Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2

WEBER Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2 Tamdot Siana Die Drei Pintoe Queensland Phiharmonic Orchestra John Georgiadis, Conductor Carl Maria von Weber (1786 - 1826) Symphony No. 1 in C Major, J. 50 Symphony No. 2 in C Major, J. 51 Turandot Overture, J. 75 Silvana, J. 87 Die Drei Pintos It was natural that there should be an element of the operatic in the music of Weber. The composer of the first great Romantic German opera, Der Freischutz, spent much of his childhood with the peripatetic theatre-company directed~ ~~~~ bv his father. Franz Anton Weber. uncle of MozarYs wife Constanze and like hLq brother. atone time amember- ~-- bf the~~ famous ~ Mannheim orchestra. At the tme of Weoer s b nh hls fatner was still n the serv ce of the Bsnop of Ljoeclcano odr ngtne courseoi an emended v<stto V ennahaa taden asecono wife, an actress and singer, who became an important member of the family theatre-company established in 1788. Webeis musical gifts were fostered by his father, who saw in his youngest son the possibility of a second Mozart. Travel brought the chance of varied if inconsistent study, in Salzburg with Michael Haydn and elsewhere with musicians of lesser ability. His second opera was performed in Freiberg in 1800. followed bv a third. Peter Schmoll und seine Nachbarn. in Auusburu in 1803 Lessons ;/nth the Abbe Vogler led to a poslrton as i(apeGeis~e; n Bresla~in 1804 brougnt lo a premature end tnrough the hosulily of rnLslc ans ong eslabished in the city and lnrough tne accldenra drinlctng of engrav ng acid, left by his father in a wine-bottle. A brief and idyllic period in the service of Duke Eugen of ~umemberg-01s at Carlsruhe was followed by three years as secretary to Duke Ludwig of Wumemberg, a younger brother of the reigning Duke. The financial dealings of his father, who had joined him there, led to imprisonment and expulsion, and a return to a career as an active musician, at first principally as a pianist, appearing in the principal cities of Germany. A short stay in Berlin proved fruitftl, before his appointment to the opera in Prague in 1813. In 1817 he was invited to Dresden, where it was hoped he would establish German opera, although the first performance of Der Freischiifz was given in Berlin in 1821. While the rival italianoperain Dresden continued tocause Webertrouble, he was invited to write an opera for Vienna. Euryanthe, described as a grand heroic-Romantic opera, with a libretto by the blue-stocking authoress of Rosamunde, for which Schubert provided incidental music, had a mixed receotion. In spite of deteriorating health, the result of tuberculosis, Weber accepted a commission from Covent Garden for an English opera, Oberon, which was first performed there in April 1826 under the direction of the composer. A pioneer in the use of the conductor's baton. his first aooearance with this Dotential weaponca~sedn t,alalarmamong Eng ish mus clansathlsposs 0 y aggress ve mrentlons Tne Eng sn wealher cou d only funner oamage nls nea tn an0 he a~eddJnng the nlgnl of 4tn J~neon tne eve of hls ontended deparlLre for Germany ~eoe>sacn.evemen1 was bolh consderabe and nfl~enlalIn German opera he nad opened a new and r ch ve n that subseqJenr composers were to exp ore as an orcnestrator he demonslraled new poss o I Ies, panlc~iary in the handling of wind instruments: as a conductor and director of performances he instituted a number of reforms, as he had first anempted as an adolescent Kapellmeister in Breslau. In style his music follows classical principles of clarity, with a particular lyrical facility shown both in his operas and his instrumental and vocal compositions. Weber comoleted his twosvmohonies in 1807. durino the Deriod he mentat Carlsr~hen tie service of DJ~i~gen, himse fata enieo enough obo it. The scor ng ofthe sympnon es ,so ctated by rhecomplementoflne oucalorcheslra. The wind section of flute, with pairs of oboes, bassoons, homs and trumpets with drums, but lackina clarinets, is used with particular skill, while the string scoring allows the double basses occasional freedom from bondage to the 3 8.550928 cellos Symphony No 1 in C malor was dedicated, on lts puolcallon n 1812, loGotIfr eo Weber, whooefriended Weber after h solsm ssalfrom W~Memoerg in 1810. He described the first movement as more of an overture than a symphonic movement and expressed his own preference for the inner movements.