The second movement (Allegretto scherzando) is a miraculous

undertaking for Beethoven, who pays homage to his friend Johannes 

Nepomuk Maelzel (1772-1838), the inventor of the metronome. The

theme, taken from one of his whimsical canons, mimics the ticking of

the metronome. Beethoven’s clever manipulation of this ticking sound

into a musical joke, even to the point of imitating a malfunctioning 

metronome at the end, produces one of his most vivacious pieces of

music.

The third movement (Tempo di menuetto), in ABA format, with its

interplay of wind instruments (two horns and clarinet) within its trio, is a

return on Beethoven’s part to an archaic form that had fallen out of

fashion. It is one of the factors cited by musicologists who note the

indebtedness ofthis work to eighteenth-century models.

The fourth movement (Finale: Allegro vivace) continues the jocund

quality ascribed to the symphony as a whole. It is best summed up by the

insightful remarks ofJosef Krips: “With its Olympian laughter, [the last

movement] brings the symphony to an epigrammatic close: it is an

inspired finale, absolutely true to the mood of all that has gone before

[it]. I have the feeling that these pages represent Beethoven’s last

cheerful moments, at any rate the last for orchestra, for in the succeeding 

symphony he plunged directly into the struggle of existence.”

Program notes by Elmer Booze

For the convenience ofconcertgoers,

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

The use ofcameras or recording equipment during

the performance is not allowed. Please be sure that cell

phones, pagers, and other electronic devices are turned off.

The Sixtieth Season of

THE WILLIAM NELSON CROMWELL and

F. LAMMOT BELIN CONCERTS

National Gallery of Art

I*

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9

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2417th Concert

NATIONAL GALLERY ORCHESTRA

GEORGE MANOS, conductor

Sunday Evening, 14 April 2002

Seven O'clock

West Building, West Garden Court

Admissionfree
PROGRAM

Jean Sibelius from Karelia Suite, Op. 11

(1865-1957) (1893)

Intermezzo

Alla Marcia

Alexander Borodin

(1833-1887)

In the Steppes ofCentral Asia

(1887)

Edvard Grieg

(1843-1907)

Lyric Suite, Op. 54

(1904)

Shepherd Boy

Norwegian Rustic March

Nocturne

March ofthe Dwarfs

INTERMISSION

Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 8 in F Major

(1770-1827) Op. 93 (1812)

Allegro vivace e con brio

Allegretto scherzando

Tempo di menuetto

Finale: Allegro vivace

Conductor, composer, and pianist George Manos has been director of

music at the National Gallery of Art and conductor of the National

Gallery Orchestra since 1985. He is also artistic director ofthe American

Music Festival and of the National Gallery vocal and chamber 

ensembles, which he founded. Manos’ career as a performing pianist and

teacher has included several years on the faculty of The Catholic 

University of America in Washington, DC, where he taught piano,

conducting, and chamber music. In addition, he held the directorship of

the Wilmington, Delaware, School of Music, presenting an annual jazz

festival and clinic. Maestro Manos founded and directed for ten years the

renowned Kilamey Bach Festival in the Republic of Ireland and was the

music director of the 1992 Scandinavian Music Festival in Kolding,

Denmark.

In 1893 students at the University of Viborg in the capital of Karelia,

then a part of Finland, scheduled a pageant relating to the history of the

region. Karelia had been split between Russia and Finland since the

fourteenth century, and in the nineteenth was considered a prime

candidate for annexation by the Russians. The pageant was seen as a way

to reinforce Finnish national sentiment in the region and safeguard it

against “Russianization.” Jean Sibelius was commissioned to compose a

work for the occasion. The resulting suite of three pieces is a shining

example of his gift for composing accessible music with tantalizing and

potent melodies. It captures the spirit of the Finnish people as they

celebrate their history and culture.

