Musical Migrations
Gli Uccelli (The Birds), Suite for Small Orchestra – Ottorino Respighi
Born July 9, 1879, in Bologna, Italy
Died April 18, 1936, in Rome, Italy
This work was first performed in June of 1928 in Sao Paolo, Brazil, with the composer conducting. It is scored for piccolo, two flutes, oboe, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, harp, celesta, and strings.
Though he later appeared in public, both as a conductor and a pianist, Respighi began his career as a violinist shortly after he graduated from the Liceo Musicale Rossini in Bologna in 1901. Around 1905 Respighi turned his attention to the historic viola d'amore and he became quite adept at the performance of early Italian scores for the instrument. In time his interest was extended to the arrangement of a considerable amount of Renaissance and early Baroque music. He transcribedFrescobaldi's Toccatas and Fugues for piano, and created a modern edition of Monteverdi's Lamento di Arianna. He made orchestral arrangements of Bach's Prelude and Fugue in D Major, Passacaglia in C Minor, and of three of his chorales. The year before he died, he re-edited and orchestrated Monteverdi's Orfeo.
Respighi was not content merely to rearrange and transcribe old music. However, many of his mature works employ the antique church modes. Two of his most successful efforts were his three suites of Ancient Airs and Dances. It was only logical that Respighi should turn to four early composers for inspiration in Gli Uccelli (The Birds) – Bernardo Pasquini (1637-1710), Jacques de Gallot (died ca. 1690), Jean Philippe Rameau (1683-1764), and an anonymous English composer.
Respighi's suite of Gli Uccelli is in five parts, consisting of a prelude and portraits of four birds – not merely their characteristic calls, but also a sense of their behavior. For the Prelude (allegretto moderato), Respighi borrowed a theme from Pasquini, in his day the organist at the church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, harpsichordist for the Rome Opera, and chamber musician to Prince Giovanni Battista Borghese. Although he composed ten operas, eight oratorios, and volumes of chamber music, Pasquini is best remembered for his harpsichord music. His theme in this prelude is initially heard in the first violins and woodwinds, and is then repeated in various registers and instrumental combinations. Succeeding interludes suggest the bird songs of the movements yet to come. Oboe and violins introduce the hen; flute, bassoon, and violins present the cuckoo; and the flute hints at the nightingale.
For La Colomba (The Dove), the oboe plays a theme by Jacques de Gallot, who was a member of a distinguished family of French lutenists and wrote a collection of Pieces de Luth. The oboe theme is heard over a quiet background of muted strings and harp. Twittering violins accompany a more expansive melody for cellos, taken up by the woodwinds. The violins once again suggest the cooing dove against a pattern of fluttering flutes and, toward the end, a harp glissando adds to the gentleness of the warbling flute and chirping strings.
La Gallina (The Hen) is based on a melody Respighi found in Jean Philippe Rameau's Nouvelle Suite de Pieces pour clavecin that resembles the clucking of a chicken, heard here in the first violins. Rameau's keyboard works are better known today than any of his fifteen operas and ballets, though these stage works were his greatest source of fame in Eighteenth-Century Paris. The hen's theme in Respighi's music is punctuated by oboe, with accompaniment for woodwinds, strings and muted trumpet. With colorful key changes, the melody is taken by violins and clarinets, by oboe and clarinets and, toward the close, by the clarinet alone with violin trills.
To find the evocative melody of L’Usignuolo (The Nightingale), Respighidelved into an old English collection of virginal music (the virginal was an early keyboard instrument akin to the harpsichord). The flute is given the characteristic birdcall, as horns and low strings provide the background. The nightingale's notes are interspersed by gentle phrases from other woodwinds and the call is echoed by the piccolo. Eventually the horn takes up the melody, contrasted against the woodwinds.
Il Cuccu (The Cuckoo)borrows again from Pasquini. The cuckoo's notes are heard in quick succession by flute, clarinet, and horn. Violins and celesta set the evocative atmosphere. An expressive melody for first violins expands during the woodwind imitations amidst persistent birdsong. The full orchestra rounds off the work with the theme of the Prelude, which now appears to have been more or less the same as Pasquini's cuckoo from the start.
Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major for Piano and Orchestra, Op.19 – Ludwig van Beethoven
Born December 16, 1770, in Bonn, Germany
Died March 26, 1827, in Vienna, Austria
This work was premiered on March 29, 1795, at the Burgtheater in Vienna with Beethoven as soloist and conductor. It is scored for flute, pairs of oboes and bassoons, two horns, timpani and strings.
