Earlier than the epic movie rating, there was the tone poem of nineteenth century Romanticism.
This music usually abandons conventional formal buildings. As with cinematic scores to come back, it unfolds in a manner that’s ruled by the dramatic sweep of the story. With sudden temper swings, it presents a rollercoaster experience of emotion, and evokes cinematic imagery.
Antonín Dvořák’s 1892 live performance overture, Othello, Op. 93, falls into this class. It was conceived as the ultimate work in a trilogy which incorporates Nature’s Realm and Carnival. Accomplished simply earlier than Dvořák’s journey to America, the three overtures had been premiered in Prague on April 28, 1892, and had been carried out once more six months later at Carnegie Corridor. Quickly after, the composer reconsidered the grouping, they usually had been programmed as unbiased items.
If Carnival Overture celebrates the exuberant joys of life, Othello chronicles the destruction of human pleasure and nature. Impressed by Shakespeare’s play, it’s a story through which love is destroyed by all-encompassing jealousy. Satisfied that his spouse, Desdemona, has been untrue, the Moorish basic, Othello, murders her in a match of rage, solely later to find his tragic mistake.
A passionate and stressed love theme incorporates darkish foreshadowings of tragedy to come back. A passing characterization of Othello contains “unique” Moorish drones within the woodwinds. On the climax, there’s a haunting assertion by the trombones, an instrument with supernatural connotations. The Overture concludes in a ferocious, fiery flash.
This efficiency, recorded on December 14, 2019, options Czech conductor Jakub Hrůša and the Berlin Philharmonic:
Featured Picture: “Othello and Desdemona,” Josef Navrátil
