Overture Magazine 2019-20 BSO_Overture_Sept_Oct | Page 30

MOZART VIOLIN CONCERTO
The work closes with a finale in
rondo form. A refrain melody keeps
returning in the home key while, in
between, episodes of contrasting music
explore other keys. Here the refrain tune
is a courtly, minuet ending with a little
teasing upward flourish. Midway through
the movement comes Mozart’s “Turkish”
surprise. Since he didn’t have percussion
in his small ensemble, he cleverly asked
the cellos to thump their instruments
with the wooden side of their bows to
produce the drum-and-cymbals effect.
Instrumentation: Two oboes, two horns
and strings.
SYMPHONY NO. 8 IN B MINOR,
“UNFINISHED”
Franz Schubert
Born in Vienna, Austria, January 31, 1797;
died in Vienna, Austria, November 19, 1828
Since Franz Schubert died at the tragically
young age of 31, many listeners may
assume that death cut off his magnificent
B Minor Symphony known as the
“Unfinished.” But its two movements and
a partial sketch of a third were actually
written in October–November 1822 when
the composer was 25. After his first six
symphonies, written between ages 16 and
21, Schubert seems to have had trouble
achieving the next stage of his symphonic
expression. The B Minor was the third
symphony he tossed away without
completing, most likely because he did
not know where to take his revolutionary
new conception.
Because this work is so well loved
today, it is difficult for us to appreciate
how radical it was for 1822. Its tone and
emotional content were altogether new,
and both movements share a bittersweet
pathos juxtaposed against violent
outbursts. Big in conception, if completed
it would have been longer than Beethoven’s
“Eroica” Symphony. And Schubert’s
sound world here is utterly distinctive
—predominantly dark and colored by
the plaintive sounds of the woodwinds,
particularly clarinet and oboe, who are
given many of the important themes.
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Nothing could be more distinctive
than the symphony’s opening. Deep in
the cellos and basses emerges a brooding
theme that Schubert will make much use
of later. Then a mysterious rushing figure
in the violins leads to the principal theme,
intoned by solo oboe and clarinet. Soon
the cellos announce the famous second
theme, this symphony’s trademark. But
before that lovely melody can complete
itself, the orchestra interrupts with a
fortissimo explosion. The development
section is built entirely around that
deep introductory theme; now Schubert
explores its potential with a passion
and power worthy of Beethoven. At the
movement's end, we hear this theme
again, now broken and dying away.
The interplay between the lyrical
and the dramatic continues in the
second movement. A stealthy pizzicato
descending figure in the bass leads
immediately into another yearning
melody in the strings. A new section
is introduced by an arching theme
for violin, followed by haunting solos
for clarinet and oboe. These lyrical
interludes are again smashed by a
fortissimo passage of grandeur and
harmonic daring. After reprises of both
sections comes an ethereal coda with a
twist of pain; it is built from the violins’
arching theme and fragments of the main
theme wandering in strange harmonic
territory. So beautiful, so complete is this
ending that we feel this work is well and
truly “finished.”
Instrumentation: Two flutes, two oboes,
two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns,
two trumpets, three trombones, timpani
and strings.
ON THE BEAUTIFUL BLUE DANUBE
Johann Strauss II
music or faithfully tuning in for the
annual New Year’s Day concert from
Vienna celebrating his and his family’s
genius (his father, Johann Strauss I, was
also a gifted composer). For he was not
trying to write music for the ages, but
was instead the leading composer and
performer of the Viennese popular music
of his day. He wrote quickly and he
wrote prolifically, translating the current
events and moods of his era into vehicles
for the city’s many dance halls.
Of all his waltzes, none is more popular
than On the Beautiful Blue Danube,
which he composed during the winter
of 1867. However, its first performance
in Vienna in February of that year was
hardly auspicious. It originally contained
a choral part for male chorus set to
an inane text not about the Danube,
but instead saluting the new electric-
arc streetlights just being introduced
in Vienna! The chorus members had
difficulty stifling their laughs, and the
audience hardly noticed the beguiling
melodies in the background. Just a few
months later, Strauss needed something
for the official Viennese ball at the
Paris World Exposition; throwing out
the choral part, he unveiled the purely
instrumental Blue Danube. From then
on, the waltz was a runaway success with
approximately one million copies soon
sold around the world.
Like most of Strauss’ mature waltzes,
the Blue Danube contains a series of
contrasting dance melodies in addition
to the famous tune we all know. We
hear that tune first in the soft and rather
mysterious introduction, sounding like
a tender reminiscence of a long-ago
golden era. It also receives a beautiful,
nostalgic treatment in the closing
coda, prolonged by slowing-down and
speeding-up of the tempo, a rhythmic
technique known as rubato.
Born in Vienna, Austria, October 25, 1825;
died in Vienna, Austria, June 3, 1899
Instrumentation: Two flutes including
piccolo, two oboes, two clarinet, two
Johann Strauss II would probably
be amazed to know that, well over a
century after he reigned as the Waltz
King of Vienna, audiences would still
be flocking to concerts of his dance
bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, bass
trombone, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp
and strings.
Notes by Janet E. Bedell, © 2019