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Title: The Lighter Classics in Music - A Comprehensive Guide to Musical Masterworks in a Lighter Vein
Author: Ewen, David
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Lighter Classics in Music - A Comprehensive Guide to Musical Masterworks in a Lighter Vein" ***
_The Lighter Classics in Music_
[Illustration: glyph]
_A Comprehensive Guide to
Musical Masterworks in a Lighter Vein
by 187 Composers_
_by David Ewen_
[Illustration: glyph]
_Arco Publishing Company, Inc._
NEW YORK
_Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 61-17781
Copyright 1961 by Arco Publishing Company, Inc., New York
All rights reserved.
Manufactured in the United States of America,
by H. Wolff, New York_
Contents
Joseph Achron 1
Adolphe-Charles Adam 2
Richard Addinsell 4
Isaac Albéniz 5
Hugo Alfvén 7
Louis Alter 8
Leroy Anderson 10
Daniel François Esprit Auber 12
Johann Sebastian Bach 15
Michael Balfe 18
Hubert Bath 19
Ludwig van Beethoven 20
Vincenzo Bellini 23
Ralph Benatzky 24
Arthur Benjamin 26
Robert Russell Bennett 27
Hector Berlioz 29
Leonard Bernstein 31
Georges Bizet 33
Luigi Boccherini 37
François Boieldieu 39
Giovanni Bolzoni 40
Carrie Jacobs Bond 41
Alexander Borodin 42
Felix Borowski 44
Johannes Brahms 45
Charles Wakefield Cadman 48
Lucien Caillet 49
Alfredo Catalani 50
Otto Cesana 51
Emmanuel Chabrier 52
George Whitefield Chadwick 54
Cécile Chaminade 55
Gustave Charpentier 56
Frédéric Chopin 57
Eric Coates 61
Peter Cornelius 63
Noel Coward 64
César Cui 65
Claude Debussy 66
Léo Delibes 68
Gregore Dinicu 71
Gaetano Donizetti 72
Franz Drdla 75
Riccardo Drigo 76
Arcady Dubensky 76
Paul Dukas 77
Antonin Dvořák 79
Sir Edward Elgar 83
Duke Ellington 86
Georges Enesco 87
Leo Fall 89
Manuel de Falla 90
Gabriel Fauré 91
Friedrich Flotow 92
Stephen Foster 94
Rudolf Friml 95
Julius Fučík 98
Sir Edward German 98
George Gershwin 100
Henry F. Gilbert 109
Don Gillis 111
Alberto Ginastera 112
Alexander Glazunov 113
Reinhold Glière 116
Michael Glinka 117
Christoph Willibald Gluck 119
Benjamin Godard 120
Leopold Godowsky 121
Edwin Franko Goldman 122
Karl Goldmark 123
Rubin Goldmark 125
François Gossec 126
Louis Gottschalk 127
Morton Gould 128
Charles Gounod 131
Percy Grainger 134
Enrique Granados 136
Edvard Grieg 137
Ferde Grofé 141
David Guion 143
Johan Halvorsen 144
George Frederick Handel 145
Joseph Haydn 147
Victor Herbert 149
Ferdinand Hérold 154
Jenö Hubay 155
Engelbert Humperdinck 157
Jacques Ibert 158
Michael Ippolitov-Ivanov 159
Ivanovici 160
Armas Järnefelt 160
Dmitri Kabalevsky 161
Emmerich Kálmán 162
Kéler-Béla 165
Jerome Kern 166
Albert Ketelby 169
Aram Khatchaturian 170
George Kleinsinger 171
Fritz Kreisler 172
Édouard Lalo 175
Josef Lanner 176
Charles Lecocq 177
Ernesto Lecuona 179
Franz Léhar 180
Ruggiero Leoncavallo 183
Anatol Liadov 185
Paul Lincke 186
Franz Liszt 187
Frederick Loewe 189
Albert Lortzing 191
Alexandre Luigini 192
Hans Christian Lumbye 193
Edward MacDowell 194
Albert Hay Malotte 196
Gabriel Marie 196
Martini il Tedesco 197
Pietro Mascagni 198
Jules Massenet 199
Robert McBride 203
Harl McDonald 204
Felix Mendelssohn 205
Giacomo Meyerbeer 208
Karl Milloecker 211
Moritz Moszkowski 212
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 213
Modest Mussorgsky 215
Ethelbert Nevin 218
Otto Nicolai 220
Siegfried Ochs 221
Jacques Offenbach 222
Ignace Jan Paderewski 225
Gabriel Pierné 226
Jean-Robert Planquette 227
Eduard Poldini 228
Manuel Ponce 229
Amilcare Ponchielli 230
Cole Porter 231
Serge Prokofiev 233
Giacomo Puccini 235
Sergei Rachmaninoff 238
Joachim Raff 240
Maurice Ravel 241
Emil von Rezniček 243
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov 244
Richard Rodgers 247
Sigmund Romberg 253
David Rose 256
Gioacchino Rossini 257
Anton Rubinstein 261
Camille Saint-Saëns 262
Pablo de Sarasate 267
Franz Schubert 268
Robert Schumann 272
Cyril Scott 274
Jean Sibelius 274
Christian Sinding 277
Leone Sinigaglia 278
Bedřich Smetana 280
John Philip Sousa 283
Oley Speaks 285
Robert Stolz 286
Oscar Straus 287
Eduard Strauss 288
Johann Strauss I 289
Johann Strauss II 291
Josef Strauss 298
Sir Arthur Sullivan 299
Franz von Suppé 311
Johan Svendsen 313
Deems Taylor 314
Peter Ilitch Tchaikovsky 316
Ambroise Thomas 322
Enrico Toselli 324
Sir Paolo Tosti 325
Giuseppe Verdi 326
Richard Wagner 332
Emil Waldteufel 338
Karl Maria von Weber 339
Kurt Weill 341
Jaromir Weinberger 343
Henri Wieniawski 345
Ralph Vaughan Williams 346
Jacques Wolfe 347
Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari 348
Sebastian Yradier 350
Carl Zeller 350
Karl Michael Ziehrer 352
_The Lighter Classics in Music_
Joseph Achron
Joseph Achron was born in Lozdzieje, Lithuania, on May 13, 1886. He
attended the St. Petersburg Conservatory, where he studied the violin
with Leopold Auer and theory with Anatol Liadov, graduating in 1904.
After teaching at the Kharkov Conservatory for three years, he toured
Russia, Europe and the Near East as a concert violinist for about six
years, and settled permanently in the United States in 1925. Some of his
most ambitious and significant compositions were written in this
country. Among these were three violin concertos, two violin sonatas,
the _Golem Suite_ for orchestra and the _Stempenyu Suite_ for violin and
piano. Achron died in Hollywood, California, on April 29, 1943.
When Achron was twenty-five years old, and still living in Russia, he
became a member of the music committee of the Hebrew Folk Music Society
of St. Petersburg. Its aim was twofold: to encourage research in Hebrew
music, and to direct the enthusiasm of gifted Russian composers toward
the writing of Hebrew music. It was as a direct result of this
association, and the stimulus derived from the achievements of this
society, that in 1911 Achron wrote a popular composition in a Hebraic
vein which to this day is his most famous piece of music. It is the
_Hebrew Melody_, Op. 33, for violin and orchestra. The melodic germ of
this composition is an actual synagogical chant, amplified by Achron
into a spacious melody following several introductory measures of
descending, brooding phrases. This melody is first given in a lower
register, but when repeated several octaves higher it receives
embellishments similar to those provided a synagogical chant by a
cantor. The composition ends with the same descending minor-key phrases
with which it opened. This _Hebrew Melody_, in a transcription for
violin and piano by Leopold Auer, has been performed by many of the
world’s leading violin virtuosos.
Adolphe-Charles Adam
Adolphe-Charles Adam, eminent composer of comic operas, was born in
Paris on July 24, 1803. He attended the Paris Conservatory, where he
came under the decisive influence of François Boieldieu, under whose
guidance he completed his first comic opera, _Pierre et Catherine_,
first produced at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on February 9, 1829. His
first major success, _Le Chalet_, was given on September 25, 1834,
enjoying almost fifteen hundred performances in Paris before the end of
the century. Adam subsequently wrote almost fifty other stage works in a
light style. With Boieldieu and Auber he became founder and leading
exponent of the opéra-comique. His most celebrated work in this genre
was _Le Postillon de Longjumeau_, first given at the Opéra-Comique on
October 13, 1836. This work was frequently heard in the United States in
the 1860’s and 1870’s, but has since lapsed into obscurity. Adam was
also a highly significant composer of ballets, of which _Giselle_ is now
a classic; of many serious operas; and of a celebrated Christmas song,
“Noël,” or “Oh, Holy Night” (“_Cantique de Noël: Minuit, Chrétiens_”),
which has been transcribed for orchestra. In 1847, Adam founded his own
theater—the Théâtre National—which a year later (with the outbreak of
the 1848 revolution in France) went into bankruptcy. From 1849 on he was
professor of composition at the Paris Conservatory. Adam died in Paris
on May 3, 1856.
_Giselle_ is one of the proudest achievements of French Romantic ballet.
Through the years it has never lost its immense popularity. With
choreography by Jules Perrot and Jean Coralli, it was introduced in
Paris on June 28, 1841. Carlotta Grisi appeared in the title role.
_Giselle_ was an immediate triumph. Since then, the world’s foremost
ballerinas have appeared as Giselle, including Fanny Elssler, Taglioni,
Pavlova, Karsavina, Markova, Danilova, Margot Fonteyn, and Moira
Shearer.
“What is the secret charm of this ballet?” inquires the famous scenic
designer, Alexander Benois. He goes on to answer: “It is mainly due to
its simplicity and clearness of plot, to the amazingly impetuous
spontaneity with which the drama is developed. There is barely time to
collect one’s thoughts before the heroine, who but a moment ago charmed
everybody with her vitality, is lying stiff and cold and dead at the
feet of the lover who deceived her.... It is deeply moving, and the
magic of a true poet ... consists in making us accept without question
any absurdities he may choose to offer us.... No one is inclined to
criticize while under the spell of this strange idyl.”
The ballet text was the collaborative creation of Théophile Gautier,
Vernoy de Saint-Georges, and Jean Coralli. Gautier had read a legend by
Heinrich Heine in _De L’Allemagne_ which described elves in white
dresses (designated as “wilis”) who died before their wedding day and
emerged from their graves in bridal dress to dance till dawn. Any man an
elf met was doomed to dance himself to death. Gautier, recognizing the
ballet potentialities of this legend, decided to adapt it for Carlotta
Grisi. He interested Vernoy de Saint-Georges in assisting him in making
this ballet adaptation and Jean Coralli in creating some of the dance
sequences. “Three days later,” Gautier revealed in a letter to Heine,
“the ballet _Giselle_ was accepted. By the end of the week, Adam had
improvised the music, the scenery was nearly ready, and the rehearsals
were in full swing.”
The ballet text finds Giselle as a sweet, carefree peasant girl.
Betrayed by Albrecht, the Duke of Silesia, she goes mad and commits
suicide. Her grave is touched by the magic branch of Myrtha, Queen of
the Wilis. Giselle arises from the grave as a wili, and performs her
nocturnal dance. Albrecht, who comes to visit her grave, is caught up by
her spell and must dance to his doom.
A master of expressive and dramatized melodies, Adam here created a
score filled with the most ingratiating tunes and spirited rhythms, all
beautifully adjusted to the sensitive moods of this delicate fantasy.
From this score the 20th-century English composer Constant Lambert
extracted four melodic episodes which he made into a popular orchestral
suite: “Giselle’s Dance”; “Mad Scene”; “Pas de deux, Act 2”; and
“Closing Scene.”
From the repertory of Adam’s operas comes a delightful overture, a
favorite in the semi-classical repertory, even though the opera itself
is rarely heard. It is the Overture to _If I Were King_ (_Si j’étais
roi_). This comic opera was first performed in Paris on November 4,
1852; the libretto was by D’Ennery and Brésil. In Arabia, the fisherman,
Zephoris, has managed to save the life of Nemea, beautiful daughter of
King Oman. But Nemea is being pursued by Prince Kador, who does not
hesitate to employ treachery to win her. Nemea is determined to marry
none but the unidentified man who had saved her life. Eventually, the
fisherman is brought to the palace, placed in command of the troops, and
becomes a hero in a war against the Spaniards. Kador is sent to his
disgrace, and Zephoris wins the hand of Nemea.
The oriental background of the opera permeates the atmosphere of the
overture. A forceful introduction for full orchestra and arpeggio
figures in harp lead to a skipping and delicate tune for first violins
against plucked cello strings. The flutes and clarinets respond with a
subsidiary thought. A crescendo brings on a strong subject for the
violins against a loud accompaniment. After a change of tempo, another
light, graceful melody is given by solo flute and oboes. The principal
melodic material is then amplified with dramatic effect.
Richard Addinsell
Richard Addinsell was born in Oxford, England, on January 13, 1904.
After studying law at Oxford, he attended the Royal College of Music in
London and completed his music study in Berlin and Vienna between 1929
and 1932. In 1933 he visited the United States, where he wrote music for
several Hollywood films and for a New York stage production of _Alice in
Wonderland_. He has since made a specialty of writing music for the
screen, his best efforts being the scores for _Goodbye, Mr. Chips_,
_Blithe Spirit_, _Dangerous Moonlight_, _Dark Journey_, and _Fire Over
England_. During World War II he wrote music for several documentary
films, including _Siege of Tobruk_ and _We Sail at Midnight_.
Addinsell’s most frequently played composition is the _Warsaw Concerto_,
for piano and orchestra. He wrote it for the English movie _Dangerous
Moonlight_ (renamed in the United States _Suicide Squadron_). Anton
Walbrook here plays the part of a renowned concert pianist who becomes
an officer in the Polish air force during World War II and loses his
memory after a crash. The _Warsaw Concerto_, basic to the plot
structure, recurs several times in the film. It first became popular,
however, on records, and after that with “pop” and salon orchestras.
Though the composer’s indebtedness to Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano
Concerto is pronounced, the _Warsaw Concerto_ has enough of its own
individuality and charm to survive. Structurally, it is not a concerto
but a rhapsody. It opens with several massive chords, arpeggios, and
scale passages in the piano. This dramatic opening leads to the
sensitive and romantic principal melody, heard in the strings. Later on
there appears a second lyric thought, but the rhapsodic character
remains predominant. The composition ends with a final statement of the
opening phrase of the first main melody.
Addinsell is also sometimes represented on semi-classical programs with
a light-textured and tuneful composition called _Prelude and Waltz_, for
orchestra. This also stems from a motion picture, in this case the
British screen adaptation of Noel Coward’s _Blithe Spirit_.
Isaac Albéniz
Isaac Albéniz, one of Spain’s most distinguished composers, was born in
Camprodón, Spain, on May 29, 1860. He was a child prodigy who gave piano
concerts in Spain after some spasmodic study in Paris with Marmontel. In
1868 he entered the Madrid Conservatory, but in his thirteenth year he
ran away from home and spent several years traveling about in Puerto
Rico, Cuba, and the United States, supporting himself all the while by
playing the piano. He was back in Spain in 1875, and soon thereafter
undertook music study seriously, first at the Brussels Conservatory and
then at the Leipzig Conservatory. He settled in Paris in 1893, where he
wrote his first important works, one of these being his first
composition in a national Spanish idiom: the _Catalonia_, for piano and
orchestra, in 1899. After 1900 he lived in his native land. From 1906 to
1909 he devoted himself to the writing of his masterwork, the suite
_Iberia_, consisting of twelve pieces for the piano gathered in four
volumes. _Iberia_ is a vast tonal panorama of Spain, its sights and
sounds, dances and songs, backgrounds. Albéniz died in Cambo-Bains, in
the Pyrenees, on May 18, 1909.
Albéniz may well be regarded as the founder of the modern Spanish
nationalist school in music. This school sought to exploit the rhythms
and melodies and styles of Spanish folk music within serious concert
works, thus providing a musical interpretation to every possible aspect
of Spanish life.
Albéniz’ first work in the national style is also one of his rare
compositions utilizing an orchestra. It is the _Catalonia_, written in
1899, and introduced that year at a concert of the Société nationale de
musique in Paris. This work is sometimes erroneously designated as a
suite, but it is actually a one-movement rhapsody. A single theme,
unmistakably Spanish, dominates the entire work. A brief rhythmic middle
section for wind, percussion, and a single double bass provides
contrast. This middle part is intended as a burlesque on a troupe of
wandering musicians playing their favorite tune: the clarinet plays off
key and the bass drum is off beat. The original dance melody returns to
conclude the work.
_Córdoba_, a haunting nocturne, is the fourth and most famous number
from the _Cantos de España_, a suite for the piano, op. 232. _Córdoba_
is a vivid tone picture of that famous Andalusian city. Sharp chords, as
if plucked from the strings of a guitar, preface an oriental-type melody
which suggests the Moorish background of the city.
_Fête Dieu à Seville_, or _El Corpus en Sevilla_ (_Festival in Seville_)
is the third and concluding number from the first volume of _Iberia_.
Besides its original version for the piano, this composition is
celebrated in several transcriptions for orchestra, notably those by E.
Fernández Arbós and Leopold Stokowski. This music depicts a religious
procession in the streets of Seville on the Thursday after Trinity
Sunday. At the head of the procession is the priest bearing the Host, or
Blessed Sacrament, under a lavishly decorated canopy. As the procession
moves, worshipers who crowd the streets improvise a religious chant.
_Fête Dieu à Seville_ opens with a brusquely accented march melody,
against which emerges an improvisational-type melody similar to those
sung by worshipers in the street. The march melody and the improvised
chant alternate, but it is the chant that is carried to a thunderous
climax. Then this chant subsides and fades away into the distance, as
the composition ends.
_Navarra_ is a poignant tonal evocation for piano of the Spanish
province below the Pyrenees. Albéniz never completed this work; it was
finished after his death by Déodat de Séverac. This composition is
perhaps best known in Fernández Arbós’ transcription for orchestra.
Against the provocative background of a jota rhythm moves a languorous
and sensual gypsy melody.
_Sevillañas_ (_Seville_) is the third number from _Suite española_ for
piano; it has become famous independent of the larger work and is often
heard in transcription. The heart of the piece is a passionate song,
typical of those heard in the haunts of Seville. As a background there
is an incisive rhythm suggesting the clicking of castanets.
The Tango in D major, op. 165, no. 2, for piano, is not only the most
famous one by Albéniz but one of the most popular ever written. With its
intriguing flamenco-like melody and compelling rhythm it is Spanish to
the core—the prototype of all tango music. The original piano version as
written by the composer is not often heard. When it is performed on the
piano, this tango is given in a brilliant but complex arrangement by
Leopold Godowsky. But it is much more famous in various transcriptions,
notably one for violin and piano by Fritz Kreisler, and numerous ones
for small or large orchestras.
_Triana_ is the third and concluding number from the second book of
Albéniz’ monumental suite for piano, _Iberia_. Triana, of which this
music is a tonal picture, is a gypsy suburb of Seville. In the
introduction, random phrases bring up the image of various attitudes and
movements of Spanish dances. A triple-rhythmed figure leads to a light
and graceful dance melody against a bolero rhythm. As the melody is
developed and repeated it gains in intensity and is enriched in color
until it evolves climactically with full force. A transcription for
orchestra by Fernández Arbós is as famous as the original piano version.
Hugo Alfvén
Hugo Alfvén was born in Stockholm, Sweden, on May 1, 1872. His music
study took place at the Stockholm Conservatory and, on government
stipends, with César Thomson in Brussels, and in Germany and France.
From 1910 to 1939 he was musical director and conductor of the student
chorus at the Uppsala University. Alfvén was a nationalist composer of
Romantic tendencies who wrote five symphonies together with a
considerable amount of orchestral and choral music. He died in Faluns,
Sweden, on May 8, 1960.
_Midsummer Vigil_ (_Midsommarvaka_), op. 19 (1904), a Swedish rhapsody
for orchestra, is his best known composition. It was produced as a
ballet, _La Nuit de Saint-Jean_, in Paris on October 25, 1925, where it
proved so successful that it was given more than 250 performances within
four years. As a work for symphony orchestra it has received universal
acclaim for its attractive deployment of national Swedish folk song
idioms and dance rhythms. The music describes a revel held in small
Swedish towns during the St. John’s Eve festival. The work opens with a
gay tune for clarinet over plucked strings. This is followed by a
burlesque subject for bassoon. Muted strings and English horns then
offer a broad, stately, and emotional folk song. Repeated by the French
horns, this song is soon amplified by the strings. The tempo now
quickens, and a rustic dance theme is given softly by the violins. The
mood gradually becomes frenetic. The violins offer a passionate subject
over a pedal point. A climax is finally reached as the revelry becomes
unconfined.
Louis Alter
Louis Alter was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, on June 18, 1902,
where he received his academic education in the public schools, and his
initial instruction in music. Music study was completed with Stuart
Mason at the New England Conservatory. In 1924 Alter came to New York,
where for five years he worked as accompanist for Nora Bayes, Irene
Bordoni and other stars of the stage; he also did arrangements for a
publishing firm in Tin Pan Alley. Between 1925 and 1927 he wrote his
first popular songs and contributed a few of them to Broadway
productions. Since then he has written many song hits, as well as scores
for Broadway musicals and Hollywood films. His best known songs include
“A Melody from the Sky” and “Dolores,” both of which were nominated for
Academy Awards; also “Twilight on the Trail,” such a favorite of
President Franklin D. Roosevelt that the manuscript, together with a
recording by Bing Crosby, repose in the Roosevelt Museum in Hyde Park,
New York.
Alter has been successful in writing skilful compositions for piano and
orchestra in which the popular element is pronounced, encased within a
symphonic structure. Some of them are now staples in the symphonic-jazz
repertory. His best compositions were inspired by the sights, sounds and
moods of New York City.
_Jewels from Cartier_ (1953), as the title indicates, was inspired not
by New York but by one of the city’s most famous jewelers when Alter was
one day allowed to inspect its collection. In his suite, Alter attempts
in eight sections to translate various jewels into tones. The first
movement is “Emerald Eyes.” Since many beautiful emeralds come from
South America, this section emphasizes the rumba beat and other
Latin-American rhythms. “The Ruby and the Rose” is a romantic ballad in
which voices supplement the instruments of the orchestra. “Pearl of the
Orient” consists of an oriental dance. “Black Pearl of Tahiti” exploits
exotic Polynesian rhythms and its languorous-type melodies. “Diamond
Earrings” is a swirling waltz while “Star Sapphire” is a beguine. In
“Cat’s Eye in the Night,” the music suggests a playful kitten darting
about in a room. The finale, “Lady of Jade,” is in the style of Chinese
processional music.
_Manhattan Masquerade_ (1932) is the most dramatic of Alter’s New York
murals. It consists of a Viennese-type waltz played in fox-trot time, a
suggestion on the part of the composer that Vienna and New York are not
too far apart spiritually.
_Manhattan Moonlight_ (1932) is, on the other hand, atmospheric. It
opens with four chords in a nebulous Debussy vein. The core of the work
is an extended melody for strings against piano embellishments. A light
and frivolous mood is then invoked before the main melody returns in an
opulent scoring.
_Manhattan Serenade_ (1928) is the most famous of all Alter’s
instrumental works and the one that first made him known. He published
it first as a piano solo, but soon rewrote it for piano and orchestra.
Paul Whiteman and his orchestra made it popular in 1929 on records and
in public concerts. This work is extremely effective in laying bare the
nerves of the metropolis through syncopations, and jazz tone
colorations. Its main melody is a plangent song to which, in 1940,
Howard Johnson adapted a song lyric. _Manhattan Serenade_ is often heard
as background music on radio and television programs about New York.
_Side Street in Gotham_ (1938) attempts to portray the city from river
to river. The composition begins with a few notes suggesting “London
Bridge Is Falling Down,” which is later elaborated in a vigorous and
amusing tempo; the reason this theme is here used is because it is
referred to in the lyric of “The Sidewalks of New York.” Some of the
mystery of New York’s side streets can also be found in this music.
Leroy Anderson
Leroy Anderson is one of America’s most successful and best known
composers of light orchestral classics. He was born in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, on June 29, 1908. His early musical training took place
at the New England Conservatory, after which he studied the bass and
organ with private teachers. In 1929 he was graduated from Harvard
_magna cum laude_, and one year after that he received there his
Master’s degree in music on a Naumberg Fellowship. For the next few
years he served as organist and choirmaster in Milton, Massachusetts; as
a member of the music faculty at Radcliffe College; and as director of
the Harvard University Band. In 1935 he became a free-lance conductor,
composer and arranger in Boston and New York. As orchestrator for the
Boston Pops Orchestra, for which he made many orchestral arrangements
over a period of several years, Anderson completed his first original
semi-classical composition, _Jazz Pizzicato_, successfully introduced by
the Boston Pops Orchestra in 1939. Since then the Boston Pops Orchestra
has introduced most of Anderson’s compositions, many of which proved
exceptionally popular in concerts throughout the country and on records.
Anderson has also appeared frequently as guest conductor of important
American symphony orchestras and has conducted his own compositions with
his orchestra for records. In 1958, his first musical comedy,
_Goldilocks_, was produced on Broadway.
Beyond possessing a most ingratiating lyric invention and a consummate
command of orchestration, Anderson boasts an irresistible sense of humor
and a fine flair for burlesque. He is probably at his best in
programmatic pieces in which extra-musical sounds are neatly adapted to
and often serve as a background for his sprightly tunes—ranging from the
clicking of a typewriter to the meowing of a cat.
_Blue Tango_ is the first strictly instrumental composition ever to
achieve first place on the Hit Parade. For almost a year it was the
leading favorite on juke boxes, and its sale of over two million records
represents Anderson’s healthiest commercial success. Scored for violins,
this music neatly combines an insistent tango rhythm with a sensual
melody in a purple mood. _Bugler’s Holiday_ is a musical frolic for
three trumpets. _A Christmas Festival_ provides a colorful orchestral
setting to some of the best loved Christmas hymns, including “Joy to the
World,” “Deck the Halls,” “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” “Silent Night,”
“Jingle Bells,” and “Come All Ye Faithful.”
_Fiddle-Faddle_ is a merry burlesque-escapade for the violins, inspired
from a hearing of Paganini’s _Perpetual Motion_; this, then, is a modern
style “Perpetual Motion.” In _Horse and Buggy_, the music nostalgically
evokes a bygone day with a sprightly, wholesome tune presented against
the rhythms of a jogging horse. The _Irish Suite_ was commissioned by
the Eire Society of Boston, and is a six-movement adaptation of six of
Thomas Moore’s _Irish Melodies_. They are: “The Irish Washerwoman,” “The
Minstrel Boy,” “The Rakes of Mallow,” “The Wearing of the Green,” “The
Last Rose of Summer,” and “The Girl I Left Behind Me.” _Jazz Legato_ and
_Jazz Pizzicato_ are studies in contrasting moods and dynamics. The
_Jazz Pizzicato_ consists of a jazz melody presented entirely by plucked
strings; its companion piece is a broader jazz melody for bowed strings.
_Plink, Plank, Plunk_ also makes effective use of pizzicato strings,
this time attempting to simulate the sounds suggested by the descriptive
title. _Saraband_ brings about the marriage between the very old and
very new in musical styles. The old classical dance in slow triple time
and accented second beat is exploited with a quickening of tempo and
with modern rhythmic and melodic embellishments.
In _Sleigh Bells_, jangling sleighbells and the sound of a cracking
whip, provide a delightful background to a jaunty tune that has the bite
and sting of outdoor winterland. This piece has become something of a
perennial favorite of the Christmas season. In _The Syncopated Clock_,
the rhythm of a clicking grandfather’s clock, presented by percussion
instruments in a modern rhythm, is placed against a bouncy, syncopated
melody. This number has become popular as theme music for the CBS-TV
“Early Show.” _The Trumpeter’s Lullaby_ is a sensitive melody with the
soothing accompaniment of a lullaby.
_The Typewriter_ permits members of the percussion section to imitate
the incisive, rigid rhythm of a functioning typewriter, punctuated by
the regular tinkle of the bell to provide the warning signal that the
carriage has come to the end of a line. Against this rhythm moves a
vivacious message in strings. _The Typewriter_ was played in the motion
picture _But Not for Me_, starring Clark Gable, released in 1959. In
_The Waltzing Cat_, an imaginary cat dances gracefully to a waltz melody
made up mainly of meows.
Daniel François Auber
Daniel François Esprit Auber, genius of opéra-comique, was born in Caen,
Normandy, France, on January 29, 1782. In his youth he lived in London,
where he studied both the business of art, in which he hoped to engage,
and music. There he wrote several songs which were heard at public
entertainments. After returning to France and settling in Paris in 1804,
he gave himself up completely to music. Two minor stage works with music
were privately performed between 1806 and 1811 before his first opera
received its première performance: _Le Séjour militaire_ in 1813. His
first success came seven years after that with _La Bergère châtelaine_.
From then on he was a prolific writer of both light and grand operas,
many to texts by Eugène Scribe. _La Muette de Portici_ in 1828 was a
triumph, and was followed by such other major successes _Fra Diavolo_
(1830), _Le Cheval_ _de bronze_ (1835), _Le Domino noir_ (1837) and _Les
Diamants de la couronne_ (1841). His last opera, _Rêves d’amour_, was
completed when he was eighty-seven. Auber was one of France’s most
highly honored musicians. From 1842 until his death he was director of
the Paris Conservatory, and in 1857 he was made by Napoleon III Imperial
Maître de Chapelle. Auber died in Paris on May 12, 1871.
With Adam and Boieldieu, Auber was one of the founding fathers of the
opéra-comique. He was superior to his two colleagues in the lightness of
his touch, surpassing wit, and grace of lyricism. But Auber’s charm and
gaiety were not bought at the expense of deeper emotional and dramatic
values; for all their lightness of heart, his best comic operas are
filled with pages that have the scope and dimension of grand opera. As
Rossini once said of him, Auber may have produced light music, but he
produced it like a true master.
Overtures to several of his most famous operas are standards in the
light-classical repertory.
_The Black Domino_ (_Le Domino noir_), text by Eugène Scribe, was
introduced in Paris on December 2, 1837. The central character is Lady
Angela, an abbess, who attends a masked ball where she meets and falls
in love with Horatio, a young nobleman. Numerous escapades and
adventures follow before Angela meets up again with her young man. Now
released from her religious vows by the Queen, Angela is free to marry
him.
In the overture, a loud outburst for full orchestra emphasizes a
strongly rhythmic theme. A staccato phrase in the woodwind and a return
of the initial strong subject follow. This leads into a light dancing
motive for the woodwind. Another _forte_ passage is now the bridge to a
melodious episode in the woodwind. A change of key brings on a gay
bolero melody for clarinets and bassoons in octaves. After this idea is
amplified, a jota-like melody is given by the full orchestra. The
closing section is a brilliant presentation of a completely new jota
melody.
_The Crown Diamonds_ (_Les Diamants de la couronne_) was first produced
in Paris on March 6, 1841, when it scored a major success. But it
enjoyed an even greater triumph when it was first performed in England
three years after that; from then on it has remained a great favorite
with English audiences. The text, by Eugène Scribe and Saint-Georges, is
set in 18th-century Portugal where the Queen assumes the identity of the
leader of a gang of counterfeiters and uses the crown diamonds to get
the money she needs to save her throne. When Don Henrique falls into the
unscrupulous hands of these counterfeiters, the Queen saves his life and
falls in love with him. The throne is eventually saved, and the crown
jewels retrieved. The Queen now can choose Don Henrique as her husband.
The overture opens with a sustained melody for the strings that is
dramatized by key changes. A rhythmic passage leads to a martial subject
for the brass. Several other vigorous ideas ensue in the brass and
woodwind. After their development there comes a lyrical string episode
which, in turn, leads into a second climax. Contrast comes with a
lyrical idea in the strings. A loud return of the first martial subject
in full orchestra marks the beginning of a spirited conclusion.
_Fra Diavolo_ was an immediate success when first given in Paris on
January 28, 1830; it has remained Auber’s best known comic opera. It has
even received burlesque treatment on the Hollywood screen in a comedy
starring Laurel and Hardy. The text by Eugène Scribe has for its central
character a bandit chief by the name of Fra Diavolo who disguises
himself as an Italian Marquis. He flirts with a lady of noble birth,
hides in the bedroom of Zerlina, the inn-keeper’s daughter, and is
finally apprehended by Zerlina’s sweetheart, the captain of police.
This popular overture opens with a _pianissimo_ drum roll, the preface
to a march tune for strings. The march music is extended to other
instruments, and as the volume increases it gives the impression of an
advancing army. It attains a _fortissimo_ for full orchestra, then
subsides. The overture ends with several sprightly melodies from the
first act of the opera.
_The Mute of Portici_ (_La Muette de Portici_)—or, as it is sometimes
called, _Masaniello_—is a grand opera that contributed a footnote to the
political history of its times. First performed in Paris on February 29,
1828, it had profound repercussions on the political situation of that
period, and it is regarded by many as a significant influence in
bringing on the July Revolution in Paris in 1830. When first performed
in Brussels the same year, it instigated such riots that the occupying
Dutch were ejected from that country and Belgium now achieved
independence.
The text by Eugène Scribe and Germain Delavigne is based on an episode
from history: a successful Neapolitan revolt against the Duke of Arcos,
headed by Tommaso Anello in 1647. In the opera, Masaniello assumes
Anello’s part, and toward the end of the opera after the insurrection is
smothered, he is assassinated.
The overture begins with stormy music in full orchestra. After the tempo
slackens, a sensitive melody is presented by clarinets and bassoons in
octaves. The main section of the overture now unfolds, its main theme
divided between the strings and the woodwind. After a _fortissimo_
section for full orchestra, a second important melody is heard in the
woodwind and violins. The two main subjects are recalled and developed.
The overture closes with a coda in which percussion instruments are
emphasized.
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, Germany, on March 21, 1685.
He was the most significant member of a family that for generations had
produced professional musicians. His career can be divided into three
convenient periods. The first was between 1708 and 1717 when, as
organist to the Ducal Chapel in Weimar, he wrote most of his masterworks
for organ. During the second period, from 1717 to 1723, he served as
Kapellmeister to Prince Leopold in Coethen. During this period he wrote
most of his major works for orchestra, solo instruments, and
chamber-music ensembles. The last period took place in Leipzig from 1723
until his death where he was cantor of the St. Thomas Church. In Leipzig
he produced some of his greatest choral compositions. Towards the end of
his life he went blind and became paralyzed. He died in Leipzig on July
28, 1750.
As the culmination of the age of polyphony, Johann Sebastian Bach’s
masterworks are, for the most part, too complex and subtle for popular
appeal. But from his vast and incomparable output of concertos, sonatas,
suites, masses, passions, cantatas, and various compositions for the
organ and for the piano, it is possible to lift a few random items of
such melodic charm and simple emotional appeal that they can be
profitably exploited for wide consumption. In these less complicated
works, Bach’s consummate skill at counterpoint, and his equally
formidable gift at homophonic writing, are always in evidence.
The _Air_ is one of Bach’s most famous melodies, a soulful religious
song for strings. It can be found as the second movement of his Suite
No. 3 in D major for orchestra, but is often performed apart from the
rest of the work. August Wilhelmj transcribed this music for violin and
piano, calling it the _Air on the G String_. This transcription has been
severely criticized as a mutilation of the original; Sir Donald Francis
Tovey described it as a “devastating derangement.” Nevertheless, it has
retained its popularity in violin literature, just as the original has
remained a favorite in orchestral music.
_Come Sweet Death_ (_Komm, suesser Tod_) is a moving chorale for voice
and accompaniment: a simple and eloquent resignation to death. It does
not come from any of Bach’s larger works but can be found in Schemelli’s
collection (1736). It has become extremely popular in orchestral
transcriptions by Leopold Stokowski and Reginald Stewart, but is also
sometimes heard in arrangements for various solo instruments and piano,
as well as for the organ.
_Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring_ (_Jesu bleibt meine Freude_) is probably
Bach’s best known and most frequently performed chorale: a stately
melody introduced by, then set against, a gracefully flowing
accompaniment. This composition comes from the church cantata No. 147,
_Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben_. Various transcriptions have
popularized this composition, notably that for piano by Myra Hess, for
organ by E. Power Biggs, and for orchestra by Lucien Caillet.
The _Prelude in E major_ is a vigorous and spirited piece of music whose
rhythmic momentum does not relax from the first bar to the last. It
appears as the first movement of the Partita No. 3 in E major for solo
violin. It is perhaps even better known in transcription than in the
original version, notably in those for violin and piano by Robert
Schumann and Fritz Kreisler, for solo piano by Rachmaninoff, and for
orchestra by Stokowski, Riccardo Pick-Mangiagalli, Sir Henry J. Wood,
and Lucien Caillet.
The _Siciliano_ is a beautiful, stately song—the first movement of the
Sonata No. 4 in C minor for violin and accompaniment. Stokowski has made
a fine transcription for orchestra.
_The Wise Virgins_ is a ballet-suite comprising six compositions by Bach
drawn from his literature for the church and transcribed for orchestra
by the eminent British composer, Sir William Walton. It was used for a
ballet produced at Sadler’s Wells in 1940. Frederick Ashton’s
choreography drew its material from the parable of the Wise and Foolish
Virgins in the 25th chapter of the Gospel According to St. Matthew; but
this parable is seen through the eyes of the Italian Renaissance
painters. “Ashton,” wrote Arnold Haskell, “has provided the perfect
meeting place for music and painting. The inspiration was pictorial ...
it is equally musical. The movement and unfolding of the narrative
follow directly from the Bach music so brilliantly arranged and
orchestrated by William Walton.”
All six movements of the suite are so lyrical and emotional that their
impact on listeners is immediate. The first movement, “What God Hath
Done Is Rightly Done” comes from the opening chorus of a cantata of the
same name, No. 99 (_Was Gott tut das ist wohlgetan_). A lively melody is
first shared by strings and woodwind and then given fanciful
embellishments. A strong chorale melody for the brass is then given
prominent treatment. The second movement, “Lord, Hear My Longing” is a
chorale from the _Passion According to St. Matthew_ which is here given
the treatment of an organ chorale-prelude with a tenderly expressive
chorale melody in woodwind amplified by strings. The third movement,
“See What His Love Can Do” is an expansive melody for strings and
woodwind against a flowing accompaniment; this music is derived from
Cantata No. 85, _Ich bin ein guter Hirt_. This is followed by “Ah, How
Ephemeral,” a dramatic page for full orchestra highlighting a chorale
for brass taken from Cantata No. 26, _Ach, wie fluechtig_. The fifth
section is the most famous. It is “Sheep May Safely Graze” (“_Schafe
koennen sicher weiden_”) from the secular Cantata No. 208, _Was mir
behagt_. An introductory recitative for solo violin leads to a swaying
melody for the woodwind. The lower strings then present a pastoral song
which soon receives beautiful filigree work from other parts of the
orchestra. The swaying subject for woodwind closes the piece. Sir John
Barbirolli also made an effective orchestral transcription of this
composition, while Percy Grainger arranged it for solo piano, and Mary
Howe for two solo pianos. The finale of the suite is “Praise Be to God,”
which is also the finale of Cantata No. 129, _Gelobet sei der Herr, mein
Gott_. This is vigorous music that is an outpouring of pure joy.
Michael Balfe
Michael William Balfe was born in Dublin, Ireland on May 15, 1808. The
son of a dancing master, Michael was only six when he played the violin
for his father’s classes. In 1823, Balfe came to London where he studied
the violin and composition with private teachers and earned his living
as violinist and singer. Additional study took place in Italy in 1825,
including singing with Bordogni. Between 1828 and 1833 he appeared as
principal baritone of the Italian Opera and several other French
theaters in Paris. In 1835, he initiated an even more successful career
as composer of English operas, with _The Siege of Rochelle_, produced
that year in London. He continued writing numerous operas, producing his
masterwork, _The Bohemian Girl_, in 1843. Between 1846 and 1856 Balfe
traveled to different parts of Europe to attend performances of his
operas. In 1864 he left London to retire to his estate in Rowney Abbey
where he died on October 20, 1870.
_The Bohemian Girl_ is a classic of English opera. It was first produced
at Drury Lane in London on November 27, 1843, when it enjoyed a
sensational success. It was soon translated into French, German and
Italian and was extensively performed throughout Europe. The libretto,
by Alfred Bunn, was based on a ballet-pantomime by Vernoy de
Saint-Georges. The setting is Hungary in the 18th century, and its
heroine is Arline, daughter of Count Arnheim who, as a girl, had been
kidnapped by gypsies and raised as one of them. She is falsely accused
by the Count’s men of stealing a valuable medallion from the Count’s
palace and is imprisoned. Appearing before the Count to ask for
clemency, she is immediately recognized by him as his daughter.
Melodious selections from this opera are frequently heard. The most
famous single melody is “I Dream’d That I Dwelt in Marble Halls” which
Arline sings in the first scene of the second act as she recalls a
dream. “The Heart Bowed Down,” the Count’s song in the fourth scene of
the second act as he gazes longingly on a picture of his long lost
daughter, and “Then You’ll Remember Me,” a tenor aria from the third act
are also familiar.
Hubert Bath
Hubert Bath was born in Barnstaple, England, on November 6, 1883. He
attended the Royal Academy of Music in London, after which he wrote his
first opera. For a year he was conductor of an opera company that toured
the world. After 1915 he devoted himself mainly to composition. Besides
his operas, tone poems, cantatas and various instrumental works he wrote
a considerable amount of incidental music for stage plays and scores for
the motion pictures. He died in Harefield, England, on April 24, 1945.
The _Cornish Rhapsody_, for piano and orchestra, is one of his last
compositions and the most famous. He wrote it for the British motion
picture _Love Story_, released in 1946, starring Margaret Lockwood and
Stewart Granger. Lockwood plays the part of a concert pianist, and the
_Cornish Rhapsody_ is basic to the story which involves the pianist with
a man in love with another woman. The rhapsody begins with arpeggio
figures which lead to a strong rhapsodic passage in full chords. A bold
section is then contrasted by a gentle melody of expressive beauty, the
heart of the composition. A cadenza brings on a return of the earlier
strong subject, and a recall of the expressive melody in the orchestra
to piano embellishments. The composition ends with massive passages and
strongly accented harmonies.
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany, on December 16, 1770. He
received his earliest musical training in his native city where he early
gave strong evidence of genius. He published his first works when he was
eleven, and soon thereafter was performing publicly on the organ,
cembalo, and the viola. He also disclosed a phenomenal gift at
improvisation. He established permanent residence in Vienna in 1792.
Three years later he made there his first public appearance, and from
then on began to occupy a high position in Viennese musical life as a
piano virtuoso. His fame as a composer soon superseded that of virtuoso
as he won the support of Vienna’s aristocracy. He entered upon a new
creative phase, as well as full maturity, beginning with 1800, when his
first symphony was introduced in Vienna. His creative powers continually
deepened and became enriched from that time on. As he restlessly sought
to give poetic and dramatic expression to his writing he broke down the
classical barriers so long confining music and opened up new horizons
for style and structure. Meanwhile, in or about 1801 or 1802, he
realized he was growing deaf, a discovery that swept him into
despondency and despair, both of which find expression in a unique and
remarkable document known as the Heiligenstadt Testament. Deafness led
to personal idiosyncrasies and volatile moods which often tried the
patience of even his closest friends, but it did not decrease the
quantity of his musical production nor prevent him from achieving
heights of creative expression achieved by few, if any. He died in
Vienna on March 26, 1827 after having ushered in a new age for music
with his symphonies, concertos, sonatas, string quartets, and
masterworks in other categories including opera and choral music.
The grandeur of expression, the profundity of thought, and the
independence of idiom we associate with Beethoven is not to be found in
his lighter music which, generally speaking, is in a traditional mold,
pleasing style, and in an inviting lyric vein. This is not the Beethoven
who was the proud democrat, whose life was a struggle with destiny, and
who sought to make music the expression of his profoundest concepts.
This is rather, another Beethoven: the one who liked to dance, though he
did it badly; who flirted with the girls; and who indulged in what he
himself described as “unbuttoned humor.”
Beethoven wrote twelve _Contredanses_ (_Contretaenze_) in 1801-1802.
These are not “country dances” as the term “_contretaenze_” is sometimes
erroneously translated. The Contredanse is the predecessor of the waltz.
Like the waltz it is in three-part form, the third part repeating the
first, while the middle section is usually a trio in contrasting mood.
In 1801-1802, when Beethoven wrote his _Contredanses_, he was already
beginning to probe deeply into poetic thought and emotion in his
symphonies, sonatas, and concertos. But in the _Contredanses_ the poet
becomes peasant. This is earthy music, overflowing with melodies of
folksong vigor, and vitalized by infectious peasant rhythms. The
_Contredanse_ No. 7 in E-flat major is particularly famous; this same
melody was used by the composer for his music to the ballet
_Prometheus_, for the finale of his _Eroica Symphony_, and for his Piano
Variations, op. 35. The key signatures of the twelve _Contredanses_ are:
C major, A major, D major, B-flat major, E-flat major, C major, E-flat
major, C major, A major, C major, G major and E-flat major.
A half dozen years before he wrote his _Contredanses_ Beethoven had
completed a set of twelve _German Dances_ (_Deutsche Taenze_). The form,
style, and spirit of the _German Dance_ is so similar to the
_Contredanse_ that many Austrian composers used the terms
interchangeably. Beethoven’s early _German Dances_, like the later
_Contredanses_, are a reservoir of lively and tuneful semi-classical
music with an engaging earthy quality to the melodies and a lusty
vitality to the rhythms.
Few Beethoven compositions have enjoyed such universal approval with
budding pianists, salon orchestras, and various popular ensembles as the
_Minuet in G_. It is not too far afield to maintain that this is one of
the most famous minuets in all musical literature. Beethoven wrote it
originally for the piano; it is the second of a set of six minuets,
written in 1795, but published as op. 167. It is even more celebrated in
its many different transcriptions than it is in the original. The
composition is in three-part form. The first and third parts consist of
a stately classical melody; midway comes a fast-moving trio of
contrasting spirit.
The first movement of the _Moonlight Sonata_ is also often heard in
varied transcriptions for salon or “pop” orchestras. The _Moonlight
Sonata_ is the popular name of the piano sonata in C-sharp minor, op.
27, no. 2 which Beethoven wrote in 1801 and which he designated as
_Sonata quasi una fantasia_ mainly because of the fantasia character of
this first movement. The poetic and sensitive mood maintained throughout
the first movement—with a romantic melody of ineffable sadness
accompanied by slow triplets—is the reason why the critic Rellstab (and
_not_ the composer) provided the entire sonata with the name of
“Moonlight.” To Rellstab this first movement evoked for him a picture of
Lake Lucerne in Switzerland at night time, gently touched by the
moonlight. The fact that Beethoven dedicated the sonata to Countess
Giulietta Guicciardi, with whom he was then in love, leads to a legend
that he wrote this music to express frustrated love, but this was not
the case. Another myth about this first movement is that Beethoven
improvised this music while playing for a blind boy, as moonlight
streamed into the window of his room; after he had finished playing he
identified himself to the awe-stricken youngster. It was the opinion of
the eminent critic, Henry E. Krehbiel, that the sonata was inspired by a
poem, _Die Beterin_ by Seume, describing a young girl kneeling at an
altar begging for her father’s recovery from a serious illness; angels
descend to comfort her and she becomes transfigured by a divine light.
Beethoven wrote two _Romances_ for violin and orchestra: in F major, op.
50 (1802) and G major, op. 40 (1803). Rarely do we encounter in
Beethoven’s works such a fresh, spontaneous and entirely unsophisticated
outpouring of song—a song that wears its beauty on the surface—as in
these two compositions. The two _Romances_ are companion pieces and
pursue a similar pattern. Each opens with the solo violin presenting the
main melody (in the F major accompanied by the orchestra, in the G
major, solo). Each then progresses to a pure outpouring of lyricism
followed by virtuoso passages for the solo instrument. In each, violin
and orchestra appear to be engaging in a gentle dialogue.
The _Turkish March_ (_Marcia alla turca_) is one of several numbers (the
fourth) comprising the incidental music to a play by Kotzebue, _The
Ruins of Athens_ (_Die Ruinen von Athen_), op. 113 (1811). The
production of this play with Beethoven’s music was intended for the
opening of a theater in Pesth on February 9, 1812. The _Turkish March_
is in the pseudo-Turkish melodic style popular in Vienna in the early
19th century, and it employs percussion instruments such as the triangle
which the Viennese then associated with Turkish music. The march, with
its quixotic little melody, begins softly, almost like march music heard
from a distance. It grows in sonority until a stirring climax is
achieved. Then it dies out gradually and ebbs away in the distance.
Leopold Auer made a famous transcription for violin and piano, while
Beethoven himself transcribed it for piano, with six variations, op. 76
(1809).
Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Bellini was born in Catania, Sicily, on November 3, 1801. Born
to a musical family, he received music instruction in childhood, and
while still very young started composing. He then attended the San
Sebastiano Conservatory in Naples; during his stay there he completed a
symphony, two masses, and a cantata among other works. He made his bow
as opera composer with _Adelson e Salvini_, introduced at the
Conservatory in 1825. He continued writing operas after that, and having
them produced in major Italian opera houses with varying degrees of
success. _I Capuleti e i Montecchi_, given in Venice in 1830, was a
triumph. Then came the two operas by which Bellini is today most often
represented in the repertory: _La Sonnambula_ and _Norma_, both produced
in 1831. In 1833 he came to Paris where he completed his last opera, _I
Puritani_, given in Paris in 1835. He was at the height of his fame and
creative powers when he died in Puteaux, near Paris, on September 23,
1835, at the age of thirty-four, a victim of intestinal fever.
Bellini was the genius of opera song. His fresh, pure lyricism—perfect
in design and elegant in style—elevates his greatest operas to a place
of significance. His masterwork is _Norma_, introduced at La Scala in
Milan on December 26, 1831, where it was at first a failure. The
libretto by Felice Romani was based on a tragedy by L. A. Soumet. In
Gaul, during the Roman occupation, in or about 50 B.C., Norma, high
priestess of the Druids, violates her vows by secretly marrying the
Roman proconsul, Pollione, and bearing him two sons. Pollione then falls
in love with Adalgisa, virgin of the Temple of Esus. Unaware that
Pollione is married, Adalgisa confides to Norma she is in love with him.
With Pollione’s infidelity now apparent, he is brought before Norma for
judgment. She offers him the choice of death or the renunciation of
Adalgisa. When Pollione accepts death, Norma confesses to her people
that, having desecrated her vows, she, too, must die. Moved by this
confession, Pollione volunteers to die at her side in the funeral pyre.
The overture is famous. Loud dramatic chords in full orchestra are
succeeded by a soft _lento_ passage. A strong melody is then presented
by flutes and violins against an incisive rhythm. There follows a
graceful, sprightly and strongly accented tune in the strings. Both
melodies are then amplified, dramatized, and repeated; particular
emphasis is placed on the delicate, accented tune. The overture then
proceeds to an energetic conclusion.
One vocal episode from _Norma_ is also extremely popular and is often
heard in orchestral transcriptions. It is Norma’s aria, “_Casta diva_,”
surely one of the noblest soprano arias in all Italian operatic
literature. It comes in the first act and represents Norma’s prayer for
peace, and her grief that the hatred of her people for the Roman
invaders must also result in their hatred for her husband, Pollione, the
Roman proconsul.
Ralph Benatzky
Ralph Benatzky was born in Moravské-Budejovice, Bohemia, on June 5,
1884. He acquired his musical training in Prague and with Felix Mottl in
Munich, after which he devoted himself to light music by composing
operettas. While residing at different periods in Vienna, Berlin, and
Switzerland, he wrote the scores for over ninety operettas and 250
motion pictures, besides producing about five thousand songs. His most
successful operettas were _The Laughing Triple Alliance_, _My Sister and
I_, _Love in the Snow_, _Axel at the Gates of Heaven_, and _The White
Horse Inn_. He came to live in the United States in 1940, but after
World War II returned to Europe. He died in Zurich on October 17, 1957.
_The White Horse Inn_ (_Im weissen Roess’l_) is not only Benatzky’s most
celebrated operetta, but also one of the most successful produced in
Europe between the two world wars, and possibly the last of the great
European operettas. It was first performed in Berlin in 1930, after
which it enjoyed over a thousand performances in Europe. Its première in
America in 1936 (the book was adapted by David Freedman, lyrics were by
Irving Caesar, William Gaxton and Kitty Carlisle starred) was only a
moderate success. The operetta book of the original—freely adapted by
Erik Charell and Hans Mueller, from a play by Blumenthal and
Kadelburg—is set in the delightful resort of St. Wolfgang on Wolfgangsee
in Austria, in the era just before World War I. Leopold, headwaiter of
_The White Horse Inn_, is in love with its owner, Frau Josepha, who
favors the lawyer, Siedler. In a fit of temper she fires Leopold, but
upon learning that Emperor Franz Josef is about to pay the inn a visit,
she prevails upon him to stay on. Leopold makes a welcoming speech to
the Emperor, during which his bitter resentment against Frau Josepha
gets the upper hand. Later on, when Frau Josepha confides to the Emperor
that she is in love with Siedler, he urges her to consider Leopold for a
husband. Leopold then comes to Josepha with a letter of resignation,
which she accepts, but only because she is now ready to give him a new
position, as her husband.
Selections from this tuneful operetta include the main love song, “_Es
muss ein wunderbares sein_,” the ditty “_Zuschau’n kann ich nicht_,” and
the lively waltz, “_Im weissen Roess’l am Wolfgangsee_.”
It is mainly the worldwide popularity of this operetta (even more than
the natural beauty of Wolfgangsee) that brings tourists each year to the
White Horse Inn at St. Wolfgang, for a sight of the operetta’s setting,
and to partake of refreshments on the attractive veranda overlooking
Wolfgangsee. The inn is now generously decorated with pictures in which
the two main songs of the operetta are quoted, supplemented by a
portrait of Benatzky. Souvenir ashtrays also carry musical quotations
from the operetta.
Arthur Benjamin
Arthur Benjamin was born in Sydney, Australia, on September 18, 1893.
His music study took place at the Royal College of Music in London.
After serving in World War I, he became professor at the Sydney
Conservatory, and in 1926 he assumed a similar post with the Royal
College of Music in London. Meanwhile in 1924 he received the Carnegie
Award for his _Pastoral Fantasia_, and in 1932 his first opera, _The
Devil Take Her_, was produced in London. For five years, beginning with
1941, he was the conductor of the Vancouver Symphony. He has written
notable concertos, a symphony, and other orchestral music, together with
chamber works and several operas including _A Tale of Two Cities_ which
won the Festival of Britain Prize following its première in 1953. He
also wrote a harmonica concerto for Larry Adler. Though many of his
compositions are in an advanced style and technique, Benjamin was
perhaps best known for his lighter pieces, particularly those in a
popular South American idiom. He died in London on April 10, 1960.
The _Cotillon_ (1939) is a suite of English dances derived from a medley
entitled _The Dancing School_, published in London in 1719. Presented by
Benjamin in contemporary harmonic and instrumental dress, these
tunes—popular in England in the early 18th century—still retain their
appeal. A short introduction, built from a basic motive from the first
dance, leads to the following episodes with descriptive titles: “Lord
Hereford’s Delight” for full orchestra; “Daphne’s Delight” for woodwind
and strings; “Marlborough’s Victory,” for full orchestra; “Love’s
Triumph” for strings; “Jig It A Foot” for full orchestra; “The Charmer”
for small orchestra; “Nymph Divine” for small orchestra and harp solo;
“The Tattler” for full orchestra; and “Argyll” for full orchestra. A
figure from the final tune is given extended treatment in the coda.
Benjamin’s best known piece of music is the _Jamaican Rumba_ (1942).
This is the second number of _Two Jamaican Pieces_ for orchestra. A
light staccato accompaniment in rumba rhythm courses nimbly through the
piece as the woodwinds present a saucy melody, and the strings a
countersubject. Consecutive fifths in the harmony, a xylophone in the
orchestration, and the changing meters created by novel arrangement of
notes in each measure, provide particular interest. The _Jamaican Rumba_
has been transcribed for various solo instruments and piano as well as
for piano trio.
The _North American Square Dances_, for two pianos and orchestra (1955),
is a delightful treatment of American folk idioms. The work comprises
eight fiddle tunes played at old-time square dances. The native flavor
is enhanced in the music by suggestions and simulations of
feet-stamping, voice calling, and the plunking of a banjo. In the
Introduction there appear fragments of the first dance; these same
fragments return in the coda. There are eight sections: Introduction and
“Heller’s Reel”; “The Old Plunk”; “The Bundle Straw”; “He Piped So
Sweet”; “Fill the Bowl”; “Pigeon on the Pier”; “Calder Fair”; and
“Salamanca” and “Coda.” The fourth and seventh dances are in slow tempo,
while all others are fast.
Robert Russell Bennett
Robert Russell Bennett was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on June 15,
1894. He began his music study in Kansas City: piano with his mother;
violin and several other instruments with his father; and harmony with
Carl Busch. While still a boy he wrote and had published several
compositions. He came to New York in 1916, worked for a while as copyist
at G. Schirmer, then during World War I served for a year in the United
States Army. After the war he spent several years in Paris studying
composition with Nadia Boulanger; during this period he was twice the
recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. In 1926-1927 he received honorable
mention for his first symphony, in a contest sponsored by _Musical
America_; in 1930 he received two awards from RCA Victor, one for
_Sights and Sounds_, an orchestral tone poem, the other for his first
successful and widely performed work, the symphony _Abraham Lincoln_.
Since then Bennett has worked fruitfully in three distinct areas. As a
composer of serious works he has produced several operas (including
_Maria Malibran_), symphonies and other significant orchestral
compositions. As an orchestrator for the Broadway theater, he has been
involved with some of the foremost stage productions of our times
including musicals by Rodgers and Hammerstein, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter,
and Lerner and Loewe, and many others. He has also written compositions
of a more popular nature, compositions which, while fully exploiting the
resources of serious music, are nevertheless filled with popular or jazz
materials. Among the last are his effective symphonic adaptations of
music from George Gershwin’s _Porgy and Bess_; _Oklahoma!_ and _South
Pacific_ of Rodgers and Hammerstein; and _Kiss Me Kate_ of Cole Porter.
In each instance, the main melodies are brilliantly orchestrated and
skilfully combined into an integrated synthesis so that each becomes a
coherent musical composition.
The _March_, for two pianos and orchestra, (1930) makes delightful use
of jazz melodies and rhythms. There are here four connected movements,
each in march time. The first movement, in a vigorous style, leaps from
one brief motive to another without any attempt at development. In the
second, a sustained melody, first for solo oboe and later for the piano
with full orchestra, is placed against a shifting rhythm. The third is a
serious recitative culminating in an episode in which the classic
funeral march is given sophisticated treatment. The fourth movement
begins with a _marche mignonne_ and concludes with a forceful, at times
overpowering, statement of the funeral-march theme of the third
movement.
While the _Symphony in D_ (1941) is scored for symphony orchestra and
has been played by many leading American orchestras, it is music with
its tongue in the cheek, and is consistently light and humorous. This
symphony was written to honor the Brooklyn Dodger baseball team (that
is, when they were still in Brooklyn)—ironically enough an ode to a
colorful team by a composer who has been a lifelong rooter of its most
bitter rival, the New York Giants (once again, when they were still at
the Polo Grounds). There are four brief movements. The first, subtitled
“Brooklyn Wins,” “means to picture the ecstatic joy of the town after
the home team wins a game,” as the composer has explained. This is
followed by a slow (_Andante lamentoso_) movement, appropriately
designated as “Brooklyn Loses”—music filled with “gloom and tears, and
even fury.” The third movement, a scherzo, is a portrait of the club’s
then (1941) president, Larry MacPhail, and his pursuit of a star
pitcher. “We hear the horns’ bay call—then we hear him in Cleveland,
Ohio, trying to trade for the great pitcher, Bob Feller. He offers
Prospect Park and the Brooklyn Bridge as an even trade, but the
Cleveland management says ‘No’ in the form of a big E-flat minor chord.
After repeated attempts we hear the hunting horns again, as he resumes
the hunt in other fields.” The finale is a choral movement, and like
that of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, an ode to joy. “It is purely
fictitious, this text, but it speaks for itself. The subtitle of this
finale is ‘The Giants Come to Town.’”
Bennett has written two delightful orchestral compositions derived from
the songs of Jerome Kern. One is _Symphonic Study_, a synthesis of some
of Kern’s best-loved melodies, and _Variations on a Theme by Jerome
Kern_. Both of these compositions are discussed in the section on Kern.
Bennett’s symphonic treatment of George Gershwin’s _Porgy and Bess_,
entitled _Symphonic Picture_, is commented upon in the Gershwin section,
specifically with _Porgy and Bess_; Bennett’s symphonic treatment of the
music of Cole Porter’s _Kiss Me Kate_, and of _Oklahoma!_ and _South
Pacific_ is spoken of in the sections devoted to Cole Porter and Richard
Rodgers, respectively. Bennett has also orchestrated, and adapted into a
symphonic suite, the music from Richard Rodgers’ _Victory at Sea_,
described in the Richard Rodgers section.
Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz was born in Côte-Saint-André, France on December 11,
1803. As a young man he was sent to Paris to study medicine, but music
occupied his interests and he soon abandoned his medical studies to
enter the Paris Conservatory. Impatient with the academic restrictions
imposed upon him there, he left the Conservatory to begin his career as
a composer. From the very beginning he set out to open new horizons for
musical expression and to extend the periphery of musical structure. His
first masterwork was the _Symphonie fantastique_, inspired by his love
for the Shakespearean actress, Harriet Smithson. It was introduced in
Paris in 1830, a year in which Berlioz also won the Prix de Rome. In his
later works, Berlioz became one of music’s earliest Romantics. He was a
bold innovator in breaking down classical restraint; he helped extend
the dramatic expressiveness of music; he was a pioneer in the writing of
program music and in enriching the language of harmony, rhythm, and
orchestration. Among his major works are the _Requiem_, _Harold in
Italy_ for viola solo and orchestra, the _Roman Carnival Overture_, the
dramatic symphony _Romeo and Juliet_, and _The Damnation of Faust_.
Berlioz married Harriet Smithson in 1833. It proved to be a tempestuous
affair from the outset, finally ending by mutual consent in permanent
separation. From 1852 until his death Berlioz was a librarian of the
Paris Conservatory. He was active throughout Europe as a conductor and
was a trenchant writer on musical subjects; among his books is a volume
of _Memoirs_. He died in Paris on March 8, 1869.
The compositions by which Berlioz is most often heard on semi-classical
programs are three excerpts from _The Damnation of Faust_: “The Dance of
the Sylphs” (“_Danse des sylphes_”); “The Minuet of the
Will-o’-the-Wisps” (“_Menuet des feux-follets_”), and “Rakóczy March”
(“_Marche hongroise_”).
_The Damnation of Faust_, op. 24, described by the composer as a
“dramatic legend,” took many years for realization. It was based on a
French translation of Goethe’s _Faust_, published in 1827. A year later,
Berlioz completed a musical setting of eight scenes as part of an
ambitious project to prepare a huge cantata based on the Faust legend.
He did not complete this project until eighteen years after that. Upon
returning to it, he revised his earlier material, and wrote a
considerable amount of new music. This work was first performed in
oratorio style in Paris on December 6, 1846 and was a fiasco. It was
given a stage presentation in Monte Carlo in 1903. Since then it has
been performed both in concert version and as an opera.
“The Dance of the Sylphs” is graceful waltz music, its main melody
assigned to the violins. It appears in the second part of the “legend.”
Faust is lulled to sleep by sylphs who appear in his dream in a delicate
dance which brings up for him the image of his beloved Marguerite.
“Minuet of the Will-o’-the-Wisps” comes in the third part of the legend.
Mephisto summons the spirits and the will-of-the-wisps to encircle
Marguerite’s house. The dance tune is heard in woodwind and brass. After
the trio section, the minuet melody is repeated twice, the second time
interrupted by chords after each phrase. The “Rakóczy March” is based on
an 18th-century Hungarian melody. It is logically interpolated into the
Faust legend by the expedience of having Faust wander about in Hungary.
A fanfare for the brass leads to the first and main melody, a brisk
march subject begun quietly in the woodwind. It gains in force until it
is exultantly proclaimed by full orchestra. A countersubject is then
heard in strings. After the march melody returns, it again gains in
volume until it is built up into an overpowering climax.
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, on August 25,
1918. Early music study took place with private piano teachers, and
subsequently with Helen Coates and Heinrich Gebhard. He was graduated
from Harvard in 1939 after which he attended the Curtis Institute of
Music (a pupil of Fritz Reiner in conducting) and three summer sessions
of the Berkshire Music Center as a student and protégé of Serge
Koussevitzky. He made a sensational debut as conductor with the New York
Philharmonic in 1943, appearing as a last-minute substitute for Bruno
Walter who had fallen ill. Since that time he has risen to the front
rank of contemporary symphony conductors, having led most of the world’s
leading organizations, and being appointed music director of the New
York Philharmonic in 1958. As a serious composer he first attracted
attention with the _Jeremiah Symphony_ in 1944, which was performed by
most of America’s leading orchestras, was recorded, and received the New
York City Music Critics Award. He subsequently wrote other major works
for orchestra as well as the scores to successful ballets, an opera, and
several Broadway musical comedies that were box-office triumphs; the
last of these included _On the Town_ (1944), _Wonderful Town_ (1953) and
_West Side Story_ (1957). Bernstein has also distinguished himself as a
musical commentator and analyst over television, concert pianist, and
author.
Whether writing in a serious or popular vein Bernstein consistently
reveals himself to be a master of his technical resources, endowed with
a fine creative imagination, a strong lyric and rhythmic gift, and a
restless intelligence that is ever on the search for new and fresh
approaches in his writing. High on the list of favorites in the
semi-classical repertory are the orchestral suites he adapted from his
two popular and successful ballets.
_Facsimile_, choreography by Jerome Robbins, was introduced in New York
in 1946. The ballet scenario revolves around three lonely people—a woman
and two men—who find only frustration and disenchantment after trying to
find satisfactory personal relationships. The orchestral suite from this
vivacious score, vitalized with the use of popular melodies and dance
rhythms, is made up of four parts. I. “Solo.” The principal musical
material here is found in a solo flute. This is a description of a woman
standing alone in an open place. II. “Pas de Deux.” Woman meets man, and
a flirtation ensues to the tune of a waltz. The scene achieves a
passionate climax, and is followed by a sentimental episode,
romanticized in the music by a subject for muted strings and two solo
violins and solo viola. The love interest dies; the pair become bored,
then hostile. III. “Pas de trois.” The second man enters. This episode
is a scherzo with extended piano solo passages. A triangle ensues
between the two men and one woman, there is some sophisticated interplay
among them, and finally there ensue bitter words and misunderstandings.
IV. “Coda.” The two men take their departure, not without considerable
embarrassment.
_Fancy Free_ was Bernstein’s first ballet, and it is still his most
popular one; he completed his score in 1944 and it was introduced by the
Ballet Theater (which had commissioned it) on April 18 of that year. It
was a success of major proportions, received numerous performances, then
became a staple in the American dance repertory. It is, wrote George
Amberg, “the first substantial ballet entirely created in the
contemporary American idiom, a striking and beautifully convincing
example of genuine American style.” The scenario, by Jerome Robbins,
concerned the quest of girl companionship on the part of three sailors
on temporary shore leave. Bernstein’s music, though sophisticated in its
harmonic and instrumental vocabulary, is filled with racy jazz rhythms
and idioms and with melodies cast in a popular mold. The orchestral
suite is made up of five parts: “Dance of the Three Sailors”; “Scene at
the Bar”; “Pas de deux”; “Pantomime”; “Three Variations” (Galop, Waltz,
Danzon) and Finale.
When this Suite was first performed, in Pittsburgh in 1945, with
Bernstein conducting, the composer provided the following description of
what takes place in the music. “From the moment the action begins, with
the sound of a juke box wailing behind the curtain, the ballet is
strictly Young America of 1944. The curtain rises on a street corner
with a lamppost, side street bar, and New York skyscrapers tricked out
with a crazy pattern of lights, making a dizzying background. Three
sailors explode onto the stage; they are on shore leave in the city and
on the prowl for girls. The tale of how they meet first one girl, then a
second, and how they fight over them, lose them, and in the end take off
after still a third, is the story of the ballet.”
_Fancy Free_ was expanded into a musical-comedy by Betty Comden and
Adolph Green, for which Bernstein wrote his Broadway score. Called _On
the Town_ it started a one-year Broadway run on December 28, 1944, and
subsequently was twice revived in off-Broadway productions, and was made
into an outstanding screen musical.
Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet was born in Paris on October 25, 1838. Revealing a
pronounced gift for music in early childhood he was entered into the
Paris Conservatory when he was only nine. There—as a pupil of Marmontel,
Halévy, and Benoist—he won numerous prizes, including the Prix de Rome
in 1857. In that year he also had his first stage work produced, a
one-act opera, _Le Docteur miracle_. After his return from Rome to Paris
he started to write operas. _Les Pêcheurs de perles_ (_Pearl Fishers_)
and _La jolie fille de Perth_ were produced in Paris in 1863 and 1867
respectively. Success came in 1872 with his first Suite from the
incidental music to Daudet’s _L’Arlésienne_. After that came his
masterwork, the opera by which he has earned immortality: _Carmen_,
introduced in Paris two months before his death. Bizet died in Bougival,
France, on June 3, 1875.
His gift for rich, well-sounding melodies, and his feeling for inviting
harmonies and tasteful orchestration make many of his compositions ideal
for programs of light music, even salient portions of _Carmen_.
_Agnus Dei_ is a vocal adaptation (to a liturgical Latin text) of the
intermezzo from Bizet’s incidental music to _L’Arlésienne_. It is also
found as the second movement of the _L’Arlésienne Suite No. 2_. A
dramatic dialogue between forceful strings and serene woodwinds leads
into a spiritual religious song.
The _Arlésienne Suite No. 1_ is made up of parts from the incidental
music, which Bizet wrote for the Provençal drama of Alphonse Daudet,
_The Woman of Arles_ (_L’Arlésienne_). The play, with Bizet’s music
consisting of twenty-seven pieces, was given at the Théâtre du
Vaudeville in Paris in 1872. Out of this score the composer selected
four excerpts and assembled them into an orchestral suite, which has
become his most celebrated instrumental composition, and his first
success as a composer. A knowledge of the plot and characters of the
Daudet play is by no means essential to a full appreciation of Bizet’s
tuneful suite.
The first movement, “Prelude,” begins with a march melody based on an
old French Christmas song. This is subjected to a series of variations.
After the march tune has been repeated vigorously by the full orchestra
there appears a pastoral interlude, scored originally for saxophones,
but now usually heard in clarinets. This, in turn, is succeeded by a
passionate song for strings, with brass and woodwind accompaniment. The
second movement is a “Minuet,” whose principal theme is a brisk and
strongly accented subject. In the trio section, the clarinet appears
with a flowing lyrical episode. As the violins take this material over
they become rapturous; the harp and woodwind provide intriguing
accompanying figures. A brief “_Adagietto_” comes as the third movement.
This is a sensitive romance for muted strings. In the finale,
“Carillon,” we get a picture of a peasant celebration of the Feast of
St. Eloi. The horns simulate a three-note chime of bells which
accompanies a lively dance tune, first in strings, then in other
sections of the orchestra. A soft interlude is interposed by the
woodwind. Then the lively dance reappears, once again to be accompanied
by vigorous tolling bells simulated by the horns.
There exists a second suite made up of four more numbers from the
incidental music to _L’Arlésienne_. This was prepared after Bizet’s
death by his friend, Ernest Guiraud. This second suite is rarely played,
but its second movement, “Intermezzo,” is celebrated in its liturgical
version as “_Agnus Dei_” (which see above). The other movements are
Pastorale, Minuet and Farandole.
If the name of Bizet has survived in musical history and will continue
to do so for a long time to come, it is surely because of a single
masterwork—his opera _Carmen_. This stirring music drama—based on the
famous novel of Prosper Mérimée, adapted for Bizet by Meilhac and
Halévy—never fails in its emotional and dramatic impact. Carmen is the
seductive gypsy girl who enmeshes two lovers: the bull fighter
Escamillo, and the sergeant, Don José. Both she and Don José meet a
tragic end on the day of Escamillo’s triumph in the bull ring. The
background to this fatal story of love and death is provided by the
Spanish city of Seville—its streets, bull ring, taverns, and nearby
mountain retreat of smugglers.
_Carmen_ was introduced at the Opéra-Comique on March 3, 1875. Legend
would have us believe it was a fiasco, and further that heartbreak over
this failure brought about Bizet’s premature death two months after the
opera was first heard. As a matter of historic truth, while there were
some critics at that first performance who considered the text too stark
and realistic for their tastes, _Carmen_ did very well, indeed. By June
18th it enjoyed thirty-seven performances. At the start of the new
season of the Opéra-Comique it returned to the repertory to receive its
fiftieth presentation by February 15, 1876. It was hailed in Vienna in
1875, Brussels in 1876, and London and New York in 1878. Many critics
everywhere were as enthusiastic as the general public, and with good
reason. For all the vivid color of Spanish life and backgrounds, and all
the flaming passions aroused by the sensual Carmen, were caught in
Bizet’s luminous, dramatic score.
The Prelude to _Carmen_ represents a kind of resumé of what takes place
in the opera, and with some of its musical material. It opens with
lively music for full orchestra describing the festive preparations in
Seville just before a bull fight. After a sudden change of key, and
several chords, the popular second-act song of Escamillo, the
bullfighter, is first given quietly in strings, then repeated more
loudly. Then there is heard an ominous passage against quivering strings
which, in the opera, suggests the fatal fascination exerted by Carmen on
men. This is repeated in a higher register and somewhat amplified until
a dramatic chord for full orchestra brings this episode, and the
overture itself, to a conclusion.
The Prelude to Act II is constructed from a motive of an off-stage
unaccompanied little song by Don José in the same act praising the
dragoons of Alcala. The Prelude to Act III is actually an entr’acte, a
gentle little intermezzo which Bizet originally wrote for
_L’Arlésienne_. The Prelude to Act IV is also an entr’acte, this time of
dramatic personality. The brilliant and forceful music is based upon an
actual Andalusian folk song and dance; it sets the mood for the gay
festivities in a public square on the day of a gala bull-fight with
which the fourth act opens.
It is sometimes a practice at concerts of semi-classical or pop music to
present not merely one of the four orchestral Preludes but also at other
times salient musical episodes from the opera, arranged and assembled
into fantasias or suites. These potpourris or suites are generally made
up of varied combinations of the following excerpts. From Act I: the
“Changing of the Guard”; Carmen’s seductive and extremely popular aria,
the Habanera (“_L’amour est un oiseau rebelle_”), which was not by Bizet
but borrowed by him from a song by Sebastian Yradier (see Yradier); the
duet of Micaëla and Don José, “_Qui sait de quel démon_”; and Carmen’s
Séguidille, “_Près des ramparts de Séville_.” From Act II: “The March of
the Smugglers,”; Carmen’s “_Chanson bohème_”; the rousing Toreador Song
of Escamillo; and Don José’s poignant “Flower Song” to Carmen, “_La
fleur que tu m’avais jetée_.” From Act III: Carmen’s Card Song, “_En
vain pour éviter_”; and Micaëla’s celebrated Air, “_Je dis que rien ne
m’épouvante_”. From Act IV: the Chorus, March, and Finale.
Utilizing many of these selections, Ferruccio Busoni and Vladimir
Horowitz each prepared striking concert fantasias for solo piano; Pablo
de Sarasate, for violin and piano; and Franz Waxman for violin and
orchestra for the motion picture, _Humoresque_, starring John Garfield.
_Children’s Games_ (_Jeux d’enfants_) is a delightful suite of twelve
pieces for piano (four hands) for and about children. Bizet wrote it in
1871, but shortly afterwards orchestrated five of these numbers and
assembled them into a suite, op. 22. The first movement is a march
entitled “Trumpeter and Drummer” (“_Trompette et tambour_”) music
punctuated by trumpet calls and drum rolls, accompanying a troop of
soldiers as it approaches and then disappears into the distance. This is
followed by a tender berceuse for muted strings, “The Doll” (“_La
Poupée_”). The third movement is “The Top” (“_La Toupie_”), an impromptu
in which the violins simulate the whirr of a spinning top while the
woodwinds introduce a jolly dance tune. The fourth movement, “Little
Husband, Little Wife” (_“Petit mari, petite femme”_) is a quiet little
dialogue between husband and wife, the former represented by first
violins, and the latter by the cellos. The suite ends with “The Ball”
(“Le Bal”), a galop for full orchestra.
The _Danse bohèmienne_ is a popular orchestral episode that comes from a
comparatively unknown (and early) Bizet opera, _La jolie fille de
Perth_, introduced in Paris in 1867. This vital dance music appears in
the second act, but it is also often borrowed by many opera companies
for the fourth act ballet of _Carmen_. The harp leads into, and then
accompanies, a soft, sinuous dance melody for the flute. The tempo
rapidly quickens, and the mood grows febrile; the strings take over the
dance melody in quick time, and other sections of the orchestra
participate vigorously.
_La Patrie_ Overture, op. 19 (1873) is music in a martial manner. A
robust, strongly rhythmed march tune is immediately presented by the
full orchestra. After some amplification it is repeated softly by the
orchestra. The second main theme is a stately folk melody first given by
the violins, clarinets and bassoons, accompanied by the double basses.
This new subject receives resounding treatment in full orchestra and is
carried to a powerful climax. After a momentary pause, a third tune is
heard, this time in violas and cellos accompanied by brasses and double
basses, and a fourth, in violas, clarinets and English horn with the
muted violins providing an arpeggio accompaniment. Then the stirring
opening march music is recalled and dramatized. The overture ends in a
blaze of color after some of the other themes are brought back with
enriched harmonies and orchestration.
This music was written for a play of the same name by Sardou.
Luigi Boccherini
Luigi Boccherini was born in Lucca, Italy, on February 19, 1743. After
studying music with various private teachers in Rome, he gained
recognition as a cellist both as a member of theater orchestras in Lucca
and later on tour throughout Europe in joint concerts with Filippo
Manfredi, violinist. He served as court composer in Madrid from 1785 to
1787, and from 1787 until 1797 for Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia. His
last years were spent in Madrid in poverty and poor health, and he died
in that city on May 28, 1805.
Boccherini, a contemporary of Haydn, was a prolific composer of
symphonies, concertos, and a considerable amount of chamber music which
were all-important in helping to develop and crystallize a classical
style of instrumental writing and in establishing the classic forms of
instrumental music.
Despite the abundance of his creation in virtually every branch of
instrumental music, and despite the significance of his finest works,
Boccherini is remembered today by many music lovers mainly for a
comparatively minor piece of music: the sedate _Minuet_ which originated
as the third movement of the String Quintet in E major, op. 13, no. 5.
Transcribed for orchestra, and for various solo instruments and piano,
(even for solo harpsichord) this light and airy Minuet has become one of
the most celebrated musical examples of this classic dance form.
Several of Boccherini’s little known melodies from various quintets and
from his Sinfonia No. 2 in B-flat were used by the contemporary French
composer, Jean Françaix, for a ballet score, from which comes an
enchanting little orchestral suite. The ballet was _The School of
Dancing_ (_Scuola di Ballo_), with book and choreography by Leonide
Massine; it was introduced by the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in Monte
Carlo in 1933. The book was set in the dancing school of Professor
Rigadon. The professor tries to palm off one of his backward pupils on
an impresario, while withholding his star; in the end all pupils leave
him in disgust. The suite is in four parts. The first consists of
“_Leçon_” and “_Menuet_”; the second, “_Larghetto_,” “_Rondo_,” and
“_Dispute_”; the third, “_Presto_,” “_Pastorale_,” and “_Danse
allemande_”; the last, “_Scène du notaire_” and “_Finale_.” An
unidentified program annotator goes on to explain: “An occasional stern
note in the ‘_Leçon_’ and strong chords in the ‘_Menuet_’ suggest the
teacher. The violin and bassoon play a duet which very clearly pictures
the inept pupil. Further atmosphere is furnished by a guitar-like
accompaniment heard on the harp from time to time. One is soon
acquainted with the characters who reappear in the various sections. The
‘_Larghetto_’ closely resembles a movement in one of Haydn’s symphonies,
which suggests a tempting line of speculation. The orchestration of the
‘_Rondo_’ and the syncopation of the ‘_Danse allemande_’ are
noteworthy.”
François Boieldieu
François-Adrien Boieldieu, genius of opéra-comique, was born in Rouen,
France, on December 16, 1775. After studying music with Charles Broche,
Boieldieu became a church organist in Rouen in his fifteenth year. Two
years later his first opera, _La fille coupable_, was successfully given
in the same city. In 1796 he came to Paris where from 1797 on his operas
began appearing in various theaters, climaxed by his first major
success, _Le Calife de Bagdad_ in 1801. In 1798 he was appointed
professor of the piano at the Paris Conservatory. From 1803 until 1811
he lived in Russia writing operas for the Imperial theaters and
supervising musical performances at court. After returning to Paris in
1811, he reassumed his significant position in French music. From 1817
to 1826 he was professor of composition at the Paris Conservatory, and
in 1821 he was made Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. All the while he
kept on writing operas and enjoying considerable popularity. His most
significant work was the opéra-comique, _La Dame blanche_, a sensation
when introduced in Paris in 1825. Ill health compelled him to abandon
his various professional activities in 1832. Supported by an annual
government grant, he withdrew to Jarcy where he spent the last years of
his life devoting himself mainly to painting. He died there on October
8, 1834. Boieldieu, with Adam and Auber, was one of the founders of
French comic opera, and his best works are still among the finest
achieved in this _genre_.
The Overture to _The Caliph of Bagdad_ (_Le Calife de Bagdad_) is
Boieldieu’s most famous piece of music. The opera was a triumph when
introduced at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on September 16, 1801. The
libretto, by Saint-Just, is set in Bagdad where Isaaum is a benevolent
Caliph, but given to mischievous pranks and tricks, including parading
around the city in various disguises. Once, as an army officer, he meets
and makes love to Zeltube. Her mother, suspicious of him, orders his
arrest. When the Caliph reveals himself, he also discloses his
intentions were honorable and that he intends making Zeltube his bride.
The overture opens with a mellow song for strings. When the tempo
changes, a sprightlier tune is heard in strings and brought to a
forceful climactic point. The music now assumes a dramatic character
after which a new subject, again in a sensitive lyrical vein, is offered
by the strings.
The Overture to _La Dame blanche_ (_The White Lady_) is also popular.
_La Dame blanche_ is the composer’s greatest work in the opéra-comique
form. It was received with such sensational acclaim when introduced in
Paris on December 10, 1825 that, temporarily at any rate, the sparkling
comic operas of Rossini (then very much in vogue) were thrown into a
shade. In time, _La Dame blanche_ received universal acceptance as a
classic in the world of opéra-comique. Between 1825 and 1862 it enjoyed
over a thousand performances in Paris; by World War I, the total passed
beyond the fifteen hundred mark. The libretto, by Eugène Scribe, is
based on two novels by Sir Walter Scott, _The Monastery_ and _Guy
Mannering_. The setting is Scotland, and the “white lady” is a statue
believed to be the protector of a castle belonging to the Laird of
Avenel. The castle is being administered by Gaveston who tries to use
the legend of the white lady for his own selfish purposes, to gain
possession of the family treasures. Anna, Gaveston’s ward, impersonates
the white lady to help save the castle and its jewels for the rightful
owner.
The vivacious overture is made up of several of the opera’s principal
melodies. The introduction begins with a motive from the first-act
finale, and is followed by the melodious and expressive “Ballad of the
White Lady.” The Allegro section that follows includes the drinking song
and several other popular arias, among these being the ballad of “Robin
Adair” which appears during the hero’s first-act revery and as a concert
piece in the third act.
Giovanni Bolzoni
Giovanni Bolzoni was born in Parma, Italy, on May 14, 1841. He attended
the Parma Conservatory, then achieved recognition as a conductor of
operas in Perugia and Turin. In 1887 he became director of the Liceo
Musicale in Turin. Bolzoni wrote five operas, a symphony, overtures, and
chamber music, but all are now in discard. He died in Turin on February
21, 1919.
About the only piece of music by Bolzoni to survive is a beguiling
little Minuet which comes from an unidentified string quartet and which
has achieved outstanding popularity in various transcriptions, including
many for salon orchestras with which it is a perennial favorite.
Carrie Jacobs Bond
Carrie Jacobs Bond, whose art songs are among the most popular by an
American, was born in Janesville, Wisconsin, on August 11, 1862. Coming
from a musical family, she was given music instruction early, and made
appearances as a child-prodigy pianist. After marrying Dr. Frank L.
Bond, a physician, she went to live in Chicago where her husband died
suddenly, leaving her destitute. For a while she earned a living by
renting rooms, taking in sewing, and doing other menial jobs. Then she
began thinking of supplementing this meager income with the writing of
songs. To issue these compositions, she formed a modest publishing firm
in New York with funds acquired from her New York song recital; for a
long time her office was in a hall bedroom. Her first publication, just
before the end of the century, was _Seven Songs_, which included “I Love
You Truly” and “Just a Wearyin’ For You,” each of which she subsequently
published as separate pieces. In 1909 she achieved a formidable success
with the famous ballad, “The End of a Perfect Day,” of which more than
five million copies of sheet music were sold within a few years. Her
later songs added further both to her financial security and her
reputation. She was invited to give concerts at the White House,
received awards for achievement in music from various organizations, and
was singled out in 1941 by the Federation of Music Clubs as one of the
two outstanding women in the field of music. She died in Hollywood,
California, on December 28, 1946.
Carrie Jacobs Bond knew how to write a song that was filled with
sentiment without becoming cloying, that was simple without becoming
ingenuous, and which struck a sympathetic universal chord by virtue of
its mobile and expressive lyricism. Besides “I Love You Truly,” “Just a
Wearyin’ for You” and “The End of a Perfect Day,” her most famous songs
included “His Lullaby,” “Life’s Garden,” “I’ve Done My Work,” and “Roses
Are in Bloom.” Her songs are so popular that they have been often heard
in various transcriptions for salon orchestras and band.
Alexander Borodin
Alexander Borodin was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, on November 11,
1833. He was trained in the sciences, having attended the Academy of
Medicine in St. Petersburg and in 1858 receiving his doctorate in
chemistry. He continued after that to devote himself to scientific
activities, both in and out of Russia. He produced several significant
papers and, from 1859 to 1862, served on an important scientific
mission.
He had also received some musical training in his boyhood. In 1862 he
began to direct his energies with equal vigor to music as well as to
science. He soon joined four colleagues (Mussorgsky, Balakirev, Cui, and
Rimsky-Korsakov) in forming a national school of composition henceforth
identified as “The Mighty Five” or “The Russian Five.” Like the other
members of this group, Borodin concerned himself with the creation of a
national Russian musical art, well grounded in Russian folk song and
dance, Russian culture and history. In this style he produced three
symphonies, the folk opera _Prince Igor_, two string quartets, and
various operas and instrumental compositions. He differed from the other
members of the “Russian Five” by his partiality to Oriental melodies,
harmonies, rhythms, and instrumental colors, and by his preference for
exotic subjects. Borodin died in St. Petersburg on February 27, 1887.
_In the Steppes of Central Asia_ (1880) is a popular tone poem for
orchestra, one of several _tableaux vivants_ (“living pictures”)
commissioned from various composers to honor the 25th anniversary of the
reign of Czar Alexander II. Each _tableau vivant_ was intended to
portray an incident from the Russian past, or a picture of a Russian
scene. Borodin prepared his own programmatic note to explain his music;
it appears in the published score. “Over the uniformly sandy steppes of
Central Asia come sounds of a peaceful Russian song. Along with them are
heard the melancholy strains of Oriental melodies, then the stamping of
approaching horses and camels. A caravan, accompanied by Russian
soldiers, traverses the measureless waste. With full trust in its
protective escort, it continues its long journey in a carefree mood.
Onward the caravan moves. The songs of the Russians and those of the
Asiatic natives mingle in common harmony. The refrains curl over the
desert and then die away in the distance.”
The peaceful Russian song is given by the clarinet, while the
“melancholy strains of Oriental melodies” is an expressive song for
English horn. These two melodies are the core of a composition that is
free in form.
The _Nocturne_ (_Notturno_) is a haunting, poetic song for strings, the
third movement of the composer’s String Quartet No. 2 in D major (1885).
It is often heard apart from the rest of the work, particularly in
various transcriptions for orchestra, or for violin and piano. In 1953,
furnished with lyrics and adapted into a popular song by Robert Wright
and George “Chet” Forrest, it was heard in the Broadway musical _Kismet_
as “This Is My Beloved” and became an outstanding hit.
The _Polovtsian Dances_ come from _Prince Igor_, a folk opera with
libretto by Vladimir Stassov based on an old Russian chronicle. It was
introduced at the Imperial Opera in St. Petersburg in 1890. The setting
is 12th-century Central Asia where a Tartar race, known as the Polovtzi,
capture Prince Igor and his son, Vladimir. Though captives, Prince Igor
and his son are regaled by the leader of the Tartars with a lavish feast
and Oriental dances. It is at this point in the opera (Act 2) that the
popular _Polovtsian Dances_ appear. They are exciting aural experiences
because of their primitive rhythms, exotic Oriental melodies, and
flaming instrumental colors. One of the dances is a poignant melody for
flute and oboe; another is a dance of savage men in which the main
melody in clarinet is set against a sharply accented phrase of four
descending notes; a third is barbaric, a syncopated melody for strings
accompanied by crash of cymbals; a fourth is a haunting Oriental song
divided by violins and cellos. This last melody was used by Robert
Wright and George “Chet” Forrest for their popular song hit of 1953,
“Stranger in Paradise,” in their Broadway musical, _Kismet_. The
concluding dance is again in a savage manner. A passionate melody is
begun by the woodwind and carried on by the strings, while receiving a
vigorous horn accompaniment.
Felix Borowski
Felix Borowski was born in Burton, England, on March 10, 1872. He
received his musical training at the Cologne Conservatory and with
private teachers in England. In 1897 he settled in the United States
where he later became a citizen. From 1897 to 1916 he was professor of
harmony and counterpoint at Chicago Musical College, and from 1916 to
1925 its president. His career in music criticism began in 1905. From
1907 to 1917 he was music critic of the Chicago _Record-Herald_ and from
1942 until his death, of the Chicago _Sun_. He was also program
annotator for the concerts of the Chicago Symphony from 1908 on, some of
these annotations being published in the books, _Standard Concert Guide_
and _Encyclopedia of the Symphony_. Borowski died in Chicago, Illinois,
on September 6, 1956.
As a composer, Borowski produced three symphonies, three string
quartets, several ballet-pantomimes, various tone poems and other
instrumental compositions. His major works are now rarely given, but his
smaller salon pieces have retained their popularity through the years.
The best of these are the _Adoration_, for violin and piano, the _La
Coquette_ and _Valsette_ for piano, all transcribed for orchestra. All
three pieces are in simple song structure and unashamedly Romantic in
their lyricism and emotional content. The uninhibited sentimentality of
_Adoration_ has made that piece a particular favorite.
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was born in Hamburg, Germany, on May 7, 1833. He
received instruction in music from his father, Otto Cossel, and Eduard
Marxsen. At fourteen he gave his first public concert as pianist, in
which he introduced one of his own compositions. In 1853 he toured with
the Hungarian violinist, Eduard Reményi, as his accompanist. During this
period he met and aroused the interest of such notable musicians as
Joachim, Liszt, and Schumann. The last of these was one of the first to
give Brahms public recognition, through a glowing article in the _Neue
Zeitschrift fuer Musik_. After a considerable amount of travel in
Germany and Austria, and after holding various musical positions, Brahms
established himself permanently in Vienna in 1863. The promise he had
shown in his early piano and chamber music became fully realized with
his first piano concerto in 1857, the _German Requiem_ written between
1857 and 1868, and the first symphony completed in 1876. In his later
orchestral, piano, and chamber music he assumed a position of first
importance in the German Romantic movement, the spokesman for absolute
music, the genius who succeeded in combining respect for classical
discipline and tradition with the Romanticist’s bent for emotion,
poetry, and flexible thought. Brahms died in Vienna on April 3, 1897.
The supreme craftsmanship, mature thought, and profound feelings of
Brahms’ music do not lend themselves to popular consumption.
Occasionally, though not frequently, he chose to give voice to a lighter
mood, as he did in his ever-popular _Hungarian Dances_. In such music,
as in his more ambitious works, he is always the master of form and
style, and a powerful and inventive creator.
The _Cradle Song_ (_Wiegenlied_) is Brahms’ universally loved art song,
one of the most famous lullabies ever written. It is the fourth in a
collection of five songs, op. 49 (1868). Its lyric is a folk poem
(“_Guten Abend, Gute Nacht_”). In its many and varied transcriptions,
this lullaby has become an instrumental favorite.
The _Hungarian Dances_ was originally published in 1869 in two volumes
for four-hand piano. The first book contained dances Nos. 1 through 5,
while the second book had Nos. 6 through 10. Brahms took special pains
to point out that these melodies were not his own, but were adaptations.
On the title page there appeared the phrase “arranged for the piano.”
Brahms further refused to place an opus number to his publication as
another indication that this was not original music; and in a letter to
his publisher, Simrock, he explained he was offering this music “as
genuine gypsy children which I did not beget but merely brought up with
bread and milk.”
Despite Brahms’ open candor about the origin of these melodies, a storm
of protest was sounded by many newspapers and musicians accusing Brahms
of plagiarism. Fortunately, the general public refused to be influenced
by this unjust accusation. The two volumes of _Hungarian Dances_ were a
formidable success, the greatest enjoyed by Brahms up to that time.
In 1880, Brahms issued two more volumes of _Hungarian Dances_, still for
four-hand piano. Book 3 had dances Nos. 11 through 16, and Book 4, Nos.
17 through 21. This time many of the melodies were original with Brahms,
even if modeled after the style and idiosyncrasies of actual Hungarian
folk dances and gypsy melodies.
The _Hungarian Dances_ are most popular in transcriptions for orchestra.
Brahms himself transcribed Dances Nos. 1, 3, and 10; Andreas Hellen,
Nos. 2, 4, and 7; Dvořák, Nos. 7 through 21; and Albert Parlow, the
rest. Walter Goehr and Leopold Stokowski also made transcriptions of
several of these dances for orchestra. In addition, Brahms adapted Book
1 for piano solo, and Joachim all the dances for violin and piano.
The dances range from sentimental to passionate moods. They abound with
abrupt contrasts of feeling and dynamics; they are often vital with
vertiginous rhythms and changing meters. These gypsy melodies, both the
gay and the sad, warm the heart like Tokay wine; the pulse of the rhythm
is similarly intoxicating. As Walter Niemann wrote of these dances:
“They are pure nature music, full of unfettered, vagrant, roving spirit,
and a chaotic ferment, drawn straight from the deepest well springs of
music by children of Nature. It seems impossible to imprison them in the
bonds of measure, time, and rhythm, to convert their enchantingly
refreshing uncivilized character, their wild freedom, their audacious
contempt for all order into a civilized moderation and order.”
Yet Brahms was able to discipline this music with modern techniques
without robbing it either of its personality or popular appeal. “He has
maintained,” continues Niemann, “and preserved the essential, individual
genuine features of gypsy music in his musical idiom: the dances sound
like original Hungarian folk music ... and for this reason they delight
and enchant everybody: the amateur by their natural quality, the
specialist by their art.”
The most famous of these dances is the fifth in F-sharp minor, its
passionate, uninhibited dance melody released at once by the strings
against a strong rhythm.
The following are some other popular dances.
No. 1, in G minor. A slow and languorous dance unfolds in strings, and
then is contrasted by a slight, tripping theme in woodwind; a second
languorous dance melody follows in the strings.
No. 6 in D-flat major. A slow syncopated melody begins sensually but
soon gains in tempo and volume; a second arresting dance tune is then
offered by strings against strong chords in the rest of the orchestra.
No. 7 in A major. This dance opens with a vivacious melody in strings,
but through most of the piece a comparatively restrained mood is
maintained.
No. 12 in D minor. The first dance melody is presented in a halting
rhythm by the woodwind against decorative figures in the strings. This
is followed by two other dance tunes, the first in strings with
trimmings in the woodwind, and the second in full orchestra.
No. 19 in B minor and No. 21 in E minor. Both are fleet and graceful
both in melody and rhythm.
The _Waltz in A-flat major_, a graceful dance which is given without any
introduction or coda, originated as a piece for piano duet: the
fifteenth of a set of sixteen such waltzes op. 39 (1865). All of Brahms’
waltzes reveal their Viennese identity in their charm and lightness of
heart. Some are derivative from the waltzes of Johann Strauss II, but
the one in A-major is more in the character of a Schubert Laendler than
a Strauss waltz, though it does boast more delicacy and refinement than
we usually find in peasant dances. David Hochstein’s transcription for
violin and piano is in the concert violin repertory.
