Program Notes
SATURDAY, OCT 18, 2008, 8:00
P.M.
Overture to The Marriage of Figaro
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Born January 27, 1756 in Salzburg, Austria
Died December 5, 1791 in Vienna, Austria
Regarded as a ‘wunderkind’ (child prodigy) from an
early age, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart has been labeled by many as a musical genius
and the greatest composer who ever lived. His incredible opus includes operas,
concertos, chamber music, symphonies, and music in almost every genre that existed
during the Classical Era. It is unimaginable what else could have come from the
pen of such a prolific composer, considering how much he had already left to
humanity after only 35 years of his life.
When Mozart composed the Italian opera The Marriage of Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro) in 1786, he had already been living in Vienna for several years. He took the story from the French
comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais that had been quite
unpopular in Austria-Hungary due to revolutionary ideas that provoked not only
the French but also stirred the political environment all over Europe. The Emperor, Joseph II, banned the play and only thanks to Mozart’s
librettist, Lorenzo da Ponte, who removed all
political references, Mozart succeeded in putting the work on stage.
The premiere took place at the Burgtheater in
Vienna on May 1, 1786 to great success, but the Emperor allowed for the
opera to be repeated just eight more times. The story of The Marriage of Figaro takes place in Seville, Spain, following the events of
The Barber of Seville (Beaumarchais’
earlier play, which has become famous through Rossini’s opera under the same
name written some years later, in 1816). The Overture to The Marriage of Figaro stands as one of the jewels from Mozart’s incredible
crown of musical ideas and, today, it is often performed independently to the
enjoyment of the audience. It is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two
clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani and strings – a
typical orchestra of the Classical Era.
Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Born January 27, 1756 in Salzburg, Austria
Died December 5, 1791 in Vienna, Austria
The piano
concerto as a genre can almost be said to have been invented by Mozart. Before him,
there were only a handful of them – Bach’s harpsichord concertos, piano
concertos by Bach’s son, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, as well as a few keyboard concertos by
Joseph Haydn and his contemporaries. But not until Mozart can we see how this
genre gained popularity and established itself as a major form, pursued by the
audiences and to become a part of every pianist’s standard repertoire. This could
be explained by the fact that the piano itself was not invented until the 1700s,
and even then it was an experimental instrument until perhaps 1750 or so when
the instrument finally developed to the level that allowed the expressiveness
necessary to accomplish the composer’s musical ideas to their full potential.
Mozart loved playing the instrument,
and wrote some 19 sonatas and 27 concertos for it. The Piano Concerto No. 20
was written in 1785. Mozart entered it into his own catalogue of compositions
on February 10. The next day, on February 11, his father, Leopold, came to Vienna to spend a few weeks with his son and daughter-in-law.
The concerto was premiered that same evening. In a letter written a few days
later to his daughter (Wolfgang’s sister), Nannerl,
Leopold wrote:
“We arrived at one o’clock… On the same evening we drove to his first
subscription concert at which a great many members of the aristocracy were
present. The concert was magnificent and the orchestra played splendidly. In
addition to the symphonies, a female singer from the Italian theatre sang two
arias. Then we had a new and very fine concerto [K. 466] by Wolfgang, which the
copyist was still copying when we arrived [at one o’clock earlier the same
day], and the rondo of which your brother did not even have time to play
through, as he had to supervise the copying… Your brother played his great new
concerto in D [minor] most magnificently.”
The first performance took place at
the Mehlgrube Casino in Vienna, during the Lenten concert series that Mozart gave
each year. Piano Concerto No. 20 has gained tremendous success since then, and
has become an audiences' (as well as pianists’) favorite. The young Beethoven
had this concerto in his regular repertoire; and many pianists follow suit
today. One of only two Mozart’s piano concertos composed in minor keys (along
with No. 24), the Concerto No. 20 reflects the composer’s most intimate
feelings and perhaps the struggle with his inner self. The key of D minor was
not a rarity of the day, but Mozart kept it reserved for only a few
compositions in his oeuvre: Kyrie, Don Giovanni
and Requiem.
