I Sponsoring assistance by I\!iP Wednesday, May 7, 1986 Orchestra Hall Thursday, May 8, 1986 Ordway Music Theatre Friday, May 9, 1986 Orchestra Hall *Saturday, May 10, 1986 Orchestra Hall 8:00 p.m,

SIR SUSAN DUNN, soprano JOANNA SIMON, mezzo-soprano KEITH LEWIS, tenor STEPHEN DUPONT, bass DALE WARLAND SYMPHONIC CHORUS Dale Warland, music director Sir Neville Marriner Sigrid Johnson, assistant conductor (Biography appears on page 22.)

WAGNER Prelude and Liebestod, from Tristan and Isolde

Intermission

BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Opus 125 (Choral) I. Allegro rna non troppo, un poco maestoso II. Molto vivace- Presto III. Adagio molto e cantabile-Andante moderato IV. Finale: Presto-Allegro; Allegro assai; Presto

Susan Dunn Soprano Susan Dunn is remembered by Twin Cities audiences for a variety of per- formances with the Minnesota Orchestra, particularly last Sommerfest's concert presentation of Turandot, when her creation of the role of Uti drew thunder- ous applause. Dunn, an Arkansas native, gained the attention of the music world by winning three prestigious competitions in 1983: the Richard Tucker Award, Chi- Performance time, including intermission, is approximately one hour and 55 minutes. cago's WGN-Illinois Competition *A pension benefit concert. and Dallas' Dealey Competition. She has The Friday evening concert is broadcast livethroughout the region on Minnesota Public subsequently made debuts with such emi- Radio stations, including KSJN-FM (91.1) in the Twin Cities. The H. B. Fuller nent ensembles as the Chicago Lyric Company underwrites the broadcast, which is also heard throughout the country on Opera, as Leonora in La Forza del stations of the American Public Radio Network. Destino; the Montreal Symphony in Strauss' Four Last Songs; the Washington

28 SHOWCASE MAY 1986 and San Diego as Leonora in II Trovatore; the Saint Louis Symphony Or- chestra in a concert Tosca with Leonard Slatkin; and, in different performances of 'verdi's , the San Francisco Sym- phony with , the Pittsburgh Symphony with , and the Cincinnati May Festival with James Con- lon. Her European debuts include per- formances with the Radio Symphony of Berlin in Schoenberg's Gurrelieder and a Verdi Requiem engagement in Bologna, both last year, and the portrayal of at Milan's this April. Dunn, who received a master's degree at Indiana University, continues her studies with John Wustman.

