The Program
JOHANN SEBASTIAN
BACH
Orchestral Suite No. 1 in C Major, BWV 1066
The
first of Bach’s four orchestral suites was premiered by Collegium Musicum, a
performing ensemble in Leipzig. This group was in many ways similar to Ensemble
ACJW, being composed of young professional musicians who played regular
concerts to promote music of the time. Collegium Musicum was founded by Georg
Philipp Telemann and was later directed by Bach for 10 years during his tenure
in Leipzig.
The majority of Bach’s instrumental suites were written for solo instruments—his most notable today are for cello and keyboard. The Baroque suite was
a collection of dance movements unified by motive, harmony, and key; the dance
movements were preceded by a prelude or overture. The orchestral suites,
however, break from the typical formula of dances, and instead include uncommon
dances like the forlane and passepied. The suites also showcase
Bach’s masterful combination of the Italian and French music traditions: One
can hear the French influence in the double-dotted rhythms, rapid scalar
figures, and da-capo form, in which the opening is repeated after a contrasting
middle section.
All of Bach’s orchestral works use slightly differing instrumentation;
in this piece, he uses two oboes, a bassoon, and strings with basso continuo.
The reed instruments at times double the strings and at other times play
independent melodies. The winds perform Bourrée II alone; this new sound color
underscores the fact that this is the only movement written in the parallel
minor. The strings form the backbone of the work, but they take on other roles,
as well: In Gavotte II, the strings play a fanfare-like theme in unison to make
up for the lack of brass in the ensemble.
—Shelley Monroe Huang
© 2011 The Carnegie Hall Corporation
GEORGE FRIDERIC
HANDEL
“Sta nell’Ircana” from Alcina
Alcina was
composed and premiered while Handel was in residence at London’s Covent Garden,
just a few years before he stopped writing operas in favor of oratorios. This
opera was so popular, that there was a revival of the work just a year after
its premiere. At this point in his career, Handel had the freedom to choose
from a wider range of librettos; this explains why Alcina contains more supernatural elements than his earlier operas.
Alcina is about a sorceress who
transforms her unfortunate captives into natural, immobile objects. Ruggiero (a
male role sung by a mezzo-soprano) is the sorceress’s latest prisoner on a
magical island—though under the spell of Alcina, he has yet to be transformed.
After breaking away from her enchantment, Ruggiero abandons Alcina to return to
his fiancée. Alcina pleads with to Ruggiero come back, but he instead breaks
the urn that contains her power. “Sta nell’Ircana” is the final exuberant aria
sung by Ruggiero that expresses the triumph of the heroic character. The energy
and excitement of the aria is manifested in the fiery orchestration that
features horns and quick, repeated notes in the strings. The aria’s da-capo
form allows the singer to show off her vocal virtuosity during the heavily
embellished second hearing of the opening material.
—Shelley Monroe Huang
© 2011 The Carnegie Hall Corporation
ANTONIO VIVALDI
Sinfonia; “Agitata da due venti”; and “Ombre vane,” from Griselda, RV 718
Written
near the end of his life, Vivaldi’s demanding and impressive opera Griselda is based on a popular 18th-century
libretto derived from one of Chaucer’s Canterbury
Tales. In the opera, King
Gualtiero tests his peasant wife Griselda to
prove to his subjects that she is worthy of being queen. The king
announces that their daughter Costanza—who was sent away after birth—was killed
on his orders, and he now plans to marry another woman. Unbeknownst to
Griselda, this new wife-to-be is actually Costanza. However, Costanza wants to
marry Roberto, the younger brother of the prince who raised her.
The Sinfonia from Griselda serves to
set up Vivaldi’s opera; this three-movement overture form was typical of
Italian-Baroque opera writing. Until
the end of the 18th century, sinfonias were often independently performed at
concerts without any mention of the opera
they came from, and eventually became
what are known today as “symphonies.”
The most famous aria of the opera, “Agitata da due venti,” showcases the
technical possibilities of the voice. Vivaldi’s demanding vocal writing
requires the soloist to have complete control over her instrument when
executing passages of fast tempos, large
leaps, repeated notes, and high and low pitches. The orchestration
expresses the agitation of the winds, waves, and sea through the strings’
passages of speed and repetition. In the aria “Ombre vane,” Costanza expresses
the pain and sorrow she feels over being forced into a marriage and not being
able to marry her true love. The dotted-note writing for the strings contrasts
starkly against the long, smooth line of the voice. The singer is also required
to produce a controlled and pure line that magnificently ascends to the top of
her range.
—Shelley Monroe Huang
© 2011 The Carnegie Hall Corporation
MAURICE RAVEL
Trois poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé
After
seeing a score of Igor Stravinsky’s Three
Japanese Lyrics in 1913, Ravel was inspired by his friend’s choice of instrumentation—an
extension of Schoenberg’s instrumentationfor Pierrot Lunaire. The
resulting piece, Trois poèmes de Stéphane
Mallarmé, uses texts by one of Ravel’s favorite poets. Mallarmé’s work had
inspired many compositions during this period, including Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune. Even though this piece is dedicated to
its poet, Ravel also dedicated a movement to Stravinsky, Florent Schmitt, and
Erik Satie, respectively.
The influence of Stravinsky and Schoenberg is heard in Ravel’s way of
challenging tonality, especially in the first two movements: The large leaps in
the beginning of the second movement are more characteristic of Schoenberg than
Ravel. However, Ravel maintains his own distinct tone colors throughout the
piece using his distinct orchestration techniques. For instance, the first
minute of the work consists of placid, but energetic triadic writing in the
string parts that allow the voice and other instruments to organically unfold
out of the colorful atmosphere.
—Shelley Monroe Huang
© 2011 The Carnegie Hall Corporation
ARNOLD SCHOENBERG
Chamber Symphony No. 2, Op. 38
After having enjoyed the experience of writing his first chamber symphony with
such facility, Schoenberg immediately started working on his second in 1906.
The same compositional ease, however, did not come to Schoenberg during the
creation of Chamber Symphony No. 2. The piece’s final version was not completed
until 1939, after Schoenberg’s third attempt to finish what he started. During
this 33-year span, Schoenberg went through many changes in his compositional
style. In the early 1900s, he wrote in the tonal late-Romantic tradition; his
compositions abandoned centers of key starting around 1908. By 1923, he had
created 12-tone serialism, but ultimately returned in varying degrees to
tonality. This timespan also encompassed much personal turmoil: Living through
both World War I and II, he was forced to flee from the Nazis in Europe to
America.
The first movement of Chamber Symphony No. 2 was almost entirely composed
during Schoenberg’s first attempt at the work from 1906 to 1908—only minor
edits and 20 measures at the end were added later. However, the second movement
was only half-completed by the time Schoenberg returned to the work in 1939.
The listener can hear the range of styles as the work unfolds, but the
consistent quality of the music keeps the piece unified. Schoenberg’s battle to
complete this chamber symphony also involved his intention to include a
melodrama third movement that was based on his own text Wendepunkt (Turning Point),
following the soul through sadness to contentment, then to despair and sorrow.
Schoenberg eventually scratched this third movement, leaving only silence.
—Shelley Monroe Huang
© 2011 The Carnegie Hall Corporation