Sept. 22-23, 2018, page 1

programby Dr. Richard E. Rodda notes

Prelude to of the Mastersingers intoned by the full Die Meistersinger orchestra. A tender theme portraying the von Nürnberg (“The Mas- love of Eva and Walther leads to a sec- tersingers of Nuremberg”) ond Mastersinger melody, this one said (1862) to have been based on The Crowned Tone Richard Wagner ■ 1813-1883 by the 17th-century guild member Hein- The plot ofDie Meistersinger centers rich Mögling. The Prelude’s first section around a song contest held in 16th- closes with the development of another century Nuremberg on St. John’s Day love motive and phrases later heard in (June 24th). The winner is to marry Eva, Walther’s Prize Song. The central portion daughter of the goldsmith Veit Pogner. is largely devoted to a cackling, fugato Walther von Stolzing, a young knight parody of the first Mastersinger theme from Franconia who has fallen in love that anticipates Beckmesser’s buffooner- with Eva, vows to win the contest and ies. The Prelude is brought to a magnifi- her hand, even though he is not a mem- cent ending with a masterful weaving ber of the guild of Mastersingers. He is together of all its themes. granted permission to compete despite the attempts of Sixtus Beckmesser, the in A minor, Op. 16 town clerk and also a contestant, to dis- (1868-1869) credit him for not knowing the ancient ■ 1843-1907 guild rules governing the composition of a song. Eva and Walther commu- Grieg completed his studies at the nicate their love to the wise cobbler Leipzig Conservatory in 1863. Rather Hans Sachs, who remains their friend than heading directly home to Norway, and adviser despite his own love for however, he settled in Copenhagen the girl. Sachs helps Walther shape his to study privately with Niels Gade, at musical and poetic ideas, which bring that time Denmark’s most prominent a new freshness and expression to the musician and generally regarded as the staid ways of the guild. Beckmesser, founder of the Scandinavian school of having stolen Walther’s poem, gives it composition. Back in Norway, Grieg’s a ludicrous musical setting, and makes creative work was concentrated on the a fool of himself at the contest. Sachs large forms advocated by his Leipzig invites Walther to show how the verses teachers and by Gade. By 1867, he had should be sung, and the young knight is produced the , the first two acclaimed the winner. Violin and Piano Sonatas, a Symphony The Prelude, written between March (long unpublished and made available and June 1862, was the first part of the only as recently as 1981) and the concert score to be completed, and served as the overture In Autumn. He also carried thematic source for much of the opera. on his work to promote native music, It opens with the majestic processional and gave an unprecedented concert Sept. 22-23, 2018, page 2 exclusively of Norwegian compositions in 1866. Grieg arranged to have the Also sprach Zarathustra summer of 1868 free of duties, and he (“Thus spake Zarathustra”), returned to Denmark for an extended Op. 30 (1896) vacation at a secluded retreat at Sölleröd, Richard Strauss ■ 1864-1949 where he began his Piano Concerto. Back in the days when Richard Strauss He thoroughly enjoyed that summer, was considered The World’s Greatest sleeping late, taking long walks, eating Composer, a popular literary sport grew well, and tipping a glass in the evenings up around his works to fit them with with friends at the local inn. The sylvan plots or stories or programs. Strauss was setting spurred his creative energies, and always chary with verbal information the new Concerto was largely completed about the “meaning” of his tone poems, by the time he returned to Norway in and, since he did not discourage others the fall. from having a go at it, a whole barrage of The Concerto’s first movement opens possible “explanations” greeted each new with a bold summons by the soloist. The work. Also sprach Zarathustra, deriv- main theme is given by the woodwinds ing in some manner, at least, from the and taken over almost immediately by universal vision of Friedrich Nietzsche’s the piano. A flashing transition, filled poem (left incomplete at his removal with skipping rhythms, leads to the to a mental hospital), was an especially second theme, a tender cello melody inviting target for the hurlers of literary wrapped in the warm harmonies of the tracts. The composer approved almost all . An episodic development of the efforts that came along (they were, section, launched by the full orchestra after all, good publicity, and Strauss — playing the movement’s opening motive, and his very large income — thrived on is largely based on the main theme in publicity), so the latter-day reader is left dialogue. The recapitulation returns the with a bundle of occasionally contradic- earlier themes, after which the piano tory evidence. The truth of the matter displays a tightly woven cadenza. The seems to be that Strauss’ music and stern introductory measures are recalled Nietzsche’s poem actually share little to close the movement. more than a title and a few pretentious TheAdagio begins with a song filled ideas. Virtually every attempt to equate a with sentiment and nostalgia played by section of the tone poem with a specific the strings and rounded off by touch- passage from the poem has been uncon- ing phrases in the solo horn. The soloist vincing. weaves elaborate musical filigree above Though its philosophical intentions the simple accompaniment before the are correctly questioned, there has never lovely song returns in an enriched set- been any doubt about the expressive ting. The themes of the finale’s outer sec- powers of this music. (It was the Buda- tions are constructed in the rhythms of pest premiere of Also sprach Zarathustra a popular Norwegian dance, the halling. that inspired the young Béla Bartók The movement’s central portion presents to devote his life to composition.) The a wonderful melodic inspiration, intro- sections of Strauss’ tone poem mirror duced by the solo , that derives from several strong emotional states, as indi- the dreamy atmosphere of the preceding cated by the following program note that movement. Sept. 22-23, 2018, page 3 appeared at the work’s premiere, con- ducted by the composer in Frankfurt on November 27, 1896. “First movement: Sunrise, Man feels the power of God. Andante religioso. But still man longs. He plunges into passion (second movement) and finds no peace. He turns toward science, and tries in vain to solve life’s problems in a fugue (third movement). Then agreeable dance tunes sound and he becomes an individual, and his soul soars upward while the world sinks far below him.” There is a progression inherent in the work, a sort of a-religious Pilgrim’s Progress, toward some transcen- dent state. One German writer, Rudolf Kloiber, viewed Also sprach Zarathustra as “a colorfully formed music-drama without words.... Strauss chose from the poem the speeches of Zarathustra to cre- ate a kind of scenario for the content and form of the work.” There are three overtly programmatic elements that unify the work. The first is heard immediately at the outset. It is the theme of Nature, the unison call by four based on the most fundamental acoustical pitches in the musical spectrum: C-G-C (inextricably wedged in the public consciousness by Stanley Kubrick’s Oscar-winning 1968 film,2001: A Space Odyssey). The second is a sinister theme, perhaps depicting Fate, introduced by the trombones in the section, “Of joys and passions.” The third is the conflict between the C tonality — representing Nature — and that of B, the latter standing for Man’s aspirations. The unsettled struggle between these two (the technical term is bi-tonality) is most clearly discerned at the very end of the work, but it occurs many times through- out the piece. ©2018 Dr. Richard E. Rodda Allentown Symphony Orchestra

SEPTEMBER 22 AND 23, 2018 8:00 P.M., SYMPHONY HALL

PROGRAM

DIANE M. WITTRY music director/conductor

Prelude to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg RICHARD WAGNER

Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16 EDVARD GRIEG Allegro molto moderato Adagio — Allegro moderato molto e marcato — Poco più tranquillo — Tempo I Piano Soloist: George Li

i n t e r m i ss i o n

Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 RICHARD STRAUSS Prologue: Sunrise — Of the Inhabitants of the Unseen World — Of the Great Longing — Of Joys and Passions — The Dirge — Of Science — The Convalescent — The Dance-Song — The Night Wanderer’s Song