Violin I - Scheide Concertsscheideconcerts.com/past_concerts/FSL_20081016.pdfCarmen Fantasy, Op. 25...

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Transcript of Violin I - Scheide Concertsscheideconcerts.com/past_concerts/FSL_20081016.pdfCarmen Fantasy, Op. 25...

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Violin I

Daniel Dodds (Concertmaster)

Anne Schoenholtz

Thomas Schrott

Mia Lindblom

Regula Dodds

Violin II

Gianluca Febo

Droujelub Yanakiew

Reiko Koi

Manuel Oswald

Viola

Markus Wieser

Dominik Fischer

Sylvia Zucker

Violoncello

Jonas Iten

Alexander Kionke

Regula Maurer

Double Bass

Massimo Clavenna

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Bach-SmithArioso

October 16, 20088:00 p.m.

Princeton University Chapel

Intermission

Princeton University Art Museumand

William and Judith Scheidepresent

SarasateCarmen Fantasy, Op. 25 for Violin and Orchestra

Daniel Dodds, Violin

RespighiAncient Airs and Dances Suite No. 3

I. ItalianaII. Aria de CorteIII. SicilianaIV. Passacaglia

MendelssohnSymphony No. 9 for String Orchestra “La Suisse”

I. Grave - AllegroII. AndanteIII. Scherzo - Trio “La Suisse”IV. Allegro vivace

MozartEine kleine Nachtmusik, K. 525

I. AllegroII. Romanza: AndanteIII. Minuet - TrioIV. Rondo: Allegro

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Maestro Mark Laycock

Internationally acclaimed conductor Mark Laycock has appeared with orchestras of London, Paris, Moscow, Kiev, Montréal, Mexico City, Seoul, and Taipei among others. Maestro Laycock’s engagements for the 2007-08 season included appearances with the Bayerische KammerPhilharmonie, the Wiener KammerOrchester, the Deutsch National Theater and Staatskappel Weimar, as well as his third consecutive appearance with the Bochumer Symphoniker in Germany and the Georges Enescu Philharmonic in Bucharest. This season marks engagements with the Festival Strings Lucerne, Bach Academy Stuttgart, and his first appearances in Finland and Norway.

At age 21, Maestro Laycock made his conducting début with the Philadelphia Orchestra, returning to lead the Orchestra on numerous occasions. His multiple re-engagements also include those with L’Orchestre Symphonique d’Montréal, the Philharmonia Orchestra of London at Royal Festival Hall and the Barbican Centre, and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra in St. Paul as well as on tour. As a participant of “Project Uplift,” in June 2005, he traveled to donate his services for a performance of the Verdi Requiem with the Sverdlovsk State Philharmonic in Ekaterinburg, Russia. The 2006-2007 season included his first appearance in Asia, conducting the TJB Orchestra Daejeon, with an immediate re-engagement and invitation to return to Korea to conduct the Gyeonggi Philharmonic Orchestra at the Seoul Arts Center.

Maestro Laycock holds the distinction of being the first non-Russian ever invited to appear at the Moscow Autumn Festival, conducting a program at the famed Tchaikovsky Hall. He also conducted the inaugural concert at the new Cairo Opera House in 1988, as well as the sold-out first concert of classical music ever made open to the public in Amman, Jordan. This sequence of events was chronicled in “Classical

MozartEine kleine Nachtmusik, K. 525

I. AllegroII. Romanza: AndanteIII. Minuet - TrioIV. Rondo: Allegro

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Caravan,” an Emmy Award-winning television documentary produced by NJN public television. His début in Mexico City’s Palacio de Bellas Artes in 2001 resulted in an immediate invitation to return the following summer to teach a week-long master class to Mexico’s regional conductors.

