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Home , Brandenburg Concertos, Fanfare (ballet), Octet (Stravinsky), Parsons Dance Company, Scherzo fantastique

23 Season 2013-2014

Friday, February 28, at 2:00 Saturday, March 1, at 8:00 The Philadelphia

Stéphane Denève Conductor Eric Le Sage The Philadelphia Company (Philadanco) Joan Myers Brown Executive Artistic Director

Stravinsky in E-flat major for Chamber Orchestra (“Dumbarton Oaks”) I. Tempo giusto— II. Allegretto— III. Con moto

Poulenc Aubade (choreographic concerto), for piano and 18 instruments Janine N. Beckles Dancer Jennifer Jones Dancer Roxanne Lyst Dancer Courtney Robinson Dancer Lauren Putty White Dancer Tommie-Waheed Evans Choreographer

Intermission 24

ProkofievExcerpts from Cinderella a. Introduction b. Shawl Dance c. Interrupted Departure d. Clock Scene e. Dance of the Prince f. Cinderella’s Arrival at the Ball g. Grand h. Promenade i. First Galop of the Prince j. The Father k. Amoroso l. Cinderella’s Departure for the Ball m. Waltz Coda n. Midnight

Stravinsky from (1919 version) I. Introduction—The Firebird and its Dance II. The Princesses’ III. Infernal Dance of King Kastcheï— IV. Berceuse— V. Finale

This program runs approximately 1 hour, 55 minutes.

The March 1 concert is sponsored by Medcomp.

Philadelphia Orchestra concerts are broadcast on WRTI 90.1 FM on Sunday afternoons at 1 PM. Visit www.wrti.org to listen live or for more details. 3 Story Title 25 The Philadelphia Orchestra Jessica Griffin

The Philadelphia Orchestra community itself. His concerts to perform in China, in 1973 is one of the preeminent of diverse repertoire attract at the request of President in the world, sold-out houses, and he has Nixon, today The Philadelphia renowned for its distinctive established a regular forum Orchestra boasts a new sound, desired for its for connecting with concert- partnership with the National keen ability to capture the goers through Post-Concert Centre for the Performing hearts and imaginations of Conversations. Arts in Beijing. The Orchestra audiences, and admired for annually performs at Under Yannick’s leadership a legacy of innovation in Carnegie Hall while also the Orchestra returns to music-making. The Orchestra enjoying annual residencies in recording with a newly- is inspiring the future and Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and at released CD on the Deutsche transforming its rich tradition the Bravo! Vail festival. Grammophon label of of achievement, sustaining Stravinsky’s Musician-led initiatives, the highest level of artistic and Leopold Stokowski including highly-successful quality, but also challenging transcriptions. In Yannick’s and Play-Ins, and exceeding that level, by inaugural season the shine a spotlight on the creating powerful musical Orchestra has also returned Orchestra’s musicians, as experiences for audiences at to the radio airwaves, with they spread out from the home and around the world. weekly Sunday afternoon stage into the community. Music Director Yannick broadcasts on WRTI-FM. The Orchestra’s commitment Nézet-Séguin triumphantly to its education and Philadelphia is home and opened his inaugural community partnership the Orchestra nurtures an season as the eighth artistic initiatives manifests itself important relationship not leader of the Orchestra in numerous other ways, only with patrons who support in fall 2012. His highly including concerts for families the main season at the collaborative style, deeply- and students, and eZseatU, Kimmel Center but also those rooted musical curiosity, a program that allows full- who enjoy the Orchestra’s and boundless enthusiasm, time college students to other area performances paired with a fresh approach attend an unlimited number at the Mann Center, Penn’s to orchestral programming, of Orchestra concerts for Landing, and other venues. have been heralded by a $25 annual membership The Orchestra is also a global critics and audiences alike. fee. For more information on ambassador for Philadelphia Yannick has been embraced The Philadelphia Orchestra, and for the U.S. Having been by the musicians of the please visit www.philorch.org. the first American orchestra Orchestra, audiences, and the 8 Music Director

Nigel Parry/CPi Yannick Nézet-Séguin triumphantly opened his inaugural season as the eighth music director of The Philadelphia Orchestra in the fall of 2012. His highly collaborative style, deeply-rooted musical curiosity, and boundless enthusiasm, paired with a fresh approach to orchestral programming, have been heralded by critics and audiences alike. The New York Times has called Yannick “phenomenal,” adding that under his baton “the ensemble … has never sounded better.” In his first season he took the Orchestra to new musical heights. His second builds on that momentum with highlights that include a Philadelphia Commissions Micro-Festival, for which three leading composers have been commissioned to write solo works for three of the Orchestra’s principal players; the next installment in his multi-season focus on requiems with Fauré’s Requiem; and a unique, theatrically-staged presentation of Strauss’s revolutionary Salome, a first-ever co-production with Opera Philadelphia.

