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Home , Bacchus (opera), Coriolan Overture, David Gockley, Donald Runnicles, Gaetano Merola, Nicola Luisotti

CAL PERFORMANCES PRESENTS

Friday, October 28, 2011, 8pm Zellerbach Hall

San Francisco Orchestra , Music Director

PROGRAM

Ludwig van (1770–1817) Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 (1804–1808)

Allegro con brio Andante con moto Allegro — Allegro

INTERMISSION

Beethoven Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92 (1811–1812)

Poco sostenuto — Vivace Allegretto Presto Allegro con brio

San Francisco Opera , General Director Nicola Luisotti, Music Director

This concert is made possible, in part, by ’s Amici di Nicola of the Camerata group.

Cal Performances’ 2011–2012 season is sponsored by Wells Fargo.

CAL PERFORMANCES 5 PROGRAM NOTES PROGRAM NOTES

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) whole extent, as if in a single grasp.” By “picture” path-breaking achievement. Its popularity has in the headlong rush that hurtles through the Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 Beethoven meant not a visible painting, but never waned. movement. It provides the necessary contrast rather an overview of the total structure of the Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, more than any while doing nothing to impede the music’s flow. Composed between 1804 and 1808. Premiered Symphony, from its tiniest fragmentary compo- work in the musical repertory, is the archetypal The development section is a paragon of cohe- on December 22, 1808, in Vienna, conducted by nent to the grand sweep of its total structure. example of the technique and content of the sion, logic and concision. The recapitulation the composer. So completely did composition occupy form. Its overall structure is not one of four in- roars forth after a series of breathless chords that Beethoven’s thoughts that he sometimes ignored dependent essays linked simply by tonality and pass from woodwinds to strings and back. The Surprisingly, for this Symphony that serves as the necessities of daily life. Concern with his style, as in the typical 18th-century example, but stark hammer-blows of the closing chords bring the locus classicus of orchestral music, little is appearance, eating habits, cleanliness, even his is rather a carefully devised whole in which each the movement to its powerful end. known about its creation. There are vague hints conversation, all gave way before his compos- of the movements serves to carry the work inexo- The form of the second movement is a set of that it may have been occasioned by an aborted ing. There are many reports of his trooping the rably toward its end. The progression from mi- variations on two contrasting themes. The first love affair with either Therese von Brunswick streets and woods of Vienna humming, singing, nor to major, from dark to light, from conflict to theme, presented by violas and cellos, is sweet or Giulietta Guicciardi. The theory has been bellowing, penning a scrap of melody, and be- resolution is at the very heart of the “meaning” and lyrical in nature; the second, heard in horns advanced that it was influenced by a surge of ing, in general, oblivious to the people or places of this Symphony. The triumphant, victorious and , is heroic. The ensuing variations patriotism fueled by an Austrian loss to the around him. (One suspects that his professed nature of the final movement as the logical out- on the themes alternate to produce a movement Napoleonic juggernaut. Even the famous re- love of Nature grew in part from his need to find come of all that preceded it established a model by turns gentle and majestic. mark attributed to Beethoven about the opening a solitary workplace free from distractions and for the symphonies of the Romantic era. The The followingScherzo returns the tempes- motive representing “Fate knocking at the door” the prying interest of his fellow Viennese.) This psychological progression toward the finale— tuous character of the opening movement, as is probably apocryphal, an invention of either titanic struggle with musical tones produced the relentless movement toward a life-affirming the four-note motto from the first movement is Anton Schindler or Ferdinand Ries, two young such mighty monuments as the Fifth Symphony. close—is one of the most important technical heard again in a brazen setting led by the horns. men, close to the composer in his last years, who With it, and with the Third Symphony complet- and emotional legacies Beethoven left to his Thefughetta , the “little fugue,” of the central trio later published their often-untrustworthy remi- ed only four years earlier, Beethoven launched