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ProgramNotes Shostakovich Symphony10
ProgramNotes Shostakovich Symphony10
Intermission
Shostakovich
Symphony No. 10 in E Minor, Op. 93
Moderato
Allegro
Allegretto
Andante—Allegro
This program is partially supported by grants from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Comments by Daniel
Phillip Jaffé Phillip Huscher
Huscher
Edward Elgar
Born June 2, 1857, Broadheath, near Worcester, England.
Died February 23, 1934, Worcester, England.
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name for London & from it we get concerns of young lovers who, as
the term Cockney”—effectively it were, represent the hope for that
reinforcing the idea that the over- city and its culture; that is not to
ture was a celebration of London’s mention the resonant similarities
ordinary citizens rather than its between certain of Wagner’s and
grandees; but one should beware of Elgar’s themes and their presenta-
assuming the overture is a faithful tion, nor indeed the C major tonal-
portrait of London in Elgar’s time. ity shared by both overtures. Yet
At the time of its composition, there is greater
Elgar and his wife Alice had only humanity
spent one unhappy spell in the city in Elgar’s
some ten years earlier, when they conception—
had left their native Worcester boisterous
for West Kensington in Elgar’s and less
first unsuccessful bid to gain a “correct” in its
professional foothold in the capital. deportment,
Cockaigne is, rather, Elgar’s evoca- and with
tion of an idealized community, a an amused
place of goodwill and high spirits acceptance of
where everybody, whether high- or human fail-
low-born (something Elgar as the ings such as
son of a tradesman was highly the Salvation
sensitive to), plays a vital role in its Army band
culture and sense of identity. which
constantly Edward and Caroline
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which might have been identified new, which is built up—with per-
as that of the young lovers (similar haps a hint of a tolling bell by the
as it is in character to Wagner’s love muted brass—into a grand march
theme in Meistersinger); except this by the full orchestra (after which,
is the theme Elgar himself identi- in a calm interlude, we hear the
fied as being inspired “one dark day incompetent Salvation Army band).
in the Guildhall: looking at the In this way, Elgar seems to sug-
memorials of the city’s great past & gest that the greatness and spirit of
knowing well the history of its Cockaigne is not only nourished by
unending charity, I seemed to hear such institutions as the Guildhall,
far away in the dim roof a theme, but also from the grassroots
and echo of some noble melody.” upwards. Indeed, Elgar explicitly
After a vigorous near-peroration said that vulgarity “often goes with
by the brass, the orchestra quietens inventiveness,” and such inventive-
for a more wistful, reflective theme, ness “in the course of time may
presented first by the strings, then be refined”—implicitly, one may
by the woodwinds. This now is the assume, in his own music! Indeed,
theme which Elgar described as the every major theme has its spotlight
lovers’ theme—not yearning like in the overture’s kaleidoscopic
Wagner’s, but more assured, calm procession, whether in intimate
and tenderly loving. scoring, or in a grand tutti state-
Rather than needing a blow- ment. There is no hierarchy as such
by-blow commentary, the music among those themes: the Salvation
unfolds its own eloquent narra- Army band apart, nothing is “inci-
tive from these principal themes. dental,” but every musical theme
But do listen for the solo clarinet, or character is essential in Elgar’s
which twice initiates a crescendo: vision of “the land of all delights.”
the first time with a perky theme
which is in fact a cheekily speeded —Daniel Jaffé
up version of the Guildhall theme,
described by the critic Ernest
Newman as a whistling tune of
“the perky, self-confident, unabash-
able London street boy . . . just Daniel Jaffé is a regular contributor
as Wagner obtained the theme of to BBC Music Magazine and a special-
ist in English and Russian music.
his Nuremberg apprentices out of
He is the author of a biography of
the Master-singers.” The second Sergey Prokofiev (Phaidon) and the
occasion, the clarinet plays another Historical Dictionary of Russian Music
perky theme, this time genuinely (Scarecrow Press).
4
Samuel Barber
Born March 9, 1910, West Chester, Pennsylvania.
Died January 23, 1981, New York City.
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was already long spent. But in agreed “that Barber was to be paid
1982, Briselli, who had, no doubt the full commission and Briselli
sensibly, given up the violin to run had to relinquish his right to the
the Fels business, told his version of first performance.” (Briselli was
the story to Barbara Heyman, then not present.)
at work on her definitive Barber Now Barber was free to find
biography. Briselli claimed that a new soloist for Fels’s commis-
he had merely informed Barber sion. (Barber took to calling it his
that he feared the finale was “too concerto da sapone, or soap concerto,
lightweight” compared to the first although it was becoming more of
two movements. a soap opera.) And so the honor
Nonetheless, a demonstration of introducing this now-beloved
was set up to convince Fels that his concerto fell to Albert Spalding, a
money had been well spent. This little-known violinist whose name
took place at the Curtis Institute has a secure place in the history
(where, not incidentally, Fels served of American music as a result.
on the board of trustees) in the fall (Eugene Ormandy conducted the
of 1939, premiere, with the Philadelphia
before Orchestra, in 1941.)
