BEDRICH SMETANA (1824-1884) Bartered Bride Overture 1866

Bedrich Smetana was one of the first Czech composers to achieve an international reputation. He studied with Franz Liszt, who encouraged him to help create a national Czech musical style. While Smetana’s music uses Czech dance forms and rhythms that mimic the Czech language, he seldom used actual folk songs in his music. Smetana wrote eight operas,all in the Czech language, most with themes drawn from Bohemian melodies. By the mid-1870s, Smetana was almost entirely deaf, but like Beethoven, he continued composing until the end of ...

BEDRICH SMETANA (1824-1884) Bartered Bride Overture 1866

Bedrich Smetana was one of the first Czech composers to achieve an international reputation. He studied with Franz Liszt, who encouraged him to help create a national Czech musical style. While Smetana’s music uses Czech dance forms and rhythms that mimic the Czech language, he seldom used actual folk songs in his music. Smetana wrote eight operas,all in the Czech language, most with themes drawn from Bohemian melodies. By the mid-1870s, Smetana was almost entirely deaf, but like Beethoven, he continued composing until the end of his life.

The Bartered Bride is a comic opera exploring themes of arranged marriage, romantic love, and mistaken identity. The overture was composed before the opera itself and contains little of the music from the opera itself. We first hear a rousing theme in the full orchestra. This leads into an intricate melody in the strings played softly but at breakneck speed. The winds then join over the top with rhythmic punctuation. The winds take over in a lyrical melody which builds to a rousing crescendo where we hear the opening theme with the full orchestra.

AARON COPLAND (1900-1990) Variations on a Shaker Melody 1945

Aaron Copland was born and raised in Brooklyn, the youngest of five children. His early musical training came from his older sister. He later studied with Rubin Goldmark in New York and with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. On returning to the US, he developed a distinctly American musical sensibility, incorporating folk and jazz themes into much of his music. In his later years,he turned from composing to conducting and served as a frequent guest conductor throughout the US and Europe.

Variations on a Shaker Melody comes from the Copland ballet Appalachian Spring which was commissioned by the dancer and choreographer Martha Graham. Copland later arranged the ballet music for concert orchestra. We first hear the “Simple Gifts” theme at a slow tempo.

Copland then explores the theme through varying instrumentation and tempos before culminating in a slow unison restatement of the theme.

WILLIAM GRANT STILL (1895-1978) Symphony No. 1, Mvt 3 1930, revised 1969 “Animato”

William Grant Still was a pioneer of American classical music, composing works for orchestra,opera, chorus, and ballet. He was the first American composer to have an opera performed by the New York City Opera. Although he was born in Mississippi, studied music at Oberlin in Ohio, and spent much of his life in Los Angeles,he is considered one of the founders of the Harlem Renaissance because of his association with the art scene in New York

Still’s Symphony No 1 is referred to as the “Afro-American Symphony.” It was premiered by the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in 1931 and remains one of the most widely performed symphonies by an American composer. It uses a traditional symphonic form but incorporates rhythms and tonalities from jazz and blues. Each movement, including tonight’s “Animato,” was inspired by a quote from the Paul Lawrence Dumbar poem An Ante-Bellum Sermon on the theme of emancipation.

The movement is upbeat and rhythmic, with themes alternating between the winds and strings and a strong percussive feel.

Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904)

Symphony No. 8 – III. Allegretto Grazioso 1889

Antonín Dvořák was born near Prague and received a traditional church musician’s education at the Prague Organ School. His music is typically classical in harmony but is steeped in the forms and rhythms of his native Czech culture, as well as music by other Czech composers such as his contemporary, Smetana. Dvořák gained prominence in the 19th century through the support of Brahms, who urged his own publisher to publish Dvořák’s compositions.

Dvorak’s 8th symphony was composed on his election to the Bohemian Academy of Science. It is more cheerful than his prior stormy works and incorporates more elements of Czech folk music.Dvorak himself said that he wanted to do “something new” with this symphony. The movement we hear tonight is a Scherzo with a light feel. Despite its lighthearted tempo, the beginning and ending themes feature a descending line, which in classical music typically represents falling tears. These bracket the central theme, which has more of a rising, hopeful tone.

LEROY ANDERSON (1908-1975): Blue Tango 1951

Leroy Anderson grew up in Cambridge,Massachusetts. He was raised in a musical family, playing mandolin, trombone, and string bass as a child. He graduated from Harvard and established a strong relationship with the Boston Pops Orchestra who premiered many of his compositions. He is known best for his many “orchestral miniatures,” accessible pieces which explore texture and rhythm. His music has been used heavily in radio, television, and film.

Blue Tango was written for the Boston Pops, but to Anderson’s surprise, the recorded versions achieved significant commercial success as well. The tango rhythm can be heard throughout the piece, with a light and lyrical melody over the top.