successors. Schumann, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, is initiated by the cellos and basses. The Scherzo niscences of him. music and art into the world of . Mahler—their symphonies are indebted to this returns with the mysterious tread of the plucked It is known that the time of the creation of In the history of music, Beethoven stands, one (and to the Ninth Symphony, as well) for the strings, after which the music wanes until little the Fifth Symphony was one of intense activity Janus-faced, as the great colossus between two concept of how such a creation could be struc- more than a heartbeat from the re- for Beethoven. The four years during which the ages and two philosophies. The formal perfec- tured, and in what manner it should engage mains. Then begins another accumulation of work was composed also saw the completion tion of the preceding Classical period finds its the listener. intensity, first gradually, then more quickly, as of a rich variety of other works: Piano Sonatas, greatest fulfillment in his works, which at the The opening gesture is the most famous be- a link to the finale, which arrives with a glori- Opp. 53, 54 and 57; Fourth Piano Concerto; same time contain the taproot of the cathartic ginning in all of . It establishes ous proclamation, like brilliant sun bursting Fourth and Sixth Symphonies; Violin Concerto; emotional experience from which grew the art the stormy temper of the Allegro by presenting through ominous clouds. the first two versions of Fidelio; Razumovsky of the 19th century. Beethoven himself evalu- the germinal cell from which the entire move- The finale, set in the triumphant key of Quartets, Op. 59; Coriolan Overture; Mass in C ated his position as a creator in the following ment grows. Though it is possible to trace this C major, is jubilant and martial. (Robert major, Op. 86; and Cello Sonata No. 3, Op. 69. way: “Music is the mediator between intel- memorable four-note motive through most of Schumann saw here the influence of Étienne- As was his practice with many of his important lectual and sensuous life…the one incorporeal the measures of the movement, the esteemed Nicolas Méhul, one of the prominent compos- works, Beethoven revised and rewrote the Fifth entrance into the higher world of knowledge English musicologist Sir pointed ers of the French Revolution.) The sonata form Symphony for years. which comprehends mankind but which man- out that the power of the music is not contained proceeds apace. At the apex of the development, Beethoven’s remarks about this Symphony kind cannot comprehend.” The Fifth Symphony in this fragment, but rather in the “long sen- however, the mysterious end of the Scherzo is in- are vague and elusive rather than concrete. The is indeed such a “mediator.” Its message of vic- tences” built from it. The key to appreciating voked to serve as the link to the return of the compositional problems he set for himself were tory through struggle, which so deeply touches Beethoven’s formal structures lies in being aware main theme in the recapitulation. It also re- abstract, musico-emotional ones that were little both the heart and the mind, is achieved by a of the way in which the music moves constantly calls and compresses the emotional journey of affected by external experiences, and not acces- near-perfect balance of musical technique and from one point of arrival to the next, from one the entire Symphony. The closing pages repeat sible to translation into mere words. In one of passionate sentiment unsurpassed in the history sentence to the next. It is in the careful weight- the cadence chords extensively to discharge the his few comments about the Symphony, he not- of music. This Symphony was the work that won ing of successive climaxes through harmonic, enormous accumulated energy of the work. ed that, after the creation of the theme, “begins for Beethoven an international renown. Despite rhythmic and instrumental resources that Concerning the effect of the “struggle to in my head the working-out in breadth, height a few early misunderstandings due undoubtedly Beethoven created the enormous energy and victory” that is symbolized by the structure of and depth. Since I am aware of what I want, the to its unprecedented concentration of energy, seeming inevitability of this monumental move- the Fifth Symphony, a quote that Beethoven fundamental idea never leaves me. It mounts, it it caught on very quickly, and was soon rec- ment. The gentler second theme derives from the scribbled in a notebook of the Archduke Rudolf, grows. I see before my mind the picture in its ognized in Europe, England and America as a opening motive, and gives only a brief respite one of his aristocratic piano and composition

