CAL PERFORMANCES PRESENTS PROGRAM A NOTES

Friday, October 14, 2011, 8pm Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893) fatalistic mockery of the enthusiasm with which Zellerbach Hall Symphony No. 1 in G minor, Op. 13, it was begun, this G minor Symphony was to “Winter Dreams” cause Tchaikovsky more emotional turmoil and physical suffering than any other piece he Composed in 1866; revised in 1874. Premiere of ever wrote. Mariinsky Orchestra complete Symphony on February 15, 1868, in On April 5, 1866, only days after he had be- Valery Gergiev, Music Director & Conductor Moscow, conducted by Nikolai Rubinstein; the sec- gun sketching the new work, Tchaikovsky dis- ond and third movements had been heard earlier. covered a harsh review in a St. Petersburg news- paper by César Cui of his graduation cantata, PROGRAM A In 1859, Anton Rubinstein established the which he had audaciously based on the same Russian Musical Society in St. Petersburg; a year Ode to Joy text by Schiller that Beethoven had later his brother Nikolai opened the Society’s set in his Ninth Symphony. “When I read this Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893) Symphony No. 1 in G minor, Op. 13, branch in Moscow, and classes were begun al- terrible judgment,” he later told his friend Alina “Winter Dreams” (1866; rev. 1874) most immediately in both cities. St. Petersburg Bryullova, “I hardly know what happened to was first to receive an imperial charter to open me.... I spent the entire day wandering aimlessly Reveries of a Winter Journey: Allegro tranquillo a conservatory and offer a formal curriculum of about the town repeating to myself, ‘I am sterile, Land of Desolation, Land of Mists: instruction, and Tchaikovsky, who had quit his I am a nonentity, nothing will ever come of me, Adagio cantabile ma non tanto job as a clerk in the Ministry of Justice to devote I have no talent.’” In defiance of his tottering Scherzo: Allegro scherzando giocoso himself to music, was in the inaugural class of self-confidence, he pressed on doggedly with the Finale: Andante lugubre — Allegro maestoso students when the school was officially opened new symphony. On April 25th he wrote to his in 1862. In January 1866, he completed his stud- brother Anatoli, “I have been sleeping very bad- ies in theory and composition, and Anton rec- ly lately. My ‘apoplectic strokes’ have returned INTERMISSION ommended his promising student to his brother stronger than ever.... My nerves are in an aw- as a teacher for the classes in Moscow. ful state because: 1) my symphony is not going Tchaikovsky was greeted upon his arrival at well; 2) Rubinstein and [the composer’s friend] Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74, the train station in Moscow like an old friend Tarnovsky, who have noticed that I am easily “Pathétique” (1893) by Nikolai Rubinstein, who immediately took frightened, try everything they can to scare me the young musician under his wing, lending in all sorts of ways; 3) the ever-present thought Adagio — Allegro non troppo him clothes (including a frock coat left behind that I am going to die soon and will not have Allegro con grazia by Wieniawski on a recent visit), introducing time to finish my symphony.” His misery was Allegro molto vivace him to his wide circle of acquaintances, offer- relieved somewhat when he received news that Finale: Adagio lamentoso ing him a room in his home, and lavishing upon Anton Rubinstein had conducted the recently him every hospitality (including taking him revised Overture in F major in St. Petersburg on along on his nightly pub-crawls, during which May 13th to considerable acclaim. Program subject to change. mentor and protégé impressed each other with Tchaikovsky originally planned to spend the their capacity for alcohol.) Nikolai encouraged summer of 1866 with his family at Kamenka Tchaikovsky to supplement his teaching du- in Ukraine, but he instead chose to accept an White Nights Foundation of America is the Mariinsky Orchestra’s North American sponsor. ties by composing, and the first project he sug- invitation from the sisters Vera and Elizabeth gested was a revision for full orchestra of the Davidova and their mother to join them at VTB Bank, Sberbank, Yoko Ceschina and Gazprom are the Overture in F major for small ensemble he had Myatlev, not far from the famed Peterhof Palace Principal Partners of the Mariinsky Theatre. written at the end of the preceding year and near St. Petersburg, because, he explained, his conducted on a student concert shortly before straitened financial situation would not allow the leaving St. Petersburg. The success of the revised longer trip and he was frightened by the reports This performance is made possible, in part, by Patron Sponsors Kathryn and Scott Mercer, version when Nikolai conducted it in Moscow that weather had made the road to Kamenka and Annette Campbell-White and Ruediger Naumann-Etienne. on March 4th (the first public performance of impassable. Actually, he may have been trying one of Tchaikovsky’s compositions) was such to rouse his passion for Vera in one of his first Cal Performances’ 2011–2012 season is sponsored by Wells Fargo. that the young composer was motivated to be- attempts to deny his homosexuality to himself gin a symphony that same month. Almost as a and to the world. The visit seems to have started

16 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 17 PROGRAM A NOTES PROGRAM A NOTES out well at the end of May, when Tchaikovsky festivities surrounding the upcoming marriage of the earlier themes with boisterous, newly musicians and public, and his frustration was played piano duet versions of Mendelssohn’s of the Tsarevich to his Scandinavian bride. The invented figuration. The recapitulation returns multiplied when discussion of the work was “Italian” Symphony and Schumann’s orchestral G minor Symphony was finally finished in late the materials of the beginning before ending avoided by the guests at a dinner party follow- works with Vera, took long, solitary walks, and November 1866. Despite incorporating the with a hushed recall of the opening measures. A ing the concert. Three days later, however, his made enough progress on the new symphony to changes ordered by his St. Petersburg teachers, chorale-like passage for strings opens and closes mood seemed brighter and he told a friend that report to his sister Alexandra that he had begun they accepted only the second and third move- the second movement. Within this frame are set he was not yet ready to be snatched off by death, its orchestration on June 6th. But his mental ments for performance. The movements were two folkish melodies: the first, a plaintive tune “that snubbed-nose horror. I feel that I shall live state soon degraded to an alarming degree from applauded when Nikolai Rubinstein conducted intoned by the oboe, hints at the Volga Boatmen; a long time.” He was wrong. The evidence of the the frustration with his new work, perhaps ag- them on February 11, 1867, though the Scherzo the other is a more flowing strain given by manner of his death is not conclusive, but what gravated by his conflicting sexual feelings. In his had been less successful when it had been given a flutes and violas. The nimbleScherzo , indebted is certain is the overwhelming grief and sense biography of his brother, Modeste Tchaikovsky trial at a concert in Moscow on December 10th. to Mendelssohn for its effervescent writing, is of loss felt by music lovers in Russia and abroad recalled that Peter’s troubles were “most prob- Tchaikovsky continued to revise the work, which based on a movement from Tchaikovsky’s Piano as the news of his passing spread. Memorial ably due to the fact that he wrote this symphony was finally performed in its complete form by Sonata in C-sharp minor of 1865; the lovely cen- concerts