Portrait of Ludwig van Beethoven, by Joseph Willibrord Mähler, c. 1804 1805 CONCERT PROGRAM BEETHOVEN S FIFTH Saturday, April 14, 2018 7:30pm Sunday, April 15, 2018 3:00pm Earl Lee RBC Resident Conductor Blake Pouliot violin Ludwig van Beethoven Overture to Egmont, Op. 84 Romance No. 1 in G Major for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 40 Romance No. 2 in F Major for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 50 Coriolan Overture, Op. 62 Intermission Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67 I. Allegro con brio II. Andante con moto III. Scherzo: Allegro IV. Allegro 14
THE DETAILS Ludwig van Beethoven Baptized: Bonn, now in Germany, Dec 17, 1770 Died: Vienna, Austria, Mar 26, 1827 8 Overture to Egmont, Op. 84 Composed: 1809 1810 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 and Overture to Egmont, were 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. In 1809, Beethoven composed an overture and incidental music for a Viennese revival of the play Egmont by the great German Romantic writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 1832). Beethoven was likely attracted to the main character. Based on the true story of the 16th-century Flemish martyr Count Egmont (1522 1568), Goethe s tragedy also dealt with personal struggle, oppression, and sacrifice. The Flemish patriot Egmont is arrested by the invading Spanish army and sentenced to death. The woman he loves attempts to rescue him, but faced with failure, she poisons herself. Before he is beheaded, Egmont has a vision of freedom and dies encouraging his countrymen to follow his example. The triumphant ending to the Overture to Egmont suggests that Egmont did not die in vain that his sacrifice resulted in freedom for his people. For Beethoven, as a son of the French Revolution, the fight for freedom over oppression, sacrifice, strength of conviction, and deteration were all part of his own personal make-up. 7 9 Romance No. 1 in G Major for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 40 Composed: 1802; pub. 1803 Romance No. 2 in F Major for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 50 Composed: 1798; pub. 1805 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 15
THE DETAILS training on the violin, and apparently played it quite well, although he declined to acknowledge the fact. As well as the piano, he was a good organist and harpsichordist, and had a strong working knowledge of the woodwinds and brass instruments. Beethoven s one-and-only Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61 is usually viewed as one of the pinnacles of the repertoire for solo violin and orchestra. But before completing the concerto 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 are sometimes unfairly described as preparation or the warm-up act to the great Violin Concerto in D Major of 1806. Yet, containing a simple classical beauty and a masterful display of the singing qualities of the violin, they both hold firm places in the concert repertoire for the instrument. 8 Coriolan Overture, Op. 62 Composed: 1807 A few years earlier than the Overture to Egmont, Beethoven composed the Coriolan Overture, Op. 62, for an 1807 revival of the play Coriolan by the Viennese playwright and Beethoven contemporary, Heinrich Joseph von Collin (1771 1811). 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 is 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. 16
36 Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67 Composed: 1804 1808 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, 1808. 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 Fifth and Sixth Symphonies! 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 Fifth Symphony, 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 (1795 1864) 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-dot-dash was played on the timpani before every BBC wartime broadcast to Europe. In the Fifth Symphony, 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 fournote 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 is about 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. Program notes by Rick Phillips, a Toronto writer, teacher, broadcaster, and music tour host. soundadvice1.com 17
THE ARTISTS Earl Lee RBC Resident Conductor Earl Lee made his TSO début in January 2015. 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 US 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, a conductorless 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 postgraduate conducting studies at the New England Conservatory with Hugh Wolff. Blake Pouliot violin Blake Pouliot made his TSO début in November 2010. Quickly becog one of Canada s most promising young artists, 23-year-old violinist Blake Pouliot is the Grand Prize winner of the 2016 Orchestre symphonique de Montréal Manulife Competition. In March 2018, Mr. Pouliot released his début album featuring the works of Ravel and Debussy on the Canadian label Analekta Records. 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 Centre Orchestra, and the Vancouver, Edmonton, Newfoundland, Pasadena, and Bakersfield symphony orchestras. Additionally, Mr. Pouliot will be heard on national radio broadcasts 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. 18