Yannick has established himself as a musical leader of the highest caliber and one of the most exciting talents of his generation. Since 2008 he has been music director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic and principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic, and since 2000 artistic director and principal conductor of Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain. In addition he becomes the first ever mentor conductor of the Curtis Institute of Music’s conducting fellows program in the fall of 2013. He has made wildly successful appearances with the world’s most revered ensembles, and has conducted critically acclaimed performances at many of the leading opera houses.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Deutsche Grammophon (DG) enjoy a long-term collaboration. Under his leadership the Orchestra returns to recording with a newly-released CD on that label of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and Leopold Stokowski transcriptions. Yannick continues a fruitful recording relationship with the Rotterdam Philharmonic for DG, BIS, and EMI/Virgin; the London Philharmonic for the LPO label; and the Orchestre Métropolitain for ATMA Classique.

A native of Montreal, Yannick Nézet-Séguin studied at that city’s Conservatory of Music and continued lessons with renowned conductor Carlo Maria Giulini and with Joseph Flummerfelt at Westminster Choir College. Among Yannick’s honors are an appointment as Companion of the Order of Canada, one of the country’s highest civilian honors; a Royal Philharmonic Society Award; Canada’s National Arts Centre Award; the Prix Denise- Pelletier, the highest distinction for the arts in Quebec, awarded by the Quebec government; and an honorary doctorate by the University of Quebec in Montreal.

To read Yannick’s full bio, please visit www.philorch.org/conductor. 26 Conductor

J. Henry Fair Stéphane Denève is chief conductor of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony and the former music director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. He is a familiar presence with The Philadelphia Orchestra on stage in Verizon Hall, at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, and at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater in Vail, having appeared as guest conductor numerous times since making his debut in 2007. He conducted the Orchestra in two subscription series in the 2012-13 season and returns for two more this season. Recent European engagements include appearances with the Royal Concertgebouw and Philharmonia orchestras; the Bavarian Radio, Swedish Radio, and London symphonies; the Munich Philharmonic; the Orchestra Sinfonica dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome; and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. In North America Mr. Denève made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2012 with the Boston Symphony. He appears regularly with the Chicago and San Francisco symphonies, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In the field of opera Mr. Denève has conducted productions at the Royal Opera House, the Glyndebourne Festival, La Scala, Netherlands Opera, La Monnaie in Brussels, , the Opéra National de Paris, the Teatro Comunale Bologna, and Cincinnati Opera. He enjoys close relationships with many of the world’s leading artists, including Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Leif Ove Andsnes, Emanuel Ax, Lars Vogt, Nikolaï Lugansky, Yo-Yo Ma, Pinchas Zukerman, Joshua Bell, Leonidas Kavakos, Hilary Hahn, Gil Shaham, and Natalie Dessay. As a recording artist, Mr. Denève has won critical acclaim for his recordings of the works of Poulenc, Debussy, Roussel, Franck, and Connesson. He is a double winner of the Diapason d’Or, was shortlisted in 2012 for Gramophone’s Artist of the Year award, and won the prize for symphonic music at the 2013 International Classical Music Awards. A graduate of, and prizewinner at, the Paris Conservatory, Mr. Denève worked closely in his early career with Georg Solti, Georges Prêtre, and Seiji Ozawa. Mr. Denève is a champion of new music and has a special affinity for the music of his native France. 27 Soloists