The orchestra accompanying the
soloist consists of one flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, two
trumpets, timpani and strings. The concerto has three movements, which was very
typical for the time. The first movement (Allegro) starts with strings,
juxtaposing the “dark” key of D minor with a theme, which is soon intercepted
by the piano. The tension builds, but the movement ends peacefully, perhaps to
announce the lyrical and romantic mood that follows in the second movement, Romance. This middle movement is a
seven-part rondo (ABACABA), in the key of B-flat major. Starting rather
brightly, it brings a contrasting darker section written in the relative minor
key of G minor. Many will probably recognize this beautiful lyrical melody from
the movie Amadeus, where this
movement is prominently featured at the very end of the film.
The final movement, Rondo (Allegro assai), opens with a
piano solo, inviting the orchestra to give a strong response with the same
theme, which then builds up into an exciting outburst of harmonies. The piano presents
its solo, exchanging the strong and rippling sound with gentle melodies. This
restless swapping leads, rather subtly, to the cadenza that is followed by a
coda in the key of D major, providing the concerto with an unexpectedly bright
finish.
Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 56, "Scottish"
Felix Mendelssohn
Born February 3, 1809 in Hamburg, Germany
Died November 4, 1847 in Leipzig, Germany
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
was the son of a banker, Abraham Mendelssohn, and the grandson of the great German-Jewish
philosopher, Moses Mendelssohn. He grew up in an environment of intense
intellectual ferment and, like Mozart, was regarded as a child prodigy,
having made
his first public concert appearance at the age of nine. Mendelssohn became an
accomplished pianist and composer, as
well as a conductor who revived many forgotten pieces, including the great
Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. Matthew
Passion in 1829, a work not performed since the master’s death in 1750.
Regarded as one of the more
popular composers of the Romantic Era, Mendelssohn’s oeuvre includes symphonies,
oratorios, concertos, incidental/ballet music (such as A Midsummer Night’s Dream), chamber music and music for piano.
His other interests
included art, literature, languages, and philosophy – he was a skilled artist
in pencil and watercolor, and was, beside his native German, fluent in English,
Italian, and Latin.
Symphony No. 3 in A minor, was completed in 1842. It was nicknamed
"Scottish" since it was conceived during Mendelssohn’s trip to Scotland in 1829. Scotland has always exerted a considerable pull on the German
mind and imagination: the young Goethe was inspired by the poems of Ossian in
the eighteenth century; and in the nineteenth century, both Mendelssohn and Max
Bruch were inspired with their Scottish experiences.
Mendelssohn’s own recount of the visit showed how excited he was about the
trip: “Few of my Switzerland reminiscences can compare to this; everything looks
so stern and roust, half-enveloped in haze or smoke or fog.”
This trip to Scotland inspired Mendelssohn to compose two great works:
The Hebrides Overture, and Symphony No.
3. The Hebrides was finished by 1830,
thirteen years before he finished his Third Symphony. It is clear when he was
first inspired to compose the symphony, and made rough sketches of the work. Following
a visit to the Palace of Holyrood House, the composer wrote to his family from Edinburgh:
“In
the evening twilight we went today to the palace where Queen Mary lived and
loved; a little room is shown there with a winding staircase leading up to the
door; up this way they came and found Rizzio in the
little room, pulled him out, and three rooms off there is the dark corner where
they murdered him. The chapel close to it is now roofless; grass and ivy grow
there and at the broken altar Mary was crowned Queen of Scotland. Everything
around is broken and moldering, and the bright sky shines in. I believe I found
today in that old chapel the beginning of my Scotch symphony.”
Finally completed in 1842, the
symphony was dedicated to Queen Victoria, and its premiere took place on March 3,1842 in Leipzig. It was published in the following year and is scored
for an orchestra consisting of two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets in A and B
flat, two bassoons, two horns in C and A, two horns in E, F and C, two trumpets
in D, timpani, and strings. Its melodies are full of passionate musical rendering
and romantic portrayals of Scotland, its people, its hills and vales, open skies, and
the pursuit of happiness. The lively second movement is derived from Scottish
folk music.
Notes by Predrag Gosta