Maestro Laycock began conducting at the age of 16, advancing his studies at the St. Louis Conservatory of Music, and from 1975 to 1979 studied as a violist under the tutelage of the Curtis String Quartet in Philadelphia. Maestro Laycock was a Conducting Fellow at the Aspen Music Festival, and the winner of the Leopold Stokowski Memorial Conducting Competition in association with the Philadelphia Orchestra. From 1995-1998 Maestro Laycock was also Music Director of Orchestra London Canada and was subsequently appointed Associate Conductor of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.As a published composer, his works have been performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Canton (OH) Symphony Orchestra and the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, among others. Having conducted nearly 1,800 works, Maestro Laycock has developed a reputation for being able to step in at the last minute, having been called upon at very short notice to conduct programs that have included Brahms’ 1st and 4th Symphonies (conducted from memory), Orff’s Carmina Burana, Strauss’ monumental Ein Heldenleben, and a full production of “Carmen” without any rehearsal and to great critical and audience acclaim.Maestro Laycock was Music Director of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra for more than 20 years, transforming that orchestra from a small chamber orchestra into a full and critically acclaimed professional symphony orchestra awarded Citations of Excellence for two consecutive years from the State Arts Council of New Jersey for “exhibiting the highest standards of artistic excellence.” Mark Laycock and his family now make their home in Berlin.

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Daniel Dodds, Violin

Growing up in Australia as second child of five to Australian Chinese parents, Daniel Dodds gave his first performances at the age of five.Leaving Australia at the age of seventeen, having been awarded numerous scholarships, he pursued his violin studies with Prof. Gunars Larsens at the Lucerne Academy of Music in Switzerland. Completing all three diplomas with distinction, he received further inspiration from collaboration with Rudolf Baumgartner, Franco Gulli, Keiko Wataya, and one of the masters of the golden age of violin playing, Nathan Milstein. After performing a Caprice by Paganini at a master class for Milstein, Milstein exclaimed to the public gathered around: “Who is this fellow? Could this possibly be Paganini’s grandson?”

Daniel Dodds career has not followed any particular path, sporting a rich diversity of experience in the fields of orchestral, chamber and solo literature. He is currently first concertmaster of the world renowned chamber orchestra, Festival Strings Lucerne, leading the orchestra in concerts all around the globe. He also appears regularly as soloist with this orchestra, recently in Lucerne at the Lucerne Festival, in Thailand, in North America and Mexico. As a member of the Chamber Soloists Lucerne Daniel Dodds has performed an extensive and broad range of chamber music works from duo to nonet, from early baroque through to première performances of works by contemporary composers, also it crossover projects, with jazz, tango, and far eastern elements Performances with Chamber Soloists Lucerne, have led him to performances throughout Switzerland, South America, India and China.

Following his successful debut at the Philharmonie in Berlin in February of 2007, Daniel Dodds will next be appearing as soloist with Festival Strings in their upcoming tour of South America, with concerts in Argentina, Brasil, Peru, Ecuador and Columbia, in

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autumn in Germany, with the Philharmonisches Orchester Giessen and the Folkwang Kammerorchester Essen, and in 2008 in North America and Mexico with Festival Strings Lucerne.

Daniel Dodds plays the Stradivarius “ex Baumgartner” from 1717 generously provided by the foundation Festival Strings LucerneDaniel Dodds teaches a violin class at the Lucerne Academy of Music, where he lives with his wife and daughter.

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Festival Strings Lucerne

Established in 1956 by Wolfgang Schneiderhan and Rudolf Baumgartner, Festival Strings Lucerne is considered to be of the world’s leading chamber orchestras. Highest quality, enthusiasm, an unmistakable and “golden” sound (Washington Post, 2003), as well as a long-standing tradition, all sharpen the distinctive profile of Festival Strings Lucerne. The renowned chamber orchestra regularly performs in all major music centers of Europe and tours extensively throughout the world: South Africa (2002), Turkey (2003, ’06, ’08), as well as North and South America (2000, ’04, ’07, ‘08). Festival Strings Lucerne appears at prominent festivals, including those of Prague, Eisenstadt, Ludwigsburg, and Rheingau. At home, in Switzerland, the orchestra can be heard annually at the Lucerne International Festival as well as in its own concert series (“Konzert Reihe Luzern”). The orchestra, directed by Achim Fiedler since 1998, is an “Ensemble in Residence” at the Lucerne Academy of Music.

