For the convenience of concertgoers

the Garden Cafe remains open until 6:oo pm.

The use of cameras or recording equipment during the

performance is not allowed. Please be sure that cell phones,

pagers, and other electronic devices are turned off.

Please note that late entry or reentry of

the West Building after 6:30 pm is not permitted.

Music Department

National Gallery ofArt

Sixth Street and Constitution Avenue nw

Washington, DC

Mailing address

2000B South Club Drive

Landover, md 20785

ivuw.ngfl.gov

The Sixty-fifth Season of

The William Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot Belin

Concerts

“Sixty-five, but not retiring”

National Gallery of Art

2,589th Concert

National Gallery Orchestra

Robert Trory, guest conductor

Ann Schein, pianist

October 22, 2006

Sunday Evening, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

Admissionfree
Program

Jacques Ibert (1890-1962)

Hommage a Mozart (1956)

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

Piano Concerto no. 4 in G Major, op. 58 (1805-1806)

Allegro moderate

Andante con moto

Rondo (Vivace)

INTERMISSION

Richard Wagner (1813-1883)

Siegfried Idyll (1870)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Symphony no. 29 in A Major, K. 201 (1774)

Adagio-Allegro 

Andante con moto

Menuetto; trio

Allegro
The Musicians

NATIONAL GALLERY ORCHESTRA

The National Gallery Orchestra was founded in 1943 and initially consisted

of approximately twenty-five players drawn from the National Symphony

Orchestra. Gradually growing in number, the Gallery orchestra eventually

reached the size and status of a symphony orchestra. The ensemble has

undertaken the full range of chamber and symphonic repertoire and has

frequently presented first performances ofworks by American composers, most notably the 1953 premiere ofCharles Ives’s First Symphony under

the direction of Richard Bales and the 1990 premiere of Daniel Pinkham’s

Fourth Symphony under George Manos.

ROBERT TRORY

The National Gallery Orchestra welcomes as guest conductor Robert Trory,

who has been described in Musical Opinion magazine as “a born conductor.” Following a successful career as a violinist, Trory studied conducting

in Saint Petersburg with Ilya Musin. He made his conducting debut with

the Saint Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra and went on to lead performances ofthe London Mozart Players; the London Philharmonic Orchestra;

the Orchestra ofthe Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; the Philharmonia Orchestra; and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Outside the United

Kingdom, he has led the Hamilton (Ontario) Philharmonic Orchestra, the

Novosibirsk (Russia) Chamber Orchestra, the Omsk (Russia) Philharmonic

Orchestra, the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Trondheim

(Norway) Symphony Orchestra. His recordings of Dmitry Shostakovich’s

Chamber Symphony and Leos Janaceks Suitefor Strings with the Bayerischer

Rundfunk Orchestra are scheduled for release on the Guild label. Trory has

been the music director ofthe Orchestra of Saint Bartholomew in London

since its inception in 1998 and is director ofthe London Orchestras Series 

in Sydenham and Catford, England.

4

ANN SCHEIN

This concert marks the fiftieth anniversary of pianist Ann Schein’s first

performance at the National Gallery. On October 21,1956, in the context of a

music festival that celebrated the bicentennial of Mozart's birth, she performed his Piano Concerto no. 20 with the National Gallery Orchestra under

Richard Bales. This performance, along with her first recordings (for Kapp

Records) and her highly acclaimed Carnegie Hall debut, launched a career

that has included performances in the major American and European music

centers and more than fifty countries around the world, as well as five return

engagements at the Gallery. Among the many illustrious conductors with

whom she has worked are Sir Colin Davis, James DePriest, James Levine,

Seiji Ozawa, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, George Szell, and David Zinman. The

equally impressive list of orchestras with which she has performed includes

the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the bbc Symphony Orchestra, the

Cleveland Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Los Angeles

Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. In addition to her many performances, Schein gives master classes and lectures, and serves as an adjudicator in major music competitions. She has recorded for the Ivory Classics

and msr Classics labels.

5
Program Notes

Jacques Ibert’s Hommage a Mozart was commissioned in 1956 by the music 

department of Radiodiffusion, the French governmental radio station, in

honor ofthe bicentennial of Mozart's birth. It was Ibert’s last orchestral

work and the culmination ofthe composer’s lifelong emulation ofthe great 

Viennese genius. Like Mozart, Ibert was known for clarity ofform and lean 

textures in his music. He was also drawn to classical forms, such as the 

sonata and the rondo, ofwhich this briefwork is an extremely diverting (and

distinctively French) example. Written in neoclassical style, it is filled with

humor, lyrical melodies, and an obvious sense of high regard for the composer it honors.

Despite the distress caused by his increasing deafness, Beethoven produced numerous works during the decade between 1802 and 1811, including seven symphonies, five concertos, several large piano sonatas, and the 

opera Fidelio. The Piano Concerto no. 4 in G Major was the last in this genre 

that Beethoven wrote for himself as soloist. It was completed in 1806 and 

received its first performance in March 1807 in Vienna, at a private concert 

at the palace of Prince Loblcowitz. In his earlier concertos, Beethoven had 

followed the conventional classical concerto form perfected by Mozart, i.e.,

a grand sonata for soloist and orchestra, introduced by the orchestra alone.

The audience assembled by the prince was amazed to hear the gentle tones 

ofthe piano at the beginning, a surprising start that sets the tone for the 

pervading lyricism ofthe entire concerto. The second movement displays

another break with convention, as it is a remarkable dialogue between the

strings’ stern unison and the piano’s serene, choralelike theme. The effect of

the piano standing alooffrom the orchestra recalls the isolation experienced 

by the composer as he became aware of his increasing deafness. The marchlike Rondo is introduced in muted fashion by the strings, as from a distance.

The rollicking entrance ofthe piano confirms the transformation ofthe

mood from despair to gaiety.

6

Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll was never intended for the public. In its original 

form it was called the Tribschen Idyll, and it was first performed on Christmas Day 1870 in Wagner’s home ofTribschen, Switzerland, as a birthday 

gift for Cosima von Biilow, who would eventually become his wife. The 

fifteen-piece orchestra stole quietly into the house while Cosima was still

asleep and awakened her with the opening bars. Beginning softly, the music

unfolds into a fervent expression ofWagner’s love for her. Later the couple 

decided to rename the piece in honor oftheir youngest son, Siegfried, whose 

birth in June 1870 had inspired Wagner to write it.

In 1774 Leopold Mozart took his son to Vienna in the hope ofsecuring

an appointment at the royal court. Even though no appointment was forthcoming, Wolfgang Amadeus must have found himselfstimulated by Viennese musical life, since a number offine symphonies resulted from the visit,

including Symphony no. 29 in A Major. Having previously modeled his symphonies after those of earlier composers, in this work Mozart speaks with 

a voice of complete individuality. The first movement opens unassertively,

with a gentle sequential theme, but this is transformed as the wind instruments enter with music of power and passion. The same theme provides

the basis ofthe hectic finale, giving the work an unusual unity. Taken as a

whole, the symphony is among Mozart's tightest structures.