May – Ode to Joy Composers

Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)

Overture to La forza del destino (1862), 8 minutes

Flutes, piccolo, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns, trumpets, trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, harps, strings

The GJSO’s most recent performance of this piece was with conductor Kirk Gustafson in 1998

Giuseppe Verdi was born in northern Italy where he attended school and began organ lessons. He showed talent early and became the paid organist for his church at age eight. He enrolled in secondary school at ten and began formal music lessons at twelve. He began writing small compositions the first of which were performed publicly the next year. Verdi became the leader of the local philharmonic society and began writing more complicated works for the group to perform. Verdi had learned everything he could from his teacher and hoped to enroll at the conservatory in Milan, however, he wasn’t accepted. He instead took private lessons with a musician at La Scala where Verdi became immersed in the world of opera.

Verdi’s first opera, Oberto, premiered in 1839 and had a respectable showing and he received a contract for three more operas. His next work, written after the death of his wife and two children, was a flop. Following this personal tragedy and professional failure, Verdi vowed never to write again. Eventually he was persuaded to write another opera and began working on Nabucco which premiered to great acclaim in 1842. Following this success, Verdi built an amazing career, writing twenty operas over the next sixteen years. Many of these early operas show Verdi’s sympathies for the Risorgimento movement which tried to unify Italy as a country. As Verdi’s fame grew, he traveled widely to stage his operas and commanded higher fees. He used his growing wealth to purchase large amounts of land in his hometown, eventually owning a grand estate. In 1850, he composed Rigoletto which was followed by Il trovatore and La traviata which cemented his fame. Following the premiere of La traviata in 1853 Verdi began a semi-retirement; over the next eighteen years he wrote only six new operas. He completed his Requiem in 1874. He composed Otello largely in secret and was flooded with requests to perform the work, which premiered at La Scala in 1887. Following the success of Otello, Verdi said, “After having relentlessly massacred so many heroes and heroines, I have at last the right to laugh a little.” His final opera, Falstaff, was premiered in 1893 to a crowd of European aristocracy; the applause after the final curtain lasted for an hour. Verdi suffered a stroke in 1901 and died shortly after, leaving a legacy of masterworks for the stage that are still among the most popular today.

Verdi wrote La forza del destino in 1862 but made several revisions later. The opera is mostly based on a Spanish play. The story deals with Don Alvaro who falls in love with Leonora. The Marquis, Leonora’s father, opposes their relationship. Alvaro accidentally kills the Marquis, and Leonora goes into seclusion in a convent while Alvaro joins the army. He becomes friends with Don Carlo, unaware that he is Leonora’s brother. Determined to avenge his father’s death, Don Carlo realizes his new friend is the murderer. In the ensuing duel, Alvaro wounds Carlo, who in turn stabs Leonora, who has arrived to help. Alvaro then leaps to his death.

What to listen for:

• six brass exclamations
• ominous main theme, featuring four ascending notes, called the “fate” theme
• various melodies associated with the main characters that intertwine

insistent entrances of “fate” throughout

Florence Price (1887-1953)

Song of Hope (1930), 11 minutes

Flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns, trumpets, trombones, tuba, timpani, tom tom, cymbals,  chorus, strings, solo soprano, solo mezzo soprano, solo baritone

This is the first performance of this work by the GJSO

Florence Price (née Smith) was born in Little Rock, Arkansas. Price began piano lessons with her mother, a music teacher, and gave her first performance at age four. Her first composition was published at age eleven. Price attended a local Catholic school and graduated as valedictorian at age fourteen. She enrolled at the New England Conservatory of Music majoring in organ and piano teaching. She also studied composition, writing a string trio and her first symphony. She graduated with honors in 1906 with an artist diploma in organ and a teaching certificate. She returned to Arkansas where she taught at the Cotton Plant Academy, a boarding school for Black students. Price moved to Atlanta in 1910 to teach at Clark Atlanta University, where she became head of the music department. Following her marriage to lawyer Thomas Price, the family returned to Little Rock, however, the only work she could find was teaching piano lessons, as the city had become more racially segregated. In 1927, following an escalation of racial tension, the family moved to Chicago. Price renewed her musical study and published four new piano pieces. In 1930, Price’s piece Fantasie nègre was premiered to great acclaim by fellow composer Margaret Bonds. Price divorced her abusive husband in 1931 and moved in with the Bonds; together the two composers began to achieve recognition for their music. In 1933, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra performed Price’s Symphony No. 1, the first work by an African-American woman to be performed by a major U.S. orchestra. She completed a piano concerto and other orchestral works, many of which were performed by the Works Progress Administration Symphony Orchestra of Detroit and the Women’s Symphony Orchestra of Chicago. Over her career, Price wrote hundreds of works, with a vast majority for the piano. Many of her works were inspired by her deep religious faith, including arrangements of spirituals. Price died in 1953 and her music was largely neglected for decades due to inherent biases in classical music. Over the last two decades, Price’s music, as well as compositions by other Black and women artists, has received more notice, scholarship, and performance opportunities.

