Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
Symphonic Poem – Hamlet (1858)
 Franz
Liszt was born under the great comet of 1811 on one of the Hungarian estates of Prince Esterhazy, patron of
Haydn, near present-day Sopron, about 50 miles south of Vienna. The local gypsies interpreted this auspicious
start as foretelling a stellar career. Their predictions were right on the mark, for his rise to the position
of world's leading pianist (quite possibly of all time) was truly meteoric, taking just 19 years. His success
was fueled by more than prodigious talent and celestial auguries, for his father was very ambitious and used
funds donated by the Prince to enable Franz to study with Czerny in Vienna. It was through Czerny that Franz received
at age 11 the ultimate blessing: a kiss on the forehead by Beethoven after the boy's recital. And to add
to these advantages, Liszt grew to be a very handsome and dynamic young man who had an almost mesmeric effect on
women.
Despite the great success, once Liszt had seen the top performer of the day, violinist Paganini, he was determined
to improve his technique and musicality still further. His quest was relentless, and he practiced exercises
up to fourteen hours a day! It was during this period that he met the second great love of his life, the
Countess Marie d'Agoult (the first had been a pupil and the daughter of a Count, and whose forced seclusion almost
caused the death of Liszt). It was Marie who persuaded him that composition was his true vocation. Franz
and Marie had three children, including Cosima who in 1865 was to leave her husband Hans von Bülow (a Liszt
protégé and author of the "Three Bs" epithet) for Richard Wagner. In 1839 Liszt became
the chief benefactor to a project to create a monument for Beethoven in Bonn. Many had helped Liszt in his youth
and he was generous to a fault once he himself had achieved the means. Nevertheless, to find the money for the
Beethoven monument, he was forced to undertake a gruelling recital tour. Marie felt that he had abandoned her "for
such small motives" and left with the children. In 1847, Liszt ended his recital career to dedicate himself
to composition. He took up the post of Kapellmeister at Weimer, one of the most cultured of German cities, and
settled there for the next ten years with the Princess Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein, his third great love, and the
dedicatee of this piece.
Hamlet was the last and one of the best of his twelve symphonic poems from his Weimar period, and was
originally intended to introduce a performance of the play (though it was never used thus). It is more of
a psychological portrait than a programmatic depiction of the action. One of the developments of the Neue Musik
style of which he was a leading proponent (and which was the subject of the manifesto by Brahms – see Evening
at Symphony) was structural, to go beyond the traditional sonata form. Hamlet's form is of this new type,
in this case having a somewhat symmetrical plan, approximately ABCBCBA. The texture
of the A subjects is dark, introspective and foreboding, as befits the ill-fated Prince of Denmark. The B
sections B are full of dramatic energy. The C sections are rather tranquil interludes which Liszt described
as "shadowy portraits hinting at Ophelia". The influences of both Berlioz and Wagner can be felt, but
the music also looks forward to a form which Richard Strauss would later adopt and adapt.
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847)
A Midsummer-Night's Dream (1843)
Scherzo – Chorus of Elves "Ye spotted snakes" – Nocturne – Wedding March Finale "Through
this house give glimm'ring light"
 One
of the most naturally gifted musicians of the 19th century, Mendelssohn
was doubly fortunate to be born into a distinguished and wealthy Hamburg banking family. It is perhaps not
surprising then that there is no hint of struggle or adversity in his compositions. His music is invariably
a pure joy to hear and this piece is perhaps one of the most delightful which he wrote. He left us beautiful
music in nearly all the genres: symphonies, oratorios, concertos, overtures, chamber music, songs, piano music,
etc. But it is not only his music for which Mendelssohn should be remembered. As a conductor, he was perhaps
the prime mover in the revival of interest in Bach's music which had been only rarely performed since his death
in 1750. And he founded one of the leading musical institutions of the world: the Leipzig Conservatory.
His affluent circumstances also enabled him to indulge in his other great passion: travel. His itineraries
were not the necessity of Vivaldi or Mozart. Travel was purely for pleasure and inward enrichment. He developed
a particular fondness for Britain where he spent lengthy stays during his life, and became the darling of Queen
Victoria and Prince Albert. In 1834, he went to Leipzig, Germany's cultural capital, to take over the Gewandhaus
orchestra. Six years later he was persuaded by the new King of Prussia to become music director of Berlin.
It was during this period that his duties often included writing incidental music for the theater, including A
Midsummer-Night's Dream. On the voyage home from his tenth visit to England, he heard the devastating
news that his sister and fellow composer Fanny had died. In less than six months, at the age of 38, he too
was dead of a stroke.
Like so many composers, he was drawn to the works of Goethe (whom he knew personally) and Shakespeare, through
the translations of Schlegel. He first came across A Midsummer-Night's Dream in 1826 and almost at
once set to work on an overture inspired by the play. At this time, he had just gained a wide reputation
with his youthful and brilliant octet. It was not until 17 years later that he wrote the incidental music,
borrowing a little from the earlier overture (the tranquil passages in the finale).
The opening scherzo is taken from the beginning of Act II, set in a wood near Athens. The following
chorus is from the point where Titania retires to sleep, and here you can hear the buzzing of the insects in the
music. The nocturne accompanies the sleep of the various characters whose pairings have become somewhat
confused. After the so-familiar (but deservedly so) wedding march, the music ends with the lovely finale.
John Harbison (b. 1938)
Incidental Music to Merchant of Venice – Suite (1971)
 John Harbison is one of America's most successful
composers and what's more, he makes the Boston area home. And right now, he is enjoying time in the spotlight
as his The Great Gatsby, commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera, premiered in December. Among other
works are three string quartets, three symphonies, two operas, and the cantata The Flight Into Egypt, which
earned him a Pulitzer Prize in 1987.
