The seventh of the twelve London symphonies (Hoboken numbers 93–104) written by Joseph Haydn. This symphony was written in 1793 in Vienna in anticipation of his second trip to London.
The work was premiered on February 10, 1794 at the Hanover Square Rooms in London, with Haydn directing the orchestra seated at a fortepiano.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is one of the most iconic and beloved composers of the Romantic era, known for his emotionally charged music, lyrical melodies, and masterful orchestration. He has composed some of the most enduring works in the classical repertoire, including ballets like Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, and Sleeping Beauty, as well as symphonies, concertos, and operas. His music bridges Western European traditions and Russian folk elements, creating a uniquely expressive and nationalistic voice.
Tchaikovsky composed his Symphony No. 2 during a summer stay in Ukraine in 1872, and many of its themes are drawn from authentic Ukrainian folk songs. At the time, Ukraine was a part of the Russian empire and historically (and somewhat pejoratively) called “Little Russia.” The symphony was posthumously nicknamed the “Little Russian,” but in modern times this name is falling out of favor. The symphony was enthusiastically received at its premiere in Moscow. Tchaikovsky later revised the piece in 1879–80, modifying its orchestration and structure. The revised version premiered in 1881, and now is the one most often performed (and the version BBE is performing at this concert).
Tchaikovsky’s use of folk melodies in this symphony is both inventive and effective. He doesn’t merely quote these tunes; he transforms them through sophisticated orchestration and thematic development, integrating them seamlessly into the symphonic form.
The first movement (Andante sostenuto – Allegro vivo) opens with a haunting horn solo based on the Ukrainian folk song “Down by Mother Volga.” The slow introduction gives way to a vigorous Allegro, in which the opening theme is contrasted with other musical motifs, including a rising three-note motif and a fast seven-note passage. The development section expands on each of these, and is full of rhythmic energy and dramatic contrasts.
The second movement (Andantino marziale, quasi moderato) was originally written for his unpublished opera “Undine.” Beginning with timpani, it features a charming march-like theme, with contrasting dotted-note motifs. The lyrical middle section is introduced by the winds and is based on another folk song (“Spin, O My Spinner”), before returning to the opening march theme with instrumental embellishments.
The third movement (Scherzo: Allegro molto vivace) is a pungent display of orchestral color and rhythmic vitality. A whirlwind of motion, it features irregular phrases and heavily syncopated passages. While not based on any folk melodies, the playful trio section has a folk-like quality to it.
The symphony concludes with a massive last movement (Finale: Moderato assai – Allegro vivo) based on the Ukrainian folk song “The Crane.” Starting out in a grandiose setting, this simple tune is repeatedly embellished and transformed into an exuberant finale, featuring strings, winds, brass and percussion. A lyrical second theme offers a welcome contrast and as counter-thematic material. A jubilant coda brings this symphony to a triumphant climax.
New Orleans-born Louis Moreau Gottschalk was an American composer and virtuoso pianist. Born to a Creole mother and Jewish father, he was a child prodigy on the piano, leaving Louisiana as a teenager to study music in Paris. He spent much of his career touring South America and the Caribbean and was dubbed the “Chopin of the Creoles.”
As a composer, he was renowned for his eclectic blend of classical, Creole, Caribbean, and Latin American influences. His Symphony No. 1, titled “A Night in the Tropics” (“Nuit des Tropiques”), premiered in Havana in 1860. It is one of the earliest examples of an orchestral work by an American composer that integrates elements of Afro-Caribbean music and rhythm.
The piece may have been played at one of Gottschalk’s famous “monster concerts” that employed hundreds of musicians (sometimes as many as 600!) performing newly composed works. One version of the Night in the Tropics was scored for 150 musicians, including an orchestra, a band and extra percussionists. There is also a two piano rendition another version for a smaller orchestra.
The symphony is in two movements, of which we are performing the second movement, titled “Festa Criolla.” Based on the samba, it features syncopated and lively Afro-Cuban rhythms.
Dmitri Shostakovich
In 1924, a gifted 19-year-old student at Petrograd Conservatory began his senior composition project. Soon after completion, with enthusiastic faculty recommendations, including that of the director and composer Alexander Glazunov, the First Symphony was performed by the Leningrad Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic under Bruno Walter, and the Philadelphia Orchestra under Leopoldo Stokowski. Dmitri Shostakovich had become an immediate international sensation.
But the path to success was fraught with upheaval. At ten years old, his middle-class life was upended by the communist revolution, which ended 400 years of the Romanov dynasty.
Shostakovich and his family endured famine and fuel shortages. After his father died, he helped bring in extra money by improvising on piano at silent movie theaters. (Despite his ambivalence about the medium, he became a fan of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.) This job developed Shostakovich’s fluency in translating drama and story into musical language, so it is unsurprising that the piano, typically not found in the orchestra, is one of the most prominent instruments. The piano provides expressive melodic sweeps and aggressive punctuation — sometimes commenting on the action (like a film) and at other times being the main focus.
