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The Philadelphia Orchestra

Yannick Nézet-Séguin ConductorRegula Mühlemann Soprano (Hanne)Werner Güra Tenor (Lukas)Matthew Rose Bass (Simon)Philadelphia Symphonic ChoirJoe Miller Director

Haydn The Seasons, H. XXI:3 I. Spring II. Summer

Intermission

III. Autumn IV. Winter

First complete Philadelphia Orchestra performancesDavyd Booth, harpsichord; Hai-Ye Ni, cello (11/16-17); Priscilla Lee, cello (11/18)

This program runs approximately 2 hours, 30 minutes.

These concerts are sponsored in part by ananonymous donor.

The November 18 concert is also sponsored by Mr. and Mrs. Peter Shaw.

Philadelphia Orchestra concerts are broadcast on WRTI 90.1 FM on Sunday afternoons at 1 PM. Visit www.wrti.org to listen live or for more details.

Season 2017-2018Thursday, November 16, at 7:30Friday, November 17, at 2:00Saturday, November 18, at 8:00

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The Philadelphia Orchestra is one of the preeminent orchestras in the world, renowned for its distinctive sound, desired for its keen ability to capture the hearts and imaginations of audiences, and admired for a legacy of imagination and innovation on and off the concert stage. The Orchestra is inspiring the future and transforming its rich tradition of achievement, sustaining the highest level of artistic quality, but also challenging—and exceeding—that level, by creating powerful musical experiences for audiences at home and around the world.Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s connection to the Orchestra’s musicians has been praised by both concertgoers and critics since his inaugural season in 2012. Under his leadership the Orchestra returned to recording, with two celebrated CDs on the prestigious Deutsche Grammophon label, continuing its history of recording success. The Orchestra also reaches thousands of listeners on the radio with weekly Sunday afternoon broadcasts on WRTI-FM.

Philadelphia is home and the Orchestra continues to discover new and inventive ways to nurture its relationship with its loyal patrons at its home in the Kimmel Center, and also with those who enjoy the Orchestra’s area performances at the Mann Center, Penn’s Landing, and other cultural, civic, and learning venues. The Orchestra maintains a strong commitment to collaborations with cultural and community organizations on a regional and national level, all of which create greater access and engagement with classical music as an art form.The Philadelphia Orchestra serves as a catalyst for cultural activity across Philadelphia’s many communities, building an offstage presence as strong as its onstage one. With Nézet-Séguin, a dedicated body of musicians, and one of the nation’s richest arts ecosystems, the Orchestra has launched its HEAR initiative, a portfolio of integrated initiatives that promotes Health, champions music Education, eliminates barriers to Accessing the orchestra, and maximizes

impact through Research. The Orchestra’s award-winning Collaborative Learning programs engage over 50,000 students, families, and community members through programs such as PlayINs, side-by-sides, PopUP concerts, free Neighborhood Concerts, School Concerts, and residency work in Philadelphia and abroad. Through concerts, tours, residencies, presentations, and recordings, The Philadelphia Orchestra is a global ambassador for Philadelphia and for the US. Having been the first American orchestra to perform in China, in 1973 at the request of President Nixon, the ensemble today boasts a new partnership with Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts and the Shanghai Oriental Art Centre, and in 2017 will be the first-ever Western orchestra to appear in Mongolia. The Orchestra annually performs at Carnegie Hall while also enjoying summer residencies in Saratoga Springs, NY, and Vail, CO. For more information on The Philadelphia Orchestra, please visit www.philorch.org.

The Philadelphia Orchestra

Jessica Griffin

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Music DirectorMusic Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin is now confirmed to lead The Philadelphia Orchestra through the 2025-26 season, an extraordinary and significant long-term commitment. Additionally, he becomes the third music director of the Metropolitan Opera beginning with the 2021-22 season, and from 2017-18 is music director designate. Yannick, who holds the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Chair, is an inspired leader of The Philadelphia Orchestra. His intensely collaborative style, deeply rooted musical curiosity, and boundless enthusiasm, paired with a fresh approach to orchestral programming, have been heralded by critics and audiences alike. The New York Times has called him “phenomenal,” adding that under his baton, “the ensemble, famous for its glowing strings and homogenous richness, has never sounded better.”

