WSO ~ Bach & Beynd

George Frideric Handel
Overture from Arminio

Johann Sebastian Bach
Concerto for Violin in G minor

Jean Sibelius
Suite Mignonne, op. 98, in A minor

Johann Sebastian Bach
Concerto for Violin, no.1 in A minor

Edvard Grieg
Holberg Suite, op.40, in G major

Johann Sebastian Bach
Brandenburg concerto no.4 in G major

Saturday, February 16, 2008

7:30 p.m.
Leamington United Mennonite Church, Leamington

Tickets: $32-$20

Peter Wiebe, Conductor
Konstantin Popovic

Overture from Arminio, HWV 36

George Frideric Handel
B. Friday 23 February, 1685, Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany
D. Saturday 14 April, 1759, London

Arminio was performed for the first time at the Covent Garden Theatre on 12 January 1737. Approx. 3 minutes.

By Dr. Ed Kovarik
Handel composed the opera Arminio in the fall of 1736, when he was fifty-one; the work was first presented at the beginning of the next year at the Covent Garden Theatre, where Handel’s opera company usually performed. The Overture is typical of Handel’s works in this genre: a slow, stately beginning in pompous dotted rhythms; then a lively fugue (marked in this case by a distinctive chromatic theme); and to conclude, a brief, sprightly Minuet.

Concerto for Violin, BWV 1056, in G minor

Johann Sebastian Bach
B. March 21, l685, Eisenach
D. July 28, 1750, Leipzig

Approx. 16 minutes.

By Dr. Ed Kovarik
In the middle 1730s, after Bach had been in Leipzig for a decade and had become thoroughly disillusioned with his parishioners (and with the town council), he assumed the directorship of the Leipzig Collegium Musicum. This was a group of musicians, amateur and professional, who gave concerts of instrumental music (and passed the hat) in a local coffeehouse. In these concerts Bach and his sons frequently appeared as soloists, and for this purpose Bach produced a number of concertos for one, two, three, and four harpsichords. These were not original compositions but rather reworkings of older music, not all of it by Bach.

A number of the sources have been identified: they include cantata movements, a Brandenburg concerto, Bach’s solo violin concertos in A minor and E major, and works by other composers such as Vivaldi. Not all the sources have been identified, however, and that brings us to the present concerto. It is a reconstruction—the hypothetical original of what otherwise exists only as a keyboard concerto in F minor.

The nature of the solo part—the figuration and use of what seem to be open strings—indicates that the original solo instrument was in fact a violin and that the key was G minor. If the original composer was indeed Bach (and most scholars are content to believe that it was), the work represents a very early stage in his grasp of the concerto form, for it is shorter and simpler in construction than the two traditionally-known concertos mentioned above. This does not hold for the slow middle movement, however. When Bach came to make the keyboard arrangement, he discarded the original slow movement (whatever it was) and inserted in its place an embellished version of the Sinfonia (i.e., Prelude) to Cantata No.156 dating from 1728 or 1729—very mature music indeed in its new surroundings.

Suite Mignonne, op. 98, in A minor

Jean Sibelius
B. December 8, 1865, Hämeenlinna, Finland
D. September 20, 1957, Järvenpää, Finland

First performance in Helsinki on 6th April, 1922, by the Helsinki City Orchestra under Karl Ekman. Approx. 8 minutes.

By Dr. Ed Kovarik
Sibelius wrote this work in 1921, near the end of his compositional career, though he was to live on for another thirty-six years. In the context of his symphonies it follows the Fifth (written during the First World War) but precedes the Sixth (1923) and Seventh (1924).
As the title implies, it is a short and pleasant work that raises no big issues. It is scored for two flutes and strings and is in three movements: Petite scene; Polka; and Epilogue.

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Concerto for Violin, no. 1, BWV 1041, in A minor

Johann Sebastian Bach

This concerto was probably composed between 1717 and 1723 at Cöthen. Approx. 16 minutes.

By Dr. Ed Kovarik
Bach’s orchestral music derives in part from French forms (the suite) and in part from Italian practice (the concerto). All of Bach’s concertos, both solo and grosso, are similar in structure to the three-movement form established by Vivaldi: slow, fast, slow.

The first movement, as usual, is built around an orchestral ritornello—a strong opening segment that establishes the character and the themes of the movement, and that returns periodically to punctuate the soloist’s virtuoso display. Bach’s version of this standard baroque form is tighter than his Italian models: the orchestra works in close support of the solo violin throughout, rather than simply alternating with it.

The slow second movement is built around an ostinato-like bass melody which alternates with and occasionally accompanies the highly embellished solo line; at one point in the middle this “bass line” moves into the viola while the real bass rests.

The rollicking finale is gigue-like but structured as another extended ritornello movement.

