Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie – 7th Philharmonic Concert

The program of the seventh Philharmonic Concert of the season includes works by Copland, Corigliano and Dvořák.

The guest is violinist Mira Foron, conducted by Marcus Bosch, Principal Guest Conductor of the SWP.

To the program:

The evening begins with four dance episodes from “Rodeo” by Aaron Copland.

Copland, who was born in New York as the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants and studied in Paris with Nadia Boulanger, combined classical music with folk and country music. In Paris, Copland absorbed the current trends of the 1920s and incorporated elements of jazz into his music. As a composer, he became known above all for his three ballets “Billy the Kid”, “Rodeo” and “Appalachian Spring”, in which he used folk song melodies and jazz rhythms and developed an “American” style.

In the ballet “Rodeo”, Copland tells the story of a girl on a farm in four movements, which are combined into a suite.

The violin concerto “The red violin” by John Corigliano continues the evening.

American composer John Corigliano made film music history with his Oscar-winning score for “The red violin” from 1999. The film is about an enchanted violin in whose varnish the violin maker has mixed her blood out of grief over the death of his wife in childbirth, whereupon the violin brings bad luck to anyone who picks it up in the future. The first part is dominated by a chaconne and “Anna’s Theme”, a melody hummed by the dying woman. Both themes are linked in passionate expression. Corigliano added three movements to the extended first movement to create a violin concerto in the Romantic style.

The evening will conclude with Antonin Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 in E minor op. 95 “From the New World”

In 1892, the then 50-year-old composer Antonin Dvořák was appointed director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York with the task of creating a national American style, as there had been no (classical) art music until then. Dvořák explained in an interview: “I am now convinced that the future music of this country must be built on the basis of the songs called Negro melodies … They are pathetic, tender, passionate, melancholy, solemn.” The Symphony No. 9 “From the New World” and the “American” Quartet op. 96 are the well-known “souvenirs” of these years in New York and inspire with their melodies borrowed from spirituals as well as their very own Slavic touch. The solemn chords, the lively rhythms and, above all, the wonderful English horn solo in the slow movement have made the symphony a favorite work of many people from the very beginning.

Picture: Veit Mette