Download Music and Poetr yy - Dayton Performing Arts Alliance

The Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra
Neal Gittleman, Music Director
presents
M usic
a nd
P o e tr y
March 27, 2007
Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra
Neal Gittleman, Music Director
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
9:30 and 11:00 a.m.
Schuster Performing Arts Center
Mu si c a n d P o etry
Antonio Vivaldi
(1678-1741)
“Spring” from The Four Seasons
Ernst Toch
Geographical Fugue
(1887-1964)
Special Guests – Wright State University Choir Students
William Grant Still
Symphony No. 1
(1895-1978)
(Afro-American Symphony, mvt 3)
Special Guest – Dr. Herbert Martin
Claude Debussy
(1862-1918)
Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune
Franz Liszt
(1811-1886)
Les Préludes
The use of photographic and recording equipment at this concert is strictly
prohibited. Please do not leave the hall while the concert is in progress.
A b o u t O u r Mu s ic D ire c t o r
The 2006-2007 season is Neal Gittleman's twelfth year as
Music Director of the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra.
Gittleman has led the orchestra to new levels of artistic
achievement and increasing renown throughout the country.
The orchestra's performance has been praised by American
Record Guide magazine as well as by the Cincinnati
Enquirer, which called the DPO "…a precise, glowing
machine." And when the Orchestra christened the Mead
Theatre in the Benjamin and Marian Schuster Performing
Arts Center in March of 2003, the paper attested that
“Gittleman has brought the DPO to a new level.” During
Gittleman’s tenure, the orchestra has received five ASCAP awards from the American Symphony
Orchestra League for its commitment to contemporary music.
Prior to coming to Dayton, Gittleman served as Music Director of the Marion (IN) Philharmonic,
Associate Conductor of the Syracuse Symphony, and Assistant Conductor of the Oregon Symphony
Orchestra, a post he held under the Exxon/Arts Endowment Conductors Program. He also served for
ten seasons as Associate Conductor and Resident Conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.
Neal Gittleman has appeared as guest conductor with many of the country’s leading orchestras
and has also conducted orchestras in Germany, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Japan, Canada
and Mexico.
A native of Brooklyn, NY, Gittleman graduated from Yale University in 1975. He studied with Nadia
Boulanger and Annette Dieudonné in Paris, with Hugh Ross at the Manhattan School of Music and with
Charles Bruck at both the Pierre Monteux School and the Hartt School of Music, where he was a Karl
Böhm Fellow. He won the Second Prize at the 1984 Ernest Ansermet International Conducting
Competition in Geneva and Third Prize in the 1986 Leopold Stokowski Conducting Competition in New
York.
At home in the pit as well as on stage, Gittleman has led productions for Dayton Opera, the Human
Race Theatre Company, Syracuse Opera Company, Hartt Opera Theater, and for Milwaukee's
renowned Skylight Opera Theatre. He has also conducted for several ballet productions around the
U.S. and Canada.
Gittleman is nationally known for his Classical Connections programs, which provide a "behind the
scenes" look at great works of the orchestral repertoire. These innovative programs, which began in
Milwaukee 19 years ago, have become a vital part of the Dayton Philharmonic's concert season.
When not on the podium, Neal is an avid golfer and squash and t'ai chi ch'uan player. He and his wife,
Lisa Fry, have been Dayton residents since 1997.
Dear Educator,
Welcome to the March 27, 2007 Dayton
Philharmonic Orchestra High School Concert,
M us i c and P o e t r y .
The arts and humanities not only record human events, they connect our past and
present lives through common experiences. Music Director Neal Gittleman in
consultation with area high school faculty chose the concert theme which will be
explored both at the performance and in these concert preparation materials.
Students will experience how music reflects and captures human emotions as
expressed in poetry.
The program notes and the CD of concert excerpts are created to assist music
specialists and classroom teachers in preparing their students for the concert
experience. Please feel free to copy these materials to share with other teachers in
your building who will attend the concert. You may also download these materials from
the DPO website, www.daytonphilharmonic.com. From the homepage at the top, click on
Education then Field Trip Programs then Secondary Grades.
The teacher notes contain information about the composers and their music, and ideas
for integrating this information across the curriculum. The activities are meant to be
used in the regular classroom, as well as the music classroom, and do not require
familiarity with the music. We hope these ideas will help provide an enjoyable and
enriching experience for students and teachers.
Gloria S. Pugh
Director of Education
Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra
Program Objective: To explore the connection between music and poetry,
with illustrations from a wide range of musical and poetic styles.
“Spring” from The Four Seasons (1725)
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
About the Composer
Antonio Vivaldi lived
during a time when
a musician’s
livelihood was
grounded in the
church. He was
born in Venice, Italy in 1678. His father was a
violinist and composer at St. Mark’s Cathedral,
so Antonio studied violin at home with his
father while studying for the priesthood.
decline in his popularity left him in poverty at
the end of his life. His music fell into virtual
oblivion until Bach scholars acknowledged an
influence of Vivaldi’s music on Bach. They
discovered several organ works transcribed by
Bach from Vivaldi concerti. Consequently, 500
concertos, 90 sonatas, 21 operas, numerous
masses, oratorios, psalms, 40 cantatas, and
motets were published. Probably many more
were discarded.
