Program Notes by Laurie Shulman © 2026. Reproduction of all or part of these notes without explicit written permission from the Jacksonville Symphony is strictly prohibited.
Prelude to Die Meistersinger
Richard Wagner
Born May 22, 1813 in Leipzig, Germany · Died February 13, 1883 in Venice, Italy
9 minutes
World premiere: June 21, 1868 in Munich
The earliest prose sketches for the libretto of Wagner’s opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg date from the mid-1840s. Why prose? Wasn’t Wagner a composer, and wouldn’t his sketches have been on music paper? The answer is yes to both questions. Wagner was also a gifted and prolific writer. His musical efforts were focused almost exclusively on opera, but he also crafted all his own libretti, and wrote about other topics as well. Before embarking on the composition of a large musico-dramatic work for the stage, he began with the plot outline and the dialogue that would eventually be sung.
In the mid-1840s, Wagner held the position of Kapellmeister in Dresden. Long before he embarked on such tragic masterpieces as Tristan und Isolde (1859) or the four operas of the Ring cycle, he had begun work on an operatic scenario about a medieval singing contest. However, most of its music was not composed until the 1860s, after Wagner had become famous for Tristan and after he had completed Das Rheingold and Die Walküre, the first two Ring operas. He interrupted work on Siegfried (part three of the Ring) to compose Die Meistersinger.
The subject matter of Die Meistersinger surprised Wagner’s contemporaries. He startled them by breaking with his own philosophy of finding appropriate subject matter in legend. The setting of Meistersinger is 16th-century Germany, among real people, not mythological beings. It is also Wagner’s only mature comic opera. Similarly, the music came as a surprise, especially after the extreme chromatic tension of Tristan. Wagner returned in Die Meistersinger to a more diatonic musical vocabulary, with memorable melodies and straightforward harmonies.
The Prelude signals much about the opera, with a majestic and pompous movement incorporating many of the opera’s major themes. This technique of incorporating tunes to be sung later is characteristic of French grand opera. Wagner’s model would have been Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864), the leading composer at the Paris Opéra in the mid-nineteenth century. Listeners familiar with Die Meistersinger will recognize the opening theme of the Mastersingers, the Prize Song and the March of the Mastersingers. These tunes are woven together with great ingenuity, indicating contrapuntal skill not generally associated with Wagner’s music. The Prelude is unmistakably symphonic, with a dense orchestral fabric that commands attention through the sheer force of its imposing sound.
Instrumentation: piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets in B-flat, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, triangle, cymbals, harp and strings
Woman of the Mountain
Anna Clyne
Born 9 March 1980 in London · Currently residing in New York City
20 minutes
World premiere: April 24, 2026 in Jacksonville, FL
Still in her mid-40s, Brooklyn-based Anna Clyne has already served as composer-in-residence for the Chicago Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Berkeley Symphony and l’Orchestre National d’Île-de-France. She currently teaches at Mannes/The New School in Manhattan, and stays busy fulfilling commissions. The current season includes Clyne premieres by l’Orchestre National de Lyon, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Calidore String Quartet, as well as this weekend’s premiere here in Jacksonville.
Clyne completed her first composition at age 11, subsequently pursuing formal music study at the University of Edinburgh. She also earned a Master’s in Composition from the Manhattan School of Music. Her teachers included Marina Adamia, Marjan Mozetich and Julia Wolfe. She works in both acoustic and electro-acoustic music. She has collaborated with visual artists, choreographers and filmmakers.
Her composer’s note follows.
Woman of the Mountain evokes the journey of an extraordinary woman in the throes of the natural world on a quest for love as she reaches a mountain’s summit. The music, which incorporates the traditional Irish song “Sliabh na mBan” (Mountain of the Women), is set in five parts: Awakening, Searching, Yearning, Discovery and Arrival.
Slievenamon (Sliabh na mBan) is a mountain in county Tipperary, Ireland. Much of the mountain’s lower slopes are wooded, and formerly most of the mountain was covered in woodland. There are at least four prehistoric monuments in Sliman, and on its summit are the remains of ancient burial cairns, which in Irish mythology were seen as portals to the Otherworld. A natural rocky outcrop on its east side forms the appearance of a doorway, and on the mountain’s northeastern shoulder, Sheegouna, is another burial cairn and a ruined megalithic tomb. This rugged landscape forms the backdrop for this tone poem, which is dedicated to my dearest friend, Sophie August.
Clyne includes the melody of the Irish tune in her score. It recurs as a thread running through the piece.
Instrumentation: 2 flutes (2nd doubling piccolo), alto flute, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets (2nd doubling bass clarinet), 2 bassoons (2nd doubling contrabassoon), 2 horns, 2 trumpets, tenor trombone, tuba, snare drum, suspended cymbal, bass drum, tam tam, wood block, crotales, tubular bells, glockenspiel, vibraphone, harp, and strings
Selections from Celebration
Edward Kennedy (“Duke”) Ellington
Born April 29, 1899 in Washington D.C. · Died May 24, 1974 in New York City
14 minutes
World premiere May 16, 1972 in Jacksonville
If jazz is America’s greatest contribution to world music, then Duke Ellington was the greatest of America’s bumper crop of splendid jazz artists. He did it all: piano soloist, composer, arranger, band leader and ambassador par excellence. Ellington was a native of Washington D.C. By his mid-20s, he had moved to New York City and formed a band that gradually expanded to a ten-piece orchestra. The Ellington ensemble continued to expand, fueled by the commercial success of big hits like “Mood Indigo” in 1930.
