7 minute read
Program Notes
GEORGE GERSHWIN
born: September 26, 1898 in Brooklyn, New Yorkdied: July 11, 1937 in Hollywood, California
An American in Paris (1928)
premiere: December 13, 1928 in New Yorkapprox. duration: 16 minutes
In March of 1928, George Gershwin departed New York for Europe, and trips to Paris, London, and Vienna. Prior to that time, Gershwin received a commission from conductor Walter Damrosch and the New York Symphony Society (later, the New York Philharmonic-Symphony Society) for a new orchestral composition. Gershwin returned to New York in June, where he completed An American in Paris a month before the work’s premiere. Walter Damrosch conducted the Carnegie Hall concert, which took place on December 13, 1928.
In describing his An American in Paris, Gershwin observed: “This new piece, really a rhapsodic ballet, is written very freely and is the most modern music I’ve yet attempted.” An American in Paris opens with music depicting the protagonist strolling throughout Paris (Gershwin went to great time and expense to find authentic French taxi horns for inclusion in the work’s premiere). Later, according to Gershwin: “Our American friend perhaps after strolling into a café and having a couple of drinks, has succumbed to a spasm of homesickness.” But finally, “the homesick American, having left the café and reached the open air, has disowned his spell of the blues and once again is an alert spectator of Parisian life. At the conclusion, the street noises and French atmosphere are triumphant.
FLORENCE PRICE
born: April 9, 1887 in Little Rock, Arkansasdied: June 3, 1953 in Chicago, Illinois
Piano Concerto in One Movement (1934)
premiere: 1934 in Chicagoapprox. duration: 19 minutes
Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, Florence Beatrice Price studied at Boston’s New England Conservatory, where she earned an artist’s degree in organ, and a teacher’s diploma in piano. After graduation, Price taught music at various institutions in Little Rock and Atlanta. In 1927, she moved to Chicago. There, Price earned recognition for her talents as a composer and concert pianist. In 1933, Frederick Stock and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra performed Price’s Symphony in E minor. This was the first time a major American orchestra had performed an orchestral work by a female African-American composer.
As a composer, Florence Price is best known for her art songs and arrangements of spirituals. But her more than 300 compositions span a wide variety of instrumental and vocal genres. In 1934 in Chicago, Price was the soloist in the world premiere of her Concerto in D minor in One Movement for Piano and Orchestra. No copies of the orchestral score survived. The Center for Black Music Research commissioned Trevor Weston to reconstruct the complete score from various other sources authored by Price. On February 17, 2011 in Chicago, the Watson reconstruction was performed by soloist Karen Walwyn and the New Black Music Repertory Ensemble.
The Concerto is cast in a single movement that contains three clearly identifiable episodes (Andantino - Adagio CantabileAndantino; Allegretto). In addition to the challenging writing for the soloist, the Concerto is notable for its synthesis of classical, popular, and folk elements. This is particularly true in the finale, based upon the Juba, an African-American Antebellum dance.
GEORGE GERSHWIN
Rhapsody in Blue (1924)
orchestrated by Ferde Grofé (1942)premiere: February 12, 1924 in New Yorkapprox. duration: 15 minutes
George Gershwin composed Rhapsody in Blue at the request of his friend, bandleader Paul Whiteman. Whiteman planned to stage a concert in New York to demonstrate that American jazz “had come to stay and deserved recognition.” After much persuasion by Whiteman, Gershwin agreed to compose a rhapsody for piano and orchestra he conceived of as “a sort of musical kaleidoscope of America — of our vast melting pot, of our unduplicated national pep, of our blues, of our metropolitan madness.” Gershwin composed the work at a furious pace, completing it in about three weeks.