Charles Wakefield Cadman
Charles Wakefield Cadman was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, on
December 24, 1881. As a boy he played the organ in a church near
Pittsburgh, and wrote a march that was published. His main music study
took place with private teachers: Leo Oehmler, Luigi von Kunits, and
Emil Paur. From 1908 to 1910 he was the music critic of the Pittsburgh
_Dispatch_. Meanwhile, a meeting in 1902 with the lyric writer Nellie
Richmond Eberhart, turned him to the writing of songs in which he
achieved his initial outstanding successes as composer. Some of these
were inspired by the American Indian. Later researches in the field of
American-Indian ceremonials and music led him to write his opera
_Shanewis_, produced by the Metropolitan Opera in 1918, as well as
several significant instrumental works including the _Thunderbird Suite_
and _To a Vanishing Race_. From 1917 until his death he lived in
California where he wrote several major orchestral and chamber-music
works, but none in the American-Indian idiom with which he became
famous. He died in Los Angeles on December 30, 1946.
The _American Suite_, for strings (1938), is an engaging piece of music
in which Cadman makes use of several different American folk idioms. In
the first movement he borrows his melodies from the tribal music of
Omaha Indians. In the second movement we hear Negro folk tunes
indigenous to South Carolina. And in the third movement, two old fiddle
tunes are effectively employed, “Sugar in the Gourd,” and
“Hoop-de-den-do.”
“At Dawning” is one of Cadman’s two most famous songs. It sold millions
of copies of sheet music and records, and has been translated into many
languages. Though originally published in 1906, it reposed forgotten and
unknown on the shelves of the publisher (Oliver Ditson) until John
McCormack sang it at one of his recitals in 1909 and was given an
ovation. “At Dawning” was transcribed for violin and piano by Fritz
Kreisler.
_Dark Dancers of Mardi Gras_, for orchestra with piano, (1933), is one
of Cadman’s most popular symphonic compositions. The composer explains:
“The work takes its name from the Negro side of the Mardi Gras, though
no Negro themes are used. The Negroes of New Orleans have a Mardi Gras
of their own. The fantasy is supposed to reflect the fantastic, the
grotesque, the bizarre spirit of the carnival. The original theme goes
into a major key in the central section, and might represent the
romantic feeling of the King and Queen, and the Court in carnival
fashion.”
“From the Land of the Sky-Blue Water” is the second of Cadman’s two
outstandingly successful songs. It is one of four songs with lyrics by
Nellie Richmond Eberhart appearing in _American-Indian Songs_, op. 45, a
cycle which was published in Boston in 1909 and in the same year
received a prize in a contest sponsored by the Carnegie Institute. This
song was first swept to national fame by the prima donna, Lillian
Nordica, in her song recitals. It soon entered the repertory of
virtually every leading concert singer in America. Fritz Kreisler
transcribed it for violin and piano.
Lucien Caillet
Lucien Caillet was born in Dijon, France on May 22, 1891. After
attending the Dijon Conservatory he came to the United States in 1918
and settled first in Pennsylvania, and later in California. He has
distinguished himself by his skilful symphonic transcriptions of
compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach, Mussorgsky, and others. In his
own works he frequently makes skilful use, and astute adaptations, of
some famous pieces of popular music.
The _Fantasia and Fugue on Oh, Susanna!_ (1942) for orchestra has for
its point of departure the famous song of Stephen Foster, “Oh, Susanna!”
Caillet’s composition begins with a preface: a tutti for orchestra which
quotes the melody only partly. This leads into a fantasia section
featuring the solo string quartet and presenting a quiet version of the
melody. A fugue follows, the germ of the “Susanna” melody found in first
and second violins in unison.
In _Pop Goes the Weasel_ for orchestra (1938) Caillet brings the full
resources of his harmonic and instrumental skill to a famous American
folk tune. “Pop Goes the Weasel” is a Western two-part melody, long a
favorite of country fiddlers since before the Civil War. After
presenting this melody, Caillet subjects it to intriguing variations,
sometimes with comic effect.
Alfredo Catalani
Alfredo Catalani was born in Lucca, Italy, on June 19, 1854. After
receiving preliminary instruction in music from his father he was
allowed to enter the Paris Conservatory without examinations. He
concluded his music study at the Milan Conservatory, where in 1886 he
succeeded Ponchielli as professor of composition. In 1880 he had his
first opera, _Elda_, produced in Turin. He continued to confine himself
to the stage, his most successful operas being _Loreley_ in 1890, and
_La Wally_ in 1892. In his own time, and shortly thereafter, his operas
were outstandingly successful in Italy. Today they are remembered almost
exclusively because of some orchestral excerpts. Catalani died in Milan
on August 7, 1893.
The most popular episodes from Catalini’s two most famous operas are
dances often performed by salon orchestras. “The Dance of the Waves”
(_Danza delle ondine_) and “The Waltz of the Flowers” (_Valzer_ _dei
fiori_) appear in _Loreley_, an opera introduced in Turin in 1890. In
this opera the action takes place on the banks of the Rhine. Walter,
about to marry Anna, is loved by the orphan girl, Loreley. When Loreley
learns she is about to lose her beloved, she calls upon the nymphs and
the sprites of the Rhine to help her; throwing herself into the river,
she becomes one of them. During the wedding ceremonies, Loreley appears
and entices Walter away from his bride. Anna dies of grief; and Walter
meets his doom in the Rhine, to which he is helplessly drawn through
enticements by the sprites and by Loreley.
“The Dance of the Waves” takes place in the last act. After Anna’s
funeral procession passes by, Walter comes to the edge of the Rhine,
grief-stricken. Out of the waters come the sprites to dance seductively
before Walter and to beckon him on into the river. “The Waltz of the
Flowers” is a graceful, even gentle, dance performed in the second act,
during the wedding ceremonies of Walter and Anna.
“The Waltz of the Kiss” (_Valzer del bacio_) is a segment from _La
Wally_, Catalani’s most famous opera, which was such a particular
favorite of Arturo Toscanini that not only did he conduct it frequently
in Italy but he also named his son after its heroine. _La Wally_ was
introduced at La Scala in Milan in 1892. The text, by Luigi Illica, was
based on a novel by Wilhelmine von Hillern. The setting is 19th century
Switzerland where Wally and Hagenbach are in love, and meet their death
in an avalanche; all the while Wally is being sought after by Gellner,
whom she detests. The “Waltz of the Kiss” is a caressing piece of music
from the second act which accompanies a dance by Wally and Hagenbach, in
which they first discover they are in love and yield to passionate
kissing while the hateful Gellner watches.
Otto Cesana
Otto Cesana was born in Brescia, Italy, on July 7, 1899. He came to the
United States in boyhood and studied music with private teachers. After
working in Hollywood, where he wrote a considerable amount of music for
motion pictures, he came to New York to become arranger for Radio City
Music Hall, and for several important radio programs. In his own music
he has been particularly successful in using within large forms popular
American elements, at times folk idioms. In a more serious attitude he
has produced half a dozen symphonies and various concertos for solo
instruments and orchestra.
_Negro Heaven_ for orchestra is one of his more popular attempts to use
an American folk idiom within a symphonic mold. He explains: “Here
follows a musical interpretation of the fluctuating moods that seize the
colored man—now gay, now sad, always, however migrating towards
carefreeness and abandon, as exemplified in the return of the first
subject, which is soon followed by one of those superlative moods, a
Negro in the throes of nostalgia.”
_Swing Septet_ (1942), for string orchestra, guitar and percussion is in
three short movements, the first in sonata form, and the last two in
three-part song form. “The chief purpose,” says the composer, “is to
give the string players an opportunity to compete with the ad lib boys
who, while they improvise the wildest phrases imaginable, are ‘floored’
whenever an approximation of that material is set down on paper.”
Emmanuel Chabrier
Emmanuel Chabrier was born in Ambert, France, on January 18, 1841. He
was trained as a lawyer; from 1862 to 1880 he was employed at the
Ministry of the Interior in Paris. But he had also received a sound
musical training with private teachers. Composition began for him in
earnest in the 1870’s, with two of his operettas receiving performances
in Paris between 1877 and 1879. In 1879 he made a pilgrimage to Germany
to hear Wagner’s music dramas whose impact upon him proved so
overwhelming that he finally decided to give up his government work and
concentrate on music. Returning to Paris in 1880 he published the
_Pièces pittoresques_ for piano. Following a visit to Spain he produced
in 1883 his first major work for orchestra and realized with it his
first major success as a composer—the rhapsody _España_. He also wrote
two operas, _Gwendoline_ produced in 1886, and _Le Roi malgré lui_
introduced one year later. Some of his best writing was for the piano
and included such distinguished works as the _Habanera_, _Bourrée
fantasque_, and _Trois valses romantiques_. Chabrier became a victim of
paralysis in the last two years of his life, and just before his death
he began losing his sanity. He died in Paris on September 13, 1894.
While in his operas he revealed his profound indebtedness to the
Wagnerian idiom, Chabrier was at his best either in music that
interpreted Spain or to which he brought a natural bent for laughter,
gaiety, and the grotesque.
_España_, an orchestral rhapsody, is his most famous composition, as
popular in the semi-classical literature as it is in the symphonic
repertory. Chabrier wrote it in 1883 after a Spanish holiday, and its
première in Paris on November 4 of that year was a sensation. This
rhapsody is built from three principal subjects, two borrowed from
Spanish folk melodies, and one Chabrier’s own. A nervous rhythm in
plucked strings leads to a strongly accented malagueña, first heard in
the wind instrument. Different sections take it over before soaring
strings arrive with a lyrical jota melody. Chabrier’s own theme, a
stately subject for trombones, is then heard, set against the background
of the malagueña melody. The French waltz-king, Waldteufel, used
Chabrier’s themes from _España_ for one of his most famous waltzes, also
entitled _España_.
The _Joyeuse marche_ (1888) reveals the composer in one of his satirical
moods. Chabrier wrote it at first as a piano composition to be used for
a sight-reading class at the Bordeaux Conservatory. It proved too
difficult to fulfil this function, and Chabrier decided to orchestrate
it, calling it _Joyeuse marche_ and presenting it as one of his more
serious endeavors. The music is in a burlesque style, believed to be a
musical description of drunken musicians staggering home after a festive
evening. The work opens with an orchestral flourish, following which the
oboe offers a capricious subject. This gaiety is maintained in the
lively second theme for the violins.
The _Suite pastorale_ (1880) is an orchestral adaptation of four of the
ten piano pieces in _Pièces pittoresques_. In the first, “_Idylle_,” a
beautiful melody is accompanied by plucked strings. The second, “_Danse
villageoise_” is a country dance in which the lively dance tune is first
heard in clarinets. The third piece, “_Sous bois_” has a pastoral
character, while the concluding number, “_Scherzo-Valse_” is a
protracted piece of pulsating music.
George Chadwick
George Whitefield Chadwick was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, on
November 13, 1854. Most of his music study took place in Germany. When
he was being graduated from the Leipzig Conservatory in 1879, his
overture _Rip Van Winkle_ received its première performance. He then
studied organ and composition with Rheinberger in Munich. After
returning to the United States in 1880, he became a teacher of harmony
and composition at the New England Conservatory, rising to the post of
director in 1897. He was also active for several years as director of
the Worcester Music Festival. He died in Boston on April 4, 1931.
Chadwick was a prolific composer of symphonies, concertos, and various
other orchestral and choral works. He never freed himself from the
influence of German Romanticism, with which he had been infected during
his student days. He wrote with a sure craftsmanship, usually filling
his classical structures with winning melodies and often lush harmonies
and orchestration.
Two compositions for orchestra are of particular popular appeal:
_Jubilee_ and _Noël_. Both are movements from the _Symphonic Sketches_
(1895) which received its world première in Boston in 1908. (The other
two movements, the third and fourth, are “Hobgoblin” and “A Vagrom
Ballad.”) _Jubilee_ is a vigorous tonal picture of a carnival. A
spirited melody is loudly presented by the full orchestra and is
elaborated upon. A second virile subject is then presented by bass
clarinet, bassoons, violas and cellos. Following a lively return of the
opening carnival theme, the woodwind and horns appear with a lyrical
subject. The music then gains in vitality until it comes to a rousing
conclusion with a coda built from the carnival motive.
_Noël_ has been described as “a little Christmas song.” It is a haunting
orchestral nocturne in which a serene Yuletide melody is offered by the
English horn.
Cécile Chaminade
Cécile Chaminade was born in Paris on August 8, 1857. Music study took
place in Paris with Marsick and Godard among others. In 1875 she
launched her career as concert pianist by touring Europe in programs
that often included her own compositions. At her American debut, on
November 7, 1908, she appeared as soloist with the Philadelphia
Orchestra in a performance of her own _Concerstueck_. She wrote many
other ambitious works including a symphony, two orchestral suites, and
ballets. She died in Monte Carlo on April 18, 1944.
Though Chaminade staked her future as composer on her larger, serious
works for orchestra and the ballet stage, she is today remembered almost
exclusively for her slight morsels of the salon variety. Most of these
originated as compositions for the piano; her piano music numbers about
two hundred works including arabesques, etudes, impromptus,
valse-caprices, and so forth. _Automne_, a sentimental melody, and
_Sérénade espagnole_, in a pseudo-Spanish style, come from her piano
music: _Automne_ from the _Concert Etudes_, op. 35. It has been
transcribed for popular orchestra by Melachrino. _Sérénade espagnole_
has been adapted for violin and piano by Fritz Kreisler. Chaminade’s
most popular piece, _Scarf Dance_, comes from a ballet, _Callirhoë_,
produced in Marseilles in 1888. It is often heard in its original
orchestral version and in various transcriptions for solo piano, and
solo instrument and piano.
Gustave Charpentier
Gustave Charpentier was born in Dieuze, France, on June 25, 1860. He
received his musical training in the Conservatories in Lille and Paris,
winning the Prix de Rome in 1881. During his stay in Rome he wrote
_Impressions of Italy_ for orchestra, with which he realized his first
success upon its première performance in Paris in 1892. Charpentier’s
fame, however, rests securely on a single opera, _Louise_, a triumph
when introduced in Paris on February 2, 1900, and since become
recognized as one of the major achievements of the French lyric theater.
A sequel, _Julien_ (1913), was a failure. From 1913 on, Charpentier
wrote almost nothing more, living a Bohemian existence in the Montmartre
section of Paris where he died on February 18, 1956.
_Impressions of Italy_, a suite for orchestra (1890) is a nostalgic
picture of five Italian scenes. The first movement is “Serenade,” in
which is described a picture of young men emerging from a bistro at
midnight, singing love songs under the windows of their girl friends.
“At the Fountain” depicts girls parading with dignified steps near a
waterfall by a ravine; from the distance come the sounds of a shepherd’s
tune. “On Muleback” tells of evening as it descends on the Sabine
Mountains. The mules trot along, and there rises the song of the
muleteer followed by the sweet love song of girls riding in their carts
to the village. “On the Heights” presents noontime on the heights
overlooking Sorrento. All is peace, though the toll of bells can be
heard from a distance. The finale is a musical tribute to a great city,
“Naples.” In this music we see the crowds of the city, the parading
bands. A tarantella is being danced in the streets. The strains of a
sentimental folk song drift in from the quay. Evening falls, and
fireworks electrify the sky.
Frédéric Chopin
François Frédéric Chopin, genius of music for the piano, was born in
Zelazowa Wola, Poland, on February 22, 1810. He began to study the piano
at six. One year later he made his first public appearance and wrote his
first piece of music. His later music study took place privately with
Joseph Elsner and at the Warsaw Conservatory from which he was graduated
with honors in 1829. In that year he visited Vienna where he gave two
successful concerts of his works. He left Poland for good in 1830,
settling permanently in Paris a year after that. He soon became one of
the most highly regarded musicians in France, even though he gave only a
few public concerts. In 1837 he first met the writer, George Sand, with
whom he was involved emotionally for about a decade, and under whose
influence he composed some of his greatest music. Always sensitive in
physique and of poor health, Chopin suffered physically most of his
adult life. He died in Paris on October 17, 1849 and was buried in Père
Lachaise.
Chopin produced 169 compositions in all. Practically all of them are for
the piano, and most within the smaller forms. In writing for the piano
he was an innovator who helped change the destiny of piano style and
technique. He is often described as the poet of the keyboard, by virtue
of his sensitive and deeply affecting lyricism (usually beautifully
ornamented), his always exquisite workmanship, and his profound emotion.
Many of his works are nationally Polish in expression.
The Etude in E major, op. 10, no. 3 (1833) is one of two of Chopin’s
most famous works in the etude form. While an etude is essentially a
technical exercise, Chopin produced twenty-seven pieces for piano which,
though they still probe various technical problems, are nevertheless so
filled with poetic thought and musical imagination that they belong in
the realm of great art and must be numbered with his most significant
compositions. That in E major is one of his most beautiful melodies, a
soulful song rather than a technical exercise; Chopin himself regarded
this as one of his most inspired pages. One of the many transcriptions
of this composition existing is for the voice.
The so-called _Revolutionary Etude_—C minor, op. 10, no. 12 (1833)—was
inspired by the tidings received by Chopin while he was traveling from
Vienna to Paris that Warsaw had fallen to the Russians. His first
impulse was to rush back home and join in the battle. He was dissuaded
from doing this by his family, and instead he sublimated his intense
patriotic feelings by writing a fiery piece of national music, full of
the spirit of defiance. Since then this etude has become as inextricably
associated with Poland and its national aspirations and ideals as, for
example, is Sibelius’ _Finlandia_ with Finland. This etude was
repeatedly played over the Polish radio when Nazi Germany first attacked
Poland in 1939, a continual inspiration to the defenders of Warsaw; it
was the last piece of music played over the Polish radio before the
Germans took over.
In the Fantaisie-Impromptu in C-sharp minor, op. 66 (1834), Chopin makes
a structural compromise between the forms of the fantasy and the
impromptu. In doing so, he produced one of his best known melodies, a
melody that appears after a fast bravura opening. This is a flowing
sentimental song that was used for the popular American tune, “I’m
Always Chasing Rainbows.”
The _Funeral March_ is surely the most celebrated funeral music ever
written. It is found as the third movement of the Sonata No. 2 in B-flat
minor, for piano, op. 35 (1839). In various arrangements, especially for
orchestra, for band and for organ, this music has accompanied the dead
to their final resting place in every part of the civilized world. In
three-part form, the first section consists of a slow, mournful march.
In the middle trio a more reflective mood is projected, almost like a
kind of gentle recollection of the dead and the good he had performed.
The opening mournful tread returns after this trio to bring the
composition to its conclusion.
The fifty-five Mazurkas are among the most national of Chopin’s
compositions, those in which he most fervently expressed his strong
feelings about his native land. The Mazurka is a Polish dance in ¾ time,
somewhat slower in tempo than the waltz, and highly varied in rhythm and
emotion. In Chopin’s Mazurkas we find, on the one hand, brief mood
pictures, and on the other, a fiery romantic temperament which expresses
itself in rapid and at times abrupt alternations of feeling from the gay
to the melancholy, from the energetic to the pensive. One of the most
beautiful of the Mazurkas is that in A minor, op. 17, no. 4 (1833), of
which Stokowski made an excellent orchestral arrangement. One of the
most dramatic is that in B-flat minor, op. 24, no. 4 (1835) orchestrated
by Stokowski, Auber, among others. Two other Chopin Mazurkas that have
been orchestrated are found in _Les Sylphides_ (see below): that in D
major, op. 33, no. 2 (1838) and C major, op. 67, no. 3 (1835).
Chopin wrote nineteen Nocturnes, each one a slow, poetic and atmospheric
piece of “night music.” “Chopin loved the night,” wrote James Gibbons
Huneker, “and its soft mysteries, and his nocturnes are true night
pieces, some with agitated, remorseful countenance, others seen in
profile only, while many others are whisperings at the dusk.” The most
celebrated of Chopin’s Nocturnes is that in E-flat major, op. 9, no. 2
(1833), truly a “whispering at the dusk.” This is a beautiful, romantic
song that begins without preliminaries. As this spacious melody unfolds,
it acquires even new facets of beauty through the most exquisite
embellishments. Among the many transcriptions that have become popular,
besides those for orchestra, is one for violin and piano by Pablo de
Sarasate, and another for cello and piano by David Popper.
There are two Chopin Polonaises that are particularly favored by
audiences everywhere. One is the _Heroic_, the other the _Military_.
Chopin was especially successful in endowing artistic dimensions and
significance to this old courtly folk dance which is technically
characterized by its syncopations and accents on the half beat. He wrote
twelve for piano. The _Heroic_, in A-flat major, op. 53, no. 6 (1842) is
fiery music, its first robust theme being the reason why the entire work
has been designated as “heroic.” This main melody was borrowed for the
American popular song, “Till the End of Time,” a big hit in 1945.
(Sigmund Spaeth has pointed up the interesting fact that while “Till the
End of Time” was at the head of the “Hit Parade” in 1945, the polonaise
itself from which this song was derived was in fifteenth place,
“competing with all the light and serious music of the world.” And one
of the reasons why the Polonaise suddenly became so popular was because
it was featured prominently in the screen biography of Chopin released
that year, _A Song to Remember_.) The _Military Polonaise_, in A major,
op. 40, no. 1 (1839) is one of Chopin’s most commanding pieces of music.
Both principal themes have a pronounced military character, though the
second is somewhat more subdued and lyrical than the first. Glazunov’s
transcription for orchestra, for the ballet _Chopiniana_, is one of
several adaptations.
Of Chopin’s twenty-six Preludes, two should be singled out for their
enormous popular appeal. Chopin’s Preludes are brief compositions
suggesting a mood or picture, but at the end leaving the impression with
the listener that much more could be spoken on that subject. These
Preludes, as Robert Schumann wrote, “are sketches, the beginnings of
studies, or, if you will, ruins; eagles’ pinions, wild and motley and
pell-mell. But in every piece we find, in his own pearly handwriting,
‘this is by Frederic Chopin’; even in his pauses we recognize him by his
agitated breathing.” There are twenty-four pieces in op. 28 (1839), each
one in one of the keys of the major or minor scale, beginning with C
major and A minor, and concluding with F major and D minor. The most
popular is that in A major, one of the shortest in the group, a
sixteen-bar melody in two short sentences; this is not only one of
Chopin’s simplest lyrical thoughts, but also one of his most eloquent.
Among the orchestral transcriptions is the one found in the ballet _Les
Sylphides_ (see below).
The second of Chopin’s most popular Preludes is the so-called
_Raindrop_, in D-flat major, op. 28, no. 15. Some of the depression
experienced by Chopin during a miserable stay in Majorca with George
Sand—where he was plagued by illness, bad weather, and the antagonism
and suspicions of his neighbors—can here be found. The melody is a
somber reflection, through which is interspersed a repetitious figure
that seems to suggest the rhythm of falling raindrops, the reason why
this piece acquired its familiar nickname. The belief that Chopin was
inspired to write this music by listening to the gentle sound of falling
rain on the roof of his Majorca house is apocryphal.
_Les Sylphides_, one of the most popular works in the classic ballet
repertory, makes extensive use of some of Chopin’s best-known
compositions for the piano, orchestrated by Stravinsky, Alexander
Tcherepnine, Glazunov, and Liadov. With choreography by Michel Fokine it
was first presented by Diaghilev’s Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in Paris
on June 2, 1909 with Pavlova, Karsavina, and Nijinsky as principal
dancers. There is no story line to this ballet. In place of characters
there are only dancers dressed in long white dresses, and a danseur in
black and white velvet. In place of an actual plot there is only
atmosphere and mood. A subdued, introspective overture (Prelude in A
major, op. 28, no. 7) leads to the rise of the curtain on an ancient
ruin within a secluded wood. Girls in white are transfixed in a tableau;
then they begin dancing to the strains of the Nocturne in A-flat, op.
32, no. 2. After that come various dances to the following Chopin
compositions: Waltz in G-flat, op. 70, no. 1; Mazurka in C major, op.
67, no. 3; Mazurka in D major, op. 33, no. 2; a repetition of the
opening A major Prelude; Waltz in A-flat, op. 69, no. 1, the _L’adieu_;
a repetition of the opening A major Prelude; Waltz in C-sharp minor, op.
64, no. 2; Waltz in E-flat, op. 18, the _Grande valse brillante_.
Chopin’s fourteen waltzes are the last word in aristocratic elegance and
refinement of style; they are abundant with the most beguiling lyrical
ideas. Perhaps the best loved of all these waltzes is that in C-sharp
minor, op. 64, no. 2 (1847). The waltz opens without preliminaries with
music of courtly grace; two other equally appealing subjects follow. The
so-called _Minute Waltz_—in D-flat major, op. 64, no. 1—is one of the
shortest of Chopin’s compositions for the piano. The term “minute” does
not refer to the sixty seconds supposedly required for its performance
(actually that performance takes less than a minute) but to the French
term, “_minute_” meaning “small.”
Eric Coates
Eric Coates, one of England’s most highly esteemed and widely performed
composers of light music, was born in Hucknall, England, on August 27,
1886. While attending the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he
specialized in the viola under Lionel Tertis, he supported himself by
playing in several of London’s theater orchestras. Upon graduating from
the Academy, Coates became violist with several string quartets,
including the Hambourg String Quartet with which he toured South Africa
in 1908. From 1912 to 1918 he was first violist of the Queen’s Hall
Orchestra. Meanwhile, in 1911 he realized his first success as composer
of light music when his _Miniature Suite_ was introduced at a Promenade
Concert; after 1920 he devoted himself almost completely to composition,
producing ballets, rhapsodies, suites, marches, and so forth, that were
heard around the world. In 1930, his valse-serenade _Sleepy Lagoon_
achieved a phenomenal success in London; with lyrics by Jack Lawrence
and in a popular-song arrangement by Dr. Albert Sirmay, it made in 1942
seventeen appearances on the American “Hit Parade,” twice in first
place. Coates appeared as guest conductor throughout the music world,
visiting the United States in 1946 and 1955, on both occasions
conducting concerts of his music over the radio networks. In 1957 he
became president of the British Light Music Association. He died in
Chichester, England, on December 21, 1957.
In _Four Centuries_, a suite for orchestra (1941), Coates created a
four-movement work, each of which was in a musical style of a different
century. The first movement is a fugue, the second pavane, the third
Valse, and the last is called “Jazz.”
_London Suite_ (1932), for orchestra, is one of his best known works
inspired by the city dearest to his heart. As he himself wrote: “My best
inspiration is to walk down a London street and a tune soon comes to me.
When I can think of nothing I walk down Harley Street and there is a
lamp post. Every time I catch sight of it a tune comes to my mind. That
lamp post has been my inspiration for years.” The most celebrated
movement of his suite is the stirring “Knightsbridge March,” one of the
most popular marches by an Englishman, perhaps second only in universal
appeal to Elgar’s _Pomp and Circumstance_. It has been used as the theme
music for a program on the BBC, and when first used the radio station
was swamped with over twenty thousand letters asking for its
identification. Two other highly familiar movements from this suite are
“Westminster” and “Covent Garden.” The former is a “meditation,”
introduced by the chiming of bells of the Westminster clock and followed
by tunes both gay and pensive suggesting different moods of people
strolling in London streets below. The second is a tarantella, a lively
dance recalling the fact that the famous opera house, Covent Garden, has
also distinguished itself for the performances of comic and light
operas.
_The Three Bears_ is a realistic tonal picture of the famous fairy tale
of Goldilocks and the three bears. An expressive _Andante_ section is
intended to depict the query of the three bears, “Who’s been sitting in
my chair?” In the gentle waltz section that follows, Goldilocks goes to
sleep in the small bear’s bed. A vigorous fast section demonstrates how
the three bears discover Goldilocks and chase her wildly. They finally
give up the pursuit, go home in good humor, while Goldilocks returns to
her grandmother to tell her of her adventure that day.
In _The Three Elizabeths_ (1944), Coates provides sensitive lyrical
portraits of three English queens, Queen Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen;
Elizabeth, the Queen mother, widow of King George VI; and Elizabeth II.
Peter Cornelius
Peter Cornelius was born in Mayence, Germany, on December 24, 1824.
After studying theory with Dehn in Berlin from 1845 to 1852 he became a
passionate advocate of the “music of the future” as promulgated by Liszt
and Wagner. It was Liszt who introduced Cornelius’ comic opera, _The
Barber of Bagdad_, in Weimar in 1858; Liszt was finally forced to resign
his conducting post in Weimar because of the hostility of the audiences
to this masterwork. From 1865 on Cornelius lived in Munich where he was
reader to King Ludwig II and professor of harmony at the Royal
Conservatory. He died in Mayence on October 26, 1874. He was a composer
of operas and songs, but is today remembered almost exclusively for _The
Barber of Bagdad_, one of the most delightful comic operas in the German
repertory.
_The Barber of Bagdad_ (_Der Barbier von Bagdad_)—whose world première
took place in Weimar on December 15, 1858, Liszt conducting—has an
amusing text written by the composer himself. The plot concerns a
rendezvous between Nureddin and Margiana, daughter of the Caliph;
Nureddin’s friend, the barber of Bagdad, stands guard. This amatory
adventure is brightened by a series of episodes and accidents in which
Nureddin (mistaking his friend for the Caliph) seeks refuge in a chest
in which he almost suffocates. All turns out well in the end. The Caliph
offers his parental blessings to Nureddin and Margiana.
The overture is famous. Its main melody is a chromatic Oriental subject
which represents the barber. Another significant episode is the theme
with which the overture opens: a tender melody for woodwind and muted
strings. These two ideas, and several subsidiary ones derived from the
opera score, are developed with considerable good humor and merriment
until a dramatic conclusion is realized in the coda.
Noel Coward
Noel Coward, one of England’s most brilliant and versatile men of the
theater in the 20th century, was born in Teddington, on December 16,
1899. He made his stage debut in 1911 in a fairy play, and for the next
few years appeared regularly in various other productions. His career as
performer was interrupted by military service during World War I. After
the war he decided upon a career as writer. His first major success came
with the play _The Vortex_, in 1924. From then on he wrote dramas and
comedies which placed him in the front rank of contemporary playwrights.
But his achievements in the theater do not end here. He has also
distinguished himself as an actor, night-club entertainer, producer,
lyricist, composer, and on occasion even as a conductor. He wrote the
texts, lyrics, and the music to several musical productions, the most
famous of which is the operetta, _Bitter Sweet_, in 1929. Other musicals
by Coward include _Year of Grace_ (1928), _Words and Music_ (1932),
_Conversation Piece_ (1934) and _After the Ball_ (1954). Out of some of
these have come such celebrated Coward songs as “Mad About the Boy,”
“Mad Dogs and Englishmen,” “Some Day I’ll Find You” and “I’ll Follow My
Secret Heart.” An anthology of fifty-one Noel Coward songs from his
various musical productions called _The Noel Coward Song Book_ was
published in New York in 1953. Never having received any musical
training, Coward can play the piano only in a single key, and must call
upon the services of an amanuensis to get his melodies down on paper.
_Bitter Sweet_ is his most famous musical, first produced in London on
July 18, 1929, and in New York on November 5, 1929. It was twice adapted
for motion-pictures, the first time in 1933 in England, and the second
time in 1940 in the United States in a production starring Jeanette
MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. In _Bitter Sweet_, Noel Coward made a
conscious effort at writing a romantic, sentimental, nostalgic operetta
in the style so long favored in Vienna; indeed it was a hearing of a
recording of Johann Strauss’ _Die Fledermaus_ that proved to be the
immediate stimulus in the writing of his text. The setting is for the
most part Vienna, and the time the 1880’s. Sari, an English girl, is
about to marry an English man of means when she suddenly decides to
elope with Carl, a music teacher. They go to live in Vienna. Carl comes
to his sudden death in a duel, after which Sari continues to live in
Vienna where she becomes a famous singer. In her old age, after an
absence of half a century, she returns to London.
Three melodies from _Bitter Sweet_ have become extremely popular. The
first is a nostalgic waltz, “I’ll See You Again,” from the first act,
the love song of Sari and Carl; the song recurs again in the third act,
and its closing measures serve to bring the play to a dramatic
conclusion. “Zigeuner,” also sung by Sari is, as its name suggests, in
the gypsy style so favored by the Viennese public. The third famous
melody from _Bitter Sweet_ is “If Love Were All.”
“I’ll Follow My Secret Heart” comes from _Conversation Piece_, first
produced in London on February 16, 1934, and in New York the same fall.
The setting of this sentimental and nostalgic operetta is the English
resort town of Brighton in 1811 where Paul, a duke turned adventurer,
and Melanie, a Parisian chanteuse, are involved in a stormy romance that
ends happily. As sung by Yvonne Printemps in London, “I’ll Follow My
Secret Heart” was the pivot on which the story rotated, and the main
reason for this operetta’s enormous success.
César Cui
César Cui was born in Vilna, Russia, on January 18, 1835. He was
graduated as an engineer from the St. Petersburg Engineering Academy in
1857; following that he served for many years as a topographer, as an
authority on fortifications, and as an engineering professor. All the
while his principal avocation was music, which he had studied from
childhood on. Between 1864 and 1900 he was active as music critic for
various Russian newspapers and journals. As a composer, he belonged to
the nationalist group known as the “Russian Five” or “Mighty Five,” but
unlike his distinguished colleagues (Balakirev, Rimsky-Korsakov,
Mussorgsky and Borodin) his influence proved far greater than his music.
He wrote many operas and large orchestral works, but none have remained
alive in the repertory. He was probably at his best in miniature for the
piano, and in his songs. He died in St. Petersburg on March 24, 1918.
It is with one of his miniatures that his name is still remembered. This
piece is the _Orientale_, a composition originally for violin and piano,
the ninth number in a suite of twenty-four pieces collectively entitled
_Kaleidoscope_, op. 50. The principal melody is in oriental style,
introduced and then accompanied by a persistent rhythm (which in the
original version is produced by plucked strings, while the melody itself
is first given by the piano. This melody is soon taken over by the
violin.) Transcriptions for orchestra have made this a salon favorite.
Claude Debussy
Achille-Claude Debussy, father of musical Impressionism, was born in St.
Germain-en-Laye, France, on August 22, 1862. From 1873 to 1884 he
attended the Paris Conservatory where he was both a rebellious and a
brilliant student. He won many prizes, including the Prix de Rome in
1884. In the compositions written in Rome under the provisions of the
Prix he already revealed his independence of thought and unorthodoxy of
style. After returning from Rome to Paris he became influenced not only
by the Impressionist movement in French art and the Symbolist movement
in French literature but also by the iconoclastic musical approaches and
idioms of Erik Satie. Debussy now began to develop his own techniques
and mannerisms and to crystallize his highly personal style. His first
masterworks appeared between 1892 and 1893: the orchestral prelude, _The
Afternoon of a Faun_ (_L’Après-midi d’un faune_), and his string
quartet. With later works for orchestra and for solo piano—and with his
remarkable opera, _Pelleas and Melisande_, introduced at the
Opéra-Comique on April 30, 1902—he brought musical Impressionism to its
highest technical development and to its most advanced stage of artistic
fulfillment. He became the musical poet of the most subtle suggestions,
elusive moods, and delicate impressions. A victim of cancer, Debussy
suffered severely in the closing years of his life. He died in Paris on
March 25, 1918, on a day when the city was being bombarded by the
Germans during World War I. Because of the war, his death passed
unnoticed except by a handful of friends.
Debussy’s greatest works are, to be sure, too complex in technique and
too subtle in style to enjoy ready consumption by the general public.
But a few of his compositions have a wide appeal because their charm and
sensitivity are easily comprehended, even at first hearing. One of these
is the delightful piano suite, _Children’s Corner_ (1908) written by the
composer for the delight of his little daughter, Chou-Chou. In it
Debussy evokes the imaginative world of the child; but he also produces
unsophisticated descriptive music that is readily appreciated by the
very young. Debussy used English rather than French titles for this work
because he wished to suggest the kind of stories and games that involve
an English governess and a French child. André Caplet’s orchestration of
this suite is famous.
There are six brief movements. The first, “Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum,”
is a satire on young pianists and their struggles with five-finger
exercises. This is followed by “Jimbo’s Lullaby,” a tender lullaby
crooned by a child to his toy elephant named Jimbo. In the third
movement, “Serenade for a Doll,” the child turns from his pet elephant
to his pet doll to croon to it a sensitive serenade. “The Snow Is
Falling” is a tone picture of a snowfall, seen by a child from his
window. “The Little Shepherd” is a pastoral piece of music. The most
famous movement of the suite is the last one, “Golliwogg’s Cakewalk” in
which the composer exploits the style and rhythm of a Negro dance
popular in America in the 19th century, the cakewalk. In this movement,
the composer maliciously interpolates a fragment from the Prelude of
Wagner’s _Tristan and Isolde_.
The beloved _Clair de Lune_ (_Moonlight_) is probably the composer’s
most celebrated melody. This is a poetic, sensitive evocation of the
peace and beauty of a moonlight light. It comes from his _Suite
bergamasque_ for piano (1890), where it can be found as the third of
four movements. Orchestral transcriptions have made this piece of music
world-famous.
_The Girl With the Flaxen Hair_ (_La Fille aux cheveux de lin_) is an
exquisite portrait, in the composer’s most felicitous impressionist
style. It is the eighth number of his Preludes for the piano, Book I
(1910), and like _Clair de lune_ is often heard in various orchestral
transcriptions; Arthur Hartmann’s adaptation for violin and piano is
also familiar.
The _Petite Suite_ (_Little Suite_) for piano duet (1889) is early
Debussy, more in the Romantic vein of Delibes than in the provocative
idiom Debussy later made famous. As orchestrated by Henri Busser it is
in the repertory of many salon and pop orchestras. There are four short
movements. The first, “_En Bateau_” (“_In a Boat_”) is particularly
popular. In the orchestration a gentle barcarolle melody for flute
suggests the gentle course of the boat in a placid lake. This is
followed by turns by a vigorous episode and a passionate section, both
of them for the strings. The flute then restores placidity, and the
opening sensitive melody returns in the violins. “_Cortège_” (“March”)
is a pert little march tune shared by the woodwind and strings.
“_Menuet_” is of classic grace while the finale, “_Ballet_,” has a
compelling rhythmic vigor.
_Rêverie_ (1890) is a brief, atmospheric piece for the piano which has
became a favorite with Americans because in 1938 it was adapted into the
popular song, “My Reverie.”
Léo Delibes
Léo Delibes was born in St. Germain-du-Val, France, on February 21,
1836. After attending the Paris Conservatory from 1848 on, he became an
accompanist for the Théâtre Lyrique and organist of the Church of
St.-Jean et St.-François in Paris in 1853. Between 1855 and 1865 he
wrote a dozen operas, none of them successful. In 1865 he was appointed
chorusmaster of the Grand Opéra where he was encouraged to write music
for ballet; the first of these was _La Source_ in 1866 (renamed _Naila_
when later given in Vienna). His most successful ballets were _Coppélia_
in 1870 and _Sylvia_ in 1876, both still vital in the repertory. In 1873
his most important opéra-comique, _Le Roi l’a Dit_, was introduced by
the Opéra-Comique; Delibes’ most important opera, _Lakmé_, was first
performed on April 14, 1883 by the Paris Opéra. Meanwhile, in 1881,
Delibes was appointed professor of composition at the Conservatory.
Three years after that he became a member of the French Academy. He died
in Paris on January 16, 1891.
Delibes is often described as the creator of modern ballet music. He was
the first composer to write symphonically for the dance, to bring to
ballet music the fullest creative and technical resources of the skilled
serious composer. Thus he opened a new field of compositions which later
composers (Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, and Ravel among many others)
cultivated with fertility. The elegance of Delibes’ style, the caressing
warmth of his lyricism, the richness of his harmonic and rhythmic
language, the delicacy of his orchestration endow his ballet music with
interest even when it is divorced from its choreography.
_Coppélia_ is a staple in the classic ballet repertory. It was
introduced at the Paris Opéra on May 25, 1870, choreography by A.
Saint-Léon, and scenario by C. Nuitter and A. Saint-Léon based upon _The
Sandman_, a story by E. T. A. Hoffmann. _Coppélia_ is the first
successful ballet to utilize the subject of a doll become human.
Coppélia is a doll created by Dr. Coppélius. She comes to life and gets
out of control. Franz, thinking she is human, falls in love with her.
But when he realizes she is but a doll he becomes reconciled with his
former sweetheart, Swanilda.
Delibes’ score is one of the earliest in ballet to make successful use
of such folk dances as the Mazurka and the Czardas; because of his
success in this direction, many later composers of ballet music were
encouraged to follow suit.
An orchestral suite adapted from the score never ceases to delight
audiences at both symphonic and semi-classical concerts. It opens with
the “_Valse lente_,” a suave waltz to which Swanilda dances as she
strives to attract the attention of Coppélia, of whom she is jealous.
This is followed by the “Mazurka,” a gay episode danced by a group of
villagers after Franz has mistaken Coppélia for a human and salutes her.
The “Ballade” then comes as a pensive interlude; to this music Swanilda
puts a stalk of wheat to her ear, following a long existing
superstition, to discover if Franz has been faithful to her. When the
answer is in the negative, she breaks the stalk savagely before his very
eyes. “_Theme Slave Varié_” is danced by Swanilda; this section
comprises a tuneful Polish melody and five variations. The stately and
at times fiery “Czardas” which concludes the first act is a corybantic
in which all villagers join. “_Valse de la poupée_” (or “Dance of the
Doll”) is probably the most familiar musical number in the entire
ballet, an elegant waltz danced by Swanilda as she assumes the dress,
and imitates the actions, of Coppélia.
The _Naila Waltz_ (or _Pas des Fleurs_) was written by Delibes in 1867
as an intermezzo for the revival in Paris of Adolph Adam’s opera _Le
Corsaire_, in Paris. When Delibes’ early ballet, _La Source_, was
introduced in Vienna as _Naila_, this waltz was interpolated into the
production. A short, vigorous introduction for full orchestra and
several notes in the basses lead to the lilting waltz melody in strings,
with the woodwinds soon joining in. Ernst von Dohnányi made an effective
transcription of this waltz for the piano.
_Le Roi l’a dit_ (_The King Said So_) is an opéra-comique with libretto
by Edmond Gondinet, introduced at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on May 24,
1873. The plot revolves around a peasant boy whom a Marquis is trying to
pass off before the king as his own son. The peasant makes the most of
this situation to the continual embarrassment and chagrin of the Marquis
who finally manages to get rid of him by marrying him off to a maid with
whom the boy is in love.
The popular overture to this light opera opens with a brisk march in
full chords. A gracious little melody then unfolds in the strings. After
a return of the march music in a more subdued vein, a romantic song is
offered by the clarinets against plucked strings. The music now grows
livelier as a principal thought is given by chattering strings and
woodwind. Extended use is now made of the first graceful melody. The
opening march is at last recalled to bring the overture to a boisterous
end.
The second of Delibes’ famous ballets, _Sylvia_, was introduced at the
Paris Opéra on June 14, 1876. The choreography was by Louis Mérante, and
the text by Jules Barbier and Baron de Reinach. The classical subject is
derived from mythology. Aminta, a shepherd, comes to a sacred grove
seeking a huntress he had once seen there. She is Sylvia, who soon
appears with her nymphs. She is later captured by Orion, the black
huntsman. But her escape is effected by Eros, and she and Aminta are
reunited in love.
Like _Coppélia_, _Sylvia_ has a popular orchestral suite adapted from
the ballet score. After a brief Prelude comes “_Les Chasseresses_” (“The
Huntresses”), sprightly music with which Sylvia and her nymphs make
their first appearance; to its rhythmic strains they dance before a
statue of Eros. A gentle “Intermezzo” follows, describing the nymphs as
they rest near a stream. In the “_Valse lente_” Sylvia dances to a
graceful musical episode. The “Barcarolle” highlights a saxophone solo;
to this background music appears a ship bearing Eros, disguised as a
pirate. The most celebrated single number in the entire suite comes
next, the “Pizzicato,” a delicate dance performed by Sylvia disguised as
a slave. The “_Cortège de Bacchus_” (“March of Bacchus”) is the dynamic
music with which a bacchanalian rite is being celebrated.
Gregore Dinicu
Gregore Dinicu, who was born in Bucharest, Rumania, on April 5, 1889, is
a gypsy violinist who became popular in leading Rumanian cabarets and
restaurants. In 1939 he visited the United States, scoring a major
success with his gypsy orchestra at the New York World’s Fair. His _Hora
Staccato_, for violin and piano (or violin and orchestra)—a virtuoso
piece of folk character—is his only composition to become famous outside
Rumania. Jascha Heifetz, the famous virtuoso, heard Dinicu play it in
Rumania and was so delighted with it that he transcribed it, and
popularized it both at his concerts and on records. The Hora is an
exciting Rumanian folk dance with lively rhythms and a vertiginous
melody that shifts flexibly from major to minor or modal scales. These
traits are all found in Dinicu’s electrifying _Hora Staccato_.
Gaetano Donizetti
Gaetano Donizetti was born in Bergamo, Italy, on November 29, 1797. His
early music study took place in Bergamo and Naples and was completed at
the Liceo Filarmonico in Bologna. Despite his strong bent not only for
music but also for art, literature, and architecture, he aspired for a
military career. While serving in the Austrian army he completed his
first opera, _Enrico di Borgogna_, introduced in Venice in 1818. Success
came four years after that in Rome with _Zoraide di Granata_. Now
exempted from further military duty, Donizetti was able to devote
himself entirely to composition. Between 1822 and 1829 he wrote
twenty-three operas. In 1830 he achieved renown throughout Europe with
_Anna Bolena_, introduced in Milan. In the five succeeding years he
produced two masterworks by which he is still represented in the
operatic repertory: _L’Elisir d’amore_ in 1832 and _Lucia di Lammermoor_
in 1835. From 1837 to 1839 he was the director of the Naples
Conservatory. In 1839 he went to live in Paris where he wrote and had
produced several highly successful operas including _The Daughter of the
Regiment_ and _La Favorita_ in 1840 and _Don Pasquale_ in 1843. Soon
after this he returned to his native city where he was stricken by a
mental disorder and for a time confined to an asylum. He died in Bergamo
on April 8, 1848.
The facility with which Donizetti wrote his sixty-seven operas is
apparent in the easy flow of his lovable melodies and in the spontaneity
of his aurally agreeable harmonies. He also possesses a fine theatrical
gift, and much of his best music combines delightful lyricism and
affecting emotion with dramatic force.
_The Daughter of the Regiment_ (_La Fille du régiment_, or _La figlia
del reggimento_) was first performed at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on
February 11, 1840. The French libretto by Jean François Bayard and
Vernoy de Saint-Georges was translated into Italian by the composer. The
setting is Tyrol in 1815, then being invaded by Napoleon’s troops. Marie
is the _vivandière_ (canteen manager) of the 21st Regiment of the French
army. In love with Tonio, who is suspected by the French of being a spy,
she is able to prevail on the troops to save his life. But Marie is soon
compelled to be separated from both Tonio and the French soldiers when
it is discovered that she is the long lost niece of the Countess of
Berkenfeld and must return with her aunt to her castle. The Countess
wants Marie to marry the Duke of Crackenthorp. When the French troops,
with Tonio among them, storm the Berkenfeld castle and want to reclaim
Marie, the Countess now reveals that Marie is not her niece but her
daughter and thus must obey her wishes. However, the French soldiers
finally prevail on the Countess to permit Marie to marry Tonio.
The most popular selections from this tuneful, and occasionally
martially stirring opera are: Marie’s moving tribute to her regiment
(“_Ah, chacun le sait, chacun le dit_”) and her tender farewell as she
is about to leave for Berkenfeld (“_Il faut partir, mes bons
compagnons_”) and a spirited French war song to victory (“_Rataplan_”)
all from the first act; and from the second act, Marie’s moving aria
(“_Par le rang, et l’opulence_”), the orchestral entr’acte
“_Tyrolienne_,” and the dramatic paean to France (“_Salut à la France_”)
with which the opera ends.
_Don Pasquale_ is a classic in the literature of opera buffa. It
received its première in Paris on January 3, 1843; its libretto (by the
composer and Giacomo Ruffini) is based on a libretto created by Angelo
Anelli for another opera. The central character is an old bachelor who
objected to the marriage of his young nephew with a beautiful widow,
Norina. To teach him a lesson, Norina puts on a disguise, involves the
old man in a mock marriage, and then tortures him with her shrewish
ways. Pasquale finally becomes so relieved to discover that he has
merely been the victim of an intrigue, rather than a catastrophic
marriage, that he does not hesitate any longer to give Norina and his
nephew his consent to their marriage.
In the case of _Don Pasquale_ its overture is heard far more often than
potpourris of principal sections. It opens with heavy descending chords
which lead into an opulent song for cellos, soon assumed by horns and
the woodwind. The heart of the overture is a saucy melody for strings.
The music now becomes dramatized with transitional material, but a new
gay melody is offered by the woodwind and strings. The main string
melody and the succeeding sprightly tune are recalled to finish the
overture in a gay mood.
_L’Elisir d’amore_ (_The Elixir of Love_) like _Don Pasquale_, is a
delightful comic opera, one of the most effervescent ever written. It
received its first performance in Milan on May 12, 1832. The libretto,
by Felice Romani, was based on Eugène Scribe’s _Le Philtre_. Nemorino,
in love with Adina who rejects him, purchases a love elixir from the
quack, Dr. Dulcamara. But a sudden inheritance from his uncle, which
forthwith makes Nemorino extremely popular with the girls, proves even
more potent in winning Adina’s love than the potion itself.
Orchestral selections from his gay opera include one of the best loved
tenor arias in the operatic repertory. It is “_Una furtiva lagrima_,” a
soulful song by Nemorino in the second act with which he hopes to
console Adina when he sees her jealousy suddenly aroused by the fact
that he had become the favorite of the village girls. Other familiar
episodes include a merry comic number “_Udite, Udite_” in which Dr.
Dulcamara boasts of the power of his potions, and a beautiful aria,
“_Quanto è bella_,” in which Nemorino discloses his love and longing for
Adina, both in the first act.
_Lucia di Lammermoor_ is Donizetti’s most famous grand opera, and the
title role has been favored by the world’s foremost coloratura sopranos.
The libretto, by Salvatore Cammarano, was based on the Sir Walter Scott
romance, _The Bride of Lammermoor_. The opera was first performed in
Naples on September 26, 1835. Lucia, sister of Lord Ashton, is in love
with Edgar; but in planning to have her marry the wealthy Lord Arthur
Bucklaw, Lord Ashton uses lies and wiles to convince his sister that
Edgar does not love her. On the day of the signing of the marriage
contract between Lucia and Bucklaw, Edgar invades the Lammermoor castle
and curses its family. Maddened by her grief, Lucia kills her husband
soon after the wedding, and then dies. When Edgar learns that Lucia has
loved him all the time, he commits suicide.
The favorite selections from this opera include one of the most famous
ensemble numbers in all opera, the sextet “_Chi mi frena_.” It is sung
in Act 2, Scene 2, by Lucia, Edgar, Bucklaw, Raimond, Ashton and Alisa
after Edgar had invaded the Lammermoor castle and witnessed the signing
of the marriage contract between Lucia and Bucklaw. Each of the
characters here gives voice to his or her personal reaction to this
dramatic situation: Lucia speaks of her despair at the treachery of her
brother; Edgar wonders why he does not commit an act of vengeance; Lord
Ashton is led to sympathy at his sister’s despair; Lucia’s companion,
Alisa, and Bucklaw hope that bloodshed might be averted; and Raimond, a
chaplain, invokes divine help.
Another highly popular excerpt from the opera offered in orchestral
potpourris includes Lucia’s “Mad Scene” from Act 3, Scene 2 (“_Ardon
gl’incensi_”). Dressed in a white gown, Lucia appears and mistakes her
brother for her beloved Edgar, who she believes has come to marry her.
Then she entreats those around her to place a flower on her grave and
not to weep at her death (“_Spargi d’amaro pianto_”).
Several other selections often played include Lucia’s lyrical cavatina
from Act 1, Scene 2 (“_Quando rapita in estasi_”) as she thinks of her
beloved Edgar; the love duet of Lucia and Edgar from the same scene
(“_Verrano a te sull’aure_”); and the wedding music from Act 3, Scene 1
that precedes the “Mad Scene” (“_D’immenso giubilo_”).
Franz Drdla
Franz Drdla was born in Saar, Moravia on November 28, 1868. He attended
the Conservatories in Prague and Vienna, winning at the latter place
first prize in violin playing and the medal of the Gesellschaft der
Musikfreunde. After serving for several years as a violinist in the
orchestra of the Vienna Court Opera, he toured Europe as a concert
violinist. From 1923 to 1925 he lived in the United States, making many
concert appearances. He died in Bad Gastein, Austria, on September 3,
1944.
Drdla’s most famous compositions are slight but lyrical pieces for the
violin, of which he wrote over two hundred fifty. His most famous
composition is the _Souvenir_, with its familiar upward skip in the main
melody and its broad sentimental middle section in double stops. In a
similarly sentimental and gentle melodic vein (they might aptly be
described as instrumental songs) are the _Romance_, _Serenade in A_ (No.
1), and _Vision_. All are familiar to violin students, and to lovers of
light classics in transcriptions for orchestra.
Riccardo Drigo
Riccardo Drigo was born in Padua, Italy, on June 30, 1846. He first
became famous as conductor of orchestral concerts at the Imperial
Theater in St. Petersburg. After World War I, he continued his
activities as conductor in his native city. He died there on October 1,
1930.
Drigo was the composer of ballets and operas, none of which have
survived. He is today remembered almost exclusively for two slight but
well loved items. One is the melodically suave _Serenade_, popular in
every conceivable transcription. It comes out of a ballet entitled _I
milioni d’Arlecchino_ (_Harlequin’s Millions_) and consequently is
sometimes known as the _Harlequin’s Serenade_. The other is _Valse
bluette_, an elegant waltz melody, which the composer originally wrote
for salon orchestra, but which is in the violinist’s repertory by virtue
of a famous transcription.
Arcady Dubensky
Arcady Dubensky was born in Viatka, Russia, on October 15, 1890. After
being graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1909 he played the
violin in the orchestra of the Moscow Opera. In 1921 he came to the
United States, where he later became a citizen. He served as violinist
of the New York Symphony Society, and after that of the New York
Philharmonic Orchestra, until his retirement in 1953.
Dubensky had written many works for orchestra, whose sound technique and
fresh approaches command respect. One or two of these are of popular
appeal without sacrificing sound musical values. Of particular interest
is the _Stephen Foster Suite_ for orchestra (1940), in which Dubensky
quotes five Stephen Foster songs: “My Old Kentucky Home,” “Jeanie With
the Light Brown Hair,” “Some Folks,” “I See Her Still in My Dreams,” and
“Camptown Races.” The composer goes on to explain: “The first part
represents to me a beautiful summer evening in the country. From far
away I hear a choir, coming gradually closer and then fading into the
distance. It sings to me the wonder song, ‘My Old Kentucky Home.’ The
second part is built around ‘Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair.’ Here the
melody is given to a tenor solo, with a soft, gentle orchestral
accompaniment beginning with a short introduction. The last two parts
are for orchestra. The fourth part centers around the song ‘I See Her
Still In My Dreams.’ It is a dreamy song, and I have given it the
character of an intermezzo played by string orchestra, muted. If this
movement is played in slow tempo, and pianissimo, it sounds not at all
realistic but like the dream it portrays. The fifth part, ‘Camptown
Races’ is the focal point of the suite. The theme is treated in a number
of different keys and always in a different character. Sometimes it is
delicate and graceful, and sometimes rude and robust, but always it is
gay.”
Paul Dukas
Paul Dukas was born in Paris, France, on October 1, 1865. After
attending the Paris Conservatory, where he won prizes in counterpoint
and fugue as well as the second Prix de Rome, he served as music critic
for several Parisian journals. From 1910 to 1912 he was professor of
orchestration at the Paris Conservatory, and from 1927 until his death
its professor of composition. His first successful work was a concert
overture, _Polyecute_, introduced in Paris in 1892. His Symphony in C
major, first heard in 1897, enhanced his reputation while his orchestral
scherzo, _The Sorcerer’s Apprentice_, also introduced in 1897, made him
famous. Being exceptionally fastidious and self-critical, Dukas did not
produce many compositions, but the best of these are works so
aristocratic in technique and subtle in musical content that they make a
direct appeal only to sophisticated music lovers. These works include
the opera _Ariane et Barbe-bleue_, first performed in Paris on May 10,
1907; the ballet, _La Péri_, introduced in Paris on April 22, 1912; and
some piano music. Towards the end of his life, Dukas destroyed several
of his earlier works deeming them unsuitable for survival. He was one of
France’s most revered musicians. He was made Chevalier of the Legion of
Honor in 1906, and in 1918 elected a member of the _Conseil de
l’enseignement supérieur_ at the Paris Conservatory. He died in Paris on
May 17, 1935.
_The Sorcerer’s Apprentice_ (_L’Apprenti sorcier_), scherzo for
orchestra (1897), is Dukas’ most famous composition, the one that made
him known throughout the world of music. It is so witty, so vivid in its
pictorial writing that it has become a favorite of both the very young
and the mature. The program, which the music follows with amazing
literalness, comes from Goethe’s ballad _Der Zauberlehrling_ which, in
turn, was adapted from a famous folk tale. The story goes something like
this: An apprentice to a magician has come upon his master’s secret
formula for turning a broom into a human being and making it perform
human tasks. The apprentice decides to try out this incantation for
himself while the master is away, and watches with amazement as the
broom acquires human powers. He orders the broom to fetch water, a
command meekly obeyed. Pail after pail of water is carried into the
magician’s shop by the broom until the place is rapidly being inundated.
The apprentice now tries to arrest the water-fetching activity of the
broom, but he does not know the proper incantation to achieve this, or
to strip the broom of its human powers. In terror, the apprentice
attacks the broom with a hatchet. The broom, split into two brooms, now
becomes two humans performing the ritual of bringing water into the den.
In despair, the apprentice cries out for his master who arrives in time
to bring the broom back to its former inanimate state, and to restore
order.
The atmosphere of mystery and peace prevailing in the magician’s den is
created in the opening measures with a descending theme for muted
violins, while different woodwinds give a hint of the principal subject,
a roguish tune describing the sorcerer’s apprentice; this subject
finally appears in the double bassoon, and is then repeated by the full
orchestra. The call of trumpets suggests the incantation pronounced by
the apprentice; a brisk theme for bassoons against plucked strings
describes the parade of the broom back and forth as it brings the water;
and arpeggio figures in the orchestra depict the water itself. The music
then portrays the mounting terror of the apprentice as he is unable to
arrest the march of the broom. After an overwhelming climax, at which
point the apprentice splits the broom into two with a hatchet, the saucy
march tune is doubled to inform us that two brooms are now at work. A
shriek in the orchestra simulates the panic-stricken call of the
apprentice. After the master arrives and sets things in order, the music
of the opening measures is repeated to suggest that once again the
magician’s den is pervaded by peace and mystery.
_The Sorcerer’s Apprentice_ was made into an animated motion picture by
Walt Disney, the Dukas music performed on the sound track by the
Philadelphia Orchestra under Stokowski; it was part of a program
collectively entitled _Fantasia_ which came to New York on November 13,
1940.
Antonin Dvořák
Antonin Dvořák was born in Muehlhausen, Bohemia, on September 8, 1841.
As a boy he studied the violin with the village schoolmaster. He
subsequently attended the Organ School in Prague. After completing his
studies, he played in various orchestras in Prague, including that of
the National Theater from 1861 to 1871 where he came under the influence
of Smetana, father of Bohemian national music. Dvořák first attracted
interest as a composer with _Hymnus_, a choral work introduced in 1873.
Two years later he won the Austrian State Prize for a symphony, and in
1878 he became famous throughout Europe with the _Slavonic Dances_. In
1883 he was appointed organist of the St. Adalbert Church in Prague.
From 1892 to 1895 he was the director of the National Conservatory in
New York. During this period he was influenced in his compositions by
the folk music of the American Negro and Indian. From 1901 until his
death he was director of the Prague Conservatory. He died in Prague on
May 1, 1904.
A prolific composer of operas, symphonies, chamber and piano music, and
songs, Dvořák stood in the forefront of the Romantic composers of the
late 19th century and among the leading exponents of Bohemian national
music. He was gifted with an expressive melodic gift, a strong and
subtle rhythmic pulse, and an inventive harmonic language. Whatever he
wrote was charged with strong emotional impulses, whether he used the
style of Bohemian folk music or those of the American Negro and American
Indian.
The _Carnival Overture_ (_Carneval_), written in 1891, is one of three
overtures planned by the composer as a cycle to portray “three great
creative forces of the Universe—Nature, Life, and Love.” A unifying
element among them was a melody intended to describe the “unchangeable
laws of Nature.” Eventually, Dvořák abandoned this plan and published
the three overtures separately, calling them _In Nature_ (_In der
Natur_), op. 91, _Carnival_, op. 92, and _Othello_, op. 93.
Dvořák himself provided a description of the music of _Carnival
Overture_. He aimed to describe “a lonely, contemplative wanderer
reaching the city at nightfall where a carnival of pleasure reigns
supreme. On every side is heard the clangor of instruments, mingled with
shouts of joy and the unrestrained hilarity of the people giving vent to
their feelings in songs and dances.” The overture begins with a lively
section portraying the gayety of the carnival. A subdued melody in the
violins brings relaxation, but the hubbub soon returns. Another gentle
episode depicts a pair of lovers in a secluded corner; the principal
melodic material in this part is offered by the solo violin, and by the
English horns and flutes. The brilliant opening material returns. It is
with this spirit of revelry that the overture ends.
The _Humoresque_ in G-flat major is the seventh in a set of eight
_Humoresques_ for piano (1894). This delightful, elegant piece of music
in three-part song form has been transcribed not only for orchestra but
for every possible instrument or combinations of instruments, and is
undoubtedly the most popular composition by the composer. It was Fritz
Kreisler, the famous violin virtuoso, who helped make the work so
famous. Kreisler visited Dvořák in 1903 and asked him for some music.
Dvořák showed him a pile of compositions, most of it completely unknown.
Among these was the G-flat major _Humoresque_. Kreisler transcribed it
for violin and piano, introduced it at his concerts, later recorded it,
and made it universally popular. As we know it today the _Humoresque_ is
not the way Dvořák intended it to sound. Dvořák wanted it to be a light,
whimsical piece of music, a “humoresque,” in fast tempo. Kreisler
transcribed it in a slower tempo and more sentimental mood; and it is in
this style that _Humoresque_ is now known and loved.
The _Indian Lament_ is one of several compositions by Dvořák influenced
by the idioms of American-Indian music. While serving as director of the
National Conservatory in New York, he paid a visit to the town of
Spillville, Iowa. There three Iroquois Indians visited him and
entertained him with authentic Indian music. Dvořák was so taken with
this strange and haunting lyricism, and the primitive rhythms, that he
wrote several major works incorporating these idioms. One was a Sonatina
in G major for violin and piano, op. 100 (1893). Its slow movement is a
delicate song embodying the intervallic peculiarities of authentic
American-Indian music. Fritz Kreisler edited this movement and named it
_Indian Lament_, the version in which it has become famous. Gaspar
Cassadó transcribed this movement for cello and piano.
Dvořák’s _Largo_ is the second movement of his Symphony No. 5 in E minor
better known as the _Symphony from the New World_ (1893). This is the
symphony written by Dvořák during his visit to the United States as
director of the National Conservatory. One of his students was Harry T.
Burleigh, who brought to his attention the music of the Negro Spiritual.
These melodies moved Dvořák so profoundly that he urged American
composers to use the style, technique and personality of these Negro
songs as the basis for national American music. As if to set an example,
Dvořák wrote several compositions in which his own melodic writing was
strongly influenced by the Negro Spiritual. The most significant of
these was his symphony, which received its world première in the United
States (at a concert of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra on December
15, 1893, Anton Seidl conducting). The main spacious, poignant melody of
the Largo movement—given by English horn over string harmonies after a
few preliminary chords—so strongly simulates the personality of a Negro
Spiritual that it was long thought that Dvořák was indulging in
quotation. This is not true; the melody is Dvořák’s own. Many
transcriptions of this melody exist. One is the familiar song, “Goin’
Home,” lyrics by William Arms Fisher (also one of Dvořák’s pupils);
another is a composition for violin and piano by Fritz Kreisler called
_Negro Spiritual Melody_; a third is an adaptation for salon orchestra
by Sigmund Romberg.
This Largo movement has two other melodies besides the basic one in the
Negro-Spiritual style. One is heard in flute and oboe, and the second in
the oboe.
The _Scherzo Capriccioso_, in D-flat major, op. 66 (1883) is one of the
composer’s liveliest and most dynamic larger works for orchestra, but in
an idiom that is neither Bohemian nor American. It is in two sections.
The first is the Scherzo, opening with an energetic subject for horns
that is a kind of a motto theme for the entire work. The principal
melody that follows is stated by full orchestra; after that comes a
waltz-like tune for violins. The second part of the composition, a trio,
is introduced by an expressive melody for English horn. A secondary
theme then comes in the strings and wind. The principal idea of the
first section now receives extended treatment before the second theme of
the second part returns in a modified form. The work ends with a coda in
which effective use is made of the opening motto subject.
Dvořák achieved international fame for the first time with the first set
of eight _Slavonic Dances_, op. 46, published in 1878. He had been
recommended to the publisher Simrock by Brahms; it was the publisher who
suggested to Dvořák that he write Slavonic dances similar to the
Hungarian dances which Brahms had made so popular. Dvořák wrote his
first set for piano four-hands; but these instantly proved so successful
that Simrock prevailed on Dvořák to orchestrate them. In 1886, Dvořák
wrote a second set of eight _Slavonic Dances_, op. 72, once again both
for four-hand piano and for orchestra. Though the melodies and harmonic
schemes in all these dances are Dvořák’s, they have caught the essence
of the Slavonic folk song and dance, and to such a degree that their
authentic national character has never been questioned. Karel
Hoffmeister wrote: “Something of the Slavic character speaks in every
phrase of them—the stormy high-spirited mood of the Furiants; the
whimsical merriment, the charm, the touch of coquettry, the ardent
tenderness of the lyrical passages.”
The following are among the best known of these dances:
C major, op. 46, no. 1. A chord sustained through one measure is
followed by a whirlwind presto passage. After a sudden pianissimo we
hear a second rhythmic melody. Music of a more serene character appears
in flute and strings after a change of key. A force climax is evolved to
set the stage for the return of the opening whirlwind subject.
E minor, op. 46, no. 2. A poignant melody is here contrasted with a
dynamic rhythmic section. Fritz Kreisler transcribed this dance for
violin and piano.
A-flat major, op. 46, no. 6. A dance melody with a strong rhythmic
impulse is the opening subject. Pianissimo chords lead to a new virile
subject, but there soon comes a decisive change of mood with two
expressive melodies. This dance, however, ends dynamically.
G minor, op. 46, no. 8. This is one of the gayest of the Slavonic
dances, alive in its electrifying changes of dynamics and tonality.
E minor, op. 72, no. 2. This is one of the best loved of all these
dances, a song of rare sensitivity and sadness, only temporarily
alleviated by the more optimistic music of the middle section. Fritz
Kreisler transcribed it for violin and piano.
A-flat major, op. 72, no. 8. Here, as in the preceding E minor dance,
the emphasis is on tender, elegiac song in strings. A dramatic middle
section provides some relief, but the gentle moodiness of the opening
section soon returns. Fritz Kreisler transcribed it for violin and
piano.
_Songs My Mother Taught Me_ is one of Dvořák’s most celebrated songs. It
is one of seven gypsy songs, based on Slavonic-gypsy folk idioms,
gathered in op. 55 (1880); the lyrics are by Adolf Heyduk. This
nostalgic, delicate melody has enjoyed numerous transcriptions,
including one for violin and piano by Fritz Kreisler, and another for
cello and piano by Alfred Gruenfeld.
Sir Edward Elgar
Sir Edward Elgar was born in Broadheath, near Worcester, England on June
2, 1857. He studied the organ with his father, and the violin with Adolf
Pollitzer in London. In 1885 he succeeded his father as organist of St.
George’s Church in Worcester. Two years after his marriage to Alice
Roberts, which had taken place in 1889, he withdrew to Malvern where he
lived the next thirteen years, devoted completely to serious
composition. Several choral works were performed at various English
festivals before Elgar achieved outstanding success, first with the
_Enigma Variations_ for symphony orchestra, introduced in London in
1899, and then with his oratorio, _The Dream of Gerontius_, whose
première took place in Birmingham in 1900. From then on Elgar assumed a
position of first importance in English music by virtue of his two
symphonies, vast amount of orchestral, choral and chamber music, and
songs. He was generally regarded one of the most significant English
composers since Purcell in the 17th century. Elgar was knighted in 1904,
appointed Master of the King’s Music in 1924, and made a baronet in
1931. He died in Worcester, England, on February 23, 1934.
It is not difficult to understand Elgar’s enormous popularity. Together
with an elegant sense of structure and style, and a consummate
musicianship, he had a virtually inexhaustible fund of ingratiating
lyricism. His best works are conceived along traditional lines. They are
Romantic in concept, and poetic in content. These qualities—and with
them a most ingratiating sentiment—are also found in his semi-classical
pieces.
The _Bavarian Dances_, for orchestra, come from _The Bavarian
Highlands_, a set of choral songs based on Bavarian folk songs adapted
by Elgar’s wife, Alice, and set for chorus with piano and orchestra, op.
27 (1895). Three folk tunes were subsequently adapted by the composer
for orchestra. Collectively called _Bavarian Dances_, the individual
dances were subtitled by the composer “The Dance,” “Lullaby,” and “The
Marksman.” These dances were first introduced in London in 1897 and have
since enjoyed universal acceptance in some cases for their peasant
rhythmic vigor, and in others for their atmospheric charm.
The _Cockaigne Overture_ (_In London Town_), for orchestra, op. 40
(1901) describes London “as represented by its parks and open spaces,
the bands marching from Knightsbridge to Buckingham Palace, Westminster
with its dignified associations of Church and State,” in the words of
Sir George Grove. The composer himself revealed he wanted to portray in
his music the sights witnessed by a pair of lovers as they stroll
through the city. The hubbub of the city is depicted in the opening
measures, following by an intensely romantic section highlighted by a
broad melody for strings, reflecting the feelings of the lovers as they
stop off momentarily to rest in a public park. They continue their walk,
hear the approaching music of a brass band, then enter a church where
organ music is being played. The lovers continue their walk. The
animated life of the city streets once again is reproduced, and the
earlier romantic melody telling of their emotional ardor for each other
is repeated.
_In the South_ (_Alassio_), a concert overture for orchestra, op. 50
(1904) was written one Spring while the composer was vacationing in
southern Europe. This work reflects Elgar’s intense love of Nature. The
following quotation appears in the published score: “A land which _was_
the mightiest in its old command and _is_ the loveliest; wherein were
cast the men of Rome. Thou are the garden of the world.” The overture
opens with a gay tune for clarinets, horns, violins and cellos. It
receives vigorous treatment and enlargement before a pastoral section is
given by the woodwind and muted strings, a description of a shepherd and
his flock. The overture then alternates between stress and tranquillity,
with great prominence being given to the shepherd’s melody. A viola solo
then leads to the recapitulation section.
_Pomp and Circumstance_ is a set of five marches for symphony orchestra,
op. 39. The composers wanted these marches to provide such music with
symphonic dimensions in the same way that dance music (polonaise or
waltz, etc.) acquired artistic stature at the hands of Chopin, among
others. The phrase “pomp and circumstance” comes from Shakespeare’s
_Othello_. The five marches are in the keys of D major, A minor, C
minor, G major, and C Major. The first two were written in 1901; the
third, in 1905; the fourth in 1907; and the fifth in 1930. The most
famous of these is the second in A minor, one of Elgar’s most frequently
performed compositions, and music as often identified with the British
Empire as “God Save the King.” It opens in a restless, vigorous vein and
erupts into a spacious melody for strings which Laurence Housman
subsequently set to lyrics (“Land of Hope and Glory”). Elgar once again
used this same melody in his _Coronation Ode_ for King Edward VII in
1902. The opening brisk, restless music is recalled after a full
statement of the melody.
The first in D major has a vigorous introduction after which unison
strings come forth with a robust march tune. The opening introduction is
subsequently used as a transition to the trio in which a soaring melody
is set against a uniform rhythmic beat.
The fourth in G major, known as “Song of Liberty,” is also familiar.
Once again the opening consists of spirited march music, and once again
the heart of the composition is a broad and stately melody for the
strings. This melody receives extended treatment which culminates with a
rousing statement by the full orchestra.
_Salut d’amour_, for chamber orchestra, op. 12 (1889) is a nostalgic and
sentimental piece of music in three-part song form that has become a
salon favorite. It is also famous in a transcription for violin and
piano.
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington was born in Washington, D.C. on April
29, 1899. His career as a popular musician began in his adolescence when
he performed jazz pieces on the piano in an ice-cream parlor in
Washington, and after that formed his own jazz group. In 1923 he came to
New York where he soon thereafter formed a jazz band which performed at
the Kentucky Club in Harlem. Discovered by Irving Mills, the publisher,
Ellington was booked for the Cotton Club where he remained several years
and established his fame as an outstanding exponent of real jazz—as
pianist, conductor of his orchestra, composer, and arranger. He has
since joined the all-time greats of jazz music, acclaimed in night
clubs, on the Broadway stage and Hollywood screen, over the radio, on
records, and in triumphant tours throughout the music world.
As a composer Ellington is famous for his popular songs (“Mood Indigo,”
“Sophisticated Lady” and so forth) and short instrumental jazz pieces
(_Black and Tan Fantasy_, _Creole Rhapsody_, _East St. Louis Toodle-oo_,
etc.) All this falls within the province of either popular music or
jazz, and for this reason cannot be considered here.
Ellington has also produced a rich repertory of larger works for
orchestra which have a place in the permanent library of semi-classical
music in the same way that Gershwin’s larger works do. Skilfully
utilizing the fullest resources of jazz techniques, styles, and idioms,
Ellington has created in these larger works an authentically American
music. He himself prefers to consider many of these works as “Negro
music” rather than jazz; nevertheless, in their blues harmonies, jazz
colorations, and melodic and rhythmic techniques these works represented
jazz music at its very best.
Perhaps the most distinguished of these symphonic-jazz works is _Black,
Brown and Beige_, an extended work which Ellington introduced with his
orchestra in Carnegie Hall, New York, in 1943, and which he described as
a “tonal parallel of the Negro in America.” The first movement, “Black,”
is a musical picture of the Negro at work, singing at his labors on the
docks and levees in the slavery period before the Civil War. An alto
saxophone solo brings on a plangent Spiritual, “Come Sunday.” The second
movement, “Brown,” represents the wars in which Negroes have
participated. A tenor solo sings an eloquent blues of the unsettled
condition of the Negro after the Civil War. The contemporary Negro is
the inspiration for the finale, “Beige,” utilizing jazz idioms and
styles in portraying the period of the Twenties, Thirties and Forties.
Many facets of Negro life are drawn in brief musical episodes, including
the Negro church and school, and the Negro’s aspiration towards
sophistication. The work ends on a patriotic note, prophesying that the
Negro’s place in the American way of life is secure.
Georges Enesco
Georges Enesco was born in Liveni, Rumania, on August 19, 1881. He
studied the violin at the Conservatories of Vienna and Paris, winning
highest honors in both places. Following the completion of his studies
in 1899, he launched a successful career both as concert violinist and
as composer. For several years he was the court violinist to the Queen
of Rumania, besides making outstandingly successful appearances on the
concert stage throughout Europe. His debut as composer took place in
Paris before his sixteenth birthday, with a concert devoted entirely to
his own works. Success came in 1901 with his _Rumanian Rhapsody No. 1_.
Enesco also distinguished himself as a conductor. When he made his
American debut—on January 2, 1923 with the Philadelphia Orchestra in New
York City—it was in the triple role of violinist, conductor, and
composer. After World War I, Enesco divided his residence between Paris
and his native Rumania while touring the music world. He made his last
American appearance in 1950 on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of
his debut as violinist; once again he appeared in the triple role of
violinist, conductor and composer. He suffered a stroke in Paris in July
1954 and died there on May 4, 1955. After his death, his native village,
and a street in Bucharest, were named after him.
Enesco was Rumania’s foremost twentieth-century composer. His major
compositions range freely over several different styles from
nationalism, to neo-classicism, to ultra-modernism. But the works with
which he first gained world fame, and which have since had the widest
circulation, are those in a national Rumanian style, with Oriental-like
melodies and propulsive rhythms all modeled after the exotic folk songs
and dances of the Rumanian gypsies.
In such a style are his two Rumanian rhapsodies for orchestra: No. 1 in
A major, op. 11, no. 1 (1901); No. 2 in D major, op. 11, no. 2 (1902).
The first rhapsody is the one played more often. It opens with a
languorous subject for clarinet which is soon assumed by other woodwind,
then by the strings and after that (in a quickened tempo) by the full
orchestra. A passionate gypsy tune follows in the strings; and this is
succeeded by an abandoned dance melody in first violins and the
woodwind, and an Oriental-type improvisation in solo flute. Now the mood
becomes more frenetic, with a rapid succession of whirling folk-dance
tunes and rhythms that are carried to a breathtaking climax. Relaxation
finally comes with a gentle Oriental melody in clarinet, but this is
only a passing phase. The rhapsody ends in a renewed outburst of
vitality.
In comparison to the first, the second rhapsody is an emotionally
reserved piece of music. After a solemn declaration by the strings,
there comes an equally sober and restrained folk song in the strings.
The dark mood thus projected becomes further intensified with a theme
for English horn against tremolo strings and continues throughout most
of the rhapsody, except for a brief interpolation of a vigorous dance
melody by the solo viola.
Leo Fall
Leo Fall was born in Olmuetz, Austria, on February 2, 1873. The son of a
military bandmaster, he early received music instruction from his
father. Then, after attending the Vienna Conservatory, he conducted
theater orchestras in Berlin, Hamburg, and Cologne. An opera, _Paroli_,
was unsuccessfully produced in Berlin before Fall settled permanently in
Vienna to devote himself to the writing of those charming operettas in
an abundantly lyric vein and graceful, sophisticated manner which the
Austrian capital favored. His greatest successes were _The Dollar
Princess_ in 1907, _The Rose of Stamboul_ (_Die Rose von Stambul_) in
1916, and _Madame Pompadour_ in 1923. He died in Vienna on September 15,
1925.
Fall’s most famous operetta is _The Dollar Princess_ (_Die
Dollarprinzessin_), selections from which are often given on salon
programs. _The Dollar Princess_—book by A. M. Willner and F. Gruenbaum
based upon a comedy by Gatti-Trotha—was introduced in Vienna on November
2, 1907. Its first American performance took place on September 6, 1909
at the Knickerbocker Theater in an adaptation by George Grossmith, Jr.
Some songs by Jerome Kern were interpolated into the New York
production. The “dollar princess” is the heroine of the operetta: Alice
Couder, pampered daughter of a New York coal magnate who goes in pursuit
of Freddy. When at a lavish party at the Couder mansion she brazenly
announces her intention of marrying Freddy without previously consulting
him, he leaves her in disgust, and goes off to Canada where he becomes a
successful business man. He cannot forget Alice, however. He brings the
Couders to Canada on a pretext of discussing with the father a business
deal, when he confesses his love to Alice, who no longer is brazen or
arrogant.
A Viennese operetta must by necessity have a major waltz number, and
_The Dollar Princess_ is no exception; “_Will sie dann lieben treu und
heiss_” from Act 1, is the most important melody of the operetta. When
other selections from this operetta are given they invariably include
also the lilting title song from Act 2, and the seductive little duet
“_Wir tanzen Ringelreih’n hin einmal und her_.”
Manuel de Falla
Manuel de Falla, Spain’s most significant twentieth-century composer,
was born in Cádiz on November 23, 1876. After studying music with
private teachers in his native city, and with J. Tragó and Felipe
Pedrell in Madrid, he completed in 1905 _La Vida breve_, a one-act opera
that received first prize in a competition for native Spanish operas
sponsored by the Academia de Bellas Artes. From 1907 to 1914 he lived in
Paris where he absorbed French musical influences and became a friend of
Debussy and Ravel. In 1914 he was back in his native land; from 1921 to
1939 he lived a retiring existence in Granada, devoting himself to
serious composition. He left his native land in 1939 because of his
disenchantment with the Franco regime which he had originally favored.
Until his death on November 14, 1946, he lived in seclusion in Alta
Gracia, in the province of Córdoba, in Argentina.
Falla’s art is deeply embedded in the soil of Spanish folk songs and
dance. His major works, which number a mere handful, are all evocations
of the spirit of Spain in music which, though never a direct quotation
from Spanish sources, is nevertheless Spanish to the core in details of
melody, harmony, and rhythm. His principal works include a harpsichord
concerto, _Nights in the Gardens of Spain_ (_Noches en los jardines de
España_) for piano and orchestra, the ballet _El Amor brujo_, and the
opera _The Three-Cornered Hat_ (_El sombrero de tres picos_).
In Falla’s most effective national idiom are two popular Spanish dances.
The _Ritual Fire Dance_ (_Danza ritual del fuego_) is the seventh
section from the ballet, _El Amor brujo_ (1915). Trills with the searing
intensity of hot flame lead into a languorous Spanish melody for the
oboe, behind which moves an irresistible rhythm. This is followed by a
second subject more intense in mood, loudly proclaimed by unison horns
and after that repeated quietly by muted trumpets. Throughout, this
dance has an almost savage ferocity, the music continually punctuated by
piercing chords; the dance is finally brought to a frenetic conclusion.
The composer himself made a highly effective transcription of this dance
for solo piano, and Gregor Piatigorsky for cello and piano.
The _Spanish Dance No. 1_ comes from the second act of the opera, _La
Vida breve_, with which Falla first achieved recognition. An impulsive
rhythmic opening serves as the background for a bold and sensual gypsy
melody for horns and strings. The piece ends with rich chords for full
orchestra. Fritz Kreisler made a fine transcription of this dance for
violin and piano.
Gabriel Fauré
Gabriel-Urbain Fauré was born in Pamiers, France, on May 12, 1845. His
music study took place in Paris with Niedermeyer and Saint-Saëns. After
that he served as organist in Rennes and Paris, and held the important
post of organist at the Madeleine Church in Paris from 1896 on. In 1896
he also became professor of composition at the Paris Conservatory where,
from 1905 until 1920, he was director. In 1909 he was elected member of
the Académie des Beaux Arts, and in 1910 made Commander of the Legion of
Honor. In the last years of his life he suffered from deafness. He died
in Paris on November 4, 1924.
Fauré was one of France’s major composers, creator of a considerable
library of piano and chamber music as well as works for symphony
orchestra which included _Pelleas and Melisande_, a suite (1898) and the
_Ballade_ for piano and orchestra (1881). His music is filled with
classic beauty, serenity, and a most delicate sensibility and thus makes
an appeal only to a highly cultivated music lover. But a few of his
works have such melodic charm and appealing moods that they cannot fail
to cast a spell even on the untrained listener.
_Après un rêve_ is a song, the first in a set of three published as op.
7 (1885), lyrics by Romain Bussine. Exquisite in its sensitive lyricism,
this melody has become popular in many transcriptions, some for
orchestra, one for violin and piano by Mischa Elman, and another for
cello and piano by Pablo Casals.
_Dolly_ (1893-1896) is a suite of six pieces for children which the
composer originally wrote as a piano duet for Dolly Bardac, daughter of
a woman who later became Debussy’s wife. Henri Rabaud orchestrated this
suite in 1906, and it was first performed in connection with a ballet
staged at the Théâtre des Arts in Paris. In this music the composer
looks back on childhood and the world of the child with poetic insight
and occasionally a gentle sense of humor; in this respect this suite is
not unlike _Children’s Corner_ of Debussy. It opens with “Berceuse,” a
gentle melody for the woodwind, which Jacques Thibaud arranged for
violin and piano. This is followed by “Mi-a-ou,” a little quartet for
muted trumpets. A flute solo dominates “_Le Jardin de Dolly_,” while
“_Kitty Valse_” is a light and vivacious waltz tune. In “_Tendresse_”
the melody is first heard in strings. A tranquil middle section presents
the solo oboe above a harp accompaniment. The closing movement, “_Le Pas
espagnol_” is gay and brilliant music that pays homage to Chabrier,
composer of _España_.
The _Pavane_, for orchestra, op. 50 (1887) is music of stately, classic
beauty over which hovers the Hellenic spirit so often found in Fauré’s
most significant works. Against an insistent rhythm, the flute offers
the haunting refrain of the Pavane. This dance melody is soon shared by
the other woodwind, after which it unfolds completely in violins and the
woodwind, other strings providing a rhythmic pizzicato accompaniment. A
transition in the strings then leads us back to the graceful mood and
the gentle lyricism of the Pavane melody.
The same subdued and classic repose we find in the _Pavane_
distinguishes another of Fauré’s popular compositions, the _Sicilienne_,
for cello and piano, op. 78 (1898). Transcriptions for orchestra of this
composition are even more famous than the original version.
Friedrich Flotow
Friedrich Freiherr von Flotow was born in Teutendorf, Mecklenburg, on
April 26, 1812. He was descended from a family that traced its nobility
back several centuries. After studying music in Paris with Anton Reicha
and Johann Pixis between 1828 and 1830, he wrote his first opera, _Peter
und Katharina_. Success came first with _Alessandro Stradella_
introduced in Hamburg in 1844, and was solidified in 1847 with the opera
by which he is still remembered, _Martha_. From 1856 to 1863 he was
Intendant of the Schwerin Court Theater. He went into retirement in 1880
and died in Darmstadt, Germany, on January 24, 1883.
The ebullient melodies with which Flotow flooded his operas made him
extremely popular in his day. This same joyous lyricism keeps the
overtures to _Alessandro Stradella_ and _Martha_ fresh in the orchestral
repertory.
_Alessandro Stradella_—introduced in Hamburg on December 30, 1844—was
based on a romantic episode in the life of a 17th century opera
composer; the libretto was by Wilhelm Friedrich. Stradella elopes with
Leonora, whose guardian hires assassins to kill the composer. But
Stradella’s singing has such an effect on the assassins that they are
incapable of murdering him. They let him go, and in the end the guardian
himself is moved to forgive the composer and sanction his union with
Leonora.
The overture opens with a solemn chant for the brass (Stradella’s song
in the last act). Vigorous transitional material leads to a robust song
for full orchestra which is soon repeated expressively by the strings. A
sprightly tune for strings (the bell chorus of the second act) is given
prominent treatment and developed climactically. The mood now alternates
between lightness and gaiety with an occasional intrusion of a strong
dramatic effect.
_Martha_ received its première in Vienna on November 25, 1847. The
libretto, by Friedrich Wilhelm Riese was based on a ballet-pantomime by
Vernoy de Saint-Georges. “Martha” is Lady Harriet in disguise as a
servant girl for the sake of an amusing escapade; and the opera is
concerned with her amatory adventures with Lionel, and that of her maid
with Plunkett, at the Richmond fair. The complications that ensue when
the men discover this deception are eventually happily resolved.
The overture begins with a slow introduction which leads into a
_Larghetto_ section where considerable attention is paid to the main
melody of the quintet at the close of the third act, “_Mag der Himmel
euch vergeben_.” The tempo quickens as the lively country dances of the
opera are presented. A crescendo reaches towards a fortissimo
restatement of the main theme of the third-act quintet, and the overture
ends with a brief and energetic coda.
Salon orchestras often present potpourris of this opera’s main melodies.
Two are always dominant in such potpourris. “The Last Rose of Summer”
(“_Qui sola, vergin rosa_”)—an aria sung by the heroine in the second
act—is a melody familiar to all; it is not by Flotow, but from an old
Irish song, “The Groves of Blarney,” set to a poem by Thomas Moore. The
second famous melody from _Martha_ is the beautiful tenor aria from the
third act, “_M’Appari_,” in which Lionel expresses his grief when he
feels he has lost Martha for good.
Stephen Foster
Stephen Collins Foster, America’s foremost song composer, was born in
Lawrenceville, near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on July 4, 1826. He
received no formal musical training. _Tioga Waltz_, in 1841, was his
first piece of music to get performed. About a year after that, Foster
published his first song, “Open Thy Lattice, Love.” His initial success
came with “Oh, Susanna!” for which he received only $100. But “Oh,
Susanna!” became so popular soon after its publication in 1848 that it
became the theme song (with improvised lyrics) of the Forty Niners on
their way to California. Beginning with 1848 he wrote songs for Ed
Christy’s Minstrels—at first allowing some of them to appear as
Christy’s own creations. It was within the context of the minstrel show
that such permanent Foster favorites as “Camptown Races” and “Old Folks
at Home” were first performed. Both songs were outstandingly successful
and, because of a favorable contractual arrangement with a New York
publisher, Foster was earning handsome royalties. Now feeling
financially secure, Foster married Jane Denny McDowell in 1850, a
relationship that was unhappy almost from the beginning. In 1860 Foster
came to New York with the hope of furthering his career as a composer.
But by now he was virtually forgotten by the public, and publishers paid
him only a pittance for his last songs, many of them mostly hack pieces.
Always disposed towards alcohol, Foster now became a habitual drunkard,
living in the most abject poverty in a miserable room on the Bowery. He
died at Bellevue Hospital on January 13, 1864.
Foster was the composer of numerous songs which in various orchestral
arrangements are basic to the repertory of every salon or pop orchestra.
His greatest songs were inspired by the Negro; they are the eloquent
expressions of Northern sentiment about slavery in the South. Foster’s
most famous Negro songs are: “Old Folks at Home” (or “Swanee River”),
“Massa’s in de Cold, Cold Ground,” “My Old Kentucky Home,” and “Ol’
Black Joe.”
When Foster first wrote “Old Folks at Home” his inspiration was an
obscure Florida River by the name of “Pedee.” But while writing his song
he thought “Pedee” not sufficiently euphonious for his purpose. He went
to a map of Florida to find another river, came upon “Suwanee” which he
contracted to “Swanee.”
Foster was also successful in the writing of sentimental ballads. Here
his most important songs were “Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair”
(written for and about his wife), and “Beautiful Dreamer.”
Besides orchestral adaptations of individual songs, Foster’s music is
represented on orchestral programs by skilful suites, or ingenious
symphonic transcriptions of individual songs, by other composers. Arcady
Dubensky’s _Stephen Foster Suite_ is discussed in the section on
Dubensky, and Lucien Caillet’s _Fantasia and Fugue on “Oh, Susanna!”_ in
the Caillet section. Other composers to make symphonic use of Foster’s
melodies are: Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (_Humoresques on Foster
Themes_); Morton Guild (_Foster Gallery_); and Alan Shulman (_Oh,
Susanna!_).
Rudolf Friml
Rudolf Friml was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, on December 7, 1879. He
received his musical training at the Prague Conservatory, after which he
toured Europe and America as assisting artist and accompanist for Jan
Kubelik, the noted violin virtuoso. In 1906, Friml established permanent
residence in the United States, making several appearances as concert
pianist, twice in the performance of his own Concerto in B-flat. He now
published piano pieces, instrumental numbers, and songs which attracted
the interest of two publishers, Gus Schirmer and Max Dreyfus. When, in
1912, Victor Herbert stepped out of an assignment to write the music for
the operetta _The Firefly_, both Schirmer and Dreyfus recommended Friml
as his replacement. _The Firefly_ made Friml famous. Until 1934 he
continued writing music for the Broadway stage, achieving further
triumphs with _Rose Marie_ in 1924, _The Vagabond King_ in 1925, and
_The Three Musketeers_ in 1928. After 1934, Friml concentrated his
activity on motion pictures in Hollywood.
Friml belongs with those Broadway composers of the early 20th century
whose domain was the operetta modelled after German and Austrian
patterns. As long as the operetta was popular on the Broadway stage,
Friml remained a favorite, for his ingratiating melodies, pleasing
sentimentality, winning charm, and strong romantic flair were in the
best traditions of the operetta theater. But when the vogue for
operettas died down and the call came for American musicals with native
settings and characterizations, realistic approaches, and a greater
cohesion between text and music, Friml’s day was over. He has produced
nothing of significance since the middle 1930’s, and very little of
anything else. But the music he wrote for his best operettas has never
lost its appeal.
_The Firefly_, book and lyrics by Otto Harbach, was introduced in New
York on December 2, 1912. The plot concerned a little Italian street
singer by the name of Nina (enchantingly played by Emma Trentini). She
disguises herself as a boy to get a job aboard a yacht bound for
Bermuda, and is first accused and then cleared of the charge of being a
pickpocket. Many years later she reappears as a famous prima donna when
she is finally able to win the wealthy young man with whom she had
fallen in love while working on the yacht.
Orchestral potpourris from _The Firefly_ always include three of the
songs Emma Trentini helped to make famous: “Giannina Mia,” “The Dawn of
Love” and “Love is Like a Firefly.” The melodious duet, “Sympathy,” is
also popular.
_The Donkey Serenade_, now regarded as one of the favorites from _The
Firefly_ score, was not in the original operetta when it was produced on
Broadway. Friml wrote it in collaboration with Herbert Stothart for the
motion picture adaptation of the operetta released in 1937 and starring
Jeanette MacDonald and Allan Jones. This appealing Spanish-type melody
is set against an intriguing rhythm suggesting the jogging movement of a
donkey; this rhythm precedes and closes the number, which has become as
celebrated in an instrumental version as it is as a song with lyrics by
Chet Forrest and Bob White.
_Rose Marie_, book and lyrics by Otto Harbach and Oscar Hammerstein II,
came to Broadway on September 2, 1924 where it remained for more than a
year. The rest of the country became acquainted with this lovable
operetta at that time by means of four road companies. The setting is
the Canadian Rockies, and the love interest involves Rose Marie and Jim,
the latter falsely accused of murder. The Canadian Mounted Police,
headed by Sergeant Malone, help to clear Jim and to bring the love
affair of Rose Marie and Jim to a happy resolution. Selections in
orchestral adaptations most often heard from this operetta include two
of Friml’s most famous songs, the title number and “Indian Love Call”; a
third delightful song was found in “Totem Tom Tom.” _Rose Marie_ was
adapted for motion pictures three times, once in a silent version.
_The Vagabond King_ had for its central character the French vagabond
poet of the 15th century, François Villon, who is made king for a day.
This musical was based on the romance of J. H. McCarthy, _If I Were
King_, adapted by Brian Hooker. _The Vagabond King_, which opened on
September 21, 1925, was one of Friml’s greatest successes, mainly
because of such rousing numbers as “The Song of the Vagabonds,” the
caressing waltz melody “Waltz Huguette,” and the love song “Only a
Rose,” all often heard in orchestral adaptations. _The Vagabond King_
was made into motion pictures twice, most recently in 1956 starring
Kathryn Grayson and Oreste.
Julius Fučík
Julius Fučík was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, on July 18, 1872. He
was a pupil of Antonin Dvořák in composition. After playing the bassoon
in the German Opera in Prague in 1893, he became bandmaster of the 86th
and 92nd Austrian Regiments in which he won renown throughout Europe. He
died in Leitmeritz, Czechoslovakia, on September 25, 1916. Fučík wrote
numerous dance pieces and marches for band. The most popular of these is
the stirring march, _Entrance of the Gladiators_, which became popular
throughout the world and is still frequently played by salon orchestras
as well as bands.
Sir Edward German
Sir Edward German was born Edward German Jones in Whitchurch, England,
on February 17, 1862. He attended the Royal Academy of Music in London
where, in 1895, he was elected Fellow. Meanwhile, in 1888-1889 he became
the musical director of the Globe Theater in London. The incidental
music he wrote there that year for Richard Mansfield’s production of
_Richard III_ proved so popular that Sir Henry Irving commissioned him
to write similar music for his own presentation of _Henry VIII_. German
subsequently wrote incidental music for many other plays including
_Romeo and Juliet_ (1895), _As You Like It_ (1896), _Much Ado About
Nothing_ (1898) and _Nell Gwynn_ (1900). He also produced a considerable
amount of concert music, including two symphonies and various suites,
tone poems, rhapsodies, and a march and hymn for the Coronation of
George V in 1911. German was knighted in 1928, and in 1934 he received
the Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society. He died in London on
November 11, 1936.
German is most famous for his incidental music for the stage. He
combined a graceful lyricism with a consummate skill in orchestration.
He also possessed to a remarkable degree the capacity of simulating the
archaic idioms of old English music of the Tudor and Stuart periods.
Thus the greatest charm of his writing lies in its subtle atmospheric
recreation of a bygone era; but a lightness of touch and freshness of
material are never sacrificed.
