Program Notes
For full program, please click “View Full Program” below.
Corvallis-OSU Symphony Winter 2024 Concert
Extended Program Notes
German composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) is known as one of the pillars of Western classical music, and yet despite his prolific output, composed only one opera, Fidelio. Fidelio underwent numerous revisions over the course of a decade (1804-1814) due to dissatisfaction with the work from both the public and the composer. After the completion of the opera’s final revision, Beethoven declared that Fidelio was a “shipwreck” that had won him a “martyr’s crown” and vowed never to pen another opera.
Originally titled Leonore, Vienna’s Theater an der Wien insisted that Beethoven rename the opera before its 1805 premiere to avoid confusion with other operas bearing the same title. Lenore was rechristened Fidelio, much like the protagonist Leonore, who masquerades as a man named Fidelio as she endeavors to rescue her wrongfully imprisoned husband Florestan As Leonore searches for her husband, his captor Don Pizzaro torments and starves his prisoner, eventually planning to do away with him when he learns Florestan’s imprisonment may soon be discovered by the local minister. Leonore makes her way to Fidelio, and her rescue attempt is foiled, but when death and defeat appear imminent, the trumpet sounds, signaling the minister’s approach. Husband and wife are released, Pizzaro is arrested, and the opera ends with a joyful celebration of love and justice.
In addition to the challenges of writing and producing an opera, Beethoven struggled to compose a suitable overture, producing four different versions: Leonore Nos. 1, 2, and 3, and the final Fidelio overture of 1814. The first Leonore overture was included in a private preview of the opera before its official premiere, then was discarded along with other elements of the opera that Beethoven did not care for. This original overture was later conducted as a standalone work by Felix Mendelssohn. His sister Fanny Hensel Mendelssohn referred to this performance to another Mendelssohn sibling: “We have discovered an Overture to ‘Leonore’: a rare piece…Beethoven did not like it, and he put it aside. The man had no taste! It is as fine, as interesting, and as charming as anything I know.”
The second and third Leonore overtures were similar in that they both contained thematic material from the opera. When the opera – now renamed Fidelio, to avoid confusion with another opera titled Leonore – premiered (including the opera’s second overture), it was met with a poor reception and Beethoven’s aristocratic supporters encouraged him to rework the opera once again. He then composed his most successful version of the overture, what is known today as the Leonore Overture No. 3. Beethoven was pleased with this latest overture but decided that it was too grand and powerful to use as merely part of the performance, as he felt it might overshadow the opera itself. When Beethoven revised Fidelio for the final time, he wrote one last overture which is used when Fidelio is performed today.
This overture – a modified sonata-allegro form – opens with a stately and solemn introduction, evoking Florestan’s imprisonment, especially once the woodwinds quote Florestan’s prison aria. The violins then present the opera’s main theme which grows to a climax before before giving way to a quiet and lyrical secondary theme, played by the flutes and strings. As the piece progresses through the development section, the conflict and struggles of the characters can be heard in the dramatic dynamics and harmonic progressions. Finally, a trumpet sounds, heralding salvation and victory, and a lively coda mirrors the opera’s happy ending in which love and justice triumph.
Damien Geter is an acclaimed American composer who infuses classical music with various styles from the Black diaspora to create music that furthers the cause for social justice, as well as a celebrated bass-baritone whose varied credits include performances from the operatic stage to the television screen. He is Richmond Symphony’s Composer-in-Residence through 2026 and serves as Interim Music Director & Artistic Advisor at Portland Opera.
Geter’s rapidly growing and “invigoratingly fresh” (Opera Today) body of work (in 2022 alone, he had six premieres) includes chamber, vocal, orchestral, and full operatic works, with his compositions praised for their “skillful vocal writing” (Wall Street Journal). This season, the world premiere of Geter’s new major opera, Loving v. Virginia, concludes Virginia Opera’s 50th anniversary season. Based on the true story of Mildred and Richard Loving, the opera is co-commissioned by Virginia Opera and Richmond Symphony. Another new opera of Geter’s, Delta King’s Blues, commissioned by IN Series, will be workshopped in January 2025 and premiered later that year. His song, Amanirenas, commissioned by soprano Karen Slack for her African Queens art song program, tours at Washington Performing Arts, the Ravinia Festival, Aspen Music Festival, 92nd Street Y New York, the Nashville Symphony, and Friends of Chamber Music Denver. His newly commissioned song, Gentle lady, do not sing, is included on the Choral Scholars University College Dublin’s album, Music by James Joyce, Volume I (September 2024, Signum Classics).
As conductor this season, he leads Paul Moravec’s opera The Shining, based on Stephen King’s iconic novel, at Portland Opera, and Carmel Symphony Orchestra’s Opening Night Gala, America the Beautiful concert.
Future commissions include world premieres with the Richmond Symphony and Nathaniel Dett Chorale, plus a new operatic production at Portland Opera in 2026.
Called “superb” by The News Tribune, DC Theater Arts praises Geter’s “commanding presence and voice full of bass-baritone gravitas”. Last season, Geter portrayed the role of abolitionist and historian William Still to great critical acclaim in Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Paul Moravec’s oratorio Sanctuary Road, presented by Virginia Opera. He also joined Auburn Symphony Orchestra in Ralph Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony and Rembrandt Chamber Musicians in The Wayfarer’s Melodies: A Musical Journey, singing the John Ireland Songs of a Wayfarer cycle.
