Notes about the Music
Georg Philipp Telemann, Don Quixote Suite
(Overture Burlesque de Quichotte)
Miguel Cervantes’ 1605 classic, Don Quixote, has
experienced many musical treatments. One of the earliest
was Telemann’s comic opera, La Burlesque de Quichotte,
which Telemann wrote at age 80. From this work, he
extracted a suite for string orchestra. Following a Frenchstyle overture (stately largo, hyperactive allegro), Telemann
offers up six scenes from the story: Don Quixote wakes up
happy and contented. He attacks windmills that he mistakes
for giants. He sighs longingly for Princess Dulcinea (actually
a peasant girl). Sancho Panza, the sidekick, is tossed in a
blanket as punishment for Quixote’s skipping out on hotel
bills. Then Telemann contrasts Quixote’s elderly horse,
Rosinante, with Panza’s stubborn mule (two quite different
minuets). And finally Don Quixote pitches his tent for the
evening (although the music might suggest Quixote’s repose
is more of a frenetic Walter Mitty dream). Every movement
cleverly matches notes and rhythm to the theme. Listen for
the sighing strings when Quixote moons after Dulcinea, and
for the clip-clop of Rosinante’s hooves.
Edward Elgar, Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in E minor,
opus 85.
This work was composed at the end of World War I, a
time of fatalism, austerity and lost idealism. Written as a
meditation on the human condition, Elgar penciled words like
“nobilmente” and “serioso” into his score. The cello leads
with a solo recitative reminiscent of a Bach suite; this is
followed by a delicate introduction of orchestral
accompaniment. Elgar experimented with less heavy
orchestration and produced more of a chamber-music effect,
quite in contrast to the more full-bodied Borodin. All did not
go well at the premiere. Although Elgar conducted his own
work, Albert Coates, the conductor for the rest of the pieces,
spent so much time rehearsing the Borodin Symphony no. 2
(also on the program) and a work by Scriabin that Elgar was
cheated of rehearsal time on the first rehearsal day and given
short shrift on rehearsal day two; he felt the orchestra ill
prepared after less than an hour with his concerto. Elgar was
spitting nails, more out of sympathy for Felix Salmond, the
soloist, who had considerable input into the work. In spite a
rough opening, the concerto is now a standard in the cello
soloist’s repertoire.
Alexander Borodin, Symphony no. 2 in B minor
Although a physician and chemist by profession,
Borodin found time for membership in the “Mighty
Handful,” a circle of five nationalistic Russian composers.
His second symphony (nicknamed “The Heroic” by
Russian critic Vladimir Stasov) competed for attention
with two operas, Prince Igor and Mlada, themes from each
of which creep into the composition. Borodin captures the
spirit of the bogatyas, epic knight figures drawn from the
13th-century Galician-Volhynian Chronicle. In the themes,
he incorporates old Russian folk songs such as “The
Nightingale” and “The Terrible Tsar.” The first movement
reflects an assembly of knights. The third movement evokes
a foretelling of battle and inevitable victory, seen through
the imagination of Bayan, minstrel to the court of Prince
Igor. The final movement conveys the knights’ feast, from
boisterous celebration to solemn reflections on fallen
warriors. As you might expect, with battle themes, the
original versions were a bit brass-heavy, and his
orchestration calls for a very full brass section. Subsequent
editions, modified by Glazunov and Rimsky-Korsakov,
were a bit more restrained.
The concertmaster’s chair is funded
by the Jan Wicha Music Foundation.