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• Joshua Bell, violin

• September 9-10, 2011 8:00 PM
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• where: Dell Hall directions
• conductor: Peter Bay

Richard Strauss
b. 11 June, 1864, Munich, Germany. d. 8 September, 1949, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany

Death and Transfiguration (Tod und Verklärung), Op. 24 Premiered 21 June 1890 conducted by Strauss at the Eisenach (J.S. Bach’s birthplace) Festival.

Richard Strauss became the most discussed man in European music in 1888 with the premiere of his Don Juan. Most of his music previous to this score had been of a more conservative, semi-Mozartian style. A break from these ideas came with the introduction to music by Wagner, Liszt and Berlioz by his close friend Alexander Ritter.

Strauss’ Tod und Verklärung (Death and Transfiguration) appeared at a time when German music was being divided between its two leading composers: Brahms and Wagner. The Brahms followers adhered mainly to classical forms and followed the tradition of absolute music, music as an art form separated from formalisms or other considerations. The Wagnerians invoked more picturesque, more dramatic and freely expressive qualities into their music. It was the Wagnerians that Strauss wished to emulate.

After his introduction to programmatic music, Strauss produced a series of ten tone poems, all of which were vivid, descriptive musical pictures that attempt to musically render an extra-musical narrative. Genuine program music can tell a story, describe a picture, imitate a sound of nature or suggest some specific mood or feeling. Berlioz was the innovator of this idea with the descriptive powers of his musical language and tonal expression. Liszt also had set a standard with his symphonic poems and helped to establish the genre. In Death and Transfiguration Strauss created a subject of his own invention; a poetic idea and a vision of idealistic deliverance and transfiguration of the world. The score of the work contains a poem by Strauss’ friend Alexander Ritter providing a detailed literary program of a patient on his deathbed. Oddly, the poem came after the music at the suggestion of Strauss and is an adequate explanation of his musical concept.

Themes are based on simple harmonic progressions and an underlying threatening rhythm throughout. Through the expansion of this motif and the introduction of attaching themes, Strauss represents death and the process of dying in his protagonist’s life. There is also the returning “attack of death” theme depicting the struggles between man and death. A poetic idea and a vision of idealistic deliverance give the work a serene quality with an air of underlying doom.

The introductory Largo contains a constant syncopated triplet figure, first heard in the second violins and the violas, depicting either the constant ticking of the clock, the ill man’s irregular heartbeat, or feverish duress. Weary sighs are heaved by the strings and the flute. The harp enters with dream-like arpeggios, coupled with a flute and oboe duet that brings a smile to the dying man. Sighing, sporadic entrances of the syncopated theme are heard against the harp’s dream of childhood innocence.

The Allegro molto agitato presents the Attack of Death and numerous struggles that follow. The mood, tempo and key change bring on the sufferer’s agonies. The double basses and lower brass enter with a theme of impending doom.

Death attacks again as a fanfare in the brass, and the work returns to a minor key. The characteristic octave leap heard in this section depicts the Ideology of an old man. This principal theme of the work has been saved until the middle section for enormous dramatic power. The man sinks back now in his bed, exhausted and the theme is carried out to the end by the violins.

The Development opens with the return of the Childhood theme in a much freer form. The section contains a tableau of the phases of the man’s life. Fragments of previous themes enter, but a new, joyous mood ensues, frightening away all feelings of evil omens.

Modulation to a major key brings a combination of man’s return enthusiasm for life, a love scene and the conflict with childhood. But death continues knocking, and trombones, with bells raised, accompanied by the timpani, intone the air of the sickroom. The Ideology theme recurs, slightly more complex than the last time.

The Coda marks the passing of the man, with the Ideology theme returning almost unrecognizable in the horns and higher woodwinds. Childhood is heard once again and builds in intensifying harmonic richness until Transfiguration is reached. A release from suffering is achieved in arpeggiated harps and quiet mutterings from the strings.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
b. 7 May 1840 in Votkinsk, Russia; d. 6 November 1893 in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Méditation for Violin and Orchestra in d minor (Souvenir d’un lieu cher), Op. 42, No. 1. Composed for violin and piano 1878; arranged for violin and orchestra by Alexander Glazunov in 1896.

The Méditation of Souvenir d’un lieu cher (“Memories of a dear place”) is a from collection of three pieces originally for violin and piano. Written at the Swiss resort at Clarens in March 1878, Tchaikovsky intended it as the slow movement of his Violin Concerto, Op. 35. Dissatisfied, he later replaced Méditation with the more substantial Canzonetta. The other two movements of Souvenir were composed in May of the same year on the estate of his benefactress, Nadeja von Meck at Brailovo in Ukraine, the “dear place” of the title. Tchaikovsky gave his longtime supporter scores to this work as a thank you for a peaceful summer’s stay.

