Overture to Fidelio, Op

Listen for the piccolo toward the end of the last movement of Beethoven’s Fifth. It’s an iconic little bling from an instrument that had never been used in a symphony before — a wickedly fast, articulated scale that has to cut through the entire orchestra. ANNE WHALEY LANEY, NCS PRINCIPAL FLUTE

In Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, the trombones do not play until the triumphant C- major chords, which herald the beginning of the fourth movement. It’s a glorious moment that never grows old to play or to listen to. JOHN ILIKA, NCS PRINCIPAL TROMBONE

Overture to Fidelio, Op. 72c LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN BORN December 16, 1770, in Bonn, Germany; died March 26, 1827, in Vienna PREMIERE Composed 1814; first performance May 26, 1814, in Vienna, conducted by the composer

OVERVIEW Beethoven’s only opera, Fidelio, underwent numerous major revisions before the composer arrived at the final version. The overture to the opera underwent even greater transformations. We have today four different overtures, all of them popular in the concert hall. The first three are called Leonore (Nos.1, 2, and 3), after the heroine’s name and original title of the opera; the fourth is known as Fidelio, Leonora’s pseudonym and Beethoven’s final title of the opera. The complex plot is a paean to marital fidelity and political justice. Leonore disguises herself as a young man (Fidelio) to free her husband, Florestan, who has been incarcerated unjustly as a political prisoner. Beethoven’s difficulties with the earlier versions of the overture (the three entitled Leonore) stemmed from the fact that they were too dramatic and explicit, following the trajectory of the plot by including themes from the opera, thereby giving away the most dramatic and exciting moments. The final version, the Fidelio overture, is neither particularly dramatic nor closely related to the opera itself. Today the opera is frequently performed with the Fidelio overture before the opera and Leonore No. 3 as an entr’acte between the two acts.

INSTRUMENTATION Two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, trombone, bass trombone, timpani, strings

Rondo for Piano and Orchestra in B-flat Major, WoO 6 LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN PREMIERE Composed 1793; date of first performance unknown

OVERVIEW In addition to the approximately 140 works Beethoven dignified with an opus number, he left behind more than 200 long and short compositions he chose not to enter into his canon. Occasionally, however, when short of money, he pulled out one of these and sent it to his publisher. Subsequently, these works were compiled in the catalogue of Beethoven’s works by Georg Kinsky, who added them under the heading WoO (Werke ohne Opuszahl — works without opus number). Beethoven probably composed the Rondo in B-flat in 1793 as the final movement of the Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 19 (which was really composed before No. 1). He discarded it when he revised the concerto in 1795, but retained the manuscript, which was found among his papers after his death and finally published in 1829. As was frequently the case with Beethoven, the piano part in the manuscript was left sketchy, and pianist Carl Czerny filled it in and edited it before publication.

WHAT TO LISTEN FOR We don’t know exactly why Beethoven rejected this rondo; it contains some original elements that clearly set it apart from those of his contemporaries. The music-box rondo theme is unusual in that Beethoven dispenses with the conventional division into two repeated sections. Instead, he shifts into the minor mode that blends into the first episode. A very brief reference to the rondo theme takes us into an episode in another universe with a slowing of tempo to andante and a change from 6/8 to 2/4. Then it’s back to the complete rondo, concluding with a cadenza — which the composer probably would have improvised in performance.

INSTRUMENTATION Solo piano, flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, strings

Choral Fantasy in C Minor, Op. 80 LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN PREMIERE Composed 1808; first performance December 22, 1808, at the Imperial Court Theater, Vienna

OVERVIEW In the early 19th century, concerts went on forever. A concert of Beethoven’s works in the Imperial Theater in Vienna on December 22, 1808, was no exception. The program, which lasted four hours, included the premieres of the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies, the Fourth Piano Concerto, the concert aria “Ah! Perfido,” some improvisations by the composer, three movements from the Mass in C Major, and to top it all off, the Choral Fantasy, which Beethoven composed specially as a grand finale to the occasion.

