First Concert with new conductor a ‘symphonic’ success!
December 5th 2009 The Marches School Oswestry
Programme
Egmont Overture (1809 – 1810)
Ludvig Van Beethoven (1770 – 1827)
After removing the dedication to Napoleon of his 3rd Symphony, the “Eroica” (1804), being disgusted at the French leader’s bombing of his native city, Beethoven became increasingly in the idea of true liberty. He was therefore to grasp the opportunity to provide incidental music to Goethe’s play “Egmont” when a commission was offered in 1809. In the mid sixteenth century the Netherlands were under the control of Phillip II of Spain who ruled the country despotically. His theme is heard in the grave opening bars of the overture marked Andante Sostenuto. The Duke of Alba was sent to quell the uprisings which started in the country in protest at the harsh treatment and Count Lamoral van Egmont was one of the most popular military Dutch leaders. As such he became one of the Duke’s first victims. Instead of renouncing his ideal of freedom, Count Egmont chose to be executed and thus stood as a symbol for the liberation of the Netherlands. The struggles between the tyrant and the optimistic Egmont are heard in the main section, an Allegro which culminates after a dramatic climax in the beheading of the Count. After a brief transition an exciting build up leads into the F major coda, where the piccolo is introduced for the first time and fortissimo trumpet fanfares signal the final triumph of freedom.
Karelia Suite (1893)
Jean Sibelius (1865 – 1957)
Finland in the late 19th Century was a country in upheaval. Having been under Russian control for nearly a hundred years the nationalist movement was growing fast and Sibelius was quickly becoming a key figure in the expression of Finnish culture. After the Kalevala was published in 1849, a collection of Finnish folk stories, Sibelius wrote his Kullervo Symphony setting one of these stories to music and was a huge success.The following year he was asked to compose music to accompany a patriotic historical pageant to be presented by students of Helsinki University in Viborg, Karelia. The production was to be a series of dramatic tableaux, each portraying a scene from Finnish history and it is from three of these that the music for the Suite is taken. The first, an Intermezzo, was an accompaniment to a scene portraying native Finns paying tribute to a Prince. The rustling strings in the opening accompany a noble melody first heard in the horns and which then grows through the orchestra in a manner foreshadowing his later style. The melody has been traced by some analysts to several Finnish folk melodies, and the rhythm as likewise been said to mirror Finnish speech patterns. The second movement is a Ballade sung to a deposed Swedish King in his castle. The sombre mood is reflected by the reduced orchestration without bright trumpets, horns or the high transparency of the flutes. The solo cor anglais clearly resembles a solitary voice. The Third movement, Alla Marcia, is a spirited call-to-arms for a scene depicting a besieged castle.
Symphony No. 8 in B minor “Unfinished”(1822)
Franz Schubert (1797 – 1828)
Having completed two movements of his Eighth Symphony in October 1822, Schubert sketched about 130 bars more, then the work just fizzled out. Among the suggestions regarding why he didn’t finish it, by far the most common is that either after a severe illness he didn’t feel well enough, or he simply forgot about it, being too busy with other music, or (rather more fancifully) he felt the two movements were “perfect” as they stood. None really rings true. The further sketch contradicts the last idea, and if he wasn’t fit, how did he managed so much else? Then, in 1823 he promised a symphonic score in return for an award from the Styrian Music Association. Fulfilling this obligation after a strong paternal prod, what did he send? Exactly, the score of the Unfinished, clearly far from forgotten! .
