Monterey Symphony

Return to PROGRAM NOTES print this page

For more information, please call the Symphony at 831-646-8511 or 800-698-1138.

These copyrighted program notes are available for the edification of all concert attendees. If not otherwise noted, they are extracted from "Notes on Music" by Dr. Louise Cuyler (1906-1998). No use is permitted without the written consent of the Monterey Symphony, PO Box 3965, Carmel, CA 93921. Please click on the MONTH to retrieve program notes, now in an easier-to-print format.

May 22, 23, 24, 2010

Per la flor del lliri blau

JOAQUÍN RODRIGO (1901-1999)

Composed in 1934

Composer Joaquín Rodrigo was born in Sagunto in the province of Valencia, Spain. Valencia is endowed with a long colorful history, a unique dialect and distinctive cultural traditions. One of its most famous legends, Per la flor del lliri blau, tells of the quest for a magic flower which has the potential to cure all ills. Three princes go in search of this rare blossom in order to cure their dying father, the King of Valencia. The youngest of them finds the flower and then tells his brothers. Afraid of the junior member gaining favor with their father, they murder him. By the way, the lliri blau, referred to in the title is the common blue iris which, as it turns out, does have medicinal properties and reportedly can cure asthma, bronchitis, coughing, and headaches.

While only a three year old child, Joaquín Rodrigo contracted diptheria and lost sight in both eyes. At the age of eight, Rodrigo began a serious pursuit of music focusing on piano, violin, and solfege, later, harmony and composition. He wrote his works in braille, which were then transcribed for publication.

Rodrigo studied music under Francisco Antich in Valencia and under Paul Dukas (French composer of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice) at the École Normale de Musique in Paris. After briefly returning to Spain, he went to Paris again to study musicology, first under Maurice Emmanuel and then under André Pirro. His first published compositions date from 1923. In 1925, he received Spain's National Prize for Orchestra for Cinco piezas infantiles ("Five Children's Pieces"). They were always rigorously reviewed by his devoted wife Victoria Kamhi, a Turkish-born pianist whom he had met in Paris on 19 January 1933. Their daughter, Cecilia, was born on January 27, 1941. From 1947, Rodrigo was a professor of music history, holding the Manuel de Falla Chair of Music in the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, at Complutense University of Madrid.

Rodrigo distinguished himself by elevating the Spanish guitar to a universal concert instrument. His most famous work, the Concierto de Aranjuez was composed in Paris in 1939 and is one of the most popular works created in the 20^th century.

In 1991, Rodrigo was raised to the nobility by King Juan Carlos; he was given the title Marqués de los Jardines de Aranjuez. He received the prestigious Prince of Asturias Award—Spain's highest civilian honor—in 1996. He was named Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government in 1998. Rodrigo died in 1999 in Madrid at the age of 97. Joaquín Rodrigo and his wife Victoria are buried at the cemetery at Aranjuez.

Per la flor del lliri blau is Rodrigo’s most ambitiously scored symphonic work. The tone poem begins with a heroic drum roll on the snare and some driving, grand marshal-like chords for the full orchestra. A lyric passage provides contrast as do several episodes which evoke gallantry, merriment, and heraldic atmosphere. The ending is a repetitive funeral dirge which begins in the softest range and evolves through the wind and brass sections as it repeats itself growing in tensity to the final climax.

Piano Concerto for the Left Hand

Bolero

MAURICE RAVEL (1875-1937)

Composed in 1929-30

Composed in 1928

Commissioned by the Austrian pianist, Paul Wittgenstein, who lost his right arm during World War I, Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand is a jewel of the repertoire. It contains a remarkable degree of sonority, bravura, technique, and outright beauty. This is made even more astonishing knowing that only five fingers produce it. The premiere took place on January 5, 1932 with Wittgenstein performing with the Vienna Symphony and Robert Heger conducting. The left-hand études of Camille Saint-Saens gave Ravel insight into creating music for this unique challenge. It’s a masterful piece which never ceases to amaze the audience.

Born on March 7, 1875 in the Basque village of Ciboure near the Spanish border, Maurice Ravel became one of the most influential composers of the last century. His father’s background was Swiss and his mother claimed Basque ancestry. Shortly after his birth, however, his family moved to Montmarte in the heart of Paris. Ravel entered the Paris Conservatorie and from 1889 to 1895 studied with some of France’s finest compositional instructors. He returned for further study in 1897 and worked with Emmanuel Chabrier, Erik Satie, and Gabriel Fauré. His involvement in the young composers competition, the Prix de Rome, which he had entered five times, brought him to prominence. On the first occasion, Ravel had submitted a work which mocked the judging panel’s stated artistic objectives. Not missing the intended insult, they awarded him second place. The music world enjoyed the furor and no one forgot the name of the diminutive young Frenchman.

