oct 9, 10, 11
A Strauss Celebration: Immortal Stories
Minnesota Orchestra
Andrew Litton, conductor
Anthony Ross, cello
Thursday, October 9, 2014, 11 pm
Friday, October 10, 2014, 8 pm
Saturday, October 11, 2014, 8 pm
Orchestra Hall
Orchestra Hall
Orchestra Hall
Richard Strauss
Don Quixote, Fantastic Variations on a Theme of Knightly Character, Opus 35
Introduction
Theme: Don Quixote and Sancho Panza
Variations:
Battle with the Windmills
Battle with the Sheep
Don Quixote and His Squire Converse
Battle with the Pilgrims
The Knight’s Vigil
The Meeting with Dulcinea
The Ride Through the Air
The Voyage in the Enchanted Boat
The Combat with the Two Magicians
The Defeat of Don Quixote
Finale: The Death of Don Quixote
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Richard Strauss
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Anthony Ross, cello | Thomas Turner, viola
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Salome’s Dance (Dance of the Seven Veils), from Salome
Suite from Der Rosenkavalier, Opus 59
music up close
ca. 41’
ca. 20’
ca. 10’
ca. 21’
Concert Preview with Phillip Gainsley and Andrew Litton
Thursday, October 9, 10:15 am, Auditorium
Friday, October 10, 7:15 pm, Target Atrium
Saturday, October 11, 7:15 pm, Target Atrium
Minnesota Orchestra concerts are broadcast live on Friday evenings on stations of Minnesota Public Radio, including KSJN 99.5 FM
in the Twin Cities.
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Artists
pianist Oscar Peterson.
Honors: In 2011 Litton was named a
knight of the Norwegian Order of Merit,
recognizing his work with the Bergen
Philharmonic. Among his additional
honors is a 1997 Grammy Award.
More: minnesotaorchestra.org,
andrewlitton.com.
Andrew Litton, conductor
Andrew Litton, a distinguished conductor
on international stages and a favorite of
local audiences, has been the Minnesota
Orchestra’s Sommerfest artistic director
since 2003. He recently extended his
tenure in that post through 2017.
Additional positions: As music director
of Norway’s Bergen Philharmonic, he is
overseeing that venerable ensemble’s
250th anniversary celebrations. He
holds the same title with the Colorado
Symphony, and he is conductor laureate
of Britain’s Bournemouth Symphony.
Currently: His recent guest conducting
engagements have taken him from Dallas
and Detroit to Britain, Singapore and
Taiwan. Also an accomplished opera
conductor, in recent seasons he has
led several productions of the Bergen
National Opera, which he helped found.
Recordings: Litton, an accomplished
pianist, this year released his first solo
piano album, a tribute to the late jazz
oct 9, 10, 11
Accordo, a chamber ensemble composed
of principal string players from the Saint
Paul Chamber Orchestra and Minnesota
Orchestra. He also plays with the
Chamber Music Society of Minnesota.
Festivals: Ross has performed at music
festivals in the U.S. and Europe and has
been a faculty member at the Grand
Teton, Aspen, Madeline Island and
Indiana University festivals.
Discography: His recordings include
Bernstein’s Three Meditations, made with
the Minnesota Orchestra, and Carter
and Rachmaninoff sonatas for Boston
Records.
More: minnesotaorchestra.org.
Anthony Ross, cello
Anthony Ross, now in his 27th year as a
Minnesota Orchestra member, assumed
the principal cello post in 1991. While
here he has drawn acclaim for his solo
performances of many great concertos
and chamber works, including, most
recently, two Prokofiev works—the
Sinfonia concertante and the Sonata for
Cello and Piano. In addition, in April
2014 he was the featured soloist in
Eric Whitacre’s The River Cam, with the
composer conducting.
Chamber music: Ross is a member of
one-minute notes
Strauss: Don Quixote
Strauss captures the humor and humanity of Cervantes’ great novel in a magnificent work for cello. With Don
Quixote portrayed by the solo cello and his long-suffering squire, Sancho Panza, primarily by the viola, the
music depicts their escapades in a series of colorful variations. Among the most famous: the Don’s battles with
windmills and an unsuspecting flock of sheep, and an encounter with his imagined, idealized lady love, Dulcinea.
