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Overture Le carneval romain, Opus 9
Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)
Benvenuto Cellini, the 16th-century Italian sculptor and goldsmith, appealed to Berlioz as the subject for an opera because they had in common the role of the bold innovatory artist adventuring in the world in defiance of its conventions. The opera Benvenuto Cellini was the first of three by Berlioz. When it appeared at the Paris Opéra in 1838 it failed partly because of an inadequate performance, and although it was performed in Weimar and London during the composer's lifetime it did not reappear in Paris until 1913
By 1844 Berlioz was convinced that no revival of Cellini was likely in Paris and so he assembled some of its more striking ideas into a new concert overture using the carnival chorus from Act II and the love duet between Teresa, daughter of the Papal Treasurer, Bolducci, and Cellini from Act I. The rewriting is so complete that one hardly suspects that the fast section was choral in origin or that the cor anglais tune in the slow section could have been previously written for any other instrument.
taken from a programme note by Ben Brickman supplied through Making Music's programme note service.
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Roman Carnival by Jan Miel 1653
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Last Songs
Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
Richard Strauss wrote songs throughout this long life and it is fitting that his last complete composition should be September, the third of a group of songs now known as Vier Letzte Lieder It was completed on 20 September 1948, less than a year before the composer’s death. The text of three of the songs is by Hermann Hesse and the fourth, At Sunset, by Joseph von Eichendorff.
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Soprano soloist Mary Plazas
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