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 of Art

Sixth Street and Constitution Avenue nw

Washington, DC

Mailing address

2000b South Club Drive

Landover, md 20785

www.nga.gov

The Sixty-seventh Season of

The William Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot Belin

Concerts

National Gallery of Art

2,727th Concert

The Alexandria Symphony Orchestra

Kim Allen Kluge, conductor

Alessandra Marc, soprano

May 3, 2009

Sunday Evening, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

Admissionfree
Program

Richard Wagner (1813-1883)

Overture to Tannhauser (1845)

Richard Strauss (1864-1949)

Vier Letzte Lieder (1948)

Friihling

September

INTERMISSION

Strauss

Vier Letzte Lieder

Beim Schlafengehen 

Im Abendrot

Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)

Symphony No. 5 (1888)

Andante; Allegro con anima

Andante cantabile, con alcuna licenza

Valse: allegro moderato

Andante maestoso; Allegro vivace

The Musicians

THE ALEXANDRIA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

The Alexandria Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1954 and has established a reputation for thematic and inter-arts programming that features a

mix of classical and contemporary music. The aso’s move in 2002 to the 

critically acclaimed Schlesinger Center established its reach and reputation

as one ofthe region’s leading arts institutions. Under the baton of Music

Director Kim Allen Kluge, the Symphony has distinguished itselfthrough

powerful performances marked by poetry and vision.

3
KIM ALLEN KLUGE

Kim Allen Kluge, the music director ofthe Alexandria Symphony Orchestra,

has made a lasting impression on audiences and critics alike through the

dramatic impact of his powerful conducting style. A popular and successful

guest conductor, his extensive accomplishments also include appearances

with the Baltimore Lyric Opera, the Boston Pops Orchestra, the Mannheim

Chamber Orchestra, the Sinfonietta de Paris, and Les Solistes Parisiens.

Throughout Kluge’s versatile career, he has worked as arranger, chamber

musician, chorus director, composer, concertmaster, concerto soloist, organist,

orchestral keyboardist, recitalist, singer, vocal coach, and wind player. He is

a valedictorian ofthe Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, where he served 

as concertmaster ofthe Oberlin Chamber Orchestra and received the coveted

Arthur Dann Award for Outstanding Pianist and the Pi Kappa Lambda

Scholarship for Musical Excellence. He pursued graduate studies in piano

and conducting from the University of Maryland and received a conducting

diploma from the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena. He participated

in the prestigious Tanglewood conducting program, where he studied with

Roger Norrington, Seiji Ozawa, and Simon Rattle. Maestro Kluge is widely

recognized throughout the region as an orchestra builder. Noting his accomplishments in this regard, the Washington Post said: “Kluge has fashioned an

ensemble with tremendous musical responsiveness, and every instrumental

group... bears the mark of his intelligence and drive.”

4

ALESSANDRA MARC

“Une etoile est nee (A Star Is Born),” headlined Le Figaro on the occasion of

Alessandra Marc’s Paris debut in 1992. The New Yorker proclaimed: “an instrument of unsurpassed beauty and impact and perhaps the richest, fullest,

most beautiful big soprano voice around.” A frequent guest ofthe world’s

leading opera houses and orchestras, she has collaborated with the most

eminent conductors of our time, including Daniel Barenboim, Sir Colin 

Davis, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Christoph Eschenbach, Lorin Maazel, Zubin

Mehta, Seiji Ozawa, Gerard Schwarz, and Sir Georg Solti. Marc collaborated

most frequently with the late Giuseppe Sinopoli, and she was called upon to

sing at his funeral mass in Rome in April 2001. Her Metropolitan Opera

debut saw her in the title role of Aida, which she has also sung at the Lyric

Opera of Chicago, the San Francisco Opera, and the Vienna State Opera. Of

her 2004 Metropolitan Opera performance as Turandot, the New York Times

reported: “She displayed burnished tone and enormous volume, especially

in climactic phrases that soar above the orchestra and chorus.” She repeated

the role in 2005 and 2006 in Lisbon, Barcelona, Florence, and Tokyo.

