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Home , Bertrand de Billy, Caterina Cavalieri, Lorenzo da Ponte, Nicole Car

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Thursday INTERVAL 15 August 7.30pm Duration 20 mins Federation Concert Hall MOZART Hobart Mi tradì, from Duration 4 mins Bertrand de Billy conductor MOZART Nicole Car soprano Come scoglio, from Così fan tutte Duration 6 mins HAYDN Symphony No 49, La passione MOZART Adagio Symphony No 39 Allegro di molto Adagio – Allegro Menuet e Trio Andante con moto Finale (Presto) Menuetto (Allegretto) – Trio – Menuetto Duration 24 mins Allegro Duration 29 mins MOZART Chi sa qual sia This concert will end at approximately Duration 3 mins 9.30pm. BEETHOVEN Ah, perfido Supported by Duration 12 mins 03 6294 0000 | UNICAWEALTH.COM.AU Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra concerts are broadcast and streamed throughout Australia and around the world by ABC Classic. We would appreciate your cooperation in keeping coughing to a minimum. Please ensure that your mobile phone is switched off.

29 Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)

Symphony No 49 in F minor, occasionally verges on outright La passione irrationality.’ Adagio The composer’s subtle pursuit of Allegro di molto thematic unity is to be seen in the very Menuet e Trio opening phrase of the first movement, Bertrand de Billy studied music in and Australian soprano Nicole Car performs at Finale (Presto) where the leaden progression of notes moving ever so slightly up and down was an orchestral player prior to pursuing such prestigious venues as the Royal The designation La passione and the wide from C provides the core material from a career in conducting. He was First House Covent Garden, Semperoper Dresden circulation achieved by this symphony which, as HC Robbins Landon observes, in the courts and monasteries of late Kapellmeister and Deputy Music Director and Paris Opera. Recent appearances Haydn will develop the themes of all 18th-century Europe suggest, as does the four movements: C-D flat-B flat-C. The at the Anhaltisches Theatre in Dessau from have included Micäela in at Opéra extraordinary music itself, some special opening Adagio is much the biggest 1993 to 1995, and between 1996 and Bastille, Tatiana in with the purpose, presumably related to Holy movement, and arguably the spiritual 1998 held the same position at the Vienna Week. The title, however, is unauthentic, core of the symphony. Yet, unlike Deutsche Oper, Berlin, and the Bavarian and there is no evidence of any such some of Haydn’s earlier ‘church sonata’ Volksoper. From 1999 to 2004 he was Music State Opera in Munich (a role she will also intent either within the music or in any symphonies, La passione maintains its Director at the Gran Teatre del in extra-musical documentation. What can emotional and spiritual force, without sing in Montreal next year), as Marguerite in and from 2002 to 2010 Music be said with certainty is that this was the tailing off, through four equally inspired and Violetta in in Marseilles last, and undoubtedly the greatest, of movements. Director of the Radio Symphony Orchestra in seven symphonies Haydn composed in and as Mimì in La bohème, her Metropolitan The wildly leaping melody of the Vienna. Bertrand de Billy was principal guest the archaic ‘church sonata’ form, with second movement is swept forward Opera debut. Nicole Car has performed of the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne a slow opening movement. While the on an irresistible tide in the bass, for a number of times, ‘church sonata’ symphonies have no impotent anguish continuing to lash out (2013-2016) and has been principal guest overtly religious intent, they are essentially including the title roles in La traviata, Thaïs spasmodically after the first fierce passion conductor of the Dresden Philharmonic. solemn works or, as in the present case, is exhausted. The minuet – though one Recent appearances have included concerts and (for which she won her first bleak, tense and often anguished. would scarcely think of dancing to it – in the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, and Helpmann Award). CDs include Heroines Written in 1768, La passione is an early is dogged, subdued, beginning not with but archetypal product of the composer’s Haydn’s customary springy upbeat but with the Orchestre National de Belgique, with and the Australian so-called Sturm und Drang (Storm and on a mechanical, hang-dog downbeat. Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, Royal Danish Chamber Orchestra (ACO). Recent concert Stress) period. Although the term Sturm The finale is a flight from relentless nightmare, not destined for glory in Orchestra, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, appearances include performing with the und Drang misleadingly implies a link with the somewhat later Sturm und imposing cadences at the end but simply Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Hungarian ACO at the Barbican in London. After Drang movement in literature and art thankful to get there. National Philharmonic and Choir, and the completing her Bachelor of Music at the (which sprang up around the writings of La passione lacks none of the sureness Middle-German Radio Symphony Orchestra Goethe and Schiller from about 1773), of touch occasionally missing from Victorian College of the Arts, Nicole Car it nevertheless aptly characterises the Leipzig. In opera, he has recently conducted Haydn’s other Sturm und Drang music. won the 2007 Herald-Sun Aria. She was the passionate and emotional intensity of some The composer is, as Landon puts it, Verdi’s Otello at the Opéra National de of the music that flowed from Haydn’s pen 2012 winner of the ASC Opera Awards and ‘passing through the eye of the storm’ Paris, Bastille, and Puccini’s Il trittico in Japan between about 1766 and 1773. (a storm effectively created by himself). the 2013 winner of the international Neue and at the , New York. Sturm und Drang in Haydn’s symphonies That experience was to prove crucial in Stimmen competition in Germany. Her shares with the church sonata form a the long-term development of his own He has a broad repertoire from Bach to music and the music of his successors. professional operatic debut took place in widespread use of minor or remote keys, world premieres. His extensive discography frequent polyphonic and contrapuntal Abridged from a note by Anthony Cane includes the 2017 release Jonas Kaufmann 2009 performing Donna Anna in Victorian textures, dynamic contrasts, and spare, © 1989/2001 L’Opera with the Bavarian State Orchestra. Opera’s Don Giovanni. She made her unadorned instrumentation. The Sturm und Drang symphonies are often The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra first Among his awards is ’s Chevalier of the American debut in Dallas in 2014 as the tragic, sombre, even violent. And, as performed this work in New Norfolk and Huonville on 23 and 24 March 1976 and, most recently, with National Order of the Legion of Honour. Countess in . James Webster asserts, ‘Haydn’s ever- Oliver Gooch in Hobart on 30 March 2014, as part present tendency towards eccentricity of Hobart Baroque.

30 31 Wolfgang Mozart affections remain undiminished. Judging mood, dynamic and vocal range. These at her razor-sharp pitch control, so from the many leaps, both large and sharp expressive contrasts continue challenging is much of the vocal writing (1756-1791) small, in the vocal line and the recurrent right to the end of the aria – no sooner in the aria’s digressive middle section. use of filigree scale passages, Louise do words and music settle into one Chi sa qual sia, K582 In Così fan tutte, Fiordiligi and her sister Villeneuve was blessed with an agile emotional state when suddenly they Dorabella are unwitting participants in voice (she would go on to create the erupt into its antithesis. This is indeed a an experiment: two mysterious, exotic Ludwig van Beethoven role of Dorabella in Così fan tutte the tormented heart. Precisely for this reason looking men have suddenly appeared (1770-1827) following year). But quite apart from ‘Ah, perfido’ provides rich expressive at their house, mere minutes after the beauty of the vocal writing, the aria material for the singer. Beethoven, it the sisters’ fiancés, who are soldiers, Ah, perfido, Op 65 offers many riches in its treatment of ought to be noted, was a mere 25 years have left for the front. Will Fiordiligi woodwinds, even though it is not a large of age when he wrote this scena. His and Dorabella remain faithful to their wind section – clarinets, bassoons and single opera, Fidelio, was nearly ten absent fiancés or will they succumb horns only. Mozart was never one to years off. Particularly pertinent to this to the charms of the newcomers? The Mi tradì, from Don Giovanni write perfunctory parts for the winds and evening’s concert is that ‘Ah, perfido’ was strangers, who are in fact the fiancés in Come scoglio, from Così fan tutte here the woodwind