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Home , Sergei Rachmaninoff

Quad City PROGRAM NOTES Masterworks II: ’s Third

By Jacob Bancks Associate Professor of Augustana College

JOSEPH HAYDN (1732-1809) four decades later, Hadyn had elevated Symphony No. 104 in (“Lon- and transformed the genre entirely. And don”), Hob. I:104 since then, aside from increases in auxiliary instrumentation and overall duration (and Instrumentation: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 some interesting anomalies), very little has bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, and substantively changed about the genre, strings. even through the two centuries that gave Premiere: May 4, 1795. King’s Theatre, London, us the of Schubert, Tchaikov- with the composer . sky, Brahms, Dvorak, Mahler, Sibelius, and QCSO Performance History: The QCSO’s sole Shostakovich. prior performance of Haydn’s “London” Symphony was in 1964, with Charles Gigante conducting. Haydn was able to develop the symphony thanks both to his extraordinary genius and One might reasonably argue that Franz Jo- the highly favorable circumstances of his seph Haydn was the most consequential career, most especially his long-held post composer of symphonies in history. That in the court of Prince Nikolaus Esterházy, distinction is usually afforded to Beetho- the music-loving Hungarian nobleman who ven, but so many of the salient and lasting employed Haydn as Kapellmeister (music features of Beethoven’s symphonies were director) for over 30 years. Amid his many, pioneered by Haydn: slow introductions; often demanding duties, Haydn enjoyed long, carefully-developed first movements tremendous artistic freedom in his post. “I in form; overall four-movement received approval for anything I did,” he structure; high premiums placed on motivic mused later. “As head of an orchestra, I consistency and development; and a gen- could make experiments, observe what en- erally grandiose “mood” intended for lis- hanced an effect, and what weakened it, tening by a large, middle- and upper-class thus improving, adding to it, taking away audience. When Haydn first approached from it, and running risks.” Thanks to this the genre in 1759, none of this was the inspiring environment, and the brilliant case. The earliest symphonies were brief, composer who inhabited it, we have the fully interchangeable overtures, and symphony as we know it today. were generally heard in small (if lavish) con- cert halls, often for just a handful of listen- Yet nothing lasts forever. When Prince Ni- ers, all aristocrats. By the time of the prem- kolaus died in 1790, his heir Prince Anton iere of the “London” Symphony less than Esterházy, no lover of music, dismantled the large the court orchestra his father had passages in Haydn’s slow introduction, fostered. But far from being a disastrous anticipating the wild variety in dynamics development for Haydn, this disbanding that his student Beethoven would im- proved to be fortuitous: his pension, and a mortalize. new-found freedom to explore projects of ¯ The slow introduction closes on a personal interest, afforded him the oppor- half cadence, or a musical “question tunity to build his already-burgeoning in- mark”, leaving us looking for the next ternational reputation. In the years that fol- chord. This particular cadence is pre- lowed and until his death, Haydn was in- ceded by the particularly colorful Nea- disputably the most famous living Europe- politan sixth chord. an musician. ¯ The symphony itself is designated “in D major”, though the introduction This fame spread well beyond German- was in . The happy change of speaking lands, and grew especially in key that accompanies the change in Great Britain, a nation that had previously tempo is called a move to the parallel adopted another German genius, George key: different mode (minor to major), Frederic Handel, a half century before. with same tonic or “home note” (D). Haydn enjoyed major successes in London ¯ Many commentators label this sym- over two major visits to the city, first in phony as “monothematic”, meaning 1791 (the year of his friend Mozart’s death) there is no highly-contrasting second and then in 1794-95, where he came to the theme. Where that second theme attention of none other than King George might have gone, Haydn restates his III. Earning previously-unthinkable amounts first theme but in a different key. of money, Haydn performed public con- ¯ This movement’s development sec- certs to enraptured audiences and com- tion is largely focused on a mere frag- posed many of his most enduring works, ment of the main theme (four short including twelve symphonies, collectively notes and two long ones). known, plural, as the “London” sympho- ¯ As usual, the movement closes with nies. In the singular, the “London” is his a recapitulation of the opening sec- 104th and last symphony. tion, and as had become the fashion, Haydn doesn’t simply repeat himself, Things to Listen for in but rather subtly re-orchestrates the Haydn’s London Symphony opening material. First movement (Adagio – Allegro): Second movement (Andante): ¯ Haydn provides us with an over- ¯ The main theme of the slow move- whelming first moment, with very loud, ment is tidy and careful, but with warm stark unisons. Such a gesture might and expressive harmonic gestures. The have been shocking or uncouth if most pungent chords are under-laden played at an elegant Esterházy soirée, with heavy accents. but this was written for a big concert in ¯ The whole first section of this London and Haydn knew how to get movement is in rounded binary form: the public’s attention. specifically, it has two repeated sec- ¯ Note the contrast of soft and loud tions, the second of which recalls the