Yannick has established himself as a musical leader of the highest caliber and one of the most thrilling talents of his generation. He is in his 10th and final season as music director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic, and he has been artistic director and principal conductor of Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain since 2000. In summer 2017 he became an honorary member of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. He was also principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic from 2008 to 2014. He has made wildly successful appearances with the world’s most revered ensembles and has conducted critically acclaimed performances at many of the leading opera houses.

Yannick and Deutsche Grammophon (DG) enjoy a long-term collaboration. Under his leadership The Philadelphia Orchestra returned to recording with two CDs on that label. He continues fruitful recording relationships with the Rotterdam Philharmonic on DG, EMI Classics, and BIS Records; the London Philharmonic for the LPO label; and the Orchestre Métropolitain for ATMA Classique. In Yannick’s inaugural season The Philadelphia Orchestra returned to the radio airwaves, with weekly Sunday afternoon broadcasts on WRTI-FM.

A native of Montreal, Yannick studied piano, conducting, composition, and chamber music at Montreal’s Conservatory of Music and continued his studies with renowned conductor Carlo Maria Giulini; he also studied choral conducting with Joseph Flummerfelt at Westminster Choir College. Among Yannick’s honors are a appointment as Companion of the Order of Canada; Musical America’s 2016 Artist of the Year; Canada’s National Arts Centre Award; the Prix Denise-Pelletier; and honorary doctorates from the University of Quebec in Montreal, the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, and Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton, NJ.

To read Yannick’s full bio, please visit philorch.org/conductor.

Chris Lee

09.17 Bio.indd 4 8/29/17 1:47 PM

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SoloistSwiss soprano Regula Mühlemann makes her Philadelphia Orchestra debut with these performances. Other highlights of her 2017-18 season include a return to the Grand Théâtre de Genève for her role debut as Susanna in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, appearances in Naples at the Teatro San Carlo as Blonde in Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio, and Rosina in Mozart’s La finta semplice in Birmingham and at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. On the concert stage she sings Mozart’s Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots with the Munich Radio Orchestra at the Prinzregententheater; Mozart’s Mass in C minor in Winterthur and Fribourg, Switzerland, and at the KKL Luzern; and Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with the Staatskapelle Dresden led by Robin Ticciati. Ms. Mühlemann performs the program of her second recording, Cleopatra, in Munich and Ludwigsburg, Germany, and in Kufstein, Austria. She also appears as Marzelline in a concert version of Beethoven’s Fidelio with Giovanni Antonini and the Kammerorchester Basel, and as Papagena in Mozart’s The Magic Flute at the Festspielhause Baden-Baden conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Ms. Mühlemann has sung at the Zurich Opera House as Giannetta in Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love and at La Fenice in Venice as Despina in Mozart’s Così fan tutte. She has also performed at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden and the Berlin State Opera. She made her debut at the Salzburg Festival in 2012 and her house debut with the Grand Théâtre de Genève in the 2012-13 season. She is also a sought-after concert singer. She frequently performs in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Poland, and Italy, and she is a regular guest at the Lucerne Festival.

Raised in Lucerne, Ms. Mühlemann studied at that city’s School of Music with Barbara Locher. She made her movie debut singing Ännchen in the 2010 feature film Hunter’s Bride. The critically acclaimed movie, directed by Jens Neubert and featuring Daniel Harding conducting the London Symphony, is a film version of Weber’s Der Freischütz and is available on DVD. Ms. Mühlemann records exclusively for Sony Classical. Her debut recording of Mozart arias was released in October 2016; her second album, Cleopatra, was released in September 2017.