Keith Lewis Charleston, as Jake Wallace in The Girl oj the Golden West. Dupont made his Tenor Keith Lewis, who last appeared Opera debut in Rameau's little-heard with the Minnesota Orchestra in Septem- Hippolytus and Aricie, in the roles of ber 1984 subscription performances of Jupiter, Neptune and Apollo; he has also Bach's , has steadily extended been engaged by the . his career from the major concert and In his last Minnesota Orchestra appear- opera halls of his native New Zealand and ance, in Sommerfest '84, he played the neighboring to those of France First Nazarene and the Cappadocian in a and Great Britain, and to such countries concert version of Strauss' Salome, con- as Germany, Italy and the U.S. His calen- ducted by Leonard Slatkin. dar has recently included appearances in The Barber of Seville at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, Eugene Onegin Dale Warland in Frankfurt, Cosi jan Tutte at Berlin's Deutsche Oper, and in San Symphonic Chorus Francisco and at the Glyndebourne Dale Warland, Director Festival, where he has often been reen- The Dale Warland Symphonic Chorus, an gaged. Among his concert performances extension of the Dale Warland Singers, Joanna Simon have been appearances in Beethoven's also performed with the Minnesota Or- Missa Solemnis in Cologne and with Mac- chestra in the Sommerfest '85 concert Joanna Simon, mezzo-soprano, who makes kerras at the Leeds Festival, Bach's presentation of Turandot, conducted by her Minnesota Orchestra debut in these B-minor Mass under Muti in Philadelphia Leonard Slatkin. The Dale Warland Sin- concerts, presents a wide-ranging reper- and the St. Matthew Passion at Tangle- gers, the group forming the core of the toire on the concert and operatic stages and wood, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in Symphonic Chorus, is a professional in recital. Appearing in such major opera Stuttgart with Sir Neville Marriner and choral ensemble founded in 1972. Its houses as the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires with the Halle Orchestra in Manchester, broad repertoire of a cappella music and Salzburg's Festspielhaus, she has and Handel's Messiah in Montreal. includes a special emphasis on contem- created the roles of heroines ranging from Among Lewis' current recordings are porary works, and it has commissioned Purcell's Dido to Countess Geschwitz in albums of Rossini's Tancredi, and new works from such composers as Domi- Berg's Lulu. She has performed a number Moses; Gluck's Armide; Don Giovanni nick Argento, , Lukas of world premieres, including Ginastera's with ; Messiah with Solti; Foss, William Schuman, George Shearing Bomarzo and Pasatieri'sBlack Widow; she and Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass and Pau- and the Danish composer Bo Holten. has been Carmen with the Philadelphia kenmesse with Sir Neville Marriner. Opera, the Baltimore Opera and the Israel Soprano Philharmonic, with Placido Domingo as Sally Allen Mary Patton Polly Barten Margaret Westin Perry her Jose, and regularly performs at the Doris F. Berget Lea Anna Sams- Salzburg Festival and with the New York Stephen Dupont Judy Berkowitz McGowan Marcia Schultz City Opera. In addition to singing the role Mary Bohman Stephen Dupont, bass, maintains a busy Jill Boyd Marie Spar of Brangane in Tristan and Isolde with schedule of concert and operatic appear- Nancy Cosgriff • Linda Steen and the New York Phil- ances in both Europe and North America. Sue Dieter Janet A. Youngdahl Rita Docter Alto harmonic, she has been soloist with the Among his debuts this season were his first Mary Edlund Coralie J. Allen symphony orchestras of Boston, Philadel- appearances at the Glyndebourne Festival, Carolyn Gemberling Mary L. Almen Rolaine Green Margie Ankeny phia, Chicago and Los Angeles in this as Masetto in Don Giovanni, a role he also Carolyn J. Harmon Susan Barnes country, and abroad with the Berlin Phil- created with the Washington Opera; with Kathy Hering Roxanne L. Bentley harmonic, the Bavarian Radio Orchestra Julie Himmelstrup LaVerne Bingea the Philadelphia Orchestra in Rigoletto; Melinda Hudson-Oriani Margaret Bringewatt and the , the latter with the Winnipeg and Edmonton Operas, Jan Johnson Ann Brooke under . An early as Raimondo in Lucia di Lammennoor and • Sigrid Johnson Linda Burk Joanna Johnston Harriet Collopy music specialist much in demand for pro- Sarastro in The Magic Flute, respectively; Joni Kelly Leanne Dotson grams of Handel, Vivaldi, the Scarlattis and the New Orleans Opera, again as Rai- Deborah J. Loon Theresa M. Eclov and Bach, she also is known for her render- Mary Elizabeth Malberg Sylvia Elrod mondo. Last season, besides performing Marilyn L. McCormack Ruth Gaylord ings of Mahler works, among other master- in Rigoletto and The Magic Flute with the Barbara Nelson Jacqueline Gordy pieces of the nineteenth and twentieth cen- Opera, he appeared at the Joyce.Nolop • Joanne Halvorsen Alvina O'Brien Debra Harrer turies. Spoleto Festival in Italy as well as Sandra Oltman Wendy Holmes-Nelson

SHOWCASE MAY 1986 29 ~SHOWCASE • • Christ Presbyterian Church Magazine of the Minnesota Orchestra and Orchestra Hall presents Volume XVIII, No.9 April 24 to May 18, 1986 The Chancel Choir and Orchestra MINNESOTA ORCHESTRA with Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra founded in 1903 esther Jeinds Sir Neville Marriner (1979- ) Stanislaw Skrowaczewski (1960-1979) (1931-1936) Soprano Antal Dorati (1949-1960) (1923-1931) in (1937-1949) (1903-1922)

Contents 8 General Information Z;;ia 9 Orchestra/WAMSOIYPSCA News 14 Sir Neville Marriner: The Minnesota Years and other sacred classics Minnesota Orchestra Concerts June 8,1986 17 Subscription Concert-April 24 8:00p.m. Coffee Concerts - April 24, 25 at Philippe Entremont 22 Subscription Concert No. 23-April 30, May 2 Orchestra Hall Coffee Concert - May 2 Sir Neville Marriner/Kaaren Erickson/Rudolf Lekhter • • •• 28 Subscription Concert No. 24-May 7, 8, 9, 10 Tickets - $12.50 donation Sir Neville Marriner/Susan Dunn/Joanna Simon/Keith Call 920-0277 or 920-8515 Lewis/Stephen DupontlDale Warland Symphonic Chorus • • 35 Weekender Concert No.8-May 16, 17, 18 The Canadian Brass/Henry Charles Smith Orchestra Hall Presents 37 Tokyo String Quartet - May 1 38 Merrill Lynch Great Performers Concert No.7 - May 15 The Philadelphia Orchestra/

About the Cover The cover photograph of Sir Neville Marriner, who now concludes his tenure as Music Director of the Minnesota Orchestra, was taken at Longleat House at Warminster, Wiltshire, . The home of the Marquis of Bath, it was built between 1568 and 1580, and is considered to be one of England's finest Tudor houses. Photo by Richard Holt; used with kind permission of EM!.

