Portrait of Ludwig van Beethoven, by Joseph Willibrord Mähler, c ALL BEETHOVEN

Transcription

1 Portrait of Ludwig van Beethoven, by Joseph Willibrord Mähler, c ALL BEETHOVEN 32

2 CONCERT PROGRAM Ludwig van Beethoven Coriolan Overture, Op. 62 Romance No. 1 in G Major for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 40 Romance No. 2 in F Major for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 50 Tuesday, October 31, :00pm Earl Lee RBC Resident Conductor Blake Pouliot violin Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67 I. Allegro con brio II. Andante con moto III. Allegro IV. Allegro This concert will be performed without an intermission. PERFORMANCE SPONSOR ABOUT THIS CONCERT Many people believe that Beethoven was the greatest of all composers. He stood at the crossroad between Classicism and Romanticism, and forever changed music, leaving behind the crisply disciplined forms and styles that he inherited to create a music of passion and purpose. Tonight, the TSO s RBC Resident Conductor Earl Lee leads a program that features some of the composer s most famous music. The Coriolan Overture is one of his most popular orchestral works, a perfect example of his great gift for capturing drama in music. The brilliant young Canadian violinist Blake Pouliot joins the Orchestra for the two rapturous Romances, beautifully evocative works featuring florid solo passages. The concert closes with what might be Beethoven's most famous work, the Fifth Symphony. This mighty masterpiece is so well known that we can overlook the incredible accomplishment that it is. The first movement is a marvel of economy every element in it is derived from one idea: the famous opening motto. The slow movement features one of the composer's finest melodies; the scherzo is simply astonishing in its mood and drive; and the finale is simply glorious, a crowning triumph. 33

3 THE DETAILS Ludwig van Beethoven Baptized: Bonn, now Germany, Dec 17, 1770 Died: Vienna, Austria, Mar 26, Coriolan Overture, Op. 62 Composed: 1807 Before the dawn of motion pictures, composers often wrote overtures and incidental music for stage plays, like the film scores of today. Beethoven was no exception and the Coriolan Overture was composed for this purpose. Overtures could follow a narrative or the plot line, but more often, they attempted to capture the emotional essence of the source, through music. The Coriolan Overture, Op. 62, was composed for an 1807 revival of the play Coriolan by the Viennese playwright and Beethoven contemporary, Heinrich Joseph von Collin ( ). Von Collin s play had been based on the Shakespeare tragedy Coriolanus, in which the eponymous Roman general is banished from Rome, and, in exile, takes up with his former enemies. On the eve of an attack on Rome, his mother, wife, and young son plead with him to call off the battle. Steadfast at first, Coriolanus gives in to their wishes, resulting in his own death. It s very likely that Beethoven identified with the character of Coriolanus. He saw himself as a restless man, committed, proud, and detered, but also capable of sacrifice and compassion. The opening of the overture is troubled and distressed, a tonal portrait of Coriolanus s mental state. In contrast, the second theme is tender, lyrical, and flowing perhaps representing the other side of the hero, and the pleading of his mother, wife, and son for peace. Beethoven then develops both ideas, reflecting the turmoil that rages within the hero s own conscience, until finally, the defiant opening music returns, before gradually disintegrating. Peace can be achieved, but not without sacrifice. 7 9 Romance No. 1 in G Major for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 40 Composed: 1802; pub Romance No. 2 in F Major for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 50 Composed: 1798; pub When Beethoven arrived on the Viennese musical scene in the early 1790s, he initially made his mark as a brilliant pianist and a gifted improviser. Beethoven, the composer, was to be properly recognized a few years later. But, like many musicians of the day, Beethoven was adept on several instruments. As a student, he had played the viola in the theatre orchestra in his home town of Bonn for four years, providing him with invaluable knowledge of the inner workings of orchestral writing. He received some training on the violin and apparently played it quite well, although he declined to acknowledge the fact. Before Beethoven completed his one-andonly Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61, in 1806, he had tried his hand at several pieces for violin and orchestra. In his early 20s, he had started a Violin Concerto in C but left it incomplete, never performed nor published. The two Romances for violin and orchestra, Op. 40 and Op. 50, were composed a few years later, and are sometimes believed to have been intended as potential slow movements for the incomplete Violin Concerto in C. Today, the two Romances, containing a simple classical beauty and a masterful display of the singing qualities of the violin, both hold firm places in the concert repertoire for the instrument. 34

