st. louis symphony program nov. 18, 19, 2011

8/3/2019 St. Louis Symphony Program Nov. 18, 19, 2011

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Concert Program for November 18 and 19, 2011

David Robertson, conductor

Erin Schreiber, violin

PURCELL Chacony in G minor (late 1600s)

(1659-1695)

BERIO Corale (on Sequenza VIII) for violin, two horns,

(1925-2003) and strings (1981)

Erin Schreiber, violin

Intermission

BRUCKNER Symphony No. 7 in E major (1881-83)

(1824-1896) Allegro moderatoAdagio: Sehr feierlich und sehr langsamScherzo: Sehr schnellFinale: Bewegt, doch nicht schnell

David Robertson is the Beofor Music Director and Conductor.

The concert of Saturday, November 19, is underwritten in part by a generous gift from

Larry and Cheryl Katzenstein.

Pre-Concert Conversations are presented by Washington University Physicians.

These concerts are part of the Wells Fargo Advisors Series.



David Robertson Beofor Music Director and Conductor A consummate musician, masterful programmer, anddynamic presence, David Robertson has establishedhimself as one of today’s most sought-after Americanconductors. A passionate and compelling communicator

with an extensive knowledge of orchestral and operaticrepertoire, he has forged close relationships with majororchestras around the world through his exhilaratingmusic-making and stimulating ideas. In fall 2011,

Robertson began his seventh season as Music Director of the 132-year-oldSt. Louis Symphony, while continuing as Principal Guest Conductor of theBBC Symphony Orchestra, a post he has held since 2005.

Robertson’s guest engagements in the U.S. include performances

with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, SeattleSymphony, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Ensemble ACJW, and the New York Philharmonic, where Robertson is a regular guest conductor. In May2012, Robertson returns to the Metropolitan Opera to conduct Britten’sBilly Budd with Nathan Gunn and James Morris in the leading roles.Internationally, guest engagements include the Royal ConcertgebouwOrchestra, where Robertson appears regularly, the Symphonieorchesterdes Bayerischen Rundfunks, as part of Music Viva, and several concerts withthe BBC Symphony. In addition to his fresh interpretations of traditional

repertoire, this season Robertson conducts world premieres of GrahamFitkin’s Cello Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and cellist Yo- Yo Ma; John Cage’s Eighty with the Symphonieorchester des BayerischenRundfunks; Providence, a newly commissioned work by Dutch composerKlaas de Vries, with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; and new worksby Yann Robin and Michael Jarrell with the New York Philharmonic.

A champion of young musicians, Robertson has devoted time toworking with students and young artists throughout his career. OnFebruary 5, 2012, he conducts the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and a chorus of New York City students in the Carmina Burana Choral Project at CarnegieHall’s Stern Auditorium. The program will include Orff’s cantata, as wellas new works written by three high school-aged composers based onmusical themes of Carmina burana.

M i c h a e l T a M M a r o



Erin Schreiber

Erin Schreiber has studied the violin since age four. Shehas appeared in recital throughout the U.S., as well asin London, Sweden, and most recently Neuenkirchen,Germany. She has also appeared as soloist with the

Richardson, Gateway, and Alton symphony orchestras,and has performed for such dignitaries as Colin Powelland former President Jimmy Carter. Schreiber haswon the Lennox Young Artists Competition, the St.

Louis Italian-American Federation Young Artists Competition, the pre-college strings division of the Corpus Christi International Young ArtistsCompetition, and the Junior division of the Kingsville InternationalCompetition. She has twice been the recipient of the prestigious BuderFoundation Music Grant, as well as three-time recipient of the Anita CraneMusic Scholarship. Past teachers have included Roland and Almita Vamos,Elisa Barston, and Robert Lipsett. Schreiber studied with Joseph Silversteinand Pamela Frank at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Sheassumed the duties of St. Louis Symphony Assistant Concertmaster inSeptember 2008.

Erin Schreiber makes her St. Louis Symphony solo debut withthese concerts.

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SequencesBY LAURIE SCHULMAN

Ideas at Play

Overture, concerto, symphony is a time-honored formula for orchestralprograms. That sequence has proved surprisingly durable, becausegenres of music are exible. They yield diverse artistic products from onecentury to the next and within individual cultures. In the hands of animaginative conductor, disparate groupings can reveal some surprisingand provocative links.

