PROGRAM

Paul Hindemith

Der Schwanendreher, concerto for viola and small orchestra over ancient folk songs

“An itinerant player, entering a gathering of merry people, makes these people hear melodies that he has collected elsewhere, both serious and facetious in nature; following his inventive genius as a musician, he preludes, embroiders and fantasizes over these themes, ending with a danceable piece.” This is the note placed at the head of Schwanendreher’s score, which literally means “he who spins swans,” perhaps an allegorical reference to the hurdy-gurdy player. First performed in Amsterdam on Nov. 14, 1935, with the composer himself as soloist, this Viola Concerto exhibits ancient folk melodies, in an anomalous instrumental ensemble, which reserves a position of absolute prominence for the viola, since the two sections of first and second violins are not contemplated, as are the other violas in the orchestra.

Robert Schumann

Symphony No. 2 in C major , op.61

“I wrote the second symphony,” are the composer’s words, “when I was still in great pain, and it seems to me that you should feel it when listening; it reflects the resistance of the spirit against my physical condition. The first movement is full of this struggle and its capricious and obstinate character.” Schumann’s four symphonies were born over a period of ten years: the First is written by the German composer in early 1841 in a happy period, shortly after his marriage to Clara Wieck; the Second takes shape between 1845 and 1846 in Dresden, when his psychic instability begins to manifest itself in an increasingly serious way; the Third, on the other hand, was composed in 1850 following the musician’s move to Düsseldorf to take over the leadership of the city’s orchestra; while the Fourth, made in its original version as early as 1841 immediately after the First, shelved because of its lack of success, was revised by the composer in 1851, five years before his death.