Download March 4, 5, 2016 Vitezslav Novak Czech composer born: December

March 4, 5, 2016
Vitezslav Novak
Czech composer
born: December 5, 1870, Kamenice; died: July 18, 1949, Skutec
Eternal Longing, op. 33
Overture to Lady Godiva, op. 41
These are the first performances of these works on the Classics series; duration 15, 17 minutes
Born into a cultured family, Vitezslav Novak began his life in music as a child with lessons
on the piano and violin. By age 16, his gift for composition became manifest with piano pieces
and songs. In turn, Vitezslav pursued advanced studies in composition at the Prague
Conservatory, where he became a pupil of Antonin Dvorak. Shortly thereafter he was honored
with a generous state scholarship and another from the Conservatory. Perhaps the greatest
support came from Johannes Brahms, who recommended his works to Simrock, Europe’s most
prestigious music publisher.
Given Novak’s keen interest in folk idioms, his celebrity in Czechoslovakia took on ‘cult
status,’ for a time eclipsing even Leos Janacek in popular appeal. However, at age 26 a profound
change suddenly appeared in Novak’s style -- cherchez la femme: Vitezslav fell deeply in love
with a certain Josefina Javurkova, a lovely and gifted young singer. However, she declined to
return his affections. Writing about the wounded swain, biographer Milos Schnierer has noted:
“From then on a strongly personal synthesis of eroticism, nature and folklore can be traced in all
of Novak’s works.” For reference we should add that -- 16 years later - Vitezslav found himself
happily married to the singer Marie Praskova, a former Conservatory student.
As a composer, Novak’s full catalog reveals a trove of inspiration, drawn especially from the
gamut of European literature. Beyond his native Czech, he was fluent in English, Russian,
German, French and Spanish, and drew his picturesque motifs from those sources.
Novak’s tone poem, Eternal Longing, was completed in 1907, based on stories by the Danish
author Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875). As a literary source, Novak relied on a narrative
by Jaroslav Vrchlicky, as he did for the Godiva Overture, also on this BPO program.
About the score of Eternal Longing, historian John Tyrrell notes: “The music proposes a
simple narrative based on one of Hans Christian Andersen’s prose poems but also allows the
depiction of natural phenomena such as the ‘strange forms’ that lurk in the ocean or within the
flight of swans. It is ravishing music, achieved by comparatively simple means. But like much of
Novak’s music of the time, its simplicity and confidence is deceptive.”
Gentle shimmers in the strings under enchanted colors from the oboe and harp provide an
evocative opening. In ever gradual turns, orchestral timbres create a mysterious undertone.
Novak reveals a decided influence from the tone poems of Dvorak and Richard Strauss, as the
rhapsodic canvas beams with brazen luster and cryptic rhythms. The Overture concludes with a
mirror of the opening nuance, like a reverie recalled.
Novak’s Overture to Lady Godiva was composed in 1905, inspired by the legendary tale first
noted around 1300, then popularized by a long series of authors after about 1600. The versions
by Michael Drayton, (1563-1631) and Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-92) are perhaps best known.
However, for his source, Novak chose a darkly romantic version by Jaroslav Vrchlicky.
The well-known storyline of Novak’s Godiva Overture is at once heroic and comic, and
concerns the historic Count Leofric of Coventry and his famously beautiful wife, Lady Godiva.
The score for the Overture presents the following commentary:
“Novak was engaged to write a ‘Concert Overture’ for the opening of the new Prague
Municipal Theater. The occasion was marked by a new play, Lady Godiva, by the Czech poet,
Jaroslav Vrchlicky.
“Set during the 11th century, the drama concerns Lady Godiva, who rode naked through the
streets of Coventry at mid-day as a protest against a tax levied by her husband, Count Leofric of
Coventry. The two protagonists are clearly contrasted in their music: Leofric makes his entry
feroce in the key of C minor and Lady Godiva in E-flat major, in a tender Andante.
“One of his most powerful works, Novak wrote the new overture in the unbelievably short
space of two days, on October 9 and 10, 1907. As intended for the debut of the new theater, it
was first performed on November 24, 1907. The musicians comprised members of the Czech
Philharmonic as well as players from the Orchestra of the National Theatre, conducted by
Ladislav Celanskt.”
For reference, Jaroslav Vrchlicky (1853-1912) ranks among the foremost writers in
Czechoslovakia, noted for his lyrical poetry, plays and diverse essays. Vrchlicky worked in
several languages, including Italian, German, English and French, translating the works of
Dante, Goethe, Shelley, Whitman, Poe and Baudelaire.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Sir Edward Elgar
English composer
born: June 2, 1857, Broadheath; died: February 23, 1934, Worcester
Cello Concerto in E minor, Op.85
Adagio; Moderato
Lento; Allegro molto
Adagio
Allegro, ma non troppo
First Classics performance: December 1, 1973, conducted by James de Priest with cellist Ko
Iwasaki; most recent performance: December 5, 2010, conducted by JoAnn Falletta with cellist
Lynn Harrell; duration 30 minutes
After the glory of Henry Purcell and the standard set by George Friedrich Handel (who was
German-born and trained), England had to wait well over a century before a major composer
would emerge from its native soil. It was a strange phenomenon which prevailed through the
18th and 19th centuries, given that the other fine arts had been so well served across the British
Isles. Drama, literature and painting had all flourished through the works of R.B. Sheridan,
Oliver Goldsmith, Charles Dickens, the Brontes, Gainsborough, J.M.W. Turner, et al.
