Program Notes: Beethoven 8

CLASSICS 2022/23

BEETHOVEN SYMPHONY NO. 8

CHRISTOPHER DRAGON, conductor

COLORADO SYMPHONY HORN SECTION:

MICHAEL THORNTON

KOLIO PLACHKOV

CAROLYN KUNICKI

MATTHEW ECKENHOFF

Friday, February 10, 2023 at 7:30pm

Saturday, February 11 2023 at 7:30pm

Sunday, February 12, 2023 at 1:00pm

Boettcher Concert Hall

HAYDN Symphony No. 45 in F sharp minor, Hob. I:45, "Farewell"

I. Allegro assai

II. Adagio

III. Menuet: Allegretto

IV. Presto - Adagio

SCHUMANN Konzertstück for 4 Horns and Orchestra in F major, Op. 86

I. Lebhaft

II. Romanze: Ziemlich langsam

III. Sehr lebhaft

— INTERMISSION —

BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 8 in F major, Op. 93

I. Allegro vivace e con brio

II. Allegretto scherzando

III. Tempo di menuetto

IV. Allegro vivace

CONCERT RUN TIME IS APPROXIMATELY 1 HOUR AND 37 MINUTES WITH A 20 MINUTE INTERMISSION

CLASSICS BIOGRAPHIES

CHRISTOPHER DRAGON, conductor

Australian conductor Christopher Dragon is the Resident Conductor of the Colorado Symphony and Music Director of the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra. He joined the Colorado Symphony in the 2015/2016 Season as Associate Conductor – a position he held for four years. For three years prior, Dragon held the position of Assistant Conductor with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, which gave him the opportunity to work closely with Principal Conductor Asher Fisch.

Dragon has a versatile portfolio ranging from live-to-picture performances of Nightmare Before Christmas, Jurassic Park and Mary Poppins, a wide variety of collaborations with artists such as The Flaming Lips, Cynthia Erivo and Wynton Marsalis, to standard and contemporary orchestral repertoire such as Danny Elfman’s Violin Concerto, Eleven Eleven, all areas of which he has become highly sought after. Christopher has become known for his charisma, high energy and affinity for a good costume, consistently delivering unforgettable performances that has made him an audience favourite.

Recent season highlights include his subscription series debut with the San Diego Symphony, performances of Danny Elfman’s Music from the Films of Tim Burton with Danny Elfman reprising the role of Jack Skellington and the historic Colorado Symphony performances with the Wu-Tang Clan at Red Rocks and the Mission Ballroom. Dragon’s upcoming debuts include concerts with the San Francisco Symphony and the Utah Symphony.

Christopher works regularly in Australia and has guest conducted the Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and West Australian Symphony Orchestras. His 2015 debut performance at the Sydney Opera House with John Pyke and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra was released on album by ABC Music and won an ARIA the following year. Christopher’s other guest conducting includes Orquestra Sinfônica de Porto Alegre, Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, Omaha Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Singapore Symphony Orchestra and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

He has also conducted at numerous festivals including the Breckenridge and Bangalow Music Festivals, with both resulting in immediate re-invitations. At the beginning of 2016 Dragon conducted Wynton Marsalis’ Swing Symphony as part of the Perth International Art Festival alongside Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

Christopher began his conducting studies in 2011 and was a member of the prestigious Symphony Services International Conductor Development Program in Australia under the guidance of course director Christopher Seaman. He has also studied with numerous distinguished conductors including Leonid Grin, Paavo and Neeme Jarvi at the Jarvi Summer Festival, Fabio Luisi at the Pacific Music Festival and conducting pedagogue Jorma Panula.

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MICHAEL THORNTON, principal horn

Michael Thornton joined the Colorado Symphony as Principal Horn during the 1997 season. He was appointed to the faculty at the University of Colorado, Boulder in 1999 and is currently Associate Professor of Horn. He also serves as a Faculty Artist at the Colorado College Music Festival each June.

