 |
About the Music2009-2010 Concerts | The Compositions | The Soloists 2009-2010 Concerts
Cherubini We open our 34rd season with works by Luigi Cherubini. Cherubini’s Requiem is unusual in that it is set for chorus and orchestra only; there are no soloists. The Requiem was cited by Schumann as being "without equal in the world." Berlioz considered the final decrescendo in the Agnus Dei to surpass "everything that has ever been written of the kind." Upon hearing a performance of this work, Beethoven declared to Cherubini that if he himself ever wrote a requiem, this would be his model. With its echoes of Schubert and Rossini, and a brilliant closing movement, Cherubini’s only symphony is a highly inventive and beautifully proportioned work. Friday, October 30, 2009, 8:00 PM Sunday, November 1, 2009, 4:00 PM Handel, Messiah Celebrate the season with us as we present Handel’s Messiah, known and loved by audiences and performers alike! From last year: “(Your) presentation of the Messiah was special and at times breathtaking.” "Your concert was magnificent!!!!” Guest Artists: Susan Cotroneo - soprano, Anne Marie Wilcox - mezzo soprano, Pablo Bustos - tenor, JJ Hudson – baritone Friday, December 18, 2009, 8:00 PM Sunday, December 20, 2009, 4:00 PM Sacred Music Festival Randall Thompson: The Testament of Freedom Saturday, March 20, 2010, 8:00 PM Sunday, March 21, 2010, 4:00 PM GVOC’s Greatest Hits Richard Rodgers: It’s a Grand Night for Singing Friday, May 7, 2010 8:00 PM Saturday, May 8, 2010 8:30 PM The Compositions
Luigi Cherubini (1760-1842) is probably the most influential of composers whose name and works have fallen into relative obscurity. He was born in Florence but moved to Paris in 1785 and spent most of his creative life there. This was clearly a difficult time for an artistic career in Paris; Cherubini lived through the turmoil of the French Revolution, the Directorate, the Napoleonic Wars and the Restoration. He was a dominant figure in French musical life for half a century. At 18, with 36 works (mainly church music) to his credit, he began a period of study with Sarti in Bologna and Milan (1778-80). The resulting Italian operas he produced in Italy and London (1784-5), and his work as an Italian opera director (1789-90) in Paris (where he had settled in 1786), pale in significance next to the triumphant premiere of his second French opera, Lodoïska (Paris, 1791). He was appointed inspector at the new Institute National de Musique (from 1795 the Conservatoire), his status soon being enhanced by the successes of Médée (1797) and Les deux journées (1800). After the Restoration, his old patron, now Louis XVIII, appointed him co-director of the Chapel Royal, Royal Superintendent of Music and ultimately Director of the Paris Conservatoire. At the same time, he turned more and more to sacred music and began a steady stream of masses, motets, and other liturgical music. His best church music, notably the C minor Requiem, unites his command of counterpoint and orchestral sonority with appropriate dramatic expression, while his non-vocal works, chiefly the operatic overtures, Symphony in D and six string quartets, make their effect through the creative use of instrumental colour. Symphony in D Major Luigi Cherubini composed only one symphony and it should come as no surprise to find that the Symphony in D major (1815) is unusual in other ways. Commentators have likened this singular work to symphonies by Mozart, Schubert, and Mendelssohn, yet aside from sharing a common musical language, it has little of their formal discipline and its style seems outside the mainstream of Germanic symphonic writing. In its loose structure, with many dramatic pauses, digressions, and interruptions, and with long-breathed themes that resemble arias, Cherubini's music actually seems much closer to that of Rossini. The operatic impulse is quite apparent in the antic outer movements, the songful Larghetto, and the stormy Menuetto, and this symphony must have struck early audiences as peculiar in its theatricality and something of a novelty. (Presumably, had it been a success, Cherubini would have composed many more symphonies than he did.) ~ From a review by Blair Sanderson Requiem Mass in C Minor Cherubini’s Requiem is unusual in that it is set for chorus and orchestra only; there are no soloists. The Requiem was cited by Schumann as being "without equal in the world." Under commission from Louis XVIII, it was composed in 1816 for four-part choir and orchestra. It represents what Beethoven and many of Cherubini's contemporaries particularly admired about his style: the ability to weave polyphonic virtuosity, Classical stylistic polish, and a truly Romantic sense of drama into music of extraordinary depth and power. Even Berlioz considered the final decrescendo in the Agnus Dei to surpass "everything that has ever been written of the kind." Upon hearing a performance of this work, Beethoven declared to Cherubini that if he himself ever wrote a requiem, this would be his model. The Requiem was performed at Beethoven's funeral in 1827. ~ From program notes by Ruth Covell
