Harrisburg Symphony - Welcome to the Concert Studyguide

HEROIC BEETHOVEN October 18-19, 2014 Masterworks 1

Welcome to the Concert begins 45 minutes before each Masterworks concert outside Section 208 of the Forum Lobby.

Special Thanks to:

Sponsor or the Harrisburg Symphony Welcome to the Concerts Program

On this concert program we will hear two important pieces of music, both written by Ludwig van Beethoven. In the first half of the program, we will listen to Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4. You may remember that a concerto is a work for solo instrument accompanied by orchestra, usually with three movements. Alon Goldstein is the pianist who joins the Harrisburg Symphony to play this piano concerto. Mr. Goldstein travels all over the world performing with orchestras and performing solo recitals.

Recently, he has given a significant number of performances, master classes and clinics in Latin America.

Alon Goldstein, our piano soloist addressing and performing for a group of students in Lima, Peru

Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony Beethoven called his Third Symphony Eroica (“Heroic”). The Eroica is more than 200 years old yet still seems modern. In his Third Symphony Beethoven began to use broad strokes of sound to tell us how he felt, and what being alive meant to him. The piece caused a sensation and changed the idea of what a symphony could be.

When Beethoven called this piece “heroic”, he wasn’t kidding. Originally written as a tribute to Napoleon Bonaparte out of Beethoven’s admiration for the leader of the French Revolution. Beethoven thought he recognized in Napoleon a hero of the people and a champion of freedom, which was why he intended to dedicate a huge new symphony to him.

In late 1804 when Beethoven heard the news that Napoleon had crowned himself Emperor of France, he was really disgusted. He did not think of Napoleon as a hero any longer; instead he thought he was a no good scoundrel. Beethoven violently erased Napoleon’s name from his manuscript – so forcefully, in fact, that he erased his way right through the paper, leaving holes in the title page.

The revolutionary piece of music that was originally to The Bonaparte Symphony became simply Eroica – the heroic.

If the hero of the music was no longer Napoleon, who was it? The Eroica explores what it means to be human. Beethoven embraced the heroic in every person with this monumental work. Beethoven said that this symphony was his favorite (remember that he wrote a total of nine). In the Eroica, the third, he envisioned where his music was going and in fact where the music of the future was going. It is said that all the works that followed it – music by Schumann, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Mahler – would have been impossible without the pathfinding steps that Beethoven took in this symphony.

Excerpted from Keeping Score, with the San Francisco Symphony

Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 55, “Eroica”

Written between 1802 and 1804

The First Movement: Allegro con brio In this first movement, Beethoven takes his listeners on a wild journey through emotional extremes, based on a few simple themes.

The Second Movement: Marcia funebre: Adagio assai The Funeral March, as the title of the second movement expresses, conveyed in music the emotions of state funerals in Paris at the time. Beethoven started losing his hearing just prior to beginning work on the third symphony. It is noted that he may have been foretelling his own death and mortality as he wrote the funeral march.

The Third Movement: Scherzo: Allegro vivace Beethoven was depressed due to his disillusionment with the French Revolution’s “heroes” and his own impending deafness.

He went to the country where he experienced a burst of creativity exemplified in this most powerful and imaginative of movements.

The Fourth Movement: Finale: Allegro molto It is often said that the simple things in life are the best. Beethoven allowed simple melodies: fugues, dances, and lovely instrumental solos to reveal to us the most beautiful triumphant climax of the life of a hero in this final movement.

While it probably has very little to do with either Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 or his Symphony No. 3 (Eroica), here is a really fun game for use at home on your computer.

You can play it on an i-pad or phone, but the full effect is most fun when you can play it on a bigger screen. Our friends at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra have made something they call Beethoven’s Baseball. I commend it to you as it’s really fun to play baseball with a bunch of composers and Beethoven (who is the greatest composer of all time in the estimation of many) is all-time pitcher! Enjoy! www.dsokids.com/games/beethovens-baseball.aspx

Heroic Beethoven...What super hero does Beethoven remind you of?

Make your own Super Beethoven!

Spider Beethoven Bat Beethoven Super Beethoven.

You get the idea.

Featured HSO musician for Masterworks 1

Duane Botterbusch HSO Bass Duane Botterbusch is a bassist, music educator and orchestra conductor. He is a member of both the Harrisburg and York Symphony Orchestras and is principal bassist of the The Metta Ensemble, Shippensburg Festival Orchestra, the Pennsylvania Regional Ballet Orchestra and the Gettysburg Chamber Orchestra. Mr. Botterbusch, retired from public school teaching, taught secondary school strings and served as the Music Department Chair for the Gettysburg Area School District. His orchestras earned excellent competition ratings in Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, Toronto, Canada and the Bahamas. The former conductor of the Gettysburg College Orchestra, Mr. Botterbusch is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Music at Gettysburg College where he teaches studio double bass and string methods classes as well as leading the double bass ensemble. At Messiah College Mr. Botterbusch is Adjunct Instructor of Double Bass. His teaching assignment is double bass studio instruction. Also at Messiah College, he is bass instructor and junior high orchestra director at the annual string orchestra camp. Mr. Botterbusch earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Music Education from Mansfield University and Master of Music Degree from West Chester University. Private double bass study included work at Ithaca College with Henry Neubert and Barry Green at the University of Cincinnati. In 1997 Mr. Botterbusch was chosen Outstanding Studio Teacher of the Year by the Pennsylvania/Delaware chapter of the American String Teacher’s Association. In 2005 he was awarded the Outstanding Orchestra Director of the Year award by the same organization. District 7 PMEA honored Botterbusch in 2010 with the The Rodney S. Miller Distinguished Service Award. A past president of the Adams County Pennsylvania Music Educator’s Association, Mr. Botterbusch holds membership in the American String Teacher’s Association and the International Society of Bassists.

Flat Forte This season, we are introducing you to Forte (the Frog), who is kind of like our Mascot for the 2014-15 season. Forte will likely be travelling throughout the world as he listens to music from composers of many different countries, just as we will (enjoy music from composers of many different countries!).

So we are sharing with you our very special friend, Forte, and we hope that you will enjoy taking Forte on some of your own travels. We will have Flat Fortes at our first Masterworks concert for you to cut out and then, you may find that Forte enjoys going with you on outings throughout the greater Harrisburg area and even beyond.