angelachengbramwell toveyCelebrating the 200th Anniversaryof the births of Felix Mendelssohnand Robert Schumann.CONCERT PROGRAMGOLDCORP MASTERWORKS GOLD / ORPHEUM THEATRE, 8PMmonday, november 9Bramwell Tovey conductor◆ Angela Cheng pianoFANNY MENDELSSOHN Overture in C Major◆ MENDELSSOHN Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25I. Molto allegro con fuocoII. AndanteIII. Presto: Molto allegro e vivaceIntermissionSCHUMANN <strong>Symphony</strong> No. 4 in D minor, Op. 120I. Ziemlich langsam—LebhaftII. Romanze: Ziemlich langsamIII. Scherzo: LebhaftIV. Langsam—LebhaftPRE-CONCERT TALKS free to ticketholders at 7:05pm, featuring VSO Musicians.CDs AVAILABLE IN THE GIFT SHOP28 allegroMasterworks GOLDSERIES SPONSORCBC to Record forSunday Afternoonin Concert
Bramwell Tovey conductorFor a biography of Maestro Tovey pleaserefer to page 9.Angela Cheng pianoFor a biography of Angela Cheng pleaserefer to page 15.Fanny MendelssohnOverture in C Majorb. Hamburg, Germany / November 14, 1805d. Berlin, Germany / May 14, 1847Many who knew Felix’s much-beloved oldersister believed her to be as musically giftedas he. However the social values of the day—women were not encouraged to followprofessional careers—meant that her talentrarely received opportunities to present itself,much less to grow. She selflessly served herfamous brother as mentor and inspirationthroughout his career. Like Felix she diedyoung, during the same year as he. Ironically,she suffered a stroke while leading a choralrehearsal of his oratorio, The First WalpurgisNight.Only a few of Fanny’s 400 compositions werepublished during her lifetime. This graciousorchestral overture was probably composedaround 1830, for performance (like much ofher music) at the family’s weekly in-homeconcerts in Berlin. It sat gathering dust in theMendelssohn Archive in that city, apparentlysince the composer’s death (if not longer),until Judith Rosen, a board member withthe Women’s Philharmonic of San Francisco,negotiated its release. Reconstructed froma cluttered, much-revised score in thecomposer’s own hand, it was recordedfor the first time in 1992. Opening with anintroduction in slow tempo, it continues witha melodically appealing, transparently-scoredallegro.Felix MendelssohnPiano Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25b. Hamburg, Germany / February 3, 1809d. Leipzig, Germany / November 4, 1847Mendelssohn spent the years 1830‐1832 ona journey throughout Europe—one concernedwith equal parts furthering his career andsimple pleasure. En route to Italy during thesummer of 1830, he stopped over in Munich.There he met Delphine von Schauroth, a17-year-old pianist with whom he developeda strong mutual attraction. He continued on toRome where, among other musical activities,he sketched this concerto. He completed it onhis return to Munich and dedicated it to hisyoung lady friend.The composer himself appeared as soloist inthe première, which took place during an all-Mendelssohn concert in Munich on October17, 1831. “My concerto was applaudedlong and loud,” he wrote home to his father.“The orchestra accompanied well, and thework itself was truly mad.” As for Delphinevon Schauroth, time and distance graduallydissolved her relationship with Mendelssohn.In many ways, the concerto reflectsMendelssohn’s role as a bridge betweenthe Classical and Romantic eras. On theClassical side, the three movements followfairly traditional models: sonata, song androndo, respectively. But following a practiceinstituted by Beethoven, Mendelssohn directsthat they be performed as a continuouswhole. He did so primarily for artistic reasons,to give the concerto a greater sense of flowand cohesiveness. He had a more practicalgoal in mind as well: to keep audiencesfrom breaking the spell of performance byapplauding before the very end of the piece.The concerto also employs another favouriteRomantic practice, cyclical reference. Thesame brass fanfare introduces both thesecond and third sections, and the finaleincludes a brief quotation from the firstmovement.Robert Schumann<strong>Symphony</strong> No. 4 in D minor, Op. 120b. Zwickau, Germany / June 8, 1810d. Endenich, Germany / July 29, 1856As with his friend Mendelssohn, Schumann’scareer spanned the early heyday ofRomanticism, with its increased expressionof emotion through music, and its searchfor new ways to do so. He and many ofallegro 29
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