November 7, 2009

Civic Auditorium - 7:30pm

Videos of the performance:

• Beethoven - Overture to König Stephan
• Beethoven - Symphony 9 - Movement 1
• Beethoven - Symphony 9 - Movement 2
• Beethoven - Symphony 9 - Movement 3
• Beethoven - Symphony 9 - Movement 4

The Symphony is joined by the ISU Concert Choir Camerata Singers conducted by Dr. Scott Anderson as well as soloists Alyssa Doggett, soprano; Laurel Pumphrey, mezzo-soprano; Andrew Peck, tenor; Jon Linford, barritone.

Alyssa Doggett	Laurel Pumphrey	Andrew Peck	Jon Linford
The ISU Concert Choir Camerata Singers			Dr. Scott Anderson

Program Notes

Overture to König Stephan (King Stephen), Opus 117 Ludwig van Beethoven

(1770 – 1827)

The incidental music to König Stephan (King Stephen) was composed for a commemorative play by the poet Kotzebue. In 1808, Emperor Francis II of Austria commissioned the building of a large, new theater in Budapest, partially to alleviate growing nationalist dissatisfaction and to celebrate the loyalty of Hungary to the Austrian throne.

In 1811, the management of the New Theater in Pesth commissioned Kotzebue to write a trilogy based on Hungarian historical subjects for the opening of the new theater. Beethoven was engaged to write incidental music for the play. The full title of Beethoven’s score is “King Stephen, Hungary’s first Benefactor, a Prologue in one act by Kotzebue, Music by Ludwig van Beethoven, written for the Opening of the New Theater in Pesth, February 9, 1812.

Only the overture is performed today, and it is one of the least frequently programmed overtures by the composer. It opens with four single note calls and is followed by a march like theme announced by the flute. After an interruption by four more calls, the march resumes and leads to the main section of the overture. Interestingly enough, after a development of the martial theme in the main section, another theme emerges which is the first phrase of the vocal melody in the finale of the Ninth Symphony. Beethoven had long been engaged by this theme, as evidenced from his sketch books as well as its appearance in this overture. The march theme then returns and leads to a further development of the thematic material and concluded by a fiery Coda.

Symphony No. 9 in D Minor (Choral), Opus 125

Beethoven’s sketches of material eventually used in the Choral Symphony appear as early as 1817, but his real composition of this final symphony took placed between 1822 and 1824. It was first performed in the Kärntnerthor Theater in Vienna on May 7, 1824. By this time Beethoven was far too deaf to consider conducting, but he stood in the middle of the orchestra and tried to follow the performance with his score. Not being able to hear, he lost his place and was oblivious to the tremendous applause at the symphony’s conclusion. Fräulein Karoline Unger, one of the soloists, related that she induced him to turn and face the audience “who were still clapping their hands and giving the greatest demonstrations of pleasure…the sudden conviction thereby forced on everybody that he…could not hear what was going on acted like an electric shock on all present, and a volcanic explosion of sympathy and admiration followed.”

The decade the elapsed between Beethoven’s eighth and ninth symphonies was very trying for Beethoven. In addition to the obvious difficulties of his deafness, other personal difficulties caused him much personal anguish. The major ones were the frustrated passion between himself and Antonie Brentano, “the Immortal Beloved,” and the drawn-out litigation over the custody of his nephew Karl which he was eventually awarded. This was also the time of the French Revolution, and the eventual defeat of Napoleon. Musically he was constant reworking of his only opera, Fidelio, and its suffered through its difficult premieres. But it also had some successes, with the completion of his M issa solemnis, various piano sonatas including the Hammerklavier and the Diabelli Variations, and other works.

Organizing the first performance of the Ninth Symphony was also no easy task. Beethoven was annoyed with Vienna and entertained the idea of presenting the first performance in Berlin. He had the endless difficulties on engaging a conductor, soloists, the remainder of the program, not to mention the budget and finances. But he was eventually pleased with choice of soloists and conductor, and the arrangement of having him present on stage. Though a tremendous artistic success, the concert was a financial catastrophe for Beethoven.

Michael Steinberg expressed the opinion that this symphony “traces a path from darkness to light, and of this process and of the struggle for clarification.” It opens very dramatically with two very soft notes (E and A), with this open interval reappearing in various contexts. An intense crescendo develops with these two notes giving way to a D, the key of the symphony but beginning in the minor mode. The exposition is not repeated and following the development instead of the expected D minor, but an astonishing D major.

The second movement opens with “hammer-blow” octaves giving way to the main theme. It is a schezo based in part on themes from the first movement, with a rustic trio. The Adagio is a welcome break from the drama of the first two movements. The “leaning tones” of the main theme are poignant and profound, giving it a yearning sentiment.

The lengthy introduction of the Finale recalls the principal themes of the preceding movements. It is a gigantic set of variations culminating on the Friedrich von Shiller’s famous Ode to Joy, only first stated without words in the cellos and basses. The recitative, with words by Beethoven himself, is begun by the baritone soloist, with the ensuing quartet and chorus joining in. Beethoven had been acquainted with Shiller’s works since boyhood, and he had considered setting the text “An die Freude” for some thirty years. This famous song overcomes the darkness and turmoil of life with what Edward Downes wrote: “musical splendor past description. The Symphony ranks as one of the greatest achievements of the human spirit.”