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SH! SH!

As ill advised as this may seem, I’ve decided NOT to call Brian Norcross to get clarification on his latest Allegro concert theme, “SH, SH”. I thought it might be more fun if I simply hypothesized on his thought process, but instead, base my conclusions on the biographical information of our four August composers,  Handel, Hummel, Boccherini, & Weber and their music.

Here are my extremely non-confirmed theories:

• Except for Handel, these guys quietly (get it SH, SH?) fly under the radar of today’s mainstream classical music consumer. By the way, no complaining that Allegro is broadening their musical vision with these new composers. After all, these guys rubbed elbows with the Mozarts, Haydns, & Beethoven.
• In general, it seems to me that this particular program of repertoire lends itself to a more gentile, subtle, charming approach, hence “SH, SH”. This may be a stretch but listen how the Weber Symphony ends before scoffing at this theory. Also, there’s not a pair of crashing cymbals in the whole concert!
• OK, so I can’t think of a third one. We’d better ask Brian the real reason for “SH, SH”.

Overture to “Judas Maccabaeus”, HWV 63 by George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)

Handel’s oratorio, “Judas Maccabaeus”, was written in 1746, five years after “Messiah”, the composer being 61. Handel was living in London at the time and the English were celebrating their most recent victory over those pesky Scottish clans to the north. With William, Duke of Cumberland, returning victorious from Scotland, what could be better than a new major work that includes “See, The Conquering Hero Comes”. The oratorio was first performed at the Covent Garden Theatre.

Before you assume that the story line involves the likes of Braveheart’s Mel Gibson and his swashbuckling battle scenes, open your pew bible to Maccabees Chapters 2-8. The oratorio instead relates to the period 170-160BC when Judea was once again under occupation. Basically you have a king of Asia Minor insisting that the Jews worship the pagan god Zeus, forbidding the observance of the Sabbath and the elimination of Jewish laws. An old Jewish priest, Mattathias, took matters into his own hands with ideas of revolt. I won’t ruin the ending for you but just the fact that the final chorus of the entire oratorio is entitled “Hallelujah, Amen” might give you a clue that things worked out eventually for the chosen people of God.

The overture itself is four minutes of prime Handel. You’ll first hear the traditional slow introduction with dotted rhythms and French-style elegance followed by an Allegro. This quicker 2nd section is fugal in nature and features the fiery, determined style of G.F. Handel. A brief harpsichord cadenza is followed by a confident orchestral tag. “Judas Maccabaeus” became one of Handel’s most popular oratorios with frequent reprises, second only to “Messiah”.

Piano Concerto No. 2, Opus 85 in A Minor by Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778-1837)

“Enjoy the world by giving joy to the world” –J.N. Hummel

First of all, I never realized that Hummel had written anything other than his “Trumpet Concerto in E Major” for keyed trumpet. (kidding!) Just thought I’d throw that stereotypical jab in since trumpet players are infamous for their egos and “it’s all about me” attitudes. But I digress. Let’s take a look at this virtuosic piano concerto, written in 1816. Unlike his earlier works for piano, where Hummel closely followed the model of Mozart, the A minor concerto is written in a proto-Romantic style. Some might say that he was anticipating the later stylistic developments of composers such as Chopin and Mendelssohn.

Hummel was born in Pressburg, Hungary. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart offered Hummel lessons at the age of 8 after being impressed with his ability. Hummel was actually taught and housed by Mozart for 2 years free of charge and made his first concert appearance at the age of nine, at one of Mozart’s concerts. Talk about a resume to die for, Hummel’s other instructors included Clementi, Joseph Haydn, and Salieri. At about this same time in Vienna, a fellow young musician by the name of Beethoven also took lessons with Haydn and became a fellow student and friend of Hummel. As you might expect, Beethoven’s arrival was said to have nearly destroyed Hummel’s self confidence. Despite the fact that their friendship was often marked by ups and downs, the mutual friendship developed into reconciliation and respect. Hummel would eventually perform an improvisation at Beethoven’s memorial concert. It was at this event that he became good friends with Franz Schubert; Schubert dedicated his last three piano sonatas to Hummel.

