R I A L B VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY Joyful Music Making The Blair Woodwind Quintet prepare to premiere a work by Peter Schickele 9 0 page 3 0 2 G N I R P S Spring 2009 1 Cover photo of The Blair Woodwind Quintet by Daniel DuBois The BLAIR QUARTER NOTE , a publication From the of the Blair School of Music, is pub - Dean lished twice a year in cooperation with N E E R t is a pleasure to bring you news A Challenging Blend Development and Alumni Relations G E V E from the Blair School of Music Communications for alumni, current T S students and their parents, and other once again. This issue of The Composer Peter Schickele creates a new work for the Blair Woodwind Quintet friends of the School. IQUARTER NOTE goes to the very heart of what we are about as musi - The BLAIR QUARTER NOTE , Vol. 33 By Angela Fox No. 1, Spring 2009 cians. When we think about schools of © 2009 by Vanderbilt University. music, we usually think of places where he ambitious goal of the Blair Com - Kirchner, flute; Jared Hauser, oboe; Cas - at the Juilliard School of Music, where All rights reserved. performing musicians and scholars are missioning Project is to pair each sandra Lee, clarinet; Cynthia Estill, bas - he returned to teach in 1961. trained, both as performing artists and of Blair’s three signature faculty soon; and Leslie Norton, horn. “We felt Schickele gave up teaching four years Editor , Bonnie Arant Ertelt T as teachers, and where concerts are Art Director , Donna DeVore Pritchett ensembles with acclaimed composers from we needed a composer who understands later to pursue a career as a freelance Designer , Christopher Collins given. That much is true, and it is around the world to create new music for these instruments—and Schickele is a bas - composer/performer and gained inter - Contributors , Angela Fox, Tim Ghianni, important. audiences everywhere to enjoy. A Year in soonist as well as an incredible compos - national acclaim when he “discovered” Jonathan Marx, Missy Pankake and Jim the Catskills by Peter Schickele is one of er,” Kirchner says. “We also love this man’s the works—and indeed the very exis - Patterson There is another element to music, however—its actual creation. Of these most eagerly anticipated new works. humor, because, even though tence—of P.D.Q. Bach, the great Associate Dean for Development and course, the Blair School, like most It has its world debut this spring with the we take music seriously, we find composer’s long-lost (yes, some Alumni Relations , Virginia Payne schools of music, has several wonder - Blair Woodwind Quintet. much joy in our work, too.” would say fictional) offspring. Director of External Affairs , Cindy Steine ful composers on its faculty, and we “When we received word of the James Schickele has been finding While he still has a warm and Stephen Turner Family Foundation fund - joy in music since childhood. fruitful working relationship Precollege, adult, and undergraduate take great pride in their work. Three alumni are encouraged to send their years ago, however, we decided to ing of the Blair Commissioning Project Born into a musical family in with this branch of the Bach professional or personal news to: commission works for three of our in 2006, I let the ensembles pick the com - Iowa, Schickele grew up in dynasty, Schickele has earned finest ensembles—the Blair String poser they wanted,” Dean Mark Wait says. Washington, D.C., and Fargo, as much if not more acclaim The BLAIR QUARTER NOTE Quartet, the Blair Woodwind Quintet, The Blakemore Trio selected composer N.D., where he studied com - in recent years composing for 2400 Blakemore Avenue Dean Mark Wait Nashville, TN 37212-3499 and the Blakemore Trio—from nation - Susan Botti, whose new work is set for position with Sigvald Thomp - symphony orchestras, choral ally and internationally renowned composers. With funding from the James S. Turner its world premiere with the trio in New son. “We used to have lots of Schickele groups and chamber ensem - Or by e-mail to: Family Foundation, these commissions are becoming a reality. In addition, the Dean’s York City in spring 2010, while Blair String chamber music in the home,” Schickele bles. A short sample of recent Schickele [email protected] Office is funding commissions of solo works for several of our individual faculty Quartet chose Gyorgy Kurtag. recalls. “My brother played the viola and premieres includes: Concerto for Viola members at Blair. Undergraduate alumni news now After reviewing the works of dozens was always getting people together to and Orchestra, with Danielle Farina and appears in both Vanderbilt Magazine’s These commissions are vitally important for