The Cleveland Orchestra April 5, 7, 12, 13 Concerts

THE

CLEVEL AND ORC HE STR A

2O1 7-18 CENTENNIAL SEASON

FRANZ WELSER-MÖST

Week 19 April 5, 7

Brahms Violin Concerto page 29

Week 20 April 12, 13

Beethoven’s Symphonies Nos. 3, 5, 8 and Wagner’s Love-Death pages 54-55

Perspectives: Centennial Season page 7

SEVERANCE HALL

SPRING

We help keep the orchestra feeling sharp.

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Ohio’s Health Insurance Choice Since 1934 © 2016 Medical Mutual of Ohio

MedMutual.com/Arts

Music colors their world.

That’s why we’re proud supporters of The Cleveland Orchestra’s music education programs for children, making possible the rewards and benefits of music in their lives.

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2O1 7-18 CENTENNIAL SEASON

TA B L E

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CONTENTS

THI S BOOK THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA

About the Orchestra

PAGE

Weeks 19 AND 20 Perspectives from the Executive Director . . . . . . . 7 Musical Arts Association . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 From the Start: The Cleveland Orchestra . . . . . . 11 By the Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Roster of Musicians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Music Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Severance Hall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Patron Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

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BRAHMS VIOLIN CONCERTO Concert: April 5, 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Introducing the Concerts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 WEEK

COVER: PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROGER MASTROIANNI (RIGHT) AND THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA ARCHIVES (LEFT):

Stone carvers work on the pediment designed by Henry Hering for the front of Severance Hall, carving on site after the stones had been lifted into place high atop the building front, 1930.

Copyrightt © 2018 by The Cleveland Orchestra and the Musical Arts Association Eric Sellen, Program Book Editor E-MAIL: esellen@clevelandorchestra.com Program books for Cleveland Orchestra concerts are produced by The Cleveland Orchestra and are distributed free to attending audience members.

Program book advertising is sold through Live Publishing Company at 216-721-1800

BRAHMS

Violin Concerto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 SUK

Asrael Symphony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Guest Conductor: Jakub Hrůša . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Guest Soloist: Sergey Khachatryan . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 NEWS

Cleveland Orchestra News . . . . . . . . 47

20 BEETHOVEN & WAGNER Program: April 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Program: April 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Introducing the Concerts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 WEEK

BEETHOVEN

Overture: Coriolan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 BEETHOVEN

The Cleveland Orchestra is grateful to the following organizations for their ongoing generous support of The Cleveland Orchestra: National Endowment for the Arts, the State of Ohio and Ohio Arts Council, and to the residents of Cuyahoga County through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.

The Cleveland Orchestra is proud of its long-term partnership with Kent State University, made possible in part through generous funding from the State of Ohio.

The Cleveland Orchestra is proud to have its home, Severance Hall, located on the campus of Case Western Reserve University, with whom it has a long history of collaboration and partnership.

Symphony No. 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 BEETHOVEN

Symphony No. 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 WAGNER

Prelude and Love-Death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

50%

BEETHOVEN

Symphony No. 3 (“Eroica”) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Festival April 21-29

All unused books are recycled as part of the Orchestra’s regular business recycling program.

These books are printed with EcoSmart certified inks, containing twice the vegetable-based material and one-tenth the petroleum oil content of standard inks, and producing 10% of the volatile organic compounds.

The Ecstasy of Tristan and Isolde . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Support Second Century Sponsors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Annual Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78-85

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This program is printed on paper that includes 50% recycled content.

Table of Contents

The Cleveland Orchestra

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No. 98 When it debuted, the Orchestra consisted of 54 musicians and conductor Nikolai Sokoloff.

Today, the Orchestra has more than 100 musicians.

BakerHostetler is honored to share with The Cleveland Orchestra a 100-year tradition of excellence in service to our community.

We are proud of our decades-long support of this world-class orchestra, and to celebrate its legacy we have gathered 100 facts about its illustrious history.

Visit bakerlaw.com/100reasons to read them all.

bakerlaw.com

Perspectives from the Executive Director Spring 2018 Welcome to the closing weeks of The Cleveland Orchestra’s landmark 100th season of concerts. From the first notes of the inspiring Education Concert “Beethoven & Prometheus: A Hero’s Journey,” which saw students from the Cleveland School of the Arts sharing the stage at Severance Hall, to performances of Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde and Franz Welser-Möst’s The Prometheus Project, the Centennial Season has been big and beautiful, energizing and inquisitive, quiet and contemplative.

As the New York Times noted in January, while praising the Orchestra as “one of the finest ensembles in the nation and the world,” we have focused our celebration this year in creating performances of extraordinary music to give voice to our profound gratitude to you — our audience and our community. The Times stated, “At 100, the Cleveland Orchestra may (quietly) be America’s best,” emphasizing the unique culture of this Orchestra and the absolute dedication of our artists in always putting the music first, before any individual egos. In fact, the season’s true celebration has taken place weekend after weekend onstage and off, in the connection created between the Orchestra and the audience sharing moments together in an ongoing exploration through music, of our common humanity.

You are at the heart of our 100th season — this remarkable milestone is really a celebration of our city and our community, whose passion and generosity have made it possible to create and sustain one of the world’s greatest orchestras for a century. You are one of the driving forces behind The Cleveland Orchestra’s greatness, and we are honored to share our passion for music with you, each and every concert.

As the centennial year continues, Franz Welser-Möst and the Orchestra offer two ambitious and large-scale festivals: The Ecstasy of Tristan & Isolde here in Cleveland (April 21-29) and The Prometheus Project, presented on three continents, in Cleveland (May 10-19), Vienna (May 24-28), and Tokyo (June 2-7). Each brings together musical performances centered on larger ideas and ideals from the world around us. In addition to the ongoing season of great musical performances, these festivals represent the kind of topical and indepth musical exploration that the Orchestra’s musicians — and this community — have aspired to across the decades. Cleveland takes a backseat to no one in the musical world.

And there’s more to come this summer with a public 100th birthday party in downtown Cleveland for the annual free Star-Spangled Spectacular, this year on Friday, July 6. We also celebrate the 50th Anniversary of our summer home, at Blossom Music Center, with a season of special musical offerings.

Yet, it cannot be said often enough that all of this — everything we do, every note The Cleveland Orchestra plays — is only possible through the attention, care, interest, enthusiasm, and generosity of thousands. As you can see on many different pages of this book, from the Second Century Sponsors to our annual donor Honor Rolls, many passionate people and organizations help ensure The Cleveland’s Orchestra’s music-making each and every year. If you have already given to the Annual Fund, let me extend a big thank you.

And if you have not, please take this as an invitation to join the large family of Cleveland Orchestra donors. Every dollar counts, every gift makes a difference. Thank you.

Severance Hall 2017-18

André Gremillet

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Alice May 11-12, 2018 • Ohio Theatre Tickets at playhousesquare.org

Choreography by Tony Award & Drama Desk Award Nominee

Margo Sappington

Resident Company of Playhouse Square

Opening Night Benefit Dinner & Show at Cibréo Privato 5:45PM Cocktails & Hors D’oeuvres • 6:45PM Dinner • 8:00PM Performance • VIP Section Seating For tickets call Cleveland Ballet at 216.320.9000 (ext. 102) or online clevelandballet.org.

MUSICAL ARTS ASSOCIATION

as of January 2018

operating The Cleveland Orchestra, Severance Hall, and Blossom Music Festival O F F I C E R S A ND E XEC UT I VE C O MMIT T E E Richard K. Smucker, President Dennis W. LaBarre, Chairman Richard J. Bogomolny, Chairman Emeritus Alexander M. Cutler Hiroyuki Fujita David J. Hooker Michael J. Horvitz Douglas A. Kern

Norma Lerner, Honorary Chair Hewitt B. Shaw, Secretary Beth E. Mooney, Treasurer

Virginia M. Lindseth Nancy W. McCann Larry Pollock Alfred M. Rankin, Jr. Audrey Gilbert Ratner

Barbara S. Robinson Jeffery J. Weaver Meredith Smith Weil Paul E. Westlake Jr.

R E S I D E NT TR U S TE ES Richard J. Bogomolny Yuval Brisker Jeanette Grasselli Brown Helen Rankin Butler Irad Carmi Paul G. Clark Robert D. Conrad Matthew V. Crawford Alexander M. Cutler Hiroyuki Fujita Robert K. Gudbranson Iris Harvie Jeffrey A. Healy Stephen H. Hoffman David J. Hooker Michael J. Horvitz Marguerite B. Humphrey Betsy Juliano Jean C. Kalberer Nancy F. Keithley

Christopher M. Kelly Douglas A. Kern John D. Koch Dennis W. LaBarre Norma Lerner Virginia M. Lindseth Milton S. Maltz Nancy W. McCann Stephen McHale Thomas F. McKee Loretta J. Mester Beth E. Mooney John C. Morley Meg Fulton Mueller Katherine T. O’Neill Rich Paul Larry Pollock Alfred M. Rankin, Jr. Clara T. Rankin Audrey Gilbert Ratner

Charles A. Ratner Zoya Reyzis Barbara S. Robinson Steven M. Ross Luci Schey Spring Hewitt B. Shaw Richard K. Smucker James C. Spira R. Thomas Stanton Russell Trusso Daniel P. Walsh Thomas A. Waltermire Geraldine B. Warner Jeffery J. Weaver Meredith Smith Weil Jeffrey M. Weiss Norman E. Wells Paul E. Westlake Jr. David A. Wolfort

N O N- R E S I D E NT TR U S T E E S Virginia Nord Barbato (New York) Wolfgang C. Berndt (Austria)

Laurel Blossom (California) Richard C. Gridley (South Carolina)

Herbert Kloiber (Germany) Paul Rose (Mexico)

T RU S TE E S E X- O F F I C I O Faye A. Heston, President, Volunteer Council of The Cleveland Orchestra Patricia Sommer, President, Friends of The Cleveland Orchestra Elizabeth McCormick, President, Blossom Friends of The Cleveland Orchestra T RU S TE E S E M E R I TI George N. Aronoff Dr. Ronald H. Bell David P. Hunt S. Lee Kohrman Charlotte R. Kramer Donald W. Morrison Gary A. Oatey Raymond T. Sawyer PA S T PR E S I D E NT S D. Z. Norton 1915-21 John L. Severance 1921-36 Dudley S. Blossom 1936-38 Thomas L. Sidlo 1939-53

Carolyn Dessin, Chair, Cleveland Orchestra Chorus Operating Committee Beverly J. Warren, President, Kent State University Barbara R. Snyder, President, Case Western Reserve University

H O N O RARY T RUS T E E S FOR LIFE Robert P. Madison Gay Cull Addicott Robert F. Meyerson Charles P. Bolton The Honorable John D. Ong Allen H. Ford James S. Reid, Jr. Robert W. Gillespie Dorothy Humel Hovorka* Alex Machaskee * deceased

Percy W. Brown 1953-55 Frank E. Taplin, Jr. 1955-57 Frank E. Joseph 1957-68 Alfred M. Rankin 1968-83

Ward Smith 1983-95 Richard J. Bogomolny 1995-2002, 2008-09 James D. Ireland III 2002-08 Dennis W. LaBarre 2009-17

THE CLEVEL AND ORCHESTR A Franz Welser-Möst, Music Director

Severance Hall 2017-18

André Gremillet, Executive Director

Musical Arts Association

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PROUDLY SHARING A CENTENNIAL SEASON WITH THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA. LOCATED ON THE OBERLIN COLLEGE CAMPUS Founded in 1917 by Elisabeth Severance Allen (later Prentiss), the AMAM has an acclaimed collection of more than 15,000 objects from virtually every culture and time period.

THURSDAY EVENING HOURS Once a month, galleries remain open until 7:30 pm: February 8, March 1, April 5, and May 3.

LINES OF INQUIRY: LEARNING FROM REMBRANDT’S ETCHINGS—February 6 to May 13 Works by the 17th-century Dutch master from the AMAM collection, as well as from Cornell, Harvard, Princeton, Syracuse, Vassar, Yale, the Morgan Library & Museum, and private lenders.

Centennial exhibitions through May 27: MAIDENFORM TO MODERNISM: THE BISSETT COLLECTION—Paintings by Chagall, Dubuffet, Matisse, Miró, Modigliani, Picasso, and others.

THIS IS YOUR ART: THE LEGACY OF ELLEN JOHNSON—Celebrating the Oberlin professor who championed modern and contemporary art.

A CENTURY OF ASIAN ART AT OBERLIN: JAPANESE PRINTS

Allen Memorial Art Museum 87 North Main St. Oberlin, Ohio

Open Tuesday to Saturday 10–5 Sunday 1–5 Closed Mondays and major holidays

Free admission www.oberlin.edu/ amam

CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA THE

December 1919, Grays Armory

From the Start

A Mission for Greatness in Community, Education, & Music

by E R I C S E L L E N

A

2O1 7-18 CENTENNIAL SEASON

cclaimed for decades among the world’s top symphonic ensembles, The Cleveland Orchestra celebrates its 1OOth year during the 2017-18 season.

Such fame and acclaim did not come without a plan. From the very beginning, the private citizens who created this public institution fully intended to foster a great musical ensemble that would carry the exceptional can-do spirit of the city of Cleveland far and wide. Generations have carried through on the hard work required to forge and sustain the Orchestra’s mission to share extraordinary musical experiences, to foster a love of music in students of all ages, and to proudly carry the name of the city it represents.

The Early Decades: Creation, Growth, and the Construction of Severance Hall At the time the ensemble was created, in 1918, Cleveland was a rising industrial metropolis heavily involved in the steel industry and rivalling Detroit in car manufacturing. Rich magnates put the money together for the Orchestra’s early seasons, including John L. Severance, an acquaintance of John D. Rockefeller.

Unusually for the era, a woman, Adella Prentiss Hughes, was the

Severance Hall 2017-18

About the Orchestra

11

guiding light behind the efforts to create a hometown band — and she worked tirelessly and with great political finesse to launch it on a trajectory toward being “as good as any orchestra in America.”

Nikolai Sokoloff, the Orchestra’s first music director (1918-33), is often overlooked in light of his better-known suc-

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cessors. He was, however, certainly good enough to pull the group together and guide them forward for more than a decade. Those years saw the start of many education programs that continue today — the Orchestra has introduced more than 4 million young people to classical music across its first century — as well as extensive touring across the United States and to Cuba, and its first concerts at New York’s famed Carnegie Hall.

Perhaps the biggest push in the early years came from John L. Severance when he donated money toward the ensemble’s permanent home concert hall, named to honor both Severance and his wife when it opened in 1931. Severance Hall was among the very first such buildings designed with radio broadcasting capability in its original schematics and quickly gave the musical ensemble a new sense of permanence, style, and purpose.

Artur Rodzinski came next as music director (1933-43), injecting a new level of energy into the Orchestra’s music making.

A gifted if mercurial leader, who may (or may not) have had a pistol strapped to him onstage when he conducted, Rodzinski had big ambitions and started out strong. For four seasons in the mid-1930s, the Orchestra’s season featured fully-staged opera productions at Severance Hall, with some of the day’s most-renowned stars, including Lotte Lehmann and Friedrich Schorr.

However, the cost of presenting four or five operas each year, in the midst of the Depression, eventually forced their discontinuation. Rodzinski moved forward nevertheless, with recordings alongside new and rediscovered works. Finally, he left CleveThe Cleveland Orchestra

land to pursue his own career in the bigger cities of New York and, later, Chicago.

For Erich Leinsdorf, the next music director (1943-46), timing was everything — and World War II largely precluded him from making much impact in Cleveland.

Many of the ensemble’s musicians were on leave for military duty, and Leinsdorf himself was away part of the time for military service. Evenso, he made some solid recordings, led a variety of radio broadcasts, and re-affirmed his own bona fides for the high-powered international career he enjoyed in the ensuing decades.

The Szell Era: Rise to International Fame George Szell, music director from 1946 until his death in 1970, took a credibly good orchestra and made it great. It’s not that he put The Cleveland Orchestra on the map, for it had been touring around the U.S. for years. It was more that he took the stage and insisted that Cleveland could be — in real fact, would become — as good

as any orchestra anywhere. His legendary standards focused 100 musicians toward a kind of peerless perfection that dazzled many ears. Just as a great restaurant grows its reputation through delivering consistent excellence, Szell was concerned with repeatability. Day in and day out, critics and audiences around the world could more and more count on The Cleveland Orchestra to deliver a great performance, everytime, anywhere. That predictability, coupled with the rise of audiophile home listening equipment (and stereo sound) turned Cleveland into a powerhouse in the recording studio, creating an outstanding catalog across the standard repertoire, many selections from which still hold their own as much as half a century later.

The Orchestra’s ambitions also grew along with Szell’s tenure, touring internationally to amaze Europeans unaccustomed to such constant perfection in live performance. A ten-week tour in 1965 included a month in the Soviet Union, which became legendary among Cleveland’s musicians,

Education has long been a fundamental part of The Cleveland Orchestra’s programs each year, including teaching and coaching future musicians — such as these young students in 1929.

Severance Hall 2017-18

About the Orchestra

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2O1 7-18

THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA

CENTENNIAL SEASON

Second Century Celebration We are deeply grateful to the visionary philanthropy of the sponsors listed here who have given generously toward The Cleveland Orchestra’s 1OOth season in support of bringing to life a bold vision for an extraordinary Second Century — to inspire and transform lives through the power of music.

Presenting Sponsors

Leadership Sponsors Ruth McCormick Tankersley Charitable Trust

Sponsors

Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP National Endowment for the Arts The Sherwin-Williams Company

Westfield Insurance KPMG LLP PwC

Global Media Sponsor

Series and Concert Sponsors We also extend thanks to our ongoing concert and series sponsors, who make each season of concerts possible: American Greetings Corporation BakerHostetler Buyers Products Company Dollar Bank Foundation Eaton Ernst & Young LLP Forest City Frantz Ward LLP The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Great Lakes Brewing Company Hahn Loeser & Parks LLP Hyster-Yale Materials Handling, Inc. NACCO Industries, Inc. Jones Day KeyBank The Lincoln Electric Foundation Litigation Management, Inc. The Lubrizol Corporation Materion Corporation Medical Mutual MTD Products, Inc. North Coast Container Corp.

Ohio Savings Bank Olympic Steel, Inc. Parker Hannifin Foundation PNC Bank Quality Electrodynamics (QED) RPM International Inc. The J. M. Smucker Company Squire Patton Boggs (US) LLP The Sherwin-Williams Company Thompson Hine LLP Tucker Ellis

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Second Century Century Sponsors Second

Severance HallOrchestra 2017-18 The Cleveland

staff, and board members for the Orchestra’s unflagging ability to put on a great performance for wildly enthusiastic audiences — even with circumstances of lessthan-optimal hotels, transportation, and backstage facilities.

Despite his reputation, the steel-eyed taskmaster Szell was not entirely without emotion and understanding of those around him or of humanity as a collective society. Stories abound of small gestures of sympathy and understanding at fateful moments in the lives of longtime Orchestra musicians. And, having escaped in the 1930s from a Europe-turned-afoul, he was well-tuned to world politics and changing times — and to the need for public statements in times of crisis. Following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, he led the Orchestra in a moving performance of the Funeral March from Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, making a statement of solidarity and caring with the ongoing struggle for human justice.

Planning and foresight by the Orchestra’s leadership also brought about increased performance opportunities. In 1968, the opening of the Orchestra’s parklike countryside summer home, Blossom Music Center, ensured the musicians of a year-round employment contract, further bonding them with their hometown audiences (who also lined up by the thousands at Blossom for rock-n-roll concerts by the era’s other big-name musical legends).

Forging Ahead: Boulez and Maazel Upon Szell’s death, Pierre Boulez was appointed to an interim position as musical advisor for two seasons (1970-72). Boulez Severance Hall 2017-18

made his professional American debut with the Cleveland ensemble in 1965. His relationship as a friend and influence on the podium in Cleveland eventually extended to nearly half a century. He brought daring programming of new music along with new ideas to clear the accumulated earwax from old ways of listening to classics. His astute musical judgement and his extraordinary laser-like precision on the podium eventually won Cleveland five Grammy Awards. By example and with keen intellect and approach, he effortlessly encouraged the musicians across a widening spectrum of the repertoire.