Of his incidental music perhaps the most famous is that for
Shakespeare’s _Henry VIII_, introduced at the Lyceum Theater in London
in 1892 in Sir Henry Irving’s production. German’s complete score
consists of an overture, five entr’actes, a setting of the song “Orpheus
and his Lute” and other pieces. But what remain popular are three
delightful old English dances from the first act; the style and spirit
of old English music are here reproduced with extraordinary effect. The
three are: “Morris Dance,” “Shepherd’s Dance,” and “Torch Dance.”
The best sections of his incidental music to Anthony Hope’s _Nell
Gwynn_, produced at the Prince of Wales Theater in 1900, also are
revivals of old English dances: “Country Dance,” “Merrymaker’s Dance,”
and “Pastoral Dance.” Other delightful dances, often in an old English
folk style, are found in his incidental music to _As You Like It_
(“Children’s Dance,” “Rustic Dance,” and “Woodland Dance”) and _Romeo
and Juliet_ (“Pavane” and “Torch Dance”).
German also wrote several operettas, the most famous being _Merrie
England_, text by Basil Hood, first performed at the Savoy Theater in
London on April 2, 1902. The setting is Elizabethan England, and the
plot involves the love affair of Sir Walter Raleigh and the Queen’s Maid
of Honor which upsets Queen Elizabeth since she herself has designs on
Sir Walter. German’s score is filled with the most delightful old world
jigs, country dances, glees, and melodies imitating the style of
old-time madrigals. In addition, there is here an impressive patriotic
song (“The Yeomen of England”), Queen Elizabeth’s effective air (“O
Peaceful England”), a rousing drinking song by Sir Walter Raleigh, a
poignant ballad by the Maid of Honor, and an equally moving love duet by
the Maid of Honor and Sir Walter Raleigh. Because of its effective
music, rich with English flavors, _Merrie England_ has survived as one
of the most popular English operettas of the 20th century, and has often
been revived in London.
Among German’s many concert works for orchestra one of the most famous
is the _Welsh Rhapsody_ (1902). This is a skilful symphonic adaptation
of Welsh tunes, the last of which (“Men of Larech”) is utilized by the
composer to bring his rhapsody to a powerful culmination. The other
Welsh folk songs used earlier by the composer in this rhapsody are
“Loudly Proclaim O’er Land and Sea,” “Hunting the Hare,” “Bells of
Aberdorry” and “David of the White Rock.”
George Gershwin
George Gershwin was born in Brooklyn, New York on September 26, 1898.
Though he received serious musical training in piano from Charles
Hambitzer, and in harmony and theory from Edward Kilenyi, he early set
his sights on popular rather than serious music. When he was fifteen he
found a job as song plugger and staff pianist in Tin Pan Alley where he
soon began writing songs. The first to get published was “When You Want
’Em You Can’t Get ’Em” in 1916; in the same year another of his songs,
“The Making of a Girl” appeared for the first time on the Broadway
stage, in _The Passing Show of 1916_. Gershwin’s first complete score
for Broadway was _La, La, Lucille_, and his first smash song hit was
“Swanee,” both in 1919. Between 1920 and 1924 Gershwin wrote the music
for five editions of the George White _Scandals_ where he first
demonstrated his exceptional creative gifts; his most famous songs for
the _Scandals_ were “I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise” and “Somebody
Loves Me.” For one of the editions of the _Scandals_ he also wrote a
one-act Negro opera to a libretto by Buddy De Sylva—originally called
_Blue Monday_ but later retitled _135th Street_.
Late in 1923, Paul Whiteman, the orchestra leader, commissioned Gershwin
to write a symphonic work in a jazz style for a concert Whiteman was
planning for Aeolian Hall, in New York. That jazz composition—introduced
on February 12, 1924—was the _Rhapsody in Blue_ with which Gershwin
achieved world renown, and which once and for all established the jazz
idiom and jazz techniques as significant material for serious musical
deployment. From then on, until the end of his life, Gershwin continued
to write concert music in a popular style—growing all the time in
technical assurance, in the command of jazz materials, and in the
inventiveness of his melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic writing. In the
eyes of the world he assumed a position of first significance among
American composers. For the symphony orchestra he wrote the Piano
Concerto in F, _An American in Paris_, _Cuban Overture_, _Variations on
I Got Rhythm_, and the _Second Rhapsody_; for solo piano, the three
piano preludes; for the stage his monumental folk opera, _Porgy and
Bess_.
While devoting himself to the concert field, Gershwin did not neglect
the popular Broadway theater. He produced a library of remarkable songs
for such productions as _Lady Be Good_ (1924), _Oh Kay!_ (1926), _Funny
Face_ (1927), and _Girl Crazy_ (1930). The best of these included
“Fascinating Rhythm,” “Lady Be Good,” “Someone to Watch Over Me,” “Clap
Yo’ Hands,” “’S Wonderful,” “I Got Rhythm,” “Embraceable You,” and “But
Not for Me.” The lyrics for these and other Gershwin song classics were
written by his brother, Ira.
In 1930 Gershwin revealed a fresh bent for mockery and satire, together
with a new skill for more spacious musical writing than that required
for a song, in _Strike Up the Band_, a satire on war. These qualities in
Gershwin’s music came to full ripeness in 1931 with the political satire
_Of Thee I Sing!_, the first musical ever to win the Pulitzer Prize for
drama.
In 1931, Gershwin wrote his first original score for motion pictures,
_Delicious_. When he returned to Hollywood in 1936 he settled there
permanently and wrote the music for several delightful screen musicals,
among these being _Damsel in Distress_, _Shall We Dance_, and _The
Goldwyn Follies_. The songs he wrote for the last-named revue (they
included “Love Walked In” and “Love Is Here to Stay”) were the last
pieces of music he was destined to write. He died in Hollywood,
California on July 11, 1937, a victim of a cystic tumor on the right
temporal lobe of the brain. His screen biography, _Rhapsody in Blue_,
was produced in 1945. In 1951, the screen musical, _An American in
Paris_ (whose score included several of Gershwin’s songs as well as the
tone poem that gave this picture its title) received the Academy Award
as the best picture of the year. _Porgy and Bess_ was adapted for motion
pictures, in a Samuel Goldwyn production, in 1959.
It would be difficult to overestimate Gershwin’s importance in American
music. To the popular song he brought the technical skill of a
consummate musician, endowing it with a rhythmic, melodic and harmonic
language it had rarely before known. By that process he often lifted it
to the status of true art. To serious music he contributed the vitality
and the spirit—as well as the techniques and idioms—of American popular
music; serious musicians throughout the world were inspired by his
example to create a serious musical art out of the materials of American
popular music. Since his untimely death, his artistic stature has grown
in all parts of the civilized world. There will be few today to deny him
a place of honor among America’s foremost composers.
_An American in Paris_ is a tone poem for symphony orchestra inspired by
a European vacation in 1928. It received its world première in New York
on December 13, 1928, Walter Damrosch conducting the New York
Philharmonic Orchestra. In this music the composer describes the
nostalgia of an American tourist for home, and his experiences as he
strolls along the boulevards of Paris. It opens with a “walking theme,”
a sprightly little tune for strings and oboe; our American is beginning
his stroll. As he walks he hears the piercing warnings of taxi horns:
Gershwin’s score calls for the use of actual Parisian taxi horns. The
American passes a café, and stops for a moment to listen to the sounds
of a music-hall melody, presented by the trombones. Then he resumes his
stroll, as a second walking subject is heard in the clarinet. A solo
violin (which Deems Taylor interpreted as a young lady accosting our
tourist!) provides a transition to two main melodies in both of which
the American’s growing feeling of homesickness finds apt expression. The
first is a blues melody for muted trumpets; the second a Charleston
melody for two trumpets. The blues melody receives climactic treatment
in full orchestra. After a hasty recollection of the second walking
theme, the composition comes to a vigorous conclusion. As Mr. Taylor
goes on to explain, the tourist now decides “to make a night of it. It
will be great to get home, but meanwhile, this is Paris!”
The Concerto in F, for piano and orchestra, was the immediate
consequence of Gershwin’s phenomenal success with the _Rhapsody in
Blue_. The Concerto was commissioned in 1925 by the New York Symphony
Society and its conductor, Walter Damrosch. They introduced it in
Carnegie Hall, on December 3, 1925, with the composer as soloist. This
work, like its eminent predecessor, is in a jazz style; but unlike the
first version of the _Rhapsody in Blue_ it boasts Gershwin’s own
orchestration. (From this time on Gershwin would always prepare his own
orchestrations for his serious concert music.) There are three
movements. The first (_Allegro_) begins with a Charleston theme shared
by the woodwind and timpani. The main body of this movement is given
over to a spicy jazz tune first heard in the bassoon and after that in
full orchestra; to a tender melody for solo piano; and to a lilting
waltz for strings with decorative treatment by the piano. The second
movement (_Andante con moto_) is lyrical throughout, and at times subtly
atmospheric and poetic. Muted trumpet, against harmonies provided by
three clarinets, set the romantic stage for the felicitous lyrical
thoughts that ensue: a brisk, jazzy, strikingly rhythmic idea for the
piano; and a broad, sensual melody for strings. This movement ends in
the same sensitive atmospheric mood with which it began. In the finale
(_Allegro con brio_) dynamic forces are released. Main themes from the
first two movements are recalled with a particularly effective
recapitulation of the second theme of the first movement in the strings.
The _Cuban Overture_ was written in 1932 after a brief visit to Havana
and was introduced at the Lewisohn Stadium in New York, Albert Coates
conducting, on August 16, 1932. This is a concert overture for orchestra
utilizing native percussion Cuban instruments. The work has three
sections played without interruption. The first consists of two
melodies, a Cuban theme in strings followed by a second lyrical subject
which is placed against the contrapuntal background of fragments from
the first Cuban theme. A solo clarinet cadenza leads to the middle
section which is a two-voice canon. The ensuing finale makes
considerable use of earlier thematic material and ends with an
electrifying presentation of a fully projected rumba melody in which
prominent use is made of Cuban percussion instruments (cuban stick,
bongo, gourd, and maracas).
The folk opera, _Porgy and Bess_, was Gershwin’s last work in the field
of serious music—and his greatest. It took Gershwin over two years to
write his opera, a period during which he spent some time in the opera’s
setting of Charleston, South Carolina, absorbing not only local color
but also native Negro music whose style he skilfully assimilated into
his own writing. He completed his opera in the summer of 1935; on
September 30 its world première took place in Boston; and on October 10,
it began its New York run. It cannot be said that either critics or
audiences were fully aware at the time that they were hearing a
masterwork. Some of the Boston and New York scribes found things to
admire in the opera, but most of them were highly critical. Olin Downes
said “it does not utilize all the resources of the operatic composer or
pierce very often to the depths of the pathetic drama.” Lawrence Gilman
found Gershwin’s emphasis on the popular element a disturbing blemish
while Virgil Thomson did not hesitate at the time to refer to it as “a
fake.” The run of 124 performances in New York (followed by a
three-month tour) represented a box-office failure.
Gershwin himself remained convinced he had written a work of first
importance, but regrettably he did not live to see his faith in his
opera justified beyond his wildest hopes or aspirations. Revived in New
York in 1941 it had an eight-month run, the longest of any revival in
Broadway history. More important still, many critics revised earlier
estimates. Virgil Thomson now spoke of it as “a beautiful piece of music
and a deeply moving play for the lyric theater.” Olin Downes said that
Gershwin had here “taken a substantial step, and advanced the cause of
native opera.” The New York Music Critics Circle singled it out as the
most important musical revival of that season.
But still greater triumphs awaited the opera. In 1952, a Negro cast
toured Europe under the auspices of the State Department. Before that
tour was over, several years later, the opera had been heard throughout
Europe, the Near East, in countries behind the Iron Curtain, the Soviet
Union and Latin America. Everywhere it enjoyed acclaim realized by few
contemporary operas anywhere. There were not many dissenting voices in
the universal judgment that _Porgy and Bess_ was one of the most
significant operas of the twentieth century, and certainly one of the
most popular. And its popularity was further enhanced by the stunning
production given it by Samuel Goldwyn in motion pictures in 1959.
The text of the opera was based on the play _Porgy_, by Dorothy and Du
Bose Heyward, produced by the Theater Guild in New York in 1927, which
in turn had been adapted from Du Bose Heyward’s novel of the same name.
The opera text and lyrics were written by Du Bose and Dorothy Heyward
with several additional lyrics by Ira Gershwin. The tragic love affair
of the cripple, Porgy, and Bess, a lady of easy virtue, is set in the
Negro tenement, Catfish Row, in Charleston, South Carolina. Porgy has
found true happiness with Bess for the first time in his life. When
Crown, Bess’ old sweetheart returns to claim her, Porgy kills him but
manages to elude the law after having been detained a while. Upon
returning to Catfish Row he discovers that his Bess had succumbed to the
lure of dope, and the gay life in New York offered her by Sportin’ Life.
Heartbroken, Porgy jumps in his goat cart to follow Bess to New York and
try to bring her back.
The main melodic sections of the opera have provided the material for
several delightful suites. The most famous is _A Symphonic Picture_ by
Robert Russell Bennett, commissioned by Fritz Reiner, the conductor of
the Pittsburgh Symphony in 1942. Bennett created out of the score an
integrated tone poem faithful to Gershwin’s own harmonic and orchestral
intentions. The tone poem (or suite) is made up of the following
sequences in the order of their appearance: Scene of Catfish Row with
the peddler’s calls; Opening Act II; “Summertime” and Opening of Act I;
“I Got Plenty of Nuttin’”; Storm Music; “Bess, You Is My Woman Now”; “It
Ain’t Necessarily So” and the finale, “Oh Lawd I’m On My Way.”
George Gershwin himself prepared an orchestral suite from his opera
score in 1936, and conducted it in performances with several major
American orchestras in 1936-1937. This manuscript, long forgotten, was
found in the library of Ira Gershwin, and was revived in 1959 by Maurice
Abravanel and the Utah Symphony. Now named _Catfish Row_, to distinguish
it from other suites prepared by other musicians, it had five sections:
“Catfish Row,” “Porgy Sings,” “Fugue,” “Hurricane,” and “Good Morning,
Brother.”
Beryl Rubinstein transcribed five of the principal melodies from the
opera for piano, and Jascha Heifetz for violin and piano.
The three piano _Preludes_ are famous not only in their original version
but also in transcriptions for symphony orchestra. The first prelude, in
B-flat major, is rhythmically exciting, highlighting the basic elements
of the tango and the Charleston. The second, in C-sharp minor, is the
most famous of the set. This is an eloquent three-part blues melody. The
concluding prelude, in E-flat major, once again like the first one has
greater rhythmic than melodic interest, a lively expression of
uninhibited good feelings. Besides transcriptions for orchestra by Roy
Bargy, Gregory Stone and several others, these preludes have been
adapted for violin and piano by Heifetz, for trumpet and piano by
Gregory Stone, and for saxophone and piano by Sigurd Rascher.
The _Rhapsody in Blue_ was Gershwin’s first work for symphony orchestra
and it is the composition with which he first won fame, fortune, and
artistic significance. It was commissioned by Paul Whiteman for an
all-American music concert planned by that bandleader for Aeolian Hall,
New York, on February 12, 1924. With the composer at the piano, the
_Rhapsody_ appeared as the tenth and penultimate number of a long
program, but it was the work that gave Whiteman’s concert its main
interest and significance. The critics the following day were divided in
their opinion. On the one hand, Henry T. Finck considered it superior to
the music of Schoenberg and Milhaud; equally high words of praise came
from Gilbert W. Gabriel, William J. Henderson, Olin Downes, Deems
Taylor, and Carl van Vechten. In the opposite camp stood Pitts Sanborn
and Lawrence Gilman who described the work as “meaningless repetition”
and “trite, feeble, and conventional.”
But the opposing opinions notwithstanding, the _Rhapsody in Blue_
immediately became one of the most famous pieces of serious music by an
American. It was transcribed for every possible instrument or groups of
instruments; it was adapted several times for ballet; it was used in a
motion picture. Royalties from the sale of sheet music and records
brought in a fortune. Through the years it has never lost its
popularity; it is still one of the most frequently performed American
symphonic works.
Its prime significance rests in the fact that it decisively proved that
it was possible to produce good music within ambitious structures
utilizing idioms and techniques of American jazz. The _Rhapsody in Blue_
was by no means the first composition to do so; it was preceded by works
by Erik Satie, Stravinsky, and Milhaud among others. But due to its
enormous popular appeal it was the most influential composition of all
in convincing the world’s foremost composers that jazz could be used
with serious intent. Undoubtedly it was largely as a result of the
triumph of the _Rhapsody in Blue_ that world-famous composers like
William Walton, Constant Lambert, Maurice Ravel, Kurt Weill and Paul
Hindemith among many others produced serious jazz music.
Much has been said about its diffuseness of structure, and the inept way
its material is developed. But for all its faults, the _Rhapsody in
Blue_ remains a vital, dynamic and at times an inspired piece of music.
It is filled with wonderful lyricism; its rhythmic cogency is
irresistible; its identity is completely American.
The work opened with an ascending seventeen-note slide by the clarinet
which culminates in the saucy, first theme. A transition in the wind
instrument leads to another brisk, jaunty idea for piano. After some
development, and several ascending chords in the piano we get to the
heart of the rhapsody and to one of the most famous melodies in all
contemporary symphonic music: a spacious, rhapsodic song for the
strings. The full orchestra repeats it. Two earlier themes are now
briefly recalled, the first theme by the full orchestra, the second by
the piano. A brief, dramatic coda brings the rhapsody to an exciting
conclusion.
For the Paul Whiteman concert of 1924, Ferde Grofé provided the
orchestration from a two-piano version handed him by the composer.
Gershwin later prepared his own orchestration, and it is this version
that is now given by all the major symphonic organizations.
The _Second Rhapsody_ for orchestra succeeded the more popular _Rhapsody
in Blue_ by eight years; it was first performed by the Boston Symphony
under Koussevitzky on January 29, 1932. Gershwin originally called this
work _Rhapsody in Rivets_ because the opening measures present a
strongly rhythmic subject in solo piano suggesting riveting. This “rivet
theme” is then taken over by the full orchestra, after which we hear a
rumba melody. These ideas are then developed. A piano cadenza brings on
a spacious melody, first in strings, and then in brass. All this
material is amplified before the rhapsody is swept to an exciting end.
This rhapsody was the outgrowth of a six-minute sequence written by the
composer for the motion picture, _Delicious_. The sequence was intended
to describe the sights and sounds of a city. In the picture only one of
the six minutes of this music was retained, but Gershwin liked the rest
of it well enough to expand it into a major symphonic work.
The _Variations on I Got Rhythm_, for piano and orchestra, was written
for a tour of one-night stands made by Gershwin throughout the United
States in all-Gershwin programs. Its first performance took place in
Boston on January 14, 1934. The main subject is a famous Gershwin song,
“I Got Rhythm” which Ethel Merman made famous in the musical comedy
_Girl Crazy_. The symphonic work begins with a four-note ascending
phrase from the first measure of the song’s chorus, presented by solo
clarinet. The theme is then taken over by solo piano and after that by
full orchestra, after which the entire chorus is presented by the piano.
In the ensuing variations the composer changes not only the basic
structure of the song, melodically and rhythmically, but also its mood
and feeling, traversing the gamut of emotion from melancholy to spirited
gaiety.
Still another remarkably effective symphonic adaptation of “I Got
Rhythm” was made by Morton Gould, and introduced by him with his
orchestra over the CBS radio network in 1944.
Gershwin wrote two marches, both with satirical overtones, which are
often given at “pop concerts.” Each was meant for a musical comedy.
“Strike Up the Band” comes from the musical comedy of the same name,
produced on January 14, 1930 starring Clark and McCullough. This was a
stinging satire on war and international diplomacy, with America
embroiled in a conflict with Switzerland over the issue of chocolates.
The march, “Strike Up the Band,” helps deflate some of the pomp and
ceremony of all martial music.
“Wintergreen for President” comes from _Of Thee I Sing_, the
epoch-making satire on politics in Washington, D.C., first produced on
December 26, 1931. “Wintergreen for President” is the music accompanying
a political torchlight parade whose illuminated signs read “Even Your
Dog Loves Wintergreen” and “A Vote for Wintergreen Is a Vote for
Wintergreen” and so on. The march music carries over the satirical
implications of this procession by quoting such tunes as “Hail, Hail the
Gang’s All Here,” “Tammany,” “A Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight” and
“Stars and Stripes Forever.” This music even carries a hasty
recollection of Irish and Jewish music to suggest that Wintergreen is a
friend of both these people.
Gershwin’s greatest songs are often performed in orchestral
transcriptions at all-Gershwin concerts and other “pop performances,”
sometimes singly, and sometimes in various potpourris. Besides songs
already mentioned in the first part of this section, Gershwin’s greatest
ones include the following: “Bidin’ My Time” from _Girl Crazy_; “I’ve
Got a Crush On You” from _Strike Up the Band_; “Let’s Call the Whole
Thing Off” from _Shall We Dance_; “Liza” from _Show Girl_; “The Man I
Love,” originally meant for _Lady Be Good_ but never used there; “Mine”
from _Let ’Em Eat Cake_; the title song from _Of Thee I Sing_; “Soon”
from _Strike Up the Band_; “That Certain Feeling” from _Tip Toes_; and
“They Can’t Take That Away From Me” from _Shall We Dance_. Among those
who have written orchestral medleys of Gershwin’s songs are Nathan van
Cleve, Fred von Epps, Claude Thornhill, David Broekman, Irving Brodsky,
George B. Leeman, and Nathaniel Finston.
Henry F. Gilbert
Henry Franklin Belknap Gilbert was born in Somerville, Massachusetts, on
September 26, 1868. He attended the New England Conservatory, and
studied composition privately with Edward MacDowell, before playing the
violin in various theaters. For many years music was a secondary pursuit
as he earned his living in a printing establishment, a real-estate
agent, factory foreman, and finally an employee in a music-publishing
firm. A hearing in Paris of Gustave Charpentier’s opera, _Louise_,
proved such an overpowering experience that it inspired him to devote
himself henceforth to music alone. In 1902 he helped found in America
the Wa-Wan Press which promoted nationalism in American music and
published Gilbert’s first works. In these a strong emphasis was placed
by the composer upon American folk music and American folk idioms. In
1903 he wrote _Humoresque on Negro Minstrel Tunes_. After that came his
famous _Comedy Overture on Negro Themes_ (1905), the symphonic ballet
_The Dance in Place Congo_ (1906), the _Negro Rhapsody_ (1913), and
_Indian Sketches_ (1921). Here native elements were skilfully fused into
a style that was Romantic to produce music that remains appealing for
its freshness and vitality. Towards the end of his life, Gilbert was an
invalid. Nevertheless, in 1927, he traveled to Germany in a wheel-chair
to attend a performance of his _Dance in Place Congo_ at the Festival of
the International Society for Contemporary Music in Frankfurt. He died
in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on May 19, 1928.
The _Comedy Overture on Negro Themes_ (1905) is one of Gilbert’s most
frequently performed compositions. It is made up of five sections played
without interruption. The composer goes on to explain: “The first
movement is light and humorous, the theme being made from two
four-measure phrases taken from Charles L. Edwards’ book _Bahama Songs
and Stories_.... This is followed by a broader, and somewhat slower,
phrase. I have here used the only complete Negro tune which occurs in
the piece ... formerly used as a working song by roustabouts and
stevedores on the Mississippi River steamboats in the old days.... Next
comes a fugue. The theme of this fugue consists of the first four
measures of the Negro Spiritual ‘Old Ship of Zion.’... It is given out
by the brass instruments and interspersed with phrases from the
roustabouts’ song.... After this a short phrase of sixteen measures
serves to reintroduce the comic element. There is a repetition of the
first theme and considerable recapitulation, which leads finally to the
development of a new ending or coda, and the piece ends in an orgy of
jollity and ragtime.”
_Dance in Place Congo_ (1906) is both a ballet and a tone poem for
orchestra. Its first version was a pantomime ballet, but soon thereafter
the composer adapted his score into a composition for orchestra. The
tone poem—describing the barbaric revels on a late Sunday afternoon of
slaves in Place Congo, a section on the outskirts of New Orleans—opens
in a dark mood which achieves a climax with an outcry in the orchestra.
At this point a bamboula melody is heard in full orchestra. It is
permitted to gain in intensity until it acquires barbaric ferocity. When
the passions are spent, a beautiful romantic section unfolds,
occasionally interrupted by a recall of the bamboula theme. Various
Negro songs and dances are then presented over an insistent rhythm. The
somber mood of the opening is brought back to conclude the composition.
_The Indian Sketches_ for orchestra (1921) presents several facets of
American-Indian life. “They are,” explains the composer, “for the most
part not musical pictures of definite incidents so much as they are
musical mood pictures.” There are six sections. The first, a prelude, is
music of savage power. This is followed by the subjective music of the
“Invocation,” a prayer or supplication of the Great Spirit. “Song of the
World” briefly develops a cry of the Kutenai Indians, and “Camp Dance”
is a scherzo portraying the lighter side of Indian life. “Nocturne” is a
romantic description of the dark forests alive with the distant sounds
of birds and animals. The suite concludes with the “Snake Dance,”
suggested by a prayer dance for rain of the Hopi Indians in Arizona.
Don Gillis
Don Gillis was born in Cameron, Missouri, on June 17, 1912. He was
graduated from Christian University at Fort Worth, Texas in 1936, after
having engaged in various musical activities including the direction of
a band and a symphony orchestra, and the writing of two musical comedies
produced at the University. Following the completion of his education he
became a member of the faculty of Christian University and Southwest
Baptist Seminary; served as a trombonist and arranger for a Fort Worth
radio station; and played the trombone in the Fort Worth Symphony. In
1944 he became a producer for the National Broadcasting Company in New
York, taking charge of many important programs including those of the
NBC Symphony.
As a composer of symphonies and other orchestral compositions Gillis
reveals a refreshing sense of humor as well as a delightful bent for
whimsy, qualities which make some of his works ideal for programs of
light music. He has often drawn inspiration and materials from American
folk music and jazz, consistently producing music that combines sound
musical values with sound entertainment. “My feeling,” he has said, “is
that music is for the people and the composer’s final aim should be to
reach them. And since the people whistle and sing, I should like them to
whistle and sing my music.” Thus Gillis aims for simplicity, sincere
emotions, and sheer fun. “I have tried to write so that there will be a
feeling of enjoyment in the fun of the thing.”
_Portrait of a Frontier Town_, a suite for orchestra (1940), is a
tuneful composition consisting of five short movements. The title of
each of these provides the clue to the programmatic content of the
music. The first, “Chamber of Commerce,” portrays the activities of such
an organization in a typical American town. “Where the West Begins”
tells of the opening of the West through two significant musical
subjects, the first for strings, and the second for oboe, flute, and
clarinet. “Ranch House Party” is described in the score as “brightly—in
a gay manner.” A jovial melody first given by the full orchestra gives
prominent attention to percussion instruments. This is followed by a
mood picture, “Prairie Sunset” in which the English horn, answered by
the clarinet, presents the main melody. The suite concludes with “Main
Street Saturday Night,” in which gaiety and abandon alternate with
suggestions of nostalgia.
_Symphony No. 5½_ (1947), is one of the composer’s wittiest works which
he himself subtitled as “a symphony for fun.” It consists almost
entirely of jazz melodies, some treated in burlesque fashion; the work
also quotes some famous melodies in a facetious manner. The four
movements have whimsical titles: “Perpetual Emotion,” “Spiritual?”,
“Scherzophrenia” and “Conclusion.”
Alberto Ginastera
Alberto Ginastera was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on April 11,
1916. He was graduated with honors from the National Conservatory in his
native city where, in 1953, he became professor. In 1946 he visited the
United States remaining a year on a Guggenheim Fellowship. Ginastera’s
music combines musical elements native to Argentina with modern
techniques and idioms, and includes ballets, chamber music, a _Pastoral
Symphony_ and other works for orchestra, and pieces for the piano.
The _Dances_ from the ballet, _Estancia_ (1941) is among his most
popular works. The ballet, choreography by George Balanchine, was first
introduced by the Ballet Caravan. It describes life on an “estancia,” an
Argentine ranch, tracing the activities of its principal character
through a single day from dawn of one day to dawn of the next. The
orchestral dances are rich in native melodies and rhythms, presenting
the various dance sequences in “stylized version.” Two dances are
especially popular: “Dance of the Wheat” and “Malambo.”
Alexander Glazunov
Alexander Glazunov was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, on August 10,
1865. As a boy he studied music privately while attending a technical
high school. At fifteen he became a pupil of Rimsky-Korsakov in harmony,
counterpoint and orchestration. Such was his progress that only one year
later he completed a gifted symphony which was performed in St.
Petersburg in 1882 and acclaimed by several eminent Russian musicians.
Between that year and 1900, Glazunov produced most of the works which
won him renown not only in Russia but throughout the rest of the music
world: symphonies, string quartets, numerous shorter orchestral works,
and compositions in a lighter style. Here he was the traditionalist who
placed reliance on palatable melodies, sound structures, and heartfelt
emotion. For these reasons much of what he has written falls gracefully
into the light-classic category. After 1914 he wrote little, nothing to
add to his stature. Meanwhile he achieved renown first as professor then
as director of the St. Petersburg Conservatory. He also made successful
appearances as conductor following his debut at the Paris Exposition in
1899; his first appearance in the United States took place in Detroit on
November 21, 1929. In 1928, Glazunov left his native land for good, and
from then until his death on March 21, 1936 his home was in Paris.
The _Carnival Overture_, or _Carnaval_, op. 45 (1894) is a brilliant
picture of a festival. It opens with a lively dance melody in violins
and woodwind. This is followed by a more stately melody in woodwind and
violins against a counter-melody in cellos and bassoons. A brief
transition leads to the main body of the overture built out of two basic
ideas. The first is a gay dance tune in flutes and clarinets; the second
provides a measure of contrast through a more reflective subject for
oboes, clarinets, horns, and cellos.
_From the Middle Ages_—a suite for orchestra, op. 79 (1902)—evokes the
settings and backgrounds of the middle ages in four sections. The first
is a “Prelude,” portraying a castle by the sea, the home of two lovers.
Death plays the violin in the second movement, a “Scherzo”; he urges the
people to dance to his abandoned fiddling. In the third part,
“Serenade,” a troubadour sings his tune. The suite ends with “The
Crusaders,” in which soldiers are marching off to war, while priests
chant a solemn blessing.
The original title of _Ouverture solennelle_, op. 73 (1901) was
_Festival Overture_; the music throughout has a festive character. After
preliminary chords, woodwind and horns present a subject soon taken over
and amplified by the strings. The main part of the overture begins with
an expressive and soulful melody for the violins. The second theme is
first given by the clarinets against a vigorous accompaniment. After the
first theme receives elaboration, the overture concludes with a forceful
coda.
The orchestral suite _Raymonda_, op. 57a, comes from the score to a
ballet with choreography by Marius Petipa; it was introduced in St.
Petersburg on January 17, 1898. The composer’s first work for the stage,
this ballet has for its central character the lovely Raymonda, betrothed
to a knight. After the knight has gone off to join the Crusade and fight
the Saracens, Raymonda is wooed by a Saracen. When she rejects him he
makes an attempt to abduct her. Just then the knight returns, and slays
the culprit. The lovers thus reunited, are now able to celebrate their
nuptials.
The orchestral suite is a staple in the light-classical repertory. It
consists of the following sections: I. “Introduction.” Raymonda’s sorrow
at the absence of her lover. A scene in Raymonda’s castle where pages
indulge in athletics. II. “_La Traditrice._” The dance of pages and
maidens. III. “_Moderato._” Fanfares announce the arrival of a stranger.
Joy and general animation. As Raymonda enters, girls throw flowers in
her path. IV. “_Andante._” Raymonda is playing the lute outside the
castle in the moonlight. Raymonda dances. VI. “Entr’acte; _Valse
fantastique_.” Raymonda dreams she is in fairyland with her beloved.
VII. “_Grand Pas d’action._” At a feast given by Raymonda at her castle
the Saracen appears, woos her, and is spurned. VIII. “Variation.”
Raymonda defies the Saracen, who now tries to dazzle her with his
wealth. IX. “Dance of the Arab Boys.” “Dance of the Saracens.” X.
“Entr’acte.” The triumph of love and the festivities attending the
nuptials.
_Scènes de ballet_, suite for orchestra, op. 52 (1894) is made up of
eight parts. The first, “_Préamble_,” has an extended introduction to a
main section in which the main subject is given by the violins.
“Marionettes,” offers a lively theme for piccolo and glockenspiel with
which this section opens and closes; midway comes a trio with main theme
in first violins. The third part is a “Mazurka” for full orchestra. The
fourth is a “Scherzo,” its principal idea in muted strings and woodwind.
An expressive melody for cellos and violins is the heart of the fifth
section, “_Pas d’action_,” while the sixth, “_Dame orientale_” is a
sensuous, exotic dance melody set against the insistent beats of a
tambourine. The ensuing “_Valse_” begins with an introduction following
which the main waltz melody is presented by the violins. The suite
concludes with a dashing “Polonaise” for full orchestra.
The orchestral suite, _The Seasons_, op. 67—like that of
_Raymonda_—comes from a ballet score. The ballet—choreography by Marius
Petipa—was first performed in St. Petersburg in 1900. The scenario
interprets the four seasons of the year in four scenes and an
apotheosis. First comes Winter and her two gnomes; they burn a bundle of
faggots, whose heat causes Winter to disappear. Spring now arrives with
Zephyr, Birds and Flowers. All of them join in a joyous dance. When
Summer comes he is in the company of the Spirit of the Corn. Various
flowers perform a dance, then fall exhausted on the ground. Satyrs and
fauns, playing on pipes, try to recapture the Spirit of the Corn who is
protected by the flowers. In the Autumn scene, Bacchantes perform a
dance in the company of the Seasons. The Apotheosis presents an idyllic
scene with stars shining brightly in the sky.
The orchestral suite adapted from the ballet score by the composer for
concert purposes is one of his best known compositions. It consists of
the following sections: I. “Winter: Introduction; The Frost; The Ice;
The Hail; The Snow.” II. “Spring.” III. “Summer: Waltz of the
Cornflowers and Poppies; Barcarolle; Variation; Coda.” IV. “Autumn:
Bacchanale—Petit Adagio. Finale—The Bacchantes and Apotheosis.”
The _Valse de concert_ Nos. 1 and 2, D major and F major respectively,
opp. 47 and 51, are among the composer’s most delightful shorter pieces.
The first waltz, written in 1893, begins with a brief introduction after
which the principal waltz melody is heard first in violas and clarinets,
and subsequently in violins. A second theme is then offered by the
clarinets against plucked strings, after which the first waltz
reappears. The second waltz came one year after the first. This also has
a short introduction in which the main waltz melody is suggested. This
melody is finally given by the strings. While other thematic material
occasionally intrudes, the main waltz subject dominates the entire
composition.
Reinhold Glière
Reinhold Glière was born in Kiev, Russia, on January 11, 1875. He was
graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1900. After two years in
Berlin, he returned to his native land to become professor of
composition at the Kiev Conservatory; from 1914 to 1920 he was its
director. After 1920 he was a member of the faculty of the Moscow
Conservatory. Glière’s most famous works are his third symphony (named
_Ilia Mourometz_) introduced in Moscow in 1912, and the ballet, _The Red
Poppy_. But he wrote many other works—orchestral, chamber, and vocal, as
well as ballets. On two occasions he received the Stalin Prize: in 1948
for his fourth string quartet, and two years later for his ballet, _The
Bronze Horseman_. He died in Moscow on June 23, 1956.
Two excerpts from the Soviet ballet, _The Red Poppy_, are perhaps the
composer’s best known compositions. The ballet was first presented in
Moscow on June 14, 1927 with extraordinary success. Its setting is a
port in China where coolies are exploited. When a Soviet ship comes to
port, its captain falls in love with a Chinese girl, Tai-Hao. She is
ultimately killed by the port commander while she is trying to escape
from China on the Soviet ship. Her last words urge the Chinese to fight
for their liberty, and she points to a red poppy as a symbol of their
freedom.
The most celebrated single excerpt from this ballet is the _Russian
Sailors Dance_, for orchestra, with which the third act comes to a
whirlwind conclusion. The main melody is a simple Russian tune that
appears first in lower strings. It is then subjected to a series of
variations, and is permitted to gain momentum through acceleration of
tempo and expanding sonorities until an orgiastic climax is reached.
Less popular, but still often performed, is the “Dance of the Chinese
Girls” from the same ballet. A repeated descending interval leads to an
Oriental dance in the pentatonic scale; in this dance percussion
instruments and the xylophone are used prominently and with telling
effect.
Michael Glinka
Michael Glinka was born to prosperous landowners in Novosspaskoye, in
Smolensk, Russia, on June 1, 1804. His academic education took place at
a private school in St. Petersburg, while he studied music with Carl
Meyer, Carl Boehm and John Field. From 1824 to 1827 he worked in the
office of the Ministry of Communications in St. Petersburg. Further
music study then took place in Italy and Germany. After returning to his
native land in 1834, he was fired with the ambition of writing a
national Russian opera. That opera was _A Life for the Tsar_, produced
in 1836, an epoch-making work since it is the foundation upon which all
later Russian national music rests. Glinka’s second national opera,
_Ruslan and Ludmila_, produced in 1842, successfully carried on the
composer’s national ideals further. In the last years of his life Glinka
traveled a great deal, spending considerable time in Paris, Warsaw, and
Spain. He died suddenly in Berlin, Germany, on February 15, 1857.
It is impossible to overestimate Glinka’s significance in Russian music.
His national operas were the source from which the later nationalists,
the “Russian Five” derived their direction and inspiration.
In _Jota aragonesa_, a “caprice brilliant” for orchestra (1845) Glinka
is stimulated by Spanish rather than Russian folk music. This is the
first Russian composition to make serious use of Spanish folk idioms. It
was written during the composer’s visit to Spain in 1845 where he was
fascinated by Spanish folk songs and dances. Within a fantasy form,
Glinka poured melodies and dance rhythms closely modeled after the
Spanish in which the background, culture, and geography of that colorful
country have been fixed.
_Kamarinskaya_ (1848), also for orchestra, is a fantasy in the field in
which Glinka was both an acknowledged master and a significant
pioneer—Russian folk music. This composition is based on two Russian
folk songs heard by the composer in Warsaw: “Over the Hills, the High
Hills” (which appears in strings following a brief introduction), and a
dance tune, “Kamarinskaya” (first heard in violins).
The most popular excerpts from Glinka’s national opera, _A Life for the
Tsar_, are the overture, and the Mazurka and Waltz, for orchestra. The
opera—libretto by Baron von Rosen—was first performed in St. Petersburg
on December 9, 1836. The action takes place in Poland and Russia in
1612. During the struggle between Russia and Poland, Romanov becomes the
new Czar of Russia, and Ivan Susanin, a peasant, is the hero who saves
Russia and the Czar. The love interest involves Ivan’s daughter,
Antonida, and Bogdan Sabinin.
The overture opens with a stately introduction dominated by a melody for
the oboe. A spirited melody brings on the main section. After this
melody is developed, a second theme is offered by the clarinets. Both
ideas are discoursed upon briefly, and they are given further
amplification in the coda.
The Mazurka and Waltz appear at the close of the second act, climaxing a
festive celebration held in the throne room of Sigismund III of Poland
in his ancient castle. The Waltz comes first. Two principal waltz
melodies are given by the woodwind and repeated by strings; a third
waltz tune is then heard in brass, and soon taken over by the strings.
The Waltz is immediately followed by the Mazurka. After a dignified
introduction, a vigorous Mazurka melody unfolds. This leads to a second
dance tune, first heard in the woodwind and cellos; but the first
Mazurka melody soon reappears in the full orchestra. A third lively
dance melody is then presented by the strings.
_Ruslan and Ludmila_ also contributed a lively overture to the
orchestral repertory. This opera, with libretto by the composer and
several others based on a Pushkin poem, was first heard in St.
Petersburg on December 9, 1842. Ruslan is a knight who is a rival of
Ratmir for the love of Ludmila. Ludmila is abducted by the dwarf
Tchernomor, and after Ruslan has saved her, Ludmila’s father blesses his
future son-in-law.
Vigorous chords lead to a dashing melody in violins, violas and
woodwinds. A more lyrical second theme, almost folk-song in character,
is then heard in violas, cellos and bassoons. Both themes are given a
vigorous development in which the sprightly character of the overture is
never allowed to lose its brisk pace or vitality.
Christoph Willibald Gluck
Christoph Willibald Gluck was born in Erasbach, Upper Palatinate, on
July 2, 1714, the son of a forester on the estate of Prince Lobkowitz.
Gluck received his early music instruction in his native country from
local teachers. He then earned his living playing the violin and cello
in rural orchestras. In 1736 he came to Vienna where soon thereafter he
began to serve as chamber musician for Prince Lobkowitz. After a period
of study and travel in Italy he returned to Vienna, now to become one of
its most influential musicians. In Vienna he had produced several of his
early operas, all of them in the traditional Italian style of that
period. But he soon drew away from the stilted conventions of the
Italian opera to achieve a fusion of music and drama new to opera, as
well as dramatic truth, simplicity, and directness of emotional appeal.
His works in this new style, with which a new epoch in opera was
launched, included _Orfeo ed Euridice_ in 1762, _Alceste_ in 1767, and
_Iphigénie en Aulide_ in 1774, the last written for the Paris stage.
After living in Paris from 1773 to 1779, Gluck returned to Vienna to
remain there the rest of his life. During his last years he was an
invalid. He died in Vienna on November 15, 1787.
Gluck was a giant in the early history of opera. With Rameau, he was a
pioneer in establishing music drama as opposed to formal Italian opera.
_Orfeo ed Euridice_, produced in Vienna on October 5, 1762—with which
Gluck first set forth his new ideas and theories about opera—is the
earliest opera to have survived in the permanent repertory.
A delightful _Ballet Suite_, adapted by Felix Mottl from various
orchestral dances from several of Gluck’s greatest operas, is an
orchestral work by which the composer is most often represented on
semi-classical as well as symphonic programs. This suite includes the
following: “Dance of the Blessed Spirits” from _Orfeo ed Euridice_;
“_Air gai_” and “_Lento_” from _Iphigénie en Aulide_; and two old
baroque dances, the “Musette” and “Sicilienne” from _Armide_.
The “Dance of the Blessed Spirits” is one of the loveliest of all
Gluck’s melodies, and one of the most famous from 18th century opera.
This is a beatific song mainly for flute solo and strings, describing
Elysium, to which Orfeo has come in search of his wife, Eurydice. Fritz
Kreisler’s transcription for violin and piano is entitled _Mélodie_.
Sgambati arranged it for piano solo, and Gruenfeld for cello and piano.
Benjamin Godard
Benjamin Louis Godard was born in Paris on August 18, 1849. After
attending the Paris Conservatory, he received in 1878 a municipal prize
for an orchestral work, besides having his first opera produced. He
wrote several operas after that, winning fame with _Jocelyn_ in 1888. He
also wrote a considerable amount of chamber and orchestral music, in
which his fine, sensitive lyricism is evident. He died in Cannes,
France, on January 10, 1895.
Among his more familiar works is the _Adagio pathétique_. This started
out as a piece for violin and piano, the third of a set of compositions
in op. 128. It was orchestrated by Ross Jungnickel in 1910, and is most
popular in this version. This is music notable for its expressive
emotion; its lyricism at times has a religious stateliness.
The most famous single piece of music by Godard, however, is the
“Berceuse” from his opera, _Jocelyn_. With libretto by Paul Armand and
Silvestre and Victor Capoul—based on a poem by Lamartine—_Jocelyn_ was
introduced in Brussels on February 25, 1888. The setting is France
during the French Revolution, and concerns the love of Jocelyn, a young
priest, for the daughter of a nobleman. After many inner struggles,
Jocelyn decides to remain true to his calling and give up his beloved.
They meet for the last time at her deathbed to which Jocelyn has been
summoned to administer absolution. The “Berceuse” is a tender aria by
Jocelyn (“_Cachés dans cet asile_”) in which he calls upon angels to
protect his loved one.
Leopold Godowsky
Leopold Godowsky was born in Soshly, near Vilna, Poland, on February 13,
1870. A prodigy pianist, he attended the Berlin High School for Music,
after which he made his American debut in Boston in 1884. Additional
study took place in Paris with Saint-Saëns. Godowsky then launched his
career as a mature concert pianist with performances throughout the
world of music. He achieved international renown not only as a virtuoso
but also as a teacher of the piano, at the Chicago Conservatory and the
Vienna Academy. His concert career ended in 1930 when he was stricken by
a slight paralysis of the hand. As a composer, Godowsky was most famous
for his suites for the piano, the most famous being _Triakontameron_,
_Java_, and _Renaissance_. He also produced a library of remarkable
transcriptions for the piano. He died in New York City on November 21,
1938.
Though Godowsky was a sophisticated composer of highly complex piano
works, he did succeed in producing at least one number that became an
international “hit.” It was the _Alt Wien_ (_Old Vienna_), a
sentimental, nostalgic piece of music on whose title page appears the
following quotation: “Whose yesterdays look backwards with a smile
through tears.” _Alt Wien_ is the eleventh number in _Triakontameron_
(1920), a suite in six volumes described by the composer as “thirty
moods and scenes in triple measure.” The immense popularity of _Alt
Wien_ is proved by its many and varied transcriptions: for salon
orchestra; band; violin and piano (by Heifetz); three-part woman’s
chorus; dance orchestra; marimba and piano; and even a popular song
adapted by David Saperton to lyrics by Stella Ungar.
Edwin Franko Goldman
Edwin Franko Goldman was born in Louisville, Kentucky, on January 1,
1878. He came from a distinguished musical family. His uncles were Sam
Franko and Nahan Franko, both prominent in New York as conductors,
violinists, and pioneers in the presentation of free concerts. Goldman
attended the National Conservatory in New York, specializing in the
cornet. After completing his training with Jules Levey, he served for
ten years as solo cornetist of the Metropolitan Opera orchestra. In 1911
he organized his first band. Seven years later he founded the famous
Goldman Band which from then on gave free concerts in New York and
Brooklyn public parks, and elsewhere on tour. Under his direction it
became one of the outstanding musical organizations of its kind in the
country, presenting a remarkable repertory of popular music, light
classics, and band transcriptions of symphonic and operatic
compositions. Goldman conducted his band until his death, which took
place in New York on February 21, 1956. He was succeeded by his son,
Richard Franko Goldman, who for many years had served as his father’s
assistant.
For his concerts Goldman wrote over a hundred marches which have won him
recognition as John Philip Sousa’s successor. The best of the Goldman
marches won immediate success for their robust tunes and vigorous beat.
These include: “Central Park,” “Children’s March,” “On the Campus,” “On
the Farm,” and “On the Mall.”
The “Children’s March,” is actually an adaptation for band of several
children’s tunes including “Three Blind Mice,” “Jingle Bells,” and “Here
We Go Round the Mulberry Bush,” presented in march time.
Karl Goldmark
Karl Goldmark was born in Keszthely, Hungary, on May 18, 1830, the son
of a cantor. Demonstrating unusual talent on the violin, he was sent to
Vienna in 1844. There he studied with Leopold Jansa, then attended the
Vienna Conservatory. His musical education was brought to an abrupt halt
by the revolution of 1848. For many years after that, Goldmark earned
his living by teaching music, playing in theater orchestras, and writing
criticisms. He first came to the fore as a composer with a concert of
his works in Vienna on March 20, 1857. Success followed eight years
later with the première of his concert overture, _Sakuntala_. From then
on, Goldmark occupied an esteemed position in Viennese music by virtue
of many distinguished works that included the opera _The Queen of
Sheba_, the _Rustic Wedding Symphony_, and various shorter works for
orchestra, as well as numerous compositions for chorus, the piano, and
chamber-music groups. He died in Vienna on January 2, 1915.
Throughout his life he remained true to the Germanic-Romantic tradition
on which he was nurtured. His writing was always vital with emotion, at
times to the point of being sensual; it overflowed with luxurious melody
and harmony. Most of the works by which he is remembered, while of the
serious concert-hall variety, are light classics because of their charm
and grace and pleasing melodic content.
The _Bacchanale_ for orchestra is in Goldmark’s identifiable sensual
style. This is an episode from his most famous opera, _The Queen of
Sheba_ (_Die Koenigin von Saba_), libretto by Solomon Herman Mosenthal
based on the Old Testament story of the love of the Queen of Sheba for
Assad. The opera was successfully introduced in Vienna on March 10,
1875. The _Bacchanale_ takes place at the beginning of Act 3 in which a
sumptuous reception honors the Queen of Sheba. This dynamic piece of
music is especially interesting for its Oriental melodies and lush
orchestral colors.
_In Spring_ (_Im Fruehling_), op. 36 (1889), is a concert overture for
orchestra echoing the composer’s emotional reaction to the vernal
season. The first main theme, in first violins accompanied by other
strings, is given without any preliminaries. The second theme in violins
is more bucolic, the woodwind suggesting bird calls in the background.
Both themes are discussed and stormy episodes ensue. After the return of
the two main themes the overture ends with a brilliant coda.
The _Rustic Wedding Symphony_ (_Laendliche Hochzeit_), op. 26 (1876) is
a programmatic composition for orchestra in five movements. The first is
a “Wedding March” in which the main melody (given in fragments in the
lower strings) is subjected to thirteen variations. The second movement
is a “Bridal Song,” a lovely tune mainly for oboe in which the
first-movement march subject occasionally intrudes in the background in
the basses. This is followed by the third-movement “Serenade,” its main
subject being a spacious melody mainly for the violins. The fourth
movement, “In the Garden,” depicts the walk of two lovers in a garden as
they exchange tender sentiments. The symphony ends with a vital “Dance,”
in which the main theme receives fugal treatment.
The concert overture for orchestra, _Sakuntala_, op. 13 (1865)—with
which the composer achieved his first major success and which is still
one of his most popular works—was based on the celebrated story of
Kalidasa. Sakuntala is the daughter of a water nymph who is raised by a
priest as his own daughter. The King falls in love with her and marries
her, giving her a ring which will always identify her as his wife. A
powerful priest, seeking revenge against Sakuntala, effects a loss of
memory in the king, who now no longer recognizes her as his wife. To
complicate matters further, Sakuntala has lost her ring while washing
clothes in a sacred river. After being repudiated by the king as a
fraud, Sakuntala returns to her water-nymph mother. The king’s memory is
restored when the ring is found, and he is overwhelmed with grief at his
loss of Sakuntala.
A somber introduction is highlighted by a rippling subject in lower
strings and bassoons suggesting the water which was Sakuntala’s original
abode and to which she finally returns. After a change of tempo,
clarinets and cellos in unison offer a beautiful love melody. This is
followed by a hunting theme in first violins and oboes while the second
violins and violas present a fragment of the love song as a
countersubject. After this material has been amplified into a loud and
dramatic climax there comes still a third idea, in oboes and English
horn against chords in harp and arpeggios in strings. In a free fantasia
section some of this material is reviewed after which the coda offers
the hunting theme, and after that the love melody. A climax is realized
with the hunting theme bringing the overture to a dramatic ending.
Rubin Goldmark
Rubin Goldmark, nephew of Karl, was born in New York City on August 15,
1872. After studying music with private teachers in New York, he
attended first the Vienna Conservatory in Austria, and after that the
National Conservatory in New York where one of his teachers was Antonin
Dvořák. His primary energy was directed to teaching. For six years he
was the director of the Colorado College Conservatory, and from 1924
until his death head of the composition department at the Juilliard
School of Music in New York. As a composer, Goldmark is most often
remembered for the _Negro Rhapsody_ and the _Requiem_ for orchestra, the
latter inspired by Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Goldmark died in New
York City on March 6, 1936.
It is with the _Negro Rhapsody_ (1923) that Goldmark is most often
represented on concert and semi-classical concerts. As its title
suggests the work is made up of Negro melodies. After a slow
introduction, the cellos and violas in unison offer the strains of
“Nobody Knows De Trouble I’d Seen.” Before long, the basses are heard in
“O Peter, Go Ring Dem Bells.” The main section of the rhapsody begins
with a variation of “Nobody Knows De Trouble I’d Seen” and a repeat of
“O Peter.” The violins then engage “Oh Religion, I See Fortune,” and the
English horn is heard in “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child.”
After the solo cello quotes two measures of “Oh, When I Come to Die,”
the last Negro melody of the rhapsody appears. This melody comes from an
untitled song found by Goldmark in a magazine, a tune sung by Tennessee
Negroes while working on the river.
François Gossec
François Joseph Gossec was born in Vergniès, Belgium, on January 17,
1734. After receiving some music instruction in his native town, he came
to Paris in 1751, and three years after that was attached to the musical
forces employed by La Pouplinière. For these concerts, Gossec wrote many
symphonies and chamber-music works. He later worked in a similar
capacity for the Prince de Conti. In 1770 he founded the Concerts des
Amateurs, in 1773 became director of the Concert Spirituel, and from
1780 to 1785 was conductor at the Paris Opéra. When the Paris
Conservatory was established in 1795 Gossec became Inspector and
professor of composition. In the same year he also became a member of
the newly founded Institut de France. During the French Revolution he
wrote many works celebrating events growing out of that political
upheaval, allying himself with the new regime. He lived to a ripe old
age, spending the last years of his life in retirement in Passy. He died
in Paris on February 16, 1829.
Gossec was a significant pioneer of French orchestral and chamber music,
though little of his music is remembered. What remains alive, however,
is a graceful trifle: the Gavotte, one of the most popular pieces ever
written in that form. This music comes from one of his operas, _Rosina_
(1786); a transcription for violin and piano by Willy Burmeister is
famous.
Louis Gottschalk
Louis Moreau Gottschalk was born in New Orleans on May 8, 1829. His
music study took place in Paris where he specialized in the piano. He
gave many successful concerts as pianist in France, Switzerland and
Spain before returning to the United States in 1853. He then began the
first of many tours of the country, to become the first significant
American-born piano virtuoso. At his concerts he featured many of his
own works; his reputation as a composer was second only to that as
virtuoso. He was on tour of South America when he was stricken by yellow
fever. He died in Rio de Janeiro on December 18, 1869.
Gottschalk was the composer of numerous salon pieces for the piano,
enormously popular in his day—a favorite of young pianists everywhere.
One of these pieces is “The Banjo,” familiar on semi-classical programs
in orchestral arrangements. In his music Gottschalk often employed
either Spanish or native American idioms.
The contemporary American composer, Ulysses Kay, used several of
Gottschalk’s piano pieces for a ballet score, _Cakewalk_. This ballet,
with choreography by Ruthanna Boris based on the minstrel show, was
introduced by the New York City Ballet in New York on June 12, 1951. The
dancers here translate the routines of the old minstrel show into dance
forms and idioms. An orchestral suite, derived from this ballet score,
has five sections: “Grand Walkaround,” in which the performers strut
around the stage led by the interlocutor; “Wallflower Waltz,” music to a
slow, sad dance performed solo by a lonely girl; “Sleight of Feet,” a
rhythmic specialty accompanying feats of magic performed by the
Interlocutor; “Perpendicular Points,” a toe dance performed by the two
end men, one very tall, the other very short; and “Freebee,” an exciting
dance performed by the girl, as other performers accompany her dance
with the rhythm of clapping hands.
Morton Gould
Morton Gould was born in New York City on December 10, 1913. He received
a comprehensive musical education at the Institute of Musical Art in New
York, at New York University, and privately (piano) with Abby Whiteside.
After completing these studies, he played the piano in motion-picture
theaters and vaudeville houses and served as the staff pianist for the
Radio City Music Hall. He was only eighteen when the Philadelphia
Orchestra under Stokowski introduced his _Chorale and Fugue in Jazz_,
his first successful effort to combine classical forms and techniques
with modern popular American idioms. In his twenty-first year he started
conducting an orchestra for radio, and making brilliant transcriptions
of popular and semi-classical favorites for these broadcasts. During the
next two decades he was one of radio’s outstanding musical
personalities, his programs enjoying important sponsorship. During this
period he wrote many works for orchestra which have been performed by
America’s foremost symphony orchestras. He also wrote the scores for
several successful ballets (including _Interplay_ and _Fall River
Legend_), as well as music for Broadway musical comedies and motion
pictures.
Like Gershwin, Gould has been a major figure in helping make serious
music popular by writing ambitious concert works which make a skilful
blend of serious and popular musical elements. Gershwin came to the
writing of serious concert works after apprenticeship in Tin Pan Alley;
Gould, on the other hand, came to popular writing after an intensive
career in serious music. Thus he brings to his more popular efforts an
extraordinary technique in composition, advanced thinking in
orchestration, harmony, counterpoint, and rhythm. Yet there is nothing
pedantic about his writing. Many of his works are such consistent
favorites with audiences because they are the creations of a consummate
musician without losing popular appeal. Few have been more successful
than Gould in achieving such a synthesis between concert and popular
music.
_American Salute_ (1942) is a brilliant orchestral adaptation of the
famous American popular song by Patrick Gilmore, “When Johnny Comes
Marching Home.” Though written during the Civil War, this robust
marching song became most popular during the Spanish American War with
which it is today most often associated. Gould prepared this composition
during World War II for an all-American music concert broadcast over the
Mutual radio network on February 12, 1942. “I have attempted,” Gould
explained, “a very simple and direct translation in orchestral idiom of
this vital tune. There is nothing much that can be said about the
structure or the treatment because I think it is what you might call
‘self-auditory.’”
The _American Symphonette No. 2_ is one of several works for orchestra
in the sinfonietta form in which Gould made a conscious effort to fuse
classical structure with elements of popular music. The composer’s
purpose, as he explained, was “entertainment, in the better sense of the
term.” The most famous movement is the middle one, a “Pavane,” often
played independently of the other movements. It is particularly favored
by school orchestras, and has also been adapted for jazz band. The old
and stately classical dance of the Pavane is here married to a spicy
jazz tune jauntily presented by the trumpet; there are here overtones of
a gentle sadness. The first and last movements of this Symphonette
abound with jazz rhythms and melodies, respectively marked “Moderately
Fast, With Vigor” and “Racy.”
The _Cowboy Rhapsody_ (1944) started out as a composition for brass
band, but was later adapted by the composer for orchestra. This is a
rhapsodic treatment of several familiar and less familiar cowboy tunes
including “Old Paint,” “Home on the Range,” “Trail to Mexico” and
“Little Old Sod Shanty.” The composer here attempted “a program work
that would effectively utilize the marvelous vigor and sentiment of
these unusual songs.”
_Family Album_ (1951) is one of two suites in which Gould evokes
nostalgic pictures of the American scene and holidays through
atmospheric melodies. (The other suite is _Holiday Music_, written in
1947.) The composer explains that the music of both these suites is so
simple and direct in its pictorial appeal that it requires no program
other than the titles of the respective movements to be understood and
appreciated; nor is any analysis of the music itself called for. _Family
Album_, for brass band, is made up of five brief movements: “Outing in
the Park,” “Porch Swing on a Summer Evening,” “Nickelodeon,” “Old
Romance” and “Horseless Carriage Gallop.” _Holiday Music_, for
orchestra, also has five movements: “Home for Christmas,” “Fourth of
July,” “Easter Morning,” “The First Thanksgiving,” and “Halloween.”
_Interplay_ is a ballet with choreography by Jerome Robbins introduced
in New York in 1945. The score is an adaptation of the composer’s
_American Concertette_, for piano and orchestra, written for the piano
virtuoso, José Iturbi. The text of the ballet contrasts classic and
present-day dances; Gould’s music is a delightful contrast between old
forms and styles, and modern or popular ones. _Interplay_, as the
concert work is now called, has four movements, each of popular appeal.
The first, “With Drive and Vigor,” was described by the composer as
“brash.” It has two sprightly main themes and a brief development. This
is followed by a “Gavotte” in which the composer directs “a sly glance
to the classical mode.” The third movement is a “Blues,” “a very simple
and, in spots, ‘dirty’ type of slow, nostalgic mood.” The finale, “Very
Fast” brings the composition to a breathless conclusion through
unrelenting motor energy.
_Latin-American Symphonette_, for orchestra (1941) is the fourth of
Gould’s sinfoniettas using popular idioms. The three earlier ones
exploit jazz, while the fourth consists of ideas and idioms indigenous
to Latin America. Each of the four movements consists of a stylized
Latin-American dance form: “Rumba,” “Tango,” “Guaracha,” and “Conga.”
In _Minstrel Show_ (1946) Gould tried to bring to orchestral music some
of the flavor of old time minstrel-show tunes and styles. There are no
borrowings from actual minstrel shows. All the melodies are the
composer’s own, but they incorporate some of the stylistic elements of
the original product. “The composition,” Gould goes on to say,
“alternates between gay and nostalgic passages. There are characteristic
sliding trombone and banjo effects, and in the middle of the piece the
sandpaper blocks and other percussion convey the sounds and tempo of a
soft-shoe dance. The score ends on a jubilant note.”
_Yankee Doodle Went to Town_, like the _American Salute_, is the
presentation of a popular American tune in modern orchestration and
harmony. The tune in this case is, to be sure, “Yankee Doodle,” probably
of English origin which made its first appearance in this country in
1755. The general belief is that it was used by a certain Richard
Shuchburg, a British Army soldier, to poke fun at the decrepit colonial
troops. For two decades after that the tune was frequently heard in the
Colonies as the means by which British soldiers could taunt Colonials.
Once the Revolution broke out, however, the colonists used “Yankee
Doodle” as its favorite war song, and it was sung lustily by them when
Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown. Gould’s orchestration emphasizes
some of the humorous elements in the song, while giving it some
freshness and vitality through his fine sense for orchestral color and
striking harmonizations.
Charles Gounod
Charles François Gounod was born in Paris on June 17, 1818. He received
his academic education at the Lycée St. Louis, and his musical training
at the Paris Conservatory with Halévy and Lesueur among others. In 1839
he won the Prix de Rome. During his stay in Italy he became interested
in church music and completed several choral works. He turned to opera
after returning to Paris, his first work for the lyric stage being
_Sapho_, successfully produced at the Paris Opéra in 1851. From then on,
for many years, he concentrated mainly on opera, winning world renown in
1859 with _Faust_. In 1870 he visited London where he conducted
orchestral and choral concerts. During the last years of his life he
devoted himself for the most part to the writing of religious music.
Gounod died in Paris on October 18, 1893. He is most famous for his
operas, and most specifically for _Faust_, though _Mireille_ (1864) and
_Roméo et Juliette_ (1867) have also been highly acclaimed and
frequently given. Gounod was a composer who conveyed to his music
sensitive human values. He was a melodist of the first order, his
lyricism enhanced in its expressiveness through his subtle feeling for
orchestral and harmonic colors.
The _Ave Maria_, while originally a song, is famous in transcriptions
for solo instruments and also for orchestra. The interesting feature of
this work is the fact that Gounod wrote this spiritual, deeply moving
melody to the famous prayer in Latin, against an accompaniment
comprising the music (without any change whatsoever) of Bach’s Prelude
in C major from the _Well-Tempered Clavier_. The marriage of melody and
accompaniment is so ideal it is difficult to realize that each is the
work of a different composer from a different generation.
Gounod’s masterwork, the opera _Faust_, is surely one of the most
celebrated works of the French lyric theater. Many of its selections are
deservedly popular. The opera—libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré
based on the poetic drama of Goethe—was first performed in Paris on
March 19, 1859. Strange to report, it was originally a failure with both
audience and critics. Not until it was revived in Paris in 1869 did the
opera finally win favor; from this point it went on to conquer the
world. One of the reasons for this permanent, if somewhat belated,
success, is the sound theatrical values of the libretto. The opera is
consistently excellent theater, rich with emotion, pathos, drama, pomp
and ceremony. The story, of course, is that of the celebrated Faust
legend. Faust makes a pact with the devil, Mephistopheles, to trade his
soul for the return of his youth. As a young man, Faust makes love to
Marguerite. When she becomes a mother she kills her child. Faust comes
to her prison cell to entreat her to escape, but she does not seem to
understand him. After her punishment by death, Faust is led to his own
doom by Mephistopheles.
Perhaps the most famous single excerpt from the opera is the rousing
_Soldier’s Chorus_ (“_Gloire immortelle des nos aïeux_”) from Act 4,
Scene 3. The soldiers, returning from the war, sing out their joy on
coming home victorious. This episode is celebrated in transcriptions
either for orchestra or for brass band. Almost as popular is the
captivating Waltz in Act 2. In the opera it is sung and danced by
villagers during a celebration in the public square (“_Ainsi que la
brise légère_”); this excerpt is also familiar in transcription.
The Walpurgis Night Ballet Music from _Faust_, though generally omitted
from the performances of the opera itself, has become a concert
favorite. This music is given in Paris during the first scene of the
last act. The classic queens—Helen, Phryne and Cleopatra—and their
attendants are called upon to dance to distorted versions of several of
the opera’s beloved melodies. There are here seven dances of which six
appear in the score only with tempo markings: _Waltz_, _Adagio_,
_Allegretto_, _Moderato maestoso_, _Moderato con moto_, _Allegretto_,
and _Allegro vivo_.
When an orchestral potpourri from the opera is given by semi-classical
orchestra, it includes some other beloved excerpts: Marguerite’s “Jewel
Song” (“_Je ris de me voir_”), in which she speaks her joy in finding
the casket of jewels secretly placed for her in her garden by Faust; the
rousing _Kermesse_ or Fair Music that opens the second act, “_Vin ou
bière_”; Mephistopheles’ cynical comment on man’s greed for gold, “_Le
Veau d’or_”; Faust’s hymn of love for Marguerite, “_O belle enfant! je
t’aime_”; the “Chorus of Swords” (“_De l’enfer qui vient émousser_”), a
vibrant exhortation by the young men of the village who, sensing they
are in the presence of the devil, raise their swords in the form of a
cross to confound him.
The _Funeral March of a Marionette_ (_Marche funèbre d’une marionnette_)
is a delightful piece originally written for the piano in 1873, and
after that transcribed by the composer for orchestra. Gounod had hopes
to make it the first movement of a piano suite. When he failed to
complete that suite, he issued the march as a separate piece of music in
the now-famous orchestral version. The opening march music tells of the
procession of pallbearers to a cemetery as they carry a dead marionette.
A brighter spirit is induced as the pallbearers stop off at an inn. Then
the procession continues. The funereal atmosphere of the closing
measures speaks of the ephemeral nature of all life, even the life of a
marionette.
The opera _Mireille_—libretto by Barbier and Carré based on Mistral’s
poem, _Mirèio_—is not often performed. But this is not true of its
overture. The opera was first performed in Paris on March 19, 1864. The
story revolves around the tragic love affair of the Provençal girl,
Mireille, and the basket-weaver, Vincent. The overture opens with a slow
introduction in which a stately idea is offered by the woodwind. In the
main body, the principal melody is heard in the strings while the
subsidiary theme is first presented by the violins. After both ideas are
amplified, a crescendo section leads to the triumphant reappearance of
the first theme in the full orchestra. The overture ends with a short
but spirited coda.
Out of the opera _Roméo et Juliet_ comes a most charming waltz. The
opera was introduced in Paris on April 27, 1867. The libretto, once
again by Barbier and Carré, was based on the Shakespeare tragedy. The
waltz opens the first act, a ballroom scene in the Capulet palace
honoring Juliet. Against the lilting strains of this music, the guests
perform an eye-filling dance.
Percy Grainger
Percy Aldridge Grainger was born in Melbourne, Australia on July 8,
1882. After receiving some piano instruction from his mother he was sent
to Germany in his twelfth year to continue his music study with James
Kwast and Ferruccio Busoni. In 1900 he made his debut as concert pianist
in London, following which he made an extended tour of Great Britain,
New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa. A meeting with Grieg, in 1906,
was a significant influence in Grainger’s artistic development. Grieg
infected the young man with some of his own enthusiasm for folk music.
The result was that Grainger now began to devote himself to research in
the English folk music of the past. His orchestral and piano
arrangements of many of these folk tunes and dances, between 1908 and
1912, were responsible for bringing them to the attention of the music
world. In 1915, Grainger made his debut as pianist in the United States.
He has lived in America since that time, devoting himself to concert
work, lecturing and teaching, besides composition. Grainger died in
White Plains, New York, on February 20, 1961.
In his own music, Grainger reveals the impact that his studies in
English music made upon him: in his partiality to modal writing, to the
contrapuntal technique, to placid lyricism. But it is in his fresh
arrangements of old English songs and dances that Grainger is most
famous. “Even when he keeps the folk songs within their original
dimensions,” says Cyril Scott, “he has a way of dealing with them which
is entirely new, yet at the same time never lacking in taste.”
_Brigg Fair_ is a plaintive melody of pastoral character from the
district of Lincolnshire. It was used by the contemporary British
composer, Frederick Delius, as the basis for his orchestral rhapsody of
the same name (dedicated to Grainger).
The bucolic and ever popular _Country Gardens_ is a “Mock Morris,” the
“Mock Morris” being an old English dance popular during the reign of
Henry VII and since then associated with festivities attending May Day.
Grainger’s original transcription was for piano solo, and only later did
he adapt it for orchestra.
_Handel in the Strand_ is a lively clog dance. _Irish Tune from County
Derry_ is better known as the _Londonderry Air_, a poignant melody now
known to us through numerous versions other than that originally made
famous by Grainger. The piece, designated as a Mock Morris, is one of a
series in a collection entitled _Room Music Tit Bits_. “No folk music
tune-stuffs at all are used herein,” says the composer. “The rhythmic
cast of the piece is Morris-like, but neither the build of the tunes nor
the general layout of the form keeps to the Morris dance shape.”
The lively _Molly on the Shore_ was first written for piano before being
adapted by the composer for orchestra. _Shepherd’s Hey_ is a Mock Morris
and consists of four tunes, two fiddle tunes and two folk songs.
Of Grainger’s own compositions three are of general interest. The
_Children’s March_ (1917) was written during World War I for the United
States Army Band. “This march,” says the composer, “is structurally of a
complicated build, on account of the large number of different themes
and tunes employed and of the varied and irregular interplay of many
contrasted sections. Tonally speaking, it is a study in the blend of
piano, wind, and percussion instruments.”
_Passacaglia on Green Bushes_ has two versions. One is for small
orchestra, and the other for a large one. This composition is built
around the folk melody “Green Bushes” which remains unchanged in key,
line, and rhythm throughout the work (except for eight measures of free
passage work near the beginning, and forty measures at the end). Against
this melody move several folk-like melodies of Grainger’s own invention.
_Youthful Suite_ for orchestra is made up of five sections. Part of this
work was completed in 1902, and part in 1945. The first movement,
“Northern March,” derives its character from the melodic and rhythmic
traits of the folk music of North England and Scotland. The main melody
here acquires its folk-song character through the use of the
flat-seventh minor scale. “Rustic Dance” achieves an exotic quality
through the employment of an unusual variant of the F major chord.
“Norse Digger” is a somber lament in which is mourned the passing of a
dead hero, possibly from an Icelandic saga. “Eastern Intermezzo” has an
Oriental cast. The repeated use of drum beats and the virile rhythms
were inspired by a reading of a description of the dance of the
elephants in _Toomal of the Elephants_ from Kipling’s Jungle Book. This
suite ends with a formal “English Waltz.”
Enrique Granados
Enrique Granados was born in Lérida, Spain, on July 27, 1867. After
completing his music study at Conservatories in Barcelona and Madrid,
and privately with Charles de Bériot in Paris, he earned his living
playing the piano in Spanish restaurants. In 1898, his first opera was
produced in Madrid, _Maria del Carmen_. The national identity of this
music was to characterize all of Granados’ subsequent works and place
him among the most significant of Spanish national composers. His most
famous composition is _Goyescas_, a remarkable series of piano pieces
inspired by the paintings of Goya; the composer later adapted this music
for an opera, also called _Goyescas_, which received its world première
in New York at the Metropolitan Opera on January 28, 1918. Granados came
to the United States to attend this performance, after which he visited
Washington, D.C. to play the piano for President Wilson at the White
House. He was aboard the ship _Folkstone_, sailing from Folkstone to
Dieppe, when it was torpedoed by a German U-Boat during World War I on
March 24, 1916, bringing him to his death.
In their rhythmic and harmonic vocabulary, Granados’ best music is
unmistakably Spanish. Perhaps his most famous single piece of music is
an orchestral “Intermezzo” from the opera _Goyescas_. He wrote it after
he had fully completed his score to the opera because the directors of
the Metropolitan Opera filled the need of an instrumental interlude.
This sensual Spanish melody is as famous in various transcriptions
(including one for cello and piano by Gaspar Cassadó) as it is in its
original orchestral version.
Twelve _Spanish Dances_, for piano, op. 37 (1893) are also popular. The
most frequently performed of these is the fifth in E minor named
_Andaluza_ (or _Playera_). Fritz Kreisler transcribed it for violin and
piano, one of numerous adaptations. The sixth in D major is also
familiar—_Rondalla Aragonesa_, a jota, transcribed for violin and piano
by Jacques Thibaud.
Edvard Grieg
Edvard Hagerup Grieg, Norway’s greatest composer, was born in Bergen on
June 15, 1843. Revealing unusual talent for music as a boy, he was sent
to the Leipzig Conservatory in 1858. He remained there several years, a
pupil of Plaidy, Moscheles, and Reinecke among others. In 1863 he
returned to his native land where several of his early compositions were
performed. He then lived for several years in Copenhagen. There he met
and became a friend of two musicians who interested him in Scandinavian
music and musical nationalism: Niels Gade and Rikard Nordraak. Under
their guidance and stimulation Grieg began writing music in a national
style, beginning with the _Humoresques_ for piano, op. 6, which he
dedicated to Nordraak. Grieg also became a sponsor of Scandinavian music
and composers by helping Nordraak organize a society for their benefit.
In 1866, Grieg helped arrange in Oslo the first concert ever given over
entirely to Norwegian music; a year later he helped found the Norwegian
Academy of Music. He also served as a conductor of the Harmonic Society,
an important influence in presenting Scandinavian music.
After marrying Nina Hagerup in 1867, Grieg settled in Oslo to assume an
imperial position in its musical life. He also achieved worldwide
recognition as a composer through his violin Sonata in F major, the A
major piano concerto, and the incidental music to Ibsen’s _Peer Gynt_.
He was the recipient of many honors both from his native land and from
foreign countries. His sixtieth birthday was honored as a national
Norwegian holiday. From 1885 on Grieg lived in a beautiful villa,
Troldhaugen, a few miles from Bergen. Music lovers made pilgrimages to
meet him and pay him tribute. His remains were buried there following
his sudden death in Bergen on September 4, 1907.
Its national identity is the quality that sets Grieg’s music apart from
that of most of the other Romanticists of his day. Though he rarely
quoted folk melodies or dance tunes directly, he produced music that is
Norwegian to its core. In his best music he speaks of Norway’s
geography, culture, people, backgrounds, holidays, and legends in
melodies and rhythms whose kinship with actual folk music is
unmistakable.
The _Holberg Suite_ for string orchestra, op. 40 (1885)—or to use its
official title of _From Holberg’s Time_—was written to honor the
bicentenary of Ludvig Holberg, often called the founder of Danish
literature. The composer also adapted this music for solo piano. Bearing
in mind that the man he was honoring belonged to a bygone era, Grieg
wrote a suite in classical style and with strictly classical forms; but
his own romantic and at times national identity is not sacrificed. The
first movement is a “Prelude,” a vigorous movement almost in march time.
This is followed by three classical dances—“Sarabande,” “Gavotte,” and
“Musette.” The fourth movement temporarily deserts the 17th and 18th
centuries to offer a graceful “Air” in the manner of a Norwegian folk
song, but the classical era returns in all its stateliness and grace in
the concluding “Rigaudon.”
_In Autumn_, a concert overture for orchestra, op. 11 (1865, revised
1888) was Grieg’s first effort to write symphonic music. This
composition is a fresh and spontaneous expression of joy in Nature’s
beauties. The principal melody is a song written by Grieg in 1865,
“Autumn Storm.” This material is preceded by an introduction and
followed by a coda in which a happy dance by harvesters is introduced.
The _Lyric Suite_ for orchestra, op. 54 (1903) is an adaptation by the
composer of four numbers from his _Lyric Pieces_, for piano—a set of
sixty-six short compositions gathered in ten volumes, each a delightful
miniature of Norwegian life. The first of the four episodes in the
_Lyric Suite_ is “Shepherd Lad,” scored entirely for strings, music in a
dreamy mood whose main romantic melody has the character of a nocturne.
“Rustic March” (or “Peasant March”), for full orchestra, has for its
principal thought a ponderous, rhythmic theme first given by the
clarinets. The third movement is a poetic “Nocturne” whose main melody
is presented by the first violins. The suite ends with the popular
“March of the Dwarfs” in the grotesque style of the composer’s “In the
Hall of the Mountain King” from _Peer Gynt_. This movement alternates a
sprightly fantastic march tune (first heard in the violins) with an
expressive melody for solo violin.
The _Norwegian Dance No. 2_ is the second of a set of four folk dances
originally for piano four hands and later transcribed by the composer
for orchestra, op. 35 (1881). This second dance, in the key of A minor,
is probably the composer’s most famous composition in a national idiom.
It is in three parts, the flanking section consisting of a sprightly
rustic dance tune, while the middle part is faster and more vigorous
contrasting music. The other somewhat less familiar, but no less
beguiling, _Norwegian Dances_ are the first in D minor, the third in G
major, and the fourth in D major.
The _Peer Gynt Suite No. 1_, for orchestra, op. 46 (1876) consists of
four numbers from the incidental music for the Ibsen drama, _Peer Gynt_,
produced in Oslo in 1876. Ibsen’s epic is a picaresque drama about a
capricious and at times spirited Norwegian peasant named Peer, and his
fabulous adventures, some of them amatory. He abducts the bride,
Solveig, then deserts her; as an outlaw he roams the world; when he
returns home he finds Solveig still believing in him and through that
belief he comes upon salvation.
The first movement of Suite No. 1 is a bucolic picture, “Morning,” in
which a barcarolle-type melody is prominent. This is followed by a
tender elegy for muted strings, “Ase’s Death,” Ase being Peer Gynt’s
mother. A capricious, sensual dance follows, “Anitra’s Dance,” a
mazurka-like melody with an Oriental identity. The final movement, “In
the Hall of the Mountain King” is a grotesque march built from a
four-measure phrase which grows in volume and intensity until it evolves
into a thunderous fortissimo.
Grieg prepared a second suite from his incidental music for _Peer Gynt_,
op. 55. Only one movement from this set is popular, “Solveig’s Song,” a
haunting Norwegian song for muted strings portraying Solveig, the
abducted bride who thereafter remains forever faithful to Peer Gynt.
This is the final movement of a suite whose preceding movements are
“Ingrid’s Lament,” “Arabian Dance,” and “Peer Gynt’s Homecoming.”
_Sigurd Jorsalfar_, a suite for orchestra, op. 56 (1872, revised 1892)
also comes from the incidental music to a play, in this case a
historical drama of the same name by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, produced in
Oslo in 1872. The central character is the twelfth-century Norwegian
king, Sigurd, who joins the Crusades to fight heroically against the
Saracens. There are three movements to this suite. The first “Prelude”
is subtitled “In the King’s Hall,” and has three distinct sections. In
the first of these the main thought is a theme for clarinets and
bassoons against plucked strings; in the second, a trio, the most
prominent melody is that for flute imitated by the oboe; the third part
repeats the first. The second movement is “Intermezzo” or “Borghild’s
Dream.” This is serene music alternated by an agitated mood. The finale
is “March of Homage” in which trumpet fanfares and a loud chord for full
orchestra set the stage for the main theme, in four cellos. This same
theme is later proclaimed triumphantly by the full orchestra. Midway
there appears a trio in which the first violins offer the main melody.
_Two Elegiac Melodies_, for string orchestra, op. 34 (1880) are
adaptations of two of the composer’s most famous songs found in op. 33,
“Heartwounds” and “The Last Spring,” lyrics by A. O. Vinje. Both
melodies are for the most part in a somber mood. The first is in a
comparatively fast time while the second is in slow tempo.
_Two Northern Melodies_, for string orchestra, op. 63 (1895) is, as the
title indicates, in two sections. The first, “In the Style of a
Folksong,” offers its main melody in the cellos after a short
introduction. The second, “The Cowherd’s Tune,” begins with a slow,
simple tune and ends with a delightful peasant dance.
The Broadway operetta, _Song of Norway_, was not only based upon
episodes in the life of Grieg but also makes extensive use of Grieg’s
music. The book is by Milton Lazarus based on a play by Homer Curran,
and the lyrics and music are by Robert Wright and George Forrest. The
operetta opened on Broadway on August 21, 1944 (Lawrence Brooks played
Grieg, and Helena Bliss his wife, Nina) to accumulate the impressive run
of 860 performances. Since the operetta has become something of a
classic of our popular theater through frequent revivals—and since its
music is sometimes heard on concerts of semi-classical music—it deserves
consideration. The story centers mainly around the love affair of Grieg
and Nina Hagerup, and their ultimate marriage; it also carries the
composer from obscurity to world fame. Wright and Forrest reached into
the storehouse of Grieg’s music for their songs. “Strange Music,” which
became a popular-song hit in 1944 and 1945, is based on one of Grieg’s
_Lyric Pieces_ for piano, _Wedding Day in Troldhaugen_. “I Love You” is
based on Grieg’s famous song of the same name (“_Ich liebe Dich_”) which
he actually wrote to express his love for Nina; the lyric was by Hans
Andersen, and the song appeared in a set of four collected in op. 5
(1864). Musical episodes from Grieg’s G major Violin Sonata, the _Peer
Gynt Suite_, _Norwegian Dance No. 2_, the A minor Piano Concerto, and
some of the piano pieces provided further material for popular songs and
ballet music.
Ferde Grofé
Ferde Grofé was born Ferdinand Rudolph Von Grofé in New York City on
March 27, 1892. He began to study the violin and piano early. During his
adolescence he became a member of the viola section of the Los Angeles
Philharmonic. While engaged in serious music he started playing with
jazz ensembles. Before long he formed one of his own, for which he made
all the arrangements, and whose performances attracted considerable
interest among jazz devotees. Paul Whiteman was one of those who was
impressed by Grofé’s brand of jazz. In 1919 he hired Grofé to play the
piano in, and make all the arrangements for, the Paul Whiteman
Orchestra. Grofé worked for Whiteman for a dozen years, a period during
which he prepared most of the arrangements used by Whiteman, including
that of George Gershwin’s historic _Rhapsody in Blue_ at its world
première in 1924. In 1924, Grofé wrote his first symphonic composition
in a jazz style, _Broadway at Night_. One year later, came the
_Mississippi Suite_, his first success. In 1931 he scored a triumph with
the _Grand Canyon Suite_, still his most celebrated composition. After
1931, Grofé toured the country as conductor of his own orchestra, making
numerous appearances in public and over the radio. From 1939 to 1942 he
taught orchestration at the Juilliard School of Music in New York and in
1941 he began an eight-year contract with the Standard Oil Company of
California to conduct the San Francisco Symphony over the radio. Grofé
has also written music for motion pictures and special works for
industry.
With Gershwin, Grofé has been an outstanding composer of symphonic music
utilizing jazz and other popular styles and idioms. He is distinguished
for his remarkable skill at orchestration, which frequently employs
non-musical devices for special effects—for example, a typewriter in
_Tabloid_, pneumatic drills in _Symphony in Steel_, a bicycle pump in
_Free Air_, shouts and door-banging in _Hollywood Suite_, and the sound
of bouncing bowling balls in _Hudson River Suite_.
The _Grand Canyon Suite_ (1931), Grofé’s most significant composition as
well as the most famous, is an orchestral description in five movements
of one of America’s natural wonders. The first movement, “Sunrise,”
opens with a timpani roll to suggest the break of dawn over the canyon.
The main melody depicting the sunrise itself is heard in muted trumpet
against a chordal background. As the movement progresses, the music
becomes increasingly luminous, until the sun finally erupts into full
resplendence. “The Painted Desert” is an atmospheric tone picture.
Nebulous chords suggest an air of mystery before a sensual melodic
section unfolds. “On the Trail” is the most popular movement of the
suite, having for many years been expropriated as the identifying
theme-signature for the Philip Morris radio program. An impulsive,
restless rhythm brings us a picture of a jogging burro. A cowboy tune is
then set contrapuntally against this rhythm. In “Sunset” animal calls
precede a poignant melody that speaks about the peace and serenity that
descend on the canyon at sunset. “Cloudburst” is the concluding movement
in which a violent storm erupts, lashes the canyon with its fury, and
then subsides. Tranquillity now returns, and the canyon is once more
surrounded by breathless and quiet beauty.
The _Hudson River Suite_ (1955) was written for André Kostelanetz, the
conductor, who introduced the work in Washington, D.C. This music
provides five different aspects of the mighty river in New York, and its
associations with American history. The river itself is described in the
opening movement, “The River.” This is followed by a portrait of Henry
Hudson. The colonial times and the land of Rip Van Winkle are discussed
in the third movement, “Rip Van Winkle,” while in “Albany Night Boat,” a
delightful account is given of New York in years gone by, when a holiday
trip on the boat was a favorite pastime of New York couples. The suite
ends with “New York” a graphic etching of the metropolis along the
Hudson.
The _Mississippi Suite_ (1925)—like its eminent successor, the _Grand
Canyon Suite_—was written for Paul Whiteman, who introduced it in
Carnegie Hall. The first movement, “Father of the Waters” has a melody
of an American-Indian identity representing the river. In “Huckleberry
Finn,” the character of the boy is suggested by a jazz motive in the
tuba, later amplified into a spacious jazz melody for strings. “Old
Creole Days” highlights a Negro melody in muted trumpet soon taken over
by different sections of the orchestra. The closing movement is the
suite’s best known section and the composer’s own favorite among his
compositions. Called “Mardi Gras” it is a lively and colorful picture of
carnival time in New Orleans. A rhythmic passage with which the movement
opens serves as the preface to an eloquent melody for strings.
David Guion
David Wendell Fentress Guion was born in Ballinger, Texas, on December
15, 1895. He received his musical training at the piano with local
teachers and with Leopold Godowsky in Vienna. After returning to the
United States he filled several posts as teacher of music in Texas, and
from 1925 to 1928 taught piano at the Chicago Music College. Early in
the 1930’s he appeared in a cowboy production featuring his own music at
the Roxy Theater in New York and soon thereafter made weekly broadcasts
over the National Broadcasting Company network. A David Guion Week was
celebrated throughout Texas in 1950.
He is best known for his skilful arrangements and transcriptions of
Western folk songs and Negro Spirituals, some of which first became
famous in his versions. His orchestral adaptation of “The Arkansas
Traveler” has long been a favorite on “pop” concerts. A familiar legend
helped to dramatize this American folk song to many. A traveler caught
in the rain stops outside an Arkansas hut where an old man is playing
part of a folk tune on his fiddle. Upon questioning him the traveler
learns that the old fiddler does not know the rest of the song,
whereupon the stranger takes the fiddle from him and completes it. The
two then become devoted friends.
Even more famous is David Guion’s arrangement of “Home on the Range,” in
1930. It is not quite clear who actually wrote this song. It was
discovered by John A. Lomax who heard it sung by a Texan saloon keeper,
recorded it, and published it in his 1910 edition of _Cowboy Songs_.
Only after Guion had arranged it did it become a national favorite over
the radio, its popularity no doubt immensely enhanced by the widely
circulated story that this was President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s
favorite song.
Guion’s concert arrangement for full orchestra of “Turkey in the Straw”
is also of interest. This folk tune—sometimes known as “Zip Coon”—first
achieved popularity on the American musical stage in the era before the
minstrel show. It was published in Baltimore in 1834 and first made
popular that year by Bob Farrell at the Bowery Theater. After that it
was a familiar routine of the black-faced entertainer, George Washington
Dixon. Several have laid claim to the song, but it is most likely
derived from an English or Irish melody.
Other arrangements and transcriptions by Guion include “Nobody Knows De
Trouble I’ve Seen,” “Oh, Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie,” “Ride Cowboy
Ride,” “Short’nin’ Bread,” and “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.”
Guion has also written several compositions of his own in which the folk
element is pronounced. One of these is named _Alley Tunes_, three
musical scenes from the South. Its most famous movement is the last,
“The Harmonica Player,” but the earlier two are equally appealing for
their homespun melodies and vigorous national identity: “Brudder
Sinkiller and His Flock of Sheep” and “The Lonesome Whistler.” Another
pleasing orchestral composition by Guion is a waltz suite entitled
_Southern Nights_.
Johan Halvorsen
Johan Halvorsen was born in Drammen, Norway, on March 15, 1864. After
attending the Stockholm Conservatory he studied the violin with Adolf
Brodsky in Leipzig and César Thomson in Belgium. In 1892 he returned to
his native land. For many years he was the distinguished conductor of
the Oslo National Theater. His admiration of Grieg (whose niece he
married) directed him toward musical nationalism, a style in which many
of his most ambitious works were written. He was the composer of three
symphonies, two rhapsodies, a festival overture, several suites, and a
number of peasant dances all for orchestra. He died in Oslo on December
4, 1935.
The _Andante religioso_, in G minor, for violin and orchestra, is a
richly melodious and spiritual work which has gained recognition with
semi-classical orchestras. But Halvorsen’s most popular composition is
the _Triumphant Entry of the Boyars_, for orchestra. The boyar or boyard
was a military aristocrat of ancient Russia, a tyrant as notorious for
his cruelty as for his extravagant way of life. Halvorsen’s vigorous,
colorful march has an Oriental personality. It opens with a stirring
march subject for clarinet against a drone bass in cellos and double
basses, and it highlights a fanfare for trumpets and trombones.
George Frederick Handel
George Frederick Handel was born in Halle, Saxony, on February 23, 1685.
After studying the organ in his native city he settled in Hamburg where
he wrote, and in 1705 had produced, his first operas, _Almira_ and
_Nero_. A period of travel and study in Italy followed, during which he
was influenced by the Italian instrumental music of that period. In 1710
he was appointed Kapellmeister in Hanover. In 1712 he settled
permanently in England where in 1727 he became a British subject and
Anglicized his name. He became one of England’s giant figures in music,
first as a composer of operas in the Italian style, and after that (when
the vogue for such operas died out) as a creator of oratorios. For
several years he was the court composer for Queen Anne and royal music
master for George I. In 1720 he was appointed artistic director of the
then newly organized Royal Academy of Music. In the last years of his
life he suffered total blindness, notwithstanding which fact he
continued giving public performances at the organ, conducting his
oratorios, and writing music. He died in London on April 14, 1759 and
was buried in Westminster Abbey.
Handel was a prolific composer of operas, oratorios, orchestral music,
concertos for solo instruments and orchestra, sonatas, compositions for
harpsichord, and chamber works. He was greatest in his religious music,
in the deservedly world-famous oratorio _Messiah_, and in such somewhat
less familiar but no less distinguished works as _Judas Maccabaeus_,
_Samson_, _Solomon_, and _Israel in Egypt_. His greatest music is on
such a consistently high spiritual plane, is filled with such grandeur
of expression, and reveals such extraordinary contrapuntal skill that it
does not easily lend itself to popular consumption. But one passage from
the _Messiah_ is particularly famous, and especially popular with people
the world over; it is probably the most celebrated single piece of music
he ever wrote, and while originally for chorus and orchestra, is
familiar in innumerable transcriptions for orchestra or for band. It is
the sublime “Hallelujah Chorus,” about which the composer himself said
when he finished writing it: “I did think I did see all Heaven before
me, and the great God himself.” This grandiose choral passage, a miracle
of contrapuntal technique, is undoubtedly the climactic point of the
entire oratorio. When the _Messiah_ was first heard in London on March
23, 1743 (a little less than a year after its world première which took
place in Dublin, Ireland, on April 13, 1742) the awesome immensity of
this music made such an impression on King George II, in the audience,
that he rose spontaneously in his seat and remained standing throughout
the piece. The audience followed their king in listening to the music in
a standing position. Since then it has been a custom in performances of
_Messiah_ for the audience to rise during the singing of the “Hallelujah
Chorus.”
The _Harmonious Blacksmith_ is Handel’s best known composition for the
harpsichord. This is the fourth movement of a harpsichord suite, No. 5
in E major, which the composer wrote in 1720; but most frequently it is
played apart from the rest of the movements as a self-sufficient
composition. The title _Harmonious Blacksmith_ was created not by the
composer but by a publisher in Bath, England, when in 1822 he issued the
fourth movement of the suite as a separate piece of music. There
happened to be in Bath a blacksmith who often sang this Handel tune and
who came to be known in that town as the “harmonious blacksmith.” The
Bath publisher recognized the popular appeal of a title like “Harmonious
Blacksmith” and decided to use it for this music. The story that Handel
conceived this tune while waiting in a blacksmith’s shop during a storm
is, however, apocryphal. The _Harmonious Blacksmith_ begins with a
simple two-part melody which then undergoes five equally elementary
variations.
The _Largo_, so familiar as an instrumental composition in various
transcriptions, is really an aria from one of Handel’s operas. It was a
tenor aria (“_Ombrai mai fu_”) from _Serse_ (1738) in which is described
the beauty of the cool shade of a palm tree. In slower tempo it has
become, in its instrumental dress, a broad, stately melody of religious
character with the simple tempo marking of _Largo_ as its title.
The _Water Music_ (1717) is a suite for orchestra made up of charming
little dances, airs and fanfares written for a royal water pageant held
on the Thames River in London on July 19, 1717. A special barge held the
orchestra that performed this composition while the musicians sailed
slowly up and down the river. The king was so impressed by Handel’s
music that he asked it be repeated three times. In its original form,
this suite is made up of twenty pieces, but the version most often heard
today is an adaptation by Sir Hamilton Harty in which only six movements
appear: Overture, Air, Bourrée, Hornpipe, Air, and Fanfare.
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn was born in Rohrau, Austria, on March 31, 1732. From
1740 to 1749 he was a member of the choir of St. Stephen’s in Vienna,
attending its school for a comprehensive musical training. For several
years after that he lived in Vienna, teaching music, and completing
various hack assignments, while pursuing serious composition. In 1755 he
was appointed by Baron Karl Josef Fuernberg to write music for and
direct the concerts at his palace; it was in this office that Haydn
wrote his first symphonies and string quartets as well as many other
orchestral and chamber-music works. From 1758 to 1760 he was
Kapellmeister to Count Ferdinand Maximilian Morzin. In 1761 Haydn became
second Kapellmeister to Prince Paul Anton Esterházy at Eisenstadt,
rising to the post of first Kapellmeister five years after that. Haydn
remained with the Esterházys until 1790, a period in which he arrived at
full maturity as a composer. His abundant symphonies, quartets, sonatas
and other compositions spread his fame throughout the length and breadth
of Europe. After leaving the employ of the Esterházys, Haydn paid two
visits to London, in 1791 and again in 1794, where he directed
orchestral concerts for which he wrote his renowned _London_ symphonies.
At the dusk of his career, Haydn produced two crowning masterworks in
the field of choral music: the oratorios _The Creation_ (1798) and _The
Seasons_ (1801). Haydn died in Vienna on May 31, 1809.
Haydn was an epochal figure during music’s classical era. He helped to
establish permanently the structures of the symphony, quartet, sonata;
to arrive at a fully realized homophonic style as opposed to the
contrapuntal idiom of the masters who preceded him; and to arrive at new
concepts of harmony, orchestration, and thematic development. He helped
pave the way for the giants who followed him, most notably Mozart and
Beethoven, who helped carry the classical era in music to its full
flowering. To his musical writing Haydn brought that charm, grace,
stateliness, beauty of lyricism that we associate with classicism, and
with it a most engaging sense of humor and at times even a remarkable
expressiveness. Most of Haydn’s music belongs to the serious concert
repertory. He did write some music intended for the masses—mainly the
Contredanses, German Dances and Minuets which, after all, was the dance
music of the Austrian people in Haydn’s time. Haydn’s _German Dances_
and Minuets are especially appealing. The former was the forerunner of
the waltz, but its melodies and rhythms have a lusty peasant quality and
an earthy vitality; the latter was the graceful, sedate dance of the
European court. Twelve of Haydn’s _German Dances_ and twelve of his
Minuets (the latter called _Katherine Menuetten_) were written in the
closing years of his life and published in 1794; they were intended for
the court ball held at the Redoutensaal in Vienna where they were
introduced on November 25, 1792. The _German Dances_ here have sobriety
and dignity, and are often filled with Haydn’s remarkable innovations in
melodic and harmonic writing; the Minuets are consistently light and
carefree in spirit.
The _Gypsy Rondo_—often heard in various transcriptions, including one
for violin and piano by Fritz Kreisler—comes from the Piano Trio No. 1
in G major, op. 73, no. 2 (1795) where it is the concluding movement
(Rondo all’ ongarese). It is in Hungarian style, vivacious in rhythmic
and melodic content; it is for this reason that Haydn himself designated
this music “in a gypsy style” and Kreisler’s transcription bears the
title of _Hungarian Rondo_.
