Mark Maxwell, Director
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Sunday, June 3, 2018 • 2:00 P.M. GUITAR ENSEMBLE Mark Maxwell, director DePaul Concert Hall 800 West Belden Avenue • Chicago Sunday, June 3, 2018 • 2:00 P.M. DePaul Concert Hall GUITAR ENSEMBLE DePaul University Guitar Ensemble and Students from the Studio of Mark Maxwell PROGRAM Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643); arr for three guitars by Bruno Henze Five Dances (arr. 1967) Balletto in F# minor Passacaglia in F# minor Corrente in F#minor Corrente in A minor Corrente in G minor Amon Sahelijo Bridget Steibris Mark Maxwell Frank Martin (1890-1874) Quatre Piéces Bréves (1933) Prélude Air Plainte Comme une Gigue Cameren DeCaluwe Manuel Maria Ponce (1882-1948) Sonata III (1927) Canción Allegro non troppo Benjamin Sullivan INTERMISSION GUITAR ENSEMBLE • JUNE 3, 2018 PROGRAM Manuel Maria Ponce Sonatina Meridional (1939) Copla Fiesta (Allegretto) Amon Sahelijo Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895-1968) Prelude and Fugue in E Major No. 4 from the Well-Tempered Guitars (1962) Cameren DeCaluwe Benjamin Sullivan Manuel de Falla (1876-1946) Danse Espagnole No. 1 from “La Vida Breve” (1913 Premiere); Arrangment by combining those of Fritz Kreisler (1926) and Emilio Pujol (1957) Diana Ortiz, violin Benjamin Sullivan, guitar Leo Brouwer (b. 1939) Toccata (for guitar ensemble, 1994) Patrick Roux (b. 1962) Tango Contretemps Go (1993-94) III – L’Épisode des Lamentations IV – Le Tango des Réconciliations Cameren DeCaluwe Benjamin Sullivan Amon Sahelijo Bridget Steibris Mark Maxwell GUITAR ENSEMBLE • JUNE 3, 2018 PERSONNEL DEPAUL UNIVERSITY GUITAR ENSEMBLE Mark Maxwell, director Diana Ortiz, violin* Cameren DeCaluwe Amon Sahelijo Bridget Steibris Benjamin Sullivan *GUEST GUITAR ENSEMBLE • JUNE 3, 2018 PROGRAM NOTES Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643) Five Dances (1967) Duration: 6 minutes Girolamo Frescobaldi was one of the most important keyboard composers of the first half of the 17th century. Ferrara, where he was born, was a center for great musicians at the court of Alfonso II d’Este. In Rome at the beginning of the new century, he was under the patronage of Guido Bentivoglio. Frescobaldi traveled to Brussels in 1607. In 1608 he became the organist at St. Peter’s in Rome. Frescobaldi published a number of collections of music for organ and harpsichord and for varied groups of instruments. The types of pieces include Toccatas, Caprices, Ricercari and dance movements. This arrangement of five dance pieces for three guitars by Bruno Henze (1967) features the countrapuntal elements and rhythmic complexity of Frescobaldi’s style delineated by the separate instruments. Note by Mark Maxwell Frank Martin (1880-1974) Quatre Piéces Bréves (1933) Duration: 9 minutes Frank Martin was one of Switzerland’s most important composers of the twentieth century. He spent much of his life in Geneva, where he taught rhythmic theory at the Jacques-Dalcroze Institute and was active as a pianist and harpsichordist. His compositions echoed aspects of Arnold Schoenberg’s treatises on chromaticism and twelve-tone music, but Martin could never fully embrace the concept of atonality. Instead, he favored preserving the inherent power and individual character of intervallic relationships to create rich, unique melodies. Quatre Piéces Bréves is his only piece written for classical guitar, and it is written with this philosophy in mind. Its four movements are similar in form to a typical Baroque suite, consisting of a Prelude and a series of dances ending with a Gigue. “Prélude” begins mysteriously, presenting the tone row as the primary melodic subject of the suite. Many of the textures of this prelude echo the richness of Baroque guitar and lute performance that many have inspired Martin during the creation of this piece. That subject is then continuously transformed to suit the unique character of each movement, from the breathless, highly ornate melodies of “Air” to the uneasy, dissonant processional chords of the “Plaint.” The subject returns for the final time in “Comme une Gigue,” presented as a swift duet driving toward an abrupt, intense conclusion. Note by Cameren DeCaluwe GUITAR ENSEMBLE • JUNE 3, 2018 PROGRAM NOTES Manuel Ponce (1882-1948) Sonata III (1927) Duration: 9 minutes Manuel María Ponce (1882-1948) was born in Zacatecas, Mexico. He spent his early career composing, conducting, teaching, and writing music criticism in Mexico. He moved to Paris in the 1920s and after studying with the French composer Paul Dukas, Ponce began to apply an impressionistic idiom to works with concise structures and skilled counterpoint. He developed a nationalistic style in which he expressed his Mexican origins. Ponce was a close friend of guitarist Andres Segovia, for whom he wrote almost all of his guitar music. Ponce’s guitar music is a core part of the instrument’s repertory. The best-known works work for solo guitar are Sonata Mexicana (1923), Theme Variations