On Friday I attended a concert given by the Orchestra and Chorus of the Welsh National Opera at St David’s Hall in Cardiff, with a theme on works connected with Napoleon, conducted by Lothar Koenigs.
They opened with Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture about Napoleon’s invasion of and eventual defeat by Russia (and the Russian winter). This work, like most of Tchaikovsky’s orchestral works is programmatic and tells the story of The French march into Russia and victory at Borodino, before finally succumbing to Russian resistance. Tchaikovsky used folk music as part of the melody and French victories are also signaled by the theme from The Marseillaise. This is a spectacular work, with tempo, dynamics and timbre all combining to portray this heroic moment in Russian history. The bells and timpani representing the ultimate victory over the French as the Russians captured French guns and turned them against Napoleon’s forces.
The second work was Schoenberg’s Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte, set to a text of the same name by Lord Byron. This works is scored for solo voice in sprechstimme (David Soar), piano (James Southall), and String Quartet (David Adams & Heather Badke-Hohmann, violins, Philip Heyman, viola and Rosie Biss, cello). This is an example of Schoenberg’s atonal twelve-tone serialism. This was an interesting piece following the look at Pierrot Lunaire, at the beginning of part two. The serial composition of this work is based on the ‘magic hexachord’.
Following the interval the orchestra returned to play Beethoven’s 3rd symphony, The Eroica. Beethoven originally intended this as a tribute to Napoleon, who he saw as a hero of the people. But when Napoleon became the tyrannical emperor, Beethoven changed his opinion and in a fit of rage ripped up the cover page. It was when the cover page was re-written that the work was given the subtitle ‘Eroica’. This symphony is pivotal in the development of the symphonic genre, as it moved the form forward, especially in the duration of the first two movements. The opening movement is in sonata form, which is then followed by a slow movement. The third movement is another example of the how this third symphony moved the symphonic form forward, as Beethoven called it a scherzo, moving on from the traditional minuet, which by this time was dated as a dance form. Haydn had previously used the term scherzo. For the finale Beethoven reworked his ballet The Creatures of Prometheus.
This was a very good concert, with the highlight for me being the 1812 Overture. I have always liked this work, but this was the first time I have seen a live performance of it, and it was wonderful. The Schoenberg piece was interesting and enjoyable, although not everyone around me was enamored by the serial nature of this work and the music of Beethoven is always for me an eyeopener when performed live.
The layout of the orchestra was interesting in this performance as the cello and viola sections were reversed from the normal layout of orchestras. This format was also repeated in the string quartet during the performance of Ode to Napoleon Buonoparte.
South Pacific
I also saw a performance of South Pacific at the Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay just over a week ago. This had some interesting musical points. The influence of jazz in the melodies and harmonies was in evidence, and the big band music, popular at the time Rogers and Hammerstein wrote the music is also an influence with a fairly large brass section, as was the tradition in these bands. Harp glissandos were another feature early on in the performance. It was also interesting how many tunes and songs are familiar from this musical.