UGA Symphony Orchestra

UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Happy Birthday Anton

Bruckner

MARK CEDEL conductor

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22 at 7:30 p.m.

HODGSON CONCERT HALL

UGA PERFORMING ARTS CENTER 230 RIVER RD, ATHENS, GA

EXPERIENCE MUSIC ENSEMBLE SERIES music.uga.edu | 706-542-3737 @ugamusic

Happy Birthday Anton Bruckner

Thursday, February 22, 2024 at 7:30 p.m.

Hugh Hodgson Concert Hall

UGA Performing Arts Center

University of Georgia Symphony Orchestra

Mark Cedel, conductor

Nicholas Han, assistant conductor

PROGRAM

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, incidental music, opus 21 & 61

Overture

Notturno

Scherzo

Wedding March

INTERMISSION

Symphony No. 4 in E-flat major, “Romantic”

Bewegt, nicht zu schnell

Andante quasi Allegretto

Scherzo: Bewegt – Trio: Nicht zu schnell. Keinesfalls schleppend

Finale: Bewegt, doch nicht zu schnell

Felix Mendelssohn

Anton Bruckner

SERIES ENSEMBLE

PROGRAM NOTES

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, incidental music, opus 21 & 61

Scored for: two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, three trumpets, three trombones, ophicleide (tuba), cymbals, timpani, and strings. 30:00

Jakob Ludwig Felix Bartholdy, also known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist, and conductor during the early Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, on February 3 1809, to a very wealthy family, Mendelssohn grew up in an intellectual environment. The name Bartholdy was added at the suggestion of his mother’s brother, Jakob Salomon Bartholdy. Mendelssohn began his musical career by taking piano lessons from his mother at the age of six. He was to revive the interest in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. At the end of his life, Mendelssohn suffered poor health from overworking, and distress from the death of his sister, Fanny Mendelssohn. On the November 4, 1847, at age 38, Mendelssohn died in Leipzig after a series of strokes.

What is interesting about this work is Mendelssohn composed the Overture 16 years before he wrote the remaining incidental music. In his publishing catalog, the Overture is opus 21, and his Incidental Music is opus 61. The Overture was written after Mendelssohn had read a German translation of the play in 1826. He was 17 years old when he finished the Overture, and 31 years old when he finished the Incidental Music.

Before going into Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, what is incidental music?

Incidental music is music written to accompany or point up the action or mood of a dramatic performance on stage, film, radio, television, etc. Other examples include Beethoven’s music for J.W. von Goethe’s Egmont, Georges Bizet’s L’Arlésienne suite for Alphonse Daudet’s play, and Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt. Selections from Midsummer Night’s Dream are often performed in the form of the standard orchestral concert setting.

The Overture was premiered in Stettin, then in Prussia; now Szczecin, Poland, on February 20, 1827. For its time, it has a romantic atmosphere, where the music incorporates many classical elements. The map of this Overture is standard sonata form, where we have the exposition, development, and recapitulation. The Overture opens with the winds playing four opening chords, followed by the violin’s running eighth notes representing fairies darting through the woods. Leading to a fortissimo passage that then transitions into the second theme, that of lovers. We are then hit with pounding notes followed by what seems to be a donkey “heehawing” from the strings.

The Incidental Music premiered on October 14, 1843, at the King’s palace in Potsdam. We start the Incidental Music with the Notturno, with the horn and bassoons playing sweetly, with pulsing cello and basses. Then the violins come in, shedding a hope of light through the night. The main melody comes back, and underneath it, the strings pluck with a little hesitation, ending with a satisfying E Major chord. We then move onto the famous Scherzo, which serves as a standard excerpt for most all instruments in the orchestra. It starts with the chattering winds and dancing strings with uneasy accents. Just like the Overture, we feel the running notes scurrying across each section of the orchestra. Towards the end of the Scherzo, we hear running sixteenth notes from the flute, returning to the beginning theme. We are then

transported to the Wedding March, perhaps the most work ever composed by Mendelssohn. It starts with the 3 heralding trumpet, followed by the full orchestra.

Program Notes by Nicholas Han

Symphony No. 4 in E-Flat Major “Romantic”, WAB 104

Scored for: two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, and strings. 65:00

During the late 19th century, two romantic composers emerged as opposites, Brahms and Bruckner. Besides their differences, both were heavily influenced by Beethoven and Schubert, both composed symphonies later in their lives, and both held the firm belief in a 4-movement symphony when at the time, programmatic music was the popular genre. In terms of musical style, Bruckner’s composition technique sounds unique and distinctive.

Bruckner was born in Ansfelden, a village near Linz, in 1824. He started as a school teacher and as a local organist, who, just like Haydn, was a self-taught composer. He started his career as an organist at the St. Florian monastery, also near Linz, where he concentrated his composition mainly on choral music: masses, hymns, and motets. In 1863, Bruckner was introduced to the music of Richard Wagner by his teacher, Otto Kitzler. He was heavily inspired by Wagner’s compositions, and Bruckner accepted a position as a theory instructor at the Vienna Conservatory in 1868. His first ten years in Vienna were miserable, as he tried to get his orchestral works performed.

Bruckner had no more interest in Wagner’s view of the programmatic tradition, but still was inspired by his musical technique: the harmonies, orchestration, and the scale of musical structures. At the premier of Bruckner’s 3rd symphony, Bruckner was surprised to see his students in the audience applauding from the balcony.

