YALE CONCERT BAND Thomas C. Duffy, Music Director
Friday, October 9, 2015 7:30 pm Woolsey Hall, Yale University
Program GIOACHINO ROSSINI Overture to “Semiramide” (1823) arr. Vincent F. Safranek MARK CAMPHOUSE Elegy, Prayer, and Hymn (2011) ROBERT JAGER Festival of Winds and Percussion (2015) HENRY FILLMORE His Honor March (1933) ed. Frederick Fennell
~ INTERMISSION ~
THOMAS C. DUFFY Michigan’s Motors (2004) I. Cold Starts II. Chasing the Train III. Cruisin’ IV. ‘Auto’ Parts V. Horse Power JAN SWEELINCK Ballo del granduca (c. 1600) trans. Michael Walters DONALD GRANTHAM J’ai été au bal (I went to the dance) (1999)
YALE CONCERT BAND
About Tonight’s Music
Overture to “Semiramide” (1823) GIOACHINO ROSSINI (arr. Vincent F. Safranek) The Overture to “Semiramide” opens an opera based on a play by Voltaire entitled “Semiramis.” According to the opera, Ninus, King of Babylon, is murdered by his queen, Semiramis, who is assisted by Assur, a prince enamored of her and who aspires to be king. Arsaces, one of the Queen’s warriors who, though supposedly of Scythian origin, is in reality her own son, returns victorious from a successful foreign expedition. Semiramis, ignorant of Arsaces’s parentage, maintains a secret passion for him; Arsaces, however, is devoted to Princess Azema. As all gather together in the temple to swear allegiance to the Queen, the gates of Ninus’s tomb suddenly open and Ninus’s ghost appears to announce that Arsaces will be the successor to the Crown. At midnight, Semiramis, Assur, and Arsaces meet at the tomb. Assur mistakenly stabs Semiramis instead of Arsaces, who in turn kills Assur. The opera finishes when Arsaces reunites with Azema and ascends the throne. This spirited overture captures the excitement of Rossini’s opera, and is a favorite among audiences. Elegy, Prayer, and Hymn (2011) MARK CAMPHOUSE Elegy, Prayer, and Hymn was written by Mark Camphouse and was commissioned by the Yale Concert Band to honor Michele Dufault, a Yale Precision Marching Band member who tragically died in her senior year at Yale in 2011. Camphouse writes of this piece: “Especially influential to me in my search for appropriate extra-musical inspiration were the words of Michele’s grandfather, Robert Dufault, who said: ‘She was a living saint.’ That powerful statement really resonated with me both as a composer and as a father of twin daughters, very close in age to Michele. Accordingly, her grandfather’s words drew me to the sturdy church hymn by the great English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, For All the Saints Who from Their Labors Rest. It serves as the work’s principal thematic material. While my work honoring Michele contains poignant and elegiac passages, I hope it will be received by the listener as music that celebrates, not mourns, a life filled with such great promise; as music that celebrates, not mourns, an individual who exuded such wonderful idealism.” Festival of Winds and Percussion (2015) ROBERT JAGER Festival of Winds and Percussion is a suite of delightful vignettes. Each movement has a title that references the dance-form or personality of the music. His Honor March (1933) HENRY FILLMORE (ed. Frederick Fennell) Henry Fillmore was the most colorful band-man of his time, probably writing more band music – much of it under assumed names – than any composer/bandmaster in history. His irrepressible talent
for marches produced a string of masterpieces uniquely of his own flavor, among them His Honor. This march, which is dedicated to Mayor Russell Wilson of Cincinnati, was likely premiered by Fillmore’s own band during the Band’s concerts at the Cincinnati Zoological Gardens in August 1933. Fillmore intended audiences and players alike to have fun with this exuberant work. Michigan’s Motors (2004) THOMAS C. DUFFY Michigan’s Motors is a tribute to the motor industry that flourishes today in Michigan and a subtle clue as to the compositional techniques that serve as the foundation for this piece (motor rhythms). The piece’s first section, “Cold Starts,” is the musical equivalent of an engine