PINCHAS ZUKERMAN PERFORMS BACH
You Can Make a Difference!
Share YOUR Passion...
Volunteer at Keswick!
• Play music or games.
• Sew, quilt and knit.
• Tend to our garden.
• Get creative with art.
• Assist in the gift store.
... And so much more!
FLEXIBLE VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES BASED ON YOUR SCHEDULE
TO VOLUNTEER: 410-662-4380 Volunteer @ ChooseKeswick. org
Mathilde, whom Schoenberg would marry two years later.
Its premiere was delayed until March 18, 1902, when the Rosé Quartet( Arnold Rosé was Mahler’ s brother-in-law) performed it in Vienna. It was poorly received, though anti-Semitism may have fueled the booing. But like The Rite of Spring, Transfigured Night soon won an appreciative audience, and today it is by far Schoenberg’ s best-loved work. In 1917, the composer created the version for string orchestra we’ ll hear this evening.
The sheer sound of this work is utterly original and compelling. By expanding the usual four voices to six with added viola and cello parts, Schoenberg was able to create a sonority of great richness and variety. The added parts also suited the work’ s thematic lavishness, with many brief, yet emotionally evocative themes presented and combined in dense counterpoint. Yet just when the music seems in danger of smothering us with complexity, Schoenberg instinctively knows to thin his textures, unite his instruments and drive straight to the heart with a disarmingly simple statement.
Following the five stanzas of Demel’ s poem, Transfigured Night breaks down into five sections: a slow introduction with a“ walking theme” setting the scene; a lengthy, emotionally anguished section corresponding to the woman’ s confession; a transitional return to the walking music; another extended section for the man’ s response; and a concluding coda, in which the miracle of transfiguration takes place. The tonal progression is from D minor for the tragic beginning to D major for the exalted conclusion.
Midway through, after the woman’ s tormented confession, the voices of the cellos eloquently and simply represent the man’ s speech absolving the woman of her burden of guilt. For the first time, we hear the starry-night transfiguration music with its glittering arpeggios and plucked strings.
In the work’ s coda, the walking theme returns yet again, now calm and flowing in the violins and accompanied by a warm countermelody in the cellos. The music closes with the radiance of the transfiguration music— in the composer’ s words,“ to glorify the miracles of nature that have changed this night of tragedy into a transfigured night.”
Instrumentation: String orchestra.
SYMPHONY NO. 2 IN D MAJOR
Ludwig van Beethoven
Born in Bonn, Germany, December 16, 1770; died in Vienna, Austria, March 26, 1827
By 1802, Beethoven’ s deafness was beginning to trouble him greatly, even though it was not yet noticed by most around him. His doctor suggested that a summer in the country, in the village of Heiligenstadt outside Vienna, might prove to be helpful. It was helpful for his creativity, but not for his deafness. By October, Beethoven was pouring out his anguish at the ailment he feared would destroy all his musical hopes in a letter ostensibly written to his two brothers, but never sent( it was found among his papers after his death): the famous Heiligenstadt Testament.“ Yes, that fond hope— which I brought here with me, to be cured to a degree at least— this I must now wholly abandon. As the leaves of autumn fall and are withered— so likewise has my hope been blighted— I leave here— almost as I came— even the high courage— which often inspired me in the beautiful days of summer— has disappeared.”
A significant advance over his First Symphony, which strongly showed the influence of Haydn, Symphony No. 2 was composed during those“ beautiful days of summer” in 1802 and shines not only with“ high courage” but with high spirits, daring and wit. Now the virile, bold voice was unmistakably Beethoven’ s throughout, and the scope and ambition of this symphony were beginning to expand toward the revolutionary“ Eroica” Symphony, written just one year later. But unlike the“ Eroica,” the Second is a predominantly light-hearted work, rich in musical humor. Yet at its premiere in Vienna on April 5, 1803, it was
14 OVERTURE / BSOmusic. org