Swedish Chamber Orchestra
Saturday, April 05, 2008
8:00 PM
Renée & Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall
Series Name: ?**SERIES**?
Subscriber Sale Date: 5/1/2007
Public Sale Date: 6/18/2007
8:00 PM
Renée & Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall
Series Name: ?**SERIES**?
Subscriber Sale Date: 5/1/2007
Public Sale Date: 6/18/2007
Pre-concert lecture by Burton Karson, 7pm
Beethoven: Overture to Coriolanus Op. 62
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, Op. 15
Schumann: Symphony No. 2 in C major, Op. 61
Thomas Dausgaard, conductor
Piotr Anderszewski, piano
Beethoven: Overture to “Coriolan,” Op. 62
Beethoven composed about a dozen overtures. Four belong, at least peripherally, to his one opera, Fidelio. Others were written for use in the theater or at the ballet. However, several of his overtures were not written to accompany a stage production, but rather as free-standing one-movement concert works. Coriolan is one such composition, although it took musicologists a while to establish that fact. The overture shares its title with a drama by Heinrich von Collin, who, in addition to being a playwright, was also a friend of Beethoven’s and a secretary at the royal court. Since Beethoven and Collin knew each other well, it was long assumed that the overture was written to be performed with the play, but further study has proven otherwise. When Beethoven wrote his overture in 1807, the play was already five years old, and although it had been extremely popular, it was now fading from the repertoire. Although Beethoven did dedicate the overture to Collin when it was published, he erased from the head of the score the words “for the tragedy.” Perhaps he had once considered using the overture in the theater, but apparently he changed that intention before allowing the work to be performed.
Like the Shakespeare drama on the same subject, Collin’s drama tells the story of the Roman emperor Coriolanus who sells himself to the enemy, then leads them in battle against Rome. Appeals from his wife and mother persuade him to accept a cease-fire, which saves Rome, but destroys Coriolanus himself, who, as Collin tells it, ultimately commits suicide. This dark and treacherous tale is vividly conveyed in Beethoven’s score. As it begins, powerful chords suggest Coriolan’s then-indomitable will as he turns against the city of his birth. It is defiant music for a defiant man, but these harsh themes are suddenly interrupted by more lyrical melodies representing the earnest pleas of the two women. Musically, Beethoven presents the same conflict confronted by Coriolan: a choice between the temptations of affection and the glories of battle. Love prevails. When the stern chords of his resolve return, they are much diminished in power, and they quickly fade further until Beethoven's overture, like Coriolan’s life, drifts away into nothingness.
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.1 in C major, Op.15
In 1792, music-mad Vienna, having recently been deprived of the genius of Mozart, had found a new pianist to adore, the Abbé Joseph Gelinek, a talented gentleman who, no doubt, was enjoying his time in the spotlight. Then, in the best tradition of Western movies, a stranger came swaggering into town, a young hotshot who spoke so proudly of his own ability that he attracted the rather annoyed attention of the resident star. A duel was arranged, not with swords or pistols, but a duel of pianistic skills. When the day was over, even Gelinek had to admit that he had been bested, declaring that even Mozart had never improvised that admirably. “That young fellow,” Gelinek supposedly lamented, “must be in league with the devil.” Then Gelinek, so laudatory of his opponent’s ability, spoke less favorably of the man’s appearance and personality: “He is a small, ugly, swarthy young fellow, and seems to have a willful disposition. Prince Lichnowsky brought him from Germany to Vienna some years ago to let him study composition with Haydn, Albrechtsberger and Salieri, and his name is Beethoven.” On that day, the young unknown from Bonn, only twenty-one years old, won the lasting admiration of one of the world's most musical cities.
Although Beethoven performed on many such private occasions during these first few years, his official Viennese debut did not occur until April 1800, when he was the featured soloist and composer in a Hofburgtheater concert given late on a Wednesday afternoon. The program included Beethoven’s Septet, his Symphony No. 1, and his opus 15 Piano Concerto, along with a Mozart symphony and selections from Haydn’s oratorio The Creation. The concerto, known ever since as his Piano Concerto No. 1, was actually his third attempt at the genre. Around age fourteen, Beethoven had completed a concerto in E-flat major, and in 1794, he completed another concerto, this one in the key of B-flat. However, since the C major concerto was the first to appear in print, it was given the number “one.” The B-flat concerto was called “two.” The early E-flat concerto (not to be confused with the Emperor Concerto in E-flat of later years) was never published and remained unnumbered, although an old vinyl recording of it does exist.