Shirley Suarez Padilla

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SoloistBorn in Munich, tenor Werner Güra received his musical training at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and completed his vocal studies with Kurt Widmer. After appearing as a guest at the opera houses of Frankfurt and Basel, he joined the ensemble of the Semperoper Dresden in 1995. He has also appeared on the stages of the Staatsoper Berlin, the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, the Opéra de Lille, La Monnaie in Brussels, the Opéra National de Paris, and at the Innsbruck Festival and in Baden-Baden. At this stage of his career, his focus is on symphonic works. He has sung on the important concert stages of Europe with ensembles including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the London and Berlin philharmonics, and the Vienna and BBC symphonies. He enjoyed frequent collaborations with the late Nikolaus Harnoncourt, under whose baton he appeared at the Vienna Musikverein, the Styriarte Festival in Austria, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and on tour in Japan.

Highlights of Mr. Güra’s 2017-18 season include recitals in Versailles, Ittingen, and Paris; concerts featuring works by Bach and Schumann in Helsinki; Mendelssohn´s Symphony No. 2 (“Lobgesang”) in Hamburg; Haydn’s The Creation and Handel’s Messiah with the Pittsburgh Symphony under Manfred Honeck; and Bach´s Christmas Oratorio under the baton of Philippe Jordan in Vienna. In the New Year he tours Germany with The Creation and performs Bach’s Mass in B minor at the Musikverein and St. Matthew Passion in Rotterdam. Further highlights include Berlioz´s Requiem in Hanover, as well as Beethoven´s Ninth Symphony and Bach Cantatas in Hamburg.

Mr. Güra, who is making his Philadelphia Orchestra debut, is an acclaimed Lieder interpreter and has given recitals at London’s Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw, Lincoln Center, the Musikverein, and at the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg. His first solo recording, Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin, was released by Harmonia Mundi in 2000. His solo recordings have received the Diapason d’Or and have been selected Editor’s Choice by Gramophone magazine. His Schubert recordings have won the BBC Music Magazine Award and the prestigious ECHO Klassik prize. Since 2009 Mr. Güra has taught at the Music Academy Zürich.

Marco B

orggreve

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SoloistBritish bass Matthew Rose made his Philadelphia Orchestra debut in 2015. He studied at the Curtis Institute of Music before becoming a member of the Young Artist program at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. In 2006 he made his debut at the Glyndebourne Festival as Bottom in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, for which he received the John Christie Award. He has since sung the role at La Scala, Covent Garden, the Opéra National de Lyon, Houston Grand Opera, and the Metropolitan Opera. This season he sings Oroveso in Bellini’s Norma and Colline in Puccini’s La bohème at the Met, and the Grand Inquisitor in Verdi’s Don Carlo at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Recent opera engagements include Baron Ochs in Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and Covent Garden; Raimondo in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor at the Royal Opera House; King Mark in Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde with the English National Opera; and Masetto and Leporello in Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Met.

In addition to these current performances, Mr. Rose’s concert engagements this season include Wagner’s Das Rheingold with the London Philharmonic and Vladimir Jurowski, and Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the Rotterdam Philharmonic and Richard Egarr. Mr. Rose has appeared with the London Symphony with Colin Davis, Daniel Harding, and Michael Tilson Thomas; the Los Angeles Philharmonic with Gustavo Dudamel; the Dresden Staatskapelle with Charles Mackerras; the BBC Symphony with Andrew Davis; and the Boston Symphony with Charles Dutoit. His recital appearances include the Brighton, Chester, and Cheltenham international festivals; the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam; London’s Wigmore Hall; and Carnegie Hall.

Mr. Rose is a critically acclaimed recording artist, appearing as Ratcliffe in the Grammy Award-winning recording of Britten’s Billy Budd with the London Symphony and Mr. Harding. His other recordings include Schubert’s Winterreise with pianist Gary Matthewman and Schwanengesang with pianist Malcolm Martineau on Stone Records, and Arias for Benucci with the ensemble Arcangelo conducted by Jonathan Cohen on Hyperion. During the 2017-18 season he is artist in residence at the National Opera Studio. He is also an advisory member of the Mahler Foundation.

Lena Kern

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ChorusThe Philadelphia Symphonic Choir made its debut in December 2016, performing in three programs with The Philadelphia Orchestra in its inaugural season, and returns this season for multiple appearances with the ensemble. Consisting of talented vocalists auditioned from throughout the greater Philadelphia region, the ensemble was created to marry gifted and unique voices of Philadelphia with the legendary Philadelphia Sound.

