Tchaikovsky's Fifth.pdf - The Philadelphia Orchestra

Season 2012-2013
27
Thursday, March 21, at 8:00
Friday, March 22, at 2:00
Saturday, March 23, at 8:00
The Philadelphia Orchestra
Andrey Boreyko Conductor
Colin Currie Percussion
Wagner/arr. Zumpe “Entry of the Gods into Valhalla,”
from Das Rheingold
Rouse Der gerettete Alberich (Alberich Saved), fantasy
for solo percussion and orchestra
Intermission
Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64
I. Andante—Allegro con anima
II. Andante cantabile, con alcuna licenza
III. Valse: Allegro moderato
IV. Andante maestoso—Allegro vivace
This program runs approximately 1 hour, 50 minutes.
Philadelphia Orchestra concerts are broadcast on
WRTI 90.1 FM on Sunday afternoons at 2 PM.
Visit www.wrti.org to listen live or for more details.

28 Story Title
The Philadelphia Orchestra
Jessica Griffin
Renowned for its distinctive
sound, beloved for its
keen ability to capture the
hearts and imaginations
of audiences, and admired
for an unrivaled legacy of
“firsts” in music-making,
The Philadelphia Orchestra
is one of the preeminent
orchestras in the world.
The Orchestra has
cultivated an extraordinary
history of artistic leaders
in its 112 seasons,
including music directors
Fritz Scheel, Carl Pohlig,
Leopold Stokowski, Eugene
Ormandy, Riccardo Muti,
Wolfgang Sawallisch, and
Christoph Eschenbach, and
Charles Dutoit, who served
as chief conductor from
2008 to 2012. With the
2012-13 season, Yannick
Nézet-Séguin becomes the
eighth music director of
The Philadelphia Orchestra.
Named music director
designate in 2010, Nézet-
Séguin brings a vision that
extends beyond symphonic
music into the vivid world of
opera and choral music.
Philadelphia is home and
the Orchestra nurtures
an important relationship
not only with patrons who
support the main season
at the Kimmel Center but
also those who enjoy the
Orchestra’s other area
performances at the Mann
Center, Penn’s Landing,
and other venues. The
Philadelphia Orchestra
Association also continues
to own the Academy of
Music, a National Historic
Landmark.
Through concerts,
tours, residencies,
presentations, and
recordings, the Orchestra
is a global ambassador
for Philadelphia and for
the U.S. Having been the
first American orchestra
to perform in China, in
1973 at the request of
President Nixon, today The
Philadelphia Orchestra
boasts a new partnership
with the National Centre
for the Performing Arts
in Beijing. The Orchestra
annually performs at
Carnegie Hall and the
Kennedy Center while also
enjoying a three-week
residency in Saratoga
Springs, N.Y., and a strong
partnership with the Bravo!
Vail festival.
The ensemble maintains
an important Philadelphia
tradition of presenting
educational programs for
students of all ages. Today
the Orchestra executes a
myriad of education and
community partnership
programs serving nearly
50,000 annually, including
its Neighborhood Concert
Series, Sound All Around
and Family Concerts, and
eZseatU.
In February 2013 the
Orchestra announced a
recording project with
Deutsche Grammophon,
in which Yannick and
the ensemble will record
Stravinsky’s The Rite of
Spring.
For more information on
The Philadelphia Orchestra,
please visit www.philorch.org.

