Mozart & Tchaikovsky
Laurie Shulman, Program Notes Annotator
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Symphony No. 39 in E-flat, K. 543
Ruth Gipps | Oboe Concerto with Gabriel Renteria-Elyea
Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky | Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64
Symphony No. 39 in E-flat, K. 543
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (VOLF-gahng ah-mah-DAY-us MOH-tsart)
Born 27 January 1756 in Salzburg, Austria
Died 5 December, 1791 in Vienna, Austria
Orchestration: flute, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, and strings
Mozart’s final three symphonies date from summer of 1788. The three autograph scores barely span six weeks. What an astonishing level of productivity, even for Mozart!
One of music’s great ironies is that we do not know whether Mozart heard any of these symphonies performed. It is possible that a performance of K. 543 took place in Vienna in 1788. At this point, Mozart was also considering a visit to England. Scholars have hypothesized that the last three symphonies were intended as a “presentation portfolio” for an English tour. If that journey had come to fruition, how differently might have flowed the course of music history! For the English loved music, and recognized genius, as they proved during Haydn’s rewarding stays in Britain beginning just a couple of years later.
What is a “K” number?
Mozart K numbers, or Köchel numbers, are used to identify and catalog Mozart’s compositions. They are assigned chronologically based on the estimated date of composition. Ludwig von Köchel was a musicologist.
In some respects the E-flat symphony is the forgotten member of the trilogy. As Georges de Saint-Foix has written: “It has neither the passion of the G minor nor the imposing splendor of the Jupiter; therefore neither public nor critics of the romantic age were capable of being profoundly moved by it.” Perhaps because of that, its beauties are the more wonderful to discover. Mozart’s 39th symphony has a spaciousness and nobility of spirit that make it his Eroica symphony in more ways than just the shared tonality of E-flat major.
Eroica
Italian for “heroic” and the name of Beethoven’s Third Symphony, one of his most popular works. It also pushed the boundaries of form and length for symphonic writing.
A majestic slow introduction opens the work. Dotted rhythms recall the Baroque French overture. Descending scale passages link the introduction thematically to the lyrical Allegro that follows. For the first time in the Mozart symphonies, he uses clarinets rather than oboes. In both the slow movement and the third movement’s trio section, the clarinets have two of the most prized duets in the symphonic literature. The minuet proper is among Mozart’s beloved. And the finale is pure joy: bouncy and Haydnesque, with scant indication of the clouds that were gathering over Mozart’s life.
Allegro
movement performed at a brisk tempo
Concerto in D minor for Oboe and Orchestra, Op. 20
Ruth Gipps (Rewth Gips)
Born 20 February 1921 in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, England
Died 23 February 1999 in Eastbourne, UK
Ruth Gipps was a musical polymath. In addition to composing, she also played oboe and piano, and was active as a conductor and music educator. She began studying music in her native Bexhill at age 4 and enrolled at London’s Royal College of Music in 1937, when she was 16. Her composition teachers there included Gordon Jacob and Ralph Vaughan Williams; her oboe teacher was the renowned virtuoso Leon Goossens. After winning multiple prizes and a traveling scholarship, she joined the faculty of the RCM. After the war, Gipps earned a doctorate in music from Durham University. During the 1950s, her reputation as a conductor grew; however, because of her gender, she was unable to secure a permanent position as music director. She thus founded her own ensemble, the One Rehearsal Orchestra, in 1955. In 1961 she founded and directed London’s Chanticleer Orchestra and the London Repertoire Orchestra. In her later years she worked primarily as a choral conductor and organist.
Gipps was only 20 when she composed her oboe concerto for her friend Marion Brough, who played the premiere with an amateur ensemble, the Modern Symphony Orchestra, in London in June 1942. The piece would remain unperformed for nearly 80 years. Katherine Needleman, principal oboe of the Baltimore Symphony, played the American premiere with the Richmond [VA] Symphony in 2021. Needleman acquired the score early in the pandemic, but found it too sketchy to present to a professional orchestra. With the assistance of Richmond Artistic Administrator Jennifer Arnold, Needleman was able to arrange for June Emerson Wind Music to digitally engrave the score and parts. Since then, the concerto has grown “legs,” attracting attention and enthusiasm from other oboists – and from audiences.
Concerto
a musical composition for a solo instrument or instruments accompanied by an orchestra
Gipps’ writing is remarkably assured for one so young. The piece is neoclassical in layout and harmonic language. The opening movement is stern and sometimes ominous, perhaps a reaction to the eight months of the Blitz in 1940 and 1941. Gipps’ slow movement is a marked contrast, lyrical and wistful, with major cameo solos for clarinet and violin in dialogue with the soloist. The finale is even more overtly folk-influenced, suggesting both Irish jigs and Scottish reels with its briskly-paced triple meter. A blazing solo cadenza leads to an affirming and positive conclusion.
Cadenza
a virtuoso solo passage inserted into a movement in a concerto or other work
Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64
Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Pyo-ter Eel-yich Chai-KOV- skee)
Born 7 May, 1840 in Votkinsk, Viatka district, Russia
Died 6 November, 1893 in St. Petersburg, Russia
Orchestration: three flutes (third doubling piccolo); oboes, clarinets and bassoons in pairs; four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani and strings
Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony focuses on mankind’s futile struggle with destiny. Specifically it deals with man’s spiritual helplessness and inadequacy. These thoughts are most evident in the finale, which opens with great solemnity. But the entire symphony is filled with operatic crescendos and dramatic, sudden shifts in tempo, all of which bespeak a soul in torment, searching for its own catharsis.
Like Beethoven’s Fifth, Tchaikovsky’s Fifth is a ‘motto’ symphony, with a unifying motive that recurs periodically throughout the work and is particularly noticeable in the first and final movements. Its character changes from gloomy and menacing in the first movement, to gentle in the Valse, then ultimately victorious in the last movement.
Tchaikovsky is justly praised for his imaginative woodwind writing. From the opening measures, where the clarinet introduces the motto, the winds have wonderful cameo solos. They frequently play as a section in lively dialogue with the strings. The famous French horn solo in the slow movement is one of the glories of the literature.
Woodwind
includes flutes, clarinets, oboes, and bassoons
The graceful third movement Valse reminds us that Tchaikovsky was a great ballet composer. It provides contrast to the marches that dominate the outer movements. Tchaikovsky turns his finale into a triumphal march with thrilling moments for the brass section. Emotional, dramatic, and melodious, this Symphony has it all.
Valse
a waltz
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