![]() ![]()
|
Join Us For Our 2024-2025 Season! |
![]() |
Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players “This was music-making of a very high order” Fred Kirshnit, The New York Sun |
|||||||
![]() |
|||||||
Why the name Jupiter: When Jens Nygaard named his orchestra Jupiter, he had the beautiful, gaseous planet in mind—unattainable but worth the effort, like reaching musical perfection. Many, indeed, were privileged and fortunate to hear his music making that was truly Out of This World. Our Players today seek to attain that stellar quality.
View Our Printable Calendar and Ticket Order Form (pdf) Take a look at our guest artists for this season. |
|||||||
![]() |
|||||||
Join us for our next concerts...
Monday, March 17 ♦ 2 PM & 7:30 PM Tickets: $25, $17, $10 ~ Reservations advised Hyunah Yu soprano Roman Rabinovich piano Stefan Jackiw violin Ariel Horowitz violin Clara Neubauer violin Sofia Gilchenok viola Mihai Marica cello Yoonah Kim clarinet Franz CLEMENT Introduction and Polonaise in E Major Clement—a native son and favorite of the Viennese public who stood on chairs to applaud him—was a virtuoso violinist and composer. Born in 1780, the child prodigy began playing the violin at age 4 and was exploited by his father. By 1790, at age 10, he performed successful concerts in London, some of which were conducted by Haydn and Johann Peter Salomon. When Beethoven heard Clement perform in 1794, he lauded his talent, writing in Clement’s book of remembrances that he “would reach the greatest goal possible to an artist here on earth” and urged him to “return soon so that I may hear your dear magnificent playing.” From 1802 to 1811 Clement served as director and concertmaster of the newly-established Theater an der Wien. In his benefit concerts and in other musical concerts led by him, he performed Beethoven’s works at a time when the master’s genius was not yet recognized. In 1805, a benefit concert for Clement presented the first performance of the Eroica (conducted by Beethoven) at the Theater an der Wien, and in 1806 the premiere of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto (written for and commissioned by Clement). These are merely two of the famous ones. As to his skill, Clement played some variations “mid umgekehrter Violin”—with the violin reversed—and a sonata on a single string! He is also known for his phenomenal memory. He wrote a piano reduction of Haydn’s The Creation, among other works, based only on his participation as a violinist. Louis Sphor also recorded in his autobiography that after hearing 2 rehearsals and a performance of the oratorio, The Last Judgement, Clement played several long passages from it on the piano the next day, with all the harmonies and accompanying passages, without ever having seen the score. He published several compositions of his own as well, including a Violin Concerto in D Major. In his later years, his decline as an artist was observed by Beethoven, who refused Clement the position of concertmaster at the premiere of the Ninth Symphony, and wrote in his conversation book, after a concert in 1819 featuring Clement’s variations on a theme of Beethoven, that Clement’s work was “Poor stuff.” Sadly, Clement’s career ended in distress because of financial mismanagement which left him impoverished when he died in 1842. Louis SPOHR 6 Deutsche Lieder Op. 103 While the Songs are rooted in the Classical tradition of Mozart (whom he revered), they anticipate the works of Richard Wagner (whose music he championed) with their grand virtuosic gestures and chromatic harmonies. As to the origin of the Songs, Spohr recounted in his autobiography, “I received a letter from [Johann Simon] Hermstedt in which, on the instructions of Princess Sondershausen, he invited me to write for the latter some songs for soprano voice with piano and clarinet accompaniment. Since this work very much appealed to me, I composed in the course of a few weeks six songs in this genre…which I dedicated to the Princess at her express wish, thereupon receiving from her the gift of a valuable ring.” At the premiere, the clarinet part was played by his longtime friend and the foremost clarinetist in his day, Hermstedt, for whom Spohr had already written four concertos. He was the Duke’s clarinet teacher and was known for his technical brilliance and a style marked by striking gradations of tone. In order to maximize Hermstedt’s mastery, Spohr wrote florid obbligatos as well as passages to show the clarinet’s lyrical qualities. Hermstedt included the Songs in his last recital in 1840. Spohr (1784–1859) was a dominant force in German music and was as famous as Beethoven—he served in a number of court positions, he was the celebrated leading violin virtuoso, he was one of the most sought-after and prolific composers of the first half of the 19th century, and is considered a forerunner of early Romanticism. He also was an ideas man—he invented the chin rest, introduced the use of the baton and rehearsal numbers, developed the double quartet after Andreas Romberg first proposed the idea, revived the music of Bach and Handel, and he was the author of an influential violin method, as well as a wonderful autobiography that included details his many travels throughout Europe. In addition to his musical activities, he was a family man who enjoyed a happy social life and varied pursuits like swimming, ice-skating, hiking, gardening, and painting. SCHUBERT Quartettsatz in C minor D.703 Schubert is known to have written 15 string quartets. As a teenager, from 1810 to 1816, he wrote 11 in the classicism of Haydn and Mozart for the family to play (his brothers Ferdinand and Ignaz on violin, himself on viola, and his father on cello); the incomplete Quartettsatz; and 3 later epic string quartets auguring the Romantic age. The 12th quartet thus stands at a tipping point in his life. According to musicologist Robert Winter, the Quartettsatz is “a work of furious intensity that heralded Schubert’s maturity as a composer of instrumental music.” As its name implies, Schubert wrote only the first movement, followed by 41 measures of the Andante; it was unfinished. Long after his death in 1828, the manuscript landed in the hands of Brahms who collected Schubert scores; he edited and published it in 1870. Its posthumous premiere was performed on 1 March 1867 in Vienna. BEETHOVEN Piano Trio in D Major “Ghost” Op. 70 No. 1 Beethoven’s own notes reveal that he was sketching an opera about Macbeth at the time! The Belgian musicologist Harry Halbreich states that “this is one of the first atmospheric ‘mood-pieces’ in music history, where elements of tone-color tend to blur the formal outline. The dark gloom of this Largo, which stands in such striking contrast to the brightness of the outer movements, is further enhanced by the frequent low rumblings on the piano.” In 1808, Spohr rehearsed the “Ghost” with Beethoven at the latter’s home. He recounted that the piano was out of tune and that Beethoven’s playing was “harsh or careless.” The two men were friends, and Spohr admired Beethoven’s music, especially the early string quartets, which he usually played in most of his chamber concerts until the end of his performing career in 1858. Although Spohr did not understand or appreciate Beethoven’s later works he felt it his duty to promote his music by conducting it in orchestral concerts. |
|||||||
![]() |
|||||||
Monday, March 24 ♦ 2 PM & 7:30 PM Tickets: $25, $17, $10 ~ Reservations advised Charles Berofsky piano Oliver Neubauer violin Clara Neubauer violin Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt viola Kevonna Shuford viola Zlatomir Fung cello Vadim Lando clarinet Anna Amalia von BRUNSWICK-WOLFENBÜTTEL Divertimento in Bb Major The use of the clarinet, a young instrument beginning to attract notice at the time, is remarkable in that it preceded Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto by 10 years. The “sensitive style”— Emfindsamer Stil—was an “important movement occurring in northern German instrumental music during the mid-18th century…characterized by an emphasis upon the expression of a variety of deeply felt emotions within a musical work…. [It sought] to give a composition an aura of simplicity and naturalness, qualities highly prized in the philosophical outlook of the Enlightenment [Encyclopedia Britannica].” Anna Amalia was an influential cultural force in Weimar. Born a princess in 1739 into a powerful royal dynasty, Anna Amalia became a duchess upon her marriage to the Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenbach when she was 18. Her husband died in 1758, before her 20th birthday, leaving her with 2 young children. Widowed, she assumed the role of regent until her son and heir reached his majority. During her enlightened reign, which lasted till 1775, she proved herself a talented stateswoman. Politically and financially astute, despite the challenges of the Seven Years’ War, she developed the economy of the Duchy, strengthening its reputation and resources. She also transformed her court and its environs into the most influential cultural center in Germany through the creation of