Michael Thornton enjoys a distinguished and varied career as an orchestral performer, chamber musician, soloist, and pedagogue. He has performed on five continents, and has presented numerous master classes at numerous prestigious musical institutions in the United States and abroad.

Appointed to the faculty of the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1999, Michael Thornton is currently Associate Professor of Horn. He also serves as a Faculty Artist at the Colorado College Music Festival each June. Mr. Thornton holds certification in Mental Toughness Training from the Human Performance Institute in Orlando, Florida, and implements this training in his teaching. His students hold positions in orchestras throughout the United States and abroad, and have won numerous awards and competitions. Professor Thornton has twice received the Marinus Smith Award, which is bestowed upon teachers at CU Boulder who have made significant contributions to their students’ development.

KOLIO PLACHKOV, 3rd/assistant principal horn

Kolio Plachkov has been with the Colorado Symphony since 2011, as an Associate Principal/Third French Horn. Mr. Plachkov is also a member of the guest horn faculty at the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival in Alaska, and Rocky Ridge Music Center in Estes Park, Colorado.

After receiving his Bachelor's Degree in Music from The Juilliard School, Mr. Plachkov obtained the principal horn position with the Austin Symphony Orchestra, meanwhile pursuing a full time Masters of Music degree at Rice University.

His solo and chamber music performances have been broadcasted on NPR and CPR. He has been featured with Idyllwild Arts Orchestra, The Broadway Bach Ensemble, Colorado Chambers Players, Englewood Arts Concert Series, and the Estes Park Music Festival.

CAROLYN KUNICKI

Carolyn Kunicki became a member of the Colorado Symphony horn section at twenty-one, through a national audition. She has a passion for educational outreach and plays and narrates stories throughout the Denver Public School system.

Carolyn Kunicki is a native of Pennsylvania. She showed an interested in music at an early age playing the family piano and her father’s old boy scout bugle, which often led to her and the bugle being sent outside. At

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age nine she started studying the French horn, mostly due to her mother telling her she thought it sounded pretty and a strong desire to play something loud. She was accepted to the Julliard School when she was 16.

Her Studies with Julie Landsman (retired principal horn of the Metropolitan Opera) led her to winning the Juilliard Strauss Horn Concerto competition, the Aspen Music Festival Fellowship Award, and the Aspen Wind Solo Competition, as well as cultivating a love for the operatic repertoire. Carolyn spent many evenings attending the Metropolitan Opera during her schooling.

When Carolyn was twenty-one she earned a position in the Colorado Symphony horn section through a national audition. As she was currently in the second year of her fellowship at the Aspen Music Festival, she was delighted to start a life in Colorado having fallen in love with the state. She left briefly to play Assistant Utility Horn in the Saint Louis Symphony but was eventually relieved to return to Colorado, mostly due to the weather of the Midwest.

MATTHEW ECKENHOFF

Matthew Eckenhoff joined the Colorado Symphony horn section in 2018. He was previously second horn for the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, and a member of the New World Symphony, Britt Music Festival, Honolulu Symphony Orchestra, and the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra.

Matt is a hornist and educator with an active national and international concert schedule. A native of Philadelphia, he earned his bachelor’s degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music where he studied with Cleveland Orchestra hornists Eli Epstein and Richard King. He went on to earn his master’s degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder under the instruction of Colorado Symphony Orchestra principal horn Michael Thornton. After graduating, Matt moved to Houston, Texas and studied for two years with the principal horn of the Houston Symphony, William VerMeulen.

In 2018, Matt joined the Colorado Symphony as fourth horn. He also joined the faculty of University of Colorado at Boulder for the 2019-2020 school year as a Lecturer, teaching the undergraduate horn performance majors. Before moving to Denver, he served as second horn of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra for 5 seasons. In addition to his performance duties, Matt was honored to serve the LPO as Orchestra President for the 2016-2017 season. Prior to his time in New Orleans, Matt was a member of the New World Symphony, under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas. He has also held positions with the Britt Music Festival, the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra and the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra. In addition, he has appeared with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Houston Grand Opera, among others. Matt has also enjoyed working as a studio musician, appearing on movie soundtracks, albums by Béla Fleck and Ingrid Michaelson, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic’s recordings of Wagner’s Die Walküre and Siegfried.

