Beyond Imagination Program Notes Promenade Overture John Corigliano Born February 16, 1938, in New York

Home , Coda (The Walking Dead), Paul Creston

John Corigliano is a fertile composer who has also been an active participant in

American musical life. He studied composition at Columbia University with Otto Luening

and privately with Paul Creston and Vittorio Giannini. He has made many recordings,

worked on radio and television, taught in various locations, and composed music for

broadcast commercials and a large quantity of concert music. He began to make his

reputation as a composer when he was only twenty years old. In the intervening years,

Corigliano has been honored with a Guggenheim Fellowship, a grant from the National

Endowment for the Arts, and a commission from the Metropolitan Opera. One of his

most widely played works is his Clarinet Concerto of 1977, which was commissioned by

the New York Philharmonic.

The Promenade Overture was commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in

observance of its 100th anniversary season, for performance at its Boston Pops

concerts, which were originally named Promenade concerts. John Williams conducted

the first performance on July 10, 1981 in Symphony Hall, Boston. The overture is a

brilliant piece that begins with beating drums and a flourish of brasses, works its way up

to a grand climax and falls back then builds up again to a smashing ending. There is an

alternative way to play the overture, which was devised by the composer as a reversal

of the action-performance that Joseph Haydn wrote into his Farewell Symphony in

1772. In Haydn’s work, in the last movement the musicians leave the stage, one or two at a time, until only a couple of violinists are left, sadly, slowly and softly playing in a key

This document was downloaded from RenoPhil.com. Content is owned by Reno Philharmonic Association. Reno Philharmonic Association 925 Riverside Dr. #3, Reno, NV 89503 p 775/ 323-6393 | f 775/ 323-6711 | [email protected] The Reno Philharmonic Association’s mission is to produce inspirational orchestral performances of the highest quality for broad audiences, support exceptional educational and outreach programs, and provide leadership in the performing arts community. that was very difficult at the time and forced them to play out of tune. For Corigliano, the musicians do the reverse: that is to say, they march on to the stage with their spirits high, not low.

At the start, only three drummers are on stage. After their initial beat, the conductor enters. At his signal, the music begins. It is, in fact, the ending of the Farewell Symphony, played off-stage, by trumpets, loudly, brilliantly and quickly, but in reverse. When they are finished, the piccolo enters playing, and takes his seat to be joined soon after by the entrance of two flutes. Next come the cellos and basses, very difficult instruments to play while walking but they do manage to play a rhythmic figure. Then come the oboes and the bassoons followed by the clarinets, directed by the composer to be “arrogant.” At a trumpet signal, the violins enter, playing a tremolo. The harpist enters and is seated. The trumpets and the violas march in. More time separates the entrances of the horns and trombones. The tuba does not appear until about the last moment, when he rushes in. The entering instruments play music consisting of fragmentary motives at first, and as the orchestra assembles, the motives, too, are assembled into the lyrical waltzing main theme of the work. Concerto for Saxophone and Orchestra, Op. 26 Paul Creston Born Oct. 10, 1906, in New York Died August 24, 1985, in San Diego

Paul Creston was born Joseph Gutteveggio of Italian-Amercan parents. He came early to music, studying piano and writing music by the time he was eight years old, but it was not until his twenties that he decided to devote himself principally to composition. He was a well-grounded musician, of course, but he said that his education as a composer came not from lessons with a teacher but from his study of the works of Mozart,

Beethoven, Brahms and Stravinsky. He wrote more than a hundred major works and earned such honors as a Guggenheim Fellowship and the New York Music Critics’

Circle Award, becoming one of the most frequently performed American composers. In

1943, his Symphony No. 1 was selected by the New York Music Critics’ Circle as the best new orchestral work of the year.

Creston was a director of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers and president of the National Association for American Composers and Conductors

(1956-60). From 1968 to 1975, he was professor of music and composer in residence at

Washington State College.