Lorin Maazel, the next music director (1972-82), stirred things up a bit for The Cleveland Orchestra. His high-energy leadership and fascinating programming, along with a compelling (if at times headstrong) conducting style also dared the musicians to make music in new ways. International touring continued, including the Cleveland’s first trips to South America and to Australia and New Zealand — with the Orchestra’s global reach becoming a true reality beyond its well-deserved reputation.

The ensemble’s recordings also continued, with Maazel leading large swaths of the repertoire and helping the Orchestra pioneer digital recording.

A New Golden Era: Dohnányi and a Restored Severance Hall Christoph von Dohnányi, the sixth music director (1982-2002), brought artistic leadership for a second “Golden Age,” as well as, finally, some critical distinction beyond being “the Orchestra that Szell built.”

Dohnányi focused on both precision and

About the Orchestra

15

warmth of sound, while presenting intriguing programming of standard works mixed together with lesser-known repertoire. Touring became an annual part of the Orchestra’s calendar, including regular residencies in Salzburg, performances throughout Europe, and first performances in China.

These years also coincided with the final era of growth in commercial recording. The Cleveland Orchestra laid claim to being the “most-recorded orchestra in America” for nearly a decade, turning out album after album annually to wide acclaim and sales. In addition, Dohnányi revived the Orchestra’s operatic traditions, though mostly with in-concert presentations, and devoted his work to further polish and amalgamate the musicians’ gifted artistry and ensemblework.

One of the greatest long-term achievements of Dohnányi’s tenure was the renovation and expansion of Severance Hall, which restored what many have called “America’s most beautiful concert hall” to visual interior splendor while simultaneously enhancing its famously clear and intimate acoustics.

The work also restored the hall’s original 6,025-pipe concert organ, making it once again usable (from a new location within the hall) for the first time in half a century.

Accelerando con moto: Welser-Möst and a New Century Franz Welser-Möst became The Cleveland Orchestra’s seventh music director in the autumn of 2002. His charge has been to carry the ensemble forward

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— first into the new millennium and now into the Orchestra’s own Second Century.

His playbook has been to build on the best traditions of the past while steering clearly and with passionate directness to argue for music’s renewed relevance in a changing world.

He has expanded repertoire while further honing the Orchestra’s flexibility for modern (and older) music. The Orchestra’s long operatic tradition has been augmented with the return of fullystaged opera productions to Severance Hall, including cutting-edge presentations filled with 21st-century technological know-how and wonder — all in service to telling the plotlines of challenging works in compelling ways and with superb casts.

Welser-Möst has also led The Cleveland Orchestra in a series of acclaimed video and other recordings, further enlarging the ensemble’s storied recorded legacy. He has advocated for a renewed and extended focus aimed at serving the people of Cleveland, through expanded education offerings and a new diversity of programming and concert formats.

Special ticketing programs offer free tickets for families to bring children with them to concerts, with a notable increase of younger people attending performances — with 20% of audiences now aged 25 and younger.

In the past decade, the Orchestra has also extended its work as Cleveland’s ambassador to the world, regularly showcasing its extraordinary musicianship in music capitals and at festivals and in residencies across Europe and on tour in the

About the Orchestra

The Cleveland Orchestra

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PHOTO BY ROGER MASTROIANNI

United States.

With his contract extended to encompass a tenure of at least two decades, Welser-Möst continues to prepare The Cleveland Orchestra for its Second Century, serving the art of music and the people of its hometown earnestly and with the utmost dedication to harness the power of music to change lives and to inspire creativity and understanding.

Tellingly, throughout the Orchestra’s history, there has been a strong tradition of leadership continuity, not just artistically (with only seven Music Directors in 100 years), but also in Presidents of the governing non-profit Board of Trustees (just twelve), and staff Executive Directors (only nine), providing a steady but focused progression of guidance propelling the Orchestra forward. Contrasted with the shifting sands at some other well-known ensembles, this unity of purpose and personnel has helped carry the Orchestra forward institutionally as a tireless agent for inspiring its hometown through great music.

For, in truth, the Orchestra’s greatest strength remains the citizens of its hometown and the region surrounding Cleve-

land, whose forebears imagined such a world-famous orchestra could exist and then set about to make it happen. Individuals and corporations financed the Orchestra’s growth while insisting on excellence as the goal, not just musically, but in programs for educating and inspiring the city’s youth.

That support continues today at uniquely high levels, boasting the greatest generosity of per capita donations for any major American orchestra.

Thus, the extraordinary dream continues — marching The Cleveland Orchestra into a Second Century of achievement and success, arm in arm with the community whose name it carries.

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Severance Hall 2017-18

About the Orchestra

17

1918

Seven music directors have led the Orchestra, including George Szell, Christoph von Dohnányi, and Franz Welser-Möst.

16th

1l1l 11l1 l1l1 1

The 2017-18 season will mark Franz Welser-Möst’s 16th year as music director.

SEVERANCE HALL, “America’s most beautiful concert hall,” opened in 1931 as the Orchestra’s permanent home.

40,000

each year

Over 40,000 young people attend Cleveland Orchestra concerts each year via programs funded by the Center for Future Audiences, through student programs and Under 18s Free ticketing — making up 20% of audiences.

52 53%

Over half of The Cleveland Orchestra’s funding each year comes from thousands of generous donors and sponsors, who together make possible our concert presentations, community programs, and education initiatives.

4million

Follows Followson onFacebook Facebook(as (asofofJune Jan 2018) 2016)

The Cleveland Orchestra has introduced over 4.1 million children in Northeast Ohio to symphonic music through concerts for children since 1918.

129,452 133,797

1931

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concerts each year.

The Orchestra was founded in 1918 and performed its first concert on December 11.

The Cleveland Orchestra performs over

THE CLEVEL AND ORCHESTRA

BY THE NUMBERS

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T H E

C L E V E L A N D

Franz Welser-Möst M U S I C D I R E C TO R

CELLOS Mark Kosower*

Kelvin Smith Family Chair

SECOND VIOLINS Stephen Rose * FIRST VIOLINS William Preucil CONCERTMASTER

Blossom-Lee Chair

Jung-Min Amy Lee ASSOCIATE CONCERTMASTER

Gretchen D. and Ward Smith Chair

Peter Otto FIRST ASSOCIATE CONCERTMASTER

Jessica Lee ASSISTANT CONCERTMASTER

Clara G. and George P. Bickford Chair

Takako Masame Paul and Lucille Jones Chair

Wei-Fang Gu Drs. Paul M. and Renate H. Duchesneau Chair

Kim Gomez Elizabeth and Leslie Kondorossy Chair

Chul-In Park Harriet T. and David L. Simon Chair

Miho Hashizume Theodore Rautenberg Chair

Jeanne Preucil Rose Dr. Larry J.B. and Barbara S. Robinson Chair

Alicia Koelz Oswald and Phyllis Lerner Gilroy Chair

Yu Yuan Patty and John Collinson Chair

Isabel Trautwein Trevor and Jennie Jones Chair

Mark Dumm Gladys B. Goetz Chair

Katherine Bormann Analisé Denise Kukelhan

Alfred M. and Clara T. Rankin Chair James and Donna Reid Chair

Bryan Dumm Muriel and Noah Butkin Chair

Eli Matthews 1 Patricia M. Kozerefski and Richard J. Bogomolny Chair

Sonja Braaten Molloy Carolyn Gadiel Warner Elayna Duitman Ioana Missits Jeffrey Zehngut Vladimir Deninzon Sae Shiragami Scott Weber Kathleen Collins Beth Woodside Emma Shook Dr. Jeanette Grasselli Brown and Dr. Glenn R. Brown Chair

Yun-Ting Lee Jiah Chung Chapdelaine VIOLAS Wesley Collins* Chaillé H. and Richard B. Tullis Chair 1

Charles M. and Janet G. Kimball Chair

Stanley Konopka 2 Mark Jackobs Jean Wall Bennett Chair

Arthur Klima Richard Waugh Lisa Boyko Richard and Nancy Sneed Chair

Lembi Veskimets The Morgan Sisters Chair

Eliesha Nelson Joanna Patterson Zakany Patrick Connolly

20

The GAR Foundation Chair

Charles Bernard 2 Helen Weil Ross Chair

Emilio Llinás 2

Lynne Ramsey

Louis D. Beaumont Chair

Richard Weiss 1

The Musicians

Tanya Ell Thomas J. and Judith Fay Gruber Chair

Ralph Curry Brian Thornton William P. Blair III Chair

David Alan Harrell Martha Baldwin Dane Johansen Paul Kushious BASSES Maximilian Dimoff * Clarence T. Reinberger Chair

Kevin Switalski 2 Scott Haigh 1 Mary E. and F. Joseph Callahan Chair

Mark Atherton Thomas Sperl Henry Peyrebrune Charles Barr Memorial Chair

Charles Carleton Scott Dixon Derek Zadinsky HARP Trina Struble * Alice Chalifoux Chair This roster lists the fulltime members of The Cleveland Orchestra.

The number and seating of musicians onstage varies depending on the piece being performed.

The Cleveland Orchestra

2O1 7-18

O R C H E S T R A FLUTES Joshua Smith * Elizabeth M. and William C. Treuhaft Chair

Saeran St. Christopher Marisela Sager 2 Austin B. and Ellen W. Chinn Chair

Mary Kay Fink PICCOLO Mary Kay Fink Anne M. and M. Roger Clapp Chair

OBOES Frank Rosenwein * Edith S. Taplin Chair

Corbin Stair Jeffrey Rathbun 2 Everett D. and Eugenia S. McCurdy Chair

Robert Walters

Samuel C. and Bernette K. Jaffe Chair

CLARINETS Afendi Yusuf * Robert Marcellus Chair

Robert Woolfrey Victoire G. and Alfred M. Rankin, Jr. Chair

Daniel McKelway

HORNS Michael Mayhew § Knight Foundation Chair

Jesse McCormick Robert B. Benyo Chair

Hans Clebsch Richard King Alan DeMattia TRUMPETS Michael Sachs * Robert and Eunice Podis Weiskopf Chair

Jack Sutte Lyle Steelman 2 James P. and Dolores D. Storer Chair

Michael Miller CORNETS Michael Sachs *

ENGLISH HORN Robert Walters

2

Robert R. and Vilma L. Kohn Chair

Yann Ghiro E-FLAT CLARINET Daniel McKelway Stanley L. and Eloise M. Morgan Chair

BASS CLARINET Yann Ghiro BASSOONS John Clouser * Louise Harkness Ingalls Chair

Gareth Thomas Barrick Stees 2 Sandra L. Haslinger Chair

Jonathan Sherwin CONTRABASSOON Jonathan Sherwin

Severance Hall 2017-18

CENTENNIAL SEASON

Mary Elizabeth and G. Robert Klein Chair

PERCUSSION Marc Damoulakis* Margaret Allen Ireland Chair

Donald Miller Tom Freer Thomas Sherwood KEYBOARD INSTRUMENTS Joela Jones * Rudolf Serkin Chair

Carolyn Gadiel Warner Marjory and Marc L. Swartzbaugh Chair

LIBRARIANS Robert O’Brien Joe and Marlene Toot Chair

Donald Miller

Michael Miller

ENDOWED CHAIRS CURRENTLY UNOCCUPIED

TROMBONES Massimo La Rosa *

Sidney and Doris Dworkin Chair Sunshine Chair George Szell Memorial Chair

Gilbert W. and Louise I. Humphrey Chair

Richard Stout Alexander and Marianna C. McAfee Chair

Shachar Israel 2 BASS TROMBONE Thomas Klaber

* Principal § 1 2

Associate Principal First Assistant Principal Assistant Principal

EUPHONIUM AND BASS TRUMPET Richard Stout

CONDUCTORS Christoph von Dohnányi

TUBA Yasuhito Sugiyama*

Vinay Parameswaran

Nathalie C. Spence and Nathalie S. Boswell Chair

TIMPANI Paul Yancich * Otto G. and Corinne T. Voss Chair

MUSIC DIRECTOR LAUREATE ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR

Elizabeth Ring and William Gwinn Mather Chair

Lisa Wong ACTING DIRECTOR OF CHORUSES

Frances P. and Chester C. Bolton Chair

Tom Freer 2 Mr. and Mrs. Richard K. Smucker Chair

The Musicians

21

P H OTO BY J U L I A W E S E LY

Franz Welser-Möst Music Director Kelvin Smith Family Endowed Chair The Cleveland Orchestra

Franz Welser-Möst is among today’s most distinguished conductors. The 2017-18 season marks his sixteenth year as music director of The Cleveland Orchestra, with the future of this acclaimed partnership extending into the next decade. The New York Times has declared Cleveland under Welser-Möst’s direction to be the “best American orchestra“ for its virtuosity, elegance of sound, variety of color, and chamber-like musical cohesion.

The Cleveland Orchestra has been repeatedly praised for its innovative programming, support for new musical works, and for its renewed success in semi-staged and staged opera productions. Franz Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra are frequent guests at many prestigious concert halls and festivals around the world, including regular appearances in Vienna, New York, and Miami, and at the festivals of Salzburg and Lucerne. In the past decade, The Cleveland Orchestra has been hugely successSeverance Hall 2017-18

Music Director

ful in building up a new and, notably, younger audience through groundbreaking programs involving families, students, and universities.

As a guest conductor, Mr. WelserMöst enjoys a close and productive relationship with the Vienna Philharmonic.

His recent performances with the Philharmonic have included critically-acclaimed opera productions at the Salzburg Festival (Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier in 2014, Beethoven’s Fidelio in 2015, Strauss’s Die Liebe der Danae in 2016, and Reimann’s Lear in 2017), as well as appearances at New York’s Carnegie Hall, at the Lucerne Festival, and in concert at La Scala Milan.

He has conducted the Philharmonic’s celebrated annual New Year’s Day concert twice, viewed by millions worldwide. This past season, he led the Vienna Philharmonic in performances in Vienna and on tour in the United States, featuring three concerts at Carnegie Hall. He returns to the Salzburg Festival in 2018.

Mr. Welser-Möst also maintains relationships with a number of other European orchestras and opera companies.

His 2017-18 schedule includes concerts with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Zurich’s Tonhalle Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw, and Milan’s Filarmonica della Scala, as well as leading a gala with the Shanghai Grand Opera.

From 2010 to 2014, Franz WelserMöst served as general music director of the Vienna State Opera. His partnership with the company included an acclaimed new production of Wagner’s Ring cycle and a series of critically-praised new pro-

23

ductions, as well as performances of a wide range of other operas, particularly works

by Wagner and Richard Strauss. Prior to his years with the Vienna State Opera, Mr. Welser-Möst led the Zurich Opera across a decade-long tenure, conducting more than forty new productions and culminating in three seasons as general music director (2005-08).

Franz Welser-Möst’s recordings and videos have won major awards, including a Gramophone Award, Diapason d’Or, Japanese Record Academy Award, and two Grammy nominations. The recent Salzburg Festival production he conducted of Der Rosenkavalier was awarded with the Echo Klassik for “best opera recording.“ With The Cleveland Orchestra, his recordings include DVD recordings of live performances of five of Bruckner’s symphonies and a multi-DVD set of major works by Brahms, featuring Yefim Bronfman and Julia Fischer as soloists. A companion video recording of Brahms’s German Requiem was released in 2017.

This past summer, Mr. Welser-Möst was awarded the 2017 Pro Arte Europapreis for his advocacy and achievements as a musical ambassador. Other honors and awards include the Vienna Philharmonic’s “Ring of Honor” for his longstanding personal and artistic relationship with the ensemble, as well as recognition from the Western Law Center for Disability Rights, honorary membership in the Vienna Singverein, appointment as an Academician of the European Academy of Yuste, a Decoration of Honor from the Republic of Austria for his artistic achievements, and the Kilenyi Medal from the Bruckner Society of America.

24

ABOVE In December 2015, Franz Welser-Möst

led the prestigious Nobel Prize Concert with the Stockholm Philharmonic.

“Franz Welser-Möst, music director of the subtle, responsive Cleveland Orchestra — possibly America’s most memorable symphonic ensemble — leads operas with airy, catlike grace.”

—New York Times “Franz Welser-Möst has managed something radical with The Cleveland Orchestra — making them play as one seamless unit. . . . The music flickered with a very delicate beauty that makes the Clevelanders sound like no other orchestra.”

—London Times “There were times when the sheer splendor of the orchestra’s playing made you sit upright in awestruck appreciation. . . . The music was a miracle of expressive grandeur, which Welser-Möst paced with weight and fluidity.”

—San Francisco Chronicle

Music Director

The Cleveland Orchestra

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The Cleveland Orchestra

2O1 7-18 CENTENNIAL SEASON

Concert Previews

LEARNING MORE ABOUT THE MUSIC

The Cleveland Orchestra offers a variety of options for learning more about the music before each concert begins.

For each concert, the program book includes program notes commenting on and providing background about the composer and his or her work being performed that week, along with biographies of the guest artists and other information. You can read these before the concert, at intermission, or afterward. (Program notes are also posted ahead of time online at clevelandorchestra.com, usually by the Monday directly preceding the concert.)

The Orchestra’s Music Study Groups also provide a way of exploring the music in more depth. These classes, professionally led by Dr. Rose Breckenridge, meet weekly in locations around Cleveland to explore the music being played each week and the stories behind the composers’ lives.

Free Concert Previews are presented one hour before most subscription concerts throughout the season at Severance Hall.

Severance Hall 2017-18

Cleveland Orchestra Concert Previews are presented before every regular subscription concert, and are free to all ticketholders to that day’s performance. Previews are designed to enrich the concert-going experience.

Concert Previews are made possible in part by a generous endowment gift from Dorothy Humel Hovorka.

Spring Previews: April 5, 7 “Partners in Joy and in Grief” (musical works by Brahms and Suk) with Rose Breckenridge, lecturer and administrator, Cleveland Orchestra Music Study Groups

April 12 “Beethoven — Buttoned and Unbuttoned” (musical works by Beethoven) with Rose Breckenridge

April 13 “Love and Heroes — Gained and Lost” (musical works by Wagner and Beethoven) with Rose Breckenridge

Opera: Tristan and Isolde Due to the starting time and length of these performances, no concert preview will be presented on each date. However, ticketholders can attend a Music Study Group session about the opera free of charge. See website for details.

April 25 “Love Lost in the Stars” (Messiaen’s Turangalîla-Symphonie) with Caroline Oltmanns, head of piano department, Youngstown State University

Concert Previews

27

10 0

R E A S O N S

TO

C E LE B R ATE

No. 24 The Cleveland Orchestra’s first appearance at New York City’s Carnegie Hall took place in 1922.

BakerHostetler is honored to collaborate with the Orchestra in building audiences for the future through an annual series of BakerHostetler Guest Artists.

To celebrate the Orchestra’s legacy of excellence, we have gathered 100 facts about its history.

Visit bakerlaw.com/100reasons to read them all.

bakerlaw.com

THE

CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA FR ANZ WELSER- MÖST

M U S I C D I R E C TO R

2O1 7-18

Severance Hall

Thursday evening, April 5, 2018, at 7:30 p.m.

Saturday evening, April 7, 2018, at 8:00 p.m.

CENTENNIAL SEASON

Jakub Hrůša conductor JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833-1897)

Violin Concerto in D major, Opus 77 1. Allegro non troppo 2. Adagio 3. Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo SERGEY KHACHATRYAN, violin

INTER MISSION JOSEF SUK (1874-1935)

Asrael Symphony in C minor, Opus 27 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Andante sostenuto Andante Vivace — Andante sostenuto — Vivace Adagio Adagio e maestoso — Allegro appassionato

This weekend’s concerts are supported through the generosity of the BakerHostetler Guest Artist Series sponsorship.

Sergey Khachatryan’s appearance this weekend with The Cleveland Orchestra is made possible by a contribution to the Orchestra’s Guest Artist Fund from The Payne Fund.

CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA RADIO BROADCASTS

Current and past Cleveland Orchestra concerts are broadcast as part of regular weekly programming on WCLV Classical 104.9 FM, on Saturday evenings at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday afternoons at 4:00 p.m.

