Programme Notes
Enigma-Variations Sun 13 September 2026 • 14.15
PROGRAMME conductor Oscar Jockel John Williams 1932 Close Encounters of the Third Kind: Excerpts (1977) John Williams E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial: Suite (1982) John Williams Raiders of the Lost Ark: Raiders March (1981) John Williams Schindler’s List: Theme (1993) violin solo: Vlad Stanculeasa John Williams Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone: Hedwig’s Theme (2001) John Williams The Star Wars Saga • Return of the Jedi: Luke and Leia (1983) • Star Wars: Main Title (1977) intermission Edward Elgar 1857-1934 Enigma-Variations, Op. 36 (1898-99) • Theme ‘Enigma’ - Andante • Variation I ‘C.A.E.’ - L’istesso tempo • Variation II ‘H.D.S-P.’ - Allegro • Variation III ‘R.B.T.’ - Allegretto • Variation IV ‘W.M.B.’ - Allegro di molto • Variation V ‘R.P.A.’ - Moderato • Variation VI ‘Ysobel’ - Andantino • Variation VII ‘Troyte’ - Presto • Variation VIII ‘W.N.’ - Allegretto • Variation IX ‘Nimrod’ - Adagio • Variation X ‘Dorabella’ - Intermezzo: Allegretto • Variation XI ‘G.R.S.’ - Allegro di molto • Variation XII ‘B.G.N.’ - Andante • Variation XIII ‘* * *’ - Romanza: Moderato • Variation XIV ‘E.D.U.’ - Finale: Allegro Presto concert ends at around 16:15
Star Wars. Illustration (1977) by Tom William Chantrell for the movie poster
Edward Elgar. Photo (c. 1903) by Charles Frederick Grindrod. Coll. National Portrait Gallery, given by Arthur Troyte Griffith (portrayed as ‘Troyte’ in the Enigma-Variations)
Characterisations With just five musical notes, John Williams managed to enable Earthlings to communicate with aliens; to evoke the threat of a shark, he needed no more than two. He learnt the art of varying iconic themes from the Romantic master composers – with Elgar as his great example.
Although the composer John Williams had already made a deep impression in 1974 with the music for the disaster film The Towering Inferno, it was Jaws – and his collaboration with director Steven Spielberg – in 1975 that marked his real breakthrough. It earned Williams an Oscar for Best Original Score and cemented a relationship with Spielberg that had begun a year earlier with the all but forgotten film The Sugarland Express. The pair went on to collaborate on a series of films that have become part of the collective memory, not only for their visuals but also, and above all, for their music: Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), the first four Indiana Jones films (1981– 2008), Jurassic Park 1 and 2 (1993 and 1997) and, of course, the heart-wrenching Schindler’s List (1993).
Iconic
With the music for Disclosure Day (2026) being the most recent in the series, Williams has to date composed thirty film scores for Spielberg, twenty of which were nominated for an Oscar. Indirectly, Spielberg also played
a part in what may well have been Williams’ greatest success of all: his collaboration with director George Lucas. By 1977, Lucas was already well into filming Star Wars, the first film in what would become a nine-part series, yet he still hadn’t found a composer.
Lucas showed a rough cut of the film set to music by Beethoven and Tchaikovsky, and said: ‘I want this, but better’ On the advice of his close friend Spielberg, he approached Williams. Lucas showed him a rough cut of the film set to music by composers such as Bach, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky, and said: ‘I want this, but better.’ Williams took up the challenge and the rest is history: his music for Star Wars is widely regarded as the dawn of modern American film music. The name John Williams was already virtually a guarantee of success when he was approached in 2000 to compose the
music for the Harry Potter films. Williams would contribute the music to the first three instalments of what would eventually become an eight-part series. ‘Hedwig’s Theme’, which he wrote for the first Harry Potter film, The Philosopher’s Stone, became the defining tune of the entire series and would return in all subsequent films as the main theme. The melody proved just as iconic as the two notes from Jaws, the signal theme from Close Encounters and the main themes from Star Wars and Schindler’s List.
