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.

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

www.nga.gov

Concerts are made possible in part through the generosity of donors

to the National Gallery of Art through The Circle. Reserved seating is

available in recognition oftheir support. Please contact the development

office at (202) 842-6450 or circk@nga.gov for more information.

COVER: East Garden Court in the West Building ofthe

National Gallery ofArt © 2014, Photograph by Rob Shelley, National Gallery ofArt

The Seventy-second Season of

The William Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot Belin

Concerts

National Gallery of Art

3,000th Concert

Miceal O’Rourke, pianist

May 18, 2014

Sunday, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

Admissionfree
Historical Note

With tonight’s concert, the music program at the National Gallery ofArt

reaches a major milestone: the 3,000th in the series offree concerts that

have been presented, primarily in the Garden Courts ofthe West Building,

over the past seventy-two years. The first director ofthe National Gallery 

ofArt, David E. Finley, augmented the Gallery’s service to the public with

music shortly after the United States entered World War 11 in December

1941. He was inspired by reports he had received ofthe recitals presented

in 1940-1941 by the great English pianist Myra Hess, who entertained the

troops and the public with evening recitals at London’s National Gallery 

during the Blitz. By May 1942 Finley was ready to do for Washington what

Hess had done for London. He arranged for the Gallery to remain open until

10:00 pm on Sundays and for a performance by the Budapest String Quartet

to inaugurate the endeavor on May 31 ofthat year.

Concerts continued on a weekly basis throughout the summer of 1942,

played by an orchestral ensemble made up of members ofthe National

Symphony Orchestra. As the series continued, locally available soloists and

ensembles were engaged, some resident in Washington because oftheir

military service. Among the performers from the United States Armed Forces

who played at the Gallery during World War 11 and subsequently went on to 

international fame were cellists Bernard Greenhouse and Howard Mitchell;

organist Virgil Fox, who performed on the piano; pianists Gyorgy Sandor

and Earl Wild; violinist Oscar Shumsky; and violist Emanuel Vardi.

In 1943 Richard Bales was placed in charge ofmusic programs at the

Gallery. In the course of his forty-two year tenure, he organized 1,786 performances, some ofwhich contained his own compositions, and many ofwhich

were orchestra concerts that he conducted. Under Bales’ direction, the National 

Gallery ofArt Orchestra frequently presented first performances ofworks by

American composers, most notably the 1953 premiere of Charles Ives’ First

Symphony (which had waited fifty-one years to receive its first public hearing).

The concerts were broadcast live on radio station wgms from 1950 to 1992,

and each broadcast between 1950 and 1985 included an intermission feature

consisting ofrecorded commentary on the music by Bales and information

about current exhibitions at the Gallery.

From 1985 to 2003, concerts at the National Gallery were under the

direction of composer, conductor, and pianist George Manos. He added

three new formations to the Gallery’s roster ofresident ensembles: the

National Gallery of Art Vocal Ensemble, the National Gallery of Art String

Quartet, and the National Gallery ofArt Wind Quintet. He also initiated jazz 

concerts at the Gallery, inviting George Shearing, Dizzy Gillespie, and the

Modern Jazz Quartet, among many other jazz luminaries. On March 17,

1991, Manos had the honor of conducting the concert that was the culminating event in a day of celebrations ofthe Gallery’s fiftieth anniversary. That

concert, which included Beethoven’s Consecration ofthe House overture and

Richard Strauss’ Four Last Songs, was by sheer coincidence the 2,000th in

the gallery’s numbered series.

Since 2004 the concerts have been directed by Stephen Ackert, who was 

named head ofthe music department after seventeen years as the Gallery’s

music program specialist. He has continued the process ofincorporating

the work ofresident ensembles into the concerts, adding the National

Gallery of Art Chamber Players for early music and the National Gallery of

Art New Music Ensemble for contemporary music. Concerts in honor of

exhibitions and installations at the Gallery have become more numerous

during his tenure, now averaging approximately one third of each season’s

offerings. Ackert also collaborated in the creation and premiere performance

at the Gallery ofthree operas — Later the Same Evening: An opera inspired by

five paintings ofEdward Hopper by John Musto (2008); Max and Moritz: A

Cartoon Opera in Seven Pranks by Gisle Kverndokk (2010); and Supersize Girl,

also by Kverndokk (2013). Under Ackert’s guidance, the Gallery music department took the lead in a September 2012 city-wide celebration ofthe looth

birth anniversary of composer and printmaker John Cage. The five-day

festival, which began and ended with concerts at the Gallery and included an

exhibition ofCage prints from the Gallery’s permanent collection, proved to

be the most extensive and complete of all observations ofCage’s centenary.

