Symphony No. 7 in a Major, Op. 92...Ludwig
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Symphony No. 7 in A major, op. 92........................................Ludwig van Beethoven Born in Bonn, 16 December 1770; Died in Vienna, 26 March 1827 Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony is demonstrative of the alternating relationship between his odd-numbered and even-numbered symphonies. The odd-numbered works tend to be more rhythmically active and harmonically innovative and contain more experimentation with formal structure. The even- numbered symphonies are usually more gentle in nature and less “rambunctious,” so to speak. After completing the Symphony No. 6 in F major, op. 68, he left the world of pastoral landscapes and wrote one of his most energetic and powerful works. Various people have described the Seventh Symphony in many ways. The most famous comment comes from Richard Wagner, who referred to it as “The Apotheosis of the Dance.” It is undoubtedly the composer’s most joyously optimistic symphony, bursting with an athletic exuberance. Beethoven composed this work in 1811-1812, during the French occupation of Vienna, but did not have it performed until after Napoleon’s army had left the Imperial City of the Hapsburgs. The premiere of the Seventh Symphony took place on 8 December 1813 in Vienna, at a concert to benefit those left widowed and orphaned by the recent conflict. The work is dedicated to the composer’s friend Count Moritz von Fries, a well-known financier. Written in four movements, the symphony begins with a slow introduction. This leads to the well-known dotted eighth-note figure, which propels the remainder of the first movement to its conclusion. Beethoven eschewed a traditional slow movement in favor of a charming Allegretto. This movement of the symphony was so well received at the first performance that it had to be repeated. It has been, at times, used by some misguided conductors to replace the Allegretto movement of the Symphony No. 8 in F major, op. 93, which they held in lower esteem. The third movement is a Scherzo and Trio, while the Finale contains some eye-opening modulations delivered at a rollicking pace. To modern audiences Beethoven’s expansion of “the harmonic envelope” might seem quite tame and innocuous. The critics of the nineteenth century were positive that some of his harmonies were a result of his increasing deafness— their own inability to appreciate his aural innovations had to be his fault. The Russian music critic Aleksander Dimitriyevich Ulybyshev (1794-1858) complained: “In the preceding symphonies, the traces of the third style of Beethoven are limited to a few wrong chords, superimposed intervals of a second, the failure to prepare and resolve dissonances. In the Seventh Symphony, the phantasm mounts . Accumulations of notes of the most monstrous kind sounded in his head as acceptable and well-balanced combinations.” Beethoven scored this symphony for a modest orchestra using pairs of woodwinds, horns, and trumpets, timpani, and strings. There is another version of this work for nine winds, supposedly prepared by Beethoven. This setting for Harmonie transposes the overall tonality of the work to G major and contains some structural differences, particularly in the Scherzo. Intermezzo from Manon Lescaut………………………...…...………Giacomo Puccini Born in Lucca, 22 December 1858; Died in Brussels, 29 November 1924 Giacomo Puccini was raised in a musical tradition that extended back to the early eighteenth century; members of his family had held important posts as composers, conductors, and organists in Lucca for four previous generations. The family predilection ran to music for the Church, but some had dabbled in the genre of opera. Giacomo saw a performance of Verdi’s masterpiece Aïda in Pisa when he was eighteen years old and knew that he wanted to compose for the lyric stage. His basic training in music was undertaken at the Instituto Musicale Pacini in his hometown. This was followed by three years of study at the Milan Conservatory with Amilcore Ponchielli (1834-1886), composer of La Gioconda. Puccini’s importance to the history of Italian Opera is such that his compositions in other media are overshadowed if not ignored. He was a true man of the theater whose main criteria in selecting a subject for operatic treatment were its dramatic appeal and the emotional depth of its characters. The grand master Verdi looked for pre-existing subjects that were literary masterpieces like Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Othello. Puccini found inspiration in melodramas and other “low” sources at times, but his instincts were sound. The vast majority of Puccini’s operatic output has become standard repertoire everywhere in the world that Italian opera is appreciated and enjoyed. Manon Lescaut is Puccini’s third opera, and his first to enter the international repertoire. It is based on the 1731 novel L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut (The Story of the Chevalier des Grieux and Manon Lescaut) by the French writer and Benedictine priest Abbé Prévost (1697-1763). The subject had already been explored in operas by the French composers Daniel Auber (1782-1871) and Jules Massenet (1842-1912) and Puccini’s publisher was not enthusiastic about the proposed project. The composer assured him that he would be taking an Italian approach to the subject, treating it with far more passion than the others. The libretto was created “by committee,” with no fewer than five real writers involved, as well as Puccini and his publisher, Giulio Ricordi (1840-1912). The plot of the opera is too involved to relate here. Suffice it to say that it is a tragedy, the title character of Manon’s love of luxury leading eventually to her arrest and deportation to the French Colony of Louisiana. She is accompanied in her exile by her lover, des Grieux, who refused to leave her. The Intermezzo from Manon Lescaut is one of Puccini’s most beautiful instrumental works. It occurs between Act s II and III and depicts the boat journey from Paris to Le Havre, the port of departure for the prisoners. The opening features solo passages from the principal cello and then principal viola before the full ensemble enters in a poignant melody. Puccini indulges in some tone painting at this point, the percussion instrument representing the engines of the boat as it travels to Le Havre. The Pines of Rome...........………...........................................................Ottorino Respighi Born in Bologna, 9 July 1879; Died in Rome, 18 April 1936 Many people today remember Ottorino Respighi only as the composer of the famous trilogy of Roman tone poems dealing with pine trees, fountains, and festivals. Few realize that he received wide recognition as a violin virtuoso and a teacher of both piano and composition, as well as performing as the violist of the famed Mugellini Quartet. Respighi studied violin at the Liceo, or music school, in his native Bologna. After completing his training he moved to St. Petersburg where he was appointed principal violist with the Imperial Opera. He remained in the Russian capital for two years, during which time he studied composition and orchestration with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908). He left Russia and relocated to Berlin where he taught piano and received further instruction in composition from Max Bruch (1838-1920). Respighi spent several years touring as a violin soloist and composing, finally settling in Rome in 1913, when he became a professor of composition at the Academy of St. Cecelia. The Pines of Rome is the second of Respighi’s three tone poems extolling the beauties of his adopted city. Completed in 1924, it was premiered on 14 December of that year. The work was an instant success and was championed around the world by Arturo Toscanini. Respighi provided the following commentary in the printed score: “Children are playing in the pine groves of the Villa Borghese. They dance a kind of ring-a-roses, mimicking marching soldiers and battles, shrieking crazily like swallows at eventide, then they swarm away. Suddenly the scene changes and we see the shadow of pines framing the entrance to a catacomb. From the depths rises a sorrowful chant like a solemn hymn which re-echoes, then mysteriously fades away. A quiver runs through the air. In the light of the serene full moon the pines on the Janiculum ridge stand out in bold relief. A nightingale sings. Misty dawn appears on the Appian Way. The tragic landscape is watched over by solitary pines. The poet’s imagination conjures up a vision of ancient glories; Roman trumpets blare and in the brilliance of the newly-risen sun, the army of the Consul marches proudly towards the Sacred Way and then mounts the Capitoline Hill in triumph.” Respighi’s period of study with Rimsky-Korsakov was a good investment, as the Italian composer stands along with Rimsky, Ravel, and Richard Strauss as an undisputed master of orchestration. In addition to a fairly large orchestra, The Pines of Rome requires a recorded nightingale for the third movement and a significant number of off-stage brass players for the finale. Program Notes by Bruce Gbur Copyright 2013 .