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Giuseppe VERDI (1813 – 1901) “Nabucco” Overture
In 1842, at the age of 24, Verdi’s opera “Nabucco”
was presented at La Scala, Milan. It was his first great
success – the tuneful and melodramatic opera showed that
a new composer had arisen who could infuse a new vigour
and dramatic force into the rather weakly style of
Bellini and Donizetti and established him as one of the
leading composers of Italy.
The libretto of “Nabucco” was first offered to the
German composer Otto von Nicolai who turned it down.
After the success of “Nabucco” Nicolai wrote: “Verdi
is the Italian composer of today. But his operas are
absolutely dreadful and utterly degrading for Italy”.
Now that is a bit rich, coming from the composer of “The
Merry Wives of Windsor”, the overture of which is the
only piece of his music remembered today!
Often in a great composer’s catalogue there is an early
work which seems to have caught the first full flame of
his genius, fired by individual invention, youthfully
vital. Such a work is Verdi’s “Nabucco”. It is a product
of genius – more not less lovably because of certain
youthful crudities and obvious flaws.
The Overture was the first since Rossini’s “William
Tell” to use themes later heard in the opera. “Nabucco”
is pervaded by a sense of exile and loss. Behind the
ceremonial pomp, the marches and the choruses, there
exist the yearning for home of the captive Jews,
exemplified by the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves – a
simple, fervent tune which never fails to make an effect
in performance.
Johannes BRAHMS (1833 – 1897) Symphony No 2 in D Op
73
Despite an acknowledged position among the great
figures of the 19th century, Brahms’ reputation varies
widely from person to person (even with the ranks of
the NOS!). The present writer, seeking beauty of
texture and rhythmic variety in music, is disappointed.
In all four Brahms’ symphonies the pulse of the
movements tends to even out into something between
Allegretto and Andantino. Brahms is sometimes
graceful or tender, but he seems incapable of real
lightness. His texture is heavy, his composition
laborious, his harmony lacking in any element of
surprise and the emotional content of his music
sentimental.
The other side say that Brahms’ melodic gift was
extraordinarily rich. He was exceptionally adept at the
long, rhapsodic type of melody and at tunes that, while
beautiful n themselves, can readily be transformed
according to the needs of symphonic development.
Brahms was 43 years old when his First Symphony received
its first performance at Karlsruhe in November 1876.
Having freed himself from the mental block (the example
of Beethoven) which had caused the long gestation period
of the First Symphony, Brahms composed his Second
Symphony with ease and speed. It was written in the
summer of 1877 at the Carinthian Alpine holiday resort
of Portschach where every morning Brahms strolled across
the fields and meadows of what was then unspoilt
countryside, enjoying the sparkling sunlight on the
lake. In this mood of happy relaxation Brahms conceived
the themes of this, the warmest, most lyrical and the
sunniest of his four symphonies.
And yet here again opinions are divided! The first two
movements do not bear out a mood of sunlight and
carefree happiness. Brahms considered the work “merry
and tender, as if written for a newly married couple.”
But then, being married to his Art, Brahms never wed.
And perhaps his true views on the married state were
hidden in a letter which he wrote at the time referring
to “the melancholy of the work which should only be
printed with a black border to denote mourning”.
1 Allegro non troppo
Brahms told Clara Schumann, “The first movement is quite
elegiac in character”.
A drum roll and solemn trombone chords introduce the
strings’ gorgeous melody for violins and forms the main
Allegro subject. The second subject is a
cantabile melody for violins and cellos which bears a
family resemblance to Brahms’ “Cradle Song”.
The coda begins with a long and memorable beautiful horn
solo.
2 Adagio non troppo – L’istesso tempo ma grazioso
Brahms wrote to another woman friend, “The symphony is
sad and mournful”.
Much of the original and complex Adagio is just
that. Its first theme is for cellos, to which bassoons
and trombones provide a sombre counter-melody
contradicting any idea of sunlit gaiety – darkness is
all around.
3 Allegretto
Only in the two concluding movements do the clouds
disperse and geniality becomes the order of the day. The
short third movement opens with an oboe theme over
pizzicato cellos which is the basis for all that
follows. The movement veers from major to minor and
eventually the woodwind recall the theme in its original
form.
