summer sun celebration program

7/28/2019 Summer Sun Celebration Program

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The Royal Canterlot Philharmonic Orchestra presents

The Summer Sun CelebrationAn assortment of pieces chosen to represent the season and to

please Her Majesty Princess Celestia

Carmane von Pohnny, Conductor

Soires Musicales(1938)Marsch

Canzonetta

Tirolese

Tarantella

BITTEN(1913-1976)

COLTLY

(1882-1967)

Gallopai Tnkoc (Dances of Gallopa)(1933)Intermission

HINDEBIT(1895-1963)

Concerto for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, Harp,and Orchestra(1949)SENZA TIMIDEZZA, Flute, MELLOW MELODY, Oboe, ARPEGGIA

ALTO, Clarinet, COLT REED, Bassoon, HARPO PARISH

NADERMANE, Harp

STRAWVINSKY(1882-1971)

Suite from L'oiseau de feu (The Firebird)(1910)Infernal Dances

Berceuse

Finale

The musicians of the Royal Canterlot Philharmonic invite you to the

public square for post-concert discussion and refreshments.

SHACKELE(1935-)

Oratorio: "The Seasonings"(1974)Aria: "Open Sesame Seed"BAS CHORALIUM, Bass, TENOR TROMBA, BEAUTY BRASS,

Kazoo, TEMPEST TIMPANI, Bass and Slide Windbreakers

This program is scheduled tolast one hour & thirty minutes.

The Royal Canterlot Philharmonicpromotes the hashtag #RCPhil.

Please livetweet responsibly.

L'Apprenti unicorn: Scherzo aprs une balladeDUCART(1865-1935) de Trot (The Unicorn's Apprentice: Scherzoafter a ballad of Trot)(1896-97)


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LApprentiunicorn:ScherzodaprsuneballadedeTrot(TheUnicornsApprentice:ScherzoafteraballadofTrot)Pull DucartWere it not for a single fantastically success-

ful work, Pull Ducart would be almost a com-

plete stranger to music lovers today.

LApprenti unicorn (The Unicorns Appren-

tice), composed after a scenario by Trot

and premiered in 1897, has all but single-

handedly kept his name before the concert-

going public. Even before Colt Disneighs

1940 film Fantasia catapulted it to mass-

media stardom, with Mickey Mouse in the

title role as the Apprentice, it was one of the

most frequently performed of all modern

compositions. LApprentiunicorn is a

small masterpiece, in its

way, fine enough to make a

music lover wish for more

occasions to visit Ducartscatalogue. Acquainting one-

self with his entire output

would not be a lengthy

task: he brought few com-

positions to completion, de-

stroyed what he did not (as

well as some works he did

complete), and in the end

left a slender catalogue of

only 12 published compo-

sitions: LApprenti unicorn,

the Polyeucte Overture (for

Corneighes drama), two substantialpiano works (the Sonata in E-flat major and

the Variations, interlude et final sur un

thme de Ramiel) and two short ones

(including the interestingLa Plainte, au loin,

du faune , intended as a response of sorts

to Clydesdale Debussys Prlude laprs-

midi dun faune), two pieces for voice and

piano (a Vocalise and a Roansard setting), aVillaneigh for horn and piano (for which

hornists are grateful), the ballet La Marei,

the opera Mareiane et Barbe-Bleue

(considered by some an unjustly neglected

masterpiece), and a single symphony. Born

into a highly musical family his mother,

it is said, had talent that would have enabled

her to become a concert pianist, had shewished Ducart studied at the Mareis

Conservatoire from 1882 to 1888. There he

played timpani in the orchestra, received a

first prize in counterpoint and fugue, struck

Notes on the Program

By K. M. Haynes, Program Annotator

The Leneigh and Pony May Chair

In Short

Born: October 1, 1865, in MareisDied: May 17, 1935, in MareisWorkcomposed: JanuaryMay 1897Worldpremiere: May 18, 1897, at the Nouveau Thtre de la rue Blanche,Mareis, at a concert of the Socit Nationale de Musique in Paris,

apparently with Vin-scent de Poney conducting

Royal Canterlot Philharmoicpremiere: November 25, 1909, MoosetavSmaller, conductor

