Natchitoches-Northwestern Symphony
March 19, 2024, 7:30pm, Magale Recital Hall

Program

Ludwig van Beethoven: Overture to Coriolan, Op. 62. 1807

W.A. Mozart: Flute Concerto, in D major. K. 34:  

  1. Allegro aperto

  2. Andante ma non troppo

  3. Allegro

 

Delibes: March and Procession of Bacchus 

Verdi: "Libiamo.." from La Traviata

 

Omar Thomas: Of Our New Day Begun

 

Samuel Barber: Adagio for Strings

 

Rimsky-Korsakov: Russian Easter Overture, Op. 36.

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PROGRAM NOTES:

Ludwig van Beethoven: Overture to Coriolan, Op. 62. 1807

It received its first performance in March of 1807 at a private concert held at the palace of his patron, Prince Franz Joseph von Lobkowitz. His Symphony no. 4 and Piano Concerto no. 4 were also performed at this event. The Overture to Coriolan is scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, and strings.

Although Beethoven composed only one opera, Fidelio (originally titled Leonore), he was frequently drawn to compose overtures and incidental music to stage dramas, such as Goethe’s drama, Egmont. While lovers of theater may be familiar with William Shakespeare’s play, Coriolanus, Beethoven was inspired to write his Coriolan Overture to another drama involving the same character, Gaius Marcius Coriolanus. The author in question was Beethoven’s contemporary, the Viennese playwright Heinrich Joseph von Collins (1771-1811), whose play of the same name dates from 1804. Beethoven’s familiarity with the historical figure of Coriolanus was doubtlessly fed by not only Collin’s play, but also by his self-education whereby he read as much literature regarding Greco-Roman history, including Plutarch’s Parallel Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans.

The Coriolan Overture is composed in the key of C Minor. Much has been written about this tonality being Beethoven’s choice for some of his most dramatic music. Think of his Piano Sonata, op. 13 (Gran Sonata Pathétique), his String Quartet, Op. 18, no. 4, the Piano Concerto no. 3, and above all, his Symphony no. 5 and you get the idea. The Coriolan Overture, whose compositional dates overlap with his work on the Fifth Symphony, comes closest in spirit to that titanic symphony. Indeed, the tautness of its structure, its aggressive and restless nature (representative of Coriolan’s personality), and relentless sense of forward motion make the first movement of the Fifth Symphony and the overture kinsmen. It opens with a powerful gesture—a long unison note that explodes into a dramatic chord. Beethoven repeats the gesture twice more before launching into its restless first theme. A secondary theme in the major mode, perhaps representing Coriolan’s mother’s futile effort to dissuade her son from attacking Rome, is overtaken by more the more dramatic elements, again suggesting Coriolan’s impetuous temperament.

Program note by David B. Levy, © 2022 

W.A. Mozart: Flute Concerto, in D major. K. 34:  Allegro aperto II. Andante ma non troppo III. Allegro

In 1777, the Mozarts dissatisfaction with their situation in Salzburg reached breaking point. In August they submitted an official request to the Archbishops to be relieved of their posts. Although their request was granted, father Leopold was not prepared to quit his job. This was how the 20-year-old Mozart came to undertake his next European travels with his mother in tow. First, they travelled to Mannheim via Munich and Augsburg. Mannheim was an important musical center with its superb orchestra which boasted a revolutionary new sound, and also because the court enthusiastically loved music. Mozart soon became good friends with the orchestral leader Johann Christian Cannabich, flautist Johann Baptist Wendling and oboist Friedrich Ramm. He gave the latter musician an oboe concerto which he had written a few months ealier in Salzburg, which, as we know from Mozart's November 4th letter, “made him almost mad with joy”.

During the 19th century, this oboe concerto was believed lost. This state of affairs continued until the early 20th century when a handwritten copy of a set of parts for an unusual work was discovered in the Mozarteum archive: the researchers were astounded to realize that the discovered concerto agreed note for note with the well-known D major flute concerto (K. 314), although transcribed down by a tone. The solo instrument was not a flute but an oboe. Thus, Mozart's much mentioned C major oboe concerto was rediscovered, and the full story of the D major flute concerto was now clear as well.

