Evening Concert Series 2024 – 2025 Season
Sara M. Snell Music Theater Tuesday, February 4th at 7:30PM
Andrew Voelker, piano
Charles Guy, tuba
Luke Spence, trumpet
Marie-Élaine Gagnon, cello
The Legend of Heimdall (1998)
1. Heimdall’s Gjallarhorn
2. Tale of the Bard
3. Attack on Asgard
Charles Guy, tuba
Knoxville: Summer of 1915, op. 24
Luke Spence, trumpet
Brief Pause
Dört Şehir (Four Cities)
Sivas Ankara
Hopa
Marie-Élaine Gagnon, cello
Elizabeth Raum (b. 1945)
Samuel Barber (1910 – 1981)
Fazıl Say (b. 1970)
Legends: Worlds of the Past
Program Notes
When we think of Legends, oftentimes images arise of grand battles, mythological gods and beasts, and seemingly supernatural heroes and events. Cultures around the world tell stories of the greats feats of humankind that brought civilization and advancement to our world. We might imagine that these Legends, our mythologies, are true – based on or evidentiary of real events in the distant past. Whatever our perspective, Legends stoke our imagination and form the basis of much of our artistic heritage.
In music, we thrive on storytelling. As artists, we have a constant responsibility to communicate through our performance. In my work with the operatic genre, I find that the majority of the stories we tell are inspired by people, history, and fantasy. The Legends performed on this program showcase these inspirations.
Elizabeth Raum’s The Legend of Heimdall is inspired by the tales of the Norse god Heimdall, son of Odin, and gatekeeper of Asgard at Himinbjörg. There are few but noteworthy attestations in the Poetic Edda, the Prose Edda, and Heimskringla, dating to and compiled during the 13th century. Heimdall also appears in modern culture as a character in Marvel Comics, in films played by actor Idris Elba, and in multiple videogames such as Age of Mythology and God of War Ragnarök.
It is not clear from where Raum took her inspiration in creating her Legend for tuba and piano. In the first movement, “Heimdall’s Gjallarhorn”, we hear a soundscape of Heimdall as guardian and herald. In the ancient tales, he sounds his famous Gjallarhorn to signal the onset of Ragnarök, the apocalyptic battle of the gods and end of the world. Here, the music sets a scene flurried with activity, with rhythmically driven chaos and a sense of some impending clash. The second movement, “Tale of the Bard” shifts to more pastoral imagery. Various interpretations of the Heimdall attestations consider his role in seeding humanity, him having gone among them, possibly lying with them and instigating social hierarchy. Heimdall is regarded as having the god-powers of wakefulness, sight, and hearing – so much as to even hear grass grow, or wool growing on sheep. Raum’s bard sings in folk style, beginning with a distant, cold, melody, then
advancing to variations on a dancing tune easily received from somewhere in the British Isles. The third movement heralds the arrival of Ragnarök in the “Attack on Asgard”. Melodic themes from the first two movements return in a dissonant melee.
Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 is an entirely different take on Legends, this time through the lens of people, specifically a young boy. This piece was written for soprano and orchestra, premiered in 1948 by Serge Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra with soprano Eleanor Steber. In subsequent years, it became famously associated with Barber’s muse, Leontyne Price. The ecstatic text is a prose poem by James Agee, first published by the Partisan Review, and later forming the prologue to his novel, A Death in the Family. In it, the author describes the world of his childhood through the eyes of himself as a young boy. The child speaks of what he sees and knows. As such, the immediacy and simplicity of observation allows us to experience his world much like the hazy settings of ancient stories handed down through oral tradition.
Knoxville is presented on this program in transcription for trumpet and piano. In the world of brass performance, vocal literature is frequently used for instructional purposes, but has also become a common element of recital programs. By utilizing song and the inspiration of a musical text, we experience the deeply lyrical capacity of the trumpet. James Agee’s text is projected onstage so that the audience can experience both the beauty of Barber’s music, and the poignant Legend of Knoxville, Tennessee, in the summer of a past age.
Composer and pianist Fazıl Say is one of the most exciting and varied musicians of his generation. As a native of Turkey, many of his compositions bring the sounds of Turkish/Anatolian music to the Western classical idiom. His sonata, Dört Şehir introduces four major cities of Anatolia through their representative ancient and modern sounds. Three of these cities will be performed on this program. Say describes them in the preface to the score:
Sivas: “Sivas is a conservative city located in Eastern Anatolia which is known for its large Alevi population. Aşık Veysel is an Alevi poet and Fazıl Say has been inspired by his song “Sazım” (my saz/my instrument) in the first part of this work. The movement is concluded on a melancholy tone in imitation of this ethnic instrument.”
Ankara: “Ankara was declared the capital city of Turkey by Atatürk in 1923. This city with its population of four million was where the composer was born and spent his childhood. “Ankara’nın Taşına Bak”, a rebellious song dating back to the First World War, can be discerned in the mournful middle section. The movement with its atmosphere of tragedy evokes the republican spirit and the ambience of former times.
Hopa: “A traditional wedding provided Fazıl Say with his inspiration for this movement which embraces Eastern Black Sea culture. Horon is a very fast folk dance in 7/16 time which is played on the kemence, a typical instrument of the Eastern Black Sea region. The music also touches on Caucasian, Georgian, and Laz dances, anonymous songs, “Laz women” and “Cilveloy nanayda” (a Turkish song).”
Each city-site has existed for well over 1000 years, with Ankara considered the oldest, predating the Roman Empire. As Legends, they are steeped in the histories of culture, socioeconomic trade, wars, and empires.
