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common in Reger’s works, fitting particularly well with his idealistic, Wilhelminian aesthetic beliefs. In 1910, Reger became increasingly concerned about the course of modern music and shared with his family and friends his desire to continue the search for an ever-higher art of musical expression without modern sensationalism. The Four Böcklin Poems represent these ideals and Reger’s most mature orchestral language. Throughout, he uses many divisis in the strings along with extended string techniques, unique woodwind voicings, and the subtlest use of the harp for haunting tonal color. The first movement, “Hermit Playing the Violin”, is the most popular, original, and innovative movement of the piece—thoroughly modern without consciously trying. About Max Reger: Max Reger owed his early musical leanings to the example and enthusiasm of his father, a schoolmaster and amateur musician, and his early training to the town organist of Weiden, Adalbert Lindner. Reger was born in 1873 at Brand in the Upper Palatinate, Bavaria. The following year the family moved to Weiden and it was here that he spent his childhood and adolescence, entering a course of teacher training, when he left school. Lindner had sent examples of Reger’s early work to Riemann, who accepted him as a pupil, initially in Sondershausen and then as his assistant in Wiesbaden. Military service, which affected Reger’s health and spirits, was followed by a period at home with his parents in Weiden and a continuing series of compositions, mostly for organ, including a monumental series of chorale fantasias and other compositions. In 1901, Reger, moved to Munich, where he spent the next six years. His position in musical life was not without difficulty, since he was seen as a champion of absolute music and as hostile at this time to “program music” and the legacy of Wagner and Liszt. He was, however, successful as a pianist and was gradually able to find an audience for his music. The period in Munich saw the Program Notes, continued 16 composition of his Sinfonietta, chamber music, his important Variations and Fugue on a Theme of J.S. Bach for piano, and the Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Beethoven for orchestra. In 1907, he took an appointment as professor of composition at the University of Leipzig. His music now found a wider international audience, supported by his own distinction as a performer, with concert appearances in London, St. Petersburg, the Netherlands, Austria, and Germany. The year 1911 brought an invitation from the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen to accept the position of conductor of the court orchestra, an ensemble established by Han von Bülow and once conducted by Richard Strauss at the outset of his career. Reger held this position until the beginning of the war, when the orchestra was disbanded, an event that coincided with his own earlier intention to resign. He spent his final years based in Jena, but continuing his activities as a composer and concert performer. He died in Leipzig in May 1916 on his way back from a concert tour of the Netherlands. Reger was a prolific composer, continuing the tradition of Bach, Mozart, and the great German composers of the nineteenth century, with a technical mastery and a command of harmonic and contrapuntal resources that allowed him to expand the bounds of tonality in chromatic exploration. Thanks for listening! Now we’d like to hear from you! Contact us at chamorch@gmail.com with your questions and comments. We’re all ears!
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Clarinet Concerto in A Major, K. 622 Overview: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Born: January 27, 1756, in Salzburg Died: December 5, 1791, in Vienna Work Composed: September 28 – November 15, 1791 Why It Matters: Finished less than a month before he died, this is Mozart’s last concerto. The lyricism, grace, and extended structure of the piece set a new standard for wind and brass concerti. I declare to you before God, and as an honest man, that your son is the greatest composer I know, either personally or by name. –Joseph Haydn, to Leopold Mozart. The clarinet was still a newcomer to the orchestra when Mozart composed his Clarinet Concerto in A Major, K. 622. Mozart added clarinets to his “Paris” symphony (no. 31) in 1778, but it would be another decade and nine symphonies later before clarinets would play a part in his G Minor symphony (no. 40), and then only in an optional role. A clarinet concerto by a major composer was almost unthinkable were it not for Anton Stadler, virtuoso clarinetist of the Viennese court orchestra since 1787. Mozart and Stadler met in 1784, when Stadler was a performer in one of Mozart’s wind serenades. Like Mozart, Stadler joined the Freemasons, and they soon became good friends. Mozart had already composed a concerto for basset horn (a slightly larger member of the clarinet family commonly used in church music) and his Clarinet Quintet, K. 581, for Stadler. Mozart would rework the first movement of the basset horn concerto for the clarinet concerto, then add two new movements to round out the piece. Completed at the absolute height of his abilities, Program Notes, continued 17 this is Mozart’s final concerto, especially notable for its interplay between soloist and orchestra. About Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Mozart (1756-1791) showed such a prodigious talent for music in his early childhood that his father, also a composer, dropped all other ambitions and devoted himself to educating the boy and exhibiting his accomplishments. Between ages six and fifteen, Mozart was on tour over half the time. By 1762, he was a virtuoso on the clavier— an early keyboard instrument and predecessor of the piano—and soon became a good organist and violinist as well. He produced his first minuets at the age of six, and his first symphony just before his ninth birthday, his first oratorio at eleven, and his first opera at twelve. His final output would total more than 600 compositions. Much has already been said and studied in the popular media about Mozart’s roguish lifestyle and apprehension of conformity. It was this aspect of his personality that never won him the support of royalty or the church, which, at that time, was critical to any composer’s survival. As such, Mozart died young, ill, poor, and relatively unappreciated … only to become the mostly widely acknowledged orchestral composer in history. The Chamber Orchestra Volunteer Corps We wish to thank our volunteeers who assisted at our opening concert at the Cornerstone Arts Center: Beverly and Denis Pirio, Victoria and Fred Boswell, Mary Wieger, Jean Tarkowski,Hallie Cabell, and Mike DeMaree. Also, board members Susan Loring, Michael Grace, Nicole DeNaray, and Nasit Ari. If you are interested in joining our Volunteer Corps, Please call Helene Knapp 576-1814 or Pam Marsh 634-6171. “For the Love of Music” Program notes continue on page 18
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