Non-Directed Music Listening Program Series II Non-Directed Music Listening Program Script Series II Week 1 Composer: Reinhold Glière (1875 – 1926) Composition: Russian Sailors’ Dance Performance: Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra Recording: Telarc Sampler, Volume 1 Telarc CD 80001 Day 1: Our music this week is by Reinhold Glière (RINE-hold Glee YAIR), a Russian composer from the Ukraine. This music is the Russian Sailors’ Dance. The Russian Sailors’ Dance is from the ballet “The Red Poppy”. The story takes place on a Chinese waterfront where Russian sailors, Chinese coolies (or workers), and a beautiful young Chinese woman all take turns dancing. It ends with the Russian sailors dancing to a rousing finish. Day 2: This week’s music is the Russian Sailors’ Dance from the ballet, “The Red Poppy” composed by Reinhold Glière. This music was written in 1927. The story is set in a Chinese seaport where a group of Chinese dock workers have been half-starved and brutally over-worked. A Russian captain comes to their rescue, and a young Chinese woman offers him a bouquet of flowers. The bouquet includes red poppies which are the symbol of liberty in China. Other workers gather to watch and then to join in the dancing. Listen to the melody as it is repeated in different styles. Can you picture the style of dancing for each repetition of the theme? Day 3: This week we are listening to the Russian Sailors’ Dance from “The Red Poppy” ballet by Reinhold Glière. We will be hearing an introduction which crescendos to a climax followed by the theme which is presented in very low bass tones. The theme is then repeated many times but played in different musical styles. The different styles may be fast or slow, very low (as in the beginning) or very high in pitch, very soft or very loud dynamics, or played by different instruments to create contrasting tone colors. The theme itself is a very old Russian folk song. How many times do you hear it repeated? How are the repetitions different? Non-Directed Music Listening Program Script Series II Day 4: This week we are listening to the Russian Sailors’ Dance by Reinhold Glière. Glière was a teacher of composition for many years. He first taught in Kiev and later, during the first half of this century, at the Moscow Conservatory. One of his most famous students was 11-year-old Sergei Prokofiev who grew up to compose, among other things, “Peter and the Wolf”. Glière was interested in Russian folk music. His orchestrations are rich in color. Can you picture the Russian sailors dancing on the Chinese waterfront as you hear this music? Day 5: This week’s music is the Russian Sailors’ Dance, by Reinhold Glière. When it was premiered at the Bolshoi (BOWL-shoy) Theatre in Moscow in 1927, the dance of the Russian sailors “brought down the house”. Can you understand why the audience would have cheered so wildly for this rousing, exciting dance music? Non-Directed Music Listening Program Script Series II Week 2 Composer: Benjamin Britten (1913 - Composition: Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, “Fugue” Performance: Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, Slatkin Recording: Telarc Sampler, Volume 2 Telarc CD 80002 Day 1: This week’s music is form the Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, by British composer Benjamin Britten. Benjamin Britten wrote this music in 1946 to introduce children to the instrument families of the orchestra. We will hear the final segment with all families of the orchestra coming together. Can you identify when different instruments play and what those instruments are? Day2: Benjamin Britten is one of Great Britain’s most celebrated composers. He wrote this week’s selection, “Fugue”, from the Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra to teach children about the different instruments in an orchestra. There are four families of instruments. Do you know what they are? (Pause) Strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion. Today’s fugue starts out with flutes and other members of the woodwind family. Then, violins enter, followed by other members of the string family (listen for the harp entrance here). Horns come in next with other brass instruments following. Finally, for added splash, the percussion enters. The theme is then played by trombones and a grand climax ends the piece. Day 3: Today’s music is by one of Great Britain’s most celebrated composers. Do you remember his name? It is Benjamin Britten. The music is the Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. Do you know which instruments are in which families? The four families are: strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion. In which family are drums and cymbals? (Pause) Yes, percussion. In which family are clarinets, flutes, and bassoons? Woodwinds