CONCERT PROGRAM
February 21-23, 2014
Bernard Labadie, conductor
Philip Ross, oboe
Andrew Gott, bassoon
Kristin Ahlstrom, violin
Melissa Brooks, cello
RAMEAU Les Boréades Suite (c. 1763)
(1683-1764)
Rigaudon
Menuets
Entrée
Gavottes pour les heures
Air vif
Air andante
Pas de deux
Contredanses
HAYDN Sinfonia concertante in B-flat major, Hob. I:105 (1792)
(1732-1809)
Allegro
Andante
Allegro con spirito
Philip Ross, oboe
Andrew Gott, bassoon
Kristin Ahlstrom, violin
Melissa Brooks, cello
INTERMISSION
HAYDN Symphony No. 22 in E-flat major, “The Philosopher” (1764)
Adagio
Presto
Menuetto
Finale: Presto
MOZART Symphony No. 39 in E-flat major, K. 543 (1788)
(1756-1791)
Adagio; Allegro
Andante con moto
Menuetto: Allegretto
Finale: Allegro
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Bernard Labadie is the Daniel, Mary, and Francis O’Keefe Guest Artist.
Philip Ross is the Helen E. Nash, M.D. Guest Artist.
The concert of Friday, February 21, is underwritten in part by a generous gift
from Mr. and Mrs. Orrin Sage Wightman III.
The concert of Friday, February 21, includes coffee and doughnuts provided by
Krispy Kreme.
The concert of Saturday, February 22, is underwritten in part by a generous gift
from Jeanne and Rex Sinquefield.
The concert of Sunday, February 23, is underwritten in part by a generous gift
from Mrs. Mariam Sisson.
Pre-Concert Conversations are sponsored by Washington University Physicians.
These concerts are presented by the Thomas A. Kooyumjian Family Foundation.
These concerts are part of the Wells Fargo Advisors series.
Large print program notes are available through the generosity of Dielmann
Sotheby’s and are located at the Customer Service table in the foyer.
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FROM THE STAGE
Eva Kozma, Assistant Principal Second Violin, on Mozart’s Symphony No. 39: “I love
the last movement because of its energy. We play our hearts out.
“This is one of the last symphonies of Mozart, and at times it is very
serious. It’s dramatic. You’re constantly looking for the Mozartean lightness,
the happiness, but the chords are diminished.
“Whenever I play Mozart I think of my grandmother. She loved Mozart.
She was concertmaster in my hometown orchestra in Romania, and she
once said in a radio interview that Mozart made the most genial music ever
written, pure and beautiful. I think so too.”
Dilip Vishwanat
A view of the second violins, Eva Kozma at far right.
25
VARIED INVENTION
BY PA U L SC H I AVO
TIMELINKS
1763-64
RAMEAU
Les Boréades Suite
HAYDN
Symphony No. 22
in E-flat major, “The
Philosopher”
Britain, Spain, and France
sign Treaty of Paris,
ending “Seven-Year” War
or “French-Indian” War,
with France relinquishing
territories in the New
World
1788-92
MOZART
Symphony No. 39 in
E-flat major, K. 543
HAYDN
Sinfonia concertante in
B-flat major, Hob. I:105
French Revolution erupts,
Declaration of Rights of
Man issued
The four compositions that comprise the
program for our concert were written by three
composers within the space of barely 30 years,
a relatively short span of time in historical terms.
This and the fact that two of these composers
were close friends and influenced by each other’s
work might promise a certain stylistic homogeneity. But quite the opposite is true. Each of
these works is quite distinct in sound, form, and
character. We begin with a suite of dances in the
French Baroque manner, a style that was out of
date in 1763, when this music was composed, but
kept alive through the remarkable longevity of its
author, Jean-Philippe Rameau.
Next comes a concerto, but with the unusual
feature of using not one but four solo instruments. Following intermission we hear symphonies by Joseph Haydn and his friend Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart. The latter work presents what
we have come to think of as the classical symphonic design, with fast opening and closing
movements framing a slow movement and
minuet. But Haydn’s “Philosopher” Symphony
follows a different and quite unusual course,
opening with a dignified slow movement marked
by contrapuntal textures, and using unusual
instrumental colors throughout. Together, these
four pieces indicate something of the variety of
compositional invention that marked the last
third of the 18th century, an exceptionally fertile
period in the history of Western music.
