Brahms and the violinist Joseph Joachim, from whom he had

become estranged following Joachim’s divorce from his wife.

The two musical giants made peace with one another, and the

first performance took place on October 18,1887, with Joachim

and cellist Robert Hausmann as soloists and Brahms conducting the Giirzenich Orchestra of Cologne.

Brahms uses the traditional format for the concerto, that is,

three movements: fast, slow, fast. However, the first movement ranges freely and does not adhere strictly to the classical

sonata-allegro form. The second movement, marked Andante,

is a three-part song form, characterized by music critic Walter 

Niemann as “a great ballade, steeped in the rich, mysterious

tone of a northern evening atmosphere.” The finale (Vivace

non troppo) is a jocose and joyful rondo.

-Program notes by Elmer Booze

Concerts at the National Gallery ofArt

Under the Direction of George Manos

November 1998

29 Joao Carlos Martins, pianist

December

6 Nai-Yuan Hu, violinist

Nelson Padgett, pianist

J. S. Bach: Ten Preludes and

Fuguesfrom “The

Well-tempered

Clavier”

Mozart: Sonata, K 309

Sonata, K 330

Mozart: Sonata, K. 311

R. Strauss: 

Korngold:

Sonata, Op. 18

Much Ado about

Nothing, Op. 11

Mendelssohn: Sonata in FMajor

The use ofcameras orrecording equipment

during theperformance is not allowed.

Forthe convenience ofconcertgoers

the Garden Cafe remains open until 6:30p.m.

The Fifty-seventh Season of

THE WILLIAM NELSON CROMWELL and

E LAMMOT BELIN CONCERTS

National Gallery of Art

2286th Concert

NATIONAL GALLERY ORCHESTRA

GEORGE MANOS, conductor

CLAUDIA CHUDACOFF, violinist

MARCIO BOTELHO, cellist

Sunday Evening, November 22, 1998

Seven O’clock

West Building, West Garden Court

Admissionfree
PROGRAM

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Overture to “Don Giovanni”

(1756-1791) K. 527 (1786)

Mozart Symphony No. 35 in D Major (“Haffner”)

K. 385 (1782)

Allegro con spirito

Andante cantabile

Menuetto

Finale: Presto

INTERMISSION

Johannes Brahms Concerto for Violin, Cello, and Orchestra

(1833-1897) in A Minor, Opus 102 (1887)

Allegro

Andante

Vivace non troppo

Conductor, composer, and pianist George Manos has been

director ofmusic at the National Gallery ofArt and conductor of

the National Gallery Orchestra since 1985. A native Washingtonian, Manos’ career as a performing pianist and teacher has included several years on the faculty of Catholic University and

directorship ofthe Wilmington, Delaware, School ofMusic. Maestro Manos founded and directed for ten years the Killarney Bach

Festival in the Republic of Ireland, and was the music director

of the 1992 Kolding, Denmark, Scandinavian Music Festival.

Violinist Claudia Chudacoff, a graduate of the Eastman

School of Music, has performed regularly as concertmaster with

the National Gallery Orchestra since 1992. In addition to several solo appearances with the orchestra under George Manos,

she has also appeared with the Toledo Symphony, the Louisville

Ballet, the Ann Arbor Symphony, and the Chamber Orchestra of

the Unites States Marine Band.

Cellist Marcio Botelho graduated cum laude from the College Conservatory ofMusic ofthe University ofCincinnati, where

he studied cello with Peter Wiley, formerly of the Beaux Arts

Trio. He was also a student of Steven Doane at the Eastman

School of Music. In addition to performing as principal cellist

and soloist with the Gallery orchestra, Botelho is a member of

the Millbrook Orchestra in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, and

the Chamber Orchestra of the United States Marine Band.

Considered Mozart’s greatest opera, Don Giovanni premiered in

Prague on October 29, 1787. The Overture is purported to have

been written at the last minute, literally the night before the

dress rehearsal. Reportedly the parts were not copied in time

for that rehearsal and were sight-read at the performance. In a

radical departure from opera tradition, which dictates that the

important arias from each act are introduced in the overture,

Mozart used only themes from the last act, when Don Giovanni

encounters his fate in a dramatic flash of music and Fire.

The “Haffner”Symphony is a festive work, written in 1782 at the

behest of the mayor of Salzburg, Sigmund Haffner, who was to

be elevated to the nobility. From Mozart’s father came a letter

requesting a “serenade” for the festivity, to be immediately dispatched. The young Mozart dutifully sent the first movement,

with the proviso that two minuets, an Andante, a Finale, and possibly a march would ensue.

In March 1783, Mozart found himself in need of music for a concert of his own works to be given in Vienna. He remembered the

music used for the Haffner occasion, and re-used everything except

the march, now designated as K 408, No. 2, and one ofthe two minuets (the other is presumed lost). Although written in great haste,

this symphony has a solid formal infrastructure. As music critic

Mosco Carner witnessed: “It is a testimony to [Mozart’s] genius

that [the “Haffner”Symphony] contains not the slightest flaw. It is,

in fact, one of his most felicitous creations and, while light-hearted

and gay in spirit as becomes a serenade, it yet shows the consummate craftsmanship of his serious symphonic style.”

Writing a concerto for several solo instruments ofdifferent timbre {concertogrosso) was an accepted practice in the baroque era;

however, the same combination in the classical and romantic

periods was considered obsolete. Nevertheless, the few works

that were written in this genre during those periods are masterpieces: Mozart’s Flute andHarp Concerto; Beethoven’s Triple Concerto; and Brahms’ Concerto for Violin, Cello, and Orchestra. The

latter work functioned in part as an act ofreconciliation between