IGOR STRAVINSKY ( )

Transcription

1 IGOR STRAVINSKY ( ) Danses Concertantes I. Marche Introduction II. Pas d action III. Thème varié IV. Pas de deux V. Marche Conclusion The 1913 Paris premiere of The Rite of Spring with its bold costumes, unusual choreography and bizarre story of pagan sacrifice caused a furore at its premiere, but is now regarded as a masterpiece of the 20th century. Stravinsky has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and he was posthumously awarded a Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement. Igor Stravinsky, like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Samuel Barber, exhibited his musical talent early. However, unlike Mozart, whose father paraded his son s genius across Europe, and Barber, whose family nurtured his talent in a supportive, domestic environment, Stravinsky s family indulged his youthful interest with piano and music theory lessons, but offered no further encouragement. Although his father was a bass singer with the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, he wanted his son to be a lawyer. The son, however, was an indifferent student and continued his musical studies with Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, whom the younger Stravinsky regarded as a second father. His father s untimely death, combined with the political and social disruption caused by the slow disintegration of Imperial Russia, permitted Stravinsky to pursue music. Another important difference between the three composers is that Stravinsky was one of music s true innovators, whose career was divided into three entirely distinct stylistic periods. Barber was and remained a neo-romantic, who primarily sought inspiration from the forms and tonal language of the past. Mozart was the archetypical classical composer, whose brief career brought the music of that era to its zenith. Barber looked to the classical composers in terms of structure and style, but Stravinsky did more than that. In the 1920s, he turned from a nationalist approach, infused with Russian folk song and lore, to adopt not only a neoclassical compositional style, but also turned to the ancient Greeks for inspiration. In 1940, Stravinsky and his second wife Vera moved to Los Angeles where they marveled at the sun, the climate, the beautiful countryside, the charming homes He had immigrated to the United States a year earlier, following the death of his first wife, his daughter and mother within months of each other. They joined the many other artistic luminaries who had settled in Southern California after fleeing Europe as the Second World War loomed. Los Angeles became home to a vibrant and diverse community of musicians, artists, writers and intellectuals, and Stravinsky remained there for the next 30 years. He lived in Los Angeles, longer than anywhere else in his entire life. Stravinsky and the film industry flirted with each other, but Stravinsky never found a niche there. The relationship was fractious from the start, as Warner Brothers Studios had used music from his ballet The Firebird in the 1936 film of the same name without the composer s permission. Stravinsky sued, but a French court awarded him one franc in damages, instead of the 300,000 francs he had sought. Stravinsky agreed to let Walt Disney use music from The Rite of Spring for the now-classic 1940 film Fantasia, but later regretted it, deeming the ballet excerpt terrible and the animation imbecile.

2 Danses Concertantes was commissioned by Werner Janssen, who was the first American-born conductor to lead the New York Philharmonic in 1934, and later became a successful film composer and champion of contemporary music on the West Coast. It was his first commission in California. Stravinsky conducted the premiere of Danses Concertantes with the Werner Janssen Symphony in February The work is in five, short movements, played without pause, and is scored for a small orchestra comprised of flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, 2 horns, trumpet, trombone, timpani, and strings. Stravinsky explained that the movements were brief, as the attention span of today s audience is limited and the problem of the present-day composer is one of condensation. The music reflects traditional dance genres, with constantly changing metric and rhythmic patterns, hearkening back to The Rite of Spring. George Balanchine, who also lived in Los Angeles during the war years, choreographed it for the reincarnated Ballet Russes de Monte Carlo, and the ballet was premiered in New York City in It has remained in both the concert and ballet repertoire. In the early 1950s, Stravinsky abandoned the neoclassical and began experimenting with twelve-tone techniques that had been developed by Arnold Schoenberg, yet another European who made his home in Los Angeles. Canticum Sacrum (1955) for chorus and orchestra was the first of his works to contain a movement entirely based on a tone row. The piece was dedicated to the City of Venice, where Stravinsky is buried. SAMUEL BARBER ( ) Violin Concerto, Op I. Allegro molto moderato II. Andante sostenuto III. Presto Samuel Barber was not yet 10 years old when he first attempted to compose an opera, called The Rose Tree, with a libretto supplied by the family cook. Aaron Copland and Samuel Barber were the most frequently performed American composers in the mid-20th century. Anthony and Cleopatra, commissioned to open the Metropolitan Opera in New York City in 1966, was a critical failure, which sent the composer into a personal and artistic decline. Composer and critic Virgil Thompson, who was a near contemporary of Samuel Barber, grouped American audiences and the composers that appealed to them into three lots: 1) the luxury capitalist who clung to tradition, 2) the professor-and-critic conspirators who prized complex, discordant contemporary music, and 3) the theatre-public of the leftist-front who wanted educated, urban advocates for their ideals. Barber was the embodiment of the first school, and throughout his career served as the standard bearer for form, tonality and lyricism. His music was dismissed by some as old-fashioned and reactionary, but nonetheless, he made his living as a composer, and his music was performed by the world s finest musicians. Barber was born into a prosperous American family. His father was a medical doctor and his mother an amateur pianist, whose sister, contralto Louise Homer, was a star of the Metropolitan Opera. His aunt was married to the composer, Sidney Homer, who was an important early influence on and lasting mentor to the young man. Barber commenced piano lessons at the age of six and began composing a year later. At the age of 14, he was a member of the first class at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. There, he forged important professional and

