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Cover Winslow Homer, Autumn (detail), 

1877, National Gallery ofArt, Washington,

Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

nga.gov/music

76TH SEASON OF CONCERTS

NOVEMBER 5, 2017 / NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Photo by Matt Dine

2

Program

Orpheus Chamber Orchestra

Laura Frautschi, violin

Eric Wyrick, violin

Alan Kay, clarinet

Frank Morelli, bassoon

Julie Landsman, French horn

NOVEMBER 5, 2017/3:30

WEST BUILDING, WEST GARDEN COURT

Jean Frangaix (1912-1997)

Octet for Clarinet, Horn, Bassoon, and Strings “A huh”

Moderate; Allegressimo

Scherzo

Andante; Adagio 

Mouvement de valse

Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

Octet in F Major, D. 803

Adagio; Allegro; Piii allegro

Adagio

Allegro vivace; Trio; Allegro vivace

Andante; Variations; Un poco piu mosso; Piu lento

Menuetto; Allegretto; "Frio; Menuetto; Coda

Andante molto; Allegro; Andante molto; Allegro molto
The Musicians

Orpheus Chamber Orchestra creates extraordinary musical experiences that enrich

lives and empower individuals through collaboration, innovation, and a passion

for artistic excellence. Orpheus strives to be the world’s premier chamber orchestra

by performing music at the highest level, challenging artistic boundaries, inspiring

the public to think and work with new perspectives, and building a broad and active

audience in New York City and around the world. A standard-bearer ofinnovation

and artistic excellence, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra is one ofthe world’s foremost

chamber orchestras. It was founded in 1972 by a group of like-minded young

musicians determined to combine the intimacy and warmth of a chamber ensemble

with the richness of an orchestra. With seventy-one albums, including the Grammy

Award-winning Shadow Dances: Stravinsky Miniatures, and forty-five commissioned

and premiered original works, Orpheus rotates musical leadership roles for each work 

and strives to perform diverse repertoire through collaboration and open dialogue.

Performing without a conductor, Orpheus presents an annual series at Carnegie

Hall and tours extensively to major national and international venues. The ensemble’s 2017-2018 series features pianist Andre Watts; Norwegian cellist Truls Mork

in his first appearance with Orpheus; classical trumpet soloist l ine Thing Helseth;

and violinist Lisa Batiashvili, also in her first appearance with Orpheus. As part of

Orpheus’s ongoing commissioning initiative, American Notes, two new pieces by 

Indian-American jazz pianist and composer Vijay Iyer and award-winning Chinese

composer Shuying Li also debut this season.

4

Program Notes

OCTET FOR CLARINET, HORN, BASSOON, AND STRINGS “A HUIT"

Jean Frangaix was born in 1912 in Le Mans, France, to a prominent musical family.

His father was a composer, pianist, historian, and director of the local conservatory,

and his mother was a voice instructor. Frangaix started composing early and quickly

came under the tutelage of Nadia Boulanger, one of the twentieth century’s most

important pedagogues in composition, with such notable students as Aaron Copland,

Quincy Jones, Elliott Carter, Philip Glass, and Astor Piazzolla.

Frangaix was a prolific composer and mastered many musical genres. He composed solo piano works, chamber music, concertos, symphonies, operas, and film

scores. In response to some critics’ treatment of him as a “lightweight composer,” he 

said in the 1970s: “I am always told that my works are easy. Whoever says that has

probably not played them.... I don’t have the impression my oratorio LApocalypse

selon Saint Jean is closely related to [Offenbach’s] Orphee aux Enfers. My works are not

considered as contemporary music, but I am not yet dead.” Frangaix composed until

his death in 1997.

Frangaix’s octet begins with a slow introduction that leads into a frisky theme

passed back and forth among the winds. It becomes faster with pizzicato strings,

gaining an almost cartoonish character. The scherzo ofthe second movement begins 

with a sparse texture and the listener is eventually led to the theme introduced by the

clarinet, with a new theme handed over to the horn. The clarinet and horn develop 

these themes with plenty of lively counterpoint, and the movement ends with a

slower coda, marked “reminiscenza.” T he Andante movement, in the spirit of a

lullaby, is quintessentially Frangaix, and shows his innate gift for a memorably simple 

tune with a slight suggestion of uncertainty. The finale begins with a call to attention

before sliding into a waltz. The octet, following a set of discords and some more

cartoonish scurrying, concludes with a compressed version of the call to attention

which opened this final movement.