Jean-Baptiste Millot Pianist Eric Le Sage made his Philadelphia Orchestra debut earlier this week. He has appeared with the Los Angeles, Toronto, Rotterdam, Radio France, Dresden, and Bremen philharmonics; the Saint Louis, NHK, Netherlands Radio, and Stuttgart Radio symphonies; the Royal Scottish National and Munich Chamber orchestras; the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse; and the Orchestre National d’Ile-de-France, with conductors such as Stéphane Denève, Armin Jordan, Edo de Waart, Louis Langrée, Michel Plasson, and Simon Rattle. Mr. Le Sage has performed recitals and concerts in venues across Europe, North and South America, and Japan. He has won numerous recording awards, including the Diapason d’Or, the Choc du Monde de la Musique, and the Grand Prix du Disque. In 2010 he completed recording Schumann’s complete works for piano on the independent French label Alpha. He has also recorded for RCA-BMG, Naïve, and EMI. Born in Aix-en-Provence, Mr. Le Sage was the winner of major international competitions including Porto in 1985 and the Robert Schumann competition in Zwickau in 1989. He was also a prizewinner at the 1989 Leeds International Piano Competition. Lois Greenfield Since its inception in 1970, the Philadelphia Dance Company (Philadanco) has had a significant impact on the dance world. Its artistic direction and renowned national and international guest choreographers have developed a reputation of producing a dance repertory with passion, power, skill, and diversity. Its faculty has trained over 4,500 dancers in a program achieving the highest level of technical skills in dance and performance. The unique blend of dance styles of Philadanco and its annual schedule of 50-60 performances and 45 residencies has made them one of the most sought after companies in the U.S. Joan Myers Brown is the founder of Philadanco and the Philadelphia School of Dance Arts. She serves as honorary chairperson for the International Association of Blacks in Dance, is a distinguished visiting professor at the University of the Arts, and is a member of the dance faculty at Howard University. In July 2013 she received the National Medal of Arts Award presented by President Obama. 28 Soloists

Deborah Boardman Deborah Janine N. Beckles, from New York City, started dancing at the age of six at Dance Theatre of Harlem and studied there for eight years under fellowship scholarship. She continued her training at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts and the Ailey School (performing Memoria, Hymn, and Revelations) both on full scholarship. She received a BFA in Dance Performance and a BA in Sociology from Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Ms. Beckles was a National Foundation of the Arts award recipient in in 2000. A former member of Dallas Black Dance Theatre for five years, she is also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Deborah Boardman Deborah With a background in , modern, and jazz Jennifer Jones studied at the Ballet Royale Institute in Ellicott City, MD. She earned her BFA in Jazz Dance from the University of the Arts, where she studied with Zane Booker, Donald Lundsford, Wayne St. David, and Molly Misgalla; she also worked with Michael Sheridan at PA Ballet, Brian Sanders at JUNK, and Roni Koresh at Koresh Dance Co. She has appeared with New York City Dance Alliance’s Scott Jovovich in a performance honoring Roberta Flack called Bright Lights, Shining Stars, and she was featured on So You Think You Can Dance, Season 10. Ms. Jones, originally from Costa Rica, has danced with the 76ers Dreamteam and performed for Tommie-Waheed Evans and Gunnar Montana.

Deborah Boardman Deborah Roxanne Lyst began her professional training in Washington, DC, under the tutelage of Adrian Bolton and Alfred Dove. She attended Jacobs Pillow Dance Festival and was a scholarship student at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center. She was a member of the Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble and joined Philadanco in 1999. Ms. Lyst, originally from Annapolis, MD, performed with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for five years before rejoining Philadanco in 2010. She is currently adjunct faculty at Mason Gross School of the Arts of Rutgers University. Most recently she received her MFA from Hollins University in Roanoke, VA. 29 Soloists

