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Felix Bartholdy Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Overture The Hebrides (Fingal’s Cave) Op. 26
Mendelssohn found his inspiration for the Hebrides Overture during a holiday in Scotland in 1829. After spending some time in Edinburgh, where he began the composition of his Scotch Symphony (No. 3), he went on a walking tour, going up to Fort William and then across to the lonely Hebridean islands of Iona and Staffa. On Staffa he watched the relentless Atlantic waves pounding into the shoreline and could appreciate the grandeur of Fingal's Cave. In August 1829 he wrote, 'In order to make you understand how extraordinarily the Hebrides affected me, the following came into my mind there', and he quoted the opening theme of the overture.
That short, restless figure with which the overture begins runs through the entire composition and evokes the ceaseless battering of the waves upon the seashore. The noble grandeur of the scene is found in the rich second subject, first heard in the cellos and bassoons, but the pounding waves always return to haunt the listener.
Programme Note by Finchley Chamber Choir. This note was supplied through the Programme Note Bank of Making Music, the National Federation of Music Societies
Frederic Chopin (1810 - 1849 -)
Piano Concerto No 1 in E minor, Op. 11
Chopin’s music and his completely natural genius as a performer had a revolutionary effect on several generations of musicians and his style of writing for the piano remained dominant until the advent of Debussy.
Chopin must have completed the E minor Concerto around July or August 1830 as he gave a public dress rehearsal of the piece on 22 September that year: a formal public performance was organised for 11 October 1830. Chopin's own account of the concert was "I was not the slightest bit nervous and I played as I play when I'm alone. . . . [I] played the first allegro of the E minor Concerto. . . . The bravos were deafening, Mlle Wolkow sang Soliva's Aria with Chorus, then came the Adagio and Rondo. . . . For once the final Mazurka called forth terrific applause". This was to be Chopin's last appearance in his native country, as he left Poland finally on 2 November. Shortly after he left, an uprising took place in Warsaw against the rule of the Russian Tsar. Poland was, as so often in its history, not then independent, and Chopin became desperate for news of his family. The city fell to the Russians on 8 September 1832, by which time Chopin had secured permission to travel to Paris, which would remain his home for the rest of his life.
Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)
Symphony no. 7 in C# minor, Op. 131
Born in the Ukraine, Sergei Prokofiev was to spend his middle years in the West, in both New York and then Paris. He returned to the USSR in 1936 where his late works were written. the seventh symphony was completed in 1952, a year before his death.
This symphony represents a turning away from the more dissonant aspects of Prokofiev's music, toward a simpler style, and was premiered as part of a radio programme for children. Because of this it has been called the "Children's symphony".
Most of the symphony is emotionally restrained, nostalgic and melancholy . The premiere was well-received, and in 1957, four years after Prokofiev's death, the symphony was awarded the Lenin Prize.
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