I’m conducting some research on Penderecki and his use of “emotive” titles for some of his works, taking Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima as a key example…I’m particularly interested to know exactly when Penderecki changed the title of this work and why, so any further pointers would be really helpful…

I learned some interesting factoids in my bit o’ research for my response, and I thought it prudent to add it as a side note to my original Threnody… outline. Here’s what I found out (and how I responded):

…Thank you so much for your kind email – I’m so glad to hear that my outline is of help to you in your studies! Yes, this paper is my own research and work, “thrown together” as it is. “Pg 393 in Anthology” at the top, was in reference to what page the score was located in the class text used at the time I compiled and presented the info…The bibliography (in the back) and footnotes should be a great starting point for additional info. 

In regards to when Penderecki changed the title from 8’37″ to Threnody… well, I found a really interesting article by Tim Rutherford-Johnson in response to Taruskin‘s analysis of the work’s history: “…it was well known at least as early as 1975, with the publication of Ludwik Erhardt’s Spotkanie z Krzysztofem Pendereckim, that the piece had originally been titled 8?37? (in perhaps an oblique homage to Cage), and was changed on the suggestion of the director of Polish Radio to the more emotive Threnody in order to enhance its impact at the forthcoming UNESCO Prize of the International Composers’ Jury in Paris. And again, in 1979 (Eng. trans. 1989), Wolfram Schwinger’s widely read life and works study of the composer notes the same shift of title. So you can stop with the implications of “after the fall of the Communist regime”; at the very least provide a source for Penderecki’s remarks. And the accusation that PWM were reluctant, for reasons of expense, to publish the score, doesn’t square with the fact that they did plenty of others – including Penderecki’s Anaklasis a year earlier, a work not short of a notational quirk or two – and that by the time of the name change, Threnody had already won third prize at a composer’s competition in Katowice (1960) and been performed the following year by Jan Krenz and the PRSO. Even without the name change it had a pretty decent pedigree; but it was after Krenz’s performance that the work was rechristened. The tape of Krenz’s performance was sent to Paris, where Penderecki duly won; if it wasn’t worth publishing now, then when?” (Full Article here)

So it seems the name change occurred about 1961, after the PRSO performance, in response to the Polish Radio director’s suggestion… Of course the composer states (as in my outline) that he heard the emotional impact of the work in this performance and recording and searched for a fitting association, which I’m sure is true, but on the surface of it all – that is, the impetus of it – lies the fact that an emotional title will give an audience a better anchor by which to understand the piece, thus giving the work a better chance of success… 

This piece [De Natura Sonoris II] leads us to an examination of how audiences come to terms with these sounds, which initially seem so totally radical. The techniques used in this piece are not substantially different than those used in Penderecki’s Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima, and yet De Natura Sonoris II has not caught the public’s attention in the same way. Why might this be, when the Threnody is so much more unrelenting, so much more consistently tense and demanding? The answer lies in the public’s understanding of the relationship between the new techniques and sounds and the emotions intended. That the Threnody is a lament for the largest mass death in human history almost requires histrionics for its expression. That this is a new kind of horror calls out for a new kind of declaration; and that the quality of the horror matches perfectly the extreme tension presented in the music is understood, if not appreciated, by any audience member. The connection between emotion and musical technique is arises through the techniques I’ve described earlier, but it is confirmed through the extra-musical means of the title of the piece. The listener knows he is on the right track. But in a piece entitled On the Nature of Sound the listener is given no guidance at all–not only may he not be on the right track, but he may question whether there is any track at all. Without the extramusical con?rmation of a title or a song text or a programme, the challenge to the listener to understand the emotional meaning; or to accept that the emotional meaning he does understand is expression. That this is a new kind of horror calls out for a new kind oa valid one, is much more demanding. Throughout the history of music composers have often introduced new sounds and techniques in association by some extramusical connection, whether it be the low sonorities in Josquin’s Absalom Fili Mi re?ecting the descent into the grave; the cannons and church bells of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture; or as…in this very short excerpt from the Symphonie Fantastique by Hector Berlioz, where the distorted sounds of winds and strings depict the dance of the witches sabbath…

I have no doubt that had Penderecki kept the original title of the Threnody, that is, 8’37″, the piece would not have enjoyed the popular success that it has. As a composition it would be no worse or better than it is now, and certainly the new techniques of sound mass composition that so enamored the avant-garde would have excited that same small group of conniseurs regardless of the title. But the public at large needs con?rmation, if not guidance, in a work this new. (Full Article here)

