Season 8 – 2024/25
“Magisterra At The Museum”
“Music and Holocaust”
January 23rd, 2025
Program Notes
Henryk GÓRECKI (1933 - 2010)
Sonata for two violins, op.10
Henryk Mikołaj Górecki was a Polish composer whose music bridges the avant-garde of the mid-20th century and the profoundly spiritual simplicity that characterized his later works. Born in Silesia, Poland, Górecki grew up in a region steeped in both the folk traditions of Polish culture and the shadow of World War II. He studied at the State Higher School of Music in Katowice, where he was deeply influenced by modernist figures like Olivier Messiaen and Anton Webern. However, Górecki's mature voice emerged through his embrace of Polish folk music and religious themes, culminating in works such as his Symphony No. 3, “Symphony of Sorrowful Songs”, which achieved international acclaim in the 1990s. Górecki's legacy is one of powerful resonance, accessibility, and a deep connection to human suffering and hope. Though often associated with the minimalist and sacred music movements, Górecki defies easy categorization, weaving complexity and simplicity with equal mastery.
The Sonata for two violins is an early work, written in 1957 when Górecki was still a student. Unlike his later, more meditative compositions, this sonata reflects his engagement with modernist techniques and the energetic spirit of Eastern European folk traditions. The piece is composed in three movements. Allegro, a lively and rhythmically driving opening, characterized by sharp contrasts, angular melodies, and a sense of urgency. The interplay between the two violins creates a dynamic dialogue, evoking the spirited character of folk dances. Lento, the second movement provides a stark contrast with its haunting bareness and limpid tone. Górecki’s early interest in creating provocative works is evident, with long, mournful lines that seem to resonate beyond the boundaries of the instruments. The sonata concludes with a vigorous and decisive finale, Allegro deciso. Pulsating rhythms and bold, unrelenting energy dominate, showcasing Górecki’s skill in blending modernist dissonance with an earthy, primal vitality. Though not as widely performed as his later works, the Sonata for two violins offers a fascinating glimpse into Górecki’s formative years. It is a bold and striking work, balancing technical virtuosity with passionate intensity—a testament to a young composer already charting his unique path.
Program Notes by Helen Faucher
Mieczysław WEINBERG (1919 – 1996)
Sonata for solo cello
Born into a Jewish family in Warsaw in 1919, Mieczysław Weinberg was just coming of age when news broke of Hitler’s impending invasion of Poland in 1939. Already known by that time as a young wunderkind among Warsaw’s elite musical circles, Weinberg was able to leverage these talents to secure a spot among the incoming class of the Minsk Conservatory that year, thus securing safe passage to the Soviet Union. Tragically, Weinberg would never see his immediate family again; like so many young students who had fled eastward ahead of the Nazi invasion, Weinberg lost all contact with his mother, father, and little sister as Poland was overrun. His entire family would perish in the Trawniki concentration camp—a fate Weinberg would only come to know many decades later when we made his sole return visit to Poland in 1966.
Once he was situated in the Soviet Union, Weinberg had no choice but to begin a new life. His piano skills kept him bust at the conservatory in Minsk, where he also began lessons in composition with Vasiliy Zolotarev, a pupil of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.
However, the intensifying war would disrupt Weinberg’s life yet again, who by necessity fled from Minsk to Tashkent in an effort to distance himself from the ever-approaching line of battle. Weinberg’s “break” came when he eventually received an invitation to come to Moscow by none other than Dmitri Shostakovich, who had recently received a copy of the young composer’s first symphony, sent by one of Weinberg’s in-laws for appraisal. Weinberg accepted the invitation and moved to Moscow, where he would live out the remainder of his days. He would go on to become a close colleague and friend of Shostakovich’s—in fact, Weinberg’s name appears in Shostakovich’s private journals more than that of any other composer’s. Shostakovich even went so far as to write a letter to Beria, Stalin’s chief of the secret police, successfully appealing to have Weinberg released from prison; the innocent composer had been sent there in one of Stalin’s anti-Semitic purges due to a family connection with Solomon Mikhoels, a famous actor and chair of the Jewish anti-fascist party, who was himself assassinated in the streets of Minsk in 1948.
In addition to his relationship with Shostakovich, Weinberg’s modest presence and unique creative output became well known and beloved by many other eminent Moscow musicians, including violinist David Oistrakh and cellist Mstislav Rostropovich.
The Sonata for Solo Cello No. 1, Op. 72 (completed in 1960 with a dedication to Rostropovich) reflects Weinberg’s friendship with the monumental cellist, as well as his intimate knowledge of the idiomatic stringed instrument for which it was written. Despite its sparse instrumentation, the three-movement work comprises a rich, mysterious, and gradually intensifying musical tapestry, interweaving haunting Jewish folk melodies with taciturn themes wrought upon—and sometimes just beyond—the remote edges of diatonic tonality. Motives reappear in a cyclical manner across the three movements; a chromatic turn first explored in the dark opening of I. Adagio is reimagined as a charming, triple-meter figure in the muted, minuet-like II. Allegretto. In turn, motivic material from the Allegretto consisting of a couplet of rising and falling neighbor tones are reworked into the driving virtuosic theme of the work’s finale, III. Allegro. While Weinberg’s works went woefully underappreciated on western stages for many decades, his unique artistic voice has begun to capture the hearts and minds of more and more performers and audiences around the world in recent years. For a comprehensive and captivating biography of the composer, see Mieczisław Weinberg: In Search of Freedom (2010) by British musicologist David Fanning.
