Overture Magazine: 2017-2018 Season September-October 2017 | Page 38

SOL GABETTA PERFORMS TCHAIKOVSKY
Written in 1865 but not published until 1876 , Mallarmé ’ s pastoral poem , “ L ’ Aprèsmidi d ’ un faune ” (“ The Afternoon of a Faun ”) epitomized the Symbolist aesthetic . Its subject is the amorous adventure of a faun — the cloven-hoofed demigod of Greek mythology also known as a satyr — on a sultry summer afternoon . However , the poem leaves purposefully vague whether the faun ’ s pursuit and capture of two nymphs is real or only a languid dream .
Both the sensual imagery and the vagueness meshed with Debussy ’ s own ideals , and his musical paraphrase of the poem , composed between 1892 and 1894 , became his first orchestral masterpiece . He described it as “ a series of scenes against which the desires and dreams of the faun are seen to stir in the afternoon heat .” Premiered on December 22 , 1894 in Paris , it drew demands for an encore from an audience that immediately embraced its radical new sound world .
To appreciate how novel Debussy ’ s soundscape was , compare this work with two almost contemporary pieces : Dvořák ’ s “ New World ” Symphony and Tchaikovsky ’ s “ Pathétique ” Symphony . In both , strings dominate the orchestra , brass peal out and the timpani crashes in fortissimo climaxes . But in his Afternoon of a Faun , Debussy banished both brass and timpani and de-emphasized the strings . Instead , the plangent tones of woodwinds dominate his orchestra , led by a superb part for the solo flute representing the faun . His most luxurious addition is two harps , providing a shimmering accompaniment to the wind solos , and his most exotic , the bell-like antique cymbals that ring softly at the end . The sounds of these instruments are deployed with the utmost subtlety , and no loud climaxes are permitted .
To his new sound palette Debussy added other radical features : free harmonic movement not dictated by the classical rules of tonality and the supplest use of rhythm , in which time flows rather than beats . All the work ’ s thematic material is derived from the flute ’ s opening melody : a lazy chromatic slither that captures both the heat of the afternoon and the faun ’ s desire . Mallarmé himself was delighted by this fusion of music and poetry : “ The music brings forth the emotion of the poem and gives it a background of warmer color .”
Instrumentation : Three flutes , two oboes , English horn , two clarinets , two basssons , four horns , percussion , two harps and strings .
SUITE FROM DER ROSENKAVALIER
Richard Strauss
Born in Munich , Germany , June 11 , 1864 ; died in Garmisch – Partenkirchen , West Germany , September 8 , 1949
Having devoted his early career to the composition of tone poems , in middle age Richard Strauss moved on to the most dramatic musical form of all — opera . Of his 15 operas , the most popular and , in the opinion of many critics , the finest is Der Rosenkavalier , his bittersweet comedy set in 18 th -century Vienna . With a libretto by the Austrian poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal , it tells the story of a love triangle involving different generations : two women — one mature and the other only a teenager — vying for the love of one young man .
The older woman is the Marschallin Maria Theresa : a beautiful , married aristocrat who is carrying on an affair with the 17-year-old Octavian , Count Rofrano . ( Because he personally disliked the tenor voice , Strauss cast Octavian as a mezzo-soprano , making it a female “ trouser role ” like Cherubino in Mozart ’ s The Marriage of Figaro .) When the Marschallin ’ s cousin , the boorish country bumpkin Baron Ochs von Lerchenau , arrives with the news he is wooing the teenaged Sophie von Faninal and needs a young man to present a silver rose to her as a token of his love ( the old Viennese aristocratic ceremony of the “ Rose Cavalier ”), the Marschallin proposes Octavian as rosebearer , half knowing she may thereby lose him to an attractive woman his own age . And indeed , the story unfolds as she suspected : Sophie and Octavian are instantly smitten with each other during the rose presentation ceremony ; Ochs ’ crude wooing throws Sophie into Octavian ’ s arms and , after various comic episodes , Ochs admits defeat , and the Marschallin gracefully surrenders Octavian to Sophie .
Ever since its premiere in 1911 , this opera has entranced audiences with its soaring ensembles for its three female leads ( Octavian included ), its comic sparkle and especially its anachronistic ( the waltz hardly existed in the 18 th century ), but gloriously Viennese waltzes . The concert suite we ’ ll hear is a potpourri of its greatest melodies pulled together by an unknown arranger with the elderly Strauss ’ blessing in 1945 , when World War II had left him in desperate financial straits .
We will hear : from Act I , the ardent prelude that opens the opera , in which the Marschallin and Octavian are discovered in bed together ; the Act II “ Rose Presentation Scene ,” with its high , cascading motive shimmering in celesta , harps , flutes and strings and including the enraptured duet in which Octavian and Sophie first express their mutual attraction ; also from Act II , Baron Ochs ’ sentimental waltz “ Mit mir ” ( the most famous of Rosenkavalier ’ s waltzes ) as well as his more boisterous waltz proclaiming the “ Luck of the Lerchenaus ”; the glorious Act III trio in which the Marschallin tenderly renounces her claims to Octavian and gives him to Sophie ; and the charmingly naive duet for the young lovers that closes the opera . Finally , though Baron Ochs loses in the opera , he gets the last word in the Suite with a reprise of his exuberant waltz boasting of the “ Luck of the Lerchenaus .”
Instrumentation : Three flutes including piccolo , three oboes including English horn , three clarinets including E-flat clarinet , bass clarinet , three bassoons including contrabassoon , four horns , three trumpets , three trombones , tuba , timpani , percussion , two harps , celesta and strings .
Notes by Janet E . Bedell , Copyright © 2017
36 OVERTURE / BSOmusic . org