2021/22 SEASON PRESENTING SPONSOR:
CLASSICS 2021/22
BEETHOVEN SYMPHONY NO. 9 WITH THE COLORADO SYMPHONY & CHORUS PETER OUNDJIAN, conductor ELIZABETH CABALLERO, soprano KELLEY O’CONNOR, mezzo soprano MATTHEW PLENK, tenor THOMAS CANNON, baritone COLORADO SYMPHONY CHORUS, DUAIN WOLFE, director Friday, May 27, 2022 at 7:30pm Saturday, May 28, 2022 at 7:30pm Sunday, May 29, 2022 at 1:00pm Boettcher Concert Hall
BRUCKNER Te Deum, WAB 45 I. Te Deum laudamus II. Te ergo quaesumus III. Aeterna fac cum sanctis tuis IV. Salvum fac populum tuum V. In te Domine, speravi — INTERMISSION — BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, “Choral” I. Allegro ma non troppo; un poco maestoso II. Molto vivace III. Adagio molto e cantabile IV. Presto—Allegro assai—Allegro assai vivace The custom Allen Digital Computer Organ is provided by Mervine Music, LLC CONCERT RUN TIME IS APPROXIMATELY 1 HOUR AND 49 MINUTES WITH A 20 MINUTE INTERMISSION FIRST TIME TO THE SYMPHONY? SEE PAGE 7 OF THIS PROGRAM FOR FAQ’S TO MAKE YOUR EXPERIENCE GREAT! Friday’s concert is dedicated to Dr. Richard and Jo Sanders. Saturday’s concert is dedicated to Maggie Anderson. Sunday’s concert is dedicated to Sherri Colgan. PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY SOUNDINGS
2021/22
PROGRAM I
CLASSICS BIOGRAPHIES
PHOTO: SIAN RICHARDS
PETER OUNDJIAN, conductor Recognized as a masterful and dynamic presence in the conducting world, Peter Oundjian has developed a multi-faceted portfolio as a conductor, violinist, professor and artistic advisor. He has been celebrated for his musicality, an eye towards collaboration, innovative programming, leadership and training with students and an engaging personality. In February 2022, Oundjian was named Principal Conductor of the Colorado Symphony. Now carrying the title of Conductor Emeritus, Oundjian’s fourteen-year tenure as Music Director of the Toronto Symphony served as a major creative force for the city of Toronto and was marked by a reimagining of the TSO’s programming, international stature, audience development, touring and a number of outstanding recordings, garnering a Grammy nomination in 2018 and a Juno award for Vaughan Williams’ Orchestral Works in 2019. He led the orchestra on several international tours to Europe and the USA, conducting the first performance by a North American orchestra at Reykjavik’s Harpa Hall in 2014. From 2012-2018, Oundjian served as Music Director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra during which time he implemented the kind of collaborative programming that has become a staple of his directorship. Oundjian led the RSNO on several international tours, including North America, China, and a European festival tour with performances at the Bregenz Festival, the Dresden Festival as well as in Innsbruck, Bergamo, Ljubljana, and others. His final appearance with the orchestra as their Music Director was at the 2018 BBC Proms where he conducted Britten’s epic War Requiem. Highlights of past seasons include appearances with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Detroit, Atlanta, Saint Louis, Baltimore, Indianapolis, Milwaukee and New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. With the onset of world-wide concert cancellations support for students at Yale and Juilliard and the creation of a virtual summer festival in Boulder where he is Music Director of Colorado Music Festival became a priority. Winter 2021 saw the resumption of some orchestral activity with streamed events with Atlanta, Colorado, Indianapolis and Dallas symphonies. The 2021/22 season anticipates return visits to Toronto, Kansas City, Seattle, Colorado, Detroit, Baltimore and Indianapolis. Oundjian has been a visiting professor at Yale University’s School of Music since 1981, and in 2013 was awarded the school’s Sanford Medal for Distinguished Service to Music. A dedicated educator, Oundjian conducted the Yale and Juilliard Symphony Orchestras and the New World Symphony during the 2018/19 season. An outstanding violinist, Oundjian spent fourteen years as the first violinist for the renowned Tokyo String Quartet before he turned his energy towards conducting.