George Frederic Handel (1685 – 1759) was born in Halle, Germany. He was one of the greatest composers of the late baroque period (1700-1750) and, during his lifetime, perhaps the most internationally famous of all musicians. Handel was born February 24, 1685, in Halle, Germany, to a family of no musical distinction. His own musical talent, however, manifested itself so clearly that before his tenth birthday he began to receive, from a local organist, the only formal musical instruction he would ever have. Although his first job, beginning just after his 17th birthday, was as church organist in Halle, Handel's musical predilections lay elsewhere. Thus, in 1703 he traveled to Hamburg, the operatic center of Germany; here, in 1704, he composed his own first opera, Almira, which achieved great success the following year. Once again, however, Handel soon felt the urge to move on, and his inclinations led him to Italy, the birthplace of operatic style. In Italy Handel composed operas, oratorios, and many small secular cantatas; he ended his Italian sojourn with the spectacular success of his fifth opera, Agrippina (1709), in Venice. Handel left Italy for a job as court composer and conductor in Hannover, Germany, where he arrived in the spring of 1710. As had been the case in Halle, however, he did not hold this job for long. By the end of 1710 Handel had left for London, where with Rinaldo (1711), he once again scored an operatic triumph. Under the patronage of the duke of Chandos, he composed his oratorio Esther and the 11 Chandos anthems for choir and string orchestra (1717-1720). By 1719 Handel had won the support of the king to start the Royal Academy of Music for performances of opera, which presented some of Handel's greatest operas: Radamisto (1720), Giulio Cesare (1724), Tamerlano (1724), and Rodelinda (1725). Handel’s introduction to oratorio began in the spring of 1708 when opera performances were banned in the Holy City of Rome. At this time, oratorios became the acceptable substitute for opera, and it was then that Handel explored this form. In 1738 Handel, as determined as ever, began yet another operatic endeavor, which ended with his last opera, Deidamia, in 1741. During the 1730s, however, the most important directions taken by Handel were, first, the composition of English dramatic oratorios, notably Athalia (1733) and Saul (1739); and, second, the surge of instrumental music used in conjunction with the oratorios, including some of Handel's greatest concertos-the solo concertos of op. 4 (1736, five for organ and one for harp) and the 12 concerti grossi of op. 6 (1739). Messiah was written in 1741 in London. The texts were selected by Charles Jennings, a literary scholar and editor of Shakespearean plays. Although Messiah is traditionally performed at Christmas time, it was originally an Easter tradition. Messiah was first performed in Dublin on April 13, 1742 at St. Patrick’s Cathedral as a charity event. The first London performance of Messiah took place at the Convent Garden Theatre (now known as the Royal Opera House) with King George II in attendance. The tradition of standing during the “Hallelujah” Chorus had it beginnings at this time. There is a great deal of speculation as to why King George stood up during this section --did he nod off and jump up, startled by the loud music? – or was he acknowledging that his kingdom was subservient to God’s? Protocol demanded that no one remain seated while the King was standing. Messiah was dedicated from its initial performance to charitable purposes. In his will, Handel bequeathed it to an institution for the relief of poverty. Handel continued composing oratorios at the rate of about two a year, including such masterworks as Samson (1743) and Solomon (1749), until 1751, when his eyesight began to fail. Handel died in London on April 14, 1759; the last musical performance he heard, on April 6, was of his own Messiah. Sacred Music Festival
It was a sympathetic milieu for the young composer, whose family were themselves members of the Liechtental church, and after writing several shorter liturgical works Schubert produced a complete Mass in F major for performance there in 1814. A year later he composed the Stabat Mater in G minor. It is not known whether it was commissioned, or written for a special occasion. It is more likely that Schubert was, then as always, writing whatever he felt moved to write - and if there was a good chance of performance, that was a bonus. It took him three days to complete the work, which is for Chorus without soloists, accompanied by a small orchestra.
His early works, including several songs, varied considerably in style. But in 1922 he began studies at the American Academy in Rome where, inspired by the master composers of the Renaissance, he developed the musical style which led him to the forefront of American choral composers. During his career he intermingled both teaching and composing, having been director of the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music as well as a professor at his alma mater, Harvard University. Though he composed symphonies, songs, operas and instrumental works, he is best known for his choral compositions. ~ From Thorpe Music Publishing Company Alleluia - This classic of classics has become one of the nation’s most-often performed choral works. Rare is the church, school, community, or professional choir that has not sung it. The masterful construction and simplicity of text (Alleluia, Amen) make the Alleluia suitable for almost any choir for almost any occasion. Testament of Freedom - Composed for the 200th anniversary of Jefferson's birthday, The Testament of Freedom had its premiere, appropriately, at the University of Virginia on its Founder's Day, April 13, 1943, with the composer at the keyboard, as part of a nationwide radio broadcast. It was then rebroadcast to the Armed Forces serving overseas.