The Minnesota Orchestral Association is the recipient of an operating subsidy grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, with funds appropriated by the Minnesota State Legislature. ' Showcase is published monthly by the Minnesota Orchestral Association, Orchestra Hall, 1111Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, MN 55403. ©1986. Editor: Karen Koepp Program Annotator: Mary Ann Feldman Publisher: Group 7 Inc., 4530 West 77th St., Edina, 55435 (telephone: 831-2022).

SHOWCASE MAY 1986 3 Martha Hopeman Mike Miller It took only four sentences for Wagner to until the end of the love story, when Isolde, Vicki R. Hultine P. Robert Maiden standing over Tristan's transfigured corpse, Karen M. Johnson MOller summarize the glowing, soaring, feverish Julie D. Kahn Jerry Nelson expanse of sumptuous orchestral sound at last joins him in death-the Liebestod, Ramona Kaszas Jeffrey Nielsen that constitutes the forever linked Prelude or Love-Death. Through Wagner's music, Barbara Knowles Tim Olsen Terry Knowles John T. Opsata and Liebestod, the unfulfulled beginning the lovers were blessed with immortality. Lois Laitinen Dominic T. Ording and serenely resolved close, of Tristan and The juxtaposition of Wagner and Beet- Jan Lechman Steve Pearthree hoven on Sir Neville Marriner's final pro- Chris Ludwig Rob Reid Isolde. His description appears in a letter Marilyn Miller David Reece to the current object of his passion, gram as music director of the Minnesota Mary Maiden MOller Patrick Romey Mathilde Wesendonk, a German poet fif- Orchestra is a fitting gesture, for each Holly Sue Olson Bob Salter Karen Welle Phillips teen years his junior and wife of Otto composer looms over a different half of Joan Quam-MacKenzie Bass Wesendonk, at whose beautiful villa on the ninteenth century. Each was a colossus Kay E. Sandeen David Benson who radically altered the destiny of music, Gail Schumacher Leif O. Berget Lake Zurich the first act of the opera was Dennie McCollom Scott Ray Bingea completed and much of the second act and Tristan was the towering achievement Carrie Stevens Mark Bliven sketched. Right in the middle of composing of the romantic age. When Debussy Rica Van Ronald J. Brace Mara Vijums Michael Brauer Siegfried, whose tale proceeds without a observed that "Wagner is the sunset that Denise Wahlin Steve Burger composers mistook for a sunrise," he was Ruth Warland female protagonist until the hero awakens Gordon Doering acknowledging that the tonal system had Robert Hainlen Brunnhilde on the mountain top in the fin- Tenor Paul Hjelmstad al scene, Wagner halted work on the Ring reached its outer limits. The powerful Paul J. Anderson Steven Hodulik score, too dissonant and "modern" to James H. Andrews Waynne Hornicke cycle to create his poem for the Tristan Larry Bach Tor Erik Johnson legend and write the music without delay. catch on at first, virtually shook the Peter Bartholome Tim Kowalik If the cynics have their way, Mathilde was foundations of Western music-a quake Jay Winston Blake Arthur LaRue Dan Bowers David Leitzke not necessarily his muse; rather, the com- from which it never quite recovered. In an Tom Browne Fredrick Lokken poser managed to entangle himself in an apt metaphor, Jean Cocteau assigned its Russ Bursch Gerald Loewen composer his role in music history: Jon Burseth Robert Miller erotic love affair whose purpose, if subcon- Craig Carnahan Luther Moen sciously, was to unlock the ecstatic music "Wagner's funeral procession has lasted Andrew S. Carr Tom Murphy so long that composers are still unable to Bob Collopy Chuck Nolop drama that burned within him. The opera David Docter David A. Peterson was hardly the result of the affair; in fact, it get to the other side of the street." Craig Edwall Edward Pullen was quite the other way around, and in the Love, night and death are the chief James Emery Doug Rasmuson James Fiskum Chuck Risser fmal pangs of getting a production to the themes of the opera, and the yearning for Paul William Gerike • Jerry Rubino stage, Tristan was indirectly assisted by a the fulfullment of love in annihilation John William Henley John M. Sailer broods over the whole story but is com- Dan Johnson Julian Sellers generous stipend from the cuckolded hus- Tim Johnson Frank Steen band. Wagner wrote Tristan because he pressed in the Prelude and Liebestod. Joel Lillethun Paul Theisen There are so few actual events in the Lee Mauk John Woodward had become obssessed with the four-note Paul W. McGinnis melodic phrase that rises chromatically in course of the story that even the composer • section leaders Tim McNary the oboes out of the dissonant "Tristan" was astonished at the sheer size of what he chord. The unvoiced longing of that was producing. "This Tristan is turning famous theme avoids harmonic resolution into something terrifying!" he exclaimed