Severance Hall 2017-18

Concert Program — Week 19

29

April 5, 7

2O1 7-18 CENTENNIAL SEASON

THI S WE E KE ND'S CONCE RT Restaurant opens: THUR 4:30 SAT 5:00

Concert Preview: BEGINS ONE HOUR BEFORE CONCERT

Concert begins: THUR 7:30 SAT 8:00

Severance Restaurant Reservations for dining suggested:

216-231-7373 or via www.UseRESO.com

C O N C E R T P R E V I E W — all concerts

“Partners in Joy and Grief” with Rose Breckenridge, Cleveland Orchestra Music Study Groups

BRAHMS Violin Concerto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 33 (40 minutes)

Duration times shown for musical pieces (and intermission) are approximate.

INTERMISSION (20 minutes)

SUK Asrael Symphony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 37 (60 minutes)

Share your memories of the performance and join the conversation online . . .

Concert ends: (approx.)

facebook.com/clevelandorchestra

THUR 9:35 SAT 10:05

twitter: @CleveOrchestra

Severance Restaurant and Opus Café Post-concert desserts and drinks

30

instagram: @CleveOrch (Please note that photography is prohibited during the performance.)

This Week’s Concerts

The Cleveland Orchestra

INTRODUCING THE CONCERT

Friendship & Death

T H I S W E E K ’ S C O N C E R T S offer music about friendship and family —

and how life’s events and relationships inspire creativity and understanding.

Brahms wrote his Violin Concerto for his long-time friend Joseph Joachim. They had met while young men, when Joachim was the more famous of the two. Joachim repeatedly suggested that Brahms write him a concerto, but it was many years before Brahms obliged. It was premiered on New Year’s Day 1879 and quickly took its place among the best and most-often-played of concertos. The soloist and orchestra work seamlessly together, providing a telling picture of collaboration in performance. The music filled with soaring melody and rapturous harmonies, searingly infused with poignant reveries and sunny outbursts. For this week’s performances, Armenian violinist Sergey Khachatryan plays the solo role.

After intermission, guest conductor Jakub Hrůša leads a masterful — and too-rarely heard — symphony by the Czech composer Josef Suk, premiered in 1907. As a student, Suk had studied with his compatriot Antonin Dvořák. He even moved into the Dvořák home during his studies — and then married Dvořák’s daughter Otilie.

Following his father-in-law’s death in 1904, Suk began writing a large-scale symphony in tribute, intending to commemorate and celebrate Dvořák’s musical achievements as well as his humanity. In the midst of writing this work, however, Suk’s wife, Otilie, died. Despite his grief, Suk continued with the symphony, including another “memorial” movement within its structure and eventually naming it Asraell after the mythic Angel of Death. This is a big work, large in scale and conception — and moving in its celebration and memorializing of two heartfelt relationships.

This week’s two composers, Brahms and Suk, knew one another fairly well. While Brahms was often chilly in receiving younger composers, he and Suk hit it off, and, as he had done years earlier with Dvořák, Brahms introduced Suk to his own publisher.

Taken altogether, this week’s music is filled with friendship and understanding.

—Eric Sellen

ABOVE

A painting by the British artist Evelyn DeMorgan, circa 1916, portraying the Angel of Death in the midst of World War I.

Severance Hall 2017-18

Week 19 — Introducing the Concerts

31

Brahms in 1889, from a series of photographs by C. Brasch

It is not in fact so hard to compose. But what is fabulously difficult is to leave the superfluous notes under the table. —Johannes Brahms

Violin Concerto in D major, Opus 77 composed 1878

At a Glance

by

Johannes

BRAHMS born May 7, 1833 Hamburg died April 3, 1897 Vienna

Severance Hall 2017-18

Brahms composed his Violin Concerto in 1878 and conducted its premiere at the Leipzig Gewandhaus on January 1, 1879, with Joseph Joachim as soloist. The score was published in 1879 with a dedication to Joachim.

This concerto runs about 40 minutes in performance. Brahms scored it for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, and strings, plus solo violin.

The Cleveland Orchestra first played Brahms’s Violin Concerto

in November 1920, at subscription concerts conducted by music director Nikolai Sokoloff, with Efrem Zimbalist as soloist. Since then, the Orchestra has presented the concerto frequently, with many of the world’s greatest violinists. The most recent Severance Hall subscription performances were given (and recorded for DVD release) in January 2014, with Julia Fischer as soloist under Franz Welser-Möst’s baton; the recording is part of the Orchestra’s recent Brahms DVD set.

About the Music B R A H M S was a formidable pianist, but he would never have

wanted to be identified with the many piano virtuosos who criss-crossed Europe in the 19th century and composed flashy variations and fantasias on popular tunes (including the greatest hits from Rossini and Verdi operas).

Brahms’s two piano concertos — premiered in 1859 and 1881 — are stern and serious works. When it came to writing a violin concerto, his model was unquestionably going to be Beethoven, virtuosic yet meaningful, and not more egocentrically boastful concertos of Paganini or Vieuxtemps. He made that doubly plain by choosing Beethoven’s key, D major, and by following Beethoven’s precedent with a long, lyrical first movement in full classical sonata form. (Modern listeners shouldn’t be scared by the term “sonata form,” which is merely a specific sequencing of a movement’s elements, including when and how each theme is introduced, developed, repeated, and then brought to fulfillment in the movement’s coda. It was standardized and codified in the latter 18th century to be the normal set of building blocks for the opening movement of a concerto or symphony. Composers of the 19th century continued tinkering with it and trying different forms and formats, but, even then, “sonata form” influenced many composers’ ideas as a starting point for creating the opening movement of many symphonies, concertos, and chamber works).

In the case of Brahms, perhaps we should be surprised About the Music

33

that he composed a violin concerto at all. Joseph Joachim, for whom it was written, was the first important musician he met when he left his Hamburg home at the age of twenty to seek fame and fortune. Joachim, almost the same age, was already an international star at that time, and the two struck up a firm friendship that lasted across more than four decades.

For nearly twenty of those forty years, Joachim implored Brahms to write him a concerto, yet Brahms hesitated — no doubt thinking that it was more important to embark on the challenges of writing symphonies before he attempted a concerto for an instrument he Altthough h Brahms’s writing didn’t play. fo or the e solo violin strikes Eventually, in 1878, soon after the successus to oday as a model of ful premiere of his Second Symphony, Brahms good ta aste and musiciandevoted a summer holiday in the Austrian Alps to composing the longed-for concerto. ship p, the work’s earliThe composer worked closely with est cr ritics were in some Joachim in fashioning the solo part; he cleardoub bt, feeling that the ly intended the concerto to be a test of the player’s technique and musicianship, but also com mpose er had, perhaps, in to be free of any suspicion of unmotivated cer rtain p places allowed the display. Display itself is, of course, perfectly solo liine to overheat the legitimate, in fact desirable, in a concerto work’s focused direction.

— yet, the serious Brahms believed that the soloist’s leaps, arpeggios, double stops, and passage-work should be intrinsic to the work, and not merely added for “interest.”

Although Brahms’s writing for the solo violin strikes us today as a model of good taste and sensitive musicianship, the work’s earliest critics were in some doubt, feeling that the composer had, perhaps, in certain places allowed the solo line to overheat the work’s focused direction. Others, including the great Spanish violin virtuoso Pablo de Sarasate, felt it had no real tunes.

“Would I stand there,” he said, “violin in hand, while the oboe plays the only melody in the whole work?!”

The concerto was first performed in Leipzig on New Year’s Day 1879 by Joachim, the dedicatee, who composed the cadenza that is still normally played today. Never fond of waste, Brahms presents his first movement’s main theme as a bare unison at the very start of the work, based on a D major triad.

Eight measures later, the oboe offers something nearer to a scale; eight bars further on, the full orchestra dwells on leaping

34

About the Music

The Cleveland Orchestra

octaves. Gradually the thematic material finds its place, some presented by the orchestra, more provided by the soloist after flexing his or her muscles (forty-some measures of, yes, display).

Eventually, we reach a gloriously lyrical second subject, which seems to express the very soul of the violin. The finest moment is reserved for the coda (after the solo cadenza), when, following a sly reference to the Beethoven concerto, the soloist soars higher and higher in dreamy flight before a final resumption of the main tempo.

The slow movement, in F major, opens with a long, beautiful theme for the oboe with wind accompaniment. When the soloist takes it up, the strings accompany — and the textures and harmonies become gradually more adventurous, only brought back to earth for the return of the main theme and the main key.

The third movement finale’s boisterous lilt is a tribute to Joachim’s Hungarian birth. But, as in Joachim himself, who never returned to Hungary or sympathized with its nationalist movements, other themes of quite un-Hungarian character intervene, including a dynamic rising scale in octaves and a beautifully lyrical episode where the meter changes briefly from a stamping 2/4 to a gentle 3/4. The final switch to a 6/8 pulse with heavy off-beats is one of Brahms’s stranger (yet still beautiful) inventions, and the dying decline of the last few measures is stranger still.

—Hugh Macdonald © 2018

Two friends, Johannes Brahms (seated) and Joseph Joachim, circa 1867.

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About the Music

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Asrael Symphony in C minor, Opus 27 (Symphony No. 2) composed 1905-06

At a Glance

by

Josef

SUK

born January 4, 1874 Křečovice, Bohemia died May 29, 1935 Benešov, Czechoslovakia (both cities are in today’s Czech Republic)

Severance Hall 2017-18

Suk began composing his Asrael Symphony in late 1904 or early 1905.

Asrael is the name of the Angel of Death, and the work was intended as a tribute and celebration of the career and music of his father-in-law (and former teacher), Antonín Dvořák, who had died in March 1904. While working on the symphony, Suk’s own wife, Otilie (Dvořák’s daughter), died in July 1905. The completed work features two memorial movements, for Dvořák (movement 2), and Otilie (movement 4). The work was premiered on February 3, 1907, at the National Theater of Prague, conducted by Karel Kovařovic. The

work was published with the notation as being Suk’s “Symphony No. 2.”

The symphony runs about 60 minutes in performance. Suk scored it for 2 flutes and piccolo, 2 oboes and english horn, 2 clarinets and bass clarinet, 2 bassoons and contrabassoon, 4 (or 6) horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (triangle, cymbals, bass drum), harp, and strings.

The Cleveland Orchestra has performed Suk’s Asrael Symphony on only two previous occasions, for a weekend of concerts in 1971 led

by Karel Ančerl and a weekend of concerts led by Libor Pešek in 1992.

About the Music A S R A E L is the name of “The Angel of Death” in the Old Testament. Josef Suk’s Asrael Symphony was begun as a tribute and celebration of the composer’s famous father-in-law, Antonín Dvořák, but shifted to become a more introspective and darker work when Suk’s wife (Dvořák’s daughter) also died. The storyline of its composition is thus quite compelling, but the musical work has unfairly suffered from the somber expectations that its name suggests.

And, in fact, anyone unfamiliar with Josef Suk’s Asrael Symphony — and that includes most of us today — will be surprised to learn that it is one of the greatest orchestral masterpieces of the early 20th century, from a time when Richard Strauss and Gustav Mahler walked the earth, and when music of the most imaginable complexity for large orchestra was being created afresh with each passing year.

Suk is, in fact, among a list of “S” composers — along with Strauss, Scriabin, Szymanowski, and Schoenberg — who were then writing in a rich post-Wagnerian language, working in the intensely emotional expressivity of late Romanticism.

The word “decadent” hovers persistently around their About the Music

37

works, especially after World War I all but swept away the world in which such extravagantly “overdressed” compositions were musically fashionable and, in economic terms, feasible.

Today’s audiences have no quarrel in music with a feverish heart-beat and strong emotional overreach. We even have the expert orchestras who can play such music. In fact, a lush and intricate orchestral sound from these composers’ passionate engagement with their art are sufficient to draw us into the teeming fertility of these daring and turbulent minds — especially if we admire, as we should, the sheer technique involved in composing big pieces like these.

As far as technique is concerned, Josef Suk was in good hands from the start. He entered the Prague Conservatoire at the age of eleven in 1885, with violin as his principal study, followed by studies in composition under Dvořák. He graduated when he was just seventeen, continuing to work with Dvořák even when he became second violin in the Czech Quartet, a widely known chamber group that gave a hundred concerts a year for forty years.

Throughout his performing career, he somehow managed to compose steadily and productively. At first, as might be expected,

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About the Music

The Cleveland Orchestra

his works were in an idiom that very much resembled Dvořák’s.

He was, afterall, living as a student in the Dvořák household for a time, and then, in 1898, he married Dvořák’s daughter Otilie. A son was born in 1901, duly named Josef, destined in due course to father a third Josef Suk (1929-2011), widely known among the great violinists of the 20th century.

The original Josef Suk won early success as a composer, with his Serenade for Strings (1892), a number of piano pieces, and his incidental music for the play Radúz a Mahulena (1898).

At the turn of the century, his style began to evolve, losing its Czech qualities and expanding in musical language with ideas gleaned from both Germany and France. In 1904, he began a large-scale orchestral work, Praha (or Prague), on the lines of a Strauss tone poem, celebrating in name and music When his young wife the heroic history of the city where he made his home. died a year after her It was while he was at work on Praha that his father, Suk was shatfather-in-law Dvořák died, on May 1, 1904. Suk was tered, having been pasin Madrid at the time, on tour, so he hurried back to be with his wife, who was particularly affected sionately devoted to by her father’s death. both father and daughEven though Otilie’s health was not good, ter. He had already Suk’s commitments to the Czech Quartet made begun a large work tours and absences inevitable. On each return, he noticed that her condition was growing feebler, evoking Asrael, the until on July 5, 1905, shortly after the successful angel of death, with first performance of Praha, she died at age twentya second movement seven, leaving him with their four-year-old son. framed as a funeral Suk was shattered, having been passionately devoted to both father and daughter. He had almarch for Dvorák. ready begun a large work evoking Asrael, the angel of death, according to a number of religious traditions (including Judaism and Islam), with a second movement framed as a funeral march for his father-in-law.

Otilie’s death intensified Suk’s commitment to a solemn musical memorial, expressed in the passionate character of the symphony’s fourth movement. He finished the five-movement work on October 4, 1906, and it was performed in Prague four months later.

The symphony is designed with a certain symmetry, the two memorial movements in second and fourth place, a scherzo in the middle, and longer, discursive movements at beginning Severance Hall 2017-18

About the Music

39

and end.

The andante tempo set at the start of the opening movement has a magnetic effect. Several times the music works its way up to considerable speed and excitement, but is then pulled back to the solemnity of the opening statement. This theme is representative of the Angel of Death throughout the work:

“The Angel of Death,” painting by the British artist Evelyn DeMorgan, 1890.

40

As the movement continues, the hallmarks of the best late romantic sound are duly displayed — violins reaching ever higher into the stratosphere, high horns, complicated inner textures, and a firmly rooted bass line.

Throughout most of the second movement, a long held D-flat is heard, played in turn by two flutes and three trumpets. Now and again, it moves to a half-step above, then a half-step below, and then back. This is the principal motif from Dvořák’s own Requiem, composed in 1891. It is a clear and appropriate gesture in a memorial to its composer.

In the movement’s brief central section, the second measure of the Angel of Death theme is worked in, followed by a brief spectral fugue on pizzicato (plucked) strings.

The middle movement scherzo is wild and fragmentary, with wisps of themes passed here and there from instrument to instrument, soon reaching a powerful point of collapse. The middle section, like the Trio section in a classical symphonic movement, offers contrast and introduces a rapturous memory of the beloved Otilie, much of it sung by a solo violin and solo cello. Suddenly, the second movement’s D-flat reappears on the piccolo, along with the drooping phrases that supported it. The scherzo music returns, more deranged than before, and inevitably including a few glimpses of the Angel of Death theme.

Next, the fourth movement has two faces — a solemn processional theme that rises out of the depths over a long drum roll, and, in contrast, a heartfelt portrait of the lost Otilie so full

About the Music

The Cleveland Orchestra

of devotion that, despite the composer’s loss, a deep sense of happiness lies within this emotional music. The weight of sadness is carried by the processional theme at the end. This feeling, however, is blown away by the despair expressed at the opening of the final movement, a despair in which nothing seems to make sense. When the tempo settles down, the galloping music gives a hint of Dvořák’s own style — but the music is restless and the tempo unsettled.

Eventually, the harp signals the arrival of a beatific calm, dominated by the presence of the theme that has personified the Angel of Death throughout the music, and the work dwindles to silence.

Suk went on to pay a different kind of tribute to his lost Otilie in his next work, creating a cycle of five charming piano pieces titled “About Mother,” which he dedicated to his son.

—Hugh Macdonald © 2018 Hugh Macdonald is Avis H. Blewett Professor Emeritus of Music at Washington University in St. Louis. He has written books on Beethoven, Berlioz, Bizet, and Scriabin.

OPERA THEATER PRESENTS

SPRING SCENES from operas – grand and light

Scenes from some of the most beloved operas, including: • The Magic Flute • Carmen • The Gondoliers • La traviata • Der Rosenkavalier

Friday, April 20 & Saturday, April 21 at 7:30pm Matinee on Sunday, April 22 at 3pm TICKETS ON SALE NOW $20 adults | $10 students | $15 seniors and groups of 10+ CIM Box Office at 216.795.3211 or cim.edu/events Severance Hall 2017-18

About the Music

41

Together, we’re greater.

HELP US IMPROVE LIVES IN OUR COMMUNITY

For more than 100 years, United Way has led change for the good in Greater Cleveland by creating solutions that best address the community’s basic needs, education, financial stability and health concerns. We connect people from all walks of life and all generations to advance Greater Cleveland by investing in one another.

We’ve seen how far we’ve come. We envision how far we will go. And we know that UNITED is the only way we can continue to achieve the Greater Cleveland we all believe in. Please join us. Together, we’re greater.

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42

The Cleveland Orchestra

Jakub Hrůša Czech conductor Jakub Hrůša is chief conductor of the Bamberg Symphony, principal guest conductor of both the Philharmonia Orchestra and Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, and permanent guest conductor of the Czech Philharmonic. He made his Cleveland Orchestra debut in August 2012 and most recently led performances here in October 2016.

Born in the Czech Republic in 1981, Jakub Hrůša studied conducting at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, where his teachers included Jiří Bělohlávek. Since his graduation in 2004, he has conducted all the major Czech orchestras and increasingly appeared internationally across Europe, North America, and beyond. He currently serves as president of the International Martinů Circle, and in 2015 was the first recipient of the Charles Mackerras Prize. His leadership positions have included tenures as music director of the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic, associate conductor of the Czech Philharmonic, associate conductor with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, and music director and chief conductor of the Prague Philharmonia.

Jakub Hrůša has appeared with many leading orchestra across Europe, including Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra, North German Radio Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Royal Flemish Philharmonic, and the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra. In 2009, he made his conducting

Severance Hall 2017-18

Guest Artist

debuts in both Australia and the United States. His recent schedule has featured performances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Arts Center Orchestra Ottawa, New York Philharmonic, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra.

Since his 2008 debut there, Jakub Hrůša has been a regular guest with the Glyndebourne Festival. His operatic repertoire ranges widely, including works

by Bizet, Britten, Dvořák, Janáček, Mozart, Mussorgsky, and Puccini. He has led productions for Finnish Opera, Frankfurt Opera, Opera Hong Kong, Opéra national de Paris, Prague National Theatre, Royal Danish Opera, London’s Royal Opera, and the Vienna State Opera.

As a recording artist, Jakub Hrůša has albums on the Octavia Records, Pentatone, Supraphon, Tudor, and Universal labels, including a critically-acclaimed live recording of Smetana’s tone poem cycle Má Vlast, as well as works by Berlioz, Bruch, Strauss, Suk, and Tchaikovsky For additional information, visit www.jakubhrusa.com.

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ChamberFest Cleveland Presents Season 7, “In Search of Freedom” ChamberFest Cleveland, the celebrated summer music festival founded by Franklin Cohen, principal clarinetist emeritus of The Cleveland Orchestra, and his daughter, Diana Cohen, concertmaster of The Calgary Philharmonic, announces Season 7, “In Search of Freedom”. Featuring world-renowned artists, this lively chamber music festival will take place at 5 exciting venues throughout Cleveland from

June 14 through June 30, 2018.

