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Kansas City's Online Journal of the Performing Arts

Kansas City Symphony
Brahms Double Concerto, Plus Dvorak
with guest conductor Asher Fisher
Friday January 8 at 8 p.m.
Saturday, January 9 at 8 p.m.
Lyric Theatre, 11^th and Central
Kansas City, MO

Sunday, January 10, at 2:00 p.m.
Carlsen Center
Johnson County Community College
12345 College Boulevard, Overland Park, KS
For tickets call 816-471-0400 or online at www.kcsymphony.org

The Kansas City Symphony kicks off its winter/spring season this weekend with a concert featuring the United States premiere of Reflections by Israeli composer Menachem Wiesenberg.  That piece is the subject of another article in this issue of KCMetropolis, so we're going to reflect here upon the other two works on the program, the Brahms Concerto in A minor for Violin, Cello and Orchestra featuring soloists Josef Spacek and Camden Shaw and Dvořák's Symphony No. 7.

The paths of Brahms and Dvořák intertwined in interesting ways. In 1873 Dvořák, then 32 years old, was the organist at the St. Adalbert's Church in Prague, Bohemia (now the Czech Republic) and had just been married. He most desired to make his living as a composer, but his new financial responsibilities and talent as an organist (and violinist) led him to seek a more certain role as an instrumentalist instead. He had, however, been sufficiently fortunate to have had a few early compositions performed and published.

Then, one day, his luck turned.  The noted music critic Edward Hanslick (yes, the same one who so famously hated Richard Wagner) mentioned to Dvořák that Johannes Brahms, then one of the giant figures of European music, had taken a liking to his work.

Although Brahms was eight years Dvořák's senior and far more famous, the young composer mustered the courage to contact the German master, and shortly thereafter Brahms recommended to his publisher, Simrock, that the company publish some of Dvořák's works. Since Brahms' own compositions were best-sellers throughout Europe the company quickly agreed, and the result was the publication in 1878 of Dvořák's first series of Slavonic Dances.

The rest, as they say, is music and publishing history.  When news of Brahms' admiration for Dvořák spread, the younger composer's pieces were quickly snapped up by an eager public and the Bohemian quickly gained stature.  Not long thereafter he was able to realize his dream of devoting his time to composition.  A long series of popular works followed, including symphonies, concertos (his violin and viola concertos are among the most treasured in the repertoire), operas and many others.

Although within a few years Dvořák hardly needed Brahms' support any longer, the two remained fast friends throughout the rest of Brahms' life. 

In 1883 Brahms, who was a latecomer to symphonic composition because of his reluctance to be compared as a symphonic composer to the great Beethoven, wrote his magnificent Third Symphony. Dvořák was so taken by his friend's virtuoso compositional skill and the dramatic portent of the Brahms work that he was inspired to create his own symphony along similar lines. He promptly began work on his Seventh Symphony (Dvořák had taken to symphonic composition a bit earlier, but with more modest goals).  It was premiered in 1884 when Dvořák visited London, and became an immediate hit.

The scope of the work is much larger than anything Dvořák had previously attempted.  As he wrote a friend, "what is in my mind is Love, God, and my Fatherland."

In the meantime, Brahms himself proceeded to tackle a project dear to his heart, a Double Concerto for violin and viola, meant as a sort of reconciliation to the violinist Joseph Joachim, from whom Brahms had become estranged.  It premiered in 1887 and was his last great orchestral work before his untimely death at the age of 66.

This concert offers an interesting opportunity to experience and compare two of the mature works of these giant 19^th century composers, each from a different country, with a distinctive style, but great friends who shared a passion for music that still affects us today.

The Friends of Chamber Music
Takács String Quartet
Saturday, January 9 at 8 p.m.
Folly Theater
12^th and Central Streets, Kansas City, Missouri
For tickets call 816-561-9999 or online at www.chambermusic.org

The common theme of the string quartet series at The Friends of Chamber Music this year is Beethoven. In this concert, the Takács String Quartet takes a look at one of Beethoven's earliest quartets, the Quartet in C Minor, Op. 18, written when the composer was not yet 30, and compares it with the String Quartet No. 15 in A Minor, Op. 132, written more than a quarter century later, after Beethoven had written all nine of his symphonies. The enormous changes in the composer's ability and temperament can be seen in this comparison.

Between these two pieces the Takács String Quartet will play Haydn's Quartet in B Flat Major, Op. 17, written by the Austrian master for one of his English sojourns when the composer was past 60. A work of his maturity as a composer, it demonstrates the virtuosity of each of the four performers.

The Takács String Quartet, one of today's most celebrated string ensembles and widely recognized as one of the great Beethoven interpreters, counts among its many recordings a complete Beethoven cycle on the Decca label which won several awards.  Based in Boulder at the University of Colorado, the Quartet travels and plays around the world, as it has for the last 35 years.

By Don Dagenais

City Classics Music and Dance Columnist; Classical Contributor

A lifelong classical music fan, Don Dagenais is a frequent preview speaker for the Lyric Opera of Kansas City and has taught classical music and opera courses at several Kansas City venues. He has served on the boards of directors of a number of performing arts organizations including the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, the Lyric Opera Guild, UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance, Opera Volunteers International, the Civic Opera Theater of Kansas City, Inspiration Point Fine Arts Colony, Octarium, and the Friends of the Symphony.  He has been the past president of most of these organizations and is current the president of the Friends of the Symphony. 

Dagenais co-authored a history of the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, published on the occasion of its 50th anniversary (2007) and has written books on the histories of both the Lyric Opera Guild and Opera Volunteers International, as well as an introductory book for opera novices (Your Passport to the Opera).  He has received several local and national awards for outstanding volunteer work for the arts, including a lifetime achievement award from The Coterie Theatre in 2000, the Kansas City Musical Club's annual award in 2001, a Partners in Excellence Award from Opera Volunteers International in 2002, a Bravo Award from Opera Volunteers International in 2004 and a community service award from the Daughter of the American Revolution in 2008 honoring him for his community service to the arts.

In addition to his music interests, Don is president of the board of directors for the Metropolitan Ensemble Theater and has served on the boards of The Coterie Theatre and the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival, serving as president of each organization.  He publishes newsletters for seven arts organizations.  When not involved in the performing arts, Don is a senior real estate attorney with Lathrop & Gage LLP in Kansas City, Missouri, where he has practiced law since 1976 after graduating from the Cornell Law School.