27 Season 201420- 15 - The Philadelphia Orchestra All-Organ... · The Philadelphia Orchestra Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor Peter Richard Conte Organ Buxtehude/orch. Chávez Chaconne

The Philadelphia Orchestra Yannick Nézet-Séguin ConductorPeter Richard Conte Organ

Buxtehude/orch. Chávez Chaconne in E minor

Jongen Symphonie concertante, Op. 81, for organ and orchestra I. Allegro molto moderato II. Divertimento: Molto vivo III. Lento misterioso—Appassionato—Tempo I IV. Toccata (Moto perpetuo): Allegro moderato

Intermission

Elgar Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 36 (“Enigma”) Enigma (Theme): Andante I. C.A.E. II. H.D.S.-P. III. R.B.T. IV. W.M.B. V. R.P.A. VI. Ysobel VII. Troyte VIII. W.N. IX. Nimrod X. Dorabella: Intermezzo XI. G.R.S. XII. B.G.N. XIII. ***: Romanza XIV. E.D.U.: Finale

This program runs approximately 1 hour, 45 minutes.

This concert is made possible in part by the generous support of the Wyncote Foundation.

designates a work that is part of the 40/40 Project, which features pieces not performed on subscription concerts in at least 40 years.

Philadelphia Orchestra concerts are broadcast on WRTI 90.1 FM on Sunday afternoons at 1 PM. Visit www.wrti.org to listen live or for more details.

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Season 2014-2015Thursday, November 6, at 8:00

The Philadelphia Orchestra Yannick Nézet-Séguin ConductorPaul Jacobs Organ


Guilmant Symphony No. 1 for Organ and Orchestra in D minor, Op. 42 I. Introduction and Allegro: Largo e maestoso—Allegro—Tempo primo II. Pastorale: Andante quasi allegretto III. Finale: Allegro assai—Andante maestoso— Tempo primo FirstcompletePhiladelphiaOrchestraperformance

Intermission






Season 2014-2015Friday, November 7, at 2:00

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The Philadelphia Orchestra Yannick Nézet-Séguin ConductorKen Cowan Organ


Paulus Grand Concerto for Organ and Orchestra I. Vivacious and Spirited II. Austere; Foreboding III. Jubilant FirstPhiladelphiaOrchestraperformance

ThePhiladelphiaOrchestramournsthepassingofStephenPaulusonOctober19,2014.

Intermission






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Season 2014-2015Saturday, November 8, at 8:00

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The Philadelphia Orchestra is one of the preeminent orchestras in the world, renowned for its distinctive sound, desired for its keen ability to capture the hearts and imaginations of audiences, and admired for a legacy of imagination and innovation on and off the concert stage. The Orchestra is transforming its rich tradition of achievement, sustaining the highest level of artistic quality, but also challenging—and exceeding—that level by creating powerful musical experiences for audiences at home and around the world.

Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s highly collaborative style, deeply-rooted musical curiosity, and boundless enthusiasm, paired with a fresh approach to orchestral programming, have been heralded by critics and audiences alike since his inaugural season in 2012. Under his leadership the Orchestra returned to recording with a celebrated CD of Stravinsky’s TheRiteofSpring and Leopold Stokowski transcriptions on the Deutsche Grammophon label, continuing its history of recording success. The Orchestra also reaches thousands of listeners on the radio with weekly Sunday afternoon broadcasts on WRTI-FM.

Philadelphia is home, and the Orchestra nurtures an important relationship with patrons who support the main season at the Kimmel Center, and also with those who enjoy the Orchestra’s other area performances at the Mann Center, Penn’s Landing, and other cultural, civic, and learning venues. The Orchestra maintains a strong commitment to collaborations with cultural and community organizations on a regional and national level.

Through concerts, tours, residencies, presentations, and recordings, the Orchestra is a global ambassador for Philadelphia and for the United States. Having been the first American orchestra to perform in China, in 1973 at the request of President Nixon, today The Philadelphia Orchestra boasts a new partnership with the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing. The ensemble annually performs at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center while also enjoying summer residencies in Saratoga Springs, New York, and Vail, Colorado.

The Philadelphia Orchestra has a decades-long tradition of presenting learning and community engagement opportunities for listeners of all ages. The Orchestra’s recent initiative, the Fabulous Philadelphians Offstage, Philly Style!, has taken musicians off the traditional concert stage and into the community, including highly-successful Pop-Up concerts, PlayINs, SingINs, and ConductINs. The Orchestra’s musicians, in their own dedicated roles as teachers, coaches, and mentors, serve a key role in growing young musician talent and a love of classical music, nurturing and celebrating the wealth of musicianship in the Philadelphia region. For more information on The Philadelphia Orchestra, please visit www.philorch.org.

The Philadelphia Orchestra

Jessica Griffin

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Music DirectorMusic Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin continues his inspired leadership of The Philadelphia Orchestra, which began in the fall of 2012. His highly collaborative style, deeply rooted musical curiosity, and boundless enthusiasm, paired with a fresh approach to orchestral programming, have been heralded by critics and audiences alike. The New York Times has called Nézet-Séguin “phenomenal,” adding that under his baton, “the ensemble, famous for its glowing strings and homogenous richness, has never sounded better.” He has taken the Orchestra to new musical heights. Highlights of his third season as music director include an Art of the Pipe Organ festival; the 40/40 Project, in which 40 great compositions that haven’t been heard on subscription concerts in at least 40 years will be performed; and Bernstein’s MASS, the pinnacle of the Orchestra’s five-season requiem cycle.

