Romantic Period

Tchaikovsky’s Romance in F Minor, Op. 5: Sviatoslav Richter

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Throughout the music of Tchaikovsky, the key of F minor is associated with deep sadness, resignation, and the triumph of fate. F minor is the key of Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony, with its haunting and recurring “fate” motif. A similar melancholy envelops Tchaikovsky’s Romance in F minor, Op. 5 for solo piano. It was composed in late 1868 around the time of Tchaikovsky’s doomed relationship with the Belgian soprano, Désirée Artôt. The first …

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Bruckner’s “Ecce sacerdos magnus”: Thunderous Power and Majesty

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Anton Bruckner’s sacred motet, Ecce sacerdos magnus, WAB 13 (“Behold a great priest”) begins with an earth-shattering announcement, set in motion by primal open fifths. The Old Testament text celebrates the blessings given to devout men. Scored for eight-part choir, organ, and three trombones, it is music of thunderous power, majesty, and solemn mystery. Growing out of Medieval plainchant, its soaring antiphonal blocks of sound recall the Renaissance strains of Giovanni Gabrieli. As …

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Remembering Samuel Magad

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Samuel Magad, long-serving concertmaster of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, passed away on May 25 at his home in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. He was 94. A native of Chicago, Magad first appeared with the CSO in 1944 at age 11, performing the first movement of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto. Music director Fritz Reiner appointed him to the violin section in in 1958, and in 1966 he was promoted to assistant concertmaster. In 1972, Georg …

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Schumann’s Fantasiestücke, Op. 73: Night Fantasies

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Robert Schumann composed the dreamy and mercurial Fantasiestücke (“Fantasy Pieces”), Op. 73 in a burst of creativity over the course of two days in February of 1849. Set in A major and A minor, the work was first conceived for the melancholy, nostalgic voice of the clarinet. Later, Schumann indicated that the clarinet part could be performed on violin or cello. The three movements unfold in A-B-A song form and flow together without …

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Remembering Felicity Lott

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English soprano Felicity Lott passed away on May 15 following a battle with cancer. She was 79. Born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, Lott began singing lessons at age 12. While studying at the Royal Academy of Music she met pianist Graham Johnson who would become her lifelong accompanist. Her operatic debut came with the English National Opera in 1975 when she sang the role of Pamina in Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Appearances at …

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Wagner’s “Tannhäuser” Overture: Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra

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When Andris Nelsons was five years old, his parents took him to see a production of Wagner’s Tannhäuser. The Latvian conductor recalls that his parents prepared him for the occasion by playing an LP of the opera at home. He was also introduced to the story, based on German medieval legend, of a knight who is pulled between the pleasures of earthly love and lust and the redemptive love of sacred devotion. According …

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Mendelssohn’s “Ruy Blas” Overture: Thrilling Music for a “Ghastly” Play

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Set in Romantic verse, Victor Hugo’s 1838 drama, Ruy Blas, involves a nasty practical joke with tragic consequences. Ruy Blas is a common poet who is forced to disguise himself as a nobleman to fulfill the vengeful plot of his aristocratic master. He falls in love with the Queen of Spain, who appoints him Prime Minister. When the deceit is revealed, his fall is abrupt and humiliating. Ruy Blas kills his master, Don …

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