Download Concerts of Thursday, January 31, and Saturday, February 2, 2013

Concerts of Thursday, January 31, and Saturday, February 2, 2013, at 8:00p
Gilbert Varga, Conductor
Vilde Frang, Violin
Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)
Two Elegiac Melodies, Opus 34 (1880)
I. The Wounded Heart (Allegretto espressivo)
II. The Last Spring (Andante)
Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897-1957)
Violin Concerto in D Major, Opus 35 (1945)
I. Moderato nobile
II. Romance: Andante
III. Finale: Allegro assai vivace
Vilde Frang, Violin
Intermission
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Symphony No. 3 in E-Flat Major, Opus 97 (“Rhenish”) (1850)
I. Lebhaft (Lively)
II. Scherzo: Sehr mässig (Very moderately)
III. Nicht schnell (Not fast)
IV. Feirlich (Solemnly)
V. Lebhaft (Lively)
Notes on the Program by Ken Meltzer
Two Elegiac Melodies, Opus 34 (1880)
Edvard Grieg was born in Bergen, Norway, on June 15, 1843, and died there on
September 4, 1907. The Two Elegiac Melodies are scored for string orchestra (first
and second violins, violas, cellos and double-basses). Approximate performance
time is nine minutes.
These are the first ASO Classical Subscription Performances.
Edvard Grieg’s Two Elegiac Melodies, Opus 34 (1880), are settings for string orchestra
of a pair of songs for voice and piano composed that same year. The songs, taken from a
set of 12, Opus 33, are based upon poems by the Norwegian writer, Aasmund Olavsson
Vinje (1818-1870).
Both of the songs, Våren (Spring) and Den Sårede (The Wounded), employ nature as a
metaphor for the transitory and fleeting nature of human life. For his string orchestra
settings, Grieg slightly modified the songs’ titles to emphasize their central arguments.
Grieg’s rich and varied use of the strings creates music of remarkable beauty and
poignancy.
I. The Wounded Heart (Allegretto espressivo)
II. The Last Spring (Andante)
Violin Concerto in D Major, Opus 35 (1945)
Erich Wolfgang Korngold was born in Brno (now the Czech Republic), on May 29,
1897, and died in Hollywood, California, on November 29, 1957. The first
performance of the Violin Concerto took place in St. Louis, Missouri, on February
15, 1947, with Jascha Heifetz as soloist, and Vladimir Golschmann conducting the
St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. In addition to the solo violin, the Concerto is scored
for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two
bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, two trumpets, trombone, timpani, orchestra
bells, vibraphone, cymbals, suspended cymbal, chime in F, gong, bass drum, harp,
celeste and strings. Approximate performance time is twenty-five minutes.
First ASO Classical Subscription Performances: February 16, 17 and 18, 1999, Gil
Shaham, Violin, Yoel Levi, Conductor.
Most Recent ASO Classical Subscription Performances: October 22, 23 and 24,
2009, James Ehnes, Violin, Donald Runnicles, Conductor
“A genius…a genius!”
In June of 1906, the eminent Viennese music critic, Julius Korngold, paid a visit to the
home of Gustav Mahler. Korngold introduced his nine-year-old son, Erich Wolfgang.
The young Korngold played his cantata, Gold, from memory while Mahler followed the
score. Gustav Mahler was unable to contain his enthusiasm. He walked about the room,
all the while repeating the words, “A genius...a genius!” At Mahler’s recommendation,
young Erich studied with composer Alexander von Zemlinsky from 1909-1911.
Mahler was far from alone in his glowing assessment of Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s
prodigious musical talent. The eminent conductor, Felix Weingartner, remarked: “It
seems that nature amassed all its gifts in music and laid them in the cradle of this
extraordinary child.” Richard Strauss, upon hearing Korngold’s Schauspiel Ouvertüre
(1911) and Sinfonietta (1913), stated: “One’s first reaction that these compositions are by
an adolescent boy are those of awe and fear: this firmness of style, this sovereignty of
form, this individual expression, this harmonic structure—it is really amazing.” In fact,
Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s early works were so accomplished, that some accused Julius
of composing them in his son’s name. Julius Korngold's good-natured response was: “If
I had such creative talents as a composer, I would not have devoted my life to being a
mere critic.”
As a young man, Korngold enjoyed extraordinary success with several chamber,
orchestra and operatic works. The greatest triumph of Korngold's early years, however,
occurred with the December 4, 1920 simultaneous premieres in Hamburg and Cologne of
his opera Die tote Stadt (The Dead City). That work proved to be an international
sensation, with subsequent performances by no fewer than eighty-three opera houses.