FOR A FULL CONCERT LISTING AND TO PURCHASE TICKETS VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.CHAMBERFESTCLEVELAND.COM OR PURCHASE BY PHONE AT 216.471.8887 ChamberFest Cleveland Funded In Part By:

Sergey Khachatryan Armenian violinist Sergey Khachatryan was the youngest musician to receive first prize in the International Jean Sibelius Competition when he won it in 2000.

Five years later, he was awarded first prize in the Queen Elisabeth Competition. He made his Cleveland Orchestra debut in March 2004 and returned in 2005 and 2007.

In recent seasons, Mr. Khachatryan has performed with many leading European orchestras, including those of Amsterdam, Bamberg, Berlin, Czech Republic, Leipzig, London, Lucerne, Melbourne, Munich, Netherlands, Paris, Rotterdam, Sweden, and Vienna. He has also led performances in Australia and Japan, and in North American has guest conducted the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Washington D.C.’s National Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, and the Seattle Symphony.

Sergey Khachatryan performs in chamber music trios with Narek Hakhnazaryan and his sister, pianist Lusine Khachatryan. They have appeared in such prestigious venues as Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Mariinsky Concert Hall, and the Vienna Konzerthaus. The Khachatryans have performed duo recitals at the Auditori Nacional Madrid, Carnegie Hall, Cite de la Musique, Concertgebouw, San Francisco’s Herbst Theater, Konzerthaus Dortmund, Lincoln Center, Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels, Philharmonie

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Guest Artist

Luxembourg, Theatre des Champs Elysees, and London’s Wigmore Hall. Among their projects are the Brahms three sonatas for violin and piano, which they have performed both on stage and in the recording studio. The Brahms album was released in 2013 on Naïve Classique.

Mr. Khachatryan’s discography on Naїve also includes the Sibelius and Khachaturian concertos, both Shostakovich concertos, a recording of the Shostakovich and Franck sonatas for violin and piano, and the complete sonatas and partitas for solo violin by J.S. Bach. His debut recording for EMI Classics also features his sister and father. In 2015, Sergey and Lusine Khachatryan released My Armenia, an album of Armenian music that is dedicated to the 100th Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide.

Sergey Khachatryan plays the 1740 “Ysaÿe” Guarneri violin on generous loan from the Nippon Music Foundation. Born into a family of pianists, he started playing violin at age five and later moved with his family to Germany, where he gave his first public concert at the age of nine.

For more information, please visit www.sergeykhachatryan.com.

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Brentano Quartet with flutist Marina Piccinini Wednesday, April 18 7:30 p.m.

EJ Thomas Hall, Akron $45, $40, $25 / free for all students Concert conversation at 6:30 p.m. with WCLV-FM’s Eric Kisch and the musicians.

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46

The Cleveland Orchestra

orchestra news

THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA

Tristan & Isolde: April 21, 26, 29 Spring opera presentation features Wagner’s dramatic score of longing with Franz Welser-MÖst leading cast of internationally-renowned singers

STEMME

SIEGEL

VON DER DAMERAU

The Cleveland Orchestra’s spring opera presentation of Tristan and Isolde is led by music director Franz Welser-Möst in three opera-in-concert performances, April 21, 26, and 29. The opera is being presented this year as part of a larger festival titled The Ecstasy of Tristan and Isolde. In this special two-week series of concerts revolving around Wagner’s Romantic opera, Welser-Möst explores the depths and wonder of ecstasy — the human journey toward transcendence and understanding, through music, art, and belief.

Commenting on the opera, Welser-Möst says: “If Beethoven marks the start of the Romantic Era in music, which is surely true, there can also be no arguing that Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde represents the ultimate high point of that same Romanticism. In this score, Wagner broke apart the tonal harmonic system to create a sense of longing, to search for rest and peace and home, for the ultimate fulfillment of love. With this opera, Wagner unleashed music from the past and announced the start of our modern world.”

The larger festival features two additional Cleveland Orchestra concerts led by Welser-Möst on April 25 and 28, along with a screening of Lars von Trier’s film Melancholia in collaboration with the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque on April 22. April 25 features Messiaen’s TurangalîlaSymphonie, while April 28 offers a range of musical works for chorus, brass, and orchestra, and features the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus along with organist Paul Jacobs.

Explaining his concept for the larger festival, Welser-Möst commented: “Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde is an ecstatic piece. In the ending, in Isolde’s ‘Love-Death’ or Liebestod, this woman transcends

Severance Hall 2017-18

ANGER

HELD

her own existence, and finds a deep understanding, of love and life, in death. For some people, ecstasy may be easier to understand through the word ‘transcendence.’ Both words have meanings beyond the usual — of “being outside yourself” in ecstasy, or of becoming ‘more than’ or transcending beyond the normal. In planning the season, and with Tristan and Isolde already on the calendar, I kept coming back to this idea. I became excited at thinking about how much other music there is that touches around these ideas, of religious ecstasy, becoming one with god, of personal ecstasy, of coming to understanding and enlightenment. I think for many people, musical performances are often a channel to understanding and transcendence, of being more than yourself and at peace. And so I worked to develop a festival around this idea.”

Because of the length of the opera itself, Concert Previews will not be presented just prior to each performance. However, ticketholders for the opera are invited to one of several free concert previews taking place in the week ahead of time. Those daytime previews are being held on April 17, 18, and 19 at local libraries, and are part of The Cleveland Orchestra’s annual Music Study Group program. Participants can learn about the history of Tristan and Isolde, discuss the life of Richard Wagner, and be guided through musical listening examples with Rose Breckenridge.

Times and locations can be found on the Orchestra’s website.

Q&A

Cleveland Orchestra News

See also a special Q&A with Franz Welser-Möst discussing the opera and related concerts. . . . . . . . . See pages 93-95

47

orchestra news A.R.O.U.N.D T.O.W.N Recitals and presentations featuring Orchestra musicians Upcoming local performances by members of The Cleveland Orchestra include: A faculty recital at the Cleveland Institute of Music features a variety of Cleveland Orchestra musicians on Friday evening, April 6. Orchestra members performing include Mary Kay Fink k (flute), Frank Rosenwein (oboe), Robert Woolfrey (clarinet), t Barrick Stees (bassoon), Richard King (horn), Chul-In Park a k (violin), Lisa Boyko (viola), Tanya Ell (cello), and Scott B Dixon (bass). The program, which begins D att 8 p.m. in CIM’s Mixon Hall, features musical works by William Mathias, Jurriaan Andriessen, Heitor Villa-Lobos, and Rudolf Karel.

Adm mission is free, but ticket reservations are sugg gested. Please visit www. cim.edu for tickk eting information. etin

48

THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA

Friends hold spring benefit evening on Friday, April 20 Friends of The Cleveland Orchestra are holding their annual Spring Benefit on Friday evening, April 20 at Executive Caterers at Landerhaven.

This year’s event celebrates the Orchestra’s Centennial, with proceeds benefiting ongoing music education and community programs. The evening features a special music performance by three members of the OF THE Orchestra: Jiah Chung CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA Chapdelaine (violin), Sonja Braaten Molloy (viola), and Charles Bernard (cello). The three will also talk about their careers and music-making in a conversation with artistic administrator Ilya Gidalevich. Dinner and a live auction are also featured. Tickets begin at $150 per person, and can be reserved by calling Leslie Lahr at 216-938-6701. WCLV announcer and co-founder Robert Conrad is serving as honorary chairman for the evening.

Cleveland Orchestra News

FRI ENDS

The Cleveland Orchestra

orchestra news

THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA

Orchestra wins acclaim in New York and Florida . . .

Below are a selection of excerpts from the many positive reviews of The Cleveland Orchestra’s recent concerts at New York’s Carnegie Hall and in Florida (Miami and Sarasota): “At 100, The Cleveland Orchestra May (Quietly) Be America’s Best! Sound the trumpets, peal the bells! The Cleveland Orchestra, which many consider one of the finest ensembles in the nation and the world, turns 100 this year. . . . The orchestra has long been renowned for its sound — precise, lithe and transparent, yet not lacking in power or color — and its disciplined work ethic, both honed by a series of strong maestros in the modern era. . . .

Skeptics say that touring orchestras are steeled and on their mettle when they visit Carnegie Hall, adding, ‘They don’t play that way every week at home.’ The Cleveland Orchestra, as I learned during a season (1988-89) spent as its program annotator and editor, plays that way every week, no matter what or where.”

—James Oestreich, New York Times “To my ears, this performance of Mahler’s Ninth Symphony was bold, brave, even radical.

There was barely a hint of the regret, nostalgia and wallowing that has become the norm, as with Bernstein. Instead, at ferocious speeds and with dauntless control, there was anger, brutality and violence, on the way to an almost lonely, unwelcome death. No fond farewell, this: Mr. Welser-Möst looked physically and emotionally drained by the end.”

—David Allen, New York Times “I join my colleagues in having been deeply impressed by the Clevelanders’ Mahler, particularly the inner movements, which tingled with tension between rough-hewn aggression and Viennese elegance. I wish my colleague critics David Allen and James Oestreich could have been there on Wednesday for Haydn’s ‘The Seasons,’ its silky warmth a contrast with the previous evening’s discomfiting intensity. The dancing exuberance of Autumn was especially impressive; the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus — all-amateur! — sang with both airiness and pungency throughout.”

—Zachary Woolfe, New York Times “The profundity of the instrumental ensemble as a whole in Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 was astounding, the fluctuations from one mood to another, one tempo to another, were seamless and the ensemble sound was magical. This was the performance of the season.”

—Classical Musical Network (New York) “Rather than relying on the sheer weight and power of one of the world’s great orchestras, Welser-Möst emphasized a strong sense of forward momentum, transparent textures and carefully calibrated levels of intensity to express the force of Beethoven’s musical ideas. . . .

Under Welser-Möst’s baton, the orchestra took a fleeter, less obviously portentous approach than many interpretations, expressing the work’s energy through propulsive force rather than volume. . . . In Beethoven’s Eighth Symphony, the orchestra played with such dynamic and interpretative range that the performance carried unusual subtlety and depth.”

—South Florida Classical Review

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Cleveland Orchestra News

49

orchestra news Read about the music on your cellphone before coming to the concert by visiting ExpressProgramBook.com Earlier this year, The Cleveland Orchestra launched a new website specifically for reading about the music ahead of time, easily and conveniently on your mobile phone. The new service, available online at ExpressProgramBook.com, provides the program notes and commentary about the musical pieces, along with biographies of the soloists and other artists in a simple-to-read format. “This is designed with a clear format and purpose,” comments program book editor Eric Sellen. “Just the basic information, no fancy layout, with text sized to make reading on a phone or other mobile device easy.”

The service was tested for several months, and is now fully available, with information posted a few days prior to most concerts. The site features only the core musical content of each printed book. The complete program book is available online in a “flipbook” format, for view-

THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA

TH E CLE VE L AN D O RCH E STR A

ing on a desktop computer or tablet. But because the flipbook format is harder to read on a mobile phone, the Orchestra chose to work with its program book partner, Live Publishing Company, to create the ExpressBook for reading on phones.

Flipbooks are available from the Orchestra’s main website at clevelandorchestra.com going back several years. The ExpressBook only has current season programs, beginning the week of any given concert and looking back several concerts.

Feedback and suggestions are welcome and encouraged, and can be sent by emailing to esellen@clevelandorchestra.com.

ExpressProgramBook.com

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Product Shown: New Ravenna Claudius Stone Mosaic

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Cleveland Orchestra News

The Cleveland Orchestra

TH E P RO M E TH E U S P ROJ E C T

BE ETHOVE N THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA

CLEVELAND May 1O-19 VIENNA May 24-28 TOKYO June 2-7 conducted by Franz Welser-Möst The Cleveland Orchestra’s Centennial Season ends with a special series of concerts on three continents. Franz Welser-Möst examines Beethoven’s nine symphonies through the story of PROMETHEUS, a titan of Greek mythology who defied Zeus to give fire to humanity — sparking imagination, civilization, learning, and creativity. Similarly, BEETHOVEN, a titan of classical music, pursued his own art and energies in service to Promethean beliefs — in the goodness of humanity, and the ongoing heroic struggle to create a better world, filled with justice and human worth. These Festival concerts are a not-to-be-missed experience to hear Beethoven’s genius in its glory and great goodness.

CLEVELAND S E V E R A N C E H A L L MAY 10 Symphonies Nos. 1 and 3 (“Eroica”) MAY 11 Symphonies Nos. 4 and 7 MAY 12 Symphonies Nos. 8 and 5 MAY 13 Symphonies Nos. 6 (“Pastoral”) and 2 MAY 17, 18, 19 Symphony No. 9 (“Choral”)

21 6-2 3 1-1111 clevelandorchestra.com TI CK E TS

T HE

CLEVEL AND ORC HE STR A

“We can’t think of a better way to use our resources than to support an organization that brings us such great pleasure.”

Tony and Pat Lauria believe in doing their part to cultivate and celebrate the extraordinary things in life — including wine, food, and music.

For today and for future generations.

Great music has always been important to Tony and Pat Lauria. They’ve been avid subscribers and donors to The Cleveland Orchestra for many years, and it has become such a major part of their lives that they plan international travel around the Orchestra’s schedule in order to enjoy more concerts at home and on tour. “It gives us great pleasure to be a part of The Cleveland Orchestra,” Pat says.

In addition to regularly attending concerts and giving to the annual fund, Tony and Pat have established several Charitable Gift Annuities through the Orchestra, which now pay them a fixed stream of income in return for their gifts. To anyone who is considering establishing a Charitable Gift Annuity, Tony says, “It’s a great investment — for yourself and the Orchestra!”

To receive a confidential, personalized gift annuity illustration and to join the Laurias in their support of The Cleveland Orchestra’s future, contact Dave Stokley, Legacy Giving Officer, at 216-231-8006 or email dstokley@clevelandorchestra.com.

52

The Cleveland Orchestra

orchestra news

THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA

M . U . S . I .C . I . A . N S . A . L . U .T. E

The Musical Arts Association gratefully acknowledges the artistry and dedication of all the musicians of The Cleveland Orchestra. In addition to rehearsals and concerts throughout the year, many musicians donate performance time in support of community engagement, fundraising, education, and audience development activities. We are pleased to recognize these musicians, listed below, who volunteered for such events and presentations during the 2016-17 season.

Mark Atherton Martha Baldwin Charles Bernard Katherine Bormann Lisa Boyko Charles Carleton Hans Clebsch John Clouser Kathleen Collins Ralph Curry Marc Damoulakis Alan DeMattia Vladimir Deninzon Scott Dixon Elayna Duitman Bryan Dumm Mark Dumm Tanya Ell Kim Gomez Wei-Fang Gu Scott Haigh David Alan Harrell Miho Hashizume Shachar Israel Mark Jackobs Dane Johansen Joela Jones Richard King Thomas Klaber Alicia Koelz Stanley Konopka Mark Kosower Analisé Kukelhan Paul Kushious Jung-Min Amy Lee Yun-Ting Lee Emilio Llinás

Takako Masame Eli Matthews Jesse McCormick Daniel McKelway Donald Miller Michael Miller Robert O’Brien Peter Otto Chul-In Park Joanna Patterson Zakany William Preucil Lynne Ramsey Jeffrey Rathbun Frank Rosenwein Marisela Sager Jonathan Sherwin Thomas Sherwood Emma Shook Joshua Smith Saeran St. Christopher Corbin Stair Lyle Steelman Richard Stout Yasuhito Sugiyama Jack Sutte Kevin Switalski Gareth Thomas Brian Thornton Isabel Trautwein Robert Walters Carolyn Gadiel Warner Scott Weber Richard Weiss Robert Woolfrey Derek Zadinsky Jeffrey Zehngut

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Special thanks to musicians for supporting the Orchestra’s long-term financial strength The Board of Trustees extends a special acknowledgement to the members of The Cleveland Orchestra for supporting the institution’s programs by jointly volunteering their musical services for several concerts each season. These donated services have long played an important role in supporting the institution’s financial strength, and were expanded with the 2009-10 season to provide added opportunities for new and ongoing revenuegenerating performances by The Cleveland Orchestra.

“We are especially grateful to the members of The Cleveland Orchestra for this ongoing and meaningful investment in the future of the institution,” says André Gremillet, executive director. “These donated services each year make a measureable difference to the Orchestra’s overall financial strength, by ensuring our ability to take advantage of opportunities to maximize performance revenue. They allow us to offer more musical inspiration to audiences around the world than would otherwise be possible, supporting the Orchestra’s vital role in enhancing the lives of everyone across Northeast Ohio.”

Cleveland Orchestra News

53

THE

CLEVEL AND ORCHESTRA FR ANZ WELSER- MÖST

M U S I C D I R E C TO R

Severance Hall

Thursday evening, April 12, 2018, at 7:30 p.m.

Franz Welser-Möst conductor LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)

Overture: Coriolan, Opus 62 Symphony No. 8 in F major, Opus 93 1.

2.

3.

4.

Allegro vivace e con brio Allegretto scherzando Tempo di Menuetto — Trio Allegro vivace

INTERMISSION

Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Opus 67 1.

2.

3.

4.

Allegro con brio Andante con moto Scherzo: Allegro — Trio — Finale: Allegro

This concert is sponsored by Tucker Ellis LLP. This performance is dedicated to Mr. and Mrs. Michael J. Horvitz in recognition of their extraordinary generosity in support of The Cleveland Orchestra’s Annual Fund.

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Concert Program — Week 20a

The Cleveland Orchestra

THE

CLEVEL AND ORCHESTRA FR ANZ WELSER- MĂ–ST

M U S I C D I R E C TO R

2O1 7-18 CENTENNIAL SEASON

Severance Hall

Friday morning, April 13, 2018, at 11:00 a.m. *

Franz Welser-MĂśst conductor RICHARD WAGNER (1813-1883)

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)

Prelude and Love-Death from Tristan and Isolde Symphony No. 3 (“Eroica�)

LQ ( Ă DW PDMRU 2SXV 1.

2.

3.

4.

Allegro con brio Marcia funebre: Adagio assai Scherzo: Allegro vivace — Trio — Coda Finale: Allegro molto — Poco andante — Presto

The Cleveland Orchestra’s Friday Morning Concert Series is endowed by the Mary E. and F. Joseph Callahan Foundation. * The Friday Morning concert is performed without intermission.

CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA RADIO BROADCASTS

Current and past Cleveland Orchestra concerts are broadcast as part of regular weekly programming on WCLV Classical 104.9 FM, on Saturday evenings at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday afternoons at 4:00 p.m.

Severance Hall 2017-18

Concert Program — Week 20b

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April 12, 13

Duration times shown for musical pieces (and intermission) are approximate.

THI S WE E KE ND'S CONCE RT Restaurant opens: THUR 4:30

Severance Restaurant Reservations for dining suggested:

216-231-7373 or via www.UseRESO.com

Concert Preview: BEGINS ONE HOUR BEFORE CONCERT

CONCERT PREVIEW Thursday: “Beethoven — Buttoned and Unbuttoned” Friday: “Love and Heroes — Gained and Lost” with Rose Breckenridge, Cleveland Orchestra Music Study Groups FRIDAY MORNING 11:00

Concert begins: THUR 7:30

BEETHOVEN Overture: Coriolan

WAGNER Prelude and Love-Death h

(10 minutes)

(20 minutes)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 59

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 69

BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 8

BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 3 (“Eroicaa”))

(25 minutes)

(45 minutes)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 61

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 73

INTERMISSION (20 minutes)

BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 5 (30 minutes)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 65 12:20

Concert ends: (approx.)

THUR 9:05

Severance Restaurant and Opus Café Evenings: post-concert desserts and drinks Morning: post-concert luncheon

Share your memories of the performance and join the conversation online . . . facebook.com/clevelandorchestra twitter: @CleveOrchestra instagram: @CleveOrch

(Please note that photography during the performance is prohibited.)

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This Week’s Concerts

The Cleveland Orchestra

INTRODUCING THE CONCERT

Harmony, Message, Music T H I S W E E K ’ S C O N C E R T S offer sneak previews into two very big proj-

ects in The Cleveland Orchestra’s schedule this month and next, involving two visionaries of symphonic music, Ludwig van Beethoven and Richard Wagner. (The fact that Wagner did the vast majority of his writing for the operatic stage does not in any way reduce his grand achievement in orchestral writing — as an integral part within his music’s very fabric, as an emotionally-charged character playing a central role in his operatic scores.)