When Ludwig van Beethoven left his hometown of Bonn and relocated to the famed musical capital of Vienna in 1792, his entire reputation was at stake. He had become well known in Bonn as a gifted pianist and a promising young composer. When Franz Joseph Haydn had passed through Germany on his first journey to London in 1791, he had invited the twenty-one year old composer to make a pilgrimage to Vienna as his student. Bonn’s biggest musical fish suddenly found himself engulfed by the sprawling ocean of Vienna.
Beethoven felt immense pressure to prove himself if he was ever to become recognized in a town so full of musicians. It seemed natural that his pianistic virtuosity, the most visible of his talents, should be his ticket to success. So it was as a pianist that Beethoven made his first inroads into Viennese society by playing in the homes of aristocrats. He also presented public concerts, often as benefit performances for musical or political causes – and sometimes for the purpose of funding his own career. It was against this background that four of the five piano concertos of Beethoven arose as showcases for his skills as pianist and composer.
Interestingly, the numbers we now associate with Beethoven’s early piano concertos do not reflect the order of composition. The Second Concerto, heard on this program, is one of the earliest of Beethoven’s works still performed today, although it was not published until 1801 – well into his mature Viennese career. He started writing the piece in his birth city of Bonn when he was just eighteen years of age. This piece followed on the heels of a lost juvenile piano concerto that he composed four years earlier. The work known as the First Concerto was actually the third piano concerto that he composed and was written nearly a decade after the Second. Beethoven’s eventual numbering of the concertos reflects the order of publication.
Beethoven’s Second Concerto was probably premiered by the composer at a Viennese charity concert, on March 29, 1795, for the Vienna Composers’ Society to benefit the widows and orphans of musicians. This performance was Beethoven’s concert debut in the city of Vienna after a few years of performing in private appearances in the homes of aristocrats.
The Second Concerto begins with a Mozartean first movement (Allegro con brio) featuring the standard Classical-period double exposition in which the orchestra introduces all of the principal themes before they are restated by the soloist. However, even this early in his career, Beethoven breaks with tradition by having the soloist enter with a brand new theme. The solo part is bold and assertive, holding sway over the orchestra throughout the movement. Beethoven’s development section is a perfect example of how fragments of themes can be jumbled and combined for a strikingly dramatic effect.
Beethoven’s emotionally varied Adagio is characterized by long arching phrases. One of the most interesting features of this movement is how Beethoven imparts a breathless quality into those phrases by including short rests. The effect is one of passionate urgency. The movement concludes with one of the composer’s early attempts at writing instrumental recitative (a harmonically varied solo line, most often used in opera as a way of setting conversations to music), presented here instead of the customary cadenza. Beethoven later used a similar approach in the low strings near the beginning of the final of his monumental Ninth Symphony.
The finale, dashed off hurriedly two days before the premiere, is witty and dancelike. Set in rondo form, the brilliant 6/8-meter principal theme returns frequently between statements of delightfully varied and inspired musical excursions. The soloist experiences an impressive workout, but Beethoven’s brusque sense of humor provides ample opportunity for playfulness.
Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major, Op. 97 (Rhenish) – Robert Schumann
Born June 8, 1810, in Zwickau, Saxony, Germany
Died July 29, 1856, in Endenich, near Bonn, Germany
This work was premiered on February 6, 1851, in Düsseldorf conducted by the composer. It is scored for pairs of woodwinds, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, and strings.
Robert Schumann was what many consider to be the epitome of the stereotypical Romantic artist. Unlike composers of the Classical period, his artistic temperament did not allow him to compose in a mechanical manner just to meet deadlines. Schumann required inspiration and often wrote numerous short pieces in a concentrated flurry of activity. As a result, certain years in his life became associated with specific types of works. In 1840, his ‘song year,’ Schumann wrote over one hundred lieder. The next year brought orchestral and instrumental music, while 1842 was associated with chamber music. His music’s emotional excesses were reflected in his private life with his battle with the prominent piano teacher Friedrich Wieck over the hand of his underage daughter, Clara. Within a decade of their wedding, Robert began a precipitous descent into syphilitic insanity. The disease claimed Schumann’s life at the young age of forty-five.
