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PROGRAM NOTES by Paul Schiavo Russian Romanticism The program for this concert is the first of three the Seattle Symphony plays this season made up entirely of music by Russian-born composers. (The others will be presented in March and June.) The three works we hear were written within a span of less than 20 years, and represent the full flowering of Russian Romanticism in music. The hallmarks of such music are propulsive and highly expressive melodies, sumptuous harmonies and orchestral textures, and a colorful style of instrumentation. But beyond these readily identifiable qualities lies something more elusive: the music’s distinctly Russian character. Many have attempted to define this in specific terms, not an easy task. They have noted the emotional effusion of most Russian music, its mingling of sorrow and mirth, earthiness and spirituality, its alternately grand and intimate tones. If these and other traits attributed to Russian music seem, at times, contradictory, perhaps that is also part of its particular national flavor. For as Fyodor Dostoyevsky observed, “Russians alone are able to combine so many opposites in themselves at one and the same time.” NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Overture to The Tsar’s Bride Born: March 18, 1844, in Tikhvin, Russia Died: June 21, 1908, in Lyubensk, Russia Work composed: 1898–99 World premiere: November 3, 1899, in Moscow, conducted by Mikhail Ippolotov-Ivanov Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov is known in the West almost exclusively through his orchestral music, especially Capriccio espagnol and the perennially popular tone poem Scheherazade. But the composer devoted most of his career to writing operas. Rimsky-Korsakov completed a dozen such works before his death, in 1908. Most of them are still performed in Russia, but rarely in Western Europe or the United States. Many of them are marred by dramatic shortcomings. Yet they contain much of the composer’s best music, and portions of them — their overtures and concert suites excerpted from the full scores — have begun to make inroads into the orchestral concert repertory. Completed in 1899, Tsarskaya nevesta, or The Tsar’s Bride, tells a dark tale of love, jealousy and betrayal culminating in madness and death. A love potion and poisoning also figure in the plot, which verges on gothic melodrama. The opera’s overture, which begins our program, establishes the sense of conflict that pervades the work as a whole. WHAT TO LISTEN FOR The overture begins with a running theme that conveys, in addition to a strong Russian flavor, a sense of urgency and, later, high drama. Opposing this is an ardent love theme, announced by the violins with answering phrases from the woodwinds. These two ideas contend until nearly the end of the piece, where Rimsky-Korsakov introduces a new subject. Beginning like a waltz from one of Tchaikovsky’s fairy-tale ballets, it brings the overture to a surprisingly tranquil conclusion. Scored for piccolo, 2 flute, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets and 2 bassoons; 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones and tuba; timpani, harp and strings. © 2016 Paul Schiavo