APO Encore Livestream - The New Zealand Herald Premier Series: Light & Shade - Listening Notes - New Listener

PREMIER
SERIES
LIGHT
& SHADE
LISTENING NOTES
FOR NEW LISTENERS
RESPIGHI Church Windows
IBERT Flute Concerto
RAVEL Pavane

OTTORINO
RESPIGHI
(1879 – 1936)
COMPOSER PROFILE
• Born in Bologne, Italy in 1879
• Taught piano by his father, who was a piano teacher
• He also studied violin, viola, composition (with Rimsky-
Korsakov), and music history
• Moved to St. Petersburg, Russia when he was 20, and
joined the Russian Imperial Theatre as Principal Violin
• When he was 34, he moved to Rome to teach
composition. He remained there for the rest of his life
• By the mid-1920s, he achieved world fame and toured
extensively
CHURCH WINDOWS
This suite was based on three piano pieces that Respighi
also composed, during a time when he was heavily
inspired by Gregorian chanting. This suite has four
movements.
I. The Flight into Egypt
II. St. Michael the Archangel
III. The Matins of St. Clare
IV. St. Gregory the Great
The opening movement, The Flight into Egypt is very slow
and in five time. It gently pulses and uses a stepwise
melody, common in medieval music. His use of musical
scales creates an exotic feeling, and the slow five time is
used to illustrate the uneven steps of the slaves escaping
from Egypt.
The next movement, St. Michael the Archangel is
impetuous and fast, and in two time. It represents a battle
with a dragon in the sky; and the sounds of weapons
clashing. The trombone is used to play his first theme in
this movement, against a horn fanfare and the strings
playing descending scales. A second theme enters, played
by the horns and strings. A slow section follows this,
played off stage by a solo trumpet before the sky battle
starts up again and finishes with a huge crash on the
tam-tam (a gong-like type of percussive instrument).
The Matins of St. Clare is very slow and in five time. This
movement is calm and peaceful compared to the previous
one. It opens softly with a sustained note in the horns and
violas and a melody in the flutes and oboes. He also uses
bells to recreate the monastery image fully.
The final movement, St. Gregory the Great is very slow
and in four time. This movement was inspired by Gloria
from the Missa Angelica (Angelic Mass). It opens quietly
with bell-like figures and the horns playing the Gregorian
chant. This movement also includes an organ solo which
takes the movement to a climax before the brass section
reprises the Gloria motif and brings the piece to a grand
finale.
DID YOU KNOW?
Elsa Respighi, Ottorino’s wife, was also a composer. She
was only 41 when he died, and being 15 years younger;
she lived on for another 60 years, dying one week short of
her 102nd birthday.
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JACQUES
IBERT
(1890 – 1962)
COMPOSER PROFILE
• Born in Paris, France in 1890
• His mother was an accomplished pianist
• She provided him with piano and violin lessons, but
Ibert decided he wanted to be a composer
• After graduating high school, Ibert went to work for his
father’s struggling business
• While working there, he met many actors, singers and
writers and he developed an interest in theatre which
would remain throughout his life
• When he began studying music, his father withdrew
financial support
• Ibert made money working as an accompanist and
composing piano pieces and songs
• He was an excellent improviser and became an
accompanist for silent movies in theatres, which led
him to compose over sixty film scores later in his life
FLUTE CONCERTO
Ibert’s Flute Concerto was composed in 1934 and it was
dedicated to the great French flautist Marcel Moyse. This
piece is considered one of the most difficult pieces in the
flute repertoire.
The Flute Concerto is composed of three movements:
I. Allegro
II. Andante
III. Allegro Scherzando
The first movement, Allegro (Fast) is in two time and it
opens with a short introduction before the solo flute enters
with rapid running passes and very few chances to breathe.
The orchestra briefly takes over the fast passages, and
the flute also engages with other instruments. This
movement rushes headlong to a final loud chord.
Andante (At an Easy Walking Pace) is lyrical and in three
time. It uses the full range of the flute, and it opens with
a blues-influenced melody punctuated occasionally
by the timpani. There is tension and resolution in this
movement underlying a poignant melody. Ibert’s wife once
commented that the Concerto had been written shortly
after the death of Ibert’s father and that this movement
expressed a spirit of mourning and reflection.
The final movement, Allegro Scherzando (Fast in a Playful
Manner) is in multiple times. It once again shows off the
virtuosic ability of the solo flute. It contains jazz-influenced
rhythm, fanfares and two improvised solos. The final solo
is followed by the entire orchestra playing together and it
brings the Concerto to a climactic conclusion.
DID YOU KNOW?
During World War I, Ibert joined an army medical unit and
was decorated with the Croix de Guerre by the French
government.
