notesGIOACCHINO ROSSINIBorn February 29, 1792 in Pesaro, Italy;died November 13, 1868 in Paris.

OVERTURE TO WILLIAM TELL (1829)• First performed at the Paris Opéra on August

3, 1829, conducted by François Habeneck.

• First performed by the Des Moines Symphony

on May 11, 1947 with Frank Noyes conducting.

Subsequent performances occurred in 1982,

1983, 1994, and most recently on December 31,

2014 with Joseph Giunta conducting.

(Duration: ca. 12 minutes)

In 1824, Rossini moved to Paris to direct the

Théâtre Italien and there became fully aware of

the revolutionary artistic and political trends that

were then gaining popularity. Rossini was too

closely attuned to public fashion to ignore the

changing audience tastes, and he began casting

about for a libretto that would keep him abreast

of the latest developments in the musical theater

while solidifying his new position in Paris.

Schiller’s play William Tell, based on the heroic

Swiss struggle against tyranny in the 14th

century, had recently created much interest

when it was introduced to Paris in a French

translation. Rossini decided that the drama

would make a fine opera (or, at least, a saleable

one), and he took special care to incorporate the

emerging Romantic style into this epic work, as

evidenced by its subject matter, symphonic

scope and attention to dramatic and poetic

content. From the summer of 1828, when word

of the project first surfaced, through the

following spring, when several delays were

reportedly caused by prima donna incapacity

(actually, Rossini was withholding the work’s

premiere to press negotiations with the

government over a lucrative contract for future

— never realized — operas) until the premiere

30 SECOND NOTES: Rossini, Bach and Beethoven are icons, each the epitome of his musical age. But the three works on this Des Moines Symphony concert show them also as pioneers, moving their art in directions not imagined before — Rossini opening the realm of French grand opera with William Tell, with its spectacular productions, formidable orchestration and bold drama; Bach inventing the solo keyboard concerto with the Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, which showed off not only the new harpsichord he had been sent to Berlin to purchase for his employer but also his remarkable virtuosity on it; and Beethoven, who invested the symphonic form with an unprecedented expressive range by adding singers to his “Choral” Symphony, the first time the human voice had been incorporated into such a composition.

By Dr. Richard E. Rodda

September 24/25

SEASON DEBUT: BEETHOVEN’S ODE TO JOY!

in August 1829, William Tell kept Parisian society

abuzz. Once the opera finally reached the stage,

it was hailed by critics and musicians but

disappointed the public, who felt that its six-hour

length was more entertainment than a single

evening should decently hold. (The score was

greatly truncated when it was staged in later

years.) Whether the new style of the opera was

one Rossini did not wish to pursue, or whether

he was drained by two decades of constant

work, or whether he just wanted to enjoy in

leisure the fortune he had amassed, William Tell

was his last opera. During the remaining 39

years of his life, he did not compose another

note for the stage. The four sections of the

Overture, virtually a miniature tone poem,

represent dawn in the mountains, a

thunderstorm, the pastoral countryside and the

triumphant return of the Swiss troops.

The score calls for for piccolo, flute, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, triangle, cymbals, bass drum and the usual strings consisting of first violins, second violins, violas, violoncellos and double basses.

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACHBorn March 21, 1685 in Eisenach, Germany;died July 28, 1750 in Leipzig.

BRANDENBURG CONCERTO NO. 5 IN D MAJOR, BWV 1050 (CA. 1720)• The first performance is unknown, but the work

was probably played at the court of Anhalt-

Cöthen, north of Leipzig, sometime before 1720.

• First performed by the Des Moines Symphony

on November 15 & 16, 1997 with Lukas Foss

conducting.

(Duration: ca. 21 minutes)

Brandenburg, in Bach’s day, was a political and

military powerhouse. It had been part of the Holy

Roman Empire since the mid-12th century, and

its ruler — the Markgraf, or Margrave — was

charged with defending and extending the

northern imperial border (“mark,” or “marche” in

Old English and Old French), in return for which

he was allowed to be an Elector of the Emperor.

The house of Hohenzollern acquired the

margraviate of Brandenburg in 1415, and the

family embraced the Reformation a century later

with such authority that they came to be regarded

as the leaders of German Protestantism;

Potsdam, near Berlin, was chosen as the site of

the electoral court in the 17th century.

