Histoire du Soldat (Concert Suite)
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
I. Marche du soldat (The Soldier's March)
II. Music to Scene I: The Soldier's Violin
(Scene of the Soldier at the brook)
III. Music to Scene II: Pastorale
IV. Marche Royale (The Royal March)
V. Petit Concert (The Little Concert)
VI. Trois Dances (Three Dances): Tango, Waltz, Ragtime
VII. Danse du Diable (The Devil's Dance)
VIII. Grand Chorale
IX. Marche Triumphale du Diable (Triumphal March of the Devil)
Written In: 1918
First Performed: Lausanne, Switzerland, Sep 28, 1918, Ernest Ansermet, cond.
Title Variations: "Soldier's Tale", "L'histoire du Soldat"
The basic story of our Soldier comes
from Alexander Afanasiev's collection of Russian tales, a familiar source for Stravinsky.
He used them previously in writing "Renard", a ballet much smaller in scope than
his previous works, however still too bulky with 15 instrumentalists, 4 vocalists,
and several other stage performers. Now, in 1918, after being 'stranded' in Switzerland
for about four years by the Great War and the Russian Revolution, Stravinsky was
looking for something even smaller and suitable for the lean, wartime stage capabilities
in Europe. Access to the Diaghilev Ballet that performed "Rite of Spring", "Firebird",
and "Petrouchka" was not there, they were stranded in Lisbon. With the help of
Swiss novelist C. F. Ramuz and conductor Ernest Ansermet, Stravinsky created a miniature
theatre group that could tour with minimal performers.
On completion, the performance opened in Lausanne, on September, 1918 a few weeks
before the end of the War. It was quite successful, but the first performance was
the last for a while, the Spanish Flu was well on its way to killing twenty million
people in Europe, and all public halls in the area were closed by law. The piece
wasn't performed again until 1924.
The story of "The Soldier's Tale" is as old as a story can be. "Trade me your
(insert symbolic representation of your soul here) and I'll give you your heart's
desires!" Well, the oldest lies are the best, and Eve, Faust, and our Soldier ultimately
traded what they had in their hand for an empty promise.
As with Stravinsky's other works, all of the musical tension and expression we
are accustomed to are there, but when performed on such an instrumental skeleton,
it somewhat tickles the hair on the back of your neck. Exemplified literally in
its instrumentation, Stravinsky utilized the extremes. The highs and lows of each
musical family help bring out the stark reality of this situation. The violin symbolizes
the soldier's soul and the percussion the mechanical, ever beating schemes of the
Devil. Some of the melodies come from a dream of Stravinsky's, some from memories
of the composer, and others from established musical forms.
The strongest musical influence on the Soldiers Tale is jazz, or at least Stravinsky's
minimal understanding of the new style. He had never heard it played, only seen
examples that Ernest Ansermet brought with him from a recent trip to America. So,
while artists such as Jelly Roll Morton were studying and improvising on Scott Joplin's
works, Stravinsky was busy applying his edgy artistry using this new tool.
The opening movement, the Soldier's March, is a stiff parody of militarism, which
was an easy idea to work with at the time. The soldier is on his way home from the
war and stops to rest. Out comes the violin and he begins to play. Out comes the
Devil, and he begins to play as well, trying to get the soldier to trade his fiddle
for a book he says will spell out the road to wealth and fame. But, since the violin
is the only luxury in the Soldier's life, he is unwilling to hand it over, and the
Devil must take him through a process to obtain it. The story twists in and out,
around and about until the soldier has to re-relinquish the fiddle to the Devil,
bringing the suite to an end with the "Triumphal March." Other instruments drop
out, leaving the violin and percussion, the soul and the devil, but at the end,
the violin fades out, leaving the drum to play on ...
Scored for: clarinet, bassoon, cornet, trombone, violin,
double bass, percussion and narrator.
Joanne Britz serves as Assistant Professor
of Woodwinds-single reeds, at Pittsburg State University. She holds Bachelor's degrees
in both clarinet performance and music education from the University of South Florida
in Tampa. In addition, she holds a Master's degree in clarinet performance and the
Doctor of Musical Arts degree, both from The University of Texas at Austin. Her
primary teachers have included Richard MacDowell and J. Brian Moorhead; she has
had additional study with Hakan Rosengren, Dr. Jeffrey Lerner, Dr. Frank Kowalsky
and Deborah Chodacki.