The “Romantic” was dedicated to Prince Konstantin of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfurst and premiered in 1881 by Hans Richter in Vienna with the Vienna Philharmonic. The premiere of this symphony was a turning point in Bruckner’s career. It was written in 1874 and revised several times through 1888. Because of his perfectionist personality, he struggled and completely rewrote the last two movements in 1878, then rewrote the finale again in 1880. The nickname “Romantic” was used by the composer himself. Before going into this symphony, picture the whole orchestra as a pipe organ, and Bruckner sitting on the bench, getting ready to perform this monumental work.

The symphony has a four-movement classical structure: Fast-Slow-Scherzo-Fast. The first movement opens with the strings playing tremolos suggesting a “daybreak” with the E-flat horn call opening from the clouds. The winds then join in pushing the mist away and shining light to the stage. We are then shown the “Bruckner Rhythm” of a duple and triple figure, one-two, one-two-three. Keeping with romantic influences during the time, his lyrical second theme is based on a bird call, specifically the Kohlmeise, a European chickadee. At the climax of the movement, we get a massive brass chorale (trumpets, horns, trombones, and tuba), reminiscing the opening rhythm of the horn.

PROGRAM NOTES

Bruckner describes the second movement as a “song, prayer, serenade.” One could say it has the character of a funeral march, alternating with echoes of a chorale. The sense of somberness by turning from a major to a minor key. The violas take the long melody while accompanied by pizzicato strings. The music gains momentum when the cellos take their turn, eventually transitioning to the extended coda building intensity to the climax before fading away.

Bruckner describes the third movement as “The Hunt-Scherzo”. This movement technically has an extended A-B-A structure, where the initial “A” section can also be seen as a 7-part rondo form. Again, starting with tremolo strings and evoking the triplet from the horns, giving a rustic energy and drive; this time, with a more major influence on happiness and pridefulness. Next, we hear a contrasting, more pastoral Trio section. Perhaps it’s Schubert’s influence on Bruckner, showing a more bucolic and rural side of the composer.

The Finale opens with a B-flat pedal, tremolos, and intertwining notes, helping set the mood for the falling notes from the woodwinds and horns. Some could hear Bruckner is using material from earlier themes and textures from earlier movements, including ominous textures, pastoral-like, lyrical, and solemn. Later in the movement, we hear the signature “Bruckner Rhythm” starting from the horns and trombones, transitioning to the whole orchestra playing in unison.

Program Notes by

Nicholas Han

Photo by Easel Images

VIOLIN I

Carlos Brena, concertmaster

Molly Schneider, assistant concertmaster

Alexis Boylan

Jhonni Campos

Lyu Lian

Zeyu Yuan

Sarah Nienhiser

André Araújo de Souza

Sean Smith

Brian Roach

Adelmo Giménez

Lucas Nyman

Alicia Li

Ellis Kim

Simms Murray

Sarah Ling

VIOLIN II

Clarissa Tamara, principal

Sage Codispoti, assistant principal

Chelsea Afful

Kiera Johnson

Nicholas Olmstead

Shazan Samnani

Rebekah Kim

Rea Aiyer

Lauren McClary

Andreea Barca

Ranjani Vasudevan

Jen Edwards

Athziri Moreno-Martinez

Gianna DiMuzio

Eileen Chong

Mark Cedel, Conductor

Nicholas Han, Assistant Conductor

VIOLA

Bryan Johnson, principal

Nina Nagarajan, assistant principal

Kailey Ford, assistant principal

Jensi Perng

Anna Murphy

Jodie Stone

Mason Minutella

Daniel Boscan

Ashley Belcher

Clinton Stempien

Libby Zavadil

Seneca Fisher

CELLO

Zachary Helms, principal

Gabriella McClellan, assistant principal

Thomas LaMon

Joshua Aderhold

Ian Koontz

Tristan Dempsey

Olivia Durrence

Charlton Hills

William Slater

Kemp McArthur

BASS

Daniel Pina, principal

Bianca Wilson, associate principal

Wueliton Zanelatto

Dal Pont, assistant principal

Austin Carter

Ricardo Karelisky

Jordan Askew

Madeleine Bower

Victor V. Costa

FLUTE

Yinzi Zhou, principal

Dylan Abbott

Rachel Lee, piccolo OBOE

Marissa Ankeny, principal

Gracee Myers

Xander Herman

Brenna Sexton

CLARINET

Sarah Christi, co-principal

Tan Charintranount, co-principal

BASSOON

JT Holdbrooks, principal

Caleb Jackson

Hsin Cheng, contra HORN

Anthony Parrish, principal

Joshua Wood

Marianna Schwark

Gracie Gambrell

Charles Dunn

TRUMPET

Victor Antanazio Pires, principal

Ramon Zamudio

Jake Landau

Toby Johnson

TROMBONE

Danny Alford, principal

Benjamin Novo, assistant principal

Eli Boudreaux

Elizabeth Toles, bass trombone

TUBA

Hunter Kane

PERCUSSION

Patrick Sorah, principal

Euan Maley

William Collins

Thomas Huff

HARP

Isabel Hardy

LIBRARIAN

Molly Schneider

PERSONNEL and PRODUCTION

Ricardo Karelisky Deho

UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

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