Program Notes: Mozart & Mendelssohn, January 14, 2009

Program Notes: Mozart & Mendelssohn, January 14, 2009

Mozart & Mendelssohn
Wednesday, January 14, 2009 - 7:30 pm

Anu Tali, conductor
James Campbell, clarinet

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MOZART
Serenade No. 13 in G Major, K.525 “Eine kleine Nachtmusik”  (17’)*
    Allegro
    Romance: Andante
    Menuetto: Allegretto
    Rondo: Allegro

BRAHMS
Clarinet Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op.120 No. 1 (arr. Berio)  (23’)*
    Allegro appassionato
    Andante un poco adagio
    Allegretto grazioso
    Vivace
    James Campbell, clarinet

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MENDELSSOHN
Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op.56 “Scottish”  (40’)*
    Andante con moto – Allegro un poco agitato – Assai animato – Andante come prima
    Vivace non troppo
    Adagio
    Allegro vivacissimo – Allegro maestoso assai

*indicates approximate performance duration

Program Notes

Serenade No. 13 in G Major, K.525 “Eine kleine Nachtmusik”
Wolfgang Amadé Mozart
(b. Salzburg, 1756 / d. Vienna, 1791)

First performed: Mozart signed the score as completed on August 10, 1787, but it is not known if it was performed at that time.
Last ESO performance: April 2002

“The Divertimenti and the serenades achieved more international interest among publishers in the 1790s; the frequently printed Divertimento K.563 occupied a special position here, whereas the Eine kleine Nachtmusik (K.525), later to become so popular, remained unprinted.”
-Gernot Gruber, Mozart & Posterity, 1985

There are few pieces of music more instantly familiar to us than Eine kleine Nachtmusik. So it’s quite ironic that while we have the tunes from it permanently etched in our memories, we know comparatively little about the work’s origins. It is a serenade, and Mozart wrote many such works. Most of his serenades date from his days in Salzburg – and they were not Mozart’s favourite commissions. But nearly all were written for the privileged families of Salzburg, for specific celebratory occasions – to be heard once by an exclusive audience and then perhaps tossed aside. Once Mozart had left Salzburg to seek greater fortune and fame in Vienna, he likely hoped his serenade-writing days were behind him.

Yet we know that at least two of Mozart’s best-known serenades date from his time in Vienna. A note by him dated August 10, 1787 states that he had written, “Eine kleine Nachtmusik” (“a little night music”), and that the light entertainment (for which the occasion was never made clear) was in five movements. The work that has come down to us has only four. Given that Mozart’s usual five-movement serenade format typically had a Minuet and Trio second movement. We do not know that movement’s fate, but the work, as it has come to us, does not seem in any way lacking.

The opening movement has a rhythmic joie de vivre matched with a graceful sweetness; it is in textbook sonata form, save that the development is really only a modulation from the home key of G Major. The Romanze is a gently lilting three-part song. The brief third movement matches a march with a more graceful Trio subject. The final movement is a Rondo, the main theme of which is a merry, bracing dance.


Clarinet Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op.120 No. 1 (arr. Berio)
Johannes Brahms
(b. Hamburg, 1833 / d. Vienna, 1897)

First performance of the Clarinet Sonata: January 1895
First performance of the Luciano Berio arrangement: November 6, 1986 in Los Angeles
This is the work’s premiere performance by the ESO

“Brahms is considered one of the 'big three' for clarinetists, the others being Mozart and Weber, and his two sonatas are considered the best we have. Since he did not write anything for clarinet and orchestra, it was a great idea to commission one the 20th century's great composers, Luciano Berio, to arrange one of the sonatas for clarinet and orchestra. Berio left the clarinet part alone but put his stamp on the rest. The resulting orchestral colours give new meaning to much of the writing and create new, exciting challenges as well.”
-James Campbell

Brahms spent the summer of 1894 in Bad Ischl. His health was not great; he was overweight and tired. But after feeling he had composed all he likely could in his life, he found a late spark of inspiration in the person of Richard Mühlfeld, principal clarinetist at the court of the Duke of Saxe-Meinigen. “Fräulein Klarinette,” Brahms called him, half in affection, half in wry wit. In Mühlfeld’s playing, Brahms heard the clarinet anew, and four important, late chamber works – some of the finest Brahms had ever written – resulted from the muse of Mühlfeld’s artistry. Among them were two sonatas for clarinet and piano, both written that summer.

92 years later, the Los Angeles Philharmonic commissioned Luciano Berio to orchestrate the F minor Clarinet Sonata for clarinet and orchestra. Daniel Lewis conducted the first performance, with Michele Zukovsky as the clarinet soloist. Leaving the solo part virtually intact, Berio created a sensitive and rich orchestral texture from the piano part, one which adheres to the sound world of Brahms, with touches of grandeur. The work’s opening movement begins in a stately manner, with the clarinet sounding a descending theme, which nevertheless grows in resolve throughout the movement. The second movement features a lyrical, almost improvisatory-sounding melody on the clarinet, underscored by warm chords in the orchestra.

The work's third movement has the feel of a Ländler, the 3/4 folkdance that was the precursor of the waltz. An overall feeling of joviality permeates this section, contrasted with a middle section that sounds somewhat more sober. The final movement is a Rondo, featuring a declamatory clarinet theme imbued with high spirits, in which secondary subjects never dispel the overall feeling of vivaciousness for very long.


Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op.56 “Scottish”
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy
(b. Hamburg, 1809 / d. Leipzig, 1847)

First performed: March 3, 1842 in Leipzig
Last ESO performance: March 2002

“In the depths of twilight we visited today the palace where Queen Mary lived and loved…The chapel door is missing its roof now, much grass and ivy are growing there, and the decrepit altar is where Mary was crowned Queen of Scotland…I think that there today I have found the beginning of my Scottish Symphony.”
-from a letter Mendelssohn sent to his family, dated 30 July, 1829

Beware the labels one attaches to one’s works! Knowing that his friend Mendelssohn had written an “Italian” symphony, Robert Schumann wrote, upon hearing it, that it evoked a beautiful picture of Italy. Kind words, but unfortunately, the work he had actually listened to was Mendelssohn’s “Scottish” Symphony. Oops.

Mendelssohn began sketching out the real Scottish-inspired work during a trip to Scotland he took in his 20th year. Yet he did not get around to finishing it until some 13 years later. So while it was the second of his mature symphonies to have been started, it was the last to have been completed.

The first movement begins with a slow introduction, presenting the main theme which will form the Allegro following the more slowly-paced opening. The second movement is the work’s Scherzo, and was inspired by folk music Mendelssohn heard during his time in Scotland. The clarinet (Charles Hudelson) presents the sprightly tune first, taken up by the full orchestra. The slow third movement is one of those “singing movements” Mendelssohn wrote so well, a long and rich cantabile underpinned by soft pizzicato. The final movement contrasts two ideas, both apparently of Scottish origin; the first is a march-like melody with the violins swirling above it, while the second is a stately, triumphant processional.

Program Notes © 2008 D.T. Baker

Program notes © 2008 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.