In winter 1777, a retired doctor from Dutch East-India Company, a certain flute playing De Jean, commissioned a work from Mozart for a princely sum. On December 10th 1777 Mozart wrote to his father: “Next day, as I usually do, I went to Wendling for lunch. There he said to me: our Indian is giving you 200 florins, if you will write for him three small, easy, brief concertos, and some quartets for flute.” Mozart and his mother could live extremely well for several months from 200 florins, and so Mozart was extremely grateful for this commission. However, there was one major problem: Mozart could not tolerate the flute and was none too keen on flautists either. This is well illustrated by the following anecdote, in which Mozart told Wendling, the brother of the Mannheim flautist: “Your brother is an exception. He is not merely going through the motions, when I hear him, I don't have to tremble that the next note will be too high or too low – he always intones accurately. His heart is in its place, as is his ear and the tip of his tongue and he does not imagine that being able to blow a lungful of air or pull faces is enough for flute playing.”

The financially inept Mozart did not truly grasp the importance of the commission. And his distaste for the flute, his daily musical duties, his acquaintance with the Weber family and particularly his attraction to, and wooing of the oldest Weber daughter, Aloysia, he unfortunately missed the deadline. Although he told his father, still in Salzburg, that he was progressing well with the work and that he had written two flute concertos and three flute quartets, in truth, by January 1778, he had only composed a single concerto (G major, K 313) and a single quartet (D major, K 285.) The second concerto, which Mozart mentioned to his father, was the oboe concerto in C major, written some six months earlier. Mozart decided he had little to lose, and simply transcribed the oboe concerto up a step to D major for flute. Although he hoped it might fool his patron, the Dutchman De Jean realized what Mozart was up to and partly because of this, and partly because the works were so hard, he was not even capable of playing them, he only paid Mozart a half of what he initially promised. Mozart's chaotic lifestyle, once freed from his father's immediate authority, is clearly shown by Leopold's reaction to what was clearly not the entire story from his son: “You mean that you received 96 florins instead of 200? And why? Because you only wrote him two concertos and three quartets? How many should you have written for him to only want to pay half? Why do you write lies to me, saying you only had to produce three small concertos and a few quartets? And why didn't you listen to me when I told you specifically that you really must treat this gentleman as well as you can? Why? Because you would certainly have received the 200 florins. I know people better than you do.”

The D major flute concerto (K. 314) follows the structure and form of earlier Mozart concertos, particularly the violin concertos, and from its routine and idiomatic style of writing, there is no sense of how much Mozart disliked the instrument for which he was composing. Even if it is not as original as the later piano concertos, it is still one of the finest examples of gallant music, the fashionable musical language of the era: virtuoso opening and closing movement embrace a magical slow movement which is reminiscent of the most beautiful love arias from Mozart's operas.

 

Delibes: March and Procession of Bacchus

Léo Delibes (1836-1891) was a French composer of ballets, operas, and other works for the stage. 

The ballet Sylvia was first produced at the Paris Opera in 1876. The plot tells of Sylvia, a beautiful huntress who is captured and abducted by Orion, the huntsman. Amyntas, who is in love with her, pursues her and her captor to a wooded area on the seacoast to rescue her. At this point a festival to Bacchus, god of vegetation and wine making, is held. Afterwards, reveals herself and she is rescued.

When it was first performed, Sylvia was a triumph. It, along with his earlier ballet Coppelia, permanently established Delibes as the foremost French composer of ballet music.

 

Verdi: "Libiamo.." from La Traviata

Text:

Alfredo
Let's drink, let's drink from the joyous chalices
that beauty blossoms.
And may the fleeting moment
be elated with voluptuousness.
Let's drink from the sweet thrills
that love arouses,
because that eye aims straight to the almighty heart.
Let's drink, my love: the love among chalices
will have warmer kisses.

Flora, Gastone, Barone, Dottore, Marchese, Chorus
Ah, let's drink, my love: the love among chalices
will have warmer kisses.

Violetta
With you, with you I'll be able to share
my cheerful times.
Everything is foolish in the world
which is not pleasure.
Let's enjoy ourselves, for fleeting and quick
the delight of love is:
it's a flower that blooms and dies
and can no longer be enjoyed.
Let's enjoy ourselves, fervent
flattering voice invites us.

Flora, Gastone, Barone, Dottore, Marchese, Chorus
Ah, let's enjoy the cup, the cup and the chants,
the embellished nights and the laughter;
let the new day find us in this paradise.

Violetta: Life means celebration.
Alfredo: If one hasn't known love.
Violetta: Don't tell someone who doesn't know.
Alfredo: But this is my fate.

All
Ah, let's enjoy the cup, the cup and the chants,
the embellished night and the laughter;
let the new day find us in this paradise.
Ah, ah, let the new day find us. (We shall let the new day find us.)
Ah, ah, let the new day find us. (We shall let the new day find us.)
Ah, yes... (Yes, we shall let, we shall let the new day find us...)

