is a publication of Kalamazoo RESA’s Education for the Arts, Aesthetic Education Program Windows on the Work Committee Editor: Window Narrator Research: Contributors
Design:
Nick Mahmat Nancy Husk Leslie Boughton Nancy Husk Hilary Anthony Leslie Boughton Megan Buchanan Schopf Nancy Gagliano Nancy Husk Honore Lee Angie Melvin Michele VanderBeek Mary Whalen Nick Mahmat
Education for the Arts Interim Director: Doug Knobloch Director’s Secretary: Kris DeRyder Coordinator: Deb Strickland Aesthetic Education Program Coordinator: Nick Mahmat Alternative and Special Education Arts Initiative Program Coordinator: Angie Melvin Comments or questions about this publication may be directed to Nick Mahmat, Aesthetic Education Program Coordinator at 488-6267 or nmahmat@kresa.org
Window Narrator, Nancy Husk, is retired from teaching general and choral music in Gull Lake Community Schools. In that role she served as vocal director for three Gull Lake school-community musicals. From 2001 – 2009 she coordinated Aesthetic Education at Ryan Intermediate School which was for the last four years an AE School with all classrooms participating. Nancy is also a pianist who has performed chamber music and accompanied instrumentalists and choirs in Southwest Michigan. She has a Bachelors of Music Education from Indiana University and an M.A. from WMU.
Strategies for using the Window on the Work Purpose The purpose of the Window on the Work is to provide educators and teaching artists with contextual information pertaining to the focus works presented by the Education for the Arts Aesthetic Education Program. This information can fuel the educational process between educators and teaching artists in developing the lesson plans and can offer additional pathways (windows) into the repertory and possible connections to existing school curriculum. There are several ways that the information may be shared. For instance: • • • •
Each educator reads a section and reports back to the school team in the planning process Questions are brainstormed about the work of art and then researched by the educators Additional resources are identified for further investigation
In the planning process, use the Window on the Work:
During the unit of study, use the Window on the Work:
After the unit of study, use the Window on the Work:
• To brainstorm themes for study development • As a reference tool as questions and interests develop in the planning session • To elaborate and expand the instructional focus that has developed out of the planning process • To learn more about the work of art • To consider possible responses to the question pages as the Window is read • To discover connections to other work by the same artists and to other works in the same genre
• To expand on a lesson idea • As a reference to respond to students’ questions • To keep the discussion about the work alive in the classroom • For source material such as artist quotes or background information that may be utilized when incorporating contextual information experientially into a workshop. • To discover additional connections
• To continue discussion about the work • To compare to other works of art the class may study in the future • To expand curriculum study in the classroom on a particular culture, period in history, etc. • As a jumping-off point to make connections with other classroom activities, personal connections, and courses of study
Windows on the Work are written for Classroom Teachers and Teaching Artists working in the Aesthetic Education Program and as such are not written or intended for a student audience. The Window on the Work publications should be used for planning purposes and should not be shared with students prior to attending the work of art under study.
This activity is funded in part by the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs and the Michigan Humanities Council
The Work
The Work
Le carnaval des animaux (The Carnival of the Animals): Grand Zoological Fantasy will be the highlight of the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra’s March 25 concert and will feature the Grand Rapids Ballet’s Junior Company costumed as animals. Narration by D. Terry Williams is adapted from the book The Carnival of the Animals by the American Children’s Poet Laureate Jack Prelutsky. The Carnival of Animals is a musical suite for orchestra and two pianos by the French Romantic composer Camille Saint-Saëns. Its fourteen movements last between 22 and 30 minutes. In addition, the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra will also present animal themed musical works such as The Flight of the Bumble Bee, The Waltzing Cat, and other works outlined in this document. The following section contains information on the musical works that will be presented in the Kalamazoo concert. Please consider the following questions as you listen to and read about the work. They may also serve as helpful discussion questions with students durring workshops or after viewing the performance. •
What do you notice about the work of art? How would you describe the music?
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What do you hear?
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How is the music organized? What are the movements of The Carnival of the Animals?
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As you listen to each movement, what stands out to you about the individual movement?
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Compare and contrast each movement? What differentiates them? What commonalities exist between them?
The Carnival of the Animals Introduction Welcome to our carnival, Where birds and beasts do play. As musicians and our dancers Become animals today. You’ll meet the regal lion And the captivating swan. The noisy little donkeys That prattle on and on. You’ll meet a tortoise, and some fish With undulating fins. Welcome to our carnival – The music now begins.
The Lion It’s evident the lion is king, In charge of almost everything. Avoid the beast at any cost, For if you fail, then all is lost. If you should hear the lion cough, Don’t hesitate to hurry off, And if you hear his frightful roars, Remove yourself to distant shores.
Strings and two pianos: The introduction begins with the pianos playing a bold tremolo (notes alternating quickly) under which the strings enter with a stately theme. Pianos play a pair of scales going in opposite directions to conclude the first section. The pianos then introduce a march theme that they carry through most of the rest of the introduction. The strings provide the melody, with the pianos occasionally taking low runs which suggest the roar of a lion. The movement ends with a very loud note from all the instruments used in this movement.
