CONCERT PROGRAM
November 29-30, December 1, 2013
David Robertson, conductor
Joshua Bell, violin
SMETANA Vyšehrad from Má vlast (c. 1872-74)
(1824-1884)
SIBELIUS Violin Concerto in D minor, op. 47 (1903-04)
(1865-1957)
Allegro moderato
Adagio di molto
Allegro, ma non tanto
Joshua Bell, violin
INTERMISSION
DVOŘÁK In Nature’s Realm, op. 91 (1891)
(1841-1904)
EINOJUHANI Lintukoto (Isle of Bliss) (1995)
RAUTAVAARA
(b. 1928)
SMETANA Vltava (The Moldau) from Má vlast (1874)
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
David Robertson is the Beofor Music Director and Conductor.
Joshua Bell is presented by the Whitaker Foundation.
Join David Robertson following the concert of Friday, November 28, for a Q&A
sponsored by University College at Washington University professional and
continuing education.
The concert of Saturday, November 29, is underwritten in part by a generous gift
from Mr. and Mrs. Walter G. Shifrin.
The concert of Saturday, November 30, is underwritten in part by a generous gift
from Mr. H. Chandler Taylor.
The concert of Sunday, December 1, is underwritten in part by a generous gift
from The Honorable and Mrs. Sam Fox.
Pre-Concert Conversations are sponsored by Washington University Physicians.
These concerts are presented by Long Pharmaceuticals.
These concerts are part of the Wells Fargo Advisors series.
Large print program notes are provided through the generosity of Delmar
Gardens and are located at the Customer Service table in the foyer.
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FROM THE STAGE
Scott Ferguson
Allegra Lilly, Principal Harp, on Vyšehrad from Má vlast: “The B-flat, E-flat, B
motif, played by the harp, is representative of ‘The High Castle,’ Vyšehrad.
The castle is also represented by a minstrel singer, and the harp is his lyre. A
descending passage near the end of the piece represents the collapse of the
castle. When the theme returns, it is a memory of what it was before.
“Vyšehrad contains two elements reflective of harp writing: big, rolled
chords, which are interspersed with arpeggiated passages. Even more than
glissandi, these create a magical sound, a mystical element appropriate to
the piece.
“David Robertson told me that my predecessor, Frances Tietov, played
this on her very first program with the Symphony. Quite a part for your
first time.”
Frances Tietov, the Symphony’s previous Principal Harp, joined the orchestra in 1970.
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BOHEMIAN RHAPSODIES
BY RE NÉ S P E N C E R S AL L E R
BEDŘICH SMETANA
Vyšehrad and Vltava (The Moldau) from Má vlast
TIMELINKS
1874
SMETANA
Má vlast
David Stanley crosses
Africa through the
Congo River basin
1891
DVOŘÁK
In Nature’s Realm, op. 91
New York City’s
Carnegie Hall opens with
Tchaikovsky as guest
conductor
1903-04
SIBELIUS
Violin Concerto in D
minor, op. 47
Pierre and Marie Curie
receive Nobel Prize for
discovery of radioactivity
1995
EINOJUHANI
RAUTAVAARA
Lintukoto (Isle of Bliss)
Dayton Peace Accord
brings end to wars in
former Yugoslavia
BECOMING BOHEMIAN To define his country’s
cultural identity, Bedřich Smetana first had to find
his own inner Bohemian. This invention of self
and country required both determination and a
wild optimism. The region that we know today
as the Czech Republic had not been independent
for centuries. The composer, whose first language
was German, was not even fluent in Czech until
he was 40. But after working in Sweden for about
five years, he returned to Prague in 1861, lured
by rumors that a new venue offering Czechlanguage opera was about to open. He immersed
himself in the language and folklore of his homeland and then began creating a repertoire for the
Provisional Theater. As its principal conductor
from 1866 until 1874, he introduced more than
40 new works.