At rst glance, this weekend’s program—works by Purcell, Berio,and Bruckner—looks like an unlikely combination. It is not unusual tohave music from three centuries represented on an orchestral concert,

but 17th-century pieces are rare. Henry Purcell’s Chacony in G minororiginated as music for a consort of viols. Expanded to string orchestra,it functions as a seductive curtain raiser. Purcell’s title is an Anglicizationof the French chaconne and the Spanish chacona, a dance related to thezarabanda (sarabande). The rst known use of the term occurred just before 1600. Soon the chacona was very popular in Spain and made itsway throughout Europe. Like its cousin, the passacaglia, chaconnesrepeat a concise ground bass, moving directly to the next repetition in

sequential variations.“The chaconne was once considered lascivious and not t for publicconsumption,” observes David Robertson. “Then it became more coy.Purcell’s is short, and gives the strings the opportunity to shine. It alsosets up the insistence of the violin in Berio’s Corale and the insistent pulseof Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony.”

Luciano Berio’s Corale (1981) is an expansion of his Sequenza VIII. His series of Sequenzas for solo instruments raised the bar for 20th-century instrumental virtuosity. He orchestrated six of these works as solo

concertos, in each case adding new instrumental music to form a largercomposition. Sequenza VIII (1976-77) is replete with Berio’s characteristicourishes: obstinate repeated notes, clashing intervals, and dazzlingpassage work, compellingly set forth as salutes to music of earlier eras.Corale opens with those stubborn, in-your-face violin notes, then evolvesto encompass surprising lyricism. His harmonic language is modernist,but his gestures have deep respect for musical tradition—particularly the violinistic past of Vivaldi and Bach. Two horns and strings add grippingtension to Berio’s musical essay.

As for Anton Bruckner, he too shared a reverence for the past, as wellas a devotion to the Catholic Church. Robertson points out that Bruckner’sSeventh Symphony is also catholic in the sense of all-encompassing. “Thesymphony has a monumental, cathedral-like sound that connects deeplyto feelings of innity, eternity, God’s power. There’s an epic quality to thismusic. Bruckner was an organist. You hear in his work a sense of realpower, not some splashy image of power. He creates a cathedral spacewithout words, without physical armature.”



Henry Purcell Chacony in G minor

Born: Probably in Westminster, London, September 10 (?), 1659 Died:

Westminster, London, November 21, 1695 First performance: Unknown STL

Symphony premiere: October 31, 1970, Alexander Schneider conducting

Most recent STL Symphony performance: February 12, 1984, Leonard Slatkinconducting Scoring: Strings Performance time: Approximately fve minutes

Purcell

In Context Late 1600s Minute hands rst appear on watches;English Parliament passes the Test Act, excluding RomanCatholics from public functions; John Milton dies

Henry Purcell is not your standard-issue orchestralcomposer. Celebrated as organist of Westminster Abbey

for most of his career, he is best remembered today forhis stage music: overtures, entr’actes, songs, dances, andsome hybrid larger works that have been dubbed “semi-operas.” Lesser known are his compositions for consortsof viols, predecessors to the modern string family. The

Chacony is such a work, conceived for one on a part, but transferringbeautifully to string ensemble.

The term is an English variant of the French chaconne, a dance in slowtriple meter with a repeated ground bass that provides the foundation

for sequential variations. Chaconnes appear in French operas starting inthe late 1650s. The dance seems to have found its way to England in the1670s. His Chacony is part of a manuscript from about 1680 that containsother four-part string fantasias.

The Music Purcell was comfortable with complex structures, particularlyin his string fantasias. He especially enjoyed the challenge of writing abovea ground bass. Examples occur in The Fairy Queen, The Gordian Knot, King

Arthur , and Dido and Aeneas, as well as in his instrumental compositions.This Chacony for strings merges aspects of dance, fantasy, and concert piece. Purcell’s rich harmonic imagination colors the 18 variations inprovocative ways, taking advantage of chromaticism in the underlyingbass to trigger unusual harmonies. His voicing is also creative, sometimestransferring the ground bass to viola or even violin, leaving the cellostemporarily silent. He calls on contrapuntal devices more commonlyassociated with Bach. Purcell’s Chacony is a refreshing and persuasivereminder of England’s rich musical heritage.