being started for the first time on a cold day. Hear the cranking sounds of the starter, the wheeze of the carburetor, and the “almosts” of the engine, as, three times, the engine catches, fires, and chokes out. Finally, the engine catches for real and gradually warms up to a reasonable idle. In the next section, “Chasing the Train,” the running car races a locomotive and zips across the tracks in the nick of time, just missing the train. Hear the two engines, running side by side, and the blare of the train’s horn! The car does survive and, after the last train horn blast, motors off in arrogant disinterest and casual calm – “Cruisin’,” as the third section’s title reflects. The car cruises around, perhaps playing punk rock on the radio, perhaps with the top down on a summer’s day – you decide. Obviously, the driver becomes enamored of the power of the automobile, as the drive and impact of the music build up to an intense level. In the fourth section, “‘Auto’ Parts,” the ancient composition technique of soggeto cavato (carved subject) is used to create musical melodies from the names of three car manufacturers: Ford, Dodge, and Cadillac. All of the letters in the three car names have musical equivalents, drawn from solfeggio syllables or actual pitch names (Ford = fa, do, re, do or F,D,C,D). The piece concludes with “Horse Power.” Here, the predominant concern is the “auto” part of automation, or self-propulsion. The music’s pitches spell out “horse” and “feet,” and the members of the ensemble contribute to the idea of manual power by clapping the motor rhythms with their hands. Ballo del granduca (c. 1600) JAN SWEELINCK (trans. Michael Walters) The five variations on the Italian dance tune Ballo del granduca (the Grand Duke’s Ballet) are based on a melody taken from La Pellegrina by Emelio de Cavalieri. It was this work that was originally performed at the wedding of the Grand Duke Ferdinando of Tuscany in the city of Florence in 1589. Other settings of this tune still exist, but Jan Sweelinck’s cycle is without doubt superior. As with most of Sweelinck’s works, Ballo del granduca was probably written to be used as teaching material and for his own performances. In fact, Sweelinck’s many variation cycles on well-known tunes of the day became in themselves quite popular, and it is evident that Sweelinck’s masterful works continue to provide us with musical delight and pleasure to this day.
YALE CONCERT BAND J’ai été au bal (1999) DONALD GRANTHAM J’ai été au bal celebrates some of the popular folk music styles of Louisiana – in particular Cajun music and the brass band tradition of New Orleans. The dance flavor of much of the music is suggested by the title (“I went to the dance”), and two traditional Cajun dance tunes are employed. The first appears near the beginning and later at the end. “Allons danser, Colinda” (“Let’s go dancing, Colinda”) is a boy’s attempt to coax Colinda into going dancing. He argues, “it’s not everyone who knows how to dance the two-beat waltzes.” This touching little tune works better in a syncopated two, but is usually represented in notation as 3 + 3 + 2. The second Cajun song is “Les flammes d’enfer” (“The flames of hell”), most often performed as a heavily accented two-step. Grantham’s version is much faster and lighter, and is introduced by a charming country fiddle style tune. The brass band section begins with solo tuba, followed by a duet with the euphonium, and culminates in a full brass presentation.
Upcoming Yale Bands Performances • Sunday, November 15, 2015: Yale Concert Band: A Sunday Matinee. Featuring Symphony from Ivy Green for Soprano and Wind Orchestra (Mark Camphouse), Janna Baty, soprano, and Hymn for World Peace (David Maslanka). 2:00 pm, Woolsey Hall. Free. • Friday, February 19, 2016: Yale Concert Band: Winter Concert. 7:30 pm, Woolsey Hall. Free. • Sunday, April 10, 2016: Stan Wheeler Memorial Jazz Concert, with the Reunion Jazz Ensemble. 2:00 pm, Yale Law School, 127 Wall Street. Free. • Friday, April 15, 2016: Yale Concert Band: Spring Concert. 7:30 pm, Woolsey Hall. Free.
