Nielsen UnTuxed
*Please silence your phone & turn down the brightness*
Daniel Raiskin, conductor
Carl Nielsen: Symphony No. 2, Op. 16 (The Four Temperaments)
(1865-1931)
Allegro collerico
Allegro comodo e flemmatico
Andante malincolico
Allegro sanguineo
Daniel Raiskin, conductor
With his unmistakable artistic signature, Daniel Raiskin has become one of the most recognized conductors of his generation and has developed a broad repertoire beyond the mainstream in his strikingly conceived programmes. A son of a prominent musicologist, Raiskin grew up in St. Petersburg. He attended the celebrated conservatory in his native city and continued his studies in Amsterdam and Freiburg. First focusing on viola, he was inspired to take up the baton as a result of an encounter with the distinguished teacher Lev Savich. In addition, he also took classes with Maestri, such as Mariss Jansons, Neeme Järvi, Milan Horvat, Woldemar Nelson and Jorma Panula. Continue reading...
Classics Program Notes
Symphony No. 2 (The Four Temperaments)
Carl Nielsen
b. Sortelung, Denmark / June 9, 1865
d. Copenhagen / October 3, 1931
Composed: 1901-1902
First performance: December 1, 1962 (Copenhagen) conducted by the composer
Last WSO performance: 1966; Victor Feldbrill, conductor
The music of Carl Nielsen is a dramatic example of Denmark’s unique musical voice. His Symphony No. 2, “The Four Temperaments,” paints vivid portraits of human complexity. A testament to his originality, it translates emotions into music.
Though Nielsen’s stature as Denmark’s musical figurehead is commonly accepted, his name doesn’t involuntarily resonate among Nordic composers the same way as with Grieg and Sibelius, who invite familiarity with time-worn music evoking their heritages. Nielsen’s is a uniquely individual voice: provocative and original in his dramatic emphasis, emotionally direct yet free of sentimentality, resourceful and brilliant in his use of orchestral forces. All of these qualities are evident across his six symphonies written over a period of 35 years, each of which is more adventurous than the one before.
Born in the same Eastern Denmark township as Hans Christian Andersen, Nielsen played in a military band in Odense at age 14. Ten years later, he joined the Royal Theatre Orchestra (later the Royal Danish Orchestra) in Copenhagen as a violinist. He would later become its principal conductor for six years.
In 1890, he won a scholarship to travel to Dresden and Berlin, where he was exposed to Wagner’s Ring, which greatly impressed the young composer. But Brahms proved a major influence as he started writing symphonies. Nielsen’s First Symphony was successfully premiered in 1894 by the Royal Theatre Orchestra, and from then on, his rise was rapid.
Nielsen’s Symphony No. 2 (The Four Temperaments) was a giant step from his First of a decade earlier. The idea for the Second came after a visit to a village pub. There, he spotted a naive, brightly coloured painting depicting the Four Temperaments – characters based on the medieval theory that there are four basic temperaments which regulate the human personality. Nielsen laughed out loud at the comic, exaggerated figures representing the Choleric, the Phlegmatic, the Melancholic and the Sanguine man, yet couldn’t get them out of his mind. “These simple paintings contained a core of goodness and – even – a musical possibility into the bargain,” he recalled some 30 years later.
Nielsen had always been fascinated by psychology, and his letters contain perceptive portraits of musicians he encountered. In the Second Symphony, he aimed to translate human complexity into music, perhaps recognizing the contradictions evident in his own volatile character.
In November 1902, Nielsen conducted the premiere of his first opera Saul and David at the Royal Theatre. Three days later, he conducted the first performance of his Second Symphony for the Danish Concert Association. It was well received by the audience, but the reviews were mixed.