A superbly gifted craftsman, Ravel always lamented the fact that he did not possess the productivity of the greatest composers. His output is relatively small, although they are generally considered to be mostly masterpieces as popular today as they ever were. Maurice Ravel died in Paris on December 28, 1937.

Ravel was one of the finest orchestrators in classical music. His score of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition done on commission by Serge Koussevitsky in1922, for example, is a masterpiece of the orchestral suite form.

When World War I began, Ravel like many of the brightest men in Europe, demonstrated his patriotic duty and enlisted. The French army, however, refused to take him citing his short stature (he was 5 feet tall) and his frail health. A few months later, he was allowed to drive a supply truck for the ambulance service and became vividly acquainted with the horrors at the front. Adding to his troubles, his mother died in the midst of the War. The effect on the composer of this major loss in addition to the deaths of so many of his close friends brought on severe depression and more bad health. He left the service and returned to composing.

The War had indeed claimed so many talented people whom Ravel knew well that he decided to combine his efforts. He created the piano suite, Le tombeau de Couperin (The tomb of Couperin), in 1917 to pay homage to France’s musical past and then dedicated each of its six movements to people who died fighting for France.

As a score editor, Ravel was obsessed with economy—minimal work for maximum effect. He composed the Left Hand Concerto and the Concerto in G during the same period of time.

The Left Hand Concerto begins with a long orchestral introduction which comes to a climax as the piano enters and plays a long solo passage. Ravel had to pay close attention to the dynamic ranges called for in the orchestra and quite cleverly constructed tutti passages to give the weight and size of the ensemble its due without ever overpowering the sound just one hand at the piano could make.

The Left Hand Concerto has three parts: Lento; Allegro; Lento played without interruption. Ravel explained the structure in the following way: "After an introduction section, there comes an episode like an improvisation, which is succeeded by a jazz section. Only later is one aware that the jazz episode actually is build up from the themes of the first section."

A bolero is a Spanish dance usually involving a fast tempo and castanets. Ravel composed his Bolero in the summer of 1928 for the dancer Ida Rubinstein who had originally asked him to orchestrate Albeniz’ Iberia. When it was discovered that another composer had secured the rights to Iberia, Ravel offered to write her an original work, Spanish in character. Ravel took on the challenge of composing this work and proving a long contemplated notion of his, best explained in his own words.

Bolero "is a dance in a very modern movement, completely uniform in melody as well as harmony and rhythm, the latter marked without interruption by the drum. The only element of diversity is brought into play by an orchestral crescendo." Ravel’s skillful assignment of the various single and combined orchestral instruments creates this unforgettable effect.

Joseph Truskot

Sinfonía sevillana

JOAQUÍN TURINA (1882-1949)

Composed 1920

Joaquín Turina was born in Seville in 1882 and, except for a few years of study in Paris, lived

his entire life in Spain. He came from a middle class family who was supportive of his musical endeavors. In 1902, Turina moved to Madrid, entered the Madrid Conservatory of Music, and quickly became involved in its music scene. He saw La sulamita, his first zarzuela (a Spanish version of the operetta), presented. In 1905, Turina left to study in Paris—piano with Moszkowski and composition with D’Indy—before World War I and remained there for almost a decade, making great friends with his fellow Spaniards: Albeniz and Falla. It was Albeniz who convinced him to create music which captured the spirit of Spain, in general, and his native Andalucía, in particular. For the remainder of his life, Turina dedicated himself to this objective. His music captured the spirit and color of his native land. Turina was instrumental in passing on this legacy from his position as a professor at the Madrid Conservatory, as the pianist in the Quinteto de Madrid, and as a critic for the newspaper, El Debate. Turina died in Madrid on January　14, 1949.

Turina wrote in all musical forms but only completed five works scored for full symphony orchestra including Sinfonía sevillana—a work which describes in three movements poetical aspects of his hometown. The work is organized loosely and the titles of the movements indicate the atmospheric quality of the music. The first, Panorama, depicts the overall glory of this ancient town. The second, Por il río Guadalquivir, (By the Guadalquivir River) paints a picture of this important navigable waterway whose shoreline promenades are a popular evening meeting place. The final movement, Fiesta en San Juan de Aznalfarache (a neighborhood across the Guadalquivir from Seville) offers vivid examples of the rhythms and colors of Spain.

Louise Cuyler