program - SVIZ

String Quartet No. 2 was written in 1925, three years after Haas had finished
studying with Janáček. It was first performed in Brno in 1926 by the Moravian
Quartet. However, particularly because of its ‘overly daring’ use of percussion
in the last movement, it was not well received; the percussion was subsequently
removed from future performances. In its four movements the quartet illustrates
the atmosphere and imagery of the Monkey Mountains (the name
given to the Moravian highlands, a popular tourist destination during Haas’s
time). In the first movement (Landscape) Haas shows himself to be a master
of tone painting, with a presentation of the monumental landscape of the
region, including onomatopoeic depictions of bird calls and other natural
phenomena. With its three themes and characteristic sounds of a journey
over country roads, the third movement represents ‘Coach, Coachman and
Horse’. Of all of the movements, the third (The Moon and I) is the most lyrical
and personal, while the final movement (Wild Night) is spiced with folk
melodies and jazz elements.
Ludwig van Beethoven wrote his Sixth Symphony at the same time as the
Fifth, and both works were premiered at the same concert, on 22 December
1808 in the freezing cold theatre of the Theater-an-der-Wien. The four
hour concert of Beethoven’s works was far too long to be a success, but its
failure was further ensured by poor performances, as well as Beethoven’s
loud interjections. As the first item on the programme, the Sixth Symphony
(which was then numbered as the Fifth Symphony, while today’s Fifth was
labelled the Sixth) was well received. The sister symphonies are different in
character but actually represent two opposite poles of the same world view.
The Fifth Symphony elevates the individual and is in constant development,
while the Sixth Symphony presents man as dependent on nature and as its
integral part. The harmony is not the goal but rather the order of things, and
is characterised by an almost constant harmonic presence of triads, and the
frequent use of bourdon. Harmonic tension is minimal and contrasts are
small, while the sonic layers are static and gently undulating. The peace is
only briefly broken by a storm.
The preview of the concert described the Pastoral Symphony as “reminiscences
of country life”. The composition is not so much determined by associations
with the musical pastoral tradition as by Beethoven’s personal connection
to nature, which derived from his inner emotion. The message of the famous
statement “more feeling than painting” is clear: in spite of the work’s programmatic
title, Beethoven does not illustrate nature in concrete scenes of
country life (with the exception of ‘By the Brook’, with its bird calls, and the
imitation of the storm) but rather the echoes of nature in man. In the Sixth
Symphony man’s emotions in the face of nature are brought together on
an aesthetic a level; for Beethoven nature was almost a religious concept –
‘gött liche Natur’, divine nature.
Katarina Šter
Prevod / Translation: Neville Hall
PROGRAM / PROGRAM
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