were planned. One of the first was in not only during the day but also at night. He Nikolai in Moscow on February 15, 1868 “with tral trio is the first of Tchaikovsky’s great waltzes St. Petersburg on November 18th, only twelve referred in his letters to ‘throbbings in the head’ great success,” reported the composer to his for orchestra. The finale, a gloriously noisy dis- days after he died. Eduard Napravnik conduct- and insomnia as a result of working at night. brother Anatoli. More changes were made to the play of orchestral color and rhythmic energy, ed the Sixth Symphony on that occasion, and it Despite his application and enthusiasm, the score after its premiere, especially in tightening begins with a slow introduction (“lugubrious,” was a resounding success. The “Pathétique” was work progressed slowly, and the further he got the structure of the first movement, before it was notes the score) during which the violins present wafted by the winds of sorrow across the musi- with the symphony, the more his nerves became published early in 1875 by Jurgenson. This is the the Russian folk song The Gardens Bloomed. A cal world, and became—and remains—one of affected. His sleep was ruined by the unaccus- form in which the Symphony is known today. vivacious main theme in fast tempo is presented the most popular symphonies ever written, the tomed labor, and sleepless nights paralyzed his Tchaikovsky had a lifelong affection for this by the full orchestra before the folk song returns quintessential expression of tragedy in music. energy and ability to compose. At the end of Symphony that was the product of such tra- to serve as the second theme. Twice the tempo In examining the Sixth Symphony, wheth- July, all this came to a head in fits brought on by vail. He wrote to a friend on October 17, 1883, is increased in the closing pages to close the er as performer or listener, care must be taken terrible nervous disorders such as he never again “Despite its glaring deficiencies I have a soft spot Symphony amid brilliant whirling vitality and not to allow pathos to descend into bathos. It experienced in his life. The doctor who was for it, for it is a sin of my sweet youth.” And a bursting high spirits. is virtually certain that Tchaikovsky was not called in to treat him found that ‘he was on the month later, to Mme. von Meck: “I don’t know anticipating his own death in this work. For verge of madness’ and, during the first few days, if you are acquainted with this work of mine. most of 1893, his health and spirits were good, considered his case almost hopeless. The chief Although it is immature in many respects it Tchaikovsky he was enjoying an international success unprec- and worst symptoms of this illness were halluci- is essentially better and richer in content than Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74, edented for a Russian composer, and work on nations, a terrifying sense of dread, and a feeling many other more mature works.” About the “Pathétique” the new Symphony was going well. He wrote to of complete numbness in his extremities.” Rest titles he appended to the Symphony he left no his nephew Vladimir Davidov in February that was prescribed, and Tchaikovsky temporarily such thoughts. The entire work was inscribed Composed in 1893. Premiered on October 28, 1893, he was composing “with such ardor that in less gave up work on the new score. He never com- “Winter Dreams.” The first two movements in St. Petersburg, conducted by the composer. than four days I have completed the first move- posed at night again. were called “Reveries of a Winter Journey” ment, while the remainder is clearly outlined Tchaikovsky was well enough to return to and “Land of Desolation, Land of Mists”; the Tchaikovsky died in 1893, at the age of only 53. in my head.” Tchaikovsky was pleased with the Moscow in August, but he decided to detour closing movements are without subtitles. There His death was long attributed to the accidental finished work. “I give you my word of honor through St. Petersburg to show the unfinished is no specific program apparent in the music, drinking of a glass of unboiled water during a that never in my life have I been so contented, manuscript of the symphony to his composi- and Tchaikovsky may have intended that this cholera outbreak, but that theory has been ques- so proud, so happy, in the knowledge that I have tion teachers, Anton Rubinstein and Nikolai Symphony simply be his contribution to the tioned in recent years with the alternate expla- written a good piece,” he told his publisher, Zaremba, in hopes of having it performed dur- many depictions of the Russian winters that nation that he was forced to take his own life Jurgenson, as soon as he had finished the score ing the coming season of the Russian Musical have always been popular subjects in the coun- because of a homosexual liaison with the under- in August. The somber message of the music Society. Both criticized the score, however, and try’s literature and art. age son of a noble family. Though the manner was, therefore, seems not to have been a reflec- demanded that it be thoroughly revised before The first movement opens as the flute and of Tchaikovsky’s death is incidental to the place tion of the moods and events of Tchaikovsky’s he brought it to them again. Tchaikovsky ar- bassoon present the doleful main theme above of his Sixth Symphony in music history, the fact last months. rived in Moscow in time for the official open- the murmurings of the violins; a complementary of it is not. The music of the “Pathétique” is a distilla- ing of the Conservatory in September, but be- melody, more lyrical in phrasing and brighter in Tchaikovsky conducted his B minor tion of the strong residual strain of melancholy fore he could return to the symphony he had mood, is introduced by the clarinet. The devel- Symphony for the first time only a week be- in Tchaikovsky’s personality rather than a mir- to write an Overture on Danish Themes for the opment section combines motivic elaboration fore his death. It was given a cool reception by ror of his daily feelings and thoughts. Though he

18 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 19 PROGRAM A NOTES PROGRAM A NOTES admitted there was a program for the Symphony, the finale, which maintains its slow tempo he refused to reveal it. “Let him guess it who and mood of despair throughout. Banished can,” he told Vladimir Davidov. A cryptic note completely are the joy and affirmation of the discovered years later among his sketches sug- traditional symphonic finale, here replaced by gests that the first movement was “all impul- a new emotional and structural concept that sive passion; the second, love; the third, disap- opened important expressive possibilities for pointments; the fourth, death—the result of 20th-century composers. Olin Downes dubbed collapse.” It is not clear, however, whether this this movement “a dirge,” and, just as there is no précis applied to the finished version of the certainty about what happens to the soul when work, or was merely a preliminary, perhaps the funeral procession ends, so Tchaikovsky here never even realized, plan. That Tchaikovsky at leaves the question of existence forever hanging, one point considered the title “Tragic” for the unanswered, embodied in the mysterious, dying score gives sufficient indication of its prevailing close of the Symphony. emotional content. Wrote former Boston Symphony Orchestra The title “Pathétique” was suggested to program annotator Philip Hale, “The somber Tchaikovsky by his elder brother, Modeste. In eloquence of the ‘Pathétique,’ its pages of recol- his biography of Peter, Modeste recalled that lected joy fled forever, its wild gaiety quenched they were sitting around a tea table one evening by the thought of the inevitable end, its