Overture to Fidelio, Op. 72C

Listen for the piccolo toward the end of the last movement of Beethoven’s Fifth. It’s an iconic little bling from an instrument that had never been used in a symphony before — a wickedly fast, articulated scale that has to cut through the entire orchestra. ANNE WHALEY LANEY, NCS PRINCIPAL FLUTE In Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, the trombones do not play until the triumphant C- major chords, which herald the beginning of the fourth movement. It’s a glorious moment that never grows old to play or to listen to. JOHN ILIKA, NCS PRINCIPAL TROMBONE Overture to Fidelio, Op. 72c LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN BORN December 16, 1770, in Bonn, Germany; died March 26, 1827, in Vienna PREMIERE Composed 1814; first performance May 26, 1814, in Vienna, conducted by the composer OVERVIEW Beethoven’s only opera, Fidelio, underwent numerous major revisions before the composer arrived at the final version. The overture to the opera underwent even greater transformations. We have today four different overtures, all of them popular in the concert hall. The first three are called Leonore (Nos.1, 2, and 3), after the heroine’s name and original title of the opera; the fourth is known as Fidelio, Leonora’s pseudonym and Beethoven’s final title of the opera. The complex plot is a paean to marital fidelity and political justice. Leonore disguises herself as a young man (Fidelio) to free her husband, Florestan, who has been incarcerated unjustly as a political prisoner. Beethoven’s difficulties with the earlier versions of the overture (the three entitled Leonore) stemmed from the fact that they were too dramatic and explicit, following the trajectory of the plot by including themes from the opera, thereby giving away the most dramatic and exciting moments. The final version, the Fidelio overture, is neither particularly dramatic nor closely related to the opera itself. Today the opera is frequently performed with the Fidelio overture before the opera and Leonore No. 3 as an entr’acte between the two acts. INSTRUMENTATION Two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, trombone, bass trombone, timpani, strings Suite from The Creatures of Prometheus, Op. 43 LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN BORN December 16, 1770, in Bonn, Germany; died March 26, 1827, in Vienna PREMIERE Composed 1800-1801; first performance March 28, 1801, at the Imperial Court Theater, Vienna OVERVIEW In 1800, Beethoven was still a stranger in Vienna trying to establish his reputation at court. The ballet The Creatures of Prometheus was his first important commission. It was premiered in March of 1801 and achieved moderate success at first, receiving 20 performances in its first season and 13 in the second, but none thereafter. The overture, which quickly acquired an independent life, appeared in print in 1804, and remains the only part of the ballet that is frequently performed. It is rooted in 18th-century techniques and tradition, and has little relationship to the rest of the ballet. Since the original text and choreography are lost, the story, loosely based on Greek mythology, can be only partly reconstructed. It tells of Prometheus, an exalted spirit who, finding the people of the time ignorant, creates statues of a man and a woman to bring to life. He then takes the statues to Mount Parnassus where various characters of antiquity instruct them in knowledge and the arts. The scenario — fortunately — deviates considerably from the myth, in which Zeus punishes Prometheus for elevating man to the status of the gods by chaining him to a rock where a vulture visits him daily to eat his ever-regenerating liver. Unfortunately, the rigid conventions of Viennese theater did not mesh with Beethoven’s rebellious spirit, and no further commissions for ballets ever came his way. WHAT TO LISTEN FOR In the grand finale, No. 16, Beethoven used a theme which he used again immediately thereafter in his Contredanses (WoO 14, No. 7), and subsequently twice more: as the theme for the Piano Variations, Op. 35, and the variations in the finale of his Symphony No. 3, “Eroica.” INSTRUMENTATION Two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, basset horn, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, strings Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67 LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN PREMIERE Composed 1804-1808; first performance December 22, 1808, at the Imperial Theater, Vienna OVERVIEW The four most clichéd notes in classical music were once the most revolutionary. For the first time a rhythm, rather than a melody, became the main subject of a symphonic movement — and not merely as a first theme to be stated and picked up again for a while in the development and recapitulation sections. Beethoven wove the rhythm into the entire fabric of the first movement, and subsequently into the rest of the symphony. The motive first appears as a repeated demand, subsequently expanded into a genuine melody in the first theme. It recurs as a throbbing accompaniment in bass and timpani in the second theme, all the way to the final cadence of the exposition. Such an original symphonic structure did not come easily, especially to a composer who lacked the ever-ready melodic genius of a Mozart, Bach, or Haydn — who all produced copiously on demand. A collection of the composer’s sketchbooks bears witness to the lengthy and often painful gestation of some of his greatest music. The Fifth Symphony took four years to complete, between 1804 and 1808. But Beethoven had to eat, and during those four years he also produced the Fourth Symphony, the Fourth Piano Concerto, the three Op. 59 String Quartets, the Mass in C Major, and the Violin Concerto. WHAT TO LISTEN FOR Because the Fifth Symphony is now so familiar, it is difficult to think of it as innovative, but it was not only the integration of the four-note rhythmic motif into the entire fabric of the first movement that was new. The second movement, Andante con moto, involves its own kind of novelty. It is made up of two short contrasting themes: the first in dotted rhythm in the strings, the second a slow, almost military theme in the brass. Beethoven produces from the two themes a double set of variations. And it should be noted that the second theme contains, in augmentation (longer note values), the germinal four-note rhythm of the first movement. For the scherzo, Beethoven again prominently takes up the motivic rhythm in the horns, this time in augmentation. The trio is a fugue, and the repeat of the scherzo theme is scored for clarinet and bassoon over pizzicato strings playing pianissimo. Symphony No. 5 has frequently been referred to as a struggle from darkness to light. Not only does the symphony begin in C minor and end in C major, but also there is the magnificent transition between the third and fourth movements: a kind of sunlight breaking through the clouds, with violins stammering over the timpani as it throbs out the motto. The emergence into the triumphant finale paved the way for the symphonic writing of the future, including Beethoven’s own Ninth Symphony, Mendelssohn’s Third (“Scottish”), and Brahms’ First. INSTRUMENTATION Piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, basset horn, two bassoons, contrabassoon, two horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, strings © 2018 Joseph & Elizabeth Kahn .

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