2014 Blossom Music Festival August 9

saturday August 9THE MAGIC OF MOZARTThe Cleveland OrchestraMatthew Halls, conductor

2O14BLOSSOMMUSIC FESTIVALS U M M E R H O M E O F

THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA

2 2014 Blossom Festival

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3Blossom Music Festival

Saturday evening, August 9, 2014, at 8:00 p.m.

2O14BLOSSOMMUSIC FESTIVAL

Program: August 9

T H E C L E V E L A N D O R C H E S T R A MATTHEW HALLS , conductor

WOLFGANG AMADÈ MOZART Overture to Idomeneo, K366(1756-1791)

PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY Suite No. 4 (“Mozartiana”) in G major(1840-1893) 1. Gigue 2. Minuet 3. Prayer 4. Theme and Variations

I N T E R M I S S I O N

MOZART Eine kleine Nachtmusik, K525[A Little Night Music] 1. Allegro

2. Romance: Andante 3. Menuetto: Allegretto 4. Rondo: Allegro

MOZART Symphony No. 36 (“Linz”) in C major, K425

1. Adagio — Allegro spiritoso 2. Andante 3. Menuetto 4. Presto

This concert is sponsored by Medical Mutual of Ohio, a Cleveland Orchestra Partner in Excellence.

Media Partner: The Plain Dealer

4 2014 Blossom FestivalConductor

Matthew HallsBritish conductor Matthew Halls became artistic director of the Oregon Bach Fes-tival in 2013. He fi rst came to prominence as a keyboard player and conductor of early music, but is now recognized for his work with major orchestras and opera companies around the world. He is making his Cleveland Orchestra debut with this evening’s concert. Mr. Halls’s recent and upcoming North American engagements — in reper-

toire ranging from Bach to Tippett — include appearances with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Houston Sympho-ny Orchestra, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Ottawa’s Na-tional Arts Centre Orchestra, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Aft er his July 2011 debut at the Ore gon Bach Festival, he was invited to succeed Helmuth Rilling as artistic director. In Europe and Australia, Matthew Halls has led per-formances of the BBC Scottish Symphony, Bergen Philhar-monic, Bremen Philharmonic, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Iceland Symphony, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Ire-land’s National Symphony Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Tonkünstler Orchestra, and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. In addition, he makes regular appear-

ances with the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra in Austria and on tour. On the opera podium, Mr. Halls has led performances with Colorado’s Cen-tral City Opera, Handelfestspiele Halle, and the Salzburg Landestheater. His oper-atic repertoire features Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical works, but also extends to later dramatic work, with a particular focus on Benjamin Britten. Matthew Halls’s associations with both the Bavarian State Opera and the Netherlands Opera have included productions of Bellini’s Norma, Britten’s Peter Grimes, and Verdi’s Luisa Miller. Earlier this year, he led Handel’s Ariodante at the Aalto-Musiktheater Essen. Mr. Halls’s discography includes Hyperion’s album of Handel’s Parnasso in Festa, which won the Stanley Sadie Handel Recording Prize. For Linn Records, he has recorded a set of four Bach harpsichord concertos conducted from the key-board and Bach’s Easter and Ascension oratorios, as well as award-winning albums of Purcell’s Sonatas in Th ree and Four Parts. Matthew Halls was educated at Oxford University and subsequently taught there for fi ve years. His commitment to education continues to include working with young musicians. He has held positions as artistic director of the King’s Con-sort and the Retrospect Ensemble, which he founded in 2009.

5The Cleveland Orchestra About the Music

M O Z A R T AT AG E 2 4 had long outgrown his hometown of Salzburg, where he lived under the shadow of his controlling father and worked for a troublesome archbishop. Just as his frustrations were reaching a boiling point, he received a wel-come invitation to compose an opera for the Munich court of Karl Th eodor, Elector of Bavaria. Mozart had encountered Th eodor’s musical retinue during a 1778 visit to Mannheim, where the young composer made a strong impression on the future ruler of Germany’s third largest state. Mozart began composing the opera Idomeneo in Salzburg, and he completed it in Munich in advance of the January 1781 premiere, which he conducted himself. Th e high-profi le commission proved to be just the boost Mozart needed; aft er Munich, he quit his Salzburg job and set out as a freelancer in Vienna. For Idomeneo, Mozart followed the template of Christoph Gluck, whose Greek-inspired tragedies for the Paris stage re-defi ned the scope of grand opera in the 1770s. Idomeneo was based on Idoménée, a 1712 French telling of a Greek legend, as rendered into Italian by librettist Giambattista Varesco. Th e story centers on Idomeneo, the king of Crete, who only survives his return voyage from the Trojan War thanks to intervention by the god Neptune. Idomeneo promises in return to sacrifi ce the fi rst living creature he sees, who turns out to be his son, Idamante. By the point of the closing ballet, Idamante has been spared, and Idomeneo turns his rule over to Idamante and his new bride, Ilia, a freed Trojan slave. Many of the musicians who fi rst performed Idomeneo were alumni of the legendary Mannheim orchestra, which Karl Th e-odor brought with him to Munich. Th e overture’s drawn-out crescendos and dramatic contrasts were just the type of gestures that had marked Mannheim as an orchestral powerhouse, and the prominent woodwind writing (including parts for clari-nets, still uncommon in Austrian orchestras) drew upon the world-class soloists in the Munich ensemble. Even though the opera never reached the stage again in his lifetime, Idomeneo succeeded in establishing Mozart as a formidable talent, in no small part thanks to the muscular orchestral writing.

