Mozart completed Don Giovanni in 1787, and the opera was premiered in Prague on October 29, 1787. Don Giovanni is one of the three operas that resulted from Mozart’s collaboration with the great librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte (the other two operas being Le nozze di Figaro and Cosi fan tutte). Mozart himself called his opera dramma giocosso (literally “merry drama”) and here in the overture we can see how drama and comedy shift as quickly and as unpredictably as only one man – Mozart – could do.
The overture begins with the Commendatore theme. The tragic chords of the very beginning, the following ostinato rhythm, as well as the ascending and descending lines in the first violins and flutes create the impression of something fateful to follow. Contrasting with the general dark mode of the introduction of the overture is the sonata allegro with its typical Mozartean wit and energy.
The second theme of the sonata allegro deserves special attention: its forte–piano contrast clearly represents the Don Giovanni–Leporello tandem. Originally Mozart designed the overture to lead directly to the music of the first act, showing that the overture is an inseparable part of the entire drama.
It is a well known fact that it took only one day for Mozart to complete the overture to the opera (and that day happened to be the day before the opera’s premiere). After the death of Mozart, Johann Andre adopted the end of the overture for concert performance, and it is Andre’s version that you will hear today.
Bach in a more festive mode, now with a wedding cantata, BWV 197, written in 1737. This is the opening chorus in D major. It begins with a rousing introduction for the orchestra with three trumpets, oboes, strings and timpani. A choral fugue follows with altos in the lead. A more lyrical middle section starts in the relative minor key. The piece ends with a repeat of the jubilant first section.
Gott ist unsre Zuversicht,
Wir vertrauen seinen Händen.
Wie er unsre Wege führt,
Wie er unser Herz regiert,
Da ist Segen aller Enden.
God is our confidence,
we trust in His hands.
How He leads our ways,
how He directs our hearts,
that is the ultimate blessing.
Composed between 1800 and 1803, this work can be viewed as both the culmination of the first phase of Beethoven’s orchestral writing and as a major advance towards the work of his “heroic” period.
While outwardly classical in style, this symphony is full of drama, contrast and lyricism. It begins in a grand style, with an opening Adagio based on rising and falling scale motifs. The opening section segues into a sparkling Allegro con brio starting in the lower strings, with dramatic drive and dynamic contrasts.
The lovely theme of the second movement Larghetto is one of the most recognizable passages in classical music – a lyrical rising melody played first by the strings in a high register, and then echoed by the winds. A short development section uses the opening theme as a backdrop to evoke an unsettled and then stormy mood before returning to the opening’s calm lyricism.
The joyous Scherzo has sudden dynamic contrasts and a lovely Trio featuring the winds.
The symphony concludes with a brilliant Allegro molto, which is based on a fiery short opening string motif and punctuated with a dramatic stop. Rich harmonic improvisation and use of the opening motif characterize this movement, which ends with a triumphant flourish.
Johannes Brahms composed for piano, chamber ensembles, symphony orchestra, and for voice and chorus. He was at once a traditionalist and an innovator. His music is firmly rooted in the structures and compositional techniques of the Baroque and Classical masters. His thorough study of music of the past had given him a reverence for form. He also had hands-on experience with vocal music, having conducted choirs for many years; in 1863 he had been appointed conductor of the Vienna Singakademie. Brahms had already completed his Deutsches Requiem when he wrote Schicksalslied in 1871. Its premiere confirmed his growing European reputation, and led many to believe that he had conquered Beethoven and the symphony, even though his four great symphonies were not yet written.
Brahms came across the text of Schicksalslied in a friend’s library in 1868, and it made an immediate impression on him. The poem by Friedrich Hölderlin was originally part of the novel Hyperion. It had only two verses. The first describes the peaceful life of the gods, the second the suffering of mankind. Brahms wrestled with his desire to be faithful to the poet, which would mean ending his musical setting with the despairing text of the second verse. At first he wanted to create a three-part form with a reprise of the first verse, but felt this would be contrary to Hölderlin’s dark intention. He compromised by adding an orchestral coda without text, referring only in the music to the bliss of Hölderlin’s initial vision.
