October 3rd, 2004
Program Notes
Fanfare for the Common Man
Aaron Copland (1900-1990)
Last SEKSO Performance: October 1st, 2000
Completed/Written In: 1942
First Performed: March 12, 1943. Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, cond. Eugene Goossens
Dedicated To: WWII military personnel
In 1942, Eugene Goossens asked
almost 20 composers, predominantly American, to
write a patriotic fanfare to be used to open a number of concerts in the Cincinnati
Symphony's 1942-43 concert season. He requested a fanfare for brass and percussion
with a stirring patriotic title, to be written in honor the World War II military
personnel serving the country. During the First World War, he had a similar request
for several British composers and it was suggested he do the same in America. Of
that number, 12 responded with compositions meeting most of his requirements.
Along with the names Howard Hanson,
Virgil Thomson,
Walter Piston and
Morton Gould, the name
Aaron Copland was included. Copland settled on the title "Fanfare
for the Common Man", perhaps a bit more understated than Goossens wanted, however
Copland understood it to be the common man who responded when our nation was in
danger. Goossens hoped that Copland's piece would be ready for the first concert
in October, but Copland didn't deliver until November, and it was decided to delay
the premier until mid-March of the next year. You see it wasn't until
after the War that the date of April 15th was selected
for an income tax deadline, and Goossens thought perhaps if he was unable to honor
the fighter, he could instead honor the financier.
The Fanfare, as with most of Copland's works, has become a popular staple in
the Symphonic repertoire. It has been performed in a variety of arrangements, such
as for the U.S. Air Force Band and even by the rock group
Emerson, Lake and Palmer.
Copland later used the themes in the opening of the final movement of his
Third Symphony.
Scored for: 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, percussion, and timpani [0000-4331-tmp+2]
Overture to The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte), K.620
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Adagio - Allegro
Completed In: 1791
First Performed: September 30, 1791 at Schikaneder's Theater auf der Wieden in Vienna.
Two months before Mozart's death,
he completed two operas, Die
Zauberflöte ("The Magic Flute") and La clemenza
di Tito ("The Clemency of Titus") leaving his final work, the
Requiem undone at his death in December 1791.
The Magic Flute is a fairy tale presented in singspiel,
or "sung play", a German language form with spoken dialogue and song, which was very
popular in Vienna at the time. Although these were usually light comic affairs
(and there are certainly elements of that present), there was a bit more depth to
this opera. As is often the case with a fairy tale, there is more to it than what
is on the surface. Mozart prominently used the trombones, more often saved for
the most solemn of operatic passages and church music and the writing in general
is a bit more involved than contemporary works of the type.
The Magic Flute is often referred to as his "Masonic
opera", the libretto heavy with symbolism taken from the rituals and ideas of the
Freemasons. Mozart joined the Masons some seven years prior to his death, and it's
philosophy somewhat shaped a number of works from his pen. The number three plays
a heavy part in the overture, opening with a representation of the three knocks of
Masonic ritual. Three stately chords in E-flat Major, or three flats, the primary
key of the overture. The overall theme of the opera is the passage through trials
from spiritual darkness into light.
The tone stays somber for just a moment before the strings begin a light, scurried
theme. One of Mozart's favored techniques in his later years was fugal counterpoint,
used in this case to present not a comic effect, but one of importance or intensity.
The second theme is passed throughout the woodwinds in a more subdued fashion. Suddenly,
the composer returns to the three-chord theme, but expands it a bit before continuing on to the end.
The Southeast Kansas Symphony Orchestra will join Joplin's "Heartland Opera Theater"
for a performance of the entire opera on
April 23rd and 24th, 2005 at the Taylor
Auditorium on the Missouri Southern State University Campus.
Scored for: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons,
4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, and strings. [2222-2230-tmp-str]
Ballade for Trombone (or Tenor Saxophone) & Orchestra
Frank Martin (1890-1974)
Andante - Allegro guisto - Vivace assai
Written In: 1940 for soloist and piano
First Performed: 1940
Arranged for orchestra: 1940 with the assistance of
Ernest Ansermet
Swiss composer Frank Martin began
composing at the ripe age of eight years, and
during his rather quiet career established himself as a respected composer. When
young, he was very moved by a performance of Bach's St. Matthew
Passion and by 16, while pleasing his parents with formal studies in mathematics
and physics, concentrated his own time in music under the Swiss composer Joseph Lauber.
Other influential composers in Martin's life at that time were Schumann and Chopin.
In 1918, Martin moved to Zurich, and then traveled to Rome and Paris. He returned
to Geneva eight years later influenced by the composers Debussy and Ravel, and with
a newly acquired taste in jazz. Jazz played a significant role in the introduction
of the trombone in ensemble work after World War One and in influencing the instrument's
path into orchestral music in the twenties and thirties. Solo brass and woodwind
instrument writing in early twentieth century France was left to the music conservatory
and it was common that the pieces were commissioned. With this in the European mix,
enter Frank Martin, asked to write a piece for the 1940 "Concours d'execution Musicale"
the Geneva International Music Competition. The Competition was instituted to promote
contemporary Swiss music and it did so by commissioning music from Swiss composers.
This was the second year of the Competition and the trombone was being given a place
as a competition instrument.
Martin used the jazz trombone influence to bridge the gap into the modern orchestra,
and demonstrated how the instrument could be used very effectively in a solo role
of symphonic music. The piece was used as an inspiration of sorts for other composers
writing for the instrument, some on the behest of inspired trombonists of the day
who were ready to do more than count rests.
The piece begins with a lonely and searching trombone entrance, perhaps a bit
descriptive of its earlier traditional role in the symphony. The strings enter
with a cloudy foundation for its quest. As the piece progresses, the soloist and
orchestra find a common ground and begin to develop a cooperative direction.
