kimmel center

KIMMEL CENTER

Meet the Orchestra

PROGRAM• John Stafford Smith/arr. Ormandy “The Star-Spangled

Banner”• Manuel de Falla “Dance of the Miller’s Wife (Fandango),”

from The Three-Cornered Hat• Mikhail Glinka Kamarinskaya, Fantasy for Orchestra on Two

Russian Folksongs• Li Huan Zhi Spring Festival Overture• Aaron Copland Variations on a Shaker Melody, from

Appalachian Spring• John Rosamond Johnson/arr. Hale “Lift Every Voice and

Sing”

• The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts hosts the Orchestra’s home subscription concerts, as well as its concerts devoted to youth and family audiences

Kimmel Center Tour

Rossen Milanov Associate Conductor

He currently holds thepositions of associate conductor of ThePhiladelphia Orchestra and artistic director of The PhiladelphiaOrchestra at The Mann Center for the Performing Arts. Inaddition, he serves as music director of New Jersey’s Symphonyin C (formerly the Haddonfield Symphony), one of America’spremier professional training orchestras; and music director ofthe New Symphony Orchestra in his native city of Sofia, Bulgaria.In June 2009, Mr. Milanov was also named music director of thePrinceton Symphony.

Lower Strings

WHAT ARE THESE INSTRUMENTS?

FRENCH HORN

WHAT FAMILY OF INSTRUMENTS?

STRING

“The Star-Spangled Banner”

About the Composer

Born in Gloucester, England, John Stafford Smith (1750–1846) was acomposer, church organist, and earlymusicologist.

About the Lyricist

Born and raised in western Maryland,Francis Scott Key (1779–1843).

About the Music

The melody of the song that would become the Americannational anthem was first published in England ca. 1778.

Officially called “The Anacreontic Song” but more commonly known bythe first line of its lyrics,

“To Anacreon in Heaven” was theconstitutional song of the Anacreontic Society, an 18th-centurygentlemen’s club of amateur musicians in LondonKey wrote the

words on September 14, 1814 on board a British warship in BaltimoreHarbor where he was being detained.

The tradition of performing “The Star-Spangled Banner”before baseball games began during World War II;

The Philadelphia Orchestra became the first major orchestra toplay at a World Series game when they performed the nationalanthem.

“Lift Every Voice and Sing”African-American composer andsinger John Rosamond Johnson(sitting; 1873–1954), and hisolder brother James WeldonJohnson (1871–1938), were bornin Jacksonville, Florida

James Weldon Johnson first wrote the words to “Lift EveryVoice and Sing” as a poem and then John Rosamond Johnsonset the words to music in 1899

Singing this song quickly became a way for African Americansto demonstrate their pride and hope for the future.

www.whyy.org/tv12/insideout.html,

Fort McHenryhttp://www.nps.gov/fomc/index.htm

Where is Fort McHenry?

What war was being fought when Francis Scott Key wrotethe lyrics to “The Star-Spangled Banner?” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Baltimore

Spain: Let the Rhythm Move You!

Manuel de Falla “Dance of the Miller’s Wife (Fandango),” from The Three-Cornered Hat

Manuel de Falla (1876-1946) wasborn in Cádiz, which is located on thesouthern coast of Spain in Andalusia

Spanish dance-song styles are characterized by their strongrhythms, which are most often in triple meter-3 beats per measure.

Spanish classical music based ondance forms, you’ll often hear the strings of the orchestra playan ostinato (repeated rhythmic pattern) imitating the guitarstrumming

The music is also highlypercussive, with the sound of castanets, hand-clapping, andstamping of the feet.

THE MUSIC

http://imslp.org/wiki/El_Sombrero_de_Tres_Picos_%28Falla,_Manuel_de%29

Russia: There’s No Place Like Дом (Home)

Mikhail Glinka Kamarinskaya, Fantasy for Orchestra on Two Russian Folksongs

Mikhail Glinka (1804-57)

Born in Novospasskoye in theSmolensk district of Russia.