6
Music Director
Jessica Griffin
Yannick Nézet-Séguin became the eighth music director
of The Philadelphia Orchestra with the start of the 2012-13
season. Named music director designate in June 2010, he
made his Orchestra debut in December 2008. Over the past
decade, Yannick has established himself as a musical leader
of the highest caliber and one of the most exciting talents of
his generation. Since 2008 he has been music director of the
Rotterdam Philharmonic and principal guest conductor of the
London Philharmonic, and since 2000 artistic director and
principal conductor of Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain. He
has appeared with such revered ensembles as the Vienna and
Berlin philharmonics; the Boston Symphony; the Accademia
Nazionale di Santa Cecilia; the Dresden Staatskapelle; the
Chamber Orchestra of Europe; and the major Canadian
orchestras. His talents extend beyond symphonic music into
opera and choral music, leading acclaimed performances
at the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, London’s Royal Opera
House, and the Salzburg Festival.
Highlights of Yannick’s inaugural season include his Carnegie
Hall debut with the Verdi Requiem, one world premiere, and
performances of The Rite of Spring in collaboration with New
York-based Ridge Theater, complete with dancers, video
projection, and theatrical lighting.
In July 2012 Yannick and Deutsche Grammophon announced
a major long-term collaboration. His discography with the
Rotterdam Philharmonic for BIS Records and EMI/Virgin
includes an Edison Award-winning album of Ravel’s orchestral
works. He has also recorded several award-winning albums
with the Orchestre Métropolitain for ATMA Classique. In
addition, his first recording with The Philadelphia Orchestra,
Mahler’s Symphony No. 5, is available for download.
A native of Montreal, Yannick studied at that city’s
Conservatory of Music and continued studies with renowned
conductor Carlo Maria Giulini and with Joseph Flummerfelt at
Westminster Choir College. In 2012 Yannick was appointed
a Companion of the Order of Canada, one of the country’s
highest civilian honors. His other honors include Canada’s
National Arts Centre Award; a Royal Philharmonic Society
Award; the Prix Denise-Pelletier, the highest distinction for the
arts in Quebec; and an honorary doctorate by the University
of Quebec in Montreal.
To read Yannick’s full bio, please visit www.philorch.org/conductor.

Conductor
29
Marcel Gruberman
Andrey Boreyko, music director of the Dusseldorf
Symphony, was born in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg)
and received his musical education at his hometown’s
conservatory, where he studied conducting and
composition with Elisaveta Kudriavzeva and Alexander
Dmitriev. Mr. Boreyko has performed with nearly
every world-renowned orchestra, including the Berlin,
Munich, New York, and Los Angeles philharmonics;
the Staatskapelle Dresden; the Leipzig Gewandhaus,
Russian National, Philharmonia, Royal Concertgebouw,
and Cleveland orchestras; the RAI National Symphony in
Turin; the Filharmonica della Scala in Milan; the Tonhalle
Orchestra in Zurich; the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande;
the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France; and the
Vienna, London, BBC, Boston, and Chicago symphonies.
He made his Philadelphia Orchestra debut in July 2006.
Mr. Boreyko is also chief conductor of the Bern Symphony,
as well as principal guest conductor of the Stuttgart Radio
Symphony (SWR). In 2009 he was appointed principal
guest conductor of the Basque National Orchestra in
San Sebastian, Spain, a position he will hold through the
2013-14 season. Past positions include chief conductor
of the Jenaer Philharmonic in Germany; chief conductor
of the Hamburg and Winnipeg symphonies; and principal
guest conductor of the Vancouver Symphony. He is now
the honorary conductor of the Jenaer Philharmonic where,
in the course of his five-year term as chief conductor,
the Board of Directors of the Deutscher Musikverleger-
Verband, an association of music publishers in Germany,
awarded him and the ensemble the distinction of best
concert program for three seasons in succession.
Numerous CDs, as well as TV and radio recordings,
demonstrate Mr. Boreyko’s artistic versatility. Recent
recordings include Arvo Pärt’s Lamentate as well as
Valentin Silvestrov’s Symphony No. 6 with the Stuttgart
Radio Symphony and released by ECM Records. In 2006
Hänssler Classic released a live recording of Mr. Boreyko
conducting the SWR in an all-Shostakovich album
featuring the Fourth Symphony and the world premiere
of the original version of the Suite from the opera Lady
Macbeth of the Mtsensk District.

30
Soloist
Marco Borggreve
Percussionist Colin Currie is the soloist of choice for
many of today’s leading composers. From his earliest years
he has forged a pioneering path in creating new music
for percussion. He was awarded the Royal Philharmonic
Society Young Artist Award in 2000 and received a
Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award in 2005. Mr. Currie made
his Philadelphia Orchestra debut in November 2005 as
soloist for Jennifer Higdon’s Percussion Concerto. In 2012
he performed Kalevi Aho’s new percussion concerto,
Sieidi, with the London Philharmonic and Osmo Vänskä at
London’s Southbank Centre, and premiered Elliott Carter’s
Two Controversies and a Conversation with the New York
Philharmonic and David Robertson. Other commissions
have included works by Simon Holt, Kurt Schwertsik,
Einojuhani Rautavaara, Alexander Goehr, Nico Muhly,
Steve Reich, James MacMillan, and Louis Andriessen.
In 2011 Mr. Currie was appointed artist in residence at the
Southbank Centre, a role that allows him to develop new
relationships with artists and ensembles across a variety
of art forms, collaborations, and educational projects. In
addition to these current performances in Philadelphia,
highlights of the 2012-13 season include debuts with
the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the
Oslo Philharmonic, and at the Grafenegg Festival with
the Goteborg Symphony, as well as returns to the BBC
Philharmonic, the Orchestre National de Toulouse, the
Britten Sinfonia, and the New Zealand, Melbourne, and
Baltimore symphonies. Mr. Currie’s percussion ensemble,
the Colin Currie Group, continues to receive critical
acclaim for its performances of Reich’s iconic work
Drumming. Following sell-out performances throughout
the UK, in 2012 the group made its international debut
with two performances at Tokyo Opera City in Japan.
Mr. Currie’s recent recordings include Rautavaara’s
Incantations with the Helsinki Philharmonic for Ondine
and MacMillan’s Veni, Veni, Emmanuel with the
Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic for Challenge
Classics. A recital disc, Borrowed Time, features music
by Dave Maric and is available on the Onyx label. His
recording of Higdon’s Percussion Concerto, conducted by
Marin Alsop with the London Philharmonic, won a 2010
Grammy Award.

