Download Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) Gabriel Fauré (1845

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
(1840-1893)
Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture
Does Tchaikovsky need an introduction? Along with Beethoven, his is one of the few
names instantly recognizable even to people who have never heard a note of classical
music (at least that’s what Chuck Berry must have been thinking). Tchaikovsky is one of
those rare composers whose appeal is so immediate that it cuts across cultural lines, and
so enduring that generations of snobbish critics have been unable to diminish it. One of
the principal reasons for this is Tchaikovsky’s incredible melodic gift. It is almost
impossible to find a work of his that doesn’t overflow with memorable tunes—especially
the work featured in our Winter Concert.
The roster of composers inspired by Shakespeare is practically a “who’s who” of
classical music: Mendelssohn. Berlioz. Gounod. Verdi. Dvorak. Sibelius. Prokofiev.
Shostakovich. Britten. Walton. Vaughan Williams. To name just a few.
Tchaikovsky was especially fascinated with Shakespeare. Not only did he compose three
overtures inspired by the Bard (Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and The Tempest), he even
tried learning English so he could read the works in the original.
So when fellow composer and mentor Mily Balakirev suggested that he compose a
musical treatment of Romeo and Juliet, it’s hardly surprising that Tchaikovsky agreed.
At the time, Tchaikovsky had not yet made his mark as a composer. Just 28 years old, he
had written piano works, songs, an opera (The Voyevoda) and a first symphony (Winter
Dreams), but had failed to score a great success.
Tchaikovsky composed a number of versions of Romeo. After the first two were
performed to lukewarm response, he created the final version we hear today—the taut,
dramatic, and emotionally-charged work that has captured listeners ever since.
Part of the appeal of the work lies in its expression of the story that inspired it. A
clashing, intense motif depicts the deadly feud between the Montagues and the Capulets,
a soaring, yearning theme portrays the passion of the star-crossed lovers, and a
transcendent close captures the timelessness of their story.
Gabriel Fauré
(1845-1924)
Suite, Pelléas et Mélisande
All the lovers in today’s program are destined for tragic ends. The hero and heroine of
Fauré’s incidental music for the play by Maurice Maeterlinck are, sadly, no exception.
The play, a symbolist drama created to portray Maeterlinck’s belief that all human action
was guided by the conflict between the forces of love and chaos, tells the story of the
lovers Pelléas and Mélisande. In brief, Mélisande is married to Golaud when she falls in
love with Golaud’s brother, Pelléas. When the two are discovered caressing by Golaud,
he kills Pelléas and wounds Mélisande, who later dies after giving birth.
The Suite is in four parts: a Prelude that depicts the forest in which Golaud first
encounters Mélisande; an Andantino shows Mélisande at her spinning wheel while
Pelléas gazes on; the Sicilienne is another portrait of Mélisande; and the concluding
Adagio accompanies her funeral procession.
Fauré’s graceful and restrained lyricism belies the extraordinary life he led. When he was
a young boy, Berlioz, Liszt, and many of the great romantics were still alive; by the end
of his life, Stravinsky had transformed music with The Rite of Spring and World War One
had devastated Europe and an entire generation.
Best known for his chamber works and his peaceful and consoling Requiem, Fauré was
an important figure in the development of French music in the early 20th century. His
influence was felt in the music of such students as Maurice Ravel and Nadia Boulanger.
Leonard Bernstein
(1918-1990)
Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
Was there anything Leonard Bernstein couldn’t do? He wrote everything from
symphonies to Broadway shows and movie scores. He introduced a whole generation to
the classics with his televised “Young People’s Concerts.” And, he almost singlehandedly revived the music of Gustav Mahler.
Born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, Leonard Bernstein grew up in Boston, and attended
Harvard University in nearby Cambridge, where he studied under the composer Walter
Piston.
In 1939, Bernstein came to Philadelphia to continue his musical studies at the Curtis
Institute. In 1943, he was hired as Assistant Conductor of the New York Philharmonic.
His career was launched in November of that year, when, at the age of 25, he made frontpage news by filling in at the very last minute for an ailing Bruno Walter in a national
radio broadcast.
From 1958 to 1969, Bernstein served as Music Director of the New York Philharmonic.
In 1970, he began an association with the Vienna Philharmonic that would last for the
rest of his life. He also enjoyed lasting relationships with the London Symphony and the
Israel Philharmonic. He died in 1990, five days after announcing his retirement and
conducting his final concert with the Boston Symphony at Tanglewood.
Before there was West Side Story, there was East Side Story, a projected musical by
Arthur Laurents and Jerome Robbins based on the Romeo and Juliet tale and set in the
slums of New York. As originally envisioned, the story would have focused on the love
between an Italian Catholic boy and a Jewish girl and the conflict between their two
worlds. Feeling that the theme was already dated by 1949, Laurents and Robbins set the
work aside until 1954. By then, the Italian gang of Jets had become more generically
American and the Jewish Emeralds were reborn as the Puerto Rican Sharks.
But the most important change was that this time, Laurents and Robbins had the young
Leonard Bernstein composing the music, and the even younger (27) Stephen Sondheim
writing the book. Together, they created a show that stretched the bounds of the musical,
and electrified audiences with a grittiness and kinetic energy unlike anything that had
gone before.
It wasn’t an easy task. As Bernstein later recalled in a Rolling Stone interview:
“Everyone told us that it was an impossible project...no one, we were told, was going to
be able to sing augmented fourths, as with “Ma-ri-a”…they said the score was too rangy
for pop music…Besides, who wanted to see a show in which the first-act curtain comes
down on two dead bodies lying on the stage?”
Despite the challenges, the show was a sensation. One critic wrote after opening night:
“The radioactive fallout from West Side Story must still be descending on Broadway this
morning.” And another said of the music: “It takes up the American musical idiom
where it was left when George Gershwin died. It is fascinatingly tricky and melodically
beguiling, and it marks the progression of an admirable composer… .”
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