Alessandra Marc’s discography is equally impressive. Delos Records 

issued her first aria recital recording, American Diva, and her many releases

include four on the Teldec label: Schoenberg’s Erwartung, Berg’s Altenberg

Lieder and Lulu Suite, with Sinopoli and the Dresden Staatskapelle, and the

final scene of Richard Strauss’ Salome with the North German Radio Orchestra. This evening’s concert marks Alessandra Marc’s sixth appearance at the

National Gallery. Her debut recital at the Gallery occurred in January 1991,

and her second appearance came just two months later, when she stepped

in at the last minute for the ailing Arleen Auger to sing Richard Strauss’

Four Last Songs with the National Gallery Orchestra under George Manos.

The concert was a critically acclaimed triumph and a fitting observation of

the 50th anniversary ofthe founding of the Gallery and its 2,000th Sunday

concert, both ofwhich came together on March 17,1991.

5
Program Notes

The overture to Wagner’s Tannhauser is one of the most well-known ofthe 

opera repertoire and is frequently performed in concert, separately from the 

opera itself. Wagner drew from multiple sources for the plot of his opera

(Tannhauser und der Sangerkrieg aufWartburg, or “Tannhauser and the Singers’

Contest at Wartburg”), which was first produced in Dresden in 1845. He was

originally inspired to compose it while visiting the castle of Wartburg in

Thuringia in 1842. The overture tells the story ofTannhauser, the “minnesinger,” commencing with the song of the pilgrims, and moving into the 

magic spells ofthe “Venusberg,” which seduce the protagonist until we hear

the return ofthe pilgrim’s music. Wagner described the music as follows,

“This divine song represents to us the shout ofjoy at his release from the 

curse ofthe unholiness ofthe Venusberg. Thus all the pulses oflife palpitate

and leap for joy in this song of deliverance; and the two divided elements,

spirit and mind, God and nature, embrace each other in the holy uniting

Kiss of Love.”

Composed between 1946 and 1948, the Vier letzte Lieder of Richard

Strauss are presumed to be the last compositions he wrote. Not originally

intended as a song cycle per se, the songs were put in a specific order (different from the order in which they were composed), named, and premiered

posthumously in 1950. The sweeping melodies and rich harmonic textures 

ofthe songs represent the pinnacle ofthe composer’s abilities, both in his 

orchestration technique and his mastery ofthe lied. Touched by the poetry

of Hermann Hesse and Joseph von Eichendorff, Strauss seems to show a

peaceful acceptance ofthe inevitability ofhis own death in these songs, meditations on life, death and the transition from one to the other.

6

Friihling

In dammrigen Griiften 

traumte ich lang

von deinen Baumen und blauen

Liiften,

Von deinem Duft und Vogelsang.

Nun liegst du erschlossen

In GleiR und Zier

von Licht iibergossen

wie ein Wunder vor mir.

Du kennst mich wieder,

du lockst mich zart,

es zittert durch all meine Glieder 

deine selige Gegenwart!

-Hermann Hesse

September

Der Garten trauert,

kuhl sinkt in die Blumen der Regen.

Der Sommer schauert

still seinem Ende entgegen.

Golden tropft Blatt um Blatt

nieder vom hohen Akazienbaum.

Sommer lachelt erstaunt und matt

In den sterbenden Gartentraum.

Lange noch bei den Rosen

bleibt er stehn, sehnt sich nach Ruh.

Langsam tut er

die miidgeword’nen Augen zu.

-Hermann Hesse

Spring

In shadowy crypts

I dreamt long

of your trees and blue skies,

of your fragrance and birdsong.

Now you appear

in all your finery,

shining brilliantly 

like a miracle before me..

You recognize me, 

you entice me tenderly.

All my limbs tremble at

your blessed presence!

September

The garden is in mourning.

Cool rain seeps into the flowers.

Summertime shudders, still

quietly awaiting his end.

Golden leaf after leaf falls

from the tall acacia tree.

Summer smiles, astonished and 

feeble

at his dying dream of a garden.

For just a while he tarries 

beside the roses, yearning for repose.

Slowly he closes die

his weary eyes.

