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Home , Johannes Brahms, Max Kalbeck

Program Notes January 11, 2020 tend to mirror those two locations. On the one hand,

Concerto for Violoncello, Op. 104, some works display his absorption of those indigenous American melodies, like the New World , ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK (1841 - 1904) the American String , the American Suite for , Op. 98 and the Sonatina for violin and , n 1891, Antonín Dvořák received an offer from the Op. 100. In contrast, Dvořák also wrote that INew York socialite Jeanette Thurber to come to the reveal a nostalgic yearning for his native land, works United States and become the Director of the National like the magnificent String , Op. 97, the Biblical Conservatory of Music in New York City for the (at Songs, and the . It seems significant that that time) lavish salary of $15,000 per year. During his the nickname of Dvořák’s Ninth Symphony is “From tenure in New York (1892-1895), Dvořák met and taught the New World,” implying that the composer is still a young American musicians, including the African- visitor, and that, for all his success in New York, he still American composer Harry Burleigh (1866-1949) who feels the pull of his Czech homeland. introduced him to spirituals and other music indigenous For a work whose sound world was far closer to to America. The music he heard through Burleigh and Bohemia than to the New World, the initial inspiration others bore marked similarities to the of his for the was an American one. In March own Bohemian homeland. In writing about the melodies of 1894, Dvořák attended a concert in New York where of indigenous American music, Dvořák said: composer , one of Dvořák’s colleagues at the National Conservatory, premiered his own Second “…These can be the foundation of a Cello Concerto with the Philharmonic-Symphony serious and original school of composition, of New York. While we know Herbert today as the to be developed in the United States. These composer of operettas like Naughty Marietta and Babes beautiful and varied themes are the product in Toyland, at the turn of the century he was greatly of the soil. They are the folk songs of America respected as a cellist, conductor and a composer of and your composers must turn to them." serious concert music. Intriguingly, Herbert drew inspiration for his concerto from hearing Dvořák’s New While his fall and winter were occupied with the World in the previous year; the two works share a home day-to-day business of teaching and administration in key of . Dvořák was particularly struck by how a foreign city, he felt a certain amount of homesickness effectively Herbert wrote for the full orchestra so that for Bohemia, and had planned to return there once the cello was never buried by the orchestra, but could his duties for that academic year had concluded. In be heard clearly throughout. Herbert’s concerto seemed conversation with his assistant, Josef Kovarik, Dvořák to spark Dvořák’s creativity, and he began work on his learned that the small town of Spillville, Iowa, had own cello concerto in November of 1894. been settled by Czech immigrants and the majority While working on the slow movement, Dvořák of the population still spoke Czech. Instead of braving received news that would tug at his heartstrings and the Atlantic crossing to return to Bohemia, Dvořák make him long to return to Bohemia: his sister-in-law, headed west to Spillville, where he spent the summer Josefina Kaunitzová, had falled gravely ill. Dvořák had of 1893. It was here that Dvořák felt the most at home, fallen in love with Josefina thirty years before, but his a reminder of the life he had left behind when he love was unrequited and he eventually married her moved to New York. He frequently performed as younger sister Anna. The news of Josefina’s illness the organist at St. Wenceslaus Church, fished in the brought long-buried feelings to the surface. In tribute Turkey River, and could often be seen toting a bucket to her, Dvořák included a reference to “Kéž duch můj full of beer (one of his favorite pastimes, along with sám” (Leave me alone), from his Four Songs, Op. 82, train spotting) from the local brewery to his cottage. one of Josephina’s favorites among his works. Though Dvořák’s compositions from his American sojourn Dvořák completed the concerto in February of 1895,