The orchestral introduction immediately sets up the fate motif with an inexorable, repeated triplet pattern in the timpani. The next section is gentler, foretelling the poet’s description of beatific celestial calm. When the chorus enters, the main theme is first given to altos alone, then to the full chorus. With the second theme the melody in the strings soars above the singers.
Everything changes as the poem depicts the fate of man, “plunging blindly into the abyss,” with no hope of rest. The strings swirl in rushing sixteenth notes, there are unstable diminished chords, the winds blast, and the singers have a jagged vocal line. The tumult dies down, only to return again. A constant low C (pedal point) in the celli and timpani, held for 54 measures, leads to Brahms’ final section. The music of the introduction reappears, this time with new orchestration, and now in the key of C major – a long way from its original iteration in Eb major. For an orchestral work to end in a key so different from that of its opening was very unusual, perhaps even revolutionary.
Ihr wandelt droben im Licht
Auf weichem Boden, selige Genien!
Glänzende Götterlüfte
Rühren Euch leicht,
Wie die Finger der Künstlerin
Heilige Saiten.
Schicksallos, wie der schlafende
Säugling, atmen die Himmlischen;
Keusch bewahrt
in bescheidener Knospe,
Blühet ewig
Ihnen der Geist,
Und die seligen Augen
Blicken in stiller
Ewiger Klarheit.
Doch uns ist gegeben,
Auf keiner Stätte zu ruhn;
Es schwinden, es fallen
Die leidenden Menschen
Blindlings von einer
Stunde [zur] andern,
Wie Wasser von Klippe
Zu Klippe geworfen,
Jahrlang ins Ungewisse hinab.
You walk above in the light
on soft ground, blessed spirits!
Glistening, divine breezes
touch you lightly,
just as the fingers of the fair artist play on
sacred harpstrings.
Free from fate, like the sleeping infant,
celestial spirits breathe;
chastely protected
in its modest bud,
their spirit
blooms forever,
and their blessed eyes
gaze in calm,
eternal clarity.
Yet we are given
no place to rest;
we suffering humans
vanish and fall
blindly from one
hour to the next,
like water flung
from cliff to cliff
endlessly down into the unknown.
A large number of Bach’s compositions are choral works, most of them centered on the liturgy and church services. They include over 200 sacred cantatas; secular cantatas; monumental works like the B Minor Mass, Christmas and Easter Oratorios, and St. Matthew Passion; and chorales, masses and motets. The motets fall into a special category of smaller-scale works which were often written for special occasions, such as weddings or funerals.
Bach composed this motet in 1736-7, when he was serving as the Cantor at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. It was most likely written for a funeral. The original instrumentation calls for six brass instruments: 2 “litui” (horn-like instruments), a cornetto, and 3 trombones. The scoring for such portable instruments makes it likely that this introspective motet was used outdoors, either in a procession or a graveside service (Bach later re-orchestrated it for more conventional winds and strings for indoor church use).
The text of BWV 118 is taken from an early 17th-century hymn written by Martin Behm, which contains some 15 stanzas. Bach’s score indicates that multiple stanzas can be used, and for today’s performance we are using 2 of them (1 and 12). The music and text evoke the hope of redemption in death and entry into heaven.
O Jesu Christ, meins Lebens Licht,
Mein Hort, mein Trost, mein Zuversicht,
Auf Erden bin ich nur ein Gast,
Und drückt mich sehr der Sünden Last.
Auf deinen Abschied, Herr, ich trau,
Darauf mein letzte Heimfahrt bau;
Tu mir die Himmelstür weit auf,
Wenn ich beschliess meins Lebens Lauf.
