Season 2013-2014

27 Season 2013-2014

Thursday, October 17, at 8:00 The Philadelphia Orchestra Friday, October 18, at 2:00 Saturday, October 19, at Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos Conductor 8:00 Lise de la Salle Piano

Beethoven Overture to King Stephen, Op. 117

Beethoven Symphony No. 8 in F major, Op. 93 I. Allegro vivace e con brio II. Allegretto scherzando III. Tempo di menuetto IV. Allegro vivace

Intermission

Liszt Piano Concerto No. 2 in A major Adagio sostenuto assai—Allegro agitato assai—Un poco più mosso—Allegro moderato—Allegro deciso— Marziale, un poco meno allegro—Allegro animato

Respighi The Pines of Rome I. The Pine Trees of the Villa Borghese— II. Pine Trees near a Catacomb— III. The Pine Trees of the Janiculum— IV. The Pine Trees of the Appian Way

This program runs approximately 1 hour, 50 minutes.

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

Steve J. Sherman This season marks Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos’s 150th appearance with The Philadelphia Orchestra in Philadelphia. The 80-year-old conductor made his American debut with the Philadelphians on Valentine’s Day in 1969. A regular guest with all of North America’s top orchestras, he conducts the New York and Los Angeles philharmonics and the Boston, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Detroit, San Francisco, Saint Louis, Houston, Seattle, New World, and National symphonies in the 2013-14 season. He also appears annually at the Tanglewood Music Festival. From 2004 to 2011 he was chief conductor and artistic director of the Dresden Philharmonic. This is his second season as chief conductor of the Danish National Orchestra. Born in Burgos, Spain, Mr. Frühbeck studied violin, piano, music theory, and composition at the conservatories in Bilbao and Madrid; he studied conducting at Munich’s Hochschule für Musik, where he graduated summa cum laude and was awarded the Richard Strauss Prize. Named Conductor of the Year by Musical America in 2011, he has received numerous other honors and distinctions, including the Gold Medal of the City of Vienna; Germany’s Order of Merit; the Gold Medal from the Gustav Mahler International Society; and the Jacinto Guerrero Prize, Spain’s most important musical award, conferred in 1997 by the Queen of Spain. In 1998 Mr. Frühbeck was appointed emeritus conductor of the Spanish National Orchestra. He has an honorary doctorate from the University of Navarra in Spain and since 1975 has been a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid. Mr. Frühbeck has made tours with ensembles including London’s Philharmonia, the London Symphony, the National Orchestra of Madrid, the Swedish Radio Orchestra, and The Philadelphia Orchestra, and he has toured North America with the Vienna Symphony, the Spanish National Orchestra, and the Dresden Philharmonic. Mr. Frühbeck has recorded extensively for EMI, Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, Spanish Columbia, and Orfeo. Several of his recordings are considered to be classics, including his interpretations of Mendelssohn’s Elijah and St. Paul, Mozart’s Requiem, Orff’s Carmina burana, Bizet’s Carmen, and the complete works of Spanish composer Manuel de Falla. 30 Soloist

