This preview has been provided by the North Carolina Symphony.
William Henry Curry will lead the North Carolina Symphony in a 2012-2013 Wilmington Classical Series season orchestra highlight of Edward Elgar’s Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 36, “Enigma,” Richard Wagner’s Music from Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Symphony No. 35 in D Major, K.385, “Haffner.” The performance will take place on Friday, March 22, at 8 p.m. in Kenan Auditorum on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.
Scholar Dr. Richard E. Rodda points out that “throughout his life, Edward Elgar had a penchant for dispensing startling or mystifying remarks just to see what response they would elicit… Turning that trait upon his music, he added the sobriquet ‘Enigma’ above the theme of this splendid set of orchestral variations.”
Of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (The Mastersingers of Nuremberg), Dr. Rodda writes, “The composition of Die Meistersinger was intimately bound to the ebb and flow of the most flamboyant period of Wagner’s life. He first conceived of an opera based on the singing guilds of old Nuremberg during the summer of 1845, while he was taking a rest cure at the spa town of Marienbad just after finishing Tannhäuser.”
Mozart’s Symphony No. 35 in D Major, K.385, “Haffner,” was named after the patron of the composition, Salzburg, Austria, mayor Siegmund Haffner, who commissioned the work to mark his elevation to the nobility.
Tickets to the Wilmington Classical Series performance on Friday, March 22, range from $18 to $50. Student tickets are $10. Concert tickets at all performances are also available at the door one hour prior to concert start time. To purchase tickets, visit the North Carolina Symphony website at www.ncsymphony.org or call the Symphony Box Office at 919.733.2750 or toll free 877.627.6724, call the Kenan Auditorium Box Office at (910) 962-3500, or visit the Kenan Box Office on the night of the show.
In addition to stellar performances, North Carolina Symphony concertgoers can enjoy pre-concert talks and “Meet the Artists,” which feature interactive conversations with guest artists and select orchestra members, at many Symphony events. For the Wilmington performance, Dr. Barry Salwen will host a pre-concert talk at 6:50 p.m. at Kenan Auditorium, which is located on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.
Statewide partnership and support provided by Progress Energy.
About the North Carolina Symphony
Founded in 1932 and subsequently made an entity of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, the North Carolina Symphony employs 65 professional musicians under the artistic leadership of Music Director and Conductor Grant Llewellyn and Resident Conductor William Henry Curry. Every year, this orchestra performs over 175 concerts in more than 50 North Carolina counties, with some 60 of those concerts offered in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill metropolitan area.
The Symphony boasts two spectacular home venues: Meymandi Concert Hall at the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Raleigh and Booth Amphitheatre in Cary, N.C. The Symphony also travels 12,000 miles each year to present concert series in Fayetteville, New Bern, Southern Pines and Wilmington; individual concerts in communities across the state; and one of the most extensive education programs of any U.S. orchestra. For more information, visit the North Carolina Symphony website at www.ncsymphony.org or call toll free 877.627.6724.
Statewide partnership and support is provided by Progress Energy.
Concert/Event Listings:
North Carolina Symphony
William Henry Curry conducting
March 22, 2013 8pm
Kenan Auditorium, University of North Carolina at Wilmington
Program Listing:
Symphony No. 35 in D Major, K.385, “Haffner.”
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
- Allegro con spirit
- Andante
- Menuetto
- Presto
Music from Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
- Introduction to Act III
- Dance of the Apprentices and Procession of the Mastersingers
- Prelude to Act I
Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 36, “Enigma”
Edward Elgar (1857-1934)
Enigma: Andante
Variation I (C.A.E.): L’istesso tempo
Variation II (H.D. S.-P.): Allegro
Variation III (R.B.T.): Allegretto
Variation IV (W.M.B.): Allegro di molto
Variation V (R.P.A.): Moderato
Variation VI (Ysobel): Andantino
Variation VII (Troyte): Presto
Variation VIII (W.N.): Allegretto
Variation IX (Nimrod): Adagio
Variation X (Dorabella): Intermezzo: Allegretto
Variation XI (G.R.S.): Allegro di molto
Variation XII (B.G.N.): Andante
Variation XIII (* * *): Romanza: Moderato
Variation XIV (E.D.U.): Finale: Allegro
