Download Overture to Der fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman

Overture to Der fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman)
– Richard Wagner
Born May 22, 1813, in Leipzig, Germany
Died February 13, 1883, in Venice, Italy
Richard Wagner’s first major success as a composer was in 1841 with his supernatural
opera The Flying Dutchman. The story was inspired by a poem of Heinrich Heine, who
often used nature in his verses to suggest the power of the deity. Wagner found the
backdrop of the dark churning sea to be especially suitable for this drama about an
accursed sailor who must find undying love to break the spell, but may only come ashore
to search every seven years.
Perhaps Wagner felt that this story paralleled his own journey. In 1839, overwhelmed
with debt and unable to find work, Wagner and his wife Minna, fled Eastern Prussia and
sailed westward on the North Sea toward London. Several thunderstorms tossed the ship
so violently that it had to dock in Norway. The usual eight-day voyage took almost four
weeks. Wagner must have felt himself to be cursed, fleeing his homeland to avoid
debtor’s prison.
The Overture to The Flying Dutchman follows the story of the opera, presenting it in
miniature before the first note is sung.
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 14
– Samuel Barber
Born March 9, 1910, in West Chester, Pennsylvania
Died January 23, 1981, in New York
The 1920s and 1930s was a period of transition for Samuel Barber. He spent the school
year as a student at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and summers in Italy and
Switzerland with his friend and fellow composer Gian Carlo Menotti. Barber’s career
was well underway, due largely to Artur Rodzinski’s performance of his Symphony No.1
at the 1937 Salzburg Festival and Arturo Toscanini’s premieres of the First Essay for
Orchestra and the Adagio for Strings the following year.
That such fame would grace a native Philadelphian who attended a Philadelphia
conservatory certainly resonated among the elite of the city. One onlooker was Samuel
Fels, the wealthy manufacturer of Fels Naphtha Soap, who came to Barber with a
commission. Fels’ adopted son, the Russian-born violin prodigy Iso Briselli, was
respected in the music world, having performed as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra
on several occasions, and wanted an original work written for his exclusive use. Due to
artistic differences, Briselli did not play the work at its premiere, but that honor fell
instead to Albert Spalding.
With the impending war in Europe, Barber’s Violin Concerto is best understood when
viewed against this backdrop. Opening with the solo violin, the almost pastoral quality of
the first movement (Allegro) imparts a sentimental and haunting feeling to the work.
Could this represent Europe before the war? A second theme, with a more jagged rhythm,
is introduced by the clarinets. Occasional dark clouds cast fleeting shadows over the
rhapsodic reverie. With a poignant oboe solo of surpassing beauty, the second movement
(Andante) begins with a sense of mystery. However, the central section introduces
distant martial fanfares, hinting at the unrest to follow in the finale. Marked presto in
moto perpetuo, the movement’s endless runs, set against a boisterous accompaniment,
bring to mind the “machine of war” from Shostakovich’s Eighth Symphony. With its
brutal accentuations and wickedly delightful violin figurations, the concerto ends in a
blazing display of technical ability.
Symphony No. 2 in E Minor, Op. 27
– Sergei Rachmaninoff
Born April 1, 1873, in Oneg, Russia
Died March 28, 1943, in Beverly Hills, California
Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 1 (1897) was a complete failure. Despite his great
promise as the most likely leader of a new generation of Russian composers, the harsh
reception could not have been more brutal. Cesar Cui declared that the work sounded
like the product of “a conservatory in Hell.” The depression that ensued caused an
unusual dry period in Rachmaninoff’s otherwise productive compositional output. After
three years he decided to seek help, eventually finding help from hypnosis. However, the
idea of composing another symphony simply terrified Rachmaninoff.
Balancing this fear with the artistic void he felt from not composing for orchestra,
Rachmaninoff decided on another approach to restore his creative flow – seclusion. In
1906 he left his conducting position with the Bolshoi Opera and moved to Germany. In
an isolated house near Dresden, he immersed himself in composition. Surprisingly, the
first work he wrote was the Second Symphony. The premiere met with great popular and
critical acclaim. He had finally overcome the horrors of 1897.
The Second Symphony is exemplary Rachmaninoff – almost a caricature of the lush
strings, soaring melodies, and powerful brass that listeners associate with the composer.
It is the Rachmaninoff symphony to many people. The first movement begins with the
distant sounds of the low strings, then introduces cascading string figures that build, each
entrance overlapping the previous one, into exquisite textures that cradle the listener in a
comfortable cushion of sound. An allegro begins and occupies most of the movement,
but the spirit of this tightly woven movement is built from those yearning opening notes.
A magnificent climax occurs about three-quarters of the way through the movement.
The second movement, a lively scherzo, is a spirited march featuring soaring horns and
propulsive rhythmic motion. The lush adagio is Rachmaninoff at his most passionate.
Including a theme that is a crown jewel of the clarinet repertoire, the rapturous movement
surges forward in waves of languid beauty. The final rondo shows Rachmaninoff’s
underrated orchestrational skill. Beginning with a blaze of sound, this dazzling finale
reprises themes from the first and third movements. Rachmaninoff’s final measures are
loaded with some of his most exciting music.
©2014 Orpheus Music Prose & Craig Doolin
www.orpheusnotes.com