Festival Strings Lucerne strives for a creative dialogue between early and new music. Its broad repertoire encompasses works written for string ensemble to extended chamber orchestra, and from Baroque to contemporary music. Over their more-than-fifty-year existence, Festival Strings Lucerne has premiered more than 100 works of such major composers as Frank Martin, Bohuslav Martinů, Sándor Veress, Iannis Xenakis, Krzysztof Penderecki, Herbert Willi, Milko Kelemen, Peter Ruzicka and Beat Furrer, a great number of which were commissioned by Festival Strings Lucerne and its artistic directors.

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Festival Strings Lucerne works with such celebrated soloists as Maxim Vengerov, Sabine Meyer, Reinhold Friedrich, James Galway, Kolja Blacher, Leonidas Kavakos, Mischa Maisky, Ruth Ziesak, Martin Stadtfeld, Bernd Glemser and Alexander Lonquich. The orchestra records for Sony Classical and OehmsClassics. Festival Strings’ recent Sony recording of Bach keyboard concerti - with pianist Martin Stadtfeld - has received the ECHO Klassik 2007 award for “Best Concerto Recording of the Year”. The orchestra’s singular performances and first-rate CD productions continue to confirm their outstanding reputation as a world-class ensemble with compelling programming.

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The Princeton University Preparatory Program

The Princeton University Preparatory Program (PUPP) is a rigorous, academic and cultural enrichment initiative that supports high-achieving, low-income high school students from Ewing, Princeton and Trenton public high schools. Our multi-year, tuition free program prepares participants for admission to and ongoing success within selective colleges and universities.

Founded in 2001 by Miguel Centeno, Professor of Sociology at Princeton University, and Dr. John Webb, Director of Princeton’s Program in Teacher Preparation, PUPP works directly with a select group of high school scholars f selected through a competitive process during their freshman year of high school. Once selected, scholars participate throughout the remainder of their high school years. PUPP features an intensive six-and-a-half week summer institute on Princeton University’s campus and weekly, academic enrichment sessions held after school. PUPP scholars also participate in cultural enrichment events and receive extensive college admissions guidance during their senior year of high school. PUPP alumni stay connected to the program, receiving support in college and serving as role models and mentors for current scholars.

Art is key component of the PUPP Summer Institute. In partnership with the Princeton University Art Museum, the art course for PUPP combines art history and studio work, affording students the opportunity to explore a broad range of artistic techniques and traditions, and to create their own original pieces of art.

Administered by Princeton University’s Program in Teacher Preparation, PUPP has been successful in

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guiding scholars through a demanding academic experience, providing them with individualized attention and exposure to variety of content and experiences that take advantage of the resources of the University. PUPP focuses on the development of the whole child, preparing them for admission to some of the most outstanding colleges and universities in the country. Currently, PUPP alumni attend a broad range of schools including Brown, Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, Georgetown, Haverford, Howard, Occidental, Lafayette, Notre Dame, Rutgers, Spelman, the College of New Jersey, Villanova, and seven are currently enrolled at Princeton. In 2008, 16 members of the original 21 members of class of 2004 cohort earned their bachelors degrees (76% as opposed to a national college completion rate of 11% for low-income students).

For more information about PUPP, you can contact Dr. Jason Klugman, Director, at 609-258-3337, or search our website atwww.princeton.edu/teacher/pupp .

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About the Princeton University Art Museum

Founded in 1882, the Princeton University Art Museum is one of the finest art museums in the country. Its collection features more than 68,000 works ranging from ancient to contemporary art, and concentrating geographically on the Mediterranean regions, Western Europe, China, the United States, and Latin America, with particular strengths in Chinese painting and calligraphy, art of the ancient Americas, and pictorial photography. The museum is committed to serving the local community, the region, and beyond through innovative and dynamic programming, original research and new scholarship, an active loan program, and the organization of touring exhibitions of its works. By collaborating with faculty, students, and staff, and through direct and sustained access to original works of art, the museum contributes to the development of critical thinking and visual literacy at Princeton University.The Princeton University Art Museum is located in the center of the Princeton University campus, next to Prospect House and only a short walk away from Princeton’s Nassau Street. Museum admission is free and open to the general public. For more information, please call (609) 258-3788 or visit the Museum’s website at http://artmuseum.princeton.edu.