Lynn Goldsmith The 25-year-old pianist Lise de la Salle is making her Philadelphia Orchestra debut with these performances. Other highlights of her 2013-14 season include recitals in San Francisco, Denver, Houston, and New York. In the United States she has played with the Boston and San Francisco symphonies, at the Ravinia Festival with the Chicago Symphony, with the Minnesota Orchestra, and twice with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. She made her Lincoln Center debut in 2006, performing Liszt’s Concerto No. 1 with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s conducted by Keith Lockhart. Ms. de la Salle has given recitals in Berlin, London, and Paris; has made concerto appearances in Lisbon, Copenhagen, St. Petersburg, and Lyon; and has performed frequently in the Far East. Other North American engagements have included recitals in New York, Montreal, San Francisco, Chicago, Vancouver, Quebec, Miami, and St. Paul; at the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival in Michigan; and at Duke University. Ms. de la Salle records exclusively with the label Naïve and first came to international attention in 2005, at the age of 16, with a Bach/Liszt recording that was selected as Recording of the Month by Gramophone magazine. She was similarly recognized in 2008 for her CD of the first concertos of Liszt, Prokofiev, and Shostakovich. Other recordings include an all-Chopin disc with a live recording of the Second Piano Concerto with Fabio Luisi conducting the Dresden Staatskapelle and the four ballades; and, in celebration of the bicentennial of Liszt’s birth, a CD featuring both the composer’s own works and transcriptions of pieces by Mozart and Schubert. In January 2013 Naïve celebrated the 10th anniversary of its collaboration with Ms. de la Salle with A Portrait, featuring highlights from her recordings. Born in Cherbourg, France, in 1988, Ms. de la Salle was surrounded by music as a child. She began studying piano at the age of four and gave her first concert at the age of nine in a live broadcast on Radio France. At 13 she made her Paris recital debut at the Louvre before going on tour with the Orchestre National d’Île-de-France playing Haydn’s D-major Concerto. Active in educational outreach, Ms. de la Salle teaches master classes in many of the cities in which she performs. 31 Framing the Program

Beethoven dominated 19th-century musical life, Parallel Events creating masterpieces that most composers writing in 1812 Music his wake found challenging to match. In this context we Beethoven Rossini should remember that Beethoven also had to compete Symphony La scala di seta with himself as he inevitably found people making No. 8 Literature comparisons between and among his works. The first Brothers Grimm half of the program today features two compositions Fairy Tales that, while certainly not ugly ducklings, have tended Art to be overshadowed by more famous swans. The Géricault celebratory Overture to King Stephen is characteristically The Charging Chasseur Beethovenian, written for the inauguration of a new History theater in Hungary. Louisiana Beethoven’s buoyant Symphony No. 8 is eclipsed by its becomes a state mighty neighbors, the Seventh, which was particularly popular in his own time, and the mighty Ninth that cast 1857 Music such a long shadow on music history. The Eighth is more Liszt Brahms Piano Concerto Serenade No. 1 modest in scale, looking back in ways to his teacher Franz No. 2 Literature Joseph Haydn, but delightful, brimming with good cheer Thackeray and witty touches. The Virginians Franz Liszt, an astounding piano virtuoso since his Art childhood, came at age 10 to Vienna from his native Millet Hungary to study with Antonio Salieri and Carl Czerny. The Gleaners During his time in the city he was taken to meet History Indian mutiny Beethoven, a memory he cherished for the rest of his life. against British In the decades that followed his keyboard music came rule to define instrumental virtuosity, readily apparent in his dazzling Second Piano Concerto. 1924 Music The concert ends with Ottorino Respighi’s evocative Respighi Sibelius The Pines of Rome, which explores the pine tree groves The Pines of Symphony No. 7 spread over Rome. This brilliantly scored musical homage Rome Literature Forster to the city the composer so loved offers a feast of A Passage to sound as the orchestra is augmented by organ, a large India contingent of percussion instruments, recorded bird Art calls (shocking in 1924), and antiphonal brass choirs Braque positioned throughout the hall. Sugar Bowl History Lenin dies 32 The Music Overture to King Stephen

