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Madison Symphony Orchestra Program Notes
May 6-7-8, 2022
96th Season
Michael Allsen
All
through this season,
the Madison Symphony Orchestra is celebrating the 250th
anniversary of
Beethoven’s birth, though a year late, thanks to COVID-19. Our
closing concert
is devoted to three of his works, all composed during what has
been called his
“Heroic Decade”—the enormously prolific years between 1802 and
1812, during
which he forged a truly individual musical style.
We begin with one of many works tied to the ideal of heroism,
his dramatic overture to Goethe’s Egmont. We then
welcome back audience favorite Garrick Ohlsson as soloist in
Beethoven’s powerful fifth piano concerto. Mr. Ohlsson has
previously appeared with the orchestra in 1984 (Rachmaninoff, Concerto No. 3), 1985
(Mozart, Concerto No. 25),
2002 (Brahms, Concerto
No. 2), 2009 (Rachmaninoff, Concerto No. 3), 2012
(Tchaikovsky, Concerto
No. 2), and 2016 (Brahms, Concerto No. 1). The
program ends with the most familiar of Beethoven’s symphonies,
the magnificent fifth.
The
title character of Goethe’s drama Egmont—based upon a
real historical figure—personifies heroism and self-sacrifice.
These qualities clearly come through in the overture to
Beethoven’s incidental music to the play, culminating in its
victorious ending.
Ludwig van Beethoven
Born:
December 17, 1770 (baptism date), Bonn, Germany.
Died:
March 26, 1827, Vienna, Austria.
Egmont
Overture, Op. 85
Background
Beethoven upheld the ideals of human dignity
and freedom in his music and writings, and much the same can be
said for the work of contemporary poet and playwright Johann
Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832). In his play Egmont, first published
in 1786, Goethe freely adapts the story of the 16th-century
Flemish nobleman Lamoral van Egmont, who was betrayed by his
Spanish overlords. Egmont served the Spanish king well,
defeating the French in battle and ruling as a provincial
governor. However, his challenge to the Spanish persecution of
Protestants in their conquered territories angered the king.
Egmont was sentenced to be beheaded, and his stirring speech
from the scaffold touched off a rebellion against Spanish
tyranny.
Goethe
The personal
relationship between Beethoven and Goethe dates from 1810, when
Beethoven was commissioned to write incidental music for a new
production of Egmont.
At first, their correspondence went through a mutual friend,
Bettina von Arnim, but they eventually met in person, at Teplitz
in July of 1812. Although they had long been mutual admirers, it
is evident from their own descriptions of the meeting that their
personalities clashed. In a letter to a friend written a few
months later, Goethe states: “His talent amazed me. However,
unfortunately, he is an utterly untamed personality; he is not
altogether wrong in holding the world detestable, but surely
does not make it more enjoyable for himself or others by his
attitude.” Beethoven’s own impressions were no more
complimentary. In a letter to his publisher, he notes that:
“Goethe delights far too much in the court atmosphere, far more
than is becoming in a poet.”
What
You’ll Hear
The Overture
is set in sonata form. It sets the scene with a solemn
introduction, in which strident dotted figures alternate with
lighter music in the woodwinds. The end of this introduction
leads smoothly into the body of the movement, a triple-meter Allegro. A stormy main
theme is characterized by an offbeat accent in the upper strings
and a descending line. An agitated transition leads to the
second theme, a transformation of the introduction’s opening
material. The brief development section is entirely concerned
with the main theme. In the recapitulation that follows, the
Beethoven extends the second theme with a short section of
development. Rather than a conventional coda, Beethoven ends a
grand dramatic pause, and entirely new material. This
exhilarating music is used again at the end of the drama, as
Egmont climbs the scaffold to his death. In commissioning the
music for Egmont,
Goethe specified that this moment should not be a lament, but
rather, a “Symphony of Victory.”
Beethoven’s
fifth and final piano concerto was composed as Napoleon’s
armies were besieging Vienna, and it was first performed there
while the French still occupied the city. It is a bold, and
even defiant work given the times in which it was created.
Ludwig van Beethoven
Concerto No. 5 for Piano and
Orchestra in E-flat Major, Op. 73 (“Emperor”)
Background
In 1809, Beethoven was living in a Vienna
besieged and eventually occupied by Napoleon’s troops. In a
letter to his publisher, the composer complained that: “...I
have brought forth little that that is coherent: almost
nothing but a fragment here and there. The entire course of
events has affected my body and my soul. I am still unable to
enjoy the country life, so indispensable to me; Heaven knows
how it will go on... What a destructive, coarse life around
me: nothing but drums, cannon, and human misery of all sorts.”