Not long after his ordination, he was censured
from saying Mass because he skipped out on a
church service to write down a fugue! Even
though Vivaldi left the priesthood, he remained
a religious and pious person. He was even
nicknamed the “Red Priest” because of his
fiery red hair!
Vivaldi’s major contribution to music was the
development of the three-movement concerto
form which became the basis for the later
symphony of the Classical Period. He was also
one of the first composers to introduce
programmatic elements into his music, a style
that did not become popular until the Romantic
period.
In 1703 he was appointed teacher of violin in a
school for orphaned girls, which was run by
the church. His responsibilities included the
total musical training of the girls who showed
musical aptitude. While at the school, Vivaldi
had the opportunity to compose a wide variety
of works for his students and for the school
church services. His compositions included
instrumental concertos and sonatas as well as
masses, vespers, oratorios, motets, and operas.
Although we know Vivaldi as a composer, he
was best known during his lifetime as a
virtuoso violinist whose technique dazzled
everyone who heard him perform. By 1718,
Vivaldi’s fame as a composer and violinist had
spread and he embarked on a tour of Europe,
writing and presenting operas. Vivaldi became
a wealthy man, but extravagant living and a
Events of the Time
1670 First minute hands on clocks
1691 Paris prints first directory of street
addresses to aid firefighters
1697 Last remains of Mayan civilization
destroyed by Spanish in Yucatan
1714 D.G. Fahrenheit constructs mercury
thermometer with temperature scale
1715 Vaudevilles, popular musical comedies,
appear in Paris
1721 Johann Sebastian Bach writes
Brandenburg Concertos
1727 Quakers demand abolition of slavery
1741 George Frederick Handel composes
Messiah
Inside the Music – “Spring” from The Four Seasons
* Listen to CD Track 2
Vivaldi’s Four Seasons is one of classical music’s most popular pieces with over 100 recordings
in existence. The work is actually four concerti for solo violin, string orchestra and
harpsichord. These pieces allowed violinists to show off the virtuoso possibilities of the violin,
whose design had just been perfected in Italy. (An orchestra during the Baroque period
usually consisted of all string instruments.)
The work is based on four sonnets written by the composer himself! Programmatic music did
not become prominent until the 19th century, when composers embraced this idea and wrote
entire works based on extra-musical ideas. Vivaldi’s programmatic piece was very unusual for
the Baroque period and was the forerunner of this form in later years. In the score of The
Four Seasons, Vivaldi wrote lines of text above particular passages. The spring sonnet is:
Springtime has come...
...and the joyful birds
greet its arrival with festive songs,
And the streams flow in a soft murmur
while the springtime breezes gently blow.
Now thunder and lightning announce the spring
and fill the sky with dark clouds.
But when the storm has passed,
the little birds return to their happy song.
Here, on the flowery meadow
among the sweet-smelling leaves and plants,
the goatherd sleeps,
his faithful dog at his side.
Nymphs and shepherds dance
beneath the spring sky.
They dance to the festive sound
of the shepherd’s bagpipes.
This is spring,
in all its beauty and brilliance!
* Listen to CD Track 3. If this excerpt corresponds to the first line of the sonnet, “Springtime
has come,” what line corresponds to the excerpt on CD Track 4? Describe what musical
elements inform your decision.
Critical Thinking
Given the word “spring,” brainstorm images, utilizing as many of the five senses as possible.
Create a collage of images depicting spring.
After examining the structure of the sonnet, construct one entitled “Spring.”
* Listen to other movements of The Four Seasons and write your own sonnet before reading
Vivaldi’s sonnets for these movements.
By using poetic sound devices such as alliteration, assonance, onomatopoeia, rhythm among
others, create sound pictures of any of the seasons. Use other poetic writing such as haiku to
create a poem of a particular season. Use found sounds to accompany the poem.
Compare/contrast the imagery of spring in other poems: “First day of spring” by Matsuo Basho,
“in Just-” by e.e. cummings, “Grief” by Grace Moore Kinata, “Spring Fling” by Aldo Kraas, “The
Flower-Fed Buffaloes” by Vachel Lindsay, “Over the Land Is April” by Robert Louis Stevenson,
and “Spring Rain” by Sara Teasdale.
Vocabulary
alliteration
assonance
haiku
onomatopoeia
rhythm
Geographical Fugue (1930)
Ernst Toch (1887-1964)
About the Composer
Born in Germany, Ernest Toch is considered one
of the great avant-garde composers of the preNazi era. Oddly, he grew up in a totally nonmusical family. His father was in the processedleather business and fully expected that Toch
would follow in the family business. He was
upset at Ernst’s leanings toward music and
totally discouraged his interests, causing Ernst
to learn what he could about music in secret.
When an amateur violinist was a tenant in the
Toch home, Ernst studied his sheet music and
within a few nights had figured out the
fundamentals of music notation. At the age of
10, he purchased a miniature score of Mozart
and studied it under the covers at night and soon
began to try his hand at composition. Somewhat
of a prodigy, Toch never received any formal
musical training. He learned by studying the
music of the great masters of music. By the time
he was in his mid-teens, he was composing
quartets.