Barber
had even
put the
finishing
W hat regularly gets lost in the
story of this concerto’s dif-
ficult genesis is the music itself, as
touches direct and persuasive as anything
on the Barber wrote. The concerto opens
concerto. with one of Barber’s most inspired
Herbert ideas, a warm and expansive theme
Baumel, stated at once by the solo violin.
a gifted The entire Allegro is like a grand,
Curtis reflective aria (even in much of his
student, instrumental music, Barber is often
learned a “vocal” composer) with intermit-
the finale tent dramatic episodes, but one
Violinist Albert Spalding from in which unabashedly romantic,
Barber’s tonal melody reigns. The Andante,
manuscript in just two hours and in the elegiac vein of the Adagio
played it in the studio of Josef for Strings, opens with a poignant
Hofmann, the distinguished oboe solo, which the violin ulti-
Curtis director, before a “jury” mately cannot resist. (In 1948,
that included Mary Louise Curtis Barber changed the tempo marking
Bok, the founder of the Curtis of the first movement from Allegro
Institute, along with Hofmann, molto moderato to a less relaxed
Barber, and Barber’s close friend Allegro, so that the concerto would
Gian Carlo Menotti. According to not appear to open with two slow
Heyman, all parties immediately movements.) The controversial
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finale is neither lightweight nor When Mary Louise Curtis Bok
unplayable, although its brilliance is commissioned Barber to write a
not of the more predictably heroic, work for the dedication of the new
fireworks variety. organ at the Philadelphia Academy
of Music in 1960, he refused to
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Dmitri Shostakovich
Born September 25, 1906, Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Died August 9, 1975, Moscow, Russia.
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increasing fame around the world extensively and urgently on the
only made Shostakovich the inevi- symphony only after Stalin’s death.)
table prime target of the intensi- This is music of a new begin-
fied attack of February 10, 1948. ning, at once summing up all that
This time, the official language of Shostakovich had to say in the form
reprimand was stronger still, the of a symphony, releasing everything
accusations very specific, and the that the years of Stalin’s oppression
pressure to conform impossible to had buried, and anticipating a fresh
ignore. In response, Shostakovich and enlightened era ahead. The
not only withheld his First Violin Tenth Symphony was performed in
Concerto, but he decided to write Leningrad in December 1953, to
no more symphonies during Stalin’s a mixed response. In March 1954,
lifetime. (One of the major proj- the Moscow branch of the Union
ects he did undertake was a set of of Soviet Composers even called
twenty-four preludes and fugues a special three-day conference to
for piano, inspired by a composer debate this important symphony,
with no suspect political leanings already recognized as a pivotal
and a spotless reputation—Johann work in the history of Soviet music.
Sebastian Bach.) Many didn’t know how to place
In March 1953, Shostakovich it within the context of Social
awoke to the news that Stalin was Realism that had governed Soviet
dead. His first professional act composers since 1932. Some were
was to release the works he had put off by its apparent pessimism.
withheld from performance; that Finally, in the elaborately ambigu-
summer he cleared his desk and ous language that often springs
began a new symphony, which he from political gatherings, a young
wrote at lightning speed. (Tatyana composer, Andrei Volkonsky,
Nikolayevna, who gave the pre- pronounced the Tenth Symphony
miere of the preludes and fugues, an “optimistic tragedy.”
claims that the symphony was Soviet musicians quickly noticed,
actually begun in 1951, while he in the beginning of the symphony,
was writing the piano cycle; even a strong resemblance to the open-
so, it seems clear that he worked ing of Liszt’s Faust Symphony.
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Shostakovich’s friend and biogra- death freed Shostakovich to write
pher Dmitri Rabinovich insisted music so personal it bears his very
the reference was intentional. signature in the notes on the page.
(Early in his career Shostakovich This dialogue is interrupted twelve
loved Liszt’s music; he later times by the gentle calling of the
cooled—“too many notes.”) From horn, a mysterious five-note sum-
those first strands of sound, sunken mons waiting for a reply. Although
and mysterious, the music rises step it has a resemblance to the horn
by step toward a massive climax theme from Mahler’s Song of the
(some two-thirds of the way into Earth, we now know that it’s really
a twenty-five-minute movement) another musical signature—that of
and then retreats. The massive arch Elmira Nazirova, an Azerbaijani
form, unerringly paced, is one of pianist and composer who had
his finest accomplishments, and it studied with Shostakovich at the
achieves the kind of epic stature Moscow Conservatory, and with
that eludes so many symphonies whom he corresponded frequently
written in the twentieth century. during the summer of 1953. (The
At the conference held by the notes E, A, E, D, A correspond to
Union of Soviet Composers, E, L[a], Mi, R[e], A.)
Shostakovich admitted that this When there is no answer, the
movement didn’t realize his dream finale begins, cautiously at first
of a “real symphonic allegro.” and then picking up speed and
We don’t know what music courage. This movement has
Shostakovich measured his own often puzzled listeners because it
against, but the sense of a drama answers the severe and despair-
unfolding, of music developing ing tone of the early movements
before our eyes and ears, recalls the with unexpected cheerfulness. It’s
landmarks of the classical period— this music that makes the Tenth
the works that defined “symphonic Symphony an “optimistic tragedy.”
allegro” forever. But even the affirmative final
The scherzo that follows is pages, where the DSCH motto is
concentrated fury—brief and to the finally pounded out by the timpani,
point. Like much of Shostakovich’s can never entirely sweep aside all
angriest music, it’s set against the questions and fears that have
a relentless moto perpetuo, with been raised before. Shostakovich’s
screaming woodwinds, flaring personal triumph, however, is
© 2012 Chicago Symphony Orchestra
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