The Philadelphia Symphonic Choir is prepared and directed by Joe Miller, director of choral activities at Westminster Choir College of Rider University and artistic director for choral activities for the Spoleto Festival USA. He earned a master’s degree and a doctorate in choral conducting from the College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati and holds a bachelor’s degree in music education and voice from the University of Tennessee.

Pete Checchia

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Framing the ProgramFranz Joseph Haydn first fully realized the power and potential of the genre of the oratorio during his two extended residencies in England in the early 1790s. He was astounded by performances of Handel oratorios he heard there, which made him revere the Baroque master and opened the door to wanting to write his own oratorios. First came The Creation in 1798, with a text adapted from the Bible and Milton’s Paradise Lost by Baron Gottfried van Swieten, a diplomat in Vienna. After the enormous success that work enjoyed, Haydn and van Swieten teamed up a few years later for The Seasons.The Seasons shows Haydn’s enduring freshness even at the end of his long career as he approached age 70. The libretto is drawn from a lengthy text by the Scottish poet James Thomson (1700-48). In addition to the magnificent choral writing there are three vocal soloists: Simon (bass), Lukas (tenor), and Hanne (soprano). The four seasons unfold as the oratorio begins with the turn to Spring and progresses through Summer, Autumn, and Winter. Along the way there are sunrises and sunsets, a thundering storm, woodland creatures, and marvelous sounds of nature as well as harvests, hunts, and drinking songs.

Parallel Events1801HaydnThe Seasons

MusicBeethovenSymphony No. 2LiteratureChateaubriandAtalaArtGoyaThe Two MajasHistoryFulton produces first submarine

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The MusicThe Seasons

Franz Joseph HaydnBorn in Rohrau, Lower Austria, March 31, 1732Died in Vienna, May 31, 1809

“I know no subject more elevating, more amusing, more ready to awake the poetical enthusiasm, the philosophical reflection, and the moral sentiment, than the works of Nature,” wrote the Scottish poet James Thomson (1700-48) in the preface to his gigantic poem The Seasons (publ. 1726-30). “Where can we meet with such variety, such beauty, such magnificence? All that enlarges and transports the soul!” The story of Haydn’s Seasons begins with the history of Thomson’s cycle of poems bearing the same title, a paean to nature and the Creator that became one of the most popular works of the 18th century—and that remains required reading for many an English schoolchild. Cast as an instructive moral treatise (a literary tradition that embraces not only Milton’s Paradise Lost but also many older texts, including the Book of Job), the poem had, by the second half of the century, appeared in several languages.

A Second Collaboration It was probably in Lessing’s German version that the work became a favorite of Baron Gottfried van Swieten, the Dutch nobleman who was the Imperial Court Librarian in Vienna during Haydn’s day. Van Swieten recognized that the instructive character of The Seasons made it a “natural” for a large, oratorio-like setting—since the oratorio, too, was a genre that concerned itself with religious themes and obvious moral lessons. Granted, the Baron had less specifically moralistic motives when he set about to adapt Thomson’s poem into a libretto for Haydn in 1798: In fact he was primarily intent on repeating the unprecedented success of his previous collaboration with the composer, The Creation, for which he had fashioned a libretto that—although it has received little praise from posterity—contained vivid imagery and tidy verse patterns that suited Haydn’s concept of a variegated musical setting.

The Creation, first performed at the Schwarzenberg Palace in Vienna in April 1798, had become perhaps the greatest single success in Haydn’s career. The composer was hardly averse to producing another such success, but he was plainly unenthusiastic about devoting some years more effort to a “celebration of nature.” The composition of The Creation had taxed the sexagenarian sorely,

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and The Seasons was to prove an even greater strain. Furthermore, Haydn found the whole idea of setting to music “programmatic” depictions of animals and streams and thunderstorms in very low taste; it took all of van Swieten’s entrepreneurial fervor to convince him to take part in the project at all. But the Baron knew of the deep influence that performances of Handel’s oratorios in London and Vienna had had on Haydn (“he is the master of us all,” Haydn had said), and he used this knowledge to aid his persuasion.

