November 19th, 2006
Program Notes
The Secret Marriage Overture
Domenico Nicola Cimarosa (1749-1801)
First Performed: 1792 - Vienna's Burgtheater
Other Titles: Il Matrimonio Segreto (The Clandestine Marriage)
DDomenico Cimarosa was an Italian
composer, born in 1749 in the town of Aversa, just a bit north of Naples. Fatherless
by the age of seven,Cimarosa's musical talent was discovered and nurtured by a local priest.
He received a scholarship at the Conservatory of Santa Marie di Loreto,
and studied there for over ten years. Cimarosa wrote his first successful
comic opera at the age of twenty-three, "Le Stravaganza del Conte".
During the mid 1780's, Cimarosa stayed in Florence and wrote five operas.
His growing reputation attracted the attention of Catherine the Great, who
in 1788 convinced him to come to St. Petersburg, and Cimarosa composed
almost five hundred works in the four years he was there. Poor health
forced him to leave and he went to Vienna, replacing Antonio Salieri as
Kappelmeister, appointed by Emperor Leopold. It was while in Vienna he
wrote what was to become his most famous comic opera, "Il Matrimonio
Segreto". The opera was so well received, the Emperor invited all
involved "back to his place" for a banquet, and to encore the entire opera
that evening. All of this excitement, by the way, was just a few months after the
death of Mozart.
The overture was written in a typical classical style of the period. It
opens with three somber D major chords, almost gavel blows to get the
attention of the audience. From there it is a hang-on affair begun by the
violins and bounced throughout the entire orchestra. The coda ends, and
the opera begins as did the opening of the overture, with three D major
chords. Pay attention everyone, there's a secret marriage ahead!
Scored for: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons,
2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, and strings. [2222-2200-tmp-str]
Violin Concerto No. 2, Op. 7, B minor
Nicolò Paganini (1782-1840)
I. Allegro maestoso
II. Adagio
III. Rondo
Written In: 1826
First Performance: January 1827
Alternate Titles: La Clochette, La Campanella, (The little bell)
Paganini's second concerto for violin
was written in the fall of 1826 in Italy, and performed for the first time in January
of the next year. Paganini only allowed a few of his works to be published during his
lifetime and carried his originals with him. This piece wasn't printed
until 1851, more than ten years after his death.
Like Paganini's reputation as a performer, this piece itself has had a
devil of a time. Tempos are different in the manuscript and first printed
versions. Parts for second flute, serpentone (or serpent), timpani, bell
and bass drum were printed, but do not appear in the published 1851 score.
The second bassoon is in the score, but no part was published. Later
printings take liberties with the soloist's dynamics and phrasing, and
entire sections of the third movement are omitted.
This piece owes its nickname "La Campanella" or "La Clochette" (Little
Bell), to the treatment of the third movement. Not only is the orchestra
called on to mimic a bell sound, directly or indirectly, but
harmonics called for in the solo violin imitate that instrument as well.
Scored for: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons,
2 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, 1 tuba, percussion, timpani, and strings
[2[1.opt2]222-2231[opt. serp or euph]- opt. tmp+1or2 - str]
Erman Turkili was born in 1984 in
Adana, Turkey. At the
age of 11, he started his violin lessons with Dania Kainova
and chamber music lessons with Slava Kainov at the Conservatory of Cukurova University.
After receiving his Bachelor's degree in Turkey, he was awarded a Graduate Assistantship
toward his studies at Pittsburg State University. He has performed both in Turkey
in the U.S. as a soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, and orchestral player. In
1997, he was invited to perform in Bulgaria; 1999 he auditioned with the
Mediterranean Youth Orchestra and was invited to play with them in Israel. In 2003,
Erman and his ensemble won the first prize at the annual Chamber Music Competition
in Turkey. In 2006, he won first prize with the Kansas American String Teachers
Association, which enables him to participate in the 2007 ASTA Solo Competition at
the national level. He won the Concerto
& Aria Competition at Pittsburg State University which enables him to play
as a soloist with the Southeast Kansas Symphony. He was also a first prize winner
with his trio and second prize with his duo in annual Waddill chamber music competition
at Pittsburg State University
Currently, Mr. Turkili is studying with Dr. Selim Giray at Pittsburg State University
and plays with Springfield Symphony and North Arkansas Symphony as a section player.
