Program Notes
Overture and March from Turandot Karl Maria von Weber (1786 – 1826)
The life of Karl Maria von Weber was intimately bound up with the theater from his earliest days. His father, a nobleman of ruined finances, was the manager of a theatrical company – giving the young composer an early knowledge of stage routine and dramatic necessity. The elder von Weber also discerned early in Karl’s life that there was considerable musical talent and saw to it that he received quality instruction in piano, violin and harmony. Among his teachers were Michael Haydn (brother of Franz Josef) and Abbé Vogler. Given a conducting post at age eighteen, he could not maintain discipline and did not achieve a stable post until 1816, when he was called to head the newly formed German Opera in Dresden. After that, his newfound seriousness of purpose and maturity put him on the path of creating a truly German national idiom in opera. He was considered a leading figure in a reawakening nationalism that sought expression in art and literature, as well as politics.
His operatic works were many, but nine have remained in the repertoire to this day, especially the strongly Romantic Der Freischütz (The Marksman). Von Weber also composed a number of instrumental works, including piano, clarinet and bassoon concertos, symphonies and several masses. Among these instrumental pieces is incidental music for the play Turandot, concerning a willful young Chinese princess and the power of love. The young Turandot does not wish to have a dynastic marriage arranged, so she creates a “trial by riddle” for all suitors. They must answer three riddles successfully to win her hand – failure leads to beheading. In the end, a clever, and (of course) handsome young prince answers the riddles and Turandot is conquered by the power of love.
Von Weber wrote a number of pieces for the play: we present the Overture and March in this concert. The composer used an actual Chinese melody that was noted down by a Catholic priest in China and preserved in a French encyclopedia. It is nearly pentatonic (consisting of five tones) as so much oriental music is and has a flavor that would have been intriguing to listeners. The opening on solo piccolo also has a certain exotic sound that is amplified later by use of a large percussion battery, reinforcing the “exotic” nature of the music and play. It is also somewhat appropriate that the military bands of the German states used similar percussion, though derived more from the Turkish influence.
These charming works are enjoying a revived popularity and provide a look at how Chinese culture and, particularly the attractive story of Princess Turandot, were viewed in Europe at that time. It is also interesting that this same story became the basis of the famous and well-loved opera Turandot by Giacomo Puccini – made even more popular by Luciano Pavarotti’s iconic performance of “Nessun dorma.”
Hungarian Sketches Bela Bartók (1881 – 1945)
Hungarian composer Bela Bartók was born in a small town in Banatia District, now a part of Romania. His musical precociousness was evident when by age four; he could play forty pieces on the piano. His formal lessons began the following year. After his father’s untimely death when Bela was seven, his mother moved first to the Ukraine and then to Slovakia before settling in Budapest. There the young Bartók studied piano and composition at the Royal Academy of Music fro, 1899 – 1903. His friendship with Zoltán Kodály formed in his student years lasted a lifetime and provided each with a colleague who was deeply interested in real Hungarian (as opposed to pseudo-Hungarian “Gypsy”) folk music. They traveled across rural Hungary and the Balkans, lugging an Edison cylinder phonographic recorded and preserving the vanishing musical heritage of the area. From this work came a powerful wellspring of influence for both composers.
At the same time, young Bartók was gaining increasing fame as a concert pianist and composer. Among the discernable influences on his writing were Debussy, Brahms and Richard Strauß. But the folk element would appear as early as 1908 and grow in influence as years passed. His pianistic fame won him a teaching position at the Royal Academy and enabled him to tour extensively while remaining in his beloved Hungary. Among his students were conductors Fritz Reiner and Sir Georg Solti, as well as pianists György Sándor, Ernö Balogh and Lili Kraus.
The true Hungarian folk music was that of the Magyar people, whose Asiatic origins are revealed in the Oriental traditions of Central Asia and Siberia such as the pentatonic scale. Bartók quickly incorporated real Magyar elements into their music, even quoting actual folk melodies. As such, his music became a synthesis of folk music, classicism and modernism. The Hungarian Sketches portray rural life in his native land in movements entitled: An Evening in the Village, Bear Dance, Melody, Slightly Queasy and the Swineherd’s Dance.
Sadly, the rise of a Fascistic government in Hungary forced Bartók to flee his native land and seek refuge in America. There, he was hindered by the war time conditions and ill health and died of kidney disease in 1945. His legacy in all genres of music is unquestioned and he remains one of the most appealing and humane of twentieth century composers.
Entrance of the Queen of Sheba
from Solomon George Friderik Handel (1685 – 1759)
The great oratorios of George Friderik Handel remain one of the most lasting musical legacies in the English speaking world and, indeed, everywhere. We of course, always remember Messiah but must also acknowledge the rich trove of all his sacred and secular oratorios. A brace of such works, based on Old Testament sources, is still widely performed: they include Saul, Jephtha, Esther, Judas Maccabaeus, Joshua, Israel in Egypt and Solomon.
No English composer, native or naturalized, has created a more lasting and popular genre than did Handel with these and his other oratorios, both Biblical and secular. It is no wonder that a grateful nation caused him to be buried among the illustrious of England in Westminster Abbey.
It is from Solomon that we draw the colorful and exciting Entrance of the Queen of Sheba. The excerpt is an instrumental interlude that portrays the arrival in Solomon’s court of the beautiful and fabulously wealthy Queen and her retinue. Handel using strings and a pair of oboes depicts the bustle of ceremony. The latter have duet solos that are a wonderful tonal contrast to the strings and, perhaps, the double reed sound is meant to suggest a certain “exotic” flavor. Even in these little incidental pieces, the composer shows the wealth of his talent in creating an atmosphere that adds color and life to a choral work, much as the “Pastoral Symphony” does in Messiah, where it portrays the calm, bucolic moments before the heaven sent announcement of the birth of Jesus.
Carnival of the Animals Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 – 1921)
An august and revered figure in French musical circles for decades, Saint-Saëns may have felt impelled to project a dignified and suitably impressive face to the musical world. Certainly, his compositional gifts and ability to correctly gauge public tastes while remaining true to his own high standards would merit great respect. But he may have been a bit too concerned in this respect, for his work that is perhaps best known, worldwide, is one that he only allowed to be performed twice in his lifetime (once at a private concert for Franz Liszt). That, of course, is Carnival of the Animals. This work is full of humor and parody and he may have feared it would hurt his reputation as a serious composer. Only the movement “The Swan” was published before his death in 1921.
In this delightful zoological romp, Saint-Saëns uses two solo pianos accompanied by a small orchestra of strings, flute, piccolo, clarinet and xylophone. Each animal (and some are not what we would typically think of as residents of a zoo or as pets) is depicted with music that often seeks to and does imitate their characteristic sounds or movements. The movements are: Introduction and Royal March of the Lion, Hens and Roosters, Wild Asses, Tortoises, The Elephant, Kangaroos, The Aquarium, Personages with Long Ears (donkeys), The cuckoo, The Aviary, Pianists, Fossils, The Swan and Finale. The last movement brings back snippets of many animals music in quick succession to create a final zoological kaleidoscope before the final chords.
A number of writers and humorists have been inspired to create narratives of verses for the Carnival and ballet companies have been quick to create choreography to accompany the music. Among the most whimsically successful of these efforts are verses by the American poet Ogden Nash. These delightful little rhymes appeal to all ages and are a wonderful counterpoint to Saint-Saëns’ musical portraits. We are delighted to feature pianists Camille Blackburn and David Campbell and narrator Steve Cannon in our performance.
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