Organ Spectacular Program Notes

Don’t miss the concert on March 15th at 2 & 7:30 PM only at the King Center for the Performing Arts in Melbourne, FL. Tickets are available at kingcenter.com and (321) 242-2219.

Caroline Anderson

Royal Fireworks Music Suite

George Frederick Handel/Hamilton Harty

Although born and raised in Germany, George Frederick Handel found a warm welcome in England as an adult and came to spend the remainder of his life there, eventually becoming a naturalized citizen and embraced as an English composer. His relocation coincided with England’s growing distaste for all things Italian. Handel’s success lay in fulfilling their desire for music sung in their own language and upon biblical topics, not scandalous operatic plots. Handel also chose the oratorio over opera to add solemnity to the religious texts, hence works such as Messiah (1741) and Israel in Egypt (1739) enjoying such immense success.

Handel’s favor was such that he was a natural choice for King George II for royal commissions, and was thus asked to compose a piece to celebrate the end of the War of Austrian Succession. A day of festivities was set for April 27, 1749, and the main attraction was dubbed “The Machine.” Spanning 400 feet, this vast wooden structure was mounted with 10,000 rockets and its construction alone took five months. The intention was to fire cannons after the overture and then enjoy pyrotechnics in between movements. Unfortunately, the big celebration went disastrously- the fireworks blew up prematurely, incinerating “The Machine” and setting the marquee ablaze. So enraged was the event planner that he drew his sword on a king’s chamberlain and was arrested!

Although it was no secret that King George II favored military bands and had little patience for strings, it seems to have still irked Handel that he was told not to use string instruments for Royal Fireworks. Or perhaps he wished to have a performance without the venue literally burning to the ground. Either way, he immediately reorchestrated it to include strings and the next month offered it as a benefit concert to the relatively new and financially struggling Foundling Hospital in London. The concert, which also featured Messiah’s “Hallelujah” Chorus, was a wild success for the orphanage. They immediately offered Handel a role as a governor and he established the spring concert as an annual event. The second year he led a full performance of Messiah and it was so well received that it was played in full every year at the orphanage’s spring concert. Thus the global tradition of annually playing Messiah was born, and all because Handel was annoyed he couldn’t use (wooden and very flammable) string instruments in Royal Fireworks.

The overture mimics French overtures, with pomp and stateliness serving as a royal processional. The following movements, excepting “La Réjouissance,” are dances specifically chosen to capture the emotions of the ending of the war. The third and fourth movements even bear the titles “The Peace” and “The Rejoicing,” respectively. The Bourée is a lively dance with a carefree and pleasing demeanor. “La Paix” is a Siciliana, a lilting lyrical dance to evoke pastoral calm and harmony with the world. “La Réjouissance,” while not a dance, evokes the rejoicing of the people and enjoys brass fanfare proclaiming the end of the war. The final Minuets symbolize the height of sophistication and are a partner dance, no doubt all involved in the war were turning their hearts towards the ever-bettering of society and rebuilding fellowship across national borders

Adagio

Tomaso Albinoni/Remo Giazotto

Italian violinist Tomaso Albinoni was a popular contemporary of JS Bach (1685-1750) and had a notably large body of compositions. Alas, like many accomplished composers, his music was eclipsed by those who followed and his compositions risked falling into obscurity if not for this peculiar composition. Remo Giazotto, a renowned Italian musicologist (music historian), presented the musical world with this Adagio as a reconstruction of a lost theme of Albinoni’s. As he was working on a 400-page biography of Albinoni, Giazotto claimed to have seen a fragment in the Albinoni archives consisting of a bassline and two different melodic motives, altogether no more than 6 measures. Using Baroque composition techniques and rules, Giazotto composed this Adagio upon those fragments and, being an Albinoni expert, was able to closely imitate Albinoni’s style.