PROGRAM II
C O LO R A D O S Y M P H O N Y.O R G
CLASSICS BIOGRAPHIES ELIZABETH CABALLERO, soprano The New York Times describes Elizabeth Caballero as a “plush-toned, expressive soprano” and The Wall Street Journal exclaims that “Ms. Caballero is a find: her opulent soprano rings freely and lyrically throughout her range.” Ms. Caballero’s dramatically compelling interpretation of her signature role, Violetta in La traviata, led to recent engagements to perform the role for houses across the country, such as The Metropolitan Opera, Opera Carolina, Opera de Costa Rica, Florentine Opera, Madison Opera, Pacific Symphony, and the Orlando Philharmonic. Ms. Caballero recently made a series of house debuts including her Staatsoper Stuttgart début as Mimi in La bohème, her début with The Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City as Desdemona in Otello, and her Madrid début at Teatro de la Zarzuela singing the title role of the European Premiere of Cecilia Valdés based on the Cuban novel of the same name. She also performed Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with Florida Grand Opera, Cio-Cio San in Madama Butterfly with Inland Northwest Opera and Nashville Opera, Mimì in La bohème with Austin Opera, and returned to the Metropolitan Opera for their production of La Traviata. 2020 engagements were to include a return to Staatsoper Stuttgart for both Boito’s Mefistofele and as Cio-Cio San in Madama Butterfly, Mahler’s 8th Symphony for Pacific Symphony, Verdi’s Requiem for Portland Symphony, and her role debut as Tosca. Future engagements include performances with Staatsoper Stuttgart, Madison Symphony Orchestra, and the Seiji Ozawa Music Academy. She was engaged to perform the role of Musetta in Puccini’s La bohème for the Metropolitan Opera after grabbing the audience’s attention in the role at New York City Opera where The New York Times hailed Ms. Caballero as “the evening’s most show-stopping performance offering a thrilling balance of pearly tone, exacting technique and brazen physicality.” She subsequently returned to The Met in their new production of Carmen as part of The Metropolitan Opera: Live in HD series and most recently in the role of Mimi in last season’s production of La bohème. Recent operatic engagements also include Violetta in La traviata with la Compañía Lírica Nacional in Costa Rica, Opera Naples and Opera Grand Rapids, Cio-Cio San in Madama Butterfly with Pensacola Opera, and the title role of Daniel Catán’s Spanish opera Florencia en el Amazonas with Nashville Opera, New York City Opera and Madison Opera. She also returned to Seattle Opera as the Governess in The Turn of the Screw and as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, which she also performed with Lyric Opera Kansas City, and Liù in Turandot and Zemfira/Nedda in Aleko/ Pagliacci both at Opera Carolina. Ms. Caballero’s concert repertoire consists of John Rutter’s Requiem at Carnegie Hall, a performance of Carmina Burana with Florida Orchestra, Asheville Symphony and the National Chorale, Previn’s Honey and Rue in returns to the Pacific Symphony and as the soprano soloist in Verdi’s Requiem in Opera Grand Rapids.
SOUNDINGS
2021/22
PROGRAM III
CLASSICS BIOGRAPHIES
PHOTO: BEN DASHWOOD
KELLEY O’CONNOR, mezzo sopraho Possessing a voice of uncommon allure, the Grammy® Award-winning mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor is one of the most compelling performers of her generation. She is internationally acclaimed equally in the pillars of the classical music canon – from Beethoven and Mahler to Brahms and Ravel –as she is in new works of modern masters – from Adams and Dessner to Lieberson and Talbot. In the 2021-22 season Kelley O’Connor returns to the Concertgebouworkest for performances of Peter Lieberson’s Neruda Songs led by Stéphane Denève and a robust North American concert calendar includes performances of Mozart Requiem with Fabio Luisi conducting the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Mahler Das Lied von der Erde with Thomas Dausgaard and the Seattle Symphony, Mendelssohn Elijah with Jun Markl and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Juraj Valčuha and the Minnesota Orchestra and with Michael Stern and the Kansas City Symphony. Additional performances bring her together with Ken-David Masur and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra for a program of Canteloube and Duruflé, with Andrés Orozco-Estrada and the Houston Symphony for Mahler’s Second Symphony, and with Robert Spano and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra for Mahler’s Third Symphony. John Adams wrote the title role of The Gospel According to the Other Mary for Kelley O’Connor and she has performed the work, both in concert and in the Peter Sellars fully staged production, under the batons of John Adams, Gustavo Dudamel, Grant Gershon, Gianandrea Noseda, Sir Simon Rattle, and David Robertson. She has sung the composer’s El Niño with Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic Orchestra and continues to be the eminent living interpreter of Peter Lieberson’s Neruda Songs having given this moving set of songs with Christoph Eschenbach and the National Symphony Orchestra, with Bernard Haitink and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, with Robert Spano and the Minnesota Orchestra, and with David Zinman and the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich among many others. Sought after by many of the most heralded composers of the modern day, Kelley O’Connor has given the world premieres of Joby Talbot’s A Sheen of Dew on Flowers with the Britten Sinfonia and Bryce Dessner’s Voy a Dormir with Robert Spano leading the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Carnegie Hall with further performances accompanied by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra led by Jaime Martín. Kelley O’Connor has received unanimous international, critical acclaim for her performances as Federico García Lorca in Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar. Miss O’Connor created the role for the world premiere at Tanglewood, under the baton of Robert Spano, and subsequently joined Miguel Harth-Bedoya for performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and in the worldpremiere of the revised edition of Ainadamar at the Santa Fe Opera in a new staging by Peter Sellars, which was also presented at Lincoln Center and the Teatro Real. Concert highlights of recent seasons include Mozart’s Requiem and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Iván Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra, Lieberson’s Neruda Songs with the Philadelphia Orchestra under the baton of Stéphane Denève, a program of Berio and Crumb
PROGRAM IV
C O LO R A D O S Y M P H O N Y.O R G
CLASSICS BIOGRAPHIES with the New York Philharmonic, and Korngold’s Abschiedslieder with Donald Runnicles and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Past performances also include Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder with Matthias Pintscher and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Bernstein’s Songfest for her Boston Symphony Orchestra debut under the baton of Bramwell Tovey, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with David Robertson and the St. Louis Symphony, Mahler’s Des knaben Wunderhorn with Krzysztof Urbański and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and Das Lied von der Erde with the symphonies of Atlanta, Dallas, Detroit, and Glasgow among many others. She has given Ravel’s Shéhérazade with Gemma New and the San Francisco Symphony as well as with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Philharmonia Orchestra, Berio’s Folk Songs with Daniel Harding and the London Symphony Orchestra, and bowed as Erda in Wagner’s Das Rheingold with the New York Philharmonic conducted by Alan Gilbert.
