General Information
- The concert is scheduled for Friday, October 4, 2024, at 7:00 PM at Crossroads Bible Church.
- Please ensure you arrive at least 10 minutes before the start time for each rehearsal.
- Don’t forget to bring a music stand, your sheet music and a pencil for marking any notes during the session.
- If you need to miss a rehearsal, please inform your section leader as soon as possible.
- The member fee is $30/concert. You can pay here: PayPal Donate or bring your check/cash to rehearsal and give it to Ellen.
- Questions?
Rehearsal Schedule
- Friday, October 4, 2024 | Crossroads Bible Church
5-5:15pm – Arrival & Warm Up
5:30pm – Spot checks
6:30pm – Open House
7:00pm – Concert
Concert Order:
Beethoven – Overture to Egmont
Ravel – Pavane for a Dead Princess
Moncayo – Huapango
Intermission
Johnson – Harlem Symphony - Monday, September 30, 2024 | 7:00 PM – 9:15 PM | Crossroads Bible Church
7:00pm – Harlem
7:50pm – Huapango
8:25pm – Solis
8:40pm – Announcements, Break, & Release all non-Beethoven/Ravel musicians
8:45pm – Egmont
9:00pm – Pavane - Monday, September 23, 2024 | 7:00 PM – 9:15 PM | The United Church
7:00pm – Overture to Egmont, Beethoven
7:30pm – Transition/Warm Up time for arriving musicians
7:35pm – Harlem Symphony, Johnson (mvt 3 & 4)
8:20pm – Break
8:30pm – Huapango, Moncayo
8:50pm – Pavane for a Dead Princess, Ravel
9:15pm – Goodnight! - Monday, September 16, 2024 | 7:00 PM – 9:15 PM | The United Church
7:00pm – Harlem Symphony, Johnson (all mvts)
8:20pm – Break
8:30pm – Harlem Symphony, Johnson (continued)
9:00pm – Overture to Egmont, Beethoven
9:15pm – Goodnight! - Monday, September 9, 2024 | 7:00 PM – 9:15 PM | The United Church
7:00pm – Solis, Harberg
7:40pm – Huapango, Moncayo
8:20pm – Break (release harp)
8:30pm – Harlem Symphony, Johnson (mvts I & II) - Monday, September 2, 2024
LABOR DAY NO REHEARSAL - Monday, August 26, 2024 | 7:00 PM – 9:15 PM | The United Church
7:00pm – Harlem Symphony, Johnson
8:10pm – Break
8:20pm – Huapango, Moncayo (no harp)
8:40pm – Overture to Egmont, Beethoven (release non-Beethoven musicians)
9:15pm – Goodnight! - Monday, August 19, 2024 | 7:00 PM – 9:15 PM | The United Church
7:00pm – Huapango, Moncayo
7:40pm – Solis, Harberg
8:20pm – Break
8:30pm – Pavane for a Dead Princess, Ravel
8:45pm – Overture to Egmont, Beethoven (release non-Beethoven musicians)
9:15pm – Goodnight!
Repertoire Information
- Overture to “Egmont” – Ludwig van Beethoven Listen on YouTube
In 1809 Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) accepted a commission to write incidental music for the Vienna premiere of the play Egmont written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1754-1832)—sometimes referred to as the Shakespeare of German literature. An ardent admirer of Goethe, Beethoven undertook the project with extraordinary enthusiasm, in part because of his own Dutch ancestry and the focus on Count Egmont as leader of the Netherlanders in their fight against Spanish tyranny during the 16th century. Moreover, the subject of Goethe’s drama clearly paralleled the current political situation in Vienna, which had been occupied by Napoleon’s forces earlier that year, and thus struck a chord with Beethoven, who was unequivocally opposed to the expansion of the French empire across Europe.
As for the10 pieces of music Beethoven originally composed for Goethe’s play, the Overture alone remains a fixture of classical symphonic repertoire. Somewhat like a symphonic poem, its overall structure and principal motives reflect certain facets of the story acted out on stage. For example, the introduction features slow repeated chords in F minor, suggesting the weight of the Spanish occupation. By contrast, the much faster-moving main theme could represent Egmont himself, the prophet of righteous rebellion. Near the end, the ponderous chords return but suddenly are stilled by a grand pause, usually interpreted as the moment of the hero’s execution. There follows a kind of short, mournful chorale. But even as Egmont’s death spurred his people on to eventual victory, and in accordance with Goethe’s wish that the ending not be a lament, Beethoven adds a kind of second coda, in the form of a manic crescendo from a veritable whisper to a huge dramatic climax in the triumphant key of F major, clearly symbolizing what one writer calls “the apotheosis of liberty.” - Pavane for a Dead Princess – Maurice Ravel Listen on YouTube
While a student at the Paris Conservatory in 1899, French composer Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) wrote a work for solo piano titled “Pavane pour une infante defunte.” Rather than a funeral lament for a dead child, as the title is often translated, Ravel intended to evoke a young princess performing a stately Spanish court dance from the Renaissance, as in the famed painting by Diego Velazquez (1599-1660). He dedicated the work to one of his patrons, namely, the Princess Edmond de Polignac (1865-1943), who held regular avant-garde musical events in her stylish Paris mansion. An American by birth, her maiden name was Winnaretta Singer, and she later became heir to the Singer sewing machine fortune.
