SSO rhapSSOdy Sep-Dec 2022

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MCI (P) No. 076/11/2021 Newsletter of the SSO Community Engagement Department

04 Featured Composer 08 Cover Story

Editorial Team Head, Community Engagement Head, Choral Programmes Kua Li Leng Editors & Contributors Erin Tan Ong Jun SamanthaShuLim 16 Ask Us Anything 19 What you may missedhave 20 Upcoming Events duringClappinga Concert

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Featured Composer

BORN: 29

NAME: Bernard Herrmann June 1911 York City, United States of America

American composer Bernard Herrmann is well-known for his eerie film scores that accompany some of Alfred Hitchcock movies. Let’s dive into his life and what makes his scores work so well for films!

DIED: 24 December 1975 HOMETOWN: New

PROFESSION: Composer, Arranger and Conductor

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colours to complement what is happening onscreen.

Herrmann was born in New York City in 1911 and showed a talent for music composition from a young age. He went on to study composition and orchestration at New York University and Juilliard School of Music, and founded the New Chamber Orchestra while he was at school. The heardperformedorchestrararelymusic.

Despite his illustrious career at CBS, he did not neglect his passion – composing. Herrmann was introduced to film music by American Director Orson Welles, and went on to compose his first film score for Citizen Kane in

Film Compositions

He also frequently used electronic instruments such as the theremin, to such great extent that he was consultant for the production of the fully electronic soundtrack to Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds (1963).

A young Herrmann in a recording at CBS how to make use of the various instruments and their tone

He1941.didnot

just write the skeleton of the music, he also expanded on them to make it playable by the recording orchestra. As a skilled composer and orchestrator, he knew

Early Life

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Before he was an active film composer, he worked at the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) as a radio presenter and conductor of the CBS Symphony Orchestra.

Herrmann’s music has influenced many film composers after his time and his legacy lives on in the film composers of today such as John Williams and Howard Shore.

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Collaboration with Alfred Hitchcock

Herrmann wrote the music to more than 50 movies, but his most outstanding ones were in collaboration with Director Alfred Hitchcock. In total, he wrote seven film scores for Hitchcock between 1955 and 1964.

Unfortunately, the relationship between Hitchcock and Herrmann soured during the conceptualisation of the film Torn Curtain (1966). Hitchcock had been pressured by studio executives to introduce a score with pop and jazz influences to keep up with commercial appeal.

Later Life

During his later life, Herrmann composed music for fantasy and sci-fi films and television series. His final score was the soundtrack for the film Taxi Driver (1976), directed by Martin Scorsese. He passed away immediately after completing its recording.

His film score for Psycho (1960) was the most celebrated of those seven. It was scored for a large string orchestra and featured the frequent use of extended string techniques.

Robert de Niro in Taxi Driver

Watch Psycho (1960) accompanied by Bernard Herrmann’s score performed by the SSO on 22 and 23 September 2022.

Cover Story

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You might instantly recognise when music is associated with doom and dread – such as soundtracks for horror movies, requiems, and the well-known Toccata and Fugue in D minor. Let’s explore what about these music make you feel this way!

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Elements of Music

Nowadays, other than traditional requiems used in mass (such as Mozart’s Requiem), requiems also include those performed as a concert work (such as Fauré’s Requiem or Verdi’s Messa da Requiem) or in memory of people who died (such as Britten’s War Requiem), even if they are non-religious in nature.

Requiems refer to the music played at a mass where attendees honour and pray for the dead.

The instrumentation of requiems contribute to the haunting nature of the music, where the choir sings the chants. Apart from being in a minor key, requiems also often have complex harmonies, including dissonance (which you’ll learn more about on the next page!) and diatonic chords made up of notes that are not part of the key.

Requiems

Hear Fauré’s Requiem performed by the SSO and the young voices of andin17ChorusesSingaporetheSymphonyon16andSeptember2022,‘Fantasia,FarewellsFauré’

Every piece of music is made up of elements, and how composers use the elements, is what makes every piece different from one another. To evoke suspense and fear, there are certain techniques that composers frequently use.

For instance, because tonality is what gives music its mood, composers tend to write in a minor key instead of a major key. Music in minor keys are associated with sadness and unpleasantness, while those in major keys evoke happy feelings. The birthday song just wouldn’t sound the same in minor key!

Did You Know? The opening of Baby Shark by Pinkfong sounds similar to the terrifying twonote motif from Jaws. This motif also movementpartsresemblesofthefourthofAntonín

In Film

The soundtracks of films are an integral part of the movie-going experience, especially for thrillers or horror movies. Without it, you might not even feel scared or be able to anticipate a jump scare!

