The Pastoral

Guest conductor Sameer Patel and local favorite Yvette Kraft leads us into the wild, chilly, and hauntingly beautiful Violin Concerto by Sibelius, music of icy brilliance and soaring lyricism. Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony completes the journey with birdsong, summer storms, and rustic dances that celebrate the restorative beauty of the countryside.

Sameer Patel, conductor

Yvette Kraft, violin

Piotr Illych Tchaikovsky

Polonaise from Eugene Onegin

Jean Sibelius

Violin Concerto in D minor, Op.47

Ludwig van Beethoven

Symphony No.6 in F major ‘Pastoral’, Op.68

SATURDAY DOORS 6PM | PRECONCERT TALK 6:30PM | SHOW 7:30PM

SUNDAY DOORS 1:30PM | PRECONCERT TALK 2PM | SHOW 3PM

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Get your tickets by calling The Fox box office at 509-624-1200.

Program Notes

Program notes by J. Michael Allsen

Guest conductor Sameer Patel leads the Spokane Symphony in this program of three works. We open with the Polonaise from Tchaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin. Then we welcome a local favorite, violinist Yvette Kraft, to play the expressively and technically challenging Violin Concerto by Sibelius. After intermission, we turn to the programmatic Pastoral Symphony of Beethoven, a gentle but thoroughly revolutionary work for its time.

This dignified dance comes from Act III of Tchaikovsky’s operatic masterpiece.

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Born: May 7, 1840, Votkinsk, Russia.

Died: November 6, 1893, St. Petersburg, Russia.

Polonaise from Eugene Onegin

Composed: 1877-78.

Premiere: May 29, 1879 at the Moscow Conservatory.

Duration: 5:00.

Background

When the singer Elizaveta Lavrovskaya suggested in the spring of 1877 that Tchaikovsky adapt Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin, he initially thought the idea was “wild.” Written nearly fifty years prior, the novel had achieved status as Russia’s definitive masterpiece, beloved by literate society. The story of Tatyana’s tragic love for the worldly Onegin and of his ultimate downfall was so famous that adapting it for the stage was a risky endeavor.

Tchaikovsky ultimately embraced the challenge, beginning composition at the story’s emotional climax: Tatyana’s passionate letter to Onegin, followed by his cool, polite rejection. Just as Tchaikovsky began writing, letters arrived from a former student, Antonina Milyukova, declaring her love. Life and art collided. Terrified of mirroring Onegin’s cruelty, Tchaikovsky relented and agreed to marry her. He poured himself into the score during their five-week engagement, but after a disastrous honeymoon, the opera was shelved as he fled the marriage. He would not finish Onegin until early the following year, after seeking refuge in Clarens, Switzerland.

Tchaikovsky remained cautious about Eugene Onegin even after it was finished, opting to premiere it quietly with students from the Moscow Conservatory. Yet he needn’t have worried. Its professional debut in St. Petersburg a few years later was a resounding success, cementing its place as one of his first works to achieve universal acceptance in Russia.

What You’ll Hear

The famous Polonaise sets the scene for Act III, which opens years after the disastrous duel in which Onegin killed his friend Lensky. As guests dance its stately rhythms in a fashionable St. Petersburg ballroom, the disgraced and remorseful Onegin is stunned to discover that the noble hostess is none other than Tatyana, whom he had cast aside years earlier. His desperate attempts to win her back are rejected by the now-married Tatyana, completing his emotional destruction.

The Violin Concerto of Jean Sibelius is an expansive work that calls for dramatic, forceful playing from the soloist, particularly in the stormy opening movement. It also demands passionate lyricism in the second movement, and astonishing technique in the finale.

Jean Sib...