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.

Music Department

National Gallery of Art

Sixth Street and Constitution Avenue nw

Washington, DC

wirw.nga.gov

cover: Franz Innocenz Josef Kobell, Trees with Dense Undergrowth, 1800/1820,

National Gallery ofArt, Wolfgang Ratjen Collection, Patrons’ Permanent Fund

The Sixty-ninth Season of

The William Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot Belin

Concerts

National Gallery ofArt

2,808th Concert

National Gallery ofArt Orchestra

Stephen Simon, guest conductor

Sara Daneshpour, pianist

Presented in honor of German Master Drawings

from the Wolfgang Ratjen Collection, 1580-2900

November 14, 2010

Sunday Evening, 6:30 pm

East Building Auditorium

Admissionfree
Program

Christian Cannabich (1731-1798)

Symphony no. 52 in E Major (c. 1775)

Allegro

Andante

Allegro non tanto

Wenzel Pichl (1741-1805)

Sinfonia in C Major (“Calliope”) (c. 1765)

Grave e maestoso; allegro molto

Andante (sempre piano)

Minuetto; Trio; Minuetto 

Finale: Allegro assai

INTERMISSION

Carl Stamitz (1745-1801)

Symphony in E-flat Major

Allegro con spirito 

Andante non moderato

Presto

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Piano Concerto no. 20 in D Minor, K. 466 (1785)

Allegro

Romanza

Rondo: Allegro assai

The Musicians

NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART 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 numbers, the Gallery orchestra eventually

reached the size and status of a large chamber 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’ Symphony no. 1 under the 

direction of Richard Bales; the 1990 premiere of Daniel Pinkham’s Symphony

no. 4 under George Manos; and the 2007 premiere ofJohn Musto’s Later

the Same Evening: An opera inspired byfive paintings ofEdward Hopper under

guest conductor Glen Cortese. In November 2009 the orchestra played the 

United States premiere performance of Violin Concerto by James Aikman, 

under the direction of guest conductor Vladimir Lande.

STEPHEN SIMON

By virtue oftwenty-five years ofmusical direction ofthe Handel Society of

New York and the Handel Festival at the John F. Kennedy Center for the 

Performing Arts, Stephen Simon has established his reputation as an expert

in the music of George Frederic Handel. From 1975 to 2000 he was the 

music director ofthe Washington Chamber Symphony, which served as the 

resident chamber orchestra at the Kennedy Center. His original compositions and insightful narration at concerts have delighted audiences young 

and old, as have his arrangements for orchestra offamiliar music from

other media. One such arrangement, Simon’s adaptation for full orchestra

and glass armonica of Music ofthe American Revolution by Richard Bales,

was included on the program when Simon was guest conductor ofthe

National Gallery Orchestra in April 2005.

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With his wife, Bonnie, Simon premiered the Stories in MusicTM

series at the Kennedy Center and the series of CD recordings Magic Maestro

Music/Kids, a division of Magic Maestro MusicTM. More information

about Stephen Simon and the Stories in MusicTM series can be found at 

www.magicmaestromusic.com.

SARA DANESHPOUR

Pianist Sara Daneshpour’s performances have earned high praise from

audiences and critics alike: “[Daneshpour] created transfixing poetry and... 

found delightful details in the passagework and incidents that other pianists

treat as routine” (Washington Post); “She delivered a powerhouse account

ofTchaikovsky’s Concerto no. 1, producing enough tone for two pianists in

the process” (Baltimore Sun); “Strength, finesse, passion...it was all there”

(San Jose Mercury News).

Daneshpour was the first prize, gold medal, and audience award winner

at the sixth International Russian Music Piano Competition in San Jose,

California; second prize winner ofthe 2007 William Kapell International

Piano Competition; and a medalist at Barcelona’s Maria Canals International

Piano Competition. She recently joined the roster ofAstral Artists as a winner ofits 2010 national auditions. In addition to frequent performances in

her native Washington, DC, she has appeared in Cleveland, New York, and

Philadelphia, as well as in Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, 

Japan, Russia, and Sweden. She has been received enthusiastically by

audiences at Carnegie Hall, the Great Hall ofthe Moscow Tchaikovsky 

Conservatory, and the Kennedy Center, and has played broadcast concerts

from the studios of National Public Radio and Boston’s classical music

station, wgbh.

A graduate ofthe Curtis Institute of Music where she studied with Leon

Fleisher, Sara Daneshpour currently studies with Oleg Volkov. She appears

at the National Gallery by arrangement with Astral Artists of Philadelphia,

Pennsylvania.