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JEAN-PHILIPPE RAMEAU
Les Boréades Suite
A LONG AND VARIED CAREER Jean-Philippe
Rameau was, by any measure, one of the most
remarkable composers of the Baroque era. Born
in France but trained in Italy, he spent his early
years as an organist and composer of sacred
music and keyboard pieces. By 1723 he had
moved to Paris, where he held no regular position but seems to have earned his living as a freelance musician and writer. (Among other things,
he authored several famous treatises on music
theory.) At age 50, Rameau embarked on a new
career as a composer for the theater. His opera
Hippolyte et Aricie, which premiered in 1733,
created a sensation in Paris, due to the unprecedented dramatic power of its music, and the
composer found himself at the center of a critical
storm, with rival factions alternately praising and
condemning the intensity of his style. Undaunted
by this controversy, Rameau wrote a new opera in
nearly each of his remaining 30 years.
Our concert begins with selections from
Rameau’s last opera, Les Boréades. A great deal of
uncertainty surrounds the history of this piece.
The work was commissioned by the Paris Opéra,
which put it into rehearsal in 1763, the year
before Rameau died. But there is no evidence that
it was actually performed. Concert presentations
of excerpts from the score occurred in the 1890s
and again in the 1960s in France, but the first
staged production, at least the first that anyone
knows of, was not given until 1982.
STORY AND SPECTACLE The tale related in Les
Boréades centers on Queen Alphise of Bactria, an
ancient kingdom in the Near East, who spurns
the Boreas, god of the wind, in favor of a young
mortal she loves. Angered by this affront, the god
raises a mighty gust that carries off the disobedient queen. But in a classic deus ex machina reversal, Apollo intervenes and declares that Alphise’s
beloved is actually his offspring and a distant
descendant of Boreas also, so all ends well.
Les Boréades fulfills the traditional requirement of French Baroque opera for an extensive use of dance, either to advance the plot or
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Baptized
September 25, 1683, Dijon
Died
September 12, 1764, Paris
First Performance
Unknown (see below)
STL Symphony Premiere
This week
Scoring
2 flutes
2 piccolos
2 oboes
2 clarinets
2 bassoons
2 horns
strings
Performance Time
approximately 15 minutes
Born
March 31, 1732, Rohrau, Austria
Died
May 31, 1809, Vienna
First Performance
March 9, 1792, in London,
under the composer’s
direction
STL Symphony Premiere
January 23, 1953, with Leonard
Arner, oboe, Norman
Herzberg, bassoon, Harry
Farbman, violin, and Dodia
Feldin, cello, Eleazar De
Carvalho conducting
Most Recent STL Symphony
Performance
November 2, 2008, with
Barbara Orland, oboe,
Andrew Gott, bassoon,
Alison Harney, violin,
and Melissa Brooks,
cello, Nicholas McGegan
conducting
Scoring
solo oboe
solo bassoon
solo violin
solo cello
flute
2 oboes
bassoons
2 horns
2 trumpets
timpani
strings
Performance Time
approximately 22 minutes
simply as picturesque diversion. Rameau’s score
is filled with gavottes, minuets, rigaudons and
other dances popular with the French aristocracy
during the 18th century. These numbers would
have been occasions for lavish stage spectacles
during Rameau’s day, sumptuously choreographed and costumed tableaux of the kind that
long typified opera in Paris.
Our suite includes a selection of the dance
movements Rameau composed for Les Boréades.
Most of these require no comment. But the
“Gavotte pour les heures” has unusual dramatic
significance. Late in the opera, the bereft Arabis
is cheered by the arrival of Polyhymnia, the muse
of prayers and hymns. With her is a company
of allegorical figures representing the seasons,
zephyrs, and hours. The latter engage in a dance
that inspired Rameau to an ingenious bit of
musical onomatopoeia, with piccolos whirring
over a rhythmically steady accompaniment to
imitate the workings of a clock.