Framing the Program
31
Parallel Events
1853
Wagner
Das Rheingold
1888
Tchaikovsky
Symphony
No. 5
Music
Schumann
Violin Concerto
Literature
Dickens
Bleak House
Art
Courbet
The Bathers
History
Tubman begins
Underground
Railroad
Music
Rimsky-
Korsakov
Sheherazade
Literature
Zola
La Terre
Art
Toulouse-
Lautrec
Place Clichy
History
Jack the Ripper
murders
This year marks the bicentennial of Richard Wagner, the
preeminent German opera composer of the 19th century
and the most influential as well. Wagner spent more
than a quarter century laboring on his four-part Ring of
the Nibelung, one of the most ambitious undertakings
in the history of music. The program today begins with
the majestic “Entry of the Gods into Valhalla” concluding
Das Rheingold, the preliminary opera that introduces the
mythic themes explored in the rest of the cycle.
Wagner’s title for the cycle might be rephrased as
“Alberich’s Ring,” relating to the magical ring the Nibelung
dwarf Alberich forges out of gold from the Rhine River
and then places a curse on. Contemporary American
composer Christopher Rouse has imaginatively continued
the story of the Ring in his Der gerettete Alberich (Alberich
Saved), a postlude in the guise of a percussion concerto
that takes off from the final moments of the Ring at the
end of Götterdämmerung. Rouse views the piece as a sort
of “fantasy for solo percussionist and orchestra on themes
of Wagner, with the soloist taking on the ‘role’ of Alberich.
Much of the musical material in the work is derived from a
number of motives associated with Alberich.”
Wagner’s Ring is one of many operas that explore the
theme of Fate—both in terms of plot and a musical motive.
Fate attracted symphonic composers as well, such as
Tchaikovsky in his spectacular Fifth Symphony. Like that
other famous Fifth—Beethoven’s—it uses a musical motive
throughout the four movements that is associated with the
idea of “Fate.” The Symphony concludes with a double coda
of sorts: an exciting one that could end the piece and then
an additional triumphant one that ties everything together.

32
The Music
“Entry of the Gods into Valhalla,” from Das Rheingold
Richard Wagner
Born in Leipzig,
May 22, 1813
Died in Venice,
February 13, 1883
This year marks the bicentennial of the two leading
Romantic opera composers: Richard Wagner and Giuseppe
Verdi. Between them, this German and this Italian changed
the genre of opera forever, each in his own distinctively
brilliant manner. Wagner’s influence, moreover, extended
far beyond music, with significant consequences for the
other arts, cultural life, and politics. It is unprecedented for
a composer, either before or since, to have such an impact
on writers, artists, philosophers, and filmmakers. To mention
just literature, Wagner’s works proved of great importance
for figures such as Charles Baudelaire, Marcel Proust,
James Joyce, and Thomas Mann.
More has been written about Wagner than about any
other Western composer. The flood began with his own
voluminous writings, which encompass reviews, fiction,
drama, essays, and books as well as diaries, countless
letters, and a massive autobiography, My Life, covering
just the first half of his career. In addition Wagner wrote
his own librettos. His compositional output is also gigantic,
although principally limited to dramatic music. The music
he produced as a teenager—piano works, songs, and
even a symphony—is almost uniformly mediocre; few
composers ended up so far artistically from where they
began. Wagner wrote 13 operas (the first three are rarely
performed), with his mature achievements stretching from
The Flying Dutchman (1843) through Parsifal, premiered a
few months before he died at age 69 in February 1883.
Forging the Ring Amidst this phenomenal productivity
nothing was more ambitious than The Ring of the Nibelung
on which Wagner toiled for more than a quarter century.
The protracted project began in the revolutionary year of
1848 when he devised a prose sketch for an opera based
on medieval legends called Siegfrieds Tod (Siegfried’s
Death, later renamed Götterdämmerung or Twilight of
the Gods). A few years later he realized that this opera
would need to be prefaced by an account of earlier
events in Siegfried’s life, and thus sketched the libretto
for Der junge Siegfried (Young Siegfried). Once again he
felt that more background was necessary concerning the
history of this mythic German hero and his ancestry. This
led to Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), which explained the

