The “Italian” Symphony is one of Mendelssohn’s most popular orchestral works. He began composing it while touring Italy in 1831, when he was 22 years old. He wrote to friends and relatives about enjoying the climate and art but disdaining the concert music. Musicologists have offered many interpretations of the symphony, linking the musical ideas to specific Italian cities and scenes. This is arguably his happiest symphony, and Mendelssohn once described the Symphony as “blue sky in A major,” referring to Italy’s famous azure skies.
The symphony opens with a burst of sound and energy with repeated notes in the winds and soaring melodies in the strings. Mendelssohn expertly winds melody after melody, never letting the intensity and drive wane. The second movement is reverent and dusky, with melodies in the oboes, bassoons, and violas. Throughout the movement, the lower strings walk a bass line, adding to the processional feeling. A major-key melody in the clarinet breaks through the fog and brings a moment of sunshine but surrenders to the original theme. The third movement, a classic minuet and trio, weaves the strings in a lush tapestry. A militaristic, yet bucolic, fanfare motif in the brass and bassoons provides contrast. The final movement, frenetic and energetic, is explicitly titled “Saltarello,” although it is also evocative of another folk dance, the tarantella. At every moment, it feels like the music will spin out of control! This is one of the few symphonies that begins in a major key and ends in a minor key. It is Mendelssohn at his best – sparkling, singing, and splendid.
Here’s a performance by Gustavo Gimeno and the Concertgebouworkest.
In 1823, Schubert was commissioned to compose music for a play called “Rosamunde, Princess of Cypress.” Nearing the deadline for completion, and without an overture written, he opted for repurposing his overture from an earlier opera, “Alfonso und Estrella.” But after his death, for unknown and confusing reasons, a publisher took an overture from yet another Schubert opera, “The Magic Harp,” and renamed it the “Rosamunde” overture.
The overture, in a modified sonata form, begins with a dramatic opening which then becomes lively and lyrical. Schubert borrowed from his own, earlier operatic work, “in the Italian style.”
Although a very prolific and successful composer in a short life — 600 vocal works, seven complete symphonies, sacred music, operas, piano and chamber music — his efforts to compose for the musical theatre were haphazard disasters. The collaborations with the libretti were poor and the performances were few. Fortunately, the “Rosamunde” Overture has survived and become one of his most popular works.
Franz Liszt was obsessed with death and religion and the themes of salvation and redemption. His fascination with the supernatural and the macabre led to rumors about him being a haunted or eerie figure. Some people believed that his virtuosic piano skills were the result of a pact with the Devil.
in 1838, when Liszt visited the Camposanto in Pisa, he was awed and inspired by “The Triumph of Death,” a monumental 14th century fresco. That work inspired his “Totentanz,” or “Danse Macabre,” a dramatic and virtuosic composition for piano and orchestra. Composed in 1849 (revised in 1853 and 1859), it is based on the medieval tale of people from all walks of life summoned to dance with death itself. The piece begins with a dark, ominous, and percussive introduction, and then the piano enters with a series of variations (e.g., pensive, fiery, playful, majestic) on the “Dies Irae” or “Day of Wrath” chant, a medieval plainchant used for centuries in the Requiem Mass for the dead, and used by many other composers, including Mozart, Berlioz, Verdi, and Rachmaninoff. (Liszt attended the first performance in 1830 of Berlioz’ Symphonie Fantastique, with the Dies Irae being a major theme of the last movement, “Witches’ Sabbath.”)
Throughout the piece, Liszt showcases his exceptional piano technique, with rapid runs, thunderous chords, and virtuosic passages. The music alternates between moments of intense fury and eerie calm, reflecting the contrasting emotions of mortality. As the piece progresses, the confrontation between the piano and orchestra intensifies, culminating in a thrilling and dramatic conclusion, where death ultimately triumphs over the living.
Liszt was known for his charismatic stage presence and showmanship. He was one of the first pianists to perform from memory, which was a groundbreaking practice at the time. He played a pivotal role in shaping the way the piano is performed and how music was composed for it during the Romantic era.
In 1839, 26-year-old Richard Wagner was employed as a conductor at the Court Theatre in Riga, Latvia. With the retirement of his actress wife and overwhelming debts from their extravagant lifestyle, they fled their creditors by boarding a ship for Paris with the dream of his making a fortune selling compositions for the Paris Opera. Their sea journey was hindered by storms and high seas, turning the eight day trip into three weeks. Wagner’s experience in Paris was also disastrous. He was unable to get work as a conductor, and the Opera did not want to produce his work. His harrowing sea voyage inspired the theme of the Flying Dutchman. Its premiere performance in 1843 was his first great success and played a central role in establishing his reputation.
The legend of the Flying Dutchman is the story of a ghost ship, with black masts and blood-red sails, condemned forever to seafaring on the turbulent high seas. The captain can only be rescued from this doom by finding his true love. The overture is one of the most impressive and enthralling storm scenes in music.