Posterity has not been especially kind to the incidental music that Beethoven composed in 1811 for August von Kotzebue’s stage works The Ruins of Athens and King Stephen. The classic Beethoven biography by Maynard Solomon, for example, refers to them as “hackwork to please a royal patron.” This might be a bit severe. It is true that Beethoven wrote these pieces in a great hurry—some 19 musical numbers composed in a matter of three weeks—and that they provide for an unflattering contrast when placed alongside the great music he had Ludwig van Beethoven written immediately preceding for Goethe’s Egmont. Born in Bonn, probably Nevertheless each of these works contains worthwhile December 16, 1770 music, and the Overture to King Stephen is actually one of Died in Vienna, March 26, the composer’s underestimated gems. Even on a bad day 1827 Beethoven was pretty good. An Homage to an Emperor In 1810 a new national theater in Budapest was nearing completion, and the German playwright Kotzebue (1761-1819) was called upon to write a stage work for the grand opening, to take place in October 1811, on the name day of the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz I. The author responded with not one but two plays, Ungarns erster Wohltäter (Hungary’s First Benefactor) and Die Ruinen von Athen (The Ruins of Athens). Both were celebratory in nature, rather than overtly or specifically “dramatic,” and both contained tableau-like scenes and melodrama (spoken text with musical accompaniment). The reference in Hungary’s First Benefactor was to Stephen I of Hungary (969-1038), who was crowned in the year 1000 by Pope Sylvester II and dubbed “the Apostolic King.” He is honored as the first leader to establish and maintain a well-functioning form of government in his land, and the playwright clearly intended to draw parallels with Franz’s reign. For his part, Beethoven was happy to make his music for King Stephen into a sort of homage to the emperor, dashing off music well suited to such an occasion. He wrote an extroverted overture and nine other solo, choral, and instrumental pieces. A Closer Look Cut from the same cloth as the militaristic Wellington’s Victory of 1813, the King Stephen 33

Beethoven composed his Overture is seen by some as a precursor of the Ninth Overture to King Stephen in Symphony: Not only do the Overture’s final bars seem to 1811. foreshadow the “Turkish” variation of the Ninth’s finale, Pierre Monteux was the but its second theme notably resembles the “Ode to Joy” conductor in The Philadelphia hymn. Nevertheless this Overture is a well-constructed Orchestra’s first performances piece in its own right, in which Beethoven has depicted of the Overture, in March the king seated on a throne of shields, with a procession 1928. The work has not been of noblemen and soldiers passing before him in heard frequently here—most ceremonial fashion. In the subsequent action, the king’s recently in February 1999 with enemies are brought before him as well—it is a retinue of Wolfgang Sawallisch. itinerant gypsies, and Stephen demonstrates his “superior” The score calls for two flutes, Christian charity by pardoning them all—in an act of mercy two oboes, two clarinets, two that leads to their conversion to Christianity. bassoons, contrabassoon, four After a peculiar and vaguely humorous slow introduction, horns, two trumpets, timpani, and strings. the first theme (presto) races like the wind, before being supplanted by an exotic subsidiary theme; both are Performance time is subjects that return later in the stage work. After a loose approximately eight minutes. developmental section, the introduction returns, and the primary themes are partially recapitulated. The effect is one of a leisurely alternation of the heroically militant with the richly symphonic. —Paul J. Horsley 34 The Music Symphony No. 8

Composers writing symphonies in Beethoven’s wake often found themselves privately intimidated as they worked and then publicly subjected to unfavorable critical comparisons once they finished. The Eighth Symphony shows that even Beethoven could find himself in a similar situation: His own new compositions sometimes suffered in comparison with more celebrated earlier works. Robert Schumann remarked that the Fourth Symphony was like a “slender Grecian maiden between two Nordic giants.” So, too, the Eighth is a shorter, lighter, and far more good-humored Ludwig van Beethoven work than its imposing neighbors, the relentless Seventh and the towering Ninth. According to Beethoven’s student Carl Czerny, the extraordinary enthusiasm that greeted the Seventh Symphony was in stark contrast to the puzzled reaction to the Eighth: “That’s because it is so much better” was Beethoven’s alleged response. Beethoven was given to writing and performing symphonies in pairs. He composed the Fifth and Sixth symphonies—so different in many respects—around the same time and they were premiered on the same concert. The gestation of his next two symphonies, the Seventh and Eighth, was likewise joined, as were some of their early performances. Both these pairs of unidentical twins raise the issue of Beethoven’s even and odd numbered symphonies—of the common perception of advance in the odd-numbered ones and retreat in the even. Certainly the former are the more popular, praised, performed, and recorded. And as with Schumann’s observation about the Fourth being overshadowed by its towering neighbors, the Eighth also tends to get lost in the crowd. Beethoven referred to it as “my little Symphony in F,” so as to distinguish it from the Seventh, as well as from the longer and more substantial Sixth Symphony, also in F major. A Notable Summer Beethoven composed his Seventh and Eighth symphonies during a critical period in his life, and concentrated on the latter during the summer of 1812. He found it advisable for health reasons to leave Vienna during the hot summers, which had the added benefit of getting him closer to the nature that he loved so much. In 35

