Concerts of Thursday, February 15, and Saturday, February 17, at 8:00p Roberto Abbado, Conductor Jorge Federico Osorio, piano Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) Overture to Semiramide (1823) Franz Schubert (1797-1828) Symphony No. 8 in B minor, D. 759 ( Unfinished ) (1822) I. Allegro moderato II. Andante con moto Intermission Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 4 in G Major, Opus 58 (1806) I. Allegro moderato II. Andante con moto III. Rondo. Vivace Jorge Federico Osorio, piano
Notes on the Program by Ken Meltzer Overture to Semiramide (1823) Gioachino Rossini was born in Pesaro, Italy, on February 29, 1792, and died in Passy, France, on November 13, 1868. The first performance of Semiramide took place at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Italy, on February 3, 1823. The Overture to Semiramide is scored for piccolo, flute, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, and strings. Approximate performance time is twelve minutes. First Classical Subscription Performances: May 13-15, 1993, Yoel Levi, Conductor. Recording: Telarc CD-80334, Yoel Levi, Conductor On February 6, 1813, Venice s legendary Teatro La Fenice staged the premiere of Gioachino Rossini s Tancredi, an opera that propelled the young Italian composer to national and international prominence. Tancredi s libretto, authored by Gaetano Rossi, is based upon Voltaire s tragedy of the same name. Almost precisely ten years later, La Fenice would once again present a Voltaire-inspired collaboration by Rossini and Gaetano Rossi the grand opera Semiramide. It was the final opera Rossini composed for the Italian stage. In the fall of 1822, Rossini began work on Semiramide. He later commented: It is the only one of my Italian operas that I was able to do at my ease; my contract gave me forty days...but I didn t put in forty days at writing it. Rossini, who could always compose with remarkable facility, completed his epic opera seria in about a month s time. The February 3, 1813 premiere of Semiramide was not an unqualified success. In general, the critics were impressed, the audience less so. However, it should be noted that for the premiere, the audience endured a first act of two and one half hours, and a second act that lasted an hour and a half. As if that were not a sufficient evening s entertainment, during the interval between acts, La Fenice staged a ballet. The audience s mood did improve as the marathon evening progressed. While the first act inspired a mixed reception, the audience cheered at the opera s conclusion. Between February 3 and March 10, La Fenice presented twenty-eight performances of Semiramide. During Rossini s lifetime, Semiramide was revived on several occasions, and to great acclaim. Semiramide, the evil Queen of Babylon, conspires with Prince Assur to murder her husband, King Nino. After a long absence, the son of Nino and Semiramide now known as the warrior Arsace returns to Babylon. Semiramide and Arsace are each unaware of the other s identity, and the Queen falls in love with the young hero. Ultimately, Arsace learns of his mother s perfidy and swears vengeance. Arsace is unable to bring himself to kill his mother. However, in attempting to strike Assur, he accidentally stabs Semiramide. Arsace, racked with guilt, is crowned King by the Babylonians, who in turn arrest Assur.