A Challenging Libretto Van Swieten’s first task was to gather bits and pieces of Thomson’s poem and to fashion them into recitatives, arias, ensembles, and choruses of varying verse patterns. As Thomson’s poem ran some 200 pages in print, and was set in unvarying decasyllabics throughout (10-syllable lines), a heavy adaptation was clearly in order. Not content merely to excerpt and paraphrase in his usual free-wheeling manner, the Baron brought in other texts as well, including two songs from contemporary Singspiel texts (Nos. 38 and 40). And while it seemed inevitable that Thomson’s poor masterpiece would suffer abuse in the Baron’s rough hands, this time the result was so problematic that even Haydn complained—at times loudly.

Relations between composer and librettist were strained during the entire collaboration. Haydn protested, for example, against having to set to music the croaking of frogs and the chirping of crickets (No. 20). “This Frenchified confection was forced upon me,” he was later to say—despite the fact that for many listeners these “confections” count among the work’s most delightful passages. In a sense, the reputation of The Seasons has continued to suffer from the composer’s own early criticisms of it. Yet the fantastic variety and inventiveness of the score makes even his quibbling seem irrelevant.

A Synthesis of Styles Creates a Great Success It was fitting that Haydn should have composed The Seasons during the first years of a new century, for this greatest of all “secular oratorios,” completed in 1801, belongs to a wholly different world than that of the composer’s “Surprise” Symphony or even his Op. 76 string quartets. The Seasons achieves its stature partly through Haydn’s wise, leisurely synthesis of many of the 18th-century trends that he himself had spent the last half-century assimilating: the vigorous intricacies of the Classic symphonic style, the rigid designs of the post-Handel oratorio, the limpid and often exaggerated tragedy of the

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Italian opera, and the bucolic strains of the Singspiel, or German comic opera. The Seasons is Haydn’s Falstaff: Like Verdi’s final opera, composed at age 79, Haydn’s piece is a savvy, bemused gathering-up of a long, rich life’s worth of musical experience. It remains a source of infinite delight.

For the first time in his life Haydn had time to reflect on music past and present, and he had the leisure to take on any project that suited his fancy. Having been granted a well-earned semi-retirement from his arduous lifelong duties as Kapellmeister for the Esterházy family at its court in northeastern Hungary, he had moved to Vienna in the mid-1790s and reveled in a sort of new-found artistic freedom. His two London visits of the previous years had left their mark upon him, and the English influence in the two late oratorios is not to be underestimated. The success of The Seasons at its first performance at the Schwarzenberg Palace on April 24, 1801, brought the composer immense satisfaction, and perhaps even more so the large-scale presentations in May at Vienna’s Redoutensaal, from which Haydn netted a very large sum of money. “Silent reverence, amazement, and loud enthusiasm alternated for the powerful appearance of colossal visions,” wrote the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung of the work’s first performances, “the immeasurable abundance of splendid ideas surprised and overwhelmed even the boldest expectations.”

The Seasons resembles a Singspiel as much as it does an oratorio—with rustic melodies sung by simple characters who seem to have stepped right off the stage of the folk theater of the day. (Strictly speaking, in fact, an oratorio is based on a sacred or specifically biblical text; van Swieten’s libretto could only very loosely be described as “religious.”) Many listeners might hear similarities to Mozart’s The Magic Flute, but the formulas that most remind us of that work were pervasive in German-language comic opera of the late 18th century. Van Swieten’s three “characters,” for example—which to some extent parallel the three archangels in The Creation—exhibit features of archetypes of the folk theater: the boisterously pious farmer Simon; his playful daughter, Hanne; and her impetuous young suitor, Lukas. Needless to say none of this has parallel in Thomson’s poem. Gone, too, are most of the poet’s philosophical reflections on man’s role in the divine life cycles of the cosmos. (The closest van Swieten comes to such musings is Simon’s last aria, No. 42, where the seasons of nature are compared to the stages of human life.)

