DISCOUNTED JUPITER MOVIE TICKETS FOR RACT MEMBERS

Saturday 25 November 7.30pm Federation Concert Hall Hobart MASTER 11

Marko Letonja conductor INTERVAL Jonathon Ramsay trombone Duration 20 mins MOZART Serenade No 6, K239, Serenata notturna MOZART Marcia (Maestoso) Symphony No 41, Jupiter Menuetto – Trio Allegro vivace Rondeau (Allegretto – Adagio – Allegro) Andante cantabile Duration 12 mins Menuetto e Trio (Allegretto) Molto allegro MICHAEL HAYDN Duration 31 mins Concerto for Alto Trombone This concert will end at approximately Allegro spiritoso 9.30pm. Andantino WITH RACT ROYAL REWARDS Presto Duration 14 mins

YU Sinfonia passacaglissima Duration 17 mins

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48 49 RM2014_07/17 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Serenade No 6 in D, K 239 Serenata Perhaps Mozart was using the conventions notturna of outdoor music, with their suggestion of Marcia (Maestoso) an al fresco style, as a substitute for the Menuetto – Trio out-of-doors itself (Notturno may have been the special Salzburg name for such music). Rondeau (Allegretto – Adagio – Allegro The timpani are particularly prominent: the Marko Letonja Jonathon Ramsay In Salzburg Mozart wrote a great deal of presence of these drums in the ripieno (large occasional music, for social and ceremonial group) balances the double bass in the events – music designed to be performed concertino. Mozart makes the most of the Marko Letonja is Chief Conductor and Jonathon Ramsay took up the position of once. The wonder is that so much of colours available from this combination of Artistic Director of the Tasmanian Symphony Principal Trombone with the Tasmanian Mozart’s “utility” music is great music. instruments. The first movement, a march, Orchestra and Music Director of the Symphony Orchestra in 2015, fresh from Most of the pieces don’t fit neatly into is restricted to a simple alternation of tonic Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg. completing his Bachelor of Music Studies modern concert conventions. Where they and dominant because only two notes are are chamber pieces, they require extras available from the timpani (D and A in this Born in Slovenia, he studied at the Academy degree at the Sydney Conservatorium such as horns; where orchestral, many of key). The sound combination of pizzicato of Music in Ljubljana and the Vienna of Music under Scott Kinmont. He has them are luxuriously but unmanageably long. strings with timpani is particularly original. Academy of Music. He was Music Director performed as guest principal trombone The “Serenada notturna” (as the title is The minuet, a rather grand one, has a trio for of the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra with both the Sydney and Melbourne spelled on the manuscript) is an exception, the concertino alone; the final Rondeau really lets its hair down, especially in its episodes from 1991 to 2003 and Music Director and Symphony Orchestras, and as a soloist being neither long nor inconveniently scored. But the popularity it has gained in recent – one of them a poignant adagio leading Chief Conductor of both the Symphony with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. times owes most to its special character, and to a sprightly contredanse. Mozart authority Orchestra and the Opera in Basel from 2003 He has been successful in competitions its memorable sounds and melodies. Alfred