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Quad City PROGRAM NOTES Masterworks V: Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony

By Jacob Bancks Associate Professor of Augustana College

“Glowing rays shoot through the deep night… and we sense giant shadows surging to and fro, closing in on us until they destroy us… Only with this pain of love, hope, joy—which consumes but does not destroy, which would burst asunder our breasts with a mightily impassioned chord—we live on, enchanted seers of the ghostly world!” —E.T.A. Hoffman From a review of Beethoven, Symphony No. 5

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770- is directly traceable to Beethoven, who 1827) loaded his works with an unprecedented Twelve German Dances level of gravity. In his in partic- ular, it can be difficult to listen in any other Instrumentation: Piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 , 2 clar- way than to imagine the in the inets, 2 , 2 horns, 2 , , limelight, calling all the shots and writing for percussion, and strings (no ). posterity. It is thus important to remember Premiere: November 22, 1795. Redoutensaal, that, on several occasions, Beethoven wrote Hofburg Palace, Vienna. music intended to support other arts or so- QCSO Premiere. cial activities.

It can be easy to forget that, aside from pro- This is the case with his early 12 German ducing immortal works of genius, compos- Dances, WoO 8. The “WoO” is important: it ers have occasionally proven themselves means “without opus number”; in other useful. Indeed, in many instances, the pri- words, a work that is outside of a com- mary work of a composer has been and con- poser’s essential catalogue, often un- tinues to be producing “background” music published during the composer’s lifetime. for various uses. For example, although the

QCSO has recently performed Bach’s St. So what was the non-concert context for the Matthew Passion and ’ The first performances of these pieces? The Cowboys Overture on Masterworks con- building was the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, certs, both works originated in contexts (Lu- winter residence of the royal Hapsburg fam- theran worship; a 70s western film) where ily, and the room was the Redoutensaal the music was not (at least officially) the (“masquerade hall”), designated by the Em- main event. press Maria Theresa to be used for balls and

other entertainments. Like his teacher Our concert experience, by contrast, puts Haydn before him (and Johann Strauss, Jr. music front and center, and this expectation much later), Beethoven wrote pieces for the dance to dance together comprise Redoutensaal to be played on just such an something of a long-range tonal jour- occasion. Decades later, the same hall ney. The conventional practice was for would host the premiere of his Eighth Sym- adjacent dances to be in “closely-re- phony. lated keys” (moving, for example, from C major to G major, a difference of only Written in 1795 and predating his Sym- one sharp). However, in Beethoven’s phony No. 1 by five years, the dances might work, dances #1, #2, and #3 have rather all be classified as “”, genteel drastic key differences between them (C dances in three, including a “trio” (middle major, A major, F major). This same pat- contrasting section) in all but the first dance. tern of remote key relationships is re- The pieces must have served their social peated in dances #7, #8, and #9. Over- function well; though they contain hints of all, dances #1, #7, and #12 are all in C Beethoven’s later orchestral brilliance and major, so it functions as a tonal “home” creative harmonic shifts, he stays well within and midway resting place; Beethoven al- contemporary expectations for imperial ways departs C major in an unexpected dance music. way, but always approaches it (from #6 to #7 and #11 to #12) more predictably, Beethoven, 12 German Dances from the closely-related key of G major. Listening Guide ¯ Foreshadowing his own Symphony ¯ You might have noticed that a whole No. 3 (“Eroica”), dance #5 is has a regal, section of strings is absent… the violas! triumphant tone in the heroic key of E- Though violas have always been an es- flat major. sential part of the symphony orchestra, ¯ Perhaps livening up the festivities the orchestra regularly providing dance near the end, Beethoven makes use of music at the Redoutensaal must not the tambourine for the first time in #10. have had violas; Haydn’s music for the ¯ As will become his practice in almost same kind of occasion, for example, also all of his major works, Beethoven uses lacks parts. the Coda, or closing passage, to light ¯ Aside from the first dance, each some fireworks. dance is in a three-part, ABA form. The ¯ You will hear the in the finale “B” is the section called the “trio”, playing a soaring “triadic” (i.e., which is usually contrasting in nature and all skips and leaps, no steps), similar to sometimes in key. In these dances, the Taps, but much livelier. The invention of trio is (with one exception) in the same the valve trumpet was still 20 years key, but the delineation between the A away, so these were the only notes avail- and B sections is usually clear. able on Beethoven’s trumpet. ¯ In keeping with the festive atmos- phere of an imperial ball, every dance in the group is in a major key (exception: there is one trio, #7, in C minor). ¯ Though each dance falls within a sin- gle key, the shifts between keys from