theFSO.org | 2019 – 20 11 Program Notes January 11, 2020 Josefina’s death shortly after his return to Europe that of the second theme, heard first in the solo , and summer prompted Dvořák to rewrite the ending of the later sung rhapsodically by the soloist. The sweet finale, which includes a wistful recollection of “Kéž lyricism of the slow movement is interrupted by the duch můj sám” in the solo violin as a parting tribute to anguished quotation from “Kéž duch můj sám,” with the love of his youth. soloist and orchestra engaged in passionate dialogue. Dvořák had signed a contract with the National The opening woodwind returns on three horns, Conservatory that ran through the spring of 1896, but restoring calm that remains unruffled to the end of the his homesickness so overwhelmed him upon his return movement. The ominous march that opens the finale to Prague that he cabled Mrs. Thurber to be released is transformed into a dancing rondo theme for the from his contract. She gracefully but regretfully did so, soloist. At the coda, the tempo slows, and the soloist and Dvořák remained in Europe for the rest of his life. and orchestra wistfully recall both the first and second Just as Dvořák had asked the great violinist Joseph movements. When the soloist’s final phrase fades to Joachim for technical advice when writing his Violin , the orchestra dances its way to the exuberant Concerto, so now he turned his friend Hanuš Wihan, final .▪ longtime friend and cellist of the Bohemian Quartet to advise him on the technical aspects of the concerto. Symphony No. 4, Op. 98, E Minor Wihan had been pestering Dvořák for years to compose a cello concerto, so he was happy to lend his expertise. (1833 - 1897) While most of their was productive and amiable, the two musicians clashed when Wihan symphony is no joke wanted to include a lengthy virtuoso in the – attributed to Johannes Brahms third movement, an idea decidedly at odds with A Dvořák’s intentions. Wihan evidently was so adamant Once again I’ve just thrown together a bunch about his suggested changes that Dvořák had to caution of polkas and waltzes. his publisher, Simrock, to guard against any meddling – Johannes Brahms, describing his Fourth by the cellist: Symphony to his friend and biographer, I shall only give you my work if you promise not to allow anybody to make any changes — my friend Wihan not excepted — without my knowledge and One could be forgiven for thinking that next to consent, and this includes the cadenza which Wihan has the word curmudgeon in the dictionary there would added to the last movement. … I told Wihan straight be a portrait of Johannes Brahms. Various descriptions away when he showed it to me that it was impossible of him by friends and contemporaries enumerate to stick bits on like that. The finale closes gradually many aspects of his often prickly personality and diminuendo, like a sigh — with reminiscences of the his somewhat anti-social behavior. Even though he first and second movements — the solo dies down to made a comfortable salary, he lived very frugally, often pianissimo — then swells again and the last bars are dressing in frumpy and threadbare clothes. When taken up by the orchestra and the whole concludes in asked by a violist rehearsing one of his string stormy mood. That was my idea and I cannot depart whether or not he liked the tempos, Brahms replied from it. “Yes, especially yours.” Upon leaving a fancy dinner The concerto is remarkable for its epic length and party, Brahms turned to the assembled guests and emotional depth. The opening movement’s somber said, “If there is anyone here whom I have not insulted introduction in murmuring and bassoons is tonight, I beg his pardon.” a portent of its defiant, dramatic proclamation at the Yet the same man who could spit such insults could soloist’s first entrance. The fireworks from both soloist also joke with his publisher Simrock that his joyful and orchestra contrast with the warm lyrical effusion Second Symphony "is so melancholy that you will not

12 theFSO.org | 2019 – 20 Program Notes January 11, 2020 be able to bear it. I have never written anything so sad, the influential Viennese critic joked and the score must come out in mourning." He was at the end of the first movement “I feel I’ve just been also once asked for his autograph by Adele Strauss, beaten up by two terribly intelligent people.” Max the wife of Brahms’ friend Johann Strauss II, the waltz Kalbeck suggested to Brahms that the slow movement king of . Cheekily, he quickly scribbled down should be rewritten, the discarded, and that the opening bars of her husband’s “On the Beautiful the finale should be a separate work entirely. As ” and signed underneath the music staff premiere approached, Brahms, who was notoriously “Unfortunately, not by Johannes Brahms.” self-critical, doubted whether he would keep the This same dichotomy applies to Brahms’ musical work after its premiere, scheduled for personality; he is a Janus-headed figure, simultaneously in October 1885. looking forwards and backwards. How otherwise That first performance proved Brahms’ judgement to to reconcile his interest in the music of Palestrina, be correct, and his confidence in his new work justified. Schütz, Handel and Bach with assertions by both After the first rehearsal in Meiningen, von Bülow made and that Brahms’ note of the new work by writing, “Difficult, very difficult. musical techniques foreshadowed and influenced No. 4 gigantic, altogether a law unto itself, quite new, the composers of the ? Or steely individuality. Exudes unparalleled energy from the disdain of the followers of Liszt and for first note to last.” The premiere, with Brahms Brahms’ “old-fashioned” style of absolute (i.e., non- von Bülow’s Meiningen Court Orchestra, was a triumph, programmatic) music, compared to the pronouncement with the first and third movements encored at the royal of music critic of the Boston Traveler, who asserted request of the Duke of Meiningen. Eduard Hanslick in 1882: evidently found the orchestral performance far more persuasive than the initial piano run-through, writing It would appear as though Brahms might in his review that “Brahms is unique in his resources afford occasionally to put a little more of genuine symphonic invention; in his sovereign melody into his work – just a little mastery of all the secrets of , harmony now and then for a change. His Second and instrumentation; in the logic of development Symphony gave the impression that combined with the most beautiful freedom of fantasy.” the composer was either endeavoring The first movement is constructed from the simplest all this while to get as near to harmonic of materials – so simple, in fact, that a waggish musician sounds as possible without reaching them; (possibly the young ) made up words to or that he was unable to find any whatever. the opening that translate roughly “I have..no ideas… no ideas…have I…” Yet this superficial snarky The gestation of the Fourth Symphony reflects these comment ignores the ingenious construction of the two sides of Brahms’ mind. For a symphony with opening phrase where a descending interval of a such a tragic outlook, it was composed in a beautiful major third (in this case, B to G) is succeeded by its and picturesque location: Mürzzuschlag in the Styrian inversion, sixth, or, more plainly, a simple Alps southwest of Vienna, where Brahms worked on musical idea is answered by its mirror image or its the Fourth Symphony during the summers of 1884 polar opposite, a concept that would form one of the and 1885. In a letter to conductor Hans von Bülow, pillars of Schoenberg’s methods of serial composition. the composer dropped a hint of the bittersweet nature Though the movement conforms to the parameters of the work: “I’m afraid [the symphony] tastes of the of form, the musical process Brahms follows climate here; the cherries are hardly sweet here — you is constantly blurring the outlines of the various wouldn’t eat them!” sections. This tendency produces moments of utter Brahms’ friends were less than enthusiastic when magic like the mysterious onset of the recapitulation, they heard his new work. At the initial piano reading, where the first phrase of the symphony returns, but

