"Orhestral Fireworks"
February 6, 2010 at 8 pm
An explosive evening of music
The San Angelo Symphony will perform "Orchestral Fireworks" on Saturday, February 6th at 8:00pm at the City Auditorium, 72 W. College Avenue. The orchestra will perform music from Handels's Royal Fireworks Music and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4.
Joining the San Angelo Symphony will be Sorantin International Young Artist Competition overall winner, 23 year old pianist Anna Bulkina, performing her award-winning piece, Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor.
Art to Music
The San Angelo Symphony Guild, the volunteer group associated with the San Angelo Symphony Orchestra, announces the winners of the 2009-2010 Art to Music Contest.
The Contest, open to area fourth graders attending either public or private school, involved students listening to un-named music and creating pieces of art reflective of the piece. The 2009-2010 musical selection, Handel's Royal Fireworks Music, was hand selected by Symphony Conductor Hector Guzman for the project. A special multimedia presentation of the winning pieces will be displayed on screen as the symphony plays the selection. Of all the students to submit art, 20 students were selected as overall winners and approximately 50 were chosen as honorable mentions.
NOTES ON THE PROGRAM
Georg Frederich Handel (born Halle, Prussia February 23, 1685; died London, April 14, 1759)
Music for the Royal Fireworks (composed 1749; premiered London April 27, 1749)
Georg Frederic Handel was born in Halle, Prussia, the son of a barber-surgeon who served royal courts in Prussia and Saxony. It is interesting to note that he was born in the same year as both Johann Sebastian Bach and Domenico Scarlatti.
While his family did not have any musical experience of note, the young Handel showed his musical talents at an early age. He gave his first performance at the age of 10 and, even though he enrolled in the University of Halle to study law, it was soon apparent that his musical talents would control his destiny. He had accepted a position as organist in a church while enrolled in school, and left Halle a year later to accept a full time position as violinist and harpsichordist with the opera house in Hamburg. That position lasted only a short time, as well, and in 1706, he moved to Italy, collaborating with several librettists to produce a series of operas and sacred works in Florence, Rome and Venice.
In 1710, Handel moved north to accept a position as Choirmaster in the court of George, Elector of Hanover. Shortly after arriving in Hanover, he joined his patron on a visit to London. After his initial trip, he returned to Germany, but soon requested, and was granted, permission to accept another invitation for a short visit to England. He never returned to Germany, and interestingly, had to face his former benefactor when George was crowned King George I of England in 1714. Handel managed to make it though the awkward, and potentially lethal turn of events, and went on to become a favorite composer of the British Crown for three decades.
During his career in England, he produced most of his most famous works, including The Messiah, Water Music, Music for the Royal Fireworks, and numerous operas, oratorios and concerti grossi. While his Messiah is particularly well known, many of his other works continue to have an important place in the repertoire, as well. His anthem Zadok, the Priest, composed for the coronation of George II in 1727, has been performed at the coronation ceremony of every British monarch since then, and many of his other oratorios, including Judas Maccabeus, and works for orchestra, especially Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks, are important additions to music of the Baroque era.
The latter part of his career was filled with the composition and production of operas and oratorio throughout England. His eyesight and overall health began to fail after a carriage accident in 1750, and he died in London in 1759, shortly after attending a performance of his Messiah. He was given a funeral with full State honors, and is buried in Westminster Abbey.
Music for the Royal Fireworks was composed in 1749 and is the second of Handel's compositions intended for a large-scale, outdoor presentation. The first such piece, his Water Music from 1717, was composed for a festival held on the River Thames in London and attended by the royal court of George I, as well as thousands of Londoners. Drawing on the memory of that success, King George II, the unpopular successor of George I, made plans for a celebration honoring the previous year's signing of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chappelle, at least in part to curry favor with his less-than-supportive subjects. While plans for the event were grand and glorious, it did not turn out quite as expected. During the celebration, the scaffold on which the musicians sat caught fire and collapsed (after the musicians had fled to safety,) a bas relief of the King collapsed, and the crowd fled in fear and anger, causing a three-hour traffic jam on London Bridge and other thoroughfares throughout the city! Fortunately, the music fared better than the display, having been performed in a dress rehearsal a few days prior. Word of the rehearsal had spread, to the point that more than 12,000 people purchased tickets to hear the final rehearsal. Even though the title event was disastrous, the music was an immediate hit and has remained popular since.