The Albinoni archives were housed in a library in Dresden that was completely destroyed by bombs in the Second World War, meaning no one can prove that the story is true or if the work is entirely Giazotto’s invention. And as there was no deathbed confession we just have to take his word for it. But As William Shakespeare said, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other word would smell as sweet.” Albinoni or not, this piece is universally appealing, perennially popular, and has kept the name of Albinoni from disappearing into the sands of time.

Royal Coronation Overture

Patrick Brill

The Royal Coronation Overture, op. 19, is a program overture modeled on the 19th Century genre of the same name, but composed in the 21st Century. It was designed primarily to be played in a concert hall, but it may also be performed in a church as part of an authentic royal coronation ceremony. As is consistent with the genre of the program overture, this overture has no connection to any opera to be composed by myself in the future, or with any other operatic work by any other composer.

Since the program overture is a type of program music, which entails the association of instrumental music with extramusical content, it is clear that the extra-musical content in this case is either a real or imagined, formal royal coronation ceremony, with royalty and subjects gathered together in celebration of the crowning of a new king or queen. Beyond these extra-musical connotations, there is no separate, detailed program for this piece, as for instance, in Berlioz’s elaborate program for his Symphonie fantastique. It should also be noted that the style of this composition draws from elements of the following Western music style periods: Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, and, to a lesser extent, the Romantic style. The most prominent style featured in this composition is the French Baroque manner, cultivated at the time of King Louis XIV. However, even though some of the elements of the aforementioned musical style have been adopted and adapted, all of the themes in this piece are original. Furthermore, no attempt has been made, nor was any attempt ever intended, to create a perfectly consistent example of any historical music style in this composition. The practice of drawing on historical style elements has been done by the majority of composers, both great and small, from the Middle Ages to our own time. An examination of Mozart’s and Haydn’s later works, for example, will demonstrate the existence of Baroque-style elements in many of their later oeuvre.

Program note provided by the composer

Symphony No. 3 Organ

Camille Saint-Saëns

French composer Camille Saint-Saëns was a child prodigy on piano and gave his first public recital at age ten. At the conclusion of that debut recital, he also offered to play, from memory, the audience’s choice of any of Beethoven’s 32 sonatas. After studying organ and composition at the Paris Conservatory, he served as organist at the Parisian Church of the Madeleine for twenty years. Throughout his life, he maintained an active performance schedule and frequently gave concert tours throughout Europe, Africa, and America.

The Organ Symphony was commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Society for one such tour. It premiered in May of 1886, just three months after the premiere of his evergreen Carnival of the Animals. And like the latter, the Organ Symphony also calls for Piano Four Hands. The program also featured him as a soloist on his own fourth piano concerto (1875). In the months preceding the premiere, Saint-Saëns had a visit from his longtime friend and fellow piano child prodigy Franz Liszt. In fact, Liszt had been so taken with Saint-Saëns’ playing that eight years previously Liszt had remarked “I know of no one, among contemporary artists, who is of equal talent and, among organists, he is not just of a first rank but is actually incomparable.” Quite a compliment coming from one of the greatest pianists of all time! Saint-Saëns was able to play parts of his in-progress symphony for what would be his final visit with Liszt. Following Liszt’s sudden illness and death two months after the Organ Symphony’s premiere, Saint-Saëns dedicated the symphony to the memory of his friend and supporter.

The admiration shared between the two men was not one way or limited to piano playing. Indeed, Saint-Saëns’ treatment of the thematic material in the Organ Symphony mimics Liszt’s style of thematic transformations. Saint-Saëns also slightly condensed the symphonic form. While explaining his adjusted format, he said in program notes for the premiere “The Symphony is divided into two parts… Nevertheless, it practically includes the four traditional movements. The first, checked in the development, serves as an introduction to the Adagio. In the same manner, the Scherzo is with the Finale… thus endeavored to avoid in a certain measure the interminable repetitions that are now more and more disappearing from instrumental music.” And though this symphony number was published as three of five, it was actually the final symphony he wrote. On which he said, “I gave everything to it I was able to give. What I have here accomplished, I will never achieve again.”