CONCERT PROGRAM Friday, November 11, 2016, 8:00pm Gemma New, conductor Leonard Slatkin, conductor ST. LOUIS SYMPHONY YOUTH ORCHESTRA COPLAND Fanfare for the Common Man (1942) (1900–1990) GRIEG Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, op. 46 (1875) (1843–1907) Morning Åse’s Death Anitra’s Dance In the Hall of the Mountain King WAGNER Prelude to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (1867) (1813–1883) Leonard Slatkin, conductor INTERMISSION BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, op. 55, “Eroica” (1804) (1770–1827) Allegro con brio Marcia funebre: Adagio assai Scherzo: Allegro vivace Finale: Allegro molto This concert is sponsored by Whole Foods Market. The St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra is supported in part by the G.A., Jr. and Kathryn M. Buder Charitable Foundation. The St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra is supported in part by Esco Technologies Foundation. 23 AARON COPLAND Fanfare for the Common Man BY ELI MENNERICK, TROMBONE To many, the works of Aaron Copland embody the American musical sound. During the 1930s and 1940s especially, Copland deliberately composed “populist” music accessible to the general public. Unsurprisingly, his most widely- known works come from this period, includ- Born ing Appalachian Spring, Billy the Kid, Rodeo, and November 14, 1900, in Fanfare for the Common Man. These composi- Brooklyn tions are characterized by a lean, open sound, Died reflecting both American democratic ideals and December 2, 1990, in North the natural grandeur of the country. Fanfare for Tarrytown, New York the Common Man provides a particularly good First Performance example of this unique style. March 12, 1943, Eugene In 1942, during World War II, the conduc- Goossens conducting tor Eugene Goossens commissioned fanfares YO Premiere from multiple prominent American composers May 21, 2000, David Amado in order to encourage support for the war effort. conducting The only one of these fanfares still in the active Most Recent YO repertoire today is Copland’s Fanfare for the Performance November 21, 2003, Scott Common Man. Despite its brevity, the fanfare cel- Parkman conducting ebrates values at the very heart of American soci- ety including the ideal of democratic equality. Scoring 4 horns The orchestration for only brass and percussion 3 trumpets exaggerates Copland’s pure, vibrant sound, and 3 trombones enables an especially accessible mode of expres- tuba sion. The opening clashes of percussion set the timpani majestic mood; trumpets soon enter in unison percussion with the central melody of the fanfare—a perfect Performance Time fourth followed by a perfect fifth, together span- approximately 3 minutes ning an entire octave. After more percussion, the trumpets are joined by horns, and later trom- bones. As each instrument joins in, the melody gains power through progressively more inter- esting harmonies and textures until the fanfare culminates in a series of massive chords from the brass. Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man does not celebrate any one individual hero. There is no general in battle, nor even a central protago- nist. Instead, Copland aims at a broader story, painting every common person as heroic and celebrating the power found in all of us to change the world. 24 EDVARD GRIEG Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, op. 46 BY JANE WANG, FLUTE Originally written for the play by Henrik Ibsen, Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 captures everything from a gentle sunrise to a troll king. Grieg was introduced to music at the age of six when his mother taught him how to play the piano. Then he was recommended at age 15 for the Leipzig Conservatory, where he enrolled. In Born 1867 Ibsen wrote his play Peer Gynt but didn’t June 15, 1843, in Bergen, intend for it to be staged. He changed his mind, Norway however, in 1874 and asked Grieg to compose Died music for the production. Composing the piece September 4, 1907, in Bergen, was not easy for Grieg, as he stated in a letter to Norway his friend in 1874, “Peer Gynt progresses slowly.” First Performance Grieg, however, was drawn into the play and was February 24, 1876, with intrigued with the drama. A year after his death, Grieg conducting the full score of Peer Gynt was compiled and YO Premiere published, with 23 movements and 90 minutes This performance of music. Scoring In the Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, there are four 2 flutes movements: Morning, Åse’s Death, Anitra’s piccolo Dance, and In the Hall of the Mountain King. 2 oboes Morning is a sunrise translated into music. It 2 clarinets 2 bassoons begins with woodwind solos that carry into the 4 horns entire orchestra, then the feeling of the breadth 2 trumpets and relief of a sunrise moves through the strings 3 trombones and the full orchestra. The second and third tuba movements are just for the strings. However, timpani percussion Åse’s Death has a slow dramatic melodic line strings that is passed throughout the string section and continuously fades, just like the slow ending of Performance Time approximately 15 minutes a life. Anitra’s Dance has a lighter tone. It has a faster melody and a moving, active line. And then there is In the Hall of the Mountain King. It is almost impossible not to enjoy this tune and be excited during the movement with its famil- iar and exciting ending. This movement is defi- nitely the one that gets everyone to the edge of their seats. 