Download Academy Festival Artists, July 12, 2016 PROGRAM NOTES

Academy Festival Artists, July 12, 2016
PROGRAM NOTES
GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL
“Let the Bright Seraphim,” from Samson
Composed 1741-42
Duration ca. 6 minutes
Scored for soprano, trumpet, strings, and continuo
Our concert of music from three centuries opens with a work by the foremost composer of the
Baroque period. G. F. Handel was born in Germany and served an apprenticeship in Italy, but he
spent the greatest part of his career in England. The composer first went to London in 1710,
and two years later he settled there permanently. In the English capital he first devoted most of
his energies to writing operas, a popular entertainment among the British aristocracy early in
the 18th century. Later he turned to composing oratorios. That genre had many of the musical
features of opera, yet it was less costly to present and held appeal for a broad public drawn
from the rising English middle class. Handel’s oratorios recounted stories from classical
mythology and the Bible, mostly from the Old Testament, tales whose familiarity helped assure
their success.
Samson, composed in 1741, ranks among Handel’s great biblical oratorios. It tells how the
titular Israelite hero was captured through the seductive wiles of the Philistine sorceress
Delilah. But in the end Samson conquers his enemies, pulling down the Philistine temple to bury
both his oppressors and himself.
The oratorio’s concluding numbers constitute an extended hymn of praise to Samson and to
the Almighty. Among these songs and choruses is the soprano aria “Let the Bright Seraphim,”
one of the most famous and popular moments in all of Handel’s oratorios. Small wonder. The
singer’s exhortation of the heavenly host to sound their “loud uplifted angel trumpets” brings a
ringing response from that very instrument in the orchestra, and much of the aria has the voice
and trumpet engaged in a bright duet. Not only the instrumental lines but also the soprano part
is written very much in the manner of Baroque trumpet music, which is to say proud and
brilliant. Handel excelled at this sort of thing; many listeners will recall the aria “The Trumpet
Shall Sound” in his most famous oratorio, Messiah, and the music we hear is not a bit less
impressive in its expression of triumph and exultation.
CASEY CANGELOSI
Tap Oratory
Composed 2015
Duration ca. 7 minutes
Scored for snare drum and digital playback
At his oratorio presentations in London, Handel developed the practice of playing the organ
during intermission, often performing concertos of his own composition. Being a keyboard
virtuoso of the first rank, he elicited enthusiastic audience response with these musical
gratuities.
Since Handel’s time, there have been many other outstanding instrumentalists who also were
significant composers — Beethoven, Chopin, Paganini, Liszt, Busoni, Rachmaninov, and others.
Casey Cangelosi carries the tradition of the virtuoso performer/composer into the present time.
One of the most brilliant young percussionists working today, Cangelosi has been compared to
Paganini for his extraordinary command of his instruments and innovative advances in
percussion technique. He has appeared internationally as a performer and master teacher, and
he has composed inventively for percussion. In addition to concertos, solos, and ensemble
pieces featuring marimba, an instrument that Cangelosi himself plays masterfully, he has used
the complete range of sonic resources in the modern percussionist’s toolkit. And he has
expanded his aural palette by combining live percussion performance with electronically
generated sounds.
Tap Oratory, which we hear now, exemplifies the latter procedure. Composed in 2015, this
piece is a duet for percussionist and pre-recorded electronic sounds. The performer plays only a
snare drum, but Cangelosi derives a surprising number of distinct tapping sounds from this
seemingly limited source. The performer strikes the sticks together like claves, hits both the
head and rim of the drum, and uses alternately the thin and thick ends of the sticks. The
necessity to quickly reverse which end is held requires the player often to give one or the other
stick a spinning toss, and this adds an element of theatricality to the performance. Cangelosi
underscores this aspect of the work by timing the stick tosses to coincide with a whirring sound
in the electronically generated part of the composition.
The piece begins minimally, its initial electronic sounds being spare and quiet. As the music
grows increasingly dense and complex, catchy rhythmic figures and something like a tune
emerge. An accelerated final passage ensures an exhilarating conclusion.
