PROGRAM NOTES
THOMAS HAMPSON SINGS MAHLER
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
BY A . KORI HILL
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
Born August 15 , 1875 in London , U . K . Died September 1 , 1912 in Croydon , U . K .
BALLADE FOR ORCHESTRA [ 1898 ]
In his busy and all too short life , Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was a star . He collaborated extensively with American violinist Maud Powell , routinely set the poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar , received the public and private support of thee Edward Elgar , lent his name to a choral society in Washington D . C ., and was fixture of England ’ s classical music community . His interest in cultivating a Pan-African aesthetic would inspire his successors and his contemporaries directly and indirectly , heard in the repertoire of Florence Price ; R . Nathaniel Dett ; and Clarence Cameron White , who studied with Coleridge-Taylor from 1908 to 1910 . Through a style that was melodically driven , texturally rich , and historically oriented , Coleridge-Taylor illustrated that the intense emotionalism of the Romantic era was still very much in vogue .
He composed his Ballade for Orchestra for the Three Choirs Festival , following a referral by Edward Elgar . Ballade is a series of episodes built around two themes : one rhythmically energized ; the other lyrical and reflective . Instead of using rondo form , where the main theme reappears between new episodes , Coleridge- Taylor uses thematic variation to reintroduce the two themes in new orchestrations and key areas before returning to the key of A minor . Both themes are melodically arresting and positively charming , lending themselves to programmatic associations : the orchestral texture is thick but not opaque ; sparkling but not blinding , enhanced by moments of formality and cheekiness . While Coleridge-Taylor made no indication this work was programmatic in nature ( or at least , there is no evidence he did ), the Ballade ’ s exuberance , excitement , and elegance make it an ideal soundtrack for the listeners ’ imagination .
Instrumentation Two flutes , piccolo , two oboes , two clarinets , two bassoons , four horns , two trumpets , three trombones , tuba , timpani , percussion , and strings .
Gustav Mahler
Born July 7 , 1860 in Kaliště , Bohemia , Austrian Empire Died May 18 , 1911 in Vienna , Austria
SONGS OF A WAYFARER [ 1884-85 ]
The start and completion of Mahler ’ s Songs of a Wayfarer coincided with the start and conclusion of his brief and intense love affair with soprano Johanna Richter . Like many people in love , Mahler put his feelings to paper , and those poems became the textual source of his first song cycle . Songs of a Wayfarer is part of the extensive German art song tradition ; themes of love and loss reign supreme . It is no coincidence that Franz Schubert ’ s Winterreise chronicles a lovelorn man wandering in the snow and Mahler ’ s Songs of a Wayfarer chronicles a lovelorn man wandering through greenery . But where Schubert ’ s song cycle is rooted in restrained emotionalism , Mahler ’ s embraces the tumultuous , conflicting , and tiring emotions that come with being in ( unrequited ) love .
In “ When My Sweetheart is Married ,” the melodies are arresting and lyrically decadent , a standard of the entire cycle . As the wayfarer despairs at losing his love to another , he moves between gloriously hopeful to achingly bittersweet themes . “ I Went This Morning Over the Field ” begins chipper and carefree , as the wayfarer revels in the beauty of his natural surroundings . Mahler would go on to use this song ’ s theme in his first symphony . But the end of this song takes a drastic turn : the wayfarer realizes that his love can never be fulfilled . “ I Have a Gleaming Knife ” centers his inner turmoil , with more polyphonic textures , harmonic dissonance , and dramatic crescendos . His turmoil leads to complete mourning in “ The Two Blue Eyes of my Beloved .” The opening has the rhythm and pulse of a funeral march . Glimmers of hope move through and past the dissonance , leading to passages that are harmonically gorgeous and emotionally honest . The wayfarer eventually stops his physical wandering ( temporarily ), but as the funeral pulse brings the cycle to a close , we are left unsure if his emotional wandering ( and wondering ) has also ended .
Instrumentation Three flutes including piccolo , two oboes including English horn , three clarinets including bass clarinet , two bassoons , four horns , two trumpets , three trombones , timpani , percussion , and harp .
Richard Strauss
Born June 11 , 1864 in Munich , Germany Died September 8 , 1949 in Garmisch- Partenkirchen , Germany
AN ALPINE SYMPHONY , OP . 64 [ 1915 ]
To be born and raised in the time of Richard Wagner could be a blessing or a curse . For Richard Strauss , it opened his mind and his ears to the sonic possibilities beyond his conservatory training , creating a path towards creative fidelity . Strauss straddled and sometimes shattered the stylistic boundary between late Romanticism and early modernism : he composed tone poems and operas in a harmonic language that was brash , sweeping , and electrifying . His extensive contributions to the tone poem genre show how porous and arbitrary the split between Romanticism and modernism could be , particularly in his majestic An Alpine Symphony .
Clocking in at nearly an hour , Strauss ’ An Alpine Symphony is a chronological compression and musical evocation of what it is like to climb in the Alps . The work comes with 22 distinct programs , outlining the sights , trials , and experiences of scaling a mountain . The low rumble of the brass evokes “ Night ”, the brass fanfare and stirring strings the striking rays of the sun (“ Sunrise ”). For some analysts , the triumphal character of “ The Ascent ” signals the beginning of the exposition , introducing a motive that serves as the melodic glue of the entire piece and the climber ’ s ( aka the listener ’ s ) journey . Like many of Strauss ’ tone poems , the exciting parts are massive and bombastic and yet there is something almost impressionistic in An Alpine Symphony ’ s expressive goals . There is still the intensity of feeling created through dynamics , crescendos , prominence of the brass ; but there is also the quiet lyricism and wandering in the thick , homophonic texture of the strings . It conjures the flora and fauna , the life that the climber is passing through ; that they are a part of . An Alpine Symphony centers the extraordinariness of a human scaling a mammoth piece of earth ; the beauty and uncertainty of the natural world ; and the personal journey that accompanies people where they go , whether up the side of a mountain or out into the boundless limits of their imagination .
Instrumentation Four flutes including two piccolos , four oboes including English horn and Heckelphone , four clarinets including bass clarinet and E-flat clarinet , four bassoons including contrabassoon ,
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