In 1874 Smetana began to write Má vlast
(My Country), a cycle of six symphonic poems
glorifying the landscape, mythology, history,
and imagined future of his native land. For
many years, the region had been under Austrian
control; although the concept of an independent
Bohemia seems prophetic in hindsight, it must
have struck many of Smetana’s contemporaries
as faintly delusional. The first work, Vyšehrad
(The High Castle), is a musical portrait of the royal
palace of Prague, the legendary seat of the earliest
Czech dynasty. It begins with two harps playing a
delicate arpeggiated pattern, and then soft brass,
winds, and strings each introduce a brief motif
that represents the castle. This theme resurfaces
in some of the following works, including Vltava
(The Moldau), which celebrates the famous river
in Bohemia. The best-known piece in Má vlast,
Vltava depicts both the sounds of the water and
its course through the surrounding countryside. In his written preface, Smetana describes
its progress “through woods and meadows,
through landscapes where a farmer’s wedding is
celebrated, the round dance of the mermaids in
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the night’s moonshine: on the nearby rocks look
proud castles, palaces and ruins aloft.”
A SAD, SUDDEN END Smetana was in the middle
of composing Vyšehrad when he began to lose his
hearing. Despite several torturous and futile treatments, he was soon left with nothing but a constant rushing noise in his ears. Like Beethoven,
he continued to write, becoming if anything
more prolific. But sadly, the syphilis that caused
his deafness would destroy his memory as well,
leaving him unable to work. He died in the
Prague Lunatic Asylum in 1884, just five years
after he finished Má vlast.
Smetana statue in Litomyšl,
Czech Republic
Born
March 2, 1824, Litomyšl,
Bohemia
Died
May 12, 1884, Prague
First Performance
March 14, 1875, in Prague
by the National Theater
Orchestra
STL Symphony Premiere
December 30, 1910, Max Zach
conducting
Most Recent STL Symphony
Performance
Vyšehrad: April 10, 1999, Libor
Pešek conducting
Vltava (The Moldau):
April 13, 2008, Delta David
Gier conducting, in Cape
Girardeau, Missouri
Scoring
2 flutes
piccolo
2 oboes
2 clarinets
2 bassoons
4 horns
2 trumpets
3 trombones
tuba
timpani
percussion
2 harps Vyšehrad
harp Vltava (The Moldau)
strings
Performance Time
approximately 12 minutes
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JEAN SIBELIUS
Violin Concerto in D minor, op. 47
Born
December 8, 1865,
Hämeenlinna, Finland
Died
September 20, 1957,
Järvenpää, Finland
First Performance
October 19, 1905, in Berlin;
the German violinist Karl
Halir was the soloist, and
Richard Strauss conducted
STL Symphony Premiere
December 7, 1934, Scipione
Guidi was soloist, with
Vladimir Golschmann
conducting
Most Recent STL Symphony
Performance
January 22, 2012, Christian
Tetzlaff was soloist, with
David Robertson conducting
Scoring
solo violin
2 flutes
2 oboes
2 clarinets
2 bassoons
4 horns
2 trumpets
3 trombones
timpani
strings
Performance Time
approximately 31 minutes
STYMIED VIRTUOSO Before Jean Sibelius became
Finland’s greatest composer, he wanted to be his
generation’s Joshua Bell. The odds were against
him. Although he played violin as a child, he did
not begin formal lessons until he was 14. “The
violin took me by storm,” he wrote later, “and
for the next ten years it was my dearest wish, my
greatest ambition, to become a great virtuoso.” At
25, after years of study in Helsinki, Berlin, and
Vienna, he auditioned for a place in the Vienna
Philharmonic and was rejected.
He turned to composition instead. By 1903,
when he started writing his only concerto, he had
abandoned all hope of being a star performer, but
he could still dazzle his wife, Aino, with bravura
turns at the violin while churning out theme
after theme for the work in progress. Sibelius
was often drunk, and his domestic and professional lives always seemed to be on the verge of
collapse, but he spent hours composing. “He has
such a multitude of themes in his head that he
has been literally quite dizzy,” Aino wrote in a
letter. “He stays awake all night, plays incredibly
beautifully, cannot tear himself away from the
delightful melodies—he has so many ideas that it
is hard to believe it.” After a disastrous premiere
in early 1904, Sibelius radically revised the concerto, carving away its extraneously showy bits
to reveal the sinews beneath. Late the next year,
Richard Strauss (yes, that Richard Strauss) conducted the debut of the version we know today.