Deborah Boardman Deborah Courtney Robinson, originally from Richmond, VA, began training at age four at Pine Camp Arts and Recreational Center under the direction of Annette Holt and Rodney Williams. She attended Appomattox Regional Governor’s School for the Arts and Technology where she received training with Rebecca Hodal, Starrene Foster, and Willie Hinton, among others. Ms. Robinson has been a part of programs such as Richmond Ballet, the Ailey School’s Fellowship Program, and Bates Dance Festival. She later went to the Conservatory of Dance at SUNY Purchase College. She also studied at Codarts Rotterdam Dance Academy in the Netherlands. She has performed works by Bella Lewitzky, Pam Tanowitz, Wallie Wolfgruber, Stephen Petronio, and others. Deborah Boardman Deborah Originally from Baltimore, Lauren Putty White began studying dance at a young age. In 2005 she earned her BFA from the University of the Arts, where she received the Prize and the award for Outstanding Performance in Modern Dance. Her professional choreography debut was at the 2005 Elan Awards. Her performing experience includes Washington Reflections, Urban Bush Woman II, and Parsons Dance Company. She received the Individual Artist Fellowship Grant for choreography and in 2007 Reflections Dance Company performed her first company work, Shades of Thought. In 2010 her piece Hide premiered with BalletX. Her Sleeping in Wonderland was featured in the 2011 Regional Dance America showcase in Pittsburgh. Deborah Boardman Deborah Tommie-Waheed Evans, originally from Los Angeles, began his dance training with Michelle Blossom at Dance and Andrea Calomee at Hamilton High School. As the result of Karen McDonald’s guidance, he studied under a fellowship at the Alvin Ailey School. He has worked and performed for Matthew Rushing, Benoit-Swan Pouffer, and Debbie Allen, and he was an assistant to Troy O’Neil Powell. Mr. Evans’s professional appearances include the Emmy Awards, the Ailey Student Showcase Group, and Lula Washington Dance Theatre. Recently he founded Waheed-Works and his choreography has appeared at the Painted Bride Art Center and DanceBoom at the Wilma Theater. He is the resident choreographer for Eleone Dance Theatre. 30 Framing the Program

The program today, primarily dedicated to music and Parallel Events dance, features a collaboration between The Philadelphia 1910 Music Orchestra and dancers of Philadanco. The second half Stravinsky Elgar of the program offers captivating ballet suites based on The Firebird Violin Concerto beloved fairytales as imaginatively set by Stravinsky and Literature Prokofiev. Forster Howard’s End opens with Stravinsky’s Concerto in E-flat, Art written to celebrate the 30th wedding anniversary of Mr. Modigliani and Mrs. Robert Woods Bliss. The couple commissioned The Cellist the piece to be played at Dumbarton Oaks, their estate History in Washington, D.C., the location that has given the work Japan annexes its nickname. “Dumbarton Oaks” is scored for a small Korea ensemble, harkening back to the lively spirit of Bach’s while tinged with modern 1929 Music harmonies and striking rhythmic effects. Poulenc Ravel Aubade Piano Concerto Private patronage and a premiere at a palatial home also in led to the composition of ’s Aubade, a Literature “choreographic concerto” for 18 instruments, solo piano, Hemingway and dancers. The Vicomte and Vicomtesse de Noailles A Farewell to commissioned what is in essence Poulenc’s first piano Arms concerto to be danced at their mansion on the Place des Art États-Unis in Paris. Today the Orchestra collaborates with Klee Philadanco for a unique presentation of this animated and Fool in a Trance History expressive work, based on the mythological tale of Diana, Trotsky expelled the Greek goddess of the hunt. The title alludes to a dawn from USSR song and depicts her struggle between love and purity, sensuality and loneliness. 1937 Music Stravinsky’s Firebird was the young composer’s breakout Stravinsky Shostakovich success with ’s Russes in Paris. “Dumbarton Symphony No. 5 Prokofiev’sCinderella came in the wake of the composer’s Oaks” Concerto Literature Steinbeck return to the Soviet Union after living abroad for some 20 Of Mice and years. Both suites, performed in concert version today, are Men brilliant orchestral showpieces that have found as welcome Art a place in the concert hall as on the theater stage. Picasso Guernica History Amelia Earhart disappears 31 The Music “Dumbarton Oaks” Concerto

It was perhaps only natural that , after composing some of the most startlingly revolutionary music of this century, should have looked backward in history for inspiration. A decade after (1911) and The Rite of Spring (1913) he was a celebrity in Paris, exiled from his native Russia, teeming with an enormous creativity—and looking for a new musical direction. What critics later termed his “neo-Classical” period actually began with such 18th-century masters as Pergolesi and J.S. Bach, but it also ultimately embraced the music of Igor Stravinsky the Viennese Classicists and even that of Tchaikovsky Born in Lomonosov, and Brahms. Russia, June 17, 1882 Died in New York City, A Connection to the Past Yet the relationship of April 6, 1971 Stravinsky’s neo-Classical music to the works of earlier composers is complex and easily misunderstood. The sometimes conventional-sounding harmonies of these works, beginning with the ballet and including such works as the and the Concerto for Piano and Winds, do not function in traditional ways, and often result from the almost coincidental juxtaposition of pitches that arise from contrapuntal lines. In the Concerto, for example, it is the driving rhythms and spun-out melodic lines that recall a Baroque concerto, as much as it is any harmonic elements. Nevertheless the work’s connection to the past is unmistakable. In any event this process of continued homage to the past continued to the end of Stravinsky’s life, and the music and example of Bach inspired many of the composer’s most celebrated works, including the Symphony in C; Symphony in Three Movements; ; the for piano; ballets such as Apollon musagète and Jeu de cartes; the opera The Rake’s Progress; the ; and several concertos. As late as the 1950s, Stravinsky was still writing homages to Bach, as attested by the Chorale-variations on Bach’s setting of “Vom Himmel hoch.” Each of these works took an individualistic approach to what Stravinsky himself (writing of Pulcinella) called his “discovery of the past, the epiphany through which the whole of my late work became possible.” He had called 32