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Program Notes

Carl Stamitz and Christian Cannabich were both born in the city of Mannheim, Germany, which was ruled in the eighteenth century by princes ofthe

Wittelsbach family, who were electors in what was left by then ofthe Holy

Roman Empire. Both composers were sons ofmembers ofthe court orchestra in Mannheim, which in 1720 was already the largest court orchestra in

central Europe when Elector Charles ill Philip (1661-1742) moved the court

from Heidelberg to Mannheim. Charles 111 Philip’s successor, Charles iv

Theodore (1724-1799), shared his passion for music. He continued generous patronage ofthe Mannheim orchestra, founded a school ofmusic there

in 1777, and retained the services ofCannabich, Stamitz, and Franz Xaver

Richter (1709-1789) to conduct the orchestra and write music for it. Their

innovations in orchestral music were emulated by many other composers

in central Europe, including Leopold and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who

referred to that source ofideas as the “Mannheim School,” as did their

musical colleagues throughout Europe.

Charles iv Theodore founded several cultural institutions that attracted

scholars, scientists, poets, musicians, and artists. Under the influence of

Voltaire, who visited him in 1753 and 1758, he established the Academia

Theodoro Palatina in 1763 and promoted the foundation ofthe German

Society (1775) and the National Theater (1779). The Wittlesbach princes were

also patrons of art, assembling notable collections of drawings as they added

to a family collection that included works dating back to the sixteenth century. 

Charles iv Theodore established an academy of drawing in Mannheim in

1758 and an academy of art in Dusseldorffour years later. He provided a

gallery ofplaster copies of antiquities for the students ofthe academies to

study and allowed them access to the family’s collection of drawings. The

family collection ofgraphic art grew rapidly under his aegis, and by the 1770s

it was considered the most important in Europe. He also instituted scholarships for young artists to enable them to complete their training, especially

in Italy. Among the artists working for Charles iv Theodore were Johann

Matthaus van den Branden (1716-1788), Heinrich Carl Brandt (1724-1787),

5
Alessandro Galli-Bibiena (1687-c. 1769), Franz Anton Leydensdorff (1721-

1795), Nicolas de Pigage (1723-1796), and Giuseppe Quaglio (1747-1828), as

well as Franz Innocenz Josef Kobell (1749-1822), two ofwhose drawings are

included in the exhibition German Master Drawingsfrom the Wolfgang Ratjen

Collection, 1580-1900. The exhibition remains on view on the ground floor 

ofthe West Building until January 2, 2011.

In 1777 Charles iv Theodore inherited the right to rule the kingdom of

Bavaria, and he moved his court to Munich, taking the orchestra and the art

collection with him. Even after this move, the work ofthe artists whose works 

he had collected and the composers who worked for him retained the name

“Mannheim School.”

Wenzel Pichl was a bright star in the constellation ofmusicians who

worked for the court ofArchduke Ferdinand in Vienna in the 1780s and 1790s.

It is very likely that he made more than one guest appearance as violin soloist,

conductor, and/or composer with the court orchestra in Munich during

those years. Born in Tabor, in what is now the Czech Republic, and trained

in Prague, he enjoyed an illustrious career that included twenty years in Italy

as a much-sought-after composer and soloist with many orchestras. While

in Italy, he worked with two ofthe most celebrated composers ofthe time,

Luigi Cherubini (1760-1842) and Giovanni Battista Martini (1706-1784).

Early in his career, Pichl developed a fondness for writing works with

extra-musical allusions. The Sinfonia in C Major (“Calliope”) is one ofseveral

symphonies to which he gave the name of a classical Greek god or muse as

a subtitle. He also wrote symphonies dedicated to Apollo, Clio, Diana, Euterpe, 

Flora, Mars, Melpomene, Pallas, Polyhymnia, Saturnus, Terpsichore, Thalia,

and Uranie.

Program notes by Stephen Ackert, head ofthe music department, National

Gallery ofArt

6

Next Week at the National Gallery ofArt 

Quaver Viol Consort

Music by Cima

and other Renaissance composers

Presented in honor ofArcimboldo (1526-150)1,)

November 17, 2010

Wednesday, 12:10 pm

East Building Auditorium

Stephen Framil, cellist

Daniel Lau, pianist

Music by J. S. Bach, Paganini, Schubert,

and other composers

November 21, 2010

Sunday Evening, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court