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Program Notes |
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Program Notes |
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Gordon Jacob:
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English composer Gordon Jacob (1895-1984) taught for many years at the Royal Conservatory of Music and wrote several well-regarded music textbooks. During his busy 60-year composing career, he wrote numerous orchestral and chamber works, art songs, film scores, and band works, as well as a ballet, Uncle Remus. He was also honored with a commission to compose music for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. Jacob was considered a "conservative" composer. He summed up his musical philosophy in a 1959 interview: "I personally feel that the day that melody is discarded, you may as well pack up music altogether." That love of melody is apparent in this Divertimento for Wind Octet, which demonstrates Jacob's expert craftsmanship with wind instruments.
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Arcangelo Corelli:
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Italian violinist and composer Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713) was a celebrated figure in 17th-Century Europe, and his compositions had a profound influence on the development of Baroque music. It is difficult for the modern listener to understand just how innovative Corelli's work was, because he had so many imitators. Indeed, both Bach and Vivaldi owed a great deal to Corelli's music, particularly his fresh and agile violin writing. He wrote his twelve Concerti Grossi (op. 6) at the end of his life; they were later published by his lifelong friend, the violinist Matteo Fornari. Passages from the eighth concerto grosso can be heard in the film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. The fourth concerto grosso is a fine example of Corelli's sense of elegance and balance.
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Beethoven:
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The Eighth Symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) is good-natured, witty, and humorous, but it was written at a time when his emotional life had hit bottom. In 1811, he fell deeply in love with a married woman, Antonie Brentano. By 1812 the two were embroiled in a full-blown affair, and Antonie offered to leave her husband and four children for him. Some music historians believe that it was to her that Beethoven wrote the famous "Immortal Beloved" letter, in which he begged her not to destroy her family, but at the same time to keep loving him. Antonie did not oblige; the relationship ended soon afterward.
Beethoven sought refuge at his brother Nikolaus's house to finish the Eighth Symphony, only to find that his brother was having an affair with the housekeeper. Apparently on the theory that if he couldn't have love, his brother shouldn't either, he attempted to break up their relationship by going so far as reporting it to the police. The brothers came to blows, and Nikolaus married the housekeeper anyway. They never spoke again.
Incredibly, the Eighth Symphony — begun during a doomed affair and finished during a bitter family dispute — reflects none of this emotional turmoil. In place of a slow movement, there is a delightful minuet. Musical jokes abound: unexpected pauses, surprising notes, sudden endings, and a deliberately overblown finale all mark this symphony as Beethoven's wittiest. But his personal sorrows did take their toll. After the Eighth Symphony was completed, there followed a long period of reduced creativity and depression. Although he composed other works during this time, it would be 11 years before Beethoven would write another symphony — his last.
Program Notes by Linda Cantoni
Sources:
Sadie, Stanley (ed.),
The
New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (Grove 1995)
Kramer, Jonathan D., Listen
to the Music (Schirmer 1991)