MENDELSSOHN DELIBES ROSSINI. CHOPIN (arr. Douglas) Peter Maag. A Midsummer Night s Dream The Hebrides: Overture. La Source.

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1 Eloq uence MENDELSSOHN A Midummer Night Dream The Hebride: Overture DELIBES ROSSINI La Source Four Overture CHOPIN (arr. Dougla) Le Sylphide London Symphony Orchetra Pari Conervatoire Orchetra Peter Maag

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3 CD FELIX MENDELSSOHN ( ) A Midummer Night Dream 1 Overture, Op Incidental muic, Op I Scherzo III Song ith Choru: You potted nake V Intermezzo VII Notturno IX Wedding March XI Dance of the Clon Finale: Through thi houe give glimm ring light The Hebride: Overture, Op. 26 (Fingal Cave) Jennifer Vyvyan, oprano Marion Loe, oprano Female Choru of the Royal Opera Houe, Covent Garden London Symphony Orchetra Peter Maag LÉO DELIBES ( ) La Source (excerpt) Act II 0 Introduction 1 22! Scène 1 Scène: Arrivée de Nouredda 3 06 Divertiement: Andante 1 57 $ Pa de Naïla. Scherzo-Polka 1 42 % Scène et pa d action 0 47 ^ Mazurka 5 28

4 Act III, Scene I & Scène 0 47 * Romance 3 57 ( Scène finale 1 57 Pari Conervatoire Orchetra Peter Maag CD GIOACCHINO ROSSINI ( ) 1 Guillaume Tell: Overture La Cenerentola: Overture Semiramide: Overture La gazza ladra: Overture 9 28 FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN ( ) Le Sylphide (arr. Roy Dougla) 5 I Prélude, Op. 28 No II Nocturne, Op. 32 No III Vale, Op. 70 No IV Mazurka, Op. 33 No V Mazurka, Op. 67 No VI Prélude, Op. 28 No ! VII Vale, Op. 64 No. 2 3 VIII Grande Vale Brillante, Op Pari Conervatoire Orchetra Peter Maag Total timing: M D a p ta fi o c m u la b th p lo th fo o e u S e a in th h y

5 Mendelohn pent mot of hi hort life in love ith Shakepeare A Midummer Night Dream. A a young man of eventeen, he rote an overture to the play not for any pecific performance, but imply becaue he a o taken by the comedy, hich he had recently finihed reading in a German tranlation. The overture begin ith a erie of magical chord hich ugget Puck cating hi pell. Thee chord return at different point in the overture, mot tellingly at it end, here there i an uncanny enation of Puck comical diarray at lat being brought to a peaceful reolution. In beteen, there i muic that clearly allude to the light-inged campering of fairie, the pomp of Theeu Athenian court, the mortal lover, and even the braying of Bottom, given the head of an a by Puck. All thi in onata form, too! It i no exaggeration to call the overture one of the mot perfect piece of muic ever compoed, and it popularity ha remained undiminihed ince it firt performance in Sixteen year later, Mendelohn, no an etablihed compoer and conductor, received a commiion from the Pruian king to rite incidental muic for an actual performance of the play in Potdam. Stylitically, Mendelohn had moved in different direction ince 1826, yet he a able to recapture the mood of the overture (hich a included in the ne production) in hi nely-compoed muic. Some of the cue are very hort, but many of them are long enough to enjoy a life aay from the tage. The goamer Scherzo erve a an interlude beteen Act I and II, and prepare the audience for Puck and the arrival of Oberon and Titania. The latter requet, Come, no a roundel and a fairy ong i anered by You potted nake, an entrancing lullaby performed by to fairie ith choru. The retle Intermezzo conclude Act To and ugget the confuion Puck ha created ith hi miapplied pell. The Nocturne, ith it beautiful riting for horn, i heard beteen Act III and IV, i the gentle embodiment of the peace granted by leep. The famou Wedding March, an intermezzo beteen Act IV and V, introduce the nuptial celebration to follo. The fetivitie include a play by Bottom and hi fello rude mechanical, ho conclude their buffoonih ho ith a Dance of the Clon, hoe material i familiar from the overture. Mendelohn return u, a Shakepeare doe, to the upernatural orld in the Finale. A fairy choru ing a parting bleing and then they all trip aay, leaving behind an unmitakable ene of grace and ell-being.

