A symphonic concert with music by Gioachino Rossini, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven, a project realized by Fondazione Teatro Carlo Felice in collaboration with Comunità di Sant’Egidio.
Conducted by M° Dorian Wilson with the piano soloist Marco Vincenzi and the Opera Carlo Felice Genova Orchestra. Together with the musical pieces by Rossini and Mozart, Beethoven’s Symphony n. 7 particularly refers to the dimension of ballet. In fact, Wagner’s famous statement about such a music goes: «In self-awareness, wherever we enter the bold rhythm of this dance of spheres of human size. Such a symphony is the apotheosis of dance, it is dance itself in its most sublime essence».
GIOACHINO ROSSINI
Symphony from Il barbiere di Siviglia
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
Concert for piano and orchestra n. 27
27 in B flat major K 595
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
Symphony n. 7 in A major op. 92
Piano
Marco Vincenzi
Conductor
Dorian Wilson
Orchestra
Opera Carlo Felice Genova
Il barbiere di Siviglia is one of the cornerstones of Italian comic opera. Composed by Gioachino Rossini in just three weeks, and despite the lack of success of the premiere, the title was quickly revived. Like the vast majority of Rossini’s overtures, the overture to Il Barbiere soon became extremely popular as a concert piece, and was therefore performed independently. In fact, the first symphony of Il Barbiere, performed during the performance at the Teatro Argentina in Rome on 20 February 1816, was replaced by another symphony – later consecrated by tradition – originally composed for the opera Aureliano in Palmira in 1813. The structure of the symphony is similar to Rossini’s other symphonies, with a slow introduction followed by the two themes of the Allegro, without any real development but centred on the lively melodic statement that leads directly to the final coda. Rossini’s incredible talent for creating overtures that immediately capture the listener – both in their original function as introductions to operas and in their autonomous symphonic versions – is responsible for the great success of this opening symphony.
The composition of the Piano Concerto K. 595 began around 1788 and was completed in 1791, the year of Mozart’s death. Due to performance requirements, the concerto has a reduced instrumentation and duration, oscillating between symphonic and chamber music. This aspect plays a significant role in the intimate character of the composition. The contrapuntal writing gives the dialogue between piano and orchestra a sensitive balance, which is, however, shaken in a certain way by frequent passages from major to minor keys. While the piano plays a role of eloquent clarity, it is mainly the orchestra that insinuates a more troubled and reflective atmosphere. The Concerto consists of three movements: the Allegro in sonata form, the Larghetto, which takes the form of a Lied, and the final Allegro in rondo form. There is a very clear sense of continuity between the three movements, in which the dialogue between soloist and tutti is uninterrupted. In all three movements, highly inspired melodic ideas flourish. In the Larghetto, Mozart uses a melody from Loyalty rewarded by Haydn, amplifying every emotional nuance; even in the final Allegro, the composer borrows an external theme, in this case from a Lied contemporary with Concerto K. 595: Sehnsucht nach dem Frühling (Longing for spring).
Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony dates back to 1811-12 and was performed for the first time in December 1813. From the very first performance, it was clear that this was a revolutionary piece. On the one hand, the audience was captivated (particularly by the second movement, Allegretto), while on the other, critics were quick to point out how unconventional this symphony was, to the point of seeming to have been composed by a madman or a drunkard. The rhythmic aspect is the main factor through which the canonical patterns are overturned. It is the agitated rhythm of the Vivace of the first movement that guides the listener more than the sonata form; it is the pulsating and relentless rhythm that determines the tragic and solemn character of the second movement, Allegretto, which replaces the more traditional Andante; it is again the rhythm that carries the listener through the Presto and on to the Allegro con brio, more dance-like than ever. And it is precisely this rhythm that creates the Wagnerian association between the Seventh and dance, an association now firmly rooted in the collective imagination. Wagner wrote: ‘Conscious of ourselves, wherever we go, we are carried along by the bold rhythm of this dance of the spheres on a human scale. This symphony is the apotheosis of dance itself, dance in its most sublime essence, the action of the body translated into ideal sounds, so to speak’. Beethoven associates rhythmic protagonism with the intense saturation of orchestral writing, which is denser than ever and rich in accentuated contrasts. A clear example of this is the final chord of the first movement in A major, followed by the peremptory opening chord in A minor, a passage unprecedented in its total absence of mediation.
Ludovica Gelpi
