Autumn

By Judith Eckelmeyer

(GRACE WOODS MUSIC SESSION OCTOBER 20, 2025)

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Portrait of Glazunov by Ilya Repin, 1887

We have met Alexander Glazunov (1865-1936) before and learned of his precocious musical talent as he grew up in St. Petersburg. In this session we’ll hear him in his adulthood, an acknowledged member of the group of Russian composers (Borodin, Lyadov, Scriabin and Rimsky-Korsakov), who succeeded the “Mighty Handful” (Balakierev, Borodin, Cui, Mussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov). By the age of 34 he was a professor at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, and 6 years later its director. His music had been heard well beyond Russian borders, especially in France, where Stravinsky lauded its “mastery of musical form, the purity of counterpoint, and the ease and sureness of his notation” (in Walter C. Baxter’s notes for the Telarc recording of his music). Glazunov’s music was favorably compared with that of Brahms, Wagner and Rimsky-Korsakov in its structure, orchestration and brilliance. In short, Glazunov was at the top of his game. ​

Theatre Square and the conservatory, as seen in 1913

His “game”, however, did not encompass the emerging modern idiom or innovations. He was interested in adhering to the sounds of the past that would support his goal of bringing Russian nationalist music to the attention of the world. His models in this endeavor were, ironically, German composers such as Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner and Brahms, whose music he considered “universal”.

In 1898, Glazunov moved from symphony to ballet, working with Marius Petipa (1818-1910), a legendary ballet master and choreographer working and teaching in Russia and France. He wrote the music for Raimonda, a hugely successful ballet for Petipa performed at the Imperial Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg.

Petipa c. 1890-1895

Design for the Imperial-era curtain of the Mariinsky Theatre that existed prior to 1914

Alexander Glazunov - Raymonda (Complete Ballet), Op.57
MOSCOW SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Conductor: Alexander Anissimov

The following year, Glazunov wrote the music for another ballet, The Seasons, which was premiered in February 1900 at the Imperial Theatre of the Hermitage, Winter Palace, St. Petersburg.

Hemitage Theatre on the Palace Embankment of Neva River

Glazunov’s score included piccolo, 2 flutes, English horn, 2 clarinets in B-flat and A, 2 bassoons, 4 french horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, celesta, upright piano, harp and strings. Each season has its own story line or sequence of scenes. For Autumn, the sequence is 1. Grand bacchanale, 2. Short interlude, 3. Satyr’s Variation, 4. Coda (summary).

"The Seasons" Ballet Music | Alexander Glazunov
​Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy

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Fanny Hensel, 1842, by Moritz Daniel Oppenheim

Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel (1805-2847) was a talented pianist and composer, often overlooked in the shadow of her more famous brother Felix. In her own time she was recognized to be as fine a musician as many men who were making a living from their artistry. Indeed, because her parents recognized her musical talent, she had the best training in performance, theory and composition, as did her brother. As a young teenager, however, her father suppressed her musical endeavors in order to direct her activity to domestic efforts. Nevertheless, a number of her songs and piano pieces were published in 1827 and 1830 under Felix’s name; when Felix performed several her songs for Queen Victoria during his extended visit to the British Isles, the queen found Fanny’s incognito works preferable to his. ​

Wilhelm Hensel: Self-portrait (1829)

Fanny’s marriage to the artist Wilhelm Hensel brought a breath of greater freedom for her musical projects. She conducted and accompanied her works, including her oratorio and opera arias and chamber music by other composers. She moved in elevated music circles that included famous literary personalities Heinrich Heine and composers such as Clara Schumann and Franz Liszt. A year-long visit to Italy with her husband brought her recognition as a musician. It was this event which prompted her 1841 composition, a cycle of solo piano works called Das Jahr (The Year). In this major work, each month was treated in its own movement, intended to express a mood characteristic of the month rather than a depiction of a specific scene or object. The autumn months of September, October and November each has its own “personality” expressed in varied pianistic terms. It would be interesting to find out your sense of what she was conveying….

Fanny Mendelssohn: "THE YEAR (Das Jahr)" Twelve Character Pieces (1841) for Fortepiano Intro January 1:48 February 4:48 March 7:47 April 12:36 May 15:38 June 18:10 July 23:12 August 26:28 September 30:02 October 32:52 November 36:27 December 41:15 Epilogue 45:34 SOOJUNG HONG, piano

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Franz Joseph Haydn

In l790 life for Franz Joseph Haydn changed significantly. His great, supportive patron, Nikolaus Esterházy, died, releasing Haydn from employment at the court and allowing him to travel and publish more freely. In the following decade, he famously traveled to Oxford and to London twice, where he was recognized as a mega star. And he also experienced the music of Handel in person at a huge Handel festival, inspiring him to write a new oratorio on the subject of the creation. His final 12 symphonies reveal his expanded treatment of the orchestra and the symphonic genre, which would play into his writing of two new oratorios. He was at that time the most famous composer in the world.

During this period, Haydn produced two remarkable oratorios: The Creation (1797) and The Seasons (1801). Both used a libretto by Baron Gottfried van Swieten (about whom more at a later time), but the earlier work was rooted in Biblical text while the later was based on a secular English poem by James Thomson. Both had both German and English texts; the English version, created by van Swieten, was understandably awkward to a native speaker of English, but it still resonated well enough to be accepted by the English-speaking world with all its oddities. Both had recitatives, arias and choruses, much like an opera, and Haydn’s orchestra was as large as that of his late symphonies.

Die Schöpfung (The Creation) by Joseph Haydn
​Netherlands Chamber Choir (Nederlands Kamerkoor) 
Johanette Zomer, SOPRANO| Marcel Beekman, TENOR | André Morsch, BARITONE
Netherlands Chamber Choir Concerto d’Amsterdam, Klaas Stok, CONDUCTOR

The Seasons depicts activities of the real world of the late 18th century. Summertime heat slows everything down; the household dog stretches out to loll on the cool floor; frogs croak. Fall, though, is a vibrant time of harvest and hunting. Haydn gives us an exceptional picture of the hunt, which, unlike today’s hunts, were a blood sport, a means to procure meat for the extended scarcity of winter. Horn calls are actually correct for each moment in the hunt and are performed with raised bells. Of course there is a celebration of wine! The three soloists, soprano, tenor and baritone, take on the roles of Hannah, Lukas and Simon, who set the scenes, elaborate on the activities, and occasionally enact short scenes with dialogue. ​

Joseph Haydn | Die Jahreszeiten (The Seasons), Hob. XXI:3
Hanne- Dorothea Röschmann, soprano | Lukas- Michael Schade, tenor | Simon- Florian Boesch, baritone Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor | Ernst Raffelsberger, chorus master
​Wiener Philharmoniker Conductor: Nikolaus Harnoncourt

Both oratorios were received with great appreciation and enjoyment, highly successful works of Haydn’s very late years. I hope you enjoy this as much as I do!

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Judith Eckelmeyer ©2025