mighty after the premiere, and the composer was un- lamentations—these are overwhelming and able to settle on an appropriate designation for Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky shake the soul.” the work before sending it to the publisher. The Illustration by Tom Bachtell sobriquet “Pathétique” popped into Modeste’s mind, and Tchaikovsky pounced on it imme- © 2011 Dr. Richard E. Rodda diately: “Splendid, Modi, bravo. ‘Pathétique’ Tchaikovsky referred to the second move- it shall be.” This title has always been applied ment as a scherzo, though its 5/4 meter gives it to the Symphony, though the original Russian more the feeling of a waltz with a limp. This mu- word carries a meaning closer to “passionate” or sic’s rhythmic novelty must have been remark- “emotional” than to the English “pathetic.” able in 1893, and the distinguished Viennese The Symphony opens with a slow introduc- critic Eduard Hanslick even suggested that it tion dominated by the sepulchral intonation of should be changed to 6/8 to avoid annoyance the bassoon, whose melody, in a faster tempo, to performers and listeners. Charles O’Connell, becomes the impetuous first theme of the exposi- however, saw the irregular meter as essential to tion. Additional instruments are drawn into the the movement’s effect, “as if its gaiety were con- symphonic argument until the brasses arrive to stantly under constraint; directed, not by care- crown the movement’s first climax. The tension less joy, but by a determination to be joyful.” subsides into silence before the yearning second The third movement is a boisterous march theme appears, “like a recollection of happi- whose brilliant surface may conceal a deep- ness in time of pain,” according to American er meaning. Tchaikovsky’s biographer John musicologist Edward Downes. The tempestu- Warrack wrote, “On the face of it, this is a ous development section, intricate, brilliant and sprightly march; yet it is barren, constructed out the most masterful thematic manipulation in of bleak intervals, and for all the merriness of Tchaikovsky’s output, is launched by a mighty its manner, essentially empty, with a coldness at blast from the full orchestra. The recapitulation its heart.” is more condensed, vibrantly scored and intense The tragedy of the finale is apparent imme- in emotion than the exposition. The major to- diately at the outset in its somber contrast to the nality achieved with the second theme is main- whirling explosion of sound that ends the third tained until the hymnal end of the movement. movement. A profound emptiness pervades

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Saturday, October 15, 2011, 8pm Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893) though critical of their lack of professional- Zellerbach Hall Symphony No. 2 in C minor, Op. 17, ism, always respected the raw talent of the little “Little Russian” group of nationalists, and he even agreed with their ideal of fostering a distinctly Russian mu- Composed in 1872–1873; revised in 1879–1880. sic. Like them, he felt drawn to the native tra- Mariinsky Orchestra Premiered on February 7, 1873, in Moscow, con- ditions of his homeland, and once wrote to his Valery Gergiev, Music Director & Conductor ducted by Nicholas Rubinstein. benefactress, Mme. von Meck, “As regards the Russian element in general in my music (i.e., the Looking back through the mists of well over a instances of melody and harmony originating in PROGRAM B century to the last decades of Imperial Russia, folksong), I grew up in the backwoods, saturat- it might at first seem that an unwavering una- ing myself from earliest childhood with the in- nimity joined together the music from Glinka explicable beauty of the characteristic traits of Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893) Symphony No. 2 in C minor, Op. 17, “Little through Borodin, Mussorgsky, Rimsky- Russian folksong.” Unlike The Five, however, Russian” (1872–1873) Korsakov and Tchaikovsky to Scriabin and who felt that a free fantasia form could best Rachmaninoff. Upon closer examination of express their ideas, Tchaikovsky believed that Andante sostenuto — Allegro vivo the lives and philosophies of these men, how- the Russian influence should be channeled into Andantino marziale quasi moderato ever, bitter enmities are revealed. The group of traditional, Classical forms. It is therefore not Scherzo: Allegro molto vivace musical nationalists known in the West as “The hard to understand why Tchaikovsky was the Finale: Moderato assai — Allegro vivo Five”—Cui, Borodin, Mussorgsky, Balakirev first Russian composer widely appreciated in the and Rimsky-Korsakov—were all amateur mu- Western world, whose tastes had so long been sicians determined to establish a distinctly dominated by German music. Russian school of composition based on na- Despite their underlying differences, INTERMISSION tive folk and church music, history and lore. In there were at least two significant instances in this, they followed the lead of Mikhail Glinka, Tchaikovsky’s early life when he was musically revered as the father of Russian concert music. drawn to The Five. One was when Balakirev Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64 (1888) They belligerently defended their untutored sta- suggested the topic and even the structure for tus on the basis that their lack of formal train- his 1869 tone poem, Romeo and Juliet. Another Andante — Allegro con anima ing freed them from German musical hegemony was in this Second Symphony. After an exhaust- Andante cantabile, con alcuna licenza and allowed them to penetrate more directly ing year of teaching, composing and writing Allegro moderato into the heart of the Russian ethos. They looked music criticism in Moscow, Tchaikovsky vis- Finale: Andante maestoso — Allegro vivace upon the Russian graduates of the leading con- ited his beloved sister, Alexandra, in Kamenka, servatories almost as traitors to the nationalis- Ukraine, in June 1872. He was refreshed dur- tic cause they espoused, and Tchaikovsky was ing the summer months not only by the time Program subject to change. among their most favored targets. For his part, spent with his family, but also by the chance to the well-trained Tchaikovsky could hardly help return to the country and its people. Among but look down on the rough-hewn music of The the things that he enjoyed most was hearing the White Nights Foundation of America is the Mariinsky Orchestra’s North American sponsor. Five. He once castigated Mussorgsky’s work in peasants sing, and it may have been that rustic a letter to his brother Modeste as “the lowest, music which inspired the Second Symphony, VTB Bank, Sberbank, Yoko Ceschina and Gazprom are the commonest parody of music; it may go to the just as it did many of the works of The Five. Principal Partners of the Mariinsky Theatre. devil for all I care.” It was Tchaikovsky’s use in this Symphony Still, there was inevitably frequent contact of three folk tunes that he may have heard in between these two factions, and eventually a lais- Kamenka that caused the work to be nicknamed sez-faire understanding was achieved. Rimsky “Little Russian” by the critic Nicholas Kashkin This performance is made possible, in part, by Patron Sponsors Kathryn and Scott Mercer, decided to forsake the ranks of the uneducated, in 1896. The diminutive referred not to any and Annette Campbell-White and Ruediger Naumann-Etienne. and he taught himself the techniques of music characteristic of the work but rather to the well enough to eventually become Russia’s most Ukrainian region from which Tchaikovsky Cal Performances’ 2011–2012 season is sponsored by Wells Fargo. respected pedagogue, numbering Stravinsky borrowed his themes, known in Tsarist days as and Respighi among his students. Tchaikovsky, “Little Russia.”

