Download October 2006 - New York Philharmonic Kidzone

TuneUp!
New York Philharmonic Young People’s Concert®
Saturday, October 14, 2006
elcome to the Young People’s Concerts! We at the New York Philharmonic are really
excited about your joining us to explore the four ages of music – how music for the
orchestra started and how it grew; what makes the music so beautiful, or dramatic, or
emotional. We start at the beginning – with music they call Baroque. This is really grand
music, for kings and queens, and for really big feelings, too! Read on to see what’s in store.
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The Ages of Music
BAROQUE
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GIOVANNI GABRIELI Canzon Septimi Toni, No. 2
HENRY PURCELL Over ture to Dido and Aeneas
ANTONIO VIVALDI Largo from “W inter,” The Four Seasons
GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL “Alla hor npipe” from Water Music
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D
THINK YOU
WORK HARD?
Baroque composers could really
turn out the hits!
PURCELL: music for 43 plays, 73
anthems and 24 royal odes – in 15 years
VIVALDI: 50 operas, 75 sonatas, and
over 450 concertos – in 36 years
HANDEL: 46 operas, 31 odes and
oratorios and 37 concertos – in 54 years
JS BACH: 256 cantatas, 14 masses
and passions, 26 concertos, hundreds of
keyboard works – in 53 years
Delta David Gier, conductor
Sher yl Staples, violin
Erin Mor ley, soprano
Thomas Baird, dancer
Tomiko Magario, dancer
WHAT WERE THEY WEARING
IN THE17TH CENTURY?
n the world of design, the word “baroque”
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means made of big, bold forms with ornament
and decoration all over. It can also mean
extravagant and bizarre. Take a look at this outfit,
for instance — big flowing fabric, big heels, big hair.
See what kinds of ornament you can find on this
guy. What kind of person do you think he is? What
do you think he likes in music?
about the composers and their music…
Giovanni Gabrieli
Canzon Septimi Toni No. 2
iovanni Gabrieli (c. 1553 – 1612) worked in
Venice, the magnificent city of canals, as
organist at St. Mark’s Basilica, still one of the
grandest churches in the world. He was born in a musical
family and grew up in the trade, just like a craftsman. Gabrieli
composed in an earlier style of music called Renaissance music,
which flowed smoothly and usually used voices without instruments, or all one kind of
instrument. But Gabrieli’s music helped inspire those who created the Baroque style.
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Henry Purcell
enry Purcell (1659 - 1695) was one
of the greatest English composers
ever. He began as a boy singing in
choirs, and grew up to be organist at
Westminster Abbey, the church of the kings
and queens of England. Part of his job was to compose music for
the court – birthday odes, funeral odes, every kind of ode – as well
as music for the church and for plays. Purcell was highly honored
in his time; you can still visit his tomb at Westminster Abbey, where
he is buried alongside royalty.
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abrieli was known for his music for
brass instruments as well as his choral
music, and this short, celebratory
piece really sounds like two choirs singing back
and forth to each other. In fact, “canzon” means song – in this
case, “song on the seventh tone.” Gabrieli composed many pieces
like this for two groups or more, because they made the
enormous open space of St. Mark’s with its many balconies
resound so beautifully.
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Dido and Aeneas
ido and Aeneas is an opera - a story told through
music with all the words sung - that Purcell
composed in 1689 for a girls' school to perform.
Although Purcell composed much music for plays, this was
his only true opera. Like many Baroque operas, this one is
about ancient times, mythical gods, heroes, queens, and great passions. Aeneas, a
prince who would later found the city of Rome, marries Dido, the queen of Carthage.
A witch disguised as the god Mercury tells Aeneas to leave Dido to fulfill his destiny.
Although he decides not to go, his Dido dies at the very thought of losing him. The
Overture we hear today is for the orchestra without voices. It conveys powerful emotions
in both its slow opening and its faster conclusion. Many Baroque overtures are
composed in this form – a slow, grand start with a fast, flowing finish.
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Largo from "Winter,"
The Four Seasons
Antonio Vivaldi
ntonio Vivaldi (1678 - 1741) was the foremost
Italian Baroque composer. He was for years the
music teacher at Pio Ospidale della Pieta – a girls
orphanage in Venice – but he was famously vain and boastful.
Nicknamed The Red Priest for his hair,Vivaldi was convinced he
was the greatest composer of opera and just about everything
else. He was also a virtuoso violinist. He wrote so many brilliant
concertos – music for a soloist to play with an orchestra – that his works came to
define the form.Vivaldi was also among the first to use music to tell a story.
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George Frideric Handel
eorge Frideric Handel (1685 - 1759) was born in
Germany but became one of the world’s leading
composers while working in England.Although his
father wanted him to be a lawyer, he was precocious enough
at the age of seven to try out an organ at the home of a duke,
who insisted that he receive musical training. Learning to play many instruments,
Handel set his heart on composing opera. He traveled through Italy, trying to make
his fortune, but his great success came when he brought his Italian-style operas to
England in 1710.There he also created oratorio – large pieces with orchestra and
singers but without staging – and composed the most popular oratorio of all,
Messiah. Handel’s career had many ups and downs, but he achieved such fame
that at his death he was buried, like Purcell, at Westminster Abbey.
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he Four Seasons are four separate,
three-movement concertos for violin.
Vivaldi composed poems to go with
each of these pieces, describing life in
each season. For the second movement of Winter, he wrote,
To spend quiet and happy days by the fire
Whilst outside the rain soaks everyone.
The music evokes exactly that feeling in the listener, right
down to the sound of raindrops on the windowpane.