2 QCSO Program Notes 2018-19, Masterworks II first at its conclusion. You’ll hear every- ic”, here the second theme, made of thing twice in this opening section, so quiet, slowly-descending half notes, is listen for the repeats. quite distinct from the first theme. ¯ Thereafter Haydn shifts suddenly to ¯ Thunderous timpani signal the be- a much more sparse texture, and to ginning of an intense coda. two flats (a rather drastic move from G ¯ The final cadence is a bold and major). This passage ends up in D-flat straightforward authentic cadence (5 major, perhaps the furthest possible we leading to 1 in the , or a “musical can get from G major. exclamation point”). Beethoven would ¯ In another move to a parallel key, later take such final gestures and ex- Haydn then shifts from D-flat major to tend them for pages on end. C-sharp minor, for a rather quizzical flute solo. (1913-1976) Third movement (Minuet and Trio): Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, ¯ A minuet and trio is overall a ternary form (three-part, ABA or minuet-trio- Op. 33a

minuet). But each large section is itself Instrumentation: 2 flutes (both doubling picco- a smaller binary form (two-part, AB, of- lo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (second doubling E- ten with a little of A at the end). flat clarinet), 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 ¯ The “Trio” (a confusing name, since horns, 3 trumpets, 3 , tuba, timpa- it always uses more than three instru- ni, 2 percussion, harp, and strings. ments) is in B-flat major, rather remote Premiere: Full opera: June 7, 1945, Sadler’s from our opening key of D major. You’ll Wells Theatre, London, Reginald Goodall conducting. Interludes: June 13, 1945, Chel- know the trio has begun when you hear tenham Town Hall, London Philharmonic the oboe and violin wistfully calling with Orchestra, the composer conducting. an ascending melodic third. QCSO Performance History: James Dixon con- ¯ Contrapuntal writing, where instru- ducting in 1987, 1992; David Loebel (guest) ments have highly independent parts, is conducting in 2008. typical of trios. ¯ Though in other works the return of Active during the middle years of the twen- the minuet can follow the trio abruptly, tieth century, British composer Benjamin Haydn chose to write a brief, somewhat Britten wrote works of extraordinary musi- enervating transition at the end of the cal and psychological depth, often cen- trio. tered on themes of social alienation. Expla- Fourth movement (Spiritoso): nations for his dedication to such ideas are ¯ The energetic, festive final move- many, ranging from his politics (he was a ment begins with a long-held, low note pacifist during Britain’s bloodiest and most- (or pedal tone), over which a sprightly, celebrated war) to his sexuality (he and folkish theme sets an anticipating, cel- tenor Peter Pears were lifetime partners ebratory mood. and collaborators). He also faced much de- ¯ Like the first movement, the Finale is rision from the modernist musical estab- in sonata-allegro form. Whereas the lishment for his persistent (if highly person- opening movement was “monothemat- al) use of tonality and his refusal to adopt

QCSO Program Notes 2018-19, Masterworks II 3 then-fashionable techniques of serial (i.e., victim of and aggressor toward his highly twelve-tone) composition. He certainly had judgmental community. Or, as the com- many reasons see himself as an outsider, poser himself explained: “The more vicious and an awareness of this seems to perme- the society, the more vicious the individu- ate much of his music. al.”