Wagner is credited with popularizing and extensively using the “leitmotif,” a musical theme associated with a character, object, emotion, or event. A recent popular example is in the “Star Wars” series. Many leitmotifs are woven into Wagner’s overture, including:
The Dutchman’s Theme: Played by the trombones and low brass, conveying a sense of foreboding and mystery, it represents the character of the Flying Dutchman himself.
Senta’s Theme: Senta, the opera’s heroine, has her own leitmotif representing her longing for and fascination with the Dutchman. It appears in a more lyrical and romantic form, introduced by the English Horn.
The Sailors Chorus: Played by a wind band, it celebrates their safe return to land.
The Storm Theme: This motif evokes the turbulent wind and sea, and the supernatural elements of the story. It is characterized by dramatic orchestration, with swirling strings, creating a sense of chaos and danger. Wagner’s Flying Dutchman elevates a scary old folk tale into a powerful composition of love and redemption.
This monumental work was composed by Berlioz in 1830, just a few years after Beethoven’s death. At that time, Berlioz was an unknown 26-year composer who had fallen madly in love with an Anglo-Irish actress, Harriet Smithson, whom he had seen in the Parisian theater performing Shakespeare. He tried, but failed, to win her attention.
In despair, he poured out his soul in this symphony – a semi-autobiographical tour-de-force – which was revolutionary in its musical impact. Written in five movements, this “fantastic symphony” describes the dreams and imaginings of a love-sick young artist who, despairing of attaining the object of his love, has poisoned himself with opium. He sees visions in the form of musical imagery. His beloved is represented by an “ideé fixe” – a graceful melody which appears in every movement. The ideé fixe binds all of the movements together, although it appears in different guises in each.
A brief description of the movements follows, based on Berlioz’ own programmatic notes:
I. Dreams and Passions: The young artist reflects on his melancholy, despair and anguish; his joyous elation when he sees his beloved, and the volcanic love she inspires. After a somber opening tinged with melancholy, violins and flutes open the passionate allegro section and introduce the ideé fixe. Delirious anguish and furious jealousy intrude, giving way to re-awakening love and, at the end, religious consolation.
II. A Ball: He finds his beloved amid the tumult of a festive ball; the ideé fixe is glimpsed amid the gaiety.
III. Scene in the Country: He imagines himself in the country on a summer evening, hearing shepherds’ pipes play the “Ranz des Vaches” to call in their flocks. The pastoral scene gives him a feeling of calm contentment. Suddenly, thoughts of his beloved intrude; his heart lurches, and he has grim forebodings should she betray him. A solitary shepherd plays his tune again without answer, giving way to distant rolling thunder and silence.
IV. March to the Scaffold: He dreams that he has killed his beloved, has been condemned to death and is being led to the scaffold through a jeering mob. A solemn march interrupted by wild passages accompanies him. At the scaffold, he hears the ideé fixe for an instant – which is interrupted by the death blow.
V. Witches’ Sabbath: He dreams he is at an eerie gathering of horrible spirits, sorcerers and monsters who have come to attend his funeral. There are strange cries, groans, shouts and laughter. His beloved has been transformed into one of the revelers; a raucous clarinet plays the ideé fixe as a grotesque parody. She is gleefully welcomed and joins the infernal orgy. Funeral bells toll; low brass and bassoons play a parody of the “Dies Irae” from the mass of the dead. The witches begin their round-dance, heralded by different instrument choirs. The witches’ dance and the Dies Irae come together in a delirious finale, bringing this “fantastic symphony” to an end.
For Berlioz, the story did not end there. In 1832 he finally met Harriet Smithson – and married her a year later.
This enchanting duet is from Delibes’s famous 1883 opera. It is sung by Lakmé, the daughter of a Brahmin priest, and her servant Mallika, as they gather fragrant flowers by the river.
Schumann composed his Third Symphony in six weeks in 1850, after moving to the Rhineland to take up the post of music director in Düsseldorf. This symphony, which he premiered in 1851, quickly became one of his most popular works and is a masterpiece of romanticism.
Its five-movement structure is unusual, although not unique (both Beethoven and Berlioz had previously written multi-movement “programmatic” symphonies). The title “Rhenish” was not given by Schumann himself, but rather by his publisher. However, Schumann rejected a program idea for this symphony, believing that the music should be heard without the artifice of titles coming between the listener and the music, and he even removed some initial movement titles before publication. Despite this, glimpses of Rhenish life and influence can be easily discerned, especially in the second and fourth movements.
Structurally, this symphony can be viewed as having three sections – two thematically connected movements at the beginning and at the end, which bookend a lyrical “song without words” middle movement. The main theme is based on the interval of a falling fourth (E-flat to B-flat) followed by a rising sixth and rising fourth. These harmonic relationships are the basis for many of the themes in the other movements. The first movement begins with a theme propelled by rhythmic displacement, vigorously driving the piece forward. It is interrupted by a rising scale motive in the strings, which then leads to a lyrical second theme played by the woodwinds. All three themes become prominent and intertwined in the section. A triumphant return of the main theme is heralded by the horns and then taken up by the full orchestra at the end.
