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October
26, 2008, 3:00 p.m.
Axelrod Performing Arts Center at
the Jewish Community Center
Oscar Petty, Oboe Roy D. Gussman, Conductor
Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) As Sibelius was beginning his musical career in the 1890’s, Finland was nominally an autonomous Grand Duchy within the Russian Empire, but Mother Russia was gradually exercising greater political control. Culture became the focal point of the Finnish people’s strong aspiration toward political independence. Sibelius, having been raised in a typical middle-class Finnish home, grew up speaking Swedish, and learned Finnish only later in school; his father-in-law, General Alexander Järnefelt, was a keen advocate of the Finnish language (a sensitive political issue). It was almost inevitable that Sibelius’ early music, with its retelling of Finnish myth, expression of the stark beauty of the Finnish landscape, and incorporation of the underlying rhythms of Finnish poetry, would become a lightning rod for patriotic sentiment, reaching its peak with Finlandia in 1899. In 1893, having just completed his mythic tone poem The Swan of Tuonela, Sibelius was commissioned by the Viipuri Student Association to write incidental music to a pageant depicting scenes from the history of the Finnish region of Karelia, performed on November 13th of that year. From his score, the composer extracted an overture (Op. 10) and a three-movement suite (Op. 11), which became one of his most popular concert works. The opening movement, Intermezzo, with its opening and closing horn fanfares, depicts a Lithuanian prince receiving tribute from a procession of Karelian subjects. The Ballad portrays a deposed ruler listening reflectively to a minstrel in Viipuri Castle, the minstrel ably represented by a simple, pensive English Horn melody. The rousing Alla Marcia appropriately follows a call to battle – but please don’t march off, a World Premiere is coming up.
Mario Lombardo The Dance Suite marks the fifth collaboration between composer Mario Lombardo and oboist Oscar Petty, which began in 1991 with the Concerto for Oboe and Orchestra, performed by the Orchestra of St. Peter by the Sea conducted by Rev. Alphonse Stephenson. Next came the 1993 premiere of the Rhapsody for Oboe and Orchestra by Roy Gussman and the Monmouth Symphony Orchestra. These were followed by the Gavotte (which became the opening movement of the Dance Suite) and Escapade (for oboe, piano, and chamber orchestra), held in recital at Rutgers University. The composer has provided the following notes about the Dance Suite: With the success of the Oboe Concerto, Oboe Rhapsody, and Escapade, I thought it would be interesting to compose a work for oboe and strings, giving the oboe greater prominence. To achieve variety of form and rhythm, I chose a four-movement Dance Suite with a closing lively scherzo. GAVOTTE – a dance popular in the French Court in the 16th and 17th centuries. Its music is in a meter of four, beginning on the third beat. The gavotte is often found in the dance suites and sonatas of early 18th century composers such as Bach, Handel, and Corelli. WALTZ – A lilting dance in triple meter. In the 19th century, its swinging motion so expressed the Romantic spirit of the times that it dominated the ballroom and the minds of many composers, such as Schubert and the Strausses. The waltz spread out from Vienna to the whole world, appealing to composers of many lands. Among these was Tchaikovsky, whose lyrical waltzes in his ballets, operas, and instrumental music are among the best. BALLAD – Originally a song sung while dancing. Later the ballad came to mean a song that tells a story. The ballad song came into prominence in the 20the century with the standard ballads of the great American composers – Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, Cole Porter, and Harold Arlen, among many others. SCHERZO – A title given to certain light, often humorous compositions. The scherzo came into its own at the hands of Haydn and Beethoven, who used it as a rapid third movement in a sonata, quartet, or symphony to replace the minuet and trio.
Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) Haydn spent decades as court composer to Prince Nikolaus Esterházy in Vienna, and at his country estate in rural Hungary (aka “in the sticks”). In this capacity he developed both the string quartet and symphony forms beyond anything previously achieved, yet was limited by the size and technical ability of the musicians at his disposal. When Esterházy died in September, 1790, London impresario and violinist Peter Salomon immediately went to Vienna, showed up unannounced at the door of the newly-unemployed 68-year-old musician and made him an offer he simply couldn’t refuse: Haydn was to compose and direct a new opera, six symphonies, and 20 smaller works, for a fee of £1,200 sterling. This was a princely sum, worth, in today’s economy, about $700 billion… From 1791 to 1795, Haydn had two extended stays in London, composing six symphonies for the Salomon orchestra on each tour, and conducting his own works at the subscription concerts given in the Hanover Square Rooms. These twelve London symphonies, No. 93-104, show him at his best, and were appropriately advertised as “grand.” Taking advantage of the quality of Salomon’s orchestra, the fine sonorities provided by London’s concert halls, and the knowledge and enthusiasm of the listening public in this great world capital, Haydn was able to significantly broaden his presentation of musical ideas from what he had done in Paris and at Esterházy. There has been a lot of confusion about the order of composition and performance of the London symphonies. Thanks to the scholarship of H. C. Robbins Landon, we now know that the D Major now known as No. 96 was the first composed in 1791, but was not performed at the March 11th season opening, rather later that spring. Its nickname “Miracle” is also incorrectly applied. It refers to a famous incident which occurred in February 1795, at a performance conducted by Haydn. As the composer took his place on the podium, the audience came forward to get a better view of him. Moments later, a chandelier crashed down into the newly unoccupied seats, and—miraculously—no one was hurt. The story is true, to be sure, but it occurred at a performance of Haydn’s B-flat Major symphony, No. 102, though somehow the nickname “Miracle” was applied to this one, and has erroneously stuck to it for the last 200 years. Haydn begins this symphony with a stately adagio followed by a lively allegro, a formula he was to use in all but one of the London symphonies. The rhythm of the main allegro theme—three short notes followed by a long note—was later swiped by one of Haydn’s students to open his own Fifth Symphony. The second movement is treated like chamber music, with solos for many of the winds and the concertmaster (originally played by Salomon himself). The third movement alternates between a courtly and deliberately trite Minuet and a lowbrow Austrian peasant Ländler, a kind of “Upstairs, Downstairs” contrast the London audience would have appreciated immensely. The witty finale is full of surprises for musicians and audience alike, such as shunned repeats, an engaging minor modulation, and a false ending, all of which were designed to delight the sophistimicated listener. Program notes by Tom Avakian |