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and he reminded Sandburg that Lincoln himself had heard no applause after delivering his Gettysburg Address.”
In the Composer’s Words Aaron Copland provided these observations about his Lincoln Portrait in a conversation with the historian Vivian Perlis, published in her book Copland: 1900 through 1942: Lincoln Portrait is a thirteen-minute work for speaker and full orchestra, divided roughly into three sections. In the opening, I hoped to suggest something of the mysterious sense of fatality that surrounds Lincoln’s personality, and near the end of the first section, something of his gentleness and simplicity of spirit. I was after the most universal aspects of Lincoln’s character, not physical resemblance. The challenge was to compose something simple, yet interesting enough to fit Lincoln—I kept finding myself back at the C-major triad! The first section opens with a somber sound of violins and violas playing a dotted figure that turns into a melodic phrase by the eighth bar; the second subject is a transformed version of “Springfield Mountain.” This section ends with a trumpet solo, leading without pause into an unexpected allegro for full orchestra. The second section is an attempt to sketch in the background of the colorful times in which Lincoln lived. Sleigh bells suggest a horse and carriage in nineteenth-century New England, and the lively tune that sounds like a folk song is derived in part from “Camptown Races.” In the conclusion, my purpose was to draw a simple but impressive frame around the words of Lincoln himself—in my opinion among the best this nation has ever heard to express patriotism and humanity. The quotations from Lincoln’s writings and speeches are bound together by narrative passages, simple enough to mirror the dignity of Lincoln’s words. For example, “That is what he said, that is what Lincoln said.” And, “He was born in Kentucky, raised in Indiana, and lived in Illinois. And this is what he said. …” The background music in the final section, while thematically related to the orchestral introduction, is more modest and unobtrusive, so as not to intrude on the narration. But after Lincoln’s final “… shall not perish from this earth,” the orchestra blazes out in triple forte with a strong and positive C-major statement of the first theme — JMK
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Boléro Maurice Ravel First performance: 2/21/1938 Conductor: Ralph Rose Last performance: 5/21/2011 Conductor: Joel Levine Born: March 7, 1875, in Ciboure, near St-Jean-de-Luz, Basses-Pyrénées, France Died: December 28, 1937, in Paris, France Work composed: July 6 through October 1928, in St-Jean-de-Luz Work dedicated: To Ida Rubinstein Work premiered: November 22, 1928, at the Paris Opéra, in a ballet production by Ida Rubinstein directed by Bronislava Nijinska and conducted by Walther Straram; the first concert performance took place November 14, 1929, at Carnegie Hall in New York, with Arturo Toscanini conducting the New York Philharmonic. Instrumentation: Two flutes and piccolo, two oboes (second doubling oboe d’amore) and English horn, two clarinets plus E-flat clarinet and bass clarinet, three saxophones (sopranino in F, soprano, and tenor, although soprano often handles the sopranino part, sopranino saxophones in F being largely extinct), two bassoons and contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets and piccolo trumpet in D, three trombones, tuba, timpani, two side drums, cymbals, tam-tam, celesta, harp, and strings
Melody, harmony, rhythm, timbre, dynamics—these are the irreducible materials of musical composition, and in nearly every piece they follow a certain hierarchical pecking order. In Western music, melody and harmony—the tune and the way the tune weaves through the gravity exerted by its key—are generally conceded to be the most important elements of composition, with rhythm—the pulse underlying these musical processes—placing a distant third. Timbre—the acoustical sound of the instruments playing the music—is widely viewed as icing on the cake, as is dynamics—the volume at which the