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2010 - 2011 27 th Season Season Premiere October 9 & 10, 2010 For the Love of Music Chamber Orchestra of the Springs Thomas Wilson, Music Director

Chamber Orchestra of the Springs...Join us for a wonderful evening as we gather in a private home or a historic building in Colorado Springs to enjoy beautiful chamber music in the

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Page 1: Chamber Orchestra of the Springs...Join us for a wonderful evening as we gather in a private home or a historic building in Colorado Springs to enjoy beautiful chamber music in the

2010 - 2011 27th Season

Season PremiereOctober 9 & 10, 2010

For the Love of Music

Chamber Orchestra of the SpringsThomas Wilson, Music Director

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Chamber Orchestra Of The SpringsP.O. Box 7911

Colorado Springs, CO 80933–7911(719) 633–3649

www.chamberorchestraofthesprings.org

The Chamber Orchestra of the Springs provides a unique opportunity for people in the Pikes Peak region to hear and appreciate the wealth of orchestral music for small orchestras. Through discovery, detailed rehearsal and exceptional performances, the Chamber Orchestra of the Springs presents great classical repertoire, uncovers forgotten gems of the past, and brings new music to our community.

Board Of Trustees

We wish to express our sincere appreciation to the following organizations:

Charlease Bobo, PresidentMichael Grace, Vice President

Anita Maresh, SecretaryJay Norman, Treasurer

Christina Schwartz-SoperPhyllis White

Rebecca HarrisonNasit Ari

Helene KnappMary EiberKaren Peace

Print Media Sponsor

Printing Services

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October 9 & 10, 2010 Season Premiere

Haydn • Ravel • Fauré • Beethoven Kelly Zuercher, piano

Ramona McConkie, cello

January 29 & 30, 2011 Voices of Light: COS and the

Colorado Vocal Arts Ensemble Mozart • Saint-Saëns • Handel • Lauridsen

John Lindsey, tenor CVAE, Deborah Teske, conductor

April 30 & May 1, 2011Season Finale

Barber • Beethoven • TchaikovskyDmytro Vynohradov, 2009 API Winner

November 6 & 7, 2010Emerging from Darkness: Life after WW2 Shostakovich • Copland • Vaughan WilliamsIan Buckspan, clarinet

February 26 & 27, 2011Illuminations of Genius Britten • Mendelssohn • MozartMarlissa Hudson, soprano, Shivers Artist Desiree Cedeno Suarez, violin, Shivers Artist

Chamber Orchestra of the Springs 2010 - 2011 SeasonSeason Tickets Now On Sale!Adults: $80Seniors: $55Students: $25

Single Tickets Available in Advance or at the DoorAdults: $20Seniors: $15Students: $5

“For the love of music”

For more information or to order tickets, contact us at (719) 633-3649

or by e-mail at [email protected]

www.chamberorchestraofthesprings.com

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Thomas WilsonMusic Director

Thomas Wilson is currently Music Director of the Chamber Orchestra of the Springs, Associate Conductor of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic, Cover Conductor for the New York-based pops show Symphonic Night at the Oscars, serves on the music faculties at Colorado College and the Colorado Springs Conservatory, and maintains an active guest conducting schedule. Mr. Wilson previously conducted for the Colorado Springs Youth Symphony program and founded the Young Concert Artists of Colorado Springs.

Thomas began studying piano at the age of four. Later studies included trumpet, percussion, string bass and voice, before concentrating his efforts on trumpet, conducting and composition. Thomas graduated summa cum laude from the University of Northern Colorado, receiving the School of Music’s highest honor—the Departmental Scholar Award.

A primary focus of Mr. Wilson’s conducting career has been collaborations between performing arts organizations, which he sees as essential to artistic growth and a unified arts community. Thomas has led the Colorado Springs Philharmonic and the Chamber Orchestra of the Springs in collaborative performances with the Colorado Springs Children’s Chorale, Colorado Vocal Arts Ensemble, Young Concert Artists, Colorado Springs Youth Symphony, Pikes Peak Ringers, The United States Army Field Band, Ballet Society of Colorado Springs, Peak Ballet Theatre, Fusion Pointe Dance Company, Ormao Dance Company, and the Colorado Springs Conservatory, just to name a few. Thomas frequently conducts new works by local composers, including the world premier of Mark Arnest’s Pike’s Dream, about the life and times of Zebulon Pike. Thomas’ recent recording projects include the world premier recording of Kevin McChesney’s Ring of Fire and a live, 2-CD release of the Flying W Wranglers with the Colorado Springs Philharmonic.

