Program Notes - Spring Concert

"Women's Night Out"

Four Regimental Marches (1767-1777) 
Princess Amalie von Preußen (1723-1787)
arranged by Gustav Lenzewski

1. March for the Regiment "Graf Lottum" (1767) 
2. March for the Regiment "General von Bülow" (1767) 
3. March for the Regiment "General von Saldern" (1768) 
4. March for the Regiment "General von Möllenforf" (1777)

"Princess Anna Amalia of Prussia was one of eight surviving children of Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia and Sophia Dorothea of Hanover. She was the younger sister of Frederick the Great. Born in Berlin, she was eleven years younger than her brother.

"Both children were musically inclined, but for Anna formal musical instruction was only possible after the death of her music-hating father. Music was her secret consolation against his cruelty to her (he would often drag her across a room by the hair during his rages).

"Anna learned to play the harpsichord, flute, and violin, receiving her first lessons from her brother, which her more 'civilised' mother encouraged.

"In 1743, Anna secretly married Baron Friedrich von der Trenck, a man whose adventures inspired works by literary greats such as Victor Hugo and Voltaire. When her brother, who had ascended to the throne in 1740, discovered she had married and was pregnant, he packed her off in a rage to Quedlinburg Abbey, a place where many aristocratic women were sent to give birth to children out of wedlock. Anna's marriage was annulled at the request of Friedrich II, and von der Trenck was imprisoned for ten years. However, Anna continued to correspond with him until her death.

"Anna became the Abbess of Quedlinburg in 1755, making her a wealthy woman. She chose to spend most of her time in Berlin, where she devoted herself to music, and became known as a musical patron and composer.

"In 1758, Anna began a serious study of musical theory and composition, engaging as her tutor Johann Philipp Kirnberger, a student of Johann Sebastian Bach. She composed chamber music, such as flute sonatas, and wrote music to Ramler's Passion cantata ("The Death of Jesus"); this was also her favorite piece. Only a few of her works have survived, and it is probable that she may have destroyed many of her compositions. After all, she did describe herself as being very "timorous and self-critical."

"Anna was also a collector of old music, preserving over 600 volumes of works by notables such as Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, George Philipp Telemann, and others. This act in itself was a significant contribution to Western culture. Her library was split between East Germany and West Germany after World War II, and despite serious depredations by fire in 2004, still survives today." [adapted from Wikipedia by CJ]

Concerto for Flute, Strings and Percussion (Vibraphone and Xylophone)
Elaine Erickson

My concerto began when Michael Finegold, a flute player from Andover, MA (the Boston area), asked me to write for him a piece for flute and orchestra. Michael has performed several of my compositions. 

I wrote my concerto in three movements in traditional form: fast-slow-fast, with a lengthy cadenza for the flute in the last movement. The work highlights Michael's wonderful playing: his technical facility with fast, syncopated sections; the beautiful lyricism he gets from his instrument; and his wide range. 

The strings often play in extreme registers for an ethereal quality. They also have sections that are fast and syncopated. There is a 4-note figure played very freely between the vibraphone and flute (and one time the violas). It appears in all three movements. 

This is the first performance of the work. [ Elaine Erickson, composer]

Journeys (A Symphonic Poem) for orchestra 
Linda Robbins Coleman

Journeys, A Symphonic Poem, marked a turning point for composer Linda Robbins Coleman in that it was her first large-scale work conceived and produced without utilizing another medium for inspiration. As the composer says, "I chose the title in part because the years leading up to its composition were quite a personal and professional journey for me. When I began to write I discovered that Journeys would not be a programmatic description of a picturesque country or great work of literature, but that it would tend more towards a reflection of where I have been within myself, and where I am struggling to go. 

"Prior to Journeys, most of my larger works had been for theatre, writing incidental music, scores, or songs for plays ranging from Euripides and Shakespeare to modern and avant-garde productions. All were highly descriptive both in mood and language. This experience enabled me to learn how to experiment with various tone colors to convey the different feelings expressed in plays. But with Journeys I was on my own. Even though my music is very tonal and accessible to all audiences, I still found that expressing personal feelings and moods - from my own script this time - to be a most stimulating challenge. 

