anatomy of the orchestra
Transcription
anatomy of the orchestra
Young People’s Concert Series ANATOMY OF THE ORCHESTRA TEACHER’S GUIDE November 16, 17 & 18, 2010 9:45am & 11:10am LAURIE AUDITORIUM Page 1 Young People’s Concert Series ANATOMY OF THE ORCHESTRA TABLE OF CONTENTS Concert Program: Anatomy of the Orchestra 3 COMPOSER INFORMATION Bedřich Smetana Aram Khachaturian William Grant Still Richard Wagner Felix Mendelssohn Mikhail Glinka 4 6 8 10 12 14 CONDUCTOR BIO Ken-David Masur, Resident Conductor 16 ADDITIONAL TEACHING INFORMATION Vocabulary Page Systems of the Body: Families of the Orchestra Orchestra Map Four Families of the Orchestra Instrument Families Information Sheet 17 18 23 24 25 TEACHING ACTIVITIES Instrument Families Concert Etiquette Concert Sponsors Laurie Directions & Trinity Map 26 27 28 29 Page 2 Young People’s Concert Series ANATOMY OF THE ORCHESTRA Ken-David Masur, conductor CONCERT PROGRAM: Overture to The Bartered Bride Bedřich Smetana (1824-1884) “Waltz” from Masquerade Suite Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978) from Danzas de Panama I. Tamborito William Grant Still (1895-1978) “Arrival of the Guests at Wartburg” from Tannhäuser Richard Wagner (1813-1883) from Symphony No. 3, “Scottish” II. Vivace non troppo Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) Overture to Ruslan and Ludmila Mikhail Glinka (1804-1857) Page 3 Young People’s Concert Series ANATOMY OF THE ORCHESTRA Bedřich Smetana Born: March 2, 1824 - Litomyšl, Bohemia Died: May 12, 1884 - Prague Famous Works: Ma Vlast (My Homeland), The Bartered Bride (opera) B edřich Smetana was born into a poor family in a German-speaking area of Bohemia. His father had the job of Master Brewer, and when not working Bedřich’s father enjoyed hunting and playing the violin. On many evenings Bedřich heard his father and Bedřich Smetana his friends playing music. His father taught young Bedřich to play the violin and it was soon clear that Bedřich was a very talented musician. His father, however, did not want his son to become a professional musician and instead he was sent to school in Prague. At this point in history, Bohemia (now the Czech Republic) was controlled by the Hapsburg Empire. Much of the language and culture, especially in larger towns such as Prague, was heavily influenced by Austria and Germany. As the son of a brewer from the countryside, Smetana had a difficult time making friends and finding money to live on while he was in Prague. This was partly because he didn’t understand the Czech language as well as he did German. In order to make ends meet, he began to compose a few small works for one of the many string quartets that performed for parties in Prague. In 1840, Smetana first heard a recital by the great pianist, Franz Liszt. Smetana was awed by Liszt and decided to work at music with more enthusiasm. Soon, however, his father visited him in Prague and discovered that young Smetana was not doing his non-musical studies. His father sent Bedřich to live with his uncle in a small farming town called Plzeň [pronounced “Pilzen”]. During his time in Plzeň, Smetana managed to continue in his formal, non-musical studies while spending a great deal of time performing on the piano for members of the local society. When he graduated, he decided he wanted to become a professional musician so he moved back to Prague to begin his career. Once in Prague, he found he was too old to be accepted to the conservatory and too poor to afford private lessons. On top of that, he had recently come to understand that his lack of formal training was holding him back from being a successful musician. Eventually he found a position as a music teacher and continued his own piano and compositional studies at a small local music school. For years he tried to expand his career. He had a few pieces published, taught students and would sometimes play recitals. He was unable, however, to achieve the respect and income he was hoping for. In late 1856, he traveled to Göteburg [“Gahthen-burg”], Sweden where he started a new music school. The school was a mild success and Smetana stayed there for six years. Smetana returned to Bohemia for a short time when his first wife became ill, but unfortunately, she died on the voyage home. After only three months back in Prague, Smetana met and became engaged to Betty Ferdinandi, the young sister of his brother’s wife. He had returned to work at his music school in Göte- Page 4 Bedřich Smetana Born: March 2, 1824 - Litomyšl, Bohemia Died: May 12, 1884 - Prague Famous Works: Ma Vlast (My Homeland), The Bartered Bride (opera) burg, but when he married Betty she helped to convince him to return permanently to Prague. Smetana was also interested in returning to Prague because of Count Harrach, a Czech patriot who was Chairman of the Committee for the National Theatre. Count Harrach hoped to help the Czech national movement by offering a large prize for the best libretto and opera by a Czech composer on Czech historical and musical themes. Smetana was interested in producing uniquely Czech music, though he had a hard time properly speaking the Czech language. He immediately immersed himself in the musical activities of Prague and composed his first opera, “The Brandenburgers in Bohemia,” for Count Harrach’s competition. By the time the judging of the competition had been completed, “The Brandenburgers in Bohemia” had already made its first appearance in the Prague Provisional Theatre and it achieved a fair amount of favorable praise and financial success. The judges had little choice but to award the first prize to Smetana. Even before the premiere of his first opera, however, Smetana had begun to compose another opera based on a comical tale from the Czech countryside. The Bartered Bride was based on a short script by a friend of Smetana. The plot takes place in a village where Jeník, a farmer’s son, has fallen in love with Mařenka, another farmer’s daughter. Mařenka’s parents don’t approve and use a marriage broker to promise Mařenka to Vašek, the son of Micha, a rich man. As the story unfolds, Mařenka and Jeník use lots of tricks A Scene from The Bartered Bride to fool her parents, Vašek, and the marriage broker. Soon enough, the two lovers end up fooling each other and they fight. At the last minute, it is revealed that Vašek and Jeník are halfbrothers, and as a “son of Micha” Jeník is allowed to marry Mařenka. Jeník and Mařenka end up happily together. The Overture to The Bartered Bride was actually composed well before Smetana completed the entire opera, and therefore it uses only three themes from the opera itself: the marriage broker’s theme, the contract theme, and Jeník’s theme. The Bartered Bride did not have much success during its first performances and Smetana decided to rewrite some of the opera. Over the next four years, Smetana changed a lot of the opera to prepare for opening performances in France and Russia, among other places. It wasn’t until his fifth version of the opera was performed in Prague that the work found success with audiences. Today it is a part of the standard opera repertoire and is admired all over the world for its humorous descriptions of life in the Czech countryside. After The Bartered Bride, Smetana’s fame grew and he was soon known as the father of Czech opera. By 1874, however, Smetana had gone deaf and found himself isolated from the world and from music. His response to this tragedy was to write another of his greatest and most important works, Ma Vlast (My Homeland). He continued to compose and teach until his death in 