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 

East Building after 6:30 pm is not permitted.

For the convenience of concertgoers, 

the Garden Cafe remains open for light refreshments

until 6:00 pm on Sundays.

Music Department

National Gallery ofArt

Sixth Street and Constitution Avenue nw

Washington, DC

unvw.nga.gov

cover: Karel Vitezslav Masek, Stary Hrosenov, 1889,

National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift ofthe Anne and Jacques Baruch Collection

The Seventieth Season of

The William Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot Belin

Concerts

National Gallery ofArt

2,845th Concert

Rome Trio 

Jody Gatwood, violin

Michael Mermagen, cello

Ivo Kaltchev, piano

Presented in connection with 

Mutual Inspirations 2011-Antonm Dvorak

September 18, 2011

Sunday, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

Admissionfree
Program

Josef Suk (1874-1935)

Elegie

Suk

Piano Trio in C Minor, op. 2

Allegro 

Andante

Vivace

INTERMISSION

Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904)

Piano Trio, op. 90, “Dumky”

Lento maestoso; allegro vivace, quasi doppio movimento

Poco adagio; vivace non troppo

Andante; vivace non troppo

Andante moderato (quasi tempo di marcia); allegretto scherzando

Allegro

Lento maestoso; vivace, quasi doppio movimento

This concert is made possible by support from the Embassy ofthe

Czech Republic.

The Musicians

JODY GATWOOD

A former pupil ofIvan Galamian and Paul Makanowitzky at the Juilliard and

Meadowmount schools ofmusic, Jody Gatwood is associate professor of

violin at the Catholic University ofAmerica. He also studied under Wilfred

Biel, Giorgio Ciompi, Josef Gingold, Robert Oppelt, and Sally Thomas. A

winner ofthe Kosciuszko Foundation’s Wieniawski Prize, Gatwood served

for four years in the White House Orchestra ofthe United States Marine

Band (“The President’s Own”). A critically acclaimed soloist in the United

States and Europe, Gatwood has performed under renowned conductors

Andre Previn and Leonard Slatkin, among others. As concertmaster ofthe

National Philharmonic Orchestra, he performed the world premieres of

Concertofor Violin and Strings by Andreas Makris and Self-Portrait with Mozart

by Joel Hoffman. As guest artist with the Smithsonian Chamber Players, 

Gatwood has recorded for Sony Classical and Deutsche Harmonia Mundi.

He was cited by Yehudi Menuhin as “an extraordinarily fine violinist and

musician” and was named Teacher ofthe Year in 1996 by the Maryland/DC

Chapter ofthe American String Teachers Association. Gatwood is also active

in organizing and performing “Concerts to End Hunger,” to awaken public

commitment to the eradication of hunger and malnutrition worldwide.

MICHAEL MERMAGEN

Cellist Michael Mermagen made his debut at age sixteen with the Baltimore

Symphony Orchestra, after receiving the symphony’s Young Soloist’s Award.

He has appeared in solo performances with the Juilliard Orchestra and the

National Orchestra of New York, where he also held the Emanuel Feuermann

principal cello chair. More recently he has played concertos with the Stockton,

California and Fairfax, Virginia symphony orchestras. An avid chamber

musician, Mermagen is currently a member ofthe Aspen Ensemble. He

also toured with the Arista Piano Trio (called “Artists to Watch” by Chamber

Music America), and with the American Chamber Players. A long-time

member ofthe artist faculty at the Aspen Music Festival, Mermagen has

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performed as principal cellist ofthe Aspen Chamber Symphony for twentythree consecutive summers. A pupil of Zara Nelsova and Stephen Kates, he

received a bachelor ofmusic degree from Peabody Conservatory and a master

ofmusic degree from the Juilliard School. Performing on a Nicola Gagliano

cello (Naples, 1774), Mermagen has appeared on American Public Media’s

Performance Today, Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion, wqxr’s

Concerts Plus, and wnyc’s Around New York. He is assistant professor of cello

at the Catholic University of America.

IVO KALTCHEV

Bosendorfer Concert Artist Ivo Kaltchev has enjoyed a successful performing

career as a recitalist, soloist with orchestras, chamber musician, and recording artist. He has performed at Alice Tully Hall; the Beijing Conservatory;

the Kennedy Center; the Library ofCongress; Philharmonic Hall in Saint

Petersburg; Recanati Auditorium in Tel Aviv; Salle Moliere in Lyon, France; 

the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow; and Warsaw Philharmonic Hall. 

He has been a guest artist at music festivals in Bulgaria, China, the Czech

Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Korea, Spain, and the United States. As

a chamber musician, Kaltchev has collaborated with Metropolitan Opera

soloists Sharon Christman and Patrick Carfizzi as well as with members

ofthe Boston Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic Orchestra,

National Symphony Orchestra, and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

Kaltchev holds degrees and diplomas from Yale and Rutgers universities,

Sofia Academy of Music, and the Liszt Hochschule fur Musik. Associate

professor of piano and chair ofthe Piano Division at the Catholic University

ofAmerica, Kaltchev is also a visiting piano professor at the Beijing Conservatory of Music and the Yale University School of Music, and codirector of

the Washington International Piano Festival.