the Musenhof, or court of muses. It was known throughout Europe for its rich musical and cultural life, and attracted artists, composers, and writers—leaders in the German Enlightenment, including Friedrich Schiller and Goethe, who became her friend. The literati wrote poems and texts for the songs of the new German opera, the Singspiel. The Duchess herself became a respected composer—she set some of Goethe’s texts (including Erwin and Elmire) to music, and wrote operas and symphonies that were performed at the court and beyond. Her compositions show her as an “elegant amateur free of ambition” who reflected the taste and spirit of her epoch. In 1766 she moved the court’s book collection that included 13,000 volumes of music to the Library in Weimar named after her—Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek—a unique source for the compositions of Bach and his contemporaries. When her regency ended, she devoted herself to culture and also toured Italy with Goethe. She died in 1807. Mozart’s pupil and piano virtuoso, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, elevated the musical standing of Anna Amalia and Goethe’s Weimar. When Hummel succeeded Goethe in 1818 as Kapellmeister of the Court Theatre, a position he held till his death in 1837, he brought the “Silver Age of Music” to Weimar and performed the works of Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven, as well as Weber’s Der Freischütz, an international success. Johann Christian BACH Keyboard Quartet in G Major W.B. 66 JC Bach was the youngest son and the 10th of 12 children born to Johann Sebastian and Anna Magdalena Bach. As stated in the New Grove Dictionary, “His style, which was largely derived from Italian opera, was the most important single influence on Mozart, and rested on a foundation of excellent craftsmanship, graceful melody and a fine sense of form, texture and colour.” Born in Leipzig in 1735, JC spent several years in Italy before moving to London, where he was appointed Music Master to Queen Charlotte in 1762 and became known as the “London Bach” and the “English Bach.” When Mozart visited London at the age of 8, he admired JC’s charming, effortless music, and the two formed a warm friendship and would sometimes improvise together. Chris de Sousa described their relationship and JC’s influence in the BBC Music Magazine: “Mozart’s sister recalled how Bach put Mozart in front of him at the keyboard, where one would play a bar, the other would carry on, ‘and in this way they played a whole sonata, and someone not seeing it would have thought that only one man was playing’…. Haydn and JC Bach are the only composers in his vast correspondence with his father for whom only kind words are to be read…. When the Mozarts left London, they took more music by Johann Christian Bach with them, including the Sonatas Op. 17 No. 2, whose finale looks forward to Mozart’s own C minor Sonata. Mozart consciously modelled much of his music on specific works by JC Bach.” His death on 1 January 1782 at age 46 was noted by Mozart as “a loss to the musical world.” Franz DANZI Variations on a Theme from Mozart’s Don Giovanni The Variations was originally written for cello and orchestra. Its source is Don Giovanni’s attempted seduction of the village girl, Zerlina, with his invitation “Là ci darem la mano” (“Give me thy hand, my fairest”). The theme is followed by variations and concludes with the duet, “Andiam, andiam, mio bene” (“Let’s go, with thee, my treasure”). Danzi (1763–1826) was the German-born Italian composer best known for his chamber music. His father, the noted Italian cellist Innozenz Danzi, was one of the highest paid musicians in the famous Mannheim Orchestra and taught him the cello, piano, and singing. Franz himself joined the orchestra as a cellist at age 15. The teenager was thus immersed in a rich musical and cultural life at a significant time in the history of European concert music. The town made such an impression on Franz that when the court moved to Munich in 1778, he preferred to stay in Mannheim and join the orchestra of the newly founded National Theatre. Furthermore, the efforts to establish a native German opera at the Theatre gave young Danzi his first experience and successes as a composer and conductor. In 1783 Danzi succeeded his father as a cellist in the Munich court, after Karl Theodor moved his court there. In 1790 he married the singer Margarethe Marchand, with whom he toured successfully as a conductor. After his wife’s early death in 1800 he returned to Mannheim. In 1807 he was appointed Kapellmeister