Midweek Classics Program Notes: Two Horns, June 3, 2009

Midweek Classics Program Notes: Two Horns, June 3, 2009

ESO Midweek Classics
Enmax Hall, Winspear Centre

Two Horns
Wednesday, June 3, 2009 - 7:30 pm
William Eddins , conductor
Martin Hackleman, French horn
Allene Hackleman, French horn

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Program

ROSSINI
L’Italiana in Algeri: Overture (9’)*

MOZART
Horn Concerto No. 4 in E-flat major, K495: III- Rondo: Allegro vivace (4’)*
Allene Hackleman, French horn

M HAYDN
Concertino for Horn in D major, P134 (16’)*
(Arr Charles Sherman)
  Larghetto
  Allegro non troppo
  Menuet & Trio
Martin Hackleman, French horn

ROSSINI
William Tell: Pas de six (7’)*

HEINICHEN
Concerto for Two Horns in F major, S231 (7’)*
  Vivace
  Arioso
  Allegro
Martin Hackleman, French horn
Allene Hackleman, French horn

INTERMISSION

HAYDN
Symphony No. 104 in D major, HobI/104 “London” (27’)*
  Adagio – Allegro
  Andante
  Menuet
  Spiritoso

ROSSINI
The Barber of Seville: Overture (6’)*

Program Notes

L’Italiana in Algeri: Overture
Gioacchino Rossini
(b. Pesaro, 1792 / d. Passy, near Paris, 1868)

In his book A Night at the Opera, Sir Denis Forman states categorically that the merry overture of Rossini’s 1813 opera L’Italiana in Algeri (“The Italian Girl in Algiers”) is, “perhaps the best of all in a genre where Rossini excelled.” High praise, given that several other Rossini overtures are so much better known. But the sheer madcap lunacy of the opera’s story does much, perhaps, to lend a convivial charm to its overture. The plot concerns a lascivious Pasha who has designs on the shipwrecked Isabella – who for her part is bravely seeking her beloved Lindoro, and doing all she can to keep out of the Pasha’s clutches.

Anyone familiar with the many famous overtures of other Rossini operas will hear in the jovial vivacity of the curtain-raiser for L’Italiana in Algeri many of the same ideas: a slow introduction, a fast section presenting two distinctly different melodic ideas (one featuring woodwind solos), and a transition leading to the kind of finish that made Stravinsky dub Rossini, “Il Signor Crescendo.”


Horn Concerto No. 4 in E-flat Major, K.495: 3rd movement
Wolfgang Amadé Mozart
(b. Salzburg, 1756 / d. Vienna, 1791)

Mozart’s friendship with Joseph Leutgeb (1732-1811) is singular. On the one hand, Mozart seems to have teased the older man mercilessly; the inscription on the manuscript of the Horn Concerto K.417 reads, “Wolfgang Amadé Mozart finally took pity on Leutgeb, Ass, Ox, and Fool, Vienna, 27 May 1783.” On the other hand, the works Mozart wrote for the horn player are astounding, and demonstrate that not only did Mozart fully realize how taxing the instrument was to master (the horn in Mozart’s day was valveless, requiring painstaking effort on the part of the player to produce many of the notes), but also that Leutgeb must have been an extraordinary musician. One French reviewer of the day noted that Leutgeb, “could sing an adagio as perfectly as the most mellow, interesting and accurate voice.”

The four concerti for horn that have survived to us intact by Mozart were all written for Leutgeb. Three of the four concerti, and the Horn Quintet, are all in E-flat, the key which most readily lends itself to the notes playable on the natural horn Leutgeb would have used. Concerto No. 4’s famous finale is of a type Mozart used often, acknowledging the horn’s original use as an outdoor instrument with a “hunting march” in 6/8 time, matching the canter of a horse. It was also the basis for the infamous Flanders and Swann comedic masterpiece, Ill Wind.


Concertino for Horn in D Major, P.134 (arr. Sherman)
Michael Haydn
(b. Rohrau, Lower Austria, 1737 / d. Salzburg, 1806)

It is thought by many that, had Michael Haydn chosen to make more of his talents than he did, he would be much better known than he is. But he spent a majority of his career writing almost exclusively for the church in Salzburg, and did little to attract the attention of the musical world the way his illustrious brother did. Josef Haydn’s younger brother was also a lousy record-keeper. He cared little if his works got published, and often handed out his manuscript scores to others. So tracking down many of his works, and much of it is supreme music well worth hearing, has kept scholars busy for centuries.  It was contemporary historian Charles Sherman who has done much in recent years to the cause, and it is thanks to him we have a performable version of this concertino, believed to have been written around 1775.

It begins with gentle dignity, the horn’s entrance understated until its first full solo statement. The first movement is unhurried, bucolic, and includes a brief cadenza near the end. The second movement is much more breezy and jovial. The final movement contrasts a dialog between horn and strings in the menuet, with a trio dominated by the horn.