Winner of international recognition as a trumpeter, Mr. Wilson has extensive experience performing and recording with orchestras, ensembles, and artists. He is one of only three trumpeters ever selected as a finalist for both the International Trumpet Guild Orchestral and Solo Performance Competitions in the same year. As a composer and arranger, Thomas has dozens of published titles and is currently arranging new artist features and a Big Band jazz program for the Philharmonic.

Mr. Wilson has been called “someone to watch” and “a very exciting conductor” by Michael Tilson Thomas, one of the foremost conductors of our time.

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The Chamber Orchestra of the SpringsAcknowledges With Great Thanks

Music Donations Made For This Concert:

Haydn Symphony # 73 donated by Anita Maresh in memory of Albert Wray

Fuare Elégie for Cello and Orchestra, op. 24

donated by Anita Maresh and dedicated to Nancy Nylander

The Colorado Springs

Conservatory

(719)577-4556 1600 North Union Blvd.

Colorado Springs, Colorado 80909www.coloradospringsconservatory.org

THE MISSION of the Colorado Springs Conservatory is to inspire, motivate, and challenge all students to aspire to their highest potential as artists and as human beings through arts immersion studies and community arts advocacy participation.

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Chamber Orchestra Of The SpringsThomas Wilson, Music Director

Season PremiereOctober 9 & 10, 2010

Franz Joseph Haydn Symphony No. 73 in D Major, La Chasse(1723 – 1809) I. Adagio – Allegro II. Andante III. Menuetto & Trio: Allegretto IV. La Chasse (The Hunt): Presto

Maurice Ravel Piano Concerto in G Major(1875 – 1937) I. Allegramente II. Adagio assai III. Presto Kelly Zuercher, piano

INTERMISSION

Gabriel Fauré Elégie for Cello and Orchestra, op. 24 (1845-1924) Ramona McConkie, cello

Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 8 in F Major, op. 93(1770 – 1827) I. Allegro vivace e con brio II. Allegretto scherzando III. Tempo di menuetto IV. Allegro vivace

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Join us for a wonderful evening as we gather in a private home or a historic building in Colorado Springs to enjoy beautiful chamber music in the company of other music lovers. Identical

performances are held on Monday and Tuesday evenings and include a light buffet dinner, wine, dessert and coffee for the single reservation price of $50.

UPCOMING PERFORMANCES*NOVEMBER 1 & 2, 2010

at the home of Gayle Beshears

*FEBRUARY 28 & MARCH 1, 2011at the home of John Street and

featuring Lawrence Leighton Smith

*MAY 1 & 2, 2011Grace Episcopal Church

Additional information is available at our website: coloradohausmusik.com

For reservations, contact: Karen Clark at 538-0343 or [email protected]

Imagining this ad in PURPLE could be your toughest challenge as you buy or sell a home.

David Zuercher, Broker~ e-mail: [email protected]

Supporting the ARTS in the Pikes Peak Region for over 25 years.phone: 719.599.5962

The easiest? Contacting your Purple Elephant REALTOR .®

Remember our name for service you'll never forget!Realty

ElephantPurple ElephantPurple

www.purpleelephantrealty.com

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First Violin*1Jacob KlockTerri Moon

Dagmar Mock Sara Miller

Kay Wehofer Deborah Youngerman

Azaduhi Vieira

Second Violin*Debora Falco

**Kelly Dean PilarcyzkLydia CampbellNathan Burns

Alexander MagalongCharlease Bobo

Jesse Maurer

Viola*Anita MareshMatthew Canty

Assistant PrincipalBarbara Phelps-Greenlee

Dan Masterson

Cello*Ramona McConkie

Norah ClydesdaleTimothy Ogilvie

Gerald Miller

String Bass*Timothy Crawford

Daniel Kiser

Flute*Phyllis White Karen Morsch

PiccoloKaren Morsch

Oboe* Nancy Brown

Carla Scott Bassoon*Greg BrownJohn Lawson

Thomas WilsonConductor

The Players Of The Chamber Orchestra Of The Springs

*1 Concert Master* Principal** Asst. Principal

Timpani *Carl Cook

Trumpet* Glen Whitehead†

Bill Flitter

French Horn *Mathew Evans

Christina Schwartz-Soper

Randy Powers Deborah Harvey

Clarinet*Jay Norman

Pam DiazEb Clarinet

Pam Diaz

TromboneRick Crafts

PercussionEddie Dowdle

Chris LundbergHarp

Joni Martin

English HornCarla Scott

†Chair underwritten by Mrs. Mary Eiber and Mr. And Mrs. Dawn and Charles Eiber-Thurmond in memory of Gary Eiber

