February- Marimba Reflections Composers

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)

Symphony No. 6 in D Major, (Hoboken 1/6), Le matin, (1761), 22 minutes

Flute, oboes, bassoon, horns, continuo, strings

This is the GJSO’s first performance of this symphony

Franz Joseph Haydn was born in 1732 in a small village in Austria near the border with Hungary. He showed musical ability at a young age and his parents quickly realized that he would never realize his full potential if he stayed at home. When he was six, Haydn was sent to live with relatives where he could receive a better education; he never lived with his parents again. At nine, Haydn gained the attention of the choirmaster at St Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna. He became a choir boy there and remained at the cathedral for nine years until he was turned out of the program due to disciplinary issues. He worked for a while on his own, teaching himself theory and composition by studying the works of Johann Joseph Fux and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach.

Eventually, Haydn began to get jobs at court, leading to his job as music director for the Esterházy family, nobility who owned a large estate near the Hungarian border. Haydn’s career was spent serving the family as composer, conductor, and musical instructor. The Esterházy estate was remote, which isolated Haydn from society at large. While this inhibited his ability to hear new music by other composers, it allowed Haydn a huge amount of creative freedom since he was free to compose what he liked, without outside influences. Even though Haydn lived far from Vienna, his music was widely disseminated there and throughout the rest of Europe. He was, at the time, the most celebrated composer on the continent and was influential in the modern development of the symphony and string quartet, earning the nickname “Papa Haydn,” as the father of the forms. Haydn’s influence was widespread, he was a friend and mentor to Mozart and a teacher for Beethoven. His works cemented standard musical forms and coalesced the Classical style.

Haydn began his employment with the Esterházy family on May 1, 1761. His new employer, Prince Paul, suggested three times of day as the themes for Haydn’s first compositions. These three symphonies, Nos. 6, 7, and 8 (Le matin, Le midi, and Le soir) (Morning, Noon, and Night) were premiered together at the Esterházy Palace in Vienna. Taking inspiration from the Baroque concerto grosso, which featured a small group of solo instruments who played with and in contrast to the larger orchestral group, Haydn was able to showcase the talent of various members of the fine Esterházy orchestra giving each instrument in Haydn’s new orchestra a chance to shine as a new morning began in Haydn’s long career.

What to listen for:

Movement 1:

• brief slow introduction with an ascending violin melody to signify the sun
• bird calls in the flutes and oboes
• the horn plays the bird call, seemingly in the wrong place in a humorous moment

Movement 2:

• rising scales in the violin
• duet for violin and cello
• solemn ending

Movement 3:

• dance-like, virtuosic solos for bassoon and cello
• solos for the wind instruments and the concertmaster
• lovely solo writing throughout

Notes From the Director

Symphony No. 6 in D major, “Le matin” (Morning)

Brian Krinke (GJSO’s concertmaster) recommended this work to me. He uses it as an example in his Symphonic Literature course at CMU. Haydn wrote over 100 symphonies, and most of the famous ones are at least in the double digits of numbering. I wasn’t familiar with #6, but it’s full of great solos to feature our GJSO musicians and the famous Haydn lightness and humor.

Emmanuel Séjourné (b 1961)

Concerto for Marimba and Strings (2005), 23 minutes

Strings, solo marimba

This is the first performance of this work by the GJSO

Emmanuel Séjourné was born in Limoges, France. He studied piano and violin and enrolled in the Strasbourg Conservatory, taking his first percussion class in 1976. He studied with Jean Batigne, director of Les Percussions de Strasbourg, a well-known percussion ensemble. Séjourné went on to earn first prize in percussion in 1980 with a specialty in mallet percussion instruments. He became a professor of mallet percussion at the Strasbourg Conservatory in 1984. He later became head of the percussion department and was appointed as an academic advisor to the French Ministry of Culture. He often judges international competitions and has written numerous method books. As a performer, Séjourné co-founded the group Noco Music with saxophonist Philippe Geiss. Séjourné also performs regularly with the contemporary music ensemble Accroche-Note. He has performed with numerous orchestras, as well as performing solo recitals and jazz. Séjourné began composing when he became a faculty member at the conservatory. He composes not only for percussion, but for other groups including orchestra, chamber ensembles, film music, and musicals. His music combines Western classical tradition with popular influences, including jazz and pop music. Séjourné’s compositions are approachable and interesting. His two most famous works, concertos for marimba and vibraphone, show off the technical and lyrical abilities of mallet percussion.