With a tonal palette not unlike that of the pictorial changes within a

kaleidoscope, Borodin’s In the Steppes of Central Asia represents the

quintessential musical tonal painting in miniature. Dedicated to Franz

Liszt (1811-1886), the work celebrates the twenty-fifth anniversary of

the coronation of Czar Alexander II by means of a picturesque musical

illustration of a moment from life in the far reaches of the empire. To

give authenticity to his efforts, Borodin made use of the laborious indepth research on the twelfth-century folk melodies of Central Asia that

he had undertaken prior to composing his opera Prince Igor. A

descriptive account of the music by Borodin prefaces his score: “In the
silence of the arid steppes of central Asia is heard the first refrain of a

peaceful Russian song. One also hears the melancholy sound of Oriental

music [as well as] the approaching steps of horses and camels. A

caravan, escorted by Russian soldiers, crosses the immense desert,

continuing untroubled on its long way under the protection ofthe warlike 

Russian guard. The caravan continues to advance. The Russian songs of

the regional people blend [within] the same harmonies. The refrains

[continue for] a long time and slowly fade away.” Borodin’s debt to his

colleagues Balakirev, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Mussorgsky is apparent,

but the instrumental texture and harmonic colors expressed in this work

set it apart. As the writer R. D. Darrell states: “Certainly empty space,

distant horizons, and the loneliness of travelers in a strange land never 

have been captured more economically, more vividly, or with more

[poignancy] than they are here.”

The ten sets ofLyric Pieces that Edvard Grieg composed for the piano

represent an expansion of his developmental years in writing for that 

instrument. Set Five (Lyrical Pieces, Op. 54), written in 1891, contains

six pieces and is considered by many pianists to be Grieg’s crowning 

achievement in the genre. The Austro-Hungarian conductor and Wagner 

specialist Anton Seidl (1850—1898) also regarded Op. 54 very highly and

orchestrated the first four pieces, substituting No. 6 (Bell Ringing) for

No. I (Shepherd Boy). Grieg, who was not totally displeased with Seidl’s

efforts, nevertheless found his arrangement too Wagnerian and

ponderous. After Seidl’s death, with the permission of his wife, the

soprano Auguste Kraus, Grieg reorchestrated the pieces with a more

Nordic flavor and reinstated Shepherd Boy as No. 1. Grieg’s ardent

involvement in the study and collecting of Norwegian folk songs and

dances shines forth in these four pieces, all of which are examples ofthe

rich legacy he unearthed. Shepherd Boy, with its bucolic atmosphere, is

scored for strings and harp only. It expresses an immediate feeling of

tenderness in a melancholy way that is quintessentially Nordic. Scored

for full orchestra, Norwegian Rustic March, with its divergent rhythms

and tonalities, relies heavily on the wind section. Nocturne is almost

impressionistic in its avian sounds, which are rendered in solos by the

flute and violin, providing an attractive and euphonic orchestration. The

final piece, March ofthe Dwarfs, according to writer C. B. Rees: “has its

wild and flamboyant theme interpolated by one of those lovely Griegian 

melodies [to] which only he—with the possible exception of a man like

Schubert—had the secret. In essence, it is simple, direct music—

beautiful music which best speaks for itself.”

Among the many irritating problems surrounding Ludwig van

Beethoven while composing his Symphony No. 8 in F Major, Op. 93, the

litigious argument he had with his younger brother, Nikolaus-Johann, 

kept him in an especially unhappy mood. Nikolaus-Johann’s

housekeeper and lover, Therese Obermayer, was the sister-in-law of a

physician to whom Nikolaus-Johann rented part of his house. NikolausJohann wanted Therese to move in with him before marriage, an idea

against which Beethoven fulminated, either on religious or jealous

grounds. The younger brother, however, won the argument by marrying 

Therese without Ludwig’s knowledge and against his wishes.

Acting almost as an apotheosis of the soul, the Eighth Symphony

exhibits a sunny disposition that belies the agony Beethoven suffered

while composing it. The celebrated Austrian conductor Josef Krips

(1902-1974) remarked, “The Eighth is the happiest of the happy

symphonies—the others are the Second, the Sixth, and the Seventh. One

mood of high good humor follows another throughout its length.”

A work of great magnitude, the symphony is sometimes analyzed as a

throwback to the eighteenth century. The remarkable first movement 

{Allegro vivace e con brio) boasts of having first and second themes that

are structurally proportionate rather than contrasting, as is usual in the

sonata-allegro form. The contrast, however, comes in the form of

instrumental settings (the first half of the principal theme is played by

the entire ensemble, while the second half is given to the wind

instruments), and a tempo change is introduced in the second theme. The

development consists of two parts: the first has three sections that are

sharply delineated, and the second presents devices of melodic

transformation, such as augmentation and diminution. Brimming with

activity, the entire segment blossoms steadily from a small ensemble

texture to a charismatic climax at the entrance ofthe recapitulation.