33
circumstances of his conception by the brother and sister
Siegmund and Sieglinde. The librettos for a unified trilogy
now complete, Wagner decided to add an extended oneact
prologue, Das Rheingold (The Rhinegold), of which we
hear the magnificent conclusion tonight.
Wagner based the Ring on a variety of literary sources,
principally drawn from Norse mythology of the early 13th
century, from the somewhat earlier German epic Das
Nibelungenlied as well as from Ancient Greece. Indeed,
part of the ideological impetus behind the project was
to accomplish for the German nation what Sophocles
and other classical authors had done for Greece by
dramatizing enduring mythology. Once he had written the
librettos, and published them in 1853, he began writing
the music, which would occupy much of the next 20
years. Das Rheingold was finished in 1854, Die Walküre
by 1856, and Siegfried half written when Wagner had a
reality check: These enormous operas had slim prospects
for actual staged performances. He put the Ring aside
to compose Tristan und Isolde and Die Meistersinger
von Nürnberg. Only after completing those works, which
assumed enormous proportions in themselves, did he
return to Siegfried and Götterdämmerung, completing the
Ring in 1874. Part of Wagner’s phenomenal achievement
was crafting so expansive a four-part work—some 17
hours of music—that is unified both dramatically and
musically. He did this in part by weaving an elaborate web
of leitmotivs (leading motives), brief melodies associated
with specific characters, places, objects, and concepts
that recur and are transformed throughout the cycle.
The passionate patronage of King Ludwig II of Bavaria
made the crucial difference in finally getting the Ring
performed. At Ludwig’s insistence, but without Wagner’s
participation, Das Rheingold and Die Walküre were
mounted in Munich in 1869 and 1870. It was the
construction of a new theater in Bayreuth, conceived
of by Wagner to stage his mature operas and heavily
subsidized by Ludwig, that enabled the premiere of the
complete cycle in August 1876. As part of the effort to
raise funds for Bayreuth, as well as to enlist subscribers in
the venture, Wagner gave concerts in which he presented
excerpts from the Ring. We might think of these as serving
a purpose similar to movie “trailers” today—a preview of
coming attractions. Some of the most famous parts of the
Ring, such as the “Ride of the Valkyries,” were first heard in
concert, sometimes with singers, sometimes not.

34
Wagner composed Das
Rheingold from 1853 to 1854.
The Philadelphia Orchestra
first performed “The Entry of
the Gods into Valhalla” on its
very first concert, on November
16, 1900, with Fritz Scheel
on the podium. Most recently
on subscription, the piece was
performed as part of Henk
de Vlieger’s arrangement of
Wagner’s Ring called The
Ring: An Orchestral Adventure,
in December 2009, with
Neeme Järvi.
The score for this arrangement
by Hermann Zumpe calls for
pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets,
and bassoons, four horns, three
trumpets, three trombones,
tuba, timpani, percussion
(cymbals), harp, and strings.
The Orchestra has recorded
this excerpt from Das
Rheingold twice, both for
RCA: in 1933 with Leopold
Stokowski and in 1971 with
Eugene Ormandy.
Performance time is
approximately 11 minutes.
A Closer Look One section that Wagner himself
programmed was the grand conclusion of Das Rheingold,
which he called the “Entry of the Gods into Valhalla.”
(Tonight we hear the excerpt in the purely orchestral
instrumentation by Wagner’s colleague Hermann Zumpe.)
This opera introduces the various gods and cursed ring at
the heart of the cycle. It begins with three Rhinemaidens
guarding a hoard of gold in the river Rhine. The dwarf
Alberich, of the Nibelung clan, steals the gold, renounces
love, and forges a magical ring that makes its possessor
all-powerful. (The title of the entire work refers thus
to Alberich’s ring.) The chief god Wotan gets the ring
and over the course of Das Rheingold we witness the
consequences of the curse Alberich has put on it. By the
end of the opera Wotan has succeeded in having the
giant Fafner build Valhalla, a grand home of the gods.
The marvelous ending witnesses Wotan and other gods,
including his wife, Fricka, as they cross a magical rainbow
bridge to enter Valhalla. Amid luminous orchestration a
number of prominent leitmotivs pass in review: Valhalla,
the ring, gold. Wotan foresees that all he has dreamed
and planned will come to pass, while Loge, the God of
Fire, muses to himself “They are hastening on to their
end, though they think they are great in their grandeur”;
he correctly envisions the “Twilight of the Gods” that
will eventually end the entire Ring. The three invisible
Rhinemaidens who began the opera are heard in the
valley below, lamenting the loss of their gold: “Rhinegold!
Rhinegold! Shining gold! Return to the deep, let us bathe
in your light again! Goodness and truth dwell in the
waters: false and base all those who dwell above!”
—Christopher H. Gibbs