Of Haydn’s more than one hundred symphonies the one occasionally given
by pop orchestras is a curiosity known as the _Toy Symphony_. Actually
we now know that Haydn never really wrote it, but it was the work of
either Mozart’s father, Leopold, or Haydn’s brother, Michael. But it was
long attributed to Joseph Haydn, and still is often credited to him.
This little symphony in C major, which is in three short movements, was
long believed to have been written by Haydn during his visit to
Berchtegaden, Bavaria, in 1788 where he became interested in toy
instruments. The symphony uses numerous toy instruments (penny trumpet,
quail call, rattle, cuckoo, whistle, little drum, toy triangle, and so
forth) together with three orthodox musical instruments, two violins and
a bass.
Joseph Haydn was also the composer of Austria’s national anthem, “_Gott
erhalte Franz den Kaiser_.” He was commissioned to do so in 1797 by the
Minister of the Interior to help stir the patriotic ardor of Austrians;
it was first performed in all Austrian theaters on the Emperor’s
birthday on February 12, 1797. The Emperor was deeply impressed by the
anthem. “You have expressed,” he said, “what is in every loyal Austrian
heart, and through your melody Austria will always be honored.” Haydn
himself used the same melody in one of his string quartets: as the slow
second movement in which it receives a series of variations. It is for
this reason that this quartet, in C major, op. 76, no. 3, is popularly
known as the _Emperor Quartet_.
Victor Herbert
Victor Herbert was born in Dublin, Ireland, on February 1, 1859. He
received a sound musical training at the Stuttgart Conservatory,
following which he studied the cello privately with Bernhard Cossmann in
Baden-Baden. For several years after that he played the cello in many
German and Austrian orchestras. His bow as a composer took place with
two ambitious works, a suite and a concerto, both for cello and
orchestra. They were introduced by the Stuttgart Symphony (the composer
as soloist) in 1883 and 1885 respectively. After marrying the prima
donna, Therese Foerster, in 1886, Herbert came to the United States and
played the cello in the Metropolitan Opera orchestra, his wife having
been engaged by that company. He soon played the cello in other major
American orchestras, besides conducting symphonic concerts, concerts of
light music, and performances at important festivals. In 1893 he
succeeded Patrick S. Gilmore as bandleader of the famous 22nd Regiment
Band, and from 1898 to 1904 he was principal conductor of the Pittsburgh
Symphony. After 1904 he was the conductor of his own orchestra.
Herbert won world renown as a composer of operettas for which he
produced a wealth of melodies that have never lost their charm or
fascination for music lovers. His first produced operetta, _Prince
Ananias_, in 1894 was a failure. But one year later came _The Wizard of
the Nile_, the first of a long string of stage successes Herbert was
henceforth to enjoy. From then on, until the end of his life, Herbert
remained one of Broadway’s most productive and most significant
composers. Many of his operettas are now classics of the American
musical stage. Among these are: _The Fortune Teller_ (1898), _Babes in
Toyland_ (1903), _Mlle. Modiste_ (1905), _The Red Mill_ (1906) and
_Naughty Marietta_ (1910). A facile composer with an extraordinary
technique at orchestration and harmonization, and a born melodist who
had a seemingly inexhaustible reservoir of beautiful tunes, Herbert was
a giant figure in American popular music and in the music for the
American popular theater. He died of a heart attack in New York City on
May 26, 1924.
Victor Herbert produced a considerable amount of concert
music—concertos, symphonies, suites, overtures—most of which has passed
out of the more serious repertory. A few of these concert works have
enough emotional impact and melodic fascination to enjoy a permanent
status in the semi-classical repertory. Potpourris from the scores of
his most famous operettas—and orchestral transcriptions of individual
songs from these productions—are, of course, basic to any pop or
semi-classical orchestra repertory. For Herbert’s greatest songs from
his operettas are classics, “as pure in outline as the melodies of
Schubert and Mozart” according to Deems Taylor.
_Al Fresco_ is mood music which opens the second act of the operetta,
_It Happened in Nordland_ (1904). Herbert had previously written and
published it as a piano piece, using the pen-name of Frank Roland, in
order to test the appeal of this little composition. It did so well in
this version that Herbert finally decided to include it in his operetta
where it serves to depict a lively carnival scene.
_The American Fantasia_ (1898) is a brilliantly orchestrated and
skilfully contrived fantasy made up of favorite American national
ballads and songs. It is the composer’s stirring tribute to the country
of his adoption. The ballads and songs are heard in the following
sequence: “Hail Columbia,” “Swanee River,” “The Girl I Left Behind Me,”
“Dixie,” “Columbia the Gem of the Ocean.” This composition comes to an
exciting finish with “The Star-Spangled Banner” in a Wagnerian-type
orchestration.
The operetta _Babes in Toyland_, which opened in New York on October 13,
1903, was an extravaganza inspired by the then-recent success on
Broadway of _The Wizard of Oz_. Herbert’s operetta drew its characters
from fairy tales, _Mother Goose_, and other children’s stories, placing
these characters in a rapid succession of breath-taking scenes of
spectacular beauty. The complicated plot concerned the escape of little
Jane and Alan from their miserly uncle to the garden of Contrary Mary.
They then come to Toyland where they meet the characters from fairy
tales and Mother Goose, and where toys are dominated by the wicked
Toymaker whom they finally bring to his destruction. Principal musical
numbers from this score include the delightful orchestral march, “March
of the Toys,” and the songs “Toyland” and “I Can’t Do the Sum.”
_Dagger Dance_ is one of the most familiar pieces in the semi-classical
repertory in the melodic and rhythmic style of American-Indian music. It
comes from Herbert’s opera _Natoma_, whose première took place in
Philadelphia on February 25, 1911. This spirited Indian dance music
appears in the second act, at a climactic moment in which Natoma,
challenged to perform a dagger dance, does so; but during the
performance she stabs and kills the villain, Alvarado.
_The Fortune Teller_ whose New York première took place on September 26,
1898, is an operetta that starred Alice Neilsen in the dual role of
Musette, a gypsy fortune teller, and Irma, a ballet student. Against a
Hungarian setting, the play involves these two girls in love affairs
with a Hungarian Hussar and a gypsy musician. Hungarian characters and a
Hungarian background allowed Herbert to write music generously spiced
with Hungarian and gypsy flavors, music exciting for its sensual appeal.
The most famous song from this score is “Gypsy Love Song,” sometimes
also known as “Slumber On, My Little Gypsy Sweetheart,” sung by Sandor,
the gypsy musician, in tribute to Musette.
_Indian Summer: An American Idyll_ (1919) is a tone picture of Nature
which Herbert wrote in two versions, for solo piano, and for orchestra.
Twelve years after the composer’s death, Gus Kahn wrote lyrics for its
main melody, and for fourteen weeks it was heard on the radio Hit
Parade, twice in the Number 1 position.
_The Irish Rhapsody_ for orchestra (1892) is one of several concert
works in which Herbert honored the country of his birth. This work is
built from several familiar Irish ballads found by the composer in
Thomas Moore’s _Irish Melodies_, published in 1807. “Believe Me if All
These Endearing Young Charms” comes immediately after a harp cadenza.
This is followed by a variation of “The Rocky Road to Dublin,” “To
Ladies’ Eyes,” “Thamma Hulla,” “Erin, Oh Erin,” and “Rich and Rare Were
the Gems She Wore.” An oboe cadenza then serves as the transition to
“St. Patrick’s Day.” The rhapsody ends with “Garry Owen” set against
“Erin, Oh Erin” in the bass.
_Mlle. Modiste_, introduced in New York on December 25, 1905, is the
operetta in which Fritzi Scheff, once a member of the Metropolitan
Opera, became a star of the popular musical theater. This is also the
operetta in which she sang the waltz with which, for the rest of her
life, she became identified, “Kiss Me Again.” Fritzi Scheff was cast as
Fifi, an employee in a Parisian hat shop. Her lowly station precludes
her marriage to the man she loves, Capt. Etienne de Bouvray. An American
millionaire becomes interested in her, and provides her with the funds
to pursue her vocal studies. Fifi then becomes a famous opera star,
thereby achieving both the fame and the fortune she needs to gain Capt.
Etienne as a husband.
Early in this operetta, Fifi tries to demonstrate her talent as a singer
by performing a number called “If I Were On the Stage,” in which she
offers various types of songs, including a polonaise, a gavotte, and a
waltz. The waltz part was originally intended by Herbert as a caricature
of that kind of dreamy, sentimental music and consisted of the melody of
“Kiss Me Again” which he had written some time earlier, in 1903. On
opening night the audience liked this part of the number so well, and
was so noisy in its demonstration, that Herbert decided to feature it
separately and prominently in his operetta, had new sentimental lyrics
written for it, and called it “Kiss Me Again.” This, of course, is the
most celebrated single number from this operetta, but several others are
equally appealing, notably one of Herbert’s finest marches, “The Mascot
of the Troop,” another waltz called “The Nightingale and the Star,” and
a humorous ditty, “I Want What I Want When I Want It.”
The operetta, _Naughty Marietta_—first New York performance on November
7, 1910—was set in New Orleans in 1780 when that city was under Spanish
rule. The noble lady, Marietta (starring the prima donna, Emma Trentini)
had come to New Orleans from Naples to avoid an undesirable marriage.
There she meets, falls in love with, and after many stirring adventures
wins, Captain Dick Warrington. A basic element of this story is a
melody—a fragment of which has come to the heroine in a dream. Marietta
promises her hand to anybody who could give her the complete song of
which this fragment is a part, and it is Dick Warrington, of course, who
is successful. This melody is one of Herbert’s best loved, “Ah, Sweet
Mystery of Life.” Other favorites from _Naughty Marietta_ are “I’m
Falling in Love With Someone,” “Italian Street Song,” the serenade
“’Neath the Southern Moon,” and the march, “Tramp, Tramp, Tramp.”
_Pan Americana_ (1901) is a composition for orchestra described by
Herbert as a “_morceau caractéristique_.” He wrote it for the Pan
American Exposition in Buffalo in 1901 (where President McKinley was
assassinated). The three sections are in three different popular styles,
the first in American-Indian, the second in ragtime, and the third in
Cuban or Spanish.
_Punchinello_ and _Yesterthoughts_ (1900) are two evocative tone
pictures originally for piano from a suite of pieces describing the
natural beauties of scenes near or at Lake Placid, New York. Herbert
orchestrated both these numbers.
_The Red Mill_, which came to New York on September 24, 1906, was an
operetta starring the comedy team of Fred Stone and David Montgomery in
a play set in Holland. They are two Americans stranded and penniless at
an inn called “The Sign of the Red Mill.” When they discover that little
Gretchen is in love with Capt. Doris van Damm and refuses to marry the
Governor to whom she is designated by her parents, they come to her
assistance. After numerous escapades and antics they help her to win her
true lover who, as it turns out, is the heir to an immense fortune. The
following are its principal musical episodes: the main love duet, “The
Isle of Our Dreams,”; “Moonbeams”; and the comedy song, “Every Day Is
Ladies’ Day for Me.”
The _Suite of Serenades_, for orchestra (1924) was written for the same
Paul Whiteman concert of American music at Aeolian Hall on February 12,
1924 in which Gershwin’s _Rhapsody in Blue_ was introduced. This is a
four movement suite which represented Herbert’s only attempt to write
directly for a jazz orchestra, and parts of it are characterized by jazz
scoring and syncopations. Herbert wrote a second version of this suite
for symphony orchestra. In the four movements the composer skilfully
simulates four national styles. The first is Spanish, the second
Chinese, the third Cuban, and the fourth Oriental.
Another familiar orchestral suite by Herbert is the _Suite Romantique_
(1901). Herbert’s vein for sentimental melody is here generously tapped.
The four movements are mood pictures named as follows: “_Visions_,”
“_Aubade_” (a beautiful solo for the cellos), “_Triomphe d’amour_” (a
glowing love duet), and “_Fête nuptiale_.”
_The Woodland Fancies_, for orchestra (1901) also consist of four
evocative and pictorial mood pictures, this time inspired by the
Adirondack mountains where Herbert maintained a summer home and which he
dearly loved. Here the four movements are entitled: “Morning in the
Mountains,” “Forest Nymphs,” “Twilight,” and “Autumn Frolics.”
There are individual songs from several other Herbert operettas that are
part of the semi-classical repertory in orchestral transcriptions. Among
these are: “The Angelus” and the title song from _Sweethearts_ (1913);
“I Love Thee, I Adore Thee” which recurs throughout _The Serenade_
(1897); “A Kiss in the Dark” from _Orange Blossoms_ (1922); “Star Light,
Star Bright,” a delightful waltz from _The Wizard of the Nile_ (1895);
and “Thine Alone” from the Irish operetta, _Eileen_ (1917).
Ferdinand Hérold
Louis Joseph Ferdinand Hérold was born in Paris on January 28, 1791. He
began to study music when he was eleven. From 1805 to 1812 he attended
the Paris Conservatory where his teachers included Adam and Méhul. In
1812 he received the Prix de Rome. Following his three-year stay in Rome
he settled in Naples where he was pianist to Queen Caroline and had his
first opera, _La Gioventù di Enrico_, produced in 1815. After returning
to his native city he completed a new opera, _Charles de France_, which
was successfully produced in 1816 at the Opéra-Comique in Paris where,
from this time on, all his operas were given. Hérold wrote many serious
operas before turning to the field in which he earned his importance and
popularity, the opéra-comique. His first work in this genre was _Marie_
in 1826; his most successful, _Zampa_, in 1831. He also enjoyed a
triumph with his last opéra-comique, _Le Pré aux clercs_, produced in
1832. Hérold died of consumption in Paris on January 19, 1833 before
reaching his forty-second birthday.
About all that has survived from Hérold’s most famous opera, _Zampa_, is
its overture, a semi-classical favorite everywhere. _Zampa_—libretto by
Mélesville—was introduced at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on May 3, 1831.
The hero, Zampa, is the leader of a band of pirates who invade an
island. He meets Camille and compels her to desert her lover and marry
him. During the marriage festivities the pirate leader mockingly tries
to place a ring on the finger of a statue. The statue suddenly comes to
life and brings Zampa to his doom by drowning.
The overture opens with a robust subject for full orchestra (derived
from the pirates’ chorus of the first act). A brief pause separates this
section from a slower one in which timpani rolls and loud chords in the
wind precede a stately melody for wind instruments. After some
development, in which the mood becomes dramatic, two new subjects are
heard: the first is a sensitive melody for clarinet against plucked
strings, and the second is a soaring song for the violins.
Jenö Hubay
Jenö Hubay was born in Budapest, Hungary, on September 15, 1858. His
father, a professor of the violin at the Budapest Conservatory, gave him
his first violin lessons. Jenö made his public debut as violinist when
he was eleven, then completed his violin studies with Joachim in Berlin
and with Vieuxtemps in Belgium. In 1886 he was appointed professor of
the violin at the Budapest Conservatory, and from 1919 to 1934 he was
its director. Hubay was one of Europe’s most eminent violinists, violin
teachers, and performers of chamber music, the last with the Hubay
Quartet which he founded. He died in Vienna on March 12, 1937.
Hubay was the composer of several operas, four symphonies, four violin
concertos, and many pieces for the violin. He was at his best when he
drew both his inspiration and materials from Hungarian folk music.
Perhaps his best known work is a set of fourteen pieces for violin and
orchestra collectively known as _Scènes de la Csárda_, or _Hungarian
Czardas Scenes_. The czardas is a popular Hungarian folk dance in duple
time characterized by quick syncopations, and exploiting alternating
slow and rapid passages. These _Scènes_ are often presented as
orchestral compositions. The fourth, _Hejre Kati_, is the most popular
of the group, a piece of music electrifying for its rhythmic momentum.
The second, known as _Hungarian Rhapsody_, and the fifth, _Waves of
Balaton_, are also familiar. Besides their rhythmic vitality these
compositions are of interest for their sensual melodies, and dramatic
contrasts of tempo and mood.
From Hubay’s most famous opera, _The Violin Maker of Cremona_, comes a
sensitively lyrical “Intermezzo,” for orchestra. Hubay wrote this
one-act opera in 1894, and it was introduced in Budapest the same year.
The text by Francois Coppé and Henri Beauclair concerns a violin-making
contest in Ferrari, Italy, in which the prize is the beautiful girl,
Giannina. A hunchback, Filippo, makes the best violin, but he generously
permits Giannina to marry Sandro, the man she really loves. A
transcription of the “Intermezzo” for violin and piano is popular in the
repertory and bears the title of the opera. The Intermezzo had also been
adapted by Stoll as a composition for voice and orchestra under the name
“Lonely Night.”
Engelbert Humperdinck
Engelbert Humperdinck was born in Sieburg, Germany, on September 1,
1854. He attended the Cologne Conservatory where his teachers included
Hiller (who was the first to recognize his talent), Jensen and
Gernsheim. After winning the Mozart Scholarship of Frankfort in 1876,
Humperdinck continued his music study in Munich with Franz Lachner and
Rheinberger. In Munich he published his first important composition, a
_Humoreske_ for orchestra (1880). In 1881, he received the Meyerbeer
Prize and in 1897, the Mendelssohn Prize, both for composition. Between
1885 and 1887 he was professor of the Barcelona Conservatory in Spain
and in 1890 he became professor at Hoch’s Conservatory in Frankfort, and
music critic of the _Frankfurter Zeitung_. He achieved his greatest
success as a composer with the fairy opera, _Hansel and Gretel_,
produced in Weimar in 1893. After 1896, Humperdinck devoted himself
exclusively to composition, and though he wrote several fine operas none
was able to equal the popularity of his fairy-opera. He died in
Neustrelitz, Germany, on September 27, 1921.
_Hansel and Gretel_ scored a sensational success in its own day; and, in
ours, it is the only opera by which Humperdinck is remembered. Following
its première in Weimar, Germany, on December 23, 1893, it was performed
within a year in virtually every major German opera house. In 1894 it
came to London, and in 1895 to New York. The text by Adelheid Wette
(Humperdinck’s sister) is based on the Ludwig Grimm fairy tale familiar
to young and old throughout the world.
The overture, and two orchestral episodes, are often performed outside
the opera house. The Overture is made up of several melodies from the
opera beginning with the so-called “prayer melody,” a gentle song for
horns and bassoons. A rhythmic passage then describes the spell effected
by the witch on the children. After this comes the lovable third-act
melody in which the children are awakened by the dewman. The happy dance
of the children from the close of the opera leads back to the opening
prayer with which the overture comes to a gentle conclusion.
The _Dream Pantomime_ comes in the second act and is an orchestral
episode in which is described the descent of the fairies who provide a
protective ring around the children, alone and asleep in the deep
forest. The _Gingerbread Waltz_ (_Knusperwalzer_) from Act 3 is the
joyous music expressing the children’s delight after they have succeeded
in pushing the witch inside the oven and burning her to a crisp.
Among Humperdinck’s many works for symphony orchestra one is
occasionally performed by semi-classical or pop orchestras. It is the
_Moorish Rhapsody_ (1898) written for the Leeds Festival in England. The
first movement, “Tarifa—Elegy at Sunrise” reflects the sorrow of a
shepherd over the decay of the Moorish people. “Tangiers—A Night in a
Moorish Café” is a coffee-house scene highlighted by the sensual chant
of a café singer. The suite concludes with “Tetuan—A Rider in the
Desert,” depicting a desert ride with a view of Paradise in the
distance. To carry into his music an Oriental atmosphere, Humperdinck
modeled some of his principal themes after actual Moorish melodies, such
as the second theme of the first movement for English horn, and the main
melody for woodwind in the second movement.
Jacques Ibert
Jacques Ibert was born in Paris on August 15, 1890. He attended the
Paris Conservatory between 1911 and 1919, with a hiatus of several years
during World War I when he served in the French Navy. In 1919 he won the
Prix de Rome. While residing in the Italian capital he wrote a symphonic
work with which he scored his first major success, the suite _Escales_,
introduced in Paris in 1924. From 1937 to 1955 he was director of the
Academy of Rome. During this period he also served for a while as
director of the combined management of the Paris Opéra and
Opéra-Comique.
Ibert has written many works in virtually every form, which have placed
him in the front rank of contemporary French composers. Many of these
compositions are in a neo-classical idiom. Occasionally, however, he has
made a delightful excursion into satire. It is with one of the latter
works, the _Divertissement_ for orchestra (1930) that he has entered the
semi-classical repertory, though to be sure this composition is also
frequently given at symphony concerts. The _Divertissement_ begins with
a short Introduction in which the prevailing mood of levity is first
introduced. Then comes the “_Cortège_.” A few introductory bars suggest
two march themes, the first in strings, and the second in trumpet. After
that appears a loud quotation from Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March” from
his _A Midsummer Night’s Dream Suite_. The “Nocturne” is a dreamy little
melody which precedes a delightful “Waltz” and a breezy “Parade.” The
finale is in the style of an Offenbach can-can, with the piano
interpolating some impudent dissonant harmonies.
Michael Ippolitov-Ivanov
Michael Ippolitov-Ivanov was born in Gatchina, Russia, on November 19,
1859. He was graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatory in 1882
where he was a pupil in composition of Rimsky-Korsakov. From 1882 to
1893 he was associated with the Tiflis Music School, first as teacher,
then as director. In 1893 he was appointed professor of composition at
the Moscow Conservatory on Tchaikovsky’s recommendation, and from 1906
to 1922 he served as its director. He also distinguished himself as a
conductor of opera in Moscow. He died in that city on January 28, 1935.
Ippolitov-Ivanov’s best music profited from his intensive researches
into Caucasian folk music. His principal works have assimilated many of
the Oriental melodic and rhythmic idioms of songs and dances from that
region. His most popular work of all is the _Caucasian Sketches_ for
orchestra, op. 10 (1895). The first movement, “In the Mountain Pass,”
brings up the picture of a mountain scene. Horn calls are here used
prominently. “In the Village” opens with a cadenza for English horn and
proceeds to a beautiful melody for viola set against a persistent ⅜
rhythm. “In the Mosque” dispenses with the strings while describing an
impressive religious ceremony. The suite ends with the stirring “March
of the Sirdar,” a “sirdar” being an Oriental potentate.
Ivanovici
Neither Ivanovici’s first name nor details of his life are known. He was
born in Banat, Rumania, in 1848, distinguished himself as a bandleader
in his native country, and died in Bucharest on April 1, 1905. For his
band concerts he wrote many popular concert numbers. One of these is the
concert waltz, _The Waves of the Danube_ (_Donauwellen_), written in
1880, and achieving from the first phenomenal popularity throughout
Europe. The main waltz melody of this set of waltzes was expropriated by
Al Dubin and Dave Franklin for the American popular song “The
Anniversary Song,” (lyrics by Saul Chaplin), which was effectively used
in the motion picture _The Jolson Story_ in 1946, sung on the sound
track by Jolson himself.
Armas Järnefelt
Armas Järnefelt was born in Viborg, Finland, on August 14, 1869. He
studied music in Helsingfors with Ferruccio Busoni and Martin Wegelius;
in Berlin with A. Becker; and in Paris with Massenet. Beginning with
1898, and for several years thereafter, he conducted opera performances
in Viborg and Helsingfors. In 1907 he settled in Sweden where three
years later he became a citizen. There he became court composer and the
conductor of the Royal Opera. After returning to Helsingfors in 1932, he
directed the Opera for four years and the Helsingfors Municipal Theater
for one. He also appeared as guest conductor of many important Finnish
orchestras, distinguishing himself particularly in performances of music
by Jean Sibelius (his brother-in-law). In 1940, Järnefelt received the
official title of Professor. He died in Stockholm in June 1958.
Järnefelt wrote many works for orchestra, including suites, overtures,
and shorter works. One of the last is _Berceuse_ for two clarinets, one
bassoon, two horns, violin solo and strings (1905), a moody and
sensitive piece of music. The romantic main melody appears in solo
violin after four introductory bars for muted strings.
His most popular composition is the _Praeludium_ for chamber orchestra.
It opens with a three-measure introduction for plucked strings. This is
followed by a brisk march subject for oboe which is soon discussed by
other winds, and after that by the violins over a drone bass. A passage
for solo violin leads to the return of the march melody.
Dmitri Kabalevsky
Dmitri Kabalevsky was born in St. Petersburg on December 30, 1904, and
received his musical training in Moscow, at the Scriabin Music School
and the Moscow Conservatory. He was graduated from the latter school in
1929, and in 1932 he was appointed instructor there. His first success
as composer came in 1931 with his first symphony, commemorating the
fifteenth anniversary of the Russian revolution; this was followed in
1934 by his second symphony, which enjoyed an even greater triumph both
in and out of the Soviet Union. In 1939 Kabalevsky was elected a member
of the Presidium of the Organizing Committee of the Union of Soviet
Composers; in 1940 he was given the Order of Merit; and in 1946 he
received the Stalin Prize for the second string quartet. He has also
written operas, concertos, additional symphonies, and piano music.
A composer who has always been partial to the more conventional means
and techniques, and has relied heavily on broad and stately melodies and
subjective feelings, Kabalevsky has managed to produce several
compositions that have wide appeal. One is the sprightly _Colas Breugnon
Overture_. _Colas Breugnon_ was an opera adapted by V. Bragin from a
novel by Romain Rolland; it was first performed in Leningrad on February
22, 1938. The central character is a 16th-century craftsman—a jovial man
who enjoys life and has a spicy sense of humor and a happy outlook on
all things. The overture is essentially a study of that man,
consistently gay and sprightly. There are two main melodies, both of
them lively, and both derived from Burgundian folk songs.
Another popular work by Kabalevsky is _The Comedians_, op. 26 (1938), an
orchestral suite made up of selections from the incidental music to a
children’s play, _The Inventor and the Comedians_. The play is about the
varied and picaresque adventures of a group of wandering performers in
various towns and at public fairs. There are ten episodes in the suite,
each in a light, infectious style that makes for such easy listening
that this work is often given at children’s concerts. The ten sections
are: Prologue, Galop, March, Waltz, Pantomime, Intermezzo, Little
Lyrical Scene, Gavotte, Scherzo, and Epilogue.
Emmerich Kálmán
Emmerich Kálmán was born in Siófok, Hungary, on October 24, 1882. He
studied composition in Budapest. In 1904 one of his symphonic
compositions was performed by the Budapest Philharmonic, and in 1907 he
received the Imperial Composition Prize. After settling in Vienna he
abandoned serious composition for light music. From this time on he
devoted himself to and distinguished himself in writing tuneful
operettas. His first success came in 1909 with _Ein Herbstmanoever_,
presented in New York as _The Gay Hussars_. Subsequent operettas made
him one of Europe’s leading composers for the popular theaters. The most
famous are: _Sari_ (1912), _The Gypsy Princess_ (1915), _Countess
Maritza_ (1924) and _The Circus Princess_ (1926). In 1938 he left
Vienna, and after a period in Paris, he came to the United States where
he remained until 1949. He completed his last operetta, _The Arizona
Lady_, a few days before his death in Paris, on October 30, 1953; it was
presented posthumously in Berne, Switzerland, in 1954.
Kálmán’s forte in writing music for operettas was in combining the
charm, _Gemuetlichkeit_ and sentiment of Viennese music in general, and
the Viennese waltz in particular, with the hot blood and sensual moods
of Hungarian gypsy songs and dances.
_The Circus Princess_ (_Die Zirkusprinzessin_)—first performed in Vienna
in 1926, and in New York in 1927—was set in St. Petersburg and Vienna
during the period immediately preceding World War I. When Fedora rejects
the love of Prince Sergius by insisting she would sooner marry a circus
performer, he seeks revenge by engaging a famous circus performer to
pose as a member of nobility and woo and win Fedora. After their
marriage, Fedora discovers the true identity of her husband, and leaves
him. But she soon comes to the realization she is really in love with
him and promises to come back if he in turn offers to give up his
profession—a profession she now despises not from snobbery but because
of fears for his safety. Two delightful waltz melodies—“_Leise schwebt
das Glueck vorueber_” “_Im Boudoir der schoensten Frau_”—and an
intriguing little melody that recurs throughout the operetta, “_Zwei
maerchenaugen_” are the principal selections from this operetta.
_Countess Maritza_ (_Die Graefin Mariza_) is Kálmán’s most popular and
successful operetta. It was first produced in Vienna in 1924, and in New
York in 1926. The setting is Hungary in 1922. An impoverished count,
Tassilo, finds employment on the estate of Countess Maritza under the
assumed name of Torok. He falls in love with her, but when she learns of
his real background she feels he is a fortune hunter interested only in
her wealth. About to leave the employ of the countess and to bid her
permanent farewell, Tassilo’s fortune suddenly takes a turn for the
better when his aunt, a Princess, comes to inform him that Tassilo is a
wealthy man after all, due to her manipulations of his tangled business
affairs. Now convinced that he loves her for herself alone, the Countess
Maritza is only too happy to accept him as her husband.
This score contains some of Kálmán’s finest and most beguiling music in
a Hungarian-gypsy style. The most famous song is in this sensual,
heart-warming idiom: “Play Gypsies, Dance Gypsies” (“_Komm Zigan, Komm
Zigan, spiel mir was vor_”). This number begins with a languorous,
romantic melody that soon lapses into a dynamic Hungarian-gypsy dance.
Austrian waltz-music in a more sentimental manner is found in three
winning songs: “Give My Regards to the Lovely Ladies of Fair Vienna”
(“_Gruess mir die reizenden Frauen im schoenen Wien_”), “I Would Like to
Dance Once More” (“_Einmal moecht’ ich wieder tanzen_”) and “Say, Yes!”
(“_Sag ja, mein Lieb_”).
_The Gypsy Princess_ (_Die Csárdásfuerstin_) was first performed in
Vienna in 1915, and produced in New York in 1917 under the title of _The
Riviera Girl_. The heroine is Sylvia Varescu, a performer in a Budapest
cabaret, who is loved and pursued by Prince Edwin. But the Prince’s
father insists that he marry the Countess Stasi. Eventually the father’s
heart is softened and he becomes more tolerant towards having Sylvia as
a daughter-in-law when he is discreetly reminded that once he, too, had
been in love with a cabaret singer. The principal selections from his
score include two soaring waltz melodies: “_Machen wir’s den Schwalben
nach_” and “_Tausend kleine Engel singen hab mich lieb_.” The score also
includes a dynamic Czardas, and a pleasing little tune in “_Ganz ohne
Weiber geht die Chose nicht_.”
_Sari_ was introduced in New York in 1914. Pali is a gypsy violinist who
has grown old and is eclipsed at one of his own concerts by his son,
Laczi. Pali throws his beloved Stradivarius into the flames. Since both
father and son have fallen in love with the same girl, the older man
also renounces her. He wants Laczi to have her as well as his musical
success. A bountiful score includes such delights as “Love Has Wings,”
“Love’s Own Sweet Song,” “My Faithful Stradivari,” and “Softly Through
the Summer Night.”
Kéler-Béla
Kélér-Béla was born Albert von Keler in Bartfeld, Hungary, on February
13, 1820. He studied law and worked as a farmer before turning to music
in his twenty-fifth year. After studying in Vienna with Sechter and
Schlesinger he played the violin in the orchestra of the
Theater-an-der-Wien. In 1854 he went to Berlin where he became conductor
of Gungl’s Orchestra. He was soon back in Vienna to take over the
direction of the famous Joseph Lanner Orchestra. From 1856 to 1863 he
conducted an army band, and from 1863 to 1873 an orchestra in Wiesbaden.
He died in that city on November 20, 1882.
Kéler-Béla wrote about one hundred and thirty compositions in the light
Viennese style of Lanner and the two Johann Strausses. His works include
waltzes, galops, and marches, a representative example of each being the
waltz _Hoffnungssterne_, the _Hurrah-Sturm_ galop, and the
_Friedrich-Karl_ march.
His most popular work is the _Hungarian Comedy Overture_ (_Lustspiel
Ouverture_). It opens in a stately manner with forceful chords and a
sustained melody in the woodwind. But the comedy aspect of this overture
is soon made evident with two lilting tunes for the woodwind, separated
by a dramatic episode for full orchestra. These two tunes receive
extended enlargement. The overture ends with a succession of emphatic
chords.
Jerome Kern
Jerome David Kern was born in New York City on January 27, 1885. He
first studied the piano with his mother. After being graduated from
Barringer High School in Newark, New Jersey, he attended the New York
College of Music where he was a pupil of Alexander Lambert, Albert von
Doenhoff, Paolo Gallico and Austen Pearce. He received his
apprenticeship as composer for the popular theater in 1903 in London,
where with P. G. Wodehouse as his lyricist he wrote a topical song, “Mr.
Chamberlain” that became a hit. After returning to the United States he
worked in Tin Pan Alley and immediately became a prolific contributor of
songs to the musical stage. In 1905 his song “How’d You Like to Spoon
With Me?” was interpolated into _The Earl and the Girl_ and became an
outstanding success. From that time on, and up to the end of his life,
he wrote over a thousand songs for more than a hundred stage and screen
productions, thereby occupying an imperial position among American
popular composers of his generation. His most famous Broadway musicals
were: _The Girl from Utah_ (1914), _Very Good, Eddie_ (1915), _Oh, Boy!_
(1917), _Leave it to Jane_ (1917), _Sally_ (1920), _Sunny_ (1925), _Show
Boat_ (1927), _The Cat and the Fiddle_ (1931), _Music in the Air_
(1932), and _Roberta_ (1933). His most significant motion pictures were
_Swingtime_ with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, _You Were Never
Lovelier_ and _Cover Girl_ both with Rita Hayworth, and _Centennial
Summer_. Over a dozen of his songs sold more than two million copies of
sheet music including “All the Things You Are,” “They Didn’t Believe
Me,” “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes,” and “Look for the Silver Lining.” Two of
his songs received the Academy Award: “The Way You Look Tonight” from
_Swingtime_ and “The Last Time I Saw Paris” interpolated into _Lady Be
Good_. Kern died in New York City on November 11, 1945.
Kern wrote two compositions for symphony orchestra which have entered
the semi-classical repertory even though they are also performed by
major symphony orchestras. These were his only ventures into the world
of music outside the popular theater. One was _Mark Twain: A_ _Portrait
for Orchestra_ which he wrote on a commission from André Kostelanetz,
who introduced it with the Cincinnati Symphony in 1942. This is a four
movement suite inspired by the personality and life of Kern’s favorite
author, Mark Twain. The first movement, “Hannibal Days,” describes a
sleepy small town on a summer morning a century ago. The cry “Steamboat
comin’!” pierces the silence. The town suddenly awakens. In the second
movement, “Gorgeous Pilot House” Mark Twain leaves home to become a
pilot’s assistant on the Mississippi steamboat; this period in Mark
Twain’s life, which spans about nine years, ends with the outbreak of
the Civil War. In “Wandering Westward,” Twain meets failure as a Nevada
prospector, after which he finally turns to journalism. The suite ends
with “Mark in Eruption,” tracing Twain’s triumphant career as a writer.
Kern’s second and only other symphonic work is _Scenario_ in which he
drew his basic melodic materials from his greatest and best loved
musical production, _Show Boat_. Kern prepared _Scenario_ at the behest
of Artur Rodzinski, conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra, who felt that
the music of _Show Boat_ had sufficient artistic validity to justify its
use in a major symphonic work. Rodzinski introduced _Scenario_ in
Cleveland with the Cleveland Orchestra in 1941, and since that time it
has been performed by most of the major American orchestras.
A discussion of _Show Boat_ is essential before _Scenario_ can be
commented upon. The libretto and lyrics are by Oscar Hammerstein II,
based on the famous novel by Edna Ferber. _Show Boat_, in a lavish
Florenz Ziegfeld production, was introduced in New York in 1927 and was
an instantaneous box-office and artistic triumph. It has, to be sure,
become a classic of the American stage, continually revived in all parts
of the country, three times adapted for motion pictures, and has been
given by an American opera company in its regular repertory. It proved a
revolution in the American musical theater by avoiding the usual stilted
routines and patterns of musical comedy—chorus girls, production
numbers, synthetic humor, set dances and so forth—and arriving at an
integrated musical play filled with authentic characterizations,
backgrounds, atmosphere and dramatic truth. The story opens and closes
on _Cotton Blossom_, a show boat traveling along the Mississippi to give
performances at stops along the river. The principal love action
involves Magnolia, daughter of Cap’n Andy (owner of the boat) and the
gambler, Gaylord Ravenal. They run off and get married, but their
happiness is short-lived. Magnolia, though pregnant, leaves her
irresponsible husband. After the birth of Magnolia’s daughter, Kim, the
mother earns her living singing show boat songs in Chicago where she is
found by her father and brought back to _Cotton Blossom_. Eventually,
Magnolia and Ravenal are reconciled, and their daughter Kim becomes the
new star of the show boat.
The most famous songs from this incomparable Kern score are: “Only Make
Believe” and “Why Do I Love You?”, both of them love duets of Magnolia
and Ravenal; two poignant laments sung by the half-caste Julie, a role
in which Helen Morgan first attained stardom as a torch-song performer,
“Can’t Help Lovin’ That Man” and “Bill” (the latter with lyrics by P. G.
Wodehouse); and a hymn to the Mississippi which has acquired virtually
the status of an American folk song, “Ol’ Man River.”
_Scenario_ makes extended use of these songs in an integrated piece of
music. It opens with a sensitive passage for muted strings and continues
with a theme for horn; both subjects are intended to portray the
Mississippi River and are the motto subjects of the entire work. The
main melody of this tone poem is “Ol’ Man River,” first given softly by
violas and bass clarinet. Other major songs of the musical play follow,
among them being “Only Make Believe” and “Why Do I Love You?”, after
which “Ol’ Man River” is heard for the last time.
Many of Kern’s more than a thousand popular songs are now classics in
the popular repertory. They are so fresh and spontaneous in their
lyricism, so inventive in the harmonic background, so filled with charm
and grace that their survival seems assured. Two symphonic compositions
by Robert Russell Bennett are constructed from one or more of Kern’s
best known songs. One is _Symphonic Study_, a tone poem introduced in
1946 by the NBC Symphony under Frank Black. This work presents several
Kern songs in correct chronological sequence beginning with “They Didn’t
Believe Me.” After that come “Babes in the Wood,” “The Siren’s Song,”
“Left All Alone Again Blues,” “Who?”, “Ol’ Man River,” “Smoke Gets In
Your Eyes,” and “All the Things You Are.” The second of Bennett’s
symphonic compositions is the _Variations on a Theme by Jerome Kern_,
written in 1934 and soon after that introduced in New York by a chamber
orchestra conducted by Bernard Herrmann. The theme here used for an
effective series of variations is “Once in a Blue Moon” from the
Broadway musical _Stepping Stones_.
Albert Ketelby
Albert William Ketelby was born in Birmingham, England, in or about
1885. Precocious in music he completed a piano sonata when he was only
eleven. For six years he attended the Trinity College of Music in London
where he captured every possible prize. When he was sixteen he became a
church organist in Wimbledon, and at twenty-one he conducted a theater
orchestra in London. He later distinguished himself as a conductor of
some of London’s most important theater orchestras, besides appearing as
a guest conductor of many of Europe’s major symphonic organizations,
usually in performances of his own works. For many years he was also the
music director of the Columbia Gramophone Company in England. He died at
his home on the Isle of Wight on November 26, 1959.
A facile composer with a fine sense for atmospheric colors and for
varied moods, Ketelby produced a few serious compositions among which
were a _Caprice_ and a _Concerstueck_ (each for piano and orchestra), an
overture and _Suite de Ballet_ (both for orchestra) and a quintet for
piano and woodwind. He is, however, most famous for his lighter
compositions, two of which are known and heard the world over. _In a
Monastery Garden_ opens with a gentle subject describing a lovely garden
populated by chirping birds. After that comes a religious melody—a chant
of monks in a modal style. _In a Persian Garden_ is effective for its
skilful recreation of an exotic background through Oriental-type
melodies, harmonies, and brilliant orchestral colors. Ketelby wrote
several other compositions in an Oriental style, the best of which is
_In a Chinese Temple Garden_.
Aram Khatchaturian
Aram Khatchaturian was born in Tiflis, Russia, on June 6, 1903. He was
of Armenian extraction. He came to Moscow in 1920, and enrolled in the
Gniessen School of Music. From 1929 to 1934 he attended the Moscow
Conservatory. He first achieved recognition as a composer in 1935 with
his first Symphony, and in 1937 he scored a major success throughout the
music world with his first piano concerto, still a favorite in the
modern concert repertory. As one of the leading composers in the Soviet
Union he has been the recipient of numerous honors, including the Order
of Lenin in 1939, and the Stalin Prize in 1940 and 1942. In 1954 he
visited London where he led a concert of his own music, and early in
1960 he toured Latin America.
Khatchaturian’s music owes a strong debt to the folk songs and dances of
Armenia and Transcaucasia. It is endowed with a sensitive and at times
exotic lyricism, a compulsive rhythmic strength, and a strong feeling
for the dramatic.
The most popular single piece of music by Khatchaturian comes from his
ballet, _Gayne_ (or _Gayaneh_), first performed in Moscow on December 9,
1942, and the recipient of the Stalin Prize. The heroine of this ballet
is a member of a collective farm where her husband, Giko, proves a
traitor. He tries to set the farm afire. The farm is saved by a Red
Commander who falls in love with Gayne after Giko has been arrested.
Khatchaturian assembled thirteen numbers from his ballet score into two
suites for orchestra. It is one of these pieces that has achieved
widespread circulation: the “Saber Dance,” a composition whose impact
comes from its abrupt barbaric rhythms and vivid sonorities; midway,
relief from these rhythmic tensions comes from a broad folk song in
violas and cellos. “Saber Dance” has become popular in numerous
transcriptions, including an electrifying one for solo piano. In 1948
Vic Schoen made a fox-trot arrangement that was frequently played in the
United States.
Two other excerpts from these _Gayne_ suites are also familiar. “Dance
of the Rose Girls” presents a delightful Oriental melody in oboe and
clarinet against a pronounced rhythm. “Lullaby” has a gentle swaying
motion in solo oboe against a decisive rhythm in harp and bassoon;
flutes take up this subject, after which the melody grows and expands in
full orchestra, and then subsides.
_Masquerade_ is another of Khatchaturian’s orchestral suites, this one
derived from his incidental music to a play by Mikhail Lermontov
produced in 1939. Each of the five numbers of this suite is appealing
either for sensitive and easily assimilable melodies or for rhythmic
vitality. Gentle lyricism, of an almost folk-song identity,
characterizes the second and third movements, a “Nocturne” and
“Romance.” The first and the last two movements are essentially
rhythmic: “Waltz,” “Mazurka,” and “Polka.”
George Kleinsinger
George Kleinsinger was born in San Bernardino, California, on February
13, 1914, and came to New York City in his sixth year. He was trained
for dentistry, and only after he had left dental school did he
concentrate on music. His first intensive period of music study took
place with Philip James and Marion Bauer at New York University where he
wrote an excellent cantata, _I Hear America Singing_, performed publicly
and on records by John Charles Thomas. Kleinsinger then attended the
Juilliard Graduate School on a composition fellowship. In 1946 he scored
a major success with _Tubby the Tuba_. He later wrote several other
works with humorous or satiric content, often filled with unusual
instrumental effects. Among these are his _Brooklyn Baseball Cantata_; a
concerto for harmonica and orchestra; and the musical, _Archy and
Mehitabel_ (_Shinbone Alley_), which was produced for records, on
Broadway and over television. In a more serious vein are a symphony and
several concertos.
_Tubby the Tuba_, for narrator and orchestra (1942) belongs in the class
of Prokofiev’s _Peter and the Wolf_. It serves to familiarize children
with the instruments of the orchestra, but because of its wit and simple
melodies it also makes for wonderful entertainment. It tells the story
of a frustrated tuba who complains that he must always play
uninteresting “oompahs oompahs” while the violins are always assigned
the most beautiful tunes. In the end Tubby happily gets a wonderful
melody of his own to enjoy and play. All the characters in this tale are
instruments of the orchestra. In 1946 a recording of _Tubby the Tuba_
sold over a quarter of a million albums. Paramount made a movie of it,
and major orchestras throughout the country presented it both at
children’s concerts and in its regularly symphonic repertory.
Fritz Kreisler
Fritz Kreisler, one of the greatest violin virtuosos of his generation,
was born in Vienna, Austria, on February 2, 1875. He was a child prodigy
at the violin. From 1882 to 1885 he attended the Vienna Conservatory, a
pupil of Leopold Auer, winning the gold medal for violin playing. In
1887, as a pupil of Massart at the Paris Conservatory, he was recipient
of the Grand Prix. In 1888, he toured the United States in joint
concerts with the pianist, Moriz Rosenthal, making his American debut in
Boston on November 9. Upon returning to Vienna, he suddenly decided to
abandon music. For a while he studied medicine at the Vienna Academy.
After that he entered military service as an officer in a Uhlan
Regiment. The decision to return to the violin led to a new period of
intensive training from which he emerged in March 1899 with a recital in
Berlin. From 1901 on until his retirement during World War II he
occupied a magistral place among the concert artists of his time.
As a composer, Kreisler produced a violin concerto and a string quartet.
But his fame rests securely on an entire library of pieces for the
violin now basic to that repertory and which are equally well loved in
transcriptions for orchestra. The curious thing about many of these
compositions is that for many years Kreisler presented them as the
genuine works of the old masters, works which he said he had discovered
in European libraries and monasteries, and which he had merely adapted
for the violin. He had recourse to this deception early in 1900 as the
expedient by which a still young and unknown violinist could get his own
music played more frequently, besides extending for his own concerts the
more or less limited territory of the existing violin repertory. His
deception proved much more successful than he had dared to hope.
Violinists everywhere asked him for copies of these pieces for their own
concerts. Publishers in Germany and New York sold these “transcriptions”
by the thousands. As the years passed it became increasingly difficult
for Kreisler to confess to the world that he had all the while been
palming off a colossal fraud. Then, in 1935, Olin Downes, the music
critic of the _New York Times_, tried to trace the source of one of
these compositions—Pugnani’s _Praeludium and Allegro_—now a worldwide
favorite with violinists. Downes first communicated with Kreisler’s New
York publishers who were suspiciously evasive. After that Downes cabled
Kreisler, then in Europe. It was only then that the violinist revealed
that this piece was entirely his, and so were many others which he had
been presenting so long as the music of Vivaldi, Martini, Couperin, and
Francoeur among others.
It was to be expected that musicians and critics should meet such a
confession with anger and denunciation. “We wish to apply the term
discreditable to the whole transaction from start to finish,” one
American music journal said editorially. In England, Ernest Newman was
also devastating in his attack. “It is as though Mr. Yeats published
poems under the name of Herrick or Spenser,” he said.
Yet, in retrospect, it is possible to suggest that musicians and critics
should not have been taken altogether by surprise. For one thing, as
Kreisler pointed out, numerous progressions and passages in all of these
compositions were in a style of a period much later than that of the
accredited composers, a fact that should have inspired at least a
certain amount of suspicion. Also, when Kreisler presented his own
_Liebesfreud_, _Liebesleid_, and _Schoen Rosmarin_ as transcriptions of
posthumous pieces by Joseph Lanner in a Berlin recital, and was
vigorously assailed by a Berlin critic for daring to include such gems
with “tripe” like Kreisler’s own _Caprice Viennois_, Kreisler replied
with a widely published statement that those pieces of Lanner were of
his own composition. The reasonable question should then have arisen
that if the three supposedly Lanner items were by Kreisler, how
authentic were the other pieces of old masters played by the virtuoso?
Besides all this, Kreisler himself provided a strong clue to the correct
authorship in the frontispiece of his published transcriptions. It read:
“The original manuscripts used for these transcriptions are the private
property of Mr. Fritz Kreisler and are now published for the first time;
they are, moreover, so freely treated that they constitute, in fact,
original works.”
The furor and commotion caused by the uncovering of this fraud has long
since died down. It has had no visible effect on Kreisler’s immense
popularity either as a violinist or composer. Since then, all this music
has been published and performed as Kreisler’s without losing any of its
worldwide appeal.
Among the compositions by Kreisler which he originally ascribed to other
masters in imitation of their styles were: _Andantino_ (Martini);
_Aubade provençale_ (Couperin); _Chanson Louis XIII et Pavane_
(Couperin); _Minuet_ (Porpora); _Praeludium and Allegro_ (Pugnani); _La
Précieuse_ (Couperin); _Scherzo_ (Dittersdorf), _Sicilienne et Rigaudon_
(Francoeur); _Tempo di minuetto_ (Pugnani).
Perhaps the best loved pieces by Kreisler are those in the style of
Viennese folk songs and dances in which are caught all the grace and
Gemuetlichkeit of Viennese life and backgrounds. Some he originally
tried to pass off as the works of other composers, as was the case with
the already-mentioned _Liebesfreud_, _Liebesleid_, and _Schoen
Rosmarin_, attributed to Lanner. Some were outright transcriptions. _The
Old Refrain_ is an adaptation of a song “_Du alter Stefanturm_” by
Joseph Brandl taken from his operetta, _Der liebe Augustin_, produced in
Vienna in 1887. Still others were always offered as Kreisler’s own
compositions and are completely original with him: _Caprice Viennois_,
for example, and the _Marche miniature viennoise_.
Among other original Kreisler compositions which he always presented as
his own are the following: _La Gitana_, which simulates an
Arabian-Spanish song; _Polichinelle_, a serenade; _Rondino_, based on a
theme of Beethoven; _Shepherd’s Madrigal_; _Slavonic Fantasia_, based on
melodies of Dvořák; _Tambourin Chinois_; and _Toy Soldiers’ March_.
Édouard Lalo
Édouard Lalo was born in Lille, France, on January 27, 1823. After
receiving his musical training at Conservatories in Lille and Paris, he
became a member of the Armingaud-Jacquard Quartet, a renowned French
chamber-music ensemble. In 1848-1849 he published some songs; in 1867 he
received third prize in a national contest for his opera, _Fiesque_; and
in 1872 he was acclaimed for his _Divertimento_, for orchestra,
introduced in Paris. Two major works written for the noted Spanish
violinist, Pablo de Sarasate, added considerably to his reputation: a
violin concerto in 1872, and the celebrated _Symphonic espagnole_, for
violin and orchestra, two years after that. One of his last major works
was the opera, _Le Roi d’Ys_, introduced at the Opéra-Comique in Paris
on May 7, 1888. In that same year he was made Officer of the Legion of
Honor and sometime later he received the Prix Monbinne from the Académie
des Beaux-Arts. In the last years of his life he was a victim of
paralysis. He died in Paris on April 22, 1892.
A composer of the highest principles and aristocratic style, Lalo is
essentially a composer for cultivated tastes. One of his works, however,
makes for easy listening. It is the _Norwegian Rhapsody_ (_Rapsodie
norvégienne_), for orchestra (1875). There are two sections. The first
begins slowly and sedately, its main melody appearing in the strings.
Here the tempo soon quickens and a sprightly passage ensues. The second
part of the rhapsody, ushered in by a stout theme for trumpets, is
vigorous music throughout.
Josef Lanner
Josef Lanner, the first of the great waltz kings of Vienna, was born in
the Austrian capital on April 12, 1801. When he was twelve he played the
violin in the band of Michael Pamer, a popular Viennese composer of that
day. In 1818 Lanner formed a trio which played in smaller cafés and at
the Prater. In 1819 the trio grew into a quartet with the addition of
the older Johann Strauss (father of the composer of _The Blue Danube_),
then only fifteen years old. Soon afterwards, the quartet was expanded
into a quintet. By 1824, Lanner’s ensemble was a full-sized orchestra
popular throughout Vienna, heard in such famous café houses as the
_Goldenen Rebbuhn_, and the _Gruenen Jager_, as well as at leading balls
and other gala social events in Vienna. The call for Lanner’s music was
so insistent that to meet the demand it soon became necessary to create
two orchestras; one led by Lanner, and the other by the elder Strauss.
Lanner remained an idol of Vienna until his death, which took place in
Oberdoebling, near Vienna, on April 14, 1843.
For his various ensembles and orchestras Lanner produced a wealth of
popular Viennese music: quadrilles, polkas, galops, marches, and more
than a hundred waltzes. It is in the last department that Lanner was
most important, for he was one of the first composers to carry the waltz
to its artistic fulfillment. With composers from Mozart to Schubert, the
waltz was only a three-part song form with a trio. Johann Hummel and
Karl Maria von Weber suggested a more spacious design by assembling
several different waltz tunes into a single integrated composition.
Lanner extended this form further. He prefaced each series of waltzes
with an introduction in which the theme of the main melody was often
suggested; after the waltz melodies had been presented, Lanner brought
his composition to completion with a coda which served as a kind of
summation of some of the ideas previously stated. Between the
introduction and the coda came the succession of lilting, lovable,
heart-warming waltz-melodies so remarkable for their grace, elegance,
freshness and poignancy that Lanner has sometimes been described as “the
Mozart of the dance.” Nevertheless, Lanner always emphasized soaring
lyricism where the elder Strauss was more partial to rhythm. The
Viennese used to say: “With Lanner, it’s ‘Pray dance, I beg you.’ With
Strauss it’s ‘You must dance, I command you!’”
The form which Lanner finally crystallized, and the style with which his
waltz music unfolded, were adopted by the two Johann Strausses, father
and son, who were destined to bring this type of Viennese music to its
ultimate development. Thus Lanner was the opening chapter of a musical
epoch. He was the dawn of Vienna’s golden age of waltz music.
Lanner’s most famous waltz is _Die Schoenbrunner_, op. 200, his swan
song. Other outstanding Lanner waltzes are: _Die Pesther_, op. 93, _Die
Werber_, op. 103, _Hofballtaenze_, op. 161, _Die Romantiker_, op. 167,
and _Abendsterne_, op. 180. “With Lanner,” wrote H. E. Jacob, “the
romantic epoch began for the waltz, and the flower-gardens and green
leaves of Spring penetrated into the ballroom. Lanner’s compositions are
unsophisticated and unpretentious, but his waltzes could no more be
commonplace than could a flower.”
Charles Lecocq
Charles Lecocq was born in Paris on June 3, 1832. For four years he
attended the Paris Conservatory where, as a pupil of Bazin and Halévy,
he received prizes in harmony and fugue. For a while he earned his
living teaching the piano and writing church music. In 1857 he shared
with Bizet the first prize in a competition for one-act operettas
sponsored by Offenbach. This winning work, _Le Docteur miracle_, was
successfully introduced in Paris that year. After that Lecocq wrote
several light operas which were failures, before he enjoyed a major
success with _Fleur de thé_ in 1868, first in Paris and subsequently in
England and Germany. His greatest successes came with two crowning works
in the French light-opera repertory: _La Fille de_ _Mme. Angot_ in 1872,
and _Giroflé-Girofla_, in 1874. Between 1874 and 1900 he wrote over
thirty more operettas. He died in Paris on October 24, 1918 after
enjoying for almost half a century a place of signal honor among
France’s composers for the popular theater.
Lecocq is remembered today mainly for _La Fille de Mme. Angot_ and
_Giroflé-Girofla_. The first of these was introduced in Brussels on
December 4, 1872. In Paris, where it was given on February 23, 1873, it
enjoyed the formidable run of more than five hundred consecutive
performances. The book—by Siraudin, Clairville and Koning—was set in
Paris during the French Revolution. Clairette, daughter of Mme. Angot,
must marry the barber Pomponnet even though she loves the poet, Pitou.
To avoid an undesirable marriage, even at the risk of arrest, Clairette
sings a daring song by Pitou about an illicit affair between Mlle. Lange
(reputed a favorite of Barras, head of the Directory) and a young lover.
When Pitou proves fickle, and is discovered in the boudoir of Mlle.
Lange, Clairette stands ready to forget him completely and to take
Pomponnet as her husband.
The sprightly overture, filled with vivacious tunes and dramatized by
energetic rhythms, is a favorite of semi-classical orchestras. So are
several dances from the operetta, including an electrifying Can-Can, and
a sweeping _Grand Valse_ with which the second act comes to an exciting
close. The main vocal excerpts are Pomponnet’s passionate avowal of
Clairette’s innocence, “_Elle est tellement innocente_” and the duet of
Mlle. Lange and Clairette, “_Jours fortunés de notre enfance_” both from
Act 2.
_Giroflé-Girofla_—book by Vanloo and Leterrier—was introduced in
Brussels on March 21, 1874. Giroflé and Girofla are twin sisters.
Giroflé is pressured by her parents to marry the banker, Marasquin;
Girofla is in love with an impoverished fire-eating Moor, Mourzouk. When
Girofla is secretly abducted by pirates, the Moor comes to her home
demanding to see her, only to mistake Giroflé for Girofla. The
complicated situation ensuing becomes resolved only after Girofla is
rescued and brought back home.
The most frequently heard excerpts from this gay score are the Pirates’
Chorus, “_Parmi les choses_”; the rousing drinking song, “_Le Punche
scintille_”; the ballad, “_Lorsque la journée est finie_”; and the love
duet, “_O Ciel!_”
Ernesto Lecuona
Ernesto Lecuona was born in Havana, Cuba, on August 7, 1896. As a boy of
eleven he published his first piece of music—an American two step still
popular with some Cuban bands. While attending the National Conservatory
in Cuba, from which he was graduated in 1911 with a gold medal in piano
playing, he earned his living as a pianist in cafés and movie theaters.
In 1917 he paid the first of several visits to the United States, at
that time making some records and giving a piano recital. He then made
concert tours throughout America and Europe playing the piano and
conducting semi-classical and popular orchestras. His performances were
largely responsible for popularizing in America both the conga and the
rumba in the 1920’s. He also made some successful appearances at the
Capitol Theater, in New York, where he introduced his own music,
including such outstanding successes as _Malagueña_, _Andalucía_, and
_Siboney_ (the last originally entitled _Canto Siboney_, which became an
American popular-song hit in 1929). These and similar pieces made
Lecuona one of the most successful exponents of Latin-American melodies
and dance rhythms in the United States. Lecuona has written over five
hundred songs, forty operettas, and numerous compositions both for
orchestra and for piano solo.
From a piano suite entitled _Andalucía_ come two of Lecuona’s best known
instrumental compositions. The first is also called _Andalucía_, a
haunting South American melody set against a compulsive rhythm. It was
made into an American popular song in 1955.
Another movement from _Andalucía_ is even more familiar: the
_Malagueña_. Since its publication as a piano solo in 1929, _Malagueña_
has sold annually over a hundred thousand copies of sheet music each
year; it has become a favorite of concert pianists; it is also often
performed by salon and pop orchestras everywhere in orchestral
transcriptions; and it has been adapted into a popular song, “At the
Crossroads.” It is in three sections, the first being in the malagueña
rhythm dynamically projected in slowing expanding sonorities; a contrast
comes in the middle part with a poignant Latin-American melody.
_Andalucía_, the single movement and not the suite as a whole, has been
given a brilliant orchestral dress by Morton Gould who has also
orchestrated two outstandingly popular Lecuona songs. One is “La
Comparasa,” a picture of a traditional parade during the Carnival season
in which Negroes and muleteers play their native instruments and sing
their sensual songs. The other is “Gitanerias,” haunting gypsy music.
Franz Lehár
Franz Lehár was born in Komorn, Hungary, on April 30, 1870. His father,
a bandmaster, was his first music teacher. When Franz was twelve, he
entered the Prague Conservatory where he remained six years specializing
in the violin with Bennewitz and theory with Foerster. His studies were
completed in 1888, after which he played the violin in the orchestra of
the Eberfeld Opera. He subsequently became an assistant bandleader of
his father’s ensemble and a director of Austria’s foremost Marine bands.
In 1896 he realized his first success as a composer of operettas with
_Kukuschka_, produced in Leipzig. In 1902 he became conductor of the
Theater-an-der-Wien, in Vienna, home of operettas. There, in the same
year, he had produced _Viennese Women_ (_Wiener Frauen_). The operetta
after that was _The Gypsy_ (_Der Rastelbinder_), seen in 1902 in one of
Vienna’s other theaters. With _The Merry Widow_ (_Die lustige Witwe_),
seen in 1905, Lehár achieved a triumph of such magnitude that from then
on he was one of Austria’s most celebrated operetta composers (and one
of the wealthiest) since Johann Strauss II. He wrote about thirty more
operettas (three of them in the single year of 1909-1910). The most
famous were _The Count of Luxembourg_ (_Der Graf von Luxemburg_) in
1909; _Gypsy Love_ (_Zigeunerliebe_) in 1910; _Frasquita_ in 1922;
_Paganini_ in 1925; _The Tsarevitch_ (_Der Zarewitsch_) in 1927; and
_The Land of Smiles_ (_Das Land des Laechelns_) in 1929. During World
War II Lehár lived in seclusion at his villa in Bad Ischl, Austria.
After the war he became embittered by the widely publicized accusation
that he had been pro Nazi, arising no doubt from the well-known fact
that _The Merry Widow_ was Hitler’s favorite operetta. What was
forgotten in this attack against Lehár was the fact that his wife had
been classified by Nazis as non-Aryan and that on one occasion both and
he and his wife were subjected by the Gestapo to house arrest. Lehár
died in Bad Ischl, Austria, on October 24, 1948. He is one of the few
composers to outlive the copyrights of some of his most famous works.
Lehár’s popularity in the early part of this century gave the Viennese
operetta a new lease on life at a time when its heyday was believed
over. It was through the influence of Lehár’s immense popularity and
success that composers like Oscar Straus, Emmerich Kálmán, and Leo Fall
began writing their own operettas. Lehár’s best stage works have been
described as “dance operettas” because of the emphasis placed on dance
music, the waltz specifically. The dance usually becomes the climax, the
focal point, of the production. Stan Czech further points out that
Lehár’s waltzes are “slower and sweeter than those of Johann Strauss,
were definite prototypes of the modern slow waltz, and their Slav
atmosphere gave them an exciting and individual character.”
_The Count of Luxembourg_ (_Der Graf von Luxemburg_)—text by Willner and
Robert Bodanzky—was first given in Vienna on November 12, 1909. This
operetta opens in an artist’s studio in Paris where René, the
impoverished Count of Luxembourg, is offered five hundred thousand
francs by Prince Basil if René is willing to marry the singer Angele and
let her share his title. The reason for this peculiar arrangement is
that the Prince is himself in love with Angele, wants to marry her, but
prefers that his wife have a title. After they get married, René and
Angele discover they are in love with each other, a fact which
eventually the Prince is willing to accept since he is ordered by the
Czar to marry a legitimate Countess. As in most Lehár’s operettas, the
high musical moment comes with a waltz—the infectious duet of René and
Angele, “_Bist du’s, lachendes Glueck_,” which is also extremely popular
in orchestral adaptations. Other appealing numbers are the second act
duet, “_Lieber Freund, man greift nicht_” and the tenor aria, “_Maedel
klein, Maedel fein_.”
_Frasquita_, produced in Vienna on May 12, 1922, is remembered most
often for one of Lehár’s most beautiful vocal numbers, the nostalgic and
romantic _Frasquita Serenade_, “_Hab ein blaues Himmelbett_.” Fritz
Kreisler made a fine transcription for violin and piano, and Sigmund
Spaeth provided the melody with American lyrics.
_Gypsy Love_ (_Zigeunerliebe_), had its world première in Vienna on
January 8, 1910. The librettists (Willner and Bodanzky) provided a
romantic storybook setting of Rumania, and a romantic central character
in the form of the gypsy violinist, Jozsi. Zorika is ineluctably drawn
to Jozsi though she is actually betrothed to his half-brother, Jonel. In
a dream, she gets a foretaste of what her life would be with one so
irresponsible and fickle as a gypsy violinist, with the result that she
is more than happy to marry Jonel. The main waltz melody (one of Lehár’s
greatest) is “_Nur der Liebe macht uns jung_” and the most infectious
Hungarian tune is Jozsi’s soaring entrance gypsy melody to the
accompaniment of his violin, “_Ich bin ein Zigeunerkind_.”
From _The Land of Smiles_ (_Das Land des Laechelns_) comes what is
probably the best loved and most widely sung of all of Lehár’s vocal
numbers, “Dein ist mein ganzes Herz” (“Thine Is My Heart Alone”) which
opened not in Vienna but in Berlin, on October 10, 1929. This was
actually a new version of an old Lehár operetta, originally called _The
Yellow Jacket_ (_Die gelbe Jacke_) which had been introduced in Vienna
in 1923. The romantic plot of both operettas involved a Chinese
diplomat, Prince Sou-Chong, and Lisa, daughter of an Austrian Count.
They marry and settle in Peking in whose strange setting, Lisa’s love
for the Prince soon turns to hate. With great magnanimity—even though
this is in violation of ancient Chinese traditions and customs—he allows
Lisa to leave him and return home.
In _The Yellow Jacket_, “Thine Is My Heart Alone” is sung by Lisa, and
at that time this number made little impression. The famous tenor,
Richard Tauber, fell in love with it, and performed it so extensively in
his recitals everywhere that he and the song became inextricably
identified. When Lehár revised his operetta and renamed it _The Land of
Smiles_, he cast the song “Thine Is My Heart Alone” as a major
second-act aria for Prince Sou-Chong, Richard Tauber playing the part of
the Prince. _The Land of Smiles_ was a personal triumph for Tauber who
appeared in it over 2,500 times all over the world. “Thine Is My Heart
Alone” became with him something of a theme song. He rarely gave a
concert anywhere without singing it either on the program itself or as
an encore. When _The Land of Smiles_ was given in New York City in 1946,
with Tauber as the star, the operetta was renamed _Yours Is My Heart_;
in this production Tauber sang the song four times in four different
languages, French, Italian, German, and English.
There can be little question but that _The Merry Widow_ (_Die lustige
Witwe_) is one of the most famous operettas ever written. It was a
sensation when first performed, in Vienna on December 28, 1905. It came
both to London and New York in 1907, a major success in both places. In
Buenos Aires it was performed simultaneously in five theaters in five
different languages. Since 1907 there was hardly a time when _The Merry
Widow_ was not being performed in some part of the world. It has enjoyed
in excess of six thousand performances, a thousand of these in Vienna
alone. On several occasions it has been adapted for the screen.
Victor Léon and Leo Stein wrote the text. This is the usual operetta
material involving a beautiful heiress from a mythical kingdom. She is
Sonia from Marsovia, who is leading a gay life in Paris. Beautiful and
wealthy, she is inevitably sought out by the most handsome men of Paris.
The government of Marsovia is eager to get her to marry one of its
native sons, the dashing Prince Danilo, thereby keeping her fortune at
home. As she conducts her vivacious night life she is zealously watched
over by the Marsovian Ambassador, Baron Popoff, who never loses an
opportunity to further the interests of Danilo. Eventually, Sonia has
had her fling and is ready to settle down with the Prince.
The _Merry Widow Waltz_, “_S’fluestern Geigen, Lippen schweigen_,” an
eye-filling climax to the third act, is not only the most popular
excerpt from this operetta but also one of the most celebrated waltzes
ever written. A secondary waltz, “Vilia” is also highly beguiling, while
a third musical favorite from this score is “_Da geh’ ich zu Maxim_”
(“_The Girl at Maxim’s_”).
What is one of Lehár’s best waltzes, second in popularity only to that
of _The Merry Widow_, does not come from any operetta. It is the _Gold
and Silver Waltzes_ (_Gold und Silber Waelzer_), op. 79 which he wrote
as a concert number.
Ruggiero Leoncavallo
Ruggiero Leoncavallo was born in Naples, Italy, on March 8, 1858. He was
graduated from the Bologna Conservatory, then spent several years
traveling. He finally came to Paris where he earned his living playing
the piano, singing, and writing music-hall songs. The powerful Italian
publisher, Ricordi, commissioned him to write a trilogy of operas set in
the Renaissance. Leoncavallo completed the first of these operas, _I
Medici_, but it proved too expensive to mount and was shelved. This
experience convinced him that he ought to write an opera of slighter
dimensions, one which would not cost too much to produce, and which
would be in the realistic style (“_Verismo_”) just made so popular by
Mascagni’s _Cavalleria Rusticana_. In four months’ time, Leoncavallo
completed _Pagliacci_, the opera through which his name survives. It
received a triumphant première in Milan in 1892, with Toscanini
conducting. Though Leoncavallo wrote many operas after that he never
wrote one as good or as popular as the one that made him world famous.
Only one of these later operas has retained interest, _Zaza_, introduced
in 1900. A third opera, _La Bohème_, was well received when introduced
in Venice in 1897, but was soon thrown into complete obscurity by a
rival opera on the same subject, that of Puccini. In 1906 Leoncavallo
toured the United States in performances of _Pagliacci_. The failures of
his last operas made him a bitter, broken man in the last years of his
life. He died in Montecatini, Italy, on August 9, 1919.
The composer prepared his own libretto for _Pagliacci_, a play within a
play. A troupe of strolling players headed by Canio arrives for
performances in a Calabrian village. Canio’s wife, Nedda, falls in love
with Silvio, one of the villagers, and she in turn is being pursued by
the pathetic clown of the troupe, Tonio. Through Tonio, Canio discovers
his wife has been unfaithful to him, but fails to learn the identity of
his rival. At the troupe’s evening performance—and in a play that
closely resembles the actual happenings within the company—Canio kills
Nedda when she fails to tell him who her lover is. But Silvio, in the
audience, reveals himself by rushing on the stage to help Nedda. There
Canio kills him.
Many of the selections from this opera are famous, but the most famous
of all is the tenor aria, in which Canio speaks his immense grief on
discovering that his wife has a lover, “_Vesti la giubba_.”
The other familiar excerpts include the baritone prologue, “_Si può_,”
in which Tonio explains to his audience that the incidents in the play
about to be presented are true to life and that the players are not
performers but human beings; Nedda’s delightful ballatella, “The Bird
Song” (“_Stridono lassù_”) where she tries to forget about Tonio’s
initial response of jealousy by watching and describing the casual and
carefree flight of birds overhead; the “Harlequin’s Serenade” in the
play within the play sequence in the second act, “_O Columbina!_”; and a
melodious orchestral Intermezzo which separates the first and second
acts, music which hints darkly at impending tragedy through a poignant
recall of Tonio’s prologue.
Anatol Liadov
Anatol Liadov was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, on May 10, 1855, the
son and grandson of eminent Russian conductors. He was a pupil of
Rimsky-Korsakov at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, but was so derelict
about attending classes that in 1876 he was expelled. Reinstated two
years later he now became fired with both ambition and industry, proved
a brilliant student, and was graduated with highest honors. He was then
appointed teacher of theory there, eventually becoming a renowned
professor, a post he retained until the end of his life. He died in
Novgorod, Russia, on August 28, 1914.
Liadov was at his best in his fairy tales for orchestra (_The Enchanted
Lake_, _Baba Yaga_ and _Kikimora_); in songs; and in smaller pieces for
the piano. He was a student of Russian folk music of which he made
numerous adaptations, and whose styles and idioms percolated into many
of his compositions.
The _Eight Russian Folksongs_, a suite for orchestra, op. 58 (1906) is
one of Liadov’s adaptations. There are eight movements. In the first,
“Religious Chant,” the main song is that chanted by children in
religious processions; it is heard in English horn and bassoons. This is
followed by “Christmas Carol,” its main theme presented by oboes and
clarinets. “Plaintive Melody” is a village song, and “I Danced With a
Mosquito,” a humorous scherzo in which muted strings simulated buzzing
mosquitoes. The fifth movement is “Legend of the Birds” where the bird
song is presented by the woodwind. “Cradle Song” is a tender melody for
strings. This is followed by a lively rhythmic section, “Round Dance.”
The suite ends with the “Village Dance Song,” music that usually
accompanies the crowning of the May Queen.
Liadov is also the composer of a delightful trifle called _The Music
Box_ in which the delicate little tune is the kind that lends itself
gratefully to the tinkle of a music box. Liadov wrote this piece for the
piano, op. 32, but it is better known in orchestral transcriptions.
Paul Lincke
Paul Lincke was born in Berlin, Germany, on November 7, 1866. After
completing his music study he played the violin and bassoon in numerous
theater orchestras. He later distinguished himself as a theater
conductor. In 1897 he had his first operetta produced in Berlin.
Thereafter he wrote many operettas, all originally given in Berlin; he
became one of the foremost exponents of the light musical theater in
Germany of his time. The most famous were _Frau Luna_ (1899), _Fraeulein
Loreley_ (1900), _Lysistrata_ (1902), _Prinzessin Rosine_ (1905), and
_Casanova_ (1914). His last operetta was _Ein Liebestraum_, produced in
Hamburg in 1940. From 1918 to 1920 he was conductor at the
Folies-Bergère in Paris. He died in Klausthal-Zellernfeld, Germany, on
September 3, 1946.
His most famous composition is a song from _Lysistrata_ (1902): “The
Glow Worm” (“_Gluehwuermchen_”), which achieved phenomenal popularity
throughout the world independent of the operetta. It is still famous
both as a vocal composition and in orchestral transcriptions. A new
vocal version, with amusing lyrics by Johnny Mercer, was published and
popularized in the United States in 1952.
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt was born in Raiding, Hungary, on October 22, 1811. A prodigy
pianist who made an impressive debut in Hungary when he was nine, Liszt
was financed by several Hungarian noblemen to study the piano with
Czerny in Vienna. In 1822, Liszt made a sensational debut in that city,
and in 1824, after a period of additional study in Paris, an equally
momentous appearance in the French capital. For the next three years
Liszt concertized throughout Europe, becoming an idol of music audiences
everywhere. Then, in 1827, he decided to abandon music for what he
regarded as nobler pursuits. He devoted himself in turn to religion,
politics, literature, and philosophy without finding the satisfaction he
sought. Then, in 1830, he went back to music. For about two years he
worked industriously on his piano technique, reassuming an imperial
position among the virtuosos of his generation beginning with 1833. He
combined profound musicianship and a phenomenal technique with such a
flair for showmanship and self-aggrandizement, that it can be said that
the modern piano virtuoso (both in the best and worst sense of that
term) was born with him.
In 1848, Liszt came to Weimar to fulfill duties as Kapellmeister to the
Grand Duke. The eleven-year period of this office represented
music-making of the highest order, as Liszt devoted himself to
presenting the foremost operatic and symphonic music in the best
possible performances. He was indefatigable in propagandizing the music
of the avant-garde composers of his day, reviving Wagner’s _Tannhaeuser_
and presenting the world première of that master’s _Lohengrin_ at a time
when Wagner was in disrepute in Germany because of his revolutionary
activities.
Finding himself incapable of maintaining the high standards he had set,
and disturbed by the prevailing antagonism to his espousal of new music,
Liszt left Weimar in 1859. Once again he sought refuge in a career
outside music. In 1865 he submitted to the tonsure and entered the Third
Order of St. Francis of Assisi as abbé. But music was not abandoned. He
taught the piano to gifted pupils who came to him from all parts of the
world; and he wrote an abundant amount of music, mainly for the piano.
He died in Bayreuth, Bavaria, on July 31, 1886, still at the height of
his powers and fame as composer, pianist and teacher.
Liszt left a vast repertory of music, including tone poems, symphonies,
piano concertos, songs, and a library of works for the piano. At his
best he was a great innovator, and a creator of vast dramatic and poetic
concepts. At worst, he was a showman shamelessly wooing his public with
superficial effects and trivial material. Most of his works belong to
the concert hall, but some of it has enormous popular appeal as salon
music.
The most famous of the latter is the _Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2_ in
C-sharp minor (1847), originally for piano solo but subsequently
orchestrated by the composer himself. This was one of nineteen
compositions in which Liszt developed the form of the rhapsody and
helped to make it popular; which he filled with strong national feelings
and the individual traits of Hungarian folk music. One of the features
of all these rhapsodies is their dynamic alternation of slow and sensual
music (called _lassan_) with fast, dramatic, exciting passages (called
_friskan_). The second _Hungarian Rhapsody_ opens with a _lassan_, a
slow, stately declamation. Then, after a clarinet cadenza, the _friskan_
appears, a spirited melody for violins and woodwind. After that fast and
slow passages, soft and loud dynamics, and rapidly changing meters and
rhythm help to generate excitement and create drama. The drama and the
excitement of this music never seem to lose their impact however many
times this rhapsody is listened to.
Of Liszt’s twelve tone poems for orchestra the most famous is _Les
Préludes_ (1850). The tone poem, or symphonic poem, is Liszt’s creation
in an attempt to bring to orchestral music the pictorial, dramatic and
programmatic qualities of Wagner’s music dramas. Thus Liszt conceived a
one-movement composition, flexible in form, in which a story is told,
picture described, or poem interpreted. The inspiration for _Les
Préludes_ is the _Méditations poétiques_ of Lamartine, from which
several lines are quoted in the published score to provide the music
with its program:
“What is life but a series of Preludes to that unknown song of which
death strikes the first solemn note? Love is the magic dawn of every
existence; but where is the life in which the first enjoyment of bliss
is not dispelled by some tempest; its illusions scattered by some fatal
breath; its altar consumed as by a thunderbolt? What soul, this cruelly
hurt, but seeks to repose with its memories in the sweet calm of
pastoral life? Yet no man is content to resign himself for long to the
mild, beneficent charms of Nature, and when the trumpet gives the alarm
he hastens to the post of danger, on whatever field he may be called to
fight, so that once more he may find in action full consciousness of
himself and the possession of all his powers.”
_Les Préludes_ opens with a dignified subject in the basses which is
subjected to considerable change and amplification before the main
melody is introduced. This melody is an elegiac song expressing the
happiness of love; its first entrance comes in four horns, strings, and
harp. The music is carried to a climactic point, after which a frenetic
mood is projected. Plaintively the oboe recalls the main melody; a
country dance tune is offered by the horn; and the main melody reappears
with opulent treatment. Another section of storm and stress follows
before the final majestic statement of the main melody.
Of Liszt’s voluminous writings for the piano, one composition above all
others has won favor throughout the music world as a tender, and
sentimental expression of love. It is the _Liebestraum_, “Love’s Dream.”
Liszt actually wrote three _Liebesträume_, but it is the third of this
set—in A-flat major (1850)—which is considered when we speak or hear of
the _Liebestraum_. All of these three piano compositions are adaptations
of songs by the same composer; the third _Liebestraum_ originated as “_O
Lieb’, so lang du lieben kannst_,” words by Freiligrath.
Frederick Loewe
Frederick Loewe was born in Vienna, Austria, on June 10, 1904. A musical
prodigy, he began to study the piano when he was five; started
composition at seven; at thirteen made a successful appearance as
pianist with the Berlin Symphony; and at fifteen was the composer of a
hit song, “Katrina,” that sold over a million copies of sheet music in
Europe. He received a thorough musical training from Busoni, Eugène
d’Albert, and Emil Nikolaus Rezniček, winning the Hollander Medal for
piano playing in 1923. One year after that he came to the United States.
Unable to make any progress in his musical career, he spent the next
decade traveling around the country and filling all sorts of odd jobs.
He punched cattle, mined gold, served as a riding instructor, and even
boxed professionally. Eventually he came back to New York where he found
a job in a Greenwich Village café playing the piano. In 1938 four of his
songs were heard in a Broadway musical, _Great Lady_, a failure. A
meeting with Alan Jay Lerner, a young lyricist and librettist, brought
him a gifted collaborator. They wrote a musical comedy that was produced
by a stock company in Detroit, and another called _What’s Up_ that was
seen on Broadway. Their first major success came with the Broadway
musical, _Brigadoon_, in 1947. _My Fair Lady_, in 1956, was one of the
greatest successes of the Broadway theater. They also helped make
entertainment history further by writing songs for the motion picture
musical, _Gigi_, the first to win nine Academy Awards, including one for
Lerner and Loewe for the title song. In 1960, Lerner and Loewe wrote the
Broadway musical _Camelot_ based on King Arthur and the Knights of the
Round Table.
_Brigadoon_ was a whimsical Scottish fantasy which came to Broadway on
March 13, 1947, book and lyrics by Lerner. Brigadoon is a mythical town
in Scotland which comes to life for a single day once every hundred
years. Two American tourists happen to come to Brigadoon during its one
day of existence. They become a part of its quaint life, and one of them
falls in love with a Scottish lass. The musical highlights include a
song that became a hit in 1947, “Almost Like Being In Love,” and several
that have a charming Scottish flavor, including “Come to Me, Bend to
Me,” “The Heather on the Hill,” and “I’ll Come Home With Bonnie Jean.”
_My Fair Lady_, produced on March 15, 1956, was Lerner’s adaptation for
the popular musical theater of Bernard Shaw’s _Pygmalion_. Eliza
Doolittle, an ignorant flower girl and daughter of a cockney, is
transformed by the phonetician, Professor Henry Higgins, into a
cultivated lady who is successfully palmed off upon high English society
as a duchess. Higgins falls in love with her and, though a long
confirmed bachelor, finds he can no longer live without her. _My Fair
Lady_ became one of the most highly acclaimed musical productions of
recent memory; Brooks Atkinson called it “one of the best musicals of
the century.” It achieved a fabulous Broadway run and was brought by
many touring countries to all parts of the civilized world, including
the Soviet Union. It captured one third of the honors annually conferred
on the theater by the Antoinette Perry Awards. The original-cast
recording sold over three million discs. The principal numbers from
Loewe’s captivating score include three romantic songs, two of the Hit
Parade variety (“I Could Have Danced All Night” and “On the Street Where
You Live”) and the third, “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face”; two
atmospheric numbers that evoke musically the place and setting of the
play, “The Ascot Gavotte” and “The Embassy Waltz”; and the two cockney
ditties of Eliza’s father, “Get Me to the Church On Time” and “With a
Little Bit of Luck.”
Albert Lortzing
Gustav Albert Lortzing was born in Berlin on October 23, 1801. His
parents were actors compelled to lead an itinerant life which made it
impossible for Albert to obtain any systematic education. His mother
taught him music, the study of which he later continued briefly in
Berlin with Rungenhagen. His first effort at composition consisted of
some songs, but in 1824 he completed his first opera, _Ali Pascha von
Janina_. From 1833 to 1844 he was employed as a tenor at the Municipal
Theater in Leipzig, for which he wrote the comic opera _Die beiden
Schuetzen_, successfully produced in 1837. He achieved his greatest
success the same year with the comic opera, _Zar und Zimmermann_, which
within a few years’ time became a favorite among theater audiences
throughout Europe. His later operettas included _Der Wildschuetz_ (_The
Poacher_) in 1842 and _Der Waffenschmied_ (_The Armourer_) in 1846,
while one of his finest romantic operas was _Undine_ in 1845. Lortzing
also filled several engagements as conductor of operas and operettas in
Leipzig, Vienna and Berlin, and as an opera impresario. He died in
Berlin on January 21, 1851, one day after his last opera, _Die
Opernprobe_ (_The Opera Rehearsal_) was introduced in Frankfort.
Lortzing was one of the earliest and most successful exponents of German
national comic opera; and _Czar and the Carpenter_ (_Zar und
Zimmermann_) was his masterwork. It was first produced in Leipzig on
December 22, 1837. The music is consistently light and tuneful,
frequently in the style of German folk songs. The libretto, by the
composer, is a delightful comedy based on an actual historic episode:
the escapade of Peter the Great of Russia in Holland where he worked as
a carpenter. In the Lortzing comic opera, Peter the Great is a carpenter
on a ship at Saardam where he meets a compatriot, also named Peter, who
is a deserter. Temporarily they become rivals for the affection of Mary.
After the arrival of the Ambassadors from France and England to seek out
the Emperor, the latter quietly departs for his homeland, leaving behind
him both money and an official pardon for the other Peter. The gay
spirit of the comic opera as a whole is magically caught not only in its
vivacious overture, but in several familiar excerpts. The most notable
are: the Burgomaster’s comic entrance song, “_O sancta justa_”; in the
second act, the Wedding Chorus, and the French Ambassador’s beautiful
air, “_Lebe wohl, mein flandrisch’ Maedchen_”; in the third act the
vigorous _Clog Dance_ (_Holzschutanz_), and the very famous air of Czar
Peter, “_Sonst spielt’ ich mit Zepter_.”
Alexandre Luigini
Alexandre Luigini was born in Lyons, France, on March 9, 1850. He was
the son of the distinguished conductor of the Théâtre-Italien in Paris.
After attending the Paris Conservatory—where he was a pupil of Massenet
and Massart among others—the younger Luigini played the violin in his
father’s orchestra. In 1870 he began a successful career as ballet
composer with _Le Rêve de Nicette_, given in Lyons. His greatest success
came with the _Ballet Égyptien_, first seen in Lyons in 1875. For twenty
years Luigini was the conductor of the Grand Theater in Lyons and
professor of harmony at the Lyons Conservatory. Until the end of his
life he was the conductor of the Opéra-Comique in Paris. He died in
Paris on July 29, 1906.
An orchestral suite derived from some of the most attractive pages of
the _Ballet Égyptien_ score is a favorite of bands and salon orchestras
everywhere. This is music striking for its Oriental-type melodies and
harmonies, and for its colorful orchestral hues. The first two movements
are particularly popular. The first begins with a strong and stately
theme, but midway comes a gayer section in an exotic Oriental style. The
second movement highlights a capricious subject for the woodwind, once
again in a recognizable Oriental style.
Hans Christian Lumbye
Hans Christian Lumbye was born in Copenhagen, Denmark on May 2, 1810. As
a young man he played in military bands. He then formed an orchestra of
his own which achieved extraordinary fame throughout Copenhagen
(specifically at the Tivoli) with light musical programs. For these
concerts Lumbye produced a library of light music: waltzes, galops,
polkas, marches, and so forth. This music is so filled with infectious
tunes and pulsating rhythms—and they are so light in heart and
spirit—that they have won for their composer the sobriquet of “The
Johann Strauss of the North” and the status of Denmark’s foremost
creator of semi-classical music. He died in Copenhagen on March 20,
1874.
Lumbye’s dance pieces are played wherever there is a salon, pop or
café-house orchestra. Among his best waltzes are _Amelie_, _Hesperus_,
and _Sophie_. Other successful Lumbye compositions are the _Columbine
Mazurka_, the _Champagne Galop_, _Concert Polka_, _Dream Pictures_, _An_
_Evening at the Tivoli_, _King Frederick VII Homage March_, and the
_Railway Galop_.
Edward MacDowell
Edward Alexander Macdowell, one of America’s most significant
19th-century composers, was born in New York City on December 18, 1861.
After preliminary music study with private teachers, he attended the
Paris Conservatory from 1876 to 1878, and the Frankfort Conservatory in
Germany from 1879 to 1881. Maintaining his home in Germany, MacDowell
joined the faculty of the Darmstadt Conservatory in 1881, and in 1882 he
made an official bow as a composer by introducing his first piano
concerto in Zurich, and his _Modern Suite_ for piano in Germany. He
returned to the United States in 1888, settling in Boston where a year
later the Boston Symphony under Gericke introduced his now-famous Second
Piano Concerto, the composer appearing as soloist. From then on, most of
his important symphonic works were introduced by the Boston Symphony,
placing him in the vanguard of American composers of that period. In
1896 he filled the first chair of music created at Columbia University
in New York; at that time he was described as “the greatest musical
genius America has produced.” MacDowell resigned in 1904 after sharp
differences with the trustees of the University over the way a music
department should be run. The bitterness and frustrations suffered by
MacDowell during this altercation with the University undermined and
finally broke his always delicate health. His brain tissues became
affected. From 1905 on he was a victim of insanity, spending his time in
an innocent, childlike state, until his death in New York City on
January 23, 1908. Shortly after his death the MacDowell Memorial
Association was founded to establish a retreat for American creative
artists on MacDowell’s summer residence in Peterborough, New Hampshire,
which MacDowell’s widow had deeded to the Association.
A composer whose artistic roots lay deep in the soil of German
Romanticism, MacDowell was a composer who filled his writing with noble
poetic sentiments and the most sensitive emotions. His sense of style
and his feeling for structure were the last words in elegance, and his
lyricism and harmonic language were ever ingratiatingly inviting to the
ear.
The _Indian Suite_, op. 48 (1892) is the second of MacDowell’s suites
for orchestra. It is one of several works in which MacDowell uses
melodic and rhythmic material of the American Indian, blending this
idiom with his usual sensitive and poetic style. This is one of
MacDowell’s most popular works for orchestra. The first movement,
“Legend,” has a slow introduction in which the main melody is given by
three unaccompanied horns in unison. The melody is taken over by other
instruments and developed. Here the material comes from a sacred
ceremony of Iroquois Indians. The second movement is “Love Song,” whose
principal subject is immediately given by the woodwind; this melody is
derived from the music of Iowa Indians. “War Time” follows, a movement
dominated by a melody to which Indians of the Atlantic Coast ascribed
supernatural origin. This melody is heard in the first sixteen measures
in two unison unaccompanied flutes. A subsidiary section follows.
“Dirge,” the fourth movement, is a woman’s song of mourning for an
absent son, come from the Kiowa Indians. The mournful melody is heard in
muted violins. The suite ends with “Village Festival,” in which two
light and vivacious melodies from the Iroquois Indians are presented;
the first is a woman’s dance, and the second a war song.
The most familiar pieces of music written by MacDowell—_To a Water Lily_
and _To a Wild Rose_—come from the _Woodland Sketches_, op. 51 (1896), a
suite for solo piano made up of ten sections, each a descriptive poem in
tones. In this suite MacDowell became one of the first American
composers to interpret the beauty of American scenes and countrysides in
delicate melodies. Both _To a Water Lily_ and _To a Wild Rose_ are
exquisite tone pictures of Nature, and both have enjoyed numerous
transcriptions. The other eight movements of the _Woodland Sketches_
are: _Will o’ the Wisp_, _At an Old Trysting Place_, _In Autumn_, _From
an Old Indian Lodge_, _From Uncle Remus_, _A Deserted Farm_, _By a
Meadow Brook_, and _Told at Sunset_.
Albert Hay Malotte
Albert Hay Malotte was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on May 19,
1895. The son of a choirmaster, he himself was a boy chorister, at the
St. James Episcopal Church in his native city. After his music studies
were completed in Paris and London, he served as organist in Chicago and
London. In 1927 he opened a school for organists in Los Angeles, but
when sound came to the screen he gave up the school to write music for
the films. He subsequently joined the music staff at the Walt Disney
studio, creating music for several of Disney’s animated cartoons,
including _Ferdinand the Bull_. He has written ballets, choral music,
and songs, besides scores for motion pictures, having received early in
his career as composer important advice, guidance and encouragement from
Victor Herbert.
Malotte is most famous for his song, “The Lord’s Prayer,” published in
1935, and since become a favorite of concert singers everywhere. Its
deep religious sentiment, and the exciting dramatic thrust of its
concluding measures, have an inescapable impact on audiences.
Gabriel Marie
Gabriel Marie was born in Paris, France, on January 8, 1852. After
completing his music study at the Paris Conservatory he served for six
years as chorusmaster of the Lamoureux Orchestra. Between 1887 and 1894
he conducted the concerts of the Société nationale de musique. He later
led the orchestral performances in Bordeaux and Marseilles, and during
the summers at the Vichy Casino. He was traveling in Spain when he died
there suddenly on August 29, 1928.
Marie was a successful composer of light music for orchestra. The one
composition which has survived is _La Cinquantaine_, a sentimental piece
for orchestra which is also famous in adaptations for violin and piano,
or cello and piano. Marie described this work as an “air in the old
style.” It is in three-part song form. The first and third parts consist
of a light, delicate little air; the middle section is in a slower and
statelier style.
Martini il Tedesco
Jean Paul Égide Martini—sometimes called “Il Tedesco” or “The German” to
distinguish him from Padre Martini the famous 18th century Italian
composer and theorist—was born in Freistadt, in the Palatinate, on
September 1, 1741. His real name is Schwarzendorf. After completing the
study of the organ and serving for a while as church organist, he won a
prize for a military march for the Swiss Guard. For many years he was an
officer of a Hussar regiment. During this military service he completed
an opera, _L’Amoureux de quinze ans_ (successfully introduced in Paris
in 1771) and a considerable amount of band music. After leaving the
army, he served as music director for the Prince of Condé and the Comte
d’Artois; as conductor at the Théâtre Feydeau in Paris; and as Inspector
and teacher of composition at the Paris Conservatory. He died in Paris
on February 10, 1816.
The composer of twelve operas, some church music and many songs, Martini
is today remembered for a single song—the eloquent and tender love
melody, “_Plaisir d’amour_,” written originally for voice and harp, and
arranged by Berlioz for voice and orchestra. Since Berlioz’ time it has
enjoyed numerous instrumental adaptations. Effective use of the song, as
recurring theme music, was made in the American motion picture starring
Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer, _Love Affair_ (1939).
Pietro Mascagni
Pietro Mascagni was born in Leghorn, Italy, on December 7, 1863. He
studied music with private teachers in Leghorn, then for several years
attended the Milan Conservatory. In 1884 he was appointed conductor of
the municipal band in Cerignola. Meanwhile in 1880 he had completed his
first opera, _Pinotta_. Success as composer came later in 1890 with the
world première of the opera, _Cavalleria Rusticana_ in Rome. A sensation
when first introduced, _Cavalleria Rusticana_ made the rounds of the
world capitals to enjoy a triumph experienced by few operas before or
since. Mascagni wrote many operas after that. Though he enjoyed varying
degrees of success with _L’Amico Fritz_ in 1891 and _Iris_ in 1898, he
never again duplicated the acclaim given _Cavalleria Rusticana_; and it
is still the only one of his operas performed in the world’s foremost
opera houses. As he himself once said sadly: “It is a pity I wrote
_Cavalleria_ first. I was crowned before I became king.” Mascagni made
many tours as a conductor. He visited the United States in 1902 in
performances of several of his operas, and South America in 1911. In
1929 he succeeded Toscanini as musical director of La Scala in Milan.
Identifying himself closely with the Fascist regime—even to the point of
writing an opera, _Nerone_, glorifying Mussolini—Mascagni was subjected
to considerable abuse and attack after World War II. He was deprived of
his property and other assets. The last year of his life was lived in
poverty and disrepute in a small hotel room in Rome, where he died on
August 2, 1945.
_Cavalleria Rusticana_ is a one-act opera, libretto by Giovanni
Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci based on a short story by Giovanni
Verga. The setting is Sicily in the latter part of the 19th century.
Turiddu, a soldier, is in love with Lola, wife of Alfio, a teamster. But
he has also conducted an illicit affair with Santuzza. When Turiddu
rudely rejects Santuzza, she finds revenge by revealing to Alfio the
love intrigue existing between Lola and Turiddu. In the duel that
follows Alfio kills Turiddu.
The most celebrated single excerpt from the opera is the melodious
Intermezzo for orchestra which accompanies the departing townspeople as
they leave church after the Easter services. This music is radiant with
the holiness and serenity of the Easter holiday.
Other popular excerpts include the lovely Siciliana, “_O Lola bianca_,”
a tenor aria which is sung offstage and breaks into the middle of the
opening orchestral prelude; this is a serenade by Turiddu to Lola, sung
to harp accompaniment. Santuzza’s passionate aria, “_Voi lo sapete_” is
the one in which she first discloses to Alfio that his wife and Turiddu
are lovers. Turiddu’s deeply emotional aria, “_Addio alla madre_” is his
poignant farewell to his mother just before he engages in the duel in
which he meets his doom.
Jules Massenet
Jules Massenet was born in Montaud in the Loire region of France on May
12, 1842. He entered the Paris Conservatory when he was nine,
subsequently winning prizes in fugue and piano playing and, in 1863, the
Prix de Rome. Four years later his first opera, _La Grand’ Tante_, was
produced in Paris. During the Franco-Prussian War he was a member of the
National Guard. After the war, he achieved recognition as a composer
with his incidental music to _Les Érynnies_, an oratorio _Marie
Magdaleine_, and an opera _Le Roi de Lahore_. In 1878 he was elected to
the Académie des Beaux-Arts, the youngest man ever to receive this
honor, and was appointed professor of composition at the Paris
Conservatory. He held the latter post until his death with outstanding
distinction. His most significant operas appeared between 1880 and 1900,
and included _Hérodiade_ (1881), _Manon_ (1884), _Le Cid_ (1885),
_Werther_ (1892), _Thaïs_ (1894) and _Sapho_ (1897). He died in Paris on
August 13, 1912.
A style that had lyrical charm, tender feelings, and poetic content
placed Massenet with the foremost French composers for the lyric
theater. The same qualities are found to a large degree in his
instrumental compositions, and endow them with their immense audience
appeal. He had a vein of tenderness that was his uniquely, often
contrasting this with striking passion and intensity. A master of many
different moods and emotions, he was able to convey them in music that
is suave and polished in the best French tradition.
