Strauss paints a series of musical portraits of Don Quixote’s ill-fated exploits, from an adventure with windmills, to battling a flock of sheep, to encountering a band of pilgrims. The Don’s musings about Lady Dulcinea, the imagined woman of his dreams, inspire some of Strauss’ most ravishingly beautiful music. TIM STEWART, NCS ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL TRUMPET Cello Concerto WILLIAM WALTON BORN March 29, 1902, in Oldham, Lancashire, England; died March 7, 1983, on Ischia, in the Bay of Naples PREMIERE Composed 1956; first performance January 27, 1957, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch conducting, with Gregor Piatigorsky as soloist OVERVIEW It was with the First Symphony, completed after almost three years of painstaking labor in 1935, that William Walton came to his artistic maturity. Though he had gained a wide notoriety with Façade (1922), the Viola Concerto (1929), and the oratorio Belshazzar’s Feast, it was beginning with the First Symphony that, according to the British critic Colin Mason, “the impulse is no longer the desire to express for others, but the necessity to express for himself.” In his next major orchestral work, the Violin Concerto written in 1939 for Heifetz, Walton added to the sturdy harmonic palette, exuberant rhythms, and brilliant manner of orchestration “a strong feeling for lyricism” (the composer’s own words) and a virtuosic flair, all based on an unmistakable allegiance to his Romantic antecedents. Much of Walton’s activity during the years of World War II was given to composing ballet and music for films (notably the memorable collaborations with Laurence Olivier on Henry V, Hamlet, and Richard III). In the early 1950s, he undertook the opera Troilus and Cressida, a full-scale stage work in the Romantic “grand manner.” The Cello Concerto, commissioned in 1956 by Gregor Piatigorsky, continued the spirit and technique of Troilus with an even greater refinement of gesture, color, and texture. In comparing the Cello Concerto with the opera, Colin Mason wrote that “the harmony is a shade less sweet and the mood more serene and ‘objective,’ with less of his old nostalgic bittersweet melancholy.” The Cello Concerto shares with Walton’s earlier concertos for viola and violin a formal plan that surrounds a fast, scherzo-like middle movement with music of greater introspection. The opening movement of each work is slow in tempo and lyrical in nature, while the finale recalls thematic material from previous movements to round out the composition’s overall structure. Also common to all three string concertos is Walton’s expert skill at creating affective melodies, about which the English scholar Hubert Foss wrote, “I confess that the quality of Walton’s lyrical invention overcomes me emotionally in a way that is quite exceptional. I do not find myself tiring of his lyrical romanticism... I think Walton touches us all with his own humanity. There is at once a friendliness in the music as an oracular vision that comprehends but stands above sympathy.” WHAT TO LISTEN FOR The essential elements of the opening movement are the lyrical qualities of its cello themes and the restrained and refined handling of the instrumental resources that allows the soloist to soar unhindered above the orchestral accompaniment. John N. Burk notes that this sensitive balancing of the concerto’s performing forces enhances “the expressive beauty of the cello, which more nearly approaches the human voice than any other instrument. It has a magnificent range and variety of color. It is indeed the aristocrat among instruments.” Formally, the first movement is a hybrid of sonata and rondo designs. A main theme begun with two leaping, interlocking intervals is given by the soloist after a rocking introductory gesture in the orchestra. Complementary melodies follow: one growing from an arch-shaped initial phrase, the other making a long descent through altered scale patterns. A brief developmental section leads without pause to a restatement of the main theme, on this appearance accompanied by violin tremolo and an answering dialogue from the celesta. A lyrical episode for the soloist and the first violins ensues before the movement closes with another traversal of the main theme, with its rocking background restored. The second movement is, in the composer’s words, “technically more spectacular” than the first. It is an extended essay of unabashed virtuosity based on a moto perpetuo rhythmic motive announced by the soloist. Walton described the finale as a “tema con improvisazioni — there are four ‘improvisations,’ the second and fourth being for solo cello only; the latter leads into the epilogue, which is based on themes from the first and last movements.” The first four sections, alternating tutti paragraphs with the soloist’s cadenzas, are