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A Closer Look Each of the four parts of Haydn’s setting begins with a moody orchestral introduction; these four short pieces count among the finest moments in the cycle. The opening of the work depicts the gloom of winter before it is cast out by “noble spring.” Listen carefully to the effectiveness with which the initial unisons depict darkness and chaos, in much the same way that a unison had opened the “Chaos” segment of The Creation: the unison as the absence of harmony, as vacuum. In matters of economy, Haydn is an underrated master. More than any other composer of the period, he knew how to use the smallest of means to the greatest effect.

The gentle strains of the first chorus (No. 2) praising spring are interrupted only briefly by a passage in minor key, when the male voices warn not to rejoice too soon—for winter can sneak back and surprise us. Simon’s famous aria (No. 4) depicts the plowman’s joy at the first planting, which he expresses by whistling a merry tune, at which point the winds sound the theme from the “Surprise” Symphony. (In the world of The Seasons, even the farmers know Haydn’s music.) No. 6 is a vibrant chorus of praise to the heavens, with strikingly apt counterpoint that recalls Handel. The “O wie lieblich” chorus (No. 8), which moves with deliberate abruptness into the “Ewiger, mächtiger” chorus, is one of the composer’s inspired moments, and includes some of his most subtle text painting—hopping lambs, swarming bees, and fluttering birds.

“Summer” begins with the misty malaise of a warm dawn, and with Simon’s aria (No. 11) building the suspense toward a dazzling “sunrise” chorus (No. 12). Lukas’s lazy Cavatina (No. 15) makes us feel the paralyzing heat of midday, which finds relief in Hanne’s aria “Welche Labung” (No. 16), describing the cool of a shady grove. The “storm chorus” (No. 19) begins with a sharply descending flute arpeggio, whose “peal” strongly suggests the first strike of lightning, as the thunderstorm releases its fury. The storm subsides, and man and beast again join to celebrate nature (No. 20); this chorus contains the depictions of frogs and crickets that Haydn so deplored, but they are so tastefully and gently executed that one is hard-pressed to complain about bad taste or lack of subtlety.

Some of the more “rustic” portions of The Seasons are found in “Autumn,” and its naively lyrical introduction sets the tone for this. No. 25 is a folksy love duet that brings to mind Mozart’s Papageno; its assertion of the superiority of “love in the country” is also typical of the Singspiel of the day. The famous “hunt scene” begins with Simon’s

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aria (No. 27), in which the bassoon seems to represent the hunting dogs finding the scent, and culminates in the rousing hunting chorus (No. 29), featuring the bellow of the hounds and the loud ring of hunting horns. Needless to say, neither hare nor stag is a match for the triumphant hunters and their trusty hounds. “Autumn” culminates in a celebration of the new wine of the season (No. 31), which is imbibed generously by everyone.

The C-minor adagio introduction to “Winter” suggests the cold mists that signal the beginning of this darkest of seasons. Hanne’s Cavatina (No. 34) foreshadows the despair that can seize the heart in winter, and Lukas’s aria (No. 36) tells the story of a lonely traveler lost in the snow. In van Swieten’s telling of the story, at the very moment that the weary man has lost hope in the white darkness that envelops him, he spots a country inn and is saved from an icy death. In Thomson’s original “Winter,” however, the poor wretch suffers quite a different fate:

What black despair, what horror fills his heart,When, for the dusky spot which Fancy feign’dHis tufted cottage rising through the snow, He meets the roughness of the middle waste,Far from the track and blest abode of man;While round him night resistless closes fast,And every tempest, howling o’er his head,Renders the savage wilderness more wild! ...

His wife, his children, and his friends unseen.In vain for him th’ officious wife preparesThe fire fair-blazing and the vestment warm;In vain his little children, peeping outInto the mingling storm, demand their sire,With tears of artless innocence. Alas!Nor wife, nor children, more shall he behold,Nor friends, nor sacred home. On every nerve The deadly Winter seizes; shuts up sense;And, o’er his inmost vitals creeping cold,Lays him along the snows, a stiffen’d corse,Stretch’d out, and bleaching in the northern blast.

