Symphony No. 101 in D major  - “The Clock”

(Franz) Joseph Haydn,  1732-1809

      The renowned and prolific Austrian who perfected the classical symphony, Haydn composed his last dozen masterpieces in this genre during two extended trips to London in the 1790s, each trip a success in both financial and musical terms.

      He composed the “The Clock” was written during his second 1793-94 London visit, by which time Haydn fully understood that what turned his English audiences on was music combining a bit of novelty, some mystery, some bright tunes and lots of sparkling orchestration.

      In each of his last dozen symphonies, he took simple musical ideas,  accessible to virtually anyone, and used them to create symphonic structures that combined architectural strength with unsurpassed musical wit.

     Mozart, his admirer and friend, recognized these talents in Haydn early on when he said,  “There is no one who can do it all — to joke and to terrify, to evoke laughter and profound sentiment — and all equally well except Joseph Haydn.”

      Like most of the London symphonies, No. 101 starts with an eerie minor key introduction but soon livens to earn its nickname from the metronomic ticking of its second movement, which immediately became a great popular favorite. “ The “clock's” tick begins in the first measure and runs virtually throughout the rondo-like pattern of  the movement. We hear another sort of clock accompaniment to the flute melody in the third movement and the piece ends in a vigorous conclusion of high energy and high spirits.

Concerto No. 3 in C minor, op. 37

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

      Beethoven’s third piano concerto was composed in Vienna during a significant period in his personal and artistic life. In 1800 he completed his first symphony.  In 1802, troubled by his increasing deafness and his struggles to find his place in the world, he wrote the despairing Heilingenstadt Testament.    And by 1803, he had achieved the musical breakthrough of the 'Eroica' symphony.

      Beethoven apparently began composing this concerto early in 1800, hoping to perform it at an April 2 benefit concert of that year. But he didn't finish it in time and probably played, instead, his Concerto No. 1.

      The uncompleted Third was put aside and eventually  completed — well, almost completed — in time for him to play it at the April 5, 1803 subscription concert that also included premieres of his Second Symphony and his oratorio, Christ on the Mount of Olives.

      Regarding that historic event, we have the preserved remarks of his friend, Ignaz Ritter von Seyfried, who assisted Beethoven during that concert in the Theater der Wein :

      “In the playing of the concerto movements (Beethoven) asked me to turn the pages for him; but heaven help me! — that was easier said than done.  I saw almost nothing but empty leaves; at the most on one page or the other, a few Egyptian hieroglyphs wholly unintelligible to me scribbled down to serve as clues for him; for he played nearly all of the solo part from memory since, as was so often the case, he had not had time to put it all down on paper.

      He gave me a secret glance whenever he was at the end of one of the invisible passages and my scarcely concealable anxiety not to miss the decisive moment amused him greatly and he laughed heartily (about this) at the jovial supper which we ate afterwards.

      Of the three piano concertos Beethoven produced during his first years in Vienna (arriving there in late 1792), this was his own considered favorite, and represents a distinct advance in musical style. Many critics consider it, in fact, to be the model for nearly all subsequent 19th-century concertos.

       The slow middle movement is one of the composer’s most beautiful lyrical creations, and the concert is in Beethoven's most characteristic key — the key of the Pathétique Sonata, the Coriolan Overture and, of course, the Fifth Symphony.

Prelude to Afternoon of a Fawn

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

              (Edit note: Until I began researching this piece for program notes, I confess I always thought, while listening, that it was musically impressionable kind of Bambi item: some gorgeous,evocative music conveying the progress of a shy little fawn [here was was my first mistake: there’s an instant difference between a “fawn”and a “faun”...look it up!], sort of hanging out in a typical French meadow after lunch, having a series of innocent fawn adventures until mom calls it in for the night. Well, it’s not quite that way. It’s more like the following, from the program notes on the London digital recording, featuring Chicago Symphony and Sir Georg Solti.))

      The external narrative of this long poem tells of a fawn, half man, half beast, seducing (or dreaming of seducing) two sleeping nymphs.  The heady atmosphere is dwelt upon in the poem:  the reedy undergrowth of a lakeside bank, and the flesh of the nymphs, vibrant in the light.  Perhaps these are the ideas depicted by the trilling chorus of wind and cellos in the episode that follows the first section.

      Another revealing review:  In 1912, Nijinsky, with the Ballet Russe, performed 'The Afternoon of a Fawn' and 'The Rite of Spring', set to the music of Debussy and Stravinsky.  The programme, which premiered in Paris, caused somewhat of a stir in the Parisian audience.  Explicit scenes of animal sexuality and maiden sacrifices were a far cry from the clean romances of Giselle and Swan Lake, which featured dancers in white tutus and tights.”  So much for Bambi.      

      In writing the piece, Debussy attempted to re-create in music the words of a poem and this is what he, himself, has to say about the work: The music of this prelude is a very free illustration of the beautiful poem of Mallarmé.  By no means does it claim to be a synthesis of the latter.”

      Afternoon was one of the early masterpieces that established Debussy as a major composer. In 1892 he began work on a composition inspired by L’Après -midi d’un faune, a pastoral poem published in 1876 by the symbolist poet and author, Stephane Mallarmé. From its original conception as incidental music to accompany a reading, it underwent several changes until findings its final form, and the work we know today was given its debut in Paris in December of 1894.

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