THRILLING SYMPHONIST Dramatic, romantic,
and fluent in the idiomatic particularities of the
featured instrument, Sibelius’s Violin Concerto
is by some accounts the most frequently performed and recorded concerto written in the
20th century. With its fearsome runs, double
stops, and finger acrobatics, it is a virtuoso’s
rite of passage. But it is more than a show-off’s
showpiece. The sinuous, incantatory opening
theme—Sibelius wastes no time introducing it
early in the first movement—is a gorgeous melody
in its own right, one of many. The nervy energy
of the Allegro moderato is followed by the luminous, songlike Adagio, which juxtaposes tender
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woodwinds and bracingly dissonant brass. The
finale leaps and sprints through the work’s most
notoriously tricky solo parts, but it also thrills
symphonically. With its dark orchestral textures
and powerful concision, the last movement reasserts the artistry of the symphonist even during
the soloist’s most virtuosic feats.
ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK
In Nature’s Realm, op. 91
NATIONALISM AND NATURE, COUNTRY, AND
COUNTRYSIDE Like his countryman Smetana,
Antonín Dvořák was a proud Bohemian whose
patriotism found its voice in the Romantic
musical nationalism of the 19th century. An
accomplished musician, he was appointed principal viola of the newly founded Provisional
Theater in 1862, and he remained with that
orchestra until 1871, performing in many concerts that Smetana conducted. Although Dvořák
shared the older composer’s dream of creating
a national repertoire that was characteristically
Czech, he went about it differently, without all
the ideological fetters of the nascent Bohemian
Nationalist movement. His impressive catalog—
13 operas, nine symphonies, three concertos, and
countless orchestral and chamber pieces—reveals
a sensibility steeped in native folk traditions but
ultimately stateless. As demonstrated by his most
famous work, Symphony No. 9, “From the New
World,” U.S. landscapes could inspire him, too.
For Dvořák, love of country often dissolved into
love of countryside, an almost pagan reverence
for the natural world.
In Nature’s Realm finds the great nature composer at his most ecstatic and reverent. It begins
and ends with a pulsing, almost insect-like energy,
a fecund throbbing. This procreative impulse
informs the mood of the piece, the sensuous
drift from anticipation to fulfillment. Dvořák’s
pure woodwind colors and richly layered strings
perfectly evoke the cries of birds, the murmuring of woodland streams, the sighing of wind in
the trees. The piece may have been inspired by
the composer’s country home in Vysoká, but its
elemental beauties know no borders.
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Born
September 8, 1841,
Nelahozeves, Bohemia
Died
May 1, 1904, Prague
First Performance
April 28, 1892, in Prague,
Dvořák conducted the
orchestra of the Czech
National Theater
STL Symphony Premiere
September 27, 1974, Walter
Susskind conducting
Most Recent STL Symphony
Performance
January 9, 2000, Jesus LopezCobos conducting
Scoring
2 flutes
2 oboes
English horn
2 clarinets
bass clarinet
2 bassoons
4 horns
2 trumpets
3 trombones
tuba
timpani
percussion
strings
Performance Time
approximately 12 minutes
Born
October 9, 1928, Helsinki
First Performance
May 31, 1995, in Loha, Finland,
Markus Lehtinen conducted
the Tapiola Youth Symphony
Orchestra
STL Symphony Premiere
October 5, 2001, Osmo
Vänskä conducting the
only previous Symphony
performance
Scoring
2 flutes
2 oboes
2 clarinets
2 bassoons
2 horns
trumpet
trombone
timpani
percussion
harp
strings
Performance Time
approximately 11 minutes
NATURE, LIFE, AND LOVE In Nature’s Realm is the
first of three thematically linked concert overtures
Dvořák wrote before embarking to the United
States in 1892. That spring he debuted the trilogy
at a farewell concert in his beloved Prague; later
that year he brought it to New York’s almost-new
Carnegie Hall. Originally intended as a threemovement symphonic poem called Nature, Life,
and Love, today the overtures (which include
Carnival and Othello) are seldom presented on
the same program.
EINOJUHANI RAUTAVAARA
Lintukoto (Isle of Bliss)
SIBELIUS’S SHADOW
All Finnish composers
must contend with the long shadow of Sibelius.
Einojuhani Rautavaara, for instance, studied
composition at the Sibelius Academy, and then,
in 1955, when he was in his late 20s, was nominated for a grant to study in the United States by
Sibelius himself, then 90. Comparisons to the
great man are inevitable, and easy: Rautavaara
shares his devotion to the natural world and an
unwillingness to sacrifice the pleasures of tonality. Both composers have created a great deal of
unapologetically sensuous music.
