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Though once enormously popular, Édouard Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole (1875) is performed considerably less often today than it once was. Violinist Gil Shaham, a fan of the work, is not sure of the reasons for its change in status. “I always wonder,” Shaham said. “Sometimes, it is very practical things like what fits for orchestras and conductors. Maybe there is this kind of cycle of fashion, that things ebb and flow and become more or less popular.” ’
Symphonie espagnole in D Minor, Op. 21 (to be performed Dec. 2-4) has a long history with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which first programmed the work in 1900, under founder Theodore Thomas, at the Auditorium Theatre. The CSO recorded the work in 1959 with Walter Hendl, featuring Henryk Szeryng as soloist.
What is it?: Despite its title, Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole is essentially a violin concerto, not a symphony. Musicologist Michael Clive calls the work “a fabulously abundant violin showcase — non-stop fun to hear, and if you happen to be a prodigiously skilled violin virtuoso, a joy to play. ... Is it a concerto? With five movements and no cadenzas, not really — although it has won a place alongside the most popular violin concertos.”
A famous champion: 19th-century violin virtuoso Pablo de Sarasate inspired Lalo to compose the work and became its strongest advocate. “Sarasate performed with passion and elegance, projecting a style not quite so Mephistophelian as Paganini’s,” Clive writes. "His fingers seemed to dance over the strings with a fleetness especially suited to the Symphonie."
The French connection: Though French-born, Lalo was of Spanish descent. Accordingly, he wrote his Symphonie espagnole with Spanish motifs throughout. Many musicologists agree that it helped to launch a period when Spanish-themed music, often written by French composers. For instance, Georges Bizet’s opera Carmen premiered just a month after Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole.
Lalo’s influence on Tchaikovsky: Symphonie espagnole reportedly had a major impact on Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D Major. Tchaikovsky loved Mozart’s Don Giovanni (set in Seville), heard Bizet’s Carmen during its opening run in 1876 and later played castanets during a performance of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio Espagnol in 1887, as reported by cellist Yulian Poplavsky, in the book Tchaikovsky Through Others’ Eyes (Indiana University Press, 1999), a compilation of reminiscences about Tchaikovsky.
The book notes that in March 1878, while Tchaikovsky recovered from his disastrous marriage and his subsequent suicide attempt, his favorite pupil (and allegedly his lover), the violinist Iosif Kotek, arrived from Berlin with new violin music, including Symphonie espagnole, which he and Tchaikovsky “played through to great delight.” This session "gave Tchaikovsky the idea of writing a violin concerto, and he immediately set aside his current work on a piano sonata and started on the concerto with Kotek’s technical help." The concerto was finished by April 11.
