May 12, 2011
The Season Closes Under the Influence of Haydn
La Jolla, Calif. (May 12, 2011) — The La Jolla Symphony " Chorus (LJS"C) concludes the 2010-2011 season the weekend of June 4-5 in a program that explores the music of Haydn and the meaning of classicism. Choral director David Chase conducts chorus, orchestra and four soloists in Haydn’s last major work, Harmoniemesse, and assistant orchestra conductor Nicholas Deyoe leads the orchestra in Brahms’ Variations on a Theme by Haydn and Shostakovich’s First Symphony. Soloists in the Harmoniemesse are soprano Cindy Choi (2010 Young Artists Winner), mezzo-soprano Katherine Lundeen, tenor Richard Geiler, and bass David Marshman.
Franz Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) is known as the father of the symphony. In his long career, this extraordinarily prolific and influential composer created the musical structure that became the symphonic model.
“Haydn virtually invented what we call the symphony, both the musical form and the aggregation of musicians who play it,” says Maestro Chase. “He also brought the brilliant style of Handel’s choral writing into a new era with works like Creation and The Seasons, and of course, his symphonic masses.”
Haydn spent many years working in relative obscurity as court composer for the Esterhazy family in a small town outside of Vienna. In the 1790s, the aging composer made two extended visits to London where he was amazed to discover that he was famous: his music was well known, his concerts attracted cheering crowds, and he was feted by audiences and royalty alike. Haydn returned to his duties at the palace of Esterhaza at the request of Prince Nikolaus II. The new prince had only one requirement for his court composer: he was to write one mass per year on the name-day celebration of the princess. The Missa Solemnis in B-flat Major, or Harmoniemesse as it came to be called, was the last of the six masses Haydn composed during this period. It is distinguished from his other masses in that it makes unusually prominent use of the orchestra wind section. This is music of bright spirits, strength and grandeur, and it is sometimes surprisingly dramatic in its setting of the mass text.
Johannes Brahms’ (1833–1897) Variations on a Theme by Haydn, Opus 56a, was composed in the summer of 1873 and performed that same year by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under Brahms’ baton. It was an immediate success. The work includes a number of instruments that Brahms rarely employed, including piccolo, contrabassoon, and triangle, but omits trombones and tuba. The result is a bright, clear sound that rings through the concert hall. Each variation has a distinctive character, calling to mind the forms and techniques of earlier eras, with some displaying a mastery of counterpoint seldom encountered in Romantic music. The finale is ingenious and impressive music, building to a brilliant close full of swirling runs and one final, powerful restatement of the original theme.
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975) achieved fame in the Soviet Union but had a complex and difficult relationship with the Stalinist bureaucracy. His music was officially denounced twice and was periodically banned. Nevertheless, he received accolades and state awards, and his works were popular and well received. Symphony No. 1 in F Minor, Opus 10, was written as a requirement for graduation from the Leningrad Conservatory, and was completed by the composer at the age of 19. The First Symphony was premiered in 1926 in St. Petersburg, and it went around the world like a shot. Almost overnight, Shostakovich became a household name and the symphony is still considered one of his finest works.
Performances take place June 4-5, 2011 in Mandeville Auditorium at UCSD. Concert times are Saturday at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday at 3:00 p.m. Tickets are $29 general, $26 senior, and $15 student. A pre-concert lecture is offered one hour prior to concert times. Parking is free on weekends. For tickets call 858-534-4637.
The La Jolla Symphony & Chorus, San Diego’s oldest and largest community orchestra and chorus, is a non-profit musical performing group dedicated to inspiring San Diego with the joy of music. Its 110-person orchestra and 130-person chorus perform groundbreaking orchestral and choral music along with traditional favorites from the classical repertoire. During this 56th season, themed Face the Music: Experiences for the Ears and the Eyes, Music Director Steven Schick shares the podium with David Chase, performing works by Bernstein, Mahler, Beethoven, Debussy, Bartók, Xenakis, Kline, and more.
