Symphony Pro Musica - To The Sea in Ships - April, 1999

Program Notes

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847)

Overture: Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage, Op. 27 (1828)

F. MendelssohnFelix Mendelssohn was born into a distinguished Hamburg family and a world of comfort and privilege which allowed him to play the piano and learn composition at an early age.  As Grove's puts it: "One of the most naturally gifted musicians of the 19th century, he developed his talent to a high degree while still a boy." His circumstances also afforded him many opportunities for travel of which he took great advantage, using some of his trips as inspiration for his music, for example the Scottish and Italian symphonies, and the Hebrides Overture (otherwise known as Fingal's Cave).  From our late twentieth-century viewpoint, we naturally think of travel in terms of planes, cars, possibly trains and, rarely, ships.  But in Mendelssohn's world, trains were in their infancy, cars – of a sort – were only just beginning to be tinkered with, and planes were in dreams only.  The comforts of even a small ship far exceeded those of a stage coach so naturally his journeys would be, as much as possible, by boat. It is therefore fitting that perhaps the best traveled seafarer among the major composers should be represented here, and with one of his most pleasing short works.

This overture is of central importance to his career, coming as a breakthrough from a crisis in his development as a composer. Notwithstanding the earlier comments regarding his extensive travels, the inspiration for this piece came not from personal experience (it was the following year when his mother sent him on the voyage to Britain which gave rise to his next success: the Hebrides Overture) but from a vision conjured up by Goethe (1749-1832) in a pair of poems which provide the title too – in German: Meeresstille & Glückliche Fahrt. The poems are concerned with external events of nature, but there are also allegorical allusions to human nature. The first depicts the sea during a lull, the second the rushing power of waves in motion. Mendelssohn, whose music belongs more to the Classical period then the Romantic period, chose to model the two parts in the traditional overture format: an adagio followed by an allegro molto vivace.

Edward Elgar (1857-1934)

Sea Pictures, Op. 37 (1899)

Sea Slumber-Song; In Haven (Capri); Sabbath Morning at Sea; Where Corals Lie; The Swimmer


Sir Edward Elgar brought to a happy end the state of Britain for almost 200 years (since the death of Purcell in 1695) dubbed by some German wag as Das Land ohne Musik (the land without music). While it is true that there was no great native-born composer during this time, London was nevertheless a very important musical center, visited by Mozart, Haydn, Mendelssohn and many others. The indigenous tradition was continued and developed by permanent residents Handel and J.C. Bach (the "English" Bach). Still, compared to the great flowering of talent in the last 150 years (Elgar himself, Delius, Vaughan Williams, Holst, Britten, and others), those two long centuries constituted a composer "drought" by any reckoning.

Elgar was born in a small village near Worcester in the West of England and was happiest when living in that area, although the Elgars did have spells of living in London. Elgar came from a musical family – his father was the organist at the catholic church in Worcester, was a piano tuner and kept a musical retail store. Edward received little formal musical education – he was largely self-taught in piano, violin and bassoon – but was a talented violinist and gifted teacher. Like Holst, Elgar at first appeared to be destined for a solo career but decided against it when about twenty. In 1889 he married a former pupil, Caroline Alice Roberts, nine years his senior, from a well-to-do military family which did not entirely approve of her marrying this "tradesman's son". Their marriage was very happy, and after Alice died in 1920, he wrote no more original music. Several of his compositions were either dedicated to her or connected in some other way. In 1897 he set one of her poems "Love alone will stay" as a song with piano accompaniment. As we will see, this found its way into the Sea Pictures two years later.

After some small early successes and some big disappointments, his reputation was firmly established with the Enigma Variations in 1898 [which, incidentally, quotes from Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage in the 13th variation, designated by that other enigma: "***", long thought to refer to a close lady friend then on a long voyage]. Anxious to follow up with another success, his next work was the present one, followed the next year by his choral masterpiece The Dream of Gerontius. In that year he also wrote the five Pomp and Circumstance marches – the title comes from a passage in Othello in which Othello mocks war and the military – and the Cockaigne overture which depicts London. Incidentally, the trio from the first Pomp and Circumstance march became so wildly popular that, with the addition of the words "Land of Hope and Glory", was used at King Edward VII's coronation and almost displaced the National Anthem. In America, it is better known as the ubiquitous graduation march.