Einstein suggests that these episodes, to 2006. He was Principal Guest Conductor both domestic and international on the contrasting so strikingly with the lively This “nocturnal serenade” is basically a of Orchestra Victoria in 2008 and made euphonium, including being a finalist in the country dance of the returning refrain, are concerto grosso, but with some unusual allusions to tunes known to the first audience, his debut with the TSO the following year. ABC-Symphony Australia Young Performers features. Scholars have noted the makeup to whom they meant something amusing. He took up the post of Chief Conductor Awards multiple times, and has studied of the concertino (soloists’) group – two One traveller observed that “the Salzburger’s and Artistic Director of the Tasmanian the ophicleide – a 19th-century keyed violins, viola and double bass. This implies spirit is exceedingly inclined to low humour. the conventions of outdoor performance – Symphony Orchestra at the start of 2012. brass instrument – with Nick Byrne, which Their folksongs are so comical and burlesque where the players would arrive and depart He has worked with many orchestras in led to him becoming a founding member that one cannot listen to them without side- playing on the march. A cello cannot readily splitting laughter.” Europe including the Munich Philharmonic, of the Sydney Ophicleide Quartet. His be played on the move, the argument goes, Vienna Symphony, Berlin Radio Orchestra, interest in historically informed performance whereas the double bass can be strapped David Garrett © 2001/2017 Mozarteum Orchestra and the Orchestra practice has also led to him playing the to the player, and so can the kettledrums. Indeed, this serenade begins with a march. The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra first Filarmonica della Scala, Milan. He has also sackbut – the predecessor to the modern performed this work with conductor John On the other hand, Mozart’s autograph score Farnsworth Hall on 7 February 1953 and, most worked in many renowned opera houses trombone. Always searching to improve, bears the date January 1776, and it is unlikely recently, with Alexander Shelley in Devonport and such as the Vienna State Opera, Berlin Jonathon Ramsay has had lessons from that the music was played out-of-doors in Hobart on 17 and 19 September 2009. State Opera, La Scala Milan, Semper some of the world’s leading trombonists, winter. There are no clues in the Mozart Oper Dresden, and the Grand Théâtre de including Michael Mulcahy of the Chicago family correspondence as to the occasion for which he wrote this piece. The evidence that Genève. Additionally, he has conducted Symphony and Jorgen van Rijen of the the “serenade quartet” in Salzburg consisted at the Arena di Verona. Recent and future Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in the of two violins, viola and double bass, and no engagements include the Mozarteum Netherlands. cello, rests in fact largely on this particular Orchestra Salzburg, Berlin Radio Orchestra, piece of Mozart’s. Since it was probably Bavarian State Opera in Munich and played indoors, it may be relevant that a cellist cannot play standing up, and sitting Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen for the was disrespectful when the Archbishop was Royal Swedish Opera with Nina Stemme as present (in the 18th century, musicians usually Brünnhilde. played standing).