Geter is an alumnus of Austrian American Mozart Festival and Aspen Opera Center, was an Irma Cooper Vocal Competition finalist, and toured with American Spiritual Ensemble. He owns DG Music, Sans Fear Publishing. www.damiengetermusic.com.
Sinfonia Americana (2024) was commissioned and premiered by the Richmond Symphony. Rather than opening and closing with a bang, it begins and ends thoughtfully. There is a nobility to the sinfonia’s opening, and it’s “plain and inviting” description from the composer maintains a sense of simplicity reminiscent of Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, and William Grant Still. Always expansive, the music carries out a slow burn as it builds, and harmonic and melodic seconds are a recurring theme throughout the piece. The orchestra gradually moves from its plainspoken and earnest tone as its rhythms and textures intensify, and the churning, increasing energy grows into a powerful presence. Sixteenth note ostinatos contribute to the agitato atmosphere, until a climax is reached – quickly followed by a grand pause. The opening theme reappears softly, but this is just the eye of the storm; the rapid sixteenth notes resume but are accompanied by an underlying lyrical theme this time. The quick rhythms and relentless bass line drive the music forward, and it builds to a shattering climax that is once again followed by a hushed Adagio and the dramatic strike of a gong. The tempo picks up again briefly but then cools down and returns to the transparency and stillness of the opening. The beginning theme reappears once more, but more of a ghostlike whisper than the defiant fanfare from the development section. The music eventually drifts farther and farther away before concluding on a mysterious complex chord, leaving the music suspended in the air as the audience longs for more.
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906 – 1975) is known not only for his vast and diverse output of works, but for the relationship between his music and the government of his homeland, Soviet-era Russia. His Symphony No. 5 in D Minor, Op. 47 is one of the most frequently performed of his fifteen symphonies as well as one of the most discussed and debated compositions of the 20th century. Composed during the height of Stalin’s “Great Terror”, Shostakovich wrote this symphony to avoid being one of the artists who were arrested, exiled, or executed for their “anti-Soviet” art. After the Communist Party published an editorial attacking Shostakovich’s opera “Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District” for its dissonance, chaotic nature, and themes of sex, violence, and oppression, he composed his Symphony No. 5 to save both his career and his life. To Soviet authorities, the symphony appeared to embody their ideals as it employed very traditional and classical compositional harmonies and structures to portray a musical struggle ending in an uplifting finale. However, many scholars and musicians have questioned this interpretation, suggesting that the symphony conceals a hidden message of personal defiance, and irony.
The first movement, Moderato – Allegro non troppo, follows a traditional sonata-allegro form, and sets an atmosphere of gravitas and tension with its jagged and dramatic first theme. Bearing a resemblance to the ominous and dramatic openings of Beethoven’s fifth and ninth symphonies, this theme returns in various guises throughout the movement, and is a stark contrast to the languid second theme, which is a clear reference to the Habanera from George Bizet’s opera Carmen. The development builds in intensity to an intense climax which culminates in a powerful restatement of the opening motif.
The following movement, Allegretto, is approximately five minutes long – fleeting when compared to the lengthier duration of second movements from symphonies of that era. This scherzo in triple meter is buoyant and dance-like, but is full of biting harmonic shifts and jarring orchestration that that gives the music enough of a sarcastic and unsettled atmosphere to prevent it from feeling purely playful. There is a sense of the grotesque, which is reminiscent of Shostakovich’s earlier works, and its hybrid of sarcasm and charm seem Mahler-esque, whose works are marked with equal parts elegance and mockery.
The heart of the symphony rests in the deeply expressive third movement, Largo. Profound and full of emotional weight, the Largo reportedly brought audience members to tears during its premiere. Strings, harps, and woodwinds play long, arching phrases and stark, mournful harmonies and culminates in a passionate lament by clarinet, xylophone, and piano. Four horns are the only brass instruments included in the third movement’s orchestration; the greatly reduced brass highlights the different emotional tone of the Largo. The Largo has been compared to the panikhida, the Russian Orthodox requiem. The music conveys an overwhelming sense of grief, with its intense climax often described as one of the most devastating moments in Shostakovich’s entire symphonic output.
The symphony’s finale, Allegro non troppo, is the most controversial part of the symphony. A violent march, it seems to interrupt the sorrow of the third movement, with its driving rhythms and celebratory orchestration featuring prominent brass and percussion. With it’s blaring trumpets and militant percussion, this movement was interpreted as a “victory narrative”, aligning with their doctrine of struggle leading to triumph. The symphony was considered a great success, and Shostakovich was redeemed. However, Shostakovich had hidden a subversive musical quotation of one of his art songs within the fourth movement; once noticed, future critics and scholars have analyzed this symphony, wondering if Shostakovich’s true feelings about his government were reflected in this musical reference. The initial march theme has the same melodic contour as one of Shostakovich’s art songs, a setting of the poem “Rebirth” by Alexander Pushkin on regarding how an artist’s true vision can be hidden by external forces but will eventually shine through. The poem and song end with the artist triumphing over his persecutors, giving one cause to wonder if this symphony which outwardly appeared to be a sign of the composer’s subordinance really held a secret message of rebellion.
Program notes by Lauren Servias
