Virtuosi Tasmania Inc
Bringing chamber music to regional Tasmania

Program Notes

Rossini: (1792-1868) String Sonata No 2 Rossini

Rossini: (1792-1868) String Sonata No 2 Rossini occupied an unrivalled position in the musical world of his time. With a horn-player father and a mother who made a career for herself in opera, as a boy Rossini had direct experience of operatic performance, both in the orchestra pit and on stage. This background, coupled with his prodigious talent, resulted in him rapidly achieving international success as a composer of opera. Music from his operas, notably The Barber Of Seville, Cinderella and William Tell, still popular today, became the pop music of the 19th Century. Instrumental compositions by Rossini include his early String Sonatas, designed for two violins, cello and double bass. The String Sonatas show a precocious command of Italian operatic style, here translated into instrumental terms.

Vivaldi: (1625-1741) Concerto for 2 Violins in A minor

1 Allegro
11 Larghetto e Spiritoso
111 Allegro
Son of a professional violinist, Vivaldi trained for the priesthood and was ordained in 1703 but soon after he ceased to say Mass. Claiming this was because of his unsure health. In 1703 he was appointed maestro di violino at the Ospedale della Pietà, one of the Venetian girls' orphanages, rising to the post of maestro de' concerti in 1716. The performances by the girls of the Ospedale della Pieta of Vivaldi's works became famous throughout Europe and were often part of the 'Grand Tour' undertaken by aristocratic tourists of the 18th and 19th centuries. Vivaldi wrote an enormous amount of music including many violin concertos. His most famous in our time is the set of four called The Four Seasons. Tonight's concerto is number eight from a set of twelve entitled L'Estro Armonico.

Salieri: (1750-1825) Concerto for Oboe and Flute

1 Allegro spiritoso
11 Largo
111 Allegretto
Salieri studied with Gassmann and others in Vienna, and also knew Gluck (who became his patron). In 1774 he became court composer and conductor of the Italian opera; from 1788 he was also court Kapellmeister. He made his reputation as a stage composer, writing operas for Vienna from 1768 and presenting several in Italy, 1778-80. Later he dominated Parisian opera with three works of 1784-7; Tarare (1787), his greatest success, established him as Gluck's heir. In 1790 he gave up his duties at the Italian opera. As his style became old-fashioned his works lost favor, and he composed relatively little after 1804, but he remained a central and influential figure in Viennese musical life. His many pupils included Beethoven, Schubert and Liszt.

In Glover's day Salieri was a very well known composer with a great international success. However today he is far less familiar to us than his contemporary, Mozart. There is little evidence of any intrigues against Mozart, still less of the charge of poisoning. In fact there is far more evidence of a cooperative atmosphere between the two composers than for a real enmity. For example, Mozart appointed Salieri to teach his son Franz Xavier, and when Salieri was appointed Kapellmeister in 1788, he revived Figaro instead of bringing out a new opera of his own, and when he went to the coronation festivities for Leopold II in 1790 he had no less than three Mozart masses in his luggage. Salieri and Mozart even composed a song for voice and piano together, called Per la ricuperata salute di Ophelia. Mozart's Davidde penitente K.469 (1785), his piano concerto in E flat major K.482 (1785), the clarinet quintet K.581 (1789) and the great symphony in G minor K.550 had been premiered on the suggestion of Salieri, who even conducted a performance of it in 1791. In his last surviving letter from October 14th 1791, Mozart tells his wife about Salieri's attendance at his opera Die Zauberflöte K 620, speaking enthusiastically: "He heard and saw with all his attention, and from the ouverture to the last choir there was no piece that didn't elicit a bravo or bello out of him [...]"

Handel: (1685-1759) Concerto Grosso Op 6 No 11

1 Andante Larghetto e Staccato
11 Allegro
111 Largo e Staccato
1V Andante
V Allegro

The English audience of the 18th and 19th Centuries adored Handel and his music would have dominated society at that time. A German by birth, he was enthusiastically adopted as England's own great composer. A master of Italian Opera and great proponent of the Oratorio, of which "The Messiah" is still one of the most popular works in the classical repertoire. His set of twelve Concerti Grossi for strings Op 6 are masterful works which provided the backbone of much music making and would have been well known by Glover.

Program Notes

Claude Debussy (b.1862 d.1918)
Prelude and Minuet from Suite Bergamasque, arranged for Oboe and Harp.

