W.A. MOZART (1756 – 1791)
Overture to The Impresario, K. 486 While an undergraduate at the University of Michigan, I was fortunate to be in the conducting class of Elizabeth A. H. Green, who had literally written the book on the subject. “Ma” Green (as she was called by students only when she wasn’t around) taught conducting as a rigorous and disciplined system in service of a non-rigorous, wholly expressive outcome. She used Mozart’s Overture to The Impresario as a teaching piece because it has a wide range of dynamics and articulations that required us to go beyond mere time-beating. The work itself belongs to a 30-minute comedy with spoken dialog that Mozart wrote as his entry for a private competition on the invitation of Emperor Joseph II. In what sounds like it should have been a scene from the film Amadeus, the other entry was written by Antonio Salieri. Mozart’s Overture brims with energy and lyricism, with no fewer than six distinctive themes practically climbing on top of each other to be heard in the first minute-and-a-half. PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY (1840 – 1893) Variations on a Rococo Theme, Op. 33 I was surprised to learn that Tchaikovsky loved the music of Mozart, whose elegant classical style would seem to be antithetical to the composer of the 1812 Overture, Romeo and Juliet, and the “Pathetique” Symphony. Yet amidst all Tchaikovsky’s bombast and pathos there is plenty of music that reflects his admiration for the earlier composer, perhaps no more clearly than in the Variations on a Rococo Theme. The Theme is actually by Tchaikovsky; I’ll leave it to the musicologists to decide whether it is even in a Rococo style, but it does have a clear two-part with repetitions form that is typical of mid 18th-century themes used for variations. The work was written for German cellist Wilhelm Fitzenhagen, a colleague at the Moscow Conservatory, who had more than the usual influence on the progress of the work (in the manuscript, the solo part appears in Fitzenhagen’s handwriting). Tchaikovsky’s publisher complained that Fitzenhagen was trying to “cello it up.” The Variations are predominantly light-hearted and are accompanied by a Mozart-sized orchestra, the Russian composer successfully channeling the spirit of his idol. JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833 – 1897) Symphony No. 3 in F Major, Op. 90 The Wilmington Symphony is in the midst of an ongoing Brahms Symphony cycle, with one performed every other year. This season we’ve reached his third, the shortest of the four and one that is unusual in the genre because it ends quietly. It does follow the four-movement plan that would have been familiar to Brahms’ Viennese predecessors Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. The first movement has a dramatic sweep similar to that of Robert Schumann’s Third Symphony, with which it also shares a rhythmic and metrical pattern. The second movement has a hymn-like theme played by a four-part choir (two clarinets and two bassoons) which alternates with more expansive music enjoyed by the larger orchestra. In place of the typical Minuet and Trio, Brahms offers what is for me one of his most beautiful creations- a passionate triple-time movement with a yearning, melancholy melody first played by the cello section. The last movement begins with a rapid but shadowy theme that flits through the string section before gathering into more substantial material. As the momentum gathers for an ending, Brahms instead lets the energy subside into unexpected tranquility, and the symphony ends with a serene echo of the very beginning.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Steven Errante, conductor
Program NotesUnless indicated, all program notes are researched and written by Dr. Steven Errante. Archives
April 2022
Quick Search
All
|