he refined and assembled some of those youthful sketches in two

suites, the first ofwhich is heard in this program.

Between 1804 and 1806 Beethoven produced some of his most

monumental and powerful works, including the “Eroka”Symphony,

the “Appassionata” Sonata, and the Fourth Piano Concerto. An inner

need for equilibrium may have inspired Beethoven, after he had

already completed two movements ofthe great CMinor Symphony,

to set that work aside and write a gentler and more lyrical work in

the key of B-flat major. Since the work was completed before the

other movements ofthe CMinorSymphony, it took its place in music

history as “Beethoven’s Fourth,” while the work in C minor became “Beethoven’s Fifth.”

Beethoven completed most of the work on the Fourth Symphony

while he was a guest at the summer castle of Prince Lichnowsky.

The location is now known as Opava and sits just south of the

Czech-Polish border. One of the other guests present at the time

was Count Franz von Oppersdorf, who maintained a private orchestra at his own estate. It is said that he was so determined to

have a full symphony orchestra on hand that he hired as domestic

servants only people who could play an orchestral instrument. The

count invited both Beethoven and Prince Lichnowsky to a return

visit at the Oppersdorf estate and commissioned this symphony

for the occasion. The Fourth Symphony was not finished in time for

those festivities, so Beethoven’s Second Symphony was performed

instead, under the composer’s direction.

-Program notes by Elmer Booze

The use of cameras or recording equipment

during the performance is not allowed.

For the convenience of concertgoers

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

The Fifty-eighth Season of

THE WILLIAM NELSON CROMWELL and

F. LAMMOT BELIN CONCERTS

National Gallery of Art

2311th Concert

NATIONAL GALLERY ORCHESTRA

GEORGE MANOS, conductor

Sunday Evening, 3 October 1999

Seven O’clock

West Building, West Garden Court

Admission free
PROGRAM

Carl Maria von Weber Overture to Der Freischutz

(1786-1826) (1817-1821)

Edward Elgar The Wand of Youth

(1857-1934) Opus la (1907)

Overture

Serenade

Minuet

Sun Dance

Fairy Pipers

Slumber Scene

Fairies and Giants

INTERMISSION

Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 4 in B-flat Major

(1770-1827) Opus 60 (1806)

Adagio; allegro vivace

Adagio

Minuet and Trio: Allegro vivace

Allegro ma non troppo

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 of

the American Music Festival and ofthe 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 Catholic University in Washington, DC, where he taught

piano, conducting, and chamber music. In addition, he held the

directorship ofthe Wilmington, Delaware, School of Music, where

he presented an annual jazz festival and clinic. Maestro Manos

founded and directed for ten years the renowned Killarney Bach 

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

the 1992 Scandinavian Music Festival in Folding, Denmark.

Der Freischiitz was the first German romantic opera of international renown and the first to take a place among the masterpieces

of opera in general. The overture opens with a peaceful introduction that calls to mind the forest in pleasant weather and full daylight, when it is a place of refuge and calm. Before long, the music

becomes agitated and the mystery and supernatural terror of the

forest become apparent. Weber’s forest is haunted by demons; one

sets foot in it at one’s peril. But the agitated music gives way to a

rapturous melody that represents Angela, the ingenue from the

opera. By this means Weber expresses his confidence in divine intervention and protection and finds the courage to end the overture with a victorious rout of the forces of evil.

Edward Elgar was the child of middle-class English parents who

were unable to provide him with the refined classical education

available to most of England’s other famous composers. Left to his 

own resources, young Edward taught himselfto play the piano and

the organ, as well as violin, viola, cello, and bassoon. He attended

services at both Roman Catholic and Anglican churches in Worcester, in order to gain exposure to as much sacred music as possible.

Eventually he was able to support himself as a musician, succeeding his father as organist at St. George’s Church in Worcester and

conducting a band made up of inmates and staff of the Worcester

County Lunatic Asylum. By the time he wrote the first Wand of

Youth Suite in 1907, Elgar’s reputation in England was securely established by the popularity of such works as the Enigma Variations

and the Pomp and Circumstance Marches. Realizing that the public

would expect a symphony from him, he began reviewing old

sketchbooks to find musical ideas that would help define his personality as a composer. On the way to finishing his first symphony,