3 personal relationships with musicians and patrons, including fellow composer Gian Carlo Menotti, who would be his partner in work and life for 50 years. Success came early to the young composer. In 1938, Arturo Toscanini, the great Italian conductor, performed his Adagio for Strings, Op. 11, with the NBC Symphony Orchestra. Toscanini, who rarely programmed American music, stated that the piece was Semplice e bella (simple and beautiful). Barber was 28 years old. The Adagio for Strings is Barber s most frequently performed work and is known worldwide. It is heard frequently at moments of great national importance in the US and other countries, including memorial services for US Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy, as well as that of Singapore s founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. The Violin Concerto, Op. 14, dates from this same period and was Barber s first major commission. Samuel Fels, a wealthy American soap manufacturer and a member of Curtis board of trustees, wanted a violin concerto to be premiered by Iso Briselli, a child prodigy and his adopted son. Barber was granted the commission and began work on the Concerto in the summer of 1939 in Switzerland. With the impending invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, Barber left Europe, continuing to work on the Concerto on the return voyage to the US and finishing it there. There are conflicting accounts as to Briselli s reaction to the Concerto. Decades later he refuted the claims that he had dismissed the first two movements as being too simple and not brilliant enough of a concerto, and the third as too difficult to play. Nonetheless, the future of the Concerto and Barber s commission were in jeopardy. A hastily arranged performance at Curtis proved successful. (A student violinist was given two hours to learn the part.) In the end, Barber was paid the commission, but Briselli did not premiere the work. The Violin Concerto was first performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra with Eugene Ormandy conducting and Albert Spalding as the soloist on 7 February Barber scored the Concerto for two flutes (one doubling piccolo), two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, snare drum, piano, and strings, in addition to the solo violin. There is no question that there is a stylistic divide between the lyrical first two movements and the third. Barber himself acknowledged as much in the programme notes that he wrote for its premiere: The first movement allegro molto moderato begins with a lyrical first subject announced at once by the solo violin, without any orchestra introduction. This movement as a whole has perhaps more than the character of a sonata than concerto form. The second movement andante sostenuto is introduced by an extended oboe solo. The violin enters with a contrasting and rhapsodic theme, after which it repeats the oboe melody of the beginning. The last movement, a perpetual motion, exploits the more brilliant and virtuoso characteristics of the violin. Reviewing the New York City performance a few days later, Thompson wrote that the concerto cannot fail to charm by its gracious lyrical plentitude and its complete absence of tawdry swank the only reason Barber gets away with elementary musical methods is that his heart is pure. Another critic noted Barber s conservative style with the observation that there is no violent wrench of mood between Barber s concerto and Mozart s. Barber s Violin Concerto took time to be established in the repertoire, but by the 1990s leading violinists were performing and recording it. Briselli played it privately for himself and friends. It now ranks with the Adagio for Strings as one of Barber s most frequently performed works.