Holberg Suite, op. 40, in G major

Edvard Hagerup Grieg
B. June 15, 1843, Bergen, Norway
D. September 4, 1907, Bergen

The first performance was a rather conventional Holberg Kantate for men's chorus and baritone soloist. This was performed outdoors on December 3, 1884 before the unveiling of a statue of Holberg in Bergen. For a concert that evening—indoors this time—Grieg had produced a suite of piano pieces in “the old style”—the style of Holberg's own time, modeled on the dance suites of Bach and other Baroque composers. The string arrangement of the suite did not come until a few months later. Approx. 21 minutes.

By Dr. Ed Kovarik
Ludwig von Holberg (1684-1754) was a novelist and playwright—the Norwegian Shakespeare, or as he was sometimes called, the “Moliere of the North.” The forty year old Grieg wrote this suite for the bicentennial celebration of Holberg’s birth (1884), and by labelling the work “From Holberg’s Time” drew attention to its use of archaic musical forms; it is, in fact, similar to a baroque dance suite. Grieg originally wrote the work for solo piano; a year later (1885) he transcribed it for string orchestra.

Prelude: a driving rhythm is established (it is all 16th-note arpeggios in the piano version) and eventually a melody floats in on top.

Sarabande: slow, triple-time dance with the strings divided into multiple parts.

Gavotte and Musette: typical Gavotte rhythm, beginning with a half-bar pickup. The Musette, functioning as a middle section, employs a bagpipe effect (drone bass)—also typical.

Air: slow melody plus throbbing accompaniment; the marking (Andante religioso) is not typical, since the dance suite was avowedly secular.

Rigaudon: lively finale featuring solo violin and viola; in style much like an English hornpipe. Although the suite as a whole is in major keys, Grieg introduces a touch of minor right at the end.

Brandenburg concerto no. 4, BWV 1049,
in G major

Johann Sebastian Bach

This concerto was probably composed between 1717 and 1723 at Cöthen. Approx.16 minutes.

By Dr. Ed Kovarik
The Margrave of Brandenburg visited Anhalt-Cöthen in 1721, heard Bach’s music, and evidently asked for some of it as a souvenir. The result was a presentation copy, for the Margrave’s library, of six works—all masterly examples of the baroque concerto grosso. Each of the six calls for a different combination of string and wind instruments; the fourth sets a solo group of two flutes and violin against the full string orchestra with harpsichord continuo.

The concerto is in the usual three movements: the first a big ritornello movement in lively triple time; the second a Corelli-style slow movement with echo effects and a mini-cadenza at the end; and the finale a big orchestral fugue with interpolated solo passages. At the beginning of the first movement the solo idioms are distinct: the flutes do one thing and the violin does something else—chiefly it plays “violinistic” passagework. Later in the movement, however, the violin take over the flute idea to brilliant effect.

Konstantin Popovic

Konstantin Popovic began his violin studies at the tender age of five in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. A few months later, he was acknowledged as the most promising beginner violinist by the members of the board of education for strings. This recognition led to a performance on a national television program, about the history of violin music.

Parallel to his achievements in violin, at the age of seven, Konstantin was appointed vocal soloist in a renowned youth choir “Drinka Pavlovic”. This choir was frequently broadcast on radio and television and also created three separate recordings featuring Konstantin as a vocal soloist.

At the age of seventeen Konstantin graduated from a music high school in Belgrade having accumulated numerous awards at the highest national violin competition. Konstantin studied violin with Vlada Bobic in Belgrade. Shortly after graduation, Konstantin immigrated to Toronto, Canada where he continued his studies at the University of Toronto in the music performance department under Leo Wigdorchik.

After graduating from U of T, he extended his orchestral studies as a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Canada and National Academy Orchestra. As a member of the National Youth Orchestra, he toured most major Canadian cities, numerous countries in Europe and Asia.

In 2000, Konstantin became the Assistant Concertmaster of Windsor Symphony. The same year, he also won an equivalent position in Sinfonia Toronto, a string orchestra comprised of fourteen members. He performs chamber music with Wellington Music, the group that he started in 1997 and with First Generation Entertainment, a Greek ethnic music orchestra.

Konstantin has been featured as a violin soloist on numerous tracks of Kosta Arnakouros’ instrumental CD Mediterranean Rendezvous released in 2004.
He recently finished studio work for composer-arranger Charles Cozens of Somerset Entertainment and will be featured as a first violinist of a string quartet on that recording.

As a soloist Konstantin has had the honor of collaborating with conductors such as Giuseppe Lanzetta, Nurhan Arman, Peter Wiebe, Charles Greenwell, Ivars Taurins, Janez Govednik, Mark Skazinetsky, Fabio Mastrangelo and Maestro John Morris Russell.

Of all his achievements Mr. Popovic puts most value on the arrival of his son Dimitri and daughter Tatiana. His never ending debt for encouragement goes to his parents and his brother. Finally his immeasurable gratitude for inspiration and support of “a not so starving” musician goes to his wife Dawn.

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