the agony and the freedom

Date: 04/16/14
Orchestra: CYO

CYO members are a dedicated bunch. We rehearse during spring break, while others are napping :)
I like the mid-break rehearsals. The number of people are few, but I feel like I get to be a bit more personal with each of them.
Since the big orchestra wasn't there to occupy the theater, we took the opportunity to take an advantage of the situation in moved in there. I love using that room, because of the projector and the sound system.

I arrived an hour early to give myself time to remind myself how the system worked (I used it last year too, but wasn't sure if I remembered how to operate all those machineries), but when I got there, Maggie and her assistant were moving the curtain forward. I asked them if they had some big event going on, but to my surprise, they were moving it so they can get better lighting, just for us (the lighting situation in the theater had always been less than ideal, and I guess they had been trying to figure out what they can do to help us). Of course upon hearing that they were in this theater one hour before our rehearsal, moving big things, climbing up on the ladder, testing each lights, I had to drop my bag and help them. They are such wonderful people.

During the rehearsal, we basically just ran through the Bizet and Beethoven for the first half, and then all went outside by the pond during the break (it was a tiny bit chilly, but nevertheless a gorgeous day), and came back and watched a portion of the original Fantasia (1940). Of course we watched the Beethoven (6th Symphony) portion of it.

I was really impressed with your observations, comparing Beethoven's 6th symphony to the Egmont overture that we are working on. Even pointing out certain pitches and melodic phrases that appear in both pieces. Really great observations!

We also briefly talked about Beethoven's 3rd Symphony and how the disappointment he experienced through it sparked the birth of the Egmont overture.

Beethoven had been so impressed with Napoleon for leading his fellow country men against oppression, during the French Revolution, that he had composed a super massive (larger than any piece that had ever been written) and heroic masterpiece and dedicated it to Napoleon. On the title page of the third symphony, he inscribed Napoleon's name on it, giving the symphony a subtitle, "Bonaparte" (Napoleon's sir name).
But when Napoleon crowned himself as an emperor, Beethoven was so infuriated that he took a pen and scratched over Napoleon's name so vigorously that he tore a large hole in the title page. By the time of it's premier, he had named the symphony "Eroica" (Hero), instead of the original "Bonaparte". Beethoven must have been such a hot headed man. I love it!

But he needed a real hero. And so he found count Egmont, a Dutch nobleman who died while taking a stand against oppression. Beethoven was a true advocate of freedom.

Now that we know the story, I hope the drama within the overture start to make clearer sense. The unpredictable nature of the battle, the worry, the suspense, then the battle itself, the pain, the anger, the sacrifice, but then the victory, the joy, and the FREEDOM. You can almost hear the music, just by talking about it.