Hens and Roosters The hens all rush around the yard, They hurry hurry hurry. They peck peck peck and cluck cluck cluck, The scurry scurry scurry. They fuss and fret and fret and fuss With feathers in a flurry, Until they rest upon their nest And cease their senseless worry. Strings without cello and double-bass, two pianos, clarinet: This movement is centered around a pecking theme played in the pianos and strings, reminiscent of chickens pecking at grain. The clarinet plays small solos above the rest of the players at intervals. There is a reference to Jean-Philippe Rameau's harpsichord piece La poule ("The Hen") from his Suite in G major. The piano plays a theme based on the crowing of a rooster.
Wild Donkeys (quick animals) They haven’t any manners, And they haven’t any sense. There’s not a word that anyone Can say in their defense. Their ways are so unsavory They’ll never get ahead. They are the donkey of the wild – That’s all that need be said.
Two pianos: The animals depicted here are quite obviously running, an image induced by the constant, feverishly fast up-and-down motion of both pianos playing scales in octaves (doubled notes). These are donkeys that come from Tibet, which are known for their great speed.
Tortoises The tortoise lugs his house about And lumbers on all fours. He clearly never seems to be Completely out-of-doors. The tortoise is a cautious sort, Not known for being bold, And so the tortoise lives to be Exceptionally old. Strings and piano: A slightly satirical movement which opens with a piano playing a pulsing pattern in the higher register. The strings play a maddeningly slow rendition of the famous Can-can melody from Offenbach's operetta Orpheus in the Underworld. Occasional dischords sound like the tortoises stumble.
and Berlioz's "Dance of the Sylphs" from The Damnation of Faust. The two themes were both originally written for high, lighter-toned instruments (flute, various other woodwinds, and violin); the joke is that Saint-Saëns moves this to the lowest and heaviest-sounding instrument in the orchestra, the double bass.
Kangaroos This fact is essential about kangaroos— They hop energetically, just as they choose. They hop over rocks, over fences and streams, And probably hop in their kangaroo dreams.
Two pianos: The main figure here is a pattern of “hopping” short open chords preceded by grace notes (very short preliminary notes).
Aquarium In a tank filled to the brim, Little fishes slowly swim Endlessly from place to place, Rarely varying their pace.
The Elephant An elephant’s ears are a genuine wonder. An elephant’s trunk is an elephant’s pride. His footfalls are often mistaken for thunder – If you’re in the neighborhood, do step aside.
Double-bass and piano: This section is marked Allegro pomposo (pompously fast), the perfect caricature for an elephant. The piano plays a waltz-like pattern while the bass hums the melody beneath it. Like "Tortoises," this is also a musical joke – the thematic material is taken from the “Scherzo” from Mendelssohn's incidental music to A Midsummer Night's Dream
Each one has no other wish Than to be a little fish Neither jubilant nor glum In a small aquarium. Strings without double-bass, two pianos, flute, and glass harmonica: This is one of the more musically rich movements. The melody is played by the flute, backed by the strings, on top of tumultuous waves of sound in the piano. These figures, plus the occasional glissando (slides through many pitches) from the glass harmonica — often played on celesta or glockenspiel—are evocative of a peaceful, dimly-lit aquarium.
Personages with Long Ears (Donkeys)
Pianists
They love to hee-haw and to bray, And bray away both night and day. Determined that their brays be heard, They are both obnoxious and absurd.
Practice! Practice! Practice! We’re better every day. We practice, practice, practice, Now listen to us play!
Two violins: This is the shortest of all the movements. The violins alternate playing high, loud notes and low, buzzing ones (in the manner of a donkey's braying "hee-haw"). Music critics have speculated that the movement is meant to compare music critics to braying donkeys.
Strings and two pianos: This movement is a glimpse of what few audiences never get to see: the pianists practicing their scales. They are interrupted by a blasting chord from the strings between scales. In the final section the pianos play a trill-like pattern in thirds, in the style of piano exercises, while the strings play a small part underneath. This movement is unusual in that the last three blasted chords do not resolve the piece, but rather lead into the next movement.
The Cuckoo in the Deep Woods Oh cuckoo bird, oh cuckoo, Your two-note call does ring. Oh cuckoo bird, oh cuckoo, So quietly you sing.
Did You Know?
The pianists are asked in the score to miss some notes while they play. In some performances, the later, more difficult, scales are deliberately played increasingly out of time
Two pianos and clarinet: The pianos play large, soft chords while the clarinet plays a single two-note “cuckoo” pattern, over and over. Saint-Saens states in the original score that the clarinetist should be offstage.
Fossils Birds (Aviary) They flitter here, they flitter there, They warble as they thrive. With every note they tell the world It’s good to be alive. Strings, piano and flute: The high strings take on a background role, providing a buzz that is reminiscent of the background noise of a jungle. The cellos and basses play a repeated pattern. The flute takes the part of the bird, with a trilling tune that spans much of its range. The pianos provide occasional ping and trills of other birds in the background. The movement ends very quietly after a long ascending scale from the flute.
Fossils, you entirely lack The basic knack of coming back. But listen to the sounds you make With music we appreciate.
