NCO Soloists: Metamorphosis Christ Church West Didsbury , Manchester | Sunday 11 July 5pm Nicholas Ward & Catherine Yates violin s | Richard Muncey & Michael Dale violas | Tim Smedley & Barbara Grunthal cellos | James Manson double bass Arnold Schoenberg (1874 – 1951) - Verklärte Nacht Op. 4 Samuel Barber (1910 – 1981) Adagio for Strings R ichard Strauss (1864 – 1949) - Metamorphosen (Septet version) A feature of every NCO season is the appearance of the principal players as the NCO soloists. In this concert, Nicholas Ward, leads them through a programme that invites you to reflect on darkness and light. Verklärte Nacht was composed not long before Sch oe nberg’s First Chamber Symphony (1906 ) and anticipates Schönberg 's tendency for extended single - movement sonata form in his ensuing works . It is unusual in that it takes the shape of a tone poem composed for a small chamber ensemble - the first of its kind written for such an ensemble. It is based on the contemporary poem Weib und Welt , written by Richard Dehmel in 1896 (turn over to read the poem) , which was considered controversial at the time for its treatment of a difficult human problem ; that of fidelity in the face of forbidden love. Of the piece, Schoenberg said “it does not illustrate any action or drama but was restricted to portray nature and express human feelings... in other words, it offers the possibility to be appreciated as 'pure' music." The structure of the work broadly follows the five stanzas of the poem and, throughout, Sch oe nberg uses the string sounds to create a wide range of vivid tones and textures. The dark, ominous opening sets the moonlit scene, which introduces the unifying motif of the woman's anguished state. The work shifts from its dark hued minor ke y to the bright D major, which refl ects the consoling, comforting words of the man. Following a glittering climax, the work moves to a rarefied coda, which combines the themes to conclude the work. In 1936 Barber composed his String Quartet, Op. 11 . In response to a request from conductor Toscanini, the composer submitted a string orchestra arrangement of the Adagio, taken from the 3 - movement quartet. The Adagio for Strings received its premiere in a concert by the newly formed NBC Symphony; broadca st on radio, it reached a far larger audience than ever possible in a usual concert setting. The entire piece develops from a melodic motif stated at the beginning which builds in intensity through an increase in volume and textur e as it ascends through th e notes . There is a wrenching climax before the piece breaks off, followed by a gentle reprise of the original motif. Richard Strauss' Metamorphosen is a n elegy to the Munich National Theater , which was bombed in October 1943. Upon hearing the news, Strauss began sketching a Trauer um München (Mourning for Munich). As the news worsened, he also sought the consolations of Goethe, whose ideas about transformation found in the poems The Metamorphosis of Plants and The Metamorphosi s of Animals inspired Strauss to write what would become Metamorphosen The theme Strauss had first sketched under the Trauer um München title has an important role in the arc of Metamorphosen. With f our repeated notes and then a descending minor scale, it enters early and unobtrusively and is developed simultaneously with three other main themes. In the final bars, the opening notes of the funeral march from Beethoven’s “Eroica” symphony emerge. Strauss scratched above this passage in his manuscri pt, “IN MEMORIAM!” That send - off weighs heavily, bidding farewell to Beethoven, Wagner, German culture – and to the world Strauss had known. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Richard Dehmel – Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night) (1896) Two people walk through a bare, cold grove; The moon races along with them, they look into it. The moon races over tall oaks, No cloud obscures the light from the sky, Into which the black points of the boughs reach. A woman’s voice speaks: I’m carrying a child, and not yours, I walk in sin beside you. I have committed a great offense against myself. I no longer believed I could be happy And yet I had a strong yearning For something to fill my life, for the joys of Motherhood And for duty; so I committed an effrontery, So, shuddering, I allowed my sex To be emb raced by a strange man, And, on top of that, I blessed myself for it. Now life has taken its revenge: Now I have met you, oh, you. She walks with a clumsy gait, She looks up; the moon is racing along. Her dark gaze is drowned in light. A man’s voice spea ks: May the child you conceived Be no burden to your soul; Just see how brightly the universe is gleaming! There’s a glow around everything; You are floating with me on a cold ocean, But a special warmth flickers From you into me, from me into you. It wi ll transfigure the strange man’s child. You will bear the child for me, as if it were mine; You have brought the glow into me, You have made me like a child myself. He grasps her around her ample hips. Their breath kisses in the breeze. Two people walk through the lofty, bright night. We return to West Didsbury in February 2022 and May 2022; tickets will be on sale from www.ncorch.co.uk or 0161 247 2220 from Monday 19 July.