Harbison's music is distinguished by its exceptional resourcefulness and expressive range. He has written for
every conceivable type of concert performance, ranging from the grandest to the most intimate, pieces that embrace
jazz along with the pre-classical forms of Schutz and Bach, the graceful tonality of Prokofiev, and the rigorous
atonal methods of late Stravinsky. He is also a gifted commentator on the art and craft of composition and was
recognized in his student years as an outstanding poet. He also wrote the libretto for Gatsby. Today he continues
to convey, through the spoken word, the multiple meanings of contemporary composition.
Harbison has been composer-in-residence with the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Tanglewood,
Marlboro, and Santa Fe Chamber Festivals, and the American Academy in Rome. His music has been performed by many
of the world's leading ensembles, and more than 30 of his compositions have been recorded. As a conductor, he has
led many of the world's distinguished orchestras and chamber groups. In Boston, he has been music director
of the Cantata Singers in Boston, and has conducted the Boston Symphony, the Handel and Haydn Society and for many
years has been principal guest conductor of Emmanuel Music in Boston, leading performances of Bach cantatas, 17th-century
motets, and new music.
Harbison was born in Orange, New Jersey in 1938 into a musical family. He was improvising on the piano by age
five and started a jazz band at age 12. He was an undergraduate at Harvard University and earned an MFA from Princeton
University. Later, he joined the faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he is still Professor
of Music. In 1998 he was given the Heinz Award for the Arts and Humanities. His music is distinguished
by its exceptional and expressive range. Mr. Harbison is passionate about his art, but that passion extends
beyond his personal creativity. Throughout his career, he has unselfishly devoted time and energy to nurturing
the talents and furthering the work of younger composers.
Over the past 30 years John Harbison has earned a place as one of the leading composers of the modern era. He
has left his mark on nearly every classical musical genre, and his compositions have been performed by every major
symphony orchestra in America. His work has been described as crystalline in texture, ethereal in atmosphere,
shimmering in coloration, and deeply complex and magical.
The composer wrote of this piece, which was first performed at the Monadnock Music Festival in 1973 and is for
a large string orchestra, "In a concert performance of this suite, the sections are played without pause,
the longer portions making concentrated movements, the short ones serving as punctuations. For a stage production
of The Merchant of Venice the music serves as preludes, fanfares, songs, and backgrounds, as indicated by
the subtitles. The opening prelude suggests the darker aspect of the play, revealed in the opening dialogue about
the loss of Antonio's vessels at sea. The music for the casket scenes is based on Portia's song (Tell me
where is fancy bred), a series of variations colored by the nature of the rival's choices. The prelude to
the courtroom scene is a restatement of the opening, but with a weightier consequent phrase. The last part of the
piece, belonging to the Belmont scene with its pervasive musical references, consists of two violin duets, the
first an intimate chamber piece and the last a sustained phrase over an ostinato."
Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)
Romeo and Juliet, Op. 64 (1935)
Montagues and Capulets – Juliet as a young girl – Friar Lawrence – Dance – Masks – Romeo on the tomb of
Juliet
 It was Tchaikovsky
who really created the modern ballet in which the importance of the music has been so elevated that the dramatic
impact of the whole can be the equal of opera. His two greatest disciples, also products of the Russian musical
world and who were able to intensify the drama and musical brilliance still further, were Stravinsky and Sergei
Prokofiev. However, both of them made their marks in the ballet genre in Paris, working for Diaghilev's
Ballets Russes. Prokofiev's music has been a favorite of SPM performers and audiences alike in recent years,
including the first violin concerto in October 1999.
Prokofiev was born in the Ukraine and spent most of his life outside Russia. By the time the Kirov ballet
commissioned a ballet from him, he was becoming disenchanted with the superficiality of the Western world and was
already contemplating a move back to Moscow. The suggestion to use Romeo and Juliet as the subject
apparently came from the Kirov itself. It was by no means an unusual subject for music! Gounod's opera,
Tchaikovsky's fantasy overture, Berlioz' dramatic symphony, and most recently a ballet by Constant Lambert were
all ripe for comparison for anyone wishing to disparage the new work. None did. The Leningrad premier in
1940 (the actual premier was in December 1938 in Brno, the Moravian capital – now the second city of the Czech
Republic) was a triumph. There are many, including myself, who contend that Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet
is quite simply the greatest ballet score ever written. Nevertheless, like the star-crossed lovers themselves,
the course of the ballet did not run smooth. The music was at first considered undanceable and Prokofiev was obliged
to do much editing and cajoling of the Kirov cast before all was ready.
Prokofiev prepared and performed the Orchestral Suites Nos. 1 and 2 (from which these excerpts are taken) in
Russia in 1936 and 1937. Though the genius of the dramatic portrayals is retained in their original forms,
it has become customary for conductors to mix up the movements somewhat, as we do. Montagues and Capulets:
This "Dance of the Knights", a somber and ceremonial round, presents the warring families and their retinues
in Prokofiev's most angular idioms, with brief suggestions of the love story that is to follow. The Child
Juliet: Juliet appears as a lively, delighted child, but there are musical signals that she is approaching
womanhood and her carefree days will not last. Friar Lawrence: The portrait of the good father, with its
use of violas and bassoon, is one of the most explicitly Shakespearean characterizations of Prokofiev's score.
Dance: Another vignette serves in the complete ballet to deepen the drama, while in the symphonic version
it acts both as respite and preparation. Masks: Eeriness enters the music as Romeo, Mercutio
and Benvolio appear at the Capulets' ball uninvited. Prokofiev combines his senses of irony, "crudity"
and classicism. Romeo on the tomb of Juliet: With this intense music, the drama reaches its
climax with the intermingling of the lovers' themes and suggestions of their families' hatreds. The power of love
and desolation conquers petty feudalism.
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