Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92, was given its 

premiere on 8 December 1813 in the hall of the University of Vienna

with the composer on the podium. The work was played at a time of

profoundly felt tragedy. The performance was to benefit the wounded

heroes of Bavaria and Austria who had fought against Napoleon in the

uprising at Hanau in 1813. In addition, Beethoven was already suffering

from the unrelenting advancement of deafness that allowed him to hear

only the loud passages he had written.

The four movements are strikingly rich in rhythmic diversity,

allowing the work to be enjoyed without programmatic references.

Beethoven’s orchestration is scintillating throughout the work, and by

itself is considered one of his rare accomplishments. The opening

movement (Poco sostenuto; vivace) begins with a slow, protracted

introduction that gives way to an exploding main theme of unrestrained

vitality. The second movement {Allegretto) is the epicenter of this

symphony. It encloses a restful and soulful processional of such

magnitude that during the symphony’s first and second performances the

frenetic enthusiasm of the audience demanded a repeat performance.

Writer Pitts Sanborn believes the movement to be “the most remarkable

pages in all [of] Beethoven.” He continues: “The movement has been

likened to a procession in the catacombs. But it has been likened as well

to the love dream of an odalisque [a female slave in a harem].” The third

movement {Presto; assai meno presto) is a scherzo with a contrasting

trio section. Its theme (twice repeated) is believed to be an extraction

from an Austrian hymn of pilgrimage. The finale {Allegro con brio) is

filled with exultation and effervescence and is unique, even for

Beethoven. Writer Steven Ledbetter joins the ranks of those who

consider this Beethoven’s finest finale when he says: “The

finale...belongs to this special Seventh-Symphony world, a world that

links particular keys, rhythmic energy, and orchestral sonority

with...musical drama and logic that are characteristic of Beethoven at his

best.”

Programs notes by Elmer Booze

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 Sixty-second Season of

THE WILLIAM NELSON CROMWELL and

F. LAMMOT BELIN CONCERTS

National Gallery of Art

2466th Concert

NATIONAL GALLERY ORCHESTRA

GEORGE MANOS, conductor

Presented in honor of the 25th anniversary of the East Building

of the National Gallery of Art

Sunday Evening, 5 October 2003

Seven O'clock

West Building, West Garden Court

Admission free
Program

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Symphony No. 25 in G Minor

(1756-1791) K. 183 (1773)

Allegro con brio

Andante

Menuetto and Trio

Allegro

Emmanuel Charbrier Suite pastorale

(1841-1894) (1888)

Idylle

Danse villageoise

Sous bois

Scherzo valse

Intermission

Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 7 in A Major

(1770-1827) Op. 92(1811-1812)

Poco sostenuto; vivace

Allegretto

Presto; assai meno presto

Allegro con brio

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 of the National Gallery vocal and chamber ensembles, which

he founded. Manos 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 Kilarney Bach

Festival in the Republic of Ireland and was the music director of the 1992

Scandinavian Music Festival in Folding, Denmark.

Program Notes

Written after his short stay in Vienna in the winter of 1773-1774,

Mozart’s Symphony No. 25 in G Minor, K. 183, introduced the element

of a minor key for the first time among his symphonies, a radical

departure for him. He did not use a minor key again until creating his

penultimate symphony, No. 40 in G Minor, K. 550 (1788). G minor was

linked by musical tradition with passion, and K. 183 is a decidedly

passionate work. Possessing great depth and fervor, it externalizes the

kaleidoscopic emotional range of a sensitive and precocious youth who

had not yet reached his eighteenth birthday.

A brilliantly written work, K. 183 was created neither on

commission nor to commemorate a special event—it is a musical essay

of a personal nature. It appears to be a reflection of Mozart’s reaction to

the Sturm und Drang period that engulfed the European music and art

world in his time. The American musicologist Alfred Einstein (1880-

1952) expressed the opinion of many musicologists when he stated that

this intrusion of a passionate personal expression into Mozart’s

symphonic works reflected suffering emanating “from the depths of

Mozart’s soul.”

Emmanuel Chabrier began his professional life as a civil servant

but turned to music as his full-time occupation in the late 1870s. The Dix

pieces pittoresques were the first works he released for publication, and

they earned him immediate recognition as a composer. Commenting on

some of the pieces as he heard them in concert, Cesar Franck (1822—

1890) remarked: “We have just heard something quite out of the

ordinary. This music is a bridge between our own times and those of

[Franyois] Couperin and [Jean-Philippe] Rameau.” A contemporary

English critic, Brice Morrison, maintained that Chabrier’s pieces were

“zigzagging recklessly between Schumann and Offenbach, yet

maintaining a peculiar individuality [with] their melodic directness and

pungent rhythms [that] are wonderfully fresh and immediate.”