Finally, near the end of the 19th century, the Royal Kingdom found an heir to musical
greatness in the scores of Edward Elgar. For his part, although Elgar was an accomplished
violinist and pianist, he never received conservatory training in composition. And while many
youthful works emerged from his pen, his true symphonic masterworks did not begin to appear
until he was in his early 40s, very much like Johannes Brahms, who Elgar admired immensely.
Elgar’s first major achievement came in 1898 with his Enigma Variations. In turn followed
his oratorio Gerontius, two symphonies, overtures and concertos for the violin and the current
opus for cello, the final work from his desk.
In the summer of 1919, Lady Elgar noted in her diary at their Brinkwells cottage: “Edward is
writing wonderful new music, different from anything else of him,” to which the composer made
reference in a letter to a friend: “I have nearly completed a concerto for violoncello - a real large
work and I think good and alive.”
When asked about the work, Elgar replied that the cello concerto reflected “...a man’s attitude
toward life.” From this we might infer that the soloist’s role is a souvenir of the composer’s life.
Indeed, Elgar was very fond of musical portraits -- e.g. each of the fourteen Enigma Variations
represented a tonal portrait of a living person.
As a style cue, Elgar had a favorite term that shows up often in his scores -- noblimente -clearly heard from the first tones by the soloist and throughout the concerto. In fact the cello
provides an opening soliloquy as an introduction to the tone poem which follows. Although the
first movement is in general sonata form, every phrase adds to a greater narrative. Even when the
Romantic main theme is taken up by the full symphonic choir, we sense a personal journey is at
hand. The travelog then blends without pause into the Lento of the second movement, with
cadenza-like fragments from the soloist. But in a moment, perpetual motion takes to the wind at
the Allegro molto, with fleet virtuosity from the soloist in a ‘catch me if you can’ scherzo.
Plaintive and elegiac in texture, the third movement Adagio offers a lyrical cantilena that
seems evocative of the words Elgar wrote just prior to beginning work on the concerto:
“Everything good and nice and clean and fresh and sweet is far away - never to return.” Such
nostalgia rarely tuned Sir Edward’s pen, at least not for long, as the music returns to bright
promise at the beginning of the last movement Allegro. While a bouncy, folk-like tune is
bantered for fun, an intermezzo midway recalls the tender plaint of the third movement, as if to
acknowledge the fragility of life. Finally, the solo and orchestral staves combine just in time with
a spirited, quasi-gypsy kick in a sprint to the impromptu close.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Bedrich Smetana
Czech composer
born: March 2, 1824, Leitomischl, Bohemia; died: May 12, 1884, Prague
Má Vlast - My Country
Vltava - The Moldau
First BPO Classics performance: November 18, 1935, conducted by Lajos Shuk; most recent
performance: May 5, 1991, conducted by Maximiano Valdes; duration 12 minutes
Bohemian in stock and style, Bedrich Smetana was the first to gain celebrated status as a
Czech nationalist composer. In addition to his melodic and harmonic gifts, his scores glow with
Gypsy esprit - feisty tunes, high kicking dances, dark intonations with a touch of fire, heartbreak
and joy all at once. How ironic that the composer was initially considered by his country folk as
being too serious and formal.
Like so many composers, Smetana was a precocious child. Following lessons on the piano
and violin from age 4, Bedrich gave his first recital at age 6. By his mid-teens, his love for folk
dancing led to his composition of diverse dances. However, his family insisted that his studies
concentrate on any worthy career apart from music. But by age 19, Smetana wrote in his diary:
“By the grace of God I will one day be a Liszt in technique and a Mozart in composition.” The
die was cast. By sheer determination and help from a few acquaintances who recognized his
talent, Smetana began to find his way.
Smetana’s great triumph arrived in 1866 with the premiere of his opera The Bartered Bride.
The work revealed masterly gifts as a tunesmith and orchestrator, and endeared him to the
public. Life was beautiful.
But then, in 1874, at the very peak of his creativity, lightning struck with vengeance. A
sudden ringing in his ears quickly deteriorated into total deafness (see below). His perseverance
was heroic. It was the very same year in which Smetana completed Má Vlast, an orchestral suite
of six tone poems. Each of the tableaux offers a musical canvas inspired by a location or scenario
from the composer’s heritage. Among the six, the best known by far is The Moldau, about which
Smetana writes:
“The composition depicts the course of the river, from its beginning where two brooks, one
cold, the other warm, join into a stream, running through forests and meadows and a lovely
countryside where merry feasts are celebrated; water-sprites dance in the moonlight; on nearby
rocks can be seen the outline of ruined castles, proudly soaring into the sky. Vltava swirls
through the St. John Rapids and flows in a broad stream towards Prague. It passes Vysehrad and
disappears majestically into the distance, where it joins the Elbe.”
(N.B. In the score, Smetana also labeled eight specific sections of the picturesque journey: 1)
in E minor, the merging of two springs into the Moldau; 2) in C major, forestry and hunting; 3)
in G major, a rustic village wedding; 4) in A-flat major, moonlight and the dances of watersprites; 5) in E minor, the flowing Moldau; in E major through the close - 6) the St. John Rapids;
7) the Moldau in full stream; 8) the Moldau salutes Vysehrad and continues on.)
The main theme on which Smetana based The Moldau is a setting of a very old, Eastern
European folk melody in a plaintive minor key. (The tune is believed to be of MoldavianRoumanian origin, titled “Carul cu Boi” - Cart and Ox.) We are fortunate to hear this music. The
composer was not so lucky. Just prior to scoring Má Vlast, Smetana’s hearing affliction forced
him to resign immediately from his conducting post. He retired to the country and composed by
relying entirely upon what is often described as ‘the mind’s ear’ -- the same circumstances under
which Beethoven wrote all of his later music.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------program notes by Edward Yadzinski
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