Despite these overwhelming problems, Schumann was one of the most original compositional voices to emerge in the nineteenth century. His numerous lieder, piano pieces, and chamber works are among the most revered in the repertoire. Schumann’s four symphonies are considered to be among the cornerstones of German Romantic orchestra music.
In 1850 the Schumanns moved from Dresden to the town of Dusseldorf where Robert became the head of the Dusseldorf Musical Society. In the few months that followed, Schumann would compose two important works – the Third Symphony and the Cello Concerto.
Schumann’s Third Symphony was inspired by a visit to Cologne in 1850 and was composed in amazingly short order between November 2 and December 9 of that year. He was intrigued with the Rhine River and how it influenced the lives of every citizen who lived near its banks as it flowed from its source in the Swiss Alps through Germany and emptied into North Sea. He decided to subtitle the work with one word – Rhenish. It would be Schumann’s final symphony, but was the penultimate to be published. Therefore, it is known today as his Third Symphony.
Schumann’s Rhenish Symphony opens with a broad syncopated theme heard in the full orchestra. Bold and strong, this is the kernel upon which the entire work is built, setting the tone for a symphony of great nobility and decorum. Along with a lyrical second theme, the opening melody receives considerable development. An overwhelming feeling of optimism pervades the entire movement, buoyed by magnificent writing for the strings and horns.
The second movement is a slow ländler – a Germanic folk dance later used to great advantage in the symphonies of Gustav Mahler. Most notable here is the presence of two trio sections instead of the usual single appearance. Schumann’s third movement, marked nicht schnell (not fast), is an atmospheric character piece consisting of just fifty-four measures of music and serving as a tender reverie.
Without a doubt, the heart and soul of this symphony is the mammoth fourth movement. Schumann’s 1850 visit to Cologne coincided with the ceremonial elevation of Archbishop Johannes von Geissel to the lofty rank of Cardinal – an event that displayed the magnificent cathedral to its fullest advantage. Solemnity and pageantry is at the forefront of this glorious portrait of what was then the tallest building in the world. Trombones are heard here for the first time in the work. Schumann’s sparkling finale uses the principal theme of the fourth movement and transforms it into a joyful song of celebration.
©2011 Orpheus Music Prose & Craig Doolin
www.orpheusnotes.com
Born July 9, 1879, in Bologna, Italy
Died April 18, 1936, in Rome, Italy
This work was first performed in June of 1928 in Sao Paolo, Brazil, with the composer conducting. It is scored for piccolo, two flutes, oboe, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, harp, celesta, and strings.
Though he later appeared in public, both as a conductor and a pianist, Respighi began his career as a violinist shortly after he graduated from the Liceo Musicale Rossini in Bologna in 1901. Around 1905 Respighi turned his attention to the historic viola d'amore and he became quite adept at the performance of early Italian scores for the instrument. In time his interest was extended to the arrangement of a considerable amount of Renaissance and early Baroque music. He transcribedFrescobaldi's Toccatas and Fugues for piano, and created a modern edition of Monteverdi's Lamento di Arianna. He made orchestral arrangements of Bach's Prelude and Fugue in D Major, Passacaglia in C Minor, and of three of his chorales. The year before he died, he re-edited and orchestrated Monteverdi's Orfeo.
Respighi was not content merely to rearrange and transcribe old music. However, many of his mature works employ the antique church modes. Two of his most successful efforts were his three suites of Ancient Airs and Dances. It was only logical that Respighi should turn to four early composers for inspiration in Gli Uccelli (The Birds) – Bernardo Pasquini (1637-1710), Jacques de Gallot (died ca. 1690), Jean Philippe Rameau (1683-1764), and an anonymous English composer.
Respighi's suite of Gli Uccelli is in five parts, consisting of a prelude and portraits of four birds – not merely their characteristic calls, but also a sense of their behavior. For the Prelude (allegretto moderato), Respighi borrowed a theme from Pasquini, in his day the organist at the church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, harpsichordist for the Rome Opera, and chamber musician to Prince Giovanni Battista Borghese. Although he composed ten operas, eight oratorios, and volumes of chamber music, Pasquini is best remembered for his harpsichord music. His theme in this prelude is initially heard in the first violins and woodwinds, and is then repeated in various registers and instrumental combinations. Succeeding interludes suggest the bird songs of the movements yet to come. Oboe and violins introduce the hen; flute, bassoon, and violins present the cuckoo; and the flute hints at the nightingale.