To close the season, Franz Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra are presenting a series of five concerts called The Prometheus Projectt on three continents, first here in Cleveland, followed by performances in Vienna and Tokyo. These feature all nine of Beethoven’s symphonies along with four overtures and a startling movement from one of his last string quartets.

As a central focus for these upcoming performances, Franz is using as metaphor a story that Beethoven knew well — that of the mythical Prometheus, who defied the gods to give knowledge to humanity. Symphony by symphony, piece by piece, Franz argues that Beethoven’s music is filled with a message of the Promethean heroics, of advocating for human betterment and a “fight for good.” Beethoven was, in effect and reality, writing “philosophy into sound.”

The revolution that Beethoven voiced was not just musical, but a call to good — to justice, liberty, freedom, and human solidarity. This week’s concerts give us a preview into this project, filled with Beethoven’s grand scales, sounds, and harmonies.

The Friday Morning concert begins with some of the most famously daring — and history-changing — music, from Wagner’s opera Tristan and Isolde, written 1857-59. The Cleveland Orchestra performs the entire opera April 21-29 in-concert at Severance Hall. For this week’s concert, we hear an orchestral pairing of the opening and closing minutes of the opera, in which Wagner’s genius in turning Western tonality toward the modern age is fully in evidence. In waves of yearning and reaching, the music signals not just the lovers’ longing, but a musical search for peace and rest, in life or in death.

—Eric Sellen

Severance Hall 2017-18

Week 20 — Introducing the Concerts

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THURSDAY

Overture: Coriolan, Opus 62 composed 1807

At a Glance Beethoven composed his concert overture about Coriolan, a play adapted from Shakespeare’s Coriolanus by Heinrich von Collin, in 1807. The composer led the first performance at a private concert in March 1807 in Vienna.

This overture runs just under 10

by

Ludwig van

BEETHOVEN baptized December 17, 1770 Bonn died March 26, 1827 Vienna

Severance Hall 2017-18

minutes in performance. Beethoven scored it for woodwinds in pairs plus 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, and strings.

The Cleveland Orchestra first played this overture in December 1921, under the direction of founding music director Nikolai Sokoloff.

About the Music AC RO S S H I S LI F E T I M E , Beethoven wrote a series of overtures, some as concert works, others for his only opera (Fidelio) or attached to incidental music for several dramatic stageworks. All of them are serious in subject matter. Most of them are related to Beethoven’s lifelong belief in the ultimate goodness of humanity — and the need both to “fight for good” and for heroes to lead us forward by example and sacrifice.

His earliest overture, from 1801, was part of a ballet score, titled The Creatures of Prometheus. The ballet’s storyline was directly related to Beethoven’s beliefs, of a hero (the demi-god Prometheus) who defies authorities (the gods) to help humanity. It is, in fact, a philosophical outlook — of a hero fighting for justice — that Franz Welser-Möst believes was central to Beethoven and is embedded in much of his music. Music isn’t just something to be pretty, or interesting, or amusing, or relaxing. Music can be a call to arms, intellectually and spiritually, and perhaps even physically.

Franz closes The Cleveland Orchestra’s 2017-18 Season with a three-continent festival titled “The Prometheus Project” — with concerts in Cleveland, then repeated in Vienna and finally in Tokyo. The festival’s concerts re-examine Beethoven’s symphonies viewed around the ideal of Promethean heroics — of the mythological Prometheus as metaphor, daring to help humanity by stealing fire from the gods and sparking civilization and justice and goodness forward. Music as philosophical messenger.

Beethoven wrote his concert overture Coriolan in 1807 in response to the hero portrayed in a contemporary play by Heinrich Joseph von Collin (to whom Beethoven dedicated the About the Music

59

Coriolanus Yields to his Mother’s Pleas — In a 19th-century illustration, the flawed hero Coriolanus finally agrees to end his despotic rule, yielding to his mother’s impassioned pleas.

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overture). Collin’s play was itself a re-telling of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus. The storyline concerns a Roman general, Gaius Marcius, who saves the city of Corioli (thus gaining the honorary title Coriolanus), but then becomes embroiled against Roman society’s expectations of what is right and wrong, honorable and disreputable. This hero is multi-sided, at first strong and heroic and honored, but later filled with venom and hatred at those who have turned against him. Such strong emotions and contrasts make good theater — and good music.

In the play’s hero — alternately lionized and despised — Beethoven’s own beliefs in goodness and character mirrored his own struggles against society’s expectations, and his fate-filled fight against deafness. Heroes must make choices, civilization must move forward. Onstage, Coriolan resolves his conflicting actions in response to his mother’s pleas to forgive the citizens arrayed against him. He relents, knowing that he will be killed for his misdeeds.

The Overture begins with a series of dramatic chords across a harmonic progression, immediately unfolding into an agitated melody that keeps unrolling.

Suddenly, there is calm and serene music.

But this, too, is stabbed with chords of challenge and rumblings of timpani. Beethoven works through and develops this material, with an almost continuous sense of foreboding and energetic fighting. The opening chords return midway, as does the beautiful melody, briefly giving us a sense of safety. The hero’s stormy life continues, however, amidst bursts and stops, soundings and momentary calms. Eventually, the material gathers itself to the opening chords once more — and finally angles downward to a quiet, subdued ending. This hero has split his life between good and bad, but fully accepts the outcome of his fateful choices.

—Eric Sellen © 2018

About the Music

The Cleveland Orchestra

THURSDAY

Symphony No. 8 in F major, Opus 93 composed 1811-12

At a Glance

by

Ludwig van

BEETHOVEN baptized December 17, 1770 Bonn died March 26, 1827 Vienna

Severance Hall 2017-18

Beethoven wrote his Eighth Symphony during 1811 and 1812, the largest part of it immediately upon completion of the Seventh Symphony during the summer of 1812. He completed the score in October 1812, while visiting his brother Johann in Linz. Beethoven dedicated the score to Count Moritz Fries. Despite increasing deafness, Beethoven conducted the first performance, at the Vienna Redoutensaal on February 27, 1814. The concert also featured repeat performances of the Seventh Symphony and Wellington’s

Victory, both of which had been premiered in December.

This symphony runs about 25-30 minutes in performance. Beethoven scored it for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, and strings.

The Cleveland Orchestra first performed Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8 during the Orchestra’s fourth season, in November 1921, with music director Nikolai Sokoloff conducting. It has been performed with some frequency since that time.

About the Music A L A RG E N U M B E R O F our ideas of what classical music is “sup-

posed to be” are based on the works of Ludwig van Beethoven.

There have been other superstar composers, including Mozart and Haydn, Brahms and Rachmaninoff, Mahler (for some tastes), John Adams more recently, but it was Beethoven who set the bar to which the public ever afterward has tuned its ears. He defined not just what is and can be, but also how one should go about breaking those conventions — how to be a revolutionary in music.

From a very early age, there was much in Ludwig van Beethoven to carry him forward, including musical talent and interest, and a mind that loved to wrestle in thought. Family life was difficult (his father retreated deeper and deeper into alcoholism), but Ludwig read avidly, studied Mozart’s score and later in-person with Haydn, and then quickly took his place as the hottest and most interesting of Vienna’s promising young performers. His ability as a pianist was unsurpassed at the turn of the 18th into the 19th century. The fact that he performed his own compositions was standard practice in the era — the best composers practiced their art, literally, in front of the public, and performers who didn’t compose were often snubbed as second-rate.

Should we perhaps then be happy that fate took Beethoven’s hearing away, forcing him to concentrate on writing instead of About the Music

61

Johann Nepomuk Maelzel’s invention of the first practical metronome helped composers specify tempos that everyone could duplicate.

Beethoven includes a reference to the device in his 8th Symphony.

62

performing — to become a beleaguered and grumpy man who nonetheless told his brothers that, as frustrating as his growing deafness was for him as a composer, he couldn’t kill himself until “I have brought forth all that is in me”?

As we know, Beethoven overcame his disability (if not his grumpiness) and wrote an almost steady procession of great and trend-setting works, across many genres of music. His output of major works and strides in creativity brought him exceptional international fame even during his own lifetime. While some of his music confounded or confused audiences at first hearings, no other composers’ works rank so consistently high among the world’s musical masterpieces.

Still, Beethoven often struggled as a composer. Many of his works were belabored in the creation, with much crossing out, redrafting, and rewriting, as well as long periods of reflection and reconsideration. That so much work went into his art is a reflection of his intentions and his vision. Let us be grateful, indeed, for Beethoven the man, the composer, the artist, the perfectionist, the creator.

The Eighth Symphony is, along with the Fourth, among the least appreciated and performed of Beethoven’s nine symphonies. Written at the same time as the energetic Seventh, it is often overlooked by conductors in favor of the more overtly crowd-pleasing qualities of his other mature symphonies.

Yet, the Eighth reveals great charm, serious humor, and solid character whenever it is performed — in concert, or on radio, streamed via Spotify, or played on so verrrry old-fashioned compact disc. And, ultimately, this symphony is much more ambitious and filled with new ideas than many of us remember. The Eighth is, in fact, what Beethoven thought a symphony should be, if he were just writing a perfect symphony and supposing a little about the future.

He was, perhaps, not purposely trying out new ideas in any big sense. But he was tinkering and daring just to say in music what he was thinking. And that, from Beethoven, is still plenty.

The symphony’s four movements are well proportioned, full of interest, and artful pleasure. The second movement includes an instrumental version of music that Beethoven had just written, a song to honor Johann Nepomuk Maelzel, the inventor of the first practical metronome. The steady beat of the tick-tock is unmistakable. (The idea of a metronome, to which composers About the Music

Severance Hall 2017-18

could reliably refer for how fast a piece of music should go, was a much-sought wish in Beethoven’s lifetime — and its achievement is one reason there is so much disagreement regarding “the right” tempo for works prior to his time.)

Franz Welser-Möst sees this symphony as a demonstration of the German phrase “als ob,” meaning “as if.” Here, Beethoven says things just to see if they work, as if he is trying something on, but not yet ready to claim it as his own. Moments of phrasing or change, Franz notes, look ahead and sound — just for a moment — as if Robert Schumann had written it twenty years hence. Here, Beethoven has matured to a degree of calm security, able to toy with our ears and minds in the midst of “mere” entertainment.

The Eighth as a whole is a finely wrought and none-toolong work. Its musical substance is balanced between the Classical era behind him and the Romantic era that Beethoven created a musical language for. The composer invests this music with many subtleties of musical humor. The commentator John Burk summed its inventiveness (and playfulness) by writing that Beethoven’s “humor seems to consist of sudden turns in the course of an even and lyrical flow, breaking in upon formal, almost archaic periods. It is a sudden irregularity, showing its head where all had been regular — an altered rhythm, an explosion of fortissimo, a foreign note, or an unrelated tonality . . . like divine play in that pure region of tonal thinking where melody and invention pour forth . . . and fancy is furiously alive.”

—Eric Sellen © 2018 The 2017-18 Centennial Season marks Eric Sellen’s 25th year as program book editor for The Cleveland Orchestra. He has written program notes for orchestras and festivals across North America and Europe.

CONGRATULATIONS TO

The Cleveland Orchestra on celebrating their

CENTENNIAL SEASON

Severance Hall 2017-18

About the Music

63

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THURSDAY

Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Opus 67 composed 1804-08

At a Glance

by

Ludwig van

BEETHOVEN born December 16, 1770 Bonn died March 26, 1827 Vienna

Severance Hall 2017-18

Beethoven began sketching this symphony as early as 1804, and completed it during the first months of 1808. The first performance took place on December 22, 1808, at the Theater-an-der-Wien in Vienna, at a legendary marathon concert led by the composer and devoted entirely to his works (the program also included the premiere of the Sixth Symphony, Fourth Piano Concerto, and Choral Fantasy — all in an unheated hall, and seriously under-rehearsed).

This symphony runs about 30-35

minutes in performance. Beethoven scored it for piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, and strings.

The piccolo, contrabassoon, and trombones (which Beethoven had not used in his first four symphonies) play only in the fourth movement.

The Cleveland Orchestra first played Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony during its inaugural season, in April 1919. The Orchestra has performed it frequently ever since.

About the Music H O W W O N D E R F U L that familiarity does not always breed con-

tempt. And that some pieces, such as Beethoven’s Fifth — the most famous of all symphonies — still “work” in performance, two hundred years after its premiere in an unheated concert hall one cold night in Vienna in December 1808. Audiences of all kinds, occasional and frequent attenders alike, still enjoy its wonders — and even those few who arrive with trepidation at hearing an old warhorse one more time are inevitably drawn to the music’s drama, skill, and rousing good ending.

Beethoven began this symphony in 1804, soon after completing his Third, which had been given the nickname “Eroica” (meaning “heroic”). That work, which contemporary audiences felt was much too long (over 45 minutes) for a symphony, had been created just after one of the composer’s most anguishing life experiences, as he brought himself to terms with the increasing deafness that would eventually rob him of all hearing.

After sketching the first two movements of the new symphony, Beethoven set it aside for over two years to write his opera Fidelio and also the lively and untroubled Fourth Symphony.

He then worked diligently on the Fifth throughout 1807, while simultaneously writing another new symphony, the Sixth, given the nickname “Pastoral.” This kind of multi-tasking at several compositions at once was very normal practice for Beethoven throughout his life, with the ideas for one work helping to inspire About the Music

65

or contrast with another — or sometimes with ideas originally intended for one slipping across into a different work entirely.

Throughout this Middle Period of Beethoven’s life, the composer was routinely strapped for funds and, in 1808, he developed plans for a special evening “Akademie” concert to raise money for himself. For December 22, he was able to secure performers and the Theater-an-der-Wien (for a time, he lived in an apartment upstairs in this same theater). Rehearsals would be squeezed in on the previous days. Beethoven, perhaps sensing the difficulty of finding any future workable dates, kept revising the evening’s program to include more and more and ever more music.

The concert lasted over four hours and Whether you choose to featured the world premieres of two symphonies (the Sixth and Fifth, in that order), the listen to this work with Fourth Piano Concerto (with Beethoven as the idea of “fate knocking soloist), and the “Choral” Fantasy (written as on my door” (a “quote” a grand finale to take advantage of all the assembled performing forces at once, including that Beethoven probably orchestra, vocal soloists, and with Beethoven never said), or as a jouras piano soloist). Unfortunately, the weather ney from darkness to that night was colder than usual and the buildlight (from ignorance to ing was unheated. So that, although no one attending could possibly have complained enlightenment), or merely about not getting their money’s worth of music, as a well-crafted symthe conditions for comfortable listening and phony, this piece in perperforming deteriorated as the hours passed. formance is sure to take The Fifth Symphony was second-to-last on this marathon program, just before the us on a worthwhile, at “Choral” Fantasy. Even with the wintry weather, times familiar — yet often audience fatigue, and with less than adequate exhilarating — journey. rehearsal preparations, the evening’s works made solid impressions.

From that cold start, the Fifth Symphony’s reputation only increased, and by the end of the 19th century it had attained its current status as classical superstar. World War II’s use of the opening four-note theme (matching Morse code’s dot-dot-dotdash for “V”) to signify Victory only pushed it further into public consciousness.

Whether you choose to listen to this work with the idea of “fate knocking on my door” (something Beethoven probably never said), or as a journey from darkness to light (from mystery to certainty, from ignorance to enlightenment), or merely as a

66

About the Music

The Cleveland Orchestra

well-crafted symphony that ably blends variety with a musical pathway that keeps you interested and leaves you satisfied, this piece in performance is sure to take listeners on a worthwhile, at times familiar — yet often exhilarating — journey.

The four movements are concise and focused. The first movement is built almost entirely around the four-note opening motif — stated again and again, as foreground, then background, upside down and forward again, in unison and harmonized.

The second movement takes a graceful line and works it through various guises, almost always with a sense of expectancy underneath and bursting forth toward a stronger and stronger presence.

The third movement continues in this confident vein, only to alternate between quiet uncertainty and forthright declamations.

Near the end, a section of quietly forbidding darkness leads directly into the bright sunshine and C major of the last movement. Here, Beethoven revels in the major key, then develops a strong musical idea through to an unstoppable finish, repeated and extended, emphatic and . . . triumphant.

—Eric Sellen © 2018

Severance Hall 2017-18

About the Music

67

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FRIDAY MORNING

Prelude and Love-Death [Liebestod] from Tristan and Isolde composed 1857-59

At a Glance

by

Richard

WAGNER born May 22, 1813 Leipzig died February 13, 1883 Venice

Severance Hall 2017-18

Wagner wrote his libretto for the opera Tristan and Isolde in the summer of 1857 and composed the score between October of that year and August 1859.

The opera was first performed on June 10, 1865 in Munich, with Hans von Bülow conducting.

Wagner prepared a concert version of excerpts linking the Prelude with the final minutes of the opera (the “Love-Death”), which he conducted in concert in 1863, two years before the opera’s premiere.

The Prelude and Love-Death runs nearly 20 minutes in performance.

Wagner scored it for 3 flutes (third dou-

bling piccolo), 2 oboes, english horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 3 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, bass tuba, timpani, harp, and strings.

The Cleveland Orchestra first performed music from Tristan and Isolde in March 1921, when Nikolai Sokoloff led performances of the Prelude and LoveDeath, which has been programmed frequently since that time. Artur Rodzinski led staged performances of the complete opera in November 1933.

Franz Welser-Möst will lead performances of the complete opera in April 2018 here at Severance Hall.

About the Music “ O N LY M E D I O C R E P E R F O R M A N C E S can save me. Good

ones will likely drive the audience mad.” That was the conclusion Wagner came to about the new opera he had initially conceived as a mere divertissement (preferably one that could bring in some badly needed box office revenue). A viable candidate for Wagner’s most perfectly realized masterpiece, Tristan and Isolde was intended to be more “practical” than the massive four-opera Ring of the Nibelung project that had preoccupied him for nearly a decade.

By the summer of 1857, Wagner had begun to acknowledge that his vision for a festival staging of the epic Ring cycle wasn’t likely to be realized anytime soon. Even more, the composer must have been fearing creative burnout. By this point, he had reached the forest scene in the second act of Siegfried, the third Ring drama. The composer believed that he needed to recharge his musical imagination with a different project.

Another motivating force was the composer’s emerging desire for Mathilde Wesendonck. She was the beautiful and accomplished wife of a patron who had been supporting Wagner during his exile in Switzerland. Her much older husband, Otto, who made his fortune in the American silk market, was now About the Music

69

ABOVE:

Mathilde Wesendonck, in a painting from 1850

by Karl Ferdinand Sohn.

70

retired in Zurich and had befriended Wagner. It’s usually assumed — by the romantically inclined, at any rate — that it was the composer’s passion for Mathilde that drove him to seek an artistic outlet for its expression. The famous medieval romance of Gottfried von Strassburg depicts the chivalric plight of the young knight Tristan and his beloved Isolde (wife of Tristan’s royal uncle Marke), who are overwhelmed by helpless mutual desire. Surely the uncanny parallel with Wagner’s own situation with Mathilde Wesendonck fascinated the composer.

Yet the true relation of cause and effect — art imitating life or the reverse? — is not so easy to tease out. Indeed, Wagner’s instinctive need to explore new musical ideas simmering inside him might just as well have caused him to fall in love.

Rather like the love potion in the opera itself, Mathilde fueled his inspiration. So, too, did his recently acquired enthusiasm for the pessimistic philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer, which held that desire enslaves humanity in a perpetual state of suffering.

These ideas led Wagner to see the Tristan legend in a new light. He reconfigured it into a plot of minimalist sparseness — in striking contrast to the Ring’s sprawling, epic narrative. In Tristan and Isolde, very little happens onstage. In fact, more action occurs in the final minutes that culminate in Isolde’s “Love-Death” (which concludes the opera) than in the four-plus hours preceding it. Thus Wagner was driven to explore a new kind of music that would reveal the inner states of his main characters — what they experience as love passes through them.

Even the “mediocre” performances Wagner half desired were impossible to come by at first. The opera’s outrageous novelty — its extremities of musical and dramatic expression — overtaxed the conventional operatic resources of the time. It wasn’t until six years after he had completed the score that Tristan received its premiere (with the added support of the composer’s new patron, “mad” King Ludwig of Bavaria).