JOSEPH HAYDN
Sinfonia concertante in B-flat major, Hob. I:105
A DIFFERENT KIND OF CONCERTO For modern listeners, the concerto is almost always a composition for a single featured instrumentalist, usually
in the role of a heroic virtuoso, with orchestral
accompaniment. But this modern conception
of the concerto was not firmly established until
around the beginning of the 19th century. Prior
to that, concertos for two or several solo instruments were common. During the second half of
the 18th century such works were usually identified by the term “sinfonia concertante.” Mozart
produced several works of this kind. His great
colleague and friend Joseph Haydn composed
only one, but it is of exceptional quality.
Haydn wrote his Sinfonia concertante in
B-flat early in 1792, during the first of his two celebrated visits to London, where the now famous
composer had come to preside over a series of
concerts featuring his music. The work employs
a solo quartet of oboe, bassoon, violin, and cello,
and is cast in the usual three-movement concerto.
The first movement is built on themes that are by
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turns graceful and robust. Haydn, in contrast to
the practice of his time, does not hold the solo
quartet in abeyance during the initial paragraph,
but has it assist the orchestra in setting forth
his musical materials. There is a lively interplay
among the soloists, and all four of them partake
in the cadenza Haydn provides near the end of
the movement.
This opening is followed by a gentle Andante
that finds the solo group in intimate conversation
with only the barest orchestral accompaniment.
The last movement takes the form of an amusing
music lesson. The orchestra begins by offering a
vigorous phrase in unison, but immediately the
solo violin cuts in. “No, no,” its recitative seems
to implore. “Try again.” The orchestra does so,
but again the violin interrupts: “Not that way—
this way.” And for the remainder of this charming
finale the four soloists demonstrate a succession
of nimble scales and other figures, which the
poor orchestra struggles to imitate as best it can.
JOSEPH HAYDN
Symphony No. 22 in E-flat major,
“The Philosopher”
First Performance
Unknown, but certainly
at Esterháza, the palatial
estate of the Hungarian
prince Nikolaus Esterházy, in
1764, under the composer’s
direction
STL Symphony Premiere
October 14, 1971, James
Levine conducting the only
previous performance
Scoring
2 English horns
bassoon
2 horns
strings
Performance Time
approximately 16 minutes
HAYDN IN HUNGARY Before visiting London,
Haydn had served as court composer to the
Hungarian prince Nikolaus Esterházy. This situation entailed both challenge and opportunity.
The Esterházy court orchestra consisted only of
a small group of strings with pairs of horns and
oboes, a bassoon, and occasional flutes. With
these modest instrumental forces Haydn had to
produce a continually varied stream of music. The
most important result of that process was a series
of more than 80 symphonies that Haydn composed during his three-decade Esterházy tenure.
With the Esterházy court orchestra as his
laboratory, Haydn was able to test his musical
ideas. Particularly during the 1760s, he experimented with different types and arrangements of
movements, sought unexpected turns of melody
and harmony, and deployed his musicians in
novel ways. His Symphony in E-flat major, No. 22
in the standard listing of his works, employs all
these stratagems.
29
SYMPHONIC ANOMALIES The first unusual feature of this composition is its
scoring. Prince Nikolaus’s oboists evidently had English horns at their disposal,
and in the present work Haydn used those instruments in place of oboes. (This
is the only one of his symphonies in which we find this unusual instrumentation.) The result is an uncommonly rich and deep orchestral sound, some
perilously high horn writing notwithstanding.
But sonority isn’t the only anomaly. Though the work unfolds in four
movements, these do not yield the usual pattern of a Classical-period symphony. Haydn reverses the fast and slow movements normally found at the
outset, beginning the piece with a stately Adagio. The initial movement brings
another surprise. Here a broad theme for the winds plays over a steadily marching accompaniment by the strings. This theme has the character of a liturgical chant, and both that character and the texture of its setting here recall the
chorale prelude, a form widely cultivated by composers during the 17th and
early 18th centuries. The reference to this older and “learned” compositional
genre, together with the measured gravity of the music, presumably inspired
the name “The Philosopher,” by which this symphony is now known.
The second movement conveys that bracing energy Haydn so often
brought to the fast movements of his symphonies. We then hear a minuet, with
a contrasting central episode featuring the distinctive timbres of the winds.
This anticipates the colors of the closing movement. Here, rapid-fire horn calls
are echoed by the English horns, a striking effect.
