Season 2013-2014

Home , Germania (Beethoven), Germania (opera), Landesvater, The Concert (ballet)

27 Season 2013-2014

Thursday, November 21, at 8:00 The Philadelphia Orchestra Friday, November 22, at 2:00 Saturday, November 23, at 8:00 Itzhak Perlman Conductor and Violin Sunday, November 24, at 2:00

Beethoven Romance No. 1 in G major, Op. 40, for violin and orchestra

Beethoven Romance No. 2 in F major, Op. 50, for violin and orchestra

Dvorˇák Serenade in E major, Op. 22, for strings I. Moderato II. Tempo di valse III. Scherzo: Vivace IV. Larghetto V. Finale: Allegro vivace

Intermission

Beethoven Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 36 I. Adagio molto—Allegro con brio II. Larghetto III. Scherzo (Allegro) and Trio IV. Allegro molto

Brahms Academic Festival Overture, Op. 80

This program runs approximately 2 hours.

Philadelphia Orchestra concerts are broadcast on WRTI 90.1 FM on Sunday afternoons at 1 PM. Visit www.wrti.org to listen live or for more details. 228 Story Title The Philadelphia Orchestra Jessica Griffin

The Philadelphia Orchestra community itself. His concerts to perform in China, in 1973 is one of the preeminent of diverse repertoire attract at the request of President orchestras in the world, sold-out houses, and he has Nixon, today The Philadelphia renowned for its distinctive established a regular forum Orchestra boasts a new sound, desired for its for connecting with concert- partnership with the National keen ability to capture the goers through Post-Concert Centre for the Performing hearts and imaginations of Conversations. Arts in Beijing. The Orchestra audiences, and admired for annually performs at Under Yannick’s leadership a legacy of innovation in Carnegie Hall while also the Orchestra returns to music-making. The Orchestra enjoying annual residencies in recording with a newly- is inspiring the future and Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and at released CD on the Deutsche transforming its rich tradition the Bravo! Vail festival. Grammophon label of of achievement, sustaining Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring Musician-led initiatives, the highest level of artistic and Leopold Stokowski including highly-successful quality, but also challenging transcriptions. In Yannick’s Cello and Violin Play-Ins, and exceeding that level, by inaugural season the shine a spotlight on the creating powerful musical Orchestra has also returned Orchestra’s musicians, as experiences for audiences at to the radio airwaves, with they spread out from the home and around the world. weekly Sunday afternoon stage into the community. Music Director Yannick broadcasts on WRTI-FM. The Orchestra’s commitment Nézet-Séguin triumphantly to its education and Philadelphia is home and opened his inaugural community partnership the Orchestra nurtures an season as the eighth artistic initiatives manifests itself important relationship not leader of the Orchestra in numerous other ways, only with patrons who support in fall 2012. His highly including concerts for families the main season at the collaborative style, deeply- and students, and eZseatU, Kimmel Center but also those rooted musical curiosity, a program that allows full- who enjoy the Orchestra’s and boundless enthusiasm, time college students to other area performances paired with a fresh approach attend an unlimited number at the Mann Center, Penn’s to orchestral programming, of Orchestra concerts for Landing, and other venues. have been heralded by a $25 annual membership The Orchestra is also a global critics and audiences alike. fee. For more information on ambassador for Philadelphia Yannick has been embraced The Philadelphia Orchestra, and for the U.S. Having been by the musicians of the please visit www.philorch.org. the first American orchestra Orchestra, audiences, and the 8 Music Director

Nigel Parry/CPi Yannick Nézet-Séguin triumphantly opened his inaugural season as the eighth music director of The Philadelphia Orchestra in the fall of 2012. His highly collaborative style, deeply-rooted musical curiosity, and boundless enthusiasm, paired with a fresh approach to orchestral programming, have been heralded by critics and audiences alike. The New York Times has called Yannick “phenomenal,” adding that under his baton “the ensemble … has never sounded better.” In his first season he took the Orchestra to new musical heights. His second builds on that momentum with highlights that include a Philadelphia Commissions Micro-Festival, for which three leading composers have been commissioned to write solo works for three of the Orchestra’s principal players; the next installment in his multi-season focus on requiems with Fauré’s Requiem; and a unique, theatrically-staged presentation of Strauss’s revolutionary opera Salome, a first-ever co-production with Opera Philadelphia.