Stravinsky composed the Pulcinella “a backward look, of course—the first of many “Dumbarton Oaks” Concerto love affairs in that direction—but … a look in the mirror, from 1937 to 1938. too.” Erich Leinsdorf led the first “In the Style of the Brandenburg Concertos” Philadelphia Orchestra Among the seven concertos that Stravinsky composed in performances of the Concerto the neo-Classical vein is the inspired Concerto in E-flat, in March 1988. The most which has come to be called “Dumbarton Oaks” after the recent Orchestra performances of the work were in October Washington, D.C., estate of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Woods 2008, conducted by Charles Bliss, who commissioned the piece. The Blisses were

Dutoit. celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary in 1938, and a composition by Stravinsky seemed like just the thing The Concerto is scored for for such an occasion. During the work’s conception , in E-flat, , the composer visited the estate—a venue known for two horns, three , three vital social functions of the city’s cultural life—and was , two , and two double basses. delighted with its lavish gardens. Some critics have speculated that the structure of the gardens might have The work runs approximately found reflection in formal aspects of the Concerto. 12 minutes in performance. Composed in Arnemasse, Switzerland, and Paris from the spring of 1937 to March 1938, the “little concerto in the style of the Brandenburg Concertos” (as the composer called it) received its premiere at the Bliss estate on May 8, 1938, under the baton of no less a figure than teacher- conductor Nadia Boulanger. A Closer Look Stravinsky’s statement about Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos is telling, for in fact each of the 15 instruments of “Dumbarton Oaks” is treated as an independent solo voice; the resulting texture of propulsive “busyness” alludes to the distinctively vibrant nature of Bach’s originals. “I played Bach very regularly during the composition of the Concerto,” Stravinsky wrote later, “and was greatly attracted to the Brandenburg Concertos. Whether or not the first theme of my first movement [Tempo giusto] is a conscious borrowing from the third of the Brandenburg set, however, I do not know. What I can say is that Bach would most certainly have been delighted to have loaned it to me; to borrow in this way was exactly the sort of thing he liked to do himself.” The clean lines of the second movement (Allegretto) produce a striking sense of clarity and repose—the same sorts of words, in fact, that are often applied to the neo- Classicism of Gluck and his contemporaries in the 18th century. The finale (Con moto) is an energetic march filled with a lively contrapuntal gaiety, the likes of which old would certainly have approved. —Paul J. Horsley 33 The Music Aubade

As late as the period between the two world wars, European nobility gave much of its wealth over to the cultivation of the arts. In 1929 the Vicomte and Vicomtesse de Noailles, among the last of these great patrons, commissioned Francis Poulenc to compose a score for a ballet about the Greek goddess of the hunt, Diana. The choreography was to be by , sister of the great dancer Vaslav Nijinsky. About Feminine Solitude Though ill at the time, Francis Poulenc Poulenc accepted the commission and in less than two Born in Paris, January 7, months produced a score tailored to the outdoor staging 1899 envisioned by the Vicomte and Vicomtesse: solo piano, Died there, January 30, with an accompaniment dominated by winds, and no 1963 violins at all. Poulenc even supplied a diagram showing how the instruments were to be placed: pairs of violas, cellos, and double basses directly behind the piano; and winds comprising pairs of , , , , and horns, plus one , a little off to the side; plus timpani at the back. The ballet was given a private premiere at the palatial Paris home of its commissioners. A public version, with new choreography by Diaghilev’s young discovery, , was presented the following year in Paris. Poulenc disapproved, however, of Balanchine’s choreography, which added men to the previously all- female scenario. Poulenc later said he had intended his music to be “about feminine solitude,” and that it had been written at a time of personal “melancholy and anguish.” A Closer Look An “aubade” is a song sung at dawn, and the work gets this title because the action of the ballet took place from dawn on one day until dawn the next. The score is remarkably literal in its tone-painting. Even when presented without dancing, it suggests certain visuals and action. What follows is a description of the score linked to the events of the original scenario: 1. Toccata. It begins with a great brass fanfare that evokes the rising of the sun. This is no gentle sunrise, but a rather brutal one that wakes Diana’s companions from a gentle sleep. The piano latches on to the fanfare’s stoic gesture and thunders in octaves. Immediately the 34