Yannick has established himself as a musical leader of the highest caliber and one of the most exciting talents of his generation. He has been music director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic since 2008 and artistic director and principal conductor of Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain since 2000. He also continues to enjoy a close relationship with the London Philharmonic, of which he was principal guest conductor. He has made wildly successful appearances with the world’s most revered ensembles, and he has conducted critically acclaimed performances at many of the leading opera houses.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Deutsche Grammophon (DG) enjoy a long-term collaboration. Under his leadership The Philadelphia Orchestra returned to recording with a CD on that label of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and Leopold Stokowski transcriptions. He continues a fruitful recording relationship with the Rotterdam Philharmonic on DG, EMI Classics, and BIS Records; the London Philharmonic and Choir for the LPO label; and the Orchestre Métropolitain for ATMA Classique.

A native of Montreal, Yannick Nézet-Séguin studied at that city’s Conservatory of Music and continued lessons with renowned conductor Carlo Maria Giulini and with Joseph Flummerfelt at Westminster Choir College. Among Yannick’s honors are an appointment as Companion of the Order of Canada, one of the country’s highest civilian honors; a Royal Philharmonic Society Award; Canada’s National Arts Centre Award; the Prix Denise-Pelletier, the highest distinction for the arts in Quebec; and honorary doctorates from the University of Quebec in Montreal and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.

To read Yannick’s full bio, please visit www.philorch.org/conductor.

Chris Lee

SoloistPeter Richard Conte is Grand Court Organist of the Wanamaker Organ in Macy’s, Center City, where he performs concerts twice daily, six days each week, on the largest fully-functional musical instrument in the world. He was appointed Grand Court Organist in 1989 and is the fourth person to hold that title since the organ first played in 1911. He has also recently been named principal organist of Longwood Gardens. He has been featured several times on NPR and on ABC television’s GoodMorningAmerica and WorldNewsTonight. He has two radio shows: TheWanamakerOrganHour, which airs on the first Sunday of each month, at 5 PM, and can be heard at WRTI.ORG; on each Wednesday evening at 7 PM, his Grand Court concert is streamed live on YesterdayUSA.com. Mr. Conte performs extensively throughout the United States and Canada and has appeared as a featured artist at American Guild of Organists’ National and Regional Conventions, and at the International Organ Festival in Aosta, Italy. He has performed with Peter Nero and the Philly Pops, and with the Pacific, Delaware, Canton, and Allentown symphonies. In September 2008 he was soloist for a historic collaboration of The Philadelphia Orchestra and the Wanamaker Organ, performing Jongen’s Symphonie concertante in the Wanamaker Grand Court.

Mr. Conte also serves as choirmaster and organist of St. Clement’s Church in Philadelphia, where he directs a professional choir in music of the Anglo-Catholic tradition. That choir has recorded several internationally acclaimed compact discs on the Dorian label.

Mr. Conte is an adjunct assistant professor of organ at Rider University’s Westminster Choir College in Princeton, where he teaches organ improvisation. He is an associate of the American Guild of Organists and has presented guild workshops on transcriptions and improvisation. He is the 2008 recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Indiana University School of Music. In 2011 the Philadelphia Music Alliance honored him with a bronze plaque on the Avenue of the Arts’ Walk of Fame. His numerous recordings appear on the Gothic, JAV, ProOrgano, Dorian, and DTR labels.

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SoloistHighlights of Grammy Award-winning organist Paul Jacobs’s 2014-15 season include concertos of Alexandre Guilmant with the Phoenix and Edmonton symphonies, a recital of works by Bach and Reger at the Juilliard School, Poulenc with the National Symphony, and Duruflé and Respighi with California’s Pacific Symphony. He also appears in recitals presented by the Dallas Symphony in Meyerson Hall, the Cleveland Orchestra in Severance Hall, and the San Francisco Symphony in Davies Hall. Recent performance highlights include concerts with the Chicago Symphony and Charles Dutoit, and recitals at the Kennedy Center, Disney Hall, and Spivey Hall near Atlanta. In July 2014, in addition to playing recitals in Eugene and Portland at the Oregon Bach Festival, Mr. Jacobs led the first five-day organ seminar hosted by the Festival. He also performed the first concert on the newly restored Kuhn Organ at Alice Tully Hall in New York, playing Bach’s Clavier-ÜbungIII as part of Lincoln Center’s first White Light Festival in 2010.

At age 15 Mr. Jacobs was appointed head organist of a parish of 3,500 in his hometown, Washington, Pennsylvania. He studied at the Curtis Institute of Music and Yale University, and at age 23 he made musical history when he played Bach’s complete organ works in an 18-hour marathon on the 250th anniversary of the composer’s death. He has also performed the complete organ works of Messiaen in marathon performances throughout North America. He joined the faculty of the Juilliard School in 2003 and was named chairman of the organ department in 2004, one of the youngest faculty appointees in the School’s history. He received Juilliard’s prestigious William Schuman Scholar’s Chair in 2007. He made his Philadelphia Orchestra debut in 2008.

Mr. Jacobs has appeared on American Public Media’s Pipedreams,PerformanceToday,and SaintPaulSunday, as well as NPR’s MorningEdition and ABC-TV’s WorldNewsTonight.In August 2011 he presented a recital for NPR’s TinyDeskConcerts, which remains available for viewing on www.npr.org. His recording of Messiaen’s LivreduSaintSacrement, released by Naxos in 2010, was awarded that year’s Best Solo Instrumental Grammy, the first time a disc of solo organ music has received this honor.