1884. Page 5 Young People’s Concert Series ANATOMY OF THE ORCHESTRA Aram Khachaturian Born: June 6, 1903 - Tbilisi, Georgia, Imperial Russia Died: May 1, 1978 - Moscow, Russia Famous Works: Sabre Dance, Spartacus, Gayane A ram Khachaturian, a Soviet-Armenian composer, was born in Tbilisi, Georgia, Imperial Russia in 1903. His father was a bookbinder and the family had very little money, which limited Khachaturian’s musical experiences as a child. In 1922, Khachaturian enAram Khachaturian rolled in the biology department at the Moscow State University, however soon after his arrival, music instructors at the University noticed he had a unique musical gift. He enrolled in a cello class at the Gnessin Institute and his musical talents soared. While at the Institute, Khachaturian also found that he had a talent for composition. He continued his compositional studies at the Moscow Conservatory under Nikolai Myaskovsky in 1929. In 1933 Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev visited the Conservatory leaving a lasting impression on Khachaturian. Prokofiev was equally impressed with Khachaturian, taking some of the young composer’s work with him to Paris where it was instantly well received. Khachaturian’s trio for Clarinet, Violin and Piano was among the works performed in Paris. Khachaturian was accepted into the Soviet Composers Union in 1932 and held many important positions within the organization throughout his career. The Union had control over all musical conservatories, concert halls, theatres, and orchestras. Power over the musical profession was handled by the Union and was carefully monitored by the Communist Party. During the Communist rule musical freedom did not exist. Art and music were to be supportive of Communist principles and had to include patriotic and folkloric elements. Any change from these regulations considered as lacking anything that would appeal to the common people and was punishable. Khachaturian joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1943. Khachaturian’s music is very much like Armenian folk music yet stylistically follows traditions of the Russian National School. His earliest works, written in the late 1920s, consist mainly of incidental music for plays, some of those created by his brother Souren. Throughout his career, Khachaturian explored many different types of music. He wrote three ballets of which Gayane includes his most famous work, Sabre Dance. Khachaturian also wrote a handful of works for solo instrument and orchestra in which he follows the form and musical traditions of fellow Russian composers Alexander Borodin and Alexander Glazunov. His compositions also include three symphonies, a string quartet, a number of sonatas, several works for solo piano, and many vocal pieces. Additionally, Khachaturian had a soft spot for the theatre, composing music for over 20 dramatic plays in his career. He especially had a fondness for Shakespeare, writing music for three different Shakespearian plays: Macbeth, Otello and King Lear. In addition to his admiration for Shakespeare, Khachaturian also had deep respect for other Page 6 Aram Khachaturian Born: June 6, 1903 - Tbilisi, Georgia, Imperial Russia Died: May 1, 1978 - Moscow, Russia Famous Works: Sabre Dance, Spartacus, Gayane Russian artists including Russian Romantic poet and writer Mikhail Lermontov. In 1836, Lermontov wrote a play for the theatre titled Masquerade. The story is considered by many to be Lermontov’s best drama and is full of jealous misunderstandings. Inspired by the play, Aram Khachaturian composed the incidental music for a production in 1941. In 1944, selections from the music were pulled together to form the Masquerade Suite. Movements from the suite include a Waltz, Nocturne, Mazurka, Romance and Galop. The Waltz has a distinctively heavy Russian sound and the minor key is indicative of the jealousy and turmoil occurring in the story. Aram Khachaturian died in Moscow on May 1, 1978 and was buried in Yerevan, Armenia. His funeral was attended by thousands. Rather than the traditional funeral march, mourners at the funeral listened to music from Masquerade, music that he will forever be remembered by. Page 7 Young People’s Concert Series ANATOMY OF THE ORCHESTRA William Grant Still Born: May 11, 1895 - Woodville, Mississippi Died: December 3, 1978 - Los Angeles, California Famous Works: Symphony No. 1 “Afro-American”; Danzas de Panama W illiam Grant Still, an only child, was born in Woodville, Mississippi in 1895 into a family of very well-educated parents of mixed-racial descent: African, Native American, Spanish, Irish and Scottish. His father was a math profesWilliam Grant Still sor and performed as a local bandmaster. His mother was a teacher. William was very young, just a few months old, when his father died. His mother moved to Little Rock, Arkansas with William, and she took a job teaching literature in the high school there. William’s mother remarried in Little Rock, and her second husband loved music. He took William to many concerts of operettas and brought him recordings of classical music. As he was growing up, William’s grandmother sang African-American spirituals to him, so his musical experiences were quite varied. At the age of 14, William began taking violin lessons. When he was 16 years old, he graduated from high school and at the encouragement of his mother, he enrolled at Wilberforce University as a pre-medical student. Wilberforce was founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1856 and was the first predominantly African-American private university in the nation. Although he had high grades in his pre-med studies, soon he was spending most of his time in the musical activities at Wilberforce. He conducted the band and joined a string quartet. He also taught himself to play a number of other instruments, including the clarinet, oboe, double bass, cello and viola. He started writing music and began to think about a career composing classical music instead of a career as a doctor. When he was 20, William dropped out of school, got married and began making a living by performing jazz and ragtime, which were types of music his mother disliked. William and his wife, who eventually had four children, struggled to earn enough money to feed the family. Later, during the 1920s he worked for the dance-band leader Paul Whiteman and as an arranger in a band organized by W.C. Handy, who was known as “father of the blues.” William studied music for a time at Oberlin Conservatory of Music, but enlisted in the United States Navy in 1918, and served in World War I. He worked on a large ship and there met another sailor who played piano. William had his violin along aboard the ship and the two would sometimes play to entertain officers during dinner. He only stayed in the Navy about nine months, and then returned to Oberlin on a scholarship. By 1919 he was persuaded to go live in New York and work as an arranger at a music publishing firm. While there he also studied composing with the ultra-modern French composer, Edgar Varèse [pronounced: Var-aze]. William originally tried to write Page 8 William Grant Still Born: May 11, 1895 - Woodville, Mississippi Died: December 3, 1978 - Los Angeles, California Famous Works: Symphony No. 1 “Afro-American”; Danzas de Panama music in a modern style, but soon blended sounds from his African-American musical heritage with customary European classical ideas, and developed his own unique style of composition. One of his most famous pieces was his Symphony No. 1 “Afro-American Symphony.” It contained a