PROGRAM NOTES
ANGEL BLUE AND RACHMANINOFF 2
Maximilian Franz
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
BY KORI HILL
Leoš Janáček
Born July 3 , 1854 , Hukvaldy , Czechia Died August 12 , 1928 , Ostrava , Czechia
SUITE FROM THE CUNNING LITTLE VIXEN [ 1923 ]
Leoš Janáček took no issue when he completed his 1923 opera , The Cunning Little Vixen , he trusted his collaborator , the conductor Václav Talich , to present the work in an orchestral setting . Not “ present ” as program the work , but to adapt for symphonic orchestra . If Talich needed to reorchestrate so it would sit better , changes were not only permitted , but welcome .
In classical music , the word “ arrangement ” is sometimes met with distrust . There comes the assumption – the fear – of “ meddling ,” messing with the composition ’ s fidelity . Janáček and Talich ’ s working relationship may read as an uncommon arrangement , despite arranging , editing , and shortening of works being part of this tradition for centuries . Some scholars see Talich ’ s orchestrations of Janáček other operas ( e . g ., Kât ’ a Kabanová ) as softening the composer ’ s edges and unique sounds , while Janáček ’ s papers indicate he was open to and pleased with orchestral conductors ’ orchestral reworkings of his operas .
Talich completed his arrangement of The Cunning Little Vixen in 1937 ; it would be reworked again by his colleague Václav Smetáček in 1965 . Talich drew from the opera ’ s first act , exploring the tenuous relationship between the vixen and the forester who captures and attempts to domesticate her . One of the most arresting moments is a magical motive near the middle of the suite , a call-and-response figure layered between woodwinds and strings that blossoms into a glorious fanfare in the brass . The Cunning Little Vixen Suite is a gorgeous , impressionistic journey , a deft balance of Janáček ’ s angularity and spikiness with the orchestra ’ s warm , rich texture and lyricism . These contrasts evoke the tug and pull between the vixen and her captor : the freedom and autonomy of her life in the forest ; and human ’ s dogged attempts to control what they have no business controlling .
Instrumentation Four flutes including two piccolos , three oboes including English horn , two clarinets , bass clarinet , two bassoons , contrabassoon , four horns , three trumpets , three trombones , tuba , timpani , percussion , harp , celesta , and strings .
Samuel Barber
Born March 9 , 1910 , West Chester , PA Died January 23 , 1981 , New York , NY
KNOXVILLE : SUMMER 1915 [ 1947 ]
Barber ’ s Knoxville : Summer 1915 is a work for soprano ( and sometimes tenor ) and orchestra wrapped in nostalgia . Not the sickly-sweet kind ; the kind tempered by knowledge of something already lived . Knoxville is a setting of the prose poem of the same name by novelist , screenwriter , poet , and film critic James Agee ( 1909 – 1955 ). The setting is Agee ’ s childhood in Knoxville , Tennessee , the year before everything would change with the sudden death of his father . Barber worked the piece during a period of impending loss : his father and aunt were both terminally ill . The work was commissioned by Boston Symphony music director Serge Koussevitsky and soprano Eleanor Steber in 1947 and completed by Barber the same year . Steber , Koussevitsky , and the Boston Symphony debuted the piece in 1948 ; Barber dedicated it to his father .
Knoxville ’ s form and texture captures the free form structure of Agee ’ s poem and the evocative descriptions therein . Its ABA structure is overshadowed by motives and melodies whose take the directions of a five-year-old boy who is also a grown man reflecting on the last perfect summer as a small boy . The orchestra and vocalist oscillate between states of wakefulness and sleep , moving between states of being and reflection . Memory is full of moments of clarity and fog ; incidents painted brighter than they were , because compared to what came next , they have become moments to cherish and hold fast to . Through a gentle lyricism and lush harmonies , Barber treats Agee ’ s protagonist with compassion and empathy ; a reminder that nostalgia is not always a tool of denial , but of healing .
Instrumentation Flute doubling piccolo , oboe doubling English horn , clarinet , bassoon , two horns , trumpet , percussion , harp , and strings .
Terence Blanchard
Born March 13 , 1962 in New Orleans , LA
FIRE SHUT UP IN MY BONES ( SELECTIONS ) [ 2019 ]
Operas are created from a variety of sources : a real event or person ( The Death of Klinghoffer ; Omar ); a serialized book ( The Cunning Little Vixen ); or in the case of Fire Shut Up in My Bones , a memoir . This was not Blanchard ’ s first foray into opera ; his 2013 Champion debuted one year before Charles M . Blow ’ s memoir hit the shelves . But Fire would mark the first time one of Blanchard ’ s operas would travel from Opera Theatre of Saint Louis to The Met – and the first time an opera by a Black composer was staged by The Metropolitan Opera . It opened the Met ’ s 2021 – 2022 season on October 27 , 2021 .
22 OVERTURE / BSOmusic . org