Overture Magazine: 2016-2017 Season September - October 2016 | Page 17
program notes {
Graduate Vocal Arts Program and the
Juilliard School.
Julia Bullock is making her BSO debut.
About the concert:
The Star-Spangled Banner
composed by John Stafford Smith,
arranged by
Igor Stravinsky
(1882–1971 )
In 1940, Igor Stravinsky, who had already
had to leave his native land of Russia
because of the Russian Revolution, fled
to America from Nazi-occupied France.
In Los Angeles he joined a lively community of other European cultural exiles,
including George Balanchine, Arnold
Schoenberg and the writer Franz Werfel.
In 1941, the grateful composer wanted to
give the country a gift as he said, “out of
patriotic feeling and a desire to improve
the orchestrations then in use,” his own
arrangement of our National Anthem, for
which he would take no fee.
In the summer of 1941, Stravinsky’s version made a quiet debut under his baton at
an all-Stravinsky concert at the Hollywood
Bowl. However, in January 1944, when
the composer brought it to the Boston
Symphony, an orchestra that had always
enthusiastically supported his music, all hell
broke loose. The Massachusetts legislature
had passed a law during World War I
forbidding the performance of “The StarSpangled Banner” as “dance music, as part
of a medley, or with embellishment.” And
when, on the morning of January 14th after
the first Boston performance, the Boston
Police Department read an Associated Press
review suggesting Stravinsky had given
the anthem an “odd, somewhat dissonant”
treatment, the “Radical Squad” of the BPD
flew into action. Misunderstanding the
terms of the Massachusetts law, the head
of the unit was overheard to say, “Let him
change it just once, and we’ll grab him!”
Before the second concert, the squad
cornered Stravinsky in his dressing room at
Symphony Hall and threatened to take the
music off the musicians’ stands. Not wanting to cause trouble, Stravinsky replaced his
arrangement with the customary version
and did not perform his again at those concerts. However, a myth has grown up that
Stravinsky was actually arrested that night,
and a supposed “mug shot”—probably just
his U.S. visa picture—was circulated.
Stravinsky’s arrangement has lived
peacefully on, causing no further
scandals. Marin Alsop has appropriately
chosen it to open this season, which
will so prominently feature his music.
And listeners will find this version to be
reverent, almost hymn-like, with just
a little spice of Stravinsky’s trademark
dissonance in some of the harmonies.
Instrumentation: Three flutes, two oboes,
English horn, three clarinets, two bassoons,
contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three
trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion and strings.
B A LT I M O R E C H O R A L A RT S P R E S E N T S
JOIN US AS WE THANK
TomHall
FOR
35 EXTRAORDINARY YEARS!
T H E FA R E W E L L S E A S O N
Love & Destiny:
From Brahms to Edgar Allan Poe
Sing-Along Messiah
Tom Hall’s Farewell Concert
Friday, December 16, 2016 at 7:30 pm
Kraushaar Auditorium at Goucher College
Saturday, March 11, 2017 at 8 pm
Kraushaar Auditorium at Goucher College
Featuring composer Jonathan Leshnoff’s
Dark Bells, inspired by Edgar Allan Poe.
Join in singing the great choruses of
Handel’s Messiah. Bring your own score
or buy it at the concert.
Christmas with Choral Arts
Christmas for Kids
Tuesday, December 6, 2016 at 7:30 pm
The Baltimore Basilica, 409 Cathedral Street
Saturday, December 17, 2016 at 11 am
Kraushaar Auditorium at Goucher College
Join us as we celebrate Tom Hall and his
35 years as Music Director. Featuring
Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, Copland’s
Walls of Zion, Lauridsen’s Sure on This
Shining Night, and more.
Tom Hall leads the Chorus and Orchestra
in this popular annual holiday program.
Holiday fun for the entire family, featuring
Pepito the Clown and a visit from Santa!
Sunday, October 30, 2016 at 3 pm
Kraushaar Auditorium at Goucher College
Call 410-523-7070
or visit
BCAsings.org
Baltimore Choral Arts is also grateful for the support of The William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund,
creator of the Baker Artist Awards, www.bakerartistawards.org.
201 6 -17 SE ASON
Tom Hall, Music Director
September–November 2016 |
O v ertur e
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