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Concerto Grosso in D Major, Op. 6 No. 4ARCHANGELO CORELLIb. Fusignano, Romagna, in the Papal States (now part of Italy), 17 February, 1653d. Rome, 8 January 1713

Unknown premiere in Rome in the late 17th/early 18th century. Collected as a set of 12 concertos in 1711 and published posthumously in 1714. (Approx. 9 minutes)

Archangelo Corelli represents probably the earliest standard composer in the orchestral canon, predating Bach by over 30 years. He lived and worked in Italy, studying in Bologna and finally working in Rome from sometime in his early 20s until his death. His published compositions include only 6 opus numbers, but his influence on composition and classical music is quite significant.

Corelli is especially credited with his influence on the development of the Sonata and the concerto grosso, an early predecessor of the popular solo concerto from the classical through modern eras. He also is credited with helping to establish the preeminence of the violin in music of the time. Corelli was a talented violinist, and not only wrote almost exclusively for the violin, but made his living performing as a renowned artist throughout his career.

This particular work comes from a set of 12 concerti grossi that Corelli collected at the end of his life. A concerto grosso is a work that highlights several soloists (the concertino group), backed by an ensemble of players called the ripieno. The music jumps back and forth between the soloists and the whole ensemble so that it creates much more the sense of a large group playing chamber music than a regular orchestra accompanying a more independent soloist. In fact, this music even pre-dates conductors, and would have been led by whoever was playing the solo first violin part.

This particular concerto grosso is shorter than most of the set, containing only four movements. It actually

follows a form that grew more popular in the time of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, where after a slow introduction, the first movement is fast, followed by a slow second movement, then a minuet or scherzo, and finally a fast finale.

Nulla in mundo pax sincera ANTONIO VIVALDIb. Venice, 4 March, 1678d. Vienna, 28 July, 1741

Written in 1739. (Approx. 13 minutes)

Like his older contemporary Corelli, Antonio Vivaldi was also a famous violinist-composer in his lifetime, and left a lasting influence on classical music well beyond just his own works. Most importantly, perhaps, was his influence on J.S. Bach, who lived at virtually the same time just 600 miles to the north. Though they never met, Bach studied Vivaldi’s works extensively, and it was Bach’s first biographer Forkel who asserted that it was Vivaldi who taught Bach to think musically.

Vivaldi is best known for his concertos, especially those for the violin, although there are hundreds of concertos for many instruments. He wrote these primarily for his all-female ensemble at the orphanage Ospedale della Pietà in Venice. He was the master of the violin there, and the girls at the orphanage were widely renowned for their incredible musical skill, and his concertos show their high technical ability. The most famous, of course, are his four violin concertos that comprise The Four Seasons.

In addition to his concertos, Vivaldi wrote many operas and a great deal of sacred music, of which this Motet is a part. Considered to be one of Vivaldi’s most beautiful solo motets, the title translates to “In this world, there is no honest peace,” and contrasts the imperfections of a world full of evil and sin with the true and pure peace found in Jesus. The piece’s concluding section is an extended Alleluia.

AMAZING ALLELUIASPROGRAM NOTESBy Erik Rohde © | Violin II, Illinois Symphony Orchestra | Music Director, Winona Symphony Orchestra | Director of Strings and Activities, Indiana State University

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Symphony No. 30 in C Major, ‘Alleluia’JOSEPH HAYDNb. Rohrau, Austria, 31 March, 1732d. Vienna, 31 May, 1809

Composed in 1765. Most likely premiered in the same year by the composer with the orchestra at Esterházy in Eisenstadt. (Approx. 12 minutes)

Franz Joseph Haydn is one of the phenomenal success stories of classical composers. Born in a relatively obscure corner of the Austro-Hungarian empire, his talent for singing was recognized early on and his parents secured musical training for him at the age of 6, sending him out of their house to a larger city. Two years later he became a chorister at St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, where he sang for the next nine years. Once his voice changed, he struggled to make a living teaching, performing, and by writing his earliest compositions. Finally, in 1761 he came into the employ of the wealthy Esterházy family, where he quickly became the leader of the musical establishment in their extensive familial collection of palaces and fortresses.

Working from the remote city of Eisenstadt, and later often from the even more remote summer palace Esterháza, Haydn developed a remarkable reputation, writing symphonies, operas, songs, and chamber music that were renowned the world over. By the end of his life he took two tours to London, discovered much to his surprise (and delight) that he was practically a superstar there. By the time he died he had made a small fortune, and was famous enough that when Napoleon invaded Vienna in 1809 he stationed two guards at his home so he could remain there at peace.

The Symphony No. 30 of Haydn was written about four years into his tenure working for the Esterházy family. The fact that he was cut off from the cultural mainstream of Vienna meant that Haydn had no nearby peer to influence his music, thus he claimed that he “was forced to become original.” This symphony is part of that process. Many of the mid-dle symphonies of Haydn are experimental – he was, after all, creating the genre itself. The unique twist of this symphony comes from the melodic inspiration for the piece, a snippet of a Gregorian chant that

TEXT AND TRANSLATION:Aria. Nulla in mundo pax sincera sine felle; pura et vera, dulcis Jesu, est in te.