50 51 Michael Haydn (1737-1806) Julian Yu (born 1957)

Concerto for Alto Trombone (extracted Salzburg, it seems, was blessed until 1769 Sinfonia Passacaglissima and a punctuating faster motif (short-short- with the presence of one Thomas Gschladt, short-short-long) in the low strings. The first from Divertimento in D, MH 68) Born in Beijing, Julian Yu settled in Australia a virtuoso trombonist (and player of violin variations maintain the ground’s proportions Allegro spiritoso in 1985 and rapidly established a formidable and horn) who is thought to have inspired in a fairly simple string melody made up of Andantino reputation, garnering significant local a number of solos that appear in Salzburg’s short phrases, and a section in which winds and international prizes and prestigious Presto sacred music of the time, as well as concertos build chords that soon disperse. A flowing commissions. He studied and later taught or serenade movements by both Mozarts, theme in the violins is introduced by the Michael Haydn may not have enjoyed art the Central Conservatory of Music in Albrechtsberger, Wagenseil and Michael trumpet and accompanied by a gracious the superstar status that came, late in life, Beijing and, from 1980 to 1982, studied at Haydn. Sadly for Salzburg, Gschladt moved cello line, while the faster motif from the to his older brother Joseph, but he was the Tokyo College of Music. In 1988 he was a to Olmütz/Olomouc in 1769 where the start drives the music into a section of great a prolific composer and, in Salzburg, a Composition Fellow at Tanglewood. highly esteemed colleague of Leopold musical culture proved much less congenial. energy that dissolves into a “night music” of Yu elegantly balances contemporary Western winds and metal percussion. More energy is and Wolfgang Mozart. Leopold eventually Gschladt was, if this piece is anything to and traditional Chinese aesthetics in much released in a semiquaver texture that, too, turned against Haydn, fanning rumours go by, certainly no slouch, proving the of his music, notably in such works as the leads the sound of winds and chimes, and of his growing alcoholism, but Wolfgang instrument capable both of great agility and diaphanously beautiful Hsiang-wen (Filigree as the strings take up an insistent scrubbing praised Haydn’s music for its “fire, spirit and expressiveness. In the first movement the Clouds, 1990) for orchestra. For much of we realise that the variations are becoming precision” and, on a visit to Salzburg in 1783, trombone keeps pace with the scurrying his career this has not meant that his work longer and more symphonic. Brass fanfares helped his friend – at the time too ill to fulfil energy of the orchestral parts in astonishingly sounds overtly “Asian” – in the sense, for and passages of bright sparkle point towards his commissions – by “ghost composing” light and rapid passagework. The Andantino instance, of relying on traditional pentatonic a loud but peremptory climax, which ushers the Duos (K423 and K424) on Haydn’s offers the trombone’s lyrical side, complete patterns – but has sought to “inherit the in a more comic series of sections set off by behalf. In the days before modern notions of with the trills and other ornaments that had Chinese musical tradition in different ways”. bassoon triplets. These balletic variations early 20th-century commentators sure that copyright and intellectual property, this kind One of these is to cultivate the traditional soon give way to brass polyphony with high such music must have been written for horn. of thing was quite common, leading to some Chinese practice of careful imitation of string lines that lead finally to a forceful According to Lindberg, this movement complicated questions of attribution in our canonical works, and to use extant music climax and peroration, featuring a dramatic was one that Mozart particularly admired. own day: the Duos were long thought to be – his own or others’ – as the basis for stroke of the gong and triumphant major The cantering finale, too, is Mozartian in Michael Haydn’s work; it now seems likely ornamented development. This, of course, is harmony. character, its main theme having the popular that he composed most of Mozart’s G major very close to the practice of many Baroque song-like character the Mozart cultivated © Gordon Kerry 2017 Symphony K 444, and so on. composers, so it is hardly surprising that Yu in his piano concertos. Haydn’s scoring has a special affinity with the music of JS Haydn composed a large amount of liturgical includes passages in which the trombone The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra first Bach and with some of the formal procedures music for Salzburg, where he was employed plays a duet with the horn. Lindberg is sure performed this work with conductor Markus Stenz used by the great Saxon composer. in Sydney on 20 and 21 September 1995. for 43 years, but also composed instrumental that the horn part was played by Joseph works and is known to have completed a Leutgeb, the long-suffering horn player (and The passacaglia is a Baroque form par number of divertimentos and serenades. cheesemonger) for whom Mozart wrote his excellence, with its repeated “ground”, Many of these works, typically in eight or concertos. usually in the bass, over which composers more movements, were often for outdoor develop layers of ever more sophisticated © Gordon Kerry 2017 entertainment (Haydn’s first commission in variation; but it resurfaced in significant Salzburg was for a serenade, known there This is the first performance of this work by the works of the 20th century by composers as Finalmusik, to celebrate the end of the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. like Berg, Webern, Britten and Henze. In academic year). They usually begin and the Sinfonia Passacaglissima, composed end with a march that bookends a series in 1995, Yu follows some of those more of contrasting dance movements, and, on recent composers by make the ground more occasion, movements that are effectively extensible than simple repetition would concerto pieces for a solo instrument. The allow, and letting it appear in voices other Divertimento in D (provisionally named, than the bass – indeed sometimes leaving it as the title page has never been found) unstated, but implied, as Britten does in the contains among its ten movements several Passacaglia in Peter Grimes. that feature a solo trombone. This edition Yu states the ground in the bass, with a has been prepared by trombonist Christian spacious, repeated rhythmic pattern of Lindberg. short-short-long notes in the contrabassoon

