Name: Estonian National Opera Symphony Concert
Start: 2022-09-10T00:00:00.000Z
End: 2022-09-10T00:00:00.000Z
Location: Concert Hall

Organization

Conductor

Arvo Volmer

Chorus master

Heli Jürgenson

Estonian National Opera

Others

Estonian National Opera Boys’ Choir

Estonian National Opera Chorus

Orchestra

Estonian National Opera Orchestra

Estonian National Opera Symphony Concert

Tallinn

Estonia

Concert Hall

Estonian National Opera Symphony Concert: Concert Various

Public

Concert

Approved

Bass

Instrumentalist

Pianist

Violinist

Cellist

Violist

Flutist

Clarinetist

Guitarist

Organist

Percussionist

Oboist

hornist

Bassoonist

Trumpeter

Contrabassist

Harper

Saxophonist

Trombonist

Harpsichordist

Bassist

Accordionist

Tuba Player

Recorder Player

Lutenist

Tenor Violinist

Timpani

Mandoline Player

Baroque Flutist

Baroque Oboist

Baroque Trumpetist

Violino Piccolo Player

Viola da gamba

Musette de cour Player

Viola Pomposa Player

Archlutenist

Vibraphonist

Cornettist

Viola d’amore Player

Theorbist

Composer

Stage director

Librettist

Set designer

Costume designer

Choreographer

Lighting designer

Dancer

Actor

Video designer

Dramaturge

Translator

Sound designer

Repetiteur

Makeup artist

Executive producer

Hairstylist

Other

Stage Manager

Choir

Poet

Vocal coach

Teacher

Photographer

Broadcasting

Writer

Writing and performance

Chorus Director

Wig & Makeup Designer

Orchestra Operations

Illustrator

Extra

Soprano

Singer

Mezzo-soprano

Contralto

Tenor

Countertenor

Bass-baritone

Baritone

Spoken

Child vocalist

Silent

Alto

Continuo

Brahms’s Rhapsody Op. 53 for contralto, male chorus and orchestra (also known as “Alto Rhapsody”) is inspired by Goethe’s poem “Winter Journey in the Harz” (“Harzreise im Winter”) and his romantic feelings for Robert and Clara Schumann’s daughter Julie. The piece was written in 1869 for the wedding of Julie. It describes a journey to the Harz Mountains by a young misanthrope, cast out of society and wounded by love, wandering aimlessly in the dark forest, scorning everything and everyone. The wilderness of his surroundings completely erases his tracks as if he never passed that way.

 

            The “Schicksalslied” (Song of Destiny), Op. 54, is one of several major choral works by Brahms, and it was completed in 1871. In the summer of 1868, while visiting his friend Albert Dietrich in the North German coastal town of Wilhelmshaven, Johannes Brahms was drawn to the poem “Hyperions Schicksalslied” by Friedrich Hölderlin. Whereas Hölderlin contrasts the everlasting bliss of souls in heaven with the pain and suffering of human existence, ending on a note of bleak resignation, Brahms concludes the work with a return to the heavenly radiance of the orchestral introduction. Amid expansive phrases, the choral and orchestral lines weave together in a divine conversation. As with the Requiem, his message seems to be that hope and consolation for the living may be found here on earth.

 

“Do you know what Rococo means?” Tchaikovsky asked Wilhelm Fitzenhagen, professor of cello at the Moscow Conservatory, and answered himself: “It is a carefree feeling of well-being,” and he sang a melody, which had the rhythm of a gavotte. Fitzenhagen, to whom the “Variations on a Rococo Theme” Op. 33 is dedicated, premiered the work in Moscow on November 30, 1877. Variation-form plays with a simple melody in various emotional guises. One variation transforms the theme into an elegant dance, another a doleful aria, and another a virtuosic race to the finish line. It is one of the most favourite pieces for cellists, allowing to show the beauty of the instrument in its full colours.

 

Estonian National Opera Orchestra conducted by Arvo Volmer will perform all symphonies by Jean Sibelius within the series of Estonian National Opera symphony concerts. In autumn, Estonian National Opera Orchestra will perform Sibelius’ Symphony No. 4 in A minor, Op. 63.

Sibelius called the fourth “a psychological symphony.” It is the stuff of Expressionism, murky dreams, and Sigmund Freud’s excursions into the unconscious. Completed in 1911, as Europe teetered on the brink of the First World War, its atmosphere was once summed up by Sibelius with a gloomy quote by the playwright, August Strindberg: “One feels pity for human beings”. The symphony’s tone was both modern and introspective, and it confused the audience so much that the applause was subdued. Nowadays, the fourth symphony has come to be recognised as one of the great masterpieces of the 20th century and one of Sibelius’s most magnificent achievements.

While composing the fourth, Sibelius worked on an orchestral song setting of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven”, commissioned by the prominent soprano, Aino Ackté. The project remained unfinished, but some of the music found its way into the symphony’s final movement.

Despite the mixed feelings with which the symphony received after its world premiere, the critic Oskar Merikanto understood its significance, “I feel as if entirely new worlds were now opening for Sibelius as a composer of symphonies, worlds which have not been shown to others and which he, with his astonishingly highly developed sense of colour and melody, can see and describe to others.”

English

Estonian National Opera Symphony Concert by Various, Sat 10 Sep 2022, From (2022/2022), Conductor Arvo Volmer, Concert Hall, Tallinn, Estonia

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Crew

Ensemble

Programme, About & Synopsis

Photos

Further reading

Performance Dates & Venues

Venues