Liebestod Mild und leise wie er lachelt, How gentle and quietly he smiles, Program Notes Wie das Auge hold er offnet, how fondly he opens his eyes! by Mary Ann Feldman seht ihr's, Freunde? Seht ihr's nicht? See you, friends? Do you not see? Immer lichter, wie er leuchtet, How he shines ever higher, Prelude and Liebestod, stern-umstrahlet hoch soaring on high, stars sparkling around sich hebt? h·un.? from Tristan and Isolde Seht ihr's nicht? Do you not see? Wie das Herz ihm mutig schwillt, How his heart proudly swells By vall und hehr im Busen ihm quillt? and, brave and full, pulses in his breast? Born May 22, 1813, Leipzig; died Wie den Lippen, wonnig mild, How softly and gently from his lips February 13, 1883, Venice susser Atem sanft entweht, sweet breath flutters:- Freunde! Seht! Fiihlt und seht ihr's nicht? see, friends! Do you not feel and see it? Instrumentation: piccolo, 3 flutes, 2 oboes, Hare ich nur diese Weise, Do I alone hear this melody English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, die so wundervoll und leise, which, so wondrous and tender 3 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trom- Wonne klagend, alles sagend, in its blissful lament, all-revealing, bones, tuba, timpani, harp, strings and mild versohnend aus ihm tonend, gently pardoning, sounding from him, soprano in mich dringet, auf sich schwinget, pierces me through, rises above, hold erhallend urn mich klinget? blessedly echoing and ringing around me? The passion of the lovers mounts Heller schallend, mich Resounding yet more clearly, wafting suddenly to a vividflame, and each umwallend, about me, avows to each that they belong to sind es Wellen sanfter Lufte? are they waves of refreshing breezes? none save one another. Henceforth Sind es Wogen wonniger Diifte? Are they clouds of heavenly fragrance? there is no end to the yearning, the Wie sie schwellen, mich umrauschen, As they well and roar around me, bliss, the misery of love. The world, soli ich atmen, soil ich shall I breathe them, shall I listen to power, fame, splendor, honor, lauschen? them? knighthood, loyalty, friendship- Soil ich schliirfen, untertauchen? Shall I sip them, plunge breath them, all are scattered like a baseless Suss in Duften mich verhauchen? to expire in sweet perfume? dream. One thing only remains: In dem wogenden Schwall, in dem In the ,surging swell, in the desire, desire unquenchable, for- tonenden Schall, ringing sound, ever born anew ... one sole re- in des Welt-Atems wehendem All in the vast wave of the world's breath- demption-Death, surcease of be- ertrinken, versinken to drown, to sink ing, deliverance. unbewusst-s-hochste Lust! unconscious-supreme bliss! -Wagner