Luciano Berio Corale (on Sequenza VIII) for violin, two horns,and strings

Born: Oneglia, Imperia, Italy, October 24, 1925 Died: Rome, May 27, 2003

First performance: January 17, 1982; Carlo Chiarappa was solo violinistwith Paul Sacher conducting the Collegium Musicum Zurich STL Symphony

premiere: This week Scoring: Two horns, solo violin, and strings Performance

time: Approximately 15 minutes

Berio

In Context 1981 Britain and Argentina go to war over theFalkland Islands; international peacekeeping troops arrive inLebanon; Italy wins its rst World Cup in 44 years

Luciano Berio was arguably the most prominent

Italian composer to emerge after the Second World War.His mid-career was closely tied to the United States becauseof his rst marriage, in 1950, to the American sopranoCathy Berberian (1925-1983). In 1951, Berio workedat Tanglewood with his countryman Luigi Dallapiccola(1904-1975), an important early champion of serialism.

During the 1950s Berio continued to explore serial, and later electronic,music. From 1962 to 1971, he taught at Mills College in California andNew York’s Juilliard School. He returned to Europe in the 1970s, when hebecame associated with Pierre Boulez’s IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et de Coordination Acoustique/Musique) studio in Paris. Berio remained animportant international gure in new music.

In 1958 he began a series of virtuoso solo pieces called Sequenza(Sequence). Each one is for a different instrument, plumbing the virtuosicand sonic capabilities of that instrument. The series eventually grew to14 works, with Sequenza XIV for cello (2002). As early as 1964, however,Berio revisited some of these works, recomposing them with orchestra

and assigning a new title. Several became Chemins (paths, passages). In1981, he reworked Sequenza VIII (1976-77) for solo violin, adding twohorns and strings. He called the new composition Corale (koh-RAH-leh,Italian for chorale).

Berio’s choice of title is telling. The idea of a chorale suggests thechordal movement of church hymns, and Corale does favor chordal writingover linear counterpoint. Furthermore, his orchestral response to the solois predominantly in the same “voice” group: strings, with added color andcontrast from the two horns. Berio was also looking back over his shoulder

at Baroque techniques and the Baroque heritage of the violin. He left the violin part of Sequenza VIII virtually unchanged, and his comments about the solo work are essential to an understanding of Corale.

While almost all the other Sequenzas develop to an extreme degree a very limited choice of instrumental possibilities, Sequenza VIII deals witha larger and more global view of the violin, and can be listened to as adevelopment of instrumental gestures. Sequenza VIII is built around twonotes (A and B) which—as in a chaconne—act as a compass in the work’s

M a r i n a

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Berio

rather diversied and elaborate itinerary, where polyphony is no longer virtual but real, and where the soloist must make the listener constantlyaware of the history behind each instrumental gesture. Sequenza VIII,therefore, becomes inevitably a tribute to that musical apex which is theChaconne from Bach’s [Violin] Partita in D minor, where, historically,

past, present and future violin techniques coexist.His orchestra functions almost as a ritornello in a concerto grosso,

emerging to the sonic foreground between the violin’s dazzling solo forays.The commingling of old-style structural elements with Berio’s urgent,sometimes confrontational atonality makes for fascinating listening.

The Music Effectively, Corale turns Sequenza VIII into a one-movement concerto, with a prominent obbligato role for the two horns. The soloist

opens on an insistent repeated A, achieving subtle differences in timbreby shifting the nger, “bending” the pitch, and eventually expanding totone clusters. Muted horns and strings join in to thicken the texture.These opening bars are a microcosm of the piece, whose complex soundaccumulates in layers, making use of repetitive elements. Later on, thetone clusters expand to wider leaps.

Violin, horns, and strings often seem at cross-purposes in Corale . Thick textures emerge, then dissipate. The soloist sometimes speeds up whenthe strings are slowing down. Strings pull away from the A that anchored

the beginning; the soloist stubbornly returns to that homing place. Solocadenzas burst forth in perpetual motion as fast as hummingbird’s wings: Vivaldian passagework on steroids. The strings whisper their awestruck reaction, then alternate with periods of stasis and introspection.