Makes me think of my Leviathan work… oooh, shameless plug… :p

It also makes me think of something one of my professors mentioned… something about how a composer may be apt (I believe this was in relation to a mention of Aaron Copland‘s penchant for the dramatic…?) to glorify his/her own recounting of the development of their own work… 

“[The piece] existed only in my imagination, in a somewhat abstract way. When Jan Krenz recorded it and I could listen to an actual performance, I was struck with the emotional charge of the work. I thought it would be a waste to condemn it to such anonymity, to those “digits”. I searched for associations and, in the end, I decided to dedicate it to the Hiroshima victims.” [quote by Penderecki in 1994, Liner Notes by Mieczyslaw Tomaszewski, trans. by Jan Rybicki and Richard Whitehouse. Penderecki, Krzysztof [National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Katowice), Antoni Wit conducting]. Orchestral Works Vol. 1: Symphony No. 3, Threnody. Audio CD. Katowice, Poland: HNH International, Ltd., 1998.]

At any rate, it is fascinating to contemplate and recognize the power found in a simple name.

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• Lully
• Boccherini
• Hindemith
• Messiaen
• Penderecki
• Ravel

I have one more essay (of which I am VERY proud) – an in-depth study on Leonard Bernstein’s Second Symphony Age of Anxiety - and several more outlines on various works by Bernstein and Aaron Copland. Look for those to come soon! In the meantime, I hope that these additions will be of some use to others in their ongoing search for knowledge…

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Of course, I’m talking about John Williams‘ Air and Simple Gifts composed for and performed at Obama’s inaguration yesterday. The musicians? The venerable  Anthony McGill  on clarinet, Itzhak Perlman on violin, Yo-Yo Ma on cello (who was also asked by the inauguration committee to organize the performance), and Gabriela Montero on piano.

It’s a beautiful piece, no doubt – the instrumentation reminding me (and lots of others) of Messiaen‘s Quatuor pour la fin du temps, of course, and then my mind instantly turning to Copland‘s Appalachian Spring with the entrance of Simple Gifts in the clarinet. Which, it turns out, was done intentionally; and here I thought I was being clever.  

Williams quotes that passage almost verbatim, and goes on to put the hymn tune through a very Coplandesque treatment before bringing the mood back down to earth with the opening material.

Although Williams chose to use the Copland material because President Obama counts that composer among his classical favorites, there’s another significant point here. In 1953, a pre-inaugural concert by the National Symphony Orchestra at Constitution Hall, a concert attended by then president-elect Eisenhower, was to have included a performance of one of Copland’s most popular works, A Lincoln Portrait. But a Republican congressman (from Illinois, by the way) objected, suggesting that Copland was too liberal and maybe even Communist-friendly, so the piece was pulled from the concert. Inserting the touch of Copland into the Obama inauguration, Williams told Variety last week, offers “a completed circle of events that is nice to think about.” 

-Tim Smith (Baltimore Sun)

Without further ado, here is the video, and, if that’s not enough, you may download the mp3 file here!

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For a mere $20 each, one can purchase, for example, the complete string quartets (score and parts) of Beethoven and Brahms! Or Haydn or Mozart! Or the Ultimate Collection of Violin Sonatas, Violin Concertos, Violin Solos and Duets, or Violin Methods and Etudes. There are Orchestral Collections as well, where one can find instrumental parts of the great orchestral literature. Included with each collection is Supplemental Material, such as composer biographies, program notes, and terms. And for those who aren’t violinists, there are a myriad of collections for other instruments and ensembles.

Imagine having entire collections of history’s greatest music right on your computer, instead of taking up valuable space in your home or studio! Imagine being able to print out unlimited copies (formatted for Adobe Reader) for you, your colleagues, and your students! And imagine being able to find exactly what you’re looking for, easily and without headache!

