Program Notes Indigo und die vierzig Rauber Overture (1871) Johann Strauss, Jr. ( )

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Program Notes Indigo und die vierzig Rauber Overture (1871) Johann Strauss, Jr. ( )"

Ambrose Strickland
5 years ago
Views:

1 Program Notes Indigo und die vierzig Rauber Overture (1871) Johann Strauss, Jr. ( ) The operetta Indigo and the Forty Thieves, based on the story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, was first performed at the famous Theater an der Wien in Vienna. It was well received by the public, but the critics were divided. It was performed in Paris as Queen Indigo in 1875 and in London as A Night on the Bosphorus in After Strauss s death, the librettist reworked it under the title The Thousand and One Nights and it was performed again in Vienna in As one can see, the piece has suffered from an identity crisis from the beginning. Nonetheless, the music in the overture contains everything one might expect from the composer, including clean scoring, delightful melodies, and toe-tapping dance tunes. [CJ]

2 Prelude to Hansel and Gretel (1892) Engelbert Humperdinck ( ) The composer Engelbert Humperdinck (not to be confused with the pop singer Arnold George Dorsey, who legally changed his name at his manager s suggestion to be more attention grabbing), was a devotee of Richard Wagner and was important in the production of Parsifal. His musical style owes much to his mentor, yet retains a light-heartedness all his own. His sister, in 1891, was planning a children s play for the family based on the fairy tale Hansel and Gretel by the brothers Grimm and asked Engelbert to provide music for a song. The collaboration was so successful it led to the creation of his first of seven operas, which has proven to be his most enduring work. It premiered in 1893 under the baton of none other than Richard Strauss, who deemed it a masterpiece. [CJ] The fine Prelude, based on material from the opera, faithfully sets the mood. Starting out with the Children s Prayer, one can hear portions of the lovely songs of the Sandman and the Dew Fairy along with sections related to the Witch s spell and the chorus of the liberated gingerbread children. In a section reminiscent of Wagner s overture to Die Meistersinger, the various themes are brilliantly combined leading up to a dramatic climax, following which the Children s Prayer reappears, ending the Overture on a whispered high chord. [Robert Simon]

3 Pinocchio: A Merry Overture (1935) Ernst Toch ( ) The following notes are taken from the first published score in 1937: Italian lore would have us know That gay Marionette Pinocchio! With deviltry and gamin grace, He led them all a merry chase! S.J. As a composer, Ernst Toch is self-taught. All the more honor to him for occupying an undisputed place in the front rank of contemporary composers. His soundly conceived idiom is peculiarly his own. Incomparable technical mastery, felicitously combined with fecund, original power of invention, distinguishes Toch s music. Although especially active in the field of orchestral music he has significantly enriched the literature of almost every branch of the art. Viennese by birth Toch lived more than twenty years in Germany and is now making is home in the United States. Pinocchio is a legendary figure in Italian folk-lore created by Carlo Collodi. According to the story, he was fashioned by old Gepetto, a wood carver, from a curiously animated piece of wood. His rascally demeanor and mischievous escapades gave his creator many an anxious moment. His particular failing was fibbing, each lie prompting his already long nose to grow longer. He is sort of brother-in-law to the German Till Eulenspiegel. To this day Italian children are warned by their elders that their noses will grow as long as Pinocchio s if they do not tell the truth. Pinocchio s leading a merry chase can be heard in a fugue, where instruments playing the same theme at different times provide a chase of their own. [CJ]

4 La Cenerentola Overture (1817) Gioachino Rossini ( ) The secret of success is an expression much bandied about these days, with many self-appointed experts claiming to have discovered the magic formula that will work for you too. Whatever the secret, Rossini certainly found it for himself, turning out hit after hit for the operatic stage. La Cenerentola was first seen in Rome on January 25, 1817 (about a year after The Barber of Seville). It was his nineteenth opera, hence coming at about the mid-point of his total output of thirty-nine. The composer was all of twenty-five at the time! The fame of this hero knows no bounds save those of civilization itself, exclaimed Stendhal. Although La Cenerentola was not a great success at first, it soon caught on. In its first season at La Scala, for instance, it was performed forty-four times. Although it disappeared from the repertory for a time, it now ranks as one of Rossini s most performed and beloved operas. As with most of his operas, La Cenerentola was composed at breakneck speed - in less than a month. Under such circumstances, it is perhaps not surprising that Rossini borrowed one of his own overtures, that of La Gazzetta, which had been premiered a year before in Naples. Though usually billed as a comic opera, La Cenerentola is really something more, rather like Mozart s Marriage of Figaro or Wagner s Meistersinger von Nürnberg, which combine a warmly human story with humorous touches. It is a variant of the Cinderella story, the sentimental tale that depicts the transformation of a lowly scullery maid into a lovely, regal woman. Rossini s overtures seldom contain any of the melodic material of the opera proper (hence, the ease with which the composer lifted overtures from one opera to the next). But all the hallmarks of Rossini s best overtures are in this one: the maestoso introduction full of grand gestures and surprises (such as the impoverished sound of the first chord and the passing reference to a passage from Beethoven s Second Symphony); the scintillating charm, irresistible elegance, and buoyant rhythm of the first allegro theme; the second theme given to a woodwind instrument (initially clarinet, later oboe followed by piccolo); a couple of long crescendos, with their thrilling gathering of forces (the melodic shape of the crescendos found their way into the first act s finale as well); and the exuberant conclusion. [Robert Markow]