_Alsatian Scenes_ (_Scènes alsaciennes_) is one of Massenet’s most
popular orchestral compositions. It is the seventh of his suites for
orchestra and was written in 1881. For each of its four movements the
composer provided an explicit program. About the first movement, “Sunday
Morning” (“_Dimanche matin_”) the composer writes: “I recall with
particular delight the Alsatian village Sunday morning at the hour of
divine service; the streets deserted, the houses empty except for the
elderly ones who sun themselves before their doors. The church is full,
and the sacred hymns are heard at intervals in passing.” “The Tavern”
(“_Au cabaret_”) is described as the happy meeting place of his friends
“with its little windows framed with lead, garlanded with hops and
roses.... ‘Ho, Schmidt, some wine!’ And the songs of the forest rangers
going to shooting matches. Oh, the joyous life and the gay companions!”
“Under the Linden Trees” (“_Sous les tilleuls_”) depicts pictorially
“the edge of the fields on a Sunday afternoon, the long avenue of linden
trees, in the shadow of which, hand in hand, quietly talks a pair of
lovers.” The suite ends with “Sunday Evening” (“_Dimanche soir: Air
alsacien, Retraite française_”). “In the market place, what noise, what
movement! Everyone at the doorsteps, groups of young gallants in the
streets, and dances which embody in rhythm the songs of the country.
Eight o’clock! The noise of the drums, the blare of the trumpets—’tis
the retreat! The French retreat! And when in the distance the sound of
the drum died down, the women called their children in the street, the
old men relighted their big old pipes, and to the sounds of violins the
dance is joyously recommenced in smaller circles, with couples closer.”
The ballet music for _Le Cid_ is strikingly appealing for its exotic
melodies and lambent orchestral colors. This opera, text by Louis Gallet
and Edouard Blau, is based on Corneille’s tragedy; its première
performance took place in Paris on November 30, 1885. The setting is
12th century Burgos, in Spain, where Rodrigo called Le Cid, or The
Conqueror, kills Chimène’s father in a duel. She seeks vengeance but is
unable to carry it out because she has fallen in love with him. The
ballet music appears in the second scene of the second act. A public
square is alive and colorful with dancing crowds, and six dances are
performed in rapid succession, some with melodic and rhythmic material
derived by Massenet from Spanish folk sources. These are the dances:
“_Castillane_,” a highly rhythmic dance found in the Castille region of
Spain; “_Andalouse_,” a sinuous, gypsy-like dance from Andalusia;
“_Aragonaise_,” a dance popular in the Aragon district; “_Aubade_,” a
gentle lyrical section; “_Catalane_,” a dance popular in Catalonia;
“_Madrilène_,” a two-part dance from Madrid, the first quiet and
introspective, the second dynamic; and “_Navarraise_,” a dance from
Navarre.
The popular “_Élégie_,” a plangent melody muted in its grief, comes from
the incidental music to _Les Érynnies_ with which Massenet first won
acclaim in 1873. The play, by Charles Marie Leconte based on Aeschylus,
was produced with Massenet’s music at the Odéon in Paris. Here the
“_Élégie_” appeared as “_Invocation_,” scored for string orchestra.
Later on Massenet arranged this section for cello and piano, and it was
upon this occasion that he renamed the piece _Élégie_. It was later on
also transcribed for violin and piano, and adapted into a song with
lyrics by E. Gallet.
Three other sections from _Les Érynnies_ have almost as much emotional
appeal as the _Élégie_, but in varied moods. The “Entr’acte” is a
passionate song for unison violins over a disturbed accompaniment.
“Grecian Dance” begins with a vivacious dance tune for two flutes in
thirds. A slow dialogue ensues between oboes and clarinets, in which the
main subject has an Oriental identity. A fast section brings this
movement to a close. “_Scène religieuse_” is a graceful, at times
solemn, minuet in which a solo cello provides the main melody.
The famous opera _Manon_ (1884) has two delightful dance episodes that
are particularly well known, a gavotte and a minuet. _Manon_ was based
on the famous tale of Abbé Prévost, _L’Histoire du chevalier des Grieux
et de Manon Lescaut_, adapted by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille. Its
setting is France in the 18th century, and in the spirit of that place
and time Massenet recreated two old-world dances, both of them appearing
in the first scene of the third act, during a festival-day celebration
in Paris. Before the curtain goes up, the graceful music of the minuet
is heard in the orchestra as an entr’acte. After the rise of the
curtain, and the appearance of Manon, she expresses her hedonistic
philosophy of life in a gavotte (“_Obéissons quand leur voix appelle_”).
This gavotte is often heard in an exclusively instrumental arrangement.
The _Phèdre Overture_ (1876) is another of Massenet’s frequently
performed orchestral compositions. The music closely follows the action
of the Racine tragedy, in which Phedre—daughter of King Minos and wife
of Theseus—falls in love with Theseus’ son, Hippolytus, who fails to
respond to her passion. The overture begins in a gloomy mood,
forecasting ominously the imminent tragedy awaiting Phedre and
Hippolytus. Phedre’s grief over her unreciprocated love is suggested by
a passionate subject for clarinet; a second equally passionate melody
brings us the picture of Hippolytus sent to his doom by an irate father.
Violins in unison now bring us a rapturous melody speaking of Phedre’s
love, while a fiery dramatic section that follows tells of the doom
awaiting Hippolytus at the hands of Neptune.
_Picturesque Scenes_ (_Scènes pittoresques_) is the fourth of Massenet’s
suites for orchestra, completed in 1873. There are four short, tuneful
sections: “March” (“_Marche_”), “Air de Ballet,” “Angelus” and “Bohemian
Festival” (“_Fête bohème_”). The religious music of the third movement,
“Angelus,” with its solemn tolling of bells, is the most popular section
of this suite, frequently performed separately from the other movements.
Second only to the “_Élégie_” in popularity among Massenet’s best-loved
melodies is the “Meditation” which comes from the opera _Thaïs_. This
excerpt is an orchestral entr’acte with violin obbligato heard just
before the first scene of the second act. The opera, libretto by Louis
Gallet based on the novel of Anatole France, describes the degradation
of Athanaël, a Cenobite monk, because of his unholy passion for Thaïs, a
courtesan. The radiant music of the “Meditation” describes Thaïs’
renunciation of a life of pleasure for one of the spirit.
Robert McBride
Robert Guyn McBride was born in Tucson, Arizona, on February 20, 1911.
As a boy he learned to play the clarinet and saxophone. He later played
both instruments in various dance orchestras. In 1933 he was graduated
from the University of Arizona, and a year after that received there his
Master’s degree. Having studied the oboe in college, he played that
instrument with the Tucson Symphony for several years. Then, after
additional study of the piano, composition and voice, he joined the
music faculty of Bennington College in Vermont in 1935, holding this
post eleven years. During this period he received a Guggenheim
Fellowship. In 1942, the American Academy of Arts and Letters awarded
him a prize for creating a “new idiom in American music.” McBride has
made successful use of jazz, popular and folk elements in serious
chamber-music and orchestral compositions.
The _Mexican Rhapsody_ (1936) is one of McBride’s best known works for
orchestra. He wrote it in Arizona while studying at the University. It
was first presented in Tucson in a two-piano arrangement, then in its
definitive orchestral version, and finally as a choreographic
presentation. McBride here makes a colorful and freshly conceived
presentation of four Mexican folk songs familiar to many: “_El Rancho
Grande_,” “_Jarabe_” (or “Hat Dance”), “_Cuatro Milpas_,” and “_La
Cucaracha_.”
McBride has written several interesting compositions in a jazz style.
One of the best is the _Strawberry Jam_ (1942). This is a caricature of
a jazzband jam session, but with the utilization of modern harmonies and
symphonic orchestration. _Stuff in G_, for orchestra (1942), is in the
racy, tuneful style of Tin Pan Alley, while _Swing Stuff_ (1941) brings
to the symphonic orchestra the improvisational devices and techniques
and the beat of Swing music.
Harl McDonald
Harl Mcdonald was born in Boulder, Colorado, on July 27, 1899. His music
study took place in Redlands, California and at the University of
Southern California. The winning of prizes from the American Federation
of Music Clubs for two orchestral works enabled him to go to Europe and
attend the Leipzig Conservatory. In Germany, his symphonic fantasy,
_Mojave_, was successfully introduced by the Berlin State Opera
Orchestra. After returning to the United States he was appointed in 1926
to the music faculty of the University of Pennsylvania, where he later
became professor of music, and finally head of the music department. At
the University he conducted various choral groups which appeared with
the Philadelphia Orchestra. From 1939 until his death he was manager of
the Philadelphia Orchestra, which introduced many of his orchestral
compositions. McDonald wrote four symphonies, a two-piano concerto, a
violin concerto, and various suites and tone poems for orchestra. He
died in Princeton, New Jersey, on March 30, 1955.
The _Children’s Symphony_ was a work intended to teach children
something about symphonic form through melodies they knew and loved. The
form of the symphony is adhered to—in the presentation of two themes,
their development, and recapitulation. Simple and unsophisticated, this
symphony makes ideal listening for children, but there is enough charm
here to provide considerable enjoyment to older people as well. In the
first movement, McDonald uses for his two main themes, “London Bridge”
and “Baa Baa Black Sheep.” In the second movement we hear “Little Bo
Peep” and “Oh, Dear, What Can the Matter Be?”; in the third, “Farmer in
the Dell” and “Jingle Bells”; and in the finale, “Honey Bee” and “Snow
Is Falling On My Garden.”
_Rhumba_, for symphony orchestra, is the third movement of McDonald’s
Symphony No. 2 (1935). But this movement (which in the symphony
displaces the conventional scherzo) is so popular that it is often
played apart from the rest of the work. The symphony itself was inspired
by the turbulent 1930’s, with its labor conflicts, breadlines,
unemployment, and depression. _Rhumba_ injected a gay note into these
somber proceedings, attempting to interpret “the passionate search after
good times and diversions, and the restless pursuit of intoxicated
pleasures,” as the composer explained. McDonald goes on to say that he
here used the rumba rhythm because he liked it and because it seemed to
him to be the pulse of those times.
Felix Mendelssohn
Felix Mendelssohn-bartholdy was born in Hamburg, Germany, on February 3,
1809. His grandfather was the famous philosopher, Moses Mendelssohn; his
father, a successful banker. Both were of Jewish origin. When Felix was
still a boy, however, his immediate family was converted to
Protestantism, the occasion upon which they added the name of
“Bartholdy” to their own to distinguish them from the other members of
their family. A pupil of Ludwig Berger and Karl Friedrich Zelter, Felix
was extraordinarily precocious in music. When he was seven and a half he
made a successful appearance as pianist in Berlin; by the time he was
twelve he had already written operas and symphonies; and in his
seventeenth year he produced an unqualified masterwork in the _Overture
to A Midsummer Night’s Dream_. In 1827, one of his operas was produced
in Berlin, but by that time he had already completed thirteen symphonies
and a library of chamber music as well.
In 1829, Mendelssohn conducted in Berlin the first performance of Bach’s
_Passion According to St. Matthew_ to be given since Bach’s own day.
This concert became a powerful influence in reviving interest in Bach’s
music, which at that time had been languishing in both neglect and
obscurity. A few weeks after Mendelssohn had directed a repeat
performance, he made his first trip to England where he led the première
of a new symphony and was made honorary member of the Royal
Philharmonic. A tour of Scotland that followed immediately was the
inspiration for his overture, _Fingal’s Cave_.
In 1833, Mendelssohn served as musical director of the city of
Duesseldorf. He held this post only six months. Much more significant
was his engagement as the principal conductor of the Gewandhaus
Orchestra in Leipzig in 1835 which, during the five years of his
leadership, was elevated to a position of first importance among the
world’s symphony orchestras.
In 1841, Mendelssohn became head of the music department of a projected
Academy of Arts in Berlin. This appointment did not prevent him from
visiting England where he was received with an adulation accorded to no
foreign musician since Handel. Returning to Berlin he found that the
Academy of Arts project had been abandoned. He was now made
Kapellmeister to the King, an honorary post allowing him complete
freedom of activity and movement. During the next few years he conducted
concerts of the Gewandhaus Orchestra, and paid two more highly
successful visits to England. He was also instrumental in helping to
found the Leipzig Conservatory in 1843. Always of delicate health and
sensibilities, Mendelssohn collapsed at the news that his beloved
sister, Fanny, died in 1847. He died in Leipzig soon after that, on
November 4, 1847.
The finest qualities of German Romantic music can be found in
Mendelssohn. He had the Romantic’s partiality for fantasy and the
supernatural, together with the lightness of touch with which to create
such worlds through music. He had the Romantic’s gift for translating
natural scenes, landscapes and lyric poetry into sensitive tone
pictures. He had a most winning lyricism and graceful harmonic and
orchestral gift, and he never lacked the ability to charm and enchant
his listeners with the most tender and lovable musical expression. Other
composers may have written profounder or more emotionally stirring music
than Mendelssohn; but no one could be more ingratiating, sensitive, or
refined. Some of Mendelssohn’s serious symphonic works are so full of
the most wonderful melodies and beguiling moods that they have the
universal appeal of semi-classics.
The concert overture, _Fingal’s Cave_, or as it is also sometimes known,
_Hebrides Overture_, op. 26 (1832) was inspired by the composer’s visit
to the Scottish Highlands in 1830. The opening theme in lower strings
and bassoons suggests the roll of the waves at the mouth of a cave, a
melody that came to the composer while visiting the caves of Staffa.
This idea is developed, then a second beautiful melody unfolds in cellos
and bassoons.
The orchestral suite, _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_, op. 61 is derived
from the incidental music comprising thirteen numbers which Mendelssohn
wrote for a Potsdam production of the Shakespeare comedy in 1843; the
Overture, however, was a fruit of the composer’s youth, having been
written in 1826. The magic world of fairies and elves which Mendelssohn
projected so delicately in his youthful overture is preserved in many of
the numbers he wrote seventeen years later. The Overture, op. 21, is
initiated with four sensitive chords, and proceeds with fleeting,
diaphanous music for strings with which we are suddenly plunged in
fairyland. The main thematic material to follow comprises a haunting
song for horn, a romantic episode for woodwind and strings, and a
sprightly fairy dance for strings.
Three other musical sections from this incidental music, and basic to
the orchestral suite, are famous. The “Nocturne” is a broad, moody song
for horns. The “Scherzo”—like the Overture—is a picture of the world of
fairies, gnomes and elves, though in a more energetic and spirited vein.
The “Wedding March” is now one of the most frequently played pieces of
wedding music, second in popularity only to Wagner’s wedding music from
_Lohengrin_; it first became popular as wedding music at the nuptials of
the English Princess in London in 1858. A trumpet fanfare leads to the
dignified march melody which is twice alternated with melodious trio
sections.
“On Wings of Song” (“_Auf Fluegeln des Gesanges_”), op. 34, no. 2 (1834)
is Mendelssohn’s best-known song, a melody of incomparable loveliness
and serenity. The poem is by Heine. Franz Liszt transcribed it for
piano; Joseph Achron for violin and piano; Lionel Tertis for viola and
piano. It has also enjoyed various orchestral transcriptions.
_Ruy Blas_, op. 95 (1839)—like _Fingal’s Cave_—is a concert overture for
orchestra; here the inspiration is the drama of Victor Hugo. Four solemn
bars for wind instruments lead to the principal subject, first violins
and flutes; clarinets, bassoons, and cellos later offer the second
contrasting staccato theme.
The _Spinning Song_ and the _Spring Song_ are both instrumental
favorites, and both come from the _Songs Without Words_ (_Lieder ohne
Worte_), for solo piano. The form of “song without words” is a creation
of Mendelssohn: a brief composition of such essentially lyric character
that it is virtually a “song” for the piano. Mendelssohn wrote
forty-eight such pieces gathered in eight books. The _Spinning Song_ in
C major appears in op. 67 as the fourth number (1844). This is a tender
melody placed against a rhythmic background suggesting the whirring of a
spinning wheel. The _Spring Song_ in A major is surely one of the most
familiar tonal pictures of the vernal season to be found in the
semi-classical literature; it appears in op. 62 (1842) as the concluding
number. Both the _Spinning Song_ and _Spring Song_ appear in all kinds
and varieties of transcriptions.
The stirring _War March of the Priests_ is a number from the incidental
music for Racine’s drama, _Athalie_, op. 74 (1843); this incidental
music was first performed with the Racine play in Berlin in 1845.
Giacomo Meyerbeer
Giacomo Meyerbeer was born in Berlin, Germany, on September 5, 1791. His
name, at birth, was Jakob Liebmann Beer. When Meyer, a rich relative,
left him a legacy, he decided to change his name to Meyerbeer; some
years later upon initiating a career as composer of Italian operas he
Italianized his name. His music study took place with Clementi, Zelter,
Anselm Weber and Vogler, the last of whom encouraged him to write his
first opera, _Jephtha’s Vow_ (_Jephtha’s Geluebde_), a failure when
first performed in Munich in 1812. A second opera, performed in
Stuttgart, was also a failure; Meyerbeer now seriously entertained the
thought of abandoning composition altogether. The noted Viennese
composer and teacher, Antonio Salieri, however, convinced him what he
needed was more study. This took place in Italy where for several years
Meyerbeer assimilated Italian traditions of opera. His first endeavor in
this style was _Romilda e Costanza_, a success when introduced in Padua
in 1817. During the next few years Meyerbeer wrote several more operas,
some of them on commission, and became one of Italy’s most highly
regarded composers for the stage. In 1826, Meyerbeer settled in Paris
where association with composers like Cherubini and Halévy, made him
impatient with the kind of operas he had thus far created. In 1831, with
_Robert le Diable_, he entered upon a new artistic phase in which
Italian methods, procedures and traditions were discarded in favor of
the French. _Robert le Diable_, produced at the Opera on November 21,
1831 was a sensation. Meyerbeer continued writing operas in the French
style for the remainder of his life. These are the operas by which he is
most often represented in the world’s opera theaters: _Les Huguenots_
(1836), _Le Prophète_ (1849), and _L’Africaine_ (1865). Meyerbeer died
in Paris on May 2, 1864.
Meyerbeer was an exponent of drama in the grand style, his finest operas
being filled with big climactic scenes, elaborate stage effects, and
eye-filling visual displays. But he also had a pronounced dramatic gift,
one which evoked from Wagner the highest admiration; and a pronounced
expressiveness of lyricism.
_L’Africaine_ (_The African_) is Meyerbeer’s last opera, and many
regarded it as his best. He completed it in 1864 just before his death,
and its world première at the Paris Opera took place posthumously on
April 28, 1865. The text, by Eugène Scribe, is set in Lisbon and
Madagascar in the 15th century. The main action concerns the love of
Selika, an African queen, for the Portuguese explorer, Vasco da Gama; Da
Gama in turn is loved by Inez, daughter of Don Diego. Selika offers the
explorer a secret route to the land of which she is queen, Madagascar,
and with which Da Gama becomes enraptured. But when Inez appears, he
abandons Selika for her, and leaves the magic island. Heartbroken,
Selika kills herself by breathing the deadly fragrance of a manchineel
tree.
The opera’s most popular excerpt is Vasco da Gama’s rapturous tenor aria
from the fourth act in which he describes the beauty of Madagascar, “_O
Paradis_.” Another vocal favorite is the baritone ballad of Nelusko,
slave of Selika, “_Adamastor, roi des vagues profondes_”; as he steers
the ship bearing Selika and Vasco da Gama to Madagascar he sings of
Adamastor, monarch of the sea, who sends ships to their doom on
treacherous reefs.
The _Coronation March_ (_Marche du couronnement_)—music of pomp and
circumstance—comes from the opera _Le Prophète_, first performed at the
Paris Opéra on April 16, 1849. Eugène Scribe’s libretto is based on an
actual historical episode in 16th century Holland centered around the
Anabaptist uprising, with John of Leyden, leader of the Anabaptists, as
the principal character. In Act four, scene two, John is being crowned
king outside the Muenster Cathedral. As a magnificent royal procession
enters the Cathedral, the music of the _Coronation March_ matches in
splendor and grandeur the visual majesty of this scene. Another popular
musical excerpt for orchestra from this opera is Prelude to Act 3, a
colorful and rhythmic Quadrille that leads into the opening scene of
that act, providing the lively musical background for a ballet and
ice-carnival skating scene. Liszt made a technically brilliant
transcription for the piano of this Quadrille music.
_Les Huguenots_ (_The Huguenots_) was first performed at the Paris Opéra
on February 29, 1836, the year it was completed; the libretto was by
Eugène Scribe and Émile Deschamps. In 16th century Touraine and Paris,
Raoul, a Huguenot nobleman, has saved the life of Valentine, daughter of
the Catholic leader, St. Bris. She falls in love with Raoul, but the
latter repudiates her, believing her to be the mistress of Count de
Nevers. When he discovers he has been mistaken, Raoul risks his life to
see her. During this visit he overhears a Catholic plot to massacre the
Huguenots. After Raoul and Valentine get married, they are both murdered
in the massacre—Valentine by her own father.
The Overture to _Les Huguenots_ is built almost entirely from the melody
of the famous Lutheran chorale, _Ein’ feste Burg_, which in the opera
itself served as the musical symbol for militant Protestantism. The
outstanding individual excerpts from the opera include Raoul’s beautiful
romance from Act 1 describing the woman he has saved, “_Plus blanche que
la blanche hermine_”; the rhapsodic description in the second act of the
Touraine countryside by Marguerite de Valois, betrothed to Henry IV of
Navarre, “_O beau pays de la Touraine_”; and in the fourth act the
stirring “Benediction of the Swords,” (“_Gloire au grand Dieu vengeur_”)
with which the Catholics are blessed by three monks on the eve of their
holy war against the Huguenots.
The exciting _Torch Dance_, No. 1, in B-flat is not from one of
Meyerbeer’s operas. It was written in 1846 for the wedding of the King
of Bavaria, and originally was scored for brass band. It is now most
frequently heard in orchestral adaptations. Meyerbeer subsequently wrote
two other _Torch Dances_: the second in 1850 for the wedding of Princess
Charlotte of Prussia, and the third in 1853 for the wedding of Princess
Anne of Prussia.
Karl Milloecker
Karl Milloecker was born in Vienna, Austria, on May 29, 1842. His
father, a jeweler, wanted him to enter the family business, but from his
childhood on, Karl was drawn to music. After studying music with private
teachers, he attended the Conservatory of the Gesellschaft der
Musikfreunde. Meanwhile, in his sixteenth year, he supported himself by
playing the flute in a theater orchestra. When his music study ended, he
became conductor of a theater in Graz in 1864; there his first operetta
was produced one year later. In 1866 he was back in Vienna, and from
1869 to 1883 he was principal conductor at the Theater-an-der-Wien where
most of his famous operettas were produced including _Countess Du Barry_
(_Graefin DuBarry_) in 1879, _The Beggar Student_ (_Der Bettelstudent_)
in 1882, _Gasparone_ in 1884, and _Poor Jonathan_ (_Der arme Jonathan_)
in 1890. Milloecker died in Baden, near Vienna, on December 31, 1899.
Milloecker’s most famous operetta is _The Beggar Student_ (_Der
Bettelstudent_), which was first produced at the Theater-an-der-Wien in
Vienna on December 6, 1882, and after that enjoyed highly successful
performances at the Casino Theater in New York in 1883, and the Alhambra
in London in 1884. The scene is Cracow, Poland; the time, 1704. General
Ollendorf, spurned by Laura, evolves an elaborate plot to avenge
himself. He finances the impoverished student, Symon, dresses him up as
a lord, and sends him off to woo and win Laura. Only after the wedding
does the General reveal the fact that Symon is a beggar. Just as
disgrace faces the young man, he becomes involved in a successful
maneuver to restore the rejected Polish king to his throne. Thus he
acquires wealth and a title, and is welcomed with pride and love by
Laura and her mother. Potpourris and selections from this tuneful
operetta always include the principal waltz melody which comes as a
first act finale, “_Ach ich hab’ sie ja nur auf die Schulter gekuesst_.”
Other delightful excerpts include Symon’s mazurka, “_Ich knuepfte manche
zarte Bande_,” his lament “_Ich hab’ kein Geld_,” and the second act
duet of Symon and Laura, “_Ich setz den Fall_.”
Moritz Moszkowski
Moritz Moszkowski was born in Breslau, Germany, on August 23, 1854. He
received his musical training at three leading German Conservatories:
the Dresden Conservatory, the Stern Conservatory and Kullak Academy in
Berlin. He began a career as pianist in 1873, touring Europe with
outstanding success. He also achieved recognition as a teacher of the
piano at the Kullak Academy. In 1897, he went into retirement in Paris
where he lived for the remainder of his life. In 1899 he was elected a
member of the Berlin Academy. Towards the end of his life his financial
resources were completely depleted, and his fame as composer, pianist,
and teacher had long been eclipsed. He died in poverty and obscurity in
Paris on March 4, 1925.
Though he wrote operas, ballets, suites, concertos and a symphony,
Moszkowski was at his best—and is most famous today—for his lighter
music in a Spanish idiom. Typical of his music in this style were the
rhythmic _Bolero_, op. 12, no. 5, for piano solo; the languorous and
haunting _Guitarre_, op. 45, no. 2, for piano solo (transcribed by Pablo
de Sarasate for violin and piano); and the dashing _Malagueña_, from the
opera _Boabdil_.
But his most celebrated compositions are the delightful _Spanish
Dances_, opp. 12, and 65, two books of pieces for piano solo or piano
duo, which have been arranged for orchestra. The most popular are the
first in C major, the second in G minor, and the fifth (a bolero) in D
major. While none of these dances can be accepted as authentic Spanish
music—actually they are only a German Romantic’s conception of what
Spanish music is—they make most effective use of Spanish dance rhythms.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria, on January 27,
1756. The son of Leopold, Kapellmeister at the court of the Salzburg
Archbishop, Wolfgang Amadeus disclosed his remarkable musical powers at
a tender age. He began composition at the age of five, completed a piano
sonata at seven, and a symphony at eight. Taught the harpsichord, also
very early in his childhood, he revealed such phenomenal abilities at
improvisation and sight reading that he was the wonder and awe of all
who came into contact with him. His ambitious father exhibited this
formidable prodigy for several years before the crowned heads of Europe;
and wherever he appeared the child was acclaimed. Goethe said: “A
phenomenon like that of Mozart remains an inexplicable thing.” In Milan
in 1770 he was commissioned to write an opera _Mitridate, rè di Ponto_,
successfully performed that year. In Bologna he became the only musician
under the age of twenty to be elected a member of the renowned Accademia
Filarmonica. And in Rome he provided dramatic evidence of his
extraordinary natural gifts by putting down on paper the entire complex
score of Allegri’s _Miserere_ after a single hearing.
As he outgrew childhood he ripened as a composer, gaining all the time
in both technical and creative powers. But he was a prodigy no more, and
though he was rapidly becoming one of the most profound and original
musicians in Europe he was unable to attract the adulation and
excitement that had once been his. Between 1772 and 1777, as an employee
in the musical establishment of the Salzburg Archbishop, he was treated
like a menial servant. The remarkable music he was writing all the time
passed unnoticed. Finally, in 1782, he made a permanent break with the
Archbishop and established his home in Vienna where he lived for the
remainder of his life. Though he received some important commissions,
and enjoyed several triumphs for his operas, he did not fare any too
well in Vienna either. He had to wait several years for a court
appointment, and when it finally came in 1787 he was deplorably
underpaid. Thus he lived in poverty, often dependent for food and other
necessities of life on the generosity of his friends. And yet the
masterworks kept coming in every conceivable medium—operas, symphonies,
sonatas, quartets, concertos, choral music and so forth. A few people in
Vienna were aware of his prodigious achievements, and one of these was
Joseph Haydn who called him “the greatest composer I know either
personally or by name.” During the last years of his life Mozart was
harassed not only by poverty but also by severe illness. Yet his last
year was one of his most productive, yielding his last three symphonies,
the _Requiem_, the opera _The Magic Flute_ (_Die Zauberfloete_), the
_Ave Verum_, and a remarkable piano concerto and string quintet. He died
in Vienna on December 5, 1791 and was buried in a pauper’s grave with no
tombstone or cross for identification.
Through his genius every form of music was endowed with new grandeur,
nobility of expression and richness of thought. He was a technician
second to none; a bold innovator; a creator capable of plumbing the
profoundest depths of emotion and the most exalted heights of
spirituality. Yet he could also be simple and charming and graceful, in
music remarkably overflowing with the most engaging melodies conceived
by man, and characterized by the most exquisite taste and the most
consummate craftsmanship. Thus Mozart’s lighter moods in music are often
also endowed with extraordinary creative resources and original
invention; yet they never lose their capacity to delight audiences at
first contact.
The music Mozart wrote directly for popular consumption were the hundred
or so _Dances_ for orchestra: _Country Dances_, _German Dances_,
_Minuets_. The greatest number of these consist of the _German Dances_.
These are lively melodies in eight-measure phrases and with forceful
peasant rhythms. Some of the best _German Dances_ are those in which
Mozart utilized unusual orchestral resources or instruments to suggest
extra-musical sounds. _The Sleighride_ (_Die Schlittenfahrt_), K. 605,
in C major, simulates the sound of sleigh bells in the middle trio
section, sounded in the tones A-F-E-C. _The Organgrinder_ (_Der
Leiermann_), K. 602, imitates the sound of a hurdy-gurdy. In _The
Canary_ (_Der Kanarienvogel_), K. 571, flutes reproduce the chirping of
birds.
The _Country Dance_, or _Contretanze_, is sometimes regarded as the
first modern dance, forerunner of the quadrille. Structurally and
stylistically these are very much like _German Dances_ with a
peasant-like vitality and earthiness. Here, too, Mozart sometimes
realistically imitates non-musical sounds as in _The Thunder Storm_
(_Das Donnerwetter_), K. 534, in which the role of the timpani suggests
peals of thunder.
Mozart’s most popular Minuet—indeed, it is probably one of the most
popular minuets ever written—comes from his opera _Don Giovanni_,
libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte, and first performed in Prague in 1787. The
hero of this opera is, to be sure, the Spanish nobleman of the 17th
century whose escapades and licentious life finally bring him to doom at
the hands of the statue of the Commandant come to life to consign him to
the fires of hell. The Minuet appears in the fifth scene of the first
act. Don Giovanni is the gracious host of a party held in his palace,
and there the guests dance a courtly minuet while Don himself is making
amatory overtures to Zerlina.
In a lighter mood, also, is the _Eine kleine Nachtmusik_ (_A Little
Night Music_), K. 525, a serenade for string orchestra (1787). This work
is consistently tuneful, gracious, charming. The first movement has two
lilting little melodies, which are presented and recapitulated with no
formal development to speak of. The second movement is a Romance, or
Romanza, a poetic song contrasted by two vigorous sections; the main
thought of this movement is then repeated between each of these two
vigorous parts. After that comes a formal minuet, and the work ends with
a brisk and sprightly rondo.
Mozart’s popular _Turkish March_—in the pseudo Turkish style so popular
in Vienna in his day—comes out of his piano Sonata in A major, K. 331
(1778), where it appears as the last movement. This march is extremely
popular in orchestral transcription.
Modest Mussorgsky
Modest Mussorgsky was born in Karevo, Russia, on March 21, 1839. When he
was thirteen he entered the cadet school of the Imperial Guard in St.
Petersburg, from which he was graduated to join the Guard regiment. In
1857 he met and befriended several important Russian musicians
(including Balakirev and Stassov) under whose stimulus he decided to
leave the army and become a composer. Until now his musical education
had been sporadic, having consisted of little more than some piano
lessons with his mother and a private teacher. He now began an intensive
period of study with Balakirev, under whose guidance he completed a
_Scherzo_ for orchestra which was performed in St. Petersburg in 1860,
as well as some piano music and the fragments of a symphony. Associating
himself with Balakirev, Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin, and Cui he now became
a passionate advocate of musical nationalism, becoming the fifth member
of a new school of Russian music henceforth identified as “The Mighty
Five” or “The Russian Five.” In 1863, with serfdom abolished in Russia,
he lost the outside financial resources he had thus far enjoyed as the
son of a landowner. To support himself he worked for four years as a
clerk in the Ministry of Communications; in 1869 he found employment in
the forestry department. During this period music had to be relegated to
the position of an avocation, but composition was not abandoned. He
completed the first of his masterworks, the orchestral tone poem, _A
Night on the Bald Mountain_, in 1866. A lifelong victim of nervous
disorders, melancholia and subsequently of alcoholism, his health soon
began to deteriorate alarmingly; but despite this fact he was able to
complete several works of crowning significance in 1874 including his
folk opera, _Boris Godunov_, and his _Pictures at an Exhibition_, for
piano. After 1874 his moral and physical disintegration became complete;
towards the last months of his life he gave indications of losing his
mind. He died in St. Petersburg on March 28, 1881.
As one of the most forceful and original members of the “Russian Five”
Mussorgsky’s greatest works certainly do not lend themselves to popular
distribution. His writing is too individual in its melodic and harmonic
construction; and his works show too great a tendency towards musical
realism to make for palatable digest. However, several of the folk
dances in his operas are strikingly effective for their rhythmic pulse
and national colors and are by no means as elusive in their appeal as
the rest of his production.
Mussorgsky’s masterwork is his mighty folk opera, _Boris Godunov_, where
we encounter one such delightful dance episode, the Polonaise. _Boris
Godunov_, libretto by the composer based on a Pushkin drama, traces the
career of the Czar from the years 1598 to 1605, from his coronation to
his insanity and death. The Polonaise occurs in the first scene of the
third act. At the palace of a Polish landowner, handsomely costumed
guests perform this festive courtly dance in the adjoining garden. The
première of _Boris Godunov_ took place in St. Petersburg on February 8,
1874.
Two orchestral dances can also be found in another of Mussorgky’s folk
operas, _The Fair at Sorochinsk_, which was not introduced until October
26, 1917, in St. Petersburg. The libretto was by the composer based on
Gogol’s story, _Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka_. Tcherevik, a peasant,
wants his daughter to marry Pritzko, whereas the peasant’s wife is
partial to the pastor’s son. However, when the pastor’s son compromises
the peasant’s wife she realizes that Pritzko is, after all, the right
man for her daughter. In the third act of this opera comes the lively
_Hopak_, or _Gopak_, a folk dance with two beats to a measure.
Folk dances of a completely different nature—more oriental and exotic
than the previously discussed Russian variety—will be found in
_Khovanschina_, a musical drama with libretto by the composer and
Stassov; this opera was first given, in an amateur performance, in St.
Petersburg on February 21, 1886. Here the setting is Moscow during the
reign of Peter the Great, and the plot revolves around the efforts of a
band of radicals known as the Streltsy who try to overthrow the Czar.
Prince Ivan Khovantsky, who is in league with the Streltsy, is murdered
by assassins, and the insurrection is suppressed. But before the leaders
of the Streltsy can destroy themselves they are given an official pardon
by the Czar. A high moment in this opera comes with the _Dances of the
Persian Slaves_, which takes place in the first scene of the fourth act.
At the country house of Khovantsky, the Prince is being entertained by
an elaborate spectacle, the main attraction of which is the sinuous,
Corybantic dancing of the Persian slaves.
Almost as popular as these Persian dances are the Prelude to the first
act and an entr’acte between the first and second scenes from this
opera; these two episodes for orchestra are highly atmospheric, graphic
in the pictures of Russian landscapes. The first act Prelude has been
named by the composer, _Dawn on the Moskava River_. This is a subtle
tone picture made up of a folk melody and five variations. The entr’acte
offers another kind of landscape, this time a bleak one describing the
vast, lonely plains of Siberia.
Ethelbert Nevin
Ethelbert Woodbridge Nevin was born in Edgeworth, Pennsylvania, on
November 25, 1862. A precocious child in music, he wrote his first piano
piece when he was eleven. A year later he wrote and had published a song
that became exceedingly popular, “Good Night, Good Night Beloved.” After
studying music with private teachers, he went to Berlin in 1884,
studying for two years with Hans von Buelow and Karl Klindworth. He
returned to the United States in 1886. Soon after that he made his
formal American concert debut as pianist with a program on which he
included some of his own compositions. By 1890 he decided to give up his
career as a virtuoso and to concentrate on being a composer. In 1891 he
completed _Water Scenes_, a suite for the piano in which will be found
one of the most popular piano pieces by an American, “Narcissus.” In
1892 and again 1895 Nevin traveled extensively through Europe and
Morocco. In 1897 he settled in New York City where he wrote one of the
best-selling art songs by an American, “The Rosary.” In 1900 Nevin went
to live in New Haven. During the last year of his life he was a victim
of depressions which he tried to alleviate through excessive drinking.
He died of an apoplectic stroke in New Haven, Connecticut, on February
17, 1901.
“Mighty Lak a Rose” and “The Rosary” are Nevin’s two most famous art
songs; they are also among the most popular art songs written in
America. “Mighty Lak a Rose” was one of Nevin’s last compositions,
written during the closing months of his life. He never lived to see the
song published and become popular. The song is a setting of a poem by
Frank L. Stanton, and is described by John Trasker Howard (Nevin’s
biographer) as “probably the simplest of all his songs ... [with] a
freshness and whimsical tenderness that make its appeal direct and
forceful.”
“The Rosary,” words by R. C. Rogers, was an even greater success. From
1898 to 1928 it sold over two and a half million copies of sheet music.
When Nevin had finished writing this song in 1898, he invited the singer
Francis Rogers to dinner, after which he handed him a scribbled piece of
music paper. “Here is a song I just composed,” he told Rogers. “I want
you to sing it at your concert next week.” Rogers deciphered the notes
as best he could while Nevin played the accompaniment from memory. The
little audience listening to this first informal presentation of “The
Rosary” was enthusiastic, but one of its members insisted it would be
impossible for Rogers to memorize the song in time for the concert the
following week. The guest bet Nevin a champagne supper for all present
that the song would not be on Rogers’ program. He lost the bet. The
following week, on February 15, 1898, Rogers introduced the song at the
Madison Square Concert Hall.
The _Water Scenes_, suite for piano, op. 13 is remembered principally
because one of its movements is “Narcissus,” often considered one of the
most popular compositions ever written in this country. Nevin himself
provided information about the origin of “Narcissus.” “I remembered
vaguely that there was once a Grecian lad who had something to do with
the water and who was called Narcissus. I rummaged about my old
mythology and read the story over again. The theme, or rather both
themes, came as I read. I went directly to my desk and wrote out the
whole composition. Afterwards, I rewrote it and revised it a little. The
next morning I sent it to my publishers. Until the proofs came back to
me I never tried it on the piano. I left almost immediately for Europe
and was surprised when a publisher wrote to me of the astonishing sale
of the piece.” During Nevin’s lifetime, the piece sold over 125,000
copies of sheet music, and was heard throughout America both in its
original piano version (a favorite repertory number of piano students
and budding piano virtuosos) and in transcriptions. It went on to circle
the globe. As Vance Thompson wrote: “It was thrummed and whistled half
around the world. It was played in Cairo as in New York and Paris; it
was played by orchestras, on church organs, and on the mouth harps of
Klondike miners; it became a mode, almost a mania.”
The other movements of _Water Scenes_ are: “Barcarolle,” “Dragon Fly,”
“Water Nymph,” “At Twilight,” and “Ophelia.” Each is a sensitive piece
of tone painting, as lyrical and as unashamedly sentimental as the
beloved “Narcissus.”
Otto Nicolai
Otto Nicolai was born in Koenigsberg, Germany, on June 9, 1810. After
completing his music study with Zelter and Bernhard Klein, he came to
Paris in 1830 where he remained three years. In Berlin he completed
several works for orchestra, and some for chorus. In 1834 he went to
Italy where he was organist in the Prussian Embassy at Rome and became
interested in opera. From 1837 to 1838 he was principal conductor at the
Kaerthnerthor Theater in Vienna. Then he returned to Italy to devote
himself to the writing of operas, the first of which, _Rosmonda
d’Inghilterra_ was a failure when produced in Turin in 1838. His second
opera, however, was a major success when first given in Turin in 1840:
_Il Templario_ based on Sir Walter Scott’s _Ivanhoe_; it was produced in
Naples and Vienna. In 1841 Nicolai came to Vienna to serve for six years
as Kapellmeister to the court. During this period, in 1842, he helped to
found the renowned Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1847 he came to
Berlin to become conductor of the Domchor. It was here that he completed
the work upon which his reputation rests, the comic opera, _The Merry
Wives of Windsor_ (_Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor_). He died in Berlin
of an apoplectic stroke on May 11, 1849, only two months after the
première performance of his famous comic opera.
_The Merry Wives of Windsor_ (_Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor_) is
Nicolai’s only opera to survive; and its overture is his only work for
orchestra which retains its popularity. The opera received a highly
successful première in Berlin on March 8, 1849. Its libretto, by Hermann
Salomon Mosenthal, is based on Shakespeare’s comedy and follows that
play with only minor modifications. Falstaff’s cronies (Bardolph, Pistol
and Nym) are omitted; only slight reference is made to the love of Anne
and Fenton; and considerable attention is paid to Falstaff’s comical
amatory overtures to Mistresses Ford and Page.
The overture opens with a slow introduction in which a flowing melody is
given against a high G in the violins. This melody is repeated by
several different sections of the orchestra, then treated in imitation.
The main part of the overture is made up of two vivacious melodies, the
second of which, in the violins, is intended to depict Mistress Page.
The development of both themes is in a gay mood, with a robust passage
in F minor representing Falstaff. The overture concludes with an
animated coda.
From the opera itself come three melodious vocal selections, prominent
in all orchestral potpourris: Falstaff’s drinking song, a long time
favorite of German bassos, “_Als Bueblein klein_”; Fenton’s serenade to
Anne Page, “_Horch, die Lerche singt in Haim_”; and Mistress Page’s
third-act ballad of Herne the Hunter.
Siegfried Ochs
Siegfried Ochs was born in Frankfort on the Main, Germany, on April 19,
1858. While studying medicine, he attended the Berlin High School for
Music. Then deciding upon music as a life’s career, he continued his
music study with private teachers and became a protégé of Hans von
Buelow. In 1882 he founded the Philharmonic Choir of Berlin, one of
Germany’s most celebrated choral groups. He remained its conductor even
after it merged with the chorus of the Berlin High School for Music in
1920. Ochs died in Berlin on February 6, 1929.
Ochs wrote several comic operas, song cycles, and some choral music. A
semi-classical favorite is the set of orchestral variations on the
well-known German folk song, “_Kommt ein Vogel_.” These variations are
each in the style of a famous composer—Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner,
Johann Strauss II, and so on; and each variation shows a remarkable
skill, and a winning wit, in mimicking the individual creative
mannerisms and idiosyncrasies of each composer.
Jacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach was born Jacques Oberst in Cologne, Germany, on June
20, 1819; his father was a cantor in one of the city synagogues. After
attending the Paris Conservatory, Offenbach played the cello in the
orchestra of the Opéra-Comique. Then, in 1849 he became conductor at the
Théâtre Français. In 1850 he achieved his initial success as a composer
with the song, “_Chanson de Fortunio_” interpolated into a production of
the Alfred de Musset drama, _Chandelier_. Three years later his first
operetta, _Pepito_, was produced at the Théâtre des Variétés. Between
1855 and 1866 he directed his own theater where operettas were given,
Les Bouffes Parisiens, which opened on July 5, 1855 with a performance
of one of his own works, _Les Deux aveugles_. For his theater Offenbach
wrote many operettas including his masterwork in that genre, _Orpheus in
the Underworld_, in 1858. After closing down the Bouffes Parisiens,
Offenbach went to Germany and Austria where he had produced several more
of his operettas. But in 1864 he was back in Paris. The première of _La
Belle Hélène_ at the Variétés that year enjoyed a spectacular success.
Among his later operettas were _La Vie parisienne_ (1866), _La Grande
Duchesse de Gérolstein_ (1867), and _La Périchole_ (1868). In 1877 he
toured the United States, an account of which was issued in America in
1957 under the title of _Orpheus in America_. Towards the end of his
life Offenbach devoted himself to the writing of his one and only grand
opera, _The Tales of Hoffmann_ (_Les Contes d’Hoffmann_). He did not
live to see it performed. He died in Paris on October 5, 1880, about
half a year before the première of his opera at the Opéra-Comique on
February 10, 1881.
Offenbach was the genius of the opéra-bouffe, or French operetta. His
music never lacked spontaneity or gaiety, sparkle or engaging lyricism.
His writing had the warmth of laughter, the sting of satire, and the
caress of sincere and heartfelt emotion. His lovable melodies woo and
win the listener. The lightness of his touch and the freshness of his
humor give voice to the joy of good living. Like his celebrated Viennese
contemporary, Johann Strauss II, Offenbach is a giant figure in
semi-classical music. To the lighter musical repertory he brings the
invention and imagination of a master.
The _Apache Dance_ is the dashing music that invariably accompanies a
performance of French Apache dances, though there are few that know
Offenbach wrote it. Actually, the _Apache Dance_ is an adaptation of the
main melody of a waltz (“_Valse des Papillons_”) from Offenbach’s comic
opera, _Le Roi Carotte_ (1872).
_La Belle Hélène_ (_Fair Helen_), first performed in Paris on December
17, 1864, draws material for laughter and satire from mythology. Henri
Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy prepared the text which is based on the love
of Paris and Helen that led to the Trojan war. But this story is told
with tongue-in-cheek frivolity, and the life of the Greeks is gaily
parodied. One of the most familiar musical excerpts from _La Belle
Hélène_ is whirling Can-Can music—the Can-Can being the voluptuous
French dance which first became popular in Paris in 1830 and which
contributed to the quadrille high kicks, skirt-lifting and other
suggestive and at times vulgar movements. (Offenbach also wrote
brilliant Can-Can music for _Orpheus in the Underworld_, _Barbe-Bleue_,
and _La Vie parisienne_.) Other delightful episodes from this operetta
are Helen’s invocation with chorus, “_Amours divins_,” and her highly
lyrical airs, “_On me nomme Hélène_,” “_Un mari Sage_,” and “_La vrai!
je ne suis pas coupable_.”
The Galop is almost as much a specialty with Offenbach as the Can-Can.
This is a spirited, highly rhythmic dance of German origin introduced in
Paris in 1829. Two of Offenbach’s best known Galops appear respectively
in _La Grande Duchess de Gérolstein_ (1867) and _Geneviève de Brabant_
(1859).
It is perhaps not generally known that the famous “Marine’s Hymn”
familiar to all Americans as “From the Halls of Montezuma” also comes
out of _Geneviève de Brabant_. The Hymn was copyrighted by the Marine
Corps in 1919. It is known that the lyric was written in 1847 by an
unidentified Marine. The melody was taken from one of the airs in
Offenbach’s operetta, _Geneviève de Brabant_.
_Orpheus in the Underworld_ (_Orphée aux enfers_) is Offenbach’s
masterwork, first produced in Paris on October 21, 1858. This delightful
comic opera, with book by Hector Crémieux and Ludovic Halévy, is a
satire on the Olympian gods in general, and specifically on the legend
of Orpheus and Eurydice. _Orpheus in the Underworld_ was not at first
successful since audiences did not seem to find much mirth in a satire
on Olympian gods. But when a powerful French critic, Jules Janin,
violently attacked it as a “profanation of holy and glorious antiquity,”
the curiosity of Parisians was aroused, and the crowds began swarming
into the theater. Suddenly _Orpheus in the Underworld_ became a vogue;
it was the thing to see and discuss; its music (particularly the
waltzes, galops, and quadrilles) were everywhere played. The operetta
had a run of 227 performances.
The Overture is a perennial favorite of salon and pop orchestras
throughout the world. It opens briskly, then progresses to the first
subject, a light and gay tune for strings. The heart of the overture is
the second main melody, a sentimental song first heard in solo violin,
and later repeated by full orchestra.
The Can-Can music in _Orpheus in the Underworld_ is also famous. Much of
its effect is due to the fact that Offenbach presented the can-can
immediately after a stately minuet in order to emphasize the contrast
between two periods in French history. A contemporary described this
Can-Can music as follows: “This famous dance ... has carried away our
entire generation as would a tempestuous whirlwind. Already the first
sounds of the furiously playing instruments seem to indicate the call to
a whole world to awake and plunge into the wild dance. These rhythms
appear to have the intention of shocking all the resigned, all the
defeated, out of their lethargy and, by the physical and moral upheaval
which they arouse, to throw the whole fabric of society into confusion.”
_The Tales of Hoffmann_ (_Les Contes d’Hoffmann_) is Offenbach’s only
serious opera; but even here we encounter some semi-classical favorites.
This opera, one of the glories of the French lyric theater, was based on
stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann, adapted into a libretto by Jules Barbier
and Michel Carré. It concerns the three tragic loves of the poet
Hoffmann: Olympia, a mechanical doll; Giulietta, who is captive to a
magician; and Antonia, a victim of consumption.
The “Barcarolle” from this opera is surely one of the most popular
selections from the world of opera. It opens the second act. Outside
Giulietta’s palace in Venice, Hoffmann hears the strains of this music
sung by his friend Nicklausse and Giulietta as they praise the beauty of
the Venetian night. Harp arpeggios suggest the lapping of the Venetian
waters in the canal, providing a soothing background to one of the most
radiant melodies in French music. It is interesting to remark that
Offenbach did not write this melody directly for this opera. He had
previously used it in 1864 as a ghost song for an opera-ballet, _Die
Rheinnixen_.
Two dance episodes from _The Tales of Hoffmann_ are also frequently
performed outside the opera house. One is the infectious waltz which
rises to a dramatic climax in the first act. To this music Hoffmann
dances with the mechanical doll, Olympia, with whom he is in love. The
second is an enchanting little Minuet, used as entr’acte music between
the first and second acts.
A collation of some of Offenbach’s most famous melodies from various
operettas can be found in _La Gaieté parisienne_, an orchestral suite
adapted from a score by Manuel Rosenthal to a famous contemporary
ballet. This one-act ballet, with choreography by Leonide Massine and
scenario by Comte Étienne de Beaumont, was introduced in Monte Carlo by
the Ballet Russe in 1938. The setting is a fashionable Parisian
restaurant of the 19th century; and the dance offers a colorful picture
of Parisian life and mores of that period, climaxed by a stunning
Can-Can. Musical episodes are used from _Orpheus in the Underworld_, _La
Périchole_, _La Vie parisienne_, and several other Offenbach
opéra-bouffes. Beloved Offenbach melodies from various opéra-bouffes
were adapted for the score of a Broadway musical produced in 1961, _The
Happiest Girl in the World_.
Ignace Jan Paderewski
Ignace Jan Paderewski, one of the world’s foremost piano virtuosos and
one of Poland’s most renowned statesmen, was born in Kurylówka, Podolia,
on November 18, 1860. A child prodigy, he was given piano lessons from
his third year on. Several patrons arranged to send him to the Warsaw
Conservatory, from which he was graduated in 1878. Between 1881 and 1883
he studied composition and orchestration in Berlin, and from 1884 to
1887 piano with Leschetizky in Vienna. Paderewski’s first major success
as a pianist came in Vienna in 1889, a concert that was the beginning of
a virtuoso career extending for about half a century and carrying him
triumphantly to all parts of the world. In 1919 he temporarily withdrew
from music to become the first Premier of the Polish Republic, but about
a year later he resumed concert work. He made his American debut in New
York in 1891, and his last American tour took place in 1939. During the
early part of World War II he returned to political activity as
President of the Parliament of the Polish Government in Exile. He died
in New York on June 29, 1941. By order of President Roosevelt he was
given a state burial in Arlington National Cemetery.
Paderewski produced many ambitious compositions, some in the style of
Polish folk music; these included the opera _Manru_, a symphony, piano
concerto, the _Polish Fantasy_ for piano and orchestra and numerous
shorter compositions for the piano. Ironically it is not for one of his
ambitious works that he is most often recalled as a composer, but
through a slight piece: the _Minuet_ in G, or _Menuet à l’antique_, a
graceful, well-mannered composition in an 18th-century style. This is
one of the three most popular minuets ever written, the other two being
by Mozart and Beethoven. Paderewski originally wrote it for the piano;
it is the first of six pieces collectively entitled _Humoresques de
concert_, op. 14. Fritz Kreisler transcribed it for violin and piano;
Gaspar Cassadó for cello and piano. It has, of course, been frequently
adapted for orchestra.
Gabriel Pierné
Gabriel Pierné was born in Metz, France, on August 16, 1863. He attended
the Paris Conservatory for eleven years, a pupil of Massenet and César
Franck. He won numerous awards there including the Prix de Rome in 1882.
After returning from Rome, he succeeded Franck as organist of the Ste.
Clothilde Church in Paris, retaining this post until 1898. From 1903
until 1932 he was, first the assistant, and from 1910 on the principal,
conductor of the Colonne Orchestra. He combined his long and fruitful
career as conductor with that of composer, producing a vast library of
music in virtually every form, including operas, oratorios, ballets,
symphonic and chamber music. He achieved renown with the oratorio _The
Children’s Crusade_ (_La Croisade des enfants_), introduced in 1905 and
soon after that winner of the City of Paris Award. Another major success
came with the ballet, _Cydalise and the Satyr_ in 1923. A conservative
composer, Pierné utilized traditional forms with distinction, and filled
them with beautiful lyricism, well-sounding harmonies, and a poetic
speech. In 1925 Pierné was elected member of the Académie des
Beaux-Arts. He died in Ploujean, France, on July 17, 1937.
The _Entrance of the Little Fauns_ (_Marche des petites faunes_) is a
whimsical little march for orchestra from the ballet, _Cydalise and the
Satyr_ (_Cydalise et le chèvre-pied_), introduced at the Paris Opéra on
January 15, 1923. A saucy tune for muted trumpet is juxtaposed against
the wail of piccolos; all the while an incisive rhythm is projected not
only by the snare drum and tambourine but also by the violinists tapping
the wood of their bows on the strings. Within the ballet this march
accompanies the appearance of a group of small fauns, led by their
teacher, an old satyr, as they enter school to learn pan pipes.
The _March of the Little Lead Soldiers_ (_Marche des petits soldats de
plomb_) originated as a piano piece in the _Album pour mes petits amis_,
op. 14 (1887), but was subsequently orchestrated by the composer. It
opens with a muted trumpet call. A snare drum then establishes the
rhythm and sets the stage for the appearance of the main march melody in
solo flute.
Jean-Robert Planquette
Jean-Robert Planquette was born in Paris on July 31, 1848. He attended
the Paris Conservatory after which he supported himself by writing
popular songs and chansonettes for Parisian _café-concerts_. He started
writing operettas in 1874, and achieved world fame with _The Chimes of
Normandy_ in 1877. He wrote many more operettas after that, the most
successful being _Rip Van Winkle_ (1882), _Nell Gwynne_ (1884) and
_Mam’zelle Quat’Sous_ (1897). He died in Paris on January 28, 1903.
_The Chimes of Normandy_ (_Les Cloches de Corneville_) is one of the
most famous French operettas of all time, and it is still occasionally
revived. Introduced in Paris at the Folies Dramatiques on April 19,
1877, its success was so immediate and permanent that within a decade it
had been given over a thousand times in Paris alone. It was first seen
in New York in 1877, and in London in 1888, major successes in both
places. The book by Clairville and Gabet presents the life of fishing
and peasant folk in Normandy during the regime of Louis XV. Germaine is
in love with the fisherman, Jean, but finds opposition in her miserly
old uncle, Gaspard, who has other plans for her. To escape her uncle,
Germaine finds employment with Henri, a Marquis, who has suddenly
returned to his native village to take up residence in the family castle
rumored to be haunted. The mystery of the haunted castle is cleared up
when the discovery is made that Gaspard has used it to hide his gold;
and the bells of the castle begin to ring out loud and clear again.
Gaspard, after a brief siege with insanity, is made to sanction the
marriage of Germaine and Jean at a magnificent festival honoring the
Marquis; at the same time it is suddenly uncovered that Germaine is in
reality a Marchioness.
This is an operetta overflowing with ear-caressing melodies. The most
famous are Germaine’s bell song, “_Nous avons, hélas, perdu d’excellence
maîtres_”; the Marquis’ lilting waltz-rondo, “_Même sans consulter mon
coeur_”; and Serpolette’s cider song, “_La Pomme est un fruit plein de
sève_.”
Eduard Poldini
Eduard Poldini was born in Budapest, Hungary, on June 13, 1869. His
music study took place at the Vienna Conservatory. Poldini subsequently
established his home in Vevey, Switzerland, where he devoted himself to
composition. His most significant works are for the stage—both comic and
serious operas that include _The Vagabond and the Princess_ (1903) and
_The Carnival Marriage_ (1924). He was also a prolific composer of salon
pieces for the piano, familiar to piano studies throughout the world. In
1935 Poldini received the Order of the Hungarian Cross and in 1948 the
Hungarian Pro Arte Prize. He died in Vevey, Switzerland on June 29,
1957.
_Poupée valsante_ (_Dancing Doll_) is Poldini’s best known composition,
a fleet, graceful melody contrasted by a sentimental counter-subject.
The composer wrote it for solo piano. Fritz Kreisler adapted it for
violin and piano, and Frank La Forge for voice and orchestra. It has
also often been transcribed for orchestra.
Manuel Ponce
Manuel Maria Ponce was born in Fresnillo, Mexico, on December 8, 1882.
His main music study took place in Europe where he arrived in 1905:
composition with Enrico Bossi in Bologna; piano with Martin Krause in
Berlin. After returning to Mexico he gave a concert of his own
compositions in 1912. For several years he taught the piano at the
National Conservatory in Mexico City, and from 1917 to 1919 he was the
conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra there. During World War I
he lived in Havana and New York. After the war he went to Paris for an
additional period of study with Paul Dukas. From 1933 to 1938 he was
professor of folklore at the University of Mexico. In 1941 he toured
South America, and in 1947 he was the recipient of the first annual
Mexican Arts and Sciences Award established by the President of Mexico.
He died in Mexico City on April 24, 1948.
Ponce was a modernist who filled his orchestral compositions with the
most advanced resources of modern harmony, counterpoint and rhythm. But
in his songs he possessed a spontaneous and ingratiating lyricism, often
of a national Mexican identity. It is one of these that has made him
famous in semi-classical literature: “_Estrellita_” (“Little Star”), a
song with such a strong Spanish personality of melody and rhythm that it
was long believed to be a folk song. Ponce first published it in 1914
but it did not become universally popular until 1923 when it was issued
in a new arrangement (by Frank La Forge) and translated into English.
Amilcare Ponchielli
Amilcare Ponchielli was born in Paderno Fasolaro, Italy, on August 31,
1834. For nine years he attended the Milan Conservatory where he wrote
an operetta in collaboration with three other students. Following the
termination of his studies, he became organist in Cremona, and after
that a bandmaster in Piacenza. His first opera, _I Promessi sposi_, was
introduced in Cremona in 1856, but it did not become successful until
sixteen years later when a revised version helped to open the Teatro dal
Verme in Milan. World renown came to Ponchielli with _La Gioconda_,
first given at La Scala in Milan in 1876. Though Ponchielli wrote many
other operas after that he never again managed to reach the high
artistic level of this masterwork, nor to repeat its world success. From
1883 until his death he was professor of composition at the Milan
Conservatory. He died in Milan, Italy, on January 16, 1886.
What is undoubtedly Ponchielli’s most famous orchestral composition,
“The Dance of the Hours” (“_Danza della ore_”) comes from his
masterwork, the opera _La Gioconda_. This opera—first performed in Milan
on April 8, 1876—was based on Victor Hugo’s drama, _Angelo, tyran de
Padoue_, adapted by Arrigo Boïto. The setting is 17th century Venice,
and the principal action involves the tragic love triangle of Alvise,
his wife Laura, and her beloved, Enzo.
“The Dance of the Hours” comes in the second scene of the third act.
Alvise is entertaining his guests at a sumptuous ball in his palace, the
highlight of which is a magnificent ballet, intended to symbolize the
victory of right over wrong. The dancers in groups of six come out
impersonating the hours of dawn, day, evening, and night. The music
begins with a slight murmur, shimmering sounds passing through the
violins and woodwind. Dawn appears. The music is carried to a dramatic
climax with a strong rhythmic pulse as the day unfolds. When the music
achieves mellowness and tenderness, the softness of evening touches the
stage; and with the coming of night the music acquires a somber
character. At midnight, the music is reduced to a sigh. The harp
presents some arpeggios, and a broad melody unfolds. The mood then
becomes excitable as all the twenty-four hours plunge into a spirited
dance, as light conquers darkness.
The most familiar vocal excerpts from this opera are La Cieca’s romanza
from the first act, “_A te questo rosario_”; Barnaba’s fisherman’s
barcarolle (“_Pescator, affonda l’esca_”) and Enzo’s idyll to the beauty
of the night (“_Cielo e mar_”) from the second act; and La Gioconda’s
dramatic narrative in which she plans to destroy herself (“_Suicidio_”).
Cole Porter
Cole Porter was born in Peru, Indiana, on June 9, 1893 to an immensely
wealthy family. Precocious in music, he began studying the violin when
he was six, and at eleven had one of his compositions published. He
pursued his academic studies at the Worcester Academy in Massachusetts
and at Yale; music study took place at the School of Music at Harvard
and subsequently in Paris with Vincent d’Indy at the Schola Cantorum. At
Yale he participated in all its musical activities and wrote two
football songs still favorites there, “Yale Bull Dog” and “Bingo Eli
Yale.” In 1916 he wrote the music for his first Broadway musical comedy,
_See America First_, a failure. During the next few years he was a
member of the French desert troops in North Africa, while during World
War I he taught French gunnery to American troops at Fontainebleau. Just
after the close of the war he contributed some songs to _Hitchy Koo_ of
1918, and in 1924 five more songs to the _Greenwich Village Follies_,
both of them Broadway productions. Success first came in 1928 with his
music for _Paris_ which included “Let’s Do It” and “Let’s Misbehave.”
For the next quarter of a century and more he was one of Broadway’s most
successful composers. His greatest stage hits came with _Fifty Million
Frenchmen_ (1929), _The Gay Divorce_ (1932), _Anything Goes_ (1934),
_Leave It to Me_ (1938), _Panama Hattie_ (1940), _Let’s Face It_ (1941),
_Kiss Me Kate_ (1948), _Can-Can_ (1953) and _Silk Stockings_ (1955).
From these and other stage productions came some of America’s best loved
popular songs, for which Porter wrote not merely the music but also the
brilliant lyrics: “Night and Day,” “Begin the Beguine,” “Love for Sale,”
“You Do Something to Me,” “My Heart Belongs to Daddy,” and so forth. He
was also a significant composer for motion pictures, his most successful
songs for the screen including “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” “In the
Still of the Night,” “You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To,” “Don’t Fence Me
In,” and “True Love.”
The most successful of all the Cole Porter musical comedies was _Kiss Me
Kate_ which began a Broadway run of over one thousand performances on
December 30, 1948, then went on to be a triumph in Vienna, Austria,
where it became the greatest box-office success in the history of the
Volksoper where it was given. In Poland it was the first American music
performed in that country. The text by Bella and Sam Spewack was based
partly on Shakespeare’s _Taming of the Shrew_, but it was really a play
within a play. A touring company is performing the Shakespeare comedy in
Baltimore, Maryland. The musical comedy moves freely from scenes of that
production to the backstage complications in the private lives of its
principal performers. In the end, the amatory problems of the two stars
are resolved within a performance of the Shakespeare comedy. This was
not only Cole Porter’s most successful musical comedy but also the
finest of his scores. Never before (or since) was he so prolix with song
hits in a single production; never before was his style so varied. The
repertory of semi-classical music has been enriched by a symphonic
treatment given the best of these melodies by Robert Russell Bennett.
Bennett’s symphonic presentation of _Kiss Me Kate_ opens with
“Wunderbar,” a tongue-in-cheek parody of a sentimental Viennese waltz.
It continues with the sprightly measures of “Another Openin’, Another
Show,” and after that come the plangent, purple moods of “Were Thine
That Special Face,” “I Sing of Love,” and the show’s principal love
song, “So In Love.”
Serge Prokofiev
Serge Prokofiev was born in Sontzovka, Russia, on April 23, 1891. He was
extraordinarily precocious in music. After receiving some training at
the piano from his mother, he completed the writing of an opera by the
time he was ten. Preliminary music study took place with Glière. In his
thirteenth year he entered the Moscow Conservatory where he was a pupil
of Rimsky-Korsakov and Liadov among others and from which he was
graduated with the Rubinstein Prize for his first piano concerto. His
advanced musical thinking was already evident in his first major work
for orchestra, _The Scythian Suite_, introduced in St. Petersburg in
1916. He continued to develop his own personality, formulating his
highly individual style and creative idiosyncrasies in works like the
ballet _Chout_, the first violin concerto, and the _Classical Symphony_,
all written during the era of World War I. In 1918 he toured the United
States, making his American debut with a New York piano recital on
November 20. While in the United States he was commissioned to write the
opera _The Love for Three Oranges_ for the Chicago Opera. From 1919 to
1933 Prokofiev made his home in Paris, but in 1933 he returned to his
native land to stay there for the rest of his life. Though he was
honored in the Soviet Union as one of its great creative figures—and was
the recipient of the Stalin Prize for his monumental Seventh Piano
Sonata inspired by World War II—he did not escape censure in 1948 when
the Central Committee of the Communist Party denounced Soviet composers
for their partiality towards experimentation, modernism and cerebralism,
in their musical works. Nevertheless, Prokofiev soon recovered his high
estate in Soviet music; in 1951 he received the Stalin Prize again, this
time for his oratorio _On Guard for Peace_ and the symphonic suite,
_Winter Bonfire_. His sixtieth birthday, that year, was celebrated
throughout the country with concerts and broadcasts. Prokofiev died of a
cerebral hemorrhage in Moscow on March 5, 1953.
Prokofiev was one of the giants of 20th-century music. His seven
symphonies, five piano concertos, nine piano sonatas, the opera _War and
Peace_, ballets, chamber music, piano compositions and various shorter
orchestral works are among the most significant contributions made in
our time to music. The highly personal way of writing melodies, his
unusual progressions, his harmonic vocabulary are all present in the few
lighter and simpler works with which he made a significant contribution
to the contemporary repertory of semi-classics.
The _March_ so familiar to radio listeners throughout the United States
as the theme music for the program “The F.B.I. in Peace and War” comes
from the opera _The Love for Three Oranges_ (1921). The libretto by the
composer based on a tale of Carlo Gozzi is a charming fantasy in which a
prince saves himself from death through gloom by means of laughter, and
who then goes at once to rescue a princess from her prison in an orange.
The march occurs in the second act where an effort is being made to get
the Prince to laugh, for which purpose a festival is being arranged. The
march music is played as the court jester drags the reluctant Prince to
these festivities. The quixotic skips in the melody, the grotesquerie of
the musical style, and the pert discords are all typical of Prokofiev’s
creative manner.
_Peter and the Wolf_, a “symphonic fairy tale” for narrator and
orchestra op. 67 (1936) was intended by the composer to teach children
the instruments of the orchestra. But the music is so consistently
delightful for its sprightly lyricism and wit that it has proved a
favorite at symphony and semi-classical concerts. The story here being
told is about a lad named Peter who turns a deaf ear to his
grandfather’s warning and goes out into the meadow. There a wolf has
frightened, in turn, a cat, bird, and duck. But Peter is not afraid of
him. He captures the wolf, ties him up with a rope and takes him to the
zoo.
The composition opens with the following explanation by the narrator:
“Each character in the tale is represented by a different instrument in
the orchestra: the bird by a flute; the duck by an oboe; the cat by a
clarinet in the low register; grandpapa by the bassoon; the wolf by
three French horns; Peter by the string quartet; and the hunter’s rifle
shots by the kettledrums and bass drums.” Then, as the story of Peter
and the wolf unfolds, little melodies appear and reappear, each
identifying some character in the story. Peter’s theme is a lyrical folk
song with a puckish personality for strings. Vivid and realistic little
tunes represent the cat, bird, and duck, each tune providing an amusing
insight into the personality of each of these animals.
_Summer Day_, opp. 65a and 65b (1935) is another of the composer’s
compositions for children which makes for delightful listening. It
started out as a suite of twelve easy piano pieces for children called
_Music for Children_. Later on the composer orchestrated seven of these
sections and called the new work _Summer Day_. In the first movement,
“Morning,” a whimsical little tune is heard in first flute against a
contrapuntal background by other woodwinds, strings, and bass drum.
Midway a secondary melody is given by bassoons, horns and cellos. “Tag,”
the familiar child’s game, is represented in a tripping melody for
violins and flutes; the music grows increasingly rhythmic in the
intermediary section. In the “Waltz,” a saucy waltz tune with an unusual
syncopated construction is presented by the violins, interrupted by
exclamations from the woodwind with typical Prokofiev octave leaps.
“Regrets” opens with a tender melody for cellos, but is soon taken over
by oboes, and then the violins. This melody is then varied by violins
and clarinets. “March” offers the main march melody in clarinets and
oboes. “Evening” highlights a gentle song by solo flute, soon joined by
the clarinet. As the violins take over the melody the pensive mood is
maintained. The concluding movement, “Moonlit Meadows” is dominated by a
melody for solo flute.
Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Puccini was born in Lucca, Italy, on December 22, 1858, to a
family which for several generations had produced professional
musicians. As a boy, Giacomo attended the Istituto Musicale in his
native city, played the organ in the local church, and wrote two choral
compositions. A subsidy from Queen Margherita enabled him to continue
his music study at the Milan Conservatory with Bazzini and Ponchielli.
The latter encouraged Puccini to write for the stage. Puccini’s first
dramatic work was a one-act opera, _Le Villi_, given successfully in
Milan in 1884, and soon thereafter performed at La Scala. On a
commission from the publisher, Ricordi, Puccini wrote a second opera
that was a failure. But the third, _Manon Lescaut_—introduced in Turin
in 1893—was a triumph and permanently established Puccini’s fame. He now
moved rapidly to a position of first importance in Italian opera with
three successive master-works: _La Bohème_ (1896), _Tosca_ (1900) and
_Madama Butterfly_ (1904). Puccini paid his first visit to the United
States in 1907 to supervise the American première of the last-named
opera; he returned in 1910 to attend the world première of _The Girl
from the Golden West_ which had been commissioned by the Metropolitan
Opera. Puccini’s subsequent operas were: _La Rondine_ (1917), _Il
Trittico_, a trilogy of three one-act operas (1918), and _Turandot_
(1924), the last of which was left unfinished but was completed by
Franco Alfano. Operated on for cancer of the throat, in Brussels,
Puccini died of a heart attack in that city on November 29, 1924.
Though Puccini was an exponent of “Verismo,” a movement in Italian opera
which emphasized everyday subjects treated realistically, he poured into
his operas such a wealth of sentiment, tenderness, sweetness of
lyricism, and elegance of style that their emotional appeal is
universal, and he has become the best loved opera composer of the 20th
century. Selections from his three most popular operas are basic to the
repertory of any semi-classical or “pop” orchestra.
_La Bohème_ was based on Murger’s famous novel, _Scènes de la vie de
Bohème_ adapted into an opera libretto by Giacosa and Illica. When first
introduced (Turin, February 1, 1896) the opera encountered an apathetic
audience and hostile critics. It had no big scenes, no telling climaxes,
and most of its effects were too subtle emotionally to have an
instantaneous appeal. But the third performance—in Palermo in
1896—received an ovation. From that time on it never failed to move
opera audiences with its deeply moving pathos and its vivid depiction of
the daily problems and conflicts of a group of Bohemians in mid
19th-century Paris. The central theme is the love affair of the poet,
Rodolfo, and a seamstress, Mimi. This love was filled with storm and
stress, and ended tragically with Mimi’s death of consumption in
Rodolfo’s attic. The following are some of the episodes heard most often
in potpourris or fantasies of this opera: Rodolfo’s celebrated narrative
in the first act, “_Che gelida manina_,” in which he tells Mimi about
his life as a poet; Mimi’s aria that follows this narrative immediately,
“_Mi chiamano Mimi_,” where she tells Rodolfo of her poignant need for
flowers and the warmth of springtime; the first act love duet of Mimi
and Rodolfo, “_O soave fanciulla_”; Musetta’s coquettish second-act
waltz, “_Quando m’en vo’ soletta_,” sung outside Café Momus in the Latin
Quarter on Christmas Eve, informing her admirers (specifically Marcello
the painter), how men are always attracted to her; Rodolfo’s poignant
recollection of his one time happiness with Mimi, “_O, Mimi, tu più_” in
the fourth act; and Mimi’s death music that ends the opera.
_Madama Butterfly_—libretto by Illica and Giacosa based on David
Belasco’s play of the same name, which in turn came from John Luther’s
short story—was first performed in Milan on February 17, 1904 when it
was a fiasco. There was such pandemonium during that performance that
Puccini had to rush on the stage and entreat the audience to be quiet so
that the opera might continue. Undoubtedly, some of Puccini’s enemies
had a hand in instigating this scandal, but the opera itself was not one
able to win immediate favor. The exotic setting of Japan, the unorthodox
love affair involving an American sailor and a geisha girl ending in
tragedy for the girl, and the provocatively different kind of music
(sometimes Oriental, sometimes modern) written to conform to the setting
and the characters—all this was not calculated to appeal to Italian
opera lovers. But three months after the première the opera was repeated
(with some vital revisions by the composer). This time neither the play
nor the music proved shocking, and the audience fell under the spell of
enchantment which that sensitive opera cast all about it. From then on,
the opera has been a favorite around the world.
The most celebrated single excerpt from the opera is unquestionably
Madame Butterfly’s poignant aria, her expression of belief that her
American lover, so long absent from Japan with his fleet, would some day
return to her: “_Un bel di_.” Other popular episodes include the
passionate love music of Madame Butterfly and the American lieutenant
with which the first act ends, “_Viene la sera_”; the flower duet of the
second act between Madame Butterfly and her servant in which the heroine
excitedly decorates her home with cherry blossoms upon learning that her
lover is back with his fleet (“_Scuoti quella fronda di ciliegio_”); the
American lieutenant’s tender farewell to Madame Butterfly and the scene
of their love idyl from the third act (“_Addio fiorito_ _asil_”); and
Madame Butterfly’s tender farewell to her daughter before committing
suicide (“_Tu, tu piccolo iddio_”).
_Tosca_—based on the famous French drama of the same name by Sardou, the
libretto by Giacosa and Illica—was introduced in Rome on January 14,
1900. It was a blood and thunder drama set in Rome at the turn of the
19th century; the dramatic episodes involved murder, horror, suicide,
sadism. The heroine, Floria Tosca, is an opera singer in love with a
painter, Mario Cavaradossi; she, in turn, is being pursued by Scarpia,
the chief of police. To save her lover’s life, she stands ready to give
herself to Scarpia. The latter, nonetheless, is responsible for
Cavaradossi’s execution. Scarpia is murdered by Tosca, who then commits
suicide.
Two tenor arias by Cavaradossi are lyrical highlights of this opera. The
first is “_Recondita armonia_,” in the first act, in which the painter
rhapsodizes over the beauty of his beloved Tosca; the second, “_E
lucevan le stelle_,” comes in the last act as Cavaradossi prepares
himself for his death by bidding farewell to his memory of Tosca. The
third important aria from this opera is that of Tosca, “_Vissi d’arte_,”
a monologue in which she reflects on how cruel life had been to one who
has devoted herself always to art, prayer, and love. In addition to
these three arias, the opera score also boasts some wonderful love
music, that of Cavaradossi and Tosca (“_Non la sospiri la nostra
casetta_”) and the first act stately church music (“_Te Deum_”).
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Sergei Rachmaninoff was born in Oneg, Novgorod, Russia, on April 1,
1873. He attended the St. Petersburg Conservatory for three years, and
his musical training ended at the Moscow Conservatory in 1892 when he
received a gold medal for a one-act opera, _Aleko_. In that same year he
also wrote the Prelude in C-sharp minor with which he became world
famous. His first piano concerto and his first symphony, however, were
dismal failures. In 1901 he scored a triumph with his Second Piano
Concerto which, since then, has been not only the composer’s most
celebrated composition in a large form but also one of the best loved
and most frequently performed piano concertos of the 20th century.
Rachmaninoff combined his success as composer with that as piano
virtuoso. Beginning with 1900 he toured the world of music achieving
recognition everywhere as one of the most renowned concert artists of
his generation. The first of his many tours of America took place in
1909. He also distinguished himself as a conductor, first at the Bolshoi
Theater between 1904 and 1906, and later with the Moscow Philharmonic.
As a composer he enhanced his reputation with a remarkable second
symphony, two more piano concertos, and sundry works for orchestra. He
was a traditionalist who preferred working within the structures and
with the techniques handed down to him by Tchaikovsky. Like Tchaikovsky
whom he admired and emulated, he wore his heart on his sleeve, ever
preferring to make his music the vehicle for profoundly felt emotions.
His broad rhapsodic style makes his greatest music an ever stirring
emotional experience. In 1917 Rachmaninoff left Russia for good,
establishing his permanent home first in Lucerne, Switzerland, and in
1935 in the United States. All the while he continued to tour the world
as concert pianist. His last years were spent in Beverly Hills,
California, where he died on March 28, 1943.
The Prelude in C-sharp minor, op. 3, no. 2 (1892) is Rachmaninoff’s most
popular composition; the transcriptions and adaptations it has received
are of infinite variety. He wrote it when he was nineteen and
instantaneously the piece traveled around the globe. Unfortunately, the
composer never profited commercially from this formidable success,
having sold the composition outright for a pittance. The Prelude opens
in a solemn mood with a theme sounding like the tolling of bells, or the
grim pronouncement by some implacable fate. The second theme is agitated
and restless, but before the composition ends the solemn first theme
recurs. Numerous efforts have been made to provide this dramatic music
with a program, including one which interpreted it in terms of the
burning of Moscow in 1812.
The Prelude in G minor, op. 23, no. 5, for piano (1904), is almost as
famous. The opening subject has the character of a brisk military march,
while the contrasting second theme is nostalgic and reflective.
The _Vocalise_, op. 34, no. 14 (1912) is one of the composer’s best
known vocal compositions. This is a wordless song—a melody sung only on
vowels, a “vocalise” being actually a vocal exercise. Rachmaninoff
himself transcribed this work for orchestra, a version perhaps better
known than the original vocal one. Many other musicians have made sundry
other transcriptions, including one for piano, and others for solo
instruments and piano.
Joachim Raff
Joseph Joachim Raff was born in Lachen, on the Lake of Zurich,
Switzerland, on May 27, 1822. He was mostly self-taught in music, while
pursuing the career of schoolmaster. Some of his early compositions were
published through Mendelssohn’s influence, a development that finally
encouraged Raff to give up schoolteaching and devote himself completely
to music. An intimate association with Liszt led to the première of an
opera, _King Alfred_, in Weimar in 1851. In 1863, his symphony, _An das
Vaterland_, received first prize from the Vienna Gesellschaft der
Musikfreunde. From 1877 until his death he was director of Hoch’s
Conservatory in Frankfort, Germany. He died in that city on June 25,
1882.
A prolific composer of symphonies, concertos, overtures, quartets,
sonatas and sundry other works, Raff was a major figure in the German
Romantic movement, highly regarded by his contemporaries, but forgotten
since his death. Only some of his minor pieces are remembered. The most
popular is the _Cavatina_ in A-flat major, op. 85, no. 3, for violin and
piano, a perennial favorite with violin students and young violinists,
and no less familiar in various orchestral adaptations. A “cavatina” is
a composition for an instrument with the lyric character of a song.
Raff’s broad and expressive melody has an almost religious stateliness.
Another popular Raff composition in a smaller dimension is the
picturesque piano piece, _La Fileuse_ (_The Spinner_), op. 157, no. 2,
in which the movement of the spinning wheel is graphically reproduced.
Maurice Ravel
Maurice Ravel was born in Ciboure, France, on March 7, 1875. After
studying music with private teachers in Paris he entered the Paris
Conservatory in 1889, remaining there fifteen years, and proving himself
a brilliant (if at times an iconoclastic) student. While still at the
Conservatory his _Menuet antique_ for piano was published, and _Les
Sites auriculaires_ for two pianos was performed. By the time he left
the Conservatory he was already a composer of considerable stature,
having completed two remarkable compositions for the piano—_Pavane pour
une Infante défunte_ and _Jeux d’eau_, both introduced in 1902—and an
unqualified masterwork, the String Quartet, first performed in 1904. The
fact that a composer of such attainments had four times failed to win
the Prix de Rome created such a scandal in Paris that the director of
the Paris Conservatory, Théodore Dubois, was compelled to resign. But
Ravel’s frustrations from failing to win the Prix de Rome did not affect
the quality of his music. In the succeeding years he produced a
succession of masterworks: the ballet _Daphnis and Chloe_, its première
by the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in Paris on June 8, 1912; the
_Spanish Rhapsody_ (_Rapsodie espagnole_) for orchestra; the suite
_Miroirs_, for piano. During World War I, Ravel served at the front in
an ambulance corps. After the war, he withdrew to his villa in Montfort
l’Amaury where he lived in comparative seclusion, devoted mainly to
creative work. Nevertheless, in 1928, he toured the United States,
making his American debut in Boston with the Boston Symphony on January
12, 1929; Ravel died in Paris on December 28, 1937, following an
unsuccessful operation on the brain.
One of the most significant of Impressionists after Debussy, Ravel was
the creator of music that is highly sensitive in its moods, elegant in
style, exquisite in detail, and usually endowed with the most stunning
effects of instrumentation, rhythm, and harmony. Some of his best-known
works derive their inspiration and material from Spanish sources. It is
one of these that is probably his most popular orchestral composition,
and one of the most popular of the 20th century, the _Bolero_. A
“bolero” is a Spanish dance in ¾ time accompanied by clicking castanets.
Ravel wrote his _Bolero_ in 1928 as ballet music for Ida Rubinstein who
introduced it in Paris on November 22, 1928. But _Bolero_ has since then
separated itself from the dance to become a concert hall favorite. When
Toscanini directed the American première in 1929 it created a sensation,
and set into motion a wave of popularity for this exciting music
achieved by few contemporary works. It was performed by every major
American orchestra, was heard in theaters and over radio, was reproduced
simultaneously on six different recordings. It was transcribed for every
possible combination of instruments (including a jazz band); the word
“Bolero” was used as the title of a motion picture. Such immense appeal
is not difficult to explain. The rhythmic and instrumental virtuosity of
this music has an immediate kinaesthetic effect. The composition derives
its immense impact from sonority and changing orchestral colors. The
bolero melody has two sections, the first heard initially is the flute,
then clarinet; the second is given by the bassoon, and then the
clarinet. This two-part melody is repeated throughout the composition
against a compelling rhythm of a side drum, all the while gradually
growing in dynamics and continually changing its colors chameleon-like
through varied instrumentation. A monumental climax is finally realized,
as the bolero melody is proclaimed by the full orchestra.
Another highly popular Ravel composition has a far different
personality—the _Pavane pour une Infante défunte_ (_Pavane for a Dead
Infante_). Where the appeal of the _Bolero_ is strong, direct, immediate
and on the surface, that of the Pavane is subtle, elusive, sensitive. A
Pavane is a stately court dance (usually in three sections and in ⁴/₄
time) popular in France. Ravel’s _Pavane_ is an elegy for the death of a
Spanish princess. Ravel wrote this composition for piano (1899) but he
later transcribed it for orchestra. An American popular song was adapted
from this haunting melody in 1939, entitled “The Lamp Is Low.”
Emil von Rezniček
Emil Von Rezniček was born in Vienna, Austria, on May 4, 1860, the son
of a princess and an Austrian field marshal. For a time he studied law,
but then devoted himself completely to music study, mainly at the
Leipzig Conservatory. From 1896 to 1899 he was the conductor of several
theater orchestras in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. In 1902 he
settled in Berlin where he founded and for several years conducted an
annual series of orchestral concerts. Subsequently he was the conductor
of the Warsaw Opera and from 1909 to 1911 of the Komische Oper in
Berlin. He also pursued a highly successful career as teacher,
principally at the Scharwenka Conservatory in Berlin and from 1920 to
1926 at the Berlin High School of Music. He went into retirement in
1929, and died in Berlin on August 2, 1945.
Rezniček was the composer of several operas, five symphonies, three tone
poems and various other compositions. His greatest success came with the
comic opera, _Donna Diana_, introduced in Prague on December 16, 1894,
and soon thereafter heard in forty-three European opera houses. The
opera—libretto by the composer based on a Spanish comedy by Moreto y
Cabana—is consistently light and frothy. Carlos is in pursuit of
Princess Diana, and to effect her surrender he feigns he is madly in
love with her. Princess Diana plays a game of her own. Coyly she eludes
him after seeming to fall victim to his wiles. In the end they both
discover they are very much in love with each other.
The opera is almost never heard any longer, but the witty overture is a
favorite throughout the world; it is the only piece of music by the
composer that is still often performed today. A sustained introduction
leads into the jolly first theme—a fast, light little melody that sets
the prevailing mood of frivolity. The heart of the overture is an
expressive melody shared by basses and oboe. It grows in passion and
intensity as other sections of the orchestra develop it. When this
melody comes to a climax, the passionate mood is suddenly dissipated,
and the frivolous first theme of the overture returns to restore a mood
of reckless gaiety.
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was born in Tikhvin, Russia, on March 18, 1844.
Trained for a naval career, he was graduated from the Naval School in
St. Petersburg in 1862, after which he embarked on a two-and-a-half-year
cruise as naval officer. From earliest boyhood he had been passionately
interested in music, especially the folk operas of Glinka and Russian
ecclesiastical music. When he was seventeen, he was encouraged by
Balakirev to essay composition. After returning to Russia in 1864,
Rimsky-Korsakov associated himself with the national Russian school then
being realized by Balakirev and Mussorgsky among others, and completed
his first symphony, introduced in St. Petersburg in 1865. He plunged
more deeply into musical activity after that by completing several
ambitious works of national character, including the _Antar Symphony_
and an opera, _The Maid of Pskov_. In 1873 he was relieved by the
government of all his naval duties and allowed to devote himself
completely to music. At that time the special post of Inspector of
Military Orchestras was created for him. He soon distinguished himself
as a conductor of the Free Music Society in St. Petersburg and as
professor of composition and orchestration at the St. Petersburg
Conservatory. He did not neglect composition, producing many significant
operas and orchestral works. In his music he remained faithful to
national ideals by filling his music with melodies patterned after
Russian folk songs, harmonies derived from the modes of Russian church
music, and rhythms simulating those of Russian folk dances. To all his
writing he brought an extraordinary technical skill in structure,
orchestration and harmony. He died of a heart attack in Liubensk,
Russia, on June 21, 1908.
The exotic personality and harmonic and instrumental brilliance of
Eastern music are often encountered in Rimsky-Korsakov. They are found
in two extremely popular excerpts from his opera _Le Coq d’or_ (_The
Golden Cockerel_): “Bridal Procession” and “Hymn to the Sun.”
_Le Coq d’or_ is a fantasy-opera, introduced in Moscow on October 7,
1909; the libretto, by Vladimir Bielsky, is based on a tale by Pushkin.
A golden cockerel with the talent of prophecy is presented to King Dodon
by his astrologer. In time the cockerel accurately prophesies the doom
of both the astrologer and the King.
The oriental, languorous “Hymn to the Sun” (“_Salut à toi soleil_”)
appears in the second act, a salute by the beautiful Queen of Shemaka.
After the Queen has captured the love of King Dodon with this song, they
marry. There are many transcriptions of this beautiful melody, including
one for violin and piano by Kreisler and for cello and piano by Julius
Klengel.
The third act of this opera opens with the brilliant music of the
“Bridal Procession.” The royal entourage passes with pomp and ceremony
through the city accompanied by the cheers of the surrounding crowds.
In the vital “Dance of the Tumblers” or “Dance of the Buffoons” for
orchestra, Rimsky-Korsakov skilfully employs folk rhythms. This dance
comes from the composer’s folk opera, _The Snow Maiden_
(_Snegourochka_). The third act opens with a gay Arcadian festival
celebrated by the Berendey peasants during which this gay and exciting
folk dance is performed.
The pictorial, realistic “Flight of the Bumble Bee” is an excerpt from
still another of Rimsky-Korsakov’s operas, _The Legend of Tsar Saltan_.
This is an orchestral interlude in the third act describing tonally, and
with remarkable realism, the buzzing course of a bee. This piece retains
its vivid pictorialism even in transcriptions, notably that for solo
piano by Rachmaninoff, and for violin and piano by Arthur Hartmann.
The “Hindu Chant” or “The Song of India” is also an operatic excerpt,
this time from _Sadko_. It appears at the close of the second tableau of
the second act. Sadko is the host to three merchants from foreign lands.
He invites each to tell him about his homeland, one of whom is a Hindu
who proceeds in an Oriental melody to speak of the magic and mystery of
India.
The _Russian Easter Overture_ (_La Grand pâque russe_), for orchestra,
op. 36 (1888) was one of the fruits of the composer’s lifelong
fascination for Russian church music. The principal thematic material of
the overture comes from a collection of canticles known as the _Obikhod_
from the Russian Orthodox Church. Two of these canticles are heard in
the solemn introduction, a section which the composer said represented
the “Holy Sepulcher that had shone with ineffable light at the moment of
the Resurrection.” The first is given loudly by strings and clarinets,
the second quietly by violins and violas accompanied by woodwind, harps,
and pizzicato basses. A brief cadenza for solo violin is the transition
to the main body of the overture where the two canticles from the
introduction are amplified and developed. A brilliant coda leads to the
conclusion of the work where the second of the two melodies is given for
the last time by trombones and strings.
Rimsky-Korsakov’s most famous work for orchestra is the symphonic suite,
_Scheherazade_, op. 35 (1888). Nowhere is his remarkable gift at
pictorial writing, at translating a literary program into tones, more in
evidence than here. This music describes episodes from the _Arabian
Nights_ in four movements which are unified by the recurrence of two
musical motives. The first is that of the Sultan, a forceful, majestic
statement for unison brass, woodwinds and strings; the second is a
tender melody in triplets for strings depicting the lovely Scheherazade.
The Sultan theme opens the first movement, entitled “The Sea and
Sinbad’s Ship.” After quiet chords for the brass, the Scheherazade
melody is heard in solo violin accompanied by harp arpeggios. The music
later becomes highly dramatic as Sinbad’s ship, represented by a flute
solo, is buffeted about by an angry sea, the latter portrayed by rapid
arpeggio figures. The poignant Scheherazade motive in solo violin
introduces the second movement, “The Tale of the Kalendar.” The tale is
spun in a haunting song for bassoon, dramatically contrasted by a
dynamic rhythmic section for full orchestra. The third movement, “The
Young Prince and the Princess” is a tender love dialogue between violins
and clarinets. After a recall of the Scheherazade melody there appears
the finale: “The Festival at Bagdad; The Sea, The Ship Founders on the
Rock.” A brief recall of the Sinbad theme brings on an electrifying
picture of a festival in Bagdad. The gay proceedings, however, are
interrupted by a grim shipwreck scene, vividly depicted by the exciting
music. This dramatic episode passes, and the suite ends with a final
statement of the Scheherazade theme.
The _Spanish Caprice_ (_Capriccio espagnol_), for orchestra, op. 34
(1887) is one of the composer’s rare attempts at exploiting the folk
music of a country other than his own. There are five parts. The first
is a morning song, or “Alborada,” in which two main subjects of Spanish
identity are given by the full orchestra. This is followed by
“Variations.” A Spanish melody is here subjected to five brief
variations. In the third part, the Alborada music returns in a changed
tonality and orchestration. The fourth movement is entitled “Scene and
Gypsy Dance” and consists of five cadenzas. The Capriccio ends with
“_Fandango asturiano_,” in which a dance melody for trombones is
succeeded by a contrasting subject in the woodwinds. A last recall of
the main Alborada theme of the first movement brings the work to its
conclusion.
Richard Rodgers
Richard Rodgers was born in Hammels Station, near Arverne, Long Island,
on June 28, 1902. As a child he began studying the piano and attending
the popular musical theater. He wrote his first songs in 1916, a score
for an amateur musical in 1917, and in 1919 created the music for the
Columbia Varsity Show, the first freshman ever to do so. Meanwhile he
had initiated a collaborative arrangement with the lyricist, Lorenz
Hart, that lasted almost a quarter of a century. Their first song to
reach the Broadway theater was “Any Old Place With You” in _A Lonely
Romeo_ in 1919. Their first Broadway musical was _The Poor Little Ritz
Girl_ in 1920, and their first success came with _The Garrick Gaieties_
in 1925 where the song, “Manhattan,” was introduced. For the next twenty
years, Rodgers and Hart—frequently with Herbert Fields as
librettist—dominated the musical stage with some of the most original
and freshly conceived musical productions of that period: _Dearest
Enemy_ (1925), _The Girl Friend_ (1926), _Peggy-Ann_ (1926), _A
Connecticut Yankee_ (1927), _On Your Toes_ (1936), _Babes in Arms_
(1937), _I’d Rather Be Right_ (1937), _I Married an Angel_ (1938), _The
Boys from Syracuse_ (1938), and _Pal Joey_ (1940). From these and other
productions came hundreds of songs some of which have since become
classics in American popular music. The best of these were “Here In My
Arms,” “Blue Room,” “My Heart Stood Still,” “My Romance,” “The Most
Beautiful Girl in the World,” “There’s a Small Hotel,” “Where or When,”
“My Funny Valentine,” “Spring Is Here,” “Falling in Love With Love,” “I
Could Write a Book” and “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered.”
_By Jupiter_, in 1942, was the last of the Rodgers and Hart musicals.
Hart’s physical and moral disintegration made it necessary for Rodgers
to seek out a new collaborator. He found him in Oscar Hammerstein II,
with whom Rodgers embarked on a new and even greater career as composer
for the theater. Their first collaboration was _Oklahoma!_ in 1943, an
unprecedented box-office triumph, and a production that revolutionized
the musical stage by crystallizing the concept and procedures of the
musical play as opposed to the musical comedy. After that Rodgers and
Hammerstein brought to the stage such classics as _Carousel_, _South
Pacific_, and _The King and I_. Other Rodgers and Hammerstein
productions were _Allegro_ (1947), _Me and Juliet_ (1953), _Pipe Dream_
(1955), _The Flower Drum Song_ (1958) and _The Sound of Music_ (1959).
Among the most famous songs by Rodgers from these productions—besides
those from musical plays discussed below—were “A Fellow Needs a Girl,”
“No Other Love,” “Everybody’s Got a Home But Me,” “All at Once You Love
Her,” “I Enjoy Being a Girl,” “Do, Re, Mi,” “The Sound of Music” and
“Climb Every Mountain.” The collaboration of Rodgers and Hammerstein
ended in 1960 with the death of the lyricist.
_Oklahoma!_, _Carousel_, _South Pacific_, and _The King and I_ have
become enduring monuments in the American theater. They are continually
revived, have been adapted for motion pictures, and are perpetually
represented at semi-classical concerts and on records. In whatever form
they appear they never fail to excite and inspire audiences. It is in
these productions that Rodgers has reached the highest creative
altitudes of his career, with music of such expressive lyricism,
dramatic impact, consummate technical skill, and pervading charm and
grace that its survival in American music seems assured. Robert Russell
Bennett has made skilful orchestral adaptations of the basic melodic
material from each of these musical plays, and it is most usually these
adaptations that are most frequently performed by pop and semi-classical
orchestras.
_Carousel_ is the second of the Rodgers and Hammerstein masterworks,
succeeding _Oklahoma!_ by about two years. It is one of the most radiant
ornaments of our musical stage. Oscar Hammerstein II here adapted Ferenc
Molnar’s play, _Liliom_, with changes in setting, time, and some basic
alterations of plot. In the musical version the action takes place in
New England in 1873. Billy Bigelow, a barker in an amusement park, falls
in love and marries Julie Jordan. A charming but irresponsible young
man, Billy decides to get some money in a holdup, when he learns his
wife is pregnant. Caught, Billy eludes arrest by committing suicide.
After a brief stay in Purgatory, Billy is permitted to return to earth
for a single day to achieve redemption, the price for his admission to
Heaven. On earth, he meets his daughter. Through her love, understanding
and forgiveness he achieves his redemption. Thus the musical ends in a
happy glow of love and compassion whereas Molnar’s original play ended
on the tragic note of frustration.
_Carousel_ opened in New York on April 19, 1945. John Chapman described
it as “one of the finest musical plays I have ever seen, and I shall
remember it always.” It received the Drama Critics Award and eight
Donaldson Awards. Since then it has often been revived besides being
adapted for the screen; in 1958 it was presented at the World’s Fair in
Brussels.
The heartwarming glow that pervades the play in Hammerstein’s moving
dialogue and lyrics was magically caught in the score, which begins with
an extended waltz sequence for orchestra. In the play this music is
heard under the opening scene which represents an amusement park
dominated by a gay carousel. This waltz music is a self-sufficient
composition that can be, and often is, played independently of the other
excerpts. The other main musical episodes include the love duet of Billy
and Julie, “If I Loved You”; Billy’s eloquent and extended narrative,
“Soliloquy,” when he learns he is about to become a father; the
spiritual “You’ll Never Walk Alone”; the ebullient “June Is Bustin’ Out
All Over”; two vigorous choral episodes, “Blow High, Blow Low” and “This
Was a Real Nice Clambake.”
