PROGRAM NOTES
ANNE-SOPHIE MUTTER PERFORMS BEETHOVEN
“ Paradise Garden ” is actually a country inn , and a young couple is walking there to get away from their feuding families .
The sweet sounds that begin this interlude , including prominent solo lines for English horn and oboe , capture the pastoral atmosphere and the tender feelings between the star-crossed lovers . Other passages emphasize the immensity of the moment , as the pair careens toward their fate of drowning together — the only option they see to escape their family strife .
Instrumentation Two flutes , oboe , English horn , two clarinets , two bassoons , four horns , two trumpets , three trombones , timpani , harp , and strings .
Edward Elgar
Born June 2 , 1857 near Worcester , England Died February 23 , 1934 in Worcester , England
FALSTAFF [ 1913 ]
For 200 years following Henry Purcell ’ s death in 1695 , the most significant music created in England was the work of foreigners , including Handel , J . C . Bach , and Haydn . The man who broke England ’ s dry spell was an unlikely candidate — the son of a piano tuner , Catholic in a Protestant country , and untrained in music except for some violin lessons as a teenager . Edward Elgar gained international recognition with his intriguing Enigma Variations in 1899 , and he helped forge a distinctly British sound in the waning years of the Romantic era .
When commissioned to write a major work for the Leeds Festival in 1913 , Elgar drew on his enormous regard for Shakespeare to create Falstaff , which he described as a “ symphonic study .” Falstaff — that rotund and often ridiculous knight who appears in both parts of Shakespeare ’ s Henry IV as well as The Merry Wives of
Windsor — had already been the subject of a famous opera by Verdi , who played up the knight ’ s voracious appetites for food , alcohol , and women . By focusing instead on Falstaff ’ s relationship with the prince who would become King Henry V , Elgar gave his title character a more nuanced and dramatic trajectory .
Elgar also went the farthest he ever had into the realm of program music as mastered by Richard Strauss , the king of the tone poem . Falstaff stitches together linked sections to form a continuous arc lasting about 35 minutes , starting with a scene that introduces the rowdy theme associated with the title character , along with a more refined melody that represents Prince Hal , the future king who shares some of Falstaff ’ s wanton habits , and who treats the older knight with thinly veiled contempt . Their adventures play out in a montage that visits their favorite watering hole in London , The Boar ’ s Head Tavern in Eastcheap , plus the scene of a robbery ( where Hal double-crosses Falstaff ) and additional revelry before descending into sleep . The Dream Interlude offers a brief rest while Falstaff slips into reveries of his youth .
The herky-jerky march that comes next represents the “ scarecrow army ” — the best forces that Falstaff could muster on his mission to raise an army ( after taking bribes to release the more promising recruits ). Another interlude in an orchard hints at the traditional English sound of the fife-like tabor and drum , until Falstaff rushes off expectantly to attend the coronation of his old friend . The tragic final chapter depicts Falstaff ’ s fall from grace and lonely death after he is rejected by the newly crowned Henry V . Even without tracking the detailed progress of the characters , this “ symphonic study ” succeeds in shaping a human drama through purely musical means , marking a distinctly British contribution to the Germanic tradition of the tone poem .
Instrumentation Two flutes , piccolo , two oboes , English horn , two clarinets , bass clarinet , two bassoons , contrabassoon , four horns , three trumpets , three trombones , tuba , timpani , percussion , two harps , and strings .
Ludwig van Beethoven
Born December 1770 in Bonn , Germany Died March 26 , 1827 in Vienna , Austria
VIOLIN CONCERTO IN D MAJOR , OP . 61 [ 1806 ]
Beethoven often took months or years to draft and refine a major composition , and his 8,000- plus pages of surviving sketches attest to the grit and endurance involved in his typical working process . He had no such luxury , however , when he agreed on short notice to write a violin concerto for his friend Franz Clement . Beethoven just barely completed the score in time for the premiere on December 23 , 1806 , leaving Clement scant time to learn the imposing solo part . The initial audience didn ’ t know what to make of such a profound and symphonic concerto , and Beethoven ’ s only full-length feature for the violin languished until Felix Mendelssohn revived it in 1844 , joined by the twelve-year-old Hungarian prodigy Joseph Joachim .
The Violin Concerto in D Major starts with a quintessential Beethoven theme : a single note , D , struck five consecutive times by the timpanist . This modest tapping motive proves to be the backbone of the substantial first movement , an approach typical of Beethoven ’ s “ middle period ,” when he mastered the art of distilling musical ingredients down to their purest essence . The slow movement continues the rarified mood with a stately theme and variations , and then the Rondo finale , reached without pause through a solo cadenza , supplies the concerto with a more extroverted conclusion .
Instrumentation Flute , two oboes , two clarinets , two bassoons , two horns , two trumpets , timpani , and strings .
Maximilian Franz
Musical Terms Program music : A musical composition that is intended to evoke a scene , communicate an idea , or tell a story . Tone poem : A piece in one movement that illustrates the content of a poem , story , novel , painting , landscape , or other non-musical source .
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