UAlbany Symphony Orchestra

erforming rts enterC A P

university at albany State University of New York

2022-23

Cover photo: Urban Bush Women’s “Give Your Hands to Struggle” | Photo by Ian Douglas

Photo this page: UAlbany Performing Arts Center | Photo by Patrick Ferlo

Department of Music and Theatre

University at Albany presents:

UAlbany Symphony Orchestra

Christopher David Neubert, conductor

Thursday, March 9, 2023 at 7:30pm Main Theatre UAlbany

Program

Felix Mendelssohn, Op. 26………..The Hebrides Overture (1830 & 1832)

Fingal’s Cave

Gabriel Faure, Op. 80………………..Pelleas et Melisande (1898)

Suite for Orchestra

I. Prelude

II. Fileuse – Entr’Acte

III. Sicilienne – Entr’Acte

IV. Mort de Melisande- Entr’Acte

James Barnes………………………..Heatherwood Portrait

Fingal's Cave

Notes

Fingal's Cave was originally part of the Ulva estate of the Clan MacQuarrie from an early date until 1777. The cave was brought to the attention of the English-speaking world by 18thcentury naturalist Sir Joseph Banks in 1772.

It became known as Fingal's Cave after the eponymous hero of an epic poem by 18th century Scots poet-historian James Macpherson. It formed part of his Ossian cycle of poems claimed to have been based on old Scottish Gaelic poems. In Irish mythology, the hero Fingal is known as Fionn mac Cumhaill, and it is suggested that Macpherson rendered the name as Fingal (meaning "white stranger") through a misunderstanding of the name which in old Gaelic would appear as "Finn". The legend of the Giant's Causeway has Finn (or Fionn) building the causeway between Ireland and Scotland.

Sightseeing - The cave has a large arched entrance and is filled by the sea. Several sightseeing cruises 3rganized from April to September by local companies pass the entrance to the cave. In calm conditions, one can land at the island’s landing place (as some of these cruises permit) and walk the short distance to the cave, where a row of fractured columns forms a walkway just above high-water level permitting exploration on foot. From the inside, the entrance seems to frame the island of Iona across the water.

In art and literature - Romantic composer Felix Mendelssohn visited in 1829 and wrote an overture, The Hebrides, Op. 26, (also known as Fingal's Cave Overture), and was said to be inspired by the weird echoes in the cave. Mendelssohn's overture popularized the cave as a tourist destination. Other famous 19th-century visitors included author Jules Verne, who used it in his book Le Rayon Vert (The Green Ray), and mentions it in the novels Journey to the Center of the Earth and The Mysterious Island. Poets William Wordsworth, John Keats, and Alfred, Lord Tennyson and Romantic artist J. M. W. Turner, who painted Staffa, Fingal's Cave in 1832 also made the trip. In 1860 the German novelist Theodor Fontane visited the cave and described it in his travel report Jenseit des Tweed (Beyond the Tweed, Pictures and Letters from Scotland), Queen Victoria also made the trip.

Pelléas et Mélisande

Pelléas et Mélisande, Op. 80 is a suite derived from incidental music by Gabriel Fauré for Maurice Maeterlinck's play of the same name. He was the first of four leading composers to write music inspired by Maeterlinck's drama. Debussy, Schoenberg and Sibelius followed in the first decade of the 20th century.

Fauré’s music was written for the London production of Maeterlinck’s play in 1898. To meet the tight deadline of the production, Fauré reused some earlier music from incomplete works and enlisted the help of his pupil Charles Koechlin, who orchestrated the music. Fauré later constructed a fourmovement suite from the original theatre music, orchestrating the concert version himself.

History – The score was commissioned in 1898 by Mrs Patrick Campbell for the play’s first production in English, in which she starred with Johnston Forbes-Robertson and John Martin Harvey. Stella Campbell had invited Debussy to compose the music, but he was busy working on his operatic version of Maeterlinck’s play, and declined the invitation. Debussy in his letter said: “j’aimerai toujours mieux une chose où, en quelque sorte, l’action sera sacrifiée à l’expression longuement poursuivie des sentiments de l’âme. Il me semble que là, la musique peut se faire plus humaine, plus vécue, que l’on peut creuser et raffiner les moyens d’expression” (“I will always prefer a thing in which, in a way, the action is sacrificed for the expression sought after by the soul. It seems to me that in that case, the music is more human, more lived, that we can refine our means of expression”).