While the complete opera s fortunes have fluctuated, the glorious Overture remains a fixture in the concert hall. After a brief agitated passage (Allegro vivace), a quartet of horns intones the majestic principal melody of the slowtempo introduction (Andantino), derived from the opera s first-act finale. A return to the opening music and three forte chords precede the Overture s Allegro portion, whose scurrying opening theme appears in the finale to the second act. Pizzicato strings accompany the clarinet and bassoon s introduction of the tripletbased second theme. An orchestral fanfare leads to a stirring Rossini crescendo, based upon a motif from the Semiramide-Arsace duet, Serbami ognor. After a short lyrical interlude, there is a recapitulation of the Allegro themes and a brief, powerful coda. Symphony No. 8 in B minor, D. 759 ( Unfinished ) (1822) Franz Schubert was born in Vienna, Austria, on January 31, 1797, and died there on November 19, 1828. The first performance of the Unfinished Symphony took place in Vienna on December 17, 1865, with Johann Herbeck conducting the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde. The Symphony No. 8 is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, and strings. Approximate performance time is twenty-five minutes. First Classical Subscription Performance: February 4, 1945, Henry Sopkin, Conductor. Most Recent Classical Subscription Performances (Symphony completed by Marcel Tyberg): April 26-28, 2012, Michael Christie, Conductor. A treasure No one is certain why Franz Schubert completed only two movements of what, by tradition, should have been a four-movement symphony. Schubert worked on the B-minor Symphony in October and November of 1822. During that time, he composed and orchestrated the first two movements. Schubert also sketched the third-movement Scherzo in almost complete form, and orchestrated its first nine bars. No other music survives from the Symphony, nicknamed the Unfinished. Schubert originally gave the score to a friend, composer Anselm Hüttenbrenner, as thanks for securing his Honorary Membership in the Music Society of Graz. Some thirty years later, Anselm s brother, Joseph, wrote Johann Herbeck, conductor of the prestigious Vienna Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde. Anselm informed Herbeck that the Hüttenbrenners possessed a treasure in Schubert s B-minor Symphony, which we put on a level with the great Symphony in C (No. 9), his instrumental swan song, and any one of the symphonies by Beethoven. Five years after this correspondence, Herbeck visited Anselm Hüttenbrenner in Graz. Herbeck informed Hüttenbrenner that he wanted to present a concert
featuring one of his works, as well as compositions by Schubert and Franz Lachner. When Herbeck suggested that it would be very appropriate to represent Schubert by a new work, Hüttenbrenner produced a large stack of papers that included the score of the B-minor Symphony. One can only imagine Herbeck s reaction as he perused this unknown masterpiece! When Herbeck asked permission to copy the music at his own cost, Hüttenbrenner graciously told the conductor to take the score with him. Herbeck and the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde premiered the B-minor Symphony on December 17, 1865, 37 years after Schubert s death. While Schubert never completed his B-minor Symphony, the two surviving movements stand proudly on their own as a dramatic and fulfilling work, much like the three movements of Anton Bruckner s Ninth (1896). Indeed, Schubert s Unfinished Symphony is one of the most eloquent and beloved orchestral works of the first half of the 19 th century. Musical Analysis I. Allegro moderato A brooding motif introduced by the cellos and basses resolves to a restless string figure, and a plaintive melody, played by the oboes and clarinets. After a powerful climax, the cellos sing one of the most beloved themes in the symphonic literature. The tension builds once again, as members of the orchestra trade fragments of the famous theme. A series of pizzicato chords introduces the stormy development section. A recapitulation of the principal themes is followed by a brief, but imposing coda, based upon the introductory motif. II. Andante con moto The slow-tempo second movement begins peacefully, with the introduction of the first principal theme by the violins and violas. After a majestic statement by the orchestra, the clarinets (followed by the oboes) offer the melancholy second theme. The sudden onset of an episode of great violence shatters the Andante s tranquil mood. A reprise of the two themes (this time, the oboes precedes the clarinets) meets with yet another turbulent outburst. The closing pages reinstate the serenity with which the Andante began. Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 4 in G Major, Opus 58 (1806) Ludwig van Beethoven was baptized in Bonn, Germany, on December 17, 1770, and died in Vienna, Austria, on March 26, 1827. The first public performance took place in Vienna at the Theater-an-der-Wien on December 22, 1808, with the composer as soloist. In addition to the solo piano, the Concerto No. 4 is scored for flute, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, and strings. Approximate performance time is thirty-five minutes. First Classical Subscription Performance: March 21, 1951, Claudio Arrau, Piano, Henry Sopkin, Conductor.