The Music
Der gerettete Alberich
35
Christopher Rouse
Born in Baltimore, Maryland,
February 15, 1949
Now living there
If there is a thread that runs through Christopher Rouse’s
orchestral works, it is the manner in which they seem to
address—more directly and immediately than perhaps
any other music being written for the concert hall today—
the issues of joy, horror, violence, sensationalism, and
passion that characterize life in our time. Rouse is, to this
writer’s mind, the composer of his generation who most
consistently confronts the challenges of modernism, not
stooping to facile trends of neotonalism or commercial
needs for accessible art. At the same time, he has felt
free to mix blaring dissonance with tender Brucknerian
quotations, strict sonata-form with rhapsodic fantasy, brutal
percussive effects with the bright rhythms of rock ’n’ roll.
A Romantic at Heart At the core of this technical
aplomb is a sensitive individual with a subjective
outlook on music and its purposes. “The fact that I
had my undergraduate training in the late ’60s meant
that I willingly tried my hand at all sorts of avant-garde
approaches,” Rouse has said. “But I kept coming back to
the notion that the technique involved was less important
than my need to express, which must mean that I’ve
always been a Romantic at heart!”
His music has been performed by all of the major
American orchestras, and by artists as varied as David
Zinman, Simon Rattle, Riccardo Muti, Yo-Yo Ma, and Jan
DeGaetani. He was composer in residence first for the
Indianapolis Symphony, and from 1986 to 1989 for the
Baltimore Symphony; he began a two-year tenure as
composer in residence of the New York Philharmonic in
2012. He is also currently a member of the composition
faculty at the Juilliard School.
In 1993 Rouse won the Pulitzer Prize for Music for
his Trombone Concerto, a New York Philharmonic
commission. He has also received the Kennedy Center’s
Friedheim Award (for his First Symphony), as well as
prizes and grants from the League of Composers, the
Rockefeller Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, and
many more. His Cello Concerto for Yo-Yo Ma was on The
Philadelphia Orchestra’s Premieres recording—conducted
by David Zinman and including works by Leon Kirchner
and Richard Danielpour—which won two Grammy awards.

36
A completely different point of departure was required
for the commission Rouse received from Evelyn Glennie
for a concerto for percussionist and orchestra. One of
the most ingeniously conceived of recent concertos, Der
gerettete Alberich (Alberich Saved) was a co-commission
by a consortium of the Cleveland Orchestra, the Kulas
Foundation, The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Baltimore
Symphony, and the London Symphony. It received its
premiere in Cleveland on January 15, 1998, with Glennie
and Christoph von Dohnányi conducting the Cleveland
Orchestra. The local critic Daniel Rosenberg, writing in
the Plain Dealer, praised the work as “a fresh burst of
creative imagination.”
In addition to the large orchestra required, the concerto
requires a huge battery of instruments for the soloist,
arranged at three different stations. Station 1 (in the
center) includes four wood blocks, four log drums, four
tom-toms, two timbales, two bongos, two güiros, a snare
drum, and a pedal-operated bass drum. Station 2, stage
left, consists of a marimba and a two-octave chromatic
steel drum. Station 3, stage right, includes a drum set
(snare drum, three tom-toms, two suspended cymbals,
Chinese cymbal, pedal-operated bass drum, and hi-hat).
A Closer Look The composer has kindly provided the
following commentary on the inception and design of Der
gerettete Alberich:
One of Richard Wagner’s most interesting decisions
as creator of Der Ring des Nibelungen was to leave
unclear the fate of Alberich, the villainous dwarf who
has set in motion the inexorable machinery of destiny,
leading in the end to the apocalyptic cataclysm
which concludes Götterdämmerung. As is so often
the case in Wagner’s operas, Alberich is more than a
cardboard villain in the Italian mode—as memorable
as he is, a Scarpia, for example is thoroughly and
irredeemably maleficent. Alberich, on the other hand
… is not entirely unsympathetic; however cruel his
actions, they are often the result of mistreatment
at the hands of others. … Thus, it is possible with
Alberich—and with many other Wagnerian villains—to
recognize the inherent evil of his nature and deeds
and yet still discern some measure of humanity in him
and, in the process, to feel compassion for his plight.
As Alberich’s whereabouts are unknown at the
end of the Ring, it occurred to me that it might be
engaging to return him to the stage, so to speak, so

