PROGRAMME 

Gioachino Rossini Overture La gazza ladra

INTERVAL

R.Schumann Symphony No1 in B flat Major, Op.38 'Spring'

• I Andante un poco maestoso - Allegro molto vivace
• II Larghetto
• III Scherzo (Molto Vivace)
• IV Allegro animato e grazioso

Program Notes:

La gazza ladra (The Thieving Magpie) is a melodrama (or opera semiseria) in two acts by Gioachino Rossini. Our concert features the opera’s well known overture, famous for its use of snare drums. The work is based on a true story—a French servant girl was tried and executed for theft, but later the townspeople discovered a magpie was the real thief and, remorseful, they established an annual mass in her memory. However, the opera’s libretto, written by Biovanni Gherardini sees the heroine rescued at the last-minute. Rossini was famous for how quickly he could compose, and La gazza ladra was no exception. It was reported that Rossini composed the overture the day before the first performance—the producer locked Rossini in a room to encourage him to finish it. Apparently Rossini threw each completed sheet of music out of the window to his copyists, who wrote out the full orchestral parts.

Scheherazade is considered Rimsky-Korsakov's most popular work. Composed in 1888, itis a symphonic suite based on the ancient tales from the Arabian Nights. Thework combines two features common to Russian music, and of Rimsky-Korsakov inparticular: dazzling, colourful orchestration and an interest in the East,which figured greatly in the history of Imperial Russia. Rimsky-Korsakov hopedthat the listener should hear his work as an Oriental-themed symphonic musicthat evokes a sense of fairy-tale adventure.The first movement, The Sea and Sinbad's Ship, opens with two opposing themes: a stern and solemn tune dominated by the brass, and a sinuous violin melody introduced by a woodwind choir. The former is the stern sultan; the latter is Scheherazade, weaving her tales. Rimsky-Korsakov described the two themes, which wind throughout all movements of the work, as "purely musical material ... Appearing as they do each time under different moods, the self-same motives and themes correspond each time to different images, actions, and pictures." In this movement, the themes ebb and flow over a third rocking melody like the ocean's waves. 

‘Spring’ Symphony is the work filled with youthful happiness and impetuosity. On 23 January 1841, the ‘Spring’ Symphony was begun. The opening horn fanfare corresponds to the words of a poem by Adolph Böttger: ’O wende, wende deinen Lauf – im Tale blüht der Frühling auf’ (Oh turn back, turn back – in the valley Spring is blossoming). Originally, Schumann intended to give the four movements titles – ‘Spring’s Beginning’, ‘Evening’, ‘Merry Playmates’ and ‘The Fullness of Spring’ – although he removed them before publication. The premiere was a success, and the conductor was Felix Mendelssohn.