The Gallery music department looks forward to growing with the institution as a whole as it moves toward its seventy-fifth anniversary in 2016.

3
Program

Baldassare Galuppi (1706-1785)

Sonata no. 5 in C Major

Andante

Allegro 

Allegro assai

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

Sonata in D Minor, op. 31, no. 2 (“The Tempest”) (1801-1802) 

Largo-Allegro

Adagio

Allegretto

John Field (1782-1837)

Nocturne no. 8 in E Minor (1818)

Chanson russe variee (c. 1818)

INTERMISSION

Gabriel Faure (1845-1924)

Nocturne no. 6 in D-jlat Major (1894)

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

Trois Estampes (1893)

Pagodes

La soiree dans Grenade

Jardins sous la pluie

Frederic Chopin (1810-1849)

Ballade no. 4 in F Minor (1842)

The Musician

Internationally regarded as the leading interpreter ofthe music of Dublinborn composer John Field (1782-1837), Irish pianist Miceal O’Rourke is

equally at home with the music of Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy, Faure, 

Mussorgsky, and Ravel. A graduate of University College, Dublin, O’Rourke 

pursued his musical studies in Antwerp and Paris, where he now lives. A student of pianist and Debussy pupil Marcel Ciampi, O’Rourke has appeared in

concert at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Great Hall ofthe Moscow

Conservatory, the National Concert Hall in Dublin, Philharmonia Hall in

Saint Petersburg, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Royal Festival Hall in London, 

Salle Pleyel in Paris, and Symphony Hall in Boston, as well as the John F.

Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He returns for the third time to

the Gallery, having previously performed with the National Gallery ofArt

String Quartet and in a multi-media presentation ofthe Debussy Preludes,

Book 1, narrated by Stephen Ackert.

O’Rourke’s most recent performances with orchestra include concertos

by Ravel, Mozart, and Rachmaninoffwith the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic,

Moscow Symphony, and National Symphony Orchestra ofIreland, respectively.

He has also played with the Boston Pops; the Istanbul, Moscow, and Saint

Petersburg symphony orchestras; and the Hong Kong, Moscow, Netherlands

Radio, and Slovak chamber orchestras.

O’Rourke’s command of a wide variety ofstyles is reflected in his extensive

discography on the Chandos label. His eight best-selling CDs featuring the

complete works ofJohn Field have won many awards, including the Classic 

CD Award (Great Britain), Disques de l’Annee of Le Monde de la Musique

(France), and Penguin Awards (Great Britain). Recipient ofthe 1994 Chopin

Medal from the Warsaw Frederic Chopin Society, O’Rourke has given master

classes at the Beijing and Nanjing Music Academies, Chopin Academy of

Music in Bialystok, Hong Kong College of Fine Arts, Royal Irish Academy of

Music, and the state music academies in Minsk, Riga, and Vilnius as well as

the Juilliard School of Music in New York.

5
Program Notes

Born on the island of Burano (outside Venice) in 1706, Baldassare Galuppi

was a prolific composer of opera and church music. His long period of

service to Saint Mark’s Cathedral in Venice was interrupted by two lengthy

periods abroad, first in England and then in Saint Petersburg, Russia, at the

invitation ofCatherine the Great. In his time he was held in even higher

esteem than his compatriot Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741). His special talent

was his ability to transfer the operatic bel canto idiom to the piano (a new

instrument at the time).