_The King and I_, presented on March 29, 1951, was adapted by Oscar
Hammerstein II from Margaret Landon’s novel _Anna and the King of Siam_
(which had already been made into a successful non-musical motion
picture starring Rex Harrison and Irene Dunne). Anna, played in the
musical by Gertrude Lawrence, is an English schoolmistress come to Siam
to teach Western culture to the royal princes and princesses. Her own
strong will and Western independence comes into sharp conflict with the
king, an Eastern despot enacted by Yul Brynner. But they are nonetheless
drawn to each other, partly through curiosity, partly through
admiration. Naturally, since they are of different social stations and
cultures, a love interest is out of the question, but they are
ineluctably drawn to each other, particularly after Anna has managed to
save a critical political situation in Siam through her ingenuity. The
king dies just before the final curtain; Anna remains on as a teacher of
the children she has come to love.
Part of the attraction of Rodgers’ music is its subtle Oriental
flavoring. In the music—as in text, settings and costuming—_The King and
I_ is a picture of an “East of frank and unashamed romance,” as Richard
Watts, Jr., said, “seen through the eyes of ... theatrical artists of
rare taste and creative power.” The Oriental element is particularly
pronounced in the orchestral excerpt, “The March of the Royal Siamese
Children,” with its exotic syncopated structure and orchestration. Other
popular excerpts from this score include Anna’s lilting “I Whistle a
Happy Tune”; her poignant ballad “Hello, Young Lovers”; Anna’s duet with
the king, “Shall We Dance?”; her amiable conversation with the children,
“Getting to Know You”; the King’s narrative, “A Puzzlement”; also two
sensitive and atmospheric duets by the two Siamese lovers, Tuptim and
Lun Tha, “We Kiss in the Shadow” and “I Have Dreamed.”
_Oklahoma!_, the first of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical
plays—which opened on March 31, 1943—made stage history. Its run of
2,248 performances was the longest run of any Broadway musical up to
then; a national company toured for ten years. It was successfully
produced in Europe, Africa, and Australia. But beyond being a box-office
triumph of incomparable magnitude, it was also an artistic event of the
first importance. This was musical comedy no more, but a vital folk play
rich in dramatic content, and authentic in characterization and
background. The play upon which it was based was Lynn Riggs’ folk play,
_Green Grow the Lilacs_, adapted by Oscar Hammerstein II. In making his
adaptation, Hammerstein had to sidestep long accepted formulas and
clichés of the American musical stage to meet the demands of Riggs’
play. Chorus-girl routines made way for American ballet conceived by
Agnes De Mille. Set comedy routines were replaced by a humor which rose
naturally from text and characters. Each musical incident was basic to
the movement of the dramatic action. Even the plot was unorthodox for
our musical theater. At the turn of the present century in West-Indian
country, Laurey and Curly are in love, but are kept apart by their
respective diffidence and a false sense of hostility. An ugly, lecherous
character, Jud Fry, pursues Laurey. Laurey and Curly finally declare
their love for each other. At their wedding Jud arrives inebriated,
attacks Curly with a knife, and becomes its fatal victim when he
accidentally falls upon the blade during a brawl. A hastily improvised
trial exonerates Curly of murder and permits him and his bride to set
off on their honeymoon for a land that some day will get the name of
Oklahoma.
The play opens at once with its best musical foot forward, a simple
song, “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’,” which has the personality of
American folk music. It is sung offstage by Curly. After that the
principal musical episodes include the love song of Curly and Laurey,
“People Will Say We’re in Love”; several songs with a strong American
national identity, including “Kansas City,” “The Farmer and the Cowman,”
“The Surrey With the Fringe on Top,” and the title number; and two
highly expressive numbers, “Out of My Dreams” and “Many a New Day.”
_Slaughter on Tenth Avenue_ is one of Rodgers’ most famous orchestral
compositions, and one of the finest achievements of the school of
symphonic-jazz writing. This music was used for a ballet sequence in the
Rodgers and Hart musical, _On Your Toes_, first produced in 1936. Since
_On Your Toes_ dwelled in the world of ballet, with dancers as principal
characters, ballet episodes played an important part in the unfolding of
the story; these episodes were conceived by George Balanchine. The play
reaches a dramatic climax with a jazz ballet, a satire on gangsters,
entitled _Slaughter on Tenth Avenue_. This is a description of the
pursuit by gangsters of a hoofer and his girl. Caught up in a Tenth
Avenue café, the gangsters murder the girl and are about to kill the
hoofer when the police come to his rescue. Rodgers’ music for the ballet
is an extended and integrated symphonic-jazz composition which has won
its way into the permanent repertory of semi-classical music. It is
constructed from two main melodic ideas. The first is an impudent little
jazz tune, and the second is a rich and luscious jazz melody for
strings.
_South Pacific_, produced on April 7, 1949, was both commercially and
artistically of the magnitude of _Oklahoma!_ Its Broadway run of 1,925
performances was only 325 less than that of its epoch-making
predecessor. In many other respects _South Pacific_ outdid _Oklahoma!_:
In the overall box-office grossage; in sale of sheet music and records;
in the capture of prizes (including the Pulitzer Prize for drama, seven
Antoinette Perry and nine Donaldson awards). The book was adapted by
Oscar Hammerstein II and Joshua Logan from _Tales of the South Pacific_,
a series of short stories about American troops in the Pacific during
World War II. In the adaptation two love plots are emphasized. The first
involves the French planter, Emile de Becque, and the American ensign,
Nellie Forbush; the other engages Liat, a Tonkinese girl, and Lieutenant
Cable. The first ends happily, but only after complications brought on
by the discovery on Nellie’s part that Emile was once married to a
Polynesian and is the father of two Eurasian children. The other love
affair has a tragic ending, since Lieutenant Cable dies on a mission.
With Ezio Pinza as De Becque and Mary Martin as Nellie, _South Pacific_
was “a show of rare enchantment,” as Howard Barnes reported, “novel in
texture and treatment, rich in dramatic substance, and eloquent in
song.” Among its prominent musical numbers are De Becque and Nellie’s
love song, “Some Enchanted Evening”; De Becque’s lament “This Nearly Was
Mine”; Cable’s love song “Younger Than Springtime”; three songs by
Nellie, “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair,” “A Cockeyed
Optimist,” and “I’m in Love with a Wonderful Guy”; two exotic numbers by
the Tonkinese Bloody Mary, “Happy Talk” and “Bali Ha’i”; and a spirited
and humorous choral number by the Marines, “There Is Nothing Like a
Dame.”
_Victory at Sea_ is a nine-movement suite for symphony orchestra adapted
by Robert Russell Bennett from the extended musical score for a series
of documentary films on naval operations during World War II. These
films were presented over NBC television in 1952 and received both the
Sylvania and the George Foster Peabody Awards. Much of the acclaim
accorded to these remarkable films belonged to Rodgers’ background music
which, as Otis L. Guernsey said, “suggested courage, self-sacrifice and
the indomitable spirit of the free man.” A _New Yorker_ critic described
Rodgers’ music as a “seemingly endless creation, now martial, now
tender, now tuneful, now dissonant ... memorable and tremendously
moving.”
The first movement, “The Song of the High Seas,” is a picture of ships
menaced by Nazi U-boats on the seas during the early part of World War
II. They finally get involved in battle. “The Pacific Boils Over”
describes the beauty of Hawaii at peace in a melody suggesting Hawaiian
song and dance. War comes, and this idyllic mood is shattered. A broad
melody for strings ending in forceful chords tells about the tragedy of
Pearl Harbor and the grim business of repairing the damage inflicted
upon it by the Japanese. The third movement is one of the most famous in
the suite, often performed independently of the other sections. It is
stirring and dramatic march music of symphonic dimensions entitled
“Guadalcanal March.” This is followed by “D Day,” its principal melody a
broad, strong subject for brass telling of the gradual build-up of men
and materials for the invasion of Fortress Europe. The fifth movement,
“Hard Work and Horseplay” provides the lighter side of war. American
soldiers find relief from grim realities in mischievous escapades and
playtime. “Theme of the Fast Carrier” brings up the picture of a battle
scene and ends with moving funeral music. In “Beneath the Southern
Cross” we get an infectious tango melody which Rodgers later borrowed
for his hit song, “No Other Love,” for the Rodgers and Hammerstein
musical play, _Me and Juliet_. “Mare Nostrum” recalls the harsh
realities of war, first by presenting a serene Mediterranean scene, and
then showing how it is torn and violated by the fierce naval attack on
North Africa, Sicily, Salerno, and Anzio. The suite ends on a note of
triumph with “Victory at Sea.” A hymn of thanksgiving is sounded. Then
we hear reminders of the “Guadalcanal March” and the seductive tango
melody from “Beneath the Southern Cross.” This tango is soon transformed
into a rousing song of joy and triumph with which the suite comes to a
magnificent culmination.
Sigmund Romberg
Sigmund Romberg was born in Szeged, Hungary, on July 29, 1887. His
boyhood and early manhood were spent in Vienna where he studied
engineering and fulfilled his military service with the 19th Hungarian
Infantry stationed in that city. In Vienna, Romberg’s lifelong interest
in and talent for music found a favorable climate. He heard concerts,
haunted the city’s leading music salons, was a devotee of Viennese
operettas at the Theater-an-der-Wien. Vienna’s influence led him to
abandon all thoughts of becoming an engineer. In 1909 he came to the
United States where he led salon orchestras in various restaurants and
published his first popular songs. In 1912 he was engaged as staff
composer for the Shuberts, for whose many and varied Broadway
productions Romberg supplied all the music. Within a three-year period
he wrote the scores for eighteen musicals, one of which was his first
operetta in a European style, _The Blue Paradise_ (1915) for which he
created his first outstanding song hit, “_Auf Wiedersehen_.” Though he
continued writing music for many musical comedies, revues and
extravaganzas—including some starring Al Jolson at the Winter Garden—it
was in the field of the operetta that Romberg achieved significance in
American popular music. His musical roots were so deeply embedded in the
soil of Vienna that only in writing music for operettas in the manner
and procedures of Vienna did he succeed in producing a lyricism that ran
the gamut from sweetness and sentimentality to gaiety, masculine vigor
and charm. His most successful operettas, which are discussed below,
have never lost their capacity to enchant audiences however many times
they are revived.
Romberg began writing music for motion pictures in 1930 with _Viennese
Nights_. Out of one of his many scores for the screen came the poignant
ballad, “When I Grow Too Old to Dream.” His last huge success on
Broadway was achieved not with an operetta but with an American musical
comedy with American backgrounds, settings and characters—and songs in a
pronounced American idiom. It was _Up in Central Park_ in 1945. His last
musical comedy was _The Girl in Pink Tights_ produced on Broadway
posthumously in 1954. Romberg died in New York City on November 9, 1951.
Three years after his death his screen biography, _Deep in My Heart_,
was released, with José Ferrer playing the part of the composer.
_Blossom Time_ was first produced on Broadway on September 29, 1921 and
proved so successful that to meet the demand for tickets a second
company was formed to perform it at a nearby theater. There were also
four national companies running simultaneously. This musical was derived
from the successful German operetta, _Das drei Maederlhaus_, adapted by
Dorothy Donnelly. The central character is the beloved Viennese composer
of the early 19th century, Franz Schubert, and the plot is built around
the composer’s supposed frustrated love for Mitzi, who, in turn, falls
in love with Schubert’s best friend. The composer’s anguish in losing
her makes it impossible for him to finish the symphony he was writing
for her—and it remains forever unfinished. This tragic episode, however,
has no basis in biographical fact and is entirely the figment of a
fertile operetta librettist’s imagination.
Romberg’s most famous songs were all based on Schubert’s own melodies,
and one became a hit of major proportions: “Song of Love” based on the
beautiful main theme from the first movement of the _Unfinished
Symphony_. Other popular selections include “Tell Me Daisy,” “Lonely
Hearts,” “Serenade” and “Three Little Maids”—all possessed of that
charm, grace and _Gemuetlichkeit_ which we always associate with the
city of Vienna and its popular music.
_The Desert Song_, produced on November 30, 1926, had for its background
the colorful setting of French Morocco. There Margot Bonvalet is in love
with the Governor’s son but is being pursued by the bandit chief, The
Red Shadow. In the end it turns out that the Governor’s son and The Red
Shadow are one and the same person. The principal musical excerpts
include the romantic duet of Margot and The Red Shadow, “Blue Heaven”;
the rapturous love song of The Red Shadow, “One Alone”; and two virile
episodes, “Sabre Song” and “French Marching Song.”
Unlike most Romberg operettas, _Maytime_, presented on August 16, 1917,
did not have a foreign or exotic setting. The action takes place in
Gramercy Park, New York, between 1840 and 1900. However, the tragic
frustrations of the love affair of Ottilie and Richard belong inevitably
in the make-believe world of the operetta. Ottilie is forced to marry a
distant relative. Many years later, Ottilie’s granddaughter and
Richard’s grandson find each other, fall in love, and fulfil the
happiness denied their grandparents. The most important musical number
in this play is the sweet and sentimental waltz, “Will You Remember?”,
which is repeated several times during the course of the action. Other
numbers include “Jump Jim Crow,” “It’s a Windy Day” and “Dancing Will
Keep You Young.”
_The New Moon_—which came to Broadway on September 19, 1928—was
described by its authors (Oscar Hammerstein II, Frank Mandel, and
Laurence Schwab) as a “romantic musical comedy.” Its hero is a
historical character, Robert Mission, an 18th-century French aristocrat
who has come to New Orleans as a political fugitive. In the operetta he
is a bondservant to Monsieur Beaunoir, with whose daughter, Marianne, he
is in love. When the French police arrive to take him back to Paris for
trial, Marianne boards his ship upon which a mutiny erupts on the high
seas. The victorious bondservants now take possession of a small island
off the coast of Florida where they set up their own government with
Robert as leader, who then takes Marianne as his wife. This opulent
score yields one of Romberg’s most beautiful love songs, “Lover Come
Back to Me,” but it is significant to point out that its main melody was
expropriated by Romberg from a piano piece by Tchaikovsky. Other
delightful musical excerpts from this tuneful operetta include the
tender ballads “Softly as in a Morning Sunrise,” “One Kiss” and “Wanting
You,” and the stirring male chorus, “Stout-Hearted Men.”
_The Student Prince_, like _Blossom Time_, was based on a successful
German operetta, _Old Heidelberg_, once again adapted for the American
stage by Dorothy Donnelly. Its first performance took place on December
2, 1924. It has become one of the best loved operettas of the American
theater; there is hardly a time when it is not revived somewhere in the
United States. The setting is the romantic German University town of
Heidelberg in 1860. Prince Karl Franz falls in love with Kathie, a
waitress at the local inn. Their romance, however, is doomed to
frustration, since the Prince must renounce her to marry a Princess.
Romberg’s music is a veritable cornucopia of melodic riches, including
as it does the love duet of Kathie and the Prince, “Deep in My Heart,”
the Prince’s love song “Serenade,” and with them, “Golden Days” and a
vibrant male chorus, “Drinking Song.”
David Rose
David Rose was born in London, England, on June 15, 1910. His family
came to the United States in 1914, settling in Chicago where Rose
received his musical training at the Chicago Musical College. After
working for radio and as pianist of the Ted Fiorito Orchestra, Rose came
to Hollywood in 1938 where he became music director of the Mutual
Broadcasting network. During World War II he served as musical director
of, and composer for, _Winged Victory_, the Air Corps production by Moss
Hart. After the war, Rose became outstandingly successful as musical
director for leading radio and television programs (including the first
Fred Astaire television show for which he received an “Emmy” Award), and
as a composer of background music for many motion pictures. He has also
appeared extensively in America and Europe as guest conductor of
symphony orchestras.
Rose is the composer of several instrumental compositions in a popular
style that have achieved considerable popularity. Indeed, it was with
one of these that he first became famous as a composer. This was the
_Holiday for Strings_, written and published in 1943, a three-part
composition in which the flanking sections make effective use of plucked
strings while the middle part is of lyrical character. _Holiday for
Strings_ received over a dozen different recordings and sold several
million records. Fifteen years later, Rose wrote another charming
composition in a similar vein, _Holiday for Trombones_ in which
virtuosity is contrasted with lyricism. Other instrumental works by Rose
outstanding for either melodic or rhythmic interest are _Big Ben_,
_Dance of the Spanish Onion_, _Escapade_, and _Our Waltz_.
Gioacchino Rossini
Gioacchino Rossini was born in Pesaro, Italy, on February 29, 1792. He
received his musical training at the Liceo Musicale in Bologna. In 1810
he wrote his first opera, _La Cambiale di matrimonio_, produced in
Venice. Success came in 1812 with his third opera, _La Pietra del
paragone_, given at La Scala in Milan. _Tancredi_ and _L’Italiana in
Algeri_, performed in Venice in 1813, further added to his fame and
helped make him an adulated opera composer at the age of twenty-one. In
1815 Rossini was appointed director of two opera companies in Naples for
which he wrote several successful operas. But his masterwork, which came
during this period, was not written for Naples but for Rome: _The Barber
of Seville_ introduced in the Italian capital in 1816. In 1822 Rossini
visited Vienna where he became the man of the hour. In 1824 he came to
Paris to assume the post of director of the Théâtre des Italiens. Among
the operas written for Paris was _William Tell_, introduced at the Paris
Opéra in 1829. Though Rossini was now at the height of his fame and
creative power—and though he lived another thirty-nine years—he never
wrote another work for the stage. He continued living in Paris, a
dominant figure in its social and cultural life. His home was the
gathering place for the intellectual élite of the city, the scene of
festive entertainments. He died of a heart attack in Paris on November
13, 1868.
Rossini was the genius of Italian comic opera (_opera buffa_). His
melodies are filled with laughter and gaiety; his harmonies and rhythms
sparkle with wit and the joy of life. He was at his best when he brought
to his writing an infallible instinct for comedy, burlesque, and
mockery. But he was also capable of a lyricism filled with poetry and
infused with heartfelt sentiments. He was, moreover, a master of
orchestral effect—especially in his dramatic use of the extended
_crescendo_—and highly skilled in contrasting his moods through rapid
alternation of fast and slow passages. He was also a daring innovator in
his instrumentation.
He is a giant in opera, but with his infectious moods and endless fund
of melodies he is also a crowning master in semi-classical music. His
masterwork, _The Barber of Seville_ (_Il Barbiere di Siviglia_) is as
popular with salon orchestras through its merry overture and main
selections as it is in the opera house. _The Barber of Seville_ is based
on two plays by Beaumarchais, _Le Barbier de Séville_ and _Le Mariage de
Figaro_, adapted by Cesare Sterbini. It is a vivacious comedy in which
Count Almaviva, in love with Rosina (ward of Doctor Bartolo who is in
love with her himself) tries to penetrate Bartolo’s household by
assuming various disguises. The Count and Rosina plan to elope, but
Rosina reneges when Bartolo convinces her that the Count is unfaithful
to her. Eventually, Rosina discovers that Bartolo has deceived her. She
marries the Count, and Bartolo finds consolation in the fact that the
Count is willing to renounce Rosina’s dowry in his favor.
When this work was first performed in Rome on February 20, 1816 it was a
dismal failure. This was largely due to a carefully organized uproar in
the theater by admirers of another famous Italian composer, Paisiello,
who had previously written an opera on the same subject. A sloppy
performance did not help matters either. The furor in the auditorium was
so great that it was impossible at times to hear the singers; and
Rossini was in the end greeted with hisses and catcalls. But the second
performance told a far different story. The singing and staging now went
off much more smoothly, and Rossini’s enemies were no longer present to
do their damage. Consequently the opera was acclaimed. Five years later,
a tour of the opera throughout Italy established its fame and popularity
on a solid and permanent basis.
The deservedly famous overture is so much in the carefree and ebullient
spirit of the opera as a whole—and so felicitously sets the tone for
what is soon to follow on the stage—that it comes as a shock to discover
that it was not written for this work. Rossini had actually created it
for an earlier opera, and then used it several times more for various
other stage works, tragedies as well as comedies. The overture opens
with a slow introduction in which the violins offer a graceful tune. A
transition of four chords leads to the main body in which strings
doubled by the piccolo offer a spicy little melody. The same infectious
gaiety is to be found in the second theme which is first given by oboe
and clarinet. A dramatic crescendo now leads into the development of
both themes, and the overture ends with a vivacious coda.
Besides the overture, some of the principal melodies from this opera are
frequently given in various orchestral potpourris and fantasias: Count
Almaviva’s beautiful serenade, “_Ecco ridente in cielo_” and Figaro’s
patter song, “_Largo al factotum_” from the first act; in the second
act, Rosina’s coloratura aria, “_Una voce poco fa_” and Basilio’s
denunciation of slander in “_La Calunnia_”; and in the third act,
Basilio’s unctuous greeting “_Pace e gioia sia con voi_” and Figaro’s
advice to the lovers to get married in haste and silence, “_Zitti,
zitti, piano, piano_.”
_La Gazza ladra_ (_The Thieving Magpie_), first produced at La Scala on
May 31, 1817, is also a light comedy; libretto by Giovanni Gherardini,
based on a French play. The central character is a servant girl falsely
accused of having stolen a silver spoon; she is exonerated when the
spoon is found in a magpie’s nest just as the girl is about to be
punished at the scaffold. The overture begins with an
attention-arresting roll on the snare drum. This is followed by a brisk,
march-like melody for full orchestra. In the main section, the principal
themes consist of a sensitive little tune for strings and a pert melody
for strings and woodwind.
_L’Italiana in Algeri_ (_The Italian Lady in Algiers_) is, on the other
hand, a serious opera. It was first produced in Venice on May 22, 1813,
libretto by Angelo Anelli. In Algiers, Lindoro and Isabella are in love,
but their romance is complicated by the fact that Isabella is sought
after by the Mustafa. The lovers manage to effect their escape while the
Mustafa is involved in complicated rites serving as his initiation into
a secret society. The solemn opening of the overture has for its main
thought a beautiful song for oboe. A crescendo then carries the overture
to its principal section in which two lively melodies are heard, the
first for woodwind, and the second for oboe.
_La Scala di seta_ (_The Silken Ladder_) is an opera buffa which had its
first performance in Venice on May 9, 1812. The libretto by Gaetano
Rossi was based on a French farce involving a young girl who tries
desperately to keep secret from her jealous guardian her marriage to the
man she loves. A brief and electrifying opening for strings in the
overture brings on a sentimental duet for flute and oboe. Two principal
subjects in the main body of the overture include a gay and sprightly
melody for strings, echoed by oboe, and a tender theme for flute and
clarinet accompanied by strings.
_Semiramide_—introduced in Venice on February 3, 1823—is a serious opera
based on Voltaire with libretto by Gaetano Rossi. Semiramis is the Queen
of Babylon who is driven by her love for Asur to murder her husband. Her
later love life is complicated when she discovers that the object of her
passion, a Scythian, is actually her son. Semiramis is killed by a
dagger which Asur directs at her Scythian son; Semiramis’ son then
murders Asur and assumes the throne. The overture opens dramatically
with a gradual crescendo at the end of which comes a slow and solemn
melody for four horns, soon taken over by woodwind against plucked
strings. A short transition in the woodwind brings on a return of the
opening crescendo measures. We now come to the main part of the overture
in which the first theme is for strings, and the second for the
woodwind.
The most famous of all Rossini’s overtures, more celebrated even than
that for _The Barber of Seville_, is the one for the tragic opera
_William Tell_ (_Guillaume Tell_). This is perhaps the most popular
opera overture ever written. It is much more than merely the preface to
a stage work but is in itself an elaborate, eloquent tone poem, rich in
dramatic as well as musical interest, and vivid in its pictorial and
programmatic writing.
_William Tell_, which had its première in Paris on August 3, 1829, is
based on the drama of Friedrich Schiller, the libretto adaptation being
made by Étienne de Jouy and Hippolyte Bis. The hero is, of course, the
Swiss patriot who triumphs over the tyrant Gessler and helps bring about
the liberation of his country.
In the early measures of the overture we get a picture of sunrise over
the Swiss mountains, its beautiful melody presented by cellos and
basses. A dramatic episode for full orchestra then depicts an Alpine
storm. When it subsides we get a pastoral scene of rare loveliness
evoked by a poignant Swiss melody on the English horn. Trumpet fanfares
then bring on the stirring march music which, in our time and country,
has been borrowed by radio for the theme melody of “The Lone Ranger.”
The overture ends triumphantly in telling of William Tell’s victory over
tyranny and oppression.
The contemporary British composer, Benjamin Britten, has assembled
various melodies by Rossini into two delightful suites for orchestra.
_Soirées musicales_ (1936) is made up of five compositions by
Rossini—from _William Tell_ and from several pieces from a piano suite
entitled _Péchés de vieillesse_. The five movements are marked; I.
March; II. Canzonetta; III. Tyrolese; IV. Bolero; V. Tarantella.
_Matinées musicales_ (1941) also gets its material from _William Tell_
and the piano suite. Here the movements are: I. March; II. Nocturne;
III. Waltz; IV. Pantomime; V. Moto Perpetuo.
Anton Rubinstein
Anton Rubinstein was born in Viakhvatinetz, Russia, on November 28,
1829. He studied the piano with Alexandre Villoing after which, in 1839
he came to Paris with his teacher, deeply impressing Chopin and Liszt
with his performances. Between 1841 and 1843 Rubinstein made a concert
tour of Europe, but his career as a world-famous virtuoso did not begin
until 1854 when his formidable technique and musicianship aroused the
enthusiasm of Western Europe. After that he made many tours of the
world, his reputation as pianist second only to that of Liszt; his first
American appearance took place in 1872-1873 when he gave more than two
hundred concerts. He also distinguished himself as conductor of the
Russian Musical Society, and as director of the St. Petersburg
Conservatory which he helped found in 1862. He was one of the most
highly honored musicians in Russia of his generation. He resigned his
post as director of the Conservatory in 1891, and on November 20, 1894
he died in St. Petersburg.
Rubinstein was an extraordinarily prolific composer, his works including
many operas, symphonies, concertos, overtures, tone poems, chamber music
together with a library of music for solo piano. About all that has
survived from his larger works is his Fourth Piano Concerto which is
flooded with Romantic ardor and is often in the recognizable style of
Mendelssohn. Beyond this concerto, only a few of his smaller pieces for
piano are still heard, so delightful in their melodic content and so
charming in mood and atmosphere that they have lost little of their
universal appeal.
_Kamenoi-Ostrow_, though best known as a composition for orchestra,
originated as a piece for the piano. Actually the name _Kamenoi-Ostrow_
belongs to a suite of twenty-four compositions for solo piano, op. 10.
But the twenty-second number has become so popular independent of the
suite, and in so many different guises, that its original title (“_Rêve
angelique_”) has virtually been forgotten and it is almost always
referred to now by the name of its suite. Kamenoi-Ostrow is a Russian
town in which the Grand Duchess Helena maintained a summer palace.
Rubinstein was its chamber virtuoso from 1848 on for a few years, and
while there he wrote his piano suite, naming it after the Grand Duchess’
residence. The solemn melody and its equally affecting countermelody
have an almost religious character, emphasized in orchestral
transcription by a background of tolling bells. Victor Herbert made an
effective orchestral adaptation.
The _Melody in F_ is one of the most popular piano pieces ever written.
It is found in the first of _Two Melodies_, for solo piano, op. 3, but
is most often heard in orchestral transcription, or adaptations for solo
instrument and piano. The vernal freshness of its spontaneous lyricism
has made it particularly appropriate describing Springtime; indeed,
verses about Spring have been written for this melody.
The _Romance in E-flat major_ is almost as well known as the _Melody in
F_. This sentimental melody—filled with Russian pathos, yearning and
dark brooding—is the first number in a set of six pieces for solo piano
collectively entitled _Soirées de St. Petersbourg_, op. 44.
Camille Saint-Saëns
Camille Saint-saëns was born in Paris on October 9, 1835. He was
extraordinarily precocious. After some piano instruction from his aunt
he gave a remarkable concert in Paris in his ninth year A comprehensive
period of study followed at the Paris Conservatory where he won several
prizes, though never the Prix de Rome. In 1852 he received a prize for
_Ode à Sainte Cécile_, and in 1853 the première of his first symphony
attracted considerable praise. From 1858 to 1877 he was the organist of
the Madeleine Church in Paris, a position in which he achieved renown as
a performer on the organ. From 1861 to 1865 he was an eminent teacher of
the piano at the École Niedermeyer, and in 1871 he helped organize the
distinguished Société Nationale in Paris devoted to the introduction of
new music by French composers. From 1877 his principal activity was
composition in which, as in all the other areas in which he had been
engaged, he soon became an outstanding figure. He was made Chevalier of
the Legion of Honor in 1868; Officer in 1884; Grand Officer in 1900; and
in 1913 the highest rank in the Legion of Honor, the Grand-Croix. He
became a member of the Institut de France in 1881. Saint-Saëns paid his
first visit to the United States in 1906, and made his first tour of
South America in 1916 when he was eighty-one. He remained active until
the end of his long life, appearing as pianist and conductor in a
Saint-Saëns festival in Greece in 1920, and performing a concert of his
own music in Dieppe a year later. He was vacationing in Algiers when he
died there on December 16, 1921.
Though Saint-Saëns lived well into the 20th century and was witness to
the radical departures in musical composition taking place all about
him, he remained a conservative to the end of his days. He was, from a
technical point of view, a master. There is no field of musical
composition which he did not cultivate with the most consummate skill
and the best possible taste. He was gifted not merely with a fine
lyrical gift but also at other times with passion, intensity, and a
sardonic wit. He wrote numerous compositions in a light style, but many
of his most serious efforts are readily assimilable at first hearing and
readily fall into the category of semi-classics.
_The Carnival of Animals_ (_Le Carnaval des animaux_), for two pianos
and orchestra (1886) finds the composer in a gay mood. This is witty,
ironic and at times satiric music. The composer regarded the writing of
this work as a lark, thought so little of the composition that he did
not permit a public performance or a publication during his lifetime.
Nevertheless it is one of the composer’s most infectious compositions,
one that never fails to enchant audiences young and old. It was
described by the composer as “a grand zoological fantasy,” and its
fourteen sections represent pictures of various animals. The suite
begins with a march (“Introduction and Royal March of the Lion,”
“_L’Introduction et marche royale du lion_”). After a brief fanfare,
sprightly march music is heard. We can readily guess who is at the head
of the parade by the lion’s roar simulated by the orchestra. After this
we are given a picture of a hen through the cackle in piano and strings,
and of a cock through a clarinet call (“Hens and Cocks,” “_Poules et
coqs_”). This is followed by music for two unaccompanied pianos intended
to depict “Mules” (“_Hémiones_”). Actually this portion was planned by
the composer as a satire on pianists who insist on playing everything in
a strict rhythm and unchanging dynamics. In the fourth movement,
“Tortoises” (“_Tortues_”), two amusing quotations are interpolated from
Offenbach’s _Orpheus in the Underworld_. A cumbersome melody in a
stately rhythm then introduces us to the “Elephant” (“_L’Eléphant_”). In
this part the composer’s fine feeling for paradox and incongruity
asserts itself in contrasting a ponderous theme with a graceful waltz
tune. In the halting music of the next movement, “Kangaroos”
(“_Kangourous_”), the composer aims his satirical barbs not on these
graceless animals but upon concert audiences who insist on talking
throughout a performance. “Aquarium” consists of a sensitive melody for
flute and violin against piano arpeggio figures. In “Personages With
Long Ears” (“_Personnages à longues oreilles_”) donkeys are represented
by a melody with leaping intervals. The “Cuckoo in the Woods” (“_Le
Coucou au fonds des bois_”) consists of a melody for clarinet. “Aviary”
(“_Volière_”) reproduces the flight and singing of birds. “Pianists”
(“_Pianistes_”), the composer feels, belongs to the animal kingdom; the
attempt by embryo pianists to master his scales is here described
amusingly. “Fossils” (“_Fossiles_”) quotes four popular themes from the
classics: from Rossini’s _The Barber of Seville_, Saint-Saëns’ _Danse
macabre_, and two French folk songs. Satire and wit are replaced by the
most sensitive lyricism and winning sentiment in the thirteenth
movement, a section so famous that it is most often heard apart from the
rest of the suite, and in many different versions and arrangements. This
is the movement of “The Swan” (“_Le Cygne_”), a beautiful melody for the
cello in which the stately movement of the swan in the water is
interpreted. A dance inspired by this music was made world famous by
Anna Pavlova. The suite ends with the return of all the preceding
characters in a section entitled “Finale.” In the present-day concert
hall, it is sometimes the practice to present _The Carnival of Animals_
with an appropriate superimposed commentary in verse by Ogden Nash
preceding each section.
_Danse macabre_, tone poem for orchestra, op. 40 (1874) is a musical
interpretation of a poem by Henri Cazalis. The composition opens with a
brief sequence in the harp suggesting that the hour of midnight has
struck. Death tunes his violin and almost at once there begins a
demoniac dance, its abandoned theme first presented by the flute.
Another equally frenetic dance tune is given by Death, the xylophone
simulating the rattle of bones. In the midst of the orgy the solemn
refrain of the “Dies Irae” is sounded. Dawn is announced by the crowing
of a cock. The wild dance dies down and the dancers disappear in the
mist.
_The Deluge_ (_Le Déluge_), op. 45 (1876), is an orchestral prelude to a
Biblical poem, text by Louis Gillet. The inspiration for this music
comes from a passage in the _Genesis_: “And God repented of having
created the world.” Solemn chords preface a fugal passage built from a
theme in violas. After this a beautiful melody for solo violin unfolds
symbolizing humanity in its original state of purity.
The _Havanaise_, op. 83 (1887) is a popular composition for violin and
piano which makes effective use of a languorous Spanish melody set
against the habanera rhythm. “Havanaise” is the French term for
“Habanera,” a popular Spanish dance in slow ²/₄ time said to have
originated in Cuba.
_Henry VIII_, an opera, is remembered for its effective ballet music.
The opera, with libretto by Leonce Detroyat and Armand Sylvestre was
first performed at the Paris Opéra on March 5, 1883. Since its setting
is England during the Tudor Period, the popular ballet music is
restrained, sensitive and graceful. It is heard in the second act during
a festival given by the King of Richmond to honor the Papal Legate. Much
of the material for these dances was acquired by the composer from a
collection of Scottish and Irish tunes and dances provided him by the
wife of one of his librettists. The Ballet Music is made up of five
sections. The first is a restrained Introduction. Then comes “The Entry
of the Clans.” This music, it is amusing to remark, is English rather
than Scottish in style because the composer confused the English Dee
with the Scottish river of the same name and decided to use the English
melody “The Miller of the Dee.” The third movement is a “Scotch Idyll,”
this time a bright Scottish tune in the oboe. The Ballet Music continues
with a “Gypsy Dance” in which a Hungarian-type melody for English horn
is followed by brisker music whose main subject is offered by the
violins. The suite concludes with “Gigue and Finale.”
The _Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso_, op. 28 (1863) is for violin
and orchestra. The main theme of the Introduction is found in the solo
violin in the second measure, accompanied by the strings. A forceful
chord for full orchestra brings on the Rondo Capriccioso section, whose
main melody is presented by the solo violin. The solo instrument later
on also introduces a contrasting second theme. After some embellishment
of both ideas, the orchestra loudly interpolates a third subject which
is repeated by the solo violin. All this material is amplified, often
with brilliant virtuoso passages in the violin. A climactic point is
reached when the first theme of the Rondo Capriccioso is pronounced by
the orchestra against broken chords in the violin. This composition
concludes with a coda marked by virtuoso passages for the solo
instrument.
The _Marche heroïque_, for orchestra, op. 34 (1871) was originally
written for two solo pianos but later the same year orchestrated by the
composer himself. The composition is dedicated to one of Saint-Saëns’
friends, the painter Alexandre Regnault, who served in the French army
and was killed during the Franco-Prussian War. This music has a
seven-bar introduction following which the principal march subject is
given by the woodwind accompanied by plucked strings. In the middle trio
section a contrasting theme is offered by the trombone against an
accompanying figure taken from the earlier march melody. The march music
returns in the closing section, but more vigorously than heretofore. The
composition ends with a powerful coda.
_Le Rouet d’Omphale_ (_Omphale’s Spinning Wheel_), is an orchestral tone
poem, op. 31 (1871), based on an old legend. Hercules is the slave of
the Lydian queen. He disguises himself as a woman and is put to the task
of spinning. The whirr of the spinning wheel is simulated by the violins
at the beginning of the composition. The abused Hercules is then
represented by a somber subject for the bass. Soon the whirr returns in
an increased tempo to point up Hercules’ return to the business of
spinning.
The composer’s most famous opera, _Samson and Delilah_, is represented
on semi-classical programs with its colorful, exciting _Bacchanale_. The
opera was first performed in Weimar in 1877, its libretto (by Ferdinand
Lemaire) based on the famous Biblical story. The Bacchanale comes
towards the end of the opera, the second scene of the third act. At the
Temple of Dagon, the Philistines are celebrating their victory over
Samson and the Hebrews with wild revelry in front of a statue of their
god. A part of these festivities consists of a bacchanale to wild music
Semitic in melodic content, orgiastic in tone colors, and barbaric in
rhythms. The most celebrated vocal selection from this opera is
Delilah’s seductive song to Samson, “My Heart at Thy Sweet Voice” (“_Mon
coeur s’ouvre à ta voix_”).
The _Suite algérienne_, for orchestra, op. 60, is a set of four
“picturesque impressions of a voyage to Algeria,” in the composer’s own
description. The opening movement is a prelude. The sea is here depicted
in a swelling figure while brief snatches of melody suggest some of the
sights of Algiers as seen from aboard ship. “Moorish Rhapsody”
(“_Rapsodie mauresque_”) is made up of three sections. The first and
last are brilliant in sonority and tonal colors, while the middle one is
an Oriental song. “An Evening Dream at Blidah” (“_Rêverie du soir_”) is
a dreamy nocturne picturing a famous Algerian fortress. The most popular
movement of the suite is the last one, a rousing “French Military March”
(“_Marche militaire française_”)—vigorous, at times even majestic, music
representing the composer’s delight and sense of security in coming upon
a French garrison.
Pablo de Sarasate
Pablo de Sarasate was born in Pamplona, Spain, on March 10, 1844. As a
child prodigy violinist he made his debut in Spain when he was six, and
soon thereafter toured the country. In 1859 he completed with honors a
three-year period of violin study at the Paris Conservatory. He was only
fifteen when he initiated a worldwide career as virtuoso which continued
until the end of his life and placed him with the foremost violinists of
his generation. In his concerts he featured prominently his own
arrangements and fantasias of opera arias as well as his original
compositions in all of which he could exhibit his phenomenal technique.
Some of his compositions are now staples in the violin repertory. They
include the _Gypsy Airs_ (_Zigeuenerweisen_), _Caprice Basque_, _Jota
aragonesa_, _Zapatadeo_, and the _Spanish Dances_.
The _Gypsy Airs_ is a fantasia made up of haunting gypsy tunes and dance
rhythms. The heart of the composition comes midway with a sad gypsy song
which finds contrast in the electrifying dance melodies and rhythms that
follow immediately.
Sarasate produced four sets of _Spanish Dances_, opp. 21, 22, 23, and
26, all for violin and piano. The identifiable Spanish melodies and
rhythms of folk dances are here exploited most effectively. The most
famous of these is the _Malagueña_, a broad and sensual gypsy melody
followed by a rhythmic section in which the clicking of castanets is
simulated.
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was born in Vienna, Austria, on January 31, 1797.
He was extraordinarily precocious in music and was early trained to play
the violin, viola and organ. From 1808 to 1813 he attended the Imperial
Chapel School where he received a thorough musical background while
preparing to be a chorister in the Chapel Choir. He showed such
remarkable and natural gifts for music that one of his teachers, the
renowned Antonio Salieri, did not hesitate to call him a “genius.” When
the breaking of his voice compelled him to leave the school in 1813,
Schubert was encouraged by his father, a schoolmaster, to enter the
field of education. For two years, from 1814 on, Schubert taught in the
school owned and directed by his father. During this period he
demonstrated phenomenal fertility as a composer by producing operas,
symphonies, masses, sonatas, string quartets, piano pieces, and almost
150 songs including his first masterpiece, _The Erlking_ (_Der
Erlkoenig_). After 1817, Schubert devoted himself completely to
composition. He remained singularly productive even though recognition
failed to come. Few of his works were either published or performed—and
those that were heard proved dismal failures. He managed to survive
these difficult years only through the kindness and generosity of his
intimate friends who loved him and were in awe of his genius. Combined
with the frustration in failing to attract public notice with his
music—and the humiliation of living on the bounty of friends—was the
further tragedy of sickness brought on by a venereal disease. A concert
of his works in Vienna on March 26, 1828 seemed to promise a turn in his
fortunes. But it came too late. He died in Vienna on November 19,
1828—still an unrecognized composer. So completely obscure was his
reputation that for many years some of his crowning master works lay
forgotten and neglected in closets of friends and associates, none of
whom seemed to realize that they were in the possession of treasures.
Schubert was undoubtedly one of the greatest creators of song the world
has known. His almost five hundred art songs (_Lieder_) is an
inexhaustible source of some of the most beautiful, most expressive,
most poetic melodies ever put down on paper. He created beauty as easily
as he breathed. The most inspired musical thoughts came to him so
spontaneously that he was always reaching for quill and paper to get
them down—whether at his home, or at the houses of his friends, in
restaurants, café-houses, and even while walking through the country.
“The striking characteristics of Schubert’s best songs,” wrote Philip
Hale, “are spontaneous, haunting melody, a natural birthright mastery
over modulation, a singular good fortune in finding the one inevitable
phrase for the prevailing sentiment of the poem, and in finding the
fitting descriptive figure for salient detail. His best songs have an
atmosphere which cannot be passed unnoticed, which cannot be
misunderstood.” But far and beyond his natural gift at lyricism was his
genius in translating the slightest nuances and suggestions of a line of
poetry into tones. It is for this very reason that he is often described
as the father of the _Lied_, or art song.
Because Schubert’s melodies come from the heart and go to the heart they
have been staples in semi-classical literature by way of orchestral
transcription. Thus though they are as lofty and as noble a musical
expression as can be found anywhere, Schubert’s songs have such
universality that they are as popular as they are inspired. These are a
few of the Schubert songs that have profited from instrumental
adaptations:
“_Am Meer_” (“By the Sea”), poem by Heinrich Heine. This stately melody
seems to catch some of the vastness and mystery of the sea. This is the
twelfth song from the song cycle _Schwanengesang_ (1828).
“_An die Musik_” (“To Music”), poem by Franz von Schober (1817). The
glowing melody has caught the composer’s wonder and awe at the magic of
music.
“_Auf dem Wasser zu singen_” (“To Be Sung on the Water”) poem by
Stolberg. This gay, heartfelt tune expresses the composer’s delight in
floating on the water.
“_Ave Maria_,” based on a poem by Sir Walter Scott (1825). This is a
melody of exalted spiritual character touched with serenity and
radiance. August Wilhelmj’s transcription for violin and piano is a
staple in the violin repertory.
“_Du bist die Ruh’_” (“You are Peace”), poem by Rueckert. An atmosphere
of serenity is magically created by a melody of wondrous beauty.
“_Der Erlkoenig_” (“The Erlking”), poem by Goethe (1815). This is one of
Schubert’s most dramatic songs, describing the death of a child at the
hands of the Erlking, symbol of death.
“_Die Forelle_” (“The Trout”), poem by Schubert (1817). This gay tune
gives a lively picture of a trout leaping happily in and out of the
water. Schubert used this melody for a set of variations in his piano
quintet in A major, op. 114 (1819).
“_Gretchen am Spinnrade_” (“Marguerite at the Spinning Wheel”), poem by
Goethe (1814). Against an accompaniment suggesting the whirr of the
spinning wheel, comes Marguerite’s haunting song as she thinks of her
loved one.
“Hark, Hark, the Lark” (“_Horch, Horch, die Lerch_”), poem by
Shakespeare (1826). The melody reflects the light-hearted mood of the
famous Shakespeare verse from _Cymbeline_.
“_Der Lindenbaum_” (“The Linden Tree”), poem by Mueller is a poignant
poem of unhappy love. It is the fifth song in the cycle _Die
Winterreise_ (1827).
“_Staendchen_” (“Serenade”), poem by Rellstab. This is probably one of
the most famous love songs ever written. It is the fourth song in the
cycle _Schwanengesang_ (1828).
“_Der Tod und das Maedchen_” (“Death and the Maiden”), poem by Claudius
(1817). This dramatic song consists of a dialogue between a young girl
and Death, the words of death appearing in a solemn melody while that of
the girl in a breathless entreaty. Schubert used this melody for a set
of variations in his string quartet in D minor (1824).
Like Beethoven and Mozart Schubert wrote a considerable amount of
popular dance music for solo piano, and also for orchestra: German
Dances, Laendler, and Waltzes. All have a vigorous peasant rhythm and
with melodies reminiscent of Austrian folk music. Schubert’s waltzes are
of particular interest since he was one of the first composers to unite
several different waltz tunes into a single integrated composition. The
Schubert waltzes, each a delight, are found in _Valses sentimentales_,
op. 50 (1825) and _Valses nobles_, op. 77 (1827). Liszt adapted nine of
the more popular of these waltz melodies in _Soirées de Vienne_ for solo
piano. The 20th-century French Impressionist composer, Maurice Ravel,
was inspired by these Schubert waltzes to write in 1910 the _Valses
nobles et sentimentales_ in two versions, for solo piano, and for
orchestra.
_Marche militaire_ (_Militaermarsch_) is a popular little march in D
major originally for piano four hands, the first of a set of three
marches gathered in op. 41. This is one of Schubert’s most popular
instrumental numbers. Karl Tausig transcribed it for solo piano, and it
has received many other adaptations including several for orchestra, in
which form it is undoubtedly best known.
_Moment Musical_ is a brief composition for the piano. It is in song
form and of an improvisational character, and is a _genre_ of
instrumental composition created and made famous by Schubert. He wrote
many such pieces, but the one always considered when this form is
designated is No. 3 in F minor, a graceful and lovable melody, the very
essence of Viennese _Gemuetlichkeit_, although it is subtitled “Russian
Air” (_Air Russe_). Fritz Kreisler transcribed it for violin and piano
and it is, to be sure, familiar in orchestral adaptations including one
by Stokowski, as well as versions for cello and piano, string quartet,
clarinet quartet, four pianos, and so forth.
The incidental music to _Rosamunde_ (1823) includes an often played
overture and another of Schubert’s universally loved instrumental
numbers, the _Ballet Music_. When _Rosamunde_ was introduced in Vienna
on December 20, 1823 it was a failure, but this was due more to the
insipid play of Helmina von Chézy than to Schubert’s music. The overture
heard upon that occasion is not the overture now known as _Rosamunde_.
The latter is one which Schubert had written for an earlier operetta,
_Die Zauberharfe_. A dignified introduction is dominated by a soaring
melody for oboe and clarinet. The tempo changes, and a brisk little
melody is given by the violins; a contrast is offered by a lyric subject
for the woodwind.
The Entr’acte No. 2 in B-flat major from _Rosamunde_ is one of
Schubert’s most inspired melodies, whose beauty tempted H. L. Mencken
once to point to it as the proof that God existed. Schubert himself was
fond of the melody for he used it twice more, in his String Quartet in A
minor (1824) and for a piano Impromptu in B-flat major (1827).
There are two musical episodes in _Rosamunde_ designated as _Ballet
Music_. The famous one is the second in G major, a melody so sparkling,
infectious and graceful—and so full of the joy of life—that once again
like the _Moment Musical_ in F minor it embodies the best of what today
we characterize as Viennese. Fritz Kreisler’s transcription for violin
and piano is famous.
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann was born in Zwickau, Germany, on June 8, 1810. Though he
demonstrated an unusual gift for music from earliest childhood he was
directed by his father to law. While attending the Leipzig Conservatory
in 1828 he studied the piano with Friedrich Wieck. In 1829, in
Heidelberg, where he had come to continue his law study, he completed
the first of his works to get published, the _Abegg Variations_ for
piano. He returned to Leipzig in 1829, having come to the decision to
make music and not law his lifework, and plunged intensively into study.
His ambition was to become a great virtuoso of the piano. In his efforts
to master his technique he so abused his hands that a slight paralysis
set in, putting to rest all hopes of a career as pianist. He now decided
on composition. After an additional period of study with Heinrich Dorn,
he completed his first major work, the _Paganini Etudes_ for piano, and
started work on his first symphony. He became active in the musical life
of Leipzig by helping found and editing the _Neue Zeitschrift fuer
Musik_, which became a powerful medium for fighting for the highest
ideals in music. He also formed a musical society called the
_Davidsbuendler_ made up of idealistic young musicians who attacked
false values and philistinism in music. All the while his creative life
was unfolding richly. He wrote two unqualified masterworks for piano
between 1833 and 1835, the _Carnaval_ and the _Études symphoniques_. In
1840 Schumann married Clara Wieck, daughter of his one-time piano
teacher. Their love affair had been of more than five years’ duration,
but Clara’s father was stubbornly opposed to their marriage and put
every possible obstacle in their way. Schumann finally had to seek the
sanction of the law courts before his marriage could be consummated. He
now entered upon his most productive period as composer, completing four
symphonies, three string quartets, a piano quartet, numerous songs, a
piano concerto among other works. In 1843, he helped found the Leipzig
Conservatory where for a while he taught the piano, and between 1850 and
1853 he was municipal music director for the city of Duesseldorf. After
1853 there took place a startling deterioration of his nervous system,
bringing on melancholia, lapses of memory, and finally insanity. The
last two years of his life were spent in an asylum at Endenich, Germany,
where he died on July 29, 1856.
Schumann was a giant in German Romantic music. His works abound with the
most captivating lyricism, heartfelt emotion, subtle moods, and an
unrestricted imagination. There is not much in this wonderful literature
that falls naturally within the category of semi-classics—only three
piano pieces familiar in transcriptions, and a song.
_Abendlied_ (_Evening Song_), a gentle mood picture in the composer’s
most rewarding Romantic vein, comes from _Twelve Four-Hand Pieces for
Younger and Older Children_, op. 85 (1849) where it is the final number.
“_Die beiden Grenadiere_” (_The Two Grenadiers_) op. 49, no. 1 (1840) is
probably the most familiar of Schumann’s many songs. The poem is by
Heine. The music describes with telling effect the reaction of two
French grenadiers on learning that their Emperor Napoleon has been
captured. The song reaches a powerful climax with a quotation from the
_Marseillaise_.
The _Traeumerei_ (_Dreaming_) is the seventh number in a set of thirteen
piano pieces collectively entitled _Scenes from Childhood_
(_Kinderscenen_), op. 15, (1838). Like the _Abendlied_, it is an
atmospheric piece, perhaps one of the most popular compositions by
Schumann.
_Wild Horseman_ (_Wilder Reiter_) can be found in the _Album for the
Young_ (_Album fuer die Jugend_), op. 68, no. 3 (1848). It was made into
an American popular song in the early 1950’s by Johnny Burke.
Cyril Scott
Cyril Meir Scott was born in Oxton, England, on September 27, 1879. His
musical training took place at Hoch’s Conservatory in Frankfort,
Germany, and privately with Ivan Knorr. He went to live in Liverpool in
1898 where he taught piano and devoted himself to composition.
Performances of several orchestral and chamber-music works at the turn
of the century helped establish his reputation. He also distinguished
himself as a concert pianist with performances throughout Europe and a
tour of America in 1921. Though frequently a composer with _avant-garde_
tendencies—one of the first English composers to use the most advanced
techniques of modern music—Scott is most famous for his short pieces for
the piano which have been extensively performed in transcription. His
writing is mainly impressionistic, with a subtle feeling for sensitive
atmosphere and moods. The best of these miniatures, each a delicate tone
picture, are: _Danse nègre_ (_Negro Dance_), op. 58, no. 3 (1908); and
_Lotus Land_, op. 47, no. 1 (1905). The latter was transcribed for
violin and piano by Kreisler and for orchestra by Kostelanetz.
Jean Sibelius
Jean Sibelius was born in Tavastehus, Finland, on December 8, 1865.
Though he early revealed a pronounced gift for music he planned a career
in law. After a year at the University of Helsinki he finally decided
upon music. From 1886 to 1889 he attended the Helsinki Conservatory
where one of his teachers was Ferruccio Busoni, after which he studied
in Berlin with Albert Becker and in Vienna with Robert Fuchs and Karl
Goldmark. He was back in his native land in 1891, and one year after
that conducted in Helsinki the première of his first work in a national
style, _Kullervo_. From then on, he continued producing works with a
pronounced national identity with which he became not only one of
Finland’s leading creative figures in music but also its prime musical
spokesman. In 1897 he was given the first government grant ever bestowed
on a musician which enabled him to give up his teaching activities for
composition. He now produced some of his greatest music, including most
of his symphonies. In 1914 he paid his only visit to the United States,
directing a concert of his works in Norfolk, Connecticut. After World
War I, he toured Europe several times. Then from 1924 on he lived in
comparative seclusion at his home in Järvenpää, which attracted admirers
from all parts of the world. Sibelius wrote nothing after 1929, but by
then his place in the world’s music was secure as one of the foremost
symphonists since Brahms. In Finland he assumed the status of a national
hero. He died at his home in Järvenpää on September 20, 1957.
Some of the compositions by Sibelius enjoying popularity as
semi-classics are in the post-Romantic German style which he had assumed
early in his career; only one or two are in the national idiom for which
he is so famous.
In the former category belongs a slight, sentimental piece called
_Canzonetta_, for string orchestra, op. 62a (1911). As its name implies
it is a small and simple instrumental song for muted strings, deeply
emotional in feeling, at times with deeply somber colorations.
_Finlandia_, for symphony orchestra, op. 26 (1900) is one of Sibelius’
earliest national compositions, and to this day it is the most famous.
Both in and out of Finland this music is as much an eloquent voice for
its country as its national anthem. One can go even further and say that
more people in the world know the melodies of _Finlandia_ than the
Finnish anthem. So stirring are its themes, so identifiably Finnish in
personality and color, that for a long time it was believed Sibelius had
utilized national folk tunes; but the music is entirely Sibelius’. It
opens with a proud exclamation in the brass. After this comes a
sensitive melody for the woodwind, and a prayer-like song for the
strings. The music now enters a dramatic phase with stormy passages. But
there soon arrives the most famous melody in the entire work, a
beautiful supplication sounded first by the woodwind and then by the
strings. A forceful climax ensues with a strong statement which seems to
be speaking in loud and ringing tones of the determination of the people
to stay free.
Performances of _Finlandia_ played a prominent role in the political
history of Finland. When performed in its first version, in 1899, it was
used to help raise funds for a Press Pension fight against the
suppression of free speech and press by the Russians. Within the next
two years (following a radical revision of the music in 1900) the work
was given under various titles: In France it was first performed as
_Suomi_ and then as _La Patrie_; in Germany, as _Vaterland_. In Finland
the music proved so inflammatory in arousing national ardor that Russia
suppressed its performances in that country, while permitting it to be
played in the Empire so long as the title _Impromptu_ was used. When, in
1905, Russia made far-reaching political concessions to Finland,
Sibelius’ tone poem was once again permitted performances. For the next
twelve years it became the national expression of a people stubbornly
fighting for its independence. Performances kept alive the national fire
to such an extent that it has been said that they did more to promote
the cause of Finland’s freedom than all the propaganda of speeches and
pamphlets.
When the Soviets invaded Finland in the first stages of World War II,
_Finlandia_ once again acquired political importance. In the free world,
particularly in the United States, the music was used to speak for the
spirit of a people refusing to accept oppression and defeat.
Another piece of stirring national music that has become a lighter
classic comes out of the _Karelia Suite_ for orchestra, op. 11 (1893),
the _Alla Marcia_ section. This work was written for a historical
pageant presented by the students of Viborg University and consists of
an overture, two melodious sections (_Intermezzo_ and _Ballade_) and the
_Alla marcia_, march music of dramatic surge and sweep, in which
effective use is made of abrupt key changes.
Sibelius wrote several delightful _Romances_ in the German-Romantic
idiom of his early _Canzonetta_. One of these was originally for solo
piano, in D-flat major, op. 24, no. 9 (1903); another for violin and
piano, F major, op. 78, no. 2 (1915). The former has become popular in
transcriptions for salon orchestra; the latter, for violin and
orchestra, and cello and piano. Perhaps the most famous of Sibelius’
_Romances_ is that in C major, for string orchestra, Op. 42 (1903). It
begins with an unorthodox opening, unusual in harmonic structure and
varied in inflections, but its principal melody—a soulful song—is in the
traditional idiom of an uninhibited Romanticist.
The best known of Sibelius’ Romantic compositions, a universal favorite
with salon orchestras, is the _Valse Triste_, for orchestra, op. 44
(1903). This is a section from the incidental music for _Kuolema_, a
play by Sibelius’ brother-in-law, Arvid Jaernefelt; but it is the only
one from this score to get published. This slow and lugubrious melody,
bathed in sentimentality, is a literal musical interpretation of the
following program, translated by Rosa Newmarch: “It is night. The son
who has been watching by the bedside of his sick mother has fallen
asleep from sheer weariness. Gradually a ruddy light is reflected
through the room; there is a sound of distant music; the glow and the
music steal nearer until the strains of a valse melody float distinctly
to our ears. The sleeping mother awakens, rises from her bed, and, in
her long white garment which takes the semblance of a ball dress, begins
to move slowly and silently to and fro. She waves her hands and beckons
in time to the music, as though she were summoning a crowd of invisible
guests. And now they appear, these strange visionary couples, turning
and gliding to an unearthly valse rhythm. The dying woman mingles with
the dancers, she strives to make them look into her eyes, but the
shadowy guests one and all avoid her glance. Then she seems to sink
exhausted on her couch, and the music breaks off. But presently she
gathers all her strength and invokes the dance once again with more
energetic gestures than before. Back come the shadowy dancers, gyrating
in a wild, mad rhythm. The weird gaiety reaches a climax; there is a
knock at the door, which flies wide open; the mother utters a despairing
cry; the spectral guests vanish; the music dies away. Death stands on
the threshold.”
Christian Sinding
Christian Sinding was born in Kongsberg, Norway, on January 11, 1856.
After attending the Leipzig Conservatory from 1877 to 1881 he settled in
Oslo as a teacher of the piano. His first published composition was a
piano quintet in 1884, and in 1885 he directed a concert of his own
music in Oslo. Though he wrote in large forms, including symphonies,
concertos, suites, tone poems and various chamber-music compositions, he
is best known for his smaller pieces for the piano. In 1890 he received
an annual subsidy from his government to enable him to devote himself
completely to composition. One of Norway’s most significant composers,
he was given a handsome life pension in 1915, and in 1916 an additional
government gift of 30,000 crowns. In 1921-1922 he visited the United
States when he served for one season as a member of the faculty of the
Eastman School of Music. He died in Oslo on December 3, 1941.
His smaller pieces for the piano include etudes, waltzes, caprices,
intermezzos and various descriptive compositions. It is by one of the
last that he is most often remembered, a favorite of young pianists
throughout the world, and of salon and pop orchestras in instrumental
adaptations. This is the ever-popular _Rustle of Spring_
(_Fruehlingsrauschen_), probably the most popular piece of music
describing the vernal season. This is the second of _Six Pieces_, for
solo piano, Op. 32 (1896). The rustle can be found in the accompaniment,
against which moves a soft, sentimental song filled with all the magic
of Nature’s rebirth at springtime. In this same suite, a second number
of markedly contrasting nature, has also become familiar—the first
number, played in a vigorous and picaresque style, the _Marche
grotesque_.
Leone Sinigaglia
Leone Sinigaglia was born in Turin, Italy, on August 14, 1868. His
preliminary music study took place at the Liceo Musicale of his native
city and was completed with Mandyczewski in Vienna and Dvořák in Prague.
The latter encouraged him to write music in a national Italian idiom. It
was in this style that he created his earliest significant compositions,
the first being _Danze piemontesi_, introduced in Turin in 1905,
Toscanini conducting. Later works included _Rapsodia piemontese_ for
violin and orchestra; _Piemonte_, for orchestra; a violin concerto; and
various works for chamber music groups, solo instruments and orchestra.
He died in Turin on May 16, 1944.
His best known and most frequently played composition is a gay,
infectious little concert overture, _Le Baruffe chiozzotte_ (_The
Quarrels of the People of Chiozzo)_, op. 32 (1907). It was inspired by
the Goldoni comedy of the same name which offers an amusing picture of
life in the little town of Chiozzo. There Lucietto and Tita are in love,
quarrel, and become reconciled through the ministrations of the
magistrate. A loud theme for full orchestra provides the overture with a
boisterous beginning. A passing tender thought then comes as contrast.
After some elaboration of these ideas, a delightful folk song is heard
first in the oboe, and then in violins. The tempo now quickens, the mood
becomes restless, and the music grows sprightly. An amusing little
episode now appears in woodwind and violins after which the folk song
and the loud opening theme are recalled.
_Piemonte_, a suite for orchestra, op. 36 is a charming four-movement
composition in which the folk melodies and dances of Piedmont are
prominently used. The first movement, “Over Woods and Fields,” opens
with a folk tune, which the composer repeats in the finale. Two other
delightful ideas follow: the first in the horn, repeated by the cellos;
the second in muted first violins. In the second movement, “A Rustic
Dance,” the principal Piedmont dance tune is heard in solo violin and
oboe; a second subject occurs after the development of the first in
lower strings and woodwind. The heart of the third movement, “In the
Sacred Mountain,” is a folk song first offered by the horns, accompanied
by cellos and double basses. The suite ends with a picture of a
festival, “Piedmontese Carnival,” its two vigorous ideas heard
respectively in full orchestra, and in trumpet and first violins.
Bedřich Smetana
Bedřich Smetana was born in Leitomischl, Bohemia, on March 2, 1824.
Though he was interested in music from childhood on, he received little
training until his nineteenth year when he came to Prague and studied
with Josef Proksch. For several years after the completion of his music
study he worked as teacher of music for Count Leopold Thun. He soon
became active in the musical life of his country; in 1848 he was a
significant force in the creation of Prague’s first music school. In
1849, Smetana was appointed pianist to Ferdinand I, the former Emperor
of Austria residing in Prague. From 1856 to 1861 Smetana lived in
Gothenburg, Sweden, where he was active as conductor, teacher, and
pianist. After returning to his native land in 1861 he became one of its
dominant musical figures. He served as director of the music school,
conducted a chorus, wrote music criticisms, founded and directed a drama
school, and organized the Society of Artists. He also wrote a succession
of major works in which the cause of Bohemian nationalism was espoused
so vigorously and imaginatively that Smetana has since become recognized
as the father of Bohemian national music. His most significant works are
the folk opera, _The Bartered Bride_, and a cycle of orchestral tone
poems collectively entitled _My Country_ (_Má Vlast_). Smetana was
stricken by deafness in 1874, despite which he continued creating
important works, among them being operas and an autobiographical string
quartet called _From My Life_ (_Aus meinem Leben_). Total deafness was
supplemented by insanity in 1883 which necessitated confinement in an
asylum in Prague where he died on May 12, 1884.
The rich folk melodies and pulsating folk rhythms of native dance music
overflow in Smetana’s music, providing it with much of its vitality and
popular interest. Smetana’s gift at writing music in the style, idiom,
and techniques of Bohemian folk dances is evident in many of his
compositions, but nowhere more successfully than in his delightful folk
comic opera, _The Bartered Bride_ (_Prodaná nevešta_). This little
opera, first performed in Prague on May 30, 1866, is the foundation on
which Bohemian national music rests securely. It is a gay, lively
picture of life in a small Bohemian village. The principal action
involves the efforts of the village matchmaker to get Marie married to
Wenzel, a dim-witted, stuttering son of the town’s wealthy landowner.
But Marie is in love with Hans who, as it turns out, is also the son of
the same landowner, though by a previous marriage. Through trickery,
Hans manages to win Marie, though for a while matters become complicated
when Marie is led to believe that Hans has deserted her.
In its first version, _The Bartered Bride_ was presented as a play (by
Karel Sabina) with incidental music by Smetana. Realizing that this work
had operatic possibilities, Smetana amplified and revised his score, and
wrote recitatives for the spoken dialogue. In this new extended form the
opera was heard in Vienna in 1892 and was a sensation; from then on, and
to the present time, it has remained one of the most lovable comic
operas ever written.
There are three colorful and dynamic folk dances in this opera which
contribute powerfully to the overall national identity, but whose impact
on audiences is by no means lost when heard apart from the stage action.
“The Dance of the Comedians” appears in the third act, when a circus
troupe appears in the village square and entertains villagers with a
spirited dance. The “Furiant”—a fiery type of Bohemian dance with marked
cross rhythms—comes in the second act when villagers enter the local inn
and perform a Corybantic dance. The “Polka,” a favorite Bohemian dance,
comes as an exciting finish to the first act as local residents give
vent to their holiday spirits during a festival in the village square.
The effervescent overture which precedes the first act is as popular as
the dances. The merry first theme is given by strings and woodwind in
unison against strong chords in brasses and timpani. This subject is
simplified, at times in a fugal style, and is brought to a climax before
a second short subject is stated by the oboe. Still a third charming
folk tune appears, in violins and cellos, before the first main subject
is recalled and developed. The coda, based on this first theme, carries
the overture to a lively conclusion. Gustav Mahler, the eminent music
director of the Vienna Royal Opera which gave this opera its first major
success outside Bohemia, felt this overture was so much in the spirit of
the entire work, and so basic to its overall mood and structure, that he
preferred using it before the second act so that latecomers into the
opera house might not miss it.
Smetana’s most famous work for orchestra comes from his cycle of six
national tone poems entitled _My Country_ (_Má Vlast_), which he wrote
between 1874 and 1879 in a tonal tribute to his native land. Each of the
tone poems is a picture of a different facet of Bohemian life,
geography, and background. The most famous composition of this set is
_The Moldau_ (_Vltava_), a portrait of the famous Bohemian river. This
is a literal tonal representation of the following descriptive program
interpolated by the composer in his published score:
“Two springs gush forth in the shade of the Bohemian forest, the one
warm and spouting, the other cold and tranquil. Their waves, gayly
rushing onward over their rocky beds, unite and glisten in the rays of
the morning sun. The forest brook, fast hurrying on, becomes the river
Vltava, which, flowing ever on through Bohemia’s valleys, grows to be a
mighty stream; it flows through thick woods in which the joyous noise of
the hunt and the notes of the hunter’s horn are heard ever nearer and
nearer; it flows through grass-grown pastures and lowlands where a
wedding feast is celebrated with song and dancing. At night the wood and
water nymphs revel in its shining waves, in which many fortresses and
castles are reflected as witnesses of the past glory of knighthood and
the vanished warlike fame of bygone ages. At St. John Rapids the stream
rushes on, winding in and out through the cataracts, and hews out a path
for itself with its foaming waves through the rocky chasm into the broad
river bed in which it flows on in majestic repose toward Prague,
welcomed by time-honored Vysehrad, whereupon it vanishes in the far
distance from the poet’s gaze.”
The rippling flow of the river Moldau is portrayed by fast figures in
the strings, the background for a broad and sensual folk song
representing the river itself heard in violins and woodwind. Hunting
calls are sounded by the horns, after which a lusty peasant dance erupts
from the full orchestra. Nymphs and naiads disport to the strains of a
brief figure in the woodwind. A transition by the wind brings back the
beautiful Moldau song. A climax is built up, after which the setting
becomes once again serene. The Moldau continues its serene course
towards Prague.
John Philip Sousa
John Philip Sousa, America’s foremost composer of march music, was born
in Washington, D. C., on November 6, 1854. The son of a trombone player
in the United States Marine Band, John Philip early received music
instruction, mainly the violin from John Esputa. When he was about
thirteen, John enlisted in the Marine Corps where he played in its band
for two years. For several years after that he played the violin in and
conducted the orchestras of various theaters; in the summer of 1877 he
played in an orchestra conducted by Jacques Offenbach at the
Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. Between 1880 and 1892 he was the
musical director of the Marine Band. It was during this period that he
wrote his first famous marches. In 1892 he formed a band of his own with
which he toured Europe and America for many years, and with which he
gave more than a thousand concerts. His most popular marches (together
with his best transcriptions for band of national ballads and patriotic
airs) were always the highlights of his concerts. Besides the marches,
Sousa wrote the music for numerous comic operas, the most famous being
_El Capitan_ (1896) and _The Bride Elect_ (1898). In 1918 Sousa and his
band were heard in the Hippodrome extravaganza, _Everything_. He
published his autobiography, _Marching Along_, in 1928, and died in
Reading, Pennsylvania, on March 6, 1932.
In the closing years of the 19th century, and in the first part of the
20th, America was undergoing expansion in many directions: art, science,
literature, commerce, finance, world affairs. Hand in hand with this
development and growth came an aroused patriotism and an expanding
chauvinism. Sousa’s marches were the voice of this new and intense
national consciousness.
As Sigmund Spaeth has pointed out, most of Sousa’s famous marches follow
a similar pattern, beginning with “an arresting introduction, then using
a light, skipping rhythm for his first melody, going from that into a
broader tune,” then progressing to the principal march melody. A massive
climax is finally realized with new, vibrant colors being realized in
the main march melody through striking new combinations of instruments.
The following are some of Sousa’s most popular marches:
_El Capitan_ (1896) was adapted from a choral passage from the comic
opera of the same name. This music was played aboard Admiral Dewey’s
flagship, _Olympia_, when it steamed down Manila Bay for battle during
the Spanish-American War. And it was again heard, this time performed by
Sousa’s own band, when Dewey was welcomed as a conquering hero in New
York on September 30, 1900.
_King Cotton_ (1895) was written on the occasion of the engagement of
the Sousa Band at the Cotton States Exposition. _Semper Fideles_ (1888)
was Sousa’s first famous composition in march tempo, and to this day it
is still one of his best known marches, a perennial favorite with
parades of all kinds. Since Sousa sold this march outright for $35.00 he
never capitalized on its immense popularity.
Sousa’s masterpiece—and probably one of the most famous marches ever
written—was the _Stars and Stripes Forever_, completed on April 26,
1897. In 1897 Sousa was a tourist in Italy when he heard the news that
his friend and manager had died in the United States. Sousa decided to
return home. Aboard the _Teutonic_ a march melody kept haunting him. As
soon as he came home he put the melody down on paper, and it became the
principal subject of “The Stars and Stripes Forever.” This principal
melody achieves an unforgettable climax in the march when it is proudly
thundered by the full orchestra to figurations in the piccolo.
_The Thunderer_ and _The Washington Post March_ were written in 1889.
The latter was commissioned by the _Washington Post_ for the ceremonies
attending the presentation of prizes in a student essay contest.
Among Sousa’s other marches are _The Bride Elect_ (1897) from the comic
opera of the same name; _The Fairest of the Fair_ (1908); _Hands Across
the Sea_ (1899); _Invincible Eagle_ (1901); and _Saber and Spurs_ (1915)
dedicated to the United States Cavalry.
It was long maintained that Sousa was the composer of the famous hymn of
the Artillery branch of the United States armed services, “The Caisson
Song.” Sousa played this march in his own brilliant new band arrangement
at a Liberty Loan Drive at the Hippodrome, in New York, in 1918. For
some time thereafter Sousa was credited as being the composer. But
further research revealed the fact that the words and music had been
written in 1908 by Edmund L. Gruber, then a lieutenant with the 5th
Artillery in the Philippines.
Oley Speaks
Oley Speaks was born in Canal Winchester, Ohio, on June 28, 1874. He
received his musical training, principally in voice, from various
teachers including Armour Galloway and Emma Thursby. He then filled the
post of baritone soloist at churches in Cleveland, Ohio, and New York
City, including the St. Thomas Church in New York from 1901 to 1906. He
also filled numerous engagements in song recitals and performances of
oratorios. He died in New York City on August 27, 1948.
Speaks was the composer of more than 250 published art songs which have
placed him in a front rank among American song composers. Three have
become outstandingly popular; there is hardly a male singer anywhere who
has not sung such all-time favorites as “Morning,” “On the Road to
Mandalay” and “Sylvia,” each of which is among the most widely
circulated and most frequently heard art songs by an American.
“Morning,” words by Frank L. Stanton, was published in 1910. Where
“Morning” is lyrical, “On the Road to Mandalay” (published in 1907) is
dramatic, a setting of the famous poem by Rudyard Kipling. The
persistent rhythmic background suggesting drum beats, and the effective
key change from verse to chorus, have an inescapable effect on
listeners. “Sylvia,” poem by Clinton Scollard, published in 1914, is in
a sentimental mood, and like “Morning” reveals the composer’s marked
gift for sensitive lyricism.
Robert Stolz
Robert Stolz was born in Graz, Austria, on August 25, 1882. His parents
were musical, his father being a successful conductor and teacher, and
his mother a concert pianist. Robert’s music study took place first with
his father, then with Robert Fuchs in Vienna and Humperdinck in Berlin.
In 1901 he assumed his first post as conductor, at an opera house in
Brunn. When he was twenty-five he was appointed conductor of the
Theater-an-der-Wien in Vienna where he remained twelve years, directing
most of the masterworks in the field of Austrian and German operettas.
His own career as composer of operettas had begun in 1903 with _Schoen
Lorchen_ produced in Salzburg. Since then Stolz has written music for
about sixty operettas, scores for more than eighty films, and a thousand
songs in all. His music is in the light, graceful, ebullient style that
has characterized Viennese operetta music since the time of Johann
Strauss II. His most famous operettas are: _Die lustigen Weiber von
Wien_ (1909), _Die Gluecksmaedel_ (1910), _Die Tanzgraefin_ (1921),
_Peppina_ (1931), _Zwei Herzen in dreiviertel Takt_ (1933), _Fruehling
im Prater_ (1949) and _Karneval in Wien_ (1950). In 1938 Stolz came to
the United States where for several years he worked in Hollywood. After
the end of World War II he returned to Vienna, remaining active as a
composer not only in that city but also in Berlin and London.
Stolz’ most famous song is “_Im Prater bluehn wieder die Baeume_” (“In
the Prater the Trees Are Again Blooming”), a glowing hymn not only to a
district in Vienna famous for its frolic and amusement but even more so
to the city of Vienna itself.
A waltz from his operetta, _Two Hearts in Three-Quarter Time_ (_Zwei
Herzen in dreiviertel Takt_) is perhaps one of the most celebrated
pieces in three-quarter time written in Vienna since Lehár, and it is
loved the world over. This operetta originated in 1931 as a German
motion-picture which won accolades around the world for its charm and
freshness, for which Stolz wrote a score that included his famous waltz.
It was then adapted for the stage by Paul Knepler and J. M. Willeminsky
and introduced in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1933. This delightful text
concerns the trials and tribulations of producing an operetta. That
operetta is accepted for production on the condition that a good waltz
melody is written for it, and the composer Toni Hofer gets his
inspiration for that tune from lovely Hedi, the young sister of the
librettist. This waltz, of course, is the title number, which, in its
lilt and buoyancy and Viennese love of life, is in the best tradition of
Viennese popular music.
Oscar Straus
Oscar Straus was no relation to any of the famous Viennese Strausses;
nevertheless in the writing of light, gay music in waltz tempo and
spirited melodies for the operetta stage he was certainly their
spiritual brother. He was born in Vienna on March 6, 1870, and studied
music with private teachers in Vienna and Berlin, including Max Bruch.
In 1901 he settled in Berlin where he became conductor at a famous
cabaret, _Ueberbrettl_, for whose productions of farces he wrote a
number of scores. Soon after that he turned to writing operettas,
becoming world famous with _The Waltz Dream_ in 1907 and _The Chocolate
Soldier_ in 1908, both introduced in Vienna. He wrote about thirty
operettas after that, many heard with outstanding success in the music
centers of the world. The best of these were _Der letzte Walzer_ (1920),
_Die Teresina_ (1921), _Drei Walzer_ (1935), and _Bozena_ (1952). He was
at his best writing waltz melodies but he was also skilful in
interpolating satirical elements into his musical writing through the
exploitation of ragtime, jazz, and the shimmy. Straus lived in Berlin
until 1927, and for a decade after that he made his home in Vienna and
Paris. In 1939 he became a French citizen, and from 1940 to 1948 he
lived in the United States, filling some assignments in Hollywood. He
returned to his native land in 1948, and died at Bad Ischl, Austria, on
January 11, 1954.
_The Chocolate Soldier_ (_Der tapfere Soldat_) was the operetta
adaptation of Bernard Shaw’s comedy, _Arms and the Man_, by R. Bernauer
and L. Jacobsen. Its première took place in Vienna on November 14, 1908,
with the first American performance taking place a year later at the
Casino Theater in New York. The setting is Serbia in 1885 where the
hero, Lieutenant Bumerli, gains the nickname of “chocolate soldier”
because of a sweet tooth. While escaping from the enemy, he finds refuge
in the bedroom of Nadina, daughter of Colonel Popoff. Nadina becomes the
instrument by means of which the lieutenant is now able to effect his
escape, disguised in the coat of Colonel Popolf. But before the final
curtain Bumerli and Nadina also become lovers.
The waltz, “My Hero,” (“_Komm, Komm, Held meiner Traeume_”) Nadina’s
waltz of love to the chocolate soldier, is the most celebrated excerpt
from this operetta. Other familiar pages include the lovely first act
duet of Nadina and Bumerli, “Sympathy”; the little orchestral march in
the second act, a satirical take off on military pomp and circumstance;
and Nadina’s “Letter Song” in the third act.
_A Waltz Dream_ (_Ein Walzertraum_), book by Felix Doermann and Leopold
Jacobsen, was introduced in Vienna on March 2, 1907, and in New York in
April 1908. Lieutenant Niki of the Austrian army is ordered by the
Austrian Emperor to marry Princess Helen, but he falls in love with
Frantzi, a violinist in a girl’s orchestra. This love affair becomes
frustrated when Niki must return to Vienna to become Prince Consort.
The main musical selection from this operetta is the title number, a
waltz which first appears as a duet between Niki and a fellow officer in
the first act, then recurs throughout the operetta, and finally brings
it to a close. Two sprightly march excerpts, from the second and third
acts respectively, and the duet, “Piccolo, piccolo, tsin, tsin, tsin”
are also popular.
Eduard Strauss
Eduard Strauss, the younger brother of Johann Strauss II, was born in
Vienna on March 15, 1835. He studied music in Vienna with G. Preyer
following which he made his café-house debut in 1862 by conducting his
father’s orchestra at the Dianasaal. He continued to lead his father’s
orchestra at the Volksgarten and Musikverein as well as at various
leading café-houses in Vienna. He also made many tours, including two of
the United States in 1892 and 1901. In 1902 he dissolved the musical
organization which his father had founded three-quarters of a century
earlier and which all that time had dominated the musical life of
Vienna. Besides conducting this orchestra, he also substituted from time
to time for his famous brother, Johann Strauss II, and in 1870 he
succeeded him as conductor of the court balls. Eduard Strauss died in
Vienna on December 28, 1916.
Eduard wrote over three hundred popular instrumental compositions in the
style of his celebrated brother but without ever equalling his
remarkable creative freshness and originality. But there is a good deal
of pleasurable listening in Eduard’s waltzes and polkas. In the former
category belongs the _Doctrinen_ (_Faith_) Waltzes, op. 79; in the
latter, the gay _Bahn Frei_ (_Fast Track_) Polka, op. 45. In
collaboration with his two brothers, Johann and Josef, Eduard wrote the
_Trifolienwalzer_ and the _Schuetzenquadrille_.
Johann Strauss I
Johann Strauss I was one of the two waltz kings of Vienna bearing that
name. The more famous one, the composer of “The Blue Danube” was the
son. But the father was also one of Vienna’s most popular composers and
café-house conductors. He was born in Vienna on March 14, 1804, and as a
boy he studied both the violin and harmony. His love for music, combined
with the decision of his parents to make him a bookbinder, led him to
run away from home. When he was fifteen he joined Michael Pamer’s
orchestra which played at the Sperl café; another of its members was
Josef Lanner, soon also to become a major figure in Vienna’s musical
life. As Lanner’s star rose, so did Johann Strauss’. First Strauss
played in the Lanner Quartet at the _Goldenen Rebbuhn_ and other cafés;
after that he was a member of the Lanner Orchestra which appeared in
Vienna’s leading cafés. When Lanner’s mounting success made it necessary
for him to create two orchestras, he selected Johann Strauss to conduct
one of them. Then, in 1826, Johann Strauss formed an orchestra of his
own which made its debut at the Bock Café. For the next two decades he
was the idol of Vienna, Lanner’s only rival. By 1830 he had two hundred
musicians under him. His major successes as a café-house conductor came
at the Sperl and the Redoutensaal. But his fame spread far beyond
Vienna. In 1833 he toured all Austria, and in 1834 he appeared in
Berlin. After that he performed in all the major European capitals,
achieving formidable successes in London and Paris. Meanwhile, in 1833,
he had become bandmaster of the first Vienna militia regiment, one of
the highest honors a performer of light music could achieve in Austria.
In 1845 he was appointed conductor of the Viennese court balls. He died
in Vienna on September 25, 1849.
Like Lanner, Strauss wrote a considerable amount of dance and café-house
music, over 250 compositions. His first composition was the
_Taeuberlwalzer_, named after the café _Zwei Tauben_ where he was then
appearing. After that he wrote waltzes, galops, polkas, quadrilles,
cotillons, contredanses, and marches—which Vienna came to love for their
rhythmic vitality and appealing lyricism. People in Vienna used to say
that the waltzes of the first Johann Strauss were _made_ for dancing
because their rhythmic pulse excited the heart and made feet restless.
Not much of the father Strauss’ library of music has survived. The
exceptions are the following waltzes: _Caecilien_, _Donaulieder_, the
_Kettenbruecken_, and the _Lorelei Rheinsklaenge_. To the waltz, the
older Johann Strauss brought a symphonic dimension it had heretofore not
known, particularly in his spacious introductions of which the
thirty-bar prelude of the _Lorelei Rheinsklaenge_ is an outstanding
example. He also carried over to the waltz a variety of mood and feeling
and a lightness of touch new for this peasant dance. “This demon of the
ancient Viennese folk spirit,” wrote Richard Wagner after hearing
Strauss perform one of his own waltzes in Vienna, “trembled at the
beginning of a new waltz like a python preparing to spring, and it was
more the ecstasy produced by the music than the drinks among the
enchanted audience that stimulated that magical first violin to almost
dangerous flights.”
Of his other music the most famous is the _Radetzky March_. Count
Radetzky was an Austrian military hero, victor over the Italians in
1848-1849. In honor of his Italian triumphs and suppression of the
Italian nationalist movement, Strauss wrote the spirited, sharply
accented march in 1848 which almost at once became the musical symbol of
Hapsburg Vienna and Austrian military power. The following programmatic
interpretation of this music by H. E. Jacob is of interest: “Drunk with
triumph, the Generalissimo’s battalions hurl themselves down into
Lombardy. They are close on the heels of the fleeing troops of King
Albert, the King of Sardinia. And then comes a new phase of the march to
accompany the victorious troops. A different sun shines down on this, a
memory of Vienna, a lingering trace of the feel of girls’ arms; scraps
of a dance song with a backward glance at three-quarter time. But on
they go, still forward. There are no more shots, there is laughter. The
trio follows. The ... superdominant ... hoisted as if it were a flag....
Finally comes the return of the principal theme with the laurels and
gaiety of victory.”
Johann Strauss II
Johann Strauss II, son of the first Johann Strauss, was born in Vienna
on October 25, 1825. Though he showed an unmistakable bent for music
from his childhood on, he was forbidden by his father to study music or
to indulge in any musical activity whatsoever. The young Johann Strauss,
encouraged by his mother, was forced to study the violin surreptitiously
with a member of his father’s orchestra. Only after the father had
deserted his family, to set up another home with his mistress, did young
Johann begin to devote himself completely and openly to music. After
studying the violin with Kohlmann and counterpoint with Joseph
Drechsler, he made his debut as a café-house conductor and composer at
Dommayer’s Casino in Hietzing, near Vienna, on October 15, 1844. The
event was widely publicized and dramatized in Vienna, since the son was
appearing as a rival to his father. For this momentous debut, the son
wrote the first of his waltzes—the _Gunstwerber_ and the
_Sinngedichte_—which aroused immense enthusiasm. He had to repeat the
last-named waltz so many times that the people in the café lost count.
“Ah, these Viennese,” reported the editor of _The Wanderer_. “A new
waltz player, a piece of world history. Good night, Lanner. Good
evening, Father Strauss. Good morning, Son Strauss.” The father had not
attended this performance, but learned of his son’s triumph from one of
his cronies.
Thus a new waltz king had arisen in Vienna. His reign continued until
the end of the century. For fifty years Johann Strauss II stood alone
and unequalled as the musical idol of Vienna. His performances were the
talk of the town. His own music was on everyone’s lips. After the death
of father Strauss in 1849, he combined members of the older man’s
orchestra with his own, and toured all of Europe with the augmented
ensemble. From 1863 to 1870 he was conductor of the Viennese balls, a
post once held by his father. In 1872 he made sensational appearances in
Boston and New York. All the while he was writing some of the most
famous waltzes ever written, as well as quadrilles and polkas and other
dance pieces. And in 1871, with the première in Vienna of _Indigo_ he
entered upon a new field, that of the operetta, in which once again he
was to become a dominating figure. He was admired not merely by the
masses but also by some of the greatest musicians of his
generation—Brahms, Wagner, Verdi, Hans von Buelow, Offenbach, Goldmark,
Gounod, all of whom expressed their admiration for his music in no
uncertain terms. In 1894, Vienna celebrated the 50th anniversary of his
debut with a week of festive performances; congratulations poured into
Vienna from all parts of the civilized world. He died five years after
that—in Vienna on June 3, 1899—and was buried near Schubert, Beethoven,
and Brahms.
It is perhaps singularly fitting that Johann Strauss should have died in
1899. A century was coming to an end, and with it an entire epoch. This
is what one court official meant when he said that “Emperor Francis
Joseph reigned until the death of Johann Strauss.” History, with its
cold precision, may accurately record that the reign of Francis Joseph
actually terminated in 1916. But its heyday had passed with the 19th
century. The spirit of old Vienna, imperial Vienna of the Hapsburgs, the
Vienna that had been inspiration for song and story, died with Johann
Strauss. After 1900, Vienna was only a shadow of its former self, and
was made prostrate by World War I.
If the epoch of “old Vienna” died with Johann Strauss, it was also born
with him. After 1825, the social and intellectual climate in the
imperial city changed perceptibly. The people, always gay, now gave
themselves up to frivolity. For this, political conditions had been
responsible. The autocratic rule of Francis I brought on tyranny,
repression, and an army of spies and informers. As a result, the
Viennese went in for diversions that were safe from a political point of
view: flirtation, gossip, dancing. They were partial to light musical
plays and novels. Thus, an attitude born out of expediency, became, with
the passing of time, an inextricable part of everyday life in Vienna.
Of the many light-hearted pleasures in which the Viennese indulged none
was dearer to them than dancing. It has been recorded that one out of
every four in Vienna danced regularly. They danced the polka, and the
quadrille; but most of all they danced the waltz.
Johann Strauss II was the genius of the Viennese waltz. More than
anybody before him or since he lifted the popular dance to such artistic
importance that his greatest waltzes are often performed at symphony
concerts by the world’s greatest orchestras under the foremost
conductors. Inexhaustible was his invention; richly inventive, his
harmonic writing; subtle and varied his gift at orchestration; fresh and
personal his lyricism; aristocratic his structure. To the noted 20th
century German critic, Paul Bekker, the Strauss waltz contained “more
melodies than a symphony of Beethoven, and the aggregate of Straussian
melodies is surely greater than the aggregate of Beethoven’s.”
Actually the waltz form used by Strauss is basically that of Lanner and
of Strauss’ own father. A slow symphonic introduction opens the waltz.
This is followed by a series of waltz melodies (usually five in number).
A symphonic coda serves both as a kind of summation and as a conclusion.
But here the similarity with the past ends. This form received from the
younger Strauss new dimension, new amplification. His introductions are
sometimes like tone poems. The waltz melodies are incomparably rich in
thought and feeling, varied in mood and style. A new concept of thematic
developments enters waltz writing with Strauss. And his codas, as his
introductions, are symphonic creations built with consummate skill from
previously stated ideas, or fragments of these ideas. No wonder, then,
that the waltzes of Johann Strauss have been described as “symphonies
for dancing.”
The following are the most popular of the Johann Strauss waltzes:
_Acceleration_ (_Accelerationen_), op. 234, as the title indicates,
derives its effect from the gradual acceleration in tempo in the main
waltz melody. Strauss had promised to write a waltz for a ball at the
Sofiensaal but failed to deliver his manuscript even at the zero hour.
Reminded of his promise, he sat down at a restaurant table on the night
of the ball and hurriedly wrote off the complete _Acceleration Waltz_ on
the back of a menu card, and soon thereafter conducted the première
performance.
_Artist’s Life_ (_Kuenstlerleben_), op. 316, opens in a tender mood. A
transition is provided by an alternation of soft and loud passages,
after which the first waltz melody erupts zestfully as a tonal
expression of the lighthearted gaiety of an artist’s life. A similar
mood is projected by the other waltz melodies.
_The Blue Danube_ (_An der schoenen blauen Donau_), op. 314, is perhaps
the most famous waltz ever written, and one of the greatest. It is now a
familiar tale how Brahms, while autographing a fan of Strauss’ wife,
scribbled a few bars of this waltz and wrote underneath, “alas, not by
Brahms.” Strauss wrote _The Blue Danube_ at the request of John Herbeck,
conductor of the Vienna Men’s Singing Society; thus the original version
of the waltz is for chorus and orchestra, the text being a poem by Karl
Beck in praise of Vienna and the Danube. Strauss wrote this waltz in
1867, and it was introduced on February 15 of the same year at the
Dianasaal by Strauss’ orchestra, supplemented by Herbeck’s singing
society. The audience was so enthusiastic that it stood on the seats and
thundered for numerous repetitions. In the Spring of 1867, Strauss
introduced his waltz to Paris at the International Exposition where it
was a sensation. A tremendous ovation also greeted it when Strauss
performed it for the first time in London, at Covent Garden in 1869.
When Johann Strauss made his American debut, in Boston in 1872, he
conducted _The Blue Danube_ with an orchestra numbering a thousand
instruments and a chorus of a thousand voices! Copies of the music were
soon in demand in far-off cities of Asia and Australia. The publisher,
Spina, was so deluged by orders he had to have a hundred new copper
plates made from which to print over a million copies.
It is not difficult to see why this waltz is so popular. It is an
eloquent voice of the “charm, elegance, vivacity, and sophistication” of
19th century Vienna—so much so that it is second only to Haydn’s
Austrian National Anthem as the musical symbol of Austria.
_Emperor Waltz_ (_Kaiserwalz_), op. 437, was written in 1888 to
celebrate the 40th anniversary of the reign of Franz Joseph I. This is
one of Strauss’ most beautiful waltzes. A slow introduction spanning
seventy-four bars that has delicacy and grace, and is of a stately
march-like character, is Viennese to its very marrow. A suggestion of
the main waltz tune then appears quickly but is just as quickly
dismissed by a loud return of the main introductory subject. Trombones
lead to a brief silence. After some preparation, a waltz melody of rare
majesty finally unfolds in the strings. If this wonderful waltz melody
can be said to represent the Emperor himself then the delightful waltz
tunes that follow—some of almost peasant character—can be said to speak
for the joy of the Austrian people in honoring their beloved monarch. An
elaborate coda then comes as the crown to the whole composition.
_Morning Journals_ (_Morgenblaetter_), op. 279, was written for a
Viennese press club, the Concordia. Offenbach had previously written for
that club a set of waltzes entitled “_Evening Journals_.” Strauss
decided to name his music _Morning Journals_. The Offenbach composition
is today remembered only because it provided the stimulus for Strauss’
title. But Strauss’ music remains—the four waltzes in his freshest and
most infectious lyric vein, and its introduction highlighted by a melody
of folk song simplicity.
_Roses from the South_ (_Rosen aus dem Sueden_), op. 388, is a potpourri
of the best waltz tunes (each a delight) from one of the composer’s
lesser operettas, _Spitzentuch der Koenigen_ (_The Queen’s Lace
Handkerchief_). The “south” in the title refers to Spain, the background
of the operetta, but there is nothing Spanish to this unmistakably
Viennese music.
_Tales from the Vienna Woods_ (_G’schichten aus dem Wiener Wald_), op.
325—performed for the first time by the Strauss orchestra at the _Neue
Welt_ café in 1868—is a bucolic picture of Nature’s beauty in the
forests skirting Vienna. The beauty of Nature is suggested in the
stately introduction with its open fifths and its serene melody for
cello followed by a flute cadenza. All the loveliness of the Vienna
woods is then represented by a waltz melody (originally scored for
zither, but now most often presented by strings), a loveliness that is
carried on with incomparable grace and charm by the ensuing waltz tunes.
_Vienna Blood_ (_Wiener Blut_), op. 354, like so many other Strauss
waltzes, is a hymn of praise to Strauss’ native cities; but where other
waltzes are light and carefree, this one is more often moody, dreamy,
and at times sensual. After the introduction come four waltz melodies,
the first full of fire and the last one touched with sentimentality. The
second and third waltz tunes are interesting for their rhythmic vitality
and marked syncopations.
_Voices of Spring_ (_Fruehlingstimmen_), op. 410—dedicated to the
renowned Viennese pianist, Albert Gruenfeld—is (like the _Tales from the
Vienna Woods_) an exuberant picture of the vernal season, the joy and
thrill that the rebirth of Nature always provides to the Viennese.
_Wine, Woman and Song_ (_Wein, Weib und Gesang_), op. 333, opens with an
eloquent mood picture that is virtually an independent composition, even
though it offers suggestions of later melodies. This is a spacious
ninety-one bar introduction that serves as an eloquent peroration to the
four waltz melodies that follow—each graceful, vivacious, and at times
tender and contemplative. Richard Wagner, upon hearing Anton Seidl
conduct this music, was so moved by it that at one point he seized the
baton from Seidl’s hand and conducted the rest of the piece himself.
Strauss wrote other dance music besides waltzes. He was equally
successful in bringing his wonderful melodic invention, fine rhythmic
sense, and beautiful instrumentation to the Polka, the native Bohemian
dance in duple quick time and in a lively mood. The best of the Strauss
polkas are: _Annen-Polka_, op. 117; _Electrophor Polka_, op. 297
dedicated to the students of a Vienna technical school, its effect
derived from its breathless tempo and forceful dynamics; _Explosions
Polka_, op. 43, written when Strauss was only twenty-two and
characterized by sudden brief crescendos; _Pizzicato Polka_, written in
collaboration with the composer’s brother Josef, and, as the name
indicates, an exercise in plucked strings; and the capricious
_Tritsch-Tratsch_ (or _Chit-Chat_) _Polka_, op. 214.
Of Strauss’ other instrumental compositions, the best known is a lively
excursion in velocity called _Perpetual Motion_, op. 257, which the
composer himself described as a “musical jest.”
Beyond being Vienna’s waltz king, Johann Strauss II was also one of its
greatest composers of operettas. Indeed, if a vote were to be cast for
the greatest favorite among all Vienna operettas the chances are the
choice would fall on Strauss’ _Die Fledermaus_ (_The Bat_), first
produced in Vienna on April 5, 1874, book by Carl Haffner and Richard
Genée based on a French play by Meilhac and Halévy. This work is not
only a classic of the light theater, but even a staple in the repertory
of the world’s major opera houses. It is a piece of dramatic intrigue
filled with clever, bright and at times risqué humor, as well as irony
and gaiety. The plot, in line with operetta tradition, involves a love
intrigue: between Rosalinda, wife of Baron von Eisenstein, and Alfred.
The Baron is sought by the police for some slight indiscretion, and when
they come to the Baron’s home and find Alfred there, they mistake him
for the Baron and arrest him. Upon discovering he is supposed to be in
jail, the Baron decides to take full advantage of his liberty by
attending a masked ball at Prince Orlovsky’s palace and making advances
there to the lovely women. But one of the masked women with whom he
flirts is his own wife. Eventually, the identity of both is uncovered,
to the embarrassment of the Baron, and this merry escapade ends when the
Baron is compelled to spend his time in jail.
The overture is a classic, recreating the effervescent mood that
prevails throughout the operetta. It is made up of some of the principal
melodies of the opera: Rosalinda’s lament, “_So muss allein ich
bleiben_” first heard in the woodwind; the chorus, “_O je, o je, wie
ruhrt mich dies_” in the strings; and most important of all, the main
waltz of the operetta and the climax of the second act, also in the
strings.