Subtle shifts in the balance of power provide an architectural curve inCorale. The dominant violin gives way to the horns, then starts a gradualprocess of reasserting its solo role. It does so in Berio’s unique bipolarfusion of modernist edginess and musical tradition.



Anton Bruckner Symphony No. 7 in E major

Born: Ansfelden, Austria, September 4, 1824 Died: Vienna, October 11, 1896

First performance: December 30, 1884, in Leipzig, Arthur Nikisch led the

Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra STL Symphony premiere: December 1, 1939,

Vladimir Golschmann conducting Most recent STL Symphony performance:

April 23, 1997, Hans Vonk conducting at Carnegie Hall Scoring: Two utes,

two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three

trombones, four Wagner tubas, contrabass tuba, timpani and other percussion,

and strings Performance time: Approximately 64 minutes

Bruckner, 1885,

portrait by Hermann

von Kaulbach

In Context 1881-83 Germany under Chancellor Otto vonBismarck adopts rst compulsory health-insurance program

on a national scale, as well as national workman’scompensation program; Berlin Conference draws up Africanborders; Statue of Liberty presented to the United States inceremonies in Paris

A frequent metaphor used to describe Bruckner’smusic is the Gothic cathedral. One circles it on foot,observing its beauty from every angle, then enters. One

visitor may be absorbed by the vaulting of the archesand the structural principles of the buttresses. Another

may admire the decorative sculptures and the rose window, remainingoblivious to the more practical aspects of construction. The cathedral issimply there, immutable, permanent. It does not go anywhere, but it existswith many facets, ready to be appreciated from every angle.

To those for whom all Gothic cathedrals look alike, all Bruckner maysound the same. Some critics hold that Anton Bruckner did not writenine symphonies, but rather composed the same symphony nine times.It is true that the Bruckner symphonies share certain traits, that some

patterns prevail in all the scherzi, or in all the slow movements. But likeGothic cathedrals, Bruckner symphonies all have their own individualcharacter and presence. Each Bruckner symphony is a space to be enteredand savored. One can temporarily suspend the world around him inmeditation or reverie in either place, cathedral or symphony.

Less than a decade older than Johannes Brahms, Anton Bruckner wasthe unheralded heir to the Viennese symphonic tradition, particularlyafter Robert Schumann’s death in 1856. There is really no other composer“like” Bruckner. An accomplished organist, he grew up in the shadow of

the Austrian Catholic church, and his early compositions were heavilyconcentrated in sacred choral works. Indeed, he was intensely religious, adevout Catholic whose love of God had signicant bearing on everythinghe composed.

But symphonies dominated his mature years, and that devoted lovemanifested itself in a remarkable collection of absolute music in thepurest sense. Bruckner became the rst major 19th-century symphonist after Schubert to achieve the magic number of nine symphonies, that awe-



inspiring precedent set by Beethoven. In the process, as Derek Watson hasnoted, Bruckner’s work evolved from symphonic mass to cosmic symphony.

By nature Bruckner was modest, pious, and sadly lacking in self-condence. His early symphonies were dismissed as the unplayable work of a wild man, and he thenceforth found it difcult to secure performances

of his orchestral compositions. Worse, he fell into the habit of seeking out and accepting suggestions for “improvements” to his compositions, fromfriends, students, and professional colleagues. Because of his extremehumility, he was too willing to accept alterations to his music. This processresulted in performing cuts, re-orchestration, and even published versionsthat purported to promote Bruckner’s music, but actually led to evengreater confusion. Bruckner scholars have debated the composer’s trueintentions ever since, and critical editions of Bruckner’s symphonies have

become one of the thorniest projects in musicology.The Seventh Symphony, which occupied Bruckner almost exclusivelybetween September 1881 and September 1883, is remarkably free of suchconfusion, having been revised substantially less than its predecessors.It is one of only two Bruckner symphonies without major discrepanciesin editions. Bruckner was perhaps more condent at this relatively latestage of his career (he was 60) and, with the Seventh Symphony, nallyachieved the international acclaim that eluded him during his youth andmiddle age.