The Concerto for Marimba and Strings was commissioned in 2005 by Bogdan Bacanu, professor of marimba at Bruckner University in Linz, Austria. Originally the piece only had two movements, but Bacanu requested another movement to open the work. Séjourné revised the work in 2015, adding an opening section. Since its composition, the work has been performed over 500 times bringing an instrument often hidden at the back of the stage to the forefront.

What to listen for:

Avec force

• lush, romantic writing
• tango-like elements
• interplay between the soloist and the orchestra

Tempo souple

• slow and dreamlike
• virtuosic sections for the soloist

Rhythmique energique

• rhythmic, energetic finale

extended technical sections showcasing the range and timbre of the marimba.

Notes From the Director

Concerto for Marimba and String OrchestraThere are only a handful of great pieces written to feature the marimba with an orchestra, and this is definitely at the top. Lee Cantrell has been campaigning to play a solo with the GJSO for a few years, and he played this piece for me back in December of 2023. I immediately said yes! What I like best about this particular concerto is that it really don’t have any flashy, showoff-y baloney in it. It’s all just pure music and expression. That’s rare for concertos, and especially for percussion concertos.

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)

Pulcinella Suite (1922), 25 minutes

Flute, piccolo, oboes, bassoons, horns, trumpet, trombone, strings, solo string quartet (2 violins, viola, cello, double bass)

The GJSO performed this most recently in 1998 with Jurgen de Lemos, conducting

Igor Stravinsky was born outside of Saint Petersburg in 1882, the son of an opera singer. Stravinsky began piano lessons around the age of ten and began teaching himself theory in order to compose. Even though his father was a musician, his parents wanted Igor to be a lawyer. He enrolled in law school but only attended about fifty classes in four years. Stravinsky began studying music on his own and after his father’s death in 1905, Stravinsky began twice weekly lessons with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. In 1909, two of Stravinsky’s early orchestral works were performed. Serge Diaghilev, the arts impresario and Ballet Russes founder, was in the audience. Diaghilev was impressed and commissioned a ballet from Stravinsky. The Firebird premiered in 1910 and Stravinsky became a sensation. His stature was cemented with his next two ballets, Petrushka in 1911 and The Rite of Spring in 1913. Stravinsky and his family were now spending most of the year in Switzerland, while returning to Russia in the summer. They returned to Russia for the last time in 1914, not returning until 1962.

Over the next seven years, Stravinsky composed numerous works, all retaining a Russian style and sensibility, often using folk songs or stories. In 1920, the family moved to France, eventually settling in Paris and becoming French citizens in 1934. In 1939, following the death of his wife, daughter, and mother, and with the impending war, Stravinsky emigrated to the United States. Upon his arrival, he completed a commission for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and gave a series of lectures at Harvard University. His mistress joined him in 1940 and the couple married, settling in California and becoming citizens in 1945. Stravinsky actively composed and conducted, returning to the Soviet Union in 1962 for a series of concerts. He died in 1971 and was buried in Venice, Italy near Diaghilev’s tomb.

Following World War I, Diaghilev reassembled the Ballet Russes and once again wanted Stravinsky to provide the music. Diaghilev suggested a new ballet based on the music of the 18th-century composer Giovanni Battista Pergolesi. Stravinsky wasn’t interested at first until he heard the collection of tunes (some of which scholars have since attributed to other composers) which he found delightful. Stravinsky began work on the score in 1910. The ballet was premiered the following year. A concert suite featuring eleven sections of the ballet premiered in 1922. Pulcinella was the first work in Stravinsky’s new neo-classical style, where he embraced music, forms, and genres from previous periods, while including new and unexpected harmonies. The ballet, scored for a chamber orchestra, tells the story of Pulcinella, a local heartthrob with whom all the local girls are in love. When the town’s young men plot against him, Pulcinella trades places with a friend who pretends to die in an attack. Pulicnella, disguised as a magician, brings himself back to life and then reappears in order to marry his beloved. Pulcinella is vastly different from Stravinsky’s earlier ballets, but again features bright orchestral colors, interesting harmonies, and rhythmic nuance, imbuing old melodies with Stravinsky’s characteristic charm.

What to listen for:

• stately opening melody with brief solos by various instruments
• classical style themes with unexpected twists
• variety of textures and styles with colorful orchestration
• more classical style with surprise moments

lovely, tuneful melodies in a delightful and charming work.

Notes From the Director

Pulcinella Suite – Our GJSO woodwind players have been requesting Pulcinella for quite some time, and it’s a great piece to show them off! Stravinsky went through a few different phases of composition in his career, much like Picasso. Pulcinella was written in Stravinsky’s “neo-classical” period, so it sounds like a much older piece, and it’s a great partner with a Haydn symphony. It takes a great composer like Stravinsky to be able to write so wonderfully in completely different styles.