37
Der gerettete Alberich was
composed in 1997.
The first, and only other,
Philadelphia Orchestra
performances of the concerto
were in November 1998, with
percussionist Evelyn Glennie
and David Zinman.
The scored calls for piccolo,
two flutes, three oboes, three
clarinets, three bassoons, six
horns, three trumpets, three
trombones, tuba, timpani,
percussion (antique cymbals,
anvil, bass drum, castanets,
chimes, suspended cymbal,
tam-tam, thunder sheet, tomtoms,
xylophone), and strings.
The percussion soloist plays
four wood blocks, four log
drums, four tom-toms, two
timbales, two bongos, two
güiros, a snare drum, a pedaloperated
bass drum, marimba,
two-octave chromatic steel
drum, and a drum set (snare
drum, three tom-toms, two
suspended cymbals, Chinese
cymbal, pedal-operated bass
drum, and hi-hat).
The work runs approximately
22 minutes in performance.
that he might wreak further havoc in what is quite
literally the godless world in which Wagner has left
us in the final pages of Götterdämmerung. The result
was Der gerettete Alberich, whose title might best
be translated as “Alberich saved,” itself a reference
to Georg Kaiser’s expressionist play Der gerettete
Alkibiades. Rather than a concerto, Der gerettete
Alberich is more of a fantasy for solo percussionist
and orchestra on themes of Wagner, with the soloist
taking on the “role” of Alberich. Much of the musical
material in the work is derived from a number of
motives associated with Alberich in the Ring, among
them the motives for the curse, the power of gold,
the renunciation of love, annihilation, the Nibelungs,
and of course, the Ring itself. Only Wagner’s
“Redemption through Love” motive stands beyond
the kin of the other, Alberich-related motives I have
used, though I have rather maliciously distorted it to
suit the purposes of my “hero.”
Notwithstanding the discernible tripartite structure
of Der gerettete Alberich, this work is somewhat
looser architecturally than other scores of mine to
which I have appended the title “concerto”—hence
my decision to refer to it as a “fantasy.” Having said
all of this, it would now be absurd of me to aver that
this work is not programmatic; however, it is fair to
say that it is not a narrative piece in the manner of,
say, Strauss’s Don Quixote. Beyond a brief passage
in which Alberich serves a stint as a rock drummer
(probably inspired, at least in part, by the wonderfully
over-the-edge Wagner Reincarnated scenes in Ken
Russell’s film Lisztomania), I was not attempting to
paint specific pictures in this score. However, the
listener is free to provide whatever images he or she
likes to the sonic goings-on.
Der gerettete Alberich was composed for
percussionist Evelyn Glennie, to whom it is dedicated.
—Paul J. Horsley

