Monday Evening, December 9, 2019, at 7:30 The Juilliard School presents Juilliard Chamber Orchestra Eric Bartlett, Lead Coach William Socolof, Bass-baritone Nina Bernat, Double Bass LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827) Symphony No. 1 in C major Adagio molto—Allegro con brio Andante cantabile con moto Menuetto: Allegro molto e vivace Adagio—Allegro molto e vivace WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756–91) Per questa bella mano, K. 612 WILLIAM SOCOLOF, Bass-baritone NINA BERNAT, Double Bass Intermission RICHARD STRAUSS (1865–1949) Le Bourgeois gentilhomme Ouverture Menuett (Minuet) Der Fechtmeister (The Fencing Master) Auftritt und Tanz der Schneider (Entry and Dance of the Tailors) Das Menuett des Lully (Lully’s Minuet) Courante Auftritt des Cléonte (Entry of Cléonte) (after Lully) Vorspiel (Intermezzo) Das Diner (The Dinner) Performance time: approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes, including an intermission The taking of photographs and the use of recording equipment are not permitted in this auditorium. Information regarding gifts to the school may be obtained from the Juilliard School Development Office, 60 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-6588; (212) 799-5000, ext. 278 (juilliard.edu/giving). Alice Tully Hall Please make certain that all electronic devices are turned off during the performance. Notes on the Program while imprinting an artful confidence. His enthusiasm for the music of his illustrious By David Crean forebears is readily apparent. Three of the four movements are in textbook 18th-cen- Symphony No. 1 in C Major tury sonata form: an exposition with multiple LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN contrasting themes and a harmonic mod- Born: December 17, 1770, in Bonn, Germany ulation; a thematic development exploring Died: March 26, 1827, in Vienna remote keys; and a recapitulation of the opening material concurrent with a return It can be fascinating to examine works by to the home key. The fingerprints of the master composers completed during their future iconoclast, while faint, can perhaps be formative years, especially in genres that discerned in the unusual introduction to the have contributed considerably to their post- first movement, which famously begins with humous reputation. Beethoven was almost three successive cadences in the wrong key. 30 years old when his first symphony was Following this bold but fleeting gesture, the premiered (Mozart had composed 36 of his remainder of the movement is fairly conven- 41 by that age), and had been living and tional. The second movement is subtly origi- studying in Vienna for eight years. He had nal in its full orchestration (18th-century sym- almost immediately won great popularity as phonies often used reduced forces in these a piano virtuoso and, unsurprisingly, most instances) and relatively fast tempo. The of his early compositions involved the piano third, marked as a minuet but more properly in some way. The first two piano concer- a scherzo, begins Beethoven’s longstanding tos represented his only really substantial tradition of very fast triple-meter movements experience with orchestration prior to the felt in one. The influence of Haydn is most first symphony, which was premiered at a apparent in the light but charming finale. benefit concert in April 1800 and published shortly thereafter. Beethoven had intended to dedicate the work to his first employer, Per questa bella mano, K. 612 Elector Maximilian Franz of Cologne, perhaps WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART as a gesture of reconciliation. The elector had Born: January 27, 1756, Salzburg, Austria rather generously underwritten Beethoven’s Died: December 5, 1791, Vienna journey to Vienna in the mistaken (and prob- ably naive) belief that he would eventually In addition to his numerous operatic works, return to Bonn and rejoin the court’s musical Mozart also produced a good number of establishment. The now displaced and finan- individual secular vocal pieces now collec- cially diminished noble died before publica- tively described as “concert arias.” They tion, however, and the work was eventually fall broadly into three categories: works dedicated to the famous Baron von Swieten, written as substitute pieces in another a notable supporter of Haydn and Mozart. composer’s opera, alternative arias for his own operas, and actual standalone recital The first symphony is sometimes portrayed pieces. Per questa bella mano, a product as derivative, in light of the watershed of Mozart’s final year, falls into this last works that followed only a few years later. group. The circumstances of its composi- It is important to remember, though, that tion are unclear. Hermann Abert suggests Beethoven’s purpose at this point in his that Mozart may have been pressed into career was not to turn the musical world on writing it by the famous actor and impre- its head but to demonstrate his mastery of sario Emanuel Schikaneder, best known the (still popular) style of Haydn and Mozart as the librettist of The Magic Flute. It was certainly