Leitmotifs
One might almost think that Williams himself managed to get hold of the Philosopher’s Stone, which, according to legend, can turn base metals into gold. Everything he touches takes on a magical lustre. It seems like sorcery, but on closer inspection, Williams’ secret is very simple. What Americans call the dawn of modern film music is, in essence, the revival of composing with leitmotifs: the construction of a sonic universe based on a handful of themes steeped in symbolism. By the mid-nineteenth century, Richard Wagner had already laid the foundations for this in his opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen. Composers such as Erich Wolfgang Korngold had brought Wagner’s legacy to Hollywood. But anyone seeking out John Williams’ sources of inspiration cannot fail to mention Edward Elgar: his Enigma Variations are a textbook example of musical characterisation. In fact, the Enigma Variations began as an improvisation. One evening in October 1898, Elgar had come home tired after a long day of teaching. As was often the case, he found peace at the piano by playing whatever came to mind. As one of the melodies flowed from his fingers, his wife Alice sat up straight. ‘It’s nothing,’ Elgar replied when she asked
what he had just been playing. ‘But perhaps something may come out of it.’ That intuition proved to be correct: Elgar developed his idea into a theme on which he composed fourteen variations. The work would mark his international breakthrough.
Gallery of Portraits
Elgar’s Enigma Variations form a musical gallery of portraits: in each of the variations one of his friends or acquaintances can be recognised. Those portrayed were identified in the score only by their initials or nicknames, so the first listeners were faced with quite a puzzle: who was who? As many of the variations depict characteristics of the subjects, such as the stammer of his close friend Dora Penny in Variation X ‘Dorabella’, most of the answers were quickly found. But the last variation before the finale, marked ‘***’, remains a source of speculation. A far more difficult riddle than the fourteen variations turned out to be the theme itself, which Elgar subtitled ‘Enigma’. The composer cryptically suggested that this theme could be heard as the counterpoint to very wellknown melody that is not played – and then left it up to the audience to work out what that unheard melody might be. Countless puzzle-solvers have grappled with it ever since, and many believe they have cracked the code. The list of suggestions – ranging from Auld Lang Syne to Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater – is still growing; a definitive answer may never be found. Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter. Even without a solution, the Enigma Variations sound like a compelling family film in which Elgar’s wife (Variation I), Elgar himself (Finale) and many friends and acquaintances drop by and briefly introduce themselves. Paul Janssen
Photo: Simon Pauly
Most recent performances by our orchestra: Williams Close Encounters of the Third Kind: first performance Williams E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial: Jan 1999, conductor Hans Leenders Williams Raiders of the Lost Ark: Jan 1999, conductor Hans Leenders Williams Schindler’s List: Jan + Mar 2005, violin Kees Hülsmann, conductor Wayne Marshall Williams Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone: Nov 2025, conductor Justin Freer Williams Star Wars (Luke and Leia): Nov 1995, conductor Barry Wordsworth Williams Star Wars (Main Theme): Sep 2023, conductor Tarmo Peltokoski Elgar Enigma-Variations: Nov 2022, conductor Adam Hickox Introduction One hour before the start of the concert, Patrick van Deurzen 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 Tibor Pinter (Unsplash)
