Ein Heldenleben Program Notes

Program ONe HuNDreD TweNTy-FirST SeASON Chicago Symphony orchestra riccardo muti Music Director Pierre Boulez Helen regenstein Conductor emeritus Yo-Yo ma Judson and Joyce Green Creative Consultant Global Sponsor of the CSO Thursday, November 17, 2011, at 8:00 Saturday, November 19, 2011, at 8:00 Semyon Bychkov conductor Katia Labèque piano marielle Labèque piano Poulenc Concerto in D Minor for Two Pianos and Orchestra Allegro ma non troppo Larghetto Finale: Allegro molto KATiA LAbèque MArieLLe LAbèque IntermISSIon Strauss Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40 Saturday’s concert is sponsored by Tiffany & Co. This program is partially supported by grants from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts. CommentS by PHiLLiP HuSCHer Francis Poulenc Born January 7, 1899, Paris, France. Died January 30, 1963, Paris, France. Concerto in D minor for two Pianos and orchestra innaretta Singer, armed with Poulenc was no stranger to Wmoney from her father’s Parisian high society. He was sewing machine fortune, commis- born into a wealthy family and sioned Francis Poulenc to write grew up in the city center, near this concerto. Better known by her the Élysée Palace. His father ran fancy married name, the princess the huge Rhône-Poulenc phar- Edmond de Polignac hosted one maceutical firm (his family name of Paris’s most celebrated salons, was as well known as Winnaretta where many of the early twentieth Singer’s in business circles), and century’s artistic giants regularly his mother came from a long line gathered. In time, she commis- of native Parisians. He started sioned works from Stravinsky, studying the piano with his Fauré, Ravel, Falla, Debussy (he mother at the age of five, and called her Madame Machine later took lessons from Ricardo à courdre [Madame Sewing Viñes, the great pianist and friend Machine]), and two concertos from of Debussy and Ravel. He soon Poulenc. (The Chicago Symphony began to meet the artistic celebri- performed Poulenc’s other Polignac ties of the day, including Satie, score—the Concerto for Organ, Cocteau, and Stravinsky. He Strings, and Timpani—in 2002.) missed the scandalous premiere of ComPoSeD FIrSt CSo InStrumentatIon 1932 PerFormanCe two solo pianos, flute and March 19, 1942, Orchestra piccolo, two oboes and FIrSt PerFormanCe Hall. ethel bartlett, rae english horn, two clarinets, September 5, 1932, Venice, robertson, pianists; Hans two bassoons, two horns, two italy. Francis Poulenc, Lange conducting trumpets, two trombones Jacques Février, pianists; and tuba, side drum, military Désiré Defauw conducting moSt reCent drum, snare drum, bass CSo PerFormanCe drum, castanets, tambou- October 30, 2001, Orchestra rine, triangle, strings Hall. Guy Livingston, william eddins, pianists; william aPProxImate eddins conducting PerFormanCe tIme 19 minutes 2 The Rite of Spring in 1913 (he was brilliance and bite just fourteen at the time), but he with an orches- caught up with it the following year tra of classical and was intoxicated by Stravinsky’s proportions. (This music. In 1917, he attended the characteristic historic opening of Satie’s Parade, Poulenc trait must with sets and costumes by Picasso. have pleased the It was at the premiere of Falla’s princess. She later Master Peter’s Puppet Show in recalled that she the princess de Polignac’s home “had the impres- that Poulenc met the pioneering sion that, after harpsichordist Wanda Landowska Richard Wagner in 1923. The dazzling Concert and Richard champêtre he wrote for Landowska Strauss, the days four years later may have convinced of big orchestras the princess to commission Poulenc were over, and to write another concerto, this one that it would Winnaretta Singer for two pianos. be delightful to To prepare for the princess’s return to a small assignment, Poulenc played orchestra of well-chosen players through concertos by Mozart and instruments.”) and Liszt and acquainted himself The first movement, written in with Ravel’s two recently com- a casual approximation of sonata pleted piano concertos (both the form, is mostly witty bravura, Concerto for the Left Hand and colored throughout by the sound the Concerto in G major were of two pianos pouring out a steady premiered in January 1932, just stream of notes. The ethereal, months before Poulenc began com- shimmering music near the end posing the two-piano concerto). of the movement was inspired by He and his friend Jacques Février, the exotic sounds of the Balinese with whom he would premiere his gamelan ensemble Poulenc heard own new concerto in September, at the 1931 Colonial Exhibition in even gave an informal performance Paris. The slow movement begins of Ravel’s Concerto in G major at in obvious imitation of a Mozart the home of the princess’s niece andante, but quickly updates itself by marriage, Marie-Blanche to the Paris of the 1930s, with its de Polignac. dance-hall songs and sentimentality of a kind that Mozart never knew. oulenc’s two-piano concerto is The finale, another perpetuum Pa delightful confection, written mobile for the two soloists, is with apparent ease and obvious