Beethoven's overture introduces the main characters and prepares the audience for the themes of the play: Egmont's strength of character, Klärchen's love for him, and the proclamation of victory of the Netherlanders.  The orchestral scoring is for piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, and strings.

Back to top

Beethoven's Triple Concerto for Piano, Violin, Cello, and Orchestra holds a unique place in the composer's output as well as in the rest of  music history.  Little is known of Beethoven's motivation for writing such a work, but the result is one of great beauty and ingeniousness.  The composer apparently began working on it in 1802, but put it aside when the concert that he was writing it for did not materialize.  He resumed composition of the work during the intensely productive time of Eroica and Fidelio, completing the concerto during the Summer of 1804.  It finally appeared in print in 1807, and received its first public performance in 1808.  The special challenges of writing a concerto for this instrumental combination fall into two main categories: challenges of form and those of balance.  The formal conventions of concerto writing require that the orchestra and each solo instrument take their turns stating each main theme.  With four entities, this could make the concerto cumbersome and inordinately long.  Beethoven worked this out by keeping his thematic material simple and most often giving the violin and cello their statements jointly.  The potential balance problem is that the piano, being the largest instrument, could overpower this ensemble and the cello, being the lowest in pitch, is in danger of not being heard.  Beethoven's solution gives the piano the lightest part and awards the cello the starring role, introducing new themes, and, for  most of the work, utilizing its powerful top register.

The work begins mysteriously with cellos and basses presenting the three themes of the orchestral exposition through an expansive crescendo.  Listen for fine chamber playing in the middle section as the orchestra remains in the back seat.  The slow movement is an eloquent Largo, presented simply without development, scored for muted strings with light comments from the winds. Although there is no actual break, the Largo movement ends with an expectant hesitation before spilling into the final movement, an elegant rondo in the form of a Polonaise.  Near the end, watch for the opportunities Beethoven gives each instrument to take solo bows.

Back to top

By 1884, Antonín Dvorák was an internationally celebrated composer, renowned not only for his smaller works, but, following the success of his Symphony in d minor, as a symphonist as well. Upon returning home from another fruitful trip to England, he realized one of his fondest dreams–a simple country home with a music room, surrounded by hills and forests.  It was at this quiet retreat in the fall of 1889 that he composed his most Czech symphony, the Symphony No. 8 in G Major.  The composer conducted the premiere in Prague on February 2, 1890.  It is sometimes known as the "English Symphony," not because of any subject matter, influence or dedication, but because of a quarrel with his German publisher Simrock.  Not interested in the composer's large-scale efforts because the publisher only anticipated significant profit from the smaller works, Simrock offered the composer a mere pittance for the symphony.  As a result, Dvorak broke his exclusive contract with Simrock and accepted a more appropriate offer from the English firm Novello. Dvorák was enormously popular in England and was granted an honorary doctorate by the University of Cambridge in June of 1891.  In place of presenting a thesis, he conducted performances of the G Major Symphony and his Stabat Mater at the ceremony.  The composer conducted another notable early performance of the symphony for Czech day at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.

Although sometimes overshadowed in popularity by the New World Symphony, this work, a walk through the Bohemian countryside,  represents the best of optimistic late 19th century symphonic writing.  The first movement begins with a solemn cello melody which makes way for the introduction of the main theme on the flute.  The second movement, full of contentment, gives us a picture of village life, complete with the sounds of birds–the village band even makes an appearance.  The third movement is not an energetic scherzo (or even the Czech Furiant) but a graceful waltz full of melodic charm.  The sudden change to the rustic dance of  the middle section and the coda driving to the end at double speed recall the beloved Czech dance, the Dumka.  A trumpet call introduces the fourth movement; variations on a stately march theme bring the symphony to a rousing conclusion.

Back to top

Program notes by Linda Mack. Copyright 1999.
Send me e-mail.