Beethoven composed his 1812 he traveled to spas in Bohemia. Meeting Goethe was Eighth Symphony in 1812. not the only event of biographical interest that summer. It Fritz Scheel led the first was at this time that Beethoven penned his famous letter Philadelphia Orchestra to the “Immortal Beloved.” It reveals a reciprocated love, but performances of Beethoven’s one whose future course was in serious doubt. Beethoven Eighth, in November 1902. probably never sent the letter and nowhere indicated the The work’s last appearance identity of the woman to whom it was written. The mystery on subscription concerts surrounding this legendary relationship has inspired a was in November 2011, with vast scholarly (and pseudo-scholarly) literature, as well as Christoph Eschenbach. novels, plays, and movies. The Philadelphians have Beethoven completed the Eighth Symphony in October recorded the Symphony while in Linz, where he had gone to visit his brother twice: with Eugene Ormandy Johann. His health was poor and one can only speculate in 1961 for CBS, and with at the repercussions of the disappointing termination of his Riccardo Muti in 1987 for EMI. The second movement was relationship with the mystery woman. Despite what appear recorded in 1920 for RCA, to be trying circumstances, this Symphony is one of the with Leopold Stokowski. composer’s most delightful and humorous works. The score calls for pairs A Closer Look The first movement (Allegro vivace of flutes, oboes, clarinets, e con brio) is dominated by a buoyant opening theme, bassoons, horns, and trumpets, from which a related second theme emerges. One timpani, and strings. of Beethoven’s witty touches is that the first and last The Symphony runs measures of the movement are the same—it is the sort approximately 27 minutes in of thing his teacher Haydn might have done, and indeed performance. the older master’s spirit is often evident in this work. The Symphony has no slow movement, in fact, there is no heaviness anywhere in the piece. In the second movement (Allegretto scherzando), Beethoven delights in the recent invention of the “chronometer” (an early version of the metronome) made available to him by his colleague Johann Nepomuk Maelzel, who also fashioned various hearing aids for his use. The incessant ticking of wind instruments sets the pace. Beethoven must have felt it would be unwise to follow the already humorous Allegretto with a scherzo (literally, joke) and therefore reverted to the more Classical minuet and trio (Tempo di menuetto). Yet the amusing touches do not entirely disappear. Just try dancing to this minuet and you may find yourself tripping over the false downbeats. In the finale (Allegro vivace), Beethoven once again seems more intent on playful display than on the weighty issues he explores in his neighboring symphonies. In this extended rondo, he experiments with dynamics, instrumentation, and concludes with a long, spirited coda. —Christopher H. Gibbs 36 The Music Piano Concerto No. 2

