CARNEGIE HALL PRESENTS
Lucerne Festival Orchestra

Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
Thursday, October 4th, 2007 at 8:00 PM

Lucerne Festival Orchestra
David Robertson, Conductor
Melanie Diener, Soprano
Anna Larsson, Contralto
Jonas Kaufmann, Tenor
Reinhard Hagen, Bass
Westminster Symphonic Choir
Joe Miller, Conductor

BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9

Sponsored by Toshiba Corporation

This concert is made possible, in part, by The Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation.

Program Notes:

The Concert At a Glance

Something of a revolutionary by inclination, and inspired by such movements as the French Revolution, Beethoven addressed in his Ninth Symphony the topic of human brotherhood, moving in the course of this vast score from intense drama by way of ebullient humor and profound contemplation to a climax of dizzying jubilation. There is no trace of portentousness in the great concluding setting of Schiller’s Ode to Joy, with its rollicking portrayal of the stars marching across the heavens. Though to some degree foreshadowed in this regard by Mozart, Beethoven was the first composer to nail his colors demonstratively to the mast as a proponent of universal togetherness, and his Ninth Symphony constitutes the first comprehensive celebration of such a concept in the history of Western music.

Notes on the Program
By Bernard Jacobson

Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125
Composed between 1811 and 1824, the Ninth Symphony was first performed on May 7, 1824, at the Kärtnerthor Theater in Vienna under the direction of Michael Umlauf. It received its Carnegie Hall premiere on March 16, 1894, with the New York Symphony Orchestra conducted by Walter Damrosch.

Scoring: solo soprano, alto, tenor, and bass; chorus; piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, percussion (triangle, cymbals, bass drum), and strings.

The least facile of the great composers, Beethoven hammered out even some of his simplest works through a tortuous process of sketching and recasting that often involved as many as a dozen preliminary attempts before he arrived at a final version of quite deceptive inevitability. The Ninth Symphony was the product of one of the most laborious among such processes, or rather two of them.

Plans for a D-minor symphony were already in his mind by 1811, and he sketched an early version of the Adagio theme in 1815. It was in 1817 that sustained work on the composition began, and the score was not completed until February 1824. Through much of this arduous preparation, the symphony had not yet acquired its vocal element. Jottings dating from 1818 show the emergence of the idea of introducing voices into a symphony, but it is not yet clear that this D-minor work is to be their destination. As late as 1823 Beethoven was making sketches for an instrumental finale, and these in the event were used for the last movement of the A-Minor String Quartet, Op. 132.

At some point, however, the idea of the symphony became fused with another project of even longer standing. Beethoven had wanted to make a musical setting of Friedrich Schiller’s Ode to Joy at least since 1793. When he decided to incorporate the ode in the planned Ninth Symphony, he determined also to set only about a third of the text, adding a 12-word introduction of his own to effect the transition from instruments to voices.

Both in length and in forces used, the Ninth is Beethoven’s biggest symphony. Yet in it he dispenses, for the first time in a symphonic first movement, with the traditional repeat of the exposition. Evidently it was not mere length he was aiming for, but breadth of scale and perfection of proportion. And as soon as we realize that the “size” of the Ninth Symphony is as much metaphysical as physical, all of its apparent anomalies fall into place.

Physically, the heightening of tension in the first movement, the reordering of the inner movements, and the vast expansion of the finale are natural consequences of Beethoven’s shift of emphasis from first movement to last in the Fifth Symphony (prefigured in turn by Mozart in his “Jupiter”). Metaphysically, the finale’s use of Schiller’s ode grows equally naturally out of the trend toward extra-musical content shown in the Third and Sixth symphonies. What is new in the context of comparison with the “Eroica” and the “Pastoral” is that Beethoven now turns from the more-or-less sublimated picturesque to a proclamation of humanist sentiment at once more explicit and more universal. (Observe, though, that the version of brotherhood put forward here is not quite universal: if you haven’t found a single soul to call your own on the earth’s globe, says Schiller, stay away!)

It is the composer’s recourse to a sung text that has led to the most voluminous comment on the work, and inevitably to the most confusion. In Wagner’s view Beethoven, realizing that instrumental music had reached the limit of its resources, acknowledged by turning to the human voice that only in this medium lay the extra dimension of sublimity he was seeking. It is a pretty theory if you want to prove that music-drama is the only thing worth writing. But it will hardly stand up to an examination of the symphony itself—and in any case Beethoven’s own last string quartets surely disprove that he was thinking on such lines.

