Download Concerts of Thursday, November 17 and Saturday, November 19

Concerts of Thursday, November 17 and Saturday, November 19, 2011, at 8:00p
Ilan Volkov, Conductor
Christina Smith, Flute
Carl Ruggles (1876-1971)
Angels, for Muted Brass (1920-21)
Ruth Crawford Seeger (1901-1953)
Andante for Strings from String Quartet 1931(ca. 1938)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Concerto No. 1 in G Major for Flute and Orchestra, K. 313 (1778)
I. Allegro maestoso
II. Adagio ma non troppo
III. Rondo. Tempo di Menuetto
Christina Smith, Flute
Intermission
Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)
Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Opus 43 (1902)
I. Allegretto
II. Tempo Andante, ma rubato
III. Vivacissimo
IV. Finale. Allegro moderato
Notes on the Program by Ken Meltzer
Angels, for Muted Brass (1920-21)
Carl Ruggles was born in East Marion, Massachusetts, on March 11, 1876, and died
in Bennington, Vermont, on October 24, 1971. Angels is scored for four trumpets
and two trombones (all muted). Approximate performance time is three minutes.
These are the first ASO Classical Subscription Performances.
American composer Carl Ruggles, along with his dear friend Charles Ives, as well as
Wallingford Riegger, Henry Cowell and John J. Becker, are often referred to collectively
as “The American Five.” Ruggles and his colleagues attempted to incorporate the
rhythmic and harmonic avant-garde experimentalism of early 20th-century Europe into an
American form of musical expression.
As a youth, Ruggles studied the violin and may have had the opportunity to play for the
legendary Fritz Kreisler. After studies in composition at Harvard University, Ruggles
pursued an active career as composer, conductor, music critic and teacher. Carl Ruggles
was also an extremely talented visual artist whose paintings were displayed in many
important exhibits.
Ruggles first conceived of Angels as the center of a three-movement symphonic suite,
entitled Men and Angels. Ruggles scored Angels for six muted trumpets. Later, he
created the version for four trumpets and two trombones (again all muted) performed at
these concerts. Ruggles dedicated Angels to the musicologist and composer, Charles L.
Seeger, husband of composer Ruth Crawford Seeger (see, Andante for Strings, below).
Angels opens with a hymn-like passage (marked “Serene”). The music builds to a
powerful, ff climax, leading to a return of the opening hymn and the work’s hushed
resolution.
Andante for Strings (ca. 1938)
Ruth Crawford Seeger was born in East Liverpool, Ohio, on July 3, 1901, and died
in Chevy Chase, Maryland, on November 18, 1953. The Andante for Strings is
scored for first and second violins, violas and cellos. Approximate performance
time is four minutes.
These are the first ASO Classical Subscription Performances.
Ruth Crawford Seeger, born Ruth Crawford in East Liverpool, Ohio, on July 3, 1901,
studied music in Jacksonville, Florida, Chicago and finally, New York. There, Ruth
Crawford studied with the American composer and musicologist, Charles Seeger. After
receiving a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1930, Crawford spent 1930-31 studying in Berlin
and Paris. Crawford returned to New York in 1931, and married Seeger the following
year.
In the 1920s and 1930s, Ruth Crawford Seeger earned considerable recognition and
acclaim for her modernist compositions. In the 1940s and early 1950s, Seeger devoted
her career to collecting, arranging and publishing American folk music (one of her stepsons was the folk singer Pete Seeger). In 1952, Ruth Crawford Seeger completed her
Suite for Wind Quintet, which seemed to herald a return to original compositions (Seeger
herself referred to the Quintet as getting back to “my own music”). The following year,
however, Ruth Crawford Seeger died of cancer, at the age of 52.
Ruth Crawford Seeger’s String Quartet 1931 premiered in New York on November 13,
1933. American composer and critic Virgil Thomson described it as “in very way a
distinguished, a noble piece of work.” Seeger later arranged the Quartet’s thirdmovement Andante for string orchestra. She was hopeful that the Andante for Strings,
featured at these concerts, would allow the slow-movement’s melodic line to achieve
greater prominence than in the original Quartet version. As with Ruggles’s Angels, the
Andante for Strings features an arch-like structure, journeying from hushed opening
measures to the anguished outburst that resolves to an introspective close.
Concerto No. 1 in G Major for Flute and Orchestra, K. 313 (1778)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria, on January 27, 1756,
and died in Vienna, Austria, on December 5, 1791. In addition to the solo flute, the
Concerto is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two horns and strings. Approximate
performance time of the first movement is twenty-five minutes.
First ASO Classical Subscription Performances: November 20, 21 and 22, 1980,
Paula Robison, Flute, Louis Lane, Conductor.
Most Recent ASO Classical Subscription Performances: February 26, 27 and 28,
1998, Christina Smith, Flute, Carl Saint Clair, Conductor.
In September of 1777, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart left his home in Salzburg to begin an
18-month journey throughout Europe. Mozart, who felt his talents were not appreciated
in his native city, hoped to find steady employment elsewhere. Mozart’s journey took
him to Munich, Augsburg, Mannheim, and finally, to Paris.