The almost supernatural power of the musical virtuoso evokes images of a pact with the devil. More than one 19th-century critic thought Paganini possessed by demonic powers, and around the time Liszt turned 20 he witnessed the great Italian violinist dazzle audiences in Paris with his technical prowess. What the young Liszt heard—and saw—inspired not only his own new piano compositions, which broke ground in “transcendental” technique, but also provided a concrete model of what a solo virtuoso could do with his career. It did not take long Franz Liszt before critics dubbed Liszt the “Paganini of the Piano” and Born in Raiding likewise invoked allusions to demonic powers. (Doborján), Hungary, October 22, 1811 For 10 years, beginning in 1838, Liszt led what was Died in Bayreuth, July 31, essentially the 19th-century version of the life of a 1886 touring rock star. (Ken Russell’s 1975 movie Lisztomania shrewdly cast the Who’s Roger Daltrey in the title role.) He published mainly solo piano works and enjoyed a brilliant social life hobnobbing with Europe’s artistic, cultural, and political elite. But by the late 1840s, Liszt decided to settle down and prove himself as a composer by writing more substantial pieces. He took the leading musical position in Weimar, which, although something of a backwater, had historically been the city of Goethe and Schiller. Liszt turned primarily to writing orchestral, and later still, religious music. Abandoning the devilish life of the performer, he took minor religious vows in 1865 and became the Abbé Liszt. Piano with Orchestra Liszt’s responsibilities in Weimar as conductor of the orchestra made continual demands for fresh orchestral music and this may have prompted him to look back to sketches for various earlier works featuring piano and orchestra. Although numerous compositions are lost or were never finished, Liszt wrote some 17 such pieces for piano and orchestra. Some are original works, such as two numbered concertos, while others are based on pre-existing music, including a fantasy on themes from Berlioz’s Lélio, another one drawn from Beethoven’s Ruins of Athens, a Polonaise brillante based on a theme by Carl Maria von Weber, and the best known: Totentanz, a set of variations on the medieval chant “Dies irae” (Day of Wrath). 37

Liszt composed his Second Some of these works date back to the mid-1830s, Piano Concerto from 1839 to although most assumed their final form only in the 1861. later Weimar years. Sketches for the A-major Concerto Richard Buhlig was the we hear today also date back to that time, and this pianist in the first Philadelphia Concerto likewise went through many revisions before Orchestra performances of the its publication in the early 1860s. Liszt conducted the Concerto, in January 1908, premiere in Weimar in January 1857 with the dedicatee— with Carl Pohlig conducting. the composer’s young pupil Hans von Bronsart—as soloist. The work’s most recent appearance on subscription A Closer Look Central to Liszt’s revolutionary concept concerts was in March 2010, of “cyclic” music is the transformation or metamorphosis with Jean-Frédéric Neuburger of a single theme, so that throughout a piece it gradually as pianist and Osmo Vänskä evolves into something completely new, shedding layers on the podium. of “musical skin” each time it emerges in a fresh form. Elements of this technique are found throughout Western The Philadelphia Orchestra has recorded Liszt’s Second music—from the motto Mass of the Renaissance to Concerto twice: in 1959 for symphonies of Haydn that bring thematic elements of CBS with Philippe Entremont the first movement into later movements. But Liszt’s and Eugene Ormandy, and immediate models are to be found in the music of in 1970 for RCA with Van Beethoven and Schubert. The latter’s “Wanderer” Fantasy Cliburn and Ormandy. for piano—a long piece based on a single theme—made such a deep impression that Liszt fashioned his own The work is scored for an orchestra of three flutes (III arrangement of it for piano and orchestra. In many of doubling piccolo), two oboes, his works for piano and orchestra Liszt was clearly two clarinets, two bassoons, experimenting with form, trying to write something more two horns, two trumpets, three substantial than just a virtuoso showpiece. The title trombones, tuba, timpani, “Concerto symphonique” on a manuscript of the A-major percussion (cymbals), and Concerto gives an indication of his ambition. strings, in addition to the solo piano. The Second Piano Concerto is cast in several fluidly interwoven sections of contrasting character that are Performance time is played in a continuous gesture. The work’s two main approximately 22 minutes. themes, which are obliquely related, are both heard early on. The principal theme appears at the outset, in the first clarinet, accompanied by clarinet, flutes, and bassoons (Adagio sostenuto assai); a pianistic elaboration and cadenza follow. The second theme emerges from the latter cadenza (L’istesso tempo). Tension then builds to a scherzo-like Un poco più mosso, with strings in unison sounding a resolute transformation of the second theme; in the subsequent Allegro moderato, the strings present a new version of the latter, and usher in a florid piano elaboration. The potency of the following march (Marziale, un poco meno allegro), which borders on bombast, is necessary in order to re-establish, with unmitigated assertiveness, the pre-eminence of the first theme. The work concludes with a dashing and gloriously pianistic transfiguration of the main theme in all of its guises. —Paul J. Horsley/Christopher H. Gibbs 38 The Music The Pines of Rome