Strings, two pianos, clarinet, and xylophone: Here, Saint-Saëns mimics his own composition, the Danse macabre (a favorite at Halloween), which makes heavy use of the xylophone to evoke the image of skeletons. The musical themes from Danse macabre are also quoted; the xylophone and the violin play much of the melody, alternating with the piano and clarinet. The piano part is especially difficult here. Allusions to "Ah! vous dirai-je, Maman" (better known in the English-speaking world as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star), the French nursery rhymes "Au clair de la lune", and "J'ai du bon tabac" (the piano plays the same melody upside down), the popular anthem “Partant pour la Syrie,” as well as the aria “Una voce poco fa” from Rossini's The Barber of Seville can also be heard. The musical joke in this movement is that the musical pieces quoted are the fossils of his time.
Did You Know?
The Swan The stately and beguiling swan Glides slowly on the lake, With little but a ripple In her evanescent wake. Although she has no song to sing, No words that she can say, She’s perfectly exquisite In her aqueous ballet.
A short ballet, The Dying Swan, was choreographed in 1905 by Mikhail Fokine to this movement and performed by the famous ballerina, Anna Pavlova. Pavlova gave some 4,000 performances of the dance and "swept the world."
Two pianos and cello: This is by far the most famous movement of the suite due to its being a staple of cellists’ repertoire. It is often performed solo and is used to showcase the interpretive skills of the cellist. The lushly romantic cello solo (which evokes the swan elegantly gliding over the water) is played over rippling notes in one piano and rolled chords in the other (representing the swan's feet, hidden from view beneath the water, propelling it along).
Finale
Did You Know?
A crazy flamingo creates havoc among his flock with his yo-yo to the tune of the finale of Carnival of the Animals in Disney’s Fantasia 2000.
Our carnival is ending soon, As all things must in time. The music’s almost over – We approach the final rhyme. In moments all the animals Will take their parting bow. We hope you’ll visit us again, But say farewell for now. All instruments: The finale opens on the same tremolo (fast alternating notes) that the pianos used in the introduction. They are soon reinforced by the wind instruments, the glass harmonica and the xylophone. The strings build the tension with a few low notes, leading to sweeping waves of sound by the piano, then a pause before the lively main melody is introduced. This movement is somewhat reminiscent of an American carnival from the middle of the 20th century, with one piano always maintaining a bouncy rhythm. Although the melody is relatively simple, the supporting harmonies are ornamented in the style that is typical of Saint-Saëns' compositions for piano; dazzling scales, glissandi (slides over many notes) and trills. Many of the previous movements are quoted here from the introduction, the lion, the donkeys, hens, and kangaroos. The work ends with a series of six "Hee Haws" from the donkeys, as if to say that they have the last laugh, before the final strong group of C major chords.
Other Concert Works . . . In addition the the Carnival the Animals the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra will present the following works.
Light Cavalry Overture by Franz von Suppé Von Suppé (1819 – 1895) was an Austrian composer and conductor of the Romantic period. He is notable for his four dozen operettas, most of which have faded into obscurity. This overture to one of those operettas, which premiered in 1866, starts with a cavalry fanfare in the brass. Its main theme has accompanied many cartoon cavalries “coming over the hill.”
Flight of the Bumblebee by Nicolai RimskyKorsakov Flight of the Bumblebee was originally an orchestral interlude in Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera, The Tale of Tsar Saltan (1899-1900). The magic Swan-Bird transforms Prince Gvidon, the Tsar’s son, into a bee so that he can fly to his father who thinks he is dead. Two melodies used for the prince become part of the bumblebee music. The piece is notable for its very fast tempo and its intricate chromatic passages. Its repeated patterns within a small range have come to personify a bumblebee. As a solo piece it is used to showcase performers’ virtuosity.
Finale from the William Tell Overture by Gioachino Rossini William Tell (1829) was the last of Italian composer Rossini’s 39 operas. This final section to the overture (instrumental introduction) is a well-known “galloping” theme heard in cartoons and advertisements.
Excerpt from the overture to The Thieving Magpie by Gioachino Rossini The Thieving Magpie, another of Rossini’s operas, is the melodramatic story of an Italian family who are nearly executed for the theft of a silver spoon which was actually taken by a magpie. The magpie’s theft is only discovered when it steals a silver coin and is followed to its tower lair. The overture is known for its snare drum introduction and its Italian folk-like theme in the flutes and then the violins which portray the flight of the magpie. Did You Know? Rossini was known for the speed of his composing. Supposedly the producer had to lock Rossini in a room the day before the first performance in order to write this overture. As he finished each page, Rossini threw it out of the window to his copyists, who wrote out the instrumental parts.
The Waltzing Cat by Leroy Anderson Anderson (1908 - 1975) wrote light concert works for symphony orchestras including popular hits like Sleigh Ride and The Syncopated Clock. This piece premiered in 1950 with the composer conducting. It uses an obvious “meow” in its main theme and incorporates a playful slide whistle in its contrasting middle section. Leroy Anderson once introduced the piece this way: “If, as you listen to the music, you imagine something like Puss in Boots at a fancy dress ball, that is just about what the composer had in mind."