While in Mannheim, Mozart made the acquaintance of a Dutch visitor to the German
city, a surgeon and amateur flutist by the name of Ferdinand De Jean. De Jean
commissioned Mozart to compose “three short easy concertos and a pair of flute
quartets.”
Mozart did not have great affection for the flute, at least as a solo instrument. In his
memoirs, Viennese physician Joseph Frank recalled: “Once when we were speaking
about instruments Mozart said that he loathed the flute and the harp.” That opinion is
reflected in a letter of February 14, 1778 Mozart wrote to his father, Leopold. In the
letter, Mozart commented on his slow progress in completing De Jean’s commission:
It is not surprising that I have not been able to finish them, for I never
have a single quiet hour here. I can only compose at night…besides, one
is not always in the mood for working. I could, to be sure, scribble off
things the whole day long, but a composition of this kind goes out into
world…Moreover, you know that I become quite powerless whenever
I am obliged to write for an instrument which I cannot bear (emphasis
added). Hence as a diversion I compose something else, such as duets for
clavier and violin, or I work on my mass.
In light of Mozart’s opinions expressed, above, this quote from a letter he wrote to
Leopold in December of the same year bears repeating: “Ah, if only we had clarinets too!
You cannot imagine the glorious effect of a symphony with flutes, oboes and clarinets.”
Mozart ultimately fulfilled De Jean’s commission, which included the composer’s two
Flute Concertos— in G Major, K. 313, and in D Major, K. 314 (the latter, an adaptation
of the composer’s Oboe Concerto in C Major). Despite Mozart’s protestations, the Flute
Concertos are beautiful, eloquent works that glow when played by a musician of the
highest order.
Musical Analysis
I. Allegro maestoso—The Concerto opens with the orchestra’s forte declaration of the
movement’s initial theme. A series of subsidiary themes follows, capped by a
descending cadence. The soloist enters with an elaborate restatement of the thematic
material. A series of sixteenth notes by the soloist launches the extended development
section, whose frequent journeys into the minor key lend a more somber tone to the
opening movement. A scurrying passage by the soloist heralds the recapitulation of the
principal themes. A final statement of the initial theme by the orchestra yields to the
flutist’s solo cadenza and the emphatic concluding bars.
II. Adagio ma non troppo—The ensemble (strings are muted throughout) plays a brief,
ascending passage, serving as a prelude to the introduction of the Adagio’s elegant first
principal theme. The soloist repeats the melody, and later, in dialogue with the orchestra,
introduces a lovely subsidiary theme. A brief and melancholy interlude resolves to a
reprise of the Adagio’s opening measures, and the soloist’s launch of the recapitulation of
the principal themes. A solo cadenza precedes the hushed final bars.
III. Rondo. Tempo di Menuetto—The solo flute introduces a sprightly Minuet, the
principal theme of the Concerto’s Rondo finale. The Minuet theme alternates with three
intervening episodes, the second opening in E minor. The soloist’s final, varied reprise
of the Minuet theme leads to the Concerto’s elegant close.
Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Opus 43 (1902)
Jean Sibelius was born in Tavastehus, Finland, on December 8, 1865, and died in
Järvenpää, Finland, on September 20, 1957. The first performance of the Second
Symphony took place in Helsinki, Finland, on March 8, 1902, with the composer
conducting. The Second Symphony is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two
clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani
and strings. Approximate performance time is forty-four minutes.
First ASO Classical Subscription Performance: February 3, 1951, Henry Sopkin,
Conductor.
Most Recent ASO Classical Subscription Performances: September 26, 27 and 28,
2002, Robert Spano, Conductor.
Sibelius in Italy
In the fall of 1900, Jean Sibelius and his family departed their native Finland for
Italy, stopping first in Berlin. In February 1901, they finally reached their
destination—the village of Rapallo, located just south of Venice. It was there that
Sibelius began his Symphony No. 2.
While at work on the 11th of February, Sibelius had a vision that he recorded in
his diary:
Don Juan.
Sit in the twilight of my castle, a guest enters. I ask who he is—no
answer. I make an effort to entertain him. Still no answer.
Eventually, he breaks into song and then Don Juan notices who he
is—Death.
In the same diary entry, Sibelius sketched a few bars of music that would ultimately
become the principal theme of his Second Symphony’s Andante. At that time Sibelius
apparently contemplated a four-movement tone poem based upon the Don Juan tale.
Later, he wrote the Andante’s second main theme and entitled it “Christus.” During this
period, Sibelius also considered a musical setting of a portion of Dante’s Divine Comedy,
but finally, he focused his efforts upon the creation of the Second Symphony.
Sibelius delighted in the arrival of spring in Italy. He wrote, “It was the season for
violets. The woods are filled with their scent. I take long walks from town along the
hills on the shore covered with pines, olive trees and cypresses. The blue sunny
Mediterranean is bordered by the most luxuriant flora.” The appealing surroundings
further stirred Sibelius’s creative impulses. “Now I am living completely in the world of
the imagination—nothing disturbs me,” Sibelius informed Baron Axel Carpelan. “I
would gladly introduce you, as my understanding friend, to my work but refrain from
doing so on principle. In my view compositions are like butterflies, touch them once and
their magic is gone.”