The superiority of Thomson’s startling verse over van Swieten’s saccharine adaptation is striking; the latter’s “happy ending,” in fact, seems downright cheap. But poetry doth not a libretto make, and Haydn makes do with his material, turning the second half of this aria into a joyous stretto finale. “Winter” closes with the activities inside the inn: first a “spinning song” (No. 38), with German words that sound vaguely like spinning wheels

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(“Knurre, schnurre, knurre”), then Hanne’s picaresque and humorous ballad (No. 40), which describes how a peasant girl outwits and humiliates an arrogant nobleman. Simon’s aria “Wo sind sie nun” (No. 42) sums up—briefly but with delicate lyricism—the central “message” of The Seasons: Just as the blossoming of spring, the greening of summer, and the harvest of autumn must give way to icy winter, so must man’s life end. Only virtue remains, spurring mankind onward in a cycle of renewal and rebirth that is reflected in the seasons themselves. The final chorus (No. 44), as thrilling as any one of Beethoven’s finales, closes with one of the most intricate and carefully paced fugues of the Classical era.

The scholar Donald Francis Tovey argues that if Haydn had become too well-acquainted with Thomson’s poem he would never have wanted to set van Swieten’s hodge-podge—and the world would be without this magnificent oratorio. True or not, an awareness of the difference between original and adaptation can at least help us to appreciate Haydn’s well-documented frustration at what he deemed philistinism on the part of his librettist. Ironically, it seems that this very tension between collaborators was absolutely necessary in producing a work of such grand design and vision.

—Paul J. Horsley

Program note © 2017. All rights reserved. Program note may not be reprinted without written permission from The Philadelphia Orchestra Association.

Haydn composed The Seasons from 1799 to 1801.

The first, and only other, Philadelphia Orchestra performances of the work were in September 1994, led by Wolfgang Sawallisch with soprano Ruth Ziesak, tenor Herbert Lippert, bass René Pape, and the Philadelphia Singers Chorale. Three of the numbers were omitted, so these current concerts mark the Orchestra’s first complete performances of the work.

The score calls for two flutes (II doubling piccolo), two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, contrabassoon, two horns, two piccolo trumpets, three trombones, timpani, percussion (tambourine, triangle), harpsichord, strings, in addition to soprano, tenor, and bass vocal soloists and mixed chorus.

The Seasons runs approximately 2 hours, 15 minutes.

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Musical TermsGENERAL TERMSAria: An accompanied solo song (often in ternary form), usually in an opera or oratorioArpeggio: A broken chord (with notes played in succession instead of together)Cadence: The conclusion to a phrase, movement, or piece based on a recognizable melodic formula, harmonic progression, or dissonance resolutionCavatina: A song, particularly a short aria without da capoChord: The simultaneous sounding of three or more tonesCounterpoint: A term that describes the combination of simultaneously sounding musical linesDa capo: Repeated from the beginningDiatonic: Melody or harmony drawn primarily from the tones of the major or minor scaleDissonance: A combination of two or more tones requiring resolutionFugue: A piece of music in which a short melody is stated by one voice and then imitated by the other voices in succession, reappearing throughout the entire piece in all the voices at different places

H.: Abbreviation for Hoboken, the chronological list of all the works of Haydn made by Anthony van HobokenHarmonic: Pertaining to chords and to the theory and practice of harmonyHarmony: The combination of simultaneously sounded musical notes to produce chords and chord progressionsLegato: Smooth, even, without any break between notesMeter: The symmetrical grouping of musical rhythmsOp.: Abbreviation for opus, a term used to indicate the chronological position of a composition within a composer’s output. Opus numbers are not always reliable because they are often applied in the order of publication rather than composition.Oratorio: Large-scale dramatic composition originating in the 16th century with text usually based on religious subjects. Oratorios are performed by choruses and solo voices with an instrumental accompaniment, and are similar to operas but without costumes, scenery, and actions.