38
The Music
Symphony No. 5
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Born in Kamsko-Votkinsk,
Russia, May 7, 1840
Died in St. Petersburg,
November 6, 1893
When Tchaikovsky conducted the premiere of his Fifth
Symphony in St. Petersburg, the audience responded
enthusiastically, as did the orchestra, which struck up
fanfares to signal its delight. Critical reaction, however,
proved less positive. A particularly damning view held that
the “symphony is a failure. There is something repulsive
about it, a certain excess of gaudiness, insincerity, and
artificiality. And the public instinctively recognizes this.”
And who was this disparaging critic None other than the
composer himself, confiding in a letter to his generous
patroness, Nadezhda von Meck, after he had conducted
further performances in Prague.
Tchaikovsky’s insecurities about a composition that would
over time become one of his most famous and beloved
date back to its inception in the spring of 1888. He had
recently concluded a brilliant three-month concert tour
around Europe (“Success, which I enjoyed everywhere,
is very pleasant”), but had not composed a significant
piece in almost a year and not produced a symphony in
more than a decade. Returning to Russia in late March,
Tchaikovsky informed his brother that he wanted to write
a new one, but weeks later could only report, “I have still
not yet made a start. … I can honestly say that once again
I have no urge to create. What does this mean Am I really
written out I have no ideas or inspiration whatsoever!”
The ideas did begin to come, as he put it, “gradually, and
with some difficulty, I am squeezing the symphony out of
my dulled brain.” The Fifth Symphony was finished by late
August and ready for its premiere in November.
Another Fate Symphony In a well-known letter
to Madame von Meck a decade earlier, Tchaikovsky
had provided an elaborate program for his Fourth
Symphony, casting its “central idea” as “Fate, the fatal
force that prevents our strivings for happiness from
succeeding.” Similar thoughts seem to have been
behind the Fifth—and this time they were expressed
before the work was written. (What Tchaikovsky had
told von Meck about the Fourth came well after its
completion, prompted by her specific request to learn
the story behind the work.) In a notebook Tchaikovsky
indicated a program for the first movement:

39
Intr[oduction]. Total submission before Fate,
or, which is the same thing, the inscrutable
design of Providence.
Allegro. I) Murmurs, doubts, laments,
reproaches against … XXX.
II) Shall I cast myself into the embrace of
Faith
A wonderful program, if only it can be
fulfilled.
The meaning of “XXX,” which also appears in
Tchaikovsky’s diaries, has traditionally been deciphered
as referring to his homosexuality, although biographer
Alexander Poznansky has recently suggested that it may
refer to problems with gambling.
Fate was a familiar topic in music long before Tchaikovsky.
In the realm of the symphony, it extended back at least as
far as that most famous of Fifths, Beethoven’s, the opening
of which allegedly represented “Fate knocking at the door.”
Perhaps even more common are Fate themes in operas, as
in Bizet’s Carmen, Verdi’s La forza del destino (The Force
of Destiny), and Wagner’s Ring. In such orchestral and
dramatic works “Fate” provides not only a narrative thread,
but also something to be represented musically.
A Closer Look There is no certainty, of course, that the
slow opening theme of Tchaikovsky’s first movement
(Andante), played by the clarinets in the “chalumeau”
(or lowest) register, represents Fate, even if that is what
the early sketches suggest and what most commentators
have heard for well over a century. The melody itself
is drawn from Mikhail Glinka’s great opera A Life for
the Tsar (1836), where it sets the words “turn not to
sorrow.” Tchaikovsky casts a far more expansive melody
than the well-known Beethoven Fifth motive, although,
as in Beethoven, the theme appears not just at the
opening, or only in the first movement, but rather in all
four movements. Thus “Fate” twice rudely interrupts the
lyrical second movement (Andante cantabile), with its
famous slow horn melody opening, in ways that suggest
catastrophe. As the Symphony progresses, however,
Fate seems to be tamed, or at least integrated with its
surroundings. The theme also reappears near the end
of the third movement waltz (Allegro moderato) and
it forms the basis for the major key finale, from the slow
introduction (Andante maestoso), to the fast core
(Allegro vivace), and finally to its apotheosis in the

