• hector berlioz
    Roman Carnival Overture

    DIVE IN!
    Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) was a French composer, conductor, writer, and notoriously obsessive stalker (search "Symphonie Fantastique" if you're curious...  Berlioz won the prestigious Prix de Rome composition contest and subsequently spent time traveling in Italy.  During this time he was influenced by what he experienced there which then made its way into Roman Carnival Overture.
    RESOURCES:
    A recording by Berlin Philharmonic, with score to follow along!
    HIGHLIGHTS:
    Roman Carnival Overture was first performed in February of 1844 in Paris, conducted by the Berlioz himself.

    Roman Carnival Overture is a sort of do-over for Berlioz.  He stole the good parts of his failed opera Benvenuto Cellini - a love aria “O Teresa, whom I adore”, and a saltarello folk dance he fashioned after music he heard while traveling through Italy.

    Berlioz used these themes five years after the disastrous premiere of the opera, to write an entirely new piece of music that could be played independently as a concert opener or incorporated into the opera’s second act should anyone take a chance on it again.

    Unlike the opera premiere, which Berlioz said “was hissed with admirable energy and unanimity” the Roman Carnival Overture premiere was an immediate success and has continued to be ranked next to his Symphonie Fantastique for popularity alone.

    Listen for the gorgeous love aria theme first played on the English horn before heading over to the violas and ultimately the rest of the orchestra.


    A typical performance of Roman Carnival Overture lasts about 9 minutes. 

  • george gershwin
    ​​    piano concerto in f

    ​DIVE IN!
    George Gershwin (1898-1937) was a composer and pianist from the United States known primarily as a crossover genre composer of jazz, Tin Pan Alley popular songs, and classical music. In the classical realm he is most famous for his symphonic work An American In Paris, his opera Porgy and Bess, and his piano concertos Rhapsody in Blue and Concerto in F.  Gershwin is one of the United States’ most well known and revered composers from the 1900s despite being rejected from compositional tutoring by both Nadia Boulanger and Maurice Ravel.  And even though he died at the early age of 38 he managed to compose numerous pieces of music for large and small scale ensembles including 10 orchestral works, 2 operas, 19 musicals, and 5 film scores. He is quoted as saying “true music must reflect the thought and aspirations of the people and the time. My people are Americans. My time is today.”
    ​RESOURCES:
    A performance excerpt of the last movement featuring guest soloist Jean Yves Thibaudet with conductor Michael Tilson Thomas and the National Youth Orchestra
    HIGHLIGHTS:
    George Gershwin composed Piano Concerto in F in 1925, primarily during the months of July, August, and September in Chautauqua, New York.

    It is very much influenced by the jazz idiom and is a great showcase of Gershwin’s songwriting skill from his Tin Pan Alley days.

    It’s in three movements - marked Allegro (quick pace), Adagio-Andante (slow pace and walking pace), and Allegro agitato (quick and agitated pace) and the whole piece lasts about 30 minutes.

    In Gershwin’s own words: “The first movement employs the Charleston rhythm. It is quick and pulsating, representing the young enthusiastic spirit of American life. It begins with a rhythmic motif given out by the kettle drums…. The principal theme is announced by the bassoon. Later, a second theme is introduced by the piano. The second movement has a poetic, nocturnal atmosphere which has come to be referred to as the American blues, but in a purer form than that in which they are usually treated. The final movement reverts to the style of the first. It is an orgy of rhythms, starting violently and keeping to the same pace throughout.”
    NERD ASSIGNMENTS!
    ​
    Start with a Conversation:
    A concerto is a type of musical form that creates dialogue and drama between a single performer, and a much larger group of performers.  What exactly is dialogue? How is dialogue made? Think about constructing a brief dialogue between two people. What can you do to alter this dialogue so that one participant becomes a whole group of people? What are some examples of this type of dialogue you can think of in your every day life? [call and response in pep rallies, a religious service, etc.] Now imagine what it might be like if each person in the large group had an individual response in this dialogue. Would we be able to understand all the responses simultaneously? In music, many different sounds (often called ‘voices’) can be processed simultaneously by the human ear. Because of this it’s possible to have a two part musical dialogue with many individual voices!  

    Listening for dialogue and interpretation
    Try to listen carefully for musical dialogue and dramatic interpretive elements in this composition. How did the conversation and comparison/contrast activities help you to better engage as a listener?

  • Antonín Dvořák
    symphony #9 "From the new world"

    DIVE IN!
    Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904) was a Czech composer who showed musical talent from a young age.  He is one of the most revered and beloved composers in Czechoslovakia’s history, due in part to his elevating folk rhythms and melodies of Bohemia and Moravia into his compositions which supported a sense of cultural nationalism among listeners.