Omar Thomas "Of Our New Day Begun" (Program notes by the composer):

"Of Our New Day Begun" was written to honor nine beautiful souls who lost their lives to a callous act of hatred and domestic terrorism on the evening of June 17, 2015, while worshipping in their beloved sanctuary, the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church (affectionately referred to as “Mother Emanuel”) in Charleston, South Carolina. My greatest challenge in creating this work was walking the line between reverence for the victims and their families, and honoring my strong, bitter feelings towards both the perpetrator and the segments of our society that continue to create people like him. I realized that the most powerful musical expression I could offer incorporated elements from both sides of that line - embracing my pain and anger while being moved by the displays of grace and forgiveness demonstrated by the victims’ families.

Historically, black Americans have, in great number, turned to the church to find refuge and grounding in the most trying of times. Thus, the musical themes and ideas for “Of Our New Day Begun” are rooted in the Black American church tradition. The piece is anchored by James and John Johnson’s time-honored song, “Lift Every Voice and Sing” (known endearingly as the “Negro National Anthem”), and peppered with blues harmonies and melodies. Singing, stomping, and clapping are also prominent features of this work, as they have always been a mainstay of black music traditions, and the inclusion of the tambourine in these sections is a direct nod to black worship services.

 

“Of Our New Day Begun” begins with a unison statement of a melodic cell from “Lift Every Voice….” before suddenly giving way to ghostly, bluesy chords in the horns and bassoons. This section moves to a dolorous and bitter dirge presentation of the anthem in irregularly shifting 12/8 and 6/8 meter, which grows in intensity as it offers fleeting glimmers of hope and relief answered by cries of blues-inspired licks. A maddening, ostinato-driven section representing a frustration and weariness that words cannot, grows into a group singing of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” fueled by the stomping and clapping reminiscent of the black church.

 

In the latter half of the piece the music turns hopeful, settling into 9/8 time and modulating up a step during its ascent to a glorious statement of the final lines of “Lift Every Voice….” in 4/4, honoring the powerful display of humanity set forth by the families of the victims. There is a long and emotional decrescendo that lands on a pensive and cathartic gospel-inspired hymn song. Returning to 9/8 time, the piece comes to rest on a unison F that grows from a very distant hum to a thunderous roar, driven forward by march-like stomping to represent the ceaseless marching of black Americans towards equality.

Samuel Barber: Adagio for Strings

Samuel Barber’s moving Adagio for Strings is one of the most popular and frequently programmed American compositions in the standard repertory. Elemental and beautiful, the Adagio has qualities that are rarely found together: a spacious, quintessentially American sound, but also a melancholy, ruminative mood that offers both insight and solace to the listener.

The Adagio‘s long, flowing, deeply voiced melodic line remains a constant presence that is both elegiac and hopeful as it passes from one string choir to another — first in the violins and then, a fifth lower, in the violas. As the violas continue with their heartfelt voicing of the theme, it is taken up by the cellos and further developed, eventually building to a climax in which the basses underline it, adding a sense of depth and timelessness with their unique resonance. A fortissimo climax, like a cry from the heart, is followed by silence, leading to the restatement of the original, with an inversion of its second statement offering perhaps the possibility of healing and hope.

 

Rimsky-Korsakov: Russian Easter Overture, Op. 36.

(The following is taken from the composer’s own analysis, as it appears in his posthumously published autobiography, My Musical Life)

“During the summer of 1888 I finished The Bright Holiday [as he would usually refer to it], an Easter Overture on themes from the Obikhod [a collection of Russian Orthodox Church music] ... The lengthy, slow introduction... on the theme ‘Let God Arise!,’ alternating with the ecclesiastical theme ‘An Angel Cried Out,’ appeared to me in the beginning as Isaiah’s prophecy of the resurrection of Christ. The gloomy colors of the Andante lugubre seemed to depict the holy sepulchre that had shone with ineffable light at the moment of the resurrection...The beginning of the Allegro, ‘Let them also that hate Him flee before Him,’ leads to the holiday mood of the Orthodox church service on Christ’s matins. The solemn trumpet voice of the Archangel is then displaced by a tonal reproduction of the joyous, dance-like tolling of the bells, alternating with an evocation of the sexton’s rapid reading and the chant of the priest’s reading the glad tidings of the Evangel. The Obikhod theme, ‘Christ is risen,’ which is the subsidiary part of the Overture, appears amid the trumpet-blasts and bell-tolling, constituting a triumphant coda. Resurrexit!’ sings the chorus of heavenly angels to the sound of the archangels’ trumpets and the fluttering of the wings of seraphim. ‘Resurrexit!’ sing the priests in the temple, amid clouds of incense, by the light of innumerable candles, to the chiming of triumphant bells.”

 

FIN.

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