40
Tchaikovsky composed his
Fifth Symphony in 1888.
The work has been performed
by The Philadelphia Orchestra
probably as often as any piece
in the orchestral repertory.
Fritz Scheel conducted the
first Orchestra performance, in
October 1906; from the 1930s
it was a favorite of Eugene
Ormandy, who led it on tours
and at the Academy. The most
recent performances during the
regular season were Charles
Dutoit’s, in February/March
2011.
The Orchestra has recorded
the Fifth eight times: in
1934 for RCA with Leopold
Stokowski; in 1941 for RCA
with Ormandy; in 1950 and
1959 for CBS with Ormandy;
in 1974, again for RCA, with
Ormandy; in 1981 for Delos
with Ormandy; in 1991 for
EMI with Riccardo Muti; and
in 2005 for Ondine with
Christoph Eschenbach. The
second movement alone was
also recorded by Stokowski, in
1923 for RCA.
The score calls for three
flutes (III doubling piccolo),
two oboes, two clarinets, two
bassoons, four horns, two
trumpets, three trombones,
tuba, timpani, and strings.
Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5
runs approximately 50 minutes
in performance.
triumphant coda.
In his Fourth Symphony, Tchaikovsky, like Beethoven,
seemed to shake his fist at Fate—the music is angry and
defiant. The mood in his Fifth Symphony is quite different:
Here Tchaikovsky dances with Fate. An early critic
disapprovingly called it “the symphony with three waltzes,”
reflecting not only the waltz replacement of a traditional
scherzo in the third movement, but also the waltz episodes
in the opening two movements. Over the course of the
Symphony Tchaikovsky appears to become reconciled
with Fate, perhaps under “the embrace of Faith” that he
anticipated before beginning the composition. And in
time, his attitude about the quality of the Symphony also
changed. After enjoying another great success with the
work in Hamburg, at a performance attended by Brahms,
Tchaikovsky wrote to his nephew: “The Fifth Symphony
was beautifully played and I have started to love it again.”
—Christopher H. Gibbs
Program notes © 2013. All rights reserved. Program notes may
not be reprinted without written permission from The Philadelphia
Orchestra Association.

Musical Terms
41
GENERAL TERMS
Cadence: The conclusion
to a phrase, movement,
or piece based on a
recognizable melodic
formula, harmonic
progression, or dissonance
resolution
Cadenza: A passage or
section in a style of brilliant
improvisation, usually
inserted near the end of a
movement or composition
Chord: The simultaneous
sounding of three or more
tones
Chromatic: Relating to
tones foreign to a given
key (scale) or chord
Coda: A concluding
section or passage added
in order to confirm the
impression of finality
Dissonance: A
combination of two or more
tones requiring resolution
Fantasia: A composition
free in form and more or
less fantastic in character
Fantasy: See fantasia
Legato: Smooth, even,
without any break between
notes
Meter: The symmetrical
grouping of musical
rhythms
Minuet: A dance in triple
time commonly used up to
the beginning of the 19th
century as the lightest
movement of a symphony
Op.: 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.
Rondo: A form frequently
used in symphonies and
concertos for the final
movement. It consists
of a main section that
alternates with a variety of
contrasting sections (A-B-
A-C-A etc.).
Scale: The series of
tones which form (a) any
major or minor key or (b)
the chromatic scale of
successive semi-tonic
steps
Scherzo: Literally “a
joke.” Usually the third
movement of symphonies
and quartets that was
introduced by Beethoven
to replace the minuet. The
scherzo is followed by a
gentler section called a trio,
after which the scherzo is
repeated. Its characteristics
are a rapid tempo in triple
time, vigorous rhythm, and
humorous contrasts.
Sonata form: The form in
which the first movements
(and sometimes others)
of symphonies are usually
cast. The sections are
exposition, development,
and recapitulation, the
last sometimes followed
by a coda. The exposition
is the introduction of
the musical ideas, which
are then “developed.” In
the recapitulation, the
exposition is repeated with
modifications.
Tonality: The orientation
of melodies and harmonies
towards a specific pitch or
pitches
Tonic: The keynote of a
scale
Triad: A three-tone chord
composed of a given tone
(the “root”) with its third
and fifth in ascending order
in the scale
THE SPEED OF MUSIC
(Tempo)
Allegro: Bright, fast
Andante: Walking speed
Cantabile: In a singing
style, lyrical, melodious,
flowing
Con alcuna licenza: With
some freedom
Con anima: With feeling
Maestoso: Majestic
Moderato: A moderate
tempo, neither fast nor
slow
Vivace: Lively

42
March/April
The Philadelphia Orchestra
Jessica Griffin
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The St. Matthew Passion
March 28-30 8 PM
Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor
Malin Christensson Soprano
Karen Cargill Mezzo-soprano
Andrew Staples Tenor (Evangelist)
Andrew Foster-Williams Bass-baritone
Luca Pisaroni Bass-baritone (Jesus)
Westminster Symphonic Choir
Joe Miller Director
The American Boychoir
Fernando Malvar-Ruiz Music Director
Bach The Passion According to St. Matthew
Garrick Ohlsson and
Brahms
April 4 & 6 8 PM
April 5 2 PM
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Garrick Ohlsson Piano
Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1
Schoenberg Transfigured Night
Strauss Suite from Der Rosenkavalier
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