After Tchaikovsky’s death, an arrangement was made for violin and orchestra by Alexander Glazunov, and published in 1896; it is in this version that the piece is best known. Glazunov’s beautifully orchestrated Andante molto cantabile is a darkly soulful song filled with unforgettable dialogue between the violin and woodwinds. The light orchestration is never overbearing, creating a lyrical duet between orchestral voices and solo violin. The date and circumstances of the first performance of the Opus 42, either in Tchaikovsky’s original version or Glazunov’s orchestration, are unknown.

Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov
b. 10 August 1865 in St. Petersburg, Russia; d. 21 March 1936 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France.

Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in a minor, Op. 82. Premiered 4 March 1905.

Described as one of Glazunov’s most memorable works, the Violin Concerto, Op. 82, written in 1904-5, came at the height of his creative activity and international acclaim; he had also recently been appointed Director of the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Admired for its combination of romantic lyricism with virtuosic elements, as well its splendid palate of orchestral color, the concerto is through-composed in a single movement yet ingeniously divided into three separate sections. It was written in St. Petersburg at the composer’s summer home in Oserki where, according to his son-in-law, “the pastoral setting near forest and lake contributed to the piece’s tranquil mood.”

The form of the work is clear, following a traditional layout although lacking in distinct separate movements: a short exposition, followed by a slow section on a new theme; development, recapitulation, and finale are all contained in a single movement. The first two segments, Moderato – Andante sostenuto, share a notion of restrained melancholy, tempered by a degree of expressiveness. Opening with the soloist’s immediate entry in a rhapsodic mood it is lingering then capricious. The entry of the harp signals the beginning of the lyrical second section, which culminates with the virtuosic cadenza of the work.

The demanding cadenza, written by Glazunov himself, acts as a bridge to the festive finale, a boisterous Allegro based on the bounding theme introduced by the trumpets at the beginning of the “movement.” The two episodes which make up the Allegro are decidedly diverse: the first is refined and polished, the second is humorous and imaginative. The soloist produces numerous sensations, from tender lyricism to a fiery pizzicato. Throughout the rondo, the main theme reappears in different guises with the solo violin inventing decorative variations each time it returns.

Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov
b. 18 March 1844 in Tikhvin, Russia; d. 21 June 1908 in Lubensk, Russia.

Russian Easter Festival Overture, Op. 36 (Svetliy prazdnik (“Bright Holiday”). Premiered at St. Petersburg on 15 December 1888 conducted by the composer.

The concert overture, Russian Easter Festival, is based on actual liturgical themes which Rimsky-Korsakov found in a collection of old Russian Orthodox canticles called the Obikhod, the first music to be printed in Russia. Rimsky-Korsakov, who held a great interest in liturgical themes and music, though he himself a non-believer, included biblical quotations from Psalm 68 and Mark 16 in the score to guide the listener as to his intent.

Bright Holiday, the overture’s Russian folk name, was the last in a series of three especially brilliant orchestral works produced by Rimsky-Korsakov within a year of each other – Capriccio espagnol, Op. 34, premiered on 17 December 1887, the symphonic suite Scheherazade, Op. 35, on 3 November 1888, and the present work just six weeks later. Remarkably, unlike many of his earlier compositions, Rimsky-Korsakov was never inclined to revise or tinker with these. Having taught for many years at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, he achieved in these late works a masterful eloquence and individualism of form; exquisite melodies, and invigorating, rich orchestration.

While Scheherazade is designed to transport the listener to the fairy-tale realm, Russian Easter portrays a scene that was, for the composer, much closer to home: the celebration of Easter in a Russian Orthodox cathedral. This was a day of traditional music and age-old practices, and the festival overture captures this spirit and musically describes the event. In speaking about the work, the composer suggested that one must attend an Easter service “at least once” in order to fully appreciate the overture.

Russian Easter makes use of four preexisting Russian hymns which Rimsky-Korsakov blends with new material of his own. Each melody is presented then woven into a single fabric making it difficult to determine where the old is taken up by the new. The Russian audience of the time would have already been familiar with each of these tunes, but Rimsky-Korsakov ingeniously uses his colorful orchestration to meld one into the other.

The introduction is the prayerful, chant-like Let God Arise, a morning hymn, but in a minor key. Next follows An Angel Wailed with solo cello accompanied by the twittering flute and harp arpeggios. Rimsky-Korsakov is leading us through a morning service with an awakening and stirring in the orchestra. The two hymns return in different permutations processing to the glittering and shimmering end of the Introduction.

The Allegro exposition is a brass-dominated Let God Arise alternated with the third hymn, Let Them Also That Hate Him Flee Before Him that is punctuated by strong accents and syncopation. These bounce off of each other until the entrance of the fourth hymn, Christ Is Arisen, a brilliantly orchestrated tune which ultimately becomes the climatic melody of the work.

Now that all four hymns have been presented, Rimsky-Korsakov, the master orchestrator, goes to work on interweaving these together. Tempos change, dynamics dip and swell, solos are heard in each section of the orchestra, and then, an arpeggiated descent in the strings followed by a great rousing fanfare in the trumpets. A five part Coda follows based on Christ Is Arisen and the message of Easter is delivered by a cacophonous brass fanfare with timpani flourish.

© Jeanne Rogers

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