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Felix (Jakob Ludwig) MENDELSSOHN (-BARTHOLDY) (1809–47)
Germany
“Midsummer Night’s Dream” – incidental music to
Shakespeare’s play Opp. 21 & 61
The wonderful Overture, which perfectly captures the
spirit of Shakespeare’s comedy, was written in 1826 when
Mendelssohn was only 17 years old. It is remarkable that
the twelve additional numbers, which seem effortlessly
derived from the Overture, were in fact composed 16
years later, at the request of King Frederick William
the Fourth of Prussia. The first performance of the
play, with Mendelssohn’s music, took place at Dresden on
October 18th, 1843. In this concert we will
perform the Overture and six items from the incidental
music:
1. Overture, Op. 21
(“Think you have but slumbered here while these visions
did appear”)
The four flute-topped wind chords with which the
overture opens instantly take us into fairyland. Various
elements in the play are suggested – for instance, the
fluttering of the fairies (divided strings) and
the hunting-horn of Theseus and his party. Also
suggested are Hermia and Helena and the braying of an
ass. Rather than attempting to interpret the definite
programme of the overture it is better to concentrate on
the wonderful details of Mendelssohn’s wonderful
orchestration.
2.
Scherzo, Op. 61 No. 1 (Introduction to Act 2)
(“I am that merry wanderer of the night”)
Our presence in fairyland is confirmed. Although the
overture contains little suggestion of Puck, he now
appears in a full-scale and unforgettable
characterisation in the well-known Scherzo, played
before the curtain rises on the wood where Puck makes
his first appearance.
3.
Intermezzo, Op. 61 No. 5 (links Acts 2 and 3)
(“Lysander! Either death or you I’ll find immediately”)
At the end of the Second Act the anguished Hermia is
seeking her lover Lysander in the wood (a thrusting A
minor movement); after being bewitched by the
fairies, he has forsaken her and is pursuing Helena
instead. The Intermezzo concludes with a brisk and
business-like Allegro molto in A major
introducing the artisans, Quince, Bottom and the rest
who are preparing to rehearse their comedy of “Pyramus
and Thisbe” in another part of the wood.
4. Nocturne, Op. 61 No. 7 (played between Acts 3 and 4)
(“On the ground sleep sound. I’ll apply to your eye,
gentle lover, remedy)
At the command of Oberon, Puck has filled the wood with
a thick fog. The four quarrelling lovers, Hermia,
Helena, Demetrius and Lysander, have lost each other and
they become so weary that they can go no further. A
romantic horn melody puts the confused lovers to sleep
in this nocturne of nocturnes. And then Puck applies the
remedy which will set matters right.
5. Wedding March, Op. 61 No. 9 (Introduction to Act 5)
(“There shall the pairs of faithful lovers be wedded,
with Theseus, all in jollity”)
In the Palace of Theseus at Athens the triple wedding
celebration of Hermia and Lysander, Helena and Demetrius
and Theseus and Hippolyte is taking place. Very few of
us have avoided walking down the aisle to the strains of
Mendelssohn’s definitive wedding march.
6. Dance of the Clowns, Op. 61 No. 11
(“Will it please you to hear a Bergomask dance between
two of our company?”)
The entertainment provided at the Palace in Act 5 is the
comedy “Pyramus and Thisbe”, presented by Peter Quince
and his colleagues. Bottom asks the Duke whether he
would prefer, instead of the epilogue, a Bergomask. The
Duke agrees and the Dance of the Clowns, based on a
memorable passage in the Overture, is accordingly
performed.
7. Finale, Op. 61 No. 12
(“Hand in hand, with fairy grace, will we sing and bless
this place”)
Oberon and Titania, with their train of fairies, enter
the hall where the wedding celebrations have been held.
Oberon blesses the three-fold union. Puck suggests that
the whole thing may have been a dream and the Finale
closes with the same woodwind chords that began the
Overture. In the regrettable event of Mendelssohn
failing to provide a trombone part in this piece, your
programme notes writer will assume the speaking roles of
Oberon, Titania and Puck in the Finale. The ladies of
the St. James’s Singers will be my train of fairies.
INTERVAL
Johannes BRAHMS (1833-1897) Germany
Ein Deutsches Requiem, ‘German Requiem’ – Op. 45
(1857-68)
George Bernard Shaw, who loved Mozart and worshipped
Wagner, wrote some very unkind things about Brahms, and
especially about this work: “His Requiem is patiently
borne only by the corpse”.
As an eight year old in Carlisle Cathedral Choir,
despite struggling with the challenging top A flats, my
fellow choristers and I loved the anthem “How lovely is
thy dwelling place” (No. 4 in the Requiem). But
after further acquaintance with the Requiem we were
disappointed to find nothing else quite as lovely as
“How lovely”.
Today, however, participating in the work as an
orchestral player has brought a far greater appreciation
of Brahms’ achievement. And, so many years on from my
choirboy days, a Requiem now seems significantly
more relevant!
It was with his “German Requiem” that Brahms
first won general acceptance as a composer of note. He
had begun his career as a pianist and a composer of
larger works. But after the failure of the D minor Piano
Concerto in Leipzig in 1859 he devoted himself to
chamber works.