Schumann: Symphony No. 2 in C major, Op. 61
The story of Robert Schumann’s life is a tale of increasing mental disability. Even as a young man, Schumann suffered severe bouts of uncertainty, depression and withdrawal, which became more and more frequent as he aged. His adult life was characterized by an escalating series of mental breakdowns accompanied by debilitating physical effects. His first serious breakdown occurred in 1844, when he and his wife, the renowned pianist Clara Wieck Schumann, were on a concert tour of Russia. Another collapse followed later that same year. Although his condition occasionally improved, they were but brief respites, and Schumann never completely recovered his emotional health. At the time of his death in 1856 at the age of forty-six, he had spent two-and-a-half years in a mental asylum.
Most composers, indeed, most persons of any profession, would find such experiences to be emotionally crippling and professionally incapacitating. Certainly, Schumann did, at times, suffer badly from his condition, but he also experienced periods of frenzied activity, when, despite his instability, he produced massive quantities of music. His C major Symphony dates from such a time. He began the work in December of 1845, while still feeling the effects of his most recent breakdown. In a letter to a friend, he noted that, “I sketched it when I was still in a state of physical suffering; it was, so to speak, the resistance of the spirit which exercised a visible influence here, and through which I sought to contend with my bodily state.” It was, thus, a kind of healing through music. One might imagine it as occupational therapy, and, apparently, it succeeded at least in part, for, though the symphony begins in the mood of its creator's dark days, it concludes with hope and joy. It is worth noting that the brass fanfare of the opening bars reappears in various guises in the other movements, and by the finale has taken on a tone of optimism.
The C major Symphony was Schumann’s third endeavor in that genre, but, as one of its predecessors had not yet been published, it carries the number two. Although the work was written in Dresden, where the Schumanns had moved for the sake of Robert’s health, it premiered in the more musically-inclined Leipzig on November 5, 1846, with the composer’s friend, Felix Mendelssohn, conducting the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra,. That first performance was less than successful, but Schumann revised the score and arranged another, far more successful, performance eleven days later. When the symphony was published the following year, it carried a dedication to King Oskar of Sweden and Norway.
Copyright by Betsy Schwarm
Program
Beethoven: Overture to Coriolanus Op. 62
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, Op. 15
Schumann: Symphony No. 2 in C major, Op. 61
Artist
Thomas Dausgaard, conductor
Piotr Anderszewski, piano
Music Director Thomas Dausgaard will lead the 38-member Swedish Chamber Orchestra, joined by Polish-Hungarian pianist Piotr Anderszewski, for their Orange County debut with a program of Beethoven and Schumann. The orchestra has performed at the BBC Proms, London Barbican and many of the major halls of Europe and Japan. The orchestra has recorded the complete orchestral works of Beethoven and is at present halfway through recording Schumann’s orchestral works.
“…a high-energy dazzler, driven by sizzlingly brisk string playing.” – The New York Times
Program Notes
Beethoven: Overture to “Coriolan,” Op. 62
Beethoven composed about a dozen overtures. Four belong, at least peripherally, to his one opera, Fidelio. Others were written for use in the theater or at the ballet. However, several of his overtures were not written to accompany a stage production, but rather as free-standing one-movement concert works. Coriolan is one such composition, although it took musicologists a while to establish that fact. The overture shares its title with a drama by Heinrich von Collin, who, in addition to being a playwright, was also a friend of Beethoven’s and a secretary at the royal court. Since Beethoven and Collin knew each other well, it was long assumed that the overture was written to be performed with the play, but further study has proven otherwise. When Beethoven wrote his overture in 1807, the play was already five years old, and although it had been extremely popular, it was now fading from the repertoire. Although Beethoven did dedicate the overture to Collin when it was published, he erased from the head of the score the words “for the tragedy.” Perhaps he had once considered using the overture in the theater, but apparently he changed that intention before allowing the work to be performed.
Like the Shakespeare drama on the same subject, Collin’s drama tells the story of the Roman emperor Coriolanus who sells himself to the enemy, then leads them in battle against Rome. Appeals from his wife and mother persuade him to accept a cease-fire, which saves Rome, but destroys Coriolanus himself, who, as Collin tells it, ultimately commits suicide. This dark and treacherous tale is vividly conveyed in Beethoven’s score. As it begins, powerful chords suggest Coriolan’s then-indomitable will as he turns against the city of his birth. It is defiant music for a defiant man, but these harsh themes are suddenly interrupted by more lyrical melodies representing the earnest pleas of the two women. Musically, Beethoven presents the same conflict confronted by Coriolan: a choice between the temptations of affection and the glories of battle. Love prevails. When the stern chords of his resolve return, they are much diminished in power, and they quickly fade further until Beethoven's overture, like Coriolan’s life, drifts away into nothingness.