Toch never considered that he could make a
living in music, so he studied medicine at the
University of Vienna. During this time he won
the Mozart Prize for young composers, which
earned him a scholarship to study at the
Frankfurt Conservatory. This led to an
appointment as Professor of Composition at the
Mannheim School for Music.
By 1923 Toch signed a ten-year contract with a
major German publisher with a generous monthly
stipend. During this time he experi-mented with
different idioms, developing the idea of spoken
music, and wrote his Geographical Fugue for
spoken voices. His works were widely
performed by major artists and prominent
orchestras throughout Germany.
All of this acclaim came crashing down with the
rise of Hitler. At a rehearsal of one of his
operas, Nazi brown shirts entered the hall and
literally took the baton out of the conductor’s
hand. The German music journal, Die Musik,
published photos of prominent Jewish
composers, such as Mendelssohn and Mahler.
The photos were retouched to make the
composers look vaguely sinister and included a
quote by Hitler: “The Jew possesses no culturebuilding power whatsoever.”
Toch escaped Germany and eventually took
refuge in the United States, where he felt
alienated and lost as a composer in such a vast
country.
He eventually settled in California where he
developed a career as a film score composer,
winning two Academy Awards. He continued to
write quartets, operas, and composed six
symphonies in the last fifteen years of his life.
Vocabulary
fugue
avant-garde
Inside the Music – Geographical Fugue (1930)
* Listen to CD Track 5.
Geographical Fugue premiered in 1930 for a
music festival in Berlin as a trifle, a sort of
musical joke. This is the final movement of a
four-part speaking chorus called Spoken Music.
Ironically, it became perhaps Toch’s most
popular and most influential piece.
Here the poetry is the music. The composer
tried to produce musical effects through
speech. Toch strictly follows the musical form
of a fugue -a musical composition based on a
single musical idea, which is presented in turn
by each instrument or voice. The theme on
which the fugue is based is the following text:
“Trinidad! And the big Mississippi, and the
town Honolulu, and the lake Titicaca”
Each of the four voices enters in turn with
these words, the hallmark of all fugues.
After the opening theme, the text continues:
“The Popocatepetl is not in Canada, rather
in Mexico.
Canada, Malaga, Rimini, Brindisi.
Tibet, Tibet, Tibet, Tibet.
Nagasaki, Yokohama.”
There are no written pitches involved, only the
rhythm of the words, strictly notated by the
composer.
(There is no recording of this work)
Critical Thinking
* Listen to a variety of fugues and define their
structure and intent.
* Listen to the music of Bobby McFerrin and
explain how he illustrates the idea of spoken
music.
Using Toch’s fugue as a model, construct your
own geographical fugue, perhaps focusing on
one geographical area.
Debate the issue: what moves a vocal
composition more, the lyrics or the notes? Find
out which of these your favorite writercomposer creates first.
Research Ernst Toch. Why was he forced to
leave his homeland and why did his music
career come to an end there?
Events of the Time
1876 Alexander Graham Bell transmits first clear
and distinct telephone message
1879 Thomas Edison patents first electric light
bulb
1886 Statue of Liberty given by France
1912 Titanic sinks
1913 Congress empowered to levy income taxes
1920 Women receive right to vote
1924 First Winter Olympic games
1929 Stock Market crash, beginning of Great
Depression
1936 Jesse Owens sets world record in the 100meter run in the Olympics hosted by Nazi Germany
1936 General Motors recognizes the United
Automobile Workers
1945 US drops atomic bombs on Nagasaki and
Hiroshima
1955 Rosa Parks refuses to give her seat to a white
man on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama
Symphony No. 1, 3rd movement
(“Afro-American Symphony”) (1930)
William Grant Still (1895 – 1978)
About the Composer
William Grant Still was born on May 11, 1895 in
Woodville, Mississippi. No one would have
guessed that such an impressive career lay in
store for the young boy whose father, the town
bandmaster of Woodsville, died when he was six
months old. His mother moved the family to Little
Rock to live with Still’s grandmother, where he
first experienced music. His grandmother loved
to sing hymns and spirituals. He graduated from
high school at the age of sixteen and entered
Wilberforce University. He enrolled in a premed program because his mother didn’t think
there was any future for him as a black musician.
However, music was the center of his collegiate
life; he soon left Wilberforce to make a living as
a commercial musician.
The famous W.C. Handy, “the father of the
blues,” hearing him perform, was impressed and
offered him a job as an arranger. Yet Still
wanted to continue his formal music education
and enrolled at the Oberlin Conservatory and
later at the New England Conservatory. While at
Oberlin, he heard a symphony orchestra for the
first time.
In his early career Still supported himself as a
musician and as an arranger for band leaders
and entertainers. However, as his classical
compositions became known, he relied less and
less on popular music for his income. In the
1950s Still turned to writing for young
audiences.
