180717 – Toronto Concert Orchestra

Romantic music from the twilight of Czarist Russia featuring soprano, Luiza Zhuleva, and baritone, Andrey Andreychik: Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4/Eugene Onegin (excerpts); Stravinsky’s Berceuse and Finale from Firebird; Rachmaninoff’s Cavatina from Aleko; Tchaikovsky’s Pique Dame - Yeletsky's Aria; Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Tale of Tsar Saltan’s Swan Princess' Aria.

PROGRAMME

Tchaikovsky, P.I. | Waltz from "Eugene Onegin"
Rimsky-Korsakov, N.A. | Snow Maiden Aria from "Snegurochka"
Rachmaninoff, S. | Cavatina Aleko from "Aleko"
Rimsky-Korsakov, N.A. | Swan Princess’s Aria from "The Tale of Tsar Saltan"
Tchaikovsky, P.I. | Yeletsky Aria from "Queen of Spades"
Rachmaninoff, S. | Song 4 Op.4 – Do not sing to me, my beauty
Stravinsky, I. | 1919 Suite from "The Firebird" – Berceuse and Finale

[Intermission]

Tchaikovsky, P.I. | Symphony No.4 in F minor Op.36 – Movement 1
Prokofiev, S. | Natasha Rostova Arioso from "War and Peace"
Tchaikovsky, P.I. | Symphony No.4 in F minor Op.36 – Movement 2
Tchaikovsky, P.I. | Don Juan’s Serenade
Tchaikovsky, P.I. | Symphony No.4 in F minor Op.36 – Movement 3
Tchaikovsky, P.I. | Final Duet from "Eugene Onegin"
Tchaikovsky, P.I. | Symphony No.4 in F minor Op.36 – Movement 4

Approx Timing | 8.0, 3.7, 6.8, 4.0, 5.3, 4.9, 7.8 [20] 18.7, 4.3, 9.5, 2.9, 5.7, 13.7, 8.9

Conductor | Kerry Stratton
Soprano | Luiza Zhuleva
Baritone | Andrey Andreychik

PROGRAMME NOTES
Prepared by TCO's Assistant Conductor, Surinder S. Mundra

The Russian poet, novelist, and playwright, Count Alexei K. Tolstoy (second cousin of Leo Tolstoy) one of the most important 19th century Russian historical dramatists once wrote, “It is sad, yet joyful, on a silent summer’s night, in a voiceless wood, to hear a Russian song. Here we find unlimited sadness without hope. Here, also is unconquerable strength and the unalterable stamp of Fate; here...one of the primitive foundations of the Russian national identity, through which much can be explained which seemed inexplicable in Russian life.”

If you were to be searching for an overarching theme it tonight’s programme, it would be fate. Fate, expressed through the Russian musical lens which embraces all aspects of the human experience; an experience whose desire is never to mollify, but rather revel equally in both the bitterness of suffering and the sweetness of happiness and joy all at once, perfectly expressed through the rich orchestrations of those Russian musical alchemists. Interestingly, according to translator, Vladimir Zakharov, the Russian word for happiness is schastye, or souchastiye, roughly translated into compassion, companionship, sympathy, and conspiracy.

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky seemed to distill the very essence of Tolstoy's definition of that Russian identity. His life was marred by emotional troubles, yet his music was surely defined by that unconquerable strength. Tchaikovsky was Russia's gift to the world, though his country never fully appreciated his genius as arguably the greatest melodist after Mozart.

Tchaikovsky completed his towering and brooding Symphony No. 4 during the aftermath of his ill-fated and tortured 10-week marriage to his former student, Antonina Miliukova. It was composed at the behest of the other woman in Tchaikovsky's life, Nadezha Von Meck. Von Meck and Tchaikovsky would maintain their passionate affair (entirely through correspondence, and Von Meck's financial patronage) for 13 years until Von Meck would succumb to family pressures and her own fatal illness.

Tchaikovsky described the opening of this symphony as, “fate, the fatal power which hinders one in the pursuit of happiness.” This well illustrates the unfortunate circumstances of Pushkin's tragic character (from the play of the same name, which Tchaikovsky also set to music), Eugene Onegin, the dandy whose life revolved around the frills and frolics of high society. Onegin's admonition of the beautiful and kind Tatyana's advances denied him the happiness he so sought. He would only realize his mistake years later after her marriage when she rejects him, leaving him to his own bitter destiny.

The theme of the struggle for happiness is a common thread throughout much of Russian literature and folklore, and tonight's programme, especially in Rachmaninoff's painfully beautiful opera, Aleko, and Rimsky-Korsakov's entrancing Snegurochka. These characters tirelessly seek that seemingly unattainable perfect love that sustains the soul.

Snegurochka is the snow maiden and daughter of the Spring of Beauty. She does not know what love is, yet pines for companionship with the shepherd, Lel. Her mother, taking pity on Snegurochka, grants her the gift to love and as soon her heart burns for Lel, she melts.

Aleko, like Snegurochka suffers a similar fate, leaving civilization behind to marry his beloved Zemfira, a gypsy. Though his love never tires for her, Zemfira's affections are free and unrestricted as she takes on another lover. Enraged, Aleko kills them both, and then is exiled as punishment.

Still, this bitter pill of suffering throughout the music is assuaged (in the very same music) by its tempering component of joy. It is also alluded to in The Firebird, by Stravinsky, and War and Peace, by Prokofiev.

Tchaikovsky wrote another note relating to his great symphony, and which could apply to all of the music in this programme: “Rejoice in the happiness of others and you can still live.” It may very well be that this is the answer to the dilemma of suffering.

The beauty of the Russian spirit is embracing both suffering and happiness, a sentiment self-evident in its countrymen’s composers' music. It is for that reason, that this music is a message for all of humanity, alluding to the inevitability of the commingling of the ever-present tension between humanity's sufferings, and its joys.

"Let's drink to love! Gorka! (Bitter!)"
-Russian toast to newlyweds

ROMANOV'S RUSSIA

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