Passion, Peace & Power Program Notes
September 8, 2024
Program Notes by J. Michael Allsen
The Arizona Philharmonic opens its seventh season with a celebratory work by the American composer Gwyneth Walker.
We then welcome our concertmaster, Katherine McLin, to center stage, as soloist in the Mendelssohn violin concerto. Arthur Honegger’s Pastorale d’été, musical portrait of a lovely summer day, and Haydn’s good-humored Oxford symphony round off this program.
American composer Gwyneth Walker completed this three-movement work in 1983. You will hear a pair of brilliant fanfare-style movements surrounding a more relaxed Interlude.
PROGRAM
GWYNETH WALKER
Fanfare, Interlude, and Finale
FELIX MENDELSSOHN
Concerto in E minor for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 64
– Allegro molto appasionata
– Andante
– Allegretto non troppo
– Allegro molto vivace
Katherine McLin, violin
INTERMISSION
ARTHUR HONEGGER
Pastorale d’été
FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN
Symphony No. 92 in G Major (Oxford)
– Adagio—Allegro spiritoso
– Adagio
– Menuetto
– Presto
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Gwyneth Walker (b. 1947)
Fanfare, Interlude, and Finale
The Fanfare1 was commissioned and premiered by the Washington Festival Orchestra in 1978, conducted by William Radford-Bennett. The Interlude2 and Finale3 were added in 1980. The complete set of Fanfare, Interlude and Finale was premiered by the Twin Cities Symphony (St. Joseph, MI) in 1983, with Robert Vodnoy conducting. Duration 11:00
Background
Gwyneth Walker was born in Connecticut, into a Quaker family. She trained in composition at Brown University and the Hartt School of Music. After years spent teaching at the Oberlin College Conservatory and elsewhere, Walker resigned from academic employment in 1982 in order to pursue a career as a full-time composer. She now lives on a dairy farm in Braintree, Vermont. Dr. Walker is perhaps best-known for her compositions and arrangements of folk songs, spirituals, and Quaker hymns for chorus.
What to Listen For
The brisk opening movement4 begins with a lively fanfare set. There is a quieter more relaxed middle section that brings back a version of the opening theme, before ending in a brilliant trumpet fanfare. The more pensive Interlude begins with solos from the oboe and other woodwinds. According to Walker:
“The Interlude, however, is quite different, for it is constructed on gradual transformation of the theme rather than contrast. The melody introduced by the oboe appears in many guises before returning in the cello at the end. The listener might particularly notice the closing sonorities of this movement in which the solo cello rises above the rest of the orchestra and is suspended alone.”
The Finale returns to the style of the opening Fanfare, opening with brassy music, before a middle section featuring solo woodwinds. This gives way to a dancelike closing section based upon the opening theme.
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Concerto in E minor for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 64
Mendelssohn began work on this concerto in 1838, but most of it was completed in the summer of 1844. Ferdinand David was the soloist at the premiere, in Leipzig on March 13, 1845. Duration 29:00.
Background
Mendelssohn’s violin concerto is certainly the most popular of his solo works, and is probably one of the most often-played concertos for the instrument. It was just as familiar the 19th century: it was a hit as soon as it was introduced in 1845, and some sixty years later, the virtuoso Joseph Joachim listed it as one of the “four German violin concertos”—alongside those of Beethoven, Bruch, and Brahms. He concluded by saying: “But the dearest of them all, the heart’s jewel, is Mendelssohn’s.” The concerto deserves every bit of its popularity. Mendelssohn’s melodies are memorable and his musical forms are immaculately shaped. And violinists generally love to play this piece—it is certainly not “easy” in any way, but it is crafted in such a way that it lays perfectly on the instrument.
The concerto was the product of Mendelssohn’s friendship with the composer and violinist Ferdinand David (1810-1873). David spent most of his career as a violinist and conductor in Leipzig, primarily in connection with the famed Gewandhaus. He and Mendelssohn had become friends in the late 1820s, and in they spent much of late 1830s working together in Leipzig. In 1838, Mendelssohn wrote to David: “I would like to write you a violin concerto for next winter. One in E minor keeps running through my head, and the opening gives me no peace.” The violin concerto was not finished that winter or the next, however. In 1840, Mendelssohn took a position in Berlin that kept him too busy to finish the concerto…or much else. (One of the few large works he did complete in Berlin was the incidental music for A Midsummer Night’s Dream.) Mendelssohn returned to Leipzig in 1843, however, and finished the concerto in relatively short order. He worked closely with David, who provided technical advice, and who probably composed the cadenza in the first movement.
What to Listen For
The first movement (Allegro molto appasionata7 is in sonata form8, meaning that a series of themes are “exposed” at the beginning, developed and then recapitulated at the end. It begins with a melody from the violin that is soon picked up by the orchestra and further developed in the solo part. The second theme is a flowing melody again introduced by the solo part, equally with more energetic music. The brilliant cadenza (a showy section for the soloist alone) appears not as usual at the very end of the movement, but ushers in a shortened recapitulation and fiery coda. Mendelssohn reportedly hated applause between movements, and made sure to connect the opening movement and the second (Andante) by having the bassoon hold its final pitch as link. This single note soon blossoms into a flowing and thoroughly romantic melody. There is a slightly darker middle section, but the opening mood soon returns. Once again, Mendelssohn links this movement to the next—in this case with a short interlude (Allegretto non troppo9) based upon the first movement’s main theme. Suddenly there are trumpet calls, answered by flippant little flicks from the soloist (Allegro molto vivace10). The main theme has the soloist dancing lightly above the orchestra, and eventually bowing furiously. There is a similarity in tone between this movement and the dancing fairies and good humor of his Midsummer Night’s Dream music. Though Mendelssohn conjures up some ingenious details in the accompaniment, it is the solo line that dominates this entire movement, ending with a brilliant flourish.