The forms of the three instrumental movements, for all their subtlety and breadth, are eminently lucid. The first is a sonata allegro. The second is a scherzo in full sonata form, repeated after a contrasting trio and then—like the third movement of the Seventh Symphony—passing to a witty envoi. The third is a slow movement with two alternating themes in different meters and slightly different tempos. After varying each theme once, Beethoven expands into a long free variation of the first theme, including a remarkable solo for the fourth horn (written for a player who possessed a pioneer valved instrument), and a long, peaceful coda. Into the dying fall of this tranquil reverie the last movement rudely breaks.

The finale, completing Beethoven’s symphonic journey away from sonata methods, is built from interpenetrating elements of variation and fugue. Once the voices have entered, abstract structural principles take second place to the dictates of the text: attend to the words, and the form will be crystal clear.


Copyright © 2007 by The Carnegie Hall Corporation

Bernard Jacobson writes frequently about classical music and is the author of A Polish Renaissance, part of the 20th-Century Composers series published by Phaidon Press.


Beethoven’s Introduction

O Freunde, nicht diese Töne, sondern
Lasst uns angenehmere anstimmen,
Und freudenvollere!

Ode: An die Freude
Text: Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805)

Freude, schöner Götterfunken,
Tochter aus Elysium,
Wir betreten, feuertrunken,
Himmlische, dein Heiligtum.
Deine Zauber binden wieder,
Was die Mode streng geteilt;
Alle Menschen werden Brüder,
Wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt.

Wem der grosse Wurf gelungen,
Eines Freundes Freund zu sein,
Wer ein holdes Weib errungen,
Mische seinen Jubel ein!
Ja, wer auch nur eine Seele
Sein nennt auf dem Erdenrund!
Und wer's nie gekonnt, der stehle
Weinend sich aus diesem Bund.

Freude trinken alle Wesen
An den Brüsten der Natur;
Alle Guten, alle Bösen
Folgen ihrer Rosenspur.
Küsse gab sie uns und Reben,
Einen Freund, geprüft im Tod;
Wollust ward dem Wurm gegeben,
Und der Cherub steht vor Gott.

Froh, wie seine Sonnen fliegen
Durch des Himmels prächtgen Plan,
Laufet, Brüder, eure Bahn,
Freudig, wie ein Held zum Siegen.

Seid umschlungen Millionen.
Diesen Kuss der ganzen Welt!
Brüder! überm Sternenzelt
Muss ein lieber Vater wohnen.

Ihr stürzt nieder, Millionen?
Ahnest du den Schöpfer, Welt?
Such ihn überm Sternenzelt,
Über Sternen muss er wohnen.

Ode to Joy
Translation: Bernard Jacobson

O friends, not these sounds, rather
Let us strike up pleasanter
And more joyful ones!

Joy, fair offshoot of the gods,
Daughter from Elysium,
We step drunk with fire,
Heavenly one, into your sanctuary.
Your spells reunite
What convention rigorously parted;
All men become brothers
Where your gentle wing tarries.

He who has had the great fortune
To be friend to a friend,
He who has won a lovely wife,
Let him join his exultation with ours!
Yes, whoever has even one soul
To call his own on the earth’s globe!
And he who has never succeeded in that,
May he take himself off,
Weeping, from this fellowship.

All beings drink of joy
At Nature’s breasts;
All the good, all the bad,
Follow in her rosy path.
Kisses she gave us, and vines,
And a friend tested unto death;
Voluptuousness was given to the worm,
And the cherub stands before God.

Happily, as his suns fly
Across the heavens’ splendid expanse,
Run, brothers, your course,
Joyfully, like a hero toward victory.

Be embraced, O millions!
This kiss for the whole world!
Brothers! Beyond the canopy of the stars
A loving father must dwell.

Do you fall to your knees, millions?
Do you sense the creator, world?
Look for him beyond the canopy of the stars,
Beyond stars he must dwell.