mixture of African-American melodies that included themes from spirituals, jazz, and blues. It also had themes based on “call-and-response” styles popular in many forms of music, including spirituals and the blues. Although he was proud of his African-American heritage, William Grant Still wanted to be regarded first and foremost as an American composer. He felt that his race was just one part of him and he wanted to be seen as a whole person and musician. From composing his first works, he went on to write more than 150 pieces of music for orchestra, chamber groups, operas, and ballets, as well as songs and piano music. Around the time that William Grant Still moved to New York City, the “Harlem Renaissance,” an African-American cultural and intellectual movement, was flourishing in Harlem. Many African-American writers, artists and musicians were profoundly influenced by the “Harlem Renaissance.” William was one of them, and he also believed the rich, exciting culture of African -American literature, music and art An Artistic Scene from the “Harlem Renaissance” could change persistent ideas of racism in American. William Grant Still was greatly admired as a composer. He was also the first African-American to conduct a major American orchestra (the Los Angeles Philharmonic), the first to have a symphony performed by an American orchestra, and he was the first AfricanAmerican to conduct an orchestra in the Deep South, when he conducted the New Orleans Philharmonic Orchestra in 1955. William Grant Still wrote Danzas de Panama based on a collection of Panamanian folk themes put together by Elizabeth Waldo, a violinist and composer. Nothing like it was ever written for strings, as William try to give the instruments an interesting quality of sound, like the native instruments of Panama. Danzas de Panama had a Caribbean flavor throughout the piece, as well as reflecting melodic ideas from William Grant Still’s own mixed-race background. For the first movement, Tamborito, the rhythm was syncopated and jazzy, suggesting music Africans slaves had brought with them to various parts of the New World, including Panama. Eventually William Grant Still moved to Los Angeles, California and arranged music for movies. He spent the last few years of his life in a nursing home because of ill health, and he died at age 83 of heart failure. In 1974, when an interviewer asked William Grant Still what young students of all races should do if they wanted to be fine musicians, he responded that they should listen to all different kinds of music and from that experience, try to find their own individual musical expression. Page 9 Young People’s Concert Series ANATOMY OF THE ORCHESTRA R i c h a r d Wa g n e r Born: May 22, 1813 – Leipzig, Germany Died: February 13, 1883 – Venice, Italy Famous Works: Das Rheingold, Siegfried, Die Valkyrie, Götterdämmerung, Parsifal, The Flying Dutchman, Tristan and Isolde R ichard Wagner was the ninth child born to a German police official named Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Wagner and his wife, Johanna. During this period, much of what is present-day Germany was controlled by Napoleon and his French troops. Shortly after Wagner’s birth, Richard Wagner the combined forces of the Prussian, Austrian, Russian and Swedish armies drove Napoleon from the area. As a result of diseases spread by unhealthy conditions in the fields of battle, Wagner’s father, Carl Friedrich, died of typhus only a few months after Wagner was born. The following year, Wagner’s mother remarried, to an actor named Ludwig Geyer, who became a fatherfigure to Wagner and his brothers and sisters. Geyer was a painter, playwright and actor and inspired a few of Wagner’s siblings to go into acting. When Wagner was eight, however, Geyer died and Wagner spent nearly a year living with various relatives as his mother struggled to find an income for the family. Eventually, Wagner returned home to his mother and enrolled in a local school. When he was twelve he started his first regular music lessons, which had been delayed because Wagner’s mother did not want him going into the theatre or the arts like his siblings. Although he continued his studies, he often had to change schools as his mother and siblings’ theatre careers took them to a variety of locations, including Dresden and Prague. Wagner was very interested in literature and read works by many important writers, including E. T. A. Hoffmann and Jean Paul. These writers were interested in combining and expanding all the arts and so in addition to writing, they also composed. As Wagner grew older, he also became more and more interested in composition and began to study scores of Beethoven symphonies by rewriting entire scores by hand. In 1831, he enrolled at the University of Leipzig as a music student. Although Wagner’s interest in the university lay more in social contacts and discussions of ideas than in actual study, he did work with a composition teacher named Christian Theodor Weinlig who taught Wagner the basics of compositional methods. After only six months of teaching Wagner, Weinlig decided he had taught his pupil all he could and dismissed Wagner. By this point, Wagner was committed to the life of a composer and went on a tour of Europe. Eventually, he took a position as conductor of the opera theatre at Magdeburg, a Germany city along the Elba River. The opera company had little money and the singers and musicians lacked talent or style. However, the job offered Wagner the opportunity to compose new operatic works. He only stayed in Magdeburg for two seasons, but during this time he met his first wife, the singer Minna Planer. Wagner and Minna moved to several cities in Europe as they both attempted to further their careers. Throughout this period, Wagner and Minna often fought and were always in debt. Page 10 R i c h a r d Wa g n e r Born: May 22, 1813 – Leipzig, Germany Died: February 13, 1883 – Venice, Italy Famous Works: Das Rheingold, Siegfried, Die Valkyrie, Götterdämmerung, Parsifal, The Flying Dutchman, Tristan and Isolde In 1839, Wagner and Minna arrived in Paris where they both hoped to find work. While Wagner was working on his third opera, Rienzi, he also began writing articles in Parisian musical magazines. His debts continued to grow and in 1840 he was arrested and sent to debtors’ jail, where he finished the score of Rienzi. He managed to borrow enough from friends to get out of prison and soon thereafter he and Minna returned to Germany. In 1842, with the help of a number of friends, Rienzi was produced by the opera company of Dresden and met with great success. The Prussian King attended the second performance, and almost immediately Wagner was one of the best-known opera composers in Germany. Wagner used this new-found fame to obtain a position as orchestra director to the Royal Court of Saxony and to be sure his finances were in good shape. Wagner completed his opera Tannhäuser in 1845. It was one of three operas that helped make him a celebrity with the audiences in Germany and other countries. For his o p e r a Tannhäuser Wagner Scene from Tannhäuser made use of folklore, legends, and myths for the characters and settings. Based on a German medieval legend, the opera is about the knight Tannhäuser, a sinner who in the end finds love and forgiveness. The grand march from Tannhäuser, “Arrival of the Guests at Wartburg” portrays the arrival of the nobles at a great castle. In 1849, Wagner took part in an unsuccessful revolt against the Saxon King and was forced to flee to SwitPage 11 zerland. For the next