Although originally from the Northeast, Dr. Britz has spent the majority of her
professional career in Florida and Texas. She has performed with the
Florida Orchestra in Tampa, symphony
orchestras in
Abilene,
Austin,
Laredo,
Midland,
San Angelo, and
Victoria, Texas;
the Festival Institute at Round Top,
and the Texas Music
Festival in Houston.
Before joining Pittsburg State University, Dr. Britz held the position of Lecturer
of Single Reeds at Angelo State University and played Principal clarinet with the
Midland/Odessa Symphony and Chorale.
Russell L. Jones received a B.A. degree
from Duke University, and M.M.E. and Ph.D degrees from Indiana University. He taught
band, chorus, and general music in the North Carolina public schools prior to his
graduate work. He has been at Pittsburg State University since receiving his doctorate.
His duties at Pittsburg State include teaching Instrumental Music Education, bassoon,
Woodwind Techniques, and some graduate courses.
In addition to bassoon, he continues to be an active performer on clarinet, saxophone,
oboe and English horn. He has performed with the Southeast Kansas Symphony, the
Springfield Symphony, the
Northeast Arkansas Symphony, the Fayetteville
(N.C) Symphony, the Iola Symphony, the PSU Band, as well as bands and orchestras at Indiana University
and Duke University . He continues to be an active performer in chamber music, jazz,
musical theater, large ensemble, and as a soloist. He recently performed the Mozart
Bassoon Concerto, K.191, with the SEK Symphony.
His teachers have included Leonard Sharrow (NBC Symphony and Chicago Symphony),
Wilfred Roberts (Dallas Symphony), Roy Houser (Metropolitan Opera Orchestra), Eric
Barr (Dallas Symphony), Earl Bates, Allan Bone, and Charles Veazy. He has attended
summer camps in oboe with John Mack and Joseph Robinson. He has published articles
in "The Instrumentalist," "The Journal of Research in Music Education," "The Bulletin
of the Council for Research in Music Education," and "The Midwest Double Reed Society Newsletter."
A native of Puerto Rico, Nitai Pons
joined the PSU faculty as Interim Professor of Trumpet in January 2008. Nitai earned
a Bachelor in Music Education from the Puerto Rico Music Conservatory and Masters
in trumpet performance from The University of Kansas where is currently working on
his D.M.A. in trumpet performance. Nita has performed with the
Puerto Rico Symphony
Orchestra, Puerto Rico Philharmonic Orchestra,
Lawrence Chamber Orchestra,
Faustian City Brass Band, Kansas
Brass Quintet and others. He is also an award winner at
the National Trumpet Competition
where he performed as member of the KU Trumpet Ensemble and as soloist.
Robert 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, Penn., and Philadelphia
Symphonies. His jazz studies were with Dominic Spera and David Baker. He has performed
with the Spokane Symphony, 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.
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.
Dr. Selim Giray was appointed as Assistant
Professor of Violin, Viola, and Chamber Music at Pittsburg State University in 2002.
Between the years of 2000 and 2003, Dr. Giray taught at Interlochen Arts Camp. He
is the Concert Master of the Ohio Light Opera Orchestra. As a violinist, Dr. Giray
has performed extensively in three continents, and has appeared frequently on National
Public Radio and Television. He has performed as soloist, recitalist, chamber musician,
and orchestral player.
Also an active researcher, currently he is editing Adman Saygun's violin concerto
for the Peermusic Classical. In addition, he is working on an all-Saygun recording
project for the Centaur with pianist Dr. June Chun. In 2003, Edwin Mellen Press
published Dr. Giray's treatise titled A Biography of the Turkish Composer Ahmed
Adnan Saygun'un and a Discussion of his Violin Works. The Minister of Culture of
Turkey published the same work in Turkish, with a preface by then Minister of Culture,
Istemihan Talay. As a doctoral candidate at the Florida State University, Selim
Giray studied with Eliot Chapo, former concertmaster of such orchestras as the
New York Philharmonic and the Dallas Symphony. Prior to that, in 1992, he was awarded
a joint fellowship from the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra and East Carolina
University, where he studied with Fritz Gearhart. A native of Istanbul, Selim Giray
graduated from Istanbul State Conservatory and Mimar Sinan University State Conservatory,
where he studied with Saim Akçil. Dr. Giray performs on an exquisite violin made
by Ansaldo Poggi (1950).