6 In the early ummer of 1829, Mendelohn a bringing the firt of hi many viit to London to a cloe. Having pent everal hectic month concertizing and immering himelf in Englih ociety, he a ready for a diverion. He and hi friend Karl Klingemann therefore embarked on a alking tour of Scotland. Sketchbook in hand, Mendelohn took it all in. A tilight viit to Holyrood Palace, here Mary Queen of Scot had lived and ruled in the ixteenth century, a intrumental in purring Mendelohn to compoe hi Third Symphony, popularly knon a the Scottih. Another major orchetral ork a inpired by a viit to the iland of Staffa, not far from the Scottih coat, and to hat till i knon a Fingal Cave. Depite the compoer eaickne, the cave baalt column and the poerful ene of loneline evoked by the etting made a poerful impreion on Mendelohn. Upon returning to the mainland, he ketched the opening of the Hebride Overture, hoe alternate title i Fingal Cave. Thi i a much a of a eacape a a landcape, and it i an uncommon litener ho doe not hiver over it blutery and uncompromiing atmophere. The overture ould not be completed until 1830, hoever. The firt performance, in London, took place in Roini firt opera, La cambiale di matrimonio (The Marriage Contract), a premiered in 1810, hen the compoer a only 18. Hi lat, William Tell, appeared in Thu, although Roini lived ell into hi eventie, hi career a an opera compoer lated le than to decade. Neverthele, in thi hort pan he managed to compoe 39 opera, everything from one-act farce to ork that definitely put the grand in grand opera. Given it four-hour length, it delight in pectacle, and it punihing demand on the lead inger, particularly the tenor, William Tell fit ecurely into the latter category. A it a compoed for the Pari opera, it a firt performed in French, although a verion in Italian oon appeared; both verion are ued today. Baed on the eponymou play by Friedrich Schiller, William Tell concern the Si truggle for independence from Autrian domination. Tell actually exited; hitory record that in 1307 he, a punihment for hi public contempt for the hated Autrian ruler Geler, a made to hoot, uing bo and arro, an apple from hi on head. If he ucceeded (and he did), both ould go free; if he failed, they ould be executed. Tell defiance, and the revolt it purred, became the tuff of legend. In fact, Italian cenor initially ere nervou about Roini opera becaue it idolized rebellion againt political authority. (V n It b R A c e d v c a U d in te C In b fa li n in A d

7 , t l t l,,. t. (Viennee audience loved William Tell, and it a performed hundred of time there in the nineteenth century.) It i eay to take it overture for granted. It ha become part of pop culture, from The Lone Ranger ( Hi-Yo Silver! ) to Stanley Kubrick A Clockork Orange not to mention commercial, cartoon and parodie. After an elegiac opening, cored only for five cello ith double bae, the overture preent u ith a violent torm and then ith a peaceful patoral cene a Ranz de vache ummoning the co home from pature. Trumpet and horn announce the thrice-familiar cloing galop. Unlike Verdi (for example), Roini a not deeply concerned ith ocio-political iue, and incendiary tuff uch a William Tell uited hi temperament le than the parkle of La Cenerentola the Italian name for Cinderella. In contrat to Maenet opera Cendrillon, alo baed on thi ubject, La Cenerentola ha no fairy godmother. Roini tipulated that he ould compoe the opera only if the upernatural element a removed from the libretto. (Apparently he had a horror of nineteenth-century pecial effect, hoe ineptitude ditracted audience from the muic.) And o, the fairy godmother a hon the door and replaced ith the fleh-and-blood figure of the Prince kindly tutor, Alidoro. Roini opening night ometime ere traumatic. The Barber of Seville, hich appeared in 1816, a greeted ith noiy deriion by the Roman audience, although the econd performance a a ucce. A year later, again in Rome, La Cenerentola a firt reviled and then vindicated, and today i almot a popular a The Barber. In the overture to La Cenerentola, ome litener claim to hear pecific alluion to the comedy that follo. Actually, a a the cae ith The Barber, the overture a recycled thi time from a recent but more-or-le forgotten ork called La Gazzetta. Thi overture include one of the bet example of the o-called Roini crecendo a cumulative device hich never fail to create excitement hen it i deployed. One might aume, given it engaging overture, that La gazza ladra (The Thieving Magpie), like La Cenerentola, i a comedy. Hoever, thi i a eriou ork, baed on an actual occurrence, in hich Ninetta, a erving girl, i unjutly accued of tealing a ilver poon from her employer, a crime for hich he i almot executed. Fortunately, in the nick of time the actual thief the magpie of the title i dicovered and Ninetta life i aved. (Ninetta real-life equivalent a not o lucky!)