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After beginning the Symphony in Kamenka, development section these two melodies are music grew.”) As a foil to the movement’s pro- worked doggedly on the symphony, ignoring Tchaikovsky continued work on it in Ussovo intertwined with the folk tune from the intro- pulsive rhythmic energy, Tchaikovsky added a illness, the premature encroachment of old age and Moscow, completing much of the orchestra- duction, a structural device Tchaikovsky had lyrical melody, first heard in the violins and then (he was only 48, but suffered from continual ex- tion by November. In January he journeyed to first employed in Romeo and Juliet to join the repeated by the flutes. Joyous festivity, however, haustion and loss of vision), and his troubling St. Petersburg for a meeting with the manage- introduction more closely with the rest of the is at the heart of this music, and it is not kept self-doubts, and when it was completed, by the ment of the Imperial Opera about tentative plans work. A massive climax ends the development long at bay by tender sentiment. The finale gath- end of August, he allowed, “I have not blun- to produce his opera The Oprichnik, and took and leads into the recapitulation of the stormy ers momentum as it goes, becoming a swirling, dered; it has turned out well.” along the manuscript for his new Symphony, the main theme and the yearning complementary fiery Cossack dance driven by one of the most Tchaikovsky’s satisfaction was soon miti- finale of which he played for Rimsky-Korsakov melody, this latter here sung by the oboe. The athletic displays of rhythmic electricity to be gated, however, by the work’s premiere in St. and his family. “The whole company nearly closing pages bring the movement around full found in Tchaikovsky’s (or anyone else’s) music. Petersburg on November 17, 1888. Though the tore me to pieces in rapture,” he reported, “and circle, with a quiet reminder of Down by Mother Fifth Symphony was applauded by the public, Mme. Korsakov, with tears in her eyes, asked if Volga from horn and bassoon. he felt that it was a failure, that the ovation was she might arrange it for piano duet.” A similar The second movement was taken whole from Tchaikovsky for his earlier pieces rather than for this new success greeted the work at its premiere, and it Undine, Tchaikovsky’s unsuccessful opera of Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64 one, and that the whole affair was cause for “a was immediately scheduled for another perfor- 1869. Having failed to secure its performance, deep dissatisfaction with myself.” Modeste was mance, at which the composer was called to the the composer destroyed the score of the work Composed in 1888. Premiered on November 17, convinced that any negative reaction to the stage after every movement and, at the close of except for this excerpt and a few other frag- 1888, in St. Petersburg, conducted by the composer. Fifth Symphony—and the critics had some— the concert, presented with a silver goblet and ments. In the opera, this music was used as a could be traced to an inadequate performance, laurel wreath. Despite the acclaim achieved by wedding march, though one considerably more Tchaikovsky was never able to maintain his but Tchaikovsky could not be persuaded of the this Symphony, however, Tchaikovsky eschewed subdued in character than the similar pieces by self-confidence for long, and his opinion of a work’s value until a performance in Hamburg membership in The Five, and he soon returned Mendelssohn and Wagner, and in the Symphony new work frequently fluctuated between the early in 1889, when musicians, critics and audi- to the traditional, Germanic symphonic forms in it takes the place of the slow movement. The extremes of satisfaction and denigration. The ence alike received it enthusiastically. Even the which he cast the masterpieces of his later years. center of this three-part movement (A–B–A) is a unjustly neglected Manfred Symphony of 1885, venerable Johannes Brahms, who was not strong- Tchaikovsky worked so furiously on this treatment of Spin, My Spinner—one of the Fifty for example, left his pen as “the best I have ever ly drawn to the music of his Russian colleague, Symphony during the autumn of 1872 that he Russian Folksongs that Tchaikovsky arranged for written,” but the work failed to make a good made a special effort to attend the performance apologized in a letter of November 14th to his publication in 1868–1869—begun by the clari- impression at its premiere, and Tchaikovsky’s on a visit to his hometown. Tchaikovsky was brother Modeste for not writing more regularly. net accompanied by icy, octave figurations in estimation of it tumbled. The lack of success of buoyed by his reception in Hamburg, and his About the new composition he added, “It seems the flutes. The third movement is a quicksilver Manfred was particularly painful because he had estimation of the Fifth Symphony (and of him- to me to be my best work, at least as regards Scherzo, much indebted to the music of Borodin not produced a major orchestral work since the self) shot up once again. The work has remained correctness of form.” By 1879, however, he had and Rimsky-Korsakov, whose central trio shifts Violin Concerto of 1878, and the score’s failure among the staples of the concert repertory. decided that the Symphony was flawed, and rhythmic gears into a jaunty duple meter. left him with the gnawing worry that he might Tchaikovsky never gave any indication he undertook its extensive revision, completely “Magnificent” was the rare complimentary be “written out.” The three years after Manfred that the Symphony No. 5, unlike the Fourth rewriting the opening movement, radically re- word the finale brought from César Cui, the were devoid of creative work. Symphony, had a program, though he may well vising the Scherzo, and making a large cut in least-known member of The Five and one of It was not until May 1888 that Tchaikovsky have had one in mind. Years after its composi- the finale. It is the revised version that is usually Tchaikovsky’s bitterest musical enemies. The again took up the challenge of the blank page. tion, some rough sketches that apparently refer performed today. The first movement is prefaced movement, a dazzling display of orchestral color On May 27th he wrote to his brother Modeste, to the Symphony No. 5 were discovered in his by a slow introduction based on a variant of the and rhythmic exuberance, is a set of variations “To speak frankly, I feel as yet no impulse for notebooks: “Introduction. Complete resignation traditional Russian song Down by Mother Volga. on the Ukrainian tune The Crane. A slow in- creative work. What does this mean? Have I before Fate, or, which is the same, before the in- The plaintive theme is first intoned by the solo troduction for full orchestra presents the basic written myself out? No ideas, no inclination! scrutable predestination of Providence. Allegro horn before it is given a lengthy consideration by shape of the melody before the variations are Still, I am hoping to collect, little by little, mate- (1) Murmurs, doubts, plaints against XXX. (2) the rest of the orchestra. The movement’s sonata begun by the strings. The tiny tune is presented rial for a symphony.” Though he was unusually Shall I throw myself into the embrace