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Featured ArtistsKelly McSweeney Zuercher, principal pianist of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic, is a native of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Mrs. Zuercher began to play the piano by ear at the age of three, then, at age five, began piano lessons with her first teacher, Philelle McBrayer. She studied with Dr. Clarence Burg as a preparatory student at Oklahoma City University, and she remained his student through her graduation from that university with a Bachelor of Music Degree in Piano Performance. She received the Master of Music Degree in Piano Performance from the University of Louisville, Kentucky. Mrs. Zuercher made her solo debut at age twelve with the Oklahoma City Symphony as winner of a concerto competition,

and was a recipient of the Bloch Young Artist Award. She spent a year abroad as recipient of a Rotary International Graduate Fellowship, and studied with Jules Gentil. At the close of her year in France she was awarded the prestigious Diplôme Supérieur d’Exécution, from the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris, by unanimous vote of an international jury, an honor seldom obtained after only one year’s study. She has appeared throughout the United States as a soloist and chamber musician, including several apperances as soloist with the Colorado Springs Philharmonic, including Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Piano Concerto in F, and Piano Concerto No. 1 by Shostakovich. She also presents concerts with her husband, David, who is principal trumpeter of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic. Mrs. Zuercher has served on the piano faculties of Metropolitan State College in Denver, the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, and currently maintains a private piano studio.

Ramona Jacob McConkie, cello, is currently the principal cellist of the Chamber Orchestra of the Springs and performs with the Colorado Springs Philharmonic. As the 9th of eleven children in a musical family, she began performing at the age of three. She has soloed with the Utah Symphony, the Washington, D.C. Jewish Community Orchestra, the Utah Valley Symphony, and the BYU Chamber and Philharmonic Orchestras in Europe and the US. She was selected to perform at the World Cello Congress in 1998.

With her passion for chamber music, she won 2nd place with the Weishaar piano trio in the MTNA National Chamber Music Competition in 2001. She currently performs with the Briar Rose String Quartet after leaving the North Potomac Trio in Washington, D.C.

As a scholarship recipient, she was elected to study in Germany with Julius Berger, Augsburg Conservatory Director, and spent one year with Evelyn Elsing, cello professor at the University of Maryland. She has received coachings from the Guaneri String Quartet and Igor Gruppman, concertmaster of the Rotterdam Philharmonic. She holds a degree in cello performance from Brigham Young University and is currently a private cello instructor. Ramona resides in Colorado Springs with her husband and three small children.

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Program Notes Season Premiere

Continued on page 15

I know that God has bestowed a talent upon me, and I thank Him for it. I think I have done my duty and been of use in my generation by my works. Let others do the same.—Haydn

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) was born in the Austrian town of Rohrau, and in 1761, after a conspicuously ordinary early life, was engaged as vice-Kapellmeister by Prince Paul Esterházy, a Hungarian nobleman. He remained exclusively in that family’s employment for the next thirty years, working for Prince Paul and then for his son Nikolaus. Unlike Mozart, whose relationships with his patrons were neither easy nor consistent, Haydn lived happily within the confines of his master’s world and benefited enormously from seclusion and from having a permanent orchestra with which to work. Haydn later remarked, “There was no one there to confuse me, so I was forced to become original.” In 1790, Nikolaus died and the court musicians were dismissed by his successor. Haydn moved to Vienna, but shortly afterward received an invitation to visit England, where he proved incredibly successful in 1791-92. Oxford University even gave Haydn an honorary degree. Having returned from London, he bought a house in Vienna where he taught Beethoven and others, but in 1794 he returned to England, this time with even more success. He returned to Europe again in 1795, returning to employment with the Esterházy family and concentrating all of his time on composing. His health began to fail in 1802, and after a long struggle, Haydn died in 1809. In some ways, Haydn was more radical than Mozart, experimenting with unusual-length phrases and using unconventional forms in his symphonies. Above all, Haydn is the most humane and comforting of composers. In his own words, he wrote music so that “the weary and worn, or the man burdened with affairs, may enjoy a few moments of solace and refreshment.”