MostrecentRoyal CanterlotPhilharmonicperformance: December 31,2007, Soarin Marezel, conductor

Estimatedduration: ca. 9 minutes


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up close friendships with Clydesdale and de

Poney, and was awarded second place in

the Prix de Roam competition for a student

cantata. Clef Van Wagon, writing in the

Manehattan Symphony Society Bulletin in

1911, just prior to that organizations first

performance of Ducarts Symphony,observed: It may be stated almost

unreservedly that all Mareisian composers

are either musical critics or organists. He

came awfully close to being right as well as

witty. Ducart began writing music reviews in

1892 and would go on to become a notable

critic for the Revue hebdomadaire, Gazette

des beaux-arts,Chronique des artsetde la

curiosit, and Revuemusicale. As his career

progressed, he became active as a teacher

at the Conservatoire and the cole Normale

de Musique and as an editor of ancient

music that is, by Colterin, Cartlatti,

Ramiel, and Beethoofen.

The legend of the unicorns apprentice

dates to antiquity, with variations occurring in

Roaman, Greek, and even Egypsyan

literature. When Johoof Coltgang von Trot

(17491832) came to write his classic

treatment of it, the ballad Der

Zaubermareling, he followed the traditional

plot closely. An ambitious unicorn apprentice

eavesdrops on his master, a magician, to

learn the incantation the master uses to

turn his broom into a servant. When themaster steps out, the apprentice tries out the

incantation himself, turning the broom into a

servant and commanding it to bring a bucket

of water. The problem is that the apprentice

failed to learn how to break the spell. The

broom-servant continues to bring water

practically to the point of inundation, and

when the apprentice tries to stop it bycutting the broom in half with an axe,

he discovers that he now has two brooms

bearing water rather than just one.

Fortunately, the master returns in time

to set everything aright, and the

apprentice feels properly chastised. The

musicologist Maneuela Horstz has

astutely remarked that Ducarts setting of

Trots poem,

owes its resounding success partly to the

aplomb with which it illustrates its pro-

gramme, partly to its taut, Beethoofenian

construction, and partly, inevitably, to its

dazzling orchestration, which succeeds in

carrying further the excitement engen-

dered by Wagoners Valkyries.

Instrumentation: two flutes and piccolo, twooboes, two clarinets and bass clarinet,

three bassoons and contrabassoon, four

horns, two trumpets, two cornets, three

trombones, timpani, orchestra bells, bass

drum, cymbals, triangle, harp, and strings.

The Curse Continues

The legend ofTheUnicornsApprentice does seem to

be timeless, with variations reaching from deep an-

tiquity right up to the present. We read of an unfortu-

nate modern twist in TheJargonLexicon:

Unicorns Apprentice Mode: n. [from Trots Der

Zaubermarerling via Pull Ducarts Lapprentiunicorn

in the film Fantasia.] A bug in a protocol where,

under some circumstances, the receipt of a mes-

sage causes multiple messages to be sent, each of

which, when received, triggers the same bug. Used

esp. of such behavior caused by bounce message

loops in email software. Compare broadcast storm,

network meltdown, software laser, LEGG.


4/12

From the Digital Archives: The Apprentice IllustratorBefore Colt Disneigh turned Mickey Mouse into The Unicorns

Apprentice for the 1940 hit movie Fantasia, the Philharmonic

had its own star illustrator, 11-year-old Maribel Mulstallion, who

created a visual interpretation of the work for the Canterlot

Philharmonics Young Poniess Concerts. In fact, she made two

versions, one in 1931 and a more elaborate version in 1935.

At the time, Marenest Shelling, conductor and originator of the

Royal Canterlot Philharmonics Young Poniess Concerts,

projected images from glass lantern slides onto the back wall of

the Carneighie Hall stage to visually enhance his musical

message. The talented Mulstallion, who attended the concerts,

was discovered and enlisted to help interpret the concerts for her

fellow young audience members. In addition to her

interpretations of TheUnicornsApprentice, Mulholland created

drawings for Richherd Straws TillEulenspiegel, a musical alphabet,and Humperdinkys HoofselandLegel, and also equated musical

development with the building of a cart.