—Aaron Grad © 2014

Overture to Idomeneocomposed 1780-81

by Wolfgang Amadè MOZARTborn January 27, 1756Salzburg

diedDecember 5, 1791Vienna

6 Blossom Music Festival

“ M O Z A R T I L O V E as a musical Christ,” wrote Tchaikovsky in an 1886 diary entry. “It is my profound conviction that Mozart is the highest, the culminating point that beauty has reached in the sphere of music. Nobody has made me cry and thrill with joy, sensing my proximity to something that we call the ideal, in the way that he has.” Tchaikovsky’s work translating Th e Marriage of Figaro into Russian in 1884 had sparked the idea to create a suite of orchestral arrangements drawn from Mozart. Tchaikovsky gathered a selection of short works in 1886, and found time in the summer of 1887 to assemble his Orchestral Suite No. 4, nicknamed “Mozartiana” — timing the Moscow premiere to coincide with the centennial of the opera Don Giovanni. Th e suite begins with a transcription of Eine kleine Gigue (“A Little Jig”), K574, which Mozart penned in Leipzig in 1789. Th e orchestral treatment preserves Mozart’s crisp counterpoint and angular lines, written in a style that harkens to the days of Bach and Handel. Th e choice of a Menuet for the suite’s second movement also recalls music from before Mozart’s time, evoking the stately grandeur of a French court dance. Tchaikovsky’s version uses the fullness of the orchestral sound to heighten the pungency of passing dissonances within an otherwise placid movement. Th e third movement, Pregheira (“Prayer”), is an arrange-ment of Mozart’s last motet, Ave verum corpus, K618, except that Tchaikovsky worked from a transcription for piano by Franz Liszt. Th us twice removed from its source, this orchestral version is the most Romantic music of the suite, its hallowed melodies draped with harp strums and lush chord voicings. A substantial fi nale, in the form of a theme and variations, begins with a melody that Mozart borrowed from the opera composer Christoph Gluck. Tchaikovsky’s adaptation of Mo-zart’s keyboard music spreads the virtuosic fl ourishes around the orchestra, including sprightly passages for the woodwinds alone and a gleeful conclusion splashed with cymbal crashes.

—Aaron Grad © 2014Aaron Grad is a composer, guitarist, and author based in Seattle, Washington.

He writes program notes for the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, New World Symphony, and other ensembles.

Suite No. 4 (“Mozartiana”) in G major, Opus 61composed 1886-87

by Pyotr IlyichTCHAIKOVSKYborn May 7, 1840near Votkinsk, Russia

diedNovember 6, 1893St. Petersburg

About the Music

7Blossom Festival 2014 About the Music

M OZ AR T C O M P O S E D most of his serenades and divertimentos during his teens and early twenties, writing to entertain Salz-burg’s wealthy families as a side activity to his offi cial service to the archbishop. Whereas many serenades by earlier compos-ers tended to be forgettable light works meant for a single use, Mozart elevated the genre into something more lasting and refi ned, whether in the grand showcases for large ensembles or in the more intimate scores for solo strings. Th e fi nal example of Mozart’s “night music” dates from 1787, around the time of Don Giovanni. Th ere is no record of what prompted the work, only an entry in Mozart’s log of com-positions listing Eine kleine Nachtmusik, or “a little serenade.” (Th e more common and literal English translation of “A Little Night Music” is less accurate but more poetic.) In its original form, the work had fi ve movements, but only four survived in the fi rst publication from 1827. While Mozart probably intend-ed the score to be played by individual players — two violins, viola, cello, and bass — the music works equally well with the broad sound of a string orchestra. Th e opening phrases of the Allegro fi rst movement are no less brilliant for all their familiarity — a questioning rise answered by a balanced descent, each speaking in unadorned octaves. Mozart’s genius, even in seemingly light music, was to fi nd delight and surprise within such straightforward gestures, as in the whimsical key change that jumpstarts the movement’s central development section. In calling the second movement a Romanze, Mozart grouped it with a tradition of tuneful music inspired by an earlier song style. Th e long skeins of melody remind us that Mozart was always, at heart, an opera composer. Th e Menuetto borrows the courtly, three-beat stride of the French minuet, while the movement’s contrasting trio section glosses the melodies with slurred phrases. Th e fi nale takes the shape of a rondo, returning at key junctions to the main theme, each entrance prefaced by an upward arpeggio that echoes the memorable fi rst phrase of the serenade. —Aaron Grad © 2014

