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Make Me an Overture
June 11 2005, 7:30 at the Barshinger Center (2005 Schedule)
Have you ever gone to a restaurant, hungry but not starving? You open the menu and the first thing that is listed on the left-hand column is the appetizers. Can I order my meal from this particular listing? Will the waitress and my friends look at me funny? More importantly, will I be satisfied with these small tasty morsels, intended as a prelude prior to my main course? Tonight's Allegro theme, “Make Me an Overture”, is peppered full of musical morsels intended as introductions to larger operatic works. Throw in a couple of early brass hors-d'œuvres (Susato & Gabrieli), and a Mozart entrée (Symphony 39) and voilà, you've got yourself a June feast during Allegro's fourth season. Our executive chef, Dr. Brian Norcross, is well known for stirring the pot when it comes to presentation and taste. The Allegro Chamber Orchestra will certainly whet your appetite as tonight's audience is served a smorgasbord of overtures flavored with the finest ingredients from Venice, Salzburg, Antwerp, Vienna, and London. Don't concern yourself with musical over-indulgence, Allegro will keep your plate full throughout the summer of 2005.
Tonight's Appetizer Menu
Canzon Septimi Toni No. 2 by Giovanni Gabrieli (ca. 1554/57-1612)
“The feast consisted principally of Musicke, which was both vocal and instrumental, so good, so delectable, so rare, so admirable, so super excellent, that it did even ravish and stupefy all those strangers who had never heard the like. How others were affected with it I know not; for my own Part I can say this, that I was for the time even rapt up with Saint Paul into the third heaven.”
- Thomas Coryat, August 16, 1608, St. Mark's Music Festival
Picture it! ( have you ever watched “The Golden Girls?”) Venice…1608...one of the most glamorous cities in the world-bursting with riches acquired as the trading portal between East and West; exporter of the highest quality cloth, glass and printed books; swaggeringly proud of its military force and splendid armada; storehouse for a large portion of Europe's finest art and architecture. In the world of Venetian High Renaissance music, Giovanni Gabrieli is a name known to many. He is known as a prolific composer, as an organ virtuoso, a pioneer in ensemble music and as the greatest Venetian composer, who laid the foundations of a style which lasted until the 19 th Century. Gabrieli flourished at the large basilica of St. Mark's in Venice from 1584 until his death, pushing ensemble literature to new extremes. He was one of the first orchestrators of instrumental music and would specify instruments and playing volumes to create specific sonic effects. Most associate Gabrieli with the famous Sonate Pian'e Forte , hailed the first piece written specifying dynamics in the various instrumental parts. Canzoni, like the one heard this evening, were written for four to fifteen players disposed variously into choirs, and were designated simply by the church mode in which they were written (i.e., “septimi toni”-“seventh tone”-denotes the Mixolydian mode, based on the note G). Tonight's first appetizer will be served by the Allegro brass section.
Overture to “The Magic Flute”, K.620 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
A night at the opera has not always been the event of serious enjoyment it is today. A rowdy crowd might easily cover the vocalists during the opening notes of Act I.......solution: add an overture (literally “opening”), in which instrumentalists struck up with a few loud chords to quell conversation and capture attention, like a judge's gavel. Gradually these chords grew into a complete and self-contained movement followed by a quieter section and a final loud piece in rapid tempo to create excitement as the rise of the curtain approached.
On September 28, 1791, Mozart completed the last music he wrote for the stage: The Overture to “The Magic Flute.” Two months later he lay on his deathbed. The opera was close to Mozart's heart, not merely because its growing success was the one ray of cheer in his last tragic weeks, but because he had put so much of himself into it, including his highest ethical ideals. One can hardly miss the symbolism of the three solemn chords, associated with the idealistic order of the Freemasons, to which Mozart belonged. The great Mozart scholar, Alfred Einstein, once wrote “Mozart compressed into this Overture the struggle and victory of all mankind.” But with all its impressive symbolism and its lofty spiritual content, the Overture preserves a delicate fairy-tale atmosphere. Your second course this evening will be served with a side order of trombones, quite rare for a Mozart overture!
Arrival of the Queen of Sheba from “Solomon” by George Frideric Handel ( 1685-1759)
“And Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the river unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt: they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life.”
-I Kings:4:21
In the summer months of 1748 Handel composed the oratorio “Solomon” for the ensuing season. Solomon depicts a wise and god-fearing ruler, with Solomon's court presenting the image of an ideal society. It is often suggested that Handel wished to extol the golden age of England and its ruler, George II who had granted him English Nationality. Handel praised the glory of England and its monarchs with this oratorio by equating them with Israel and King Solomon. Long a popular encore, the “Arrival of the Queen of Sheba” matches an exuberant pair of oboes with a spirited violin line.
Susato Suite by Tielman Susato (c.1500-c.1561) ed. John Iveson
Chef (a.k.a. Maestro) Norcross features the brass section again during this collection of six Renaissance dance-like pieces. The birthplace and date of Tielman Susato are unknown, our clear knowledge of him starts in 1529 when he was working as a calligrapher in Antwerp Cathedral. As a trumpeter he is also listed as a “town player”, while he created the first music printing company in the Low Countries. Susato was anxious to promote Flemish composers, and eventually published four books devoted to songs by national musicians. His efforts to find more did not succeed, and he was to compose many of his own works based on popular Flemish music of the time. How much of his writing was original is unclear, as he was obviously compiling folk and popular music of the area. His melodic material is attractive, and is particularly strong in its rhythmic character. Much of his music and the music he collected, was in dance rhythm, with a general inference that this was music for the “street” rather than for the aristocracy. The result is music of rugged attraction, perfectly suited for a concert where the audience is using their fingers to devour one tasty piece after another.
