Offenbach / Binder: Can-Can, from Orpheus in the Underworld - Overture

The prolific operetta author Jacques Offenbach, of German origin, earned his livelihood in Paris as a virtuoso cellist before assuming in 1850, at the age of 31, the leadership of the orchestra of the Théatre Français. Sadly for him, he never succeeded in getting staged there some of his works. So, five years later he decided to run his own company, in a small theater which he named Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens.

Orpheus in the Underworld
In his new center of operations, Offenbach premiered very ingenious one-act operettas whose humorous texts and catchy melodies became the rage in the Paris of the time. Enthusiastic with the success and welcome given to his musical inventiveness —besides the lifting of the curious restrictions that his license contemplated: one act and maximum three artists—, in 1858 he premiered a major work, the mythological satire Orphée aux enfers (Orpheus in the Underworld), a delightful parody where he mocks the myth of Orfeo, poet and singer, and his wife Eurydice, gloating in passing with Gluck's Orpheus and Eurydice.
The work is, of course, also a social satire where the novel character Public Opinion has an outstanding participation. More than a century later, in an eighties version in London, it will outline a satirical portrait of the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Jacques Offenbach (1819 - 1880)

The gods and the can-can
But not only Orpheus is ridiculed but the entire stock of Greek gods. Full of delicious incongruities, the work shows Jupiter, Venus, Juno, Cupid, Mars, Pluto, Diana, Mercury, Minerva, Morpheus, and the infallible Bacchus, in nearly shocking irreverent situations.
The climax will come at the end of the second act when the gods should dance an irreverent can-can, a dance of recent invention and practiced with ardent enthusiasm in the dance halls of the Parisian popular classes in the mid-nineteenth century.

The critics
Nonetheless, the reception to the premiere of October 21, 1858, was rather mediocre but managed to impress some critics. Offenbach decided to revise it, giving it a new orchestration and extending the two original acts until completing four acts and twelve scenes. The scathing opinion of one critic of the time —which the composer responded by pointing out that the texts that one of the characters in the work sang were based on his opinions— reverted into a tremendous boost to the work. After the skirmish, it enjoyed 228 performances before being suspended for a short time, simply because of the well-deserved rest the artists were in need.

Carl Binder (1816 - 1860)

Carl Binder - A new overture
The play returned to the stage a few weeks later. In 1860 it was performed in Vienna successfully but with a new overture. The Austrian operetta composer Carl Binder added a series of episodes to the quite brief original overture. The very famous Can-Can is the culmination of this series of new episodes.

The new overture begins with a stinging fanfare, followed by a clarinet solo that will introduce a tender love song by the oboe in 1:44. After a brief dramatic passage (3:26), the concertino announces the first bars of a quiet waltz (4:18) that will be followed by a certain drama. Finally, the widely spread can-can kicks off with all its wild joy at 6:59.

The rendition is by the Slovenian Youth Orchestra Gimnazija Kranj.

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G.F. Handel: Water Music - Suite No 2

The simple but exclusive pastime of navigating a river listening to music was not original to the court of London —the French court, more lavish, had been practicing it for years. But the idea of enjoying outdoor concerts, through the gardens or on the shores of a river, already had acquired great relief in the London high society of the early 18th century.

Navigating the Thames
In 1717, the former patron of Georg F. Handel at the court of Hanover, converted now by the deed and grace of history into King George I of England, promptly became part of the tradition. Having in mind the idea of a walk by the river for July 17, he commissioned the one who now stood out in London as a famous composer, namely Handel, to write a set of new compositions to delight him and his court as they sailed the Thames.

Water Music - A set of three suites
The commission couldn't have come at a better time for Handel. Particularly, to ingratiate himself with his former protector, whom he had served late, badly and never in Hanover due to his compulsion to know the world. Nonetheless, to complete the work the composer did nothing but draw on some orchestral suites composed in advance. The work was titled Water Music, and consists of three suites of alternate movements, slow and lively, written the first of them in F major, the second one in D and the third one in G.

Georg Friedrich Handel (1685 - 1759)

The journey
The fluvial and musical journey was run, indeed, that day of July of 1717. The king and his court travelled in a royal barge; Hendel plus 50 musicians in another barge, not royal, providing the music. What is not clear is if the suites we know today as Water Music were heard that afternoon. According to all sources, on that occasion Haendel played his own music, of course, but not necessarily the one that concerns us.