of faith???” form begins with a quickening of the tempo and over and over, each time appearing in a differ- secretive about the progress of this new piece, The “XXX” probably referred to Tchaikovsky’s the presentation of the main theme, a vigorous, ent orchestral vestment so that the variations he must have begun it as soon as this letter was homosexuality, the only matter he concealed be- stormy strain with a grand, balletic sweep. The are based as much on changing tone color as on written, since the sketch of the complete score hind secret signs in his notes and diary. If that is secondary theme is presented almost immedi- melodic manipulation. (Tchaikovsky admitted was finished just six weeks later. “I am exceed- so, the Fifth Symphony represents Tchaikovsky’s ately. Introduced by the clarinet, its lyricism, deriving this technique from Glinka’s influential ingly anxious to prove to myself, as to others,” he resignation to his fate in the way he could best gentleness and yearning make a strong con- orchestral miniature Kamarinskaya, which he wrote to his benefactress, Nazedha von Meck, command—music. The workings of fate were trast with the preceding theme. In the energetic called “the acorn from which the oak of Russian “that I am not played out as a composer.” He an obsessive theme with him, and the program

24 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 25 PROGRAM B NOTES CAL PERFORMANCES PRESENTS of the earlier Fourth Symphony portrays man’s in the recapitulation, and the themes from the Sunday, October 16, 2011, 3pm happiness crushed by that intractable power at exposition are heard again, though with changes Zellerbach Hall every turn. In their biography of the compos- of key and instrumentation. After a final climax er, Lawrence and Elisabeth Hanson reckoned in the coda, the movement fades, softer and Tchaikovsky’s view of fate as the motivating slower, and sinks, finally, into the lowest reaches force in the Symphony No. 5, though they dis- of the orchestra. Mariinsky Orchestra tinguished its interpretation from that in the At the head of the manuscript of the second Valery Gergiev, Music Director & Conductor Fourth Symphony. “In the Fourth Symphony,” movement Tchaikovsky is said to have written, the Hansons wrote, “the Fate theme is earthy “Oh, how I love...if you love me…,” a senti- and militant, as if the composer visualizes the ment that calls to mind an operatic love scene. implacable enemy in the form, say, of a Greek (Tchaikovsky, it should be remembered, was a PROGRAM C god. In the Fifth, the majestic Fate theme has master of the musical stage who composed more been elevated far above earth, and man is seen, operas than he did symphonies.) The expressive- not as fighting a force that thinks on its own ness of the opening theme, hauntingly played Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893) Symphony No. 3 in D major, Op. 29, “Polish” terms, of revenge, hate or spite, but as a wholly by the solo horn, is heightened as the movement (1875) spiritual power which subjects him to checks proceeds through enriched contrapuntal lines and agonies for the betterment of his soul.” and instrumental sonorities. Twice, the imperi- Introduzione e Allegro: Moderato assai (Tempo The structure of the Fifth Symphony reflects ous Fate motto intrudes upon the starlit mood marcia funebre) — Allegro brillante this process of “betterment.” It progresses from of this romanza. Alla Tedesca: Allegro moderato e semplice minor to major, from darkness to light, from If the second movement derives from opera, Andante elegiaco melancholy to joy—or at least to acceptance and the third grows from ballet. A flowing waltz Scherzo: Allegro vivo stoic resignation. It is the same path Beethoven melody (inspired by a street song Tchaikovsky Finale: Allegro con fuoco (Tempo di polacca) blazed in his Fifth Symphony, and the power had heard in Italy a decade earlier) dominates of such a musico-philosophical construction much of the movement. The central trio section was not lost on Tchaikovsky, or on any other exhibits a scurrying figure in the strings which INTERMISSION 19th-century musician. The sense of a perilous shows the influence of Léo Delibes, the French obstacle surmounted through struggle energizes master of ballet music whom Tchaikovsky deep- both works, and is the substance of any “mes- ly admired. Quietly and briefly, the Fate motto Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36 sage” that Tchaikovsky may have embedded in returns in the movement’s closing pages. (1877–1878) this Symphony. The finale begins with a long introduction The Symphony’s four movements are linked based on the Fate theme cast in a heroic rather Andante sostenuto — Moderato con anima together through the use of a recurring “Fate” than a sinister or melancholy mood. A vigor- Andantino in modo di canzona motto theme, given immediately at the begin- ous exposition, a concentrated development and Scherzo: Pizzicato ostinato (Allegro) ning by unison clarinets as the brooding in- an intense recapitulation follow. The long coda Finale: Allegro con fuoco troduction to the first movement. The sonata uses the motto theme in a major-key, victory- form proper starts with a melancholy melody won setting. This stirring work ends with a fi- Program subject to change. intoned by bassoon and clarinet over a stark nal statement from the trumpets and horns, and string accompaniment. The woodwinds enter closing chords from the full orchestra. White Nights Foundation of America is the Mariinsky Orchestra’s North American sponsor. with wave-form scale patterns followed by a stentorian passage for the brass that leads to a © 2011 Dr. Richard E. Rodda VTB Bank, Sberbank, Yoko Ceschina and Gazprom are the climax. Several themes are presented to round Principal Partners of the Mariinsky Theatre. out the exposition: a romantic tune, filled with emotional swells, for the strings; an aggressive strain given as a dialogue between winds and This performance is made possible, in part, by Patron Sponsors Kathryn and Scott Mercer, strings; and a languorous, sighing string melody. and Annette Campbell-White and Ruediger Naumann-Etienne. Again, the brasses are brought forth to climax this section. All of the themes are treated in the Cal Performances’ 2011–2012 season is sponsored by Wells Fargo. development section. The solo bassoon ushers