At the turn of the century he was among the very first to travel into the countryside to collect folk-songs and carols from singers, notating them for future generations to enjoy. As musical editor of The English Hymnal he composed several hymns that are now world-wide favourites (For all the Saints, Come down O love Divine). Later he also helped to edit The Oxford Book of Carols, with similar success. In his lifetime, Vaughan Williams eschewed all honours with the exception of the Order of Merit which was conferred upon him in 1938. He died in August 1958. In a long and productive life, music flowed from his creative pen in profusion. Hardly a musical genre was untouched or failed to be enriched by his work, which included nine symphonies, five operas, film music, ballet and stage music, several song cycles, church music and works for chorus and orchestra.
Born on February 3, 1809, in Hamburg, Mendelssohn was the grandson of the noted Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn. During his childhood, he and his family converted to Protestantism. At the age of 9, Mendelssohn first appeared in public as a pianist. Two years later, at the age of 11, he performed his first original compositions. Seventeen years later, his excellent overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream was composed written and his incidental music to the play were written. His teachers comprised the Bohemian pianist-composer Ignaz Moscheles and the German composer Carl Zelter. Making frequent trips to England and traveling throughout Europe, Mendelssohn performed as a pianist and conductor. He was musical director for the city of Düsseldorf (1833-1835), the conductor of the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig (from 1835), and musical director to King Frederick William IV of Prussia (from 1841). In 1842 he assisted in organizing the Leipzig Conservatory. He underwent a physical collapse when his favorite sister, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel died. And he died a few months later in Leipzig on November 4, 1847 as a result. ~ From New Classical Music Forum “He Watching Over Israel” is from his oratorio Elijah.
Brahms composed for piano, for chamber ensembles, for symphony orchestra, and for voice and chorus. An accomplished pianist, he gave the first performance of many of his own works; he also worked with the leading performers of his time, including the virtuoso pianist Clara Schumann and the violinist Joseph Joachim. Many of his works have become staples of modern concert repertoire. Brahms, an uncompromising perfectionist, destroyed many works and left some unpublished. Brahms was at once a traditionalist and an innovator. His music is firmly rooted in the structures and compositional techniques of the Baroque and classical masters. He was a master of counterpoint, the complex and highly disciplined method of composition for which Bach is famous. Yet within these structures, Brahms created bold new approaches to harmony and timbre which challenged existing notions of tonal music. His contribution and craftsmanship has been admired by subsequent figures as diverse as Arnold Schoenberg and Edward Elgar. Brahms's works were a starting point and an inspiration for a generation of composers, including Schoenberg, who eventually abandoned tonality. ~ From Wikipedia “How Lovely Is Thy Dwelling Place” is from his Ein Deutsches Requiem.
The Crucifixus is from his Mass in B-Minor.
The “Pilgrims’ Chorus” is from Tannhauser. The Soloists
Pablo Cesar Bustos, tenor, is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, where he received both his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Vocal Performance. He frequently appears as a concert soloist, focusing his talents on the Baroque and Classical repertoire. Mr. Bustos’ most recent solo concert appearances include: Handel’s Messiah with both the Fort Street Chorale and with the Publick Musick Baroque Orchestra and Chorus, as well as Handel’s Ode to St. Cecilia, conducted by Ton Koopman with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Carnegie Hall. This spring he performs the role of the Evangelist for Bach’s St. John’s Passion with Fort Street Chorale and the role of Uriel in Haydn’s Creation with the Greenville Choral Society, in North Carolina. Mr. Bustos made his recording debut on the Musica Omnia Label as a soloist with the Publick Musick Baroque Orchestra and Chorus in recordings of The Lutheran Masses and Advent Cantatas BWV 35, 62 and 140 of J. S. Bach. Singing the role of Damon, opposite Metropolitan Opera singer John McVeigh and Jennifer Aylmer, Pablo made his operatic debut in semi-staged performances of Handel's Acis and Galatea with the Detroit Oratorio Society. Recent operatic engagements include the title role in Williamson’s The Happy Prince and Alfred in Strauss’ Die Fledermaus with Opera Theatre of Weston, Vermont. He returns to the OTW next winter as the Witch, in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel. In 2006, Mr. Bustos was a finalist in the Philadelphia Bach Festival’s International Bach Aria Competition. He continues to study with soprano Rita Shane and regularly coaches with tenor Gregory Kunde. Mr. Bustos currently resides in Rochester, NY, where he is the Organist and Director of the Music Ministry for the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Reformation.