What is not in dispute is the following: that day was Wednesday, the journey took them from Whitehall to Chelsea, back and forth, and the musicians played from 8 pm until 12, with a short break while the king went ashore at Chelsea; all this according to the London newspaper of the time, The Daily Courant.

Different versions
The set of orchestral pieces was only published fifteen years later, in 1732. Because of this, the original sequence of their movements became somewhat blurry; nowadays, the movements are incorporated into the suites in different order and number.

Suite No 2 in D major - Movements
Less than ten minutes long, the performance is by Le Concert Spirituel on period instruments, conducted by Hervé Niquet. In this version, the movements are:
00     Overture (Allegro)
2:02  Alla Hornpipe (the most known section)
5:02  Minuet
6:41  Lentement
8:11  Bourrée

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Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky: "1812 Overture"

Not all the admirers of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky underwent the fate of the one who he married by mistake, Antonina Milyukova. Around the same time of the unfortunate marriage, Nadezhda Philaretovna von Meck appeared in the life of Tchaikovsky staying close by his side through correspondence, for thirteen years.
The widow of a German railway entrepreneur, from whom she inherited an immense fortune that she managed to administer with great skill, Mrs. von Meck proved to be a sophisticated woman, intelligent and passionate about music. After attending a concert covering recent works from the maestro she became captivated by his art. Being aware of the composer's economic difficulties, she decided then to become his patroness. From then on, Pyotr Ilich was able to devote himself full-time to his work, with no economic hardship.

Nadezhda von Meck (1831 - 1894)

But as nothing lasts forever, around mid-1890 no longer the rumor but the confirmation of the composer’s sexual orientation came to Mrs. von Meck's notice. It is not unlikely that Nadezhda had believed for all those years that the maestro did love her. Although they never met personally, their voluminous correspondence, where beauty and art as predominant themes are profusely debated, gives reasons for Nadezhda to believe it.

In December of that year, claiming bogus financial difficulties, Mrs. von Meck decided to put an end to such a prolonged friendship, and never again wrote to him. Despite this irreparable rupture, for the rest of her days, Mrs. von Meck kept abreast of the composer's career. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky died in 1893; attentive to each of his moves, she was courteous enough to depart this life only two months after her protégé did it.

1812 Overture
It's its popular name but the official title of the work is a bit more extensive: "The year 1812, Festival Overture for large orchestra, composed for the occasion of the Consecration of the Church of the Savior". Composed in 1880, it is a composition requested by his friend Nicholas Rubinstein, who was in charge of organizing the music that would accompany the Great Exhibition of Moscow, to be held in 1882. The Church of the Savior had been erected in commemoration of the Russian triumph of 1812 over the French troops but its inauguration had to wait until 1883.

Although being one of Tchaikovsky's most performed and recognized works today, the maestro did not recognize himself in this piece and so he told Mrs. von Meck. Thus, she was the first to learn that the piece "is very loud and noisy but without artistic merit, because I wrote it without warmth and without love".

Nevertheless, its great popularity is undeniable, due precisely to the novel use of artillery and bells that accompany a frieze of various themes taken from Russian folklore, along with the Russian imperial anthem and La Marseillaise. The score demands a total of sixteen cannon shots, and its final, exalted, adds to the cannons a triumphal pealing of bells.
Several sections have been incorporated into an endless series of films, some of them as unexpected as "Help", with The Beatles.

The rendition, with an approximate duration of 16 minutes, is from the "Leningrad Philharmonic" directed by Yuri Temirkanov, in 1990, on the occasion of the sesquicentennial of Tchaikovsky's birth.

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Vivaldi: "Winter", from The Four Seasons

The violinist and composer Antonio Vivaldi (1678 - 1741) was born and spent much of his life in Venice, a city that, by making streets of its canals, disowned the magical invention and "ignored the wheel", as pointed out by a biographer of the composer.
This special and unique linkage with the Adriatic Sea allowed a unique tradition to be born, as well. Every year, on August 15, during the Feast of the Ascension, the ceremony of the "Sposalizio del mare" took place, offshore, two miles from Venice.

