Program Booklet
Stravinsky's Firebird
Sunday, March 3
14:15
hour until approximately 4:15 p.m.
An afternoon of passion and excitement. Listen to fairy-tale symphonic tales and the enchanting sounds of a top cellist.
Programme
Prior to this concert there will be a Starter at 1:30 pm. A lively and informal program with live performances by our own musicians and interviews with soloists and conductors. The Starter is free of charge and will take place on the Tribunetrap, in the central hall of Amare.
Lex van Delden (1919-1988)
Sinfonia III, op. 45 'Facets' (1955)
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)
Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-flat, op. 107 (1959)
Allegretto
Moderato
Cadenza
Allegro con molto
At intermission we will serve a free drink.
Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881)
A Night on the Bald Mountain (1867, orchestration by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, 1886)
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
Suite from 'L'Oiseau de feu' (1910 - 1919 version)
Introduction - L'oiseau de feu et sa dance - Variations de l'oiseau de feu
Rondes des princesses
Danse infernale du roi Kastscheï
Berceuse
Final
What are you going to listen to?
A concert featuring some of the many facets of Russian music. And that ties in nicely with the title Lex van Delden gave to his Sinfonia III.
Brilliant
In the time after World War II, when the music world in the Netherlands, too, indulged in all kinds of daring experiments, Lex van Delden did not go along. Following his own musical feeling, he approached tonality in a challenging way, but never completely abandoned it. In his Sinfonia III, written for the 1955 Holland Festival, he starts from a series of 21 notes which he divides into two halves of ten notes, connected by a central note. Parts of this tone series occur throughout the piece, which he varies and connects in ever new guises, like a brilliant with countless facets that illuminate the theme differently each time. Until at the conclusion the complete series can be heard in the low strings.
Coin
They knew each other well, composer Dmitri Shostakovich and cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, and it was obvious that one would one day write a cello concerto for the other. It would take until 1959 for it to happen. According to Shostakovich, it was "no more than a tune that I worked out a little further," but Rostropovich knew better. Soon after, the premiere of Cello Concerto No. 1 took place in Leningrad and it even went with him to America during a cultural exchange with the Soviet Union in which Shostakovich and Rsostropovich were required to participate. The performance with the Philadelphia Orchestra was a great success. So much so that conductor Eugene Ormandy wiped his What's on clean and immediately made a recording of it. Incidentally, the "tune" Shostakovich was talking about was another Last sneer at Stalin, who died in 1953 and had made life difficult for so many composers. It was a parody of the folk song Suliko, a favorite of the dictator that he had sung constantly.
Witches' Sabbath
Modest Mussorgsky was fascinated by the horror story about a witches' Sabbath on the night of the feast of St. John by Nikolai Gogol. The composer had wild plans to turn it into an opera, but it became "only" a symphonic poem entitled A Night on the Bald Mountain, although the idea of an opera did not leave him. He made an adaptation of it that should have a place in two operas he was working on but never finished. It was this operatic version - the original symphonic poem was lost - that Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov came across and adapted. Well, adapted, it was more of a free paraphrase than that he followed the original work as faithfully as possible. In this respect, one can see Rimsky-Korsakov as a co-composer rather than an arranger in this version that has become popular.
Modern ballet
Unlike Shostakovich, Igor Stravinsky had not suffered from Stalin. He was somewhat older than Shostakovich and had left his homeland before the Russian Revolution. At Sergei Diaghilev's request, he had gone to Paris where the impresario's famous Ballets russes was based. There his first real major work was a ballet about the Russian folk fairy tale of the firebird, which helps a prince rescue a beautiful princess from the hands of an evil sorcerer. Stravinsky took the commission very seriously. He was closely involved in the staging and choreography, which he incorporated into his music in great detail. Diaghilev also gave him a large orchestra at his disposal so that he could realize a multitude of different sounds. The success was enormous, not in the Last place because the music was at least as colorful as what was happening on stage. It was modern ballet for that time, with at least equally modern music, but without leading to a shocking change of style. That didn't last long, by the way, with the scandal surrounding the avant-garde Le Sacre du Printemps two years later.