Originally composed for a wind band consisting of 24 oboes, 12 bassoons, contrabassoon, 9 trumpets, 9 french horns, 3 sets of timpani and several snare drums, the standard instrumentation for modern performances now includes a more traditional wind section and strings. Handel had chosen those forces to make sure the audience would be able to hear the piece throughout the park and surrounding areas. Written in five movements, the suite contains familiar, full-bodied melodies that evoke images of dance, celebrations of joy, and powerful moments of triumph that are even more notable since they were written 350 years ago and intended for performance on instruments much less precise than those of the present.
Sergei Prokofiev (born Sontsovka, Ukraine, April 23, 1891; died Moscow, March 5, 1953)
Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, op. 16 (composed 1912-13; premiered August 23, 1913)
Sergei Prokofiev was the son of a farm caretaker. Even though his family did not own the property on which he was raised, he was allowed many of the comforts associated with living on an estate, including having access to education and training in music. He showed great talent for music from an early age, composing his first piece at the age of five and used sections of pieces written in his early years throughout his career. His mother took him to Moscow at the age of 10 to receive better instruction in music, resulting in an arrangement for Reinhold Gliere to travel to Sontsovka each of the next three summers to provide instruction in both composition and piano.
When Prokofiev was 13, he enrolled in the St. Petersburg Conservatory, the youngest person ever admitted to that prestigious school. Studying with some of the most famous composers of the time, including Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov, he began to produce works of extreme complexity and ones that were often far more advanced formally ad tonally than anything his teachers expected. In fact, he was not considered a particularly successful composition student during his 10 years at the Conservatory. He did, however, win the Anton Rubenstein Prize as the outstanding pianist in the Conservatory during his final year in residence. After graduating from St. Petersburg just as World War I was breaking out, he travelled to Europe, hoping to make a name for himself as a composer in more modern, and accepting, locales such as Paris and London. He also travelled to the United States and Japan and lived in both Paris and the Bavarian Alps, but eventually returned to Russia (now the Soviet Union) as a cultural hero. While he was welcomed back by the State, he did go through periods of disfavor, as did many of his colleagues. Even though many of his greatest works were written after his return and were intended to show Russian themes in their best light, by 1948, he had fallen out of favor and struggled to have his music performed. He died the same day as Stalin, and since he lived near Red Square, his body was not able to be moved to the site of his funeral for three days due to the crowds that had gathered to pay their respects to the dictator. The funeral took place at the headquarters of the Soviet Composers Union, and he was buried in Novodevichy Cemetery, the most famous burial ground in the Soviet Union.
The Second Piano Concerto was composed while Prokofiev was a student at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. While generally considered a masterwork today, it did not always have that reputation. One critic in attendance at the premiere called it "a cacophony of sounds" and "a musical mess." The musical world should be glad that first opinions are often overstated! Even though the critics did not accept the new work, it showed a popularity with the general public, at least in part because of the extreme technical demands required of the soloist.
The work has a unique history. The piece as we know it today was actually recreated by the composer from memory. The original score, housed in St. Petersburg after its composition, was destroyed by a fire during the 1918 Revolution. Prokofiev recreated the piece from memory when he was in Paris in 1923, performing it for the great choreographer Diaghilev, who had shown an interest in turning the young composer's music into a ballet score. While that project did not come to fruition, Diaghilev did commission other ballet works from Prokofiev over the next several years.
Compositionally, the work also has several unique features. It is comprised of four movements (the standard concert form utilizes three,) there is not a slow, lyrical movement separating the technical ones (the primary slow section appears at the beginning of the first movement,) and the opening movement, marked Andantino-Allegretto, begins without the normal orchestral introduction, merely a few quiet notes from the woodwinds serving as prelude to the solo.
Throughout the first movement, the virtuosity of the pianist is evident, even though the melody is not as gentle and connected as many are used to hearing in such a work. The second movement, Scherzo, characterizes the pianist as virtuoso, requiring fast, light playing while rapidly moving from one end of the keyboard to the other. The third movement, an Intermezzo, continues the musical gymnastics, and begins to involve more interplay between soloist and orchestra. The Finale is a frantic and ferocious a movement as one is likely to hear, bringing the piece to a grand and exciting conclusion.
