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The Skokie Valley Symphony Orchestra's 50th Season

Concert #2

Sunday, December 4, 2011

3:00 p.m.

Join us at 1:45 pm for an informative preconcert lecture, presented by Michael Vaughn.

Soloist
Program Notes
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Eric Umble, Young Artist Competition 2nd Prize Winner

Eric Umble is pursuing his Bachelor of Music in Clarinet Performance at the Manhattan School of Music in New York, NY, where he studies with Mr. David Krakauer. A native of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Eric began his musical studies at the University of Kansas under the instruction of Dr. Stephanie Zelnick. He has given recitals across the United States and The Netherlands. As a soloist, Eric has performed with the University of Kansas Symphony, the Arapahoe Philharmonic, and the Skokie Valley Symphony. Eric has served as principal clarinet in the Manhattan School of Music Philharmonia, the University of Kansas Symphony, and the University of Kansas Wind Ensemble. He also performed with the KU Helianthus Contemporary ensemble and is an active chamber musician. Eric has received many honors, including first place in the T. Gordon Parks Memorial Collegiate Competition, winner of the University of Kansas Concerto Competition, overall winner of the Naftzger Young Artists Competition, and second place of the Skokie Valley Symphony Young Artist Competition. Eric is a member of Mu Phi Epsilon, professional music fraternity.


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Program Notes

Consecration of the House Overture
Ludwig von Beethoven

Sandwiched between the Ninth Symphony and the towering Missa Solemnis is one of Beethoven’s most overlooked scores, the Consecration of the House Overture. In 1822 the composer was approached by the theatrical impresario Carl Friedrich Hensler to provide music for the gala opening of the refurbished Josephstadt Theater in Vienna. Hensler planned to stage The Ruins of Athens for the inaugural celebration and suggested that Beethoven revise his music for that play, which he had composed ten years earlier for a production in Budapest. The play was to be rewritten for the Viennese performance and given a new title, The Consecration of the House, but Hensler encouraged Beethoven to keep most of his music intact, making only minor alterations as necessary. Beethoven, anxious to have his name before an audience again after having practically withdrawn from public life to concentrate on other projects, consented to Hensler’s request, also agreeing to provide a new overture and closing chorus.

Beethoven, typically, labored over the Overture and complained that he found work on the piece “really very difficult.” It was finally completed just before the premier and the parts delivered to the orchestra only a day prior to the performance. Beethoven himself conducted the rehearsal and first performance despite being almost completely deaf by this time. In order to avoid the embarrassing chaos that most certainly would have ensued from having a hearing-impaired director on the podium, Beethoven was aided by the theater’s house conductor who stood behind the ailing composer and cued the orchestra at crucial moments. Beethoven’s appearance was greeted enthusiastically, but the new Overture received little attention and never gained popularity during the composer’s lifetime.

Though cast as a single movement, the Overture is divided into two distinct sections played without pause. The first section opens with stentorian chords sounded by the full orchestra. There follows a noble theme in the woodwinds that is repeated by the orchestra in majestic fashion. A series of fanfares, flourishes, and scalar passages lead to a decrescendo. Out of the quietness the second section bursts forth, initiated by the strings. The theme of this section is worked out in a robust Handelian fugue. Beethoven, having recently discovered the works of Bach and Handel, was eager to show his admiration for these composers and demonstrate his mastery of their contrapuntal style. Insistent rhythms and brilliant orchestration drive the fugue to a powerful coda, which brings the work to a spirited climax.


Concerto for Clarinet, K. 622, A Major
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

As a virtuoso performer on the pianoforte and a competent violinist, Mozart wrote numerous concerti for these instruments for his own use in concerts. However, during his career he also wrote one concerto for each of the four primary woodwind instruments: flute, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon. Of these, the one for clarinet is the most popular and carries the distinction of being Mozart’s last completed instrumental work, having been finished only weeks before his untimely death.

