MARIN CONDUCTS TIME FOR THREE
Instrumentation Three flutes ( third doubling piccolo ), three oboes ( third doubling English horn ), three clarinets ( third doubling bass clarinet ), three bassoons ( third doubling contrabassoon ), four horns , three trumpets , three trombones , tuba , timpani , glockenspiel , xylophone , vibraphone , marimba , triangle , tambourine , wood block , crash cymbals , tam-tam , snare drum , bass drum , piano , and strings , in addition to two solo amplified violins and a solo amplified double bass .
Richard Strauss
Born June 11 , 1864 in Munich , Germany Died September 8 , 1949 in Garmisch- Partenkirchen , Germany
DON JUAN [ 1888-89 )
In the 19 th century an aesthetic conflict raged between “ absolute music ” ( compositions worked out according to strictly musical logic ) and “ program music ” ( illustrative pieces , like symphonic poems , developed from some literary or pictorial inspiration ). Richard Strauss fell under the spell of the latter , and from the late 1880s on he produced nine symphonic poems
Don Juan , which falls near the beginning of this procession , is the first of Strauss ’ compositions to reveal his distinct personality as a composer . The extramusical impetus for this work was the womanizer whose libertine exploits were apparently born in popular literature of the 16 th century and then embroidered through generations of poets , playwrights , and novelists . Strauss based his symphonic poem on a version of the tale produced in 1844 by Austro-Hungarian poet Nikolaus Lenau . Lenau ’ s Don Juan is a dreamer whose compulsion to seduce and desert a succession of women derives not from mere male piggery , but rather from a Romantic quest for the ever-elusive ideal — in this case , “ to enjoy in one woman all women , since he cannot possess them as individuals .”
Strauss traces a series of Don Juan ’ s exploits , with several episodes of love music conveying the disparate characters of the women he conquers . ( In a 1904 rehearsal with the Boston Symphony , Strauss stopped the orchestra at one point with the admonishment , “ Gentlemen , I must confess that I did not intend this passage to be so beautiful ; that woman was just a common tramp !”) Don Juan meets his inevitable doom in the end . A violent crash in the
orchestra represents the thrust of a sword being run him through by a father avenging the death of one of the Don ’ s victims , and his life slips away via a discordant note on the trumpet . Thus the piece achieves its final tableau .
Instrumentation Three flutes and piccolo , two oboes and English horn , two clarinets , two bassoons and contrabassoon , four horns , three trumpets , three trombones , tuba , timpani , triangle , cymbals , glockenspiel , harp , and strings .
Maurice Ravel
Born March 7 , 1875 in Ciboure , France Died December 28 , 1937 in Paris , France
DAPHNIS ET CHLOÉ SUITE NO . 2 [ 1909-12 / 1913 ]
Soon after Serge Diaghilev ’ s Ballets Russes arrived in Paris in 1909 , a commission from the company became a signal that a composer had arrived at the summit of cultural life in the city that prided itself as the summit of culture . Already that year , Diaghilev turned to Maurice Ravel for a ballet based on the pastoral romance attributed to the third-century C . E . Greek author Longus , as filtered through the late- 16 th -century French poet Jacques Amyot . After many delays , the ballet , a single act divided into three scenes , made its way to the stage of the Théâtre du Châtelet on June 8 , 1912 — about two years after Diaghilev had hoped — with Vaslav Nijinsky dancing the role of Daphnis and with Tamara Karsavina as Chloé . By the time it reached the stage , Ravel had already extracted the first of his two orchestral suites from the score , and in 1913 he prepared a second ( premiered in March 1914 ), which has become the more popular of the pair .
Ravel described Daphnis et Chloé as “ a great choreographic symphony … a vast musical fresco , less scrupulous in questions of archeology than faithful to the Greece of my dreams , which identifies quite willingly with that imagined and depicted by late 18 th -century French artists .” Suite No . 2 incorporates sections of the ballet that have principally to do with celebration . He provided a scenario , extracted in a general way from the plot of the entire ballet , and inscribed it at the appropriate spots in the score . In a rustic grotto , Daphnis and Chloé encounter each other and embrace passionately . They mime the tale of the flute-playing god Pan ( portrayed by Daphnis ) and the nymph Syrinx ( interpreted by Chloé ). “ In mad whirlings ,” writes Ravel , “ Chloé falls into the arms of Daphnis . Before the altar of the nymphs he swears on two sheep his fidelity ”— after which everyone celebrates .
Instrumentation : Two flutes plus piccolo and alto flute , two oboes and English horn , two clarinets plus E- flat clarinet , and bass clarinet , three bassoons and contrabassoon , four horns , four trumpets , three trombones , tuba , timpani , bass drum , cymbals , triangle , side drum , tambourine , snare drum , castanets , glockenspiel , celesta , two harps , and strings . Parts for chorus , which Ravel offers offers as optional in the score , are not used in these performances .
Maximilian Franz
JAN-FEB 2024 / OVERTURE 45