FIRST TIME TO THE SYMPHONY? SEE PAGE 7 OF THIS PROGRAM FOR FAQ’S TO MAKE YOUR EXPERIENCE GREAT!

CLASSICS PROGRAM NOTES

JOSEPH HAYDN (1732-1809)

Symphony No. 45 in F-sharp minor, “Farewell”

Joseph Haydn was born on March 31, 1732 in Rohrau, Lower Austria, and died on May 31, 1809 in Vienna. The “Farewell” Symphony was composed in 1772 and premiered in November 1772 at the Esterháza Palace in Hungary. The score calls for two oboes, bassoon, two horns and strings. Duration is about 25 minutes. The orchestra last performed this piece on October 28, 2010, conducted by Scott O'Neil.

One of the first acts of Nikolaus Esterházy when he succeeded his brother Paul Anton to the title of Prince Esterházy in 1762, was to expand the family’s hunting lodge at the Neusiedler Lake, on the Austrian-Hungarian border, into a magnificent chateau. Esterháza Palace was opened four years later, and became Nikolaus’ preferred residence. After 1768, when the Esterháza opera house was opened, he and his entire household spent six months a year at the magnificent but isolated Hungarian estate, dividing the rest of their time between the old residence in Eisenstadt and the town house in Vienna. Though a separate “Musicians’ Building” was constructed at Esterháza to house Haydn and his players, disturbances there among the musicians’ families led Prince Nikolaus to make a declaration through his secretary, no doubt prompted in part by his considering at that time cutting the size of his musical establishment: “Let it be made known to the musicians that in future their wives and families are not to come here — not even for 24 hours, and that those who are displeased by this order shall give in their notice. Make it clear to the musicians that they shall, as in former years, appear in Esterháza without their wives.” Grudgingly, the musicians accepted this dictum and spent the entire summer, May to October, away from their families, who remained in Eisenstadt. When Nikolaus unexpectedly announced he planned to extend his stay at Esterháza by several weeks beyond the usual November 1st departure date in 1772, the musicians (“vigorous young married men,” Haydn called them) went to their leader to ask if he could convince Nikolaus to end the long Hungarian exile so that they could return to their families. The rest of the story is well known: how Haydn devised a piece — this “Farewell” Symphony — which ended as, one by one, the players finished their parts, snuffed out their candles, and stole from the stage; how the Prince became sympathetic to the musicians’ plight; and how he decided to close the palace for the season the day after the concert.

In addition to the charming story surrounding its creation, the “Farewell” Symphony also has the virtue of being among Haydn’s supreme masterpieces. It was one of a number of works composed during the early 1770s in which he explored the new expressive possibilities that had been opened to music by C.P.E. Bach, the second son of Johann Sebastian. These so-called Sturm und Drang (“Storm and Stress”) compositions possess an almost Romantic emotionalism generated by the use of minor keys, unusual tonal areas, chromatic harmonies, bold contrasts of mood, aggressive rhythms, melodies of touching pathos, and formal experimentation. “A curiously melancholic little piece,” said Mendelssohn when he conducted the “Farewell” Symphony in 1838. Robert Schumann wrote of that concert, which ended with the players leaving the stage as had Haydn’s band at Esterháza, “No one laughed, for it was not at all funny.”

The eminent Haydn scholar H.C. Robbins Landon wrote of the “Farewell” Symphony, “Formally, the first movement is startlingly original, possibly the most ‘far-out’ sonata-form movement of Haydn’s whole career.” The main theme, a stormy strain descending rapidly

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through the minor tonic chord, is announced immediately by the violins to launch the work. Rather than presenting a contrasting melody, however, the exposition maintains for its entire length the dark mood of the opening. Following an elaboration of the main theme in the development section, the second theme, a bright melody in D major, is used as a transition to the recapitulation, which returns the main theme and the restless emotion of the exposition.