4 36 Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67 Composed: Marathon concerts were not uncommon during the early decades of the 19th century, and the premières of the Symphonies Nos. 5 and 6 by Beethoven were included in a famous all-beethoven concert in Vienna on December 22, As a self-benefit for the composer, the concert began at 6:30 in the evening, and consisted of a concert aria, two movements from the Mass in C Major, the Piano Concerto No. 4, an improvisation at the piano by Beethoven himself, the complete Choral Fantasy, and the Symphonies Nos. 5 and 6! Beethoven was the piano soloist in the concerto, the improvisation, and the Choral Fantasy, as well as the conductor. The crude heating in the hall broke down, plunging it into bitter cold at the end of December and the event went on for four hours with only one intermission. Not surprisingly, the première of the Symphony No. 5, not to mention the other works, received little critical response. Only after German writer E.T.A. Hoffmann wrote and published in 1810 an ecstatic review and detailed analysis of the symphony did opinion begin to shift, and the work start to enter the perforg repertory of orchestras. Concerning the iconic opening rhythmic motto of three short notes followed by a long, the Beethoven biographer Anton Schindler ( ) claimed the composer had said, Thus Fate knocks at the door! In Morse code, the telegraph system developed a few decades later, three short dots followed by a long dash represented the letter V. During World War II, the Allied forces adopted the motto as V for Victory and a symbol of deteration and hope. Beethoven s now-familiar dot-dot-dotdash was played on the timpani before every BBC wartime broadcast to Europe. In the Symphony No. 5, Beethoven used the motto as a building block, an atom or small cell. Although present in almost every bar in the opening movement, some scholars believe that the four-note idea recurs in all subsequent movements, in some form or another sometimes soft and tender, sometimes triumphant. And this symphony traces a path of darkness to light from the opening mood of stress and turmoil (darkness), to the blaze of victory in the finale (light). It was a model that many later composers employed to represent our human struggles over aggression, oppression, or personal battles, real or imagined. Some like to think that it s Beethoven overcog the reality of his increasing deafness. Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Mahler, and Shostakovich, to name just a few, all wrote symphonies that progressed from darkness to light. Or as Beethoven himself is reported to have said Joy follows sorrow, sunshine rain. Rick Phillips is a Toronto writer, teacher, broadcaster, and music tour host. soundadvice1.com 35

5 THE ARTISTS Earl Lee RBC Resident Conductor Earl Lee made his TSO début in January A dynamic and energetic figure on stage, Canadian musician Earl Lee pursues a diverse career both as a conductor and a cellist. Lee is currently the RBC Resident Conductor of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO), and the Artistic Director & Conductor of the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra. Lee frequently appears on the podium at Roy Thomson Hall leading the TSO, as well as makes guest conducting appearances throughout the world, including his recent South Korean début leading the Gangnam Symphony Orchestra at the Seoul Arts Center. As a cellist, Lee has toured all over the USA as part of such ensembles as Musicians from Marlboro, and has performed at the Marlboro Music Festival, Music from Angel Fire, Caramoor Rising Stars, and Ravinia s Steans Institute. He is currently a member of the East Coast Chamber Orchestra (ECCO), a conductor-less chamber ensemble. A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School with degrees in cello, Earl began his conducting studies in 2010 with Ignat Solzhenitsyn. After receiving a master s degree in conducting from the Manhattan School of Music in 2013, Lee continued his post-graduate conducting studies at the New England Conservatory with Hugh Wolff. Blake Pouliot violin Blake Pouliot made his TSO début in November Quickly becog one of Canada's most promising young artists, 23-year-old violinist Blake Pouliot is the Grand Prize winner of the 2016 Orchestra Symphonique de Montréal (OSM) Manulife Competition. In September 2017, Mr. Pouliot recorded his début album for the Canadian label Analekta Records. The CD, featuring the works of Ravel and Debussy, is due for release in early Highlights during the 2017/18 season feature Mr. Pouliot as soloist in this return engagement with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and débuts with the National Arts Center Orchestra, and the Vancouver, Edmonton, Newfoundland, Pasadena, and Bakersfield symphony orchestras. Additionally, Mr. Pouliot will be heard on national radio broadcasts both on CBC Radio-Canada and on American Public Media as a 2017/18 Young Artist-in-Residence with Performance Today. Mr. Pouliot is currently a Professional Studies Certificate candidate at the Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles, where he studies with Robert Lipsett. He performs on a 1729 Guarneri del Gesù, on generous loan from the Canada Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank as First Laureate of their 2015 Competition. 36