William Tell: Pas de six
Gioacchino Rossini

Rossini was a rich and celebrated composer in the Italian bel canto tradition – secure enough in his standing that he could afford to “experiment” with his last operatic composition. For it, he turned from bel canto to the French grand opera tradition, which is why the opera we know in English as William Tell was written originally under its French name, Guillaume Tell. As this, it premiered to great acclaim in Paris in 1829.

The opera itself is a large, long affair, based on the German poet Schiller’s account of the legendary Swiss hero of the 14th century, who rallies his countrymen against the Austrian occupiers. An important aspect of opera for Parisian audiences was the inclusion of ballet. The first act of Guillaume Tell takes place at a wedding, and as the drama of the piece unfolds, so does the wedding ceremony. At one point, the three brides dance with their three bridesmaids – a dance for six, or as it would be called in French, a Pas de six. It’s an enchanting orchestra-only moment from the opera.


Concerto for Two Horns in F Major, S.231
Johann David Heinichen
(b. Crössuln, 1683 / d. Dresden, 1729)

By the second half of the 18th century, the German principality of Dresden was past its political prime. But it was wealthy, thanks to its brief union with Poland during the reign of King Augustus II, and moreover, it greatly valued the arts. The “Florence of the Elbe,” as it was dubbed, boasted, if only for a short time, a tremendous, and very public, abundance of artists. Its musicians, for example, were led by Johann Adolf Hasse, and soon attracted Pisendel, Veracini, Quantz, Zelenka, Weiss – and Johann David Heinichen.

This abundance of musicians, all of whom composed, led to a unique musical form in Dresden, the “concerto per molti strumenti,” not quite a concerto grosso, but not yet a concerto as we typically think of the form. The Concerto in F Major, S.231, is one of several concerti by Heinichen employing a large – for the time – orchestra, with pairs of oboes and flutes added to the strings, and in the case of all his concerti written in F Major, a pair of horns are added, which present all the solo material. This concerto’s sense of liveliness and drive is unmistakable. Except for a brief “call and response” in the third movement, the horns never play a note without each other, harmonizing the exact same musical phrases in all three, brief movements.


Symphony No. 104 in D Major, Hob.I: 104 “London”
Franz Josef Haydn
(b. Rohrau, Lower Austria, 1732 / d. Vienna, 1809)

“Papa” Haydn’s last twelve (of his 104) symphonies are, collectively, known as the London Symphonies. One of Europe’s most celebrated composers, Haydn spent some of his golden years traveling, and being feted, throughout the continent. He visited London twice during that time, at the invitation of impresario Johann Peter Salomon. There, the grand elder statesman of music was bestowed with several honours, and wrote new and eagerly-anticipated symphonies for many of these occasions.

The last of the dozen London Symphonies is, separately, known as the “London” Symphony. Perhaps when you are nicknaming 104 of them, you run out of original ideas after a time. It is to Haydn’s great credit as a musical genius that, even in his twilight, he did not settle, or become “old-fashioned” in his compositions. As time and trends changed, he adapted, recognizing the worth of new ideas. He recognized the awesome genius of Mozart before many did, and his 104th Symphony is reminiscent of Mozart’s innovative symphonic style.

The almost operatically dramatic opening in D minor leads into the first movement, dominated by a driving, insistent main theme, matched against an altogether more restrained and elegant one. The second movement is a gently paced Andante, whose serene nature is interrupted periodically by some surprisingly dark moments, echoing the drama of the opening of the first movement. There is a good-natured bluster to the Menuet which opens and closes the third movement. In between, there is a trio section borne aloft on airy strings and light woodwind accents. The finale is marked “Spiritoso,” and while it begins somewhat gently, that “spirited” nature soon dominates the movement, one in which the sense of joy and vivacity is irresistible.


The Barber of Seville: Overture
Gioacchino Rossini

The overture with which we have come to indelibly associate Rossini’s comic masterpiece The Barber of Seville (or its associations with Bugs Bunny massaging hair tonic on the bald pate of Elmer Fudd!) has, musically, nothing to do with the actual opera. For good reason, too. Gioacchino Rossini wrote the overture for another opera – a drama, in fact – which had flopped. Completely unapologetically, and quite typically for him, Rossini merely appropriated what was a fine curtain-raiser, and added it to his comic opera of the merry comings, goings and machinations of Figaro and his fellows.

Program Notes © 2009 D.T. Baker

Program notes © 2009 by the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and its respective annotators. All Rights Reserved. Program notes may not be printed in their entirety without the written consent of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra; excerpts may be quoted if due acknowledgment is given to the author and to the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. For reprint permission, contact D.T. Baker, Music Resource, by email, dave.baker@winspearcentre.com.

These notes appear in galley files prepared for Signature magazine, official publication of the ESO, and may contain typographical or other errors, or may differ from the final print version. Programs and artists subject to change without notice.