Download Program notes by - Symphony Orchestra Augusta

Brilliant Baroque – November 8 & 9, 2013
Concerto grosso in A minor, Op. 6, No. 4, HWV 322
George Frideric Handel
1685-1759
During the eighteenth century it was common practice to interpolate instrumental interludes
into plays, operas and dramatic oratorios, especially those deemed too short for a full
evening’s entertainment – what constituted a proper evening’s entertainment being of
Wagnerian proportions. These interludes were often movements from other works or
improvised for the occasion.
George Frideric Handel had routinely included such interludes during the intermissions of his
operas, but by the 1734-35 season in London, with the public not yet familiar with his new
creation, the oratorio, he had to find an additional novelty to fill a half-empty hall. In
February, 1735, taking advantage of his reputation as an outstanding improviser at the organ,
he inserted a full-fledged organ concerto – the first of this genre – into the intermission of his
oratorio Alexander’s Feast at Covent Garden. This Concerto was followed by five more,
published together in 1738 as Op. 4. But the public’s demand for novelty did not abate, and
during five weeks in the fall of 1739 Handel composed twelve additional concerti grossi for
the intermissions in the coming oratorio winter season, taking only about two days to pen
each of them. He considered these concerti of great importance and, hoping to repeat the
huge commercial success of Arcangelo Corelli’s 12 Concerti Grossi Op. 6, published his own
dozen in 1740 with the same opus number and calling them “Grand Concertos” to indicate
their large scale and importance.
Handel frequently dipped into previous compositions when it suited his taste and probably his
schedule. Most of his earlier concerti grossi contained generous amounts of recycled material,
but in Opus 6 most of the material is new. The concerti, including No. 4, are mostly in the
French style with four movements, alternating slow and fast. Some, like No. 1 and 3, had
additional movements. The more modern order of movements, developed by Antonio Vivaldi
and practiced by Bach, followed a three-movement fast-slow-fast arrangement.
The stately first movement, marked Larghetto affetuoso, is clearly in the style of Corelli,
whom Handel had befriended in Italy and admired greatly. He commented, however, that the
older composer liked nothing better than to save money and look at pictures he had not paid
for.
The sprightly allegro movements that followed Handel’s slow introductions were often
fugues, as is the case here. The third movement, which was ultimately dropped for about 100
years in the concerto genre, is another slow movement; it is short and not well developed,
suggesting that Handel regarded it merely as a transition into the final Allegro.
Harp Concerto in B-flat major, Op. 4, No. 6
George Frideric Handel
1685-1759
Necessity is not always the mother of invention. Two of Western music's greatest and most
prolific composers, Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel, were among its most
egregious self-plagiarists. Both composers, overworked with commissions, deadlines and
extra-musical duties, readily recycled their own music apparently with nary a prick of
conscience.
The history of the Harp Concerto in its various transformations is a fascinating case in point.
It began its career – although we don't know whether in exactly the same form as we know it
now – in February 1735 as an insertion in the dramatic oratorio Alexander’s Feast.
Composed to a text by renowned poet John Dryden, the libretto was deemed too short, having
only two acts instead of the three audiences expected. Handel was, therefore, obliged to
provide musical "filler," including an epilogue (taken from an earlier Ode to St. Cecilia); an
“orchestral concerto” and a complete cantata to be played during the intermission; an organ
concerto at the end of the ode; and the Harp Concerto, appropriately before the recitative:
Timotheus placed on high
Amid the tuneful quire
With flying fingers touche’d the lyre:
The trembling notes ascend the sky
And heavenly joys inspire.
And so a tradition was born, and the first set of six such concertos was published in 1738 as
“Concertos for the Harpsicord [sic] or Organ” with the note under Handel’s name: “Publish’d
by Mr. Walsh from my own Copy Corrected by my self and to Him only I have given my
Right therein.” But No. 6 of the set, while published as an organ concerto, was actually the
original Harp Concerto from 1735, its identity unmasked because it contained notes that were
above the range of the Covent Garden organ. Publishing pieces in sets of six was the fashion
of the time throughout Europe, and it is not difficult to envision the overworked Handel
dipping into his ready but still unpublished materials for a typical – if somewhat careless –
recycling job.
In contrast to the other concertos in the set, which are in the traditional sonata da chiesa
(church sonata) form of four movements, arranged slow-fast-slow-fast, No. 6 is in three
movements, fast-slow-fast, conforming to the style of the Italian concerto of the high Baroque
– more in keeping with the instrumental concertos of Vivaldi and Bach, rather than Handel’s
own concerti grossi. Today, with no restraints on the range of the organ, this odd-man-out
Concerto is performed regularly on both instruments.
The first movement opens with the ritornello, or refrain, played by the orchestra, or ripieno.
Throughout the movement, it is the soloist who elaborates on the theme, digressing into new
motives and keys until returning to a final statement of the ritornello to conclude the
movement.
In the Italian concerto, the central slow movement typically belonged almost exclusively to
the soloist, giving him or her an opportunity to improvise and embellish within the protracted
harmonic rhythm of the accompaniment. The Larghetto begins with a brief tutti (everyone)
ritornello that is little more than a simple chord progression. The orchestra then provides
only occasional simple harmonic underpinnings for the harp along the way and at the
important cadences. The Larghetto concludes on an unresolved cadence, allowing the soloist
to improvise a transitional passage leading without pause into the final Allegro moderato.