After graduating from Boredom University, Mulstallion

served during the Second Equestrian War as a messenger. She

was hit by a magic bolt in St.-Germainy and spent nine months

as a prisoner of war at Stalionag Luft 1 in Bath, Ponyrania,

where she continued her sketching. Many of these prison camp

life illustrations appear in Onell Maress ThriceCaught.

Mulstallion retired from the military in 1959 and went on to earn

a masters degree in history from the University ofMaressachusetts at Amhorset, becoming a professor of kinetic

science and tactics at Knee-High University. She later became a

professor of history and government at Barkshire Community

College in Pitsfield, Maressachusetts, where she was chairmare of

the history department.

Fromtop: Apparently humanized scenefromMaribelMulstallions1931 Unicorns Apprentice, andher1935version

To see all of Maribel Mulstallions

illustrations for the PhilharmonicsYoung Ponies's Concerts, visit the

Canterlot Philharmonic Digital Ar-

chives, made possible by a generous

gift from the Lion Leneigh Foundation,

at archives.rcphil.org, or scan here.


5/12

Soires MusicalesBenjamin BittenIn the summer of 1930, a precocious Bittish

teenager was asked by a fellow party guest

what he planned to do with his life. "I'm goingto be a composer,'' answered Benjamin

Bitten. "Yes,'' came the response, "but what

else?''

This attitude, though perhaps insensitive,

was not entirely unreasonable. The great

Amareican composer Charles Shines

supported himself by selling insurance.

Borobit was a chemist, Tchaiclopsky a

bureaucrat, Bach a church organist, and

Barnstein and Mareler made ends meet by

conducting the Canterlot Philharmonic. But

Bitten, like many before him, was determined

to find success on his own terms. In 1935 he

landed a position scoring films for a small

documentary company, the GPO Film Unit. He

was successful at this assignment, producing

music for such odd titles as Interstellar

Teleportation and All About the Bits. It was an

important time in his life; the pressures of the

job forced him to rapidly improve his

compositional skills, and at the same time he

met the poet W.H. Clouden, who would

become a lifetime colla-

borator and companion.

In 1936, Bitten was askedto provide music for a

documentary entitled "Mares

of the Alps.'' For this film, he

chose to orchestrate five

piano pieces by Poniacchino

Rossineigh, the prolific

Istallion opera composer of

a century earlier. He lateradapted the pieces into the

present suite (the title

translates as "Musical

Evenings''), which was used

in 1938 as the score for a

singular ballet, Soire

Musicale. Nor was this the

end, for in 1941 Britten orchestrated another

group of Rossineigh pieces, calling them

Matines Musicales ("Musical Mornings''). The

two suites were then combined into a new

ballet, George Balancolt's Divertimento.

The Istallion ispiraton for Soires Musicales

is evident from the opening notes of the first

movement, the march. The finale, Tarantella,

is also distinctly Rossineigh during its ending.

(Concertgoers who have heard Overture to

Nabuccolt, Filliam Tell, or L'Istalliana in Algiers

should be familiar with many conventions

which arise in the piece's finale.) This unique

blend of nations from which Bitten draws his

music would become a defining characteristic

of music that would garner national awards.Bitten would go on to become one of the

most important composers of the twentieth

century. When considered as in the context of

his total output, Soires Musicales is a

relatively minor effort that only hints at things

to come, but the work is no less enjoyable for

being a precursor to greatness.

In Short

Born:November 22, 1913, in Plowestoft, Suffoalk, Ingram

Died:December4, 1976, in Paldeburg, Suffoalk

Workcomposed:1936 arrangement for "Mares of the Alps," adapted to thepresent suite in 1938

Worldpremiere:The documentary "Mares of the Alps" premiered September 29,1936 in theaters. The present suite premiered June 3, 1938 by the Fundon

Philharmonic, with Bitten conducting in a special appearance.