8 Thi opera appeared jut a fe month after La Cenerentola, but thi time in Milan, here the audience a far more enthuiatic than the Roman. The overture ha practically ecliped the opera in popularity. (Again, pop culture ha done it hare.) On the firt night, the overture literally topped the ho for everal minute. The French riter Stendhal, ho a preent, ued ord uch a delirium and pandemonium to decribe the overture effect on the audience. Again, the Roini crecendo i ued to great effect. The overture begin ith roll from not jut one but to nare drum, hich no doubt ilenced the chattering of the Milanee audience. Thi a a nely-compoed overture. In fact, Roini a o late in providing it that he finally needed to be locked in a room to rite it. A he completed page after page, he thre them out the indo to aiting copyit. Semiramide (Venice, 1823) i grand opera rit large. It i baed on Voltaire retelling of the tory of Semirami, the poer-hungry Babylonian queen ho ha her huband murdered, and then unittingly fall in love ith her on Arace, an Ayrian general ho ould avenge hi father death. Needle to ay, the plot i complicated and mey imagine a ynthei of Hamlet and Oedipu Rex and credibility i not enhanced by the fact that Arace i ung by a contralto. And, oh ye, there i a ghot. Ninu, the murdered king, make a vocal appearance, but apparently Roini a not bothered by the upernatural element here a he a in La Cenerentola. At the premiere, the title role a ung by oprano Iabella Colbran, ho, one year earlier, had become Mr. Roini. Seven year the compoer enior, it i aid her voice a already in decline at the time of Semiramide, and he retired oon after. The overture, compoed pecifically for the opera (and even previeing ome of it thematic material) i among Roini finet. Again, it i performed frequently, hile revival of the opera itelf are uncommon. Again, the Roini crecendo play a role in ramping up the excitement. It ha been remarked that the overture i far too vivaciou, even cheerful, to be appropriate for uch a bloody and tragic tory, but fe muic-lover have lot leep over that anomaly. It i ueful to conceive of Le Sylphide not a a ingle ballet, but a part of a body of ballet in hich Chopin piano muic, in order to make it uitable for profeional dancer, ha been orchetrated. Chopin compoed muic in everal dance genre altze, mazurka, and o on but ome of hi ork are more uitable for d a d C T D in v b 1 r o L t h T in d f m B A f S