Listening Guide

Introduction0:00 Based on motive from the “Wedding Song”

Start the music from the link:Listen: What do you hear. . .read alongMikhail Glinka Kamarinskaya, Fantasy for Orchestra on Two Russian Folksongs

0:35 First statement of theme by unison strings

0:53 Second statement with

melody and accompaniment in

the woodwinds

1:11 Third statement: theme in bass

1:29 Fourth statement:

theme in bass continues

2:21 Transition, turning figure in violins“Dance Song”

2:28 Stated first in violin, first unaccompanied and then with

viola countermelody

2:40 Ostinato (repeated) variations begin, changing

background

“Wedding Song”3:57 First restatement

4:13 Second restatement4:30 Third restatement,

interrupted4:49 Transition

“Dance Song” (reprise)4:56 More ostinato variations, builds in dynamics and tempo

Coda

7:00 Sudden slow statement of the opening phrase, growingsofter

The three-measure instrumental dance tune of theKamarinskaya

is repeated without significant change nearly

75 times in the course of the two Dance Song sections.

China: A Community Celebration

Li Huan Zhi Spring Festival Overture

Chinese music is as old as Chinese civilization itself, dating back to

about 1766 B.C.

Since then, musical performances have been

an integral part of Chinese traditions, belief

systems, and community celebrations, including the Spring Festival (or Chinese

New Year).

CHINA

China is the fourth largest country behind Russia, Canada, and the United States. However,

it’s the most populated country with over 1.3 billion people—that’s more than four times as

many wholive in the United States!

Li Huan Zhi(1919-2000)

Born in Hong Kong

He entered the Shanghai

School of Music in 1936 and studied

composition under Xiao Youmei

Li composed the Spring Festival Suite in 1955 and 1956 as

anexpression of his own

experience of the Spring Festival in

Ya’nanin northern China.

This suite of four movements was

originallywritten for western

symphony orchestra but was subsequently

played by orchestras of traditional Chinese

instruments as well.

Overture

luck, fu (pronounced: foo),

Overture is in ternary (three-part) form and

depicts theenergetic scenes of the yangge dance, with the beating of

drums and sounding of gongs.

The first section consists of twoNorth Shaanxi

pieces for suona (Chinese reed instrument).

Themoderate central

section takes a melody from North Shaanxi

lingchang yangge diao (seedling dance tune

with leadingsinging)

Listening Guide0:00 A section: yangge dance, first theme

0:30 Second theme0:53 First theme returns

2:07 B section: lingchang yangge diaotune presented in the oboe

3:30 Trumpet announces transition3:44 A section returns

WHAT INSTRUMENT?

BASS

United States: The Simple Gift of Music

Aaron Copland

Variations on a Shaker Melody, from

Appalachian Spring

(1900-90)

THE SHAKERS

The Shakers, who arrived from England in 1774, built communities mainly in New York, New England, Ohio, and Kentucky.

Listening Guide0:00 Introduction

0:14 The theme is introduced by the solo clarinet,

playingin a quick-moving tempo and at

a mezzo-piano level,accompanied softly by flute

and piccolo.

0:43 First variation appears as the music changes

to a higher key and is played by the oboe and bassoon.Listen also for the triangle!

1:10 In the second variation, the strings enter with the tune

playing in a smooth, lyric style and at a tempo that is half

as fast while the piano and glockenspiel (bells) keep asteady pulse underneath.

Notice that the music growslouder as more instruments are added at

different times.

1:53 The brass section then announces the third variation as

the trumpet plays the melody in a staccato (separated)

style while the strings zoom up and down in an excitedaccompaniment.

2:17 solo clarinet and other woodwinds return in a

brief interlude to soften and slow things down as this

musical bridge connects these sections.

2:34 orchestra (tutti) present thefourth variation majestically playing fortissimo and even

slower, with the heavy beat of the timpani supporting the

sound!

3:07 Softly, the solo clarinet

plays a portion of the theme in abrief coda.