Thursday Evening, April 12, 2018, at 7:30

The Juilliard School

presents

Juilliard String QuartetJoseph Lin and Ronald Copes, ViolinsRoger Tapping, ViolaAstrid Schween, Cello

Part of the Daniel Saidenberg Faculty Recital Series

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827) String Quartet No. 5 in A major, Op. 18, No. 5 Allegro Menuetto Andante cantabile Allegro

JAMES MACMILLAN (b. 1959) String Quartet No. 2, Why is This Night Different?

Intermission

BEETHOVEN String Quartet No. 12 in E-flat major, Op. 127 Maestoso—Allegro Adagio ma non troppo e molto cantabile Scherzo: Vivace Finale

Performance time: approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes, including one intermission

The taking of photographs and the use of recording equipment are not permitted in this auditorium.

Information regarding gifts to the school may be obtained from the Juilliard School Development Office,60 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-6588; (212) 799-5000, ext. 278 (juilliard.edu/giving).

Alice Tully Hall Please make certain that all electronic devicesare turned off during the performance.

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Notes on the Programby James Keller

String Quartet No. 5 in A major, Op. 18, No. 5 LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVENBorn in Bonn, Germany, probably onDecember 16, 1770—he was baptized onthe 17thDied in Vienna, Austria, on March 26, 1827

Ludwig van Beethoven’s early string quar-tets were born into the lineage of his greatpredecessors Haydn and Mozart, yet theyalready strained in new directions. Succinctthemes capable of extensive develop-ment; imaginative melodic manipulation;startling dynamic contrasts; complete,sometimes radical, formal mastery—theseare all evident in his first set of six quar-tets, Op. 18, which he composed from thesummer or autumn of 1798 to the summerof 1800. They were introduced at privatehouse-concerts given on Friday morningsat the Vienna home of Prince Karl Lobkowitz,the Austrian aristocrat to whom the set isdedicated. These were attended by thecity’s cultural and philanthropic elite, andshortly after Beethoven’s quartets wereunveiled, patrons showed an increasinginterest in commissioning works from theintractable genius.

The three sketchbooks in which Beethovenrecorded and worked out his ideas forthese quartets reveal that they were com-posed in a different order from how theywere positioned when published, in 1801.The D-major Quartet (Op. 18, No. 3) wasthe first to be written; the F-major (No. 1)and G-major (No. 2) followed, probably inthat order; and those in A major (No. 5), B-flatmajor (No. 6), and C minor (No. 4)—possiblyin that order—came last. At least some

general revision took place late in theprocess, including a substantial re-writingof the quartets in F and G. It is no surprisethat by the time Beethoven finished pen-ning the six, he should have learnedlessons that he wanted to incorporate intothe earliest of them.

The sunny Fifth Quartet is the one mostovertly molded on Mozart. Of Mozart’squartets, the most famous (then as now)were the six he published in 1785 bearinga dedication to Haydn. One in that set isparticularly relevant to the work playedhere—Mozart’s Quartet in A major (K.464).Beethoven’s pupil Carl Czerny reported,“Beethoven once saw at my house thescore of six quartets by Mozart dedicatedto Haydn. He opened the fifth in A andsaid: ‘That’s what I call a work! In it,Mozart was telling the world: Look what Icould do if you were ready for it!’” Weknow that Beethoven copied out at leastthe last two movements of that quartet.

Apart from sharing a key, the Mozart andBeethoven quartets align in their orderingof movements; it would be more charac-teristic of Beethoven to place his slowmovement second and his minuet (orscherzo) third. Notwithstanding impres-sive melodic, harmonic, and structuralniceties, Beethoven hews to relativelystandard procedures in this work. Still,this is no mere imitation of Mozart; atsome places Beethoven emulates hispredecessor but at others he offers anoriginal, personal response to Mozart’smodel. On the whole straightforward anduncomplicated, the piece builds in impres-siveness as it unrolls, achieving in itsthird movement a particularly expressiveset of variations and, in the finale, adelightful balance of good humor andcontrapuntal vigor.