The Tristan Prelude (without the Love-Death) was first heard in concert in Prague, under the baton of Hans von Bülow. Bülow — whose wife Cosima would also succumb to Wagner’s romantic charms — was one of the composer’s staunchest advocates, and later led the premiere of the opera itself.

When the composer rehearsed the Tristan Prelude for a series of Paris programs in 1860, Wagner observed (in a letter to Mathilde Wesendonck) that he had to guide his musicians through the piece “note by note — as if to discover precious stones in a mine.”

About the Music

The Cleveland Orchestra

THE MUSIC

The Prelude distills the essence of the entire opera by evoking the desire that is its engine. Two motifs, heard at the outset, descend (cellos) and ascend (oboes) in yearning chromatic half-steps. The harmony they produce when they first collide — known as “the Tristan chord” — is a landmark in Western music history. But listeners need no advanced degree in harmonic theory to feel the sense of unresolved desire that Wagner evokes by using it. This is the kernel of the entire opera.

The Prelude soon introduces a wide-ranging melody, full of longing, that suggests a similarly open-ended quality. What was so radical here is how Wagner sustains an unprecedented level of tension. His use of silence is part of the strategy, while also avoiding traditional contrasts of musical material, and building the musical tension and density toward an inevitable In the Love-Death from climax. Yet even this feels unresolved, with Tristan, swelling waves the Prelude tapering to near inaudibility on of music build toward an another series of ambiguous harmonies. oceanic climax, after which From his concert performances of the Prelude, Wagner came up with the idea in the chromatic desire mo1863 — still two years before the opera’s tif that opened the Prelude premiere — of linking the Prelude directly returns and at last resolves to the music Isolde sings in her final solo to into what Richard Strauss conclude the opera. This ending has become known as the Liebestod (“Love-Death”), aldescribed as “the most though when first Wagner detailed his plan beautifully orchestrated to link the two as concert companions, he B-major chord in the whole actually applied that term to the Prelude history of music.” and referred to Isolde’s song as “transfiguration.” Onstage, Isolde has arrived too late to heal the mortally wounded Tristan. But in her “transfigured” state, she experiences the enlightenment that her beloved attained just before his death. Here, Wagner revisits the most heated part of their love duet from the second act. However, the hectic lyricism that earlier characterized this music is now reconfigured in serene, patiently swelling waves.

They build toward an oceanic climax, after which the chromatic desire motif that opened the Prelude returns and at last resolves into what Richard Strauss described as “the most beautifully orchestrated B-major chord in the whole history of music.”

—Thomas May © 2018 Thomas May is a writer and lecturer on music for orchestras and festivals in North America and Europe. His books include The John Adams Reader and Decoding Wagner.

Severance Hall 2017-18

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FRIDAY MORNING

Symphony No. 3 (“Eroicaâ€?) LQ ( Ă DW PDMRU 2SXV composed 1802-04

by

Ludwig van

BEETHOVEN born December 16, 1770 Bonn died March 26, 1827 Vienna

Severance Hall 2017-18

E U R O P E H A S B E E N C H A N G I N G remarkably over the past forty years. The reality of a united continent has had some notable setbacks in the past decade, including the nail-bitingly close Brexit vote two years ago for Britain to leave the European Union. Still, it is amazing to consider just how far this disparate group of nations has come — a single currency (with a few notable holdouts, and perhaps some new question marks) and an extensive list of common regulations and cross-border agreements. All of this accomplished quietly, almost behind the scenes, largely by a group of new bureaucrats focussed on common goals and the common good. Whether the “people� can come to understand and embrace the long-term value of such shared commonality remains to be seen, with the Brexit vote now pushing the entire continent toward uncharted and untested paths forward.

In 1803, things were swinging in different directions, too.

Europe was intoxicated by ideas — or at least its artists and intellectuals were — and of a raucous kind. The interest then was Revolution, the Rights of Man, and the importance of the individual. Their central myth was that of Prometheus, a solitary man who defiantly brought fire (“power�) to the people.

Real life is not so tidy as myth, and Napoleon Bonaparte was no Prometheus. Yet even as observers at the time suspected that Napoleon had hijacked the French Revolution and turned it into a war of global conquest, they were fascinated by his inexorable rise. What better emblem for the worth of the individual than this “little corporal� who bestrode the world? “He put me under a spell, as a snake does a bird,� the Austrian playwright and patriot Grillparzer recalled later. In 1806, the philosopher Hegel called Napoleon “a soul of worldwide significance.� Long after the general’s death, Goethe drew a musical analogy: “Napoleon played the world as Hummel his piano; both achievements appear miraculous . . . [yet] the whole is done before our eyes.�

It is another musical analogy that we associate with Napoleon today, however — Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, or Sinfonia eroica, per festiggiare il sovvenire d’un gran’ uomo [“Heroic symphony, to celebrate the memory of a great man�], as the composer ultimately called it. The famous anecdote about Beethoven tearing up the title page dedicated

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to Napoleon, which eloquently expresses both Beethoven’s attraction to power and defiance of tyranny, is nevertheless only one chapter in the historical and personal saga that led to this revolutionary work of music, an “achievement” more “miraculous” than anything any of his contemporaries even imagined.

In 1803, Europe was intoxicated by ideas of a raucous kind.

The new interest was Revolution, the Rights of Man, and the importance of the individual. A central myth was that of Prometheus, a solitary man who defiantly brought fire (“power”) to the people.

As a composer, Beethoven was aflame with ambitious new ideas himself — musical and political.

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C O N F RO N TAT I O N A N D C R I S I S

“I am not satisfied with my works up to the present time,” Beethoven confided to his friend Krumpholz in 1802. “From today I mean to take a new path.” That path necessarily led away from his teacher Haydn (whom Beethoven even began to avoid socially), away from such popular successes as the First and Second Symphonies and the Septet — away, in fact, from the entire musical old order. Like the policies of French First Consul Napoleon (who was just a year older than the composer), Beethoven’s path led toward confrontation and crisis.

Beethoven’s feelings of isolation were deepened at this time by the first signs of advancing deafness. At a doctor’s suggestion, he escaped the stress of city life for six months in the bucolic village of Heiligenstadt. In October 1802, near the end of his stay there, Beethoven poured his despondent thoughts into an extraordinary confessional document, found among his papers after his death and now known as the Heiligenstadt Testament. This rambling discourse on his malady, ostensibly addressed to the composer’s two brothers, reads like a suicide note (“Farewell, and do not wholly forget me when I am dead”) yet rejects that solution (“I would have ended my life — it was only my art that held me back.”), yearning instead for “but one day of pure joy” in the life remaining to him.

“Beethoven here enacted his own death in order that he might live again,” writes the astute biographer and psychoanalyst Maynard Solomon. “He re-created himself in a new guise, self-sufficient and heroic.”

Death was a preoccupation of those times. Art, literature, and music were full of the deaths . . . of Mirabeau, Marat, Danton, and other heroes, from which the Revolution flamed up more brightly than ever. (In fact, death was nearly a prerequisite for enshrinement as a hero, which may explain why “Napoleon’s funeral” takes place less than halfway through Beethoven’s symphony for him, composed when the real-life Napoleon was alive and kicking and considering an invasion of Austria. In 1821, when Beethoven was told that Napoleon had died on the island of St. Helena, he said, About the Music

The Cleveland Orchestra

ABOVE AND BELOW — Differing accounts of Beethoven’s outrage at Napoleon.

The story tells of him tearing the paper in two. The manuscript (at top) shows a physical, maybe violent attempt to erase the word “Buonaparte.”

Bonaparte out, “Heroic” in “In this symphony, Beethoven had Buonaparte in mind, but as he was when he was First Consul. Beethoven esteemed him greatly at the time and likened him to the greatest Roman consuls. I as well as several of his more intimate friends saw a copy of the score lying upon his table with the word ‘Buonaparte’ at the extreme top of the title page, and at the extreme bottom ‘Luigi van Beethoven,’ but not another word. Whether and with what the space between was to be filled out, I do not know. I was the first to bring him the intelligence that Buonaparte had proclaimed himself emperor, whereupon he flew into a rage and cried out: ‘Is he then, too, nothing more than an ordinary human being?

Now he, too, will trample on all the rights of man and indulge only his ambition.

He will exalt himself above all others to become a tyrant!’ Beethoven went to the table, took hold of the title page by the top, tore it in two, and threw it on the floor. The page had to be rewritten, and only then did the symphony receive the title ‘Sinfonia eroica’.”

— from Recollections of Ferdinand Ries

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Beethoven’s Third Symphony

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At a Glance Beethoven composed his Third Symphony between 1802 and 1804.

He conducted the first performance at a private concert in the home of Prince Lobkowitz, to whom the work is dedicated, in December 1804. The first public performance took place at the Theater-ander-Wien on April 7, 1805, again with the composer conducting.

This symphony runs about 45-50 minutes in performance. Beethoven scored it for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 3 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, and strings.

The Cleveland Orchestra first performed Beethoven’s “Eroica” Symphony in October 1920, under Nikolai Sokoloff’s direction. It is among the most frequently performed symphonies in the Orchestra’s repertoire, appearing often in Cleveland’s programming at home and in cities around the world.

The Cleveland Orchestra has recorded Beethoven’s Third three times: in 1957 with George Szell, in 1977 with Lorin Maazel, and in 1983 with Christoph von Dohnányi.

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“I have already composed the proper music for that catastrophe.”)

Certainly Beethoven was aflame with ambitious new ideas on his return to Vienna. Two works in particular from 1803 vastly expand their polite Classical genres: the “Kreutzer” Sonata for violin and piano, Opus 47, and the new symphony that Beethoven was already calling “Buonaparte.” By the end of the year, he was at work on the opera Fidelio. And still more heroic overtures, named for their protagonists, would follow — Egmont, Coriolan, King Stephen, and finally a very noisy ode (full of canon and battle clash) to Napoleon’s nemesis, Wellington’s Victory. Beethoven had come through the crisis, and was striding purposefully along his “new path.” The Heiligenstadt Testament, as Maynard Solomon writes, had proved to be “the literary prototype of the Eroica Symphony, a portrait of the artist as hero . . . a daydream compounded of heroism, death, and rebirth.”

Solomon’s description is echoed in a newspaper review of the symphony’s first public performance, which took place in the Theater-an-der-Wien on April 7, 1805, with the composer conducting: “This long composition, extremely difficult to perform, is in reality a tremendously expanded, daring, and wild fantasia.”

The review continues, less flatteringly, “It lacks nothing in the way of startling and beautiful passages, in which the energetic and talented composer must be recognized; but often it loses itself in anarchy.” Beethoven’s pupil Carl Czerny recalled a self-appointed critic at the premiere who expressed himself succinctly from the gallery: “I’ll give another kreutzer if only the thing will stop!”

These reactions were normal enough on first hearing a work that was twice as long as any previous symphony. In any case, the dissatisfaction that evening was mutual. “The public,” wrote another journalist, “thought the symphony too difficult, too long. . . . [Beethoven] did not deign to give even a nod to the part of the audience that was applauding. Beethoven, on the contrary, did not find the applause sufficiently enthusiastic.” And so Beethoven’s path forward was confirmed to be a lonely one.

U L T I M A T E LY , the Symphony No. 3 needs no subtitle, no Na-

poleon, no Prometheus, no Heiligenstadt Testament. Even the proverbial person from Mars could not fail to be moved (or horrified, like some of those first hearers) by the organic force of the notes themselves. May familiarity never dull our awareness of the daring masterstrokes in the opening movement — the two mighty opening chords, like cosmic ticks of a god’s metronome, About the Music

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setting the pace for all that follows; the first theme, which seems placidly to affirm E-flat major, until it slides down to C sharp, opening a window onto a vast harmonic landscape; the graceful, wholly new theme that appears in the development in the remote key of E minor; the horn, unable to stand the suspense any longer, jumping the gun at the start of the recapitulation and seeming to come in four bars “early”; and the monumental architecture of this entire 691-bar first movement, in which the tiniest musical motifs are linked to form themes, then groups of themes, then sections, and finally a single great edifice. Like other great buildings, it is easy — and a pleasure — to get lost in this.

The second-movement Marcia funebre [“Funeral March”], on the other hand, tells its story vividly and directly. One can almost picture the formal gait of the marchers, the drums that gently urge them on, the reveries of happier times in the major-key middle section, the bugle corps that snaps us back to reality with its dire fanfare. The “disintegration” of the theme in the coda section nearer the end is a metaphor for death that Beethoven had used before, in his Joseph Cantata.

And what could be a greater contrast to all this than the jolly chase of the third-movement Scherzo?! Impressions of a chaotic hunting scene (or the exhilaration of battle?), full of cries and exclamations near and far, are reinforced by the bold horn calls (literally a “trio”) at mid-movement.

Beethoven opens the fourth-movement finale, just as he did the first movement, with a proclamation of important events to come. Then, humorously, a barely audible bass line peeks around the corner. A countermelody is added, and finally the dance tune itself, which we now realize begins with the same notes as the opening theme of the first movement.

Again, something is being built, the other foundation structure of the symphony’s triumphal arch, this time based on variation form, but with superimposed features such as a sonata-style development and rondo-like episodes. Near the end, there is a period of repose, marked with the tempo Poco andante, in which the hero — plainly Beethoven himself now — can survey his accomplishments at a distance, but even here the anxieties of the present intrude, and the symphony closes with a fresh burst of energy and determination.

—David Wright © 2018

“From today I mean to take a new path,” wrote Beethoven in 1803. The path would have to lead away from his teacher Haydn, away from such popular successes as the First and Second Symphonies — away, in fact, from the entire musical old order.

Like the policies of Napoleon (who was just a year older than the composer), Beethoven’s path led toward confrontation and crisis.

David Wright lives and writes in New Jersey. He previously served as program annotator of the New York Philharmonic.

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About the Music

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THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA

Individual Annual Support The Cleveland Orchestra is sustained through the annual support of thousands of generous patrons.

The leadership of those listed on these pages (with gifts of $2,000 and more) shows an extraordinary depth of support for the Orchestra’s music-making, education presentations, and community initiatives.

Giving Societies gifts during the year prior to July 1, 2017 Adella Prentiss Hughes Society

gifts of $50,000 to $99,999

gifts of $100,000 and more Musicians of The Cleveland Orchestra+ (in-kind support for community programs and opportunities to secure new funding) Mr. Richard J. Bogomolny and Ms. Patricia M. Kozerefski+ Dr. and Mrs. Hiroyuki Fujita+ Mr. and Mrs. Michael J. Horvitz+ James D. Ireland IV The Walter and Jean Kalberer Foundation+ Dr. and Mrs. Herbert Kloiber (Europe) Mr. and Mrs. Dennis W. LaBarre+ Mrs. Norma Lerner and The Lerner Foundation+ Mrs. Emma S. Lincoln+ Milton and Tamar Maltz John C. Morley+ Mr. Patrick Park (Miami) Mr. and Mrs. Albert B. Ratner James and Donna Reid Mr. and Mrs. Richard K. Smucker+ Mr. and Mrs. Franz Welser-Möst+

With special thanks to the Leadership Patron Committee for their commitment to each year’s annual support initiatives: Barbara Robinson, chair Robert N. Gudbranson, vice chair Ronald H. Bell Iris Harvie James T. Dakin Faye A. Heston Karen E. Dakin Brinton L. Hyde Henry C. Doll David C. Lamb Judy Ernest Larry J. Santon Nicki N. Gudbranson Raymond T. Sawyer Jack Harley

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George Szell Society

Mr. William P. Blair III+ Blossom Friends of The Cleveland Orchestra The Brown and Kunze Foundation Jeanette Grasselli Brown and Glenn R. Brown+ Mr. and Mrs. Alexander M. Cutler+ Mrs. John A Hadden Jr. T. K. and Faye A. Heston Mr. and Mrs. Donald M. Jack, Jr. Elizabeth B. Juliano Giuliana C. and John D. Koch+ Toby Devan Lewis Virginia M. and Jon A. Lindseth Mr. and Mrs. Alex Machaskee+ Ms. Nancy W. McCann+ Ms. Beth E. Mooney+ Rosanne and Gary Oatey (Cleveland, Miami)+ The Honorable and Mrs. John Doyle Ong+ Mr. and Mrs. Alfred M. Rankin, Jr. Mrs. Alfred M. Rankin, Sr. Charles and Ilana Horowitz Ratner+ Barbara S. Robinson (Cleveland, Miami)+ Sally and Larry Sears+ Mary M. Spencer (Miami)+ Mrs. Jean H. Taber* Barbara and David Wolfort (Cleveland, Miami)+

+ Multiyear Pledges Multiyear pledges support the Orchestra’s artistry while helping to ensure a sustained level of funding. We salute those extraordinary donors who have signed pledge commitments to continue their annual giving for three years or more. These donors are recognized with this symbol next to their name: +

Individual Annual Annual Support Individual

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Elisabeth DeWitt Severance Society

Dudley S. Blossom Society gifts of $15,000 to $24,999

gifts of $25,000 to $49,999 Dr. and Mrs. Wolfgang Berndt (Europe) Mr. and Mrs. William W. Baker Dr. and Mrs. Wolfgang Berndt (Europe) Mr. and Mrs. Charles P. Bolton+ Mr. Yuval Brisker Mary Alice Cannon Mr. and Mrs. David J. Carpenter+ Jill and Paul Clark Robert and Jean* Conrad+ Judith and George W. Diehl George* and Becky Dunn Friends of The Cleveland Orchestra (formerly the Women’s Committee of The Cleveland Orchestra) JoAnn and Robert Glick+ Mr. and Mrs. Geoffrey Gund Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey Healy+ Mary and Jon Heider (Cleveland, Miami) Mrs. Marguerite B. Humphrey+ Junior Committee of The Cleveland Orchestra Mr. and Mrs. Joseph P. Keithley Mr. and Mrs. Douglas A. Kern Milton A. and Charlotte R. Kramer Charitable Foundation Margaret Fulton-Mueller+ Mrs. Jane B. Nord William J. and Katherine T. O’Neill Julia and Larry Pollock+ Mr. and Mrs. James A. Ratner Marc and Rennie Saltzberg Larry J. Santon and Lorraine S. Szabo+ The Ralph and Luci Schey Foundation+ Hewitt and Paula Shaw Richard and Nancy Sneed+ Jim and Myrna Spira R. Thomas and Meg Harris Stanton+ Ms. Ginger Warner (Cleveland, Miami) Anonymous (2)

Listings of all donors of $300 and more each year are published annually, and can be viewed online at CLEVELANDORCHESTRA . COM

Gay Cull Addicott+ Randall and Virginia Barbato Dr. Christopher P. Brandt and Dr. Beth Sersig+ Dr. Ben H. and Julia Brouhard Irad and Rebecca Carmi Mr. and Mrs. William E. Conway Mrs. Barbara Cook Mary Jo Eaton (Miami) Dr. and Mrs. Robert Ehrlich (Europe) Mr. Allen H. Ford Ms. Dawn M. Full Mr. and Mrs. Robert W. Gillespie Richard and Ann Gridley+ Robert K. Gudbranson and Joon-Li Kim+ Kathleen E. Hancock Sondra and Steve Hardis Jack Harley and Judy Ernest David and Nancy Hooker+ Joan and Leonard Horvitz Richard and Erica Horvitz (Cleveland, Miami) Allan V. Johnson Jonathan and Tina Kislak (Miami) Mr. Jeff Litwiller+ Mr. and Mrs. Thomas B. McGowan Mr. Thomas F. McKee Mr. and Mrs. Stanley A. Meisel The Miller Family+ Sydell Miller Lauren and Steve Spilman Stacie and Jeff Halpern Edith and Ted* Miller+ Mr. Donald W. Morrison+ Dr. Anne and Mr. Peter Neff Mr. and Mrs. James A. Saks Rachel R. Schneider+ Mrs. David Seidenfeld+ Kim Sherwin+ William* and Marjorie B. Shorrock+ Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Umdasch (Europe) Tom and Shirley Waltermire+ Mr. and Mrs. Fred A. Watkins+ Mr. and Mrs. Jeffery J. Weaver Meredith and Michael Weil Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey M. Weiss Paul and Suzanne Westlake listings continue

