Program Notes for October 25, 2009
SYMPHONY NO. 101 IN D MAJOR “CLOCK”
FRANZ JOSEF HAYDN 1732–1809
Franz Josef Haydn was born in lower Austria in 1732 and eventually became a Doctor of Music at Oxford University in London. He was a very popular composer in that city. He wrote one hundred and four symphonies, defining the form and giving it the foundation in the melodies, rhythms and harmonies that it has today. Haydn wrote the Symphony No. 101 (sounds like a college course) in 1794 when he was sixty-two. .
The first movement is an Adagio: Presto which begins with a slow introduction that moves into the principal theme. This is a lilting figure in 6/8 time which is played by the first violins and echoed in the woodwinds, brass and tympani. A subordinate theme is also light and lilting. Haydn develops these two themes in a delicate fashion. After a brief climax, a solo flute takes the music back to replay the first two themes.
The Andante, the slow movement, gives the symphony its nickname as it opens with a “tick-tock” rhythm played by the two bassoons and as pizzicato by the strings. The first violins have a melody above the rhythmic accompaniment. Next, the music changes to a minor key, which is followed by the bassoons and the flute playing the clockwork pattern. And the first violins embellish the original melody. There is a third variation, played by all, which leads back into the original key.
Movement III is a Minuet: Allegretto. It is like a folk dance with a quick tempo. The trio, or middle, is a solo flute melody played above a droning sound in the orchestra. The movement returns back to the opening minuet as it ends.
The last movement, a Finale Vivace, begins with a lively melody. Haydn takes this melody and breaks it up and moves it around. The most recognizable piece of it is the first three notes of the tune. The first melody returns only briefly and the key changes into D minor and then the music comes to a stop. Following the stop, there is a soft string passage and then Haydn has constructed a double fugue to the end of the work. Commentators have called this fugue “amazing.”
CONCERTO FOR CELLO AND ORCHESTRA IN C MAJOR
FRANZ JOSEF HAYDN 1732–1809
This early work of Haydn was missing for two hundred years. It was found in 1961 in the Czechoslovak National Library in Prague. It had its premiere on May 19, 1962 by the Chechoslovak Radio Symphony Orchestra. Milos Sadlo was the soloist and Charles Mackerras was the conductor.
The Concerto is in three movements. The first is a Moderato that presents a principal theme that is delicate and dance-like and is introduced by the orchestra . The soloist then enters, playing the same theme. There is no contrasting theme in this movement but the main theme is developed in the middle of the movement and appears again in the reprise. Throughout the Moderato, the solo part is central to the music and the movement ends with a cadenza.
The second movement, Adagio, begins with a long, soft note played by the soloist. There are two contrasting sections and both of them return to the initial theme. The movement ends with a cello cadenza.
The last movement is an Allegro molto. It begins like the Adagio with the soloist playing a long sustained note. And again, the orchestra repeats the opening theme. Then the soloist and the orchestra play together in quick fashion and in the central section the soloist has a chance to demonstrate his virtuosity. There are a couple of shifts to a minor key as the piece moves along.
The soloist dominates the action until the end of the concerto.
Program notes by Marion Rapp