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
Symphony No. 39 in E-flat major, K. 543
A MOZARTIAN MYSTERY In the summer of 1788, Mozart completed three
extraordinary symphonies, the last such works he would compose. This “final
trilogy,” as it is often called, poses two of the most intriguing and enduring
questions of Mozart’s biography: Why did the composer write these works,
and did he ever hear them performed? Mozart scholars have proposed several
possibilities for explaining the composition of these three late symphonies,
but even their most persuasive theories remain unproved for lack of definitive
documentary evidence. And so, the mystery of the composer’s last three symphonies remains just that. But of the music’s value there is no doubt. No symphonic compositions of the 18th century surpass the “final trilogy” in strength,
intricacy, or beauty, and only Mozart’s slightly earlier “Prague” Symphony and
the later “London” symphonies of Haydn even approach them in this respect.
Less turbulent and impassioned than the Symphony in G minor, K.
550, and not so outwardly brilliant as the “Jupiter” Symphony, K. 551, the
Symphony in E-flat Major, K. 543, has long been the least appreciated portion
of the “final trilogy.” It deserves better, for its musical substance and compositional details are scarcely less admirable than those of its more famous siblings. Like the other two symphonies of the “final trilogy,” this work follows
the four-movement sequence that by the 1780s had become the usual format
of symphonic composition. Unlike them, its plan includes an introduction in
slow tempo to begin the first movement. This preface begins in a splendid,
30
even ceremonious, manner, with sonorous
chords in formal rhythms punctuated by timpani
strokes and falling scale figures. (The latter will
reappear, in a more animated context, during the
main body of the movement.) The music then
becomes quiet and expectant, its mounting sense
of anticipation making the onset of the ensuing
Allegro all the more effective.
There follows a slow movement that begins
softly and placidly in the string choir alone.
Beginning with its second paragraph, however,
Mozart touches on some dark harmonies and
stormy textures. The outbursts never last long,
though, and the movement as a whole conveys
a beautiful and seemingly nocturnal atmosphere.
The third movement presents a robust
minuet whose central episode uses an Alpine folk
dance melody, sung here by the clarinet. Mozart
constructs the finale on a single swift and energetic theme, a procedure often used by Haydn in
his symphonic finales. This subject proves the
source of myriad developments, as Mozart varies
and extends his melodic material in characteristically imaginative fashion.
Program notes © 2014 by Paul Schiavo
Born
January 27, 1756, Salzburg
Died
December 5, 1791, Vienna
First Performance
Unknown
STL Symphony Premiere
January 23, 1914, Max Zach
conducting
Most Recent STL Symphony
Performance
February 11, 2006, Roberto
Abbado conducting
Scoring
flute
2 clarinets
2 bassoons
2 horns
2 trumpets
timpani
strings
Performance Time
approximately 29 minutes
31
BERNARD LABADIE
DANIEL, MARY, AND FRANCIS O’KEEFE GUEST ARTIST
Bernard Labadie most
recently conducted the St.
Louis Symphony in April 2013.
Bernard Labadie has established himself worldwide as one of the leading conductors of the Baroque and Classical repertoire, a reputation that
is closely tied into his work with Les Violons du
Roy and La Chapelle de Québec, both of which
he founded and continues to lead as music director. With these two ensembles he regularly tours
Canada, the U.S., and Europe.
Highlights of the 2013-14 season include reengagements with the New York Philharmonic,
Kansas City Symphony, New World Symphony,
and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Appearances
overseas will include concerts with the Malaysian Philharmonic, Auckland Philharmonia, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, WDR Sinfonieorchester
(Cologne), Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
(Munich), NDR Sinfonieorchester (Hamburg),
Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre
Philharmonique de Radio France, and a European
Tour with Les Violons du Roy.
PHILIP ROSS
HELEN E. NASH, M.D. GUEST ARTIST
Philip Ross made his St.
Louis Symphony solo
debut in January 2008.
Philip Ross grew up surrounded by world-class
oboists. His father, Dan, is a well-known oboist
and maker of gouging machines, which are highprecision cutting tools essential for reed-making.
With at least one of Dan’s machines in every major North American orchestra, Jonesboro, Arkansas is a revolving door of oboists making their
pilgrimage to have their machines serviced.