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Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893) was to marry, as a sign to himself and to the premiere of the Third Symphony. Rehearsals was the stylized polonaise used as the finale, Symphony No. 3 in D major, Op. 29, “Polish” world that he was capable of living a convention- began early in November, and the piece was though there is no question that the Symphony al life. “From this day on I will seriously consider first performed on the 19th of the month to a is thoroughly Russian in spirit and thorough- Composed in 1875. Premiered on November 19, entering into matrimony with any woman,” he warm response. Tchaikovsky assessed the event ly Tchaikovskian in manner. The model for 1875, in Moscow, conducted by Nikolai Rubinstein. wrote to Modeste on September 22, 1876. “I am and the music in a letter to Rimsky-Korsakov: this five-movement work may well have been convinced that my inclinations are the greatest “It seems to me the work does not contain any Schumann’s “Rhenish” Symphony, which Tchaikovsky composed his Third Symphony and insuperable barrier to my well-being, and I very happy ideas, but, as regards form, it is a step Tchaikovsky held in high esteem. Instead of in the astonishingly short period of only eight must by all means struggle against my nature.” forward. I am best pleased with the first move- adding a slow movement to the traditional four- weeks during the summer of 1875—astonishing He finally did marry, in 1877—to one of his ment, and also with the two scherzos, the sec- movement structure, as Schumann had done not just because of the speed with which such a students—and it was a disaster. His marital ca- ond of which is very difficult, consequently not to depict a grand ceremony in the Cologne large work was written, but also because it was tastrophe did serve, however, to exorcise at least nearly so well played as it might have been if we Cathedral, however, Tchaikovsky inserted a composed immediately after one of the worst ep- some of his personal devils, and he became more could have had more rehearsals.... On the whole, waltz before the slow movement. isodes of depression and self-deprecation that he contented with himself thereafter. however, I was satisfied with the performance.” The Symphony opens with a doleful in- ever experienced. On the preceding Christmas Tchaikovsky’s gloom of the winter of 1875 When the work was played in St. Petersburg troduction based on a fragmented idea passed Eve, he had taken his new B-flat minor Piano lifted when the weather improved. He reported early in 1876, Tchaikovsky reported to Modeste, between the strings and the horns. The sonata Concerto to Nikolai Rubinstein, director of the to Anatoli on March 21st, “Now, with the ap- “My Symphony went well and had considerable form proper begins with the change to a brighter Moscow Conservatory and his boss, for his eval- proach of spring, these attacks of melancholia success. They called out and applauded me in a key and the presentation of the sweeping main uation. Rubinstein vilified it. Tchaikovsky was have completely stopped, but,” he added pes- very friendly way.” The critic Hermann Laroche theme; the subsidiary theme is a sad, little melo- both enraged and wounded. His always-delicate simistically, “I know that each year—or rather, was unstinting in his praise. “The importance dy intoned by the solo oboe. A buoyant tune ini- nerves gave way, and his doctors advised him each winter—they will return more strongly.” and power of the music,” he wrote, “the beauty tiated by the clarinets closes the exposition. All to travel abroad, forbidding him to compose or His mood was further improved in May, when he and variety of forms, the nobility of style, the three themes are elaborated in the development touch a piano, which counsel he ignored to stay received the commission for Swan Lake from the original and rare perfection of technique, all section. The recapitulation recalls the melodies in in winter-bound Moscow to continue his teach- Imperial Directorate of the Moscow Theaters, a contribute to make this Symphony one of the their original forms before one of Tchaikovsky’s ing duties at the Conservatory. project he longed to undertake since conceiving most remarkable works produced during the last most exciting codas ends the movement. The On January 21, 1875, Tchaikovsky wrote to a passion for the ballet music of Delibes dur- ten years. Were it to be played in any musical second movement, Alla Tedesca (“In the German his brother Anatoli of the underlying cause of ing a trip to France. As soon as classes at the center in Germany, it would raise the name of Manner”), traces its waltz heritage to Glinka’s his malaise: “I am very, very lonely here, and if Conservatory finished in June, he accepted an the Russian musician to a level with those of the Valse-Fantasie, Weber’s Invitation to the Dance it weren’t for my constant work, I should simply invitation to visit the country estate of his friend most famous symphonic composers of the day.” and, ultimately, the Austrian peasant dance, succumb to my melancholia. It’s a fact that XXX Vladimir Shilovsky at Ussovo, where he began Not all agreed with Laroche, however, and the the Ländler. The movement’s central trio is built [his symbol in his correspondence and diaries for the Third Symphony. The sketches were com- composer was soon worried because “the press… on quick, chattering woodwind figures, which his homosexuality] constitutes an unbridgeable pleted by the end of the month, when he moved has been rather cold toward my Symphony. They continue as accompaniment when the waltz chasm between me and the majority of people. to the estate of Nikolai Kondratiev, a classmate are all agreed that it contains nothing new and theme returns. The elegiac Andante takes as its It imparts to my character an aloofness, a fear at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, at Nizi; he that I am beginning to repeat myself. Is this real- principal subject a plangent melody intoned by of people, a timidity, an excessive shyness, a dis- orchestrated the fourth and fifth movements ly so?” he asked Modeste. His fears were allayed the woodwinds; a passionate strain for full or- trustfulness—in a word, a thousand traits which in just five days after his arrival there on July the following summer when he attended the first chestra provides formal and expressive balance. are making me more and more unsociable.” He 10th. His final stop of the summer was at his Bayreuth Festival as a press correspondent, but The Scherzo is indebted to Mendelssohn for its admitted to Modeste, Anatoli’s twin, that he sister Alexandra’s home in Verbovka, where the was received as a distinguished visitor whose mercurial grace and to Tchaikovsky’s own 1872 was so disgusted with his life that he often con- three remaining movements were orchestrated presence incited “one long confusion of hospi- cantata celebrating the 200th anniversary of sidered suicide. He could rouse little enthusiasm in about a week. Tchaikovsky was refreshed at tality,” he marveled. “It appears that I am not the birth of Peter the Great for the theme of its for creative work during those months, compos- Verbovka not just by completing the Symphony so unknown in Western Europe as I thought.” trio. The finaleTempo ( di Polacca) is a majestic ing only the bittersweet Sérénade Mélancolique and having begun Swan Lake, but also by the The sobriquet “Polish” attached to the D ma- polonaise that encompasses episodes based on a for Violin and Orchestra (Op. 26) for Leopold loving attention of his sister, her children and his jor Symphony (the only one of Tchaikovsky’s six broad complementary theme and an imposing Auer and a handful of songs. These latter works, father, so that he was able to return to Moscow symphonies in a major key) did not originate amount of fugal development. as with most of the songs that he wrote, were in the fall stronger both physically and mentally. with the composer, but seems to have first been a musical marking-time, written when he could For the fee of 300 rubles, the Moscow branch appended by Sir August Friedrich Manns when not bring himself to undertake larger projects. of the Russian Musical Society and its director, he conducted the work at a London Crystal The only solution to his problem, he believed, Nikolai Rubinstein, were given the rights to the Palace concert in 1899. Manns’s inspiration