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String Quartet No. 2, Why is This NightDifferent?JAMES MACMILLANBorn July 16, 1959, in Kilwinning,Ayrshire, ScotlandCurrently residing in Glasgow, Scotland

The music of James MacMillan—Sir Jamessince he was awarded a knighthood in the2015 Queen’s Birthday honors—startleslisteners with its combination of vivaciousenergy and emotional intensity. Where manyof his contemporaries who are drawn toexpressing spiritual ideals in music turn toa sort of minimalist mysticism, MacMillanachieves that end through music of greatercomplexity, reflecting his early attractionto the compositions of Lutosławski orPenderecki and later admiration for suchdiverse figures as Harrison Birtwistle,Alfred Schnittke, and Sofia Gubaidulina.

MacMillan studied music at the Universityof Edinburgh and the University ofDurham, which awarded him a Ph.D. in1987. His predilections include an interestin Scottish folk music, Renaissance music,firmly held Roman Catholic religiousbeliefs, and concern for social and politicalmorality. Around 1990 he remarked:“There are strong Scottish traits in [myrecent music], but also an aggressive andforthright tendency with a strong rhythmicphysicality, showing the influence ofStravinsky, Messaien, and some minimal-ist composers. … The ‘modernist’ zeal ofthe post-war generation of composerswho attempted to eschew any continua-tion of tradition is anathema to me. Irespect tradition in many forms, whethercultural, political, or historical, and in keep-ing up a continuous, delicate scrutiny of oldforms, ancient traditions, enduring beliefs,and lasting values one is strengthened inone’s constant, restless search for newavenues of expression.”

His Second String Quartet, named Why isThis Night Different?, was composed in1998 and premiered that same year inLondon by the Maggini Quartet. It unrollsin a single continuous movement compris-ing four clearly apprehended sections. Thetitle comes from the seder, the Passovermeal commemorating the flight of theChildren of Israel from Egypt. Mr. MacMillanwrites, “The youngest present asks ‘Whyis this night different from all other nights?’before the father relates the tale of flightand liberation from slavery. The drama ofthe story, the centrally important figure ofthe child in the ritual, the closenessbetween elation and despair and betweenjoy and fear together suggested the arche-types which lie behind my musical inter-ests. They provided the initial spark ofinspiration for this piece.”

He continues: “Certain concerns prevalentin some of my works of the 1990s, namelya sense of ambiguity between darknessand light and the confrontation of extremes,resurface here in my Second StringQuartet. In terms of mood there is anattempt to present a sense of celebrationwithin a context of danger and violence.Children’s themes appear again as they didin my opera Ines de Castro, Cello Concerto,and Symphony: ‘Vigil.’ However, the themesused here are quotations of and allusionsto melodies written by me as a child some30 years before.”

String Quartet No. 12 in E-flat major,Op. 127LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN

No listener at the premieres of Beethoven’sOp. 18 quartets—the composer included,surely—could have conceived that anyonewould ever write the sort of music thatpervades string quartets clustered at theend of his life. By the time he embarked on

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his final five (and the Grosse Fuge, destinedforever to sound avant-garde), Beethovenwas pretty much surviving on a planet ofhis own, cut off by deafness from the hear-ing world, showing rather little interest inmusical developments around him, wrappedup in his uniquely advanced compositionaltechnique and emotional expression.