Find out more at CD Sheet Music’s website! I’ll let you know what I think when I try this out!…

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But I did want to put this up officially while I was thinking about it…

My latest completed work, Fair Katrinelje and Pif-Paf-Poltrie, is meant to be a jaunty comedic work, based on a lesser-known tale from the famous Brothers’ Grimm. Growing up reading these fairy tales, this very brief and repetitive dialogue always caught my fancy. The “story” focuses on our hero, Pif-Paf-Poltrie, who is out to seek the hand of his beloved, the Fair Katrinelje, in marriage. Being the gentleman that he is, he approaches in turn each member of his beloved’s family to ask their permission. Father Hollenthe, Mother Malcho, Brother High-and-Mighty, and Sister Käsetraut all respond in turn similarly – essentially, “If it’s all right with everyone else, it’s all right with me.”

I’ve always loved the cyclical nature of the text, how each family member’s response to our hero’s request is always the same as the one before it and maintains a certain rhythmical persistence throughout – you can almost hear the speaker becoming more weary and desperate with each stanza! [Take a look at the full text here.] Needless to say, when approached with the assignment of writing a vocal work for soprano, piano, flute, and cello, this long-beloved text came to mind!

My musical inspiration was stimulated largely by the compositional genius of Stravinsky; firstly as a result of my preparation of the violin part of his L’Histoire du Soldat for an upcoming performance at the time, and secondly, through my charmed admiration of a little setting of his for soprano and piano of The Owl and The Pussycat. Thus there is a quirky charm about the music in my Fair Katrinelje piece that brings out the off-kilter humor of the Grimms’ tale, and it really sets the mood of the whole work nicely!

Needless to say, this piece is very different from my usual style, but for that, and for the childhood memories it evokes for me, this is a little gem that I enjoy very much. 

You can listen to the piece in its entirety (for a limited time) and read all about its background, including getting acquainted with the characters of the tale, by clicking here.

Copyright © 2008 Sarah Wallin Huff | Permalink | One comment | Share

(Thanks to Kay for sharing!)

(Find “Kaamelott’s” Official Site here.)
 

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(Hm…. ASIMO should have hired this guy to be his concertmaster!!…)

Ultimately, how did it go? According to Ed Pilkington:

Let’s start with the positives. He kept the beat, marking time without a baton and even moving from three beats to six with admirable clarity.

Beyond that, he managed to put some expression into his conducting, moving his torso from violin section to cellos and back again, nodding his head at high points and clenching his fist to denote passion.

He also showed a command of the diplomatic side of the conductor’s role, greeting the audience at the beginning with a “Hello everyone!”…

But the downsides cannot go unmentioned…though Asimo’s movements were remarkably human, it was a bit like being conducted by a metronome…

You can find the rest of this highly entertaining article here.

While some might consider this a mere show of technological wizardry, Honda is actually partnering with the DSO to bring music education (including several initiatives supporting much-needed string education!) to children in the area. According to Honda’s News Release:

As recently announced, Honda is providing the DSO with a gift of more than $1 million to create The Power of Dreams Music Education Fund. With the Detroit Public Schools drastically reducing or eliminating music programs due to financial constraints, many students are denied the opportunity to learn to play instruments, read music, and participate in bands or orchestras. Honda has partnered with the DSO to develop an innovative, multi-faceted program to promote and support music education as well as to promote diversity in the field of classical music. In addition to sponsorship of the YoYo Ma performance and Master’s Class for students in May, over the next five years the Honda partnership with DSO will include: 

·	Launch of a new initiative called The Power of Dreams String Project to provide introductory music education/string training to children in metro-Detroit communities where opportunities are non-existent or unaffordable.
·	Establishment of The Power of Dreams Music Scholar program to provide private lessons to aspiring students with financial need in the String Project, DSO Civic Ensembles and/or DSA, enabling them to fully develop their musical capabilities.
·	Support of DSO Civic Youth Ensemble performances; the DSO’s educational partnership activities with the DSA; and the DSO’s spring Educational Concert Series for metro area school children in Orchestra Hall at the Max M. Fisher Music Center.
·	Support of the 2008 Classical Roots Gala which raises funds for programs such as the DSO’s African-American Fellowship Program.

As part of this initiative, Honda is working with the DSO to solicit contributions from donors. 

Good news for the survival of Music in our country! Go, ASIMO, go!

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Check the Official Site here…

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From Carl Orff‘s 1936 cantata, Carmina Burana, here is the infamous “O, Fortuna” – with the *real* words…

Click here to check it out! 

Thanks to Anne for sharing!!

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Vivaldi’s “La Folia“:

Vivaldi’s Allegro (RV 565):

Check out more videos from this incredible group here!

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