2 QCSO Program Notes 2018-19, Masterworks V (1864-1949) ? Strauss answered with a Concerto in D Major for Oboe and simple, “No.” Small Orchestra To be sure, it was kind of an odd question: Instrumentation: solo oboe, 2 flutes, English oboe are rare, and the 81-year- , 2 , 2 bassoons, 2 horns, and old Strauss, most famous for his grandilo- strings. quent and , had written Premiere: February 26, 1946. Marcel Saillet, only three concertos in total (two of them for oboe, Tonhalle Orchestra, Volkmar Andreae, horn, his father’s instrument). But in any conductor. case, de Lancie’s ended up being a very QCSO Performance History: This is the second QCSO performance of Strauss’s oboe con- consequential question: shortly thereafter certo. The first was in 1988, with Bert Lucarelli Strauss completed his Concerto for Oboe as soloist, and James Dixon conducting. and Small Orchestra, explaining publicly that he had written it at an American sol- The mobilization of the American people dier’s suggestion. De Lancie learned of the during World War II was nearly universal, piece’s existence in the newspaper. and this included musicians. Among those recruited into the Allied effort was John de The resulting piece provides an illuminating Lancie, then principal oboist of the Pitts- glimpse into the end of an intriguing and in- burgh Symphony under Fritz Reiner. He fluential musical career. Strauss was first joined the United States Army Band and credited with initiating the musical shock- later served as an intelligence operative in waves of the early twentieth century: this occupied Germany. After the war, he would was the composer who burst into the inter- become one of America’s most prominent national music scene with the overwhelming oboists, performing in the Philadelphia Or- flourish of in 1888 and scandalized chestra and running the famed Curtis Insti- the world with his salacious, harmonically tute of Music. (His son, incidentally, would adventurous in 1905. But he become an actor, portraying the character also began to show a less revolutionary, “Q” on Star Trek: The Next Generation.) more nostalgic side as early as 1911 with his comic opera , set in mid- Shortly after the war had ended, while he eighteenth-century Vienna (one might al- was still stationed in Germany, de Lancie most imagine the opera being performed in heard that the elderly composer Richard the Redoutensaal!). By the 1940s, he had Strauss was living in the Bavarian resort composed himself firmly back into the nine- town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Curious, teenth century, with works like Metamor- the oboist-soldier decided to pay the com- phosen for string orchestra, the Four Last poser a visit, and Strauss, eager to maintain Songs, and his . This regres- good relations with occupying American sion was a disappointment to those who had forces, received his fellow musician kindly. deigned him the standard-bearer of atonal- Over the course of their conversation, de ity, but a welcome development for mid- Lancie asked a burning question: had the twentieth-century audiences still eager for old master ever thought about writing an the trappings of .

