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Gulf Coast Symphony at the MACC: Beethoven Symphony No. 8
Join us for an exhilarating evening as the Gulf Coast Symphony performs Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8, a masterpiece of classical music. Often described as Beethoven’s most cheerful and witty symphony, this work is brimming with playful rhythms, innovative orchestration, and vibrant energy. Let the lively and spirited melodies of Symphony No. 8 transport you to the heart of Beethoven’s genius, offering a delightful and uplifting concert experience that is sure to enchant and inspire music lovers of all ages. Also on the program is Verdi’s Prelude to Act 3 of La traviata, Mendelssoh’s Hebrides Overture, and Gabriel Fauré’s Masques et Bergamasques, suite, Op.112.
PROGRAM
Verdi: Prelude to Act III of La traviata
Mendelssohn: Hebrides Overture (“Fingal’s Cave”), Op. 26
Fauré: Suite from Masques et bergamasques, Op. 112
Beethoven: Symphony No. 8 in F major, Op. 93
Masques et bergamasques, is an orchestral suite by Gabriel Fauré. It was arranged by the composer from incidental music he provided for a theatrical entertainment commissioned for Albert I, Prince of Monaco in 1919. The original score contained eight numbers, including two songs for tenor, and a choral passage. These numbers were not included in the published suite, which has four movements: Overture, Pastorale, Minuet and Gavotte.
About the Composer
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (October 10, 1813 – January 27, 1901) was born in Roncole in the former duchy of Parma, he first studied music in the neighboring town of Busseto. Then, upon being rejected in 1832, because of his age, by the Milan Conservatory, he became a pupil of the Milanese composer Vincenzo Lavigna. He returned to Busseto in 1833 as conductor of the Philharmonic Society. At the age of 25 Verdi again went to Milan. His first opera, Oberto, was produced at La Scala
Read More ››Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (February 3, 1809 – November 4, 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn’s compositions include symphonies, concertos, piano music, organ music and chamber music. His best-known works include the overture and incidental music for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the Italian Symphony, the Scottish Symphony, the oratorio St. Paul, the oratorio Elijah, the overture The Hebrides, the mature Violin Concerto and the String Octet. The melody for the Christmas carol “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” is also his. Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words are his most famous solo piano compositions.
Read More ››Gabriel Fauré
Gabriel Urbain Fauré was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th-century composers. Among his best-known works are his Pavane, Requiem, Sicilienne, nocturnes for piano and the songs “Après un rêve” and “Clair de lune”. Although his best-known and most accessible compositions are generally his earlier ones, Fauré composed many of his most highly regarded works in his later years, in a more harmonically and melodically complex style.
Read More ››Ludwig Van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven is one of the most widely recognized and admired composers in the history of Western music, and served as an important bridge between the Classical and Baroque era styles he admired and the Romantic style his music would come to personify. Beethoven was born in 1770 into a modest family in the small German provincial town of Bonn, where he would study composition and play the piano and viola until moving to Vienna in his early 20’s where he would live the rest of his life.
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