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LILI BOULANGER
born: August 21, 1893 in Paris, France died: March 15, 1918 in Mézy-sur-Seine, France
D’un matin de printemps (1918)
composed: 1917, revised 1918
Lili Boulanger, sister of the legendary teacher Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979), lived a tragically brief life. Plagued by chronic illness throughout her life, she died of intestinal tuberculosis at the age of 24. Nevertheless in that brief span, she accomplished a great deal. A student at the Paris Conservatoire, Lili Boulanger won the coveted Prix de Rome in 1913, at the age of 19 — the first woman composer to win this prize. Boulanger composed prolifically, right to the end of her life.
One of Lili Boulanger’s final compositions was D’un matin de printemps (On a Spring Morning). The work exists in three versions; for violin (or flute) and piano; piano trio; and orchestral tone poem. The brief piece demonstrates Boulanger’s mastery of atmosphere and instrumental colors.
Lili Boulanger in a 1913 photograph taken by Henri Manuel
MANUEL DE FALLA
born: November 23, 1876 in Cádiz, Spain died: November 14, 1946 in Alta Gracia, Argentina
Nights in the Gardens of Spain (1909-15)
premiere: April 9, 1916 in Madrid, Spain
Manuel de Falla began composition of the work that would become known as Noches en los jardines de España (Nights in the Gardens of Spain) in 1909. Falla originally conceived the music as a series of nocturnes for solo piano. Over the next several years, Falla worked on the piece, all the while considering various forms in which it might take shape. Falla shared the music with his fellow Spanish composer, Isaac Albéniz. It was Albéniz who suggested that Falla’s composition be scored solo piano and orchestra.
In 1915, Falla completed Nights in the Gardens of Spain. The work premiered at the Teatro Real in Madrid on April 9, 1916, with José Cubiles as piano soloist, and Enrique Arbós conducting the Orquestra Sinfónica de Madrid. Since that time, the work has been celebrated as one of Falla’s masterpieces, a marvelous example of his characteristic magical synthesis of classical music and Spanish folk culture.
Falla wrote of his Nights in the Gardens of Spain:
If these “symphonic impressions” have achieved their object, the mere enumeration of their titles should be a sufficient guide to the hearer. Although in this work—as in all which have a legitimate claim to be considered as music—the composer has followed a definite design, regarding tonal, rhythmical and thematic material…the end for which it was written is not other than to evoke places, sensations, and sentiments. The themes employed are based (as in much of the composer’s earlier works) on the rhythms, modes, cadences, and ornamental figures which distinguish the popular music of Andalucía, though they are rarely used in their original forms; and the orchestration frequently employs, and employs in a conventional manner, certain effects peculiar to the popular instruments used in those parts of Spain. The music has no pretensions to being descriptive; it is merely expressive. But something more than the sound of festivals and dances has inspired these “evocations in sound,” for melancholy and mystery have their part also.
The work is in three movements. The first, En el Generalife (At the Generalife), was inspired by a 13 th -century villa, located on the outskirts of the Alhambra—the residences of the Moorish kings in Granada. The kings used the Generalife as a leisure retreat. In the second movement, Danza lejana (Distant Dance), the piano evokes the sounds of a strumming guitar. The finale, En los jardines de la Sierra de Córdoba (In the Gardens of the Mountains of Cordoba), has an irrepressible (and sometimes violent) energy that finally resolves to a delicate, pianissimo close.
The Generalife Gardens, Granada by Spanish painter Santiago Rusiñol (1861 - 1931) − a depiction of how the gardens may have appeared whenFalla composed the piece.
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
born: December 17, 1770 in Bonn, Germany died: March 26, 1827 in Vienna, Austria
Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Opus 68, “Pastoral” (1808)
premiere: December 22, 1808 in Vienna, Austria
Beethoven in the Country
How lucky you are, to be able to go soon to the country; I cannot enjoy that happiness until the 8 th . I am happy as a child at the thought of wandering among the clusters of bushes, in the woods, among trees, herbs, rocks. No man loves the country more than I; for do not forests, trees, rocks re-echo that for which mankind longs.
