Conductor Herbert Blomstedt (from the SFS Web page for his performance next month)
Next month San Francisco Symphony (SFS) Conductor Laureate will make his annual return to Davies Symphony Hall. Once again, he will present a two-symphony program, beginning with a relatively unfamiliar first half and concluding with a traditional favorite. Both symphonies are by Czech composers, and they are situated at opposite ends of the nineteenth century.
The composer for the first half of the program is likely to be just as unfamiliar as the music. Jan Václav Voříšek was born in the town of Vamberk in Bohemia. He studied philosophy at the University of Prague, but his music education began with his father and then continued with studies in both piano and composition from Václav Tomášek (a name likely to be somewhat more familiar to at least a few readers). He was determined to pursue a career as a musician, but he quickly realized that this would be problematic in Prague. As a result, he moved to Vienna in 1813 at the age of 22, where he remained for the rest of his short life. (He died at the age of 34 on November 19, 1825.)
He established himself as a composer in Vienna well enough to be selected by Anton Diabelli to provide one of the variations for his Vaterländischer Künstlerverein (patriotic artists’ association) project. Mind you, Diabelli recruited 51 composers, the lesser known being obscured by such composers as Carl Czerny, Franz Schubert, and a twelve-year-old Franz Liszt, not to mention the 33 variations that Ludwig van Beethoven contributed (which would late be published as his Opus 120). Before he died of respiratory arrest, Voříšek composed only one symphony in 1821, and attentive listeners will probably detect influences from both Beethoven and Schubert. Blomstedt’s program will provide the first SFS performance of this composition.
The second half of the program will return to “familiar ground,” offering the audience a performance of Antonín Dvořák’s Opus 88 (eighth) symphony in G major.
This program will be given three performances, at 2 p.m. on Thursday, February 9, and Sunday, February 12, and at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, February 10. Ticket prices range from $20 to $165 and may be purchased through a single Web page or by calling the SFS Box Office at 415-864-6000. The entrance to Davies is on the south side of Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street.
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