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Individual Annual Support

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Frank H. Ginn Society gifts of $10,000 to $14,999 Mr. and Mrs. Dean Barry Laurel Blossom Irma and Norman Braman (Miami)+ Mr. D. McGregor Brandt, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Marshall Brown J. C. and Helen Rankin Butler+ Richard J. and Joanne Clark Mrs. Barbara Ann Davis+ Dr. M. Meredith Dobyns Henry and Mary* Doll+ Nancy and Richard Dotson+ Mr. and Mrs. Robert P. Duvin Dr. and Mrs. Lloyd H. Ellis Jr. Mr. Brian L. Ewart and Mr. William McHenry Carl Falb+ Bob and Linnet Fritz Albert I. and Norma C. Geller Dr. Edward S. Godleski Patti Gordon (Miami) Amy and Stephen Hoffman

Thomas H. and Virginia J.* Horner Fund+ James and Claudia Hower Mrs. Elizabeth R. Koch Stewart and Donna Kohl Dr. David and Janice Leshner Don H. McClung Joy P. and Thomas G. Murdough, Jr. (Miami)+ Brian and Cindy Murphy+ Mr. Raymond M. Murphy+ Mr. J. William and Dr. Suzanne Palmer Douglas and Noreen Powers Audra* and George Rose+ Paul A. and Anastacia L. Rose Steven and Ellen Ross Mr. and Mrs. David A. Ruckman Dr. Isobel Rutherford Dr. and Mrs.* Martin I. Saltzman+ David M. and Betty Schneider Carol* and Albert Schupp Mr. and Mrs. Oliver E. Seikel

Seven Five Fund Mrs. Gretchen D. Smith+ The Stair Family Charitable Foundation, Inc. Lois and Tom Stauffer Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan M. Steingass Bruce and Virginia Taylor+ Mr. Joseph F. Tetlak Rick, Margarita, and Steven Tonkinson (Miami)+ Gary L. Wasserman and Charles A. Kashner (Miami) Pysht Fund The Denise G. and Norman E. Wells, Jr. Family Foundation+ Robert C. Weppler Sandy and Ted Wiese Sandy Wile and Joanne Avenmarg Tony and Diane Wynshaw-Boris+ Max and Beverly Zupon Anonymous (4)

The 1929 Society gifts of $5,000 to $9,999 Robert and Alyssa Lenhoff-Briggs Dr. and Mrs. D. P. Agamanolis Susan S. Angell Mr. William App William Appert and Christopher Wallace (Miami) Robert and Dalia Baker Fred G. and Mary W. Behm Mr. and Mrs. Jules Belkin Daniel and Trish Bell (Miami) Mr. William Berger Howard Bernick and Judy Bronfman Mr. David Bialosky and Ms. Carolyn Christian+ Suzanne and Jim Blaser Robert and Alyssa Lenhoff-Briggs Dr.* and Mrs. Jerald S. Brodkey Frank and Leslie Buck+ Ms. Maria Cashy+ Drs. Wuu-Shung and Amy Chuang+ Ellen E. & Victor J. Cohn+ Kathleen A. Coleman+ Diane Lynn Collier and Robert J. Gura+ Marjorie Dickard Comella The Sam J. Frankino Foundation Mr. and Mrs. Matthew V. Crawford Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Daugstrup Mr. and Mrs. Thomas S. Davis Pete and Margaret Dobbins+ Carl Dodge Mr. and Mrs. Paul Doman Mary and Oliver* Emerson Dr. D. Roy and Diane A. Ferguson William R. and Karen W. Feth+

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Joseph Z. and Betty Fleming (Miami) Scott A. Foerster Joan Alice Ford Michael Frank and Patricia A. Snyder Barbara and Peter Galvin Joy E. Garapic Dr. and Mrs. Adi Gazdar Brenda and David Goldberg Mr. and Mrs. Randall J. Gordon+ Angela and Jeffrey Gotthardt Harry and Joyce Graham Mr. Paul Greig AndrĂŠ and Ginette Gremillet Ms. Nancy L. Griffith The Thomas J. and Judith Fay Gruber Charitable Foundation Robert N. and Nicki N. Gudbranson+ David and Robin Gunning Gary Hanson and Barbara Klante Mr. Robert D. Hart Clark Harvey and Holly Selvaggi+ Iris and Tom Harvie+ Henry R. Hatch Robin Hitchcock Hatch Dr. Robert T. Heath and Dr. Elizabeth L. Buchanan+ Janet D. Heil* Anita and William Heller+ Mr. Loren W. Hershey Patrick* and Jean Holden Steve and Mary Hosier Elisabeth Hugh+ David and Dianne Hunt Mr. and Mrs. Brinton L. Hyde

Individual Annual Support

Pamela and Scott Isquick+ Donna L. and Robert H. Jackson Mr. and Mrs. Richard A. Janus Joela Jones and Richard Weiss Andrew and Katherine Kartalis Milton and Donna* Katz Dr. Richard and Roberta Katzman Dr. and Mrs. Richard S. Kaufman Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Kelly Dr. and Mrs. William S. Kiser James and Gay* Kitson+ Mrs. Natalie D. Kittredge Rob and Laura Kochis Tim and Linda Koelz+ Mr. and Mrs.* S. Lee Kohrman Mr. Clayton R. Koppes Mr. James Krohngold+ Mr. and Mrs. Peter A. Kuhn+ Mr. and Mrs. Arthur J. Lafave, Jr. David C. Lamb+ Kenneth M. Lapine and Rose E. Mills+ Anthony T. and Patricia A. Lauria Dr. Edith Lerner Mr. Lawrence B. and Christine H. Levey+ Judith and Morton Q. Levin+ Dr. Stephen B. and Mrs. Lillian S. Levine+ Dr. Alan and Mrs. Joni Lichtin+ Mr. Rudolf and Mrs. Eva Linnebach+ Anne R. and Kenneth E. Love Robert and LaVerne* Lugibihl Elsie and Byron Lutman Ms. Jennifer R. Malkin Mr. and Mrs. Morton L. Mandel

The Cleveland Orchestra

4 FEATURED CONCERTS IN 2018:

ST. JOHN PASSION

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Alan Markowitz M.D. and Cathy Pollard Mr. and Mrs. E. Timothy McDonel James and Virginia Meil Dr. Susan M. Merzweiler Loretta J. Mester and George J. Mailath Claudia Metz and Thomas Woodworth+ Lynn and Mike Miller+ Drs. Terry E. and Sara S. Miller Curt and Sara Moll Ann Jones Morgan+ Mr. John Mueller Lucia S. Nash Georgia and Carlos Noble (Miami)+ Richard and Kathleen Nord Thury O’Connor Mr. and Mrs. Peter R. Osenar Mr. Henry Ott-Hansen Mr. Robert S. Perry Nan and Bob Pfeifer+ Mr. and Mrs. Richard W. Pogue In memory of Henry Pollak Dr. and Mrs. John N. Posch+ Ms. Rosella Puskas Mr.* and Mrs. Thomas A. Quintrell

Mr. and Mrs. Roger F. Rankin Brian and Patricia Ratner Amy and Ken Rogat Carol Rolf and Steven Adler Dr. and Mrs. Michael Rosenberg (Miami) Dr. and Mrs. Ronald J. Ross Rosskamm Family Trust Robert and Margo Roth+ Dr. and Mrs. Robert C. Ruhl Mrs. Florence Brewster Rutter+ Drs. Michael and Judith Samuels (Miami) Patricia J. Sawvel Raymond T. and Katherine S. Sawyer Linda B. Schneider Dr. and Mrs. James L. Sechler Mr. Eric Sellen and Mr. Ron Seidman Vivian L. Sharp Mr. James E. Simler and Ms. Amy Zhang Naomi G. and Edwin Z. Singer+ The Shari Bierman Singer Family Drs. Charles Kent Smith and Patricia Moore Smith+ Roy Smith Mr. Eugene Smolik

Mr. and Mrs. William E. Spatz+ atz+ George and Mary Stark Mr. and Mrs. Donald W. Strang, rang, Jr. Stroud Family Trust Dr. Elizabeth Swenson+ Robert and Carol Taller+ Mr. and Mrs. Bill Thornton Dr. Russell A. Trusso Robert and Marti Vagi+ Robert A. Valente and Joan A. Morgensten+ Dr. Gregory Videtic and Rev. Christopher McCann Walt and Karen Walburn Dr. Beverly J. Warren Mr. and Mrs. Mark Allen Weigand+ Dr. Edward L. and Mrs. Suzanne Westbrook Tom and Betsy Wheeler Richard Wiedemer, Jr.+ Dr. and Mr. Ann Williams+ Bob and Kat Wollyung Anonymous

James Carpenter 2 seats (In memory of Christina) (Miami) Dr. Victor A. Ceicys Mr. and Mrs. James B. Chaney Dr. Ronald* and Mrs. Sonia Chapnick Mr. Gregory R. Chemnitz Mr. and Mrs. Homer D. W. Chisholm Dr. William and Dottie Clark Drs. John and Mary Clough Drs. Mark Cohen and Miriam Vishny Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Cohen (Miami) Mr. and Mrs. Mark Corrado Douglas S. Cramer / Hubert S. Bush III (Miami) Mr. and Mrs. Manohar Daga+ Karen and Jim Dakin Mrs. Frederick F. Dannemiller Mr. Kamal-Neil Dass and Mrs. Teresa Larsen+ Dr. Eleanor Davidson Mrs. Lois Joan Davis Michael and Amy Diamant Dr. and Mrs. Howard Dickey-White+ Dr. and Mrs. Richard C. Distad Maureen Doerner & Geoffrey White Carolyn J. Buller and William M. Doll Mr. George and Mrs. Beth Downes+ Ms. Mary Lynn Durham Mr. and Mrs. Ronald E. Dziedzicki Mrs. Mary S. Eaton Mr. and Mrs. Bernard H. Eckstein Esther L. and Alfred M. Eich, Jr.+ Erich Eichhorn and Ursel Dougherty Mr. S. Stuart Eilers Peter and Kathryn Eloff+ Harry and Ann Farmer

Mr. William and Dr. Elizabeth Fesler Mr. Paul C. Forsgren Richard J. Frey Mr. and Ms. Dale Freygang Peggy A. Fullmer Ms. Marilee Gallagher Mr. William Gaskill and Ms. Kathleen Burke Mr. Wilbert C. Geiss, Sr. Anne and Walter Ginn Dr.* and Mrs. Victor M. Goldberg Mr. and Mrs. David A. Goldfinger Dr. and Mrs. Ronald L. Gould Dr. Robert T. Graf Nancy F. Green (Miami) Ms. Anna Z. Greenfield Drs. Erik and Ellen Gregorie Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Griebling Dr. and Mrs. Franklin W. Griff Candy and Brent Grover Nancy and James Grunzweig+ Mr. and Mrs. John E. Guinness Mr. Davin and Mrs. Jo Ann Gustafson Dr. Phillip M. and Mrs. Mary Hall Douglas M. and Amy Halsey (Miami) Mr. and Mrs. David P. Handke, Jr. Elaine Harris Green Lilli and Seth Harris Barbara L. Hawley and David S. Goodman Matthew D. Healy and Richard S. Agnes In Memory of Hazel Helgesen Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Herschman The Morton and Mathile Stone Philanthropic Fund Dr. Fred A. Heupler Mr. Robert T. Hexter Dr. and Mrs. Robert L. Hinnes

Composer’s Circle gifts of $2,000 to $4,999 Mr. and Mrs. Charles Abookire, Jr. Ms. Nancy A. Adams Mr. and Mrs.* Robert J. Amsdell Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey R. Appelbaum+ Mr. and Mrs. James B. Aronoff+ Art of Beauty Company, Inc. Ms. Patricia Ashton Steven Michael Auvil and Elise Hara Auvil Mr. and Mrs. Eugene J. Beer Dr. Ronald and Diane Bell Drs. Nathan A. and Sosamma J. Berger Mr. Roger G. Berk Barbara and Sheldon Berns Jayusia and Alan Bernstein (Miami) Margo and Tom Bertin John and Laura Bertsch Howard R. and Barbara Kaye Besser Ms. Deborah A. Blades Bill* and Zeda Blau Doug and Barbara Bletcher Georgette and Dick Bohr Mr. and Mrs. Richard H. Bole Irving and Joan M. Bolotin (Miami) Mrs. Loretta Borstein Lisa and Ronald Boyko Mr. and Mrs. David Briggs Mr. and Mrs. Henry G. Brownell Mrs. Frances Buchholzer J. C. Burkhardt Mr. and Mrs. Robert G. Busha Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell and Rev. Dr. Albert Pennybacker Dr. and Mrs. William E. Cappaert John and Christine Carleton (Miami) Mrs. Millie L. Carlson+ Mr. and Mrs. Frank H. Carpenter

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Individual Annual Annual Support Individual

The Cleveland Orchestra

Thomas and Mary Holmes Gail Hoover and Bob Safarz+ Dr. Keith A. and Mrs. Kathleen M. Hoover+ Dr. Randal N. Huff and Ms. Paulette Beech+ Ms. Laura Hunsicker Gretchen Hyland and Edward Stephens Jr. Ruth F. Ihde Dr. and Mrs. Scott R. Inkley William W. Jacobs Mr. and Mrs. Bruce D. Jarosz Robert and Linda Jenkins Dr. and Mrs. Donald W. Junglas Barbara and Michael J. Kaplan Mr. Donald J. Katt and Mrs. Maribeth Filipic-Katt Ms. Deborah Kaye The Kendis Family Trust: Hilary & Robert Kendis and Susan & James Kendis Bruce and Eleanor Kendrick Dr. Gilles* and Mrs. Malvina Klopman+ Fred* and Judith Klotzman Cynthia Knight (Miami) Drs. Raymond and Katharine Kolcaba+ Marion Konstantynovich Jacqueline and Irwin* Kott (Miami) Dr. Ronald H. Krasney and Vicki Kennedy+ Mr. Donald N. Krosin Alfred and Carol Lambo Mr. and Mrs. John J. Lane, Jr. + Mrs. Sandra S. Laurenson Dr. and Mrs. Arthur Lavin Michael Lederman Ronald and Barbara Leirvik Mr. and Mrs. Ernest C. Lemmerman Michael and Lois Lemr Irvin and Elin Leonard+ Mr. Alan R. Lepene Robert G. Levy+ Drs. Todd and Susan Locke Mary Lohman Ms. Mary Beth Loud Mrs. Idarose S. Luntz Damond and Lori Mace Ms. Linda Macklin David Mann and Bernadette Pudis Janet A. Mann Herbert L. and Ronda Marcus Martin and Lois Marcus Mr. and Mrs. Raul Marmol (Miami) Dr. and Mrs. Sanford E. Marovitz+ Ms. Dorene Marsh Dr. Ernest and Mrs. Marian Marsolais Mr. Fredrick Martin Ms. Amanda Martinsek Dr. and Mrs. William A. Mast Mr. Julien L. McCall Ms. Charlotte V. McCoy William C. McCoy Mr. and Mrs. Christopher J. McKenna Mr. and Mrs. Tom McLaughlin Ms. Nancy L. Meacham Mr. and Mrs. James E. Menger Mr. and Mrs. Trent Meyerhoefer Ms. Betteann Meyerson+ Beth M. Mikes Abby and Jake Mitchell Mr. and Mrs. William A. Mitchell+

Severance HallOrchestra 2017-18 The Cleveland

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas W. Morris Bert and Marjorie Moyar+ Susan B. Murphy Randy and Christine Myeroff Steven and Kimberly Myers+ Ms. Megan Nakashima Joan Katz Napoli and August Napoli Richard B. and Jane E. Nash Deborah L. Neale Robert D. and Janet E. Neary Steve Norris and Emily Gonzales Marshall I. Nurenberg and Joanne Klein Richard and Jolene O’Callaghan Mr. and Mrs. John Olejko Dr. and Mrs. Paul T. Omelsky Mr. Robert Paddock Mr. John D. Papp George Parras+ Dr. Lewis E. and Janice B. Patterson David Pavlich and Cherie Arnold Matt and Shari Peart Dr. and Mrs. Gosta Pettersson Henry Peyrebrune and Tracy Rowell Dr. Roland S. Philip and Dr. Linda M. Sandhaus+ Dale and Susan Phillip Maribel A. Piza (Miami)+ Mr. Carl Podwoski Dr. Marc A. and Mrs. Carol Pohl Brad Pohlman and Julie Callsen Mr. Robert and Mrs. Susan Price Ms. Sylvia Profenna Mr. Lute and Mrs. Lynn Quintrell Drs. Raymond R. Rackley and Carmen M. Fonseca+ Ms. C. A. Reagan Dr. Robert W. Reynolds Ms. Janet Rice David and Gloria Richards Ms. Carole Ann Rieck Mrs. Charles Ritchie Joan and Rick Rivitz Mr. D. Keith and Mrs. Margaret Robinson Mr. Timothy D. Robson+ Ms. Linda M. Rocchi Dick A. and Debbie Rose Mr. Kevin Russell (Miami) Mrs. Elisa J. Russo+ Fred Rzepka and Anne Rzepka Family Foundation Dr. Harry S. and Rita K. Rzepka+ Dr. Vernon E. Sackman and Ms. Marguerite Patton+ Fr. Robert J. Sanson Ms. Patricia E. Say+ Mr. Paul H. Scarbrough+ Robert Scarr and Margaret Widmar Bob Scheuer Don Schmitt and Jim Harmon Mr. James Schutte+ Mr. and Mrs. Alexander C. Scovil Dr. John Sedor and Ms. Geralyn Presti Ms. Kathryn Seider Charles Seitz (Miami) Drs. Daniel and Ximena Sessler+ Mr. Kenneth and Mrs. Jill Shafer Donna E. Shalala (Miami) Ginger and Larry Shane

Individual Annual Annual Support Support Individual

Harry and Ilene Shapiro Ms. Frances L. Sharp Larry Oscar and Jeanne Shatten+ Dr. and Mrs. William C. Sheldon+ Terrence and Judith Sheridan Mr. Richard Shirey+ Mr. and Mrs. Reginald Shiverick+ Michael Dylan Short Mr. Robert Sieck Laura and Alvin A. Siegal Howard and Beth Simon Ms. Ellen J. Skinner Ms. Anna D. Smith Ms. Janice A. Smith Sandra and Richey Smith+ Mr. and Mrs.* Jeffrey H. Smythe Mrs. Virginia Snapp Ms. Barbara Snyder Mr. Marc Stadiem Ms. Sharon Stahler Dr.* and Mrs. Frank J. Staub Mr. Alan L. Steffen Mr. Eduardo Stern (Miami) Frederick and Elizabeth Stueber Mr. Taras G. Szmagala, Jr. Kathy* and Sidney Taurel (Miami)+ Dr. and Mrs. Thomas A. Timko Mr.* and Mrs. Robert N. Trombly Steve and Christa Turnbull+ Mrs. H. Lansing Vail, Jr. Bobbi and Peter van Dijk Mrs. Stasia M. Vavruska Brenton Ver Ploeg (Miami) Teresa Galang-ViĂąas and Joaquin Vinas (Miami) Mr. and Mrs. Les C. Vinney George and Barbara von Mehren Mr. Norman Wain Ms. Laure A. Wasserbauer+ Margaret and Eric* Wayne+ Alice & Leslie T. Webster, Jr. Mr. Peter and Mrs. Laurie Weinberger Michael and Danielle Weiner Dr. Paul R. and Catherine Williams Ms. Claire Wills Richard and Mary Lynn Wills Elizabeth B. Wright+ William Ronald and Lois YaDeau Rad and Patty Yates Ken and Paula Zeisler Dr. William Zelei Mr. Kal Zucker and Dr. Mary Frances Haerr Anonymous (3)+ Anonymous (8)

+ has signed a multiyear pledge (see information box earlier in this section)

* deceased

Thank You 83 93

THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA

Corporate Support The Cleveland Orchestra extends heartfelt gratitude and partnership with the corporations listed on this page, whose annual support (through gifts of $2,500 and more) demonstrates their belief in the Orchestra’s music-making, education initiatives, and community presentations.

Annual Support gifts during the year prior to July 1, 2017 The Partners in Excellence program salutes companies with annual contributions of $100,000 and more, exemplifying leadership and commitment to musical excellence at the highest level.

