From the liner notes:
In the autumn of 1869, Anton Rubinstein completed the score of yet another of his musical character pictures for symphony orchestra: Don Quixote, op. 87. However, in turning to Cervantes’ character, as well as to the legendary figure of the first Russian tsar, Rubinstein was not so much interested in this or that musical genre or type; he was simply intrigued by the idea of portraying various human characters in music.
The idea to tackle Don Quixote first occurred to Rubinstein in 1868 after his meeting with Turgenev, who proposed a new interpretation of Cervantes’ immortal story. He strongly opposed the term “quixotism” where it appeared to be synonymous with buffoonery, ridiculousness and absurdity. He himself treated Don Quixote as an ideal of self-sacrifice, but viewed in comedic context.
Rubinstein’s Don is outlined and developed according to Turgenev’s conception. The plan of this symphonic suite includes the following episodes: Quixote’s fascination with books about knights and dreams of heroic deeds (for the sake of idealistic love for a woman) on behalf of the unfortunate; his fight with the “crowd of oppressors,” which in fact turns out to be a flock of sheep; his declaration of love and the peasants’ derision; deliverance of condemned convicts whom he considers to be unjustly convicted; and Quixote’s death. The selection of these episodes clearly demonstrates the composer’s artistic concept: he eliminates from his program all that symbolizes the Don’s more senseless actions (for example, his battle with the windmills), concentrating instead on only the episodes which emphasize self-sacrifice, all be it from a comic perspective. This approach constitutes the basic difference between Rubinstein’s semi-serious humoresque and Richard Strauss’ more jocular work that came 27 years later.
The music abounds with interesting, novel and original aspects. Even in the first pages of the score, we get a sharp psychological portrait of the character. The three diverse themes are brought into contrast, even though they follow one another without transition or link. The first is a peculiar combination of heroic elements and more prosaic elements, which gives the music a slightly humorous aspect. The second theme conveys Don Quixote’s ponderings about the destitute and unfortunate and his dream of helping them through his heroic deeds. The third theme, cast in a romantic vein, characterizes Don Quixote’s passionate striving for noble idealism; it plays an exceptionally important role in the symphonic picture.
No single overtly humorous theme is heard. The comic mood is achieved by a subtle comparison of the diverse thematic materials as they follow each other, or as they are heard in combination. It is characterized, apart from the presentation of the three themes at the very beginning, by a very telling confrontation of the “wandering” theme with the heroic war cry of the “knight of the rueful countenance.” Another daring comic device is the simultaneous presentation of the “idealism” theme with deliberately banal waltz motifs – with the divided orchestra playing in different time signatures. Since the composer’s primary aim was to depict Don Ouixote’s essential humanity, his specific whereabouts and surroundings are depicted rather sparsely. In one “scene,” Rubinstein uses a genuine Spanish folk dance melody, but in another he resorts to a more original styling (in the song of the village girls).
The thematic material is enhanced, as in Ivan IV, by skillful development and elaboration. By presenting the themes in various modes (and their different stages) –also with varied harmonic schemes and rhythmic variants – Rubinstein imparts to them certain psychological nuances. As also in Ivan IV, the entire texture of the composition lies in its thematic variants. Sometimes the composer makes use of the main theme’s elements so as to impart a special meaning to descriptive episodes. Thus, a slight variant of the “destitute and desolate” theme becomes the perfect basis for the brief “march of the convicts;” the same compositional device allowed the composer to express the attitude of his character to what he saw in front of him.
Many of Rubinstein’s contemporaries gave Don Quixote high praise, while pointing out its compositional drawbacks.Tchaikovsky, upon hearing the orchestral rehearsal, wrote: “Very interesting, and perfect in places.” A few months later, in a letter to Balakirev, he said: “I find this piece very interesting and well done, although its episodic nature is somewhat reminiscent of ballet pantomime music.”
— Notes ©1994 Russian Disc – Translation: Marina Ter-Mikaelian; edited by Lindsay Koob
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