30 SHOWCASE MAY 1986 in a letter to Mathilde, as the score began Among this writer's girlhood memories is countered in his most gigantic creation. to show signs of spanning four hours in the day when she held her ear to the crack Such masterpieces as Hamlet, the length. The audaciously harmonized and of the center doors at Northrop Auditor- Sistine Chapel, Don Giovanni and the sensuously colored music evolved in such ium as , in an appearance Symphony No.9 stand apart from all else, a storm of inspiration that in later years here in 1952,rehearsed the Liebestod under defying imitation. Berlioz, Wagner and the megalomaniac Wagner found it Antal Dorati. Brahms were so profoundly affected by almost impossible to believe that he had On record: Wagner, Prelude and Liebestod Beethoven's last symphony that they were written it. In fact, the very project was a (orchestral version), Stanislaw Skrowac- stymied. Debussy's language may have paradox, for he had set out to produce zewski conducting the Minnesota Orches- been overwrought but hardly wrong when something lyric and singable to give the tra (Turnabout QTV 34642) he said that the magnificent score had popular Italian opera a run for its money; become a "universal nightmare." That is he had in mind something of a potboiler to say, like Wagner's Tristan, it set up a that would be easy to sell and would there- roadblock beyond which other composers by rescue him from his financial problems Symphony No.9 in struggled to proceed. With the program- so that he could get back to work on The D minor, Opus 125 matic symphony, Berlioz cut innovatively Ring of the Nibelungen. Out of his genius, across Beethoven's path, while Wagner however, flowed a work that is in a class (Choral) trampled onwards with a gargantuan by itself. With a perverse pride he boasted By Ludwig van Beethoven genre of his own, the music drama, in that only bad performances of Tristan which symphonic development takes on would save him, for' 'if well performed, it Born December 16, 1770, Bonn; died psychological implications. Brahms, on will render the listener insane." March 26, 1827,Vienna the other hand, cowered in the shadows For all its ecstasy and sweep of sublime until he was past 40 before he dared to ideas, Tristan was less than a success at its Instrumentation: piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, follow the Beethoven trail. Still, there is Munich premiere in 1865, an enterprise 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, nothing quite like the Choral Symphony, ultimately financed by "Mad" King Lud- 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, not even in Mahler, and to describe it in wig of Bavaria after all other attempts to triangle, cymbals, bass drum, strings, solo mere words is a dangerous and humbling put it on the boards had failed. With the soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, bass and task. best intentions, the Vienna Opera also 4-part chorus Death was only three years off when undertook a production but abandoned it Beethoven's real teaching ... was Beethoven put the final touches on his last as hopeless after 50 rehearsals. But much symphony, but the idea for it had been earlier, in 1860, Wagner had introduced not to preserve the old forms, still less to follow in his early steps. We brewing in him since he was a young man. the Prelude at an orchestral concert in In his own words, it "hung from his Paris, and reported to his inamorata of must throw wide the windows to the open sky. neck" like a millstone; and his notebooks' the Tristan years: " ... as though scales -Debussy 200-plus sketches reveal the labored evo- had fallen from my eyes, I saw how im- lution of the stirring theme to which he measurably far I have travelled from the THE CHRONICLE finally set portions of Friedrich von world during the last eight years. This lit- Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is a shining Schiller's Ode to Joy. Beethoven was not tle overture [sic] was so incomprehensibly beacon that flooded the entire romantic the first composer to be moved by new to the musicians that I had to lead age with the light of its idealism. From the Schiller's poetry, to which others had them from note to note as if searching for monumental struggle of the opening to given music almost immediately after its precious stones in a mine." the final cry of anguish before the human publication in 1786.According to Beetho- The cellos, in the languid opening bars, voice carries the revelation of triumph, ven's old friend from Bonn, Ludwig give out the prolonged sighthat is extended Beethoven has given us a transcendental Fischenich, the notion of a musical setting in the theme of yearning; the chromatic line work whose utopian concepts are still of the words that distilled the new demo- and texture intensify the passion, like a worth striving for. The titanic sounds and cratic spirit had occured to the composer as physical aching. Chords that melt into each ultimate jubilation are often reserved for early as 1793: "I expect something other and voiceless phrases searching in special occasions, such as this exchange of perfect," Fischenich remarked of the vain for fulfillment evoke the unquench- farewells with our music director. For 23-year-old composer, "for, as I know able desire that underlies the tragedy. The sheer splendor of sound, there is no music him, he is wholly devoted to the great and music builds to an anguished climax that quite like this, and one comes away exul- the sublime." If Beethoven actually set even yet is deprived of release, and the tant and cleansed of any taint of despair. anything to paper back then, the result has yearning motive sounds gloomily from the The Ninth is not a tone painting but an en- been lost. Still, a musical realization of low winds, its depression echoed by cellos tire fresco-the giant Beethoven en- Schiller's call for brotherhood remained and basses. in his vision for the next 30 years. The Then, in a hush, two pizzicato chords thematic germ-cell of a song composed in signal the fmale of the opera, the famous 1795, Gegenliebe, provided the nucleus of Love-Death. In a strong, slow pulse the the prophetic work he produced halfway music evokes the vitalityof the magnificent along the path to the Ninth: the Choral heroine. Whether in the opera house or Fantasia, Opus 80, with a grand obbligato concert hall, we suspend all logicin order to for piano that the composer himself im- embrace with her the salutation of death: provised at the 1808premiere. "Unbewusst, hochste Lust!" (Uncon- The leaves of an 1812sketchbook con- scious, supreme bliss!) Against rapturous tain fragments of other ideas for the tremolos, the clarinets, followed by horns, emerging symphony, but six years passed sound the exultant death motive, and the before still another book unveiled the fin- wondrous orchestral arch reaches higher al shaping of the opening theme. Then, and higher to a consummate climax before early in 1819,despite a handsome commis- Isolde falls lifelessupon her lover's body. sion from the Philharmonic Society of At the telecast Tonight Scandinavia con- London, Beethoven suddenly abandoned cert that opened the 1982-83season, Birgit the project. It was a gesture of hopeless- Nilsson joined Sir NevilleMarriner and the Beethoven's study in the Schwarzspanier- ness, for seven years had already elapsed Orchestra in a performance of this work. haus, his last residence in Vienna since his Eighth Symphony. Needless to