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SoloistCanadian organist Ken Cowan made his Philadelphia Orchestra debut in 2007. He maintains a rigorous performance schedule that takes him to major concert venues in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia. Recent highlights include appearances at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, Spivey Hall outside of Atlanta, and Disney Hall in Los Angeles, as well as concerts in Germany and Korea. Mr. Cowan has been a featured artist at the national conventions of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) in Los Angeles and Minneapolis, and he has performed at many regional conventions of the AGO. He has also been featured at several conventions of the Organ Historical Society and the Royal Canadian College of Organists.

Mr. Cowan has made numerous critically acclaimed recordings including KenCowanplaystheGreatOrgan (on the Pro Organo Label), in which he performs on the newly restored organ at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York; WorksofFranzLiszt (on the JAV label), recorded on the Michael Quimby Organ at First Baptist Church in Jackson, Mississippi; and KenCowanPlaysRomanticMasterworks (on the Raven label), recorded on the 110-rank Schoenstein Organ at First Plymouth Congregational Church in Lincoln, Nebraska. In addition to his solo recordings, Mr. Cowan also joined organist Justin Bischof in the world premiere recording of composer Aaron Miller’s Double Concerto for Organ, recorded with the Zurich Symphony on the Kleuker Organ in the Tonhalle in Switzerland (Ethereal Recordings). Many of Mr. Cowan’s recordings and live performances are regularly featured on American Public Media’s national radio show Pipedreams.

A native of Thorold, Ontario, Mr. Cowan studied organ with Thomas Murray at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music and with John Weaver at the Curtis Institute of Music. In 2012 he joined the faculty of the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University as associate professor and head of the organ program. Previous positions have included associate professor of organ at Westminster Choir College, where he was awarded the 2008 Rider University Distinguished Teaching Award, and associate organist and artist in residence at Saint Bartholomew’s Church in New York City.

Lisa-Marie M

azzucco

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Framing the ProgramThe Philadelphia Orchestra’s month-long “Art of the Pipe Organ” culminates with a special weekend celebrating what Mozart heralded as the “King of Instruments.”

The concert opens with Dieterich Buxtehude’s Chaconne in E minor. In 1705 the 20-year-old J.S. Bach walked some 280 miles to spend several months observing the older master, whose works served as an inspiring model for many younger composers of the time. We hear the Chaconne in a brilliant orchestration from 1937 by Carlos Chávez, the leading Mexican composer of the 20th century.

Each of the three concerts this week features a different concerto performed by a different organist. Joseph Jongen’s Symphonie concertante was commissioned in 1926 for the Philadelphians and the world-renowned Wanamaker Organ, and appropriately Peter Richard Conte, Grand Court Organist of that legendary instrument, performs the work here on Thursday night. The next afternoon Grammy Award-winning organist Paul Jacobs is soloist for Alexandre Guilmant’s Symphony No. 1 for Organ and Orchestra (1878), while on Saturday evening Ken Cowan plays Stephen Paulus’s Grand Concerto for Organ and Orchestra (2004).

Edward Elgar was a slow starter who came to prominence at the turn of the century with his “Enigma” Variations and oratorio TheDreamofGerontius. In his mid-40s he emerged as the leading English composer, indeed the first English composer for centuries to win international acclaim. Many solutions have been suggested as to what is behind Elgar’s “Variations on an Original Theme,” in which he portrays his wife and friends, but after more than a century the piece remains, well, powerfully enigmatic.

Parallel Events1878GuilmantOrgan Symphony No. 1

1899Elgar“Enigma” Variations

1926JongenSymphonie concertante

MusicTchaikovskyViolin ConcertoLiteratureJamesTheEuropeansArtRodinTheWalkingManHistoryEdison patents photograph

MusicSibeliusSymphony No. 1LiteratureWildeTheImportanceofBeingEarnestArtCézanneManwithCrossedArmsHistoryBoer War begins

MusicBartókPiano Concerto No. 1LiteratureMilneWinniethePoohArtMunchTheRedHouseHistoryTrotsky expelled from Moscow

The MusicChaconne in E minor (orchestrated by Carlos Chávez)

Dieterich BuxtehudeBorn possibly in Helsingborg, Denmark (now part of Sweden), around 1637Died in Lübeck, Germany, May 9, 1707

In October 1705 the 20-year-old J.S. Bach walked some 280 miles to meet the legendary Dieterich Buxtehude. The young composer had been granted a leave of absence from his post as organist at the New Church in Arnstadt so that he might, as he put it, “learn one thing and another about his art” from the great master. He requested a month’s leave, but the church authorities noted that he stayed “about four times as long.”

Two years earlier George Frideric Handel, Bach’s exact contemporary, had made a similar pilgrimage from Hamburg, along with the composer Johann Mattheson, but the two stayed only a day, allegedly because Buxtehude was looking to marry off a daughter to one of them. Many young musicians sought out Buxtehude, testimony to his preeminence among the churches of Lutheran Germany.

An Influential Organist Buxtehude’s origins, including the year and place of birth, are not clear, as the principal information is a reference shortly after his death that “he recognized Denmark as his native country, whence he came to our region; he lived about 70 years.” He served for most of his career, for nearly 40 years, at St. Mary’s Church in Lübeck, an especially prized post. He composed a large quantity of vocal and organ music, most of it sacred, and was also active leading a concert series in the city.