6 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 7 PROGRAM NOTES PROGRAM NOTES students, is pertinent. The composer wrote, sudden, strong attack] occurred, he thrust apart not only connects the introduction with the ex- “Many assert that every minor [tonality] piece his arms, which he had previously crossed upon position but also establishes the dactylic rhythm must end in the minor. Nego! On the contrary, his breast. At piano [soft] he crouched down low- that dominates the movement. I find that...the major [tonality] has a glorious er and lower as he desired the degree of softness. The Allegretto scored such a success at its effect. Joy follows sorrow, sunshine—rain. It af- If a crescendo [gradually louder] then entered, he premiere that it was immediately encored, a fects me as if I were looking up to the silvery slowly rose again, and at the entrance of the forte phenomenon virtually unprecedented for a slow glistening of the evening star.” [loud] jumped into the air. Sometimes, too, he movement. Indeed, this music was so popular unconsciously shouted to strengthen the forte.” that it was used to replace the brief slow move- The Seventh Symphony is a magnificent cre- ment of the Eighth Symphony at several perfor- Beethoven ation in which Beethoven displayed several tech- mances during Beethoven’s lifetime. In form, Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92 nical innovations that were to have a profound the movement is a series of variations on the influence on the music of the 19th century: he heartbeat rhythm of its opening measures. In Composed in 1811–1812. Premiered on December 8, expanded the scope of symphonic structure spirit, however, it is more closely allied to the 1813, in Vienna, under the composer’s direction. through the use of more distant tonal areas; he austere chaconne of the Baroque era than to the brought an unprecedented richness and range to light, figural variations of Classicism. In autumn 1813, Johann Nepomuk Mälzel, the orchestral palette; and he gave a new aware- The third movement, a study in contrasts the inventor of the metronome, approached ness of rhythm as the vitalizing force in music. of sonority and dynamics, is built on the for- Beethoven with the proposal that the two orga- It is particularly the last of these characteris- mal model of the scherzo, but expanded to in- nize a concert to benefit the soldiers wounded tics that most immediately affects the listener, clude a repetition of the horn-dominated Trio at the recent Battle of Hanau—with, perhaps, and to which commentators have consistently (Scherzo–Trio–Scherzo–Trio–Scherzo). two or three repetitions of the concert to ben- turned to explain the vibrant power of the work. In the sonata-form finale, Beethoven not efit themselves. Beethoven was eager to have Perhaps the most famous such observation only produced music of virtually unmatched the as-yet-unheard A major Symphony of the about the Seventh Symphony is that of Richard rhythmic energy (“a triumph of Bacchic fury,” preceding year performed, and he thought Wagner, who called the work “the apotheosis of in the words of Sir Donald Tovey), but did it in the financial reward worth the trouble, so he the Dance in its highest aspect...the loftiest deed such a manner as to exceed the climaxes of the agreed. The concert consisted of this “Entirely of bodily motion incorporated in an ideal world earlier movements and make it the goal toward New Symphony” by Beethoven, marches by of tone.” Couching his observation in less high- which they had all been aimed. So intoxicat- Dussek and Pleyel performed on a “Mechanical falutin language, John N. Burk believed that ing is this music that some of Beethoven’s con- Trumpeter” fabricated by Mälzel, and an orches- its rhythm gave this work a feeling of immense temporaries were sure he had composed it in a tral arrangement of Wellington’s Victory, a piece grandeur incommensurate with its relatively drunken frenzy. An encounter with the Seventh Beethoven had concocted the previous summer short forty-minute length. “Beethoven,” Burk Symphony is a heady experience. Klaus G. Roy, for yet another of Mälzel’s musical machines, explained, “seems to have built up this impres- the distinguished musicologist and former pro- the “Panharmonicon.” The evening was such a sion by willfully driving a single rhythmic figure gram annotator for the Cleveland Orchestra, success that Beethoven’s first biographer, Anton through each movement, until the music attains wrote, “Many a listener has come away from Schindler, reported, “All persons, however they (particularly in the body of the first movement a hearing of this Symphony in a state of being had previously dissented from his music, now and in the Finale) a swift propulsion, an effect punch-drunk. Yet it is an intoxication with- agreed to award him his laurels.” of cumulative growth which is akin to extraor- out a hangover, a dope-like exhilaration with- The orchestra for that important occa- dinary size.” out decadence.” To which the composer’s own sion included some of the most distinguished A slow introduction, almost a movement words may be added. “I am Bacchus incarnate,” musicians and composers of the day: Spohr, in itself, opens the Symphony. This initial sec- boasted Beethoven, “appointed to give human- Schuppanzigh, Dragonetti, Meyerbeer, Hummel tion employs two themes: the first, majestic and ity wine to drown its sorrow.... He who divines and Salieri all lent their talents. Spohr, who unadorned, is passed down through the winds the secret of my music is delivered from the mis- played among the violins, left an account of while being punctuated by long, rising scales in ery that haunts the world.” Beethoven as conductor. “Beethoven had ac- the strings; the second is a graceful melody for customed himself to indicate expression to the . The transition to the main part of the first orchestra by all manner of singular bodily move- movement is accomplished by the superbly con- © 2011 Dr. Richard E. Rodda ments,” wrote Spohr. “So often as a sforzando [a trolled reiteration of a single pitch. This device

