I attended the concert on Thursday, November 15th at the Arlington Music Hall for the Symphony Orchestra’s 2018-2019 season. It was a typical concert that I think would have been heard during the Nineteenth Century, except of course, not all the music from the program was Nineteenth Century music. The first piece was Divertimento in F Major, K. 138 composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791). The second piece, Brook Green Suite, was composed by Gustav Holst (1874-1934) which he had written in 1933 for the St. Paul’s Girls’ Junior Orchestra shortly before his death in 1934. Although this piece is not considered a Nineteenth Century piece, I think it is still important to mention because we covered Holst in class, and this piece was very beautiful and to me, seemingly intricate for a junior high school orchestra. Holst barely lived to see this performed, and I believe it was very dear to him.
The piece I want to focus on is Serenade for Strings in C major, Op. 48 composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) which was written in 1880. At first, Tchaikovsky considered a string quartet for the piece, then, a symphony orchestra, and finally settled on it best as a serenade. Tchaikovsky’s piece was performed right after the intermission, and it consists of 4 movements, which I have listed here.
- Pezzo in forma di sonatina — Andante non troppo; allegro moderato
- Tempo di Valse – Moderato
- Élégie: Larghetto elegiaco
- Finale (Tema russo) – Andante; allegro con spirito
The conductor for that evening, Robert Carter Austin, explained that Tchaikovsky wanted the first movement to be in sonatina form, which is similar to the classic sonata, despite being considerably shorter and lighter. Sonatina form was directly inspired by Mozart, one of Tchaikovsky’s idols, even though there was very little about the serenade that resembled Mozart’s work. It is actually very important to listen for the brilliance of Tchaikovsky’s work in this piece, which is easily missed by the untrained ear. Robert actually had the orchestra play the opening chorale for us, and then had the musicians turn to the end of the last movement and play a snippet of that as well. From that, it was much easier to notice how the movements came together.
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The fourth and final movement actually had drawn references from Russian folk music, and the strings imitate the sound as well. I think that this was Tchaikovsky’s way of adding a part of his own culture into his work, and he did so wonderfully. Nearing the end of the fourth movement, the piece got faster and more and more exuberant, building up to what seems to be the ending. Just as you would think the piece would come to a finale, Tchaikovsky takes you back to the very first movement — right back to the chorale I mentioned earlier, and ties everything together.
This was particularly noteworthy for me, and just so cleverly done. Tchaikovsky somehow takes four movements that contrast greatly in their music and ties them together at the end in an inconceivable way. I actually really liked this piece, more than I thought I would initially, especially after sitting through a few non-Nineteenth century pieces. I believe that the genre of music is still considered Romantic era, with distinctive, but slight, Russian themes, especially in this particular concert. I am almost certain this was the only cultural aspect, and I could not find any social or political themes that I could mention of.
After Tchaikovsky’s piece was performed, M. Austin announced that a bonus piece would be played: one of Frederic Chopin’s Op. 7 Mazurkas, out of a set of five. Despite not being given context to the piece, its lush instrumentation and slow tempo reminiscent of an old waltz reinforced Chopin’s style as emblematic of the Romantic era. Starting off with very deep and complex harmonies, the piece was short but an impressive finish to the concert. I wish I could say with conviction which Mazurka was performed, but I can say that I did meet with one of the viola players after the show, and they let me catch a snapshot of the piece they played, which I can include below.
I also had the pleasure of meeting the conductor at the end of the show, where we talked briefly about the 1812 Overture and its popularity versus The Nutcracker. All in all, I believe that it is quite important for music students and non music students to immerse themselves within the arts, especially activities that involve live experiences. Hearing a symphony perform on a Youtube video versus the physical act of being present in a music hall are two completely different experiences, and provide the individual with a better sense of understanding.
