KEENE CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
www.keenechamberorchestra.org
ERIC STUMACHER, Music Director and Conductor
Colonial Theatre Box Office: 603-352-2033
presents
2008-2009 SEASON CONCERT I
Works by
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
THE COLONIAL THEATRE
95 Main Street, Keene, NH
Sunday, October 12, 2008 4:00 PM
PROGRAM
Coriolan Overture, Opus 62
Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, Opus 37, Eric Stumacher, piano soloist
Allegro con brio
Largo
Rondo: Allegro
(Cadenzas by Beethoven)
INTERMISSION
Symphony No. 3, Opus 55 (“Eroica”)
Allegro con brio
Marcia Funebre
Scherzo
Finale
KEENE CHAMBER ORCHESTRA, founded in 1990, exists to provide rehearsals, live performances, and recordings of orchestral repertoire at the highest standard. Its personnel combines Monadnock Region of New Hampshire and Greater New England resources ranging from professional musicians to talented and accomplished student musicians of all ages. There is no age or background restriction. Our focuses are: love of music, craft, enthusiasm, constancy of commitment and effort, the highest possible artistic excellence, and a desire to share the joy of orchestral music.
The Orchestra will always strive to create an atmosphere of accessibility, participation, warmth, challenge and encouragement for its participants, audience, and community, at the same time that it vigorously pursues artistic excellence. Its musical approach aspires to kinship with chamber music, with special emphasis on specific listening, texture, blends of sound, phrasing, and expressive character. The Orchestra is also strongly committed to music education— instrumental instruction, music appreciation, scholarship, and audience development. We invite all who love inspiring live orchestra music to join us in our pursuits.
—www.keenechamberorchestra.org
ERIC STUMACHER, Music Director and Conductor, founded the Keene Chamber Orchestra in 1990. He studied conducting at The Juilliard School with John Nelson. As pianist, he performs concerti, solo recitals, and chamber music worldwide. For thirty-five years, Mr. Stumacher served as Pianist, Executive and Artistic Director of Apple Hill and Playing for Peace. He is also Founder, Pianist, and Executive and Artistic Director of the Sonad Peace Project, www.sonadpeaceproject.blogspot.com
PROGRAM NOTES
Coriolan Overture, Opus 62
Beethoven, a great lover of Shakespeare, was inspired by Shakespeare's play "Coriolan", as well as by the play "Coriolanus" by his friend Heinrich von Collin. The premier of the overture was given at the palace of Prince Lobowitz, in a program which also included the premiers of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 and Piano Concerto No. 4.
The Coriolan Overture, like the Piano Concerto No. 3, is in the key of C Minor, thought to be Beethoven’s favorite minor key. The overture depicts the story of Coriolanus, in which the hero, an exiled leader, marches against his own people, until finally yielding to his mother Volumnia’s pleas for mercy. In the play, Coriolanus commits suicide at the conclusion; in the overture, the music disintegrates at the end.
Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, Opus 37
Beethoven wrote his Piano Concerto No. 3, Opus 37 in the “heroic,” “Sturm und Drang” (storm and stress) key of C minor. The first performance was given in 1803 in Vienna. The same concert also featured the premier of the second symphony and his oratorio Christus am Oelberg. Beethoven, as soloist, asked one of his pupils, Ignatz von Seyfried, to turn pages for him. “But heaven help me!” Seyfried wrote. “That was easier said than done. I saw almost nothing but empty leaves, at the most here and there a few Egyptian hieroglyphs, wholly unintelligible to me, scribbled down to serve as clues for him. He played nearly all the solo part from memory, since, as was often the case, he had not had the time to put it all on paper. So whenever he reached the end of such an invisible passage, he gave me a secret nod. My obvious anxiety not to miss the decisive moment amused him greatly, and at our convivial dinner afterwards, it still sent him into gales of laughter.
—Andrew Shurman
Symphony No. 3, Opus 55 (“Eroica”)
In Vienna at the close of the 18th century, Beethoven found great success as pianist, composer and teacher. His early works sum up the classical period’s revival of the Greek ideals of harmony and graceful proportion. At the same time, they insist on a new, more personal poetic content that anticipates the explosion of the third symphony, the 19th century, and the Romantic movement.
But just as the public started to recognize his gifts, Beethoven’s hearing began to fail. In 1803, at the height of his depression, Beethoven set to work on the “Eroica”. He originally dedicated it to Napoleon, champion of the French Revolution and liberator of Europe. When Napoleon proclaimed himself Emporer, Beethoven furiously erased the title, “Bonaparte,” writing in “Sinfonia Eroica, Composed to Celebrate the Memory of a Great Man.”
This celebration of the creative spirit culminates in the finale, where Beethoven uses his “Prometheus” theme from an earlier ballet commemorating the Greek mythological hero who stole fire from the gods to bring warmth and enlightenment to mankind.
—Andrew Shurman
KCO PERSONNEL
VIOLIN I
Diana Conrad, Concertmaster
Sarah Atwood
Ian MacKay
Amelia Perron
Eva Fabian
Jahna Moncrief
Angel Hernandez
Alfredo Salcedo
VIOLIN II
Phil Block
Mary Beth MacKay
Katrin Maloney
Irina Condon
Maggie Vinson
Julie Dougal
Claire Walter
Joanne Bulley
VIOLA
Brendan Banerdt
Emily Hill
Kathy Stumacher
Mark Niemela
Russ Gebhart
Candace Wharton
James Tai
CELLO
Andrew Cunningham
Jacob MacKay
Vernon David
Sandy Van deKauter
Richard Wharton
Mark Meess
Grant Butler
Javier Caballero
BASS
Jamie MacDonald
Richard Loomis
Tyler Heydolph
Mark Harrist
FLUTE
Julie Armstrong
Hannah Smeltz
OBOE
Sue Henkel
Jim Sharrock
CLARINET
Jason Koerber
Robert Blake
BASSOON
Joy Flemming
Diane Lipartito
HORN
David Miller
Janet Proctor
Jean Jeffries
TRUMPET
Sheldon Ross
Melissa Willis
TIMPANI
Nicholas Betit
KCO 2008-9 KEENE COLONIAL THEATRE SEASON: 3 SUNDAYS at 4 PM
Remaining Season Concerts: February 1, May 10, 2009. The KCO website will continue to continue to provide updated program information and ticket purchase.
THANK YOU for your contribution to KCO, vital to our mission. No contribution is too large or too small. Contributions are gratefully received in the contribution envelope via credit card in the contribution section of the Keene Chamber Orchestra website.
FRIENDS OF THE KEENE CHAMBER ORCHESTRA: Sandy Van deKauter, Chair;
Kathy Stumacher, Librarian; Barb Atwood; Melanie Everard; Joy Flemming; David Miller
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