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Ancient Airs and Dances, Suite No. 3Ottorino Respighi (1879 - 1936)

Ottorino Respighi (1879 – 1936) shares many biographical parallels with Johann Sebastian Bach: they both descended from families of professional musicians, both were accomplished violinists (Bach, a concertmaster of the Weimar Staatskappelle; Respighi, the first-violinist of the Mugellini Quintet), and both left their bright constellations in the musical galaxy as composers (though one should readily point out the significant difference in the profundity and spiritual nature of their works). With his musical development having taken place in the post-Wagner years, Respighi was able to draw upon a richer palette of instrumental colors - one that enabled him to compose pictorial tone-poems for large orchestra, dabble in musical impressionism, and bridge back into the Italian musical heritage of the 16th – 18th centuries by cloaking the beautiful melodies of the past in instrumental combinations that could come only centuries later. A noted musicologist, Respighi also published editions of works by Monteverdi, Frescobaldi, Tartini, Vivaldi, and Marcello. He also composed nine operas, and several works for piano, solo violin, and chorus.

In 1900, following violin studies with his father, composition studies with Martucci, as well as studies at the Liceo Musicale (where he was also a serious student of music history), Respighi went on to St. Petersburg, Russia to assume the post of principal violist with the Russian Imperial Theatre for its season of Italian opera. This position gave him the opportunity to study with the renowned Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov (who, in addition to being mentor to Stravinsky and Prokofiev, and himself one of the greatest masters of orchestral color, is the author of one of two great treatises on orchestration, the other being that of Hector Berlioz written thirty years earlier). Following his time in St. Petersburg, Respighi went on to Berlin to study composition with Max Bruch, eventually returning to Italy to accept the post of professor of composition, and, later (in 1913), that of rector at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia in Rome.

Respighi published three charming suites in 1917, 1924 and 1932 based on arrangements of Italian and French lute and keyboard pieces of the 16th, 17th, and early 18th centuries, all bearing the title Ancient Airs and Dances. Suite No. 3 differs from the previous two not only by virtue of its melancholy flavor but also in that it is written to illuminate the textures and lush sounds of strings instruments only (the previous two suites are written for fuller ensembles). Suite No. 3 is

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based on lute songs by Giovanni Battista Besardo, a piece for baroque guitar by Lodovico Roncalli, lute pieces by Santino Garsi da Parma, as well as additional anonymous composers. The first movement, Italiana, an anonymous song from the 16th century set in elegant triple meter, is marked with a warm and beautiful simplicity. The second movement, Ari di corte, based on several songs from Besardo’s extensive lute-song collection Thesaurus Harmonicus, opens with a doleful lament (It is sad to be in love with you), followed by two brighter melodies (Farewell forever, shepherdess and Lovely eyes that see clearly). Three other brief sections (The Skiff of Love, What divinity touches my soul, and If it is for my innocence that you love me) are heard before the return of the sorrowful opening strain. A gently swaying Siciliana of unknown origin, based on the fashionable Spagnoletto dance of the Renaissance, constitutes the third movement of the suite. The finale is a full voiced Passacaglia by Roncalli from 1692, very much a harbinger to Bach’s famous D minor Chaconne from Partita No.2 for solo violin (BWV 1004), which would appear some thirty years later.

String Symphony No. 9 in C minor, “La Suisse”

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809 - 1847)

In his memoirs published in 1869, the famous singer and friend of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’s, Eduard Devrient, characterized the artistic and personal development of the young composer in his wealthy, liberal, and sophisticated parents’ house thus: “If you add to the excellent personalities who influenced Mendelssohn’s education to the impression left by all the honoured and unusual friends who visited the house, then you can say that among all the extraordinary men of our country there is no second example of such supported childhood and youth.”

With such intensive and dedicated encouragement, a genius talent like Mendelssohn’s must have developed an almost frightening amount of mental activity.

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However, his father, Abraham Mendelssohn, had no intention of making a child prodigy of his son, wishing only to find the best teachers for his child, and to give him the most complete artistic and scientific education possible. Displaying a particular affinity for the arts, especially music, Felix was soon assigned a piano teacher (Ludwig Berger), appearing in public at the age of 10. Together with his equally talented sister Fanny, Felix played through opera literature and famous orchestral works, reading full scores rather than using specially made four-hand piano arrangements.

