PROGRAMME
conductor Lahav Shani
soprano Elza van den Heever alto Gerhild Romberger
tenor Daniel Behle
bass Kostas Smoriginas chorus Laurens Symfonisch
Anton Bruckner (1824–1896) Te Deum in C (1884)
• Te Deum laudamus – Allegro, Feierlich, mit Kraft
• Te ergo quaesumus – Moderato
• Aeterna fac – Allegro, Feierlich, mit Kraft
• Salvum fac populum tuum – Moderato
• In Te, Domine speravi – Mäßig bewegt
intermission
Anton Bruckner
Symphony No. 4 in E flat Major ‘Romantic’ (version 1878/1880)
• Bewegt, nicht zu schnell
• Andante, quasi allegretto
• Scherzo: Bewegt – Trio: Nicht zu schnell
• Finale: Bewegt, doch nicht zu schnell
Concert ends at around 22.30
Most recent performances by our orchestra: Bruckner Te Deum: May 1962, chorus Toonkunst Rotterdam, conductor Kees Stolwijk
Bruckner Symphony No. 4: Aug-Sep 2018, conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin
One hour before the start of the concert, Kees Wisse will give an introduction (in Dutch) to the programme, admission €7,50. Tickets are available at the hall, payment by debit card. The introduction is free for Vrienden.
Cover: Photo Tom Shakir (Unsplash)
Bruckner’s arrival in heaven. Silhouette (around 1900) by Otto Böhler
Angel voices and bird song
Anton Bruckner’s Te Deum is a song of praise to God. In his Fourth Symphony, the ‘Romantic’, many listeners could identify the sounds of nature.
Praise and acclaim
The text ‘Te Deum laudamus’ (‘Thee, God, we praise’) is an old text, possibly dating from the fourth century; we can trace the oldest known musical setting of this text to the twelfth century. Palestrina, Purcell, Händel, Haydn, Berlioz, and many others preceded Bruckner in the composing of a Te Deum; he would be succeeded in turn by composers including Verdi, Diepenbrock and Pärt. With Bruckner, the hymn text was in very good hands. Although his Te Deum is not as great in scope as that of Berlioz, its greatness lies in its deeply felt faith; Bruckner was a devout Catholic. Bruckner composed his Te Deum in a short period of time between 3 and 17 May 1881. However, always hesitant and uncertain, he consigned the work to a desk drawer until revising it three years later. Its first performance, on 10 January 1885, by the Wiener Akademischer Wagner-Verein in Vienna was a triumph. Even a critic like Eduard Hanslick, who had always detested both Bruckner and his symphonies, was won over. Gustav Mahler, Bruckner’s colleague, was also full of admiration: on the title page of his copy of the score he drew a line through the words ‘for choir, soloists and orchestra’ and wrote beneath them with ‘for angel voices, seekers of God, troubled hearts and fire-cleansed souls.’
Shortly before his death, Bruckner had supposedly stipulated that the Te Deum could also be performed as the last movement of his Ninth Symphony (whose final movement he had left incomplete). It seems a strange idea, not least because of the different keys of the two works, and they are rarely performed together like this. But one thing is certain: the Te Deum was Bruckner’s pride and joy. He dedicated the work to God, explaining his pride in this ebullient manner: ‘When my beloved God calls to me and asks ‘What have you done with your talents?’ I shall show him the scroll containing my score and he shall judge me justly.’
Mockery and penury
Through this musical praise of God, Bruckner, then aged sixty, enjoyed great success. It was an acclaim that had evaded him for a long time. In the period during which he composed the first version of his Fourth Symphony, between January and November
Anton Bruckner in 1885, the year of his Te Deum’s premiere.
Photo Studio Franz Hanstängl, Munich
1874, his world looked completely different. Little recognition, scant reaction, and a lot of hostility. What was this unworldly chap doing in Vienna anyway? Surely this was not where he belonged? If only he had remained as organist in Sankt Florian, a small town in the Austrian countryside not far from his birthplace of Ansfelden. What they saw in him was a naive, simple-minded peasant, with his coarse dialect and unrefined clothes; a socially awkward, sad bachelor. And to think that such a person would try to mix in such a cultural, elegant, developed metropolis as Vienna. ‘What a fraud… simply laughable,’ is how Brahms described Bruckner’s drawn out symphonies. And on the occasion of an audience with Emperor Franz Joseph, Bruckner naively responded to the Emperor’s question whether there was anything he could do to help him, with the request: ‘Cannot Your Majesty forbid Hanslick of the Freie Presse from ripping me to shreds?’
