{ program notes
a trim young man to a very obese one during his long retirement), and when a younger composer once inquired what was the best way to write an overture, Rossini replied,“ Wait till the evening of the day the opera is scheduled for performance. Nothing excites the imagination more than necessity, the presence of a copyist waiting for the music and the pressing of an impresario in despair tearing out his hair. In my day in Italy, all impresarios were bald by the age of 30!”
The overture follows the surefire formula Rossini had invented for himself.
Sometimes Rossini didn’ t even bother to compose a new overture at all, but simply borrowed one he’ d used for a previous opera— until it became attached to a hit and could not be recycled anymore. Such was the case with The Barber, which premiered in Rome on February 20, 1816; its overture had been previously used for both Aureliano in Palmira( 1813) and Elisabetta, regina d’ Inghiletta( 1814). But Rossini was facing a pressing deadline for this opera and wrote it, as he remembered, in just 13 days. Despite his haste, the score was a superb treatment of the French dramatist Pierre Beaumarchais’ prequel to Le Mariage de Figaro, the source of Mozart’ s beloved opera. In it, we meet the wily title character, Figaro, who manages to spirit away the equally clever Rosina from the clutches of her pompous old guardian Dr. Bartolo and into the arms of Figaro’ s handsome patron, the young Count Almaviva.
The overture follows the surefire formula Rossini had invented for himself. First we hear a slow rather moody introductory section, which is, however, full of suppressed energy, previewing the continuous plots of all the characters. This leads into a fast-tempo main section featuring a beguiling clarinet theme. It culminates in the composer’ s most delicious innovation: the famous slow-building Rossini crescendo. To give us our money’ s worth, this whole section is repeated with different scoring and another adrenaline-pumping crescendo ride.
Instrumentation: Two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, strings.
Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major
Ludwig van Beethoven
Born in Bonn, Germany, December 16, 1770; died in Vienna, Austria, March 26, 1827
When Beethoven arrived in Vienna in November 1792 under the patronage of Count Waldstein to study with Haydn and, in Waldstein’ s words,“ with the help of assiduous labor...( to) receive Mozart’ s spirit from Haydn’ s hands,” he brought with him a portfolio of compositions written in Bonn, several of them already in“ Mozart’ s spirit.” One of them was to become his Piano Concerto No. 2 in B- flat, which he probably began in the late 1780s, making this a much earlier work than his First Piano Concerto( published before No. 2 and thus winning the honor of being“ No. 1”).
As Beethoven’ s composing talents developed rapidly in Vienna’ s stimulating environment, he kept returning to revise this most charming of his concertos. Scholars believe he made extensive revisions— including a new finale— in 1793, in 1795 before its first public performance and in 1801, when he finally published it.
The Beethoven-Haydn relationship turned out to be a mismatch between two incompatible geniuses— Haydn was a greater composer than teacher and found Beethoven’ s arrogant personality and some of his music so shocking that he dubbed him“ the Grand Mogul.” Beethoven was soon taken up by the Viennese aristocracy and became Mozart’ s heir as the most popular pianist in Vienna. Contemporary accounts marveled at his new, proto-Romantic style. Far luckier than Mozart, in the words of his pupil Carl Czerny, he“ received all manner of support from our high aristocracy and enjoyed as much care and respect as ever fell to the lot of a young artist.”
The first movement, an Allegro con brio sonata form, opens with a splitpersonality first theme, a crisp, staccato fanfare followed by a gracefully flowing violin response. Beethoven breaks these components apart and makes much imaginative use of them throughout the movement. In fact, the violin response is soon developed by the strings and woodwinds into a lyrical theme. However, we don’ t hear the true second theme until after the piano makes its entrance, a smooth descending melody that the orchestra introduces and the piano embroiders. The development section is surprisingly tame by the standards of later Olympian Beethoven developments.
The second movement in E-flat Major is the first of Beethoven’ s marvelous slow movements. A noble, hymn-like meditation is presented by the orchestra and elaborated by the soloist; it forms the substance of the entire movement. This beautiful interlude is crowned with a remarkable coda, in which the soloist spins out a delicate reverie in single notes, with orchestral punctuations.
Beethoven probably created a new finale for the work sometime in the 1790s. This witty, vivacious rondo with its short-long rhythm refrain bears the composer’ s personal stamp more than the rest of the concerto. In ebullient 6 / 8 meter, it allows the soloist to show off his fleet finger work and features a very engaging middle episode in the minor mode, sparked by syncopated rhythms.
Instrumentation: Flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, strings.
Symphony No. 1 in C minor
Johannes Brahms
Born in Hamburg, Germany, May 7, 1833; died in Vienna, Austria, April 3, 1897
Johannes Brahms’ First was undoubtedly the most eagerly awaited symphony in musical history. When he completed it in 1876 after two decades of labor, Brahms was already 43 and one of Europe’ s most
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