-- - findino that there was room for imorovement in the workina out of Ine f naie. inesykphony s very mJcn in lhe'style of the lime, ~naffectedby Ine cnanges that Beethoven was effecting n tne form, a tno~ghtnere are clear signs of the operatic. The first movement. markedANeoroconhom. starts with an immediate and bnefsummonstoanenuon,oeloretni~nexpoc~edanos nJoLstneme nlrodJce0 by the lower strlngs and echoed by tne flrsl v oilns The Slngsprel I ke secono s~becralows tne sklled wlnd players of the Dbke's orchestra scope for interplay in a movement that fits well enough its composer's later view of its structute. The second movementAndante, in the key of C minor, is introduced by the solemn sounds of trumpets and horns and a theme entrusted first to cellos-~~ ~- and~~ ~ double basses. before it is taken UD bv flute and bassoon. Once anain the wind instruments are skilfullv deoloved'in a movement that almost ;:<is ;:<is ~siothe Wo1f.s Glen Tne Scneko d spkls tnts atmosphere and frames a Tnoln wh ch !he wlndinstrLmenIspreoom nale These first lhree movements were completed by Christmas Eve 1806, while the final Presto was finished at midnisht on 2nd Januarv 1807. There is here musicof witand charm, an opera buffaiinal ensemble Weoer's SymphonyNo 2 also in the Key of C ma.or and with similar scoring. was slarteo on 22nd JanLary 1807and ftnlsned a week later on 28th Jan~ary. The first movement ~llegroallows the wind instruments to provide a gentie answer to the strona oDenino chords of the whole orchestra. The process is ~ reoeated. before-~ - - t& kboe.~~~~. ihe ~ Duke's-~ ~ ~ instrument. introduces the orincioal 1heme.answered by lheoassoon. ~he~renchhom,~ilhspareaccompanimenl ones the second s~bject. The central development s intmdJced by French horns and then trumpets repeating the rhythm of the opening figure, before the flute ushers in the main subject,-now in E minor. The section comes to a 8.550928 4 drarnatlcconcl~son, fo lowed oy a recapltu allon that rtses lo adynam~cc lmax n concl~slon Frencn horns lntroouce tne F malor Adagro, In whlch tne man theme isat Ilrst glven toa so o v~ola.fo lowed oy asolooooe rlere agaln suoUe use is made of the wind instruments, a reminder of the proficiency of the wind- players at Carlsruhe for whom Weber was writing. The third movement is describedasaMinuet.although in asolemn Cminor, withaC maior Trioscored principally for solo oboe anditrings. The last movement, with the less usual direction Scherzo presto, is witty. varied in scoring and energetic. It ends with an unexpected addition from bassoons and lower strings, after the whole orchestra seems to have had the last word. Weber's comic opera Die Drei Pintos was left incomplete, to be finished 67 years later by Gustav Mahler in a collaboration that brought its own difficulties. Basedonasto~.DerBrautkam~f,bvCarl Seidel, itdeals withthecomplications of the proposed'marriageof & heroine. Clarissa, whose father has decided she must marry a man neither of them have ever seen, Don Pinto, son of Don Nunno Mansos de Fonseca, descendant of a hero of the Spanish wars of conquest. An adventurer seeks to impersonate Don Pinto, but is induced to help Clarissa's beloved Don Gomes, who himself assumes the r6le. The appearance of the real Don Pinto, a ridiculous character, causes difficulties that are finally resolved to the satisfaction of the hero and heroine. It seems that Weber abandoned work on Die Drei Pintos after virtually completing the first act, although he claimed that he had nearly finished the whole work. It has been pointed out that he normally made a distinction between what had been "comoosed and what had been written down. Mahler's rewortung of tne exlsbng materlal and slcelches by Weberm Joesan Entr'acte between 1ne Irs1 two acts Weoer's inc dental mJs c for Sch ller's verslon of Gozz 's Turandone was wr nen for Jse In St~ngann 1809 Tne slov of the cold-nearted Ch nese prmcess is nel enoLgn dnown, not east from Pucc8n's later treatrnenl of tne tale. The overture sets the atmosphere with its use of a Chinese tune found in Rousseau's Dicfionnaire de Musique, where it was wrongly transcribed from Jean Baptiste du Halde's important and influential history of China, first oublished in Paris in 1735 and then translated into other EuroDean lanouaaes. ?he nentatonic melodv is oiven a curious twist bv the intrusio" of an alien Gte. -r- -~-~ -~~ , -= - ~ ~~ ~~ In tnls form 1was ater used by h noem th in h s kymphonrc~eramorphos,son Themes by Weber Of the six n~mberswritten by Weoer tne Overlurc, a revision of an earlier Chinese overture, the FuneralMarch and the second act March all use the altered Chinese melody. Weoer startea word on h s roman1c opera Srlvana In 1808, complehng tin 1810. when it was staged in Frandf-rl am Man, aHer tne Weoers' expLlson from St~nqart The stov is of S gana. uno. LnJsJally for an operat c rlero ne, is dumb, and her beloved Rudolf, about to be forced into marriage with Mechtilde, herself in love with Albert.

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