Even into the 21st century, Hummel’s music is being assessed and reassessed, always with the view that his genius has been consistently underrated. Hummel wrote eight piano concerti in all; the first two being early Mozartesque compositions. The A minor Second is cast in 3 movements: a lengthy Allegro moderato is followed by a very brief Larghetto and a substantial Rondo.

Symphony No. 23 in D Minor, Op. 37, G.517 by Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805)

So you’re scratching your head and wondering why you had never heard of Hummel prior to this Allegro concert, at least not outside of the porcelain figurine world. Well let’s add another perhaps underrated figure in music history, Boccherini. Heck, this guy might win the Rodney Dangerfield award for an undeserved lack of respect. Music lovers of his day fondly (really?) proclaimed him “the wife of Haydn” as he was strongly influenced by his mentor. Boccherini’s symphonies stood well on their own and endure today because of their inherent good spirits, their charming use of polyphony, and most of all their intense lyricism. In fact, his lyricism is perhaps both his greatest strength and perhaps his greatest roadblock to growth. He never did sacrifice melodies to delve deeply into drama like Haydn (his senior by 19 years). He never went through a Sturm und Drang (roughly translated storm & urge or stress) period; although his symphonies contain dark moments, they are never tragic. We never sense that Boccherini is creating a work of heroic proportions encompassing pre-Beethoven struggles, like Haydn’s (and later Mozart’s) symphonies do. Instead he writes with much cheer, always pleasant, inviting, charming, optimistic and surprisingly inventive craftsmanship.

Boccherini was born in Lucca, Italy but by age 18 travelled to Madrid, Spain as a court musician. His compositional efforts were strongly influenced by Spanish and Mediterranean music in that he wrote many works for guitar. As a virtuosic cellist, Boccherini is often credited with improving Haydn’s model of the string quartet by bringing the cello to prominence, no longer relegated to an accompaniment role. Luigi Boccherini-an Italian classical era composer and cellist with strong Spanish influences, whose music retained a courtly and galante style. Enjoy Symphony #23 (out of 30) in four movements, music filled with optimism and joy, much like your Allegro Chamber Orchestra.

Symphony No. 2 in C Major, J.51, by Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826)

Isn’t this fun, learning about, and listening to the music of slightly less familiar composers? This time we’re looking into the life of von Weber. By the way, the “von” denotes a claim to nobility, which seems in this particular case to be unwarranted. Weber was born in Eutin, which according to my Google map skills is in extreme Northern Germany. His father was a musical director and founder of a theatrical company. Weber’s cousin Constanze was the wife of W.A. Mozart; Small world, or so it seems in 18th century Europe. At age 12, he travelled to Salzburg to study with Michael Haydn, the younger brother of Joseph.

Carl Maria von Weber was one of the first significant composers of the Romantic school. His operas Der Freischütz, Euryanthe, and Oberon greatly influenced the development of the Romantic opera in Germany. Also, any clarinetist “worth his salt” greatly reveres Weber for his solo compositions for that instrument.  His influence on future composers was far-reaching from Chopin, Liszt, and Mendelssohn to Berlioz, Wagner, Mahler, Debussy, and Stravinsky. Weber’s mastery of the orchestra was equaled in his time only by Beethoven and Schubert.

Symphony No. 2 is in four movements and was written in 1807 at the age of 21. Interestingly enough, Weber only wrote two symphonies, both in the same year. His treatment of form in this work shows a moving away from conventional models of the classical symphony. The first movement is approximately 10 minutes, 30 seconds in duration and the other 3 movements are less than that combined; So much for classical symmetry and balance.

As far as things to listen for:

Can’t wait for 2011, Allegro’s 10 year anniversary!

Doug Albert

 

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