Program Booklet
Schumann & Beethoven
Sunday, October 27
14:15
hour until approximately 4:15 p.m.
Enjoy Schumann's expressive Violin Concerto and Beethoven's dramatic Egmont: the power of resistance and triumph in a timeless musical masterpiece.
In association with The National Theatre.
Programme
Prior to this concert there will be a Starter at 1:30 pm. A lively and relaxed program with live performances by our own musicians and interviews with soloists and conductors. The Starter is free of charge and will take place in the Swing at cloakroom.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Overture 'Coriolan' in c, op. 62 (1807)
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Violin Concerto in d, WoO 23 (1853)
In kräftigem, nicht zu schnellem Tempo
Langsam
Lebhaft, doch nicht schnell
At intermission we will serve a free drink.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Stage music to Goethe's "Egmont," op. 84 (1809-1810)
Overture
Song: Die Trommel gerühret (The drum stirred)
Entr'acte 1
Entr'acte 2
Song: Freudvoll und leidvoll (Joy and sorrow).
Entr'acte 3
Entr'acte 4
Clärchens Tod bezeichnend (Clärchens death)
Melodrama
Siegessymphonie (Victory Symphony)
The translation is by Ria van Hengel and commissioned by the Residentie Orkest.
In collaboration with The National Theatre.
Want to read along with the lyrics to Beethoven's "Egmont"?
What are you going to listen to?
A program in which Beethoven can honor two historical heroes on stage, but also with a violin concerto that has a peculiar history.
Roman general
Ludwig van Beethoven liked sincere characters who were willing to sacrifice themselves for the good cause. No wonder he was impressed by Heinrich Joseph von Collin's play Coriolan. It was a classic drama about the Roman general Coriolanus who, exiled from Rome, wants revenge on the city, but gives in to the entreaties of his mother and wife and, torn by inner conflict, takes his own life. Beethoven wrote a gripping overture that brilliantly depicts the general's struggle to choose between good and evil. Even self-chosen death is convincingly portrayed by Beethoven at the end, when the main motif of the overture quietly disappears into nothingness. The play has long since been forgotten; Beethoven's overture, on the other hand, has remained to this day one of his best-known short orchestral works.
Spiritist séance
Today, Robert Schumann's Violin Concerto is among the established violin concertos of the nineteenth century, but it is a composition with a mysterious history here and there. Schumann composed it in September 1853 for the famous violinist Joseph Joachim. The latter took score and parts with him, played it through once, but left it otherwise. After Schumann's death in 1856, Joachim and Clara, the composer's widow, decided not to perform or even publish the work, for reasons that have never been clarified. The manuscript ended up in the Prussian State Library in Berlin and remained there for years. Until 1933. Then two of Joachim's second cousins reported to the music publisher Schott, with the story that in a spiritist séance they had been in contact with the deceased Schumann and Joachim had urged them to publish the Violin Concerto. Publication came in 1936, but the performance still had its struggles. Before the publication, Schott had asked the renowned violinist Yehudi Menuhin for advice on whether the work was viable. The latter had responded enthusiastically and planned a performance in San Francisco. But this was opposed by one of Joachim's nieces who felt that she, also an outstanding concert violinist, was entitled to the premiere. In the end, none of that came to pass and the world premiere took place on Nov. 26, 1937, with Georg Kulenkampff as soloist, accompanied by the Berliner Philharmoniker. Only then could the concerto truly begin its triumphal march through concert halls worldwide.
Dutch count
Back to Beethoven and his stage heroes. Count Egmont was also one of them. And especially in the version of the play Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote about him as early as 1788. Beethoven was deeply impressed by this nobleman, who, in Goethe's version, had to pay with death for his pursuit of moral and spiritual freedom for the Netherlands against Spanish rule. It is a story that virtually every Dutch child hears during elementary school patriotic history. But also a story that particularly appealed to Beethoven, a convinced republican and ardent supporter of personal freedom. So when he received a request from the Vienna Burgtheater in 1809 to write incidental music to this work for a production, he did not hesitate for a moment. He was even willing to waive a fee. It became a success, but especially for the composer. Because as with Coriolan, the music would far outstrip the play. The overture actually tells the whole play. You hear the suffering oppressed people, Egmont pleading his case, the falling of the execution axe (with an effectful silence afterwards) and finally a prophetic victory symphony. Of particular note is the second song by Klärchen, Egmont's lover. She sings of her conflicting feelings of intense love, but also of great concern for the imprisoned Egmont with the famous words "himmelhoch jauchzend, zum Tode betrübt," perhaps Goethe's most famous lines of poetry.