PHOTO: JONNY HAMILTON
MATTHEW PLENK, tenor A graduate of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, tenor Matthew Plenk made his Metropolitan Opera debut in the 2007/2008 season as the Sailor’s Voice in Tristan und Isolde under the baton of Maestro James Levine, a role he repeated under the baton of Daniel Barenboim. He has since returned to the Met as Arturo, Janek in The Makropolous Case, the Song Seller in Il Tabarro and Marcellus in Hamlet, and appeared as Arturo in the Met’s 2011 tour of Japan. Other recent opera engagements have included Steuerman in Die fligende Holländer at the Los Angeles Opera, Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance and Macduff in Macbeth at the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte at the Virginia Opera, Ferrando in Cosí fan tutte at the Atlanta Opera, Don Ottavio at the Boston Lyric Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and the Des Moines Metro Opera; Nanki-Poo in The Mikada at the Virginia Opera, and Ferrando, Nanki-Poo, Rodolfo in La Bohème, Flute in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Kudrjáš in Janácek’s Kat’a Kabanová with the Yale Opera. Mr. Plenk made his Carnegie Hall debut with the Metropolitan Opera Chamber Ensemble, singing the Brahms Liebeslieder Walzer and duets by Schumann. Other recent concert engagements have included performances of Salome and Daphne with the Cleveland Orchestra in both Cleveland and New York (Franz Welser-Möst), Rigoletto with the Los Angeles Philharmonic (Gustavo Dudamel), Oedipus Rex with both the Boston Symphony Orchestra (James Levine) and the Philadelphia Orchestra (Charles Dutoit), and Les Troyens at the Tanglewood Festival (James Levine). Mr. Plenk is an Assistant Professor of Voice at The University of Denver’s Lamont School of music. He is a Samling Scholar, and holds a Bachelor’s degree from the Hartt School of Music and a Master’s degree from Yale University. Among many other awards, he was a Grand Finalist in the 2007 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
SOUNDINGS
2021/22
PROGRAM V
CLASSICS BIOGRAPHIES
PHOTO: RICHARD BLINKOFF
THOMAS CANNON, baritone Thomas Cannon has been acclaimed for his “focused tone, keen dramatic sense and vocal powerhouse”. Skilled across diverse genres, he has performed works by Verdi, Mozart, Puccini, Gounod, John Corigliano, Meredith Wilson and George Gershwin. Making his debut with the Colorado Symphony, Thomas Cannon recent engagements include Scarpia (Tosca) at Opera Roanoke; the role of Figaro (Ghost of Versailles) with the Miami Music Festival; Senator Potter and General Arlie in George Spears’ Fellow Travelers with Arizona Opera; Porgy in Porgy and Bess at Fort Worth Opera; and, guest soloist with The Lied Society of Minneapolis. This season he sang the role of Sharpless (Madama Butterfly) with Indianapolis Opera; Germont (La traviata) with Orlando Opera; Porgy to Rhiannon Gideons’ Bess in Greensboro Opera’s Porgy and Bess; and, a symphony engagement with Walla Walla Symphony. Next season Mr. Thomas is the Colonel and the Doctor in Arizona Opera’s The Rising and the Falling. He has been heard as Albert in Werther at Merkin Hall and has sung the role of Escamillo with Music Academy of the West. Among the roles in his repertoire include; Enrico (Lucia di Lammermoor), Giorgio Germont (La traviata), Count di Luna (Il trovatore) Count Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), Sharpless (Madama Butterfly), Ford (Falstaff), Sprecher (Die Zauberflöte) and Nettuno (Idomeneo). Mr. Cannon has sung extensively with Arizona Opera where he was engaged as a young artist. In addition, he has been a member of The Glimmerglass Festival, Chautauqua Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Dallas Opera and Music Academy of the West young artist programs. Thomas Cannon regularly appears on the concert stage. In 2019 he performed Haydn’s Harmonie Messe at St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna and Mozart’s Requiem at the Esterhazy Palace in Eisenstadt, Austria; was soloist with the Haydn Festival Eisenstadt in Die Schöphfung (The Creation) under the baton of Richard Zielinsky and sang Messe des Lebens by Frederick Delius with the American Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Leon Botstein. Additional concert repertoire includes; Verdi’s Messa da Requiem, Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle, Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Handel’s Messiah. Mr. Cannon has been honored for his artistry by The Dallas Opera Guild, Chautauqua Opera, The Anna Sosenko Foundation, West Palm Beach Opera, Opera Birmingham, and The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. He is a graduate of Baylor University where he earned a Bachelor of Music; The Juilliard School, Master of Music in Voice; and most recently a Doctorate of Musical Arts from Oklahoma University. Notable teachers including Nico Castel, Mignon Dunn, Marlena Malas, Dr. John Van Cura and Marilyn Horne and Kim Josephson of the Metropolitan Opera. Thomas Cannon sits on the vocal faculty of The Hartt School at the University of Hartford.