PARTNERS IN EXCELLENCE $300,000 AND MORE

Hyster-Yale Materials Handling NACCO Industries, Inc. KeyBank The J. M. Smucker Company PARTNERS IN EXCELLENCE $200,000 TO $299,999

BakerHostetler Eaton Jones Day PNC Bank Raiffeisenlandesbank Oberösterreich (Europe) PARTNERS IN EXCELLENCE $100,000 TO $199,999

American Greetings Corporation Medical Mutual Nordson Corporation Foundation Squire Patton Boggs (US) LLP Thompson Hine LLP

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$50,000 TO $99,999

DLR Group | Westlake Reed Leskosky Dollar Bank Foundation Forest City Litigation Management, Inc. Parker Hannifin Foundation Quality Electrodynamics (QED) Anonymous $15,000 TO $49,999

Buyers Products Company Case Western Reserve University Ernst & Young LLP Frantz Ward LLP The Giant Eagle Foundation Great Lakes Brewing Company Hahn Loeser & Parks LLP The Lincoln Electric Foundation The Lubrizol Corporation Materion Corporation MTD Products, Inc. North Coast Container Corp.

Ohio Savings Bank, A Division of New York Community Bank Olympic Steel, Inc. RPM International Inc. The Sherwin-Williams Company Tucker Ellis LLP

Corporate Annual Annual Support Corporate

$2,500 TO $14,999 Akron Tool & Die Company American Fireworks, Inc. BDI BestLight LED Brothers Printing Co., Inc. Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP Cleveland Clinic Cleveland Steel Container Corporation The Cleveland Wire Cloth & Mfg. Co. Cohen & Company, CPAs Community Counselling Services Consolidated Solutions Cozen O’Connor (Miami) Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation Evarts Tremaine The Ewart-Ohlson Machine Company Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Glenmede Adam Foslid/Greenberg Traurig (Miami) Gross Builders Huntington National Bank Littler Mendelson, P.C. Live Publishing Company Macy’s Miba AG (Europe) Northern Haserot Oatey Ohio CAT OMNOVA Solutions Oswald Companies Park-Ohio Holdings PolyOne Corporation RSM US, LLP Southern Wine and Spirits (Miami) Stern Advertising Struktol Company of America University Hospitals Ver Ploeg & Lumpkin (Miami) Anonymous (2)

Orchestra The Cleveland Orchestra

THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA

Foundation/Government Support The Cleveland Orchestra is grateful for the annual support of the foundations and government agencies listed on this page. The generous funding from these institutions (through gifts of $2,500 and more) is a testament of support for the Orchestra’s music-making, education initiatives, and community presentations.

Annual Support gifts during the year prior to July 1, 2017 $1 MILLION AND MORE

The Cleveland Foundation Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture $500,000 TO $999,999

The George Gund Foundation Ohio Arts Council $250,000 TO $499,999

Kulas Foundation John P. Murphy Foundation $100,000 TO $249,999

Paul M. Angell Family Foundation Elizabeth Ring Mather and William Gwinn Mather Fund David and Inez Myers Foundation The Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation $50,000 TO $99,999

The George W. Codrington Charitable Foundation GAR Foundation The Gerhard Foundation, Inc. Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation Martha Holden Jennings Foundation Myra Tuteur Kahn Memorial Fund of The Cleveland Foundation Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs (Miami) The Frederick and Julia Nonneman Foundation The Nord Family Foundation The Payne Fund

The Cleveland Severance HallOrchestra 2017-18

$15,000 TO $49,999

The Abington Foundation The Batchelor Foundation, Inc. (Miami) Mary E. & F. Joseph Callahan Foundation The Helen C. Cole Charitable Trust The Mary S. and David C. Corbin Foundation Mary and Dr. George L. Demetros Charitable Trust The Char and Chuck Fowler Family Foundation The Helen Wade Greene Charitable Trust National Endowment for the Arts Sandor Foundation Albert G. & Olive H. Schlink Foundation Jean C. Schroeder Foundation The Sisler McFawn Foundation Dr. Kenneth F. Swanson Fund for the Arts of Akron Community Foundation The Veale Foundation The Edward and Ruth Wilkof Foundation

$2,500 TO $14,999 The Ruth and Elmer Babin Foundation Dr. NE & JZ Berman Foundation The Bernheimer Family Fund of the Cleveland Foundation Eva L. and Joseph M. Bruening Foundation Cleveland State University Foundation The Cowles Charitable Trust (Miami) Elisha-Bolton Foundation The Harry K. Fox and Emma R. Fox Charitable Foundation The Jean, Harry and Brenda Fuchs Family Foundation, in memory of Harry Fuchs The Hankins Foundation The Muna & Basem Hishmeh Foundation Richard H. Holzer Memorial Foundation The Laub Foundation Victor C. Laughlin, M.D. Memorial Foundation Trust The Lehner Family Foundation The G. R. Lincoln Family Foundation The Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation The Margaret Clark Morgan Foundation The M. G. O’Neil Foundation Paintstone Foundation Charles E. & Mabel M. Ritchie Memorial Foundation The Leighton A. Rosenthal Family Foundation SCH Foundation Miami-Dade County Public Schools (Miami) Harold C. Schott Foundation Kenneth W. Scott Foundation Lloyd L. and Louise K. Smith Memorial Foundation The South Waite Foundation The O’Neill Brothers Foundation The George Garretson Wade Charitable Trust The S. K. Wellman Foundation The Welty Family Foundation Thomas H. White Foundation, a KeyBank Trust The Wuliger Foundation Anonymous (2)

Foundation/Government Annual Foundation/Government Annual Support Support

85

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The Cleveland Orchestra

11001 Euclid Avenue Cleveland, Ohio 44106

P H OTO BY S T E V E H A L L © H E D R I C H B L E S S I N G

CLEVELANDORCHESTRA.COM

the world’s most beautiful concert halls, Severance Hall has been home to The Cleveland Orchestra since its opening on February 5, 1931. After that first concert, a Cleveland newspaper editorial stated: “We believe that Mr. Severance intended to build a temple to music, and not a temple to wealth; and we believe it is his intention that all music lovers should be welcome there.” John Long Severance (president of the Musical Arts Association, 1921-1936) and his wife, Elisabeth, donated most of the funds necessary to erect this magnificent building. Designed by Walker & Weeks, its elegant HAILED AS ONE OF

Severance Hall 2017-18

Severance Hall

Georgian exterior was constructed to harmonize with the classical architecture of other prominent buildings in the University Circle area. The interior of the building reflects a combination of design styles, including Art Deco, Egyptian Revival, Classicism, and Modernism.

An extensive renovation, restoration, and expansion of the facility was completed in January 2000. In addition to serving as the home of The Cleveland Orchestra for concerts and rehearsals, the building is rented by a wide variety of local organizations and private citizens for performances, meetings, and special events each year.

87

Dreams can come true

Cleveland Public Theatre’s STEP Education Program Photo by Steve Wagner

... WITH INVESTMENT BY CUYAHOGA ARTS & CULTURE Cuyahoga Arts & Culture (CAC) uses public dollars approved by you to bring arts and culture to every corner of our County. From grade schools to senior centers to large public events and investments to small neighborhood art projects and educational outreach, we are leveraging your investment for everyone to experience.

Your Investment: Strengthening Community Visit cacgrants.org/impact to learn more.

11001 Euclid Avenue Cleveland, Ohio 44106 CLEVELANDORCHESTRA.COM

AT SE V E R A N C E H A LL RESTAURANT AND CONCESSION SERVICE Pre-Concert Dining: Severance Restaurant at Severance Hall is open for pre-concert dining for evening and Sunday afternoon performances (and for lunch following Friday Morning Concerts). For reservations, call 216-231-7373, or online by visiting www.UseRESO.com.

Intermission & Pre-Concert: Concession service of beverages and light refreshments is available before most concerts and at intermissions at a variety of lobby locations.

Post-Concert Dining: Severance Restaurant is open after most evening concerts with à la carte dining, desserts, full bar service, and coffee. For Friday Morning Concerts, a post-concert luncheon service is offered.

OPUS CAFÉ The new Opus Café is located on the ground floor in the Lerner Lobby at the top of the escalator CAFE from the parking garage. Offering pre- and post-concert refreshments and light foods, the Café is a perfect spot for meeting and talking with friends.

opus

and conferences, pre- or post-concert dinners and receptions, weddings, and social events. Catering provided by Marigold Catering. Premium dates are available. Call the Facility Sales Office at 216-2317420 or email to hallrental@clevelandorchestra.com

BE FO R E T H E CO NC E R T GARAGE PARKING AND PATRON ACCESS Pre-paid parking for the Campus Center Garage can be purchased in advance through the Ticket Office for $15 per concert. This pre-paid parking ensures you a parking space, but availability of prepaid parking passes is limited. To order pre-paid parking, call the Ticket Office at 216-231-1111.

Parking can be purchased (cash only) for the at-door price of $11 per vehicle when space in the Campus Center Garage permits. However, the garage often fills up and only ticket holders with prepaid parking passes are ensured a parking space.

Parking is also available in several lots within 1-2 blocks of Severance Hall. Visit the Orchestra’s website for more information and details.

FRIDAY MATINEE PARKING

If you have any questions, please ask an usher or a staff member, or call 216-231-7300 during regular weekday business hours, or email to info@clevelandorchestra.com.

Due to limited parking availability for Friday Matinee performances, patrons are strongly encouraged to take advantage of these convenient off-site parking and round-trip bus options: Shuttle bus service from Cleveland Heights is available from the parking lot at Cedar Hill Baptist Church (12601 Cedar Road). The roundtrip service rate is $5 per person.

Suburban round-trip bus transportation is available from four locations: Beachwood Place, Crocker Park, Brecksville, and Akron’s Summit Mall.

The round-trip service rate is $15 per person per concert, and is provided with support from the Friends of The Cleveland Orchestra.

RENTAL OPPORTUNITIES

CONCERT PREVIEWS

Severance Hall, a Cleveland landmark and home of the world-renowned Cleveland Orchestra, is the perfect location for business meetings

Concert Preview talks and presentations begin one hour prior to most regular Cleveland Orchestra concerts at Severance Hall.

ATM — Automated Teller Machine For our patrons’ convenience, an ATM is located in the Lerner Lobby of Severance Hall, across from Opus Café on the ground floor.

QUESTIONS

Severance Hall 2017-18

Guest Information

89

AT T H E CO NC E R T

comfort and listening pleasure of the audience, late-arriving patrons will not be seated while music is being performed. Latecomers are asked to wait quietly until the first break in the program, when ushers will assist them to their seats. Please note that performances without intermission may not have a seating break. These arrangements are at the discretion of the House Manager in consultation with the conductor and performing artists.

COAT CHECK Complimentary coat check is available for concertgoers. The main coat check is located on the street level midway along each gallery on the ground floor.

PHOTOGRAPHY AND SELFIES, VIDEO AND AUDIO RECORDING Photographs of the hall and selfies to share with others can be taken when the performance is not in progress. However, audio recording, photography, and videography are prohibited during performances. As courtesy to others, please turn off any phone or device that makes noise or emits light.

SERVICES FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES Severance Hall provides special seating options for mobility-impaired persons and their companions and families. There are wheelchair- and scooter-accessible locations where patrons can remain in their wheelchairs or transfer to a concert seat. Aisle seats with removable armrests are also available for persons who wish to transfer. Tickets for wheelchair accessible and companion seating can be purchased by phone, in person, or online.

As a courtesy, Severance Hall provides wheelchairs to assist patrons in going to and from their seats. Patrons can make arrangement by calling the House Manager in advance at 216-231-7425.

Infrared Assistive Listening Devices are available from a Head Usher or the House Manager for most performances. If you need assistance, please

REMINDERS Please disarm electronic watch alarms and turn off all pagers, cell phones, and mechanical devices before entering the concert hall. Patrons with hearing aids are asked to be attentive to the sound level of their hearing devices and adjust them accordingly. To ensure the listening pleasure of all patrons, please note that anyone creating a disturbance may be asked to leave the concert hall.

LATE SEATING Performances at Severance Hall start at the time designated on the ticket. In deference to the

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Guest Information

The Cleveland Orchestra

contact the House Manager at 216-231-7425 in advance if possible.

Service animals are welcome at Severance Hall.

Please notify the Ticket Office as you buy tickets.

IN THE EVENT OF AN EMERGENCY Emergency exits are clearly marked throughout the building. Ushers and house staff will provide instructions in the event of an emergency.

Contact an usher or a member of the house staff if you require medical assistance.

SECURITY For security reasons, backpacks, musical instrument cases, and large bags are prohibited in the concert halls. These items must be checked at coat check and may be subject to search.

Severance Hall is a firearms-free facility. No person may possess a firearm on the premises.

CHILDREN AND FAMILIES Regardless of age, each person must have a ticket and be able to sit quietly in a seat throughout the performance. Cleveland Orchestra subscription concerts are not recommended for children under the age of 8. However, there are several age-appropriate series designed specifically for children and youth, including: Musical Rainbows (recommended for children 3 to 6 years old) and Family Concerts (for ages 7 and older).

Our Under 18s Free ticket program is designed to encourage families to attend together. For more details, visit clevelandorchestra.com/ under18.

T IC K E T SE RV IC ES TICKET EXCHANGES Subscribers unable to attend on a particular concert date can exchange their tickets for a different performance of the same week’s program.

Subscribers may exchange their subscription tickets for another subscription program up to five days prior to a performance. There is no service charge for the five-day advance ticket exchanges. If a ticket exchange is requested within 5 days of the performance, a $10 service charge per concert applies. Visit clevelandorchestra.com for details.

UNABLE TO USE YOUR TICKETS? Ticket holders unable to use or exchange their tickets are encouraged to notify the Ticket Office so that those tickets can be resold. Because of the demand for tickets to Cleveland Orchestra performances, “turnbacks” make seats available to other music lovers and can provide additional income to the Orchestra. If you return your tickets at least two hours before the concert, the value of each ticket can be a tax-deductible contribution. Patrons who turn back tickets receive a cumulative donation acknowledgement at the end of each calendar year.

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What Music expresses is eternal, infinite, and ideal. Music expresses not the passion, love, desire, of this or that individual in this or that condition, but Passion, Love, Desire itself.

—Richard Wagner

The Ecstasy of Tristan and Isolde FRANZ WELSER-MÖST discusses Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde, and the ideas of ecstasy and transcendence that he explores with the opera and as part of a concert series April 21-29

Q&A Q: Tell us about Tristan and Isolde.

Franz: Wagner’s opera Tristan and Isolde is, without any question, one of the most important musical milestones in history.

And for many different reasons, musically and even philosophically. At one and the same time, it represents the ultimate high point of musical Romanticism and the launch of modern music. In this score, Wagner broke apart the harmonic tonal system to reveal something new. With this opera, Wagner unleashed music from the past and announced the start of our Severance Hall 2017-18

modern world.

I have long wanted to program this opera with The Cleveland Orchestra — to have the right singers and the right season to include this extraordinary work. With the remarkable soprano Nina Stemme, who we hosted several years ago here at Severance Hall and at Carnegie Hall as Salome, we have the world’s greatest living Isolde.

Fundamentally, for the orchestra and for the Cleveland audience, I believe that part of being a great orchestra includes playing and experiencing certain pieces.

Tristan and Isolde is one of these. The experience of performing it — and of hearing it as an audience member — changes your understanding of what music can be.

It is perfect for the Orchestra’s Centennial season, as we explore how music literally

Exploring Musical Ecstasy: April 21-29

93

makes history and at the same time leaves the past behind, taking us into the future.

Let me add to this the fact that Tristan and Isolde is very challenging and difficult to perform. The original production in Munich in 1865 had 142 rehearsals, just to learn this music and get it right. It is a demanding work, but also very rewarding. Audiences will come away having truly experienced a pinnacle in music — almost like climbing Mount Everest in sound. It is breathtaking, perhaps literally, in the “high” feeling, the magnificent feelings that it offers.

Q: Isn’t this opera just a story of star-crossed lovers, who both die in the end?

Franz: Many operas end in death and tragedy. That doesn’t mean they aren’t inspiring and filled with insight and understanding. Great works help us understand what it means to be human, to feel, to learn, to grow. Wagner’s genius in Tristan and Isolde is in creating a musical language of desire, of unending longing.

The music does not rest, the harmonic key does not find resolution. Even at the very end, when the opera stops, the music is still unfinished harmonically — continuing on forever. It is thrilling to experience.

The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche said that Wagner’s music is like a drug.

And he was right. The characters want more, you want more. And you hold on for every phrase, looking for resolution.

In a way, Wagner portrays an emotional addiction, a desire that cannot be satisfied except through understanding. In the opera, love is caused by a special or magic potion. But it is really just something that allows two people to admit their feelings,

94

their attraction for one another. And it is much more than physical, it is a mental state of being whole — of ecstasy and transcendence, of finding meaning and understanding in life.

Q: You described the “ecstasy” in this opera.

How did you expand that idea to create a festival with additional concerts?

Franz: Tristan and Isolde, as I have said, is an ecstatic piece. In the ending, in Isolde’s “Love-Death” or Liebestod, this woman transcends her own existence, and finds a deep understanding, of love and life, in death. For some people, ecstasy may be easier to understand through the word “transcendence.” Both words have meanings beyond the usual — of “being outside yourself” in ecstasy, or of becoming “more than” or transcending “beyond” the

normal. In planning the season, and with Tristan and Isolde already on the calendar, I kept coming back to this idea.

I became excited at thinking about how much other music there is that touches around these ideas, of religious ecstasy, becoming one with god, of personal ecstasy, of being enlightened, of meditation and centering oneself inside. I think for many people, musical performances are often a channel to understanding and transcendence, of being more than yourself and at peace. And so I worked to develop a festival around the opera.

April 21-29: Exploring Musical Ecstasy

The Cleveland Orchestra

Think back to some of the great music, the great performances you have experienced, and that moment at the end, when there is silence, not even breathing, as the audience and the musicians think not about themselves but simply take in what has been witnessed and shared.

That is transcendence — in leaving or forgetting the place where you are physically, for a moment, and of being part of something greater. Ecstasy — whether it is spiritual, or physical, or musical — is

The legend of Tristan and Isolde is the symbol of all great loves and for all the great love poems in literature or in music. . . . It transcends even the limitations of the mind, and grows to a cosmic scale.

—Olivier Messiaen

the experience of letting go and uniting together all at that same time. This is what we are exploring in these musical performances in April. I believe it will be an unforgettable experience to hear these works, separately and together.

Adding to Tristan and Isolde, which opens the festival, we have a performance of Olivier Messiaen’s Turangalîla-Symphonie from 1949. This is all about ec-

static love, even physical love, and directly touches on and re-examines the story of Tristan and Isolde, but in a very different kind of musical language. It is “new age” or modern, mixing instruments and sounds from different times and cultures, with many percussionists and solo piano and the ondes martenot, an early electronic instrument. Much of this music is hypnotic, and it is pre-minimalist and mesmerizing. There is a slow movement, which portrays Tristan and Isolde’s love as a garden of delight and ecstatic, calming embrace, and in a different movement Messiaen portrays stars dancing in the celestial heavens.

The second concert centers on religious or spiritual ecstasy, and perhaps touching toward mysticism. Here we are featuring, of course, some music by Bach, and music by an earlier composer, Giovanni Gabrieli. But also more modern works, including Arvo Pärt’s Magnificat. And a piece of organ music by Franz Liszt, who was so often trying new things and working to expand the language of music.

For this Divine Ecstasy concert in particular, we explore music written specifically around religious ecstasy, of music that was written to extend and amplify spiritual or meditative feelings — of music as a means to lose yourself, and to find your way.

The ECSTASY of TRISTAN AND ISOLDE 2O1 7-18 CENTENNIAL SEASON

Severance Hall 2017-18

This unique Festival April 21-29 features in-concert performances of Richard Wagner’s opera Tristan and Isolde (April 21, 26, and 29), along with Olivier Messiaen’s Turangalîla Symphonie (April 25), and a program titled Divine Ecstasy (April 28), plus a showing of the 2011 film Melancholia (April 22) at Cleveland Cinematheque.

Exploring Musical Ecstasy: April 21-29

95

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