Recitative: Declamatory singing, free in tempo and rhythm. Recitative has also sometimes been used to refer to parts of purely instrumental works that resemble vocal recitatives. Singspiel: A type of German opera established during the 18th century; usually light and characterized by spoken interludesStretto: A division of a fugue in which subject and answer follow in such close succession as to overlapTernary: A musical form in three sections, ABA, in which the middle section is different than the outer sectionsTimbre: Tone color or tone quality

THE SPEED OF MUSIC (Tempo)Adagio: Leisurely, slow

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Tickets & Patron ServicesWe want you to enjoy each and every concert experience you share with us. We would love to hear about your experience at the Orchestra and it would be our pleasure to answer any questions you may have. Please don’t hesitate to contact us via phone at 215.893.1999, in person in the lobby, or at patronserverices@philorch.org.Subscriber Services: 215.893.1955, M-F, 9 AM-5 PMPatron Services: 215.893.1999, Daily, 9 AM-8 PMWeb Site: For information about The Philadelphia Orchestra and its upcoming concerts or events, please visit philorch.org.Individual Tickets: Don’t assume that your favorite concert is sold out. Subscriber turn-ins and other special promotions can make last-minute tickets available. Call us at 215.893.1999 and ask for assistance.Subscriptions: The Philadelphia Orchestra offers a variety of subscription options each season. These multi-concert packages feature the best available seats, ticket exchange privileges, discounts on individual tickets, and many other benefits. Learn more at philorch.org.Ticket Turn-In: Subscribers who cannot use their tickets are invited to donate them and receive a tax-deductible acknowledgement by calling 215.893.1999. Twenty-four-hour notice is appreciated, allowing other patrons the opportunity to purchase these tickets and guarantee tax-deductible credit. PreConcert Conversations: PreConcert Conversations are held prior to most Philadelphia Orchestra subscription concert, beginning one hour before the performance. Conversations are free to ticket-holders, feature discussions of the season’s music and music-makers,

and are supported in part by the Hirschberg-Goodfriend Fund established by Juliet J. Goodfriend.Lost and Found: Please call 215.670.2321.Late Seating: Late seating breaks usually occur after the first piece on the program or at intermission in order to minimize disturbances to other audience members who have already begun listening to the music. If you arrive after the concert begins, you will be seated only when appropriate breaks in the program allow.Accessible Seating: Accessible seating is available for every performance. Please call Patron Services at 215.893.1999 or visit philorch.org for more information.Assistive Listening: With the deposit of a current ID, hearing enhancement devices are available at no cost from the House Management Office in Commonwealth Plaza. Hearing devices are available on a first-come, first-served basis.Large-Print Programs: Large-print programs for every subscription concert are available in the House Management Office in Commonwealth Plaza. Please ask an usher for assistance.Fire Notice: The exit indicated by a red light nearest your seat is the shortest route to the street. In the event of fire or other emergency, please do not run. Walk to that exit.No Smoking: All public space in the Kimmel Center is smoke-free.Cameras and Recorders: The taking of photographs or the recording of Philadelphia Orchestra concerts is strictly prohibited. By attending this Philadelphia Orchestra concert you consent to be photographed, filmed, and/or otherwise recorded. Your entry constitutes

your consent to such and to any use, in any and all media throughout the universe in perpetuity, of your appearance, voice, and name for any purpose whatsoever in connection with The Philadelphia Orchestra.Phones and Paging Devices: All electronic devices—including cellular telephones, pagers, and wristwatch alarms—should be turned off while in the concert hall. The exception would be our LiveNote™ performances. Please visit philorch.org/livenote for more information.Ticket Philadelphia StaffLinda Forlini, Vice PresidentRebecca Farnham,

Director, Patron ServicesBrandon Yaconis,

Director, Client RelationsDan Ahearn, Jr.,

Box Office ManagerJayson Bucy,

Program and Web ManagerMeg Hackney,

Patron Services ManagerGregory McCormick,

Training ManagerBridget Morgan, Accounting

ManagerCatherine Pappas,

Project ManagerMichelle Carter Messa,

Assistant Box Office ManagerRobin Lee, Staff AccountantAlex Heicher,

Program and Web CoordinatorLindsay Kreig,

Business Operations CoordinatorDani Rose, Patron Services

Supervisor and Access Services Specialist

Elizabeth Jackson, Philadelphia Orchestra Priority Services Representative

Treasurers, Box Office: Tad Dynakowski Thomas Sharkey James Shelley Mike Walsh