and bassoon soften the effect and the flutes enter on a trill as if to remind one of a bird singing to the dawn. Then the piano is off on a spectacular series of bravura runs, the sort of which you might expect from the movement’s title. 2. Recitative: Diana’s Companions. Diana’s companions awake to an unwelcome dawn. Unison blasts from the orchestra recall the fanfare, but these are suddenly replaced by the sound of the clarinets, playing doucement (sweetly) a comforting melody. The piano once again grabs hold of the fanfare gesture as the movement ends. 3. Rondeau: Diana with Her Companions. This allegro movement is announced by a deceptively innocent melody in the piano, accentuated by winds. Diana’s entrance is announced in bright colors as the tempo accelerates and the key changes to the rarely used signature of seven sharps: C-sharp major. Diana is in torment over her vowed chastity, for she may have found a potential lover in the woods, and the mood shifts wildly from exuberance to depression, ending on the latter with some solo strokes on the timpani. 4. Presto: Diana Dressing. The fastest movement in the score is a scurrying depiction of Diana being dressed by her friends. The interplay of piano and winds is remarkable, as is the fleet rhythmic writing. Throughout Aubade, the few strings that are included serve mainly to support the piano during certain solo sections, or to provide sustained harmonies under wind solos. 5. Recitative: Introduction to Diana’s Variation. The companions give Diana a bow, which reminds her of her vow of chastity. At the start, only the orchestra plays, with each section given a chance to shine—even the strings, which at last get brief solos. The piano enters and leads the orchestra to the solo variation at the heart of the score. 6. Andante: Diana’s Variation. This clearly presents the “melancholy and anguish” of both the composer and the ballet’s lead character. Solo winds trace a piquant melody that expands on the music of the third movement. Here and there a trumpet salvo signals determination. Diana’s inner battle between chastity (represented by her bow) and sensual love leads to a kind of sorrowful resignation. 7. Allegro feroce: Diana’s Despair. Suddenly, Diana throws away her bow and, in one last gesture against her 35

Aubade was composed in celibate fate, dashes into the forest. But it is not to be: 1929. She returns in despair. The first Philadelphia Orchestra 8. Conclusion: Diana’s Farewell and Departure. performance of Aubade was Grim block chords on the piano announce the finale and earlier this week. the goddess’ decision. At length we hear a startlingly The score calls for two flutes, song-like cello solo, the only extended string solo in the two oboes (II doubling English 20-plus minutes of the piece. The tone is one of comfort, ), two clarinets, two as Diana’s companions attempt to console her. Diana bassoons, two horns, trumpet, picks up her abandoned bow and runs one last time into timpani, two violas, two cellos, the woods. Armed with her bow of chastity, she will no two basses, and solo piano. longer seek love in the forest, but only the hunt. To the Performance time is music’s quiet close, her companions fall asleep with the approximately 22 minutes. coming of another dawn. —Kenneth LaFave The Music Excerpts from Cinderella

