Download PROGRAM NOTES by Troy Peters

PROGRAM NOTES
by Troy Peters
Peters: Champlain’s Voyage
2009 marks the 400th anniversary of Samuel de Champlain’s arrival on Lake
Champlain and his exploration of its surroundings. My orchestral piece, Champlain’s
Voyage, is a six-minute overture that celebrates the spirit of discovery exemplified by
Champlain’s travels. After a brassy introduction, the French horn introduces a broad,
heroic theme that will become the subject of a series of variations. Eventually, the
variations culminate in a spirited series of fanfares and rhythmic punctuations. Although
the Vermont Youth Orchestra has played other pieces of mine, this is the first time I have
written specifically for the orchestra; I especially enjoyed the opportunity to compose
with individual students in mind.
Fauré: Pavane, Op. 50
The music of Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) serves as the bridge between the French
romanticism of his teacher Saint-Saëns and the impressionist innovations of his students,
Debussy and Ravel. Throughout his career, he was simultaneously reverent for France’s
musical traditions and sympathetic to the latest ideas of the avant-garde.
For his 1877 Pavane, Fauré borrowed both the title and the moderately slow duple
rhythm from a processional dance form popular in the 16th century. After he dedicated
the music to his patron, Elisabeth, comtesse Greffulhe, Fauré decided to add a choral part,
setting a romantic text by the Countess’ cousin, Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac. Both
versions, with and without chorus, were premiered within a few days of each other in
November 1878.
Brahms: Song of Destiny, Op. 54
Music appreciation teachers sometimes put forth a triumvirate of the greatest
composers, known as the “Three Bs”: Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms. The elevation of
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) to this exalted grouping began even in his youth, when
Robert Schumann championed him as music’s greatest hope for the future, and it
continued throughout his lifetime. In the end, the genius of Brahms lies in his ability to
craft incredibly effusive, emotional music that still works itself out through the refined
structures and rules of the earlier classical masters.
Brahms’ 1871 choral setting of Friedrich Hölderlin’s poem, “Hyperion’s Song of
Destiny”, is a perfect example of his exquisite craftsmanship. For the vision of heavenly
bliss in the opening stanza, Brahms wrote ethereal and sublime music, full of beauty and
yearning. When the poem turns to the suffering and travails of humanity, the music
becomes agitated and relentless, driving forward in frenzy. Hölderlin’s poem concludes
in despair, with the words “down into endless uncertainty,” but Brahms was unsatisfied
with ending in darkness. After much careful deliberation, the composer settled on
bringing back the delicate music of the heavenly opening, but in a different key and
orchestration, with the chorus notably silent. This ambiguous sense of consolation
creates what Donald Tovey called the “ruthless beauty” of the ending, one of the most
striking in the repertoire.
Bizet: Carmen Suite No. 2
The legend that Georges Bizet (1838-1875) died heartbroken at the apparent
failure of what would later become his most popular opera, Carmen, has been widely
disputed in recent years. In fact, the opera enjoyed its 33rd performance on the very night
that Bizet succumbed to the heart attack which killed him. More likely, Bizet’s initial
disappointment at the opera’s unfavorable critical reception had already been assuaged by
its popularity with audiences.
The plot follows the gypsy Carmen as she seduces the naïve soldier Don José,
who rejects his earlier love, leaves his military unit, and joins a gang of smugglers. After
Carmen abandons him for the bullfighter Escamillo, Don José kills her. Bizet’s friend
and fellow composer Ernest Guiraud assembled the two popular orchestral suites drawn
from Carmen in the wake of Bizet’s sudden death. While the first suite includes
instrumental interludes evoking the Spanish setting, the second suite recasts several of the
most popular vocal numbers as orchestral showpieces.
Gershwin: An American in Paris
George Gershwin (1898-1937), the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, grew up in
the melting pot of Brooklyn, where different languages, lifestyles, cuisines, and cultures
surrounded him throughout his childhood. Naturally, Gershwin’s musical life was
equally diverse. He would study classical music in his lessons, explore his nascent
popular melodic sensibilities at home, and hear international folk music and early jazz in
the street.
Gershwin was writing hit songs for Broadway by the time he was only 21, but he
also harbored aspirations to the concert hall. His Rhapsody in Blue changed music
history in 1924, with the energy and rhythm of jazz colliding with the form and
orchestration of classical music to create an unforgettable mix. The Concerto in F
appeared the next year, followed by An American in Paris in 1928.
An American in Paris was Gershwin’s first major instrumental piece that did not
feature his own instrument, the piano. It was also the longest single movement he had
composed, so he was relieved when it was immediately embraced by audiences and
musicians. Here is Gershwin’s account of the tone poem’s story:
My purpose here is to portray the impressions of an American
visitor in Paris as he strolls about the city, listens to various street noises,
and absorbs the French atmosphere.…
The opening gay section is followed by a rich blues with a strong
rhythmic undercurrent. Our American friend, perhaps after strolling into a
café and having a couple of drinks, has succumbed to a spasm of
homesickness. The harmony here is both more intense and simple than in
the preceding pages. This blues rises to a climax followed by a coda in
which the spirit of the music returns to the vivacity and bubbling
exuberance of the opening part with its impressions of Paris. Apparently
the homesick American, having left the café and reached the open air, has
disowned his spell of the blues and once again is an alert spectator of
Parisian life. At the conclusion, the street noises and French atmosphere
are triumphant.