Yannick has established himself as a musical leader of the highest caliber and one of the most exciting talents of his generation. Since 2008 he has been music director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic and principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic, and since 2000 artistic director and principal conductor of Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain. In addition he becomes the first ever mentor conductor of the Curtis Institute of Music’s conducting fellows program in the fall of 2013. He has made wildly successful appearances with the world’s most revered ensembles, and has conducted critically acclaimed performances at many of the leading opera houses.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Deutsche Grammophon (DG) enjoy a long-term collaboration. Under his leadership the Orchestra returns to recording with a newly-released CD on that label of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and Leopold Stokowski transcriptions. Yannick continues a fruitful recording relationship with the Rotterdam Philharmonic for DG, BIS, and EMI/Virgin; the London Philharmonic for the LPO label; and the Orchestre Métropolitain for ATMA Classique.

A native of Montreal, Yannick Nézet-Séguin studied at that city’s Conservatory of Music and continued lessons with renowned conductor Carlo Maria Giulini and with Joseph Flummerfelt at Westminster Choir College. Among Yannick’s honors are an appointment as Companion of the Order of Canada, one of the country’s highest civilian honors; a Royal Philharmonic Society Award; Canada’s National Arts Centre Award; the Prix Denise- Pelletier, the highest distinction for the arts in Quebec, awarded by the Quebec government; and an honorary doctorate by the University of Quebec in Montreal.

To read Yannick’s full bio, please visit www.philorch.org/conductor. 29 Conductor and Soloist

Lisa-Marie Mazzucco Itzhak Perlman made his debut as soloist with The Philadelphia Orchestra in 1965 and his conducting debut with the ensemble in 1999. His long history with the Philadelphians includes recording Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with Eugene Ormandy for EMI in 1978 and performing with pianist Emanuel Ax and cellist Yo-Yo Ma at the opening of the Kimmel Center in 2001. Mr. Perlman has performed with every major orchestra and at venerable concert halls around the globe, and in 2003 he was granted a Kennedy Center Honor in celebration of his achievements and contributions to the cultural and educational life of the U.S. He has performed multiple times at the White House, most recently in 2012 at the invitation of President Obama for Israeli President and Presidential Medal of Freedom honoree Shimon Peres. Born in Israel in 1945, Mr. Perlman completed his initial training at the Academy of Music in Tel Aviv. He came to New York and was propelled to national recognition with an appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1958. Following his studies at the Juilliard School, he won the Leventritt Competition in 1964, which led to a burgeoning worldwide career. A four-time Emmy Award winner and recipient of 15 Grammy awards, Mr. Perlman was honored in 2008 with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. His most recent recordings include Eternal Echoes: Songs & Dances for the Soul (Sony), featuring a collaboration with cantor Yitzchak Meir Helfgot in liturgical and traditional Jewish arrangements for chamber orchestra and klezmer musicians; a recording of Mendelssohn piano trios (Sony) with Mr. Ma and Mr. Ax; and a recording for Deutsche Grammophon with Mr. Perlman conducting the Israel Philharmonic. Mr. Perlman has established himself as a cultural icon and household name in classical music, beloved for his charm and humanity as well as his talent. Highlights of his 2013- 14 season include performances with the Cleveland Orchestra and the Toronto Symphony; an eight-city recital tour of Asia with pianist and longtime collaborator Rohan De Silva; and conducting appearances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Baltimore Symphony. His presence on stage, on camera, and in personal appearances of all kinds speaks eloquently on behalf of the disabled, and his devotion to their cause is an integral part of Mr. Perlman’s life. 30 Framing the Program