Whistler and His Dog by Arthur Willard Pryor Pryor (1870 - 1942) was an American self-taught trombonist who joined John Philip Sousa’s band, became assistant conductor, and eventually formed his own band. This popular favorite from his band’s heyday features whistling and often a dog. It was inspired by his boyhood pet bulldog, Roxy. The main melody occurs three times with interludes in between. Did You Know? The Whistler and His Dog CD which includes the theme song has been played daily as the "audio loop" for Main Street, U.S.A. at Disneyland, Disney World, and Disneyland Paris for many years. An estimated 500 million people have listened to this CD as they've strolled down Main Street in those magical kingdoms.
Old MacDonald Had a Farm by Leroy Anderson Anderson arranged the familiar children’s tune in 1947 for the Boston Pops. He incorporates many sound effects representing the animals as each repetition of the melody goes higher and higher to an absurdly grand slow version in the low brass and an out-of-tune finale.
The Artists
The Artists
The following section contains information about the artists of involved in the Kalamazoo concert The Carnival of the Animals. You may wish to consider the following questions as you read along. •
Who are the artists involved in the Kalamazoo concert?
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Who are the composers of the music?
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What is known of their background?
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Camile Saint-Saëns composed The Carnival of the Animals, how would one describe his compositional process of this piece?
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What do you notice about Saint-Saëns’s body of work? How do his other works relate to his work The Carnival of the Animals?
Camille Saint-Saëns (October 9, 1835 – December 16, 1921)
Camille Saint-Saëns, like Mozart before him, was a child prodigy, a brilliant musician at an age when most children are just beginning their schooling. Saint-Saëns’s father died when he was only three-months old. Thusly, he was raised by his great-aunt, a piano teacher, and his mother. Saint-Saëns wrote his first composition at age four, and gave his first concert (of Beethoven’s work) at age five. He spoke Latin by seven, was a mathematical genius, and a student of astronomy and lepidoptery (butterflies) as well. His first symphony premiered when he was sixteen years old, and astonished critics at the time, some of whom were already declaring him one of the most skilled and talented musicians of the age. Saint-Saëns went on to study with and to teach some of the most influential French musicians and composers. He famously feuded with many of his contemporaries, most notably Debussy who disliked him intensely and called his music a “horror of sentimentality.” A product of his times, Saint-Saëns was criticized at the beginning of his career for being too radical and progressive (which led to him being virtually drummed out of the opera business) and at the end of his career as being too attached to old forms, and unable to keep up with the musical times. As a teacher of music at Ecole Niedermeyer in the early 1860s, Saint-Saëns created a scandal by using modern music along with the classics, but his teaching produced some of France’s great composers, including Andre Messager and Gabriel Fauré. His friendship with Franz Liszt lasted a lifetime, and is said to have influenced the music of both composers. During his heyday as both a famous performance organist and a composer, he helped create a new age in French music, including the popularization of the epic form of the symphonic tone poem. His legendary weekly organ performances at famous cathedrals (including twenty years at the L'église de la Madeleine) included unique improvisations, which are the core of the Jazz-age music that was just being invented in his later years. In 1886, eight years after both of his sons died within six weeks of each other, SaintSaëns wrote Le carnaval des animaux (The Carnival of the Animals), his most famous piece, which is still used today to teach music to children all over the world. In a strange twist, he never allowed the piece to be performed in his lifetime, except one small fragment (“Le cygne,” “The Swan”), but allowed it to be published only after his death. Friends of the great composer reported that, stung by early criticism of his daring compositions, he feared the piece was too frivolous, and would damage his reputation as a serious composer. It was also during this period that he composed Danse Macabre, perhaps his most influential piece for musicians that came after him. Camille Saint-Saëns died in 1921, having traveled the world to perform his music, and written numerous popular books about his travels. A street in Paris is named after him, and he is remembered as one of the most gifted and passionate musicians in French history.
Jack Prelutsky Carnival of the Animals Poet Jack Prelutsky never meant to be a poet. A singer, guitar player, friend of Shel Silverstien and Bob Dylan in the beat scene of 1950s Greenwich Village, he worked as a busboy, cab driver, and door-to-door salesman before one day jotting down some quick poems to go along with the drawings he had worked on for six months in hopes of getting published as an artist. The publishers didn’t want the drawings – they wanted the poetry. Growing up in Brooklyn, NY, parented by an uncle who was a Russian stand-up comedian, Prelutsky was a bullied “skinny kid with a big mouth” who hated poetry and went on to fail college English three times. But his love of music taught him rhythm, and his early musical influences taught him lyrics. Ask him about poetry today, and the 2006 Children’s Poet Laureate and author of over 80 books of children’s poetry remarks: “…I don't read much adult poetry at all, because I'm not smart enough and mostly I don't get it.” Children’s poetry, he gets. The author of such whimsical titles as “Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant and Other Poems” and genuinely scary works like “Nightmares: Poems to Trouble Your Sleep” is mobbed by children, even while symphony orchestras play musical accompaniment to readings of his work. The survivor of a childhood fire that killed both parents is known for writing to kids’ emotions, and acknowledging that childhood is often painful; his work “My First Best Friend” is told from the point of view of a boy whose playmates all mistreat him to one degree or another. He is a master linguist who writes haiku and mirror poems, and who often uses a guitar while composing to get rhythm exactly right, but is irreverent in the extreme. Amongst the menagerie of animals he has invented are the Bananaconda, Uggs, and Scranimals. Asked what qualities he possesses that make him such a fine artist, he replies: “My wife used to tell me one of my best qualities was that my feet don't smell, but I remember my brother's did when we were kids.” This is the outlook on life that led to him being asked to complete the late Dr. Seuss’s unfinished manuscripts. Jack Prelutsky lives in Seattle with his wife, a children’s librarian. He proposed to her the day they met in 1979.