The rapt second movement is an exercise in musical asceticism. The sparest wisps of melody and counterpoint are used to create an almost nocturnal mood, heightened by the ethereal tone quality of muted violins, an instrumental color Haydn valued so highly at the time that he used it in the slow movements of all of the fourteen symphonies he composed between 1771 and 1774.

The jaunty Menuetto is in F-sharp major. So unusual was this key in late-18th-century music that the Esterháza blacksmith had to build new crooks for the valveless horns especially for this work so that the players could tune their instruments to match the rest of the orchestra. The horn melody of the trio is based on the old Church chant Incipit Lamentatio, sung during Matins on Maundy Thursday. Mindful of the somber emotional base of the work, Edward Downes noted of this quotation, “We do not know what connotation the melody had for Haydn here, but it can hardly have been a merry one.”

The finale resumes the turbulent mood of the first movement, proceeding through exposition (this time with contrasting theme), development and recapitulation. This last section halts abruptly on an incomplete harmony, after which the extended coda (in A major, then F-sharp major) allows for the departure of the musicians until only two solo violins remain, “certainly the loneliest sound in all of Haydn, and perhaps in the whole of music.”

ROBERT SCHUMANN (1810-1856)

Konzertstück (“Concert Piece”) for Four Horns and Orchestra in F major, Op. 86 Robert Schumann was born on June 8, 1810 in Zwickau, Germany, and died on July 29, 1856 in Endenich, near Bonn. The Konzertstück was composed in 1849 and premiered on February 25, 1850 in Leipzig. The score calls for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two orchestral horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani and strings. Duration is about 19 minutes. The last performance by the orchestra was November 21-23, 2003, conducted by Patrick Summers with solo horns by Michael Thorton, Kristin Junksheit, Carolyn Landis, and David Brussel.

During Schumann’s residence in Dresden, from 1844 to 1850, he was naturally in frequent contact with the local musicians. Richard Wagner, filled with revolutionary political and musical ideas, was conductor at the Royal Opera House, which boasted one of the finest orchestras on the Continent at the time. A chief adornment of that ensemble was a player named Lewy, a virtuoso who headed up the orchestra’s horn section and was also one of the earliest exponents of the recently developed valved instrument. Schumann was so impressed with the possibilities of the improved horn, and with the expressive avenues for it that Wagner had opened in his operas (Rienzi, The Flying Dutchman and Tannhäuser had all been staged by 1845), that he

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undertook a grand, concerted piece for not just one horn, but for an entire quartet of the instruments. The Konzertstück that he devised was certainly a showpiece for the valved horn, but it was also so hard as to be proclaimed by some as virtually unplayable — Schumann’s biographer Robert Schauffler decided that “the difficulties are so horrendous that it needs almost the trump of an archangel to cope with them.” Performances of the Konzertstück (“quite a curiosity,” the composer called it) have, understandably, been rare over the years, but when a company of master hornists rises to its challenge, it proves to be one the most exciting entries in all of Schumann’s catalog.

The Konzertstück was written in 1849, when Schumann was in good health and spirits, and producing music with greater ease and alacrity than at almost any other time in his life — some thirty works date from what he referred to as “my most fruitful year.” The work is in the standard three movements, though played without pause. The first movement abounds with breathtaking feats of virtuosity and intricate ensemble (the opening fanfare may well stay in the listener’s mind for days) couched in a fine orchestral accompaniment with expansive harmonies and rich sonorities. Schumann called the autumnal second movement “Romanze,” using as the theme of its center section a broad melody that returns in transformation in the last movement. The finale resumes the quick tempo and the musical pyrotechnics of the opening movement, though it contains some episodes of contrasting character that Alfred Nieman believed were “not far from the impressionistic images of Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, woven together with effortless spontaneity.” Schumann piles one challenge upon another as the movement progresses, ending with an admonition to the soloists that the final, rousing pages are to be delivered “mit Bravour.”