52 53 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Symphony No 41 in C, K 551 Jupiter much good music to be written in the Allegro vivace key of C major. And varied music, too. Andante cantabile The grand, rich orchestral exposition of this first movement concludes with a quotation Menuetto e Trio (Allegretto) from a comic aria Mozart had composed Molto allegro earlier in the same year, for inclusion in The concept of a “masterpiece” deserving another composer’s opera buffa, to the to be played over and over again with a words “You’ve but sluggish wit, dear Signor permanent place in the concert repertoire Pompeo! Go learn a bit of the ways of the developed at the end of the 18th century, world.” The Classical Viennese symphony with the growth of a paying music public and establishes a balance between serious orchestras devoted to public concert-giving. and comic elements and makes no barrier It is no accident that this was the time when between them; this same theme becomes pieces began to acquire nicknames – the late the basis of Mozart’s powerful development symphonies of Joseph Haydn are the best section. example: Surprise, Miracle, Military and so Muted violins and the subdominant key, F, on. Musicians often complain that the titles contribute to a completely different mood are misleading, and, more seriously, that lack for the slow movement. Intensely expressive of a title has prevented many a fine work figures for the strings are punctuated by from becoming well-known. strong chords, and a disturbing undercurrent Only rarely was the title given by the of emotion is maintained by syncopations composer. On the autograph of this, his last and repeated figures. Leading notes emphasise the chromaticism of the music symphony, Mozart wrote only “Sinfonia”. with fugato episodes. In itself, that was inviting analysis, but sweeps the listener away with its constantly shifting harmonic colours, The American musicologist and Mozart not unusual, and Mozart’s models almost through its exciting power. Mozart remains an a feature so Mozartian that it is immediately expert Neal Zaslaw informs us that the title certainly included several symphonies entertainer even at his most serious. recognisable when Haydn, in the symphony Jupiter probably originated in London, where by Joseph Haydn’s brother Michael (and he was writing when he heard of Mozart’s David Garrett © 2001 it may have been coined by Haydn’s London perhaps, too, Joseph Haydn’s Op 20 string sponsor, the violinist and entrepreneur death (No 98), quotes from this movement. quartets). Mozart himself had developed the The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra first Johann Salomon. The earliest edition of the The Menuetto is this symphony’s most subtle sonata-rondo movement with fugal episodes performed this work with conductor Kenneth symphony to employ the subtitle Jupiter movement, the one whose achievement may in his piano concertos, notably K 459 in Murison Bourn in Hobart and Launceston on was a piano arrangement made and slip past the listener’s attention because it F. What is unusual here is the consistent 19 and 20 October 1950 and, most recently, with Andreas Delfs in Hobart on 25 June 2011. published in London in 1823 by Muzio is dressed in the most conventional 18th- seriousness and weight of the finale (though Clementi. This is particularly interesting century garb. But who else wrote any minuet not without contrast), shifting the centre of as it was in England during this period like this of Mozart’s, with its subtly scored gravity towards the end of the symphony, an that Mozart’s late music first began to be beginning wrapped in waving string figures, example not lost on Mozart’s successors in widely appreciated, including, somewhat its chromaticism, and its brief but powerful the next century. surprisingly, the powerful but old-fashioned reminders of the majesty of the whole The thematic basis of this movement is a opera seria La clemenza di Tito, with its symphony? The Trio seems more continuous four-note tag used by many composers: theme from Roman antiquity. with the minuet than usual, though its Haydn, Mozart himself, and others from The title Jupiter has a neoclassical ring. beginning arrests the ear, causing us to Palestrina through Bach to Brahms. We do Images of stately architecture and godly wonder what will follow. Many have found in not think of Mozart as a “learned” composer, nobility are conjured up by the grand this Trio more than an outline of the theme of but this movement is the most triumphant opening of the symphony, recalling Mozart’s the great last movement. evidence of Haydn’s remark to his young piano concerto in the same key, K 503. But it In 19th-century Germany the Jupiter was colleague’s father Leopold: that his son is doubtful whether Mozart had any extra- known as “the symphony with the fugal had the most complete knowledge of the musical ideas in mind – more likely he was finale”. Learned commentators have science of composition. The coda of the anticipating what the “atonalist” Schoenberg hastened to point out that it is not in fact movement, where five motives are combined said in the 20th century: that there is still a fugue, but a sonata-form movement in inverted counterpoint, is not an effect

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