Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868)
Overture to Il Barbiere di Siviglia
Gioacchino Rossini's reputation as the leading figure in Italian opera (a place he held until the time of Verdi) was established at a breakneck pace during the years 1813-1826. He sometimes composed and supervised the music for four or five productions in one year. That the composer recycled some of his best material in succeeding compositions comes as no surprise when one considers the amount of material that his contracts required. The overture that became attached to his most popular opera Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) was also used to raise the curtain for two or three of his earlier operas. While this overture is not thematically connected to the music of Il barbiere, it does energetically introduce the comic thrust of this opera buffa.
This piece follows the structure of the typical Rossini overture: slow introduction; quick main section with two themes repeated; concluding cadences. Following each statement of the lyrical second theme listen for the famous "Rossini crescendo." Not just an increase in volume, this crescendo includes a build-up of orchestral forces, upward movement of pitch, increase in articulation, and increasingly rapid rhythmic patterns.
Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)
In quelle trine morbide from Manon Lescaut
By far the most prolific and popular Italian opera composer after Verdi, Giacomo Puccini can be credited with at least ten of his works securing a permanent place in the repertoire. It is from two of those popular works that we hear this evening's portrayals of two of the three very different women in signature arias from operas that bear their names. Manon Lescaut , based on Prévost's novel, was the composer's first major success. The opera was first performed in Turin in February, 1893, and traces the fate of Manon, a girl of eighteen, from her meeting the love of her life, Chevalier des Grieux, a poor student; her tiring of living in poverty and yielding to the luxury provided by Geronte, a rich government official; and finally, the banishment of Manon and des Grieux to the French territory of Louisiana. With the aria “In quelle trine morbide”(In those soft silken curtains in that gilded alcove) Manon sings mournfully about the iciness and chill of her luxurious surroundings that Geronte provides and wistfully of the love and happiness she left behind in the humble dwelling she formerly shared with des Grieux.
Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)
Vissi d'arte from Tosca
Tosca, premiered in 1900, takes place one hundred years earlier in Rome under a repressive regime, made more ruthless due to Napoleonic advances in the north. Tosca, a famous opera singer in love with the painter Mario Cavaradossi, is also coveted by the nefarious Scarpia, the Roman chief of police. Scarpia has delivered an ultimatum to Tosca: either she give in to his passion, or Mario will be executed. In anguish, Tosca prays: “Vissi d'Arte:” I lived for art, I lived for love, I‘ve always lived to help others–a devout life. In this hour of tribulation, why, O Lord, have you rewarded me so?
Alfredo Catalani (1854-1893)
Ebben? Ne andrò lontana from La Wally
Lucca was not only the home city of the Puccini family, but also that of Alfredo Catalani who for all of his short life felt himself to be in the shadow of Puccini and his burgeoning successes. It was Catalani however that gave a 19-year-old cellist, one Arturo Toscanini, the opportunity for a professional Italian conducting debut, that of Catalani's fourth opera, Edmea. A loyal friendship ensued, and Toscanini tirelessly attempted to interest the public in Catalani's works – he even named two of his children (Walter and Wally) after characters in the opera La Wally. In the fall of 1892, Toscanini led a performance of La Wally , the composer's last opera, in his hometown, and a year and half later, the conductor was one of the few at the Catalani's bedside when he died. The opera takes place in a bleak Alpine village. Wally loves the huntsman, Hagenbach, but has been promised by her father to his steward, Gellner. She asks Gellner to give her up as she refuses to be wed to someone she doesn't love, but he will not. Wally's father declares that if she doesn't change her mind by nightfall, she must leave home. In Ebben? Ne andrò lotana (Well, I'll go far away), she sings: I'll float into the distance like the sad echo of a bell at nightfall, ‘mid the snowy vastness, where hope is lost forever. I must pass my days far from the home I love, I go alone abandoned, amid the clouds of gold.