That direction leads to a jazz influenced middle section, heavily syncopated.
The piece ends with an expected race to the finish, with strongly rhythmic work
for all involved.
Scored for: piano, percussion, timpani, and strings. [tmp+1-pf-str]
Mr. Kehle joined the Pittsburg
State University faculty in 1978 and holds the rank of University Professor of Music
where he teaches trombone and is the director of the PSU Jazz Studies program.
Mr. Kehle completed his undergraduate studies at Washington State University
with both the Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Arts (music education) degrees and
completed the Master of Music degree and doctoral course work at Indiana University.
His trombone teachers include former members of the Chicago, Pittsburgh, PA.,
and Philadelphia Symphonies. His jazz studies were with Dominic Spera and David
Baker. He has performed with the Spokane Symphony, at several International Trombone
Festivals as a member of the Cramer Choir and the American Trombone Choir, the Indiana
Brass Quintet, the Spokane Jazz Society, and back up for various touring artists/groups
including Slide Hampton's World of Trombones, the Manhattan Transfer, and with Mr. Louie Bellson.
Mr. Kehle has been a featured soloist with numerous orchestras, bands, and jazz
groups in the Midwest. He is also Principal Trombone in the Springfield, Missouri
Symphony Orchestra, the Central Plains Brass Quintet, and is trombonist with the
jazz group "Blues Over Easy." He has published articles in several professional
journals and his book, "Alto Trombone Literature: An Annotated Guide" is
now in its second edition and is published by
Warwick Music, UK.
Mr. Kehle has given scholarly presentations at the Kansas Music Educator's In
Service Workshop on Recruiting
the Beginning Trombonist and Trombone
Basics. He has also presented at the Kansas Bandmasters Association about the
trombone and in 2008 presented at the International Trombone Festival in Salt Lake
City. The topic was Alto Trombone Literature with emphasis on the Americas.
His memberships include
Phi Mu Alpha, The
International Trombone Association, The
Kansas Music Educators Association, Music
Educators National Conference, and The
International Association for Jazz Education, American
Federation of Musicians, and the National Educators
Association. Mr. Kehle is an artist affiliate with C. G. Conn. He has also
held the positions of President of the PSU Faculty Senate,
President of PSU-KNEA, and President
of the Kansas Unit of IAJE.
Robert
Kehle Faculty page.
Symphony No.5 in C Minor, Op.67
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
I. Allegro con brio
II. Andante con moto Allegro
III. Allegro
IV. Allegro
Written In: 1804-1808
First Performed: December 22, 1808, Theater-an-der-Wien, Vienna
Dedicated To: F. J. von Lobkowitz and Graf (Count) A. von Rasumovsky
How many of us can boast of being at "the right place at the right time"?
The Vienna concertgoers in 1808 could if they attended the premier performance
of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. This massive four-hour
concert premiered not only this, arguably the most famous symphony ever written,
but also his Sixth Symphony, two movements from the
Mass in C Major, the concert aria Ah,
perfido, the Choral Fantasy, and the Fourth
Piano Concerto with Beethoven making his final concert appearance as pianist.
Was this "preimierapalooza" an odd twist of fate, a convergence of circumstance,
a muse run amok? No, Beethoven's habit simply was to work on several pieces at the same time.
In spite of all of this soon-to-be-history, the concert was not very well received.
The length of the concert, a very cold concert hall, and a one-day heads up for
the orchestra did not add to a polished performance. About eighteen months later,
E.T.A. Hoffmann would offer a very (perhaps a little 'too') eloquent review of
another performance, a review written by a novelist, with the understanding of a composer.
The four movements are immediately connected by the famous four-note theme Beethoven
described as "Fate knocking on the door". Its resemblance to the Morse code letter "V"
prompted it's use as a rally piece for the Allies in World War Two, while at the same
time, it's "German" origin made it an obvious choice for the Nazi war machine.
Beethoven probably could have cared less; his war seemed to be one against the lengthy
exposition of the standard classical symphony's sonata form. The theme keeps
knocking throughout exposition and development. The recapitulation of the opening
themes is lengthened this time by an impromptu oboe solo... wait for it... ok, now on
with the recap and coda to finish the movement.
The second movement, Andante con moto opens with a
beautiful and leisurely pastoral statement offered by the violas and cellos, then
later by the full orchestra - quite refreshing after such impending Fate. This
theme and variations does play on the four-note theme to a degree, but for the most
part, the mood is very reflective and serene. There are instances of bravado, but
all couched in the image of calm and control, even a touch of playfulness.
The Scherzo (Allegro) begins in a low and mysterious
C minor line, but regains the intensity of the first movement punctuated with the
horns over the full orchestra. The middle Trio bursts open with the cellos and
basses and presents a playful C Major fugue and is repeated, as was common in other
works at the time. Interlaced throughout this section is a subtle, almost baroque
accompaniment by those not involved in the main theme. This fugue gets a bit
distracted and plays out, to be replaced by the main Scherzo recapitulation, even
more muted and mysterious. The third and fourth movements are connected by a long
and tension filled bridge by the strings and timpani, leading to the opening of
the triumphant C Major grand entrance.
Beethoven pulls out all of the stops in the Finale, the entrance is definite,
forceful, and triumphant. The soaring second theme is played by the strings and
woodwinds and is not as fanfarish as the first. The development takes these
secondary themes and expounds on them to a great degree, much of which is over
the foundation of C Major scales and arpeggios. After the return of the main theme,
the extended coda brings in new material, as if to go directly to the expected
"encore!" and not break the momentum. The piece finishes with a Presto that increases
the pace to the end. Fate? Fate is not for the timid!
Scored for: 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon
2 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, and strings. [3[1.2.pic]223[1.2.cbn]-2230-tmp-str]
and...
and...
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