Overture to “Don Giovanni”, K.527 by W.A. Mozart
The evening before the production of “Don Giovanni” at Prague, the dress rehearsal having already taken place, Mozart said to his wife that he would write the overture during the night if she would sit with him and make him some punch to keep his spirits up. This she did, and told him tales about Aladdin's lamp, Cinderella, etc., which made him laugh till the tears came. But the punch made him sleepy, so that he dozed when she left off, and only worked as long as she told tales. At last the excitement, the sleepiness, and his frequent efforts not to doze off were too much for him, and his wife persuaded him to go to sleep on the sofa promising to wake him in an hour. But he slept so soundly that she could not find it in her heart to wake him until two hours had passed. It was then five o'clock. At seven o'clock the Overture was finished and in the hands of the copyist . – The Book of Musical Anecdotes by Norman Lebrecht
As usual, Mozart had long since composed the music in his head. But he was something of a procrastinator, and did not look forward to the mechanical work of committing music to paper.
The Overture to “Don Giovanni” is no piece of program music, no synopsis of the opera plot, but purely and simply a musical confrontation between the avenging power of the stone guest (in the slow introduction) and the irresistible temperament and vitality of the womanizing Don. The listener of this Overture should be prepared for crashing chords suggesting the stone statue from the funeral monument to the father of one of the Don's female victims. The tonality of this work had long been associated in Mozart's mind with conflict, tragedy, and doom….listen for the spooky rising and falling scales derived from the final scene of the Don's descent to hell. The fast section seems clearly a portrayal of the almost superhuman, restless drive of Don Giovanni. Your palette will certainly need to be cleansed following this gut-wrenching work.
Overture to “Fidelio” by Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770-1827)
“With this opera I earn my crown of martyr.”
-Beethoven
Exactly how many times would it take Mr. Beethoven until he got it right? In this case, four attempts to write the perfect overture to precede his first and only opera. Yes, we've all heard the stories of the obsessive reworking and re-reworking of his musical thoughts, but he also was under heavy pressure from his friends to revise his opera for greater theatrical effect. “Fidelio” opened in 1805 but the overture which you will hear tonight wasn't performed until the 1814 revision of the opera. In the meantime, we have “Leonore Overtures No. 1, 2, & 3”, all standard orchestra works today, but not quite good enough for Ludwig.
Let's look at the sunny side of this whole scenario. The fourth attempt at writing an overture for his opera provided us with a joyous, festive score, one of his sunniest works, with a richly colored orchestra giving prominence to the glowing tone of the French horn. Enjoy the contrast between Beethoven's commanding fanfare-like figure for full orchestra and the pensive, romantic mood evoked by a duet of solitary horns, followed by pairs of woodwinds. The main body of the Overture is built on a lively French horn theme …..is it just me or does our conductor consistently find great music for his beloved Allegro horn section? “But I digress” ( second reference to Sophia of “The Golden Girls”) . Please notice Beethoven added a pair of trombones and a full compliment of horns for this brilliantly optimistic masterpiece.
Tonight's Entrée
Symphony No. 39 in E-flat Major, K.543 by Mozart
Mozart wrote his last three and most celebrated symphonies in the amazingly short space of about two months. Tonight's symphony was completed June 26, 1788, while the other two, those in G minor (#40) and C major (#41 Jupiter), were completed July 25 and August 10. I'll never again complain about not having time enough to write the program notes for these three summer concerts, heck, this guy wrote entire symphonies in less time!
Although the overall mood of this work is quite cheerful and heartwarming, Mozart's personal life was once again experiencing turmoil. A heartbreaking series of begging letters to a well-to-do merchant friend showed him sinking deeper and deeper into a morass of debt and misery. On June 17, 1788, apparently in the midst of composing tonight's “entrée”, Wolfgang and his ailing wife moved out of Vienna to cheaper lodgings in the suburbs. Times were very tough but out of this genius' struggles came a great miracle of melody and form.
I. Adagio; Allegro -a long slow introduction of quiet dignity and spiritual harmony and serenity. The Allegro is Mozartean charm at its finest with graceful, brilliant simplicity.
II. Andante con moto- pensive and restrained
III. Menuetto: Allegretto -festive joyousness (listen especially for the clarinet duet)
IV. Finale: Allegro- playful, folkish quality and rugged contrasts of Haydn
Several appetizers, a couple of hors-d'œuvres and a hearty serving of Mozart #39 as your entrée, hopefully tonight's Allegro supporters will travel home quite satisfied. But just in case your musical taste buds require more in terms of seasonings , The Allegro Chamber Orchestra will present “The Four Seasons” (Vivaldi) at the July 9 performance, featuring Bryan Rose on violin.
We hope that you will be able to join us throughout this summer.
Bon Appétit!
Doug Albert