   Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4 (Transfigured Night) – Arnold Schoenberg Born September 13, 1874 in Vienna, Austria Died July 13, 1951, in Los Angeles, California Schoenberg considered himself to be the heir of Brahms’s mantle as a progressive romanticist with solid ideological roots reaching back to Beethoven. As time passed, he embraced increasingly the progressive side of this role and began experimenting with a systematic approach to composition. His ultimate goal was to find an organic and totally natural method of composition in which deep subconscious emotions find expression. During the early 1920s, Schoenberg developed the twelve-tone system in which strict mathematical relationships dictated musical pitches. Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night) was composed in 1899 and is in the hyper-Romantic style that Schoenberg shared with Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss. Originally written for string sextet, the work receives more performances today in the composer’s alternate version for string orchestra from 1917. The work is based upon a dramatic poem by Richard Dehmel in which a woman tells her lover that she is pregnant with the child of another man. She never loved the father but went to him for physical fulfillment. Her present lover decides to accept the child as his own because of his deep love for her. Their love and the night are transfigured by this gesture of redemption. Schoenberg’s music traces the development of the story through a long modulation from the bleakness of the key of D minor to the bright hopefulness of D major. – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Born January 27, 1756 in Salzburg, Austria Died December 5, 1791 in Vienna, Austria During his nineteenth year (1775), Mozart composed the last four of his five violin concertos. Written for his own use at the court of the Prince Archbishop of Salzburg, these delightful works were soon performed on programs featuring other violinists, most notably Antonio Brunetti, who succeeded Mozart as concertmaster. The concerti have never left the repertoire in the almost 230 years since their composition, although the final three are the most popular. The Fourth Concerto is energetic and engaging. Cast in the usual sonata form, the first movement features fanfare-like dotted rhythms that weave throughout its traditional exposition, development, and recapitulation. The lyrical second theme is the perfect foil to the earlier martial music. The crystalline beauty of the Andante cantabile allows the soloist to showcase the violin’s rich and warm sound. Its songlike melody is a captivating example of Mozart’s lovely slow tempo writing. The final rondo is built upon a rollicking dance tune that regularly returns to punctuate the rondo form. However, Mozart throws an innovative wrench into the works when he provides a jolly potpourri of abrupt tempo changes. – Franz Schubert Born January 31, 1797 in Vienna Died November 19, 1828 in Vienna Schubert’s Sixth Symphony dates from his twentieth year. The young composer, who already had many works to his credit, had recently discovered the music of the Italian opera composer Gioacchino Rossini. This symphony is his attempt to write in that style. The first movement, after a slow introduction, is a brisk and festive allegro vivace consisting of three themes (instead of the usual two). Schubert’s andante second movement, based on an Austrian folk melody, is almost Mozartean in its simplicity and directness. Despite moments of bottled intensity in the middle section, the overall mood is that of sunny opulence. The bustling scherzo is filled with delightful dynamic contrasts, including a trio section that calls for a more relaxed tempo. Schubert’s elegant finale takes the listener on an excursion through several themes and moods. He even includes a long Rossini crescendo in homage to the Italian master. www.orpheusnotes.com |
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