Lo sposalizio del mare
"We wed thee, sea, as a sign of true and everlasting domination", said the Doge as he threw his golden ring into the sea.
The ceremony was highly venerated, but in those years sarcasm was already present and Voltaire did note that in those weddings only the consent of the bride was missing. Not to be outdone, the renowned lover and writer Giacomo Casanova expressed concern about the possibility of a tragic accident that would make the Europeans say that “the Doge had finally consummated the marriage ".

Antonio Vivaldi (1678 - 1741)

Il prete rosso
Just like Casanova, the master Vivaldi must have known the old tradition but, as far as is known, he did not make a mockery of it, perhaps because of his ecclesiastical investiture. The maestro had received minor orders in 1693 and was ordained a priest in 1703, but many scholars have no hesitation in admitting that the religious vocation of "Il Prete Rosso" (because of the color of his hair, a family trait) was due to a sense of opportunism; it was a way of  reaching a status to which he was not entitled by birth, since in the musician’s ancestry the sailors, pirates and bandits were abundant.

L'Ospedale della Pietá
As a priest and teacher of violin, Vivaldi began in 1703 a fruitful relationship with the Conservatory of Ospedale della Pietá. L'Ospedale was an institution in charge of hosting orphaned girls or illegitimate daughters to be educated exclusively in the art of music. Vivaldi would remain at the Conservatory until 1740, eventually becoming its Director. There he would compose most of his works which surpass the number of 450 if only the works for soloist with orchestral accompaniment are counted.

The Four Seasons - Winter
The twelve concerts that make up the collection titled “Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'invenzione” were published in 1724. The first four concerts, taken together, were later titled The Four Seasons (Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter) and became in the most popular work of Antonio Vivaldi, an authentic bestseller of the eighteenth century's instrumental music.
The fourth concert, in F minor, Winter, is presented here in an amazing rendition by the Italian chamber orchestra I Musici, a musical ensemble that does not include a conductor, although here the baton is played, as the soloist, by the Italian virtuoso Federico Agostini.

Movements:
00:00  Allegro non molto
03:38  Largo
05:48  Allegro

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Albinoni / Giazotto: Adagio in G minor

Apart from the fact that at some point in his life he got married, little is known about the baroque composer born in Venice, Tomaso Albinoni, quite well-known today because of a work not belonging to him. The author of chamber music and about fifty operas successfully performed during his long life, he was the son of a wealthy paper merchant in Venice. As a result of his birth in a golden cradle, unlike other musicians of his time, he had no need to go to a church or noble court to offer his services as a choirmaster or court musician.

So much so, that before the publication of his sonatas for violin Op.6 (c.1712) Albinoni used to sign his works with the title of diletantte, that is, one who performs an activity for the simple pleasure (diletto) of doing it. But from this date onwards, Albinoni began to sign as "musico di violino", a title responding to a sort of "professionalization" of his career. In addition, the collection of these sonatas were published under the collective title of Trattenimenti armonici per camera, which we suppose would not bear a "dilettante" as an author, even at that time or in the sense meant above.

The bombing of Dresden

Tomaso Albinoni (1671 - 1751)

It is argued that the scarce current knowledge of his work and life is a consequence of the bombing of Dresden during World War II. A large part of Albinoni’s production, as well as biographical data, were documented in archives of the State Library of that city. Not even a trace was left of the Library after the bombings, not to mention the entire city.

Giazotto enters the scene
From this ominous circumstance, nonetheless, the Italian musicologist Remo Giazotto along with the publisher Ricordi took advantage in 1958. Giazotto claimed to have received some fragments rescued from the ruins of the Library, allegedly belonging to the slow movement of a trio sonata by Tomaso Albinoni. On the basis of a few measures, Giazotto composed the work we know today, being launched on the market by Ricordi as "Adagio di Albinoni, arranged by Remo Giazotto", the last words in fine prints. To this day nobody has seen the fragments rescued from among the ruins. What's more, the Dresden Library claims not to have them in its catalog.

But the piece is beautiful (from here we greet you, Remo) and has earned its fame from its first inception. Widely used in popular culture as a musical background in films, advertising and television programs, there are also sang versions from Camilo Sesto and Sarah Brightman, among others.
The rendition is by the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra, recorded in a basilica in a Hungarian town.

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