Still’s many accomplishments are: 1) first
African-American to compose a major symphonic
work, 2) first African-American to conduct a
major symphony orchestra - the Los Angeles
Philharmonic in a performance of his
own works at the Hollywood Bowl, 3) first
African-American to conduct an all white
symphony orchestra in the Deep South, and
4) first African-American to compose an opera
produced by a major American company.
Still was concerned about a black identity in
music. In 1969 he spoke about what it meant to
be a black composer at Indiana University:
“Although no one holds authentic jazz in
higher esteem than I, I still refuse to
concede that it is the only, or even the most
important, form of Negro musical expression.
True, it has spread all over the world, but so
have Negro spirituals, and so, I venture to
guess, would a certain amount of Negro
symphonic music if it had behind it the same
commercial drive that has long activated jazz.
American music is a composite of all the
idioms of all the people comprising this nation,
just as most Afro-Americans who are
‘officially’ classed as Negroes are products of
the mingling of several bloods. This makes us
individuals, and that is how we should
function, musically and otherwise.”
In addition to his classical compositions, Still
also wrote background music for radio and later
TV shows, like “Gunsmoke,”
“Perry Mason,” and “The
Three Stooges.”
Vocabulary
symphony
movement
About the Poet
Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906)
Poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar was born on
June 27, 1872 in Dayton, Ohio. While he was
not the first African-American poet and writer,
he was the first to achieve a national
reputation and to be accepted by both white
and black audiences.
Dunbar’s mother supported her family by
working as a washerwoman. One of the
families for which she worked was the family
of Orville and Wilbur Wright, with whom Paul
attended Central High School. Dunbar was
inspired to write poetry by his mother who had
heard poems read by the family she worked for
when she was a slave and passed on a love for
reading to her children.
Dunbar was the only African-American in his
class at Dayton Central High School where he
was a member of the debating society, editor
of the school paper, and president of the
school’s literary paper. He wrote for Dayton
community papers, working as an elevator
operator until he established himself as a
writer.
His first public reading was in 1892 at a
meeting of the Western Association of Writers.
As a result of this address, literary figures
began to take notice of Dunbar’s works and
this led to the publication of his first
collection of poems, Oak and Ivy.
Dunbar’s reputation spread as more people
came in contact with his work. He was invited
to recite at the World’s Fair in 1893 where he
met Frederick Douglas, who called Dunbar “the
most promising young colored man in America.”
His biggest break came with the
publication of his second book which won high
praise from William Dean Howell, a literary
critic and editor of Harper’s Weekly.
Soon Dunbar was
reciting his works
not only in the
United States, but
in London as well.
Paul Lawrence
Dunbar produced
twelve books of
poetry, four books
of short stories, a
play and five novels. His work also appeared in
numerous magazines and journals such as The
Saturday Evening Post and Harper’s Weekly.
Dunbar wrote his poetry in both dialect verse
and literary English. Due to the economics of
the day, Dunbar’s works were targeted mostly
to white audiences, but his work was respected
among black leaders as well. Dunbar was
criticized for perpetuating black stereotypes
through the use of dialect, but these were the
works the public preferred and which sold.
Dunbar’s solution was to include the subtle use
of irony and veiled allusions to the dilemmas of
race. His personal conflict with this issue can
be seen in his autobiographical poem The Poet.
He sang of life, serenely sweet,
With now and then, a deeper note.
From some high peak, high yet remote,
He voiced the world’s absorbing beat.
He sang of love when earth was young,
And Love, itself, was in his lays,
But, ah, the world, it turned to praise
A jingle in a broken tongue.
Paul Laurence Dunbar died at the young age of
34 after a battle with tuberculosis.
Inside the Music – Symphony No. 1, 3rd movement
(“Afro-American” Symphony)
* Listen to CD Track 6.
William Grant Still’s Symphony No. 1 is the first symphony composed by an African-American composer.
His symphony is a mix of traditional neo-Romantic classical music and the harmonies and melodies
traditionally associated with jazz and the traditional 12-bar blues. The four movements, “Longings,”
“Sorrows,” “Humor,” and “Aspirations,” depict different characteristics of the African-American
experience in America. Each movement is prefaced by a brief epigraph drawn from the poems of Paul
Laurence Dunbar.
The epigraph for the 3rd movement, “Humor,” is:
An’ we’ll shout ouah halleluyahs,
On dat mighty reck’nin day.
Say and clap these two lines several times.
* Listen to CD Track 7. Listen to the rhythm of the two-line epigraph quoted in the music. It is tossed
about the orchestra and played by various combinations of instruments: first the strings, then
pizzicato strings, then the brass and woodwinds each take a turn. Fragments of this rhythm are
developed before it returns once more in various disguises.
These two lines were extracted from one of Dunbar’s most entertaining poems, “An Ante-Bellum
Sermon.” In it the speaker preaches a powerful anti-slavery sermon, couched in Biblical language.
AN ANTE-BELLUM SERMON
We is gathahed hyeah, my brothas,
In dis howlin’ wildaness,
Fu’ to speak some words of comfo’t
To each othah in distress.
An’ we chooses fu’ ouah subjic’
Dis--we’ll ‘splain it by an’ by;
“An’ de Lawd said, ‘Moses, Moses,’
An’ de man said, ‘Hyeah am I.’”