Among Buxtehude’s many organ compositions are three notable “ostinato” works, pieces that use a recurring melodic or harmonic pattern as a foundation: two chaconnes and a passacaglia (the terms were often used interchangeably at the time). The chaconne procedure seems to have originated during the late 16th century as a lively triple-meter dance in the Spanish-speaking New World, whence it spread to Spain, Italy, France, Germany, and elsewhere. For German organists of Buxtehude and Bach’s time the procedure meant a slower piece, also in three, with variations atop a brief and repetitive harmonic progression. Buxtehude’s ostinato pieces influenced Bach and the Chaconne in E minor more specifically inspired the final movement of Brahms’s Symphony No. 4 in E minor nearly two centuries later.

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BuxtehudecomposedhisChaconneinEminorlateinhislife,perhapsinthe1690s,andCarlosChávezorchestrateditin1937.

Thefirst,andonlyother,OrchestraperformancesoftheworkwereonsubscriptionconcertsinJanuary/February1964,ledbyEugeneOrmandy.

Chávez’sorchestrationcallsfortwopiccolos,twoflutes,twooboes,Englishhorn,twoclarinets,E-flatclarinet,bassclarinet,threebassoons,fourhorns,fourtrumpets,threetrombones,tuba,timpani,andstrings.

TheChaconnerunsapproximatelysevenminutesinperformance.

From Organ to Orchestra There is a long tradition of imaginative arrangements of Baroque music. The most arranged composer of the age was Bach, and indeed such transformations began with composer himself, who not only adapted his own music but also that of Vivaldi, Telemann, and many other figures, both famous and forgotten. The practice escalated with the rediscovery of Bach in the 19th century. The emergence of the modern symphony orchestra in particular invited orchestrations of the “King of Instruments,” as Mozart called the organ. Conductors, most famously Leopold Stokowski (himself an organist), frequently orchestrated organ works by Bach, but so too did leading composers including Ottorino Respighi, Arnold Schoenberg, and Anton Webern.

Despite his stature as Bach’s preeminent predecessor, Buxtehude’s organ compositions have not attracted many arrangements. The best known is of the Chaconne in E minor, orchestrated in 1937 by Carlos Chávez, the leading figure in 20th-century Mexican music as a composer, conductor, writer, educator, and organizer. Chávez was one of the founders of the Orquesta Sinfónica de México (later the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional), of which he was music director for many years. He was also a popular guest conductor (he conducted the Philadelphians in 1936) and led Toscanini’s NBC Symphony in March 1938 in a performance of the Chaconne.

A Closer Look Given the Latin-American origins of the chaconne it seems appropriate that Chávez should orchestrate Buxtehude’s organ work, bringing it back home so to speak. The foundation for Buxtehude’s piece is a repeating four-measure phrase, which basically descends from tonic to dominant and above which various sections of differing intensity unfold.

The works begins tenderly and gradually becomes more austere and formidable. Chávez seems to take his lead from the textures in the original organ work such that at times the orchestra plays softly and features solo instruments while at other moments it becomes grand and imposing. Underneath it all one may not be consciously aware of the fundamental harmonic progression, but it is there, unrelenting and hypnotic. The piece builds to an extended climax near the end, with full orchestra majestically transforming the king of instruments.

—Christopher H. Gibbs

The MusicSymphonie concertante

Joseph JongenBorn in Liège, Belgium, December 14, 1873Died in Sart-lez-Spa, Belgium, July 12, 1953

Like his Belgian predecessors André Gretry and César Franck, Joseph Jongen was born in Liège, a city that enjoyed a lively and distinguished musical life dating back hundreds of years before his birth. Son of a Flemish cabinet maker, Jongen as a child evinced an astonishing precocity for music: He was admitted to the Royal Conservatory of Music in Liège at the age of seven, eventually winning first prizes in piano, organ, and composition. He was a superb pianist and a brilliant organist. The apogee of his youthful prize-winning came in 1897, when he was awarded the Belgian Grand Prix de Rome. With financial support provided by the Prix de Rome, he toured the musical capitals of continental Europe from 1898 to 1902. In Germany he played two movements of an early symphony for Richard Strauss, who was deeply impressed. Jongen wrote to his brother that the observations made by Strauss were like “shafts of light as if a heavy curtain lifted before my eyes.” In Paris he gravitated toward the high-minded principles of Vincent d’Indy and his circle at the austere Schola Cantorum, although he made the acquaintance of Gabriel Fauré, Paul Dukas, and especially Florent Schmitt, who became a close friend.

Upon returning to Belgium, Jongen taught at the Liège Conservatory and at the Scola Musicae in Brussels, which was a Belgian counterpart of the Schola Cantorum in Paris. He moved from success to success, a progress broken only by the First World War, during which he and his family fled to Great Britain. After the war he returned to Belgium and was appointed a professor at the Royal Belgian Conservatory in Brussels in 1920 and as its director five years later. By this time he enjoyed the patronage of the Belgian royal family as well as the enthusiastic support of the great violinist Eugène Ysaÿe.

A Commission from Philadelphia Such was Jongen’s renown as both a composer and an organist that his fame had reached the shores of North America. In 1926 Rodman Wanamaker, the owner of the great department store in Philadelphia and son of its founder, John Wanamaker, commissioned him to compose a work for the inauguration of the enlargement of the huge and colorful organ that had originally been built for the 1904 St. Louis

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World’s Fair before being purchased by John Wanamaker for his store in 1909. The composer began his Symphonie concertante for organ and orchestra in 1926, completing it the following year. The premiere was to have taken place in 1928 with The Philadelphia Orchestra, but the death of Jongen’s father in the fall of 1927 meant that his American visit had to be postponed. Bad luck continued to dog the work when Rodman Wanamaker died in March 1928, thus delaying the American premiere until 1935, in Carnegie Hall and without The Philadelphia Orchestra. It was not until 2008 that the piece was finally performed by the ensemble and the organ for which it was written, on the occasion of the 150th Anniversary of Macy’s. Because of these various vexations, Jongen occasionally referred to his score as “that unfortunate work.”