When the Pavane was premiered in Paris in 1902 by Spanish pianist Ricardo Vines, it became hugely popular, leading Ravel to publish an orchestral version in 1910. A number of the composer’s chief style characteristics stand out in this elegant miniature, including his nostalgia for older musical forms and dances in particular. As in Bolero, his fondness for the artistic exoticism of Spain is clearly apparent in addition to his mastery of orchestration. Not only do the brass, woodwind, and string sections each have their moment in the sun, but such deft touches as the harp glissandos may suggest the young dancer’s lifting arms as she floats through this timeless scene. - Solis – Amanda Harberg Listen on YouTube
The one contemporary composer represented on tonight’s program is Amanda Harberg (b. 1973). With bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Juilliard, she earned her Ph.D from Rutgers University where she serves on the faculty of the Mason Gross School of the Arts as well as at the Interlochen Arts Center in northern Michigan. Also active as a concert-level pianist, she has taught composition, music theory, and modern music history for over two decades.
Harberg’s “Solis” was commissioned by the University of Nevada Symphony Orchestra, where it was premiered in 2015. Its opening theme, played by a solo trumpet, provides a source of developmental meditation for the orchestra as a whole. Never straying far from a D major/minor tonal center, the composer still manages to create a satisfying degree of overall tension and release. “Solis,” she explains, “refers to the golden sun-like brilliance communicated in the work’s climax,” and adds that the word “solace,” derived from the Latin word solis, also has a place in this piece’s emotional landscape.” - Huapango – José Pablo Moncayo Listen on YouTube
In 1941 Carlos Chavez (1899-1978), one of Mexico’s best-known classical composers and the conductor of the Mexico Symphony Orchestra, commissioned José Pablo Moncayo (1912-58) to write a work based on the popular music of Veracruz. In response, Moncayo, formerly a student of Chavez in Mexican Nationalist composition at the National Conservatory of Music in Mexico City, created his orchestral fantasy titled Huapango in acknowledgement of the folk dance tunes it quotes. These dances were commonly performed in Veracruz on a wooden platform to highlight the rhythmic beating of heels and toes—an effect clearly achieved here by an elaborate percussion section. Soon the work was so favored by audiences that it was hailed as a second national anthem.
Besides incorporating the characteristically complex rhythmic syncopations of Huapango dance music and three recognizable melodies, Moncayo imitates its customary instrumental accompaniment but on an orchestral scale. For instance, he simulates guitars with a harp and the plucking and strumming of violins. A seeming duel for thematic leadership between solo trumpet and trombone also reflects the authentic style of this folk tradition. At the same time what makes Moncayo’s masterpiece unusual, perhaps, in the 20th century classical repertoire is its forthright expression of the simple joys of life and music, making it increasingly difficult for the listener not to jump right up and start dancing along, before the work ends with a bang! - Harlem Symphony – James P. Johnson Listen on YouTube
Known as the missing link between ragtime and jazz, James P. Johnson (1894-1955) is widely considered the most significant musician of the Harlem Renaissance. Not only did he create the signature tune and dance of the Roaring ’20’s, “Charleston,” as part of a Broadway musical, but he acted as a mentor to Duke Ellington and Fats Waller and deeply influenced Fats Domino, Count Basie, and Thelonius Monk. Deemed the “father of Stride Piano,” Johnson was the favored accompanist of Bessie Smith and Ethel Waters. He also wrote a one-act opera with Langston Hughes, a literary leader of the Harlem Renaissance.
At the same time, Johnson had extensive training in classical composition, as reflected by his 19 works for orchestra including the Harlem Symphony (1932). It consists of an Allegro first movement, “A Subway Journey,” a slow second movement, “Song of Harlem,” a scherzo third movement, “Night Club,” and a set of variations on “I Want Jesus to Walk with Me,” as the fourth movement titled, “Baptist Mission.” Thus he follows the traditional symphonic outline yet never compromises the stylistic character of the basic material. More or less forgotten in musical circles for almost 50 years, Johnson’s achievements were rediscovered in the 1990s, and he was honored, along with nine other jazz greats in 1994 in a series of U.S. postage stamps.