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.1 in C major, Op.15
In 1792, music-mad Vienna, having recently been deprived of the genius of Mozart, had found a new pianist to adore, the Abbé Joseph Gelinek, a talented gentleman who, no doubt, was enjoying his time in the spotlight. Then, in the best tradition of Western movies, a stranger came swaggering into town, a young hotshot who spoke so proudly of his own ability that he attracted the rather annoyed attention of the resident star. A duel was arranged, not with swords or pistols, but a duel of pianistic skills. When the day was over, even Gelinek had to admit that he had been bested, declaring that even Mozart had never improvised that admirably. “That young fellow,” Gelinek supposedly lamented, “must be in league with the devil.” Then Gelinek, so laudatory of his opponent’s ability, spoke less favorably of the man’s appearance and personality: “He is a small, ugly, swarthy young fellow, and seems to have a willful disposition. Prince Lichnowsky brought him from Germany to Vienna some years ago to let him study composition with Haydn, Albrechtsberger and Salieri, and his name is Beethoven.” On that day, the young unknown from Bonn, only twenty-one years old, won the lasting admiration of one of the world's most musical cities.
Although Beethoven performed on many such private occasions during these first few years, his official Viennese debut did not occur until April 1800, when he was the featured soloist and composer in a Hofburgtheater concert given late on a Wednesday afternoon. The program included Beethoven’s Septet, his Symphony No. 1, and his opus 15 Piano Concerto, along with a Mozart symphony and selections from Haydn’s oratorio The Creation. The concerto, known ever since as his Piano Concerto No. 1, was actually his third attempt at the genre. Around age fourteen, Beethoven had completed a concerto in E-flat major, and in 1794, he completed another concerto, this one in the key of B-flat. However, since the C major concerto was the first to appear in print, it was given the number “one.” The B-flat concerto was called “two.” The early E-flat concerto (not to be confused with the Emperor Concerto in E-flat of later years) was never published and remained unnumbered, although an old vinyl recording of it does exist.
Schumann: Symphony No. 2 in C major, Op. 61
The story of Robert Schumann’s life is a tale of increasing mental disability. Even as a young man, Schumann suffered severe bouts of uncertainty, depression and withdrawal, which became more and more frequent as he aged. His adult life was characterized by an escalating series of mental breakdowns accompanied by debilitating physical effects. His first serious breakdown occurred in 1844, when he and his wife, the renowned pianist Clara Wieck Schumann, were on a concert tour of Russia. Another collapse followed later that same year. Although his condition occasionally improved, they were but brief respites, and Schumann never completely recovered his emotional health. At the time of his death in 1856 at the age of forty-six, he had spent two-and-a-half years in a mental asylum.
Most composers, indeed, most persons of any profession, would find such experiences to be emotionally crippling and professionally incapacitating. Certainly, Schumann did, at times, suffer badly from his condition, but he also experienced periods of frenzied activity, when, despite his instability, he produced massive quantities of music. His C major Symphony dates from such a time. He began the work in December of 1845, while still feeling the effects of his most recent breakdown. In a letter to a friend, he noted that, “I sketched it when I was still in a state of physical suffering; it was, so to speak, the resistance of the spirit which exercised a visible influence here, and through which I sought to contend with my bodily state.” It was, thus, a kind of healing through music. One might imagine it as occupational therapy, and, apparently, it succeeded at least in part, for, though the symphony begins in the mood of its creator's dark days, it concludes with hope and joy. It is worth noting that the brass fanfare of the opening bars reappears in various guises in the other movements, and by the finale has taken on a tone of optimism.
The C major Symphony was Schumann’s third endeavor in that genre, but, as one of its predecessors had not yet been published, it carries the number two. Although the work was written in Dresden, where the Schumanns had moved for the sake of Robert’s health, it premiered in the more musically-inclined Leipzig on November 5, 1846, with the composer’s friend, Felix Mendelssohn, conducting the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra,. That first performance was less than successful, but Schumann revised the score and arranged another, far more successful, performance eleven days later. When the symphony was published the following year, it carried a dedication to King Oskar of Sweden and Norway.
Copyright by Betsy Schwarm
Pricing Information
Seating Chart
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