Oscar Jockel • conductor Born: Regensburg, Germany Educatation: First musical training as a member of the Regensburger Domspatzen; conducting, composition, and music theory in Salzburg, Graz and Paris; Järvi Conducting Academy; Conducting Seminar Fellowship with Boston Symphony Orchestra and Andriss Nelsons Awards: Laureate at the conducting competition of the Berlin Philharmonie (2021), Herbert von Karajan Award 2023 of the Salzburg Easter Festival Guest appearances: Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, Münchner Philharmoniker, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Bamberger Symphoniker, Camerata Salzburg, ORF Radio Symphony Vienna, Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra, Beethoven Orchester Bonn, Bremer Philharmoniker, Gürzenich Orchester Cologne, Tonkünstler Orchester Vienna As a composer: commissions by Berliner Philharmoniker, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Musikverein Vienna, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Quatuor Diotima Debut Rotterdam Philharmonic: 2026
Agenda Fri 18 September 2026 • 20.15 conductor Bar Avni cello Sheku Kanneh-Mason Bizet Carmen Suite No. 1: Les Toréadors Boulanger D’un matin du printemps Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto No. 1 Milhaud Le bœuf sur le toit Bonis Ophélie and Salomé (NL premiere) Ravel Boléro
Musicians Honorary Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin Lahav Shani Principal Guest Conductor Tarmo Peltokoski
Rosalinde Kluck León van den Berg Olfje van der Klein Jan Navarro Jutta Demuynck Cello Emanuele Silvestri Gustaw Bafeltowski Joanna Pachucka Daniel Petrovitsch Mario Rio Eelco Beinema Carla Schrijner Pepijn Meeuws Yi-Ting Fang Killian White Paul Stavridis
Clarinet/ Bass Clarinet Romke-Jan Wijmenga Bassoon Pieter Nuytten Lola Descours Marianne Prommel
First Violin Bassoon/ Marieke Blankestijn, Contrabassoon Concert Master Elias Agsteribbe Vlad Stanculeasa, Fri 25 September 2026 • 20.15 Concert Master Horn Sun 27 September 2026 • 14.15 Quirine Scheffers David Fernández Alonso conductor Lahav Shani Saskia Otto Felipe Freitas soprano Aleksandra Kurzak Maria Dingjan Wendy Leliveld mezzosoprano Annalisa Stroppa Marie-José Schrijner Richard Speetjens tenor Dmytro Popov Noëmi Bodden Laurens Otto Petra Visser Pierre Buizer bass Georg Zeppenfeld Double Bass Sophia Torrenga Matthew Midgley chorus Laurens Symfonisch Hadewijch Hofland Trumpet Ying Lai Green Verdi Messa da Requiem Annerien Stuker Alex Elia Jonathan Focquaert Thu 1 October 2026 20.15 Alexandra van Beveren Arjen Leendertz Adrián Martínez Marie Duquesnoy Simon Wierenga Fri 2 October 2026 20.15 Ricardo Neto Sarah Decamps Javier Clemen Martínez Giovanni Giardinella conductor Philipp von Steinaecker Mario Fernández violin Bomsori Kim Second Violin Trombone Webern Symphonie Charlotte Potgieter Pierre Volders Flute Beethoven Violin Concerto Alexander Verbeek Juliette Hurel Beethoven Symphony No. 6 ‘Pastoral’ Laurens van Vliet Elina Staphorsius Remko de Jager Joséphine Olech Jun Yi Dou Manon Gayet Scapino Ballet: La Mer Bob Bruyn Bass trombone Thu 8 October 2026 • 20.00 Eefje Habraken Rommert Groenhof Flute/Piccolo Fri 9 October 2026 • 20.00 Maija Reinikainen Beatriz Baião Sat 10 October 2026 • 20.00 Babette van den Berg Tuba Sun 11 October 2026 • 14.30 Melanie Broers Martijn van Rijswijk Oboe Nieuwe Luxor Theater Rotterdam Tobias Staub Karel Schoofs conductor and soprano Barbara Timpani/ Robin Veldman Jesús Pinillos Rivera Hannigan Percussion Annija Kolerta Anja van der Maten chorus Laurens Symfonisch Danny van de Wal dance Scapino Ballet Rotterdam Viola Oboe/Cor Anglais Ronald Ent concept, direction, choreography Martijn Boom Anne Huser Ron Tijhuis Jesús Iberti Rubira Nanine Linning Roman Spitzer Debussy La mer Galahad Samson Clarinet Harp José Moura Nunes Debussy Sirènes Julien Hervé Albane Baron Kyriakides Abyssal (World premiere) Kerstin Bonk Bruno Bonansea Janine Baller Alberto Sánchez García Veronika Lénártová