Strauss: Salome’s Dance, from Salome
This opera selection offers a glimpse of the mad Salome, who dances provocatively for her stepfather, King
Herod; notable are the Salome motif for the flute’s low register, virtuosic xylophone scales and a dazzling trill
for the entire orchestra.
Strauss: Suite from Der Rosenkavalier
The orchestral suite from Der Rosenkavalier, Strauss’ first operatic collaboration with the poet-librettist Hugo
von Hoffmannsthal, is as beloved with audiences worldwide as the opera itself. It abounds with exquisite
textures, beautifully balancing the story’s romance, rowdy farce and sentimentality.
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Program Notes
Richard Strauss
Born: June 11, 1864, Munich
Died: September 8, 1949, Garmisch-Partenkirchen
Don Quixote, Fantastic Variations on a
Theme of Knightly Character, Opus 35
i
n 1896, just after finishing Also sprach Zarathustra,
Richard Strauss set to work on a new project, one that
would take him in entirely new directions. Strauss at
first planned to write a tone poem based on events from
Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote. But rather than writing
a straightforward tone poem, Strauss made his task more
complicated by casting his new work as a set of variations
based on a collection of themes associated with Don
Quixote, his sidekick Sancho Panza and his idealized love
Dulcinea. Then, to bring yet one more dimension to this
music, Strauss conceived it as a virtuoso work for cello
and orchestra, with the solo cellist cast in the role of Don
Quixote. Strauss completed the score in December 1897,
and the premiere took place on March 6, 1898, in Cologne.
Don Quixote has become one of the greatest works in the
cello literature—but we should not overlook the other
players Strauss assigns important solo roles in this music.
The part of Sancho Panza is first announced by bass
clarinet and tenor tuba and thereafter undertaken mostly
by the solo viola, which plays the role of the longsuffering
squire; at key moments the solo violin contributes to the
portrait of Don Quixote.
a story in variations
Don Quixote consists of an introduction, a statement of
the principal themes, ten variations and a finale. Strauss
depicted only a few of the many incidents in Cervantes’
novel and felt free to alter their order in
his own presentation.
Introduction. Here are most of the important themes
that will evolve across the span of Don Quixote, initially
presented not by the soloists but by the orchestra. At
the very beginning comes the little flute tune that will
reappear in many forms, followed by a lilting idea for
second violins that Strauss marks grazioso and a clarinet
swirl followed by a three-chord cadence; all of these will
be associated with Don Quixote himself.
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Soon the solo oboe sings a gentle melody depicting the
Don’s idealized lady-love and patroness, the fair Dulcinea.
Trumpets mark his resolve to defend her, but quickly
this noble beginning turns complex and dissonant as
Quixote loses himself in dreams of knight-errantry. In
Cervantes’ words: “through his little sleep and much
reading, he dried up his brains in such sort, as he wholly
lost his judgment.” The music reaches a point of shrieking
dissonance—Don Quixote’s mind has snapped—and
heroic fanfares break off in silence.
Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. Out of that silence, the
solo cello is heard for the first time, presenting the Don’s
themes, now in a minor key. Quickly we meet Sancho
Panza, and it is no accident that we move to a major key
for the genial sidekick: bass clarinet and tenor tuba sing
a rustic duet that introduces the squire, and the viola
quickly takes this up, going on and on like Sancho himself.
Battle with the Windmills. The main characters having
been introduced, the music proceeds directly into
Variation I. Don Quixote and Sancho’s themes are
sounded simultaneously as they head out for their first
adventure. It comes immediately: Don Quixote mistakes
windmills for giants and rides to the attack. A sharp
thump knocks the aged knight from his horse, and he
recovers slowly on thoughts of Dulcinea.
Battle with the Sheep. In the famous second variation,
Quixote mistakes a flock of sheep for the armies of the
evil Emperor Alifanfaron.Their bleating is memorably
suggested by flutter-tongued minor seconds from the
winds, while viola tremolos depict the cloud of dust they
raise. Don Quixote charges into the flock, dispersing the
terrified sheep and riding off in triumph as the shepherds
howl.
Don Quixote and His Squire Have a Conversation. In the
third and longest of the variations, Don Quixote speaks
grandly of heroic deeds while Sancho chatters incessantly.
Finally the knight cuts him off with a violent gesture, and
the two head off in search of new adventures.