Sergei Prokofiev’s score for the ballet Cinderella contains music that is fantastical, menacing, broadly comical, strangely grim, and unashamedly romantic. Prokofiev belonged, perhaps, to the last generation of composers for whom fairy tales and romantic love could be given musical life without the admixture of irony. Prokofiev was born in Imperial Russia but left his native land at the outbreak of the Bolshevik Revolution, only to return to the new Soviet Union at the height of Stalin’s terror in 1936. The reasons for the curious timing of his Born in Sontsovka, return have never been ascertained, but it is clear that the Ukraine, April 23, 1891 popularity in the USSR of his ballet Romeo and Juliet was a Died in Moscow, March 5, factor. The third of his ballet scores, Romeo and Juliet was 1953 the one that cemented Prokofiev’s reputation as a ballet composer. There would be two more, though The Stone Flower, his last, is today rarely performed. In Cinderella, he reached the apex of his skills at writing for dance. Prokofiev composed the score between 1940 and 1944, a busy time that also saw him working on the so-called “war ” for piano and on his Symphony No. 5. The Bolshoi Ballet premiered its staging of Cinderella in Moscow in1945, to general acclaim. The score has gone on to inspire many other danced interpretations and to find a place in the symphonic repertoire as well. 36

Prokofiev composedCinderella The excerpts heard today are as follow. They do not from 1940 to 1944. always trace the linear thread of the story. Samuel Antek was on the Introduction (Act I). Marked Andante dolce, the opening podium for the first Philadelphia for this fairy-tale ballet is a darkly sweeping lyrical gesture Orchestra performance of in the strings, thickened by clarinets. The foreboding, music from Cinderella, on a chromatic flecked minor theme at length gives way to a Children’s Concert in January quiet, C-major section that balances the darkness with a 1955. Most recently on subscription James DePreist comforting glow. led excerpts from the score in Shawl Dance (Act I). The action proper starts with December 1994. this study in deliberate “wrong notes,” a depiction of The score for today’s Cinderella’s goofy stepsisters attempting to collaborate excerpts calls for three flutes on the making of a shawl; they only succeed in tearing (III doubling piccolo), two it in two, leaving Cinderella to clean up the mess. Solo oboes, English horn, two woodwinds play a prominent role. clarinets, , two bassoons, , Interrupted Departure and Clock Scene (Act I). Her four horns, three , rags have been turned into a ball gown, and a pumpkin three , , and mice now serve as her coach and footmen, but timpani, percussion (bass Cinderella’s attempt to leave is interrupted by her Fairy drum, castanets, cymbals, Godmother, who warns her that she must return before drum, glockenspiel, maracas, midnight by the clock, or be divested of this magic. tam-tam, tenor drum, triangle, Dance of the Prince, Cinderella’s Arrival at the xylophone), harp, piano, and strings. Ball, Grand Waltz, and Promenade (Act II). These four pieces comprise the core of Act II, the ball scene, Performance time is although in the ballet itself the majestic Dance of the approximately 22 minutes. Prince follows the other three sections, which are here performed in order. Cinderella’s quiet entrance into the ball scene is hushed and magical, and the ensuing waltz of the Prince and Cinderella in the garden begins with a similar sense of awe before it grows into one of Prokofiev’s finest essays in changing moods. The waltz is in turns regal, mysterious, boisterous, winsome, and outlandish. Wide leaps in the melody and sudden shifts of orchestral color dominate. The Promenade is, by contrast, all officialdom and public face, as the pair returns to the ball, and Cinderella returns to the reality of her famous time constraint. First Galop of the Prince (Act III) finds Prokofiev in motor-mode, one of his most characteristic stylistic frames. Marked Presto from the start, it only intensifies its rhythmic dash toward the end. In this version of the story, Cinderella’s father is a comforting, if not always strong, presence, and The Father (Act I) portrays both that character’s personality and his relationship with the title character in an unusual movement of rapidly changing tempos, dynamics, keys, and textures. 37

The foreboding motif of the introduction has been transformed into a dolcissimo melody of melting beauty and true love is triumphant in Amoroso (Act III), which actually concludes the ballet. But for our suite, we return to the beginning of the story with Cinderella’s Departure for the Ball from Act I, followed by the Waltz Coda from Act II, with its reminder of that magical, life-changing dance in the garden, and the chimes of Midnight. —Kenneth LaFave The Music Suite from The Firebird (1919 version)