instruments playfully given its first professional performance (in disguise (the military call-up is a ruse), November 1796) by distinguished Czech Strange as it may seem, the aria interact with the voice and bring their make every effort to seduce the two soprano Josepha Dušek (1754-1824), a ‘Chi sa qual sia’, which was composed own distinctive colours to this delectable women, but their overtures are initially singer who was known to Mozart and for by Mozart in 1789, was written for aria. met with fierce resistance. In the aria whom Mozart composed a number of ‘Come scoglio’, which comes from Act I, performance in an opera by another Beethoven’s ‘Ah, perfido’ is altogether a concert arias. composer altogether. It was composed grander construct than ‘Chi sa qual sia’. Fiordiligi declares that she and her sister for a revival season of Il burbero di buon For one thing, the dramatic stakes are When Don Giovanni, which was are models of propriety: ‘Like a rock, we cuore (The Kind-Hearted Grump) by higher, as the opening line makes clear: premièred to great success in Prague in stand immobile against the wind and Mozart’s contemporary, Vicente Martín ‘Treacherous, lying, cruel deceiver, are October 1787, was first staged in Vienna, storm’. Cleverly, Mozart suggests that y Soler (1754-1806). The revival included you leaving me?’ Beethoven presents in May 1788, Mozart and his librettist Fiordiligi’s resolve is rather less certain than she would have us believe. While a newcomer, Louise Villeneuve, in one us with an entire dramatic complex in Da Ponte revised portions of the work. her words speak of rock-solid constancy, of the roles, and it is for her that Mozart this number: an accompanied recitative One of their amendments was to write the notes she sings are not grounded at wrote ‘Chi sa qual sia’. The fact that a (which moves through many changes an entirely new aria for the character all but, rather, range all over the place, piece of music by one composer could of tempo, texture and key) followed of Donna Elvira – a woman seduced from very high to very low. That is to be inserted into a work by another by a long and complex aria. The words and later abandoned by Don Giovanni say, Fiordiligi’s heart and head are in indicates just how fluid the notion of a of the recitative were written by Pietro – which was sung by a performer who a bit of a dither. This is a fine example musical work was in the 18th century. enjoyed a strong following in Vienna, Metastasio (1698-1782), the most of text and subtext at odds. Irony is We tend to think of musical compositions soprano Caterina Cavalieri. The aria, esteemed poet of serious Italian opera fiendishly difficult to suggest in music but as fixed objects, but in Mozart’s (opera seria) in the 18th century: they ‘Mi tradì’, has since become one of Mozart’s best loved numbers and is Mozart overlays Da Ponte’s text with a day they were things that could are taken from his Achille in Sciro. subtle ironic gloss. The role of Fiordiligi be added to, subtracted from and It is not known who penned the words of frequently included in productions of Don Giovanni which otherwise adhere – arguably the most thoughtful and fragmented in any number of ways the aria. complex of all of Mozart’s heroines – was (symphonies, for example, were often the Prague version of the opera. The protagonist’s rage at the beginning created by Adriana Ferrarese del Bene, performed in piecemeal fashion, with Appearing shortly after the midway point of the recitative gives way to expressions of Act II, ‘Mi tradì’ is a brilliant showpiece. a singer who was celebrated in Vienna, short musical works interposed between of revenge, regret and, by the time London and Italy. She and the librettist, the movements). Elvira is emotionally conflicted: well we arrive at the aria, an exhortation aware that Don Giovanni has treated her Da Ponte, were lovers at the time Così The words of ‘Chi sa qual sia’ were most for pity (‘What shall I do without you? shamefully, she is angry and disconsolate fan tutte was unveiled, in 1790. probably written by Lorenzo da Ponte, You know quite well, beloved, that I but also anxious that something terrible Robert Gibson © 2019 who penned the libretto of Il burbero di shall die of grief’). The gentle lilt at the will befall the unrepentant scoundrel buon cuore and is nowadays best known opening of the aria (‘Per pietà’), where (‘That ungrateful soul betrayed me, O for his three collaborations with Mozart: the protagonist pleads for compassion