A native of Rochester, NY, Susan Cotroneo is at home on both the concert and operatic stage. Operatic credits include such roles as Violetta in Verdi’s La Traviata, Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte, Susanna in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, Lauretta in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, Goldentrill in Mozart’s Impresario, Lucy in Menotti’s The Telephone and Adina in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore, a role she debuted at La Festival di Musica da Camera in Italy. As a featured soloist, she has performed such works as Handel’s Messiah, Poulenc’s Gloria, Faure’s Requiem, Vivaldi’s Gloria and Mozart’s Exultate Jubilate. Ms. Cotroneo has studied under Gianni Raimondi and Giuseppe Taddei at Il Corso Internazionale di Perfezionamento d’Arte Vocale in Italy where she had the honor of performing the role of Musetta opposite Giuseppe Taddei as Marcello. She continues to coach with Maestro Gildo DiNunzo of the Metropolitan Opera and Isabelle Aubin.
JJ Hudson has performed more than twenty opera/lyric theater roles including: Leporello (Don Giovanni), Olin Blitch (Susannah), Bottom (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Sweeney Todd (Sweeney Todd), Giorgio (Passion), Shaunard and Colline (La Bohème), Grenvil and Douphol (La Traviata), Guglielmo (Così fan tutte), and Selim (Il Turco in Italia). He has appeared with Eastman Opera Theater, Rochester Opera Factory, Empire State Lyric Theater, Tacoma Opera (WA), Buffalo Opera Unlimited, Music by the Lake (WI), and the Centro Studi Opera Festival (Urbania, Italy). Hudson is currently on the faculties of SUNY-Oswego and Nazareth College. Hudson has also taught on the faculties of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and Concord University (WV). Hudson holds a Doctor of Musical Arts (Voice Performance and Literature) from the Eastman School of Music, where he also attained a Master of Music in Opera Studies-Stage Direction. In addition he holds a Master of Arts (Voice Performance) from the University of Iowa, and a Bachelor of Music (Composition and Voice Performance) from Stetson University (FL).
Ann Marie thrives on a career that includes a variety of musical genre including oratorio, opera, art song, and musical theater. Musical theater portrayals have included: Aldonza in Man of la Mancha, Nettie in Carousel; Gwendolyn in the musical adaptation/play of the Importance of Being Ernest; Meg Brockie in Brigadoon; Mad Margaret in Ruddigore and Petra in Utah Opera’s production of A Little Night Music (which was also part of the 2002 Salt Lake City Cultural Olympiad). Favorite opera roles have included: the famous gypsy Carmen, Maddalena in Rigoletto, Prince Orlovsky in Die Fledermaus; Prince Charming in Cendrillon; Dido in Dido & Aeneus; the Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors; Dorabella in Cosi; and Isabella in The Italian Girl from Algiers. Ann Marie can be heard on the Albany Record label as Adah in Naughty Marietta, Bertha in The Red Mill, and singing "You’ll Never Walk Alone" on Gold & Silver: Celebrating 25 Years of Ohio Light Opera, Her concert appearances include a program of Sondheim and Webber songs for Gulf Coast Symphony, Mozart Requiem at New Haven Symphony and solos with Mid-America Productions at Carnegie Hall in the Mozart Requiem and Vivaldi’s Gloria. This season, in addition to making her debut with the Genesee Valley Orchestra and Chorus, Ann Marie will perform in Ohio as the Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors and in North Carolina as Rosemary in the 2009 world premiere of Libby Larsen’s opera, The Picnic. |
Cherubini
Handel, Messiah
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Born January 27, 1756, in Salzburg; died December 5, 1791, in Vienna. He completed the motet Ave Verum Corpus on June 17, 1791, and it was probably first performed at the choir school of Anton Stoll in Baden, just outside Vienna, on the feast of Corpus Christi in 1791. “For all the best reasons, it is one of Mozart’s most frequently performed compositions: ...in its 46 measures it achieves an intensity of expression rarely found even in works lasting an hour or more and a perfection of shape almost unmatched. The general problem of style in the church music of Mozart’s day was the fact that, owing to tradition and the survival of older practices in the liturgy, old and new musical types were often slapped together without regard for musical sensibility, simply because it was "traditional" to have a fugue here or a change of texture there. But in Ave Verum Corpus, the Mozart scholar Alfred Einstein said, "the problem of style is solved." ~ From http://www.carnegiehall.org
Franz Schubert: (1797-1828) Schubert received an important part of his early musical training as a choirboy at the Liechtental Parish Church in the Vienna suburb where his family lived. The composer's brother Ferdinand tells us that by his eleventh year (1807) Franz was first treble in the Chorus, and that he had also begun to compose 'small songs, string quartets and piano pieces'. Michael Holzer, Chorus master at the Liechtental church, taught him the rudiments of composition and said to him: 'Whenever I wanted to impart something new to him, he always knew it already. I often looked at him in silent wonder.'
