Program Notes
An Italian Girl in Algiers Overture
- Gioacchino Rossini
Born February 29, 1792 in Pesaro, Italy
Died November 13, 1868 in Paris, France
This work was first performed in 1813 in Venice. It is scored for flute, two oboes, two clarinets, bassoon, two horns, two trumpets, percussion, and strings.
Gioacchino Rossini’s reputation as a composer centers largely on the long string of successful operas he composed in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. No other composer approached his fame, and then, at the ripe old age of 33, he retired to Italy. During his retirement, he composed several short songs and instrumental works, some of which were published under the amusing title “The Sins of My Old Age,” but never again did he compose for the opera.
During Rossini’s operatic years, he was recognized as an especially fine craftsman of operatic scenes, but today’s audiences are perhaps more familiar with the overtures. These musical gems, so popular and of lasting charm, were often dashed off immediately before the premiere of the opera. This procrastination, at least in the eyes of theater owners, led to one occasion when one such owner locked the composer in an upstairs room of the opera house, directing a guard to keep him incarcerated until he finished the overture for the evening’s premiere. As Rossini completed each page, they were dropped to the copyist waiting outside the window.
An Italian Girl in Algiers was Rossini’s tenth opera, composed in just 27 days when the composer was 21 years of age. The overture bustles with youthful energy. As in Rossini’s operatic finales, the overtures boast a slow, steady crescendo produced by layering instrument upon instrument while repeating a rhythmic and melodic pattern. The effect produces the famous “Rossini crescendo,” a gradual increase of volume and thickening of texture primarily associated with the composer.
Concerto in E Minor for Violin and Orchestra, Op.64
- Felix Mendelssohn
Born February 3, 1809 in Hamburg, Germany
Died November 4, 1847 in Leipzig, Germany
This work was first performed on March 13, 1845 in Leipzig, Germany, with Ferdinand David as soloist and Danish composer Niels Gade conducting. It is scored for pairs of woodwinds, horns, and trumpets, with timpani and strings.
The most intensely Romantic music often seems to have been written by composers whose personal lives were fraught with misfortune. The heroic character of Beethoven’s middle period is often viewed as springing from the pen of the master who fought against impending deafness to produce heartfelt art from his anguish. Any number of Romantic composers may be plugged into a similar formula and, in most cases, the paradigm holds true – but not in the case of Felix Mendelssohn.
Coming from a wealthy family, Mendelssohn had no financial worries. His banker father, although a converted Christian, was the son of the pre-eminent Age of Enlightenment Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn. Felix, along with his sister Fanny, received the best musical education money could buy. As an adult the composer’s personal life was the model of domestic bliss, with his joyful marriage to Cecile Jeanrenaud, the daughter of a minister in the French Reform Church. An undisputed giant in Europe’s musical community, Mendelssohn was much sought-after as both composer and conductor, beginning his tenure with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in 1836 (at the tender age of 27). Every aspect of his life was nearly perfect, but such a shining star could only burn out quickly. Mendelssohn died at the age of 38, probably from a stroke – the same malady that killed Fanny a year before.
Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor is a late work, dating from the end of 1844, although much of the piece was sketched over the course of the previous decade. By 1835 he had resolved to compose a work for his friend, the virtuoso violinist Ferdinand David. However, the composer’s many conducting obligations and extensive travels forced him to shelve the project for nine years.
The resulting work is a gem of the solo repertoire. Opening immediately with the soloist, and completely foregoing the customary orchestral exposition, the piece begins with a charming melody that has become the signature of this concerto. Quite traditionally cast in sonata form, the movement shows Mendelssohn’s expertise at paring down the orchestral fabric, allowing smaller groups of instruments to accompany the soloist. The first movement is fused to the second by a single sustained note in the bassoon, leading to a lyrical Andante theme. In this middle movement, Mendelssohn skillfully exploits the legato capabilities of the violin, while accompanying these passages with multiple stops of considerable difficulty – all played simultaneously by the soloist. The finale is a brilliant and elegant romp – a clear gesture of homage to the virtuoso tradition of solo violinists.
Symphony No. 40 in G Minor, K. 550
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Born January 27, 1756 in Salzburg, Austria
Died December 5, 1791 in Vienna, Austria
Although completed on July 25, 1788, this work was possibly premiered on April 16, 1791, in Vienna, with Antonio Salieri conducting an orchestra of 180 members, but the story is probably apocryphal. It is scored for flute, pairs of clarinets, bassoons, and horns, with the usual complement of strings.
To have been such a gifted composer, recognized across Europe during his younger years as a musician par excellence, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart entered his thirties as a fading star. Since he was no longer a precocious youth with abilities beyond his years, Mozart was expected to hold his own against more famous composers, such as Porpora, Dittersdorf, and Salieri. In order to counter the fickle public's harsh judgment, Mozart simply tried harder, producing some of his most enduring works in his early thirties.
Along with public rejection came personal problems. Financially, Mozart was in the direst of straits – which would continue to worsen until his death in 1791. Probably the darkest moment was the sudden death of his six-month-old daughter, Theresia, on June 29, 1788. It was during the very time of Theresia Mozart's death that her father was feverishly composing his last three symphonies. Written in a span of ten weeks in May, June and July, they seem almost a summary of different aspects of Mozart’s personality. The 39th is joyful, almost flippant, with a finale that is especially robust. His final symphony, commonly called the Jupiter is more pedantic, with a meticulous fugal finale.
The middle of the three, the 40th, is introspective and subtly tinged with darker hues. One of only two symphonies in minor keys (the other is the 25th, also in G minor), this work explores the poignant territory he normally reserved for his operas – his greatest love and probably his compositional forte. Foregoing the customary slow introduction, Mozart begins the opening movement with a soft murmur in the violas. Without ceremony, the sighing violin melody seems to materialize from nowhere. From the outset, this is unmistakably headier than an ordinary symphony of the Classical period. There are sudden bursts of dynamics, chromatic harmonies, and an approach to melodic writing that relies upon short motifs – not long arching melodies.
The second movement is a graceful Andante, also using a sigh motif to great effect. Here is Mozart at his most adventurous. Chromatic lines pull against each other, taking listeners of the late eighteenth century along uncharted paths.
Stern and aggressive, the third-movement Minuet is far removed from the courtly dance for which it is named. Accents are harsh, almost severe, but a somewhat gentler trio provides a worthy foil.
If the Andante was audacious, the finale is brilliantly progressive. Built upon a rising arpeggiation, a gesture known in the period as the Mannheim Rocket, this churning powerhouse seems to build momentum until the final measures. The almost feral development section features modulations through many keys, making the grim G minor seems like a welcome refuge after daunting trials of the preceding measures. Many scholars refer to this symphony as a precursor to Romanticism, but our ears tell us, at least for Mozart in 1788, that Romanticism was in full force.
©2007 Orpheus Music Prose & Craig Doolin
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