Kees Wisse
Prefer it on paper? Download a condensed printable version of this program.
N.B. Before and after the concert, a videographer will take atmospheric images for a video on Amare.
Biographies
Residentie Orkest The Hague
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Jun Märkl
Nicolas Altstaedt
The Residentie Orkest offers the conductor and soloist at this concert a linocut by The Hague artist Mariska Mallee.
Fun Fact
Fireberg
How famous Stravinsky was thanks to his "Firebird," as the English title of L'Oiseau de feu goes, he himself told an American journalist, "Once when I was on the train in America, I was addressed in awe as Mr. Fireberg."
RO QUIZ
Who conducted The Firebird at the Residentie Orkest in 1928?-
Chief conductor Peter van Anrooy
Right answer: Igor Stravinsky himself
In the mid-1920s, Igor Stravinsky was a famous composer, especially in Europe. The earnings from his work were not bad, but there were a lot of mouths to fill. Stravinsky was married, had several children and was also entrusted with the care of his mother. Therefore, to make his income stream a little more regular, he performed frequently as a conductor and pianist including in the Netherlands. In September 1928, Igor Stravinsky made an appearance at Residentie Orkest for a concert entirely devoted to his music. Such as The Firebird which he also conducted himself. Stravinsky enjoyed his stay at the Kurhaus; he strolled along the beach and dined sumptuously at the Kurhaus restaurant every day. He gladly left the paying to others because "the world will pay me back what they didn't pay to Bartók and Mozart."
-
Renowned Stravinsky conductor Pierre Monteux
Right answer: Igor Stravinsky himself
In the mid-1920s, Igor Stravinsky was a famous composer, especially in Europe. The earnings from his work were not bad, but there were a lot of mouths to fill. Stravinsky was married, had several children and was also entrusted with the care of his mother. Therefore, to make his income stream a little more regular, he performed frequently as a conductor and pianist including in the Netherlands. In September 1928, Igor Stravinsky made an appearance at Residentie Orkest for a concert entirely devoted to his music. Such as The Firebird which he also conducted himself. Stravinsky enjoyed his stay at the Kurhaus; he strolled along the beach and dined sumptuously at the Kurhaus restaurant every day. He gladly left the paying to others because "the world will pay me back what they didn't pay to Bartók and Mozart."
-
Igor Stravinsky himself
Right answer: Igor Stravinsky himself
In the mid-1920s, Igor Stravinsky was a famous composer, especially in Europe. The earnings from his work were not bad, but there were a lot of mouths to fill. Stravinsky was married, had several children and was also entrusted with the care of his mother. Therefore, to make his income stream a little more regular, he performed frequently as a conductor and pianist including in the Netherlands. In September 1928, Igor Stravinsky made an appearance at Residentie Orkest for a concert entirely devoted to his music. Such as The Firebird which he also conducted himself. Stravinsky enjoyed his stay at the Kurhaus; he strolled along the beach and dined sumptuously at the Kurhaus restaurant every day. He gladly left the paying to others because "the world will pay me back what they didn't pay to Bartók and Mozart."
Right answer: Igor Stravinsky himself
In the mid-1920s, Igor Stravinsky was a famous composer, especially in Europe. The earnings from his work were not bad, but there were a lot of mouths to fill. Stravinsky was married, had several children and was also entrusted with the care of his mother. Therefore, to make his income stream a little more regular, he performed frequently as a conductor and pianist including in the Netherlands. In September 1928, Igor Stravinsky made an appearance at Residentie Orkest for a concert entirely devoted to his music. Such as The Firebird which he also conducted himself. Stravinsky enjoyed his stay at the Kurhaus; he strolled along the beach and dined sumptuously at the Kurhaus restaurant every day. He gladly left the paying to others because "the world will pay me back what they didn't pay to Bartók and Mozart."
Today in the orchestra
Hannah Strijbos
Erik Reinders
Erwin ter Bogt
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