2017-2018 SEASON
TCHAIKOVSKY THRILL RIDE
2017-2018 SEASON
Celebrating Maestro Shafer’ s 50th anniversary as a conductor in the Washington, DC area.
All concerts will be performed at the National Presbyterian Church
BARBER ADAGIO FOR STRINGS
BRUCKNER MASS IN F MINOR November 5, 2017, 4:30 p. m.
THE HOLLY AND THE IVY MUSIC FOR CHRISTMAS
December 17, 2017, 4:30 p. m.
Featuring our Partner in Song, James Hubert Blake High School A Capella Chorus, Sandra Zinkievich, Director
HANDEL LAUDATE PUERI DOMINUM
BARTOLDUS MAGNIFICAT *
CHARPENTIER TE DEUM
April 22, 2018, 4:30 p. m.
Featuring Metropolitan Opera soprano Danielle Talamantes
* WORLD PREMIERE
TICKETS: $ 15- $ 50. Student & group discounts available.
Order your tickets today at
CITYCHOIR. ORG
There is a profound mood of mourning in the magnificent second movement, which is the concerto’ s soul. Here, the wailing English horn introduces a haunting Moorish-Spanish melody with Arabic ornaments, which grow more elaborate with each repetition. Rodrigo emphasizes this is the most important movement not only by making it the longest, but also by placing a major solo cadenza for the guitar here rather than in the first movement, where it is usually positioned.
The first and last movements are much lighter and briefer, and their sparkling orchestration shows Rodrigo’ s French training. In the opening movement, the guitar sets up the underlying rhythmic conflict between two beats to the measure versus three beats— a conflict heard often in flamenco music. The music is constantly punctuated by heavily accented explosions from both guitar and orchestra that suggest flamenco’ s stamping feet. Another two-versus-three rhythmic battle animates the playful finale in rondo form. The delight comes from Rodrigo’ s ingenious treatments of the many returns of his whimsical theme, including a droll version for guitar and bassoon and another for pizzicato strings.
Instrumentation: Two flutes including piccolo, two oboes including English horn, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets and strings.
SYMPHONY NO. 5 IN E MINOR
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Born in Votkinsk, Russia, May 7, 1840; died in St. Petersburg, Russia, November 6, 1893
More than a decade elapsed between Tchaikovsky’ s Fourth and Fifth symphonies. During this period, the composer had grown enormously in fame and confidence. In 1877, he was still recovering from his disastrous marriage and suicide attempt; in 1888, he was world-famous and had just returned to Russia from a highly successful European tour conducting programs of his works before cheering audiences from London to Berlin. Czar Alexander III had recently acknowledged his importance to Russia with a handsome life pension.
Yet Tchaikovsky was still plagued by doubts about his own creativity. In 1887, he had rushed to the bedside of a dying friend, Nikolai Kodratyev, and for a month was tormented nearly as much as the poor victim:“ Painful, terrible hours! Oh, never will I forget all that I have suffered here.” To his benefactress, Nadezda von Meck, he wrote despairingly:“ Can it be that we are all so afraid when we die?” As he began his new symphony, he wrote again:“ I am dreadfully anxious to prove not only to others but also to myself, that I am not yet played out as a composer.”
Far from being played out, Tchaikovsky found that, once he’ d begun the Fifth, inspiration flowed in abundance. The composer himself led the premiere in St. Petersburg on November 17, 1888; both the audience and the orchestra gave him a prolonged ovation. Yet even then, he continued to doubt the work, particularly its finale, which some critics disliked. Leaping to extremes, he pronounced the work“ a failure”; for listeners then and now, however, it was an unqualified success.
Like the Fourth, the Fifth Symphony has a motto theme that appears in all movements and is also associated with the concept of Fate. Fate begins as a menacing force, threatening the composer’ s happiness, but is ultimately transformed into a major-mode song of triumph. We hear it, played by two clarinets in their deepest register in the first movement’ s slow introduction. A clarinet and bassoon introduce the rhythmically intricate first theme, a halting march. The contrasting second theme, sung by the violins, is a tender, syncopated melody that taps wells of passion as it builds to a vigorous climax.
After a short, intense development, the solo bassoon ushers in the recapitulation. The movement’ s lengthy coda is fascinating. Beginning with a frenzied treatment of the halting-march theme, it descends for a surprisingly quiet ending.
The Andante cantabile second movement is one of the most beautiful
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