PROGRAM VI
C O LO R A D O S Y M P H O N Y.O R G
CLASSICS BIOGRAPHIES DUAIN WOLFE, director, Colorado Symphony Chorus Three-time Grammy® winner for Best Choral Performance, Best Classical Recording, and Best Opera Performance, Duain Wolfe is Founder and Director of the Colorado Symphony Chorus and Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Chorus. This year marks Wolfe’s 37th season with the Colorado Symphony Chorus. The Chorus has been featured at the Aspen Music Festival for over two decades. Wolfe, who is in his 28th season with the Chicago Symphony Chorus has collaborated with Daniel Barenboim, Pierre Boulez, Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Muti, and Sir George Solti on numerous recordings including Wagner’s Die Meistersinger, which won the 1998 Grammy® for Best Opera Recording. Wolfe’s extensive musical accomplishments have resulted in numerous awards, including the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from the University of Denver, the Bonfils Stanton Award in the Arts and Humanities, the Mayor’s Award for Excellence in an Artistic Discipline, and the Michael Korn Award for the Development of the Professional Choral Art. Wolfe is Founder of the Colorado Children’s Chorale, from which he retired in 1999 after 25 years. For 20 years, Wolfe also worked with the Central City Opera Festival as chorus director and conductor, founding and directing the company’s young artist residence program, as well as its education and outreach programs. Wolfe’s other accomplishments include directing and preparing choruses for Chicago’s Ravinia Festival, the Bravo! Vail Festival, the Berkshire Choral Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, and the Grand Teton Music Festival. He has worked with Pinchas Zuckerman and Alexander Shelly as Chorus Director for the Canadian National Arts Centre Orchestra for the past 20 years.
COLORADO SYMPHONY CHORUS The 2021-2022 Colorado Symphony concert season marks the 38th season of the Colorado Symphony Chorus. Founded in 1984 by Duain Wolfe at the request of Gaetano Delogu, then the Music Director of the Symphony, the chorus has grown into a nationally respected ensemble. This outstanding chorus of volunteers joins the Colorado Symphony for numerous performances each year, to repeated critical acclaim. The Chorus has performed at noted music festivals in the Rocky Mountain region, including the Colorado Music Festival, the Grand Teton Music Festival, and the Bravo! Vail Music Festival, where it has performed with the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Dallas Symphony, under conductors Alan Gilbert, Hans Graf, Jaap van Zweden, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. For over two decades, the Chorus has been featured at the world-renowned Aspen Music Festival, performing many great masterworks under the baton of conductors Lawrence Foster, James Levine, Murry Sidlin, Leonard Slatkin, David Zinman, and Robert Spano. Among the eight recordings the CSO Chorus has made is a NAXOS release of Roy Harris’s Symphony No. 4. The Chorus is also featured on a Hyperion release of the Vaughan Williams Dona Nobis Pacem and Stephen Hough’s Missa Mirabilis. Most recently, the Colorado Symphony and Chorus released a world-premiere recording of William Hill’s The Raven. In 2009, in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the chorus, Duain Wolfe conducted the chorus on a three-country, two-week concert tour of Europe, presenting the Verdi Requiem in Budapest, Vienna, Litomysl and Prague; and in 2016 the chorus returned to Europe for concerts in Paris, Strasbourg and Munich featuring the Fauré Requiem. This July, the chorus will return to Europe to perform “With the Voice of Triumph” and Bruckner’s majestic Te Deum in Vienna, Graz and Salzburg. SOUNDINGS
2 0 2 1 / 2 2 PROGRAM VII
CLASSICS BIOGRAPHIES COLORADO SYMPHONY CHORUS Duain Wolfe, Founding Director and Conductor Mary Louise Burke, Associate Conductor Taylor Martin, Assistant Conductor Hsiao-Ling Lin, Shao Chun Tsai, pianists Eric Israelson, Barbara Porter, Chorus Managers SOPRANO Lori Ascani Manda Baker Kimberly Black Jude Blum Alex Bowen Jamie Brown Denelda Causey Ruth Coberly Sarah Coberly Suzanne Collins Angie Collums Kerry Cote Claudia Dakkouri Mary Dobreff Kate Emerich Gracie Ewert Leontine Galante Monica Garcia Jenifer Gile Susan Graber Alaina Headrick Elizabeth Hedrick Mary Heintzkill Erin Hittle Kaitlyn Jones Cameron Jordan Colleen Keefe Lindsey Kermgard Marina Kushnir Dana Linder Cathy Look Anne Lopez Rebecca Machusko Anne Maupin Erin Montigne Wendy Moraskie Christine Nyholm Jeannette O’Nan Lorena Perry Jodie Peterson Kim Pflug Barbara Porter Donneve Rae
Andi Rooney Lori Ropa Sarah Roth Mahli Ruff Elise Schauer Roberta Sladovnik Nicole Stegink Judy Tate Sydney Timme Stacey Travis Susan von Roedern Marcia Walker Sandy Woodrow Karen Wuertz Joan Zisler ALTO Priscilla Adams Charlotte Braud Carrie Buechner Cass Chatfield Jayne Conrad Martha Cox Janie Darone Barbara Deck Raleigh Fairchild Anna Friedman Sharon Gayley Audrey Giger Daniela Golden Gabriella Groom Pat Guittar Sheri Haxton Melissa Holst Kaia Hoopes Brandy Jackson Ellen Janasko Lacey Jarrell Annette Kim Andrea LeBaron Juliet Levy Carole London Tinsley Long Alice Major
