Program Notes - Symphony Silicon Valley

Program Notes - Symphony Silicon Valley

PROGRAM NOTES for “It’s About Time” (March, 2015)
John Stafford Smith (1750 – 1836)
Francis Scott Key (1779 - 1843)
The Star-Spangled Banner
The Star-Spangled Banner is the official song
of the United States — our national anthem.
The words come from a poem called Defence
of Fort M'Henry. An American lawyer named
Francis Scott Key wrote it on the back of a
letter he had in his pocket, after watching
British ships fire on an American fort during the
War of 1812. The poem was given the tune of
a well-known British song that had been written
by John Stafford Smith for a men's club in London. The new song was
named The Star-Spangled Banner and became very popular. It was chosen
by Congress to be our national anthem in 1931.
The poem has four verses, but today we just sing the first one. At many
sports events like baseball or hockey games, you will hear our national
anthem sung before the game begins. At the Symphony, the whole audience
sings it before the first concert every fall. In case you don't know the words,
here they are:
Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
—1— Johann Strauss II (1825 - 1899)
Unter Donner und Blitz (Thunder and Lightning) Polka, op.* 324
Unter Donner und Blitz means “Under Thunder and Lightning.” It was written
in 1868 and you may have heard it before. It has been used in everything
from cartoons and movies to circus performances. It is a fast polka, a kind of
dance, written in 2/4 time, that makes you want to get up and gallop around
the room. This type of polka is sometimes called the “explosion” polka. It
certainly sounds like it could explode at any minute with all its drums and
cymbal crashes!
Johann Strauss lived in Vienna, the capital city of Austria, in the 19th century.
There he wrote more than 500 waltzes,
polkas, and other kinds of dance
tunes. Because of his music, waltzes
became hugely popular in Vienna, and
his polkas came close behind. In fact,
he is often called "The Waltz King."
Before Strauss, both waltzes and
polkas were dances for farmers and
country people. His music made them
the favorite dances of the nobles and
royalty of Europe. Strauss's father and
brother were also composers, but he
was the most famous of all of them.
Today in Vienna and all around the world, people still celebrate New Year's
Eve by going to formal dances or balls, where couples whirl around the floor
to Johann Strauss's dance music.
* Op. stands for opus, a word that means 'work.' A composer's first published composition
would be labeled opus 1 ('first work'). Then the second piece would be opus 2, and so on.
—2— Georges Bizet (1838 - 1875)
Danse Boheme from Carmen
This music is from an opera* named
Carmen, about a Gypsy woman in
Spain. Danse Boheme means “Gypsy
Dance.” When Carmen sings it in a
tavern full of her friends, we can hear
the Gypsy women dance and whirl.
Their bright red and orange dresses
flash in the light. The coins sewn into
their clothes and their copper rings
and bracelets glitter as they move,
and the Gypsy men are bewitched as
they watch. The music starts so softly
that you can hardly hear it. But listen:
as it gets louder and faster, you can
almost see the Gypsies dance. Danse
Boheme is a waltz in 3/4 time.
Carmen's first performance was in Paris in 1875. At first people did not like
the opera. They thought the story was shocking, because the Gypsy woman
Carmen seemed dangerous, and the ending was tragic. Just a few weeks
after its first performance, Georges Bizet, its young composer, died. Soon
afterwards, his opera became wildly popular.
Bizet was born in Paris. He was a child wonder in music, and went to the
most important music school in France when he was just nine years old. To
earn his living he played piano for singers and worked on other people's
music. But he also won many prizes for his own music in his short life, and
Carmen is still one of the best loved of all operas.
* An opera is a story acted out on stage, like a play. However unlike plays or musicals, all
the words are sung instead of spoken. Dances are often included in operas.
—3— Sergei Prokofiev (1891 - 1953)
March from The Love for Three Oranges
The Love for Three Oranges is an opera that tells the story of a prince who
has made a wicked witch angry. She sends him to look for three oranges.
To his surprise, he finds a princess hidden in each one. Of course, he falls in
love with the third princess. But this is a fairy tale, so he has many
adventures before he can marry her. Prokofiev, who wrote the opera, uses it
to make fun of many older operas.
Because we have two feet, it is easiest to walk
or march to a count of 2/4 (one, two / one, two /
one, two), or 4/4 (one, two, three, four / one,
two, three, four). The orchestra will play you
the most famous music in this opera, a March
in 4/4 time. As you listen to it, picture
everybody in the price's palace marching stiffly
about, looking important and a little silly.