Eine kleine Nachtmusik, K525[“A Little Night Music” or “A Small Serenade”]composed 1787



8 2014 Blossom FestivalAbout the Music

M O Z A R T D E F E R R E D T O H I S FAT H E R in most matters, but one notable act of defi ance was his marriage to Constanze We-ber in 1782, a union that Leopold only grudgingly approved, with his consent arriving a day aft er the nuptials. Mozart knew he should visit Salzburg to smooth over matters with his fam-ily, but he postponed the trip several times. Finally, the young couple left Vienna in July 1783, and Constanze met Leopold for the fi rst time, as well as Mozart’s beloved (and equally disap-proving) sister, Nannerl. Beyond the tension one might expect from such an introduction, Wolfgang and Constanze also had to face the news that their fi rst son, born only a few weeks ear-lier and left behind in Vienna, had died. Several months later, the young couple stopped in Linz on their way back to Vienna. Th eir host, Count Johann Joseph Anton von Th un-Hohenstein, welcomed them to his palace and arranged for the court orchestra to perform a concert. Mozart wrote to his father, “I really cannot tell you what kind-nesses the family are showering on us. On Tuesday, November 4, I am giving a concert in the theater here and, as I have not a single symphony with me, I am writing a new one at breakneck speed, which must be fi nished by that time.” It was breakneck speed indeed, for Mozart only arrived on October 30, leaving him less than fi ve days to compose the new piece, copy out the parts, and rehearse with the orchestra. Mozart’s Symphony in C major, nicknamed “Linz” for its city of origin (and designated as “No. 36” aft er the composer’s death), betrays no evidence of strained composition. In fact, it is rare among Mozart’s symphonies in that it begins with a lei-surely introduction. Th e opening harmonies wander away from C major and settle in C minor, creating a moody counterpoint to the generally sunny disposition of the symphony. Further de-tours into minor keys, in the fi rst movement’s secondary theme and later in the graceful Andante, echo the tonal rub of the in-troduction. Aft er a playful little Minuet, the Presto fi nale sprints through a fl uid range of themes, with short motifs bouncing among sections. Here, there is a family resemblance with the C-major fi nale of Mozart’s last symphony, No. 41 or “Jupiter,” which also has a closing contrapuntal movement.

—Aaron Grad © 2014

Symphony No. 36 (“Linz”) in C major, K425composed 1783



9The Cleveland Orchestra Mozart Timeline

1756 Born January 27, in Salzburg, the seventh and last child of Leopold and Anna Maria. (Only two of their children survived infancy.) Baptized “Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Th eophilus Mozart.”

1759 At age 3, Wolfgang begins to play the harpsichord.

1761 At age 5, he begins to compose.

1762 His father takes Wolfgang (and his sister, Nannerl, four years older) on the road as child prodigies. Over the next four years, they will visit and perform before royalty in Vienna, Paris, and London.

1767 He begins writing his fi rst operas, completing four in two years.

1770 Wolfgang (age 14) and his father visit Italy for the fi rst time, and are exposed to Italian opera in its native land.

1771 At age 15, he begins his service with his father’s employer, the Archbishop of Salzburg.

1778 While he and his mother are in Paris looking for lucrative employment for Wolfgang, Anna Maria is taken ill and dies. Wolfgang must bury her alone, and then tell his father and sister back in Salzburg the news.

1781 Aft er looking for a job in Vienna, Wolfgang is dismissed from his post with the Archbishop and decides to begin life as a freelance artist.

1782 Marries Constanze Weber on August 4. Th ey will have six children, but (typical for the era) only two will survive to adulthood (and neither of them will have progeny of their own).

1783 Over the next several years, he writes and performs a series of mature piano concertos and creates six string quartets dedicated to Haydn, making for himself both a name and a good living.