Jaws, a 1975 American thriller directed by Steven Spielberg, is an example of how a soundtrack used both tempo (how fast or slow) and dynamics (how loud or soft) to create suspense. As the shark approaches its victims, the pulse and volume of the iconic two-note motif increases, as if announcing its arrival and accompanying imminent danger.

A prominent example of the use of dissonance in film was by this issue’s featured composer Bernard Herrmann. In the iconic shower scene of Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock, where the main character is being stabbed to death while showering, the strings evoke uneasiness through the use of repeated and rapid dissonant high-pitched notes – that resemble shrieks!

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Another way composers ramp up the fear in movies is through the use of dissonance – when two or more simultaneous pitches do not harmonise with each other and results in an unpleasant and harsh sound. An example of a dissonant sound are alarm clocks designed to capture your attention in order to wake you up from deep slumber!

Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, “From the New World”.

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Getfear!into

It has since even been theorised that this piece was composed to test the technical prowess of a new organ! This masterpiece since been re-arranged for different instrumentations, such as solo piano, or orchestra with solo organ.

The Organ

Instrumentation

What’s most amazing about the organ is that it can emulate the sound of other instruments due to its many stops and different pipe materials.

Listen to Toccata and Fugue played by the organ here!

We read about how Bernard Herrmann made use of common orchestral instruments for the shower scene. Next, let’s find out more about how composers choose or make use of other instruments less commonly found in the orchestra, to evoke

Pulling out many stops engages all the different tone colours of the organ and results in a loud, distinctively ‘organ’ sound. In addition, the pedal board (played by the organist’s feet) provides a deep, anchoring bass notes that gives the music its weight.

the Halloween mood with us and organist Loraine Muthiah on 29 and 30 October 2022 at ‘VCHpresents Organ: Halloween Night’ and experience Toccata and Fugue in D minor performed live!

One of the pieces you might instantly associate with fear is Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor, originally written for the organ – a majestic instrument often referred to as the king of instruments. You may have heard it in Disney’s Fantasia, or know it as the ‘vampire music’ because of Sesame Street!

Unique Instruments

It is made up of a stainless-steel resonator bowl, with bronze rods of different lengths spaced around the rim of the bowl. The resonator contains a small volume of water, giving the instrument a vibrant yet ethereal sound when played with a bow or

Anothermallet.instrument

Some instruments were even invented to create spooky sounds – sounds that existing instruments are unable to produce.

used to evoke dread is the Blaster Beam, an enormous electric instrument first invented in the early 1970s. Multiple taut wires and movable electric guitar pickups are mounted on a 4-meter long aluminium beam, making it one of the longest stringed instruments ever! The strings can be manipulated to create a distinctive bass tone that is often perceived as dark or sinister.

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Watch how the Blaster Beam was used in the thriller film 10 FieldCloverLane(2016):

See and hear the waterphone in action

One example is the waterphone, also known as the ocean harp, commonly used to achieve a mysterious and creepy atmosphere. Invented and developed in the late 1960s, it is an inharmonic percussion instrument, meaning that the notes produced are not on the harmonic scale – or simply put, are not ‘proper’ notes.

14 Fun Facts

The composer Arnold Schoenberg triskaidekaphobiahad - an intense fear of the number 13. He believed that the number brought him bad luck, and that the number 12 was perfect.

Of course, Schoenberg was also well-known for his use of the 12-tone technique, a compositional technique where all 12 notes of the chromatic scale are to be featured before any note is repeated.

His fear of the number 13 even led him to purposely misspell his opera Moses und Aron, as Moses un Aron to omit the 13th letter. ‘und’ in German translates to ‘and’ in English, so that is like misspelling Moses and Aron as Moses an Aron! Unfortunately, Schoenberg’s fear proved to be valid, when he died on 13 July 1951 at the age of 76 (and 7+6=13!).

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SuperstitionsMusicClassical

1. Schoenberg’s Triskaidekaphobia

2. The Curse of the Ninth

In the world of classical music, there is a superstition that any composer’s ninth symphony would be their last, as they will meet their death before completing their tenth symphony.

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When composer Joseph Haydn died in 1809, he was hastily buried in his local cemetery as his country was battling war. However, after his burial, his head was cut off and stolen by two men – to study whether mental capacities of the musical genius were associated with the anatomy of his skull!