7
Beim Schlafengehen

Nun der Tag mich mild’ gemacht, 

soil mein sehnliches Verlangen

freundlich die gestirnte Nacht

wie ein miides Kind empfangen.

Hande, laflt von allem Tun,

Stirn, vergifl du alles Denlcen.

Alle meine Sinne nun

wollen sich in Schlummer senken.

Und die Seele, unbewacht, 

will in freien Fliigen schweben, 

um im Zauberkreis der Nacht

tief und tausendfach zu leben.

-Hermann Hesse

Going to Sleep

Now that I am wearied ofthe day,

1 will let the friendly, starry night

greet all my ardent desires 

like a sleepy child.

Hands, stop all your work.

Brow, forget all your thinking.

All my senses now

yearn to sink into slumber.

And my unfettered soul will in

wishes to soar up freely

into night’s magic sphere

to live there deeply and thousandfold.

Im Abendrot Evening

Wir sind durch Not und Freude We have gone through sorrow and

gegangen Hand in Hand;

vom Wandern ruhen wir

hand in hand;

Now we can rest from our wandering

nun iiberm stillen Land. above the quiet land.

Rings sich die Taler neigen,

es dunkelt schon die Luft.

Around us, the valleys bow;

the air is growing darker.

Zwei Lerchen nur noch steigen

nachtraumend in den Duft.

Just two skylarks soar upwards 

dreamily into the fragrant air.

Tritt her und laR sie schwirren, Come close to me, and let them

bald ist es Schlafenszeit. flutter.

Date wir uns nicht verirren Soon it will be time for sleep.

in dieser Einsamkeit. Let us not lose our way in dieser in

this solitude.

0 weiter, stiller Friede! 0 vast, tranquil peace,

So tiefim Abendrot. so deep at sunset!

Wie sind wir wandermiide— How weary we are ofwandering—

Ist dies etwa der Tod? Is this perhaps death?

-Joseph von Eichendorff

9
Tchaikovsky let more than a decade pass between the composition of his

fourth and fifth symphonies. During these years he took to revising earlier

works, such as his Second Symphony. He also used this time to experiment

with various other forms, such as his one and only Piano Trio, all of his

orchestral suites, a “symphonic poem in four parts" that he based on Byron’s

Manfred, but chose not to include in his symphonic cycle, and the Concert

Fantasy for piano and orchestra. In keeping with his idea (conceived during

the composition ofthe Fourth Symphony) that a symphony should have a

“program,” prior to writing his Fourth Symphony, he laid out in great detail, 

to his patroness and dear friend, Nahdezda von Meek, the programmatic

content ofthe piece. For tire fifth, he was not so open about it before the fact,

though it is evident that a single motifruns through all four movements. In

the 1950s a few sentences were found among his sketches that might explain 

his intentions of a theme for the fifth symphony. They read, “Introduction.

Complete resignation before Fate, or, which is the same, before the inscrutable

predestination of Providence. Allegro (1) Murmurs, doubts, plaints against

xxx. (2) Shall I throw myselfinto the embrace offaith???” The “xxx” presumably refers to Tchaikovsky’s only secret, his homosexuality, and the Fifth

Symphony represents his resignation to that aspect of his fate.

In the opening ofthe first movement, the motto theme, which will be 

heard throughout all four movements, is introduced immediately by the

clarinet, which gives way to the slow, march-like allegro. Tire second movement contains the emotionally heavy theme that was later borrowed by Andre

Kostelanetz in the song “Moon Love.” The “fate” motif appears in this movement, abruptly and powerfully, followed by a quiet, resigned ending. In the

third movement, a waltz based on an Italian song Tchaikovsky had heard as

a child, the appearance ofthe motifis more subdued, to accompany the general melancholy feeling ofthe movement. The finale, preceded by a majestic

introduction, turns into a celebration ofsounds, with variations on the motif

and a triumphal ending.

Program notes by Danielle DeSwert

Next Week at the National Gallery ofArt

Nancy Peery Marriott, soprano

David Chapman, pianist

Music by Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, and other composers

May 10, 2009

Sunday Evening, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court