D.Terry Williams Narrator D. Terry Williams, Professor Emeritus of Theatre, served as Chair of the WMU Department of Theatre for 23 years, the longest term of service for a chair in the history of WMU. Prior to that he was Director of Theatre at the University of Northern Iowa. He has directed over 100 productions for educational, community and professional theatre and presented dozens of papers and chaired many panels at professional association meetings. He was on the Board of Directors and the Accreditation Commission for the National Association of Schools of Theatre, Chair of the Theatre Division of the Speech Communication Association, President of Theta Alpha Phi National Honorary Drama Fraternity and has served on numerous Kalamazoo community arts boards. He is the recipient of the Arts Council’s Community Medal of Arts Award and the Outstanding Teaching Award from the Michigan Council of Governing Boards.
Barry Ross Conductor
Dr. Barry Ross is Assistant Conductor of the Kalamazoo Symphony and Professor Emeritus of Music at Kalamazoo College, where he founded the Kalamazoo College and Community Orchestra and the Lux Esto Chamber Orchestra. He served as Concertmaster of the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra for 32 years, and in 1987 was appointed Assistant Conductor of that orchestra, a position that he still holds. In 2007 he founded the String Orchestra of Kalamazoo and launched an annual Beethoven Festival in support of young musicians. Dr. Ross is presently the Concertmaster of the Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra. As Assistant Conductor of the Kalamazoo Symphony, Dr. Ross helped establish the Kalamazoo Symphony Chamber Orchestra Sunday Classics Series at Kalamazoo College and was a frequent conductor and soloist with that ensemble. In 1990 he founded the Kalamazoo Symphony’s Family Discovery Series for young audiences. Dr. Ross also served as Music Director of the Wheaton (Illinois) Symphony and has guest conducted the Southwest Michigan Symphony, the Elkhart (Indiana) Symphony, the Marquette (Michigan) Symphony, and many other orchestras. He was the founding violinist with the Fontana Ensemble. Dr. Ross was honored by the Arts Council and City of Kalamazoo as the first recipient of its Community Medal of Arts Award. In 1994 he received the Lucasse Award at Kalamazoo College for excellence in creative achievement. A frequent speaker on music and music making, he has addressed the American Symphony Orchestra League and the Conductor’s Guild National Conference. His critically acclaimed book, A Violinist’s Guide for Exquisite Intonation, is published by Theodore Presser under the auspices of the American String Teachers Association.
Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra Founded in 1921, the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra is Southwest Michigan’s premier musical organization, providing musical enrichment to over 80,000 adults and youth per year. The third-largest professional orchestra in the state, the KSO has won numerous awards and grants, including the Met Life Award for Arts Access in Underserved Communities, repeated recognition from the National Endowment for the Arts for its extensive education programs, and a major Ford Foundation grant to fund its innovative Artist-in-Residence program.
Grand Rapids Ballet Company Celebrating its 40th season, the Grand Rapids Ballet Company (GRBC) is committed to lifting the human spirit through the art of dance. A proud recipient of the ArtServe Michigan Governor’s Arts Award for Outstanding Cultural Organization, Michigan’s only professional ballet company has a rich history marked by steady growth, a commitment to excellence, and strong community support. The School of the Grand Rapids Ballet has provided top quality training and performance opportunities to aspiring dancers for years. New this year is the formation of a Junior Company. Previously known as Junior and Senior Trainees, these students will form one Junior Company under our Professional Company. Students age 9 to 18 audition to be part of this Company and enjoy the thrill of performing in their own productions and alongside Company dancers. The School of GRBC has an enrollment of over 200 students taught by instructors from professional dance backgrounds; more than 1,500 students receive free introductory classes through the Dance Immersion program; and the educational programs GRBC offers to the community are outstanding ways to foster the connection between the arts and education.
Attila Mosolygo Choreographer Attila Mosolygo is the Artistic Director of the Junior Company and choreographer of the ballet. He was born in Kisvarda, Hungary and began dancing at the Hungarian National School in Budapest and then continued later at the Joffrey Ballet School in New York City. He has taught at the School of the Grand Rapids Ballet for the past 14 years. This is his 15th season as a company dancer and 4th season as Ballet Master for the Grand Rapids Ballet Company and his first year as the Artistic Director of the newly formed Junior Company.
The Craft The Craft What is an artists craft? How does one describe their artistic process, approach, or the purpose of their work? The following section explores questions that relate to the craft of the KSO’s presentation of The Carnival of the Animals. You may wish to consider the following questions as you read. • What is a composers craft? What is the craft of a musician? • How did Saint-Saëns compose his work The Carnival of the Animals? • What instruments are commonly used in the orchestration of The Carnival of the Animals? • The Kalamazoo presentation of The Carnival of the Animals will feature dancers from the Grand Rapids Ballet’s Junior Company. How will the element of dance be incorperated into the concert?