Prokofiev was born in 1891 in a country called
Ukraine, which belonged to Russia then. He
lived for many years in the United States and in France. Finally he returned
to Russia to spend the rest of his life. He is one of the greatest composers of
the 20th century, who wrote everything: symphonies, operas, music for
movies and much more. He wrote one of his most famous works for children,
a story about Peter and the Wolf. Each character in the story – Peter, his
grandfather, a bird, a duck and a cat, a group of hunters, and of course: the
wolf – has his own tune or theme that is always played by one kind of
instrument. For example, the bird's tune is played by a flute. If you ever hear
Peter and the Wolf, it might remind you of the March from The Love for Three
Oranges.
—4— Lalo Schifrin (b. 1932)
Mission: Impossible Suite (arranged by
M. Townend)
Mission: Impossible was first a famous
TV series and then a movie franchise.
Both tell stories about a group of spies
and inventors and adventurers. They
travel around the world trying to solve
the most difficult and dangerous crimes – impossible missions. The stories
are filled with bad guys, gunfights, and explosions. Can you feel the danger
when you listen to the music? It begins with drums that sound almost like an
army is coming. Then come the big brass instruments. What do you think
they are saying? Is it a warning? Then the flutes begin their song and things
start moving very fast. Can you see people running? This music is written in
5/4 time. Lalo Schifrin, who wrote the music, joked that it is for people with
five legs. Does it feel jerky to you? Does that make it more exciting? More
frightening?
Schifrin writes and conducts music, and plays piano. He has won many
prizes for his music for movies and TV, but the most famous of all is this
music for Mission: Impossible.
—5— Manuel de Falla (1876 - 1946)
El sombrero de tres picos
(The Three-Cornered Hat)
El sombrero de tres picos (The
Three-Cornered Hat) is a ballet* with
music written by Manuel de Falla in
1917. It tells the story of a foolish
judge in a small Spanish village
whose three-cornered hat shows his
importance. He thinks he is very
grand and is sure that all the ladies
like him. One who doesn't like him is
the village miller's wife. When the judge tries to arrest the miller, everything
gets confused. The judge ends up in the miller's clothes, and finally he is the
one who almost gets arrested. Most of us think it serves him right.
The music that you will hear is written in 6/8 time. It is called the Jota (Final
Dance) and comes at the end of the ballet. De Falla learned to play piano
from his mother and grandfather when he was a child, and on your classroom
CD, the Jota is played on the piano. At the Symphony concert, you will hear
the full orchestra play the music.
Many think that De Falla is the greatest twentieth century Spanish composer.
In Madrid, Spain's capital city, he studied music from different parts of
Spain—especially flamenco from Andalusia. Later he lived in Paris and
learned from many famous French composers. Other great artists worked
with him on the ballet El sombrero de tres picos. One of these was the
Spanish painter Pablo Picasso, who designed its sets and costumes.
* A ballet is a story told without words, by dancers acting and dancing on stage.
—6— Dave Brubeck (1920 - 2012)
Unsquare Dance (arranged by Christopher Brubeck)
Dave Brubeck was one of the most famous jazz musicians of all time, a
pianist, bandleader, and composer. He was born just 50 miles north of San
Jose, in Concord, California, and went to school in Oakland. He grew up as a
cowboy in Northern California (his father was a champion roper, which means
a cowboy who ropes cattle from horseback). But Dave fell in love with music
when he was very young. He never liked reading written music. Instead he
learned it by ear, and remembered it his whole long life.
Different kinds of jazz have their own
labels, and Brubeck's music is part of
"Cool Jazz," or "West Coast Jazz." His
music was complicated; it broke rules
and went on adventures. It is also easy
to listen to and full of melody, like song.
Brubeck took his jazz groups to perform
all over the world. He also wrote
hundreds of works, and recorded many
of them. His best-known recording was
called "Time Out," and the most famous
piece of music on it is called 'Take Five,’
which is in the meter 5/4. Brubeck liked to experiment with unusual meters.
The piece that you will hear Symphony Silicon Valley perform is called
'Unsquare Dance,' and it is written in 7/4! He wrote other works in 13/4 and
9/8.
You can experiment with the meter of 'Unsquare Dance' yourself. See if you
can divide the beats of the song into groups of 4 plus 3 (one two three four,
one two three, one two three four, one two three). If it gets confusing, don't
worry. You will be practicing it with the full orchestra.
—7—