Kees Wisse
Prefer it on paper? Download a condensed printable version of this program.
Biographies
Residentie Orkest The Hague
Richard Egarr
Tobias Feldmann
.jpg/d66c23aa45ac72e8fef14179a09f8f9f.jpg)
Nikki Treurniet
Joris Smit
The Residentie Orkest offers the conductor and soloist at this concert a linocut by The Hague artist Mariska Mallee.
Fun Fact
Goethe and Collin, the two playwrights who inspired Beethoven's works in this concert, were by no means friends. Goethe thought Collin's work was boring and old-fashioned and claimed that his plays would not last long on the stage. He was proved right, for even during his lifetime he was almost completely forgotten. Only a street named after him in a suburb of Vienna still recalls the author.
RO QUIZ
Has Schumann been to The Hague?-
Yes indeed
Right answer: yes
In the fall of 1853, Robert and Clara Schumann made a concert tour of the Netherlands and were enthusiastically received everywhere. 'To my surprise I have found that my music is even more appreciated here than in Germany,' Robert wrote in his diary. The couple also visited The Hague. After an excellent concert in Diligentia at which Schumann conducted his Second Symphony, a performance followed in the Korte Voorhout palace (on the site of today's Ministry of Finance). Prince Frederik, King William II's brother, was present. While Clara was performing, the Dutch prince inquired of Schumann whether he too was musically gifted. Schumann, somewhat embarrassed, seemed to have nodded politely, whereupon the prince also asked him what instrument he played...
-
Only in transit
Right answer: yes
In the fall of 1853, Robert and Clara Schumann made a concert tour of the Netherlands and were enthusiastically received everywhere. 'To my surprise I have found that my music is even more appreciated here than in Germany,' Robert wrote in his diary. The couple also visited The Hague. After an excellent concert in Diligentia at which Schumann conducted his Second Symphony, a performance followed in the Korte Voorhout palace (on the site of today's Ministry of Finance). Prince Frederik, King William II's brother, was present. While Clara was performing, the Dutch prince inquired of Schumann whether he too was musically gifted. Schumann, somewhat embarrassed, seemed to have nodded politely, whereupon the prince also asked him what instrument he played...
-
Well
Right answer: yes
In the fall of 1853, Robert and Clara Schumann made a concert tour of the Netherlands and were enthusiastically received everywhere. 'To my surprise I have found that my music is even more appreciated here than in Germany,' Robert wrote in his diary. The couple also visited The Hague. After an excellent concert in Diligentia at which Schumann conducted his Second Symphony, a performance followed in the Korte Voorhout palace (on the site of today's Ministry of Finance). Prince Frederik, King William II's brother, was present. While Clara was performing, the Dutch prince inquired of Schumann whether he too was musically gifted. Schumann, somewhat embarrassed, seemed to have nodded politely, whereupon the prince also asked him what instrument he played...
-edit.jpg/87c1c94248189eb629a36b0b783627bb.jpg)
Right answer: yes
In the fall of 1853, Robert and Clara Schumann made a concert tour of the Netherlands and were enthusiastically received everywhere. 'To my surprise I have found that my music is even more appreciated here than in Germany,' Robert wrote in his diary. The couple also visited The Hague. After an excellent concert in Diligentia at which Schumann conducted his Second Symphony, a performance followed in the Korte Voorhout palace (on the site of today's Ministry of Finance). Prince Frederik, King William II's brother, was present. While Clara was performing, the Dutch prince inquired of Schumann whether he too was musically gifted. Schumann, somewhat embarrassed, seemed to have nodded politely, whereupon the prince also asked him what instrument he played...
Help The Hague get music!
Support us and help reach and connect all residents of The Hague with our music.
View all program booklets
Be considerate of your neighbors and turn down your screen brightness.