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Program Archive
Sort of 18th Century
June 13 2009, 2:00 and 7:30 at the Barshinger Center (2009 Schedule)
As Allegro, the Chamber Orchestra of Lancaster begins its 8th year of joyful music-making, we pause to reflect on the blessing that this blue-shirted ensemble has brought to our community. So often classical music is perceived as elitist and unduly sophisticated in nature, certainly unnecessary and not at all helpful. Instead we hope that you are able to sense the humble reverence and pleasure that we, as Allegro musicians, approach these masterworks. “Sort of 18th Century” is a potpourri of compositions, including overtures, suites, a “classical” symphony, and a very special musical tribute to a loved one.
“Where words fail, music speaks” –Hans Christian Anderson
Overture to Cosi fan tutte, K. 588 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91)
Let's start out by upsetting at least 50% of our Allegro audience on this fine Saturday in June. “Women are like that ” or perhaps worse yet, “ they'll do it every time ” are just two of the imperfect translations for this non-politically correct opera. Two pairs of lovers are caught up in a wager between the men (of course) and a cynical third party, also a man, over the constancy, or lack thereof, of women. Naturally, the two women catch wind of the ruse to test their fidelity and, with obvious relish, make their lovers' lives suitably miserable. Here's a clue that one's opera plot may be slightly risqué. Beethoven, a lifelong admirer of Mozart, was distinctly uncomfortable with “Cosi”, believing its story to be downright immoral. Nothing like an unhappy bachelor to wax self-righteous about other people's relationships, even when fictional!
The opera was first performed in Vienna on January 26, 1790, the day before Mozart's 34th birthday and less than two years before his death. The piece is in the key of C major, beginning with a fourteen bar slow introduction. This is a common musical form; a kind of “get ready” for the rhythmic hushed Presto with its alternating themes, which give the work both urgency and a sense of mystery. The sparkling overture is content to set the stage for the ensuing farce. It is light in mood, using melodic material of utmost simplicity…the simplicity of genius.
Conversations (2008) by Ralph Lehman
Notes by Mr. Lehman
“This work for chamber orchestra was written in June and July 2008 in honor of, and as a tribute to Vicki Hill, a founding board member of Allegro, and its principal flutist through 2007. When an unexpected illness forced Vicki to suspend her position with the orchestra, I felt compelled to compose a work dedicated to this long-time friend and fellow musician who has been a valued member of Allegro.”
“The overall concept of Conversations is that of an ongoing dialogue between the two featured flutists and the orchestra, especially the members of the wind sections. As the music progresses the conversations become more animated before reaching a temporary period of relaxation. This is followed by the flutists playing a 13th century Latin chant, Salve Splendor , taken from the antiphony of Inchcolm, a small island in the Firth of Forth in Scotland . The chant melody is, of course, accompanied by the orchestra, and one will hear “comments” from various other instruments. The music then evolves into a sweeping melody of hope and assurance, over which is superimposed the flutes continuing the chant, which becomes more and more embellished. Finally, the music settles into a calm and peaceful repose, and ends with closing statements from the flutes.”
Orchestral Suite No. 4 in D major, BWV 1069 by J.S. Bach (1685-1750)
“Music owes almost as much to Bach as Christianity does to its founder” –Schumann
Throw out any baggage that you might have concerning Mr. Bach and his deep, esoteric compositional techniques. The four orchestra suites were optimal for garden parties, trade fairs, and civic celebrations of all kinds, as well as an excellent source of income. The fourth orchestral suite has some of the sweetest, loveliest qualities, never intended for “close listening”…perhaps an intimate look into the, often overlooked, good nature of a man who usually offers no less than musical epiphany.
These suites were generally made to imitate a collection of excerpts from French ballets and operas. The French aristocrats just loved those regal introductory statements with the dotted rhythms of French grand opera. These openings were then followed by collections of dances (five movements in all for this particular work). For all you chefs, we do notice a secret ingredient in Bach's orchestral suites; that of Italian influence. Perhaps even a dash of Vivaldi's concerto style. Consider this piece a summer treat from the composer, the genius of Bach in an easy to take recipe of both French and Italian flavors.
Overture in G (Don Quixote) by Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
Speaking of French influence, let's take a quick look at Bach's contemporary, Telemann. He was four years Bach's elder and outlived him by almost twenty years. Telemann enjoyed a renown during his lifetime that Bach never experienced. He was a church musician but also a man of the theater and an astute businessman in Hamburg . After visiting Paris in 1737, Herr Telemann wrote over 600 overtures in the French or “new style gallant.” Again we immerse ourselves in the fashionable pulse of dotted rhythms.
Telemann was 80 years of age when he wrote this singspiel (song-play). The story of Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was also a source of inspiration for Henry Purcell, Thomas D'Urfey, and many other musicians during the Baroque period and beyond. It seems obvious why this rich and open-ended novel had such a great appeal in the 18th century, when such things as love, justice, and class were of great concern to society. Today's offering is simply the overture from this eight movement suite on the life of Don Quixote.
Symphony No. 1 in D major, Op. 25 by Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)
Prokofiev's formative years as a young student were spent in the St. Petersburg Conservatory during considerable political turmoil. At the tender age of 17, he played his first compositions in public, and his music was perceived as avant-garde and difficult to understand, an opinion that suited the arrogant Prokofiev just fine. It is intriguing then, that one of his most famous works is his Symphony No. 1 , a piece that looks back to the older style of Haydn and is know by the nickname “Classical.” The idea of using 20th century harmonies and resources in the service of a classical form was one that many composers would address in the first decades of the 20th century and beyond. Neo-classicism, as it is called, occupied much of fellow Russian Igor Stravinsky's second period. Prokofiev, however, did not see the “Classical” Symphony as part of a neo-classical streak in his style. Instead, it was an isolated experiment, and he disliked Stravinsky's preoccupation with neo-classicism, famously calling it “Bach on the wrong notes.”
The “Classical” Symphony is an extremely interesting work that meshes the tradition of clarity and formality with the renegade spirit of Prokofiev's early works. Classicism was attractive to the unsentimental Prokofiev because it avoids the overwrought emotion of Romanticism. There are Haydn-esque qualities in the “Classical” Symphony, like the sudden loudness we experience in works such as his “Surprise” Symphony. There is also reference to the Classical practice of alternating opposites: loud and soft, high and low, gravity and levity. Prokofiev claimed that his Symphony No. 1 is what Haydn might have written had he lived another century, and any fan of Haydn knows that the older composer would have appreciated the humor and the craftsmanship of this Russian's work.
Blessings!
Doug Albert