The Music The general consensus about Bruckner tends to over-emphasizethe size of his orchestra. In his earlier works, he composed for an orchestrahardly larger than Beethoven’s; the scoring expanded gradually andsteadily as his own concept of the symphony continued the expansion that Beethoven had launched. Beginning with the Third Symphony, Brucknercalled for more brass than Beethoven; however, the Seventh is actually therst of his symphonies to incorporate the expanded horn and Wagnertuba sections mistakenly associated with all of Bruckner’s music.

In form, the Seventh Symphony adheres to the basic outlines of the Viennese classical symphony in the sense that it has four movements of varying tempo and character, with a slow movement and a scherzo ankedby two large sonata-like structures. But to approach Bruckner with theidea of listening for symphonic sonata form is to court misunderstanding.Deryck Cooke has written:

He no doubt saw himself organizing his materials according

to the sonata procedures he had studied so diligently withKitzler… but with Bruckner so rm in his religious faith, themusic has no need to go anywhere, no need to nd a point of arrival, because it is already there.

Like all of Bruckner’s symphonies, the Seventh opens quietly, withan ascending arpeggio that launches one of the longest themes he evercomposed: 21 measures. The quietude of the beginning has been likenedto Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony; there are other instances of such

Bruckner



parallels between the two works, most notably the A-B-A-B-A form of theslow movement, which is clearly indebted to that of Beethoven’s Ninth.Though not in strict sonata form, Bruckner’s rst movement manipulatesblocked theme groups that lend themselves to development and recur inrecognizable fashion.

Bruckner idolized Richard Wagner, to whom he regularly referred as“the Master.” The Seventh Symphony’s slow movement has its roots inBruckner’s reverence for the German composer. In a letter to the conductorFelix Mottl in January, 1883, he wrote:

One day I came home and felt very sad. The thought hadcrossed my mind that before long the Master would die, andthen the C# minor theme of the Adagio came to me.

One month later, still at work on the movement, he learned of Wagner’sdeath in Venice. The sublime nal pages of the Adagio are his memorialto the musician he revered above all others. (The Adagio was also playedat Bruckner’s own funeral in 1896.) An enormous cymbal crash marksthe movement’s climax. Of questionable authenticity, that outburst is themost infamous point of contention in the entire symphony.

Few composers can match Bruckner for excitement in the realm of thescherzo. This one is like an electrical storm, driven by rumbling energy

from the strings and punctuated lightning ashes from the brass section.The contrast in the Trio section is enormously effective after the restlesstension that precedes it. Its ländler rhythm links it to Franz Schubert,another of Bruckner’s predecessors in the realm of the enlarged symphony.

All the stops are pulled for the Finale. Perhaps most clearly in theSeventh Symphony, this movement reveals Bruckner the organist. At the instrument he knew best, he was famous for his improvisations. Although the Finale is hardly improvisatory, it does share the grandeurand exultation of a large cathedral organ. Bruckner builds his sound incumulative layers, gathering power as he increases volume. For all theexpansive splendor and triumph, this Finale is among Bruckner’s most compact conclusions.

Program notes © 2011 by Laurie Schulman

The St. Louis Symphony invited four writers to produce program notes thisseason. For 23 years Laurie Schulman has been program annotator for orchestras, chamber music series, and summer festivals throughout the UnitedStates. She works extensively with composers as diverse as Stewart Copelandof the Police and Pulitzer Prize-winners Steven Stucky and Christopher Rouse.Her undergraduate degree was in European History; she subsequently earnedan M.A. and Ph.D. from Cornell in musicology.

Bruckner



Concert Program for November 20, 2011

St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra

Ward Stare, conductor

ROSSINI Semiramide Overture (1822-1823)

(1792-1868)

RAVEL Pavane pour une infante défunte(1875-1937) (Pavane for a Dead Princess) (1910)

TCHAIKOVSKY Francesca da Rimini , op. 32 (1876)

(1840-1893)

Intermission

DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 7 in D minor, op. 70 (1884-1885)

(1841-1904) Allegro maestosoPoco adagioScherzo: VivaceFinale: Allegro

The St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra is supported in part by a grant from

the G.A. Jr. & Kathryn M. Buder Charitable Foundation.The St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra concerts are sponsored by Fitz’s Root Beer.