Philip Ross holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the Chicago College of
Performing Arts where he studied with Richard
Killmer and Alex Klein respectively. He has made
repeat appearances as guest principal oboe of the
San Francisco Symphony, toured with the Chicago Symphony, and recorded with the Cincinnati
Symphony Orchestra. He also takes part in the
St. Bart’s Music Festival.
Philip Ross enjoys playing music with his
wife and fellow oboist, Laura. The oboe couple
welcomed their first child in April 2013.
32
ANDREW GOTT
Prior to taking the position of Associate Principal
Bassoon of the St. Louis Symphony in 2006, Andrew Gott was Principal Bassoon of the Virginia
Symphony Orchestra under the baton of JoAnn
Falletta. He has also played Principal Bassoon
with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and
the Woodlands Symphony Orchestra. He has
served on the faculty at the Governor’s School
for the Arts, Old Dominion University, Christopher Newport University, and Ball State Bassoon
Camp. Gott received his Bachelor of Music from
Ball State University and his Master of Music from
the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University,
where he studied with Ben Kamins. Andrew Gott
was born and raised in Bolivar, Missouri.
Andrew Gott was a member
of the ensemble that most
recently performed Haydn’s
Sinfonia concertante, in
November 2008.
KRISTIN AHLSTROM
Kristin Ahlstrom joined the St. Louis Symphony
in 1996, and was appointed to the Associate
Principal Second Violin chair in 2001. She is a
member of the Ilex Piano Trio along with her
husband, pianist Peter Henderson, and St. Louis
Symphony cellist Anne Fagerburg; and is also the
violinist of a string trio featuring St. Louis Symphony musicians Shannon Farrell Williams and
Bjorn Ranheim. Ahlstrom has played chamber
music recitals as well as orchestral concerts as a
member of the Sun Valley (Idaho) Summer Symphony since 2001, and has been a guest artist in
Indiana University’s Summer Music series every
year since 2006. She and her husband live in St.
Louis’s South City along with their lively, sweet
dog Zinni.
Kristin Ahlstrom most
recently performed as a
soloist with the St. Louis
Symphony in January 2008.
33
MELISSA BROOKS
Melissa Brooks was also a
member of the ensemble
that most recently
performed Haydn’s
Sinfonia concertante, in
November 2008.
Melissa Brooks has been a member of the St.
Louis Symphony since 1992. She is a native of
New York City, where from 1977-88 she attended
the pre-college division of the Juilliard School.
Brooks received her undergraduate degree from
the New England Conservatory where she studied with Laurence Lesser. She graduated from
both schools with Distinction in Performance.
Brooks has performed chamber and solo concerts throughout the country, including a duo
concert with the late cellist Janos Starker. She
has won numerous awards and honors and was
nominated by Leonard Bernstein for an Avery
Fisher Career Grant in 1988.
Her activities in the community include creating and participating in numerous benefit concerts throughout the year as well as engagement
in advocacy work. Melissa Brooks is Missouri
Chapter leader for the national organization,
Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.
34
A BRIEF EXPLANATION
You don’t need to know what “andante” means or what a glockenspiel is to
enjoy a St. Louis Symphony concert, but it’s always fun to know stuff. For
example, what does “Hob. I:105” mean?
Hob.: “Hob.” is the abbreviation for the Hoboken catalogue of Haydn’s works;
Hoboken does not refer to New Jersey or have anything to do with the closing
of toll booths, rather, Anthony van Hoboken (1887-1983), who took on the
enormous task of compiling the definitive catalogue of Haydn’s many works;
Hob. numbers include a roman numeral followed by an Arabic figure
PLAYING MOZART:
“Symphony No. 39 is a difficult piece
for string players, because there is so
much character that needs to stand
out. It’s operatic. Note lengths need to
be precise. We need to listen to each
other so much and play together.
“Not everyone can play Mozart.
People want to vibrate at the end of
a line, become more romantic. That
doesn’t work for Mozart. The music is
very transparent. If you don’t respect
the character or the lines, it will make
a big mush.
“In this symphony Mozart gives
the second violins a lot of the main
theme. We’re not just accompanying
eighth notes. In other works we may be
part of the background, or supporting
the harmony. In this case we’re pretty
much equal.”
35
Dilip Vishwanat
EVA KOZMA, ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL SECOND VIOLIN
Eva Kozma
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