Sallie Bacon Lupis is a double bassist
from Atlanta, Georgia. She completed her Bachelor of Music and Master in Music
Performance at the University of Georgia. She has played in the bass section of
many orchestras in the Southeast, including the Hilton
Head Symphony Orchestra, the Macon Symphony
Orchestra, the Augusta Symphony
and more. She also enjoys playing contemporary music and chamber music, and especially
enjoyed playing the electric bass with the UGA Steel Drum Band. Sallie is excited
to be joining the faculty of Pitt State for this performance.
James Clanton is the percussion instructor
on the faculty of Pittsburg State University, where he teaches graduate and undergraduate
percussion majors and non-majors, directs the PSU Pride of the Plains Drumline,
and directs and conducts the PSU percussion ensemble.
As a performer, he has appeared with several orchestras, including the Kansas
City Symphony, Kansas City Ballet Orchestra, Liberty Symphony, St. Joseph Symphony,
Southeast Kansas Symphony, Springfield Symphony (MO), Kansas City Civic Orchestra,
Kansas City Chamber Orchestra, and the Northland Symphony Orchestra of Kansas City,
where he currently serves as principal timpanist. Clanton regularly participates
in several festivals and chamber ensembles across the United States, including the
Sunflower Music Festival in Topeka, Kansas, the Puccini Festival Orchestra in Kansas
City, Missouri, the Mahlerfest Orchestra in Boulder, Colorado, the newEar Contemporary
Chamber Ensemble, the Fountain City Brass Band, the Chamber Music Society of Kansas
City, and most recently, the Percussion Plus Project, an ensemble-in-residence at
DePauw University.
As former member of Marimba YajalƧn, and a current member of Marimba Sol de
Chiapas, Clanton has traveled internationally performing and lecturing about the
traditional marimba music of Mexico and Guatemala, and educating audiences about
the history and culture of the folkloric music of Mexico.
In addition to his duties teaching percussion at Pittsburg State University,
he has been an adjudicator for high school and middle school students throughout
Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma at regional and state festivals. He has also served
as a clinician and faculty member at numerous high school marching band camps and
festivals throughout the Midwest.
James received a Bachelor's degree in music education from Oklahoma City University.
He also holds a Master's degree in percussion performance from the University of
Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music, where he is currently completing a Doctorate
of Musical Arts degree in percussion performance. In the summer he is a faculty
member of the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Twin Lake, Michigan. James is an educational
endorser/clinician for Sabian cymbals and Pearl/Adams percussion.
A native of New Jersey, John Ross
received training in composition at Florida State University and the University
of Iowa; his principal teachers were John Boda and D. Martin Jenni. Thanks to a
Fulbright grant, he has also studied with Philippe Manoury in Lyon, France.
His music has been performed at the Society of Composers, Inc. National Forums,
several university music schools, and in France. His awards include the first Abraham
Frost Prize from the Univeristy of Miami, several ASCAP awards (including a young
composer grant), a summer residency at Yaddo, and the 2002 Rudolf Nissim Award.
After a Line By Theodore Roethke, a work for soprano and orchestra, was one of three
works chosen for the Sixth International Composer Readings by the Riverside Orchestra
of New York City and was performed at the Mid-American Center for Contemporary Music
at Bowling Green State University.
Of Ross's piece Passages, Daniel Ginsberg of the Washington Post has said, "a beguiling
exploration of color and melody ... soaring figures nestled in a dreamlike haze of sound."
His music is published by Cimarron Music and by himself. Encore, a work for cello
and piano, is recorded on Innova and After a Line will be released in 2003 on Albany
Records. Currently, Ross teaches aural skills, theory and composition at Pittsburg
State University in Pittsburg, Kansas.
The devil went down to Georgia,
he was looking for a soul to steal.
He was in a bind 'cos he was way behind:
he was willin' to make a deal.
When he came across this young man sawin' on a fiddle
and playin' it hot.
And the devil jumped upon a hickory stump and said:
"Boy let me tell you what...
- Charlie Daniels
