Juilliard Organists Students of Paul Jacobs Photo by Claudio Papapietro
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Juilliard Organists Students of Paul Jacobs Photo by Claudio Papapietro Support the next generation of performing artists "I see for Juilliard a bold, creative, unstoppable, and joyful spirit that nurtures individuality. And I see for Juilliard an endless continuum of beauty, of artists who launch their voices into the universe." —Damian Woetzel, Juilliard President You are a vital part of Julliard’s future. Your donation supports financial aid for more than 90% of our students and the development of the next generation of performing artists. Make your tax-deductible gift by December 31 and be a part of the this exciting new chapter at Juilliard. Give now at giving.juilliard.edu/future or call (212) 599-7000, ext. 278. Thank you for your support. juilliard.edu The Juilliard School presents Juilliard Organists Students of Paul Jacobs Thursday, April 4, 2019, at 7:30pm Marble Collegiate Church, Fifth Avenue at 29th Street, New York City Elena Baquerizo, Daniel Ficarri, Jeremiah Mead, Alan Montgomery, Alexander Pattavina, Raphael Attila Vogl, Phoon Yu, Eddie Zheng EDWARD ELGAR Allegro Maestoso from Sonata in G Major, Op. 28 (1857-1934) Alan Montgomery AARON COPLAND Prelude from Symphony for Organ and Orchestra (trans. Ficarri) (1900-90) Preamble for a Solemn Occasion Daniel Ficarri JOHN WEAVER Fantasia for Organ (b. 1937) Phoon Yu FRANK BRIDGE Adagio in E Major (1879-1941) Jeremiah Mead CHARLES VILLIERS Fantasia and Toccata, Op. 57 STANFORD Raphael Attila Vogl (1852-1924) CALVIN HAMPTON From Five Dances (1938-84) At the Ballet Those Americans Everyone Dance Elena Baquerizo (Program continues) The Marble Music Next Door series is co-sponsored by Juilliard, Marble, and the New York City chapter of the American Guild of Organists. Please make certain that all electronic devices are turned off during the performance. The taking of photographs and the use of recording equipment are not permitted in this auditorium. 1 FLORENCE BEATRICE Adoration PRICE Eddie Zheng (1887-1953) JOHN CAGE Souvenir (1912-92) Eddie Zheng JOHN KNOWLES PAINE Concert Variations on the Austrian Hymn (1839-1906) Alexander Pattavina Approximate performance time: 1 hour and 15 minutes, without an intermission Tonight's concert is dedicated to the memory of Juilliard organ student Levente Medveczky. 2 About the Program by David Crean Organ music in England dates back to at least the late 10th century, when an organ was installed in Winchester by Saint Ælfheah. It was apparently so loud that it could be heard throughout the town, and it required 70 people to pump its 26 bellows. Until the mid-19th century, however, most British organs were very modest affairs, with at most two keyboards and minimal, if any, pedals. American churches, heavily indebted to the British tradition for the first two centuries of their existence, had instruments of similar scope and means. In the space of a few decades, both countries experienced a revolution in organ building, playing, and composition, due mainly to their exposure to German performers and composers. By the 20th century, England and America both had robust, but quite distinct, organ cultures, with technically advanced instruments and supremely skilled performers. Tonight’s program explores repertoire from these traditions. Despite the geographical and chronological proximity, the stylistic range of these pieces is vast: from the Victorian pageantry of Elgar and Stanford to the quintessentially American voice of Copland and the always radical experiments of Cage. England’s transformation into a center of organ composition and virtuosity began with Mendelssohn’s performances there in the 1840s, when many musicians heard the great works of Bach for the first time. Native organ builders quickly adapted and, by the end of the 19th century, instruments by Henry “Father” Willis and others had reached an unprecedented level of sophistication, with diverse tonal pallets and innovative mechanical aids. A new class of virtuoso performers like W.T. Best and Edwin Lemare could now produce exceptionally nuanced tonal shadings and make sweeping registration changes with the push of a button. 3 About the Program (continued) Edward Elgar Allegro Maestoso from Sonata in G Major, Op. 28 Edward Elgar was one of the first British composers to take advantage of the Edward Elgar organ's new potential. Perhaps the best-known English musician of the 19th century, Elgar almost single-handedly restored the international prestige Born: of British music and, although he wrote relatively little for the organ, his June 2, 1857, sonata of 1895 exerted an enormous influence over his contemporaries and Broadheath, U.K. successors. Elgar’s earliest musical training was in organ and received from his father, whom he ultimately succeeded as organist at St. George’s Roman Died: Catholic Church, Worcester. His compositional style, however, owes much February 23, 1934, more to Schumann, Wagner, and Liszt, than to his conservative forebears in Worcester, U.K. the English organ tradition, and