Joanna Maltzahn Brienna Martin Emily McNulty Susan McWaters Abigail Müller Kristen Nordenholz Sheri Owens Amber Parrish Kathi Rudolph Elizabeth Scarselli Melanie Stevenson Deanna Thaler Mary Thayer Clara Tiggelaar Kimberly Trubetskoy Pat Virtue Benita Wandel Evin Worthington TENOR Gary Babcock James Carlson James DeMarco Jack Dinkel Dustin Dougan Roger Fuehrer John Gale Frank Gordon Forrest Guittar Brian Hartman David Hodel Sami Ibrahim Jim Jirak Trey Johnson Curt Jordan Kenneth Kolm Sean McCarty Tom Mi l l iga n Richard Moraskie Garvis Muesing Timothy Nicholas Dallas Rehberg Tyler Richardson Eugene Roach
PROGRAM VIII C O LO R A D O S Y M P H O N Y.O R G
Ronald Ruth Andrew Seamans Jerry Sims Philip Stohlmann Hannis Thompson Kenneth Zimmerman BASS John Adams Daniel DeCecco Robert Friedlander Matthew Gray Tim Griffin Chris Grossman Nicholas Hamlyn Phill Hatton Douglas Hesse Leonard Hunt Eric Israelson Terry Jackson Thomas Jirak John Jones Jared Joseph Paul Lingenfelter Nalin Mehta Greg Morrison Taylor Nelson Eugene Nuccio John Phillips Ben Pilcher Tom Potter Kenneth Quarles Jimmy Ragan Frederick Ravid Joshua Richards Russell Skillings Matthew Smedberg David Struthers Wil Swanson Jesse Vanlandingham Tom Virtue
An Evening with Kristin Chenoweth and the Colorado Symphony AUG 12 | FRI 7:30 Boettcher Concert Hall
COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG
CLASSICS PROGRAM NOTES ANTON BRUCKNER (1824-1896) Te Deum for Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra Anton Bruckner was born on September 4, 1824 in Ansfelden, near Linz, Austria, and died October 11, 1896 in Vienna. The Te Deum was composed in 1881 and 1883-1884, and premiered on January 10, 1886 in Vienna, conducted by Hans Richter. The score calls for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, organ (optional) and strings. Duration is about 19 minutes. This is the Colorado Symphony premiere. “When I die I will present to God the score of my Te Deum, and He will judge me mercifully.” Those words of Anton Bruckner about his greatest choral work are the most cogent possible summary of the man and his work: that his unshakable faith in God — plain, simple, humble, and yet blindingly transcendent — could rule not just his life but the works of music that he so reverently and determinedly created. When Joseph Hellmesberger, the distinguished Austrian violinist and conductor, suggested to the composer that he dedicate the score of new Te Deum to the highest temporal power, Emperor Franz Joseph, Bruckner declined by telling Hellmesberger that he had already offered it to “my dear Lord.” The Te Deum, the great hymn of praise and thanksgiving, is one of the most ancient extant items of Christian musical worship. Long attributed to St. Ambrose, it has been shown to be the work of one Nicetus, a 6th-century bishop in Remisiana (now Nish, Serbia), though certain of its lines can be traced back as far as the 3rd century. It is one of the few remaining examples of a type of verse written to imitate the Psalms, a genre given the designation psalmus idioticus. The words of the Te Deum, a component of both the Roman Catholic and Anglican services, received special settings throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance, including one by Palestrina, and since the 17th century, the text has been the basis of many grand, festive compositions, among which are examples by Purcell (1694), Handel (two, 1713 and 1743), Berlioz (1855), Bruckner (1884), Dvořák (1896), Verdi (1898), Kodály (1936), Vaughan Williams (1937), Britten (1945) and Walton (1953). Bruckner’s Te Deum, unlike many of the latter-day examples of the genre, was not composed to celebrate a particular occasion but rather arose from his own deep religious belief as a song of thanksgiving to the God who had been the center of his life and thought for all of his years. The score, first drafted in 1881 while he was at work on the Sixth Symphony, was written during the most productive decade of the composer’s life: 1874-1884, when he also penned the Symphonies Nos. 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8, and the String Quintet in F major. It was a time for Bruckner of growing public recognition, so long delayed, and budding self-confidence. The completion of the Sixth Symphony and the composition of the Seventh (in which he quoted two themes from the Te Deum) as well as his teaching duties at the Vienna Conservatory and his obligations as Court Organist prevented him from returning to the 1881 sketches for the Te Deum until September 1883. He worked on the score throughout the winter, finishing it in March 1884. (He made some revisions the following year.) The work was first given privately at a Viennese concert of the Academic Wagner Association on May 2, 1885 (two pianos substituted for the orchestra), and was publicly premiered in Vienna on January 10, 1886; Hans Richter conducted. Bruckner was acclaimed. Even Eduard Hanslick, the scathingly anti-Wagner critic who had savaged every earlier performance of Bruckner’s music that he heard, allowed that the Te Deum had some merit. According to the local press, a performance of the work in Berlin in 1891 was greeted with one of the most enthusiastic responses that that city ever awarded to a new composition. The piece was heard at least thirty times during Bruckner’s lifetime, and became a rallying point for the public recognition of his last years. PROGRAM X
