Programme Notes

Summer Concert June 2025

Ida Moberg - "Sunrise" from Sunrise Suite for Orchestra (1909)

Moberg was born in Helsinki and pursued vocal training in St. Petersburg before returning to Finland to devote herself to conducting and composition - her teachers included Jean Sibelius (between 1893 and 1895) and Ilmari Krohn. In her 40s she further developed her compositional skills at the Conservatory in Dresden, where she also met Dalcroze and studied the understanding of music through movement. She brought this technique back to Finland and taught it at what is now the Sibelius Academy, also giving private lessons in music theory, orchestration, composition, improvisation and piano. As a Swedish-speaking Finn, folk education, the symbolism of freedom and women’s rights were also important to her.
Moberg saw many of her orchestral output as tone poems and the Suite “Soluppgang” (“Sunrise”) is a good example, comprising four movements entitled Sunrise, Activity, Evening and Stillness. The short opening movement performed tonight is a vivid depiction of daybreak beginning in mystery leading to a typical orchestral sweep full of light.
Her compositions are mainly for orchestra (sometimes with the addition of choir) but also include a Violin Concerto, a capella choral works and an incomplete opera based on the life of Buddha. Sadly, many of her compositions have been lost or remain unperformed.
 

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Concerto for Flute and Orchestra No.1 in G Major
Allegro maestoso
Adagio non troppo
Rondeau: Tempo di menuetto

In 1777 Mozart visited Mannheim, a city which boasted the most accomplished orchestra in Europe, in the service of the Elector Palatine, Karl Theodor. The visitor was most impressed by the wind players who readily befriended him. Johann Baptist Wendling, the principal flautist, tried to find work for the young composer and succeeded in obtaining a commission to write some concertos and quartets for the flute for a rich amateur flautist, the Dutchman Ferdinand de Jean (or Dejong) He was offered the considerable sum of 200 gulden for the works and expressed the intention of completing them within two months. His father Leopold was obviously only too aware of his son's dilatory nature and at a very early stage expressed his reservations about the completion date. His greatest concern was probably that the fee would not be forthcoming. Leopold predicted correctly. In February 1778 de Jean left for Paris with only two of the projected four concertos and but three of a promised set of six quartets, for which Mozart received 96 of the expected 200 gulden. For the second of the two concertos he had also taken a short cut by re-arranging his earlier Oboe Concerto (K.271k), a ruse which must have been obvious to De Jean. Leopold's wrath descended upon his son and it brought forth in reply one of the most baffling of Mozart's remarks: "Moreover, you know that I become quite powerless whenever I am obliged to write for an instrument that I cannot bear". How can we balance such a statement against the creation of some of the most beautiful and idiomatic music written for the flute, either before, or since?

The Concerto shows no sign of the composer's possible distaste for the solo instrument and is full of warmth, humour and refinement. The usual scoring for flutes, oboes, horns and strings is used, and in the solo part he completely masters the technical potential of the instrument.

A rather pompous, springy, far-reaching first subject is presented in the orchestral opening, giving a suggestion of the second theme, with added rhythmic codetta, which reoccurs throughout the movement at significant points. The outer movements frame the Adagio. This is the heart of the work, expressive in its dynamic values and
harmonically poised. Here the penetrating sound of the oboes is replaced with orchestral flutes which, set against muted strings, give great warmth to this sensuous movement. It transpired that De Jean was unhappy with the movement, despite its felicities, and he asked for a replacement. It is possible that the Andante for Flute and Orchestra, K.315, was the alternative with which Mozart duly obliged. An elegant finale, in sonata rondo form, and in minuet tempo, rounds off the work. Introduced by the soloist, it is full of fresh invention and high spirits, and its easy, graceful style conceals a wealth of imagination.

Programme notes provided by John Dalton, Making Music


INTERVAL


Robert Schumann - Symphony No.3 in E Flat, Op.97 "Rhennish"
Lebhaft
Scherzo: Sehr mäßig
Nicht schnell
Feierlich
Lebhaft

The Third Symphony is, rather confusingly, actually the fourth and final symphony that Schumann wrote. His "4th symphony" was composed some 10 years previously. The Third Symphony was written just as Schumann moved to Dusseldorf in the Rhine Valley, a somewhat happier period of his life than he had previously experienced. Whether Schumann intended the symphony to be reminiscent of the Rhine is a matter of much debate, although we do know this work was written at a time that composers were moving increasingly towards music conveying literary ideas and real life scenes. The term Rhenish Symphony was never attached to the original published score, though it was commonly used by Schumann in casual reference to the work.

The first movement (remarkably sketched in just a week) brings back memories of Beethoven's godfather Eroica Symphony with the key of E flat major and brisk 3/4 tempo using an artful cross-rhythm (hemiola) giving a forward propulsion and impetuous energy. Note the new melody just before the end of the movement – a
highly individual touch by Schumann. The general bright character of this symphonic opening does point towards Schumann's improved mental outlook.

The second movement is more unassuming than the first, with a relaxed feel starting with a gentle ländler folk-dance rhythm in the cellos. The original title for this movement was believed to be Morning on the Rhine depicting the relaxed pace of life and charming surroundings.
The third movement, opened by the principal clarinet, eloquently illustrates Schumann's gift for melodic invention, not forgetting his mastery as a songwriter. It is a short movement but packed with warm musical poetry. This movement is somewhat faster than we may expect of the typical slow movement of a symphony, undoubtedly to give way to the stately pace of the next movement.

The awe-inspiring fourth movement is actually an unusual addition to the common four-movement symphony that audiences had come to expect at this time (with the notable exception of Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony). It is believed to have been inspired by Schumann's second trip to Cologne where he visited the magnificent cathedral, which, at the time, was the tallest structure in the world. This movement has a clear sense of ceremony and grandeur right from the heavy opening chord and hymn-like main theme and has beautiful contrapuntal textures, reminiscent of J.S. Bach. For this movement Schumann reserves the use of the trombones, who, until this point in the symphony, have been silent. In his own score Schumann wrote that this movement was "in the character of an accompaniment to a solemn ceremony". In later editions this became condensed to Feierlich (meaning solemn/ceremonial).

The clear anticipation that is built in the fourth movement gets resolved in the fifth and final movement of the symphony, a charming and cheery opening that gradually unfolds to cleverly recall previous musical themes notable from the third and fourth movements and also the symphony's opening.

Programme notes provided by Rod Berrieman, Making Music

The orchestra would like thank the Edinburgh University Music Library for loaning the orchestral parts for the Mozart Concerto and the Schumann Symphony.