Three relatively early works by Beethoven show him Parallel Events heading toward more ambitious projects that would later 1801 Music change perceptions about music forever. He composed Beethoven Haydn his two lyrical Romances for violin and orchestra around Symphony The Seasons 1800, when he was about to turn 30; they foreshadow No. 2 Literature the more familiar slow movement of his Violin Concerto Chateaubriand from 1806. Atala Art In contrast to his Third Symphony, the monumental Goya “Eroica,” Beethoven’s Second now seems much tamer and The Two Majas more Classical, looking back to the models of Haydn and History Mozart. When it premiered in 1803, however, critics found Fulton produces the Symphony enormously challenging. It was composed first submarine at a time of great personal crisis in Beethoven’s life, as he was confronting the reality of his hearing loss 1875 Music and contemplating suicide. Yet the boundless humor Dvorˇák Tchaikovsky and vitality of the work, which French composer Hector Serenade for Piano Concerto Strings No. 1 Berlioz later remarked is “smiling throughout,” forces us Literature to challenge facile connections between the immediate Twain events at a given time in Beethoven’s life and the music The Adventures he created. of Huckleberry In 1875, at age 33, Dvorˇák won the prestigious Austrian Finn State Stipendium, awarded to poor young artists to Art help advance their careers. Johannes Brahms became Monet Boating at terrifically impressed by the young Czech, whose career Argenteuil he generously promoted. The financial security the grant History provided helped unleash a flood of new pieces, including Rebellion in the beguiling Serenade for Strings. Cuba Today’s concert concludes with the Academic Festival Overture, which Brahms composed in 1880 after he 1880 Music was given an honorary doctorate from the University of Brahms Bruch Academic Kol Nidrei Breslau. As a gesture of thanks he wrote this ebullient Festival Literature concert overture in which he inserted various student Overture Zola songs and crowned it with “Gaudeamus igitur.” Nana Art Rodin The Thinker History NY streets first lit by electricity 31 The Music Romance Nos. 1 and 2

When Beethoven moved to Vienna in 1792, he was regarded primarily as a pianist who also composed (as any aspiring professional pianist of the day was expected to do). But during those early years, he increasingly thought of himself as a composer first, one who also happened to play the piano. He sought to establish bona fide compositional credentials by taking lessons in counterpoint from Haydn, and by producing stylish solo and chamber works that could function as compositional “calling cards” among the influential music circles in Ludwig van Beethoven Vienna. It was only later, after establishing himself as one Born in Bonn, probably of the stars of the post-Mozart generation, that he turned December 16, 1770 to orchestral music. His First Symphony, for example, Died in Vienna, March 26, wasn’t composed until 1800, when he was nearly 30 1827 years old. Published in Reverse Order Among the first of Beethoven’s completed orchestral compositions, though, is the Romance No. 2 in F major, Op. 50, for violin and orchestra. The opus number is misleading: Although the work was published in 1805 alongside middle-period masterpieces like the “Eroica” Symphony and the Triple Concerto, the Romance No. 2 was actually completed seven years earlier, in 1798. Although Beethoven had begun writing a number of concertos before then, they were either abandoned or not completed until later. It’s safe to suggest, then, that Beethoven cut his orchestral teeth to some degree on this second Romance, composed at a time when piano sonatas and chamber works dominated his compositional output. The F-major Romance even predates the Romance No. 1 in G major, which was composed several years later in 1802. But it was the G-major Romance that was published first (in 1803), hence its earlier numbering and opus designation. These two violin Romances were published just as Beethoven was thinking about and working on his only completed Violin Concerto (Op. 61), and it’s tempting to regard them as perhaps practice attempts at a violin concerto’s slow movement. They may also have even been intended for a Concerto in C major, WoO 5, that Beethoven started a decade earlier in Bonn and never completed. (The Romances and the early concerto 32

Beethoven composed his fragment share exactly the same instrumentation for G-major Romance in 1802 and orchestra.) his F-major Romance in 1798. In the French tradition, the designation of “Romance” Norman Carol was the was considered especially appropriate for a concerto soloist in the first Philadelphia slow movement, while in Germany a “Romanze” was a Orchestra performances song-like instrumental work in a slow duple meter. The of the Romance No. 1, in best-known model (and one that Beethoven knew well) February 1983 with Riccardo Muti. The work has only was the “Romance” slow movement from Mozart’s Piano been heard once since then, Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466. Beethoven’s violin in 1990 at Saratoga with Romances demonstrate features of both the French and Pinchas Zukerman as both German traditions, as well as the influence of Mozart. conductor and violinist. Jacob A Closer Look The G-major Romance is in the form Krachmalnick and Eugene of a rondo with two contrasting episodes (ABACA). It Ormandy gave the first opens with an unaccompanied violin solo that presents Orchestra performance of the Romance No. 2, on a Pension a leisurely main theme in double stops. The melody is Fund Concert in April 1952. then handed over to the orchestra, and the solo violin and The most recent performances orchestra trade another pair of phrases before joining were the above 1983 concerts, together for a new musical idea (the B section). For the with Carol and Muti. restatement of the main rondo theme, the violin and orchestral parts are slightly more elaborate, embellished Krachmalnick, Ormandy, and with passing tones and ornaments. Then a second the Orchestra recorded the Second Romance in 1952 for episode—a dance-like passage in E-minor—leads into the CBS. final statement of the rondo theme, this time in its most ornamented and virtuosic form. The score for each work calls for solo violin, flute, two oboes, Though it follows a somewhat similar formal outline, two bassoons, two horns, and the earlier Romance in F major is the more lyrical and strings. complex of the two pieces. The solo part lies higher in the The Romance No. 1 runs violin’s register, giving it a greater expressivity and making approximately eight minutes it a little more rewarding to play. While the orchestra and and the Romance No. 2 runs solo parts are evenly balanced, the work is clearly led by approximately nine minutes in the soloist, with the orchestral accompaniment functioning performance. more as a response and a commentary (as it had in the first Romance as well). The endearing main melody is vocally-conceived, like an instrumental aria. But the first episode, which continues in the same character as the main theme, includes concerto-like figuration for the soloist, and makes a dramatic feint toward D minor. After a repeat of the rondo theme, the second episode is even more passionate, developing motifs from the main theme through several other harmonic areas (and consequently bringing the movement’s form closer to a sonata-rondo). After the final, abbreviated statement of the theme, a short coda concludes the work intimately. —Luke Howard 33 The Music Serenade for Strings

The immediate appeal of so much of Antonín Dvorˇák’s music has won the hearts of audiences for nearly 150 years. So too its excellence won the young composer some very influential early supporters who helped pave the way to an enormously successful international career. The most prominent advocate proved to be Johannes Brahms, just eight years Dvorˇák’s senior but a powerful figure who eventually became a close friend. Helping a Poor Young Artist After studies in Prague Antonín Dvorˇák and some years playing viola in an orchestra conducted Born in Nelahozeves, by the great Czech composer Bedrˇich Smetana (another Bohemia, September 8, early advocate), Dvorˇák was eager to devote more time to 1841 composing. With this goal in mind he entered a competition Died in Prague, May 1, that gave grants to poor young artists. He had to prove 1904 genuine need and got approval with a comment that “the applicant, who has never been able to acquire a piano of his own, deserves a grant to ease his straitened circumstances and free him from anxiety in his creative work.” Among the Vienna-based jury for the Austrian State Stipendium were such musical heavy hitters as critic Eduard Hanslick, and conductors Johann Herbeck and Otto Dessoff. In 1875 Dvorˇák submitted 15 pieces, including his Third and Fourth symphonies, and won on his first try. Brahms joined the jury the next year and was so impressed by the young composer that he contacted his own publisher, Fritz Simrock in Berlin: “Dvorˇák has written all manner of things: operas (Czech), symphonies, quartets, piano pieces. In any case, he is a very talented man. Moreover, he is poor! I ask you to think about it! The duets will show you what I mean.” Simrock took the good advice and published the Moravian Duets Brahms mentioned, as well as the first set of Slavonic Dances. The exposure opened even more doors. Distinguished conductors and soloists took up Dvorˇák’s cause, further spreading his international fame, and highly desirable commissions began to come his way. A wave of creative energy also followed winning the stipend the first time with one of the happiest results being the charming Serenade for Strings, composed in just 12 days in May 1875. The carefree mood of the piece shows that the composer was indeed freed “from anxiety in his creative 34