The second movement Scherzo is based on a German “ländler” folksong; like the first movement, it opens with a rising fourth in the ‘cellos, bassoons, and violas. After several variations, the Scherzo segues into a trio featuring horns and woodwinds. It reaches a climax, before ending in a hushed restatement of the main theme by the ‘cellos and first bassoon. The third movement is a tranquil musical miniature, akin to a song without words. Opening with a flowing theme by the clarinets and violas, it features a four-note motif in the strings imitated by other sections in the orchestra, which Schumann combines in the ending section.
The stately fourth movement is a magnificent example of Schumann’s inventiveness. It is marked “Feierlich” (solemnly), in the somber key of E-flat minor. Opening with trombones, horns and bassoons, the main theme is again based on a rising fourth. Schumann develops the opening theme in a remarkable overlapping and contrapuntal style, punctuated by brass fanfares towards the end of the movement. The last movement, “Lebhaft” (lively), is brisk and light-hearted. The opening theme again based on a rising fourth, this time in scale form. Towards the end of the piece, the brass – after yet another set of fanfares – return to the fourth movement theme, now in an optimistic tone. Brass flourishes and a quick coda propel this symphony to its triumphant ending.
Grieg subtitle this lush work a “suite in the olden style.” He wrote it to commemorate the bicentenary of the birth of Ludvig Holberg (1684-1754), a celebrated writer, poet and dramatist claimed by both Denmark and Norway as a native son and dubbed “the Molière of the North.”
In evident homage to the baroque era in which Holberg lived, Grieg composed his suite in five short movements harking back to baroque form – a prelude followed by four short dance movements.
The “Praeludium” begins with rising scales punctuated by vigorous accents, with intermittent contrasting lyrical sections, and sets up the rest of the dances. The slow and stately Sarabande is introspective and tender, with short cello and violin solos. The elegant Gavotte follows with accented offbeats and a charming musette featuring string drones. The Air, marked “Andante religioso,” is the heart of the Suite. It is suffused with wistful melody and deeply-felt dialogues between solo cello and violins. The concluding Rigaudon is based on a jaunty French dance, which Grieg adapts to his own Norwegian folk style. Featuring a rollicking solo violin and viola duet in its main section, a short minor-key interlude leads to a joyous reprise to end the suite.
A very personal work, this song cycle by Mahler arose out of his unrequited love for a soprano he had met as a conductor in the Kassel opera house in the mid-1880s. Mahler wrote the text as well as the music, and both are deeply felt. He initially composed these songs for voice and piano, and then orchestrated them in the 1890s. There are four songs, which can be sung by either a mezzo-soprano or baritone.
I – “Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht” (“When My Sweetheart is Married”): He despairs on his beloved’s wedding day.
II – “Ging heut’ Morgen über’s Feld” (“I Went This Morning over the Field”): He finds joy in the midst of nature, birds and greenery. At the end, he questions whether he will ever find happiness.
III – “Ich hab’ ein glühend Messer” (“I Have a Gleaming Knife”): His unrequited love is like the agony of a sharp knife cutting into his chest. He imagines he sees his love’s blonde hair and blue eyes, and hears her laughter – and wishes he were lying dead, on a black bier.
IV – “Die zwei blauen Augen von meinem Schatz” (“The Two Blue Eyes of my Beloved”): Her blue eyes have sent him out into the wide world, away from everything he holds dear. He finds rest and sleep under a blooming linden tree by the side of the road. There everything was fine again – love and sorrow, world and dream.
Mahler used themes from two of these songs (nos. 2 and 4) in his Symphony #1.
Grieg initially composed an eight-piece set of incidental music for a historical play written by his friend Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson. It was published as Op. 22 and first performed in Christiania in 1872. The play itself was based on the life of Sigurd Jorsalfar (“Sigurd the Crusader”), a king who ruled Norway from 1103-1130 and went on a crusade to Jerusalem. The plot focuses on the tensions between Sigurd and his brother/co-ruler Eystejn; a love-triangle of the brothers with Borghild; and the brothers’ reconciliation. In later years Grieg compiled a 3-movement orchestral suite based on the original incidental music. He published it as Op. 56, and it was premiered in Oslo in 1892.
The opening prelude, “In the King’s Hall,” is a graceful march, first stated in the winds and then taken up by the entire orchestra. A contrasting lyrical section featuring woodwinds leads to a reprise of the opening section. The Intermezzo (“Borghild’s Dream”) is dark and mysterious, with a contrasting agitated section punctuated by string and wind outbursts. The final “Homage March,” originally meant to signify the brothers’ reconciliation, opens with brass fanfares. The main martial theme is played first by four solo ‘cellos, and then broadened to include strings, solo winds, and brass. A contrasting middle section is introduced by percussion and harp and features the strings. The martial theme is repeated by the orchestra to end the Suite.