The Clarinet Concerto was commissioned by Mozart’s friend Anton Stadler, the principal clarinetist in the Vienna court orchestra and an artist of apparently remarkable skill. After a performance by Stadler of one of Mozart’s wind serenades, a critic wrote to him: “Never have I heard such things as you are able to perform on your instrument.” Thereafter, Mozart composed several works expressly for him, and Stadler, in return, helped the composer discover the full potential of an instrument that was still very new. The clarinet had only been developed from the beginning of the 18th century and even more recently accepted as a permanent member of the orchestra rather than an occasional optional substitute for the oboe. In actuality, Mozart wrote the Concerto for the basset clarinet, an instrument championed by Stadler that had an extended range and an expressive, mellow timbre. However, since the ordinary clarinet could not play the low notes that Mozart had written in order to highlight this instrument, his publisher arranged a version of the score that transposed the lowest notes to a higher register. The original version for basset clarinet was never released and the manuscript eventually lost. Only in the mid-20th century did musicologists uncover the oversight, resulting in a reconstruction of the original score. However, performing the reconstructed version proved to be difficult. Basset clarinets are rare and acquiring access to one is challenging. Most clarinetists, therefore, have continued to perform the Concerto on a regular “A” clarinet using the altered edition.

The Concerto is arranged in the standard three-movement format and is scored for a reduced orchestra devoid of brass instruments, save two horns, clarinets, and oboes. This instrumentation produces a warm, intimate tone that allows the solo clarinet to be easily heard above the full ensemble. Throughout, brilliant display passages contrast with lyrical melodies as Mozart gives the soloist ample opportunity to display his abilities. The instrument itself is featured by exploiting the piercing upper registers while also exploring the rich, expressive sound of the bottom octave with equal ease. This contrast between ranges is often highlighted by shifts from major to minor keys, giving the Concerto a somewhat bittersweet, searching quality. Overall there is a subtle beauty of sound, a compassionate tenderness, and a light, ethereal quality unmatched in the entire concerto repertoire.

The first movement opens with a statement of the main theme by the entire orchestra. The soloist quickly takes up this melody to set up the now-common double exposition form Mozart favored in his concertos. In this form both orchestra and soloist present thematic material which is then developed and eventually recapitulated. In the solo sections Mozart takes full advantage of the clarinet’s unique capabilities, crafting soaring melodic lines that daringly leap from one register to another with gymnastic abandon. Stadler’s virtuosic skills certainly influenced the writing.

The flowing Adagio highlights the lyrical qualities of the clarinet and the musicality of the clarinetist. The tender, melancholy melody is one of Mozart’s most sublime. The gentle dialogue between soloist and orchestra only serves to heighten the plaintive, nostalgic quality of the movement.

The closing Rondo has a cheerful refrain that is immediately presented by the clarinet to establish a feeling of levity. Again highlighting the technical abilities of the soloist is rapid passage work and difficult figuration, with each succeeding entrance of the clarinet seemingly more virtuosic than the last. Contrasting sections introduce a hint of the melancholy heard earlier in the second movement before the final return of the rondo theme is developed dramatically using the full range of the clarinet, replete with trills and widely spaced leaps. A final tutti brings the work to a joyous close.


Rosamunde in B-flat major, D. 797, Entr’acte III
Franz Schubert

In the same year that Beethoven completed his commission for Consecration of the House, Schubert was also engaged by a Viennese theater to provide musical accompaniment for another theatrical work, Rosamunde, Furstin von Zypern (Rosamunde, Princess of Cypress). Given at the Theater an der Wien in late 1823, the play was a disastrous failure and has been permanently lost. Schubert’s music almost met the same fate, disappearing for a number of years until 1867, when it was fortunately rediscovered by Sir George Grove and Sir Arthur Sullivan (of Gilbert and Sullivan fame).

The complete score, for soprano, chorus, and orchestra, consists of an overture and ten individual pieces and is rarely heard in its entirety. Excerpts, however, are frequently performed and rank among Schubert’s most popular orchestral offerings. The third Entr’acte was likely meant to be performed between the third and fourth acts of the five-act play, thereby serving as something of a curtain-raiser or overture for the fourth act. It is structured as a simple 5-part rondo, in which a recurring refrain (A) is interrupted by contrasting musical episodes (B, C). The resulting form may be diagramed as ABACA.