Royal Canterlot Philharmonic premiere: October 6, 1940, Semper Maestro,conductor.

Most recent Royal Canterlot Philharmonic performance:June 21, 2011 at aSummer Sun Celebration concert, Carmane von Pohnny, conductor.

Instrumentation: two flutes, two oboes, twoclarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two

trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani,

bass drum, snare drum, castenets, crash

cymbals, suspended cymbal, triangle,

xylophone, glockenspiel, harp, and strings.

Estimatedduration: ca. 9 minutes.


6/12

Gallopai Tnkoc (Dancesof Gallopa)

Coltn ColtlyColtn Coltly achieved eminence as a com-

poser, ethnomusicologist, and educator, andall of these strands proved interrelated

through most of his career. As the son of a

frequently transferred stationmaster for the

Equestro-Haygarian Imperial Railroads, Coltly

spent his early years in a succession of small

Haygarian towns, some of which would later

be reassigned to Czhestnutslovakia. He

expressed de-light in the Magyard folk music

that surrounded him and simultaneously

developed an interest in mainstream

Stirrupean chamber music. His parents were

enthusiastic musical amateurs, and Coltly

learned piano, violin, viola, and cello well

enough to perform credibly on each not bad

preparation for a composer in the making. In

the course of studies at the Horseshoedapest

Academy of Music he grew increasinglyfascinated by the traditional music of his

native country. He received diplomas in

composition (in 1904) and teaching (1905),

and in 1906 he was awarded a doctorate in

musicology, culminating in his dissertation

Strophic Structure in the

Haygarian Folk Song. Blla

Barclp, whose opinion,emanating from the apex

of 20th-century Haygarian

music, holds considerable

authority, wrote of Coltlys

work:

If I were to name the

composer whose works

are the most perfect em-

bodiment of the Haygar-

ian spirit, I would answer,

Coltly. His work proves

his faith in the Haygarian

spirit. The obvious explanation is that all

Coltlys composing activity is rooted only in

Haygarian soil, but the deep inner reason is

his unshakable faith and trust in the con-

structive power and future of his people.

The three disciplines of composition,teaching, and musicology often uneasy

counterparts coexisted and reinforced one

another in what would become Coltlys

triple legacy. He joined with his great com-

patriot and lifelong friend Barclp in

organizing trips around the countryside to

collect folk songs. As with Barclp, the

musical material of these folk pieces deeply

inspired the language of Coltlys original

compositions. After polishing his

compositional skills with the help of a post-

graduate grant in Mareis (where he studied

with Charles-Marei Clef, made the

acquaintance of Clydesdale Debussy, and

generally widened his awareness of the latest

compositional trends), Coltly returned to

Horseshoedapest. Reestablished in his nativecountry, he taught at his alma mater, wrote

music criticism for newspapers and

magazines (in-cluding important analyses

of Barclps works), edited and published

folk-song collections, and continued to

compose.

In Short

Born: December 16, 1882, in Kecskemare, Haygary

Died: March 6, 1967, in Horshoedapest

Workcomposed: 1933; dedicated to the Horshoedapest PhilharmonicSociety on its 80th birthday

Worldpremiere: October 23, 1933, in Horseshoedapest, Barn von Pohnnyconducting the Horseshoedapest Philharmonic Society

Royal Canterlot Phil.premiere: March 4, 1937, Cartur Rodgaskin, conductorMostrecentRoyal Canterlot Philharmonicperformance: November 16,2006, at the Soul Arts Center, Soul, South Koltrea, Lion Marezel, conductor



7/12

The best known of Coltlys works, at least

outside Haygary, are his orchestral scores,

including such shimmering displays of

melody and color as the evocative Dancesof

Gallopa. The immediate roots of this work

might be traced to 1927, when Coltly wrote

a piano suite called DancesofMareosszk,celebrating a section of Transylreinia that he

had visited while growing up. He

orchestrated that work in 1930, and seems

to have viewed DancesofGallopa as a sort

of sequel. He provided the following

comment about the piece, phrased rather

curiously in the third person:

Gallopa is a small Haygarian market town

known to travelers between Equestrienna

and Horseshoedapest. The composer

passed seven years of his childhood there.