NORDIC FANTASY Rautavaara described 1995’s
single-movement Isle of Bliss as an “orchestral
fantasia” and explained that he took inspiration
from a Finnish poem, by Aleksis Kivi, about an
island paradise called Lintukoto, or Home of the
Birds. Incidentally, within the borders of Finland
there are 789 islands, many of which have no
road connection to the mainland.
The piece begins with a sparkling seascape, in the tradition of Debussy’s La Mer or
Mendelssohn’s The Hebrides. Glittering harp
glissandi, rattling percussion, bright little woodwind squalls: We are swooping down toward the
island, flying the way we always fly in our dreams;
we are drunk on shades of blue. It is the end of an
exhausted era. As we descend, we cast long dissonant shadows. Then we hurtle back a hundred
years, to some velvety Late Romantic idyll, where
we suck all the sweetness out of the 19th century’s last vibrato-kissed chord. This is ripeness,
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we think. This is Lotus-land. This is 1950s Hollywood in Technicolor, with a
score by someone who probably studied with Glazunov. But in accordance
with the bylaws of all enchanted isles, Homeric, Shakespearean, Tennysonian,
Gilligan, time can’t be put off forever. The orchestration darkens, grows turbulent. The first theme circles back, feral. The clattery percussion returns, more
insistent than before. And finally the harp glissandi—only now they’ve shattered, Sibelian fragments flung at the silence.
A NOTE ABOUT RAUTAVAARA Now 85, the Helsinki-born composer has produced an impressive body of work: eight symphonies, nine operas (on Vincent
van Gogh and Rasputin, among others), a dozen concertos, and countless
choral, chamber, and orchestral pieces. He is best known for 1972’s Cantus
Arcticus, a concerto for birdsong and orchestra; like several of his other compositions, it incorporates field recordings.
Program notes © 2013 by René Spencer Saller
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DAVID ROBERTSON
BEOFOR MUSIC DIRECTOR AND CONDUCTOR
David Robertson studied
horn and composition
before turning to orchestral
conducting.
A consummate musician, masterful programmer, and dynamic presence, David Robertson
has established himself as one of today’s most
sought-after American conductors. A passionate
and compelling communicator with an extensive
orchestral and operatic repertoire, he has forged
close relationships with major orchestras around
the world through his exhilarating music-making
and stimulating ideas. In fall 2013, Robertson
launched his ninth season as Music Director
of the 134-year-old St. Louis Symphony. While
continuing as Music Director with St. Louis,
in January 2014, Robertson assumes the post
of Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the
Sydney Symphony Orchestra in Australia.
In 2012-13, Robertson led the St. Louis
Symphony on two major tours: his first European
tour with the orchestra—its first European
engagements since 1998—in fall 2012, which
included critically-acclaimed appearances at
London’s BBC Proms, at the Berlin and Lucerne
Festivals, and at Paris’s Salle Pleyel; and a spring
2013 California tour which included a three day
residency at the University of California-Davis
and performances at the Mondavi Center for
the Performing Arts and venues in Costa Mesa,
Palm Desert and Santa Barbara. Highlights of his
2013-14 season with St. Louis include the recording of a St. Louis Symphony co-commission, John
Adams’ Saxophone Concerto. Nonesuch Records
will release the disc featuring the concerto, along
with the orchestra’s performance of Adams’ City
Noir, in 2014. In addition, Robertson and the
Symphony just returned from a historic performance of Britten’s Peter Grimes at Carnegie Hall.
Robertson is a frequent guest conductor with major orchestras and opera houses
around the world. In the 2013-14 season, in
addition to launching his first year at the helm
of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, David
Robertson conducted the U.S. premiere of Nico
Muhly’s Two Boys in a new production at the
Metropolitan Opera.
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JOSHUA BELL
Often referred to as the “poet of the violin,” Joshua
Bell is one of the world’s most celebrated violinists. He continues to enchant audiences with his
breathtaking virtuosity, tone of sheer beauty, and
charismatic stage presence. Recently named the
Music Director of the Academy of St. Martin in
the Fields, Bell is the first person to hold this post
since Sir Neville Marriner formed the orchestra
in 1958.
Equally at home as a soloist, chamber musician, recording artist, and orchestra leader,
Bell’s 2013 summer highlights included performances with the Israeli Philharmonic and
at Eastern, Brevard, Tanglewood, and Mostly
Mozart festivals. As the featured soloist he toured
for the inaugural season of the National Youth
Orchestra of the U.S.A. with Valery Gergiev to
New York, Washington, D.C., London, Moscow,
and St. Petersburg; with the Australian Youth
Orchestra in Australia and Europe; and with the
San Diego Symphony to China. He performed a
South American recital tour with pianist Alessio
Bax and a European tour with the Academy of St.