1785 Meets Haydn, who praises Mozart as “the greatest living composer.”

MOZART T I M E L I N E

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1786 Th e Marriage of Figaro premieres in Vienna on May 1.

1787 He travels to Prague early in the year to see Figaro, where it is acclaimed a masterpiece. Prague asks him to write a new opera. Father Leopold dies on May 28. Don Giovanni, his second collaboration with librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte, is premiered in October in Prague. Wolfgang is appointed to the relatively minor (and not very well-paid) post of “chamber composer” by Emperor Joseph II.

1788 Mozart composes what become his last three symphonies (Nos. 39, 40, and 41) in anticipation of a series of benefi t concerts that never take place. His fi nances are increasingly limited and problematic, and he moves around Vienna several times in the next few years to fi nd lodgings he can work in or aff ord.

1790 Così fan tutte is premiered in Vienna. Mozart attends the coronation of Emperor Leopold II.

1791 Composes the operas Th e Magic Flute and La clemenza di Tito, and begins work on his Requiem Mass. Dies on December 5 at the age of 35. Aft er a simple funeral service, he was buried in an unmarked grave following customs of the time in Vienna.

What’s his name?! Mozart was baptized as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolf-gangus Th eophilus Mozart. His fi rst two baptismal names, Johannes Chrysostomus, represent his saints’ names, following the custom of the Roman Catholic Church at the time. In prac-tice, his family called him Wolfgang. Th eophilus comes from Greek and can be rendered as “lover of God” or “loved by God.” Amadeus is a Latin version of this same name. Mozart most oft en signed his name as “Wolfgang Amadè Mozart,” saving Amadeus only as an occasional joke. At the time of his death, scholars in all fi elds of learning were quite enamored of Latin naming and conventions (this is the period of the classifi cation and cataloging of life on earth into kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species, etc.) and successfully “changed” his name to Amadeus. Only in recent years have we started remembering the Amadè middle name he preferred.

Mozart Timeline

A portrait of Mozart, painted in 1819 by Barbara Kraft, based on paintings created during the composer’s lifetime

I cannot write in verse, for I am no poet. I cannot arrange the parts of speech with such art as to produce eff ects of light and shade, for I am no painter. Even by signs and gestures I cannot express my thoughts and feelings, for I am no dancer. But I can do so by means of sound, for I am a musician.

—W. A. Mozart, November 1777

12 The Cleveland OrchestraOrchestra News

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Orchestra NewsNews

Benefi t performance on August 13 tells story of musical inspiration On Wednesday, August 13, the Women’s Committee of The Cleveland Orchestra pres-ents a special evening featuring Orchestra cellist Brian Thornton, who will perform and share his story about his teacher, Lev Ar-onson. Aronson survived torture and loss in Nazi con-centration camps before coming to America to be-come a beloved and inspir-ing teacher. He served as principal cello of the Dallas Symphony for many years, and taught and mentored many top cellists through his fi ery teaching style. Wednesday evening’s benefi t event is led by hon-orary chairs Audrey and Albert Ratner and takes place at the Mayfi eld Sand Ridge Club in South Euclid. A reception and silent auction begins at 5:30 p.m., with performance and dinner to follow. Tickets start at $150 per person. All proceeds benefi t The Cleveland Orchestra. For further information or to make re-servations, please email Barbara Wolfort at [email protected].

Comings and goings As a courtesy to the performers onstage and the entire audience, late-arriving patrons in the Pavilion cannot be seated until the fi rst break in the musical program.

Welser-Möst leads special Vienna Philharmonic concert in Sarajevo to commemorate anniversary of World War I

Franz Welser-Möst led a commemorative concert of the Vienna Philharmonic in the atri-um of Sarajevo’s rebuilt City Hall on June 28, 100 years after the assassinations of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie in that city began a series of events that resulted in the outbreak of World War I — and the start of a war-torn century for Sarajevo itself. A giant screen was erected to broadcast the concert for a crowd gathered outside on the opposite side of the Miljacka River. Broadcast-ers for Eurovision relayed the concert to more than 40 countries across Europe. “This is a very symbolic day in a very sym-bolic location,” said Clemens Hellsberg, the outgoing president of the Philharmonic. “We wanted it to be not a view back into history, but a view into the future, after the catastro-phe of war.” In choosing the Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy’ as part of the concert, Welser-Möst said, “we wished to express the hope that war should never happen on the soil of Europe again.” Welser-Möst continued, saying that he and the Philharmonic saw themselves performing in this special concert a similar role of reconcili-ation that conductor Daniel Barenboim has sought with his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, whose mixture of Israeli and Arab players also work to surmount the hatreds and divisions of the past.

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2014 Blossom Music Festival August 9