After that incredibly successful set of five consecutive opus numbers (36-40), each a masterpiece in its own way, nothing would stop his fame and fortune – he was – and still is – the quintessential English composer.  He made many highly acclaimed visits to Europe and journeyed twice to the U.S: once to Yale and once to New York, in 1905 and '07 respectively.

Today, we hear the second, and least well-known, of those five works: Sea Pictures. However, the quality of the music is consistent with the others – though perhaps without that extra spark of brilliance which so characterizes the Enigma Variations.. Certainly it has always been one of my favorites. Whether or not his wife's poem was the catalyst for the set, I do not know, but it seems likely (he orchestrated it – albeit ultra sparingly – and inserted it as the second song, retitled "In Haven (Capri)". Apart from the sea theme, there is a delicate thread of death and/or everlasting life which runs through these songs. Other than that, and perhaps some overuse of alliterations, there is nothing very cohesive about the five poems used. However, the mystical/religious aspects of the poems must have appealed to his strong Catholic faith, in much the same way as did Cardinal Newman's Gerontius. Only one is by a poet who today might be considered famous – Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-61) (as in The Barretts of Wimpole Street). At the time, EBB was perhaps better known as the tragic (due to chronic ill health) wife of Robert Browning. Today, she is perhaps justly regarded as a much greater poet than her then illustrious husband.

The first poem to be set is "Sea Slumber-Song", by Roden Noel (1834-94), the son of the 1st Earl of Gainsborough. It has been said of Noel that "he has never received the attention he deserves" and that, save for Robert Browning, he did more for the development of English poetry than any of his contemporaries. Today he is largely forgotten. Elgar's music makes this a beautiful lullaby with which to introduce the cycle. The string sounds, especially to accompany the phrase "Sea-sound, like violins, to slumber woos and wins" is particularly lovely. The death overtones here are so veiled as to be easily missed. Next comes his wife's poem, for which he writes the most delicate and tender music. The three verses are almost identical in orchestration, but with just enough extra emphasis for the final message "Love alone will stay". The emphasis here is on everlasting love (life). The Browning poem "Sabbath Morning at Sea" forms the third song and is one of the two grand-scale settings of the set (the other coming last). The sea here appears to be a metaphor for death, in the sense of the journey to heaven having to cross a great ocean, and the closing musical climax seems wholly appropriate to the text and is perhaps the most purely Elgarian moment of the cycle.

Probably the most popular of the songs comes next: "Where Corals Lie" based on a poem by Richard Garnett (1835-1906), a keeper of the British Museum well known for his biographies but who wrote very little poetry. However, the words are particularly mellifluous and the darker theme is treated in a most uplifting and pleasant manner. The use of harp is particularly effective, and the music has a touch of sparkle left over from Enigma in it. The last setting – "The Swimmer" by Australian poet Adam Lindsay Gordon (1833-70) – is also the most dramatic in effect (Elgar uses the largest orchestra for this) and perhaps the most difficult to interpret. The death theme is strong, presaged by a storm, but the role of the swimmer himself, if indeed he exists in reality, is implied rather than described. The final message of the set is again one of the infinite beyond our terrestrial existence, this time with music which is full of hope and fulfillment.

For the text of Sea Pictures, please go to SeaPictures

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

La Mer – Three symphonic sketches for orchestra (1905)

From dawn till noon at sea; Play of the waves; Dialog of the wind and sea

C. DebussyClaude Debussy was not only one of the greatest musicians to come out of France, but was also a painter of considerable talent.  To him, musical composition and painting were very closely related and were subject to many of the same constraints and techniques.  His association with several of the Impressionist painters, and his own natural musical ideas, inevitably led to a parallel compositional style which he called, naturally, impressionist. La Mer is perhaps the most successful and best-known work to embrace this style.

