PROGRAM NOTES
TCHAIKOVSKY MANFRED SYMPHONY
NOTES ON THE PROGRAM
BY AARON GRAD
Richard Strauss
Born June 11 , 1864 in Munich , Germany Died September 8 , 1949 in Garmisch- Partenkirchen , Germany
DON JUAN [ 1889 ]
Richard Strauss began his musical life with conservative tastes , taking after his father ( the great horn player Franz Strauss ) in a preference for the Classical style of Mozart , Haydn , and Beethoven . It was only once Strauss left home that his ears opened up to the “ music of the future ,” to quote a phrase associated with his new musical idol , Richard Wagner . In time , Strauss would inherit Wagner ’ s mantle as the king of forward-thinking opera , but first he followed another progressive icon , Franz Liszt , into the realm of the symphonic poem , an orchestral genre of musical storytelling . Strauss ’ first “ tone poem ,” to use his preferred label , was Macbeth ( 1888 ), but it was the next one , Don Juan , that really put the 25-year-old Strauss on the map .
It was through Mozart ’ s opera Don Giovanni that Strauss first encountered the centuries-old legend of Don Juan , as the sex-crazed scoundrel is known in the original Spanish . Strauss did not spell out exactly how his tone poem lines up with the story , but the dashing passage at the beginning surely marks the appearance of Don Juan , while the coy phrases that come in response must be his conquests . The amorous episodes , interspersed with pangs of self-doubt and regret , build to the central romance of the work , a vulnerable love song first offered by a solo oboe . A vigorous horn motive brings back the rakish aspect of Don Juan , and the ensuing storminess rushes him to judgment . The music representing Don Juan ’ s death reaches a tense silence , and then an eerie coda leads to a final state of unsettled , trembling quietude .
Instrumentation Three flutes including piccolo , two oboes , English horn , two clarinets , two bassoons , contrabassoon , four horns , three trumpets , three trombones , tuba , timpani , percussion , harp , and strings .
22 OVERTURE / BSOmusic . org
James Lee III
Born November 26 , 1975 in St . Joseph , MI
FREEDOM ’ S GENUINE DAWN [ 2021 ]
James Lee III studied at the University of Michigan , where his teachers included Michael Daugherty , William Bolcom , and Bright Sheng . After completing his doctoral studies in 2005 , Lee joined the faculty of Morgan State University in Baltimore , a historically Black college with an exceptional music program . The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra has long been a champion of Lee ’ s work , and commissions and performances from the New World Symphony , National Symphony Orchestra , Detroit Symphony Orchestra , and many others have secured Lee ’ s place as a vital voice in American orchestral music . He provided the following program note for Freedom ’ s Genuine Dawn , commissioned by the BSO and featuring local hip-hop artist Wordsmith : Freedom ’ s Genuine Dawn is inspired by the words of Frederick Douglass ’ speech , “ What to the Slave is the Fourth of July ?” In his speech , it becomes apparent that Douglass did not feel that he or his people were included in the celebrations of independence . Douglass asked , “ Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice , embodied in that Declaration of Independence , extended to us ?”
Using both Wordsmith ’ s and Frederick Douglass ’ texts , I sought to lead the listener on a journey that evokes the sentiments of
the narrative . I also used the pitches F-G-D in an ascending figure to represent my title , Freedom ’ s Genuine Dawn . I believe that it was Douglass ’ desire that America would offer genuine freedom from all forms of slavery , and that that day would not delay in becoming a reality .
The work begins with a brief introduction by the narrator , followed by a grandiose accent in the strings and other parts of the orchestra . As the work continues , the music comments on aspects of Frederick Douglass ’ childhood , and then there are celebratory , playful , and patriotic passages as Douglass praises the founding fathers . This praise abruptly ends as he begins to enumerate the sins of the nation . Episodes of fluctuating emotions finally arrive at a scene of hope and longing , with the same pitches of F-G-D returning on a grander scale .
Instrumentation Two flutes , two oboes , two clarinets , two bassoons , four horns , two trumpets , three trombones , tuba , timpani , percussion , and strings .
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Born May 7 , 1840 in Votkinsk , Russia Died November 6 , 1893 in Saint Petersburg , Russia
MANFRED SYMPHONY [ 1885 ]
After the French composer Hector Berlioz conducted sensational concerts of his own music in
Maximilian Franz