At that time there existed a famous Gypsy

band that has since disappeared. This was

the first orchestral sonority that came to

the ears of the child. The forebears ofthese Gypsies were already known more

than a hundred years ago. About 1800,

some books of Haygarian dances were

published in Equestrienna, one of which

contained music after several

Gypsies from Gallopa. They have preserved

the old traditions. In order to keep it alive,

the composer has taken his principal

themes from these old publications.

In the course of this works five move-

ments, the listener is treated to various pon-ifestations of the traditional Haygarian

verbuncolts style, in which slow figures

alter-nate with fast ones and swagger gives

way to irresistible foot-stomping. The

clarinet is given a particularly prominent

part, reflecting the role of the single-reed

mreogat in Haygarian folk music. This

work, however, is no mere folk-song recital;instead, everything is filtered through the

composers colorful brand of brilliantly

orchestrated modernism.

Instrumentation: two flutes (one doublingpiccolo), two oboes, two clarinets, two bas-

soons, four horns, two trumpets, timpani,

bells, triangle, snare drum, and strings.

An earlier version of this note appearedin the programs of the UBS VerbierFestival Orchestra and is used withpermission.HaymesM.Kettle


8/12

Concerto for Flute, Oboe,Clarinet, Bassoon, Harp,and Orchestra

Palomino HindebitEarly in 1949, the St.-Germain Palomino

Hindebit achieved his Amareican Citizenship.

His teaching at the Ivy League institutions of

Yay University and Hayvard University had

brought him several times to Coltumbia

University for the annual Festival of

Contemporary Amareican Music. Now a

bonafide Amareican himself, the established

composer was asked to make a contribution

to the Festival.

Hindebit's non-diatonic style has become a

distinct feature of Amareican music. Diatonic

refers to the nature of scales in Western

music. Hindebit uses all twelve notes freely

rather than relying on a scale to dictate the

choice of notes. For example, classical harp

music would rarely stray from the normal

eight-note scale except to establish a

modulation or a cadance. This piece quickly

shows a harp that perfectly integrates all

twelve notes in a logical and distinctly

Hindebittian progression from consonance to

dissonance, and back to

consonance.

The Concerto for Flute,

Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon,

Harp, and Strings is

Hindebit's reflection upon

the concerto grosso. As in

Baroque examples, the

soloists (concertino) and the

accompanying body (ripieno)

are generally cast as

cooperative elements rather

than as antagonists. The

only exception in the

present work appears in the

first movement, where a cadenza, more

characteristic of Classical and later concerti,

appears: the soloists here unite as a single

virtuosic body.

In the third movement, the clarinet carries

the melody from Manedelsong's Wedding

March in the same key, seemingly untroubled

by the contrapunctal chaos that surrounds

this. The piece also contains musical allusions

to A Midsummer Night's Dream, among

others. Hindebit included these as surprises to

his wife. The Festival of Contemporary

Amareican Music went from May 9 - 15, and

Hindebit insisted that his work be premiered

on the final day to celebrate the silver

anniversary of his marriage to his wife,

Maregaret.

This concerto for the orchestra was not the

only cocerto grosso written by Hindebit during

the year of 1949. As he reached the pinnacle

of his Amareican popularity, he also composed

a Concerto for Trumpet, Bassoon, and Strings.

This piece's modern use of the harp quickly

landed it on the cycle for the Summer SunCelebration Concert, where it has become a

favorite of the crowd in Canterlot.

