Written in 1924, Strauss penned Fanfare für die Wiener Philharmoniker for the Vienna Philharmonic’s first benefit ball, which raised money for the musicians’ pension fund. The piece was originally performed while honored guests arrived at the event, and the work has subsequently been performed every year since at the Philharmonic’s annual ball.
Program notes by David Balandrin and Ricky Parrell
During the latter part of the eighteenth century multi-movement works of a predominantly light-hearted, entertaining nature for various combinations of instruments were produced throughout the countries of central Europe. Variously titled “divertimento,” “cassation,” “notturno,” or “serenade,” and containing from four to seven movements, these works found their origin in the desire for entertaining background music for court functions. The precise use of the different titles for this kind of music and their stylistic implications are still only partly understood, but suffice it to say that by the 1780s such works were just beginning to be transformed into genuine concert pieces, albeit ones in which the outdoor origin of the musical style often remained clearly visible.
Of the various combinations of instruments used for these works, undoubtedly one of the most important was the wind octet, comprising two each of oboes, clarinets, horns and bassoons, with the clarinets occasionally replaced by English horns. The popularity of the wind octet can be traced back to April 1782 when Emperor Joseph II established such a group at the Viennese court, engaging it for both private and public entertainments. Many aristocrats were quick to follow this example by setting up similar groups and so-called Harmoniemusik soon became established as one of the most popular forms of musical entertainment throughout the 1780s and 1790s. Every major composer (and hundreds of lesser ones) wrote both original works and made arrangements for the combination; indeed, several of Mozart’s operas were arranged for Harmonie.
Although pieces for wind octet were performed in concert settings, the primary purpose of these ensembles was to provide Tafelmusik or background music for dinner. This attitude is displayed especially well in Mozart’s depiction of the Harmonie ensemble during the banquet finale of Don Giovanni as the dinner guests are entertained by an onstage wind octet.
Beethoven composed the Rondino in 1792 while still living in Bonn and was probably intended as dinner music for Elector Maximilian Franz. Written almost ten years before his first symphony, the Rondino and the Octet (written the same year) provide listeners with early examples of Beethoven’s writing for winds. In a more standard Harmoniemusik work, rondo form or theme and variations would be used as the last of several movements, but here only one movement is given. The Rondino was posthumously published in 1829, two years after Beethoven’s death.
Especially notable in the Rondino is Beethoven’s use of the horns and, in particular, horn mutes. Near the end of the work, the first horn is asked to play a muted high F. Although the mute was more common for soloists, the effect is extremely uncommon in orchestral literature of the eighteenth century, especially when a player is asked to hand stop a note, use a mute, and make extremely fast mute changes. Nikolaus Simrock, a horn player and publisher who probably owned a hand horn mute, is known to have influenced this unique writing in the Rondino. Even with this early use of horn mutes, however, Beethoven used the effect sparingly in his orchestral writing (the significant exception being the end of the Sixth Symphony).
The work opens with the first horn presenting the sixteen-bar rondo theme. The theme returns several times throughout the work, although the final presentation is interrupted and fragmented by a flurry of sixteenth note arpeggios in all instrument groups. The horns play fragments of the main theme open and muted before the work closes with a pianissimo ending for the ensemble.
Dating back to over 5,000 years ago, the I Ching tells readers the stories of nature’s patterns through time. If we take a moment to observe the connections between Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, and Wood, we can begin to understand the importance of those Five Elements. Within the Five Elements theory, one thing is clear: these five fundamental materials shape the universal framework of our world. Even more importantly, the Five Elements are in a constant state of motion and counterbalance. Earth captures Water, which extinguishes Fire; Fire moulds and manipulates Metal, which cuts through Wood. Naturally, Wood plants roots in Earth, and the cycle continues. These cycles can take many shapes: Wood can feed Fire, while Fire prepares the Earth. Earth cultivates Metal, and Metal holds Water which nourishes Wood. At times, when one or more elements grows stronger than the other, the cycle is tripped and the balance is lost. What does one do to regain it?
On the face of this Earth, climate change and pollution has increased the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as wildfires and floods. As someone who is both concerned about climate change, and well versed in the Five Elements theory, I can feel the tension and instability between humans and nature. This deeply inspired me as a composer: by way of pitch sets, pentatonic scales, the circle of fifths, and juxtaposed rhythms, Five Elements tells the story of humanity’s continuous balancing act.