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Water Music
ater Music is
one of only two
orchestra pieces
Handel composed for use
outside the theatre – the
other is Royal Fireworks
Music – and both were
intended for outdoor performance. Water Music was composed for
a royal procession on barges on London’s River Thames in 1717.
It has many movements, both fast and slow. The Hornpipe we hear
today is a very grand interpretation of a country dance. Trumpets,
horns, and drums must have made a wonderful sound across the
water. Like the Gabrieli Canzon, this Hornpipe sets the trumpets
and horns apart in a call and response pattern.
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Johann Sebastian Bach
ohann Sebastian Bach
(1685 - 1750) remains to many
people the greatest composer ever
because of his astonishing musical
technique and the depth of expression in
all his music. From an early age he was a
virtuoso organist and improviser,
inventing highly complex music on the
spot. He studied other composers' music
intently, copying it out by hand, so that his
music would bring together nearly every idea from every country of his
time. He composed sacred music above all, plus concertos, orchestra
music, keyboard music – everything except opera. For much of his life
Bach was a teacher and choirmaster, and as the father of 26 children
(involving a series of three wives), Bach fathered a musical family that
would be important for generations.
rchestral Suite No. 3 is a
suite of pieces based
on courtly dances,
but intended for concert
listening. The suite
opens with an Overture, which
like Purcell's Overture to Dido
and Aeneas, starts slow and
continues fast – but on a much larger
scale, with the slow, grand music
returning at the end. The second
movement, Air, or Melody, is famous
as the Air on the G String, often heard on its own. The dances
themselves begin with a Gavotte, a dance in four beats, and
continue with a Bouree, in two beats, and finally a Gigue, in a sweeping
six beats to the measure.
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Delta David Gier
The New York Philharmonic
elta David Gier is music director of
the South Dakota Symphony
Orchestra, and has been a cover
conductor of the New York Philharmonic for
the past 10 seasons. He first conducted the
Philharmonic in 2000, during the Concerts in the Parks. After
completing his studies, he was invited by Riccardo Muti to spend
a year as an apprentice at The Philadelphia Orchestra. As a
Fulbright Scholar, he has led many performances in Eastern
Europe. Mr. Gier has served as visiting professor at the Yale
School of Music, the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati,
San Francisco Conservatory, and SUNY Stony Brook.
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he New York Philharmonic is by far the
oldest symphony orchestra in the United
States, and one of the oldest in the world.
It was founded in 1842 by a group of local
musicians, and currently plays about 180 concerts
every year. On December 18, 2004, the
Philharmonic gave its 14,000th concert — a record
that no other symphony orchestra in the world has
ever reached. The Orchestra currently has 106
members. It performs mostly at Avery Fisher Hall,
at Lincoln Center, but also tours around the world.
The Orchestra’s first concerts specifically for a
younger audience were organized by Theodore
Thomas for the 1885–86 season, with a series of
24 “Young People’s Matinees.” The programs were
developed further by conductor Josef Stransky, who
led the first Young People’s Concert in January of
1914. The Young People’s Concerts were brought
to national attention in 1924 by “Uncle Ernest”
Schelling, and were made famous by Leonard
Bernstein in the 1960s with live television
broadcasts.
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Sheryl Staples
photo: Chris Lee
meet the artists
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Orchestral Suite No. 3
orn in Los Angeles, violinist
Sheryl Staples joined the New York
Philharmonic as Principal Associate
Concertmaster (The Elizabeth G. Beinecke
Chair) in 1998, and made her solo debut with the Orchestra
in January 1999. Previously the associate concertmaster of The
Cleveland Orchestra and concertmaster of the Pacific Symphony
and Santa Barbara Chamber orchestras, she has appeared as
soloist with more than 40 orchestras, including The Cleveland
Orchestra and Los Angeles Philharmonic. Ms. Staples has
participated in the Santa Fe, La Jolla, Brightstar, Martha’s Vineyard,
and Seattle chamber music festivals. She was a member of The
Cleveland Orchestra Piano Trio and has been a faculty artist at the
Aspen, Bowdoin, and Sarasota music festivals. Ms. Staples
performs on the “Kartman” Guarnerius del Gesu, ca.1728.
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What’s coming
up this season?
Baroque music sure can be intense!
What do you think is in store for us in
the next Ages of Music?
Why is music of the 18th century called
Classical?
Composers like Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven created forms that served for
generations. Come to the Young People's Concert on DECEMBER 16 and discover
an ordered and noble world of music.
What makes music of the 19th century
Romantic?
On FEBRUARY 3, hear how such composers as Brahms, Berlioz,
Strauss, and Sibelius created music of emotion, adventure, and imagination.
The 20th century was music s most explosive period
of development ever.
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Modern
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composers from Stravinsky, Debussy, and Bartok to
John Adams have created thrilling new worlds of sound. Come
on MARCH 24 and find out where music is heading today!
n the 17th century, musicians believed that music was the physical embodiment
of moods and feelings, or affections, as they called them then. They believed
that music could be designed to make the listener feel specific things.
Which musical traits do you think would make you experience which affections?
LARGE, LEAPING MELODY
SMALL, CREEPING MELODY
FAST MELODY WITH ROUGH HARMONY
SEVERAL MELODIES GOING AT ONCEE
! ANGER
! JOY
! STUBBORNESS
! SORROW
Now imagine you’re the composer
with the big wig. What musical traits
would you use to evoke these feelings?
! FEAR ! RELAXATION ! LONELINESS ! GENEROSITY