The refrain, presented without preamble, is a tranquil theme heard in the strings. Schubert’s sublime gift of melody is much in evidence here as he crafts a lilting, lyrical line. The contrasting sections are marked by a change in meter and a slightly more agitated rhythmic pulse. The clarinet and oboe are joined by the other winds to spin out sinuous melodies that often play out as a dialogue between instruments. The return of the main theme or A section restores the mood of restive calm.


Symphony No. 4, op. 90, A major “Italian”
Felix Mendelssohn

Felix Mendelssohn was blessed with immense natural talent. One of the most extraordinary child prodigies in the history of music, he completed a vast number of compositions while still in his teens, including twelve string symphonies, the celebrated Octet, and his masterpiece, the Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He also had the added advantage of coming from a wealthy banking family that was able to support and indulge his prodigious gift. So it was that as he approached his twentieth year his father sponsored an extensive European tour, first to the British Isles then, in 1830, to Italy. Upon his arrival in Venice the young composer wrote to his family to report: “This is Italy! And now has begun what I have always thought…to be the supreme joy in life. And I am loving it. Today was so rich that now, in the evening, I must collect myself a little, and so I am writing to you to thank you, dear parents, for having given me all this happiness.”

The young musician’s year-long sojourn included visits to Florence, Rome, and Naples. He made pilgrimages to the great museums and churches, spent many happy hours hiking in the countryside, and enjoyed the festivities of the pre-Lenten carnival season. He also found time for work. In February, 1830, he wrote to his sister Fanny: “I have once more begun to compose with fresh vigor, and the Italian symphony makes rapid progress; it will be the happiest piece I have ever written, especially the last movement.” He went on to explain that the new piece was meant to embody not only his impressions of the art and landscape of the country, but also the spirit of its people.

Despite Mendelssohn’s apparent enthusiasm for the work, other projects intervened which caused him to put the symphony aside. It was not until 1832, when a commission arrived from London, that it was finished. Though the 1833 premier, with the London Philharmonic under his own baton, was a huge success, Mendelssohn had misgivings and began to revise the score, ultimately withdrawing it from the public and never allowing it to be performed in Germany during his lifetime. At his death, extensive revisions were found but, when the work was published in 1851, these were ignored and the symphony was released in its original form.

From the outset, the symphony bursts forth with exuberant energy and a lightness of spirit that, perhaps, suggest the sun-drenched, carefree atmosphere of Italy. The initial theme, presented by the strings, is heard over a propulsive woodwind accompaniment that drives the music perpetually forward in a particularly buoyant manner. A lyrical second theme provides contrast and sets up the development section in which Mendelssohn shows his affinity for Bach by crafting a complex contrapuntal fugue. The main theme eventually makes its return, and with it comes the vigorous energy of the opening section.

The slow second movement was reportedly inspired by a religious procession Mendelssohn witnessed in Naples, and the walking-bass line does, indeed, convey something of a processional feeling. Above this a somber melody is introduced, further contributing to the pious atmosphere. The third movement is a marked contrast: an old-fashioned minuet and trio in the style of Haydn. Here the composer seems to be thinking more of home in Germany than travels in Italy.

The dancing continues in the final movement with a Saltarello, a traditional Italian country dance dating to at least the 14th century that involved a good deal of hopping and leaping about. This is the most unmistakably Italianate movement of the symphony as Mendelssohn captures the vigorous, folk-like nature of the Saltarello, despite the unprecedented use of the minor key. While it is quite common for a symphony to begin in a minor key and end in the major key, rarely, if ever, is the opposite the case. However, Mendelssohn had a unique gift for writing very light-hearted music in minor keys. Indeed, gaiety and high spirits permeate the entire movement and drive it to a whirling conclusion.


Program notes by Michael Vaughn, Ph.D. If you use any part of these notes, please give attribution to Dr. Vaughn.

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