Myths and legends:
The stories behind the music
Musicologist Georg Rudiger has taken a closer look at the Klosters Music programme 2025.
First part: Joseph Haydn’s “Nelson” Mass and Ludwig van Beethoven’s overture to “Coriolan” (opening concert).
The Kyrie begins sombrely. Trumpets and timpani play a fanfare rhythm on one note. This is accompanied by harsh chords in the strings. Completed on 31 August 1798, the mass Hob. XXII: 11 in D minor by Joseph Haydn, is actually called “Missa in angustiis”, i.e. “Mass in distress”. It was composed during the Napoleonic Wars. Haydn’s 40-minute work is better known under the name “Nelson” Mass. The British admiral Horatio Nelson had defeated the French troops at the naval battle of Aboukir (Egypt) in August 1798, and on his way home two years later, he passed through Eisenstadt in Burgenland, where Joseph Haydn had composed the mass for his patron Prince Esterhazy and now met the war hero in person. Whether Haydn already knew about Nelson’s victory when he composed it is more than questionable. In the transition from the Benedictus to the Osanna, the mass sounds military and triumphant for a few bars when the fanfares from the beginning return in the trumpets in triplet form and the timpani join in with the striking rhythm.
Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Coriolan” overture, composed in 1807, is also somewhat martial. The drama of the same name by Heinrich von Collin (1802) tells the story of the outcast Roman general Gnaeus Marcius Coriolanus, who returns to his home town of Rome with a hostile army where he seeks revenge and fights the plebeians. Only his wife and his mother can stop him from taking vengeance – in the end he throws himself on his own sword. Beethoven composed his overture in sonata form, but Coriolanus’ story makes itself felt. The harsh chords at the beginning emphasise the grim character of the patrician, while the first theme with its restless quavers and interspersed general pauses creates a menacing atmosphere. The gentleness of the women who are trying to calm him can be heard in the legato theme in the strings, which is later ennobled by the woodwind instruments. The overture oscillates between excitement and calm, between abruptness and cantabile quality, before the restless first theme loses all energy at the end.Three heartbeats, audible in the pizzicato of the strings – and the overture is over. And Coriolanus is dead.
Second part: Ludwig van Beethoven’s overture to the ballet music “The Creatures of Prometheus” and his symphony no. 3, “Eroica”
Prometheus belongs to the Titan family of gods. He stole fire from the gods and brought it to humans. At the end of the 18th century, the Prometheus myth from Greek mythology also symbolised the spirit of the Enlightenment. In Ludwig van Beethoven’s ballet music for “The Creatures of Prometheus”, Prometheus himself creates humans, as he did in Goethe’s famous poem. His human creatures are taught art and science by Orpheus and Apollo on Mount Parnassus. A dance with Bacchus concludes the ballet, which premiered in Vienna on 28th March 1801. Although the action is not depicted in the overture played in Klosters, the energy of this act of creation can certainly be felt. After striking chords and a vocal passage in the slow introduction, the Allegro molto con brio begins very quietly with frenzied quavers in the first violins, which are answered by a fortissimo orchestral tutti. The secondary theme rises upwards. At the end, the overture returns to its beginning with powerful tutti chords.
In Beethoven’s Symphony no. 3 “Eroica”, a different hero takes centre stage. The composer had originally dedicated his boundary-breaking composition to Napoleon Bonaparte. Beethoven was fascinated by the ideals of the French Revolution. But when the victorious general had himself crowned emperor in 1804, Beethoven furiously tore up the title page of the finished manuscript with the words: “He is no different from any ordinary man! He will crush all human rights, indulge only his lust for honour, he will now place himself higher than all others, become a tyrant!” In the first edition of 1806, Beethoven dedicated the symphony “to the memory of a great man”. Musically, the “Eroica” is still reminiscent of French revolutionary music. The second movement is a funeral march for a fallen hero. The symphony is marked by strong contrasts. The stormy opening of the variation finale recalls a dance-like theme from “The Creatures of Prometheus”. And thus creates a direct link between gods and heroes.
Third part: Richard Wagner’s overture to the opera “The Flying Dutchman”.
“Overture” derives from the French word ouverture, meaning “opening”. Most overtures pave the way for the opera that follows. They create atmosphere and sharpen the audience’s attention. Richard Wagner’s overture to his opera “The Flying Dutchman”, which premiered in Dresden on 2 January 1843, goes full bore right from the start. The tremolo of the strings creates disquiet. The distinctive theme that begins in the horns in the second bar, before being repeated by the trombones, introduces the protagonist: the Dutchman, captain of a ghost ship. After committing blasphemy he has been condemned to sail without rest across the oceans until he is redeemed by the love of a faithful woman. Wagner vividly portrays the undulating waves and foaming spray by repeatedly steering the strings towards climaxes and conjuring escalating orchestral sounds. But less dramatic tones can also be heard in the overture, as the lyrical redemption motif is heard in the woodwinds and the sailors’ chorus is anticipated instrumentally. The death of the faithful Senta, who throws herself from the cliffs into the sea, redeems the “Flying Dutchman”, as can be discerned from the oboes. The ghost ship sinks, while soaring harp sounds accentuate the transfiguration. An overture as an excerpt from the opera itself.
As per May 2025