When the saxophone was mainly associated with bands and the burgeoning jazz movement, Creston played an important role in the development of literature for the concert saxophone, composing four solo works for it, including the Concerto, which he dedicated to Cecil Leeson. He began in it 1940 and finished it a year later, but it was not premiered until 1944 . When he completed it he wrote to Leeson, “You will recognize it by diverse earmarks, viz; it bears the opus number 26; the second and third movements are marked respectively “Mediative” and “Rhythmic”; the second movement is the usual slow movement in the lyric vein of one Paul Creston, with of all things, a

CADENZA; the final movement is another of the Creston facets, rapid tonguing and overlapping and subdivisional patterns galore ending in a final spurt that must go as fast as ye Devil’s country.”

Leeson subsequently joined the Navy so no premiere was scheduled. Creston was concerned so he met with Vincent Abato in 1943, who wanted to perform the piece and suggested Creston get in touch with Arthur Rodzinsky, music director of the New York

Philharmonic Orchestra, the orchestra in which Abato was then bass clarinetist.

Rodzinsky agreed, and the work had its premiere with Abato as soloist with the New

York Philharmonic in 1944. Creston prepared a program note for the work in which he stated, “The first movement opens with a vigorous orchestral introduction against short, interspersed, brilliant passages of the saxophone, leading to a lyric presentation of the This document was downloaded from RenoPhil.com. Content is owned by Reno Philharmonic Association. Reno Philharmonic Association 925 Riverside Dr. #3, Reno, NV 89503 p 775/ 323-6393 | f 775/ 323-6711 | [email protected] The Reno Philharmonic Association’s mission is to produce inspirational orchestral performances of the highest quality for broad audiences, support exceptional educational and outreach programs, and provide leadership in the performing arts community. first orchestral theme with an embellished version in the saxophone. The second theme is lightly rhythmic with a different rhythm in the orchestra. The second movement utilizes the accompanying figure of the first movement as introduction and also as the accompanying figure throughout the entire movement. A cadenza in the saxophone interrupts the lyricism but leads to a quiet conclusion. The final movement might be called a Scherzo-March, and the reigning element is RHYTHM, true to its title. As the second movement glorifies the tone of the saxophone, this movement stresses the staccato and dramatic capabilities of the instrument. The form is a modified rondo- form.”

In 1963, the composer transcribed it for symphonic band. The work has not been performed very often and requires the soloist’s technique and control. It is a very lyrical and rhythmically exciting work. The first movement has two themes, each containing chromaticism and each utilizing all twelve tones without being serial in nature, while the second movement consists of an undulating, lyrical through-composed single theme with a cadenza that utilizes fragments of the melody. The final movement also begins with a strong rhythmic statement. The work as a whole is unified by its strong rhythmic content and by its themes.

Symphonie Fantastique (“Fantastic Symphony”) Episode in the Life of an Artist, Op. 14 . . .Hector Berlioz Born December 11, 1803, in La-Côte-Saint-André Died March 8, 1869, in Paris

In 1830, three years after Beethoven’s death, the little known Hector Berlioz composed

Symphonie Fantastique, a work that revealed him as an original musical thinker, composing with great new expressive powers. This piece is remarkable for combining

musical imagery and emotional representation. It became a model for Liszt, Wagner, and Strauss, yet when first performed, it drew a wide range of response, much of it negative.

In his mid-twenties Berlioz became acquainted with Beethoven's symphonies and

Shakespeare’s plays; both affected him greatly; he expressed his feelings for them in

Symphonie Fantastique. In 1827, he viewed Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet in a London

traveling theatrical company’s production. Harriet Smithson, a beautiful Irish actress

exactly Berlioz’s age, played both Ophelia and Juliet, and Berlioz fell passionately in

love with her. He arranged for her to attend the performance of his symphony five years

later when she knew of his interest in her but had not met him. She did not know that

she had inspired the symphony until she saw written Berlioz’s words of longing for “the

Juliet, the Ophelia for whom my heart cries out.” She was charmed to discover

Berlioz’s text expressed his feelings for her; they married the following October. The

flame of his “eternal and inextinguishable passion,” however, soon died. Within a few

years, they separated. When Harriet died a decade later, Berlioz married his mistress of

many years.

Symphonie Fantastique is most renowned for its brilliantly imaginative orchestration and

the use of a single melody pervading all five movements. The work varies from

traditional four-movement symphonic form by the addition of a waltz before the slow

movement and a march after it. Berlioz felt his work followed naturally from Beethoven’s

symphonies and that his “idée fixe” was the next musical step toward symphonic unity.