SHOWCASE MAY 1986 31 say, these days were full of anguish and frustration, and at no time in his life was he less productive. Deafness had engulfed him, and he was embroiled in a bitter domestic and legal battle for the custody of his nephew Karl. Somehow he managed to write his last three piano sonatas and a parcel of other works, including the majestic Missa Solemnis, but still no sym- phony. Not until 1822 did Beethoven get back to his sketches, but by the following summer he was deep in concentration. "Don't bother to come here," he warned his confidant, Anton Schindler, while hard at work in 1823.When his publisher engaged the prominent portraitist Ferdinand Waldrnuller to paint a likeness for a new Beethoven edition, the composer protested that he had no time to sit still. Schindler recalls: renovate "No matter how much Waldmuller hurried with sketching the head and roughing out the portrait, the preoccupied any room master was· impatient to get back to his work, and would repeatedly stand up, pace the floor irritably, and go to his inyour realm writing-table in the next room." Before the first layer of paint had dried on the canvas, Beethoven called a halt to the enterprise, and Waldmuller was forced to capture the image of the. man from !}~.f,~ memory. While it may not be the most To Arrange for a FREE Estimate call 92()'3306 faithful likeness, it looms as one of the most powerful Beethoven portraits, me- morializing both his strength and his suf- fering. By the spring of 1924 the score of the Ninth was ready for performance. Wary of indifference among the Viennese, who in those days were mad for Rossini, Beet- hoven initially contacted a Prussian nobleman about arranging for a Berlin premiere. An affirmative response came posthaste from the director of the court theater. But Beethoven's friends were ap- palled by the plan, and they drafted a peti- tion as eloquent as it was sincere. Refer- ring at the same time to the Missa Solem- nis, they begged: "Do not allow these, your latest offspring, to be introduced as foreigners in the city of their birth." Moved by their plea, Beethoven re- lented, and Schindler was entrusted with administering the premiere. Only two rehearsals preceded the first performance on May 7, 1827, at the Karntnerthor Theater in Vienna, and these were stormy sessions; a third suddenly was cancelled to clear the stage for ballet practice. The chorus, consisting of amateurs newly weaned on Rossini, simply stopped sing- ing when the phrases soared too high for their throats, and the spirited contralto Caroline Unger told the composer outright ~ A ~~~Vv af10 that he was "a tyrant over the vocal chords." To no avail did the soloists make EARTH-N:!!OOD fJw/dJ ~rvtP a case for alterations in their "unsingable" 7144 Shady Oak Road parts, but Beethoven conceded only a min- Eden Prairie, MN 55344 or change to the bass. Advertisements promised that "Herr ~ 829-0780 Ludwig van Beethoven himself will take part in conducting the ensemble." It took