Arthur Honegger (1892-1955)
Pastorale d’été
Honegger composed this work in 1920. The first performance was in Paris on February 17, 1921. Duration 7:00.
Background
The Swiss-French composer Arthur Honegger was a member of the influential group of young composers that French critics labeled les six—a group that sought to create a new, straightforward, and distinctly French style in the years after the first world war. Like his colleagues, Honegger was willing to incorporate virtually any sort of musical influence into his compositions; Gregorian chant, American jazz, natural sounds, and even industrial sounds—as in his famous Pacific 231, an evocation of a steam engine by a symphony orchestra. He was also capable of creating moments of beautiful simplicity, as in his brief Pastorale d’été.
What to Listen For
Though there is no specific program or storyline for Pastorale d’été (Summer Pastorale), the composer placed a line by J.A. Rimbaud at the head of the score: J’ai embrassé l’aube d’été (“I have embraced the summer dawn”). The work is scored for solo wind players and a small string section, and the musical style is calm and gentle throughout, suggesting a pastel-painted summer morning. The opening theme, sung by the horn, is placid and almost lazy. In a more energetic second section, marked Vif et gai (“Lively and gay”), the clarinet and bassoon play a sprightly theme and countertheme. After injecting a few jazzy undertones into this folklike atmosphere, Honegger returns to the opening material, with the opening cantibile theme played by the bassoon. The horn and flute give one more reminiscence of this theme, and the Pastorale gently fades away.
Franz Josef Haydn (1732-1809)
Symphony No. 92 in G Major (Oxford)
Haydn composed this work in 1789, and the first performance probably took place on the Esterháza palace in Hungary shortly afterwards. It was more famously played on July 7, 1791 at Oxford University in England. 1790 on March 23, 1792. Duration 28:00.
Background
When his long-time patron, Prince Nicolaus Esterházy died in 1790, Haydn was presented with almost total freedom to compose and travel. Johann Peter Salomon, a London impresario, wasted no time in engaging Haydn for his spring concert series. After some initial hesitation—which was overcome by Salomon’s promise of some 1200 pounds—Haydn agreed to come to England. His first English tour in 1791-92 was wildly successful: Salomon’s reciepts were tremendous, and the concert series was helped by friendly competition from a rival London series of concerts by Haydn’s former student Ignaz Pleyel. Haydn subsequently contracted with Salomon for a second trip to London in 1794-95. Under the terms of his contract, Haydn composed twelve symphonies for Salomon’s concerts during his two visits: Nos. 93-98 during his first visit, and Nos. 99-104 during his second.
Unlike some of Haydn’s “named” symphonies, the “Oxford” symphony’s nickname is actually tied to historical fact. One of the honors Haydn collected during his first stay in England was an honorary doctorate in music from Oxford University, which was conferred on July 7, 1791. Though the modest Haydn was apparently a little embarrassed by the flamboyant doctoral robes—which, according to Oxford tradition, he had to wear them for three full days—he cherished the doctorate for the rest of his life. As part of the celebration, there were three concerts featuring his works in Oxford’s Sheldonian Theatre on July 6-8. The Symphony No. 92—chosen because parts were already published and available to the players in advance—was played at the second of these concerts on July 7.
What to Listen For
Like his “Paris” symphonies (Nos. 82-87), No. 92 was commissioned by the French nobleman and amateur cellist, the Comte d’Ogny. However unlike Nos. 82-87, which were written with huge orchestra for the time, with at least 40 violins and 10 basses, No. 92 seems to have been conceived with the much smaller Esterházy court orchestra in mind. True to form for most of Haydn’s late symphonies, the Symphony No.92 begins with a slow introduction—in this case a relatively brief passage (Adagio13 with lovely solo lines and a brief turn towards the minor at the end. The body of the movement (Allegro spiritoso14) is in sonata form, in which he lays out a couple of lovely themes. In an extensive development section beginning with the second of these ideas, Haydn spends most of the time in the minor. Rather than a conventional recapitulation, the end of this movement seems much more like a continuation of the development section, with themes constantly decorated and elaborated until the very end.
The Adagio begins with a gorgeous theme that may have been inspired by the slow movements of his young friend Mozart. Uncharacteristically for his slow movements, the turbulent middle section includes trumpets and drums, However at the end, the more relaxed mood of the opening returns. At the very end, Haydn returns to a delicate piece of writing for the woodwinds that had earlier appeared in the middle section
Though Haydn maintained (or rather established) the 18th-century tradition of using a menuet as the third movement, his menuets are seldom effete, powdered-wig affairs. The third movement of this symphony is a typically good-natured Austrian country-band Haydn menuet15, just a bit too fast and heavy-footed for courtly dancing.
The finale (Presto16) is a lightfooted movement in sonata form whose main theme has the character of a galop: a lively French country dance just coming into popularity. This is thoroughly good-humored music, filled with sudden quirky pauses that momentarily halt the movement’s furious forward motion.