For the opening program of the Solano Community Symphony’s 21st season, Maestro Semyon Lohss has selected two monumental works, Brahms Symphony No 2 and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, Symphonic Suite. Each composition established the legacy of its composer.

The Composers

Both composers began their musical careers as pianists. German-born Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) was a musical child prodigy whose talent was nurtured by his father, a horn and bass player. As a youth, he earned his living playing piano in Hamburg’s taverns and bordellos. His first important professional experiences were as accompanist to prominent violinists. Through these engagements, he was introduced to many composers, including Franz Liszt and Robert Schumann, who became early champions of his work. Robert Schumann, upon experiencing Brahms’s music, wrote in a musical journal, “Hats off, gentlemen—a genius!” Not much is known of Brahms’s work methods, except that he was a merciless self-critic, and burned all that he wrote before the age of 19. As a composer of symphonies, Brahms was late in committing to this musical form. Having taken some 15 to 20 years to write his first symphony, he premiered his second symphony just 13 months after the first.

Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) began his piano studies at age 6, and attempted his first compositions by 9. Unlike Brahms, he did not have family support to pursue his music. Because he belonged to an aristocratic family, a career in music was considered to be beneath his position in czarist society. Instead, after attending the Russian Naval Academy (and managing to study piano and cello on Sundays), he served 22 years as a naval officer. During a three-year tour of duty at sea, he composed his first symphony. He resigned from the navy in 1873 after having been appointed professor of composition and instrumentation at the St. Petersburg Conservatory two years earlier. How he secured the position is difficult to imagine, given that he spent most of his adult life in the navy. However, Rimsky-Korsakov was an excellent teacher and benefited from his own talents; he was self-educated in composition.

The Music

Brahms Symphony No 2 was composed in 1877. The symphony’s warm lyricism brims with life, strength, and charm. From Brahms’s perspective, the ease and grace of the symphony’s melodies can be attributed to the charms of the Austrian summer resort where he resided while composing the symphony. To Maestro Lohss, the symphony expresses “the full depth of the human soul.” The first movement, Allegro moderato, begins with a mellow horn theme. The melody gradually builds until we are immersed in a clear wave of song. The second movement, Adagio non troppo, begins with two, simultaneously played themes, one in the cellos, the other in the bassoons. The themes develop in different directions, reflecting Brahms’s gift for creating variations. The scherzo form of the third movement is relaxed, beautiful and bright, with an easy lilt to the tempo, reminiscent of a minuet. The fourth movement, Allegro con spirito, is the climax of the symphony. Its power and dynamism make it the most heroic of all the movements. But it still preserves the lyrical quality of the entire symphony. ”While the symphony reflects the romanticism of the time, it is still strongly rooted in the classical period,” comments Maestro Lohss.

Rimsky-Korsakov belonged to a famous group of Russian composers who decided to banish the German-Austrian influences in composition. Instead, they drew upon their own country’s rich tradition of folk music for inspiration, giving rise to the Russian Nationalist movement in classical music. In the materials of Russian folk music and legend, there exists a serious Oriental element, which is readily apparent in Rimsky-Korsakov’s most famous composition, Scheherazade, Symphonic Suite. Composed within a single month, July 1888, Scheherazade is the story of a sultan who, convinced of the duplicity and infidelity of all women, decides to kill each of his wives after the wedding night. One of his wives, Scheherazade, saves her life by telling the Sultan incredible tales, each ending with a cliffhanger that holds the Sultan’s interest (and thereby postpones her death) for more than 1,000 nights. Finally, the Sultan gives up his bloody plans. This is based on the framing story from The Thousand and One Arabian Nights.

Two themes recur throughout the entire composition: one is the bold pronouncement of the trombones, representing the Sultan; the other, played by solo violin, is warm and seductive, representing the voice of Scheherazade as she spins her tales. The four movements of Scheherazade are bound together by these two themes as they are repeated and transformed through the course of the composition. In the words of Maestro Lohss, “Scheherazade is a real gem!”

- Barbara Komas

References:

Martin Bookspan, 101 Masterpieces of Music and their Composers, Dolfin Books, 1973.
Edward Downes, The New York Philharmonic Guide to the Symphony, Walker and Company, 1976
David Pogue and Scott Speck, Classical Music for Dummies, Hungry Minds, Inc., 1997
Charles Burr, program notes from NY Philharmonic's recording of Scheherazade
Olin Downes, Symphonic Masterpieces, 1935