The Serenade for Strings was work”; he was also newly married and had recently composed in 1875. become a father. Eugene Ormandy was on the A Little Night Music A musical dictionary from 1732 podium for the first complete defined a “serenade” as “an evening piece; because such Philadelphia Orchestra works are usually performed on quiet and pleasant nights.” performances of the Serenade, Initially it was entertainment music, usually written for in November 1955. An excerpt aristocrats, and meant to divert (hence the related genre from the Finale had been performed at a Children’s of the “divertimento”). Such pieces often functioned as Concert in December 1950, Tafelmusik, literally “table music” that accompanied eating with Alexander Hilsberg and other activities—thus a type of background music, conducting. The most recent aural wallpaper, or 18th-century Muzak. Mozart composed performance was in December the most famous serenades of the 18th century, usually 1955, with Ormandy. scored for wind instruments. He also wrote the famous Serenade in G major for strings, subtitled “Eine kleine The score calls for strings only. Nachtmusik” (A Little Night Music). Performance time is approximately 27 minutes. While Mozart provided an important model for Dvorˇák, Brahms did as well. Brahms put off writing a symphony for many years, until his mid-40s, but in the late 1850s he composed two impressive orchestral serenades that might be considered “disguised symphonies.” (The First Serenade, in D major, Op. 11, for a time even bore the title “Symphony-Serenade.”) Dvorˇák followed suit with two serenades of his own, the one for strings we hear today in 1875 and another for winds three years later. (He started a third one in 1879 but diverted the music to his delightful Czech Suite.) In some respects Dvorˇák’s serenades might be said to merge Mozart and Brahms, combining some of the simple freshness of the former with the lush Romanticism of the latter. A Closer Look The Serenade for Strings is in five movements, most of them in an ABA form with contrasting middle sections. Dvorˇák’s enormous lyric gifts are immediately apparent in the opening Moderato, which has a dancelike middle section. The Tempo di valse offers a slow waltz and boldly modulating trio of a more melancholy nature. The lively Scherzo: Vivace brings humor to the piece. Loving lyricism returns in the Larghetto, which makes references back the second movement. The Finale: Allegro vivace is in a modified sonata form, departing from the ABA structures of the preceding movements, but provides a large-scale rounding off of the entire piece by bringing back the opening theme of the first movement before a fast and furious coda. —Christopher H. Gibbs 35 The Music Symphony No. 2

In the summer of 1801, while composing his Second Symphony, Beethoven disclosed the secret of his deteriorating hearing in a long letter to a childhood friend, Franz Wegeler. After recounting assorted professional successes, the 30-year-old composer went on to relate that “that jealous demon, my wretched health, has put a nasty spoke in my wheel; and it amounts to this, that for the past three years my hearing has become weaker and weaker.” To Wegeler, a physician who lived in the composer’s native Bonn, Beethoven provided a detailed Ludwig van Beethoven account of symptoms and lamented the constraints placed on his personal life (“I have ceased to attend any social functions just because I find it impossible to say to people: I am deaf”) and professional situation (“… if my enemies, of whom I have a fair number, were to hear about it, what would they say?”). A little more than a year later, just as he was completing the Second Symphony, Beethoven penned his “Heiligenstadt Testament,” the famous unsent letter to his brothers in which he expressed utter despair over his loss of hearing. In this revealing confession he stated that on account of his torments, “I would have ended my life. Only my art held me back. It seemed to me impossible to leave the world until I had produced all that I felt was within me.” A “Smiling” Symphony in Difficult TimesThe Beethoven who thought of killing himself at 31 is very different from the mythic figure who eventually came to redefine music and whose life in so many ways epitomizes that of the Romantic artist. During his 20s he was better known as a performer—a brilliant pianist and improviser— than as a composer. He had written a good many works in various genres, but nowhere near what Mozart, Schubert, and other masters accomplished by the age of 30. And indeed Beethoven was about to embark on a “new path,” as he told his student Carl Czerny. Beethoven began sketching the Second Symphony as early as 1800, but most of the work took place during the summer and early fall of 1802—exactly at the time he confronted the crisis explained in the “Heiligenstadt 36

Testament.” The boundless humor and vitality of the work— French composer Hector Berlioz later remarked that “this Symphony is smiling throughout”—challenge the simplistic connections so often made between the immediate events at a given time in Beethoven’s life and the music he created. Indeed, as with his witty Eighth Symphony (1812), also written during a period of considerable personal distress (in the aftermath of his affair with the “Immortal Beloved”), Beethoven may have sought refuge in musical “comedy” at times of personal “tragedy.” First Reactions Despite its good humor, the Second Symphony initially challenged listeners. One critic remarked in 1804: “It is a noteworthy, colossal work, of a depth, power, and artistic knowledge like very few. It has a level of difficulty, both from the point of view of the composer and in regard to its performance by a large orchestra (which it certainly demands), quite certainly unlike any symphony that has ever been made known. It demands to be played again and yet again by even the most accomplished orchestra, until the astonishing number of original and sometimes very strangely arranged ideas becomes closely enough connected, rounded out, and emerges like a great unity, just as the composer had in mind.” Today we might assume such an observation would be about Beethoven’s monumental Third Symphony, or perhaps his Fifth or Ninth—almost any of his symphonies but the Second. Yet this early reaction is echoed by other contemporaries, who also initially found the piece difficult, imposing, and puzzling. Early-19th-century listeners, of course, were hearing it in the context of the symphonies of Haydn and Mozart, and of Beethoven’s own initial one. A Closer Look: Berlioz on Beethoven Berlioz, who penned some of the greatest music criticism of the century, wrote extensively about Beethoven, especially about the symphonies. It is interesting to consider what Berlioz valued in Beethoven and how he heard his symphonies, especially as they so inspired his own orchestral music, such as the Symphonie fantastique. Here is his discussion of the Second Symphony: In this Symphony everything is noble, energetic, proud. The Introduction [Adagio molto] is a masterpiece. The most beautiful effects follow one another without confusion and always in an unexpected manner. The song is of a touching solemnity, and it at once commands respect and puts the hearer in an emotional mood. The rhythm 37

Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 is already bolder, the instrumentation is richer, was composed from 1801 to more sonorous, more varied. An Allegro con 1802. brio of enchanting dash is joined to this admirable The Second Symphony introduction. The fast motif which begins the theme, was first performed by The given at first to the violas and cellos in unison, is Philadelphia Orchestra in taken up again in an isolated form, to establish either March 1903, with Fritz progressions in a crescendo or imitative passages Scheel on the podium, as between wind instruments and the strings. All these part of the Orchestra’s first forms have a new and animated physiognomy. A Beethoven symphony cycle. It melody enters, the first section of which is played by was most recently performed the clarinets, horns, and bassoons. It is completed by on subscription concerts in the full orchestra, and the manly energy is enhanced March/April 2011 with Jun by the happy choice of accompanying chords. Märkl. [The second-movement Larghetto] is not treated The Philadelphians have recorded Beethoven’s Second after the manner of that of the First Symphony: It Symphony twice: in 1962 for is not composed of a theme worked out in canonic CBS with Eugene Ormandy, imitations, but it is a pure and simple song, which and in 1987 for EMI with is first stated sweetly by the strings, and then Riccardo Muti. embroidered with a rare elegance by means of light and fluent figures whose character is never Beethoven scored the work far removed from the sentiment of tenderness that for an orchestra of two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two forms the distinctive character of the principal idea. bassoons, two horns, two It is a ravishing picture of innocent pleasure, which is trumpets, timpani, and strings. scarcely shadowed by a few melancholy accents. The Second Symphony runs The Scherzo is as frankly gay in its fantastic approximately 35 minutes in capriciousness as the previous movement has been performance. wholly and serenely happy; for this symphony is smiling throughout; the warlike bursts of the first Allegro are entirely free from violence; there is only the youthful ardor of the noble heart in which the most beautiful illusions of life are preserved untainted. The composer still believes in immortal glory, in love, in devotion. What abandon in his gaiety! What wit! What sallies! Hearing these various instruments disputing over fragments of a theme, which no one of them plays in its entirety, hearing each fragment thus colored with a thousand nuances as it passes from one to the other, it is as though you were watching the fairy sports of Oberon’s graceful spirits. The finale [Allegro molto] is of like genius. It is a second scherzo in duple meter, and its playfulness has perhaps something still more delicate, more piquant. —Christopher H. Gibbs 38 The Music Academic Festival Overture

Though our image of Brahms has tended to emphasize the serious and the profound—taking cues from the weighty grandeur of his symphonic gestures—in fact the composer’s humorous nature was as witty and down-to- earth as his sober side was earnest. He was eager to show his lighter side, too, in works such as the Hungarian Dances, or piano works such as the Intermezzo in C major (Op. 119, No. 3), or even the scherzo of the Fourth Symphony. But perhaps his most enduring “lighter” piece for orchestra was the Academic Festival Overture of Johannes Brahms 1880—a piece that, despite a title suggesting learned Born in Hamburg, May 7, counterpoint, is academic only in the sense that it weaves 1833 into its whimsical texture several university songs that were Died in Vienna, April 3, popular in the late 19th century. 1897 Written in Exchange for a Degree In 1879 Brahms was offered an honorary doctorate by the University of Breslau— Wroclaw in Poland—in recognition of his achievements in orchestral music. (Specifically, the first two symphonies and the Violin Concerto had established him as Europe’s leading composer, of instrumental music at least.) Unable to attend the initial ceremony in March 1879, Brahms received the degree in absentia—but officials of the University made it clear that in return they hoped for “a symphony or at least a festive song.” Finally in the summer of 1880 the composer sketched out the Academic Festival Overture, writing for the largest orchestra he was ever to use—the standard ensemble of his day, supplemented with piccolo, contrabassoon, tuba, triangle, cymbals, and bass drum. The Breslau diploma cited him as Artis musicae severioris in Germania nunc princeps—“First among masters of serious music in Germany.” Almost as if to challenge the “serious” part of the epithet, he wrote one of his most lighthearted works. For the premiere at the University of Breslau the following January (1881), Brahms rushed to complete a work he had sketched a decade before, the inspired and glowering Tragic Overture. Both pieces were played on this occasion, under the composer’s baton; together the two presented an intriguing juxtaposition of gravity and cheer that some have interpreted as a glimpse at the two sides of Brahms’s personality. 39

