STRAVINSKY BALLETS
The Concierto de Aranjuez, composed in 1939, scored such a success that it launched Rodrigo a succession of nine further concertos, including another for guitar and one each for two and four guitars, plus the Fantasía para un gentilhombre for Guitar and Orchestra( 1954), the non-Aranjuez work of his that most frequently gets dusted off. Of its ultrafamous second movement, Rodrigo wrote,“ I heard a voice inside me singing the entire theme of the Adagio at one go, without hesitation.”
Instrumentation: Two flutes( one doubling piccolo), two oboes( one doubling English horn), two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, and strings, in addition to the solo guitar.
Andreia Pinto Correia
Born: August 23, 1971 in Lisbon, Portugal Residing in Brooklyn, New York City
CORTEJO [ 2023 ]
Following study in her native Portugal, Andreia Pinto Correia continued with graduate work in Boston at the Berklee School of Music and earned her doctorate in composition from the New England Conservatory there. She has carried out commissions from such notable orchestras as the São Paulo Symphony, Boston Symphony, New York Philharmonic, and Los Angeles Philharmonic, which premiered Cortejo in 2023. Her oeuvre includes collaborations with artists and scholars in various disciplines, including history, marine biology, linguistics, film-making, and literature.
Cortejo was born of her fascination with Cervantes’ classic novel Don Quijote de la Mancha.“ I could not stop reflecting on how one of the most enduring images that stayed with me is that of the procession, a theme that recurs throughout Don Quijote,” she says.“ During the writing process, I turned to a description of one of the processions in Don Quijote,‘ el cortejo de los sabios’( the procession of the wise men). Cortejo is divided into six episodes, each inspired by a particular word in‘ el cortejo de los sabios’ and depicting a distinct musical landscape. The episodes follow a procession-like cyclical structure and are played without pause.”:
I. Procesión(“ a spark of celebration”); II. Claroscuro( light and darkness)—“ layers of strings representing light … by the low winds and brass, as well as by the piano and percussion( whose music represents darkness)”; III. Procesión(“ call and answer between the solo oboe and wind ensemble”); IV. Claroscuro returns; V. Infinitas luces( Infinite Lights,“ lyrical and delicate”); VI. Reencuentros( Reencounters,“ The end of the procession nears, as elements from the five previous episodes reemerge, meld, mirror each other, then vanish abruptly as if waking from a dream.”)
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, percussion( vibraphone, nipple gongs, tam tams, snare drum, crotales, marimba, cowbell, triangles, suspended cymbal, crash cymbal, sizzle cymbal, side drum, glockenspiel, xylophone, tubular bells, tom-toms, and bass drum), harp, piano, and strings.
Igor Stravinsky
DIVERTIMENTO FROM THE FAIRY’ S KISS [ 1928, REV. 1949
One of Diaghilev’ s notable colleagues— or competitors— was Ida Rubinstein. She made her stage debut in 1908 in Oscar Wilde’ s Salomé, in which her interpretation of the“ Dance of the Seven Veils” left absolutely nothing to the imagination. She danced from 1909 – 11 in Diaghilev’ s Ballets Russes and in 1911 formed her own dance company. In 1928, she commissioned Stravinsky’ s music for The Fairy’ s Kiss. Stravinsky explained in his Autobiography:“ The idea was that I should compose something inspired by the music of Tchaikovsky. My well-known fondness for this composer, and, still more, the fact that November [ 1928 ], the time fixed for the performance, would mark the 35 th anniversary of his death, induced me to accept the offer.”
This concept had obvious parallels with what Stravinsky had done a few years earlier with Pulcinella. He selected themes from five songs and 11 piano pieces by Tchaikovsky to accompany a scenario derived from Hans Christian Andersen’ s happy-sad novella The Snow Maiden, summarized at the top of the score:“ A fairy marks a young man with her mysterious kiss while he is still a child. She withdraws him from his mother’ s arms. She withdraws him from life on the day of his greatest happiness in order to possess him and preserve this happiness forever. She marks him once more with her kiss.”
In 1934, six years after the work’ s premiere, Stravinsky assembled a 20-minute concert suite from the ballet, which he titled Divertimento. He revised the Divertimento in 1949 and incorporated his alterations into the complete ballet score the following year, 1950. The adjustments were minimal. Stravinsky often effected small changes in order to bring out new editions of his scores, thereby extending their copyright protection.
Instrumentation: Two flutes and piccolo( doubling third flute), two oboes and English horn, two clarinets and bass clarinet( doubling third clarinet), two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, harp, and strings.
JAMES M. KELLER has served as the longtime program annotator of the New York Philharmonic and the San Francisco Symphony, where he recently completed his 25th season. He is the author of Chamber Music: A Listener’ s Guide( Oxford University Press).
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