The big band sound as we know it would not have existed without Duke Ellington. His most original contribution was in the area of experimentation. Rather than restricting himself to arrangements of popular dance tunes, he tried his hand at larger symphonic compositions, recognizing that expanded scale would do more justice to the enormous wealth of performing talent he recruited for his band. Ellington’s original music derived in large part from the specific improvisatory gifts of his players. Longer works allowed for more solos and more flexibility. In spite of the fact that there was no precedent in jazz, Ellington instinctively knew that he had something with these unusual larger compositions. His instincts served him well. Not only did he write some excellent music, he also established himself as a major musical pioneer and original thinker.
The Jacksonville Symphony commissioned Celebration on the occasion of the City of Jacksonville’s 150th anniversary. The full work comprises nearly half an hour of music: a single continuous movement with multiple sections in different tempi, key centers and meters. Maestro Lewis has selected three excerpts, beginning with a bright waltz that features flutes, bassoons and trap set before the strings pick up the theme. The music then moves to a galop – a brisk 19th-century French dance that became popular in other European capitals (think Strauss’s can-can music). Ellington’s galop is witty: a wind and percussion fest with pizzicato double bass before the brass enter. The final segment spotlights alto saxophone in a sultry solo whose melody is presently picked up by concertmaster, leading to a swing ending. Ellington surprises us with a quiet ending.
Instrumentation: 3 flutes (3rd doubling piccolo), 3 oboes (3rd doubling English horn), 3 clarinets (3rd doubling bass clarinet), 3 bassoons (3rd doubling contrabassoon), alto saxophone, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion [glockenspiel, finger cymbals, xylophone, maracas, marimba, vibraphone, and claves], drum set, harp and strings.
Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op.67
Ludwig van Beethoven
Born December 16, 1770 in Bonn, Germany · Died March 26, 1827 in Vienna, Austria
31 minutes
World Premiere December 22, 1808 in Vienna
The decade from 1802 to 1812 was a period of astonishing productivity for Beethoven, yielding a remarkable succession of musical masterpieces. The twin pillars of 1807 and 1808 were his Fifth and Sixth Symphonies. Ideas for a symphony in C minor, however, have been traced as far back as the “Eroica” sketchbook of 1803/4. Considering that E-flat major, the key of the “Eroica” symphony, is the relative major of C minor, it is not all that surprising that Beethoven generated ideas for both works at the same time.
C minor has been called both the “key of fate” and the “heroic key” in Beethoven’s music. There is no question that certain tonalities carried deep significance for Beethoven, and several other works in C minor share the terse drama of the Fifth Symphony. The “Pathétique” Sonata, Op.13 (1798/99) and the Third Piano Concerto, Op.37 (1800) are earlier examples; the “Coriolan” Overture, Op.62 (1807) is a C minor work contemporary with the Fifth Symphony.
Tradition has assigned a philosophical programme to the Fifth Symphony, regarding the work as depicting the artist as hero, pitted against an unsympathetic society, emerging triumphant after a victory over internal strife. Beethoven’s amanuensis Anton Schindler reported that Beethoven pointed to the beginning of the first movement and expressed in these words the fundamental idea of his work: “Thus Fate knocks at the door!”
Musical scholar W.J. Turner referred to the symphony’s non self-seeking hero, the passionate idealist battling against the inclemencies and hostilities of nature and the passions of his fellow men and struggling to harmonize his own desires with those of the rest of mankind.
Robert Schumann detected French influence in the music of the Fifth Symphony, particularly that of Etienne-Nicolas Méhul (1763-1817). Much French music at the turn of the century, especially opera, bore the imprint of the French Revolution. France was in a state of political and social upheaval for Beethoven’s entire creative life, and the strong presence of a growing military culture made its impact felt in the arts.
About the music
Military flavor is perhaps the overriding characteristic that unifies the music of the Fifth Symphony. March rhythms figure prominently, sometimes even when the music is in triple time, as in the C major sections of the slow movement. Beethoven’s emphasis on the brass section underscores the martial quality of the symphony. So too does his expansion of the orchestra to include piccolo (redolent of military band flavor), contrabassoon, and trombones for the finale.
The first movement is dominated by the famous four-note motto. Beethoven’s focus on it is imaginative and varied, building dramatic tension that leads to electric climaxes. The motive recurs in the later movements, ingeniously altered.
Beethoven opens the slow movement with an elegant, elaborate theme that dissipates the storminess of his Allegro con brio. He then presents four variations, including one in minor mode and another with a brilliant fanfare incorporating the military aspect. His scherzo is traditional in its organization: loosely related to the classical structure of minuet-trio-minuet. Beethoven departs from tradition with the spooky, menacing lower strings that outline his opening gesture. Military elements return as the horns announce a new theme, whose rhythm is the same as the iconic first movement motto. The central trio is bumptious and good-natured, reminding us that Beethoven had both a wonderful sense of humor and a formidable command of counterpoint.
The transition to the finale is one of classical music’s great moments: a controlled crescendo that builds to a triumphant first statement. There is no pause between the third and fourth movements. The finale overflows with an abundance of new themes, all of which reinforce that the struggle is over. The symphony closes with victorious, resounding chords that will linger in your ears long after the concert is over.
Beethoven’s Fifth was premiered at the Theater-an-der-Wien on December 22, 1808; it shared the program with the Sixth Symphony and the Choral Fantasia, Op.80, both of which also received first performances. When it was published in April 1809, the score bore an unusual joint dedication to Beethoven’s patrons Prince Lobkowitz and Count Rasoumovsky.
Instrumentation: piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, contrabassoon, two horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani and strings
