Programme Notes: Obsessions Unraveled, June 7, 2025

Orchestra Toronto
Concert 5: Obsessions Unraveled

Tonight’s concert explores the many faces of obsession: romantic, musical, and even whimsical. From Berlioz’s fevered vision of love and madness, to Nino Rota’s reimagining of the double bass, and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s elegant charm, Obsessions Unraveled invites us to witness how composers have chased, embraced, and unraveled their fixations through sound.

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: Petite Suite de Concert, Op. 77

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s music was admired in his time for its lyricism, rhythmic vitality, and ability to bridge cultural traditions. A composer of mixed African and English heritage, Coleridge-Taylor became an icon in early 20th-century Britain, especially celebrated in both Europe and the United States. His popularity soared after the success of his cantata Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast, and he was even invited to meet President Theodore Roosevelt in the White House - an extraordinary honour for a Black composer at the time.

The Petite Suite de Concert, written near the end of his life in 1911, was conceived as a light, accessible work for concert performance. Each of its movements evokes a different mood: from the coquettish sparkle of La Caprice de Nanette to the lyrical charm of Un Sonnet d’Amour, and finally to the fleet-footed La Tarantelle Frétillante, the suite captures the graceful, genteel character of late Romantic British music. The suite’s refined melodies and dance-like forms reflect Coleridge-Taylor’s obsession with musical elegance and expressive clarity.

Despite his tragically early death at the age of 37, Coleridge-Taylor’s legacy continues to grow, with many contemporary artists and scholars rediscovering his work. The Petite Suite represents a particularly vibrant and joyful side of his musical personality, offering audiences a glimpse into his love of storytelling, dance, and characterful expression. It's a perfect example of how even a so-called "light" suite can carry depth, charm, and historical significance.

Nino Rota: Divertimento Concertante for Double Bass and Orchestra

Best known for composing the iconic scores for The Godfather and many of Federico Fellini’s films, Nino Rota brought the same theatrical imagination to his concert works. His Divertimento Concertante (1968-73), composed for the celebrated Italian bassist Franco Petracchi, is a dazzling and sometimes mischievous exploration of the double bass as both a virtuosic and expressive solo instrument. It’s a rare gem in the repertoire - bold, funny, and unafraid to show off the instrument’s quirks.

The four movements take listeners on a whimsical journey. The first is playful and acrobatic, throwing the bass into rapid passages and leaps that rival a violin concerto in difficulty. The Marcia has a sly humour- sounding at times like a pompous parade and at others like a satirical circus tune. The third movement, Aria, showcases the deep, lyrical soul of the bass, drawing out long melodic lines that sing with surprising tenderness. The final movement is a showstopper: fast-paced, dramatic, and brimming with energy.

Our soloist, Joel Quarrington, is one of the world’s foremost double bassists, and a true Canadian treasure. An Officer of the Order of Canada, he has performed with leading orchestras across North America and Europe, held principal positions with the Canadian Opera Company, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and the London Symphony Orchestra, and has made multiple award-winning recordings. Quarrington’s rich tone and musical sensitivity have made him a champion of solo double bass repertoire, and there is no better interpreter for this rarely performed Rota work.

Hector Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique, Op. 14

Few works wear their obsessions as boldly as Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique. Composed in 1830 and inspired by his unreciprocated love for the Irish actress Harriet Smithson, the symphony dramatizes a hallucinatory journey from romantic passion to macabre fantasy. The story it tells is semi-autobiographical: a young artist, intoxicated by love and opium, imagines himself driven to despair, murder, and a final descent into a witches’ sabbath. It’s part symphony, part psychological thriller.

I. Rêveries - Passions (Daydreams - Passions)
The symphony opens with a slow introduction reflecting the artist's melancholy and emotional instability before he meets his beloved. The tempo quickens as passion takes hold, and the idée fixe is introduced by the strings - a lyrical and yearning theme symbolizing idealized love. The movement fluctuates between gentle reverie and volatile agitation, capturing youthful emotion.

II. Un bal (A Ball)
In this elegant waltz, the artist glimpses his beloved at a glittering ball. The music shimmers with graceful dance rhythms and refined orchestration, yet the idée fixe surfaces once more, a reminder that even amid social gaiety, the beloved’s image haunts him.

III. Scène aux champs (Scene in the Fields)
A moment of pastoral calm. The artist finds himself in the countryside, listening to shepherds call across the hills (evoked by oboe and English horn). As nature seems to reflect inner peace, the idée fixe emerges again, subtly and then more ominously, suggesting mounting anxiety. The movement ends with distant thunder, foreshadowing tragedy.

IV. Marche au supplice (March to the Scaffold)
In a fevered vision, the artist dreams he has murdered his beloved and is led to the scaffold. The march is brutal and ironic, blending macabre grandeur with military precision. Just before the guillotine falls, the idée fixe appears one last time, interrupted by the fatal blow. This is one of the most theatrical moments in all of symphonic literature.

V. Songe d’une nuit de sabbat (Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath)
In this grotesque finale, the artist imagines his own funeral attended by witches and monsters. The idée fixe returns in distorted form, as a mocking caricature of the once-noble theme. Berlioz incorporates eerie effects (col legno strings, bells, a parody of the Dies Irae) to evoke a hellish revelry. It’s a bold conclusion to a symphony that pushed the boundaries of 19th-century musical expression.