The first three of his late quartets werewritten at the urging of the composer’sRussian patron Prince Nikolas Galitzin, towhom Op. 127 is dedicated. The composi-tion of the E-flat-major Quartet was carriedout mostly from May 1824 to February1825, and the piece was first performedon March 6, 1825, in Vienna, by theSchuppanzigh Quartet. This long-sufferingensemble had done yeoman’s service forBeethoven over the years but in this casethey had only two weeks in which to makesense of a work that was at all turns baf-fling, and their performance got the chillyreception it possibly deserved. Beethovenimmediately summoned the violinist JosephBöhm to replace Ignaz Schuppanzigh asfirst violinist and to lead the players as theyrelearned the piece under his tutelage.This they did—though Böhm’s account oftheir coaching sessions with the deaf com-poser is harrowing—and apparently theensemble handled the work far moreadeptly the second time around. Theystruck a popular success when they playedit three weeks later, on March 26, and thenparlayed that triumph into nine further per-formances in short order.

Unlike all but one of its companions amongthe late quartets, Op. 127 adheres to the

four-movement format of most Classicalstring quartets: fast first and last move-ments (here with a slow introduction tothe first), separated by a slow secondmovement and a scherzo. That’s wherethe resemblance to tradition pretty muchends—and it almost didn’t make it thatfar, since, for a while, Beethoven contem-plated expanding even this work to sixmovements. (The extra movementswould have been one titled La Gaité,falling between the first two movementsas they now exist, and a searching Adagiopreceding the Finale.) The composerreferred to his music of this period asinvolving “a new kind of part-writing,” anintensely polyphonic style in which eachline operates with considerable indepen-dence while still blending into the overallharmony (though not always in a way thatlisteners might anticipate). Similarly, hemanipulates the larger structure of theseworks in a way that stresses the indepen-dence of sections: he extracts structuralpieces as monumental blocks of music,highlighting their contours much as, atthe end of the 19th century, Cézannewould extract and emphasize the elemen-tal designs of his visual images withoutcompletely deracinating them from theoverall image.

James M. Keller is the longtime programannotator of the New York Philharmonic(The Leni and Peter May Chair) and theSan Francisco Symphony. His bookChamber Music: A Listener’s Guide,published in 2011 by Oxford UniversityPress, is available as an e-book and anOxford paperback.

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Meet the Artists

Juilliard String QuartetWith unparalleled artistry and enduringvigor, the Juilliard String Quartet (JSQ) con-tinues to inspire audiences around theworld with its performances. Founded in1946 and widely known as “the quintes-sential American string quartet,” the quar-tet draws on a deep and vital engagementwith the classics, while embracing the mis-sion of championing new works—a vibrantcombination of the familiar and the daring.Each performance of the Juilliard StringQuartet is a unique experience, bringingtogether the four members’ profoundunderstanding, total commitment, andunceasing curiosity in sharing the wondersof the string quartet literature.

Having celebrated its 70th anniversary lastseason, the ensemble marks the 2017–18season with highly anticipated return

appearances in Seattle, Santa Barbara,Pasadena, Memphis, Raleigh, Houston,Amsterdam, and Copenhagen. The quartetcontinues its acclaimed annual perfor-mances in Detroit, Philadelphia, and at theRavinia Festival, along with numerous con-certs here in New York, including tonight’sperformance in Alice Tully Hall and at TownHall. Adding to its celebrated discography,the JSQ released a new album featuringthe world premiere recording of MarioDavidovsky’s Fragments (2016), togetherwith Beethoven Op. 95 and Bartók No. 1,which will shortly be issued on the SONYlabel. Highlights of concert programmingthroughout the season include visionaryworks by Beethoven, Bartók, and Dvorák,as well as tonight’s performance of JamesMacMillan’s haunting and evocative QuartetNo. 2, Why is This Night Different? (1998).Devoted master teachers, members of theJSQ offer classes and open rehearsals whenon tour. At Juilliard they are the string quartetin residence and are all sought-after mem-bers of the string and chamber music facul-ties; each May they host the five-day interna-tionally recognized Juilliard String QuartetSeminar. During the summer the ensembleworks closely on string quartet repertoirewith students at the Tanglewood MusicCenter. The group recently announced thatJoseph Lin will leave the quartet at the endof the current season and that Areta Zhullawill become the first violinist in September.