Note by Yunfei Li
In 1992 I went to live in Amsterdam for a year. It’s so beautiful there and it’s an amazing place to live as an artist. Art is a crucial part of Dutch society. It was an incredible relief to live in that atmosphere. I went to lots of concerts, joined the composers’ ping-pong team, and wrote Arsenal of Democracy. The piece is written for Orkest de Volharding, a political street band started by Dutch composer Louis Andriessen and others. The group is loud and tough and they’re organized in a socialistic framework — everyone has equal say, everyone arrives at consensus decisions. The title of my piece is taken from a phrase coined by Franklin Roosevelt referring to the United States’ role as an arsenal before fully entering into WWII. In more recent U.S. history this “arsenal of democracy” has reached terrifying and absurd proportions. I imagined that Orkest de Volharding would be a far better arsenal, with trumpets and trombones on the front lines.
Program Note by Julia Wolfe
In September 2018, as protesters from Nicaragua’s Carazo region prepared to march against the increasingly dictatorial Ortega government, my Tios (my aunt and uncle) wrote us with pictures of blockades and descriptions of the armed forces that awaited protesters. A world away, I responded by recording and posting a verse of Carlos Mejía Godoy’s Nicaragua, Nicaragüita, a song that has become as clear a symbol of the resistance as the blue and white Nicaraguan flag. It was a cry into the abyss, but, to my surprise, it actually landed with dear ones and their friends in Nicaragua who wrote that they felt our family standing with them. From this urgent sense of reaching across distance through music grew la flor más linda, written for Glen Adsit, Edward Cumming, and the Foot in the Door Ensemble. With arms outstretched through sound, sonic images I associate with Nicaragua are slammed together: the Basílica bells that tollfreely during the Festival of San Sebastián; the pito and chischiles of the dance of the Toro Huaco, for which stand in flute and maracas; the firecrackers that announcecelebration; scaler gestures that conjure the strong wind that blows through Diriamba, my mother’s home town; fragments from de la Cruz Mena’s Los Amores de Abraham, a tune my grandfather and his brothers played in their ensemble Marimba Diriangén; anda single gesture from Godoy’s Nicaragua, Nicaragüita. Despite an impulse to center on vibrant imagery, celebratory sound mutates into the sinister, and song becomes lament. Estamos con la gente de Nicaragua, siempre. Viva Nicaragua libre.
Program note by Gilda Lyons
Jonathan Caldwell is director of bands and assistant professor of conducting at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro where he conducts the Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band and teaches undergraduate and graduate conducting. Prior to his appointment at UNCG, Caldwell held positions at Virginia Tech, the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point, and Garner Magnet High School (Garner, NC).
Ensembles under Caldwell’s guidance have performed for the College Band Directors National Association Southern Division, the National Band Association–Wisconsin Chapter, and in Carnegie Hall. His writings have been published in the Journal of Band Research and the Teaching Music Through Performance in Band series. He has given presentations for the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, the College Band Directors National Association, the Internationale Gesellschaft zur Erforschung und Förderung der Blasmusik (IGEB), and music educator conferences in North Carolina and Virginia.
Caldwell received a Doctor of Musical Arts in conducting from the University of Michigan and a Master of Music in instrumental conducting from the University of Maryland, College Park. He holds a Master of Arts in Teaching and a Bachelor of Music in performance from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Kristin Arp is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro where she has studied with Dr. Kevin Geraldi and Dr. Jonathan Caldwell. Before coming to UNCG, Kristin taught high school and middle school band in the Knox County, Tennessee public schools.
Kristin holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Music Education and Instrumental Conducting from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville where she studied with Dr. Donald Ryder and Dr. David Royse. At UT, she frequently conducted the University of Tennessee Concert Band, Symphonic Band, Wind Ensemble, Percussion Ensemble, and Trumpet Ensemble. As a graduate assistant for the Pride of the Southland Marching Band, Kristin’s responsibilities included teaching drill, music, and the supervision of Volleyball and Basketball Pep Bands. She also has extensive experience with Drum Corp International and performed with 2009 DCI World Championship Finalists, the Troopers Drum & Bugle Corps from Casper, Wyoming.