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Tchaikovsky He could not see the situation clearly enough to the Symphony] is the kernel, the chief figures which slip into the imagination Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36 realize that what he hoped for was impossible— thought of the whole Symphony. This when one has taken wine and is slightly a pure, platonic marriage without its physical is Fate, the fatal power that hinders one intoxicated. Suddenly there rushes into Composed 1877–1878. Premiered on February 22, and emotional realities. Further letters from in the pursuit of happiness from gaining the imagination the picture of a drunken 1878, in Moscow, conducted by Nikolai Rubinstein. Antonina implored Tchaikovsky to meet her, the goal, which jealously provides that peasant and a gutter song. Military mu- and threatened suicide out of desperation if he peace and comfort do not prevail, that sic is heard passing in the distance. There The Fourth Symphony was a product of the most refused. What a welter of emotions must have the sky is not free from clouds—a might are disconnected pictures which come crucial and turbulent time of Tchaikovsky’s gripped his heart when, just a few weeks later, he that swings, like the sword of Damocles, and go in the brain of the sleeper. They life—1877, when he met two women who forced proposed marriage to her! Inevitably, the mar- constantly over the head, that poisons have nothing to do with reality; they are him to evaluate himself as he never had before. riage crumbled within days of the wedding amid continuously the soul. This might is unintelligible, bizarre. The first was the sensitive, music-loving widow Tchaikovsky’s searing self-deprecation. overpowering and invincible. There is As to the finale, if you find no plea- of a wealthy Russian railroad baron, Nadezhda It was during May and June that Tchaikovsky nothing to do but to submit and vainly sure in yourself, look about you. Go to von Meck. Mme. von Meck had been enthralled sketched the Fourth Symphony, finishing the complain [the melancholy, syncopated the people. See how they can enjoy life by Tchaikovsky’s music, and she first contacted first three movements before Antonina began shadow-waltz of the main theme, heard and give themselves up entirely to festiv- him at the end of 1876 to commission a work. her siege. The finale was completed by the time in the strings]. The feeling of desperation ity. The picture of a folk holiday. [The fi- She paid him extravagantly, and soon an almost he proposed. Because of this chronology, the and loneliness grows stronger and stron- nale employs the folk song A Birch Stood constant stream of notes and letters passed be- program of the Symphony was not a direct result ger. Would it not be better to turn away in the Meadow, presented simply by the tween them: hers contained money and effusive of his marital disaster. All that—the July wed- from reality and lull one’s self in dreams? woodwinds after the noisy flourish of praise; his, thanks and an increasingly greater ding, the mere eighteen days of bitter conjugal [The second theme is begun by the clari- the opening.] Hardly have we had time revelation of his thoughts and feelings. She farce, the two separations—postdated the actual net, with trailing sighs from the rest of to forget ourselves in the happiness of became not only the financial backer who al- composition of the Symphony by a few months, the woodwinds.] Deeper and deeper the others when indefatigable Fate reminds lowed him to quit his irksome teaching job at though the orchestration took place during soul is sunk in dreams. All that was dark us once more of its presence. The other the Moscow Conservatory to devote himself to the painful time from September to January and joyless is forgotten.... children of men are not concerned with composition, but also the sympathetic sounding- when the composer was seeking respite in a No—these are but dreams: roughly us. How merry and glad they all are. All board for reports on the whole range of his ac- half dozen European cities from St. Petersburg we are awakened by Fate. [The blaring their feelings are so inconsequential, so tivities—emotional, musical, personal. Though to San Remo. What Tchaikovsky found in his brass fanfare over a wave of timpani simple. And do you still say that all the they never met, her place in Tchaikovsky’s life relationship with this woman (who by 1877 al- begins the development section.] Thus world is immersed in sorrow? There still was enormous and beneficial. ready showed signs of approaching the door of we see that life is only an everlasting al- is happiness, simple, naive happiness. The second woman to enter Tchaikovsky’s the mental ward in which, still legally married ternation of somber reality and fugitive Rejoice in the happiness of others—and life in 1877 was Antonina Miliukov, an unno- to him, she died in 1917) was a confirmation dreams of happiness. Something like this you can still live. ticed student in one of his large lecture classes at of his belief in the inexorable workings of Fate is the program of the first movement. There is not a single line in this the Conservatory who had worked herself into a in human destiny. He later wrote to Mme. von The second movement shows anoth- Symphony that I have not felt in my passion over her young professor. Tchaikovsky Meck, “We cannot escape our Fate, and there er phase of sadness. How sad it is that whole being and that has not been a true paid her no special attention, and he had quite was something fatalistic about my meeting with so much has already been and gone! And echo of the soul. forgotten her when he received an ardent love this girl.” The relationships with the two women yet it is a pleasure to think of the early letter professing her flaming and unquenchable of 1877, Mme. von Meck and Antonina, occu- years. One mourns the past and has nei- desire to meet him. Tchaikovsky (age 37), who py important places in the composition of this ther the courage nor the will to begin a © 2011 Dr. Richard E. Rodda should have burned the thing, answered the let- Symphony: one made it possible, the other made new life. One is rather tired of life. One ter of the 28-year-old Antonina in a polite, cool it inevitable, but the vision and its fulfillment would fain rest awhile, recalling happy fashion, but did not include an outright rejec- were Tchaikovsky’s alone. hours when young blood pulsed warm tion of her advances. He had been considering After the premiere, Tchaikovsky wrote through our veins and life brought sat- marriage for almost a year in the hope that it to Mme. von Meck, with great trepida- isfaction. We remember irreparable loss. would give him both the stable home life that he tion, explaining the emotional content of the But these things are far away. It is sad, had not enjoyed in the 20 years since his mother Fourth Symphony: yet sweet, to lose one’s self in the past. died, as well as to help dispel the all-too-true The introduction [blaring brasses There is no determined feeling, no rumors of his homosexuality. He believed he heard immediately in a motto theme exact expression in the third movement. might achieve both these goals with Antonina. that recurs several times throughout Here are capricious arabesques, vague

