MARIN CONDUCTS TIME FOR THREE
Maximilian Franz
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
By James M . Keller
Franz Joseph Haydn
Born Probably March 31 , 1732 ( he was baptized April 1 ) in Rohrau , Lower Austria Died May 31 , 1809 in Vienna , Austria
SYMPHONY NO . 59 IN A MAJOR , “ FIRE ” [ CA . 1769 ]
In 1761 , Franz Joseph Haydn was named assistant music director to the Esterházy princes , an immensely powerful family of Austro-Hungarian aristocrats , and he remained in their employ for nearly 30 years , spending much of it at their palace in a remote corner of Hungary . He later told a biographer , “ My sovereign was satisfied with all my endeavors . I was assured of applause and , as head of an orchestra , was able to experiment , to find out what enhances and detracts from effect , in other words , to improve , add , delete , and try out . As I was shut off from the world , no one in my surroundings would vex and confuse me , and so I was destined for originality .” His Symphony No . 59 , composed during his first Esterházy decade ( numbering of Haydn ’ s early symphonies is often not chronological ), is inventive indeed .
From the opening measures of this ebullient work , where violins repeat the tonic A as if they were woodpeckers attacking a pine tree , the listener senses that the composer may have had some pictorial image in mind . Repeated notes are everywhere , yielding intensity that is heightened by frequent contrasts with phrases of a laid-back character and by sudden shifts of dynamics , rhythm , and harmony . The slow movement grows out of a rather grouchy , firmfooted “ walking theme ” for strings , a tune also alluded to in the third-movement minuet ; and the finale is a cornucopia of surprises .
What of that nickname , Fire ? It was formerly suggested that the symphony was performed in conjunction with a 1774 production of a play by G . F . W . Grossman called Die Feuersbrunst ( The Fire or , perhaps a little stronger , The Conflagration ). Recent scholarship calls that connection into question , though without offering any other viable explanation for the nickname ; and it leans toward dating the symphony at 1769 .
Instrumentation Two oboes , bassoon , two horns , one keyboard ( harpsichord ), and strings .
Kevin Puts
Born January 3 , 1972 in St . Louis , Missouri Resides in Yonkers , New York
CONTACT : TRIPLE CONCERTO FOR TWO AMPLIFIED VIOLINS , AMPLIFIED DOUBLE BASS , AND ORCHESTRA [ 2020-21 ]
Kevin Puts , who teaches composition at the Peabody Institute , is noted for richly colored scores that incorporate vocabularies ranging from delicate minimalism to lush neo-Romanticism . He is acclaimed for his four operas : his first , Silent Night ( 2010 ), earned him the Pulitzer Prize in Music and has been produced repeatedly in North America and Europe , while his most recent , The Hours ( 2022 ), was given by the Metropolitan Opera last season , following its world premiere in a concert-hall setting by The Philadelphia Orchestra in February 2022 .
He has also composed an impressive output of instrumental music , including four symphonies and a dozen concertos — most recently Contact , which won the 2023 Grammy for Best Contemporary Classical Composition . After Time for Three asked him to write a concerto , he heard them perform their song “ Vertigo ,” in which they both play and sing . “ I wondered about the possibility of beginning the concerto with the trio singing a wordless refrain , a cappella ,” he said . “ I wrote a chord progression which unfolds from a single note and progresses through simple , suspended harmonies . ... This idea , first heard in a reflective manner , grows considerably until the orchestral brass deliver a most emphatic version of it . This first movement (“ The Call ”) ends with the same sense of questioning with which it began .
The second movement (“ Codes ”) displays unrelenting energy , and the third (“ Contact ”) is cold and stark . For the finale , he drew inspiration from a Bulgarian dance and wrote “ a sort of fantasy on this tune , its asymmetric rhythmic qualities a fitting counterbalance to the previous three movements .” “ The word contact has gained new resonance during these years of isolation ,” the composer observes . “ It is my hope that this concerto might be heard as an expression of yearning for this fundamental human need .”
44 OVERTURE / BSOmusic . org