God, how unhappy he made me!’). A Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni and (‘For pity’s sake, don’t say goodbye’), is highly charged accompanied recitative Così fan tutte. In this aria, the character superseded by a brief agitated section (‘In quali eccessi, o Numi’) introduces the Madama Lucilla expresses puzzlement where her anger flares up (‘Cruel man, number, and the aria proper (‘Mi tradì’) over her husband’s slightly erratic you want me dead!’). As you would begins without an orchestral lead-in. behaviour. She reminds us that no matter expect, the contrasting emotions are Given that Mozart wrote the number for the cause of her spouse’s agitation, her signposted by changes in tempo, key, Caterina Cavalieri, we can only marvel

32 33 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Symphony No 39 in E flat, K 543 As in many of Haydn’s symphonies, and Adagio – Allegro several of Mozart’s own earlier works, the Andante con moto slower second movement begins with an almost self-contained piece for the Menuetto (Allegretto) – Trio – string section alone, simple and affective. Menuetto When the woodwinds enter (no trumpets Allegro and drums in this movement), the mood In December 1787, the Vienna firm changes and the music temporarily Artaria published Haydn’s new set of six becomes more driven. In the third ‘Paris’ Symphonies, issued in two sets of movement, a Menuetto, the vaulting three. The first set contained symphonies melody and pulsing accompaniment verge on the athletic. In the central (Trio) in C major, G minor and E flat. Given episode the winds display a more playful the rarity of G minor symphonies, it can side of their character. hardly be a coincidence that Mozart chose exactly the same keys for his three Haydn’s new ‘Paris’ symphonies must new symphonies, Nos 39-41, completed have reminded Mozart of his own visit June - August 1788. Clearly, if Haydn to the French capital ten years earlier could publish symphonies, presumably for, as the opening gambit of the fourth with hope of financial return, Mozart movement, he revives a joke he had too, then saddled with debts, might as played on the first audience of his well try. He had, after all, successfully own ‘Paris’ Symphony (No 31). As he undertaken a similar copycat project a explained on that occasion in a letter to few years earlier when, following on from his father: Artaria’s 1782 first edition of Haydn’s Op Because I discovered that all the 33 string quartets, he composed a set finales here in Paris begin with all the of his own (since referred to, fittingly, as instruments playing together, usually Mozart’s ‘Haydn’ quartets). in unison, I started mine with the first Another small token of Haydn’s legacy and second violins only, piano for the first 8 bars – then immediately forte. can be found in the first of Mozart’s The audience, as I expected, said Shh! group of three, the Symphony No 39. at the piano, and when the forte came Like Haydn’s E flat symphony, it begins immediately started applauding. with a grand introduction, prefacing the first movement. The bold timpani rolls Later, the various returns to the opening and brass signals of this Adagio have violin texture remain an effective way of been likened to a ‘clearing of the throat’, marking turning points in the movement’s designed to call a noisy audience to structure, brilliant for its obsessive attention lest they miss the much quieter concentration on its opening snatch of music with which the main Allegro, melody, that can’t be shaken despite surprisingly, begins. There is a continuing the wide-ranging modulations to distant interplay between the noisy full band, keys. Even then the precise contours of topped with trumpets and drums, and its final cadence come (like its beginning) more delicate combinations of strings as something of a surprise! and winds. The mellow effect of flute and Graeme Skinner © 2013 clarinets at these points is even more marked due to the noticeable absence of The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra first We are proud to support the oboes, Mozart’s only late symphony to do performed this work with conductor Kenneth Murison Bourn in Hobart on 9 May 1952 and, most Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra without this usually essential instrumental recently, with Marko Letonja in Hobart and Burnie colour. on 16 and 17 August 2013.

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5580 TSO Milton Ad for Program 2015_July.indd 1 17/07/2015 9:43 am