Korngold later taught opera and composition at the Vienna Staatsakademie. The
president of Austria named Korngold professor honoris causa.
In 1934, Korngold traveled to Hollywood to arrange a film score based upon
Mendelssohn's Incidental Music to William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Korngold's fifth opera, Die Kathrin, was scheduled for its Vienna premiere in the spring
of 1938. However, the Nazi Anschluss forced its cancellation. Korngold then relocated
to the United States, returning to Hollywood. There, Korngold applied his prodigious
talents to the cinema, composing numerous film scores, two of which—Anthony Adverse
(1936) and Robin Hood (1938)—received Academy Awards.
“Music conceived in the heart”
With the conclusion of World War II, Korngold was able to return his attentions to music
for the concert hall. In 1945, Korngold completed his Violin Concerto, a work he had
begun in the late 1930s. Korngold dedicated the score to Gustav Mahler’s widow, Alma
Mahler-Werfel. The composer originally intended the work for the Polish virtuoso
Bronislaw Huberman. However, it was the legendary Jascha Heifetz who premiered the
Concerto with Vladimir Golschmann and the St. Louis Symphony on February 15, 1947.
To some extent, the Violin Concerto represents a synthesis of Korngold’s dual careers as
a composer of film and concert music. Several of the Concerto’s principal melodies
originally appeared in Korngold film scores. Korngold offered these thoughts on his
Concerto:
I want a confirmation, an answer to a question of decisive importance to
me: is there still a place and a chance for music with expression and
feeling, with long melodic themes, formed and developed on the principals
of the classic masters—music conceived in the heart, and not constructed
on paper?
Both virtuosos and audiences have answered Korngold’s question in the affirmative. The
Violin Concerto, showcasing the melodic genius and late-Romantic style that made
Korngold the sensation of both Vienna and Hollywood, has maintained a constant
presence in the concert hall and recordings.
Musical Analysis
I. Moderato nobile—The soloist immediately plays the wide-ranging principal melody,
derived from the score to Another Dawn (1937). After a virtuoso episode, the soloist
introduces the extended subsidiary theme, which originally appeared in the 1939 film
Juarez. While the soloist dominates the development section, it is the orchestra that
inaugurates the recapitulation of the principal themes. The soloist soon returns to center
stage, however, particularly in the thrilling coda that serves to conclude the opening
movement.
II. Romance: Andante—The Romance opens with a brief, evocative orchestral
introduction featuring a magical combination of vibraphone, harp and celeste. The
soloist enters with the principal theme of the Romance, derived from the score to Anthony
Adverse (1936). A central misterioso episode follows, leading to a reprise of the main
theme and the melancholy closing bars.
III. Finale: Allegro assai vivace—After an orchestral outburst, the soloist plays the
sprightly main theme, introduced in the film The Prince and the Pauper (1937). The
theme undergoes several captivating transformations during the spirited finale, leading to
the Concerto’s thrilling final bars.
Symphony No. 3 in E-Flat Major, Opus 97 (“Rhenish”) (1850)
Robert Schumann was born in Zwickau, Germany, on June 8, 1810, and died in
Endenich, Germany, on July 29, 1856. The first performance of the “Rhenish”
Symphony took place in Geisler Hall in Düsseldorf, Germany, on February 6, 1851,
with the composer conducting. The “Rhenish” Symphony is scored for two flutes,
two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones,
timpani and strings. Approximate performance time is thirty-four minutes.
First ASO Classical Subscription Performance: January 18, 1951, Henry Sopkin,
Conductor
Most Recent ASO Classical Subscription Performances: October 21, 22 and 23,
1999, Michael Stern, Conductor
On September 2, 1850, Robert Schumann, and his wife, pianist and composer Clara
Schumann, traveled with their children to the city of Düsseldorf, where the composer
assumed the post of Music Director. Later that month, Robert and Clara enjoyed a scenic
boat trip down the great Rhine River. The couple visited the massive Cologne Cathedral,
where they witnessed Archbishop von Geissel’s installation as Cardinal. These incidents,
as well as earlier visits by Schumann to the Rhineland, provided the inspiration for his
“Rhenish” Symphony.
The “Rhenish” Symphony was written in the midst of one of Schumann’s legendary
periods of intense creativity. Between the remarkably brief span of October 10 and 24,
1850, Schumann composed his beautiful Cello Concerto. The “Rhenish” (listed as the
Third Symphony, but actually the last of the Four in order of composition) occupied
Schumann between November 2 and December 9 of the same year. Schumann conducted
the highly successful premiere, which took place in Düsseldorf’s Geisler Hall on
February 6, 1851, the sixth Allgemeine Musikverein concert.