A year after his mentor Robert Schumann died in 1856,
Brahms transformed a movement he had rejected for the
Piano Concerto into the dark, tragic sarabande which
begins the second movement of the Requiem.
By 1861 he had assembled the text for the movements of
a planned funeral cantata in the tradition of his
beloved J.S. Bach. But only in February 1865, after the
death of his mother, did he take up the composition. In
the following years 6 of the oratorio’s 7 movements were
completed.
This version was first performed in Bremen Cathedral on
Good Friday 10th April 1868. Despite Brahms’
views that his Requiem was rather difficult and that
the Bremen choir approached the top As with caution, the
work was an enormous success. All his friends present
were moved to tears. Even Brahms’ father, when asked,
took a pinch of snuff and said, “It went off quite
well”.
The text is not a simple German translation of the
traditional Latin funeral service of the Catholic
church. Here is no prayer for the deliverance of the
dead from the horrors of the Last Judgement.
Brahms was not a conventionally religious man, nor is
there evidence that he was a Christian at all. Yet his
Requiem, deeply religious and with a truly
universal meaning, is meant for mankind but for no
individual denomination. The music tells indisputably
how much consolation Brahms drew from the words of Holy
Writ that are set here. Much of the music is sombre but
each movement ends on a mood of optimism.
Brahms carefully selected texts from the Psalms, the
writings of the Prophets, the Gospels, Epistles and
Revelation, to form a mosaic of deep meaning and unusual
beauty. The words show the living that the end of our
existence on earth is not to be feared – it brings peace
and blessed relief from hardship and worry.
I BLESSED ARE THEY THAT MOURN
immediately creates the mood of smiling through tears
which the composer wants to convey in this work. The
orchestra is rather subdued. Against this dark
background the voices assume a light and floating,
almost disembodied quality.
Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted.
They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth
forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall
doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his
sheaves with him.
II
FOR ALL FLESH IS AS GRASS
Although the orchestra is brighter, the strings have to
use mutes and there are long pianissimo sections which
produce an eerie effect – a slow, inexorable dance of
death is unfolded. But this weird mood does not prevail.
Presently a hymn of joy is intoned by those who achieved
salvation.
For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as
the flower of grass. The grass withereth and the flower
thereof fadeth away. Be patient therefore, brethren,
unto the coming of the Lord. Behold the husbandman
waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath
long patience for it, until he receive the early and
late rain. But the word of the Lord endureth for ever.
And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to
Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads:
they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and
sighing shall flee away.
III
LORD, MAKE ME TO KNOW MINE END
The 3rd movement includes a powerful baritone
solo and there is a moving dialogue between the single
voice and the full chorus. At the end of this section,
Brahms introduces a mighty fugue based on a pedal point.
At the first performance the timpanist observed the
marking “sempre con tutta la forza” so faithfully that
the rest of the orchestras was barely audible, and the
audience reaction was unfavourable - with some hissing.
Brahms did not alter his score, trusting the good sense
of later performers. I am sure that tonight our
timpanist will interpret this section with her customary
sensitive musicianship.
Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my
days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am. Behold
thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age
is as nothing before thee; verily every man at his best
state is altogether vanity. Surely every man walketh in
a vain shew; surely they are disquieted in vain; he
heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather
them. And now, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in
thee. But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of
God and no torment shall touch them.
IV
HOW LOVELY IS THY DWELLING PLACE
This serene movement, the heartpiece of the whole work,
was written in Switzerland early in 1865. It is a
description of Paradise and its gentle grace may reflect
the image of Christiane, Brahms’ mother who had recently
died.
How lovely is thy dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! For
my soul it longeth, yea fainteth, for the courts of the
Lord: my soul and body crieth out for the living God. O
blest are they that dwell within thy house; they praise
thee, they praise thy name evermore.
V AND YE NOW THEREFORE HAVE SORROW
A month after the premiere Brahms composed this
movement. It is in the same mood as the previous
movement and it was added as a memorial to his mother.
It contains the most beautiful soprano solo Brahms ever
wrote – the voice rising over the soft murmuring of the
choir.
And ye now therefore have sorrow, but I will see you
again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man
taketh away from you. As one whom his mother comforteth,
so will I comfort you. Ye see how for a little while I
labour and toil, yet have I found much rest.
VI FOR HERE WE HAVE NO CONTINUING CITY
The baritone’s second solo leads to a vision of the Last
Judgement, stripped by Brahms of its horror, and
conveying a message of triumph over Death. The movement
ends in a triumphant double fugue of Handelian strength
and glory.
For here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to
come. Behold, I shew you a mystery; we shall not all
sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the
twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet
shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible,
and we shall be changed. Then shall be brought to pass
the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in
victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is
thy victory? Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory
and honour and power: for thou hast created all things,
and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
VII BLESSED ARE THE DEAD
Towards the end of the final movement (an offering of
praise to God) the music unobtrusively passes into the
concluding strains of the first movement. Thus the
circle is closed and Brahms’ monumental “German Requiem”
is unified and complete.
Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from
henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest
from their labours; and their works do follow them.
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