Johann Sebastian Bach met Christian

Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg, in 1719,

during his tenure as music director at the court

of Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen. Bach worked at

Cöthen from 1717 to 1723, and early in 1719 he

was sent by Leopold to Berlin to finalize

arrangements for the purchase of a new

harpsichord, a large, two-manual model made

by Michael Mietke, instrument-builder to the

royal court. While in Berlin, Bach played for

Christian Ludwig, who was so taken with his

music that he asked him to send some of his

compositions for his library. Bach lost an infant

son a few months later, however, and in 1720,

his wife died and he rejected an offer to become

organist at the Jacobkirche in Hamburg, so it

was more than two years before he fulfilled

Brandenburg’s request. By 1721, Leopold had

become engaged to marry a woman who looked

askance at his huge expenditures for musical

entertainment. Bach seems to have realized that

when she moved in, he would probably be

moved out, so he began casting about for a more

secure position. He remembered the interest the

Margrave Brandenburg had shown in his music,

so he picked six of the finest concertos he had

written at Cöthen and sent them to Christian

Ludwig in March 1721 with a flowery dedication

in French — but to no avail. No job materialized

at Potsdam, and in 1723, Bach moved to

Leipzig’s Thomaskirche, where he remained for

the rest of his life.

The soloists in the Brandenburg Concerto

No. 5 are flute, violin and harpsichord, which

was featured to show off the new instrument

Bach had brought back from Berlin. The first

movement opens with a vigorous tutti theme for

the orchestra, after which the trio of soloists —

the concertino — is introduced. It becomes clear

as the movement progresses that the

harpsichord is primus inter pares among the

concertino instruments, and its part grows more

elaborate with the passing measures, finally

erupting in ribbons of unaccompanied melody

and figuration in the closing pages. A brief

statement of the main theme brings the

movement to an end. The second movement is

an impassioned trio for the concertino alone. The

entire ensemble joins the soloists for the finale,

one of Bach’s most joyous flights of contrapuntal

ingenuity and rhythmic vivacity.

The score calls for flute, violin, harpsichord and the usual strings.

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVENBorn December 16, 1770 in Bonn;died March 26, 1827 in Vienna.

SYMPHONY NO. 9 IN D MINOR, OP. 125, “CHORAL” (1824)

• Beethoven supervised the premiere of the

Ninth Symphony, at Vienna’s Kärntnertor Theater

on May 7, 1824, though the actual conducting

was handled by Michael Umlauf.

• First performed by the Des Moines Symphony

on May 17, 1970 with Willis Page conducting. Six

subsequent performances occurred, most

recently on September 17 & 18, 2011 with

Joseph Giunta conducting.

(Duration: ca. 65 minutes)

“I’ve got it! I’ve got it! Let us sing the song of the

immortal Schiller!” shouted Beethoven to Anton

Schindler, his companion and eventual

biographer, as he burst from his workroom one

afternoon in October 1823. The joyful

announcement meant that the path to the

completion of the Ninth Symphony — after a

gestation of more than three decades — was

finally clear.

Friedrich Schiller published his poem An die

Freude (“Ode to Joy” ) in 1785 as a tribute to his

friend Christian Gottfried Körner. By 1790, when

he was twenty, Beethoven knew the poem, and

as early as 1793 he considered making a

musical setting of it. Schiller’s poem appears in

his notes in 1798, but the earliest musical ideas

for its setting are found among the sketches for

the Seventh and Eighth Symphonies, composed

simultaneously in 1811-1812. Though these

sketches are unrelated to the finished Ode to Joy

theme — that went through more than 200

revisions (!) before Beethoven was satisfied with

it — they do show the composer’s continuing

interest in the text and the gestating idea of

setting it for chorus and orchestra. The Seventh

and Eighth Symphonies were finished by 1812,

and Beethoven immediately started making

plans for his next composition in the genre,

settling on the key of D minor, but getting no

further. It was to be another dozen years before

he could bring this vague vision to fulfillment.

The first evidence of the musical material

that was to figure in the finished Ninth Symphony

appeared in 1815, when a sketch for the theme

of the Scherzo emerged among Beethoven’s

notes. He took up his draft again in 1817, and by

the following year much of the Scherzo was

sketched. It was also in 1818 that he considered

including a choral movement, but as the slow

movement rather than as the Finale. With much

still unsettled, Beethoven was forced to lay aside

this vague symphonic scheme in 1818 because

of ill health, the distressing court battle to secure

custody of his nephew, and other composing

projects, most notably the monumental Missa

Solemnis, and he was not able to resume work

on the piece until the end of 1822. The 1822

sketches show considerable progress on the

Symphony’s first movement, little on the Scherzo,

and, for the first time, some tentative ideas for a

choral finale based on Schiller’s poem.

In November 1822, a commission arrived

from the London Philharmonic Society for a new

symphony. Beethoven accepted it. For several

months thereafter, he envisioned two completely

separate works: one for London, entirely

instrumental, to include the sketched first

movement and the nearly completed Scherzo ;

the other to use the proposed choral movement

with a German text, which he considered

inappropriate for an English audience. He took

up the “English Symphony” first, and most of the

opening movement was sketched during the

early months of 1823. The Scherzo was finished

in short score by August, eight years after

Beethoven first conceived its thematic material,

and the third movement sketched by October.