‘I don’t even have enough money to make a copy of the score of my Fourth Symphony’, Bruckner confessed to a fiend at the time. He also went without any stipend that would have allowed him the time to compose in peace. It is a testament to his diligence, tireless perseverance, and, from somewhere deep within, his self-belief, that between 1872 and 1875 as many as four symphonies were committed to paper, namely, in addition to the Fourth, his Second, Third, and Fifth. So dedicated was he to composing, that he claimed he had no time to marry, because he needed to finish his Fourth Symphony first. But ‘finishing’ anything was rather the issue with Bruckner, as we have already mentioned. Between 1878 and 1880 he continued to work extensively on his Fourth; making transitions more fluid; revising the finale (twice); and even writing a completely new scherzo. The resulting work, premiered on 20 February
1881 by Hans Richter and the Vienna Philharmonic, was very well received. For Bruckner, whose reputation up to that time was largely as an organist, this was his first real success as a composer of symphonies. In this same year he began work on his Te Deum – as well as on his Seventh Symphony, the work that would signal his definitive breakthrough as a symphonist.
Knights and hunters
Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony is known as the ‘Romantic’, a name first alluded to by the composer in a letter dated a year and a half later. This raises the question whether he could have had such a name in mind as he was composing the work. Many could identify in the music of the Fourth the sounds of nature. In the first movement, Bruckner himself suggested images that pointed in that direction: ‘A mediaeval town - dawn – the reveille is sounded from the towers – the town’s gates are opened - knights ride out on proud horses to explore the wide world outside; the enchantment of the forests engulfs them – rustling trees - birdsong - and so unfolds this utterly romantic tableau […]’. Elsewhere he described the same movement as ‘a sunrise with great tits, following a fine night’s rest.’ But since the descriptions differ, we maybe don’t need to take his painterly directions too literally. Just as we shouldn’t take his score notes ‘Hunting theme’ and ‘Dance tune during the lunch break while hunting’ in the scherzo, and the last movement’s ‘People’s Festival’ too literally either. However, it’s quite possible that Bruckner’s tale of knights and hunters gave the popularity of his symphony a helping hand. And whatever one may think of the descriptions, the work’s popularity is fully deserved.
Stephen Westra
Lahav Shani • chief conductor
Born: Tel Aviv, Israel
Current position: chief conductor Rotterdam
Philharmonic Orchestra; music director Israel Philharmonic Orchestra; chief conductor designate Münchner Philharmoniker
Education: piano at the Buchmann-Mehta
School of Music Tel Aviv; conducting and piano at the Academy of Music Hanns Eisler Berlin
Breakthrough: 2013, First Prize Gustav Mahler
International Conducting Competition Bamberg
Subsequently: guest appearances with the foremost orchestras worldwide
Debut Rotterdam Philharmonic: 2016
Elza van den Heever • soprano
Born: Johannesburg, South Africa
Education: San Francisco Conservatory of Music
Awards: Seattle Opera International Wagner Competition (2008)
Opera roles: Elettra/Idomeneo, Donna Anna/ Don Giovanni, Leonora/Fidelio, Elisabetta/Maria Stuarda, Elsa von Brabant/Lohengrin, Sieglinde/ Die Walküre, Marie/Wozzeck, Kaiserin/Die Frau ohne Schatten
Opera houses: Wiener Staatsoper, Theater an der Wien, Opernhaus Zürich, Dutch National Opera, Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago
Debut Rotterdam Philharmonic: 2020
Gerhild Romberger • alto
Born: Sögel, Germany
Education: music pedagogy and voice (with Heiner Eckels) at the Hochschule für Musik
Detmold, masterclasses with Hartmut Höll, Annie Schoonus, and Mitsuko Shirai
Awards: ECHO Klassik 2015, BBC Music Magazine
Recording of the Year 2018
Concert appearances: Los Angeles Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Berliner Philharmoniker, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Bamberger Symphoniker, Concerto Köln
Debut Rotterdam Philharmonic: 2025
Photo: Eduardus Lee
Photo: Chris Gonz
Photo: Rosa Frank Photo: Rosa Frank
Kostas Smoriginas • bass
Born: Vilius, Lithuania
Education: voice at the Lithuanian Music and Theatre Academy and the Royal College of Music
Opera: San Francisco Opera, Royal Opera House, Bayerische Staatsoper, Aix-en-Provence Festival, Teatro alla Scala Milan
Concert appearances Boston Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Accademia Nazionale
di Santa Cecilia, Deutsches SymphonieOrchester Berlin
Debut Rotterdam Philharmonic: 2025
Daniel Behle • tenor
Born: Hamburg, Germany
Education: trombone and composition at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg, voice with his mother Renate Behle and with James Wagner
Awards: OPUS Klassik Singer of the Year 2020
Concert appearances: Wiener Philharmoniker, Berliner Philharmoniker, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Debut Rotterdam Philharmonic: 2023
Laurens Symfonisch • chorus
Founded: Rotterdam, 2013, in consultation with de Doelen and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor: Wiecher Mandemaker
Repertoire: choral symphonic repertoire
Co-operations: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (a.o. in the World Premiere of Tan
Dun’s Requiem for Nature and in Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher), BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Residentie Orkest, Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century
Debut Rotterdam Philharmonic: 2014
Photo: Simon Pauly
Photo: Monika Penkūkū
Photo: Jan Hordijk
Musicians Agenda
Fri 3 October 2025 • 20.15
conductor Luis Castillo-Briceño
organ Cameron Carpenter
piano Ralph van Raat
Moussa A Globe Itself Infolding
Pinkham Piano Concerto ‘Nowhere and No-when’
Saint-Saëns Symphony No. 3 ‘Organ Symphony’
Thu 9 October 2025 • 20.00 (!)
