Peoria Symphony Orchestra November 21, 2015 Program Notes by Michael Allsen This November program, titled “Bravura!” opens with fiery overture by Verdi, from his tragic era La forza del destino. The following work is a suite from a fairy-tale ballet by the young Stravinsky, Firebird - the first of his great scores for the groundbreaking Ballets Russe. After intermission, cellist Brinton Smith joins the Peoria Symphony Orchestra for Dvorák’s Cello Concerto - the composer’s final composition for orchestra, and one of his most profound works. Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) Overture to La Forza del destino Verdi’s La forza del destino (“The force of destiny”) was composed in 1861-62, for a performance at the Imperial Theater in St. Petersburg on November 10, 1862. Verdi made substantial revisions to the score, including the overture heard here, for its debut in Milan in 1869. Duration 8:00. La forza del destino, a tragic opera set in mid 18th-century Seville, tells the story of the ill-fated love of Don Alvaro and Leonora. Verdi wrote the opera for a commission by the Russian Imperial Theater. The St. Petersburg premiere in 1862 was notoriously unsuccessful, due in part to nationalistic grumbling by a group of Russian musicians angry at the fact that Verdi, a foreigner, was getting paid much better than the local talent. The plot of La forza del destino - replete with several murders, unintentional and otherwise - was also pretty dreary stuff for a Russian audience that expected something lighter and more entertaining from an Italian opera composer. When Verdi revived the opera for the Milanese audience at La Scala a few years later, it was in a thoroughly revised form, and it was resounding success. Among the most substantial revisions was an entirely new overture, which expanded greatly on the outlines of the original prelude. For Verdi, the overture was an integral part of the drama: setting a comic or tragic tone, exposing important melodies from the body of the opera, and sometimes leading directly into the first scene. Several of Verdi’s overtures have taken on lives of their own as concert pieces, however, and La forza del destino’s overture has remained the most popular of all, testifying to its durability as an independent piece. From the very first measures, there can be no doubt that this is beginning of a tragedy. It opens with ominous brass chords, and continues with an agitated melody from the strings. After a restatement of the chords, the upper woodwinds sing a slow, melancholy melody - Don Alvaro’s prayer from Act III. There is a brief lightening of the gloom when the solo clarinet plays Leonora’s aria from Act II, but the mood soon darkens again with a solemn brass chorale. The overture ends with a fiery coda. Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971) Suite from The Firebird (1945 version) Stravinsky composed his ballet score The Firebird (L’Oiseau de Feu) in 1909-1910, and it was first performed in Paris on June 25, 1910. The Suite on this program is the third of three concert suites Stravinsky extracted from the ballet score, and was first performed in New York in October 1945. Duration 31:00. In the summer of 1909 the ballet impresario Serge Diaghilev telegraphed Stravinsky in St. Petersburg with a commission for an original ballet score, based on a scenario by choreographer Michael Fokine. Stravinsky had already had some moderate success in Russia with works that were nationalistic in character. However, the commission for Firebird was a “big break” for the young composer - a chance to work with some of Europe’s premier creative artists. Diaghilev’s Ballet Russe, based in Paris, was probably the finest ballet company in the world at that time, bringing together dancers, musicians, and choreographers of the highest quality. Reminiscing about this commission some fifty years later, Stravinsky recalled how unsure he was about his ability to fulfill it. However, as he remembered: “...Diaghilev the diplomat arranged all. He came to see me one day, with Fokine, Nijinsky [the company’s lead dancer], Bakst, and Benois [the set designers], and when the five of them proclaimed their belief in my talent, I began to believe too and accepted…” Their faith was well rewarded. When it was first performed in Paris on June 25, 1910, the ballet Firebird was an enormous success, and it launched Stravinsky on an international career. Perhaps the most important outcome of his move to Paris - then the musical capital of Europe - and new-found fame was the opportunity to meet the most adventuresome musicians of the day. His most important influence up to that point had been his teacher Nicolai Rimsky-Korsavov, but, as Stravinsky recalled: “My stay in Paris enabled me to become aquainted with several personalities of the musical