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Overture - A midsummer night's dream
Opus 21
Mendelssohn (1809 - 1847)
Over the years, Shakespeare's play
has attracted the attention of a number of composers
including Purcell, Britten and Orff. However, it is
Mendelssohn's overture and incidental music that most
people think of when "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
is mentioned. The poet Friedrich von Schlegel who had
translated the play into German was an uncle by marriage
of Mendelssohn and is no doubt through him that Felix
and his sister Fanny first came to know the play in
1826.
Encouraged by his friend Adolf Marx, Mendelssohn began
work in July of the same year on a concert overture
inspired by the play. Marx criticised Mendelssohn's
first attempt, describing it as "perfectly praiseworthy"
but with "no Midsummer Night's Dream in it".
He felt that the music needed not only the fairies and
lovers, but also the "ruffians and even Bottom's
lovesick ass's braying". Mendelssohn took Marx's
comments on board and revised the work before the overture
was given it's first performance later in 1826 at the
Mendelssohn family home in Berlin. Mendelssohn subsequently
completed his revisions and the work as we know it was
first performed on 29th April 1827 in Stettin.
The overture's magical opening chords create the fairy
atmosphere. Theseus's court, the lovers and rustic characters
- complete with braying ass - are all depicted before
the music returns to the world of the fairies. It was
an early masterpiece - Mendelssohn was just 17 when
he composed it - and has remained one of his best-known
works. He returned to the subject 16 years later to
compose twelve pieces of incidental music for a production
of the play in October 1843 in Potsdam.
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6 German Dances K.509
W. A. Mozart (1756 - 1791)
No. 1 in D major
No. 2 in G major
No. 3 in E-flat major
No. 4 in F major
No. 5 in A major
No. 6 in C major
The stately minuet remained a feature
of concert works such as serenades and symphonies long
after losing it's popularity on the dance floor, where
it was gradually replaced by the "German Dance"
or "Teutscher". The Teutscher shared the minuet's
triple time but was an altogether livelier affair looking
forward towards the subsequent development of the waltz.
The upstart Teutscher soon found favour in more cultured
circles and Mozart composed his "Six German Dances"
for one of the aristocratic balls that took place in
1787 in Prague. The six dances are performed without
a break. Each Teutscher is in two sections, both of
which are repeated, followed by a trio (or Alternativo
as Mozart called it) which also has two repeated sections.
The Teutscher is repeated again, without repeats, before
a short passage which leads straight into the following
Teutscher. The final dance ends with an extended coda.
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Violin concerto No.1 in A minor BWV 1041
J.S. Bach (1785 - 1750) (Soloist - Nic Fallowfield)
Allegro moderato
Andante
Allegro assai
Bach is thought to have composed many
violin concertos, but only three survive in their original
form - the well-known D minor concerto for two violins,
the E major concerto and tonight's work. Bach's autograph
scores of the three concertos have been lost, but some
parts still exist together with his arrangements of
the works as harpsichord concertos which he made in
the 1730s - the BWV 1041 concerto was the basis of the
BWV 1058 harpsichord concerto. It is thought that the
three violin concertos date from Bach's time at Cöthen
between 1717 and 1723. Most of the remaining 'original'
parts of the A minor concerto are in Bach's hand and
date from 1730 when it is thought that he introduced
the work at the Collegium Musicum in Leipzig, a musical
society of which he had become Director the previous
year.
All three of the surviving concertos show Bach's innovations
to the concerto form. Earlier concertos, especially
those in the Italian style, featured strong contrasts
between the solo and tutti parts. Bach linked the solo
and orchestral themes placing a greater emphasis on
the parts sounding together rather than separately,
giving a more unified feel to the overall sound. This
is clearly evident in the opening movement of the A
minor concerto. The lyrical slow movement features an
ostinato bass accompanying the varied solo figures,
while the finale takes the form of a gigue giving the
movement a lively dance-like momentum.
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Chanson de Matin
Chanson de Nuit
(OPUS 15)
Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934)
This pair of companion pieces both
originated as works for violin and piano. The "Chanson
de Nuit" is a gentle serenade composed in 1897.
Elgar originally intended to call it "Evensong"
but he and his publisher decided to give it a French
title as they had done with other similar works such
as "Salut d'Amour".
The "Chanson de Matin" is an Aubade which
dates from two years later. Following their success,
Elgar orchestrated both works in 1901. Full of grace
and charm, they show that Elgar's mastery of small-scale
composition matched his skill for composing for larger
forces in works such as the "Enigma Variations"
and "The Dream of Gerontius" which date from
the same period.
The Chanson de Matin and Chanson de Nuit remain two
of his most popular orchestral miniatures.
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Symphony no.1 in C major opus 21
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827)
Adagio molto - Allegro con brio
Andante cantabile con moto
Menuetto & Trio : Allegro molto e vivace
Adagio - Allegro molto e vivace
"If death should come before I
have had the opportunity to develop all my artistic
powers, he will, despite my severe lot, arrive too soon
for me, and I would have wished to encounter him hereafter;
yet even so, I am content: does he not free me from
endless suffering?"
When Beethoven wrote these words in his famous "Heiligenstadt
Testament" in October 1802, he was 31 years old
and rapidly becoming deaf. His despair is clear, but
it is equally evident that he felt that he had much
more to give musically. How right he was. By 1802 he
had only composed his first two symphonies. His next,
the "Eroica", took the symphony into the new
century with a vengeance. Its power and originality
of form were just a foretaste of what was to come as
Beethoven unleashed his creative talents. Each successive
work took symphonic development still further, culminating
in the quantum leap that produced the mighty ninth,
the "Choral Symphony".
On 2nd April 1800, Beethoven gave a concert at the Burgtheater
in Vienna. The programme included a Mozart symphony
and extracts from Haydn's "Creation", but
also two new works by Beethoven himself - his Septet
and First Symphony. Beethoven had begun work on a symphony
five years earlier but eventually discarded it, although
some elements eventually found their way into what was
to become the first symphony. By the time the symphony
was completed, he was 30 and had already established
himself as a forward-looking composer with a number
of strikingly original works to his name. It was therefore
perhaps a little surprising that his first foray into
the world of the symphony - the most substantial musical
form of its time - was not something more dramatic.
It was nevertheless a landmark in his development as
a composer and while evidently still rooted in the classical
style of the past, it featured many new ideas and captured
the revolutionary and Romantic spirit of its time.
Right from the start, Beethoven broke with convention
- the slow introduction opens with a series of almost
dissonant chords. The main Allegro is driving and rhythmic,
punctuated with sudden and dramatic accents. The second
movement is a courtly Andante. The third movement is
marked as a classical minuet and trio, but the music
itself is fast, rhythmic and full of dynamic contrasts
- everything that was to become the trade-mark Beethoven
Scherzo.
The finale starts with a dramatic chord. This is followed
by a slow introduction in which Beethoven gradually
builds the rising scale that is eventually to lead headlong
into the driving Allegro. Full of humorous touches,
the momentum barely lets up for a moment. After a brief
respite, the rising scale motif is thrown around the
orchestra - much faster now - before the final coda.
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