Brahms composed the A Closer Look The Academic Festival Overture weaves Academic Festival Overture four student songs into a seamless fabric containing a logic in 1880. and a development all its own. After an introduction based Fritz Scheel was the conductor on original material, the first tune, “Wir hatten gebauet ein in the first Philadelphia stattliches Haus” (We had built a stately house), is heard Orchestra performances, in as a trumpet fanfare; the second, “Der Landesvater” (The January 1903. Most recently Father of Our Country), appears later in the strings. The high on subscription David Zinman humor of the third, “Was kommt dort von der Höh’?” (What led the Overture, in March Comes from Afar?), is expressed through a witty bassoon 2001. duet, which quickly expands into an extroverted tutti for full The Orchestra has recorded orchestra. Strings and horns begin the final “Gaudeamus the Academic Festival igitur,” which brings the work to a bracing close. twice: in 1966 for Overture —Paul J. Horsley CBS with Eugene Ormandy and in 1988 for Philips with Riccardo Muti. Brahms scored the work for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (bass drum, cymbals, triangle), and strings. The Overture runs approximately 10 minutes in performance.

GENERAL TERMS Oratorios are performed four extended movements Aria: An accompanied by choruses and solo contrasted in theme, solo song (often in ternary voices with an instrumental tempo, and mood, usually form), usually in an opera accompaniment, and for a solo instrument or oratorio are similar to operas but Sonata form: The form in Canon: A device whereby without the costumes, which the first movements an extended melody, stated scenery, and actions. (and sometimes others) in one part, is imitated Romance: Originally of symphonies are usually strictly and in its entirety in a ballad, or popular tale cast. The sections are one or more other parts in verse; now a title for exposition, development, Chord: The simultaneous epico-lyrical songs or of and recapitulation, the sounding of three or more short instrumental pieces last sometimes followed tones of sentimental or romantic by a coda. The exposition Coda: A concluding nature, and without special is the introduction of section or passage added form the musical ideas, which in order to confirm the Rondo: A form frequently are then “developed.” In impression of finality used in symphonies and the recapitulation, the Counterpoint: A concertos for the final exposition is repeated with term that describes movement. It consists modifications the combination of of a main section that Trio: See scherzo simultaneously sounding alternates with a variety of Tutti: All; full orchestra musical lines contrasting sections (A-B- WoO: Without opus Double-stop: In violin A-C-A etc.) playing, to stop two strings Scherzo: Literally “a THE SPEED OF MUSIC together, thus obtaining joke.” Usually the third (Tempo) two-part harmony movement of symphonies Adagio: Leisurely, slow Meter: The symmetrical and quartets that was Allegro: Bright, fast grouping of musical introduced by Beethoven Con brio: Vigorously, with rhythms to replace the minuet. The fire Minuet: A dance in triple scherzo is followed by a Larghetto: A slow tempo time commonly used up to gentler section called a trio, Moderato: A moderate the beginning of the 19th after which the scherzo is tempo, neither fast nor century as the lightest repeated. Its characteristics slow movement of a symphony are a rapid tempo in triple Tempo di valse: Tempo Op.: Abbreviation for opus, time, vigorous rhythm, and of a waltz a term used to indicate humorous contrasts. Vivace: Lively the chronological position Serenade: An of a composition within a instrumental composition TEMPO MODIFIERS composer’s output written for a small Molto: Very Oratorio: Large-scale ensemble and having dramatic composition characteristics of the suite DYNAMIC MARKS originating in the 16th and the sonata Crescendo: Increasing century with text usually Sonata: An instrumental volume based on religious subjects. composition in three or 41 November/December The Philadelphia Orchestra

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Vivaldi’s Four Seasons November 29 & 30 8 PM December 1 2 PM Richard Egarr Conductor Giuliano Carmignola Violin Vivaldi The Four Seasons Purcell Suite No. 1 from The Fairy Queen Haydn Symphony No. 101 (“The Clock”) The November 29 concert is sponsored by MEDCOMP. Grimaud and Symphonie fantastique December 5 & 7 8 PM December 8 2 PM Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor Hélène Grimaud Piano Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 Berlioz Symphonie fantastique The December 7 concert is sponsored by the Louis N. Cassett Foundation.