LEONARD BERNSTEIN (1918-1990) West Side Story, Overture 1961

Leonard Bernstein was a 20th century conductor, composer, pianist, educator, and social activist. He was perhaps best known for his tenure as music director of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, which he led from 1958 to 1969. Bernstein was passionate about teaching. He felt that every composition had a story, and he was keen on sharing those stories whether with the orchestra itself, with his concert audiences, or during his Young Peoples’ Concerts, broadcast on network television. Bernstein often conducted from the piano which allowed him to combine his roles as conductor,performer, and educator. He composed traditional works for solo piano, orchestra, opera, and the ballet, as well as lighter works for Broadway and film scores such as West Side Story and On the Town.

West Side Story is a musical composed by Bernstein to Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by Arthur Laurents. The story is inspired by the Shakespeare tragedy Romeo and Juliet. It explores the forbidden romance between Maria and Tony and the futile conflict between rival gangs the Jets and the Sharks. The original stage production did not include an overture, but Bernstein wrote one for the film. It includes some familiar songs from the musical including Tonight and Maria.

–INTERMISSION

JOHN WILLIAMS b. 1932 Summon The Heroes 1996

John Williams is perhaps the best-known film composer of all time. In addition to the iconic music for the Star Wars saga, he has written music for such films as Jaws, ET, Superman, the Indiana Jones movies, and Schindler’s List. His music is featured in 8 of the top 20

highest-grossing movies of all time. His music for The Force Awakens earned him his 50th Academy Award nomination. In addition to his work for film, Williams served as the Principal Conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra from 1980 to 1993.

Summon the Heroes was written for the opening of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia. It is the 3rd of 4 pieces Williams has written for the Olympic games. The piece is dedicated to Boston Pops trumpet soloist Tim Morrison and features heavy use of brass. We first hear a trumpet fanfare, then brass chorale, followed by development in the strings and other winds, ending with the trumpet fanfare superimposed over the top of the main theme.

JOHN PHILLIP SOUSA (1854-1932) Presidential Polonaise 1886

Sousa began his musical training on the violin at age 6. He soon learned a variety of wind and string instruments. At the age of 13, his father, a trombonist in the Marine Band, enlisted the young Sousa in the Marines as an apprentice. After serving his apprenticeship, he joined a theater pit orchestra, where he learned to conduct. He later returned to the marines,conducting and composing music of various genres. His many familiar marches for military band have earned him the title “March King”.

The polonaise is a stately aristocratic dance in 3/4 time. While initially a courtly dance in the 17th -19th centuries, the form was used throughout the 19th century as concert music by such composers as Beethoven, Haydn, and most notably Chopin. Sousa’s Presidential Polonaise uses the orchestration of his marches with prominent snare drum, cymbal, and piccolo descant, set in the 3/4 polonaise rhythm. It was written at the suggestion of president Chester A. Arthur as an alternative to “Hail to the Chief,” though it never quite replaced it as the presidential salute.

JIMMY VAN HEUSEN- MIKE LEWIS: Swinging on a Star 1944

Swinging on a Star is an American Pop standard with music by Jimmy VanHeusen and lyrics by Johnny Burke. It was popularized by Bing Crosby in the 1944 film Going My Way. It was arranged for orchestra by Mike Lewis in 2017.

CALVIN CUSTER (1939-1998) Salute to the Big Bands 1995

Calvin Custer attended Carnegie Mellon University and Syracuse University. He was associated with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra during the majority of his musical career serving in the keyboard, horn and string bass sections, holding various conducting positions, and serving as staff arranger. He helped to implement the orchestra’s chamber music program which continues to perform in local schools and libraries to this day. Custer was prolific in his creations of arrangements for orchestra, many of which were performed by orchestras across the country including the Boston Pops Orchestra.

Salute to the Big Bands includes swing era classics including April in Paris, I’m Getting Sentimental Over You, Pennsylvania 6-5000, Serenade in Blue, and Sing, Sing, Sing.

KOJI KONDO b. 1961 Legend of Zelda 1986

Koji Kondo is a Japanese pianist, composer, and sound designer. He has worked for most of his career writing music for Nintendo video games,including the Super Mario Brothers franchise, and tonight’s selection, the Legend of Zelda games.

JOHN WILLIAMS: Harry’s Wondrous World 2001

Williams’ film music often features the Wagnerian leitmotif, where musical themes evoke different characters and are interwoven throughout the production to signal the entry of a character. Harry’s Wondrous World includes the themes used for Harry Potter in the films Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The piece begins with strains of “Hedwig’s theme” then proceeds to explorations of “Harry’s theme” exploring hopeful, triumphant, and mysterious variations on the theme.