SIM

ON POWIS

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JUILLIARD COUNCIL

Mitchell Nelson, Chair

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND SENIOR ADMINISTRATION

Office of the PresidentJoseph W. Polisi, PresidentJacqueline Schmidt, Chief of Staff

Office of the Provost and DeanAra Guzelimian, Provost and DeanJosé García-León, Associate Dean for Academic AffairsRobert Ross, Assistant Dean for Preparatory Education Kent McKay, Associate Vice President for Production

Dance DivisionTaryn Kaschock Russell, Acting Artistic DirectorLawrence Rhodes, Artistic Director EmeritusKatie Friis, Administrative Director

Drama DivisionRichard Feldman, Acting Director Katherine Hood, Managing Director

Music DivisionAdam Meyer, Associate Dean and DirectorBärli Nugent, Assistant Dean, Director of Chamber MusicJoseph Soucy, Assistant Dean for Orchestral StudiesStephen Carver, Chief Piano TechnicianJoanna K. Trebelhorn, Director of Orchestral

and Ensemble Operations

Historical PerformanceRobert Mealy, DirectorBenjamin D. Sosland, Administrative Director;

Assistant Dean for the Kovner Fellowships

Jazz Wynton Marsalis, Director of Juilliard JazzAaron Flagg, Chair and Associate Director

Ellen and James S. Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts Brian Zeger, Artistic DirectorKirstin Ek, Director of Curriculum and SchedulesMonica Thakkar, Director of Performance Activities

Pre-College DivisionYoheved Kaplinsky, Artistic DirectorEkaterina Lawson, Director of Admissions and Academic AffairsAnna Royzman, Director of Performance Activities

Evening DivisionDanielle La Senna, Director

Lila Acheson Wallace LibraryJane Gottlieb, Vice President for Library and

Information Resources; Director of the C.V. Starr Doctoral Fellows Program

Enrollment Management and Student DevelopmentJoan D. Warren, Vice PresidentKathleen Tesar, Associate Dean for Enrollment ManagementBarrett Hipes, Associate Dean for Student Development Sabrina Tanbara, Assistant Dean of Student AffairsCory Owen, Assistant Dean for International Advisement

and Diversity InitiativesWilliam Buse, Director of Counseling ServicesKatherine Gertson, RegistrarTina Gonzalez, Director of Financial AidTeresa McKinney, Director of Community EngagementCamille Pajor, Title IX CoordinatorTodd Porter, Director of Residence LifeHoward Rosenberg MD, Medical DirectorBeth Techow, Administrative Director of Health

and Counseling ServicesHolly Tedder, Director of Disability Services

and Associate Registrar

FinanceChristine Todd, Vice President and Chief Financial OfficerMichael Kerstan, ControllerIrina Shteyn, Director of Financial Planning and Analysis Nicholas Mazzurco, Director of Student Accounts/Bursar

Administration and LawMaurice F. Edelson, Vice President for Administration

and General CounselJoseph Mastrangelo, Vice President for Facilities ManagementMyung Kang-Huneke, Deputy General Counsel Carl Young, Chief Information Officer Steve Doty, Chief Operations OfficerDmitriy Aminov, Director of IT EngineeringCaryn Doktor, Director of Human Resources Adam Gagan, Director of SecurityScott A. Holden, Director of Office ServicesJeremy Pinquist, Director of Client Services, ITHelen Taynton, Director of Apprentice Program

Development and Public AffairsAlexandra Day, Associate Vice President for Marketing

and CommunicationsKatie Murtha, Acting Director of DevelopmentBenedict Campbell, Website DirectorAmanita Heird, Director of Special EventsSusan Jackson, Editorial DirectorSam Larson, Design DirectorLori Padua, Director of Planned GivingEd Piniazek, Director of Development OperationsNicholas Saunders, Director of Concert OperationsEdward Sien, Director of Foundation and Corporate RelationsAdrienne Stortz, Director of SalesTina Matin, Director of MerchandisingRebecca Vaccarelli, Director of Alumni Relations

