MOZART CLARINET CONCERTO
Maximilian Franz poetic preface . The first section , Vif , possesses a visceral intensity whose obsessively repeating cells and densely orchestrated passages surge with fury and agitation : “ My youth is dead : I am its executioner .” An uneasy calm emerges in the Modéré , an illusion of fleeting youth that dissipates into a gauzy mirage .
The third section closely resembles the first , ending in an abrupt silence punctuated by chords quoting Dukas ’ The Sorcerer ’ s Apprentice . Strings alone carry out the final Lent . Unison violas and cellos weave a long melody through an expansive , transparent sonic backdrop . Indicative of Messiaen ’ s devout Catholicism , the corresponding text concludes by evoking Jesus ’ Sermon on the Mount , though the music ’ s tragic final moments offer little consolation .
Instrumentation Three flutes , three oboes , three clarinets , three bassoons , four horns , three trumpets , three trombones , one tuba , timpani , bass drum , triangle , cymbal , suspended cymbal , tambourine , and strings .
Richard Strauss
Born June 11 , 1864 in Munich , Germany Died September 8 , 1949 in Garmische- Partenkirchen , Germany
DEATH AND TRANSFIGURATION [ 1889 ]
Few composers extended the tone poem — an illustrative orchestral work depicting a text , visual scene , or other programmatic element
— further than Richard Strauss . Possessing a strong commitment to realism and an intuitive talent for evoking vivid musical imagery , Strauss ’ contributions to this genre represent some of the most beloved symphonic works of the long nineteenth century .
A meditation on the death of an artist , Strauss composed Death and Transfiguration ( Tod und Verklärung in his native German ), Op . 24 , between 1888 – 89 . Though little is known about what inspired the work , he later enlisted poet Alexander von Ritter to craft an accompanying poem for the first performance on June 21 , 1890 , at the Eisenach Festival , with Strauss at the podium . Rich in musical description , the poem was later expanded and incorporated into the published score :
“ I . ( Largo ) In a dark , shabby room , a man lies dying . The silence is disturbed only by the ticking of a clock — or is it the beating of the man ’ s heart ?[…] II . ( Allegro molto agitato ) A furious struggle between life and death […] unresolved , and silence returns . III . ( Meno mosso ma sempre alla breve ) He sees his life again , the happy times , the ideals striven for as a young man . But the hammer blow of death rings out . His eyes are covered with eternal night . IV . ( Moderato ) The heavens open to show him what the world denied him , Redemption , Transfiguration […] the [ Transfiguration ] theme climbs ever higher , dazzlingly , into the empyrean .”
At only age 24 , one might wonder why Richard Strauss found himself so preoccupied with death . Wagner , it seems , may have been partially responsible ; Strauss was working as an accompanist and vocal coach for a Bayreuth production of Tristan , whose famous “ Prelude and Love-Death ” had originally been titled “ Love-Death and Transfiguration .” However , Strauss had also been flirting with newfound atheism , and thus the idea of finding salvation in a transcendental artistic epiphany , as opposed to a spiritual afterlife , may have been an attractive one . As Strauss lay on his deathbed in 1949 , 60 years later , he would remark to his daughter-in-law , “ It ’ s a funny thing , Alice . Dying is just the way I composed it in Death and Transfiguration .”
Instrumentation Three flutes , three oboes , three clarinets , three bassoons , four horns , three trumpets , three trombones , one tuba , timpani , tam-tam , two harps , and strings .
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