Most Recent Classical Subscription Performances: February 9-11, 2017, Juho Pohjonen, Piano, Robert Spano, Conductor. Too much of a good thing Beethoven completed the score of his G-Major Concerto in 1806, and first performed the work during a March 1807 private concert at the palace of his patron, Prince Joseph Lobkowitz. The first public performance of the Fourth Piano Concerto took place at the Vienna Theater-an-der-Wien on December 22, 1808. In addition to the Fourth Piano Concerto, the concert, sponsored by Beethoven, included the world premieres of the composer s Fifth and Sixth Symphonies, and Choral Fantasy, as well as four movements from his Mass in C, and the soprano aria, Ah! Perfido. In a single evening, Beethoven lavished upon the Viennese public several hours of some of his most inspired compositions. Still, the benefit concert (known as an Akademie) was far from a resounding success. The meager rehearsal time was insufficient for a program of such length and difficulty. During the premiere of the Choral Fantasy, the orchestra was forced to stop in the middle of the work and begin a section over again. Further, the audience endured this taxing winter program in an unheated theater. The German musician Johann Reichardt was in attendance: I accepted with hearty thanks the kind offer of Prince Lobkowitz to let me sit in his box. There we continued, in the bitterest cold, too, from half past six to half past ten, and experienced the truth that one can easily have too much of a good thing and still more of the loud. Nevertheless, I could no more leave the box before the end than could the exceedingly good-natured and delicate Prince, for the box was in the first balcony near the stage, so that the orchestra with Beethoven in the middle conducting it was below us and near at hand; thus many a failure in the performance vexed our patience in the highest degree. Poor Beethoven, who from this, his own concert, was having the first and only scant profit that he could find in a whole year, had found in the rehearsals and performance a lot of opposition and almost no support. Perhaps the Fourth Piano Concerto fared as well as any piece on the December 22, 1808 program. Beethoven was the soloist, and, according to Reichardt: He played...with astounding cleverness and in the fastest possible tempi. The Adagio (i.e., second movement), a masterly movement of beautifully developed song, he sang on this instrument with a profound melancholy that moved me. Heights undreamt of in earlier music The Fourth Piano Concerto was the last such work Beethoven composed for his own performance. Increasing deafness finally made public appearances all but impossible for one of the foremost piano virtuosos of his time. Beethoven completed his magnificent Fifth Piano Concerto ( Emperor ) in 1809. The Emperor, Beethoven s final Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, is certainly
a fitting culmination of the composer s efforts in this genre. Still, there are many advocates for the G-Major Concerto as the composer s finest. It is a miraculous blend of haunting lyricism, expressive virtuosity, and formal innovation. As British musicologist Sir Donald Francis Tovey observed: Beethoven has now well and truly laid the foundations of his concerto form and is free to raise the edifice to heights undreamt of in earlier music. Musical Analysis I. Allegro moderato In Beethoven s first three Piano Concertos, the composer follows traditional concerto sonata form, opening with a purely orchestral exposition. In the G-Major Concerto, it is the pianist who first sings the principal theme before it is repeated by the strings. After a majestic orchestral statement, the first violins introduce the lyrical (but melancholy) second theme, soon transformed into a radiant orchestral tutti. The soloist returns with his own improvisatory restatement of the principal thematic material. The soloist s music is notable throughout for its arresting synthesis of technical challenges and lyrical restraint. After the development section, the soloist launches the recapitulation with a heroic restatement of his initial entrance. A lengthy cadenza and short, dramatic coda round out the opening movement. II. Andante con moto The brief slow-tempo movement, scored for piano and strings, is an arresting dialogue between the soloist and orchestra. The strings announce a forte, syncopated figure, to which the soloist responds with a tender phrase, marked molto cantabile. The confrontation proceeds until finally, the orchestra yields to the soloist. Franz Liszt compared this brief movement to Orpheus taming the wild beasts with his music. The finale ensues without pause. III. Rondo. Vivace The dialogue between the strings and piano briefly continues with a furtive, pianissimo introduction of the principal Rondo theme. Soon, however, the orchestra proclaims a joyous, fortissimo restatement. Beethoven presents a remarkable variety of moods and instrumental colors throughout the finale. After a cadenza and series of trills, there is a moment of repose before the soloist and orchestra dash headlong to a Presto finish.