several reasons. First, of course, they culmi - of composers, the Blair Woodwind Quin - play chamber music, so I was around the Pasadena Symphony under Jorge class notes section and in The BLAIR nate in the creation of musical works that expand and enrich the repertoire. Too often, tet picked Schickele, perhaps best known string quartet music a lot.” Mester; Symphony No. 2 The Sweet Sea - QUARTER NOTE . Any news sent by undergraduate alumni is forwarded to we concentrate on music of the past while ignoring the fact that engaging new works is Vanderbilt Magazine . part of our work as artists and musicians. Secondly, these new works will bring attention to the Blair School and its excellent performing faculty, who will become the propo - He is a truly a multifaceted composer. He has an incredible Visit us on the Web at nents of these works. All of these works will be performed not only at Vanderbilt Uni - “ www.vanderbilt.edu/Blair/ versity, but at important musical centers elsewhere. Finally, by making possible the catalog of compositions and has written for every medium. Vanderbilt University is committed to actual creation and performance of these new works, we are reminded of the impor - principles of equal opportunity and tance of music as a means of expression, as an art form in itself. And that, ultimately, is So one thing I know about his Blair commission is that affirmative action. the very reason we exist as artists and as a school of music. it will be very well-crafted. ” –Dean Mark Wait for his satirical/musical alter-ego P.D.Q. Schickele himself gravitated to the son, premiered by the Saint Paul Cham - Mark Wait Bach, but also an outstanding musician woodwinds as a young boy—and laid claim ber Orchestra under Stefan Sanderling; and composer in his own right. “The wood - to being the only bassoonist in Fargo at New Goldberg Variations for cello and wind quintet is a strange animal,” says the time. By the time he graduated from piano, performed by Yo-Yo Ma and Jane Kirchner, quintet charter member Swarthmore in 1957, he had already com - Emanuel Ax; Symphony No. 1 Songlines , since 1971. “It’s unlike a string or brass posed and conducted orchestral works, premiered by the National Symphony Dean quintet, in which the instruments’ sounds chamber music and a number of songs. under Leonard Slatkin and performed by are produced in basically the same way He went on to study composition with such orchestras as the New York Phil - and the timbre of the group is homoge - Roy Harris and Darius Milhaud, and with harmonic and the Cleveland Orchestra; nous.” The Blair ensemble consists of Vincent Persichetti and William Bergsma and Blue Set No. 1, a jazz string quartet 2 BLAIR Quarter Note Spring 2009 3 commissioned by the Greene Quartet but with strings, the instruments are sim - line that I had never used and had never and recorded on the Virgin label. ilar and inherently have a strong blend,” even decided which instruments they Schickele has also created music for he notes. “With woodwinds, each instru - were suited for,” Schickele says. “When Cornelia Heard named holder of feature films, documentaries, television ment is so different. The flute, oboe, clar - I began working on this commission, I commercials and several Sesame Street inet and bassoon, though all winds, are realized these sketches were perfect for episodes. He was one of the compos - all different sounds, and the French horn, a woodwind quintet.” Valere Blair Potter Chair er/lyricists for Oh! Calcutta! , and his week - well, that isn’t even a woodwind and so The fourth movement features a promi - D A ly syndicated radio program, Schickele it can really stick out. The blending is nent oboe solo and a clarinet solo—and ornelia Heard, professor of N I E L D U Mix, has been heard nationwide over Pub - tricky—so while I want to take advan - invites audience reflection. “It’s slow and music and chair of the strings B O I lic Radio International since 1992. Then tage of the variety, I also want to explore still,” Schickele says. “I don’t like to use Cdepartment of the Blair School S there are his orchestral programs P.D.Q. the blending.” words like ‘sad’ because it’s like telling of Music, has been named the holder Bach: The Vegas Years and P.D.Q. Bach Schickele’s new work explores variety the audience what to feel.” The fifth move - of the newly created Valere Blair Pot - Strikes Back , as well as his chamber pro - and blending in five movements. The first ment, while not overtly humorous, cer - ter Chair. gram, P.D.Q. Bach and Peter Schickele: The movement, called “Fantasy,” showcases tainly sounds like it may leave audiences The chair is endowed through a gift smiling.