Haydn composed his Symphony No. 73 in D Major in 1782. The nickname “La Chasse” (The Hunt) was given to the symphony later, due to the hunting horn calls of the final movement. The horn calls are based on a hunting melody from La Chasse du cerf,

a divertissement for vocal soloists, chorus, and small orchestra by French composer Jean-Baptiste Morin. Other distinguishing features are the main theme of the first movement, with a repeated-note structure that, when used elsewhere as accompaniment, constantly reminds the listener of the main theme. The second movement is based on a song by Haydn, Gegenliebe, Hob. XVIIa:16, with the song used as a refrain for a rondo form. The finale was originally composed as the overture to Haydn’s opera La fedeltà premiata (Fidelity Rewarded), with a coda that fades away for a rising curtain, so “La Chasse” is one of the few Haydn symphonies to end softly.

Ravel’s music has been compared to those formal French gardens in which the trees and shrubs are trimmed to precise shapes and the flowers laid out in well-ordered patterns … Within the forms that he chose the cultivate, his inspiration seldom waned, his artistry never lost its consummate skill. Even those who hold that there is too much artifice in his art must admit that he conceals this artifice with infinite grace.—Gilbert Chase, American music historian, critic, author and ethnomusicologist.

If Vienna was notoriously incapable of appreciating its local talent in the time of Mozart, so also was Paris for the entire nineteenth century, overlooking luminaries like Berlioz, Gounod, Massenet and Saint-Saëns. It wasn’t until the early twentieth century that France would concern itself with a true French sound, and the leaders of this French musical Renaissance were Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel (1875-1937).

Ravel grew up in Paris, enrolling at the Paris Conservatoire in 1889. His early style is clearly influenced by his studies with Gabriel Fauré, and he was fascinated with new harmonies emerging in the French school that threw out all conventions of harmony in Western music (known as “functional harmony”) from 1650 to 2000. His modernism cost him dearly in academic circles, as he entered the Prix de Rome four times (1901-1903, 1905) and was failed each time, including failing the preliminary rounds

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It is not difficult to see why Fauré’s example was inspiring to a generation of composers who were quickly tiring of impressionism. They easily overlooked the fact that Fauré had his roots in the Romantic movement, because his was a pre-Wagnerian brand of romanticism—delicate, reserved, and aristocratic. Moreover, no matter what its derivation may have been, it possessed all the earmarks of the French temperament: harmonic sensitivity, impeccable taste, classic restraint, and a love of clear lines and well-made proportions.—Aaron Copland

Music moves me all the more when the methods used are clear, correct, precise, and even concise.—Fauré

Gabriel Fauré ( 1845-1924) wrote those words in 1896 at the age of fifty-one. By then he had composed a large quantity of orchestral music, but there were no symphonies or concertos and none to follow. Instead, he applied his principles of clarity, precision and concision to smaller musical forms. Composition for Fauré was primarily “for music’s sake”—the pure idea.Fauré was the youngest of six children and a precocious talent. When he was nine, his parents sent him to the Niedermeyer school in Paris, known for its training in church music, and that training influenced Fauré throughout his career. In 1861, Saint-Saëns arrived at the school to teach piano, broadening Fauré’s outlook with music of Wagner and Liszt, and a lifelong friendship formed between them.

Fauré started his professional career as an organist but was pulled away for service in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. After returning to church music, he was deeply moved at hearing the Wagner’s “Ring cycle”. He managed to take the best aspects of Wagner without joining the legions of Wagner imitators of the day. In 1896, he obtained a professorship of composition at the Paris Conservatory, where his influence was felt for decades through influential students like Maurice Ravel and Nadia Boulanger. He eventually became director of the Conservatory, which proved a mixed blessing, as he found less and less time for composition. Worse yet, his hearing started to fail, forcing him to pare down his harmonic language and leaving him looking outdated and obsolete during the rush of late Impressionism and modernism that was sweeping through France.

Program Notes, continuedin 1905. Nonetheless, he soldiered on and the next decade was extremely productive, including several masterpieces—Rapsodie Espagnole, Gaspard de la Nuit, and Daphnis et Chloé.

