2022/2023 SEASON

Mozart & Strauss

Thursday, February 23, 2023, at 7:30 p.m.

Friday, February 24, 2023, at 11:00 a.m.

Saturday, February 25, 2023, at 8:00 p.m.

Divertimento No. 2 in D major, K. 131* 30 minutes

I. Allegro

II. Adagio

III. Menuetto — Trio I — Trio II — Trio III — Coda

IV. Allegretto

V. Menuetto — Trio I — Trio II — Coda

IV. Adagio — Allegro molto

Variations for Orchestra, Opus 31 20 minutes

Introduction: Mässig, ruhig (Moderately peaceful)

Theme: Molto moderato

Variation I: Moderato

Variation II: Langsam (slow)

Variation III: Mässig (moderato)

Variation IV: Walzertempo (waltz tempo)

Variation V: Bewegt (agitated)

Variation VI: Andante

Variation VII: Langsam (slow)

Variation VIII: Sehr rasch (very fast)

Variation XI: L’istesso tempo aber etwas lansamer (the same tempo but a little slower)

Finale: Mässig schnell (moderately quick)

*Not

INTERMISSION 20 minutes

Richard Strauss (1864–1949)

Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life), 40 minutes

Opus 40

The Hero —

The Hero’s Adversaries —

The Hero’s Companion —

The Hero’s Deeds of War —

The Hero’s Works of Peace —

The Hero’s Retirement

David Radzynski, violin

Approximate running time: 1 hour 50 minutes

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Saturday’s concert will be livestreamed on medici.tv and recorded for rebroadcast on adella.live.

Thursday night’s concert is sponsored by Northern Trust.

2022/2023 Season Sponsor

State and federal dollars through the Ohio Arts Council supported your arts experience today.

WHERE WILL THE ARTS TAKE YOU NEXT ? VISIT ARTSINOHIO.COM

THE COMPOSER RICHARD STRAUSS , at the age of 34, sparked outrage when he cast himself as the central figure of his tone poem Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life). “Strauss was heavily criticized,” says Music Director Franz Welser-Möst, describing the outcry at the time: “How can you write a piece about yourself? How egotistic is that?”

Presciently, it seems, Strauss incorporated jabs such as these — the critics’ heckling peppers the second section, “The Hero’s Adversaries”— alongside more valiant deeds. He also illustrated a touching depiction of his wife Pauline (“The Hero’s Companion”) represented by a solo violin, which concertmaster David Radzynski brings to life in these concerts; and in “The Hero’s Works of Peace,” Strauss wove together musical excerpts from his own catalogue to brilliant effect.

Strauss’s ambitions “go way beyond just describing his own life,” WelserMöst continues. “[His music] gives you a space for reflection on your own life. And that’s what classical music can do.” Through Strauss’s narrative, we recognize our own aspirations and obstacles, love affairs and nemeses.

This contemplative quality also radiates from the other two works on this weekend’s program. Mozart’s Divertimento No. 2 is a wholly charming and sophisticated, yet unassuming work by the budding 16-year-old, already in complete mastery of his considerable musical abilities. The modest Divertimento contrasts with Schoenberg’s bold

Variations for Orchestra, in which the composer presented his novel 12-tone method across a full range of pitches, colors, and textures that only an orchestra of more than 100 musicians can provide.

At the time he wrote the Variations, Schoenberg may have underestimated the power of his music. In an essay published two years after its premiere, he claimed: “Called upon to say something about my public, I have to confess: I do not believe I have one.” The clarity of hindsight has proven Schoenberg wrong, and this work captures the imagination with its endless variety and innovation in sound.

— Amanda Angel