Home Page
Check us out on Facebook!
Program Archive
It's a Good Day for Brass
July 14 2007, 2:00 and 7:30 at the Barshinger Center (2007 Schedule)
Does anyone really know what time it is? Does anyone really care? Were you able to read those Chicago lyrics without hearing the tune…..me neither! Our need to know the approximate time of day is universal and ironically, timeless. As a young boy growing up, I remember the town's fire company sounding a daily noon whistle. It gave me a general idea as to the status of my day and a reminder to head home for a timely summer lunch. If we rewind about 400 years or so, the cities of Western Europe announced the time of day by using brass musicians, stationed in the towers of the walled municipalities. Tonight's Allegro concert recalls the role of brass players, proclaiming the status of one's day: morning, mid day, and evening. The Lancaster Brass Quintet will be filling the role of 17th century time keeper in tonight's concert. By the way, if this whole brass in the tower thing goes well here at Barshinger tonight, I could see myself applying for the principal herald trumpet gig at my hometown clock tower in Gap. So take off that Mickey Mouse or Rolex timepiece, allowing yourself to time travel with the elegance of Neruda' s Trumpet Concerto, the serenity of Mozart's Serenata Notturna, and the tick-tock pulsations of Haydn's Clock Symphony.
Sounding the Beginning of the Day
Rondeau from “Suites de Fanfares” by Jean-Joseph Mouret (1682-1738)
Dating from 1729, Mouret's suite of fanfares paid unusual attention to specific combinations of timbres at a time when most music was written for generic voicing and brass instruments didn't normally mix with strings and woodwinds. This piece would have originally been written for trumpets, drums, violin, oboe, bassoons, double bass, viola, and keyboard. Rondeau is best known to American audiences as the theme from Masterpiece Theatre series on PBS. The Lancaster Brass Quintet will open this Allegro concert while announcing the beginning of a new day……beats a rooster!
Trumpet Concerto in E- flat by Jan Klititel Jili Neruda (1708-80)
Neruda received his education in Prague and for a time played the violin in a theater orchestra. Attaining notice through traveling around to perform in concerts, he was accepted as violinist in the renowned Dresden court orchestra in 1750, later becoming music director. His compositions include church music, an opera Les troquerus, 18 symphonies, 14 instrumental concertos, and several trio sonatas. Tonight's concerto began as a solo work for the clarin horn, a small circular instrument that would signal during horseback hunting. The clarin register would best be defined as the extreme upper range of the instrument ( imagine Maynard Ferguson fox hunting.) Scale-like melodies were not possible in the low or middle range of the horn. Hand-stopping wasn't in general use until shortly before 1800 and valves were not patented until 1818, thus the need for the clarin register at this time. As time passed, the horn's bore was increasingly widened, producing a deeper and fuller sound, thus the highest notes in the clarin register could no longer be played and the splendid late-baroque and early-classical horn works (like the Neruda) were forgotten.
Today Neruda's concerto is standard repertoire for trumpet players around the world. The range of this solo work is more or less the same as Haydn's trumpet concerto. I recently caught up with tonight's soloist, Bart Woomert, to ask him why he chose the Neruda for the Allegro audience.
“I chose to play the Neruda concerto because it is a favorite piece of mine and because it is not performed as frequently as the more well-known trumpet concertos of Haydn or Hummel. From a performer's perspective, the Neruda concerto is both technically challenging and musically satisfying”.
Sounding the Middle of the Day
The Earle of Oxford's Marche by William Byrd (1540-1623)
William Byrd originally composed this piece for the virginal, a popular keyboard instrument of the Renaissance commonly thought to have been named after Queen Elizabeth I. This piece is part of a larger suite (The Battell) and is also known as The Marche Before the Battell . It was probably written after 1588 when England was in a mood of National celebration after victories over the Spanish and French Armadas. One of Byrd's closest and most powerful friends early in his career was Edward de Vere, the 17th Earle of Oxford. De Vere was a patron of the arts and such an accomplished poet that some 20th century literary scholars suggest that he was the true author of Shakespeare's plays.
