Third Concert of the 48th Season

I. Allegro
II. Romanza
III. Alla Polacca

I. Be Glad Then, America
II. When Jesus Wept
III. Chester

Vivaldi was an older contemporary of Bach, and was much admired by this German composer, who re-orchestrated some of his works. Vivaldi was known as "Il Prete Rossi," or the "Redhaired Priest." He really was a priest, though he devoted himself almost entirely to the composition of music... often to the annoyance of the Church. Once, the city fathers of Ferrara refused him entry because they could not approve of a priest who didn't say Mass. He complained that he was an invalid, with difficulty breathing, and that accounted for his not saying Mass for the past twenty-five years.

There is another reason given elsewhere. Once, while he was saying Mass, he got a sudden idea for a fugue, dashed off to write it down, and returned to finish Mass. For this, he was called before the Inquisition. It was decided that geniuses must be tolerated, but he was forbidden to say Mass in the future.

He spent thirty-six years as teacher and official composer at the Ospedale della Pieta, in Venice. This was a school for orphan girls, which stressed musical studies, and his position there was a highly respected one. During this time, he wrote some forty operas and more than five hundred concertos.

Today, we think of a concerto as being music featuring a solo instrument playing with an orchestra. We use the expression "in concert' or "making a concerted effort," in the mistaken belief that "concert" means "together." We should say that the solo instrument plays "against" the orchestra, because "concerto" comes from "concertare," to vie, or contend with. In the early concertos (or concerti) a small instrumental group played "against" a larger group. We have the "concertino" vying with the "ripieno," or "grosso," hence: Concerto Grosso, of which this is an example. In this case, the concertino is made up of the two flutes, two oboes, bassoon, and two violins. The ripieno is made up of the rest of the strings, and the harpsichord.

For a long time, American music was considered a reflection of European musical thought. William Schuman was born into what may be the first generation of American composers taught largely by older American composers. Although he studied at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, his musical education was mostly at Columbia University. He became a disciple of Roy Harris, that writer of "prairie music," music of a distinctly American cast. Both write lyrical music, with a character of both hymnody and folksong, some of it borrowed -- most of it original.

Schuman taught at Sarah Lawrence College from 1935 to 1945, and then became president of the Juilliard School of Music. In 1962, he became president of Lincoln Center, in New York.

Schuman was a great enthusiast for the music of the early New England composer William Billings. Billings was a rugged individualist, who learned to understand "the rules," but often ignored them in the interest of singability and "fancy." To quote the critic Wilfrid Mellers, "...he leaves us in no doubt that he knows of the rule about parallel fifths, while continuing to write them with enthusiasm because he likes the noise."

Schuman is a sophisticated craftsman, and is sometimes criticised as being polished, but lacking in sincerity. However, he always admired teh Whitmanesque naivete of Billings, and in this work, pays tribute to him by using his music as "a point of departure." Schuman says, "These pieces do not constitute a 'fantasy' on themes of Billings, nor 'variations' on his themes, but rather a fusion of styles and musical language."

I. Be Glad Then, America
The work begins with a slow timpani solo over low strings. This is picked up by the strings in a high register, and the rhythm becomes faster. The brass enters dramatically, echoed by the strings, a polyphonic texture develops, and the music becomes theatrical, even jazzy... certainly suggesting Broadway dance routines, and finally there is a hint of Vaughan-Williams (did I say Schuman was eclectic?)

II. When Jesus Wept
This section, too, begins with a drum... in this case, a drum-roll. Wood-winds enter, and the music has a melancholic, elegeic quality, with long, drawn-out notes in the strings.

III. Chester
The strings begin this hymnlike section. Soon, however, the music becomes lively, with cross-rhythms. Soon it becomes folk-like, then the bass drum enters, and we have a kind of parade, broken into by faster, more theatrical motifs. The snare drum provides a martial touch. This is not surprising, since the Billings hymn "Chester" was later adopted by the Continental Army as a marching song. Schuman intends us to hear both aspects of the music.