Variations and Visions | Frost Symphony Orchestra

Gerard Schwarz, conductor

Cello Student Soloist, TBA

This concert opens with Eugene Goossens’ Jubilee Variations. Written in celebration of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s 50th Anniversary in 1945, the work is a collaborative set of variations on Goossens’ original theme. He invited ten American composers - including Aaron Copland, Paul Creston, Howard Hanson, and William Schuman - to each contribute a variation, while he himself composed the finale.

From this American opening, the program turns to Variations on a Rococo Theme, Op. 33 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Inspired by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his admiration for the Classical style, Tchaikovsky uses an original theme in the Rococo style. He worked closely with the German cellist Wilhelm Fitzenhagen, for whom the piece was written. Fitzenhagen later made significant changes to the piece, going as far as rearranging the order of the original eight variations, and eliminating the final one.

The program concludes with Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90. Although the shortest of his four symphonies, it remains one of his most powerful and concentrated works. After listening to the first and final movements, Antonin Dvorak remarked, “I say without exaggerating that this work surpasses his first two symphonies; if not, perhaps, in grandeur and powerful conception—then certainly in—beauty.” The symphony opens with the motif F-Ab-F, widely interpreted as a musical representation of Brahms’ personal motto, rei aber froh (free but happy). Brahms developed this motto in response to his friend, Hungarian violinist Joseph Joachim’s motto, frei aber einsam (free but lonely).

SAT / OCT 17, 2026 / 7:30 PM

Gusman Concert Hall

$30 $25 $15

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