Battle with the Pilgrims. In Variation 4 the pair come upon
a religious procession (solemn bassoon and brass chords)
and ride to the attack; they are knocked flat and left lying
in the dust as the procession fades into the distance.
The Knight’s Vigil. Don Quixote ruminates on his ideals in
the moonlight as soft winds blow in the background.
The Meeting with Dulcinea. Variation 6 opens with a jaunty
oboe duet: the Don and Sancho have come upon three
peasant girls, and Sancho convinces the knight that they
Program Notes
are his beloved Dulcinea del Toboso and her retinue, but
that they have been transformed by an enchanter. Don
Quixote tries to pay homage to this coarse country maid,
but the cackling girls flee in confusion.
The Ride Through the Air. In the seventh variation, the
Don and Sancho are convinced to mount a hobby horse,
believing that it will carry them through the air; the wind
howls around them, but the two remain firmly rooted to
the earth.
The Voyage in the Enchanted Boat. Variation 8 brings the
pair to an abandoned rowboat. They ride out into the
stream but head toward a weir, tip over and fall in; once
on shore, they wring out their clothes (pizzicato notes
echo the water dripping from their sopping clothes).
The Combat with the Two Magicians. Here the adventurers
encounter a pair of Benedictine monks chatting happily
as they come down the road (two bassoons in busy
counterpoint). Don Quixote rides to the attack and sends
the terrified monks fleeing.
The Defeat of Don Quixote. In Variation 10, a wellintentioned neighbor dresses as a knight, jousts with
Quixote and defeats him. The vanquished knight is sent
home under orders to give up knight-errantry for a year,
and the pounding timpani pedal suggests his homeward
journey in disgrace.
Finale: The Death of Don Quixote. In the Finale, the Don’s
fevered imagination gradually clears—the dissonances
heard during the first presentation of his themes are here
resolved—but he is now an old and frail man. He recalls
some of the themes associated with his adventures, and,
in the cello’s beautiful final statement, Don Quixote dies
quietly as a long glissando glides downward.
Strauss once claimed that he could set a glass of beer to
music, and Don Quixote very nearly proves him right; his
biographer Norman Del Mar has shown how virtually
every note in this score pictures a particular feature
of Don Quixote and his quest. Don Quixote is suffused
throughout with a level of understanding that is both
humorous and humane.
oct 9, 10, 11
English horn, 2 clarinets (1 doubling E-flat clarinet), bass
clarinet, 3 bassoons, contrabassoon, 6 horns,
3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, tenor tuba, timpani,
bass drum, cymbals, bells, snare drum, tambourine,
triangle, wind machine, harp and strings
Program note by Eric Bromberger.
Salome’s Dance (Dance of the Seven Veils),
from Salome
s
hocking, sensuous, perverse, devastating, decadent
and depraved are just a few of the terms that have
been hurled at Strauss’ opera Salome. Without
question, it is one of the boldest, most original and most
provocative scores ever written. The premiere of this oneact opera in Dresden on December 9, 1905, set off waves
of revulsion and charges of scandal. Critics competed for
the most vivid and graphic images to make their point. In
staid Boston, Louis Elson admonished readers of the Daily
Advertiser that the libretto “is a compound of lust, stifling
perfumes and blood, and cannot be read by any woman
or fully understood by anyone but a physician.” Henry
Krehbiel in New York called the opera “a moral stench.”
And over in London, Fuller-Maitland claimed in the 1908
edition of Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians that
“on the average hearer it produces a sense of nausea.”
The setting is the court of King Herod in the Middle
East, about 30 A.D. Herod, in the mood for a little
entertainment, asks his beautiful young stepdaughter
Salome to dance for him. She refuses until he promises
her anything she wants. Anything? Anything! She agrees,
her cunning mind having already decided exactly what
she will demand afterwards: the head of John the Baptist,
whom Herod is holding prisoner and who has spurned
Salome’s every attempt to seduce him.
Dance of the Seven Veils at the premiere of Salome in Dresden,
1905, with Marie Wittich in the title role.
Strauss may have set out to write a tone poem that
would re-tell the story of one of the greatest characters
in literature, but he achieved much more: in its difficulty
and brilliance, Don Quixote is (along with the Dvořák
Cello Concerto) one of the two greatest works ever
written for cello and orchestra.