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MARIINSKY ORCHESTRA

Valery Gergiev, Music Director & Conductor trumpet Sergey Kryuchkov Timur Martynov first violin cello Vitaly Zaytsev Kirill Terentyev, Principal Oleg Sendetskiy, Principal Yury Fokin Alexey Lukirskiy, Principal Zenon Zalitsaylo, Principal Leonid Veksler Nikolay Vasiliev trombone Anton Kozmin Tamara Sakar Andrey Smirnov Elena Berdnikova Oxana Moroz Igor Yakovlev Mikhail Rikhter Ekaterina Larina Alexander Dzhurri Stanislav Izmaylov Sarkis Ginosyan Mikhail Seliverstov Khristian Artamonov Daniil Bryskin Dina Zikeeva Vladimir Yunovich tuba Vsevolod Vasiliev Ekaterina Lebedeva Nikolay Slepnev Anna Glukhova Tatiana Moroz double bass percussion Kirill Murashko Kirill Karikov, Principal Andrey Khotin Elena Luferov Vladimir Shostak, Principal Yury Alekseev Sergey Akopov Arseny Shuplyakov second violin Denis Kashin Mikhail Vedunkin Maria Safarova, Principal Sergey Trafimovich Georgy Shirokov, Principal Yevgeny Mamontov orchestra manager Victoria Shchukina Demyan Gorodnichin Vladimir Ivanov Anastasia Lukirskaya stage hands Andrey Pokatov flute Dmitry Popov A ndrey Tyan Nikolay Mokhov Viktor Belyashin Alexey Krasheninnikov Valentin Cherenkov Svetlana Zhuravkova Ekaterina Rostovskaya nurse Mikhail Zagorodnyuk Mikhail Pobedinskiy Olga Nikolaeva Elena Shirokova Inna Demchenko oboe administration Anna Shoka Alexander Trushkov Irina Rychkova Pavel Kundyanok viola Victor Ukhalin Yury Afonkin, Principal tour direction Vladimir Litvinov, Principal clarinet Columbia Artists Management LLC Lina Golovina Victor Kulyk R. Douglas Sheldon, Senior Vice President Alexander Shelkovnikov Ivan Stolbov Karen Kloster, Tour Coordinator Evgeny Barsov Vitaly Papyrin Darcie Kozlowski, Managerial Assistant Karine Barsegyan Ann Woodruff, Tour Manager Alevtina Alekseeva bassoon Maria Keith, Backstage Manager Andrey Petushkov Igor Gorbunov Renee O’Banks, Hotel Advance Svetlana Sadovaya Rodion Tolmachev Alexey Klyuev Yury Radzevich Maestro! Travel & Touring, Hotels

horn Sintec-Tur, Air and Cargo Stanislav Tses Igor Prokofiev Vladislav Kuznetsov Yury Akimkin Petr Rodin Valery Papyrin

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The Mariinsky Orchestra enjoys a long and Symphonies Nos. 1 and 15, Rachmaninoff distinguished history as one of the oldest musi- Piano Concerto No. 3 and Rhapsody on a cal institutions in Russia. Founded in the 18th Theme of Paganini, Tchaikovsky’s The Year century during the reign of Peter the Great and 1812, Shchedrin’s The Enchanted Wanderer and housed in St. Petersburg’s famed Mariinsky Stravinsky’s Les Noces and Oedipus Rex. Theatre since 1860, the Orchestra entered its Recordings released in 2011 have included “golden age” in the second half of the 19th Shostakovich’s Symphonies Nos. 2 and 11, century under the musical direction of Eduard Wagner Parsifal, Shostakovich’s Symphonies Napravnik, whose leadership for more than a Nos. 3 and 10, Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor half century (1863–1916) secured its reputation and the fall 2011 releases include DVD/Blu-ray as one of the finest in Europe. of Tchaikovsky Symphonies Nos. 4, 5, 6 and Numerous internationally famed musi- Balanchine’s ballet Jewels. cians have conducted the Orchestra, among November 2006 marked the grand opening them Hans von Bülow, Felix Mottl, Felix of the Orchestra’s Mariinsky Theatre Concert Weingartner, Alexander von Zemlinsky, Hall and late 2012 will mark the opening of Otto Nikisch, Willem Mengelberg, Otto Mariinsky III, a new theater placed alongside Klemperer, Bruno Walter, Erich Kleiber, Hector the historic and fabled Mariinsky Theatre. Berlioz, Richard Wagner, Gustav Mahler and Arnold Schoenberg. Valery Gergiev’s inspired leadership as Artistic Renamed the “Kirov” during the Soviet era, and General Director of the Mariinsky Theatre the Orchestra continued to maintain its high ar- since 1988 has taken Mariinsky ensembles to tistic standards under the leadership of Yevgeny 45 countries and has brought universal ac- Ladefoged/VIIIJoachim Mravinsky and Yuri Temirkanov. The leadership claim to this legendary institution, now in its of Valery Gergiev has enabled the Theatre to 229th season. No. 3 and Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and forge important relationships for the Mariinsky At home in St. Petersburg, his leadership Stravinsky’s Les Noces and Oedipus Rex. The la- Ballet and Opera to appear in the world’s great- has resulted in the new and superb Mariinsky bel’s first two recordings received five Grammy est opera houses and theaters, among them Concert Hall, which opened in November Award nominations. In fall 2010, the Mariinsky the Metropolitan Opera, the Kennedy Center, 2006, and the Mariinsky Label, which was Label released Wagner’s Parsifal and DVDs of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, San launched in 2009. The new Mariinsky Theatre Tchaikovsky’s Symphonies Nos. 4, 5 and 6. Francisco Opera, the Théâtre du Châtelet is scheduled to open in 2012 and immediately Maestro Gergiev is the recipient of a in Paris, the Salzburg Festival, and La Scala after the original and classic Mariinsky Theatre Grammy Award, the Dmitri Shostakovich in Milan. (currently celebrating its 150th anniversary) will Award, the Golden Mask Award, People’s Artist The success of the Orchestra’s frequent tours be renovated to bring its staging facilities to of Russia Award, the World Economic Forum’s has created the reputation of what one journalist 21st-century standards. Crystal Award, Sweden’s Polar Music Prize, referred to as “the world’s first global orchestra.” Presently Principal Conductor of the Netherlands’s Knight of the Order of the Dutch Since its U.S. debut in 1992, the orchestra has London Symphony Orchestra and the World Lion, Japan’s Order of the Rising Sun, Valencia’s made 15 tours of North America, including a Orchestra for Peace, Valery Gergiev is also Silver Medal, the Herbert von Karajan Prize and 2006 celebration of the complete Shostakovich founder and Artistic Director of the Stars of the French Order of the Legion of Honor. symphonies, a cycle of stage works of Prokofiev the White Nights Festival and New Horizons Although now recording for the Mariinsky in 2008, major works of Hector Berlioz in Festival in St. Petersburg, the Moscow Easter and LSO Live Labels, he has recorded extensive- February–March 2010, and a centennial Mahler Festival, the Gergiev Rotterdam Festival, the ly for Decca (Universal Classics), and appears on cycle in Carnegie Hall in October 2010. In Mikkeli International Festival and the Red Sea the Philips and Deutsche Grammophon labels. October 2011, the Mariinsky Orchestra opens Festival in Eilat, Israel. Carnegie Hall’s 120th season and presents a cy- Mariinsky Label releases in its first year in- cle of Tchaikovsky symphonies on both the East cluded Shostakovich’s The Nose and Symphonies and West Coasts and in Canada. Nos. 1 and 15, a Tchaikovsky disc of short The 2009 and 2010 releases of the new pieces, Rodion Shchedrin’s The Enchanted Mariinsky Label were Shostakovich’s The Nose, Wanderer, Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto

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