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56th Dubrovnik Summer Festival
2005
Croatia
Midnight Serenade
OPERATIC SOUVENIRS
Renata Penezić
flute
Branko Mihanović
oboe
Mario Čopor
piano
Sponza Palace Atrium
10 August
Midnight
Franz Doppler: Moonwalker, paraphrase in the memory of Adelina Patti, Op. 42
Wilhelm Popp: Fantasie brillante after Verdi's The Troubadour, Op. 190
Antonio Pasculli:
Vespers
Gran concerto on the themes from Verdi's opera The Sicilian
***
Antonio Pasculli: Amelia, reminiscence of Verdi's A Masked Ball
Paul Agricol Genin:
Fantasy after Verdi's opera, The Fallen Woman, Op.18
Jules Demersseman: William Tell, brilliant duo after Rossini's opera
Although not belonging to the same generation of Croatian musicians, flutist Renata
Penezić and oboist Branko Mihanović are connected by long time cooperation in the
Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra. Both artists, who perform as soloists as well as
chamber musicians, studied abroad. Renata Penezić graduated in flute form the
Ljubljana Academy of Music under Feđa Rupel and obtained her master's degree in
Cologne (András Adorján), whereas Branko Mihanović graduated from the Freiburg
High School of Music under famous Heinz Holliger. Their performance of Salieri's
Concerto for flute, oboe and orchestra in C major (on 3 May 2002) with the Zagreb
Philharmonic encouraged them to continue their cooperation. According to a music
critic of the Vjesnik magazine "The coordination of tone was so impressive, that the
two soloists seemed to perform on one instrument". Together with pianist Mario
Čopor, who graduated and obtained his master's degree from the Zagreb Academy of
Music, presently engaged at its Singing Department, they founded a Trio, the
repertoire of which is based on the virtuoso music from the second half of the 19th
century. In addition to their Zagreb appearances are those in major Croatian music
centres and in festivals both in Croatia and in Germany. Renowned pedagogues, they
lecture at the Zagreb Academy of Music, Renata Penezic on a part-time, and Branko
Mihanović on full-time basis.
Tonight's programme is conceptualised as dedication to the 19th century starry
operatic moments, arranged by the less known, but exquisite and witty composers of
paraphrases, fantasies, or variations on popular themes. The term paraphrase (from
Greek word description) generally denotes a free transmission of an existing piece into
a different form, for instance, a literary verse into prose, or vice versa. In music such
form means a free arrangement, alteration of the original piece, or one of its
characteristic segments. The idea of paraphrasing originated in the Middle Ages. The
19th century composers most often paraphrased the famous operatic arias and
melodies, mainly in the form of a virtuoso concertante fantasy for solo instrument.
Such paraphrases were mainly saloon music, the outstanding being only Liszt's piano
arrangements of the most successful fragments from operas by Donizetti and Verdi.
Austrian composer (Albert) Franz Doppler (1821 - 1883), born in Lavov, elder brother
of Karl, was also a renowned flutist. Their sister was a famous singer and their father
Josef a prestigious flutist and oboist, former conductor of the Regimental Orchestra
and late in life double bass player at St Matthew Church in Buda. Franz Doppler had
his first appearance on 18 May 1931 for the Poland liberation fighters. After the
turbulent years of wandering, he finds job in a German theatre company in Buda, and
later becomes the first flutist at the Hungarian National Theatre in Pest, where his two
operas inspired by Hungarian themes were soon performed, and remaining great hits
of the Theatre repertoire for decades. (His opera Ilka was later performed in Vienna.)
Together with his brother he remained in Pest by late eighteen sixties, where he cofounded the Philharmonic Orchestra, and led an intensive artistic life. His activities
include co-authorship of opera Erzsébet (he composed the first act, his brother Karl
the third one, while the second act was composed by the renowned Hungarian
composer Ferenc Erkel). He left Pest in late eighteen sixties, in order to become the
first solo flutist of the Vienna Court Opera, where he was later appointed ballet director
and second conductor. After a series of acclaimed solo tours (most often with brother
Karl) he became a flute professor at the Vienna Conservatory in 1865. He was also a
well-informed and versatile music writer. Although not considered a great original
composing talent, he always managed to compensate his gift with vast knowledge,
subtle orchestration taste and huge routine. He composed operas, concertos and solo
pieces for flute. He also wrote fantasies and paraphrases on Hungarian themes,
arranged other composer's pieces for flute, and orchestrated folk songs, choirs and
several Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies.
