Ludwig Van Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3 In C Minor

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Program Notes By Mark Eliot JacobsLudwig van BeethovenPiano Concerto No. 3 in C minor (1799–1803)Instrumentation: solo piano with two each of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns, and trumpets, with timpani and stringsDuration: about 34 minutesBeethoven moved from Bonn to Vienna in 1792 in part to studywith the great Franz Joseph Haydn. The young Beethoven learnedmuch about the craft of composition from Haydn, but his experiencewith the music of Mozart was truly inspirational to him. It was fromMozart that he learned the most about melody and phrasing, the living breath of classical composition. Mozart’s brooding C minor pianoconcerto K. 491, completed in 1786, is a completely classical workin every way, but it nevertheless points the way to something new inmusic. Beethoven found inspiration in K. 491 for continuing this newway of music. It is not overstating things to conclude that the Mozart26 Rogue Valley Symphony www.rvsymphony.org

C minor concerto helped to seed the development of the romanticera of composition before it even began with the music of Beethoven.The Beethoven C minor concerto shows a definite relationship inmelody and phrasing to its Mozartian C minor predecessor. The twocompositions draw breath from the same atmosphere.Beethoven’s third piano concerto is the only one of his piano concertos in minor key. C minor was the key of much of Beethoven’smost important works: the Fifth Symphony and the Pathétique pianosonata among others. Beethoven was the soloist at the premiere in Vienna in 1803. His page turner for the occasion, Ignaz Xaver von Seyfried, later reported that the pages of the manuscript were completely empty expect for some idiosyncratic scrawls that only Beethovencould comprehend. It was the first concerto in the genre to espousesymphonic dimensions. This was made possible in part by advancesin piano construction. The new instruments could be played louderand softer, making them a fitting partner to the growing symphonicorchestra. This concerto marked the beginning of the move from thesalon to the concert hall.Hector BerliozEpisode in the Life of an Artist,Symphonie fantastique (1830)Original instrumentation: 2 flutes (second doubling piccolo), 2 oboes (second doubling English horn), 2 clarinets (first doubling E-flat clarinet), 4bassoons, 4 horns, 2 cornets, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, 2 ophicleides,timpani, bass drum, snare drum, cymbals, bells (or “one or more pianos”), 2 harps, and strings.Duration: about 52 minutesOne of the major features of this remarkable first symphony is theuse of an idée fixe or theme to represent the artist’s unattainablelove for one of several women. One might think of the symphony as amovie before the invention of movies. The program of the work progresses through five scenes outlined in the composer’s own words below.Hector Berlioz (1803–1869) was a serious but not somber artist.He personally identified with characters in then-contemporary romantic fiction and poetry. One work that particularly resonated withhim was the idyllic romance Estelle at Nemorin (1788) by Jean Florian.Berlioz found it in his father’s library and “secretly read and re-read itTickets 541-708-6400 Rogue Valley Symphony 27

hundreds of times.” (From Berlioz’s Memoires published posthumously in 1870.)Berlioz fell in love at first sight on several occasions. One of thefirst was at age twelve while visiting his grandfather with his familyin the French countryside. The object of this early affection was theeighteen-year old niece of a neighbor, one Estelle Duboeuf. The youngwoman having the same name as the heroine of his favorite book wasnot lost on the young Berlioz. Again, from the Memoirs: “The momentI beheld her, I was conscious of an electric shock: I loved her. Fromthen on I lived in a daze. I hoped for nothing, I knew nothing, yetmy heart felt weighed down by an immense sadness.” The affair, suchas it was, was brief, but at age 30 the composer attempted to see heragain, believing that he was still in love with her. His persistence didnot bear fruit until 1864, when, at age 60, he did have a romanticreunion with Estelle who sustained him in his final days up to hisdeath in 1869.In September of 1827, Berlioz attended an English language performance of Shakespeare’s Hamlet in Paris. He fell hopelessly in lovewith the actor portraying Ophelia, Harriet Smithson. It is telling tonote that Berlioz didn’t speak a word of English at the time. Berliozsent her several love letters, all of which went unanswered.His unrequited love first for Estelle and then for Harriet inspiredBerlioz to complete the Symphonie fantastique in 1830. The work wasrevised in 1845 and again in 1855. Some of the melodic material (including the famous idée fixe) was taken from material he created whileinfatuated with Estelle. Undoubtedly, his major inspiration with hiscurrent unrequited love for Harriet. The work was premiered in 1830with Harriet not in attendance. When she eventually heard the work28 Rogue Valley Symphony www.rvsymphony.org

and recognized the composer’s genius, she became open to his advances. Berlioz eventually marriedHarriet in 1833, but their marriageended in bitter separation after ashort time of unhappiness.Following are Berlioz’s own program notes published in the 1845edition of the score.Note. The composer’s intentionhas been to develop, insofar asthey contain musical possibilities, various situations in thelife of an artist. The outline ofthe instrumental drama, whichlacks the help of words, needs to be explained in advance. Thefollowing program should thus be considered as the spokentext of an opera, serving to introduce the musical movements,whose character and expression it motivates. The distributionof this program to the audience, at concerts where this symphony is to be performed, is indispensable for a complete understanding of the dramatic outline of the work.Part One. Rêveries, Passions. (Dreams—Passions) The author imagines that a young musician, afflicted with that moraldisease that a well-known writer calls the vague des passions,sees for the first time a woman who embodies all the charmsof the ideal being he has imagined in his dreams, and he fallsdesperately in love with her. Through an odd whim, wheneverthe beloved image appears before the mind’s eye of the artist,it is linked with a musical thought whose character, passionatebut at the same time noble and shy, he finds similar to the onehe attributes to his beloved.This melodic image and the model it reflects pursue himincessantly like a double idée fixe. That is the reason for theconstant appearance, in every movement of the symphony,of the melody that begins the first Allegro. The passage fromthis state of melancholy reverie, interrupted by a few fits ofgroundless joy, to one of frenzied passion, with its gestures offury, of jealousy, its return of tenderness, its tears, its religiousTickets 541-708- 6400 Rogue Valley Symphony 29