Despite the chaos of 1809, however, Beethoven was able to
finish his last and largest piano concerto during that year.
By this point, his deafness had advanced to the point that a
performance with him as soloist was impossible, and its first
performance was played by Friedrich Schneider in Leipzig.
Beethoven’s friend Carl Czerny played the Vienna premiere a
year later.
It is ironic that the fifth piano concerto
has come to bear the title of the man responsible for the
misery in Vienna. Beethoven had expressed great admiration for
Napoleon Bonaparte just a few years earlier, but turned
against him in 1803 when Napoleon had himself crowned Emperor.
(There is the famous story of Beethoven violently crossing out
the original dedication of the “Eroica” symphony—changing the
dedication to Napoleon to “the memory of a great man.”) If
tradition is to be believed, the designation “Emperor” dates
from the first Vienna performance in 1812, when one of
Napoleon’s occupying soldiers, overcome by the majesty of the
concerto, cried out:
“c’est l’empereur!” The name stuck, though it is certain
that Beethoven, whose short-lived admiration for Napoleon had
long since passed by that time, would have disapproved of the
designation. The fifth concerto was, in fact, dedicated to
Beethoven’s most faithful patron, the Archduke Rudolph.
The fifth piano concerto contrasts sharply
with the fourth, which Beethoven had completed three years
earlier, the two works representing the two sides of what has
been called Beethoven’s “Heroic” period. The fourth concerto
is introspective and brooding, but the fifth is unabashedly
dramatic and self-assured. The key of the fifth concerto,
E-flat Major, commonly had associations with heroism and
grandeur for Beethoven and his contemporaries. Several writers
have commented on the “military” nature of the concerto,
citing the influence of French music, particularly the
so-called “military concerto.” Indeed, the first movement can
be heard as a kind of “battle” between the soloist and
orchestra, although its mood is jubilant throughout. If the
drums and cannon that surrounded Beethoven in 1809 affected
this concerto, the human misery did not.
Napoleon at the
Battle of Wagram
(July 1809), a French victory that led
to the
occupation of Vienna
What You’ll Hear
The first movement (Allegro) opens with a
dramatic introduction: three orchestral chords which serve as
launching pads for short solo cadenzas. The orchestral
exposition begins quietly, with a martial theme in the
violins. There is a long chromatic scale and trill by the
soloist, and the piano begins its exposition with a dolce treatment of
the opening theme. The development begins in the same manner
as the exposition—with a chromatic scale and trill—and is
concerned almost entirely with the first theme. This lengthy
and intense section closes with a long piano flourish and
recapitulation of the opening theme by orchestra and soloist.
The recapitulation closes with a relatively brief cadenza
written by Beethoven. Cadenzas written by the composer, rather
than improvised on the spot were still a new development at
this time, and Beethoven was obliged to put a note in the
score to the pianist, reminding him to “directly attack what
is written here.”
The second movement (Adagio un poco mosso)
begins with a hymnlike melody in the strings. The piano plays
a contrasting cantabile
melody, which closes with a rising series of trills. Together,
the soloist and orchestra provide a loosely-structured set of
variations on the main theme. As the last variation dies away,
Beethoven cunningly works his way back to the concerto’s home
key, E-flat, and after a brief pause, the soloist launches
directly into the final movement (Rondo: Allegro).
Critic Donald Tovey called this “the most spacious and
triumphant of concert rondos.” Nothing less would balance the
monumental first movement. The noisy and joyous main theme is
first presented by solo piano, and then by full orchestra.
This alternates with contrasting episodes. The end of the
movement contains a final surprise. The orchestra is suddenly
quiet, leaving only the piano and timpani to play a long diminuendo. When the
sound has all but died away, the piano suddenly bursts forth
with a final showy display, and the movement closes with an
orchestral statement of the main theme.
Certainly the best-known of Beethoven’s orchestral
works is the stunning fifth symphony. Beginning with the
unforgettable four-note motive that dominates the first
movement, Beethoven continuously develops his musical ideas
through a lyrical slow movement, a fierce scherzo, and a
triumphant finale.
Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No. 5 in C
minor, Op. 67
• Composed: Between 1804
and 1808.
• Premiere: December 22,
1808, at the Theatre an der Wein in Vienna.
• Previous MSO Performances:
1929, 1948, 1952, 1970, 1983, 1997, 2004, and 2011.
• Duration: 34:00.
“It
is merely astonishing and grandiose.”