A month before Wanamaker’s death, however, the Symphonie concertante was given its triumphant first performance in Brussels. After the premiere an ecstatic Ysaÿe praised the score to its composer, exclaiming, “Let me tell you how much this old musician’s heart, Walloon moreover, as conquered, gladdened, and greatly moved by your new symphony. … It is a chefd’oeuvre, a monument that pays tribute to our whole country. … Yes! It is gripping, varied, most personal, rich in color, full of amazing harmonies, delightful.” From its unsettled beginnings, Jongen’s Symphonie concertante has assumed its place as one of the most popular works for organ and orchestra written in the last century.

A Closer Look Jongen’s style reaches its most poised expression in his Symphonie concertante. This engaging score combines Bachian counterpoint with an ingenious adaption of sonata form; whole-tone scales reminiscent of the music of Debussy; the modal inflections of medieval plainchant; Flemish folk melodies; and coruscating use of the orchestra that manages to conflate the panache of Strauss with the elegance of Dukas and d’Indy. Jongen handles the challenging combination of organ with full orchestra with breathtaking skill and sparkling vivacity. As Ysaÿe shrewdly observed, “The use of the stops does not involve mysticism in any sense, nor any sentiments of the Church.” Indeed, the playfulness of the Divertimento, the voluptuousness of the slow movement (Lento misterioso), and the vertiginous virtuosity of the final Toccata place Jongen’s music far from the organ loft—in the environs of a sumptuous department store in Philadelphia, perhaps.

—Byron Adams

TheSymphonieconcertantewascomposedfrom1926to1927.

ThefirstPhiladelphiaOrchestraperformanceofthepiecewasinOctober1957inWorcester,Massachusetts:VirgilFoxwasthesoloistandWilliamSmithconducted.MostrecentlyonsubscriptionitwasplayedinMay1973byRobertElmore,withEugeneOrmandyonthepodium.In2008theOrchestrafinallyperformedtheworkwiththeWanamakerOrganattheMacy’sDepartmentStoreinCenterCityforMacy’s150thAnniversary,withorganistPeterRichardConteandconductorRossenMilanov.

TheOrchestrarecordedthe2008performancelivefortheGothiclabel.

Thescorecallsforsoloorgan,threeflutes(IIIdoublingpiccolo),twooboes,Englishhorn,twoclarinets,bassclarinet,twobassoons,contrabassoon,fourhorns,threetrumpets,threetrombones,tuba,timpani,percussion(cymbals,triangle),harp,andstrings.

Performancetimeisapproximately35minutes.

The MusicSymphony No. 1 for Organ and Orchestra

Alexandre GuilmantBorn in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France, March 12, 1837Died in Meudon, France, March 29, 1911

Guilmant’s First Organ Symphony began life as his First Organ Sonata. It was composed in 1874 for the new Schyven organ’s inauguration in the Church of Our Lady of Laeken in the Brussels suburbs, where the kings and queens of Belgium are buried. Dedicated to King Leopold II of Belgium, who was in attendance, the Sonata is appropriately regal and substantive. In 1878 Guilmant orchestrated it for organ and symphony for the Paris World’s Fair, which had on display the Statue of Liberty’s completed head and Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone. At the World’s Fair Guilmant performed works by Bach and Handel on the Trocadéro’s new organ.

Like the fried potato, the genre of music for organ and symphony orchestra seems to have taken on an unshakable French connection. Numerous French composers wrote said pieces, such as César Franck, Camille Saint-Saëns, and Charles-Marie Widor. German Wilhelm Valentin Volkmar is credited, however, with creating the first one and many non-French composers have written organ symphonies since, including Aaron Copland and Clarence Dickinson, a Guilmant disciple. Though he composed seven more organ sonatas in his career, Guilmant would only orchestrate his eighth sonata—known as his Second Symphony, Op. 91, in 1906. He also transcribed symphonic works for solo organ, including a fragment from Berlioz’s TheDamnationofFaust.

The Grand Old Man of the Organ Alexandre Guilmant was born in the postcard-worthy fishing town of Boulogne-sur-Mer on the English Channel in 1837. From a long line of organ builders and players, his father gave him his first lessons. Alexandre was known to practice the organ as much as 10 hours a day, and he still had time to play piano, violin, and viola. In 1860 Belgian virtuoso Jacques-Nicolas Lemmens invited him to study in Brussels. A Bach specialist, Lemmens launched the French Renaissance of Bach’s organ works in the late 19th century. Guilmant said, “I consider that Bach is music: Everything else in music has come from him.”

A short and stocky man, with small feet and hands that had to stretch to reach the interval of a ninth, Guilmant made his organ debut in Paris in 1862 in the Church of Saint Sulpice. He subsequently worked for 30 years as the

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organist of La Trinité in Paris, where he played morning mass, vespers, and improvised interludes. Louis Vierne commented that he looked like “a priest in the exercise of art.” Angered that his colleagues altered the organ without his consent while he was on tour, Guilmant quit his post in 1900 and became the honorary organist of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

Guilmant toured the United States three times. In 1893 he performed at the Chicago World’s Fair and in New York City at the First Presbyterian Church, where six years later he would open the Guilmant Organ School. In 1904 he participated in 40 recitals in the St. Louis World’s Fair, which at that time boasted the largest organ in the world with more than 10,000 pipes. (The organ was subsequently moved to Wanamaker’s department store in Philadelphia.) Guilmant wowed audiences with his precision and technique, never repeating a single piece. His concertizing propelled the organ into the American imagination, spawning generations of American organ aficionados. A venerated and strict teacher, he died in 1911 at his villa in Meudon, southwest of Paris, the “grand old man of the organ.”