3. Which is Haydn’s Skull?

Mahler was one of the first few composers who believed in the superstition. He tried to beat the

Throughout the years, the skull exchanged hands multiple times, until more than a hundred years later in 1954, when Haydn’s remains were unified and the skull was returned to his tomb, together with the replacement skull!

curse by writing Das Lied von der Erde, technically a symphony disguised as a song cycle, after his Eight Symphony. He then went on to write a Ninth Symphony but celebrated too early – he died while writing his Tenth Symphony!

MahlerGustav

Of course, many other composers have also lived to write more than nine symphonies. Before Mahler, Haydn wrote a whopping 104 symphonies and Mozart wrote 41. More recently, Shostakovich wrote 15 symphonies and Philip Glass, at the age of 85, has already written 12.

This superstition emerged around the late-Romantic period and counts a few well-loved composers as its victims, such as Beethoven, Schubert and Dvořák.

Ask Us Anything! 16

Typically, extended applause would mean that the audience really enjoyed the performance. During the duration of the applause, the conductor and the soloist may even exit and enter stage multiple times, or thank individual members or sections of the orchestra.

So the next time you’re at a classical music concert, be sure to applaud enthusiastically and you might be treated to a surprise at the end.

At the Ray Chen in Recital concert presented by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra in April 2022, the applause was so rapturous that Ray Chen gave not one, not two, but five encores!

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In response to thunderous applause, audiences might even be treated to an encore performance given by the orchestra or soloist. During this encore, an additional shower piece of music is played as a way to acknowledge the recognition given to them.

Ray Chen playing one of his many encores, with JulioaccompanisthisElizade.

Concertgoers applaud to show their appreciation for the wonderful music performance and also the people who contributed to making it happen. These include the musicians and conductor onstage, as well as people working hard behind-the-scenes.

- Erin, EngagementCommunityManager

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If you have a question about classical music or the workings of an orchestra, send them over to community@sso.org.sg , and it might be answered in the next issue of RhapSSOdy!

1. At the start of the concert when we welcome the performers onstage

3. At the end of the concert, during the curtain call

2. After each piece. However, do avoid clapping between movements of larger works as that might disrupt the musician’s concentration and affect the flow of the whole piece. Sometimes, the performers might offer verbal instructions on when to applaud, so do listen carefully.

When in doubt, listen and wait for the experienced concertgoers to clap first, then join in the applause with gusto :)

If you also feel confused about when to clap during a concert, don’t worry! As a general rule of thumb, the recommended moments to applaud include:

Symphony in the Gardens

On 10 July, audiences were treated to a lovely concert at the Gallop Lawn of the Singapore Botanic Gardens, featuring the Brass Ensemble of the SSO, who performed music from movies and musicals.

Picture credit: Nathaniel Lim

Temasek Foundation

SSO National Day Concert 2022

Picture credit: Yong Junyi

If you missed it, watch it online here!

The SSO, Singapore National Youth Orchestra, and Singapore Symphony Choruses celebrated our nation’s birthday on 13 August, with a concert featuring six new musical compositions.

Hearpiecesthehere!

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SSO FundraisingChristmasConcert

SNYO Digital Concerts 2022

Victoria Concert Hall

Information

Explore concert recordings of the Singapore National Youth Orchestra, and further your understanding of instruments of the orchestra through videos, teacher’s guides and activities Accesssheets. this free resource at snyo.org.sg/snyodigitalconcerts2022 !

Sun, 4 Dec, 4pm

Concerts for Children: Family Film Favourites

Esplanade Concert Hall

SSO AlfredPops:Hitchcock’s Psycho

SNYO in Concert: Tales of Fantasy

Sun, 30 Oct 2022, 4pm

Sun, 13 Nov 2022, 10.30am & 2.30pm

Victoria Concert Hall

For ticketing information and enquiries, email us at ticketing@sso.org.sg

Local

VCHpresents Organ: A Christmas Carillon

For the full listing of concerts and updates, visit sso.org.sg is correct at time of print.

Thu & Fri, 22 & 23 Sep 2022, 7.30pm

Esplanade Concert Hall

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Victoria Concert Hall

All SSO Concerts are supported the National Arts Council. schools are eligible for up to 50% subsidy from the Totalisator Board Arts Grant.

Victoria

VCHpresents Organ: Halloween Night

Sat, 29 Oct 2022, 8pm

Thu & Fri, 15 & 16 Dec 2022, 7.30pm

Victoria Concert Hall

SSO Babies’ Proms

Sat, 8 Oct 2022, 10.30am & 2.30pm

Wed, 28 Dec, 7.30pm Concert Hall

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