Now ole Pher’oh, down in Egypt,
Was de wuss man evah bo’n,
An’ he had de Hebrew chillun
Down dah wukin’ in his co’n;
‘T well de Lawd got tiahed o’ his foolin’,
An’ sez he, “I’ll let him know –
Look hyeah, Moses, go tell Pher’oh
Fu’ to let dem chillun go.”
“An’ ef he refuse to do it,
I will make him rue de houah,
Fu’ I’ll empty down on Egypt
All de vials of my powah.”
Yes, he did – an’ pher’oh’s ahmy
Was n’t wuth a ha’f a dime;
Fu’ de Lawd w ill he’p his chillun,
You kin trust him evah time.
An’ yo’ enemies may ‘sail you
In de back an’ in de front;
But de Lawd is all aroun’ you,
Fu’ to ba’ de battle’s brunt.
Dey kin fo’ ge yo’ chains an’ shackles
F’om de mountains to de sea;
But de Lawd will sen’ some Moses
Fu’ to set his chillun free.
An’ de lan’ shall hyeah his thundah,
Lak a blas’ f’om Gab’el’s ho’n,
Fu’ de Lawd of hosts is mighty
When he girds his ahmor on.
But fu’ feah some one mistakes me,
I will pause right hyeah to say,
Dat I’m still a-preachin ancient,
I ain’t talkin’ ‘bout to-day.
But I tell you, fellah Christuns,
Things’ll happen mighty strange;
Now, de Lawd don dis fu’ Isrul,
An’ his ways don’t nevah change,
An’ de love he showed to Isrul
Wasn’t all on Isrul spent;
Now don’t run an’ tell yo’ mastahs
Dat I’s preachin’ discontent.
‘Cause I is n’t; I’se a-judgin’
Bible people by deir ac’s;
I’se a-givin’ you de Scriptuah,
I’se a-handin’ you de fac’s.
Cose ol Pher’oh b’lieved in slav’ry
But de Lawd he let him see,
Dat de people he put bref in, –
Evah mothah’s son was free.
An’ dahs othahs thinks lak Pher’oh,
But dey calls de Scriptuah liar,
Fu’ de Bible says “a servant
Is a-worthy of his hire.”
An’ you cain’t git roun’ nor thoo dat,
An’ you cain’t git ovah it,
Fu’ whatevah place you git in,
Dis hyeah Bible too ‘ll fit.
So you see de Lawd’s intention,
Evah sence de worl’ began,
Was dat His almighty freedom
Should belong to evah man,
But I think it would be bettah,
Ef I’d pause agin to say,
Dat I’m talkin’ ‘bout ouah freedom
In a Bibleistic way.
But de Moses is a-comin’,
An’ he’s comin’, suah an fas’
We kin hyeh his feet a-trompin’,
We kin hyeah his trumpit blas’.
But I want to wa’n you people,
Don’t you git too brigity;
An don’t you git to braggin’
‘Bout dese things, you wait an’ see.
But when Moses wif his powah
Comes an’ sets us chillun free,
We will praise de gracious Mastah
Dat has gin us liberty;
An’ we’ll shout ouah halleluyahs,
On dat mighty reck’nin’ day,
When we’se reco’nixed ez citiz’ –
Huh uh! Chillun, let us pray!
Still’s “Humor” captures the excitement and enthusiasm that would have surely met the preacher of this
sermon. Interestingly enough, if you hear the music thinking only of the two-line epigraph, it fits, but
if you think of the entire poem, then you appreciate not only the enthusiasm of the music, but also the
sly humor behind it.
At our performance of Still’s music, Dr. Herbert Martin, noted Dunbar scholar and professor at the
University of Dayton, will recite the Dunbar poem.
Critical Thinking
Focusing on dialect as a poetic device, read Dunbar’s “Ante-Bellum Sermon” and rewrite a stanza or
two in modern English, noting the changes in style, tone, and theme.
* Listen to other works by William Grant Still and categorize his style.
Research why blues is considered an American-born music form.
Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune
(Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun)
Claude Debussy (1862 – 1918)
About the Composer
Claude Debussy is recognized as the greatest
French composer who ever lived. His first
piano teacher discovered his special musical
talent and arranged for him to study at the
Paris Conservatory, where he studied piano and
composition. His ambition was to be a concert
pianist, but he failed to pass piano
examinations twice and consequently changed
his career path to composition. Unlike most
talented composers, however, Debussy did not
compose any significant music until he was past
the age of 30.
Debussy’s music is closely linked with the
Impressionist painters of his time, Degas,
Monet, Pissaro, Renoir, Manet, and Cassatt.
Debussy disliked the association of Impressionism with his music. However, just as visual
artists developed new theories of light and
color in their painting, Debussy developed new
theories of light and color in his music.
His style was revolutionary. He totally
rejected the strict formal rules and princi-ples
of harmonic theory that composers had
followed up to this time.
There was very little previously composed
music that Debussy liked!
“I am more and more convinced that music,
by its very nature, is something that cannot
be cast into a traditional and fixed form.