twelve years he lived in exile in Switzerland where he continued to work on the four operas that would be called his Ring Cycle based on German mythology. Writing of these operas was an enormous project that took Wagner over twenty-six years to finish. Wagner knew that his Ring Cycle was a important accomplishment and he wanted to present the operas in a special location. He found a setting in the small town of Bayreuth where he was able to build a wonderful theatre for the operas. After the completion of his Ring Cycle, Wagner continued to write operas. In 1877 he moved to Italy to compose Parsifal, his final opera. The composition took four years to complete and less than six months after the work was premiered at Bayreuth, Wagner died of a heart attack. Young People’s Concert Series ANATOMY OF THE ORCHESTRA Felix Mendelssohn Born: February 3, 1809 - Hamburg, Germany Died: November 4, 1847 - Leipzig, Germany Famous Works: Symphony No. 3, “Scottish,” Symphony No. 4, “Italian,” A Midsummer Night’s Dream F elix Mendelssohn was born in 1809 in Hamburg, Germany, the son of a banker. His family was full of scholars, artists, and bankers. There was always much music in the Mendelssohn house, and his mother was his first music teacher. From an early age, Felix and his siblings received formal Felix Mendelssohn musical training. It quickly became clear however, that Felix and his older sister, Fanny, were exceptionally talented musicians. Fanny was a wonderful pianist and also composed music. In fact, she had some of her pieces published under Felix’s name. Since she was a woman it was harder for her to get her work published. Mendelssohn’s younger sister Rebecca was a singer, and his brother Paul was a rather good cellist. Local musicians would often stop in and play music with them. Mendelssohn could usually be found playing the piano for this group or standing on a stool and conducting them with a baton. At age nine, Felix made his first public appearance as a pianist. He also studied violin and organ and began to compose by age ten. Some of his other interests included learning several languages, swimming, riding, bowling, billiards, painting with watercolors, and dancing. By the time he was seventeen, he had already composed twelve symphonies, sonatas, concertos and lieder and was known throughout Germany as a child prodigy. When Mendelssohn was eleven, his teacher, Karl Friedrich Zelter, introduced him to Johann Wolfgang Goethe, the poet-philosopher. The seventy-two year old Goethe was so impressed with Mendelssohn that he treated him as an equal and they became close friends. Mendelssohn had a phenomenal memory, and probably remembered every word that Goethe ever said to him. Although he studied philosophy at the University of Berlin for three years, upon finishing school he decided to become a professional musician. After reading Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the age of seventeen, Mendelssohn was moved to write a musical transcription of the play. In 1826 he composed what would become the overture to the play; the rest of the play’s incidental music was not written until seventeen years later. The Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream was an instant success and boosted Mendelssohn’s reputation as a composer. When Mendelssohn was 20 years old, the overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream was to be performed in England. The score was carelessly left in a coach and disappeared. Mendelssohn calmly sat down and rewrote the entire score for the overture form memory. Every note proved to be the same as the orchestra parts. 1830, at the age of twenty-one and under the strict direction of his father, Mendelssohn set out on a “Grand Tour” of Europe. Now an extremely talented pianist and a well-respected conductor, he was, perhaps most importantly, a nobleman who was able Page 12 Felix Mendelssohn Born: February 3, 1809 - Hamburg, Germany Died: November 4, 1847 - Leipzig, Germany Famous Works: Symphony No. 3, “Scottish,” Symphony No. 4, “Italian,” A Midsummer Night’s Dream to move in all of the highest circles of society. Mendelssohn was sent on his “Grand Tour” in order to round out his artistic education and help him to make a decision about his future professional life. The first stops on Mendelssohn’s Grand Tour included England and Scotland. He visited the chapel of Holyrood Palace near Edinburgh, Scotland and wrote of his visit: “This evening in the deep twilight we went to the palace where Queen Mary lived and loved; there is a small room with a winding staircase leading up to it...The adjacent chapel has lost its roof; grass and ivy grow thickly within; and on the broken altar Mary was crowned Queen of Scotland. Everything there is in ruins and ramshackle, open to the blue sky. I think I have today found the opening of my Scottish Symphony.” After his visit to the palace, Mendelssohn immediately wrote down a few musical ideas for his Symphony No. 3, “Scottish.” From Scotland, Mendelssohn traveled on to Italy in 1830 and set aside the “Scottish” Symphony No. 3. He wrote in a letter, “The loveliest time of the year in Italy is the period from April 15 to May 15 . . . Who then can blame me for not being able to return to the mists of Scotland? I have therefore laid aside the symphony for the present.” It took him Hollyrood Palace 12 years to finish the 19th Century “Scottish” symphony, and he himself conducted the first performance on March 3, 1842. Unlike his other symphonies, Mendelssohn indicated that the movements should follow each other without pause. He wanted the symphony to express musically what he felt when he visited the palace. The piece opens with the slow, sad “Holyrood Palace Theme.” Moving into an Allegro typical of a Romantic symphonic first movement, Mendelssohn builds the shape with notes seemingly wrapped in dense Scottish mist. The Scherzo movement, with an entirely different mood is sunny and full of energy. This movement highlights the orchestra as a whole as well as the woodwind instruments and includes the most obviously Scottish melodic sounds. The Scherzo moves directly into the slow, mournful third movement which is followed by a lively finale that includes a look back at the “Holyrood Palace Theme.” As his fame grew, Mendelssohn was appointed the administrator, music director and conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus concerts in 1835 and founded the Leipzig Conservatory in 1842. Between composing, conducting engagements and teaching, Mendelssohn soon became run-down by his frenetic schedule. He passed away on November 4, 1847 from a series of strokes, six months after the death of his beloved sister, Fanny. Page 13 Young People’s Concert Series ANATOMY OF THE ORCHESTRA Mikhail Glinka Born: June 1, 1804 - Novospasskoye, Smolensk, Russia Died: February 15, 1857 - Berlin, Germany Famous Works: Ruslan and Ludmilla (opera), Life for the Tsar (opera) M ikhail Glinka’s father was an ex-army officer who had retired after getting married. Soon after Mikhail was born, he was put into the care of his grandmother and seldom saw his parents over the next few years. During this period the Mikhail Glinka only music he was exposed to was either church music or folk music, often sung by his nurse. After his grandmother died, his parents began caring for young Mikhail again and he was exposed to a variety of arts, including drawing, architecture and music. He began to have music training on the piano and violin as a part of the general, well-rounded education that his parents hoped to provide