A Suite Fantasy The Carnival of the Animals is a musical suite also termed a “fantaisie.” Saint-Saëns’ description of The Carnival as a “fantaisie” follows in the footsteps of Robert Schumann whose “fantasy pieces” for piano are character works on a smaller scale, often bearing descriptive titles. Saint-Saëns’ use of a suite, however, traces to an earlier era. The suite originated in Baroque music (1600 - 1750) as a set of short dances in contrasting tempos (speeds) and meters (sets of 2 or 3 beats) written for keyboard and eventually orchestra. “The essential
element of the suite was dance rhythm, with its imagery of physical movement.” (Machlis,The Enjoyment of Music, p. 408) Saint-Saëns captured the physical movement of each animal in his choice of rhythm and tempo and assembled the portraits to contrast one from the next, a stately march to a light dance, the feverishly fast to the lumbering tortoise “can-can,” the smooth melody of a waltzing elephant in 3's to the short staccato leaps of the kangaroos in 4's. Like the great Baroque composer Bach who incorporated parodies
and quotes from popular songs of the day in his Peasant Cantata, Saint-Saëns relied on his audience’s recognition of the themes he quotes and the absurdity of their instrumentation or tempo. His familiarity with popular
The Compositional Process Like Rossini (William Tell and The Thieving Magpie) Saint-Saëns was widely known for the speed with which he composed. He was known for his musical craftsmanship and his work ethic. “I produce music the way an apple tree produces apples,” he said. He initially sketched The Carnival of the Animals for two pianos, a practice common among composers who are skilled keyboardists. Later Saint-Saëns orchestrated the musical suite for a small ensemble of 11 instruments: two pianos, a flute, a clarinet, a glass harmonica, xylophone, string quartet, and double bass. Some composers, including Saint-Saëns’ close friend
Franz Liszt, delegated orchestration to assistants. The 1908 edition of Groves’ Dictionary of Music and Musicians, however, described Saint-Saëns’ “incomparable talent for orchestration.” Today the glass harmonica he originally used is usually replaced with a celesta, an instrument not available to him in 1886. The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra will use strings (violins I & II, violas, cellos, and basses), 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 1 bassoon, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 1 trombone, timpani, percussion, harp, and keyboard (piano, celesta).
Did You Know?
Camille Saint-Saëns was the first composer to write an original film score in 1908 for the 15-minute L’assassinat du Duc de Guise (The Assassination of the Duke of Guise).
and historical repertoire, his antagonistic relationship with music critics and other composers, and his glittering keyboard skills are all reflected in the musical choices he made.
The Glass Harmonica and the Celesta The glass harmonica is an instrument made of a series of glass bowls or goblets graduated in size to produce musical tones by means of friction. It was introduced in London in the 1740s using glasses filled with water. Benjamin Franklin refined its design in 1761 by adding a treadle to spin the glasses as they were touched by wet fingers. Saint-Saëns used the glass harmonica in “The Aquarium” and “The Finale.”
Images of a Celesta
Today its part is usually played by a glockenspiel or celesta, an instrument
invented the year The Carnival of the Animals was composed. The celesta looks like a small upright piano. Its keys are connected to hammer mechanisms similar to a piano’s, but, rather than striking strings, they strike a graduated set of steel plates suspended over wooden resonators. It has four or five octaves of keys and a pedal which can sustain the sound. One of the best-known works for celesta is Tchaikovsky’s “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” from The Nutcracker.
Choreographic Collaboration How do dancers in one city prepare to perform with an orchestra in another city? First it was decided to have dance with each of The Carnival of the Animals sections. Conductor Barry Ross sent Artistic Director Attila Mosolygo a CD of The Carnival with tempos (speeds) similar to those he plans to use in performance. Mosolygo decided to costume the dancers as animals but in such a way as not to hinder their movement. He then began creating choreography inspired by the animals and their music. He first listens to each piece of music repeatedly and makes notes. He then creates the choreography and “sets it on� the dancers. Some ideas are discovered during the rehearsal process and incorporated into the piece. The Junior Company dancers will rehearse for six weeks before the performance. On average they will rehearse six hours per week using the CD provided by Ross. They will have only one or two rehearsals with the orchestra prior to the performance.
The Origins
The Origins The following section contains brief information pertaining to the historical context of the work and style of The Carnival of the Animals. You may wish to consider the following questions as you read. • What is the history of The Carnival of the Animals? • How might one catogorize the style of The Carnival of the Animals? What is meant by the term “program music?” • Why might Saint-Saëns have choosen the theme of animals when composing this work? • The Carnival of the Animals was composed in 1886. At this point in history, what would have been man’s knowledge of and relationship to the types of animals featured in The Carnival of the Animals? • What are some of the formats in which The Carnival of the Animals has been presented? • What music termonolgy is relevent to the work The Carnival of the Animals?
Program Music Program music is instrumental music inspired by and suggestive of an extra-musical idea from a poem, an image, or a story. It is the opposite of absolute music which conveys musical imagination purely through sound, pattern, and form with no reference to an extramusical source.