But a further, often-overlooked explanation Not unlike Wagner before him, Britten for his focus on social disaffection is that he oversaw the separate publication of or- was, in contemporary terms, a committed chestral passages from Peter Grimes, hop- “localist”, who saw the isolation of the in- ing to reach a wider audience than the dividual as a tragic feature of modern life. opera alone would have allowed. This “I believe in roots, in associations, in back- “suite” has become perhaps Britten’s grounds, in personal relationships,” he said most-often performed purely orchestral in an address to the Aspen Institute in work, under the title Four Sea Interludes. 1963. Referring to an epiphany he experi- enced during his own travels to California Things to Listen for in in 1941, he recalled, “I suddenly realised the Four Sea Interludes where I belonged and what I lacked. I had First interlude (Dawn): become without roots.” On returning to ¯ During this relatively brief interlude, Britain, he settled permanently in his native listen for the interaction of three dis- East Anglia. He would have many interna- tinct orchestral layers: high violins and tional travels thereafter, but he remained flutes in unison, gurgling violas and constantly devoted to his place of origin. “I clarinets, and an imposing brass choir. belong at home–there–in Aldeburgh.” Over the course of this interlude, each layer follows its own dramatic arc. With all of this in mind, it is easy to see the ¯ The high violin layer in particular, grand opera Peter Grimes as Britten’s de- mostly “diatonic”, has a chromatic out- fining work: a tragedy fixated on social es- burst that sounds almost like the blues. trangement, set in a village that might well ¯ After the brass’s own moment of have been Aldeburgh itself. Based on a churning fury, the interlude ends quiet- work by local poet George Crabbe (1754- ly and mysteriously. 1832), Peter Grimes dramatizes the story of Second interlude (Sunday Morning): a reclusive fisherman who lives under the ¯ Britten uses overlapping horn thirds constant distrust of his neighbors. Initially at this interlude’s opening, perhaps suspected of murdering his apprentice, evoking church bells (without the actual over the course of the opera his attempts bells, which come in later). to form human relationships fail. His es- ¯ Like so many British musicians in the trangement from the townspeople eventu- twentieth century, Britten’s music here ally drives him to increasingly violent be- clearly owes something to American havior, ultimately resulting in the death of music, particularly the panoramic ballet yet another apprentice and his own suicide scores of Aaron Copland. at sea. In Britten’s telling, Grimes is the ar- ¯ Listen for the same tune played with chetype of the modern social outcast, both

4 QCSO Program Notes 2018-19, Masterworks II the bow in some strings while simulta- (1873- neously played pizzicato (plucked) by 1943) others. No. 3 in D minor, ¯ At one point, Britten almost certainly Op. 30 aims to depict a chirpy bird overhead. ¯ The eerie juxtaposition of stark, dis- Instrumentation: solo piano, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 sonant, chords is pure Britten. For him clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 (and really for all Western composers trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, and before him), dissonance is used for ex- strings. pressive purposes. Premiere: November 28, 1909, with the compos- er as soloist, New York Symphony Society, Third interlude (Moonlight): Walter Damrosch, conducting, New York ¯ This interlude begins with gently City. pulsing chords and strikingly expressive QCSO Performance History: Harry John Brown silences. conducting in 1949; Charles Gigante conduct- ¯ Real emotional warmth such as this ing in 1963; James Dixon conducting in 1967, passage exudes is relatively rare in Brit- 1971, 1976, 1989 (Garrick Ohlsson, piano); ten’s music. Indeed, he always finds a Donald Schleicher conducting in 2003 (Ralph Votapek, piano); Mark Russell Smith conduct- way to disturb our reverie; here he ing in 2011 (, piano). does so with the hiccup-like interjec-

tions of the flute, xylophone, and harp. As one might guess from his passionate ¯ Later, after a severely dissonant cli- music, Sergei Rachmaninoff was himself a max, the trumpets temporarily join the highly emotional person, and especially hiccups, which seems to have a calming prone to self-doubt. Most famously, he effect. considered his first symphony so inferior Fourth interlude (Storm): that he found it impossible to compose an- ¯ As always, Britten combines tradi- other note for four years. Though with the tional tonal gestures (in this case, the help of psychotherapy he eventually over- relentless 5 to 1 motion in the bass) came his inability to write (subsequently with more shockingly modern ones (a dedicating his second piano concerto to his virtual hurricane of furious dissonance). therapist), nagging insecurity plagued him ¯ The middle section provides an odd for life. sort of relief, in the form of a demonic

dance, supported by the snare drum. “I have never been quite able to make up ¯ Near the end, Britten gives us a my mind as to which was my true calling— near-Hollywood moment: a series of that of a composer, , or conductor,” long harp , merging with he wrote at the height of his fame. “Today, trilling winds and soupy strings. This when the greater part of my life is over, I gives the impression that perhaps a am constantly troubled by the misgiving peaceful resolution is possible, but like that, in venturing into too many fields, I Grimes himself, the final interlude suf- may have failed to make the best use of my fers a violent ending. life. In the old Russian phrase, I have ‘hunt-

