Download Capriccio espagnol, Op. 34 (1887) Nikolay Andreyevich Rimsky

Capriccio espagnol, Op. 34 (1887)
Nikolay Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov (1844 – 1908)
Many composers have been inspired by customs, melodies, and national or
ethnic characteristics of countries other than their own. Outstanding examples
include Tchaikovsky’s Capriccio Italien, Bruch’s Kol Nidrei, Dvořák’s “New
World Symphony,” Elgar’s Alassio, Mendelssohn’s “Italian” Symphony, and
the work heard here. Inspiration in this special compositional category comes
to composers in many ways, such as personal travel, attending performances
by visiting foreign artists, or research and study.
In the summer of 1887, Rimsky-Korsakov was visiting not Spain but
Switzerland. Borodin had died in February and had left his opera Knyaz Igor
(Prince Igor) uncompleted, and Rimsky-Korsakov undertook its completion.
Rimsky-Korsakov had collected material that he originally planned to
incorporate into a virtuoso violin fantasy on Spanish themes, but the final
form of the work that emerged was that of a five-movement orchestral suite in
which the movements are played without pause. The composer himself
explained that the changes of timbres, the happy choice of melodic designs
and figuration patterns that are precisely suited to each kind of instrument, the
short virtuoso cadenzas for solo instruments, the rhythm of the percussion
instruments, and so on, constitute in this piece the very essence of the
composition. Although it is true that the work derives much of its effect from
brilliant orchestration, the composer insisted that the piece is a “brilliant
composition for orchestra,” not a “brilliantly-orchestrated composition.”
In the first movement in A major, an alborada (morning song), the full
orchestra introduces the two principal themes. Violin arpeggios lead to the
second movement, “Variations,” which is in the unrelated key of F major. The
French horn announces the theme, and five short variations follow. A flute
solo leads to a recall of the opening alborada, now transposed to B-flat major
with different orchestration. The fourth movement, “Scene and Gypsy Song,”
begins with a roll on the side drum. Five cadenzas are heard, followed by a
harp glissando. The gypsy song, a seductive cantilena in the violins, grows in
drama and intensity, and builds to a whirling climax. A rhythmic theme for
trombones begins the final movement, Fandango Asturiano. Woodwinds
present a second theme, and the music becomes extremely lively. The work
concludes with a recall of the alborada theme.
© Ted Wilks, 1993, 2012