Ward Stare

Ward Stare is currently the Resident Conductor of the St. Louis Symphony—a position created for him inthe fall of 2008 by Music Director David Robertson—and concurrently acts as Music Director of the St.

Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra. In April 2009,Stare made his highly successful Carnegie Hall debut with the St. Louis Symphony, stepping in at the last minute to conduct while Robertson made his debut as

chansonnier in H.K. Gruber’s Frankenstein!!. Stare returned in June 2010,leading the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra in its New York Citydebut at the historic Riverside Church.

The 2010-11 season included Stare’s successful return to the DeutschesSymphonie-Orchester Berlin, as well as his widely praised Europeanoperatic debut at the Norwegian Opera, conducting performances inOslo of Benjamin Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia. Recent and upcomingengagements also include summer concerts with the Detroit SymphonyOrchestra, the DITTO Festival in Seoul (South Korea), the Colorado MusicFestival, subscription concerts with the Madison Symphony featuringLynn Harrell as soloist, and both Stare’s debut as guest conductor withthe Lyric Opera of Chicago in 2012-13 and a re-engagement in 2013-14. Awarded one of just three coveted positions in the Allianz Cultural

Foundation’s 2012 International Conductors’ Academy, Stare will havethe opportunity to work with the London Philharmonic Orchestra andthe Philharmonia Orchestra.

Stare spent the 2007-08 season as a League of American OrchestrasFellow with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and conducted concerts on theorchestra’s Toyota Symphonies for Youth Series. In the fall of 2008, Stareserved as assistant conductor to Sir Andrew Davis at the Lyric Opera of Chicago for their new production of Alban Berg’s Lulu.

Stare received the Robert J. Harth Conductor Prize and the Aspen

Conducting Prize (2007) at the Aspen Music Festival and School andreturned in the summer of 2008 as Assistant Conductor to the Festival andits former Music Director, David Zinman. In addition to his studies withZinman, he has worked with János Fürst and Jorma Panula and studiedcomposition and musical analysis with Michel Merlet.

Following in the path of many great orchestral conductors whosecareers began as instrumentalists, Ward Stare was trained as a trombonist at the Juilliard School in Manhattan. At the age of 18, he was appointed

principal trombonist of the Lyric Opera of Chicago and has performed asan orchestral musician with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and theNew York Philharmonic, among others. As a soloist, he has concertized inboth the U.S. and Europe.

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Program NotesBY MARGARET NEILSON

Gioachino Rossini Semiramide Overture

Born: Pesaro, Italy, February 29, 1792 Died: Paris, November 13, 1868 YO

premiere: November 25, 1977, Gerhardt Zimmermann conducting Most recent

YO performance: November 22, 1998, David Amado conducting Scoring: Flute

and piccolo, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets,

three trombones, timpani and other percussion, and strings Performance

time: Approximately 11 minutes

Rossini’s work dominated the opera scene of the early 19th century in

Italy and much of the rest of Europe. Rossini was born into a musicalfamily. His father was a trumpeter and his mother an opera singer. Rossinistudied voice, harpsichord, music theory, violin, viola, cello, and pianowith a variety of teachers. When he was 16 his cantata Il pianto d’Armoniasulla morte d’Orfeo was performed and won a prize. He composed veryquickly and had completed 33 operas by the time he wrote Semiramide, at age 30. He would write only ve more operas before he stopped writingoperas all together. Over the rest of his life, he wrote sacred works, chambermusic, and songs.

He traveled often in Italy, France, Austria, and England, making Francehis home for most of the latter half of his life. He liked good food andcompany. He also had a sense of humor, as evident in his comic operas, oras when he gave himself a “19th birthday” party on February 29, 1868—after all February 29th had happened only 19 times since he was born!