in Stuttgart where he met Weber, and in 1812 he accepted the post of Kapellmeister at the Baden court in Karlsruhe, where he was again able to stage operas by Weber. Danzi was a prolific composer in many genres. His career spanned the transition from the late Classical to the early Romantic styles—the origin of much of the classical music we hear today. Carl Maria von WEBER Andante e rondo ongarese J. 79 Originally written for his stepbrother Fritz for viola and orchestra, it was never published in Weber’s lifetime. In 1813, when Georg Friedrich Brandt (a bassoonist in the Munich Orchestra) asked for a bassoon concerto, Weber reworked it to feature the bassoon as the solo instrument. The new version, published as Op. 35, retains the character of the work, with the Rondo’s rhythms emphasizing the Hungarian flavor of the music. It is the version generally played today. Weber (1765–1826) was a first cousin of Mozart’s wife Constanze. (Her father Franz Fridolin was the half-brother of Weber’s father, Franz Anton, whose wife Genovefa Brenner was a Viennese soprano who was briefly engaged for Goethe’s theatre in Weimar). Constanze’s three sisters—Josepha, Aloysia, and Sophie—were all notable singers and performed in premieres of a number of Mozart’s works. In 1821 Weber wrote Der Freischütz, one of the first Romantic German operas. Its unearthly portrayal of the supernatural in the Wolf’s Glen scene has been described as “the most expressive rendering of the gruesome that is to be found in a musical score.” It was performed in Weimar under the directorship of Hummel. MOZART String Quintet No. 3 in C Major K. 515 The composer Maximilian Stadler recalled that Haydn and Mozart played the String Quintets (K. 515, K. 516, and K. 593) in chamber music performances, where the two of them took the viola parts. Although Mozart was successful as a pianist and composer, he was under serious financial strain during the last 5 years of his life (1786–1791)—his popularity had waned among the fickle Viennese, which meant a decline in income, while he continued to sustain a lifestyle to which he was accustomed. In February 1787 Mozart returned to Vienna (from Prague), where no Viennese appearances are recorded in that year. His father Leopold had also died on 28 May, and he buried his pet starling on 4 June. Written in the spring of 1787, Mozart made an effort to sell the String Quintets in 1788. He placed a “Musical Notice” in the Wiener Zeitung and the Weimar Journal des Luxus und der Moden: “Three new Quintets…which I offer on subscription, handsomely and correctly written. The price for the subscribers is 4 ducats or 18 fl. Viennese currency. The subscription tickets are to be had daily from Herr Puchberg at Sallinz’s warehouse at the Hohe Markt where the works will be available from 1 July….” The subscription was intended to help clear a debt to Michael Puchberg, the wealthy textile merchant. In the view of H.C. Robbins Landon, “It is now thought that Mozart simply wrote this set of three works on speculation.… He played them with his friends for a year and then decided to sell them in manuscript copies.” The quintets, however, were not snapped up by the amateurs, in part because they were beyond their instrumental ability. Eventually, he sold “two of the first set of three Quintets to Artaria who brought them out in 1789 (K.515) and August 1790 (K.516). Yet despite all these sources of extra income, Mozart was now living permanently beyond his means—and principally because of the costs incurred by Constanze’s lengthy cures.” |
|||||||
![]() |
|||||||
Jupiter 2024 - 2025 Season Tickets: $25, $17, $10 ~ Reservations advised Please visit our Media Page to hear Audio Recordings from the Jens Nygaard and Jupiter Symphony Archive Concert Venue:
Office Address: Like our Facebook page to see photos, videos, Jupiter in the News ConcertoNet
Strad Magazine ConcertoNet
|
As promised, here are the videos of John Field’s Divertissement No. 1 and Sir Hamilton Harty’s Piano Quintet. Fortuitously, our Jupiter musicians had the good sense to record the rehearsal in an impromptu decision, literally minutes before pressing the record button. Pianist Mackenzie Melemed (replacing Roman Rabinovich at the last minute) learned the music in 2 days! Bravo to him. Both works are Irish rarities that were scheduled for the March 16 performances which had to be canceled because of the coronavirus epidemic. Even though the entire program could not be recorded because of technical issues, we are pleased to be able to share with you the 2 musical gems. Enjoy.