English translation by Bernard Jacobson © 2007

Lucerne Festival Orchestra
David Robertson, Conductor
The birth of Lucerne Festival dates from the gala concert with Arturo Toscanini conducting élite musicians in front of Richard Wagner’s former home in Tribschen in 1938. With this historic concert the idea of a Festival Orchestra was conceived. Besides Toscanini, other conductors in the Festival’s “early days” included Bruno Walter, Ernest Ansermet, and Vittorio de Sabata. The year 1943 witnessed the formation of the Swiss Festival Orchestra, with top musicians from all over Switzerland. This ensemble, which played under such commanding figures as Wilhelm Furtwängler, Herbert von Karajan, and Otto Klemperer, contributed to the Festival’s rapidly growing prestige, holding concerts on an annual basis until 1993.

It was this tradition that inspired Claudio Abbado and executive director Michael Haefliger to establish a new and unique ensemble in 2003: The Lucerne Festival Orchestra. Soloists of international repute sit on its front desks, while the main body of the ensemble is drawn from the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. A number of its members appear in various combinations in chamber recitals and chamber orchestra concerts during the opening weeks of the Festival.

The first guest performance took the Lucerne Festival Orchestra to Rome in 2005, followed by a residency in Tokyo in 2006. In August 2007 the Orchestra will its debut concert at the BBC Proms—all concerts under the baton of Claudio Abbado. Besides the traditional Lucerne Summer Festival, since 1988 the Easter Festival has taken place on an annual basis, as has the Piano Festival, held each November since 1998. Pierre Boulez is the artistic and conceptual director of the Lucerne Festival Academy for contemporary music. This forward-looking training workshop was designed in 2004 with the aim of instructing gifted young musicians to perform the music of our time.

Melanie Diener, Soprano
Born at Schenefeld near Hamburg, Melanie Diener trained as a soprano with Sylvia Geszty and Rudolf Piernay, as well as at Indiana University, taking master classes with Sena Jurinac and Brigitte Fassbaender. She was a prizewinner in the Salzburg Mozart Competition and was awarded the Kirsten Flagstad prize at the Queen Sonja International Music Competition in Oslo. The year 1996 marked her stage debut in Idomeneo at the Garsington Opera Festival, followed by a successful debut at the 1999 Bayreuth Festival in Lohengrin. She was then invited to perform at London’s Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and in Munich, Dresden, and Zurich. She has appeared in operas by Richard Strauss. In 2005, she took the title role in Kát’a Kabanová at the Berlin State Opera, and 2006 saw her Japanese debut as Donna Elvira in guest performance by the Met. She has made concert appearances with top orchestras throughout Europe and the US (in Philadelphia, Cleveland, Boston, and New York). Key works in her repertoire include Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs, the Lyrical Symphony by Zemlinsky and Britten’s War Requiem. She has performed with conductors such as Boulez, Chailly, Gielen, Levine, Maazel, and Muti.

Anna Larsson, Contralto
A native of Stockholm, Anna Larsson completed her musical training there at the University College of Opera. Her operatic repertoire includes roles in Das Rheingold and Siegfried (with the Munich State Opera), the First Norn in Götterdämmerung (Berlin State Opera), Waltraute in Götterdämmerung (Finnish National Opera), Orfeo in Orfeo ed Euridice (Royal Opera Copenhagen), Ottone in L’incoronazione di Poppea (at Aix-en-Provence) and Andronico in Handel’s Tamerlano (Drottningholm Court Theater, Stockholm). Her richly varied concert repertoire includes Mahler’s Second and Third symphonies, the St. Matthew Passion, the Messiah, Des Knaben Wunderhorn, Das Lied von der Erde, Bernstein’s “Jeremiah” Symphony, Brahms’s Alt-Rhapsodie, Beethoven’s Missa solemnis, and the Verdi Requiem. She has also appeared with orchestras such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, the London Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Munich Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, working with conductors such as Rattle, Haitink, Masur, Abbado, Harding, Ozawa, and Maazel. Her performances have also taken her to the festivals of Lucerne and Edinburgh.

Jonas Kaufmann, Tenor
Born in Munich, Jonas Kaufmann studied singing at the city’s College of Music, graduating with distinction in his concert and opera examinations in 1994. He participated in master classes with Hans Hotter, James King, and Josef Metternich, and was a prizewinner at the 1993 Mastersingers Competition in Nuremberg. From 1994 to 1996, he was a member of the ensemble at the Saarbrücken State Theater, where he sang the major parts in the lyrical tenor repertoire. The year 1999 saw his debut in Busoni’s Doktor Faust at the Salzburg Festival. Since 2001, he has been a member of the Zurich Opera House, where he sings parts such as Tamino, Titus, Idomeneo, Nerone, Fierrabras, Faust, Florestan, Bacchus, the Duke (in Rigoletto), Rodolfo, Hoffmann, Don José, and Parsifal. He is a regular guest artist at the opera houses of Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Vienna, Paris, London, Madrid, and Chicago. Beethoven’s Ninth with the Berliner Philharmoniker in 2004. In 2006 he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Alfredo in La traviata and his first Don José in London. He works regularly with conductors such as Riccardo Muti, Kent Nagano, Franz Welser-Möst, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Ivor Bolton, Antonio Pappano, Simon Rattle, and Claudio Abbado, and has presented many lied recitals with Helmut Deutsch at the piano.