Juilliard Global VenturesCourtney Blackwell Burton, Managing Director for Operations Betsie Becker, Managing Director of Global K–12 ProgramsGena Chavez, Managing Director, The Tianjin Juilliard SchoolNicolas Moessner, Managing Director of Finance

and Risk Management

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Bruce Kovner, ChairJ. Christopher Kojima, Vice ChairKatheryn C. Patterson, Vice Chair

Julie Anne ChoiKent A. ClarkKenneth S. DavidsonBarbara G. FleischmanKeith R. GollustMary GrahamJoan W. HarrisMatt JacobsonEdward E. Johnson Jr.Karen M. LevyTeresa E. LindsayLaura LinneyMichael Loeb

Greg MargoliesVincent A. MaiEllen MarcusNancy A. MarksStephanie Palmer McClellandChristina McInerneyLester S. Morse Jr.Stephen A. NovickJoseph W. PolisiSusan W. RoseDeborah SimonSarah Billinghurst SolomonWilliam E. “Wes” Stricker, MD

TRUSTEES EMERITI

June Noble Larkin, Chair Emerita

Mary Ellin BarrettSidney R. KnafelElizabeth McCormackJohn J. Roberts

Michelle Demus AuerbachBarbara BrandtBrian J. HeidtkeGordon D. HendersonPeter L. KendYounghee Kim-WaitPaul E. Kwak, MDMin Kyung KwonSophie Laffont

Jean-Hugues MonierTerry MorgenthalerPamela J. NewmanHoward S. Paley John G. PoppGrace E. RichardsonJeremy T. SmithAlexander I. TachmesAnita Volpe

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• Tianjin is the third largest city in China, and the school will be adjacent to a high-speed rail station with one-hour service to downtown Beijing. The school is located in a beautiful, riverside park along the Hai River in the New Binhai Area, Tianjin.

• The Tianjin Juilliard School builds on the city’s rich artistic heritage by establishing a new crossroad for Juilliard’s network of artists, teachers, friends, and students.

• The ribbon-like Hai River—the largest water body in Northern China—weaves through Tianjin. It is spanned by 21 bridges and offers easy access to the Haihe Cultural Square and Haihe River Bund Park, among other attractions.

• Designed by the internationally renowned firm, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, The Tianjin Juilliard School building will have state-of-the-art teaching and performance spaces, and a multi-faceted learning environment.

A Tianjin Primer

A great deal has happened in Tianjin since September 28, 2015, when Juilliard president Joseph W. Polisi announced plans for The Tianjin Juilliard School. Last spring, Alexander Brose was selected to serve as the first executive director and C.E.O. and Wei He as the artistic director and dean. From the ceremonial ground breaking over the summer to the start of construction earlier this year, the school is gearing up to welcome its first class in 2019.

Where is The Tianjin Juilliard School?

Alex Brose and Wei He

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Beijing

The Tianjin Juilliard School

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Learn and Play at The Tianjin Juilliard School

• The inaugural group of 100 students in the U.S.-accredited master of music program will be immersed in one of three core areas: orchestral studies, chamber music, or collaborative piano.

• The audition-based Tianjin Juilliard School Pre-College program will admit up to 200 students, ages 8 to 18.

• As many as 150 performances every year will be presented in the 700-seat concert hall, 299-seat recital hall, or 250-seat black box theater.

• Juilliard Imagination, an innovative learning environment, will feature interactive exhibitions curated for adults and children alike.

Become Part of the Culture

• Tianjin’s artistic tapestry includes the development of Peking Opera and China’s first conservatory offering study in Western music.

• When in Tianjin, one can take a stroll through Five Great Avenues, a fascinating area with historic buildings featuring a wealth of diverse architectural styles from across Europe.

Artist rendering of The Tianjin Julliard School campus

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Joseph W. Polisi at the ground breaking ceremony of The Tianjin Juilliard School in June 2017

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