Of the major composers, there were a few, born with the proverbial silver spoon in their mouths, such as Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky, for whom the combination of talent and means paved a relatively easy road to success. There were others, like Beethoven, Mahler and Verdi, who escaped from poverty and succeeded solely because of their prodigious musical talent. Like Dvorak, it is surprising that Debussy was successful at all, for he was also born into a poor family, and showed no very outstanding musical talent during his early years. Neither did he have a personality which was particularly endearing to his teachers and supporters (unlike Dvorak). His appearance was also rather unprepossessing. He succeeded more because of a rugged determinism and some rather fortuitous connections. One of these was Nadezhda von Meck, the wealthy patroness of Tchaikovsky.

At the Conservatory in Paris, his unconventional musical ideas did not earn him much respect from the faculty. But with his strong ambition, hard work, and a little help from, surprisingly, Charles Gounod, he won the Prix de Rome in 1884 (the winners of this prestigious award reads like the Who's Who of French composers). This allowed him to study in Rome for four years at the expense of the French Government, although he actually spent only three, as Rome was not so congenial to him. After his return to Paris, his career continued somewhat slowly until the early years of this century. He was married to Lily Texier in 1899, wrote the Nocturnes in 1900 followed by his opera Pelléas et Mélisande. Life was beginning to settle down when he left his wife to live with a wealthy married woman, Emma Bardac, whom he married in 1905. The scandal which this caused was so severe, losing him many of his best friends in the process, that the couple were forced into exile in England while things cooled down in Paris. They spent the summer in Eastbourne, an attractive and popular seaside resort in the Southeast of England just across the channel from France (although too far to be able to actually see land the other side). It was these circumstances that sparked inspiration for La Mer and thus it was that Debussy created perhaps his best-known work.

Despite the impressionist tag which La Mer enjoys, the composer cited Turner (in some respects the progenitor of the Impressionists) and the Japanese artist Hokusai as the major influences for the piece. In any case, the orchestral palette which he employs is quite unlike anything which preceded it, not only in the very modern (and Eastern-influenced) scales and harmonies used, but in the use and combinations of different instruments. In particular, the string sounds are most carefully specified (frequently divided) to give a translucency of texture appropriate to the subject. The score actually calls for two harps and they add significantly to the overall watery sound. The influence of this piece on contemporary music was profound. Indeed, it may not be too far-fetched to suggest that Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé (1912) and Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring (1913) [both recently performed by SPM], could not have been written in the same way without it.

The introduction to the first of the three sketches (De l'aube a midi sur la mer – From dawn till noon at sea) depicts the first shafts of light softening the darkness of the gently moving waters. Gradually, the music gathers momentum leading into a section which suggests the continuous motion and playful splashing of the waves. Several solo passages follow, culminating in a strident trumpet call reflecting the light's growing intensity as the music moves into the second section. This opens with a vigorous theme for the cellos followed by rushing violin scales and a short repeated passage in the strings. The movement closes with a majestic brass chorale suggesting the awesome depth and super-human power of the sea sparkling in the full light of day.

The second movement (Jeux de vagues – Play of the waves) is a kind of scherzo, in contrast to the two outer movements, and consists of a series of short-lived passages which capture the fleeting patterns which occur in nature as the light catches the waves. Throughout the movement the impression of the sea's boundless activity is evoked in sounds that hover on the brink of abstraction, but the free rondo form and the deftness of melody and orchestration are just enough to hold the music together. The third movement (Dialoge du vent et de la mer – Dialog of the wind and sea) begins with a representation of the water's choppy surface in the lower strings. The excitement quickens and the waves become more violent as the music develops into the wind motif introduced, appropriately, by the double reeds – starting with two triplet quarter-notes on A, followed by the third triplet and two half notes (all tied) on G#. Soon, the music accelerates to a great climax which quickly subsides, leaving a solo cornet high above tuba and timpani. We hear again the chorale of the first movement and the piece ends with a combination of the chorale and the wind theme in music of breathtaking grandeur.

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