Program music is to . . . absolute music what . . . representational art is to . . . nonrepresentational art.
Every historical period produced music which depicted weather or war, nature or narrative, storms or fanfare, bird calls or myths. Composers of the Romantic period (1820 - 1900) were particularly interested in expressing both outer and inner life through sound. Although imitation (the thunder of a timpani or the bird call of a flute) was still a part of their musical vocabulary, their programs or extramusical ideas were more sophisticated, inspiring new instrumental forms. During the Romantic period, composers’ intense interest in literature resulted in a profusion of operas and songs exploring poetry and story. The popularity of opera overtures in which the story was conveyed through the introduction of musical themes led to a new symphonic form, the concert overture. Overtures like von Suppé’s Light Cavalry Overture and Rossini’s William Tell Overture and overture from The Thieving Magpie were set free from their original source in opera and played in concert halls. Romantic composers created symphonic tone poems to embody literary inspirations, transform them into sound, and express thoughts which were beyond the words or drama. Tone poems are
extended single-section orchestral pieces, musical narratives based on literary sources. Richard Strauss’ Till Eulenspiegel and Paul Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice both depict mischievous main characters from German tales. Saint-Saëns’ Danse macabre, written 11 years before The Carnival of the Animals, began life as an art song setting a French poem. SaintSaëns transformed the song into a symphonic tone poem. In it we hear a harp as a bell tolling midnight, the dance of skeletons on a xylophone (quoted in Fossils from The Carnival), and an oboe imitating a rooster’s crow at the end. Nineteenth century composers idealized nature as did Romantic writers and visual artists. One of the first pieces of Romantic program music was Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony (1808). He marked each of the five movements or independent sections with titles describing a day in the country. He was quick to say the symphony was “more an expression of feeling than a tone painting.” Later Romantic program symphonies acknowledge in their titles their source in a place (Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony), a time (Mendelssohn’s Reformation Symphony), or an experience (Berlioz’ Symphonie fantastique based on a dream).
When does program music become novelty music? The Harvard Dictionary of Music says of program music: “In the final analysis, there are two types of program music: that which is good music regardless of the program; and that which is poor music even with a ‘good’ program.” The more a piece uses imitative sounds and humor, the more likely it is to be called novelty music. Good music, however, stands the test of time. All the pieces from this concert have outlived their composers whether in concert halls, advertisements, cartoons, or at Disney World. Their use of pattern, choice of instruments, and descriptive tempos still quicken our imaginations.
Multimedia
The Buried Treasure of The Carnival of the Animals Camille Saint-Saëns said, “It takes all sorts of animals to make the world colorful, amazing, and amusing.” But one of the mysteries of The Carnival of the Animals is why it was performed only twice in Saint-Saëns’ lifetime, both private performances. The year before composing Carnival, Saint-Saëns composed Wedding Cake (1885) for piano and string orchestra, a witty and simple piece which to his chagrin became so popular that he was known for some time as a “light” composer. Unlike Leroy Anderson (The Waltzing Cat and Old MacDonald Had a Farm) whose aim was to write light orchestral music, SaintSaëns had enjoyed a reputation as a serious composer, virtuoso organist, and well-regarded teacher and music critic. He had no intention of making his humorfilled Carnival a public piece.
Additions
Instead Saint-Saëns wrote The Carnival of the Animals as a musical joke for friends. It was first performed at an annual Mardi Gras concert in his home with Saint-Saëns playing one of the piano parts on March 9, 1886. Later he performed it privately for his friend, Franz Liszt, shortly before the latter’s death in the summer of 1886. Afterward Saint-Saëns prohibited any public performances of the suite until after his death with the exception of The Swan, which was published in 1887 and became standard repertoire for solo cello. The first public premiere of The Carnival of the Animals took place on February 26, 1922, a little more than two months after the composer's death. It quickly became one of Saint-Saëns' most popular works.
The Grand Zoological 1800s Saint-Saëns could use animals as inspiration because, by the late 1800s, people were familiar with a wide variety of exotic animals. Scientific expeditions like the 1770’s voyages of James Cook to Australia and the South Seas, the 1830’s exploration of the Galapagos Islands by Charles Darwin, and the 1850's explorations of Africa by Sir Richard Francis Burton and David Livingstone popularized the natural sciences. The oldest existing zoo, the Vienna Zoo in Austria, was opened to the public in 1765. The Ménagerie in Paris was founded during the French Revolution in 1793 when exotic animals were collected from aristocratic owners. An aviary was added in 1805, elephants in 1808, and then an antelope enclosure. Other European zoos were opened throughout the 1800s and in 1853 the first large public aquarium opened in the London Zoo.