25 RICHARD WAGNER Prelude to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg BY JONAS MONDSCHEIN, HORN Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg is Richard Wagner’s hit opera premiered in 1868. Written concurrently with the monolithic, incestuous romp that is the Ring Cycle, Die Meistersinger was everything that Wagner actually said he hated about opera: heartfelt, funny, and tune- Born ful. It tells the story of the German Meistersinger May 22, 1813, Leipzig guild, a medieval institution that established Died rules and traditions for writing songs. Members February 13, 1883, Venice of this guild called themselves “mastersingers,” First Performance and it took years of study and practice to earn June 21, 1868, in Munich, Hans that title. The travelling knight named Walther von Bülow conducting von Stolzing knows none of this, however, when YO Premiere he falls in love at first sight with a goldsmith’s March 12, 1976, Gerhardt daughter named Eva Pogner. Unfortunately for Zimmermann conducting these two, it is Midsummer’s Eve, and Eva’s father Most Recent YO has already pledged Eva as the prize for winning Performance the Meistersinger songwriting contest the follow- February 8, 2006, Scott ing day. Determined to win Eva, Walther enlists Parkman conducting the help of mastersinger extraordinaire Hans Scoring Sachs to teach him the ins and outs of the craft, 2 flutes but, being the iconoclast he is, Walther ignores piccolo 2 oboes the rules in favor of his own musical instinct. In 2 clarinets the end, it is this instinct that wins Walther the 2 bassoons contest and consequently Eva’s hand. 4 horns The overture to Die Meistersinger is overflow- 3 trumpets ing with the same kind of sincerity and good 3 trombones tuba humor found in the rest of the four-and-a-half- timpani hour opera. It opens with a chorale in C major percussion and goes on to establish a whole slew of themes, harp those of the ancient majesty of the mastersing- strings ers, of the self-conscious chirps of their appren- Performance Time tices, of the sinewy, insistent existentialism of approximately 9 minutes Walther’s prize song. The overture alone features 12 of the 40 leitmotifs that appear throughout the opera; no matter how light the subject matter, Wagner always manages to build many layers of musical meaning into his works. As a horn player, I am thrilled to play this piece. Interspersed throughout the overture are moments of horn quartet glory, all four cylinders firing away. 26 LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, op. 55, “Eroica” BY CURTIS SELLERS, OBOE Beethoven’s “Eroica” Symphony allows us to hear the full range of emotions in the orchestra: from mourning in the second movement, to eccentric- ity in the third movement, to sentimentality and longing in the fourth movement. This is a truly revolutionary symphony, pun intended. It marks the birth of the Romantic era, Born and Beethoven originally named it “Bonaparte” in December 16, 1770, Bonn honor of Napoleon. But when Napoleon declared Died himself emperor, Beethoven’s initial hero became March 26, 1827, Vienna a villain. The composer was so angry that he tore First Performance his manuscript scratching out “Bonaparte.” He April 7, 1805, in Vienna, with replaced the title with “Eroica.” Beethoven conducting We get the sense of the heroic in the opening YO Premiere and Most power chords. Then we have the bright, optimis- Recent YO Performance tic interplay between the strings and the oboes, March 13, 1996, Mark Russell flutes, and clarinets. Extreme dynamics are par- Smith conducting ticularly present in this movement. There are Scoring some moments where the audience may need to 2 flutes lean forward and others where they will be blown 2 oboes away by the fortissimos that Beethoven wrote. 2 clarinets The second movement, which is a funeral 2 bassoons 3 horns march, features the oboe playing a very serious 2 trumpets theme that is carried throughout the orchestra in timpani different sections. The middle of the movement, strings Maggiore, is a relief from the emotionally heavy Performance Time introduction. This could symbolize hope, even in approximately 47 minutes the face of death. We finally return to the theme when the string sections play moving sixteenth notes.