Program Notes

Mendelssohn overture to Ruy Blas

This is a lovely overture written pretty hastily and on a bit of a dare. Nonetheless, a successful endeavour.

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Here is a letter below written by Mendelssohn to his mother about recent news in his life:

You want to know how it went with my overture for Ruy Blas? Funny story... Six to eight weeks ago, a request came to me from the Theater Pension Fund (a really good and charitable institution here that was producing a benefit performance of Ruy Blas) to write an overture and a song to be included in the play, because they expected they would see better sales if my name was advertised above the title. I read the play, which was so absolutely ghastly and beyond contempt that you wouldn’t even believe it, and I decided that I didn’t have time to compose an overture and would only give them the song.

The performance was supposed to be Monday (eight days ago). On the previous Tuesday, the people came to me, thanked me profusely for the song, and said that it was too bad that I hadn’t written the overture. But they said they realize that one needs time to write a piece like that, and that next year they would try to give me more notice. That rankled me. I gave it some thought that evening and began my score. Wednesday was rehearsal all morning, Thursday a concert, but I still had the overture to the copyist early on Friday, rehearsed it Monday first three times in the concert hall, then once in the theater, and then that evening the infamous piece was performed, and it was all so much more fun than I’ve ever had writing one of my pieces. On the next concert, we performed it again by request; I didn’t call it the “Overture to Ruy Blas”, though, but the “Overture for the Theater Pension Fund”.

Grieg. Peer Gynt Suite

This is an endearing suite of music written inspired by Ibsen’s Peer Gynt.  We play three of the four selections: The well-known “morning piece” - as evocative a piece ever written to depict a beautiful Norwegian sunrise, Anitra’s dance (a bedouin princess who seductively performs for Gynt), and “In the hall of the mountain King. Here, Gynt meets a mountain troll and is chased through the caverns in a frenzy!

J. Strauss jr. Emperor Waltzes

The waltz was written to celebrate the friendship between Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria and Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany. It premiered in Berlin under Strauss's own direction. It starts with a Prussian march (to get Wilhelm in a happy place), followed by a cello solo as the dancers find their positions. What follows are some of Strauss’s most beloved and beautiful waltz melodies. 

Casadesus  Cello concerto

Henri Casadesus has the notable distinction of secretly writing beautiful music and attributing it to great composers, namely C.P.E. Bach, Mozart, and Handel. Casadesus, either lacking in confidence or perhaps thinking that there was more money to be made by attributing these pieces to great, deceased composers, has provided us with music with an unfortunate infamy surrounding it.  It’s a shame because the music is lovely! I suppose bad press is better than no press as his music endures and is performed regularly.

Haydn Cello Concerto

The concerto was written in the early 1760s for a friend (and likely a wonderful, inspiring cellist), Joseph Franz Weigl, then the principal cellist of Prince Nicolaus's Esterházy orchestra. The Music was lost for the better part of 200 years and was found in the early 1960s in the basement of the Prague National Library. It is a staple in the cello repertoire and has won the hearts of cellists and concertgoers with its unmistakable themes. 

Grieg Piano Concerto in A minor

This is Grieg's only concerto for the piano, and it was written during a happy time in his life. The composer was newly married with a young baby daughter recently born. Grieg and his young family were living in a cottage near Copenhagen where he composed this concerto.  Later he met Franz Liszt who played the concerto and suggested a few revisions but was highly enthusiastic about the work.  We hear the first movement today with it’s magnificent themes derived from Norwegian folk elements.

Beethoven piano concerto #2 in Bb

This concerto was written in 1787 for a performance in Prague.  Beethoven was a gifted and compelling piano soloist and the concerto was written for himself to perform to promote his name and talent in the Viennese musical community.  Tonight we hear the triumphant 1st movement. We can get an idea of the kind of pianist Beethoven was by the dazzling technique required to pull off a performance of this work. Harmonically, it’s a little daring.  The main themes are in Bb and Db. Not your standard musical journey in a composition and clearly a stretch away from the classical forms Beethoven sought to bend.