his unflagging gifts for beguiling melody and smoothly chromatic harmony are on full display in this relatively early work. The first movement is in the sonata-allegro form typical of the genre and begins with a triumphant theme (appropriately marked "risoluto") that is almost gleeful in its pomposity. The texture subsides by degrees into a tuneful second theme in 9/8 whose formal balance and distinctly vocal quality calls to mind Mendelssohn. The development showcases the softer reed and flute stops while traversing such distant keys as F Major and C Minor and the recapitulation provides an appropriately grand exclamation point. Aaron Copland Prelude from Symphony for Organ and Orchestra (trans. Ficarri) Preamble for a Solemn Occasion Non-organists who compose music for the most complex instrument ever Aaron Copland devised face a daunting challenge. The most successful tend to be those that seek out the assistance of an experienced player. The young Aaron Born: Copland was lucky enough to have the assistance of Nadia Boulanger, one November 14, 1900, of the most admired teachers of the 20th century and a capable organist Brooklyn who had studied with Vierne and Guilmant. Copland spent three years in the early 1920s studying with Boulanger, who ultimately persuaded him Died: to undertake his most ambitious project to date: a symphony for organ and December 2, 1990, orchestra to be premiered by the New York Philharmonic. Despite having Sleepy Hollow, N.Y. little practical experience with orchestration and only a basic familiarity with the organ, Copland produced one of the 20th century’s finest concertante organ works. Its 1925 premiere, with Boulanger on organ and Walter Damrosch leading the orchestra, might not have seemed particularly auspicious for Copland. Damrosch famously remarked to the scandalized audience (“conservative Sunday afternoon ladies” in Copland’s words) that “if a gifted young man can write a symphony like that at age 23, within 5 years he will be ready to commit murder.” 4 Copland later came to regard his symphony, with its obvious debt to Stravinsky (whom Boulanger also greatly admired), as too European. Nevertheless, the stylistic traits that have made many of his works modern classics are also found here in embryonic form. The opening movement, a gentle pastorale, seems to foreshadow pieces like Appalachian Spring and Our Town with its sense of spaciousness and lightness of touch. Preamble for a Solemn Occasion was written in 1949 to mark the first anniversary of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Like his better known Lincoln Portrait, Copland originally conceived the work for orchestra and narrator, with text drawn from the preamble to the United Nations charter. Laurence Olivier was the narrator at the work’s premiere, with Leonard Bernstein leading the New York Philharmonic at the United Nations. The arrangement for organ alone was made in 1953. John Weaver Fantasia for Organ John Weaver is one of the most highly respected organists and pedagogues of the 20th century. A student of Alexander McCurdy at the Curtis Institute in John Weaver Philadelphia, Weaver later succeeded him as head of the organ department, a position he held from 1972 to 2003. Dividing his time between Philadelphia Born: and New York, Weaver also served as the organist of the Madison Avenue April 27, 1937, Presbyterian Church for 35 years and taught at Juilliard from 1987 to 2004. Jim Thorpe, Pa. In addition to performing, teaching, and conducting, Weaver has written music for organ, organ and flute (his wife Marianne is an accomplished flutist), and choir. He and his wife currently reside in northern Vermont. As a versatile performer at home in any area of the repertoire, Weaver’s compositions reflect his familiarity with a broad range of styles and techniques. The opening of his Fantasia (1983) shows the influence of neoclassicists like Hindemith, with its parallel harmonic motion and acerbic dissonances. This quickly gives way to a slower, lyrical passage where the opening motive is heard in the solo flute against a backdrop of lush harmonies in the strings. The solo texture is further expanded with a highly rhapsodic, wide-ranging melody that suggests the work of midcentury French composers like Messiaen and Duruflé. An exuberant, virtuosic finale closes the work. 5 About the Program (continued) Frank Bridge Adagio in E Major Like his teacher Charles Villiers Stanford, Frank Bridge is also best Frank Bridge remembered as a teacher—in his case of Benjamin Britten. He is something of an anomaly among turn-of-the-century British organ composers in that Born: he was neither an organist nor involved to any significant degree with February 26, 1879, Anglican church music. Bridge was, rather, a highly sought-after violinist Brighton, U.K. and conductor who toured with the Joachim Quartet and conducted the London Symphony Orchestra. Nevertheless, Bridge made consistent, Died: though infrequent, contributions to organ repertoire throughout his life, January 10, 1941, including this evening’s selection: the second of the 3 Pieces (1905) and Eastbourne, U.K.