The opening and closing works on today’s program are symphonies written by composers solidly within the Germanic/Austrian musical tradition. Franz Schubert and Franz Josef Haydn, both Austrians, were innovators as well as inheritors of the musical tradition that flourished in the German-speaking world from the late 17th through the 20th Century.
Franz Schubert (1797-1828) led a short, difficult life with limited patronage and a lack of widespread public acclaim. Most significantly, Schubert did not possess a well-balanced personality, and it was his compulsions which proved his ultimate undoing- it is theorized that he died at age 31 of mercury poisoning, mercury being the treatment he was taking to combat his syphilis. Schubert’s untimely demise leads to questions of what might have been, since his genius is undeniable and he left numerous masterpieces composed during his short, difficult life.
The symphony we are hearing today was composed during the summer of 1815 when the composer was only 18! Schubert ranks among only a handful of composers who wrote fully developed music before their 20th birthday- perhaps only Mozart and Mendelssohn are among that group, certainly august company indeed! The symphony was not heard in public until a performance in London in 1881, which is sadly common among Schubert’s larger works- very few of his large-scale compositions were performed publicly in his lifetime.
The Third Symphony shows the influences of Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven, but at the same time exhibits a quintessentially Schubertian voice. The evolutionary modulations taken by Schubert in the first movement look forward to the “Great” C Major Symphony. The suave second movement Allegretto breaks from the drama contained in the first movement, with an influence that can be felt in later movements by both Schumann and Brahms. The Menuetto and Trio alternates in distinctly Schubertian style between the graceful waltz and the heavy-footed, peasant dance, the ländler (later used extensively by both Bruckner and Mahler). And the spirit of the Finale carries with it an Italian flavor and spirit, savoring of Rossini (who was enjoying considerable contemporary popularity) and the future “Italian” Symphony of Mendelssohn and contains more of the unique modulations that make up Schubert’s mature style.
While the influences can be discerned it is obvious that Schubert is well on his way towards his mature musical voice, and that a composer only 18 can assimilate and distill such disparate influences into a style uniquely his own is nothing less than miraculous.
Joaquín Rodrigo (1902-1999), is considered one of the foremost Spanish composers of the 20th Century. Born in Sagunto (Valencia), Rodrigo lost his sight almost completely at the age of three due to an outbreak of diphtheria, an event that he was later to confirm led eventually to a life in music. He began the study of music at eight, eventually matriculating to the Conservatoire in Valencia where he first began composing. In 1924 he won a Spanish national competition for his orchestral work, Cinco piezas infantiles, which first brought Rodrigo to national prominence.
In 1927 Rodrigo moved to Paris to study at the École Normale de Musique, where his composition teacher was Paul Dukas, best known today for his composition The Sorcerers Apprentice. Rodrigo also studied musicology at the Paris Conservatoire and the Sorbonne, as well as becoming well known in Parisian musical circles as a pianist and composer. Paris at that time was a “hot bed” of musical activity, and Rodrigo became friendly with such luminaries as Honegger, Milhaud, Ravel and especially his fellow Spaniard Manuel de Falla, whose advice and support would be decisive in his career. At the conclusion of the Spanish Civil War in 1939 Rodrigo returned permanently to Spain and settled in Madrid, his home for the rest of his life. Besides composing, he was a Professor of Music History at Complutense University of Madrid, music critic for several newspapers and Head of Music Broadcasts for Spanish Radio.
The Concierto de Aranjuez was composed in 1939 and received its world premiere in 1940 in Barcelona. It was the work, due to its instantaneous and universal popularity, that brought world-wide fame to the composer. The Concierto was inspired by the gardens at Palacio Real de Aranjuez, the spring resort and gardens originally built by Philip II in the last half of the 16th Century, and later rebuilt in the middle of the 18th Century by Ferdinand VI. Rodrigo, of course, could never have actually seen the gardens, but he attempts to musically describe the baroque splendor and airy brightness in the pellucid textures of the score. Rodrigo said of the concerto, “It should sound like the hidden breeze that stirs the treetops.
According to the composer, the first movement is “animated by a rhythmic spirit and vigor without either of the two themes… interrupting its relentless pace,” the second movement “represents a dialogue between guitar and solo instruments (english horn, bassoon, oboe and horn),” and the last movement, “recalls a courtly dance in which the combination of duple and triple time maintains a taut tempo right to the closing bar.” He further described the concerto itself as capturing “…the fragrance of magnolias, the singing of birds and the gushing of fountains” in the gardens of Aranjuez.
The second movement is perhaps one of the best-known and recognizable pieces in classical music, used numerous times in movies, television and in commercials. Some historians have conjectured that the second movement, like fellow Spaniard Picasso’s famous painting Guernica, was inspired by the bombing of the town of the same name in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War. Rodrigo’s wife, however, writes in her autobiography that it was an evocation of the halcyon days of their honeymoon and the sadness Rodrigo felt at the miscarriage of the couple’s first baby.
Franz Josef Haydn (1732-1809), though perhaps lesser known and appreciated than his contemporaries Mozart and Beethoven, holds an important place in the history and development of music. Called by some the “Father of the Symphony,” Haydn’s accomplishments in the symphony and the string quartet show an exceptional musical gift. His best work in these two genres is the equal of Mozart and Beethoven and shows his individual musical voice to be quite exuberant and upbeat, a reflection of his fundamentally healthy and well-balanced personality. Mozart regarded Haydn highly as composer and musician (as did Haydn of Mozart), dedicated a set of string quartets to him, and these two composers actually did play string quartets together! And in another fascinating historical aside, the young Beethoven was for a time the pupil of the much older Haydn, a relationship that was quite tense on both sides and eventually ended prematurely.
Haydn’s career also encompasses the shift in musical patronage of composers by royalty and aristocrats to an existence as “free-lancers,” depending on individual commissions to pay for their work. Haydn was for a period of thirty years the Kapellmeister for the Esterházy family, one of the most important and wealthiest in the Austrian Empire, where he was required to compose chamber works and symphonies, run the orchestra and eventually mount operatic productions. He had job security and excellent musicians to work with, but he was isolated for much of the year at Esterháza, a large country estate in rural Hungary. Eventually with the death of his aristocratic patron Haydn returned to Vienna. Upon his return to Vienna, he was convinced to come to England by the impresario Johann Salomon to compose and conduct new symphonies. Haydn’s visits to England (1791-92 and 1794-95) were the highlights of his professional life. His visits were hugely successful, both artistically and financially, and it was the works composed for these visits, in particular the “London” Symphonies, that are considered among his finest creations.
The symphony we are hearing tonight, the Symphony #92, is often referred to as the “Oxford” Symphony, named due to its use by Haydn at a ceremony in 1791 at Oxford University where he was awarded an honorary doctorate. The work, however, was not composed in England and is not one of the twelve “London” Symphonies- it was written earlier, in 1789, for a projected performance in Paris. In G major and in the standard four movement form, the work is typical of the Haydn style with good nature and humorous exuberance abounding throughout.
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