Mariinsky Orchestra
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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.