Fauré was in London in March and April 1898, and was introduced to Mrs Campbell by the musical benefactor Frank Schuster. Fauré accepted her invitation to compose the music for the production, despite the tight deadline – the play was to open in June of that year. He wrote to his wife, "I will have to grind away hard for Mélisande when I get back. I hardly have a month and a half to write all that music. True, some of it is already in my thick head!" It was Mrs Campbell who commissioned Fauré to write the incidental music to the play. She "felt sure M. Gabriel Fauré was the composer needed."

Fauré conducted the orchestra for the premiere, at the Prince of Wales's Theatre on 21 June 1898. Mrs Campbell was enchanted by his music, in which, she wrote, "he had grasped with most tender inspiration the poetic purity that pervades and envelops M. Maeterlinck's lovely play". She asked him to compose further theatre music for her in the first decade of the 20th century, but to his regret his workload as director of the Paris Conservatoire made it impossible. Over the next 14 years, she revived the play, always using Fauré's score. In 1904, the music was used for a production of the original French version of the play, starring Sarah Bernhardt. Fauré's incidental music was used again in Georgette Leblanc's production of the play in the cloisters and gardens of Saint-Wandrille abbey in August 1910, conducted by Albert Wolff.

VIOLINS

Bryan Fonder

Concertmaster

Nicole Maher

Logan Stone

Leianne Polanco

William Lombardo

Callum Newton

Adrian Ramos

Monica Alexander

Anthony Parillo

Amanda Sue

Principal

Sarah Cohen

Hope Savercool

Mitchell Pope

Katy Christman

Olivia Arsenicos

Laura Martin

Sarah Kenny

Saige Cooke

Cristina Schiaffo

Marcella Reiter

Melissa Yusaitis

Phoebe Gittelson

VIOLAS

Dara Ribis

Principal

Kayla Wardlaw

Samantha Dalton

Jaime Kendrick

Catherine Rafferty

Robert Lombardo

CELLOS

Joseph Regan

Principal

Connor Gordon

Alisa Bielert

Rachel Morris

CELLOS (ct’d)

Maya Wilkerson

Emma Smith

Isabelle Autore

Alex Urmaza

Sosuke Aizawa

Andrew Craner

Julia Rinaldi

DOUBLE BASSES

Erik Laurin

Principal

Mary Lemak

Joey Aragones

Connor Hoolan

Molly Martellotta

PICCOLO

Maria Mucaria

FLUTES

Jacqueline Tenney

Jessica Schuh

Maria Mucaria

OBOES

Tyler Leicht

Ian Cohen

CLARINETS

James Affatigato

Emily Lucy

BASSOONS

Laura Canham-Lunde

Colin Lunde

TRUMPETS

Michael Dietlein

Vincent Amodeo

TROMBONE

Caleb Clapper

Jessica Watson

John England

TUBA

Jacob Reiter

TYMPANI

Niko Nyman

HARPS

Karlinda Caldicott

Kendra Wang

ORCHESTRA

LIBRARIAN & MANAGEMENT

Jessica Schuh

Hope Savercool

FRENCH HORNS

Erica DeNicola

Jonah Hauf

Priscilla Duskin

The UAlbany Performing Arts Center’s six theatres, three lounges and other spaces are available for rental.

The UAlbany Performing Arts Center’s six theatres, three lounges and other spaces are available for rental.

erforming rts enterC A P

HOUSE POLICIES

Latecomers will be seated at the discretion of the management and its staff.

The use of photographic or recording devices of any kind during this performance is strictly prohibited.

There is no food or drink allowed in the theatres, nor is smoking allowed in UAlbany buildings.

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To avoid disrupting the performance, kindly disable any noise making electronic devices you may have with you.

Please take time to note the location of the fire exits nearest to you. In the event of an emergency, an announcement will be made from the stage. Please proceed to the nearest exit in an orderly fashion.

The UAlbany Performing Arts Center is no longer operating a box office. All ticketing is done on-line and can be easily navigated from the web site provided through the QR code above or address below.

www.albany.edu/pac