Monteux Festival Orchestra - Stravinsky's Petrushka & Brahms's Symphony No. 1

Our penultimate festival orchestra program features Stravinsky's Petrushka, Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture, and Brahms's Symphony No. 1.

Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture, or “Fingal’s Cave,” was inspired by a visit to the Isles of Hebrides off the coast of Scotland. Deeply moved, he swiftly composed the first 21 bars of the overture and sent them along to his sister Fanny. Mendelssohn continued to revise the work for years after its premiere, striving to more closely reflect the sublime beauty of the Hebrides. It remains one of his most popular works today. Monteux conducted the Hebrides Overture with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1923.

You’ll also hear Brahms first symphonic masterpiece, which he refined so carefully that it took him over 20 years to complete. Brahms’s Symphony No. 1 was inspired upon his hearing Beethoven’s ninth symphony, and Beethoven’s influence is audible throughout. Brahms’s Symphony No. 1 was recorded by Monteux with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1962 and again in 1963 with the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam.

Petrushka (1911) was Stravinsky’s second collaboration with Diaghilev—impresario and founder of the Ballet Russes—after The Firebird (1910) and before The Rite of Spring (1913). In four tableaux, the ballet tells a story of a puppet, Petrushka, who loves a Ballerina, and his efforts to win her affection. Russian folk tunes are woven throughout, and we hear Petrushka represented by a bitonal clash in what has come to be called the “Petrushka chord.” The ballet premiered under Monteux’s baton in Paris in 1911, performed by Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes at the Théâtre du Châtelet with the Orchestre Colonne. Monteux recorded Petrushka with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1959.

Full program:

• Mendelssohn - Hebrides Overture
• Brahms - Symphony No. 1
• Stravinsky - Petrouchka

The address of our concert hall known as the Forest Studio is 42 Melody Lane (off old track road) in Hancock, ME 04640. Concerts start at 5:00 PM and last approximately 2 hours and include an intermission. Doors open at 4:30 PM. 

For more details visit monteuxmusic.org or email Stan Renard, Executive Director at info@monteuxmusic.org

NOTE: Single tickets get assigned the best seats available at the time of purchase. We have a small hall and thus, do not have a seating chart that you can use to select your seating location. But we will take good care of you! However, if you and your friends are buying tickets separately but wish to seat next to each other please email us at info@monteuxmusic.org and we will do our best to accommodate you. Our three last Sunday concerts in July sell out and as such we recommend you purchase your tickets to those concerts much in advance.

Wish to enjoy priority reserved seating and a beautiful biography book of the musicians in the orchestra, consider subscribing to our season concert instead.

We look forward to seeing you at our concerts!

The Monteux Team