Toledo Symphony

Description:

The dramatic opening chords of one of Mozart’s most famous overtures announce the return of one of the TSO’s most cherished traditions – our conductorless Mozart and More concert.

Concertmaster Kirk Toth and the TSO musicians lead each other through three classic works heard outside their original contexts.  The Overture to Don Giovanni is one of Mozart’s most celebrated.  Here, it is given a concert ending by the Italian composer Ferrucio Busoni, who takes the liberty of adding trombones for additional power.   Bach’s Oboe and Violin Concerto is so lyrical and long-limbed that it is hard to believe that it is a reconstruction of a concerto for double harpsichord.  The final pieces on the program come from Schubert’s incidental music for Rosamunde, an utterly forgettable play and ballet.  Fortunately, the piece has far greater staying power as a concert work than it does as a choreographed one.

Points of Interest:

• On the eve of the premiere of Don Giovanni, the opera was overture-less.   He wrote it at midnight on the day of the premiere, with his wife telling him stories to keep him awake.  Copyists frantically made the parts the next day, and the Overture was sight-read at the premiere.  Legend has it that this masterpiece was written in less than three hours.
• One of the melodies from Schubert’s Rosamunde music has achieved even greater fame as the basis for one of his great string quartets.  The Quartet in A minor, also known as the Rosamunde, uses one of these melodies as the theme of its second movement, to incredibly poignant effect.

Media Sponsor:

Program:

Mozart arr. Busoni                 Overture to Don Giovanni    9’

Bach                                          Concerto for Oboe and Violin    17’
                                                        Allegro
                                                        Adagio
                                                        Allegro

 
Intermission

Schubert                                  Ballet Music from “Rosamunde”    35’
                                                        Overture
                                                        Ballet Music I
                                                        Entr’acte II
                                                        Pastoral Music
                                                        Entr’acte III
                                                        Ballet Music II

WGTE - FM 91 broadcasts the Toledo Symphony on FM 91 In Concert. Tonight's concert will be broadcast Thursday, June 5, 2008, at 8:00 p.m., through the generosity of the Edward H. Schmidt Musical Arts Fund.

Radio Clips: