Program Notes Spring08

Overture to Egmont – Beethoven
Lamoral, Count of Egmont (1522-1568) was a Flemish nobleman and cousin to the Spanish king who ruled the Netherlands. His position gave him high rank in society and he served the crown faithfully, winning decisive military victories against the French. The reformation, however, brought society crashing down around him, leaving him torn between allegiance to his homeland and his catholic faith. Amid violent iconoclasm by protestants and the heavy hand of the Inquisition, Egmont traveled to Spain in 1565 to appeal directly to King Phillip II for peace. In response, the king sent Don Fernando de Toledo, Duke of Alva to the Netherlands with an army of 12,000 men and carte blanche to root out heretics. Nicknamed "The Iron Duke" for his brutal repression of protestants, Don Fernando had Egmont arrested. Despite the intercessions of his wife, Sabina of Bavaria, he was summarily decapitated for treason.

Egmont's life was dramatized in a neo-Shakespearean tragedy by Goethe in 1788. Notwithstanding a liberal reworking of the story (Egmont's wife is replaced by a mistress, Klärchen, who commits suicide when she cannot convince Alva to spare her lover) the play makes a clear political statement, with strong overtones of justice and national liberty evident in the hero's refusal to submit to tyranny. Egmont accepts his fatal destiny and his death as a martyr stands as an ultimate victory against oppression. Beethoven, a great admirer of Goethe, received a commission to compose incidental music for a Vienna revival of the play in 1809. Of the nine works he composed for the play, the overture has become a beloved staple of the orchestral canon.

Variations on a Rococo Theme – Tchaikovsky
"Many people keep dropping in unexpectedly; it seems that everyone in Saint Petersburg is holding me back, when I had stupidly imagined that it would be possible to take advantage of the holidays to work.”

- Peter Illych Tchaikovsky, 1877

Despite his complaints, early 1877 did prove a productive time for Tchaikovsky, seeing the completion of a the Valse-scherzo for violin, his fourth symphony and the present variations for cello and orchestra. (Despite its title, the theme is entirely original and indicates only Tchaikovsky's admiration for Mozart and the classical period.) He dedicated the work to Wilhelm Fitzenhagen, a fellow professor at the Moscow Conservatory. Fitzenhagen gave the premiere late in 1877 under the baton of Nikolai Rubinstein.

A flurry of correspondence then ensued over Fitzenhagen's handling of the work. Tchaikovsky's publisher wrote in horror at how the cellist had made sweeping changes to the work—rearranging the order, rewriting the cello part, deleting variations, etc.—allegedly all with the composer's approval. "Loathsome Fitzenhagen! He is most insistent on making changes to your cello piece!" Fitzenhagen's changes ultimately found their way into the published score (this is the version we will hear tonight) and it was not until 1941 that scholars attempted to reconstruct Tchaikovsky's original. Whether or not he had the composer's approval, it is known that Fitzenhagen's subsequent performances gained great acclaim. A performance at Wiesbaden in 1879 earned a thunderous ovationmusic!"

Symphony No. 3 (Organ) – Saint-Saëns
"I have given to it everything I was able to give."

- Camille Saint-Saëns, in reference to his Third Symphony

Acknowledged by Franz Liszt as the "second best pianist in all Europe", Camille Saint-Saëns was a versatile musician excelling in many areas: a renowned composer, a virtuoso pianist, an organist skilled in both improvisations and composed repertoire, an accomplished conductor, and a respected scholar. Reception of his work was often tainted, however, by his cool demeanor. Whereas Liszt would swoon at the piano to great theatrical effect, Saint-Saëns remained perfectly still. Towards the end of his life, his acidic criticism of other composers (César Franck "wasn't French enough" for him and his thoughts on Claude Debussy do not bear polite discussion) won him few friends and ultimately gained him the reputation of a grumpy old conservative.

The present symphony is Saint-Saëns' fifth (two others were withdrawn and never numbered) and final effort in the genre. Composed for the Royal Philharmonic Society, it was premiered in 1886 with Saint-Saëns conducting. Its nickname reflects the unorthodox scoring of organ and orchestra together. The combination capitalizes on the late 19th century fashion for installing mammoth organs in concert halls as a point of municipal pride. This was, after all, La belle epoque, the generation that gave us the Eiffel Tower and the Exposition Universelle.

Though Saint-Saëns was one of the finest organists of his age, he makes minor demands of the instrument in this work. Apart from a gentle background during the Adagio, the organ's presence simply delivers an extra round of heavy artillery in the final movement. Rather, the presence of the organ is better understood when we see the symphony as a summary of Saint-Saëns entire career: the organ, virtuoso piano writing, lovely melodies, moments of chamber music, and brilliant orchestration are all combined in a colorful tableau.