Antonín Dvořák, 1841-1904
Czech Suite, premiered May 16, 1879
Duration: 22 minutes

Antonín Dvořák was born near Prague as the eldest son of a butcher and it was expected he would continue in the family business. However, he was always interested in music and, at age 16, persuaded his father to enroll him in a conservatory. This led to jobs which barely sustained him. He always wrote music, though, and eventually was recognized as a skilled composer. Brahms heard some of his early works and was most encouraging, even finding him a publisher.

During the 19^th century, musical nationalism became prominent, with composers like Liszt, Brahms, and Smetana incorporating the folk styles and traditions of their homelands into classical forms. Dvořák wrote a piano piece, Slavonic Dances, which, when transcribed for orchestra, became an immediate success.

The Czech Suite, written in the late 1870s, is a collection of Czech/Bohemian themes in five sections which flow into one another. The first, Preludio, is elegiac, conjuring up fields and the countryside, including bird songs. The next two sections, Polka and Sousedaka, contrast in nature with the first in duple meter (as in a polka) and the next in triple meter (as in a minuet). In the fourth, Romanza, he employs winds and the occasional brass, leading to a return to the rural aura. Furiant is the final section, when the brass and timpani join in a raucous duple to triple meter flight of rhythm and intensity. The piece is a lovely capture of the sounds and character of Bohemia.

As Norman Lloyd writes, “Like Schubert, he tends to weave back and forth between major and minor keys. His music is seldom complicated in rhythm or texture, being primarily songlike.” Along with this lyrical quality, he brings a vivid sense of national identity to his work—capturing the essence of the Czech spirit with clarity and warmth.

Program notes by Andrew Good
 

Pablo de Sarasate, 1844-1908
Zigeunerweisen (Gypsy Airs), premiered January 3, 1878
Duration: 8 minutes

Pablo de Sarasate was one of the most famous violin virtuosos of his era. His talent was discovered early, around five years old, and he was performing publicly by the age of eight. At age twelve, his life took a tragic turn when his mother died taking him to Paris to enroll him in the Paris Conservatoire. He was accepted as a student and a member of the faculty took him in.

Sarasate composed many works using themes from other composers. Melodies from operas seemed to be favorites. His Carmen Fantasy is one of his most often performed pieces. He was a teacher but, most of all, a virtuoso, astounding his audiences with his technical skills and measured tone. George Bernard Shaw wrote, “though there were many composers of music for the violin, there were but few composers of violin music.”

Zigeunerweisen draws inspiration from music associated with Romani traditions, though its themes are primarily derived from Hungarian folk melodies. One such melody in the final section is the same as in Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody #13, written some thirty years earlier. Nonetheless, the mood is one of wild and exotic passion.

The work immediately begins with virtuoso playing followed by the orchestral entrance. A solo passage in a minor key follows this, setting a mournful mood. The orchestra then changes the tone with music which is very romantic. This leads to a fiery final section where the entire violin is employed to show off the skills of the performer. There is the use of spiccato, where the bow bounces off the strings in an up-bow motion, playing one note at a time, and ricochet bowing, a down-bowing technique which is faster and allows for multiple notes to be played. Coupled with left-hand pizzicato, the soloist has a vast number of techniques to make the instrument sing and dance. It’s no wonder audiences were awed by Sarasate’s passionate and skillful playing of his “Gypsy Airs.”

Program notes by Andrew Good

Ludwig van Beethoven, 1770-1827
Symphony No. 6, "Pastoral", premiered December 22, 1808
Duration: 40 minutes

Many listeners today may associate the music of Beethoven’s 6^th Symphony with Walt Disney’s Fantasia, which vividly captured the symphony’s pastoral spirit with images of nymphs, satyrs, and gods frolicking among the clouds. And yet, the music is so programmatic that similar images will probably be envisioned by those who have never seen the Disney movie. Beethoven composed this symphony from 1802 to 1808 and premiered it at the same concert with his groundbreaking 5th Symphony.

The composer said that he wished the listener would “feel” the journey into the countryside for he loved being outside the confines of the city. In a letter, he wrote, “How delighted I shall be to ramble for a while through bushes, woods, under trees, over grass, and rocks. No one can love the country as much as I do.” He hoped the torment of his worsening deafness would be tempered in the country.

Beethoven named the symphony Pastoral Symphony or Recollections of Country Life. There is no mistaking its programmatic intent. Each of its five movements has a title, capturing the feelings of the music. The first movement, Awakening of Happy Feelings on Arriving in the Country offers a series of serene themes which create a calming mood. Musically, there is richness but little agitation. 

The second movement is titled Scene by a Brook and the bubbling flow of a meandering stream is easily recognized. In a cadenza, he even identifies the birds he is imitating: the nightingale played by a flute, a quail in the oboe, and a cuckoo is mimicked by two clarinets.

The next three movements are played without a break, creating a miniature work. Joyful Gathering of the Country Folk is a jolly collection of dance rhythms which grows more and more intense. Then, there is an ominous note as an impending storm appears. Fittingly, this section is titled Thunder Storm and Beethoven uses trumpets for the first time in the symphony to convey the force of the lightning and the timpani to mimic thunder. 

Fortunately, this is a summer storm, soon to pass, revealing a sense of relief and peace in its wake. Shepherd’s Song: Happy and Thankful Feeling after the Storm is Beethoven’s title for the finale. Its main theme is broad and majestic, and increases in intensity as the movement progresses. The ending closes the symphony in a calm, resolved manner. It’s easy to imagine Pegasus flying to the nest and folding his wings in sleep.

Program notes by Andrew Good