For La Colomba (The Dove), the oboe plays a theme by Jacques de Gallot, who was a member of a distinguished family of French lutenists and wrote a collection of Pieces de Luth. The oboe theme is heard over a quiet background of muted strings and harp. Twittering violins accompany a more expansive melody for cellos, taken up by the woodwinds. The violins once again suggest the cooing dove against a pattern of fluttering flutes and, toward the end, a harp glissando adds to the gentleness of the warbling flute and chirping strings.
La Gallina (The Hen) is based on a melody Respighi found in Jean Philippe Rameau's Nouvelle Suite de Pieces pour clavecin that resembles the clucking of a chicken, heard here in the first violins. Rameau's keyboard works are better known today than any of his fifteen operas and ballets, though these stage works were his greatest source of fame in Eighteenth-Century Paris. The hen's theme in Respighi's music is punctuated by oboe, with accompaniment for woodwinds, strings and muted trumpet. With colorful key changes, the melody is taken by violins and clarinets, by oboe and clarinets and, toward the close, by the clarinet alone with violin trills.
To find the evocative melody of L’Usignuolo (The Nightingale), Respighidelved into an old English collection of virginal music (the virginal was an early keyboard instrument akin to the harpsichord). The flute is given the characteristic birdcall, as horns and low strings provide the background. The nightingale's notes are interspersed by gentle phrases from other woodwinds and the call is echoed by the piccolo. Eventually the horn takes up the melody, contrasted against the woodwinds.
Il Cuccu (The Cuckoo)borrows again from Pasquini. The cuckoo's notes are heard in quick succession by flute, clarinet, and horn. Violins and celesta set the evocative atmosphere. An expressive melody for first violins expands during the woodwind imitations amidst persistent birdsong. The full orchestra rounds off the work with the theme of the Prelude, which now appears to have been more or less the same as Pasquini's cuckoo from the start.
Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major for Piano and Orchestra, Op.19 – Ludwig van Beethoven
Born December 16, 1770, in Bonn, Germany
Died March 26, 1827, in Vienna, Austria
This work was premiered on March 29, 1795, at the Burgtheater in Vienna with Beethoven as soloist and conductor. It is scored for flute, pairs of oboes and bassoons, two horns, timpani and strings.
When Ludwig van Beethoven left his hometown of Bonn and relocated to the famed musical capital of Vienna in 1792, his entire reputation was at stake. He had become well known in Bonn as a gifted pianist and a promising young composer. When Franz Joseph Haydn had passed through Germany on his first journey to London in 1791, he had invited the twenty-one year old composer to make a pilgrimage to Vienna as his student. Bonn’s biggest musical fish suddenly found himself engulfed by the sprawling ocean of Vienna.
Beethoven felt immense pressure to prove himself if he was ever to become recognized in a town so full of musicians. It seemed natural that his pianistic virtuosity, the most visible of his talents, should be his ticket to success. So it was as a pianist that Beethoven made his first inroads into Viennese society by playing in the homes of aristocrats. He also presented public concerts, often as benefit performances for musical or political causes – and sometimes for the purpose of funding his own career. It was against this background that four of the five piano concertos of Beethoven arose as showcases for his skills as pianist and composer.
Interestingly, the numbers we now associate with Beethoven’s early piano concertos do not reflect the order of composition. The Second Concerto, heard on this program, is one of the earliest of Beethoven’s works still performed today, although it was not published until 1801 – well into his mature Viennese career. He started writing the piece in his birth city of Bonn when he was just eighteen years of age. This piece followed on the heels of a lost juvenile piano concerto that he composed four years earlier. The work known as the First Concerto was actually the third piano concerto that he composed and was written nearly a decade after the Second. Beethoven’s eventual numbering of the concertos reflects the order of publication.
Beethoven’s Second Concerto was probably premiered by the composer at a Viennese charity concert, on March 29, 1795, for the Vienna Composers’ Society to benefit the widows and orphans of musicians. This performance was Beethoven’s concert debut in the city of Vienna after a few years of performing in private appearances in the homes of aristocrats.
The Second Concerto begins with a Mozartean first movement (Allegro con brio) featuring the standard Classical-period double exposition in which the orchestra introduces all of the principal themes before they are restated by the soloist. However, even this early in his career, Beethoven breaks with tradition by having the soloist enter with a brand new theme. The solo part is bold and assertive, holding sway over the orchestra throughout the movement. Beethoven’s development section is a perfect example of how fragments of themes can be jumbled and combined for a strikingly dramatic effect.