Sun 12 October 2025 • 14.15
conductor Tarmo Peltokoski
violin Daniel Lozakovich
Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto
Shostakovich Symphony No. 7 ‘Leningrad’
Fri 17 October 2025 • 20.15
Sun 19 October 2025 • 14.15
conductor Kazuki Yamada
piano Alexandre Kantorow
Takemitsu How Slow the Wind
Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto No. 5
‘Egyptian’
Berlioz Symphonie fantastique
Music for Breakfast 1
Sun 26 October 2025 • 10.30
Dudok in het Park musicians and programme: rpho.nl/en
Thu 30 October 2025 • 20.15
Fri 31 October 2025 • 20.15
conductor Robin Ticciati
piano Yuja Wang
Haydn Chaos from The Creation Ligeti Piano Concerto Mahler Symphony No. 5
Chief Conductor
Lahav Shani
Honorary Conductor
Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Principal Guest Conductor
Tarmo Peltokoski
First Violin
Marieke Blankestijn, Concert Master
Vlad Stanculeasa, Concert Master
Quirine Scheffers
Hed Yaron Meyerson
Saskia Otto
Arno Bons
Rachel Browne
Maria Dingjan
Marie-José Schrijner
Noëmi Bodden
Petra Visser
Sophia Torrenga
Hadewijch Hofland
Annerien Stuker
Alexandra van Beveren
Marie Duquesnoy
Giulio Greci
Second Violin
Charlotte Potgieter
Frank de Groot
Laurens van Vliet
Elina Staphorsius
Jun Yi Dou
Bob Bruyn
Eefje Habraken
Maija Reinikainen
Babette van den Berg
Melanie Broers
Tobias Staub
Sarah Decamps
Viola
Anne Huser
Roman Spitzer
Galahad Samson
José Moura Nunes
Kerstin Bonk
Janine Baller
Francis Saunders
Veronika Lénártová
Rosalinde Kluck
León van den Berg
Olfje van der Klein
Jan Navarro
Cello
Emanuele Silvestri
Gustaw Bafeltowski
Joanna Pachucka
Daniel Petrovitsch
Mario Rio
Eelco Beinema
Carla Schrijner
Pepijn Meeuws
Yi-Ting Fang
Killian White
Paul Stavridis
Double Bass
Matthew Midgley
Ying Lai Green
Jonathan Focquaert
Arjen Leendertz
Ricardo Neto
Javier Clemen Martínez
Flute
Juliette Hurel
Joséphine Olech
Manon Gayet
Flute/piccolo
Beatriz Baião
Oboe
Karel Schoofs
Anja van der Maten
Oboe/Cor Anglais
Ron Tijhuis
Clarinet
Julien Hervé
Bruno Bonansea
Alberto Sánchez García
Clarinet/
Bass Clarinet
Romke-Jan Wijmenga
Bassoon
Pieter Nuytten
Lola Descours
Marianne Prommel
Bassoon/ Contrabassoon
Hans Wisse
Horn
David Fernández Alonso
Felipe Freitas
Wendy Leliveld
Richard Speetjens
Laurens Otto
Pierre Buizer
Trumpet
Alex Elia
Adrián Martínez
Simon Wierenga
Jos Verspagen
Trombone
Pierre Volders
Alexander Verbeek
Remko de Jager
Bass trombone
Rommert Groenhof
Tuba
Martijn van Rijswijk
Timpani/ Percussion
Danny van de Wal
Ronald Ent
Martijn Boom
Harp
Albane Baron