Artists who define themselves and their art primarily in terms of a single city—such as Dickens for London, Pissarro for Paris, Brunelleschi for Florence, or Woody Allen for New York—find that, rather than limiting their artistic palette, their choice broadens their creativity, simultaneously revealing subtle new things about the city to the rest of us. Ottorino Respighi was as passionate about Rome as any artist could be. After studies with Giuseppe Martucci in Bologna and Nikolai Rimsky- Korsakov in St. Petersburg, Respighi settled in Rome in Ottorino Respighi 1913, the city where he would spend the rest of his career. Born in Bologna, July 9, 1879 Impressions of Rome It is no surprise that three of Died in Rome, April 18, this musical colorist’s most popular orchestral scores are 1936 impressions of various aspects of the city he loved: The Fountains of Rome of 1916 paints images of fountains, The Pines of Rome (1924) explores the city’s pine groves, and Roman Festivals (1929) describes four of the city’s festivals. Influenced by the orchestral music of Strauss, Debussy, Ravel, and Rimsky-Korsakov, Respighi took their differing ideals of sound and color and forged them into a personal and unabashedly extroverted instrumental style. Each of his “Roman” suites exploits the full resources of a large orchestra, and all three remain popular concert favorites worldwide. The Pines of Rome employs a spectacularly rich orchestra, including an imitation of the Roman army trumpet (called a buccina) and a recording of a nightingale’s song. The latter might appear tame for today’s audience, but it must have seemed a daring bit of musique concrète (as such effects were later called) to those present at the work’s premiere in Rome in December 1924. The piece gained currency after it became a favorite of a number of prominent conductors, especially Arturo Toscanini, who performed its United States premiere in 1926 with the New York Philharmonic. A Closer Look The four sections of the piece are performed without pause. The composer’s detailed statements on each piece were published in the first edition of the work: “The Pine Trees of the Villa Borghese. Children are at play in the pine groves of Villa Borghese; they 39

The Pines of Rome was dance round in circles, they play at soldiers, marching composed in 1924. and fighting, they are wrought up by their own cries Respighi himself conducted like swallows at evening, they come and go in swarms. the first Philadelphia Orchestra Suddenly the scene changes, and … performances of the piece, in “Pine Trees near a Catacomb. … we see the shades January 1926, the day after of the pine trees fringing the entrance to a catacomb. the United States premiere From the depth rises the sound of mournful psalm- in New York. The last time the Orchestra performed The singing, floating through the air like a solemn hymn, and Pines of Rome on subscription gradually and mysteriously dispersing. was in November 2011, led by “The Pine Trees of the Janiculum. A quiver runs Yannick Nézet-Séguin. through the air: the pine trees of the Janiculum stand The work has been recorded by distinctly outlined in the clear light of a full moon. A the Orchestra four times: with nightingale is singing. Eugene Ormandy in 1946 and “The Pine Trees of the Appian Way. Misty dawn on 1968 for CBS and in 1973 for RCA, and with Riccardo Muti the Appian Way: solitary pine trees guarding the magic in 1984 for EMI. It can also landscape; the muffled, ceaseless rhythm of unending be found in The Philadelphia footsteps. The poet has a fantastic vision of bygone Orchestra: The Centennial glories: trumpets sound and, in the brilliance of the newly Collection (Historic Broadcasts risen sun, a consular army bursts forth towards the and Recordings from 1917- Sacred Way, mounting in triumph to the Capitol.” 1998), in a performance led by Muti from 1998. —Paul J. Horsley Respighi scored the work for three flutes (III doubling piccolo), two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (bass drum, cog rattle, cymbals, orchestra bells, tam-tam, tambourine, triangle, two small cymbals), six offstage “Roman trumpets” (buccine, which attempt to imitate a historic army instrument—performed here on four trumpets and two trombones), recorded sounds of a nightingale, harp, piano, celesta, organ, and strings. Pines runs approximately 22 minutes in performance.