QCSO Program Notes 2018-19, Masterworks V 3 Strauss, Oboe Concerto recalls the accompanying “little steps” Listening Guide that supported the first movement’s First movement: Allegro moderato opening to transition to the Mozartean ¯ Strauss included “for small orchestra” melody that begins the slow movement. in the title of this work, and for him it ¯ Note the eloquent and elegant sec- certainly is much smaller than usual. No- ond movement , accompanied tice that he employs “double winds”, with simple pizzicatos from the strings. i.e., two each of the woodwind instru- Third movement: Vivace–Allegro ments, except only one oboe (which is ¯ In a manner similar to the actually an English Horn). This is a prac- duet from the first movement, the last tical consideration: if, as for us at the opens with happy counterpoint be- QCSO, the principal oboist is perform- tween the soloist and flute, continuing in ing the solo part, the work does not re- the . quire hiring an additional oboist. ¯ The third movement features another ¯ Writing for the oboe has some chal- cadenza: it’s quite warm and affection- lenges; for one, its range is significantly ate, and, like the previous cadenza, not narrower than most instruments, ordi- particularly flashy. narily not much more than two octaves. ¯ A new tempo follows the cadenza, It’s also an exhausting instrument to and with the lilting 6/8 time, it almost play, so the part must include frequent seems like the piece will come to a gen- opportunities for the oboist to recover. tly lilting end. However, Strauss the ¯ Notice the underlying accompanying showman appears after all, accelerating figure that sounds like tiny steps. This is the tempo to a bold conclusion. an important supporting motive throughout, and will provide the transi- tion to the second movement. Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 ¯ Unlike in Don Juan, at the concerto’s

opening, Strauss seems rather relaxed, Instrumentation: Piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clar- and he takes a while to find the vigor inets, 2 bassoons, , 2 horns, 2 that characterizes the middle of the trumpets, 3 , timpani, and strings. movement. Also unlike in his tone po- Premiere: December 22, 1808. Theater an der ems, he employs a more transparent or- Wien, Vienna, with the composer conducting. chestration throughout. QCSO Performance History: This marks the twelfth time Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony has ¯ Listen for the oboe-clarinet imitative been programmed by the QCSO, and the sec- counterpoint in the piece’s middle sec- ond time with Mark Russell Smith, who last tion. Again, in the common scenario conducted them in 2011. Prior performances where the principal oboist of an orches- were under Ludwig Becker (1918, 1924), Oscar tra is playing the solo, the oboist and Anderson (1941), Piero Bellugi (1954), Charles clarinetist will be quite accustomed to Gigante (1969), four times with James Dixon playing together in this manner. (1969, 1975, 1979, and 1988), and Donald Schleicher (2000). Second movement: Andante

¯ There is no break between the move- ments in this concerto; Strauss instead

4 QCSO Program Notes 2018-19, Masterworks V We might wonder whether the audience underworld,” he wrote, “music unlocks for that heard the premiere of Beethoven’s Fifth mankind an unknown realm—a world with Symphony on December 22, 1808 fully nothing in common with the surrounding grasped the magnitude of the work. After outer world of the senses.” all, the same concert included the world premiere of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 This sublimity, Hoffman believed, was most (“Pastoral”), his No. 4, and perfectly instantiated in Beethoven’s works. the Choral Fantasy for piano, choir and or- “Beethoven’s music wields the lever of fear, chestra, throwing in a few Mass movements awe, horror, and pain, and it awakens that and a concert for good measure. On eternal longing that is the essence of the ro- that cold evening in Vienna, amid an inter- mantic.” And in this regard, the Fifth Sym- minable program of overwhelming new phony in particular was “splendid beyond all works, did the audience suspect that the measure. How irresistibly does this wonder- symphony’s fateful opening four-note mo- ful composition transport the listener tive would become the most ubiquitous mu- through ever growing climaxes into the spir- sical object in history? itual realm of the infinite.”

