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Overture to The Magic Flute
Mozart (1756 - 1791)
The summer of 1791 saw Mozart in a happy frame of
mind. His sixth child was born in July, his financial
problems were less pressing than usual and he was
occupied on a project that he clearly enjoyed. His
musical project was the opera or singspiel "The
Magic Flute" on which he was collaborating with
his friend the actor-manager Emanuel Schikaneder.
It was Schikaneder who prepared the libretto, drawing
on a number of sources. However, the basic plot came
from Liebeskind's "Lulu or the Magic Flute",
published in "Dschinnistan"‚ Wieland's
collection of oriental fairy tales. Much has been
made of the supposed references to Freemasonry in
"The Magic Flute" - according to some writers,
various characters represent people involved in Freemasonry
at the time. However, such thoughts are unlikely to
have been foremost in Mozart's and Schikaneder's minds
as they would have imposed too many restrictions on
their creative spirits.
The plot of "The Magic Flute" is relatively
traditional - Tamino‚ a heroic prince, is sent
by the Queen of the Night to rescue her daughter, the
beautiful princess Pamina‚ from the clutches of
the wicked Sarastro. However, it soon becomes clear
that it is the Queen of the Night who is the wicked
figure. The opera received it's first performance on
30th September 1791 at the Theater auf der Wieden in
Vienna. The cast included Schikaneder as Papageno and
Josepha Hofer (Mozart's sister-in-law) as the Queen
of the Night. Initial reaction was cautious‚ but
within a week Mozart was writing to his wife that a
number of items had had to be encored and that the opera
was becoming increasingly well liked. "The Magic
Flute" remains one of Mozart's most popular operas
and the sparkling overture has long been a favourite
in the concert hall.
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Violin concerto in D major (Opus
77)
Brahms (1833 - 1897)
(soloist - Thomas Bowes)
1. Allegro non troppo
2. Adagio
3. Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo vivace - Poco più
presto
Brahms was 45 and at the height of his creative powers
when he composed his violin concerto. It was written
in the summer of 1878 during a holiday at Pörtschach
in Carinthia. It was to be the last of the four great
German violin concertos of the nineteenth century, following
the Beethoven, Mendelssohn E minor and Bruch G minor
concertos, and Brahms clearly learnt much from these
earlier works. He had originally intended that his concerto
would have two middle movements, but eventually decided
on the more traditional three-movement format. He did
eventually use the four-movement format in his second
piano concerto.
Brahms was a pianist as is clearly evident from the
'orchestral' nature of the solo parts of his two piano
concertos. When it came to writing the solo part of
his violin concerto, he relied very much on the guidance
of his friend Joseph Joachim, the great Hungarian
violinist to whom the work was dedicated. Brahms was
to comment somewhat wryly to Joachim : "it is
a good thing your name is on the copy : you are more
or less responsible for the violin part". The
concerto received its first performance in the Leipzig
Gewandhaus on 1st January 1879 with Joachim as the
soloist and Brahms conducting. Reactions were, however,
not entirely favourable - some critics described it
as a concerto against the violin!
The long first movement is clearly influenced by Beethoven's
concerto, a work much admired by Brahms and Joachim.
The opening also has similarities with Brahms' second
symphony, composed the previous year. The second movement
is a serenely beautiful Adagio, but even this was not
without its critics - the Spanish violinist Pablo de
Sarasate was not impressed at the idea of standing around
"while the oboe plays the only melody in the entire
piece". One of the most striking features of the
finale is perhaps the similarity between the opening
theme and that of the finale of Bruch's G minor concerto
- also written for Joachim. The movement is a rhythmic
dance interspersed with more lyrical moments, and reflects
the spirit of Hungarian music, another of Brahms' and
Joachim's shared enthusiasms.
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Symphony no.1 in Bb Major "Spring"
(Opus 38)
Schumann (1810 - 1856)
1. Andante poco maestoso - Allegro molto vivace
2. Larghetto
3. Scherzo (Molto vivace)
4. Allegro animato e grazioso
Robert Schumann was born in Zwickau in Saxony, the son
of the publisher August Schumann. He started piano lessons
at the age of 6 and entered the Zwickau Lyceum in 1820.
During this period, his considerable talent as a pianist
was almost eclipsed by his ability in the literary field
- by the age of 13 he had contributed articles to one
of his father's publications and before he left the
Lyceum had published 2 books which included some of
his own verses. August sought to encourage his son's
musical talents and intended sending him to study composition
with Weber. Weber's death in 1826 put an end to that
plan and August died soon afterwards.
Robert left school in March 1828 and, to please his
mother, he went to study law at the University of Leipzig.
Later that year, he began to study the piano with Friedrich
Wieck and met Wieck's daughter, Clara. Schumann resurrected
his literary ambitions in 1834 by publishing a periodical
"Neue Zeitschrift für Musik". Later that
year he began to take a romantic interest in Clara Wieck
although her father strongly disapproved of Schumann
and vigorously opposed their relationship. They finally
married in 1840. Perhaps as a result of his new-found
happiness, the next three years were particularly fruitful
for composition. The Schumanns toured Russia in 1844
but on their return Robert suffered severe depression
and a mental breakdown. Things got progressively worse
culminating in him throwing himself into the River Rhine
in February 1854. He was rescued but within a few days
had been admitted to a private asylum near Bonn where
he remained until his death in July 1856.
Schumann was a pianist, critic and conductor but
it is for his compositions that he is best remembered.
In this field his greatest achievements are his piano
compositions and songs. His piano concerto is one
of the best known in the repertoire but his other
orchestral works are much less familiar. Schumann
first attempted to compose a symphony in 1832, but
never completed the work. In 1839, in a letter to
the composer and conductor Heinrich Dorn, Schumann
declared that after composing so many piano works
he was finding the instrument "too narrow"
for his musical ideas. Having discovered what he perceived
to be the piano's limitations he was now looking for
a different musical form in which to express himself.
He decided to return to the symphonic form after hearing
Mendelssohn conduct the first full performance of
Schubert's "Great" C major symphony at the
Leipzig Gewandhaus. Schumann had discovered the manuscript
while visiting Vienna in 1838-9, and hearing it for
the first time moved him to write in praise of Schubert's
"Heavenly length". It was, however, to be
another 2 years before he actually started work on
what was to be his own first published symphony -
the "Spring" symphony was completed on 20th
February 1841 having taken just 4 weeks to compose.
Mendelssohn conducted the first performance on 31st
March, in Leipzig. The symphony had been inspired
by a poem by Adolph Böttger. Each movement originally
had a title - "Spring's Awakening", "Evening",
"Merry Playmates" and "Full Spring".
Schumann soon discarded them, but the symphony's name
has remained.
The symphony opens with a slow introduction. The
music then gradually gathers pace and drives headlong
into the main joyful Allegro. The coda features a
hymn-like theme before the movement reaches its driving
conclusion. The slow movement is deeply emotional
and reflective in character. The sonorous trombone
melody at the end is speeded up to become the theme
of the next movement. Unusually the Scherzo features
not one, but two, contrasting Trio sections. The Finale
opens grandly but this mood is short-lived as the
music soon sets off in the energetic style which characterises
the movement. There are short 'cadenzas' for the horns
and flute before the tempo picks up again leading
to the symphony's jubilant ending.
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