GENERAL TERMS of publication rather than by a coda. The exposition Cadence: The conclusion composition. is the introduction of to a phrase, movement, Polonaise: A Polish the musical ideas, which or piece based on a national dance in moderate are then “developed.” In recognizable melodic triple meter the recapitulation, the formula, harmonic Recapitulation: See exposition is repeated with progression, or dissonance sonata form modifications. resolution Rondo: A form frequently Trio: See scherzo Cadenza: A passage or used in symphonies and THE SPEED OF MUSIC section in a style of brilliant concertos for the final (Tempo) improvisation, usually movement. It consists Adagio: Leisurely, slow inserted near the end of a of a main section that Agitato: Excited movement or composition alternates with a variety of Allegretto: A tempo Chord: The simultaneous contrasting sections (A-B- between walking speed sounding of three or more A-C-A etc.). and fast tones Scherzo: Literally “a Allegro: Bright, fast Coda: A concluding joke.” Usually the third Animato: Lively, animated section or passage added movement of symphonies Con brio: Vigorously, with in order to confirm the and quartets that was fire impression of finality introduced by Beethoven Deciso: Bold, forceful Dissonance: A to replace the minuet. The Marziale: Martial, military combination of two or more scherzo is followed by a Moderato: A moderate tones requiring resolution gentler section called a trio, tempo, neither fast nor Minuet: A dance in triple after which the scherzo is slow time commonly used up to repeated. Its characteristics Più mosso: Faster the beginning of the 19th are a rapid tempo in triple Presto: Very fast century as the lightest time, vigorous rhythm, and Scherzando: Playfully movement of a symphony humorous contrasts. Sostenuto: Sustained Op.: Abbreviation for opus, Sonata form: The form in Tempo di menuetto: a term used to indicate which the first movements Tempo of a minuet the chronological position (and sometimes others) Vivace: Lively of a composition within a of symphonies are usually composer’s output. Opus cast. The sections are TEMPO MODIFIERS numbers are not always exposition, development, Assai: Much reliable because they are and recapitulation, the Meno: Less often applied in the order last sometimes followed Un poco: A little 41 October/November The Philadelphia Orchestra

Pete Checchia Yannick has created a week-long celebration bringing together three diverse composers and presenting their music in unique combinations for each concert. Solo works for three of our principal players crafted by the leading composers of today will be premiered. Plus Yannick and The Philadelphia Orchestra perform a Rachmaninoff masterpiece—the luxuriant Symphonic Dances. Philadelphia Commissions Thursday, October 31 8 PM Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor Elizabeth Hainen Harp Jeffrey Khaner Flute Bernstein Overture to Candide Tan Dun Nu Shu: The Secret Songs of Women, Symphony for 13 Micro Films, Harp, and Orchestra (U.S. premiere) Behzad Ranjbaran Flute Concerto (world premiere) Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances Friday, November 1 2 PM Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor Elizabeth Hainen Harp Daniel Matsukawa Bassoon Bernstein Overture to Candide Tan Dun Nu Shu: The Secret Songs of Women, Symphony for 13 Micro Films, Harp, and Orchestra David Ludwig Pictures from the Floating World, for bassoon and orchestra (world premiere) Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances Saturday, November 2 8 PM Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor Jeffrey Khaner Flute Daniel Matsukawa Bassoon Bernstein Overture to Candide Behzad Ranjbaran Flute Concerto David Ludwig Pictures from the Floating World, for bassoon and orchestra Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances 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.