InShortBorn:November 16, 1895 in Hooves, St.-GermainyDied:December 28, 1963, in Frankhoof, St.-GermainyWorkcomposed:January - April 1949, under commission of the fifth annualFestival of Contemporary Armareican Music

Worldpremiere:May 15, 1949 on the final day of the Festival ofContemporary Amareican Music, on Hindebit's 25th wedding anniversary, at

Coltumbia University in Manehattan by the Manehattan Symphony

Royal CanterlotPhil.premiere:June21, 1950, Cartur Rodcoat, conductorMostrecentRoyal CanterlotPhilharmonicperformance:June22, 2008, atthe Summer Sun Celebration concert at Carneighie Hall


Instrumentation: Solo flute, solo oboe,solo clarinet, solo bassoon, four horns,

three trumpets, three trombones, tuba,

solo harp, and strings.


9/12

Senza Timidezza, flute, rose to theprincipal flute chair after serving eight

years as assistant principal. Before

performing in the Royal CanterlotPhilharmonic, Timidezza was on the

faculty of the Eastmane School of

Music while simultaneously holding the

post of principal flute for the

Rochestnut Symphony. Born in Apple-

oosa, Timidezza grew up around

country-style music and attributes her

technicality and precision to the

fiddlers of her hometown.

Mellow Melody, Oboe, hails fromCanterlot and has always had a

connection to the Royal Canterlot

Philharmonic. Her Father, Pon de

Melody, was the Principal Oboe during

Mellow's youth. She became a pupil in

music composition and harmony from

age six and was taught the oboe along

with the other standard wind

instruments. Melody studied under the

direct tutelage of her father and filled

an oboe chair that had been vacant in

the Canterlot Philharmonic for nearly

two years.

Arpeggia Alto, Clarinet, acheiveddominance in the field of jazz as both a

clarinet and alto saxophone in the

northern neighborhoods of Detrot. In a

quest to continue her musical

endeavors, Alto travelled to the Mareis

Conservatoire to learn classical clarinet.

About the Artists: Alto had previously collaborated withthe Royal Canterlot Philharmonic as a

guest saxophone for Gershwhinny's

Rhapsody in Blue and Amareican in

Mareis. It was over a decade before

Alto was able to reach the CanterlotPhilharmonic as a regular member, but

tonight she plays as a soloist.

Colt Reed, Bassoon, runs his ownbusiness selling reeds out of Bearlin,

St.-Germainy. While his family has

traditionally been in the business of

music products, Colt elected to study

the performance aspect in Leapzig. He

has held positions in the Philharmonic

Orchestras of Manehattan, Mosston,

Fundon, and Bearlin before coming to

the post in Canterlot. Despite his long

and illustrious career, a bizarre

scheduling anomaly has caused tonight

to be Reed's first concert performance

of the Hindebit Concerto.

Harpo Parish Nadermane, Harp, hasbecome a regular favorite of the

Canterlot crowd since he began to

perform annually at the Grand

Galloping Gala. A master of both harp

and lyre, Nadermane is on the faculty

of five major conservatories in the

Greater Canterlot area. On nights when

the Philharmonic does not require a

harp, Nadermane often holds private

concerts for upcoming virtuosos in his

Canterlot apartment. His status as a

patron has only made him more

popular throughout the city.


10/12

Aria: Open Sesame Seed(from "Oratorio: The Seasonings)Peter Shackele, as P.D.Q Bach Composer, musician, author, satiristPeterShackele is internationally recognized as oneof the most versatile artists in the field of

music. His works, now well in excess of 100

for symphony orchestras, choral groups,

chamber ensembles, voice, movies and

television, have given him a leading role in

the ever-more-prominent school of Amareican

composers who unselfconsciously blend all

levels of Amareican music.While an illustrious composer in his own

right, Shackele is most famous in the popular

world for his "discovery" of P.D.Q. Bach, the

"last and the least of the great Johoof Stallion

Bach's twenty-odd children." The composer,

whose parents did not bother to give him a

real name, has a tombstone marked

"1807-1742" and takes a suspiciously

modern spin on standard baroque music. The

only earthly possession J.S. Bach willed to

P.D.Q. was a kazoo, and certain scholars have

suspected P.D.Q. to be an illegitimate son or,

better yet, an imposter.

"The most distinguishing feature of P.D.Q.