This movement involves a closer dialogue between soloist and orchestra than the first
movement.
Introduction and Allegro
for Flute, Harp, Clarinet and String Quartet
Maurice Ravel
1875-1937
Rivalries can be fruitful. In 1904, the French firm of Pleyel commissioned Claude Debussy to
write a composition demonstrating the superiority of its chromatic harp, an instrument
without pedals but with two rows of strings slanted across each other to provide the full
chromatic scale. The result was the Danse sacrée et danse profane, which Debussy later
arranged for full orchestra and for two pianos.
The rival firm of Erard, makers of the pedal harp, were not to be outdone. They
commissioned Maurice Ravel to write a showpiece to demonstrate the pedal harp’s
superiority.
Ravel enjoyed this kind of technical challenge. In order to show the versatility of the pedal
harp, he used very rapid pedaling and every one of the pedal positions in this short
composition. According to Ravel, “eight days of furious labor and three sleepless nights
finally brought it to completion. For better or for worse.” The result was a virtuoso concert
piece for the harp, a miniature concerto for harp and chamber ensemble whose role was to
highlight the sound and brilliance of the Erard’s creation.
The Introduction and Allegro share the same themes, which Ravel cleverly transforms in
tempo and combines both into a single melody and also contrapuntally. Nor is there a clear
distinction between the two sections, since the Allegro slows down considerably in places.
The dreamy opening theme in the winds is echoed by the strings before the harp enters with
sweeping glissandi. It continues as a dialogue between the harp and the other instruments.
The Allegro theme gives the impression of being incomplete, unresolved, and comes to
completion and a resolution only in the final moments of the work.
The composition was finished in 1905 and premiered in February, 1907. For what it’s worth,
Ravel did not think much of the work and ignored it in his Autobiographical Sketches.
Symphony No. 98 in B-flat major
Franz Joseph Haydn
1732-1809
On New Year’s Day 1791, Franz Joseph Haydn sailed across the English Channel on the first
of two extended trips to London at the invitation of the impresario Johann Peter Salomon.
The violinist, conductor and concertmaster of his own orchestra, Salomon had been writing
to Haydn for some time in an attempt to get him to come to London, but to no avail. When
Haydn’s lifelong patron, Prince Nikolaus Esterházy, died and the family disbanded the
orchestra, the composer was suddenly a free agent. Capitalizing on the situation, Salomon
personally went to Vienna to “fetch” Haydn with a princely lure of £1200. Haydn bit. He
composed numerous works for performance at Salomon’s concerts, primarily his last twelve
symphonies (Nos. 93-104, known today as the “London” or “Salomon” symphonies). These
performances, like most concerts of the time, went on for hours and were a mixed bag,
including vocal, chamber and orchestral pieces. For the decade of the 1790s, their star
attraction was Haydn’s music.
Although the symphonies are now the best known of Haydn’s creative output in and for
England, he actually produced an enormous amount of music for other forces including an
opera, keyboard sonatas, string quartets piano trios and other miscellaneous works. By the
time of his second visit in 1794 he was so popular that he performed his music for the royal
family, actually “converting” King George III from his Handel monomania. The Queen
offered him a summer cottage in Windsor as an inducement for him to remain in England and
although tempted, Haydn graciously refused the offer, instead buying a house outside of
Vienna where the mysterious Frau Haydn complained that she would live out her life as a
widow.
Paradoxically, one of Haydn’s signatures is his unpredictability. He was forever tweaking
musical conventions, thereby always remaining fresh – and often extremely innovative.
Composed for the 1792, Symphony No. 98 offers up a number of surprises. The first occurs
in the first movement, where the introduction contains a three-note motive that becomes the
theme of the following Allegro. The entire movement is based on this motive; and there is no
second theme group as in conventional sonata-allegro form. In fact, except for the Minuet,
the movements are all monothematic.
The opening five notes of the Adagio present another surprise; whether they were meant as an
allusion to the anthem “God Save the King” is not an ironclad fact. But apparently Haydn had
heard the melody played by a wind band “in the street during a wild snowstorm” while he
was putting the finishing touches on the Symphony. As in the first movement, Haydn devotes
the entire Adagio to this theme, emphasizing the opening notes in the passionate middle
section.
One of the surefire ways to distinguish Haydn from Mozart is through their minuets.
Mozart’s were elegant court dances, while Haydn’s were heavy peasant stomps, although the
trio is more subdued.
The Finale is once again monothematic; the little upbeat figure at the beginning becomes the
focus of the entire movement. The development offers an extended solo for the first violin
and a chance to start the recapitulation as a solo as well, not an uncommon practice for
Haydn, when as Esterházy court composer he wanted to showcase one of his musicians.
It was the custom in Haydn’s time for the conductor to lead the orchestra from a harpsichord
or, later, a fortepiano. Haydn probably played only simple chords on the keyboard to fill in
the harmony, often foregoing it to leave his hands free to direct the orchestra. But in this
symphony only, Haydn inserted a final couple of surprises in the coda of the finale: a slowing
of tempo and a switch to a little waltz; and at the end eleven bars of a solo keyboard part, a
music-box riff marked “Cembalo solo.”
Program notes by:
Joseph & Elizabeth Kahn
[email protected]
www.wordprosmusic.com