9 t,. c i, r t l r dancing than other. Furthermore, he a uch an idiomatic compoer for the piano that it i difficult to retain hat might be called the Chopin ound hen hi muic i orchetrated. The verion recorded here i orchetrated by Roy Dougla, a Britih compoer and an arranger ho a particularly active in the motion picture indutry. He a diguted and horrified by the very bad orchetration of Chopin muic for the ballet Le Sylphide, and he created hi on in Hi repectful ork, for hich he initially a offered the princely um of 25, remain idely in ue even today, and ha largely replaced a variety of earlier orchetration by other compoer and arranger. Le Sylphide i a ballet blanc that i to ay, the female dancer are attired in hite tutu. It ha no plot and i baed entirely on atmophere. The etting i a foret, and a young man a poet in ome production happen upon a band of ylph dancing in the moonlight. Chopin mot dramatic or tragic utterance ere not elected for thi ballet. The overall mood i lightly melancholic, although the cloing Grande Vale Brillante bring the ballet to a pirited cloe. Apart from hi opera Lakmé, Léo Delibe i mot famou for to full-length ballet, Coppélia and Sylvia. He rote everal other, hoever, and the very firt of thee a La Source. Firt produced in 1866, it a a collaboration ith the older and omehat more experienced ballet compoer Ludig, a.k.a. Léon Minku. The to compoer neatly divided the core in half: Minku compoed the firt act, and the econd cene of the third act; Delibe compoed the third act firt cene and all of the econd act. The ballet a a moderate ucce, remaining in the repertoire of Théâtre Impérial de l Opéra (today the Opéra National de Pari) for a decade. The ballet i revived from time to time. A verion choreographed by George Balanchine, firt preented in 1968, jettioned Minku contribution entirely, and added muic from ome of Delibe later core. The choreography a by Arthur Saint-Léon (ho later choreographed Coppélia) and the libretto a by Charle Nuitter. La Source i alo knon a Naïla, the name of the ater nymph ho i central to the ballet plot. In brief, the hunter Djémil become infatuated ith Nouredda, ho i promied to the Khan of Ghendjib. When he reject him, Djémil i aided by Naïla, ho in turn love the hunter. She appear to the Khan a he arie from the title magic pring. The Khan i o mitten by her that he immediately break off hi engagement ith Nouredda. Hoever, Nouredda till reject

10 Djémil, o Naïla ait him one more time, but at a cot: if he turn Nouredda heart toard Djémil, he herelf ill die. The ballet end ith Djémil and Nouredda going off together, and Naïla inking into her pring, hich then drie up. Delibe muic a compared favourably to Minku, and oon after La Source hi career a a ballet compoer took off. Maag recorded election contain much of Act II, hich i et in Ghendjib palace, and the firt three number in Act III. Delibe nodded at the ballet Perian etting but a not enlaved by it thu the preence of a Mazurka in Act II. Peter Maag ( ) a born in Sitzerland to a muical family. After tudie in theology and philoophy, and an early career a a pianit, he a encouraged to conduct. In that field, hi mentor included Ernet Anermet and, above all, Wilhelm Furtängler. Hi ucce a a conductor gre throughout the late 1940 and 50, and a early a 1950 he made hi firt recording for Decca. The compoer back then a Mozart, and Maag ould be aociated ith Mozart muic in the recording tudio, concert hall and opera houe hi entire life. In the early 1960, Maag felt that he a loing touch ith the piritual and muical force that had been o crucial to him earlier in life. Eventually, in 1962, he entered a Buddhit monatery in Hong Kong, here he ould remain for more than to year. He claimed that the experience purified hi oul, and he returned to hi conducting career a vigorou a before. The recording on thee CD motly date from the 1950, hoever early in the tereo era. They ere regarded a onic hopiece hen they ere firt releaed, and ued copie of the original LP command high price from collector even today. Raymond Tuttle Recording producer: Jame Walker (A Midummer Night Dream); Ray Minhull (Hebride Overture, Roini); John Culha (Delibe, Chopin) Recording engineer: Cyril Windebank (A Midummer Night Dream); Kenneth Wilkinon (Hebride Overture, Roini); Ken Cre (Delibe, Chopin) Recording location: Kingay Hall, London, UK, February 1957 (A Midummer Night Dream), April 1960 (Hebride Overture); La Maion de la Chimie, Pari, France, November 1958 (Roini); La Maion de la Mutualité, Pari, France, November 1957 (Delibe, Chopin) Eloquence erie manager: Cyru Meher-Homji Art direction: Chilu.chilu.com Booklet editor: Bruce Raggatt

11 t t.. PHOTO: DECCA / R. LOCA Peter Maag

Curriculum Map Grade 5. Concepts Competencies Vocabulary Standar ds. and sight the. between Melody & D Rhythm

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