Ludwig van Beethoven wrote these words to his friend, Therese von Malfatti, in May of 1810. Beethoven, who maintained a lifelong reverence for the beauties and mysteries of nature, extolled: “the ecstasy of the woods...every tree said to me, ‘Holy! Holy!’”
Englishman Charles Neate, a founder of London’s Philharmonic Society, spent considerable time with Beethoven in Vienna in 1815. Neate remarked that he had “never met anyone who so delighted in Nature, or so thoroughly enjoyed flowers or clouds or other natural objects. Nature was almost meat and drink to him; he seemed positively to exist upon it.” One of Beethoven’s favorite sayings was: “The morning air has gold to spare.” And the composer often received musical inspiration during long walks in the countryside. Regardless of the weather, Beethoven rose early each morning and, with music sketchbook in hand, spent several hours outdoors.
“A recollection of country life”
The work Beethoven subtitled “Pastorale Symphony, or a recollection of country life,” is a symphonic ode to the wonders of the outdoors. By this stage of his life, Beethoven was increasingly unable to enjoy the sounds of nature he so touchingly and vividly portrays in the “Pastorale.” The continued decline of his hearing prompted this revelation in the October 1802 letter to his brothers, known as the Heiligenstadt Testament:
But how humiliated I have felt if somebody standing beside me heard the sound of a flute in the distance and I heard nothing, or if somebody heard a shepherd sing and again I heard nothing — Such experiences almost made me despair, and I was on the point of putting an end to my life — The only thing that held me back was my art. For indeed it seemed to me impossible to leave this world before I had produced all the works I felt the urge to compose; and thus I have dragged on this miserable existence — a truly miserable existence...
However, there is no sense of despair in Beethoven’s “Pastorale,” undoubtedly the most lyrical of his Nine Symphonies.
Beethoven’s Walk in Nature, by Austrian painter Julius Schmid (1854-1935).
There are several other factors that set the “Pastorale” Symphony apart from the other eight. It is the only Beethoven symphony in five movements, as opposed to the traditional four. And while several of Beethoven’s symphonies (notably the Third, Fifth, and Ninth) have extra-musical associations, the “Pastorale” is by far the most overtly programmatic, with each movement containing a descriptive title.
Beethoven cautioned that the “Pastorale” Symphony was “More an expression of feeling than a painting.” In his sketchbooks, Beethoven observed: “All painting in instrumental music, if pushed too far, is a failure.” And in truth, the vivid depictions of a murmuring brook, birdcalls, peasant dances, a violent thunderstorm, and a shepherd’s piping are but a part of the compelling symphonic experience.
Beethoven and Nature, 1917 painting by NC Wyeth (1882 - 1945).
The “Pastorale” Symphony is in five movements, each with a descriptive title. The first, Awakening of cheerful feelings upon arriving in the country (Allegro ma non troppo), opens with the first violins’ presentation of a sprightly melody that forms the basis for virtually the entire movement. Beethoven’s genius in thematic manipulation is perhaps never more apparent than in the development section, based in great part only upon a descending phrase derived from the second measure of the opening theme. The slow-tempo second movement, Scene by the brook (Andante molto moto) is Beethoven’s magical evocation of peacefully flowing waters, as well as the songs of the birds nearby. The final three movements are played without pause. The Merry gathering of country folk (Allegro) yields to a fierce Thunderstorm and Tempest (Allegro). The storm abates, and the finale opens with a brief passage for the clarinet and horn suggesting a ranz des vaches, the traditional herdsman’s call. Out of this passage emerges the principal melody, initially played by the first violins (Shepherd’s song. Happy, thankful feelings after the storm. Allegretto). The final measures feature a brief, muted horn reprise of the ranz des vaches, capped by two fortissimo orchestral chords.