A Closer Look The most beloved of Guilmant’s compositions, the Symphony No. 1 for Organ and Orchestra consists of three movements, lasting about 25 minutes. The first one, Introduction and Allegro, begins with a dotted-rhythm spiky opening that erupts into a fancy-footed race. A kindly major-mode second theme follows only to be overtaken by the persistent minor tune. With its large complement of brass instruments used to project above the organ, the movement flip-flops these two attractive themes throughout.

The music moves into a celestial sphere with a gorgeous Pastorale (Andante quasi allegretto), a fantasia that sounds like a written out improvisation. The violin picks up the heavenly tune and a series of varied instruments, including oboe and bassoon, paint it with mesmerizing colors. Staid chords punctuate the melody, which ends with a flute rising into the ether.

The music is firmly back on earth in the third movement Finale (Allegro assai), sounding as if Guilmant has driven into a Parisian traffic jam. This first theme captures impatience—a musical “when will we get there?” The second is more reassuring and equitable—“we’ll get there when we get there,” while the last theme provides a royal resolution—trèsbienalors.

—Eleonora M. Beck

TheSymphonyNo.1forOrganandOrchestrawasoriginallycomposedforsoloorganin1874andwasorchestratedbythecomposerin1878.

ThisisthefirstcompleteperformanceofthepiecebyThePhiladelphiaOrchestra.Theensemble,ledbyLeopoldStokowski,performedthefirstmovementonlyinPortland,Maine,inFebruary1917:WillMacFarlanewasthesoloist.

Guilmant’sscorecallsforsoloorgan,twoflutes,twooboes,twoclarinets,twobassoons,fourhorns,twotrumpets,threetrombones,tuba,timpani,percussion(bassdrum,cymbals),andstrings.

TheSymphonyrunsapproximately25minutesinperformance.

The MusicGrand Concerto for Organ and Orchestra

Stephen PaulusBorn in Summit, New Jersey, August 24, 1949Died in Arden Hills, Minnesota, October 19, 2014

Stephen Paulus is recognized today as much for his long-standing administrative support of new music as for his own compositions. In 1973 he co-founded the Minnesota Composers Forum, which later became the American Composers Forum—the largest composer service organization in the United States—and was one of its managing composers until 1984. He has also served as the symphony and concert representative on the ASCAP Board of Directors since 1990. He was a passionate advocate for new music, and for his colleague-composers who produce it. Paulus himself was especially prolific with nearly 500 works in his catalog. His death last month at the age of 65, of complications from a debilitating stroke in July 2013, was met with universal sadness in the music community.

Paulus studied composition with Paul Fetler and Dominick Argento at the University of Minnesota, graduating with a Ph.D. in 1978. Almost immediately he received commissions for operas and large-scale orchestral works, developing a close relationship with the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, for which he wrote his most successful opera, ThePostmanAlwaysRingsTwice (1982). Then in 1983, he was named composer-in-residence with the Minnesota Orchestra, and from 1988 to 1992 he served as composer-in-residence with the Atlanta Symphony.

While Paulus’s orchestral works often explore a late-Romantic symphonic language, his focus on the human voice—evident in his numerous operas, oratorios, choruses, and solo vocal works—has produced a distinctly contemporary vocal sound that is also unapologetically lyrical and welcoming. His most-performed work, the choral “Pilgrims’ Hymn” from his 1997 one-act opera TheThreeHermits, was performed at the funerals of U.S. presidents Ronald Regan and Gerald Ford, and has been sung by hundreds of choirs around the world.

A Youthful “Dalliance” Comes in Handy When Paulus was working with the Atlanta Symphony, the orchestra’s keyboardist, Norman Mackenzie, wondered if he would write an organ concerto that could be performed at the 1992 meeting of the American Guild of Organists (AGO)

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in Atlanta. What Mackenzie didn’t know at the time, and what few outside the composer’s circle of family and close friends knew, was that Paulus had “dallied” with the pipe organ as a youth, took organ lessons in high school, and learned a good deal of organ literature and tradition through his father, a diligent amateur organist. Thinking he knew only enough about the organ “to be dangerous,” he was still confident he could avoid the clichés and customary effects that organist-composers tend to rely on.

That first organ concerto was such a hit at the 1992 AGO convention that new commissions for organ works started pouring in almost immediately. Paulus has since composed dozens of works for solo organ, along with numerous other concertos and ensemble pieces that include the instrument.

The first organ concerto was scored for a relatively limited ensemble of organ, strings, and percussion. His second concerto, from 2002, expanded the performing forces to include full symphony orchestra and chorus, and the third, commissioned by the Dallas Symphony in 2004, is for an even larger orchestra with an expanded wind section and extensive percussion. Paulus regards this third concerto, officially titled Grand Concerto, as representative of his overall style with its combination of short motifs and arching melodies, forward rhythmic propulsion, key juxtapositions, and unusual permutations of harmony and timbre.

A Closer Look The first movement (Vivacious and Spirited) opens furtively as meandering thirds in A-minor invoke the sound of harmonized plainchant, a nod perhaps to the French Romantic organ school. Then the tempo increases into passages of nervous, puckish hocketing between organ and orchestra, often propelled by the percussion. Interspersed among these exchanges are slow, chordal passages of timeless Satie-esque mystery. Through various reprises and harmonic detours, the movement ends harmonically transformed, in A-major.