32 SHOWCASE MAY 1986 some persuading to convince the deaf but rounding out all these concerns, the coda minous movement whose spiritual impli- stubborn Beethoven that he should stand virtually assumes the stature of a second cations are whatever we choose to make by merely to set the tempo for each move- development, as if Beethoven has found of them. Beethoven intended that this ment, whileMichael Umlauf led the forces. still more to say. Before the movement music should elevate at the very point in The composer stood onstage at Umlauf's ends, he adds a new thought that is per- the curve of the symphony at which dark- side, and after he had established the beat, sonal in its aura of grief. Listen for the ness has yielded to light. To accomplish he kept right on marking time, so that the writhing chromatic figure that begins low this, he created two celestial themes, the players and singers were hard put to con- and soon pervades the strings; above it one calm and noble, retaining its identity centrate on the actual conductor. Facing will be heard the most melancholy of through elaborate variations; the other, in stage rear, eyes riveted on the performers, themes, given out in instrumental voices quickened triple time, deeply expressive the deaf Beethoven was oblivious to the that approach a human plaint. But Beet- and by its very nature loathe to accumu- cheers that erupted at the triumphant hoven is not vanquished by this sorrow late ornaments. It bows, however, to the close. Music like this had not been heard and defies it with the final proclamation. ascendancy of the first, in this most before-and seldom since. Fortunately, original of symphonic forms. The themes Mme. Unger had the presence of mind to II. MOLTO VIVACE-PRESTO appear alternately, the first elaborately tug on his sleeve and tum him to the decked out, while its companion main- cheering audience, so that at least he I know nothing finer than that tains a profound simplicity. In the final would see the waving hats and handker- scherzo. I myself could not make variation, the conglomerate voice of the chiefs. anything to touch it. The rest of the tutti sounds oratorical, heightening the Beethoven dedicated the score of the work lacks charm, and what is sense of impending language. Soon the Symphony No.9 to Frederick Wilhelm III music without that? Ninth will do what no symphony before of Prussia, who acknowledged the distinc- -Rossini had dared: absorb the human voice. tion in a note which also mentioned the The blazing second movement, in the enclosure of a diamond. Unwrapped, the form of a scherzo, is too full of irony to be IV. FINALE gem turned out to be a "a reddish stone" taken lightly. The theme all but explodes, of questionable value, probably substi- its rhythmic zest magnified by timpani. The unspeakable cheapness of the tuted for the original by some thieving Beethoven had promised that the Ninth chief tune, "Freude, Freude!" Do ministry en route. Thus was Beethoven's would have "plenty of fuguing," and so it you believe way down in the bot- colossus honored with a trivial token for happens that after the burst of the open- tom of your heart that if this music which the passionate hymning of genera- ing bars, the crisp theme is bridled by had been written by Mr. John L. tions of players and singers has more than strict counterpoint, serving as the subject Tarbox, now living in Sandown, atoned. of a five-voiced fugue. The relentless N.H., any conductor here or in energy ofthe commanding three-note pat- Europe could bepersuaded to put it I. ALLEGRO MA NON TROPPO, tern spreads across the entire movement, into rehearsal? UN POCO MAESTOSO not to be upstaged even by an attractive -Critic Philip Hale, Musical subordinate theme. Wagner found him- Record, 1909 It is impossible that the work of a self "whirled away to giddiness, to loss of The fierce orchestral outcry is startling. master should ever have seized the reason" in the flight of these sounds. pupil's heart with such enthralling More surprising, cellos and basses begin The exhilarating sweep of the scherzo is to utter recitative, so that the effect is like power as mine was seized by the interrupted by a pastoral trio. Now Beet- first movement of his symphony. an operatic baritone who has forgotten his hoven adds the trombone to his forces: as words. Consider the bewilderment of Beet- Whoever heard me poring over the Sir George Grove noted in his long open score to contrive its means of hoven's players: one by one, the ideas of analysis of the Ninth, "The bass trom- the preceding movements pass in review, execution, or heard my fits of sobs bone wakes up from its long sleep" to and moaning, would certainly have and are tested and dismissed by the author- welcome a rustic tune piped by oboes and itative voice of low strings. Then, some- asked if this was meet behavior for clarinets while the bassoon babbles an ac- what shyly, the winds quietly outline the a Royal Saxon Kapellmeister! companiment marked by its own melodic -Wagner contours of a new theme, and before long profile. In combining the themes Beetho- cellos and basses give it a try. As new Out of the mists of the beginning, an ven again flexes his extraordinary coun- voices join in, the subject wins full ap- open fifth hovering in tonal space, come trapuntal skill. Another motive, smoothly proval, for this glorious theme-the New dropping fifths, like great waves piling up rising in cellos and violas, luxuriates in the Englander's above observation notwith- on a shore, before the full orchestra de- warmth of the long-postponed major key. standing-is the very definition of joy. livers the powerful crash of the descending After the full reprise of the scherzo, the The noisy clamoring of the opening D-minor triad. The tone is severe, for this trio seems about to tag along until sudden- recurs, only to be dismissed by the bass is a symphony that begins in darkness and ly, as if to cry "Enough!," the movement voicein stirring rhetoric, deliveringBeetho- ends in radiance. Leading a host of con- rushes headlong to a close in which the ven's own words in the transition that had trasting motives is a strain of purest swift octaves seem almost to trip over their givenhim no end of problems. "One day," sweetness, set off by flutes (with low heels. Schindler relates, "Beethoven rushed into winds) and promptly taken up by oboes. the room shouting, 'I've got it! I've got Whether forceful staccatos or swelling III. ADAGIO MOL TO E CANTA- it!" What he had hit upon was the pro- melodic curves, the remaining ideas build BILE-ANDANTE MODERATO nouncement of the bass, addressed not on- an almost unbearable tension. With this ly to the performers but to the audience as When in the Adagio all the heavens movement Beethoven foretold the destiny well. opened to receive Beethoven like a of the romantic symphony. Now the bass begins Schiller's hymn. soaring saint, it was impossible not Reverting first to the bare interval and By no means did Beethoven attempt to set to forget the pettiness of this world ominous hush of the opening, the devel- the entire Ode to Joy, rather, he selected and not to feel a presentiment of opment proceeds to examine every ramifi- certain passages and arranged them to suit the Beyond thrilling the beholders. cation of the materials; it seems that the musical structure, which is built by -Schumann, describing a per- scarcely a shred willbe left for revival. But variation. Do not overlook the text in the formance of the Ninth conducted when the reprise comes, signaled by a roar enthrallment of the moment, for here by Mendelssohn of timpani, the main theme rears up as word and music mirror each other. To- awesome as before. Instead of merely After the sparkling scherzo appears a lu- gether, they document the philosophical