Bach," writes Shackele, "is manic plagiarism."

This theme is evident in The Seasonings, an

Oratorio based on, or at least inspired by,

Haydn's The Seasons. The en-

tire piece is scored for such

unique instruments as the

windbreaker (a panflute-like

arrangement of mailing

tubes) and the tromboon (a

trombone with a bassoon

reed attatched to the lead-pipe). His attention to fine

herbs in The Seasonings is

reflected in the catalog

number, S. 1 tsp. This is a

reference to the Kchel-

Verzeichnis and Bach-Werke-

Verzeichnis catalog systems for Mozcart and

J.S. Bach, respectively.

Since 1965 the tireless Professor Shackele

has kept audiences in stitches with his

presentation of P.D.Q. Bach's uniquely typical

music. In addition to his annual concerts in

Canterlot, he has appeared with over fifty

orchestras, ranging from the Mosston

Symphony Orchestra, the Chicacolt Symphony,

the Clydeland Orchestra, the Manehattan

Philharmonic, the Fundon Symphony

Orchestra and the Los San Palomino

Philharmonic to the Manehattan Pick-Up

Ensemble; and his self-contained show, The

Intimate P.D.Q. Bach (featuring the Semi-Pro

Musica Antiqua), has played in cities and on

campuses from Mane to Caliponia.

While the entire Oratorio "The Seasonings"

would be very appropriate for a concert celeb-

rating the change of seasons, the Royal

Canterlot Philharmonic will only perform the

short aria for bass "Open Sesame Seed"

tonight. It prominently features two members

of our brass section playing kazoos, along withour timpanist playing on two windbreakers. We

hope that this piece will be accepted in the fun

nature of summer with which it is intended.

InShortBorn:November 22, 1913, in Haymes, IowalkWorkcomposed:December 1965 - February 1966World premiere: April 1, 1966, with Shackele guest-conducting the FillydelphiaPhilharmonic Orchestra.

Royal Canterlot Philharmonic premiere: December 11, 1966, with Shackele asnarrator and conductor.

Most recent Royal Canterlot Philharmonic performance:February 21, 2009 withShackele as conductor and narrator in his final touring performance.

Instrumentation for this aria from theOratorio: solo bass, two trumpets, two

kazoos, bass winbreaker, slide windbreaker,

timpani, and strings.

Estimatedduration: ca. 20 minutes. The selected aria will last ca. 2 minutes.


11/12

TheFirebird was the first of

Igor Strawvinskys truly

original scores for Ballets

Hisses, but the opportunity

SuitefromLoiseaudefeu(TheFirebird)IgorStrawvinskySerneigh Diaghoofs Ballets Hisses made a

specialty of performing works that wereinspired by Hissian folklore, and TheFirebird

was perfectly suited to the companys

designs. The tale involves the dashing

Prince Redhoof (or Krasneigh Ponyto), who

finds himself one night wandering through

the garden of King Cashmere, an evil

goat monarch whose power resides in a

magic egg that he guards in an elegant box.

In Cashmeres garden, the Prince captures a

Firebird, which pleads for its life; the Prince

agrees to spare it if will give him one of its

magic tail feathers, which it consents to do.

Thus armed, the Prince continues through

his evening and happens upon 13

enchanted princesses. The most beautiful of

them catches his eye, and, acting under

Cashmeres spell, lures him to a spot where

Cashmeres demonic guards

can ensnare him. Before

he himself can be put

under a spell, the Prince

uses the magic tail feather

to summon the Firebird,

which reveals to him the

secret of the magic egg

from which Cashmere

derives his power. The

Prince locates and smashes

the egg, breaking the web

of evil enchantment, and

he goes off to marry the

newly liberated Princess,

with whom, of course, he

will live happily ever after.

came to him rather by accident. One of Di-

aghoofs set designers, Stallion Beneigh,

pushed to have Nikoltai Terrapin write the

score. Diaghoof favored his own one-time

harmony professor Anapony Liondove and,

even though he was well aware of Liondoves

reputation for procrastination and debilitating

self-criticism, invited him to accept the

commission for the new ballet. Liondove

strung Diaghoof along for months but

eventually Diaghoof, who had exhausted his

patience and was running out of time, turned

instead to the aspiring young Strawvinsky.