him. Eventually he went to a boarding school in St. Petersburg where he started his musical studies in a social and political environment that was full of revolutionary ideas from Napoleon and the French revolution. Many Russians had begun to examine the social forces in Russia that provided great wealth and power to a few select families, while keeping most people poor as serfs and servants. Glinka graduated from school in 1822 and decided to remain in St. Petersburg where he hoped to satisfy his growing love for music. He began seriously composing and took composition lessons paid for by his father. His father eventually insisted the Mikhail take a job and so, two years after graduating, he got a government job in the Council of Com- munications. He worked short hours in this position and continued to spend most of his energy composing. After a short-lived revolution against the Tsar in December of 1825, Glinka took a leave of absence from his job and began to travel. Soon after returning to work, he quarreled with his boss and quit the job. From that point on he focused all of his energies on the performance and composition of music. He realized that in order to become a better composer he needed better training and experience, so he began to travel throughout Europe, spending time in Italy and Germany. Upon his return to Russia he began composing his first opera, Life for the Tsar. When the opera was first produced in St. Petersburg, with the Tsar in attendance, it was an immediate success both for the music and for the story, which was a patriotic story of sacrifice in the name of Russia and the Tsar. Almost overnight, Glinka became one of the most famous composers in Russia and was appointed Choirmaster for the Imperial Chapel, a position that secured his social and financial position, in 1837. Soon after receiving this appointment, Glinka began composing the opera Ruslan and Ludmilla. Based on a romantic fairly tale in verse by the great Russian author, Puskin, Ruslan and Ludmilla provided Glinka with a vivid and suitably Russian story to set to music. The plot revolves around Ruslan and Ludmilla who are about to be married. During the feast before their wedding, Ludmilla is kidnapped by the evil dwarf, Chernomor. After a series of trials along the way, Ruslan arrives at Chernomor’s castle. There he defeats the dwarf in battle Page 14 Mikhail Glinka Born: June 1, 1804 - Novospasskoye, Smolensk, Russia Died: February 15, 1857 - Berlin, Germany Famous Works: Ruslan and Ludmilla (opera), Life for the Tsar (opera) by cutting Chernomor’s beard, the source of his evil powers, with a magic sword he has discovered on his journey. Unfortunately, Chernomor has put Ludmilla under a spell and it is not until they return to Kiev and Ruslan finds a magic ring that Ludmilla awakens. The complicated story made the opera difficult for audiences and it has never had the same success as Life for the Tsar. The Overture to Ruslan and Ludmilla, however, has become a favorite A scene from in concert halls all over the Ruslan and Ludmilla world. The Overture, with two separate themes, is a fast and sparkling portrayal of the main characters from the opera. The first theme is taken from the same celebration music that comes at the very end of the opera. This is quickly followed music from a lyrical aria by Ruslan. Near the end of the overture, the brass play a forceful downhill scale suggesting the evil Chernomor, but this is soon drowned out in general rejoicing as played by the entire orchestra. Page 15 Young People’s Concert Series ANATOMY OF THE ORCHESTRA Ken-David Masur, Resident Conductor Ken Masur, San Antonio Symphony’s Resident Conductor, is a “brilliant and commanding” [from the Leipziger Volkszeitung] conductor with “unmistakable charisma” [from the Bild]. As the San Antonio Symphony’s Resident Conductor for the 2010-2011 season, Masur will conduct performances in the San Antonio Symphony’s Classics Series, Young People’s Concert Series, the Family Classics series, Educational and Community concerts. During the 2004-2005 season, Masur served as Assistant Conductor of the Orchestre National de France and has since then been a frequent guest conductor of the Chœur de Radio France. He led the Youth Orchestra of Opole, Poland as part of the 2007 annual EuroSilesia Festival. Concerts in prior seasons have included Masur’s debut with the Orchestre National de Toulouse, the Rio de Janeiro Symphony, as well as with the Fort Bend Symphony in Texas. Born in Leipzig, Germany, Ken Masur began his comprehensive musical training at age 6 with the piano and at age 9 as boy-soprano in the legendary Gewandhaus Children’s Choir. After obtaining his Bachelor of Arts in music from Columbia University in New York City in 2002, he studied voice for five years as a master student of renowned bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” in Berlin. Masur has given numerous Lied recitals in New York, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Berlin, Detmold, and at the Festival “les muséiques” Basel. Page 16 Young People’s Concert Series ANATOMY OF THE ORCHESTRA Ken-David Masur, Conductor Vocabulary Page: Folk Music: Music, usually of simple character handed down among the common people, with deep roots in the culture of a nation or region. Frenetic: Frantic, frenzied rapid or nervous action. Incidental Music: Music composed to accompany the action or dialogue of a drama or to fill intervals between scenes or acts of a play or opera. Lieder: German art song for solo voice and piano. Medieval: Pertaining to the Middle Ages; a period in European history from about 5th to the 16th century. Opera: A theatre piece set to music, many times with scenery, costumes, and dancing. Operetta: A theatrical production with many musical similarities to opera, but with a less serious and more popular musical style. Overture: A musical introduction to an large work, such as an opera, or a similar orchestral work intended for independent concert performance. Prussian: Relating to a historical region and kingdom that at the height of its power was located in what is present-day northern Germany and Poland. Scherzo: Meaning “joke” in Italian; a lively, playful movement in quick triple meter. Serfs: A member of the lower class in medieval Europe, bound to work on a master’s land. Syncopated: The temporary upsetting of the meter of a composition by shifting accents from strong beats to weaker beats. Tsar: A king or emperor, especially one of the former emperors of Russia. Waltz: A very popular ballroom dance from the 18th and 19th centuries. It is in moderately fast triple meter, in which the dancers revolve in perpetual circles, taking one step to each beat. Page 17 Young People’s Concert Series ANATOMY OF THE ORCHESTRA Systems of the Body: Families of the Orchestra The human body is a fascinating and complicated set of interrelated organs, structures and materials that work together to do all of the wonderful things that a human being can do. When we talk about certain aspects of the human body we often talk about different systems. A system is a group of interacting or interrelated elements that form a complex whole. For instance, the digestive system includes everything within the body that deals with the digestion of food; from the mouth that initially helps to break food up into smaller chunks to the stomach that helps transfer nutrients from the food into the body. There are many specialized systems such as the nervous system, the respiratory system and the muscular system that have many individual components, but