The first years ofthe nineteenth century were extremely difficult for

Ludwig van Beethoven. His deafness was reaching the point where conversation was becoming nearly impossible, forcing him to face the reality ofhis

isolation and inability to lead a normal life. He lamented his blighted hopes

for a cure and a normal future in the famous Heiligenstadt Testament, the

letter he wrote—but never sent—to his siblings and other family members.

Beethoven’s Piano Sonata no. 17 in D Minor, op. 31, no. 2, is usually referred

to as “The Tempest” (or Der Sturm in his native German), but it was not given 

this title by Beethoven or even referred to as such during his lifetime. The

name was given later by his friend and first biographer Anton Schindler—a

notorious fabricator—who also claimed that the stormy first movement ofthe

sonata was inspired by Beethoven's reading of Shakespeare’s play The Tempest.

Set in three movements, the “Tempest" sonata lives up to its moniker.

The first movement opens slowly—pianissimo with an arpeggiated chord

reminiscent ofthe introduction to an operatic recitative. The storm breaks

without warning, setting up a movement ofviolent contrasts in tempo and

dynamics. The tempo is repeatedly broken by a recurrence ofthe arpeggios

from the slow introduction. The second movement also opens with an

arpeggiated chord, but in this instance it is one of Beethoven’s most serene

utterances, especially the second theme, introduced after a gently rising

scale. Yet, despite the lyricism ofthe themes, there is a periodic ominous

rumbling accompaniment in the bass, which Beethoven at times echoes

high in the piano’s range. The Finale brings back the restless mood in a

6

dramatic rondo, but without the violent mood swings of the opening. Here

the arpeggios serve as the main accompanying figure throughout. The end

ofthe movement simply fades into the distance.

Irish pianist and composer John Field was bom in Dublin in 1782, the

son of a violinist, but moved with his family to London in 1793, perhaps

taking violin lessons from Haydn’s friend Johann Peter Salomon (1745-1815).

He became an apprentice ofthe virtuoso pianist and teacher Muzio dementi (1752-1832), appearing in a series of important London concerts, and

later touring widely. In 1802 Field went to Saint Petersburg, Russia, where

he became a fashionable teacher and performer, moving to Moscow in 1821.

In 1830 illness brought him again to London, but he eventually returned to

Moscow, where he died in 1837. Field has been credited with the invention of

the nocturne, a form later adopted and developed by Chopin. Although Field

wrote seven piano concertos and a series of chamber compositions for piano

and strings, his chief claim to fame lies in his eighteen nocturnes.

The manuscript of Field’s Nocturne in E Minor bears a footnote in French: 

“Saint Petersburg, Christmas Day, 1818... it’s snowing.” While snow at Christmas is normal in that part ofthe world, Field’s use ofthe minor mode perhaps

expresses nostalgia for a warmer place. The story behind Field’s Chanson

russe variee is that one of his pupils, Mikhail Glinka (1804-1857) complained

that he had been kept awake the night before his lesson by rowdy students

bawling out a popular tune. Field took note ofthe tune, refined the material,

and produced this charming set ofvariations.

Outstanding among Gabriel Faure’s solo piano works, Nocturne in D-jlat

Major is one ofthe finest in the genre up to that time and remains one of his

most popular pieces, a masterpiece ofthe piano repertoire. Written after a

creative gap often years, during which the composer lost both parents, it

features an opening theme that is initially serene and lovely, but which reveals

itselfto be a melancholy air accompanied by dark and imaginative harmonies.

Considerable tension is created in its exposition, after which two additional

themes appear in the livelier middle section, the latter theme dreamy and

auguring Debussy. Both themes are imaginatively developed, the former’s

dissonances heightening the sense of conflict.

7
In 1903 Claude Debussy published a set ofthree brief piano pieces that

he called Estampes. That title translates as “engravings” or “prints,” and the

notion of creating a visual impression through sound is central to these

quite different movements—each offers a different subject, and Debussy

presents each in a quite different musical style. The work also hints at 

Debussy’s lifelong preoccupation with the visual arts, his close friendships

with sculptors and painters, and (as is revealed in letters) his at least partially

serious regret over having chosen the life ofthe composer over that ofthe artist.