Program Notes by James Waldo
Alexander Von ZELIMSKY (1871 – 1942)
Maiblumen blühten überall
Alexander von Zemlinsky was an Austrian composer, conductor, and teacher whose music bridges the late Romantic and early modernist eras. Born in Vienna, Zemlinsky studied at the Vienna Conservatory and became a central figure in the city’s musical life, both as a conductor and as a composer. He was a mentor to and later a rival of Arnold Schoenberg, whose sister Mathilde he married. Zemlinsky’s works were championed by luminaries like Gustav Mahler, and he earned renown for his orchestral tone poems, chamber music, and operas. However, his music was often overshadowed by contemporaries such as Richard Strauss, Mahler, and later by Schoenberg and the Second Viennese School.
Zemlinsky’s style combines lush Romanticism with a growing exploration of chromaticism and dissonance, reflecting his deep understanding of both traditional forms and modernist innovations. Forced to flee Nazi persecution in 1938 due to his Jewish heritage, Zemlinsky spent his final years in the United States, where his music fell into relative obscurity. Today, his work is experiencing a revival, celebrated for its structural clarity, and rich harmonic language.
Composed in 1898, Maiblumen blühten überall (May Flowers Bloomed Everywhere) is an early work for soprano and string sextet that exemplifies Zemlinsky’s lyrical and expressive style. The piece sets a poem by Richard Dehmel, a German poet whose work was highly influential among fin-de-siècle composers, including Richard Strauss, Arnold Schoenberg, and Alma Mahler. Dehmel’s poetry is marked by its sensual imagery, emotive immediacy, and philosophical depth, often exploring themes of love, nature, and existential longing. His collection Weib und Welt (Woman and World), which includes the text for Maiblumen blühten überall, was controversial in its time for its frank eroticism and progressive ideas. The poem describes an idyllic spring setting suffused with romantic yearning, painting a picture of blossoming flowers, radiant sunshine, and a sense of ecstatic union with nature. Zemlinsky’s musical setting captures the text’s vivid imagery and intensity with sensitivity and sophistication.
The string sextet provides a lush, varied texture that mirrors the interplay of light and shadow in the natural world, while the soprano line soars with melodic expressiveness. Zemlinsky employs rich chromaticism to evoke the passionate undercurrents of Dehmel’s text, creating a work that is both sensuous and methodical. The piece reflects the influence of Brahms in its chamber music writing, but its harmonic language and intensity point toward the budding modernist sensibilities of the fin-de-siècle period.
Maiblumen blühten überall is an excellent example of Zemlinsky’s ability to marry text and music, showcasing his gift for dramatic and lyrical expression. At the same time, it emphasizes the legacy of Richard Dehmel, whose evocative poetry inspired some of the most innovative composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Together, the collaboration between Zemlinsky’s music and Dehmel’s words creates a work that is both a celebration of spring’s beauty and a timeless experience on human emotion and connection.
Program Notes by Helen Faucher
Alexander Von ZELIMSKY (1871 – 1942)
Quartet No.1 in A major op.4, for two violins, viola, and cello
Alexander von Zemlinsky’s String Quartet No. 1 in A Major, op. 4, composed in 1896, reflects the youthful exuberance and burgeoning creativity of a composer, poised to leave a significant mark on the musical world. Written during Zemlinsky’s formative years in Vienna, the quartet showcases his deep admiration for Brahms and his mastery of late-Romantic idioms. At the same time, it foreshadows the more adventurous harmonic language that would come to define his mature works. Zemlinsky, who had studied composition with Anton Bruckner and counterpoint with Robert Fuchs, quickly garnered attention as both a composer and conductor. His works often balance tradition and innovation, melding lush Romantic harmonies with a personal, introspective voice. This Quartet exemplifies this synthesis, with its rich textures and lyrical themes reflecting the influence of Brahms, who supported Zemlinsky’s early career and admired this very quartet.
Structured in four movements, the quartet introduces a bright and flowing melody, skillfully developed and exchanged among the instruments. The second movement, Adagio ma non troppo, reveals Zemlinsky’s gift for expressive lyricism, with a heartfelt theme that hints at the emotional depth of later works such as Maiblumen blühten überall, his 1898 setting of a Richard Dehmel poem for soprano and string sextet. The third movement, Allegro molto vivace, brims with vitality, showcasing Zemlinsky’s rhythmic inventiveness and dynamic contrasts. The final Allegro brings the quartet to an exuberant conclusion, reaffirming its youthful energy and optimistic spirit. Comparing the quartet to Maiblumen blühten überall, we see a composer exploring different stylistic landscapes. While the quartet radiates confidence and clarity, Maiblumen delves into a darker, more impressionistic world, using text and sound to evoke profound longing and sensuality. Together, these works demonstrate Zemlinsky’s versatility and evolution, establishing him as an important figure bridging late Romanticism and early modernism. String Quartet No.1 remains a testament to Zemlinsky’s early genius, offering listeners a glimpse of his future innovations while celebrating the traditions that shaped him.
Program Notes by Helen Faucher