In 1819 Felix joined the class of Friedrich Zelter (who, in addition to being a personal friend and musical advisor to Goethe, was the head of the Berliner Singakademie, an experienced teacher, and Lied-composer). He not only introduced the young genius to the great world of music, but also taught him the musical know-how to cultivate the young composer’s musical skills. Under Zalter’s tutelage, Mendelssohn was exposed to the study of counterpoint, analysis, harmony, and theory. Despite the seemingly rigid curriculum Zelter’s approach was in no way restrictive, allowing Mendelssohn’s creative forces to flow freely from his pen.

At age eleven (1820), Felix began committing his compositions to paper, and by the end of 1822, he would complete twelve symphonies for string orchestra, a piano concerto, a violin concerto, as well as an array of piano and vocal works in addition to more chamber music. Though it may seem as if he composed flawlessly and without any trouble, the surviving manuscripts prove otherwise: behind the almost frightening burst of creativity lay an incredibly serious desire to create the best work possible, showing great diligence and self-criticism through numerous revisions, cancellations, and sketches. Taking advantage of the regularly scheduled Sunday concerts at the Mendelssohn household, in which members of the Königliche Hofkapelle – orchestra would often appear, Felix could try out and experience the sound of his scores, leading his compositional technique and style to develop and mature faster.

The String Symphony No. 9 was written at a creatively fertile time, in 1822, immediately following an important family trip to Switzerland. The voyage had a lasting impact on the thirteen-year-old Felix, who observed nature and the Alpine way of life with heightened senses. In the Trio section of the Scherzo movement of the Symphony, for example, one finds sounds resembling yodel-calls. The work, as a whole, remains refreshingly unique, combining an extraordinary melange of technical and stylistic

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elements revived by Mendelssohn from noteworthy examples left by the great composers that came before him, as well as declaring the singularity of his own musical language. Even though almost all of Mendelssohn’s early works carry the mark and influence of Bach and Mozart (despite emboldening declarations of his own artistic voice!), it is impossible to neglect the romantic sound poetry (particularly evident in the slow of movement of the Symphony) that would come to define the music of Mendelssohn’s later years. Most striking in this regard is the Scherzo movement (well on its way to the Mid-Summer Night’s Dream music), in which the elf-like, weightless Scherzo theme is superseded the wonderful contrast of a simple Swiss melody – making it hard to believe that all this is the work of a thirteen-year-old (!)

AriosoJohann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750)

Johann Sebastian Bach was an extraordinarily prolific composer. As Christoph Wolff illustrates in his comprehensive biography, Bach: The Learned Musician, it is known from performance records and surviving receipts from the purchase and delivery of manuscript paper to the composer that the extant works of Bach do not amount to even half of what he actually wrote and performed (it is well-known, for instance that he wrote Passions for all four gospels; the St. John and St. Matthew survive completely, the St. Mark only in fragments, and the St. Luke is documented only in written records of its performance).

In order to meet demanding performance deadlines, it was necessary, as it was common practice, for such prolific composers to recycle melodies and even take entire parts from other works to place in new settings (for instance, Beethoven’s melody that opens the last movement of his “Eroica” Symphony was used by him on at least two other occasions). What has become known as Bach’s Arioso, appears in at least two works: Cantata No. 156, and as the slow movement from the Keyboard Concerto in F minor (BWV 1056). According to Bach scholar Joshua Rifkin, “the evidence indicates

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that the Sinfonia to Cantata BWV 156 and the slow movement of the F Minor Harpsichord Concerto BWV 1056 both derive from the slow movement of a lost oboe concerto in D minor; this seems to be the piece whose outer movements survive as the two instrumental movements of Cantata BWV 35, and that Bach intended to use as another harpsichord concerto (BWV 1059, abandoned after eight measures or so).”

