Fall Fantasy

Poster

 

Program

 

Fanfare from La Peri                                                                     Paul Dukas (1865-1935)

 

Poet and Peasant Overture                                                   Franz von Suppé (1819-1895)

 

Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21                          Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

            I.           Adagio molto—Allegro con brio

            II.          Andante cantabile con moto

            III.       Menuetto : Allegro molto e vivace

            IV.       Adagio—Allegro molto e vivace

 

Four Norwegian Dances, Op. 35                                                 Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)

I.          Allegro marcato

II.         Allegretto tranquillo e grazioso

III.       Allegro moderato alla Marcia

IV.       Allegro molto—Presto e con brio--Prestissimo

 

Fall Fantasy

Program Notes

By

Robert Vodnoy

 

 

Fanfare from La Peri by Paul Dukas (1865-1935). The French-Jewish composer Paul Dukas is best known for his tone poem The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, which was made famous by Disney’s Fantasia. A perfectionist, Dukas destroyed much of his own music toward the end of his life. His ballet La Peri is his last composition. Though not as well known as The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, it is considered his most mature and successful work. The fanfare is scored for symphonic brass consisting of four horns, three trumpets, three trombones and tuba.

 

Poet and Peasant Overture by Franz von Suppé (1819-1895). Von Suppé composed Poet and Peasant Overture for a comedy with songs by K. Elmar. It was premiered in the Theater an der Wien in 1846. Like most of Suppé’s stage works, only the overture survives. It is one of his most popular overtures. The introduction begins with a brief fanfare, followed by a beautiful cello melody. The stormy allegro contains a brilliant syncopated main theme and a lilting Viennese waltz.

 

Symphony No. 1 by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827). Beethoven composed his first symphony in 1799-1800, although sketches for the work can be found in exercises he wrote for his counterpoint teacher Albrechtsberger in 1795. The symphony is indebted to Haydn, who was Beethoven’s teacher. The work is scored for pairs of flutes, oboes clarinets, bassoons, horns and trumpets, timpani and strings.

 

The first movement begins with a slow introduction, surprisingly out of the main key of C Major, beginning on the dominant of F Major. A series of dominant seventh chords lead the main key of the symphony. The 1^st movement, which is in sonata form, contains themes filled with sharp accents, and often featuring the woodwinds. The second movement begins with a little fugue which is quickly abandoned for more graceful and melodious writing. The third movement is a true scherzo, although it is marked menuetto. Its brilliant trio contains rapid scales for the violins. The Finale begins with a musical joke: after a mock-dramatic unison G-natural, the violins tentatively explore a scale starting on G and gradually climbing up to F. Then they launch into a full C major scale, initiating an allegro which is full of high spirits. The coda quotes the German version of Happy Birthday (Frölich Geburtstag) signifying the birth of the 19^th century and Beethoven’s arrival as symphonist!

 

Four Norwegian Dances by Edvard Grieg (1843-1907). This year marks the 100^th anniversary of the death of Edvard Grieg. Grieg was the most important Norwegian composer of the Romantic period. Grieg composed Four Norwegian Dances in 1887 while he was living in Leipzig. The orchestral version of the dances is based on a suite of dances for piano-four-hands which Grieg also arranged for piano solo. All four dances are in ternary form (ABA), usually with a fast and rhythmical opening section and a more lyrical middle section. The first dance begins with an A Major chord played fortissimo. After a silence, a jaunty oompah rhythm accompanies a weirdly chromatic theme in D minor. The middle section has a lovely tune in D Major with sliding chromatics. The second dance is perhaps the most famous of the set with a charming oboe solo. The third dance is a sprightly march. The fourth and final dance is an energetic allegro. After a brief introduction, the strings and the horn introduce the syncopated main theme. The middle section is based on a tune in D minor which contains the melodic interval of an augmented second, which gives it an exotic flavor. The syncopated theme returns and the tempo winds down, leading to a brief and spirited coda in a prestissimo tempo which brings the dance and the suite to a rousing ending.