It is made up of color and rhythms. The
rest is a lot of humbug invented by frigid
imbeciles riding on the backs of the
Masters, who for the most part, wrote
nothing but period music. Bach alone had an
idea of the truth.”
Debussy’s music led to the break-up of the
traditional scales of the 19th century,
introduced new concepts of orchestration, and
emphasized the power of sound for sound’s
sake. Though many of his works had
programmatic titles, Debussy insisted that they
were not meant to convey a story. The intent
of his music was to capture a fleeting
impression or mood.
Debussy’s music was a new and magical world
of sound that inspired several generations of
classical and jazz musicians.
Events of the Time
1863 Emancipation Proclamation issued by
Abraham Lincoln
1874 U.S. Congress creates preserve in
Yellowstone Valley leading to national park
system
1881 American Red Cross is organized
1884 For the first time in history, by a freak
of nature, Niagara Falls stops flowing
1886 An Atlanta pharmacist launches Coca-Cola
as a tonic
1896 Henry Ford build his first experimental
car in a workshop behind his house
Vocabulary
1903 Work begins on Panama Canal
conservatory
1917 Russian Revolution begins with
Impressionism
street rioting in St. Petersburg
program music
About the Poet
Stéphane Mallarmé (1842-1898)
Stéphane Mallarmé was one of the pioneers of modern poetry and the
leader of the Symbolist movement in poetry. He began writing at an early
age under the influence of Charles Baudelaire. His first important poem,
“L’Azur,” was published when he was 24. From the 1880-02, Mallarmé was
part of a group of French writers in Paris, such as Gide, Paul Valéry, and
Proust, with whom he communicated his ideas on poetry and art.
Mallarmé was noted for his conversation, which was as clear as his
writings were obscure. At his renowned Tuesday-night receptions at his
home in Paris, his critical comments stimulated writers, artists and
composers of the Impressionist school. As the leader of the Symbolist
movement, Mallarmé meant for his poetic lines to suggest, rather than to
state a meaning. His poetry and prose are characterized by musical
quality, experimental grammar, and thought that is refined and allusive to
the point of obscurity. The meaning of the poetry is always to be found between, not in, the lines. He
believed that the point of a poem was the beauty of the language. “You don’t make a poem with ideas, but
with words.”
* Listen to CD Track 21
His best-known work L’aprés-midi d’un faune, written in 1865, was the inspiration for Debussy’s
composition of the same name and was illustrated by the famous painter Manet. The poem is a monologue
told by the faun (half man, half goat) and is loosely based on the myth of the god Pan’s attempt to seduce
the nymph Syrinx.
Since Mallarmé’s intent was to explore the rhythm and sound of the words, an English translation is nearly
impossible. This brief translated excerpt is included merely to shed some light on the meaning.
Ces nymphes, je les veux perpétuer.
Si clair
Leur incarnat léger, qu’il voltige dans l’air
Assoupi de sommeils touffus.
Aimai-je un rêve?
Mon doute, amas de nuit ancienne, s’achève
En maint rameau subtil, qui demeuré les vrais
Bois mêmes, prouve, hélas!, que bien seul je m’offrai
Pour triomphe la faute ideále de roses -Réfléchissons…
Vocabulary
symbolist movement
These nymphs, I want them to live forever
So clear,
Their light flesh, that flutters in the air
Made supple by bushy sleeps.
Did I love a dream?
My doubt, amassed in night past, is completed
In many a fine bough, which, given the true
Woods themselves, prove (alas) that I offer myself
As a triumph is only an ideal lack of roses –
Let’s think…
Inside the Music – Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune
The Prélude was Debussy’s first important
orchestral work and firmly established the style
of Impressionism in which he rejected the
overblown forms and harmonic styles of the
Romantic period and the development of motivic
ideas a la Beethoven. Debussy found inspiration
in the same images as those that attracted the
French Impressionist painters – clouds, rain,
wind, water, sunlight, and shadow. From many
artistic sources he forged a musical style that is
both original in its harmonies, rhythms, and
musical tones, and often quietly beautiful.
The Prélude does not a have a regular metric
feeling and there are no sharp sectional
contrasts and development of ideas. In
reference to the Prélude, Debussy wrote,
“Extreme complication is contrary to art….
Beauty must appeal to the senses, must
provide us with immediate enjoyment, must
impress us or insinuate itself into us without
any effort on our part.”
Mallarmé said that he was trying to create
poetry that behaved like music. Debussy
composed a new music that behaved like poetry.
They met halfway in the Prélude. It is a quiet
and beautiful piece which was described by the
fellow French composer Maurice Ravel –
“Everything else sounds as if it were worked
over very hard, but this piece sounds like it
was improvised just a moment before you
hear it.”
* Listen to CD Track 9. Imagine a slightly outof-focus Impressionist painting. A faun wakes
up in the forest and tries to recall his
experience of the previous afternoon. Was he
actually visited by beautiful nymphs or was it
just an illusion? It’s just too much to think about
so he falls back asleep in the warm sun and soft
grass.
The dreamy principal theme is played by the
flute which is prominent throughout the work.
Critical Thinking
In Mallarmé’s “Afternoon of a Faun,” show how
the poet has tried to capture poetry as music.