On February 12, 1924, a capacity audience filled New York’s Aeolian Hall to hear Paul Whiteman’s concert, entitled, “An Experiment in Modern Music.” As the concert proceeded, the attention of the audience began to flag. But, as Olin Downes reported for the New York Times: “Then stepped upon the stage, sheepishly, a lank and dark young man — George Gershwin. He was to play the piano part in the first performance of his Rhapsody in Blue for piano and orchestra.”
From the first notes of the audacious clarinet solo, the audience was spellbound. Here was a work that offered a beguiling synthesis of the classical tradition — long believed to be the province of European composers — and America’s own music, jazz. When the majestic final chord sounded, the audience erupted with an ovation described by critics as “tumultuous,” “wild and even frantic.” From that day, George Gershwin became recognized not only as an important composer of Broadway and popular melodies, but a force to be reckoned with in classical music. A century after its premiere, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue remains one of the most beloved and performed concert works by an American composer.
The Rhapsody in Blue opens with the famous clarinet solo that moves from its brazen ascent to the introduction of the first of several themes that appear throughout. The pianist enters, soon embarking on a solo turn. As suggested by the work’s title, the Rhapsody is a rather free-form piece that offers diverse and often virtuoso treatments, by both soloist and orchestra, of the thematic material. Toward the latter part of the Rhapsody, the orchestra introduces a majestic theme, capped by some jazzy commentary from the horns. From there, the Rhapsody in Blue proceeds to a brilliant climax, concluding with a final statement of the opening clarinet theme.
MAURICE RAVEL
born: March 7, 1875 in Ciboure, Francedied: December 28, 1937 in Paris, France
Suite No. 2 from Daphnis et Chloé (1912)
premiere: June 8, 1912 in Parisapprox. duration: 18 minutes
In the summer of 1909, Sergey Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes burst upon the Paris artistic scene. Diaghilev’s brilliant and controversial productions inspired reactions by audiences and critics that ranged from adulation to violent rebellion. During his early years in Paris, Diaghilev made the acquaintance of several young composers with whom he would collaborate on some of his company’s greatest triumphs. For example, a meeting with the young Igor Stravinsky led to such works as The Firebird (1910), Pétrouchka (1911), and The Rite of Spring (1913).
Around that same time, Diaghilev met French composer Maurice Ravel. It was not long before Diaghilev, greatly impressed by Ravel’s talent and affinity for the theater, commissioned a ballet based upon the story of Daphnis and Chloé, a pastoral romance attributed to the Greek writer, Longus (c. 2nd /3rd century CE). Choreographer Michel Fokine adapted the story for Ravel’s composition.
The first performance of Daphnis et Chloé took place in Paris at the Théâtre du Châtelet on June 8, 1912. Despite the incredible assemblage of talent (including Vaslav Nijinsky and Tamara Karsavina in the title roles, conductor Pierre Monteux, choreographer Michel Fokine, and designer Léon Bakst), the absence both of sufficient rehearsal time and unanimity of artistic vision resulted in a rather lackluster premiere.
In truth, full productions of Daphnis on the ballet stage have been rare. The work requires the talents of a virtuoso orchestra and (wordless) chorus most ballet companies are hard-pressed to assemble. On the other hand, the score Ravel termed “a choreographic symphony in three movements” has enjoyed tremendous success in the concert hall. The orchestral Suites Ravel fashioned from the complete work are staples of the concert repertoire — particularly the Suite No. 2, containing the majestic Sunrise and thrilling "Danse générale" from the ballet’s Third Part.
The goatherd Daphnis and the shepherdess Chloé are in love. Chloé is captured by pirates. Daphnis, in despair, has a dream in which he encounters the god Pan. Ultimately, it is Pan who rescues Chloé.
The Second Suite corresponds to the action of the ballet’s Third Part. After the majestic "Lever du jour" (Sunrise), Daphnis and Chloé are reunited. The two mime the tale of Pan and Syrinx (Pantomime). Daphnis pledges himself to Chloé. The ballet (and Suite No. 2) conclude with a thrilling, joyous dance ("Danse générale").