Instrumentation: solo cello and solo viola with
orchestra comprising 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes,
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Program Notes
Throughout the dance Strauss indulges in some of his most
sensuously beautiful and extravagantly conceived orchestral
effects. These include the seductive “Salome” motif played
in the warmly expressive low register of the flute, the heavy
languor of the perfumed Oriental night as portrayed by
violins and horns in the Dance’s opulent central section,
and virtuosic scales for the xylophone as the huge orchestra
gyrates inexorably to an orgasmic conclusion.
Instrumentation: 3 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes,
English horn, heckelphone, 2 A clarinets,
2 B-flat clarinets, E-flat clarinet, bass clarinet, 3 bassoons,
contrabassoon, 6 horns, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, tuba,
2 timpani, tam-tam, cymbals, bass drum, snare drum,
castanets, tambourine, triangle, xylophone,
glockenspiel, celesta, 2 harps and strings
Program note by Robert Markow.
Suite from Der Rosenkavalier, Opus 59
d
er Rosenkavalier, a “comedy for music” on
a libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, was
completed on September 26, 1910. The
premiere, under the direction of Ernst von Schuch,
took place at the Dresden Court Opera on January 26,
1911. The score of the suite played at these concerts,
which bears the copyright date of 1945, credits no
arranger. Artur Rodzi ński probably had a hand in the
arrangement, and possibly Leonard Bernstein. It was
published with the blessing of the composer, then
desperately in need of income.
In 1909, Strauss was, with Puccini, the most famous and
the richest composer alive. He had written a string of
orchestral works, many of which had become indispensable
repertoire items; he had emerged as an important song
composer; and latterly, with Salome and Elektra, he had
made his mark in the opera world, and in a big way.
For Elektra Strauss set an adaptation of Sophocles’ play by
the Viennese poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal. But it was Der
Rosenkavalier that launched the two artists’ extraordinary
working friendship that lasted through a further half dozen
projects until the poet’s death in 1929. Drawing on a broad
range of sources, Hofmannsthal provided a libretto that,
Strauss said, virtually set itself to music.
To summarize baldly: Der Rosenkavalier is about an
aristocratic married lady in her early 30s, wife of Field
Marshall von Werdenberg, who loses her 17-year-old
lover (who is also her cousin) when he falls in love with a
bourgeois girl his own age.
But of course there is more to it than that—it is about
what Flaubert called “sentimental education,” the
incalculable powers of eros, social climbing, the subtle
messages of language, the mysterious passage of time,
grace under fire. Not least, it is about gorgeous singing
and fragrant orchestral textures.
An impoverished and chawbacon country cousin, Baron
Ochs, comes to the Marshal’s wife, the Marschallin, for
advice. He has arranged to become engaged to Sophie von
Faninal, the sweet young daughter of a nouveau riche army
contractor who is as eager to benefit from Ochs’s title as
Ochs is to get hold of some of the Faninal money. Custom—
and this is entirely an invention of Hofmannsthal’s—
demands that the formal proposal of marriage be
preceded by the presentation to the prospective bride of
a silver rose: can the Marschallin suggest a young man of
suitable background and bearing to take on the role of the
rose-bearing knight, the “Rosenkavalier”? She suggests
Octavian, her cousin-lover. He and Sophie fall in love at
first sight. By means of a series of degrading tricks the
projected Ochs-Faninal alliance is undermined, and the
Marschallin and Ochs renounce Octavian and Sophie
respectively, the former with sentimental dignity,
the latter in an atmosphere of rowdy farce.
The first Rosenkavalier Suite came out as early as 1911.
In addition to the (presumably) Rodziński Suite of 1945,
there are excellent and interesting concert sequences by
three eminent Strauss conductors, Antal Dorati, Erich
Leinsdorf and William Steinberg.
Strauss, right, with
writer Hugo von
Hofmannsthal, his
longtime collaborator
and librettist for
six operas, including
Der Rosenkavalier.
Instrumentation: 3 flutes (1 doubling piccolo),
3 oboes (1 doubling English horn), 3 clarinets
(1 doubling E-flat clarinet), bass clarinet, 3 bassoons
(1 doubling contrabassoon), 4 horns, 3 trumpets,
3 trombones, tuba, timpani, celeste, bass drum, cymbals,
tambourine, ratchet, snare drum,
glockenspiel, triangle, 2 harps and strings
Excerpted from a program note by the late Michael
Steinberg, used with permission.
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