theFSO.org | 2019 – 20 13 Program Notes January 11, 2020 with the opening phrase slowed to a meditative a brief Poco meno presto which provides a temporary stillness and wreathed with swirls of mysterious respite from the defiant energy of the rest of the string arpeggios, with only the second phrase movement. returning us to the familiar sounds of the opening. Brahms dispenses with the traditional Classical The solemn procession of the slow movement finale of either a sonata-form movement or a rondo, opens with a singular horn call, taken up by the rest structuring the movement as a Romantic interpretation of the woodwinds, and then underscored by the quiet of the Baroque form, a set of continuous tread of pizzicato strings. The character of this fanfare variations over a repeating bass line or harmonic pervades the movement, appearing in different guises progression. Though Brahms composes his own and generating new variations from the original idea. variations, he chose a passacaglia theme from Bach’s In its way, the movement bears comparison with the No. 150, Nach Dir, Herr, verlanget mich—“I opening movement of Beethoven’s Fifth, with its long to be near you, Lord,” an intriguing choice for reliance on the unity of a single idea, even though a composer writing the last movement of his last the tempo and character of the two movements are symphony. Where the finale of his First Symphony very different. battles to a hard-won triumph, the finale of the Second In Brahms’ initial three , none of the dances with exuberant joy, and the finale of the Third middle movements could be characterized as a true resolves its strife in serene peace, the finale of the scherzo in the Beethoven mold; they function more Fourth Symphony unfolds with grim inevitability, as intermezzi in moderate tempo, each with its own with little respite from its stark pronouncements. distinctive character. In the Fourth Symphony, Brahms The work ends not in triumph, but in fury, the gets close to the character of a scherzo, even though passacaglia theme roaring from the brass surrounded the meter is duple rather than triple, more in the by a maelstrom of strings, the push to the final cadence character of an energetic march. The martial feeling grim and unrelenting. In his final symphony, Brahms is heightened by the use of the triangle, which makes does truly demonstrate that a symphony, especially its only appearance in a Brahms symphony in this this symphony, is no joke.▪ movement. There is no traditional trio section, merely

© 2019 Program Notes by Dr. David Cole r. David C. Cole, the program annotator for the Flint Symphony Orchestra, has had a distinguished Dcareer as a conductor, violinist, music educator and writer. He served as the conductor of the Southwest Florida Symphony’s Youth Symphony, the top ensemble of the three in the Southwest Florida Symphony Youth Orchestra program, from 2012 - 2017. He also served as the conductor for the Symphony’s Young People’s Concerts and Majors for Minors programs, and he has also served as the Symphony’s Education Director and Youth Orchestra Manager. In his tenure with the Southwest Florida Symphony’s Youth Symphony, he led them in appearances at Carnegie Hall in New York City in April of 2014, and at the Capital Orchestra Festival at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. in February of 2016. Dr. Cole’s recent guest conducting appearances include concerts with the Marquette Symphony (Michigan), the Colombian National Conservatory Orchestra, the Pleven Philharmonic (Bulgaria), the Orquestra de Camera de Bellas Artes (Mexico City), the Baylor Symphony Orchestra, the El Alto Municipal Youth Orchestra (Bolivia) and the Cincinnati Metropolitan Orchestra.

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