Martin in the Fields. Bell recently performed a
solo recital at Carnegie Hall.
In 2014 Bell reunites with his beloved
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, directing
Beethoven’s Third and Fifth Symphonies and
recording the violin concertos of Bach. He will also
perform the Brahms concerto with the legendary
Vienna Philharmonic under the baton of Paavo
Järvi, and the Sibelius with Gustavo Dudamel
conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic. A
U.S. recital tour with Sam Haywood, a performance at the Kennedy Center with the National
Symphony Orchestra, and dates with the Los
Angeles Philharmonic round out the season.
Joshua Bell performs on the 1713 Huberman
Stradivarius violin and uses a late 18th-century
French bow by François Tourte. He is an exclusive Sony Classical artist. For more information,
visit joshuabell.com.
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Lisa Marie Mazzucco
WHITAKER GUEST ARTIST
Joshua Bell most recently
performed with the
St. Louis Symphony in
September 2010.
A BRIEF EXPLANATION
You don’t need to know what “andante” means or what a glockenspiel is to
enjoy a St. Louis concert, but it’s always fun to know stuff. For example, what
are “glissandi”?
Glissando/Glissandi: it’s one of those things that you know what it is when
you hear it, but you just didn’t know it had a name; glissando (singular),
glissandi (plural), from the French glisser, “to slide,” it’s the sound you hear
when fingers are run across piano keys or harp strings, but it is also relevant
for trombone and string instruments, see “slurring” (the musical kind, not
the rude kind)
MY INSTRUMENT:
ALLEGRA LILLY, PRINCIPAL HARP
“Even many orchestral musicians don’t
know this: the pinky fingers are not
used to play the harp. It may be the
least-known fact about harp playing. It’s
because of the weakness and shortness
of those fingers. I used to play piano
quite a bit and my pinkies have completely atrophied.
“The other lesser-known fact is that
the harp has pedals, many of them.
They exist like black keys on the piano.
There is a pedal for every note on the
scale: DCBEFGA. There are three notches
for each pedal: highest is flat, middle is
natural, bottom is sharp. Although this
is more complicated than the ancient
lyre, there was a chromatic harp that was
made with two sets of strings that crossed
in the middle. It weighed a ton.”
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Allegra Lilly
DONOR SPOTLIGHT
SIGMA-ALDRICH
What are Sigma-Aldrich’s philanthropic ideals and priorities?
Sigma-Aldrich has four areas of focus for charitable giving: STEM Education,
Scientific Research, Economic Development through Science, and Civic
Investments. Within these areas of focus, we concentrate our efforts on organizations our employees can partner with to increase the impact of what we do
and to increase employee engagement in our endeavors.
How does the Foundation’s support of the Symphony fit into your communitywide funding strategy?
Sigma-Aldrich knows the importance of giving back to the communities where
we operate. These communities are home to our employees, our shareholders,
and our customers. We see our support of the Symphony as an investment
that makes St. Louis a more vibrant and culturally relevant community, which
is key in attracting the talent Sigma-Aldrich needs for its continued success.
What value does Sigma-Aldrich receive by supporting the St. Louis Symphony?
Sigma-Aldrich’s mission is focused on improving quality of life. We applied the
manner in which the Symphony improves and enriches the lives of St. Louis
residents and visitors alike. St. Louis’s cultural institutions are one of its greatest assets and we are proud to play a part in their continued success.
Why should other organizations support the St. Louis Symphony?
Cultural institutions like the Symphony are businesses that generate economic
activity ranging from employment, to tax revenues, to tourism. But, they also
have the unique ability to inspire us, to foster civic engagement, to improve
connectivity, and to shape the minds of the future. We think that it is vital that
we support these organizations as we work to build a stronger community and
we encourage other companies to do the same.
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AUDIENCE INFORMATION
BOX OFFICE HOURS
POLICIES
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and Saturday concert evenings through
intermission; Sunday concert days
12:30pm through intermission.
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If you can’t use your season tickets,
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recommended age is five or older. All
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Visit stlsymphony.org for more
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Select elegant Powell Hall for your next
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for more information.
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