STRAVINSKY BALLETS
NOTES ON THE PROGRAM
By James M. Keller
Igor Stravinsky
Born: June 5( old style)/ 17( new style), 1882 in Oranienbaum( now called Lomonosov) in the Northwest St. Petersburg Region of Russia Died: April 6, 1971 in New York City
SUITE FROM PULCINELLA [ 1920 / 22 ]
Among Stravinsky’ s many collaborations with Serge Diaghilev’ s Ballets Russes, Pulcinella( 1920) has proved an endearing favorite. Diaghilev suggested that it be based on music by 18 th-century composer Giovanni Battista Pergolesi( 1710 – 36), which Stravinsky found off-putting since he disliked the only Pergolesi pieces he knew— the Stabat Mater and the opera La serva padrona. Nonetheless, he dug into available editions and came up with movements that might serve the project. It later turned out that many of the Pergolesi pieces Stravinsky chose were misattributed. In addition to three pieces authentically by Pergolesi, the creators of these tunes included his more obscure contemporaries Domenico Gallo, Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer, and Carlo Ignazio Monza.
These were fitted to a scenario involving Pulcinella, the hero of the traditional commedia dell’ arte, which was popular in Pergolesi’ s Naples. Stravinsky crafted arrangements( for small orchestra and three vocal soloists) that maintained the original melodies and bass lines but transposed the music to 1920 by way of modernist harmonies, rhythms, and orchestration.“ Pulcinella was my discovery of the past,” Stravinsky wrote,“ the epiphany through which the whole of my late work became possible. It was a backward look, of course— the first of many love affairs in that direction— but it was a look in the mirror, too.” The premiere production of Pulcinella, at the Paris Opéra with Ernest Ansermet conducting, included sets by Pablo Picasso and choreography by
Léonide Massine, who danced the title role himself. In 1922, Stravinsky created this 11-movement concert suite out of his ballet score, with instruments replacing the vocal lines.
Instrumentation: Two flutes( second doubling piccolo), two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, trumpet, trombone, and strings.
Joaquin Rodrigo
Born: November 22, 1901 in Sagunta, Spain Died: July 6, 1999 in Madrid, Spain
CONCIERTO DE ARANJUEZ [ 1939 ]
Blind since the age of three, Rodrigo began his musical studies in Valencia before moving to study with Paul Dukas in Paris, which remained his home through the time of the Spanish Civil War. It is there that he composed his Concierto de
Aranjuez, which had been inspired by a dinner where he encountered the noted guitarist Regino Sainz de la Maza, who would play the concerto’ s premiere and to whom Rodrigo would dedicate the score.“ We ate well and the wine was not bad at all,” Rodrigo recalled.“ It was the right moment for audacious fantasizing. … All of a sudden, Regino, in that tone between unpredictable and determined which was so characteristic of him, said:‘ Listen, you have to come back with a Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra’— and to go straight to my heart, he added in a pathetic voice:‘ It’ s the dream of my life’— and resorting to a bit of flattery, he continued,‘ This is your calling, as if you were‘ the chosen one.’ I quickly swallowed two glasses of the best Rioja, and exclaimed in a most convincing tone,‘ All right, it’ s a deal!’”
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