Beethoven’s emotionally varied Adagio is characterized by long arching phrases. One of the most interesting features of this movement is how Beethoven imparts a breathless quality into those phrases by including short rests. The effect is one of passionate urgency. The movement concludes with one of the composer’s early attempts at writing instrumental recitative (a harmonically varied solo line, most often used in opera as a way of setting conversations to music), presented here instead of the customary cadenza. Beethoven later used a similar approach in the low strings near the beginning of the final of his monumental Ninth Symphony.
The finale, dashed off hurriedly two days before the premiere, is witty and dancelike. Set in rondo form, the brilliant 6/8-meter principal theme returns frequently between statements of delightfully varied and inspired musical excursions. The soloist experiences an impressive workout, but Beethoven’s brusque sense of humor provides ample opportunity for playfulness.
Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major, Op. 97 (Rhenish) – Robert Schumann
Born June 8, 1810, in Zwickau, Saxony, Germany
Died July 29, 1856, in Endenich, near Bonn, Germany
This work was premiered on February 6, 1851, in Düsseldorf conducted by the composer. It is scored for pairs of woodwinds, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, and strings.
Robert Schumann was what many consider to be the epitome of the stereotypical Romantic artist. Unlike composers of the Classical period, his artistic temperament did not allow him to compose in a mechanical manner just to meet deadlines. Schumann required inspiration and often wrote numerous short pieces in a concentrated flurry of activity. As a result, certain years in his life became associated with specific types of works. In 1840, his ‘song year,’ Schumann wrote over one hundred lieder. The next year brought orchestral and instrumental music, while 1842 was associated with chamber music. His music’s emotional excesses were reflected in his private life with his battle with the prominent piano teacher Friedrich Wieck over the hand of his underage daughter, Clara. Within a decade of their wedding, Robert began a precipitous descent into syphilitic insanity. The disease claimed Schumann’s life at the young age of forty-five.
Despite these overwhelming problems, Schumann was one of the most original compositional voices to emerge in the nineteenth century. His numerous lieder, piano pieces, and chamber works are among the most revered in the repertoire. Schumann’s four symphonies are considered to be among the cornerstones of German Romantic orchestra music.
In 1850 the Schumanns moved from Dresden to the town of Dusseldorf where Robert became the head of the Dusseldorf Musical Society. In the few months that followed, Schumann would compose two important works – the Third Symphony and the Cello Concerto.
Schumann’s Third Symphony was inspired by a visit to Cologne in 1850 and was composed in amazingly short order between November 2 and December 9 of that year. He was intrigued with the Rhine River and how it influenced the lives of every citizen who lived near its banks as it flowed from its source in the Swiss Alps through Germany and emptied into North Sea. He decided to subtitle the work with one word – Rhenish. It would be Schumann’s final symphony, but was the penultimate to be published. Therefore, it is known today as his Third Symphony.
Schumann’s Rhenish Symphony opens with a broad syncopated theme heard in the full orchestra. Bold and strong, this is the kernel upon which the entire work is built, setting the tone for a symphony of great nobility and decorum. Along with a lyrical second theme, the opening melody receives considerable development. An overwhelming feeling of optimism pervades the entire movement, buoyed by magnificent writing for the strings and horns.
The second movement is a slow ländler – a Germanic folk dance later used to great advantage in the symphonies of Gustav Mahler. Most notable here is the presence of two trio sections instead of the usual single appearance. Schumann’s third movement, marked nicht schnell (not fast), is an atmospheric character piece consisting of just fifty-four measures of music and serving as a tender reverie.
Without a doubt, the heart and soul of this symphony is the mammoth fourth movement. Schumann’s 1850 visit to Cologne coincided with the ceremonial elevation of Archbishop Johannes von Geissel to the lofty rank of Cardinal – an event that displayed the magnificent cathedral to its fullest advantage. Solemnity and pageantry is at the forefront of this glorious portrait of what was then the tallest building in the world. Trombones are heard here for the first time in the work. Schumann’s sparkling finale uses the principal theme of the fourth movement and transforms it into a joyful song of celebration.
©2011 Orpheus Music Prose & Craig Doolin
www.orpheusnotes.com