The tradition of adding narration to The Carnival of the Animals originated in 1949 with the addition of verses by American poet Ogden Nash. They were written for a Columbia Masterworks recording of The Carnival of the Animals conducted by Andre Kostelanetz and read on the original album by Noël Coward. Since then musical humorist Peter Schickele and American poet Jack Prelutsky have written verses to introduce each section. Prelutsky’s verses were released as a children’s book, The Carnival of the Animals, illustrated by Mary GrandPre and includes an enclosed CD of the music. In 2003 New York City Ballet choreographer Christopher Wheeldon and actor/author John Lithgow collaborated on a ballet based on The Carnival of the Animals, turning it into a story of a young boy’s dream when he is locked overnight in New York’s American Museum of Natural History. This version resulted in the children’s book, The Carnival of Animals, written by Lithgow and illustrated by Boris Kulikov. A 2009 version by the New York Theatre Ballet uses Beth Storey Taylor’s staging of The Carnival of the Animals, in which two children wander into a magical forest ruled by Diana, Queen of the Forest, and her shaggy lion. In a version planned for this winter by the Miami City Ballet several children and their older sister witness three poachers steal a swan on the African savannah and learn about the fragility of the earth and their ability to care for it.
Glossary Baroque: describes an era and a set of styles of European classical music which were in wide-
spread use between approximately 1600 to 1750. It is associated with composers and their works such as J.S. Bach's Fugues, George Friedrich H채ndel's Hallelujah Chorus from Messiah, and Antonio Vivaldi's Four Seasons.
ensemble: a group of musicians playing a work together. fantaisie: (French f.) fantasy, an improvisation, imagination run riot, eccentric desire, whim (caprice).
octaves: the distance between one musical pitch and another with half or double its frequency, both have the same letter name and are 8 pitches apart in letter names (CDEFGABC).
operetta: (English, Italian f.) in the form promoted by Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880) from the
mid-nineteenth century onwards, operetta was light and short and contained interludes of spoken dialogue and dance, the precursor of musical comedy and the modern musical.
orchestration: the art, and some might say the science, of arranging a musical work for performance by an orchestra having regard to balance, colour and texture
overture: an istrumental introduction to a work for musical theater. Romantic: an era of music following the Classical era and ending around 1900; a term loosely ap-
plied to literary and artistic movements of the late 18th- and 19th-centuries. Resulting in part from the libertarian and egalitarian ideals of the French Revolution, the romantic movements had in common only a revolt against the prescribed rules of classicism. The basic aims of romanticism were various: a return to nature and to belief in the goodness of humanity; the rediscovery of the artist as a supremely individual creator; the development of nationalistic pride; and the exaltation of the senses and emotions over reason and intellect.
scales: a group of notes arranged sequentially, rising or falling, lying between two notes an octave apart. Most scales have 5, 6, 7 or 8 notes to the octave.
suite: in music, a set of related or unrelated instrumental pieces, movements or sections, usually short, played as a group, and usually in a specific order.
symphonic poem or tone poem: c.1850 to present, a descriptive orchestral piece in which the music conveys a scene or relates a story.
From the Dolmetsch Music Dictionary Online (http://www.dolmetsch.com/defss5.htm)
References and Additional Resources 1. Apel, Willi (1944). Harvard Dictionary of Music. Harvard University Press 2. Cleary, David. “A Salute to Feathers, Fur, and Fins: An appreciation of Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns”. Pride Lands Online (www.thumper.net/tlkmag/archive/mm/cofa.htm) 3. crosscut.com/2011/06/07/food/20983/The-finer-points-of-pho,-with-poet-and--pho-natic--Jack-Prelutsky/ 4. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camille_Saint-Saëns 5. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celesta 6. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_harmonica 7. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Carnival_of_the_Animals 8. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Carnival_of_the_Animals(ballet) 9. Grout, Donald Jay (1960). A History of Western Music. W.W. Norton & Co. 10. Gutmann, Peter (2010). “Camille Saint-Saens: Symphony #3 ‘Organ’”. Classical Notes (www.classicalnotes.net/classics4/saintsaens.html) 11. Kahn, Elizabeth and Joseph (2011). “Inception”. Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra Online (tsoonline.org/inception-notes/) 12. Machlis, Joseph (1963). The Enjoyment of Music. W.W. Norton & Co. 13. “Once Upon a Sleigh Ride: The Music and Life of Leroy Anderson”. PBS.org 14. Saint-Saëns, Camille (1998). The Carnival of the Animals in Full Score. Dove (http://imslp.org/wiki/La_Carnaval_des_Animaux) 15. “Saturday Morning Mash-ups: The Carnival of the Animals” (2011). The Broad Stage. (thebroadstage.com/images/CarnivaloftheAnimals_ Program.pdf) 16. Shapiro, Laura (2003, June 2). “Animal Magnetism”. New York Magazine 17. www.angelfire.com/ny/nyuk/whistler.html 18. www.arshtcenter.org/tickets/calendar/view.aspx?id=10556 www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Saint-Saens-Camille.htm 19. www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/jack_prelutsky.html 20. www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/saint-saens.php 21. www.grainger.de/music/rm/pry07.html 22. www.paragonragtime.com/whistlerdisc.html 23. www.poetryfoundation.org/article/178657 24. www.poetryfoundation.org/article/178694 25. www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/jack-prelutsky 26. www.seattlepi.com/ae/books/article/A-Moment-With-Jack-Prelutsky-America-s-first-1215696.php 27. www.wmich.edu/theatre/2009/01/dr-terry-williams/
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Kalamazoo Resa, Education for the Arts | The Carnival of the Animals, The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra | 2011-2012