8 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 9 ORCHESTRA ROSTER ORCHESTRA ROSTER

SAN FRANCISCO OPERA ORCHESTRA

Nicola Luisotti, Music Director, Caroline H. Hume Endowed Chair , Principal Guest Conductor Giuseppe Finzi, Resident Conductor

first violin Kay Stern, Concertmaster Julie McKenzie, Principal Adam Luftman, Principal Laura Albers, Associate Concertmaster Patricia Farrell William Holmes Heidi Wilcox, Assistant Concertmaster Stephanie McNab John Pearson Jennifer Cho Dawn Harms piccolo trombone Lev Rankov Stephanie McNab McDowell Kenley, Principal Barbara Riccardi Donald Kennelly Robert Galbraith oboe David Ridge Leonid Igudesman Mingjia Liu, Principal Mariya Borozina Deborah Henry, Assistant Principal tuba & cimbasso Asuka Annie Yano Janet Popesco Archibald Zachariah Spellman Joseph Edelberg‡ english horn timpani second violin Janet Popesco Archibald John Burgardt Virginia Price-Kvistad, Principal Martha Simonds, Associate Principal percussion Beni Shinohara, Assistant Principal Jose Gonzalez Granero, Principal Richard Kvistad, Principal/Associate Timpani Eva Karasik Joanne Burke Eisler, Assistant Principal Patricia Niemi Leslie Ludena Anthony Striplen Gerard Svazlian harp Linda Deutsch Twohy clarinet Olga Rakitchenkov Craig Reiss Anthony Striplen librarian viola Lauré Campbell Carla Maria Rodrigues, Principal Rufus Olivier, Principal Carrie Weick, Assistant Sergey Rakitchenkov, Associate Principal Rufus David Olivier‡ Paul Nahhas, Assistant Principal Robin Elliott† orchestra manager Patricia Heller Shawn Jones‡ Tracy Davis Jonna Hervig Carrie Weick, Assistant Natalia Vershilova contrabassoon Joy Fellows Robin Elliott† † Leave of absence Shawn Jones‡ ‡ Season substitute cello David Kadarauch, Principal horn Thalia Moore, Associate Principal William Klingelhoffer, Co-Principal David Budd, Assistant Principal Kevin Rivard, Co-Principal Nora Pirquet Keith Green Emil Miland Brian McCarty Victoria Ehrlich Lawrence Ragent Ruth Lane

double bass Joseph Lescher, Principal Jonathan Lancelle, Associate Principal Steven D’Amico, Assistant Principal Shinji Eshima Mark Drury

10 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 11 ABOUT THE ARTISTS ABOUT THE ARTISTS