is correct. How about trumpets, trombones, and French horns? Yes, they are all brass instruments. Can you name a stringed instrument? If you said violin, viola, cello, double bass, or harp, you are correct. Non-Directed Music Listening Program Script Series II Day 4: This week’s music is by Benjamin Britten. Do you remember in which country he lived? Great Britain. We have been listening to the “fugue” from the Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. A fugue is like a chase with the opening theme repeated by each new voice, or instrument. The fugal theme in this piece moves very rapidly and each new entry of the fugue theme is by a new instrument. Try putting your hand up each time you hear a new entry of the fugue theme today. Day 5: This week’s music is from the Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, by British composer Benjamin Britten. This week’s music is composed to show the scope and power of a symphony orchestra. It’s also meant to teach young people about families of instruments. Silently (in your head) try naming each instrument as it plays. Do you like the way the piece ends? Non-Directed Music Listening Program Script Series II Week 3 Composer: Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924) Composition: Pavane Op. 50 for Orchestra and Choir Performance: Philharmonic Orchestra/Ambrosian Singers, Andrew Davis Recording: CBS Masterworks, “The French Album” CBS MFK45543 Day 1: This week’s featured Listening Program selection is the Pavane by Gabriel Fauré. Do you like music that makes you feel calm, rested, relaxed: If so, you’ll enjoy this week’s Listening Program selection. It is entitled Pavane (pah-VAHN) and was written by French composer, Gabriel Fauré (Gab-ree-el Fo-RAY). Fauré lived at the turn of this century and is well-loved in his native country. See if you also enjoy his music as we listen to the Pavane. Day 2: This week’s featured music is Pavane by Gabriel Fauré. Do you remember which instruments are featured? The flute starts the theme accompanied by plucked or “pizzicato” (pits-I-KAH-toe) strings. Then a choir of men’s and women’s voices enters singing, in French, a serene melody that continues the opening theme. Following this the mood changes. It is as if the chorus stops to ask questions, answers them, and then returns to the stately opening theme. We do not hear the entire Pavane here – only the first segment. Day 3: Do you remember the name of this week’s music selection? It is Pavane by the French composer, Gabriel Fauré. A “pavane” is a type of dance. As you may imagine, it is a very old dance, going back to the 16th century. The dance is a slow, stately procession, with two single and one double step backward. Try to imagine how the dance would look as you hear the music. Non-Directed Music Listening Program Script Series II Day 4: This week’s music is Pavane by Gabriel Fauré. Fauré wrote music that was based on clarity, balance, and serenity. He liked these qualities in ancient Greek culture and tried to emulate them in a modern context. How does this week’s music make you feel? Can you describe your feelings to your classroom teacher after the music is played? Day 5: French composer Gabriel Fauré wrote this week’s featured listening selection, the Pavane Opus 50 for Orchestra and Chorus. Rather than writing grand opera and symphonies, Fauré preferred to write songs for voice and compositions for small groups of instruments. He was Director of the Paris Conservatory of Music for 15 years but was forced to retire because of deafness. This music is on a grander scale than many of Fauré’s other compositions. Do you like the pure, serene melody and stately balance of this music? Let’s listen to Fauré’s Pavane for the final time this week. Non-Directed Music Listening Program Script Series II Week 4 Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791) Composition: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, “First Movement” Performance: Prague Chamber Orchestra, Mackerras Recording: Telarc Sampler, Volume 3 Telarc CD 80003 Day 1: We are fortunate this week because we will be enjoying a familiar composition – Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (I-na KLY-na NOCHT-moo-zeek) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. If you haven’t heard this piece before, I can almost promise you’ll be whistling it out loud or in your head by the end of this week. As you listen think how the music makes you feel. Is it light and happy – or slow and sombre?? Day 2: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik was written by the Austrian composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The title, which is in German, means “a little night music”. This music is meant to be played by a small group of stringed instruments outside in a garden on a summer evening.