4 Allegro con spirito
The motto theme from the first movement is incorporated
into the subdued opening of the Finale. After 22 bars,
the music suddenly blazes forth with irresistible force,
and this joyous mood is rarely dispelled, apart from a
haunting episode in the development section. The mood is
rarely dispelled, apart from a haunting episode in the
development section. The broad second subject later
becomes the triumphant starting point for the
incandescent coda in D major, when trombones play a new
version of it, at first mysterious but growing brighter
and more jubilant and eventually being converted into a
final flourish of trumpets.
Just in case you detect an unacceptable level of
bias in these notes on the symphony, here is a second
opinion: “This symphony scarcely contains a moment of
gloom, and its contemplation is untroubled, the mood
sometimes rises to one of jubilation free from the
slightest shadow, as at noon on a sunny day.”
Carl Maria von WEBER (1786 – 1826) “Euryanthe”
Overture
Weber was the son of a travelling musician who gave
him music lessons until the age of 10 when he became a
pupil of Michael Haydn. Except for Schubert and perhaps
Rossini, no composer of his generation was so richly
endowed by nature as Weber. AT his best he has a
felicity, a glowing beauty of phrase, a smooth and
limpid flow.
Weber’s opera “Euryanthe” was first performed
Vienna in 1823. The subject of medieval romance and
ladies in distress was close to the heart of the
Romantic Age. It is one of those operas which are
alleged to be unstageable because of the lunacy of the
plot. (Coincidentally Glyndebourne Opera are attempting
the impossible this season). Briefly and brutally
summarised, the plot, by Helmine van Chezy, is as
follows: Adolar sings of his bride Euryanthe and of her
faithfulness. Lysiart takes a bet that he can destroy
it. (The same lady librettist was unlucky with another
play, “Rosamunde”, which is remembered today
because a then obscure young composer named Franz
Schubert wrote incidental music for it.)
“Euryanthe” survives today largely through the
Overture – a masterpiece of fervid romantic writing in
chivalric mood. It opens with a fiery introduction,
after which the first subject is announced, based on
Adolar’s phrase in Act One, “I trust in God and
Euryanthe’s love” – a defiance of Lysiart and an
affirmation of his faith in Euryanthe. The lyric second
theme is from Adolar’s second act aria. The Largo
passage brings in an episode set in a deserted graveyard
at night where the ghost of Emma (Euryanthe’s sister who
committed suicide) is invoked amongst the tombstones.
Finally the note of chivalry, victory (and, no doubt,
virtue triumphant) returns in the brilliant development
and coda.
Georges BIZET (1838 – 1875) “L’Arlesienne” Incidental
music – Suite No 2
Bizet studied at the Paris Conservatory where he won
the Prix de Rome and the hand of the daughter of his
composition professor, Halevy.
“The Record Guide” (1951): “When Bizet died at the
untimely age of thirty-one, France lost her most gifted
composer between Berlioz and Debussy. To those who are
temperamentally averse to the German tradition, with its
scholasticism, its profundity, its yearning for the
unattainable, and its love of complexity for
complexity’s sake, the genius of Bizet makes an
irresistible appeal. His music has freshness, vivacity
and a Mediterranean clarity of outline; it comes like a
cool breeze into a stuffy room. Carmen is the
masterpiece; but we find the same qualities in the
incidental music to L’Arlesienne”.
“It is the habit of women and cats not to come when they
are called – but to come when they have not been called”.
These words are used by Don Jose in Prosper Merimee’s
novel “Carmen” to describe the fickle and
unpredictable character of the fair sex. Both the female
characters in George Bizet’s best known works,
“Carmen” and “L’Arlesienne” correspond to
this norm. Both are beautiful and spellbinding. However,
because (unlike Euryanthe) they are incapable of being
faithful, their love does not bring happiness but ends
in disaster.
In Alphonse Daudet’s play “L’Arlesienne” the girl
from Arles in Provence never appears on stage The
audience only learns of her beauty and her relationship
with Frederi through the dialogue of the other
characters. Unable to bear the girl’s infidelity,
Frederi decided to end his life.