Walt Disney’s first creation of “Fantasia”
focuses on music as imagery. Watch the
selection “Pastoral,” Beethoven’s 6th Symphony
that illustrates Disney’s imagery of a day in the
country as perceived by Beethoven. This day, in
Disney’s piece, takes place during mythical times.
Check out a recording of the complete work and
while listening to Debussy’s Prélude, sketch
visual images of whatever comes to mind. Create
a collage, poem, or both from the imagery.
Trace the correlation between Impressionism in
music and art.
Vocabulary
faun
Les Préludes
Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
Franz Liszt is
most renowned as
an astounding
pianist, whose
impressive
technique and
captivating
concert
personality has
not been rivaled.
He was the “piano
rock star” of his
generation. A
pioneer in stage
performance, he was THE greatest
piano virtuoso of his time. Blessed with
extremely large hands, long fingers,
and a talent for the theatrical in
performance, he created the idea of a
solo recital. He used the recital
format not only for his own promotion,
but also to raise funds for national
disasters or charities. In so doing, he
expanded the audience from nobility to
broader mixed audiences.
Liszt toured Europe as a concert
pianist from 1836 to 1844. Just like
rock stars today, he was idolized
everywhere he went. Eventually Liszt
settled in Weimar, Germany where he
began to devote his time to teaching
and composition. As a composer, he
invented the technique called
“transformation of themes” in which all
the motifs in a work come from a single
idea.
Liszt was the first composer to meld
poetry and instrumental music. He
first came up with the idea in 1840
with a piano piece titled Ce qu’on
entend sur la montagne (What You
Hear on the Mountain). In 1849, he
adapted this piece for orchestra and
invented the new term “symphonic
poem”. This form was meant to replace
the traditional four-movement
symphony. So, Liszt, not Debussy,
first imagined the synthesis of poetry
and instrumental music.
Events of the Time
1818 Mary Shelley writes Frankenstein, an attack on industrialization
1828 First edition of Webster’s
Dictionary published
1835 Texas declares its right to
secede from Mexico
1840 Antarctica discovered by
American Charles Wilkes
1848 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
predict the end of capitalism
About the Poet
Alphonse de Lamartine (1790-1869)
Alphonse de Lamartine was a French poet
and statesman whose lyrics to
Méditations poétiques, written in 1820,
established him as one of the key figures
in the Romantic movement in French
literature. Growing up in France during
the reign of Napoleon, Lamartine wanted
to enlist in the army when he became of
age. However, his parents, who were
faithful royalists, would not allow it. So,
he did nothing until the Bourbon
monarchy was restored in 1814, when he
served in Louis XVIII’s bodyguard. When
Napoleon returned from exile, Lamartine
emigrated to Switzerland and abandoned
the military profession.
Lamartine became attracted to
literature and wrote several tragedies in
verse and a few elegies. During this time,
he was ill and visited the spa of Aix-lesBains where he met and was fiercely
attracted to Julie Charles, who was very
ill. Charles had many connections in Paris
and was able to secure Lamartine a
position. When she died in 1817,
Lamartine dedicated many strophes to
her.
In 1820, Lamartine published his first
collection of poetry, Méditations
poétiques and also joined the diplomatic
corps as secretary to the French
embassy at Naples. The Méditations was
so successful because of its new
romantic tone and sincerity of feeling. It
brought to French poetry a new music.
The resonance of the sentences, the
power of the rhythm, and the passion for
life sharply contrasted with the oftenwithered poetry of the 18th century.
Continuing his diplomatic career,
Lamartine was elected to the French
Academy in 1829 and the following year
wrote the two volumes of Harmonies
poétiques et religieuses.
In 1830, Lamartine abandoned his
diplomatic career to enter politics. He
became the voice of the working class
and openly supported a working class
revolution. The bourgeoisie was enraged
by this behavior and threw him out of
office in 1848. The working class revolt
was crushed. Lamartine continued to
write during his political career and for
20 years after his career ended. He died
nearly forgotten by his contemporaries.
Inside the Music – Les Pr éludes
* Listen to CD Track 22.
Les Préludes is the most famous of Liszt’s thirteen tone poems. Composed in 1856, it is
based on the text from Alphonse de Lamartine’s Méditations Poétiques, a vast meditation
on life, love, nature, fate, and death. The poem takes about an hour to recite! Liszt boiled
it down to a 17-minute musical synopsis and prefaced the musical score with a prose
summary of Lamartine’s text:
What is life but a series of preludes to that unknown hymn, the first solemn note
of which is intoned by Death?
Love is the glowing dawn of all existence; but such is Fate that the first delights of
happiness are to be interrupted by a storm whose mortal blast dissipates Love’s
fine illusions, whose fatal lightning consumes Love’s altar.
Having escaped these tempests, what cruelly wounded soul would not endeavor to
rest his memories in the calm serenity of life in the fields?
But man barely allows himself to enjoy the stillness which he shared in Nature’s
bosom, when the trumpet sounds the alarm and whatever the war may be, he
hastens to battle, in order to finally recover in combat full consciousness of
himself and complete possession of his power.