Inter poenas et tormenta vivit anima contenta casti amoris sola spe.

Recitative. Blando colore oculos mundus decepit at occulto vulnere corda conficit; fugiamus ridentem, vitemus sequentem, nam delicias ostentado arte secura vellet ludendo superare.

Aria. Spirat anguis inter flores et colores explicando tegit fel. Sed occulto tactus ore homo demens in amore saepe lambit quasi mel.

Alleluia.

Aria. In this world there is no honest peace free from bitterness; true and pure peace, sweet Jesus. lies in Thee.

Amidst punishment and torment lives the contented soul, chaste love its only hope.

Recitative. This world deceives the eye by surface charms, but is corroded within by hidden wounds. Let us flee him who smiles, shun him who follows us, for by skillfully displaying its pleasures, this world overwhelms us by deceit.

Aria. The serpent’s hiss conceals its venom, as it uncoils itself among blossoms and beauty. But with a furtive touch of the lips, a man maddened by love will often kiss as if licking honey.

Alleluia.

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Haydn uses as motivic material for the whole first movement. The chant is the ‘Alleluia’ from the liturgy for Easter Sunday, a chant that Mozart would also borrow to use in a canon written just over 30 years later. You have to listen carefully – the ‘Alleluia’ is in the second violin part and the lower horn and oboe parts, the more decorated melody in the upper voices is one that Haydn added.

After the first movement based on the ‘Alleluia’ chant, Haydn’s second movement bears another hallmark of several of his symphonies, where he writes music to highlight one of the resident or guest musicians in the fine Esterházy court orchestra. Several of his symphonies have a movement or more dedicated to featuring whatever instrumentalists were in town at the time, and the soloist in this slow movement is the flute player. He chooses G Major as the key for this movement, most likely because it is a very favorable key on the flute. The symphony closes not with a fast finale, but with a “Tempo di Menuet,” recalling the courtly dance in three that was wildly popular in the late 18th century.

Exsultate, jubilateWOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZARTb. Salzburg, 27 January, 1756d. Vienna, 5 December, 1791Premiered by castrato Venanzio Rauzzini in the Church of San Antonio, Milan on January 16, 1773. (Approx. 17 minutes)

One of the more complicated relationships in musical history is that of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his father, Leopold Mozart. Himself a musician, Leopold recognized his son’s immense talent and both worked

to promote his son and also capitalize on his talent. How overbearing or helpful he was to his son remains debated, but one of the important contributions he made to his son and to his career was to take him on three huge European tours as a child. It was on these tours that Mozart displayed his dazzling skill as a pianist, virtuosity on the violin, and first spread his wings as a composer.

It was on the third (and last) such tour that Mozart embarked with his father at the age of 16 to head to Italy. Mozart was traveling to produce his opera Lucio Silla in Milan. The title role was being sung by the famous castrato Venanzio Rauzzini, whom the Mozarts had met in Vienna five years earlier. Wolfgang was overwhelmed by Rauzzini’s singing, declaring that “he sang like an angel.” In addition to the role written for him in Lucio Silla, Mozart composed Exsultate, jubilate to show off Rauzzini’s unique talents and strengths.

Mozart, not yet the mature composer of Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute, was nevertheless already a sensitive and brilliant composer of music for the voice. He also had a sharp talent for observing singers and writing music to show off their voices. Think of the soprano for whom the Queen of the Night aria was written to show off her voice! Exsultate, jubilate was tailored specifically to Rauzzini’s strengths, a vocal concerto that requires taste, sensitivity, and a bravura of technique for which Rauzzini was famous.

The piece is structured with a short, free recitative preceded by an orchestral introduction, followed by a set of Andante variations. The finale is the most famous, a virtuosic ‘Alleluia’ which has long been a favorite for singers and audience members alike!

AMAZING ALLELUIAS PROGRAM NOTES continued ...By Erik Rohde © | Violin II, Illinois Symphony Orchestra | Music Director, Winona Symphony Orchestra | Director of Strings and Activities, Indiana State University

Exsultate, jubilate,O vos animae beataeexsultate, jubilate,dulcia cantica canendo;cantui vestro respondendopsallant aethera cum me.Fulget amica dies,jam fugere et nubila et procellae; exortus est justis inexspectata quies. Undique obscura regnabat nox, surgite tandem laeti qui timuistis adhuc,et jucundi aurorae fortunatae.frondes dextera plena et lilia date. Tu virginum corona, tu nobis pacem dona, tu consolare affectus, unde suspirat cor.Alleluja.

Rejoice, be glad,O you blessed souls,Rejoice, be glad,Singing sweet songs;In response to your singingLet the heavens sing forth with me.The friendly day shines forth,both clouds and storms have fled now;for the righteous there has arisen an unexpected calm.Dark night reigned everywhere [before];you who feared till now,and joyful for this lucky dawngive garlands and lilies with full right hand.You, o crown of virgins,grant us peace,console our feelings,from which our hearts sigh.Alleluia

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