In May, Sibelius and his family returned to Finland. There, Sibelius continued to work
on the Symphony No. 2. “I have been in the throes of a bitter struggle with this
symphony,” Sibelius admitted to Carpelan. “Now the picture is clearer and I am
proceeding under full sail. Soon I hope to have something to dedicate to you. That is if
you are pleased with the work.” In November of 1901, Sibelius informed Carpelan that
he had almost completed the Symphony. However, Sibelius continued to revise it,
necessitating the postponement until March of the planned January 1902 premiere.
“Lighter and confident prospects for the future”
Sibelius composed his Second Symphony during a tumultuous period in Finland’s
history. For virtually the entire 19th century, Finland enjoyed relative autonomy as a
Grand Duchy under the Russian Czar, maintaining its own government, army, currency
and postal service. But in1899, Russia began to tighten its grip upon the Finnish
government and people. A February 1899 imperial decree ordered that the Russian State
Council would henceforth be responsible for all laws affecting Finland. Russia
incorporated the formerly autonomous Finnish postal system. Censorship increased and
in 1901, Russia began to institute plans to make Finnish citizens liable for conscription
into the Russian military. Sibelius was among the many Finnish citizens who signed a
protest against this edict.
Sibelius conducted the premiere of his Second Symphony in Helsinki on March 8, 1902.
It was a rousing success, and Sibelius repeated the program on March 10, 14, and 16,
each time to a capacity audience. It’s not surprising that Finnish patriotic emotions were
at a fever pitch. Sibelius had previously composed overtly nationalistic pieces, such as
Finlandia (1899), and the Finnish people were anxious to find a similar message in the
new Symphony. In an article that appeared the day after the premiere, Finnish conductor
Robert Kajanus ascribed the following program to the last three movements of the
Second Symphony:
The Andante strikes one as the most broken-hearted protest against all the
injustice that threatens at the present time to deprive the sun of its light
and our flowers of their scent...The scherzo gives a picture of frenetic
preparation. Everyone piles his straw on the haystack, all fibres are
strained and every second seems to last an hour. One senses in the
contrasting trio section with its oboe motive in G flat major what is at
stake. The finale develops toward a triumphant conclusion intended to
rouse in the listener a picture of lighter and confident prospects for the
future.
Years later, conductor Georg Schnéevoigt, a close friend of Sibelius, wrote that the
opening movement depicts the untroubled pastoral life of the Finnish people before the
onslaught of foreign oppression.
Throughout his life, Sibelius was consistent in his emphatic denial that the Second
Symphony was based upon any such programs. Still, it is not at all surprising that the
Finnish people continued to find a personal message of hope in a fiercely dramatic (and
ultimately triumphant) work by their greatest composer. More than a century after its
premiere, the Sibelius Symphony No. 2 remains a source of inspiration and pride for the
Finnish people, as well as a mainstay of the international symphonic repertoire.
Musical Analysis
I. Allegretto—The Second Symphony opens with a repeated ascending figure in the
strings. It is based upon a three-pitch motif that will form the nucleus for several themes
throughout the Symphony, including the cheerful descending melody, soon introduced by
the oboes and clarinets. In the exposition, Sibelius presents a number of brief themes that
are more fully explored in the ensuing development section. Again, the three-note kernel
is prominent throughout in various forms, both as theme and accompaniment. A
recapitulation of the principal themes leads to the movement’s peaceful close, featuring a
reprise of the opening string figure.
II. Tempo Andante, ma rubato—After an ominous roll of the timpani, there is the
repeated tread of pizzicato notes played by the basses and cellos. The bassoons, playing
in octaves, intone the melody Sibelius first associated with the encounter between Don
Juan and Death (and again, related to the three-note motif presented at the start of the
Symphony). The music grows ever more agitated, leading to a majestic and fearful brass
proclamation. Suddenly, the strings play the beatific “Christus” theme. But soon, even
that melody assumes a more threatening character. A bleak mood pervades the remainder
of the movement as the themes return in varied form. After a final moment of agitation,
the strings conclude the stark Andante with two pizzicato chords.
III. Vivacissimo—The breathless Scherzo features a relentless string accompaniment to
occasional interjections by winds and brass. The flurry of activity quickly halts and after
five timpani strokes, a solo oboe initiates the pastoral Trio (Lento e suave). Following
restatements of the Scherzo and Trio, the tension mounts in a transitional passage that
foreshadows the Symphony’s final movement. The concluding Allegro moderato follows
without pause.
IV. Finale. Allegro moderato—The strings play a heroic transformation of the
Symphony’s opening, three-note motif, punctuated by trumpet fanfares. A solo oboe
introduces the Finale’s second theme, repeated with ever-increasing power by various
instruments. The mysterious development features contrapuntal juxtapositions of the
principal themes. The recapitulation begins with a triumphant restatement of the Finale’s
initial theme. The return of the second theme leads to a stunning climax in which the
Symphony’s opening motif undergoes its final and most eloquent transfiguration.