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Festival

MUTUAL INSPIRATIONS 2011-ANTONIN DVORAK

This concert is one ofmore than thirty events in the festival “Mutual Inspirations 2011-Antomn Dvorak,” featuring concerts and narrative presentations

honoring the 170th anniversary ofthe composer’s birth and celebrating the

numerous ways in which his sojourn in America and the work ofhis students

influenced American culture. More information about the festival, which continues until October 28, 2011, may be found at www.mutualinspirations.org.

Program Notes

As the political climate in Europe changed in the second half ofthe nineteenth century, composers in non-German-speaking countries became

impatient with the domination of Richard Wagner (1813-1883) and the “New

German School” in the musical world. That period saw a dramatic increase

in musical nationalism, as composers infused their work with the folk music

and subject matter oftheir native lands. Famous nationalist composers

include the Norwegian Edvard Grieg (1843-1907), the Finn Jean Sibelius

(1865-1957), and the Russians Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881) and Nikolai 

Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908), known to their compatriots as the “mighty

handful.” The first nationalist composer in the Czech lands was Bedfich

Smetana (1824-1884), who is known today primarily for his operetta The

Bartered Bride and his symphonic poem The Moldau. Smetana’s prominence

as a Czech composer was eclipsed in the next generation by Antonin Dvorak 

(1841-1904), who remains today the most famous composer to hail from the

Czech lands. In addition to Dvorak’s beloved Piano Trio, op. 90 (“Dumky”),

this evening’s program also features two works by the composer’s pupil

Josef Suk (1875-1935).

A “dumka” was originally a lament in a folk-like style, usually sung in

Polish or Ukrainian. The genre was popular in this form in the early nineteenth century, but by Dvorak’s day the definition had changed to an introspective, melancholy instrumental piece that was considered to exude the

5
spirit of all Slavonic peoples. The nationalistic character of Dvorak’s “Dumky"

Trio, composed in 1891, is apparent in form as well as content: rather than

following the traditional Western three- or four-movement structure, it 

consists of a series ofsix “dumka” movements. These movements are not

cast into the traditional classical formal structures (such as sonata form,

minuet and trio, or rondo), but are free, rhapsodic forms, primarily in a slow 

tempo but occasionally relieved by faster sections in a contrasting mood.

True to the composer’s nationalistic compositional style, the melodies and

harmonies are inflected throughout with the sounds of Bohemian and

Slavonic folk music.

Josef Suk studied with Dvorak at the Prague Conservatory in 1891-1892,

right around the time that the elder composer wrote his "Dumky” Trio.

Dvorak considered Suk his favorite pupil, and their close relationship was 

reinforced when Suk married Dvorak’s daughter in 1898. Suk’s Piano Trio in

C Minor, op. 2, is a student work, first written in 1889 and revised in 1890-

1891. Unlike Dvorak’s trio, this work is in a traditional three-movement format,

with two fast movements in sonata form flanking a slow movement. The

expansive first movement features soaring melodies that return in a glorious

C major recapitulation, while the gentle second movement in E-flat major is

remarkably economic in its melodic materials, being based almost entirely

upon the melodic motive heard in the opening measures. The third movement opens with playful themes that belie the unexpectedly dramatic central

development section. Although influenced by the sounds ofthe Czech homeland, Suk’s music is not as obviously indebted to folk music as Dvorak’s;

however, his Elegie is undeniably nationalistic in that it draws its inspiration

from the Czech writer Julius Zeyser (1841-1901), an important literary

influence who helped shape much ofthe composer’s outlook on life. Suk

subtitled the work, “Under the Influence of Zeyer’s Vysehrad,” referring to

an epic poem published in 1880 that draws upon Czech mythology and celebrates Czech history. Composed in 1902, the Elegie was originally scored for 

a chamber ensemble ofsix strings, harmonium, and harp, but Suk rearranged

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it in the same year into the piano trio version heard on this evening7s concert. 

The piece features a slow, reflective melody colored by evocative harmonies,

which recurs throughout the work separated by brief, contrasting episodes.

Program notes by Andrew H. Weaver, associate professor and chair ofmusicology,

the Catholic University ofAmerica

Next week at the National Gallery ofArt

Harmonious Blacksmith

Kate Vetter Cain, soprano

Ole Hass, tenor

Italian arias and duets from Monteverdi to Haydn

Presented in honor of

Italian Master Drawingsfrom the

Wolfgang Ratjen Collection: 1525-1835

September 25, 2011

Sunday, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

National Gallery ofArt String Quartet

Music by Beethoven

October 2, 2011

Sunday, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court