C O LO R A D O S Y M P H O N Y.O R G
CLASSICS PROGRAM NOTES The Te Deum was the last of his works that Bruckner heard in public concert. In 1895, Richard von Perger, the newly appointed conductor of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna, paid a call to the venerable Johannes Brahms, who advised, “I believe that it would be your duty to perform one of Bruckner’s choral works right away in your first year.” Perger scheduled the Te Deum for the Gesellschaft concert of January 12, 1896, and invited the ailing and aged Bruckner to attend. Bruckner consented, but he was so weak and emaciated that he had to be carried to and from the concert hall, where he was given a tremendous farewell ovation by the Viennese audience. “The Te Deum is in many ways a summation of the man,” wrote Derek Watson, “his mastery of choral writing, his individuality in symphonic integration, and above all the intensity of his religious fervor.” This great paean to piety is by turns aggressively virile in the intensity of its emotional expression and rapt and ecstatic in its reflective moments. The work’s six sections alternate massive outpourings of tone with stanzas of awed quiet in a grand architectural form that recalls the phrase often applied to Bruckner’s symphonies: “cathedrals in sound.” Te Deum laudamus, te Dominum confitemur. Te aeternum Patrem omnis terra veneratur. Tibi omnes Angeli, tibi caeli, et universae Potestates, tibi Cherubim et Seraphim incessabili voce proclamant: Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth. Pleni sunt caeli et terra majestatis gloriae tuae. Te gloriosus Apostolorum chorus, te Prophetarum laudabilis numerus, te Martyrum candidatus laudat exercitus. Te per orbem terrarum sancta confitetur Ecclesia, Patrem immensae majestatis; venerandum tuum verum et unicum Filium; Sanctum quoque Paraclitum Spiritum.
We praise Thee, O God, we acknowledge Thee to be the Lord. Thee, the Father everlasting, all the earth doth worship. To Thee all the angels, to Thee the heavens, and all the powers, to Thee the cherubim and seraphim cry out without ceasing: Holy, holy, holy Lord God of hosts.
Tu rex gloriae, Christe. Tu Patris sempiternus es Filius. Tu, ad liberandum suscepturus hominem, non horruisti Virginis uterum. Tu, devicto mortis aculeo, aperuisti credentibus regna caelorum.
Thou, o Christ, art the King of glory. Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father. Thou, having taken upon Thee to deliver man, didst not disdain the Virgin’s womb. Thou, having overcome the sting of death, hast opened to believers the kingdom of heaven.
Full are the heavens and the earth of the majesty of Thy glory. Thee, the glorious choir of the apostles, Thee, the admirable company of the prophets, Thee, the white-robed army of martyrs doth praise. Thee, the holy Church throughout the world doth confess: The Father of incomprehensible majesty; Thine adorable, true, and only Son, and the Holy Ghost the Paraclete.
SOUNDINGS
2021/22
PROGRAM XI
CLASSICS PROGRAM NOTES Tu ad dexteram Dei sedes in gloria Patris. Judex crederis esse venturus.
Thou sittest at the right hand of God, in the glory of the Father. Thou, we believe, art the Judge to come.
Te ergo quaesumus, famulis tuis subveni, quos pretioso sanguine redemisti.
We beseech Thee, therefore, to help Thy servants, whom Thou hast redeemed with Thy precious Blood.
Aeterna fac cum Sanctis tuis in gloria numerari.
Make them to be numbered with Thy saints in glory everlasting.
Salvum fac populum tuum, Domine, et benedic hereditati tuae. Et rege eos et extolle illos usque in aeternum. Per singulos dies benedicimus te. Et laudamus nomen tuum in saeculum et in saeculum saeculi. Dignare, Domine, die isto sine peccato nos custodire. Miserere nostri, Domine, miserere nostri! Fiat misencordia tua, Domine, super nos, quemadmodum speravimus in te. In te, Domine, speravi: non confundar in aeternum.
O Lord, save Thy people, and bless Thine inheritance. And govern them, and exalt them for ever. Day by day we bless Thee. And we praise Thy name for ever; yea, for ever and ever. Vouchsafe, O Lord, this day to keep us without sin. Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us! Let Thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, as we have trusted in Thee. In Thee, O Lord, have I trusted: let me not be confounded forever.