Ravel tried to enlist during World War I, but was turned away by both the army and air force because he was too thin and too short, so he assisted the war effort by driving ambulances. Still reeling from his academic rejections, he quipped, “They tell me that Saint-Saëns announced that during the war he has composed theatre music, songs … If instead he had been servicing Howitzers, his music might have been the better for it.”

The war, however, was tough on Ravel. His haunting Le Tombeau de Couperin was written in memory of the dead, and not long after, Ravel suffered a serious physical collapse. Soon, his mother and Claude Debussy would pass away, leaving Ravel feeling very much alone in the world despite being regarded as France’s greatest living composer. Despite some excellent new compositions—L’Enfant et les sortilès, the Piano Concerto in G Major, Tzigane, and Bolero—Ravel spent most of his creative energy revising his earlier works. In 1937, he was stricken with a serious degenerative brain condition which led him to a risky brain operation that December, from which he never regained consciousness.

Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major was begun in 1929, as Ravel had recently returned to France after a successful piano recital tour of America and the new sounds of jazz were raging in Paris. Despite the use of jazz idioms, the piece is structured very much like a Classical-period concerto in three movements—fast, slow, fast. Ravel had hoped to give the premiere of the concerto himself in 1931, but his declining health left Marguerite Long with the responsibility; Ravel conducted the orchestra and later dedicated the piece to Long. Ravel was so deeply impressed with jazz during his American travels he later remarked, “Jazz is a very rich and vital source of inspiration for modern composers and I am astonished that so few Americans are influenced by it.”

Continued on page 17

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Two Sunday Services8:30 and 10:30 a.m.

UPCOMING CONCERTSFriday, October 15, 7:15 p.m.

Benefit Concert for Opera Theater of the RockiesSusan Rae Jensen, vocalist

Pre-Concert reception at 6:00 p.m. in the Otto Hall

Sunday, October 17, 3:00 p.m.Piano and Cello concert

Sara McDaniel, piano and Margaret Miller, celloFree concert

Sunday, November 21, 3:00 p.m.A Holiday Concert

Pikes Peak Flute ChoirKaren Morsch, Director

Free-Will offering

Sunday, October 10 @ 6:00 p.m. FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

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Program Notes, continuedFauré’s Elégie for Cello and Orchestra, op. 24 was written in 1880, originally for cello and piano, and may have been intended as a slow movement for a complete sonata. Fauré wrote, “My cello piece was very well received, and that greatly encourages me to go on and do the whole Sonata.” Despite this success, Fauré would wait another forty years to write his two cello sonatas and wouldn’t include the Elégie in either, since the piece stood so well on its own. He decided to orchestrate the piece in 1895 and it quickly became an icon of his orchestral music, so quintessentially identified with his music that it would be used as the subject of an extended improvisation by the organist at Fauré’s state funeral.

Keep your eye on him; he will make the world talk about him some day.—Mozart, in a letter to his father dated 1787, after meeting Beethoven.

Beethoven was the pillar of smoke that led to the Promised Land.—Franz Liszt.

Beethoven’s time was one of revolutions and wars, terror and reform, poverty and extravagance and in many ways his music reflects the turbulence of the age in which he lived. Austria was at war with Ottoman Turkey, the French were in dispute with Austria, and England with France. The fall of the Bastille in 1789 was a sign of the end of the old order, extinguished forever. The period brought wide cultural changes, changes in political philosophy and society, and in the arts. Beethoven is seen as the bridge from the restraint and preoccupation with form of the Classical era, to the wildly personalized and emotional Romantic era.

Beethoven had a remarkable musical output. Just to name a few: 32 piano sonatas, 16 string quartets, 6 piano concerti plus a fragment (of which only 5 remain in the repertoire), 10 violin sonatas, 4 cello sonatas, 172 folk song arrangements, 60 canons and “musical jokes,” at least 2 ballets, an opera (“Fidelio”), and a large number of other works for chamber ensembles, choir, voice … and 9 great symphonies that still represent the

highest consistent level of symphonic output by any composer in history.

Ludwig van Beethoven was born in the provincial court city of Bonn, Germany, probably on December 16, 1770. Beethoven’s talent was such that, at the age of 12, he was already assistant to the organist Christian Gottlob Neefe, with whom he studied. Attempts to establish him as a prodigy in the mold of Mozart had little success, however.