As most of Bach’s works involving orchestra are for solo voice or instrument with accompaniment, he understandably wrote little music for string orchestra alone. The works for strings only that do survive, the Third Brandenburg Concerto and the Air from the Orchestral Suite No. 3 (unfortunately re-named Air “on a G-string” in the 19th Century by a violinist who changed the key of the work so he could play the melody on one string in recital) display rich and beautiful idiomatic writing (Bach, after all, was a supremely accomplished violinist in addition to his prowess as a keyboard player and composer).The Arioso by nature lends itself to the string orchestra, with its beautiful mellifluous melody. Because of its elegance and touching simplicity, the Arioso is often performed in various guises and in “cross-over” settings including wedding processionals, in an arrangement for cello and piano by the cellist Julian Lloyd Webber, and used in several films, including The Diaries of Vaslav Nijinsky (2001), Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), A New Life (1988), Portrait of a Lady (1996), The Well (1997), and Slaughterhouse Five (1972). The arrangement performed this evening was created many years ago by William Smith, long-time Associate Conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra.

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Concert Fantasy for Violin andOrchestra Op. 25

after Georges Bizet’s Opera CarmenPablo de Sarasate (1844 - 1908)

Pablo de Sarasate (born Pablo Martin Méliton de Sarasate y Navascuez) lived from 1844 to 1908. He was a phenomenal violin prodigy (performing at the Spanish court at the age of twelve!) whose virtuosity brought him the reputation of being the new Paganini. Sarasate was famous for his pure intonation, fabulous technique, and an intriguing - almost magical – tone. As romantic legend has it, he received a 1724 Stradivari violin as a gift from Queen Isabella, when, in fact, Sarasate bought this instrument himself in 1866; this is the kind of legend that the violinist would seek to create around his persona all throughout his life. He enjoyed an international career that took him on concert tours all across Europe and far beyond its borders into the Orient, as well as to North and South America. In addition to settling on Paris as his centre of activities, Sarasate made the acquaintance of such composers as Bizet, Lalo and Saint-Saëns, who also wrote pieces with him in mind. (Among the works written for him are Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole and Saint-Saëns’ Rondo Capriccioso, as well as the three violin concertos.)

Sarasate also composed, especially writing virtuoso salon music and fantasies on opera themes for his own performance. His Carmen Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra Op. 25 (published in Leipzig) was written in 1881. Though the showpieces he composed often contained detectible influences from his native Spain (which can also be found in the music of the abovementioned composers), Sarasate cannot be regarded merely as a composer or arranger of Spanish folk music. His music reflects many different European influences to which his Carmen Fantasy beautifully attests.

As the themes of Bizet’s opera remain popular to this day, there remains little for this writer to say about the music other than to underscore, once again, the passionate writing and elegant virtuosity of the work in question. It should be mentioned, however, that in this concert the Fantasy will be performed in an arrangement for violin and string orchestra. This arrangement, made by the Swiss composer Caspar Diethelm (1926-1997) to whom the Festival Strings Lucerne is indebted, retains the original form of the violin part with changes applied only to the instrumentation of the accompaniment.

Rudolf Bossard

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Eine kleine Nachtmusik, K. 525Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 -1791)

Of the world’s most instantly recognizable music in the classical genre Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik reserves its place among the top few pieces to be named. Musical perfection in itself, the work follows his intentionally bad Ein Musikalischer Spaß (A Musical Joke, K.522), and is the result of the same creative year that produced the opera Don Giovanni, K. 527.

Originally composed of five movements (of which the first of two minuets has not survived and was, very possibly, excised by the composer), the work was conceived to fit a common formal scheme of the time: fast movement, first minuet, slower movement, second minuet, fast movement – thus, constituting a Serenade. (And indeed the Italian word “serenata” finds its translation into German as “Nachtmusik” – night music).

For Mozart the two terms, Serenata and Nachtmusik, were interchangeable, as were certain tempo markings in his music, subject to the context and his mood at the time. (Presto, Allegro vivace, Allegro molto in Mozart’s orchestral music are not terms that correspond with metronome markings.) His previous Serenades, written for winds or orchestras of winds and strings, at times carried descriptions in their titles (i.e. the Haffner Serenade and the Posthorn Serenade), and were all works of several movements. Eine kleine Nachtmusik is Mozart’s only work for strings alone that one would describe as a Serenade and contains only four movements (his Divertimenti for strings are of three movements, shorter in duration and less sophisticated than Eine kleine Nachtmusik).