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)

Symphony No. 8 in F major, Op. 93

Ludwig van Beethoven was born on December 16, 1770 in Bonn, and died on March 26, 1827 in Vienna. The Symphony No. 8 was composed in 1811-1812 and premiered on February 27, 1814 in Vienna, conducted by the composer. The score calls for woodwinds, horns and trumpets in pairs, timpani and strings. Duration is about 26 minutes. The orchestra last performed this piece on October 9-10, 2010, conducted by Marin Alsop

In early October 1812, the Linzer Musikzeitung carried the following announcement: “We have had the long-wished-for pleasure of having in our metropolis for several days the Orpheus and greatest musical poet of our time....” This “Orpheus” was Beethoven, and he had descended on Linz as the last stop in a summer spent taking the waters at Karlsbad, Franzensbrunn and Töplitz in an attempt to relieve various physical ailments. His interest in Linz, however, extended beyond the mineral baths into the private life of his younger brother, Johann. It seems that Johann had acquired a housekeeper, one Therese Obermeyer, and that her duties extended to, as the composer’s biographer Thayer put it, “something more.” Perhaps as much from jealousy as from moral indignation, the bachelor Beethoven did not approve of either the situation or

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this particular female (he later dubbed her “Queen of the Night”), and he took it upon himself, Thayer continued, “to meddle in the private concerns of his brother, which he had no more right to do than any stranger.” He stirred up a terrific row over this matter, and, after taking his concern to the local authorities, actually was awarded a decision to have Therese thrown out of town. Johann had had about enough by this time, and the upshot of all of Ludwig’s intrusions was that his younger brother married the housekeeper after all.

Beethoven had been installed in an attractive room in Johann’s house overlooking the Danube and the surrounding countryside upon his arrival, and he worked on the Eighth Symphony throughout all this unnecessary domestic kerfuffle. Not the slightest hint of the turmoil crept into the music, however. It is actually the most humorous and “unbuttoned,” in the composer’s own description, of all his symphonies. At that time in his life (he was 42), Beethoven was immensely fond of a certain rough fun and practical jokes, and Sir George Grove believed that “the Eighth Symphony, perhaps more than any other of the nine, is a portrait of the author in his daily life, in his habit as he lived; the more it is studied and heard, the more will he be found there in his most natural and characteristic personality.” Certainly this work presents a different view of Beethoven than do its immediate neighbors, and it is this very contrast that helps to bring the man and his creations more fully into focus.

The compact sonata form of the opening movement begins without preamble. The opening theme, dance-like if a bit heavy-footed, appears immediately in vigorous triple meter. The second theme, built on short sequentially rising figures, enters in a surprising tonality, but quickly rights itself into the expected key. The closing group consists of a strong two-beat figure alternating with a swaying, legato line for the woodwinds. The development is concerned with a quick, octave-skip motive and a rather stormy treatment of the main theme. This central section ends with one of the longest passages of sustained fortissimo in the entire Classical literature to herald the recapitulation with a great wave of sound. The long coda comes close to being a second development section in its mood and thematic manipulation. The second movement is a sonatina — a sonata form without a development section — based on a ticking theme in the woodwinds (actually an imitation of the metronome recently invented by Beethoven’s friend Johann Nepomuk Mälzel) and an impeccable music-box melody presented by the violins. The third movement abandons the scherzo of Beethoven’s other symphonies and returns to the archaic dance form of the minuet; its central trio features horns and clarinets over an arpeggiated accompaniment in the cellos. The length of the finale almost equals that of the preceding three movements combined, and it carries significant importance in the work’s total structure because of the diminutive size of the internal movements. In mood it is joyous, almost boisterous; in form, it is sonata-allegro, with enough repetitions of the main theme thrown in to bring it close to a rondo. The extensive coda actually occupies more time than the development, and maintains the Symphony’s bustling energy and high spirits to the end.

©2022 Dr. Richard E. Rodda