consolations—this is the subject of the first movement.Part Two. Un bal. (A Ball) The artist finds himself in themost varied situations—in the midst of the tumult of a party,in the peaceful contemplation of the beauties of nature; buteverywhere, in town, in the country, the beloved image appears before him and disturbs his peace of mind.Part Three. Scène aux champs. (A Scene in the Country)Finding himself one evening in the country, he hears in thedistance two shepherds piping a ranz des vaches in dialogue. [Aranz des vaches is a simple signaling melody used to communicate at a distance. It is traditionally played on alphorns, butin the symphony on oboe and English horn.] This pastoralduet, the scenery, the quiet rustling of the trees gently brushedby the wind, the hopes he has recently found some reason toentertain—all concur in affording his heart an unaccustomedcalm and in giving a more cheerful color to his ideas. He reflects upon his isolation; he hopes that his loneliness will soonbe over. —But what if she were deceiving him! —This mingling of hope and fear, these ideas of happiness disturbed by30 Rogue Valley Symphony www.rvsymphony.org

black presentiments, form the subject of the Adagio. At theend, one of the shepherds again takes up the ranz des vaches; the other no longer replies. —Distant sound of thunder—loneliness—silence.Part Four. Marche au supplice. (March to the Scaffold) Convinced that his love is unappreciated, the artist poisons himself with opium. The dose of the narcotic, too weak to killhim, plunges him into a sleep accompanied by the most horrible visions. He dreams that he has killed his beloved, that heis condemned and led to the scaffold and that he is witnessing his own execution. The procession moves forward to thesounds of a march that is now somber and fierce, now brilliantand solemn, in which the muffled noise of heavy steps givesway without transition to the noisiest clamor. At the end ofthe march the first four measures of the idée fixe reappear, likea last thought of love interrupted by the fatal blow.Part Five. Songe d’une nuit du sabbat (Night of the Witches’ Sabbath.) He sees himself at the sabbath, in the midst ofa frightful troop of ghosts, sorcerers, monsters of every kind,come together for his funeral. Strange noises, groans, bursts oflaughter, distant cries which other cries seem to answer. Thebeloved melody appears again, but it has lost its character ofnobility and shyness; it is no more than a dance tune, mean,trivial, and grotesque: it is she, coming to join the sabbath. —Aroar of joy at her arrival. —She takes part in the devilish orgy.—Funeral knell, burlesque parody of the Dies irae [a part of therequiem mass describing the end of the world], sabbath rounddance. The sabbath round and the Dies irae are combined.A brief word about instrumentation is called for. Berlioz originallyincluded two ophicleides in his score. This very French predecessor ofthe tuba was the bass voice of the brass in French orchestras from themid-19th through the early 20th century. Some even made their wayto military bands in the American Civil War. The name comes fromthe Greek words “ophis” (serpent) and “cleide” (keyed), clearly a bitof marketing to show that the new instrument is an improvementon the 17th century serpent. It is a keyed brass instrument, playedwith a mouthpiece like that of the bass trombone. The ophicleide’sinventor, Halary (AKA Jean Hilaire Asté) was granted a patent for theinstrument in 1821, the first musical instrument to receive a patent.Tickets 541-708-6400 Rogue Valley Symphony 31

The ophicleide was modeled after the Kent Bugles seen and heardparading through the streets of Paris in British military bands uponWelligton’s victory at Waterloo a few years before in 1815. After theacceptance of valves, the ophicleide fell out of favor and was replacedby the tuba. Like the modern baritone saxophone (which is a directdescendent of the ophicleide) they are difficult and expensive to makewell. Tonight, the higher part will be played on an a 9-key ophicleidein C made in Paris around 1850. The lower part will be played on amodern tuba in F.In 1831 Berlioz composed a sequel to the Symphony fantastiqueentitled Lélio, ou Le retour à la vie (Lélio, or the return to Life). This toowas based on an unhappy love affair, this time with Marie Moke, whobroke off her engagement to the composer in order to marry someone else. The work alternates between spoken oratory and music forsymphony and voices. This staid 19th century format may partiallyaccount for the piece’s obscurity today.DiscoveryConcertMay 18, 2019 at 2:00 pmCraterian Theater at the Collier CenterI nstrument Petting Zoo precedesconcert at 1 pm. Children have ahands-on discovery experience withthe instruments of the orchestraFree admission – no ticket neededAppropriate for children aged 7 and upTickets 541-708-6400 Rogue Valley Symphony 33

Beethoven’s third piano concerto is the only one of his piano con- . gresses through five scenes outlined in the composer’s own words below. Hector Berlioz (1803–1869) was a serious but not somber artist. . black

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