GREATER FREDERICKSBURG CHAPTER OF THE ARS
March 6, 2022 Chapter Meeting
Chapter Representative: Dr. Kelly Kazik
Conductor: James Kazik
Website/Blog: https://fredericksburgreco.wixsite.com/mysite
Instagram: @fredrecorder
Rumble channel: https://rumble.com/c/FredericksburgRecorders
Did you miss our meeting? You can watch it here: https://youtu.be/XUVJ55wG38I
WELCOME, SPRING!
Who is ready for spring? This month's meeting features music that are inspired by the sound of spring. As we are recorder players that means birds...lots of birds and in one case, rampaging monkeys.
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) Allegro mvt. 1, from Concerto no. 1 in E major, op. 8, RV 269 “Spring”, arr. 8Notes.com
Antonio Vivaldi was an Italian composer, violinist, teacher and priest. He was very popular in his day and his works were highly admired. He spent a good deal of his career teaching at the all girls’ Ospedale della Pietà. He was only employed as a priest for about 18 months and left his post claiming that his asthma made saying mass difficult.
The four concerti collectively call “The Four Seasons” or Le quattro stagioni were written between 1718-1721. Summer, Autumn, and Winter are all original but Spring takes some of its’ material from the opening sinfornia of Vivaldi’s one act opera Il Guistino. Each concerto has three movements conforming to the fast-slow-fast pattern. Vivaldi published the concerti with accompanying sonnets. There is some speculation that Vivaldi wrote the sonnets himself and it is uncertain whether the music or the sonnets came first.
Allegro Giunt' è la Primavera e festosetti La Salutan gl' Augei con lieto canto, E i fonti allo Spirar de' Zeffiretti Con dolce mormorio Scorrono intanto: Vengon' coprendo l' aer di nero amanto E Lampi, e tuoni ad annuntiarla eletti Indi tacendo questi, gl' Augelletti; Tornan' di nuovo al lor canoro incanto:
Allegro Springtime is upon us. The birds celebrate her return with festive song, and murmuring streams are softly caressed by the breezes. Thunderstorms, those heralds of Spring, roar, casting their dark mantle over heaven, Then they die away to silence, and the birds take up their charming songs once more.
Performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3nSvIiBNFo
Play along: Youtube: https://youtu.be/2i5k-LW2_HM
Play along: Rumble: https://rumble.com/vwjaex-antonio-vivaldi-1678-1741-allegro-mvt.-1-from-rv-269-spring-arr.-8notes.com.html
Robert Schumann (1810-1856) Fruhlingsgesang, from Album fur die Jugend, op. 68 no. 15, arr Bornstein (SATB)
Robert Schumann was a German composer, pianist, and music critic. Like so many German musicians before him, Schumann began his formal studies in law. He left law to become a virtuoso pianist. Legend has it, that a hand injury dashed his hopes of performing so he turned his attention to composing and critique.
Album fur die Jugend, op. 68 was written in 1848 for Schumann’s three daughters: Marie, Elise, and Julie. The album is a collection of 43 works. The pieces are not restricted to beginners only. The pieces become more challenging as one proceeds through the volume.
No. 15 Fruhlingsgesang means “Spring Song.”
Performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sqa9ZpYxhRA
Play along: Youtube: https://youtu.be/7krQ2H0WNxE
Play along: Rumble: https://rumble.com/vwj9kn-robert-schumann-1810-1856-fruhlingsgesang-from-album-fur-die-jugend-arr-bor.html
Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) “Morning Mood” (excerpt) from Peer Gynt Suite no. 1 (SATB), arr. 8Notes.com
Edvard Grieg was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He used Norwegian folk music in his compositions bringing a uniquely norse sound to his works. Grieg came from a musical family. His mother taught him piano from age 6. Grieg gave his first professional piano concert in 1861, at the age of 18.
The Peer Gynt Suite was written in 1875 as incidental music for Henrick Ibsen’s play, Peer Gynt. The piece “Morning Mood” was used to accompany act 4, scene 4. The scene is described as follows:
“The piece depicts the rising of the sun during act 4, scene 4, of Ibsen's play, which finds Peer Gynt stranded in the Moroccan desert after his companions took his yacht and abandoned him there while he slept. The scene begins with the following description: "Dawn. Acacias and palm trees. Peer [Gynt] is sitting in his tree using a wrenched-off branch to defend himself against a group of monkeys.”
As the music found in the suite was able to distance itself from the original context of the play, most listeners think this piece invokes a sunrise in Scandinavia complete with birds tweeting.
Performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyM2AnA96yE
Peer Gynt (the play): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZ0Ms5PNZmU
Peer Gynt (animated synopsis): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBgPqhBUE2o
Play along: Youtube:https://youtu.be/KXe5qQypz0c
Play along: Rumble: https://rumble.com/vwj94t-edvard-grieg-1843-1907-morning-mood-excerpt-from-peer-gynt-suite-no.-1-satb.html
Johann Strauss, Jr. (1825-1899) Voices of Spring Waltz, (SATB), arr. 8Notes.com
Johann Strauss, Jr. was born into a middle class, musical, Catholic family in Vienna. His father, Johann Strauss Sr. was a composer, but wanted his son to become a banker. Jr. secretly took up music and was caught practicing violin in secret. Eventually Jr. was able to study music at a private music school with Joachim Hoffman. Jr. became known for his dances, operettas and ballets.
Voices of Spring (Frühlingsstimmen ) was originally a brilliant show piece for soprano Bianca Bianchi. The text of the piece are about the songs of the lark and nightengale as the fields and meadows break into their springtime splendor. The piece was so popular it was encored on the spot, and Strauss, being an excellent businessman, arranged the piece immediately (17 days) for orchestra.
Voices of Spring Waltz
Lyrics by Richard Genee
The lark rises into the blue, the mellow wind mildly blowing; his lovely mild breath revives and kisses the field, the meadow. Spring in all its splendour rises, ah all hardship is over, sorrow becomes milder, good expectations, the belief in happiness returns; sunshine, you warm us, ah, all is laughing, oh, oh awakes! A fountain of songs is rising, who has been silent for too long; from the brush sounds clear and light the sweet voice again! Ah, gently the nightingale lets stream the first notes, so as not to disturb the queen; hush, all you other singers! More powerful soon chimes her sweet voice. Oh, soon, oh, oh soon! Ah........ Oh, song of the nightingale, sweet sound, ah yes! Glowing with love, ah, ah, ah, sounds the song, ah and the sound, sweet and cosy, seems to carry a plaintive note, ah, ah rocks the heart to sweet dreams, ah, ah, ah, ah, most gently! Longing and desire ah, ah, ah lives in my breast, ah, if the song anxiously calls for me, from afar the stars twinkle, ah, ah in shimmering magic like the moons beam, ah, ah, ah, ah wavers through the valley! As haltingly vanishes the night, the lark starts to sing, ah, the light she promises, shadows recede! Ah! Ah springs voices sound like home, Ah yes, ah yes oh sweet sound, Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah yes.
Performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TF0XSkb7TyM
Play along: Youtube: https://youtu.be/_ZQWJYC3uv0
Play along: Rumble: https://rumble.com/vwj9zd-johann-strauss-jr.-1825-1899-voices-of-spring-waltz-satb-arr.-8notes.com.html