Signature Symphony LIVE at ONEOK Field Saturday, September 19, 7:30 pm Richard Wagner, conductor
Go Forth
James Stephenson Ben Hay, Trumpet Rob Muraoka, Piano
Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 I. Allegro con brio II. Andante con moto III. Allegro IV. Allegro
Ludwig van Beethoven
The Natural: Main Title Oklahoma!
Randy Newman Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II
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Signature Symphony
Musicians VIOLIN 1 Maureen O’Boyle, Concertmaster Jennifer Sherman Alicia Ranne Elena Gavrilov Esther Fellows Dina Litvinova VIOLIN 2 Corbin Bodley1, Principal Amanda Hamm Paula Surface Nancy Rath Carol Lehman VIOLA Jeff Smith1, Principal Christy Roberts Terry Pollak Missy Townsend
CELLO Monty Lawson, Principal Erica Parker1 Gordon Robson Lauren Green Ashley Allison
BASSOON Jim Fellows, Principal Andrew Davis
BASS Robin Smith, Principal Greg Spears
HORN Joseph Falvey, Principal Marci Falvey
FLUTE Cherie Thomas, Principal Sarah Thompson
TRUMPET Ben Hay, Principal Jeff Loud
PICCOLO Knowlan Randza
TROMBONE Brian Haapanen, Principal John Jenkins
OBOE Lisa Wagner, Principal Sarah Evans
BASS TROMBONE L. Dale Barnett
CONTRABASSOON Charlotte Couch
CLARINET Christy Andrews, Principal Anne Watson 1
Member of the Signature String Quartet
TIMPANI James Clanton PIANO Rob Muraoka
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Program Notes
The following program notes are copyright of Susan Halpern, 2019
Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 Ludwig van Beethoven (Born December 16, 1770, in Bonn; died March 26, 1827, in Vienna) Fellow composer Robert Schumann gave Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 the greatest praise possible when he wrote that while it is often heard, it “still exercises its power over all ages, just as those great phenomena of nature that, no matter how often they recur, fill us with awe and wonder. This symphony will go on centuries hence, as long as the world and world's music endure." Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 has always been popular and recognizable because of the famous four-note phrase with which it opens. Since Beethoven composed the symphony, critics and commentators have attempted to give that phrase some programmatic significance. Beethoven’s not altogether trustworthy friend, Anton Schindler, presumably quoted the composer as saying it represented Fate knocking at the door. Schindler, however, had a reputation for not letting facts get in the way of a good story. The conversation in which he quoted Beethoven took place years after Beethoven finished the symphony, which makes it a bit suspect. Accounts also say that Beethoven would say nearly anything to rid himself of annoying questioning about his compositions. Nevertheless, Schindler’s statement began a never-ending stream of interpretations of the symphony. Whether it has a programmatic significance or not, unquestionably the phrase has definite importance musically, and it recurs throughout the entire symphony. The repetition of this phrase differs from a later-named technique called “cyclical form” in which a well-defined melody is stated in one movement and, retaining its original identity, is quoted and re-used in another. Beethoven’s method is to use his musical phrase as a germinal idea that generates new phrases, which resemble the original but are not identical with it. He begins with G and E-flat for the notes of the opening motive: these are two of the three notes that make up a C minor chord. This way he establishes the key of his symphony, and he announces a rhythmic motif, which repeats throughout the work, uniting the symphony's four movements. Beethoven began to compose Symphony No. 5 in 1804, just after finishing Symphony No. 3, but put it aside to finish Symphony No. 4, and, after that, he worked simultaneously on the next two symphonies. He completed Symphony No. 5 early in 1808 and Symphony No. 6 in autumn of the same year. On December 22, 1808, Beethoven gave a concert in which his latest works were premiered. The program included Symphonies Nos. 5 and 6, the concert aria Ah, Perfido!, a Latin hymn, the “Sanctus” from the Mass in C Major, a fantasia for piano solo, the Choral Fantasy, Op. 80, for piano, chorus, and orchestra, and Piano Concerto No. 4. Beethoven conducted and also played the solo piano parts for this monumentally long concert. Since he completed Symphony No. 5 almost at the same time when he finished Symphony No.6 (“Pastorale”), at the premiere, the “Pastorale” bore the number 5. Somewhere between performance and publication, Beethoven renumbered the two symphonies. The C minor became Symphony No. 5, and the F Major became Symphony No. 6, and they remain thus today. A contemporary observer said the concert lasted for over four hours. The occasion was memorable and stressful: the theater was unheated, the orchestra was under-rehearsed, and the soprano soloist had a bad case of stage fright. The orchestra stopped mid-composition several times, and the soprano who sang the aria was given a sedative for her nerves, yet despite the difficult conditions of its premiere, Symphony No. 5 soon gained its designation as a masterwork. Beethoven perhaps intended the opening movement, Allegro con brio, to be mysterious yet powerfully dramatic. The thematic statement of the famous four-note motif appears first in the clarinet and violins, and, in the recapitulation, the whole orchestra joins in with the same figure. According to the late musicologist Michael Steinberg, an unexpected oboe cadenza at the end of the movement has a special function, serving both to disrupt and to integrate. The contrasting slow movement, Andante con moto, plainly and distinctly sets forth a long melody as its principal subject. Then a series of variations follow. Mystery dominates again in the third movement, a scherzo, Allegro, which runs without pause directly into the noble finale, Allegro which introduces the sound of the trombone to the orchestra for the first time in the history of
Program Notes music. Piccolo and contrabassoon also participate in the finale. Steinberg described the last movement as a motion “into the sureness and daylight” with its transition into the major tonality. He summed up Beethoven’s achievement succinctly, “The victory symphony was a new kind of symphony, and Beethoven’s invention here of a path from strife to triumph became a model for symphonic writing to the present day.” Over the years, two critics in particular have in some way grasped the essence of this symphony with few words. Amadeus Wendt wrote: “Beethoven's music inspires in its listeners awe, fear, horror, pain, and that exquisite nostalgia that is the soul of romanticism.” E.T.A. Hoffmann called the symphony “one of the most important works of the master whose position in the first rank of composers of instrumental music can now be denied by no one... It is a concept of genius, executed with profound deliberation, which in a very high degree brings the romantic content of the music to expression.” Symphony No. 5 is scored for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, contrabassoon, two horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, and strings. The piccolo, contrabassoon, and trombone only play in the last movement, where they greatly enrich the sound of the orchestra.
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