intended for the famous bass Rosenkavalier, he pivoted again, this time Franz Xaver Gerl, a singer in Schikaneder’s adopting a neoclassical approach for an troupe who would later create the role of unusual theatrical double bill. Conceived Sarastro in Flute, and the double bass virtu- along with his longtime librettist Hugo von oso Friedrich Pischelberger. It is Mozart’s Hofmannsthal, the production began with only work with an obligato part for double a quirky German adaptation of Molière’s bass, and remains a part of the standard classic Le bourgeois gentilhomme and seg- repertoire for that instrument. The anony- ued into Strauss’ equally unconventional mous text, a rather conventional statement one-act opera Ariadne auf Naxos. Intended of fidelity from one lover to another, would to appeal to theater and opera lovers, its have not have been at all out of place in unusual structure and long runtime pleased an 18th-century comic opera. The most neither group, and the opera was soon striking aspect of the piece is the reversal revised as a standalone work. The inciden- of the traditional roles between the vocal tal music for Le bourgeois gentilhomme soloist and double bass player. The double was arranged into a nine-movement suite, bass part is intricate and virtuosic, with and is most often heard in this form today. numerous double stops and ascents into the high treble range, while the vocal line Strauss is rarely credited as one of the pio- is generally lyrical. The piece is cast in a neers of neoclassicism, since Le Bourgeois two-part form, with an opening andante gentilhomme is basically a stylistic one- followed by a buoyant but flexible allegro. off—that honor is generally bestowed on Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Hindemith, and the French members of Les Six. Neoclassical Le Bourgeois gentilhomme music of the early 20th century typically RICHARD STRAUSS features lean, transparent orchestrations; Born: June 11, 1864, Munich a renewed interest in (sometimes quite Died: September 8, 1949, angular) rhythm; modern, but rarely abra- Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany sive, harmonies; and classic, conceptually simple forms. The fact that Strauss, the Arnold Schoenberg, the progenitor of serial composer of Also Sprach Zarathustra and music and a central figure in the early An Alpine Symphony (not to mention Der 20th-century avant-garde, wrote in 1923 Rosenkavalier!), could adapt so convincingly that “I was never revolutionary. The only to this style is nothing short of remarkable revolutionary in our time was Strauss!” and testifies to his incredible artistic range. By the time of Schoenberg’s statement, however, Strauss’ revolutionary credentials, The brisk overture features the piano at least as a purveyor of extreme disso- prominently (standing in for the harpsi- nance, were in serious doubt. The operas chord as a pseudo-continuo instrument) Salome (1905) and Elektra (1909) chaffed and concludes with a lyrical sicilienne at the limits of tonality and walked right based on melody of one of the rarely heard up to the line that Schoenberg eventually vocal numbers. There could hardly be a crossed. Der Rosenkavalier (1911), with its more obvious evocation of 18th-century comic tone, lush harmonies, and sensuous music than a minuet, and the example melodies, represented a step back in the that follows is as light and delicate as minds of many modernists. While some any by Mozart, now infused with Strauss’ bemoaned Strauss’ conservative turn, the characteristic kaleidoscopic and smoothly reality was that he was simply innovating chromatic harmonies. The movement rep- in different directions. A year after Der resenting the arrival of the fencing master begins as a somewhat eccentric waltz, with slow sarabande. The intermezzo (originally intensely virtuosic (and somewhat humor- the prelude to act two) accompanied the ous) passages for the trumpet and piano. arrival of aristocratic party guests and is a The movement ends on a more martial caricature of the “galant” style of the mid- note, with music intended to accompany 18th century. The final movement is by far the fencing master’s brusque instructions. the longest, and the most ingenious. With The arrival of the tailors is accompanied by the background music for a dinner party, a short gavotte (duple-meter dance with Strauss took the opportunity to parody vari- heavy emphasis on the second beat) that ous famous composers in conjunction with shortly segues into a polonaise (a slower the arrival certain dishes. After an opening triple-meter dance with characteristic long- march representing the entrance of the short-short-long rhythms). waiters, the guests dine on: Rhine salmon, accompanied by an allusion to Wagner’s The original 1670 production of the Le Ring cycle; a joint of mutton, accompanied Bourgeois gentilhomme featured music by by the “sheep” music from Strauss’ own the father of French opera, Jean-Baptiste Don Quixote; a poultry course, accompa- Lully (1632–87), and two of the next three nied by a fleeting reference to Verdi’s “La movements directly quote Lully’s score.