2022 Discovery Concert Series: IT TAKES YOU AWAY!

Have you ever listened to a piece of music and felt transported to another state of mind? Perhaps you were sad and a piece of music made you happy? Or maybe you use a special piece of music for exercising or other activities? Music is also used to represent us in our society in many ways including birthdays, weddings, funerals, celebrations, and many more. How do you use music? What is your favorite music? What music takes you away?

PROGRAM NOTES PDF

Ambroise Thomas - Overture to Raymond
Ambroise Thomas (1811-1896) was a French composer and director of the Paris Conservatory of Music. His Overture to Raymond is from an opera which is based on Alexandre Dumas’ book, The Man in the Iron Mask, a story including King Louie XIV of France and the Four Musketeers.

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake, ACT II: No. 10 Scene
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) was a Russian composer who is most famous for composing The Nutcracker Ballet and the 1812 Overture. The Swan Lake Ballet tells the tale of Princess Odette, who is turned into a Swan and can only return to her human form between midnight and daybreak.

Heitor Villa Lobos - New York Skyline Melody
Heitor Villa Lobos (1887-1959) was a Brazilian composer who also revolutionized Brazil’s public school  music education system. The New York Skyline Melody was originally written for solo piano and featured at the 1939 World’s Fair in New York City. It was composed with a technique called millimeterization, where a photo of the New York City Skyline was plotted on graph paper and then transferred into music notation.

Aram Khachaturian - Waltz from Masquerade Suite
Aram Khachaturian (1926-1978) was a Russian-Armenian composer who’s most famous composition is the Sabre Dance from the Gayane Ballet. The Masquerade Suite is music taken from a 1941 play by Mikhail Lermontov. The Waltz from Masquerade contains a melancholy melody that is reminiscent of Russian circus music.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Overature to The Marriage of Figaro
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) was an Austrian composer and one of the most famous composers of all time. The Marriage of Figaro is a comic opera involving the wedding day adventures of servants Figaro and Susanna, overcoming the unsavory efforts of their employer Count Almaviva.

Michael Schelle - And Then They Just Disappear Into the Night
Michael Schelle (b. 1950) is an American composer and professor of composition at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana. And Then They Just Disappear Into The Night was inspired by the famous, and much analyzed Dylan Thomas poem Do not go gentle into that good night. Michael Schelle’s And Then They Just Disappear into the Night captures the creepy (yet alluring) nocturnal atmosphere of a cold, foggy evening that suddenly erupts into hysteria, anxiety and tension (“Rage! Rage against the dying of the light”) – only to safely (if not reluctantly) return to the night (“curse, bless me now”).

J. S. Bach (Arr. Respighi) - Sleepers Wake! from Tre Corali
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was a German composer and the most famous composer of the Baroque period. His church cantata containing the melody of Sleepers Wake!, represents the importance of always being prepared in life. This orchestration of Sleepers Wake! was written by the famous Italian composer Ottorino Respighi. (1879-1936)

Claude Debussy - Ballet from Petite Suite
Claude Debussy (1862-1918) was a French impressionistic composer. Impressionism in music focuses on mood and atmosphere instead of a specific picture of sound. The music from the Petite Suite was originally taken from a collection of piano pieces by Debussy, which were orchestrated by Henri Busser. The 4th movement, Ballet, depicts a dance-like mood with the musical themes jumping around between duple and triple meters.

M. Ippolitov-Ivanov - Procession of the Sardar
Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov (1859-1935) was a Russian composer who had an interest in the folk music of Turkey, Armenia, and Georgia. The Procession of the Sardar is one movement of the Caucasian Sketches, a collection of music depicting life in the Caucasus Mountains. The melody of The Procession of the Sardar is based on an Armenian folk song called Zeitountziner.