Sir Edward William Elgar (1857–1934) was an English composer, among whose best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches (“graduation march”) , concertos for violin and cello, and two symphonies Although Elgar is often regarded as a typically English composer, most of his musical influences were not from England but from continental Europe In musical circles dominated by academics, he was a self-taught composer; he often felt like an outsider both musically and socially Elgar was also an amateur chemist, and loved riding bicycles
In 1897, Elgar first became acquainted with A J Jaeger, the Novello Music Publishing Company employee, who became his friend and confidant. Jaeger is the friend Elgar immortalized in the famous 9th variation "Nimrod" from the Enigma Variations (Nimrod was a Biblical hunter, a pun on the German word for hunter, Jäger)
Each of the variations represented a friend, and Elgar said the Nimrod variation was inspired by a conversation with Jaeger about Beethoven, during which Jaeger tried to encourage Elgar, who was at the time despondent over his own struggles to gain recognition. Elgar wrote, “it will be noticed that the opening bars are made to suggest the slow movement of [Beethoven’s Eighth Sonata (‘Pathétique’).” Nimrod has become a stand-alone hit of the Enigma Variations, arranged for many different ensmebles, used in movie soundtracks, and performed at royal funerals.
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Russell Peterson : Video Game Fantasy
An accomplished classical/jazz saxophonist, bassoonist, and composer, Russell Peterson (b. 1969) holds degrees from Youngstown State University (Ohio), Le Conservatoire de Bordeaux (France), and Bowling Green State University (Ohio), and is presently Associate Professor, Saxophone and Bassoon at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota In demand as a composer, orchestrator, arranger, and performer, Mr Peterson is principal bassoon in the Fargo Moorhead Symphony, and performs on saxophone with the Transcontinental Saxophone Quartet, and Fargo-based Post Traumatic Funk Syndrome (which performed a Symphonic Rock concert with NVYO in 2018) , among others.
Video Game Fantasy was commissioned by the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony and Fargo-Moorhead Area Youth Symphony to perform side by side, and was premiered in 2024. Peterson was inspired by Koji Kondo’s legendary 1986 score, “The Legend of Zelda” and the piece features recognizable video game themes.
L. Brianna Ware: The Moirai
Dr. Lawren Brianna Ware (b. 1994), a Gadsden, Alabama native, is a recent graduate of The University of Wisconsin-Madison where she earned her DMA in Music Composition with a minor in musicology Compositionally, Dr Ware's goal is to "write music that makes one feel " A pianist and violinist in addition to her composing, she has begun to secure her place in the world of contemporary classical composition
The Moirai was commissioned “by April Ann and Kevin Sütterlin as a gift to the Fox Valley Symphony Orchestra, in honor of our dear friend and mother figure Danna Sue Browder Brown, who passed away on August 3, 2024 from a difficult cancer journey. “Momma Danna’s” bright, inimitable smile and laugh, her warm and love-filled hugs, her generous and kind spirit, and her sassy, witty sense of humor will always live on in our hearts. “ It premiered in fall of 2024. he composer’s notes state: “The Moirai is a programmatic work based on the ancient
Edward Elgar, ca 1905
L. Brianna Ware
Russell Peterson
L. BriannaWare,TheMoirai-cont.
Greek myth of the “Moirai,”more commonly known as “the Fates”. These weaving goddesses were named Clotho (“The Spinner”), Lachesis (“The Alloter”), and Atropos (“The Inflexible”). The three daughters of Zeus and Themis were tasked with assigning destinies to mortals at birth. “Clotho spun the thread of life, Lachesis measured its allotted length, and Atropos cut it off with her shears. Sometimes, each of the Fates was assigned to a specific period of time: Atropos – the past, Clotho –the present, and Lachesis – the future. The piece as a whole acts as an homage to the first movement of Ludwig van Beethoven’s renowned Symphony No. 5. As a musical joke/ quote, I modified Beethoven’s famous “knocking on fate’s door” theme (“bum bum bum bum”) and incorporated this new motive throughout the work. This motive acts as a nod to the past while simultaneously pushing forward toward the future.”
The Moirai opens triumphantly, sonically setting the location of this work on Mt. Olympus. The Fates are assigning a destiny to a new human who is soon to be born into the world. Soon after the opening, the listener can hear Lachesis measure out the life thread of the individual, represented by running sixteenth notes in the winds and strings. Following this, three solos can be heard representing the birth of the human life. Clotho can be heard spinning the human’s life lthread on her spinning wheel in the harp’s
undulating pattern, emphasized in the first sixteenth note of each grouping of four. Soft harmonic glissandi (sliding) in the strings symbolize Lachesis measuring out the gossamer life threads before handing them over to Clotho to spin. As Clotho spins and the music continues, it gradually gains speed as a musical representation of the human continuing to age, drawing closer and closer to the time when the life thread will be cut by Atropos.
As we near the end of the work, we hear violent rhythmic “cuts” in the winds and first violins that symbolize Atropos' fateful scissors attempting to slice through the life thread. Furious glissandi in the remaining strings and harp represent the life thread fighting against the sharp blades of Atropos’ scissors, resisting the shredding of its fibers. A ferocious “snap” Bartok pizzicato in the strings paired with a loud crack of the slapstick signal the snapping of the life thread - and the human’s life comes to an end
AlexanderBorodin:Symphony#2,IV: Finale
Alexander Borodin was born in St Petersburg, Russia in 1833 Tender and gentle natured, young Borodin was educated at home by his mother and quickly excelled in many subjects, particularly science He also enjoyed learning new languages, and learned to speak English, French, and German fluently At age eight, Borodin showed a keen interest in music and instruments after attending an army band performance. When he was a teenager, Borodin spent most of his time studying chemistry, including making fireworks. In 1850, 17-year-old Borodin entered the Medico-Surgical Academy and graduated in 1856 with the highest honors in his class. After graduation, Borodin worked as a physician, chemistry professor, and science-book-translator. He married pianist Ekaterina Protopopova. Although Borodin is Alexander Borodin
remembered as one of "The Five", a group of Romantic Era Russian composers dedicated to producing a "uniquely Russian" kind of classical music, he considered himself primarily a scientist. As a chemist, Borodin is known best for his work concerning organic synthesis, including being among the first chemists to demonstrate nucleophilic substitution, and being the co-discoverer of the aldol reaction.
Symphony No 2 in B minor by Alexander Borodin was composed intermittently between 1869 and 1876 He atarted it right after his first symphony, but then only picked it up whenever he had spare time in between medical research, founding a School of Medicine for women, where he taught several courses, heading up the lab at the Medico-Surgery Academy, and writing commissioned operas and ballets. It consists of four movements and is considered the most important large-scale work completed by the composer himself. It has many melodic resemblances to two theatre works that diverted Borodin's attention on and off during the six years of composition. In the autumn of 1876, the Russian Musical Society showed an interest in performing the symphony; however, Borodin was disconcerted to find that he had lost the full score. Although the middle movements were eventually found, he had to reorchestrate the outer two movements while sick in bed. The fourth movement, Finale, has a jubilant and celebratory feel, full of alternating time signatures and syncopated rhythms, and rapidly changing keys, and many melodies