About the Music Director Thomas C. Duffy (b. 1955) is Professor (Adjunct) of Music and Director of University Bands at Yale University, where he has worked since 1982. He has established himself as a composer, a conductor, a teacher, an administrator, and a leader. His interests and research range from non-tonal analysis to jazz, from wind band history to creativity and the brain. Under his direction, the Yale Bands have performed at conferences of the College Band Directors National Association and New England College Band Association; for club audiences at NYC’s Village Vanguard and Iridium, Ronnie Scotts’s (London), and the Belmont (Bermuda); performed as part of the inaugural ceremonies for President George H.W. Bush; and concertized in nineteen countries in the course of sixteen international tours. Duffy produced a two-year lecture/performance series, Music and the Brain, with the Yale School of Medicine; and, with the Yale School of Nursing, developed a musical intervention to train nursing students to better hear and identify body sounds with the stethoscope. He combined his interests in music and science to create a genre of music for the bilateral conductor - in which a “split-brained conductor” must conduct a different meter in each hand, sharing downbeats. His compositions have introduced a generation of school musicians to aleatory, the integration of spoken/sung words and “body rhythms” with instrumental performance, and the pairing of music with political, social, historical and scientific themes. He has been awarded the Yale Tercentennial Medal for Composition, the Elm/ Ivy Award, the Yale School of Music Cultural Leadership Citation and certificates of appreciation by the United States Attorney’s Office for his Yale 4/Peace: Rap for Justice concerts – music programs designed for social impact by using the power of music to deliver a message of peace and justice to impressionable middle and high school students. From 1996 to 2006, he served as associate, deputy and acting dean of the Yale School of Music. He has served as a member of the Fulbright National Selection Committee, the Tanglewood II Symposium planning committee, and the Grammy Foundation Music Educators Award Screening Committee, and completed the MLE program at the Harvard University Institute for Management and Leadership in Education. He has served as: president of the Connecticut Composers Inc., the New England College Band Directors Association and the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA); editor of the CBDNA Journal, publicity chair for the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles; and chair of the Connecticut Music Educators Association’s Professional Affairs and Government Relations committees. For nine years, he represented music education in Yale’s Teacher Preparation Program. He is a member of American Bandmasters Association, American Composers Alliance, the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, Connecticut Composers Incorporated, the Social Science Club, and BMI. Duffy has conducted ensembles all over the world and most recently was selected to conduct the 2011 NAFME National Honor Band in the Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C.
YALE CONCERT BAND 2015-2016 THOMAS C. DUFFY, Music Director STEPHANIE T. HUBBARD, Business Manager
Piccolo Rona Ji MC 18 Flute Neyén Romano BK 18 Principal Beatrice Brown BK 19 Catherine Lacy BR 18 Monica Barbosa DC 19 Emma Platoff MC 17 Hayley Kolding SY 17 Seungjung Sohn ES 19 Oboe Mason Ji MC 16 Principal Jake Houston CC 19 English Horn Jake Houston CC 19 Eb Clarinet Andrew Brod BK 17 Clarinet Eugene Kim BK 16 Keith L. Wilson Principal Clarinet Chair* Christopher Zhou PC 19 Alexander Ringlein BR 18 Jacob Neis SY 17 Anson Wang DC 17 Anelisa Fergus DC 19 Alex Brod BK 19 Daniel Hwang TC 16 Ellie Handler ES 18 Betsy Li SY 18 Bass Clarinet Libby Dimenstein MC 17
Bassoon Lily Sands TD 18 Principal Benjamin Lawrence ES 17
Trombone Luke Benz SM 19 Matthew Kegley PC 19 Richard Liverano YSM 16
Soprano Saxophone Vincent Oneppo YSM 73
Euphonium Sarah Siegel TC 19
Alto Saxophone Vincent Oneppo YSM 73 Principal Antonio Medina SM 19
Tuba John Leibensperger YSM 16 Principal Stevie Roets PC 17
Tenor Saxophone Nick Indorf DC 19
String Bass Levi Jones YSM 16
Baritone Saxophone Sara Harris SY 19
Piano Jay Lee ES 19
Cornet/Trumpet Ryan Petersburg GSAS 21 Eli Baum JE 19 Christoph Funke ES 19 Noah Montgomery CC 19 Kimberly Sullivan William Thompson GSAS 21 Jacob Zavatone-Veth SM 19 Holt Sakai BR 18 Adé Ben-Salahuddin PC 18
Percussion Rebecca Leibowitz TC 18 Principal Melina Delgado TD 19 Colum O’Connor BR 18 Jonathan Roig ES 18 Charles Romano SM 19
French Horn John McNamara CC 17 Principal Nishwant Swami SM 17 Derek Boyer BR 18 Sida Tang SY 19 Brandon Wanke MC 17
Music Librarian Jacob Neis SY 17 * Friends of Keith Wilson (Director of Yale Bands from 1946 – 1973) honored him by endowing the principal clarinet chair in the Yale Concert Band in his name. If you would like information about naming a Yale Concert Band chair, please contact the Yale Bands office.
YALE CONCERT BAND OFFICERS President: Libby Dimenstein Personnel Manager: Catherine Lacy General Managers: Rebecca Leibowitz, Brandon Wanke Publicity Chair: Mason Ji Social Chairs: Ellie Handler, Anson Wang
Yale University Bands P.O. Box 209048, New Haven, CT 06520–9048 ph: (203) 432–4111; fax: (203) 432–7213 stephanie.hubbard@yale.edu; www.yale.edu/yaleband