Edouard Lalo came from a military family in Northern France, his father having fought for Napoleon. Although his parents at first encouraged his musical talent and he studied both the violin and cello, his more serious inclinations towards music met with stern opposition from his father. He left home at the age of 16 to pursue his musical studies at the Conservatoire in Paris. While working for a long time in obscurity as a violinist and music teacher, in 1855 he organized a string quartet to popularize the quartets of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. It was only in the 1870s that Lalo got a break as a composer.

The debacle of the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 and its aftermath created havoc in France’s musical life. However, the rapid reconstruction that followed gave rise to the creation of the Société nationale de musique and the inauguration of three concert series under three great conductors, Jules Pasdeloup, Edouard Colonne and Charles Lamoureux, producing a demand for new works. Young French composers, including Lalo, were inspired to ­write large-scale orchestral works although such works – like the enormous “history paintings” of Jacques Louis David – had been out of fashion in France at the time.

Lalo’s name is primarily associated with a series of works he composed for the Spanish violinist Pablo Sarasate. One of the most spectacular violin virtuosos of the late nineteenth century, Sarasate was known for his beautiful tone, perfect intonation and élan on the stage. He was a striking figure, usually dressed all in black, with a huge ego and a matching flair for publicity. He lived in lavish Paris mansions decorated by James McNeill Whistler in the nineteenth-century equivalent of "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous." Many composers dedicated works to him, including Max Bruch, Camille Saint-Saëns, Joseph Joachim, Henryk Wieniawski, Antonín Dvořák, and in particular, Lalo.

In 1873 Lalo composed his Violin Concerto Op. 20 for Sarasate and a year later followed up with another work for violin and orchestra, the Symphonie espagnole, the composer’s most enduring work. Sarasate premiered both with the Colonne Orchestra.

Symphonie espagnole is neither a real symphony, nor a traditional concerto. It is more like a five-movement suite, especially in its incorporation of dance rhythms. But Lalo hated the term “suite,” considering it “a tainted and discredited title.” The Symphonie is French in character, but Spanish in rhythm. What it lacks in musical depth it makes up for in bravura and a wealth of catchy themes. Although the five movements are not named for dances, they all correspond to Spanish dances and folk rhythms, the structure of the movements corresponds to classical symphonic and concerto models.

The first movement is a habanera, with three themes in the same rhythm – although not the same mood. The second movement, a seguidilla, is a modified ABA form. The middle section is almost a recitative for the soloist, with dramatic shifts of tempo.

The Intermezzo opens with an introduction for orchestra of Spanish-Moorish origin, based on a two-beat measure alternating triple and duple meter. The violin then introduces a series of themes, all with the underlying Moorish rhythm.  

The pavane is a slow, stately dance supposedly related to the gait of the peacock. The movement's slow tempo and minor key suggest a funeral procession.

The lighthearted mood of the fifth and final movement breaks the lugubrious spell. The orchestra begins by setting up an ostinato pattern over which the violin weaves delicate counter melody with elaborate embellishments. The movement contains a malagueña in its slower middle section. 

Program notes by:
Joseph and Elizabeth Kahn
Wordpros@mindspring.com
www.wordprosmusic.com