and Finale (1929), Sonata III (1927), Sonata Romantica (Homage to Schubert, 1929), Variations and Fugue on ‘La Folia’ (1929), Sonata Clásica (Homage to Sor, 1930), Sonatina meridional (1939, and the guitar concerto Concierto del Sur (1941). His compositions include orchestral, chamber, guitar, piano music and songs, the most famous of which is Estrellita. Sonata III’s harmonic language is characterized by chromatic tonality. In Cancion Ponce creates a haunting melody with a gently rocking 6/8 meter. The Allegro non troppo is in traditional rondo form with a rollickingly rhythmic refrain and a variety of keys, moods and textures in the interludes. Both works by Ponce on this afternoon’s program feature the second and third movements of the two sonatas. The first movements were performed in the winter Guitar Showcase Concert. Manuel Ponce (1882-1948) Sonatina Meridional (1939) Duration: 7 minutes The Sonatina Meridional was Mexican composer Manuel Ponce’s last major work for solo guitar composed in 1939. The meridional or southern aspect of the title refers to southern Spain, or Andalusia. The Copla or “song” has a highly ornamented melismatic line over pedal tones. This movement evokes the Cante Jondo or “serious song” of Flamenco. Fiesta is a lively, rhythmic work with flamenco strums and rhythmic hemiola while still suggesting the normal end movement of a typical sonata, the rondo. However, the return of the “A” section material was Segovia’s doing. He insisted to Ponce that, even after publication, the last movement be restructured to include this short recap. Many young guitarists do not know this and play from the Schott edition unchanged. If one listens to the Segovia or Oscar Ghiglia GUITAR ENSEMBLE • JUNE 3, 2018 PROGRAM NOTES recordings we hear the greater sense of completion provided by the main theme’s return. Today’s performance follows this later version. Mario Castlenuovo-Tedesco (1895-1968) Prelude and Fugue No. 4, The Well-Tempered Guitars, Op. 199 (1962) Duration: 6 minutes Florentine Mario Castlenuovo-Tedesco and Mexican composer Manuel Ponce accounted for a huge number of guitar works for Andres Segovia. Both were equally prolific, but Castelnuovo-Tedesco was so far ahead in his compositions for Segovia, that Segovia could not “keep up” in editing them for publication, much less perform them all. Unhappy that Segovia mostly performed his early works, Castelnuovo-Tedesco complained to Segovia. They argued about it in a series of letters in the early 1960s. They resolved their differences when Segovia explained that his time was “not his own” and that he must perform over 100 concerts a year and there simply was not time. We are all the better for Castlenuovo-Tedesco’s efforts. He left 16 large solo guitar works, many were collections of a number of pieces, three concertos for solo guitar and orchestra, one for two guitars and orchestra, five chamber works with guitar, including Platero Y Yo for guitar and narrator and the great Quintetto for guitar and string quartet, 24 preludes and fugues called the Well-Tempered Guitars for two guitars as well as Sonata Canonica and Fuga Elegiaca (1967) for guitar duo. His works for two guitars were written for Ida Presti and Alexandre Lagoya. The Presi-Lagoya Duo premiered the all his works. The untimely death of Ida Presti in 1967 inspired Castelnuovo- Tedesco to write the Fuga Elegiaca as an homage to her. The Twenty-four Preludes and Fugues titled “The Well-tempered Guitars” are in the form of Bach’s work in all keys. He wrote almost one a day, beginning with the first on March 8, 1962. The E Major Prelude and Fugue is No. 4 and was written between March 19-21, 1962. Manuel de Falla (1876-1946) Dance Espagnole No. 1 from La Vida Breve (1913) Duration: 4 minutes Manuel de Falla began writing the opera La Vida Breve (the brief life) in 1905. It wasn’t premiered until 1913 in Nice and, after revision, Paris. The first Spanish dance was so popular that it was arranged in many different ways for different instruments. The well-known version for violin and piano was arranged by Fritz Kreisler in 1926. Guitarist Emilio Pujol published his arrangement for two guitars in 1957. The arrangement played today was created by combining elements of both versions. Manuel de Falla wrote GUITAR ENSEMBLE • JUNE 3, 2018 PROGRAM NOTES only one piece for classical guitar. It is the Homenaje pour le Tombeau de Claude Debussy in 1920. He responded to two requests, one from the La Revue Musicale to write an article about Debussy’s influence on Spanish composers. The other was from guitarist Miguel Llobet to compose a piece for guitar. He responded by doing both for the periodical. Falla’s music for orchestra demonstrates his understanding of flamenco. His orchestral writing suggests the guitar so well, even to the very chordal voice-leading, that it invites arrangement. Much of his music from his ballets El Amor Brujo and the Three-Cornered Hat has been arranged for guitar solo, guitar duo, or guitar ensemble.