In 1787 Beethoven was sent to Vienna, but his mother fell ill, and he had to return to Bonn almost immediately. She died a few months later, and in 1789 Beethoven himself requested that his alcoholic father be retired, a move that left him responsible for his two younger brothers. Beethoven left Bonn for Vienna a second time in November of 1792, in order to study with Haydn.

In 1794 French forces occupied the Rhineland; consequently, Beethoven’s ties with and support from the Bonn court came to an end. His father had died a month after his departure from Bonn, and his brothers joined him in Vienna. He remained there the rest of his life, leaving only for holidays and concerts in nearby cities. His only extended journey was to Prague, Dresden, and Berlin in 1796. Beethoven never held an official position in Vienna. He supported himself by giving concerts, by teaching piano, and increasingly through the sale of his compositions. Members of the Viennese aristocracy were his steady patrons, and in 1809 three of them—Prince Kinsky, Prince Lobkowitz, and the Archduke Rudolph—even guaranteed him a yearly income with the sole condition that he remain in Vienna.

The last 30 years of Beethoven’s life were shaped by a series of personal crises, the first of which was the onset of deafness. The early symptoms, noticeable to the composer already before 1800, affected him socially more than musically. His reaction was despair, resignation, and defiance. Resolving finally to “seize fate by the throat,” he emerged from the crisis with a series of triumphant works that mark the beginning of a new period in his stylistic development.

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Concert I: Earth Sunday, October 17Peck • Delius • Offenbach • Copland

Featuring the photography of John Fielder

Concert II: Wind and Sky Sunday, December 12Arnold • R. Vaughan Williams •Steiner • Mozart

Christmas Music TBD

Concert III: Water Sunday, February 20Mendelssohn • Rodgers • G. F. Handel • Bridge

Concert IV: Fire Sunday, May 8Saint-Saens • Haydn • Stravinsky Concerto Competition Winner

• All Concerts at 3:00 p.m. • Sand Creek High School • 7005 N. CarefreeCall 685-6468 for tickets or information, or go to www.pikespeakphil.org

pikes peak philharmonicDavid Rutherford, Conductor

Come celebrate the spirit of Christmas in Glen Eyrie Castle’s Great Hall with the Chamber Orchestra of the Springs, featuring conductor Thomas Wilson, soprano Linda Weise, and the Colorado Springs Children’s Chorale.

➤Sunday, December 5th, at 4:00pm➤Sunday, December 5th, at 7:00pm➤Tuesday, December 7th, at 7:00pm➤Sunday, December 19th, at 7:00pm

(doors open 30 minutes prior to each performance)

Tickets on sale now for only $20. See website for details.

w w w . g l e n e y r i e . o r g / c h r i s t m a s • 8 7 7 - 4 8 8 - 8 7 8 7

3820 North 30th Street Colorado Springs, Colorado 80904

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A second crisis a decade later was the breaking off of a relationship with an unnamed lady (probably Antonie Brentano, the wife of a friend) known to us as the “Immortal Beloved,” as Beethoven addressed her in a series of letters in July 1812. This was apparently the most serious of several such relationships with women who were in some way out of his reach, and its traumatic conclusion was followed by a lengthy period of resignation and reduced musical activity.

During this time Beethoven’s deafness advanced to the stage that he could no longer perform publicly, and he required a slate or little notebooks (now known as “conversation books”) to communicate with visitors. The death of his brother Caspar Carl in 1815 led to a 5-year legal struggle for custody of Caspar’s son Karl, then 9 years old, in whom Beethoven saw a last chance for the domestic life that had otherwise eluded him. His possessiveness of Karl provoked a final crisis in the summer of 1826, when the young man attempted suicide. Shortly thereafter, Beethoven’s health began to fail, and he died on March 26, 1827 in Vienna.