-
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Background
Although preliminary sketches of Beethoven’s
Symphony No.5 date
from as early as 1804, the bulk of the work was written in
1807-08, at roughly the same time as the Symphony No.6. Both
symphonies were performed for the first time at a benefit
concert in Vienna on December 22, 1808. The program for this
landmark (and marathon) event also included excerpts from his Mass in C and the
concert aria Ah, perfido,
together with premieres of two works with Beethoven himself at
the piano, the Piano
Concerto No.4 and the hastily-composed Choral Fantasy. After a
bit of initial resistance from audiences and his fellow
musicians—this was, after all, a truly avant garde work—the Symphony No.5 was
recognized as a masterpiece, and has remained the single most
familiar of Beethoven’s works since then.
This was a remarkable work for its time…or
any time. Though not as long as his groundbreaking “Eroica”
symphony of 1803, this work is played by an expanded orchestra
that includes instruments seldom heard in earlier symphonies:
piccolo, contrabassoon, and trombones. Beethoven was obviously
proud of this innovation, and wrote to Count Franz von
Oppersdorf that “...this combination of instruments will make
more noise, and what is more, a more pleasing noise than six
kettledrums!” Also new is the degree to which all of the four
movements are linked thematically. The famous four-note motive
of the opening movement reappears in all three successive
movements, and nearly all of the main musical ideas are linked
in some way.
What
You’ll Hear
There is no more recognizable motive in
Western music than the opening four notes of the first movement.
Whether or not Beethoven attached a specific meaning to this
motto is unclear. His first biographer, Anton Schindler reported
that Beethoven referred to this motive as “Fate knocking at the
door,” but this may be apocryphal. Later times have attached all sorts of meanings
it. For example, during World War II, because of its identity
with the Morse Code “V,” it became the musical emblem of Allied
victory. At the same time, it was viewed as one of the most
purely “German” nationalistic works by the Nazis. In purely
musical terms, however, Beethoven’s use of this rhythm in the
opening movement is a work of genius. With two statements of
this four-note motto, Beethoven brusquely tosses aside the
stately Classical tradition of long, slow introductions, and
jumps directly into the body of the movement (Allegro con brio). The
opening theme is almost entirely spun out from the motto, and
even the second theme, stated sweetly by the strings, is
brazenly announced by the motto from the horns. The motto is
also the focus of the development section, which includes some
stunning antiphonal effects. The headlong rush of the
recapitulation is abruptly broken by a brief oboe cadenza,
seemingly at odds with the nature of this movement, but actually
a logical continuation of the main theme. Beethoven reserves his
most savage fury for the coda, the longest single section of
this movement, and another section of intense development.
The second movement (Andante con moto) is a
very freely-constructed theme and variations. The theme is laid
out first by violas and cellos and then more robustly by full
orchestra. After three imaginative variations, Beethoven
launches into a section of very free development, beginning with
a lovely pastoral passage from the woodwinds. The scherzo (Allegro) begins
mysteriously in the low strings, but soon picks up as much power
as the opening movement, with a statement of the motto by the
horns. The central trio moves from minor to major, and has a
blustering theme in the lower strings developed in fugal style.
When the main idea returns, it is strangely muted, and it
quickly becomes apparent that this movement is not going to end
in any conventional way. In place of a coda, there is a a long
and mysterious interlude, building gradually towards the most
glorious moment in this work: the triumphant C Major chords that
begin the finale.
The fourth movement (Allegro) is where
Beethoven suddenly augments the orchestra with trombones and
contrabassoon. This orchestral effect, probably inspired by
contemporary opera, is stunning. The opening group of themes,
stated by full orchestra, is noble and forceful and the second
group, played by strings and woodwinds is more lyrical, but no
less powerful. The development focuses on the second group of
themes, expanding this material enormously. Just as the
development section seems to be finished, there is a
reminiscence of the scherzo—bewildering at first, but then
perfectly logical as it repeats the movement’s transitional
passage and leads to the return of the main theme. While the
recapitulation is rather conventionally laid out, the vast coda
continues to break new ground. As in the development section,
things seem to be winding to close when Beethoven takes an
unexpected turn: in this case a quickening of tempo to end the
symphony in a mood of grand jubilation.
The
Last Word Goes to Berlioz
According to an account by Hector Berlioz, he
brought his former teacher Jean-François Le Seur to an early
performance of the Symphony
No.5 in Paris. After the final bars, the old man was so
excited by the piece that his head was reeling, and he wryly
complained that: “One should not be permitted to write such
music.” Berlioz replied: “Calm yourself—it will not be done
often.”
________
program
notes ©2021 by J. Michael Allsen