Much of the music of French composer Claude Debussy was inspired by the Impressionist Period - suggestions of colours, rhythms and shapes, and the use of less standard modes to create floating harmonies. Originally written for piano, these two movements from the Suite Bergamasque have been delightfully arranged for oboe and harp.

Camille Saint-Saens (b.1835 d.1921)
Fantaisie Op.124 for Violin and Harp

A precocious and prodigious talent from a young age, many of Saint-Saens best works have stood the test of time, retaining their popularity with concert audiences. This Fantaisie for Violin and Harp displays classical elegance, clearly defined sections, and perhaps the cool urbanity of Paris in 1907, when Saint-Saens wrote it.

Theme and Variations
Andante energetico
Allegro sostenuto
Adagio pesante
Allegro precipitato
Andantino

In 1918, at the age of 27, left a Russia deep in the turmoil of revolution. He felt there was no outlet for his music in the middle of that political upheaval. After 5 years of intensive composing and concert tours of Japan, America, Canada and Europe, rarely meeting with acclaim, he settled in Paris in 1923 where he lived for 10 years. Here he resumed collaboration with Diaghilev, the great Russian impresario, and completed his opera The Flaming Angel, the ballet Le Pas d' Acier, 3 symphonies and many other works.

In 1924 he wrote the ballet Trapeze for a traveling company, using the very unusual instrumentation of oboe, clarinet, violin, viola and double bass. In this Quintet, a suite of 6 movements from the original ballet, Prokofiev was one of the first to explore various extensions of string technique in order to achieve unusual sonorities; bowing near the bridge and over the fingerboard, playing near the frog or tip of the bow, glissandi, tremolandi, double bass harmonics and muted double stopping.

Program Notes

Hugo Wolf (1860-1903) Intermezzo for String Quartet in Eb.

Wolf was an Austrian composer of Slovene origin, particularly noted for his art songs and chamber music. He brought to this form a concentrated expressive intensity which was unique in late Romantic music, somewhat related to that of the Second Viennese School in concision but utterly unrelated in technique.

Arvo Part 1935- Summa for String Quartet

Arvo Part originally wrote Summa in 1978 for four solo voices. The composer re-scored it for string quartet in 1980 which is the version being performed. The original version was a setting of the Latin text of the "Credo". The music does not attempt directly to reflect the words; the musical and textual meters rarely coincide but a simple and hypnotic rhythm is sustained.

Beethoven String Quartet Op 59 No 1

Between the time he wrote his early opus 18 quartets and the time when he wrote his opus 59 set, Beethoven's style had considerably changed. He had entered his "Heroic" period with the creation of his Third Symphony ("Eroica"); the music of this style period is characterized by a broadened scale, emotional fire, and bold originality. The opus 59 quartets (nicknamed the "Razumovsky" quartets for their dedicatee, Count Razumovsky) fit into the mold of Beethoven's new style, and revolutionized the string quartet in the process.

Program Notes

Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
String Quartet Op 9 No 5

Poco adagio
Minuetto allegretto
Largo cantabile
Presto

The string quartets of Haydn have a tendency to sometimes play jokes on their listeners, at times a little coarsely, at others with subtlety. They are extremely personable works, engaging us in conversations, confessing sadness and joy, sharing stories and secrets. For those who have tentatively explored Haydn's output through some of the symphonies, the quartets are an excellent way to further expand their knowledge and whet their enthusiasm.

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Clarinet Quintet in B Minor Op 115

Allegro
Adagio
Andantino - Presto non assai, ma con sentimento
Con moto

The clarinet first began to develop as an instrument around the year 1700, primarily being used in orchestra and occasionally as a solo instrument. Beginning with Mozart, the clarinet moved away from the traditional concertante form, and was gradually cast in chamber music writing. The primary example of this is Mozart's Clarinet Quintet where, for the first time, the clarinet was used in a lyrical sense, fully integrated into the chamber ensemble. However, just as soon as Mozart began to use the clarinet in a full melodic sense, other composers of the era were quick to exploit the instrument for purely virtuosic purposes. It was not until 1891 when an inspired Johannes Brahms composed his own Clarinet Quintet that the repertoire would see another true chamber work which integrated the clarinet fully into the ensemble. Today, Brahms' Clarinet Quintet is regarded as one of the finest examples of chamber music in the entire literature. It fully explores and develops the virtuosic possibilities of the clarinet, while at the same time integrating it seamlessly into the intimate chamber atmosphere.

String Ensemble Handel, Corelli, Elgar, Vivaldi