Musically, Liszt’s piece breaks into four main sections, each illustrating one of Lamartine’s
main themes: Love, Fate, Nature, War. So although Les Préludes is a single non-stop
movement, it does have four parts, just like the four movements of a symphony. This work
illustrates Liszt’s technique of thematic transformation – every theme in the work derives
from the one presented in the introductory passages.
* Listen to CD Track 11. Listen for the opening three-note theme that is introduced by the
strings and then played by the woodwinds. This theme is repeated in various disguises
throughout this 15 minute work.
* Listen to CD Tracks 12-15. Which of the four main themes – Love, Fate, War, Death - do
you think each demonstrates and why? The answers may vary from person to person as
we all respond to music differently.
Liszt’s symphonic poem is a true synthesis of two different forms drawn from two artistic
disciplines.
Critical Thinking
Give at least one interpretation of Liszt’s meaning when he wrote the following question on
the score of his Les Préludes: Is life anything but a series of preludes to that unending
melody of which death strikes the first grave note?
Liszt was considered a “superstar.” What are the qualities of a superstar? What did
Liszt possess that made him a “superstar?”
Who are your music superstars and why do you regard them as such?
Research modern poetry and find music that would illustrate it or vice versa. Present
your work to the class.
Liszt at the piano with Dumas, Hugo, Sand, Paganini and Rossini
Glo ssa ry
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Alliteration – the repetition of initial sounds of stressed syllables
Assonance – close juxtaposition of vowel sounds, e.g. “Asleep under a tree”
Avant-garde – artist that stands at the beginning of a movement, and whose works
and ideas are new and non-conformist
Concerto – a composition for orchestra and solo instrument
Conservatory – a school specializing in music study
Faun – a rural deity which is half goat and half man
Fugue – a composition characterized by melodic imitations
Haiku – an unrhymed verse form of Japanese origin having three lines, usually 5, 7
and 5 syllables, respectively; a poem having a seasonal reference
Impressionism – a French style of painting, poetry, and music which hints rather
than states
Movement – a section of a larger work which can also stand alone
Onomatopoeia – words whose sound is suggestive of its meaning. (Sizzle. Boom!
Buzz.)
Program music – music inspired by a non-musical idea
Rhythm – in poetry it refers to the regular or progressive patterns of accents in
lines or sentences
Symbolist movement – a belief that art should capture absolute truths by indirect
methods
Symphonic poem/tone poem – a category of program music which is always in one
movement
Symphony – a long work for orchestra in 3-5 sections or movements
Poetry is rhythmical, imaginative language expressing the invention, taste,
thought, passion, and insight of the human soul. – Edmund Clarence Stedman
Music W e b Site s
Classical Net http://www.classical.net/music/welcome.html
Find 4200 classical music files right with links to 2500 more.
Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra http://www.daytonphilharmonic.com Our website has Teacher’s
Notes available as well. From our homepage select Education then Field Trip Programs then Secondary
Grades. Teacher’s Notes downloads are at the bottom of that page.
From the Top http://www.fromthetop.org Explore the world of classical music by meeting other
young musicians. Discover musical facts, stories, or guides to all things music-related.
Karadar Classical Music Dictionary http://www.karadar.com Information on composers, works by
genre, MIDI and MP3 files.
Music History 102 http://www.ipl.org/exhibit/mushist
Read about composers from the Middle Ages to the present and hear MIDI files
of their music.
Music Notes: An Interactive Online Musical Experience
http://www.hyperion.advanced.org/15413/
Clear, concise explanations of many aspects of music,
plus a section of interactive games.
World History http://www.hyperhistory.com
Over 2000 files covering 3000 years of world history.
Other relevant sites
A poem...begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong,
a homesickness, a lovesickness.... It finds the thought and
the thought finds the words. – Robert Frost
Poem Hunter: http://www.poemhunter.com Source for thousands of
poems and poets as well as lyrics, music, quotations. Database includes forums:
Rhythm + Rhyme Workshop, Writing Poetry, Poetics & Poetry Discussion.
eFUSE: http://www.efuse.com/Design/wa-poetry.html Christopher Meeks writes for and teaches
creative writing at CalArts, also teaches at Santa Monica College and UCLA Extension. In a column
titled “Poetic Sense: Sound & Imagery,” he describes, in a conversational way, adding a poetic sense
of sound and imagery to improve one’s writing. He details devices useful in writing both prose and
poetry, and relates poetry musically.
A va i l a b l e Co m pa c t D i s c Re c o rdi n g s
Recorded excerpts were taken from the following compact disc recordings:
“Spring” from The Four Seasons (Vivaldi): London Chamber Orchestra/Christopher
Warren-Green, Angel/EMI 67219.
Symphony No. 1, mvt 3 (Afro-American) (Still): Detroit Symphony Orchestra/Neeme
Järvi, Chandos 241-23.
Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun) (Debussy): Boston
Symphony Orchestra/Charles Munch, Sony 85240.
Les Préludes (Symphonic Poem No. 3) (Liszt): Vienna Philharmonic/Giuseppe Sinopoli,
Deutsche Grammophon 453-444.