Schumann had offered previous musical tributes to his beloved Rhineland and the
Cologne Cathedral—perhaps most notably in his adaptation of Heinrich Heine’s brief
poem, “Im Rhein, im heiligen Strome,” part of the composer’s 1840 song-cycle
Dichterliebe (Poet’s Love). Schumann’s majestic setting of the opening lines
foreshadows the grandeur of the “Rhenish” Symphony, particularly the work’s fourth
movement:
In the Rhine, in the sacred river,
the waves reflect
the great Cathedral
of the great, sacred Cologne.
Schumann wrote to his publisher, Simrock, that the “Rhenish” Symphony “perhaps
mirrors here and there something of Rhenish life.” However, Schumann ultimately chose
to delete any specific Rhenish allusions in the score, such as the composer’s original
“Morning on the Rhine” title for the second movement. Schumann explained: “One
should not show his heart to the people, for the general impression of a work of art is
more effective. Then the listener will at least not set up any absurd connections in his
mind.”
Of course, our knowledge of the history of this great symphony does afford us a glance
into the composer’s “heart.” But that insight in no way distracts from the splendor of the
“Rhenish,” perhaps Schumann’s finest Symphony. It is a work of abundant energy,
beauty and melodic inspiration. As with any extraordinary composition that contains
programmatic elements, the “Rhenish” Symphony remains a staple of the repertoire not
as a result of any extra-musical considerations, but becuase of its musical worth. The
“Rhenish” Symphony is also a work that exerted a profound influence upon a number of
composers, including Schumann’s admirer and protégé, Johannes Brahms.
Musical Analysis
I. Lebhaft (Lively)—This is the only opening movement among Schumann’s Four
Symphonies without a slow introduction. The “Rhenish” begins in the grandest manner,
with the full orchestra announcing the exuberant principal subject, bearing more than a
passing resemblance to the opening of Brahms’ 1883 Third Symphony. The oboes and
clarinets sing the contrasting lyrical second theme. An extended development based
upon the themes follows. A horn call heralds the recapitulation, opening with a
triumphant fff restatement of the initial subject. The kinship between the first movements
of Schumann’s and Brahms’s Third Symphonies is made even clearer by a brief passage
for bassoon (and then clarinet and viola) immediately before the restatement of the lyrical
second theme. The opening movement, which some commentators have suggested
depicts the magnificence of the Rhine itself, ends as triumphantly as it began.
II. Scherzo: Sehr mässig (Very moderately)—The second movement, originally titled
“Morning on the Rhine,” is based upon the Ländler, a rustic dance in 3/4 meter. The
movement is fashioned upon two themes, the first immediately played by the violas,
cellos and bassoons. The winds introduce the second theme, a triplet-based motif. The
final, bold restatement of the opening theme resolves to a tranquil, pizzicato conclusion.
III. Nicht schnell (Not fast)—The subdued and elegant slow movement begins with the
clarinets and bassoons intoning the first of two principal themes, marked piano and dolce.
Again the orchestration—indeed the general mood of the opening—foreshadows the
Andante of the Brahms Third Symphony. The violas and bassoons introduce the second
theme, a descending and ascending melody scored in thirds. The pastoral close sets the
stage for the majesty of the following movement.
IV. Feirlich (Solemnly)—Schumann’s original subtitle for the penultimate movement was
“in the style of an accompaniment to a solemn ceremony.” While that description was
later deleted, it seems clear the music was inspired by the great Cathedral of Cologne and
Archbishop von Geissel’s investiture there as Cardinal. For the first time in the
“Rhenish” Symphony, trombones are introduced. They join the horns for the somber,
ascending principal theme, treated in contrapuntal fashion throughout the movement.
Stately fanfares lead to a dramatic conclusion, capped by fortepiano chords.
V. Lebhaft (Lively)—The finale returns to the joyous mood of the Symphony’s opening
movement. The ensemble introduces the sunny opening theme that Schumann directs be
played both forte (“loud”) and dolce (“sweetly”). A sighing, descending string theme,
and a skipping melody punctuated by trumpet fanfares, round out the principal thematic
material. The development, focusing upon the final principal theme, also features echoes
of the second movement. After the expected recapitulation, a triumphant statement of
music from the fourth movement leads to the “Rhenish” Symphony’s thrilling final bars.