5
OCTET IN F MAJOR, D. 803

Schubert’s Octet in F Major was commissioned by Count Ferdinand von Troyer,

chiefsteward to Emperor Leopold II s youngest brother, Archduke Rudolph, who was

Beethoven’s pupil. A keen and presumably highly skilled amateur clarinetist, Troyer

wanted a score related to Beethoven’s Septet for Winds and Strings, op. 20, which

had retained its popularity in its original version and in transcriptions throughout

the nineteenth century. Schubert satisfied the count’s commission in a number ofways

while also maintaining his own artistic voice. The instrumentation conformed largely

to Beethoven’s model—clarinet, horn, bassoon, violin, viola, cello, and double bass,

with Schubert adding a second violin. Also in keeping with Beethoven’s septet, it maintained the six-movement structure, which was based on the form of eighteenth-century

serenades. Mirroring Beethoven’s septet further are the slow introductions of both the

first and last movements and the juxtaposition of a nostalgic minuet and a scherzo, with 

a set of theme and variations in between.

Dotted rhythms play a major role in animating this work and are most prominently

employed in the opening movement’s Adagio. The Adagio of the second movement

was written with Count Troyer in mind. The horn, pushed to the maximum in the

opening movement, is then silent for the first forty bars; however, toward the end it 

joins in a chamber miniature—a trio with clarinet and bassoon—within the larger

chamber structure.

The third movement’s Allegro vivace takes us outdoors with a scherzo that relies 

heavily on a repeating motif in the style of hunting calls, and then in the following

movement, comes back inside to a Viennese cafe with a theme and variations—the

clarinet again center stage. The main theme of the concluding Allegro is preceded by 

a few measures of unexpected seriousness, a bit ofshock treatment amid all the joviality,

whereupon Schubert launches into a rhythmically tricky allegro. Before the very end,

the introductory call to attention is heard one final time, which undoubtedly provided

a bit of inspiration for Franyaix in his octet.

6

Upcoming Events ofthe SeventySixth Season of The William

Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot

Belin Concerts

Unless otherwise noted, all programs 

take place in the West Building,

West Garden Court.

The Crossing

With members ofICE

Music by Ted Flearne, David Lang,

and Caroline Shaw

November 12, 3:30

Mantra Percussion

Michael Gordon, Timber

Celebrating Jackson Pollock’s Mural

November 19, 3:30

LACE (Living Art Collective Ensemble)

Salon-style concerts with music by

Boccherini, Brillon, and Mozart

Celebrating Fragonard: The Fantasy Figures

November 24-25, 2:00 & 4:00

New York Opera Society

The Three Lives ofRosina Almaviva

Celebrating Fragonard: The Fantasy Figures

November 26, 3:30

Inna Faliks and Daniel Schlosberg

Gustav Mahler, Symphony no. 6,

arranged for piano, four-hands, 

by Alexander von Zemlinsky

December 3, 3:30

Caroling in the Rotunda 

December 9, 10, 16 & 17, 1:30 & 2:30

The Swiss-American Musical Society

Igor Stravinsky, The Soldier's Tale

Christophe Sturzenegger,

The Snow Queen

Christophe Sturzenegger, conductor

Robert Baker, narrator

December 10, 3:30

Turtle Island Quartet

With special guest Liz Carroll 

Winter's Eve

December 17, 4:00

Eclipse Chamber Orchestra

Traditional Viennese

New Year Concert

January 5, 2018, 3:00

East Building Auditorium

Harlem Symphony Orchestra

Amadi Azikiwe, conductor

January 7, 3:30

Juho Pohjonen, piano

January 14, 3:30

Piffaro, The Renaissance Band

Celebrating Vermeer and the Masters of

Genre Painting: Inspiration and Rivalry

January 21, 3:30

Sybarite5

Outliers

Celebrating Outliers andAmerican

VanguardArt

January 28, 3:30