4 WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART ( ) Symphony No. 38 in D major, K.504 Prague I. Adagio allegro II. Andante III. Presto Mozart composed in all major genres and excelled at every one sonatas, concertos, symphonies, operas, songs, choral music and chamber music composing over 600 works. His sister Maria Anna Nannerl was also a child prodigy performing with her brother on concert tours across Europe and lived to the age of 78. Mozart had a tenor singing voice and was left-handed. Salzburg was the city of his birth and where Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart found patronage, serving with great frustration as the archbishop s assistant concertmaster, and later as court organist. In Vienna, he would find love, fame, and to a certain extent fortune, but money just slipped through his fingers. Prague however, took Mozart to its heart, and there he had some of his greatest successes. The atmosphere was less formal in Prague, capital of Bohemia, than in Vienna, home to the stifling imperial court, and its people were more open, passionate and free spirited. Mozart relished his popularity there and is reported to have said, My Praguers understand me. The Prague public particularly warmed to his operas. Le Nozze di Figaro was a success in Vienna at its premiere in 1786, but it was received with even greater enthusiasm in Prague. Don Giovanni was first performed there the following year with great success, and although La Clemenza di Tito, commissioned for the coronation of the King of Bohemia in September 1791, was initially greeted with coolness by Prague audiences at its premiere, that changed quickly. Die Zauberflöte would be heard in Prague in October 1791, within a month of its first performance in Vienna, just weeks before Mozart s death. Mozart completed his Symphony in D major on 4 December As was generally Mozart s fate, that year had its mix of success and misfortune. It had seen the premieres of the Schauspieldirektor and Le Nozze di Figaro, performances of his 1782 opera, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, numerous concerts, and he was composing at a furious pace, but it also saw the birth and death of his third son and dire financial woes. He had to abandon plans for an eagerly anticipated trip to London, as his precarious finances did not permit it. Mozart, accompanied by his wife Constanze, departed Vienna for his first trip to Prague on 8 January 1787, drawn there no doubt by the news of the warm reception that his opera had received. Arriving three days later, they attended a ball and he gave a small private concert, prior to attending a performance of Le Nozze di Figaro on 17 January Two days later, Mozart led a concert at the Prague National Theater where the Symphony in D major was first heard. They remained in Prague until 15 February 1787, and during that time he continued to concertise and compose. His concerts there were among the greatest triumphs of his entire career. The trip s success was crowned when he secured the commission for Don Giovanni. Symphony No. 38 is in three movements. Conspicuously missing is the minuet, which had become standard in symphonies by that time. Mozart scored it for two violins, two violas, two flutes, two oboes, two horns, two bassoons, two trumpets, timpani and bass. The slow introduction in D minor of the first movement, contrasts with the breathless energy of the allegro. This brilliance was a hallmark of the young Mozart, but now was layered with even greater emotion and subtlety. The second movement is in full sonata form, its themes explored

5 and expanded to a greater extent than was his norm. The finale is relatively simple in contrast, but concludes with a musical quote from Le Nozze di Figaro, which the Prague audience would have immediately recognised and found delightful. Miloš Forman s 1984 film adaptation of Peter Shaffer s 1979 play, Amadeus, swept the Academy Awards and helped make Mozart the household name that it is today. The movie vividly depicts the composer s genius and creative process, but it is mostly fiction. Mozart s financial woes were real, as was his precarious health, but Antonio Salieri played no role in his death, and their rivalry to the extent it existed, was greatly exaggerated. Mozart, in fact, invited Salieri to a performance of Die Zauberflöte in the final weeks of his life. Shaffer s source was the fictional short play, Mozart and Salieri, written by the great Russian poet and playwright Alexander Pushkin in 1830, in which the murder is committed on stage. In Amadeus, Salieri poses the question, Why does God only speak through Mozart s music and not mine? Mozart, himself, provided the answer. Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius. A fitting epitaph for a man who lies buried in an unmarked grave, but whose music is immortal. Programme notes by Rick Perdian