The real significance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8 in F Major, op. 93, is difficult to see at first. Beethoven was at the height of his compositional powers, and composed his monumental Symphony No. 7 in A Major, op. 92 at the same time, yet the two pieces are radically different. The bold, heroic character of the Seventh Symphony was expected from Beethoven, but the Eighth Symphony makes no sense in that context. Not surprisingly, it had some of Beethoven’s harsher critics whispering that the deaf composer had lost his touch. Then again, some people have no sense of humor, and the Eighth Symphony is precisely that—a comic symphony. The first movement is bold and heroic enough, giving little indication of Beethoven’s intentions but taking a definite step backward from the emotional intensity which had begun to be associated with Beethoven’s compositional style. The humor takes

over in the second movement, as Beethoven pokes fun at a new invention by one of his friends, Johann Maelzel—the metronome. A steady pulse of slow sixteenth notes imitates a metronome as the orchestra “practices” the melody, trills and wide intervals, all with the occasional frustrated outbreak of loud sixty-fourth notes. Though starting the movement in B-flat major, Beethoven establishes E-flat major so strongly near the end of the movement that final resolution in B-flat major sounds more like a half-cadence—deliberately awkward and leaving the listener wondering if the movement has truly ended. The third movement begins normally enough in its first repeated section but quickly turns to the ridiculous, as the orchestra seems almost to fall apart at the conclusion of the second section (the woodwinds sounding especially lost), while the hunting horns and impossibly high clarinet of the trio suggest that the hunting party might not be entirely sober. The last movement, in the home key of F Major, begins harmlessly and softly, but is quickly interrupted by what sounds to the listener like a D-flat but is actually a C-sharp (different name, same note) in the music—part of an inside joke. Throughout, the movement is plagued by odd C-sharps in a riotous melee of backhanded rhythms, awkward key changes and uncomfortable pauses. Proportionately, the last movement arrives exceedingly early at its coda (usually a short, concluding bit of music), which Beethoven magnifies beyond all reasonable proportion—nearly half the measures of the movement!—and calls upon the trumpets and timpani to stamp out the pesky C-sharps once and for all. All things considered, this comic symphony by the most serious of all composers is a rather unique gift in the orchestral repertoire. It was composed in 1812 and premiered on February 27, 1814, in a program alongside the Seventh Symphony, with Beethoven conducting. When asked by his pupil, Carl Czerny, why the Eighth Symphony was less popular than the Seventh, Beethoven replied, “Because the Eighth is so much better.”

Program Notes, continued

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Chamber Orchestra of the Springs SupportersThe following members of our 2009-2010 Season audience are as passionate about the activities of the

Chamber Orchestra of the Springs as are its players and Board of Directors. We offer them our heartfelt gratitude.

Season Underwriter: $5,000 to $9,999The Bee Vradenburg Foundation

Concert Sponsor: $2,500 to $4,999Colorado Springs Symphonic GuildThe Gay & Lesbian Fund for ColoradoJohn G. Duncan FoundationInasmuch Foundation

Conductors Circle: $1,000 to $2,499The Dusty and Kathy Loo Fund of the Pikes Peak Community FoundationGiddings FoundationJ.H. Edmondson FoundationJ.P. Morgan-Chase Stone Trust FoundationNasit Ari & Libby RittenbergNorton BainJohn Carter and Virginia Snow Samuel and Mary Alice HallPikes Peak Community Foundation

Benefactor: $500 to $999Raymond and Barbara BrownSusan and Michael GraceThe Progressive Insurance Co.Anita MareshPamela T. MarshJames Montgomery In honor of Carol and Jim MontgomeryPikes Peak Library DistrictDr. and Mrs. Darryl ThatcherThomas G. Wilson

Sustainer: $250 to $499Judy Bridewell BiondiniCharlease BoboRaymond and Barbara BrownCharles and Helena CabellRichard and Sandra HiltSheldon and Betty JonesDoris KneuerTerry and Elizabeth LillySara McDanielLisa and Bob Rennick

Supporter: $100 to $249Susanne and Michael AnselmiLarry and Eve BarrettWilliam BeckerCharles and Anne Bobo In honor of Charlease BoboElizabeth BockstahlerMartha Hopkins BoothWalter and Harriet BrooksJudy and Duncan BurdickDavid CampbellDr. Robert CarltonJudy and Chris CunninghamDr. and Mrs. Donald DickensonJane DillonMary Eiber In memory of Gary EiberJudy Fair-SpauldingJoanna and Lindsay FischerAndrea FlakCarla and Jim GreenhalghWalter and Esther HarderMr. and Mrs. Dunning Idle IVDan and Dorothy KautzmanJay and Marty KelleyCherry and Jack KinneyDr. Lorence T. and Shirley KircherGlen and Helen Knigh

