PROGRAM NOTES

 Quincy Symphony Orchestra - October 13, 2007

Compiled by Dr. Lavern Wagner

Variations on a Theme of Haydn  -- Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

            The theme for Brahms’ composition was discovered among unpublished Haydn manuscripts in the library of Carl F. Pohl, his biographer.  Haydn had used the melody in an outdoor divertimento for wind instruments around 1782.  The title “Chorale St. Antoni,” appeared on Haydn’s work, but to which St. Anthony it refers has never been determined.  Brahms was attracted to the melody, jotted it down, and used it as the basis for these variations.  Composed in 1873, this set of variations was Brahms’ first work for orchestra in fourteen years, and predates his First Symphony by three years. The Variations are often regarded as Brahms convincing himself he was now ready to write a complete symphony.

            The chorale melody opens with an interesting structure of two five-bar phrases.  It is in B-flat major, and appears immediately in oboes and bassoons with pizzicato accompaniment in cellos and basses.  Eight variations follow.  In the first variation woodwinds suggest the melody, while strings expand into fluid embroidering passages.  Variation two, in parallel B-flat minor, gives a freer treatment of the theme in clarinets and bassoons.  Returning to B-flat major, the third variation is in a romantic mood, featuring gentle treatment by oboes and bassoons with counterpoint in the lower strings.  Later on, violins and violas take over, while flutes and bassoons embellish in 16th notes.  Variation four, in B-flat minor, is in triple meter 3/8.  Oboes and horns in octaves give lyrical treatment to the theme, but the accompanying running scale-like figures deserve to be noted.  This variation will reward close scrutiny of its compositional technique, as it is a masterpiece of invertible counterpoint, then double counterpoint at the twelfth.  Returning to the major key, the light texture of variation five provides contrast, with the melody suggested first by woodwinds, then by strings.  In the sixth variation pizzicato strings give only a hint of the theme as a hunting tune appears in the horns.  Variation seven is a swaying 6/8 as the violins slowly descend against contrapuntal arpeggio-based figures in flutes, violas, and lower strings.  The last variation, again in B-flat minor, moves quickly through muted strings.  The finale in the original B-flat major, is built on a five measure ground bass, repeated twelve times with different harmonies.  A closing fortissimo climax occurs as the chorale melody involves the complete orchestra.        

 

Sinfonia concertante, for oboe, bassoon, violin, cello, and orchestra, Op 84  --  Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)

            Haydn wrote the Sinfonia concertante as a courtesy to the first-desk musicians of the London orchestra which performed his symphonies during his visit to London in 1792.  The work cleverly combines musical styles from the past baroque and the contemporary classical eras.  The three-movement structure is derived from the baroque solo concerto and early Italian classical symphonies.  The concertino concept of four solo instruments pitted against the orchestra stems from the baroque concerto grosso.  The insertion of a cadenza featuring the entire solo concertino at the end of the first movement may be traced to the classical concerto.  Violin solo cadenzas occur in the course of the work.  The design of the first and third movements conforms to the classical concerto and symphony.  The main theme of the third movement is identical with a theme of the first allegro of Mozart’s Violin Concerto in D major, K. 218, (1775).  In the Sinfonie concertante Haydn displays preeminently his awareness of the past baroque style, and his position as a leader in the contemporary classical style. 

            Nicolas Slonimsky, of Russian birth, became an American composer and music critic in the 20th century.  He is noted for his painstaking research and editing of Baker’s Biographical Dictionary through several editions.  Here is how Slonimsky describes Haydn’s Sinfonie concertante:  “The first movement is of considerable length, and the composition of the principal subjects is detailed and complete.  There is a flowery cadenza in the best rococo (late baroque) manner.”  In the second movement the solo instruments are “given ample opportunity to display both the singing and technical quality of their genre,” and the figurations “are brilliant and varied.”  The finale presents “an interesting departure from the instrumental character of a concerto in recitatives for solo violin that follow the melodic and harmonic procedures associated with opera.  These recitatives, in adagio, interrupt the spirited progress of the movement at frequent intervals.  Other solo instruments contribute their fiorituras and little arias as well as rapid figurations.  There is an effective interplay between the solo instruments and the orchestra.  Once more a recitative of the violin intervenes, and the movement concludes in a brilliant finale.”

 

Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 36  -- Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

            It was the summer of 1802 and Ludwig van Beethoven was confronted with an appalling prospect.  Unmistakably, he was growing deaf.  Although he tried to hide this problem from himself and associates, it was no longer possible.  He was spending the summer at Heiligenstadt, a suburb of Vienna, and in an exceptional fit of despondency he expressed his frustration in a written document which has become known as the Heiligenstadt Testament. 

            Despite his growing despondency, that summer, among other works, he completed his Second Symphony.  It was first performed at an all-Beethoven concert  April 5, 1803 in the Theater an der Wien where Beethoven occupied an apartment at the time.  The concert also included his new oratorio, Christ on the Mount of Olives, his First Symphony, and his Piano Concerto in C minor.  On April 4 the last rehearsal for the concert began at 8:00 a.m., and lasted six and a half hours.  The concert was financially successful, netting Beethoven 1800 florins.  The Viennese critics soon granted their approval to the Second Symphony, and advised the composer “to give us works that resemble the First and Second Symphonies…that will always place Beethoven among the first-rate instrumental composers.”                

            In relation to Beethoven’s other symphonies, the Second Symphony stands between two worlds.  His First Symphony was still related to the preceding classical style of Haydn and Mozart, then with his Third Symphony Beethoven created an entirely new concept for this form.  Especially in the extensive finale of the Second Symphony, the style of the future Third Symphony, the Eroica, may be heard. 

            The broad introduction stems from Haydn’s influence, and also has a definite resemblance to the old baroque French overture.  The main theme of the first movement sonata-allegro form is persistently based on the D tonic.  There is a hint of marching militancy in the second theme.  After some dramatic strokes, pianissimo strings recall the 16th note figure from the main theme.  The development, beginning in the parallel D minor, features this same 16th note figure, and also has appearances of the marching figure from the second theme.  The general outline of the exposition is preserved in the recapitulation, and a coda is almost like another development section.

            In contrast to the drama in the first movement, the second shows Beethoven in a gentler, even romantic mood.  The movement is also in sonata-allegro form, uncommonly used for symphony movements in a slow tempo.  The third movement, a Scherzo, has stark contrasts of soft and loud, a technique which became integral to Beethoven’s compositional style.      

            The finale opens with a flourish for a main theme.  Shortly a lyrical sub-theme emerges in the strings, nearly as important as the true second theme played by the clarinets.  There is an excited development in D minor.  As the recapitulation seems to be headed for its expected coda, an innovative inverted German-sixth chord releases frenzied excitement, leading all the way to the conclusion.