Nikolai Rimsky Korsakov (1844-1908)
Capriccio Espagnol
Allegro Moderato
Andante
Menuetto
Allegro con Spirito
Moguchaya Kuchka , Russian for "The Mighty Little Heap" or better known in the West as “The Five,” was a group of 19 th century Russians led by Balakirev that was successful in establishing a Russian Nationalist school of composition. Except for the founder, the members were not professional musicians, at least in their initial training and aspiration. Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, a member of “The Five” and admired as an unrivaled master of orchestration, is best known today by most concert goers as the composer of the colorful works Scheherazade , Capriccio Espanole , and Russian Easter Festival . While the young Nikolay showed early talent for music, he initially pursued a naval career taking a commission in the Imperial Russian Navy. Back on shore after fulfilling a three-year round-the-world tour he became increasingly involved with music, resigning his naval commission in 1873. Despite limited theoretical training, he was offered, and accepted, a position teaching Practical Composition and Instrumentation at the St. Petersburg Conservatory where by studying furiously he managed to stay just ahead of his students. His compositional path was clearly influenced by the nationalistic works of Glinka, Russian folk music, orientalia, and anything else exotic. Glinka in particular had brought a taste for Spanish music to Russia following his travels in Spain. Rimsky-Korsakov's tribute to Spanish music, Capriccio Espanol, Op. 34, was meant to be a sequel to his Fantasy on Russian Themes , op. 33 for violin and orchestra. In writing the Capriccio, the composer changed his mind about the violin solo (saving that for his later work, Scheherazade ) and instead made it a brilliant showpiece for the entire orchestra—although solo violin is featured prominently. He conducted the premiere at a public concert in St. Petersburg in November, 1887. His memoir reports its success with orchestra and public alike.
The fifteen minute piece designated to be played without pause is organized around the Spanish dance Alborada or morning song, a serenade accompanied by pipe and tabor. The Alborada's first appearance is a larger-than-life serenade with full orchestra, plenty of percussion for the tabor, and solo clarinet playing the role of the pipe. The mood changes to variations on an Andalusian theme heard first on the horns, then in dialog with English horn. A flute cadenza leads us to the return of the Alborada with the addition of harp accompaniment and alternating solos of violin, flute, and clarinet. A brass fanfare announces Scena e canto Gitano (Scene and Gypsy Song). A series of cadenzas begins with violin and continues with flute, clarinet, oboe (with bassoons) and harp. This parade of tonal and rhythmic efforts leads directly into the concluding dance, Fandango asturiano. A final revisit to Alborada with ever increasing speed serves as the coda to this colorful and popular work.
Alexander Borodin (1833-1887)
Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor
“No musician has ever claimed immortality with so slender an offering. Yet if there be, indeed, immortalities in music, his claim is incontestable.” These comments by noted British musicologist Sir William Hadow about Alexander Borodin (the last to join “The Five”) reflect the amazing fact that, despite the composer's relatively short life and small amount of time spent with music, what he did write endures and is beloved by people the world over. His musical efforts were constantly eclipsed by his professional activities, as he was a research chemist and professor at the Medico-Surgical Academy Laboratory in St. Petersburg. Summer vacations and other spare moments were the only time he had for music. In a letter to his wife, his frustration is evident on the difficulty of balancing being “scientist, artist, government official, philanthropist, father of other people's children, doctor and invalid... You end by becoming only the last.” His first symphony took five years to complete, and only then with the aid of Balakirev who conducted it in 1869. That year the critic Vladimir Stassov left an outline of a story drawn from a historic 12 th century event – the campaign of a Russian Prince against nomadic invaders, the Polovtsi. Twenty-one years later the opera was finally performed, but by then Borodin had died and Rimsky-Korsakov and his student Glazunov were left to complete it. A portion of the Act II music including the Polovtsian Dances had been written and performed earlier in the 1870s.
The Polovtsian Dances, No. 17 is the orchestral arrangement of the climatic ballet and full chorus scene that brings the entertainment and Act II of the opera to a close. The setting is the Polovtsian encampment where the Russian Prince Igor and his son are held captive. Rather than slaughter his royal captives, the Polovtsian leader, Khan Konchak, commands the warriors to put on a lavish entertainment for them. Fascinated by the “Oriental” sounds coming from Eastern lands, Borodin makes use of melodic melismas and augmented 2nds, chromatic passing notes, along with double-reed wind solos, tambourine and other percussion instruments and indeed all the brilliance and splendor that he can muster to depict the music of the Polovtsians.
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