Manfred Overture (opus 115)

Schumann (1810 - 1856)

Schumann was a pianist, critic and conductor but it is for his compositions that he is best remembered. His greatest achievements are his piano compositions and songs, and his piano concerto is one of the best known in the repertoire, but his other orchestral works are much less familiar. Literature was a great source of inspiration for Schumann and he was very familiar with Byron's 1817 verse-drama "Manfred". He probably identified himself with Byron's tragic hero whom he described as "a restless, wandering, distracted man tormented by fearful thoughts". (Interestingly Schumann was not the only tormented Romantic composer to whom the subject appealed - it was also the inspiration for Tchaikovsky's "Manfred Symphony".)

Schumann wanted to use Byron's text as part of his composition, but decided against the obvious format of opera. He chose instead to compose an Overture and 15 pieces of incidental music over which Byron's words could be spoken. The unusual format means that the work is rarely performed, but Schumann was pleased with his music, writing in his diary "never before have I devoted myself with such love to any composition as to that of Manfred" and, in a letter to Liszt, "I really consider it to be one of my finest children".
In spite of the problems of performing the work in it's entirety, the Overture was a success and has retained its place in the concert hall.

The music is restless and agitated throughout, graphically portraying Byron's hero as he struggles to escape his tragic circumstances.

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Four Last Songs

Richard Strauss (1864 - 1949)

Richard Strauss was born in Munich. He had a conventional education and did not attend any specialist music conservatoire or academy but was nevertheless destined to become one of the musical giants of his time, gaining a huge reputation as both composer and conductor.
His compositions cover the whole spectrum from the vast orchestral tone poems such as "An Alpine Symphony" and "Also Sprach Zarathustra", through operas such as "Der Rosenkavalier" and "Capriccio" and concertos including his two well-known horn concertos, to his massive collection of over 200 songs.

His final great achievement was the song cycle "Four Last Songs" for soprano and orchestra. (The title was actually chosen after Strauss's death by his publisher.) Composed in 1948, it contains some of the most beautiful music he ever wrote. Strauss started the cycle with the first three songs which were settings of poems by the Swiss poet Hermann Hesse. He intended to follow these with further settings of Hesse's poems, but eventually decided to group them with a setting of "Im Abendrot" ("In the sunset") by Joseph von Eichendorff which he had composed earlier in 1948. "September" was to be Strauss's final completed composition.

Strauss never heard his final masterpiece - it was not performed until 22nd May 1950 when Kirsten Flagstad performed it at the Royal Albert Hall in London with the Philharmonia Orchestra under the baton of Wilhelm Furtwängler. Strauss left no definitive instructions regarding the order in which the songs should be performed - tonight they are in the now 'traditional' order which differs both from the order of composition and the order at the first performance. The four songs share a mood of farewell, but there is no sadness. The intensity builds through the first three songs before the final farewell to life in "Im Abendrot", which concludes with the words "Could this be death?"

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Symphony No.1 in Ab Major (Op. 55)

Sir Edward Elgar (1857 - 1934)


1. Andante. Nobilmente e semplice - Allegro
2. Allegro molto
3. Adagio
4. Lento - Allegro

As a composer Elgar was largely self-taught, but he started young - his "Wand of Youth" suites were adapted from music he had written as a child. However, he remained largely unknown outside the Midlands. It was not until 1899 that the first performance of "Variations on an Original Theme (Enigma)" gave him his first London success. His next major work was the oratorio "The Dream of Gerontius". The premiere was a failure, but after hearing a subsequent performance no less a figure than Richard Strauss described Elgar as the foremost English composer of his day.

However, Elgar had still to prove himself with the ultimate test for a composer - a symphony. Like Brahms before him, Elgar toyed for many years with the idea of composing a symphony, but made no progress. During the early years of the twentieth century, he spoke frequently of the idea of composing a "Gordon Symphony" inspired by the exploits of General Gordon, but it came to nothing. He had evidently given up the idea of writing such a programme-based symphony when during a lecture in December 1905 at the University of Birmingham he said : "I hold that the symphony without a programme is the highest development of art." With this comment he set out his stall as a composer in the tradition of Brahms rather than following the path of Strauss, master of the tone poem. In the same lecture series Elgar also described the modern symphony orchestra as : "the mighty engine, the vehicle of the highest form of art known to man" providing further evidence of what his next major work would be. He began work on a symphony in the summer of 1907 and completed it the following year. It was premiered in December 1908 in Manchester by the Hallé Orchestra conducted by Hans Richter. It was a triumph, with both audience and players giving it a rapturous reception. Richter conducted a performance four days later in London. At the rehearsal, he turned to the members of the London Symphony Orchestra and said : "Gentlemen, let us now rehearse the greatest symphony in modern times, and not just in this country."

The symphony's slow introduction features one of Elgar's most noble melodies which recurs as a motto theme throughout the work. This leads into the Allegro - full of energy. Towards the end of the movement, the motto theme returns, but Elgar directs that it is played only by the back desks of the strings. The second movement is a driving scherzo. The trio is happy and melodic - some years after the premiere, Elgar told an orchestra to play it "like something we hear down by the river". The scherzo returns before the music fades and leads straight into the slow movement. This is the emotional heart of the symphony - Richter described it as "a real Adagio such as Beethoven would have written". It so moved the audience at the premiere that they applauded spontaneously at the end of the movement and Elgar had to be brought onto the stage. The quiet opening of the Finale again features the back desks of the strings reprising the motto theme. A sudden upward rush introduces the rhythmic main theme of the Allegro. The back desks again play the motto theme which introduces a quiet interlude before the main Allegro returns. The symphony ends with a Grandioso Coda in which the motto theme returns triumphantly.

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