Other delightful episodes frequently presented in instrumental versions
include the lovely drinking song, “_Trinke, Liebchen, trinke schnell_”;
the laughing song of the maid, Adele, “_Mein Herr Marquis_”; the
blood-warming czardas of the “Hungarian countess” who is actually
Rosalinda in disguise, “_Klaenge der Heimat_”; the stirring hymn to
champagne, “_Die Majistaet wird anerkannt_”; and the buoyant waltz, “_Du
und du_.”
_The Gypsy Baron_ (_Die Ziguenerbaron_) is almost as popular as _Die
Fledermaus_. This is an operetta with libretto by Ignaz Schnitzer,
introduced in Vienna on October 24, 1885. Sandór Barinkay returns to his
ancestral home after having left it as a child. He finds it swarming
with gypsies who have made it their home, and he falls in love with one
of them, Saffi.
The overture is made up of material from the concerted finales,
beginning with the entrance of the gypsies in the first finale;
continuing with Saffi’s celebrated gypsy air, “_So elend und treu_”; and
culminating with the celebrated waltz music of the second act, the
_Schatz_, or _Treasure_, waltzes.
Other familiar excerpts include Sandór’s exuberant aria with chorus from
the first act “_Ja, das alles auf Ehr_,” probably the most celebrated
vocal excerpt from the entire operetta; and the _Entry March_
(_Einzugmarsch_) from the third act—for chorus and orchestra in the
operetta, but often given by salon ensembles in an orchestral version.
Josef Strauss
Josef Strauss, like Eduard, is a younger brother of Johann Strauss II,
and son of Johann Strauss I. He was born in Vienna on August 22, 1827.
He was an extremely talented young man not only in music but even as
architect and inventor. Of more serious and sober disposition than
either of his two brothers, he long regarded café-house music
condescendingly, his musical preference being for the classics. His
famous brother, Johann Strauss II, needing someone to help him direct
his orchestra, finally prevailed on Josef to turn to café-house music.
Josef made his debut as café-house conductor and composer simultaneously
on July 23, 1853, his first waltz being _Die Ersten_. After that he
often substituted for brother Johann in directing the latter’s orchestra
in Vienna and on extended tours of Europe and Russia. Josef died in
Vienna on July 21, 1870.
Josef Strauss wrote almost three hundred dance compositions. Though
certainly less inspired than his brother, Johann, he was also far more
important than Eduard. Josef’s best waltzes have much of the lyrical
invention, and the harmonic and instrumental invention of those by
Johann Strauss II. Perhaps his greatest waltz is the _Dorfschwalben aus
Oesterreich_ (_Swallows from Austria_), op. 164, a nature portrait often
interrupted by the chirping of birds. Here Josef’s outpouring of the
most sensitive lyricism and delicate moods is hardly less wondrous than
that of Johann Strauss II. H. E. Jacob went so far as to say that “since
Schubert’s death there has been no such melody. It is in the realm of
the Impromptus and Moments Musicaux. It breathes the sweet blue from
which the swallows come.”
Another Josef Strauss classic in three-quarter time is _Sphaerenklaenge_
(_Music of the Spheres_), op. 285, equally remarkable for its
spontaneous flow of unforgettable waltz tunes. Among Strauss’ other
delightful waltzes are the _Aquarellen_, op. 258; _Delirien_, op. 212;
_Dynamiden_, op. 173; _Marienklaenge_, op. 214. A theme from _Dynamiden_
waltzes was used by Richard Strauss in his famous opera _Der
Rosenkavalier_.
In collaboration with his brother, Johann, Josef wrote the famous
_Pizzicato Polka_ and several other pieces including the
_Monstrequadrille_ and _Vaterlandischer March_. With Johann and Eduard
he wrote the _Schuetzenquadrille_ and the _Trifolienwalzer_.
Sir Arthur Sullivan
Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan—musical half of the comic-opera team of
Gilbert and Sullivan—was born in London, England, on May 13, 1842. The
son of a bandmaster, Sullivan was appointed to the Chapel Royal School
in 1854. One year after that his first published composition appeared,
an anthem. In 1856 he was the first recipient of the recently instituted
Mendelssohn Award which entitled him to attend the Royal Academy of
Music where he studied under Sterndale Bennett and Goss. From 1858 to
1861 he attended the Leipzig Conservatory. After returning to London in
1862, he achieved recognition as a serious composer with several
ambitious compositions including the _Irish Symphony_, a cello concerto,
a cantata, and an oratorio. Meanwhile, in 1866, he had become professor
of composition at the Royal Academy, and in 1867 he completed his first
score in a light style, the comic opera _Cox and Box_, libretto by F. C.
Burnand, which enjoyed a successful engagement in London.
In 1871, a singer introduced Sullivan to W. S. Gilbert, a one-time
attorney who had attracted some interest in London as the writer of
burlesques. An enterprising impresario, John Hollingshead of the Gaiety
Theater, then was responsible for getting Gilbert and Sullivan to work
on their first operetta. This was _Thespis_, produced in London in 1871,
and a failure. It was several years before librettist and composer
worked together again. When they did it was for a new impresario,
Richard D’Oyly Carte, for whom they wrote a one-act comic opera, _Trial
by Jury_, a curtain raiser to a French operetta which Carte was
producing in London on March 25, 1875. _Trial by Jury_—a stinging satire
on court trials revolving around a breach of promise suit—inaugurates
the epoch of Gilbert and Sullivan. D’Oyly Carte now commissioned Gilbert
and Sullivan to create a new full length comic opera for a company he
had recently formed. The new light opera company made a successful bow
with _The Sorcerer_, on November 17, 1877. _Pinafore_, a year later on
May 25, 1878, made Gilbert and Sullivan a vogue and a passion both in
London and in New York. In 1879 Gilbert and Sullivan came to the United
States where on December 31 they introduced a new comic opera, _The
Pirates of Penzance_, that took the country by storm. Upon returning to
London, Gilbert and Sullivan opened a new theater built for them by
D’Oyly Carte—the Savoy—with _Patience_, a tumultuous success on April
25, 1881. After that came _Iolanthe_ (1882), _Princess Ida_ (1884), _The
Mikado_ (1885), the _Yeomen of the Guard_ (1888) and _The Gondoliers_
(1889).
Gilbert and Sullivan came to the parting of the ways in 1890, the final
rift precipitated by a silly argument over the cost of a carpet for the
Savoy Theater. But the differences between them had long been deep
rooted. An attempt to revive the partnership was made in 1893 with
_Utopia Limited_, and again with _The Grand Duke_ in 1896. Both comic
operas were failures.
After 1893, Sullivan wrote a grand opera, _Ivanhoe_, and several
operetta scores to librettists other than Sullivan. None of these were
successful. During the last years of his life he suffered from
deterioration of his health, and was almost always in acute pain. He
died in London on November 22, 1900. Gilbert died eleven years after
that.
Of Sullivan’s other achievements in the field of music mention must be
made of his importance as a conductor of the concerts of the London
Philharmonic from 1885 to 1887, and of the Leeds Festival from 1880 to
1898. Between 1876 and 1881 he was principal of, and professor of
composition at, the National Training School for Music. In recognition
of his high estate in English music, he was the recipient of many
honors. In 1878 he was made Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, and in
1883 he was knighted by Queen Victoria.
It is irony fitting for a Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera that the
music on which Sullivan lavished his most fastidious attention and of
which he was most proud has been completely forgotten (except for one or
two minor exceptions). But the music upon which he looked with such
condescension and self apology is that which has made him an immortal—in
the theater if not in the concert world. For where Sullivan was
heavy-handed, pretentious, and often stilted in his oratorios, serious
operas, and orchestral compositions, he was consistently vital, fresh,
personal, and vivacious in his lighter music. In setting Gilbert’s
lyrics to music, Sullivan was always capable of finding the musical _mot
juste_ to catch every nuance of Gilbert’s wit and satire. So neatly,
even inevitably, does the music fit the words that it is often difficult
to think of one without the other. Like Gilbert, Sullivan was a master
of parody and satire; he liked particularly to mock at the pretensions
of grand opera, oratorio, and the sentimental ballad, pretensions of
which he himself was a victim when he endeavored to work in those
fields. Like Gilbert, he had a pen that raced with lightning velocity in
the writing of patter music to patter verses. Sullivan, moreover, had a
reservoir of melodies seemingly inexhaustible—gay tunes, mocking tunes,
and tunes filled with telling sentiment—and he was able to adapt the
fullest resources of his remarkable gift at harmony, rhythm and
orchestration to the manifold demands of the stage. He was no man’s
imitator. Without having recourse to experimentation or unorthodox
styles and techniques, his style and manners were so uniquely his that,
as T. F. Dunhill has said, “his art is always recognizable.... The
Sullivan touch is unmistakable and can be felt instantly.”
Of the universality of the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas, Isaac
Goldberg wrote: “They [Gilbert and Sullivan] were not the rebels of an
era, yet as surely they were not the apologists. Their light laughter
carried a pleasant danger of its own that, without being the laughter of
a Figaro, helped before the advent of a Shaw to keep the atmosphere
clear. Transition figures they were, in an age of transition, caught
between the personal independence of the artist and the social
imperatives of their station. They did not cross over into the new day,
though they served as a footbridge for others. Darwin gave them ... only
a song for _Princess Ida_, their melodious answer to the revolt of woman
against a perfumed slavery; Swinburne and Wilde ... characters for
_Patience_. They chided personal foibles, and only indirectly social
abuses. They were, after all, moralists not sociologists. It was in
their natures; it was of their position. Yet something vital in them
lives beyond their time. From their era of caste, of smug rectitude, of
sanctimoniousness, they still speak to an age that knows neither corset
nor petticoat, that votes with its women, and finds Freud insufficiently
aphrodisiac. Perhaps it is because they chide individuals and not
institutions that their work, so admirably held in solution by
Sullivan’s music, has lived through the most critical epoch in modern
history since the French Revolution. For, underneath the cataclysmic
changes of history remain the foibles that make us the fit laughter of
the gods.”
Overtures to and potpourris from the principal Gilbert and Sullivan
comic operas are integral to the repertory of salon and pop orchestras
everywhere. In all cases, the overture is made up of the opera’s main
melodies, and in most cases these overtures were written by others.
_The Gondoliers_ was the last of the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas
to survive in the permanent repertory. It was produced on December 7,
1889. After the operatic pretension of the _Yeomen of the Guard_ which
had preceded it, _The Gondoliers_ represented a welcome return by the
authors to the world of paradox, absurdity, and confusion. It has aptly
been described as a “farce of errors.” The setting is Venice in the
middle of the 18th century. The Duke and Duchess of Plaza-Toro come to
Venice accompanied by their daughter, Casilda, and a drummer boy, Luiz,
who loves her. In her childhood, Casilda had married the infant heir to
the throne of Barataria. This heir had then been stolen and entrusted to
the care of a gondolier who raised him as one of his two sons. In time
the gondolier himself has forgotten which of his two boys is of royal
blood. To complicate matters even further, the two gondolier boys, Marco
and Giuseppe, are married. Thus it seems impossible to solve the problem
as to who really is the heir to Barataria’s throne and by the same token
Gasilda’s husband. But when this problem is finally unscrambled it turns
out that the heir is neither Marco nor Giuseppe, but none other than
Luiz.
The following are the principal selections from _The Gondoliers_:
Antonio’s song, “For the Merriest Fellows Are We”; the duet of Marco and
Giuseppe, “We’re Called Gondolieri”; the autobiographical chant of the
Duke of Plaza-Toro, “The Duke of Plaza-Toro”; the duet of Casilda and
Luiz, “There Was a Time”; the song of the Grand Inquisitor, “I Stole the
Prince”; Tessa’s song, “When a Merry Maiden Marries”; the duet of Marco
and Giuseppe, “For Everyone Who Feels Inclined”; Giuseppe’s patter song,
“Rising Early in the Morning”; Marco’s serenade, “Take a Pair of
Sparkling Eyes”; and the song of the Duchess, “On the Day that I was
Wedded.”
_Iolanthe_, introduced on November 25, 1882, carried Gilbert’s love of
paradox, confusion and absurdity into the fairy kingdom. To Isaac
Goldberg, this comic opera, both as words and as music is “a peer among
its kind. It is surprisingly complete. It is, indeed, of Gilbert and of
Sullivan, all compact. The Gilbertian conflict between reality and
fantasy is mirrored in details great and small—in scene, costume, in
line, in gesture.... It would be difficult to find among the remaining
thirteen comic operas one that reveals the collaborators playing so
neatly into each other’s hands—responding so closely to the conscious
and unconscious demands of the reciprocal personality.” The heroine,
Iolanthe, is a fairy who has married a mortal and thus has been banished
to the bottom of a stream by the Queen of her kingdom. But the Queen
eventually forgives Iolanthe. Upon returning to her fairy kingdom,
Iolanthe discovers she is the mother of a son, Strephon, who is half
fairy and half mortal; and Strephon is in love with the mortal, Phyllis,
who, in turn, is being pursued not only by her guardian, the Lord
Chancellor, but even by the entire House of Peers. When Phyllis finds
Strephon with Iolanthe she suspects him of infidelity, since she has no
idea that Iolanthe is Strephon’s mother. Immediately she begins to
bestow her kindly glances upon two members of the House of Peers.
Summoned for help, Iolanthe reveals that Strephon is, indeed, her son,
and that his father is none other than the Lord Chancellor. By this time
the other fairies of the kingdom have succumbed to the charms and appeal
of the Peers. Iolanthe is saved from a second punishment when the Lord
Chancellor helps change fairy law to read that any fairy _not_ marrying
a mortal is subject to death.
Leading numbers from _Iolanthe_ include the following: the opening
chorus of the fairies, “Tripping Hither, Tripping Thither”; Strephon’s
song, “Good Morrow, good Mother”; the love duet of Phyllis and Strephon,
“Thou the Tree and I the Flower”; Entrance, chorus, and march of the
Peers, “Loudly Let the Trumpet Bray” followed immediately by the Lord
Chancellor’s monologue, “The Law is the True Embodiment”; the Lord
Chancellor’s personal credo, “When I Went to the Bar”; the song of
Willis, the sentry, “When All Night Long a Chap Remains”; Lord Mount
Arrat’s chauvinistic hymn, “When Britain Really Ruled the Waves”; the
Fairy Queen’s song, “Oh, Foolish Fay”; the Lord Chancellor’s patter song
about a nightmare, “When You’re Lying Awake”; the trio of the Lord
Chancellor, Mount Ararat and Tolloler, “If You Go In”; Strephon’s song,
“Fold Your Flapping Wings”; and the finale, “Soon as We May.”
_The Mikado_ was a sensation when first performed in London on March 14,
1885; and with many it is still the favorite of all Gilbert and Sullivan
comic operas. By 1900, it had received over one thousand performances in
London and five thousand in the United States. Since then these figures
have multiplied. It has been adapted for motion pictures, and in New
York it has been given in two different jazz versions (_The Hot Mikado_
and _Swing Mikado_). In 1960 it was presented over television with
Groucho Marx as the Lord High Executioner.
In its own day much of its appeal was due to its exotic setting of Japan
and strange Japanese characters. Such a novelty for the English stage
was the strong spice that endowed the play with much of its succulent
flavor. Gilbert’s inspiration had been a miniature Japanese village set
up in the Knightsbridge section of London which aroused and stimulated
the interest of the English people in all things Japanese. Gilbert was
one of those who became fascinated by this Oriental exhibit, and his
fascination led him to conceive a comic opera with a Japanese
background.
But while the Japanese are certainly no longer curiosities in the
theater—have, indeed, become a vogue on Broadway since the end of World
War II—_The Mikado_ has never lost its tremendous popularity. For _The
Mikado_ represents Gilbert and Sullivan at their creative peak. The
whimsical characters, absurd situations, the savage malice of the wit
and satire, and the strange and paradoxical deviations of the plot find
Gilbert at the height of his whimsical imagination and skill; and at
every turn, Sullivan was there with music that captured every subtle
echo of Gilbert’s fancy.
The thought of having to marry the unattractive Katisha proves so
distasteful to Nanki-Poo, son of the Mikado, that he puts on the
disguise of a wandering minstrel and flees. After coming to the town of
Titipu, he meets and falls in love with Yum-Yum who, in turn, is being
sought after by her own guardian, Ko-Ko, the Lord High Executioner. The
Lord High Executioner faces a major problem. The ruler of Japan has sent
a message to Titipu stating that since no execution has taken place
there for many years the office of Lord High Executioner will be
abolished if somebody is not executed shortly. When Ko-Ko discovers that
Nanki-Poo is about to commit suicide, rather than live without Yum-Yum,
he finds a solution to his own problem. Ko-Ko is willing to allow
Nanki-Poo to marry Yum-Yum and live with her for a month if at the end
of that time he allows himself to be beheaded. The wedding takes place,
but before the beheading can be consummated the Mikado arrives on the
scene with Katisha. Only then is the discovery made in Titipu that
Nanki-Poo is the Mikado’s son and that anyone responsible for his death
must boil in oil. The news that Nanki-Poo is alive saves Ko-Ko from this
terrible fate; but he soon confronts another in the form of Katisha,
whom he must now marry to compensate her for her loss of Nanki-Poo.
Many of the excerpts from _The Mikado_ are known to anyone who has ever
heard or whistled a tune. These are the most significant: the opening
chorus of the Japanese nobles, “If You Want to Know Who We Are”;
Nanki-Poo’s self-introductory ballad, “A Wandering Minstrel I”;
Pish-Tush’s description of the Mikado’s decree against flirtation, “Our
Great Mikado”; Ko-Ko’s famous patter song, “I’ve Got a Little List”; the
song of Yum-Yum’s companions, “Three Little Maids”; the affecting duet
of Nanki-Poo and Yum-Yum, “Were You Not to Ko-Ko Plighted”; Yum-Yum’s
radiant song, “The Sun Whose Rays”; Ko-Ko’s allegorical song, “Tit
Willow”; the madrigal of Yum-Yum, Pitti Sing, Nanki-Poo and Pish Tush,
“Brightly Dawns Our Wedding Day”; the sprightly trio of Yum-Yum,
Nanki-Poo and Ko-Ko, “Here’s a How-de-do”; the song of the Mikado, “My
Object All Sublime”; the duet of Nanki-Poo and Ko-Ko, “The Flowers That
Bloom in the Spring.”
_Patience_ in 1881 directed its well aimed satirical pricks and barbs at
the pre-Raphaelite movement in England with its fetish for simplicity
and naturalness; and with equal accuracy at poets and esthetes like
Oscar Wilde and Algernon Swinburne, leaders of an esthetic movement that
encouraged postures, poses, and pretenses. Twenty maidens are turned
into esthetes through their common love for the “fleshly poet”
Bunthorne. Because of this love they hold in disdain their former
sweethearts, the officers of the Heavy Dragoon. Bunthorne, however, is
in love with the simple, unselfish milkmaid Patience, who dotes after
the idyllic poet of heavenly beauty, Grosvenor. Since Patience is
unselfish she cannot hope to win Grosvenor’s love, for to be loved by
one so beautiful is the most selfish thing in the world. She decides to
accept Bunthorne. Now the twenty love-sick maidens fall in love with
Grosvenor and through his influence abandon estheticism for simplicity.
Unaware of this new direction in their loved ones, the Dragoons desert
their uniforms for esthetic garb, substitute their former practical
everyday behavior for extravagant postures and poses. Weary of the
demands made upon him by the doting maids, Grosvenor (with a push from
Bunthorne) becomes commonplace. But, unfortunately for Bunthorne, since
it is no longer selfish to be loved by a commonplace man, Patience
returns to Grosvenor. The maidens, now interested in the commonplace,
can now return to their Dragoons. But poor Bunthorne is left alone with
nothing but a lily in his hand to console him.
The following are the principal selections from _Patience_: the opening
female chorus, “Twenty Lovesick Maidens We”; Patience’s simple query
about the nature of love, “I Cannot Tell What This Love May Be”; the
chorus of the Dragoons, “The Soldiers of Our Queen” followed immediately
by the Colonel’s patter song, “If You Want a Receipt”; Bunthorne’s
recipe for success in the business of being an esthete, “If You’re
Anxious For to Shine”; Grosvenor’s duet with Patience, “Prithee, Pretty
Maiden”; Jane’s soliloquy, “Silvered is the Raven Hair” with which the
second act opens; Grosvenor’s fable to the lovesick maidens, “The Magnet
and the Churn”; Patience’s ballad, “Love is a Plaintive Song”; and the
gay duet of Bunthorne and Grosvenor, “When I Go Out of Doors.”
_Pinafore_ was the first of the successful Gilbert and Sullivan comic
operas in which we encounter that strange topsy-turvy world over which
Gilbert and Sullivan ruled; that we confront the accidents,
coincidences, paradoxes, and mishaps that beset its hapless inhabitants.
_Pinafore_ is a devastating satire on the Admiralty in general and
William H. Smith, its First Lord, in particular. But it also makes a
mockery of social position. Ralph Rackstraw, a humble seaman, is in love
with Josephine, daughter of Captain Corcoran, commanding officer of the
_H.M.S. Pinafore_. But the first Lord of the Admiralty, Sir Joseph
Porter, is also in love with her. Since Josephine’s father would never
consent to have his daughter marry one so lowly as Ralph, the lovers
decide to elope. But the plans are overheard by the seaman, Dick
Deadeye, who reports them to the Captain with the result that Ralph is
put in irons. An impasse is thus reached until Little Buttercup, a
“Portsmouth Bumboat woman,” reveals an incident of the distant past.
Entrusted the care of two infants she mixed them up with the result that
the lowly born child, Corcoran, was mistaken for the one of high station
and was thus able to rise to the station of Captain; but the child of
high station believed to have been of lowly origin, Ralph, had been
forced to become a seaman. By order of Sir Joseph, Ralph now becomes the
master of the ship and can claim Josephine as his bride. The proud
Captain, now reduced to a seaman, must content himself with Little
Buttercup.
_Pinafore_ was a sensation when introduced in London in 1878, enjoying
seven hundred consecutive performances. But it proved even more
sensational in the United States, following its première there at the
Boston Museum on November 25 of the same year. Ninety different
companies presented this comic opera throughout the country in that
first season, with five different companies operating simultaneously in
New York. _Pinafore_ was given by colored groups, children’s groups, and
religious groups. It was widely parodied. Some of its catch phrases
(“What never? No never!” and “For he himself has said it”) entered
American _argot_.
As a bountiful source of popular melodies, the score of _Pinafore_ is
second only in importance to that of _The Mikado_. Here are the main
ones: the opening chorus of the sailors, “We Sail the Ocean Blue”;
Buttercup’s forthright self-introduction, “I’m Called Little Buttercup”;
Ralph’s madrigal, “The Nightingale,” and ballad, “A Maiden Fair to See”;
the Captain’s colloquy with his crew, “I Am the Captain of the
_Pinafore_”; Josephine’s poignant ballad, “Sorry Her Lot”; Sir Joseph’s
exchange with his sisters, cousins, and aunts, “I am the Monarch of the
Sea,” and his autobiographical, “When I Was a Lad”; the Captain’s sad
reflection, “Fair Moon to Thee I Sing”; the choral episode, “Carefully
on Tip-Toe Stealing” followed by the tongue-in-the-cheek paean to
England and Englishmen, “He Is an Englishman.”
_The Pirates of Penzance_ was the only Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera
to receive its world première outside England. This took place in New
York at the Fifth Avenue Theater in 1879. (There was a single hastily
prepared performance in Paignton, England, on December 30, 1879 but this
is not regarded as an official première.) The reason why _The Pirates_
was introduced in New York was due to the presence there of its authors.
Numerous pirated versions of _Pinafore_ were then being given throughout
the United States in about a hundred theaters, and Gilbert and Sullivan
decided to come to America for the dual purpose of exploring the
conditions under which they might protect their copyright and to offer
an authorized version of their opera. In coming to the United States,
they brought with them the manuscript of their new work, _The Pirates of
Penzance_, and arranged to have its première take place in New York.
_The Pirates of Penzance_ is a blood relative of _Pinafore_. Where
_Pinafore_ made fun of the British Navy, _The Pirates_ concentrates on
the British Army and constabulary. In _Pinafore_ two babies are mixed up
in the cradle for a confusion of their identities; in _The Pirates_ it
is the future professions of babies which are confounded in the cradle.
In _Pinafore_ the secret is divulged by Buttercup, in _The Pirates_ by
Ruth. _Pinafore_ boasts a female chorus of cousins, sisters and aunts
while _The Pirates_ has a female chorus made up of the Major General’s
daughters.
The hero is young Frederic, apprenticed to a band of pirates by his
nurse Ruth, who mistakes the word “pilot” for “pirate.” Frederic falls
in love with Mabel, one of the many daughters of Major General Stanley
and looks forward eagerly to his freedom from his apprenticeship to the
pirate band, which arrives on his twenty-first birthday. But Frederic
discovers that since he was born on leap year the year of his
freedom—his twenty-first _birthday_—is many, many years off; that by the
calendar he is still only a little boy of five. As a pirate he must join
his confederates in exterminating Mabel’s father and the constables
attending him. But all turns out happily when the pirates actually prove
to be ex-noblemen, and are thus found highly acceptable as husbands for
the daughters of Major General Stanley. The Major General is also in
favor of the union of Mabel and Frederic.
The following are the leading musical selections: the opening chorus of
the pirates, “Pour, Oh Pour, the Pirate Sherry”; the Pirate king’s hymn
to his profession, “For I am a Pirate King”; the chorus of the Major
General’s daughters, “Climbing Over Rocky Mountain”; Frederic’s
plaintive plea for a lover, “Oh, Is There Not One Maiden Breast”; the
Major General’s autobiographical patter song, “I Am the Very Pattern of
a Modern Major General”; the rousing chorus of the constabulary, “When
the Foeman Bares His Steel”; the tripping trio of Ruth, Fred and the
Pirate King on discovering Fred is only a child of five, “A Paradox, a
Most Ingenious Paradox”; Mabel’s haunting ballad, “Oh, Leave Me Not to
Pine”; the Police Sergeant’s commentary on his profession, “When a
Felon’s Not Engaged in His Employment”; the Pirates’ chorus, “Come
Friends Who Plough the Sea,” a melody expropriated by an American,
Theodore Morse, for the lyric “Hail, Hail the Gang’s All Here”; and the
General’s idyllic ballad, “Sighing Softly To the River.”
_Ruddigore_, a travesty on melodrama, was first performed on January 22,
1887. Because the Murgatroyd family has persecuted witches, an evil
spirit had fated it to commit a crime a day. Ruthven Murgatroyd tries to
flee from this curse by assuming the identity of simple Robin Oakapple.
He meets and falls in love with Rose who is being sought after by
Ruthven’s foster brother, Richard. Since Ruthven as Robin Oakapple has
the upper hand with Rose, Richard avenges himself by revealing the fact
that his brother is really a member of the Murgatroyd family and like
all of them is the victim of the ancient family curse. Back in his
ancestral home, Ruthven must fulfil his quota of crimes, a job he
bungles so badly that his ancestors suddenly come alive out of the
picture frames on the wall, to condemn him. But after numerous
convolutions of typically Gilbertian logic and reasoning, the curse is
broken and Ruthven can live happily with his beloved Rose.
From _Ruddigore_ come the following familiar sections: the opening
chorus of the bridesmaids, “Fair Is Rose as the Bright May Day”;
Hannah’s legend, “Sir Rupert Murgatroyd”; Rose’s ballad, “If Somebody
There Chanced to Be”; the extended duet of Robin and Rose, “I Know a
Youth Who Loves a Little Maid”; Richard’s ballad, “I Shipped, D’ye See,
in a Revenue Sloop”; Robin’s song, “My Boy You May Take it From Me”; the
chorus of the bridesmaids, “Hail the Bride of Seventeen Summers”
followed by Rose’s madrigal, “Where the Buds Are Blossoming”; the duet
of Robin and Adam, “I Once Was As Meek as a New Born Lamb”; Rose’s
ballad, “In Bygone Days”; the chorus of the family portraits, “Painted
Emblems of a Race”; Sir Roderic’s patter song, “When the Night Wind
Howls”; and Hannah’s ballad, “There Grew a Little Flower.”
_The Sorcerer_, the first successful Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera,
was introduced in 1877. Alexis, in love with Aline, wishes to spread
around the blessings of love. For this purpose he enlists the
cooperation of John Wellington Wells, the creator of a love brew. In an
effort to perpetuate Aline’s love for him, Alexis has her drink this
potion, only to discover that his beloved has fallen for the vicar, Dr.
Daly, he being the first man she sees after drinking the draught. Since
Alexis is not the only one to suffer from this now-general epidemic of
loving, a serious effort must be made to offset the effects of this
magic: a human sacrifice. Naturally that sacrifice becomes none other
than John Wellington Wells who is driven to self immolation before
things can once again be set normal.
The music of _The Sorcerer_ is not so well known as that of the other
famous comic operas, but it does contain several Gilbert and Sullivan
delights. Among them are: the song with which Wells introduces himself
and his black art, “Oh! My Name Is John Wellington Wells,” the first of
the Gilbert and Sullivan patter songs; the vicar’s haunting ballad,
“Time Was When Love and I Were Well Acquainted”; and the romantic duet
of Aline and Alexis, “It Is Not Love.”
In the _Yeomen of the Guard_, produced on October 3, 1888, the
topsy-turvy world of Gilbert and Sullivan is temporarily sidestepped for
another of operatic pretensions. Of all the Gilbert and Sullivan plays
this one comes closest to resembling an opera. The immediate stimulus
for the writing of the text came to Gilbert from an advertisement in a
railway station depicting a Beefeater. Out of this acorn grew the oak of
Gilbert’s play in which Colonel Charles Fairfax is falsely accused by
his kinsman, Poltwhistle, of sorcery. For this he must be condemned to
death in the Tower of London. Since Fairfax is not married, his fortune
will pass on to his accuser. But Charles thwarts such evil designs by
marrying Elsie Maynard, a strolling player—if only for an hour. Then he
manages to escape from the Tower disguised as a yeoman of the guard.
When the execution is to take place there is no victim. Eventually, a
reprieve enables Charles to live permanently with Elsie.
The most important selections from the _Yeomen of the Guard_ are:
Phoebe’s song with which the opera opens, “When Maiden Loves”; the
chorus of the yeomen, “In the Autumn of Our Life”; Fairfax’ ballad, “Is
Life a Boon?”; the extended duet of Point and Elsie, “I Have a Song to
Sing, O”; Phoebe’s ballad, “Were I Thy Bride”; Point’s patter song, “Oh,
a Private Buffoon Is a Light-Hearted Loon”; the quartet of Elsie,
Fairfax, Dame Carruthers and Meryll, “Strange Adventure”; the trio of
Fairfax, Elsie and Phoebe, “A Man Who Would Woo a Fair Maid”; the
quartet of Elsie, Fairfax, Phoebe and Point, “When a Wooer Goes
a-Wooing”; and the finale, “Oh, Thoughtless Crew.”
Besides his music for the comic operas there exists a vast repertory of
serious music by Sullivan. Of this hardly more than two songs have
retained their popularity. One is “The Lost Chord,” lyric by Adelaide
Proctor, written by Sullivan in December 1876 at the deathbed of his
brother, Fred. From Charles Willeby we get an account of how this deeply
moving piece of music came into being: “For nearly three weeks he
watched by his bedside night and day. One night—the end was not very far
off then—while his sick brother had for a time fallen into a peaceful
sleep, and he was sitting as usual by the bedside, he chanced to come
across some verses by Adelaide Proctor with which he had some five years
previously been struck. He had then tried to set them to music, but
without satisfaction to himself. Now in the stillness of the night he
read them over again, and almost as he did so, he conceived their
musical equivalent. A stray sheet of music paper was at hand, and he
began to write. Slowly the music took shape, until, becoming quite
absorbed in it, he determined to finish the song. Even if in the cold
light of day it were to prove worthless, it would at least have helped
to while away the hours of watching. So he worked on at it. As he
progressed, he felt sure this was what he had sought for, and failed to
find on the occasion of his first attempt to set the words. In a short
time it was complete and not long after in the publisher’s hands. Thus
was written ‘The Lost Chord,’ perhaps the most successful song of modern
times.”
“Onward Christian Soldiers,” words by Sabine Baring-Gould, is the most
celebrated of Sullivan’s more than fifty religious hymns. It is
effective not merely for its religious mood but also for its martial
spirit. “The music,” says Isaac Goldberg, “has the tread of armies in
it, and a broad diatonic stride.” Sullivan wrote it in 1873 upon being
appointed editor of the _Hymnal_, a collection of hymns published by
Novello for the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge and the
Hymnary.
Franz von Suppé
Franz von Suppé was born Francesco Suppé-Demelli in Spalato, Yugoslavia,
on April 18, 1819. He played the flute at eleven, at thirteen started
the study of harmony, and at fifteen completed a Mass. Nevertheless, for
a while he entertained the idea of becoming either a physician or a
teacher of Italian. When he finally decided upon music as a profession
he attended the Vienna Conservatory. After serving an apprenticeship as
conductor of operettas in Pressburg and Baden, he was appointed
principal conductor at Theater-an-der-Wien in Vienna. In 1862 he assumed
a similar post with the Karlstheater, and from 1865 until his death at
the Leopoldstadttheater. While absorbing the influence and traditions of
the opéra-bouffe of Offenbach, he began writing operettas of his own in
a style uniquely his, setting and establishing many of the traditions
and clichés which would henceforth identify the Viennese operetta. He
had an unusual gift for light, caressing tunes, a gay and infectious
spirit, and a direct emotional appeal. His first operetta was _Jung
lustig in alter traurig_ in 1841. Success came with his incidental music
to _Poet and Peasant_ (_Dichter und Bauer_), introduced on August 24,
1846; its overture is still his best known composition and a classic in
the musical literature in a lighter vein. A succession of popular
operettas, over twenty-five in number, made him one of Europe’s most
celebrated composers for the stage. His most famous operettas were: _Das
Maedchen vom Lande_ (1847), _Die schoene Galatea_, or _Beautiful
Galathea_ (1865), _Leichte Cavallerie_, or _Light Cavalry_ (1866),
_Fatinitza_ (1876), _Boccaccio_ (1879), and _Donna Juanita_ (1880).
Suppé died in Vienna on May 21, 1895.
The overture to _The Beautiful Galathea_ (_Die schoene Galatea_) opens
with brisk music. Horns and woodwind lead into an extended portrayal of
exaltated character by strings. Once again horns and woodwind appear,
this time providing a transition to a caressing melody that soon
develops into a fulsome song. After a theatrical passage, the overture’s
main melody is heard in the strings, with harmonies filled in by the
woodwind; this is a graceful dance tune which, towards the end of the
overture, is repeated with harmonic and tonal amplitude by the full
orchestra.
The _Light Cavalry_ Overture (_Leichte Cavallerie_) is, as its name
indicates, stirring music of martial character. Horn calls and forceful
chords in full orchestra provide at once the military character of this
music. A vivacious tune for the violins follows this forceful
introduction after which comes the brisk melody for woodwind followed by
the full orchestra that has made this overture so famous; the gallop of
the cavalry is here simulated in a brisk rhythm. The agitation is
dissipated by a sensitive transition in strings and clarinet to a
spacious melody in strings in a sensual Hungarian style. The brisk
military music and the open horning calls then give the overture a
dynamic conclusion.
_Morning, Noon and Night in Vienna_ (_Ein Morgen, ein Mittag, ein Abend
in Wien_) is one of the composer’s famous concert overtures. A dramatic
introduction—with forceful chords in full orchestra—leads to a beautiful
and fully realized song for solo cello against plucked strings, one of
Suppé’s most inspired flights of melody. The song ended, the dramatic
opening is recalled to serve as a transition to two buoyant and graceful
Viennese tunes in the strings, the second repeated vigorously and
amplified by full orchestra. The overture ends in a robust rather than
lyrical vein.
The _Pique Dame_ (_Queen of Spades_) Overture begins with a murmuring
passage for strings that grows in volume and changes character before an
expressive melody unfolds in lower strings against an accompanying
figure borrowed from the opening passage. A vigorous interlude of strong
chords and a vigorous pronouncement by the brass lead into the most
famous theme of the composition, a vivacious and jaunty melody for
strings and woodwind. This subject is developed at some length before a
melodic episode is offered by the lower strings as a preface to a soft,
idyllic interlude for the woodwind. The conclusion of the overture is in
a vigorous manner with an energetic restatement of earlier thematic
material.
Of all the Suppé overtures, whether for the stage or the concert hall,
the most famous undoubtedly is the _Poet and Peasant_ (_Dichter und
Bauer_). After a stately introduction there arrives a gentle song for
the strings. This is succeeded by a more robust theme. The main melody
of the overture is a pulsating melody in ⅜ time. Indicative of the
enormous popularity of this overture in all parts of the world is that
it has been adapted for almost sixty different combinations of
instruments.
Johan Svendsen
Johan Svendsen was born in Oslo, Norway, on September 30, 1840. The son
of a bandmaster, he dabbled in music for many years before receiving
formal instruction. When he was twenty-three he embarked for the first
time on a comprehensive musical education by attending the Leipzig
Conservatory where he was a pupil of Ferdinand David, Reinecke, and
others. After that he toured Europe as a concert violinist and lived for
a while in Paris where he played in theater orchestras. In 1870 he
visited the United States where he married an American woman whom he had
originally met in Paris. Following his return to his native land he was
the conductor of the Christiana Musical Association from 1872 to 1877
and again from 1880 to 1883. In 1883 he settled in Copenhagen where for
sixteen years he was court conductor, and part of that time conductor at
the Royal Theater as well. As a composer Svendsen distinguished himself
with major works for orchestra in a pronounced Norwegian style, the most
famous being four Norwegian Rhapsodies and the _Carnaval des artistes
norvégiens_, in all of which Norwegian folk melodies are used
extensively. He also produced many works not of a national identity,
among which were symphonies, concertos, chamber-music works, and the
highly popular _Carnival in Paris_, for orchestra. Svendsen died in
Copenhagen on June 14, 1911.
_The Carnival in Paris_ (_Carnaval à Paris_), for orchestra, op. 9
(1873) is one of Svendsen’s best-known works, even though it is not in
his characteristic Norwegian style. His early manhood in Paris had been
one of the composer’s happiest experiences in life, and some of that joy
and feeling of excitement is found in this music describing a Mardi Gras
in Paris. The full orchestra enters after a swelling trumpet tone over
drum rolls. There is then heard an exchange among the wind instruments
and a quickening of the tempo to lead into the first main theme, a
delicate subject for flutes and clarinets. This theme is twice repeated
after which the music becomes stormy. Divided violins then bring on the
second theme, which like the first is quiet and gentle. In the
development, in which much is made of the first subject, there are
effective frequent alternations of tempo. A rhapsodic section, with a
subject for divided strings, followed by extended drum rolls and calls
for muted horns, precede the concluding section.
Deems Taylor
Joseph Deems Taylor was born in New York City on December 22, 1885. He
received his academic education in New York, at the Friends School,
Ethical Culture School, and New York University. All the while he
studied music with private teachers. Following his graduation from
college, Taylor appeared in vaudeville, worked for several magazines,
and from 1921 to 1925 was the music critic of the New York _World_. He
first distinguished himself as a composer in 1919 with the orchestral
suite, _Through the Looking Glass_. In 1925 he resigned from the _World_
to concentrate on composition. In the next half dozen years he completed
two operas, each successfully performed at the Metropolitan Opera: _The
King’s Henchman_ (with libretto by Edna St. Vincent Millay) in 1927, and
_Peter Ibbetson_ in 1931. Since 1927, Taylor has followed several
careers besides that of one of America’s most important serious
composers. He was editor of _Musical America_, music critic for the _New
York American_, master of ceremonies on radio and television, program
annotator, intermission commentator for broadcasts of opera and
orchestral music, and author of several best-selling books on music. A
highly sophisticated composer with a consummate technical skill,
Taylor’s works are not for popular consumption. But he did write one
composition in a popular style, _Circus Day_; and a second of his works,
_Through the Looking Glass_, while intended for symphonic concerts, has
enough wit and charm to fall gracefully into the semi-classical
category.
_Circus Day_ is a fantasy for orchestra, op. 18 (1925) written on
commission from Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra. When Whiteman and his
orchestra introduced it that year, the work was orchestrated by Ferde
Grofé, but since then Taylor has prepared his own symphonic adaptation.
Subtitled “eight pictures from memory” this fantasy strives “to convey
one’s early impressions of a day at the circus.” The composer has
provided his own program notes for the eight movements. The first,
entitled “Street Parade,” describes the circus parade as it “passes on
down the street.” “The playing of the band grows fainter and dies away
in the distance.” “The Big Tops” tells in musical terms about “peanuts,
popcorn, pink lemonade, bawling side-show barkers.” This is followed by
“Bareback Riders.” “As the ringmaster cracks his whip, the riders
perform the miraculous feats ... that make horseback riders the objects
of such awe and admiration.” The fourth movement is in three parts. The
first is devoted to “The Lion’s Cage.” “The roar of the lions is blood
curdling, but they go through their tricks with no damage to any of us.”
The second speaks about “The Dog and the Monkey Circus.” “Into the ring
dash a whole kennel full of small dogs guised as race horses, ridden by
monkeys dressed as jockeys.” In the third, we get a picture of “The
Waltzing Elephants.” “The great beasts solemnly waltz to a tune that is
a pachydermous version of the theme of the bareback riders.” In the
fifth movement, “Tight-Rope Walker,” the performer “balances his
parasol; he pirouettes and slips and slides as he makes his perilous way
along the taut wire.” “The Jugglers,” in the sixth movement, “juggle
little balls and big ones, knives, dishes, hats, lighted candles....”
Even the orchestra is seized by the contagion and finally juggles its
main theme, keeping three versions of it in the air. In “Clowns,” two of
them “come out to play us a tune.... Finally, after a furious argument,
the entire clown band manages to play the tune through, amid applause.”
The finale, the composer goes on to explain, “might better be called
‘Looking Back.’ For the circus is over, and we are back at home, trying
to tell a slightly inattentive family what we saw and heard. The helpful
orchestra evokes recollections of jugglers, clowns, bareback riders,
tight-rope walkers, trained animals.”
_Through the Looking Glass_, a suite for orchestra (1919) is a musical
setting of episodes from Lewis Carroll’s delightful tale of the same
name. Taylor’s suite is in four movements, for which he has provided his
own program. The first movement, “Dedication; The Garden of Live
Flowers,” consists of “a simple song theme, briefly developed,” which
leads immediately to the brisk music of “The Garden of Live Flowers.” In
the second movement, “Jabberwocky,” the theme of the frightful beast,
the Jabberwock, “is first announced by the full orchestra. The clarinet
then begins the tale [with] the battle with the monsters recounted in a
short and rather repellant fugue.” The third movement, “Looking Glass
Insects” tells of “the vociferous _diptera_ that made such an impression
on Alice—the Bee-elephant, the Gnat, the Rockinghorse fly, and the
Bread-and-butter fly.” The last movement, “The White Knight” has two
themes. “The first is a sort of instrumental prance, being the knight’s
own conception of himself as a slashing daredevil. The second is bland,
mellifluous, a little sentimental—much more like the knight as he really
was.”
Peter Ilitch Tchaikovsky
Peter Ilitch Tchaikovsky was born in Votkinsk, Russia, on May 7, 1840.
Serious music study began comparatively late, since he prepared for a
career in law and then for three years served as clerk in the Ministry
of Justice. He had, however, revealed unusual sensitivity for music from
earliest childhood, and had received some training on the piano from the
time he was five. Intensive music study, however, did not begin until
1861 when he became a pupil of Nicholas Zaremba, and it was completed at
the St. Petersburg Conservatory. His professional career began in 1865,
the year in which he was appointed professor of harmony at the newly
founded Moscow Conservatory. This was also the year when one of his
compositions was performed for the first time: _Characteristic Dances_,
for orchestra, introduced by Johann Strauss II in Pavlovsk, Russia.
Tchaikovsky’s first symphony was introduced in Moscow in 1868; his first
opera, _The Voivoda_, in Moscow in 1869; and his first masterwork—the
orchestral fantasy _Romeo and Juliet_—in Moscow in 1870. During the next
half dozen years he reached maturity as composer with the completion of
his second and third symphonies, first two string quartets, famous Piano
Concerto No. 1, and the orchestral fantasy, _Francesca da Rimini_.
In 1877, Tchaikovsky embarked precipitously on a disastrous marriage
with Antonina Miliukova. He did not love her, but was flattered by her
adoration of his music. In all probability he regarded this marriage as
a convenient cloak with which to conceal his sexual aberration which was
already causing some talk in Moscow and of which he was heartily
ashamed. In any event, this marriage proved a nightmare from the
beginning. Always hypersensitive, he now became a victim of mental
torment which led him to try suicide. Failing that, he fled from his
wife to find refuge in his brother’s house where he collapsed
physically. For a year after that he traveled about aimlessly in Europe.
This strange relationship with his wife was followed by another one,
even more curious and unorthodox, with the woman whom he admired and
loved above all others. She was the wealthy patroness and widow,
Nadezhda von Meck, with whom he maintained a friendship lasting thirteen
years. But during all that time he never once met her personally, their
friendship being developed through an exchange of often tender at times
even passionate letters. She had written him to speak of her admiration
for his music and he had replied in gratitude. Before long, she endowed
him with a generous annual subsidy to allow him full freedom to write
music. From then on, they wrote each other frequently, with Tchaikovsky
often baring his heart and soul. The reason why they never met was that
Mme. von Meck had firmly established that condition for the continuation
of their friendship and her financial generosity. Why this strange
request was made, and why she adhered to it so tenaciously, has never
been adequately explained. She may have been influenced by their
different stations in life, or by her excessive devotion to her
children, or even by a knowledge of the composer’s sexual deviation.
Now financially independent—and strengthened by the kindness, affection
and sympathy of his patroness—Tchaikovsky entered upon one of his
richest creative periods by producing one masterwork after another: the
fourth and fifth symphonies, the opera, _Eugene Onegin_; the violin
concerto; the _Capriccio italien_, for orchestra; a library of wonderful
songs. Inevitably he now assumed a rank of first importance in Russian
music. In 1884 he was honored by the Czar with the Order of St.
Vladimir, and in 1888 a life pension was conferred upon him by the
Russian government.
In 1890, while traveling in the Caucasus, Tchaikovsky heard from Mme.
von Meck that she had recently suffered financial reverses and was
compelled to terminate her subsidy. The composer replied that he was no
longer in need of her financial help but that he hoped their friendship
might continue. To this, and to all subsequent letters by Tchaikovsky,
Mme. von Meck remained silent. Upon returning to Moscow, Tchaikovsky
discovered that his patroness was in no financial difficulties
whatsoever, but had used this as an excuse to terminate a relationship
of which she had grown weary. The loss of his dearest friend, and the
specious reason given for the termination of their relationship, was an
overwhelming blow, one largely responsible for the fits of melancholia
into which Tchaikovsky lapsed so frequently from this time on.
In 1891, Tchaikovsky paid his only visit to the United States where he
helped open Carnegie Hall in New York by directing a performance of his
own _Overture 1812_. After returning to Russia, he became so morbid, and
succumbed so helplessly to fits of despair, that at times he thought he
was losing his mind. In such a mood he wrote his last symphony, the
_Pathétique_, one of the most tragic utterances in all music; there is
good reason to believe that when Tchaikovsky wrote this music he was
creating his own requiem. He died in St. Petersburg on November 6, 1893,
a victim of cholera contracted when he drank a glass of boiled water
during an epidemic.
The qualities in his major serious works that made Tchaikovsky one of
the best loved and most frequently performed composers in the world are
also the traits that bring his lesser works into the permanent
semi-classical repertory: an endless fund of beautiful melody; an
affecting sentiment that at times lapses into sentimentality; a lack of
inhibitions in voicing his deepest emotions and most personal thoughts.
The _Andante Cantabile_ is a gentle, melancholy song in three-part form
which comes from one of the composer’s string quartets, in D major, op.
11 (1871). This is the second movement of the quartet, and the reason
why this work as a whole is still occasionally performed. This famous
melody, however, is not original with the composer, but a quotation of a
Russian folk song, “Vanya Sat on the Divan,” which the composer heard a
baker sing in Kamenka, Russia. Tchaikovsky himself adapted this music
for orchestra. In 1941, this melody was adapted into the American
popular song, “On the Isle of May.”
_Chanson Triste_ is another of the composer’s soft, gentle melodies that
is filled with sentiment. This is the second of twelve children’s pieces
for the piano “of moderate difficulty,” op. 40 (1876-1877).
_Humoresque_, op. 10, no. 2 (1871)—a “humoresque” being an instrumental
composition in a whimsical vein—finds Tchaikovsky in a less familiar
attitude, that of grotesquerie. This sprightly little tune is almost as
celebrated as the very popular _Humoresque_ of Dvořák; and like that of
Dvořák, it originated as a composition for the piano, a companion to a
_Nocturne_ which it follows. Fritz Kreisler made a fine transcription
for violin and piano, while Stokowski was one of several to adapt it for
orchestra.
The _Marche Slav_, for orchestra, op. 31 (1876) was intended for a
benefit concert in St. Petersburg for Serbian soldiers wounded in the
war with Turkey. At that performance, the work aroused a “whole storm of
patriotic enthusiasm,” as the composer himself reported. The work opens
with a broad Slavic march melody which Tchaikovsky borrowed from a
Serbian folk song. The middle trio section is made up of two other folk
tunes. The composition ends with a triumphant restatement of the opening
march melody, now speaking for the victory of the Serbs over the Turks.
The _Melodie_, in E-flat major, op. 42, no. 3 (1878) is a simple and
haunting little song that originated as a piece for violin and piano. It
appears in a set of three such pieces entitled _Souvenir d’un lieu
cher_, of which it is the closing number. This melody was used in 1941
for the American popular song, “The Things I Love.”
_The Months_, op. 37b (1876) is a suite for piano out of which come
several compositions exceedingly popular in transcriptions. Each
movement of this suite is devoted to a month of the year. The sixth
movement is _June_, a little barcarolle, or Venetian boat song. The
tenth, for October, is _Autumn Song_, a gentle melody lightly touched by
sadness. The eleventh, for November, is by contrast a lively piece
entitled _Troika en Traneaux_, or _The Troika_.
“None But the Lonely Heart” is one of Tchaikovsky’s most famous songs, a
melancholy setting of Goethe’s poem. This is the last of a set of six
songs, op. 16 (1872) which is extensively performed in transcriptions of
all sorts.
The _Nutcracker Suite_, or _Casse-Noisette_, op. 71a (1892) is a suite
for orchestra adapted from a ballet score. The ballet (introduced in St.
Petersburg in 1892) tells about a nutcracker, received as a Christmas
gift by a little girl, which in her dreams becomes a handsome prince. He
leads toys into battle against mice, and conducts the little girl to Jam
Mountain, Arabia, where she is delighted with all kinds of games and
dances. Those accustomed to associate the name of Tchaikovsky with
lugubrious music will find this suite a revelation, for it is filled
with the most enchanting moods, and is consistently light of heart and
spirit. The highly popular suite for orchestra is made up of eight
little movements. “Miniature Overture” is built from two lively tunes.
The main subject of the “March” is a pert melody for clarinet, horn, and
two trumpets; the trio section consists of a vivacious staccato melody
for the woodwind and strings. “The Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy” is a
sensitive melody for the celesta, the “Trepak” is a vigorous, rhythmic
Russian dance, the “Arabian Dance” is an exotic melody for the clarinet,
and the “Chinese Dance” an Oriental subject for flute and piccolo. The
two last movements are the “Dance of the Flutes” in which a sensitive
melody for flutes is contrasted by a more robust section for trumpets,
and the “Waltz of the Flowers,” where the waltz tune in horns and then
in clarinets is followed by two more important ideas, the first in the
strings, and the second in flutes and oboe.
The _Overture 1812_ is a concert overture for orchestra, op. 49 (1880)
commissioned for the consecration of a temple built as a memorial to
Napoleon’s defeat in Russia in 1812. This overture was intended by the
composer to describe the historic events of Napoleon’s invasion of and
flight from Russia. An introductory section quotes the well-known
Russian hymn, “God Preserve Thy People.” In the main body of the
overture, the Battle of Borodino is dramatically depicted, the two
opposing armies represented by quotations from the _Marseillaise_ and
the Russian national anthem. A climax is reached with a triumphant
restatement of the Russian national anthem.
The _Polonaise_ is one of two celebrated dance episodes in the opera
_Eugene Onegin_. (The other is the Waltz discussed below.) This
three-act opera is based on a poem by Pushkin, adapted by Konstantin
Shilovsky and the composer himself, and was introduced in Moscow on
March 29, 1879. The setting is St. Petersburg in or about 1815, and its
central theme concerns the frustrated love affair of Eugene Onegin and
Tatiana. The brilliant music of the Polonaise is heard in the first
scene of Act 3. In the palace of Prince Gremin there takes place a
reception during which the guests dance to the vital strains of this
courtly Polish dance, its vigor derived from sharp syncopations and
accents on the half beat.
_Romance_, in F minor, op. 5 (1868) is a composition for piano written
by the composer when he believed himself in love with the singer,
Désirée Artôt, to whom the piece is dedicated. This music gives voice to
a romantic ardor.
The _Sérénade mélancolique_ in B-flat minor, op. 26 (1875) is a work for
violin and orchestra. As the title indicates it is a sentimental rather
than romantic effusion. Here a brief subject leads to a soaring
three-part song for the violin.
_Serenade for Strings_, in C major, op. 48 (1880) is particularly famous
for its second and third movements. The second is a Waltz, perhaps the
most popular of this composer’s many well loved waltzes. This is a
graceful, even elegant, dance movement, the waltz of the Parisian salon
rather than the more vital and earthy dance of Vienna. Such a
light-hearted mood is instantly dispelled by the gloom of the third
movement, an eloquent _Elegy_, in which the sorrow is all the more
poignant because it is so subdued and restrained.
Solitude, op. 73, no. 6 (1893)—sometimes known as Again as Before—is a
song set to a poem by D. M. Rathaus. This is the last of a set of six
songs. Stokowski made an effective arrangement for orchestra.
_Song Without Words_ (_Chanson sans paroles_), in F major is the third
of a set of three pieces for the piano collectively entitled _Souvenir
de Hapsal_, op. 2 (1867). This tender melody is far more familiar in
transcriptions than it is in its original version.
Tchaikovsky wrote three Suites for orchestra. From two of these come
movements which must be counted with the composer’s most popular works.
The Suite No. 1 in D minor, op. 43 (1880) is famous for its fourth
movement, a _Marche Miniature_. The inclusion of this section into the
suite was something of an afterthought with the composer, since it was
interpolated into the work only after it had been published, placed as a
fourth movement between an intermezzo and a scherzo. This march is in
the grotesque, fantastic style of the piano _Humoresque_. The main
subject is heard in the piccolo against plucked-string accompaniment. A
transitory episode in strings and bells leads to a development of this
melody.
The third movement from this same suite, _Intermezzo_, has two main
melodies: the first appears in first violins, violas, bassoons and
flute; the second, in cellos and bassoon. The coda is based on the first
theme.
The suite No. 3 in G major, op. 55 (1884) is a four-movement work of
which the second is particularly celebrated. This is a _Valse
mélancolique_ for full orchestra, highly expressive and emotional music
in the composer’s identifiable sentimental style.
There are several other waltzes by Tchaikovsky familiar to all lovers of
light music. The _Valse sentimentale_, op. 51, no. 6 comes from a set of
six pieces for the piano (1882) where it is the final number. The opera
_Eugene Onegin_ (commented upon above for its Polonaise) is also the
source of a remarkable waltz episode. This music, the essence of
aristocratic style and elegance, appears in the first scene of the
second act. Tatiana’s birthday is celebrated with a festive party during
which the guests dance to its infectious strains. Two other famous
Tchaikovsky waltzes come from his famous ballets—_Sleeping Beauty_ and
_Swan Lake_. In the orchestral suite derived from the score of _Sleeping
Beauty_, the waltz appears as the fourth and concluding movement and
consists of a lilting melody for strings which is carried to an
overpowering climax. The _Swan Lake_ consists of thirty-three numbers,
various combinations of its most popular sections serving as orchestral
suites for concert performance. The suave waltz music serves in the
ballet for a dance of the swans at the lakeside in the second act.
Ambroise Thomas
Ambroise Thomas was born in Metz, France, on August 5, 1811. Between
1828 and 1832 he attended the Paris Conservatory where he won numerous
prizes including the Prix de Rome. After his three-year stay in Rome,
where he wrote some orchestral and chamber music, he returned to Paris
in 1836 and devoted himself to writing operas. The first was _La double
échelle_, produced at the Opéra-Comique in 1837. His first success was
realized in 1843 with _Mina_, and in 1866 the opera by which he is
remembered, _Mignon_, was triumphantly introduced at the Opéra-Comique.
Later operas included _Hamlet_ (1868) and _Françoise de Rimini_ (1882).
In 1851, Thomas was elected member of the French Academy. In 1871 he was
appointed director of the Paris Conservatory, and in 1894 he was the
recipient of the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor. He died in Paris on
February 12, 1896.
_Mignon_ represents the French lyric theater at its best, with its
graceful melodies, charming moods, and courtly grace of style. Its world
première took place at the Opéra-Comique on November 17, 1866. In less
than a century it was given over two thousand performances by that
company besides becoming a staple in the repertory of opera houses the
world over. The opera is based on Goethe’s novel, _Wilhelm Meister_,
adapted by Michel Carré and Jules Barbier. Mignon is a gypsy girl
purchased by Wilhelm Meister. She falls in love with him and is
heartbroken to discover how he is attracted to the actress, Philine. She
tells the demented Lothario of her sorrow and of her wish that Meister’s
castle be burned to the ground. Lothario then proceeds to set Meister’s
castle aflame. Mignon, caught therein, is saved by Meister and then
gently nursed back to health. Meister now realizes he is in love with
her and her alone. When the demented Lothario regains his sanity we
learn that Mignon is in actuality his daughter and that the castle he
has burned is not Meister’s but his own.
Parts of this opera are better known than the whole, and through these
parts _Mignon_ remains deservedly popular on semi-classical programs.
The Overture makes extended use of two of the opera’s main melodies. The
first is “_Connais-tu le pays_,” (“_Knowest Thou the Land?_”), Mignon’s
poignant first-act aria in which she recalls her childhood in some
distant land; the melody is given in the wind instruments after a brief
introduction. The second aria is Philine’s polonaise, “_Je suis
Titania_” (“_I am Titania_”) from the second scene of the second act.
Another delightful orchestral episode from this opera is a suave,
graceful little gavotte heard as entr’acte music just before the rise of
the second-act curtain.
The _Raymond_ Overture is even more popular than that to _Mignon_.
_Raymond_ was first performed at the Opéra-Comique on June 5, 1851. The
overture opens with a spirited section punctuated with dashing chords. A
serene transition, highlighted by a passage for solo cello, brings on a
light, tuneful air in the violins against sharply accented plucked
strings; a graceful countermelody for the woodwind follows. This
appealing material is repeated at some length with embellishments and
amplifications until a new thought is asserted: a brisk, march-like
melody that slowly gains in sonority and tempo until a climactic point
is reached in which this march melody is forcefully given by the full
orchestra. The strings then offer a sentimental melody by way of
temporary relief. But the overture ends in a dramatic and spirited mood
with a finale statement of the march tune.
Enrico Toselli
Enrico Toselli was born in Florence, Italy, on March 13, 1883. After
studying with Sgambati and Martucci, Toselli toured Italy as a concert
pianist. But he achieved renown not on the concert stage but with the
writing of several romantic songs. One of these is the “_Serenata_,” No.
1, op. 6, through which his name survives. He also wrote some orchestral
music and an operetta, _La Principessa bizzarra_ (1913) whose libretto
was the work of the former Crown Princess Luisa of Saxony whom he
married in 1907 thereby creating an international sensation. Toselli
died in Florence, Italy, on January 15, 1926.
The “_Serenata_” (“_Rimpianto_”) with Italian words by Alfred Silvestri
and English lyrics by Sigmund Spaeth was published in the United States
in 1923. This romantic, sentimental, Italian melody, as well loved in
this country as in Europe, was for many years used by Gertrude Berg as
the theme music for her radio and television program, _The Goldbergs_.
It was also used as the theme music for an early talking picture, _The
Magic Flame_, in which Ronald Colman and Vilma Banky were starred.
Sir Paolo Tosti
Sir Francesco Paolo Tosti, one of Italy’s best known song composers, was
born in Ortona sul Mare, Abruzzi, Italy, on April 9, 1846. His musical
education took place at the Royal College of San Pietro a Maiella in
Naples. He left Naples in 1869 after serving for a while as teacher of
music. Returning to his native city he now initiated his career as a
composer of songs. Though a few of these early efforts became popular he
failed for a long time to find a publisher. Success first came to him in
Rome at a song recital in which he featured some of his own
compositions. He scored an even greater success as singer-composer in
London in 1875. He now settled permanently in London, serving as a
singing master to the royal family, and as professor of singing at the
Royal Academy of Music. In 1908 he was knighted. In 1913 he returned to
his native land. He died in Rome on December 2, 1916.
Tosti had a remarkable lyric gift that was Italian to its very core in
the ease, fluidity, and singableness of his melodies. This talent was
combined with an elegant style and a sincere emotion. His best songs are
among the most popular to emerge from Italy. The most famous and the
most moving emotionally is without question “_Addio_” (“Goodbye,
Forever”). Almost as popular and appealing are “_Ideale_” (“My Ideal”),
“_Marechiare_,” “_Mattinata_,” “_Segreto_,” “_La Serenata_,” and
“_Vorrei morire_.”
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi, the greatest of the Italian opera composers, was born in
Le Roncole, Italy, on October 10, 1813. He demonstrated such
unmistakable gifts for music in his boyhood that his townspeople created
a fund to send him to the Milan Conservatory. In 1832 he appeared in
Milan. Finding he was too old to gain admission to the Conservatory, he
studied composition privately with Vincenzo Lavigna. For several years
Verdi lived in Busseto where he conducted the Philharmonic Society and
wrote his first opera, _Oberto_, produced in Milan in 1839. Now settled
in Milan, he continued writing operas, achieving his first major success
with _Nabucco_ in 1842. During the next eight years he solidified his
position as one of Italy’s best loved opera composers with several
important works among which were _Ernani_ (1844), _Macbeth_ (1847) and
_Luisa Miller_ (1849). A new era began for Verdi in 1851 with
_Rigoletto_, an era in which he became Italy’s greatest master of opera,
and one of the foremost in the world. _Il Trovatore_ and _La Traviata_
came in 1853, to be followed by _I Vespri Siciliani_ (1855), _Simone
Boccanegra_ (1857), _Un ballo in maschera_ (1859), _La Forza del
destino_ (1862), and _Aida_ (1871). Now a man of considerable wealth (as
well as fame), Verdi bought a farm in Sant’ Agata where he henceforth
spent his summers; after the completion of _Aida_, he lived there most
of the time in comparative seclusion, tending to his crops, gardens, and
live stock. When Cavour initiated the first Italian parliament, Verdi
was elected deputy. But Verdi never liked politics, and soon withdrew
from the political arena; however, in 1874, he accepted the honorary
appointment of Senator from the King.
As a composer, Verdi remained silent for about fifteen years after
_Aida_. By the time the world became reconciled to the fact that Verdi’s
life work was over, he emerged from this long period of withdrawal to
produce two operas now generally regarded as his crowning achievements:
_Otello_ (1887) and _Falstaff_ (1893). During the last years of his
life, Verdi lived in a Milan hotel. His sight and hearing began to
deteriorate, and just before his death—in Milan on January 27, 1901—he
suffered a paralytic stroke. His death was mourned by the entire nation.
A quarter of a million mourners crowded the streets to watch his bier
pass for its burial in the oratory of the Musicians Home in
Milan—accompanied by the stately music of a chorus from _Nabucco_,
conducted by Toscanini.
Verdi’s profound knowledge of the theater and his strong dramatic sense,
combined with his virtually incomparable Italian lyricism, made him one
of the greatest composers for the musical theater of all time. But it is
his lyricism—with all its infinite charm and variety—that makes so much
of his writing so popular to so many in such widely scattered areas of
the world. Selections from his most famous operas are favorites even
with many who have never seen them on the stage, because their emotional
appeal is inescapable.
_Aida_ is an opera filled not only with some of the most wonderful
melodies to be found in Italian opera but also with scenes of pomp,
ceremony, with exotic attractions, and with episodes dynamic with
dramatic interest. This was the opera that brought Verdi’s second
creative period to a rich culmination; and it is unquestionably one of
the composer’s masterworks. He wrote it on a commission from the
Egyptian Khedive for ceremonies commemorating the opening of the Suez
Canal. However, Verdi took so long to complete his opera that it was not
performed in Cairo until about two years after the canal had been
opened, on December 24, 1871. The libretto—by Antonio Ghislanzoni—was
based on a plot by Mariette Bey. Radames, captain of the Egyptian guard,
is in love with Aida, the Ethiopian slave of Amneris. The latter,
daughter of the King of Egypt, is herself in love with Radames. When an
invading Ethiopian force comes to threaten Egypt, Radames becomes the
commander of the army and proves himself a hero. Lavish festivities and
ceremonies celebrate his victorious return, during which the king of
Egypt offers him the hand of Amneris as reward. But Radames is still in
love with Aida. Since Aida is actually the daughter of the Ethiopian
king, she manages to extract from Radames the secret maneuvers of the
Egyptian army, information enabling the Ethiopian army to destroy the
Egyptians. For this treachery, Radames is buried alive; and Aida, still
in love with him, comes within his tomb to die with him.
The brief overture opens with a tender melody in violins suggesting
Aida. After an effective development we hear a somber and brooding
motive of the Priests of Isis, which soon receives contrapuntal
treatment. The Aida motive is dramatized, brought to a magnificent
climax, then allowed to subside.
The Ballet Music is famous for its brilliant harmonic and orchestral
colors, exotic melodies, and pulsating rhythms. In Act 2, Scene 1 there
takes place the _Dance of the Moorish Slaves_, an oriental dance
performed before Amneris by the Moorish boys. The _Ballabile_ is another
oriental dance which appears in Act 2, Scene 2, performed by the dancing
girls during the celebration attending the arrival of the triumphant
Egyptian army headed by Radames. In this scene there is also heard the
stirring strains of the _Grand March_. This march begins softly but soon
gathers its strength and erupts with full force as the king, his
attendants, the Priests, the standard bearers, Amneris and her slaves
appear in a brilliant procession. The people raise a cry of praise to
the king and their Gods in “_Gloria all’ Egitto_.” After this comes the
dramatic march music to which the Egyptian troops, with Radames at their
head, enter triumphantly into the square and file proudly before their
king.
Of the vocal excerpts the most famous is undoubtedly Radames’ ecstatic
song of love to Aida in the first act, first scene, “_Celeste Aida_,”
surely one of the most famous tenor arias in all opera. Two principal
arias for soprano are by Aida. The first is her exultant prayer that
Radames come back victorious from the war, “_Ritorna vincitor_” in Act
1, Scene 1; the other, “_O Patria mia_,” in Act 3, is her poignant
recollection of her beloved homeland in Ethiopia. Amneris’ moving aria
in Act 2, Scene 1, “_Vieni amor mio_” where she thinks about her beloved
Radames, and the concluding scene of the opera in which Radames and Aida
bid the world farewell, “_O terra, addio_” are also famous.
_La Forza del destino_ (_The Force of Destiny_) has a popular overture.
This opera was first performed in St. Petersburg, Russia on November 10,
1862—libretto by Francesco Piave based on a play by the Duke de Riva.
Leonora, daughter of the Marquis of Calatrava, is in love with Don
Alvaro, a nobleman of Inca origin. When they plan elopement, Leonora’s
father intervenes and is accidentally killed in the ensuing brawl.
Leonora’s brother, Don Carlo, swears to avenge this death by killing Don
Alvaro. On the field of battle, Don Alvaro saves Don Carlo’s life. Not
recognizing Don Alvaro as his sworn enemy, Don Carlo pledges eternal
friendship; but upon discovering Don Alvaro’s true identity, he
challenges him to a duel in which Don Carlo is wounded. Aware that he
has brought doom to two people closest and dearest to his beloved
Leonora, Don Alvaro seeks sanctuary in a monastery where many years
later he is found by Don Carlo. In the sword duel that follows, Don
Alvaro kills Don Carlo, whose last act is to plunge a fatal knife into
his sister’s heart.
A trumpet blast, creating an ominous air of doom, opens the overture. An
air in a minor key then leads to a gentle song for strings; this is
Leonora’s prayer for help and protection to the Virgin in the second
scene of the second act, “_Madre pietosa_.” A light pastoral tune,
depicting the Italian countryside in the third act, is now heard.
Leonora’s song of prayer is now forcefully repeated by the full
orchestra, after which the overture ends robustly.
_Rigoletto_, introduced in Venice on March 11, 1851, is based on the
Victor Hugo play, _Le Roi s’amuse_ adapted by Francesco Piave. Rigoletto
is the hunchbacked jester to the Duke of Mantua who jealously guards his
daughter, Gilda, from the world outside their home. Disguised as a
student, the Duke woos Gilda and wins her love. Since the Duke’s
courtiers hate the jester, they conspire to abduct Gilda and bring her
to the ducal court to become the Duke’s mistress. Distraught at this
turn of affairs, the jester vows to kill the Duke and hires a
professional assassin to perform this evil deed. But since his own
sister loves the Duke, the assassin decides to spare him and to kill a
stranger instead. The stranger proves to be none other than Gilda,
disguised as a man for a projected flight to Verona. The body is placed
in a sack for delivery to Rigoletto who, before he can get rid of the
body, discovers that it is that of his beloved daughter.
The following are the best loved and most widely performed excerpts from
this tuneful opera: the Ballata, “_Questa o quella_” from the first act
in which the Duke flippantly talks of love and his many conquests; the
graceful Minuet to which the courtiers dance during a party at the Ducal
palace in the same act; Gilda’s famous coloratura aria, “_Caro nome_”
from the second act, in which she dreams about the “student” with whom
she has fallen in love; the light and capricious aria of the Duke, “_La
donna è mobile_” from the third act, in which the Duke mockingly
comments on fickle womanhood, and one of the most celebrated tenor arias
in the repertory; the quartet “_Bella figlia dell’ amore_”—as celebrated
an ensemble number as “_La donna è mobile_” is as an aria—in which each
of the four principal characters of the opera (Gilda, Rigoletto, the
Duke, and Maddalena) speaks of his or her inner turmoil, doubts, and
hatreds in the third act.
_La Traviata_ (_The Lost One_) is Francesco Maria Piave’s adaptation of
Alexandre Dumas’ celebrated romance, _La Dame aux camélias_. Its central
theme is the tragic tale of the courtesan, Violetta, who falls in love
with and is loved by Alfredo Germont. After they live together for a
blissful period, Alfredo’s father is instrumental in breaking up the
affair by convincing Violetta she must give up her lover for his own
good. She does so by feigning she has grown tired of him. Only too late
does Alfredo learn the truth; when he returns to Violetta, she is dying
of tuberculosis.
The première of _La Traviata_ in Venice on March 6, 1853 was a dismal
failure. The public reacted unfavorably to a play it regarded immoral,
and to the sight of a healthy prima donna seemingly wasting away with
tuberculosis; it also resented the fact that the opera was given in
contemporary dress. At a revival, a year later in Venice, the opera was
performed in costume and settings of an earlier period. Profiting
further from a carefully prepared presentation, the opera now cast a
spell on its audience. From this point on, _La Traviata_ went on to
conquer the opera world to become one of the most popular operas ever
written.
The orchestral preludes to the first and third act are celebrated. The
Prelude to Act 1 begins softly and slowly with a poignant melody
suggesting Violetta’s fatal sickness; this is followed by a broad, rich
song for the strings describing Violetta’s expression of love for
Alfredo. The Prelude to Act 3 also begins with the sad, slow melody
speaking of Violetta’s illness. The music then becomes expressive and
tender to point up the tragedy of her life; this prelude ends with a
succession of broken phrases as Violetta’s life slowly ebbs away.
The following are the principal vocal selections from _La Traviata_: the
opening drinking song, or Brindisi (“_Libiamo, libiamo_”); Violetta’s
world-famous aria, “_Ah, fors è lui_” in which she reveals her love for
Alfredo followed immediately by her determination to remain free and
pleasure-loving (“_Sempre libera_”) also in the first act; Alfredo’s
expression of joy that Violetta has come to live with him, “_De’ miei
bollenti spiriti_” and the elder Germont’s recollection of his happy
home in the Provence, “_Di Provenza il mar_” from the second act;
Violetta’s pathetic farewell to the world, “_Addio del passato_,” and
Alfredo’s promise to the dying Violetta to return together to their
happy home near Paris, “_Parigi, o cara_” from the fourth act.
_Il Trovatore_ (_The Troubadours_) is so full of familiar melodies that,
like a play of Shakespeare, it appears to be replete with “quotations.”
It was first performed in Rome on January 19, 1853. The libretto by
Salvatore Commarno, based on a play by Antonio Garcia Gutiérrez, is
complicated to a point of obscurity, and filled with coincidences and
improbabilities; but this did not prevent Verdi from creating one of his
most melodious scores, an inexhaustible reservoir of unforgettable arias
and ensemble numbers. The story involves Count di Luna in a frustrated
love affair with Leonora; his rival is Manrico, an officer of a rival
army with whom Leonora is in love. The gypsy Azucena convinces Manrico,
her foster son, that Count di Luna had been responsible for the death of
Manrico’s father, and incites him on to avenge that murder. Later in the
play, Azucena and Manrico are captured by Di Luna’s army. To help free
Manrico, Leonora promises to marry the Count. Rather than pay this
price, Leonora takes poison and dies at Manrico’s feet. Manrico is now
sentenced to be executed. After his death, Azucena, half-crazed, reveals
that Manrico is really Count di Luna’s half brother.
The long list of favorite selections from _Il Trovatore_ includes the
following: Manrico’s beautiful serenade to Leonora in Act 1, Scene 2,
“_Deserto sulla terra_”; Leonora’s poignant recollections of a
mysterious admirer in the second scene, “_Tacea la notte placida_”; the
ever popular _Anvil Chorus_ of the gypsies with which the second act
opens, “_Vedi! le fosche_”; Azucena’s stirring recollection of the time
long past when her mother had been burned as a witch, “_Stride la
vampa_,” and Count di Luna’s expression of love for Leonora, “_Il
balen_” also in the second act; in the third act, Manrico’s dramatic
aria, “_Di quella pira_” and the rousing soldier’s chorus of Manrico’s
troops, “_Squilli, echeggi la tromba guerriera_”; Leonora’s prayer for
her beloved Manrico “_D’amor sull’ ali rosee_” followed immediately by
the world-famous _Miserere_ (“_Ah, che la morte ognora_”), a choral
chant asking pity and salvation from the prisoners, all in the first
scene of the fourth act; and the poignant duet of Manrico and Azucena in
the final scene, a fervent, glowing hope that some day they can return
to their beloved mountain country in peace and love, “_Ai nostri
monti_.”
While _I Vespri siciliani_, or _Les Vêpres siciliennes_ (_Sicilian
Vespers_) is one of Verdi’s less familiar operas, its overture is one of
his most successful. The opera-libretto by Eugène Scribe and Charles
Duveyrier—was first performed at the Paris Opéra on June 13, 1855. Its
setting is 13th-century Sicily where the peasants rise in revolt against
the occupying French. The overture is constructed from some basic
melodies from the opera. The first _Allegro_ theme speaks of the
massacre of the French garrison. A second melody—a beautiful lyrical
passage _pianissimo_ against tremolos—is taken from the farewell scene
of the hero and the heroine who are about to die.
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner, genius of the music drama, was born in Leipzig,
Germany, on May 22, 1813. In his academic studies (at the Kreuzschule in
Dresden, the Nikolaischule in Leipzig, and the University of Leipzig) he
was an indifferent, lazy, and irresponsible student. But his intensity
and seriousness of purpose where music was concerned were evident from
the beginning. He studied theory by memorizing a textbook and then by
receiving some formal instruction from Theodor Weinlig. In short order
he completed an overture and a symphony that received performances
between 1832 and 1833; in 1834 he completed his first opera, _Die Feen_,
never performed in his lifetime. In 1834 he was appointed conductor of
the Magdeburg Opera where, two years later, his second opera, _Das
Liebesverbot_, was introduced. Between 1837 and 1838 he conducted opera
in Riga. Involvement in debts caused his dismissal from this post and
compelled him to flee to Paris, where he arrived in 1839. There he lived
for three years in extreme poverty, completing two important operas,
_Rienzi_ in 1840, and _The Flying Dutchman_ in 1841. His first major
successes came with the first of these operas, introduced at the Dresden
Opera on October 20, 1842. This triumph brought Wagner in 1843 an
appointment as Kapellmeister of the Dresden Opera which he held with
considerable esteem for six years. During this period he completed two
more operas: _Tannhaeuser_, introduced in Dresden in 1845, and
_Lohengrin_, first performed in Weimar under Liszt’s direction, in 1850.
As a member of a radical political organization, the Vaterlandsverein,
Wagner became involved in the revolutionary movements that swept across
Europe in 1848-1849. To avoid arrest, he had to flee from Saxony. He
came to Weimar where he was warmly welcomed by Liszt who from then on
became one of his staunchest champions. After that Wagner set up a
permanent abode in Zurich. He now began to clarify and expound his new
theories on opera. He saw opera as a drama with music, a synthesis of
many arts; he was impatient with the old clichés and formulas to which
opera had so long been enslaved, such as formal ballets, recitatives and
arias, production scenes, and so forth. And he put his theories into
practice with a monumental project embracing four dramas, collectively
entitled _The Nibelung Ring_ (_Der Ring des Nibelungen_) for which, as
had always been his practice, he wrote the text as well as the music;
the four dramas were entitled _The Rhinegold_ (_Das Rheingold_), _The
Valkyries_ (_Die Walkuere_), _Siegfried_, and _The Twilight of the Gods_
(_Goetterdaemmerung_). It took him a quarter of a century to complete
this epic. But during this period he was able to complete several other
important music dramas, including _Tristan and Isolde_ in 1859 and _The
Mastersingers_ (_Die Meistersinger_) in 1867.
In 1862, Wagner was pardoned for his radical activities of 1849 and
permitted to return to Saxony. There he found a powerful patron in
Ludwig II, king of Bavaria, under whose auspices premières of Wagner’s
mighty music dramas were given in Munich beginning with _Tristan and
Isolde_ in 1865. In 1876 there came into being one of Wagner’s most
cherished dreams, a festival theater built in Bayreuth, Bavaria,
according to his own specifications, where his music dramas could be
presented in the style and manner Wagner dictated. This festival opened
in August 1876 with the first performance anywhere of the entire _Ring_
cycle. Since then Bayreuth has been a shrine of Wagnerian music drama to
which music lovers of the world congregate during the summer months.
Wagner’s last music drama was the religious consecrational play,
_Parsifal_, first performed in Bayreuth on July 26, 1882. Wagner died in
Venice on February 13, 1883, and was buried in the garden of his home,
Wahnfried, in Bayreuth.
Of his turbulent personal life which involved him in numerous and often
complex love affairs, mention need here be made only of his relations
with Cosima, daughter of Liszt, and wife of Hans von Buelow. Wagner and
Cosima fell in love while the latter was still von Buelow’s wife. They
had two illegitimate children before they set up a home of their own at
Lake Lucerne; and one more (Siegfried) before they were married on
August 25, 1870.
Wagner’s creative career divides itself into two phases. In the first he
was the composer of operas in more or less a traditional style. To the
accepted formulas of operatic writing, however, he brought a new
dimension—immense musical and dramatic power and invention. In the
second phase he was the prophet of a new order in music, the creator of
the music drama. It is from the works of his first phase that salon or
pop orchestras derive selections that have become universal
favorites—sometimes overtures, sometimes excerpts. For these earlier
works abound with such a wonderful fund of melody, emotion,
expressiveness and dramatic interest that they have become popular even
with those operagoers to whose tastes the later Wagner is perhaps too
subtle, complex, elusive, or garrulous.
From _The Flying Dutchman_ (_Der fliegende Hollaender_) comes a dramatic
overture. This opera—text by the composer based on an old legend adapted
by Heinrich Heine—was first performed at the Dresden Opera on January 2,
1843. “The Flying Dutchman” is a ship on which the Dutchman must sail
until he achieves redemption through the love of a faithful woman. Only
once in every seven years is he permitted to go ashore to find that
love. He finally achieves his redemption through Senta. They both meet
their final doom together in a raging sea which swallows up the ship.
Turbulent music, intended to describe a storm at sea, opens the
overture. We then hear the theme of the Dutchman in the horns and
bassoons. The stormy music returns and subsides as a motive from Senta’s
beautiful second-act ballad, “_Traft ihr das Schiff_” is presented. This
motive brings up the image of Senta herself. A vigorous sailors’ chorus
is followed by a return of the Senta motive in full orchestra.
Three selections from _The Flying Dutchman_ are of particular appeal:
Senta’s spinning song, “_Summ und brumm_” and her famous ballad, both
from the second act; and the chorus of the sailors in the third act, a
rousing chantey, “_Steuermann! lass die Wacht_.”
_Lohengrin_ was Wagner’s last “opera.” After that he confined himself to
music dramas. He completed it in 1848. After its première in Weimar on
August 28, 1850 it became one of the most successful operas in Germany
of that period. The text, by the composer, was adapted from medieval
legends. Lohengrin is a knight of the Holy Grail who becomes Elsa’s
champion against Telramund when Elsa is unjustly accused of having
murdered Gottfried. Lohengrin arrives on a swan and extracts from Elsa
the promise that she must never try to uncover his true identity. After
defeating Telramund, Lohengrin marries Elsa who, provoked by Telramund’s
wife, cannot stifle her curiosity about her husband’s background and
source. He finally must reveal to her that he is a knight of the Holy
Grail. Having made that revelation he must leave her forever.
The two familiar orchestral preludes, from the first and third acts, are
opposites in mood, texture, and dynamics. The Prelude to Act 1 has
spiritual content, a portrait of a heavenly vision wherein the Holy
Grail is carried by angels. The main theme is heard quietly in the upper
registers of the violins, then repeated by other instruments. This theme
is developed into a _crescendo_ and culminates in an exultant statement
by trumpets and trombones. Now the theme is given in a _decrescendo_,
and the prelude ebbs away _pianissimo_, once again in the strings in the
upper register.
The Prelude to Act 3 is more robust in character, since it depicts the
joy of Elsa and Lohengrin on the eve of their wedding. A forceful melody
is pronounced by the full orchestra, succeeded by a second strong theme
for the cellos, horns, bassoons in unison; a march-like episode for the
wind instruments follows.
What is probably the most famous wedding march ever written comes out of
_Lohengrin_. Its strains are heard after the rise of the curtain for Act
3, Scene 1, as a procession enters the bridal chamber. The chorus hymns
a blessing to the marriage couple (“_Treulich gefuert_”). From one side
ladies conduct Elsa, while from the other the King and his men lead
Lohengrin. The two processions then meet midstage and Elsa joins
Lohengrin to be blessed by the King. The two columns of the procession
then refile and march out of the two sides of the stage.
_The Mastersingers_ (_Die Meistersinger_), while written after Wagner
had set forth on his operatic revolution, is the only one of his music
dramas with a recognizable operatic ritual: big arias, huge production
numbers, even dances. For _The Mastersingers_ is a comedy, the only one
Wagner ever wrote. For purposes of comedy some of the traditions of
opera still prove useful to Wagner, even if fused with techniques,
approaches and esthetics of the music drama. Wagner completed _The
Mastersingers_ in 1867—eight years after _Tristan and Isolde_ and more
than a decade following the first two dramas of the _Ring_ cycle. The
first performance took place in Munich on June 21, 1868. The libretto,
by the composer, was set in Nuremberg in the middle 16th century, and
its plot revolves around a song contest conducted by the Mastersingers,
its winner to receive the hand of lovely Eva, daughter of the
cobbler-philosopher, Hans Sachs. Walther von Stolzing, a knight, and
Beckmesser, a contemptible town clerk, are the main rivals for Eva. At a
magnificent ceremony at the banks of the Pognitz River the contestants
sing their offerings. It is Walther’s eloquent “Prize Song” that emerges
victorious.
This “Prize Song” (“_Morgenlich leuchtend_”) is one of Wagner’s most
famous melodies, the pivot upon which the entire opera gravitates. It is
first heard in the first scene of the third act, where Walther comes to
tell Hans Sachs of a song come to him in a dream. The song is repeated
in the closing scene of the opera during the actual contest. This “Prize
Song” is used by Wagner symbolically. Its victory over the dull and
stilted creation of Beckmesser represents the triumph of inspiration and
freedom of expression over hackneyed rules and procedures. August
Wilhelmj made a famous transcription of the “Prize Song” for violin and
piano.
_Rienzi_, an early Wagner opera, is today remembered primarily for its
overture. But in its own day it was extremely popular. Immediately after
its première performance in Dresden on October 20, 1842, _Rienzi_ made
Wagner’s name known throughout all of Germany for the first time,
appearing in the repertory of virtually every major German opera house
at the time. The novel from which the composer derived his libretto is
that of Bulwer-Lytton. The central character, Rienzi, is a Roman ruler
of the 14th century who meets his destruction at the hands of his
enemies who set the Capitol aflame in which Rienzi perishes. Trumpet
calls in the opening measures of the overture lead to a slow section in
which is prominent an affecting melody for strings, Rienzi’s prayer for
the Roman people. In the main section of the overture, the first main
theme is the battle hymn of the first act (in the brass) set against
Rienzi’s prayer-melody. The opening slow section returns and is
succeeded by the stirring music from the first act finale. In the coda,
the battle-hymn music is powerfully projected for the last time.
_Tannhaeuser_ boasts many popular selections beyond its very famous
overture. The opera was first performed in Dresden on October 19, 1845.
The libretto is by the composer. Tannhaeuser is a minstrel-knight who
has grown weary of the carnal delights on the Hill of Venus and longs
for his own world. By invoking the name of the Virgin Mary, in whom he
places his trust, Tannhaeuser is transported to a valley near the
Wartburg Castle, where he is recognized and welcomed back by Wolfram, a
companion minstrel-knight. Joyously, Tannhaeuser returns with Wolfram to
the Hall of the Minstrels in the Wartburg Castle to find that his
beloved Elisabeth is still in love with him. But only he who can come
out triumphant in a song contest on the subject of love can win
Elisabeth. The song Tannhaeuser presents, glorifying sensual pleasure,
horrifies the audience. Contrite, Tannhaeuser offers to atone for his
sins by joining pilgrims to Rome and seeking absolution from the Pope.
Elisabeth promises to pray for his soul. After several months have
passed, Elisabeth is awaiting the return of the Roman pilgrims, and
Wolfram beseeches heaven to guide Elisabeth and protect her. Suddenly
Tannhaeuser—haggard and decrepit—makes his appearance. He confesses to
Wolfram that his soul will not be redeemed until the staff in the Pope’s
hands sprouts leaves. Only after Elisabeth has died of grief in despair
of ever seeing Tannhaeuser again, do the tidings come from Rome that the
Pope’s staff has, indeed, blossomed with foliage.
The Overture is built from some of the principal melodies of the opera;
in a sense it traces the main events of the story. The religious chant
of the Pilgrims (in clarinets, bassoons and horns) is heard at once.
This is followed by music suggesting Tannhaeuser’s repentance, a
touching melody for strings. After both these ideas have been discussed
we hear in the strings the voluptuous music of Venusberg, a picture of
the carnal life led by Tannhaeuser with Venus on Venus Hill. The music
is brought to a compelling climax with a loud statement of Tannhaeuser’s
passionate hymn to carnal love with which he so horrified the
minstrel-knights at Wartburg Castle. The chant of the pilgrims, which
had opened the overture, also brings it to conclusion.
The Prelude to Act 3 is solemn music that bears the title,
“Tannhaeuser’s Pilgrimage.” Two themes are set forth at once, that of
Tannhaeuser’s repentance, and that suggesting Elisabeth’s intercession.
Tannhaeuser’s suffering is then portrayed by a poignant melody for
strings. Suggestions of the Pilgrim’s Chorus and a motive known as
“Heavenly Grace” are then offered. The prelude ends quietly and
sensitively, as Tannhaeuser at long last achieves salvation.
The sensual, even lascivious, music of the _Bacchanale_ in the opening
scene (recreating the revelry enjoyed by Tannhaeuser and Venus on Venus
Hill) is often performed in conjunction with the Overture, sometimes
independently. Another orchestral episode extremely popular is the
stately _March_ of the second act with which the minstrel-knights of the
Wartburg file into the Castle, followed by the nobles, ladies, and
attendants, as they chant the strains of “_Freudig begruessen wir die
edle Halle_.”
The most popular vocal excerpt from _Tannhaeuser_ is Wolfram’s “Ode to
the Evening Star” (“_O du mein holder Abendstern_”) in the last act.
This atmospheric music, a hymn to the mystery and beauty of the night,
is Wolfram’s prayer to the evening star that it guide and protect
Elisabeth. Elisabeth’s second-act song of praise to the Hall of Wartburg
Castle in which she speaks of her joy in learning of Tannhaeuser’s
return (“_Dich, teure Halle_”) and her eloquent third-act prayer for
Tannhaeuser’s forgiveness (“_Allmaecht’ge Jungfrau_”) are also
deservedly celebrated for their affecting lyricism.
Wagner did not write much music not intended for the stage. Of this
meager repertory one or two items deserve attention in the
semi-classical repertory. One is “_Traeume_” (“Dreams”) a song often
heard in transcriptions, particularly for orchestra. This is one of five
poems by Mathilde Wesendonck which Wagner set to music in 1857-1858, and
it appears as the last song of the cycle. This gentle nocturne derives
some of its melody from the famous love-duet of the second act of
_Tristan and Isolde_ (“_O sink hernieder, Nacht der Liebe_”) but the
overall effect of the song is one of gentle revery rather than sensual
love. Wagner himself arranged “_Traeume_” for small orchestra. On
Mathilde Wesendonck’s birthday on December 23, 1857, he conducted
eighteen musicians in a performance of the song under Mathilde’s window.
The _Kaiser March_ was another of Wagner’s compositions not intended for
the stage. He wrote it in 1871 to celebrate Germany’s victory over
France. A proud, exultant theme is first offered by the full orchestra.
A transition in the brasses and timpani brings on a second theme of
contrasting character in the woodwind. There follows a brief statement
of Martin Luther’s famous chorale, “_Ein feste Burg_.” After dramatic
music depicting the fever of battle, the Luther chorale is repeated
triumphantly by the brasses. The first theme returns loudly in full
orchestra after a fanfare to end the march.
Emil Waldteufel
Emil Waldteufel, waltz-king of France, was born in Strasbourg on
December 9, 1837. His father, a professor of music at the Strasbourg
Conservatory, gave him his first music instruction. After that Emil
attended the Paris Conservatory, but he never completed his course of
study there, leaving the schoolroom to take on a job with a piano
manufacturer. He published his first waltzes at his own expense in 1860,
_Joies et peines_ and _Manola_. The latter so enchanted the Prince of
Wales that he willingly accepted the dedication of Waldteufel’s next
waltz, _Bien aimé_, a fact that played no small part in establishing
Waldteufel’s reputation in England. Waldteufel now decided to sidestep
all other activities to concentrate on the writing of waltz music. In
short order he became the idol of Paris in the same way that Johann
Strauss II was of Vienna. For a period, Waldteufel’s fame throughout
Europe was second only to that of the Viennese waltz king. Waldteufel
made many tours of the European capitals conducting his own
compositions, scoring triumphs in Covent Garden in 1885, and in Berlin
in 1889. In 1865 he became chamber musician to the Empress Eugénie and
director of the court balls. He died in Paris on February 16, 1915.
Waldteufel published over 250 waltzes. A comparison with Johann Strauss
is perhaps inevitable. The French waltz king never equalled Strauss’
remarkable melodic invention, original approaches in harmony and
orchestration, and overall inspiration. Most of Waldteufel’s waltzes are
functional pieces, and make far better dance music than concert music.
But a handful of his waltzes are classics, and deservedly so. They are
buoyant and inviting in their spirit, aristocratic in style, spontaneous
in expression. Waldteufel’s most famous waltzes include the following:
_España_, op. 236, which utilizes for its waltz melodies the basic
themes from Chabrier’s rhapsody of the same name; and _The Skaters_
(_Les Patineurs_), op. 183, in which the main elegant melody has the
lightness of foot and the mobility of motion of facile figure skaters.
Other popular Waldteufel waltzes include the _Acclamations_, op. 223;
_Dolores_, op. 170; _Estudiantina_, op. 191; _Mon rêve_, op. 151; _Les
Sirènes_, op. 154; _Toujours ou jamais_, op. 156; and _Violettes_, op.
148.
Karl Maria von Weber
Karl Maria von Weber was born in Eutin, Oldenburg, Germany, on November
18, 1786. His father, who played the violin in small theaters, was
determined to make his son a musical prodigy, subjecting him from
childhood on to severe discipline, and to intensive study with Karl’s
stepbrother, J. P. Heuschkel and Michael Haydn. Weber made public
appearances as pianist in early boyhood. His first opera was written
when he was only thirteen, and at fourteen his second opera was
performed in Chemnitz, Freiberg, and Vienna. An even more comprehensive
period of study than heretofore followed in Munich with Abbé Vogler.
After that, in 1804, Weber was appointed conductor of the Breslau City
Theater. In 1806 he became Musik Intendant to the Duke of Wuerttemberg,
and in 1807 private secretary and music master to Duke Ludwig in
Stuttgart. From 1813 to 1816 he was the music director of German Opera
in Prague and in 1817 musical director of German Opera in Dresden. It
was in this last post that he created the first of his unqualified
masterworks, the opera _Der Freischuetz_, introduced with phenomenal
success in Berlin on June 18, 1821. It was with this work that German
Romantic opera was born, grounded in Germanic nationalism, filled with
the German love for the legendary and the supernatural, and
characterized by its use of German landscapes and backgrounds. Weber
wrote two more masterworks with which his high station in opera was
solidified: _Euryanthe_, introduced in Vienna on October 25, 1823, and
_Oberon_, first heard in London, on April 12, 1826. In London, attending
the première of the latter opera, Weber succumbed to his last sickness
on June 5, 1826. His body was transferred to Dresden where it was buried
to special ceremonies at which Wagner delivered the eulogy.
Weber’s monumental contributions to opera in general, and German opera,
in particular, do not fall within the scope of this volume; neither do
the three masterworks with which he gained immortality. In music in a
lighter vein he was most significant for being one of the first to
create waltz music within an extended structure. The most popular of
these compositions was the _Invitation to the Dance_ (_Aufforderung zum
Tanz_), written in 1819 as a “rondo brilliant” in D-flat major, for
piano solo. It has since become celebrated in several orchestral
transcriptions, notably those by Berlioz and Felix Weingartner. This
work is one of the first in music history in which several different
waltz tunes are combined into a single cohesive composition, preceded by
an introduction and concluding with an epilogue. The introduction
consists of a subdued, well-mannered melody, simulating the request to a
lady by a young man for a dance, and the acceptance. Several waltz
melodies follow, to which this couple dance. The epilogue consists of a
return of the introduction, this time with the gentleman thanking the
lady for having danced with him.
The _Jubilee Overture_ (_Jubel_), op. 59, for orchestra is another of
Weber’s more popular creations, this time in a stirring style. He wrote
it in 1818 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the ascension to
the throne by the King of Saxony. A slow introduction leads to the main
body of the overture in which the main theme is forcefully stated by the
full orchestra. By contrast there later appears a light-hearted tune,
soon given considerable prominence in the development section. When both
ideas have been repeated, a climax is reached with a statement of the
English anthem, “God Save the King” in the wind instruments accompanied
by the strings.
Kurt Weill
Kurt Weill was born in Dessau, Germany, on March 2, 1900. A
comprehensive musical training took place first with private teachers in
Dessau, then at the Berlin High School of Music, and finally for three
years with Ferruccio Busoni. Weill started out as a composer of
avant-garde music performed at several important German festivals. His
first opera, _The Protagonist_, with a text by Georg Kaiser, was
produced in 1926. From this point on Weill continued writing operas in
which the texts were realistic or satiric, and the music filled with
popular idioms, sometimes even those of jazz. The most important were
_The Royal Palace_ in 1927; _The Three-Penny Opera_, a sensation when
first produced in 1928; _The Czar Has Himself Photographed_, also in
1928; and _The Rise and Fall of Mahagonny_, in 1930, one of whose
numbers, “The Alabamy Song,” was a leading song hit in Germany that
year. With these works Weill became one of the leading exponents of the
cultural movements then sweeping across Germany under the banners of
_Zeitkunst_ (Contemporary Art) and _Gebrauchsmusik_ (Functional Music).