In an entirely original way, Berlioz used the “idée fixe” theme in every movement, as a connecting link binding the symphony together and as the germ from which other This document was downloaded from RenoPhil.com. Content is owned by Reno Philharmonic Association. Reno Philharmonic Association 925 Riverside Dr. #3, Reno, NV 89503 p 775/ 323-6393 | f 775/ 323-6711 | [email protected] The Reno Philharmonic Association’s mission is to produce inspirational orchestral performances of the highest quality for broad audiences, support exceptional educational and outreach programs, and provide leadership in the performing arts community.

themes grow. This melody represented his beloved, Harriet Smithson, and like her, was

an “ideé fixe,” a persistent obsession.

The work also reflects his fascination with the supernatural and the grotesque with

heroic longing and frenzied romance. Berlioz utilized new possibilities for orchestration,

new tone colors and effects as well as sounds that suggested an infinite variety of

emotions and ideas. In concentrating on his innovations, he neglected standard motivic

development.

Berlioz distributed a literary program at the premiere in which a footnote stated: “The

distribution of this program to the audience, at concerts in which this symphony is to be

played, is indispensable for the complete understanding of the work's dramatic plan.”

In writing the program notes himself, he drew from such diverse sources as Goethe's

Faust, E.T.A. Hoffmann's Tales, DeQuincey's Confessions of an Opium Eater, and

Chateaubriand's René. The original program included:

PART ONE: DAYDREAMS, PASSIONS He recalls an uneasiness of soul, moments of melancholy and joy which he experienced before seeing his beloved; then comes the fiery love with which she inspired him, leading to moments of delirious anguish, of jealous fury, a return to loving tenderness and his religious consolation. PART TWO: A BALL He sees his beloved at a ball, in the midst of a brilliant fête. PART THREE: SCENE IN THE COUNTRY One summer evening in the country, he hears two shepherds playing Ranz-des-vaches in alternate dialogue; this pastoral duet, the scene around him, the trees gently swaying in the breeze, and his own hope all combine to restore an unusual calm in his heart; but then she appears again, his heart stops beating, and he is agitated and concerned about whether she might betray him! One of the shepherds begins his song again, the other does not answer him. The sun sets and there is the sound of distant thunder and solitude. Silence. PART FOUR: MARCH TO THE SCAFFOLD He dreams that he has killed his beloved and is condemned to death. He is being led to execution. The procession advances to a somber and wild, as well as brilliant and solemn march. The dull sound of heavy footsteps follows after resounding outbursts. At This document was downloaded from RenoPhil.com. Content is owned by Reno Philharmonic Association. Reno Philharmonic Association 925 Riverside Dr. #3, Reno, NV 89503 p 775/ 323-6393 | f 775/ 323-6711 | [email protected] The Reno Philharmonic Association’s mission is to produce inspirational orchestral performances of the highest quality for broad audiences, support exceptional educational and outreach programs, and provide leadership in the performing arts community.

the end, the idee fixe reappears briefly, like the last thought of love interrupted by the fatal stroke. PART FIVE: DREAM OF A WITCHES' SABBATH He sees himself at the witches' Sabbath in the middle of a group of ghosts, magicians, and monsters of all sorts, who have come together. He hears strange noises, groans, ringing laughter, and shrieks. The idée fixe reappears, but it has now become an ignoble, trivial, and grotesque dance-tune. She comes to the witches' Sabbath. There are expressions of joy at her arrival. She takes part in the diabolic orgy. Funeral bells and a parody of Dies irae sounds. Witches' dance and then the Dies irae and the witches' dance come together. The first movement’s thematic material suggests the artist's reveries and passions. The

violins first articulate the “idée fixe,” a forlorn statement of longing, after the long, slow

introduction. By the first movement’s end, the protagonist's anxiety subsides into

religious consolation, announced by repeated, sustained hymnal amens.

The second movement, Valse, Allegro non troppo, a traditional ternary dance

movement, a waltz, places the “idée fixe” in the Trio. The harps and woodwinds add

special color to the ball. The music focuses on an invocation of the surroundings, yet

Berlioz deftly blurs the boundary between interior and exterior space when the hero

finds himself briefly confronted by his beloved at the ball.