Paulus’s title for the second movement—Austere; Foreboding—can give a false impression. This is not harsh asceticism but merely an avoidance of excess, similar to the lean neoclassicism of Stravinsky or Poulenc. As in the first movement, the organ introduces a harmonized melody, this time searching and chromatic. Ravishing flute and clarinet solos then introduce an overall calmness. During the middle section the woodwinds chirp merrily, even when joined by the brass, but the dramatic foreboding eventually arrives in a series of tutticlimaxes. Then, near the end, Paulus inserts a quotation from the Mormon hymn tune “Come, Come, Ye

Saints.” This is something of a compositional thumbprint for Paulus who, though not Mormon himself, quotes this hymn in nearly every one of his organ pieces as a tribute to his (also non-Mormon) father.

After a spritely orchestral introduction, the final movement (Jubilant) features rapidly oscillating organ chords in a lengthy toccata-like cadenza. The brass then joins in as the strings quote the folk tune “Waly, Waly” (also known as “The Water is Wide”). Pizzicato and tremolo excitement ensues, leading into a second cadenza for organ pedals and percussion. Emphatic chords for both organ and orchestra climax on a final sustained G-major triad.

—Luke Howard

Paulus’sGrandConcertowascomposedin2004.

ThisisthefirstPhiladelphiaOrchestraperformanceofthework.

TheConcertoisscoredforsoloorgan,threeflutes,threeoboes,threeclarinets,threebassoons,fourhorns,threetrumpets,threetrombones,tuba,timpani,percussion(belltree,chimes,crashcymbal,glockenspiel,guiro,highhat,largesuspendedcymbal,ratchet,templeblocks,tom-toms)andstrings.


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The MusicVariations on an Original Theme (“Enigma”)

Edward ElgarBorn in Broadheath (Near Worcester), England, June 2, 1857Died in Worcester, February 23, 1934

On the evening of October 21, 1898, Edward Elgar, who had endured a long day teaching the violin to adolescent girls, sat down at the piano and began to improvise for his adoring wife, Alice. At one point, she exclaimed, “That’s a good tune.” Coming out of his musical reverie, Elgar then inquired, “Eh! Tune, what tune?” Alice replied, “Play it again, I like that tune” and asked, “What is that?” In one of the great understatements in music history, her husband remarked, “Nothing—but something might be made of it.” Elgar proceeded to entertain his wife further by varying the tune by refracting it through the prismatic personalities of some of their friends: “Nevinson would have looked at it like this.” From such casual beginnings, Elgar created the score that would establish his international reputation as a composer, ensuring that he would never again have to teach violin lessons: the Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 36, now known as the “Enigma” Variations.

The “Dark Saying” of the “Enigma” Variations Just three days later, Elgar wrote to his friend August Jaeger about the new work: “I have sketched a set of Variations (orkestry) on an original theme: the Variations have amused me because I’ve labelled ’em with the nicknames of my particular friends—youare Nimrod.” Having completed the score on February 19 of the following year, Elgar sent it to Nicholas Vert, who was the British agent for the great conductor Hans Richter. Richter was enthusiastic about the piece and conducted the triumphant premiere in London on June 19, 1899. The piece was soon heard around the world: Rimsky-Korsakov heard it in St. Petersburg and praised it highly; Mahler conducted the score in New York.

Just before the first performance, however, Elgar laid the foundation for generations of speculation about the meaning of this work when he wrote a mystifying letter to the program annotator for the premiere, C.A. Barry: “The Enigma I will not explain—its ‘dark saying’ must be left unguessed. … Further, through and over the whole set another and larger theme ‘goes’ but is not played.” Elgar may not have “explained” the “dark saying,” but he made veiled allusions to the “Enigma” for the rest of his life. Interestingly, the word “enigma” appears in the manuscript score only once, above the theme itself, and the word is in

Jaeger’s handwriting rather than that of the composer.

Elgar identified so strongly with the theme of the variations that he occasionally used the first few bars in lieu of his signature. In the same letter to Jaeger quoted above, he confessed, “I’ve liked to imagine the ‘party’ writing the var[iation] him (or her) self & have written what I think they would have written—if they were asses enough to compose—it’s a quaint idea.” If the theme alone is the “Enigma,” then the “Enigma” Variations are an act of inspired self-portraiture, for what matters to Elgar is the way his friends see him, not the way he portrays them. The amusing idiosyncrasies of the “friends pictured therein” are relevant only to the extent that they reflect back the composer’s own complex personality. Abetted by his propensity for teasing ambiguity, Elgar’s ingenious strategy succeeded beyond his wildest dreams; his mystifications have engaged amateur musical sleuths, tantalized scholars, and beguiled listeners for over a century.

A Closer Look Elgar casts his score as a theme and 14 variations, with the ninth variation providing the climax and the last one serving as an extended finale. After the melancholy theme, which Elgar felt reflected “my sense of the loneliness of the artist,” the first variation follows without pause and bears the initials of Alice (I. C.A.E.). The next variation evokes the nervous chromatic scales that Hew David Stuart-Powell (II. H.D.S.-P.), who was an accomplished amateur pianist, used to warm up his hands before beginning to play. The next three variations expropriate the character traits of three lively and disparate men. Richard Baxter Townshend (III. R.B.T.) pedaled about the byways of Worcestershire on a large tricycle. Willliam Meath Baker (IV. W.M.B.) was noted for his good-humored truculence. Richard Penrose Arnold (V. R.P.A.), the otherwise pensive son of the famous poet Matthew Arnold, enjoyed acting in amateur theatricals. By contrast to these lively men the gentle Isabel Fitton (VI. Ysobel) was a violist who studied with Elgar, who wrote for her use the string-crossing exercise heard throughout this variation. While Elgar’s attempts at teaching architect A. Troyte Griffith (VII. Troyte) to play the piano invariably came to a tumultuous conclusion—listen for the slamming piano lid at the end of this variation—the two men remained fast friends.

