contemplation - Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra

About the Artists
Conductor’s Insight by Francesco Lecce-Chong
Francesco Lecce-Chong
Conductor
American conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong, currently Associate Conductor of the
Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (MSO), is active with the orchestral and operatic
repertories on the international stage. In his role with the MSO, Mr. Lecce-Chong works closely
with renowned Music Director Edo de Waart and is directly responsible for leading over forty
subscription, tour, education and community concert performances annually. During the MSO’s
2012.13 season, Mr. Lecce-Chong has taken the podium for an acclaimed gala concert with Itzhak
Perlman, led the orchestra through its statewide tour of Wisconsin and conducted a special
three-week series at Milwaukee’s Basilica of St. Josaphat.
A list of Mr. Lecce-Chong’s international appearances include leading the Hong Kong Philharmonic
Orchestra (China), Pitesti Philharmonic (Romania), Ruse Philharmonic, (Bulgaria), and the Sofia
Festival Orchestra (Italy). Equally at ease in the opera house, Mr. Lecce-Chong has served as principal
conductor for the Brooklyn Repertory Opera and as staff conductor and pianist for the Santa Fe
Opera. He has earned a growing reputation and critical acclaim for dynamic, forceful performances
that have garnered national distinction. Mr. Lecce-Chong is a 2012 recipient of The Solti Foundation
Career Assistance Award and The Presser Foundation Presser Music Award. He is also the recipient
of the N.T. Milani Memorial Conducting Fellowship and the George and Elizabeth Gregory Award for
Excellence in Performance.
As a trained pianist and composer, Mr. Lecce-Chong embraces innovate programming, champions
the work of new composers and, by example, supports arts education. His 2012.13 season
presentations include two MSO commissioned works, two United States premieres and twelve
works by composers actively working worldwide. He brings the excitement of new music to
audiences of all ages through special presentations embodying diverse program repertoire and
the use of unconventional performance spaces. Mr. Lecce-Chong also provides artistic leadership
for the MSO’s nationally lauded Arts in Community Education (ACE) program — one of the largest
arts integration programs in the country. He is a frequent guest speaker at organizations around
Milwaukee and hosts, Behind the Notes, the MSO’s preconcert lecture series.
Mr. Lecce-Chong is a native of Boulder, Colorado, where he began conducting at the age of sixteen.
He is a graduate of the Mannes College of Music, where he received his Bachelor of Music degree
with honors in piano and orchestral conducting. Mr. Lecce-Chong also holds a diploma from the
Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied as a Martin and Sarah Taylor Fellow with renowned
pedagogue Otto-Werner Mueller. He currently resides in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Follow his blog, Finding Exhilaration, at www.lecce-chong.com
Throughout history,
composers have explored
the philosophical issues of their
day through music. Two famous
examples come from Mozart
and Beethoven. Mozart’s opera,
The Magic Flute is based on
Masonic principals and in
Beethoven’s immortal Ninth
Symphony, the “Ode to Joy”
embraces the unifying outlook
of Friedrich Schiller. This
weekend, I am delighted to
share with you three other
important works that ask for our
contemplation of their message.
Hadyn: The Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross
Up until about 1850, most philosophical movements centered on religion and
humankind’s relationship with God. Almost all music written at that time
expressed the same, with the exception of the absolute music of symphonies
and concerti which were based on musical form. Not being one of the latter,
The Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross is Haydn’s masterful meditation on
the last sayings of Jesus. We are fortunate to have some wonderful insight from
Haydn himself about the inception of the work:
Some fifteen years ago I was requested by a canon of Cádiz to compose
instrumental music on the seven last words of Our Savior on the Cross.
It was customary at the Cathedral of Cádiz to produce an oratorio every year
during Lent, the effect of the
performance being not a little
enhanced by the following
circumstances. The walls,
windows, and pillars of the
church were hung with black
cloth, and only one large lamp
hanging from the center of the
roof broke the solemn darkness.
At midday, the doors were closed
and the ceremony began. After a short service the bishop ascended the pulpit,
pronounced the first of the seven words (or sentences) and delivered a discourse
thereon. This ended, he left the pulpit and fell to his knees before the altar. The
interval was filled by music. The bishop then in like manner pronounced the
second word, then the third, and so on, the orchestra following on the conclusion
of each discourse. My composition was subject to these conditions, and it was
no easy task to compose seven adagios lasting ten minutes each, and to succeed
one another without fatiguing the listeners; indeed, I found it quite impossible to
confine myself to the appointed limits.
FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN 1732 – 1809
Today, The Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross is most commonly heard
arranged for string quartet, and during Haydn’s lifetime it was known as an
oratorio with chorus. However, the original version (and the only direct version
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