5 Scherzo from A Midsummer Night s Dream (1842) Felix Mendelssohn ( ) Mendelssohn was well-read and became very fond of Shakespeare from the collected plays published in German in Inspired by A Midsummer Night s Dream, the young Mendelssohn wrote a two-piano Overture at the age of 17, one of the most brilliant debuts in the history of music. He was convinced to orchestrate it and it shows all of his skills. 17 years later he completed the incidental music to go along with the play. His ability to create just the right effects can be heard in the buoyant fairy-like music and the imitation of a braying donkey representing Bottom, the actor in the play within a play who is given the head of a donkey by the elf Puck. [CJ] the Scherzo brings Mendelssohn's score to a climax of infinite delicacy, playfulness, and grace. This music serves as a type of prelude to the play's second act, and the fairy world depicted in the play, with its chattering elves and their mischievous exploits, inspires music with a kind of fierce, other-worldly yet subtle energy. Mendelssohn led something of a charmed and privileged life, and as a result he had the integrity and confidence in his own work that made him dare to be original. His music, for the most part, reflects his own cheerful, successful, contented existence. His joy in all that was refined, aristocratic, and sophisticated is clearly reflected in this selection of his works. [Dr. Beth Fleming]

6 Sleeping Beauty Suite, Op. 66a (1890) Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( ) Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky s second ballet, The Sleeping Beauty, was the brainchild of Ivan Vsevolozhsky. The Director of the Imperial Theaters in St. Petersburg from , Vsevolozhsky had long hoped to convince Tchaikovsky to write a ballet for him. In the summer of 1888, Vsevolozhsky sent Tchaikovsky a libretto based upon the Charles Perrault s 1697 fairy tale, The Sleeping Beauty. Tchaikovsky was immediately drawn to the story. Tchaikovsky worked on the music for The Sleeping Beauty from October of 1888 to September of the following year. The composer dedicated the work to Vsevolozhsky much to the latter s great satisfaction and pride. Sleeping Beauty premiered at the Maryinsky on January 15, The initial audience and critical reception was lukewarm. But today, The Sleeping Beauty is celebrated as the masterpiece among Tchaikovsky s three ballet scores. No small accomplishment, considering that the other two are Swan Lake (1877) and Nutcracker (1892)! The Story and the Music A banquet at the King and Queen s castle celebrates the birth of the Princess Aurora. The evil fairy Carabosse, angry that she was not invited to the festivities, places a curse upon Aurora. The first time the Princess pricks her finger, she will fall into eternal sleep. However, the good Lilac Fairy proclaims that Aurora s sleep will not last forever. Instead, a handsome prince will find Aurora and kiss her, awakening the Princess from her slumber. Aurora and the prince will wed. During a celebration in honor of Aurora s 20th birthday, the disguised Carabosse tricks the young woman into prinking her finger on a spindle. Aurora falls to the ground. The Lilac Fairy intervenes. She protects the kingdom by placing everyone in a deep sleep, so that they may await the prince s arrival. The Lilac Fairy leads her godson, the Prince Désiré, through an enchanted forest to Aurora s castle. The Prince finds the Sleeping Beauty and kisses her. She awakens, as does the entire court. The King agrees to the marriage of the Prince and Aurora. The ballet concludes with the wedding celebration.

7 This concert features the orchestral Suite of excerpts from The Sleeping Beauty prepared in 1899 by Tchaikovsky s pupil, the pianist, conductor and composer, Alexander Siloti. I. Introduction: La Fée des lilas (The Lilac Fairy) The opening section juxtaposes music associated with the evil fairy Carabosse and The Lilac Fairy. II. Adagio: Pas d action The Rose Adagio, from the ballet s first Act, accompanies a scene at Aurora s 20th birthday celebration. Four princes each present Aurora with a dark red rose as a token of their love. III. Pas de caractère: Le Chat botté et la Chatte blanche (Puss in Boots and the White Cat) This excerpt is taken from the divertissement in the last-act wedding celebration. IV. Panorama This music, from Act II of the ballet, portrays The Lilac Fairy transporting Prince Désiré through the enchanted forest to Aurora s castle. V. Valse The Suite concludes with a grand Waltz, taken from Aurora s 20th birthday celebration. [Ken Meltzer]

STUDENT SECTION Created by:

2015 DEBBIE PHILLIPS CLASSICAL CONCERTS FOR STUDENTS STUDENT SECTION Created by: Phoebe Lustig and Chris Stonnell GIOACCHINO ROSSINI Born: February 29, 1792 in Pesaro, Italy Died: November 13, 1868 in