also work together with other systems to allow the human body to function. The Circulatory System and the Percussion Family: Heartbeat of the Orchestra All living organisms are made up of tiny self-contained units called cells. Just like your body as a whole, each of the millions of cells in your body needs nutrients (food) and oxygen (air) to survive. The cells also produce waste which must be taken away. In order to bring nutrients and oxygen to your cells there is a system of a pump and tubes that runs throughout your body. This is called the circulatory system because it circulates blood throughout your body. In the circulatory system there are three types of tubes: arteries that carry blood that is filled with nutrients and oxygen to your cells, veins that carry the blood back after the cells have taken out the oxygen, and nutrients and capillaries which connect the arteries and veins, helping distribute the nutrients and oxygen A Model of the Human Heart to all of your cells. When you look at your wrist you can probably see some blue lines and maybe some red lines moving up towards your hands. Those blue lines are the veins bringing blood back after feeding the cells in your hand and the red lines are the arteries bringing blood from the heart to all the cells in your body. In many ways, the symphony orchestra works the same way as the human body. When you attend an orchestra concert, you see a group of about eighty people on stage playing many different kinds of instruments. At first, you might hear the entire orchestra as only one sound, but if you listen carefully you will realize that there are different parts of the orchestra that work together in different ways. All the individual musicians of the orchestra are grouped into four general families. Each of the four families of the orchestra function in much the same way that systems of the body function; within each family, the individual musicians work together to make sure their family is working. The orchestra only functions correctly if all four families are working correctly. The most important part of the circulatory system is he heart. The heart acts as a pump to make sure that the blood Let us explore how some of the systems of the hu- will flow through all the veins and arteries. The heart is man body relate to the families of the orchestra. divided up into two halves and each half has two secPage 18 Systems of the Body: Families of the Orchestra tions, the ventricle and the atrium. The atrium helps bring blood into the heart and the ventricle pumps it back out. After being pumped out of the heart, blood travels through the lungs, a part of the respiratory system, where it picks up the oxygen that all the cells of your body need to survive. It also will pass Arteries in the Body near the small intestine, part of the digestive system, where the blood picks up nutrients to pass to the cells. The Percussion Family In many ways, the equivalent of blood in the “body” of an orchestra is rhythm. Rhythm is by definition the movement of music through time and it provides the “pulse” that allows all of the instruments of the orchestra to play together. Without rhythm, all of the many individual instruments of the orchestra would not be able work together, just as in the human body, without blood, the individual cells would die. The instrument family that is usually most responsible for providing the rhythm of the orchestra is the percussion family. The percussion family is made up of all the instruments that produce sound by being struck. Percussion instruments can either have a pitch, like the xylophone, or be un-pitched, like the snare drum The Marimba is in the Percussion Family or bass drum. With- out a definite pitch, those percussion instruments are focused entirely on rhythm. Composers know that because percussion instruments can play quite loudly and are not usually distracted by pitches, they provide an invaluable service by delivering rhythm to the orchestra in much the same way that the circulatory system delivers oxygen and nutrients to the cells in the human body. In fact, many people consider the beating of the human heart to have been the very first percussion instrument. The Respiratory System and the Brass and Woodwind Family: Breathing Life into Music As we have already learned, in order for the human body to survive, oxygen and nutrients are required. The circulatory system brings these things in the blood to every one of the millions of cells in your body, but how does oxygen get into your body? The respiratory system is responsible A Diagram of the Lungs for bringing oxygen from the outside world into your body and then making it possible for the oxygen to be transferred to the blood. We are living in a sea of air. The air that we live in is made up of many different kinds of gases including oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide. Nitrogen doesn’t do much to the human body and carbon dioxide is actually poisonous to the human body in large enough doses, but as we have seen, oxygen is required to keep the body alive. The respiratory system is made up of the nose, the mouth, the throat, the windpipe and the lungs. When Page 19 Systems of the Body: Families of the Orchestra you breathe air in, it travels through your nose or mouth, down your throat and windpipe and into your lungs. Inside your lungs, the tubes that have brought the air into your body start branching out again and again and soon they look like an upside-down tree inside your chest. At the end of the smallest tubes there are small clusters of tiny bags. Inside your lungs there are over three-hundred- million of these tiny bags. The bags are so small and thin that the oxygen passes from inside the bag to the tiny blood vessels on the outside of the bag. Once the oxygen has been passed from the lungs to the blood, it travels throughout the body and keeps cells alive. Unlike the heart in the circulatory system, the lungs are not a muscle and cannot act like a pump for the air. Instead, a sheet of muscle called the diaphragm, that lies in your chest underneath the lungs ,expands and contracts. When you breathe in, your diaphragm pushes down into your chest, providing room for the air to enter your body. When you breathe out, the diaphragm pushes up and makes the air leave your body. The air around us not only has oxygen in it, is also has tiny bits of dirt, dust and germs. When you breathe in through your nose, some of the dirt and dust gets filtered out as it passes over a layer of sticky mucus. Inside the windpipe there are tiny hair-like surfaces that also help to filter out bits of dust and dirt. By the time the air gets to your lungs it has been well cleaned by your respiratory system. Woodwinds and Brass Families In the center of orchestra there are two families of instruments that use air to make music. Both the woodwind and the brass families make sounds by The Brass Family creating columns of vibrating air in their instruments. Just as the lungs provide the oxygen that is critical for the health of the human body, the woodwind and brass families often play solo lines that provide beautiful melodies, the oxygen of the orchestra. The woodwind family is made up of flutes, oboes, clarinets and bassoons. There are usually two or three of each of these instruments in the orchestra. The brass family is made up of the French horns, trumpets, trombones and tuba. There are usually four horns, three trumpets, three trombones and one tuba. These instruments often play solo lines, but they also work together as a unit to provide a