world, such as Debussy, Ravel, Florent Schmitt, and Manuel de Falla, who were in Paris at the time. I remember that on the evening of [Firebird’s] premiere, Debussy came to find me and complimented me on my score. It was the beginning of our friendship, which remained cordial until the end of our days.” These new influences and Diaghilev’s continuing support were instrumental in Stravinsky’s forging of a new and original style, culminating just a few years later in his revolutionary ballets Petrushka and Rite of Sping. The Firebird remained one of Stravinsky’s favorite pieces throughout his life, and he frequently programmed it in his appearances as a conductor - in a 1961 interview, he noted that he had conducted Firebird over a thousand times! His affection for this work is also shown by his willingness to tinker with it over the years. After completing the ballet score in 1910, he created three different reworkings of Firebird’s music as a concert suite, in 1910, 1919, and 1945. (Stravinsky in fact reworked all of his early works for the Ballet Russe in the 1940s, in part to renew his copyright.) While the 1919 version is perhaps the best-known incarnation of Firebird, the 1945 version is in some ways more complete. In this version, for a slightly pared-down orchestra, Stravinsky restored three brief pantomime scenes, a Pas de deux, and a Scherzo from the original ballet scores, as well as transitional material not present in the 1919 version. The scenario for Firebird, as adapted by Fokine, follows an old Russian folk tale. The Tsarevitch, Prince Ivan, is hunting the elusive Firebird, and during the night he wanders into a magical garden (Introduction). As he walks through the garden he sees the Firebird, a beautiful bird with dazzling plumage (Prelude and Dance of the Firebird and her Dance and Firebird Variations). Ivan captures the Firebird, but agrees to let her go free, after taking one of her feathers as a trophy (Pantomime I - Pas de deux - Pantomime II). At sunrise, Ivan meets thirteen princesses, who have come into the garden to dance and play with golden apples from the garden’s orchard. Ivan learns that the garden belongs to the evil magician-king Kaschei, who has enchanted the princesses, and who has the ability to turn his enemies into stone. In a playful scene (Scherzo: Dance of the Princesses). Ivan Tsarevich falls in love with one of the princesses, as the others swirl about him. All of the princesses dance a decidedly sexy round dance, the khorovod (Rondo). The prince vows to enter Kaschei’s castle and free his beloved. As soon as he opens the castle gate, however, Kaschei and his crew of demons appear and capture Ivan in a furious battle (Infernal Dance). The Firebird suddenly appears and distracts Kaschei’s monsters by dancing wildly among them. The Firebird reveals to Ivan the secret of Kaschei’s immortality: an egg that contains Kaschei’s soul. Ivan smashes the egg, and Kaschei immediately dies; and with him all of his enchantments. The Firebird dances a lovely Lullaby, gradually bringing to life all of the knights that Katschei had frozen. The ballet closes with a triumphant Final Hymn, and rejoicing by the prince and his princess. The human characters in the ballet - Prince Ivan and the princesses - are often represented by tonal, diatonic melodies. In some cases, these are Russian folk tunes adapted by Stravinsky from a collection published by Rimsky-Korsakov. For example, the main theme of the Rondo is a Russian tune called In the Garden. For the supernatural characters - the Firebird, and Kaschei and his gang - Stravinsky created melodies based on odd, dissonant intervals (especially the tritone, or augmented fourth). While Stravinsky’s music for Firebird contains much that Stravinsky learned from Rimsky-Korsakov, its focus on driving rhythms, its use of unusual and contrived scales, and its sometimes crashing dissonances herald a newer, much more radical style. In discussing Stravinsky’s early ballets Firebird, Petrushka, and Rite of Spring - the works that established Stravinsky as one of the foremost innovators of 20th-century music - conductor Pierre Boulez has written: “If the Rite is the most prodigious leap of the three, it is no less true that, for a trial shot, Firebird is a veritable masterpiece. The influence of Rimsky-Korsakov may be apparent; it does not prevent the work from affirming an originality that is all the more striking in perspective. It is impossible now not to recognize in it the youthfulness of a musical genius; I believe that its youthfulness is the most fascinating aspect of the score.” Antonín Dvorák (1841-1904) Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in B minor, Op.104 Dvorak wrote this concerto in 1894-95, and conducted the first performance in London in 1896, with Leo Stein as soloist.