Nielsen made his own extensive program note for The Four Temperaments:
“The first movement, Allegro collerico, starts impetuously…the second subject sings very espressivo, but is soon interrupted by violently shifting figures and rhythmic jerks…In the development, this material is worked over, now wildly and impetuously, like one who is beside himself, now in a softer mood, like one who regrets his irascibility…
“The second movement is meant to be a complete contrast to the first…While sketching this movement, I visualized a young fellow…about 17 or 18 years old, with sky-blue eyes, confident and big…everything idyllic and heavenly in nature was to be found in this young lad…the mood of the music is as far removed as possible from energy and emotionalism…
“The third movement tries to express the basic character of a heavy melancholic man…After a bar and a half of introduction, the theme begins, drawn heavily towards a strong outcry of pain; then comes, on the oboe, a little plaintive sighing motive that slowly develops, ending in a climax of lamentation and suffering…
“In the finale Allegro sanguineo, I have tried to sketch a man who storms thoughtlessly forward in the belief that the whole world belongs to him…There is, though, a moment in which something scares him, and all at once he gasps for breath in rough syncopations: but this is soon forgotten, and even if the music turns to the minor, his cheery, rather superficial nature still asserts itself…”
What was happening in 1901-1902, when Nielsen wrote The Four Temperaments?
Music
Claude Debussy, Pelléas et Mélisande
Scott Joplin, The Entertainer
Art
Judith and the Head of Holofernes, Gustav Klimt
Notre-Dame, une fin d’après-midi, Henri Matisse
Literature
The Hound of the Baskervilles, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter
History
First motor car appears on Winnipeg streets
Marie & Pierre Curie isolate the radioactive compound radium chloride
MUSICIANS
FIRST VIOLINS
Gwen Hoebig,
Concertmaster
The Sophie-Carmen Eckhardt-Gramatté Memorial Chair, endowed by the Eckhardt-Gramatté Foundation
Karl Stobbe,
Associate Concertmaster
Jeff Dydra,
Assistant Principal
Mona Coarda
Tara Fensom
Hong Tian Jia
Mary Lawton
Sonia Lazar
Julie Savard
Jun Shao
Rebecca Weger**
Trevor Kirczenow (guest)
Momoko Matsumura (guest)
SECOND VIOLINS
Chris Anstey,
Principal
Elation Pauls,
Assistant Principal
Karen Bauch
Kristina Bauch,
Elizabeth Dyer
Bokyung Hwang
Rodica Jeffrey
Susan McCallum
Takayo Noguchi
Jane Radomski
Erika Sloos (guest)
VIOLAS
Elise Lavallée,
Acting Principal
Dmytro Kreshchenskyi,**
Acting Assistant Principal
Marie-Elyse Badeau
Laszlo Baroczi
Richard Bauch
Greg Hay
Michael Scholz
Miguel Stamato (guest)
CELLOS
Yuri Hooker,
Principal
Robyn Neidhold,
Assistant Principal
Ethan Allers
Arlene Dahl
Alyssa Ramsay*
Sean Taubner
Emma Quackenbush
Samuel Nadurak (guest)
Leanne Zacharias (guest)
BASSES
Meredith Johnson,
Principal
Daniel Perry,
Assistant Principal
James McMillan
Eric Timperman*
Emily Krajewski
Taras Pivniak**
FLUTES
Jan Kocman,
Principal
Supported by Gordon & Audrey Fogg
Alex Conway
Laura MacDougall (guest)
PICCOLO FLUTE
Alex Conway,
Principal
OBOES
Beverly Wang,
Principal
Robin MacMillan
Lief Mosbaugh (guest)
Renz Adame (guest)
CLARINETS
Micah Heilbrunn,
Principal
Alex Whitehead
BASSOONS
Kathryn Brooks,
Principal
Elizabeth Mee
HORNS
Patricia Evans,
Principal
Ken MacDonald,
Associate Principal
The Hilda Schelberger Memorial Chair
Aiden Kleer
Caroline Oberheu
Michiko Singh
Todd Martin (guest)
TRUMPETS
Chris Fensom,
Principal
Isaac Pulford
The Patty Kirk Memorial Chair
Paul Jeffrey,
Associate Principal
TROMBONES
Steven Dyer,*
Principal
Keith Dyrda,
Acting Principal
Kyle Orlando**
TUBA
Justin Gruber,
Principal
PERCUSSION
Andrew Johnson,
Principal
TIMPANI
Andrew Nazer (guest)
HARP
To be determined
Endowed by W.H. & S.E. Loewen
PIANO
Donna Laube (guest)
BASS
Ruslan Rusin (guest)
PERSONNEL MANAGER
Isaac Pulford
MUSIC LIBRARIAN
Michaela Kleer
ASSISTANT LIBRARIAN
Aiden Kleer
* On Leave
** One-year appointment