vital part of the overall orchestral sound. The Skeletal and Muscular Systems and the String Family: Backbone of the Orchestra The skeleton is made up of 206 bones that form a strong, but flexible framework for your body. The skeleton supports the body and protects important organs within the body from harm. Bones are actually living organisms that have their own cells and blood supply. In fact, inside your bones is a substance called bone marrow that makes the red blood cells for the rest of your body. Your bones fit together in many different ways and are held together by tough, fibrous tissue called ligaments. Although bones may be attached to each other with ligaments, there is usually a soft material called cartilage between the bones to prevent them from rubbing against each other. Cartilage is found in many parts of your body, even in your nose! There are different types of joints in your body where bones connect. For instance, the joint in your neck is called a pivot joint because the bones in your neck allow you to pivot your head around. The joint behind your knee is called a hinge joint because it acts like a door hinge, swinging back and forth. A third kind of Page 20 Systems of the Body: Families of the Orchestra joint is the ball and socket joint. This joint can be found in your shoulder and allows movements in many directions. The Muscular System Every movement that you make, from jumping up and down to blinking your eye, uses muscles. Your muscular system is connected directly to your skeleton in many places. The more than 640 muscles in your body work in a very simple way - when they get instructions from your brain, they contract. Every muscle has to work in a pair with another muscle because muscles can only pull, not push. For instance, when you straighten your arm, the muscles, called triceps, on the bottom of your arm pull the arm down. When you bend your arm, your triceps relax and the muscles on the top of your arm, the biceps, contract and pull your arm into a bent position. Every muscle is connected to two or more bones in your body by fibrous tissues called tendons. By connecting your muscles to your bones, tendons allow your muscles to work to move your body. Systems of the Body: Families of the Orchestra The String Family In many ways, the string family of the orchestra acts like the muscular and skeletal systems in the body. When you look at an orchestra, one of the first things that you will notice is that are many string players all over the stage. In fact, string players make up more than half of the entire orchestra. The Viola is Part of the String Family Unlike the woodwinds , brass and even percussion players, in the string family many people will play exactly the same part. Like the skeleton in your body, the string family often provides support for the woodwind, brass or percussion family to play their individual melodies. The Nervous System, Concertmasters, Principal Players and the Conductor: Directing Things The nervous system is a massive communication network that controls how the different parts of your body work. All through your body there are long, thin cells called neurons that use electricity to transmit information between your brain and all the many parts of your body. Neurons first send their information to the spinal cord, which is at the center of the nervous system is a large bundle of nerves in your spine, and then up to your brain where the information is processed and stored. The brain works like a very complicated computer that makes The Brain is at the center of the nervous system billions of computations each second. Your brain receives the information from your eyes, hands and feet, and figures out what you are seeing, hearing or touching. Different parts of the brain perform different functions. For instance, the large part of your brain at the front of your skull is where you think about things, while the large portion at the back of your skull is where your brain interprets signals from neurons in your eyes. The Conductor, Concertmaster and Principal Players Just as the body uses neurons to convey messages from the body to the brain and from the brain and Page 21 Systems of the Body: Families of the Orchestra the body, in an orchestra there is a system musicians of the orchestra to the conducIn many ways, the conductor acts as the who usually decides how fast or slow to conductor sends out his or her signals to ton. If you watch a conductor’s hands and be able to see when the conductor wants faster or slower. The Conductor is the “Brain” of the Orchestra of sending information from the individual tor and from the conductor to the orchestra. “brain” of the orchestra. It is the conductor play a piece, or how loud or soft to play. The the orchestra using his or her hands and babaton very closely during a concert you will the orchestra to get louder or softer or to play The musician who sits immediately to the left of the conductor and who stands up when it is time for the orchestra to tune is called the concertmaster. The concertmaster is the leader of the musicians on stage. The concertmaster gets the signals from the conductor and tries to show the rest of his or her section how to actually play the notes based on the signals the conductor is giving. Each section of the string family – first violins, second violins, violas, cellos, basses – has their own principal player who is in charge of interpreting the signals from the conductor and the concertmaster. Each member of the section must therefore follow the signals they get from the conductor, concertmaster and most importantly, their principal player. Just as the nervous system is responsible for receiving and sending the signals that control every function of your body, there is an internal system of conductor, concertmaster and principal players within an orchestra that is set up to control all the functions of the orchestra and the music it performs. Page 22 Page 23 Four Families of the Orchestra Woodwind Family Brass Family French Horn Clarinet Trumpet Bassoon Trombone Tuba Flute Oboe Percussion Family String Family Timpani Violin Xylophone Viola Triangle Harp Cello Snare Drum Bass Page 24 Bass Drum Young People’s Concert Series ANATOMY OF THE ORCHESTRA Instrument Families Information Sheet The BRASS family is one of the oldest families of the orchestra and includes the trumpet, French horn, tuba, and trombone, which are all made of brass! Sound is produced when a brass player buzzes his or her lips into a cup-shaped mouthpiece to produce vibrating air. The vibrating air then travels through a long metal tube that modifies and amplifies the vibrations. In order to change pitch, brass players use two techniques. One is to change the speed that they buzz their lips. The other is to change the length of the tubing that they are blowing air through. They are able to change the length of tubing either by pressing a key to open a valve, as with a trumpet, or by using a slide to physically increase or decrease the length of tubing, as with a trombone. Brass instruments have a very sweet and round sound. Then can also play very loudly and are often used in the most exciting parts of a piece. The Woodwind family includes the flute, clarinet, oboe and bassoon. This family produces sound by blowing a vibrating column of air inside some form of tube. In the past, woodwind instruments were all made out of wood, but now some instruments, such as the flute, are made out of metal. Woodwinds create the vibrating column of air in different ways. Flutes blow across the top of an open