, while the finale consists
of a highly appealing set of virtuoso variations on the effervescent theme
that enters at the outset.
Concert VI Program Notes
Sergei Prokofiev
(1891-1953) Prokofiev's conducting teacher at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, Nicholas Tcherepnine, was in an indirect way responsible for the creation of the "Classical" Symphony. During Prokofiev's time at the conservatory, Tcherepnine had brought to his attention many of the subtleties of the Classical style, which caused him to acquire a special taste for it. Then in 1916, two years after his graduation, when the young composer began work on his first symphony, he found himself fascinated by the challenge of writing a work in the style of Haydn. "It seemed to me that had Haydn lived to our day he would have retained his own style while accepting something of the new at the same time. That was the kind of symphony I wanted to write; a symphony in classical style. And when I saw that my idea was beginning to work, I called it the Classical Symphony---in the first place because that was simpler, and secondly, for the fun of it." Simplicity and fun appropriately describe the symphony. Each of its movements is written in a transparent and accessible style that boasts all of the clarity of a Haydn symphony. In the work, too, is the subtle humor typical of Haydn's works in this genre. The first movement is a high-spirited allegro in a clear Sonata form. The slow movement is like a song, which alternates lyrical and playful sections. The Gavotte is full of the humor Haydn infused into his symphonic third movements, while the finale is an even more spirited and sprightly molto vivace, which rushes all the way to its conclusion in a flamboyant flourish.
W.A. Mozart (1756-1791)
The first composition of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart which today still ranks as a masterpiece was the brilliant motet for soprano Exsultate, jubilate (K. 165). Composed when Mozart was just sixteen, the work received its first performance on January 17, 1773, in the Church of San Antonio, Milan, shortly before Mozart turned 17 years of age. Wolfgang and his father, Leopold, had traveled to Milan in October 1772 for the premiere of his opera Lucio Silla, in which the famous castrato Venanzio Rauzzini was assigned a leading role. Exactly why Mozart composed Exsultate, jubilate for Rauzzini and not for a female soprano, remains unclear, but surely Rauzzini's extraordinary ability, as evidenced by the dazzling virtuosity of the piece and its demanding, coloratura style seem a convincing reason. In this work Mozart combines the aria and recitative style of opera with the tripartate form of the Italian symphony, the movements of which have tempos that are fast, slow, and fast respectively to produce what is truly a three movement vocal concerto. The work opens with an Allegro in F major, followed by a slower, more lyrical Andante in A major that is preceded by a recitative. The concluding movement, Molto Allegro in F major, is the brilliant and famous Alleluia, a favorite of Mozart devotees worldwide.
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
The words of the Latin hymn "Salve Regina" are probably by Hermannus Contractus, a monk whose own musical setting of the text still survives. It was originally performed antiphonally and it became known as the Antiphon of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Although the original plainsong still exists, composers from Palestrina onwards have used the words for elaborate musical settings. Schubert wrote seven settings of the text at different times of his life. On July 5, 1815 Schubert composed his third setting of the text, in F major, for soprano solo, strings (no violas) and organ. Schubert's brother, Ferdinand, wanted him to add parts for wind instruments (clarinets, bassoons and horns) to give an orchestral flavor to the accompaniment. For this purpose he made a copy of Schubert's score, and finally, on January 28, 1823, Schubert added the wind parts to it. Diabelli used this version as the source for publication. Its title, "Second Offertory, Op. 47," was due to the fact that Diabelli was about to publish a companion piece by Schubert, the "Totus in corde," as "First Offertory." The fact that the "Totus in corde" was called "first," given opus number 46, and was composed and published after the "second" has created confusion between these two works in lists of compositions by Schubert. On September 8, 1825, the music was premiered in the Maria-Trost Kirche in Vienna.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
The chronology of Beethoven's works is generally indicated by the order in which they were published. Occasionally, however, the dates of composition and publication do not match. This is the case with the earliest of Beethoven's five mature piano concertos, the one that carries the heading "No. 2." (In fact, there were two earlier piano concertos, written when the composer was twelve and fourteen years of age respectively, one of which has survived only in the form of a complete first movement.) The B Flat concerto was completed early in 1795 and had its first performance in Vienna in March of that year, with the composer at the piano. Beethoven played it again in Prague three years later in a completely revised version, and it is this version that is commonly heard today. The composer was himself not entirely satisfied with this work, which he regarded as a product of his youth. Nevertheless, he allowed it to be published, and although he accepted only ten ducats for it, he admitted to the publisher that "it will not disgrace you to print it." In fact, although couched firmly in the Haydn/Mozart idiom that was soon to be surpassed, the work gives ample evidence of the genius of its creator, and often betrays some unique qualities of style would soon become hallmarks of Beethoven's compositional procedure. The initial movement, marked allegro con brio, betrays several of these characteristics ... the rapid juxtaposition of dramatic and lyrical musical material, the sudden shift in tonality by modulation up a half step, and the surprising modulation to a distant tonality (as in the second subject, which suddenly, but gently, moves from F major to D Flat major). The adagio, although simple in formal design, is conceived with great emotional power. The finale is a bright, straightforward and cheery rondo, the refrain of which employs that characteristic short-long rhythmic figure known variously as Lombard rhythm, Hungarian rhythm or Scotch Snap.
W.A. Mozart (1756-1791)
The sacred music from Mozart's years in Salzburg divides roughly into three periods. The earliest works include four masses written before his first visit to Italy. His sojourns in Italy with his father served as a second apprenticeship, and he was especially influenced by the tuition of Padre Martini, Europe's leading pedagogue in music history, theory and sacred music, with whom he studied counterpoint. Following his return to Salzburg, Mozart wrote nine Masses, the first of which was K. 167, the "Trinity" Mass. All of these Masses were constrained by an order from Archbishop Colloredo, Mozart's employer, to restrict musical settings of the full Mass to a maximum of forty-five minutes. For this reason, Mozart was forced to limit the amount of counterpoint he employed and to reduce the overall duration by at times composing two texts to be sung simultaneously by two or more voices. In many of these Masses the longer texts of the Gloria and Credo could not be subdivided into too many separate movements. Mozart completed the Missa in honorem Sanctissime Trinitatis in June of 1773. The Mass has a number of distinctive features. Its title and festive key (C Major) suggest that it was intended for the Feast of the Trinity. The scoring, including four festive trumpets, at the same time excludes violas, apparently a Salzburg tradition that Mozart was to repeat in all his complete masses to come. K.167 is Mozart's only mass not requiring vocal soloists. Despite the restrictions on size noted above, Mozart was able, by creating a short Kyrie and Gloria, to compose an extended Credo, with five movements and seven changes of tempo, ending with a joyous fugue. The setting of the et incarnatus est is especially beautiful. Scored for unaccompanied chorus at the moment of incarnation (ex Maria Virgine) it also provides extreme chromaticism at the word Crucifixus. Throughout the work there is a good deal of dynamic contrast and variety, including a rare crescendo in the Agnus Dei. Sponsors
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for the Holidays December 10, 11 and 12 |
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