Reinhard Hagen, Bass
Reinhard Hagen trained at the State School of Music in Karlsruhe and has won prizes at numerous international competitions. His stage career was launched at the Dortmund Theater. In 1994–95, he was engaged by the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where he has interpreted the major parts in the serious bass repertoire ever since. Concert appearances as Raphael in Haydn’s Creation at Munich with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Georg Solti, and with the same orchestra at concerts featuring works by Penderecki in Jerusalem (in 1997), under the baton of Lorin Maazel. In 1998–99 he gave concerts in Berlin (Beethoven’s Ninth), followed by his debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker under James Levine, appearances with the Boston Symphony, concerts with the Dresden Staatskapelle under Giuseppe Sinopoli, and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Lorin Maazel. Kurt Masur engaged him for concerts with the New York Philharmonic and Wolfgang Sawallisch invited him to Rome (where he performed in Haydn’s Seasons). He sang in Die Walküre under Simon Rattle in 2005 and in Schumann’s Manfred under Claudio Abbado in 2006. His CD recordings include the role of Sarastro in The Magic Flute conducted by William Christie, and Bach cantatas conducted by John Eliot Gardiner.

Westminster Symphonic Choir
Joe Miller, Conductor
Joe Miller is conductor of two of America’s most renowned choral ensembles—the 32-voice Westminster Choir and the 200-voice Westminster Symphonic Choir. As director of choral activities at Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton, New Jersey, he oversees an extensive choral program that includes eight ensembles.

In addition to several collaborations with the Westminster Symphonic Choir and leading conductors and orchestras, Maestro Miller’s 2007–08 season includes conducting a series of concerts with the Westminster Choir at the Spoleto Festival USA and with the Westminster Chamber Choir in Italy, an intensive two-week choral program in Florence, Italy.

Guest conductor for numerous all-state and honors choirs, he will conduct the Florida All-State Honors Choir and the American Choral Directors Western Division High School Honors Choir this season. He will also serve as headliner for the 2008 Ohio Choral Directors Summer Conference.

Before his appointment at Westminster, Joe Miller was director of choral studies, professor of music and voice area chair at Western Michigan University School of Music. With the Western Michigan Chorale he received a number of awards, including the Silver Medal at the 2005 European Grand Prix for Choral Singing in Varna, Bulgaria, and the Grand Prize at the 2002 Robert Schumann International Choral Competition in Zwickau, Germany. He has also served as director of choral and vocal activities at California State University, artistic director/conductor of the Stockton Chorale, and music director of the Mother Lode Music Festival.

WESTMINSTER SYMPHONIC CHOIR

Composed of students at Westminster Choir College of Rider University, the Westminster Symphonic Choir has recorded and performed with virtually every major orchestra and internationally known conductor of the last 85 years. Recognized as one of the world’s leading choral ensembles, the choir has sung over 300 performances with the New York Philharmonic alone.

In addition to these performances with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, the ensemble’s 2007–08 season includes performances of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with Franz Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra at Carnegie Hall and with Neeme Järvi and New Jersey Symphony Orchestra at Patriots Theater in Trenton and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark. In May the ensemble will perform Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, “Symphony of a Thousand,” with Christoph Eschenbach and The Philadelphia Orchestra at Carnegie Hall and the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia.

Additionally, the 32-voice Westminster Choir that forms the core of the Symphonic Choir will perform Bach’s St. Matthew Passion led by Kurt Masur in February. Chorus-in-residence for the Spoleto Festival USA since 1977, the ensemble will present a concert tour of Texas in January and a series of performances in Michigan in March. Westminster Choir College is one of four colleges of Rider University, whose main campus is in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. A professional college of music with a unique choral emphasis, Westminster prepares students at the undergraduate and graduate levels for careers in teaching, sacred music and performance.