Winifred Norbury (VIII. W.N.) was an elegant lady who lived in an exquisite 18th-century house; this variation is pervaded by a gentle nostalgia for a gracious bygone

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era. Next comes the heartfelt climax of the entire score (IX. Nimrod), which was inspired by a conversation about Beethoven’s slow movements that Elgar had with the German-born Jaeger. (Jaeger’s nickname, which provides the title for this variation, is an elaborate pun: Elgar transmuted the German word Jäger—jaeger in the Anglicized spelling—that means “hunter,” into the mighty hunter from the Bible, Nimrod.) Dora Penny (X. Dorabella), the charming young daughter of a local clergyman, enjoyed dancing in the Elgars’s drawing room as the composer improvised at the piano; this light-footed intermezzo surely reflects the tone of these occasions. George Robinson Sinclair (XI. G.R.S.) was a brilliant organist who owned a vivacious bulldog named Dan, whose canine antics amused and inspired Elgar. The next two variations are more introspective: Although an amateur, Basil G. Nevinson (XII. B.G.N.) evinced great proficiency as a cellist, while three asterisks at the head of the next variation (XIII. ***: Romanza) discreetly allude to the initials of Lady Mary Lygon, who had just embarked on a long sea voyage. The boisterous finale (XIV. E.D.U.) is an overt self-portrait, for one of Alice Elgar’s pet names for her husband was Edu, a shortened form of the German version of his first name, Eduard—thus “E.D.U.” A return of the “Nimrod” variation, combined in counterpoint with a triumphant version of the “Enigma” theme brings the work to an exultant close.

—Byron Adams

Elgarcomposedthe“Enigma”Variationsfrom1898to1899.

ThefirstappearanceoftheworkonaPhiladelphiaOrchestraconcertwasinJanuary1905,withFritzScheelatthehelm.ThemostrecentsubscriptionperformanceswereinOctober2011,withCharlesDutoit.

The“Enigma”VariationswasrecordedbythePhiladelphiansin1962,withEugeneOrmandyforCBS.

Theworkisscoredfortwoflutes(IIdoublingpiccolo),twooboes,twoclarinets,twobassoons,contrabassoon,fourhorns,threetrumpets,threetrombones,tuba,timpani,percussion(bassdrum,cymbals,snaredrum,triangle),organ,andstrings.


Program notes © 2014. All rights reserved. Program notes may not be reprinted without written permission from The Philadelphia Orchestra Association, Byron Adams, Eleonora Beck, and/or Luke Howard.

Musical TermsGENERAL TERMSCadenza: A passage or section in a style of brilliant improvisation, usually inserted near the end of a movement or compositionChaconne: Before 1800, a dance that generally used variation techniquesChord: The simultaneous sounding of three or more tonesChromatic: Relating to tones foreign to a given key (scale) or chordConcertante: A work featuring one or more solo instrumentsCounterpoint: A term that describes the combination of simultaneously sounding musical linesDivertimento: A piece of entertaining music in several movements, often scored for a mixed ensemble and having no fixed formDominant: The fifth degree of the major or minor scale, the triad built upon that degree, or the key that has this triad as its tonicFantasia: A composition free in form and more or less fantastic in characterHocket: In Medieval polyphonic music, the device of alternating notes between parts, resulting in a more or less continuous flow with one voice resting

while the other sounds. More recently, a term applied to instrumental textures, characterized by rapid exchanges between different parts.Intermezzo: A short movement connecting the main divisions of a symphonyOstinato: A steady bass accompaniment, repeated over and overPassacaglia: In 19th- and 20th-century music, a set of ground-bass or ostinato variations, usually of a serious characterPizzicato: PluckedPlainchant: The official monophonic unison chant (originally unaccompanied) of the Christian liturgiesPolyphony: A term used to designate music in more than one part and the style in which all or several of the musical parts move to some extent independentlyRomance: Originally a ballad, or popular tale in verse; now a title for short instrumental pieces of sentimental or romantic natureScale: The series of tones which form any major or minor keySonata form: The form in which the first movements (and sometimes others) of symphonies are usually cast. The sections are exposition, development, and recapitulation, the last

sometimes followed by a coda. Timbre: Tone color or tone qualityToccata: Literally “to touch.” A piece intended as a display of manual dexterity, often free in form and almost always for a solo keyboard instrument.Tonic: The keynote of a scaleTremolo: Repeating the note very fast with the point of the bowTriad: A three-tone chord composed of a given tone (the “root”) with its third and fifth in ascending order in the scaleTutti: All; full orchestra

THE SPEED OF MUSIC (Tempo)Allegretto: Between walking speed and fastAllegro: Bright, fastAndante: Walking speedAppassionato: PassionateLargo: BroadLento: SlowMaestoso: MajesticMisterioso: MysteriousModerato: Neither fast nor slowTempo primo: Original tempoVivo: Lively, intense

TEMPO MODIFIERSAssai: MuchMolto: VeryQuasi: Almost

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27 Season 201420- 15 - The Philadelphia Orchestra All-Organ... · The Philadelphia Orchestra Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor Peter Richard Conte Organ Buxtehude/orch. Chávez Chaconne