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
Cantata No. 202, Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten, BWV 202
Composed between 1717 and 1723
Duration ca. 21 minutes
Scored for soprano, oboe, strings, and continuo
J. S. Bach was an exact contemporary of Handel, and together they were music’s definitive
geniuses of the early 18th century. Unlike Handel, who was very much a man of the theater,
Bach spent much of his career in service to the Lutheran church, and most of his vocal music
was written as an adjunct to Protestant worship. In addition to his famed Passion settings, the
composer left over 200 sacred cantatas, compositions for instruments and voice — or, more
usually, voices — based on verses of ecclesiastic character. But Bach occasionally composed
cantatas to secular verses. These works are not nearly so numerous as the sacred cantatas;
fewer than 20 survive. Most of them were commissioned by titled noblemen or wealthy
burghers for birthday festivities or other happy occasions.
The cantata Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten, BWV 202, clearly graced a wedding celebration,
although whose, or when and where it occurred, remains undiscovered. We know only that
Bach wrote the piece sometime between 1717 and 1723, during his tenure as resident
composer at the court of the music-loving Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen. This seems to have
been the happiest period of the composer’s life, and it gave us much of his most joyous music.
Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten certainly fits that description.
Bach scored this cantata for soprano and a small ensemble of strings, oboe, and harpsichord.
The text, by an unknown poet, entwines the themes of love and the arrival of springtime in
imagery drawn from classical Roman mythology. Phoebus, the sun god; Flora, deity of flowers;
and Amor, god of love, all figure prominently in the libretto. Bach’s setting falls into an
alternating sequence of arias and recitatives. In the arias, oboe and principal violin are
entrusted with “obbligato” solos, important parts that cast these instruments as duet partners
with the soprano.
The initial aria renders an almost impressionistic nature scene. Ascending arpeggios in the
strings convey rising mists, and the long, rhapsodic oboe line hints at the rejuvenating breezes
of springtime. This may well be the most sensuous music Bach ever composed. A central
episode in march rhythms provides lively contrast.
Following the first recitative, a second aria presents another kind of musical illustration. The
text tells of Phoebus’s swift horses, and the bass line that supports the vocal melody suggests
their prancing. In the third aria, the soprano and solo violin spin a handsome duet. The ensuing
recitative continues the sturdy bass-line rhythms heard there.
Next comes an aria of exceptional buoyancy. The obbligato oboe accompaniment strikes a
playful tone, and the entire movement seems fairly intoxicated with the delights of erotic love.
In this context, the momentarily dramatic harmonies at the mention of mishaps and thunder in
the following recitative hardly convey a real threat.
Bach’s many church cantatas almost always close with a chorale, a relatively simple setting of a
Lutheran hymn. Here the final aria takes the form of a dance — specifically, a gavotte. It
includes a verse for the singer and enjoys such felicitous melody that we can only envy the
unknown couple whose wedding feast culminated with its music.
HERMANN GOETZ
Piano Quartet in E Major, Op. 6
Composed 1867
Duration ca. 38 minutes
Scored for violin, viola, cello, and piano
A contemporary of Dvořák and Tchaikovsky, Hermann Goetz might have achieved a greater
measure of their success had fate been kinder to him. Goetz turned to music relatively late,
having first studied mathematics and science, but progressed quickly as both a composer and
pianist. He subsequently supported himself as a conductor, organist, pianist, and teacher while
continuing to compose in his spare time. His output includes songs and choral works, chamber
music, a symphony, a piano concerto, and two operas. These compositions drew admiration
from some of the leading musicians of the day, including Johannes Brahms and Hans von
Bülow. Unhappily, however, Goetz had contracted tuberculosis, and as the disease progressed
he became more and more debilitated. He died in 1870, a day before his 36th birthday, leaving
his second opera to be completed posthumously.
Goetz’s limited output has kept him from the ranks of the major creative musicians of his age.
Still, several of his works merit performance today. Among them is his Piano Quartet in E Major,
Opus 6. This piece unfolds in a familiar four-movement design. Goetz marks the opening “Quick
and Fiery,” and its music indeed suggests a brightly burning flame of Romantic ardor. The
rhythms of the initial theme are unusually supple, while two subsidiary ideas sound yearning
and lithe by turns. The ensuing slow movement is cast in theme-and-variations form. While the
subject melody presents a somber demeanor, Goetz’s paraphrases re-imagine it in brighter and
more energetic terms.
