Wagner adopted the Symphonie poem form as defined by Franz Liszt, but divided his prelude into five Symphonie sections: the two themes of the majestic music evoking the mastersingers; the contender Walter's competition piece preceded by a theme based on the episode of Eva; the dramatic, ironic episode of the false poet; the march of the masters; and a polyphonic finale that unifies all the previous themes and includes a brief conclusion expanding upon the initial march. Concerto No. 2 in E Minor for Violin, Op. 64 Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847) I n his formative years, Mendelssohn had composed a first Concerto in D Minor for Violin and Strings, dedicated to his childhood friend Eduard Rietz, and a Concerto for Violin, Piano and Orchestra, both brilliantly crafted. When 20 years later he contacted his friend, the virtuoso Ferdinand David -professor of violin at the Leipzig Conservatory founded by Mendelssohn- to announce his intention of dedicatingto him a new concerto, his thinking had transcended virtuosity and his Symphonie writting exhibited a quality worthy of the stylistic purity of his ideas. The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra premiered the work on March 13,1845. In this work, Mendelssohn achieved a Creative synthesis of the classical concerto and the romantic freedom of form. Far from reserving virtuosity for an agile cadenza, the composer decided to place virtuoso subjectivity at the heart of the structural process. The initial "Allegro molto appassionato" very originally allows the irruption of the soloist from the very first measures, making the flexible poetic line of the violin the subtle driver of the eloquent orchestral gloss. The only cadenza of the concerto, entirely written, is placed further along than is customary, within the actual discourse of the first movement, giving rise to a very delicate preparation for the reappearance of the theme with the tutti. A bassoon's single sustained note establishes a surprising harmonic link between the first movement and the "Andante,” which demands of the soloist as well as the conductor a noble lyricism, nuanced by the restrained shensucht of Mendelssohn's genius in the two thematic Segments. This kind of wordless lied extends itsfantasy to a meditative transition section that brings about, without pause, the impetuous irruption of the finale, whose thematic and rhythmic inspiration seems to spring from the oneiric world of A Midsummer Night's Dream or Walpurgis Night. Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67 Ludwig van Beethoven (I770-I827) P ure chance or secret laws, as the writer )orge Luis Borges would say, have made the Fifth the most populär of all possible symphonies. Nevertheless, despite its connotation of "greatest hit," the score composed by Beethoven between 1804 and 1808 has proved to be one of the author's most difficult and original from the point of view of direction as well as musicological and cultural Interpretation in general. The period of extreme productivity and artistic angst corresponding to its gestation coincided with Beethoven's heroic realization of the need to discover new means of expression that would go beyond the classical forms already extensively illustrated in his Symphonie work. The commanding quality of the "irruption of destiny" at the beginning of the Fifth Symphony lies in its unprecedented structural amplification of the symphony dimen- sions. The "destiny theme" is so straightforward as to have universal value -it belongs to everyone- and as such it shapes the profound function of the concept of "theme" for Beethoven from that point to his Ninth Symphony’s "Ode to )oy." This molecular theme serves as a bridge between the two ideas of the "Allegro con brio" before the recapitulation.