WHAT TO LISTEN FOR The Choral Fantasy was composed in haste, in less than three weeks, although parts of it dated from years earlier. The main theme is reminiscent of the finale of the Ninth Symphony and Beethoven had already used it in 1794 for a song entitled “Gegenliebe” (WoO 118). This, together with his treatment of the choral parts, makes the whole work sound like an early study for the Ninth Symphony. It opens with a solo piano introduction in improvisatory style with a series of grand flourishes and tension-producing devices anticipating the entrance of the main theme. (In a later edition, the composer added strings to the opening, but one violin part was lost and it is usually performed today by the piano alone.) The introduction is followed by a theme and variations (with hints of Viennese street music and the Turkish music craze of the time) for the whole orchestra, introduced by the piano and followed by variations for flute, pairs of oboes, pairs of clarinets, and a string quartet, before the whole orchestra joins the fray. At this point, the piano returns to share the rest of the variations with the orchestra in the style of a concerto. Only after three-quarters of the piece is over do the soloists and chorus enter to conclude the work with the vocal recapitulation of all the themes, set to a poem in praise of music. The text is of doubtful parentage, probably by the poet Christoph Kuffner (1780- 1846), with significant input by the composer. Alternate versions exist for some of the lines.

INSTRUMENTATION Solo piano, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, strings

Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67 LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN PREMIERE Composed 1804-1808; first performance December 22, 1808, at the Imperial Theater, Vienna

OVERVIEW The four most clichéd notes in classical music were once the most revolutionary. For the first time a rhythm, rather than a melody, became the main subject of a symphonic movement — and not merely as a first theme to be stated and picked up again for a while in the development and recapitulation sections. Beethoven wove the rhythm into the entire fabric of the first movement, and subsequently into the rest of the symphony. The motive first appears as a repeated demand, subsequently expanded into a genuine melody in the first theme. It recurs as a throbbing accompaniment in bass and timpani in the second theme, all the way to the final cadence of the exposition. Such an original symphonic structure did not come easily, especially to a composer who lacked the ever-ready melodic genius of a Mozart, Bach, or Haydn — who all produced copiously on demand. A collection of the composer’s sketchbooks bears witness to the lengthy and often painful gestation of some of his greatest music. The Fifth Symphony took four years to complete, between 1804 and 1808. But Beethoven had to eat, and during those four years he also produced the Fourth Symphony, the Fourth Piano Concerto, the three Op. 59 String Quartets, the Mass in C Major, and the Violin Concerto.

WHAT TO LISTEN FOR Because the Fifth Symphony is now so familiar, it is difficult to think of it as innovative, but it was not only the integration of the four-note rhythmic motif into the entire fabric of the first movement that was new. The second movement, Andante con moto, involves its own kind of novelty. It is made up of two short contrasting themes: the first in dotted rhythm in the strings, the second a slow, almost military theme in the brass. Beethoven produces from the two themes a double set of variations. And it should be noted that the second theme contains, in augmentation (longer note values), the germinal four-note rhythm of the first movement. For the scherzo, Beethoven again prominently takes up the motivic rhythm in the horns, this time in augmentation. The trio is a fugue, and the repeat of the scherzo theme is scored for clarinet and bassoon over pizzicato strings playing pianissimo. Symphony No. 5 has frequently been referred to as a struggle from darkness to light. Not only does the symphony begin in C minor and end in C major, but also there is the magnificent transition between the third and fourth movements: a kind of sunlight breaking through the clouds, with violins stammering over the timpani as it throbs out the motto. The emergence into the triumphant finale paved the way for the symphonic writing of the future, including Beethoven’s own Ninth Symphony, Mendelssohn’s Third (“Scottish”), and Brahms’ First.

INSTRUMENTATION Piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, basset horn, two bassoons, contrabassoon, two horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, strings