The final variation leads directly into the ensuing Scherzo, and the resemblance of this third
movement’s initial theme to the second movement’s variation subject reinforces the
impression of organic connection between them. Goetz prefaces the finale with an introduction
whose music is slow in tempo and funereal in character. But he banishes all dark sentiments
with the onset of the main body of the movement. Here his invention proves as “fresh and
lively” as his character indication promises.
TEXTS
“Let the Bright Seraphim,” from Samson
Let the bright seraphim in burning row,
Their loud, uplifted angel trumpets blow;
Let the cherubic host in tuneful choirs,
Touch their immortal harps with golden wires.
Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten, BWV 202
ARIA:
Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten,
Frost und Winde, geht zur Ruh!
Florens Lust
Will der Brust
Nichts als frohes Glück verstatten,
Denn sie träget Blumen zu.
Now be gone, unhappy shadows,
frost and winds, take your rest!
Flora’s pleasure
would to the breast
naught but happy fortune,
for which she brings forth flowers.
RECITATIVE:
Die Welt wird wieder neu,
Auf Bergen und in Gründen
Will sich die Anmut doppelt schön verbinden,
Der Tag ist von der Kälte frei.
The world is renewed;
on mountains and in valleys
gracefulness becomes doubly lovely,
the day from cold is free.
ARIA:
Phoebus eilt mit schnellen Pferden
Durch die neugeborne Welt.
Ja, weil sie ihm wohlgefällt,
Will er selbst ein Buhler werden.
Phoebus races with swift horses
through the new-born world.
Yes, because she pleases him,
He would himself a lover become.
RECITATIVE:
Drum sucht auch Amor sein Vergnügen,
Wenn Purpur in den Wiesen lacht,
Wenn Florens Pracht sich herrlich macht,
Und wenn in seinem Reich,
Den schönen Blumen gleich,
Auch Herzen feurig siegen.
So, too, does Amor seek his pleasure,
when purple laughs in the meadows,
when Flora’s splendor
is made marvelous,
and when in his realm
the lovely flowers match
hearts’ conquering flames.
ARIA:
Wenn die Frühlingslüfte streichen
Und durch bunte Felder wehn,
Pflegt auch Amor auszuschleichen,
Um nach seinem Schmuck zu sehn,
Welcher, glaubt man, dieser ist,
Dass ein Herz das andre küsst.
When spring breezes stroke
and through the dappled fields blow,
Amor then steals forth
to see to his handiwork;
which, people believe, is this:
that one heart to another gives a kiss.
RECITATIVE:
Und dieses ist das Glücke,
Dass durch ein hohes Gunstgeschicke
Zwei Seelen einen Schmuck erlanget,
An dem viel Heil und Segen pranget.
And this is happiness,
that through a high, favorable fortune
two souls obtain a jewel
on which much weal and blessing gleam.
ARIA:
Sich üben im Lieben,
In Scherzen sich herzen
Ist besser als Florens vergängliche Lust.
Hier quellen die Wellen,
Hier lachen und wachen
Die siegenden Palmen auf Lippen und Brust.
To practice loving,
in sport to take heart,
is better than Flora’s impermanent pleasure.
Here splash the waves,
here laugh and awake
triumphant palms on lips and breast.
RECITATIVE:
So sei das Band der keuschen Liebe,
Verlobte Zwei,
Vom Unbestand des Wechsels frei!
Kein jäher Fall
Noch Donnerknall
Erschrecke die verliebten Triebe!
So let the bond of pure love,
promised pair,
from inconstancy and change be free.
Let no mishap
nor thunderclap
disturb your loving impulses.
GAVOTTE:
Sehet in Zufriedenheit
Tausend helle Wohlfahrtstage,
Dass bald bei der Folgezeit
Eure Liebe Blumen trage!
See you in contentment
a thousand bright days of well-being,
so that soon in the coming time
your love will bring forth blossoms.