Prinsjesdag Concert

Ennio Morricone (1928-2020)
Man with a Harmonica from 'Once Upon a Time in the West' (1968)
(by Stadsorkest The Residents, Residentie Orkest and guest soloist Hermine Deurloo) 

Bedřich Smetana (1824-1884)
Vltava (The Moldau) from 'My Fatherland' (1874) 

River Cruise 

Bedřich Smetana was at heart a Czech nationalist at a time when his country was still dominated by the great Habsburg Empire. His oeuvre is steeped in patriotic sentiments such as his folk opera The Bartered Bride and the quite politically charged The Brandenburgers in Bohemia, which for this reason was enthusiastically received by the public. In his later life he reached a peak with a cycle of six symphonic poems entitled My Fatherland in which he reviewed the most beautiful places and the most exciting histories of the Czech Republic. The best known and most imaginative part is The Moldau in which he paints the national Czech river in detail. In his own words, "The composition describes the course of the Moldau, beginning at the two small springs. The river passes through forests and meadows, through the landscape where peasants celebrate a wedding, the dance of the water nymphs in the moonlight; on nearby rocks adorn castles, palaces and ruins. The Moldau passes through rapids, then widens and passes Vyšehrad Castle in Prague. Then it magically disappears into the distance, ending in the Elbe." Smetana turns it into a real river cruise where passengers watch the various scenes pass by from source to mouth. 

Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904)
Violin Concerto in A minor, op. 53 (1879) 

• Allegro ma non troppo 

• Adagio ma non troppo 

• Finale: Allegro giocoso ma non troppo 

Bohemian dances

Except for his symphonic poem The Water Goblinand the Water Nymph from the opera Rusalka ,water hardly plays a role in Antonín Dvořák's oeuvre. But like Smetana, he was a composer with warm Czech sentiments. Famous were his Slavic Dances , and the rest of his oeuvre is also steeped in Bohemian melodies and dance rhythms, like his Violin Concerto. For example, the second movement is inspired by old Slavic folk songs and the splashing rondo is a real furiant, in which a tuneful dumka briefly appears halfway through.

Yet at first Dvořák was far from confident. True, he was a fairly experienced violinist and had even been a viola player for several years in an orchestra that played regularly in the Czech national theater. For example, he had even played in the premieres of some of Smetana's operas. But a true virtuoso violin concerto was another matter. Fortunately, he had met the most famous violinist of the nineteenth century, Joseph Joachim, to whom he sent the manuscript. The latter was enthusiastic but came up with a number of suggestions for improvement. Dvořák completely revised the work and also sent this version to Joachim. The latter seemed satisfied but ultimately never performed the concerto. It was not until October 14, 1883, that Czech violinist František Ondříček performed the premiere in Prague. The greatest success, however, came a month later when he performed it with the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Hans Richter. Since then, Dvořák's Violin Concerto has never disappeared from concert halls.

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
La mer, trois esquisses symphoniques pour orchestre (1903-1905) 

• De l'aube à midi sur la mer 

• Jeux de vagues 

• Dialogue du vent et de la mer 

A drop in the sea 

How different from Smetana, for example, Claude Debussy goes about his three-part La mer. Here no tourist photo album but much more an inner experience of the phenomenon of the sea. The composer proceeds like a true impressionist in a piece he refers to as three symphonic sketches . In them he does not describe the sea but merely gives an impression of it. As a listener, you are not a spectator but a drop of water experiencing the vast ocean from the inside. This already begins at the opening that represents a sunrise at sea. It is still night, but on the horizon appears the first gray light of dawn. And appearing on the surface, you just feel the first ray of sunlight that sets the gently swaying water in a pleasant shimmering glow. The play of the waves in the second part is an infinite twinkling of the constant but ever-varying wave motion. In the storm of the Last movement, Debussy occasionally lets the orchestra be heard at full volume. Not a Wagnerian hurricane, but a turbulent sea having excellent fun with the gusts of wind. 

And to think that Debussy did not love the sea at all. He wrote most of La mer in Burgundy, miles away from the sea. His inspiration, therefore, came not from the ocean itself, but from literary sea stories and painted seascapes. And he does this like no other. With the orchestral colors, the almost atonal, yet gentle chords and melody shades, he creates a palette of color variations a painter would envy. 

Kees Wisse