Pietor I. Tchaikovsky (born Votkinsk, Russia, May 7, 1840; died St. Petersburg, Russia November 6, 1893)
Symphony No. 4 in F minor, op. 36 (composed 1877-1878; premiered St. Petersburg, Russia Feb. 22, 1878)
Pietor Tchaikovsky was born into the family of a Russian civil servant and, even though he showed an amazing aptitude for music at an early age, he was sent to a boarding school specializing in the preparation of civil servants at the age of ten. While music was not a priority at the school, he still managed to continue his musical training by attending operas and performances. His musical tastes ran to Mozart, Rossini, and Verdi. After graduating from school in 1859, he did complete a three-year term as a member of the civil service. His musical genius, however, could not be denied, and he soon found himself as a student at the St. Petersburg Conservatory.
Tchaikovsky spent many years teaching, composing, and traveling throughout Russia and Europe. In fact, many Russian leaders were suspicious of the composer's talents and output, often accusing him of being "too influenced by the West." However, as Russia, particularly the leaders in St. Petersburg, began to open trade and travel to Paris and other European centers, Tchaikovsky regained favor and in fact was held up as an innovator for his countrymen. Throughout this time, he continued to travel throughout Europe and held positions in both Moscow and St. Petersburg. While his compositions were regularly commissioned, well-regarded, and performed soon after they were completed, he struggled with teaching others the craft of composition, moving in and out of conservatory and other positions that required him to interact with students.
He went on to compose some of the most well known pieces in a variety of genres, including ballet, symphonic repertoire, and concerti. His career saw him garner awards from governments throughout the world. He died of cholera shortly after the premiere of his Sixth Symphony in November, 1893 and was interred in Tikhvin Cemetery, along with other influential Russian composers, including Mussorgsky, Borodin, Glinka, and Rimsky-Korsakov.
The Fourth Symphony was composed during one of the more tumultuous periods in Tchaikovsky's life. He had married an ardent admirer, Antonina Ivanovna Milyukova, earlier in 1877 and had fled the marriage after only nine months. While rumors and speculation regarding the reason for the abandonment were rampant, and continue into our own time, it is obvious that Tchaikovsky felt totally stifled in the union and would not be able to continue his composing career if he remained in the marriage. Turning to his patroness, the wealthy widow Nadezhda von Meck, he admitted that the Fourth Symphony was actually a cathartic piece for him, allowing him to express the effects of Fate, Youth, a lost light-hearted sense of enjoyment, and pride for Mother Russia, all in one piece.
The four movements of the work still evoke these, as well as other feelings in performers and audience members today. The opening theme of the first movement, a melancholy fanfare, has been compared to that of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, since it can easily be interpreted to represent Fate, continues to be heard and varied throughout the piece, and, just as with Beethoven's masterwork, is turned into a triumphant melody by the end of the piece. The second movement showcases Tchaikovsky's melodicism at its best. The opening oboe solo states a relaxed, flowing melody that continues in the strings, elongated to express the joys, pains and vast emotions of youth. The third movement shows a playful side of the composer. The strings play pizzicato throughout, adding to the relaxed feel of the movement, and shift rapidly from loud to quiet dynamics. When the winds do enter, it is with another flowing melody, interrupted by short statements in the brass and a double-time restatement of the melody, moving back to the strings. The Finale includes all the excitement and grandeur of Tchaikovsky's best writing, including a restatement of the opening theme, technical passages in all the instruments, and a glorious coda.
Notes © 2010 by David Scott
Ticket Outlets
Concert tickets may be purchased at the Symphony Office, 2nd floor of the Cactus Hotel, Legend Jewelers, 18 E. Concho Ave., Elite Physique, 2802 Southwest Blvd., In Vino Veritas, 2007 Knickerbocker Rd., and the ITT Office at Goodfellow AFB.
Ticket prices: Adults $20
Seniors 65 and older $18
Active Military and Students $8
Children 12 and younger $6
For More Information call the Symphony offce at 325-658-5877
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