The slow movement is placed third, just as Beethoven positioned it in his Symphony

No. 9. An Adagio, it includes birdcalls and intermittently flowing rhythmic patterns, owing

much to the “scene by the brook” movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 6. Here the

“idée fixe” is the secondary theme. The movement opens with an English horn-oboe

dialogue, simulating shepherd calls of the ranz des vaches, or alphorn sounding “the

tune used by the Swiss to call the flocks together.” The scene buoys the musician's

imagination, but when the beloved reappears with intimations of faithlessness, darkness

gathers. The close is equivocal: the shepherd falls silent and the muffled tympani

suggest distant thunder, preparing the way for the nightmare that follows. This document was downloaded from RenoPhil.com. Content is owned by Reno Philharmonic Association. Reno Philharmonic Association 925 Riverside Dr. #3, Reno, NV 89503 p 775/ 323-6393 | f 775/ 323-6711 | [email protected] The Reno Philharmonic Association’s mission is to produce inspirational orchestral performances of the highest quality for broad audiences, support exceptional educational and outreach programs, and provide leadership in the performing arts community.

Again recalling Beethoven’s Pastorale, the fourth and fifth movements are structurally

linked in their scoring for large orchestra with a full brass ensemble. The garish March

to the Scaffold serves as prologue to the Witch's Sabbath finale. The march, Allegretto

non troppo, based on the March of the Guards from Berlioz’s unfinished opera Les

Francs-Juges, tonally and temperamentally provides an effective transition to the fourth

/fifth-movements, Larghetto – Allegro, unleashing of horror in which the Beloved (the

“idée fixe”) turns into a hideous witch, a shrieking clarinet leading the other spirits on the wild dance of the Witches’ Sabbath. The lovely “idée fixe” melody becomes grotesque with grace notes and trills, but the witches greet the sound with shrieks of laughter. The original “idée fixe” returns, yet the bell sounds and the Dies Irae, a medieval melody used for funerals as part of the Requiem Mass, (and well known to audiences of the time) interrupts the revelry. Dies Irae signified Judgment Day. Witches poke fun at the sacred; they profane the good and the just. The “idée fixe” and Dies irae mix in a grotesque Ronde du Sabbat (Sabbath Round Dance), which eventually becomes a fugue. The orchestra explodes energetically in the coda.

The symphony was completed in Paris in 1830, and first performed on December 5, but

it differed from the Symphonie fantastique we hear today. Berlioz reworked much of it in the next two years in Italy, after winning the Prix de Rome. Later, he added the first

movement’s religioso coda and wrote several versions of the descriptive program. He

originally called it Episodes from the Life of an Artist, adding Symphonie Fantastique

later as a subtitle.

He considerably toned down his attack on the beloved’s faithlessness, and over time

allowed the music to speak for itself without accompanying text. By 1855, he had recast This document was downloaded from RenoPhil.com. Content is owned by Reno Philharmonic Association. Reno Philharmonic Association 925 Riverside Dr. #3, Reno, NV 89503 p 775/ 323-6393 | f 775/ 323-6711 | [email protected] The Reno Philharmonic Association’s mission is to produce inspirational orchestral performances of the highest quality for broad audiences, support exceptional educational and outreach programs, and provide leadership in the performing arts community. the program so that the musician takes a dose of opium at the beginning, and thus the symphony becomes an opium dream. The beloved transforms into a melody, like an

“idée fixe” which he hears everywhere. The following is a translation of his final program:

“A young musician of morbid sensibility and ardent imagination poisons himself

with opium in a fit of despair over love. The narcotic dose, too weak to bring him

death, plunges him into a heavy sleep accompanied by the strangest of visions,

in which his sensations, sentiments and recollections are translated, in his sick

mind, into musical ideas and images. Even his beloved has become a melody for

him, an obsession that he finds and hears everywhere.”

The instruments required are two flutes and piccolo, two oboes and English horn, three clarinets and small clarinet in E-flat, four bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, two cornets, three trombones, two tubas, timpani, percussion, two harps and strings.