In the fall of 1935, Weill established permanent residence in the United
States, becoming an American citizen in 1943. He soon assumed a position
of first importance in the Broadway theater by virtue of a succession of
outstanding musicals: _Johnny Johnson_ (1936); _Knickerbocker Holiday_
(1938) in which Walter Huston starred as Peter Stuyvesant and out of
which came one of Weill’s most popular musical numbers, “September
Song”; Moss Hart’s musical about psychoanalysis and the dream life,
_Lady in the Dark_ (1941) in which Gertrude Lawrence was starred; _One
Touch of Venus_ (1943), with Mary Martin; _Street Scene_ (1947), a
trenchant musical play based on Elmer Rice’s realistic drama of New
York; _Love Life_ (1948), book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner, its main
musical number being another all-time Weill song favorite, “Green-Up
Time”; and _Lost in the Stars_ (1949), a powerful musical drama adapted
from Alon Paton’s novel, _Cry, the Beloved Country_. Weill died in New
York City on April 3, 1950.
_The Three-Penny Opera_ (_Die Dreigroschenoper_) is one of the most
important musical productions of the post-World War I era in Europe; and
since its premiere it has lost little of its initial popularity. This
musical play (or opera, if you will) was based on the historic
18th-century ballad opera of John Gay, _The Beggar’s Opera_. The text
was rewritten and modernized by Berthold Brecht, in whose hands the
comic opera became a brilliant, though often bitter, satire of Germany
in the late 1920’s, with penetrating satirical comments on crime and
corruption in this post-war era. Weill’s opera was introduced in Berlin
on August 31, 1928 and scored a sensation with few parallels in
contemporary German theater. Over one hundred theaters gave it four
thousand performances throughout Germany in its initial year. It was
made into a motion-picture by G. W. Pabst (the first of several screen
adaptations). It was introduced in the leading theatrical centers of the
world; the American première—in New York on April 13, 1933—was, however,
a dismal failure. It has since been revived frequently in all parts of
the civilized world. An off-Broadway presentation in 1954—with a new
modernized text by Marc Blitzstein, but with the Weill music
untouched—made history by accumulating a run of more than five years; a
national company was then formed to tour the country in 1960. During
this long Broadway run, the principal musical number, “Moritat” (or
“Mack the Knife”) became an American hit song on two different
occasions. In 1955 it was given over twenty different recordings and was
often represented on the Hit Parade; revived in 1959 by Bobby Darin, it
sold over a million discs.
Weill’s score is a mixture of opera and musical comedy, of European
stage traditions and American idioms. It opens with a blues and
concludes with a mock chorale, while in between these opposite poles
there can be heard a shimmy, a canon in fox-trot, popular tunes, formal
ballads, light airs, choruses, and ensemble numbers. The style ranges
freely from Tin Pan Alley clichés to atonality, from mock romanticism to
dissonance. Each number was basic to the plot; principal numbers often
became penetrating psychological commentaries on the characters who
presented them. “Moritat” (or “Mack the Knife”) is the main musical
number. But several others are also of outstanding interest including
“Love Song” (“_Liebeslied_”), “The Ballad of Pleasant Living” (“_Ballade
vom angenehmen Leben_”), the Canon-Song, _Barbarasong_, and the Bully’s
Ballad (“_Zuhaelterballade_”).
Jaromir Weinberger
Jaromir Weinberger was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, on January 8,
1896. After completing his music study at the Prague Conservatory, and
privately with Max Reger in Berlin, he came to the United States in
1922, teaching for one season at the Ithaca Conservatory in Ithaca, New
York. Following his return to Europe he held various posts as teacher
and conductor. He achieved international renown as a composer with a
Bohemian folk opera, _Schwanda, der Dudelsackpfeifer_ first performed in
Prague on April 27, 1927, then successfully heard throughout Europe and
in the United States. Weinberger wrote many operas after that, and a
considerable amount of orchestral music. Up to 1937 his home was in
Prague, but since 1939 he has lived in the United States. One of his
most successful works for orchestra was introduced in the United States
soon after his arrival, _Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree_.
Among the numerous works by Weinberger are two that can be said to have
a more popular appeal than the others. One is in an American idiom and
manner which Weinberger assumed for many of his major works after coming
to this country; the other is in the Bohemian style with which he first
became famous.
That in the American style and spirit (but technically in a fugue idiom)
is a delightful treatment of the popular American tune by Dan Emmett,
“Dixie.” “Dixie” had originated as a minstrel-show tune, being written
by Emmett as a “walk-around” (or closing number) for a minstrel-show
production at the Bryant Theater in New York in November 1859. It became
an immediate favorite with minstrel troupes throughout the country.
During the Civil War it became the Southland’s favorite battle hymn,
despite the fact that it was the work of a Northerner. The charge at
Gettysburg by General George Pickett was made to the strains of this
music. After the surrender at Appomattox, President Lincoln invited a
band outside the White House to play the tune for him maintaining that
since the North had conquered the Southern army it had also gained its
favorite song as a spoils of war. In 1940 Weinberger wrote the _Prelude
and Fugue on Dixie_ for symphony orchestra. The prelude devotes itself
to a simple statement of the melody, after which comes the lively fugal
treatment of its main theme. The treatment is throughout so skilful and
musical that we never feel any sense of contradiction in the use of a
popular minstrel-show tune within a soundly classical structure and
through soundly classical means.
Out of the composer’s most famous opera, _Schwanda, der
Dudelsackpfeifer_ (_Schwanda, the Bagpipeplayer_) comes a _Polka and
Fugue_ for orchestra that is undoubtedly the most familiar excerpt from
the opera. The vivacious _Polka_—which has a lusty peasant vitality in
its marked accentuations—comes from Act 2, Scene 2; the fugue (whose
main theme is suggested in the polka) is used in the opera’s closing
scene. Just before the end of the fugue, the polka melody is heard
again, set contrapuntally against the fugue tune in a powerful climax in
which the full orchestra, as well as an organ, is utilized.
Henri Wieniawski
Henri Wieniawski was born in Lublin, Poland, on July 10, 1835. When he
was eight he entered the Paris Conservatory, from which he was graduated
three years later with first prize in violin-playing, the first time
this institution conferred such an honor on one so young. Sensational
appearances as child prodigy followed throughout Europe. After an
additional period of study at the Paris Conservatory between 1849 and
1850, he initiated his career as a mature performer, and as one of the
world’s foremost violinists, with performances in Europe and Russia. In
1872 he toured the United States with the pianist, Anton Rubinstein.
Meanwhile, in 1859, he was appointed solo violinist to the Czar of
Russia, and from 1862 to 1867 he was professor of the violin at the St.
Petersburg Conservatory. In 1874 he succeeded Vieuxtemps as professor of
the violin at the Brussels Conservatory where he remained fourteen
years. He suffered a heart attack while performing in Berlin in 1878,
and died in Moscow on March 31, 1880.
Wieniawski produced a rich repertory of music for the violin which is
still performed extensively. This includes the famous Concerto in D
minor and many smaller compositions. Among the latter can be found
pieces which have become favorites with salon orchestra in
transcription. These, like other major works by the composer, are
characterized by broad and expressive melodies and brilliant technical
effects.
The _Kujawiak_, in A minor, op. 3 is a brilliant rhythmic number—a
spirited mazurka which derives its name from the fact that it has come
out of the Kuawy district of Poland. The _Légende_, op. 17, on the other
hand, is outstanding for its sentimental lyricism. This piece is an
eloquent song, originally for violin and orchestra, that seems to be
telling a romantic tale. The _Polonaise brillante_, in D major, op. 4,
like the _Kujawiak_, is a successful attempt to incorporate within a
concert work the characteristics of a popular Polish dance. This
composition is appealing for its sharp accentuations on the half beat,
syncopations, and brilliant passage work. The _Souvenirs of Moscow_
(_Souvenirs de Moscou_), op. 6, is a fantasia on famous Russian airs,
the most important of which is “The Red Sarafin.”
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams was born in Down Ampney, England, on October 12,
1872. After attending the Royal College of Music, he studied composition
privately with Max Bruch in Berlin. In 1901 he was appointed organist of
the St. Barnabas Church in London. For the next few years he devoted
himself mainly to church music. His interest in the English folk songs
of the Tudor period, first stimulated in 1904, proved for him a decisive
turning point. Besides dedicating himself henceforth to intensive
research in English folk music (much of which he helped to revive from
neglect and obscurity through his editions and adaptations) he found a
new direction as composer: in the writing of music with a national
identity, music absorbing the melodic, harmonic and modal techniques—at
times even the actual material—of these old songs and dances. This new
trend first became evident in 1907 with his _Norfolk Rhapsodies_. After
an additional period of study with Maurice Ravel in Paris, Vaughan
Williams embarked upon the writing of his first major works which
included the famous _Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis_, _London
Symphony_, and the opera _Hugh the Drover_. Subsequent works in all
fields of composition placed him with the masters of 20th-century music.
These compositions included symphonies, operas, concertos, fantasias,
choral and chamber music. For more than thirty years, Vaughan Williams
taught composition at the Royal College of Music in London; from 1920 to
1928 he was the conductor of the Bach Choir, also in that city. He paid
two visits to the United States, the first time in 1922 to direct some
of his works at a music festival in Connecticut, and the second time a
decade later to lecture at Bryn Mawr College. He received the Order of
Merit in 1935 and the Albert medal of the Royal Society of Arts in 1955.
He died in London on August 26, 1958.
Only a meagre number of Vaughan Williams’ compositions have popular
appeal. One of these is the _Fantasia on Greensleeves_, for orchestra.
“Greensleeves” is an old English folk song dating from the early 16th
century, and mentioned in Shakespeare’s _The Merry Wives of_ _Windsor_.
In the 17th century it became the party song of the Cavaliers. Americans
know it best through a popular-song adaptation in 1957. Vaughan
Williams’ delightful fantasia appears as an orchestral interlude in his
opera _Sir John in Love_ (1929), based on _The Merry Wives of Windsor_.
A brief episode for flute leads to “Greensleeves,” which is harmonized
opulently for strings. Two brief variations follow. Then the opening
flute episode is recalled as is the folk song itself—the main melody in
lower strings with embellishments in the upper ones.
_The March of the Kitchen Utensils_ is an amusing little episode for
orchestra, part of the incidental music prepared by the composer for a
production of Aristophanes’ _The Wasps_ in Cambridge in 1909. This march
opens with a humorous little theme for the wind instruments in the
impish style of Prokofiev. The theme is taken over by the strings. The
middle section is much more in the identifiable national style of
Vaughan Williams with a melody that resembles an old English folk dance.
Jacques Wolfe
Jacques Wolfe, composer of songs in the style of Negro Spirituals
familiar in the repertory of most American baritones, was born in
Botoshan, Rumania on April 29, 1896. He was trained as a pianist at the
Institute of Musical Art. While serving in the army during World War I,
a member of the 50th Infantry Band, he was stationed in North Carolina
where he first came into contact with Negro folk songs. This made such a
profound impression on him that he devoted himself to research in this
field. After the war he made many appearances on the concert stage both
as a solo performer and as an accompanist. For several years he was also
a teacher of music at New York City high schools.
Wolfe’s two best known songs in the style of Negro folk songs appeared
in 1928. One is “De Glory Road,” words by Clement Wood, a work of such
extraordinary fervor and dramatic character that it has proved a
sure-fire number with concert baritones throughout the country, and
notably with Lawrence Tibbett with whom it was a particular favorite.
The other was “Short’nin’ Bread,” to Wolfe’s own words. The latter in
all probability is not original with Wolfe but an adaptation of one of
the melodies he discovered in North Carolina. Several Negro composers
have been credited with being its composer; one of them was Reese d’Pres
who is said to have written the melody in or about 1905.
Among Wolfe’s other familiar songs are “God’s World,” “Goin’ to Hebb’n”
and “Hallelujah Rhythm.”
Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari
Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari was born in Venice, Italy, on January 12, 1876.
Originally planning to make art his career he went to Rome, but while
there became so fascinated by opera that then and there he decided to
become a musician. He completed his musical training in Munich in 1895
with Josef Rheinberger. In 1899 he returned to his native city where his
first major work—an oratorio, _La Sulamite_—was successfully performed.
His first opera, _Cenerentola_ (_Cinderella_) was introduced in Venice
in 1900. His first comic opera (or opera buffa) came to Munich in 1903:
_Le Donne Curiose_. He achieved world renown with still another comic
opera, _The Secret of Suzanne_, first performed in Munich in 1909. This
distinguished achievement was followed by an equally significant
achievement in a serious vein, the grand opera, _The Jewels of the
Madonna_, first heard in Berlin in 1911. One year later Wolf-Ferrari
paid his first visit to the United States to attend in Chicago the
American première of _The Jewels of the Madonna_. He wrote many operas
after that, both in a comic and serious style, but his fame still rests
securely on _The Secret of Suzanne_ and _The Jewels of the Madonna_.
From 1902 to 1912 he was director of the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory
in Venice. He died in that city on January 21, 1948.
From _The Jewels of the Madonna_ (_I Gioielli della Madonna_) have come
several familiar orchestral episodes. This tragedy—libretto by the
composer with verses by Carlo Zangarini and Enrico Golisciani—was
successfully introduced in Berlin on December 23, 1911. Rafaele, leader
of the Camorrists, and Gennaro, a blacksmith, are rivals for the love of
Maliela. After Rafaele appears to have won Maliela’s love, Gennaro wins
her away from his rival by stealing for her the jewels decorating the
image of the Madonna. Maliela confesses to Rafaele and other Camorrists
about this theft, then rushes off into a raging sea to meet her death.
After Gennaro has returned the jewels to the Madonna, he plunges a
dagger into his own breast.
Two melodious intermezzos for orchestra are often played by salon and
pop orchestras. The first comes between the first and second acts and is
in a languorous mood. The second, heard between the second and third
acts, opens with a light subject and continues with a broadly lyrical
episode. A third popular orchestral excerpt from this opera is the
dramatic “Dance of the Camorristi” during a revel in the Camorristi
hideout in the opening of the third act.
As an opera _The Secret of Suzanne_ (_Il Segreto di Susanna_) is a
trifle. The libretto by Enrico Golisciani concerns a terrible secret
harbored by the heroine, Suzanne: she is addicted to smoking. Since her
husband finds cigarette butts in their house he suspects her of
entertaining a lover during his absence. Spying on her through the
window, one day, he learns about his wife’s secret to his infinite
relief, and does not hesitate to join her in a smoke. Light, breezy,
infectious, and unpretentious, this little opera has been a favorite
with operagoers everywhere since its world première in Munich on
December 4, 1909.
The overture is as gay and as capricious as this merry tale. It begins
vivaciously with the main theme in first violins and the woodwind. After
this idea has been elaborated upon, a second melody is heard in the
flute and clarinet accompanied by strings. The two melodies are soon
merged contrapuntally, with the first theme heard in woodwinds and
trumpet and the second in the strings.
Sebastián Yradier
Sebastián Yradier was born in Sauciego, Álava, Spain on January 20,
1809. Little is known of his career beyond the fact that his music
instruction took place with private teachers; that in 1851 he was
appointed singing master to the Empress Eugénie in Paris; and that for a
period he lived in Cuba. He died in Vitoria, Spain, on December 6, 1865.
He was a successful composer of Spanish songs. The most famous is “_La
Paloma_,” which is in the habanera rhythm, its melody in the sensual,
sinuous style of a flamenco song. “_El Arreglito_,” also a habanera, was
borrowed by Bizet for his opera _Carmen_ where it re-emerges as the
world-famous “Habanera”; Bizet made only minor changes in the melody
while retaining Yradier’s tonality and accompaniment. A third popular
Yradier song, in a style similar to “_La Paloma_,” is “_Ay Chiquita!_”
Carl Zeller
Carl Zeller was born in St. Peter-in-der-Au, Austria on July 19, 1842.
Music, the study of which he had pursued since boyhood with private
teachers, was an avocation. He earned his living as an official in the
Ministry of Education in Austria. Nevertheless, he managed to write many
operettas, two of which were among the most successful written in
Austria during his time. Among his first works for the stage were
_Joconde_ (1876), _Die Carbonari_ (1880), and _Der Vagabund_ (1886). His
first major success came with _Der Vogelhaendler_ in 1886, still a great
favorite on the Continent. The second of his operetta classics, _Der
Obersteiger_, was introduced in 1894. A later successful, though less
well known, operetta, _Der Kellermeister_, was produced posthumously in
1901. Zeller died in Baden near Vienna on August 17, 1898.
_Der Obersteiger_ (_The Master Miner_)—book by M. West and L.
Held—received its première in Vienna on January 5, 1894. The setting is
a salt-mining district of Austria in or about 1840. Martin instigates a
strike among the miners, for which he is deprived of his job. To support
himself he organizes a band of musicians from among the miners and tours
the country. Eventually Martin returns to his mining town where he
finally manages to regain his job and to win Nelly, with whom he has
always been in love. The most popular song in the operetta is Martin’s
air with chorus, “_Wo sie war, die Muellerin_,” and its most delightful
waltz is “_Trauet nie dem blossen schein_.”
_Der Vogelhaendler_ (_The Bird-Seller_), once again with a book by M.
West and L. Held, was first heard in Vienna on January 10, 1891; but in
1933 it was presented in a new version in Munich adapted by Quedenfelt,
Brugmann and Bauckner. In the Rhine Palatinate in the 18th century,
Adam, a wandering bird-seller, is in love with Christel, but she refuses
to consider marriage unless he gets a permanent job. He gets that job on
the estate of the Elector Palatine at which point Christel is all too
willing to give up a projected marriage with Count Stanislaus for the
sake of her beloved Adam. The lovable melodies from this operetta—in the
best traditions of Suppé and Johann Strauss II—have made it a favorite
not only in Germany and Austria, but also throughout the rest of Europe,
in North and South America, and in South Africa. Among the musical
highlights of this operetta are the waltz “_Schau mir nur recht ins
Gesicht_”; the “Nightingale Song” (“_Wie mein Ahn’l zwanzig Jahr_”); the
pert march tune “_Kaempfe nie mit Frau’n_”; and Christel’s sprightly
air, “_Ich bin die Christel von der Post_.”
Karl Michael Ziehrer
Karl Michael Ziehrer, beloved Viennese composer of waltzes and
operettas, was born in Vienna on May 2, 1843. He was completely
self-taught in music. In 1863 he formed a café-house orchestra with
which he toured Austria and Germany, often featuring his own dance
pieces and marches. He later expanded this orchestra into an ensemble
numbering fifty players with which he gave a series of successful
concerts of semi-classical music in Vienna. In 1907 he became music
director of the court balls. After World War I he suffered extreme
poverty, his personal fortune having been lost with the collapse of the
Hapsburg monarchy. He died in want and obscurity in Vienna on November
14, 1922.
Ziehrer wrote more than five hundred popular pieces for orchestra,
including numerous marches and waltzes. His waltzes were particularly
favored, many of these in the style of Johann Strauss II. Some are still
extensively played. Probably the most famous of all his waltzes is
Wiener Maedchen (“Vienna Maidens”), which must rank with Lehár’s “Merry
Widow Waltz” as one of the most popular such dances produced in Vienna
since the time of Johann Strauss II. Its first melody sounds like a
Schubert Laendler, with the peasant vigor of its rhythm and its robust
tune; but the main subject is a soaring waltz in the finest traditions
of Viennese café-house music. The following are other famous Ziehrer
waltzes: “_Alt Wien_” (“Old Vienna”), “_Faschingskinder_” (“Carnival
Children”), and “_Wiener Buerger_” (“Viennese Citizens”), all three of
which come closest among his works in assuming the structural outlines
and the melodic identity of the Johann Strauss waltz classics. Also
popular are the “_Donauwalzer_” (“Waltzes from the Danube”) and
“_Evatochter_” (“Daughter of Eve”).
Ziehrer’s most famous operetta is _Die Landestreicher_ (_The
Vagabonds_)—book by L. Krenn and C. Lindau, first performed in Vienna on
July 26, 1899. In upper Bavaria two tramps—Fliederbusch and his wife
Bertha—manage to live by their wits. Disguised respectively as Prince
Gilka and a dancer they visit a famous resort hotel and are involved in
numerous adventures. By managing to retrieve a supposedly valuable lost
necklace for the Prince they finally win his favor and enter his
service. Of particular interest is the captivating waltz at the end of
the first act, “_Sei gepriesen, du lauschige Nacht_.”
From several of Ziehrer’s other operettas there come other delightful
waltzes, notably “_Samt und Seide_” from _Der Fremdenfuehrer_ (1902) and
“_Hereinspaziert_” from _Der Schatzmeister_ (1904).
An Alphabetical Listing of the Lighter Classics in Music
“_Abendlied_” (Schumann)
_Abendsterne_ (Lanner)
_Acceleration Waltzes_ (Johann Strauss II)
_Acclamations_ (Waldteufel)
“_Ach, ich hab’ sie ja nur die Schulter gekuesst_” (Milloecker), see
_The Beggar Student_
_Adagio pathétique_ (Godard)
“_Addio_” (Tosti)
“_Addio all madre_” (Mascagni), see _Cavalleria Rusticana_
“_Addio del passato_” (Verdi), see _La Traviata_
“_Addio fiorito asil_” (Puccini), see _Madama Butterfly_
_Adoration_ (Borowski)
_L’Africaine_: Selections (Meyerbeer)
_Agnus Dei_ (Bizet)
“_Ah! che la morte ognora_,” or “_Miserere_” (Verdi), see _Il
Trovatore_
“_Ah, fors è lui_” (Verdi), see _La Traviata_
“_Ah Sweet Mystery of Life_” (Herbert), see _Naughty Marietta_
_Aida_: Overture, Ballet Music, and Selections (Verdi)
“_Ai nostri monti_” (Verdi) see _Il Trovatore_
_Air_, or _Air on the G String_ (Bach)
_Al fresco_ (Herbert)
“_Allia marcia_” (Sibelius), see _Karelia Suite_
“_Allmaecht’ge Jungfrau_,” or “Elisabeth’s Prayer” (Wagner), see
_Tannhaeuser_
Alley Tunes (Guion)
“Almost Like Being in Love” (Loewe), see _Brigadoon_
_Alsatian Scenes_ (Massenet)
“_Als Bueblein klein_” (Nicolai), see _The Merry Wives of Windsor_
_Alt Wien_ (Godowsky)
_Alt Wien_ (Ziehrer)
_Amelia_ (Lumbye)
_American Fantasia_ (Herbert)
_American Salute_: “When Johnny Comes Marching Home” (Gould)
_American Suite_ (Cadman)
_American Symphonette No. 2_ (Gould)
“_Am Meer_” (Schubert)
_An American in Paris_ (Gershwin)
_Andalucia_ (Lecuona)
_Andaluza_ (Granados), see _Spanish Dances_
_Andante cantabile_ (Tchaikovsky)
_Andante religioso_ (Halvorsen)
_Andantino_ (Kreisler)
_An der schoenen blauen Donau_ (Johann Strauss II), see _The Blue
Danube_
“_An die Musik_” (Schubert)
“The Angelus” (Herbert)
_Anitra’s Dance_ (Grieg), see _Peer Gynt Suite_, No. 1
_Annen-Polka_ (Johann Strauss II)
_Anvil Chorus_ (Verdi), see “_Vedi, le fosche notturne spoglie_,” _Il
Trovatore_
_Apache Dance_ (Offenbach)
“_Après un rêve_” (Fauré)
_Aquarellen_ (Josef Strauss)
_Arabian Dance_ (Tchaikovsky), see _Nutcracker Suite_
_Arkansas Traveler_ (Guion)
_L’Arlésienne_, Suite Nos. 1 and 2 (Bizet)
“_El Arreglito_” (Yradier)
_Artist’s Life_ (Johann Strauss II)
_Ascot Gavotte_ (Loewe), see _My Fair Lady_
_Ase’s Death_ (Grieg), see _Peer Gynt Suite_, No. 1
_As You Like It_: Dances (German)
“At Dawning” (Cadman)
“_A te questo rosario_” (Ponchielli), see _La Gioconda_
_Aubade provençale_ (Kreisler)
“_Auf dem Wasser zu singen_” (Schubert)
_Aufforderung zum Tanz_ (Weber), see _Invitation to the Dance_
“_Auf Fluegeln des Gesanges_” (Mendelssohn), see “On Wings of Song”
“_Au mont Venus_” (Offenbach), see _La Belle Hélène_
Austrian National Anthem (Haydn), see “_Gott erhalte Franz den
Kaiser_”
_Autumn Song_ (Tchaikovsky), see _The Months_
“_Ave Maria_” (Gounod)
“_Ave Maria_” (Schubert)
“_Ay Chiquita_” (Yradier)
_Babes in Toyland_: Selections (Herbert)
Bacchanale, from _The Queen of Sheba_ (Karl Goldmark)
Bacchanale, from _Samson and Delilah_ (Saint-Saëns)
Bacchanale, from _Tannhaeuser_ (Wagner)
_Bahn-Frei Polka_ (Eduard Strauss)
“Bali H’ai” (Rodgers), see _South Pacific_
_Ballabile_ (Verdi), see _Aida_
“_Ballade vom angenehmen Leben_” (Weill), see “The Ballad of Pleasant
Living,” _The Three-Penny Opera_
“Ballad of Herne the Hunter” (Nicolai), see _The Merry Wives of
Windsor_
“The Ballad of Pleasant Living” (Weill), see _The Three-Penny Opera_
_Ballatella_, or “Bird Song” (Leoncavallo), see “_Stridono lassu_”
_Pagliacci_
_Ballet Égyptien_ (Luigini)
Ballet Music from _Rosamunde_ (Schubert)
_Ballet Suite_ (Gluck-Mottl), see Gluck
_The Banjo_ (Gottschalk)
_Barbara-Song_ (Weill), see _The Three-Penny Opera_
_The Barber of Seville_: Overture and Selections (Rossini)
_Barcarolle_ from _The Tales of Hoffmann_ (Offenbach)
_Bartered Bride_: Overture and Selections (Smetana)
_Le Baruffe Chiozzotte_, Overture (Sinigaglia)
_The Bat_ (Johann Strauss II), see _Die Fledermaus_
_Bavarian Dances_ (Elgar)
“Beautiful Dreamer” (Foster)
_Beautiful Galathea_, Overture (Suppé)
“_Die beiden Grenadiere_” (Schumann)
_The Beggar Student_: Selections (Milloecker)
“_Bella figlia dell’ amore_,” Quartet (Verdi), see _Rigoletto_
_La Belle Hélène_: Selections (Offenbach)
_Berceuse_ from _Jocelyn_ (Godard)
_Berceuse_ (Järnefelt)
“Bess, You Is My Woman Now” (Gershwin), see _Porgy and Bess_
_Der Bettelstudent_ (Milloecker), see _The Beggar Student_
_Big Ben_ (Rose)
“Bill” (Kern), see _Show Boat_
_Bird Song_, “_Stridono lassu_” (Leoncavallo), see _Pagliacci_
“_Bist du’s, lachendes Glueck_” (Lehár), see _The Count of Luxembourg_
_Black, Brown and Beige_ (Ellington)
_The Black Domino_: Overture (Auber)
“Blow High, Blow Low” (Rodgers), see _Carousel_
_The Blue Danube_ (Johann Strauss II)
“Blue Heaven” (Romberg), see _The Desert Song_
_Blue Tango_ (Anderson)
_La Bohème_: Selections (Puccini)
_The Bohemian Girl_: Selections (Balfe)
_Bolero_ (Moszkowski)
_Bolero_ (Ravel)
_Boris Godunov_: Polonaise (Mussorgsky)
_Bridal Procession_ (Rimsky-Korsakov), see _Le Coq d’or_
_Brigadoon_: Selections (Loewe)
_Brigg Fair_ (Grainger)
“Brightly Dawns Our Wedding Day” (Sullivan), see _The Mikado_
_Brindisi_ (Verdi), see “_Libiamo, Libiamo_,” _La Traviata_
_Bugler’s Holiday_ (Anderson)
“The Bully’s Ballad” (Weill), see _The Three-Penny Opera_
_Caecilien_ (Johann Strauss II)
_Cakewalk_ (Gottschalk-Kay), see Gottschalk
_Caliph of Bagdad_: Overture (Boieldieu)
“_La Calunnia_” (Rossini), see _The Barber of Seville_
“Camptown Races” (Foster)
_The Canary_ (Mozart), see _German Dances_
Can-Can (Offenbach), see _La Belle Hélène_, _Orpheus in the
Underworld_
“Canon Song” (Weill), see _The Three-Penny Opera_
“Can’t Help Lovin’ That Man” (Kern), see _Show Boat_
“_Cantique Noël_” (Adam)
“_Canto Siboney_” (Lecuona)
_Canzonetta_ (Sibelius)
_Capriccio espagnol_ (Rimsky-Korsakov), see _Spanish Caprice_
_Caprice Basque_ (Sarasate)
_Caprice Viennois_ (Kreisler)
“Card Song” (Bizet), see _Carmen_
“Carefully on Tip-Toe Stealing” (Sullivan), see _Pinafore_
_Carmen_: Preludes and Selections (Bizet)
_Carnaval à Paris_ (Svendsen), see _Carnival in Paris_
_Carnival of Animals_ (Saint-Saëns)
_Carnival Overture_ (Glazunov)
“_Caro nome_” (Verdi), see _Rigoletto_
_Carousel_: Selections (Rodgers)
_Carousel Waltz_ (Rodgers), see _Carousel_
_Casse-noisette_ (Tchaikovsky), see _Nutcracker Suite_
“_Casta diva_” (Bellini), see _Norma_
_Catalonia_ (Albéniz)
_Catfish Row_ (Gershwin), see _Porgy and Bess_
_Cavalleria Rusticana_: Selections (Mascagni)
_Caucasian Sketches_ (Ippolitov-Ivanov)
_Cavatina_ (Raff)
“_Celeste Aida_” (Verdi), see _Aida_
_Central Park_ (Goldman)
_Champagne Galop_ (Lumbye)
_Chanson bohème_ (Bizet), see _Carmen_
_Chanson Louis XIII et Pavane_ (Kreisler)
_Chanson sans paroles_ (Tchaikovsky), see _Song Without Words_
_Chanson triste_ (Tchaikovsky)
“_Che gelida manina_” (Puccini), see _La Bohème_
_Children’s Corner_ (Debussy)
_Children’s Dance_ (German), see _As You Like It_
_Children’s Games_ (Bizet)
_Children’s March_ (Goldman)
_Children’s March_ (Grainger)
_Children’s Symphony_ (McDonald)
_Chimes of Normandy_: Selections (Planquette)
_The Chocolate Soldier_: Selections (Straus)
“Chorus of Swords” (Gounod), see _Faust_
_Christmas Festival_ (Anderson)
_Le Cid_: Ballet Music (Massenet)
“Cider Song” (Planquette), see _The Chimes of Normandy_
“_Cielo e mar_” (Ponchielli), see _La Gioconda_
_Circus Day_ (Taylor)
_Clair de lune_ (Debussy)
“Climbing Over Rocky Mountain” (Sullivan), see _Pirates of Penzance_
_Les Cloches de Corneville_ (Planquette), see _The Chimes of Normandy_
_Clog Dance_ (Lortzing), see _Czar and Carpenter_
_Cockaigne Overture_ (Elgar)
“Cockeyed Optimist” (Rodgers), see _South Pacific_
_Colas Breugnon_: Overture (Kabalevsky)
_The Comedians_ (Kabalevsky)
_Comedy Overture on Negro Themes_ (Gilbert)
“Come Friends Who Plough the Sea” (Sullivan), see _Pirates of
Penzance_
“Come, Sweet Death” (Bach)
“_La Comparasa_” (Lecuona)
“Come to Me, Bend to Me” (Loewe), see _Brigadoon_
_Concert Polka_ (Lumbye)
Concerto in F (Gershwin)
“_Connais-tu le pays?_” (Thomas) see _Mignon_
_Les Contes d’Hoffmann_ (Offenbach), see _Tales of Hoffmann_
_Contredanses_ (Beethoven)
_Contretaenze_ (Mozart), see _Country Dances_
_Conversation Piece_: Selections (Coward)
_Coppélia_: Suite (Delibes)
_Le Coq d’or_: _Bridal Procession_, _Hymn to the Sun_
(Rimsky-Korsakov)
_La Coquette_ (Borowski)
_Córdoba_ (Albéniz)
_Cornish Rhapsody_ (Bath)
_Coronation March_ (Meyerbeer), see _Le Prophète_
_El Corpus en Seville_ (Albéniz), see _Fête-Dieu à Seville_
_Cottilon_ (Benjamin)
_Countess Maritza_: Selections (Kálmán)
_The Count of Luxembourg:_ Selections (Lehár)
_Country Dance_ (German), see _Henry VIII_
_Country Dances_ (Mozart)
_Country Gardens_ (Grainger)
_Cowboy Rhapsody_ (Gould)
“Cradle Song” (Brahms)
_The Crown Jewels_: Overture (Auber)
_Cuban Overture_ (Gershwin)
_Le Cygne_ (Saint-Saëns), see _The Swan_, _Carnival of Animals_
_Czar and Carpenter_: Selections (Lortzing)
_Czardas_ (Delibes), see _Coppélia_
_Die Czardasfuerstin_ (Kálmán), see _The Gypsy Princess_
_Czar und Zimmermann_ (Lortzing), see _Czar and Carpenter_
_Dagger Dance_ (Herbert)
“_Da geh’ ich zu Maxim_” (Lehár), see _The Merry Widow_
_La Dame blanche_: Overture (Boieldieu)
_Damnation of Faust_: Selections (Berlioz)
“_D’amor sull’ ali rosee_” (Verdi), see _Il Trovatore_
_Dance in Place Congo_ (Gilbert)
_Dance of the Blessed Spirits_ (Gluck)
_Dance of the Buffoons_ (Rimsky-Korsakov)
_Dance of the Camorristi_ (Wolf-Ferrari), see _The Jewels of the
Madonna_
_Dance of the Chinese Girls_ (Glière), see _The Red Poppy_
_Dance of the Comedians_ (Smetana), see _The Bartered Bride_
_Dance of the Flutes_ (Tchaikovsky), see _Nutcracker Suite_
_Dance of the Moorish Slaves_ (Verdi), see _Aida_
_Dance of the Rose Girls_ (Khatchaturian), see _Gayane_
_Dance of the Spanish Onion_ (Rose)
_Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy_ (Tchaikovsky), see _Nutcracker Suite_
_Dance of the Sylphs_ (Berlioz), see _Damnation of Faust_
_Dance of the Tumblers_ (Rimsky-Korsakov), see _Dance of the Buffoons_
_Dance of the Waves_ (Catalani), see _The Loreley_
_Dance of the Wheat_ (Ginastera), see Dances from _Estancia_
_Dancers of Mardi Gras_ (Cadman)
Dances from _Estancia_: _Dance of the Wheat_ (Ginastera)
“Dancing Will Keep You Young” (Romberg), see _Maytime_
_Danse macabre_ (Saint-Saëns)
_Danse nègre_ (Scott)
_Danza della ore_ (Ponchielli), see _Dance of the Hours_, _La
Gioconda_
_Daughter of the Regiment_: Overture (Donizetti)
“Dawn of Love” (Friml), see _The Firefly_
“Death and the Maiden” (Schubert), see “_Der Tod und das Maedchen_”
“Deep in My Heart” (Romberg), see _The Student Prince_
“De Glory Road” (Wolfe)
“_Dein ist mein ganzes Herz_” (Lehár), see _The Land of Smiles_
_Delirien_ (Josef Strauss)
_The Deluge_ (Saint-Saëns)
“_De’ miei bollenti spiriti_” (Verdi), see _Rigoletto_
“_Deserto sulla terra_” (Verdi), see _Il Trovatore_
_The Desert Song_: Selections (Romberg)
_Deutsche Taenze_ (Beethoven), see _German Dances_
_Deutsche Taenze_ (Mozart) see _German Dances_
_Les Diamants de la couronne_ (Auber), see _The Crown Jewels_
_Dichter und Bauer_, _Overture_ (Suppé), see _Poet and Peasant_
“_Dich teurer Halle_” (Wagner), see _Tannhaeuser_
“_Di Provenza il mar_” (Verdi), see _La Traviata_
“_Di quella pira_” (Verdi), see _Il Trovatore_
“_Dis moi Venus_” (Offenbach), see _La Belle Hélène_
_Divertissement_ (Ibert)
_Doctrinen_ (Eduard Strauss)
_Dolly_ (Fauré)
_Dolores_ (Waldteufel)
_Le Domino noir_ (Auber), see _The Black Domino_
_Donaulieder_ (Johann Strauss I)
“Donkey Serenade” (Friml)
_Donna Diana_: Overture (Rezniček)
“_La donne è mobile_” (Verdi) see _Rigoletto_
_Donnerwetter_ (Mozart), see _Country Dances_
_Don Pasquale_: Overture (Donizetti)
_Dorfschwalben aus Oesterreich_ (Josef Strauss)
_Dream Pantomime_ (Humperdinck), see _Hansel and Gretel_
_Dream Pictures_ (Lumbye)
_Die Dreigroschenoper_ (Weill), see _The Three-Penny Opera_
“Drinking Song” (Romberg), see _The Student Prince_
“_Du bist die Ruh_” (Schubert)
“The Duke of Plaza-Toro” (Sullivan), see _The Gondoliers_
“_Du and Du_” (Johann Strauss II), see _Die Fledermaus_
_Dynamiden_ (Josef Strauss)
“_Ecco ridente in cielo_” (Rossini), see _The Barber of Seville_
_Eight Russian Folk Songs_ (Liadov)
_Ein Morgen, ein Mittag, ein Abend in Wien_ (Suppé), see _Morning,
Noon and Night in Vienna_
_Einzugmarsch_ (Johann Strauss II), see _The Gypsy Baron_
_El Capitan_ (Sousa)
_Electrophor-Polka_ (Johann Strauss II)
_Élégie_ (Massenet), see _Les Érynnies_
_Elegy_ (Tchaikovsky), see _Serenade for Strings_
_L’Elisir d’amore_: Selections (Donizetti)
“Elisabeth’s Prayer” (Wagner), see “_Allmacht’ge Jungfrau_,”
_Tannhaeuser_
“_E lucevan le stelle_” (Puccini), see _Tosca_
_Embassy Waltz_ (Loewe), see _My Fair Lady_
_Emperor Waltz_ (Johann Strauss II)
_En bateau_ (Debussy), see _Petite suite_
“The End of a Perfect Day” (Bond)
“Entry March” (Johann Strauss II), see _The Gypsy Baron_
“_Der Erlkoenig_” (Schubert)
_Les Érynnies_ (Massenet)
_Escapade_ (Rose)
_España_ (Chabrier)
_España_ (Waldteufel)
“_Estrellita_” (Ponce)
_Estudianta_ (Waldteufel)
Etudes (Chopin), see also _Revolutionary Etude_
_Evatochter_ (Ziehrer)
_Evening in the Tivoli_ (Lumbye)
“_Evening Song_” (Schumann), see “_Abendlied_”
_Explosions Polka_ (Johann Strauss II)
_Facsimile_: Suite (Bernstein)
_The Fair at Sorochinsk_: Hopak (Mussorgsky)
“Fair Is the Rose as the Bright May Day” (Sullivan), see _Ruddigore_
“Fair Moon to Thee I Sing” (Sullivan), see _Pinafore_
_Family Album_ (Gould)
_Fancy Free_: Suite (Bernstein)
_Fantasia and Fugue on Oh, Susanna_ (Caillet)
_Fantasia on Greensleeves_ (Vaughan Williams)
Fantaisie-Impromptu in C-sharp minor (Chopin)
“The Farmer and the Cowman” (Rodgers), see _Oklahoma!_
_Faschingskinder_ (Ziehrer)
_Faust_: Selections (Gounod)
_Fête-Dieu à Seville_ (Albéniz)
_Fiddle Faddle_ (Anderson)
_La Fileuse_ (Raff)
_La Fille aux cheveux de lin_ (Debussy), see _The Girl With the Flaxen
Hair_
_La Fille de Mme. Angot_: Selections (Lecocq)
_Fingal’s Cave_, or _Hebrides_, Overture (Mendelssohn)
_Finlandia_ (Sibelius)
_The Firefly_: Selections (Friml)
_Die Fledermaus_: Overture, Selections (Johann Strauss II)
_Der fliegende Hollaender_ (Wagner), see _The Flying Dutchman_
_Flight of the Bumble Bee_ (Rimsky-Korsakov)
“Flower Song” (Bizet), see _Carmen_
“The Flowers that Bloom in the Spring” (Sullivan), see _The Mikado_
_The Flying Dutchman_: Overture, Selections (Wagner)
“Fold Your Flapping Wings” (Sullivan), see _Iolanthe_
“_Die Forelle_” (Schubert)
“For I am a Pirate King” (Sullivan), see _Pirates of Penzance_
“For Everyone Who Feels Inclined” (Sullivan), see _The Gondoliers_
“For He is an Englishman” (Sullivan), see _Pinafore_
“For the Merriest Fellows are We” (Sullivan), see _The Gondoliers_
_Fortune Teller_: Selections (Herbert)
_La Forza del destino_: Overture (Verdi)
_Four Centuries_ (Coates)
_Fra Diavolo_: Selections (Auber)
_Frasquita Serenade_ (Herbert)
“French Marching Song” (Romberg), see _The Desert Song_
_French Military March_ (Saint-Saëns), see _Suite algérienne_
“_Freudig begruessen_” (Wagner), see _Tannhaeuser_
_Friedrich-Karl March_ (Kéler-Béla)
“From the Land of the Sky-Blue Water” (Cadman)
_From the Middle Ages_ (Glazunov)
_Fruehlingsrauschen_ (Sinding), see _Rustle of Spring_
_Fruehlingsstimmen_ (Johann Strauss II), see _Voices of Spring_
_Funeral March_ (Chopin)
_Furiant_ (Smetana) see _The Bartered Bride_
_La Gaieté parisienne_ (Offenbach-Rosenthal), see Offenbach
Galops (Offenbach), see _La Grand Duchesse de Gerolstein_
_Gavotte_ (Gossec)
_Gavotte_ (Thomas), see _Mignon_
_Gayane_: Suite (Khatchaturian)
_La Gazza ladra_: Overture (Rossini)
_German Dances_ (Beethoven)
_German Dances_ (Haydn)
_German Dances_ (Mozart)
_German Dances_ (Schubert)
“Get Me to the Church on Time” (Loewe), see _My Fair Lady_
“Getting to Know You” (Rodgers), see _The King and I_
“Giannina Mia” (Friml), see _The Firefly_
_Gingerbread Waltz_ (Humperdinck), see _Hansel and Gretel_
_La Gioconda_: Selections (Ponchielli)
“The Girl at Maxim’s” (Lehár), see _The Merry Widow_
_The Girl With the Flaxen Hair_ (Debussy)
_Giroflé-Girofla_: Selections (Lecocq)
_Giselle_: Suite (Adam)
_La Gitana_ (Kreisler)
_Gitanerias_ (Lecuona)
“_Gloire au grand Dieu vengeur_” (Meyerbeer), see _Les Huguenots_
“_Gloria all’ Egitto_” (Verdi), see _Aida_
“The Glow-Worm” (Lincke)
“_Gluewuermchen_” (Lincke), see “The Glow-Worm”
“God’s World” (Wolfe)
“Goin’ to Heaven” (Wolfe)
_Gold and Silver Waltzes_ (Lehár)
_Golliwogg’s Cakewalk_ (Debussy), see _Children’s Corner_
_The Gondoliers_: Selections (Sullivan)
“Goodbye, Forever” (Tosti), see “_Addio_”
“Good Morning, Good Mother” (Sullivan), see _Iolanthe_
Gopak, from _The Fair at Sorochinsk_ (Mussorgsky), see Hopak
“_Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser_,” Austrian national anthem (Haydn)
_Grafin Mariza_ (Kálmán), see _Countess Maritza_
_Der Graf von Luxemburg_ (Lehár), see _The Count of Luxembourg_
_Grand Canyon Suite_ (Grofé)
Grand March, from _Aida_ (Verdi)
_La Grand Pâque Russe_ (Rimsky-Korsakov), see _Russian Easter
Overture_
_Greensleeves_ (Vaughan Williams), see _Fantasia on Greensleeves_
“_Gretchen am Spinnrade_” (Schubert)
_G’schichten aus dem Wiener Wald_ (Johann Strauss II), see _Tales from
the Vienna Woods_
_Guadalcanal March_ (Rodgers), see _Victory at Sea_
_Guillaume Tell_ (Rossini), see _William Tell_
_Guitarre_ (Moszkowski)
_Gypsy Airs_ (Sarasate)
_Gypsy Baron_: Selections (Johann Strauss II)
_Gypsy Love_: Selections (Lehár)
“Gypsy Love Song” (Herbert), see _The Fortune Teller_
_Gypsy Princess_: Selections (Kálmán)
_Gypsy Rondo_ (Haydn)
Habanera (Bizet), see _Carmen_
“_Hab ein blaues Himmelbett_” (Lehár), see _Frasquita Serenade_
“Hail the Bride of Seventeen Summers” (Sullivan), see _Ruddigore_
_Handel in the Strand_ (Grainger)
“Hallelujah Chorus” from _Messiah_ (Handel)
_Hansel and Gretel_: Overture and Selections (Humperdinck)
“Happy Talk” (Rodgers), see _South Pacific_
“Hark, Hark, the Lark” (Schubert)
_Harlequin Serenade_ (Drigo), see _Serenade_
_Harlequin Serenade_ (Leoncavallo), see “_O, Columbina!_”, _Pagliacci_
_Harmonica Player_ (Guion), see _Alley Tunes_
_Harmonious Blacksmith_ (Handel)
_Havanaise_ (Saint-Saëns)
“The Heart Bowed Down” (Balfe), see _The Bohemian Girl_
“Heather on the Hill” (Loewe), see _Brigadoon_
_Hebrew Melody_ (Achron)
_Hebrides Overture_, (Mendelssohn), see _Fingal’s Cave_
_Hejre Kati_ (Hubay), see _Hungarian Czardas Scenes_
“Hello, Young Lovers” (Rodgers), see _The King and I_
_Henry VIII_: Dances (German)
_Henry VIII_: Ballet Music (Saint-Saëns)
“_Hereinspaziert_” from _Der Schatzmeister_ (Ziehrer)
“Here’s a How-de-do” (Sullivan), see _The Mikado_
_Heroic Polonaise_ (Chopin)
_Hesperus_ (Lumbye)
_Hindu Chant_ (Rimsky-Korsakov)
_His Lullaby_ (Bond)
_Hoffballtanz_ (Lanner)
_Hoffnungssterne_ (Kéler-Béla)
_Holberg Suite_ (Grieg)
_Holiday for Strings_ (Rose)
_Holiday for Trombones_ (Rose)
_Holiday Suite_ (Gould)
_Holzschutanz_ (Lortzing), see _Clog Dance_, _Czar and Carpenter_
“Home on the Range” (Guion)
Hopak, from _The Fair at Sorochinsk_ (Mussorgsky)
_Hora staccato_ (Dinicu)
“_Horch, horche die Lerche_” (Schubert), see “Hark, Hark, the Lark”
_Horse and Buggy_ (Anderson)
_Hudson River Suite_ (Grofé)
_Les Huguenots_: Overture, Selections (Meyerbeer)
_Humoresque_ (Dvořák)
_Humoresque_ (Tchaikovsky)
_Hungarian Comedy Overture_ (Kéler-Béla)
_Hungarian Czardas Scenes_ (Hubay)
_Hungarian Dances_ (Brahms)
_Hungarian Rhapsody_ (Hubay), see _Hungarian Czardas Scenes_
_Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2_ (Liszt)
_Hurrah-Sturm_ (Kéler-Béla)
“Hymn to the Sun” (Rimsky-Korsakov), see _Le Coq d’or_
“I Am the Captain of the Pinafore” (Sullivan), see _Pinafore_
“I Am the Monarch of the Sea” (Sullivan), see _Pinafore_
“I Am Titania” (Thomas), see “_Je suis Titania_,” _Mignon_
“I Am the Very Pattern of a Modern Major General” (Sullivan), see
_Pirates of Penzance_
“I Cannot Tell What This Love May Be” (Sullivan), see _Patience_
“_Ich bin die Christel von der Post_” (Zeller), see _Der
Vogelhaendler_
“_Ich bin ein Zigeuenerkind_” (Lehár), see _Gypsy Love_
“_Ich hab’ kein Geld_” (Milloecker), see _The Beggar Student_
“_Ich knuepfte manche zarte Bande_” (Milloecker), see _The Beggar
Student_
“_Ich setz den Fall_” (Milloecker), see _The Beggar Student_
“I Could Have Danced All Night” (Loewe), see _My Fair Lady_
“_Ideale_” (Tosti)
“I Dream’d I Dwelt in Marble Halls” (Balfe), see _The Bohemian Girl_
“If I Loved You” (Rodgers), see _Carousel_
“If Somebody There Chanced to Be” (Sullivan), see _Ruddigore_
“If You Go In” (Sullivan), see _Iolanthe_
“If You’re Anxious For to Shine” (Sullivan), see _Patience_
“If You Want a Receipt” (Sullivan), see _Patience_
“If You Want to Know Who We Are” (Sullivan), see _The Mikado_
“I Got Plenty of Nuttin’” (Gershwin), see _Porgy and Bess_
“I Have a Song to Sing, O” (Sullivan) see _Yeomen of the Guard_
“I Have Dreamed” (Rodgers), see _The King and I_
“I Know a Youth Who Loves a Little Maid” (Sullivan), see _Ruddigore_
“_Il balen_” (Verdi), see _Il Trovatore_
“I’ll Follow My Secret Heart” (Coward), see _Conversation Piece_
“I Love You” (Wright and Forrest), see _Song of Norway_, Grieg
“I Love You, Porgy,” (Gershwin), see _Porgy and Bess_
“I Love You, Truly” (Coward), see _Bitter Sweet_
“I’m Called Little Buttercup” (Sullivan), see _Pinafore_
“I’m Falling in Love With Someone” (Herbert), see _Naughty Marietta_
“I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair” (Rodgers), see _South
Pacific_
“I’m in Love with a Wonderful Guy” (Rodgers), see _South Pacific_
“_Im Prater bluehn wieder die Baeume_” (Stolz)
_Impressions of Italy_ (Charpentier)
_In a Chinese Garden_ (Ketelby)
_In a Monastery Garden_ (Ketelby)
_In a Persian Garden_ (Ketelby)
_In Autumn_ (Grieg)
“In Bygone Days” (Sullivan), see _Ruddigore_
_Indian Lament_ (Dvořák)
“Indian Love Call” (Friml), see _Rose Marie_
_Indian Sketches_ (Gilbert)
_Indian Summer_ (Herbert)
_In Spring_ (Karl Goldmark)
_Intermezzo_, from _Cavalleria Rusticana_ (Mascagni)
_Intermezzo_, from _Goyescas_ (Granados)
_Intermezzo_, from _Pagliacci_ (Leoncavallo)
_Intermezzo_, from _The Violin Maker_ (Hubay)
_Intermezzo_ (Tchaikovsky), see Suite for Orchestra, No. 1
_Intermezzos_ from _The Jewels of the Madonna_ (Wolf-Ferrari)
_Interplay_ (Gould)
“In the Autumn of Our Life” (Sullivan), see _Yeomen of the Guard_
_In the Hall of the Mountain King_ (Grieg), see _Peer Gynt Suite_, No.
1
_In the South_ (Elgar)
_In the Steppes of Central Asia_ (Borodin)
_Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso_ (Saint-Saëns)
_Invitation to the Dance_ (Weber)
_Iolanthe_: Selections (Sullivan)
“I Once Was as Meek as a New Born Lamb” (Sullivan), see _Ruddigore_
_Irish Rhapsody_ (Herbert)
_Irish Suite_ (Anderson)
_Irish Tune from County Derry_: “Londonderry Air” (Grainger)
“I Shipped, D’ye See, in a Revenue Sloop” (Sullivan) see _Ruddigore_
“Isle of Dreams” (Herbert) see _The Red Mill_
“Is Love a Boon?” (Sullivan), see _Yeomen of the Guard_
“I Stole the Princess” (Sullivan), see _The Gondoliers_
“It Ain’t Necessarily So” (Gershwin), see _Porgy and Bess_
_L’Italiana in Algeri_: Overture (Rossini)
“Italian Street Song” (Herbert), see _Naughty Marietta_
“It is Not Love” (Sullivan), see _The Sorcerer_
“It’s a Windy Day on the Battery” (Romberg), see _Maytime_
“I’ve Done My Work” (Bond)
“I’ve Got a Little List” (Sullivan), see _The Mikado_
“I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face” (Loewe), see _My Fair Lady_
“I Whistle a Happy Tune” (Rodgers), see _The King and I_
“_Ja, das alles auf Ehr_” (Johann Strauss II), see _Gypsy Baron_
_Jamaican Rumba_ (Benjamin)
_Jazz Legato_ (Anderson)
_Jazz Pizzicato_ (Anderson)
“Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair” (Foster)
_Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring_ (Bach)
“_Je suis Titania_” (Thomas), see _Mignon_
_Jeux d’enfants_ (Bizet), see _Children’s Games_
“Jewel Song” (Gounod), see _Faust_
_Jewels of the Madonna_: Intermezzo, Dance of the Camorristi
(Wolf-Ferrari)
_Jewels from Cartier_ (Alter)
_Jota aragonesa_ (Glinka)
_Jota aragonesa_ (Sarasate)
_Joyeuse marche_ (Chabrier)
_Jubilee_ (Chadwick)
_Jubilee Overture_ (Weber)
“Jump Jim Crow” (Romberg), see _Maytime_
_June_ (Tchaikovsky), see _The Months_
“June Is Bustin’ Out All Over” (Rodgers), see _Carousel_
“Just a Wearyin’ for You” (Bond)
“_Kaempfe nie mit Frauen_” (Zeller), see _Der Vogelhaendler_
_Kaiser March_ (Wagner)
_Kaiserwaltz_ (Johann Strauss II), see _Emperor Waltz_
_Kamarinskaya_ (Glinka)
_Kamenoi-Ostrow_ (Rubinstein)
_Der Kanarienvogel_ (Mozart), see _German Dances_
“Kansas City” (Rodgers), see _Oklahoma!_
_Karelia Suite_ (Sibelius)
_Katharine Menuetten_ (Haydn), see _Minutes_
_King Frederick VII Homage March_ (Lumbye)
_La Kermesse_ (Gounod), see _Faust_
_Kettenbruecken_ (Johann Strauss I)
_Khovantschina_: Dances of Persian Slaves, Prelude to Act 1, and
Entr’acte (Mussorgsky)
_The King and I_: Selections (Rodgers)
_King Cotton_ (Sousa)
“Kiss Me Again” (Herbert), see _Mlle. Modiste_
_Kiss Me Kate_: Selections (Porter)
“_Klaenge der Heimat_” (Johann Strauss II), see _Die Fledermaus_
_Eine kleine Nachtmusik_ (Mozart)
_Knightsbridge March_ (Coates), see _London Suite_
“Knowest Thou the Land” (Thomas), see “_Connais-tu le pays?_”,
_Mignon_
“_Komm, komm, Held meiner Traeume_” (Straus), see “My Hero,” _The
Chocolate Soldier_
_Komm suesser Tod_ (Bach), see _Come, Sweet Death_
_Kommt ein Vogel_, Variations (Ochs)
_Das Land des Laechelns_ (Lehár), see _The Land of Smiles_
_The Land of Smiles_: Selections (Lehár)
_Die Landestreicher_: Selections (Ziehrer)
_Laendler_ (Schubert)
_Largo_, from the _New World Symphony_ (Dvořák)
_Largo_, from _Xerxes_ (Handel)
“Largo al factotum” (Rossini), see _The Barber of Seville_
_Latin-American Symphonette_ (Gould)
“Laughing Song” (Johann Strauss II), see “_Mein Herr, Marquis,_” _Die
Fledermaus_
“The Law is the True Embodiment” (Sullivan), see _Iolanthe_
“_Lebe wohl, mein flandrisch’ Maedchen_” (Lortzing), see _Czar and
Carpenter_
_Légende_ (Wieniawski)
_Leichte Cavallerie_ Overture (Suppé), see _Light Cavalry_
_Der Leiermann_ (Mozart), see _German Dances_
_Les Préludes_ (Liszt)
“Letter Song” (Straus), see _The Chocolate Soldier_
“_Libiamo, libiamo_,” or “_Brindisi_” (Verdi), see _La Traviata_
“_Lieber Freund, man greift nicht_” (Lehár), see _Count of Luxembourg_
_Liebesfreud_ (Kreisler)
_Liebesleid_ (Kreisler)
“_Liebeslied_” (Weill), see _The Three-Penny Opera_
_Liebestraum_ (Liszt)
_A Life for the Tsar_: Overture, Mazurka and Waltz (Glinka)
“Life’s Garden” (Bond)
_Light Cavalry Overture_ (Suppé)
“_Der Lindenbaum_” (Schubert)
_Lohengrin_: Prelude to Acts 1 and 3, Wedding March (Wagner)
_London Suite_ (Coates)
“Londonderry Air (Grainger),” see _Irish Tune from County Derry_
“Lonely Hearts” (Romberg), see _Blossom Time_
“The Lord’s Prayer” (Malotte)
_Lorelei Rheinsklaenge_ (Johann Strauss I)
“The Lost Chord” (Sullivan)
_Lotus Land_ (Scott)
“Loudly Let the Trumpet Bray” (Sullivan), see _Iolanthe_
_Love for Three Oranges_: March (Prokofiev)
“Love is a Firefly” (Friml), see _The Firefly_
“Love is a Plaintive Song” (Sullivan), see _Patience_
“Lover Come Back to Me” (Romberg), see _The New Moon_
“Love Song” (Weill), see _The Three-Penny Opera_
_Lucia di Lammermoor_: Selections (Donizetti)
_Lullaby_ (Khatchaturian), see _Gayane_
_Die lustige Witwe_ (Lehár), see _The Merry Widow_
_Lyric Suite_ (Grieg)
“Mack the Knife” (Weill), see _The Three-Penny Opera_
_Madama Butterfly_: Selections (Puccini)
“_Madre pietosa_” (Verdi), see _La Forza del destino_
“Mad Scene” (Donizetti), see _Lucia di Lammermoor_
“_Maedel klein, Maedel fein_” (Lehár), see _The Count of Luxembourg_
“The Magnet and the Churn” (Sullivan), see _Patience_
“A Maiden Fair to See” (Sullivan), see _Pinafore_
“_Die Majistaet wird anerkannt_” (Johann Strauss II), see _Die
Fledermaus_
_Malambo_ (Ginastera), see Dances from _Estancia_
_Malagueña_ (Lecuona)
_Malagueña_, from _Boabdil_ (Moszkowski)
_Malagueña_ (Sarasate)
_Manhattan Masquerade_ (Alter)
_Manhattan Moonlight_ (Alter)
_Manhattan Serenade_ (Alter)
Manon: Gavotte, Minuet (Massenet)
“A Man Who Would Woo a Fair Maid” (Sullivan), see _Yeomen of the
Guard_
“Many a New Day” (Rodgers), see _Oklahoma!_
March, from _Tannhaeuser_ (Wagner)
_March of the Gladiators_ (Fučík)
_March of the Little Fauns_ (Pierné)
_March of the Little Lead Soldiers_ (Pierné)
_March of the Royal Siamese Children_ (Rodgers), see _The King and I_
_March of the Smugglers_ (Bizet), see _Carmen_
March of the Toys (Herbert), see _Babes in Toyland_
_Marche miniature_ (Tchaikovsky), see _Suite for Orchestra, No. 1_
_Marche Slav_ (Tchaikovsky)
“_Marechiare_” (Tosti)
_Marienklaenge_ (Josef Strauss)
_Mark Twain: A Portrait for Orchestra_ (Kern)
_Masaniello_ (Auber), see _The Mute of Portici_
_Masquerade_ (Khatchaturian)
“Massa’s in De Cold, Cold Ground” (Foster)
_The Mastersingers_: “Prize Song” (Wagner)
_Matinées musicales_ (Rossini-Britten), see Rossini
“_Mattinata_” (Tosti)
_Maytime_: Selections (Romberg)
_Mazurka_ (Delibes), see _Coppélia_
_Mazurka_ (Glinka), see _A Life for the Tsar_
Mazurkas (Chopin)
_Meditation_, from _Thaïs_ (Massenet)
“_Mein Herr, Marquis_” (Johann Strauss II), see _Die Fledermaus_
_Die Meistersinger_ (Wagner), see _The Mastersingers_
_Mélodie_ (Tchaikovsky)
_Melody in F_ (Rubinstein)
_Menuet à l’antique_ (Paderewski), see _Minuet_
_Merrie England_: Selections (German)
_Merrymaker’s Dance_ (German), see _Nell Gwynn_
_The Merry Widow_: Selections (Lehár)
_The Merry Widow Waltz_: “_S’fuersten Geigen_” (Lehár), see _The Merry
Widow_
_The Merry Wives of Windsor_: Overture, Selections (Nicolai)
_Mexican Rhapsody_ (McBride)
“_Mi chiamano Mimi_” (Puccini), see _La Bohème_
_Midsommarvaka_ (Alfvén), see _Midsummer Vigil_
_A Midsummer Night’s Dream_, Suite (Mendelssohn)
_Midsummer Vigil_ (Alfvén)
“Mighty Lak’ a Rose” (Nevin)
_Mignon_: Overture, Selections (Thomas)
_The Mikado_: Selections (Sullivan)
_Military Polonaise_ (Chopin)
_Miniature Overture_ (Tchaikovsky), see _Nutcracker Suite_
_Minstrel Show_ (Gould)
_Minuet in G_ (Beethoven)
_Minuet_ (Boccherini)
_Minuet_ (Bolzoni)
_Minuet_ (Kreisler)
_Minuet_, from _Don Giovanni_ (Mozart)
_Minuet_, from _The Tales of Hoffmann_ (Offenbach)
_Minuet_ (Paderewski)
_Minuet_, from _Rigoletto_ (Verdi)
_Minuet of the Will’o-the-Wisp_ (Berlioz), see _The Damnation of
Faust_
Minuets (Haydn)
Minuets (Mozart)
_Minute Waltz_ (Chopin)
_Mlle. Modiste_: Selections (Herbert)
_Mireille_: Overture (Gounod)
“_Miserere_” (Verdi), see “_Ah, che la morte ognora_,” _Il Trovatore_
_Mississippi Suite_ (Grofé)
_The Moldau_, or _Vltava_ (Smetana)
_Molly on the Shore_ (Grainger)
“_Mon coeur s’ouvre à ta voix_” (Saint-Saëns), see _Samson and
Delilah_
_Mon rêve_ (Waldteufel)
_The Months_ (Tchaikovsky)
“Moonbeams” (Herbert), see _The Red Mill_
_Moonlight Sonata_ (Beethoven)
_Moorish Rhapsody_ (Humperdinck)
_Morgenblaetter_ (Johann Strauss II), see _Morning Journals_
“_Morgenlich leuchtend_” (Wagner), see “Prize Song,” _The
Mastersingers_
“Moritat” (Weill), see _The Three-Penny Opera_
_Morning_ (Grieg), see _Peer Gynt_, Suite No. 1
“Morning” (Speaks)
_Morning Journals_ (Johann Strauss II)
_Morning, Noon, and Night in Vienna_ (Suppé)
_Morris Dance_ (German), see _Henry VIII_
_La Muette de Portici_ (Auber), see _The Mute of Portici_
_Musetta’s Waltz_ (Puccini), see _La Bohème_
_The Music Box_ (Liadov)
_Music of the Spheres_ (Josef Strauss), see _Sphaerenklaenge_
_The Mute of Portici_: Overture (Auber)
“My Boy You May Take it From Me” (Sullivan), see _Ruddigore_
_My Fair Lady_: Selections (Loewe)
“My Heart at Your Sweet Voice” (Saint-Saëns), see _Samson and Delilah_
“My Hero” (Straus), see _The Chocolate Soldier_
“My Ideal” (Tosti), see “_Ideale_”
“My Man’s Gone Now” (Gershwin), see _Porgy and Bess_
“My Object All Sublime” (Sullivan), see _The Mikado_
“My Old Kentucky Home” (Foster)
_Naïla Waltz_ (Delibes)
_Narcissus_, from _Water Scenes_ (Nevin)
_Naughty Marietta_: Selections (Herbert)
_Navarra_ (Albéniz)
“’Neath the Southern Moon” (Herbert), see _Naughty Marietta_
_Negro Heaven_ (Cesana)
_Negro Rhapsody_ (Rubin Goldmark)
_Nell Gwynn_: Dances (German)
_New Moon_: Selections (Romberg)
“The Nightingale” (Sullivan), see _Patience_
“The Nightingale Song” (Zeller), see “_Wie mein Ahn’l zwanzig Jahr_,”
_Der Vogelhaendler_
_Nocturne_ (Borodin)
_Nocturne in E-flat_ (Chopin)
_Nocturne_ (Mendelssohn), see _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_, Suite
“_Noël_,” or “_Cantique de Noël_” (Adam)
“None But the Lonely Heart” (Tchaikovsky)
“_Non la sospiri la nostra casetta_” (Puccini), see _Tosca_
_Norma_: Overture, “_Casta Diva_” (Bellini)
_North American Square Dances_ (Benjamin)
_Norwegian Dances_ (Grieg)
_Norwegian Rhapsody_ (Lalo)
_Nutcracker Suite_, or _Casse-noisette_ (Tchaikovsky)
“_O beau pays de la Touraine_” (Meyerbeer), see _Les Huguenots_
“_Obéissons quand leur voix appelle_” (Massenet), see _Manon_
_Der Obersteiger_: Selections (Zeller)
“_O, Columbina!_,” Harlequin’s Serenade (Leoncavallo), _Pagliacci_
“Ode to the Evening Star” (Wagner), see “_O du, mein holder
Abendstern_,” _Tannhaeuser_
_Of Thee I Sing_ (Gershwin)
“Oh Foolish Fay” (Sullivan), see _Iolanthe_
“Oh, Is There Not One Maiden Breast?” (Sullivan), see _Pirates of
Penzance_
“Oh a Private Buffoon is a Light-Hearted Loon” (Sullivan), see _Yeomen
of the Guard_
“Oh, Leave Me Not to Pine” (Sullivan), see _Pirates of Penzance_
“Oh My Name is John Wellington Wells” (Sullivan), see _The Sorcerer_
“Oh, Susanna!” (Foster)
“Oh, Thoughtless Crew” (Sullivan), see _Yeomen of the Guard_
“Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’” (Rodgers), see _Oklahoma!_
_Oklahoma!_: Selections (Rodgers)
“Ol’ Black Joe” (Foster)
“Old Folks at Home,” or “Swanee River” (Foster)
_The Old Refrain_ (Kreisler)
“Ol’ Man River” (Kern), see _Show Boat_
“_O Lola Bianca_” (Mascagni), see _Cavalleria Rusticana_
“_O Mimi, tu più_” (Puccini), see _La Bohème_
_Omphale’s Spinning Wheel_ (Saint-Saëns), see _Le Rouet d’Omphale_
“One Kiss” (Romberg), see _The New Moon_
“Only a Rose” (Friml), see _The Vagabond King_
“Only Make Believe” (Kern), see _Show Boat_
“On the Day that I Was Wedded” (Sullivan), see _The Gondoliers_
_On the Campus_ (Goldman)
_On the Farm_ (Goldman)
_On the Mall_ (Goldman)
“On the Road to Mandalay” (Speaks)
“On the Street Where You Live” (Loewe), see _My Fair Lady_
_On the Trail_ (Grofé), see _Grand Canyon Suite_
“Onward Christian Soldiers” (Sullivan)
“On Wings of Song” (Mendelssohn)
“_O Patria mia_” (Verdi), see _Aida_
“_O Paradiso!_” (Meyerbeer), see _L’Africaine_
_The Organgrinder_ (Mozart), see _German Dances_
_Orientale_ (Cui)
_Orphée aux enfers_ (Offenbach), see _Orpheus in the Underworld_
_Orpheus in the Underworld_: Selections (Offenbach)
“_O Sancta justa_” (Lortzing), see _Czar and Carpenter_
“_O soave fanciulla_” (Puccini), see _La Bohème_
“_O terra addio_” (Verdi), see _Aida_
“Our Great Mikado” (Sullivan), see _The Mikado_
“Out of My Dreams” (Rodgers), see _Oklahoma!_
_Ouverture solennelle_ (Glazunov)
_Overture 1812_ (Tchaikovsky)
“_Pace e gioia sia con voi_” (Rossini), see _The Barber of Seville_
_Pagliacci_: Selections (Leoncavallo)
“Painted Emblems of a Race” (Sullivan), see _Ruddigore_
“_La Paloma_” (Yradier)
_Pan-Americana_ (Herbert)
“A Paradox, a Most Ingenious Paradox” (Sullivan), see _Pirates of
Penzance_
“_Parigi, o cara_” (Verdi), see _La Traviata_
_Passacaglia on Green Bushes_ (Grainger)
_Pastoral Dance_ (German), see _Henry VIII_
_Patience_: Selections (Sullivan)
_Les Patineurs_ (Waldteufel), see _The Skaters_
_La Patrie_ (Bizet)
_Pavane_ (Fauré)
_Pavane_ (German), see _Romeo and Juliet_
_Pavane_ (Gould), see _American Symphonette No. 2_
_Pavane pour une Infante défunte_ (Ravel)
_Peer Gynt_, Suites Nos. 1 and 2 (Grieg)
“People Will Say We’re in Love” (Rodgers), see _Oklahoma!_
_Perpetual Motion_ (Johann Strauss II)
“_Pescator, affond a l’esca_” (Ponchielli), see _La Gioconda_
_Die Pesther_ (Lanner)
_Peter and the Wolf_ (Prokofiev)
_Petite suite_ (Debussy)
_Phèdre Overture_ (Massenet)
“_Piccolo, piccolo, tsin, tsin, tsin_” (Straus), see _A Waltz Dream_
_Picturesque Scenes_ (Massenet)
_Piemonte_ (Sinigaglia)
_Pinafore_: Selections (Sullivan)
_Pique Dame Overture_ (Suppé)
_Pirates of Penzance_: Selections (Sullivan)
_Pizzicato Polka_ (Johann Strauss II)
“_Plaisir d’amour_” (Martini)
“Play Gypsies, Dance Gypsies” (Kálmán), see _Countess Maritza_
_Plink, Plank, Plunk_ (Anderson)
“_Plus blanche que la blanche hermine_” (Meyerbeer) see _Les
Huguenots_
_Poet and Peasant Overture_ (Suppé)
_Polichinelle_ (Kreisler)
_Polka_ (Smetana), see _The Bartered Bride_
_Polka and Fugue_, from _Schwanda_ (Weinberger)
_Polonaise_, from Boris Godunov (Mussorgsky)
_Polonaise_, from Eugene Onegin (Tchaikovsky)
_Polonaises_ (Chopin)
_Polonaise brilliante_ (Wieniawski)
_Polovtsian Dances_, from _Prince Igor_ (Borodin)
_Pomp and Circumstance_ (Elgar)
_Pop Goes the Weasel_ (Caillet)
_Porgy and Bess_: Selections (Gershwin)
_Portrait of a Frontier Town_ (Gillis)
_Poupée valsante_ (Poldini)
“Pour, Oh, Pour the Pirate Sherry” (Sullivan), see _Pirates of
Penzance_
_Praeludium_ (Järnefelt)
_Praeludium and Allegro_ (Kreisler)
_Praise Be to God_ (Bach)
_La Précieuse_ (Kreisler)
_Prelude in E major_ (Bach)
_Prelude in A major_ (Chopin)
_Prelude and Fugue on Dixie_ (Weinberger)
_Prelude and Waltz_ (Addinsell)
Preludes (Chopin)
Preludes (Gershwin)
Preludes (Rachmaninoff)
“Prithee, Pretty Maiden” (Sullivan), see _Patience_
“Prize Song” from _The Mastersingers_ (Wagner)
_Le Prophète_: Coronation March, Prelude to Act 3 (Meyerbeer)
_Punchinello_ (Herbert)
“A Puzzlement” (Rodgers), see _The King and I_
“_Quando m’en vo’ soletto_,” Musetta’s Waltz (Puccini), see _La
Bohème_
Quartet, from _Rigoletto_ (Verdi), see “_Bella figlia dell’ amore_”
_Queen of Spades Overture_ (Suppé), see _Pique Dame Overture_
“_Questa o quella_” (Verdi), see _Rigoletto_
_Radetzky March_ (Johann Strauss I)
_Railway Galop_ (Lumbye)
_Raindrop Etude_ (Chopin)
_Rakóczy March_ (Berlioz), see _The Damnation of Faust_
_Raymond Overture_ (Thomas)
_Raymonda_: Suite (Glazunov)
“_Recondita armonia_” (Puccini), see _Tosca_
_The Red Mill_: Selections (Herbert)
_The Red Poppy_: Selections (Glière)
_Rêve angelique_ (Rubinstein), see _Kamenoi-Ostrow_
_Rêverie_ (Debussy)
_Revolutionary Etude_ (Chopin)
_Rhapsody in Blue_ (Gershwin)
_Rienzi_: Overture (Wagner)
_Rigoletto_: Selections (Verdi)
“_Rimpianto_” (Toselli), see “_Serenata_”
“Rising Early in the Morning” (Sullivan), see _Gondoliers_
“_Ritorna vincitor_” (Verdi), see _Aida_
_Ritual Fire Dance_ (Falla)
_Le Roi l’a dit_: Overture (Delibes)
_Romance_ (Drdla)
Romances (Beethoven)
_Romance in E-flat_ (Rubinstein)
_Romance in F minor_ (Tchaikovsky)
Romances (Sibelius)
_Die Romantiker_ (Lanner)
_Romeo and Juliet_: Waltz (Gounod)
_Rondalla aragonesa_ (Granados), see _Spanish Dances_
_Rondino_ (Kreisler)
“The Rosary” (Nevin)
_Rosamunde_: Overture, Ballet Music (Schubert)
_Rose Marie_: Selections (Friml)
_Rosen aus dem Sueden_ (Johann Strauss II), see _Roses from the South_
“Roses are in Bloom” (Bond)
_Roses from the South_ (Johann Strauss II)
_Le Rouet d’Omphale_ (Saint-Saëns)
_Ruddigore_: Selections (Sullivan)
_Rumanian Rhapsodies_, Nos. 1 and 2 (Enesco)
_Rumba_ (McDonald)
_Ruslan and Ludmilla_: Overture (Glinka)
_Russian Easter Overture_ (Rimsky-Korsakov)
_Russian Sailors’ Dance_ (Glière), see _The Red Poppy_
_Rustle of Spring_ (Sinding)
_Rustic Dance_ (German), see _As You Like It_
_Rustic March_ (Grieg), see _Lyric Suite_
_Rustic Wedding Symphony_ (Karl Goldmark)
_Ruy Blas Overture_ (Mendelssohn)
_Saber Dance_ (Khatchaturian), see _Gayane_
“Saber Song” (Romberg), see _Desert Song_
“Sailors’ Chorus” (Wagner), see “_Steuermann! lass die Wacht_,” _The
Flying Dutchman_
_Sakuntala Overture_ (Karl Goldmark)
_Salut d’amour_ (Elgar)
_Samson and Delilah_: Selections (Saint-Saëns)
“_Samt und seide_” from _Der Fremdenfuehrer_ (Ziehrer)
_Saraband_ (Anderson)
_Sari_: Selections (Kálmán)
_La Scala di Seta_: Overture (Rossini)
_Scarf Dance_ (Chaminade)
_Scenario_ (Kern)
_Scènes alsaciennes_ (Massenet), see _Alsatian Scenes_
_Scènes de ballet_ (Glazunov)
_Scènes pittoresques_ (Massenet), see _Picturesque Scenes_
“_Schafe koennen sicher weiden_” (Bach), see _The Wise Virgins_
_Schatz_, Waltzes (Johann Strauss II), see _Gypsy Baron_
“_Schau mir nur recht ins Gesicht_” (Zeller), see _Der Vogelhaendler_
_Scheherazade_ (Rimsky-Korsakov)
_Scherzo_ (Kreisler)
_Scherzo_ (Mendelssohn), see _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_, Suite
_Die Schlittenfahrt_ (Mozart), see _German Dances_
_Die Schoenbrunner_ (Lanner)
_Die schoene Galatea_ (Suppé), see _The Beautiful Galathea_
_Schoen Rosmarin_ (Kreisler)
_School of Dancing_ (Boccherini-Françaix), see Boccherini
_Scuola di Ballo_ (Boccherini-Françaix), see _School of Dancing_,
Boccherini
“_Scuoti quella fronda di ciliegio_” (Puccini), see _Madama Butterfly_
_The Seasons_: Suite (Glazunov)
_Second Rhapsody_ (Gershwin)
_Secrets of Suzanne_: Overture (Wolf-Ferrari)
“_Segreto_” (Tosti)
“_Seguidille_” (Bizet), see _Carmen_
“_Sei gepreissen, du lauschige Nacht_” (Ziehrer), see _Die
Landestreicher_
“_Sei nicht bos, es kann nicht sein_” (Zeller), see _Der Obersteiger_
_Semiramide_: Overture (Rossini)
_Semper fideles_ (Sousa)
“_Sempre libera_” (Verdi), see _La Traviata_
_Serenade_ (Drigo)
_Serenade in A_ (Drdla)
_Serenade_ (Romberg), see _Blossom Time_, _The Student Prince_
_Serenade_ (Schubert), see _Staendchen_
_Sérénade espagnole_ (Chaminade)
_Serenade for Strings_ (Tchaikovsky)
_Sérénade mélancolique_ (Tchaikovsky)
_Serenata_, “_Rimpianot_” (Toselli)
_La Serenata_ (Tosti)
_Sevillañas_ (Albéniz)
Sextet from Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti), see “_Chi mi frena_”
“_S’fuersten Geigen, Lippen schweigen_” (Lehár), see _The Merry Widow_
“Shall We Dance?” (Rodgers), see _The King and I_
_Shepherd’s Dance_ (German), see _Henry VIII_
_Shepherd’s Hey_ (Grainger)
_Shepherd’s Madrigal_ (Kreisler)
“Shepherd’s Song” (Offenbach), see _La Belle Hélène_
“Short’nin’ Bread” (Wolfe)
_Show Boat_: Selections (Kern)
“_Siboney_,” or “_Canto Siboney_” (Lecuona)
_Siciliano_ (Bach)
_Sicilienne_ (Fauré)
_Sicilienne et Rigaudon_ (Kreisler)
_Side Street in Gotham_ (Alter)
“Sighing Softly to the River” (Sullivan), see _Pirates of Penzance_
_Si j’etais roi_ (Adam), see _If I Were King_
“Silvered is the Raven Hair” (Sullivan), see _Patience_
“_Si può_” (Leoncavallo), see _Pagliacci_
_Les Sirènes_ (Waldteufel)
“Sir Rupert Murgatroyd” (Sullivan), see _Ruddigore_
_The Skaters_ (Waldteufel)
_Slaughter on Tenth Avenue_ (Rodgers)
_Slavonic Dances_ (Dvořák)
_Slavonic Fantasia_ (Kreisler)
_Sleigh Bells_ (Anderson)
_The Sleighride_ (Mozart), see _German Dances_
“_So elend und treu_” (Johann Strauss II), see _Gypsy Baron_
“Softly as in a Morning Sunrise” (Romberg), see _The New Moon_
_Soirées de Vienne_ (Schubert-Liszt), see Schubert
_Soirées musicales_ (Rossini-Britten), see Rossini
“So in Love” (Porter), see _Kiss Me Kate_
“Soldiers’ Chorus” (Gounod), see _Faust_
“Soldiers’ Chorus” (Verdi), see “_Squilli, echeggi la tromba
guerriera_,” _Il Trovatore_
_Solitude_ (Tchaikovsky)
“Solveig’s Song” (Grieg), see _Peer Gynt_, Suite No. 2
“Some Enchanted Evening” (Rodgers), see _South Pacific_
_Song of India_ (Rimsky-Korsakov), see _Hindu Chant_
“Song of Love” (Romberg), see _Blossom Time_
_Song of Norway_ (Wright and Forrest), see Grieg
“Song of the Vagabond” (Friml), see _The Vagabond King_
_Song Without Words, Chanson sans paroles_ (Tchaikovsky)
“Songs My Mother Taught Me” (Dvořák)
“_Sonst spielt ich mit Zepter_” (Lortzing), see _Czar and Carpenter_
“Soon as We May” (Sullivan), see _Iolanthe_
_Sophie_ (Lumbye)
“Sorry Her Lot” (Sullivan), see _Pinafore_
_South Pacific_: Selections (Rodgers)
_Southern Nights_ (Guion)
_Souvenir_ (Drdla)
_Souvenirs of Moscow_ (Wieniawski)
_Spanish Caprice_ (Rimsky-Korsakov)
_Spanish Dance No. 1_ (Falla)
_Spanish Dances_ (Granados)
_Spanish Dances_ (Moszkowski)
_Spanish Dances_ (Sarasate)
_Sphaerenklaenge_ (Josef Strauss)
_Spinning Song_ (Mendelssohn)
_Spring Song_ (Mendelssohn)
“_Squilli, echeggi la tromba guerriera_,” or “Soldiers’ Chorus”
(Verdi), see _Il Trovatore_
“_Staendchen_” (Schubert)
_Stars and Stripes Forever_ (Sousa)
_Stephen Foster Suite_ (Dubensky)
“_Steuermann! lass die Wacht_” (Wagner), see _The Flying Dutchman_
“Stout-Hearted Men” (Romberg), see _The New Moon_
“Strange Adventure” (Sullivan), see _Yeomen of the Guard_
“Strange Music” (Wright and Forrest), see _Song of Norway_, Grieg
“_Stride la vampa_” (Verdi), see _Il Trovatore_
“_Stridono lassu_,” “Bird Song” (Leoncavallo), see _Pagliacci_
“Strike Up the Band” (Gershwin)
_Student Prince_: Selections (Romberg)
_Stuff in G_ (McBride)
“_Suicidio!_” (Ponchielli), see _La Gioconda_
_Suite algérienne_ (Saint-Saëns)
Suite for Orchestra, Nos. 1 and 3 (Tchaikovsky)
_Suite of Serenades_ (Herbert)
_Suite pastorale_ (Chabrier)
_Suite romantique_ (Herbert)
“_Summ und brumm_” (Wagner), see _The Flying Dutchman_
_Summer Day_ (Prokofiev)
“Summertime” (Gershwin), see _Porgy and Bess_
“The Sun Whose Rays” (Sullivan), see _The Mikado_
“The Surrey With the Fringe on Top” (Rodgers), see _Oklahoma!_
_Swallows from Austria_ (Josef Strauss), see _Dorfschwalben aus
Oesterreich_
_The Swan_ (Saint-Saëns)
“Swanee River,” or “Old Folks at Home” (Foster)
_Swing Sextet_ (Cesana)
_Swing Stuff_ (McBride)
_Les Sylphides_ (Chopin-Rosenthal), see Chopin
_Sylvia_: Suite (Delibes)
“Sylvia” (Speaks)
“Sympathy” (Friml), see _The Firefly_
“Sympathy” (Straus), see _The Chocolate Soldier_
_Symphonic Picture_ (Gershwin-Bennett), see _Porgy and Bess_, Gershwin
_Symphony in D_, “Dodgers” (Bennett)
_Symphony No. 5½_ (Gillis)
_Syncopated Clock_ (Anderson)
“_Tacea la notte placide_” (Verdi), see _Il Trovatore_
“Take a Pair of Sparkling Eyes” (Sullivan), see _Gondoliers_
_Tales from the Vienna Woods_ (Johann Strauss II)
_Tales of Hoffmann_: Barcarolle, Minuet, and Waltz (Offenbach)
_Tambourin Chinois_ (Kreisler)
_Tango in D major_ (Albéniz)
_Tannhaeuser_: Overture, Selections (Wagner)
_Tannhaeuser’s Pilgrimage_ (Wagner), see Prelude to Act 3,
_Tannhaeuser_
_Te Deum_ (Puccini), see _Tosca_
“Tell Me Daisy” (Romberg), see _Blossom Time_
_Tempo di minuetto_ (Kreisler)
_Thaïs: Meditations_ (Massenet)
“Then You’ll Remember Me” (Balfe), see _The Bohemian Girl_
“There Grew a Little Flower” (Sullivan), see _Ruddigore_
“There Is Nothing Like a Dame” (Rodgers), see _South Pacific_
“There’s a Boat That’s Leavin’ Soon for New York” (Gershwin), see
_Porgy and Bess_
“There Was a Time” (Sullivan), see _Gondoliers_
“Thine Alone” (Herbert)
“Thine Is My Heart Alone” (Lehár), see _The Land of Smiles_
“This is a Real Nice Clambake” (Rodgers), see _Carousel_
“Thou the Tree, and I the Flower” (Sullivan), see _Iolanthe_
_The Three Bears_ (Coates)
_The Three Elizabeths_ (Coates)
“Three Little Maids” (Sullivan), see _The Mikado_
_The Three-Penny Opera_: Selections (Weill)
_The Thunderer_ (Sousa)
_The Thunderstorm_ (Mozart), see _Country Dances_
“This Nearly Was Mine” (Rodgers), see _Carousel_
“Time Was When Love and I Were Acquainted” (Sullivan), see _Sorcerer_
“Tit Willow” (Sullivan), see _The Mikado_
_To a Water Lily_ (MacDowell)
_To a Wild Rose_ (MacDowell)
“_Der Tod und das Maedchen_” (Schubert)
_Torch Dance No. 1_ (Meyerbeer)
_Toujours ou jamais_ (Waldteufel)
“_Traeume_” (Wagner)
“_Traft ihr Das Schiff_” (Wagner), see _The Flying Dutchman_
“_Trauet nie dem Blossen schein_” (Zeller), see _Der Obersteiger_
_La Traviata_: Prelude to Acts 1 and 3, Selections (Verdi)
_Trepak_ (Tchaikovsky), see _Nutcracker Suite_
“The Trout” (Schubert), see “_Die Forelle_”
_Triumphant Entry of the Boyars_ (Halvorsen)
_Troïka_, or _Troïka en Traneaux_ (Tchaikovsky), see _The Months_
_Il Trovatore_: Selections (Verdi)
_The Trumpeter’s Holiday_ (Anderson)
“The Two Grenadiers” (Schumann), see “_Die beiden Grenadiere_”
_Through the Looking Glass_ (Taylor)
“_Treulich gefuert_” (Wagner), see _Lohengrin_
_Tubby the Tuba_ (Kleinsinger)
_Turkey in the Straw_ (Guion)
_Turkish March_ (Beethoven)
_Turkish March_ (Mozart)
“Tu, tu piccolo idio” (Puccini), see _Madama Butterfly_
“Twenty Lovesick Maidens We” (Sullivan), see _Patience_
_Two Elegiac Melodies_ (Grieg)
“Two Hearts in Three-Quarters Time” (Stolz)
_Two Northern Melodies_ (Grieg)
_The Typewriter_ (Anderson)
“_Un bel di_” (Puccini), see _Madama Butterfly_
“_Una furtiva lagrima_” (Donizetti), see _L’Elisir d’amore_
“_Una voce poco fa_” (Rossini), see _The Barber of Seville_
“_Un nenn’ mein Lieb’ dich_” (Lehár), see _Gypsy Love_
_The Vagabond King_: Selections (Friml)
_Valse bluette_ (Drigo)
_Valse de concert_, Nos. 1 and 2 (Glazunov)
_Valse de la poupée_ (Delibes), see _Coppélia_
_Valse mélancolique_ (Tchaikovsky), see Suite for Orchestra, No. 3
_Valses nobles_ (Schubert)
_Valses sentimentales_ (Schubert)
_Valse triste_ (Sibelius)
_Valsette_ (Borowski)
_Variations on I Got Rhythm_ (Gershwin)
_Variations on Kommt ein Vogel_ (Ochs)
_Variations on a Theme by Jerome Kern_ (Kern-Bennett), see Kern
“_Vedi! le fosche_” or “Anvil Chorus” (Verdi), see _Il Trovatore_
_I Vespri siciliani_, or _Les Vêpres siciliennes_: Overture (Verdi)
“_Vesti la giubba_” (Leoncavallo), see _Pagliacci_
_Victory at Sea_ (Rodgers)
“_Viene la sera_” (Puccini), see _Madama Butterfly_
“_Vieni amor mio_” (Verdi), see _Aida_
_Vienna Blood_ (Johann Strauss II)
“_Vilia_” (Lehár), see _The Merry Widow_
_Violetta_ (Waldteufel)
“_Vissi d’arte_” (Puccini), see _Tosca_
_Vltava_ (Smetana), see _The Moldau_
_Vocalise_ (Rachmaninoff)
_Der Vogelhaendler_: Selections (Zeller)
_Voices of Spring_ (Johann Strauss II)
“_Voi lo sapete_” (Mascagni), see _Cavalleria Rusticana_
“_Vorrei morire_” (Tosti)
_Walpurgis Night_, Ballet Music (Gounod), see _Faust_
_Waltz in A-flat_ (Brahms)
_Waltz in C-sharp minor_ (Chopin)
_Waltz_ (Glinka), see _A Life for the Tsar_
_Waltz_ (Offenbach), see _Tales of Hoffmann_
_Waltz_, from _Eugene Onegin_ (Tchaikovsky)
_Waltz_, from _Serenade for Strings_ (Tchaikovsky)
_Waltz_, from _Sleeping Beauty_ (Tchaikovsky)
_Waltz_, from _Swan Lake_ (Tchaikovsky)
Waltzes (Chopin)
Waltzes (Schubert)
_Waltz of the Flowers_, from _Loreley_ (Catalani)
_Waltz of the Flowers_ (Tchaikovsky), see _Nutcracker Suite_
_A Waltz Dream_: Selections (Straus)
“_Waltz Huguette_” (Friml), see _The Vagabond King_
_Ein Walzertraum_ (Straus), see _A Waltz Dream_
_The Waltzing Cat_ (Anderson)
“Wanting You” (Romberg), see _The New Moon_
“A Wandering Minstrel I” (Sullivan), see _The Mikado_
_War March of the Priests_ (Mendelssohn)
_Warsaw Concerto_ (Addinsell)
_Washington Post_ (Sousa)
_Water Music_ (Handel)
_Water Scenes_ (Nevin)
_Waves of the Balaton_ (Hubay), see _Hungarian Czardas Scenes_
_Waves of the Danube_ (Ivanovici)
_Wedding March_ (Mendelssohn), see _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_, Suite
_Wedding March_ (Wagner), see _Lohengrin_
_Wein, Weib, Gesang_ (Johann Strauss II), see _Wine, Women, and Song_
“_Im weissen Roessl_” (Benatzky), see _The White Horse Inn_
“We Kiss in the Shadow” (Rodgers), see _The King and I_
_Welsh Rhapsody_ (German)
_Die Werber_ (Lanner)
“We’re Called Gondolieri” (Sullivan), see _The Gondoliers_
“Were I Thy Bride” (Sullivan), see _Yeomen of the Guard_
“Were Thine That Special Face” (Porter), see _Kiss Me Kate_
“Were You Not to Ko-Ko Plighted” (Sullivan), see _The Mikado_
“We Sail the Ocean Blue” (Sullivan), see _Pinafore_
“What God Hath Done Is Rightly Done” (Bach), see _The Wise Virgins_
“When a Felon’s Not Engaged in his Employment” (Sullivan), see
_Pirates of Penzance_
“When All Night Long a Chap Remains” (Sullivan), see _Iolanthe_
“When a Maiden Loves” (Sullivan), see _Yeomen of the Guard_
“When a Merry Maiden Marries” (Sullivan), see _The Gondoliers_
“When a Wooer Goes a-Wooing” (Sullivan), see _Yeomen of the Guard_
“When Britain Really Ruled the Waves” (Sullivan), see _Iolanthe_
“When I Go Out of Doors” (Sullivan), see _Patience_
“When I Was a Lad” (Sullivan), see _Pinafore_
“When I Went to the Bar” (Sullivan), see _Iolanthe_
“When Johnny Comes Marching Home” (Gould), see _The American Salute_
“When the Foeman Bares His Steel” (Sullivan), see _Pirates of
Penzance_
“When the Night Wind Howls” (Sullivan), see _Ruddigore_
“Where the Buds are Blossoming” (Sullivan), see _Ruddigore_
_The White Horse Inn_: Selections (Stolz)
“_Wiegenlied_” (Brahms), see “Cradle Song”
“_Wie mein Ahn’l zwanzig Jahr_,” the “Nightingale Song” (Zeller), see
_Der Vogelhaendler_
_Wiener Buerger_ (Ziehrer)
_Wiener Maedchen_ (Ziehrer)
_Wild Horsemen_ (Schumann)
_William Tell_: Overture (Rossini)
_Wine, Women and Song_ (Johann Strauss II)
“Wintergreen for President” (Gershwin), see _Of Thee I Sing_
_The Wise Virgins_ (Bach-Walton), see Bach
“With a Little Bit of Luck” (Loewe), see _My Fair Lady_
“A Woman is a Sometime Thing” (Gershwin), see _Porgy and Bess_
_Woodland Dance_ (German), see _As You Like It_
_Woodland Fancies_ (Herbert)
“_Wunderbar_” (Porter), see _Kiss Me Kate_
“Why Do I Love You?” (Kern), see _Show Boat_
_Yankee Doodle Went to Town_ (Gould)
_Yeomen of the Guard_: Selections (Sullivan)
“You’ll Never Walk Alone” (Rodgers), see _Carousel_
“Younger than Springtime” (Rodgers), see _South Pacific_
_Youthful Suite_ (Grainger)
_Zampa_: Overture (Hérold)
_Zapatadeo_ (Sarasate)
_Zar und Zimmermann_ (Lortzing), see _Czar and Carpenter_
“_Zigeuener_” (Coward), see _Bitter Sweet_
_Zigeunerbaron_ (Johann Strauss II), see _Gypsy Baron_
_Zigeuenerliebe_ (Lehár), see _Gypsy Love_
_Die Zirkusprinzessin_ (Kálmán), see _The Circus Princess_
“_Zitti, Zitti, piano, piano_” (Rossini), see _The Barber of Seville_
“_Zorike, kehre zurueck_” (Lehár), see _Gypsy Love_
“_Zuhaelterballade_” (Weill), see “The Bully’s Ballad,” _The
Three-Penny Opera_
“_Zwei Herzen in drei-viertel Takt_” (Stolz), see _Two Hearts in
Three-Quarter Time_
Ewen’s
LIGHTER CLASSICS
IN MUSIC
by DAVID EWEN
In one brilliant volume, David Ewen offers a classic in musical
literature. Here are the treasured semi-classical works of two
continents—enduring, always alive—analyzed by a famed authority,
acclaimed as “music’s interpreter to the American people.” A must for
the music lover THE LIGHTER CLASSICS IN MUSIC is the first reference
book of its kind in any language.
Here is the music of Victor Herbert, Eric Coates, Jacques Offenbach,
Johann Strauss and Franz Lehár. This is the music of the salon,
café-house, pop concert, and operetta theatre.
THE LIGHTER CLASSICS IN MUSIC is also the story of the spontaneity and
creative invention of popular contemporary composers; Duke Ellington
(“Black, Brown, and Beige”), Morton Gould (“Yankee Doodle Went To
Town”), George Gershwin. These favorites are universally loved; their
long life-span is assured.
There is still a third story—a story of the genius of classical masters
who have produced works whose popular interest and subtle freshness
compels an immediate emotional impact. Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, Brahms,
Chopin, Schubert—all have brought forth wonderlands of sound to delight
the senses.
The author needs no introduction to music afficionados. MUSIC FOR
MILLIONS went through six printings in as many years. A revised,
up-dated edition, EWEN’S MUSICAL MASTERWORKS, was soon demanded and
brought about. On the whimsical side, illustrator A. Birnbaum and Mr.
Ewen put their heads together and came up with LISTEN TO THE MOCKING
WORDS, a medley of anecdotes about music and musicians.
Now Mr. Ewen turns a brilliant musical literacy and easy, non-pompous
style exclusively to the lighter classics. Here are the lives of 187
composers; over 1000 perceptive analyses of musical masterpieces in the
lighter style prefaced by biographical sketches. An easy-to-use
alphabetical listing of the lighter classics makes it easy to get the
specific information you need.
THE LIGHTER CLASSICS IN MUSIC is an enduring book to be cherished by the
concertgoer, record collector, musician, instructor, historian—all music
lovers who know the universal sounds of music in the lighter style.
Transcriber’s Notes
—Silently corrected a few typos; did not modernize spelling.
—Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook
is public-domain in the country of publication.
—In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by
_underscores_.
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Lighter Classics in Music - A Comprehensive Guide to Musical Masterworks in a Lighter Vein" ***
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