Back in 1787, Paris warmly welcomed the young Italian composer Luigi Cherubini, where he remained for the rest of his life. He achieved great success with his operas, especially Médée, his fame paralleling Maria Callas’ own, more than a century later at La Scala, when the operatic diva put on legendary performances of this role. Though composed in France, the overture to Médée carries the spirit of Italian opera, foreshadowing the bel canto tradition of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini.
During his lifetime, Cherubini’s student François-Adrien Boieldieu was known as the French Mozart. His Harp Concerto remains one of his few enduring works in today’s repertoire, owing to the efforts of world-class harp virtuoso Xavier de Maistre.
The Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra concludes this program with a jewel of Classicism, Mozart’s Symphony No. 39, performed for the first time under the baton of a rising Venezuelan star, conductor Rodolfo Barráez.
Luigi Cherubini’s (1760-1842) opera Medea follows the story of the sorceress Medea, who, abandoned by her lover, sacrifices everything, including her children, in order to take revenge on him. The libretto is based on a myth from Euripides’ tragedy and the play Medea by Pierre Corneille, and together with Cherubini’s music it faithfully evokes the horrifying story of Medea. Although it followed the genre conventions of French opéra comique, at its Paris premiere in 1797 the work was sung in French, with spoken dialogue between the musical numbers. With this, the composer achieved extraordinary emotional intensity. Then the opera went through several different versions: a few years later, it was translated into Italian for the premiere in Vienna, then the composer shortened it for purposes of performance in Italy. After Cherubini’s death, the composer and conductor Franz Lachner reworked the piece, shortened it, and presented a German-language version in Frankfurt. He replaced the spoken dialogues with recitatives composed by himself, thus making the opera more traditional. At the beginning of the 20th century, a combination of different versions was made, and the work was retranslated into Italian. This version of Medea, known today, was restored in 1953 for Maria Callas, who masterfully performed and recorded it several times over the next few years. It was not until the mid-1980s that advocates of historically informed performance initiated and staged several productions of Cherubini’s original French opéra comique. The overture evokes the atmosphere and brings the musical motifs of Medea’s tragic story.
During his lifetime, the French composer François–Adrien Boieldieu (1775-1834) was highly respected as an artist, opera composer, piano professor at the Paris Conservatory and director of the French Opera at the Imperial Court in St. Petersburg. Although his greatest contribution to classical music literature was his operas, he also composed works of other genres. Among them, the Concerto for Harp and Orchestra in C major represents a masterpiece of the concert repertoire for this instrument. The style that adorns Boieldieu’s operas is also evident in the Concerto for Harp and Orchestra, which abounds in ornaments and thrillers, emphasizing the soloist’s delicate virtuosity.
The spirit of classicism infuses this three-movement work. The first movement, in which the soloist assumes the lead, is followed by a light short movement in the parallel minor key, in which the harp brings an expressive melancholic theme. The energy of the opening returns in the third movement, in the form of a rondo, with rising energy leading to a dashing climax and theatrical final chords.
Symphony no. 39 in E flat major, K 543, is the first of a group of three last symphonies by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) composed during the summer of 1788, at a time when the composer was going through a very difficult period in his life, both financially and privately.
After the opera’s initial success in Prague, Don Giovanni failed in Vienna. The Viennese public no longer wanted to support Mozart’s concerts – leading the composer to financial ruin. At the same time, he was dealing with the illness of his six-month-old daughter, who was at her deathbed while Mozart worked intensively on these works. Symphony no. 39 was performed on June 26, 1788, under the direction of the author, and was printed only posthumously.
A light introduction is followed by the Allegro, written in sonata form, while the second movement is characterized by energetic main material with lively transitions. The third movement, Minuet and Trio, is characterized by arpeggios in the deep register of the clarinet (Minuet) and the use of the Austrian folk dance, the Landler (Trio), whose main theme is brought by the clarinet. In the finale, Mozart returns to sonata form, characterized by a fast and energetic main theme.
Along with Mozart’s Prague Symphony, K 504, as well as Joseph Haydn’s late London symphonies, Mozart’s final trilogy represents the culmination of classical period symphonies. In terms of strength, complexity and beauty, as well as subtle stylistic hints of romanticism, there are almost no other works of the 18th century that can compare with these.
Asja Radonjić, M.Sc
