Heights Chamber Orchestra Concert, Sunday November 3, 2003

Program Notes

Overture: “The Consecration of the House”, Op. 124

Ludwig Van Beethoven (15 December 1770 to 26 March 1827)

Beethoven may have been superhuman but he wasn’t supernatural, so his output included many works that are only remarkable or great or outstanding, while many others are incomparably magnificent, unlike anything previously created by, or heard by, human beings.   And Beethoven’s personality matched his music in many ways: he lived life on a grand and passionate scale; railed against his deafness, beseeched God for comfort, and mocked many of society’s most cherished conventions.  He was also the first important composer to make his living significantly apart from the good will and commissions of court and church.  So, when necessary, he composed some of what might be today be  called “pot boilers” written for special occasions. Although he occasionally re-used parts of previously written material, these were not necessarily inferior works.   The “Consecration” is one of these pragmatic works, written for the opening of the Josephstadt Theater on October 3, 1822, a performance supervised by Beethoven himself.   With its energy and bright spirits, it is remindful of some of his earlier works, such as the Eighth Symphony, and is distinguished by monumental magnificence, elegance of sound, and richness of polyphonic writing.

Pavane pour une Infante Défunte

Maurice-Joseph Ravel (7 March 1875 to 28 December 1937)

Ravel was born in Ciboure, a fishing port in the Basses-Pyrénées between St. Jean-de-Luz and the Spanish frontier.   His mother derived from a proud line of Basque ancestors; his father was Swiss and noted for singular charm and wide culture.

Ravel’s musical talent was recognized early and encouraged.   He became a model student, eager to learn everything possible about music and studying, day and night, a wide range of classical scores with the goal of attaining perfect technique. He knew the music he would write would have little to compare with the music he was absorbing, but realized then, that in order to develop his own technique, he must know the techniques of other masters.   By age 20, he had composed his famous Habanera, later to become part of his Rapsodie Espagnole.   Then in 1899, he wrote a simple piano piece which became his entrée to countless drawing rooms and salons, and ultimately to the homes of the general public.

Pavane pour une Infante Défunte was soon heard everywhere, played by professional and amateur pianists.  In his later years, he remarked to one of these amateurs, “Next time you play this, I hope you’ll remember I wrote a pavane for a deceased princess...not a deceased pavane for a princess.”   Ravel orchestrated the work in 1910 but took a dim view of it in later years.  And he always insisted that the title has no particular significance, but was made up “purely for the pleasure of alliteration.”

A Pavane is a court dance from the 16th and 17th centuries, probably of Italian origin and this typical Renaissance dance is normally in simple quadruple time. A stylistic trait typical of Ravel’s Pavanes in particular, is that they tend to be slow and about Princesses.  A parallel is found in the slow Pavane in Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite - Pavane de la Belle au bois dormant (Sleeping Beauty’s Pavane).

Introduction et Rondo Capriccioso

Camille Saint-Saëns (9 October 1835 to 16 December 1921)

A “rondo” is a piece with a repeating theme.   For example, if we label the themes as we would in a poem, ABACADA would be a rondo.   Rondos may be less or more complicated, as the composer desires.  Saint-Saëns designated this work as “capricious” because he wanted to use this kind of latitude. It is a show piece designed to tax the ability of the performer. Saint-Saëns wrote it originally for the great Spanish violinist, Pablo de Sarasate, and for that reason, it has a distinct “Spanish” flavor, as well as being technically demanding.

Saint-Saëns was a Romantic composer and during this period, the public exhibited a great musical interest in far-off places and exotic locales.   While almost any foreign land would do for most Romantic composers, Spain was a constant favorite. There are many “Spanish” works by major composers such as Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Verdi, and Rossini.   So Spain was particularly attractive to French composers and some say that the best Spanish music has actually been written by the French, though the Spanish would never agree. The list of French composers of “Spanish” music is long: Chabrier, Lalo, Ravel, Debussy, Bizet and of course, Saint-Saëns.

He was very fond of the violin and composed frequently for it. Apart from his three violin concerti, he featured the violin in other concert pieces such as his Danse Macabre.  The three movements of tonight’s work - Andante (malinconico), Allegro ma no troppo, and Più Allegro - are played without a pause.  In English, they mean Fast (melancholic), Fast but not too fast, and Faster!  Running time about nine minutes.)

Symphony No. 6 in D major, op. 60

Antonin Dvorak (8 September 1841 to 1 May 1904)

Dvorak was 37 and still living very modestly, meeting family expense by playing viola in a local band and theater orchestra, the organ in a nearby town church, and teaching music to sparsely talented girls from rich families when his good fortune finally kicked in.   Johannes Brahms interceded to have some of Dvorak’s works published and when fellow Bohemians got a taste of his Moravian Duets and Slavonic Dances, Dvorak became a Bohemian music celebrity almost overnight. The Duets were sung in every family home. The Slavonic Dances, which he later scored for orchestra, won admiration from the musical world.

Yet, with his new celebrity status and always after, Dvorak remained a modest, deeply religious artist.   He was world famous in 1882 when invited to teach young American composers at the National Conservatory in New York. At that time he was probably the only European composer who, being experienced in his own native Slavic music, could show Americans both in theory and practice how to create music that would portray our national character.

From 1892 to 1895, Dvorak directed the National Conservatory of Music in New York City and while in the US, acquired a great respect for Afro-American spirituals and American Indian music.   He composed two of his most famous works - Ninth Symphony in E Minor (From the New World), and the Quartet in F, known as the American Quartet - here in 1893.   Though lacking actual themes from Afro-American or American Indian music, they include melodies similar in structure and spirit to these types of music.   Dvorak returned to Bohemia in 1895, and in 1901 became director of the Prague Conservatory.   When he died in Prague on May 1, 1904, a day of national mourning was proclaimed throughout Bohemia.

He composed his Sixth Symphony in 1880 and this passage by musical critic Paul Stefan neatly describes it: 

"The opening passage sounds like a joyous fanfare from Bohemia's idyllic landscape. Over the second movement hangs the feeling of a still summer night. The scherzo is full of the same intense feeling as the Slavonic Dances but with a broad tranquil middle section in the classical spirit. The trio comprises merry blithe interplays between the different instruments; the short motif played on the piccolo is especially noteworthy. In the finale, which recapitulates the first movement, the same gaiety is expressed."  (Running time: about 42 minutes.)

Tonight’s Guest Conductor

Robert Tuohy is obtaining his M.M. in Orchestral Conducting degree at Cleveland Institute of Music with Carl Topilow his primary instructor.   In December 2001, he conducted the CIM Orchestra in Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante K. 364 , and Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" (Ravel orchestration).   He serves as Assistant Conductor of CIM Opera each semester, and led a performance of "Cosi fan tutte" in April, 2002.   This past summer, he participated in the Pierre Monteux School for Conductors and Orchestral Musicians, which counts Lorin Maazel, Hugh Wolff, Andre Previn, and Sir Neville Marriner among its alumni.   He will also be Cover Conductor for the Cleveland Pops Orchestra this season

 Tonight’s Soloist

Gino Raffaelli has been concertmaster of Heights Chamber Orchestra since its founding in 1983, and was a member of the Cleveland Orchestra from 1957 until his retirement in 2001. He is also a founder, and president, of PAND, Performers and Artists for Nuclear Disarmament. Since its inception, PAND has raised over $200,000 to assist the activities of peace and environmental groups.

Program notes compiled by Walter Nicholes from various sources including Grove, Britannica and the Web, October 12, 2002.