Lullaby
George Gershwin (1898-1937)
Completed/Written In: 1919-1920
First Performed: 1967 (original quartet version)
"Sometime in 1919 or 1920 my brother
George tried his hand at a short piece for
string quartet and called it "Lullaby." (Possibly he originally intended it as a
piano solo, in an unfinished manuscript of his I still have.) As a quartet it was
played in the next several months at a number of private musicales of his many
musician friends before - sometimes after - they'd get down to the more serious
business of classical quartets and quintets. I attended three of these intimate
sessions and could see and hear that "Lullaby" was invariably welcomed.
"In 1922 George and lyricist B. G. DeSylva had practically finished the score for
that year's Scandals when producer George White suddenly decided he wanted them
to go ahead with Blue Monday, a one-act opera the collaborators had once mentioned
they'd like to do. There were only five days left before the Scandals rehearsals
were to begin, so my brother had an upright put into his bedroom, and there he and
Buddy holed themselves up until the score was finished. I can't recall why George
borrowed the opening theme of his string quartet for the beginning of an aria in
Blue Monday. Maybe it was the urgency of the assignment, or perhaps by then George
had Come to regard "Lullaby" as merely an exercise. But borrow the opening bars
he did, and that, so far as the composer was concerned, was the end of the string
quartet, as I've no recollection of his ever mentioning it again.
"Forty years later, in 1962, when
Larry Adler,
the harmonica virtuoso, was commissioned to do a film score, he told me one night he expected to
use harmonicas in some sections of the underscoring: He'd play all four parts himself and then
synchronize the tapes. The word "four" suddenly reminded me of "Lullaby" lying
among a number of George's manuscripts in my upstairs workroom. I showed it to
Larry who asked if he could borrow it. The notion was that he'd make a transcription
for harmonica and string quartet which he would premiere at the Edinburgh Festival
with the Edinburgh Quartet. On August 29, 1963 their performance was warmly received.
Recently, in a new arrangement by Morton Gould for harmonica and string orchestra,
Gould and Adler included the piece (called there "Lullaby Time") in an RCA Victor
album titled Discovery.
"But it was not until October 29, 1967 that "Lullaby" was publicly performed
as the quartet George had written nearly half a century earlier. Following Adler
and Gould's interest I had mentioned the composition to
Harold Spivacke, Chief of
the Music Division, the Library of Congress, and an authority on George's concert
work. Dr. Spivacke felt that the Juilliard
String Quartet might welcome the piece. And indeed after they had given it a first reading
they scheduled it for their October concert at the Library of Congress, a concert widely broadcast.
"Now "Lullaby" is published from my brother's manuscript. It may not be the Gershwin
of Rhapsody in Blue, Concerto in F, and his other concert works, but I find it
charming and kind."
Ira Gershwin - April 1968
Scored for: Strings
Capriccio Espagñol, Op. 34
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908)
I. Alborada
II. Variazioni
III. Alborada
IV. Scena e Canto gitano
V. Fandango asturiano
Last SEKSO Performance: April 6th, 2003
Completed In: 1887
First Performed: Oct. 1887, Imperial Opera Orchestra,
St. Petersburg, conducted by the composer
Russian: Kaprichchio na ispanskiye temï
Capriccio Espagñol was originally
conceived by the composer as a "Fantasy on Spanish Themes" for violin and orchestra,
however, he later realized the melodies would be better suited as a purely orchestral
work with an enhanced part for the violin and other individual instruments. A subtle
difference perhaps, however Rimsky-Korsakov was known as a master of the art of
orchestration. While still in his twenties, he was orchestrating works by Cesar Cui,
and in his thirties, attracting the attention and praise of Tchaikovsky, who called
the Capriccio a masterful piece of orchestration. High praise indeed, however Nicolai
also considered it to be a masterful composition.
Enrolled in the Naval Academy while not yet in his teens, Nicolai was well traveled.
His adventures led him to places such as Britain, America, South America and Spain.
For many Russian composers, the warmer climes of countries such as Spain and Italy
held a decided fascination.
Capriccio Espagñol is a short suite, in five connected movements. The first
movement Alborada, or Morning Song,
is a very festive and dynamic melody, returned to with a different coloring in the
third movement as well as traces in the end. The second movement,
Variazioni evokes pictures of melodies strummed on guitars,
romantic evenings, romantic melodies, and perhaps lingering thoughts of someone
left behind? The fourth movement Scena e Canto Gitano,
or Scene and Gipsy Song
opens with a roll of the side drum and the bravado of Spanish Gipsy music, with
solos for violin, clarinet, flute and harp. Finally, the Fandango
asturiano, a montage of full out Spanish melody and spirit.
Scored for: 2 flutes, piccolo 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons,
4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, percussion, timpani, harp, and strings.
[3[1.2.pic] 2[1/Eh.2] 22-4231-tmp+5-hp-str]
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