The structure of the first movement, Allegro, is that of a standard Classical symphony: Exposition (the announcement and presentation of a first theme and then a second theme - the latter usually more lyrical in nature - that are connected with “bridging” material and repeated before commencing the next section); Development (the reworking and transformation of thematic material); Recapitulation (restatement of the principal themes in their original form); and Coda (a “wrapping-up,” usually signified by a particular chord change to bring the movement to a close).

In the first movement, Allegro, Mozart utilizes a very simple chord progression of tonic-dominant-tonic with the first theme comprised of a fanfare-like

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spelling out of the notes of those chords in arpeggios. The gentler second theme is also formed by the descending notes of the dominant chord, but in a more “aria-like” manner, and the brief development is built on the “bird-like” motif of the second half of the second theme. The listener is ushered quickly to the recapitulation by an ascending statement played by the orchestra in unison, and the coda that brings the movement to a close is an elaboration of the opening theme.

The second movement, Romanza (marked Andante), takes us to the true and original nature of the serenade. As if sung from under a lover’s balcony, the movement is in A-B-A form, with the B section in a minor key (in which the music becomes much more agitated). The short repeated statements that comprise the A section foreshadow techniques evident in Schubert’s Lieder, only this material remains a “song without words.” The agitation of the B section relaxes and returns us magically to the opening material. In the second A section, an emotional culmination is reached with a series of somewhat demanding chords. But this too is quieted in the most loving way and the movement fades to a close with a resolution of the opening material.

The Minuet was a staple of Louis XIV’s court dances, and spread throughout Europe into every high society ball of the 18th and the early-19th centuries; engulfing Germany, the Minuet was also incorporated into symphonic form, where Haydn and Mozart both utilized it in symphonies of four movements (most commonly using it directly preceding the typically faster final movement). In this third movement, a robust initial theme gives way to a contrasting and utterly charming Trio. Per common practice, the opening material is then repeated.

The fourth movement, Rondo (Allegro), is made up of a recurring theme and accompanying material. Contributing to the work’s organic composition, the opening of the last movement recalls the initial fanfare material of the first movement. Here, though, instead of having a bold character, the spelling out of the G-Major chord is truncated and played much more delicately and gaily. This theme appears in a number of keys - G Major, D Major, and, finally, in an unexpected E-flat Major - each time blossoming into four bars of wildly contrasting syncopation. Just prior to the coda, the listener is “shocked” by the appearance of the initial cell of the Rondo theme’s landing on the “wrong” note of G-sharp (instead of the expected G-natural), catapulting one into the foreign key of A-Major. In one of the most wonderful modulations in all of music,

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Mozart displays his incredible mastery with only a few strokes of the pen and in a span of only six measures leads us back to the home key and toward a glorious finale. With one last statement of the Rondo theme - this time in canon with the violas, then the celli - the music comes to its logical and perfect conclusion.

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Special Benefit Concert Mariam Nazarian, Producer Angelika Baehr, A-B Culture Management, Stuttgart natashadschommer.com,Poster & Program Design Taft & Partners,PR, Print Supervision Jamie Watson,Stage Manager Festival Strings Lucerne Achim Fiedler, Artistic Director Roland Ott, Managing Director Princeton University Chapel Liz Powers, Chapel Administrator Penna Rose, Director of Chapel Music Princeton University Art Museum Rebecca E. Sender, Acting Director Caroline Harris, Curator of Education and Academic Programming Christine Liggio, Manager of Marketing and Public Relations Louise Kiefer, Museum Assistant Princeton University Preparatory Program Jason R. Klugman, Ph.D., Director Torey T. Wilson, Associate Director Michael D. Hannon, Counselor

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SPECIAL THANKS TO WILLIAM AND JUDITH SCHEIDE FOR GENEROUSLY

UNDERWRITING THIS BENEFIT CONCERT

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Presented by the Princeton University Art Museum in collaboration with the Princeton University

Preparatory Program and William & Judith Scheide