hole. Clarinets blow between a reed – usually a small, flat piece of bamboo – against a fixed surface. That is why clarinets are sometimes called “single-reed” instruments. Bassoons and oboes blow between two reeds that vibrate against each other. That is why bassoons and oboes are sometimes called “double-reed” instruments. Woodwinds usually change the pitch of their instruments by changing the length of the tube they are blowing the vibrating air through. They most often change the length by opening and closing holes using keys on their instruments. Woodwind instruments have a very beautiful, singing sound. They are often used to play solo parts during symphonies when their unique tonal qualities can be heard even if the entire orchestra is playing. The String family is made up of the violin, viola, cello bass and harp. Instruments in this family produce sound by (you guessed it!) vibrating strings! The strings are vibrated in two ways. One way to produce vibrations is to use a bow made out horsehair stretched on a wood stick to rub the strings and produce vibrations. The other way is to pluck the string, usually with the hand. This is called “Pizzicato.” The pitch is changed on string instruments by adjusting the length of the string. This is usually accomplished by putting fingers down at some point on the string to shorten the length of the vibrating string. String instruments have a very mellow, rich sound. There are many string players in an orchestra because each instrument alone does not have a very loud sound compared to other instrument families. Often strings will play a beautiful melody, but sometimes the strings play the harmony parts. The Percussion family is probably the most varied family in the orchestra. Sound on percussion instruments is created by physically hitting, rubbing or shaking either a solid material, like a metal triangle, or a membrane, like the top of a snare drum. The membranes used to be made out of animal skins, but today most drums use a synthetic material. Only a few percussion instruments produce a specific pitch. Pitched percussion instruments that use a solid material, like a xylophone, change pitches when hit with different sized materials. Pitched percussion instruments that use a membrane, like a timpani, change pitch when the tension of the membrane is changed. There are many different kinds of percussion instruments used in an orchestra, including the snare drum, maracas, and sometimes even metal parts from a car! Percussion instruments produce many different types of sounds, but they are usually used in an orchestra to provide rhythm for the music. Often at the most exciting part of a piece there are many percussion instruments playing. Page 25 Young People’s Concert Series ANATOMY OF THE ORCHESTRA Teaching Activity: Instrument Families Teaching Objective: Students will learn to identify and understand the different instrument families and their place in the orchestra. Materials: Orchestra Map page from Teacher’s Guide The Four Families of the Orchestra page from the Teacher’s Guide Instrument Families page from the Teacher’s Guide Recordings of an orchestra, especially upcoming Young People’s Concert repertoire Preparatory Exercise: Discuss with the class the meaning of “family.” Discuss different types of families; their immediate and extended family, the “family” of the school or class, a “family” of cars by a car manufacturer, etc. Discuss how families are defined and how certain characteristics are shared and others are not shared within a “family.” Teaching Sequence: 1. Hand out copies or display the Four Families of the Orchestra Page and the Instrument Families page. 2. Go over these pages and discuss the various characteristics each instrument family. 3. Divide the class into four groups, each representing one of the instrument families. Hand out copies or display the Orchestra Map and have the groups arrange themselves in the same placement as they would be in the orchestra. 4. Play a recording of an orchestral piece. Instruct the students to listen specifically to their instrument family. Have them note when they heard their family, what kind of sounds they made, what type of timbre that produce, how often they played, etc. 5. Have the class sing a simple song, i.e. “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” or “Jingle Bells.” Instruct the class to sing the song again and try to have each group sing the way they think their instrument family would sound. 6. Have the class sing the song again and act as conductor, showing different groups when to sing and how loud or soft to sing. 7. Before attending the Young People’s Concert, remind the students of their instrument families and instruct them to watch and listen especially closely to their family. Culminating Activity: After the concert discuss with the class the way their instrument family looked and sounded at the concert. Discuss how it met or didn’t meet their expectations. Co-Curricular Connection/TEKS: (All numbers refer to the Knowledge and Skills section of the TEKS) Fine Arts - Music Knowledge and skills 4th Grade –1 (A, B) 5th Grade –1 (A, B) Page 26 Young People’s Concert Series ANATOMY OF THE ORCHESTRA Teaching Activity: Concert Etiquette Teaching Objective: Students will examine, discuss and practice appropriate concert behavior in different settings. Preparatory Activities: 1. Ask the students to list places or situations where they might be part of an audience. Solicit examples such as a rock concert, tennis match, football game, golf tournament, or sitting at home watching television with the family. Create a list of answers where everyone can see them. 2. Discuss the way audience behavior in various settings would be different. Discuss how different venues or activities have different expectations for audience behavior. Discuss how an audience can positively or negatively affect the performer/athlete. Teaching Sequence: 1. Assign a group of two or more students, in front of the class, to act as athletes or performers at various venues For example, have two students pretend to be playing tennis. 2. Instruct the rest of the class to pretend that they are the audience for the event being portrayed. Instruct the “audience” to show their appreciation for the pretend performers/athletes at the front of the class. 3. Critique the “audience” behavior and discuss why certain behavior was appropriate or inappropriate for the situation. Talk about audience reactions such as applause, yelling or whistling and when it is appropri ate or inappropriate. 4. Ask the performers to tell the class how the “audience” behavior affected their efforts. Culminating Activity: Talk to the students about the upcoming San Antonio Symphony concert. Discuss with them what they should expect to happen and how they can appropriately show their appreciation for the Symphony. Evaluation: Were students able to understand how and why audience behavior might be different in different settings and venues? Did they understand the importance of their role as an audience member? Co-Curricular Connection/TEKS: (All numbers refer to the Knowledge and Skills section of the TEKS) Fine Arts – Music Grade 4 – 6 (C) Grade 5 – 6 (C) Fine Arts – Theater Grade 4 – 2 (A), 5 (A) Grade 5 – 1 (F), 5 (A) Page 27 Young People’s Concert Series ANATOMY OF THE ORCHESTRA Ken-David Masur, Conductor Sponsors: G.A.C. Halff Foundation George W. Brackenridge Foundation Gilbert and Ruth Lang Charitable Fund of the San Antonio Area Foundation Citigroup Texas Foundation Alfred S. Gage Foundation and Page 28 Page 29