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Swan Lake, Op. 20 Very little documentation exists surrounding the composition of Swan Lake, notwithstanding the commission Tchaikovsky received from the Imperial Theatres to write the ballet in 1875. He began writing Swan Lake shortly after completing his Third Symphony that year, but Tchaikovsky made uncharacteristically little mention of the work in any personal correspondence. He was living in Moscow at the time, teaching at the Moscow Conservatory. When the academic year ended in the spring of 1876, Tchaikovsky went to a friend’s estate in the country to focus strictly on finishing the project. He finished at the end of April, and it was produced in Moscow in March of 1877. The production itself was disastrous, perhaps a product of Tchiakovsky’s nonchalant, hands-off approach once he delivered the score to the Bolshoi Theatre. The choreographer, Julius Reisinger, was less than talented. The costumes and stage were poorly designed, the orchestra was unprepared to play such a monumental piece, the conductor was average, and the performers were mediocre. The ballet-master exchanged several pieces of Tchaikovsky’s with numbers from other ballets in order to make Swan Lake easier to dance. Those who were familiar with the entire, authentic score praised the ballet. Critics, attending the censured ballet that contained substitutions and numerous cuts, received the production tepidly. The five selections from Swan Lake, as performed by Lincoln’s Symphony Orchestra, are but a mere taste of the entire ballet; nonetheless, they effectively capture the spirit of the magnificent work.
Totentanz S. 126 Franz Liszt left a solid footprint in the history of music. “As an innovator in instrumentation, with his absolutely individual orchestral technique, he stands beside the other two great orchestrators of the nineteenth century, Berlioz and Wagner,” said fellow Hungarian composer Béla Bartók of Liszt. Liszt’s intricate harmonic language was advanced. He forever changed musical form by inventing the symphonic poem for orchestra. As a conductor and performer, Liszt was also passionate about restoring and maintaining public interest in composers of the past, such as Bach, Beethoven, and Handel. Liszt wrote many pieces based on the subject of death, including Pensée des morts, Funérailles, La Lugubre gondola, and the piano concerto, Totentanz. His fascination with the topic arose from the passing of his father, Adam, when Franz was a young teenager. At the age of six, Franz Liszt was displaying his musical prowess, and Adam began to arrange concerts and tours. Adam eventually moved the family to Vienna so Franz could study with Carl Czerny; he took theory lessons with Antonio Salieri. By 1848, Liszt had 30 years of writing, conducting, and performing to his credit. He yearned for a position that would allow him more time to compose and conduct, away from the spotlight of solo tours. He moved to Weimar to become Kapellmeister-in-Extraordinary for the Grand Duke. Living in Weimar was especially attractive to Liszt because the city had its own orchestra and opera. Toward the end of Liszt’s time in Weimar in 1859, he wrote Totentanz, or Dance of the Dead. Liszt drew his inspiration for the piece from artist Hans Holbein’s woodcut series, Der Todtentanz. The concerto is a theme and variations based on the Dias Irae plainchant from the requiem mass. Totentanz was, in many ways, a reworking of a piano concerto he wrote in 1834, called De profundis (Out of the depths). De profundis is considered to be the first version of Totentanz, and while they are similarly structured, there are clear differences in the ordering of the movements. The Dias Irae is heard immediately as the piece begins, above forceful block chords in the piano. Shortly thereafter, the soloist is allowed to demonstrate virtuosic skill. Toward the end of the first movement, Liszt displays his elaborate harmonic language with a brief, re-harmonized rendition of the chant. The concerto contains seven variations and two cadenzas. The introduction and an Allegro animato finale bookend the inner movements.
Concerto for Orchestra, BB 123 The evolution of Béla Bartók’s style throughout his life is truly magnificent. His earliest works were imbued with techniques of the Classical style, but as he matured as a writer, Bartók’s compositions assumed the influence of Romantic writers, particularly Richard Strauss. It wasn’t until 1904, when Bartók took a keen interest in Hungarian peasant music, that he discovered his own compositional voice. Bartók began implementing nuances of Hungarian folk songs in his compositions. Traditional music of Hungary is wrought with scales and melodies that sound exotic in comparison with other European or Soviet nationalistic styles. Gypsy scales and highly ornamented melodies decorate folk songs. Other characteristics include rapid, drastic changes in tempo, and short, rhythmically distinct patterns that end phrases (called bokázó). In the spring of 1940, Bartók traveled to the United States to tour as solo pianist, and as accompanist to violinist Jozséf Szigeti. Following a brief return to Hungary, Bartók again came to America toward the end of the year, hoping to find success as a soloist. Unable to make ends meet, he instead took up a project for Columbia University transcribing Serbo-Croatian folk songs, and gave a series of lectures at Harvard University. Throughout his life, Bartók was plagued with poor health. In 1942, he experienced a high fever each night from April to December. The following February, after delivering a third lecture at Harvard, he collapsed and was taken to the hospital. Doctors diagnosed his condition as chronic myeloid leukemia, although they never informed Bartók of this imminent sentence. Friend and violinist Szigeti knew that Bartók would struggle to pay the medical expenses from his illness. Szigeti asked Boston Symphony Orchestra conductor Serge Koussevitzky to commission a work from Bartók, offering him much needed financial assistance. Koussevitzky agreed, fully aware that Bartók might never complete the work. Bartók frequently employs symmetry within his harmonic structures, forms, phrases, rhythms, and melodies, and Concerto for Orchestra is no exception. Just in the formal structure of the Concerto, symmetry flourishes. The piece is five movements; Bartók uses Sonata form for the first and fifth. The inner movements are symmetrical, whether structured as ABABA as in the fourth, or five sections on either side of a trio, as is in the second movement. Bartók’s use of tonality later in his career often dances in the grey area between atonal and tonal, although he appropriately considered himself a tonal writer. The Concerto, for example, is far from tonal in the traditional understanding of the term; but Bartók wrote with a single pitch as the focal point to each movement, rather than conventional diatonic harmony driving the construction of the work. The pitch F is central to the first and last movements, with D, C#, and B for the inner movements, respectively. He was indeed a master of orchestration, and a master of extremes. Bartók wrote beautiful, sparse, nearly silent phrases, juxtaposed with vibrant strings, playful woodwinds, and brilliant brass.
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