The University of Connecticut Symphony Orchestra will be performing in concert on Thursday, December 4th at 8pm. The concert opens with Carl Nielsen’s Concerto for Flute and Orchestra. Nielsen, regarded as Denmark’s greatest composer, wrote the concerto for the flautist of the Copenhagen Wind quintet. His intention was to compose a concerto for each member of the quintet, but only completed the flute and clarinet concertos before his death. Concerto for Flute and Orchestra is neoclassical in style and influenced by the modernistic trends of the 1920s. The next selection is George Handel’s Tornami a vagheggiar from Alcina. Handel was a German Baroque composer influenced by both the Italian Baroque composers and the German polyphonic choral tradition. He is famous for his operas, operatios, anthems, and organ concertos. Alcina is an opera seria based on the libretto L’isola di Alcina, which in turn was derived from Ludovico Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso, an epic poem set during Charlemagne’s Islamic wars. The final piece before the intermission is Leonore Overture No. 3, Op. 72 by famous German composer Ludvig van Beethoven. Leonore Overture No. 3, Op. 72 is from Beethoven’s only opera, Fidelio, and is considered the best of the four overtures Beethoven produced while trying to create a proper overture for Fidelio. The piece is a dramatic, full-scale symphonic movement.
After the intermission, the concert continues with French composer and pianist Cécile Chaminade’s Concertino for Flute and Orchestra, Op. 107. Legend claims that Chaminade composed the Concertino to punish her flute playing ex-lover, attempting to craft a work so difficult he could not play it. Despite its difficulty, the piece remains a standard in the flute repertoire and has been described as “melodic and attractive.” The following piece is Gaetano Donizetti’s O luce di quest’ anima from Linda di Chamounix. Donizetti was an Italian composer of the bel canto opera style; he composed the melodramatic opera Linda di Chamounix for the Viennese court, and it was a massive success. The evening’s final selection is English composer Edgar Elgar’s Enigma Variations, Op.36, a set of fourteen variations with a hidden “theme.” Each variation is a portrait of a member of his inner circle, such as his wife. What the hidden theme is is still up for speculation, as Elgar took the secret to his grave.
The concert is conducted by Harvey Felder, Director of Orchestral Studies. It will be held at 8pm on Thursday, December 4th at the von der Mehden Recital Hall located at 875 Coventry Road across from Mirror Lake on the UConn campus. Plenty of free parking is conveniently located across the street in Lot 1.
For more information, contact: Kirk Matson at Kirk.Matson@uconn.edu