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770-1827) Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, “Choral” Ludwig van Beethoven was born on December 16, 1770 in Bonn, and died on March 26, 1827 in Vienna. The Ninth Symphony was mostly composed in 1823, though some of its ideas were conceived as much as thirty years before. The sketch was completed by the end of 1823, and the orchestration by the following February. Beethoven supervised the premiere, at Vienna’s Kärntnertor Theater on May 7, 1824, though the actual conducting was handled by Michael Umlauf. The score calls for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, percussion and strings. Duration is about 65 minutes. This piece was last performed by the orchestra January 27-28, 2017, led by Conductor Brett Mitchell. “I’ve got it! I’ve got it! Let us sing the song of the immortal Schiller!” shouted Beethoven to Anton Schindler, his companion and eventual biographer, as he burst from his workroom one afternoon in October 1823. The joyful announcement meant that the path to the completion of the Ninth Symphony — after a gestation of more than three decades — was finally clear. PROGRAM XII C O LO R A D O S Y M P H O N Y.O R G
CLASSICS PROGRAM NOTES Friedrich Schiller published his poem An die Freude (“Ode to Joy”) in 1785 as a tribute to his friend Christian Gottfried Körner. By 1790, when he was twenty, Beethoven knew the poem, and as early as 1793 he considered making a musical setting of it. Schiller’s poem appears in his notes in 1798, but the earliest musical ideas for its setting are found among the sketches for the Seventh and Eighth Symphonies, composed simultaneously in 1811-1812. Though these sketches are unrelated to the finished Ode to Joy theme — that went through more than 200 revisions (!) before Beethoven was satisfied with it — they do show the composer’s continuing interest in the text and the gestating idea of setting it for chorus and orchestra. The Seventh and Eighth Symphonies were finished by 1812, and Beethoven immediately started making plans for his next composition in the genre, settling on the key of D minor, but getting no further. It was to be another dozen years before he could bring this vague vision to fulfillment. The first evidence of the musical material that was to figure in the finished Ninth Symphony appeared in 1815, when a sketch for the theme of the Scherzo emerged among Beethoven’s notes. He took up his draft again in 1817, and by the following year much of the Scherzo was sketched. It was also in 1818 that he considered including a choral movement, but as the slow movement rather than as the finale. With much still unsettled, Beethoven was forced to lay aside this vague symphonic scheme in 1818 because of ill health, the distressing court battle to secure custody of his nephew, and other composing projects, most notably the monumental Missa Solemnis, and he was not able to resume work on the piece until the end of 1822. The 1822 sketches show considerable progress on the Symphony’s first movement, little on the Scherzo, and, for the first time, some tentative ideas for a choral finale based on Schiller’s poem. In November 1822, a commission arrived from the London Philharmonic Society for a new symphony. Beethoven accepted it. For several months thereafter, he envisioned two completely separate works: one for London, entirely instrumental, to include the sketched first movement and the nearly completed Scherzo; the other to use the proposed choral movement with a German text, which he considered inappropriate for an English audience. He took up the “English Symphony” first, and most of the opening movement was sketched during the early months of 1823. The Scherzo was finished in short score by August, eight years after Beethoven first conceived its thematic material, and the third movement sketched by October. With the first three movements nearing completion, Beethoven found himself without a finale. His thoughts turned to the choral setting of An die Freude lying unused among the sketches for the “German Symphony,” and he decided to include it in the work for London, language notwithstanding. The “English Symphony” and the “German Symphony” had merged. The Philharmonic Society eventually received the symphony it had commissioned — but not until a year after it had been heard in Vienna. Beethoven had one major obstacle to overcome before he could complete the Symphony: how to join together the instrumental and vocal movements. A recitative — the technique that had been used for generations to bridge from one operatic number to the next — that would be perfect, he decided. And the recitative could include fragments of themes from earlier movements — to unify the structure. “I’ve got it! I’ve got it!” he shouted with triumphant delight. Beethoven still had much work to do, as the sketches from the autumn of 1823 show, but he at last knew his goal, and the composition was completed by the end of the year. When the final scoring was finished in February 1824, it had been nearly 35 years since Beethoven first considered setting Schiller’s poem. The Symphony begins with the interval of a barren open fifth, suggesting some aweinspiring cosmic void. Thematic fragments sparkle and whirl into place to form the riveting main theme. A group of lyrical subordinate ideas follows. After a great climax, the open fifth intervals SOUNDINGS
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CLASSICS PROGRAM NOTES return to begin the highly concentrated development section. A complete recapitulation and an ominous coda arising from the depths of the orchestra bring this eloquent movement to a close. The form of the second movement is a combination of scherzo, fugue and sonata that exudes a lusty physical exuberance and a leaping energy. The Trio is more serene in character but forfeits none of the contrapuntal richness of the Scherzo. The Adagio is one of the most sublime pieces that Beethoven, or anyone else, ever wrote. Its impression of solemn profundity is enhanced by being placed between two such extroverted movements as the Scherzo and the finale. Formally, this movement is a variation on two themes, almost like two separate kinds of music that alternate with each other. The majestic closing movement is divided into two large parts: the first instrumental, the second with chorus and soloists. Beethoven chose to set about two-thirds of the original 96 lines of Schiller’s poem. To these, the composer added two lines of his own for the baritone soloist as a transition to the choral section. A shrieking dissonance introduces the instrumental recitative for cellos and basses that joins together brief thematic reminiscences from the three preceding movements. The wondrous Ode to Joy theme appears unadorned in the low strings, and is the subject of a set of increasingly powerful variations. The shrieking dissonance is again hurled forth, but this time the ensuing recitative is given voice and words by the baritone soloist. “Oh, friends,” he sings, “no more of these sad tones! Rather let us raise our voices together, and joyful be our song.” The song is the Ode to Joy, presented with transcendent jubilation by the chorus. Many sections based on the theme of the Ode follow, some martial, some fugal, all radiant with the glory of Beethoven’s vision. ©2021 Dr. Richard E. Rodda Baritone O Freunde, nicht diese Töne! Sondern lasst uns angenehmere anstimmen, und freudenvollere.