The opera Semiramide was written in about thirty days. It is acomplicated tragedy based on the story of Semiramide, a Queen of Babylon, involving murder, deception, love, and the struggle for power: all

the ingredients so many operas use in dramatic plots.The overture draws on music from the opera, which is unusualfor Rossini who often used one overture for several different operas.Semiramide opens with a slow introduction for the horns, then a themefrom the opening of the nal scene is heard. More melodies lead to a“Rossini crescendo”—a gradual building of volume for the whole orchestra.Following a short development, all the melodies are reintroduced, anothercrescendo, and a dramatic ending.

Maurice Ravel Pavane pour une infante défunte (Pavane for aDead Princess)

Born: Ciboure, France, March 7, 1875 Died: Paris, December 28, 1937

YO premiere: November 20, 1981, Gerhardt Zimmermann conducting the only

previous performance Scoring: Two utes, oboe, two clarinets, two bassoons,

two horns, harp and strings Performance time: Approximately six minutes



Ravel was of Swiss and Basque family origin, but lived in Paris frominfancy on. He started to play the piano when he was seven and enteredthe Paris Conservatory when he was 14. He won the Second Prix deRome in 1901. His unique style and use of harmony was evident in hisearly compositions. He put old forms to modern use and, in part due to

his Basque origins, he had great interest in Spanish melodies native tothat region.

The Pavane was written as a piano solo in 1899 when Ravel was 24. Thepiece was immediately popular. In 1910 Ravel orchestrated it in the versionplayed today. A pavane is a slow Spanish dance that was rst popular inthe 15th and 16th centuries. Ravel did not have a specic princess inmind, but rather a mood of a dance a princess might have danced longago in a bygone era. The main theme is introduced by the horns, and from

there it moves about the orchestra. The Pavane is deceptively simple, withan appealing charm and beauty.

Piotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky Francesca da Rimini, op. 32

Born: Kamsko-Votkinsk, Russia, May 7, 1840 Died: St. Petersburg, November

6, 1893 YO premiere: May 9, 1975, Leonard Slatkin conducting Most recent

YO performance: November 30, 1996, David Loebel conducting Scoring: Three

utes and piccolo, two oboes and English horn, two clarinets, two bassoons,four horns, four trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani and other

percussion, harp, and strings Performance time: Approximately 23 minutes

After a comfortable childhood in the country, which included a Frenchgoverness and a music teacher, Piotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky moved to St.Petersburg with his family when he was 10. He attended the School of Jurisprudence, graduating at 19, and got a job as a government clerk.

He studied music during his school years, but did not yet show muchtalent either as a pianist or composer. When he was 21, he was acceptedinto a new music school that would become the renowned St. PetersburgConservatory. When he was 26, he moved to Moscow to start teachingharmony at the Moscow Conservatory. He began composing with great focus and dedication, as if to make up for lost time.

Francesca da Rimini was written in 1876 and is based on an episodein Dante’s Divine Comedy. Francesca is supposed to marry an elderly, not very good looking, nobleman, Gianciotto of Rimini. Rather than go to

Francesca himself, he sends his handsome younger brother Paolo to court her. Believing Paolo to be her future husband, she falls in love with him.However, when she travels to the town of Rimini she discovers that she hasbeen trapped into a marriage to the older man. Nonetheless, Francesca andPaolo cannot contain their love, and they are eventually discovered by the jealous husband. Gianciotto of Rimini murders them both. Together Paoloand Francesca are doomed to suffer in the second circle of Hell forever. Thestory is based on an historical event well known in Dante’s time.

Ravel



Tchaikovsky opens the piece with a mysterious, dark introduction asDante is escorted to the second circle. The music describes the eternalwinds and storms that swirl around those forever there. Dante asksFrancesca and Paolo to tell their story. Francesca’s “voice” is a beautifulclarinet solo. Dante is so moved that he faints. The winds rise again and

sweep the tragic lovers away.

AntonínDvořák Symphony No. 7 in D minor, op. 70

Born: Nelahozeves, Bohemia, September 8, 1841 Died: Prague, May 1,

1904 YO premiere: This week Scoring: Two utes and piccolo, two oboes, two

clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani,

and strings Performance time: Approximately 36 minutes

The famous Czech composer Antonín Dvořák was the son of an innkeeperand butcher who hoped Antonín would follow in the family business.However, when the boy showed some musical talent his father let himstudy. Eventually Dvořák went to Prague for serious music instruction. Heearned his living as a violist for some time. In the mid-1870s he submittedseveral works to the Austrian State Prize competition and received awardsin 1875 and 1877. One of the judges was the esteemed German composer

Johannes Brahms, who became a strong supporter of Dvořák, encouraginghim and helping to get his music published.

