SoNA
Symphony of Northwest Arkansas
Defying Expectations February 17, 2024 Walton Arts Center Paul Haas, conductor
Le Boeuf sur le toit (1919–20)
eventually amassing over 400 opus
Darius Milhaud
in the lot. Nor did composition absorb
b September 4, 1892 in Marseille, France
all of his time: from 1940 through 1971
d June 22, 1974 in Geneva, Switzerland
he trained a battalion of musicians at
numbers without a single unfinished piece
Oakland’s Mills College. Milhaud’s original impetus for his droll Provençal-turned-global-citizen Darius
Brazilian-infused Le Boeuf sur le toit was
Milhaud combined astounding prolificity
as background music for any of Charlie
with a richly eclectic imagination. He got
Chaplin’s silent films. What that odd
started before the First World War and
title—literally “the ox on the roof”—actually
kept up the pace well into the 1970s,
means is anybody’s guess. Milhaud
folk dance, but that’s just kicking the can
Violin Concerto No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 26 (1868)
down the road.
Max Bruch
himself said it was the name of a Brazilian
b January 6, 1838 in Cologne, Prussia Le Boeuf sur le toit wound up as the
d October 2, 1920 in Berlin-Friedenau,
music for a 1920 ballet by Jean Cocteau
Germany
that features lower-class Parisians doing various unsavory things to each other. Its freewheeling Dada-ist bling made it into a big hit, so much so that a Paris cabaret
Our musical world would be a much poorer
called ‘Le Boeuf sur le toit’ opened in
place without the magisterial 19th-century
1921. Thus the common misconception
violinist Joseph Joachim. A violinist’s
that Milhaud’s composition is named after
violinist and a musician’s musician, there
the cabaret, instead of it being the other
was something Jovian about him, even at
way around. Confusion notwithstanding,
the age of 12 when he first performed the
it all makes a certain reciprocal sense:
Beethoven Violin Concerto and began the
Milhaud’s music has a distinct jazz
process of rehabilitating a work that most
vibe, and the cabaret became a popular
critics dismissed as an estimable failure.
Parisian jazz venue and late-night
But Joachim never had any difficulty telling
hangout where you might bump into
his hawks from his handsaws. It was his
Stravinsky, Cocteau, Picasso, Chaplin,
advocacy that ensured repertory status
or, yes, Milhaud.
for the violin concertos of Mendelssohn and Brahms, not to mention the Bach
Nota bene: you can visit ‘Le Boeuf sur le
solo violin partitas and the late Beethoven
toit’ today at 34 rue du Colisée, but be
string quartets. (He is also the patron saint
prepared to spend a bundle on a high-end,
of modern violin playing, but that’s a topic
chic meal. Le Boeuf’s Bohemian days are
for some other program note.)
long over. Joachim contributed mightily to the success of the beloved G Minor Violin Concerto by the German Romantic Max Bruch, celebrated in his day as a leading choral composer but nowadays close
Joachim helped Bruch massage the piece
Symphony No. 3 in G Minor (1847)
into its final form, played the premiere,
Louise Farrenc
and always spoke fondly of the concerto’s
b May 31, 1804 in Paris, France
lovable richness.
d September 15, 1875 in Paris, France
to being forgotten save this one work.
That lovability is eminently palpable throughout, no more so than in the ravishing slow movement, surely one of
Isabelle Vengerova. Rosina Lhevinne.
the crown jewels of the concerto literature.
Adele Marcus. Yvonne Loriod. All major-
For those who might wonder if the theme
league piano teachers at major-league
of Bruch’s finale was influenced by the
conservatories, and all women. They
Brahms Violin Concerto—they are very
shared an unheralded pedagogical
close cousins indeed—be advised that
ancestor in 19th century composer
the Bruch is the earlier of the two works,
and pianist Louise Farrenc, mainstay
and in all likelihood the similarities
piano faculty at the Paris Conservatoire
are coincidental.
for decades. As we all know, European music outside of opera was mostly an exclusive men’s club well into the 1800s. Even before Clara Schumann started hammering against those moldy old walls, Farrenc established herself at the highest levels of the profession. She studied with the best—Ignaz Moscheles and Johann Nepomuk Hummel in piano, and Beethoven pupil Anton Reicha in composition. She concertized in prestigious venues. Her compositions were played by headliners such as Joseph Joachim. As a composer she was of a distinctly conservative stripe, eschewing excess à la Liszt or bling à la Berlioz. Her catalog runs to the traditional genres: chamber music, symphonies, and (understandably)
lots of solo piano stuff. No opera, though.
music theoreticians: four movements, the
After her death in 1875 she, and her
first in sonata-allegro form, a three-part
music, fell into obscurity, and that’s a
slow movement in second place, then a
pity. She left a considerable legacy, well
quickstep scherzo with trio, and finally
worth resuscitating.
another sonata-allegro to wrap up. She follows the rules so carefully, in fact, that
Farrenc’s three symphonies date from
one could fashion quite a useful primer
the 1840s, a time when the symphony,
on minor-key sonata-allegro form from the
as a living genre, was in steep decline.
G Minor Symphony’s outer movements.
Amongst the Germans only Schumann and Mendelssohn could compete
But there’s a vivid personality thrashing
with Beethoven’s intimidating legacy;
around inside all those fastidious
everybody else churned out faux-
structures. Farrenc was a superb
Mendelssohn prestige pieces or dutiful
melodist with a well-trained harmonic
graduation exercises. The situation was
imagination. There’s fire and brimstone
even worse in France, where opera ruled.
here, albeit a bit subterranean. The slow
French audiences showed little interest in
movement offers up some exquisite
the Austro-Germanic symphonic tradition;
writing for the clarinet à la Carl Maria
instead, French symphonic practice, what
von Weber. And despite the symphony’s
little there was, followed programmatic
overall minor-mode rectitude, it’s imbued
works such as Berlioz’s Symphonie
with an overall optimism, ready to break
fantastique with its dramatic plot and
into sunny major-mode sensibility at
theatrical gestures.
every opportunity.
Given Farrenc’s overall Austro-Germanic orientation and innate conservatism, we should not expect the G Minor Symphony to topple any applecarts. Farrenc adheres closely to symphonic punctilio as established by post-Beethovenian
Program notes by Scott Foglesong, copyright 2024 First North American Serial Rights Only