Oh Jesus Christ, my life’s light,
my refuge, my comfort, my confidence,
on earth I am only a guest
and by sin’s burden sore oppressed.
In your departure, Lord, I place my trust—
on it I rely for my last journey home.
Open wide heaven’s gate for me,
when I complete my life’s course.
This short well-known work is actually an instrumental interlude contained in the oratorio Solomon, which Handel composed in 1749. The sinfonia contains vigorous running passages in the violins with contrasting oboe solos.
Édouard Lalo (1823-1892) was a prominent French romantic composer. He attended the Paris Conservatory and was active as a string player and teacher. He became well-known as a composer of orchestral and chamber music, including such works as the Symphonie Espagnole for violin and orchestra, his symphony in G minor, and the D minor ‘cello concerto.
This concerto is in three movements. A slow opening 8-bar orchestral theme (Prelude-Lento) leads to a fantasy/recitative between the solo ‘cello and the orchestra, before jumping into the dramatic main theme (Allegro maestoso). The middle movement has two contrasting sections – a romantic wistful Andantino, followed by a sprightly Spanish-style Allegro presto; both are repeated, with the movement ending in soft pizzicati by soloist and orchestra. The last movement opens with a somber ‘cello recitative (Introduction-Andante); after a brief orchestral statement in the minor key, the ‘cello sets the tone for a joyous rondo in D major (Rondo-Allegro vivace). The Rondo features brilliant solo passagework set off by contrasting orchestral sections.
A gifted and eclectic composer, Griffes was born in western New York in 1884 and died prematurely in 1920 at the age of 35.
Although he studied with German pianists and composers, he was most influenced by early 20th-century French and Russian composers, and by oriental music. He developed his own unique style of American Impressionism, which clearly comes through in his Three Tone Pictures.
He originally composed these pieces for solo piano in 1915, and then orchestrated them for small ensemble. An avid devotee of poetry, he chose the titles of these atmospheric pieces from texts in three poems – William Butler Yeats’ The Lake at Innisfree (“The Lake at Evening”); Edgar Allan Poe’s The Sleeper (“The Vale of Dreams”), and Poe’s The Lake (“The Night Winds”).
Rossini composed this overture for his 1829 tragic opera William Tell (his last opera before a 40-year retirement). The opera is based on the story of William Tell, the Swiss crossbowman who shot an apple off of his son’s head, and sparked an uprising against Austria that led to Swiss independence in the 14th century.
The overture is one of the most recognizable classical works ever composed, due to its use in many non-classical contexts in television and film. The work is in four sections, and can be viewed as almost a mini-tone poem.
It starts with a sunrise scene, played by solo ‘cellos and basses. The second section depicts a sudden Alpine storm (reminiscent of the storm on the lake which enabled Tell to escape his Austrian captors). The third section evokes a bucolic Swiss mountain scene, complete with birds and lyricism. The concluding section is a quick march – the return of the victorious Swiss from their campaign against the Austrians – but modern popular culture has attached a quite different type of hero to it.
In 1721 Bach dedicated a set of six concerti for diverse instruments to Markgraf Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg. At that time Bach was the resident Kapellmeister for Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen, and was in the midst of composing some of his best -known instrumental works. The “Brandenburg Concerti” are indeed a remarkable collection, each featuring unique combinations of instruments.
His Concerto No. 1 is noteworthy for featuring two “hunting horns” – the first ever use of horns in such a work. Together with the horns, this work features three oboes, bassoon, solo violin and strings. It has four movements (the only Brandenburg concerto to have that many).
The opening allegro is filled with counterpoint among the horns, oboes, strings and solo violin. The melodious second movement features solo passages in canon between the solo oboe and solo violin. A lively third movement follows, with robust orchestral passages offset by solos. The fourth movement is unique, with an opening menuetto for full ensemble; a trio featuring oboes and bassoon; a “Polacca”, or formal polonaise, section played by the strings; and a second trio featuring horns and oboes.