O friends, not these sounds! Rather let us sing more pleasing songs, full of joy. Baritone and Chorus
Freude, schöner Götterfunken, Tochter aus Elysium, wir betreten feuertrunken, Himmlische, dein Heiligtum. Deine Zauber binden wieder was die Mode streng geteilt; alle Menschen werden Brüder wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt.
Joy, brilliant spark of the gods, daughter of Elysium, drunk with fire, we enter, Divinity, your sacred shrine. Your magic again unites all that custom harshly tore apart; all men become brothers beneath your gentle hovering wing. Quartet and Chorus
Wem der grosse Wurf gelungen, eines Freundes Freund zu sein, wer ein holdes Weib errungen,
Whoever has won in that great gamble of being friend to a friend, whoever has won a gracious wife,
PROGRAM XIV C O LO R A D O S Y M P H O N Y.O R G
CLASSICS PROGRAM NOTES mische seine Jubel ein! Ja, wer auch nur eine Seele sein nennt auf dem Erdenrund! Und wer’s nie gekonnt, der stehle weinend sich aus diesem Bund! company! Freude trinken alle Wesen an den Brüsten der Natur, alle Guten, alle Bösen folgen ihre Rosenspur. Küsse gab sie uns und Reben, einen Freund, geprüft im Tod; Wollust ward dem Wurm gegeben, und der Cherub steht vor Gott!
let him join in our rejoicing! Yes, even if there is only one other soul he can call his own on the whole earth! And he who never accomplished this, let him steal away weeping from this All creatures drink of joy at Nature’s breast, All men, good and evil, follow her rose-strewn path. Kisses she gave us and vines, a friend, faithful to death; desire was even given to the worm, and the cherub stands before God! Tenor and Chorus
Froh, wie seine Sonnen fliegen durch des Himmels prächt’gen Plan, laufet, Brüder, eure Bahn, freudig wie ein Held zum Siegen.
Joyously, just as His suns fly through the splendid arena of heaven, run, brothers, your course gladly, like a hero to victory. Chorus
Freude, schöner Götterfunken, Tochter aus Elysium, wir betreten feuertrunken, Himmlische, dein Heiligtum. Deine Zauber binden wieder was die Mode streng geteilt; alle Menschen werden Brüder wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt.
Joy, brilliant spark of the gods, daughter of Elysium, drunk with fire, we enter, Divinity, your sacred shrine. Your magic again unites all that custom harshly tore apart; all men become brothers beneath your gentle hovering wing.
Seid umschlungen, Millionen! Diesen Kuss der ganzen Welt! Brüder, über’m Sternenzelt muss ein lieber Vater wohnen. Ihr stürzt nieder, Millionen? Ahnest du den Schöpfer, Welt? Such’ ihn über’m Sternenzelt! Über Sternen muss er wohnen.
Be embraced, ye millions! This kiss is for the entire world! Brothers, above the canopy of stars surely a loving Father dwells. Do you bow down, ye millions? Do you sense the Creator, World? Seek Him above the canopy of stars! Above the stars must He dwell.
Freude, schöner Götterfunken, Tochter aus Elysium, wir betreten feuertrunken, Himmlische, dein Heiligtum.
Joy, brilliant spark of the gods, daughter of Elysium, drunk with fire, we enter, Divinity, your sacred shrine.
SOUNDINGS
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CLASSICS PROGRAM NOTES Seid umschlungen, Millionen! Diesen Kuss der ganzen Welt!
Be embraced, ye millions! This kiss is for the entire world!
Ihr stürzt nieder, Millionen? Ahnest du den Schöpfer, Welt? Such’ ihn über’m Sternenzelt! Brüder! Brüder! Über’m Sternenzelt muss ein lieber Vater wohnen.
Do you bow down, ye millions? Do you sense the Creator, World? Seek Him above the canopy of stars! Brothers! Brothers! Above the canopy of stars surely a loving Father dwells. Quartet and Chorus
Freude, Tochter aus Elysium, deine Zauber binden wieder was die Mode streng geteilt; alle Menschen werden Brüder wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt.
Joy, daughter of Elysium, Your magic again unites all that custom harshly tore apart; all men become brothers beneath your gentle hovering wing.
Seid umschlungen, Millionen! Diesen Kuss der ganzen Welt! Brüder, über’m Sternenzelt muss ein lieber Vater wohnen.
Be embraced, ye millions! This kiss is for the entire world! Brothers, above the canopy of stars surely a loving Father dwells.
Freude, schöner Götterfunken, Tochter aus Elysium!
Joy, brilliant spark of the gods, daughter of Elysium!
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PROGRAM XVI C O LO R A D O S Y M P H O N Y.O R G