This lovely and uplifting work was never performed in Price’s lifetime. The manuscript was found in Price’s files in an envelope with “return postage guaranteed” on the front. Apparently she sent the work to publishers but got no response. Song of Hope was published in 2021 by G. Schirmer and the work was premiered in March 2022 by Ithaca College. Price wrote Song of Hope in 1930, her first major orchestral work, featuring chorus and soloists. She wrote the lyrics as well as the music. This was an extremely difficult time emotionally for Price. She had moved to Chicago only a few years before to escape racial prejudice and violence. Price was also dealing with personal turmoil as she began divorce proceedings. Despite all of these struggles, Price wrote audaciously hopeful words to set to music that constantly recall the promises of God. It seems somewhat fitting that this glorious anthem was premiered publicly during the darkness of the pandemic, reminding us of the power of hope.

What to listen for:

• shifts between major and minor keys to emphasize struggle and hope
• extended orchestral interludes which are reminiscent of organ music

allusions to spirituals and hymns

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, Choral (1824), 74 minutes

Flutes, piccolo, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, contrabassoon, horns, trumpets, trombone, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, chorus, strings, solo soprano, solo alto, solo tenor, solo baritone

The GJSO last performed this symphony in 2008, Kirk Gustafson, conducting

Ludwig van Beethoven is one of the most famous and influential composers whose works are widely considered the transition from the formal classical period to the more emotional romantic era. His nine symphonies are a cornerstone of symphonic repertoire. Likewise, his piano sonatas and string quartets are standards of the form.

Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany in 1770. Like Mozart and Haydn, Beethoven showed musical ability at a young age. He came from a musical family, both his grandfather and father had been musicians. His father was his first teacher. Young Beethoven then studied with other musicians around Bonn, learning keyboard and string instruments. His father, Johann, was inspired by Leopold Mozart and tried to portray his son as a prodigy as well, sometimes even lying about the boy’s age. In 1787 Beethoven traveled to Vienna, hoping to meet Mozart. There is no record as to whether or not the two met. Beethoven had to cut his trip short after learning his mother was ill. She died shortly after he returned home. Soon after, his father fell into alcoholism, leaving Beethoven to care for his two younger brothers. 

On a subsequent trip to Vienna in 1790, Beethoven first met Haydn. Soon thereafter, Beethoven moved to Vienna permanently to begin studying with the master. Mozart and Haydn were early influences on Beethoven’s style. However, as Beethoven continued to compose, his style changed, moving his compositions beyond some of the constraints of the classical period. His later works were filled with Romantic ideals and more emotion. Beethoven struggled with hearing loss, financial troubles, family squabbles, and was unlucky in love, however, he was able to use this raw emotion to create some of the most passionate and well-loved musical compositions.

Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony has become part of popular culture; even people who are not very familiar with classical music recognize “Ode to Joy.” It has appeared in numerous movies and television shows, is the national anthem of Europe, and was played at the concert commemorating the fall of the Berlin Wall (with Leonard Bernstein notably changing the words from “Freude” (“Joy”) to “Freiheit” (“Freedom”). The symphony has also captured popular imagination because of Beethoven himself. By 1822 Beethoven was completely deaf and felt isolated from society. However, he was intent on writing one final work to cement his legacy. He had written in a journal five years previously, “Before my departure for the Elysian fields I must leave behind me what the Eternal Spirit has infused into my soul and bids me to complete.” Beethoven had long been inspired by a poem by Friedrich Schiller, which he had previously used in a cantata and his opera Fidelio. For the final movement of his final symphony, Beethoven chose to use it again, describing it as “the search for a way to express joy.”

At the premiere on May 7, 1824, Beethoven conducted, even though he couldn’t hear the music. His gestures were completely out of time and the orchestra and chorus instead followed the concertmaster. At the end of the performance, Beethoven couldn’t hear the applause and continued looking at the orchestra, until the mezzo-soprano soloist tapped his shoulder. He then turned and realized the audience was cheering. The response was remarkable, especially since the orchestra, a mix of amateurs and professionals, had only two rehearsals with messy, handwritten parts. However, that audience, like those of today, sensed the enormity of emotion within the work. The music is difficult for the orchestra and the chorus. The symphony is longer than any previous symphony. In a politically divided Europe that was recovering from wars and where governments were heavily censoring expression, Beethoven chose to celebrate the best of humanity. Maybe that’s why it still resonates with audiences. We can all use the buoyant hope and triumph that Beethoven so masterfully captured in his remarkable final symphony.

What to listen for:

Movement 1:

• ambiguous start with open intervals in the strings
• a weighty dotted rhythmic theme that grows in intensity
• brief solos passed through the orchestra
• dark and weighty ending using the dotted theme

Movement 2:

• dramatic string octaves with timpani
• technical fugue
• hymn-like lyrical section
• an obsessive and driving melody to the end

Movement 3:

• a short, upbeat introduction in the clarinets, bassoons, and low strings
• two lovely melodies that intertwine
• melodies grow and develop in complexity
• a sense of calm and peace after the unsettled first two movements

Movement 4:

• a sudden, horrendous noise
• quotes from each of the previous movements are introduced which are answered by the cellos and basses in a recitative-like melody
• finally, a new melody is briefly introduced in the woodwinds which is enthusiastically answered by the cellos and basses, followed by brass and percussion
• a huge chord before one of the most famous melodies in the world begins quietly in the basses
• more instruments join in the melody
• another dissonant chord leads to the introduction of the vocal solos
• “Ode to Joy” begins with the bass soloist and the orchestra, then the chorus joins in
• a vocal quartet version accompanied by the orchestra
• a march-like section featuring percussion and piccolo joined by the tenor soloist
• an orchestral interlude which the chorus then joins

glorious, ringing chords featuring the chorus