SHOWCASE MAY 1986 33 thought of the Enlightenment. In the tenor solo, with chorus (Allegro SCHILLER'S "ODE TO JOY" assai vivace, alia marcia), percussion in- Bass Solo struments strike up the sounds of a Turk- o Freunde, nicht diese Tone, 0 friends, these tones no longer! ish band to usher in fresh colors for a mar- sondern lasst uns angenehmere Rather let us raise our voices tial episode that varies the theme of joy. In anstimmen, und freudenvollere. in cheerful songs, more full of joy. the subsequent Andante maestoso the (The words of the introductory statement are by Beethoven.) mood is spiritual. Three trombones solemnly affirm the unity of mankind, Bass and Chorus proclaimed in a majestic choral section Freude, schoner Gotterfunken, Joy, thou spark from flame immortal, that culminates in an ethereal image of the Tochter aus Elysium, Daughter of Elysium! stars and skies above, the voices straining Wir betreten feuertrunken, So inspired, 0 heavn'ly Goddess, at their highest. Himmlische, dein Heiligtum. We invade thy hallowed home. Cast in brilliant double counterpoint- Deine Zauber bind en wieder, Let thy magic bring together the ample fuguing that Beethoven had Was die Mode streng geteilt; All whom earth-born laws divide; pledged-the broad theme of "Seid um- Alle Menschen werden Bruder, All mankind shall be as brothers, schlungen" is combined with the main Wo dein sanfter Flugel weilt. In thy love we shall abide. theme of the ode, even more jubilant in Solo Quartet, and Chorus this transmutation into dancing triple meter (Allegro energico, sempre ben mar- Wem der grosse Wurf gelungen, He who has that best good fortune cato). Ultimately the solo quartet pauses Eines Freundes Freund zu sein, To his friend a friend to be, to pour out an elaborate cadenza, Adagio, Wer ein holdes Weib errungen, He who wins a noble woman, which is followed by a lively bridge to the Mische seinen Jubel ein! Let him join our jubilee! Ja-wer auch nur eine Seele Yes, and he who's known such friendship coda. The exuberant conclusion (Prestissimo) Sein nennt auf dem Erdenrund! Welcome to our joyful throng, exploits three vivid phrases, now familiar, Und wer's nie gekonnt, der stehle But let him who's never known it and in the last moments, the brilliant set- Weinend sich aus diesem Bund. Steal away in tears alone. ting exults in a choral shout and noisy in- Solo Quartet, and Chorus strumental fanfare. The English composer Freude trinken aIle Wesen Joy doth every living creature Ralph Vaughan Williams sums up Beetho- an den Briisten der Natur; Draw from Nature's ample breast; ven's great inspiration: "The climax to all AIle Guten, aIle Bosen All the good and all the evil this rowdyism is a sudden chorale-like Folgen ihrer Rosenspur. Follow on her glowing quest. paean in praise of joy, 'the daughter of Kiisse gab sie uns und Reben Kisses doth she give, and promise, Elysium.' Once more the drums beat, the Einen Freund, gepruft im Tod; Friends who firm in death have stood; cymbals clash, the trumpets blare and in Wollust ward dem Wurm gegeben, Joy of life the worm receiveth, twenty quick bars the symphony is over." Und der Cherub steht vor Gott. And the angels dwell with God! Tenor Solo, and Chorus Froh, wie seine Sonnen fliegen Glad as burning suns that glorious Durch des Himmels pracht 'gen Plan, Through the heavenly spaces sway, Wandelt, Briider, eure Bahn, Haste ye brothers, on your way, lHEDALE Freudig, wie ein Held zum Siegen. Joyous as a knight victorious. (Text of Verse I, repeated) WARIAND Chorus Seid umschlungen, Millionen! This embrace for all ye millions, Diesen Kuss der ganzen Welt. Give your heart to all the world! SINGERS Briider-iiberm Sternenzelt Brothers, out beyond the stars, Muss ein lieber Vater wohnen! Some kind father has his dwelling. Ihr sturzt nieder, Millionen? Fall ye prostrate, 0 ye millions! Ahnest du den Schopfer, Welt? Do you sense God's presence, world? Such' ihn iiberm Sternenzelt! Seek him o'er the tent of stars; Uber Sternen muss er wohnen. O'er the stars rise his pavilions. In a word, excellence.

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34 SHOWCASE MAY 1986