saucy, playful, lighthearted, and joy over the summer of 1932. It’s always charming. a work of sparkling transparency, Despite his early enthusiasm for filled with crystalline piano writ- the radical, rebellious composers ing, and scored with a keen ear for of Paris, Poulenc was essentially a 3 traditionalist, although one with The concerto was premiered wit and a healthy streak of irrever- in Venice, where the princess ence. “I am not the kind of musi- maintained a magnificent house cian who makes harmonic innova- on the Grand Canal, its great tions, like Igor, Ravel, or Debussy,” halls filled with pianos. Like her he later said, insisting that “there Parisian salon, it regularly drew is a place for new music that is celebrities and artists and, in content with using other people’s September 1932, Poulenc shared chords.” Even a strict modernist the Palazzo Polignac with Falla such as the young Elliott Carter, and Artur Rubinstein. The first writing in Modern Music in 1938, performance of the two-piano found the concerto convincing concerto was an unforgettable despite what he called its pastiche success, but Poulenc would always of styles, “because of its great verve, remember the morning, when, on which with Poulenc’s remarkable the spur of the moment, he and sensitivity to harmonic and orches- Rubinstein decided to play Nights in tral sonorities, ends by captivating the Gardens of Spain together for a the most stubborn listener.” stunned and ecstatic Falla. Symphony Center Information The use of still or video cameras Please turn off or silence all and recording devices is prohibited personal electronic devices in Orchestra Hall. (pagers, watches, telephones, digital assistants). Latecomers will be seated during designated program pauses. Please note that Symphony Center PLeASe NOTe: Some programs is a smoke-free environment. do not allow for latecomers to be seated in the hall. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated. Please use perfume, cologne, and all other scented products sparingly, as many patrons are sensitive to fragrance. note: Fire exits are located on all levels and are for emergency use only. The lighted exit sign nearest your seat is the shortest route outdoors. Please walk—do not run—to your exit and do not use elevators for emergency exit. Volunteer ushers provided by The Saints—Volunteers for the Performing Arts (www.saintschicago.org) 4 richard Strauss Born June 11, 1864, Munich, Germany. Died September 8, 1949, Garmisch, Germany. Ein Heldenleben, op. 40 n 1898, after lending music of The mention of Napoleon was no Ilasting brilliance to heroes taken coincidence, for Ein Heldenleben from the pages of Shakespeare, was Strauss’s response to the Eroica, Nietzsche, and Cervantes, and to Beethoven’s Napoleon-inspired two great legendary characters— symphony—“admittedly without Don Juan and Till Eulenspiegel— a funeral march, but yet in E-flat, Richard Strauss could think of no with lots of horns, which are always other subject more suitable than a yardstick of heroism.” himself. At the top of his last Those who knew Strauss thought great tone poem he wrote “Ein him an unlikely hero. There was Heldenleben” (a hero’s life, or a nothing about him—apart from his heroic life), leaving little doubt own dazzling music—to compare of the title character’s identity. with the bold and fearless character As Strauss told Romain Rolland, who throws open the first page “I do not see why I should not of this score and then holds our compose a symphony about myself; attention for one enormous para- I find myself quite as interest- graph of music—the 116 measures ing as Napoleon or Alexander.” of nonstop orchestral exhibitionism ComPoSeD moSt reCent aPProxImate 1897–December 1898 CSo PerFormanCe PerFormanCe tIme December 6, 2008, 46 minutes FIrSt PerFormanCe Orchestra Hall. bernard March 3, 1899, Frankfurt, Haitink conducting CSo reCorDIngS Germany. The com- 1954. Fritz reiner poser conducting InStrumentatIon conducting. rCA three flutes and piccolo, four 1990. Daniel barenboim FIrSt CSo oboes and english horn, conducting. erato PerFormanCe two clarinets, e-flat clarinet March 9, 1900, and bass clarinet, three 2008. bernard Haitink Auditorium Theatre (u.S. bassoons and contrabas- conducting. CSO resound premiere). Theodore soon, eight horns, two Thomas conducting piccolo trumpets and three trumpets, three trombones and two tubas, timpani, tam- tam, triangle, cymbals, snare drum, tenor drum, bass drum, two harps, strings (including a prominent violin solo) 5 that Strauss labels The Hero. The husband painted himself in a warm, moment of silence that follows is flattering light, while “her” violin broken by the squabbling of the solo is marked, at various points: woodwinds, introducing The Hero’s “flippant,” “angry,” and “nagging.” Adversaries. This is Strauss’s depic- But no one who knew Pauline ever tion of his critics, and it is rendered took issue with Richard’s appraisal, with such hatred (Strauss requests though many wondered why she “snarling” oboes and “hissing” put up with such treatment.

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