TICKETS Call 215.893.1999 or log on to www.philorch.org PreConcert Conversations are held prior to every Philadelphia Orchestra subscription concert, beginning 1 hour before curtain. All artists, dates, programs, and prices subject to change. All tickets subject to availability. 1642 Story Title Tickets & Patron Services

TICKETS & PATRON PreConcert Conversations: Ticket Philadelphia Staff SERVICES PreConcert Conversations are Gary Lustig, Vice President held prior to every Philadelphia Jena Smith, Director, Patron Subscriber Services: Orchestra subscription concert, Services 215.893.1955 beginning one hour before curtain. Dan Ahearn, Jr., Box Office Call Center: 215.893.1999 Conversations are free to ticket- Manager holders, feature discussions of the Catherine Pappas, Project Fire Notice: The exit indicated by season’s music and music-makers, Manager a red light nearest your seat is the and are supported in part by the Michelle Parkhill, Client Relations shortest route to the street. In the Wells Fargo Foundation. Manager event of fire or other emergency, Mariangela Saavedra, Manager, please do not run. Walk to that exit. Lost and Found: Please call Patron Services 215.670.2321. Gregory McCormack, Training No Smoking: All public space in Specialist the Kimmel Center is smoke-free. Web Site: For information about Samantha Apgar, Business The Philadelphia Orchestra and Operations Coordinator Cameras and Recorders: The its upcoming concerts or events, Elysse Madonna, Program and taking of photographs or the please visit www.philorch.org. Web Coordinator recording of Philadelphia Orchestra Patrick Curran, Assistant Treasurer, concerts is strictly prohibited. Subscriptions: The Philadelphia Box Office Orchestra offers a variety of Tad Dynakowski, Assistant Phones and Paging Devices: subscription options each season. Treasurer, Box Office All electronic devices—including These multi-concert packages Michelle Messa, Assistant cellular telephones, pagers, and feature the best available seats, Treasurer, Box Office wristwatch alarms—should be ticket exchange privileges, Patricia O’Connor, Assistant turned off while in the concert hall. guaranteed seat renewal for the Treasurer, Box Office following season, discounts on Thomas Sharkey, Assistant Late Seating: Latecomers will not individual tickets, and many other Treasurer, Box Office be seated until an appropriate time benefits. For more information, James Shelley, Assistant Treasurer, in the concert. please call 215.893.1955 or visit Box Office www.philorch.org. Tara Bankard, Lead Patron Accessible Seating: Accessible Services Representative seating is available for every Ticket Turn-In: Subscribers who Jayson Bucy, Lead Patron Services performance. Please call Ticket cannot use their tickets are invited Representative Philadelphia at 215.893.1999 for to donate them and receive a Meg Hackney, Lead Patron more information. You may also tax-deductible credit by calling Services Representative purchase accessible seating online 215.893.1999. Tickets may be Julia Schranck, Lead Patron at www.philorch.org. turned in any time up to the start Services Representative of the concert. Twenty-four-hour Alicia DiMeglio, Priority Services Assistive Listening: With the notice is appreciated, allowing Representative deposit of a current ID, hearing other patrons the opportunity to Megan Brown, Patron Services enhancement devices are available purchase these tickets. Representative at no cost from the House Maureen Esty, Patron Services Management Office. Headsets Individual Tickets: Don’t assume Representative are available on a first-come, first- that your favorite concert is sold Brand-I Curtis McCloud, Patron served basis. out. Subscriber turn-ins and other Services Representative special promotions can make last- Scott Leitch, Quality Assurance Large-Print Programs: minute tickets available. Call Ticket Analyst Large-print programs for every Philadelphia at 215.893.1999 or subscription concert are available stop by the Kimmel Center Box in the House Management Office Office. in Commonwealth Plaza. Please ask an usher for assistance.