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These copyrighted program notes are available for the edification of all concert attendees. If not otherwise noted, they were prepared by Joseph Truskot, president and chief executive officer, Monterey Symphony. No use is permitted without the written consent of the Monterey Symphony, 2560 Garden Road #101, Monterey, CA 93940 or jtruskot@montereysymphony.org.

December 2009

Arthur Post, conductor
Tracy Dahl, soprano

Program

Berlioz: Selections from Romeo et Juliette

Gounod: Allegro molto from Symphony No.1 in D major

Gounod: "Ah! Je veux vivre" from Roméo et Juliette

Tracy Dahl, soprano

Thomas: Ophelia’s Mad Scene: "A vos jeux, mes ami" from Hamlet

Tracy Dahl, soprano

Meyerbeer: Galop from Le Prophete

Meyerbeer: "Adieu Rivage" from L’Africaine

Thomas: "Je Suis Titania, la Blonde" from Mignon

Tracy Dahl, soprano

Roméo et Juliette, Op.17
HECTOR BERLIOZ (1803-1869)
Composed 1839

“All is drama in Berlioz. And, in all, the means are subordinate to the expression.” With these words, the French Ministère des Affaires Étrangères summarized one of the world’s most extraordinary musical figures. Hector Berlioz was the first great composer who was neither a trained instrumentalist nor a child prodigy. What he did not understand in compositional form, he invented. What he lacked in tradition, he fabricated. What he missed in promotional kudos brought on by virtuosic displays on a specific instrument, he made up for in his own provocative writing and behavior. Berlioz embodied Romanticism. He lived and created in an environment full of passionate feelings, Gothic mystery, and artistic expression. And he demanded that people know about his fixations, his failures, his opinions, his successes, and his genius.

Berlioz created the modern symphony orchestra. The tuba and harp were added and the percussion section expanded. He was also the first modern orchestrator. He had an uncanny ability to create aural color and use it to convey dramatic content. He made experimenting— unorthodox combinations of instruments, sound for the sake of sound—an accepted practice. He pushed the limits of duration and personnel. He laid the groundwork for tone poems and leitmotifs. He standardized conducting techniques and placed greater demands on the conductor.

Hector Berlioz was born on December 11, 1803 in La Côte-Saint-Andre, Isère, a small town between Lyon and Grenoble. His father, a physician and amateur musician, instilled in him a love for art and literature and intended him to be a doctor. Berlioz received basic musical instruction as a child and learned to play the guitar, but wasn’t particularly adept. He was attracted to composing. Early musical sketches from his boyhood exist; but they are only interesting because of his later profound accomplishments. Berlioz showed no early compositional genius on a par with Mozart or Mendelssohn.

Young Hector was sent off to medical school and he detested it. He became consumed by music. He eventually convinced his father and the Paris Conservatory entrance examiners that he belonged there. He learned a few basics but soon lost interest in the formal approach to music presented at the school. He began composing works free from these stiff academic structures. The twenty-two-year old’s first work was Messe solennelle, a piece for soprano, tenor, bass, chorus and orchestra which required 150 players. It was performed at the Church of St. Roch on July 10, 1825 and attracted attention. After three previous attempts, Berlioz won the Prix de Rome in 1830. In the meantime, the Conservatory orchestra had performed two of his concert overtures, Waverley and Les Franc-Juges. In 1831 at the age of 28, Berlioz completed his Op.14, Symphonie fantastique and life was never the same again, for him or for music. (It’s important to realize that Symphonie fantastique premiered only three years after Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.) Berlioz’ genius produced in rapid succession: Symphonie funebre et triomphale, Harold in Italy (commissioned by Paganini himself), and Romeo and Juliet.

Hector Berlioz had this to say in the preface of Roméo et Juliette, when it was first performed on November 14, 1839 in Paris. “There should be no misunderstanding about the genre of this work. Although voices are frequently used in it, it is neither a concert opera, nor a cantata, but a choral symphony. The reason there is singing almost from the start is to prepare the listener’s mind for the dramatic scenes where the feelings and passions are to be expressed by the orchestra.”

