Program one hundRed TwenTy-FiRST SeASon Chicago symphony orchestra riccardo muti Music director Pierre Boulez helen Regenstein Conductor emeritus Yo-Yo ma Judson and Joyce Green Creative Consultant Global Sponsor of the CSO

Saturday, June 9, 2012, at 8:00 Tuesday, June 12, 2012, at 7:30

Trevor Pinnock Conductor and Piano Keys Kristian Bezuidenhout Piano to the City Benjamin Hochman Piano Debussy Marche écossaise mozart Concerto for Three Pianos in F Major, K. 242 Allegro Adagio Rondo: Tempo di menuetto TRevoR PinnoCK KRiSTiAn BezuidenhouT BenJAMin hoChMAn

InTermIssIon mendelssohn Symphony no. 3 in A Minor, op. 56 (Scottish) Andante con moto—Allegro un poco agitato— vivace non troppo— Adagio— Allegro vivacissimo—Allegro maestoso assai

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is most grateful to Judy Istock, CSO Life Trustee, for her generous support as lead sponsor of the Keys to the City Piano Festival. The festival receives additional generous support from The Chicago Community Trust, Dan J. Epstein Family Foundation, Mr. & Mrs. Paul G. Gignilliat, Joe and Madeleine Glossberg, and the National Endowment for the Arts. CSO Tuesday series concerts are sponsored by United Airlines. Media support for the Keys to the City Piano Festival is provided by Chicago Tribune and WFMT. This program is partially supported by grants from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency. CommenTs By PhilliP huSCheR

Claude Debussy Born August 22, 1862, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, . Died March 25, 1918, Paris, France.

Marche écossaise sur un thème populaire

oung composers don’t turn Alphonse Allais acting as their Ydown commissions. So translator. John Meredith Read, Debussy—still in his twenties, however, was an American diplo- with all his great works ahead of mat and lawyer who served as the him, and struggling to make ends U.S. consul general for France from meet—immediately accepted an 1868 to 1873. Although his French oddball request may have been rusty by 1890, from a Scottish when he and Debussy sat down general, Meredith to work out their arrangement, Read, to write Allais probably joined them as a a march on drinking companion rather than as a traditional an interpreter. bagpipe melody. General Read, who was According to the descended from the ancient counts legend repeated in of Ross, asked Debussy to make an the early Debussy arrangement of an old clan melody literature, the that had been played by a band of composer and the pipers before battle and on festival John Meredith Read general, unable to days. Debussy complied with a speak each other’s colorful march for piano, four- language, negoti- hands (the original title was Marche ated the deal in one of Debussy’s des anciens Comtes de Ross—March favorite Paris cafés (or bars—the of the ancient counts of Ross). details vary), with the writer The piece, which was composed

ComPoseD FIrsT Cso InsTrumenTaTIon 1890, piano four-hands; PerFormanCe two flutes and piccolo, two 1893–1908, orchestra november 18, 1910, oboes and english horn, two orchestra hall. Frederick clarinets, two bassoons, FIrsT PerFormanCe Stock conducting four horns, two trumpets, January 16, 1910, nancy, three trombones, timpani, France mosT reCenT percussion, harp, strings Cso PerFormanCe october 28, 1932, aPProxImaTe orchestra hall. Frederick PerFormanCe TIme Stock conducting 7 minutes

2 quickly in 1890, is by no means May of 1894, but Debussy evidently a work of Debussy’s apprentice wasn’t done scoring the piece and years. That same spring, he began it was pulled from the program. By the Suite bergamasque for piano, the time the full orchestral version which includes as the third of its of the piece, now simply called four movements Claire de lune, one March écossaise (Scottish march), of his most beloved works. And was completed in 1908, Debussy the following year, he began the was famous as the composer of Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun La mer and the opera Pelleas and that is one of the defining works Melisande. The march is a little not only of his career but also of known footnote to the important musical modernism. French tradition of orchestral An orchestral version of the pieces that began as piano music, piano march was announced as part including most of Ravel’s orchestral of a concert to be given in Paris in output and Debussy’s own Images.

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3 Wolfgang mozart Born January 27, 1756, , Austria. Died December 5, 1791, Vienna, Austria.

Concerto for Three Pianos in F major, K. 242

he most famous picture of Nannerl made a name for them- Tthe Mozart family, painted selves playing the piano together in the winter of 1780 in Salzburg when they toured Europe like by Johann Nepomuk della Croce, a family of acrobats in the mid- shows Wolfgang and his sister 1760s. (Leopold, always the crafty Nannerl seated side by side at the manager, regularly lopped a year keyboard. (Papa Leopold, violin off each child’s age on posters and in hand, looks on from the side; theatrical announcements.) By the his wife Anna Maria, who died in end of the century, music for piano Paris two years earlier, is included four-hands had become a favorite in a picture on the wall.) The music domestic social convention, thrust- the Mozart siblings are shown per- ing good friends, family members, forming is most likely the C major and young lovers into unusually sonata for piano, four-hands that close quarters as they crossed hands, Wolfgang composed at the age of bumped knees, and fought over the nine, given that his right and her middle octave. But music composed left hands are crossed, as that score for more than one piano has always demands at one point in the rondo. been a novelty (and something of a Music for more than one pianist spectacle) designed for public events was rare in Mozart’s day, and, in like this week’s concerts. fact, Leopold claimed, at the time In Mozart’s day, homes and even his son wrote the C major sonata, concert halls boasting more than that it was the first of its kind. As one piano were uncommon. When young children, Wolfgang and Mozart moved from Salzburg to

ComPoseD october 12, 1967, orchestra July 9, 2006, Ravinia 1776 hall. Gaby Casadesus, Festival. Saleem Abboud , Robert Ashkar, Shai wosner, Jakub FIrsT PerFormanCe Casadesus, pianists; Jean Cizmarovic, pianists; James date unknown Martinon conducting Conlon conducting

FIrsT Cso mosT reCenT InsTrumenTaTIon PerFormanCes Cso PerFormanCes three solo pianos, two oboes, december 29, 1932, January 31, 1996, orchestra two horns, strings orchestra hall (Mozart hall. Radu lupu, elena arrangement for two key- Bashkirova, pianists; daniel aPProxImaTe boards). Philip Manuel, Gavin Barenboim conducting from PerFormanCe TIme williamson, harpsichords; the keyboard 24 minutes Frederick Stock conducting

4 Vienna in 1781, he was overjoyed than the fact that it was played to stay for a while with the Weber in Salzburg, in early 1776, by the family, who placed two pianos at his disposal. (Two Weber daugh- ters had already caught his eye: by 1781 Aloisia had rejected Mozart’s advances and married Joseph Lange, but Constanze would become Mozart’s wife within the year.) But the idea of writing a con- certo for three pianos was not only a novelty, but an extravagant and wildly impractical idea—a luxury composition for a special event. Although Mozart often played the triple piano concerto that The Mozart Family. Painted by Johann Nepomuk della Croce, Salzburg, 1780–81 appears on this week’s program, the work originally was written for a family of amateur pianists—the three Lodron women. Lodrons of Salzburg, Mozart’s Throughout the concerto, Mozart hometown. Countess Maria delights in the almost operatic Antonia Lodron was the hostess of interplay of instruments—not to the city’s leading musical salon, and mention the wondrous racket of Mozart taught both her daughters, racing scales, Alberti bass lines, Aloisia and Giuseppa. During his and clangorous trills, all in trip- early years in Salzburg, Mozart licate. This is a work of solidarity, was deeply indebted to the family requiring not only the calisthenics for both financial and emotional of synchronized playing, but also support as well as for introduc- a unified way of thinking about tions to all the right people. On musical meaning—the shaping of the presentation copy of this score, phrases, the weighting of notes, Mozart refers to himself as “their and the composer’s deeper intent. most devoted servant,” and for once Above all, it celebrates the sheer that boilerplate phrase rings true. joy of sociability—of sharing We know nothing about the first music, ideas, and friendship across performance of this concerto other three keyboards.

5 Born February 3, 1809, Hamburg, Germany. Died November 4, 1847, Leipzig, Germany.

symphony no. 3 in a minor, op. 56 (Scottish)

mong Mendelssohn’s earliest composer used Swiss folk songs in Ateachers was Johann Gottlob two string symphonies. He made Samuel Rösel, a landscape painter his first important solo journey in who thought his bright young pupil 1829 at his parents’ urging, and it might make his living painting too produced musical benefits. and drawing rather than writing Mendelssohn left Berlin on and performing music. From an April 10, 1829, to join his friend early age, Mendelssohn displayed Karl Klingemann in England. many talents: he wrote poetry, While in London, Mendelssohn sketched madly, and, as we more found time to play four con- readily remember, began compos- certs before the two set off for ing early enough to write two Edinburgh. In Scotland, he met Sir enduring masterpieces as a teenager Walter Scott—Mendelssohn had (the Octet and the Overture to read all his novels—and enjoyed a Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s bagpipe competition. On July 30, Dream). Mendelssohn did not lose 1829, the first idea for this Scottish his fondness for landscape paint- Symphony came to him. He and ing once his musical talent began Klingemann had gone to Holyrood, to overshadow his other gifts, the obligatory tourist attraction although he drew his most famous where Mary, Queen of Scots sup- pictures in music. posedly fell in love with the poor Travel always ignited Italian lutenist David Rizzio, who Mendelssohn’s inspiration. In subsequently was murdered by the 1823, after a family vacation in queen’s husband. Mendelssohn Switzerland, the fourteen-year-old wrote home:

ComPoseD mosT reCenT aPProxImaTe 1829–1831; 1842 Cso PerFormanCe PerFormanCe TIme october 31, 2009, 43 minutes FIrsT PerFormanCe orchestra hall. Sir Andrew March 3, 1842, leipzig. The davis conducting Cso reCorDIngs composer conducting 1947. Artur Rodzinski InsTrumenTaTIon conducting. RCA FIrsT Cso two flutes, two oboes, two 1979. Sir Georg Solti PerFormanCe clarinets, two bassoons, conducting. london (video) January 1, 1892, Auditorium four horns, two trumpets, Theatre. Theodore timpani, strings 1985. Sir Georg Solti Thomas conducting conducting. london

6 We went, in the deep twilight, symphonies to the palace where Queen were “haunt- Mary lived and loved. There ing his brain,” is a little room to be seen as he put there, with a winding staircase it, and later leading up to it. That is where that they they went up and found Rizzio had begun to in the little room, dragged assume more him out, and three chambers definite shape. away is a dark corner where (He managed they killed him. The adjoining to find time chapel is now roofless; grass to complete Karl Klingemann, Mendelssohn’s and ivy grow abundantly in The Hebrides friend and traveling it; and before the ruined altar Overture companion on his visit Mary was crowned queen of while to Scotland. Drawing by Scotland. Everything around is in Rome.) Wilhelm Hensel broken and moldering, and the Work on bright sky shines in. I believe the Italian I found the beginning of my Symphony progressed rapidly and Scotch symphony there today. it was the first to be finished. “The Scottish symphony alone is not yet Where tourists today take quite to my liking,” he wrote to his photos with their mobile sister Fanny in February 1831. “If phones, Mendelssohn jotted any brilliant idea occurs to me, I down the melody that would will seize it at once, quickly write preserve this moment for his it down, and symphonic scrapbook. finish it at Felix and Karl were quickly off to last.” Either see other sites, including Fingal’s Mendelssohn Cave in the Hebrides, where he ran out of wrote out another famous melody brilliant ideas, as it came to him. In a letter which seems dated later that year, he said, “The unlikely ‘Scotch’ symphony and all the given his Hebrides matter is building itself track record, up step by step.” In 1830, after a or else life short visit back home in Berlin, intervened, Mendelssohn made another trip, because it was this time to Italy (at the sugges- another ten tion of Goethe, whom he had years before befriended when he was twelve he picked up Felix’s sister Fanny Mendelssohn (1805–1847) and the great poet seventy-two), the unfinished where he was sidetracked by the score and beginning of an Italian symphony. swiftly brought it to a conclu- From Rome he wrote that two sion. It was the last symphonic

7 work he completed. By then, this There are many exquisite touches. symphony meant more to him The opening introduction, with its than scenery, and by the time of swelling wind chords, colored at the first performance in March first only by the sound of violas, 1842, Mendelssohn had dropped contains some of Mendelssohn’s its Scottish nickname. Indeed, to most expressive and profound unsuspecting audiences, there is music. The body of the movement, nothing overtly “Scottish” about in sonata form, sustains the sense the music. (In his review, Robert of urgency and drama. Near the Schumann mistakenly believed end of the development section, the this was Mendelssohn’s Italian cellos begin a broad new melody, Symphony and wrote how its accompanied only by a scattering beauty made him regret that he had of chords, that carries into the never gone to Italy!) Mendelssohn recapitulation, adding a wonderful had sworn off nationalistic music counterpoint to the main theme. ever since visiting Wales, where The scherzo is a model of lightness he was driven mad by harps and and grace at lightning speed, even hurdy-gurdies at every turn, inces- when the entire orchestra joins santly playing Welsh melodies— the dance, fortissimo. The slow “vulgar, out-of-tune trash.” movement, one of Mendelssohn’s We are probably safe in detecting many songs without words, is the mists of the Scottish highlands interrupted several times by fierce in Mendelssohn’s haunted open- martial music suggesting that the ing measures, for this is the music finale is assembled and waiting on conceived in the deep twilight the horizon. Even Mendelssohn at Holyrood. Mendelssohn cau- admitted that his A minor finale tioned against dramatic readings, is warlike. Although two themes but how many listeners still find do battle each other, the contest bagpipes, Gaelic melodies, and throughout remains civilized and highland flings in this symphony? ultimately fades to a peaceful truce. There are four movements, played The grand conclusion comes unan- without pause. A snatch of the slow nounced, with a switch to A major introduction returns at the end and 6/8 time, and a majestic, of the first movement to lead us affirmative new theme waving the toward the high gymnastics of the flag of victory. scherzo that follows. Only a flicker of light separates that movement from the first doleful chords of the Adagio; later the finale also breaks Phillip Huscher is the program annota- © 2012 Chicago Symphony Orchestra © 2012 Chicago in without warning. tor for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

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