The three Estampes reflect several of Debussy’s enduring interests: the

musical traditions of Asia and Spain, depictions ofwater, and portrayals of

nocturnal scenes. In a letter to a friend, the composer referred to Estampes

as an imaginary vacation. Its first movement, Pagodes (Pagodas), appears

to have had its inspiration in the music ofthe Javanese gamelan ensembles

Debussy heard in Paris during the International Exposition in 1889. Unlike

many other French composers who used Asian sounds as mere exotic spice, 

Debussy was drawn to the non-Western musical scales and the melodic uses

of percussion.

Among the Debussy works most admired by the Spanish composer

Manuel de Falla (1876-1946), La soiree dans Grenade (Evening in Granada)

conjures Spanish music authentically without actually quoting folk material.

The inspiration for the piece may have come from Debussy’s compatriot

Maurice Ravel. Debussy had borrowed the score ofthe original two-piano

version of Ravel’s Habanera following its first performance in 1898, and paid

subtle tribute five years later by subtitling La soiree dans Grenade as “mouvement de Habanera.”

Jardins sous la pluie (Gardens in the Rain) has proven to be one of

Debussy’s most popular piano pieces, and has called forth a wealth offanciful interpretations—some listeners have actually invented a program for 

this short piece that has the sun breaking through the clouds at its close. It

references two French children’s songs, Dodo, I’enfant do (Sleep, Child, Sleep)

and Nous n’irons plus au bois (We’ll Go No More to the Woods). The latter

must have occupied a special place in Debussy’s heart, as it turns up in at

least two other compositions: the last ofthe three Images for piano and in

the last ofthe three orchestral Images.

One ofthe favorite idioms of nineteenth-century romantic poetry, the

ballade was an ideal medium for storytelling. Chopin was the first to use the

term as a title for a musical composition, and his ballades inspired Liszt and

Brahms among others to explore this form and compose ballades oftheir own.

Each ballade has its own unique form and tells its own story, and scholars

and critics have often sought Chopin’s extra-musical inspiration for his

works in this genre. Chopin, however, thought that the music itselfshould

tell the story, and discouraged any speculation about a possible political, 

dramatic, or literary basis for his ballades.

Coming from Chopin’s mature period—1835 to 1842 (when he was 

between twenty-five and thirty-two years old!)—his ballades were composed

in various parts of France and Spain. Many regard the Ballade in F Minor as

Chopin’s finest creation. Dedicated to Madame la Baronne Charlotte de 

Rothschild (1825-1899), it is the longest and most technically challenging of

the four Chopin Ballades. A briefintroduction leads to the waltz-like opening theme, marked Andante con moto, which gradually evolves into music

of extraordinary animation. The texture becomes increasingly rich and

polyphonically intricate as it progresses. There are incredible harmonic

modulations and effects, and the structure and its thematic developments

are complex and fascinating. A lilting second subject is swept into the

ballade, and the two themes alternate in an atmosphere ofincreasing

tension, leading to a grand climax and a brilliant close.

Program notes by Micedl O’Rourke

9
Upcoming Concerts at the National Gallery ofArt

Robin Verheyen, saxophonist and Marc Copland, pianist

Jazz concert

May 25, 2014

Sunday, 4:00 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

National Gallery ofArt Chamber Players

Music by composers from the Czech Republic,

Malta, Lithuania, and Slovenia

May 28, 2014

Wednesday, 12:10 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

Emmanuel Ceysson, harpist

Music by 19th-century French composers

Presented in honor of Degas/Cassatt

and in partnership with the

Cultural Service ofthe Embassy of France,

through a grant from safran

June 1, 2014

Sunday, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

United States Army Chorus and St. Alban’s School Chorale

Music by Virgil Thomson and other composers

June 5, 2014

Wednesday, 12:10 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

National Gallery ofArt Vocal Ensemble

Music by French composers

Presented in honor of Degas/Cassatt

and in partnership with the 

Cultural Service ofthe Embassy of France,

through a grant from safran

June 8, 2014

Sunday, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

Carmina

Music for vocal chamber ensemble

June 12, 2014

Wednesday, 12:10 pm

West Building, West Garden Court