The complete Roméo et Juliette runs for 95 minutes and requires a medium-size orchestra plus 2 timpani, 2 harps, 4 percussion, solo Alto, Tenor, Bass and large chorus. Four scenes in which the music expresses the most intense emotions are heard at these concerts. We present them in an order that works musically, not as they appear in the score: Introduction, Love Scene, Romeo Alone, and Fete.
“Tumult and strife,” the emotions called for in the opening scene of Berlioz’ dramatic symphony, are effectively represented by an exciting and rhythmic melody in the strings. A brass choir slows the pace and effectively calms the atmosphere realizing the words in the score, “The prince intervenes.” This effect is only temporary, however, as the string rhythms return somewhat altered but just as agitated.
The long and tender Love Scene contains some of the most beautiful melodies Berlioz ever composed, highlighting low strings and winds.
Romeo Alone is a pensive moment which conveys some of the conflict the young lover feels in falling for the enemy’s daughter.
While expressing the devilry of teenagers crashing a party, Grande fête chez les Capulets brings these selections to a rousing conclusion.

Joseph Truskot

Symphony No.1 in D major, First Movement, Allegro molto
"Ah! Je veux vivre dans le reve" from Roméo et Juliette
CHARLES GOUNOD (1818-1893)
Composed 1855
Composed 1867

Charles Gounod was born in Paris on June 18, 1818. His father was a talented painter who died when Gounod was a child. From his mother, Gounod received his initial instruction on piano. She also saw to it that her little Charles was prepared academically. He entered the Paris Conservatory in 1838 and was a pupil of Jacques François Halevy, best known for his popular La Juive. He won the coveted Prix de Rome in 1839 and during his study in the Italian capital immersed himself in church music. He actually considered entering the priesthood and had studied theology for two years. He discarded this plan and devoted his energies to composing. His two symphonies date from 1855. The opening movement, Allegro molto, of Symphony No.1 in D major with its delightful melody and effective scoring serves as a happy curtain raiser for the second half of the program dedicated .

In 1859 at the age of 39, Gounod introduced his opera, Faust, and became an international superstar. Without question, Faust was the most popular French opera of the 19th century and continues to appear on opera seasons around the globe. Other operas (He wrote twelve during his lifetime.) followed this great success but never matched it. His next most popular opera was Roméo et Juliette presented in 1867.
After 1880, Gounod deserted the stage entirely to devote his compositional time to sacred music. He died in Paris on October 18, 1893.
Juliette sings her famous waltz aria “Ah! Je veux vivre dans le reve.” at the beginning of the ballroom scene in Act One. The masked ball is being held in her honor and she expresses in this brilliant coloratura aria “the tender dream of youth.” As she finishes her song, she looks up and sees Romeo for the first time.

Joseph Truskot

"A vos jeux, mes amis" from Hamlet
"Je suis Titania, la blond" from Mignon
AMBROISE THOMAS 1811-1896
Composed 1868
Composed 1866

Born in Metz, on August 5, 1811, French composer Ambroise Thomas (pronounced toh-MAH) was a distinguished pianist, graduate of the Paris Conservatory, and a Prix de Rome winner (as were Berlioz and Gounod ). He devoted himself to composing operas and was second only to Gounod in popularity. In 1871, Thomas became the director of the Paris Conservatory after its previous director was killed in the Franco-Prussian War. Thomas oversaw the Conservatory’s role during a period of great cultural advancement which contributed to an era known as La Belle Époch. Paris was THE capital of world culture. In addition to his twenty operas, Thomas leant his melodic style to original ballets, sacred works, chamber music, and songs. He was one of the few composers to ever live long enough to attend the 1,000th performance of one of his works. On May 14, 1894, the Opéra Comique presented a gala performance of Mignon, after which the French government presented him with grand cordon of the Legion of Honor. He remained the Conservatory’s head until his death in 1896.