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JOSEPH
MAURICE RAVEL
(1875 – 1937)
COMPOSER PROFILE
• Born in the town of Ciboure, France – very close to the
Spanish border
• Won a place at the Paris Conservatoire at the age of 14
• His first work was published when he was 20
• He studied with composer Gabriel Fauré
• His music was influenced by Spanish colour and rhythm
• In 1928, after touring the USA, he was awarded an
honorary Doctorate from Oxford University
• Ravel battled Pick’s Disease in the last few years of his
life, which increasingly affected his speech and motor
control
• After an unsuccessful operation in 1937, he passed away
PAVANE
A pavane was a stately dance from the Renaissance
period, used to open ceremonial balls put on by the
aristocrats. The slow, processional nature of the music
allowed the dancers to show off their elegant ball gowns.
The sense of longing and tenderness, so compellingly
captured in Ravel’s Pavane pour une enfante défunte, was
inspired by his beloved mother, Marie. From the Basque
country, she would often sing him Basque folksongs,
sparking a deep sympathy and love for his mother’s
people and folklore.
The title of the work is the source of some confusion.
In translation, it means ‘Pavane for a dead princess’,
but it wasn’t intended as a sad musical vignette. Rather,
Ravel was drawn to the imaginative world of the Spanish
17th-century painter Diego Velázquez. The noble and
graceful pavane, as Ravel explains, ‘is not a funeral lament
for a dead child but rather an evocation of the pavane
that might have been danced by such a little princess as
painted by Velázquez.’
Ravel originally composed the Pavane pour une enfant
défunte in 1899 as a piece for solo piano. This beautiful
and simple work became an immediate favourite.
However, pianists often played it slowly, transforming the
pavane into a deathly dirge, prompting Ravel to exclaim ‘It
was the princess who dies, not the pavane!’ Many critics
agree that Ravel’s careful orchestration of the work in
1910 was an improvement.
The Pavane begins with a long-breathed horn melody
that gives way to a sunlit, pastoral oboe entry followed by
quietly nostalgic strings, then the tune makes its pulsating
reappearance, this time on the woodwinds. There’s a
drifting passage with strings, harps and flutes before the
theme makes its last entrance, every instrument bearing it
aloft, as though it were being gently carried shoulder-high
during a sad funeral procession.
DID YOU KNOW?
Ravel’s most famous piece is arguably Boléro, which
skaters Torvill and Dean used to accompany their goldmedal
winning ice dance at the Olympic Games in 1984. It
was originally written as a piano accompaniment to a ballet.
Ravel himself said of the work, ‘it has no music in it’ and
was surprised by its widespread success and popularity.
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NAME THAT
MUSICAL PERIOD!
Believe it or not, not all classical music is actually ‘Classical’.
Music history is divided into a number of periods from Renaissance to
Contemporary. Many people colloquially name any music prior to the 20th
century as ‘classical’; however, it’s not. Here are the four main periods:
Baroque, Classical, Romantic and Contemporary.
When you are listening to a piece of music, here’s how you
can tell what period it’s from and impress your friends!
Baroque Music
(approx. 1600-1750)
• Multiple melodic lines in different voices
• Unity of mood: each piece features a single emotion
(i.e. a piece that starts in a happy mood will remain
happy)
• Continuity of rhythm: rhythmic patterns are often
repeated throughout a piece
• Terraced dynamics: volume changes suddenly, or in
steps, rather than gradually
• Harpsichord is used a lot in baroque music
• Performed by a small orchestra
• Composers like: Vivaldi, J.S. Bach, Handel
Classical Music
(approx. 1750-1830)
• Single melody with an accompaniment: one line carries
the primary melody while another line plays a simpler
line that supports the melody
• Use of gradual dynamics and more expression
• More contrast in a piece
• Shorter, clearer melodies than in baroque music
• More emphasis on instrumental music
• Harpsichord is no longer used in the orchestra
• Larger orchestra with more winds.
• Composers like: Haydn, Mozart, Early Beethoven
Romantic Music
(approx. 1830-1920)
• Extremes in volumes, from extremely soft to loud
• The speed or tempo of the music is much freer and will
change during a piece
• The purpose of music is to express emotion
• Very lyrical melodies used
• Orchestras were often extremely large with uncommon
instruments that can play extreme note ranges
• Virtuosic playing used throughout
• Composers like: Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Mendelssohn
20th Century Music
(approx. 1920-present)
• A large variety of style
• Use of clashing notes
• Large orchestras
• Many influences, from world music to technology
• Many contemporary composers have also written film
scores
• Composers like: Bernstein, Prokofiev, Britten
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