Design by Kaela Kennedy
Read our program notes below ahead of the Beethoven & Reinecke concert. The notes are written by artistic director Sam Hollister.
In 1801 alone, Beethoven completed two violin sonatas, four piano sonatas (including the Moonlight and Pastoral sonatas), a serenade for flute, viola, and violin, a string quintet (a new ensemble for Beethoven), and a whole ballet, The Creatures of Prometheus. It is therefore hard to believe that, within the panoply of pianistic and orchestral prowess that that year afforded Beethoven, one of his violin sonatas, the Spring Sonata, would have such a lasting legacy.
We hear 30-year-old Beethoven, in this piece, knocking at the door to his ultimate voice, but not yet aware of its coming form. So, melodies and harmonies seem respectful of the traditional classical style. But Beethoven, all the while, bursts forward with a deep lyricism and tenacity unheard of in those early customs. Perhaps that fascinating conflict between pomp and humanness is what allowed this violin sonata to become Beethoven’s most beloved.
Reinecke’s Flute Sonata, written in 1882, sits in a romantic style liberated fully from the influence of classicism. The music tells the legend of Undine, a story that has been around in various forms since Ancient Greece. The composer took his inspiration from a more recent iteration: an 1811 German novella by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué. The story tells of Undine, a water spirit who ventures from the sea into the mortal world in search of love. By the second movement, she meets the knight Huldebrand, who falls in love with Undine. The two marry and live happily, as the third movement depicts. The movement also shows the two befriending a mortal named Bertalda—but the trio’s happiness is shattered when, during a river boat ride (movement four), Undine falls into the river and sinks to the bottom. Under the impression she is dead, Huldebrand and Bertalda get engaged. But, being an immortal water spirit, Undine survives. She returns on the evening of Huldebrand’s wedding to Bertalda and kills him with a kiss.
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