Ira Randall Thompson was born in New York City, April 21, 1899, and died in Boston, July 9, 1984. The son of an English teacher, Randall never strayed far from the academic environment. His early musical pursuits began at an old reed organ on the family summer farm in Vienna, Maine. His first attempts at composition began around 1915 with a piano sonata and a Christmas partsong. In 1916 he entered Harvard University he auditioned for the chorus but was turned down by its conductor, Archibald T. Davison, who eventually became his mentor. Thompson later mused, "My life has been an attempt to strike back."
Ralph Vaughan Williams was born in 1872 in the Cotswold village of Down Ampney. He was educated at Charterhouse School, then Trinity College, Cambridge. Later he was a pupil of Stanford and Parry at the Royal College of Music after which he studied with Max Bruch in Berlin and Maurice Ravel in Paris.
Felix Mendelssohn: (1809-1847) A German composer and one of the foremost figures of early 19th-century European romanticism.
Johannes Brahms: (May 7, 1833 – April 3, 1897) German composer and pianist, was one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene. In his lifetime, Brahms's popularity and influence were considerable; following a comment by the nineteenth century conductor Hans von Bülow, he is sometimes grouped with Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven as one of the Three Bs.
Johann Sebastian Bach: Now revered as the greatest composer of the Baroque Era, Johann Sebastian Bach was known during his own lifetime primarily as a great organist, since most of his compositions were neither widely known nor published during his life. Bach's musical genius manifested itself in many ways, but most particularly in his perfection of the fugue as both an instrumental and choral form, producing sublime music that was imbued with a balance of technical mastery and intellectual control. Bach's output includes works in every musical genre of his time except for opera. He used preexisting instrumental forms, adding new dimensions of quality, complexity, and technical demands unmatched elsewhere in music. Bach's use of counterpoint was brilliant and innovative, and the immense complexities of his compositional style -- which often included religious and numerological symbols that seem to fit perfectly together in a profound puzzle of special codes -- still amaze musicians today. Many consider him the greatest composer of all time. By the end of the 18th Century, Bach's compositions had earned him an almost legendary fame and a unique historical position. He opened up new dimensions in virtually every department of creative work to which he turned, in format, musical quality and technical demands. As was normal at the time, his creative production was mostly bound up with the external factors of his places of work and his employers, but the density and complexity of his music are such that analysts and commentators have uncovered in it layers of religious and numerological significance rarely to be found in the music of other composers. Many of his contemporaries, notably the critic J. A. Scheibe, found his music too involved and lacking in immediate melodic appeal, but his chorale harmonizations and fugal works were soon adopted as models for new generations of musicians. The course of Bach's musical development was undeflected (though not entirely uninfluenced) by the changes in musical style taking place around him. Together with his great contemporary Handel (whom chance prevented his ever meeting), Bach was the last great representative of the Baroque era in an age which was already rejecting the Baroque aesthetic in favour of a new, 'enlightened' one. ~ From http://www.carolinaclassical.com/bach/index.html4, http://www.answers.com/topic/johann-sebastian-bach and http://www.sfsymphony.org/
Richard Wagner: (1813 – 1883) is a 19th century German composer and poet famous for taking opera to new dramatic heights in such works as Der Fliegende Holländer (1841) and Der Ring des Nibelungen (1876). Wagner began his career as a music director, and by the 1840s was gaining recognition for his musical compositions and operas. During the 1850s he lived in exile in Zürich, unwelcome in Germany because of his associations with revolutionaries in Dresden. Although he was composing what would become some of the most famous pieces in music history, Wagner struggled financially until the 1860s, when Ludwig II of Bavaria began supporting him. In 1871 Wagner settled in Bayreuth, Germany and founded a theater. A critical success, he was nonetheless forced to travel as a guest conductor and raise funds for his theater. A key figure in classical music, Wagner is known for his powerful dramatic operas based on medieval legends and for his influential writings on music and drama.
Pablo Bustos, tenor
Susan Cotroneo, soprano
JJ Hudson, bass-baritone
Ann Marie Wilcox, mezzo-soprano