Massachusetts Youth Symphony Project at Powers (MYSP) Spring Concert Notes - 2016 www.powersmusic.org 617-484-4696 Belmont, MA
It s almost impossible to listen to great music without feeling some type of emotion. The pieces featured in this spring s MYSP concert all highlight human emotion - through stories of gods, legends, Lego characters, and everyday heros. As you read about the selections and hear them performed, can you also feel the excitement, seriousness, and emotion from our young performers as they pour their hearts MYSP Preparatory String Orchestra Conductor Channing Yu Overture to The Barber of Seville Gioacchino Rossini / Arr. by Harry Alshin Rossini s opera, which premiered in Rome in 1816, is based on the first of three plays in the trilogy Le Barbier de Séville written 40 years prior by playwright Pierre Beaumarchais. The Barber of Seville belongs to a genre of opera called opera buffa, or comic opera. In contrast to opera seria (a more dramatic style focusing on nobility and the gods), opera buffa was intended to be more easily understood by the common man, featuring ordinary, everyday characters, plots, settings, and speech. Rossini often used four main characters in his operas - a soprano or mezzo, a tenor, a baritone, and a basso buffo with skills in comedy and diction. Figaro, the clever and scheming barber for whom the opera is titled, is the basso buffo, and is remembered for his patter, the fast-paced tongue-twister songs that were popular then in the opera buffa genre. Many playwrights and composers rewrote their own versions of the story of Figaro from Beaumarchais s trilogy and Rossini s opera. Amidst all this recycling and borrowing, It s interesting to note that the music in the Overture, the recognizable piece you ll hear performed by the MYSP Preparatory String Orchestra, may have been recycled itself from two earlier Rossini operas, Aureliano in Palmira and Elisabetta, regina d Inghilterra. We Recommend... Learning about this opera s storyline and its disastrous premiere from Encyclopedia Britannica s summary: http://www.britannica.com/topic/the-barber-of-seville-opera-by-rossini Watching Wichita Grand Opera s full performance of The Barber of Seville at: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=eazucnp41nc
L Arlesienne Suite No. 1 IV. Carillon Georges Bizet / Arr. Robert D. McCashin L Arlésienne Suite No. 1 began as incidental music for the play L Arlésienne by Alphonse Daudet in 1872. The play was a last-minute substitute for a different one, was not well-received, and only ran for 21 performances, but Bizet s music has survived in the form of two suites with several movements each. The themes and orchestration of Suite No. 2 were also written by Bizet, but were arranged and published after his death. Suite No. 1 s fourth movement, Carillon, follows the 3rd tableau of Act 2 in the play and features chords of brass and strings sounding like church bells. Listening to the full Suite No. 1 and Suite No. 2 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkymppku66 o&list=rdtkymppku66o. Everything is Awesome!!! from The LEGO Movie Shawn Patterson / Arr. Ralph Ford Everything is Awesome!!! is the theme song to The Lego Movie, co-written by Shawn Patterson, Joshua Bartholomew, Lisa Harriton, and The Lonely Island. Played in the movie s end credits, trailer, and video game, and released as a single, the song was recorded in 2013 by Tegan and Sara and The Lonely Island, and received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song, a Grammy nomination for Best Song Written for Visual Media, and a Critic s Choice Movie Award for Best Song. The movie trailer features Lego versions of Tegan and Sara and The Lonely Island, and the song was also performed as a live musical number at the 2015 Oscars with performers in Lego costumes. Although Everything is Awesome!!! was written while co-writer Shawn Patterson was going through a divorce, this tune is anything but depressing, and in fact, may stay in your head for days as you picture Emmet, the hero of The Lego Movie, conquering the evil tyrant played by Will Ferrell. Watching the notable 2015 Oscar performance of this catchy song on Youtube: https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=mwjum8lz7y4
MYSP Chamber Orchestra Conductor Dr. Spencer Aston Overture to Idomeneo, K 366 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Written when he was only 25, Idomeneo was Mozart s first mature opera. A true Italian opera seria, Idomeneo focuses on a story of the gods and nobility in a dramatic style. When it premiered in 1781 at the Cuvilliés Theatre in Munich, Germany, the press in Munich raved about the set design but didn t mention his name at all as the composer or music director, but the show was a success, partially because of Mozart s strong attention to detail. The soft chords of the end of the overture lead us into the first scene of the opera on the Island of Crete, where the Trojan princess Ilia is disguising her love for Prince Idamante just after the Trojan war. From 1781 through its first U.S. performance in 1947 at Tanglewood and beyond, this overture sparks emotion in all who listen. Listening to the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra s 2008 performance of the Overture to Idomeneo here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvzgf0jpspu Pavane, Op. 50 Gabriel Fauré Pavane was written in 1887 in the style of a Spanish court dance, something Fauré enjoyed much more than struggling to write symphonies. At the suggestion of Elisabeth, comtesse Greffulhe, one of his patrons in Paris, he added a chorus to the orchestral work. In 1891 a version was staged with dancers, followed by yet another grander version in 1917 a ballet choreographed by Léonide Massine which was performed at the Ballet Russes for many years. Listening to several recordings of Pavane on ClassicFM s website: http://www.classicfm.com/ composers/faure/music/pavane/#qvsif67uwj5tuztr.97
Bacchanale from Samson and Dalilah, Op. 47 Camille Saint-Saëns / Arr. Merle Isaac Bacchanale is a ballet in Act III of the French opera Samson and Delilah. Saint-Saëns began his creation by writing Act II with help from a relative s husband, who convinced Saint-Saëns to create an opera instead of his original idea of an oratorio. For several years they then worked on the first and third acts, testing them out at various venues. Once Samson and Delilah was finished, it struggled to find success in Paris, as audiences were less than enthusiastic about the biblical theme. The opera finally premiered in Weimar in 1877 with support from Franz Liszt, former musical director at the Weimar court. The story of Samson, the strongman from the Old Testament, and Delilah, the temptress who destroyed his strength by cutting off his hair, is well-known throughout many parts of the world. It also makes for a powerful and emotional opera, with opportunities for talented singers to perform the role of Delilah. The Bacchanale is a ballet in Act III, where Delilah leads festival-goers in a wild and sensual dance and tribute to the god Bacchus while gaining the attention and affection of Samson. Watching the San Diego Opera s 2013 performance of Bacchanale here: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=dbrgummeefk Learn more about The Massachusetts Youth Symphony Project at Powers (MYSP) and auditions at: http://www.powersmusic.org/orchestra See you at the concert! Sunday, May 15, 4:00 pm, The 51 Walden Performing Arts Center, Concord, MA