Thomas’ two most popular operas are presented on this program. Mignon, based on Goethe’s story Wilhelm Meister, was first presented at the Opéra Comique in 1866. It was an immediate success and became a highly featured work of opera houses around the world for the next 75 or so years. His next most popular opera, Hamlet, was produced in 1868. It is the most famous operatic work devised on Shakespeare’s tragedy. However, with the liberties taken by Michel Carré and Jules Barbier, the librettists, and Thomas’ often incongruous music, this version of Hamlet has never been embraced by the English speaking world. The team of Carré and Barbier also lent their unfaithful touch to the librettos of Mignon and Roméo et Juliette.

In “A vos jeux, mes amis,” we hear Ophelia’s Mad Scene sung toward the end of the opera when Ophelia learns that Hamlet (“I smell a rat!”) will never marry the daughter of Polonius, one of the conspirators who killed his father, the King of Denmark. Startlingly, Thomas composed this aria in three-quarter or waltz time.

Mignon is a young girl who had as an infant been stolen from her father and raised by gypsies. She meets Wilhelm, a comfortably well-off student, in a tavern. A troupe of actors is assembled at the tavern and among them is the aging beauty, Philine. Wilhelm buys Mignon’s freedom from the gypsies and the two of them go off with the actors to perform at a local Baron’s castle. Philine has her affections set on Wilhelm. “Je suis Titania, la blond” is sung by Philine after she leaves a performance of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In this glorious aria, Philine jokingly but accurately compares herself to the Fairie Queen, the character she has just played.

Joseph Truskot

Galop from Le Prophète
"Adieu, mon doux rivage" from L'africaine
Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864)
Composed 1849
Composed 1838-1864

Giacomo Meyerbeer was born Jakob Liebmann Beer in Berlin, Germany, on September 5, 1791. He was tutored by some of the finest private instructors available in Europe. He and Carl Maria von Weber were fellow students and both were pupils of Salieri. A wealthy relative named “Meyer” left him a substantial inheritance which made him financially secure for the rest of his life. He merged the two names into Meyerbeer. After time spent in Italy, he changed his first name to Giacomo to attract Italian opera supporters who raved about the work of his contemporary Rossini. Meyerbeer’s first operatic works were composed in Italian. It was in Paris, however, where he had his greatest successes and during the middle of the 19th century his operas dominated French theaters.

The term “Grand Opera” is consistently applied to the works of Meyerbeer, although others actually invented the concept. He composed many beautiful individual arias, dramatic ensemble scenes for highly skilled casts, huge choruses and processionals, elaborate sets, sumptuous ballets, and complicated theatrical productions which included whatever else it took to capture the audience’s attention.
Time (and numerous critics, scholars and fellow composers) have not been kind to Meyerbeer. His works are often criticized for lacking substantive musical ideas; his characters derided for their hollowness. Much of his music does nothing to develop the principal characters or add dramatic impact. Meyerbeer’s style of composition is often inconsistent . His motivation was to more to please the audience than to create a valid artistic statement.

Meyerbeer is a part of musical history and contributed to its development. He deserves more than he currently gets because there are moments of great beauty in Meyerbeer’s work which stand on their own merit. Occasionally, a voice such as Joan Sutherland’s (and that singer’s loyal following) will cause a revival of Robert Le Diable, Les Huguenots, Le Prophète, or L’africaine and individual singers can create a moment of sheer beauty by presenting the best of his music.

Le Prophète tells the story of John of Leyden, leader of the peasant revolt during the Anabaptist uprisings in Holland in the 16th century. The Galop is part of a ballet segment in the third act which also includes a skating sequence. Yes, Meyerbeer actually used the recently invented roller skates as part of the show—135 years before Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Starlight Express.

L’africaine was Meyerbeer’s final opera. It was begun in 1838 and revised several times before it received its premiere in 1864, one year after the composer’s death. The aria “Adieu mon doux rivage” is sung by Inez at the opening of the opera. Inez describes the day that she and her true love, the explorer Vasco da Gama, parted. Having heard nothing from da Gama in years and presuming he has been lost at sea, Inez agrees to marry Don Pedro, a nobleman and also a ship captain. Inopportunely, da Gama arrives back on the scene with Sélika, a beautiful princess from a distant and previously unknown land and, as they say, the plot thickens.

Joseph Truskot