Program Notes: April 30, 2000
In part because they have been wrenched from the dramatic context of and saddled with associations so disparate from their original conception–trivialized in cartoons, radio shows, commercials, and movies–it has become increasingly difficult for the modern listener to truly hear the revolutionary elements of Rossini’s overtures. Chronologically, they are contemporary with the symphonies of Beethoven; musically, they represent important works, not the hodgepodge of pretty and delicate melodies of the music hall popular culture has dictated. Much of the success of these overtures lies in their creative orchestration and inviting melodies. Rossini would score economically and sensitively on the one hand, and pull out all the stops for a full-blown frenzy on the other. He was a master at finding just the right instrumental touch, such as he does in the andantino passage of the Overture to Semiramide (1823), which opens with a sumptuous passage for four horns. This overture incorporates all the elements we have come to expect from these Rossini masterpieces: the contrasting sections, the lilting tunes, the stirring and intricate passages (tough for even the most accomplished orchestra), and the expected and always exhilarating crescendos. Surely, this overture must be considered one of Rossini’s finest as it represents a dramatically worked version of his own archetype.
Though today Sheherazade and Capriccio Español represent his most famous works, Rimsky-Korsakov’s operas remain his most important contributions to music. Not a particularly good dramatist, his failures were overcome by his tremendous gifts to create musico-scenic fairy-tales. In fact, he regarded opera as a musical work rather than a dramatic one. His opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan was commissioned for the Pushkin centenary of 1899. This opera represented a departure for the composer in that not only did he return to the fairy-tale subjects of his early operas, but also he followed the form of the folktale (shazka) wherein the composer plays the part of storyteller. Due in large part to the exoticism of the Russian tale, Rimsky-Korsakov drew upon his vivid and unique abilities to illustrate Tsar Saltan with a wide tonal palate, employing a very large orchestra in his opera, incorporating triple winds, six trumpets, xylophone, glockenspiel, celesta and tubular bells. Though not as replete with these colorful touches, the popular orchestral suite from the opera, called Musical Pictures, Op.57 and first performed before the stage première, nonetheless captures much of the flavor of the opera. It includes Tsar Saltan’s march from Act I, the Apparition of the City of Ledenets from Act II, and the Three Wonders from Act IV. But the most famous musical picture is, without question, the ever-popular "Flight of the Bumblebee."
When speaking of composition, Pulitzer Prize winning composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich calls it "an obsession. It is profoundly thrilling to me." Her early career was marked by her exploration of complex atonality. But in 1979, with the unexpected death of her violinist husband, Joseph Zwilich, she developed an increased desire for greater clarity in her musical language. Her style shifted to one incorporating a more tonal idiom with lively rhythms and more transparent structures. She is a composer who has a great respect for the music of the past, and this is evidenced in her own output. Throughout her career, she has linked both past and present. One just need peruse her oeuvre to find symphonies, concerti, and chamber music. Her Concerto Grosso 1985 incorporates many of the techniques associated with the Baroque period as it pays homage to Handel. In Symphony No.1, she combines modern principles of continuous variation with older ones, such as contrasting areas and melodic recurrence. In other works, such as Peanuts Gallery, a 1997 work based on the comic strip by her friend Charles Schultz, she brings her own unique brand of humor. Her ability to create pieces of such rich and expressive colors and idiomatic writing comes from her own intimate knowledge of an instrument’s capabilities culled from her years as an orchestral violinist under such conductors as Stokowski. Receiving its West Coast premiere, her Violin Concerto reveals her own mastery of the technical possibilities of the instrument as well as her ability to communicate through vivid and fresh music to an audience hungry for her art.
Without a doubt, Richard Strauss is remembered as one of the great opera composers, producing his most important contributions to the genre in the early decades of the twentieth-century. But it was in the final decade of the previous century that Strauss developed into a symphonic composer of great note. Like his compatriots Mahler and Weingartner, Strauss made his reputation first as a conductor and then as a composer. With his work as a conductor, Strauss gained tremendous knowledge in the subtleties of orchestration. In part because he applied this knowledge to his own music, his reputation as an innovative composer grew. For the composer Strauss, the years of 1894-1898 were particularly prolific. Along with numerous lieder, he continued to explore the genre of the tone-poem. These one-movement, programmatic works seemed ideally suited to his nature and foreshadowed the dramatic flare for story telling he would exhibit later in his operas. During this five-year period, Strauss produced Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche (1894-5), Also sprach Zarathustra (1895-6), Don Quixote (1896-7), and Ein Heldenleben (1897-8). For Till (the full translated title is "Till Eulenspiegel’s merry pranks, after the old rogue’s tale, set for large orchestra in rondo form"), Strauss originally contemplated writing a short, one-act opera. However, in part because of the tremendous humor of the subject, and because of the failure of his 1894 opera Guntram, he opted for a symphonic treatment of the story. And how fortunate we are! In its sheer virtuosity and irresistible humor, Till represents one of Strauss’ most delicious scores. The orchestration is luxurious, requiring quadruple woodwind, including the rare D clarinet. The melodies tease and evoke such a sense of fun that some have suggested the piece represents a self-portrait of Strauss as he responds to the "philistines of Munich" who characterized his music as outrageous. Whatever the truth, we are the recipients of a masterpiece of musical characterization from a composer at the height of his powers.
- Michael Hrair ArshagouniPlease enjoy these links about the composers and compositions. Ellen Taaffe Zwilich
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