    Partly due to this, he was invited to direct the National Conservatory of Music in New York City from 1892 to 1895, with the express goal of helping young composers discover and template an American classical music sound distinct from that of Europe.  The conservatory at that time was open to accepting women and black students.  Dvorak worked closely with black composer Harry T Burleigh, who introduced him to traditional black spirituals and other melodies.  Dvorak quickly determined that the American national style of music should be rooted in traditional music of black and indigenous people.

    In 1893 the New York Philharmonic commissioned a symphony from Dvorak, which became Symphony #9 nicknamed “From the New World”.
    RESOURCES:
    "Goin' Home" arranged for Silk Road Ensemble, featuring Abigail Washburn and Yo-Yo Ma
    Watch Dominik Wollenweber teach the slow movement "Goin' Home" English horn theme
    HIGHLIGHTS:
    Antonín Dvořák composed his Symphony #9, “From the New World”, in 1893 when he was teaching at the National Conservatory of Music of America in New York City.  He was 52 years old.

    Symphony #9 is in four sections called movements, like a book with four chapters.  Each movement has its own unique characteristics and function, but as he moves through each of them Dvořák uses a technique recalling elements of the prior movements to tie the whole symphony ‘chapter book’ together.

    The first performance of Symphony #9 was in Carnegie Hall.  It was a huge success and the audience clapped so hard after every movement that Dvořák was compelled to stand up and bow each time!

    The second movement Largo melody is exceptionally popular in part because a student of Dvořák put lyrics to it and titled it “Goin’ Home”.  Many versions of this tune exist, including one by Silk Road ensemble sung in Chinese and English, featuring instruments from around the world as well as Abigail Washburn and Yo-Yo Ma.

    In its original context this music begins with slow chords in the low brass which blossom and invite the strings to create a blanket of sound upon which the solo English horn can be supported.

    The solo English horn plays the main “Goin’ Home” melody in its entirety.  This extended moment showcases the beautiful plaintive quality of the English horn and also the compelling effect of dozens of instruments weaving a soft rich accompanying sound to carry an individual instrument.  This graceful and controlled technique is an often underrated feature of the power of the symphony orchestra to create an emotional bond to the listener.  Soak it in!

    The third movement is a lively dance with a middle section of bird calls from various instruments, something Dvorak was fond of incorporating and often would notate on his shirt sleeves while out on a walk!

    Don’t be fooled by the opening of the fourth and final movement - it is not the Jaws theme no matter how much you want it to be!

    This music sounds lush and exciting in part because it calls for a large and colorful orchestra of 2 flutes and piccolo, 2 oboes and English horn, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, alto trombone, tenor trombone, bass trombone, tuba, timpani, triangle, cymbals, and a big string section.
    ​
    ​A typical performance of Symphony #9 "From the New World" lasts about 40 minutes.
    Consider and Discuss:
    Dvořák is known for composing some great melodies.  Melodies, or tunes, are built on scales.  A scale is a musical scaffold like a ladder on which notes can climb up and down.  You may be familiar with the Do, Re, Mi song from The Sound of Music.  That song uses a 7 note scale, or musical ladder in which we step on every rung, ex. G, A, B, C, D, E, F.  The melodies in the first and second movements of Dvořák’s 9th Symphony rely heavily on a pentatonic, or 5 note, scale. In the pentatonic scale we skip some rungs on the musical ladder, ex. G, A, B, D, E.  The pentatonic scale exists in folk music from many cultures around the world.  When Dvořák visited the United States and was composing his 9th Symphony “From the New World”, he was excited to discover that the pentatonic scale from his homeland of Bohemia was also being used by African American and First Nations composers.
    You may already know the Largo second movement melody as a tune called “Goin’ Home”.  A student of Dvořák put words to the melody and gave it the title.  It has since become so popular that many people thought it was originally a folk tune which Dvořák used in the symphony instead of the other way around! 
    What other tunes can you think of that show up in different contexts, or have had different lyrics written to them?  For example - Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Baa Baa Black Sheep, and the alphabet song all use the same tune which Mozart also used and was originally a French folk song!
    Folk songs are typically passed from person to person, generation to generation.  What songs do you remember learning from a friend or family member?  Are there any songs or tunes you’ve learned “by ear” that wouldn’t be considered folk songs?  For example, many of us hear classical music for the first time in movies or television shows without even realizing it!
READY TO ENGAGE!
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​​I’d love to hear about it or see any of your ​activities,  journaling, or creations!
Catherine Beeson © 2023