That audience may or may not have under- But amid all of his poetic reflection, Hoffman stood the gravity of Beethoven’s Symphony makes a separate observation which might No. 5. But Beethoven’s contemporary, the just capture why we continue to find Bee- Romantic writer E. T. A. Hoffman, certainly thoven’s music so powerful. “We might did. Aside from his many fantasy stories (in- think,” surmised Hoffman, “that from such cluding ) Hoffman was a elements only something fragmented or in- composer and cultural critic who wrote ex- comprehensible could arise, but instead we tensively about Beethoven. His widely-circu- receive from them a sense of the whole.” In lated review of Symphony No. 5 gives an other words, despite overwhelming us with overview of the burgeoning phenomenon of the onslaught of widely-ranging emotions, romanticism, and explains why Beethoven’s Beethoven also constructed his best works symphony is the romantic work par excel- with a profound unity. The opening four- lence. note motive of Symphony No. 5 provides the most obvious example: this is a brilliant Hoffman begins his review by elevating and striking gesture in itself, but Beethoven purely instrumental music above music with doesn’t stop there. Rather, he constructs the text, because instrumental music “scorns entire movement (and really, the entire sym- every aid from and mixing with any other phony) by manipulating this motive in an art.” Here he initiates a long, often tiresome endless variety of ways. His combination of debate that would continue for much of the carefully-reasoned motivic development nineteenth century: which is better, “pure” with soaring, inexpressible emotion pro- instrumental music, or music related to the duced music that fulfills the ideals of both other arts? The answer, for Hoffman, was in- romanticism and the Enlightenment which strumental music, which expressed the oth- preceded it. His perfect balancing of mind erworldly and the transcendental. “Just as and heart may well be why Beethoven’s mu- Orpheus’ lyre opened the gates of the sic has proven so moving, and so lasting.

QCSO Program Notes 2018-19, Masterworks V 5 Beethoven 5 ¯ The music may be slow, but the mood Listening Guide changes early and often, alternating fre- First movement: Allegro con brio quently between hesitant, solemn, tri- ¯ The four-note motive that opens the umphant, mysterious, grand, and tender symphony is not just a noisome way of characters. getting our attention; it is also the root ¯ Listen for a short diversion near the motive of much of the music to follow. movement’s end, with perky offbeats ¯ If you have ever wanted to follow a and a slightly quicker tempo. sonata-allegro form closely, now is your Third movement: Scherzo: Allegro chance! The first main section, the Expo- ¯ The third movement of a symphony sition, includes two main themes: the was, according to the Haydn ideal, a dark, intense and driving first theme in C , but Beethoven pioneered the minor, and the elegant, retiring, but vol- alternative option of a Scherzo (he cer- atile second theme. The jubilant music tainly wrote plenty of Minuets up to that that ends the opening section is called point, judging from the Twelve German the “closing theme.” After each theme Dances!). “Scherzo” literally means has had its initial say, the whole Exposi- “joke piece”, but Beethoven’s scherzos tion repeats. are rarely facetious. ¯ After this repetition, the central sec- ¯ After a sneaky opening passage in tion follows, called the Development as the strings, the horns interrupt with a it takes the themes through a variety of forceful theme; notice its similarity to transformations. A particularly haunting the symphony’s opening rhythm. feature of this Development are the ¯ Like a Minuet, the Scherzo has a long, soft alternating chords between “Trio” section; this Trio is unusually con- the strings and winds. trapuntal, sounding almost like a . ¯ You’ll know the Development is over ¯ After the Trio, the Scherzo’s opening when it sounds like the movement is be- returns, but without the horn outbursts. ginning again; we call this the Recapitu- Amid the quiet, quick and murky music, lation, which is a “double return” to the Beethoven provides a few glimpses of opening theme and opening key. Com- sunshine. He’s clearly preparing us for posers love to vary the Recapitulation; something… Beethoven’s most striking departure is a Fourth movement: Allegro—Presto sudden suspension of time, where the ¯ The final movement follows the orchestra unexpectedly yields to a lugu- Scherzo immediately. brious oboe solo. ¯ Like the first movement, the form is Second movement: Andante con moto also sonata-allegro, though the themes ¯ Beethoven follows a familiar recipe are less distinct from one another. for a slow movement, perfected by his (Here’s a hint for when the second teacher Franz : he sets a theme is beginning: it sounds like the slow triple meter (three beats per bar), theme to Superman.) then proceeds throughout the move- ¯ As is often his want, Beethoven tricks ment to place on top of it all different us with a false ending, but the bassoons kinds of rhythmic subdivisions. and horns convince him to keep going.

6 QCSO Program Notes 2018-19, Masterworks V