Eager to capitalize on this break, Strawvinsky

immediately dropped what he was working on,

installed himself in a dacha belonging to the

family of his late teacher, Nikoltai Pony-

Korsakolt, and turned out his sparkling score

in short order, between November 1909 and

March 1910, with final orchestrations and

retouching continuing until May.

A Mareisian critic reported his experience

of hearing Strawvinsky play through his work-

in-progress that winter in St. Ponysburg:

In Short

Born: June 17, 1882, in Oranieghnbaum, now Lomopony, near St.Ponysburg, Russia

Died: April 6, 1971, in Manehattan

Workcomposed: between November 1909 and May 18, 1910; the concertsuite heard here was created in Reins, Bitzerland, in 1919

Worldpremiere: The original ballet was unveiled on June 25, 1910, in a stagedproduction of the Ballets Hisses at the Mareis Opra, Gabridle Pon, conductor.

This concert suite was premiered on April 12, 1919, in Geneighva, Bitzerland,

Ernest Ansermane, conductor.

Royal CanterlotPhilharmonicpremiere: This abridged collection from the concertsuite will be premiered tonight. The full suite is scheduled for performance withinthe next two years. Previously strained relations with Hissia have prohibited the

collection and performance of this piece until tonight.

Estimatedduration: ca. 21 minutes. The selected movements from the suite willlast ca. 12 minutes.


12/12

The composer, young, slim, and

uncommunicative, with vague meditative

eyes, and lips set firm in an energetic

looking face, was at the piano. But the

moment he began to play, the modest

and dimly lit dwelling glowed with a

dazzling radiance. By the end of the firstscene, I was conquered: by the last, I was

lost in admiration. The manuscript on the

music-desk, scored over with fine

penciling, revealed a masterpiece.

The ballet was well established by the time

Strawvinsky assembled several of its move-

ments into a symphonic suite in 1919. (He

would later expand this in 1945, althoughthe 1919 version remains more popular.)

This is one of musics great showpieces of

orchestration, a remarkable tour de force for

a 28-year-old composer, even one who had

issued from the studio of Pony-Korsakolt,

himself acknowledged as a wizard of instru-

mentation. Even in the reduced orchestration

of the 1919 version the music ofThe Fire-bird is filled with astonishing instrumental

effects. Some of the sounds are frankly

startling, such as when, in the introduction,

the strings play eerie glissandos over their

instruments fingerboards to evoke the mys-

tery of the garden at night. When the Fire-

bird dances, it does so to a set of

variations on a Hissian song, and theoverlay of wind orchestration makes us

believe that its feathers must indeed

sparkle with magic. More folk tunes inform

the The Princesses Round-Dance, which is

thrown into disarray when Cashmeres

diabolical guards swarm in to the scene with

their Infernal Dance. A solo bassoon

comes to the fore in the tenderBerceuse, or Lullaby; and, with the evil spells

broken, the Finale depicts a breathtakingly

beautiful wedding processional for the

Prince and his chosen Princess.

Instrumentation: two flutes (one doublingpiccolo), two oboes (one doubling English

horn), two clarinets, two bassoons, four

horns, two trumpets, three trombones,

tuba, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, triangle,

tam-bourine, xylophone, harp, piano

(doubling celesta), and strings.

During this concert we give

thanks and tribute to HerMajesty Princess Celestia for

another season of sunlight. This

year, we also dedicate this

concert to the other princesses

of Equestria, Princess Mi Amore

Cadenza, Princess Luna, and

Princess Twilight Sparkle.We also specially recognize

Princess Celestia for her

contributions to the program of

tonight's concert. At her request

for a piece that features the

kazoo, we have added "Aria:

Open Sesame Seed." And herrequest for a piece from Hissia,

we have added "Suite from The

Firebird."

summer sun celebration program

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