When Igor Stravinsky’s father died in 1902, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov—Russia’s most important living composer and a friend of the Stravinsky family—became for the 20-year-old musician not just an artistic mentor but a sort of father-figure as well. Stravinsky’s early works are best viewed in this light, for the majority of them were written for, or composed in emulation of, this great master. As the young composer’s most important composition teacher, Rimsky-Korsakov played a seminal role in the foundation of Stravinsky’s approach to melody and instrumental color. Igor Stravinsky In 1907 Stravinsky dedicated his Op. 1, the Symphony Born in Lomonosov, in E-flat major, to him, and the normally taciturn Rimsky- Russia, June 17, 1882 Korsakov demonstrated his approval by engaging a private Died in New York City, performance of this exuberant work with the St. Petersburg April 6, 1971 court orchestra. Emboldened by this success, shortly afterward Stravinsky presented for his teacher’s approval a piece for large orchestra, the fantastique. A Love of Russian Folklore Stravinsky left Russia not long after, settling first in Paris, then Switzerland, and ultimately in the United States, although for all practical purposes he could be viewed as a citizen of the world. Much of the spirit and character of his native Russia remained with him throughout his long and fruitful life. This spirit, which consisted partly of a deep knowledge of Russian folklore, partly of a large repertoire of folk tunes of which he made liberal use in his scores, and partly of his sheer adventurousness, permeated his music and stamped it with a unique character that allows us to identify blind a work by Stravinsky almost immediately. 38

Stravinsky composed The Young Stravinsky’s veneration of Russian folklore was Firebird from 1909 to 1910. manifested early on, in the loving care with which he set Music from The Firebird was to music the fairy-tale of the Firebird in 1909. Written first played by The Philadelphia on commission from the great dance impresario Sergei Orchestra in November 1917, Diaghilev, The Firebird was composed for his second when the 1911 Suite was led season of ballet in Paris. Its enormous success at the by Leopold Stokowski. Since Paris Opéra premiere in June 1910 not only established that time, barely a year has Diaghilev as the leader of Paris’ avant-garde, it proclaimed gone by when some Firebird Stravinsky as the most promising of Europe’s young music hasn’t been heard generation of composers. Petrushka and The Rite of on one of the Orchestra’s Spring, also both composed for Diaghilev’s , concerts, whether subscription, followed in rapid succession, and later , Marva, education, summer, or tour. The most recent subscription and Apollon musagète. The first three ballets made his performances were in February name. Igor Stravinsky, aged 27, had arrived. In the early 2010, when Charles Dutoit 1960s, he noted that the Firebird quickly became a conducted the 1911 Suite. “mainstay” of his life as a conductor: “I made my conducting debut with it (the complete ballet) in 1915 at a Red Cross The Philadelphia Orchestra benefit in Paris, and since then I have conducted it nearly a has recorded the Firebird Suite seven times: in 1924, 1927, thousand times, though ten thousand would not erase the and 1935 with Stokowski for memory of the terror I suffered that first time.” RCA; in 1953 and 1967 with A Closer Look The tale of the Firebird is simple, even Eugene Ormandy for CBS; in elemental. An enchanted bird, the Firebird, guides Crown 1973 with Ormandy for RCA; Prince Ivan, who is lost in the woods, to the castle of and in 1978 with Riccardo Muti Kastcheï the Immortal. The evil Kastcheï, who holds 13 for EMI. princesses captive, would ordinarily turn Ivan to stone, as The score for the 1919 Suite he has all the other knights who have attempted to free the calls for piccolo (doubling alto princesses. But Ivan is more valiant; and he has a magic flute II), two flutes (II doubling bird on his side, too, which helps a great deal. Aided by the ), three oboes (III Firebird, who tells him the secret of Kastcheï’s immorality— doubling English horn), two that his soul is in the form of an egg kept in a casket, which clarinets, two bassoons, four is promptly crushed—the Prince defeats the evil forces, horns, two trumpets, three the magic castle vanishes with a “poof,” all the knights trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (bass drum, come back to life to comfort the freed princesses, and Ivan cymbals, tambourine, triangle, makes away with the most beautiful princess, of course, xylophone), harp, piano who becomes his bride as the dark woods fill with light and (doubling celeste), and strings. all dance to the familiar finale-music. The Firebird Suite runs After the ballet’s premiere, Stravinsky prepared a five- approximately 20 minutes in movement concert suite from Firebird (1911); in 1919 performance. he revised this suite, omitting two movements and adding the “Berceuse” and Finale. In 1945 he made a third suite, containing all of the above elements. —Paul J. Horsley/Christopher H. Gibbs

Program notes © 2014. All rights reserved. Program notes may not be reprinted without written permission from The Philadelphia Orchestra Association and/or Kenneth LaFave.