Alison and Duncan Kruse In Memory of Daniel KautzmanBonnie S. LinderDr. and Mrs. George L. Merkert Jr.Margorie J. MerrittLynne MillerOliver S. and Gerda NickelsMs. Betty J. RickelCol. Jim RynningColonel and Mrs. Charles ShayPeggy Houston ShiversEdie Green and Alan SiegelHerb and Rhea SiegelChristopher and Wendy SeglemMargaret SmithJoyce and Steve StiversJoan M. StratingLt. Col. Robert H. TaylorDarrell and Beverly WeaverDon and Marilyn WerschskyPhyllis WhiteHarry and Louise WilsonAnonymous

Friend: $1 to $99Barbara M. ArnestAnn AxelrodDavid BallJudith BentonJ.W. BolinAnn BroshDale and Gundi BrunsonMrs. A.N. ChampionKathleen Fox CollinsKathleen CookePaul and Janet DavidsonPhyllis DeHartSteve D’Ippolite Dorothy FarthingElaine FreedTimothy and Kalah FullerDon and Barbara Gazibara

Continued on page 23

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Chamber Orchestra Of T he SpringsP.O. Box 7911

Colorado Springs, CO 80933–7911(719) 633–3649

www.chamberorchestraofthesprings.org“For the Love of Music”

Whether You Were A Part Of The Audience, Or Unable To Attend,

You Can Now Experience The Award - Winning

Community in UnisonConcert

From Your Own Living Room! Pikes Peak Library District

will broadcast the concert on PPLD TV

(Comcast 17 and Falcon Broadband 75)

Sunday, Nov. 7 - 4 p.m.Tuesday, Nov. 9 - 8 p.m.

Thursday, Nov. 11 - 8 p.m.ALSO

Streaming video on our website at ppld.tv

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Chamber Orchestra of the Springs Supporters

The Chamber Orchestra of the Springs makes every attempt to list our donors accurately. If your name was inadvertently omitted or listed incorrectly, we sincerely regret the error and ask that you contact us at (719)633-3649 or [email protected]

Friend (continued)Adam and Alicia Gold In honor of Sam and Mary Alice HallSherry L. HallIngrid HartCoral and Kyle HealeyFrank and Elfriede JoppMarilyn KastelMrs. Helene KnappJohn and Linda LeFevrePatricia Lipton

Mary and Wayne MashburnRichard and Jean McChesneyMary Elizabeth McKinleyBecky and Jon MedvedMs. Dion F. MercierStan MortonAnn J. NelsonJay NormanDeborah Perlet & Gloria Kondrk In Memory of Daniel KautzmanTed and Phyllis Roth

David and Barbara St. AndreJohn and Elaine SartorisLt. Col. Murl SickbertBettina Swigger and Aaron RetkaCharles Guy TheriotFrederica A. ThrashWilliam TunstillEric UmenhoferKaren WagnerMary C. Wieger

Thank You!The members of the Chamber Orchestra play “for the love of music” and for you, our audience. Our music is brought to you by the support of generous individuals, foundations and corporations who share the vision of the Chamber Orchestra of the Springs being a vital part of the artistic life of our community. We are very grateful for their contributions; they are appropriately identified and acknowledged on pages 19 & 21.

The Chamber Orchestra of the Springs welcomes corporate sponsorships for its programs and activities. Please contact the Chamber Orchestra at 633-3649, for information on sponsorships and benefits.

Special Appreciation to...Colorado Springs Symphonic Guild for their support of this concert series

Blueprints, Inc. for printing servicesSylvia Hutson for her work with graphic design and layout

First Christian Church for the use of their wonderful sanctuaryBroadmoor Community Church for the use of their beautiful facilities

Graner Music for distribution of sheet musicKCME-FM 88.7, A Voice for the Arts, for concert publicity

Tom Kratz for the use of the podiumRuth Hjelmstad for professional assistance with accounting

First Lutheran Church for use of their rehearsal space

Thanks for listening! Now we’d like to hear from you! Contact us [email protected] with your questions and comments. We’re all ears!

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Colorado Springs/Manitou Springs/Pueblo – 88.7 FM I Woodland Park – 93.5 FM I Salida/Buena Vista – 89.5 FM Cripple Creek/Victor – 89.5 FM I Canon City/Florence – 91.1 FM I Summit County - 89.3 FM www.KCME.org

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