Overture Magazine: 2017-2018 Season September-October 2017 | Page 19

POETIC FIRE: FROM HAMLET TO DON JUAN
It had been percolating in Tchaikovsky’s
brain since 1876, when his brother Modest
suggested the subject and even provided
the composer with a scenario involving
portraits of three of the drama’s principal
characters: Hamlet, Ophelia and her father,
Polonius. But at that time, Tchaikovsky
found himself more intrigued by Dante’s
Francesca da Rimini, and so created a tone
poem about her ill-starred love affair and
eternal condemnation.
A letter in February 1888 from the
composer’s friend, the French actor Lucien
Guitry, asking for an overture and inci-
dental music for a performance of Hamlet
he was planning, finally struck the spark.
Ultimately, Guitry’s production never came
off, but its overture was completed and
premiered in St. Petersburg under Tchai-
kovsky’s baton on November 24, 1888.
The audience loved it, but the critics were
less convinced.
Actual correspondences to elements
of Shakespeare’s plot in Tchaikovsky’s
tone poem are rather vague; rather
than following a dramatic scenario,
the Hamlet Overture is more a series
of portraits of psychological states.
Musically, it is cast as a sonata form in
F minor with a slow introduction, but
without a true development section.
In a tempo marked Lento lugubre, the
music opens in a mood of dark foreboding.
Violas and cellos sing a brooding melody
with a pronounced downward trajectory:
this is the theme of Fate, which constrains
Hamlet’s actions. With a crash of the tam-
tam, the ghost of Hamlet’s father appears,
demanding retribution.
The main Allegro vivace section then
presents a more active, upward-striding
theme, representing Hamlet’s desire to
avenge his father’s murder. Coming from
a different harmonic and emotional world
is Ophelia’s beautiful second-subject music
in B minor, a distant key from Hamlet’s
F minor. A solo oboe represents her in one
of Tchaikovsky’s most poignantly haunt-
ing melodies, and a romantic, balletic
love scene between the two follows. The
exposition section closes with resolute
military-march music: this stands for the
Norwegian Prince Fortinbras, who will
ultimately rescue the situation at Elsinore.
Bypassing a development section, the
music returns to more elaborately scored
versions of Hamlet’s active theme and
Ophelia’s romantic song. As Hamlet
moves toward his doom, trombones roar
the opening Fate theme. Hamlet fights
his fatal duel with Laertes, and a brutal
clash signals his death. A quiet epilogue,
with strings solemnly reprising the Fate
theme, mourns his end.
A CHRISTMAS CAROL
SAT, DEC 9 | 11 AM
Nicholas Hersh, Associate Conductor
Tim Marrone, actor
Instrumentation: Three flutes including HANDEL’S MESSIAH
piccolo, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, SAT, DEC 9 | 7:30 PM
SUN, DEC 10 | 3 PM
Edward Polochick, conductor &
harpsichord
Christina Pier, soprano
Hannah Ludwig, alto
Norman Shankle, tenor
Sidney Outlaw, bass
Concert Artists of Baltimore
Symphonic Chorale,
Edward Polochick, Artistic Director
two bassoons, four horns, two cornets, two
trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani,
percussion and strings.
DON JUAN
Richard Strauss
Born in Munich, Germany, June 11, 1864;
died in Garmisch-Partenkirchen,
West Germany, September 8, 1949
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