Bizet composed 27 music pieces of varying length to
accompany Daudet’s drama. Following the not particularly
successful premiere, he chose four of these pieces and
arranged them for orchestra as Suite No 1. After Bizet’s
death his friend Ernest Guiraud followed his example and
published the Second Suite, comprising four more pieces:
Folk-like melodies are heard in (No 1) Pastorale.
The Intermezzo (No 2) later suffered the indignity of
being transformed into a religious song by having the
words of “Agnus Dei” superimposed upon it. If you
haven’t heard this version you may consider yourself
fortunate.
The Minuet (No 3) is a remarkable outcome of the Auld
Alliance between France and Scotland. The beautiful
flute melody was lifted from Bizet’s opera “La Jolie
Fille de Perth” (1886) and transplanted in Provence
by Monsieur Giraud.
In order to set the scene in Provence, Bizet used
authentic folk melodies such as “The March of the
Kings” (a Christmas carol) heard at the opening of
(No 4) Farandole and “The Dance of the Chivax-Fras”
which Guiraud combines in a contrapuntal fashion with
the March at the exciting conclusion of this movement.
Frank LOESSER (1910 – 1969) “Guys and Dolls”
Selection
Frank Loesser, the son of a piano teacher, worked as
a night club pianist but began his creative career as a
lyricist writing words for film songs such as “Two
Sleepy People” (1938) with Hoagy Carmichael. Loesser
had been in the habit of setting his lyrics to his own
“dummy” tunes and, when he managed to get some of these
accepted for performance and publication, he thereafter
collaborated only with himself. In 1948 he made his
debut on Broadway with the show “Where’s Charley?”
If there was nothing especially innovative about
Loesser’s songs for the musical Charley’s Aunt, his next
show emphatically made up for it. “Guys and Dolls”
(1950) was described as “the most New York of
Broadway musicals” and was based on the short
stories of Damon Runyan and the quirky underworld
characters who populated them. While Kurt Weill and
Leonard Bernstein were developing the American musical
from the composer’s point of view, Loesser was
concentrating on the lyrics to convey the flavour of
Runyan’s characters.
Gambler Nathan Detroit runs “the oldest established
permanent floating crap game in New York”. His
customers comment on the influence of women in the
exhilarating title song “Guys and Dolls” – No 1.
For fourteen years Detroit has been promising his night
club singer fiancee Adelaide that he will give it all up
and settle down with her. Adelaide demonstrated her
vocal talents in “A Bushel and a Peck” – No 4.
Detroit’s latest reason for postponing the happy day is
the arrival in town of high-stakes gambler Sky
Masterson. In order to win the stake money for a game
large enough to satisfy Sky, Detroit bets Sky that the
latter cannot convince Sarah Brown, a member of the
Salvation Army Mission, to accompany him on a trip to
Havana. At the Mission the typically Runyanesque
Nicely-Nicely Jonson habitually stops the show with his
“Sit down Your Rocking the Boat” – No 7.
The other numbers in this selection are: No 2 “Lucky
be a lady”, No 3 “I’ve never been in love before”,
No 5 “Follow the Fold” and No 6 “If I were a
Bell”.
In 1956 the colourful characters of Damon Runyan sang
and danced to Frank Loesser’s songs in the film
adaptation of the Broadway smash. The film starred Frank
Sinatra playing second fiddle (How insensitive of me
to use that term in an orchestral concert programme!)
to a singing Marlon Brando, Stubby Kaye and Vivien
Blaine.
Frank Loesser’s later work included writing the highly
popular songs for the film “Hans Christian Anderson”
(1952) starring Danny Kaye and “The Most Happy Fella”
(1956).
Eric COATES (1886 – 1957) “The Dam Busters” March
“He became known first as a leading viola player,
and then as a composer of songs and orchestral and other
music, usually of the somewhat lighter type”.
Thus “The Oxford Companion to Music” 1955 (Percy Scholes)
rather sniffily dismisses one of the finest composers of
light music this country has ever produced.
Eric Coates reached a vast public through the use of his
music as signature tunes for radio programmes such as
“In Town Tonight” – Knightsbridge March, “Music
While You Work” – Calling All Workers and “Desert
Island Discs” - By the Sleepy Lagoon. In 1954 the
cinema further increased his popularity with the huge
success of the March which Coates wrote for the film
“The Dam Busters”.
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