San Francisco Opera, one of the world’s lead- production facility installed in any American Gockley, the Company has added three new critics for his work at the Royal Opera, Covent ing producers of opera since its inception in opera house, the Koret-Taube Media Suite gives to that list: and Christopher Garden (, , , Il 1923, has long been a pioneer in introducing the Company the permanent capability to pro- Hampton’s Appomattox (2007), Trovatore); the (La Bohème, world and North American premieres, as well duce simulcasts and other projects, including and Amy Tan’s The Bonesetter’s Daughter (2008) , ); Paris Opera as presenting major artists in celebrated role de- OperaVision, where retractable screens provide and Heart of a Soldier (2011) by Christopher (La Traviata, Tosca); the Vienna State Opera buts. Gaetano Merola and full stage, close-up and mid-range ensemble Theofanidis and Donna Di Novelli. (); (Attila); Genoa’s were the Company’s first two general direc- shots in high-definition video for patrons in bal- San Francisco Opera offers a comprehensive (, tors. Maestro Merola led the Company from cony seats. Mr. Gockley ushered in another first array of acclaimed training programs and per- La Fanciulla del West, La Traviata, Simon its founding in 1923 until his death in 1953; for San Francisco Opera in spring 2008, when formance opportunities for young artists under Boccanegra, Il Viaggio a Reims); Venice’s La Maestro Adler headed the organization from the Company presented four operas in movie the auspices of the San Francisco Opera Center Fenice (Madama Butterfly); Munich’s Bavarian 1953 through 1981. Legendary for both their theaters across the country. These operas, in ad- and the Merola Opera Program (each a separate State Opera (Macbeth, Tosca); Frankfurt Opera conducting and managerial skills, these two dition to eight other titles, are now available to institution). Both are led by renowned (Il Trittico); Madrid’s (, leaders established a formidable institution that theaters and performing arts venues as part of Sheri Greenawald. La Damnation de Faust, ); Los is internationally recognized as one of the pre- the Company’s Grand Opera Cinema Series. In Angeles Opera (Carmen, ); Dresden’s miere opera companies in the world and her- 2007, Mr. Gockley also launched radio partner- Italian conductor Semperoper (Tosca, Die Zauberflöte); Toronto’s alded for its first-rate productions and roster of ships with San Francisco’s Classical KDFC and Nicola Luisotti has (Un Ballo in international opera stars. Following Adler’s ten- the WFMT Radio Network in Chicago, return- been music director Maschera); Seattle Opera (Macbeth); Bologna’s ure, the Company was headed by three visionary ing regular San Francisco Opera broadcasts to of San Francisco Teatro Comunale (Salome); Valencia’s Palau de leaders: Terence A. McEwen (1982–1988), Lotfi the national and international radio airwaves for Opera since fall les Arts (Mefistofele); and in Tokyo’s Suntory Hall Mansouri (1988–2001) and Pamela Rosenberg the first time in 25 years. 2009 and holds the (Turandot, Tosca, La Bohème, Don Giovanni and (2001–2005). Originally presented over two San Francisco Opera’s first two general Caroline H. Hume Così fan tutte). Maestro Luisotti was awarded the weeks, the Company’s season now contains ap- directors, Maestri Merola and Adler, regu- Endowed Chair. 39th Premio Puccini Award in conjunction with proximately 75 performances of ten operas be- larly conducted for the first six decades of the This season he leads the historic 100th anniversary of Puccini’s La tween September and July. Company’s history. In 1985, the Company ap- Turandot, Carmen, Fanciulla del West at the Metropolitan Opera, In 2007, San Francisco Opera celebrated pointed Sir John Pritchard as its first perma- Don Giovanni, a which he conducted last season. the 75th anniversary of its performing home, nent music director, and he was followed by new co-production Equally at home on the concert stage, the . The vener- in 1992. During his tenure, with ’s La Scala of Attila, and two special Maestro Luisotti serves as principal guest able Beaux-Arts building was inaugurated on Maestro Runnicles championed new repertory performances with the San Francisco Opera conductor of the Tokyo Symphony and has October 15, 1932, and holds the distinction of ranging from world premieres to American and Orchestra in concert presented by Cal also established growing relationships with being the first American opera house that was West Coast premieres. After 17 years with San Performances. Maestro Luisotti’s other engage- the orchestras of London (Philharmonia not built by and for a small group of wealthy Francisco Opera, Maestro Runnicles stepped ments during the 2011–2012 season include Orchestra), Genoa, Budapest, Turin, Munich patrons; the funding came thanks to a group of down as music director in the summer of 2009. Tosca at La Scala and the rarely performed (Bavarian Radio Orchestra), Palermo and private citizens who encouraged thousands of Nicola Luisotti succeeded Donald Runnicles with the Naples Teatro di San Rome (Santa Cecilia Orchestra), as well as the San Franciscans to subscribe. as music director in fall 2009. Born and raised Carlo, in addition to many orchestral engage- , San Francisco Symphony David Gockley became San Francisco in Italy, Maestro Luisotti made his interna- ments that include the Berlin Philharmonic and and Atlanta Symphony. Opera’s sixth general director in January 2006 tional debut in 2002, leading a new production the orchestras of Cleveland and Philadelphia. His recent and upcoming orchestral en- after more than three decades at the helm of of Il Trovatore at the Stuttgart State Theater, Called “both an original thinker and a great gagements include concerts with orchestras of . During his first months and has since led productions with the world’s respecter of tradition” by Opera News, which Milan, Philadelphia, Berlin, Madrid, Cleveland, as general director, Mr. Gockley took opera to leading opera companies. Maestro Luisotti featured him on the cover of the July 2011 Frankfurt, Rome and Atlanta, among others. the center of the community with a free outdoor also serves as principal guest conductor of the special issue on conductors, Maestro Luisotti The conductor’s expanding discography includes simulcast—the first in the Company’s history— Tokyo Symphony. made his San Francisco Opera debut in 2005 a complete recording of (Dynamic) of Puccini’s Madama Butterflyin May 2006. Since its inception, San Francisco Opera has conducting and returned with the orchestra of Trieste’s Teatro Verdi Subsequent simulcasts, including six at AT&T embodied a spirit of innovation by presenting in November 2008 to conduct La Bohème. As and the critically acclaimed Duets (Deutsche Park, have reached nearly 150,000 opera fans. In the world premieres of Blood Moon (1961), Angle the Opera’s music director, he has led acclaimed Grammophon), featuring and 2007, Mr. Gockley led San Francisco Opera to of Repose (1976), The Dangerous Liaisons (1994), performances of Il Trovatore, Salome, , La Rolando Villazón. He is also on the podium of take these innovations even further and created A Streetcar Named Desire (1998), Dead Man Fanciulla del West, Aida, Le Nozze di Figaro and a DVD recording of the Met’s La Bohème, with the Koret-Taube Media Suite. The first perma- Walking (2000), Arshak II (2001) and Doctor Madama Butterfly. Maestro Luisotti has garnered Angela Gheorghiu and Ramón Vargas (EMI). nent high-definition broadcast-standard video Atomic (2005). Under the leadership of David enthusiastic praise from both audiences and

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