THE FLORIDA ORCHESTRA | 2017-2018
Program Notes
Sinfonietta, according to the composer, was meant to express
“the contemporary free man, his spiritual beauty and joy, his
strength, courage and determination to fight for victory.”
Janáček’s immediate reference with these words was to the
summer games in Prague, but they also touch on the wider
political situation in his beloved homeland — the score was
at first dedicated to the Czech Armed Forces. The Sinfonietta
was introduced during the Sokol festival, on June 29, 1926
in Prague in a performance by Václav Talich and the Czech
Philharmonic Orchestra, and introduced to both Germany
and the United States within a year by Otto Klemperer, one of
the composer’s staunchest early champions. It has remained
the most popular of Janáček’s orchestral compositions.
What To Listen For
When the Sinfonietta was new, Janáček appended to each
of its movements a title: Fanfares, The Castle, The Queen’s
Monastery, The Street and The Town Hall. In a journal
article of 1927 called “My Town,” Janáček explained that
these sobriquets denoted landmarks in Brno, which he
remembered as “small and inhospitable” in its Austro-
Hungarian days during his youth and early professional
life, but which, after gaining its freedom, “underwent
a miraculous change. I lost my dislike of the gloomy
Town Hall, my hatred of the hill from whose depths so
much pain was screaming, my distaste for the street
and its throng. As if by a miracle, liberty was conjured
up, glowing over the town — the rebirth of 28 October
1918. I saw myself in it. I belonged to it. And the blare of
the victorious trumpets, the holy peace of the Queen’s
Monastery, the shadows of night, the breath of the green
hill and the vision of the growing greatness of the town, of
my Brno, were all giving birth to my Sinfonietta.” Though
the music is devoid of explicit programmatic reference,
it churns throughout with an unquenchable vitality and
exuberance that undoubtedly grew from Janáček’s ardent
nationalism. The music is never far from folk song, which,
in its melodic leadings and speech rhythms, served as the
springboard for Janáček’s art. Though the movements
are mostly constructed in sections, they surge forward
with the sort of cumulative structural logic typical of
Janáček that is more easily heard than explained. The
piece is brought round full circle when the brazen fanfare
of the opening movement is recalled in the finale to
create a stunning climax to one of the most splendid and
innovative masterworks in 20th-century music.
ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK
CONCERTO FOR CELLO IN B MINOR, OP. 104
Duration: ca. 40 minutes
Overview
During the three years that Dvořák was teaching at the
National Conservatory of Music and composing in New York
City, he was subject to the same emotions as most other
travelers away from home for a long time: invigoration and
homesickness. America served to stir his creative energies,
and during his stay from 1892 to 1895 he composed some of
his greatest scores: the “New World” Symphony, the Op. 96
Quartet (“American”) and the Cello Concerto. He was keenly
aware of the new musical experiences to be discovered in
the land far from his beloved Bohemia when he wrote, “The
musician must prick up his ears for music. When he walks
he should listen to every whistling boy, every street singer or
organ grinder. I myself am often so fascinated by these people
that I can scarcely tear myself away.” But he missed his home
and, while he was composing the Cello Concerto, looked
eagerly forward to returning. He opened his heart in a letter to
a friend in Prague: “Now I am finishing the finale of the Cello
Concerto. If I could work as free from cares as at Vysoká site of
his country home, it would have been finished long ago. Oh, if
only I were in Vysoká again!”
What To Listen For
The Concerto’s opening movement is in sonata form, with
both themes presented by the orchestra before the entry
of the soloist. The first theme is heard immediately in the
clarinets. “One of the most beautiful melodies ever composed
for the horn” is how Sir Donald Tovey described the second
theme. Otakar Šourek, the composer’s biographer, described
the second movement as a “hymn of deepest spirituality and
amazing beauty.” It is in three-part (A–B–A) form. The finale is
a rondo of dance-like nature. Following the second reprise of
the theme, a slow section recalls both the first theme of the
opening movement and a melody from the Adagio.
© 2018 Dr. Richard E. Rodda
Please visit www.FloridaOrchestra.org
for our full program notes.
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