QCSO Program Notes 2018-19, Masterworks II 5 ed three hares.’ Can I be sure that I have in the United States. What he would not killed one of them?” have foreseen, however, was his own emi- gration to New York within less than a dec- He may not have been sure, but we certain- ade. Like , Rachmaninoff was ly can be. Amid an age of unprecedented of aristocratic lineage and lost both status alienation between composers and audi- and property in the of ences, Rachmaninoff managed to write uni- 1917. versally-accessible music, premiering many of these works himself, either at the key- Things to Listen for in board or on the podium, to great acclaim. Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto His harmonic and orchestral vocabularies For several reasons, you might want to were widely imitated, especially in Holly- approach listening to this work somewhat wood film scores. His only persistent de- differently than the other works on the tractors were the same purveyors of the program. Each of Rachmaninoff’s three avant-garde who panned the work of Ben- movements are at least twice as long as jamin Britten, considering both composers’ any of Haydn’s or Britten’s, and following works passé, unworthy of the turbulent a form longer than 10 minutes can be twentieth century. Against these critics, frustrating, especially in a concerto. Ra- Rachmaninoff was uncharacteristically self- ther than attempting to trace long-term assured and entirely unapologetic. “I have trajectories, Rachmaninoff’s work might no sympathy with the composer who pro- be better grasped from moment-to- duces works according to preconceived moment. Ask yourself questions like: (1) formulas or theories,” he wrote, “or with what is the general texture of the piano the composer who writes in a certain style part (blocked chords, broken chords, because it is the fashion to do so. Great etc.)? (2) is the pianist playing more than music has never been produced in that one “thing” (a plus arpeggios, a way—and I dare say it never will.” slow bass melody under crashing chords, etc.) (3) how do the orchestral parts fit Rachmaninoff’s third piano concerto came into the piano part? (4) what general during a period of relative peace in the “mood” or “affect” does Rachmaninoff composer’s life and career: by 1901 he had seem to be evoking here? The answers to overcome the writer’s block that followed such questions vary extremely widely the first symphony, but was not yet cata- over the course of a work such as this, clysmically affected by political turmoil in and following features from passage to . Written as his international fame passage might provide insight in how was steadily on the rise, the third concerto Rachmaninoff wanted the work to be was composed specifically for his American heard overall. tour of 1909-10, in a manner reminiscent of First movement (Allegro ma non tanto): Haydn’s works for premiere in London. The ¯ A beginner could play the unassum- success of the concerto in America (includ- ing octave melody the piano presents ing performances with at at the work’s outset. Having estab- the podium) might have shown Rachmani- lished this lovely, simple tune, the pia- noff that he could find a receptive audience

6 QCSO Program Notes 2018-19, Masterworks II nistic fireworks begin in earnest. seizes the reins again, we have entered ¯ As the pianist takes off, listen for the third movement. that same tune, this time played in the Third movement (Alla breve): orchestra. ¯ Contrasted with the first movement, ¯ Rachmaninoff was a master of or- notice that the surface (i.e., chestration, especially in his piano con- foreground rhythmic figures) is faster, certos; pay especially close attention to but the harmonic rhythm (i.e., how of- how elegantly he folds the piano and ten the chords change) is actually slow- orchestra into each other. er. ¯ The first movement’s second theme ¯ In his apparent first use of humor in is of a more martial character, with lots this concerto, Rachmaninoff sets off the of staccatos, or short notes. Following fierce opening section with a passage this, Rachmaninoff gives us one of his marked Scherzando (i.e., joke-like). achingly tender, pop-ballad-ready mel- ¯ Another diversion follows, marked odies. “Lento” (i.e., slow). Listen for the ¯ This movement contains an extreme- shared between the piano, ly lengthy , which covers a lot the solo flute, the solo horn. of emotional ground. Indeed, the or- ¯ Such melodies continue as the joke- chestra seems somewhat stunned; the like textures resume, thus combining relatively short post-cadenza is some- the two diversions. what understated, particularly as the ¯ The concerto’s closing minutes are movement comes to an unassuming an overwhelming, inexorable boiling- close. over of energy. Second movement (Adagio): ¯ The pianist is allowed a long rest at

the beginning of the slow movement while the orchestra undertakes a long introduction. The winds begin, followed by the strings, then both groups play together. ¯ The pianist seems to be in a very dif- ferent mood than the orchestra, judg- ing from the agitated entrance follow- ing the introduction. ¯ Listen for often simply-stated tunes surrounded by arpeggios and other, sometimes elaborate figuration. Rach- maninoff’s melodies are famously sim- ple, and his piano textures are famously ornate. ¯ Just as at the opening, the orchestra brings things the movement to a close without the soloist. Once the pianist

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