"Writing it was an adventure. I never knew quite where Journeys would take me. On occasion my husband, working in his office across the hall would hear bloody screams when I had written myself into yet another corner; at other times, he would have to 'come listen and tell me what you think!'" 

Journeys was commissioned and premiered by the Wartburg Community Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Janice Wade on February 16, 1992. Since then it has been performed dozens of times by regional, community, and university orchestras throughout the United States from Hawaii to Massachusetts. The composer wishes to thank the Des Moines Community Orchestra, Carl B. Johnson, and all the musicians for performing Journeys. Their belief and support of the music of living composers helps keep this art form - and all the arts - alive and growing. [Linda Robbins Coleman]

Check out Linda's new web page where you can listen to musical excerpts, and see news of coming events.

Jane Eyre: Fantasy Overture
Tracey Rush

Ever since high school, when I first read Charlotte Brontë's great novel, "Jane Eyre," I dreamed of turning it into a Broadway musical. Twenty-some years later, in the mid-90s, a playwright friend of mine and I began the daunting task of doing just that. He had almost completed the first draft of the script and I had written several songs when Paul Gordon and John Caird beat us to it, and their version of "Jane Eyre' opened on Broadway. Realizing there wasn't much chance the theater-going public would welcome a second show on the same book (even though ours would have been better!), we abandoned Jane. 

Jump forward another decade to when I received a phone call from Carl Johnson inviting me to write a work for the DMCO's "Women's Night Out" program. While describing the orchestra's ability, the maestro told me the orchestra had recently performed Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet, Fantasy Overture. It didn't take long for me to realize this was the perfect opportunity to resurrect my previous work on Jane, and do my own concert fantasy with those themes that I had loved so much while working on the project, but which had been languishing in the piano bench all these years.

Patterned after Tchaikovsky's concert fantasy, Jane Eyre: Fantasy Overture is not meant to tell the story of the novel but merely has representative themes of the characters and incidental music (background music for action on stage). Each theme depicts a different emotion in Jane's life, and shows her development and growth into the incredible character that she was. 

The work opens with "Childhood at Gateshead," based on the plaintive four-note motif which spells out J(C)-A-N(G)-E. "The Red-Room" was a song to be sung by the young Jane during her terrifying experience of being locked up in the room which gave her nightmares. "Lowood: Death of Helen," is the turning point in our feisty heroine's life when her best friend at the boarding school teaches Jane about forgiveness and acceptance with her dying breath. "Flight from Thornfield" accompanies Jane as her sense of honor forces her to flee from yet another nightmarish situation - being left at the altar after discovering Edward's first wife is alive and insane and living at Thornfield. Finally, no musical would be complete without the big love duet, and "Reunion" was to be sung by Jane and Edward when at last they are reunited.  [Tracey Rush, composer]

Symphony in E minor (1894-96)   
Amy Cheney Beach (1867-1944)

"Amy Beach was the first American woman to succeed as a composer of large-scale musical works. The most frequently performed composer of her generation, she became famous in both the United States and Europe… [T]he Concerto in C sharp Minor, Op. 45, for piano and orchestra, and the "Gaelic" Symphony in E minor, Op. 32, are among her most imposing and exciting compositions." - Adrienne Fried Block

Born in New Hampshire, Amy Mary Cheney had perfect pitch, total recall, and an innate talent for the piano and for composition. Although family and society put limitations on her, she achieved success through hard work and determination. She had her first private recital at the age of seven, which was reviewed in the local paper. She debuted at the age of sixteen and first performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, to glowing reviews, in 1885.

Her life and career changed dramatically that year when she married Henry Harris Aubrey Beach, M.D. Her husband was 25 years older than she; although he "allowed" her only one public recital per year, he did encourage her composition (under the name Mrs. H. H. A. Beach). She was widowed at the age of 43 (after 25 years of marriage), having written many songs, chamber works, and solo piano pieces in addition to the concerto and symphony.

She went to Germany as a pianist and a composer, returning triumphantly to Boston in 1914. She toured and composed until her death in New York City at the age of 77, a hero to women composers, with some 300 works (almost all of which were published and performed) to her credit. [CJ]