Whereas the rst three works on the program all have someprogrammatic narrative or have some inspiration from literary imagery,Dvořák’s Symphony No. 7 is what is often called “absolute music”: musicwritten without a literary or visual inspiration.

The Symphony No. 7 in D minor was the result of a request from thePhilharmonic Society in London. The Society had made him an honorary

member in 1884 and invited him to compose a new symphony for theSociety. He conducted the rst performance himself in London.The rst movement starts with low horns, basses, and timpani under

the main theme. The mood is stormy and agitated except for a contrastingwoodwind melody. Following the development of these melodies, themovement ends as it began.

In contrast to the rst, the second movement is mostly gentle andserene. A beautiful clarinet solo opens the movement, then a contrastingsection recalling the mood of the rst movement develops. Then the

opening melody returns and the movement gently closes.The third movement, Scherzo, is bright and lilting, but still the

storminess of the rst movement seems present. The fourth movement opens in a violent fashion, but rather than fading back into subduedsounds—as the music had done previously—the conclusion is triumphant.

Tchaikovsky



Ward Stare

Resident Conductor and Director of the

St. Louis SymphonyYouth Orchestra

First Violins

Ginna DoyleConcertmaster Matthew SpragueCo-Assistant

Concertmaster Michael Su

Co-AssistantConcertmaster

John Li Julia SonCaroline CordellSam Lord Jasmine Scott Rachelle FergusonRebekah HecklerThomas Johnson

Daniel McDonald Anthony OrsoMaggie AnHava Polinsky

Second Violins

Richard LuPrincipal Hannah Hart

Assistant Principal Amanda Cao William Crock Jonathan Karp Aishwarya Pandey

YadamaHaohang Xu Anthony SuSarah GiffordEmily Xu

Adam McDonaldSarah Yeeji KimRebin Ali Aram AlmzoriTony Moussa

Violas

Sean ByrnePrincipal

Christopher Goessling Assistant Principal Anne BewigMeredith McMahon Andrew Stock Caleb HenryBrett ShockerDaniel Peipert Jonathan Shields

CellosNomin ZolzayaCo-PrincipalGrant RiewCo-PrincipalSean Hamre Assistant Principal David GuBen Park Katja Miller

Bradley LaiTimothy Kampen Alex Groesch Ann Ryu

Basses

Bria RobinsonPrincipal Matthew Millett

Assistant PrincipalMadison MollToni Saputo Andie Barnett Jimmy McHughChristina Phillips Annamaria Phillips

Harp Katie Hill

Flutes

Leah RossPrincipalKelsey Rhoades Ashley Alarcon Jessica Winkle

Piccolo Rachel Petzoldt

OboesChristopher WangPrincipalErin Vidlak

Clarinets

Rachel Clark PrincipalEvan LeongEmily Spaugh

Wailani Ronquillio

Bassoons

David CarterPrincipalCraig Butler Alexandra

Bruns-Smith

Horns

Shelby Nugent PrincipalCaitlin WilsonNathan KingRachel HutsonIrene Henry Assistant/Utility

Trumpets

Dustin ShrumCo-Principal Julia Tsuchiya-MayhewCo-PrincipalRyan StainesKristine Clanahan Trombones

John SorsenPrincipal

Michael McBrideDavid Lindsay Assistant/Utility

Bass Trombone Evan Petzoldt

Tuba

James Fritz

Percussion/Timpani Lucas ShaplandMatt StiensCarley Yanuck Colton Lytle

Coaches from the

St. Louis Symphony Ellen dePasqualeViolin I

Sean WeilViolin II Morris JacobViola Anne FagerburgCelloDonald MartinBassTina WardWoodwindsThomas DrakeBrassThomas StubbsTimpani/Percussion

Librarians

Elsbeth BruggerRoberta Gardner

ManagerPeggy Neilson

St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra 2011-2012

st. louis symphony program nov. 18, 19, 2011

Documents