John FIELD Divertissement No. 1 H. 13 We thank the University of Illinois (Champaign) for a copy of the Divertissement music. Mackenzie Melemed piano
Sir Hamilton HARTY Piano Quintet in F Major Op. 12 Andrew Clements of the Guardian proclaimed the beautiful Quintet “a real discovery: a big, bold statement full of striking melodic ideas and intriguing harmonic shifts, which adds Brahms and Dvořák into Harty’s stylistic mix, together with Tchaikovsky in some passages.” There’s folk music charm as well, reminiscent of Percy Grainger—notably in the Scherzo (Vivace) with its folksy quirks and nonchalance, and the winding, pentatonic melody in the Lento. Our gratitude to the Queen’s University Library in Belfast, Northern Ireland, for a copy of the autograph manuscript of the music. Much thanks, too, to Connor Brown for speedily creating a printed score and parts from Harty’s manuscript. Mackenzie Melemed piano I Allegro 0:00 | ||||||
![]() |
|||||||
|
|||||||
![]() |
|||||||
Jupiter featured on Our Net News American program opener on March 18, with grateful thanks to Michael Shaffer of OurNetNews.com for recording the matinee concert, and making available the Horatio Parker Suite video for our viewing pleasure. Horatio Parker Suite in A Major, Op. 35, composed in 1893 Stephen Beus piano
More video from this performance can be viewed on our media page |
Jupiter on YouTube NEW YORK CANVAS : The Art of Michael McNamara is a video portrait of the artist who has painted iconic images of New York City for more than a decade, capturing the changing urban landscape of his adopted city. Our Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players provide the music from Brahms’s Piano Quartet in G Minor, underscoring the inspiration the artist has drawn from Jens Nygaard and the musicians. Michael was also our Jupiter volunteer from 2002 to 2010. Here is a video of the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players performance of the Rondo alla Zingarese movement:
The producer-director, Martin Spinelli, also made the EMMY Award-winning “Life On Jupiter: The Story of Jens Nygaard, Musician.” For more information, visit our media
page | ||||||
![]() |
|||||||
|
|||||||
![]() |
|||||||
“Some great musicians get a statue when they pass away. Some get their name imprinted on the roof of a well-known concert hall. But the late conductor Jens Nygaard has a living tribute: an entire ensemble of musicians and a concert series to go along with it... It is one of the city’s cultural jewels... In the end, if Mr. Nygaard was known for anything, it was unmitigated verve. That’s what the audience regularly returned for, and that’s what they got Monday afternoon. To have a grassroots community of musicians continue to celebrate Mr. Nygaard with indomitable performances like these week after week, even without the power of world-famous guest soloists, is proper tribute. And with more large orchestras and ensembles needing more corporate sponsorship year after year, I, for one, hope the Jupiter’s individual subscriber-base remains strong. New York’s musical life needs the spirit of Jens Nygaard, and Mei Ying should be proud she’s keeping it alive.” Read the complete article on our reviews page. |
|||||||
Please send any correspondence to |
|||||||
office address: |
|||||||
MeiYing Manager All
performances, except where otherwise noted, are held at: Copyright © 1999-2025 Jupiter Symphony. All rights reserved. |