Shostakovich’s distinct and original musical voice is already present in Symphony No. 1. While less known than many of his later works, it’s a thrilling piece full of sardonic edginess, pained introspection and dramatic outbursts, and closing with a blaring finale. Shostakovich’s works should always be a little rough around the edges — especially the musical outpourings of an unstable teenager whose world was uncontrollably changing. We hope you are captivated by his power, seduced by his wit, and enchanted by his many musical surprises.
30 minutes. Instrumentation: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, and strings.
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.
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.
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.
After the death of his long-time patron, Prince Nikolaus Esterhazy, Haydn was engaged by the impresario and violinist J. P. Salomon to travel to London in 1791. In return for generous financial terms, Haydn agreed to write operas, symphonies and numerous other pieces for Salomon’s concerts. Haydn so won over London society that he was invited back for a second trip, in 1794. A major attraction of these concerts were Haydn’s celebrated “London Symphonies” (nos. 93-104), which he composed between 1791 and 1795.
Symphony No. 97 was first performed in 1792, at the Hanover Square Rooms in London. A four-movement work, it is full of Haydn’s humor, wit and special effects. Opening with a majestic (though tonally unsettled) Adagio, the following Vivace is built on a powerful C-major descending triad. The contrasting second theme has a folk-tune flavor, full of graceful flourishes. The Adagio Ma Non Troppo is based on a theme and variations, giving prominence to each of the orchestra’s sections, with a contrasting F minor section in the middle. The Menuetto and Trio are fully written out to showcase the musical themes with different orchestrations. In a nod to Salomon, Haydn gave him a violin solo in the last 8 bars of the trio, played an octave higher than the other violins! The final Presto Assai is a sparkling rondo, with unexpected key changes and rhythmic surprises to the very end.
Beethoven’s Eighth Symphony, composed in 1812 on the heels of the Seventh Symphony, initially baffled audiences, who found it out of character with his “heroic” style beginning with the Third Symphony, “Eroica.” He himself countered that it was “much better” as music, meaning it was not “programmatic” (evoking a story or emotion) and more “absolute” (purely music for music’s sake, without a narrative or program). While still rooted in the Classical style, it showcases an evolution in his compositional style, marked by a more playful and joyful character, innovative rhythmic and structural approaches, and a subtle reimagining of traditional forms.
It is full of exuberance and musical jokes. The 2nd movement is noted for its delicacy and the “metronome-like” motif in the woodwinds; the 3rd movement trio features clarinet and horn solos. The last movement is rapid-fire, with a tender second theme.
Towards the end it veers jarringly into F# minor before returning to its original key of F major, with an emphatic ending.
The Eighth Symphony was written at a time when Beethoven was in poor health, including increasing deafness, and in the middle of a family quarrel with his brother, who decided to marry a woman Beethoven didn’t approve of. It was also the same year he wrote his famous letter of passion, longing, and anguish to the mysterious “Immortal Beloved.” Yet there is no hint of such conflicts in the music.
The first performance of the symphony in 1814 was played by the largest orchestra assembled up to that time to play Beethoven’s music – 18 first violins, 18 second violins, 14 violas, 12 cellos, 7 double basses, and doubled winds!
The symphony is scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets in B♭, 2 bassoons, 2 horns in F (in B♭ basso for the second movement), 2 trumpets in F, timpani, and strings.
The Wikipedia page for Beethoven’s 8th.
Dvořák’s masterful Sixth Symphony is at once a sunny, lyrical work with moments of great subtlety, power and magnificence.
It was written in 1880, only three years after Brahms’ Second Symphony, to which it has certain similarities in choice of keys and orchestration. That being said, this is Dvořák’s first “mature” symphony, written in the “Slavic” style that characterizes his other orchestral and chamber works of that period. The Sixth Symphony was premiered in Prague in 1881 and soon became a staple of the orchestral repertoire.
Dvořák incorporates Czech folk melodies throughout, in particular in the famous “Furiant” third movement, based on a Czech dance. The first movement starts on a serene and sunny note, evoking the Bohemian countryside; a vigorous outburst by the horns and violins leads to majestic restatement of the main theme by the entire orchestra. A lyrical second theme is heralded by the oboe; both themes are thoroughly developed and interwoven throughout the entire orchestra. The second movement is a sweet nocturne, with counter-themes tossed back and forth between strings, winds and brass.
The Furiant is all about energy and syncopation, evoking Dvořák’s iconic Slavonic Dances. After a calm and melodious trio section, the Furiant returns in full force. The last movement starts out innocently enough in the strings, with a playful second triplet-based theme, before its massive development in the winds and brass. A stirring rendition of the main theme in slow motion, featuring the full-throated brass section, heralds the triumphant finale.