loosely based on the theme presented in the first measures by the cello. The final, coda-like portion recalls mainly the subject of the first movement’s lyrical episode, but closes with a quiet reminiscence of the wide intervals from the tender opening theme of the concerto. INSTRUMENTATION Solo cello, piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, celesta, strings Don Quixote, Op. 35 RICHARD STRAUSS BORN June 11, 1864, in Munich; died September 8, 1949, in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany PREMIERE Composed 1897; first performance March 8, 1898, Cologne, Franz Wuellner conducting OVERVIEW Don Quixote is not only among the earliest examples of the novel in world literature (1605), but also one of the most admired and widely enjoyed. Miguel de Cervantes sketched his hero thus: “Through little sleep and much reading, he dried up his brains in such sort as he wholly lost his judgment.” Thereupon, “He fell into one of the strangest conceits that a madman ever stumbled on in this world... that he should become a knight-errant, and go throughout the world with his horse and armor to seek adventures and practice in person all he had read was used by knights of yore...” Knights in shining armor were as much out of fashion in Cervantes’ day as covered wagons and the pony express are in ours, but the nostalgic, historical romance they represent is the source of much of the poignancy that Don Quixote elicits and that served as the emotional engine for Richard Strauss’ tone poem — as well as for works by some 60 other composers, including Telemann and Purcell. In his setting, Strauss chose to emphasize the dramatic elements of the tale by assigning a theme representing Quixote to the solo cello and then varying the melody to depict several episodes from the novel. Along for the adventure, as well as much abuse from his master, is the faithful squire Sancho Panza, whose part is usually played by solo viola, but also given to the tenor tuba and bass clarinet. WHAT TO LISTEN FOR Strauss’ tone poem portrays ten of Quixote’s exploits, described in a summary of the action which he outlined with subtitles in the two-piano version of the score: Introduction: The elderly hero’s fancy teems with the “impossible follies” of the romantic works he has been reading and in his madness he vows that he will become a knight-errant. Theme: Don Quixote, the Knight of the Rueful Countenance; Sancho Panza. The theme of the hero is announced by the solo cello. Sancho Panza’s theme emerges first in the bass clarinet, then in the tenor tuba, and later in the solo viola. Variation I: The Knight and his Squire Start on Their Journey. Inspired by the beautiful Dulcinea of Toboso, the knight attacks some “monstrous giants,” who are nothing more than windmills revolving in the breeze. The sails knock him down and he is in a “very evil plight.” Variation II: The Victorious Battle Against the Host of the Great Emperor Alifanfaron. Quixote spies an “army” that is actually a great herd of sheep, but the knight’s tottering mind perceives the flashing weapons of soldiery. He rushes into the charge, unmindful of Sancho’s warnings, and the muted brass depicts the pitiful bleating of the animals. The knight is stoned by the shepherds. Variation III: Colloquies of Knight and Squire. Quixote speaks of honor, glory, and the Ideal Woman. Sancho, the realist, is ordered to hold his tongue. Variation IV: The Adventure with the Penitents. Mistaking a band of pilgrims for robbers and villains, Don Quixote attacks, only to receive a sound drubbing from them. The pilgrims depart, intoning their churchly theme, and the senseless knight revives to the great delight of Sancho, who soon falls asleep. Variation V: The Knight’s Vigil. Don Quixote spurns sleep. He will watch by his armor instead. Dulcinea, in answer to his prayers, comes to him in a vision, as the theme of the Ideal Woman is heard in the horn. Variation VI: The Meeting with Dulcinea. Jestingly, Sancho points to a country wench as Dulcinea. Don Quixote vows vengeance against the wicked magician who has wrought this transformation. Variation VII: The Ride Through the Air. Blindfolded, knight and squire sit astride a wooden horse, which — they have been informed — will carry them aloft. Their themes surge upward and one hears the whistling of the wind, including the whine of the wind machine, though the wooden horse has never left the ground. Variation VIII: The Journey to the Enchanted Park. In an oarless boat, Don Quixote and Sancho embark, as the theme of the knight comes through as a barcarolle. Though the boat capsizes, the two finally reach shore and give thanks for their safety. Variation IX: The Combat with Two Magicians. Back on his horse and eager as ever for adventure, Don violently charges a peaceable pair of monks going by on their mules.