With the first three movements nearing

completion, Beethoven found himself without a

finale. His thoughts turned to the choral setting of

An die Freude lying unused among the sketches

for the “German Symphony,” and he decided to

include it in the work for London, language

notwithstanding. The “English Symphony” and

the “German Symphony” had merged. The

Philharmonic Society eventually received the

symphony it had commissioned — but not until

a year after it had been heard in Vienna.

Beethoven had one major obstacle to

overcome before he could complete the

Symphony: how to join together the instrumental

and vocal movements. A recitative — the

technique that had been used for generations to

bridge from one operatic number to the next —

that would be perfect, he decided. And the

recitative could include fragments of themes from

earlier movements — to unify the structure. “I’ve

got it! I’ve got it!” he shouted with triumphant

delight. Beethoven still had much work to do, as

the sketches from the autumn of 1823 show, but

he at last knew his goal, and the composition

was completed by the end of the year. When the

final scoring was finished in February 1824, it

had been nearly 35 years since Beethoven first

considered setting Schiller’s poem.

The Ninth Symphony begins with the

interval of a barren open fifth, suggesting some

awe-inspiring cosmic void. Thematic fragments

sparkle and whirl into place to form the riveting

main theme. A group of lyrical subordinate ideas

follows. After a great climax, the open fifth

intervals return to begin the highly concentrated

development section. A complete recapitulation

and an ominous coda arising from the depths of

the orchestra bring this eloquent movement to a

close.

The form of the second movement is a

combination of scherzo, fugue and sonata that

exudes a lusty physical exuberance and a

leaping energy. The trio is more serene in

character but forfeits none of the contrapuntal

richness of the Scherzo.

The Adagio is one of the most sublime

pieces that Beethoven, or anyone else, ever

wrote. Its impression of solemn profundity is

enhanced by being placed between two such

extroverted movements as the Scherzo and the

Finale. Formally, this movement is a variation on

two themes, almost like two separate kinds of

music that alternate with each other.

The majestic closing movement is divided

into two large parts: the first instrumental, the

second with chorus and soloists. Beethoven

chose to set about two-thirds of the original 96

lines of Schiller’s poem. To these, the composer

added two lines of his own for the bass soloist

as a transition to the choral section. A shrieking

dissonance introduces the instrumental recitative

for cellos and basses that joins together brief

thematic reminiscences from the three

preceding movements. The wondrous Ode to Joy

theme appears unadorned in the low strings, and

is the subject of a set of increasingly powerful

variations. The shrieking dissonance is again

hurled forth, but this time the ensuing recitative

is given voice and words by the bass soloist.

“Oh, friends,” he sings, “no more of these sad

tones! Rather let us raise our voices together,

and joyful be our song.” The song is the Ode to

Joy, presented with transcendent jubilation by

the chorus. Many sections based on the theme

of the Ode follow, some martial, some fugal, all

radiant with the glory of Beethoven’s vision.

The score calls for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, triangle, cymbals, bass drum, the usual strings, four-part mixed chorus, and solo soprano, alto, tenor and bass voices.

Ode “An die Freude”

O Freunde, nicht diese Töne!Sondern laßt uns angenehmereanstimmen, und freudenvollere!

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 SeeleSein nennt auf dem Erdenrund!Und wer’s nie gekonnt, der stehleWeinend sich aus diesem Bund!

Freude trinken alle WesenAn den Brüsten der Natur;Alle Guten, alle BösenFolgen 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 fliegenDurch des Himmels prächt’gen Plan,Laufet, Brüder, eure Bahn,Freudig, wie ein Held zum Siegen.

Seid umschlungen, Millionen!Diesen Kuß der ganzen Welt!Brüder! über’m SternenzeltMuß ein lieber Vater wohnen.Ihr stürzt nieder, Millionen?Ahnest du den Schöpfer, Welt?Such ihn über’m Sternenzelt!Über Sternen muß er wohnen.

Ode to Joy

Oh friends, not these tones!Let us raise our voices in morepleasing and more joyful sounds!

Joy, bright spark of divinity,Daughter of Elysium,Fire-inspired we treadThy sanctuary.Thy magic power reunites All that custom has divided,All men become brothersUnder the sway of thy gentle wing.

Whoever has createdAn abiding friendlyship,Or has wonA true and loving wife,All who can call at least one soul theirs.Join in our song of praise;But any who cannot must creep tearfullyAway from our circle.

All creatures drink of joyAt nature’s breast.Just and unjustAlike taste of her gift;She gave us kisses and the fruit of the vine,A tried friend to the end.Even the worm can feel contentment,And the cherub stands before God!

Gladly, like the heavenly bodiesWhich He set on their course;Through the splendor of the firmamentThus, brothers, you should run your raceAs a hero going to conquest.

You millions, I embrace you.This kiss is for all the world!Brothers, above the starry canopyThere must dwell a loving Father.Do you fall in worship, you millions?World, do you know your Creator?Seek Him in the heavens;Above the stars must He dwell.