Italian singer, the major 19th century coloratura soprano Adelina Patti, to whom the
first tonight's piece is dedicated, was born in 1843 in Madrid and died in 1919,
Brecnock, Wales. Having moved to New York with her parents, she studied with M.
Strakosch, who later became her impresario. From 1851 she began to perform at
concerts, and in 1859 had her debut at the Italian Opera in New York in the role of
Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor. Her triumphant career began in 1861 in London,
with her interpretation of the title role in Bellini's La sonnambula (The Sleepwalking
Girl). She later performed worldwide with huge success on major opera stages for 56
years, including her 23-year-long engagement at Covent Garden in London. Her
repertoire comprised more than thirty famous coloratura roles, and her crystal clear
voice was exceptionally pliant and perfectly balanced. She performed the most
complicated parts with ease, owing to her precise vocal and virtuoso technique. In
1914 she left the concert stage and retired at her estate in Wales.
German flutist, pianist and composer Wilhelm (Albrecht Otto) Popp, born in Coburg
in 1828, worked as a court pianist and flutist at the Saxon Coburg-Gotha Court
Theatre. He studied flute with Kaspar Kummer and Louis Drouet, and was an
excellent self taught piano virtuoso, performing with the most renowned orchestra at
the time. He became the Coburg Theatre director, yet, being too busy, later moved to
Hamburg, where he performed solo flute in the Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra. He
died in 1902. Renowned composer, he wrote about 600 pieces, out of which only a
few survived. A huge part of his output belongs to pieces for flute and piano. In
accordance with the taste and customs of the time, particularly well known are his
arrangements and fantasies on popular themes, as well as operatic paraphrases with
exceptional technical requirements. His most popular piece is Swedish Concerto for
flute and piano, Op. 266 with considerable melodic invention, brilliant passages and
musically elaborated structure. Outstanding among his other works are concertos and
sonatinas for flute, composed, like special textbook, on various stages of performing
abilities, preparing a beginner to become a true virtuoso performer.
Italian oboist and composer Antonio Pasculli (1842 - 1924) belonged to the
generation of the great virtuosos whose music, very much popular at the time, slightly
faded away with the arrival of the 20th century. This "Holliger of his time" was a long
time professor at the Palermo Conservatory. Giving the melody an absolute priority,
he composed sonatas, concertos and other music forms for wind instruments in the
Italian way, that is, choosing the themes from the then famous operas of Rossini,
Bellini and Donizetti as basis for his fantasies, variations, or paraphrases. One of the
most successful arrangers of such themes, he gave the greatest contribution in the
virtuoso music for oboe, which presents such a powerful and impressionable
continuation of the human voice.
French flutist and composer Paul Agricole Genin (1832, Avignon - 1903, Paris), was
engaged as the first flutist both at the Italian Theatre and in the popular Colonne
Orchestra in Paris. Some records mention him as Officier de l'Academie, yet it is not
certain whether that means the Académie Française. He composed 64 pieces,
particularly popular being the one for flute and piano called Fantasy and Variations on
the Venice Carnival, Op. 14, from 1857, filled with virtuoso octaves, double and triple
tonguing, triplets, sextolets, trills, tremolos and flutter-tonguing.
Dutch flutist, saxophonist and composer Jules (August Eduard) Demersseman was
born in 1833, Hondschoote, Holland and died in 1866, Paris. An exceptionally gifted
child, from 1844 he studied with Tulou at the Paris Conservatory, where he graduated
from already the following year. He later studied at the Brussels Conservatory with
Adolphe Sax, the inventor of the saxophone. Demersseman became famous for a
series of solo concerts, with his use of double-tonguing being particularly noted, along
with the extraordinary virtuosity. He was persistent in performing on the old flute type,
but managed to achieve miraculous results. His composing includes mainly virtuoso
pieces for various wind instruments.
D. Detoni