Serenade No. 6 in D, K.239 by W.A. Mozart (1756-1791)
Serenata Notturna, the title Leopold Mozart wrote atop his son's score, is redundant, for a serenade by definition is night music. According to Webster, a serenade is a complimentary performance given at night, outdoors, and directed to a woman. I wonder if Webster was ever married; seems like too many stipulations just to serenade your significant other! Mozart's serenades were written for a special person or occasion. Court composers of 18th century Salzburg were not only called upon to provide entertainment for royal events but also for special celebrations of the nobility of the surrounding communities. Mozart's Serenade No. 6 in D, completed in 1776, was no doubt composed for an indoor, evening event. In examining the instrumentation (a solo quartet and strings with timpani), we may postulate that the two groups of instruments may have been placed in adjoining rooms, (don't give Brian Norcross ideas!) or at least in different parts of a large room in order to give the groups an opportunity to play against each other. The use of the solo quartet against the tutti is reminiscent of the Baroque concerto grosso, with Mozart pushing the possibilities of this form in new directions.
The opening maestoso march makes much of the contrast between the opening fanfarish motif and the subsequent, more flowing singing lines. One intriguing section in the second half features timpani along with pizzicato strings, seemingly laughing at the fanfare's inherent grandiosity. The second movement is a typical Viennese minuet with the trio given to the soloists. The finale is pure fun; a high-spirited country dance, interrupted by an unexpected memory of sadder days. Throughout the serenade, Mozart gains added richness and complexity by subdividing his strings into a large ensemble and a solo quartet that slips in and out of the spotlight, and, in the trio, has the floor to itself.
Sounding the End of the Day
Quintet for Brass by Ralph Lehman (1942- )
Ralph Lehman (hmmmm?) Didn't Allegro premiere his Chamber Symphony in May? Yes, and Ralph is also playing bassoon in the Allegro Chamber Orchestra tonight. Quintet for Brass was originally written for The Lancaster Brass Quintet in 1984 and was premiered by LBQ shortly thereafter. In fact, the group still plays off of the original hand-written parts with several corrections marked in pencil by Ralph. I would best describe this piece as Neo-Renaissance, incorporating lively mixed meter and fresh harmonic structure. We are always grateful and honored to perform Ralph Lehman's compositions.
Symphony No. 101 in D Major “The Clock” by Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
So are you still hanging in there with this whole “time and music relationship?” The Clock Symphony….surely Dr. Norcross, king of all thematic concerts, is making up this nickname. I'm afraid not. Symphony No. 101 is named for the persistent tick-tock pulse accompaniment figure in the bassoons and various other instruments of the second movement. At the grand age of 62, Haydn found the London audiences to be quite humored by his sudden contrasts in dynamic and tonal schemes, unexpected silences, and deceiving harmonic progressions. Why else would you write the Surprise Symphony? This was Haydn's second visit to the British Isles (February 1794-August 1795) at the invitation of violinist-impresario Johann Peter Salomon. The London concerts took place in the Hanover Square Room (Mayfair area of the city), Haydn leading from the harpsichord with Salomon playing first violin. Throughout the twelve “London” symphonies Nos. 93-104, he was developing his orchestral compositional technique. Trumpets and timpani start to appear in his slow movements, and clarinets feature in all except no. 102. Haydn has an audience that loves his works and his is able to become a little more adventurous.
The London Morning Chronicle wrote the following review after the March 3, 1794 debut:
“As usual the most delicious part of the entertainment was a new grand Overture by HAYDN; the inexhaustible, the wonderful, the sublime HAYDN! The first two movements were encored; and the character that pervaded the whole composition was heartfelt joy. Every new Overture he writes, we fear, till it is heard, he can only repeat himself; and we are every time mistaken. It was HAYDN; what can we, what need we say more?”
Symphony 101 is in four movements: Adagio/Presto, Andante (don't forget to listen for the clock), Menuetto/Allegretto, and a Finale/Vivace. The “Clock” often behaves in unanticipated ways, and it sometimes revels in the sort of things that composition teachers would not encourage their pupils to do. But these are precisely the things that give this work its special character.
So the next time you allow a clock radio (or a rooster) to awaken you from a sound night's sleep, just think, you could have called upon The Lancaster Brass Quintet instead. Speaking of time passing, after tonight's concert, Allegro only has one more summer concert date for this 6th season, August 11. I just peeked at the website: www.AllegroChamberOrchestra.org and the August concert looks amazing with Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 and the Newstead Trio.
Doug Albert